Ira Gaines

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24 character
Ira Gaines
Gender	Male
Jobs held	Mercenary U.S. Navy SEAL
Affiliation	Andre Drazen
Family	NA
Spouse	NA
Current status	Deceased
Portrayed by	Michael Massee
Seasons	1

Ira Gaines is a fictional character from first season of the television series 24. He was played by Michael Massee.

[edit] Prior to Day 1

Gaines earned a degree in chemical engineering from MIT and later served as a Navy SEAL during Operation Desert Storm before being dishonorably discharged. During his subsequent career as a mercenary, he assassinated a Colombian judge and a French investment banker, in addition to masterminding a bank robbery. This got the attention of Andre and Alexis Drazen, who hired him to oversee their plot to kill Senator David Palmer and frame Jack Bauer for the crime. Though Gaines suspected the Drazens had a personal grudge against Palmer and Jack Bauer, he felt that it was better not to know too much about his employers' motivations.

[edit] Day 1

Gaines hired Mandy to steal the ID of Martin Belkin, a photographer attending an event with Palmer, who was now a Presidential candidate. Mandy then blew up the plane Belkin was traveling aboard to eliminate him. Their plan was to have Jonathon, a man surgically altered to look like Belkin, infiltrate the event. Gaines was impressed with Mandy's work and suggested a job that might be open for her in the summer, though Mandy was uninterested.

The plan was stalled briefly, when Mandy's partner Bridgit hid the ID and demanded two million dollars, rather than the one million they had originally agreed on. Gaines was furious but had no choice to agree. Once Bridgit took him and Mandy to the ID's location, however, he had Jonathon kill Bridgit with a sniper rifle. He also threatened to to the same to Mandy unless she agreed to his summer job (what this job entailed, or if it was even carried out has never been made clear on the show).

Gaines arranged the abduction of Jack's wife Teri Bauer and daughter Kim Bauer using Kevin Carroll, Rick Allen, and Dan Mounts. He also monitored Jack's workplace at CTU with the help of a mole in the office, Jamey Farrell.

Gaines called Jack and threatened to kill Kim if he did not follow Gaines' instructions. First he had Jack return to CTU and contact Secret Service to arrange for clearance at the event Palmer was attending. When Jack's co-worker Nina Myers became suspicious, Gaines forced him to sneak her out of CTU at gunpoint and kill her. Jack, however, had managed to place a flak jacket over her, so that she was unharmed when he shot her.

Gaines then sent Jack to Palmer's event where he was to give Jonathon components to complete a rifle. It was then that Jack realized Gaines' plan was to frame him for Palmer's assassination. Jack, however, managed to create a disturbance, prompting Secret Service agents to move Palmer to safety. Gaines nearly had Teri and Kim killed for this, however Jack managed to convince Gaines, he wasn't responsible, and Gaines decided to spare their lives, believing they may still be useful.

At this point, Gaines' plan began to unravel. First, he lost contact with Jamey after she was exposed as a mole, then Jack managed to capture Kevin Carroll and force him to take Jack to Gaines' compound were his family was being held. Finally, Rick turned against Gaines and helped the Bauer family to escape.

After Andre Drazen made it clear that Gaines would be killed if he did not kill Jack, Gaines had his men search the surrounding forest for Jack and his family. Gaines managed to corner Jack, pinning him down with rifle fire, but Jack fired back and wounded Gaines.

Jack tried to offer Gaines protection from his employers in return for his cooperation. Gaines refused however, insisting that the Drazens were too powerful for CTU to protect him. (He was likely right, given that Nina Myers would eventually be uncovered as another CTU mole working with the Drazens.) In what was an apparently suicidal gesture, Gaines muttered "good luck" to Jack and tried to turn his gun on him. Jack then shot and killed him.