C.O.D.

Harold Finch: "Who knows what he'd be willing to do to get his family back?"

Or, more likely considering the guy's personality, given what John has seen and heard of him so far: in which dangerous situation he doesn't have the heart to extricate himself from is he going to land himself? Fermin isn't the kind who can do cold-blooded crimes, he's a hard worker, one who would let himself be used again and again and still try to make it work.

Rafael Acosta: "Here you are, man. Just, uh, toma. Take that. Good luck, Fermie, okay?"

Not pulling all the stops to help Ordonez get his family back, but still helping. A bit more money, pocket change for a successful baseball player, but much more than Ordonez can make on his own in a day. Could do better, but still a good friend – especially for one he hasn't seen in years.

Irina Kapp: "No address. Just go."

A foreigner – the accent is still thick, even though she is young, so she can't have been in the country for long, maybe she just arrived – who has no address for the taxi driver but knows exactly where to go – even though she shouldn't know New York that well. Sounds about as suspicious as you'd think. Especially with the presence of the Secret Service sniffing around. John doesn't like where this is going, at all.

Fermin Ordonez: "Listen, I'm having a pretty lousy day, okay? You mind, uh, just getting out?"

So polite. This man really can't be the bad guy, it's obvious. He's barely abrasive, despite everything happening to him – and he's not just hiding it, he's honest about it, it's just that Ordonez can't seem to muster any kind of aggression towards people.

Fermin Ordonez: "I sold it... to a friend for money. Look, I never do that, but- I drive him around all day and then he stiffed me on the tab."

He doesn't need to justify himself – John already knows the situation, and he knows that in dire circumstances most people would do things they usually don't. Some crosses lines they wouldn't on a normal day, and others... don't, but everyone goes further than usual when desperate or in a rage. John never crossed the lines he put for himself, on those days... but he came close to much more often. Fermin's actions are pretty mild on that plane, actually.

Fermin Ordonez: "I sold him the laptop. I got him killed."

True, but wrong: the Estonian mafia is the first culprit, then the Russian hacker. Fermin only comes third, there, and even so, if Aziz often sells dubious goods, well. He put himself in a situation that could go wrong at some point. Because responsibility is shared, does not mean that everyone responsible has the same degree of responsibility. Fermin put his friend in danger, but his friend did that to himself too, and neither of them is the murderer.

Fermin Ordonez: "I thought baseball, this country, was gonna make me rich, but this game... you know, it lies to you. And once you got injured, it was over. You can't play, you can't make money. You become a nobody."

John was never that good, so it's not like he knows exactly what Fermin is talking about. But he played when he was a teen, until he got lightly injured in high school. The injury got better, he bears no damage from it... but other things kept him away from the game. He stopped when he was injured, and never went back to it.

Harold Finch: "He says you look like a fed."

He can't even deny that. Though people generally think of the FBI when talking about the "feds", the CIA is technically a federal agency. And having been burned doesn't change the fact that it's part of his professional history.

John Reese: "I wouldn't do that, fellas."

Don't touch the dog.

Lionel Fusco: "Nah, it's- it's nothing. Don't worry about it. Everything's fine."

Everything isn't fine. And considering who Lionel is, it's very much not fine. John took him as an asset for two reasons: one, Lionel is good at keeping a low profile, at being discreet and managing his lies to protect what he considers important – but he won't lie for the sake of it – and two, the detective functions more on loyalty than ambition or personal gain, despite what he might tell you, and that means he can be trusted if you show him some consideration – and for all that John basically bullied him into working for them, he also made sure to keep him safe whenever possible, to show him they weren't acting only for themselves, but for everyone, Lionel included. And all that? It means that if something is wrong with Lionel, either he's protecting someone who needs help but can't ask, or he's protecting John and Finch and Carter because he thinks they have enough on their plates already. John invested too much time – and has started reaping the benefits of that investment, because he can see how Lionel is on a better path now that he has been given a new chance – to just let the detective lie to them and put himself back into a situation he won't manage to extricate himself from again. So yes, he is worrying – about the consequences to their work, about the danger whatever is happening might put others into, about Lionel's tendency to land himself in dangerous waters without back-up and not say a thing about it.

John Reese: "What's going on with Lionel?"

The detective proved himself enough. He deserves help – and stopping whatever it is? It might salvage more than just Lionel's hard work at being a better cop and asset.