Episode 404: Breach of Faith

Breach of Faith
Season 4, Episode 4
Air date	June 24, 2010
Written by	Ben Watkins
Directed by	Jeremiah S. Chechik
Episode Guide
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Breach of Faith is the fourth episode of the fourth season and the forty-eighth episode overall.

Notes

• Clients: Josh Wagner
• Bad Guys: Kendra

Synopsis

The stakes become higher than expected when Michael and Sam are inadvertently dragged into a hostage situation at a local bank. Meanwhile, Fiona helps Jesse track down information about a recently deceased weapons runner.

Spy Facts

• Spies spend a lot of time traveling, but they don't usually end up in the most desirable destinations. You're much more likely to find yourself visiting a rebel camp in the Philippine jungle, or a hidden bunker in the mountains of Pakistan, than lounging beach-side in the Bahamas. But even when you do find yourself in a vacation paradise, it's still all about business.

• Like magicians, pickpockets rely on misdirection. Whether you're pulling keys out of a pocket, or a rabbit out of a hat, it's all about big distractions.

• Spies don't always have a choice of hiding places. Sometimes it comes down to taking what's available. But if you have to hide in something that's designed to be airtight, you better hope the danger passes before you run out of oxygen.

• In the field, you can never count on your first approach being successful. You have to be ready to change tactics on the fly. Spies learn to make lightning-fast observations and connect the dots just as quickly. Little things, like a family photo with no father and a missing wedding ring, can tell you all you need to know about a target's soft spot. Or, better yet, their sore spot.

• In a hostage crisis, first contact with the police is critical. One wrong word from a hostage taker can be the difference between the start of negotiations, or the start of an armed assault.

• When interrogators hear a story without any holes, they know someone's lying. Only people who are afraid of getting caught take the time to rehearse every detail and anticipate every question. The same holds true for accounting. Perfect books are like perfect alibis. It confirms you're dealing with a liar, but there's no way to prove it.

• In a hostage situation, it's standard procedure for police to run cell phone jammers and commandeer all the phone lines in your location. To make a call without a police operator, you need to access a line they're not listening on. It's a lot like stealing cable from your neighbor. If you can access a common wall and stretch the conduit, you can connect your phone to the un-monitored line next door.

• Making a cold approach to a scam artist is never ideal. They tend to assume that a stranger showing up out of the blue is either a cop or someone they've ripped off. Either way, you have to be ready for them to run. Fortunately, tactical support can make a foot chase much more civilized. Instead of relying on speed and endurance, all you need is a distraction and good timing.

• Floor safes are virtually impenetrable as long as they're in the floor. If you don't have a jackhammer to pry one out, you need to get creative. Homemade shape charges will do the trick, but if you want to avoid turning a standoff into a full scale breach, you better have a way to muffle the blast. Once a floor safe is out of the floor, it offers about as much protection as a piggy bank.

• Spies are trained to follow certain procedures when holding someone at gunpoint. Stand out of arm's reach, keep your weight on your back foot, never take your eye off the target. Unless you want your weapon taken. Then you do exactly the opposite.

• Spies don't always make decisions based on training, experience, or potential success of a mission. Sometimes it's just a matter of doing what you think is right, even if it means putting your fate in the hands of a stranger.

• Fresh-painted walls and steam-cleaned carpets are great if you're a realtor showing a vacant apartment. If you're a spy hoping to find a clue, there's nothing worse than a sparkling-clean home. If you can't even find spare change in the sofa, chances are you won't find anything at all.

• Every precaution you take to make something more secure also makes it less accessible. Concealing a high-density tape cartridge behind drywall is a great way to keep it from being found. But if you ever have to leave in a hurry, you can't expect to take it with you.

Full Recap

Fiona and Jesse got to go to the Bahamas to identify the "John Doe" body who might be Jesse's "Cobra" contact he had been searching for. Even midst wild partying, the moment Michael Westen made contact with her, she launched into her tiresome negative tirade about his relationship with her. Jesse used a believable Jamaican persona to manipulate a man named Ty, the coroner's assistant, into a fight so Fiona could pick his pocket for his morgue keys. Jesse barely found the needed records as Ty walked in with a cop so he needed to hide in one of the cadaver coolers. Unfortunately for Jesse he was ID'd going out the door, got chased by red light and siren's and needed to leap into Fiona's waiting speed boat. The report showed the body had been strangled and dropped into the water, had tissue under his nails from scratching someone, was of middle eastern descent (Cobra had a Lebanese accent), and had thoracic scaring from heavy smoking (Cobra had a raspy voice.)  All of which convinced Jesse at least, so he had already faxed prints to Sam and received them back before even telling M; but, decided to play games with M and string him along. The prints were of Jeremiah Kassar (sp?) whose address was a PO box which they needed to decode, a job that fell to Jesse and Fiona because Sam was waiting outside honking expecting M to help with a job that Jesse had committed him to.  Josh and Lila Wagner, who run a charity for families of killed soldiers, were caught up in a scam in which they lost the charities money and "just needed a consultation… it's not a job." "Just listen to the problem and point us in the right direction," Sam promised when M really didn't want to take the job; and they needed to use Ms car because Sam's was out of gas. Lila frantically exclaimed that Josh had already left to go confront Nick Madison, and M got reluctantly drug along protesting: "this is feeling more like a job Sam"; and Sam retorting basically "what else have you got to do?"

Jesse and Fiona went to track down Kassar and when their subterfuge of being a soon-to-be-married couple didn't work with the clerk, Rebecca, had to switch to working for "Dead Beat Dad Trackers," noticing she had kids photos but no ring -- they got the information. Back with M, Josh had already "lost it" and was waving his gun around demanding money. When Madison condescendingly tried to continue his con, Josh gun-whipped him in the head just as SWAT siren's came roaring up. That put M and Sam in the middle. Sam closed the blinds and locked the doors claiming that he was "following his gut on this one" even though M was exclaiming they needed to get Josh out before he got hurt. He and M had a heated discussion about returning the charities money while pushing on opposite sides of a desk that he was attempting to move in front of the door. Even Josh screamed they both should leave but became overwhelmed at seeing the arsenal of SWAT vehicles parked outside and Lt. Seth Casey calling on the phone. M recognized that Josh's voice would bring the SWAT's banging through the door so he told Sam "I'll leave when you leave" and he picked up the phone pretending to be a hostage and saying "no one would get hurt as long as they didn't get any closer." This WAS a job! Sam told Josh that as long as they stayed "just two friends trying to end this peacefully" they could get his money back and still stay out of jail. Sam took Josh's gun and found that it didn't have any bullets. M took Nick and told him that he wasn't getting out of there alive unless he came clean; Sam took Patty and became convinced she wasn't in on it when she said that Madison had been helping Tom Norris with his mortgage out of his own pocket. Madison offered his computer password to M so they knew that he had already 'sanitized' all his scam records. All of the perfection in Madison's records confirmed to M that they were "dealing with a liar but had no way to prove it." They realized they needed to talk to Norris who was Madison's accomplice so M wired into a phone line trunk to call Fiona.

Fiona and Jesse were trying to pick the high-tech, double-cylindered, deadbolt lock at Kassar's when a "nosey neighbor from Hell," Kendra, nearly caught them. Their quick alibi about being census taker's didn't get them away, only a call from M who they pretended was their supervisor. M asked them to go find and talk to Norris. Meanwhile Nick had conned Josh again to let him get his personal bank records from a drawer which really held his own gun. Too late to prevent it, but knowing what Madison was going to do, M disarmed Madison and took the gun -- which caused both Madison and Patty to turn on him. Sam and he were no longer "just helping friends," they were accomplices to "armed kidnapping and unlawful confinement." Sam's apologies were specious, but M said he was the one who decided to stay. M called Casey and said "he'll let one of us go when he see's a panel van with full gas and no side or back windows." He also found that Casey had run all the plates and knew all their names. Fiona and Jesse found Norris and conned him into thinking they were the crew from Boca who wanted their payout. They took him outside Madison's office where he spilled that Madison always converted the score's to cash and put it in his office room floor safe - they put him in Fiona's trunk for keeping. She called M who said they were now accomplices to which she responded: "you're going to have to quit doing favor's for Sam." He asked her to "pull out all stops" and create a diversion - she went for her C-4. Madison refused to give them the combination, but Patty was surprised by the revelation. They made a shape charge from bullets and a toaster to extract the safe from the floor and found over a million dollars. Patty slapped Madison and he slugged her back and threw a rock through the window which they knew would bring the SWAT.

Fiona told M that they had about 5 minutes before SWAT breeched. M decided they should do like a bank heist in Lima Peru, where the robbers made themselves look like the victims and walked out scott free. But they would need to get Patty to join in their story - she refused but eventually they got her to stop arguing and they didn't know whether she would cooperate or not. M had to con Madison into getting angry enough to take Ms gun and be pointing it at him when the SWAT team breeched - "easy peasy." They all stuck to the story and even Patty said that when Josh had come in the office all out of control, Madison had pulled a gun and took them all hostage. Casey came out telling M that "I probably should thank you" because Patty had said without him things would have been worse. Then he said that Ms record showed he had a fondness for explosives and wanted to know about the safe blown out of the floor. "It was like that when we got there," M told him. M referred the Wagner's to Barry for financial management. When Sam tried to apologize, M told him "you said it would be less than a day." Sam sighed and said "one long ass day!"

Back at "Cobra's," M had difficulty picking the lock too. They found steam cleaned carpets and fresh painted walls -- it had been "sanitized," not even change in the couch. It would have taken time so M wanted to go talk to the "neighborhood watchdog."  M used his Agent Gordon FBI ID but was told Kendra didn't know anything. Back with Jesse, M said he noticed that none of the room photos had Kendra in them and Jesse wondered why a physically fit jogger would cover her arms in the heat. They realized Kendra was the assassin who was now sitting on his place to see if anyone came knocking. Both of them burst through her door only to see her attempting to retrieve something from behind the drywall then flee. They didn't get Kendra but they did get a high density computer cartridge.

Cast

Main

• Jeffrey Donovan as Michael Westen
• Bruce Campbell as Sam Axe
• Gabrielle Anwar as Fiona Glenanne
• Coby Bell as Jesse Porter
• Sharon Gless as Madeline Westen

Recurring

• Navi Rawat as Kendra

Guest

• Frank Whaley as Josh Wagner
• Clayton Rohner as Nick Madison[1]
• Rhea Seehorn as Patty[2]
• James Martin Kelly as Lieutenant Seth Casey
•  Scott Borish as Tom Norris
• Sarahi Diaz as Rebecca
• Michele Feren as Lila Wagner
• Ian Anthony Williams as Ty (Coroner's Assistant)