As day seven heads towards its final hours Jack Bauer, who's clearly feeling the effects of exposure to the pathogen, assists FBI agent Renee Walker to stop bad guy turned good guy turned bad guy again Tony Almeida.
Almeida On A Killing Spree
Following his murder of FBI agent Larry Moss, Almeida then helped his accomplice Galvez to escape by ordering him to set a trap for FBI agents. Walker and her team subsequently searched an abandoned residential building only to get caught in a huge explosion. Walker was unhurt, but the explosion gave sufficient cover for Galvez to escape the FBI perimeter with the canister of pathogen. Jack uncovered Tony's involvement and confronted him, only to suffer severe attack due to the pathogen.
Tony was about to kill him, but was interrupted. As Jack struggled to speak, Tony left the scene and killed another two FBI agents before killing Galvez in a motel room. Now armed with a deadly biological weapon, Tony's personal body count could be set to reach thousands as Jack and Walker race to stop him.
Jack and Tony Have Been Rivals Previously
The first time Jack and Tony squared up to each other was back in the first series. Tony, who at the time was sporting the world's smallest beard, was jealous of Jack's relationship with Nina Myers, who had also been involved with Tony after her affair with Jack ended. Tony and Jack also suspected each other of being the CTU mole and Tony thought Jack was working against them when he escaped a CTU lockdown and was hunted by his colleagues. In reality, it was Nina herself who was playing the two men off each other while working alongside the Drazens as the real mole.
Deeper Conspiracies
Early on day seven, Jack discovered that Tony was working with former CTU operatives Bill Buchanan and Chloe O'Brian. Buchanan explained that Tony was working under the radar to uncover a conspiracy within President Taylor's administration. Working with them, Jack discovered that a military installation named Starkwood, under the control of Jonas Hodges, had received a pathogen and were preparing to use against the US should Hodges’ demands not be met.
It looked like Jonas Hodges had been behind all the events of day seven and was arrested while trying to coerce the President into accepting his terms for Starkwood to become a fifth branch of the military. But as he was being taken into custody, Hodges warned the President that he was a small cog in a larger wheel, indicating there was someone else calling the shots.
Could Tony Still Be A Good Guy?
This could still give credibility to Tony's cover. Prior to his death, Bill Buchanan was convinced the government were being manipulated, hence Tony going undercover. Jack has killed people such as Ryan Chappelle, if it meant stopping a terrorist attack. Has Tony done the same? If Tony's intentions are to get to the very bottom of the conspiracy, has he gone too far along the dark path or can he somehow redeem himself?
