For one brief shining moment...

...there was what looked like an start of a real season of 24. But, then, it was gone.

Now we are just getting silly. In all seriousness, who does not side with the VP on this one? Lets be objective for a moment. A man that has been in Chinese custody for over two years, who comes back to the United States under a strange sort of "deal", wants to take classified materials BACK to the Chinese which would render the entire Russian military defenseless to an attack by the Chinese in exchange for one person who, with no confirmation from anyone BUT Jack, is allegedly being held by them?

Are you kidding?

Lets be honest, the answer to Jack's request is "no" and, then, the State department gets on the phone and contacts China and demands the release of Audrey Raines. You leak it to the press and get Sec'y Heller on the t.v. demanding that his daughter is set free. In this fashion, you get the moral high ground, look good in the eyes of the world and, in the same stroke, make your "competitors" look bad and force them to apologize for the actions of a rogue official who must, now, come to America (if he is not already here) to face charges.

As I have always said, in fiction, you can ask the audience to believe the impossible, but not the improbable.