Burn Notice Good Soldier

[Midseason teaser finale] Sam’s contact found that Bill Johnson, Carla’s sniper, was in Daytona blowing off steam. So, Michael Westen decided to throw caution to the wind and use his duplicate key card to get in and search the building that he had seen Johnson go into. The entire 4th floor was empty, except that he noticed the conference table, in a window lined room, had been moved. Tiny screw holes in the table indicated a gun perch. He noticed that the table and perch now pointed directly at a the point in the bay where a ferry passed, so he surmised that there would be a killing of someone on the boat. Of course, Carla showed up on her motorcycle just while M was in the building so he had to flee; but Sam put a tracking device on her bike. Sam began staking out Carla who was residing in a high class hotel. She swims well and is exceedingly careful to never talk in the open where anyone could use a rifle-microphone. She also had face recognition lock hardware installed on her hotel door. Sam collected all the room soaps and lotions which the attendants left and also found that the boat didn’t take reservations, so there was no way of telling who would be on it even if they found a date and time. While mike was hiding his duplicate key card in a slick in his door jam, Fiona brought Campbell over to taunt him. Campbell needed to ask M if he would do a job. One of the victims he’d been called out on in an ambulance run had been beaten up.  Even though M initially said no, Fiona manipulated him into acquiescing.

 

Henry, the manager of a private body guard company was beaten up by Lesher, a kidnapper, in order to get Henry to help them do a job. When Henry refused, Lesher killed Henry's boyhood friend and said there would be more unless Henry let him see personnel files on the people guarding a Venezuelan family, the Arroyos -- specifically the daughter Isabella. M had Fiona set him up with a cover ID as a body guard having a personnel file showing that he had a drinking problem, some money issues, an ex-wife and a couple of kids. That way, the surmised, Lesher would choose him to help with the kidnapping. Fiona incessantly kept trying to get M to comment on Campbell but she didn't want to hear Ms reply that "he's nice." M went to his mother’s for a “family thing” and found it to be a celebration for Nate’s new limo company. He had gotten his mother to mortgage her house for the money, for which M took umbrage, Nate storm out of the room and Madeline rag about not "supporting your brother."  "well, I’ll just let myself out," M said to no one.  M told Henry that he’d “done this before” and that he was just going to let slip enough information to make Lesher realize that this kidnapping wasn’t worth the effort. Lesher did pick M, targeted him at a bar and hinted at offering him a job, all the while M was pretending to be drunk and complaining that his ex wanted him to go to church all the time. Meanwhile, Sam saw that Carla was having lots of meetings with unknown international types. He was also able to obtain a copy of the hotel’s master key, along with a photo of the “room service guy” so M could get past facial recognition. M was able to find Carla’s slick and photographed pages of plans and operatives that she had hidden there, including: Jimmy, Nefzi, Bill Johnson, an unknown operative, Michael and Victor – but, no sniper target!

 

M told Lesher that he could "check him out" the next day when he dropped off Isabella to the country club. He also said that there were several more security guards than just him – "watchers watching the watchers" – and planted a bug in Lesher's car. Fiona monitored the bug while Sam and Nate acted as the extra security guards. Fiona ate Ms last yogurt then needled him that Campbell had made the tuna tahini but it was so good that they didn't save him any. M had to tell Fiona, yet another time, that Campbell was “nice.” Carla called M saying that she had a report of someone “using a keycard at a certain building” – M played innocent, saying he had given her all the keycards but he’d be happy to take her number and call her if he found anything. She warned him that things were “in the works, far, far over your head… and there will be consequences.” He said he was a “good little soldier.” Nate told M that he was trying to turn his life around when M paid him to bring him limo and look serious. Lesher was impressed with the extra security and his accomplice was scared; but, he said the kidnapping had to go on because the people paying for the job had a multinational oil concession riding on getting the girl. Lesher then beat up M with the but of his gun and threatened to kill Ms fictitious wife and kids, demanding that he was "now going to help take the girl." M played like he was becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the whole situation. Campbell sewed up Ms head.  M said he had to convince Lesher that he "just didn’t care if he called the police."

 

Bill Johnson came back into town and Carla began having more meetings. M called Lesher in the middle of the night, saying that he wasn’t going to help any more, and used Bible Proverbs 27:17 to pretend that he had been "enlightened" and saw that Lesher "was only an angel sent to tempt him." The next day Lesher still couldn’t convince M to help, so he feigned calling off the snatch; of course, he then sent a hit man which M had to lock in his trunk. Henry called to say the job was still on only using a new security guard and Lesher now wanted Henry to help kill the guard. M told him that he should still just cooperate with Lesher but “when you see me, run.” Just before the snatch, M ran his car into the side of Lesher's car pinning them inside; then, stuck a “list of sins” on their windshield for the cops to see who were just then coming because someone had previously called them. Later, Fiona told M that Lesher had "tripped and fell on a knife" in jail. Again Fiona asked M if he liked Campbell. M said “I’m happy that he makes you happy,” which Fiona said she still didn’t believe.

 

Madeline called all frantic that some men were there arresting Nate claiming that Nate's business was merely a money laundering company. She also said that a woman named Carla had called to say that "Nate was in trouble and that M should stay out of other people’s business." Sam reported that Carla was just then on the move, so they all went down to the dock following her. M saw that Carla was meeting with the one operative that they couldn't recognize in her photos. He also recognized that Carla's people were now surrounding them, so surmised the hit was on and that she wanted him to be there to watch it happen, or to be set up in some way. He escaped on a stolen motorcycle, with Fiona’s help, trying to get back to the loft for the keycard, so he could go to the building where Johnson would be to prevent the shooting. He avoided Carla's goons but then Carla chased him on her motorcycle. M needed to escape by sliding under a semi-truck’s trailer, where she decided not to follow. M had just gotten back to the loft and was opening the door when Sam called to say that the sniper had been blown up by someone who had planted a bomb on his front door. M jumped back over the stair-rail just as his own door blew to smithereens in a fireball … (to be continued).