24 (TV Series)

Day 4: 3:00 a.m.-4:00 a.m. (2005)

Jude Ciccolella: Mike Novick

Quotes 

• Mike Novick : [Over the phone]  you got anything out of Mr. Lee yet?

  Jack Bauer : No, his still in surgery

  Mike Novick : How's that coming along?

  Jack Bauer : Not great but his hanging in there

  Mike Novick : I don't have to tell you we took a huge risk getting this guy and the assumption he can help us find the nuclear warhead

  Jack Bauer : Trust me, I know

  Mike Novick : We also have a new "situation"

  Jack Bauer : What is it?

  Mike Novick : When we broke into the Chinese Consulate, Koo Yin, the Consul was shot

  Jack Bauer : That's not possible: my men did not fire their weapons

  Mike Novick : Then he was accidently hit by one of their own people

  Jack Bauer : How badly was he hurt?

  Mike Novick : He died

  Jack Bauer : Oh my God

  Mike Novick : I want you to talk to the members of your team: make sure each one of them has an alibi for where they were during the ambush

  Jack Bauer : Ok

  Mike Novick : This is an extremely incendiary situation, I'm about to talk to President Palmer now. We're trying to avoid a serious confrontation with China

  Jack Bauer : [Before hanging up]  we'll handle it from here, thanks

• Mike Novick : How long are going to keep the President "in the dark"? Eventually his going to find out you authorized the raid on the Chinese Consulate

  David Palmer : We have to keep it from him as long as we can: were you able to find Jack?

  Mike Novick : Yes, his back to CTU. The man they grabbed at the Consulate lee Jong, is still in surgery

  David Palmer : Was he able to tell us anything about the missing warhead?

  Mike Novick : No

  David Palmer : What did Jack have to say about the Chinese consul's death?

  Mike Novick : It wasn't our people that fired the shot

  David Palmer : The Chinese won't care: he died as a result of our trespass. We have to start constructing a "scenario" that doesn't implicate the United States government

  Mike Novick : They must know we did this. We called the Consulate about Lee Jong half an hour before the abduction

  David Palmer : The Chinese don't want a confrontation anymore than we do. If we can create a "scenario" of plausible deniability, they may play along

  Mike Novick : How do we do that?

  David Palmer : Call CTU: have them find out which anti-Chinese factions have attacked their embassies or Consulates in the last five years

  Mike Novick : Most of these groups you're talking about Asian extremists. I'm sure Bauer's team is predominately American

  David Palmer : Bauer's team was masked. No one saw their faces

• Mike Novick : CTU just sent this over: these five groups have all made attempts to attack or sabotage Chinese targets around the globe in the last two year, this group here

  David Palmer : The People's Freedom Coalition

  Mike Novick : They've actually made speeches where they've referenced Lee Jong's involvement with the Chinese nuclear program

  David Palmer : So an attack on the Consulate and the grab of Lee Jong by this group would be plausible?

  Mike Novick : It would allow the Chinese to save face

  David Palmer : And if the Chinese can't provide proof that we entered the Consulate saving face would be all they need?

  Mike Novick : If you want I can start leaking it to the media

  David Palmer : Do it

  President Charles Logan : [after entering the room]  David, what've you done?

  David Palmer : Excuse me Sir?

  President Charles Logan : I just got a call from the Secretary of State telling me about a covert action against the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles?

  David Palmer : That's correct, I sanctioned it

  President Charles Logan : Why would you have done such a thing?

  David Palmer : It was the only option at the time

  President Charles Logan : Don't you know how fragile our relationship with China is right now? You authorized an attack on their Consulate: that's a military engagement

  David Palmer : A covert not dissimilar to those carried out by countries on a routine basis around the world

  President Charles Logan : Don't give me a social studies lesson, we marched onto Chinese soil, we kidnapped one of their nationals, and in the process the Chinese consul was killed

  Mike Novick : We were unlucky Sir

  President Charles Logan : Unlucky? Yeah I would say we were unlucky, that's the kind of thing that could start a war. Now how am I supposed to be able to find terrorists while I'm provoking a nuclear superpower?

  David Palmer : I would advise you to calm down if we are going to get through this day. We didn't bring this crisis on ourselves but we're going to be the ones to settle it, this is a dirty business and we're to have to get our hands dirty to clean it up. Now please Mr. President, you brought me here to help you: let me do it

• President Charles Logan : [after entering Mike enters his office]  what is it?

  Mike Novick : The Chinese security officer Cheng is still at CTU and seems to be slowing things down

  President Charles Logan : He wouldn't have been there at all: if Palmer hadn't authorized an attack at the Consulate

  Mike Novick : It's too late to change that now Sir

  President Charles Logan : Yes, it is. If we order Cheng to leave CTU now, it'll look like we've got something to hide, and it'll just be giving the Chinese all the justification they need to escalate this crisis

  Mike Novick : If we don't find that warhead before its deployed ten million Americans could face annihilation

  President Charles Logan : We could at war with a billion Chinese

  Mike Novick : My advice Sir is to worry about the Americans now and the Chinese later

  President Charles Logan : Your advice? Or David Palmer's advice?

  Mike Novick : Both of ours

  President Charles Logan : When I agreed to bring Palmer in, it wasn't so the two of you could form an alliance against me

  Mike Novick : Sir, that's not what's happening

  President Charles Logan : No? Why don't you tell me what's "happening"? You and David Palmer are running this country while I'm taking phone calls from mid-level staffers

  Mike Novick : Would you like me to ask President Palmer to leave?

  President Charles Logan : No, call CTU, tell Bill Buchanan to escort Mr. Cheng out of the building

• David Palmer : We're going to need you to advise the President that Cheng has to leave CTU now

  Mike Novick : President Logan was clear he wanted Cheng to have full access there

  David Palmer : And he has. Now Cheng's slowing them down. His got to go, CTU needs to be to do their job without the added pressure of a cover up. You think Logan will sign off on that?

  Mike Novick : I'll see what I can do