Chase Episode 1.07 The Posse

On a rural stretch of road in Waco, Texas, high school student Katie Calvin drives along, talking to her father on her cell phone. Bob McGraw, a U.S. Marshal, pulls her over for speeding. While Bob's lecturing Katie, a rude driver honks his horn and yells for Katie to stop blocking the road. Bob McGraw and the irate driver get into a scuffle and Bob shoots the man dead. Startled, Katie darts into a nearby field. When she won't stop to listen to Bob's explanation, Bob shoots and kills Katie too. It's early morning. Annie wakes up next to her Rottweiler, Highway 59, and takes a call from H.E.A.T. Across town, Daisy gets a similar call. As Daisy hangs up the phone, we see Luke in bed beside her!

At H.E.A.T., everyone wonders why they've been called in early for duty. Daisy suspects that perhaps it's because Congressman Nevins is visiting. Luke pretends not to know Nevins, but moments later, the congressman comes barreling in, greeting Luke. Luke's cover is blown. Nevins asks Luke why he won't drop his U.S. Marshal "phase" and come work for him in D.C. Luke brushes off Nevins, clearly embarrassed. Annie tells her team about Robert McGraw, a murderer who's pretending to be a U.S. Marshal. He's a police academy dropout, who became a security guard for a couple of years. Annie makes plans to interview Robert's mother when Katie Collins' father arrives at H.E.A.T.

Mr. Collins tells Annie that he was on the phone with his daughter Katie just moments before McGraw senselessly slaughtered her. Mr. Collins heard McGraw's whole act; McGraw pretended to be a U.S. Marshal who had just been called to a fatal accident. He feigned concern for Katie shortly before executing her. Mr. Collins tears up. Katie didn't even get to see her Princeton acceptance letter. Marco interrupts the tearful moment to tell Annie that McGraw's car has been spotted pulling into his mother's garage. Outside of Mrs. McGraw's home, Daisy and Marco tease Luke about his connection to Congressman Nevins. Defensive, Luke says he just met Nevins once in D.C.

The H.E.A.T. team checks out Mrs. McGraw's home for clues about her son Robert. He's created an entire U.S. Marshal identity; he's got a weapons locker, business cards, and a wall of pictures showing him at the scenes of various crimes, posing with legitimate law enforcement officials. Mrs. McGraw also fell under her son's spell. She thought he was working at Clifton's Police Department. When Annie tells her that Robert's a murderer, Mrs. McGraw crumbles. Trying to make sense of it all, Mrs. McGraw says maybe her son was damaged by always getting picked on by bullies for being small. At Clifton P.D., Annie learns that McGraw convinced the officers he was a real U.S. Marshal, sent to help out the understaffed police unit. Annie checks McGraw's printer history and finds a document on wanted sex offender Freddy Penn.

McGraw approaches Freddy Penn, a wanted sex offender who's operating an ice cream truck near a children's playground. After finding a teddy bear, rope, and chloroform in Penn's truck, McGraw moves to handcuff the deviant. When Penn struggles, McGraw shoots him dead. Tragically, the bullet goes through Penn's body and hits an innocent bystander! Annie and her team arrive at the scene and immediately realize that Penn was shot for resisting arrest. Luke approaches, saying he's discovered that McGraw was kicked off the police force for pulling a gun on another cadet. Looks like after years of being bullied, McGraw's turned into a loose canon.

McGraw phones into a local news program in order to justify his psychotic vigilantism. McGraw admits he accidentally killed an innocent bystander, but his sole intention was to rid the world of a twisted pedophile. Most chillingly, McGraw still claims to be a real U.S. Marshal. Annie interrupts McGraw's spiel and tries to ingratiate herself with him. She invites him to meet her for a beer and even says he'd make one hell of a U.S. Marshal. Annie's compliment backfires however, because McGraw thinks she's suggesting he isn't already a U.S. Marshal. Offended, he hangs up on Annie before they can trace the call.

At a gas station, McGraw overhears two hunters complaining about illegal immigrants. McGraw befriends these men and a group of their friends. Still claiming to be a U.S. Marshal, McGraw "deputizes" them, claiming they're now U.S. Marshals too. Together he and his posse will break up an illegal immigrant ("coyote") smuggling ring. Annie and her gang track McGraw to a truck parked outside a known coyote safehouse. Inside, Marco finds immigrants bound and gagged! Before Marco can react, someone attacks him from behind. Annie, Jimmy and Luke rush in with guns blazing only to find McGraw's posse pointing guns right back at them. Annie tells them they've been fooled; McGraw's no Marshal and he certainly doesn't have the authority to deputize anyone.

Annie realizes that McGraw knew the real U.S. Marshals were tracking him; that's why he disappeared before they got to the safehouse. McGraw's trying to prove he's the real deal by outsmarting real U.S. Marshals. A gun-toting McGraw ambushes Annie at home. Annie tries to stall McGraw but he takes her badge, handcuffs her, and forces her to deputize him. She warns him that the oath does not make the Marshal, but McGraw disregards her and leaves her handcuffed to a post. Annie frees herself and speeds after McGraw, who has stolen her Escalade. McGraw uses Annie's radio and tricks the police into running her off the road. Annie angrily tells the cops they've got the wrong person as McGraw drives off.

With McGraw gone, Annie and Jimmy decide to return to the police department where McGraw once worked. The sheriff tells Annie that McGraw had a near-perfect arrest record, but two guilty suspects went free. Freddy Penn was one of them, and now he's dead. The other is Walter Lennox, a man who killed an 8-year-old girl. McGraw surprises Walter at his apartment and demands to know where he buried his victim's body. When Walter won't fess up, McGraw hangs him from a balcony and threatens to drop him. Annie and her team show up and chase McGraw onto the roof of the building. When McGraw refuses to disarm, Annie shoots him and takes back his badge.

Back at H.E.A.T., Luke invites Daisy out for a drink. Daisy ignores his request and tells him that Congressman Nevins would like to see him. For the second time, Nevins invites Luke to join his team. Luke turns down the offer, saying he knows this is just Nevins' way of trying to ingratiate himself with Luke's father. Luke's not interested in being a pawn. As Luke stalks off, Jimmy asks Nevins how he knows Luke. Nevins reveals that Luke's dad is one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington. Katie Collins' father arrives at H.E.A.T. to thank Annie for capturing his daughter's killer. Mr. Collins admits he would've preferred that Annie killed McGraw. These words clearly resonate with Annie, who decides to stay in rather than go out with her colleagues.