Episode 1 of *The Last Frontier* unfolds at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, where armed guards stand vigilant around the airstrip as a diverted prison transport arrives, carrying a highly dangerous inmate. This inmate, a man named Havlock, wastes no time in plunging the scene into chaos. Despite being shrouded in a hood, masked, and bound by heavy chains, he somehow breaks free from his restraints just moments after an explosion tears a gaping hole in the plane's hull.
As the aircraft soars over Alaska's untamed wilderness, inmates are hurled from the plane, plummeting toward the earth below. Those remaining onboard, emboldened by Havlock's escape, launch a violent rebellion against the guards. The plane eventually crash-lands in a frozen expanse, leaving behind a scene of utter devastation and carnage.
Meanwhile, in Fairbanks, Alaska, we meet Frank, a local deputy at the police station who is in the midst of preparing a cabin for his family—wife Sarah and son Luke. His plans are abruptly interrupted when word reaches him about the downed plane. Accompanied by officers Hutch and Donnie, Frank boards a helicopter and heads north to investigate the crash site.
As they circle above, the deputies spot the wrecked plane in a desolate field. One surviving officer, his face wrapped in a blood-stained bandage, manages to whisper the word "ambush" before a group of inmates suddenly swarms them. The attack catches the deputies off guard, and a brutal struggle ensues. Donnie is stabbed multiple times in the abdomen, forcing the team to retreat in haste, scrambling back onto the helicopter under heavy fire.
News of the crashed plane reaches CIA Headquarters in Langley, where Senior Agent Jacque Bradford consults with a colleague before deciding to bring Sidney Scofield into the fold. She is well-versed in the mission's details and appears to be a key figure in the so-called Atwater Protocol.
It is here that the true nature of the operation is revealed: the mission involving the plane was a covert black operation. The Division had determined that a Joint Prisoner Air Transport Service (JPATS) flight would provide the perfect cover, using the prison transport as a front to extract Havlock—the very inmate we witnessed breaking free earlier. With Havlock now loose, Griffin has no choice but to enlist Sidney’s help to recapture him.
Back in the heart of the wilderness, Frank finds himself orchestrating traffic control with a growing sense of urgency, realizing that the JPATS aircraft crash is merely the harbinger of far greater troubles. Their immediate priority is to swiftly round up the inmates, a task that demands establishing a secure perimeter and a command post, as well as alerting the nearby hospital and the town of Fairbanks to the impending danger that looms on the horizon.
This looming threat converges from multiple directions, as Griffin dispatches Sidney to Alaska alongside Frank, with the intention of seizing control of the escalating situation. Yet, Frank is beginning to grasp that the task at hand is far from straightforward, compounded by the unplanned halt and the menacing presence of Havlock.
In addition to Havlock, there are seventeen other inmates scattered in the wilderness. Time is of the essence, and they must be apprehended without delay. The Department of Justice is demanding a thorough audit of all passengers, but Frank harbors his own set of pressing questions—chief among them, how this clandestine operation managed to circumvent established protocols and why Havlock is enmeshed in this web.
Frank, driven by a mix of frustration and fear, confronts Sidney about the secrets she's been hoarding, warning her that her silence could very well be the death of them all. His impassioned plea strikes a chord, and a glimmer of revelation emerges as we learn more about Havlock.
Three years ago, whispers began to circulate about a mole within the CIA—an ideological defector bent on peddling state secrets with the express purpose of destabilizing and dismantling the American government. The magnitude of the intelligence leaked by this individual was so profound that the Department of Justice mobilized a task force to track him down. However, the truth is far more convoluted; this supposed mole is, in fact, a phantom conjured up by the CIA as part of a covert operation known as the Atwater Protocol. The agency engineered a cadre of defectors who leaked fabricated intel as a ruse to lure out adversaries, enabling their elimination. One such fabricated defector was Levi Taylor Hartman, better known as Havlock.
Sidney was entrusted with the critical task of training a certain individual in weaponry, language, and unadulterated brutality. For the past two years, Havlock had adeptly employed intelligence tactics to lure out and eliminate his targets. However, last month, he vanished without a trace. Two days ago, Havlock was apprehended along the Sino-Russian border. The CIA was in the process of transporting him back to the United States when their plane tragically crashed.
Whatever sinister plan Havlock had concocted, this daring jailbreak was merely the first move in a much larger scheme. Frank was convinced that Havlock had received assistance on the ground, suspecting that someone had smuggled explosives aboard the aircraft. But who could it be?
Tragically, Donnie succumbed to his severe injuries and passed away. Meanwhile, Luke (Frank's son) defied the school's lockdown and, accompanied by his girlfriend Kira, made his way to the secluded cabin we had heard about earlier that night.
An SOS signal suddenly emanated from a tower south of Venetie, casting an ominous shadow over the situation. The possibility that this was Havlock's doing sent chills down everyone's spine. Zeb Webber, a seasoned dog driver and a hermit even by Alaskan standards, resided in a cabin twenty miles from the crash site—the very location from which the SOS had originated. It became apparent that Havlock had somehow managed to reach the cabin in record time.
Equipped with a radio and a pack of sled dogs outside, Havlock seemed to have everything he needed to make his escape. When Frank and the other officers arrived on the scene, Havlock launched a surprise attack. Several officers were killed in the ambush, and Havlock took Zeb hostage at gunpoint. Sidney urged Frank to open fire, but the Alaskan officer preferred a more diplomatic approach. However, the situation quickly deteriorated when Sidney released one of the dogs, which promptly attacked and bit the hostage's neck.
But then, a twist of fate revealed that the man they had thought was Havlock was, in fact, someone else entirely. As the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, the truth about the recent events emerged. It turned out that the officer who had survived the crash was actually Havlock in disguise, posing as a federal agent. The real officer had been killed and dressed in prison attire.
Unfortunately, Frank's partner, Sarah, who was the nurse in charge of Havlock's care at the hospital, walked straight into a trap. By the time Frank arrived, Havlock had vanished, taking Sarah with him. Havlock had also sabotaged the radio tower, severing all cell service and internet connectivity in the area. Frank was furious and, feeling betrayed by Sidney's deception, refused to work with her any longer.
But Havlock wasn't finished yet. He reached out to Frank, blackmailing him into compliance.
