A dad burns dinner, filling the house with smoke as his two sons joke about his cooking as the season four premiere of CBS’s Tracker opens. The dad receives an urgent text and claims he needs to take care of something for work, promising his boys he’ll be back soon.
2:32am arrives and the oldest son is still awake, worried his dad hasn’t returned. He watches over his kid brother like a hawk and then texts his dad, wondering where he is.
(The following is a recap of season four, episode one – “Safe Harbor” – and there are spoilers.)
Colter’s alarm goes off and after cooking breakfast and cleaning his weapon, he picks up the journal and turns to an earmarked page. The bottom of the page reads, “Whose car was it?”
Randy (Chris Lee) calls while Colter’s jogging and says Sean, a construction worker and single dad from San Pedro, has gone missing. His brother, Charlie, wants Colter’s help but doesn’t have much money.
When Colter (Justin Hartley) arrives at Sean’s house, he learns Charlie (Christopher Convery) is actually Sean’s 15-year-old son who lied because he didn’t think Colter would take a job from a kid. Charlie can’t call the cops because they’ve been reported to Child Protective Services before when his dad had to work and left Hank alone. His mom’s dead and he doesn’t have any close family or friends to turn to.
Colter learns that Sean definitely didn’t go into work when he received the text. Sean’s never left them like this before and never lied about going to work. Colter agrees to take on the job, though it’s obvious he won’t get paid much.
Randy (Chris Lee) is shocked that Charlie’s a kid and checks Sean’s texts and learns he was texting with Bern Maddox about money. Bern did five years for extortion and assault, and he’s parked outside Longshore Welding and Steel right now.
Meanwhile, Reenie (Fiona Rene) is settling into temporary offices after her landlord sold their old building. She and Maxine (Kathleen Robertson) walk and talk, discussing a new case they’re collaborating on. It’s a giant case with tons of money, and the target will be playing dirty.
Reenie was dating a doctor, but he was too boring, so she’s officially dating again. Maxine reveals their private instigator, Adam, has been asking about her. Apparently, he and Reenie have a history, and Reenie isn’t interested.
Colter arrives at the welding shop and a worker, Daryl, says Bern’s off today and not there. It’s obvious he’s lying, and Colter watches as Daryl walks to the back of the shop. Colter follows him and of course Bern’s there, working. He asks about Sean, and Bern sends Daryl away before confessing he sold Sean a gun to protect his girlfriend. Sean’s girlfriend was waiting in the car, but Bern doesn’t know why they needed a weapon.
Colter spots Charlie’s bike as he walks away and it turns out Charlie followed him after hearing him on the phone mentioning where he was heading. Colter assures Charlie he’ll try to get his dad back safe and needs him to go to school and let him work. Charlie confirms his dad has a girlfriend named Stephanie Rodriguez, who is a supervisor at the Port, but his dad doesn’t talk about her.
Randy looks up info on Stephanie and learns her phone is in Vista Del Oro, which is Colter’s next stop. Colter finds her phone inside Sean’s car, along with a notebook that has Hank’s name on it. The car’s parked in front of a house with a broken window, and Colter breaks in, gun drawn. There are blood smears on the floor, and he finds a dead body in a pool of blood.
The police arrive and confirm the dead man is Brent Russo, a gate clerk at the Port and Stephanie’s ex. There’s evidence of a fight and Detective Bill Kao (West Liang) believes Sean and Brent fought and then Brent killed him. Colter disagrees and says a fourth person was already in the house and attacked Stephanie and Sean after killing Brent. The unknown person knocked out Sean and then dragged him to a door. He was probably able to carry Stephanie outside, but Sean was too heavy. Kao doesn’t dismiss the possibility, but it’s just as likely that Sean killed Brent. Either way, the killer needs to be found.
Colter calls Reenie and informs her that whoever killed Brent has Stephanie and Sean. She’s worried the boys will be put in protective custody, so Colter needs to figure this out quickly. Colter has her look into Brent Russo.
He continues to follow the blood trail out into an alley and spots a gas station camera right above where the blood stops. The clerk’s busy playing a game on her phone but will let him look at the footage for $50. The footage clearly shows Sean being dragged into a van and Stephanie being pushed inside. He sends a screenshot to Randy and Randy discovers it’s registered to Cabrillo Transport at the Port.
Sean (Derek Phillips) comes to next to Stephanie, who’s tied up in a chair. They’re in a cold storage locker and the men who took them knock Sean out again. He needs info from Stephanie.
Reenie speaks with Rick, asking for answers on why Brent has an open federal investigation. Rick doesn’t want to say, but when Reenie says a single dad with two kids is missing, Rick gives in.
Colter watches Cabrillo Transport from a hidden location nearby. He makes his move and climbs onto the back of a semi and hides as it goes past security. Colter gets inside the warehouse and discovers a suspicious zip tie on the floor. He hides when a man comes out of a door and locks it behind him. Unfortunately, the man hears him and a fight breaks out. Colter knocks him out and takes his gun and keys.
Colter finds Sean still bloody and tied up, but apparently the men took Stephanie away about half an hour ago. Colter fights his way past more men as they make their escape. Sean’s in bad shape and they take a quick break before making it out of the warehouse.
It turns out Brent was pressuring Stephanie to make a shipping container disappear. Brent couldn’t do it himself because Stephanie has access to the computer system, but he didn’t. These men came after Stephanie to force her to delete the container’s records. Stephanie refused to go to the cops, and Sean tried to set up a meeting with the men. But they killed Brent and now they’ve got Stephanie.
Reenie calls with news that Brent had ties to Russian organized crime led by a guy named Archer. She’s learned that Archer’s a human trafficker who uses “ghost” containers to ship people. Colter asks Sean to take him to the control room that Stephanie would use to update containers. Reenie’s going to call the cops and also tell Rick what’s going down.
It was the middle of the day when Colter entered the warehouse, but it’s pitch black outside as Archer walks Stephanie into the building and past the security guard. Archer threatens one of Stephanie’s co-workers just as Colter and Sean tell the security guard that Stephanie was kidnapped and is probably inside with the man who took her.
The security guard calls it in as Colter finds Stephanie’s co-worker barely breathing. Colter has Sean stay with the man to apply pressure on a wound as he takes off to find Stephanie. Archer is keeping her alive so he can get back past security.
Colter spots Archer and his men with Stephanie near all the containers. He creates a distraction and takes down two well-armed men after brief fights. Colter comes under gunfire and shoots back, killing another of Archer’s men. Now it’s just Archer and Stephanie, and Colter kills him with Stephanie’s help.
Colter hears banging inside a container and opens it, setting free dozens of men, women, and children.
Detective Kao arrives and needs a full breakdown from Colter on what happened. He confirms the feds are searching for the rest of the Russian crew and that the people being trafficked thought they were brought here for work. Kao thanks Colter and acknowledges that he owes him a favor.
EMTs check out Sean and Stephanie before Colter takes them back to Sean’s house. Sean is grateful Charlie took care of Hank and called Colter for help. The boys are thrilled to finally meet Stephanie, and Sean is incredibly proud of Charlie.
Colter and Charlie have a brief moment alone, and Colter compliments Charlie’s instincts. Charlie asks what he owes him, and Colter makes him a deal. Charlie needs to stay in school and when he graduates, he can look Colter up. They’ll settle up then.
Season four’s premiere ends with Randy calling Colter about his next job.
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