The Shield

As Captain Aceveda is preparing to turn his command over to Claudette, a Strike Team stakeout uncovers a truckload of ammunition headed for the Latin gang, the Byz Lats. After his efforts to track down the source is rebuffed by Aceveda, Vic finds an informant who reveals that stolen military weapons are also being sold to Kern Little's rival gang. However, while Little offers to help nab the renegade soldier, the murder of a bodyguard makes it clear that the Byz Lats are already well armed. Meanwhile, when the bodies of several Armenian gangsters are found missing their feet, Dutch and Claudette suspect fugitive Margos Dezirian. With the killings meant to punish those behind the robbery of the Armenian mob's money laundering operation, U.S. Treasury Agent Willem Quigley tells Dutch and Claudette that the stolen cash -- the same money that Vic and his men took -- was marked in a government investigation. So, when Dutch lets him know of the Armenian mob's bloody search, Vic warns his men to lay low. When a tip leads to the arrest of Armenian hit man Lyor Slavok, even with evidence that he shipped the feet of his victims to his boss in Greece, Dutch cannot persuade Greek authorities to arrest Dezirian. Meanwhile, seeking to gain some political advantage, Aceveda rethinks his departure and asks Danny to come back to the Barn as an informant. When the Strike Team intercepts his shipment of stolen weapons to Kern, the Army ringleader gives Vic the name of the Byz Lat's buyer. Promising Kern that he will get his rival's weapons off the street, Vic asks Aceveda to finance a sting. But when the captain refuses to expedite the request, Vic decides to act alone -- unaware that the money he's using has been marked by the feds. Finally, while Claudette learns that Aceveda has decided to stick around a little longer after co-opting her ideas to improve the Barn, Vic sets out to pull off his sting as Kern strikes back against the Byz Lats. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Barging in on him and his girlfriend, Mara, Vic rounds up Shane for an undercover operation to buy back the cache of automatic weapons that have fallen into the hands of the Byz Lats. While Vic thinks he's fooled the Byz Lats' chief, Garza and his gang turn the tables on the Strike Team and end up with both the money and the guns. As Vic looks for a way to keep his promise to get the guns off the street, the murder of two Latinos implicates the Byz Lats and their new guns. And as Dutch and Claudette interview Estaban, the sympathetic nineteen-year-old witness to the shootings, Vic seeks to use Diagur, a hungry Byz Lat lieutenant, to bring down Garza, retrieve the guns, and recover the Money Train cash. Meanwhile, upon realizing that Aceveda is staying on the job for now, Claudette weighs her sudden demotion against leaving the force When Dutch and Claudette cannot get Estaban to finger Garza, Vic turns up the heat on Diagur, forcing him to negotiate a deal with rival gangster Kern Little. In the wake of an airtight alibi that clears Garza, a reconstruction of the murder scene provides convincing evidence that implicates Estaban. And once Dutch confronts him, he tearfully admits to carrying out the shooting -- at Garza's request. Meanwhile, as Vic takes Shane to task over his relationship with Mara, a difficult arrest has left Julien accused of police brutality. Promised control of the Byz Lat's, Diagur arranges for Garza to be set up for a drug bust. But when Garza refuses to talk, even as he faces a possible death sentence, Vic must then press Diagur for the location of the weapons. And once Diagur persuades Garza to tell him where they are hidden, Vic and his Strike Team are able to replace most of their cash and dispose of the guns, all without involving Aceveda. Finally, with no choice but to cooperate if she's ever going to get promoted, Claudette offers to help Aceveda during his last few months at the Barn. And though Vic tries to make amends, Mara stubbornly refuses his overtures. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

As Shane struggles to hang onto Mara, political posturing forces Vic's Strike Team to share their clubhouse with a new Decoy Squad headed up by Walon Burke. Seeing no alternative, Vic cooperates when paired with Burke in a sting aimed at prostitutes and their customers. However, the operation is disrupted when they step in to save a hooker named Farrah from being beaten by fellow streetwalkers. Meanwhile, as Superintendent of Schools Javier Sanchez is caught in the prostitution sting, Dutch investigates an elderly woman's rape. Though Farrah offers to set up her pimp, Tavon and Shane are unable to catch him. So, claiming that Smooth turned her thirteen-year-old sister into a prostitute, she offers to bring him down herself. With preferential treatment of Sanchez creating problems for Aceveda, Vic wires Farrah for a meeting with Smooth. And even though Smooth gets rough, Vic holds back in order to gather more information. Meanwhile, as Danny helps Julien expose a case of insurance fraud, Shane proposes after learning that Mara is pregnant. And after a tip leads Dutch to Paul Fets, the habitual sex offender confesses to a rape he didn't actually commit. Worried that she's put herself in danger, Farrah wants to tell Smooth the truth, only to have Vic make it clear that she has far more to fear from him. So, when Farrah uses the sting to bait Smooth into an attack, Vic steps in. And with Smooth in jail, Vic tells Farrah to leave town, especially now that he knows she made up the story about her sister. Finally, after being sent home by Dutch, Fets gets himself jailed when he alerts the police as he's about to rape a neighbor. And as David quietly arranges for the press to learn of Sanchez's arrest, Vic discovers he's been used by Farrah to elevate her status with the neighborhood's new pimp. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Strike Team and the Decoy Squad compete. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

A rapist is targeting elderly women. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Officer Tommy Hisk becomes a prime suspect. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Illegal immigrants work in a drug lab. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Vic must help his rivals on the Decoy Team. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

A lynching threatens to ignite a race war. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Aceveda hunts the man who assaulted him. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Vic enlists Danny for an assignment. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The police deal with the Korean community. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Claudette's undercover to stop a porn ring. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The Strike Team's threatened with exposure. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Claudette risks her career. © 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.