When a teenage boy is abducted from a party at gunpoint, S.W.A.T. finds itself dealing with the aftermath of a decades-old case and a member of the Witness Protection Program. At the same time, Luca struggles to get himself fit enough to return to active duty, and Hicks's son asks his father for a favour.
Tropes
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: At the time Powell had to go into Witness Protection, he didn't know his girlfriend was pregnant. She refused to go into Witness Protection with him because she did not want to leave all her friends and family for good so she broke off the relationship, ultimately marrying someone else who adopted their son.
- Defector from Decadence: Joel Powell (real name Quinn Burnett) turned state's evidence against his comrades when they moved from political activism into terrorism.Hicks: Officers, this is Elena Reid, Powell's WITSEC handler. Bernard, bring up Powell and Cassata's crew.Reid: 17 years ago, Joel Powell was Quinn Burnett. He was a member of an anti-war group, called itself the Deliverance Accord. The Accord's protests were initially nonviolent, until Powell's college roommate Damian Cassata took the reins. He figured more casualties meant more attention.Deacon: And Powell was the bomb builder?Reid: Yes, but he didn't have the stomach for blowing people up. Turned state's evidence, told us about the group's plot to attack a hotel conference hall and was the key witness against his conspiratorsChris: Probably saved hundreds of lives.Reid: But put a target on his back.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Zane is saved, Cassata and his cronies are arrested with the heavy implication they'll never be released from prison, and it's implied Powell will get to have more of a part in his son's life now he no longer needs to remain in Witness Protection.
- I Have Your Wife: In this case, "I have the teenage son who doesn't know you're his real father".
- I Owe You My Life: J.P. Hicks explains to his father that he's extremely protective of the homeless people he works with because they helped him survive when he was a junkie living rough on the street.
- Kill It with Water: A non-lethal variation. When Hondo, Deacon and Tan find Powell sewn into a suicide vest rigged to blow any minute, Deacon suggests dousing the bomb in water might short out the circuit and prevent it from detonation, so they throw Powell in a disused water fountain nearby to do it.
- Motive Decay: Powell's former compatriots wanted to use domestic terrorism to get their politics across. Now they just want to steal as much money as they can to disappear off the grid (and get some payback on the man who turned them in).Hondo: Powell wasn't supposed to survive, so the Accord didn't hide their plans from him. They intend to hit the First River Bank on Hill Street, then skip town via charter plane.Luca: I thought these guys were political. Why switch to a straight cash grab?Hondo: According to Powell, Cassata ranted a lot about what the world owes him. Sounds like he lost his ideals in prison. It's all about revenge and profit now. Putting the bomb on Zane and sending him into the bank covers both bases, and it provides a diversion while the Accord makes a run for it.
- Pet the Dog: Though Hicks can't get his son's homeless friend's car out of impound, he does get her a decommissioned police cruiser as a replacement and says she can park on his driveway when she's not sleeping in it so it won't be towed.
- Revenge by Proxy: Powell's former compatriots are willing to kill his son to get back at him ratting them out to the authorities.Damian Cassata: Kid, you going boom is our escape plan!
- Spotting the Thread: Having initially believed Powell to be behind his son's abduction, they realise something doesn't add up when, while raiding his last known location, they spot Powell being herded into a car at gunpoint, and he shouts at them to save his son.Hondo: It didn't really feel like Powell was in charge or present by choice
- Before that, Deacon and Hondo note that while Powell has a diploma from a high school and university in Chicago, there's no record of him having attended either. They both note this is an old Witness Protection technique, which leads them to conclude Powell is in the programme.
Hondo: You got something new on Powell?Deacon: More like I'm developing a theory, but just go with me for a second. So, according to his records, Powell attended one of the largest high schools in Chicago. He followed that up by going to one of the biggest undergrad programs in the country, University of Illinois. But he doesn't appear in any yearbooks or club rosters.HondoIt's an old Witness Protection trick, right?Deacon: Yep. Falsify degrees from institutions so large, any one student looks anonymous. Nobody questions if he ever went to school there. - Stalker with a Crush: What the team initially assume Powell is. They ultimately work out that he's just trying to stay aware of what's going on in his son's life.
