Luke has a really bad day.

The search for Chico is on as Cottonmouth and the cops race to be the first to find him. Luke wants to stay out of it, but Pops insists that if Luke can bring Chico back to the shop he can negotiate a peaceful end to the situation. A tense encounter with Cottonmouth and his men at the barbershop put’s Luke on the gangster’s radar, but proves that Shades doesn’t recognize Luke from his time at Seagate Prison.

Luke manages to track down Chico, and at first he decides that he doesn’t want Pops’ help, but later changes his mind and returns to the barbershop. Unfortunately Turk is still there playing chess and spots him. Luke goes to Harlem’s Paradise to ask for a parley, and Cottonmouth eventually agrees because of his past associations with Pops, but he also fires Luke, who one ups him by having already quit.

When Turk calls Tone with Chico’s location, Cottonmouth tells him to stand down until the morning unless Chico tries to run. Tone decides not to give Chico the chance, and takes Shades over to the barbershop. Over Shade’s objections, Tone shoots the place up. Luke manages to save a kid that was getting a haircut, but the place is wrecked, and both Chico and Pops get gunned down. Shades and Tone run off with the money and head back to Cottonmouth.

When Cottonmouth hears about Pops death he throws Tone off of a roof before giving the money back to Maria. Luke stakes out their stronghold, vowing to take Cottonmouth and Maria down for what they’ve done.