Kiefer goes back out into the main office, and in a little-girl voice, Walker says he didn't have to cover for her. He says he told the truth, but she says they'll know what happened when they see Vladimir. Oh, come on, they're in an auto shop. Fill some of those knife-holes with Bondo and nobody will ever be the wiser. As he goes to her and crouches down in front of her, Walker admits Kiefer was right: "I couldn't handle it." He says it's okay, but she points out, "I could have killed you." Oh, no she couldn't have. So many have tried on purpose, it's not going to happen by accident. Crying again, she says she thought she could have her life back if she did this. Kiefer says she can have it back any time she wants: "You just need to want it." But she doesn't know how to do that. "I don't have anything, anyone." "You have me," Kiefer says, whatever he means by that. Don't worry, he doesn't kiss her. I wouldn't either, given the fact that blood from her last sexual partner is now staining Kiefer's spleen. He wipes her tears, and she pulls herself together. He encourages, "Every call Laitanan made is a solid lead we can follow up, and that's because of you. You did your part. Now let CTU do their job. Please, let me take you home." She agrees. Then there's a noise from outside, and Kiefer says, "Dammit, they really must have been moving. CTU's here already." Unless of course it's not CTU, but that doesn't seem to occur to either of them. He reminds her, for later, that Vladimir attacked her and she defended herself. Twelve or thirteen times, looks like. "If anybody else wants to ask you questions about that, I'll be right there with you to answer them," he says. We'll see about that. Even if the authorities would allow that, has he seen the new interrogation rooms at CTU? There isn't room for three people in there, even if one of them is Kiefer.

He goes out to meet the new arrivals at 10:54:42. And then he hears the people walking past the window. There are at least three of them, and they're speaking Russian. Kiefer dives out of sight, and runs back to the office. Draggling Lugo's body clear of the door so he can close it, Kiefer tells Walker, "They're Russian. Vladimir must have contacted whoever got the rods. They just didn't want him to know." Fortunately, Kiefer's already got a plan: "I'm going to let them take me." Okay, maybe "plan" is a strong word, but he's just done an awful lot of thinking in a very short time. He's rapidly searching the office for a hiding spot for Walker, and when she protests, he says, "You want everything you've done so far to matter? I need to do this." He instructs her to tell CTU to track him from the air. "These people are going to lead us to everything we're looking for," he says. Gosh, it almost sounds too easy. Except, as Walker points out, they'll kill him. "No, at worst they're going to have to vet me," Kiefer says. "Find out how much I know. Should buy us enough time." So it's called "vetting" now? That's a much more pleasant word than "torture." He finds that water heater closet that Walker located last hour and stashes her inside, with his gun. Or, I guess, Lugo's gun. "This door opens again, you start shooting," he instructs. Which will be good, now that he used half the clip shooting the goon earlier.