Anyway, Tony is tracking the Chinese soldiers (conveniently colored red, just in case you forgot they were communists) remotely, and helps Jack get to Lee. Once he is close, Jack takes out a few guards (knock out darts), and literally throws Lee over his shoulder and hauls ass outside. Luckily lee is the epitome of a stereotypical Chinese engineer, which means small and thin with greasy hair. Jack is able to run around the building with Lee in tow, dodging bullets pretty well. Unfortunately, Jack was not perfect with avoiding the bullets, as Lee took one in the back as Jack was running. Curtis helps him with the last few agents and we have what, the third CTU field team to come back without any body dying during the mission this season?

The mission was pretty successful. Lee was hurt, but it looked like he was going to make it. The only problem, and it was kind of a big one, is that Chinese consul was killed during the operation. Jack had been using kill darts, but the Chinese guards were using live fire, and the consul stepped in front of a few bullets. Now it doesn't matter that the incident was friendly fire, the guy basically died because of an apparent act by the United States government. The communists LOVE a good cover up, and you know they were just so excited to have something to pin on the capitalist pigs that make up the United States. The vice consul calls Palmer and wonders if it really was a coincidence that he was rejected access to Lee and then Lee was kidnapped less than moments from each other. Palmer is able to deny it, but if there is any sort of record that this was an operation sanctioned by our government, somebody was going to pay.

Palmer also had to deal with Lee. Jack wanted to get Lee to talk, and perhaps he was sick of all of the torture, but he said the best way to get him to talk was to make a deal, and so Palmer has Logan draft an agreement not to prosecute Lee in American courts and to take him to a location of his choosing. He's not scared of the Chinese, but he is scared of Marwan, and he isn't going to talk unless he sees something in paper. God Jack, just torture him. A little thumb to the bullet wound should do. This guy is an engineer, not a commando, he is not going to last that long, and you never know how long he is going to be lucid anyway. Oops! Shouldn't have said that out loud, because after a few minutes in the van, Lee is starting to fade pretty fast.

OK, so Lee was shot and there was no exit wound, and Jack is only realizing now that this guy might have internal injuries. Better get to CTU and have them stabilize him at the clinic. Normally, this would not be a problem whatsoever, but there are complications. Audrey was able to secure FAA clearance to transport Paul first thing in the morning. She was going to go with him and find an apartment in Amherst. At this point, you know that she really is starting to have feelings for Paul, because it would take a lot for anybody to get excited about moving there, unless, of course, Marcus Camby was still playing basketball. But before Paul got to enjoy the thought of winning his ex-wife back to help him recover, things got a whole lot worse. Fluid started building up around his heart and he was rushed to surgery for yet another operation.

As you may imagine, there becomes a sort of confrontation inside the CTU operating room. The surgery team has started on Paul when Jack wheels Lee in. The surgeon is sort of "first come, first served" about the whole thing, and is about to tell Jack to take a number, but Jack pulls a a gun instead and points it at the judges' head. You've got to admit, that is a pretty good reason to switch during the middle of an operation. The surgeon takes a look at Lee, but needs the help of the rest of his staff to save the suspect. That leaves Curtis and Jack kind of looking at Paul hoping that he is stable for at least a little while.

Paul is stable for, oh, five seconds, which leaves Jack and Curtis trying to keep Raines alive until the rest of the doctors could assist. God, isn't there an intern or something at CTU medical? Do they have to get approval from Paul's HMO before they can call in another team? What is going on here? Jack and Curtis are good, but they are not good enough to save Paul. They shock him, give him some norepinephrine, but it is too late. Paul is down for the count. Audrey, who had not been happy when Jack came in, then really got upset when Jack pulled the gun, went completely ballistic. She started slapping him, and Jack kind of stood there. He was very conflicted because Paul did save his life, but I imagine he was also wondering what Audrey's malfunction was. So you lost your spouse, these things happens on days like today. I also bet Jack was hoping she didn't come after him and get her revenge like he got revenge on Nina.

Posted by J-Unit on May 3, 2005 1:38 AM