A Proven Liar

Episode 7 of the FBI: International starts with a steamy moment between Raines and a woman named Maya. Elsewhere, in Barcelona, a perfect engagement is ruined when masked men suddenly pop up out of thin air and kidnap the bride-to-be and the bodyguard of the boyfriend. I guess he will need to wait to hear his answer if his girlfriend makes it out of this ordeal alive.

At the office, Vo and Kellet waste no time teasing Raines about Maya who is the owner of the team’s favorite bar. Raines takes it all in stride and tells them that he is getting serious with her. Finally love is the air for Raines, should we be thanking Cupid? It is still too early to tell.

The team is called in by the Barcelonian police to deal with the case of kidnapping as the lady and bodyguard are Americans. Tiyanna has been working in Spain for a year and dating Brent who owns an American construction company. The team is suspicious that Brent was not kidnapped. Forrester is staying behind as he has been summoned and the team will be heading to Barcelona without him.

In Barcelona, the team is welcomed by Inspector Montoya who is glad for their help. The team start their investigation immediately and try to find the motive for the kidnapping. Kellet and Raines head to the hospital to talk to Brent and get his statement again. He tells them that he didn’t see much as everything happened so fast. He says it is probably his competitors who are after him and begs them to find Tiyanna and Sean.

Vo tries to track witnesses to the kidnapping and a group of people who were attending a wedding were able to capture footage of the kidnapping. The footage shows Brent running for the hills instead of helping Tiyanna as he had claimed. However, that is not a crime, what catches their attention is the writings painted over on the van used in the kidnapping. Raines also finds Brent’s business website suspicious. They think he is a fraud and wonder if he faked the kidnapping too.

Just then, Vo comes in and tells them that Inspector Montoya received a call from Brent’s hotel and a woman was trying to break into his room. Kellet, Vo and Inspector Montoya head to the hotel to interrogate the woman. The woman claims to be his girlfriend and is there to collect the money she loaned Brent. The woman also reveals that she knows that he has been doing this to other women and he used a different surname.

They investigate his other aliases and realize that Brent has been victimizing and defrauding women for years. His real name is Gerald Frederickson and he skipped the country and there is a warrant out for him. For the past two years, Gerald has duped over a dozen women out of two million. Tiyanna, his latest victim comes from a rich background and they think he planned the kidnapping to ask for ransom from her parents.

They bring Brent/ Gerald downtown and interrogate him and he denies kidnapping her. As they grill him, he receives a video message from Tiyanna asking for a ransom of 170,000 euros. The team is torn on whether he is telling the truth or not.

In their continued efforts to investigate, they find the van used in the kidnapping and sadly find Sean’s body. The kidnappers send another video of Tiyanna setting up a meeting for the drop-off in two hours. Raines thinks one of Brent’s victims, Lydia kidnapped Tiyanna

In the middle of the case, Forrester calls Kellet and informs her how things are going on his end. He finds his summon to be strange but is waiting to see what is going on. He asks her about the case and tells her to keep him updated.

Raines and Smitty visit Lydia and learn she tried to commit suicide after learning the truth about Brent. Her father, Roberto didn’t take Brent’s betrayal of his daughter lightly and he is the biggest crime lord in all of Spain. Brent messed with the wrong person!

The kidnappers call Brent again and Kellet tells him that he needs to do as she says to save Tiyanna. Brent says he is not going to risk dying at the hands of a cold mafia for love but he might risk it if they can reduce his sentence. He is definitely a piece of work!

They plan a stint to save Tiyanna but Kellet is not happy that its success lies on Brent’s shoulder. They save Tiyanna but realize too late that the kidnapping was a decoy to get to Brent. Roberto shoots Brent but he was wearing a bulletproof vest so he is not hurt. Roberto tries to shoot him again and is taken out by Raines.

The team informs Tiyanna that Brent is a fraud but she has a hard time believing her prince charming is actually a snake. He also gets to walk away free because of his deal and the fact he got shot while on police watch. Thankfully, Tiyanna decides to report him and he is arrested

After the team gets back, they head over to their favorite bar for some drinks and Raines talks with Maya about the reality of his job. She says she is cool with his job as long as he doesn’t shut her out.

The Episode Review

Men like Gerald exist and it is always on the news how women were conned and it is frustrating the little charges they face for their crimes.

On the other hand, we have good men like Raines who deserve love and for now, it is happening to him. Hopefully, this budding relationship will withstand the test of work emergencies, missing important moments and the constant fear of whether he will make it home. Yep, no love story is easy!