November 1-5, 1998 Timeline

Friday, November 6: (9 a.m.) Nicholai gets a call from Michael Mueller asking him if he is willing to assume the position of operative. Nicholai says yes and is told to go to NYC. Simultaneously, a sniper tries to shoot Sam at the gym, but Max knocks her to the ground, getting hit in the arm and abdomen himself. While Max is hustling Sam upstairs to their apartment (and hiding his wounds), Nicholai calls Hunt and tells him about Mueller. They decide to let Mueller continue to think that Nicholai is on his side. Nicholai steals a car and drives from Virginia to NYC. While on the phone with Nicholai, Hunt’s systems pick up a police call regarding a shooting in Sam’s neighborhood. By the time Sam calls Hunt, he already has Juan en route to pick up the agency town car to take Sam and Max to safety and has Etienne en route to the gym to answer questions from the police. Sam finally discovers Max’s injuries, which freaks her out so badly that she bungles first aid attempts. Etienne arrives and doesn’t do much better, but Juan is able to take them to a "no questions asked" doctor that the gangs use. Max has lost a fair amount of blood but insists to Sam that he's fine. After that, Juan sets them up in a secure apartment in Newark and sticks around to help with extra security and errands. Unbeknownst to Sam, Max only takes the antibiotics, not the pain killers, the doctor gave him.

Mueller calls Raven and tells her to report to Nicholai, who is coming to NYC (Mueller also knew Raven was in NYC). Raven calls Etienne and tells him to watch out. Etienne tells her about the attempt on Sam and Raven tells him it is an internal matter. He asks her to meet him at a location in West Virginia, saying that he wants to contact a few other people and then discuss a plan.

Raven: I don’t know about this.

Ettienne: Trust me.

Raven: You know what happened the last time a man told me to trust him.

In the midst of all this, Hunt alerts Gus that he’s a probable target. Gus, however, is already in mid-flight to Miami with Alex and James (who cannot get off the ground with Alex). Realizing that the Miami trip is pointless, Gus has the FBI plane turnaround and land in Quantico, figuring that the heart of the Marine sniper and FBI training facility is probably pretty safe. Hunt also calls George, blaming his reticence to help for the attempt on Sam. Hunt tells George to release Selina (Whitney). Around this time, Hunt figures out that the only person who could have all this information on their agents is someone in the National Security Advisor’s office, so there must be a leak. Hunt begins feeding misinformation through that office.

Sam warns Harley and Bruce. She also warns George, who had gotten his own phone call from Mueller. He wants George to hire Selina, Bruce and Damien for him. Damien flies to the U.S. When George calls Bruce, Bruce refuses to work for Mueller. George tells Selina that the previous mission is canceled, but he might have another one for her.

Etienne reaches Sheila Lysniewski at work and tells her that there is inter-agency warfare again and that he has a plan. He asks her and Rico to meet him in West Virginia.

Hunt decides to go pro-active in regard to Ross. Sam orders Desiree and Harley to go to Atlanta for surveillance and possible termination of Ross. When Desiree tells Bruno and Guido that she’s going to Atlanta, they ask for a ride. Desiree introduces Harley as "Jack." On the ride down, Harley finally discovers why Desiree was reluctant to give them a lift. The 15-minute speech during which Bruno, in a very roundabout fashion, asked Desiree to if she really was a stripper was an interesting moment. But little later when Bruno compared Desiree to Joan of Arc and ranked her higher than Mother Theresa, even deadpan Harley nearly choked. Desiree laughed until she cried but managed not to hurt their feelings.

Sam tells George not to release Selina, because they might need her after all. George wants to talk to Sam, but in person, so he flies to Newark. Sam arranges for a hotel room to meet him at near the airport.

(12:30 p.m. EST/9:30 a.m. PST) Jana leaves for work in the morning and notices a strange car. The gang driving the car shoot her, but she manages to get partial cover while trying to get into her super’s apartment for help. She is taken to Victory Memorial Hospital. Sam calls Sheila and Rico (unbeknownst to her) before they leave for West Virginia) and ask them to meet Jana in the hospital and keep an eye on her until bodyguards arrive. Sam then has Alex arrange protection for Jana. Kelly gets a call from Mueller, telling her to report to Nicholai. She then calls Sam, who tells her to play along and feed information to them via James, who will be her backup.

Gus visits the National Security Advisor’s home, but neither he nor his family are there. He waits awhile, but leaves when it becomes apparent that this method of reaching him is taking too long.

D’Angelico arrives in the states. When he checks into the hotel room arranged for him, he finds an envelope on the bed outlining the targets, their whereabouts, a photograph and a phone number for updated information. Hits have been ordered on Hunt, Sam, Gus, Jana and Harley that will earn the team that takes them out $100,000 with a $15,000 bonus for the person who actually nails the target. James, Sheila and Rico are labeled targets of opportunity for $5,000. Desiree is also a target of opportunity, but her hit is $10,000. When Sam and Hunt find this out, they formalize the termination order on Ross, Hunt arranges the official authorization for it and Sam sends Fiona and Jefferies to help Desiree and Harley in Atlanta. Hunt is unable to reach Etienne, so he asks Sam to continue to try to reach him. Alyssa and Vinnie are called up to back up Gus. Sam calls Desiree and tells her about the confirmation of the hit info and the prices. As Desiree relates this information to Harley, Bruno and Guido are suitably impressed, if surprised at the difference in the amounts. Desiree explains that Harley (who had been identified to them as Jack) just "pissed them off more. Under different circumstances, mine would be at least $50,000."

Sheila goes to Jana’s room in ICU (Jana is stable but seriously wounded) while Rico waits outside. When a nurse comes in to change the IVs and administer medicine, Sheila notices her shoes are street shoes, not nurses’ shoes. As Sheila tries to stop her, the phony nurse injects Sheila with what turns out to be insulin. Sheila pulls the wires on Jana’s heart monitor. When a team comes in with a crash cart, Sheila yells that Jana is fine, but the nurse tried to kill her. The nurse escapes. Sheila tries to reach Rico through their pens, but the woman gets past him and the security guard. Sheila is then taken to another room on the same floor for treatment.

A policeman arrives to question Sheila while another policeman goes to Jana’s room. The latter, however, is a phony who pulls a gun on Jana but is interrupted by a real nurse. He shoots the nurse while Jana rolls off the bed away from him and tries to throw bottles of saline left over from the crash cart at him. Sheila hears the commotion, pulls out her gun and runs for Jana’s room, with the confused policeman running behind her. Rico gets there first and shoots the phony cop. In the commotion, Sheila and Rico grab an empty gurney, throw Jana on it and race out of the hospital. When they get downstairs, Rico steals an ambulance while Sheila helps herself to the glucose in the ambulance. They call Sam, who was on the phone to Gus. Gus tells them to drive into the parking garage of the local FBI offices and he makes arrangements for their protection.

Instead of staying put, Sheila and Rico sneak out, leaving Jana in the ambulance in the garage. They proceed to the airport to meet Etienne. Meanwhile, Gus calls the Marine captain he dealt with in regard to Harley’s "death" and asks for his help. The captain makes arrangements for a Marine Corps helicopter to land on the roof of the FBI building to transport Jana (and presumably Sheila and Rico) to a hospital at a nearby naval base. Gus also fills in the captain quickly on the situation with Mueller and that Harley is one of the targets. Gus requests that the captain intercede if he and Harley fail, and Mueller takes over the agency again. The captain understands what Gus is requesting and thanks him because "most covert ops people only tell us things when it’s too late."

Raven arrives in West Virginia and Etienne explains his plan. He wants to pick a side (he’s leaning toward Sam and Hunt’s side but wants to talk to Sheila before that’s finalized) and then play them both. Specifically, he’ll call Mueller and pretend that the four of them want to work for him—for the right price. In the meantime, if he can get Mueller’s file from Sam, he can study it, guess as to what city Mueller is hiding in and find him via hotel and restaurant information. Raven suggests that they call Sam on her secure phone (he left his in NYC) and tell Sam that he is chasing a lead to Mueller. It’s mostly true, so it would be believable. Etienne agrees, but they still have to wait for Sheila and Rico before they proceed.

Harley, Desiree, Bruno and Guido arrive in Atlanta. Hunt gets the final authorization for the hit on Ross. Gus visits a senator on the covert operations oversight committee, explains a bit about Mueller’s attempt to retake the agency and the possible leak and asks the senator to contact the National Security Advisor and have him come to the senator’s office so the three of them can talk without alerting the leaker. Fiona and Jefferies arrive in Atlanta and meet the fearsome foursome. Fiona is not impressed by Bruno’s attempts at intellectual elocution.

(4 p.m. EST) George arrives in Newark and meets Sam at the arranged hotel, after being frisked by Juan. George is not happy to be caught in the middle and in exchange for helping the agency, wants guarantees that he can remain neutral and that Hunt will never shut him down. Sam tries to explain that he only ever had but so much neutrality in the first place. Everyone in the business knows that he works with them, which affords him a layer of protection he couldn’t buy or schmooze. She also explains that either through greasing certain wheels or turning a blind eye to various laws, he’s been allowed to do things that would be very difficult or impossible (get automatic weapon permits, etc.), but George still doesn't get it.

George: I'm at ground zero in this mess.

Sam: You're at ground zero! I've got a $100,000 bounty my head!! My husband got shot trying to protect me!! I had his blood on my hands literally, and you're at ground zero?!! I don't have time for this, George! I've got agents to protect. I've got to track down Mueller before someone else gets shot. You want to throw in with him, fine. But remember that he uses people and throws them away when he's done. He's the reason I cooked up that alternate retirement plan for agents with you. I told you before, with my new boss in charge, it's not necessary any more. I'm only keeping it around in case there's another administration change. Oh, and don't forget that Mueller uses government resources for personal vendettas and to sell drugs. If he's back in charge of the agency, you might as well shred the Constitution right now.

George: Mueller hasn't discussed a price for my services. I could make it your safety.

Sam: Don't kid yourself, George. Sure, he'll agree to anything, but there's no way he'll let me live since I was one of the people who orchestrated his removal. By asking for that, you're just signing your own death warrant by telling him that you're friends with me. I will never be safe so long as Mueller is alive, and if he manages to take over the Agency before he kills me, you can count the days to my funeral thereafter.

George wants more time to think, which is fine with Sam because she feels she is wasting her time arguing with George when she should be tracking down Mueller or directing agents. As George leaves, he realizes that he did not come across as well as he should have and that Sam might have misunderstood him. He explains this to Sam and says, what do you need from me? Finally, they are able to work out an agreement. George gives Sam the number to reach Selina directly (because Sam wants Selina to talk to Harley but, being concerned about which side George will choose, doesn’t want George to know which agents are where). He also admits that Mueller wants Selina and another person [Damien] to work for him, in addition to miscellaneous muscle. Sam asks him to have Selina supposedly go to work for Mueller but really be their inside man. If the other freelancers are trustworthy enough to do the same, that would be better. George is also going to delay hiring the misc. muscle and make sure that the ones he does hire are those that would be better off gone (in other words, clueless, dangerous, wannabes).

The National Security Advisor arrives at the Senator’s office and the two of them and Gus go to a secure room to discuss the situation. They manage to determine who is Mueller’s source in the Advisor’s office by process of elimination. They decide to arrest him immediately since Mueller will probably figure out shortly that he is getting false info and therefore cut off (or kill) the spy. Gus calls for FBI backup and explains who they are arresting along with a description provided by the Advisor. However, Gus gets caught in infamous D.C. traffic, so he calls the Advisor’s office to have the technician detained. The bad news is that he called too late, the guy already left. The good news is that the FBI agents did not get caught in traffic and grabbed the guy as he was leaving the building. Questioning reveals pretty much what they expected and not much more.

(5 p.m. EST) Sheila and Rico arrive at Etienne's hideout in West Virginia. Etienne starts to explain his plan when Sheila says she doesn’t want to be part of it. This leads to a HUGE fight with Rico, first, because he says that he wanted to go to the Naval Base and be safe (Sheila claims he never said that). The fight then gets worse because each wants the other to decide whether they should stay or go, but neither will due to the blame if something goes wrong (the fight at this point consisted of them yelling back and forth "Si." "No." "Si." "No").

At some point Raven looks at Rico and says, "I can see why you’re on the road all the time." This totally pisses off Sheila, who at first starts trying to fight with Raven, but Raven won’t bite. Then Sheila turns her attention to Rico for not standing up to her. This was a bad strategic move because he threw in her face that fact that she kept her mouth shut at the ranch when Laura Rothschild threatened to cut his balls off. Rico argues that Raven’s comment didn’t deserve a response. Sheila counters that Laura wasn’t serious, but that doesn’t matter to Rico. They take the fight outside, and Rico decides to stay and at least listen to the plan. Sheila, instead, calls a cab to take her to the train station. Rico listens and agrees with Etienne's plan.

Raven then calls Sam and passes the phone to Etienne who gives Sam a slightly altered version of it (leaving out the fact that they considered, at least briefly, throwing in Mueller) and requests Mueller’s file. Sam says she’ll call him back and then calls Hunt. She discusses with Hunt (1) putting Selina together with Harley so they can better plan Ross’ assassination; (2) Etienne's plan; (3) putting Selina and Damien into Mueller’s organization as moles. Hunt’s assessment of what Sam’s asking is rather different (we’re going to trust a coward who was sort of blackmailing us [George] with arranging freelancers we don’t know [Selina and Damien] to be moles on our behalf and trusting an agent who disappeared on us [Etienne] with agency files and information on how we’re hunting a target).

Sam points out that (1) Selina has always been very reliable in the past and has a reputation for not playing both sides; (2) that George was just scared and not saying what he meant (she also points out that he has a lot in common with George. After all, his code name is "Caveman"); (3) they don’t have a plan as to how to find Muller; (4) Etienne's plan makes sense and can’t hurt; (4) even if Etienne is going to double-cross them, how does having Mueller’s file help since Mueller knows what is in it; (5) he hired her partially for her judgment, so he should trust it. Hunt agrees begrudgingly. Sam sends Etienne Mueller’s file via Raven’s laptop. The trio decide that Rico should head to D.C. separately from Raven and Etienne, just in case something happens. Raven and Etienne drive while Rico goes to the train station, where he runs into Sheila, and they fight again. At 6 p.m. EST Rico leaves the train station.

Selina meets with Harley in a diner where they discuss the previous arrangements for her to meet with Ross. Having already accepted the mole position, she calls Nicholai to tell him that she will be working with him but asks how urgently he needs her. The trio decide that it makes more sense for Selina to head to NYC immediately since someone else can substitute for her as the person arriving to meet Ross. Harley reminds Selina that he owes her one, and Selina points out that at least he doesn’t have to repay Roche now.

Harley: That’s just as well since he’s responsible for several things that happened—good and bad.

Selina: Hmm, that is a story I would like to hear some time. You do seem better than the last time I saw you.

Harley: I got my heart back.

Selina: That is not necessarily an asset in this business.

The Atlanta teams sends Biff off to find a sniper position. Once the gate is opened, Biff is supposed to shoot the gate guards and anyone leaving the house. The team is supposed to warn Biff through the headsets before they exit. Desiree, pretending to be the person meeting Ross, will drive the Blazer through the front gate with Harley and Fiona hidden in the back seat. Bruno and Guido are supposed to force their way through before the gates close and block off any escape from the back of the house. Biff gets exactly one shot/one kill with the gate guards. Desiree manages to drive through the front door and into the house in classic action-movie fashion and in the process, weakens the support on the balcony, causing one guard to fall from the second floor to the first before he can fire. Fortunately, Ross’ people were so surprised that Fiona, Desiree and Harley were able to shoot first. Desiree takes out two guys in the first round, using an Uzi in one hand and a MAC-10 in the other. Fiona kills one man, who they later realize is Ross, and critically wounds another before being shot herself. Fiona, Harley and Desiree kill the remaining guards, except for one guy Biff shot when he tried to climb out the window.

Desiree bandages Fiona while Harley searches the house. He finds the files on the assassins hired by Ross and $1.3 million in cash that was to be used as payment. He and Desiree load the files and money in the back of the Blazer. Unfortunately, as they leave, a police car notices the Blazer and follows it. Harley tests the Blazer’s off-road capabilities by disappearing into the woods, unlike the police car, which hit a tree. When they return to the main road, a second police car recognizes them from the report of the first. Harley eventually loses that car, also, but bangs up the Blazer a bit in the process. Later, a third police car spots them, but because it’s so beat up, that officer thinks it’s a different car. Desiree calls Sam, who hooks them up with a quiet auto body shop and a doctor who will meet them there to treat Fiona.

(7:30 p.m. EST) Alyssa is sent to back up Nicholai who spots her at the airport while he’s supposed to be meeting Selina. Nicholai and Alyssa smooch in the car while waiting for Selina. (Selina is very amused when she finds them kissing but refrains from comments at that time). Damien calls George, who needs to get back to him with more info. Desiree faxes material to agency while Harley divides the money ($225,000 to Fiona; $215,000 for everyone else). Vinnie arrives at Dulles Airport. Gus sends an FBI agent disguised as a limo driver to pick her up.

(8:30 p.m. EST) Nicholai calls Mueller, who knows Ross is dead. Mueller tells Nicholai he has three hours to find and confirm Sam’s location or Mueller will pull back. D’Angelico takes out one of the assassins. Gus heads to NYC to lead an FBI anti-terrorist group against four assassins, but Gus is shot at as he leaves the FBI building. Alex pulls Gus back in time so he’s OK, but the sniper is arrested. By the way, Gus’ sniper was one of D’Angelico’s targets.

(9:30 p.m. EST) Etienne discovers that Mueller has been changing hotels every day and he’s adding people to his entourage as he goes. Etienne confirms that at least seven people are with him. Rico and Raven are watching Mueller’s hotel when Rico falls and is nabbed by Mueller’s men, who happen to be D.C. police. All attempts via Raven, Sam and Hunt to reroute him to Federal custody fail. Nicholai and Harley are converging on the hotel when three cars leave. Mueller is in the middle car with a VIP escort from the "D.C. police." Nicholai calls into Mueller, who tells him it’s a scrub and that he knows Nicholai is working for the other side. Mueller has the D.C. police stopping anyone going fast, so the cars are losing him. Nicholai finds out there’s an airport nearby and hijacks a helicopter with Whitney. A black ops chopper shows up and chases Nicholai off. Mueller crosses the Virginia border. Harley recognizes the area and takes a short cut to catch up with Mueller. D’Angelico takes out his last guy. Damien can’t find one of his targets. Mueller goes to a farmhouse in Virginia. Raven checks out the rooms and finds one door rigged with explosives. She leaves without disturbing it and calls in the bomb scare. Gus will not allow an air assault on the house, so Hunt and Sam order Nicholai to use the helicopter to soften up the farmhouse.

November 7-30, 1998 Timeline