Michelle Dessler on Day 2

This is a description of Michelle Dessler's actions on Day 2.

Day 2

8:00am-9:00am

Michelle at CTU during her first meeting with Jack Bauer

Michelle approached George Mason and told him that Eric Rayburn's office had a request for him that he had to take care of immediately. He read the briefing and seemed to disagree with what it said; he told CTU employee Eileen to get Rayburn on the phone and went off to his office. Tony asked Michelle what the briefing said; she told him that NSA wanted CTU to bring in Jack Bauer. Michelle - expressing interest in Jack - asked about his status, and Tony confirmed that he was inactive.

Later, Michelle approached Tony and showed him a file on his system sent from the Central Intelligence Agency that said that all information was on an information flow advisory: all intel received had to be inter-agency. Tony told her to call Lindauer and Grothy; despite it being their day off, they had to come in. He also told her to start filtering everything that came in. Mason called a meeting with all department heads, where he said that he got off a call with NSA and Division in which he learnt that there is a nuclear bomb under terrorist control in Los Angeles set to go off within the day. He told everyone not to communicate with anyone outside of their security protocols.

Jack arrived at CTU and was brought into the conference room, where Mason was waiting. When he arrived Mason tried to introduce him to Michelle, but Jack was just interested in finding out why he was there. He was briefed about the terrorist group called Second Wave and their intention to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles by the end of the day. Jack walked out of the room and tried to leave CTU, but his conscience got the better of him and he returned. Michelle told him that Joseph Wald was their most promising lead; someone who Jack recognized clearly from the expression on his face. Mason said that Wald was linked to the terrorist group Second Wave. He was currently awaiting trial for a crime, after already having spent time in jail when Jack put him away. Paula told Jack of Marshall Goren, the only witness against Wald that could put him away for life, who himself was a criminal known to be a kidnapper, child pornographer and murderer. Jack told them to bring Goren in; he had to quickly establish a cover with Wald. However, he refused to divulge his intentions.

As they waited for Goren to arrive, Michelle prepared Jack's background to use in the cover with Wald. She organized it to say that he did not do time in California because he was extradited to Florida on two counts of robbery. Jack told her to change it to conspiracy to transport illegal explosives; he said he would be a more viable cover for how they knew him. He told Michelle to contact Rudi Collett, a parole officer who Jack wanted in as part of the cover. Mason asked Jack about the plan, and when Jack refused to tell him Mason considered the possibly that Jack was losing it. He assured Mason that he was not. When Goren arrived, Jack told Michelle to leave the room so she would not see him murder Wald, although he did not reveal that this was what he would be doing.

9:00am-10:00am

Michelle travelled with Jack in the chopper to meet with Wald. She gave him a gun and told him he would be dropped three blocks away from the salvage yard. She gave him keys to a car and said that there was a tracker in it. Michelle also informed him that CTU had been monitoring Wald's yard and he had not arrived yet. She showed him pictures of Wald's men and Jack recognized only one: Eddie Grant who Jack was friends with when he was undercover. He told her to make sure when he went in, he did not see anyone from CTU; they should keep a good distance. Michelle looked nervous.

When back at CTU, Michelle informed Tony and Mason of a lead in Culver City. The only agent in the vicinity is the one sent to take Kim Bauer out of the city. Mason insists that the agent, Roy Grothy, disregard his previous orders and follow the lead, despite Tony and Michelle's displeasure.

As part of Jack's cover as "Jack Roush" with Eddie Grant and his men, Tony, Michelle and Paula had to upload some fake records of Jack so it would be convincing to the men in case they did a background check. However, the terrorists began to access the data before the CTU team had properly uploaded everything they needed to. Paula asked if Tony had uploaded backlogs about Gainsville, but he said he did not yet have the proper clearance codes. Paula realized she would have to forge the server portal and hope that the gang do not look too closely at the data. Luckily they got the data up in time and Jack's cover was secured.

10:00am-11:00am

Michelle transferred a call from Kim Bauer, Jack's daughter, to Tony, saying that she sounded "pretty freaked." However, there was a bad connection on the line and the two could hardly communicate. After Tony had spoken to Kim, Michelle told him that there was bad static on all phone lines. Paula informed them that she tried a filter and it did not go; she thought that it might not be the CTU systems. Tony told her to call the phone company to sort it out, and then to switch all priority calls to wireless protocol.

Michelle and Tony evacuate CTU

At 10:15am, Michelle told Tony that Eric Rayburn from the NSA was on the line. He took the call and was told to copy and transfer CTU's database of information on the nuclear threat onto the NSA servers. Tony asked why he had to do that, and Rayburn said it was a precautionary measure. When Tony had told Paula to work on the transfer, Michelle was curious as to why such an order had come through. Tony told her it was precautionary, and Michelle said that in that case Rayburn would have issued the same order to all other agencies. Tony told her to look into it.

Michelle later entered the restroom to find Paula standing there. Michelle asked if she was finished exporting the files as had been requested, and Paula said that it would be done soon. Noticing something wrong, Michelle asked Paula if she was alright. Paula said that she was scared for her family and friends if the bomb goes off. Michelle said that she needed to stay focused on stopping it from happening.

Shortly before 11am, CTU learns that Eddie Grant's team planted a bomb inside the building, and Michelle and Tony began evacuation. When Tony realized Paula was still in Mason's office working on the decryption of files, he ran in after her and Michelle worried for his safety. Michelle was relieved that Tony survived the blast, but Paula was in critical condition. Paula was being prepared to be brought to the hospital, but Mason returned to CTU and wanted her to stay, so she could decrypt the files.

Just before the end of the hour, Michelle told Tony that a man named Cam Strocker wanted to see him about some men who want to blow up CTU. She showed him points that supposedly had charges set around the building, and Tony ordered an evacuation, realizing that this was why NSA wanted CTU to transfer their data. Michelle began to evacuate people out of the building, saying "this is not a drill. I need everyone to calmly and swiftly evacuate the building." She continued to do so as the bomb hit. She fell to the floor, but was one of the survivors of the attack.

11:00am-12:00pm

In the aftermath of the explosion, Michelle found a body and thought it to be Tony Almeida. She began to weep, but moments later she heard Tony shouting to people and she ran over to him. Tony gave her Luke, an injured employee, and told her to set up a triage. She did so as he and another CTU worker helped free a wounded Paula from some collapsed rubble.

Jack tried to call Tony after taking out Eddie Grant and his crew, but got through to Michelle. She told him about the explosion, and said that there was at least 21 casualties. Jack asked why CTU was not evacuated, and she said that there was no time. Jack was confused, but told Michelle to take a situation report from his mission. He said that he had located Joseph Wald and was on his way there: the address was 221 Canyon View Road in Simi Valley. He told her that he had spoken to Kim and she was leaving the city. Michelle told him that Kim had called there too, and she would look into what happened for him. Jack told her to get back to him, and hung up. Michelle approached him and told him about Jack's call: he had found Wald and wanted Mason to know. Tony said that Mason was out, and Michelle should report directly to the NSA. Michelle also said that Jack had asked about Kim. Tony then remembered that he had told Kim to come to CTU. Worried that she was there at the time of the attack, he told Michelle to check the security logs to see if she was in the building. She went to do so.

By 11:55am, Michelle questioned Tony why Paula was still at CTU despite being freed from the rubble and needing urgent medical treatment. He said that it was Mason's call, and he wanted to revive Paula so she could give them the encryption code to get the files from the NSA. Michelle was outraged that Mason was willing to let Paula die but Tony sided with Mason; Paula was the only one who could retrieve the information, but he still was clearly upset that she was going to have to die. Michelle tried to apologize, but Tony said that he was the one who brought her to CTU, and if it wasn't for him she would not be in this situation. He said that all she ever wanted was to work at CTU, and she barely even got a chance to do so.

12:00pm-1:00pm

Jack is concerned about Mason's leadership abilities

Michelle told Kevin that there was no need to try to fix the CTU servers because the attack had fried them. She told him, instead, to set up a generator line to the A-Island. Mason told Michelle about the upcoming interrogation on Nina Myers, who she recognized as being the woman who killed Jack's wife. Mason requested three armed agents to handle security.

Michelle later told Mason that off-duty agents were finally starting to arrive, and that Nina Myers was on her way to CTU. He told her to set up a Mobile video unit for the interrogation, and she agreed to do so by telling Laurie to instruct Bill to bring a video rack up to the main floor. The paramedic told Mason that Paula was awake. She asked what had happened, and Mason quickly told her about the attack before asking for the encryption codes. When she did not respond Michelle tried to help remind her, and Paula said that she remembered. She told Michelle to check in her subfolders, but Michelle found that it was divided into over fifty partitions. Paula said that it was in one labelled "Etudes", and Michelle managed to find it. Mason told Paula that what she had done would save a lot of lives, and she was wheeled away by the paramedics with the aim to go to the hospital. However, she began to flatline seconds later and despite their efforts, she died.

Upon Mason's request, Michelle tried to speed up Jack Bauer's debrief, asking if she could help. However, he refused. He later gave Michelle his finished debrief, but still refused to leave. She said that she was supposed to get him to leave, but understood that she would have difficulty doing so. He stuttered that it was the first time he had seen her since his wife's death. Michelle was concerned why Jack was torturing himself by seeing Nina. She said that Mason was right; he should just leave. A phone rang and Michelle answered; it was for Jack. She handed him the phone and he was put on the line with President David Palmer. He hung up shortly after, and Michelle asked what was happening. After a few moments, Jack angrily whispered that CTU was going to let Nina go.

Kevin managed to get the CTU systems back up, and Michelle told him to skip virus checks and just get them back online. Jack approached her and asked for Mason's log sheets for the last twelve hours, wanted to know everywhere he had been. Michelle said that Jack was not cleared for that intelligence, but he said that there was something wrong with Mason, who he felt may not be fit to run CTU. Jack said that he knew what he was doing, having run CTU in the past himself. She helped him get the files and Jack learnt of Mason's radiation poisoning, which he used to as leverage to be able to interrogate Nina. Michelle and Kevin managed to finish setting up the video feeds into the interrogation rooms a short while later.

7:00am-8:00am

Michelle tells Jack about the bombing and he is furious about it. He contacted Lynne Kresge a half an hour before the explosion and told her about the bombing. Michelle also told Jack that she wasn't able to locate Kim, as Kim left for the hospital when Megan Matheson suffered a head injury outside of CTU. When Tony began to worry that it will be his fault if Paula dies, as he was the one who recruited her to CTU, Michelle comforted him and told him it wasn't his fault.

With help from Paula, Michelle was able to find the key to decrypt the files CTU transferred to NSA. Mason orders for the paramedics to bring Paula to the hospital, but she died shortly after she helped Michelle decrypt the files. Tony felt guilty over her death and Mason asked Michelle to escort Jack out of CTU. Jack refused to leave CTU and he asked Michelle to ask Mason where he has been for the past few hours. When Jack learned that Mason was exposed to radiation poison, he used this to blackmail him into allowing him to interrogate Nina Myers, who gave Wald the schematics of CTU.

Michelle watches the interrogation of Nina Myers

Nina was one of Jack's closest allies and former lover, as well as the former girlfriend of Tony. She was arrested for treason and for the murder of Jack's wife Teri. Mason didn't want Jack to be alone with her, so he and Michelle watched Jack's interrogation of her through a video monitor. Nina agreed to help find the nuclear bomb if she was granted a full presidential pardon. President Palmer and Jack were forced to comply to these demands. Michelle was ordered to assemble a team together, as Jack needed to transport Nina to Visalia in order to get information on the nuke.

During the plane ride to Visalia, Jack drugged Ed Miller so he wouldn't be kept under watch when he was with Nina. Michelle learned about this and told Mason about it. Michelle was able to keep in contact with Jack through the wires on Nina, and she kept him informed on the situation. When Nina met with Mamud Rasheed Faheen, the two of them spoke in Arabic to each other. Michelle used an interpreter in order to translate the conversation to Jack. Michelle wasn't able to confirm the man that Nina spoke to was Faheen, so Jack held off the raid on the building. After the transmission goes out, Jack ordered SWAT into the building.

While Michelle translated all of the conversations between Nina and Faheen, she received a call from Kim Bauer. Kim told her that she was placed under arrest, as she and her boyfriend were accused of Carla Matheson's murder. Michelle patched Kim over to Jack's cell phone, but during the call, Nina and Faheen began to speak in hushed tones. Michelle didn't understand what they discussed and Nina killed Faheen. Michelle looked at the transcripts and learned the name Marko Khatami was mentioned. She did a background check on Khatami and learned he was connected to Syed Ali, the leader of the terrorist group Second Wave.

Michelle talks with George Mason and Tony

When Michelle became weary from the stressfulness of the day, Tony comforted her. Michelle then found proof that the plane Jack and Nina were on was shot down, and she presented it to Mason. While Michelle was with Mason, his nose began to bleed. She confronted Tony and told him that she knew about Mason's radiation poisoning, as she also knew about a HAZMAT team being present at Panorama City. Tony confirmed that Mason had radiation poison and would most likely be dead by the end of the day. When Michelle began to question Mason's leadership skills, Tony defended him and insisted George could lead them through the time of crisis.

Mason confided in Michelle that he always wanted to be a teacher and only took a government job because the Department of Defense offered him more money. George told Michelle that she should choose a profession that made her happy and live her life. After the discussion, Michelle confronted Tony and admitted she had feelings for him, and wanted to start a romantic relationship. Tony admitted to Michelle that he also had feelings for her, but became cautious after his relationship with Nina. The two of them agree to go out on a date if they survive the nuclear crisis. Tony later confronted Michelle and told her he was eager to start over with her.

Michelle had an imaging expert brought into CTU and she has him analyze a charred paper found in Syed Ali's clothes. The expert is able to identify that the phrase NS4 is on the paper, and Michelle crosschecks it. When Ali claimed the nuclear bomb was at the Norton Airfield, Michelle was able to assume that NS4 was the location of the bomb. Tony then asked for Michelle to send a team to pick up Ali, but Mason ordered all field agents to go to the airfield. Michelle then began to worry that Division would oversee the investigation, and Tony felt that the only move Division would make is replace Mason.

Brad Hammond arrived at CTU to investigate it's condition, and Mason suggested he was in fine health and CTU was operational. The imaging technician, Randy Murdoch, is able to narrow down the information on the charred paper, and Michelle confirms that one of the phrases is a location at Norton Airfield. When Jack discovered that the bomb at Norton Airfield was a decoy, Michelle passed the Intel over to Tony and Mason, who were visibly upset.

Michelle questions terrorist leader Syed Ali

Carrie Turner arrived at CTU as a replacement for Paula, and she had tension with Michelle. Carrie was previously Michelle's boss at Division, and now Michelle out-ranked her. When Mason decided to step down from CTU, he gave his access codes to Tony, who was promoted to the director of CTU. Tony gave a speech to the CTU staff about Mason's departure, and Michelle commended him for it. Michelle then watched over Yusuf Auda, a Middle Eastern liaison that was brought into CTU.

Michelle discovered an audio recording encrypted on Syed Ali's hard drive. It served as evidence that proved Ali's terrorist actions were funded by three Middle Eastern countries. Michelle ordered a voice point authentication, to prove that the recording was reliable evidence. Tony then informed her that Jack parachuted out of the plane that carried the nuclear bomb, and Mason flew it into the Mojave Desert. Michelle sent a helicopter to pick up Jack and bring him back to CTU.

Michelle interrogated Syed Ali and played the recording for him. Ali claimed that the conversation never happened and the Cyprus recording had to be fabricated. Michelle submitted this evidence to Tony, but he was convinced that the recording was valid. Tony agreed to share both parts of the story to the Cabinet, and Michelle felt the US would enter war. She confronted Jack and told him about Ali's statement and the recording. Jack agreed to help prove the Cyprus was fabricated if Kim was found. After Ali was murdered by Jonathan Wallace, Michelle told Jack about Yusuf. Jack told Michelle to trust Yusuf and he escaped from CTU with Kate Warner, which caused him to break Tony's ankle.

Michelle speaks with Tony in private

Tony confronted Michelle and asked her if she was involved with the escape of Jack and Kate. Michelle denied being involved and told Tony that Carrie wanted to move forward with her career. When an error signal popped up on Michelle's system, she went away from her station to fix the problem. While she was away, Carrie manipulated her outside links so her communications would be able to be tracked. While at her station, Michelle received a call from her brother Danny. Danny began to ask about the nuclear explosion in the Mojave Desert, and Michelle told him she couldn't enclose any information to him. Danny threatened to call Carrie for the information and after the call, Michelle erased it from her call log.

Michelle was then contacted by Jack, who needed satellite feed. He, Kate, and Wallace were ambushed by assailants, and Jack needed satellite feed of the warehouse. Michelle knew that Carrie had her under watch, so she pulled up several different satellite images. Carrie confronted Michelle about what she was doing, and Michelle dismissed her and went into the restroom in order to place a call to Jack. She sends the satellite feed to Jack's PDA and after she left the restroom, Tony confronted her on if she aided Jack. Michelle told Tony she didn't help Jack, but told him to warn President Palmer to stop any retaliation until Jack found the evidence.

When Tony learned that a gunfight ensued in Studio City, he assumed it involved Jack and he confronted Michelle about it. She dialed Jack's number and handed the phone over to Tony. She apologized for her deception and expected to get fired, but Tony told her to get back to work. Tony then warned President Palmer about a the Cyprus recording possibly being falsified. Tony then witnessed an argument between Carrie and Michelle, and Michelle caused Carrie of sabotage.

Tony and Michelle discuss the Cyprus recording and Jack Bauer

Tony confronted Michelle about her dispute with Carrie. Michelle confessed that her brother left his wife for Carrie, and Carrie stopped talking to him. Michelle promised to not let the problem interfere with her work, but Danny arrived at CTU. Michelle attempted to get him to leave, but he saw Carrie and confronted her. Danny physically attacked Carrie, and security guards placed him into custody. Michelle was horrified and Tony comforted her, which caused them to pull into a passionate kiss. Carrie witnessed the action and Michelle is convinced she will use the information against Tony.

Michelle then received a call from Jack and she told Tony about it. The service was cut off and Michelle tried to locate him. Eventually she and Jack got back into contact and he gained possession of the chip that proved the Cyprus was fabricated, but it was damaged by white supremacists. Michelle attempted to access the chips contents and the audio files weren't retrievable. Michelle was able to find the chip's programmer through the sequence of the junk code. She traced the sequence to a man named Alex Hewitt, a hacker who worked for the State Department and was fired after manipulation of files.

Michelle argues with Carrie Turner

Michelle is arrested

When Ryan Chappelle arrived at CTU and took command of it, he ordered for Michelle and Tony to not work on the Cyprus recording. He was convinced that retaliation against the Middle Eastern countries would take place, as the 25th Amendment was being activated. Carrie confronted Michelle on what she worked on, and Michelle lied to her in order to brush her off. Carrie reported to Chappelle and Tony about Michelle's secret operations.

When Tony was reassigned, Michelle asked him to help her assist Jack. Michelle brought Chappelle to a holding cell and Tony drugged him. Michelle then ordered for a helicopter to pick-up Jack, Hewitt, and Sherry Palmer, but it was too late as Hewitt was killed. When Michelle began to leave CTU, Carrie stopped her and asked her where she was going to. Carrie is distrustful of Michelle's explanation, as Michelle goes into a CTU van in order to connect to Hewitt's computer.

Jack explains to Michelle about Hewitt's program and she found thousands of voice samples. Michelle walked Jack through the process, but Division agents surrounded the van and placed her under arrest. Brad Hammond had arrived at CTU and took control of it, as he wasn't able to get in touch with Chappelle and Carrie requested for him to come. Michelle sat in a holding cell with Tony and she told him she wouldn't allow him to take the blame for what happened to Chappelle.

Ryan Chappelle speaks with Michelle and Tony

Michelle and Tony waited in their holding cell for their punishment, when Chappelle arrived in the room. Chappelle asked Tony and Michelle to get him in touch with Jack, and he wouldn't pursue any charges if they helped him. Chappelle was convinced that Jack was right and with help from Tony and Michelle, he was able to place a wire on Sherry Palmer.

Sherry met with Peter Kingsley and her conversation with him proved that the audio recording was fabricated. After Kingsley realized Sherry played him, he ordered his men to kill her. However, Jack was able to kill all of the hostiles and Sherry ran off. Jack ended up in a fight with one of the hostiles, which exhausted him. After he lost all of his energy, Kingsley approached him and Jack ran out of ammunition. Kingsley prepared to kill Jack, but Agent Tom Baker and field agents arrived, and they killed Kingsley.

Michelle agrees to go on a date with Tony

President Palmer regained his presidency from Vice President Jim Prescott and Michelle told Tony she was going to go home. Tony thanked Michelle for sticking with her gut feeling, even if it meant acting against him, and he told her that he would like to go out with her sometime.

Michelle Dessler on...

Day 2 · Day 3 · Day 4