What Michael had done seemed to have left him completely stuporous and incapacitated. It was bad before Sam ran down the hall from where Michael had secluded him and when he got there it got worse. What has often seemed to be the only link Michael had with a moral center this whole season burst through the broken door, saw Card's gun in his holster and went ballistic! "I was right down the hall, why didn't you come get me before you made that call, huh?" Sam demanded. "Because you know damn well I'd have something to say about it!" To top it off, Card's team was coming from the elevator and - unbelievably - Mike decided to move a table in front of the door before they both climbed up to the next floor from the balcony. They counted on at least a few minutes before the building was completely sealed but didn't count on Agent Olivia Riley running the show and her lightening-fast lock-down. Neither Fiona nor Jesse could find an uncovered exit – Michael and Sam were trapped. The only way Michael could see out was to create confusion by letting himself be seen on a security camera rendering a guard unconscious. Riley did fall for it and sent her team to the floor, but they only found Sam dressed as a security employee hovering over the unconscious man. He sent the agents down the stairwell while he rescued the man down the elevator - Mike standing on top of the car and able to escape out the shaft on the floor above, the access to the parking garage. He stole a heavy, older car and created an opening in the wall where Fiona and Jesse were waiting. Unfortunately, Sam wasn't as lucky. Riley seemed to surmise the whole scheme and trapped Sam, knowing his name and who he was.
Mike had just as much trouble explaining what he'd done to Jesse and Fiona as he had with Sam.
"Card had a jammer… so there is no tape of the bug," he defended. (Forensics?)
"Afraid not. It'll look like Card killed Tyler Gray in self-defense… when I shot Card it wasn't in self-defense," he admitted. They were spotted and chased. And, when Fiona couldn't out-run them she pulled into a parking space and let them pass by. Sam was claiming that he had only been asked to drop Mike off and barely knew him. Unfortunately, Mike tried to call him and Riley hooked the phone up to tracing equipment which didn't let the caller know it had been answered so they could get a fix on Mike's phone. Mike called
Madeline to meet at 9am where dad took him fishing when he was twelve; then, took out the battery and sim card, breaking the connection. It was their first break - not long enough for Riley to get a lock on them although they knew the car was heading toward Homestead.
"Put a flag on that line. If it goes live again I want Westen in 'surround sound'." She outlined their next steps while facing away from Sam. But she changed her plans after watching Sam's reflection on the screen of her phone and seeing him flinch at the mention of a storage shed. Fortunately, Jesse had the foresight to pay off a guy at a gas station and they were warned two minutes out that Riley was coming. Mike decided to take the extra time to wire a bug into Fiona's license plate and took so long that Jesse had to scream
"Mike, I will leave you here, I'm not playing right now!" He did finish and escape in just enough time for him to hear Riley pull up and state that she could add Fiona to the list of accomplices, that they had just missed them because she could still smell burnt rubber, and tell Sam he had to decide how he
"wanted this to end for you. Either with a slap on the wrist or with life in prison." Sam told her that
"Mike was not the bad guy here" and that Card had caused the death of
Nate as well as tried to bomb them in Panama. They also now knew the name of their pursuer: a
"legend in counter-intelligence" who had written most of the books on the subject. They also listened as Riley brow-beat Sam into helping her, then as he sent her on a wild goose chase to Copperfield Marina. Mike impulsively began re-assembling his phone and Jesse had to grab it from him. Fiona suggested that they try and spring Sam on the road to the marina, which is what they decided to do.
Of course, we can't leave Madeline out from the investigation. Smooth-voiced, charismatic
Agent Harper visited and asked if she had heard from Mike. It was touch and go tap-dancing but she had been through these things with Michael enough to be extremely wary and was able to appear helpful with enough excuses to avoid telling them anything. She invited them inside for lemonade – probably just to keep from needing to wait alone and being kept in the dark. Although, she did begin pretending she was hard of hearing so they started talking in front of her. Riley showed Sam a surveillance photo of Mike heading to the marina and decided to move him instead to federal lock-up. Sam had to do some convincing in order to be kept where he could be rescued. Their plan was to place some synchronized blasts on both sides of a choke-point in order to separate and stop Riley's vehicles and they were all set up and watching when Riley's vans came down the road. Unfortunately, Riley chose that time to begin asking questions of Sam about the boat Michael intended to use which required Sam to fabricate some more of the story. And, she caught him in a lie so slammed on the brakes before they reached the explosives. She ordered her men to go on foot and then belittled them into breaking protocol and hand-disarm the detonators without waiting for the bomb squad. Realizing that Michael must be close enough to see them, she ordered her men to go
"take him out" and lamely excused herself to Sam that it was Michael who had turned it into a war. On lookout, Jesse saw what they were doing so they were able to create "Plan B." Jesse and Fiona went down into the storm drain while Michael used the phone to call Sugar realizing that Riley would rapidly latch on to their conversation.
Sugar was at his tailor's and told to merely
"say yes" to everything Michael asked him, to which he reluctantly complied really having no choice. He pretended that Sugar was coming with weapons and a helicopter to rescue them in order to force Riley's hand and get her to not wait for reinforcements. She sent her whole troop toward Michael badgering them, belittling them and egging them into
"taking the shot." She wanted Michael dead. Mike set up some C-4 to act as flaming clay and stuffed it with some bullets to act as a fake diversion to slow Riley's men down. Just as the guys had Mike cornered with his hands in the air, Riley was ordering "do not hesitate to take the shot." Jesse grabbed her radio and order
"do not take the shot." The agent radioed back for Riley to confirm the order and – captured at gunpoint – she agreed
"stand down." Michael walked through their scowly-faces and their threats:
"We'll take you down Westen, sooner or later." They decided to take Riley to the banks of a river an hour away from the nearest road. All the while she threatened and blustered about how great she was. Mike told her
"there's more to this than you know" and told her the truth about Card, Anson, Grey and what had happened.
"Card was running unauthorized ops around the globe and he wasn't going to stop. He used Anson, he used Grey and he was trying to use me. Now I didn't betray my country I was trying to protect it." Smirking and curling her lip like the bitch she is she told him:
"I… don't… care!" She was still bellowing
"I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth if I have to" as he calmly turned and walked away. In parting, he replied
"then I'll see you there."
The next day Michael kept his appointment with his mother at his dad's fishing spot. When he told her that he had killed Card she replied
"good, he deserved it." They looked at the ocean for a moment until Madeline asked
"It's not over, is it?" Mike told her that the CIA was now hunting not only him but Sam, Jesse and Fi as well because they had helped him escape. He still wanted her to leave but she said she had come up with a better idea.
"If all of you are going into hiding you're going to need a life-line to the outside world." She told him that there
"is a part of me that will NEVER get over what happened to Nate; but, if I don't forgive you, I'll loose you too." He told her that
"this is a fight I can't win" and she advised:
"well you have two choices. You can give up now… or you can go down swinging."
