A.K.A. (Jericho episode)

"A.K.A" is the eighteenth episode of season one of the fictional CBS drama Jericho.

Synopsis
Jake Green and Jimmy Taylor break into Robert Hawkins' house, where they discover a slew of fake IDs that cast doubts about the story Hawkins told when he and his family arrived in Jericho. Jake holds Hawkins hostage at gunpoint, handcuffs him, and demands the truth about his involvement with the attacks on the U.S. while Jimmy waits outside for Jake. Hawkins warn Jake though, that once he reveals the truth about everything that Jake will now become part of the situation and that the entire story would have to be revealed.

Hawkins explains to Jake the story behind the attacks. He says he is or was part of a CIA team assembled to recover a stolen shipment of 25 Russian nuclear warheads. The warheads were stolen several years earlier and converted into bombs. This was done by what Hawkins describes as a variety of extremist groups, including "domestic militia, anarchists, and religious fanatics." The groups involved, according to Hawkins, would never have worked together except for one purpose: to take down the federal government of the United States.

During the flashback to when Robert was "recruited out of retirement", it was shown that a man named Victor Miller was the person that made contact with Robert. This is the same man from Walls of Jericho that died of radiation poisoning. It seems that both Hawkins and Victor worked together in the C.I.A.

Hawkins tells Jake that he left his family and went undercover with Sarah as his handler, as part of Project Red Bell (mentioned in the opening Morse Code). He says he spent time in prison in an effort to become part of the group. Hawkins' job with the group was to provide them with fake IDs. He also proves his "loyalty" by killing an FBI informant who was about to disclose Hawkins' true identity. Before he has to kill the informant, Hawkins tells those in charge of the task force that he and Sarah could likely get their hands on a third or half of the bombs. Sarah pushes for more time so they can try to get to all of them. She is seen having a private conversation with the head of the government group, a tall, bald man with a cane (Thomas Valente).

The terrorists learn that the government has contacts in their group and move up the time of the attack. Hawkins is able to contact the CIA with license plates of some of the trucks, and they stop the bomb or bombs destined for New York City. Jake is skeptical about all of this until Hawkins shows him a map made by the Department of Defense showing death and fallout calculations for an attack on 20 American cities. Jericho was chosen as the rally point for the task force if the mission failed because it was away from any fallout zone and has access to an uncontaminated water table, a large salt mine, and lots of farms. He is further convinced when Hawkins shows him the bomb, destined for Columbus, Ohio, now buried under Hawkins' tool shed.

Jake does not tell Jimmy the truth but says that Hawkins can be trusted and that he is FBI. At the end of the episode, Hawkins puts more of the puzzle together, figuring out that the man apparently in charge of the CIA task force, Thomas Valente of the Department of Homeland Security's Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, was also the "boss" that tried to buy the "package" from him in the previous episode. He is also shown in the end to be smiling at Sarah Mason during a conversation possibly revealing Sarah's involvement in the terrorist group.

Meanwhile, Mimi Clark is shown sitting outside the Richmond farmhouse, talking to the chickens. She explains to them why she is about to kill one, and talks herself out of doing it. She returns inside to catch Sean standing in the kitchen in his underwear, eating the last of the sprouts. She confronts Bonnie Richmond, telling her that Sean is "bad news" and not welcome in the house. She is later seen again talking to the chickens, and this time manages to kill one. As she brings it into the kitchen to clean, she has a heart-to-heart talk with Bonnie, telling Bonnie that both she and Stanley are important to her, and she is trying, and asks Bonnie to do the same. She offers Bonnie a hug, but Bonnie declines due to the chicken blood covering Mimi's front.