A Vietnam veteran, whom Thomas distantly knows from a mission they both served on during the war, hires him to supposedly find his missing girlfriend. But unbeknown to Thomas, the man actually has an ulterior motive, and is using him to track down an old adversary with whom he has an old score to settle over the death of an Army buddy...

Although he's nearly mowed down by a private plane that crashes into the estate's tidal pool, Thomas befriends the pilot, Sam Hunter, who was delivering the plane to its new owner, Mr. Sato; both men have an inkling that they've met before but can't seem to remember where or when, and Thomas has a nagging feeling that he owes Sam one, even though he can't place his finger on why; after Higgins and Thomas are shot at when they catch someone snooping around the plane, Thomas searches through the wreckage and discovers that the crash was caused by sabotage; Sam returns to Texas for his son's birthday, and attempts to reconcile with his ex-wife; after Thomas lets him know about the sabotage and that an investigation into Sato's background reveals that he's a major cocaine importer, Sam takes to the air to track down Sato and Nick, the coworker he suspects of causing the plane crash; a bit of fancy flying later, Sam forces the plane carrying Nick, Sato, and a cargo of cocaine to land right in