Cameron sits in a bar doodling escapes on a napkin.
Art museum docent Joan goes into the display room and sees that there are explosives planted on four of the paintings, The security gate closes down behind her.
Later, the head of security greets Kay and Mike. He explains that the cameras were frozen for twelve minutes and someone overrode the secure ID on the gate so they can't lift it. Nothing was taken, and Kay figures that it will make sense. Museum curator Francis Cornish greets the agents and says that he's scared for the art. Kay talks to Joan, who wonders if she'll die there. The agent assures her that she isn't, and tells Mike that they have to get Joan out. She figures that they need an escape artist.
Cameron wakes up in bed with woman, Vera. As he tries to get out of bed, Vera wakes up and asks if he's trying to escape. Cameron says that he was going to make breakfast, and his cellphone goes off. Kay tells him that they need him immediately and there's a car outside, and Cameron tells Vera that the FBI needs him.
When Cameron gets to the museum, Stan Hill with the bomb squad says that they can't block the frequency to the bombs' remote triggers. Dale explains that the gate motor is jammed and they can't cut through the bar. Cameron appears and says that he'll get Joan out before everything goes boom. Kay tells him not to do anything without checking with her. Joan asks him if he can get her out, and Cameron assures her that escape is his thing. Meanwhile, Fletcher gets a call and tells Kay that it's for her. The caller says that he's holding the paintings hostage along with Joan, and tells her to wire $120 to his account in the next two hours. If they touch the gate or try to get in, he'll blow the room.
As Kay tells her agents to check the museum employees, Cameron says that he's going to get some fridge magnets. Fletcher warns that only one man has ever broken in, in '09, and he's in prison doing 15-20. The man is at the same prison as Jonathan, but Kay warns Cameron that if the other inmates find out he's helping the FBI then they'll kill him. Cameron realizes that two of the cameras are different models. Fletcher confirms that they don't belong to the museum and realizes that they're being watched. Joan instinctively touches the gate, and the bomber says that he'll have to prove that he's serious. He blows up one of the paintings and Joan is cut by the blast as she takes cover.
Afterward, Cameron asks Joan how she's doing. He assures her that he's done crazier things in much less time, and asks Joan to tell her about one of the paintings. Kay knows about it but doesn't say how. Mike hacks the new cameras and Cameron says that they'll trick his camera into thinking everything is normal while he breaks Joan out. He calls his team and says that that he needs a bendy Von Liebig and a bendy floor to do a perspective illusion. Dina has checked the blueprints and warns that there's no access, and Cameron says that they need to have Jonathan find the first thief.
Cameron calls Jonathan and tells him that an innocent woman's life is at stake. Once Jonathan agrees, Abe Dietrich and his son Charlie come in. The Dietrichs owns several of the paintings. Abe says that they owe him for the destroyed painting, and warns that he can't liquidate $120 million in assets. Cameron is pacing off distance in front of the gate, and Kay tells Abe that he's Joan's best chance.
The team work on the mirror, and Gunter insists that it has to be a real mirror. Cameron tells them to bring whatever they have, and says that they haven't heard from Jonathan yet.
Jonathan approaches the thief and says that they should talk.
All of the employees come back clean, but Kay still thinks that it's an inside job. Mike hasn't found anything on the Dietrichs, and Kay tells him to dig further. Charlie comes over and explains that Francis found a sketch of Da Vinci sketches but they disappeared. Rumor has it that Francis stole the sketches and used the '09 robbery as cover.
The thief tells Jonathan that he'll help but in return Jonathan owes him an open favor. Jonathan has no choice but to agree, and the thief says that there's a secret crawlspace built into the gallery that can be accessed from a storage room in the first floor.
Jonathan sends the thief's drawing of the floorplan to Cameron, who is searching for the crawlspace. Kay and Mike join him, and Cameron realizes that they're in the wrong room. They go to Fletcher's office and tell him to move back, and Cameron calls in his team. Gunter climbs up on the desk and finds the crawlspace.
With 10 minutes left, Cameron goes up into the crawlspace sand makes his way to the gallery. He comes up through the floor out of sight of the cameras, and tells Joan to act like everything is normal. Cameron brings up the mirror and slides it into positon. As Cameron works, he makes small talk with Joan. Dina tells Cameron that he's off-camera, and he crawls up. Joan says that no one would care if she went to the hospital but she doesn't quit because she likes the art. She tells Cameron that she wants to be an art restorer and starts pacing, and Cameron is exposed momentarily. Dina calls a warning, and Cameron quickly freezes. He tells Joan to do it and she agrees, and Cameron crawls out of the camera range.
Cameron sets up the fake inverted paintings that Gunter made and puts them on the wall at right angles to the wall the camera is facing. He also has a mannequin dressed up as Joan, puts it on a bench, and has Join face the same way as the mannequin. Once she does, Cameron puts a mirror on a pole in front of the camera so that it reflects a reversed image of the mannequin and the paintings from the side wall. Joan goes down the crawlspace, and Dina realizes that Kay has gone. She warns Cameron that he only has a minute left, just as Kay comes up and grabs the real paintings. The bomber calls and Kay tells him that "Joan" hasn't moved in 90 seconds. They get down just as the bomber sets off the explosives. Cameron and Kay return to Fletcher's office, unharmed.
The FBI examine the gallery and try to pull a print off the explosives. Cameron asks why Kay risked her lives for paintings, and she says that some people like her sister Caroline saw whole worlds in them. Kay talks about how they shared an easel as children and Caroline sister was the talented one. The agent looks at the remains of one painting and then says that she's taking it to the lab. Gunter is examining one of the bombs and says that it was the central transmitter for the other three bombs. Kay agrees to let him examine it, and Mike says that Joan is at the hospital getting patched up.
As Joan leaves the hospital, she finds Cameron waiting for her. She thanks him for meeting her, and says that she should start her new life with lunch.
At the workshop, Gunter cuts open the bomb as Mike looks on. Dina leads Mike way and says that Gunter has a process, and shows him some of Cameron's heirlooms. There's a trunk that only Jonathan knows how to open and supposedly contains the ghost of Houdini. Mike mentions his wife and Dina realizes that she's dead. Gunter cuts the bomb open and Jordan removes the transmitter. He says that it's old cell technology, and Mike figures that they can trace it.
As Kay examines the painting scrap under a microscope, Mike calls and she says that the painting was a forgery. She figures that it was a heist, not a hostage negotiation. Once they trace the chip from the bomb, Kay and Mike take a team to the apartment. They find a dead man, shot in the head, and Kay figures that his boss shot him. There's a fake ID showing that the bomber worked at the museum as a custodian. Kay tells Mike to bring in Francis and Dale now that they have enough evidence against them. Mike finds a cell phone and calls the last number at the same time that Kay calls Cameron.
Kay tells Cameron that Joan is their prime suspect, and he fakes a conversation and gives their location. Once Cameron hangs up, he tells Joan that she can stop lying to him. Joan says that she has to run and he doesn't understand, and Cameron tells her that life on the run is no life. Two men arrive and Cameron figures that they're FBI agents. They knock him unconscious and take Joan.
Kay and Mike drive to the address Cameron said, but he's not there. Key figures that if Cameron isn't dead, he soon will be.
Cameron wakes up in the trunk of a car with Joan, both of them handcuffed. He complains that she tricked him.
Kay remembers that Jordan said he put a GPS tracker on Cameron. She calls the team and they give Kay Cameron's location.
Joan says that she started talking to a guy online who was looking for someone who knew art and wanted adventure.
The thief joins Jonathan in the cafeteria room and says that he wants his favorite pen back from the guard who took it. Jonathan says that it isn't going to happen.
Joan says that she was supposed to hide the paintings and the man would come get them later. She realizes that he was going to kill her all along, and apologizes to Cameron. Joan realizes that Cameron isn't handcuffed and he reminds her that he's an escape artist. He explains that he's worked out eight ways to get Jonathan out of jail, but refuses to say why. Cameron just says that he's going to get them out.
The thief warns Jonathan that if he doesn't get the pen then he'll tell everyone that he's a police informant. Jonathan starts choking and the guard with the pen comes over and administers the Heimlich. Once he's done and leaves, Jonathan gives the thief the pen he pickpocketed from the guard. he tells the man to never threaten him again and leaves, as one prisoner watches him.
Cameron says that he's done the same escape thousands of times onstage. The car stops and he crawls into the backseat just as the two men open the trunk. Cameron drives off and comes to the FBI blockade, and yells who he is. He explains what happened and Kay tells him that they've got a killer to catch and a $40 million painting to recover.
At the museum, Abe is having his other paintings removed. Meanwhile, a custodian takes a garbage bag holding the real painting. It's Charlie, who confirms that the painting is there. Cameron comes out dressed as a guard and Charlie draws a gun on him. The FBI agents step out and tell Charlie to put down the gun. Abe joins them and Charlie tells him that he wouldn't understand.
Later, Kay and Cameron tell Fletcher that Charlie confessed to everything. He recruited members of the museum staff: Joan who made the fake paintings, and the janitor who made the bombs. Charlie killed the janitor and was going to have Joan killed while he got away with the painting. Cameron says that Charlie did it because he needed love, but Abe was dedicated to the paintings. as the FBI leads Joan out, Cameron says that maybe by the time someone tries to get away, it's too late. Once Fletcher goes, Kay asks Cameron if he's speaking from experience and Cameron insists that he had a totally normal childhood.
Back at the workshop, the team celebrates and Mike asks Gunter how he got into explosives. He doesn't give them the full story. Dina offers Mike Cameron's magic kit that he saw earlier. Cameron asks Kay if Joan can get a lighter sentence for telling them where the painting was hidden, and Kay agrees. The magician says that he can understand how some people would do anything to escape. Kay asks him if he ever thought about helping Jonathan escape, and Cameron says that he doesn't. The agent says that if he did then she'd track him down.
Written by Gadfly on Mar 26, 2018