- Mac and team rush to help when Matty's former mentor, Ian Cain, and his embassy staff come down with a deadly, mysterious illness. Also, Taylor and Bozer work with Jerry Ortega.
- While Russ and Wilt work with a conspiracy theorist, Jerry Ortega, to get a lead on Codex, Matty has Mac, Desi, and Riley help her save an old CIA friend, Ian Cain, whose front office staff are suffering from inexplicable symptoms from what appear so be a contaminant.—Gislef
- At the Phoenix foundation, Jerry Ortega is in an interrogation room with Russ and Desi. Jerry keeps talking until Russ tells him to shut up, and Jerry finally says that he was in Hawaii and he met Mac and Jack in Hawaii. He heard about a terrorist organization trying to bring about the end of the world, discovered that Mac was involved, and got Mac's address from McGarrett.
Russ figures that Jerry is a conspiracy theorist, and starts to leave the room with Desi. Jerry says that they didn't stop Codex, and he knows because they're talking to him.
Desi and Russ take Jerry to the war room and join the others, and Riley reports that she found info on a cell phone on a previous op. There's a pattern of messages indicating Codex is in the LA area, and Jerry explains that he tracked Codex on the Dark Web and used an alias, at he wanted to join them. He managed to get their IP address and tracked them to Montana. Matty says that there's been a change of plans, and tells Mac, Desi, and Riley will go with her into the field.
Mac goes after Matty and asks what's more important than Codex. She says that it's something personal and she needs her help, and Mac agrees.
Once the jet takes off, Matty plays a man announcing a series of CIA tracking numbers. She asks the others if they're familiar with Ian Cain, and Mac has heard of him as a major CIA agent. Matty explains that she partnered with him, and the numbers are an SOS. Nothing has followed, and Matty worries that they're too late.
The jet arrives in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and the quartet go to the clandestine office that is a CIA front. The office is locked up, and Mac gets a toolbox from the trunk and rigs two wrenches to cut through the chain on the door. The team goes inside and discovers the place is empty. Mac throws a switch triggering an evacuation alert, but Matty said that Ian would never abandon his post.
Mac says that his father told him that CIA would have bolt holes on the top floor. They go to the roof and Mac uses balls from a sculpture to figure out where the hidden office is by where the ball rolls. They find a hidden keypad, and Ian gives their shared code. Ian is inside, unconscious and lying on the floor, bleeding from the nose. Matty confirms that he's still alive, and says that they have to get him to the hospital.
Wilt take=s Jerry to his office so they can check Jerry's message logs. Jerry admires Sparky, which is shut down. Once they leave, Sparky activates.
At the hospital, Ian wakes up and finds Matty at his bedside. She points out that he didn't leave her any intel, and introduces Mac to Ian. Ian is looking forward to seeing Mac is as good as Matty has said, and he says that all of his staff started getting migraines, dizziness, and started acting irrational. He pulled the plug and put his people in the hospital, and he stayed behind to get answers.
Ian says that there are Cold War relics stored in the basement, and thanks Matty for coming. She says that Ian was there for her when her life went sideways, and leaves with the others. They meet and Riley says that the doctors haven't found anything in Ian's bloodwork. Mac suggests a naturally-occurring pathogen.
Ian goes into convulsions, and the team goes in as the doctors tend to Ian. Matty tells Mac to check the CIA building.
Mac puts on a hazmat suit and goes into the building to check for the contaminant. Desi is there, also protected. Riley calls and tells them that the State Department is sending in a CBRN team, and will kick them out. Mac prepares to send Desi to the server room to tie Riley in, and Riley warns them that they have an hour until the CBRN team arrives. Mac grabs a radio and prepares to make a "chemistry suit".
Riley finds Matty with the unconscious Ian, and she says that she war corned on a rooftop in Tripoli when Ian stole a Canadian helicopter and saved her for the first time. Riley has checked to see what the agents on a CDC mission have checked WebMD, and all the agents showed symptoms on the same day.
Jerry tries to contact the people he talked to in Codex, while Russ and Wilt looked on. Jerry finally says that he's enjoying his time in Phoenix, and Russ spots a reference to dirty bombs. Russ suggests that Jerry pretend he's a dirty bomb expert and offers his services to Codex. He gets a response saying that they want to discuss his services in person.
Mac rigs up a test kit to look for toxins, using an amplifier from an old radio and a C02 cylinder from a soda machine. The kid shows that the air is clean, and they sweep the place again.
Once they have the meeting location, Russ and Wilt check a blueprint of the area. Russ figures that Leland might not be involved. Jerry is ready to leave, but Russ wants him to stay and meet the Codex representative. After a moment, Jerry reluctantly agrees.
Mac and Desi find old lasagna in the refrigerator, and Mac figures he can find traces of the pathogen on the food. He compares the lasagna in the refrigerator as a control group, compared to foot that was on the counter. Mac improvises a UV scanner from a sterilization unit, but doesn't find anything. Desi starts coughing and says that there's something in her mask. He sees that she has a nosebleed, and gets a headache himself. Desi wonders how they could be infected when wearing suits, and Mac says that it's impossible and they get out before they show more symptoms.
Outside, Mac and Desi immediately feel better. Mac figures that it's not a toxin and the people in the hospital are getting worse. He calls Riley and has her map out where in the building the most severe classes were. Riley determines that the basement, and Ian's office was on the roof. Mac and Desi head for the basement.
The trio go to the restaurant where the meeting is being held, and Wilt and Russ watch from the balcony as Jerry sits at the designated tables.
Matty has Riley check the CCTV in the neighborhood, and Riley asks Matty what she meant earlier when she said Ian was there for her when her life went sideways. Matty says that she couldn't overcome a broken heart, and Ian kept her working and gave her a purpose. Riley points out that Matty did the same for the team, and then gets something on the CCTV.
As Mac and Desi head to the basement, Riley calls and say that there was a cable company van in the area on four separate occasions. As she gives them the location the van seemed interested in, the fluorescent lights flicker and the signal cuts out. Mac and Desi start finding stress fractures in the glass, and Mac figures that since the lights have magnetic ballasts, they're flickering because there is a loud noises. He figures the place is being hit with sonic weapons, and they remove their hazmat suits since it's safe. Mac figures the sound waves are causing the equivalent of a stroke in the targets. Something bangs ahead of them and they go to investigate.
A woman approaches Jerry, and Wilt hacks the Recruiter's comms. They listen in and Wilt traces her phone, and Russ tells him over the earbud to cite a high price so she has to call her boss for approval... and they can trace the call. The Recruiter says that she'll handle it and Jerry is hired, but they need a demonstration and tells him to come with her. The Recruiter's two bodyguards take Jerry away.
Mac and Desi follow the noise to a storage room, and find the men from the CBRN team. The leader introduces himself as Dr. Viskoff and says that they must evacuate immediately. Desi realizes the men aren't a CBRN team, and a fight breaks out. They subdue Mac and then Desi, and leave with a trunk.
As Mac and Desi go after them, Viskoff calls someone and the two agents are overwhelmed by a burst of sound. Later , Desi and then Mac wake up and figure the weapon was in the trunk.
In the restaurant kitchen, the Recruiter figure that Jerry is an impostor and prepares to cut off a finger unless he talks. Russ and Wilt burst in, and the two of them and Jerry take out the bodyguards.
Riley tells Matty what happened, and Ian gets out of his bed and demands a sitrep on his people. Matty objects, saying he almost died, but Ian refuses to go back to bed. Mac and Desi arrive, and Riley has checked the seflies of the nearby tourists. She spots Viskoff, and Ian recognizes him as Jakob Nemec, who is with an ultranationalist terror group, Fatherland. They've been terrorizing the Balkans for over a decade. Mac has Ian confirm that there were sonic weapons from the Cold War stores in the basement of the front office, and Ian explains it was his job to gather it all up. However, he says that there were plans for a directed energy weapon, a city killer. Nemec was a defense lackey and would have known about it.
Mac figures that Fatherland build a low-fi version of the weapon, and used it to break into the office and steal the high one. Ian says that the weapon has a signature sound, and Mac says that he'll make something to locate it Once Mac and Desi leave, Ian gets dressed and says that he's going to coordinate with the police of chief to start a search for Nemec.
Mac goes to an ultrasound exam room and interrupt a procedure to take the equipment. They go the roof to get the clearest signal, and Riley locates Nemec's location. He's in a vehicle heading out of town, and Mac rigs a portable version of the detector.
Desi and Mac drive a borrowed car through the streets to intercept Nemec, following the trace from the device. Desi drives at speed and Mac directs her through the streets. They find the van and men open fire on them and then train the low-fi device on the car. The beam is too narrow to hit Mac and Desi, so they target the engine and set it on fire. Desi drives into a parking garage and the two agents got out.
As Mac grabs a fire extinguisher to put the fire out, the terrorists come back in the van and open fire. Mac hooks up a nearby fire alarm loudspeaker,. When the terrorists fire the low-fi weapon, the feedback knocks out the terrorists. Mac and Desi take the terrorists' guns, and the police arrive.
Matty brings Ian some cappuccino and has him say that he's going to relax. She doesn't believe him, and tells him that all of his people are going home safe. Ian points out that he saw her using some of his old tricks, and Matty says that she learned from the best. Ian says that he won't quit because ther3e are too many young actor.
Jerry prepares to leave via bus, because he doesn't trust trains and planes. Jerry says that he got a flash drive from the Recruiter, and once they crack Codex's encryption, they can figure out where Codex is. Russ hugs Jerry, and Jerry gets on the bus. Russ tells Jerry that they could use him at Phoenix, and Jerry says that he's going to try solo for a while.
Later, Mac comes to see Russ in his office. Russ is drinking, and says that sometimes he wishes he could go back to before he knew about Codex. Mac asks what is going on, and Russ tells him that he's been able to map out that Codex sent out a worldwide wakeup call to all of their old cells. He warns Mac that they can't trust anyone.
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