24. 7.17. There are hostiles on all sides. Jonas insists weapons don’t exist in the building and the FBI has five minutes to get off the base. Since things are out of control, Jack calls Chairman Knowles who was cooperating with Mayer. What’s a prion variant? Anyway, an impromptu fist fight helps Tony and Knowles slip by unnoticed. The FBI feeds them numbers they need for entry. Knowles bolts and is discovered by one of Jonas’s people and taken to his office. Tony gets in. Jack’s symptoms begin. An air strike is ready for when the weapons are located. Olivia’s news guy, Ken, threatens to say she’s responsible for the chief of staff leaving and a source saw the WMD hijacked. The story would create panic. He’s willing to have her convince him to kill the story but even after she takes one for the team, he says he plans to run it anyway.
Jack will be injected with pandopamine or similar every two hours to mask his symptoms. There are experimental studies including possible treatment using stem cells from a family member. Jack won’t let them contact Kim. Tony has a visual and sends the picture for verification. The canisters are being transferred to a delivery system. Jonas questions Knowles about his snooping. He says he saw the FBI raid. They can’t take on the federal government. Jonas, having a different opinion, kills him. A squad of F18’s is headed for Starkwood. Olivia tells Ken if he runs the story or tries to blackmail her, she will use the cleverly recorded videotape of their tryst. Jonas has a proprietary line to Mrs President. Three missiles are loaded with the pathogen and aimed at cities. She has thirty seconds to abort the air strike. Best line we all want to ask the writers: “Who dreamed up this charade?”
