It’s never easy to see an innocent young life caught in the middle of a hard case.
After handling a spy adventure that required a jailbreak, the Fly Team was called to Romania for a missing newborn.
While it looked as if the child met a harsh end, the mystery soon deepened to a surprising connection to a wealthy family.
Meanwhile, Forrester was still trying to help young neighbor Zsolt, whose dad was in some trouble.
In a scene cut from the original broadcast of last week’s episode, Kellett told Forrester that Zsolt’s father had gotten involved with a local mob.
This made Yesterday’s Miracle a tricky case that also set the stage for Forrester’s private investigation.
A surrogate mother goes missing
At Tamasi’s auto repair in Budapest, Forester found Zsolt’s father, Peter (Kristof Wolf), to ask about Zsolt. The man was cold as he warned Forrester to mind his own business.
At a Romanian clinic, a nurse tried to talk to Dennis (Corey Sorenson) and Amy Palmer (Elen Rhys), who ranted about their surrogate changing her mind about giving up the child. Dennis was quite upset, pushing a man away, and was arrested by security.
Forrester met with Zsolt, talking about Tank, and could see the boy was troubled by his father. Forrester saw blood on the boy’s sleeve.
Forrester told Kellett someone beat up Peter and figured the mob was trying to scare the guy. “A 12-year-old kid should never have to answer for his parent’s mistakes,” Forrester said.
The team was called in about the Palmers as it appeared their surrogate, Cosmina Dalca (Andra Nechita), was missing. As technically, the baby was an American citizen, that made it the team’s case.
In Bucharest, Amy admitted she wanted a child of her own but couldn’t have one. They thus used Cosmina to carry their child and paid nearly $200,000 in various fees for this. She couldn’t understand the clinic saying they had no information on Cosmina.
Deputy Chief Hofer (Slavko Sobin) thought the Palmers were using Cosmina and didn’t grasp the pain the women went through with this. Forrester and Vo hoped to get Palmer out of jail, but Hofer insisted he stay for assaulting someone. Dennis was more upset about Cosmina.
The victim, Howard Greyson (Adam Jackson-Smith), wasn’t pressing charges as he speculated Cosmina just decided to keep the child for herself.
Clinic director Felicia Zamfire (Violeta Hais) backed up the theory as she shared the file. She confirmed the girls were paid in cash and was surprised to see Cosmina seemed to have missed a payment.
The team and the cops checked the address of the house, with Hofer brushing off any evidence of a crime. Vo found medication indicating Cosmina had asthma and appeared to have been gone for weeks.
They noted the place was pretty swanky for a teenager from the countryside. They found the medication came from a pharmacy near the train station and headed there.
They found Cosmina about to board a train and quite obviously not pregnant.
Was the baby lost?
Interrogated at the station, Cosmina confessed she’d gone into labor a week ago and lost the child. The Palmers were naturally devastated as they heard it. She was afraid of their reaction, so she ran off after burying the child in a river.
Vo suggested they find anyone who could back up Cosmina’s story, and Raines found records that five different burn numbers had been calling her.
Kellett told Forrester that the Albanians were forcing Peter to use his shop for their operations. He was afraid turning on them not only put his family in danger but would lose his livelihood. Forrester began working on a plan.
Dennis demanded to talk to Cosmina to find out where their baby’s body was for closure. Forrester assured him they were doing all they could to find out.
Vo found evidence that Nadia Balan (Kornelia Strzelecka) had been helping pay for Cosmina’s apartment. Forrester and Vo visited her, seeing Nadia was also pregnant as she claimed to just be helping someone in their unique line of work.
Nadia was carrying her sixth child, seeing it as just another payday. She said Cosmina was troubled, while Nadia handled it better. Hearing about the baby, Nadia claimed Cosmina had called about the sort of oil a newborn would like.
Hofer wanted to cut Cosmina loose, only for Kellett and Raines to crack her phone, showing Cosmina had been talking to none other than Howard Greyson.
It turned out Greyson’s wealth came from his wife, Elizabeth (Sarah Moss), heir to a major British oil family. Elizabeth had been wanting a child for years but could never be fertile. The team worried they may have been a bit too eager for a child.
Forrester and Vo interrogated Cosmina, who said she just wanted to protect Nadia and that the oil was for herself. She tried to play dumb about Greyson and used her ordeal to refuse any questions. Vo said a medical examination could settle this, but Cosmina refused.
As Vo looked for more evidence, Forrester talked to Dennis about taking a break. Dennis admitted he was scared of finding out the truth, but Forrester told him not to give up as Dennis realized Cosmina might have been lying.
It appeared that Howard had been in a drunk driving accident with his nephew, and while the boy survived, the courts ruled this was child endangerment which meant they could never adopt.
The Greysons had transferred money, indicating they bought Cosmina’s child. They never counted on the Palmers spending their life savings and flying to Romania searching for their child.
Smitty headed to the Greysons’ hotel to find they’d already cleaned out. Raines discovered the bottle of oil, which meant the Greysons had the child.
Catching the small miracle
As the Greysons were on the loose, Raines found a video of Zamfir at the hotel. She was selling the baby with Cosmina getting enough money to spread the coverup story and give the Greysons time to get out of the country with the child.
As Forrester and Kellett tried to push Hofer to help, Smitty and Raines found Zamfir, who took off. Smitty quickly chased her, with Zamfir crashing the car. As she was arrested, they found Cosmina had signed over custody to the Greysons, and Zamfir had the cryptocurrency payoff in her pocket.
Vo got a lead on the airfield the Greysons were planning to take off from. They quickly hemmed the plane in with the cops. Forrester boarded it to find the baby, Elizabeth begging not to take it.
The Greysons played it that they were just helping a poor, overwhelmed teenager with the money, and Zamfir had lied to them about Cosmina already agreeing to give the baby to the Palmers.
The team knew this was a lie but couldn’t find a way to prove it. Forrester told Vo to start pushing the buttons on Cosmina.
Vo brought up how her lying for a friend back at the academy snowballed into far worse and it was hard to know when to stop. She said the only way out for Cosmina was to come clean.
Forrester entered to add that not only was Cosmina headed to an extradition country but there was no money coming. There was also the chance Zamfir would throw her under the bus to finally get Cosmina to crack and admit the entire plan.
Zamfir was arrested with the team musing they just stopped her from pulling this scam more. Kellett warned the Greysons that if Zamfir gave them up, they were next in handcuffs.
The team gave the baby to the overjoyed Palmers.
Back in Budapest, the team celebrated the win as Smitty asked if any of them considered having kids. Kellett admitted to not being sure of having a kid in a tough world, with Raines saying that proved she’d be a good parent while he hoped he could do the same.
Across town, Forrester watched as the mobsters’ Peter was in deep too, made some deals, and mused on his next move.
While the search for the child was a thrill, the question of how Forrester tackles a mob was also a dramatic move for this FBI: International episode.
FBI: International Season 2 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBS.