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Episode 209: COD[]
A cabbie pulls over and his passenger tells him to circle the park and wait for his call. He takes 5 $100 bills and tears them in half and hands the cabbie one half and tells him he will get the other half when he picks him up.
Reese and Finch check on their new number, cab driver Fermin Ordoñez. Fermin is a Cuban defector and former baseball player who dropped out when he tore a ligament in his shoulder. Finch discovers that he has emptied out everything from his saving account. Finch gets into Fermin's cab and hacks his onboard computer system to find out more about him. Reese suggests that he try small talk and Finch chats about how a cab driver was recently robbed by a passenger. He figures Fermin is a good judge of character and asks him to assess his passenger. Fermin is surprisingly good and when they arrive, Finch tips Fermin heavily.
Reese continues following Fermin while Finch piggybacks on Fermin's cloned phone and monitors the passengers. One of them is a drunk man who asks him to turn on the radio for a baseball game and Fermin refuses, claiming the radio is broken. When the passenger starts kicking the seat, Fermin pulls over and the passenger runs away. Reese figures that Fermin doesn't want to listen to baseball after what happened to his arm, and Finch warns that it's impossible to monitor all of Fermin's passengers.
Finch calls Carter and she checks to confirm that Fermin has a clean record. He asks about her date with Cal Beecher from what he overheard via her monitored cell phone, and Carter hangs up. As she goes back to work, Carter notices an article about the upcoming trial of HR members.
The Machine reviews an organizational chart of HR, and while monitoring calls, overhears Scarface telling his men not to do business with the crooked cops anymore.
Patrick Simmons meets with Alonzo Quinn and tells him that the FBI investigation into HR is wrapping up. Quinn warns that they have a larger problem: revenue. He admits that they made a mistake by turning their back on Elias, who is still running the underworld from jail. He tells Simmons to set up a meeting so they can resume their business with Elias. Before Simmons goes, Quinn tells him to take some backup in case things go wrong. Simmons then phones Fusco to call in a favor.
Reese watches Fermin stop at an electrical store. Inside, Fermin talks to the owner, Aziz Manoor, who gives him $800 for a laptop that he brought in. The cab driver thanks Aziz and goes out to the trunk of his cab and puts the money inside a bag. Reese spots the garbage bag and tells Finch that he knows where the money is. Fermin then goes to a restaurant and meets with a man named Mendoza. He shows Mendoza a photo of his wife Maria and son Jorge that he wants to smuggle out of Cuba. Mendoza tells Fermin that the price has gone up and he can only afford to get out one or the other. Fermin objects, warning that the secret police are onto his wife, but Mendoza says that it's beyond his control. When Fermin wonders where he'll get another $40,000, Mendoza reminds him that it's the land of opportunity. Finch and Reese wonder what Fermin will do to get his family back.
Finch hacks the Cuban government's database and confirms that Fermin pitched for the Cuban national team before he defected. If Maria is caught trying to defect they will throw her into prison, and they figure that Fermin is desperate.
Reese continues his surveillance and sees Fermin meet with a second baseman for New York, Rafael Acosta. Rafael defected with Fermin and has been having a good career year. Fermin approaches his friend and admits that he's been out of touch. He says that he needs money for his family and Rafael gives him some money and leaves.
Simmons calls Fusco again and the detective says to count him out. When Simmons reminds Fusco that he has blackmail information on him, Fusco relents. The two of them along with a third man, Bowman, meet with Scarface and his men. Scarface wonders what HR can offer him and Simmons offers the last surviving Mafia Don, Luciano Grifoni, in return for Elias' support in rebuilding HR. After calling his boss, Scarface says that Elias accepts his offer but wants HR to deliver Grifoni personally. Simmons agrees and Scarface leaves with his men.
Carter checks Fermin's GPS log and checks on an address that the cab driver stayed at for 25 minutes the previous night. The police are already there and Detective Terney explains that they have a murder victim. The man was shot repeatedly and dumped off a bridge with no ID. The Secret Service is on the scene and Terney says that they arrived as soon as they called in the murder. Carter meets with the head agent, Regina Vickers, who tells Carter that it's need-to-know. When Carter pushes, insisting that she needs an ID, Vickers says that the dead man is Vadim Pushkov and they're looking for a laptop or phone that he might have had on him when he died. All Terney has found is receipts and half of 5 $100 bills and Vickers notes that Pushkov arrived at JFK and died a few hours later with no luggage. She wonders who drove him there and figures that the driver may be the shooter while Carter offers that it might be a witness. Once she's alone, Carter calls Finch with what she's found out and how the Secret Service is involved. He tells her to find out what she can.
Finch does some checking and tells Reese that Pushkov was apparently an international criminal. Meanwhile, Fermin picks up a blonde woman who tells him to drive to Queens. Finch can't hack her phone and Reese follows them down a one-way street in the warehouse district. He figures that the woman has isolated Fermin deliberately. The woman flashes a $100 bill and demands to know what Fermin knows about Pushkov and if he left anything in his cab. Fermin insists that he turned in the cab and didn't find anything left behind. The woman gives him the $100 and calls a man who she tells to "clean this up" and walks away.
Reese gets in the cab and draws a gun on Fermin and says that they're in trouble. Two cars box them in and shooters open fire. Reese tells Fermin to drive and aim for the rear of one car and provides cover fire as they ram through the car and drive out of the ambush.
Once they're clear, Fermin pulls over and demands answers. Finch traces the woman's call and confirms that the woman called the Estonian mob. Reese disables the GPS in the taxi so that the Estonians can't track Fermin down, and then asks about Pushkov. Fermin insists that he knows nothing about Pushkov but Reese figures that he's lying and tells him to decide if his life is worth whatever was left in the cab. The cab driver finally admits that he understood enough Russian to learn that Pushkov was trying to sell something called H-SAID. Reese asks what Pushkov left and Fermin admits that the man left a laptop under the seat and that he sold it to Aziz for money because Pushkov stiffed him on the fare. Reese figures that Pushkov left the laptop in the cab for safekeeping and they wonder what's on it. He figures that the Estonians will kill Fermin just for knowing about the laptop and they go to talk to Aziz.
When Reese and Fermin arrove Aziz's electronics store, they find his corpse in the back office. Finch confirms that Aziz sold the laptop and warns that the laptop may have a beacon that allows the Estonians to track it. He hacks Aziz's e-mail account and discovers that he sold it to a man with the Internet handle of D3mn8. Finch figures that D3mn8 will try to sell it on a black market forum and promises to track him down and negotiate a meeting. Reese warns Fermin that he'll be next and gets the cab driver out of the shop.
Reese calls Carter and tells her what happened, and asks her to keep an eye out for the blonde woman. He texts her Aziz's address and tells Carter that the man is dead. As they drive, Fermin complains about his bad luck and Reese points out that he's working with Mendoza. The cab driver explains that Mendoza help smuggle him and Rafael out of Cuba in 2005. Once he was injured, he couldn't make money and became a nobody, so Mendoza tried to hit him up for more money to get Fermin's family out. Reese assures Fermin that he did a brave thing for his family but the Cuban isn't convinced. He tells the cab driver that he can make things right but he'll have to trust him.
Carter calls Vickers in and tells her what she knows, claiming that Reese is an anonymous CI. The detective figures that there's something embarrassing to the government on the laptop and says that she wants to help, and Vickers tells her that Pushkov was a lone wolf hacker. They have no idea what Pushkov was up to. Carter gets a text message with Aziz's address and she takes Vickers with her, explaining what happened to Aziz.
Finch checks in with Reese and informs him that H-Said is the Homeland Security Automated Identification Database. Pushkov stole the information on thousands of travelers and planned to sell it to terrorists who could use the stolen credentials to smuggle their own people into the U.S. The information is useless if its existence becomes public knowledge so the Estonians are eliminating all possible witnesses. Finch then discovers that D3mn8 has posted the laptop online and is asking for $50,000. They figure that D3mn8 knows what he has and Finch tries to set up a meet and buy the laptop.
That night, Finch negotiates a price and sends Reese and Fermin to the address to make the buy. When they arrive, there's no one there but a security camera is mounted on the wall.
Simmons calls Fusco at the station and tells him that he and Bowman will get the package as planned. Fusco insists that he has to keep his nose clean and Simmons warns him that he's sealed his fate. As Fusco hangs up his phone, he receives an e-mail with video showing him supposedly killing IAB Detective Ian Davidson. Simmons then sends him a text message telling him to bring in Grifoni.
D3mn8 calls Finch and tells him the sale is off because he doesn't like how Reese looks. However, Finch piggybacked on D3mn8's signal and traced him to the Yeongson Pool Hall. As Reese goes to his car, two of the Estonians attack him and he takes them down. Finch realizes that he'll have to meet D3mn8 on his own and leaves with Bear.
Fusco calls Reese, who says that it's a bad time and continues fighting. The detective then calls Simmons and says that he's in.
Carter and Vickers review the security footage from the store and see when Aziz left to sell the laptop. They spot the blonde woman come in and confirm that her name is Irina Kapp. She walked out of the store and ten minutes later Aziz was dead.
Finch goes to a bar and spots D3mn8. D3mn8's backup tries to stop Finch but Bear growls at him and Finch goes over to meet with D3mn8. Finch realizes that D3mn8 has already made a deal with the Estonians and tells him that he'll give him $100,000, double the asking price. In return, D3mn8 has to move out of his mother's basement and move far away. Finch rattles off D3mn8's personal information and says that some bad people are looking for the laptop. After a moment, D3mn8 takes the money and leaves. Reese checks in with Finch, who assures him that that he has the laptop. However, as he tries to leave, the blonde woman Fermin picked up earlier comes over and says Finch has something that belongs to her.
Finch tells the woman that he's not giving her the laptop at any price. Four of her men come in and Bear starts barking. The woman tells her men to shoot the dog, but Reese arrives and takes them out. Bear takes down one man while another one prepares to shoot Reese, Fermin throws a pool ball and knocks him out. Reese calls Carter, who warns him that they got a hit on the woman's phone at the pool hall. She tells them to get out and Reese asks Fermin for a ride.
Fusco and Bowman go to Grifoni's safe house. As they wait for the mobster to come out, Fusco gets a call from Reese and asks Bowman to step out of the car. Reese asks what he called about earlier and Fusco says that it's nothing and everything's fine. Once he hangs up, Bowman tells him that Grifoni is coming out. They move in on him at his car but he sees them and laughs. When they ask what's going on, he tells them that they're going to get hit. Grifoni's man emerges from the car and shoots Bowman down. The mobster tells Fusco that he's trying to get back into Elias' good graces and wants Fusco to give Simmons and HR a message.
While Carter and Vickers try to locate the woman, Fermin pulls over to inspect the damage on his car. Finch assures him that a new one is on the way and Reese gives him a tip: the laptop. Fermin goes to the station and offers to give them the laptop in return for some money and some help from the Coast Guard.
Sometime later, Fermin watches a baseball game while Reese plays with Bear. Carter brings Jorge and Maria to the park and Fermin reunites with his family. He hugs Maria and then plays catch with his son. Carter goes over to Reese, who asks her what is going on with Fusco. She doesn't know about anything but says that she'll keep an eye on him. Reese whistles for Bear and the two of them walk off.
Fusco meets Simmons at the station and tells him that they were double-crossed. Simmons wonders why they let Fusco walk away and Fusco says that it was to give HR a message: "Go to hell." Fusco agrees and walks away. Simmons calls Carter and gives her an anonymous tip. She tells Fusco that someone claimed that Davidson was murdered by another cop.