Burn Notice Season 5 Episode 9

Michael: (voice-over) Sleight-of-hand tricks aren't just for kiddie parties. The same misdirection and quick moves that a magician uses to find a quarter behind a 5-year-old's ear can also help an operative plant a listening device in someone's car.

Michael: (voice-over) Work long enough as a spy, and you learn that distress calls don't always work exactly as planned. Just because someone calls for help doesn't mean they're going to get it. A surprisingly high percentage of the time, friends turn out to be less concerned with rescue, and more concerned with making sure no one talks.

Fiona: (to Michael) Grand gestures are great; sometimes I think it's the day-to-day stuff that's the hard work.

Michael: (voice-over) The morning after a failed operation you have two choices: you can admit defeat and lick your wounds, or you can re-engage immediately. Sticking by your enemy so you'll be in position when you find another opening.

Michael: (voice-over) When a plan goes wrong, it's crucial to stay cool. You may have to bail out, but how you bail out is everything. Do you run and leave behind evidence that gives away your plans to your enemies, or do you keep your mission alive by covering your tracks.

Michael: (voice-over) When you're being smuggled into a secure area, the best hiding spot is somewhere that people are confident they've checked thoroughly. By attaching reflective window tint to multiple sheets of glass, you can create what's known as the infinity illusion; and just like any magicians won't tell you, as long as the light outside the space remains brighter than the space inside, you'll be as good as invisible.

Michael: (voice-over) People tend to implement security based on anticipated threats. They install firewalls and encryption if they were afraid of being hacked. They use vaults and armed guards if they were worried about being robbed. And if you need to get them to keep their personal security with them at all times, you have to make them afraid to ever be alone.

Michael: (voice-over) A good way to sell your expertise in protecting people is to point out holes in security that most people wouldn't notice. Pointing out holes in security is also a great way to create new holes in security.

Michael: (voice-over) Like Akido masters, interrogators know that breaking their adversary isn't just about leverage. It's about knowing how and when to apply it; the moment your opponent feels most confident... is also the moment he's more susceptible to a game changing reversal.

Michael: (voice-over) When you're looking for an angle in an interrogation it often helps to let a subject watch you go through the details of his life right in front of him. Keeping one eye on your research and one eye on his reaction can tell you what he wants you to see, and what he doesn't.

Fiona: Well, just because you have all the equipment doesn't mean you know how to use it.

Michael: (about the bomb-maker) All his personal stuff fits into one box?
Fiona: He's not a big scrapbooker.

Michael: (voice-over) The real experts in resisting interrogations aren't the ones who're in stone wall silence; they are the ones who have mastered the art of talking about nothing. Pretending to cooperate, throwing out endless leads. They use your need for information against you; giving you things you want to believe, all they're doing is running out the clock. You're not going to break them with conversation, you need an edge.

Michael: (voice-over) Only the smartest, nastiest war criminals make it to old-age. If you have to capture one of them, you can assume they'll have a trick up their sleeve; like a concealed weapon, a covert escape route, or a metal floor grate rigged to electrocute any unwanted visitors.