Joel and David face off over negotiating with armed robbers who have taken hostages during the heist of a sporting goods store; stung when he fails to get a promotion based on not ""stepping up"", Ray insists upon going undercover as a paramedic to scope out the situation inside the store; after being recognized as a cop by one of the perps, Ray is beaten, tied up and threatened with death and must convince the store manager, a former actor who once played a cop on TV, to step up to the plate and resist the gunmen; when one of the robbers forces Ray to have a last telephone conversation with his wife, Ray calls Tom instead and gives him the information the swat team snipers need to end the standoff; in the aftermath, Ray discovers an unpleasant truth about the store manager, whose television character inspired Ray to become a cop.