24: The Next Day – 10 am to 11 am

The following didn’t really occur between 10 am and 11 am, but we’re going to pretend that it did anyway.

10 am – Chloe says, “The Herald Hunt… Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it”. Morris says that he didn’t know Helen Hunt had a brother, and Chloe slaps him in the back of the head. She explains that the Herald Hunt is a puzzle game that’s held in Miami every year, and that thousands of people participate in it. Jack tells everyone, “We have to get to Miami and fast!” Morris asks why they would go to Miami and then not eat, and now Jack slaps him in the back of the head. Audrey looks pretty excited about going to Miami until Jack tells her that “We” is not so much “Jack, Curtis, Chloe, Morris,
Audrey, and Secretary Heller” and more “Jack, Curtis, Chloe and Morris”. Audrey bursts into tears.

10:03 – The Hollywood looking mastermind is fresh out of terrorists, so he hits the speed dial on his mastermind cell phone. “Hi, it’s me. Yeah. Listen, could you send over a few more thugs? I’m going to need them right away. Yeah. Uh huh. I think five lackeys, six henchmen, and about four minions should do it. Yeah. What? No, I don’t want any sidekicks. They always seem to be messing things up. Ok, yeah. Thanks.”

10:05 – Scary has ordered all of the secret service agents on his detail to wear white storm trooper armor. Secret agent Aaron is able to get out of this by telling Scary that they don’t have any in his size, and Scary tells him that he has something else in mind. Aaron hears the suggestion, looks horrified, and makes a phone call to Secretary Heller.

10:07 – Secretary Heller’s talks to Aaron on his cell phone. Heller assures Aaron that Aaron will not have to wear any metal bikinis, and that’ll he’ll be over to straighten things out as soon as he can.

10:08 – Jack asks Heller what kind of transportation he has that can get them to Miami as fast as possible. Heller suggests that aging rapidly and retiring would probably do it, but Jack tells him they don’t have time for that. Curtis says that he has a much better idea. Curtis hits speed dial on his cell phone, and asks for “Two Curtis Specials” to be delivered to the factory site. Heller jumps into the driver’s seat of his car, and he and Audrey leave, knocking over several garbage cans, a mailbox and several pedestrians.

10:09 – We can tell ex-president Manilow is still really mad about getting tricked into resigning the presidency because of the white knuckled grip he has on the steering wheel and on his purse. Since he is mad, he does what any other ex-president would do. He decides to go shopping. He heads to the mall.

10:10 – Seemingly forgotten in the CTU interrogation room, Miles has been struggling with the door to get it open, until he realizes it’s been unlocked the whole time. Miles starts walking backwards out of CTU, hoping to fool the guards into thinking he’s entering the building. He passes the guards, who don’t seem to think a thing of this.

10:11 – Two Harrier jets zoom across the sky toward where Jack and company are standing. The jets hover for a moment, sending orange cheese powder everywhere, and then land. Curtis explains these are special “Curtis equipped Harrier Jets” that he’s been working on with Chloe. They use similar technology that make the cars he’s been driving Jack around in go so fast. Jack jumps into one of the Jets with Chloe, and Curtis gets into the other with Morris. Curtis warns Chloe to watch Jack’s elbows. Chloe tells Curtis that she can always taser Jack. Jack says “Hello! I’m right here!” They go flying off in the jets.

Commercial

10:16 – Scary wants to hold an official swearing in ceremony. He spends several minutes swearing until someone leans over and tells him that’s not how the ceremony is supposed to go. Also, Manilow is missing. Scary tells his secret service agents to hop into some land cruisers, go after Manilow, and not to forget their light sabers.

10:17 – Heller drives through a hedge, into a tree, and successfully arrives in front of Audrey’s house. More dazed and bewildered that usual, Audrey gets out of the car. Heller tells her to call CTU. Heller drives off, swerving down the road. Audrey turns towards her house. Five ninjas drop on bungee cords from the tree, grab Audrey, and fly back up into the tree… and then drop again, still managing to hold onto Audrey. Then they ricochet back up into the tree again.

10:19 – Somewhere over the US, Jack and Curtis are each flying jet planes towards Miami. Chloe is briefing them about the Herald Hunt over the radio. She says that there’s a good chance that some of The Hunt participants will be able to help them, since they’re extraordinarily intelligent, even by her standards. She explains the object of The Hunt. People are required to solve a series of puzzles. The answers to these puzzles are then used to solve a final puzzle. The people that end up winning get a fantastic prize. Morris mumbles something about the prize being a trip to anywhere away from Miami. Chloe “accidentally” hits the “remote bombardier” button on her control panel, and Morris’ seat goes falling out of Curtis’ plane, parachuting somewhere over Dallas.

10:21 – Miles gets into the parking lot and sneaks over to his car. As he gets there, he sees a small robot poking a hole in his tire, making the last of them flat. The little robot wheels its way over to him, and a telescoping arm hands him a note. It says “Thinking of you. Signed, Chloe”.

10:22 – At the mall, Manilow parks and gets out of his car. As he walks in, we see a lot of men in black suits and sun glasses following him. Manilow turns to see what the noises behind him are, and they all dive behind cars. Manilow doesn’t see anything, so he proceeds into the mall.

10:23 – Miles sees some guards headed towards him in the parking lot, panics, and starts trying to walk backwards to escape. He walks right into Bill, who tells Miles that no amount of moon-walking is going to help him, and that he’s under arrest. Bill orders Miles taken into federal custody.

Commercial

10:28 – Secretary Heller arrives at the LA compound, strategically using the secret route through the fields and forest, since using the road would have been completely obvious. At the last minute, Agent Aaron decides that jumping and landing on the hood of Heller’s car would be a pretty good idea to avoid injury, and does so.

10:29 (1:29 Eastern Standard Time) – Jack, Chloe and Curtis arrive at Miami International airport, but are unable to get clearance to land from the tower. After arguing with them, Jack tells Curtis they had better find an alternative landing site. They land in a rental car parking lot. They get out of their jets and get into a white Cadillac. They drive off heading south. A tourist that had just put his bags into the trunk is left standing there. Jack calls Bill, who tells Jack that the homing signal is in Coral Gables.

10:31 – Manilow walks into the mall, which is very crowded. He walks past several of the stores and seems surprised that no one seems to recognize him. The men in black suits follow behind Manilow, but he’s completely unaware of them. Manilow gets frustrated that no one seems to recognize him, and he starts smiling and waving at people. Finally, after resorting to doing a tap dance, a lady walks up to Manilow and says “Oh, I know who you’re supposed to be! You know, with a little work, you’d look just like the President!” Manilow tries to convince the lady that it’s really him, but she doesn’t believe him.

10:33 (1:33 Eastern Standstill Time) – Chloe explains to Jack and Curtis that answers to The Hunt puzzles are really tough to figure out, but when you get the solution, it’s blindingly obvious that it’s the right answer. Curtis slams on the breaks, and asks Jack what the heck is going on. Curtis points to a large traffic jam of white cars on the road. Curtis tells Jack that he’s never seen so many cars in all his life. Curtis is confused why there is so much traffic and why it’s not going anywhere, since this never ever happens to him in LA. He says it’s even stranger that every one of the white cars seems to have three people in the front and three people in the back. The cars are moving really slowly.

10:36 (1:36 Eastern Sandwich Time) – Jack jumps out of the car and loudly announces, “I’m Jack Bauer with CTU! Please clear the street!” An old man rolls down his window and tells Jack, “And I’m with Miami Vice! That schtick didn’t work in the 80s, and it’s not going to work now, Sonny Boy!” Chloe whispers something to Jack, and Jack yells “There’s a lunch special at the deli on Collins Avenue and Espanola Way!” Tires squealing, the traffic immediately dissipates. Curtis is visibly relieved. Chloe says that should get that traffic WAY far away from them. They continue to head south.

Commercial

10:41 (1:41 Eastern Street Time) – Jack, Curtis and Chloe arrive in Coral Gables and park their car on a side street. Jack calls Bill and tells them where they are. Bill says that he has to wait a few more moments because Google Maps isn’t coming up fast enough for him. It finally comes up and Bill tells Jack that the signal is several blocks south of their location.

10:42 (1:42 Eastern Square Time) – The team heads in the direction Bill suggested, and they run across of group of police officers milling around. Jack explains to one of the officers that he’s from CTU. The officer very clearly and distinctly says, “Bleep”. Jack looks at the officer, shakes his head and starts talking to another officer, explaining they may need help getting people cleared out of the area. This officer responds by saying “Bloop”. Jack turns to Chloe, and asks what the heck is going on, when all of the sudden, the officers break out into a square dance. After a few moments of doing this, they stop, and hold up pictures of barnyard animals over their head. A lady to the left of Jack yells, “I got the answer!” and her friends gather around her. Jack looks completely bewildered, and Chloe says that what they’re looking for isn’t here. Jack says that they’ll never find the nuclear device with this going on. A guy standing near Jack says, “Oh, the nuclear device? I saw that a couple of blocks west of here. That was a tough one. I’m going to have to come back to it later”. Jack, Chloe and Curtis all look startled by this and head off in that direction. Jack calls Bill to have a team of experts meet him, and fast.

10:45 (1:45 Exciting Situation Time) – We see a long line of people. At the front of the line, a guy with a Herald Hunt shirt is busily looking at the nuclear weapon sitting on some cement steps leading up to a building. The timer is set and going down.

Commercial

10:49 (1:49 Explosive Standard Time) – Jack, Chloe and Curtis run up to a long line of people, patiently waiting their turn for something. Jack hears one of them say, “Yes, I messed with it for a few minutes, but couldn’t get it to do a thing. That’s one of the hardest puzzles I’ve seen”. Chloe runs to the front of the line. Just as the guy with the Herald Hunt shirt reaches to touch the nuclear device, Chloe yells for him to stop. Too late. The device makes some whirring noises, and shuts down. The guy looks at the metal container he just deactivated, and kicks it. Curtis faints.

10:52 (1:52 Explanation Standard Time) – As the team of experts (wearing “Team of Experts” t-shirts) arrive, Chloe yells to the crowd, “I’m sorry, but this is not a Hunt puzzle! We have some people here to take this away!” Many of the people waiting in line follow the team of experts as they carry the deactivated nuclear device away.

10:53 (1:53 Enigma Standard Time) – Chloe says, “Jack! That guy over there just deactivated the nuclear device. Where’s Edgar?” Jack points in the direction of another crowd, and says they should check over there. They wake up Curtis and head over to the crowd.

10:54 – A group of ninjas arrive at CTU with Audrey. The ninjas plead with the guards to take Audrey back. The CTU guards refuse to take custody of Audrey, and the ninjas push her towards the guards and run away.

10:55 (1:55 Earplug Standard Time) – A large group of people surround RoboEdgar, who isn’t moving, despite the fact that several people in the crowd are eating food. Volunteer workers are handing out something to people in the crowd, whispering in their ears while they do so. Suddenly, RoboEdgar comes to life, making the crowd take a few steps back. RoboEdgar blasts into the sky, heading east. The crowd applauds.

10:57 (1:57 Examining Standard Time) – As they watch RoboEdgar blast off, someone presses a cylinder into Jack’s hand, and says “It should be obvious” into Jack’s ear. Jack instinctively swings his elbow, and catches Curtis right in the face. Jack apologizes while looking around for who gave him the cylinder, but he can’t tell who did it.

10:58 (1:58 Eastern Secretion Time) – Jack calls Chloe over to take a look at what he has, and what he was told. He hands Chloe the device. It has five rings on it, with letters of the alphabet on each ring. Arrows on either end point towards each other. The device looks slightly different than the one everyone else has. Chloe says that they have to put in a word, and asks Jack what he was told. She thinks for a moment, and dials the letters to a word she’s sure is correct. It doesn’t open.

10:59 (1:59 Eastern Story Time) – Jack takes back the device, shakes it and thinks for a moment. Jack dials the letters to a new word, and the device unlocks. There’s a note inside that simply says “Hurricane Edgar”.

11:00 am – Time’s up!