Burn Notice Long Way Back

Fiona appeared at the loft looking for her H&P U.S.P. compact pistol. [See notes] She said she had decided to go back to Ireland, had sold her stolen car, and had even called her mother to say she was coming. Michael Westen, even though he was holding her gun, said that he'd look for it and bring it over later. Meanwhile, Diego called to say that he had gotten a call from the Deputy Director of the CIA who had just received Ms file for review. Various regional experts will be doing the review, he said. "And then they can blacklist poor misunderstood Michael Westen for good," he said and warned that "you are tiptoeing through a minefield." At Fiona’s apartment, he found her pointing a gun at him when he came through the door, and she introduced her brother, Sean Glenanne, who M had met back in Ireland while he was under the cover ID of Michael McBride. Sean said that he hadn’t seen M since he saved Fiona "from the English bastards who had her pinned down in Belfast." M slipped back into his Irish brogue to continue his cover and learned that someone was coming from Ireland to kill Fiona. Sean whined at Fiona about her losing her edge and her accent – she said that O’Neil was "coming for an Irishwoman." She also revealed that was why she came to America. Thomas O’Neil, "an ultra-radical bastard, who would blow up a church on a Sunday" was coming for her today – actually was there. They all three had to escape in a stolen car then stay at a foreclosure home handled by a buddy of Sam’s. Fiona disclosed that she had met O’Neill when she was looking for her little sister, Claire's, killer when she had been taken. O'Neill was a radical who was planning a bombing at a prep school and Fiona foiled his plan so O’Neill came after her, one of the reasons she left Ireland. Now that she had contacted back home, O’Neill was back on the grid and in Miami. M told them to stay in the house while he and Sam looked for O'Neill, and Fiona warned him “I am NOT one of your damn clients!” – she was.

 

Strickler revealed the REAL cost of Ms re-review. He said that M had never been in the truth business and that his reputation was valuable -- people fear you. He hoped M didn’t think rebuilding a reputation would be free. He said that M should understand that this project was very delicate so “let’s not break it.” He would send M some documents of the “truth” which he was to use in his interviews. M just stared at him then left. Sam found that O’Neill had the reputation but not the rap sheet. He was freelancing, not tied to anything, but wanted by Interpol in connection with about 12 bombings which all had the same chemical signature. A known associate of O'Neill's just bought a condo in South Beach so M and Sam decided to go there. Madeline then announced that she was selling the house and introduced Tiffany, the realtor, to them. Staking out the condo in South Beach, up came O’Neill and then [as expected] up came Fiona and Sean right behind him to get ambushed. And of course [we could expect nothing else] when Sam called Fiona to warn her, she didn’t answer her phone. M had to run Sam’s girlfriend's car over the upper parking lot railing and down in front of O'Neill in order to save Fiona. Then, M went to O’Neill claiming to be Paul Smith, an American arms dealer, who had been monitoring one of his employees, Fiona's, conversations and had learned about O'Neill's plans to kill her. He said that he had a proposal. If O'Neill wanted to take Fiona then he would have to finish a job that Fiona was doing for M. O'Neill refused but M left his business card.

 

Strickler came to Madeline’s with his “truth according to Strickler” documents. Part of the “truth” that M was to tell the C.I.A. was that he worked a job helping a Somali Warlord. Strickler wouldn’t give details but said that it was going to help him "set up a lucrative side job." M said “no sale!” He wasn’t going to clear his name by “getting into bed with a murderer.” Then, O’Neill called to say that he’d had a change of heart and wanted to meet with M. When M came to pick Fiona up so she could help O’Neill "deliver a package with a big prison sentence attached to it," Sean told him that he was “an honest man” and was proud to be fighting with him. At their meeting, O’Neill attempted to double-cross M, but M had Fiona, Sam and Sean shine laser targeting lights on his chest. Sean almost got M killed when he refused to turn off his light. Fiona constructed a bomb using O’Neill’s signature method. Sean brought news that O’Neill was going to put Fiona on the auction block for her enemies thinking that it would raise his credibility in Ireland. Back at Madeline's, she told M that "most normal people collect boxes of memories throughout their lives" like the one she had with his model airplanes. She said that if he was convinced he would never want them again she would throw them away for him. He jumped and said he’d take a look. Then Sam put the bomb they had made with plans to the state department in the back of the van that they planned to have O’Neill get caught behind the wheel of.

 

Before they could carry it out, O’Neill burst into their safe house, shot Sean, knocked down M with a bean-bag round and snatched Fiona. He  peered over M and said: “You’ve got some good friends, Westen.” Sam and Madeline were there treating Sean when M regained consciousness; then, ran out with broken ribs when he had an idea of what happened. M went to see Strickler, who admitted that he had sold out Fiona as a "liability to your career." He pulled a gun on M and said that "you didn’t get to have the job and Fiona", and that he should "forget the past." Faster than one could blink, M had a gun in his hand and shot Strickler twice saying "Fiona is not my past." Strickler had been making calls to a Key Biscayne fishing house, so he and Sam went there to find Fiona. M swam out to O'Neill's boat and planted the bomb to get him arrested. They then crashed through the fence, blew up some barrels and took pot shots at the gang as they drove them toward the boat holding Fiona as hostage. Fiona got free of O’Neill then jumped into the water as Sam shot O'Neill in the arm. He then shot two of the gang in their leg's and called the coast guard. M rescued the cable-tied, floating Fiona who had a scratch on her arm and unbelievably seemed to be dazed and unconscious.

 

Sean and Fiona recovered at Madeline’s who told M that she had taken her house off the market. “You hide your clients here, you let your friends stay here… you’re not ready to sell it either.” Sean told M that O’Neill had outed him as an American so he could never go back and neither could Fiona. M revealed that Strickler’s body had been found next to a certain type of bomb and that O’Neill would be charged with his murder as well as 12 other bombings. Then Diego called, all frantic, asking why M had worked with Tom Strickler! Do you know the kind of people he was dealing with? (Apparently M did not, because Diego had refused to help) Strickler was dead, Diego said, and now "someone" was in town cleaning up the mess. He said that he didn’t know "who he could trust, even at the agency." He said that now he knew he was being followed and that someone was coming for both of them. They needed to meet… now – and he gave his address over his cell phone. When M arrived moments later, Diego had fallen from his apartment onto the street and was dead.