Human Target Episode 2.01 Ilsa Pucci

It's two days after the Interrogator and his thugs kidnapped Winston. In a van outside a San Francisco bank, the man dabs Winston's mangled face with a hanky and says sorry about the torture. Now let's go get my book.

They retrieve the book of dangerous secrets from the vault where Winston stashed it. But Chance and Guerrero are already there, disguised as security guards. Standoff! Guerrero levels a sawed-off shotgun. But Winston has a bomb on his chest. No worries. Guerrero shoots off a chunk of the Interrogator's hand as Chance drags Winston away. The Interrogator dives for the book. "Stop, dude!" Guerrero blasts him again. OK, they give up.

Chance can't defuse the bomb. This is goodbye. Winston closes his eyes. Fake out! Chance unplugs a wire and splits.

A week later, at Chance's HQ in the Tenderloin, Winston sweeps up broken glass and gripes to Carmine the Rottweiler. Four guys in suits arrive. Their leader, Peter, explains that his boss needs Chance's "specific services." Winston says he's gone - forever.

Six months later, Chance is meditating at a remote ashram in Nepal. Suddenly, a helicopter breaks the silence. Out steps Peter . . . and a woman. Removing her rock-star sunglasses, she tells Chance that she's spent lots of time and tons of cash to find him. Sorry, he's retired. But he'll give her two minutes.

She is Ilsa Pucci. Her billionaire philanthropist husband, Marshall, died eight months ago in a plane crash, which she thinks was murder. She inherited his money - and his enemies. Now she's living with bodyguards, behind bulletproof glass. She wants someone - Chance, that is - to risk her life, so she can get it back. He's not interested. But then she implies he's chicken. Plus, the monks have packed his bag.

At HQ, Chance introduces Winston to Ilsa and Peter, then complains that the smashed windows haven't been replaced. Winston snarks that when your main asset runs off to an ashram, it affects cash flow. And window replacement.

They need to put Ilsa in public to draw out the threat. How about her husband's big annual fundraiser? Perfect. Peter frets that Chance and Winston alone can't possibly keep her safe. Don't worry: They've got another guy.

Guerrero's in. Welcome back, Chance.

At the fundraiser, Chance tells Ilsa to do exactly what he says, and it's all right to be afraid. She replies that everyone's afraid to die, then looks at him curiously. Unless they think they deserve it, for some reason.

Her husband's lawyer, Shelly (aka Sheldon), arrives. Guerrero saunters in, toting an M-14. A young blonde woman in a security uniform makes a scene. Suspicious, Winston alerts the team . . . just as she emerges from an elevator as a smoking-hot brunette in a tight cocktail dress. Shelly introduces her to Ilsa; the brunette shakes Ilsa's hand for so long that Chance gets suspicious. He radios Winston to grab her, then leads Ilsa away.

The brunette spots Winston and flees. Stairwell chase! Guerrero heads her off and clocks her. Ouch. Searching her purse, they find a pink diamond. The girl switched it with the one in Ilsa's ring. Why?

Suddenly, shots ping around the ballroom, but no one's actually hit. It's a diversion. Unnerved, Ilsa takes off with Peter, and Chance radios Guerrero for help. Too late. Peter's dead, and Ilsa's gone, whisked away in a black SUV as bullets fly.

At HQ, Winston IDs the brunette as Ames, an expert thief. She acts tough - until she hears Guerrero's name. He calmly levels his gun at her kneecaps, and she spills: Fat Tony hired her to switch Ilsa's ring. And Fat Tony's dead. The kidnappers are covering their tracks. Chance figures that the ring was a tracking device, so they could stage the sniper attack without killing Ilsa. Winston reports on Marshall's bank accounts and says that a private plane left for Geneva last night. Switzerland is where Marshall's plane went down. Ames says she's good with banks. Can she come? HELL NO, says Winston. But Chance says OK.

And the kidnapper is . . . Shelly! On the plane, he tells Ilsa that they're headed to her bank in Geneva. But it takes both her and Marshall's iris scans to open their vault. Yeah, her husband's meeting them there. What?

It's not Marshall, just his eyeball in a container. Ew. All Shelly wants is a briefcase, full of the paperwork and pass codes he needs to steal billions. But Ilsa refuses to leave the bank. If she's gonna die, Shelly can kill her now. Stalemate.

Guerrero's in sniper position, as Chance and Ames spring into action inside the bank. Shelly flees upstairs with Ilsa and his men, Chance in hot pursuit. Shelly holds a gun to Ilsa's head, mocking Chance for taking them on all by himself. Well, he's not alone.

BANG! Guerrero shoots Shelly's hand. Dodging bullets, Chance and Ilsa pelt toward the window and leap into the water, 12 stories below. Winston picks them up in a speedboat.

Afterward, Ilsa muses that Chance must have a lot to be redeemed for. I do, he admits, walking away. She follows and offers to bankroll his redemption. She'll even throw in some new windows. She won't get involved, promise.

Back at HQ, Winston makes Chance say he was wrong to leave. The place looks awesome: warm wood, cool chrome, modern white furniture, and windows for days! Winston likes it, except the windows. They need to stay hidden from their enemies. "No more hiding," says Chance, spreading the blinds open. "They can come and get me." And they probably will.