Jack arrives at Mac's house and finds him asleep at a table. Mac jerks awake and says that he found a name of the concentration camp man, Charles Pfeiffer. Pfeffer disappeared 72 years ago, and Jack says that it gives them a chance to think out of the box. Matty sends them a text ordering them to Phoenix.
When everyone arrive in the war room, Matty says that they've been given a chance to get the EMP back. Phoenix got word that the thieves are setting up a sale at a parking garage in Seoul. Matty tells them that it's their one chance to redeem their previous failure.
Later, Jack and Mac are driving through Seoul at high speed. When Matty calls, Mac says that the sellers killed the buyers and took the EMP device. Wilt and Riley check the bodies in the parking garage, and Riley finds the man who escaped from her months earlier. Wilt tries to sympathize, but Riley says that everything the buyers did is on her. She assures Wilt that she's not going home without the EMP.
Mac and Jack drive after the buyers and reach the airport. The buyers board a jet and depart, and jack and Mac commander a nearby private jet. Jack tells the pilot to follow the departing plane, while Mac apologizes to the passengers, Saul and Edith.
The plane takes off and Jack takes a selfie to prove he was in a chase. Mac calls Matty, who says that they have the techs trying to determine where the buyers are heading. Riley tries to identify the sellers' tech so that she can identify the buyers, just as the buyers change heading. When Saul and Edith go back, Saul clubs Jack with a bucket. The couple complain that they're hijackers, and Jack says that it's a master of national security. Saul demands to see their badges, and Mac points out that they don't work for a public agency.
Edith and Saul start arguing, and Riley breaks the seller's encryption. The sellers were tracing the buyers' IP but weren't able to figure it out. Their laptop belonged to Javier Morales, a former major in the Spanish version of the SEALS. Morales' files end two years ago when he left the military, and Riley confirms that Morales has built a squad of highly-trained soldiers. When their target's jet starts to climb, Saul says that they're spiraling up for a jump. Mac realizes that Saul was an Army Ranger, and Saul says that he's taking Edith to the places he wrote letters from during the war. They're over Shanghai, so Matty figures the target is in the city.
Six men jump, heading for Dizang Tower. Matty figures that it's part of Morales' plan, and the captain says that they are nowhere near a runway. Jack orders him to put it down wherever he can, and Mac tells Saul and Edith to strap in.
One the jet lands on the highway, Jack and Mac commandeer a car from a passerby and drive to Dizang Tower. Riley hacks the tower security and sees the six men heading down the stairwell. Wilt says that the whole target is filled with high-profile targets, and Riley reports that the mercenaries left the 90th floor. Matty reports that the entire floor is owned by Ralph Jerico, and he's in town for the Chinese economic summit. Ralph appears to be an honest businessman. Morales and his men take out two of Jerico's charges and blast open the door. Matty figures that since Jerico keeps the majority of his money in personal holdings, and Jerico just bought a safe they need an EMP to open, Morales and his men are after the money. In the building elevator, Mac and Jack brace themselves just as the EMP goes off, shutting down the building's power.
Matty tells her techs to get feeds from every outside camera in the area. Wilt and Riley drive to the building, and Riley reports that every surveillance device in the building is dead. Matty tells her to find a way because Mac and Jack are in the drop.
Jack and Mac pry open the elevator door on the 50th floor and Mac figures that Morales will wait until the stairwell clears and then leave with the stolen money. Mac makes a torch out of a roll of paper towels and a flower vase to light their way, and heads up the stairwell.
Riley comes up with a way to hack the tower's cameras, and Matty tells them that Morales' escape helicopter is on its way.
Mac and Jack reach the 90th floor and find nobody there. The safe is intact, meaning the mercenaries came after something else. They spot the helicopter coming in, Jack shoots at the helicopter through the outside window, hitting the helicopter, and Mac figures the mercenaries will come after them.
Wilt and Riley spot the helicopter spiraling away from the tower, and Matty warns that the mercenaries know that Mac and Jack are there and will come after them.
Jack and Mac enter the stairwell and spot the mercenaries coming down, and Mac has Jack lure them away while Mac finds out what they stole and gets it back. He grabs a fire extinguisher and hides, and realizes that there are only five mercenaries chasing Jack. The sixth mercenary comes down and Mac prepares to knock him out with the extinguisher, but the mercenary has Ralph's son Ethan and threatens to kill him if Mac doesn't surrender.
Wilt and Riley pull up to the tower and don't see any sign of jack, Mac, or the mercenaries. Riley has made an antenna and runs into the building.
Mac sprays the fire extinguisher in the mercenary's face, and runs off with Ethan.
Riley returns to the SUV and says that she's set the base antenna and now she has to daisy-chain the surrounding building's Wi-Fi. Mac calls them on the radio and says that he knocked out one of the five mercenaries chasing him. He tells them that the mercenaries are trying to steal something else, and Matty says that Ralph is the most heavily-insured man on the planet. He has a kidnap and ransom policy on his only son, Ethan, and he had to chip his son with a GPS locator. Morales used the EMP to knock out the GPS, and if they get him out of the building then they can't find him.
Mac drags Ethan into a service corridor, and says that he's there to save him. Ethan demands to see his ID, and Mac tells the boy that he'll have to trust him. The boy screams for help and Mac muzzles him. Mac points out that there are guys with guns after them, and reveals that all he has is a pocket knife. He asks Ethan not to scream or run so that he can think and Ethan agrees.
Ralph is driving to the tower when Ethan's GPS goes off-line, and calls the security company Matty calls him and explains who she is, and tells him what is going on. She explains that she has two operatives inside of the building and she needs Ralph to tell him what the kidnappers want. When Ralph hears Morales' name, he explains that Morales' brother Rodrigo out of prison. Rodrigo is an enemy combatant, and Rodrigo got bused trying to topple the Nigerian government. Ralph has significant political clout in Nigeria, and Ralph refused to help Morales get his brother released. Matty has convinced Ralph to give them a half hour, but if they don't get results then he'll have Rodrigo released.
Riley uses the Wi-Fi signals to build a radar image of what's going on in the building. She spots the mercenaries, and Mac and Ethan heading for the lobby via the elevator shaft, and Jack runs there.
Mac pours hydrogen peroxide and bleach in bottles, using them as phosphorescent lights, and lowers himself down the elevator shaft on a roof. Ethan isn't impressed and they reach the elevator. Mac opens the roof hatch and drops down, and pries open the doors. A mercenary gets the drop on them, but Mac knocks him out from behind.
Shanghai SWAT arrive outside and come in shooting, and they realize that the men aren't SWA but more mercenaries. They cut off Mac, Jack, and Ethan as they head out, and the trio duck back into the building. The mercenaries cut off the exits and start sweeping the building, and Jack and Mac take Ethan into an office to make their stand. Ethan says that Ralph doesn't care about him, and Mac says that his father walked out on him when he was young and knows how he feels. Jack interrupts to warn that he is running low on ammo, and Mac pulls a light ballast out of the ceiling and tells Jack and Ethan to get all the others that they can find. Jack asks Mac what he's doing, and Ethan says that Mac is building a Faraday cage. Mac explains that it will keep them from being electrocuted. The city's electrical grid is still growing strong. They're on the first floor so they still have power, and they'll knock them out long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
Ralph arrives outside of the building and prepares to call the Nigerian government. Ethan comes in on the radio and says that he's hiding and gives away his location. The mercenaries hear the call and move in, and when they break into the office, Mac triggers the power., shocking the mercenaries unconscious, and the Faraday cage protects the trio.
The Shanghai SWAT team arrives and arrests the mercenaries, while Jack, Mac, and Ethan come out. Father and son hug, and Ethan tells his father that Mac saved him. Mac asks Ralph to spend more time with his son because he's a good kid, and Ralph agrees. Riley gets the EMP back from the mercenaries, and Jack says that he has a whole new respect for John McClane.
Wilt and Mc go home and Mac says that the photo was a dead end. He wonders why his father went through everything to tell him when he could have called, and Wilt says that Mac's father always thought the best way to learn something was to figure it out for yourself. He thought that it was Mac's father's way of saying "I love you", and tells Mac to get some sleep.
Written by Gadfly on Apr 14, 2018