Michael's face showed his anxiety as he told Card, his former training officer, "you're 30 seconds late," an intolerable Faux pas for a CIA officer – especially one who had climbed all over him for the same offense years previously. "I'll make it up to you," Card said, and outlined that the agency was willing to make his "get Fiona out of jail project" a reality IF only she would first prove her "friendship" by giving up her weapons supplier, Greyson Miller. Card said there was absolutely NO other choice so Michael agreed – now all they needed to do was convince Fiona! At the loft Sam was eating his Chinese takeout on the steps because Rebecca was inside – in a mood. She was refusing to even help find her brother, Trent Lang, claiming it was "too sensitive." Michael had to back her down and was able to obtain that her brother had been an accountant for the nightclub Amnesia and discovered that it was a front for a syndicate run by Hank Foster who eventually died in prison after Trent went to the FBI. His son, Wes, had since made it his life's project to hunt down and kill Trent requiring that he go into hiding. Anson had discovered Trent's whereabouts which is what he had been using as blackmail by threatening to tell Wes the hiding place. Michael decided that if he couldn't find Trent he would go after Wes and convince him that it was someone else besides Trent who had informed to the FBI – as Sam says: "Easy Peasy." Jesse and Nate were dispatched to Tallahassee to shake down Hank's 'real' old prison buddy, Butch McCall, for private info that would help Mike sell his cover as a cell mate.
[Back to the writer's old habits] Nate ragged on Jesse over Jesse's Porsche's
"hard as a park bench" seats and needing to listen to
"five hours of Queen," which was all too
"shrilly." Then, when McCall wouldn't cooperate, he got himself shocked with his own cattle-prod; because he
"didn't use two hands." Mike used all the minutiae obtained by Jesse to sell his ID as
Freddie Kupfer, a backgammon partner of Hank's in prison. He noticed that Wes' wife,
Donna, had an attitude so implied that Hank had said he didn't think
"she would let you off your chain." He told Wes his dad had said:
"Wes needs to know he's chasing the wrong guy, it wasn't Trent that dropped the dime." He said the info came from an incarcerated ex-D.A. who had been beaten up and that there was a record of it in storage they could go get. Mike asked Sam and Rebecca to go plant a fictitious file they could "find"; which would be vague, stating it was an
"un-named informant," but point away from Trent. Rebecca sulked about Mike not having promised him a
"walk on the moon too," and Sam retorted:
"don't get him started… I don't have any buddies at NASA." Even though he was warned they only had about a minute, Wes' arrogant blundering got them found out so Mike had to choke a guard unconscious in order to keep him from being killed. Then, Sam and Rebecca had to stage a reluctant diversion which nearly got them bit by guard dogs then chased at high speed through town; until, they deliberately ramped off a pier into the river where Jesse, who had been summoned by phone, was waiting in a boat. While Mike was waiting to rappel from the roof, he finally had a chance to answer Fiona's call to find out her predicament; but, not being able to say anything to her because of Wes being there, he just remained silent. She understood the pause and observed:
"so quiet, must be serious." He told her
"I'll get it done." Card broke in and told him to
"abandon whatever reindeer games you're currently involved in and get on this!" Michael simply said
"I'm going as fast as I can" then hung up and had to tap-dance an explanation to Wes.
One more phone call from Card while they were escaping and Mike could only find out that he had just one hour; because, annoyed, Wes grabbed the phone from him. Back at Wes' house, Mike was surprised when the guy jumped immediately on the "un-named source" as being Donna, his wife. He said
"I don't buy it," so Mike had to continue to sell it pointing out the "icy reception" she had given him and that she had made his own father die in prison. He advised Wes not to kill her, like he had planned to do when he found the informant, only to
"kick her out and not look back." Eventually that's what he did and told Mike:
"Anything you need, you just ask." That put Mike with thirty minutes to get all wired up and down to the marina to sell guns for Fiona. When Card started to micro-manage him at the gun buy, he told Card that he had been
"able to function in the field for six years without you." "No joke," Card retorted without taking any of Michael's guff,
"the best years of my life there pal!" The absence of Michael's suit, Fiona's long absence then a call
"with a deal too good to be true," caused Miller to pull a gun; so, Mike had to say that Fiona had
"headed back to Ireland with this brit" and was trying to buy him off. Miller tossed Mike the cash, Mike threw him the keys to the trunk and the SWAT trucks came rolling in. Mike had to disarm Miller who was making death threats; then, broke his thumb while saying disdainfully:
"you think Fi would replace me with a brit?" Mike snapped
"is the agency happy?" to Card who shot back:
"take a breath… you're allowed to be human every once in awhile." He then added that Fiona
"was an official company asset" and could
"come to the CIA company picnic." He told Mike that
"now it is up to you to apprehend her 'get out of jail free' card. (Anson)" At the loft, Mike told Rebecca that her brother was safe now and she finally revealed that she could
"tell them the exact location of the hotel in Atlantic City where Anson is expecting his next drop (of money and travel documents)." Mike promised her that "
Anson will get what he deserves" when she demanded that there be
"no deals, no negotiations and no compromises."
Fiona was apparently still fuming against Card for taking Michael away from her in Ireland. He told her that not having her as a fan
"was something I've learned to live with"; but her giving up Miller and becoming a CIA asset would get her out of jail – besides Michael "
is for it because he wants you home." She agreed and said she needed the picture frame she had given last year to Madeline. When Card brought Madeline, and wouldn't let her chit-chat with Fiona, she angrily told him to "back off" – after all, an 'old lady' tantrum had always worked with Michael and his friends before. Card merely looked amused and condescendingly told her
"I am just concerned with national security, Fiona's freedom and getting a dangerous gun runner off the streets; but, by all means, you take… your… time!" which put her in her place. Fiona extracted a cell phone chip from inside the frame and said that was a data card of all her contacts. Card handed her a cell phone set up to mimic that it was her phone from inside Miami and said that
"officially, Fiona Glenanne was never arrested." She told Miller that she'd been out of the country and needed cash so she wanted to sell back her last shipment of guns. He bargained
"five grand," only a tenth of what she had paid,
"take it or leave it." She reluctantly agreed after calling him a "bastard." He countered with
"it's you or Michael or no deal." Unfortunately, that put Michael in a bind as he was literally right in the middle of a heist at the police station with Wes and couldn't tell them about it! When Mike finally got free and called, Card told Fiona
"I guess your boyfriend really can be everywhere at once." Then when he revealed that he had arranged for some "takeout food" for her supper, she shot back
"you think lousy take-out is going to make me forgive you?" That seemed to anger him so he finally revealed to her that Michael's cover was imminently going to be blown and he was refusing to leave Ireland without her. He had dropped everything to make sure that neither of them were killed.
"So," he argued,
"for all the happy memories that you've made so far with Michael Westen, the fun, the excitement… the felonies… you… are… welcome!" Which, it seems, finally made her speechless.
