Allegiance Episode 1.03 Surreptitious Entry

As sirens blare, Katya stands over the body of the SVR sniper she's just killed to save Alex. Mark warns her they need to leave, but Katya has one last thing to do. She removes the sniper's silenced pistol and shoots it into the dirt, hoping to buy a week before the task force realizes they have the wrong gun. As the police perimeter closes in on them, the O'Connors flip into the night, undetected. Meanwhile, Alex frantically tries to keep Vasso alive until the ambulances come, but it's too late. In his dying breath, the former SVR agent whispers, "Don't forget... 48 hours." That's how long they have to find Mikail's Easter egg before it self-destructs.

After combing through the web history of Anatoly Motinkin, one of Mikahil's aliases, Alex learns Mikhail joined a dating site and contacted just one profile: that of Maureen Tilden, an HR rep at a major construction company. Could Mikhail have hidden the egg at one of the company's job sites? Determined to find out, Alex collects a number of stone and tile samples from a nearby supplier, and sets them up all around the task force HQ. There, he begins smelling each one, all while Michelle, Brock and the other agents look on, mystified. After a quick trip back to Mikhail's apartment, where he opens his closet and smells all his jackets, Alex knows where the Easter Egg is hidden: Philadelphia City Hall. So how did he figure it out? He knew he smelled a type of stone on Mikhail's clothes the first time he searched his apartment, but he couldn't quite put his finger on which one. His unorthodox scent test confirms it was Pennsylvania Bluestone, which was only used at one job site in the past month: a renovation of Philadelphia City Hall's Conversation Hall.

Alex presents his findings to the shocked task force, adding that to get their hands on the files, they must enter the Conversation Hall surreptitiously, retrieve Mikhail's laptop from the vault, and replace it with a fake containing SVR documents of a low-classification level so as to not tip off the SVR and render the documents useless. When the SVR recovers the fake laptop, they'll conclude they haven't suffered the massive breach they thought they did, and won't change their behavior. Brock protests that it'll be nearly impossible to get authorization for a secret break-in to the seat of government of a U.S. city, but Sam backs Alex up, explaining they have only 36 hours before the laptop auto-deletes. They must get approval, and fast - no excuses.

Of course, as soon as Alex steps outside the task force offices, the burst transmitter on his shirt button relays the entire plan to the Rezident, who instructs Victor to send the O'Connor family to retrieve the laptop before the task force. After all, Katya is an expert spy and Mark's a mechanical engineer who can crack any vault. Victor informs Katya and Mark of the Rezident's request. The O'Connors are furious, but they have no choice? And even if they pull this off, they still have no way out. Or do they? Mark scours City Hall's blueprints and discovers a route through the secrets tunnels of the adjacent Freemasons' temple they can take to avoid being discovered. The mayor is giving a speech for the city's anniversary Sunday morning, so the break-in must take place Sunday night. Natalie goes ahead to scout and brings her little sister Sarah with her, telling her they're going on a secret girls' trip. But not long after their arrival, Natalie gets an urgent text from her parents: they have a big problem.

Victor informs the O'Connors that the government is moving faster than expected on Alex's theory and they don't have much time. Also, the battery in Alex's button mic has died, so they won't get further updates and must assume the FBI will be in Philly as early as the next morning. The necessary break-in equipment won't be delivered until 6 a.m., and despite the fact that the mayor will be giving a speech 40 feet from the room they're breaking into, the O'Connors must carry out the plan the next morning. In broad daylight. If they don't, and Alex beats them to the laptop, they'll all be dead - Victor included.

When Victor leaves, Katya confronts her daughter: she knows Natalie and Victor are secretly back together, and she's furious. To Katya, Victor is an enemy - he's the Rezident's man - and Natalie is choosing him over her family. Natalie sees it differently: Victor is stuck just like they are - his life is on the line as well. That's when Katya breaks the news to Natalie: they are going to double-cross Victor in the morning and they need her help to escape the SVR's clutches once and for all. The plan is that after Katya and Mark retrieve the laptop, Natalie will copy the disk drive remotely, so when they hand off the laptop to Victor, the SVR will think they're safe and disperse their surveillance of City Hall. Then the O'Connors will take their copy to the FBI and trade it for immunity. That's why they had Natalie bring Sarah. They will all meet up at the Federal Building six blocks away. Tearing up, Natalie points out that if they succeed, the SVR will kill Victor. "You have a choice to make," Katya replies. "Victor or your family."

The next morning, Natalie acts as her parents' eyes and ears, guiding them through the masonic temple, helping them move stealthily without detection. While Mark and Katya maneuver through a series of locked and gated rooms, Michelle and Alex meet with the FBI director to convince him to allow the surreptitious entry. He's reluctant - if the laptop isn't where Alex says it is, the FBI faces a legal and political firestorm, but Alex's unflinching confidence persuades him to take a chance. After a short helicopter ride, Alex, Michelle and the FBI team land and quickly strip down and don disguises, posing as gas company workers inspecting a suspected gas leak. Alex can't help but ogle Michelle as she changes clothes, though Michelle doesn't seem to mind his gaze. Natalie watches as they enter the building, following the same route Katya and Mark used to get in... and the one they planned to use to escape.

With the FBI hot on their tail, Katya and Mark's autodialer cracks the vault lock to reveal Mikhail's laptop, exactly where Alex said it would be. Just as they grab it, they hear the FBI picking the lock to the room they're in. Terrified, Mark grabs Katya and pulls her into a mechanical closet just as the first FBI agent enters. They hurry up a safety ladder to attic-like space where they're out of sight, but can still hear the FBI below. From the safety of their hiding spot, Katya and Mark listen in agony as Alex and the FBI open the vault to find absolutely nothing there. Alex is heartbroken and humiliated, as are his parents, who know they just saved their family, but made a fool of their son in the process.

Alex stares at the vault, shocked. "The Russians got here first," he surmises, poking around the mechanical closet above which Katya and Mark are hiding. He clicks on a flashlight and peers up the safety ladder. "I think there's someone up there," he calls out to Michelle, as Katya and Mark hold their breath just feet above him.