Cormac takes Scarlet into hiding

Cormac takes Scarlet into hiding after her suspicion that the Federal Bureau of Investigation may be entangled in Mickey MacFarland’s seizure of power makes an ordinary return to work seem dangerous. The move begins not with a settled alliance but with a broken phone, a disputed choice, and Scarlet’s decision to go with Cormac despite not yet knowing whether his fears are justified. At Moira’s penthouse, the flight becomes a shared attempt to protect Moira and buy time to discover the truth.

Background and Threat

Cormac argues that Mickey could not have acted alone. He contrasts his cousin’s recklessness with the intelligence of his father, who has been killed, and reasons that Mickey must have received help. In Cormac’s account, the Federal Bureau of Investigation first arranged for some of his men to be sent to California and then helped create the opportunity for Mickey to move against his father. He treats this as a dangerous possibility, not as a proven conclusion; Scarlet insists that they cannot know for certain and that procedure matters.

The immediate trigger for their flight comes during Scarlet’s call with Max Smithson. Smithson tells her that he has not heard about the information she raises, but says that her father asked him to bring her onto his team and that the intelligence could prove useful. Scarlet wants to accept the invitation, yet Smithson’s use of Cormac’s nickname, Cor, unsettles her. A small verbal slip is not proof of collusion, but her work has taught her that minor clues can carry life-or-death consequences. She recalls an earlier undercover operation in which a man’s mistaken use of her real name exposed her cover. The memory gives her suspicion a concrete basis while leaving the present case unresolved.

The Decision to Leave

Before Scarlet can pursue the possibility of working with people she trusts, Cormac takes her phone and throws it against a wall, destroying it. He interprets their mutual suspicion as a survival skill: each has stayed alive by questioning what others tell them. Scarlet objects that distrust of one man does not justify rejecting the entire Federal Bureau of Investigation, and she protests when Cormac tries to put her in his jeep. His response is that those responsible will kill her as they killed his father, and that she must come with him.

The moment exposes a conflict between protection and autonomy. Scarlet is an agent, not a willing passenger in Cormac’s plans, and she makes that clear. Yet after he gets into the driver’s seat and waits rather than dragging her onward, she chooses to join him. She does not concede that he is right; she accepts that he might be. The distinction matters: the trip begins without resolving their argument or confirming his theory, but with Scarlet acting on her own suspicion as well as his warning.

The Journey to Moira

As they drive through the city, Scarlet tests Smithson’s explanation against what she knows about her father. If he truly wanted her on the team, she reasons, he would have contacted her himself. The nickname remains troubling because she has seen a similar slip reveal an undercover agent’s identity, but she does not treat analogy as proof. The uncertainty follows them into the journey: they are fleeing a threat they cannot yet establish, while trying to preserve the chance of finding out who is involved.

At their destination, they move through a formal entrance without discussing how to protect their identities. A valet takes the jeep, a doorman admits them, and a receptionist asks for their names; both provide false ones. They then ride up to the penthouse suite, where a man in a black suit and sunglasses, with a gun holster beneath his jacket, greets them by grimacing and patting them down. These precautions turn Cormac’s fear into practical behavior: the pair conceal who they are and accept a security check before entering the apartment.

Moira and the Temporary Plan

Inside the upscale residence, Scarlet sees Moira sitting with a bowl of ice cream, her eyes red from crying. Moira’s short, curvy build, freckles, crooked nose, and gapped smile recall Tess, Scarlet’s dead sister, with particular force. Scarlet grips a marble pillar and struggles to steady herself; her hand opens and closes as it did during Tess’s fall and in the futile effort to revive her. The resemblance makes the safehouse more than a stop on the route: it brings Scarlet’s unresolved grief into the present at the moment she is being asked to protect someone else.

When Moira breaks down over the prospect of leaving, Scarlet moves from listening to comforting her. She explains that they should get away for several days, perhaps a week or longer, so they can make calls from out of town without exposing themselves to harm. Rather than speaking plainly of death to Moira, she frames the pause as a tactic: people pursuing them may grow careless if they believe the fugitives have disappeared. Scarlet promises to keep Moira and Cormac safe. Once they are back in the jeep, she tells Cormac that the plan is also her genuine assessment of their position. If they are to work together, she says, letting both the mob and any involved investigators think they have gone dark will make it easier to return and get at the truth. The hiding place therefore marks a provisional alliance, not a resolution: they withdraw first, intending to investigate later.