A Name, Not a Number

Mustafa is in custody, although Abdul and some other Red Scorpion members have escaped. As Donovan arranges for European Security to handle Dr. Blackgaard’s body, Tasha reveals that Geneva was never in immediate danger from the stolen Ruku virus. Her tests have shown that it dies as soon as it touches air and can harm anyone only through direct injection.

TA-418 changes that. The synthetic compound allows Ruku to survive in air, water, and soil, making widespread infection possible. Tasha helped create the compound with Hans Tesler, and its name begins with her own initial. When the team suspected Tesler of treachery, it destroyed parts of the formula, so Tasha believed no complete copy remained. Donovan is displeased that she kept this information from him, but a greater concern remains: someone inside their own security operation betrayed Tasha’s identity.

Jason finally reaches Odyssey and begins learning to manage Whit’s End. Tom Riley is now mayor, Jack has briefly left to complete his move to town, and Eugene is guiding Jason through every detail of the shop. Among a pile of unopened mail, Eugene finds the package Tasha sent from Switzerland. Jason recognizes her handwriting and uses his unusual agency telephone to speak with her. To his surprise, Tasha is already outside Whit’s End, claiming she has accepted his invitation to take a vacation.

The package contains a complete formula for TA-418. While studying Tesler’s papers, Tasha discovered that he had hidden it among extra chemical symbols and misplaced calculations. She kept the discovery from Donovan because she did not know who had exposed her. Molly mailed it to the one person Tasha felt certain she could trust: Whit. Tasha explains that the A in TA-418 stands for Avery because Whit’s powerful Applesauce computer program helped her develop the compound. Since Whit is away, Jason locks the formula in the safe at Whit’s End.

Donovan calls with frightening news: Mustafa escaped five days ago and may be hunting Tasha. At that moment, Eugene reports a call from her, but Mustafa is on the line. He has captured Tasha and orders Jason to bring the formula to the park gazebo at midnight. Jason tells Donovan that a complete formula exists and proposes substituting a fake. During the call, he refers to Code Breaker 2, secretly signaling that the line is bugged and that he has a plan. Donovan publicly orders him to wait for an agent called Delta 2-4, but Jason reminds him that he no longer works for the agency and proceeds.

At the gazebo, Mustafa refuses to trust the false formula. When he threatens Tasha, Jason claims that the real copy is inside Whit’s End’s specially protected safe and that only his fingerprints and voice can open it. Mustafa forces them back to the shop.

Miles Filby appears as Delta 2-4 and seems to arrest Mustafa. He then demands the formula for himself. Jason exposes him by recalling that only Jason and Filby decoded Tasha’s blinking, yet Mustafa knew about her visual message. Filby admits that he exposed Tasha, arranged Mustafa’s escape, bugged the telephones, and forced Molly to reveal where the package had gone. He does not truly serve Red Scorpion; he intends to steal the formula for his own profit.

Jason opens the safe by voice command, triggering a defense system controlled from Whit’s hidden computer room. Amid lights, noise, and confusion, he and Tasha overcome Filby. Mustafa escapes by jumping from a second-floor window and flees in Abdul’s car.

Abdul stops on a bridge rather than carrying Mustafa to safety. Dr. Blackgaard steps from hiding, very much alive. Abdul had filled the syringe with vitamins, allowing Blackgaard to fake his death and escape European Security’s attention. Blackgaard has never cared about Red Scorpion’s revolution. He has used Mustafa for a larger plan that he refuses to explain, and he orders Abdul to make Mustafa’s death look accidental. The car goes through a bridge railing into the water, leaving the authorities to believe Mustafa and Abdul died in a crash while Blackgaard secretly returns to his schemes.

Donovan thanks Jason for using Code Breaker 2 to expose the bugged line and trap the traitor. Tasha cannot understand how Jason can leave work he does so well, but he is keeping his promise to manage Whit’s End for his father. Donovan takes back the special telephone and, unusually, offers Jason a sincere goodbye.

Before Tasha leaves, she gives Jason a message and asks him to wait before opening it. After her car pulls away, he reads the Morse code letters one by one: I L O V E.