A half mile from their extraction point, in Eastern Europe, the team are in a buried car and unable to get out. Overhead, a bulldozer rumbles over them. Mac figures that they have two hours of air, while the man running the bulldozer finishes the job, gets out, and drives off in a jeep.
Mac tells his teammates to relax so that they can conserve the air, he then climbs into the front seat and has Jack and Riley get in the back. Once they do, he takes out the airbags and then removes a headrest, puts it against the windshield, and prepares to fire the airbag. He sets off the airbag, propelling the headrest out and creating an escaping tunnel so that they can get out.
Back in LA, Jack brings bagels to Mac's place and finds pumpkins and masks for Wilt's movie. Wilt comes in and explains that the pumpkins are for Penny's Halloween party, and is happy to hear that everyone is coming. Mac warns that he might have to work but Jack agrees with Wilt.
Patricia is training Riley in how to fight, and insists on making her responses second nature. Riley manages to take Patricia better, but Patricia insists that they continue until she has it perfect. Andie interrupts to tell Patricia that the FBI is calling. Once she talks with them, Patricia calls Mac and asks about Charlie Robinson. Mac says that Charlie trained him in disarming bombs in Kabul and is one of the best bomb techs he's ever worked with. Patricia says that Charlie called and said that he needed to talk to Mac and Mac only. FBI agents in New York found an explosive device in the parking garage under the UN, and they called Charlie in. Charlie requested Mac, and Mac is one of the only people that he trusts. Patricia says that talks are taking place at the UN, and a bomb could set them back years.
In New York, Mac meets with Charlie at the FBI HQ. He shows them the bomb that they found. The explosive compound is PETN, made from the heart medication itself. Charlie can think of only one person who could do it. Mac points out that he doesn't operate in the U.S., but Charlie isn't convinced and asks Mac to examine the bomb and tell him he's wrong. Mac carefully opens up the bomb and finds a secondary device, invisible to x-rays. It's a bomb with less than three minutes, and Mac and Charlie take it outside and put in in the sewer, then put the manhole cover back in place and roll a dumpster over it. They then drive a car nearby to redirect the blat and get clear just in time. Mac and Charlie both agree that The Ghost is back.
As the FBI techs clean up the scene, Mac remembers back to working with Charlie in Kabul.
Five Years Ago
Mac sees the soldiers carrying away his CO on a stretcher, and a soldier tells him that The Ghost was responsible.
Now
Mac examines the crime scene and notices glass fragments. He then video-conferences with the team in LA, and figures that The Ghost doesn't want the peace treaties going through because it will cut into his profits. Patricia points out that they've found no evidence to confirm Mac's theory, but Mac insists that he recognizes the style of bomb-making and vows to find him. Jack tells Mac to wait for him to get there, but Charlie interrupts to show Mac something. The glass Mac found is from a camera, and there were pieces of a SIM card. Mac figures that the Ghost was watching via streaming video, and has him send the photos to Riley who is en route with Jack so that he can identify the source.
Once Jack and Riley arrive, Riley identifies the 15-digit ID card and tracks Ghost's location. Mac is making paper clip designs, distracted, and Jack says that he heard stories about Ghost. No one has ever seen the bomb maker, and the rumors say that he was disfigured by a bomb or chemical fumes. He asks what Ghost did to Mac, but Mac refuses to discuss it, and Jack says that they're there if he wants to talk about it.
The team arrives at the signal location in Queens and enters the apartment building. Mac uses chewing gum and a digital camera to create a device to let him see under the door. He confirms that there are no trip wire and sees someone sitting at a table. Jack kicks his way in but they discover that it's reinforced. Jack helps him and by the time they get in, they discover that Ghost is gone… and was watching video of the peace conferences. Video of Mac examining the bomb is playing on a laptop, and Mac smells something. Smoke pours out of the laptop keyboard, and Mac pries it up to discover that it's rigged with plastic explosive. Riley insists on downloading as much from it as possible, ignoring Mac and Jack's objections.
Mac has no choice to take the laptop with them to the car. He figures that they have a minute left, just as a garbage truck drives by. Mac has Jack stop it, and Mac drains gas from it and explains that since plastic explosives are made from gasoline, diesel should dissolve it enough. Once it softens up enough, he removes the detonator wire and admits that he wasn't sure his plan would work.
Once they secure the apartment, Riley checks the computer and discovers that Ghost has been keeping videos of his victims going back ten years. Mac looks for a particular file from five years ago, and then tells his teammates that he needs to watch the video alone. His friends clear the room and Mac watches the video.
Five Years Ago
Mac is working on a drone when his CO Alfred Pena tells him that they have bomb calls all over the city. Once they suit up, Mac sends in the drone to deal with the bomb that they've found.
Now
Mac watches video of the day when Alfred went in. As he defuses the bomb, Alfred thanks Mac for covering him the next three weeks. He plans to go home and sees his newborn daughter, and says that they'll name her Annabelle after his mother. Once he defuses the pressure plate, Alfred sees the camera.
Five Years Ago
The bomb goes off, killing Alfred and knocking Mac back.
Now
Jack comes back in and Mac says that Alfred named his daughter Annabelle. He didn't hear any of what Alfred said because the radio fritzed out, and he was supposed to cover for Alfred that day. Alfred was his EOD trainer, and taught Mac everything he knows about bomb disposal. Mac figures that Annabelle is at least 5, and tells Jack that he never visited Alfred's wife. Jack knows that sometimes revisiting comrades' family reopens new wounds, and Mac vows to put away ghost. Riley comes in and says that ghost also kept financial records on the laptop. She found out that the same shell company that pays the apartment's rent also owns a warehouse in Queens.
The trio drives to the warehouse and Mac tells his friends to stay behind him. As they approach the warehouse, a bomb goes off, knocking them back. As the firemen arrive to put out the fires, Mac, Charlie, and Jack go in. There's what seems to be Ghost's corpse, but it's too badly charred for easy identification. The place smells like acetone peroxide, and Charlie figures that Ghost was building a new bomb and rushed the bomb. Mac doesn't buy it, and explains that the explosive Ghost was using is popular because it can't be detected normally but is highly sensitive. Jack realizes that Mac isn't convinced.
Six Years Ago
Mac is training, rigging up a pulley system, and Alfred orders Mac to work faster. He apparently defuses the mock bomb, but Alfred says that he's dead and points out that the bomb exploded even. Mac realizes that the fuse was detonated electrically, and Alfred says that he didn't step back and look at the big picture, using a RF jammer. He warns Mac not to get emotional about the bomb, and admits that Mac is the best student he's ever had. However, Alfred tells him that he has to always step back and see things for what they are. He then has Mac pull the fuse out, assuring him that he's got it.
Now
Mac says that the body isn't Ghost. Patricia and Riley don’t buy it, but Mac says that it was all a misdirection so that they wouldn't trail him. He figures that Ghost blew up the place to cover his tracks, and he'll try again at the UN. Jack asks if he's sure, and Mac assures him that he's never been more sure of anything in his life.
Near the UN, the team searches the area but there's no sign of a bomb. Mac figures he could be anyone of the people, and has Riley pull up a live satellite feed of the area. He spots a mobile HQ that just pulled up on the far side of the building, and points out that there's already a mobile HQ there. They go to the truck and spot a man dressed as an officer getting in. Jack opens the back door and Ghost ducks out the front, steals a car, and drives off. When Jack climbs in after him, he steps on a pressure plate. Mac warns him that his body weight activated a bomb, and when his foot comes off the bomb goes off. He tells Jack that until he figures things out, he can't move.
As the police cordon off the area, Mac goes to look for the bomb. Jack tells Patricia that he's starting to freak out, and she tells him to calm down. While Mac searches for the bomb, Jack talks about how he was on a mission in Peru in 2010 and was contemplating his fantasy football picks.
Mac finds the underside packed with plastic explosives, enough to take out a city block. He unscrews the plate and remembers what Alfred told him about seeing things as they really are, and realizes that Ghost never uses one bomb. He has Jack unscrew a nearby vent, revealing a second bomb mounted to a camera. Mac realizes that it's wired to the first one. Disarming the pressure bomb would disarm the vent bomb. He tells Jack that there's a bolt that he has to pull straight out, and Jack's hand is shaking too badly to do it.
Mac grabs the yellow crime scene tape and a wheel from a nearby art. Meanwhile, Jack tells Riley she can have his Shelby Cobra if he dies. Mac tapes his knife to the rope he's made out of the tape, and has Jack wrap it around the bolt. Once he does, Jack tells Mac that whatever happens isn't his fault and never was. Mac steps back and using the wheel as part of a pulley system, pulls the bolt out. He then runs over and cuts the wire on the plate bomb, defusing the primary bomb. Jack collapses in relief and thanks Mac.
Back in LA, Wilt makes masks for Jack and Riley for the party. He wonders when Mac will be home, and Jack says that he had to take care of something.
Mac drives to the Pena home and hugs Alfred's wife says hello to Annabelle, who is playing on the lawn, and introduces himself. He fixes her broken doll and she introduces herself. Mac says that his father was one of the bravest men he knew, and offers to tell her all about him. Annabelle agrees.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 29, 2016