The second episode of 'Reacher' Season 4, titled "Cage Fight," sees Jack Reacher, Philadelphia detective Tamara Green, and small-town cop Jacob Merrick waking up in cages, tranquilized and held captive. Reacher quickly deduces their captors are likely from the CIA, who are interrogating them about a flash drive Reacher claims he does not possess.
Escape and New Allies
Reacher incapacitates his interrogators and uses a scissor jack to pry open the cage bars. Green and Merrick are able to escape, with both law enforcement officers seemingly willing to overlook Reacher's methods. Merrick is motivated by the mysterious circumstances surrounding his sister Anna's supposed suicide on a subway, while Green was forcibly taken from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. They are joined by Russell Plum, a freelance investigator who was observing the facility and claims to be "gonna blow the lid off this thing." Plum arrives in his Ford minivan to extract the group from pursuing CIA agents.
The team visits Anna Merrick's ransacked home, where they find a cat. Reacher then heads to the National Mall to meet with Congressman John Sampson, using a note that hints at a woman mentioning Sampson's name before she died. He meets Sampson's wife, Elspeth Sampson, and head of security, Springfield. Elspeth insists her husband has no secrets.
Investigating Anna Merrick's Death
Reacher and Green travel to Philadelphia to question fraternity brothers of Anna's nephew, Ben, who has also been missing. A lead takes them to an apartment where they find a young woman dead, having been tortured. Reacher notes that the killers were not amateurs and suggests they are a different group than the federal agents who initially captured them.
The investigation suggests Anna's son, Ben, was abducted, making her subway suicide even more questionable. Reacher suspects the motive might be the contents of the flash drive.
Congressman Sampson and a New Lead
Reacher confronts Congressman Sampson again, who denies any involvement and offers to take a DNA test to disprove suspicions of fathering a child in Indonesia. Sampson also states he knows nothing about the CIA abducting American citizens on U.S. soil, especially not police officers.
While Reacher begins to doubt Sampson's involvement, he spots Sampson's chief of staff, Nolan Cahill, who Reacher recognizes as being on the subway the night Anna Merrick died. This revelation shifts the focus of the investigation, indicating Cahill's potential connection to the events surrounding Anna's death and the missing flash drive.