S012E12 - “School for Assassins” - Plot

Act One

One man (Gary Lockwood) handcuffs another, Jonathan Dempsey, to a car. He takes Dempsey's clothes, eventually passing a security checkpoint as Dempsey. The man walks the grounds with other people, breaking away from the group when he ties his shoe. On a lanai, the man cuts into a glass door, unlocking it from the inside. Now inside the house, the man makes his way to a specific room bypassing electric eyes and security cameras. Breaking into the room with, the man behind the desk (Lloyd Bochner) looks at his watch, "twenty-two minutes, 14 seconds. Not bad. Congratulations, Kelsey".

The next morning Kelsey and the 'Colonel' walk the grounds. The Colonel believes the "art of assassination" belongs in the realm of professionals, not amateurs. The Colonel introduces Kelsey to the other graduate students: Ross (Bernard Ching), Chang (Phil Chong), Phil (Steve Cassidy) and Idra (Lynne Ellen Hollinger). They will be training for a "particular mission" including infiltrating Ellington House.

McGarrett briefs the team on the house and the surrounding grounds. "This estate up on Nu'uanu Pali is owned by John J. Ellington III (Monte Markham), the present head of Ellingco Oil". Ellington is going to meet with Sheik Ahmed Bishara (Muri Manghnani), thus the briefing. While the agenda is "classified," America's foreign energy source for the next decade could easily depend on the outcome of this meeting". There are public tours of the estate that will continue so as not to bring attention to anything out of the ordinary. McGarrett orders 24-hour surveillance on the property. According to the intelligence, Ellington is the target for abduction or assassination and he's on his way.

Ellington is in the 'Sunset Lounge' at San Francisco Airport discussing business with his assistant Phil Nelson (David P. O'Malley). They conclude their conversation as a young woman (Pamela Susan Shoop) walks in wanting to sit down for a minute, as she feels faint. Ellington takes care of her and they introduce themselves, the woman is Jennifer Fair. She has a week off from work and wants to try surfing on "little baby waves" at Waikiki. Feeling better, she goes outside to make a call to Honolulu.

At the Colonel's house, his students continue their training. The Colonel tells them their target is en route.

Act Two

A public tour ends near the road of Ellington House. Truck is parked across the street, taking pictures of his own. McGarrett drives up and Truck recognizes a tourist from that morning. Instead of getting on the bus, he gets into a car and they tail the car but the bus moves in the way. They scour the neighborhood when McGarrett spots an older lady (Miss Dorothy Mackaill) looking through a telescope. McGarrett goes talk to her with the pictures Truck took. She expects McGarrett to be there to arrest her for being a peeping tom. She knows a lot about what's going on in the neighborhood. She recognizes the man from the tour, "the wall climber" she calls him.

McGarrett visits the Colonel showing him a picture of the same man. The Colonel denies knowing him. McGarrett isn't buying it, "that's right, over your wall. Several times, Mr. Avery". McGarrett notices the security protocols in place and Avery claims it's because of his jade collection. McGarrett admires a piece before leaving. Once he leaves, Kelsey warns if he has to go up against McGarrett, "then one of us will die".

In McGarrett's office, Truck briefs the tourist, Chang, was involved in the assassination of a Malaysian diplomat in Hong Kong. McGarrett now knows Avery was lying. McGarrett wants them right where they are and quashes an idea by Kimo to get a warrant to clean the place out. Luana buzzes in with Ellington's ETA to Honolulu. McGarrett sends Kimo to snoop around Avery's place but warns him to not get caught, otherwise it's egg on everyone's faces.

Ellington is given a police escort to the House. Kelsey and Ross spy the limousine driving through the gate with two HPD units on the road as two officers man the gate. Ellington and McGarrett go inside as a little Honda pulls up. It's allowed entry and turns out to be a friend of Ellington's, Ted Morley (Christopher Law). McGarrett was looking to electronic bugs as Truck escorted Ted in. McGarrett continues searching, finally finding one. McGarrett stresses to Ellington not everyone is friendly and someone is willing to commit murder to ensure his mission fails. Ted's confused as McGarrett smashes the bug.

At Avery's place, he gathers his team. Avery is willing to use Ted to find out how much time they have before Ellington's visitor arrives. Outside, Kimo pretends to be doing electrical work before snooping. He sees a light blue van drive off and finds the shooting range. Inside, he looks for clues but makes his presence known to the guards sneaking into Avery's office. Kimo finds a book but can't look at it long because a guard walks in. They fight before Kimo makes a run for it. It doesn't take long before people are on him, shooting along the way. Kimo runs into a dead end with a small river below a cliff. Kimo dives for it, hoping for the best.

Act Three

Ted keeps Ellington company as the police keep up their guard of the estate. Ellington is going stir crazy and Ted suggests they trade places for a couple of hours. Ellington takes him up on it, driving Ted's car off the estate. Kelsey spies the Honda leaving and radios his team. Kelsey meets up with the van.

Jennifer is having pretty good luck with the waves of Waikiki. Ellington finds her as she comes ashore needing to get the rented surfboard back in a few minutes. Kelsey follows them on the beach.

Meantime, Kimo finds a lift with a man in a pickup truck. Truck hassles Kimo about being all wet while Kimo is focused on finding McGarrett. He's at the airport because Bishara's plane is late. When they go to use the phone, Truck has a hissy fit because Ellington is gone and his friend Ted is still there. Ted tells them Ellington went to Waikiki. Kimo calls McGarrett with the news as Duke runs up behind him to report that Bishara's flight is coming in. McGarrett wants beach patrol involved with every available man on it. He and Duke run to Bishara's plane.

Oblivious to all the commotion, Ellington focuses on Jennifer as they have an early dinner at the Halekulani. She mentions her hotel issues and Ellington offers to help her out. She's okay; she can call the manager after 6 p.m. to see if anything has opened at the Waikiki Plaza. He lends her a dime to make the call since it's after 6 p.m. As Jennifer leaves, Kelsey makes his move on Ellington lying that Jennifer has passed out. Once in the alley, Ross tries to chloroform Ellington. Returning from her call, Jennifer sees the ruckus, running to investigate. Kelsey and Ross carry Ellington to the waiting van as Jennifer yells. Kimo and Truck arrive, hearing her yelling and they follow. Jennifer fights them off enough for Ellington to get free but she's thrown against a cargo truck for her trouble. Idra screams for them to "leave him" and they jump into the van to take off. Kimo and Truck help Ellington and Jennifer but are unable to stop the van.

Act Four

Bishara is given a police escort to Ellington House for his top-secret meetings. McGarrett is certain Ellington isn't there and is pleasantly surprised when he greets Bishara. He doesn't know how they pulled it off, but McGarrett is grateful to Kimo and Truck. Truck says it was "dumb luck" and if it hadn't been for Jennifer, Ellington would have been taken. While they didn't get a look at everybody, Kimo recognized the van as being at Avery's. Inside, Kimo introduces McGarrett and Jennifer. When Ellington walks in, McGarrett gets down to business. Bishara is staying in the west wing of the House. McGarrett puts Kimo in charge of the east wing and they begin a walk through together. McGarrett assigns Truck to the front gate. Meanwhile, Ellington and Jennifer are off to find coffee laced with a bit of brandy!

Avery's team moves out by going through a trap door in the laundry room. Avery and Kelsey are dressed as HPD officers while everyone else is in plain clothes. Their plan begins with Idra driving to Ellington House in a convertible Mercedes. She claims to be "an OPEC security agent". HPD lets her through with Truck intercepting her before the house.

McGarrett studies her ID card and wonders why she didn't contact them first. She says it's because "I don't think your organization has had much experience in these matters. We have". She offers pictures of the van saying two of the terrorists have been spotted. She asks to see Bishara but McGarrett denies her request until her credentials are thoroughly checked. He tells Truck to stay with her.

Avery and Kelsey jump two HPD officers, taking their places. Duke makes a roll call on the radio and they are "Checkpoint Charlie". Idra meantime lets them know Bishara's location on the sly as she taps her watch. The cue for the pair to move comes from a grenade being launched toward Duke and several other officers. No one's hurt but chaos takes over. Grenades are being thrown all over the place outside. When Ellington and Jennifer walk in, Jennifer immediately recognizes Idra from the van. She pulls a gun and shoots Truck in the arm. Trying to maintain crowd control, she tells everyone to stay still but McGarrett comes up behind her and makes her drop the gun. He forces to sit down. McGarrett realizes Bishara is the real target because they didn't kill Ellington when they have now had two chances.

McGarrett runs out toward the west wing. Avery and Kelsey scale the wall to the lanai adjacent to Bishara's room. McGarrett and Kelsey exchange shots with Kelsey getting the short end of things. Avery pulls out a grenade, throwing it into the room but McGarrett throws it back. Venturing outside, McGarrett finds both men dead.

Ellington and Bishara commence their negotiations. Jennifer takes her leave; will she see Ellington again? He seems interested. Ellington offers McGarrett a job but alas, no. Hawaii's top cop is happy where he is.