Wanted Man (Burn Notice)

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“Wanted Man”
Burn Notice episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 8
Written by Craig O'Neill & Jason Tracey
Directed by Ken Girotti
Production no. BN107
Original airdate August 16, 2007
Episode chronology
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"Broken Rules" "Hard Bargain"
List of Burn Notice episodes

Wanted Man is the eighth episode of Burn Notice, an American television drama series created for the USA Network. After Michael Westen helps Fiona Glenanne go bounty hunting, Fiona insists they help prove the bounty's innocence. However, Michael is going up against a very paranoid man with lots of security. On top of this, he's trying to track down the man who wrote up his dossier, Phillip Cowan.

[edit] Plot

At Fiona's home, Michael is still reading his dossier, shocked at the mischaracterization of his exploits as counter to the United States' interest. Fiona isn't happy that Michael is paying more attention to the dossier than to her. While going to the beach, Fiona takes a slight detour to pick up a bounty (Thomas McKee). However, Thomas is already being chased by Wayne Ray, a rival and physically imposing bounty hunter. Michael "accidentally" bumps into Wayne so Fiona can catch Thomas, however, when Thomas pleads his innocence and offers double the bounty if Fiona will help prove his innocence, Fiona brings him to her house instead. It appears Fiona wants to use him to make Michael jealous.

Back at Fiona's house (filled with snow globes from various locales), the fugitive tells his story. Thomas McKee is nothing more than a delivery man for a number of hotels. Some woman at a hotel showed him a 2 million dollar diamond-encrusted, spider brooch which later turned up missing. The police fingered McKee because he had access to the brooch and obviously knew where it was kept. However, Thomas insists that he is innocent. Fiona asks Michael for a favor, and they decide Thomas will stay in Fiona's apartment while they investigate.

Once again, they use Barry the Launderer to track down the thief, who might try and sell the brooch. Apparently, the man who's trying to find a buyer is named Cristo, and he's crossed Barry in the past.

Cristo, the Fence, walks into his home to find Michael. Michael quickly disarms him and tries to get some information on who has the broach. When he refuses to talk, Michael starts calling Cristo's contacts to make him lose clients. Cristo finally gives up and provides the phone number of the man with the brooch. Michael steals one of Cristo's pieces of jewelry (from the fridge) to keep his silence. Sam Axe is able to track the number down to Lawrence Henderson, the owner of the hotel where the brooch was stolen and a very paranoid and insecure man. He has cash flow problems and apparently framed Thomas for the theft of the brooch so that he could scam his insurance company.

Fiona is getting jealous of how much time Michael is spending with the dossier, so she starts trying to make Michael jealous of Thomas. It also works well as motivation for Michael to finish the case quickly. Fiona agrees to contact her Libyan friends, so Michael can use them to track down the man who wrote the Dossier.

Back at Fiona's house, it appears that Wayne Ray has found Thomas' hiding spot. Michael attempts to delay Wayne while Fiona takes Thomas out of the house. Michael manages to put up a good fight, but cannot match Wayne's brute strength and ends up on the floor getting choked by Wayne. Fortunately, Fiona makes the save by sacrificing one of her snow globes by smashing it over the back of Wayne's head.

Now that Wayne the bounty hunter knows about Fiona's home, Fiona convinces Michael to let Thomas stay at his apartment. Meanwhile, they continue to figure out how to prove Thomas's innocence. The plan to catch Lawrence in the act is simple, Michael will act as a buyer, with Sam being the middle man. Once Lawrence brings the brooch out in the open, Michael will bring in the police and clear Thomas's name. Unfortunately for this role, Sam has to act very security conscious, which means not drinking alcohol. Sam meets with Lawrence, and sets up a meeting for Michael in Lawrence's home.

Meanwhile, Michael meets up with the Libyan contact, Anwar. While Anwar is initially distrustful, Michael says that he simply wants to talk and leaves Anwar to arrange a meeting place and time. When he returns to his apartment, Michael finds Thomas and Fiona enjoying a candle-lit dinner. Michael is now even more determined to get Thomas's name cleared and get him out of his apartment.

The next day, Michael and Sam arrive at Lawrence's home, playing the characters of Mr. Smith and Charles Finley respectively. Mr. Smith and Lawrence talk price on the broach, and Michael is able to work it down to 1.2 million. However, Lawrence won't show the brooch, and he won't deliver the brooch outside of his home. Michael can't make him budge, so he leaves with hints that Lawrence could have problems with security.

Later, Michael meets up with the Libyans, and is forced to put a bag over his head and is driven to a secret location where he meets with Anwar. Michael offers to give up the identity of a team that blew up a gas refinery the Libyans own in exchange for Anwar delivering a fruit basket to Phillip Cowan (author of Michael's dossier). At the very least it will get Phillip's attention. Anwar agrees, and the Libyans put Michael in the hood again and take him away.

Returning to Lawrence's home, Michael begins gathering intelligence. He plans to make it look like Lawrence's home is insecure and about to be robbed. He uses an LED laser to overload some of the security cameras, and Sam leaves cigarette butts sprinkled on the lawn in Lawrence's home to make it appear as if someone has been watching the place. Fiona also meets one of the security guards at his home and makes it appear that she's bribing him. However, all this paranoia Michael is pulling ends up backfiring. Lawrence calls another meeting with Mr. Smith, and leads Michael to a room filled with his personal security and a badly beaten Cristo. Thanks to Cristo, Lawrence now knows that Michael isn't who he says he is. Before it can get worse, Michael uses Lawrence as a body shield till he can get to the fire escape and run away from Lawrence's armed guards.

Michael, Sam, Fiona, and Thomas all meet in Michael's apartment to plan out the next step. Since Lawrence no longer trusts them, they'll have to get the brooch out in the open with a whole new method. Michael watches Lawrence leave his home in an SUV with lots of security. Michael calls Sam and tells him to begin. Sam, on a rooftop with a different cell phone, calls the police and tells them that there is a bank robbery at the bank to which Lawrence is heading with the brooch. Then, with a deer rifle, Sam shoots out the security cameras, causing bank security and civilians to run in a panic. Fiona uses a stolen car to block traffic, and Sam starts up a radio blocker so the security guards can't use their radios. All the makings of a high profile bank robbery.

Lawrence pulls up in his SUV with security in tow, when Michael gives him a call. Michael tells Lawrence to look up, and Lawrence sees Sam with the deer rifle on the rooftop. Lawrence yells and points, prompting his security to pull their guns and point towards the rooftop. Sam ducks and stays out of sight. Just in time, the police show up from Sam's panicked call. Thinking they are bank robbers, the police arrest Lawrence and his security and find the spider brooch.

Fiona meets up one more time with Wayne, the bounty hunter. Fiona turns over Thomas, and Wayne walks away confident. However, a phone call reveals that the bounty of Thomas has been dropped, and Thomas hops back into Fiona's car a free man.

Phillip Cowan gives Michael a call, and he's not happy. The FBI are now on his front lawn, wondering why Anwar gave him a fruit basket. Apparently, he'll be in touch. As a reward for her work, Michael gives Fiona a present: a "Welcome to Miami" snow globe.

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