At a container yard in Belgrade, Mac and Jack chase after an agent who has stolen secrets. Riley directs them through the maze of containers and Mac reminds Jack that Patricia gave them orders to bring the man in alive so he can't shoot. They come to a group of containers blocking the man from the GPS satellite, and Mac grabs a gasoline hose while he tells Jack to go on.
Mac climbs up on top of the containers and then sprays the gas in a circle. When the agent runs up, Mac tells Jack to shoot the gas barrels ahead. He does, and the gas ignites, surrounding the agent.
Back in LA, Wilt and Riley are looking for apartments for her. He suggests that they could stay there but she refuses, explaining that she just wants a place of her own now that she has a real job. Wilt finally makes a call to a place that was just rented, puts on a fake accent, and claims that his "associate" needs a place and she's an employee with a thank tank. The renter has one place that isn't on line, and Wilt says that they'll be over. Impressed, Riley gives him another digit of her number.
Later, Riley arrives at Phoenix and shows Jack and Mac the key to her new apartment. Patricia already knows about it, and explains that Joaquin "El Noche Sancola, the former head of the Merida cartel. He tunneled his way out of a Mexican prison, and they recaptured him and imprisoned him in an American prison. Patricia explains that Joaquin's people have launched a wave of violence against law enforcement, and the cartel is run out of a secret stronghold somewhere on the Yucatan peninsula. They don't know where it is, but Joaquin does. He's at the supermax in Texas, and Patricia wants Joaquin to lead them there once they help him escape. She looks at Mac and he looks suspiciously back at her.
Later, Patricia and Riley work up a fake rap sheet for Mac and send him to the escapeproof prison as Frank Morris, a mechanical engineer who ripped off a bank vault. "Frank" has broken out of prison twice already, and Mac has to go in with no comms or gear. Jack is there posing as a guard, and Riley is watching on the CCTVs. She admits to Patricia that she barely survived prison.
Mac is tossed into a cell and looks around.
The next day, Patricia finds Riley sleeping on her couch after 16 hours of surveillance. Her boss tells her that it may take weeks for Mac to make contact with Joaquin, and advises Riley to go home and get some sleep. Riley refuses and goes back to work, and warns that the prison ran a security update that patched the backdoor she was using. She can't get in without setting off their alarms, and now all she can do is access the cameras.
Patricia calls Jack as he arrives at the prison for work and tells him that they have a situation. She explains how they're limited, and that they need another plan.
In the mess hall, Mac is getting food and remembers what Riley told him based on her experience in prison. An old man starts coughing and tries to use his sprayer, and Mac asks about his problems. The man, O'Brian, says that he needs a new sprayer. Mac tinkers it back to work using a piece from a spork, O'Brian says that Mac shouldn't have talked to him because there are no friends, and if he wants to survive then he should mind his own business.
Out on the yard, Mac remembers Riley's advice to show Joaquin that he's not a coward by picking a fight with someone that she's found with no friends. She's found a guy, Vincent Heath, and Mac goes over and picks a fight with him. Vincent manages to tag him, and Riley sees the fight and calls Jack.
Mac uses weights to block Vincent's punches as best he can. Vincent still manages to take him down, but Jack and the other guards arrive and take both men into custody. As Jack handcuffs Mac, he tells him about how Riley has been locked out and slams him into the wall repeatedly to make their act look convincing.
Later, O'Brian goes to Mac's solitaire cell and tells him that he's an idiot. He gives Mac a book with some first aid supplies hidden in it and advises him to use them sparingly.
Once the deputy warden gets called away from his office, by a fake call sent by Riley, Jack sneaks in and hacks the system to change Mac's work assignment. Riley talks him through manipulating the standalone computer and transferring Mac to the laundry detail with Joaquin.
Later in the prison laundry, Mac is working and spots a fire extinguisher and a window. He approaches Joaquin and says that he's busting out and will let Joaquin tag along for $2 million. Everyone clears out except for the Manos Sangrientes, members of a rival cartel. Their leader, Raul, threatens Joaquin and Joaquin starts a fight. Mac wraps some powdered bleach in a wet sheet and makes a flail, and comes to Joaquin's defense. He and Joaquin take the cartel men down, and Joaquin warns mac that they'll kill both of them. Mac figures that they can't do it if they escape.
Mac is taken back to his cell and Jack mock-threatens him. As he pats him down, he asks Mac how the plan is going. Mac tells him what happened ad says that he needs Jack to get him a few things. As Jack leaves, the deputy warden reassigns him to another wing before he can get what Mac needs. Once he's alone, Jack calls Riley and tells her what happened. Riley wants to scrub the mission, but Patricia figures that Mac wouldn't want to get removed. Jack agrees with Patricia, confident that Mac can figure things out on his own.
Mac goes about his day and realizes that Jack is taking too long. Joaquin gets himself transferred to Mac's cell and says that he'll kill himself if the rival cartel doesn't. Mac confirms that Joaquin will get him out of the country and a house to lie low in, and Joaquin agrees. Joaquin agrees and says that his men will do the rest once Mac gets them out. He wondrs what Mac's plan is, and Mac says that they need batteries, salt, and water from the toilet.
As Mac is being escorted through the hall, he "accidentally" bumps into a guard and takes his radio... and the battery inside. He and Joaquin then block the air vent and window with wet paper from a book that O'Brian delivers. When a guard delivers Nutraloaf, Mac wraps it in a wet sock and filters the salt out into the toilet water. He tells Joaquin that the salt acts as an electrolyte, and with a battery he can generate hydrogen... which is explosive. As they wait for the process to finish, Mac claims that he used to build safes and vaults for billionaires, and got greedy.
Once the toilet si ready, mac has Joaquin move the bunk so that he can get up to the flickering overhead light. He removes the fluorescent tube and tie a string to one end of the open wires. They plug their ears and take cover beneath the bunk. The hydrogen floats to the top of the cell and Mac sets it off using the string to pull the wires together. The explosion blasts the cell door open, and Mac and Joaquirun for it as the guards arrive. Mac blocked a door open earlier and closes it behind them, but they're trapped when the gates close.
As the guards get the door open, Patricia calls Jack and says that they need a diversion. He goes to the kitchen and claims that the inmates are trying to escape. Most of the guards head there, and Joaquin prepares to stab the remaining guard with a shiv. Mac knocks the guard out and takes his keys, and they go the laundry room. He's made a screwdriver out of a paperclip, and unscrews a shelf. The supports make a ladder, but it's not long enough. Mac has tied together some sheets and then fills a sealed laundry basket with carbon dioxide from a hose. He then pours alcohol in, creating cryogenic fluid. Using a broom, he puts it on the iron bars over the window and breaks the now-brittle metal. The two men climb out and Mac drops the line of sheets three stories into the yard. He then uses them makeshift ladder to climb up one floor.
The guards arrive as Mac pulls the "ladder" up with them, and they assume the prisoners are in the yard. Mac and Joaquin get out via the roof and into the surrounding forest. Joaquin whistles and his men walk out of the darkness with guns. He doesn't believe that Mac spared the guard to avoid a murder rap, and one of his men knocks Mac unconscious.
Jack checks the woods and Riley is unable to spot heat signatures because of the tree cover. He finds fresh tire tracks and blood, and sends a photo of the tire tracks to Riley. She confirms that they're looking for a sedan and they check the CCTVs in range, but there are too many.
Mac wakes up in the trunk of a sedan and accesses the wires to the brake light. He taps out Jack's cell phone number on the light in the hopes that someone will see it and call.
The next day in Mexico, Joaquin and his men take Mac out and drag him into the manor. They tape him to a chair and bring in a tank of nitrogen, and Joaquin says that none of his government contacts warned him about Mac. He demands to know who he worked for, and Mac insists that there's no one hunting Joaquin. Joaquin explains that he's going to force mac to breathe nitrogen, and his man slaps a mask on Mac. Mac refuses to talk and they continue torturing him. A helicopter comes in overhead and opens fire, and Mac kicks the nitrogen tank over. The valve breaks off and the tank shoots around the room, knocking out Joaquin and his man.
Another thug comes in and prepares to shoot Mac... and Jack arrives and knocks him out. The assault squad arrives as Jack cuts his friend free.
Later, Mac visits Joaquin in his cell at the prison. He tells him that the DEA has shut down his entire operation, but Joaquin assures him that he has plenty of friends who owe him favors. Mac says that he's looking forward to meeting them and walks off. Meanwhile, a guard delivers a box to O'Brian. Inside it are a series of inhalers, and the guard says that they're from a friend.
Jack and Riley are waiting outside for Mac. Riley is looking at the prison, and Mac admits that he wonders how she spent two years in there with six days almost killed him. He thanks her for her help, and they drive off.
Written by Gadfly on Nov 5, 2016