George Mullen (Robert De Niro) tries to recall the conversation he had with Natan (Mark Ivanir) the night before. But he can't remember. Roger Carlson (Jesse Plemons) looks over to George concerned about his mental well-being, as the helicopter takes off for Manhattan. Sheila (Joan Allen) watches it depart. She is equally worried.
American media reports that the country is on high alert. Since they think only a country was capable of such an attack, everyone believes Russia was responsible.
Did the Russians orchestrate the cyber attack? Is George the right man to lead the Zero Day Commission? Here’s what happens in Zero Day episode 2...
Who killed the hackers?
Alexi Lebedev (Nikita Bogolyubov), a known Russian GRU officer, kills everyone at the Bronx hacking collective. Patrick O'Keefe (Jasjit Williams) turns up unexpectedly. Patrick is able to escape as Lebedev shoots at him.
The Zero Day commission learns about the murdered hackers. Security cameras show that Lebedev was responsible. But they don’t know Patrick’s identity yet.
When the facial recognition finally finds Patrick, it says that his identification is restricted. Turns out, Patrick worked for the US’ most elite hackers.
Meanwhile, Lebedev tracks Patrick to White Plains, where Patrick meets up with his sister Emma. Patrick plots to leave the country on a boat from Red Hook, saying that he thinks he’s made a mistake.
The Zero Day Commision
In a meeting at the Zero Day commission headquarters in downtown Manhattan, George is informed that no-one has a clue about what happened. There's not a single trace of how they did it. They also believe that the malware is still inside all of these devices, but is just sleeping, waiting to be woken up again.
President Evelyn Mitchell (Angela Bassett) tells George all signs point to Moscow. But George says they can't retaliate until they have definitive proof. Mitchell says the joint chiefs want them to strike back within 72 hours.
Later, Mitchell scolds George for not telling her that a known Russian operative was found at a mass murder scene. George says they need to find further proof. He is waiting to hear back from Natan. But Mitchell insists she needs to act soon because the country won't survive another cyber attack. Mitchell says George now has 48 hours before she launches a retaliation against Russia.
Alexandra looks over George
Richard Dreyer (Matthew Modine) calls Alexandra (Lizzy Caplan) and asks her to get close again with George, so they can ensure the commission is handled properly. Richard even appoints Alexandra to look over the commission, and George, to make sure it doesn't overstep its boundaries.
Roger visits Alexandra at her Tribeca apartment to try and convince her not to oversee the inspection of the commission. He believes that she’s just doing this to get back at her father. She refuses. Turns out they're also sleeping together, too.
Can we trust Roger?
Roger meets with the shady Robert Lyndon (Clark Gregg), who shorted the market the day before zero day. Robert tries to convince Roger that all eyes should be on Moscow. Robert clearly has dirt on Roger. He's surprised George still trusts Roger, and adds that George wouldn't if he knew what Robert does about Roger.
Sheila gets George some help
Sheila asks Valerie Whitesell (Connie Britton) to go back to working for George. Sheila says George is surrounded by people she doesn't trust. Sheila and Valerie used to be friends. It’s suggested that George had an affair with Valerie. She might even have given birth to their daughter.
Later, Sheila tells George she’s asked Valerie to be his chief of staff, a position she held when he was president. Sheila adds that Roger is just a body man, and is not up to the job. When George protests, Sheila says it's not up for discussion.
Did Anna survive?
Roger checks on George, saying his actions have been peculiar. But George insists he's fine. He tells Roger to confirm if Anna (Hannah Gross) died on Zero Day.
Roger goes to inspect Anna's burnt body. But when they open up her drawer at the morgue, her body is missing.
George insists he saw Anna 24 hours after she died, at the press conference outside of his house.
Roger gets a call from Anna’s mother, who says that they buried her this morning. When Roger tries to verify that she died on Zero Day, she starts to cry and hangs up on him. Roger’s concern for George’s mental condition grows.
George locates Patrick
George gets the name Patrick O'Keefe from an admiral he used to work with.
The Zero Day commission tracks Patrick to Red Hook. They zero in on him. But so does Lebedev. Just as Lebedev is about to shoot Patrick, Patrick is surrounded by police and arrested. As Lebedev leaves the port, he's purposely run over.
In his apartment, Roger is startled to see the man (Stass Klassen) who ran over Lebedev has broken inside. He gives Roger an envelope and a message: "Russia had nothing to do with Zero Day." Roger says evidence suggests otherwise. The man insists that Lebedev was working by himself.
While being interrogated, Patrick says he was appointed by Andy Franklin, not the Russians, to expose how dangerous the technology is that the government is developing. He calls them hacktivists, not spies or terrorists. Both George and Carl (McKinley Belcher III), a Zero Day investigator, don’t know if Patrick is telling the truth. Carl suggests they torture him. Especially as there is only three hours until Mitchell's speech.
Mitchell prepares to speak to the country
Mitchell prepares to give a speech to the country blaming the Russians and announcing their retaliation plans.
Roger gives Carl the envelope from the Russians. It's revealed that the hackers were funded by an account from North Dakota, connected to a radical left terrorist organization called the Reapers. The attack wasn't from Russia, it was homegrown.
George orders them to call the White House now. With 15 seconds left until her speech, Mitchell gets the note and cancels the speech blaming Russia.
George suddenly remembers one of the words that Natan uttered during their late-night call: Proteus.
What is Proteus?
George tells a gathered press conference that the attack wasn't done by foreigners, but that the virus used was developed by the National Security Organization. He adds it was stolen by a disgruntled employee and then deployed by the Reapers. He says the weapon is called Proteus.
Mitchell calls George and says it would have been simpler to blame Russia, especially as it would have united the country. She says he has opened the door for conspiracy theorists to blame anyone and everyone. George insists that if he's right, she gets the credit. If he's wrong, she can cut him loose. A worried Mitchell tells George she hopes he knows what he’s doing.
Afterwards, CIA director Jeremy Lasch (Bill Camp) tells Mitchell he believes that Mullen is up to something. Especially because the government program Proteus does exist, it is top secret, and it’s not what he thinks it is.
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