Somewhere in the Ukraine, Jack and Mac chase after Sergei. Jack keeps sneezing and complains that he's allergic to something in the camouflage suit that Mac made him wear. Riley tries to cut off Sergei on her motorcycle, and Sergei climbs over a fence. As Jack and Mac prepare to climb after him, Jack points out that there are radiation-warning signs. They realize that Chernobyl is on the other side, and they have no choice but to go in after Sergei.
Twenty-Four Hours Earlier
At Mac's house, Mac stares off into space, and Jack and Wilt look at him as he takes in the news that Matty was involved with his father's disappearance. Wilt points out that Jack gave Mac the information so it's Jack's fault. Jack and Wilt go over to Mac and he says that he doesn't know what to say. it turns out that she was investigating him for the CIA, and wonders what to do next. All they have is proof that Matty was compiling a dossier but they don't know what was in it. Riley comes in late and says that after Jack sked her to, she hacked the government servers. She admits that she found nothing, and Mac wonders why Matty was investigating his father a scientist and inventor. Wilt wonders if they can trust Matty, and Jack admits that he does trust her. He figures that she had a good reason for lying to Mac, and Riley suggest she did it to protect Mac. Mac concedes the point but goes to talk to her. Matty sends a text that they're heading to the Ukraine and she'll brief them in flight. Wilt wonders how he'll act normal around Matty, and they say to not look her in the eye until they get back.
As the Phoenix jet heads across the Atlantic, Matty tells the trio that Dmitry is the head of the UN mob. He's been letting terrorist groups move weapons and contraband through his trade routes, and a month ago the CIA flipped Sergei. He was supposed to meet with a CIA handler and hand over the information to dismantle Dmitry's operation. Once the mob found out, Sergei disappeared. Phoenix has learned that a forger is meeting with Sergei so he can get out, and Matty wars the team that Sergei will be very skittish.
Now
Mac and Jack approach Chernobyl and Mac assures his partner that radiation isn't that bad. Jack doesn't believe him. They hear a man scream and run up to investigate. A man's boot is in a bear trap, and they spot someone driving a jeep toward the reactor exclusion zone.
Jack and Mac call in and tell Matty what happened. They figure someone freed Sergei from the rap and took him into the exclusion zone, but the mob wouldn't do it. Riley arrives pushing her motorcycle because it ran out of gas. She says that Sergei's phone is either off of broken, so they follow the tire tracks. The road leads to an abandoned town, and Mac takes removes the mudshields from the motorcycle and combines it with parts from his phone to make a Geiger counter. He assures Jack that the radiation levels are low but safe and they go down the road.
Matty tells Wilt to look at her instead of the ceiling, and she says that there was a break-in at her house the week before. She needs Wilt to solve the break-in like he did the one at Jack's, and Wilt has no choice but to agree.
Jack considers what superpowers they'll get from the radiation, and Mac insists that radiation kills people. Mac wonders why the CIA was investigating his father and if that's why he left. They reach the abandoned town and Jack figures that someone is watching them. Mac spots a new camera even though the town was abandoned 30 years ago, and they break in to the building. Teenagers are there and Riley explains that they're stalkers who break into Chernobyl and use it as a personal playground, and put videos of their stunts online.
One of them, Mikhail, says that they can help for the right price. He wants Jack's wolf ring, and Riley and Mac convince Jack to give it up. Once he does, Mac explains what happened and Mikhail says that Sergei is dead or soon will be. He tells them that monsters took Sergei, the same ones who caught his friend Sergei and beat him. Sergei was in shock, walked out of Chernobyl, and never came back. Mikhail blames himself for what happened because he convinced Sergei to go in.
Once Mikhail gives them directions, the trio goes there and finds men in antirad suits unloading gear. A car pulls up and the men remove Sergei from the trunk and take him inside. They report to Matty', who says that the intel shows that there should be no activity in the area. She reminds them that they're objective is to get Sergei. Matty brings up the online videos that the stalkers posted, including the one that Sergei made. He goes in via the roof and a man grabs him. Matty recognizes him as Virgil Kahn, an international killer. Mac figures they'd better extract him before he dies from the bear-trap wound.
As night falls, the trio approaches the building and Mac cuts through a nearby fence. He brings over a piece and uses it and rebar to make climbing tools. Mac goes up the wall, finds a piece of cable, and drops it down so Jack and Riley can climb up. They go inside and see the men, and Wilt calls Mac and tells him that Matty sent him to investigate the break-in. Mac tells him to relax, but Wilt figures that Matty knows everything and is trying to make him crack. The team hangs up and they figure that they'll have to do a room-by-room search to find Sergei.
The team goes through the building and spot radioactive waste barrels. Mac realizes that Kahn and his men are stealing nuclear waste, removing it from the exclusion zone, and selling it on the black market for nuclear bombs. Riley confirms that someone sent Sergei a message that Dmitry will meet Kahn's price in return for Kahn handing Sergei over.
With time running out, Matty tells the team to get Sergei before Dmitry arrives. She has a tac team two hours out on their way, but Mac warns that the men will be gone before then. Matty doesn't care, and Mac asks her to trust him. She agrees and asks what his plan is, and Mac goes to disable the trucks while Jack and Riley find Sergei.
Mac starts disabling the trucks. Meanwhile, Jack and Riley spot a room and go in. There are discarded hazmat suits inside, and Jack puts one on. He puts on the mask as well and Riley provides translation as Jack approaches a guard. Jack asks where Sergei is and the guard gives him the information.
Wilt is working in the lab and Sparky reports that they have a fingerprint which belongs to Elwood. Irritated, Wilt orders the robot to delete the print from the files. Matty comes in and asks if Wilt has been successful, and says that the thief got into her safe. Wilt claims that he called all of the pawnshops to check on her jewelry, and Matty tells him to call them again and push. She talks about how terrible the violation was and she's glad to put her trust in Wilt because he'll give her the truth. Wilt says that he will and Matty leaves.
Jack and Riley go to Sergei's location and sneak up on the guard outside his room. The guard spots them and Jack goes over and punches him unconscious. Sergei realizes that Jack was one of the men chasing him, and Riley explains that Dmitry is on his way to collect Sergei. They let Mac know that they're coming, and he tells them to meet him in the loading area.
Once Sergei is wearing a suit as a disguise, Jack and Riley take him to the loading dock. Mac tells them over the radio that he disabled every truck but the one they're going to escape in. Jack takes Sergei over, but Jack sneezes and the men move in. Riley hides by Mac while Jack and Sergei are captured.
Mac and Riley get into the truck cab and drive toward the others. Jack gets Sergei down as the truck rolls over them, and Jack opens fire. There's radioactive waste barrels on the back of the truck so the men don't fire. As Mac drives off, Kahn's men try to follow but their trucks don't work.
Riley drives the truck out of Chernobyl and come to Dmitry and his men on the road, their guns drawn. Mac says that they're going to give them Sergei, and has Jack wipe a bunch of dosimeter badges on the barrels in the back. One of Dmitry's men has a Geiger counter, and it goes off as it picks up the radiation in the barrels. Dmitry orders them out of the truck, and Mac points out that they're all wearing the now-black badges. He says that they've been exposed to radiation and they're all dead. Mac claims that if any of them get close to the team, they'll die. Dmitry doesn't care and steps forward... onto a bear trap. Jack knocks out one of the mobsters, grabs his gun, and tells the other men to surrender. As they tie the mobsters up, Jack explains that he turned the truck's radio into a high-wav emitter to set off the mobsters' Geiger counter.
When the team gets back to Phoenix, Wilt tells them that he's been avoiding Matty while slow-playing the investigation. He warns that he can't keep up the pretense much longer, and Riley wonders if Mac is going to talk to her. Matty calls them into the war room, and says that Sergei is in custody and giving up the intel they need to end Dmitry's operation. The tac team has captured Kahn and the waste, and Matty admits that Mac was right for going after the pirates. She says that she's proud of all of them, and tells them to go celebrate.
Mac stays behind and Matty asks if everything is okay. Jack hesitates and glances back at Mac, who says that everything's fine and goes with the others.
Written by Gadfly on Mar 10, 2018