Two men pull their truck over in the Texas desert and order a father, wife, and daughter out into the desert. They prepare to shoot them, but Sameen emerges from the back and objects. When the two smugglers attacker her, Sameen easily knocks them out, tosses the keys to the family, and tells the two injured smugglers to start walking. She then takes one of their hats and walks off.
In NYC, Reese is watching the new Number, Terry Easton with Falcon Lock & Key. He lives with his wife Carla and has had several odd jobs, and settled on the employment of a locksmith. As Finch cleans up the station, he tells Reese that Terry appears to be a model citizen. Root joins Finch and says that the machine gave her a Number, radio engineer Matthew Stone. He's in charge of the maintenance for radio antennas across the boroughs, and he might either be part of Samaritan's transmission plan, or stumbled across it by accident. Finch advises Root to proceed with extreme caution, and she grabs an assault rifle before heading out.
Reese watches as Terry puts on a mask and breaks into a building. It's Kepler & Mountain Investments, a private equity firm handling valuable accounts and information. Reese enters the building, gun drawn, and finds an unconscious guard. The door alarm is going off, and Reese finds Terry taking out an explosive charge. Terry threatens to set off the bomb, but Reese figures that he isn't suicidal and carefully cuts the wire. Once the bomb is disarmed, Reese says that it's time to talk.
At the station, Reese takes Terry to an interrogation room and warns that he's facing a terrorist charge. However, he figures Terry didn't make the bomb and asks who did. Terry glances up at the surveillance camera and Reese shuts it off. However, Terry still won't talk. Outside, Reese has Finch check Terry's finances. Finch confirms that Terry's finances look ordinary, and figures that the person responsible used Terry because he seemed harmless. As Reese clones Terry's phone, he notices Fusco at his new desk. He walks over and asks Fusco where his new partner is, and Fusco says that his transfer is still pending. Officer Chen brings in a gang of Templarios and Fusco goes over to help him.
Finch tells Reese that he's discovered a self-deleting text on Terry's phone. It shows a photo of Carla, gagged. Reese shows it to Terry and asks who sent the message, and Terry says that his employer said not to talk to anyone or he'd kill Carla. He can't tell Reese who it is because he doesn't know. Terry got a call from someone on the phone who knew everything about Terry. He threatened to kill Carla if Terry didn't cooperate, and the bomb arrived with instructions. Terry's phone rings and Reese has Terry answer it. The Voice says that Terry failed his assignment, and he's never going to see his wife again.
Finch listens in and says that he recognizes the Voice, who had coerced a 911 operator into covering a murder. In both cases the Voice had leverage, and Terry confirms that Carla never came home from work the night before. Finch extracts location data from the photo and confirms that she's being held at a warehouse in the meat-packing district. Terry asks to come with Reese, but Reese tells him to stay put and promises that he's going to bring Carla back. Finch says that he may have an idea about how to find the Voice and leaves. Meanwhile, Reese asks for backup in a hostage situation.
Chen thanks Fusco for his help and gives him a case. It involves Amir Saddiq, a delivery cab driver. He was arrested for possession of an unregistered weapon, and Ballistics matched it to a two-year-old murder. Reese comes over and asks Fusco to keep an eye on Terry, and Fusco reminds him that he's not his partner anymore. He dismisses Reese, who heads out with the uni squad.
Samaritan monitors the Templarios in holding, Terry in the interrogation roomy, and Amir as Fusco questions him. Fusco informs Amir that the gun was used in a murder, and Amir says that he got it from a gun show in Cleveland six months ago and threw away the receipt.
Finch talks to Elias about the voice, and the ex-crime lord says that the Voice is a ghost. He knows of someone but wants to go with Finch in return for the information. Finch points out that Elias is a marked man, but Elias insists that he can't afford to lose another friend.
Reese and the men arrive at the warehouse and the unis break in. The Voice calls Reese and warns that he won't save Carla. Reese orders everyone out just as a bomb goes off. As EMTs arrive to get the injured and dead unis out, another officer tells Reese that they've had reports of ten bombs in the area, tying up bomb squad resources. There's no sign of Carla's body among the wreckage, and Finch figures that the voice is keeping her alive as leverage against Terry. Finch tells Reese that he's tracking one of the Voice's associates, and goes to the abandoned Hope Elementary School. Elias picks the lock and they go in.
That night, Root finds Matthew working in the dead of night. Samaritan agents arrive and Root figures that Samaritan is trying to expand its bandwidth. Someone shoots at the men and runs off, and Root goes after the shooter.
At the station, Fusco tells Amir that the gun was a match for four other murders that took place since Amir claims he bought the gun. One murder was on the night of the gun show, and the prints at the crime scene were a partial match to Amir's. A witness composite matches Amir, and Amir sits back and smiles. He says that they're done until Fusco gets the DA, and Fusco says that there isn't going to be a deal. The detective goes out past Terry's interrogation room. Someone slips an envelope beneath the door.
Elias explains that the school was shut down two years ago, but the man who supplies the Voice with bombs works out of the building. They come to a high-security door and Elias knocks. The man, Raul, tells them to go away, and Elias says that he never thanked him for providing the car bomb that killed his father. Raul lets them in and Elias explains that Raul is the best of the bomb makers. He says that the Voice will do worse than whatever Elias does, and Elias draws a gun and points out that Raul will be dead. When Raul says that they're surrounded by explosives, Elias assures him that he's using hollow-point bullets, and asks where the bombs he built for the Voice are located.
Reese returns to the station and Fusco tells him that everyone is in helping the bomb squad. He's there because he's busting a multiple homicide case, and Reese notices that the door to terry's interrogation room is gone. He spots Terry leaving and grabs him, and Terry claims that an officer told him to leave. Reese admits that he hasn't recovered Carla, and finds the envelope in Terry's jacket. There's a cell phone, and Terry says that he got a text to open the cell where the Templarios are being held. Reese tells Finch that Terry was supposed to get arrested so he'd have access to the Templarios, and Finch figures that someone else in the station is working for the Voice after all.
Reese takes Terry to Holding and finds the guards unconscious. The cells are empty and the monitors show the Templarios locking themselves in. Finch confirms that the bombs are located to draw out all of the cops at the precinct station, and Reese figures that the Templarios are after something--or someone--inside. The gangers cut off the generator.
Root follows the shooter to the park and a man steps out and prepares to open fire on her. The shooter kills the man and jumps Root... and Root realizes that it's Sameen. Root hugs her, sobbing in relief, and says that the Machine brought Sameen back. Sameen says that she's taking out Samaritan one agent at a time, and she has to go. When Root asks what happened, Sameen says that it's complicated. She finally explains that she escaped a week ago but couldn't come looking for the team because it wasn't safe. Sameen tells Root about the simulations intended to turn her against the team. Root figures that they failed, but Sameen says that in every simulation, she killed them.
At the station, Reese goes back to the squad room with Terry. He figures that it's a cop who let the Templarios out, and he can't call for reinforcements until he knows who he can trust. The precinct doors are bo0by-trapped, and Reese refuses to endanger anyone else. Finch traces the warehouse bomb's detonation signal to an apartment in Soho and he heads there with Elias.
Reese finds Fusco, who demands answers. They hear the Templarios in the evidence lockup and realize that they're arming themselves and wearing flak jackets. Reese goes in and grabs one man to use as a shield, and takes out the others. He demands to know what they're after, and Fusco plans to beat him for killing cops. Reese stops Fusco, and the ganger says that they were supposed to take out Amir. Reese figures that Amir can implicate his employer, and Fusco knocks out the ganger and says that he has Amir in the basement. Fusco gives Terry a bat and Reese tells the locksmith to stay put.
Elias and Finch go to the Soho apartment and find several tripwires. There's no one there, and Finch goes to work on the computers there. He thanks Elias, who says that he owes Reese and Finch and will repay them in full. Finch confirms that the bomb signal originated at another location and was relayed through the apartment. While he works, Elias calls Finch's attention to a covered board.
The Templarios are cutting through the door to Amir's cell, and Reese and Fusco arrive. Chen is there, and Reese tosses a flash-bang in. Once the Templarios are down, Fusco brings Amir out and he says that he formerly worked for the Voice. Amir's targets were all people who worked for the Voice. When Amir realized that the Voice would eliminate him as well, he followed the courier and it took him to the Voice. Amir says that if they get him out of the precinct with a deal, he'll tell them who the Voice is. Reese tells Fusco to take Amir up to the squad room and call for backup, while he gets Terry.
Fusco and Chen take Amir to an interrogation room and Fusco tells Chen to guard the doo. As Fusco calls for backup, Chen opens the door and Reese arrives with Terry and shoots Chen. He says that the Voice had someone else on the inside release the Templarios, and Chen says that he didn't have a choice because the Voice threatened his family. The Templarios storm in, and Fusco and Reese realize that they're low on bullets. As they take cover, Fusco admits that he never put in for the transfer. Reese and Fusco charge out firing.
In the park, Root insists that it's not a simulation and begs Sameen to come to the subway with her. Sameen draws her gun and says that they broke her by robbing her of her reality. As long as she's alive, she says that Root will never be safe. Sameen says that in all of the simulations, she could never kill Root so she killed herself over and over again. She puts the gun to her head and says that she'd rather do that than risk Root's life. Root puts a gun to her head and says that she can't live without Sameen. If Sameen dies then she will too, and hopes that they'll be together afterward.
At the station house, Reese and Fusco continue firing.
At the apartment, the board has photos of Reese, Finch, and Root. Elias wonders what Finch will do if he finds the real Voice, but Finch is busy finding a large transaction deposited into the account of an actress who looks a lot like Carla. The two men figure that the whole thing is a ruse, and Finch wonders who Terry really is.
Terry enters Amir's room and says that Amir couldn't betray him and live to tell about it.
Reese and Fusco run out of weapons, and Reese calls to say that Terry sis the perpetrator. As Reese tries to get a gun from a downed Templario, Terry comes up and prepares to shoot him. Fusco jumps him and takes the shot, and Reese grabs the gun and shoots the last Templario as Terry slips away. Fusco says that he was just grazed, and they confirm that Amir is dead.
As Terry walks down the street, his phone rings. It's Finch, who says that he traced his call by following the detonation signal. He compliments Terry on the recording he used to call himself at the precinct. Finch comes up behind Terry, who draws a gun on him. Unimpressed, Finch says that Terry can't be permitted to continue and advises him to turn himself in. Elias comes up behind Terry, gun drawn, and advises him not to cross Finch. Terry is surprised that Elias is with Finch, and Elias says that Finch is one of the few friends he has left. The Voice offers a truce but warns that compassion and loyalty make people weak. He says that he'll be seeing them and drives off. Once he's far enough away, Elias detonates the bomb in the Voice's car, killing him. Finch is shocked, but Elias points out that Finch brought him for a reason and knew what he would do.
The next day, the officers clean up the station. Reese brings Fusco some coffee and asks about his arm, and then says that it's time they talk. They go out on the roof where there's no cameras, and Reese tosses Fusco's phone over the edge. Finch wonders if telling Fusco the truth is a wise choice, and Reese points out that not even the precinct is safe, so the best they can do is trust each other. After a moment, Finch agrees but says that there's a matter that demands Reese's attention. Reese begins explaining Samaritan to Fusco.
Later, Reese and Fusco drive to the park where Finch is waiting. Root joins them and brings Sameen. The five of them stand together.
Written by Gadfly on May 31, 2016