In a hotel room in Paris, Mac is sleeping in a bed next to Desi. Two men burst in, guns drawn, say that it's clear, and after a moment say that it's cleared. Once they leave, Mac points out that his plan worked to divert the bad guys. They come back in and say that it worked for a minute, and Desi complains that she got naked for nothing.
Riley is sleeping in the lab when the Wilt wakes her. Mac and Leanna are there, and point out that she shouldn't be sleeping at Phoenix. Riley reminds them that their personal information is out on the Darknet and she hasn't been able to find the person responsible. Sparky activates and complains that Riley's snoring interrupts its software update cycle. As everyone laughs, Matty summons Mac and Riley to the war room.
Mac runs into Oversight in the hallway, and he apologizes for missing their lunch again the day before. He promises to make it up the next week, and Mac readily agrees. They all enter the war room where Desi is waiting, and Matty brings up a photo of the Skjaldmar International Seed Vault in Greenland. Backup seeds are stored there in case a country's seeds are destroyed. Karl Knudsen, a maintenance tech, has gone missing. He came in but there's no record of him leaving. Local PD searched the vault but there's no sign of Knudsen. Every country in the world has put politics aside to store seeds there, and if it word gets out then international peace would be shattered. They've asked for Oversight personally. The Skjaldmar chief of police will escort Mac, Riley, and Desi there. Oversight set up the agreement, but he says that something else came up and he isn't going.
As Mac leaves, he eyes Oversight talking to Matty. Wilt comes up and asks if everything is okay, and Mac tells him that he thinks something is going on. Mac asks Wilt to spy on Oversight and Wilt readily agrees to spy on the master spy. Oversight immediately notices him lurking in the hallway.
The team arrives at the vault and the chief of police Nils Madsen explains the security procedure. He explains that there are no armed guards because it's a peace initiative. Nils says that Oversight is a good man and he often says that he's proud of Mac. The police chief explains that Knudsen swiped his badge to get into the vault but never emerged. He was alone and the facility is mostly unmanned. They put on insulated clothing since the vault is kept at freezing temperatures/
They enter the vault and Nils confirms that there's only one door in. The ventilation is too small for humans and there are no access tunnels. Mac removes a feather from his jacket's lining and walks around until he detects a breeze. They move the storage cases and shelf, and find a tunnel leading off into the ice. Mac figures that someone with professional mining equipment tunneled their way in. Mag goes into the tunnel and finds Knudsen's corpse.
The team check in with the war room and tell Matty, Wilt, and Oversight what happened. Oversight figures that Knudsen was collateral damage, but they've found that none of the seeds are gone. Mac checks Knudsen's body and finds a cell phone. They power it up and check the recording of its movements. Mac and Desi recreate the fight when Knudsen fought the thief, and Mac ends up "playing" Knudsen. Riley plays back the movements of the camera, Mac and Desi alternating hit each other. They finally locate the spot and check the boxes, and find one with newer nails. It belongs to North Korea, and Nils says that they have 12 hours to report the stolen seeds per protocol.
Riley and Mac check the seeds while Desi investigates the tunnel. Oversight leaves and Wilt follows him to the elevator. Wilt tries to make small talk and tries to find out where Oversight went, and Oversight cuts him off and leaves. Leanna overhears them talking and tells Wilt that he knows he's up to something. Wilt tells her about Mac's suspicions, and Leanna insists on coming with him.
As they inventory the seeds, Riley asks Mac what's going on with Oversight. She points out that Oversight has been unavailable recently a lot. The only object missing from the box is a rare form of pea plant. Meanwhile, Desi reaches the end of the tunnel and finds a cabin with seed reports and drilling equipment, and figures that the thief has been there for months.
Mac and Riley check out the cabin and Mac finds a toxin web page printout. The pea plant is a key ingredient and could be weaponized, and Mac figures that each individual house in the area has its own tower. Mac and Desi search and find a fried satellite dish, and Mac MacGyvers a satellite dish out of an old bucket. Riley hooks up her computer to it and tracks the thief's browser history. The thief was sending a monthly payment to a flower shop in Brussels.
The trio head to Brussels and Mac leaves a voice mail for Wilt. Desi wants to know what's going on, and Riley says that it's about Mac's dad. When Desi says that it's not her business but it is Mac's, Mac thanks her for her support. Riley discovers that there's a standing order for white lilies to be delivered to an address. They were picked up in person the last time.
The location is a cemetery, and the trio check it out. They spot white lilies at a pair of gravestones, and a man walks over with white lilies. He says that his name is Oliver and he came to lay lilies for his sister and niece. Riley checks and confirms that Oliver is legitimate. Oliver comes over and Desi says that they're looking for the person who paid for them. Oliver figures that it's about Jules, the person he picks the lilies up for, and Oliver tells them that Jules was his sister's husband. They describe what Julies is doing, and Oliver explains that one night his brother's family was carjacked. His wife and daughter were killed, and Jules became interested in spelunking, shooting, and exploring ice caves. Jules get himself mixed up in some bad stuff and the police came looking for him several times. One day a year ago Jules just left. Oliver received a text from an unknown number saying that he's sorry. Mac explains that something dangerous was stolen and promises to do everything that they can for Jules.
Matty checks the information and discovers that Jules was a librarian. After his family was killed, Jules was linked to bank robberies but never caught. Riley hacks the phone number of the text message Jules sent to Oliver, and figures that all he wanted was a meeting with Ludek Passer. Passer is the head of organized crime in Central Europe and a recluse. The crime head has agreed to a meeting with Jules in Prague, and they figure that Jules is going to give Passer the seeds.
Wilt and Leanna follow Oversight and Leanna complains that Oversight hasn't done anything suspicious. He comes over and knocks on the window, and offers them some coffee. Oversight instructs Wilt on typical surveillance procedure, including Wilt not using his own car. Leanna apologizes and tells them to buy him dinner the next time they want to know what he's doing. Once Oversight leaves, Leanna figures that it's over but Wilt eyes the waitress at the diner where Oversight was eating.
In Prague, the trio arrive at a parking garage where the meeting was happening. They hear gunshots and run over to find an unconscious man, Arthur, and a pack of the pea plants. Arthur tells them that Passer sent him to meet with Jules because Passer never meets face-to-face with anyone.
As the trio heads out, Matty discovers that Jules was a witness against a thief working for passer. They figure that Passer had Jules' family killed in retaliation, so Jules is after revenge. Everything Jules has done has been to get close enough to Passer to kill him.
Jules approaches Passer, his family, and his men in a park, tasers the men unconscious, and prepares to shoot Passer.
The trio arrive at the park and spot Passer and Jules. Passer's men respond to their boss' distress signal, and Desi and Riley take them on to keep a firefight from breaking out.
Jules tells Passer that he had his family killed, and Mac arrives and tells Jules that he doesn't want to do it. He explains that he's been following Jules' trail from Greenland, and Jules explains that the doctor told him he was lucky to live but he lived while his family died. Mac tells him that he's not a murderer and has only stunned Passer's men. As Riley and Desi arrive, Jules says that he didn't mean to kill Knudsen and he can't let his life be for longer. Mac warns him that if he kills Passer in front of his family then he'll become the same monster that Passer is. After a moment Jules lowers the gun and Mac takes him into custody, promising that Passer will pay for his crimes. Jules apologizes for Knudsen's death and Mac tells him that he'll make sure Knudsen's family gets the apology.
Back in LA, Riley tells the trio that they averted an international crisis. Arthur is going to testify against Passer and he'll go to prison. Mac arrives home and finds Wilt there. Wilt tells him that he talked to the waitress and that Mac should sit down for what he has to tell him.
Later, Mac goes to a hospital and finds Oversight receiving oncology infusions. Mac asks why Oversight kept it a secret from him, and Oversight explains that he didn't want Mac to forgive him because he had cancer. He says that he's Mac's father, not a mission, and Mac couldn't have fixed him. Oversight tells Mac that he wants to spend all the time he has left getting to know his son.
Written by Gadfly on Mar 16, 2019