5:00 A.M. – The boat carrying Josh arrives at the oil platform. Josh is angry, but Phillip wants to take him away for his own sake. Josh becomes terrified when Cheng informs Phillip that the submarine will be picking them up in a half hour.
5:02 A.M. – As medics work on Doyle, Jack and Buchanan wait for word from CTU.
5:03 A.M. – Morris tends to Chloe in the CTU clinic. The doctor has determined that she is dehydrated and exhausted. Morris doesn’t want to leave her side, but Chloe insists he go back to work. Morris reluctantly leaves.
5:04 A.M. – Nadia finds an oil platform that has been decommissioned and leased by Phillip’s company. Morris runs a thermal scan on it from the satellite. Sure enough, he spots the boat pulling up to it.
5:05 A.M. – Morris checks in with the doctor, who cannot release Chloe’s health information to him because he is no longer family.
5:06 A.M. – Lennox alerts the Vice President that CTU has spotted Phillip Bauer on satellite. Defense Secretary Kanin recommends to Daniels that an air assault would take out the entire oil platform leaving no trace of the component. Lennox is concerned that Josh would not survive an aerial attack, but Daniels believes the boy would be a necessary casualty to prevent an all-out war with Russia. He orders the F-18 planes to strike.
5:07 A.M. – As Doyle is loaded onto an ambulance, he apologizes to Jack for not listening to him. Nadia calls Jack to let him know that the White House has ordered an air attack on the oil rig to take place in less than thirty minutes. She cannot stop it. Nadia orders him and Buchanan back to CTU for a debriefing. Jack agrees on the phone.
5:08 A.M. – When Jack hangs up, he tells Buchanan that he is going to use the CTU helicopter to save Josh because it’s wrong to sacrifice an innocent kid. Knowing he doesn’t want that hanging over his head as well, Buchanan offers to fly the chopper. Jack’s look expresses his appreciation.
5:10 A.M. – The two get in the helicopter that was intended to bring them back to CTU. Jack draws his gun on the pilot. “We’re commandeering your helicopter,” he says brusquely. The pilot exits the aircraft, and Buchanan takes over the controls. They take off.
5:14 A.M. – The Navy F-18s head towards the oil platform.
5:15 A.M. – Secretary Kanin warns Daniels that Russian troops are in formation around the U.S. base. Daniels asks President Suvarov to hold off attacking their base because he is planning an operation to take out the person with the component.
5:16 A.M. – Russia intercepts a transmission to a Chinese submarine that is headed to the west coast of America to recover the component. This confirms what Daniels is planning. Daniels assures Suvarov that the air strike is the only way to destroy the component. Daniels gives him a real-time feed of the assault operation.
5:17 A.M. – Morris notifies Nadia that Jack hijacked the CTU helicopter with Buchanan and he also wants access to their satellite feed.
5:18 A.M. – Nadia radios Jack, saying she cannot authorize his suicide mission. Buchanan chimes in to tell her that what they’re doing is the right decision. This hits Nadia hard, and she gives in to Jack’s request. “You did the right thing,” Buchanan says gratefully.
Jack instructs Buchanan to come in low so that they can hit the oil rig from the air and land safely on it.
The F-18s lock their radar onto the target.
5:19 A.M. – A despondent Josh pleads with his grandfather to let him go. Phillip says it is his responsibility to teach him the right things. Cheng’s men spot the CTU helicopter coming towards them. Cheng cautions Phillip to board a small boat. Its locator beacon will be picked up by the sub. Cheng hands Phillip the circuit board and goes outside to see about the chopper.
5:20 A.M. – As they reach the platform, Buchanan dives the chopper so that Jack can fire with a machine gun at the men on the deck. Buchanan raises the chopper and is able to land on an upper level.
5:21 A.M. – Jack and Buchanan get out and shoot at the oil containers to cause explosions near the gunmen. Cheng is knocked down, and Jack demands to know where Josh is. “It’s too late,” Cheng says. Jack has Buchanan take Cheng back to the chopper while he goes looking for his nephew. Buchanan forewarns him that there are only ten minutes until the F-18s arrive.
5:26 A.M. – Phillip drags the crying Josh towards the boat and rebukes him for behaving like a child. Josh lashes out physically, and Phillip stops him with a warning that he should not let his emotions control him.
5:27 A.M. – Jack makes his way across the deck, taking out gunmen as he searches for the boy.
5:28 A.M. – Phillip and Josh arrive at the side of the oil rig. Phillip puts down his gun so that he can lower the boat into the water. Josh grabs the gun and smacks his grandfather in the back of the head with a tool. “I’m not going with you,” Josh cries. Phillip pleads that he is only doing it because he loves him. Josh fires the gun, hitting Phillip in the shoulder.
5:29 A.M. – Phillip falls back, but is still alive. Jack arrives at the scene and implores Josh to lower the gun because he understands the pain of taking another person’s life. Jack pulls the boy in an embrace and takes the weapon. He quickly sends Josh to the waiting helicopter.
5:30 A.M. – Jack trains his gun on Phillip, who entreats his son to kill him. Jack refuses. “You are going to be held accountable for what you have done today!” he yells. Yet Phillip notes that Jack will not have time to carry him with the impending air strike. He knows Jack won’t want to die alongside him, and Jack realizes he is right. “You’re gonna get off easy,” Jack says resignedly as he walks away, leaving Phillip to die.
5:31 A.M. – Nadia radios Buchanan that he has ninety seconds to get off the platform before the F-18s hit. Josh reaches the helicopter and Buchanan releases a hanging ladder from the chopper door.
Kanin gets confirmation that the fighter planes are in range and have their missiles locked. “Take it out,” Daniels orders.
5:32 A.M. – Buchanan takes control of the helicopter and starts to take off. He radios Jack to meet him on the south side of the platform. Jack climbs onto the railing. When the chopper pulls up, Jack jumps to the ladder. Buchanan flies off with Jack dangling below.
5:33 A.M. – The F-18s launch a barrage of JDAM missiles, and fires rock through the platform.
As CTU watches satellite imagery of the still-exploding platform, Nadia radios to the helicopter. Buchanan confirms that they got out alive with Jack, Josh and Cheng. Nadia breathes a sigh of relief.
5:34 A.M. – Kanin reports that the target has been completely destroyed. President Suvarov sees this on the feed, and orders a withdrawal of his troops. The two leaders acknowledge their truce regardless of the strain on their relationship.
5:35 A.M. – As the chopper makes its way across the ocean, Jack deliberately lets go of the ladder and falls into the nearby water. Josh reacts. Buchanan turns back around and sweeps the searchlight over the darkness. Josh is relieved to see Jack swim towards the shore.
5:36 A.M. – Jack walks onto the sand and looks up at the CTU chopper hovering overhead. He raises a hand to Buchanan, who gives him an assuring nod. Jack keeps walking.
Josh is confused when Buchanan banks the helicopter away from the beach. Buchanan says that Jack isn’t ready to go back yet.
5:40 A.M. – The Chinese recall their submarines, and Daniels wants China to know that the Americans are aware of their activities. Daniels says he will address the Chinese another day. Lennox advises the Vice President to allow Karen and Buchanan to resign with their reputations intact because the Administration was cast under a long shadow with all the recent terrorist attacks. Daniels agrees, and Lennox hands over the tape recording that incriminated him trying to take down Wayne.
5:42 A.M. – Morris tentatively checks in on Chloe because the doctor won’t give him any news. He says that he still loves her, only realizing this after she collapsed and he thought he would lose her. Chloe confesses that she is pregnant. Morris is stunned but happy.
5:44 A.M. – Lennox visits Karen in the holding cell and tells her that she and Buchanan are being pardoned. She smiles, and thanks him because she knew he played a part in her release.
5:46 A.M. – Buchanan arrives at CTU with Josh and Cheng. Marilyn runs to hug her son. Buchanan has Cheng sent to a detention facility. “My people will not abandon me like you abandoned Jack Bauer,” Cheng says ominously.
5:47 A.M. – Nadia inquires after Jack, and Buchanan says he didn’t want to be rescued. They will never find Jack if he doesn’t want to be found.
5:48 A.M. – James Heller is at his Pacific Palisades home, dealing with the stress of the day and his daughter’s recovery. Jack arrives silently in the house, his wet clothes still clinging to his body. Jack asks for Audrey, raising his gun when Heller refuses. Jack says that he watched his father die and didn’t feel anything because the man was dead to him long ago. He expresses his rage at being betrayed by Heller, whom he once looked up to and admired.
5:50 A.M. – “The only thing I have ever done is what you and people like you have asked of me,” Jack says steely. He asks why Heller didn’t try hard enough to get him out of China because he was the one with the power to accomplish it. He accuses Heller of being angry that Audrey went to save him even though he forbade her to do so. Jack says that Heller doesn’t understand that kind of loyalty.
5:52 A.M. – “I want my life back and I want it now,” Jack painfully demands. “Audrey’s all I’ve got.” He threatens to disappear with her and kill anyone who tries to stop them. Heller remarks that Jack could never walk away from this lifestyle, and he will bring down Audrey like he did with his own wife. Jack bristles at the memory. Heller beseeches him to realize that he won’t be able to take care of Audrey like she deserves. Jack once again demands to see her. Heller leads him to the bedroom.
5:55 A.M. – Jack finds an unconscious Audrey hooked up to a heart monitor. He takes her hand, and in a cracked whisper, apologizes that he had once promised to take care of her. “But I’m in a crossroads,” he says. He tells Audrey that the only way to protect her is to let her go. Jack says he loves her, and kisses Audrey on the forehead.
5:59 A.M. – Jack quietly moves past Heller out of the room and leaves the house. With the gun still in his hand, Jack walks towards the edge of the property that faces the Pacific Ocean. He looks down at the cliff beneath him, standing alone at the precipice. With anguish etched on his face, he stares out to the ocean, contemplating what lies ahead.