Twice Cooked Brisket Help Appreciated

Wife just informed me that she "Volunteered" me to smoke a brisket as my contribution to a party we are having with a group of friends tomorrow afternoon. Only cut that I can come up with from my local butcher on such short notice is a 6 lb. well trimmed flat and I won't even be able to pick that up until tomorrow morning since I'm currently out of town and won't return home until later tonight. Also, due to other committments tomorrow morning, I only have a 5 hour window to do the brisket so smoking it is obviously out of the question.

So - I thought of doing the brisket in a braised manner ala Jim Goode's Texas Brisket. (This is where the purists cringe ). I've done this a couple of times and it's great but, hell, I've got a smoker and I want to smoke. Then in a flash I thought, why not combine both methods - braise and smoke. Could even throw in a quick sear on the gas grill. All in all, I figure this should solve my problems and come up with a decent product in the time allowed. Having never done this however, I'm unsure if it would be better to braise first or smoke first. My inclination tells me to braise first until the internal hits about 170F then follow with a smoke to 190F-200F. Foil it, towel it, into a small cooler and off to the party.

If anybody out there has tried such a method I would certainly appreciate your suggestions / recommendations.

Thanks a lot.