That plan with the misdirection wasn't supposed to go out for another week. Everything got rushed, hence no backup plan. He also didn't account for the sister coming back and fucking things up, again because they were pretty much on a go go go now trip. That's why the leads went out the way they did, hoping that they'd send people to each place and he'd make it through the confusion, which he did, but because it was rushed, she couldn't get through.
You're also forgetting that red is now pretty much public enemy number 1 with the cabal. Liz is public enemy number 1 with both the fbi and the cabal. Looked to me like a last ditch effort and played out like one.
This post was edited by Arsenic_Touch on Oct 3 2015 12:51pm