Summary: A family with ties to a previous case are kidnapped; Don’s team must get them back and deal with the return of suspect wanted for murder.
Original air date: April 25, 2008 (US)
Written by: Don McGill
Directed by: Dennis Smith
Opening numbers:
4: Marines
2: Hostages
1.5: Million dollars
1: War
Family Concepts: (character development)
- Larry has a crisis of conscience regrding his Higgs Boson work
- Don and Robin are back together
- Larry and Amita spend at least twenty hours a week on Higgs boson work
- Colby was stationed in the Kunar Province while in Afghanistan
Episode Quotes:
- Colby: Maybe Charlie can slap it in one of those algorithmic, geo-profiling, hot zone, hot pocket deals.
Don: Put it just like that when you ask him. - Charlie: That cycle repeated over and over makes the game.
Colby: Things aren’t so clean in combat - Charlie: I’ve come upon an inconvenient truth …
- Don: I don’t like not being trusted. And yes I do get the irony.
Episode Synopsis:
A family enjoying a quiet night together are surprised by three men breaking into their home. One of the girls, Jenna, is in the kitchen when the break-in occurs and she is able to hide. When Don’s team arrives they find the family is related to Clay Porter, a man wanted for the murder of two serial killers in a previous FBI case (Thirteen). Jenna is able to identify the men involved in the kidnapping as members of Clay’s Marine squad in Iraq. Megan finds out Porter is back in the US as a picture of him is captured at the US/Mexico border. The team thinks the men from Porter’s squad: James Pinkney, Carlos Ruiz and their leader Ryan Ferraro want to use the family as bait to draw Porter in and kill him. Porter reported their abuse of an Iraqi detainee and Ferraro was arrested for the man’s death, and has escaped from a Marine brig.
David and Colby are able to arrest Porter at a convenience store, and are surprised when Don lets him go saying the lawyers would release him anyway. Don’s real motive is to keep Porter’s family alive and for David and Colby to follow Porter, hopefully to where the family is being held. The plan hits a snag when Porter leads them back to the convenience store he was arrested at and after a short conversation spikes the FBI car tires. David and Liz go to the home of Jake Renner, a helicopter pilot who helped Ferraro escape only to find him dead and Porter riding away from his apartment. While they initially suspect Porter of killing him, the autopsy report shows Renner has been dead for two days and was killed while Porter was in FBI custody.
Charlie’s models of how Ferraro should be moving aren’t working and he decides the reason is they had made the wrong assumption about what Ferraro’s plan is when he meets Porter. Colby finds out the detainee Ferraro had killed was responsible for the theft of $1.5 million and the man died while Porter was guarding him. Megan thinks that’s the reason Ferraro wants Porter alive, he thinks the Iraqi man told Porter where the money was hidden before he died.
The FBI gets a call about a duffel bag thrown in a dumpster and opening it they find the body of Clay Porter Sr along with a video of Laurie, Clay’s sister who is still alive. Porter surrenders at the FBI building saying he wants to see the body of his father. He is willing to sign a full confession regarding the murders in the previous case as long as the FBI can get Laurie back.
Charlie is able to figure out where Laurie is being held based in the flight pattern of planes heard on videos sent by her kidnappers. Porter demands to help and points out to Don the FBI needs him as bait in order to approach the house where Laurie is held. While the three are distracted by Porter, Don’s team is able to move in and rescue Laurie as well as re-arrest Ferraro.