Burn Notice Burn Story

Without any warning, and right in the middle of a dangerous assignment, Michael Westen was "let go" from the CIA – they call it being "Burned." Being severely beaten up and rendered nearly unconscious he barely made it to a plane where he passed out. While unconscious, "Someone" instructed the airlines to take him to Miami and then "someone" left him unconscious in a motel where a maid eventually called the "emergency contact" person she found in his wallet. Absolutely no information was given to him except that "he was out" and he had been placed on the "no fly" list and had all his bank accounts frozen. All attempts at contacting his old "handler," Dan Siebles, failed and for some unexplained reason he was being tailed by the FBI. He decided that he absolutely had to find out WHY he was burned by any means possible. He needed to make contact with any of his old friends and contacts he could find that would talk to him and discovered that the only way he could "hold it together" was to do a series of "odd jobs" (from a special forces/'I used to be a spy' kind of perspective) for not only something to occupy his mind but for spending money as well. After he had found a very out-of-the-way place to live, he returned to find that "someone" had spread surveillance photos of him on his floor along with a "Welcome to Miami" greeting card.

Michael poured over the photos which had been left in his loft and recognized that many had been taken in his mother's neighborhood so he went to quiz her about them. She eventually admitted to letting "two government people" in her house "several months ago" so he scanned for bugs and found one in an electrical outlet. A vacant house down the block was empty and as he ran to it, an upstairs bedroom holding electronic equipment burst into flames. He saw two men escaping in a car. His mother, Madeline, eventually told him that the two men had asked questions about him and she had said he "was a perfect son" because it seemed better than the truth. Eventually she also gave him a piece of paper with a phone number of the two men who had asked that she called when she saw Mike again. When he called it, the man that answered only said "We'll be in touch."

A Spy convention was being held in Miami and Michael sneaked into it and found another spy, Akhom Thabet, who owed him a favor for saving his life. They did eventually meet at Michael's father's grave and Michael received a copy of his burn memo, from the foreign operative, which basically told everyone that he WAS burned but not anything about WHY.

Michael discovered that his friend Sam was being used by his FBI tails to gain information, except that Sam wasn't really giving them anything. A "sideline" job that Michael did netted him a captive Czech assassin, Jan Haseck, who he had Sam turn over to his FBI tails. The next day he learned that "someone" had taken Haseck away from the FBI before they could find anything out from him, and "let him commit suicide" in his cell. These same "someone's" left Michael a balloon basket on his step expressing concern for his health and saying they would "be in touch."

Sam was pressured to plant a bug in Michael's car by the FBI tails however he deliberately didn't do a good job so it would be found easily. Mike decided to play along now that he knew it was there. Eventually, with all the pressure, Mike decided to give Sam something to take to the FBI and he told him where the copy of the burn notice was hidden.  Because of Michael having that notice, the FBI tails were pulled off the case and Sam was advised that the government was sending "someone new" down. It still wasn't clear at all who all the players were that were coming after him. It didn't seem reasonable that the FBI and the "new guy" who was coming was the same "someone" who was sending him the "welcome" cards and baskets; so there must be two groups out to do him harm.

Michael discovered that his loft had been broken into again and whoever it was had made no attempt to cover it up. His mother called upset that her house was being ransacked by the person who was his NEW "tail"; although he wouldn't reveal anything except that he was there to keep him in line because he was never supposed to have gotten a copy of his burn notice. The new agent impounded Michael's car and disconnected his cell phone as harassment. Michael found an optical bug in his loft and took measures to counteract it using a vibrator. Michael finally to the initiative to roust his new tail at a café and was able to discover, via picking his pocket and lifting his wallet, that the the guys name was Jason Bly and he worked for the NSA.

Michael gave Bly, his new "wrangler," his wallet back and found that Bly had set up Fiona to be arrested. Bly warned that he was going to go through his entire friends and family list and do the same thing. Michael decided to fight back using his money launderer, Barry, to set up a business relationship between them both using offshore accounts and purchases etc.. Bly broke into the loft yet again and threatened to sell out Fiona to her enemies unless Mike took a meaningless and insulting security job at a bank that he was setting up. Finally Mike revealed his blackmail "evidence" to Bly who backed down and gave him a copy of his burn folder as was requested; saying, "have fun with it."

Michael studied the burn file that Bly had given him and found it to be totally fallacious; but what could he do about it? Sam was able to use his FBI contacts to track the guy who put together Mike's burn notice: Phillip Cowan, who works counter-intel for the NSA. So, Mike decided that his next step was to try and get Cowan's attention enough to get to talk to him. He approached Anwar, a Libyan spy, with an offer to tell him who had attacked their gas supply depot in Gadamas in 2002 if he would return a favor. Mike simply wanted him to have someone in their organization merely mention Phillip Cowan as a friend in a conversation. Anwar agreed and got the information and Mike got a call from Cowan complaining that he had the FBI on his front lawn because the head of the Libyan secret police sent him a fruit basket. Mike demanded that he wouldn't stop until he was told why he was burned and Cowan replied "I'll be in touch, count on it."

Cowan, the NSA agent who burned Michael, sent an assassin, Perry Clark, to kill Michael posing as someone who was going to re-consider the burn-notice. He did get the drop on Michael who was able to get to a stashed gun just before he was choked to death and shoot the guy. Clark ran out into the night and was found, without any ID, dead in an alley. He had apparently killed the real Perry Clark and took his identity.

Michael was nearly captured by a forger who wanted to turn him in for the reward on a poster he had received from the FBI when he tried to buy fake identity for a trip to Washington D.C. To talk to Cowan personally.  When that didn't work, he did a job for an old friend, Lucy, in order to get her to have "her people" make up a new ID packet for him. She did, but before he could go Sam got word that Cowan was coming to Miami to see him.

Cowan did come to Miami but left Michael a "friendship" card instead of meeting because Sam was there watching Michael's back. Inside the card was a newspaper clipping about some activity in Belgrade. Mike put together Cowan's clues and went looking for a cutout in South Beach: someone reading a copy of the tourist guide for Madison Wisconsin. The message turned out to be yet another friendship card with a date, time and another newspaper clipping about a terrorist being killed in Budapest. Mike new that meant the steps of city hall, from his REAL previous life; but needed to leave before the meeting so left a cryptic message "John 3:16" which Cowan figured out meant St. John's church at 3:`16 pm. Mike was there but Cowan rang on the payphone to say he was back at the first place and wanted him to run there so his hands would be shaky. Cowan was there and said that he had slept with a gun under his pillow since Mike had called. He said it was "ridiculous to think that one man did everything to Mike alone and then come to Miami to explain himself. You are on the edge of something much bigger than me. The people I work for have plans for you. Powerful, dangerous people… and man are they upset with me. I misread you. I didn't expect you to buck quite so much… you are making everyone nervous." Before he could say any more, he was shot and killed with a single sniper bullet and Mike heard sirens meaning that someone had already called the police. When he got back to the loft he saw that he had a bunch of stalkers awaiting to grab him so left with his brother Nate.

In the middle of trying to save Fiona and Sam from their heroin dealing captors, whoever had killed Cowan was attempting to capture Mike. They were at his mother's house and his brother Nate had to loose them in a car chase.  Mike used his phone to attempt to call his old handler in order to see who it was that came to get him. Within 10 minutes they had a response in armored cars so intense that they had to separate and flee back to the empty house Nate was crashing in.  Then, when Mike was talking to Barry, his money launderer, Barry's phone rang and it was for Mike, a woman who told him that she had been trying to "bring you in." Mike told her to call back because he was busy, then threw the phone in the river. Eventually Mike had to put a gun to his head and threaten to kill himself if the woman didn't back off and let him finish rescuing Sam. He said he would come in voluntarily when it was over. She agreed then piped GPS coordinates into Mikes car using "OnStar." Mike drove to a spot on a bridge and then up a ramp into the back of a semi-trailer.

Michael was now totally in the hands of the unknown people who had burned him, inside his car, inside a semi-trailer. A woman announcing herself as "Carla" called on his cell phone and demanded he help a computer security expert (Jimmy) steal a database dump from Security Associates (Ryder Stahl) OR ELSE Jimmy's kidnapped wife and daughter would be harmed. Carla had also broken into Michael's mother's house (Madeline's) just to show that she could and Michael was under her thumb. Carla used a bumbling armature to "watch" Mike; then, when caught, give him a photograph of Jimmy's daughter. Without disclosing herself, Carla worked a crossword puzzle at the Carlito and talked to Sam, then left in her limo leaving the puzzle as a code for Mike to find.

The crossword puzzle code that Carla left said to "meet at Marwa Mall, noon" so Michael did, with Sam and Fiona as backup. Carla demanded that Mike have a security key-card duplicated by Nefzi, a forger, saying he could keep any money that he didn't use. Sam and Fiona were rousted by Carla's guys and she deliberately broke Sam's camera. Mike continued to gather clues as to Carla's identity and found that she drank qishr (Yemenis coffee) from her own hip flask. When Mike didn't deliver as fast as she had demanded, Carla broke into Madeline's house again and left a new coffee maker, along with another crossword puzzle. Then she called and threatened harm to Madeline if he ever delayed like that again. Nefzi gave Mike the key-card and Mike decided to use the extra money to pay Nefzi to find out what the card opened. After he had left, Mike saw several of Carla's people and surmised that something might be wrong; so he ran back into the shop and found that Nefzi had been killed with gas. Mike took back the money and also found a "prototype" card that he took as well.  Mike gave Carla back the money saying he'd never be a mercenary for her and got her to speak Arabic. He realized that she spoke it with a Kurdish accent.

Michaels only plan was to try and get information about Carla's previous operations from someone in the Pakistani consulate - they usually have a spy working there. He stole some odd files from Waseem, the director of security, and blackmailed him for their return. He had to add to that some photos he set up to look like a bribe, then obtained a large folder, heavily redacted, but with a photo and an idea of her previous cover identity.

Carla's previous cover in Kurdistan had been in agriculture. Sam helped "interrogate" the secretary treasurer of the Agricultural Association of South Florida, Harvey Gunderson, to find out a P.O. Box number for Carla: "0044 Coral Key." He and Fiona began the stake out.

A secretary came to pick up the mail from the PO box and Michael tailed her back to a non-descript building but which was being heavily guarded by under-cover men. They set up a web-cam for surveillance of the building and Sam devised a plan for Michael to get in during the shift change of the guards. However, Mike's "day job" got in the way and he had to abort after almost getting to the door. Carla saw the attempt on her own surveillance camera and abandoned the office. When M got into Carla’s office he found that it was empty except that Carla had left a photo frame of him attempting his last break-in with a message about "day jobs getting in the way", a bottle of champagne, Mylar “congratulations” balloons and another crossword puzzle.

"Tidy Pelican in Lumus Park" was the clue and Michael found his new "wrangler," Victor, there playing chess. They traded threats to feel each other out and Victor won, saying that "the people we work for are into the whole carrot and stick thing - and I'm the stick." He gave Mike a cell phone, bugged with a transmitter, and told him to wear it always because they had a job to do. Victor interfered with Michael's "day job" and eventually got him to help steal a box from a warehouse. Mike had to take extra effort in order to keep from killing two security guards like Victor was going to do, as well as set up an x-ray device in his trunk in order to get an image of what was in the box: a high powered sniper rifle.

Mike and Fiona made contact with an arms dealer, Seymour, in order to find a dealer who could do work on a Russian sniper rifle. Seymour eventually did find out, but the guy's building had been burned to the ground and the guy killed. All he knew was that the work had been done for someone named Bill Johnson who picked up specially calibrated muzzle brakes, night sights and a fiber optic camera. Mike knew that putting the stuff on a sniper rifle would be for proof of death.

Michael and Sam canvased every Bill Johnson in Miami and finally found him by looking through trash. Sacks full of shredded documents and laundry bluing gave him away. Sam got a folder on Johnson revealing that he had been a model marine for 20 years and a "big deal" sniper which looked like he too had been burned (dishonorable discharge midst dubious circumstances.) They broke into Johnson's apartment and installed a bug as well as finding a hidden compartment behind a base-board containing one of Carla's cross-word puzzles. "Fourth flood conference room" was what the code said. On the bug, Johnson made a date to meet with someone Saturday at 1500, and ask if this was it and would he get his pension back. They tailed Johnson to his meeting and found that the key-card Michael had obtained was used to open the building.

Sam's cop buddies were monitoring Bill Johnson's, Carla's sniper, credit cards and saw that he was in Daytona blowing off steam, probably before his killing. Michael used his duplicate key-card to get into the 4th floor conference room and discovered that it was Johnson's sniper perch all set up to shoot from the long table, out the sliding balcony doors directly at the path of a ferry boat in the harbor. Carla showed up on her motorcycle and nearly caught Mike but Sam planted a tracking device on her bike. Sam began staking out Carla in a high-class hotel and got a master key so Mike could search her room. Using a photocopy of a house-keeping attendant on Carla's facial recognition security door, Mike discovered her secret stash in a bathroom light fixture and got photos of her agents on this mission which included Johnson, Victor and himself as well as someone unknown. Carla called Mike to threaten that she had seen a key-log entry on a report and he better stay out of it or "there would be consequences." Carla called Madeline and told her to tell Michael to "stay out of other people's business" as she had his brother Nate arrested on trumped up charges. Sam saw that Carla was on the move so they all met near a boat dock where Carla was talking to the unknown man. Mike realized the assassination was underway so decided to go back to the loft for his key-card in order to be able to prevent Johnson from doing it. Mike had to escape on a motorbike being chased by Carla. When he got to the loft, Sam called to say that Johnson had been blown up by a bomb on his front door and Mike barely escaped his own bomb by leaping over the railing onto the top of his car.

Regaining consciousness after spending 20 minutes on the ground where he had bounced after his loft blew up, Michael heard Sam urging him awake to escape the "goons" which were coming to get him. They escaped but had to abandon Sam's car.  Finally, having had enough, Mike picked up a rock and smashed one of the goon's car, who was following him, and demanded to be taken to this "Carla" person. He angrily told her that "I want my brother out of jail and I want my life back." The only thing Carla had to say was "we'll be in touch."  Fiona checked out the explosive signature of the bomb and Carla eventually dragged Michael in again to tell him that they wanted him to go find the bomber who had killed Johnson and tried to kill him. Fiona told Mike that the bomber was a professional who couldn't have gone out the front after he had set it. They decided to canvas the area for buildings with security cameras. Carla broke into his loft again, but Mike didn't tell her anything. He did notice, however, that she was doing her own errands now. She said "exceptional times call for exceptional measures."

Fiona found a security camera at a local business and Michael bluffed his way in to obtaining its photos. They saw that the bomber was dressed as a public works employee so Fiona bluffed her way into getting personnel files with photos and they found the bomber. Carla finally let Mike look through some carefully chosen records on the other operatives that had been bombed. In order to stall her, Michael had asked Carla for a list of everyone who had ever blown anything up in Eastern Europe and Fiona was on the list. She gave it to him with the ultimatum to find the bomber within two days. Fiona found the bombers name: Derek Poole and she went to case his house; but, she ended up tripping a booby-trap and incendiarizing the house, barely escaping with her life. Carla broke in to his loft again and was unhappy being told the Mike had struck out so she threatened him again. He pushed back theorizing that whatever she did to him would probably happen to her as well because she was under scrutiny herself. She told him that he'd better start worrying about himself or he "wouldn't be around to help anyone else."

Fiona now having triggered Derek Poole's booby-trap sent him into hiding so Michael went to a gun runner, Seymour, for help in locating him. Seymour found Poole living with his girlfriend Bianca and that they guy also did work for the Russian mob. The hideout was heavily booby-trapped with motion detectors too. Seymour made some specialized guns for them to use in capturing Poole, which they did. With a promise to get he and his girlfriend out of the country, Poole confessed that he had been wired $100,000 from account number: 7595163003. Mike had Seymour send the two to Suriname.

Barry, a money launderer, had tracked the bombers bank account number to the Cayman Islands for Michael; although, Jason Bly had caught him do it and was now in town to counter-blackmail Michael into giving him Michael's "evidence" folder. Unfortunately, for him, he was caught up in one of Mike's "day jobs" which turned deadly, and Michael had to save his life more than once. After the harrowing event they had both "bonded" enough to agree for a truce; and, as long as Bly was in a good mood, Michael asked him to finish tracing the account that Barry had started. Bly told him that the Cayman Island account was just a number, no attached name, and that had a "tripwire" which had been tripped; so now, whoever it is, "knows you're coming."

Michael contacted the bank manager of the Cayman Island account he needed to know and agreed to pay for the account information. A man, ostensibly Gustavo, turned out to be an imposter sent to find out about Michael and then kill him. The real Gustavo had been killed and during the encounter with Michael, the imposter accidentally fell over a railing and was killed. However, someone had to have smuggled the imposter into the US and Fiona went about trying to shake down her contacts to find out who. The smuggler already knew Fiona's reputation so she was able to readily obtain information that Gustavo had been brought in, paid cash and was dropped off at a storage unit – and she got the address. They notified the storage unit manager that Gustavo had passed away and that they were coming after hours to inspect the contents of the unit; hoping, of course that whoever had hired him would intercept the message and be there to try and stop them. At the storage shed, they routed an attempt to kill Michael and found that the assassin was Victor, Michaels former "wrangler."

Michael and all his friends and family were in danger from both Carla and Victor (who Michael hadn't told Carla about). Sam obtained information about Victor which claimed he was involved in black-ops and murder. "You were just the first one that he missed," Sam said, but Michael advised that if Carla's people had burned him "it was all fiction." In Jul '03 a job of Victors got bloody in Mexico; but, even though he denied it, Phillip Cowan burned him anyway. Michael surmised that he and Victor might be on the same side and wanted to meet him for a face-to-face. Victor did call and agree to meet, in the future. Michael told Carla that he had traced the killer but that the guy wouldn't come out unless Carla had her goons back off. She agreed but wanted immediate results because "Management's… getting anxious." Meeting Victor in the restroom of the Dade County Police Office, Victor would not agree to talk about any "why or wherefores" leaving M no choice but to zap him, conk him on the sink, wrap him in gauze and smuggle him out in a wheelchair for questioning.

Carla picked Michael up in a stretch limo, apparently her lame attempt to "make nice." In an attempt to be "chummy" she revealed that she too had been a burned spy. She showed increased anxiety and said that "Management was coming to town shortly to make sure everything was resolved." Mike avoided being tailed and went back to where they were interrogating Victor. After some fighting, Mike convinced him to say that he had been burned in Mexico at the same time his wife and son had been killed. Later he found out that it had actually been Carla who had killed his family "as part of my recruitment." He had decided to take down the entire organization he said, and that all his information was on his booby-trapped boat. Victor told Sam that Carla would cut her losses and kill them all if she found them. Fiona and Michael disarmed the claymore mines on the boat and found newspaper clippings and photos of what Victor had told them.

Carla did some triangulation and began chasing them but Victor said he had a complete folder on Carla that he could use to blackmail her into backing off because it would get her killed by her own people. He, Michael and Fiona went to retrieve the folder while Sam assisted Madeline to escape Carla's people by exploding her sun room while they slipped out the back way. At Victor's boat, Carla wounded Victor and announced to Michael that victor needed to be dead or she would detonate the bomb that she had planted. Just as she was about to push the button, Fiona shot and killed Carla then had to flee with Sam because "Management's" helicopter was landing. Victor talked Michael into pulling the trigger to prevent him from falling back into the hands of the Organization. Management took Michael up over the harbor, told Michael that his Organization had been watching out for him and keeping all his old enemies at bay. He made a perfunctory offer to leave him alone and showed him the helicopter door. Michael took him up on it and jumped out; then had to swim miles to shore.

Michael did make the exhaustive swim to the beach in his clothes from the offshore helicopter jump he had to make in order to get away from "management," a boss in "the Organization" that burned him. True to his warning, the guy had "turned off" any protection and threw in a pile of "tattling" for good measure. Almost immediately the police arrested him for questioning, but he didn't have any answers to give them. Management sent a "missing you" card signed "let us know when you've had enough" and gave him a phone number to call. He was released due to the attorney of a "friend," Harlan, (who eventually nearly killed him) who charged the police with keeping a political prisoner. Mike now realized more than ever that he needed to get his "old" job back.

Now a Miami detective named "Paxson" came after Michael with a passion pretty much blaming him for every crime in Miami. Sam called her a "stalker with a badge." She interfered with Fiona's bail bond enforcer business and scouted every storage unit in Miami until she found one she thought was tied to Michael. Before she could get a search warrant however, Mike, Fiona and Sam cut through the back wall with a water saw and retrieved all his stored C4 and weapons. Paxson showed up at the loft to say "this isn't over."

Paxson began harassing Michael's family next. She rousted Nate out of bed and lied that he had fled to Vegas to get out of parking tickets and tried to get him to "flip" on his brother.  They realized that some of Mike's other friends may not hold out, like Barry. Sam suggested they have Barry set up some phony financial relationship between Mike and the mayor's aide so that when Paxson pulled her deceitful stunts on her it would blow back and get her reprimanded. Later, Paxson came storming into the loft whining that her partner had been suspended for grilling a mayor's aide for 3 hours about a bank error account with a Michael Westen. She threatened him that "I can give as good as I get"; which didn't seem to be very well from the way she flounced out of the loft.

Paxson now set a 24-hour police tail on Michael designed to get him killed when he did some of the things necessary for his "day job." Undaunted, the next day Michael began reverse-stalking Paxson; which, when the police in their marked car followed him, ruined her stakeouts. He tried to get her to understand "we're on the same side" but she only threatened "show me." So, he decided to do just that. Paxson's other main case was against Rick Matheson, a hood who was robbing other drug manufacturers and killing innocent people caught in the cross-fire. Mike set up a sting to get Matheson trapped inside one of his jobs so Paxson couldn't help but catch him red-handed; with, of course, a small amount of his own C4 thrown in a get away car just for good measure. Later Paxson came to Carlito's to gloat about closing her main case and Mike told her that she could either close the other cases now with the new evidence (even if it didn't make sense to her) or have her case against Matheson unravel – he said that "If I got a pass… it was anything but free." She apparently decided to leave him alone but blustered "I'll be watching."

Michael and Sam next staked out the airport and found a black-ops flight which Mike was able to steal a registration number for and Barry was able to trace to North Andes Distribution in a hanger at the airport. When Michael went to case it, Diego Garza readily introduced himself as "the spy you are looking for." However, he announced that he didn't like Michael and wouldn't help in any way. So Mike, sneaked in and stole an expensive artifact and set up a fake bidding spree on E-Bay using the fake name: MichaelHeartsDiego. That did get him noticed by Diego's superiors who assigned him to be Michael's "point of contact" in Miami. His first duty was to tell Michael that "they don't want you at this time and will call you if they have anything to say." Diego told him that his superiors already knew about Michael's recent saving of their secret encryption code and arrest of a traitor; but, he said "they won't give credit to someone for something that never happened." Truly disappointed Michael told him "get to know me Diego, I'm one of the good guys."

Michael received a gift basket on his steps with a card requesting a meeting. He went to the designated place and met Tom Strickler who claimed to be "an agent for spies." He would come up with paying jobs for Mike and take a 10% cut of any profits. Mike said no, but Strickler revealed that a Ukrainian was on his way to kill him. It turned out to be Pyotr Chechik who Mike had gotten arrested but who was now free and working for a high-ranking, Russian politician/mob boss. Mike was able to turn the tables on him, and Strickler gave him the money he had arranged from one of Chechik's enemies. Mike threw it back at him and said he'd never work with in in that way.

Next Strickler had a slinky-brunette deliver some Aloe Vera burn lotion to Michael and offer to apply it. Mike returned the lotion and Strickler offered to use his connections to get Michael's case reviewed at the highest level. Mike asked Diego to check if Strickler had the clout to do what he claimed and Diego refused. So, Mike had to bug Diego's phone network but was caught. Diego whined that after Mike had dropped that name he'd been dealing with agencies he'd never even heard of before. Mike realized that Strickler probably did have the clout needed to get him back in so agreed to "dance with the Devil" and do the job.

Strickler's job was to have Michael do surveillance on some thieves stealing equipment from a government safe house, get photos and track where the sale was going to take place. He followed the thieves to a park where he took photos of them exchanging the stolen guns. Strickler continued to refuse saying who the photo's were for and implied that the thieves wouldn't get caught by the government. While he was there, Strickler's phone rang (?) and he handed it to Mike. Diego Garza was on the line to say that "Washington had called that there had been some movement on your burn notice and he would be in contact to set up a meeting."

Diego called Michael to say that that he'd gotten a call from the Deputy Director of the CIA who had just received his file for review. Various regional experts will be doing the review; but, Diego told him that he was going to be burned for good and that he was tiptoeing through a minefield. Strickler came with some fabricated stories that Michael was supposed to lie about during his investigation which would be very lucrative. Michael out right refused so Strickler set Fiona up for kidnapping by an enemy who had heard that she was returning to Ireland after breaking up with Michael. Michael went to accost Strickler with what he had done and was then held at gunpoint with Strickler threatening that "you don't get to have the job and the girl." Michael whirled on him and said "Fiona is not my past" as he drew and shot Strickler in the chest. He set Fiona's enemy up for killing Strickler but Diego called and frantically asked "did you know who you were dealing with (Strickler)?" He warned that now someone was there cleaning up the mess that Strickler made and he didn't know who he could trust at the agency. "They," he said, were coming after both of them and he wanted to meet. When Mike got there, he found Diego dead on the cement walk having fallen from a balcony.

Sam discovered that Michael wasn't being blamed for Diego's death but that "un-burn Michael Westen is officially off." Now Michael was off trying to discover who had killed Diego - thinking either he may be next, or there was some link still to "the Organization" that had burned him. He followed a phone number that Strickler had frequently called to a hotel where the clerk recognized him and handed him a message. Michael went to the room the message had indicated and it burst into flames. The room had been rented to Randolph Quilling, a scientist who had been killed in a hotel fire-bomb. Sam triangulated the phone signal to an abandoned arena on the waterfront. When Mike got there the phone was ringing and a swishy sounding man attempted to scare him with rifle shots into seats all around him – just like a stadium shooting back in '98 in South America. Sam found that both of these incident's had been linked to someone named: Mason Gilroy. Then they found a phone at the loft gate which was programmed to call Gilroy. Gilroy said he was now ready to meet.

The meeting with Gilroy was at an expensive hotel. Mike knew he was a freelance-sociopath who was planning something big in Miami and he was the only person who could stop it. Gilroy said that Strickler was his associate until Mike shot him which made the CIA look into it and required that Diego be killed "because I was (Strickler's) business." Gilroy said that he'd need to get to know Michael better before he'd trust him and had someone shoot a bottle next to where Fiona watched from the Balcony. After nearly interfering with Michael's "day job," Gilroy did call and request another meeting.

Gilroy introduced Michael to Claude, an accomplished thief, who was supposed to work with him to obtain some documents. Fiona found that Claude was really an ex-Australian S.I.S. agent: Tomas Smalling. Claude was a cat burglar and Mike needed to set him up to fall so he would fail getting inside in order to prevent him from killing a guard. With the failure, Gilroy told Michael that "Claude didn't survive his injuries."  So that now getting the documents was Mike's responsibility and that he should "consider it a reason for living… as it were."

Gilroy made Michael meet him in a hot tub where, ostensibly, he could tell if he was wearing a wire. He said the documents that he wanted were no longer available and instead Michael was to steal 6 weeks of private flight data in and out of Miami which would tell him almost the same thing. Michael asked Sam to get them by using one of his friends in the Coast Guard which really pissed Sam off. Sam eventually discovered that all of the data was identical except for one day which gave clearance for one flight. That flight was the one Gilroy wanted, Sam knew, and that was the ONLY one that he was willing to give Mike. When Mike wanted it all, Sam basically told him to go piss up a rope and stormed out. Chili to Poland, tail number 4-whisky-x-ray-alpha 803, registered to a faceless corporation in Santiago. When asked, Gilroy stumbled that it was a weaponized plague and a vaccine to match; but, Mike knew he was lying.

Michael decided to use Fiona's help to "turn" Conrad, from the Polish Embassy, into giving them any documents they had about Gilroy's flight. Mike's first plan failed so Fiona had to pretend to be a CIA agent trying to find a mole in the Polish Embassy. She obtained the documents which were basically instructions on how to handle an extremely dangerous passenger, although not giving the name. Gilroy wanted M to "help a world class bad-guy to escape."

Gilroy pulled up in a heavily armored SUV to take Michael to do a job: buy a Browning 50-cal machine gun from a compound of white supremists. He sent Michael in with a metal briefcase full of money, apparently knowing that he would be attacked, just to provide a diversion while he stole the gun himself – except that he hadn't bothered to warn Michael. Mike asked Sam to arrange a meeting with the FBI surveillance guys in order to report what Gilroy was doing; however, neither Lane or Harris would even listen to him. Nor would they agree to pass on any information. Gilroy's plans were that Mike would guard a bridge to keep anyone from coming across, while he kept the gun and killed anyone who got past. When Mike refused, Gilroy revealed that an “Inmate had hand-picked you for this job (in fact seemed) rather obsessed with you.” Still not willing, Gilroy shot a 50-cal round next to his head and said "don't come for the money or for me; rather, come for all the people I have to kill if you don’t do your job.” Sam was watching at the airport when an accident caused all flights to be diverted – one to where Gilroy and Mike were. Mike blew the bridge and Gilroy first paid off a guard of the plane then greeted a hooded prisoner. When Mike arrived he found Gilroy shot and chained to his car with a bomb strapped to him. Before he blew up, Gilroy said that the guy had paid him $10 million to release him; but his plan, instead, had really been to "kill me and come after you – his name is Simon."

Michael barely escaped Gilroy's exploding car and was chased by every cop car known to man. He had to subdue one of them in order to call Sam for a pick-up. One agent, Callahan, shot at Mike's back as he got away then went to harass Madeline. Simon actually captured Mike by setting a remotely detonated bomb in a Miami hotel and blackmailing Mike into getting Management to come for a meeting. He revealed that nearly all the things Mike had been burned for, were really done by him and he resented Mike getting the credit. Callahan arrogantly brow-beat Madeline but never got anything out of her. Fiona and Sam found the bomb-maker who made Simon's bomb and defused it. Mike didn't know that and was able to get Management to  come; however, Gilroy was able to capture Management and, despite the guys arrogant threats and blustering, Mike had to save him. As Mike had Gilroy subdued and ready to kill him, Management advised him not to do it with all the FBI coming, because "you have a bright future." Simon egged him on to pull the trigger but the FBI arrested them both as Simon taunted "you're just like me now." Management's Organization, took both prisoners away from the FBI. Michael was shown being taken into a prison in a head-bag then finally placed in a plush sitting room!

A man named Vaughn entered Michaels room and thanked him for what he had done for the "old Man… Management." Just FYI, Simon is back locked-up in prison and Management is safe at an undisclosed location. Vaughn gave him a thick folder and said "let me know when you're ready to talk." The folder was all about some possibly connected mayhem all over the world and Mike found a link through a guy named Hart, an arms dealer. Vaughn swore that he had nothing to do with Mike being burned and wanted his help "as a partner" in rooting out who was behind it. He got Mike hooked by taking him to South America and helping take down the dealer; unfortunately, the guy was blown up by a drone before giving any information. Mike agreed to help but it is clear: Vaughn is as bad as Carla had been, believes in torture, is only playing Mike for help and all of the old threats against his family – they're still on line. Mike finally explained his burned situation to Madeline and that he was being blamed for the things that Simon had done. Vaughn found that a government agency was looking into Hart and gave Mike a badge so that he could get in and steal a copy. As he was coming back out of the building, he and Fiona saw Fed types screech up and haul away a counter-intelligence man named Jesse Porter – Vaughn's badge had just got another spy burned.

Michael knew that Vaughn's cracks at being "pals" were mere lies. He had to save Jesse from Vaughn's intended "elimination" by intervening that he could be used as an asset. Vaughn told Mike where to go to bug Jesse's communications. They found him andhad to anonymously rescue him from an attempted kidnapping by one of his enemies, Ming Kahn. Afterward, Jesse came for Mike's help on his own. They worked through an elaborate con in order to eliminate Kahn and re-rescue Jesse who had been captured. Fiona took it on her self to arrange for Jesse to live at Madeline's over Mike's strong objection. For a second time Mike had to prevent Vaughn from torturing Jesse to get information. In a "heart-to-heart" Jesse told Mike that his case had been "looking into wars, terrorist attacks and that he had a lead on a guy that was tied into it… probably got too close." And that he'd work with Mike only if he accepted that Jesse was going to kill the person who had burned him.

Jesse revealed that he had been working for the DOD for a year investigating bombings, kidnappings, assassinations etc., which all looked like they had a pattern. He followed weapons supply lines, through Algerian ships back to the port of Miami so he moved here. He made contact with a shipper who had a gravely voice and named him "Cobra." Jesse found the hanger used by Cobra and Michael found residual blood in a plane's wheel-well but everything had been disinfected. Sam found that the past flight of that plane was to the Bahamas and the same day a "John Doe" has washed ashore. Fiona offered to get Jesse smuggled to the Bahamas in a cigarette boat.

Fiona and Jesse obtained the autopsy report on "Cobra" from the morgue in the Bahamas. The body had been strangled and dropped into the water, had tissue under his nails from scratching someone, was of middle eastern descent and had thoracic scaring from heavy smoking. Fingerprints were those of Jeremiah Kassar and they found where he lived and conned their way into an address. While searching it they ran into Kendra, "a nosey neighbor from hell," who actually turned out to be the assassin who killed Kassar and was now living next door to see who came to see him. When Jesse and Mike burst through her door, they saw her attempting to extract a high-density computer cartridge from behind the wall before she fled.

The computer disk was out-out-date and while trying to locate a place to read it they noticed Kendra following them. An attempt to capture her failed and led to merely an annoying back and forth banter on the phone. Eventually, they met to sell the disk back to her and when she tried to Kill Michael he knocked her out and Sam put her in the trunk.

Michael knew that the only way to break Kendra was with a "rendition play" and when she arrogantly belittled them for "not having any metal instruments" he knew he was right. Jesse unintentionally showed weakness so Michael left him to "be the prey" with Sam the "unseen boss from hell." They eventually got her to offer to bribe Jesse to let her go and then convince her that her bosses had set her up and taken back all the money they'd paid her. Barry found that "Kendra's money went through six banks and four different holding companies in five different countries!" It seemed inordinately cautious to merely hire an assassin; but she did fall for the ruse and disclosed that Kassar was jut one of four people she was hired to kill who had been hired to rob a bank's safety deposit vault but who had failed. She didn’t know the bank or who hired her but the robbery attempt was the "fourth of last month." They "donated" Kendra to the FBI.

Jesse went to his old handler, Marv, to try and find the name of the bank of the attempted robbery last month. Michael's "day job" turned out to be rescuing a former spy, Paul Anderson, from a Russian wet-work team that eventually involved coercing help from congressman Bill Cowley. Marv did find the bank's name: Miami Trust, and also gave Fiona a paper showing Jesse's burn had been phony. Fiona destroyed the paper.

Madeline helped Michael and Jesse case the Miami Trust bank and nearly got her "burned" herself. Fiona set them up to drill down from the lawyers office above the vault. Mike and Jesse were through the ceiling, into the vault and back out in under a minute – and found an old Bible in box 64. It was a book code and belonged to Simon Escher – who Mike told Jesse that he didn't know. [Obviously however, this now represents some kind of link between "the Organization" and this new "crime spree" bunch of people.]

Michael knew that old bibles make good code books because of the variation between books and numbering of chapter and verse; but, when Michael asked Vaughn to let him speak to Simon, Vaughn said "No." Mike kicked him out of his apartment in a storm to Vaughn's threats. Vaughn tried to bargain with Fiona into giving him the bible in exchange for undoing Jesse's burn-notice. Michael's "day-job" had him do a favor for two old FBI "buddies" which Michael then used to strong-arm Vaughn into relenting and allowing Michael to meet Simon.

Vaughn told Michael that he hadn't ever learned anything from Simon except that he had a "remarkable tolerance for pain." Knowing they were on video monitors, Simon broke his handcuffs and pushed them both over a balcony where he could say: "Cemetery 3rd and Grand, plot 837, there are keepsakes of mine including an audio tape… be careful digging it up… talk more after you've heard what's on the tape." Fiona dug up the booby-trapped coffin and the tape turned out to be Vaughn's voice saying: "We've already found a replacement for you… very promising… name's Westen… if he doesn't work out, there will be another. The work continues." Vaughn had deliberately lied to Michael (surprise, surprise). Afterward, walking along the beach, Simon revealed: "The man who previously tried to get the bible is not like you and me (because) we are just pawns in a very large chess game… but he's more like a king. His name is John Barrett, the CEO of Drake Technologies. A corporation with holdings in telecom, infrastructure and tech; so, whatever they destroy, they can rebuild."  Simon said that if Mike took the bible to Barrett, he would have everything he needed to wipe out Vaughn and his ilk. "I would have worked with the Devil himself to take down those that burned us," Simon continued, "Sadly, the Devil's not available so I have to pin my hopes on you!" Michael did tell Vaughn about John Barrett but kept everything else a secret.

With a bit of trickery, Sam put together a phony file that led back to the REAL bad guy: John Barrett. That was only needed because Jesse couldn't know how Michael really obtained the information. Mike and Jesse got a super, secret cell phone number for Barrett from Vaughn and used it. They knew he would be cautious so pretended they wanted a job with him and said "call us when you're ready to talk." Barrett sent an active duty colonel, Russell, to obtain the book but he fell into Michael's trap and was sent back with a photocopy of one of the pages as proof. Barrett called Michael saying he'd just landed in Miami and would be in touch. Sam went off to find where Barrett might be staying and Fiona went to the loft where the poor, whiney-boob Jesse accosted her with a video that Marv had gotten showing that Michael was the one who had stole the documents.

Jesse was still throwing his tantrums which not only put Michael short handed in stopping the exact criminal that Jesse had spent his career looking for; but, required Madeline and Fiona to run around the town dealing with Jesse's adolescent behavior instead of helping Michael. Michael, yet another time, had to stop Vaughn from "taking care" of Jesse once and for all. Eventually it was Vaughn who found Jesse and told Mike to corral him or else. Madeline and Fiona tried to reason with him and set up a meeting with Michael. Michael couldn't reason with him either [although the writers never let him try]. Sam and Fiona provided backup at Michaels meeting place with Barrett. The book code is a key to the IDs of all of Vaughn's, Carla's, Victor's and Management's "Organization." With it, the whole organization can be taken down. Barrett was just agreeing to let Michael join him in doing it, when Vigilante Vaughn and his men came in guns blazing. Jesse, who miraculously appeared out of nowhere, shot THROUGH Michael to kill one of Barrett's men; but, Barrett took Michael at gunpoint and escaped in his SUV. Wounded, Michael flipped the car, killing Barrett, and watched as some boots came over and took the bible and code leaving him to pass out.

Congressional hearings over the CEO of a telecommunications company being the head of a Cabal without the US Intelligence Community even having a clue were being held while Michael was still unconscious in some hospital. Vaughn appeared to say they never had to see him again if they didn't want to – Fiona replied that if he ever came unannounced again, NOBODY would ever see him again. Mark Sweeny was the only Barrett employee unaccounted for and his car had a parking slip for the local university. A computer student there finally admitted that he had sent Sweeny to see Justin Walsh, an algorithmic engineer at SXG a defense contractor. Peering through Walsh's window they saw Sweeny on the floor dead – no bible, no NOC list. They only got Walsh's email address from his computer.

Michael broke into a police stations "fusion center" to obtain information on the thief Justin Walsh who had security clearance. Jesse discovered emails to Taiwan, Peru and Bulgaria about "stamp collecting" – it was an auction. Jesse needed to talk to Marv again. They had to blackmail him to get him to help. The email addresses belong to brokers, arms dealers and some ex-spook who's into crypto-intelligence. And, the auction was in two weeks in Santo Domingo requiring 5 million in an escrow account to get a seat. So, Jesse asked Marv for 5 million in money marked for destruction.

Jesse and Sam went to Santo Domingo to prevent the auction and retrieve the NOC list and book code. Walsh was tricked into revealing that he was using a "moving loop" to protect from thieves. They hired a bunch of locals to log every motorcycle around town and were able to construct a plan to intercept it. Mike and Fiona joined them in Santo Domingo and together they, diverted the motorcycle into an alley,  dismounted the driver with a 2x4, prevented help arriving with a smoke grenade and used wire-work to fly to a roof top – they had it: all on a thumb drive.

They found now that they couldn't copy the thumb drive and the only one they knew could help would be Marv; but, he didn't like Michael. Marv demanded that Mike "go on record" against every person he had ever contacted and under polygraph. He agreed. Despite being warned about secrecy, Marv's arrogance was unbounded and he blabbed it all over to "check out the story." He finally agreed to accept the information and was supposed to have Homeland Security at the handoff. Instead, it was Brennan who had found out about the list then blackmailed Marv and shot and killed him. He left Mike and Jesse without harm.

Brennen had been stalking Michael which had led him to the activities with Marv. He now demanded that Mike help him destroy those on the list, one at a time so he could arrange and collect fees. He had all of Marv's audio tapes which were scheduled to be sent to Vaughn every morning at 5 unless he stopped them. And, he'd enlisted "dead Larry" to help "wrangle" Mike during the process. They captured Albert Machado and Larry killed him instead of kidnapping like Mike had planned. Mike got Larry's phone number and Sam tried to trace it back to Brennen; but, it was using new technology and they couldn't. Fiona found the only person who handled that technology and got him to tell that he'd installed the equipment and a special safe – and gave them the address. The building was heavily monitored with cameras. When Mike told Larry that they knew where Brennen's safe was located, Larry killed Brennen. Then when Larry went to retrieve the safe, they found that Jesse and Fiona had already stolen it; and, Sam had Larry in his sights from an adjacent building in order to hold him at bay while Michael escaped. Unfortunately, having the thumb drive didn't protect them from Vaughn who was now coming after them all.

They made several attempts to hide the thumb drive where even Vaughn and his minions couldn't get them; but, it was as if Vaughn knew their every move and stopped them. Madeline was asked to contact (blackmail) Bill Cowley again with Sam, while Mike, Fiona and Jesse tried to outrun Vaughn. Vaughn chased Mike into an abandoned hotel and Jesse was injured. They used the Hotel's emergency system to call police but Vaughn's men turned them around easily. Madeline did get Cowley to listen to Sam but when she was going back to her motel, Vaughn's people captured her to use against Mike. Without bullets, Mike gave Jesse and Fiona the drive to take out the back way while he made a run to a kiosk in the courtyard. Plan was to draw Vaughn's men in, then set off an explosion. Fiona ran back to join Mike but just before they pushed the button, Sam showed up with the "real" military that Cowley had arranged. Sam got to cold-cock Vaughn with a hay-maker. Jesse gave Mike the thumb drive and some soft-spoken Fed types asked Mike to go with them. He was interrogated for several days then let out of a car in front of an official building in D.C. with a man who Michael recognized as "you" saying "Welcome back."

Michael and his new CIA friends took down the entire "Organization" during the summer television break and all that remained was two more: Hector Oaks and John Kessler. He and Max, Mikes new "handler" intercepted Oaks during a job and extracted him. Mike was able to convince Oaks that his best bet to protect his family was to trust him, which he did. Kessler was director of operations for the "Organization" and was in a compound in Caracas Venezuela. Mike demanded that Sam and Fiona be allowed to go with them but Max didn't let them do much. Mike conned a guard trained in Cuba to help extract Kessler but the operation was thwarted by Kessler's security. Mike chased him back to the compound but by the time they had broken into the safe room, Kessler was dead from a gunshot wound. They figured he had killed himself rather than being captured. Sam and Fiona held the police back long enough for Mike and Max to arrange their escape from the compound. Everyone celebrated but Mike thought that there should be more.

Michael was "playing nice" with the CIA now; BUT, it was made very clear over and over, he was NOT "back in." He and Fiona did get a government funded R & R in Costa Rica until interrupted for a "government gig" which was to babysit a British nuclear scientist who habitually cheated on his wife at conferences and was a prime target for blackmail. Michael's "day job" interfered slightly and Max to reprimand Mike for involving Fiona.

Michael's worry that things didn't add up with the "Organization" didn't go away and was chocked up to "Post Operation Paranoia," especially when he attacked a guy who he thought was following him. One of his "day jobs" went awry and an innocent man was nearly killed. Sam told him that "nobody said what we do is easy," and Nate advised "No one can tell you to stop until you're ready… see this through… either you're gonna find out that you are crazy, or maybe this thing with you being burned isn't over. Either way it's gonna hurt." In another look through all his files, Mike found many inconsistencies.

Michael's next job under the tutelage of Max was to watch as someone stole a computer from Gunther Ehren, the owner of JetSwede a high end aeronautics company; then to follow whoever did it so they could find out what they were doing. It turned out "the frogs" (French) were behind it and they easily broke in and copied what they had stolen. Max shot down Michael's four page document about "the Organization's" inconsistencies he had found, telling him to drop it. Michael went to Max's office and found him dying on the floor. He picked up the gun to shoot at someone who was fleeing; but found they were only using blanks – he was being set up for murdering Max. Max told Michael to say goodbye to his wife for him and Michael took efforts to cover up his tracks including wiping the key logger.

With the help of the others, Michael melted down the gun he found at Max's murder scened and now had his fingerprints on them; and was eventually introduced to the CIAs agent Pearce who was running the investigation and felt like fitting him for a head bag. She accepted his offer to help and said she was also his new "handler." Jesse took the phone trace information Pearce supplied and tracked a burner phone to a particular bodega then had Fiona help getting all their security tapes to see who had purchased the phone. Madeline sat for hours logging every phone purchase then ran across someone who, for all intents and purposes, looked and acted exactly like Michael. She told him: "good luck in convincing anybody else this isn't you."

While urgently trying to "get ahead" of someone who was trying to frame him for Max's murder, Pearce pulled Michael for an urgent, but requiring a non-CIA "person," job retrieving a stolen Predator Missile from the Serbians. The only way Mike could do it was to capitalize on his "relationship" with the drug dealer Carmelo and put Sam drastically in harm's way nearly getting him killed. Madeline and Fiona used a con at the driver's license office to find Mike's "look-alike," Jacob Starkey, along with his address.

While staking out Jacob Starkey, who had framed Michael for Max's murder, Sam and Fiona had to rescue him from a gang who was going to kill him. Agent Pearce went to Egypt to check on leads leaving Michael to chase down the "anonymous man" who had hired Starkey to impersonate him while buying the gun but was now trying to kill him. Jobs had been texted to him and money had been mailed but deliveries in Overtown had now gotten him marked for death by drug dealers. Starkey used an anonymous number to ask for help from his employer and was told to meet at the marina. Mike impersonated Starkey and found a sophisticated bomb attached to the engine set to explode in deep water. He got photos and samples of the C4, jumped overboard and let the craft explode on autopilot.

Fiona's dangerous gun-dealer acquaintance, Armand, was the only way they knew to try and trace who had built the bomb which was supposed to kill Starkey. The CIA "bunch of bitchy little girls" liked having someone to do work that they didn't have to take credit for: Michael. Pearce took Mike and Jesse to an extraction mission while Fiona and Sam stole a truck full of weapons in order to get Armand to locate the bomber. When he finally  gave her the name of the bomb-maker, Armand said that "Michael has some nasty enemies" but didn't say who. Madeline introduced Mike to her new boyfriend: Benny.

Mike and Sam went to Tallahassee to interrogate Lucien Ballans, a war criminal turned clock-maker who tried to electrocute them and then proved expert at not revealing any true information. They discovered that he had a daughter hiding in Atlanta, who they threatened to have deported; so, he revealed that he didn't know the location of Christian Pavel who was a long time friend and who had needed a bomb. He tricked them into going to Connie's Café, a prearranged "distress call" but that didn't get him rescued. Someone came trying to kill everyone in the building. Lucien gave Mike the location of his "friend" in Wentword and said "put a bullet in him."

When Michael and Sam went to the address Lucien had given them, they tripped a booby-trap, set the place ablaze and the man who killed Max got away; but, they got a look at him. Pearce was now on the case because Lucien had a Romanian connection, like Max had and the gun used to kill him was the same make/model as used in a murder in Hialeah. She demanded all of Mike's files and information. Sam had a "friend" who could extract the data from the burned computer they got from the Wentword fire. They got the name: Tavian Korzha and were worried that they might not find him before Pearce found the frame-up evidence on Michael.

In the computer files they discovered that Tavian Korzha was getting his money from a launderer known as Ravel Stigler. Sam and Jesse were able to convince Stigler to give them information because, as it turned out, Lucien was his friend. Korzha came every Tuesday, so they planned to disable his car and capture him; but, Tavian found out and killed Stigler first then kidnapped Sam. However, he let Sam go in order to send a message to Michael that he wanted a truce and had "information that he doesn't know to ask." He demanded a meeting the next day, Brickle Key Park, 6PM. When Michael returned the next day, Pearce was waiting for him in the loft with new videotape evidence that Michael had driven past a security camera after Max had been shot. He weakly tried to explain, but as usual she wasn't listening.

Sam and Jesse had set up the Homeland Security to backup Mike's meeting with Tavian but Mike didn't show. When Tavian threatened to leave, they pointed out that air, land and water were blocked so he had no escape. "You'll get your meeting with Mike, but you'll have to wait," Sam said, then went screaming across town to discover Mike had been arrested. He and Jesse decided to go stop Pearce's motorcade and she only relented after being shamed into it. Mike met with Tavian unarmed but wearing a wire and was able to get him to admit killing Max and trying to frame Mike. When he asked Mike for a truce, Mike showed him the wire he was wearing and offered to try and make it easy on him if he'd cooperate in finding who hired him. Instead, Tavian jumped off the building after saying "you're half right… it does end for me but not for you."

Unfortunately, Dead Larry was there having bribed his way out of the Albanian prison where he had been extradited. His job was against the British Consulate and needed both Michael and someone he had kidnapped: Anson Fullerton whose wife was somewhere tied to explosives. He was so angry that he'd decided to kill Mike after the job but was himself killed by a bomb from Fiona. Even more unfortunate was that, a second explosion killed the buildings guards so when Fiona went hysterically blubbering about "I killed those people," it sounded like a confession; just what Anson needed to blackmail Michael! He, as it turns out, was one of two original founders, of "the Organization" and had never been discovered. He also had orchestrated Larry's escape, his own kidnapping, "some lady's" death and now Michael's blackmail back into his "New Improved Organization." He admitted that he was a psychiatrist for the DIA and had arranged to be his mother's therapist for awhile and had also gathered information from his father. Michael was back to lying to Pearce and trying to undo being blackmailed.

As long as Michael was attached to Fiona he could be blackmailed by Anson who smugly pontificated that he had Michael all figured out. His first demand was for Michael to go kidnap Oswald Patterson who was in witness protection for having built a computer virus which could erase all evidence of a person from every database. (?!) He did find Oswald in Puerto Rico, brought him to Florida, had the drug dealer who had originally paid for the virus steal it and then copy it from him before he was arrested. Anson appeared at Sam and Jesse's table to convince them that he knew all about them as well, and that the police had no information about Fiona until he gave them some. Pearce was investigating Michael for increased security clearance and now Anson demanded that Mike use his clearance to put the virus in the CIA computers.

Michael got his new security level and badge. Fiona devised to plant a tracker on Anson's car if Mike could get a meeting with him. Sam and Fiona followed and watched while Anson went into a large apartment complex. Sam conned some college kids to canvas the apartment and found where Anson "lived" but only discovered a combat network encryption relay antenna on the balcony. Anson was relaying his communication signal through some government building's network to anywhere in the world. Mike did plant the virus, assuming that afterward Anson would go his own way and lamenting that he'd have to somehow find him again one day.

They couldn't break military communications encryption so Michael needed to break into the government contractor across the street from Anson's apartment, where the signals were being relayed from, and steal their logs. He and Fiona got the information and scouring the numbers on the log, found a frequently called Miami phone number. It turned out to be Benny, Madeline's new boyfriend. Following him they clearly saw that he had been trained in surveillance. Of course, when Michael told Madeline about it she wouldn't believe him. Eventually she searched Benny's apartment herself and found evidence that he'd been spying on Michael. So she planted a phone bug herself and was helping Michael do surveillance when Anson called again. He had sent Benny a package which blew up when Benny opened it.

Madeline was rationalizing that Benny had been her "soul-mate" so Michael had to tell her about Anson being her psychiatrist, which was probably how he fed personal information to Benny. Anson pontificated that "you're the one that made me kill Benny (by finding out Anson was blackmailing him)… so don't blame me." His next demand was that Michael have Fiona and Jesse go to the Cayman Island's and extract his money from a flagged bank account. Michael threatened that he needed to know there was an end to this and Anson promised that "it'll be done by the end of the month." Sam devised a plan to get a meeting with the FBI director then was contacted by an old friend, Beatriz, who was being targeted by an unknown Russian assassin. Anson agreed to ID the guy for being able to tag along with Mike and ask questions. Anson got insight about what motivated Michaels actions and how he justified it to himself. Anson also rubbed it in about what a genius he was and how much power he had over Michael by revealing he'd had long sessions with Michael's dad, Frank. His dad had cried, and wanted to apologize but started getting suspicious, so Anson had killed him! He then sent drinks to Mike and Fiona's table taking credit for having Sam "neutralized" – he'd paid the Russians to leak that Sam and Beatriz were working for them. [Someone in the FBI director's office on Anson's payroll?]

Madeline told Mike that just before Frank had died he'd, out of the blue, began asking about Michael. A week later he'd "gotten drunk and over-dosed on heart medicine." Barry had traced some of Anson's money to a DC law firm so they broke in and found an active account under the name of Vaughn. Michael convinced Pearce to bring Vaughn to Tampa even though he'd made the operation a classification that she couldn't know the details about. Vaughn said he'd look at the file for a bottle of scotch; then claimed that he knew what was gong on but wouldn't tell unless Mike got him full immunity. Instead he got Pearce to agree to put papers together for transfers of Vaughn, a Belgian assassin he'd ratted out, and Simon Escher all to the same prison. He had to convince Pearce that he never believed "the Organization" was fully destroyed and now he had to investigate a new lead alone "because the last person I told my suspicions too, died in my arms." She didn't press it further and Vaughn revealed that all the account numbers were for infrastructure: transport companies, supply depots, weapons manufacturers and other legit support businesses. "Anson isn't retiring, he's bringing it back on-line," he advised.

Rebuilding the Organization was the straw that broke the camels back for Michael and he accosted Anson in the parking lot of his work about it. Fiona was just as incensed and said that blackmail or no blackmail either Anson backed off or she would take him down from a sniper's perch. Completely and totally unbelievably, even with ridiculous dialog, Anson blabbered some irrelevancies and Michael pulled him out of the line of Fiona's shot. Pretending that "we'll pretend this never happened," Anson drove away saying "this will be over very soon." Sam found a weapons storehouse Anson was using in Tampa; but, when he and Fiona captured the kid who was the "caretaker," Anson blew the building up. They saw that it contained not only the C4 which could have exonerated Fiona, but over-pressured, Teflon-coated rounds as well. Michael was assigned to run a CIA job to prevent Reed Perkins from attending a security conference where he would recruit some spies to sell secrets. His team included Nick Carnahan, Rebecca Lang and Ryan Pewterbaugh whose first attempt at extracting Perkins failed.

Anson incredibly demanded that Mike plant a computer chip in Pearce's computer which would get her and her team burned. Even more unbelievably, Michael did it! During the second attempt to capture Perkins, which involved Jesse going under cover, Michael discovered that Lang used over-pressurized rounds and that she had planted a radio activated bomb on Perkins' plane to kill not only him but Jesse as well. "Anson knows that you would plant the chip then take measures to undo it. Dead bodies make that more difficult," she gloated. Michael finally blew up and not only foiled the explosion but extracted Perkins, saved Jesse and told Jesse to go destroy Pearce's computer so – nobody gets burned today. On the other side of town, Fiona had completely had enough of Michaels poor choices and went to turn herself in, leaving him a message that if he didn't go tell the CIA what he knew, he wouldn't be the man she fell in love with. Anson called Mike with Lang in the car and heard Michael tell him "I'll see you in hell."

With Fiona now in custody, the exhaustion and all the stress, Michael's ability to think clearly is even more severely compromised. He strong-armed Sam, accusing "how could Fiona knock you unconscious?" Then, several times Sam had to stand up to him and back him down from inappropriate actions he planned to take. He told Mike "you were selling out everything you've ever fought for… betraying your friends… and about to betray your God damn country!"  For once, however, even though he was still burned, his own culpability was not being challenged by the CIA. With Jesse back with Pearce at CIA command watching traffic cams he was able to inform on Anson's location; namely, that he was heading to Cutler Bay where he was to meet a boat which would get him to an undisclosed location. Mike and Sam set up road blocks, followed him into a chemical factory and defended both himself and his mother against the all-out assault of Anson's frantic attempt at escape. With one final blackmail threat, Anson was able to get to the boat he had summoned and escape. Agent Pearce told Michael that now Anson was at the top of the CIAs most wanted list, but that there wasn't enough evidence to help Fiona.

Is Michael still "burned?" – Sam and others keep telling him: "now that you're back in"; and people (like Tom Card his former trainer), who wouldn't previously even return his phone calls, are now accepting appointments with him and even letting him do "favors" for them in exchange for their efforts on behalf of Fiona. With the promise of earning a big favor from Card, Michael helped solve a case that Card had been failing at for years. He led an op, with the help of Jesse, which landed a two ton Cocaine bust in addition to a dirty DEA agent and a cooperating witness all rolled in – thereby getting him a visit to the prison to see Fiona.

In Anson's continual machinations to escape he gave Agent Pearce the name and location of the person who killed her fiance, Jay Tunberg, in an attempt to get her to go after the guy and thereby ruin her career. The guy, Ahmed Damour, was now being protected by the CIA because he was stringing them along by letting them know he had Tunberg's information. The CIA had already tried and failed to steal it back. Through an elaborate con, Michael, Jesse, Madeline and Nate helped Pearce retrieve the stolen information, capture both the murderer and his accomplice son and eliminate some Russian mobsters all at the same time. Even though she didn't get to see him die, Pearce told Damour that he was as good as dead. Now the only question is: "what is Anson's REAL game?"

When Michael, Sam and Jesse went to track down the dirty guard who had hired an inmate to kill Fiona they found that he had already been "cleaned" by Rebecca, Anson's new "apprentice." Obviously, we know now that Anson had definitely been behind it all along. She got the drop on Sam and took him hostage, requiring that Michael rescue him from her clutches. Sam had to continually manipulate her away from killing everyone in her sight that got in her way; then, assisted Michael in turning her to join them in their quest to locate and eliminate Anson – at least from being a threat to them all. Anson had been blackmailing Rebecca with the death of her absent brother who Michael said he would protect.

Now Michael was working on two fronts: with Card he was trying to pull strings and scheme up a way for Fiona to be released from prison, and with Sam he was trying to help find and protect Rebecca's brother Trent from Anson – both at the same time!  First, Card's plan was to make Fiona a CIA asset; IF, she would first show good faith by flipping on her gun dealer, Greyson. Michael had to go to the buy wearing a wire. Second, instead of trying to find Trent, Michael decided to find the person who Anson was going to tell his location to, and who was trying to kill him. Nate helped Jesse obtain background intel on Wes Foster's, syndicate-boss father, who Trent had sent to prison. Michael conned Foster into believing it wasn't Trent he wanted. So… Greyson went down, Fiona became an official CIA asset and Michael got told: "now it is up to you to apprehend her 'get out of jail free' card." Rebecca knows where and Anson will be next to pick up his money and travel documents.

Anson is dead! What was Michael's greatest passion has vanished into oblivion and was replaced by one more significant – find the killer! The attempted murder of Fiona inside the prison led to the discovery of a corrupt guard, then to his killer, to Sam's kidnapping and finally the "turning" of the kidnapper, Rebecca, into a collaborator – for a price. They now have a bead on Anson, who seems to have been the mastermind of nearly all that has been evil since even before Michael went to Warri Nigeria to meet Boris and discover that he had been "burned." They couldn't involve anyone but Agent Pearce, and Sam was banned from the op so brother Nate was recruited in the stakeout. His inexperience, and incessant compulsion to prove himself to Mike got him sent away; but, put him by sheer luck, in precisely the critical place to capture Anson. Despite being told specifically to "not engage Anson," Nate took him down and was in a parking lot holding him at gunpoint when the others arrived. The high caliber gunshot that killed Anson also killed Nate and changed everyone's lives in a flash. Who killed Nate… and incidentally, that other guy?

The quest to find the killer had, Michael knew, a 'window of opportunity'; but, some things also needed attending to as well; like a beach-side talk with Fiona, getting his mother to talk to him and … Nate's funeral. Fiona demanded "let's go find the bastard who killed your brother." Rebecca, who had led to Anson's capture, dumped the GPS tracker Sam had hidden in her shoe and disappeared out the back window after trashing the walls to tap into free phone and security cameras. She could have been the 'shooter.' They traced her call to a forger for a new ID and ended up chasing her through the streets. They exchanged gunfire and Rebecca was shot in the arm. Unexpectedly, she appeared at the loft to tell him that she was not going to run from him. She said she had been out of town, would never have hired someone ELSE to kill Anson, was just trying to avoid the CIA who she didn't trust and that he could decide to shoot her… or not. He decided to let her go and she had no clue who had done the shooting.

In their infinite self-centered incompetence the FBI dropped the "who killed Nate and Anson" case, apparently for "we don't want to be embarrassed" reasons. Unfortunately, for them, they tried to cover that part up and didn't respond to Michael's calls – for over a month! He went to the case agent after hours, solely with a gun in his hand and his reputation, to discover their nefarious dealings then conferred with his team about it. FBI agent Woods agreed to give them the complete file in return for a "favor"; namely: find a mob boss, Brian Quinn, and bring him to trial before the only witness dies. Mike and Fiona conducted an elaborate con and needed to take on the whole gang. Meanwhile, Jesse and Pearce blackmailed an executive of Meyerson Industries for a list of all weapon sales and traced the gun which killed Nate to the Pryon Group, a private security firm upstate. However, the con got Pearce reassigned to Mumbai.

 

So this whole mess still hasn't ended with Anson.  He gloated to Nate that he "knew where all the bodies are buried" and would be "out in a week." Evidentially one of the "bodies" who didn't want to be "unburied" has taken measures into their own hands.

Now the Pryon private military group and CEO Jack Vale was the target of Mike and Sam's con. Elsa's money helped them set them look wealthy enough to buy a security team and Sam showed Jesse how to use greed to overcome suspicions in order to find out names of snipers. After offering a half-million dollar a year job they eventually got to look at the personnel records. All they found was a mystery man with the initials T.G. who had qualifications on five kinds of sniper rifles, experience in Costa Rica and spoke Farsi. So, they had to go back to Vale requesting those specific qualifications, hoping that they would eventually meet the shooter.  Instead, Vale came to their meeting in a panic telling them that: he saw through their ruse, they didn't know who they were dealing with, had to back off and also call off their tail! They tried to explain that they had no one tailing him, but as Vale stood up he was shot, similarly to Nate, by someone outside the window. All Mike got was the name: Tyler Gray.

Using the name of Tyler Gray, Agent Card, through a method that was difficult to follow from his explanation, was able to obtain the whereabouts (and even a photograph) of Nate and Anson's killer. He called Michael into his office and explained that the guy was in Panama, that the agent previously assigned to the Anson case was already down there to lead an operation, and that he could take Fiona, Jesse and Sam with him to "go get the guy." Fiona went ballistic (surprise, surprise) over the CIA involvement and pouted the whole time until they seemed to have been betrayed and were attacked by rent-a-merc's led by Gray. When they did finally capture Gray he divulged that it was actually Card who had plotted to kill them all and gave Mike enough specifics that he could check it out. He told Mike that this was "supposed to have been a suicide mission" to eliminate them all at once. Meanwhile Madeline used the information about Card which Michael had given her to go to Card and demand full disclosure which eventually she got. She read the complete file about Nate and had a private talk with Card about Michael. Almost as he was telling Madeline that he considered Michael a son, he was lying to Michael's face that he had "eyes on Gray" (even though Michael himself had him captured), and to "stay put" in the building for "extraction." Everyone sped away in a car and they watched as an F-18 came in and blew up the very building they had been in, just like Gray had warned; then, make a second run and take out their car (which they had just exited), also as Gray had explained. After Mike's last call to Card, Gray asked "did he tell you that he was proud of you?" Then followed with "he told me that you liked to hear that" and that "he told me to do a head shot." As the mid-season finale closed, Card was seen calling "someone" and demanded "tell me that it is done."

As incredible as it sounds, Michael's old "mentor" was behind Nate and Anson's murder – and now had also sent Tyler Gray to kill Mike and ALL his associates. Fortunately, Mike was able to capture Grey and discover the truth in time to save them all but now they were all in Panama, cut off and more on the "outside" than they ever had been. At least Grey was now on their side and had agreed to help get evidence on Card. The airplane that Fiona had arranged for them to "stow away" on turned out to be the drug smuggling plane of Ramiro Vasquez who tortured them with shocks. Seeing how loyal Mike was to his friends turned Grey into believing in Mike's innocence so he shot Vasquez when his hands were free. They were able to take the plane back to Miami where Madeline had browbeat a hacker friend of Sam's into removing record of the flight.

Tyler Grey was able to convince Card that Mike and the others were dead and that Mike had some evidence linking him to the deaths of Anson and Nate. Card ordered him to torch the loft which, over Fiona's great angst, they did. When Grey went to meet with Card wearing a wire, Mike realized that Card was planning to frame him for the entire episode. So, Mike broke into Cards office and revealed that Card had Grey in his gun sights the entire time. While Mike watched like a stuporous boob, Card, instead of lowering his weapon, shot Grey then went around the room altering evidence!! Card set it up like Grey had shot at him and put the weapon in Grey's dead hand. He admitted to Mike that Anson was his target and "had to go because he knew what I had goin' on in Yemen, in China, in Pakistan." He thought he had convinced Mike to join him and had just put his gun away when Mike shot him in the head.

While Michael stood brain-dead and stuperous after shooting Card precisely in the center of his forehead, Sam rushed in and was not happy at his loss of moral-center. Unfortunately, the discussion was cut short by the arrival of super-bitch Olivia Riley, the agent in charge of this new investigation. As inventive as Michael is, Riley is street wise – and lucky. He, Sam, Fiona and Jesse did eventually escape – well, all but Sam – but only by seconds. Michael let himself be seen on security cams, then rode down on top of the elevator where Sam was posing as a maintenance worker rescuing the man that Mike had choked. Mike made a hole in the wall with a stolen car, while Riley captured Sam. Fiona ran a roadblock then eluded pursuers. They all were nearly captured by Riley at their storage shed but were able to leave a bug to hear Sam set up a possible ambush site. Riley eluded their ambush leaving the only option being for Mike to call Sugar, fake an imminent rescue to draw Riley in, then surrender just long enough for Fiona and Jesse to capture Riley alone and rescue Sam. For the first time since he was burned, EVERY ONE of his friends are now fugitives from the government; his mother Madeline, is being bugged, wire-tapped and tailed 24-7; sugar had to destroy his cell phone – and Sam, Jesse and even Madeline are questioning their relationship with Mike.

Fiona arranged for one of her criminal contacts to supply all four of them with new IDs: Brad Larson (Mike), Cole Tamblyn (Jesse), Erica Hober (for her) and… wait for it… Randy Weems for Sam. He demanded that no one call him Randy until they were out of the country. Elsa arrived with some "supplies" and they discovered that Agent Riley had begun closing in on them; probably, from Fiona's contact ratting them out. Sam's buddy Dixon was coerced into taking them all to the best smuggler in Miami, Colin Schmidt; who, as it turned out, was in hiding himself having offended a Syrian counter-intelligence spy-turned-gun-runner. They assisted in ridding Schmidt's problem with Jabbar Hamady then used all the bugs that Riley had planted in Madeline's house to obtain a massive armed response at Hamady's hideout. Riley warned Madeline that she knew Mike had made contact and "If you keep helping Michael I'll come after you too."

Schmidt's street credibility had dropped as much as his assets and no one would help with IDs for under $200,000 A PIECE! They planned to sell a device, which would use "gamma rays" to shut off any security alarm remotely, to Thorn in order to obtain the money they needed.  However, Schmidt's bumbling and complaining got them discovered by the police and the device shot up in the trunk of the car. Mike conducted a con on Thorn to make him think the broken device actually worked and eventually not only got the payment but Thorn arrested as well. Not, however, before both Sam and Schmidt had been kidnaped and forced to help with their heists. Meanwhile Riley bullied and harassed Madeline and Barry to the point that Madeline had to go into hiding with them while Barry was arrested.

Madeline now required to join them due to Agent Riley, Michael insisted she burn every shred of documentation she existed in a fire in the kitchen sink. Sam and Jesse went to Schmidt's smuggler contact, Vanek, and try to purchase chips they needed to embed in false passports. Vanek, resentful of Schmidt's tactic's and intrusion into his territory, raised the price to $400,000 and slugged Sam to "send Schmidt a message." Dixon got them all new passports but Thorn came after them, cornered them in a factory and was only thwarted in his intent to kill Schmidt by Mike's innovative tactic's and Jesse's arrival with a "get-away" dump truck. Mike had to use Schmidt as a reluctant hostage in order to free them all and discovered that Vanek had surreptitiously hidden "back-door" tagging software to the chips which could get them all caught.

The so-called "friend" that Michael was supposed to meet turned out to be Jason Bly who had been assigned to work the case of Tom Card's murder, had found that Card wasn't a "white knight" and wanted Mike's cooperation. His "deal" was merely that Mike could turn himself in and shut off Olivia Riley's relentless pursuit of his family and friends – no thanks. At the docks where they were supposed to hire on to a cargo ship; but, Riley came after them and Jesse was captured and Sam was shot. Fiona called Campbell to help Sam's gunshot and Mike interrogated Hunter (Riley's man who shot Sam). He didn't succumb to the questioning so they let him think he was escaping and traced his call to Riley. Jesse was being beaten by Riley's thug but didn't talk either. Mike and Fiona put gas in Riley's air vent knocking them all out and rescuing Jesse. Sam got worse so they decided to take him to a doctor without a license who Fiona knew – (continued)