Original subtitles

We're trapped!

How's Van Meter?

He made it through the first few hours.

He's touch and go.

The CFD wants to decommission Engine 51 and let me go.

We're not gonna throw in that towel yet.

Not a chance.

Isaiah has a Zoom with the doctor

who's in charge of Shauna's care.

- Kelly gonna make it? - He didn't answer.

He's just so consumed with the case.

Whoever set the fire at the school

wanted to finish what they started.

We also caught you on camera

after setting fire to Cole's place.

Except that time, you put my friend in the hospital.

- Hey, hey, hey, hey! - I know what you did!

You're off the case.

They wanna bench me?

I'm gonna make him pay.

What time is it?

Just after 3:00 a.m.

Damn.

Hi.

I'm looking for the Employment Division.

Sorry, they're closed.

Ah. What time do they open?

No, they're closed.

The department's been furloughed

because of budget cuts.

Indefinitely?

That's all I know.

There's a storage area where we put the mail.

Do you want me to put that in there?

No, no, this is my--

it's an appeal to keep my job.

I was told to get it in this week if I wanted any chance.

I'm so sorry.

Thanks.

The guy didn't pick up a single weight the entire time

I was on the treadmill.

He was just pacing around the gym

in one of those, like, V-neck tank tops,

staring at himself in the mirror,

and talking on the phone at full volume

like he was some big-shot stockbroker.

Oh, you know there was no one on the other end of that call.

Yes, totally. People are the worst.

Hey, Vasquez, is that your new car?

No, I wish. It's a rental.

I had to find something quick,

and that Charger was all they had.

It's cool, but it's costing me an arm and a leg,

so I gotta get car shopping ASAP before I go broke.

Well, your new car has some mighty big tires to fill

'cause that Skylark was pretty badass.

Yeah, it was.

How's your dad doing anyway?

I'm sure reentry is a little challenging.

No idea.

We don't keep in touch.

Catch you guys inside.

I really appreciate that, Doctor.

Yes, I will be in touch soon.

Great, thank you.

Yes, bye-bye.

Hey, that was Dr. Shreves.

Shauna just emerged from her coma last night.

- Wow, really? - Mm-hmm.

She's oriented, aware.

She's not talking, but she's communicating.

- That's great news. - I know.

I mean, he said that she's got months ahead of recovery

before she'll be independent and can care for Isaiah.

But still, this is the news he's been dreaming of.

- Are you gonna call him? - I wanna tell him in person,

so I figured I'd have him stop by the firehouse after school.

- Truck 81, Ambo 61. - Okay. Good luck.

All right. I'll keep you posted.

Yeah.

Damn, that compact got shot halfway across town.

Check on the SUV driver.

Vasquez, you're with me. - Copy.

Folks, clear out. Clear out. Let us work.

Check the passenger door.

You got it.

Hey, ma'am, can you hear me?

- Mm-hmm. - Okay, hang tight.

We're gonna get you out of here, all right?

Hey, passenger door's jammed.

All right, grab the jaws.

The airbag didn't deploy, so we gotta disconnect

the battery before we go in.

Copy.

Look at me.

You got it?

Ready? - Go.

There it is. - Got it.

- Ma'am? - Here you go.

Let's get you out of here, okay?

Okay.

C-collar?

- Yeah. - Thank you.

All right, miss, I'm just gonna wrap this

around your neck, okay? It's not gonna hurt.

Vasquez!

Vasquez, hey.

Vasquez, Vasquez?

Vasquez, hey. Vasquez.

I'm okay.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, hey.

Take it easy. - I'm all right.

Okay, just knocked the wind out of me.

That's almost 300 pounds of force

straight to the dome, kid.

Hey, are you sure you're okay?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm okay.

How's she? Is she okay? - She's gonna be fine.

Listen, Herrmann and I got her.

All right, will you check him out, make sure he's okay?

Novak, you're with us.

Ballard, let's go. - Come on, right here.

Copy, Lieutenant.

Sorry, Vasquez, you're not getting out of this.

- Vi, I'm fine. Really. - Okay, now look at me.

Any blurriness, double vision? - No.

Ringing in the ears, headache?

- No. - I got you.

All right, no obvious signs of concussion,

but I'm keeping my eye on you.

Okay, easy.

I don't get it.

I mean, we cut the power to that thing

before I got in the car.

Shouldn't that have disconnected the airbag?

Yeah, it should have.

Vasquez, have the medics take another look

at you when they get back.

I'm fine, Lieutenant, for real.

I am not asking.

I still don't get how the airbag

could have blown like that,

I mean, even after we cut the juice.

It happens sometimes.

The backup capacitor holds a charge longer

than it's supposed to, we go to pop the door, and then boom.

Yeah, no, that makes sense when we're messing

with the frame of the vehicle, but, I mean--

Maybe you just nicked the airbag wiring

with the seat belt cutter.

- Sure. - I didn't.

I know my way around cars.

No, it's just something different.

Okay, well, then maybe it was just, you know,

one of those freak things, then.

Which is why we need to be extra careful

in situations like that.

Lieutenant Kidd, can I have a word?

Take a seat.

I was asked to keep this under wraps,

but it's time to lift the curtain.

Engine 51 is on a short list of rigs being decommissioned.

What?

So what can we do?

Well, I just learned that the mandate

didn't come from the CFD.

It came from City Hall.

And as we've learned in the past,

the best weapon in a fight with politicos is public opinion.

Media sources.

Yeah.

So get with your union pal.

Have him contact the press.

Let the public know that a 30-year veteran

and his life-saving rig are the next victims

from the budget cuts from above.

Idea being put a face to the pain?

Exactly.

Chief, what'll happen to your friend in the mayor's office

if this gets out?

Don't worry about that.

All bets are off.

You eat yet?

Hey.

Got a club and a BLT.

One of them's got your name on it.

I figured you would have picked up a shift with Squad 4.

Nah, I got more important things to do,

like make sure my lieutenant doesn't starve to death.

Well, I'll eat whatever you don't want.

Any improvement?

Oxygen levels are better today.

That's something.

Actually, can I get your eyes on something?

The first two photos, those burn patterns,

they look uniform to you?

- Not really. - That's what I thought.

This the Cole fire?

Kidd said you were closing in on a suspect.

Yeah, I was.

They pulled me off the case.

Well, if they thought that was gonna stop you,

they don't know you too well.

They're looking back at the first fire,

at the school, thinking the tech used for the timing device

is gonna give them something, but they're wrong.

So it's about the second fire at Cole's?

The first was premeditated.

It was thought out.

The second, it was a crime of passion,

the kind where mistakes are made.

Well, maybe there's something back at the scene,

something we missed.

That was my next stop.

Then we'll take this to go then.

What are the rules on eating in your car?

Cruz, you don't gotta come with.

Please, I'm the brains of this whole operation.

You need me.

What are we waiting for?

Hey, you see? That Halligan?

It's your best pal when you gotta open up a door that's

locked or jammed, whatever.

Cool.

Oh, hey, Stella.

Hey.

Hey, this kid is practically a full-fledged truckie now.

Trust me, I have got plans for him.

- Oh, yeah? - Oh, yeah.

I hate to interrupt the lesson,

but I gotta grab him for a sec.

All right, fine, ruin the rest of my day.

Go on.

Yeah.

So I think it's time for a visit to Cleveland.

Here's what I don't understand.

This guy, he lit up the back and the front stairs, right?

He had to set fire to the back

then run all the way to the front to set the other one.

That's generally the idea, yeah.

Well, how long do you think it takes to get

from the back to the front?

This building is, what? 50 feet long?

So 10, 15 seconds maybe.

Well, we know how fast gasoline lights up.

Stairwell this small, it would have been a fireball like that.

So how does this guy manage to find the time

to set fire to both stairs before getting noticed?

That's a good point, Cruz.

You don't have to act so surprised.

Hey, check this out, Cruz.

Hmm.

Gas doesn't stain through like that.

Nope.

That's oil.

Kerosene, maybe.

That would burn a lot slower than gas.

My guess is he used a slurry,

maybe three parts oil, one part gasoline.

Because the oil is less volatile at first,

it'd give them time to light both stairwells

and get the hell out of here before anyone noticed.

Clever.

Which also makes me think he's done this before.

PD wants proof.

I think that's where we're gonna find it.

Don't tell me you're gonna replace a vintage

Detroit muscle car with this tin can.

Because honestly...

You might as well get a Vespa.

No, no, it's from our MVA this morning.

I'm trying to figure out what went wrong with this airbag.

- And? - This thing isn't helping.

But I did figure out where they towed the car.

If I can get close to the airbag,

I bet you I can figure out what happened.

The problem is, I doubt they'll let me close to the thing

until after the accident investigation has been done,

which, you know, could be a while.

Is it the tow yard on Ashland, by any chance?

Yeah, why?

Oh, we know the guy who runs the place.

Yeah, he helped us get a little girl's doll

after a car accident last year.

Any chance you guys would be down to go with me after work,

see if we can talk our way in?

Yeah, I'm down. Let's go.

Oh, actually, I have this kendo class.

It's, um, you know, Japanese stick fighting.

Japanese stick fighting?

Yeah, I've been trying to get in

with this instructor for months.

But you guys,

let me know what you find out.

Terry, thanks for stopping by on such short notice.

Of course.

I wanna talk about protocol going forward

now that Shauna is awake.

I am taking Isaiah to Cleveland tomorrow.

What?

Is that not okay for some reason?

No, no, no, it's not that.

I actually have an update for you.

About Shauna's condition?

No, no, no, she's she's doing very well.

Good.

But through a facilitator, she contacted a friend.

Okay, a woman Isaiah's known as a young boy.

Shauna wants this woman-- her name is Lydia Givens--

to care for Isaiah until she can do so herself.

What?

But we are his foster parents.

Well, Shauna just hasn't met us yet.

So once she does, she'll see what great care

we're taking of him.

And I've been told she's very aware of that

and is extremely grateful.

Now, the issue is that Ms. Givens has already

agreed to move to Cleveland so that Isaiah

can be near his mom as she continues to recover.

But what about Isaiah?

Isn't what he wants important?

Yes, it's very important-- to Shauna, to all of us.

Now, if you're okay with it,

I'd like to bring Lydia over tomorrow

so Isaiah can see her

and they can have a conversation about all of this.

Now, no decisions will be made until then.

Okay.

Yes.

Of course.

All right.

No more gag order.

The union is free to release the hounds on the press.

You want us to attack the press?

No.

No, I want you to tell every media outlet

you know what's going on.

Well, he's not wrong.

The expression "release the hounds" does mean--

all right, the point is,

is that we can get you all the details

that you want on the termination threat.

And this guy, despite the pretty mug,

is the ultimate hard-working smoke eater.

He has been taking care of this city for decades.

All right? He just got his bugles to boot.

I know.

We'll do the best we can,

but I don't know if this is gonna work.

Is it public even listening to these firings

and layoff stories anymore?

Or has everyone just gone numb?

- Tomorrow? - Yeah.

And I knew that things were gonna move fast when Shauna

woke up, but not like this.

All right, let's--

let's not get crazy over this just yet.

We don't even know if Isaiah remembers this woman.

And if he doesn't or doesn't wanna go with her,

I doubt that Shauna's gonna make a push for it.

Yeah, I think that's true.

And we can promise Shauna that we will get Isaiah

to Cleveland regularly, right?

Whenever we're not on shift? - Of course.

Okay.

What's up?

OFI pulled the files I asked for.

It's all the cases that have similar MOs, ignition source.

Cruz is gonna help me go through them.

You need help?

No, I think we're good for now, but thanks.

And hey, Stella, we'll figure this out.

What time does that kendo class start anyway?

2:00.

But I have to get a couple of hours of rest beforehand.

Otherwise, I'm gonna get my ass kicked.

Sensei Misiorowski does not mess around.

Hmm.

- What, why? - Uh, nothing.

It's just, um...

I thought I was catching some sort of vibe

when we were talking to Vasquez.

Does it--it doesn't bother you, right, that I'm going

to the tow yard with him?

What? No, no.

Why would that bother me?

Just, if you have feelings for him or something?

No, I don't.

No, I mean, okay, do I think he's nice to look at?

I am a straight female, so yes, I do.

But no, no, it is-- it is not like that at all.

- Okay. - Wait, why?

Do you have feelings for him?

No, no, absolutely not.

I've had enough drama in the firehouse

for an entire lifetime. Never again.

He probably has a girlfriend anyway.

What the hell do we know? - Yeah, you're totally right.

We don't know anything.

I am sorry I didn't get that shift report done.

I will have it to you by end of day.

That is a promise.

I just gotta get home and handle this Isaiah situation.

Understood.

Well, hopefully by then we'll get some kind of bite

from the press.

I mean, you heard any rumblings, Mouch?

Not a thing.

And Ellis put out word to all the contacts he has.

Nothing from the mayor's office, either,

which means Annette hasn't got wind of our efforts yet.

Fiscal quarter is over in two days.

All those personnel decisions, they'll be done by then.

My fate will be sealed soon enough, one way or the other.

Okay, here's one, a staircase fire,

combo accelerant of gasoline and ali--

ali--aliphactate?

Aliphatic hydrocarbon?

That's paint thinner. It's probably not our guy.

I really appreciate you helping out here, Cruz.

Oh, don't mention it.

Chloe's always saying I gotta read more anyway.

You know, you can't help but wonder

how many arsons could be prevented if these people

just had a hobby.

Pathology is usually a little bit more complicated than that.

I mean, I'm just saying, go fishing every once in a while,

then maybe burning down something

won't be as important anymore.

Whoa, Kelly. - What?

I got an unsolved arson case here from 2005.

Same MO,

combo slurry of gasoline and kerosene.

OFI run any leads on it?

They did.

And look who's on the suspect list.

PD has to see this.

Kevin Moore's done this before.

That file proves it.

You're not supposed to be working on this.

Frankly, I shouldn't even be talking to you.

20 years ago, he set a fire using the exact same accelerant

as the Cole fire.

The target? His girlfriend's house.

Right after she broke up with him.

That's a pattern.

He retaliates when he feels wronged.

Why wasn't he charged before?

He had an alibi, the ex-girlfriend.

Wait a minute, his alibi was the girlfriend

whose house just burnt down?

- Yeah. - Okay.

Well, maybe that's a pattern as well.

'Cause I got this feeling

whenever I interviewed Sheila Moore

about Kevin's alibi for the Cole fire,

man, she did not seem happy.

If you're thinking we can flip Sheila Moore,

you should know I went at her pretty hard.

She didn't break.

Now we got an ace up our sleeve, the ex-girlfriend.

From 20 years ago?

I'm not looking to reopen the case.

I say we take Gina to meet Sheila Moore.

Once the ex-wife meets the ex-girlfriend,

I say Sheila has a change of heart.

- Thanks again for doing this. - Yeah.

Not sure that guy would have let me in on my own.

Oh, yeah, Gomes was born surly.

So what's your plan, exactly?

Well, I'm gonna start with the passenger side

airbag first, see if that can give us any insight

into what might have caused the faulty deployment.

Uh-huh.

Hey, can you give me a hand, actually?

Yeah, sure. Where do you want me?

Driver's side.

All right.

All right.

Okay, if you can just hold this while I undo the screws,

that'd be great. - Yeah, yeah.

- Oh. - Okay.

Maybe use both hands, actually.

Mm-hmm, will do, Vasquez.

Okay.

Sorry, just two more screws, I promise.

That's fine.

- Okay. - Okay.

You can just set that down anywhere.

Yeah, you got it.

Did your dad teach you about cars?

Not exactly.

I mean, my dad's a huge gearhead,

but, you know, the garage was always his space.

I guess it did rub off on me anyway.

Yeah, I can tell.

Okay.

Where is this thing?

Got it.

All right.

- Okay, this is weird. - What?

This is supposed to be neoprene coated nylon,

but this is...

I mean, I wouldn't buy a backpack made out of

whatever material this is.

Yeah, the stitching's all jagged too.

Yeah.

This airbag is a counterfeit.

Shady repair shops, they sometimes

install these cheap knockoffs, you know,

figuring nobody will know the difference.

Until someone gets in an accident.

Exactly.

These things can actually cause

more damage than the actual crash.

I read an article about a counterfeit airbag

blasting shrapnel on a driver, killed him instantly.

Damn.

Yeah.

We need to figure out where these came from.

Okay, I don't know about you, but whenever

I get work done on my car, all the receipts

end up in the same place.

How much you wanna bet the name of that shady body shop

is in one of these?

I'm glad you liked her when you were little.

That's good.

Yeah, but it's been a long time.

I don't know how it's gonna feel to see her now.

You wanna wait here?

Okay, you got it.

Hi, Stella.

Hi, hi.

Lydia, it's good to meet you.

Same.

I know this is--

oh, my God, Izzy.

Oh, look at you, so big.

Look at this handsome young man.

Oh, and this hair.

Do you remember falling asleep chewing gum, Izzy,

and you woke up with it stuck in all these curls?

Yeah, I remember.

Took us an hour to cut it all out.

I had a bald patch.

Oh, I am so happy to see you, Izzy.

Hey, we found the link, Stella.

I think we've got Moore.

I'm meeting Gerard in an hour at the 21st.

Isaiah's leaving.

What do you mean?

When?

Um, tonight.

How did this happen?

Well, as soon as he saw Lydia,

it was like he was eight years old.

So the bond there is deep.

I thought you told Terry we could take Isaiah

to Cleveland every week?

Hey, this isn't on me.

Look, you weren't here.

You didn't see what I saw.

There's nothing that I could have done to stop this.

I wasn't here because I was working.

You're saying--you think I should have shelved

the arson investigation?

No, I didn't say that.

I am as invested as you are in catching this guy

because you could have died in that fire.

But everything that I am doing here, I'm doing it alone.

When is she picking him up?

The plan is 6:00.

So you and Gerard, pin him fast.

I'm just here for the peace and quiet and the free beer.

Yeah. Trudy kicked you out, huh?

I was driving her crazy, refreshing the news

every few seconds to see if any outlets picked up the story.

Nothing.

You know, it's unbelievable.

Nobody cares about us old-timer firefighters anymore.

How did we get to that?

In China, they care about their elders.

Maybe we should move there.

Yeah, maybe we should.

Do you think they respect their elders in the Caribbean?

It's probably Trudy.

I'll make her sweat a little.

Whoa, the front page of "The Chicago Telegraph."

City Hall turns its back on lifelong first responder.

Wow. This is it, Mouchy.

You think it'll be enough to save Engine 51?

I don't know, but I'll tell you,

it is a great place to start.

Oh, you didn't tell me he was gonna be here.

You ask me to come down here again, fine.

But I'm not trying to get jumped when I'm trying to help.

Oh, I wouldn't worry about him.

I think you have bigger things to worry about.

What's this?

That is a written statement from your ex-wife,

Sheila Moore. She recanted your alibi.

Said she didn't wanna lie to us,

but that apparently you threatened her.

Unbelievable.

Look, the divorce? It's messy.

She's pissed she's not getting the house,

so she's trying to get back at me.

Well, the judge seemed to buy her story

because he signed a warrant

allowing us to seize your phone.

Am I under arrest?

Oh, no, you're free to go.

We just thought we'd bring you back down here,

give you a chance to confess.

Sometimes judges can be a little more

lenient whenever people do.

Then again, he did try to kill a decorated fire captain,

so I wouldn't count on it. - Hmm.

I'm not saying another word without a lawyer.

All right, bring them in.

- I said I'm done talking. - They're not here for you.

They're here to take a statement

from your ex-girlfriend,

Gina Kerr.

And yeah, we know about that fire too.

And that's gonna be bad for you

because this testimony is gonna be

very valuable for the state's attorney.

Come on, Mr. Moore, let's go wait for your attorney

in the bullpen.

Gina.

Now everyone is gonna know what you did.

All you had was a duffel and a backpack when you got here,

and now you're a hoarder.

It's all the shoes you made me buy.

He's turned into a real diva.

Watch out.

Well, I'm all about the gold toilets.

We'll be fine.

Yeah, I figured Kelly wasn't gonna make it.

But hey, I mean,

the police can't close the case without him.

He's gonna be really sad that he missed this,

but we're gonna visit really soon, and like, a lot.

I mean, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland.

How could you stay away?

You can't.

Hey, look.

- Hey. - Hey.

Did you catch the guy?

Yeah, we did.

This guy sucks at "NightCrawl."

But nobody knows fire like Kelly.

Thanks for coming back.

See you soon, bud.

See you soon, Kelly.

Shauna kept writing things down for me to tell you,

then scratching them out.

There aren't words for what you guys did for her boy, for her.

She doesn't need to thank us.

We loved every minute of it.

I'll tell her that.

I'm glad you were here.

Yeah, me too.

I told Pascal that I would give him my--

my shift report by the end of the day,

so I gotta go back to the firehouse.

Yeah, I'll--

It's right there in black and white.

Those counterfeit airbags were definitely installed here.

I don't understand how this could have happened.

I mean, I sourced those airbags

from one of my regular suppliers.

I never would have bought them if I had any kind of suspicion.

We're not here to debate your due diligence procedures.

We just need you to track down every single car

that you installed those in before one of them

kills someone. - Yeah, of course.

I mean, I'll do what I can.

You can see, I don't exactly have a huge operation here, so.

I'm struggling to keep my head above water.

What does that mean?

I'm just saying, a recall's a little complicated,

so it's not gonna happen overnight.

But, I mean, I'll get it done.

We could just come back with an inspector

from the Consumer Protection Division.

Yeah, just put your glorified little chop shop

here out of business.

And you can bet your ass that will happen overnight.

Or you can just choose to do the right thing

and start fixing your mistake now.

Look, I got a cousin who helps me out with paperwork.

I'll get her down here tomorrow first thing,

and we'll start making some calls.

Is that good enough?

No.

I'm gonna need the name of your supplier

so we can contact the NHTSA and get those airbags

off the market for good.

Oh.

Damn.

You left that guy trembling in his boots.

I almost felt bad for him.

It's hard to predict when the inner cop will come out.

Huh.

Hope I didn't freak you out.

No, not at all.

Maybe even the opposite.

Oh, yeah?

Uh, meet you at Molly's?

I gotta go home.

Maybe some other time.

Good night, Vi. - Good night.

There is no way they still let you go.

Not after this article. - Let's hope.

Hey, Chief, you hear anything from your pal at City Hall?

Not a word. How's Severide doing?

The arrest give him any kind of peace of mind?

Yeah, some.

But peace of mind for Severide isn't gonna come

until Van Meter shows signs of recovery.

- Yeah. - Guys.

Mouch's job is safe.

- Oh! - Oh!

That's great.

Why do you sound like you're delivering a eulogy?

Being transferred to 40 permanently,

starting next shift.

They can't do that.

Unfortunately, they can.

Decision's final.

It's either that or forced retirement.

Damn.

I gotta warn you, sounds to me like Firehouse 51

has a serious enemy down at City Hall.

Goodbye.

Excuse me?

I said good night.

Don't go.