Breakout Kings Episode 2.04 Cruz Control

In a prison auto shop, a pair of legs in oil-stained work pants stick out from under an SUV. A prison guard, Officer Stetz, walks up and gives them a kick. Benny Cruz slides out from under the car, revealing a crown tattoo on his neck. The guard tells him to finish fixing the car in three days, or he'll be thrown in the hole. Cruz asks the guard if he can recruit a nearby inmate named Fischer to help him with the work. The guard agrees and calls Fischer over.

Cruz sits in his cell, passionately flipping through his Bible, highlighting passages. He starts to cough. Not a cold or flu cough, but a cough from deep in the caverns of his anatomy. He grabs a rag and covers his mouth. He pulls the rag away and looks at the blood covering it, then looks up at a hand-drawn picture of an angel slaying a snake that's hanging on his cell wall.

Three days later, the cons are finishing up work on the SUV back in the auto shop. Officer Stetz patrols the shop, checking up on the car. He tells the inmates that everything needs to be perfect because the warden's wife and mother are driving it out of there. As Stetz walks away, Cruz grabs a pair of pliers from a toolbox and looks at Fischer.

The Warden's wife and mother wait outside the prison gates for the SUV. A guard pulls up and the Warden's wife hops in the front while his mother, commenting on her daughter-in-law's "reckless" driving, takes a seat in the back.

Meanwhile, Stetz walks through the auto shop and scans the garage, but there's no sign of Cruz or Fischer. He passes a pile of tools scattered on the floor, and opens a trash bin. Packed inside is Fischer's lifeless body.

The Warden's wife drives, while her mother-in-law nags her from the back. Suddenly, the back seat starts to move. The mothe-in-law screams as Cruz slices through the vinyl with a screwdriver and crawls out from inside the seat. The car screeches to a halt and the Warden's wife runs away, frantic, leaving her mother-in-law to fend for herself. Cruz exits the backseat, telling the older woman to give him her purse and cell phone. She hands it to him and he jumps back in the car and speeds away.

Julianne waits in the Maybelle Visitation Room. Lloyd steps out, surprised to see her. She tells him she's ready to talk about the name he found on her computer, Gary Margolis. Julianne tells Lloyd that when she was eight, she and her cousin were walking home from the park when Margolis pulled up beside them. He tried to grab Julianne, but she broke free and ran. Her cousin wasn't as lucky. Lloyd asks her if she's familiar with the term "survivor's guilt." She nods slightly. He asks her whether or not she agrees with the following statement; she deserves to be happy, and what happened wasn't her fault. She tells Lloyd that she disagrees with the first part, and never thought about the second part. Before they can continue, Julianne's phone vibrates. It's a text from Ray. They have a runner.

As the cons enter the bullpen, Erica yanks Lloyd over and asks what Julianne was doing at the prison. Lloyd, caught off guard, denies that she was there - poorly. Shea and Erica, snickering, obviously don't believe him.

Ray steps out of his office and hands the team Cruz's file. He tells them that Cruz, a member of a gang called the Royals, was serving life in prison for killing two rival gang members. He also reveals that Cruz has lung cancer and has only two or three months to live. Lloyd rummages through Cruz's belongings, holding up his items: soap, pomade, old newspaper, a bible with underlined passages, and Cruz's sketches, including one of St. Michael, the archangel. Erica, still flipping through the file, sees that he still has one surviving uncle, who - Shea points out - is a high-ranking gang member of the Royals.

Cruz strolls up to the register of a gas station. He asks the cashier for some gum and, while her back is turned, grabs a pair of scissors that are sitting next to the register. He gets a receipt for the gum and walks out. In the lot, a car washer whistles and waves a rag, looking for the owner of a nice, black Cadillac. Cruz walks over and hands the car washer the receipt. Thinking it's the receipt for the wash, the car washer hands Cruz the keys. Cruz hops in and notices a sharp business suit hanging in the passenger seat. Taking this as a good omen, he looks up and makes the sign of a cross. As Cruz gets ready to shut the door, the car owner runs up and tries to stop him. Cruz pulls the scissors out and puts them to the man's throat, telling him that he needs the car. He pushes the man to the ground, shuts the door and speeds away.

The Breakout Kings pull up across the street from Cruz's uncle's custom auto shop. A group of shady looking gang members are milling around out front. Shea's on edge, as he and the Royals had some history before his incarceration. Ray walks inside the shop. Chrome rims line one wall; speakers, amps, and car stereos line the other. Ray asks to see Roberto Menchaca, Cruz's uncle. A moment later, Roberto, with the stone cold stature of a pit bull, walks in. Ray tells Roberto that he wants to speak about his nephew in private.

Back outside, Erica takes off her sweatshirt, pulls up her hair, applies some bright red lipstick and hops out of the car. She struts over to the group of Royals outside the shop. They immediately take notice. She tells them that she's "Chewy's cousin from Flushing" and that she's looking to buy some rims for her man who's getting out of Rikers. One gang member, skeptical at first, eventually buys it and shows her into the shop. Erica requests some rims, and he heads to the back to find them. While he's out of the room, Erica bends over the counter and ejects a memory card. Ray, still in the back with Roberto, tells him that he better not find out that he's hiding Cruz. Back in the car, Erica hands Ray the security memory card.

Cruz sits in the glamorous, high-end lobby of a prestigious law firm, wearing the nice suit from the stolen car. A young lawyer, Thomas Kelly, whisks past the reception desk and out the door. Cruz follows him outside and confronts the lawyer, asking him if keeping a man accused of rape out of prison made him feel good, even though he knew the man was guilty. The lawyer comments on Cruz's tattoos and suggests that the con examine his own life before judging others. Cruz tells Kelly that he has, then pulls out the scissors and savagely stabs the lawyer in the chest while a nearby woman screams. Cruz then walks away as if nothing happened.

Ray examines Kelly's lifeless body. Erica tells him that the security guard said Cruz walked right past him and signed into the office with his own name. Julianne calls Ray and tells him that there was no sign of Cruz on the security footage from the shop and no indication that Cruz has tried to contact his uncle.

In the bullpen, Lloyd discreetly walks over to Julianne and quietly tells her that Margolis' parole hearing is coming up and he thinks it'd be good for her to write a letter to the parole board. Not only would it reduce Margolis' chances of getting out, but it'd be therapeutic for her. To Lloyd's surprise, she quickly agrees to do it.

In a filthy parking lot of a destitute motel, Cruz sheds his suit jacket and tie and approaches Martin Mitchell, a weathered scumbag, enjoying a cigarette outside his room. Cruz eyes a pizza delivery guy counting change on the other side of the motel. Cruz approaches Mitchell and starts asking him if he likes candy and wants to see his new puppy. Mitchell tells Cruz to beat it and heads back to his scummy motel room. Cruz pulls out a lug wrench and brutally smashes Mitchell over the head. The old man falls into his room, collapsing onto the floor. Cruz steps in and delivers a barrage of savage blows, beating Mitchell to a bloody pulp. He kneels over the dead body, makes the sign of the cross, then looks heavenward and says: "By the divine power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all evil spirits of this world."

Lloyd and Ray sit with Cruz's hospice counselor in the bullpen's interview room. She tells them that Cruz mainly talked about the death of his mother and his involvement with the Royals, as well as his eventual sense of regret for his criminal activities. She also tells them that during the last two months of their counseling, a sense of peace came over him - something she didn't notice before. Julianne knocks on the door and tells him that Cruz took somebody else out.

The team arrives at the motel crime scene. The motel manager stands outside the room, telling the team that he saw Cruz walk out of the motel parking lot towards his car. He then tells them that the motel is a state-paid living space for sex offenders. The team looks around the room, noticing that the Bible is gone. Lloyd, now buzzing with a slight epiphany, says that the Bible is riddled with justified murders, as long as it's deemed the will of God. All the sketches in Cruz's cell were of Archangel Michael, the captain of God's army, sent to rid the world of darkness. Lloyd pauses, and tells the team that Cruz is trying to kill his way into Heaven.

Back at the office, the team tries to guess Cruz's next move. Shea wonders aloud why they have to catch him when he's out killing scumbags. Erica says that nobody gets to appoint themselves judge, jury, and executioner. Shea, clearly appreciating the irony of her comment, points out her tattoos. Erica walks to the coffee nook, passing Julianne who was within earshot of their conversation. Julianne follows Erica and asks if she ever wrote about what happened to her father. Erica admits that she took her aggression out in a more physical way. Julianne tells Erica Lloyd's suggestion of writing to the parole board. Erica takes this in and tells Julianne that, although Lloyd is a socially inept know-it-all, he cares for her. If he thinks writing a letter would help with whatever she's going through, then it probably will. Erica turns away, but Julianne reminds her that she didn't answer the question. Erica tells Julianne that there are no do-overs when it comes to this stuff. You deal with it, or it deals with you.

Back outside, Ray, Lloyd, and Shea continue to go through Cruz's belongings. Shea takes out the newspaper, flipping through the pages, telling the team that he's surprised they let Cruz keep this, especially since cons can use it as a weapon. Lloyd suddenly realizes that the Metro section is missing. Julianne, now at her desk, brings up the Metro section of the newspaper where they find both of Cruz's victims' names in the paper. They continue to read, seeing that there were two more articles about perps that fit Cruz's MO - an assemblyman charged with domestic violence and a drunk driver who killed an eight-year-old.

Shea and Erica walk up to the home of Kenneth Billingsley, III - the assemblyman charged with domestic violence. Before knocking, they make an oath. Erica pledges to take care of Shea's girlfriend, and Shea promises to watch out for Erica's little girl if anything should happen to them. They knock on the door and Kenneth, a sleazy-looking politician with slicked back hair, opens the door. Posing as Special Agents, they tell Kenneth that he may be the target of an escaped fugitive. Erica tells him it's because he uses his wife as a punching bag. Kenneth doesn't take Erica's lip too kindly and tells them to leave. As they walk away, he calls Erica a "bitch." Erica spins around and punches Kenneth, knocking his smug ass to the ground.

Cruz knocks on Michael Spillane's door. Spillane opens it, and Cruz asks him if it was worth killing that eight-year-old kid just to get drunk. Cruz pushes his way inside the apartment, but Spillane fights back.

Below, Ray and Lloyd climb up the stairs of the apartment building. A gunshot rings out and Ray draws his weapon, runs down the hall and pushes open the door to Spillane's apartment. Ray storms in, gun drawn, but Spillane is on the floor, dead, and Cruz is nowhere to be found. Ray looks at the open window, realizing Cruz has escaped. Ray exits the front door and turns the corner into the alley as Cruz gets behind the wheel of his car. It's a standoff. Cruz pounds on the gas. Ray fires a few shots into the windshield, then lunges out of the way as Cruz barrels by him.

Ray tells Julianne to contact local police and have them put an alert out. Lloyd bends down and picks up a Fentanyl Patch. He tells Ray that it's pain medication that's over one hundred times more powerful than morphine. Without his patch, Cruz is about to get real cranky, real quick.

Cruz stops at a red light. He is sweaty, pale and clearly coming unglued. He stares at the red light. Every second now feels like an hour. He pounds on the steering wheel and screams. He can't wait anymore. Like a kamikaze pilot, Cruz guns it through the intersection.

Shea and Erica speed down a side street, going the wrong way down a one-way alley - an improvised shortcut. They emerge onto the main road just as Cruz whips by. Cruz, distracted by the SUV's sudden appearance, gets pinned behind a row of stopped cars at a light. Shea zooms up and boxes him in. Cruz abandons his car and makes a run for it, firing a couple shots into the SUV to slow his pursuers. Erica peeks out to see Cruz running down the street in a full sprint. She takes off after him. Shea begrudgingly gives in and follows. As Erica and Shea close in on him, Cruz runs across several lanes of traffic. Cruz spots a man getting into a silver Volvo. He runs up and pushes the man, who falls backwards and cracks his head on the curb, killing him instantly. As blood begins to seep from the back of the man's head, Cruz's face turns white - a sincere look of shock. But the sight of Erica in hot pursuit brings him back to reality. Cruz jumps in the car and screeches off.

Cruz flies down the street, alternating between feelings of rage and sadness. Just when it can't get any worse, a scream comes from the back. Cruz turns around to see a baby.

Lloyd and Ray arrive at the crime scene. Lloyd tells the team that this isn't a good sign at all. To Cruz, all of the "good" he did has now been undone because he killed an innocent soul. The pain from the cancer is getting greater and greater while Cruz's ability to be functionally rational is rapidly diminishing.

A priest cleans a golden chalice in an empty church. The sound of a baby crying makes him turn around, where he sees Cruz, holding the child, and brandishing a gun. Cruz tells the priest to give him his last rights or they're all going to the afterlife.

The team arrives at the church to find the baby and priest, both safe. The priest, confused, tells Ray and Lloyd that one minute Cruz was asking for forgiveness, the next he was threatening to kill them all. The priest tells them that he told Cruz to get right with his creator, but Cruz's only response was "I was only twelve, I was only twelve." Realizing that Cruz was twelve-years-old when his mother died, the team realizes that Cruz is planning to "get right" with the person who made him the monster he is today - his uncle Roberto.

Cruz enters the shop where Roberto is assisting costumers. Roberto immediately walks up to greet his nephew. He tightly hugs Cruz, but he doesn't hug back. Instead, Cruz grabs his uncle's gun from his belt and points it at him.

Ray and the rest of the team arrive at the shop. Julianne pulls up the security footage they took earlier, giving Ray a general sense of the layout of the shop. Erica tells Ray that there's a vent on the side of the building where there's a better view of Cruz and everything that's going on inside. Lloyd and Ray run to the side of the building.

Inside, the phone rings, and Roberto - hands in the air, tells Cruz to pick it up. Cruz eventually does and Lloyd, on the other line, tells him that he still has time to be forgiven and to not listen to his uncle. Ray tells Lloyd to tell Cruz to walk towards the mirror. Lloyd - thinking he may have a shot of getting through to Cruz - tells him to look at himself in the mirror and realize that, inside, he's still the good person his mother raised him to be. Cruz looks into the mirror. He doesn't like what he sees. He begins reciting a bible verse, but before he can do anything else, a shot is fired, and he falls to the ground. Ray walks away, telling Lloyd, "Good job." Lloyd stares off into the distance, not happy with this turn of events.

The cons wait for the transpo van back at the office. Lloyd approaches Shea and Erica asking if they thought it was right that Ray killed Cruz, but they walk away, avoiding the conversation entirely - mostly because they aren't too sure themselves. Julianne walks up to Lloyd and hands him a large, sealed manila envelope with her letter to Margolis' parole board inside.

Lloyd walks into the Ray's office and hands him the envelope to pass along to the parole board. He confronts Ray about shooting Cruz. He tells him that, when they came on this task force, they were told that their job is to chase and catch, not question and judge. This strikes a nerve with Ray. Lloyd insists that he could have gotten Cruz out alive. Ray tells him that they'll never know and walks out of the office leaving Lloyd alone and, still, a little shocked.