CBS’s Tracker season four, episode three takes the action to Hopper, Texas. A couple argues late at night as they’re driving. The wife finally has enough and leaves her husband, who she suspects of cheating, on the side of the road at 11:30pm. He’s stranded in the middle of nowhere.
(The following is a recap of season four, episode three – “Original Parts” – and there are spoilers.)
Colter (Justin Hartley) flirts with a woman named Jenna Nova (Gillian Bolt) at a repair shop while looking for a bench seat and a used carb for his dad’s truck. He’s been to the shop before, and Jenna’s dad gives him a hard time and tries to sell him one of his inventions. Jenna flirts back, and there’s a solid chemistry between them as she helps him find the carb he needs. She asks him out and Colter agrees pretty quickly.
Just after he’s found the right carb, Randy (Chris Lee) calls with details on the Hopper, Texas case. Apparently, the husband – Logan – hasn’t seen his wife, Britt, since she drove off the previous night. Hopper’s a small town 20 miles north of Amarillo, and Logan and his wife were only passing through.
Colter takes the job for $10,000.
Logan explains that he’d had few drinks after a high school reunion and they had an argument because Britt accused him of having an affair. Logan claims he isn’t cheating. Anyway, Britt threw his phone out and left him on the side of the road. It’s been 12 hours now; she didn’t show up on their home security cameras, and she’s not answering her phone. Her family and friends haven’t heard from her either.
The police aren’t helping him so that’s why he turned to Colter. He has no idea what could have happened to her.
Colter takes Logan with him back to the road where he was left last night. Meanwhile, Randy is trying to track Britt’s phone and the car’s GPS.
Logan’s gone down this road a few times and can’t figure out where she would have gotten off. Colter finds a spot where she could have turned around and then notices a set of tire tracks. Next to the tracks is broken window glass. Colter suspects someone broken it after she pulled over.
He spots boot prints and blood, and Logan wonders why anyone would just be on the side of the road. Colter thinks this unknown person took her.
Randy confirms that her phone’s off and someone took the GPS offline. Its last ping shows she was in town, and Colter and Logan head to her last known location. It turns out to be a pharmacy parking lot where Colter finds her phone. He also finds the GPS fuse. Whoever did this is smart.
Colter and Logan talk to the nearby shop owners and learn that someone broke into the store during the night and disabled the cameras. The thief took oxy, alcohol, and first aid supplies. The shop owner says the cops believe it was a druggie.
Colter calls Randy and asks him to hack into the dashcam of the taco truck that’s parked in front of the shop. It was there overnight and might have caught something. Randy accesses the video and they see Britt and her attacker. They can’t see his face but he’s wearing a shirt from a local land development company.
The company owns property near where Britt was carjacked.
Colter orders Logan to stay put and call the sheriff while he heads to the property.
Britt’s kidnapper is holding her at gunpoint and forcing her to dig in the dirt. She begs for her life, and he orders her to bury a duffle bag. He’s not going to kill her because there’s a man after him and he still needs Britt’s help to escape. He promises he’ll let her go once she helps him with his gunshot wound.
Colter returns to where Britt was taken and scans the area. A quick search away from the road reveals more bloodspots. He finds a truck with the window busted and a dead man inside. A second man is lying dead nearby.
There’s another truck there and Colter snaps a picture of a photo on the dashboard. The truck’s tailgate is open, and he finds bags of drugs hidden in brown bags. Colter informs the cops what he’s found and they show up, but the sheriff isn’t happy he’s butted into their business. The sheriff softens a bit when Colter lays out his theory of how Britt was kidnapped.
Colter suggests that the kidnapper probably took a bag of money and is likely being pursued by someone. That unknown person is probably the one who shot the men at this scene with a rifle. It appears this was an exchange spot and a guy with a rifle was waiting on a small hill nearby to make his move.
Colter shows the sheriff the photo he saw on the dashboard and suggests the man works on this land and is the one who took Britt, since he’s not among the victims. The sheriff asks one of his deputies for an employee list of the company the kidnapper works for and promises to get it to Colter if they find anything.
Meanwhile, Britt’s tied to her kidnapper, who’s asleep on the bed. She moves and he jerks awake.
Randy informs Colter that the man in the photo is Cyrus Trotzig. Cyrus has a lengthy rap sheet, including assault with a deadly weapon. Randy sends Colter a pin to a property owned by Cyrus’ uncle. Colter approaches the house in the middle of nowhere, gun drawn. The door’s unlocked and he looks around but doesn’t see anyone. He exits and spots another house nearby, with Britt’s truck parked outside.
Britt continues to plead with her kidnapper, Cyrus, but he refuses to let her go.
Colter approaches the door and shots ring out. Cyrus grabs Britt, continues shooting, and then opens the door. Colter’s taking aim but he’s beat to the punch when three shots ring out and Cyrus goes down.
Colter sees the deputy who was supposed to be looking up the employee list right outside the door. EMTs arrive and thankfully Britt’s okay. Logan arrives, relieved to have his wife back.
The sheriff confirms the feds are on the way. A bag of money’s still missing and Colter reveals Britt says it’s in the desert.
Logan hands Colter a check and Colter makes him promise there won’t be any more car fights. The deputy who shot Cyrus volunteers to give Britt and Logan a ride back to town since their vehicle is evidence.
Colter’s spidey senses tingle and he quickly calls Randy to track the deputy’s SUV. He’s pieced together that identical items were left by the man who shot up the exchange and here outside Cyrus’ uncle’s house. Colter thinks the deputy is the shooter and is taking Britt to retrieve the money.
Randy tracks Logan’s phone and sends Colter the info. Colter drives off, following it until it stops. Logan finds the deputy’s vehicle and an injured Logan who says the deputy took Britt up the hill. Colter races in that direction.
Britt leads the deputy to the bag’s location and then runs off. He shoots her as she’s fleeing, but she’s still alive. Colter comes under fire as he’s running up a hill with nowhere to hide. He falls and fakes being hit. He surprises the deputy, shoots him, and then places him in handcuffs.
Colter speaks with the sheriff and it’s obvious he had no idea what the deputy was up to. The sheriff promises to investigate the entire department in case there are other rotten apples.
Reenie (Fiona Rene) runs into Adam (Michael Malarkey), the man she used to date who’s now working as an investigator for Maxine. She’s not impressed with him and wants to end the conversation, but he asks her to give him another chance. Reenie tells him they’re going to keep things strictly professional.
