24 Episode 8.21 12:00 PM-1:00 PM

The NYPD finds Dana's body and takes Cole into custody. He identifies her. At the request of Jason Pillar, the NYPD prepares to send Cole to CTU for questioning. Meanwhile, in a cab, Jack watches the video he killed Dana for. It shows her talking with a Russian and planning Hassan's death. Jack uploads the file to Jim Ricker and asks him to identify the man in the video.

Pillar has CTU devote their full attention to capturing Jack. Chloe questions why Dana took Jack to the bank if there was no evidence for her to give to him. When Pillar dismisses her concerns, Chloe confides in Arlo that she thinks something's not right. Arlo won't listen.

Jack arrives at Ricker's. Ricker says that Jack is all over the police scanners, and he insists Jack tell him what's going on before he helps him. Jack explains about the cover-up, but Jim knows Jack's not being completely straight with him. Jack finally admits the truth: he's looking to make those responsible for Renee's death pay. This is good enough for Jim, who tells Jack that the man in the video is Pavel Tokarev. He doesn't know where Pavel is, just that he entered the U.S. a month ago with a diplomatic visa. Jack knows who can help him find Pavel: Meredith Reed, the journalist and former lover of President Hassan.

Jack calls Meredith, who just wrote a glowing profile of Hassan for her paper, and tells her he needs her help to expose the truth about Hassan's murderers. Jack reminds Meredith that he helped clear her name yesterday, and he asks her to meet him at a coffee stand at Turner's department store in twenty minutes.

Back at CTU, Pillar interrogates Cole, and point out that they've both been soldiers, and a soldier's duty is to obey the President. Cole just says that Pillar must be part of the cover-up. Eden calls Pillar and says they may have a line on Jack. As Cole is taken to holding, Eden tells Pillar that Arlo found a phone call to Meredith Reed featuring such keywords as Hassan, Russian government and Jack Bauer. Pillar has Arlo send the intercept to Eden's station. Arlo says he can handle it himself, but Pillar insists that Eden be in control of the search.

Pillar plays the conversation between Jack and Meredith for Logan and Novakovich. He says he's dispatched the Russian ops team to the department store while deploying NYPD away from there. It's the perfect opportunity to get rid of both Jack and the evidence. Logan wants to personally stay on top of things and asks Novakovich for Pavel's phone number.

Pillar sees Chloe staring up into his office and has Eden turn the windows opaque. Chloe voices her concerns to Arlo. The call must be from Jack. If it's not from Jack, why is Pillar being so secretive? Pillar just made three calls she can't trace, and the intercepted phone conversation was downloaded behind heavy firewalls. If the conversation was nothing, why hide it? If it's Jack, why aren't CTU and NYPD being deployed to capture him? Pillar and Eden must be part of the cover-up, and they're planning on taking Jack out. She needs Arlo's help, and he is finally persuaded.

Arlo is able to make a 90 second loop in the security camera feed so that Chloe can talk to Cole. She goes to his holding room and enters on Arlo's mark. Cole doesn't know where Jack is, and is reluctant to help. Jack killed Dana point blank, unarmed, so he's not interested in the cover-up. Cole is interested in executing everyone involved in Renee's death. There are no good guys here. Maybe it's best, he says, if Jack and Pillar end up killing each other. Chloe says that Jack's her friend, and she does care about exposing the cover-up. Cole finally says he thinks that Jack's working with someone. Somebody must have provided Jack with all that weaponry and equipment he showed up with. Chloe goes to Arlo and asks him to pull up a list of all of Jack's known associates.

Logan watches a news report about the imminent arrival in New York of Russian President Suvarov. He phones Pavel, who says his team is in place, but there's no sign of Jack yet. He gets orders from Logan to kill Meredith as well as Jack.

President Taylor is continuing peace negotiations with Dalia Hassan, but she's distracted and worried. An aide brings her a note: Logan wants to see her. Taylor meets with him in the next room and Logan says that Jack's got the evidence. However, they know exactly where he is and he will be "reacquired" soon. Logan also asks Taylor to follow through on her end of their agreement to publicly acknowledge his role in the peace process. Taylor reluctantly promises to have her press secretary make the announcement in time for the one o'clock news.

At the department store, Pavel, hides in a vent with a rifle. His operatives roam the store's floor in plainclothes. They see Meredith arrive. No Jack yet. Pillar and Eden watch from CTU via the store's security cameras. They spot Jack, but Pavel and his crew can't see him; he's using taller shoppers as cover and keeping his head down. Pillar starts yelling at Pavel that he should have a clean line on Jack. Pavel finally finds Jack and gets him in his sights...but then feels the barrel of a gun on the back of his head. It's Ricker, who forces Pavel to put his gun down. He then radios Jack an all-clear. Jack grabs Meredith. Pillar shouts for all units to take Jack out. Jack throws Meredith behind a clothes rack. Then he quickly takes out all the operatives who are firing at him as shoppers scream in terror. Jack grabs Meredith and runs for the escalator. Pillar realizes that Jack knew it was a trap. They've lost him. Jack and Meredith meet up with Ricker, who has Pavel hostage. They exit the building via a freight elevator.

Pillar reports the bad news to Logan, and advises him to distance himself from President Taylor now while he still has complete deniability. Logan says it's too late for that; the press release will link Logan to Taylor and the peace process. He's unwilling to ask Taylor to retract it and is confident that Pavel won't talk. He orders Pillar to use CTU's resources to find Jack. Eden is horrified that Logan wants to move forward.

Pillar leaves to lead a CTU SWAT team in removing all trace of the Russians from the department store, and has Eden tell NYPD to put a two-block perimeter around the store. If they ask why, invoke national security and the White House.

Arlo has found the security camera footage from the department store, confirming to him and Chloe that Pillar was indeed trying to kill Jack. They can use the footage to try to identify Jack's associate.

Jack and Ricker take Pavel and Meredith to an empty building. As Pavel's pockets are searched, Meredith, shaking, realizes that Jack used her and she could have been killed. She asks about the evidence and he gives her a tablet; the video is on there. Pavel is tied up. Meredith protests, so Jack has Ricker take her into the next room. With Pavel secured, Jack inspects his sniper rifle. It's the same model as the one that killed Renee. He asks Pavel point blank if he was the one who murdered Renee. "Go to hell," Pavel says calmly. "You first," Jack replies.

As Meredith watches the video, Jack begins to torture Pavel with a pair of pliers. Jack knows that Pavel could have killed Renee cleanly, but instead he shot her so she'd bleed out slowly and die in agony. He'll do the same to Pavel unless he talks. Pavel screams that he killed Renee himself. Jack begins to beat Pavel savagely. Meredith hears the screams and tells Ricker to stop him. She's got enough to go on with the video. Jack doesn't need to do this. Ricker tells her she's not going anywhere.

As Pillar shows the NYPD a photo of Jack and tells them to shoot on sight, Jack continues to torture Pavel. First he uses a knife, then a blowtorch. Yet Pavel won't say who gave the order. Jack turns away for a moment, frustrated. He finds Pavel's phone and realizes that the SIM card is missing. Pavel must have swallowed it. Jack takes a knife and cuts a hole in Pavel's belly to retrieve the card. As Pavel dies, Jack cleans the blood off the card, puts it in the phone, and hits redial. His eyes widen as he hears the voice mail message: "You have reached the office of President Charles Logan."