Palmer returns April 25 and will voice concerns about VP Logan (Gregory Itzin) and his ability to lead. Watch for Palmer to align himself with Jack and make things happen the way only a former top banana can. Then again, Palmer will have to watch his back (and hand) when Mandy (Mia Kirshner), America's favorite 747-detonating bisexual assassin, shows up at season's end.

Jack meanwhile, is about to get into one of his stickiest fixes yet when he discovers a Chinese national named Cheng (Tzi Ma) in cahoots with Marwan (Arnold Vosloo), the mastermind of all things terrible. Cheng takes refuge inside the Chinese consulate thinking nobody will touch him, but "Jack must commit a near act of war to avert catastrophe," Surnow says, by breaking into the consulate, at which time the counsel general is killed. "And-boy!-is somebody going to have to answer for that one," Surnow says.

Jack then must make an incredibly difficult decision when Paul and a vital witness ("somebody who can avert a horrific attack on the U.S.," according to Surnow) are both in need of medical attention and only one surgeon is available. Guess who wins? Sorry, you'll have to wait to find out. What we will tell you is that Raver describes the plot twist as "one of the more shocking scenes we've ever done." After that, Jack and Audrey's relationship "ends up in turmoil and their future is in doubt, " Raver says, something they'll struggle with for the rest of the season.

The truth is, nobody's future is ever really certain on 24. "The producers told me twice I was going to die-once last season, once this season, and look at me, I'm still here," says Reiko Aylesworth, who plays CTU head Michelle Dessler. The inside word is that Michelle and Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) will be working to get their romance going again, though Aylesworth let it slip that Dessler might commit suicide. Not that she knows for sure. "I'm not ungrateful or anything, but it's frustrating," she says. "If they're gonna do away with me, I wish they'd just do it already!" As with everything else on 24, only time will tell.