Burn Notice Breaking and Entering

[Season opener] From inside the semi-trailer in which he had been riding, Michael Westen heard gunfire and explosions going on outside which put him on alert as the ramp door automatically began rising. A woman calling herself “Carla” called on his cell phone and explained that the destroyed plane and car that he was seeing in front of him was because “Jimmy didn't do what he was told" and now Ms job was to take him back to Miami and help him finish stealing info from a secure computer, like he had been told to do. Carla said “they” had been watching him for a while, but wouldn’t tell him any more than that. Emergency 911 had already been called by Jimmy and M had to toss him in the trunk and escape quickly, backwards through thickets so the air bags wouldn’t deploy in Sam’s Cadillac which he had borrowed. Jimmy explained that he was the one who had installed computer security for a company named “Security Associates” and Carla had called demanding that he go back and break in to get a memory dump from their computer. When he ran away, Carla swept down and kidnapped his wife and daughter. Back at the loft M found Sam eating toast and wearing Ms clothes - not having believed that M would be back any time soon. H explained to Sam that he was having to do a “we’ll kill you if you don’t do it” kind of job and Sam replied nonchalantly: “Never liked those.” He was smirking out the other corner of his mouth however when he saw what M had done to the Caddy. M took Jimmy’s phone from him because it had called 911 on a double homicide and would now be tracked by the police. Fiona came storming in, as usual tiresomely whining about the short length of the “I’m home” message that he had left on her cell phone [and probably more to the point, that the first thing he had done wasn’t to fall into her arms and shower her with affection]. While blocking the usual wild swing at him from Fiona, his mother called from where she'd been exiled, so he told Madeline that she could now come home.

 

Sam obtained the scouting info on Security Associates; basically, it was a private military company which was run by Ryder Stahl and took high-end, high-demand clients for mercenary work where “more guns equals more money.” Jimmy introduced M as Terry Miller to Stahl in a con to act as a British mining company executive who needed to buy Security Associates' services. Stahl’s men caught Sam and Fiona staking out the office, so MW had to shoot at them in order to sell his cover. As usual the two had been arguing in their car while waiting and weren't paying attention. Sam was defending M and Fiona was whining yet again that M wasn’t paying her enough attention. Madeline called from her home and demanded that M come over immediately, claiming "it's a disaster." He rushed over only to find that it was a burned out coffee pot which had blown a fuse and ruined food in the refrigerator! She gave M a cell phone that she had found in the glove compartment of the charger -- which turned out to be a phone planted by Carla. Carla had broken into Madeline's house in order to show M that she could. He told Carla that she now owed his mother a new coffee pot. Carla let Jimmy’s daughter talk to M about "not liking it here" and told him to hurry it up. M eventually made it into Security Associates in order to scout their security by showing his “unoxidized kimberlite, blue ground”  samples – diamonds. Their security was severe, even their computer was kept in a sealed room with a burn-vault which would melt the electronics should anyone attempt a break-in. If they were going to get at the computer they would have to tap the wires going running into the room. M had Fiona set up for some building maintenance in Iso-Gene labs, the DNA testing company on the floor above the computer vault. As typical, she wouldn’t do it without manipulating him into agreeing to have a heart-to-heart talk with her when they were done. Jimmy couldn’t teach M how to manage the electronic tap so he needed to go with M. In the meantime M noticed some badly done surveillance on them and chased the guy down. The “watcher” said he had answered an ad from some woman who paid him to watch and take notes. He then handed M a letter which contained a photo of Jimmy’s wife and daughter which was supposed to hurry them along. When Carla finally called M, he demanded from her that she retrieve for him the guns she had used to kill the two pilots and take Jimmy’s family to a location at a date he chose. She agreed, arrogantly claiming that she wanted this to be a “good experience for everyone.”

 

M and Jimmy set up a concrete saw to cut a hole that they could use to lower into the computer room. However, the night security called Stahl to report the “unusual activity” in the building and he showed up to check on it. Fiona and Sam were providing cover from their car across the street and of course they were arguing. Sam wanted help on what to say to Veronica about his wounds and damaged car. Fiona bristled at being his “girl consultant,” but eventually told him to say that he was "beaten up protecting a helpless man from a gang of ex-lowlife soldiers -- true enough." Meanwhile, when they finally got the download, in a gesture, idiot Jimmy raised his hand straight up into the path of the motion sensor which triggered all the alarms. M shot into the computer causing it to blow up, then shot out the upper window so they could rappell down to the street just as Stahl came crashing in to the room. Realizing that Stahl would now be trying to kill Jimmy at the first chance, M asked Sam if he could get a boat which was expendable. He knew of one and Fiona called to say that Carla had broken into the trunk of her car and left the hot guns. Of course she also had to rag on him to go see his mother, which he did. M found Madeline chain smoking, blithering about men and guns and leaving home and coffeemakers. She whined about now “finally seeing what you do.” M, showing more patience than was realistic, said “all these years you wondered why I didn’t come home, why I didn’t call. This is why. I never wanted this for you.” Even though she couldn’t argue with that she still needed something that she could feel sorry for herself about and said “that doesn’t explain why you didn’t write.”

 

Fiona set up the boat to explode and Jimmy called Stahl to exchange back the data. M had him use his old cell phone to do it which he knew was being monitored by “the feds.” Stahl came with his mercenaries and Fiona hid the hot guns in Stahl's truck. Police finally came while Jimmy was still stalling, talking to Stahl on the phone. As Stahl was approaching the boat he though Jimmy was on, M pressed the button to blow it up, which drew in the police to arrest Stahl. Sam’s friend sailed Jimmy to Haiti then on to Argentina where he met his family. Jimmy told M that he could have his Saab convertible when he was gone and asked who had it better: him who had to leave the country or M who had to work for Carla. M replied “you do.”  Back at the loft with Fiona they found that the data they stole had over 500 files of operations, most of them “pretty nasty.” They couldn’t tell what Carla might want it for – but it was a start. Fiona’s sighing theatrically gave M a clue that it was time for their “talk.” She ragged on him for making the wrong choice between going to find who burned him OR staying with her – as if it had been a test of some sort. Then she said that she would still help him but they “couldn’t be together” as if it was some sort of revelation she was making. He said: “I know… that’s what I said.” Fiona left and, in voice over, M said “… you don’t miss the scent of an asset when she leaves the room.”  Sam helped a woman at a bar with a crossword puzzle. Then while he and M were talking Carla called and M complained about her not keeping her promise that they would meet. She said "we did meet, tell Sam thanks for the help with the crossword." M got the puzzle she had left on the bar, which turned out to be a code about seeing him soon.