Per President Payton's request, the Ar Rissalah seven are being transported from the FBI black site to a regular prison - on a bus, escorted by U.S. Marshals. All's quiet until the inmates start chanting Ar Rissalah rhetoric and break their thumbs in order to remove their handcuffs and make a play for control of the bus, sending it crashing off the edge of a ravine. Shortly thereafter, Charlie is in the Oval Office, promising that once Nick and Fatah arrange a meeting, Jack Dawkins will eliminate Sheikh Hakam... and Fatah. Then she informs the president about the dead former Marine - probably a Krieg Group operative - found in the Philippine jungle. Payton wants Charlie to confirm Nick had something to do with it, but Charlie will only say that if he did, it was in defense of Bellerophon. Peeved, the president insists that if Nick doesn't check in within the next 24 hours, they're going with their contingency plan, calling in the airstrike - which means both Nick and Fatah will die.
Head of news network WNR, Jules Lambert summons his old buddy DP to the C Street Barber Shop to inform that he knows about the dead former Marine - yes, he's a TKG contractor. Lambert can run with the story - a ratings sweep - or DP can set up an exclusive on-camera interview with the president. One thing's for sure, a story on the dead guy will compromise Bellerophon. When Jules mentions that the whispers around impeachment have already started, DP stalks out, but he does bring the offer back to the president. Nevertheless, DP doesn't want Payton to do the interview, so that the next time she appears on TV, it will be to announce the death of Sheikh Hakam. Payton isn't willing to say no quite yet, so she brings Lambert in for a meeting without telling DP. Back at the CIA, DD Banks tells Charlie she's got a problem with the Ar Rissalah seven: one of them has escaped. Overstepping FBI briefer Dash, DD wants Charlie and Lucas on site working with the FBI. Charlie has to say yes, but her thoughts are on Nick, who's currently traveling by boat with Fatah and Pepito to Abu Sayef's mountain camp. Upon debarking, Fatah immediately calls the camp to prayer. While all the men drop to their knees, Pepito stands, his eyes glued to Nick.
Charlie and Lucas learn that Kenneth Travers, the first of the Ar Rissalah seven to be captured, is the bus crash's sole survivor. Lucas pulls up Kenneth's records to discover that one set of his foster parents, the Settons, lives nearby. Kenneth seems to have been doing well when he lived with the Settons, so maybe he considers their home a safe place. Knowing they have no legal authority, Charlie and Lucas head to the Settons' home. In the car they chat about Banks, whom they both admire - but they agree, they need Navarro back, since he's more of a tactician and less of a door-kicker. Two weeks sober, Lucas confesses that he screwed up with Mo, and he's not sure he can make it right. Charlie assures him that he can.
Kurt is just starting to get his swagger on at his new TKG job when Emily walks in full of scratches and little by way of explanation of where she's been or what happened. When she offers to tell all over a three-kamikaze lunch, Kurt refuses until she promises they can get into all kinds of "shenanigans." Kurt doesn't notice Victor Gantry watching them leave. Victor heads back to his office to grill Syd about their operative Jacobs, the guy killed in the Philippine jungle. Claiming Nick simply "felt their shadow," Syd insists he's done with the operation. His loyalties and Victor's agenda are heading in separate directions. That's when Gantry warns that the only way Syd can protect Charlie is to remain operational.
The Settons have little to say about their former foster son; in fact, John Setton tells them to just let Kenneth die. After the interview, Olive Setton runs to catch Charlie and Lucas - Kenneth called her! Within moments, Dash and Mo are tracing the call and sending a possible location - within a five-mile radius. Since Kenneth used to hunt with his foster father, Charlie orders Dash and Mo to continue searching for a likely hiding place. Meanwhile, POTUS preps for her WNR interview with the press secretary and DP, who decides to play devil's advocate, pushing the president with difficult questions. How close is she to eliminating Fatah and Hakam? When he continues to press, Payton sends the press secretary away to confront DP. If he has something to say, he should just say it. DP complains that they have adequate time to prepare and he doesn't trust Lambert. The president thinks DP simply doesn't like the fact that she made a decision without him. DP continues to press the president's buttons with his questions, about Bellerophon, Charlie and ultimately Marshall's affair with Senator Kyle Green. Furious, Payton order DP to leave her office... right now!
Charlie and Lucas walk through the woods until Charlie spots a hunter's blind. When Kenneth charges out with a knife, Charlie drops him with two shots. Lucas offers to call an ambulance, but Charlie says no, then steps onto Kenneth's punctured lung to deliver the news that he'll likely die within the next 10 minutes. If he tells her about the Ar Rissalah attack that's coming, she'll call an ambulance. Kenneth admits suicide bombers will soon be everywhere, and Professor Ahmadi has the vests. While Charlie accompanies Kenneth to the hospital, Lucas rushes to Ahmadi's office, just in time to witness his suicide. Sadly, his hidden rack of bomb vests has disappeared, so Charlie asks Kenneth who else Ahmadi may have been working with. Claiming they're all siloed, Kenneth relates a story of Hakam's childhood, when Soviet soldiers killed his family. Hakam watched, waited and served the soldiers until he saw his chance to take a bloody revenge. Then he joined the Mujahideen - and now he is the sword of Allah, on earth to protect the faithful per God's will.
At the mountain camp, Nick rifles through a bunker until he finds a working cell phone. The beeping warns Pepito, who attacks Nick with a machete, only to meet his own end fairly quickly at Nick's hand. Witnessing what just happened, Fatah cuts his own abdomen, then screams, telling the tale that Pepito has betrayed them all. Within moments, he's using his wound to rally the troops in the name of Hakam and Allah. Back at the CIA, Charlie and Lucas rendezvous after a long day. Charlie explains she has to believe Nick is alive, otherwise Bellerophon is dead. Haggard, Lucas takes himself to an AA meeting, while Charlie sits, anxiously awaiting a call from Nick, which finally comes. Bellerophon is a go: Nick gives Charlie location coordinates, which yield no visual due to heavy jungle canopy. Hakam will be there within the hour. Even though communication will be spotty, Nick hopes Charlie can give him fair warning before blowing up the camp. But when he asks about the plan for Fatah, Charlie bites her lip, saying the plan remains the same - both Hakam and Fatah will be killed. Sensing her hesitation, Nick asks about his own fate... and Charlie promises they'll bring him home.
With news that it's a go on Bellerophon, Charlie calls the president, who's only 16 minutes away from her TV interview. As an angry Lambert watches his interview go up on live TV with no president to interview, Payton meets with the joint chiefs. Together, they'll watch Bellerophon unfold...
