Plot summary
The Machine gives the numbers of Sameen Shaw ( Sarah Shahi ), a government assassin, and Michael Cole ( Ebon Moss-Bachrach ), a computer specialist working for Special Counsel ( Jay O. Sanders ). Special Counsel has sent a hit team to eliminate Shaw and Cole because Cole may have obtained information on the Machine. They kill Cole but Shaw escapes, shooting Reese, who she believes is another assassin. Root captures and interrogates Shaw but leaves abruptly to avoid another hit team from Special Counsel. Reese saves her and Finch explains her "Research" does not actually exist, implying it is the Machine, and offers his aid to her, which she refuses.
She confronts Special Counsel, and returns the flash drive with the information Cole had recovered, then kills the subordinate who had ordered her and Cole's death. Special Counsel allows her to leave, but Hersh finds her and injects her with poison. Leon Tao (disguised as a paramedic), Carter, and Fusco take charge of the apparently dead body and drive away. Tao, as directed by Reese, injects her with an antidote. Shaw, fully recovered, meets with Reese and Finch in a graveyard and accepts Finch's card.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Person of Interest season 2. HTML formatting and reference markers removed.