James Heller
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James Heller is a fictional character from the TV series 24, played by William Devane.
Heller received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Yale University. A loyal public servant for several years, he served in the Army as a pilot and air defense artillery officer, obtaining the rank of Captain, and became a reservist upon his retirement from active duty. After a stint as CEO of Anderson Aerospace, he served as a Congressman and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the Commission to Assess National Security Policy. He was also director of the President's Economic Stabilization Program. Heller was appointed Secretary of Defense under President John Keeler and retains this position under President Charles Logan. Heller is the father of his senior policy analyst, Audrey Raines. He was widowed. His son, Richard, is an activist who frequently participates in anti-government/anti-corporate protests, much to his father's chagrin. Heller refers to his son's ideology as "6th Grade Michael Moore logic."
Before Day 4, Heller hired Jack Bauer as a special advisor following his dismissal from CTU. During that day, Heller and his daughter are kidnapped by a terrorist group, which planned to broadcast his execution over the internet. They were rescued by Jack, and Heller coordinated CTU's pursuit of terrorist leader Habib Marwan. After spending several hours directing operations in CTU-Los Angeles, he is eventually transferred to Division when the threat escalates. Neither Heller nor his daughter were part of the tight circle that helped fake Jack's death to avoid an international incident with the Chinese.
At the start of Day 5, Heller is attending a summit in Japan. While on his private jet on the return trip, Audrey telephoned him and told him that it was urgent that he redirect the plane to land in Los Angeles. Jack meets him at Van Nuys Airport to give him evidence implicating President Logan in the death of David Palmer. After hearing the recording, Heller feels the best course of action is to personally meet with Logan and try to quietly force his resignation. He leaves the recording with one of his security officers and orders Jack and Audrey to be kept in custody until he returns. After he leaves, Christopher Henderson locates Jack at the Van Nuys airport and forces him to surrender the recording while holding Audrey at gunpoint. Heller's plan backfires when Logan, notified by Henderson that the tape has been recovered, informs Vice President Hal Gardner that he is forcing Heller's resignation because of his unsubstantiated allegation that he was complicit in Palmer's death.
After Henderson is captured by Jack, Henderson reveals he has his men on standby to kill Heller. The men have orders to kill Heller if Henderson does not make contact with them every fifteen minutes. Jack calls Heller to ask him if any of Henderson's men are visible, and Heller informs him that a man from a hovering helicopter has a laser sight on him. Jack is insistent on letting Henderson go to save Heller. Heller, however, asks Jack's forgiveness for not trusting him earlier, and wasn't going to let his life get in the way. On the phone, Heller speaks his last words, "Tell Audrey I love her." He then hangs up, and in a suicidal gesture, drives his car off the cliff into a lake. His car is last seen impacting the water of the lake. While it appears Heller resigned himself to committing suicide, Henderson mentions to Audrey the possibility that Heller could still escape from the car and survive. This may have also just been a trick by Henderson so Audrey would let him go. In the episode [[3:00AM-4:00AM (24 Season 5)|3:00AM-4:00AM]] it was revealed that Heller survived the crash and was in ICU. Unconfirmed reports on various 24 fan sites suggest that Heller may return as President in Day 6 due to the death of Hal Gardener before or early in day 6. A flaw in this theory is the fact that the Secretary of Defense is fifth in line for the Presidency after the Vice President. This means Hal Gardeners's death would only make him fourth in line. The writers would have to either make a huge divergence from fact or kill off several high-ranking politicians. Or Heller could end up as Gardener's Vice President.
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