24: Live Another Day (also known as Season 9 or Day 9) is a 24 limited event television series that aired on Fox from May 5 to July 14, 2014. Sky 1 simulcast the premiere on May 6 in the United Kingdom and Ireland but switched to Wednesday nights for the rest of the episodes. It began airing in Australia on Network Ten on May 12, 2014. Set four years after the events of season 8, it adheres to the real time concept of covering the events of a 24-hour period and begins and ends at 11:00 a.m. However, there is a 12-hour time jump within the final episode.
Season overview
Live Another Day takes place four years after the events of season 8. James Heller, now President of the United States of America, is negotiating a treaty with British Prime Minister Alastair Davies in London, where a hacker collective led by hacker Adrian Cross preaching freedom of information known as Open Cell has enlisted the help of ex-Counter Terrorist Unit Data Analyst Chloe O'Brian. Ex-CTU Agent and federal fugitive Jack Bauer, who has been tracking the activities of Chloe's group while living in exile and being hunted by the CIA, resurfaces when he hears of an imminent assassination attempt on Heller's life.
There are two main acts in Live Another Day: Margot Al-Harazi gains control of six US drones and uses them to attack London. Cheng Zhi attacks his former country China with hijacked American weapons bringing the two countries to the brink of war.
Major subplots
Jack Bauer disapproves of the group Chloe O'Brian has joined. Margot Al-Harazi grows suspicious of where her daughter's loyalties lie. James Heller tries to manage a crisis amid the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Mark Boudreau opens himself up to blackmail by forging Heller's signature. Kate Morgan has been led to believe that her husband committed treason by selling state secrets. The head of the CIA London station, Steve Navarro, is conspiring with the leader of Chloe's group. CIA analyst Jordan Reed's hunt for answers puts his life into jeopardy. Circumstances reunite Jack and Audrey after nearly a decade. America's plans for a treaty are derailed when they lose control of their own weapons. Cheng Zhi partners with the Russians who are looking for Jack.
Summary
While anti-drone protesters gather outside the United States Embassy, where President of the United States James Heller is staying, agents at a CIA station in London find and apprehend federal fugitive and former Counter Terrorist Unit Agent Jack Bauer. Due to her husband's conviction, CIA Agent Kate Morgan is being forced to resign. However, she gets herself reinstated when she realizes that Jack is infiltrating the CIA to gain access to ex-CTU Data Analyst turned hacktivist Chloe O'Brian. Kate is too late to intervene and Jack breaks Chloe out of interrogation with the help of his friend Belcheck, an ex-Serbian Mob enforcer. Still distrustful of Chloe, Jack follows her to Open Cell, a hacker collective that specializes in leaking government documents and preaching freedom of information. He explains that he is on the trail of Derrick Yates, a former Open Cell member who has become involved in an assassination attempt on James Heller. The attempt is revealed to involve drones when he programs an unmanned aerial vehicle to fire on British and American troops. The pilot, United States Air Force First Lieutenant Chris Tanner, is falsely arrested on murder charges.
Jack and Chloe learn that Yates' device has been taken by Margot Al-Harazi, a designated terrorist trying to avenge the death of her husband, Mahmoud. When their attempt to capture her daughter Simone fails, Jack breaks into the United States Embassy to analyze Tanner's flight key and prove that the threat is imminent. Jack locks himself in a room with three hostages and tries to upload the data to Open Cell's leader, Adrian Cross. Marines break in before the upload finishes but Kate Morgan is able to place him in CIA custody instead. In the President's quarters, Chief of Staff Mark Boudreau expresses concerns that Bauer is a designated terrorist and drafts an agreement for extraditing him to Russia. Suspecting that dementia has clouded Heller's judgement, he forges the President's signature and vows to protect his wife Audrey from any further pain related to Bauer. Jack is ultimately proven right when Margot broadcasts a video calling for Heller to turn himself in or face attacks on London from six U.S. drones.