- Ryan and Mike track their target to a small town to confirm he isn't seeking protection.
- Ryan finally visits Joe Carroll in prison to see if the death row prisoner will help him locate the missing Arthur Strauss. His price for helping him is regular visits from Ryan. He suggests that Strauss may have reached out to one of his former pupils for help. The FBI soon find themselves in Beacon, NY where there has been an abnormally high number of missing persons. The local sheriff isn't too welcoming but a deputy is more than happy to help them out. Strauss meanwhile is hiding out in a cabin in the woods waiting for the arrival of Theo, who he describes as his best pupil. Theo has a special surprise for him. In New York City, Max is recovering from her wounds and confides in Gwen.—garykmcd
- Back in the prison meeting room with Joe Carroll, Ryan Hardy asks Joe for insight on where his mentor Arthur Strauss might be running to. In exchange for his help, Joe wants Ryan to come visit him every day until his execution date.
When Ryan agrees, Joe suggests Arthur would reach out to a friend nearby.
After Ryan leaves, he has to step into the men's room to throw up.
Ryan goes to visit Max in the hospital. The DOJ stopped investigating the three of them and they were able to prove the incriminating email from Jeffrey Clarke was a fake. But they suspended Agent Gina Rodriguez. Ryan tried to take the blame, but they insisted it be her.
Tom comes to get Max to take her home.
Back at the FBI, Ryan is still angry at Mike for letting Max get hurt and Max is angry that Ryan stopped him from killing Mark Grey. Even though the experts say Mark couldn't have survived the fall, they're sure he did.
Back home, Ryan gets the emotional third degree from Gwen who essentially bullies him into talking about his feelings about seeing Joe. She pesters him for information on what he's working on. Ryan found complete fake IDs at the dock and wants to know what hacker genius is helping Arthur, likely the same one who put the fake Clarke email on the FBI server.
Meanwhile, a man types away in the dark, breaking into the controls for an elevator carrying Arthur Strauss's lawyer. The man sends the elevator to the basement, where he stalks him in the dark then confronts him with a blowtorch.
Back at the FBI, Ryan leads a search into missing people near the Red Hook dock where Strauss disappeared. They find six people missing from Beacon, two hours away.
Ryan and Mike head to Beacon and get the brush off from the local sheriff, but the deputy is more helpful. She mentions a woman found in a marsh six weeks ago that they couldn't ID because her teeth and fingers were missing.
Back home, Max apologizes to Tom for being distant, but says it has nothing to do with Mike. Gwen joins Max and Tom heads in to work, but instead he goes to his car and watches Max on the surveillance that Kyle and Daisy installed.
Out in the marsh, Ryan, Mike and the deputy, Hillary, find dozens of baby dolls strung up from trees, some with knives through them.
They notice someone watching them, who looks disfigured, and chase him but he disappears. They start digging and find multiple bodies that have been there up to 15 years. Ryan requests nearby recent security footage.
The hacker (Michael Ealy) drives to a parking lot and hacks into the security cameras to position them away from his SUV. He switches to a car and gets a text asking "Is it done?"
13 Years Ago A man named Patrick finds the hacker waiting for him in his living room. They've been chatting anonymously online for weeks and the hacker is excited to put Patrick's plan into action.
Back in Beacon over dinner in the diner, a nosy waitress suggests the sheriff's son Justin could be responsible for the murders. Hillary's uncle Duncan runs the place.
Ryan, Mike and Hillary head into the woods and find Justin's tent and meth lab. They also find the disfigured mask that he was wearing in the woods earlier, which he says was to scare off hikers.
They're interrupted by the sheriff, who asks if his son knows Arthur Strauss but then believes him and takes him to be arrested. Ryan lets him go, saying Justin isn't smart enough to be one of Strauss'.
At a cabin in the woods, Daisy gets anxious that their host is taking a long time to return. His shelves are lined with jars of hearts. Finally he does: It's uncle Duncan.
Meanwhile, 13 years ago, the hacker drives around until he finds and office and goes in shooting.
Out in the woods, the ME tells Ryan that four of the bodies are on the missing persons list the FBI complied. The killer inserts something into the chest cavity and extracts the heart, then takes the teeth and fingers.
There's a female victim from 20 years ago that wasn't killed the same way. They think she might be his first.
At Duncan's cabin in the morning, he makes Daisy and Strauss breakfast and cash. Duncan is anxious that the FBI found his bodies, including ones he killed before Strauss taught him how to avoid capture. But Strauss is in no hurry to leave before his "best student" gets them new IDs and credit cards. Duncan doesn't like the idea of him coming.
13 years ago the hacker comes out of shooting 12 people with a knife wound to show for it. He breaks into a doctor's office for help and finds a friendly Dr. Strauss. Strauss confesses their shared interest, and the hacker is insisted on completing a task.
Back in Beacon, they ID the oldest victim as Duncan's wife, who he never reported missing. When Mike and Ryan go to confront him in the diner, Duncan gets suspicious and grabs Hillary, holding a knife to her throat. He stabs her as they demand information on Strauss. Finally, he grabs a nearby cop of scalding coffee and throws it in his face and Ryan subdues him.
With Duncan in handcuffs, Ryan tries to get information on Strauss but he's not talking. Hillary realizes Duncan was also responsible for her parents' deaths and decks him. The sheriff arrives and mentions that he know of an old hunting cabin way out in the woods that Duncan might be using.
13 years ago, the hacker and Strauss have Patrick tied up in his apartment. Strauss is impressed that the hacker has figured out a way to kill people without anyone knowing he even exists. Strauss offers a few pointers, stabbing Patrick to replicate the hacker's injures. They share a moment discussing their favorite way to kill before the hacker shoots Patrick in the head to stage his suicide.
Strauss urges the hacker to stay hidden and offers to teach him. The hacker vows to pay him back.
In the present, the hacker shows up at the cabin in the woods. He hugs Strauss hello, and then pulls out a barbed wire garrote and lectures Strauss for exposing him.
Daisy watches with horror as Strauss is murdered, then tries to convince the hacker that she's not a threat.
Mike, Ryan and the sheriff reach the cabin and head inside. They find Strauss dead on the floor.
They head back to Duncan in lock-up and show him the photo, asking who could have killed him. "You'll never find him, he's a ghost," Duncan says. He doesn't know his name, other than Strauss called him his best student.
Meanwhile, the hacker returns home -- to his wife and two children.
Out on a city street, Daisy hitches a ride.
Mike comes by Max's apartment. She's glad Mark Grey got away, saying she never wants to be forced to cover up another of his executions again. She shows him out.
Tom watches it all on the surveillance.
Ryan goes back to Joe Carroll in prison to ask who Strauss's best student is.
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