While she continues talking, broadcast over the giant monitors at CTU, a message pops up at the bottom of the screen. Chloe realizes it means someone's tapping in, and tells Hastings, adding that she's trying to trace it. Hey, if she can do that, they can let Marcos blow himself up and Elaine can go home. Everybody wins! Except Marcos and Elaine, obviously.

Meanwhile, Elaine is blaming herself for this situation, which Marcos tells her not to do. "You couldn't have done any more, or been a better mother." "She's almost got him," Kiefer mutters from the command post. Don't jinx it! Chloe's voice suddenly pops up in his ear saying they're being spied on, but she couldn't trace it. Kiefer says he'll take care of it from there and asks Owen how long it'll take to disconnect the video system. "Thirty seconds," Owen says. Kiefer tells him to make it so.

Marcos is telling his mom that he knows she's supposed to convince him to open the door, but it's too late. Why? Aside from the conspiracy and attempted murder charges, all he's actually succeeded in doing is assault one CTU agent, shoot a corpse, and cause some property damage to the hospital. And the clubbing seems to have done said agent some good, the corpse had it coming, and nobody seems to work or be in treatment at this hospital anyway so he can just blame it on squatters. Elaine begs him some more, but he tells her to be strong. Kiefer sees this going bad, and orders Elaine pulled out. Cole's on it, as Marcos tells her he loves her and she screams his name while Cole physically removes her.

Kiefer enters the anteroom, loaded for bear. Ali watches remotely, until the screen goes snowy. See? Owen's brain is still working just fine. Ali reports to Samir that he's lost video, but he can still see through his binoculars that Elaine's no longer in the anteroom but Kiefer is. So they can't even see that Marcos just finished wiring the fourth circuit. Marcos picks up the detonator slowly. Casually, looking off to the side so Marcos can admire his profile, Kiefer hits the intercom button and says, "You detonate that vest, your mother dies too." Marcos isn't sure he heard right, so Kiefer clarifies, "I'm gonna make sure your mother's in Manhattan when that dirty bomb goes off." Marcos says Kiefer doesn't even know the target, but Kiefer isn't talking about having her die in the actual explosion. "I'm gonna personally escort her to the blast site so she's exposed to the radiation." Marcos doesn't buy it, what with Kiefer being a federal agent. Kiefer kind of explains about being a specialist brought in for the occasion. "If you knew who I was, the things I've done before in my life, you would know that I'm not bluffing." Indeed, I could give Marcos a whole list of people to ask, but most of them are dead. Kiefer tells Marcos to go ahead. "First thing I'm gonna do is I'll make your mother come in here and clean it up." Dude, that's rough. And then he'll take her to he blast site. "You know how long it takes the human body to absorb a lethal dose of cesium 137?" Well, doesn't everyone? "Five seconds. Followed by twelve days of pain that is so agonizing, morphine can't even touch it." He says it's up to Marcos, and finally turns to the camera full on, inviting Marcos to look into his eyes. Which are pretty scary. Good thing Kiefer framed his face in the camera in such a way as to not accidentally cut them off, because that would have undercut the effect a bit. "What happens to your mother is because of you. Only you." Marcos starts crying as he makes Kiefer promise to leave her alone if he comes out. Sounding like he's passing a kidney stone, Marcos puts the detonator button down and moves to the door. Kiefer backs up and levels his weapon as Marcos opens it and steps out. Kiefer yells at him, and suddenly Marcos, who has been trying to blow himself up for an hour, is all scared of Kiefer shooting him. "Cole, I got four lights on," Kiefer says. Cole calls in for assistance. Meanwhile, Ali can see Marcos outside the chamber through his binoculars, and reports as much to Samir. "They must have talked him out of it, but he's re-armed the vest." As his men finish transferring the crate with the rods into yet another vehicle, Samir tells Ali, "Hang up right now and transmit the fail-safe." Fail-safe? No fair!