Cahill jumps off the roof in Reacher Season 4 episode 4. He dies. The police come to take care of him. Elspeth and Sampson are questioned by Detective outside the hotel. Detective asks Sampson had Cahill exhibited any signs of distress? Sampson says no. He plays his ring when he speaks. He looks like he’s hiding something. She asks him did the guy leave a note, a text message, maybe an email? He tells her that he appreciates her thoroughness, but Cahill didn’t leave anything. He displayed no red flags.
Sampson tells Detective that he’s trying to deal with the loss of his friend. She understood. She will reach out his office if she has any more questions. She asks Reacher how does she get a hold of him? He tells her that she cannot. She doesn’t know to talk to him. He’s so cold. Sampson smooths things over. He tells Detective that his office an pass along any inquiries she has for Reacher. She walks away.
Springfield shows up. He reports it to Sampson that front desk just called. News crews are arriving. They got to get him someplace else. But Sampson insists on staying in the hotel. Because it’s not a secret. Springfield reminds Sampson that a visual of him at the scene of a suicide isn’t good for his image. Sampson is furious to scold Springfield. He points at Cahill’s body. He says he served with that man for 11 years, and he’s not gonna leave him in a parking lot underneath a tarp.
Elspeth comforts his husband. There’s nothing he can do for Cahill now. The press is gonna want the quotes, and Nolan would’ve been the first one to tell him that he’s in no state to go on the record right now. It’s no different than his military training. Sometimes he has to just fall back and regroup. Sampson tells Reacher that he wants to drink beer. He knows a third shift bar. They walk away.
Jacob walks out of the supermarket. He hands over the drinks to Tamara and Russell. He tells Tamara that he knows what kind of sweetener she liked, so he got sugar, Splenda and Sweet’N Low. She takes the sugar. She says Sugar is fine. He remembers it. He will take sugar in the future. Russell gets the information that Congress passed a bipartisan deficit reduction plan. It’s a million little paper cuts to hopefully bleed out their massive national debt. It’s window dressing to convince the populace our politicians are actually doing something.
Tamara wants to point. He says one of the paper cuts was a government-wide move away from costly document storage facilities, massive warehouses that stored decades old records. Between rental fees, maintenance, they were really expensive. Now, per the new law, most documents over ten years old are to be digitized, uploaded to the secure serve, are to be digitized, uploaded to the secure serve, and then the paper copies destroyed.
Russell thinks the place is where they’re doing it. Tamara asks him if he’s sure. He says the government doesn’t exactly publicize the addresses of their secret document destruction depots, but he has studied enough of these federally owned buildings to know that smokestack is a ventilator for a commercial grade incinerator. When the government needs something important go away, they burn it. That’s why nobody’s ever seen the original Warren commission Report. Burnt up.
Jacob asks Russell why not just shred them? Russell asks Jacob hasn’t he ever seen Argo? He can tape that back together. Tamara realizes that they should get in the building to see what Anna had access to. Russell says Anna stole it. Jacob cannot stand it. He tells Russell that they’re not sure. Russell explains it to Jacob that he doesn’t want to blame his sister. But she was working at a top-clearance government building and she left with a thumb drive everybody wants. What else could she have done?
Tamara notices the parking pass in the car. She remembers Anna had the same pass. Jacob figures out the method to get in the building. Tamara walks toward the building. Russell tries to stop her. He reminds her that they will be arrested if they steal the badge. People are looking for them. They cannot allow themselves to get put in the system. She changes her mind. She tells Jacob that they must get in the building. But they cannot use Anna’s badge. A dead woman comes up at the security gate, they will be arrested.
A woman gets off the car. She goes to the cafe. Jacob follows her. She gets a cup of coffee. He bumps her. Coffee spills on her clothes. She’s furious to scold him. He feels sorry. He picks up her stuff on the floor for her. But he gives her badge to Tamara.
The woman apologizes to Jacob for throwing a fit to him. She explains it to him that it’s a new shirt. He tries to pay her for the dry cleaning. But she says it’s fine. She doesn’t accept his cash. She’s a good woman. He should ask her out.
At the bar, Reacher and Sampson sit at the table. The waitress gives them two Natty Bohs. Sampson takes the beer. He offers to drink to Nolan Cahill. He drinks with Reacher. He reveals he met Nolan first day of Delta training. Terrified every one of them. Meanest person he ever met. Reacher figures it out that this is why Sampson made Nolan his chief of staff.
A chief of staff that no one could intimidate. He cannot put a price tag on that. He knew that he’d never has a problem working for someone he previously commanded. Because he had no ego. It was always about the mission. Molded him in his image. All of them. Reacher asks Sampson if that’s true, what would make him jump off a roof? He mentions he said he was molded in Nolan’s image. That means he’s of the same character and morality, more or less. So, given the same information, the same situation, same circumstances, he might react the same way.
Obviously, Nolan knew something Sampson didn’t, so Reacher wonders what would make Sampson jump off a building to his death? Sampson doesn’t know. He asks Reacher not to trust his source. They never tortured or killed civilians. But Reacher points out that people were tortured and killed. Sampson says after they left. Reacher asks Sampson what exactly did they do in Indonesia? He knows he didn’t know Anna Merrick. Maybe a dead woman’s a sunk cost to him, but her son’s still missing. He’s 20 years old, and very likely with sociopathic killers.
So the truth can only help right now. Sampson asks the waitress for Scotch. He tells Reacher that he will tell what he knows. He will dance on that line best he can without breaking his oath. The waitress gives Sampson the Dewar. He tells Reacher that their squadron was dispatched to Indonesia with a team of scientists. Something about using rainforest plants to help find a cure for new antibiotic resistant strains of malaria.
Uncle Sam says they’re going to Asia with a bunch scientists, they go to Asia. Their job was to keep the scientists safe and to secure the cooperation of the loval government while they were there. Cahill oversaw that branch of the operation. Now, in exchange for Indonesia’s hospitality, the U.S. Agreed to train their military’s special forces. Which were led by General Reza Putra.
Sampson oversaw that branch of the operation, he taught his men everything from weapons training to guerrilla tactics. Reacher asks Sampson when he will talk about slaughtering political dissidents. Sampson says once they got back stateside, Putra went after people. Anyone who was opposed to his increasing power. And in the process, he wiped out an entire village. Civilians, kids, elderly. Innocent, good people. He was indiscriminate.
Suddenly, he wasn’t just some general that they ran drills with in the jungle. He was a war criminal. He was committing just unspeakable acts. Sampson thinks if his connection to Putra were to be made public, it would derail everything that his team and he have worked for the past few years.
Reacher’s source is after stolen records connecting Sampson to a monster. Reacher tells Sampson that she thinks he’s the monster. Sampson asks Reacher to tell the woman that she approaches the wrong person. Because he had nothing to do with what Putra did to those people. In fact, the U.S. government sent a team down there to deal with Putra the second they caught wind of it.
Reacher thinks something made Cahill follow Anna Merrick onto that subway, and something made him jump off that roof. He will find the drive and the truth. Sampson wishes Reacher will make it, and do the right thing. He asks him to return the drive to him. Reacher mentions Sampson seems to want the thing pretty bad for someone who doesn’t know what’s on it. He wants it bad enough to send a team of mercenaries in tactical gear after him.
Sampson says he doesn’t act outside the law. But Reacher points out that the CIA does it. Maybe Sampson leaned on them. Sampson mentions he told Reacher that he has no involvement with that agency. It’ll be a cold day in hell that they take orders from a U.S. congressman. All he did was redirect him to the Department of Defense when he started poking around.
Reacher asks Sampson is that who Snap, Crackle and Pop work for? Sampson laughs after knowing Reacher gave those guys names. Reacher says they wouldn’t tell him their names. Sampson tells Reacher that regardless of his personal interests, whatever’s on that drive is the property of the United States Army, and he just wants to see it get returned to the Pentagon where it belongs. Reacher tells Sampson that once he sees what’s on the drive, he will decide what to do with it.
Reacher walks out of the bar. Elspeth walks to him. He tells her that her husband is probably gonna be a while. She says John Sampson won’t drink from the well when mourning his best friend. He says all the same to a dead man. She laughs. She asks him does he know what a Jonah is? Among sailors, a Jonah is the person on the ship that brings nothing but misfortune. Every time he comes on board, bad luck follows. He’s a Jonah.
He mentions his mother said that trouble always seems to find him. She hopes he got what he needed from John. Because she’d prefer it if he stays away from them now. She gets in the bar with a bottle of wine. He notices that Springfield is looking at him. He asks him to give him a ride back to the hotel. Springfield rejects it.
Tamara gets in the building with the badge. She runs into a woman. She asks her to help her. She says she’s totally lost. She was transferred here from the Pentagon. She’s supposed to be taking over for Anna Merrick. The woman’s name is Cheryl Brewster. She feels sorry for Anna. She asks Tamara did she know her? Tamara says didn’t have the pleasure.
Cheryl tells Tamara that Anna was so sweet. But she guesses Tamara never really know what someone’s going through. Tamara says she really doesn’t know what she’s supposed to be doing here. She got reassigned last minute. Cheryl tells Tamara that it’s pretty simple. They’re converting physical files to digital. Less space, less waste. They’ll be scanning documents and uploading them in their digital storage system. It’s busywork, but busywork that pays time and a half.
Tamara finds Anna’s desk in Cheryl’s help. She grabs Anna’s family photo from the desk. She takes a look at it. Cheryl admits it to Tamara that it’s Anna’s workstation. She knows it’s a little morbid, but the productivity logs are tied to the workstation number. She’ll make sure someone comes by to clean out Anna’s desk. She helps Tamara loin in under Anna’s ID so that Tamara can pick up where Anna left off.
The woman Jacob stole the badge from going to the building. Her name is Jacqueline Reed. The guard tells her that her badge was swiped in ten minutes ago. Jacob calls Tamara when she’s checking Anna’s files. He asks her to leave the building. Because they know she stole the badge. She runs out of the building when the guards chase her. Jacob drives the car to go to pick up Tamara. So she’s not caught.
Reacher walks along the street. Two cars block his way. The CIA agent gets off the van. He points his gun at Reacher. Reacher runs into a warehouse. He beats the CIA agent there. He asks him about his plan. The agent tells Reacher that maim him, shove him in a van, ask him some questions. Reacher finds a pair of handcuffs from the agent’s pocket. He handcuffs his hand and feet. He throws his cell into the sea. He tells him that he’s lucky he didn’t throw him into the sea.
Tamara, Jacob and Russell are in the car. Tamara talks with Reacher over the phone. She reveals it was just the one file. Anna scanned it, deleted it and sent it to the incinerator. Never uploaded it to the government server. He believes that Anna must have downloaded it to a jump drive before she deleted it. So whatever’s on that drive is the only copy in existence by design. More likely whoever she was getting that data for. If it contains the only copy in the world of whatever documents are on it, that drive becomes a lot more valuable. Feels like whoever wanted it is probably looking to sell it.
Tamara says or they don’t want them to see what they took so they cannot plan a defense against it. Reacher hopes they don’t find out too late. He will see Tamara in Philly. She says they’re almost back. Just in traffic south of the city. Russell doesn’t understand what is the point of nighttime construction if they keep this equipment in the road all day?
Reacher asks Tamara how long have they been stuck in traffic? She says couple exits. But it gets really bad in this bottleneck. He asks her can she see the next off-ramp? Jacob says exit 20. Columbus Boulevard and Washington. Reacher asks Russell to look up the nearest subway station to exit 20. He says he might know why Anna got out of her car and onto the subway.
Russell uses his laptop to check it. He reports it to Reacher that it’s Tasker-Morris station. Tamara says that’s where Anna bought her SEPTA pass. Jacob thinks Anna was probably stuck in the same traffic when she was bringing Lila the drive. Reacher figures it out that Anna took the first exit, after traffic got bad, went to the nearest SEPTA station and got on the next subway. Anna had a clock to beat. She was given a deadline.
Reacher asks Jacob to get off that road and get to that subway station. Jacob agrees. They’re almost through the bottleneck. Reacher will meet them at Tasker-Morris as soon as he can. He gets in a car.
At Tasker-Morris, Tamara asks Jacob if he’s fine. He worries about Ben. She comforts him that they don’t know that yet. He mentions she’s a city cop. She has worked hard cases before. She has instincts. He asks her is his nephew alive? She says she hasn’t seen any evidence that confirms Ben is dead. He says he feels like he has no control over anything that’s happening, and he has no power to stop it. He’s spinning out.
She tells him that she has been a cop 15 years. She has seen terrible thing happen to good people. It’s easy to get lost in the aftermath. They don’t have the luxury right now. They got killers and feds raining down on them, and a case that doesn’t make any sense. They need him with his feet planted firm and his head in the game. So when that darkness starts to wrap around him and he feels like he’s about to spin out, know there’s people who care for him. Herself included. He gives Anna’s family photo to him.
Russell shows up with turkey and cheese. He asks Tamara and Jacob if they’re fine. Tamara says they’re good. Reacher arrives. He gets off the car, and he walks toward the three. Russell realizes that he didn’t buy the tough guy hoagie. Reacher notices that Russell is eating. Russell says sorry to Reacher.
Tamara says this is where Anna came. She was desperate. She mentions Reacher said Anna was at zero hour, so break it down. Reacher says let them assume they’re right. The OnlyFans woman was murdered and her killers probably the Big Red Machine who kidnapped Ben. Leverage to get Anna to bring them the drive instead of giving it to Lila. That’s why Anna couldn’t sit in traffic anymore. Russell figures it out that Anna took the subway to try to save Ben, but that doesn’t make sense. Because Anna didn’t have the drive on the train, and she couldn’t save Ben without the drive, so by the time Anna got on the subway, she already knew her son was dead.
Jacob thinks it doesn’t play out. Why would they kill their bargaining chip? Reacher tells Jacob that kidnapping’s rarely a clean crime. It’s hard enough to control a child, let alone a 250-pound linebacker. So things broke bad and Ben wound up dead. Reacher doesn’t want to be right, but he thinks he is. Tamara asks him how could Anna know Ben was dead? He says Anna was probably getting proof of life updates. Phone calls, maybe a video. Then they refused to do it anymore. Anna was stuck in traffic, missing their deadline would be bad news for Ben, so she called, insisted on seeing he was still fine. They wouldn’t put him on the phone. That’s how Anna knew Ben was already dead.
So Anna couldn’t save Ben, why even get on the subway? She couldn’t stand to just sit there after what they did. She needed to avenge her son. She got to the off-ramp and she took it. Reacher reveals when she saw Anna, she was a grieving, distraught mother with a gun. She wanted her pound of flesh. Russell says from professional mercenaries? Anna was a government clerk. Reacher says Anna didn’t care. She probably grabbed the black coat she had in the car to cover the white shirt she had on, hoping it would help her sneak up on Ben’s killers. She probably brought the gun to protect herself and Ben after she gave the drive to the kidnappers so that she could get out of there, but now she was just using it to get payback.
Jacob asks Reacher why Anna killed herself since she had a plan. Reacher says when he approached Anna, he told her he was a cop. She was smart. She knew she’d have to arrest her, and any hope for revenge would be over. She already felt like she failed Ben in life. Now she was failing him in death. The guilt and pain was too much for her.
He wanted her to feel like she was with somebody in control when she was so clearly out of control. He thought it would be de-escalate the situation. He wanted to help her. He didn’t. Russell thinks Anna had the jump drive when she left for Philly. Reacher disagrees. Anna wouldn’t let Ben’s killers get the drive. So she got rid of it. Tamara says she knows where Anna put it. The mail that they found in Anna’s car. The only open letter was that credit card offer.
Tamara doesn’t remember seeing a return envelope. The kind that has a “No Postage Necessary” thing in the corner? Reacher figures it out that Anna mailed the drive to Lila, and maybe her phone, before getting on that subway. So if Anna died getting vengeance, at least Ben’s killers would be exposed by her story. The fourth estate. Last line of defense against tyranny. So the thing they’ve been looking for this entire time has been at Lila’s hotel. It’s the last place Anna knew Lila was staying. But Lila had to leave the hotel after getting attacked, before the drive was delivered.
Tamara gets a call from Shaun. She talks to the guy. She tells Jacob that they found Ben. He’s dead. Jacob goes to the morgue. Tamara doesn’t want him alone. Russell will join them. Tamara asks Reacher to get the drive when he meets Lila at the hotel.
Reacher and Lila go to the hotel. But they don’t find the drive. Reacher walks out of the hotel. Lila follows him. He asks her is there any other place Anna would have sent the drive to her? She says it’s the only place Anna knew. She cannot believe it wasn’t there. He got to get to the morgue. Anna’s son was killed, body was just found. She asks him was it the same people who keep coming after them? He says most likely. Working theory is Ben was a pawn to make Anna to bring them the drive. Lila says she’s responsible for Anna’s death and that of her only child.
Reacher turns around. He sees a guy. He tells Lila that they’re being followed. The men who attacked her at the hotel must haven been staking the place out in case she showed up again. Someone’s got enough money for an endless supply of killers. He needs to find out who.
Reacher and Lila run into the subway station. He pushes her onto a train. The doors of the train close. She doesn’t want to be apart from him. He tells her that he will take care of those guys. He asks her to meet him at the hotel. The train departs. Reacher turns around. The killer’s gun is aiming at Reacher’s belly. He asks Reacher for the drive.
Reacher lies that it’s in his pocket. He tells the killer that he will be arrested here if he kills him in front of the people. He attacks him when he tries to get the drive from the pocket. Another killer tries to help the first killer. Reacher shoots the second killer with the gun of the first killer. He breaks the first killer’s hand in the help of the train. He threatens him that he will break his another hand if he doesn’t answer his questions. The killer falls onto the tracks. He’s electrocuted.
Reacher runs to the second killer. He tries to look for something from his pocket. But the two cops point their guns at Reacher. Reacher runs away. He pretends to be a homeless man in the tunnel. So the cops don’t get him. Reacher gives some cash to the homeless man. Homeless man teaches Reacher how to leave the place.
At the Office of the Medical Examiner, Jacob see Ben’s body. He asks the medical examiner where she found Ben. She says Ben was found around 9th and Callowhill. A garbageman reported a smell from a dumpster. The medical examiner walks away. Jacob says all Anna was dealing with, she never called him for help. They were a happy family. In Reacher novel, Ben’s death isn’t revealed until the very end.
Jacob says Anna knew he’s just a glorified crossing guard with a badge. Reckless, useless meter maid. He wouldn’t have called him, either. He doesn’t know his sister just didn’t want to get him involved. Jacob says he has nothing now. The role is hard to be acted. The lead role just needs to pretend cool and beat bad guys.
In the tunnel, Reacher calls Lila. She doesn’t pick up his phone. He worries about her. He runs out of the tunnel. At the hotel, Lila gets in the elevator. She’s startled when someone stops the door of the elevator. The person is Amisha. Amisha asks Lila did she get the drive? Lila says it wasn’t there. But Reacher is still very invested in helping them. It’s a good thing.
At the Office of the Medical Examiner, Jacob and Tamara meet the medical examiner. The medical examiner knows Tamara is the officer who called in the Mary Ellen Daniels murder. Tamara says Marry was with Ben the night she died. It’s all a part of a larger investigation. The medical examiner tells Tamara that she just received a wound analysis she might be interested in. It appears Ben’s throat was cut by the same type of weapon Mary was killed with.
SEE ALSO: Reacher Season 4 Episode 3 Recap
At the hotel, Lila and Amisha arrive at their suite. The door is open. They get in the room. They find out that the bodyguards were killed. The killers show up. The killer asks the two women not to move and scream. He will kill them like he did to the bodyguards. He asks them where the drive is. He takes out a knife.
At the Office of the Medical Examiner, the medical examiner tells Tamara that Ben was killed by a curved knife. It’s called a karambit. Used by practitioners of certain martial arts in Indonesia. At the hotel, Lila and Amisha take out the curved knives. They’re going to fight the killers. Lila and Amisha are the murderers who killed Ben. Reacher still thinks Lila is innocent. He becomes a fool after he slept with her. He arrives at the hotel. He sees the killers who were killed by Lila and Amisha. He tries to check the wound of the dead. The cops show up. Reacher is arrested.