Episode 705: Exit Plan

Exit Plan
Season 7, Episode 5
Air date	July 11, 2013
Written by	Matt Nix, Michael Horowitz
Directed by	Marc Roskin
Episode Guide
previous Brothers In Arms	next All or Nothing

Exit Plan is the fifth episode of the seventh season and the one-hundred and third episode overall.

Notes

Clients: none

Bad Guys: Oksana

Synopsis

Michael joins forces with a former Russian operative working in Burke’s organization to escape Cuba; Strong tries to convince Fiona to help Michael.

Spy Facts

Tracking someone in the wilderness isn't just about the occasional footprint or broken branch. It's about using what you find, to put yourself in the head of the person you're hunting. If your target isn't completely careless, most signs you'll find will be small, almost invisible. Just a bit of disturbed earth or a bent branch. Of course, sometimes you do find something more obvious, which makes the trail that much easier to follow, or that much harder.

When you've spent too much time working with spies, trust doesn't come easy. Even when you're dealing with someone you care about, you're always on the lookout for signs of deception. Because you never know whether you're just spotting white lies, or something darker.

When you're trying to escape surveillance, the first step is spotting it. You're on the lookout for people who won't make eye contact, figures sitting in parked cars, or faces you've seen more than once. If you can determine how you're being watched, the best move is to change locations as soon as possible. Of course, sometimes the reason you can't figure out how they're watching is that they're done watching.

Russia and Cuba aren't as tight as they were in the Cold War, but their law enforcement agencies still operate closely. If you're looking for a Russian officer running a man-hunt in Havana, there's a good chance they're operating out of a local police station. Which means the problem isn't finding them, it's that they'll have an entire country's resources at their disposal.

If you need to create a road-block in a hurry, the steel frames of old cars make an excellent barrier. The challenge is moving that much metal without a tow truck. What you need is a directed explosion. If you make sure that the shock wave from your C4 can't head down or sideways, the only way it can go is up. And the more contained the blast, the higher it will send a car flying.

As a spy, there's nothing better than gaining access to your enemy's war room. You can identify their weaknesses, see where they're deploying their forces, and if you play your cards right, you can even create an escape route for your friends.

If you have no choice but to fly a plane in need of repair, it's better to focus on what's necessary than what's ideal. Airplane technology may be complex, but the physics of flying are simple. If you don't mind throwing away the safety manual, all you need are wings, a running engine, and workable controls.

When you're simulating an attack on an enemy, it's more important to create fear than to do any real damage. You can distribute your explosives for maximum effect. You want to use a variety of weapons, to suggest multiple attackers. And after that, all you need is a good place to hide when the action starts.

Full Recap

'Exit Plan:' Michael, Sam and Jesse look through some woods to find the girl, Sonya. She set up some clues to throw them off the track, then she sneaks up on Michael and holds him at gunpoint. Michael tells her he was working with Burke, but Sonya doesn't believe him right away. Michael plays it all up and tells her he was a friend and that Burke saved him. Finally, she lowers her gun.

Michael, Sam, Jesse and now Sonya walk back toward the boat, but the cops are already all over it. Sonya says she knows a cigar store owner named Ruben who might be able to smuggle them out.

The trio wait for Sonya while she goes to find this friend, but the place where she took them is all boarded up and Michael and his pals get suspicious that she might be setting them up. Jesse suggests she might be a mole who once turned the NSA inside out. Sonya comes back and suggests that Sam and Jesse go one way while Michael comes with her. Sam and Jesse don't like the idea of splitting up, but Michael says it will be fine.

Back in Miami, Fi meets up with Carlos and is suspicious that he's lying about why he asked her to take a job in New Orleans. He insists that he just thought she should get away to clear her head after having been caught up in Michael's world again. She agrees to go on the trip.

Fi calls Maddy to tell her about the trip but when she gets home her door is cracked open. Inside, Agent Strong is waiting. He tells her that Michael is at a crucial point in his mission and he's going to need her in Miami. Strong tells Fi she's part of Michael's cover now and that it's a matter of national security that she cooperate. He tells her she doesn't really have a choice. She starts to leave and Strong tells her she "can't just walk away from this." She leaves.

Ruben meets with Michael and Sonya and says it's impossible for him to smuggle people out because the ports are being monitored so closely. Sonya reminds him about a few years ago when she helped him get some shipments into the D.R. She says that if she decides to hurt him things will go differently -- very differently. He says there's a freighter leaving the port and "if" but soon enough cops show up. It's actually state security. They scurry to find a way out of Ruben's place. He hides Michael and Sonya and goes out to cheerfully greet the cops. With the state security is a woman named Oksana, an agent with the Russian GRU. Sonya whispers to Michael that Oksana has been after her for years, since back in Moscow. Ruben is trying to deny having seen her. Oksana has her men scour the warehouse. They begin opening crates while Ruben watches, somewhat anxiously. He claims he just doesn't like seeing his delicate merchandise handled in such a way. Oksana seems satisfied that no one is there until she leaves. She asks Ruben about one wall which seemed to make Ruben hold his breath whenever her men got near it. She asks him where the door to the secret room is and he reluctantly whispers to her that the latch is near the floor. She thanks him and one of her men shoots him in the stomach. Michael, knowing Oksana and her men are coming, shoots through the wall at them and tosses two grenades out. Oksana and her men run out and the bombs go off, giving Michael and Sonya enough cover to run out a side exit.

Jesse comes back to the group's new hideout and reports that all the roads are sealed and Michael and Sonya are the most wanted people on the island. Sam suggests a plan that involves him and Jesse -- whom Oksana hasn't yet seen -- contacting Oksana and telling her they are also hunting for Michael. Sonya thinks it's a crazy idea because Oksana knows every trick. Michael says it's the best plan they have.

Fi is getting ready to leave with Carlos and worries that she's being watched. Suddenly, two cop cars roll up and place Fi under arrest. Carlos gets in the cops' faces and they threaten to arrest him, too. Fi lets them cuff her and take her away.

In Cuba, Sam and Jesse head to a police station and simply ask who's in charge of the manhunt. They get in a room with Oksana and tell her they're bounty hunters looking for Michael. Oksana hears them out for a moment but says they have nothing to offer her, then tells her men to "be thorough" in finding out anything else they know. Just as the pair are about to be taken away, Sonya -- who has been listening to the exchange with Michael through the bug in Sam's watch -- calls Jesse's cell phone. Jesse asks Oksana if he can answer it, while Sam suggests it could be a lead on Michael. Oksana nods. Jesse answers and Sonya tells him in Spanish to tell Oksana that he and Sam are working with locals, not authorities, and then he should tell Oksana exactly where Michael and Sonya are. Jesse tells Oksana everything. Sam is dubious. Oksana tells her men to get all the cars in the area to the abandoned bunker.

Sonya and Michael prepare to leave and Michael uses some explosives to move abandoned cars into the road to block off the police cars, which are rapidly approaching. He and Sonya leave.

Sam and Jesse are now embedded with Oksana and showing them various routes that Michael and Sonya could use to escape. They talk Oksana into moving a few guards from one spot to protect another at the airport.

Michael and Sonya stake out the airport and look for an open spot to plot an escape. They see one guard in front of the maintenance hangar and go for it. They sneak up on the guy and Michael knocks him out with a chokehold. Sonya questions Michael letting the guard live, but Michael says they'll be long gone before he wakes up. She tells Michael that they used to study him in training and everyone thought he was a monster, but she notices that for his number of missions his body count was very low. She knew he only killed when absolutely necessary. Michael thinks she thought he was noble. She says maybe he was just weak.

Back in Miami, Fi's "lawyer" shows up, but it's Strong. She tells Strong she wants nothing to do with Michael or the mission. Strong fills Fi in on some details about the deal he made with the CIA. He tells her that the deal is mission specific and that if Michael fails to take down the terror network, Michael, Fi, Sam, Jesse and Maddy "all go back to prison for a long, long time." Fi is surprised and says that when the mission is done, she wants out, free and clear, no matter what Michael does.

Michael and Sonya go into the maintenance warehouse and he finds a plane ready for him to fly after about 30 minutes worth of work. Sonya calls the tower and pretends to be a maintenance worker asking for some runway time to take a plane on a test flight. She gets the clearance and gives Michael a thumbs up.

Back in the police station, Oksana's men are shuffling and Oksana comes over and tells Jesse and Sam that Michael and Sonya are at the airport. The tower reported the odd call from the maintenance hangar and noted that the guard at that hangar is missing. Oksana says her men are on their way, and Sonya and Michael hear all of this through Sam's bug. Michael says the plane is "close enough" to ready, but the cops are already there.

Sonya wants to go down fighting. She says she can't get captured and tortured again.

Meanwhile, Sam and Jesse are trying to figure out a plan. Jesse decides to try to make it look like Michael and Sonya are attacking the police station instead, given the fact that no one has actually seen the pair at the airport yet. He goes outside to "make some bad things happen."

Jesse plants a couple of C4 devices in some cars, spread around the area to make it look like there are multiple attackers, and goes to hide in the trees.

Sam, meanwhile, tells Oksana he's worried about the airport plan. She says everything will be fine, but just as she says this a car blows up outside. Sam shouts that Michael and Sonya just killed "Virgil" (Jesse), but Oksana still thinks they're at the airport.

Just then, Michael radios into the police station and Sonya speaks, as well, asking to talk to Oksana. Jesse is outside and sets off another bomb when Oksana hesitates. Oksana takes cover and talks to Michael, who threatens to take out her men, one by one, while Jesse makes good on the threats. Sam tells her to get the men back from the airport.

Oksana asks Michael what he wants -- just as he and Sonya watch the cops at the airport leave -- and Michael says he wants the guy who's looking for him (Sam). Oksana gladly gives Sam up, sending him outside while Sam feigns protest. Sam walks out, shouting "My blood is on your hands!"

Sam walks out into the trees and meets up with Jesse, taking Jesse's radio and playing up a scene where he's begging Michael for his life before Jesse fires some shots and Oksana hears what she believes is Sam being killed over the radio.

Michael asks for $1 million. Oksana says he'll get it. Sam and Jesse head for the airport.

Meanwhile, Michael and Sonya are readying their plane and Sam and Jesse are boarding it. Oksana is smugly telling Michael that she has his location surrounded -- not realizing yet that Michael, Sonya, Sam and Jesse are all on a small airplane now at the airport. Oksana tells Michael that if he hands Sonya over immediately, she'll even give him a plane.

"That's quite a generous offer," Sonya tells Oksana over the radio. "But we already have a plane."

Sonya tosses the radio out of the plane and it breaks apart, and Oksana realizes that she's been duped. Oksana is not happy.

A few cops at the airport head for the runway, but they're too late and the plane lifts off.

Fi gets home and tells Carlos the charges against her were dropped. Carlos wants to leave for New Orleans but Fi says she can't go. She tells him then CIA got her out of jail and that she's been forced to help Michael until the mission is over. Carlos is upset and doesn't want to sit around waiting. Fi tells him, "Until I deal with my past, I can't be with you. And I really want to be with you." He says he doesn't understand but he trusts her and if this is what she has to do, then he's with her. She hugs and thanks him.

Back at an airport in Miami, Sam and Jesse are reeling from their harrowing flight back on a barely functional small plane. Sonya says she's "made arrangements" for a more comfortable ride now that they're there. It's a shiny new Mercedes Benz.

Sonya gets a call and talks for a moment. Jesse tells the guys he's still worried she's going to take a bite out of them at some point, even if she didn't turn on them in Cuba. Sonya reports back to the guys that she just found out who exposed her identity and got her kidnapped in the first place. It was a hacker syndicate based in Miami who found out who she was and "sold me to the highest bidder."

"What now?" Michael asks her.

"We destroy them, of course," Sonya says.

Cast

Main

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