‘9-1-1: Lone Star’: Carlos’ Search for Iris Takes a Dangerous Turn (RECAP)

Rafael Silva as Carlos in 9-1-1 Lone Star
Spoiler Alert
Jordin Althaus/FOX

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 4 Episode 3, “Cry Wolf.”]

If the latest 9-1-1: Lone Star teaches us anything, it’s that if we’re missing, we want Officer Carlos Reyes (Rafael Silva) heading up the search.

After Iris’ (Lyndsy Fonseca) car was found abandoned, there is a question from the detective on the case of whether she was taken or off her meds — she left them behind — and even about those divorce papers, she has yet to sign. Carlos isn’t too happy when he learns T.K. (Ronen Rubinstein) went to see her and heads into work early.

Carlos goes to the scene of one of the 126’s rescues when the victim — possibly thrown off a cliff by her boyfriend — matches Iris’ description; she turns out to be a sex doll. But it is via a 9-1-1 call that Iris is found, with Grace (Sierra McClain) taking her call. She’s been taken, and her captor is keeping her in a house, Iris says. He’s on a mattress against the door, so she can’t get out of the room. But she does know how long they were driving, and Carlos immediately heads to her likely location. Iris hangs up when her kidnapper wakes, but when Carlos finds her, she’s alone in the room and bleeding from a head wound. As for the man who took her … the neighborhood is on lockdown, and there’s no sign anyone was ever there.

According to Iris, she was at the encampment looking for one of the shelter’s residents when the man approached her and forced her into the car trunk. His hand was burned, she says. He didn’t do anything to her but said she wasn’t ready yet. He looked at her like a painting and had a knife. When he fell asleep, she grabbed his phone, then when he woke up, he slammed her against the wall, and that’s the last thing she remembers. The only problem? There was only one way out of the room, and there was a drone over the neighborhood, and no one was seen exiting the house.

Iris can tell the detective doesn’t believe her and thinks Carlos doesn’t either. He says he does but asks, as her friend, if there’s any chance her mind is playing tricks on her. She’s been taking her meds, she says, and she can still smell him and see his face. But still, it just takes one little thread to make you start to doubt everything, and that’s a place she doesn’t want to be again.

But she’s not. Carlos, telling T.K. he’s staying with Iris, goes to the house where he found her and while searching it, finds a hidden passage. He follows the tunnel to the other end, which opens up in a kitchen … and that’s where he’s hit on the head from behind and knocked out. Given Carlos told T.K. he was staying with Iris — and presumably Iris that he was going home — how long will it take for someone to realize he’s in trouble?

Elsewhere in the episode, Sergeant O’Brien (Neal McDonough) tells Owen (Rob Lowe) that he’s with the Honor Dogs trying to find his nephew, Andy, who got mixed up with them. He just wants to bring Andy home alive versus letting the government arrest him. And so Owen, while meeting with Rose (Amanda Schull), takes a photo of Andy he sees on the FBI’s board and brings it to O’Brien. Was he their source, who is now unreachable? O’Brien talks Owen through sidling up to someone who can get them into the training facility, and once inside, they search the place, finding the location where Andy’s photo was taken and stolen ammonium nitrate.

Owen’s rogue actions lead to the FBI bringing him in, and it’s then that Rose reveals that by the time the FBI raided the facility, all they found were guns. Furthermore, O’Brien might have told Owen he’s not an Honor Dog, but it turns out he’s the founding member, as Rose proves with a photo. He knew that the FBI would raid the place and find nothing, and therefore their star witness (Owen) was discredited before anyone stepped foot in a courtroom. Owen was played.

9-1-1: Lone Star, Tuesdays, 8/7c, FOX