As the episode opens, we see Jamie video chatting with her mother. They are discussing an anniversary of her sister, and Kellett’s mother Julianne is wondering why Jamie did not do something special for her family or come home. It is clear that there is tension between them and Julianne says that Jamie is not home enough and that “June” did not like that. Jamie says “Well she is not around anymore to complain about it” and Julianne tells Jamie not to beat herself up about it. Jamie says goodbye and ends the call. Scott appears and says he is heading out but if she wants him to stick around he will, but she says she has CI reports to dig into and she is fine. Clearly it looks like he overheard the conversation, or is aware of the significance of this day, and it is nice to see that they are still looking out for each other when they need it.
A research team is working in a Virology lab in a Research Park in Belgium, and are discussing their research when suddenly shots are fired through the window. One man, Christopher Staton, is killed and several others are injured and panic ensues. One man directs the team and they all run and hide in the specimen vault for protection.
The team is arriving to the Budapest office and Raines is ready to brief them. A shooter is at large in Brussels after an attack on Van den Dreissche Research Park, leaving two scientists injured and Dr. Christopher Staton killed. Dr. Staton was a microbiologist who made his name working on mRNA vaccine technology. He had been making progress for years and then the pandemic brought his work to the forefront. He moved to Belgium 8 months ago to collaborate with the team there to try to prepare for what mutation of the virus might come next, and the entire team was present during the attack. Dr. Luc Michaud is the head of the team and Forrester says he has been the highest profiled medical advisor to the EU during the pandemic and he is Europe’s version of Anthony Faucci. They wonder if he is the target as he has never shyed away from criticizing politicians and scientists who disagree with this work, so they hypothesize if this was a personal attack or a targeted political attack. Because Brussels is the defacto capital of the EU, Forrester says that Europol will be all over this case and they will need Katrin Jaeger to join them, and Raines says she is already on the ground and expecting them.
Katrin is on scene when the team arrives and introduces them to First Inspector Henriella Beckers. Scott thanks her for being willing to work with them, and she says she welcomes any help to catch the person responsible. She expresses her frustration with the number of “trigger happy idiots” in the world and then she walks them through the crime scene. Beckers indicates that the lab is in building 2 and the bullets seem to have been fired from the rooftop of building 3. They are still processing the scene and ballistics. Inspector Beckers says she cannot help but feel partially responsible because a few months ago, Dr. Michaud and Dr. Staton had reported to her that they had received hateful messages and online death threats to her department, but because there was nothing particularly specific about the messages, they were unable to take action. Forrester asks for the reports and Beckers agrees to provide them. As they walk around the lab, Vo asks if it is safe for them to be in there, and Beckers says the scientists did a sweep to ensure it was safe but perhaps to not touch their eyes or mouth for extra caution. The team learns that at least a dozen shots were fired, and no one got a look at the shooter due to the panic. Scott questions if they were trying to specifically shoot Dr. Staton, as there would have been an easier way to do it, and Katrin asks if he thinks they were trying to send a message. Dr. Michaud and his assistant Marc Claes are there helping to identify any biological hazards, and the team ask if they can speak to him.
Dr. Michaud tells Raines and Kellett that he has told the police everything he knows and it is frustrating that he cannot help more. He says he was trying to protect his team as they have been working long hours over a long time, and they are more like a family now. They ask him about any kind of problems in the team, and he says no. He says he has enemies and every time he goes on TV to recommend stricter preventative measures, he is swarmed online with hate messages. He says he does not know who made the threats and that at this point in the pandemic the threats against scientists have sadly started to become background noise. Raines asks for access to his social media accounts to track down the threatening accounts and Dr. Michaud says certainly, and when he is done to please delete it all. He says if stooping to their level in a response caused any of this to happen, he will never forgive himself, and wonders if his outspoken ways might have caused this. He tells them that Christopher wanted the public to know the truth and it seems that for many ignorant people, they would rather shoot the messenger.
Vo and Forrester are on the roof of building 3 where Beckers believes the shooter was. Vo seems to feel though that the angle does not match and that the angle is too steep for where some of the bullets landed. Beckers wonders about a ricochet, and Vo confirms that all the floors were occupied at the time of the shooting, and the shooter would have been seen if firing from anywhere else in the building. Scott feels perhaps this is not the right building and uses the binoculars to look at other rooftops and they find a spot for a snipers nest in another building, and based on the distance, they determine that the sniper would have to be military trained and potentially using a military grade weapon. Scott finds a shell casing, and tells Beckers that the evidence team is searching the wrong location. Raines says that based on the shell casing and bullet fragments at the scene, they are looking at a specific sniper rifle and military grade ammunition, and Scott says that specific weapon is being used by the Belgium armed forces. Kellett tells them they have reached out to all the bases nearby to ask them to take inventory of all their weapons, and that one air base near the border of the Netherlands trains with that weapon and believe one may be missing. Katrin comes in to confirm not only are they missing the rifle, but they are missing a sniper also.
Vo and Forrester go to the Mertens-Lybbaert Air Base, and learn that Corporal Patrick Jans failed to report to his post and has been missing for about 48 hours. He is a former ranger and sniper who is stationed there as a shooting instructor. Lieutenant De Hondt tells them that at one time Jans was a great asset but after a number of disciplinary actions, he was recently demoted, given an administrative post, and had been put in charge of the weapons vault. Scott tells them that no one is to touch anything and asks what exactly is missing, and they tell him a sniper rifle, 2 handguns and 10 boxes of ammunition, and one rocket grenade launcher. Forrester asks why he did not make anyone else aware and De Hondt says he was only made aware of the theft an hour ago. Vo finds a note in one of the crates, and says it is an anti-government anti-science manifesto about freedom with a “sprinkling of white nationalism”. There is a list of targets including Dr. Michaud and his family all listed by name, and Forrester says they need to secure all the people listed as potential targets.
Raines is onsite when Jaeger arrives with Dr. Michaud, his family and Marc Claes. Katrin confirms for the family that there is a credible threat on the family. Claes asks if they will just have to stay there, and Raines says yes, with protection and hopefully for only a night or two.
Forrester is reviewing Jans file with Lieutenant De Hondt and says he would like an explanation as all he is seeing is red flags, such as physical altercations, racial slurs, using images of liberal politicians for target practice and he does not understand how all that was observed and they did not take any action. The Lieutenant says he did take action and he had referred him to military intelligence where they flagged his as a Level 3 threat for terrorism. When Scott says he can now move that to Level 4, the Lieutenant says knowing what they know now he obviously would have handled it differently, and Vo has to break up their argument, and says what matters now is that they are all on the same team and that they find him. Vo says that if Patrick Jans worldview did not rub some of the other soilders the wrong way perhaps it is that they agreed with him and if that is the case, maybe he shared his plans with them. Scott asks if he had someone he worked closely with and the Lieutenant takes them to speak to Corporal Dennis. He says Jans never mentioned robbing the weapons locker, but he did hate Michaud but had never mentioned Staton. He says Patrick chose this career because he felt freedom was worth fighting for, and that seeing the government cower in fear to a disease was infuriating. He says he is not sure they are chasing the right guy because Patrick is a solider and if he did this, he would be a disgrace to their uniform. He says that Patrick would not share where he was with him if he did this because he knows he would need to tell any officials who questioned him the truth, but that Patrick would never just disappear because it would break his mother’s heart.
Kellett goes to speak to his mother, Celesse Jans, who says she has not communicated with her son in over a week. Raines asks to go through her phone and she gives it to him. She says Patrick comes by nearly every Sunday on the weekends, and he is a good son. She says her son is a war hero and he would never do this, and goes on to tell them he never shot anyone who did not have a gun in his hand but that the new politicians want you to forget that to draw sympathy for whatever new mandate they want to push forward. Kellett asks Raines for time alone with Celesse, and says when they are alone that the most important thing right now is keeping her son alive, and they need to bring him home now so he can set the record straight. She tells her that she knows what it is like to lose someone and wonder the rest of your life if you could have done more to save them, and that she does not want that. Celesse says her son is a good man but just needs to be heard, and asks Kellett to promise to bring him in alive. Celesse tells her he came by and loaded up with camping gear 2 days ago and told her where he was going to drop off the grid, near the Meuse river.
The team examines a map of accessible areas along the Meuse, but realize with his military training he may not even be in a camping area, and Kellett says the key is the car, and where he ditches it as he likely got rid of it as soon as he could. Raines finds some old Instagram photos of Jans camping in Hoge Kempen National Park twice in the last few years, and that maybe he went back to familiar ground. Raines says what still does not make sense is he stole a grenade launcher and could have easily taken out Michaud and the whole lab with it, so why did he not use it. Suddenly they are interrupted by Willem Smit, the deputy executive director from Europol, who says maybe he is planning something bigger for his next attack. Smit tells Jaeger it would have been nice to be brought in sooner and it seems like she is avoiding his calls. Katrin says things have been moving quickly but he says the Americans habit of ignoring protocol is rubbing off on her. Kellett tells him respectfully that their focus has been getting ahead of their suspect. Katrin asks to speak with him in private and says if he has lost faith in her decisions to take it up with her and not the Americans. He says for months his instructions to her was to reign in the Americans and instead she has done the opposite, and he says the only reason she has not been fired is because her team gets results but the instant that changes, he will make sure she is gone. Raines interrupts to tell them that Forrester and Vo just got a hit on Jans car and the team heads out.
Vo and Forrester are on scene at the vehicle, and there is heavy weaponry in the abandoned car. Vo says it does not make sense that he would leave that out in the open and suddenly they are fired upon. Vo lets the team know they are pinned down and the location of the suspect. Back up is on the way and Scott says the plan is they stay where they are and wait him out until he has to move. Vo realizes however that he is trying to hit the RPG, and he does and the vehicle explodes, and Vo and Forrester barely make it clear of the vehicle. They lose sight of him during the explosion.
Back at the safe house, Dr. Michaud wants his phone in order to make a statement to the public. He tells Jaeger that the scientific community will not be intimidated by a lunatic killer. She tells him that it is not wise to make a statement. Dr. Michaud says he may have been too confrontational in the past but he refuses not to tell the truth. Jaeger says she understands but they cannot risk exposing their location until the suspect is in custody. He asks if his colleagues who are not named in the threat can at least return to their work, and she says she will run it past her supervisor. Dr. Michaud says “There is a war going on in the world right now between knowledge and ignorance, and ignorance is winning”.
The army sends reinforcements to support the police search for Jans, and Vo tells Corporal Dennis she is surprised to see him there, and he says he is surprised to see her too. Forrester finds more shell casings, and Kellett asks him if it is a good idea to use the military since they ignored all the signs of problems with Jans. Forrester says they are soldiers and will do their job and he is sure there are not many or any that share his views. Kellett says there should not be any because his views are violent and selfish, but Forrester reminds her that all they can do now is get him.
Raines is at the station with Jaeger and Beckers and says he has been analyzing the letter and some things are not adding up, because some of Jans targets are pretty obscure and he is not sure how he could know about them. He then noticed inconsistencies with his writing samples they found at his mother’s house. It appears that entire sections were lifted from a conversation between Dr. Michaud and an anonymous account name Qbic, and Raines feels he is the one calling the shots. Patrick Jans was angry at the world and Raines feels someone turned that rage against Dr. Michaud and his colleagues. He traces the IP address back to a domain and Beckers identifies it as the domain at the University of Coppens, where Dr. Michaud teaches a class and Marc Claes is his graduate student. They discuss how if Claes is Qbic, that would explain how Jans got his obscure targets and why he did not destroy the entire lab with the grenade launcher. They ask if he is still at the safe house, but because his name was not on the hit list, Jaeger says she let him go.
The police arrive at the lab but Claes is gone, and Raines catches him running. He also has a burner phone and Raines asks if this is how he communicates with Jans, and they arrest him. Raines asks if he sent Michaud’s location to Jans, but Claes says that he wants to speak to a legal advocate. Jaeger goes to speak to Dr. Michaud and his family and says they will be moving them to a new location when they know it is safe. The search in the National Park continues, but they also suspect that Jans may have had another car and may be in the area. As Kellett and Forrester are trying to clear the area of threats, Smit decides to move the family and relieves Jaeger of her command. Smit says the best time to move the family is now but Forrester disagrees, and says he wants to cover the family. As they get to the car, Michaud is shot and Scott attends to him and asks Jamie if she has eyes on the shooter and she pursues the shooter from where she heard the shot come from.
As she emerges on the rooftop, Jans puts a gun to her head. Jans says the police will be coming through the hatch in a minute to kill him and Jamie says if he shoots her then yes, but there is a way out. Patrick says there is no way out and he may as well take as many enemies with his as he can and she says she is not his enemy, she is not a threat and can help him. She says she can save his life if he puts his gun down. He says all he has is his mission and Kellett tells him his mission is done and his message is out in the world and he does not need the gun anymore. Kellett tells the police to back up. Jans says if he dies there, he dies a hero and hundreds more will come to finish his work, and Jamie asks if what he really wants is to die there. Patrick says he did not do all this to die in some closet. Kellett tells him she spoke to his mother and she does not want another war, she wants her son. She says Celesse does not want to lose him and she promised her that that she would bring him home, and no matter how bleak things seem, it will not always be like this, and she believes things can get better. Jans puts down his gun on the ground, but then turns and leaps to his death. Jamie is extremely distraught by this and begins to cry. When she is back on the ground, Forrester walks up to her and holds her as she cries. It is clear that Forrester understands the significance of this situation for Kellett, and he is showing not only how good of a team leader but also how good of a friend he is to her.
They go to see Dr. Michaud, who tells them the doctors at the hospital are very good and he is lucky to wake with his family at his side and it is unfortunate that Christopher could not say the same. He says he was shocked to hear Marc Claes was involved also as he was a brilliant young man. They explain that they discovered his involvement had nothing to do with politics and that he had been advocating for an alternate vaccine technology, but Christopher and Luc had taken the team in another direction, and apparently, he could not let it go. He saw an opportunity to start the revolution when he found Patrick Jans online, and used his anger and reaffirmed his conspiracies. Jaeger says it is worse than a war on science when disinformation is used deliberately as a weapon.
Smit calls Jaeger in and says that they were lucky more people were not hurt and that she allowed the accomplice to leave the safe house, and put everyone at risk. He says her judgement put them in that situation and she reminds him that he approved the order, but he says it was on her recommendation. Forrester comes in and asks what is going on, and Smit says it is none of his concern. Smit tells Jaeger that her lack of judgement put both their jobs in jeopardy, and Scott says he cannot put that on her and that anyone would have made the same call. Scott says that they thought they were protecting Claes and that was the mission and they all thought that. Smit says if he had the power to reprimand Scott and his team for this disaster he would do that also, and Scott reminds him they neutralized the target without any additional lives lost, and that he was the one that decided to move the scientist and that is what got him shot. Smit tells Forrester to save his breath and he has already spoken to the Executive Director and it is done and that he has recommended Katrin Jaeger’s removal. He says it may take a week or two to work its way through the process, but she is fired. Katrin tells him he is no better than the people they just stopped and that he has exaggerated the facts in a way similar to what these fools were doing.
Smit leaves and as the episode closes, it is clear that both Forrester and Jaeger are very upset with what has just transpired. However, if we have learned anything about our Fly Team this year, we know that they will have Katrin’s back and assist her in any way they can.
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