'Burn Notice': Life and death at the Fashion House

It's been a while since "Burn Notice" has allowed Michael to receive a large cash payment from one of his side jobs ... as the stakes rise ridiculously high with the payout.

There's trouble afoot in the Fashion House that needs to be squashed. At least Sam hopes Michael will jump on the bandwagon, if only to hook up with Isabella, the gal in charge.

Isabella says VP Tim Hastings is skimming off the top and must be stopped. Good for her that everybody gets involved... starting with Sam finding the books and photographing the evidence. They intend to nail Tim as he approaches Isabella's house, except Michael and Tim find her shot dead in the pool. Since Tim's gun is sitting by the pool, it becomes quickly clear that our original target is being set-up by none other than his business partner, Damon.

Michael quickly goes undercover as a shady business partner with ties to Isabella. He convinces our pathological liar that if his shady deals don't go through now, that he'll see to it Damon never sees the light of day again. When Damon goes to meet his partner Ric, Michael tries to bug the store from behind, but only causes interference that busts the operation. The new plan involves getting Ric and Damon back together, stirring up trouble and getting the police involved. It begins with Fi acting as a snitch in the trunk of a car, giving up Tim's location. This gets Damon to confess his part in the plan, but swears Ric pulled the trigger.

Once they get Tim on board with the plan to catch Damon in the act, the showdown begins at the docks... except Ric already placed a suitcase bomb under a bench to take Tim out. Lucky for him, Michael the sharpshooter takes it out with one shot, causing the principles to run. Fi even provides Tim the easy way out, but when he hesitates, the police move in. This causes Sam to really step-up his presence at Fashion House as lab technician Chuck Finley (pulling an awesome David Caruso), who hints to Damon that he needs to rid himself of ALL problems.

We then see quite the verbal smackdown Michael's undercover character Max gives him. They work out the plan where Ric "shoots himself," if not for the faulty gun Michael gives him. Right on cue, the police arrive to arrest Damon and the groin-kicking Ric. With his name cleared, Tim says the Fashion House will be sold to a firm in Milan, with proceeds to benefit an animal foundation. At least Colonel Peabody will be taken well care of, now that Isabella's gone.

As for the Gilroy story, Michael finds a low-level manager within the targeted company and tries to complement the guy's Polish background with some Russian of his own... and fails badly. Lucky for him, Fi knocks Conrad out, then goes undercover herself as a CIA agent willing to help him. It even goes as far as stealing pictures of Michael in fatigues from Madeline, much to her chagrin.

When Conrad reveals the file is locked-up and under heavy security, Fi is forced to tell him that he has a mole within the company. This ultimately gets her the file, which Michael reveals is detailed instructions on how to properly deal with a secret prisoner who will be on the secret flight! Eeeee! Only two episodes to go!

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Photo credit: USA