Burn Notice Comrades

Michael Westen discovered that Carla’s cover in Kurdistan had been in agriculture. Fiona noticed a Lincoln Town Car following them and when M maneuvered to catch whoever was in it. He discovered that the driver was Nate who said that he had been following him in order to make sure that M wasn’t being followed. He said that he wanted M to help him with a problem that a Russian friend at work had. Katya said that her sister, Elena, had been trying to come to America and fell into the hands of some smugglers who were now ransoming her. Nate told Katya not to worry because "M does these things every day." Fiona was doing surveillance, hoping to track the slave-trader back to where the girls were being held, and Sam was working on trying to locate Carla's headquarters.  He contacted the secretary treasurer of the Agricultural Association of South Florida, President of the Miami Water Resources Board and Vice President of Soil Scientists, Harvey Gunderson, trying to get a list of agricultural specialists in the area. Harvey wolfed down his food, like he was entitled to everything he wanted, milking Sam for lunch without giving him any information. Sam came back with a $600 bill and said "I've had gunshot wounds that hurt less than this hangover."

 

M, Nate and Katya saw that Ivan, the man who had contacted Katya for ransom, had Russian prison tattoo’s all over him.  A spade meant that he was a thief, tiger meant enforcer and the skulls meant murderer.  Fiona said that Ivan only collected money and never went near the girls or made contact with them in order to prevent cops from being able to make a case against him. So, they decided to “do the interrogation thing” and sent Fiona to “bag him” which she did. Ivan knocked the stun gun out of her hand and when she grabbed it back he was holding onto her leg saying that she didn’t dare use it because she would be zapped too. He didn't know Fiona. She did, and they both went down for Sam to bundle up.  Then, even though they had Ivan gagged, Fiona told M that Ivan had "asked me to use the stun gun on him again" – using his expressive eyes. Sam’s sources found that Ivan was linked to a Russian syndicate which was active on the whole east coast and run by a guy named Takarov. Sam got excited to get back into his specialty, interrogation, and found an abandoned concrete plant which they set up to look very professional. Sam told Ivan that he wasn’t CIA but to just think of him as “Uncle – uncle Sam."  Then, realizing that Ivan was Gulag-Tough", Sam said that the only way to break him was to give him a "prison friend," for which MW was elected. Nate acted as a second guard. In order to get in character, M had to have Fiona slug him a couple of times to make real bruises. Seeing what was happening, Nate gave M a sucker punch and bloodied his nose.

 

The first thing M did was to pick a fight with Ivan using sambo, the mixed martial art of Russia, designed to sell his cover-ID. Ivan’s first revelation to M was that Takarov was near both a café and a deli, so Sam and Fiona found the place.  A thermal camera told them that the upper floor of the building was heat shielded. Sam faked a complaint with the food so Fiona could sneak upstairs to find that there was only software pirating going on. Then Fiona had to extract Sam from Tarkaov's goons by calling him “Daddy” and saying that he had dementia. Back with Gunderson, Sam had to break down the food slobbering, wine guzzling Gunderson by threatening him with the U.S.D.A.!  The fool said that he'd have the information the next day, in order to avoid loosing all his club affiliations.  Then, Ivan told M that only he knew the location of the safe-house where the girls were being kept and that if either anyone but him came to the house OR he didn’t come by Friday the girls would be killed. So, M decided that the only way to rescue Elena was to let Ivan escape and take him to the house thinking they were doing Tarkarov a favor by moving the girls.

 

At first Nate argued with M but then finally agreed. Of course Madeline was eavesdropping and tried to make M feel guilty for the way he treated Nate. She said that "his first word was Michael" but M reminded her that he had been there and he knew it to be “juice.” She countered with “well he was looking at you when he said it.” She said that Nate’s first serious trouble started right after M had left – so, she said, "you should give him a chance.” M had Ivan distract Nate while M could slip out of his handcuffs, then fought with Nate and finally shot him and Sam, outside the room, so Ivan would believe they were dead and take M to the girls. Sam and Fiona followed M and Ivan to Hialeah. After they got the girls into a van, M sent Ivan to tell Takarov what they had done. Sam, Fiona and M took down the guards and released the girls. Ivan had a rude awakening when he told Takarov what had happened. Later, M found that Takarov had skipped town and left Ivan’s body in a dumpster. Nate milked his feigned injuries which M had given him, to the max. M told Nate that he couldn’t have done it without him and that he "was not always right." Fiona complained that Sam had spent $1,350 on Gunderson and only got a P.O. Box: "0044 Coral Key." M and Fiona staked it out, which Fiona obviously hated to do and whined about the whole time.