| abstract | - The Machine goes through info on the currently dysfunctional Mosul Dam, Iraq. In the Library, Bear is digging through the bookshelves and finds his treats, when Finch comes in and cleans it up. Reese points out that Bear is trained to search effectively while Finch complains, and he mentions that Shaw is watching their latest number. Shaw is in a warehouse watching Maria Martinez, who Finch says is an engineer working for the energy company HydralCorp. Shaw goes through Maria's large list of contacts while Maria is complimented by her boss, who Finch identifies as Ken Davis, the company's CEO. Maria gets a phone call from a Middle-Eastern man telling her to meet at "the usual place" in an hour. Maria lies to Davis that it was another client and leaves, taking a GPS tracker with her. Finch, meanwhile, evaluates Maria's records and activities with Reese and they end up wondering if she's a terrorist. Finch then gets a call from Root, who is following Greer at a subway station. Greer senses he is being followed and has the means by which the Machine could be tracking his movements shut off. The Machine tries alternate ways to track Greer, but Greer places his phone in another man's pocket and vanishes. Root appears to have spotted him while tracking his phone but ends up running into the other man, who merely resembles Greer. Reese and Shaw sit at the diner where Maria and her associate are meeting. The man Maria is talking to mentions something about his brother being released, and Finch identifies the man as Jamal Risha, brother of Omar Risha, who was recently detained at JFK airport under accusations of terrorist activities. Jamal, meanwhile, gives Maria an envelope, which Reese suspects of having a bomb inside. Reese says he'll follow Jamal while Shaw decides to go after Maria. Shaw sits with Fusco in the car and sees Maria taking photographs near New York's United Nations building. Shaw thinks that Maria is photographing the interior of the building, but observes that she is in fact watching a man. She takes a picture and sends it to Finch, who identifies the man as Rene LaPointe, a French diplomat part of the UN. LaPointe gets into his car but Maria steps in front of it, secretly placing the GPS tracker she took from the warehouse underneath LaPointe's car. The car drives off and Shaw declares that they've identified Maria's target. Shaw follows Maria into a party, where she sees Maria approaching LaPointe with the envelope she got from Jamal. Shaw panics at the thought that it could in fact be a bomb, but Maria instead simply places some paperwork in front of LaPointe, saying that she has given him the proof that he needs to confirm that Jamal's brother Omar is innocent. She says that Omar was a translator for her company and Davis even has a recommendation form for him, and asks LaPointe to look at the "going rates". LaPointe is shocked at the question and asks security to escort Maria out, but a man comes over and takes Maria with him instead. The man talks with Maria at a nearby table and she explains her situation to him. The man offers his help and gives his business card, and Maria thanks him. Finch identifies the man as Greek diplomat Christos Sevon, who also works on energy projects. Finch and Reese later pose as international officials and meet with LaPointe at his office. Finch requests that LaPointe allow them to look at the paperwork naming Omar a terrorist, and LaPointe agrees to let them do so only in his office. He says the letter is from the Ministry of the Interior, which Reese points out is full of corrupt people. LaPointe responds by saying that two terrorists also posing as translators were caught in Kentucky. Finch takes it into consideration, and thanks LaPointe for his time before leaving. That night, Finch checks in with Shaw, who is following Maria with Fusco. A man carrying groceries opens the door for Maria and gets in the elevator with her, but Shaw manages to get in just in time. She spots a napkin with chloroform in the man's pocket and points it out, triggering the man to attack her. Shaw fights him and uses the chloroform to take him out, identifying him as part of the French Legion. In the halls, more hitmen arrive and Fusco aids Shaw in fighting them. Reese arrives and tackles the last one out the window, and after a few seconds, gets up off the assassin's corpse, relieving Shaw and Fusco. Maria is taken to Finch's safe house, where she explains that she was working on a project in Iraq and Omar was her interpreter there - they were in a convoy carrying six generators from Kuwait when terrorists ambushed them, and Omar saved her life. He prepared to leave Iraq after receiving numerous death threats, and he wanted to talk with her about the six generators having gone missing. Finch hands her the paperwork about Omar's supposed terrorist connections, and explains that because the attackers at the apartment were French legionnaires, who LaPointe would have authority over, LaPointe could potentially have been behind the attack. Reese suggests that they have Omar meet with his lawyer, and implies that Finch can pose as one. Finch meets with Omar in a jail cell as his lawyer and explains that he is helping Maria and saved her from an assassination attempt. Omar is convinced Finch is helping him and says that the generators were never installed in the town - it had no power at all and by that time, Al Qaeda moved in. Omar also says he knows that Davis signed the paperwork requesting the generators to be shipped elsewhere. Finch concludes that Omar's knowledge could risk something Davis is planning with the generators, leading Davis to have Omar deported back to Iraq, where he is bound to be killed. Guards come in and tell Omar that his request for asylum in the USA has been denied, and take him off. Omar begs Finch to save him. Finch then calls Fusco to brief him on what he learned. Shaw, meanwhile, waits with Maria at the safe house, and Maria tells Shaw she needs to get to Omar. Shaw doesn't let her because her safety would be at risk, but Maria begs her, almost about to cry. Shaw notices this and realizes that Maria and Omar were more than just business associates. Maria admits that Omar would always resolve a conflict that she'd get into with anyone, and it led the two to fall in love - they plan to get married in the US. Shaw tries proving that she and her team can be trusted by explaining that someone risked their life in getting her mother smuggled out of Iran when terrorists attacked. Maria then goes through the paperwork once more and sees similarities and wording and formatting between the terrorism-related paper and Davis' company recommendation form - they realize that Davis forged the papers naming Omar as a terrorist and Maria figures that the real copies are in LaPointe's office. She wants to get them but Shaw stops her, again telling her that she needs to trust the team. Meanwhile, Fusco brings Davis into an NYPD interrogation room and confronts him with accusations of corruption and connections to the UN. Davis remains calm, pointing out that the NYPD's accessibility doesn't reach as far as UN affairs, and uses his power and wealth to assure himself that he is untouchable. Davis' lawyers come in, and as he leaves, Davis warns Fusco that he is venturing into dangerous territory. Under her stress, Maria says that she could use a drink and Shaw agrees. She goes to fill a glass, but she suddenly hears static. She sees that Maria has overloaded the electromagnetic locks on the door and escaped. Shaw is stuck trying to open the door. Finch, meanwhile, is watching Omar get taken into a truck for deportation and tells Reese that he is going to pursue them, but Reese says he has it under control, posing as a truck driver. He knocks out the other guard and drives Omar to safety. Shaw reports to Finch that Maria is headed off to LaPointe's office, and they both know she will almost certainly die. In the UN building, Maria begs the guards to let her in, claiming she has an appointment with Sevon, who himself appears and tells the guard that Maria is his "guest". Maria tells him that both Davis and LaPointe want her dead but she's still going into LaPointe's office. Sevon considers the plan dangerous but agrees to take Maria as far as LaPointe's office. Omar is taken into the safe house, where Finch briefs him on their situation. Omar says he loves Maria and wants to go with them to find her, and Reese agrees, deciding they break into the UN building. Outside the building, Shaw gets in position and aims a rocket launcher at the building's interior, launching a smoke grenade inside. The guards at the front desk get detections of smoke and call 911. Reese, Fusco and Omar arrive posing as firefighters, and Reese gives Fusco an axe. Maria looks through the paperwork looking for Omar's asylum approval. Finch is looking through Davis' records and finds that he deleted his digital history, and looks for leads on where to find the generator shipment schedules. He gets a call from Root, who suggests looking up "Habur Gate". She says she doesn't know what it means, and also informs Finch that she's borrowing Bear (she is in the Library). Finch, meanwhile, finds the generators' shipment info and is shocked when he sees who ordered the delivery. Reese, Fusco and Omar enter the building but are confronted by more hitmen. Maria finally finds Omar's document in the paperwork, right as LaPointe walks in. Sevon apologizes for the confusion and Maria realizes what's going on - Sevon shoots LaPointe dead and then aims at Maria. Reese and Fusco are surrounded by armed men, one of whom is a friend of the man Reese tackled out the window earlier and is looking for payback. Reese simply jokes that the "second round is always more accurate than the first", saying he wasn't referring to himself. Shaw fires another smoke grenade in the building and it blinds the men, who are taken down by Reese and Fusco. Sevon keeps his gun aimed at Maria, saying it's a shame she had to die. He is about to shoot when Fusco throws his axe at the wall and startles him. He and Fusco aim their guns at Sevon, who surrenders, but says they don't have proof. Fusco mentions Habur Gate, which Maria says is the border crossing between Iraq and Turkey. Sevon suddenly lunges at Fusco, who instead punches him in the face - Maria knocks out the diplomat using a bowl. Omar comes in and he and Maria embrace. The Machine tracks the shipment route of the generators to Davis and is unable to find their destination. Omar and Maria sit at a restaurant with an open and attractive view of the New York skyline, and Fusco comes over, giving Omar the paperwork approving his asylum in the USA. He says that Sevon has been cleared of diplomatic immunity and arrested by the NYPD for the murder of LaPointe. Fusco then goes to sit with Shaw at the bar, and Shaw says that her father brought her mother to the restaurant for their first date. Fusco wishes Shaw a Happy Persian New Year, addressing her as "Sameen". He leaves while Shaw looks on. Finch concludes Maria's case in the Library, but tells Reese that Davis hasn't been heard from and could be anywhere. Root goes to Central Park with Bear and watches from a distance as Davis meets with his employer: Greer. He reports that the generators have been successfully delivered and wonders about the size of what Greer plans to control. Greer simply thanks him for his work and gives him his payment, but as he leaves, Decima men put a black hood over Davis' head and drag him away, presumably to be killed. Root watches and instructs Bear to continue following Greer. They return to the same train station, and Greer once again uses his counter-surveillance tactics with Samaritan. Root, however, this time uses Bear's searching skills and sense of smell to find Greer physically. She walks down into a vacant exit and sees Greer standing alone. Greer commends Root's tracking skills, pointing out that machines cannot employ a sense of smell. Root lists all the things Greer has stolen to power Samaritan, but Greer claims it is human nature to want to control things, including information, which he believes is the "new currency". Greer suggests discussing "the larger war", and offers Root a place on his team, telling her he is one of the few people who doesn't consider her "crazy". Root tells him he is in no position to negotiate, but two Decima men aim their guns at her. Greer decides to call their meeting a draw and walks away, allowing her to leave as well. Root stands and looks on as Greer leaves, wondering what to do.
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