Episode 409: Center of the Storm

Center of the Storm
Season 4, Episode 9
Air date	August 5, 2010
Episode Guide
previous Where There's Smoke	next Hard Time

Center of the Storm is the ninth episode of the fourth season and the fifty-third episode overall.

Notes

• Clients: Harris, Lane

• Bad Guys: Cole

Synopsis

Michael wants Simon's help with the cipher he found, so he contacts Vaughn. Meanwhile, Agents Lane and Harris ask for Michael's help.

Spy Facts

Classified data has been digitally encoded since before computers were invented. Spies have used book ciphers for centuries to send numeric correspondence that only can be read when paired with the proper text. Bibles make good code books because of the variance between printed editions and the numbering of chapter and verse.

Hit men, like most career criminals, know the advantages of renting a cheap furnished apartment. You can pay in cash, remain completely anonymous, and you usually get free cable. The downside, is it doesn't include top-notch security, which can be a problem; unless you make your own line of defense.

A trained operative can tell a lot about a bomb maker by the way they construct their device. A directional explosive wired to a pressure-sensitive trigger that's easy to activate, difficult to disarm, and only deadly to the person standing in front of it, means you're probably dealing with an expert.

In the field, circumstances can change as fast as the weather. Salvaging a mission depends on your ability to change tactics and communicate plan "B" to your own team. If you need your team to stand by a radio, rather than come charging in, you'd better send a clear message.

Taking control of a situation isn't always about having the tactical advantage. If you can convince your enemy to want the very thing you need, it's as good as calling the shots yourself. And if what you need is a two-way radio, you'd better steer the conversation in that direction.

If slipping your restraints is impossible, removing what you're tied to is the next best thing. Air bags deploy with enough force to shatter windshields, break your nose or loosen the center bolt on a steering column. After that, removing the steering wheel just takes a little leverage.

If you need to convince an enemy to work with you, it's a good idea to offer a token of friendship. But make sure they know it comes with a price.

Anyone who ever passed a note in class knows there can be serious consequences to sending messages in front of your enemies. When communication lines aren't secure and you don't want to tip that you're relaying sensitive information, you better disguise your message.

Parking garages are designed with tight corners to prevent traveling at high speeds. Which is why if you're making an escape in a parking garage, you're better off on foot than in a heavy vehicle.

In the heat of battle, making your alliances known can be a challenge. You have to make sure you're actions speak louder than words.

You can't have an explosion without plenty of heat and pressure. Ruining an air conditioner by removing the safety sensor and pinching the cooling coil, is a good way to generate both. Add some flammable household cleaner to the condensation pan, and your A.C. unit will pump out fire instead of cold air.

SWAT teams call hallways and alleys "fatal funnels." Any place that's narrow and offers no cover is the last place you want to be when the bullets starts flying.

Full Recap

Michael started the night by saying a bunch of fancy spy stuff that would help him decode the secret messages in the Bible he found last week. He knew he had to find Simon to decode the messages. He told Sam and Fiona he was trying to get a face-to-face meeting with Simon. He called Vaughn to help get to Simon, who's locked in a secret prison somewhere. Meanwhile, there was a hurricane coming.

Vaughn met Michael at his place—he was Michael's trusted teammate on this particular project. Vaughn hedged when Michael asked for a meeting with Simon, asking instead for the Bible. Vaughn didn't want to put our biggest enemy (Simon) in the same room with our biggest asset (Michael). Michael told Vaughn that he was asking a favor, and that Vaughn should remember that he's pretty dangerous, too. Vaughn said no, so Michael kicked him out—back into the hurricane. Vaughn was not happy.

Maddy stayed home through the hurricane, which Michael didn't like. Michael told Jesse he hadn't made any progress tracking down Simon. Meanwhile, Lane and Harris, Michael's FBI friends (they're not really friends) dropped by Maddy's place asking for his help with something off the books. They told him about James Bailey, a good guy, who's wanted dead by some Turks. He took off after a confrontation with the Turks and left one of the feds with a gunshot wound in his arm. Lane and Harris were due back at headquarters and faced suspension if Baileys disappearance became known. Michael agreed to help.

Michael set out to find a gun dealer who might have sold the Turk's hitman the special automatic they used in the shootout. Fiona told him about a dealer named Pano. Michael and Sam went to visit him. Pano told them where he dropped the gun for the guy who bought it the previous week. It was an apartment building. Michael broke in and found himself in an awkward situation: Trying to prevent the hitman's self-made security explosive from going off just as the hitman, Cole, emerged from his bedroom closet. They chatted while Michael tried to stop the bomb from detonating.

Cole assumed Michael was another hitman on the job, so Michael played along and suggested they work together to find Bailey. Cole agreed—sort of. He kept Michael's gun and they set off to find Bailey together. Vaughn, in the meantime, went to visit Fiona.

Being held hostage, with no way to communicate with Sam, who was waiting outside, Michael tugged on Cole's car antenna for a second so that Sam knew to stay within radio communication but not come in full-force.

Vaughn asked Fiona for Simon's Bible, offering Jesse his job back and promising he'd never know who burned him. Fiona said she couldn't betray Michael. Vaughn told Fiona she couldn't stop Michael from pursuing the life of danger, even though he knew how it would end. He then handed her some files and told her to let him know when and where she wanted to deliver the Bible. He promised it would stay between them.

Michael needed a two-way radio device and talked Cole into the idea that they needed an emergency vehicle to get to Miami Beach, because it was an evacuation zone due to the hurricane. They agreed to grab a vehicle at a city lot.

Lane and Harris came to see Sam to find out about Michael. They said they found Bailey's truck but there was no sign of him. Michael contacted Sam over the radio while pretending he was trying to hot-wire an ambulance. He had Sam get Jesse to go to Bailey's house and try to find any information on where his girlfriend might live, because that's where Cole was taking him. At the car yard, Cole did something to knock over an electrical pole and Michael yelled for him to get out of the puddle of water he was standing in. Mike helped Cole out, then punched him in the face. Cole didn't like that, pulled a gun on Michael and told him he'd get a bullet if he tried something like that again.

Maddy, who came along for the ride, was upset that Jesse didn't drive faster to Bailey's place, but they got there and started searching, along with Fiona .

While he tried hot-wiring another car, Michael talked to Cole about his life in the Marines (he'd noticed a tattoo on Cole's arm). Cole got emotional while talking about his dishonorable discharge because his squad mates were shipping drugs back to the States.

Michael was able to get some information about Bailey's girlfriend's house from Jesse and Sam over the radio, while pretending he was asking for a road report over the CB. But Cole was getting inpatient and told Michael to drive to the roof of a parking garage. He gave Mike some binoculars and told him to point out the house. Michael did. That's when they started getting shot at by the real other hitman, Reese, who was on a higher roof with his team of gunmen. By the time Cole realized Michael wasn't who he said he was, Michael was off and running out of the garage.

Michael ran straight to Bailey's house, ran through the door and rushed Bailey and his girlfriend, Joanne, into the kitchen. Cole came inside and Michael started trying to talk him down. He told Cole he wasn't a killer. After a couple minutes, with Reese outside waiting to come inside. Michael then stood face to face with Cole and told him he didn't think he was a killer. They decided to work together to stave off Reese and get Bailey and Joanne out alive.

Michael rigged an air conditioning unit to become a fireball while Cole baited Reese's guys into a narrow walkway where the unit was. When they passed, Michael blew up the A/C unit. Then Michael got into a hand-to-hand battle with Reese and was losing until Cole saved him.

Cole then turned his gun on Michael, thanked him and said, "Looks like I'm going to be able to collect a fee on this job after all". Michael couldn't believe it, but Cole said he was joking and helped him up. Michael suggested Cole head to Antigua to get to that beach he was looking for.

Michael's FBI friends came by to thank him and he said he'd never forget it.

Later, Fiona told Michael that Vaughn had come to see her and made her an offer for the Bible. She told him about the deal for Jesse. She told him she didn't take him up on the offer, but only because she has faith in Michael. He told her that if he was able to break these people down, it should be enough to get Jesse back in anyway. She handed Michael the Bible, asking him to promise her she wouldn't regret having given it to the wrong man.

'You didn't, Fi", he told her.

She said she was supposed to meet Vaughn that afternoon, but Michael should tell him Fi couldn't make it.

We next see Lane and Harris meeting Vaughn and telling him he could wind up on the FBI's most wanted list until he does anything Michael wants. Michael then demanded his meeting with Simon. Vaughn said he'd arrange it, but Michael should know that Vaughn was only trying to help him. He warned Michael that he couldn't get into Simon's head without Simon getting into his, and I'm not sure you're ready for that.

I guess we'll find out, Michael said.

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

• Marc Macaulay as Agent Harris
• Brandon Morris as Agent Lane
• Robert Wisdom as Vaughn

Guest

• Jon Seda as Cole
• Sofia Citarella as Joanne
• Erik Fabregat as Matt Reese [1]
• Keith Hudson as Pano
• Pete Penuel as James Bailey