The Byz Lat gang has armed themselves with MP5s stolen from Fort Irwin. They killed rapper Kern's homeboy Slap, so Kern pulled a drive-by as retaliation. Vic was only able to recover half the guns. He needed $100K to buy back the other half, which Edgar-veda refused to give him without going through the proper channels. Being Vic Mackey, he took matters into his own hands and withdrew the money from the Strike Team's "retirement fund."
"Jesus, between your snoring and the phone," Mara groans at Shane. Shane sleepily rolls over and answers it. "Rise and shine, gorgeous," Vic chirps, "...I'm about 5 feet from your door." He starts knocking none-too-gently. Mara whines some more.
No doubt to spite Vic, Shane answers the door in his underwear. Vic tells him that he set up a meeting with the Byz Lats. Shane finishes getting dressed in the living room. Mara, also in her underwear, appears and asks, "Should I make coffee?" Vic appreciates the thought, but doesn't have time. "I was talking to him," she says coldly, indicating Shane, who tells her to go back to bed. Vic tells his partner to take the gun but leave the badge: "We're not cops tonight. We're neo-Nazis."
 |
| Between him and Vic's bald head, they'll fit right in. (Photo credit) |
Shane asks why Latino gangbanger Garza would sell any of his guns to a couple of white supremacists. "It's called commerce," says Vic, the "dipshit" heavily implied. He gives Shane the Duffel O' Cash. Shane can't believe the captain signed off on this. Vic tells him it's actually the money train cash, but assures him "it's for display purposes only." He promised Kern he'd get the guns. Confiscating military-grade weapons from gangbangers will make their jobs easier and safer. Shane mutters that he can't believe Vic dipped into their stash "to keep a promise to some scumbag."
Vic explains Edgar-veda wouldn't have been able to sign off on time. This deal is strictly off the books. Shane gripes that they won't get credit for the bust and adds, "We're gonna talk about this later too." They find Garza enjoying a late-night snack at a 24-hour taco stand. Shane and Vic let him know that the MP5s belong to their organization: Sword of the Creator. I guess Church of the Last Chance Salvation didn't sound violent enough.
Vic claims they put down a deposit, but their connection got nervous and dumped them somewhere. They aren't saying it's Garza's fault, which is why they're willing to pay for the guns instead of just taking them. "Besides, we're still gonna need somebody to mow our lawns once this race war's over with," drawls Shane. Vic sweetens the deal; they'll even pay double.
If Garza doesn't cooperate, Shane will turn him to over to his nonexistent ATF agent brother-in-law. Garza wants half the money up front. In that case, Vic wants half the guns. Garza says to meet him in an hour. Vic wants to choose the place and see all 36 guns.
Julien and his new partner Tommy find a crying Hispanic guy rocking back and forth on the curb. There's blood all over his hands. In a nearby car, the driver and passenger have been shot. "He's dead," the guy sobs. Tommy radios for backup and a crime scene unit.
Near the docks, Lem is sitting on a roof with his trusty rifle. His trademark hair is visible over the ledge. Not the smartest move on his part. Oh, and you can totally see his walkie-talkie too. Lemming also looks like he just rolled out of bed (probably did, given how late it is).
Lem tells Vic a 4-Runner just pulled up; there's a driver, a passenger, and some muscle in the back. "How did I know this guy was gonna bone us?" asks Vic rhetorically, who's headed toward the docks in his truck. Lem can see the gun crates in the back of the 4-Runner. Vic tells Lem to stay put; he and Shane will be there in 10 minutes.
Dutch examines the pockmarked car. "How many rounds went off here?" he asks. Claudette thinks there could've been multiple shooters. Dutch asks about the blood-covered guy being looked over by EMS. Tommy exposits that he was in the backseat when this went down, "bawling his eyes out when we got here." Julien finds a military-grade gun in a nearby alley, meaning there might not have been more than one suspect.
Shane and Vic arrive at the docks to meet Garza. Vic instructs Garza to tell his hidden shooters to drop their guns and come out with their hands up. Garza whistles. The homeboys come out, but they're armed. Garza informs the guys that he needs the money and the guns. Garza whistles again. Some more Byz Lats descend from the roof, guns pointed at Lem's back.
"Tell them to let him go right now, asshole!" Ronnie calls from his hiding spot. Garza smirks about how he's already lived 5 years longer than he predicted; his fellow Byz Lat founders are dead. "Go ahead, shoot." he taunts, "Make me a hero." One way or the other, his gang is getting their money. Vic warns, "If your guy so much as twitches, my guy's gonna put one in the back of your skull."
Garza tells his homeboy to shoot Lem. Vic is like "hold on a second." He tells Ronnie to put down his gun. Ronnie will if the Byz Lat does. He reluctantly drops his rifle when Vic says, "Ronnie, go on." Garza knees Vic hard. He takes the Duffel O' Cash from Shane, then gives him the same treatment. Lem somehow escapes getting hit. As a parting shot, Garza tells the loudly groaning cops, "Mow your own lawns, putas."
It's awfully quiet in the clubhouse when the newest member of the Strike Team comes in for work. "Rough night?" Tavon asks Shane. He makes a comment about how sometimes a man just can't satisfy his woman, if you get my drift. Shane is not amused. Vic plans to set up Garza in a drug sting and use that to take the guns away from the Byz Lats. And not some piddly pot bust either; they need to catch him with the hard stuff. Vic sends Tavon to chase the crack connection while he looks for heroin.
"So what about our goddamn money?" Shane asks after Tavon leaves. Vic says their priority has to be getting Garza and his stolen guns off the street. "Our priorities? I don't remember being consulted, do you?" Shane asks Lem. The blond blames himself for letting someone sneak up behind him. Shane goes on, "You never shoulda been in that situation." For a second, it seems like Vic taking Shane's side as usual. He then adds that it's his fault; they were ill-positioned and outnumbered.
"In the meantime, we'll never see that 100 grand again," Shane gripes.
 |
| Vic actually does say that too. (Photo credit) |
Kern heard that the Byz Lats robbed some white dudes trying to buy guns. Vic's like "yeah, I know, that was me." He knows Kern was behind the drive-by that killed a Byz Lat. Kern says, "I can't control every dog in the pound." His guys are making noise about taking out girlfriends and kids of the Byz Lats next. "I can steer the ship, but I can't turn it around." Vic is gonna get the MP5s along with Garza. He'll hold Kern personally responsible if the One-Niners pull any more drive-bys.
Claudette meets Chief Bankston at city hall. She's been having trouble getting in touch by phone. "That's because I've been ducking your calls, Detective," he says bluntly. She asks if she was wrong about having been offered the captain's job. "That was when the job was open," the chief says. If Claudette can't be promoted in Farmington, she wants to be transferred to another open captain's position. Chief Bankston tells her there are no open captain slots.
"So you're telling me a chief has been out-politicked by a captain?" she asks. Chief Bankston pauses halfway through getting in his chauffeured car. Does Claudette have his word that she'll be promoted when Edgar-veda is elected to city council? "You have my support," he answers evasively. The chief advises her to start playing politics with Edgar-veda.
"I thought you were working," says Mara when Shane walks in the front door. Shane shrugs that he got into it with Vic and turns down her offer of a sandwich. He'll drink beer for lunch. Mara wants to know what's wrong, but he tells her it isn't important. Mara thinks it has to do with her and the Lexus. They can return it, even though it makes her look better as a realtor.
Shane says the argument had nothing to do with her: "Sometimes brothers fight." "So why is he always making you the little brother?" Mara asks, sitting next to him. Shane tells her it's not like that, even though it totally is.
Back at the Barn, Dutch has questions for Vic. Isn't he on a case involving stolen MP5s? The same gun was used in a murder Dutch is investigating. The victims were Hispanic. Vic asks which neighborhood and then tells Dutch it's Byz Lat territory.
Vic asks if Tavon has found out who sells crack to Garza. All Tavon knows is it's a guy who drives a blue Volvo 740.
 |
| Not the sportiest ride for a drug dealer. (Photo credit) |
Corinne stops by for a visit, so Vic immediately assumes something is wrong. Corinne is resuming her career as a nurse and just got her new work schedule. She wants to look it over with him. Vic doesn't have time. Corinne gives him a copy. If he has questions, he can call her at the hospital or home.
Vic wants to know which hospital she'll be working for. Corinne managed to get her old job back: ER at Mission Cross. Vic doesn't like that a bit: "It's becoming a war zone down there." The high turnover rate was how a friend was able to get Corinne the job. Vic unfolds her schedule. Corinne will be working nights twice a week. Did she get a nanny for those nights?
"I thought you would take the kids," says Corinne. Vic can't because he works those nights too. Corinne basically accuses him of lying about wanting to spend more time with the kids. "I spent 11 years working around your schedule, Vic. Divorce means occasionally working around mine." Before things get any uglier, Edgar-veda appears and offers a cheery greeting. Corinne suddenly has to go. Vic promises he'll work something out with his own schedule.
"Getting back together?" the captain grins. Vic tells him no. Also, he needs a warrant. He got a tip that could put the Byz Lats' drug supplier out of business. It's a time-sensitive thing. How long will it take to process the paperwork? That depends on how solid the evidence is. Vic thinks this tip could also solve Dutch's gang-related shooting. The captain repeats for him to go through proper channels.
Claudette talks to the survivor of the drive-by, Esteban. His dead friends had numerous convictions ranging from assault to DUI. This kid, however, graduated cum laude and was a National Merit Scholar. What was he doing with two losers?
"Raymond wasn't a loser. He was my friend," says Esteban. Raymond protected him in high school when other kids were beating him up and stealing from him. "A guardian angel with a rap sheet 6 pages long?" asks Claudette doubtfully.
It's really not that out there. In high school, I was an honor student with a few less-than-savory friends. My sophomore year, I was being sexually harassed by a group of boys. They even made some threats and I was scared out of my head. Enter my friend's older brother Rocky, a little dude with a temper. He was out of school more than he was in, mostly for fighting. When he did show up at school, Rocky would meet me in the front hall every morning and walk me to my classes. This went on for months until the guys decided it would be smarter to leave me alone.
Raymond's girlfriend is already wearing a T-shirt with her beloved's picture on it. She even has a stack of them ready for sale. Claudette and Dutch know she's made threats against Garza. Raymond's friend Calva was a Torruco, but started out a Byz Lat. Did Garza consider him a traitor? Yes, and Raymond was with Calva that night to warn him, try to convince him to rejoin the Byz Lats.
In the stakeout car, Ronnie wonders what's taking Tavon so long. Vic says, "He'll get here when he gets here." "If we hadn't got him involved in this, we'd just go in there and pop this asshole," Lem says grumpily. Did someone forget to feed him? He's usually not the one with an itchy trigger finger. Vic reminds them that he's trying to put Garza away, so they can't go rogue. Lem wants to know why the Great and Powerful Edgar-veda can't "cut the bullshit and get us a warrant while I'm still in my 30s."
Alonzo steps out on his front porch for approximately half a second before going back inside. Just then, Tavon arrives with the warrant. He's sorry he's late, but the judge was in Pilates class. Only in L.A. When Alonzo goes outside again, the Strike Team is waiting. He asks, "Can I help you?" "Not only can you, you're going to," says Vic.
They herd him into the living room and finish clearing the house. The basement door is padlocked, so Lem kicks it in. We hear him cheering from downstairs. He and Tavon found Alonzo's stash, along with a small home lab. Vic gives Alonzo the warrant: "Hope you got somethin' for a headache 'cause I'm it." "It's a regular Rite Aid," Lem puts in.
Alonzo plans to have his lawyer look over the warrant "and if there's even an apostrophe missing," the charges will vanish. Vic says he's welcome to roll those dice. He wants Alonzo to call Garza and say he's gotten new shipments of cocaine and heroin.
Tavon and Alonzo go to a park to wait for Garza. In the car, Lem asks how long Vic plans on benching Shane. "He'll come back when he's ready," Vic says. He radios Tavon to tell him Alonzo needs to stop looking nervous. Garza shows up with the cash. Lem recognizes the duffel as theirs. Upon closer inspection, the guy isn't Garza at all but his lieutenant Diagur. Lem wonders how they're supposed to nail Garza for the drugs now. "Tavon, give him the drugs. Tell him you'll get the money from him later," Vic instructs.
Ronnie doesn't understand why they're letting Diagur go. Vic explains that they can take their money back later without Tavon around. Tavon makes up a story that the police are watching his house, so he can't take the cash right now. Diagur walks away with the backpack full of drugs and the Duffel O' Cash. Tavon radios in, asking why they're letting him go. Vic drives off without him.
"I told you going to the chief wouldn't help," Edgar-veda gloats at Claudette. He starts giving a speech about cleaning up Farmington. "Spare me, I'm not one of your voters," she says. She also points out he could've rid Gotham of scum in the 2 years he's been captain.
Edgar-veda needs someone to oversee the practical pieces of the plan he stole from Claudette. She could have command of the Strike Team and the new Decoy Squad. Think of it as being promoted. "I had a promotion," she says icily.
Lem, Vic, and Ronnie pull over Diagur. They tell him to pop the trunk. Vic asks where Garza is.
Garza, it turns out, is being interrogated by Dutch. The detective exposits that Garza is only 27 and already head of one of the biggest gangs in Farmington: "You've taught yourself what guys spend years in business school trying to learn--leading men and maximizing profits." Garza snarks that he'll let Dutch know if the Byz Lats start a stock option.
Dutch asks where Garza was at midnight the night before. Garza had a VIP table at Candi's Lounge. He offers to get Dutch in sometime. Is that all Dutch needs? Our CEO is late for an appointment. Dutch is sure the "wheels of industry" will be fine without him.
Ronnie guards the door of a motel room. Inside are Vic, Lem, and Diagur. Lem is relaxing on the bed watching TV. Vic asks if Diagur wants to take the fall for the drugs; that's what'll happen if he won't tell them where the guns are. Diagur claims he doesn't know about drugs or guns. "Come on, man, where do we find Garza?" asks Lem, sounding somewhere between tired and irritated. Diagur doesn't know that either.
Vic doesn't have anything personal against Diagur, but right now the guy's messing up his plan to take down Garza. Diagur wants to know why they're not talking in a police station. "I take you in, you're in the system. I lose control of the situation," says Vic. That's probably code for 'I'm also planning to unleash my wrath (or Lem's) at some point.'
Vic doesn't want Diagur's future decided by some lawyer who doesn't know how valuable he can be. "I'll never be valuable to you," Diagur tells him. Vic thinks Diagur just needs convincing.
In the observation room, Claudette shows Esteban a video line-up. "I told you I didn't see anyone," he says quietly. Dutch says seeing the guy's face can make things come back to you. He tells Esteban about a group of guys who bullied him in middle school; they'd spray-paint his locker or steal his homework and charge him to get it back. This was in the Midwest. He can't imagine the bullying dished out in the inner city of Los Angeles. Esteban must be scared.
"No one in this line-up can see you, son," Claudette reassures him. Dutch knows Esteban wants to do the right thing for his protector Raymond. Esteban repeats that he didn't see or hear anything. The detectives step out. Claudette is sure Esteban saw Garza shoot his friends. She sighs. A kid who was on his way out of Farmington wound up covered with blood in the backseat of a car with two gangbangers.
Julien and Tommy chase someone down the sidewalk to the sound of a blaring car alarm. Their suspect pushes a woman to the ground, then runs into a church. Folding chairs are scattered on the floor. Judging by the white-draped arch and small number of congregants, Julien's just interrupted a wedding rehearsal. In the course of subduing the guy, Julien has to use his nightstick. Tommy cuffs the guy. As they leave, Julien apologizes to the minister.
There's a knock on the motel room door. Lem opens it so Kern can come in. Diagur asks, now handcuffed to the hanging TV stand, "What the hell's he doing here?" Vic introduces to Kern to the new leader of the Byz Lats. "Garza's mi jefe," says Diagur.
Vic shuts off the TV and cuts Diagur loose. He's grooming Diagur to take over. Vic brought Kern here so the gang leaders could have a war council. He tosses a map of Los Angeles on the bed. Diagur doesn't want a truce with Kern and calls him a spook. Reached way back into the archives for that insult. In response, Kern calls Diagur "taco boy."
"There's no need to go racial here," says Vic, stepping between them, "No one wants to settle this thing in a locked steel container with our bare hands." He and Ronnie will come back in a few hours. Lem is staying behind as mediator, which actually isn't a bad job for him.
When Vic goes back to the clubhouse, Shane is waiting. Vic is glad to see his best friend. Shane requests that the boss keep out of his personal life. Tavon comes in, asking why they basically let Diagur off scot-free. Vic explains that Diagur agreed to cooperate and help them retrieve the stolen guns from Garza. Tavon isn't happy he had to hitch a ride back to the Barn with their snitch.
Dutch finds Claudette making calculations at her desk. She's trying to figure out how much money she has between her savings account and partial pension. "You're too young to quit," Dutch tells her. Flattery will get you nowhere, son. She presents the Danny Glover argument:
 |
| (Photo credit) |
Vic passes by and Dutch asks if he has a profile on Garza from the Byz Lats. Vic's been looking for him all day. "I just cut him loose," Dutch informs Vic. He didn't want to, but Esteban wouldn't ID Garza. Dutch knows Garza is guilty. He just has to find away to poke a hole in Garza's alibi that he was at Candi's Lounge. "I may have heard of that place," says Shane. Of course you have. Claudette calls to Dutch that the crime scene reconstruction team is waiting for them.
This could solve the Strike Team's problem. If Garza can be proven guilty of murder, they won't have to strengthen the drug case with their own money. Time for a trip to Candi's.
The reconstruction team has discovered the bullets were fired from a rooftop. Some of the bullets hit the backseat, where Esteban was supposedly sitting. They've used a shitload of string to illustrate the trajectories. Dutch tells the CSI to take down the "art project." The kid gripes about how he just spent hours putting it up.
Unfortunately for Vic and Shane, Garza really was doing body shots off a stripper with the creative stage name of Poundcake. Edgar-veda asks if anything came of the warrant Vic got on Garza's supplier. That's a big fat nope according to Vic the lying liar who lies. They're trying to connect Garza to the gang shootings, but it doesn't look like he actually pulled the trigger.
Across the room, Claudette is talking to Esteban. Dutch points him out as the shooter. He takes the kid upstairs, making up some story about how he has to fill out a witness statement form. Dutch talked to the registrar at UC-Santa Barbara and found out Esteban didn't re-enroll for this semester. Esteban guesses he was homesick. Has Esteban applied for any jobs or colleges here in L.A.? No, not yet.
Esteban asks if this will take much longer. Dutch says the kid is free to walk around; he knows these rooms make people claustrophobic. Claudette, Vic, and Shane watch on the observation room TV. Dutch knows Esteban didn't see anything, but is the kid sure he didn't hear anything? Esteban couldn't hear anything over the music. "So how'd you hear the shots?" Dutch asks. Esteban clearly wasn't expecting that question.
Dutch tells Esteban about the bullet holes in the roof, right near where the kid was sitting. He had to have hit the floorboards pretty quick or he'd be dead. "Why would I kill my best friend?" Esteban challenges. From the rooftop, Esteban wouldn't have been able to see the passenger seat. Dutch thinks he only meant to kill Calva.
Did Esteban come back home to make extra money by joining the Byz Lats? Esteban says Raymond wouldn't let him. "Which is why you went behind his back, asked Garza to jump you in. Taking out Calva was your initiation," Dutch goes on. After the shooting, Esteban realized he killed Raymond too. And Raymond was there to give Calva a chance to rejoin the Byz Lats, trying to prevent more violence. Dutch thinks Raymond was a good guy, you know, for a gangbanger.
Esteban sits down and sobs, "I didn't mean to do it." Dutch asks who gave him the gun. No surprise, it was Garza. Claudette knows they'll need corroboration; one gangbanger's word against another doesn't mean much. Vic thinks he can help her with that.
When Shane and Vic go back to the motel, Ronnie says, "Don't ask." Inside, Lem is cranky: "Middle East'll be a love-in before these idiots sort their shit out!" Neither Kern nor Diagur feel like the other has anything to offer. Vic herds Diagur into the tiny bathroom. The gangbanger really ought to be grateful for the "battlefield promotion" Vic was able to arrange. Garza's looking at jail time.
Diagur is confident nothing will stick. "How smart was it sending a 19-year-old bookworm to do the hit?" asks Vic. He has Garza's drugs, cash, and second in command. Nobody's gonna know that Diagur took over thanks to a shady backroom deal. Or bathroom deal in this case. All Vic needs is proof Garza ordered the hit. The only thing Diagur knows is that Garza gave Esteban a gun, the address, and Mapquest directions.
Danny comes to the Barn and she's not a happy camper. Her appeal was at 11:00 A.M. Edgar-veda was supposed to show up, but didn't. She wants to know why. Because he's a duplicitous bastard? The captain promises the vote will be 2-to-1 in Danny's favor; he made some calls earlier. She'll get the official confirmation tomorrow. Danny is visibly relieved.
Danny goes to the parking lot to give Julien the good news. Tommy asks crudely, "What desk didja hafta bend over to make that happen?" "It sure as hell wasn't yours," she retorts.
Kern finally emerges from the motel room. Vic warns that the One-Niners better make good on their truce. Kern points out that Vic still doesn't have the guns. Maybe not, but he has a good idea. Later, Diagur comes out of a house and turns his ballcap backwards. That's the signal that Garza is there.
Shane and Vic have two special guests in the back of the stakeout car: Claudette and Dutch. According to Vic, gangbangers giving up their buddies is what separates them from the cops. "Loyalty, that most disposable of virtues," Dutch comments. Everyone gets out of the car. Shockingly, Garza's front door is unlocked. Less surprising is the drug lab in his kitchen or basement.
I can't really tell which.
Shane chases one of the cooks into the backyard. Vic gives Garza a swift boot to the balls and asks where the guns are. "We got him," Shane announces to Claudette and Dutch.
Edgar-veda finds Tommy and Julien in the breakroom. He tells them the church pastor filed an excessive force complaint. Tommy immediately goes on the defensive: "The guy was tweaking. He wouldn't go down. Took 4 of us just to get him in the cage." The captain sends Tommy out of the room. He tells Julien that the pastor is a friend of his, so the complaint will most likely go away. Edgar-veda asks for Julien's perception of the situation. Julien believes they used no more force than necessary.
Claudette surveys Garza's drug lab: "Even if we don't get him on the homicides, this should put him away for a couple of decades." Dutch still wants to nail him for murder-for-hire. Vic suggests Dutch take Garza's computer.
Back at the Barn, Dutch talks to Garza in the cage about what they found on the laptop: "The porn sites were illuminating." And, oh, by the way, they also found the Mapquest directions that sent Esteban to the hit. If Garza turns in the other 35 stolen guns, the D.A. will take the death penalty off the table. Garza slaps his arm and invites, "Put the needle right here." He wants to make a phone call.
Back at the motel, Vic watches as Diagur talks to Garza on the phone. Lem looks like he's about to take a nap. Diagur asks where the guns are so the Byz Lats can protect themselves from the One-Niners and Torrucos. He writes something down on the motel notepad.
Outside, Vic tells Lem to get a truck and pick up the guns. He instructs him to hold a few back. Lem wants to know how they're supposed to explain all the guns to the captain. "We can't, so we won't," says Vic. He tosses the Duffel O' Cash to Shane and tells him to put it in the storage unit. There's only $80,000 left, "Byz Lats overhead, I guess."
Shane thinks everything worked out well, all things considered. Vic says it's more like they got lucky. "So we cool?" asks Shane. Vic says yes. Awww, the bromance is back.
Edgar-veda tells Claudette the Decoy Squad will be starting next week. Of course, he got them to come to Farmington via some more shady political favors. Claudette thinks they need high-profile busts; the Decoy Squad can lure the bad guys out and the Strike Team will make the arrests. It's a very public way to change perception and reality. Claudette says she'll do anything to help.
Mara gets out of her car and tells Vic that Shane isn't home. Vic knows that. He wanted to apologize to her for waking them up last night. Vic thinks he and Mara got off on the wrong foot. They should get to know each other better because she's becoming a big part of his best friend's life. She's family. Mara says, "Never been big on family. Or cops, really." Then why the hell are you dating one?
Vic just wants everybody to get along. Mara's seen that kind of smile before on "guys who thought a wink and a $3 gin and tonic was all that it would take to get me into bed with them." Was she a bartender or did she just hang out in them a lot? Vic asks what he did to piss her off. "I don't like the way you treat Shane," Mara answers. Vic says, "You don't understand the world that Shane and I live in."
Mara gives him the old "my guy works for you, but he comes home to me" speech. Vic points out that she's only known Shane for 2 months. Mara thinks Vic is just jealous because he's divorced. Is he scared that Shane is all he has left? Mara doesn't need his bullshit. She tells Vic not to come over unless Shane is home.
Dutch has talked to the Treasury Department, but none of the marked bills have appeared in circulation yet. "I wouldn't sweat it. No one steals money to sit on it their whole lives," says Claudette. She's sorry that Esteban turned out to be a killer; he and Dutch had a connection. "Just when I thought he was a victim," says Dutch. Now the kid is "just another loser." You guys do know he can hear you from the cage, right?
Danny stops by Julien's house, where he's bringing in groceries. She thinks there's a good chance they could be partners again if they both talk to Edgar-veda. There's a problem with that, though. Danny's a training officer and Julien's not a rookie anymore. Danny says she's been bumped down a rank. Julien says, "Maybe. But I like the way things are for now." You can tell Danny's trying not to show she's hurt.
Claudette tells Vic she needs to meet with the Strike Team next Tuesday afternoon. The Decoy Squad from Wilshire is being brought in to work with them. She'll be in charge of both teams. Vic, of course, isn't thrilled about that. But he doesn't get vocal.
On the way out, he runs into the captain. Vic thinks the idea of the Decoy Squad is an interesting experiment. "It's more than an experiment, Vic. It's your assignment for the forseeable future," says Edgar-veda, "Maybe working under Claudette will actually produce results." "I've been producing results," Vic argues.
Edgar-veda reminds him about the drug warrant that blew up in his face. Dutch and Claudette also beat him to a gang bust. Dozens of stolen military weapons are still on the streets. Well. everyone has an off day.
It's sunset. Pelicans fly past. The Strike Team is out on Vic's boat with some cold beer, presumably doing a little fishing. Ronnie zips up a duffel full of guns and tosses it into the ocean. Shane wants to throw the next one. "Bon voyage," Vic says with a smile. End of episode.
