The Boost Job - Recap

The New Hampshire police are chasing a Massachusetts school teacher, Paul Mantlo, in a stolen truck. They pull him over and he insists that they're making a mistake, and the truck belongs to him.

Later, Nate bails Paul out and meets him at the bar. Paul explains that he works in landscaping for a second job and bought the truck from Penzer Auto. He had the truck in for repairs and the mechanic checked the VIN number and it came up as stolen. The teacher took off and the mechanic called the police, and Paul panicked. He's been suspended because of the arrest.

Nate means with the team and explains that Penzer registered the stolen car in one state, and states don't compare suspect VIN numbers. When Paul took the truck into New Hampshire, he got picked up there. Hardison checks Penzer's prices and reveals that he sells them at low prices because they're stolen. Parker explains that Penzer probably buys his inventory from a car stealing outfit, and admits she used to be a car thief. Hardison finds a nearby mom-and-pop auto store that they can use, and Sophie arranges for them to receive a lifetime achievement award and a free trip to Hawaii. The elderly couple is eager to take the trip since Penzer is putting them out of business anyway.

At the nearby track in Payden, Penzer is speed-racing in his original car, Veronica, but his assistant, Todd, reveals that someone just beats his times: Nate. Nate is driving Eliot's borrowed car, and Hardison has hacked Todd's tracking system. After he's done, Nate pulls up and insults Penzer, and then offers to race with Penzer's valued racing car as the stake. Sophie is there at Nate's girlfriend. Penzer accepts and Nate meets with Parker and Eliot, who are making sure Eliot's borrowed car is up for the race. Parker has tracked down the local car thief, Lefty, and Nate tells her to find him and make contact. Eliot has rigged the car with an oxygen feed for tripling the speed, and Hardison has rigged up an EMP cannon to knock out Penzer's car. Nate has to get ahead of Penzer and Hardison will then trigger the device by remote.

The race begins and Nate uses the oxygen feed to get ahead of Penzer, and then uses the EMP cannon to stall out his car. Nate then sends Parker and Hardison to find the thieves while he and the others steal some cars.

Penzer returns to his car lot and finds his workers watching TV with only one man, Mr. Carey, there for his weekly look-around. Todd tells him that the mom-and-pop dealership is under new management, Nate's, and he's raffling off Penzer's car. Penzer and Todd go there and discover that Nate is selling cars at incredible prices, and Sophie is unstoppable. Mr. Carey comes in and Sophie seduces him into buying a car, using neurolinguistics. Nate comes out and offers to sell Penzer his car back for twice its value. Eliot then comes in and tells Nate he's getting a call from some Spaniards. Penzer gets an idea and leaves with Todd.

Parker steals Lefty's car and goes with Parker to take it to Lefty's chop shop. As they wait, Parker explains that she learned car thieving from a friend named Kelly, but he left her behind when the cops showed up. Parker spent six months in juvie and never saw Kelly again. Lefty soon comes out.

Penzer meets Sophie afterward and offers to buy her a drink.

Parker asks to join the boost gang, but Lefty isn't impressed that they stole his car. He challenges them to boost a state-of-the-art security system and Parker offers to do it in under two minutes. Lefty agrees to take them on if they can, and kill them if they don't. Parker and Hardison examine the car, and Parker admits that it is impossible to get in. She figures he can pull it off. Hardison uses his phone to send an RF signal and confuses the receiver, opening the door. With fifteen seconds left, Parker uses a backdoor startup sequence and starts the car just in time. Lefty congratulates them and asks a young girl, Shorty, to accompany them as they drive it into his shop.

At Penzer Auto, Penzer gets Sophie a drink and offers her a partnership. In return, he wants to know where Nate is getting his car. Sophie guides Penzer into thinking that Nate sells stolen cars. Eliot then calls the police and reports some Spanish gang members near Penzer's dealership. He then gets out and starts breaking windshields.

Parker drives the car into the chop shop and discovers it's a major industry when typically only a few men work that kind of business. Meanwhile, Shorty scans the car for alarm tracking systems to make sure the police don't home in on it.

Penzer hears the car alarms go off in his lot and goes outside to discover the windshields are broken. Sophie offers to call the police but Penzer tells her not to, and she figures that he's handling stolen cars. Instead, Penzer calls Lefty at the chop shop. Shorty shows them around and Parker realizes that Lefty and his people are running a major operation, including identity theft. Shorty admits that they don't let girls boost cars, and asks Hardison to show her what he did.

Parker tells Nate what they've found, and Nate warns that closing down the shop won't nail Penzer even if the cops somehow caught Lefty. Meanwhile, Lefty tells Penzer they picked up Eliot's anonymous report, and Penzer remembers the Spanish call to Nate earlier. They figure the Salvadorans are branching out from Florida, and if Nate loses a shipment then they'll come after him. Penzer then insists to Sophie he's taking car theft to the next level. She asks to see the operation, and he agrees in return for information on Nate's next shipment. She tells Penzer that Nate is bringing in nine cars at the dock the next morning.

At the chop shop, Parker shows Shorty how to break into a car and tells her to ignore the male mechanics when they taunt her. The girl admits she doesn't know where else she'd go, and admits her real name is Josie Marvin. Parker, touched, gives her her set of tools. Lefty comes out and tells everyone to be ready when the shipment comes in at the docks the next morning. Hardison tells Nate that the hook is set, and he tells them to get some car. Parker and Hardison go to a local golf club and steal nine cars, and Eliot drives them away on a trailer.

That night, Parker tells Shorty not to go to the docks for the boost. She insists she's not a cop, but tells Shorty that they don't care about her and they're not her family. However, Shorty goes to Penzer and Lefty and tells them what Parker said. Penzer figures that it's a set up and tells Lefty to go to the shop early, ambush the delivery, and kill everyone. Shorty is shocked, but Penzer insists that it's business and tells her to grow a pair.

Nate sets up the plan and Parker informs him that Lefty has delayed the pickup for a half hour. Eliot arrives at the docks but finds Lefty and his men waiting for him. He tosses the keys into the air and distracts them, but when he runs outside he's hit by a car and knocked into the water... and doesn't come up. Lefty and his assistant, Kip, scan the cars and make sure they don't have any radio trackers. He leaves some men behind to take care of Parker and Hardison, and then goes to the dealership to take care of Sophie.

Parker and Hardison arrive and realize something is going on. Kip and two of his men come out with guns, and Parker and Hardison duck for cover. They warn Nate, who warns Sophie. Penzer draws a gun on her when she tries to leave, and Nate heads to the dealership to rescue her. Penzer gets a phone call that things have gone wrong and steps out.

Kip and his men corner Parker and Hardison.

When Nate arrives, Penzer captures him as well and tells them to wait until Lefty arrives to dispose of them.

Kip prepares to eliminate Parker and Hardison. They smile as Eliot comes up and takes out two of the men, and Hardison takes down Kip. Shorty arrives to help and Parker takes the wheel to drive to Penzer Auto.

Lefty arrives and Penzer tells him to take Nate and Sophie out and dispose of them and the hot cars on the lots.

As Parker drives, she wonders why Shorty betrayed her. Hardison and Eliot aren't happy to hear that Parker messed them up.

As they get outside, Nate tells Sophie to stall. She kicks him in the knee.

Parker drives through the streets and explains that she drove a getaway car before she became a car thief. Hardison notes that she was 12 when she became a car thief.

As Sophie and Nate argue, all of the stolen car's alarms go off. Penzer sends Lefty inside with Nate and Sophie. The police arrive seconds later and Penzer tries to pass it off. However, the police explain that all of the alarm tracking systems reveal the cars are stolen. Penzer is unaware that Eliot set off the alarms earlier and then used the EMP cannon on them to shut them down for a half hour.

Penzer tries to turn Nate in, but when they go inside, they find an unconscious Lefty with a gun. Eliot and the others arrived, knocked out Lefty and escaped with Nate and Sophie. The police haul Penzer away.

Back at the mom-and-pop dealership, Parker explains that all the stolen cars belonged to cops, and that's why they showed up so quickly. Eliot admits that the EMP cannon zapped his earbud so he couldn't warn them. When Nate wonders what to do about Parker, Sophie tells him to go easy and points out that Parker was actually trying to do the right thing.

Later, Nate gives Paul Penzer's car and suggests he hires some new help. Parker and Nate volunteer Shorty to help him, and Paul agrees to take her on. The team breaks for pizza and Nate notes that Alec transferred the pink slip on Eliot's car to him. Eliot isn't amused.

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