Ep 22. Day 2: 5:00 A.M.-6:00 A.M.

Jack Bauer is determined to stop the nuclear bomb from detonating in Los Angeles even if it means sacrificing his own life. Fearing the location of the bomb might be traced, Jack sets up a decoy and sends George Mason to the true location to take care of it. As George heads to the bomb's location, Jack takes out a few more of Kingsley's men who are hunting him down.

Meanwhile, Kate Warner and her sister Marie are still hostages in the Kingsley compound. After discovering Marie was involved in the plot to detonate the bomb, Kate is furious and demands that her sister tell her everything she knows. When Kate learns that Marie was romantically involved with the terrorist leader, she realizes her sister is more involved in the plot than she originally thought.

Chloe O'Brian deciphers the schematics for the nuclear bomb and provides Tony Almeida with instructions on how to disarm it. However, due to the complexity of the bomb, Tony ends up disabling the timer rather than disarming it altogether.

As everyone races against the clock to stop the bomb, President David Palmer meets with Sherry to discuss how they can spin the situation politically. However, Sherry has other plans and tricks Palmer to step away from his security detail and into a trap set by her and the man behind the upcoming assassination attempt. Palmer is left unconscious and at the mercy of the assassin.

With only minutes left before the bomb is set to detonate, Mason arrives at the location and begins to manually dismantle it. Jack arrives shortly after and helps Mason with the final steps. As they work together to disarm the bomb, Mason succumbs to the radiation poisoning he received when he was exposed to the bomb earlier in the day. Knowing he is dying, Mason takes one last look at Jack and then steps in to facilitate the bomb's final dismantling himself.

In the end, Jack manages to save Los Angeles from the devastating effects of a nuclear attack and successfully foils the plans of the terrorists. However, as he heads to CTU to report his success, Jack faces his biggest challenge of the day- telling Kim that her mother has died. The harrowing day for Jack and the rest of the team comes to an end.