Burn Notice Brotherly Love

Jesse came into the loft waving their confirmation to attend the auction for the "book" in Santo Domingo while Michael Weston anguished on the side-line over not being able to go with them - due to his “burn” limitations. Gloating, Jesse pontificated that he could spend "family time" with Nate who was flying in.  In Santo Domingo, Jesse clumsily met with Justin Walsh, the thief, and found that Walsh was using a "moving loop" to protect the list from thieves. Jesse seemed ready to throw in the towel; but, Sam knew all about it and said that all they needed was some new “buddies,” his specialty. M, whose idea of R and R was “recon and rendition,” winced from his injuries as Nate hugged him at the airport; then immediately jumped on Nate about the “real” reason for the last minute trip home - booked on one day’s notice without any luggage. Reluctantly, Nate admitted that his buddy’s custom car shop had been hit by thieves and they lost three cars. Only after meeting the brothers did M find that they were messed up with Hector Rivera, a drug kingpin! When Jeff was ill and had expenses, Billy got some cash by allowing Rivera to use their cars to ship drugs once a month. Now, with the theft, they had lost 20 kilos of Heroin! Nate didn't seem to like being on the receiving end of one of his types of un-revealed requests for help. He recklessly promised “we’ll find your car” then, when M tried to talk reason to him, said: “You know what it’s like to have a screw-up for a brother”  Exasperated, he said he’d call Fiona who immediately recognized the theives “signature.”  She said that there were only a few crews who could pull off the job in Miami (using drugs, laser strobes and a plasma torch).

 

M went to Tony Soto, a previous mark, under his old cover ID, Johnny, and offered to take out a competing crew if Soto would find out who had taken his 1969 GTO. M and Nate were caught dressing up like “funeral directors” by Madeline who, as usual, ragged on M that he “better watch out for your brother” right before she took their picture. Soto told M that the crew who hit the shop was run by Buckwild and made M promise to do some “Johnny-style damage” when he was through getting his car back. They all had to rush over to Billy’s because Rivera was on his way to their shop; actually, he was already there beating them up when they arrived. M introduced himself as “Johnny” whom the Taylor’s had hired to retrieve the car. Rivera agreed to let M do it but made him take his own bully, Caleb, along with them and said he would take Billy as hostage. In Santo Domingo, Sam found 100 “buddies” to sit on street corners and record every motorcycle they saw. Jesse then was able to see a pattern and ID the bikes Walsh was using and their route; then, it was just a matter of planning the hit and getting M and Fiona down there in a private sea-plane to help. Madeline walked in on M, Nate and Fiona planning their hit and did her obligatory rag on M. She said “your brother gets hurt and I’m putting out my cigarette in your eye!” When M finally retorted that she had two kids and wondered why she was only worried about Nate, she said that Nate’s wife, Ruth, was pregnant and he was going to be a father.

 

Fiona stole a 90 thousand dollar car and took it to Buckwald's shop so they would open the door for her. After shooting them with bean-bag rounds, they found the other two stolen cars but not the GTO.  The thieves said that Buckwild had it, he already had a buyer. M did torch the place as they left; but, when they got to Buckwild’s house, Caleb broke into a run ahead of them and killed Buckwild in the back room before they could question him. M and Fiona then knew that Caleb was in on the theft. They searched Caleb’s house and found a fax machine copy of the Taylor’s storage shed and realized that Caleb was setting the Taylor’s up for the heist he had pulled himself. Nate raced, with Fiona, to the shed ahead of everyone and told her that he was "better at hotwiring cars than Mike," so got the GTO out in time. Of course then Caleb couldn’t tell Rivera that his stolen car had been stolen. M decided to make the GTO be found on Caleb’s property, so he and Nate dismantled it, carried it over to Caleb's back yard and put it together again using silenced tools and Fiona standing guard. M was able to get Rivera over to see where he had found the car, over Caleb’s objections. Rivera paid the Taylors for the last shipment, even though Caleb had gotten away with the drugs, saying it was a small price to pay to catch the thief.

 

Billy turned around and gave the money to Nate saying that he had "thrown a Hail Mary" and didn't expect he would really be able to help them. They also told M that he could come and see them when his Charger needed work and Nate gloated about “saving your ass twice.” M told him that “if your kid turns out anything like you, I’m going to be a proud uncle.” Onward to the sea-plane: Sam and Jesse had planned the operation which involved a motorcycle-diverting truck spill, alley way blockage, baseball bat-like swing with a 2x4, a rotary grinder, smoke grenade and wire-work flight to a roof top – all in a day’s work. The voice-over said that "the success of a mission didn’t depend on the skill of a member. You need a team,” while the four all walked with their gear toward a two-seated sea-plane! Back at the loft looking at the list, Sam had to, yet again, ask Jesse for "an invitation to the party – in your head," as he mumbled about the value of the list they had gotten.  Sam wanted to give it to someone they trusted in the Fed’s. Fiona wanted to track them all down and take them out… I’ll guess we have to wait until next week to see what M wants to do.