Before hanging up, Hodges also tells the dude to call "Zone 9" and double down on security to make sure that Knowles was alone. He saunters over to Tommy the chemist dude, or whatever, and asks again how long everything is going to take. Tom tells him it'll be a half hour, which is right on schedule! Hodges asks to be informed the minute it's done, as he heads out to meet up with his good buddy Doug.

At the hotel, Ol'-Evil-ia and Aaron are walking toward her little rendezvous with Dan the reporter. Olivia tells Aaron to wait in the hall so she can handle her secret dirty business in secret! Aaron isn't having it, noting that she asked him to be in charge of her security, and he can't let her enter a hotel room alone if he hasn't "vetted" it!

Olivia looks a little panicked that Aaron will find out about her dirty business leaking information to reporters, so she goes into full-on smug bitch mode thanking Aaron for his concern, but assuring him she's a big girl who can take care of herself. She's got him on speed dial and is capable of screaming really loudly! Test the theory, Aaron! Stomp on her foot hard! The viewing public will thank you! Anyhoo, he gives in and allows her a little privacy for her "reporter wrangling" session.

Olivia knocks and Ken lets her in. They both glare at each other. Ken asks if she wants a drink, but she abstains. He pours himself one, anyway, while she sets down her camera phone and tells him she doesn't like being threatened! (Gotta hand it to Olivia...at least she's smart!) He's kind of a dick about it, telling her it was unfortunate, but necessary. Olivia mentions they've known each other a long time, and she thought they had an "understanding." Ken confirms that they do have an understanding, and that he assumes they both want to keep it that way? She doesn't say anything, but seems to tacitly nod her approval.

"Good to see you!"

Ken gets right into the nitty-gritty. He tells her about the Port Authority cop, who must have opted to go blabbing to the press instead of heading home to take care of his pregnant wife. Anyhoo, the cop told Ken about the mercenaries at the shipping yard, the gunfight, and about how someone took off with a cache of WMDs, headed for God knows where! Olivia simply says "that's true." Ken is all, yeah...I know! Now tell me all about it!

Olivia remains silent, and Ken starts getting frustrated, he tells her she can't just come and confirm information he already knows. Olivia plays the national security card, and appeals to his better nature...if the story leaks, it'll cause panic and people could get hurt! Ken kinda admits he understands and that she can trust him.

Olivia stupidly goes into the whole story about how it was a bio-weapon developed by Starkwood in Sangala, and that they've moved it to their base near the Capital! Genius Ken hypothesizes that this must be what the Joint Chiefs are discussing. Good guess! He looks at her expectantly, and she continues to spill the beans. She tells him the President has ordered an air strike as soon as the location of the weapons are found...and that's why he can't go ahead with the story! The whole operation hinges on the element of surprise, and lots of lives are at stake! He turns his back to her, and she asks him to confirm that he understands. He makes suspicious contemplative faces and take s aswig from his booze. Looks like Ol' Skeeve-Ball Ken is trying to figure out how to turn this to his advantage.

He turns back to her and tells her that maybe she's right and the story needs to be killed. She says "Thank You", but he's not finished! He says he meant he might need some "convincing". She plays dumb, and he tells her she's very beautiful. Slimeball! Olivia protests, telling him that part of their "relationship" is over...that they agreed to it. He tells her that SHE agreed...he still wants her! He moves into her personal space and starts making kissy faces. She's all "I REALLY don't want to do this!" (Playing for the cell phone camera?) He whispers "Then say no"...which she doesn't do. Ken moves in for the kiss, which Olivia allows...however, when he starts kissing her neck, the camera picks up her face...and she ain't happy! Rape ain't cool, kids!

Back at FBI HQ, Dr. Macer is giving Jack a gigantic shot of what she calls "pandopamine". It's meant to control the shaking, and she suggests he'll probably need a shot every two hours. Jack is surprised by this, and asks if she really thinks he'll need more? Her ominous reply: "In all likelihood, Yes." Poor Jack! The Doc also mentions that the onset of symptoms so quickly means the weapon is more virulent than they all thought! Oh-No! She reminds him that this treatment is only masking his symptoms...not helping him, and Jack tells her she understands. But wait! The Doc wants to tell him about a potential miracle cure (which we all knew was coming unless they wanted to do a 24/Ghost Whisperer Crossover thing for Season 8). Bryden University has had some success working toward a cure on prion variants. It's only a remote possibility, but injecting stem cells from an immediate relative could totally help him! The Doc took the liberty to do a little research on Kim Bauer, and thinks they should reach out to her. Jack is all, "No, Thanks!" and starts heading out. Doc Macer and Renee totally jump all over this and beg him to reconsider. He quietly Thanks the Doc for all she's done and leaves the nurse's office.

Renee totally follows him out the door and down the hall and wants to know what the heck he's thinking! Jack politely tells her it's none of her business, and she begs to differ...it's her business because he's having seizures in the middle of FBI HQ! Jack tells her the pandopamine will solve all that, but Renee totally wants to talk about the cure and his daughter. Jack remains admirably calm, telling her she doesn't know what he's talking about and that he and his daughter don't speak. He tries to get away again, and she totally blocks the door and gets all indignant, telling him his daughter has a right to know and the choice to help out should be hers! Jack counters that he's the one who's dying...so the choice is his, which is totally sound logic in my opinion. He heads back into HQ and Zombie Spice gets a concerned/meddling look on her face. She's totally gonna call Kim Bauer! Please don't!

Back in the command center, Janis tells Jack he looks better. Yeah, good point Janis, Not seizing and gasping for air at all! A huge improvement. Tony pipes in over the comm. and asks how Jack is doing. Jack is having a rough time with this "everyone is concerned" thing, and totally just wants to get back to the mission. They tell Tony there's two vehicles with 8 men pulling up to his exact entry location and wonder aloud if Knowles gave them up? They ask Tony if he wants to regroup, and as the men storm into the building, he says "No, I just want to get this over with" and ducks into a room.

As the security detail storm down the stairs, two of the dudes immediately enter Tony's room! As he hides behind a column, they radio in that the room is "clear". Not so fast! Tony totally ambushes them and with a few well-placed blows and neck snaps, takes them both out. He starts working over one of the corpses, stealing his gear and looks off to the side with weird energy that only a fellow kleptomaniac would understand.

"I gotta call Winona! This is such a rush!"

Five minutes later, Tony has totally changed into the uniform of one of the Starkwood Storm Troopers, taken all of his gear, and is ready to head out! He exits the room and heads straight to an elevator, using his stolen keycard. He presses the button for the lowest floor of the building, and the doors are just about to close, when a hand stops them! Oh-No! It's Tommy the bio-weapon guy, and he enters with a little nod to Tony and starts looking down at his images of the dangerous pathogen. Tony can't resist looking over the dudes shoulder, which draws attention to him. Doc Tommy notes he hasn't seen Tony around their before, and Almeida covers admirably with "Yes, Sir...they just sent 8 of us over." The Doc wonders aloud if something is wrong, and Tony tells him it's just a precaution. Tommy Boy accepts this explanation and exits the elevator as if nothing's wrong.

Almeida enters the main building and checks in with FBI HQ. They note he appears to be about 40 feet underground, which he confirms, saying he's four floors down. Janis is all confused by this, noting that the schematics show no subterranean floors in that building? Duh, Janis! Same reason it had a satellite blocker...the whole WMDs thing? Remember that? Anyhoo, Tony is all: The floors are definitely here! And the walls are epoxy-hardened and the ceiling is made of poured concrete! In other words, better break out those bunker busters!

Tony saunters into the main area as everyone continues to work/ignore him. He continues talking to FBI HQ and mentions he's got a visual on the canisters! Using his handy-dandy Sprint cell phone, he starts sending a live feed back to FBI for a confirmation from Jack, who recognizes them right away! Yay! Renee heads off to phone the White House, but Tony notes that it looks like they are transferring the pathogen to some kind of delivery system, and they are on the move. Oh-No! Jack tells him it doesn't matter, the bomb squad will be there in 10 minutes and the whole building will be dust. Might be a good idea for Tony to get out of there before then? Tony agress, and tells them he's withdrawing.

I'll take the blatant product placement over those weird ads with the CEO strolling through Central Park, any day!

Up in Doug Knowles office, he's hanging out looking sour when Jonas Hodges strolls in and dismisses the guards. Knowles is super confused about the whole "being arrested by his own security force, held captive in his office, and not allowed any phone calls" stuff...and wants to know what the H E Double Hockey Sticks is going on? Jonas, calmly responds that those are a lot of complaints...anything else? Haha. Jonas notes that Doug was supposed to go home hours ago, and wants to know why he's still there and snooping around? Doug tells him that he saw the FBI raids, and that they were looking for a bio-weapon, and WTF is up with that, anyway!?

Knowles sort of gives up on waiting for the answer on bio-weapons, and tries to calm Hodges down with a "nobody is questioning that." Wrong thing to say! Hodges gets his cage rattled again and goes into a long tirade about the investigation, the committees, the President, and "every chattering non-entity" in Washington going through their business now and looking for answers after the fact. They're trying to tear Starkwood apart and bring it down! Jonas kept the country strong and safe, and won't be persecuted for that! I feel like I've heard this before...yada yada.

As Jonas heads over to the office bar to fix himself a drink, Knowles reminds him they can't start a war against the people they are supposed to protect! Holding a big crystal decanter, Jonas says they were at war already since the government tried to dismantle them. The question is, are they prepared to defend themselves...his answer is that they are! Finally, an answer to the bio-weapon question!

Doug approaches his old friend and tries, again, to tell him they can't take on the Federal Government! Jonas is all "You never were one for thinking big." He starts on a new tack, about how after 20 years together and treating him like a son, a little "loyalty" was in order. Before Doug can protest further, Jonas totally beans him with the decanter! They tustle and scuffle, and Jonas keeps beating him. They move across the office, and Jonas totally tosses him over a railing and Doug falls to the ground a floor below...landing on a map of the world. Sayonara Doug! We hardly knew ya!

Believe it or not, this is the second time this season an old man has triumphed over a younger one in a struggle over a railing! The final death match will have to be First Hubby vs. Hodges in a stairwell somewhere.

With the murder of his frenemy out of the way, Hodges heads back over to the bar, opens the crystal ice holder (in the shape of the globe, no less) and starts dabbing at the blood stains on his shirt with some water and his hanky. Just then, Seaton calls in to inform him there's a squadron of F-18s headed their way, and that they'll be there in 10 minutes! Hodges inquires about the readiness of the weapons, and is told that 3 are ready to go. He tells Seaton to put in a little call to the President, and he'll be there momentarily...as we cut to break!

After the break, we return to the Hotel where Ho-Livia is getting dressed while Ken lounges in the bed wrapped in sheets. He speaks the audiences mind, and says out loud she must think he's the scum of the Earth right now! Her face says "yup!" but she simply says "All I care about is that you don't run the story." His ego is all wounded. What did he expect, that she would be all happy about being coerced into sex? Anyhoo, he calls her a "good sport" for "taking one for the team." Eww. Oliva asks him to look her in the eyes, which he can't/won't. She wants confirmation that he's not going to run the story, but all he says is "I'm sorry, Livy." Uh-Oh!

He tells her he has to run it, that breaking something that important of a story is sure to make him a big shot up in the media capital of New York! (Good luck w/ that, Dan...no media jobs in New York! Trust me, I've been trying!) She calls him a "lying sunovabitch!" He tells her he's just doing what he needs to do to get ahead, just like she did! She sneers that there's no comparison. He tells her to just wait her pretty little head and see. He's been around the block longer than she has and knows how the game is played.

Ho-Livia is livid! She tells him she'll show him how the game is played! She heads over to the table and retrieves her cell phone, and plays him back a little of the video recording of them rolling in the sheets. He gets a look of panic on his face, as she tells him that if he runs the story or ever tries to blackmail her again, she'll let the world know how he gets his "leads" and that his wife will probably be super pissed off. Ya think? She throws in a couple more nasty barbs about how everything he has told her leads her to believe it'll be a rather nasty divorce. Even though she's a pain in the ass, I'm on Team Ho-Livia here. He's a douchebag! He calls her a bitch, and she calmly counters that he should find a new beat and never show his face at the White Hosue again! Her phone rings, and she smugly tells him she needs to take the call as he looks at her helplessly from the bed.

As Ho-Livia makes her way into the hall, she immediately picks up the call, which is a nice way of dodging any questions from Aaron. It's her Mama on the horn and she wants to know where the heck she is!? Ho-Livia lies and says she had a meeting on K Street, which prompts a disapproving smirk from Aaron. She does tell a half-truth, saying she was meeting a reporter to shut down the story. Madame Prez freaks a little and wants to know if the press are onto things, and Olivia tells her she took care of it. Madame Prez tells her little daughter that the air strike is moments away and she needs her to get her tush back to the White House! Olivia says she'll be there in five minutes, after she makes a quick stop to bathe in bleach and gargle 100 times with Listerine.

Madame Prez enters the underground War Room for an update on the operation. Admiral Smith tells her that the F-18s are 7 minutes out and ready to take out the building/weapons. The Prez wants to make sure the pathogen won't spread, and the Admiral tells her they're using phosphorous charges that burn at 5,000 degrees and will destroy the germies.

In his own underground bunker, Hodges checks in with Seaton and Doc Tommy. The verict: Weapons ready and call to the Prez in progress! Jonas gets a smug/evil grin and tells his boys it's an historic and great day for Starkwood. Seaton is all distracted by the blood splatters on Hodges shirt...which prompts him to say "It's too bad Knowles can't join us!" Haha. Seaton looks a little concerned/freaked out by this news, but Jonas keeps grinning his evil smile!

In case we needed reminding, we get a quick shot of the F-18s talking F-18 business about nearing the target and approaching 9,000 feet!

Back in the President's War Room, everyone is kinda hanging out waiting for the fireworks to start! Admiral Smith tells the President they just got evidence of some kinda swanky "phased array" radar system is operating on the Starkwood compound. The Prez is just as confused as we are by this, and asks what the heck that means! The Admiral fills us all in that it means Starkwood knows they are coming! Uh-Oh! The Prez wonders aloud if they have anti-aircraft artillery, and Smith assures her they do not! No problem-o, right?

Unfortunately, Tim Woods comes in to inform the Prez he's got Jonas Hodges on the horn! She's equal parts stunned and pissed off, and orders Tim to put him through on Speaker Phone so the entire War Room can gloat. But, Tim informs her he wants a private conversation with her on a proprietary line that he (Hodges) has conveniently set up in her Ops room. She's all: How the heck did they manage that...but nobody has any idea. She scowls angrily and heads off to take the call.

She hilariously picks up with a "Hellooo?" Jonas starts off all polite, apologizing that things had to go this far, but could she turn her little planes around, please? She's all: "You're in no positions to issue ultimatums!" He's all: "Uh...maybe I am! Remember that time Starkwood got deployed to Pakistan?" She's all: "Yeah...I remember well, I fought it tooth and nail!" He's all: "Well, you lost!" Haha. Anyhoo, turns out they picked up some swanky Python Five missiles during that deployment...three of which are loaded with the pathogen and aimed at cities on the Eastern Seaboard! Oh No!

The Prez, of course, assumes he's bluffing. Hodges tells her that he'll show her he's not bluffing as a "sign of good faith." He uses his handy dandy Sprint cell phone to send a live feed of the missiles to a monitor in the Prez's Ops Room! She looks at the weapons in terror and says "You call this good faith?" She tells him he's waging war on his own country, and he turns the camera on himself and smugly tells her he doesn't see it that way. She demands to know what he wants, but he says he'll tell her in person and demands a private audience...in the Oval Office, no less. Gotta hand it to Hodges, he's got some Balls! He tells her to turn the planes around, and keep their conversation private, or he'll have no choice but to launch the missiles! He tells her she's got 30 seconds and totally hangs up on her!

While the Prez panics and mulls it over, we go to a split screen showing tension on all fronts. At FBI HQ, Junkie Jack sneaks off for a second fix of pandopamine. (Uh-Oh...weren't those supposed to last 2 hours? Yikes!)

The Prez runs into her War Room and screams for them to abort the air strike! They immediately question her, and she tells them to do as she says! Admiral Smith interjects again, "with all due respect" of course, but she screams again! She says "Dammit Admiral, abort the air strike immediately!"

While the Prez stares at the monitor intensely, Admiral Smith calls off the strike from behind her. When she sees the planes turn away from the target due to an "executive order", she looks relieved for a second, but then has to turn and face the Joint Chiefs who all kinda wanna know WTF is going on!? She looks slightly embarrassed, but doesn't say anything. She simply walks out of the room silently as they all stare at her like she's a crazy woman.

Ba-Bum-Ba-Bum-Ba-Bum-Ba-Bum!

There you have it, Gasmii! What did you guys think about the episode? I found myself scratching my head a lot. If I'm going to channel Randy Jackson in reviewing this episode, I would say: "24, For you, for me...this was a pretty good episode Dawg! I don't know if I LOVED it, but I definitely liked it. I'm a little confused where you're going, but I'm having fun. You worked it out!"

We still have 7 hours left, so I'm really interested in seeing how the Prez/Hodges meeting goes. Also, the emotional reunion of Jack/Kim should be fun. I'm getting a really strong spidey sense thing that we haven't yet fully mined the depths of Ho-Livia's story.

I'm rushing out of town to spend Easter with my family! Forgive the rough edit this week!

See you next week.

DS