Ethan tells Max that he is going to steal the NOC list and wants to be paid for it. Although he is really going to steal the NOC List, this is only a setup so that he can catch whoever the turncoat agent is. He warns Max that the disc she got from the first mission was likely booby-trapped to let the CIA know the location of whoever tried to load the data file. Max doesn’t believe him but the CIA shows up and Max, her team, and Ethan barely get away. This sets up the trust between Max and Ethan.