Positive Reinforcement

Vega comes-to, having fallen to a lower level of the parking garage after having been shot in the chest by Reilly. His injuries are minor, thanks to his body armor. He gets up and steals a car, drives up to the level where the event occurred and quickly checks over the scene, finding no enemies or intel. He collects his things from his previous vehicle, including the team’s smashed Q-phone Reilly left behind, and drives off, before the onlookers can question his Unit 777 outfit too much.

Baum comes-to in an ambulance, near Mahoney—with a crippled hand and leg—being tended by Chana, Baum’s sister, also a member of Mossad (unbeknownst to him until now). The ambulance is driven by her operational partner, Cameron Lynch, a CIA officer, who reveals that the raided warehouse had exploded; Baum was thrown, though his injuries are mostly superficial. Lynch drives the team to the nearest hospital, where Mahoney is gurneyed into an empty ER room, clothed, placed in a wheelchair, and wheeled back out of the side entrance, under the noses of the currently-overwhelmed (due to the results of the bomb) hospital staff.

The team takes Lynch’s surveillance-van back to a Mossad safehouse in a quiet neighborhood. Vega later rejoins them, and informs them of Reilly’s betrayal. Lynch reveals that he was on a separate mission (partnered with Mossad) having the same objective as the team’s. But Philip Quinn, an old friend, sent a posthumous request for him to take over the team and help them complete their mission. Given that CS:Bragi is now in the wind, all agree that their next step is to attempt to intercept the MV Pegasi in transit to Socotra, though she had gone dark, her current position unknown. After going over the available data, they decide to take the “company” seaplane to Salalah, Oman, where they can get a boat they can use to locate and board the freighter.

On the 8-hour flight to Oman, the team tries to get some sleep, while Lynch pores over the available intel and research, to determine the fate of the freighter and the enemies’ possible endgame.

The team gets a hotel and gets Mahoney situated there; he is handicapped, but recovering well, and eager to help out. The Baums use funds from CS:Heimdall’s seized accounts to purchase a fishing boat from a local owner. Meanwhile, Vega and Lynch set out in the seaplane to search the sea-lanes for the ship. After a couple of hours, Vega and Lynch spot the Pegasi, now transmitting as Perseus, as she exits the shipping lane, showing signs of having been taken by pirates, at full-steam toward parts unknown.