Kimberly and Janet realize they are in danger after it becomes clear that their two dates have kidnapped them. Despite the threat on his life, Senator Palmer sneaks out of his hotel to meet a reporter who has damaging information that could affect his campaign. Back at the office, Jack has Jamey, a member of his team, decrypt the key card.

Convinced Jack needs to be relieved of his command, one of his team members, Tony, calls George Mason who arrives and puts the CTU under lock-down. With the help of his second-in-command, Nina, Jack slips out and heads for an address listed on the key card. Once there he encounters a shooter who hints that Kimberly's disappearance is part of a bigger plan. Meanwhile, the two boys deliver Kimberly to a man named Ira Gaines.

Jack meets Teri and Alan York at the hospital where Janet has been admitted. But their reunion is cut short when Jack receives a phone call from Gaines telling him to follow his instructions if he ever wants to see his daughter again. Back at CTU, a dead body found in a car trunk is identified as that of Alan York. When Nina calls Teri and asks her to pass this information on to Jack, Teri suddenly realizes she is also in danger.

When a new boss, Alberta Green, takes over the CTU, Nina secretly continues to help Jack locate Teri and Kim while Jack tracks down investment banker Ted Cofell, a man who is mentioned on the decrypted key card. A shocked Senator Palmer learns that one of his associates may be willing to commit murder in order to protect his campaign.

A man named Andre Drazen contacts Gaines. Clearly disappointed that the morning's events did not go as planned he threatens to relieve Gaines of his assignment. Across town, Jack kidnaps Cofell and, after hearing Cofell's Serbian accent, has Nina break into an old case file profiling a secret mission Jack was on in Belgrade and Kosovo two years ago. Then Jack meets Cofell's contact: the man who claimed to be Alan York.

Jack confronts Gaines who, realizing he has failed Drazen's assignment, chooses death over helping Jack. Back at CTU, Nina and Tony interrogate the mother of the traitor and learn of a secret bank account containing deposits from Belgrade. They also learn that additional assassins may be making their way to Los Angeles.

Jack learns that one of the assassins, Alexis Mecir, is actually Victor Drazen's son and has become intimate with one of Palmer's aides. In an attempt to find the man ordering the assassinations, the aide agrees to plant a tracking device in Alexis' wallet. Back at the safe house, Teri and Kim discover their location is no longer secret or safe.

Alexis' contact turns out to be a power company worker who was being paid to shut off the electricity to a power grid out in the middle of an empty field. As Jack and Mason follow up on that lead, Kim's search for information lands her in jail, even as Palmer's press conference disclosure could ultimately put his own son in jail.