In Hawaii, Mac and Jack pull up and spot mercenaries in the distance, Chin
and Kono with Hawaii Five-0 pull up and join the agents, and the four of them
chase after the mercenaries. One mercenary turns and fires a smart bullet, and
Kono shoves Mac out of the way.
36 Hours Earlier
The team is flying back from a mission by private jet and Jack is suggesting
ways that Mac can celebrate his birthday. Riley finally wonders why Mac is dead
set against a birthday party, and Wilt warns her that Mac has hated birthday
parties since the fifth grade. Mac tells them all that as far as he's
concerned, birthdays make no sense and they're irrelevant. Jack insists that
they're celebrating, just as Matty calls and says that they're being rerouted
to Hawaii to help with earthquake recovery efforts.
The team lands in Hilo and discover that the power grid and cell towers are
down. They meet with Sam Hopkins, the regional FEMA director, and Riley goes to
work getting their cell network up while Wilt helps with first aid treatments.
The power goes out and Mac grabs a fibrillator and some medical tape. He
remagnetizes the generator and starts it back up,
Riley is working in restoring the cell network and a handsome younger tech,
Kalei, comes over to complain that she's interfering. She explains what she's
done and asks Kalei to help, and he agrees. Wilt notices them working together
and is less than thrilled to see her with something else.
Sam receives word that there are people trapped in a hotel that is about to
come down. The roads are out so FEMA can't get heavy vehicles there. Mac and
Jack head out on foot and Jack continues coming up with birthday party ideas.
Kono comes over and they introduce themselves, and Kono realizes who Jack is
because he's worked with McGarrett. She takes them to where her teammate Chin
is hammering away at a wall, and explains that there's at least one person
trapped inside. Mac spots a nearby fertilizer spreader and asks how quickly
they can get 50 pounds of sand there. He hooks up a weed-whacker to the
spreader and then uses part of a cut-open bottle to rig up a high-pressure
hose. They pour the sand into the spreader and Mac cuts open a section of wall,
and get the scientist out. She says that her fifteen colleagues are still in
the lab four floors down, and Chin warns that it's impossible to get four
floors down and get everyone before the building comes down.
Back at the recovery center, Mac warns Jack that Kono is married and is wearing
a wedding ring. Sam shows them the blueprints to the lab and warns that the
survivors could be anywhere on the fourth level. He warns that his manpower is
stretched thin, and Mac suggests that they locate the survivors using a radar
gun.
Riley and Kalei continue working on the network and Kalei points out that she
could be a dangerous woman with her skills. Wilt notices them talking as he
works, and hears a dog barking outside. He goes out finds the dog trapped
beneath wreckage. Wilt digs the dog out and discovers that its leg is broken,
and improvises a splint out of tongue depressors and an adhesive bandage. The
dog is able to walk and Wilt cries.
Once he gets a radar gun, Mac returns to the building and explains that NASA
recently created a device that uses low-powered microwave to locate buried
survivors. He rewires the radar gun to sense human heartbeats through 20' of
concrete. While he works, Jack asks Chin about Kono. Chin points out that Kono
is his cousin, and says that she's married and very happy. He wonders what Jack
does, and Jack says that he's the big picture guy. As he walks away, Chin
notices his gun tucked in his belt.
Mac locates a survivor and the others dig him out while Mac continues
searching. He and Jack go inside and spot a tactical ladder hanging from the ceiling.
A mercenary comes down and attacks Mac, but he and Jack manage to take the
mercenary down. He has a tattoo identifying him as Chinese special forces and
Mac listens in on his comm unit. There are other mercenaries talking in
Chinese, and Mac translates enough to realize that there are a half-dozen of
them and they're there to steal something.
At Phoenix in LA, Matty confirms that the building is a front and the basement
labs house a dark lab conducting secret research for the government. There's an
ultra-secure vault on the fourth floor, but the Chinese are seizing the
opportunity provided by the earthquake. Matty doesn't know what they're after,
but they figure that it's important given the risk involved. She tells her team
to stop them and will find what information she can. Kono suggests that they
split up and Jack agrees. He and Chin will go after the mercenaries while Mac
and Kono find the survivors.
Wilt takes the dog inside and asks if anyone knows who it belongs to. Kamekona
is providing food to the victims and brings over a bowl for the dog. The man
says that he brought his food trucks in and is there to help out, while Riley
and Kalei get the network up. Kamekona notices Wilt watching Riley and Kamekona
tells him a proverb about squid. Wilt points out that he's not helping, but
Kamekona says that it put a smile on his face.
Jack and Chin split up and Jack asks Chin for suggestions for birthday parties.
Chin is listening and points out that his niece was kidnapped during his last
birthday party, and they discuss Mac's aversion to birthday parties. Jack
explains that he's there to make sure that Mac doesn't get shot.
Mac continues looking for survivors and talks to Kono about her husband. She
says that he made it through the quake okay and they've been married for two
years. Kono says that they met when she arrested his father. Mac admits that he
thought the right girl but she betrayed her country and tried to kill him.
Wilt tries to take a photo of the dog and Riley comes over. She dangles a treat
in front of the camera to get the dog's attention, and Wilt asks how things are
going with Kalei. Riley says that it's nice talking to a fellow IT person, and
suggests that Wilt give the dog to Mac as a birthday present. Wilt explains
that Mac used to love birthday parties until he turned 10. His mother died and
his father was supposedly away on a business trip, and Mac was disappointed
when his father didn't come home in time for his birthday. Mac's grandfather
told him that his father left and wasn't coming back.
Mac picks up a heartbeat behind some steel beams, and spots some rebar sticking
out of the concrete.
Jack finds the mercenaries drilling into a door and using a captured
scientist's eye pattern to open the retina lock. As they mercenaries enter the
vault, Jack steps out and trains his gun on them, and tells them to drop their
guns and let the hostage Samir go. One mercenary tosses a flash-bang at Jack,
who takes cover behind a shelf and fires back as the mercenaries open fire.
Mac uses the rebar as a lever to twist a screw that he's using as a jack,
lifting the beams. Once there's enough space, Mac climbs through.
Jack shoots back as best he can.
An aftershock hits Hilo. The jack falls out and the rubble crashes down behind
Mac.
At the recovery center, everyone braces against the aftershock.
The mercenaries jump out the window on a line, taking the hostage with them.
Jack goes over and finds Samir holding onto the ledge.
Mac finds the surviving scientists and says that he's there to save them.
Jack swings the line over to Samir but the man can't bring himself to grab it.
With no other options, Jack climbs down the line to get him.
Kono arrives on the other side of the debris and Mac tells her that he's found
the scientists. He tells her to head to the surface and they'll find their own
way up.
Jack climbs down and Samir loses his grip. He grabs Jack.
One of the scientists, Emily Espinoza, asks Mac how they're getting out, and
warns that they've already tried everything that they can think of.
Jack takes Samir up and asks what is missing from the vault. He doesn't know
what is missing from the other departments, and Jack figures that the
mercenaries knew exactly what they wanted.
Mac pries open an elevator door and spots the car below them in the shaft. He
makes a climbing rig out of wire and says that they'll go up the elevator cable
one at a time. As one scientist volunteers to go first, Jack calls via Riley's
repaired network and they compare notes. Jack asks for Emily and shows her
video of the vault, and she tells Jack that Project 23 is gone. It's a smart
bullet, laser-guided so that it can change course midflight with 99% accuracy.
Mac reports to Matty, warning that the mercenaries have a box of 20 prototypes.
If they don't get the prototypes back then they'll face an army of snipers who
never miss. Matty tells Jack and mac to get their asses in gear and stop the
mercenaries from leaving the island.
Once Mac climbs out, he joins Jack and they have Riley track moving vehicles.
She directs them to the unidentified one heading for the beach, and there's a
speedboat waiting for them. There's smoke from the volcano rolling in, meaning
it will be impossible to track the mercenaries at sea. Riley finds them a
shortcut to get them there.
Now
Mac and Jack pull up and spot mercenaries in the distance, Chin and Kono with
Hawaii Five-0 pull up and join the agents, and the four of them chase after the
mercenaries. One mercenary turns and fires a smart bullet, and Kono shoves Mac
out of the way. The bullet takes her in the back, in her Kevlar, and Mac thanks
her for saving his life. Mac borrows the laser sight on Chin's gun and burns
out the potentiometer to generate a laser beam strong enough to draw off the
laser-guided smart bullets. However, he needs the sniper to shoot at them and
runs out to draw the shooter's fire. Jack trains the laser sight on Mac's
chest, and when the shooter fires, Jack redirects the beam to the speedboat
motor. The smart bullet hits and the engine blows up, and the group takes out
the stunned mercenaries.
As the police take the mercenaries away, Kono tells the others that Hilo has
been cleared with no fatalities. She thanks Mac and Jack for their help, and Chin
jokingly asks where Phoenix is so he can send the bill for his laser sight.
Jack asks them to tell McGarrett that he's a wimp, and they all say goodbye.
Once the Five-0 officers leave, Mac figures that Jack is right and he should
throw him a birthday party.
Later back in LA, Jack throws Mac a birthday party at his house. Wilt and Riley
wish Mac a happy birthday and Wilt gives him a bunch of metal doodads as a
present. He admits that he's bummed that he had to leave the dog behind after
he found its owner, and Riley offers her condolences. Kalei calls Riley and Wilt
is shocked that she gave him her full number. She says that Kalei is a nice guy
and walks off, and Wilt tells Mac that it's not the dog that he's upset about.
Jack calls Matty over and gives her a present: a souvenir from Hawaii. It's a
coconut bra, and Matty is offended. Kamekona cooks up shrimp and says that Jack
brought him into the U.S. to cater for Mac's birthday. Jack offers Matty some
shrimp and she admits that it's good. He offers a toast to Mac and Wilt brings
out a giant birthday cookie.
Written by Gadfly on Mar 13, 2017