believe he's given up on the CIA and form a plan to abduct him, but he fights against Sam and warns them to stay out of his way. Fearing he's lost his integrity, Fiona tracks Michael to the site for James' "capture". Sonya tells Michael that if Fi doesn't leave, Sonya will have her killed. Michael hesitates but shoots Sonya before she can kill Fiona. James witnesses this from a helicopter and orders his men to kill Michael and Fiona. Sam and Jesse help Michael and Fiona escape, and they go on the offensive, tracking down a data center used by James' organization and stealing data that they could then use to unravel the entire organization. James arrives to confront them, threatening to have Madeline killed; however, Madeline sacrifices herself to kill James' hit squad and protect Jesse and Charlie. In the shootout, James is killed, but charges in the building detonate and Michael and Fiona were considered dead in the explosion. Unknown to the CIA, Michael and Fiona survived. Believed dead, they fled the United States with Charlie and settled down to raise him in peace and obscurity in Ireland. Concept and creation Burn Notice creator Matt Nix said in a late 2010 interview Characterization LA Weekly described Michael as "Jim Rockford and MacGyver filtered through Carl Hiaasen." Bruce Campbell comments on Michael Westen: "Well, the idea is being a CIA agent, Michael Westen can take his skills, you know, MacGyver-ish type skills and make a shotgun out of a twig." Michael's romantic relationships are a significant source of subplots in Burn Notice. It is revealed in the episode "Sins of Omission" that ten years previous, Michael was engaged to a professional thief named Samantha, but they never married and eventually separated. Around that time, Michael met Fiona Glenanne, an IRA bomb maker and weapons expert, while undercover in Ireland. Their relationship also ended when Michael was extracted, though Fiona became aware of Michael's real name and position as a US intelligence operative. During the course of the series, Fiona helps Michael with his various cases and his investigations in Miami, and they still have a close, if strained, relationship. While Fiona plays coy during most of Season 1, during Season 2 it is apparent that they are moving toward a reconciliation. When Fiona investigates a bomb maker's home and a fire erupts that consumes the entire building, Michael