*SCRIPT FINAL TV DVD (script original à sa suite)*
IN FRONT OF THE FBI HEADQUARTERS
A man with a hat is sitting in front of the FBI Washington field office. A man approaches him.
GREY (NEWTON PHILLIPS): Must be good to be home again, sir.
RED : Yeah. Well, we’ll see about that.
FBI HEADQUARTERS
Red enters the building
RED : Good afternoon. I’m here to see Assistant Director Harold Cooper.
CLERK : Do you have an appointment?
RED : I do not. Tell him it’s Raymond Reddington.
Red puts down his briefcase alongside the FBI seal emblazoned in the floor. He takes off his coat, folds it and places it on top of his briefcase. The receptionist has pulled up Red’s file online: “10 Most Wanted: Raymond Reddington” She quickly hits the alarm, which begins to blare loudly. Red places his hat on top of his folded jacket, then drops to his knees on the FBI seal, hands clasped behind his head, as he is quickly surrounded by armed guards with rifles aimed at his head
FBI SPECIAL OPS DIVISION, WASHINGTON D.C
RESSLER : Ressler. Washington field office. I’m the case agent on Reddington.
ASSISTANT FBI DIRECTOR COOPER : When did this happen?
RESSLER: Under an hour ago.
COOPER : We confirm it’s actually him?
RESSLER: It’s him all right. Prints match. Tattoos. He even volunteered classified details about a Brussels Mission in ’08.
COOPER : What happened in Brussels?
RESSLER: Sir? We tried to kill him, sir.
Looking at video monitor : Red is locked in a secure cell, “the box”
COOPER : It really is him.
RESSLER: Came in with a briefcase containing every alias he’s ever used. Most of ’em we’ve never even heard of.
COOPER : What does he want?
RESSLER: Don’t know. Won’t talk. He’s a stone.
COOPER : Call lab services. Have them fit him with an AlphaChip RFID tag. Assemble a full intel review. NSA. CIA.
RESSLER: What exactly do you want to know?
COOPER : Everything.
Briefing the team and Cooper....
RESSLER: Raymond “Red” Reddington attended the Naval Academy. Top of his class. Graduated by the time he was 24. He was being groomed for admiral. Then in 1990, Reddington’s coming home to see his wife and his daughter for Christmas. He never arrives. This highly respected officer up and disappears from the face of the earth until four years later when classified NOFORN documents start showing up in Maghreb, Islamabad, Beijing. These leaks were traced to Reddington. This guy’s an equal opportunity offender, a facilitator of sorts, who’s built an enterprise brokering deals for fellow criminals.
An RFID tracking chip is injected into Red’s arm
RED : Ouch.
...Briefing to the team and Cooper....
RESSLER: He has no country. He has no political agenda. Reddington’s only allegiance is to the highest bidder.
TECH : They call him something in the papers.
RESSLER : “The concierge of crime.”
TECH : He’s online.
Inside the box, Red looks at the camera
RED : Evidently someone with the authority to make decisions has arrived. I think I smell the stench of your cologne, Agent Cooper. Smells like hubris.
COOPER : Get these feeds fixed. I want him up here. Come on.
RED : You must have many questions, so let’s begin with the most important one. Why I’m here. Remember the 1986 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, the abduction of the six foreign nationals from the French consulate in Algiers in ’97, or the 2002 breach of the Krungthai Bank in Bangkok? You see these events as unrelated. I can tell you one man is responsible for all three. His name is Ranko Zamani. You want him. I want him. So let’s say for the moment our interests are aligned.
War Room/The box
TECH: Ranko Sinisa Zamani. Serbian national educated in the U.S.
COOPER : Ranko Zamani’s been dead for six years. He’s a non–existent threat.
RED : Then a dead man just stepped off United 283 from Munich to Dulles.
TECH : He entered the country under the name Sacha M. Chacko. Cleared customs at 10:56 a.m.
RESSLER: Listen up, people. The lab just pulled a latent print from the airline arm rest. Nine points of comparison. Zamani’s alive.
COOPER : You have my attention.
RED : Were you wrong?
COOPER : I was wrong.
RED : Yes, you were wrong. At least it’s not the first time. Familiar territory. Now, I’ll give you Zamani, but first –
COOPER : No “but firsts.” You don’t decide anything.
RED : Agent Cooper, you’ve overestimated your authority. I said I’ll help you find Zamani, and I will. But from this point forward, there’s one very important rule: I speak only with Elizabeth Keen.
RESSLER: Who the hell’s Elizabeth Keen?
KEEN'S HOUSE
Liz Keen is home in bed, sleeping alongside her husband Tom. Hudson, their dog, wakes Tom
TOM : Oh, buddy. Seriously, dude?
LIZ : Babe, what time is it?
TOM : I don’t know. What time you gotta be there?
The alarm clock did not ring
LIZ : Oh, crap.
TOM : What’s up?
LIZ : Crap!
TOM : What?
LIZ : No! My first day!
TOM : Babe, are you good? You need help?
LIZ : I missed the bus, babe. I’m gonna need to take the car.
TOM : You can’t take the car. I need the car. I’ve got field trip planning committee.
LIZ : You took the dog out, right?
TOM : I did. For the field trip Air and Space or the D.C. Zoo?
LIZ : The zoo’s gender neutral.
TOM : All right. Good thinkin’.
LIZ : We’re out of milk.
TOM : Oop. Sorry.
LIZ : Is this pee? I’m standing in pee, babe.
TOM : He’s your dog, too.
LIZ : Yeah, thanks a lot. I’m gonna smell like a urinary tract infection on my first day!
TOM : Hey, don’t forget we got the last adoption meeting today. One–thirty. You heard me, right? One–thirty.
LIZ : Yep. One–thirty. Last meeting.
TOM : I’m in the car. You got the keys?
LIZ : Yeah, in my pocket.
TOM : I got your coffee.
LIZ : No more peeing, dude.
Outside.
Tom is waiting Liz, a smile on his face
LIZ : What?
TOM : We both woke up seven minutes ago. I’m pretty sure my pants are on backwards and I can barely see straight. But you are somehow dressed, composed, and as beautiful as the day I met you.
LIZ : I think I’m forgetting something.
TOM : Yeah.
LIZ : You know I’m not gonna let this job come between us and our family, right?
TOM : I know.
LIZ : We want a family, we’re going to have a family.
TOM : Were you serious about that kid thing? Because I got stuff goin – Ow! Mama.
LIZ : Today’s the day.
TOM : Yeah, I know. Man, I am so proud of you.
LIZ : Thanks.
TOM : You worked so hard for this. Are you nervous?
LIZ : No. But I am very late.
Suddenly a helicopter roars overhead and police cars converge in front of the step-down apartment
RESSLER: Agent Keen. Donald Ressler. Washington field office. I need you to come with me right away.
LIZ : Babe, I don’t think I’m gonna need to take the car.
Liz hands Tom car keys
FBI HEADQUARTERS
COOPER : Agent Keen. Am I getting that right?
LIZ : Yes, sir.
COOPER : Harold Cooper. Assistant Director of Counterterrorism.
LIZ : Yes, sir. I know who you are, sir.
COOPER : So, uh, can you tell us what’s going on?
LIZ : I wish I could. I can tell you that I’ve been vetted by the agency like everyone else, you know, same background checks, psych profiles. I’m sure OPR’s trolling my digital footprint right now, and I can tell you what they’ll find.
COOPER : What will they find?
LIZ : Nothing. I have no history with Reddington.
COOPER : They tell me today’s your first day as a profiler.
LIZ : Yes, sir. I was reassigned from New York. I graduated Quantico last month.
COOPER : Congratulations.
LIZ : Thank you.
COOPER : Do me a favor. Profile yourself.
LIZ : I’m sorry, sir?
COOPER : Who are you? What is he looking for? Profile Elizabeth Keen.
LIZ : Oh. Okay. Uh Um, well, I’ve been with the Bureau for four years. I was the head of the Mobile Emergency Psych Unit in New York. We worked murders, extortion–
COOPER : Read your résumé.
LIZ : Of course. My colleagues call me “sir.” They think I’m a bitch. Like most kids who raised themselves, I can display narcissistic behavior. I can be withdrawn, disconnected. Uh, I have a deep yearning to understand and relate to the criminal mind... I’m board certified in forensic psychology, and yet I operate under the delusion that I can rewrite my past by having kids of my own.
COOPER : Do you find it odd Reddington surrendered himself the day you started working as a profiler?
LIZ : I think that it suggests he was waiting for me.
COOPER : Why you? Specifically.
LIZ : Because, I’m new and he thinks I can be easily manipulated. The man obviously doesn’t know me very well.
FBI SPECIAL OPS DIVISION, WASHINGTON D.C
LIZ : What is this place?
RESSLER: D.C. Metro Sorting Facility, U.S. Postal Service. It was abandoned and slated for demo twelve years ago. The Bureau acquired the building post–9/11. Been operating a variety of covert operations here ever since.
LIZ : So this is a black site?
RESSLER: We’re sentimental. We prefer to call it The Post Office.
Cooper speaks with Liz before seeing Reddington
COOPER : If you need anything, remember we’re right here.
Liz walks down from observation deck to floor of facility. A chair awaits her. Reddington is cuffed (wrists and ankles) to a chair inside a containment unit (the ‘orange box’), bullet and blast-resistant, designed to prevent ingress or egress. The door of the unit swings slowly outward, then the unit is pulled clanking backwards, leaving only the platform which forms the floor of the unit with the cuffed Reddington
RED : Agent Keen, what a pleasure.
LIZ : Well … I’m here.
RED : You got rid of your highlights. You look much less … Baltimore. Do you get back home much?
LIZ : Tell me about Zamani.
RED : I haven’t been home in years.
LIZ : Why involve me? I’m nobody. It’s my first day. Nothin’ special about me.
RED : Oh, I think you’re very special… Within the hour, Ranko Zamani will abduct the daughter of U.S. General Daniel Ryker. There’ll be some kind of diversion, communications will be scrambled, then he’ll grab the girl. He wants to be out of the country within 36 hours. If you don’t move quickly, she will die. That’s what I know.
LIZ : And how do you know this?
RED : Because I’m the one who got him into the country.
LIZ : And I’m supposed to believe you?
RED : No, of course not! I’m a criminal. Criminals are notorious liars. Everything about me is a lie. But if anyone can give me a second chance, it’s you.The two of us have overcome so much. I mean, look at you. Abandoned by a father who was a career criminal, a mother who died of weakness and shame. And yet here you are, about to make a name for yourself, about to capture Ranko Zamani. I’m gonna make you famous, Lizzy.
FBI SPECIAL OPS DIVISION, WASHINGTON D.C:WAR ROOM
Liz is once again in the observation area, where the Post Office command center is located
LIZ : What did you tell him?
RESSLER: What are you talking about?
LIZ : How did he know those things? Private things about my family?
RESSLER: Why didn’t your father’s criminal record show up on your background report?
LIZ : We need to contact the SWAT commander at Quantico. Roll a team out to the girl.
RESSLER: This is nonsense. He’s bluffing, sir.
LIZ : No, he’s establishing value.
RESSLER: I’ve been the case agent on this guy for five years.
LIZ : And five years has gotten you what? You asked me here, you asked my opinion. Here it is. That girl’s gonna get taken.
LIZ : Excuse me.
Liz calls her husband : on cell
LIZ : Tom. Thank God you picked up.
TOM : Hey, tell me you’re close. What’s going on? Are you close?
LIZ : That helicopter, they flew me to the Assistant Director, put me on a case, and I can’t get away right now.
TOM : You’re kidding, right? The adoption people, they’re all waiting.
Ressler arrives
TOM : Liz, are you there?
RESSLER : Put on a great show in there. You better pull yourself together because you just called in the cavalry.
LIZ : Can I just have one minute, um –
RESSLER: We don’t have a minute. Come on. Let’s go.
To Tom on phone
LIZ : I’m sorry. I know we had an appointment, but there’s a girl, something happened I- I can’t tell you. It’s classified. This whole day is classified.
TOM : Lizzy Lizzy, babe, if- if it’s too much, we don’t have to do this right now, okay? We don’t have to do it. We’ll just– We’ll do it next year. But if we are gonna go through with this, you gotta do it with me. I can’t do it alone, Lizzy.
RESSLER: We gotta go.
LIZ : No. No. Tom, listen, our family is the only thing that matters, okay? – It’s the only thing that matters.
TOM : Okay. All right, let me, uh Let me handle it, I’ll, um, I’ll take care of it. I think this woman might punch me in the face, – but I got it.
LIZ : I am so sorry.
TOM : Don’t be sorry, just be safe, okay? I love you.
LIZ : I love you too.
THE PENTAGON
SOLDIER : Sir.
ADMIRAL : At ease.
SOLDIER : We have a situation, sir. It’s about your daughter.
ADMIRAL : My daughter?
BALLET CLASS
At a ballet class, children ages 6-9 or so are practicing
LIZ : Guys, with the guns, please. We don’t want to scare the kids.I got this.
INSTRUCTOR : Beth. Sweetie, this lady needs to speak to you.
LIZ : Hi, Bethany, don’t be scared. I just need you to come with me, okay? Thank you.
SUV
Inside SUV
LIZ : Your name’s Beth, right?
BETH : Yeah?
LIZ : My name’s Beth, too. I’m Elizabeth. My friends call me Liz, though. You can call me Liz if you want.
BETH : My daddy has a pin like that.
Showing a flag pin
LIZ : Oh, yeah? I bet your daddy has lots of medals. To get a pin like this you gotta be really brave. This can be your special pin, okay? There you go. You like it?
Beth gives Liza toy elastic bracelet
LIZ : Oh You don’t have to – Thank you so much. This is beautiful. Wow.
BETH : The bull’s pokey. Be careful.
LIZ : Okay, I’ll be careful.
The SUV they are in slows
RESSLER : What’s going on?
LIZ : Hey, what’s going on up there?
SOLDIER : HazMat has the road closed. We’ll be turning around.
SOLDIER 2: Rolling Thunder to Follow 1. Be advised we have a chemical spill ahead.
SOLDIER 3: Copy that. Proceeding to alternate route.
Inside SUV
LIZ : Do you want to call your daddy?
BETH : Yeah, I want to tell him I’m okay.
LIZ : Okay.
GUARD : Back up!
Crash. A semi-truck plows into the car
LIZ : Are you okay?
BETH : I think so.
Gunfight ensues
GUARD : Tango, tango, tango, respond! I can’t see! I got blood in my–
The driver and guard in the front of the car are shot through
COMMANDO : Get the girl!
To Liz
COMMANDO : If you want to save the girl, do not fire your weapon.
Commando lowers a gas mask through the car’s sunroof
COMMANDO : Take it.
Smoke begins to fill the car
LIZ : Okay, baby, this smoke’s gonna hurt us. All right? I need you to put this on for me.
BETH : What about you?
LIZ : There’s only one. It’s for you, hon. Okay, listen to me. These men are gonna take you.
BETH : Are they gonna hurt me?
LIZ : They’re not gonna hurt you. I’m gonna find you, okay?
BETH : Okay.
LIZ : Beth, I’m gonna find you.
The commandos take Beth. They lower themselves and Beth with ropes to pontoon boats below and speed away
Spilled gasoline ignites and Explodes– Ressler only escapes by jumping into the river below
PENTAGON
ADMIRAL : Who made the call to send that girl after my daughter? Who made the call?!
FBI SPECIAL OPS DIVISION, WASHINGTON D.C
Liz appears again before Red in the box
LIZ : Where’s the girl? It’s been four hours. Your people haven’t made any demands.
RED : My people? I told you Zamani would take the girl. I told you that’s all I knew. This is in your hands now.
LIZ : I need your help with Zamani.
RED : How about a trade? You tell me and I’ll tell you. Tell me about the scar on your palm. I’ve noticed how you– stroke it.
LIZ : There was a fire. I was fourteen.
RED : Someone tried to hurt you.
LIZ : Not exactly, no.
RED : May I see it? Is a child really what you want?
LIZ : How on earth – ?
RED : But a baby won’t fix what happened in the past.
LIZ : You lost the right to speak about parenthood when you abandoned your wife and daughter on Christmas Eve. The girl.
RED : You won’t find the girl until you learn to look at this differently.
LIZ : And how should I look at this?
RED : Like a criminal. May come easier than you think. Shall I show you?
FBI SPECIAL OPS DIVISION, WASHINGTON D.C: WAR ROOM
RED : Well, at least you know what Zamani looks like. Oh, my goodness! I haven’t seen him in years. Very interesting fellow. Completely unrelated to this. You’re pointing at the wrong guy here. Miroslav. They call him The Chemist. A highly regarded munitions expert. He left MIT to work for the Russian, Vor Usoyan. Last two years – very expensive freelancer. I don’t know what the hell any of this is. Ooh, the German. A banker. Name’s Reinhardt. He’s most likely moving the money. What about the girl? What do you have on the girl and her father?
LIZ : Your 36-hour timeline would suggest a singular event. Something in D.C. I’m not sure how the girl fits.
RED : What about the Chemist?
LIZ : Important, well paid. Whatever Zamani’s planning is expensive. Some sort of attack?
RED : You’re thinking like a cop. Cops are so objective. They’re obligated to protocols. Make it personal.
RESSLER: Okay, this is nonsense.
LIZ : Zamani’s sick. CIA says he carries the Nipah virus. Dying makes him dangerous.
RED : So what does he desperately want before he dies? And how does that relate to the little girl?
LIZ : Her father, the General, spent time in Bosnia supporting NATO troops in the Bihac Pocket region. Zamani’s home. He bombed a chemical weapons facility, poisoning the village. It’s about his family. They died, Zamani survived. He wants revenge. He hired the Chemist to build a bomb, detonate it in Washington. He’s gonna use Beth to settle the score, deliver the bomb.
COOPER : Okay, let’s move. We’re on a clock.
RED : I have an acquaintance. They call him The Innkeeper, runs a series of safe houses. Lean on him. He’ll know where to find the Chemist. You find the Chemist, you’ll find Zamani.
LIZ : Where is this Innkeeper?
RED : If I tell you, you have to give me something in return. No more restraints, no more cages. If you want to capture Zamani, he has to believe I’m moving freely, in touch with old friends, staying in one of my favorite hotels…
COOPER : If you think we’re gonna put you up at the Sheraton …
RED : Save your Starwood points, Harold. The Sheraton’s not my scene.
LUXURY HOTEL SUITE
Red tosses his hat onto a coffee table
RESSLER: Hey, live it up, pal. Soon as this is over, you’re headed back to a black site.
HOST : Mr. Homan, it’s awfully nice to have you back. There’s complimentary Champagne. As usual, the bed’s made up with blankets instead of a comforter. Will there be anything else?
RED : No, thank you, Eric.
To Ressler
RED :Tip the gentleman, will you?
THE INNKEEPER'S SAFE HOUSE
FBI storms into a room in a safe house
FBI: Where is The Chemist? FBI! Hands!
THE INNKEEPER : Tranquilo, papi.
LUXURY HOTEL
Cooper, Liz and Ressler observe Red over a video feed from his hotel room as he enjoys his dinner. He lifts a toast toward the video camera
RESSLER: They found the lab. They’re interrogating the Chemist as we speak.
LIZ : What about the bomb?
RESSLER: We think that we got there before he built it.
LIZ : I gotta get out of here and clear my head. Take a shower, see my husband.
RESSLER: Don’t go too far.
KEEN'S HOUSE
Liz arrives home to balloons and a sign reading ”It’s a Girl.”She is elated
LIZ : Oh, my– Did they say yes? Oh, baby! How did you do this? Oh, my God, I cannot believe– We’re gonna have a baby, and this is exac–
Liz begins to pour herself some wine from an opened bottle. She turns around. There is Tom tied to chair, duct tape over his mouth, bruised and bleeding
LIZ : Tom?!
Thick Slavic accent
RANKO ZAMANI : Sit down. Sit down!!! Do what I say or I’ll shoot your husband. See, Tom and I, we have been talking, trying to figure out how you knew I was in town. I tell him you figure out my plan to take the General’s daughter.
LIZ : Tom, look at me.
ZAMANI : Make for nice surprise. But my people handle quite well, I think.
To Tom
LIZ : It’s gonna be okay.
ZAMANI : But then, your people come for my Chemist friend. I was finished with The Chemist, so you saved me payment for services. And for that, I thank you. But it did make me wonder what else you know. What else do you know?
LIZ : I don’t– Tom!
ZAMANI i: No, no, no, no, no. Over here. I ask question. What else do you know about my plan?
LIZ : A bomb. Maybe. We don’t know. We only knew about the girl. The rest is just speculation.
LIZ : Tom, baby, it’s gonna be okay.
Zamani stabs him in the abdomen
TOM : Uhh!
LIZ : You son of a bitch!
ZAMANI : What else do you know about my plan?!
LIZ : Nothing! I swear! Oh. My God.
ZAMANI : You’re not as smart as Reddington says. My friend, he is always so obsessed with you. I’m not sure why.
LIZ : It’s gonna be okay.
ZAMANI : Now, what I have planned will make for many casualties. So now you have choice. Stop me now and save many Americans, or save only one. What do you choose?
LIZ : Tom. Baby. Oh, my God. Baby, keep your eyes open. I’m gonna get help. I’m gonna get help. Don’t fall aslee– You’re gonna be okay! You’re gonna be okay.
On phone
OPERATOR : 911. What is your emergency?
LUXURY HOTEL SUITE
Liz confronts Red in his hotel suite
LIZ : Did you send him? Are you the one who did this?
RED : Did what?
LIZ : He was in my house! My husband is on a ventilator because Zamani came –
RED : Calm down and tell me what happened.
LIZ : Don’t play stupid. You’re the only thing connecting us. He told me that you’re obsessed with me.
RED : Did he mention the girl or the bomb?
LIZ : We’re not a team.
RED : Zamani.
LIZ : I’m not your partner.
RED : What did he say?
LIZ : I don’t know, he said– he said something about casualties and chemical agents, and he talked about you. He even thanked me for getting rid of the Chemist.
RED : So the bomb’s still in play.
Furiously
LIZ : Why the hell was he in my house?! Tell me! You know him! Why is my husband dying in a hospital right now?!
RED : The truth is, despite your feelings, your husband doesn’t matter. Zamani did you a favor, Lizzy.
Liz grabs pen from side table and stabs it into Red’s neck and holds it there. Blood begins to ooze out
LIZ : Now, you know I just punched a hole in your carotid. Best chance, one minute before you pass out. So here’s how it’s gonna work. You tell me how I find Zamani and make this right, or I let you die right here. Understand?
RED : Yeah. But if I die you’ll never know the truth about your husband.
LIZ : You know nothing about my husband.
Liz yanks put the pen, throwing it on the table
KEEN'S HOUSE
FBI takes photos .
Later, Liz tries to clean Tom's blood
HOSPITAL
At a hospital, Ressler is standing guard outside Red’s hospital room
LIZ : Agent Ressler? I gotta talk to him.
RESSLER: You shouldn’t even be here. You’re under official review. You know that.
LIZ : I know. The Chemist isn’t talking, is he?
RESSLER: No.
LIZ : Red knows Zamani. Just give me five minutes. Thank you…
Liz enters the room
Red is seen walking off, several floors below hospital room
To Ressler
LIZ : He’s gone.
RESSLER : What do you mean, he's gone?
OUTSIDE US CAPITOL
Red greets Ranko Zamani on the steps of the US Capitol
RED : It’s good to see you, old friend.
In SUV, Ressler and other FBI agents follow Red’s tracking chip
«Heard over FBI radio: « Initiating track. Okay, got him. His chip indicates he’s at the Lincoln Memorial. We’re on him.
Forty seconds out. En route. »
RED : How did things go with Agent Keen?
ZAMANI : Paid her a visit, like you asked.
RED : And the husband?
ZAMANI : Like you asked.
RED : It’s a shame you’re gonna miss the cherry blossoms.
ZAMANI : I think a great many people will miss the cherry blossoms.
RED : Tell me, the General’s daughter is such a risk.
ZAMANI : This is about much more than one girl.
Heard over FBI radio: « He’s on the move. Heading westbound. »
ZAMANI : This is about the children. Raymond, today on this day I am giving their plague back to them. In sixty years they will be talking about this day– about my legacy.
Heard over FBI radio: « Still heading west. »
LIZ'S CAR /A STREET LOCATION UNKNOWN
Liz’s cell phone beeps
LIZ : Hello?
RED : There’s a wrinkle. Zamani wants more than the General’s daughter. He’s after children.
LIZ : Where are you?
Radio: « Approaching 14th. You gotta move! You gotta move! »
RED : I need you to tell me what Zamani said. In the house what did he say, what did you see?
LIZ : He, uh, he asked about the Chemist and about the girl.
RED : No. What did you see?
LIZ : Uh, there was blood. There was blood everywhere.
RED : Take a breath, Lizzy.
LIZ : Over here. There was a tattoo.
RED : He’s Serbian Orthodox.
Radio: « You’re closing on him. »
RED : He wouldn’t have a tattoo.
LIZ : I know what I saw. This mark, I’ve seen it before. Field trip. DC. Air and Space or the D.C.Zoo? It wasn’t a tattoo. It was a stamp. Zamani’s gonna bomb the D.C. Zoo.
A STREET, LOCATION UNKNOWN
RESSLER: I got nothin’. Come on, where is he?!
Radio. « He’s turning onto Maryland Ave. Dead ahead. He’s dead ahead. He’s stopped. The signal has stopped. He’s right there.»
RESSLER: Where is he?!
Radio: « He should be right behind you. Vertically. Are there stairs near you?»
Ressler races up the stairs of large parking garage
DC ZOO
Liz finds Beth sitting on park bench at the DC Zoo
LIZ : Beth? Hi, honey. Are you hurt?
BETH : No.
LIZ : Are you alone?
BETH: He said to wait here for my daddy. He said not to take it off.
Liz opens her jacket – she has a bomb strapped on inside her backpack. It has a timer that is ticking down
Liz’s phone beeps
RED : Whatever you do, don’t touch it.
LIZ : There’s less than three minutes. I’ve got to evacuate, call the bomb squad–
RED : Your people will never be there in time. My friend, he’s on his way.
LIZ : Your friend. What friend?
A ROOF
RESSLER : Reddington ! Reddington ! Hands in the air.
Ressler follows the tracking chip but it is Zamani he finds on a roof, not Red.
RESSLER : Zamani. Step down from the edge. Hands where I can see them or I'll shoot you down.
ZAMANI : Tell the General...his daughter was an infortunate civilian casualty.
Zamani drops somethings. Ressler shoots. Zamani then falls to his death. Picks up what Zamani dropped
RESSLER: He pulled the tracking chip. Son of a bitch.
DC ZOO
LIZ : Did Reddington send you?
UKRAINIAN : (Speaking Ukrainian)
LIZ : I can’t understand what you’re saying. Can you stop the bomb? Can you stop it?
UKRAINIAN : (Speaking Ukrainian)
BETH: Are we gonna be okay?
LIZ : Yeah, baby, we’re gonna be okay. Hey. I was scared when I was your age, too. But I had a secret weapon to keep me safe. My daddy gave it to me. It’s very special. I’ve never shown it to anybody. It’s like magic.
BETH: What does it do?
LIZ : Whenever I’m feeling sad or afraid, I just touch it like this, and it makes me brave. Do you want to see if it can make you brave?
BETH: Yeah?
LIZ : You’re a brave girl.
UKRAINIAN : Uzasny!
The bomb stops ticking with seconds to go. The Ukrainian takes Beth’s backpack and runs
LIZ : Wait. Wait! What are you doing?!
Walking up
RED : Just consider the device his payment for services.
The ukrainian to Red who arrives
UKRAINIAN : Pesibo!
RED : Nos dash daisa!
LIZ : That is a chemical weapon!
RED : He’s fascinated by the things. He certainly has more use for it than we do.
Beth sees her father and runs to him
BETH: Daddy!
LIZ : Red vest, gray sweatshirt! He’s got the bomb!
As Ressler handcuffs him
Red to Liz
RED : We’re gonna make a great team.
FBI HEADQUARTERS
COOPER : Who is the Ukrainian?
RED : I’m not gonna tell you.
COOPER : You gave him a chemical weapon.
RED : He took it. That’s the price of doing business, Harold, with certain people who can get certain things done. You know that. You never look at the larger picture. The bomb didn’t detonate, the girl is safe, Zamani’s dead. Frankly, I think this all went down rather swimmingly.
RESSLER : This was never about Zamani. You surrendered and infiltrated the FBI to get at our intelligence.
RED : Your intelligence?
RESSLER: To get that weapon.
RED : I certainly don’t want your intelligence, Agent Ressler. I’m quite happy with my own. I think it’s more likely that I tried to help you in good faith and had to finish the job myself because you couldn’t.
COOPER : I think we’re finished.
RED : Well, this was fun. Let’s do it again. Really, let’s do it again. Understand, Zamani was only the first.
COOPER : The first what?
RED : Name. On the list.
COOPER : What list?
RED : It’s called The Blacklist. That sounds exciting. That’s why we’re all here, of course. My wish list. A list I’ve been cultivating for over twenty years. Politicians, mobsters, hackers, spies.
RESSLER: We have our own list.
RED : Agent Ressler, please. We all know your Top Ten is little more than a publicity campaign. It’s a popularity contest at best. I’m talking about the criminals who matter. The ones you can’t find because you don’t even know they exist. Zamani was a small fish. I’m Ahab. And if you want the whales on my list, you have to play by my rules. I never sleep in the same location for more than two nights in a row. I want a fully encrypted 8-millimeter tag embedded in my neck not that garbage from AlphaChip you stuck in my shoulder. I want my own security I’ve compiled a list of five acceptable applicants. Pick two. Whatever I tell you falls under an immunity package that I negotiate myself. And finally, most importantly, I speak only with Elizabeth Keen.
KEEN'S HOME
Liz is home cleaning up the blood on the carpet in her home
Liz pulls up the bloody carpet and discovers a trap door in the floor. Inside is a wooden box with a strange carving on the lid. She removes the cover and discovers inside a large stash of cash, multiple passports with Tom’s picture but different names in different languages, and a handgun
FBI HIGH VALUE DETAINEE SITE
Later Liz appears at Red’s cell. He is sleeping, standing in the dark against the wall. The lights come on. He wakes, squints. When he recognizes Liz, Red speaks.
RED : You’ve discovered something curious about your husband, haven’t you, Lizzy?
Red smiles
Adapté du site «The Blacklist Declassified» et mise en page par mnoandco.
*SCRIPT ORIGINAL (script final version TV/DVD ci-dessus)*
source
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Red is sitting in front of the FBI Washington field office. A man approaches him.
Men: Must be good to be home again,Sir.
Red: Yeah. Well, we’ll see about that.
FBI WASHINGTON FIELD OFFICE
RED: Good afternoon. I’m here to see Assistant Director Harold Cooper.
GUARD: Do you have an appointment?
RED: Tell him it’s Raymond Reddington.
The Guard scowls and calls upstairs. Red waits. Takes in the details around him; the bulletproof glass, the American flag, the display of the “Ten Most Wanted” on the lobby wall. Red takes off his jacket, folds it neatly, and places it on the ground next to his briefcase. The Female Guard listens to the voice on the other end of the line, watching Red as he lowers himself to his knees over the F.B.I. seal in the terrazzo floor. A passing AGENT sees this. Looks uneasy. The poor Guard on the phone can hardly comprehend what she’s hearing. She follows Red’s eyes. Sees what Red sees. He’s staring at a picture of HIS OWN FACE among...The Ren most wanted. Red CLASPS HIS HANDS behind his head. Closes his eyes. The Guard calls for backup, but before she can muster the words. ALARMS SOUND. METAL CURTAINS drop over the windows. The entire F.B.I. goes into ‘LOCKDOWN’ as F.B.I. POLICE swarm Red, WEAPONS drawn and SCREAMING into their radios. But Red’s calm. Proud perhaps. As he’s thrown to the ground his expression tells us this is a day Red has anticipated for years. We DRIFT UP, over the chaos, past the American flag. The F.B.I.’s NUMBER FOUR MOST WANTED has just surrendered.
FT. MEADE / N.S.A.
A winded STAFFER rushes into a packed boardroom. Pulls aside ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF COUNTERTERRORISM, HAROLD COOPER . He’s worn by life. A natural cynic. The Staffer whispers.
COOPER: How is that even possible?
ROOFTOP / F.B.I. HEADQUARTERS
A Sikorsky S-76 lands and delivers Cooper who is met by agent Donald Ressler, square-jawed and seasoned. This job is his life. They duck the rotors, shouting over the chopper.
RESSLER: Ressler. Washington Field office. I’m the case agent on Reddington.
COOPER: When did this happen?
RESSLER:Under an hour ago.
COOPER: We confirm it’s actually him?
RESSLER: It’s him alright. Prints match. Tattoos. He even volunteered classified details about our Brussels mission in ‘08.
COOPER: What happened in Brussels?
RESSLER: Sir? We tried to kill him, sir.
SECURITY NEST / F.B.I.
F.B.I. TECHs sit behind glowing control panels. Monitors cover the walls. The screens depict various angles of Red chained to the floor. Cooper nears a monitor, captivated.
COOPER: Christ, it really is him. He turns to the glass and approaches Ressler. They watch Red like a fish in a jar. Even in captivity, Red carries himself with unquestionable presence.
RESSLER: Came in with a briefcase containing every alias he’s ever used. Most of ‘em we’ve never heard of.
COOPER: What’s he want?
RESSLER: Don’t know. Won’t talk. The guy’s a goddamned stone.
Cooper watches Red, unsettled, as we hear
RESSLER: Raymond “Red” Reddington grew up the son of an army brat.
WAR ROOM
Ressler briefs a packed room of agents, analysts and legal staffers. Classified images fill giant monitors overhead.
RESSLER:...he attended West Point. Top of his class. By thirty he was an intelligence officer in the Army. Made Captain. Military Liaison Officer to the N.S.A.
It’s a life in photos, the American Dream.
RESSLER: Then, in 1990, Reddington’s headed home to see his wife and daughter for Christmas. He never arrived.
We see crime scene photo of a snow covered hatchback on a desolate mountain road.
RESSLER: His vehicle was discovered along a stretch of highway thirty-three in the Allegheny Mountains. Christmas gifts for his wife and kid in the back of the car.
We see snapshots of search parties and newspaper HEADLINES.
RESSLER: There were searches. Candle light vigils. No answers. This guy up and disappeared from the face of the earth...
The screens go dark, then reignite with a single surveillance photo of a ghostly image; a bearded shadow of a man.
RESSLER: ...until four years later when U.S. military secrets started turning up in South Asia. The leak was traced to Reddington. Turns out he was trading military strategies with New Delhi; brokering arms deals for the North Koreans. Four years after going AWOL, this decorated soldier re-emerges as an enigma.
We’re struck with a barrage of classified photos. Red in secret meetings and exotic countries. The birth of a legend.
RESSLER: His military background would lead you to believe he’s some sort of spy, but he’s not. This guy’s an equal opportunity offender; a “facilitator” of sorts who’s built an enterprise brokering deals for fellow criminals. We know he’s orchestrated the assassinations of federal inmates, laundered money for the mob, and bought judges only to have them killed. Last year, he personally negotiated a month long cease-fire between the la Familia drug cartel and the Calderon government. He has no country. No political agenda. Best we can tell Reddington’s only allegiance is to the highest bidder.
AGENT: They call him something. In the papers.
RESSLER: The Concierge of Crime. We linger on an eerie photo of Red. Eyes locked on us.
SECURITY NEST
Ressler and Cooper are little more than silhouettes looking through the window, watching Red in his interrogation cell.
COOPER: Call Lab Services. Have them fit him with a VeriChip RFID tag.
RESSLER: You think he’s going somewhere?
COOPER: Not on my watch.
INTERROGATION CELL
Red watches ARMED AGENTS escort a DOCTOR into his cell. The Doctor loads a small chip, the size of a grain of rice, into a digital syringe. Injects the device into Red’s shoulder.
IN THE SECURITY NEST...
A scanne lights up. Beeps twice.
TECH: He’s on-line.
As Red’s cell is vacated, the agents discuss what’s next. Red rubs his shoulder. Turns to a security camera.
RED: (on the monitor) It appears someone with the authority to make decisions has arrived. Good to see you again, Agent Cooper.
The control room realizes Red is speaking to them through the security monitors. Cooper turns. The room falls silent.
RED: We need to move quickly and I know you have many questions, so let’s begin with the most important one: why I’m here.
We intercut between the agents and Red, who speaks through the camera like some Orwellian tyrant. Red stands.
RED: I’m going to help you capture a criminal you don’t know exists.
RESSLER: What’s he talking about?
COOPER: Turn it up.
RED: Of course, you’re familiar with his crimes. Counterintelligence is monitoring his criminal enterprise through the Patriot Act, the Hague wants him for war crimes, CIA calls him the Serbian Ghost. I can tell you his real name is Ranko Zamani. You want him. I want him. Let’s say that for the moment our interests are aligned.
Cooper can’t believe what he’s hearing.
COOPER: Feed this through to the Assistant A.G. of Counterterrorism.
RESSLER: Get Main Justice on the phone.
With a few keystrokes, an ANALYST brings up the dossier of Ranko Zamani. Classified details unfold on the monitors.
ANALYST: (off his computer)...Ranko Sinisa Zamani. Serbian National. Educated in the U.S. Key player in the Yugoslav wars...
Zamani’s a gaunt little man. Haunting eyes. He wears a rash of CHEMICAL BURNS on his neck and jaw. Red continues to fill in details about Zamani as. An ANALYST beckons Cooper and shows him a classified file on his monitor. Cooper turns. Walks directly into...
RED’S INTERROGATION CELL
RED: Agent Cooper, you’re not trained in interrogation.
COOPER: I don’t know what you think is gonna happen here, but this --
RED: I’m giving you Zamani.
COOPER: Ranko Zamani died twelve years ago. He’s a non-existent threat.
RED: And you believe that?
COOPER: It’s a fact. Serbian courts had him declared dead in 2008.
RED: Then a dead man just stepped off United 283 from Munich to Dulles.
Cooper’s expression goes flat as we smash cut to.
INT. DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Agents are escorted through the terminal by airport police.
IN THE CONTROL ROOM...
Police annex flight manifests. Roll back security footage. Agents freeze-frame an image of a man who’s little more than a twisted shadow. His eyes just catch the camera. Ranko Zamani. The Serbian Ghost.
ANALYST: ...entered the country under the name Sacha M. Chacko.
WAR ROOM / F.B.I.
Images of Zamani flip across screens as STAFF LAWYERS and analysts scramble to reconstruct what they know. Like a buzzing newsroom, the stream of incoming intel is constant.
ANALYST: Cleared customs at 10:56 AM.
ANALYST 2: Counterintelligence has financial indicators Red helped Zamani flee Cairo in February of ’03.
Ressler storms into the room, voice booming.
RESSLER: Okay, listen up, people. The lab just pulled a latent print off an airline arm rest. Nine points of comparison. Zamani’s alive. Number Four does not surrender to settle a score. I wanna know what these two are planning; scour every phone record, every bank account. Somebody tell me what is going on.
INTERROGATION CELL / F.B.I. - MOMENTS LATER
Agent Cooper sits down across from Red. Every camera in the nest is rolling.
COOPER: You have my attention.
RED: Will you admit you were wrong?
COOPER: I was wrong.
RED: Yes, you were wrong. Certainly not the first time. Now, I’ll give you Zamani, but first…
COOPER: No ‘but firsts’. You don’t decide anything. I’m in charge. All you do is talk.
RED: Agent Cooper, you’ve overestimated your authority. I don’t trust you. I don’t even like you. I said I’ll help you find Zamani, and I will, but from this point forward there’s one very important rule: I only speak with Elizabeth Keen.
IN THE SECURITY NEST...
The agents blink in confusion. Glances are exchanged.
RESSLER: Who the hell is Elizabeth Keen?
DARK BEDROOM
A golden retriever licks the face of a sleeping woman. She pushes the dog away and squints at the blinking alarm clock. Lays back down. Suddenly jolts out of bed as.
WOMAN: Crap. CRAP!!!
Her dazed husband sits up on his elbows.
HUSBAND: Lizzy, what’s going on?
WOMAN: Power went out. I’M LATE.
A series of fast cuts ignite the day. Shower on. Toaster loaded. Steam is wiped from the bathroom mirror and we’re given our first good look at Elizabeth Keen. She’s worked out. The body of a dancer. Spirit of a fighter. Shades of a rebellious gutter punk past. Liz brushes her teeth.
LIZ: (mouth foaming) I missed my bus, babe. I’m gonna need to take the car.
IN THE KITCHEN...
Liz quickly fumbles through the fridge. Her husband, Tom, stumbles into view. Tom’s easy going. The emotional glue. Not so good at mornings. He hops into a leg of his pants, heart racing, as.
TOM: You can’t take the car. I need the car. Field trip committee.
LIZ: We’re out of milk.
TOM: I can drive you.
Liz closes the refrigerator door to find Tom standing there with two tourism brochures, one in each hand.
TOM: Air and Space or the National Zoo?
Liz flicks the zoo brochure.
LIZ: Zoo’s gender neutral. (then, realizing) Is this pee?! I’m standing in pee.
TOM: He’s your dog too.
IN THE BEDROOM...
Liz yanks off her socks. Checks the time.
LIZ: (calling out / hurried) I’m gonna smell like a urinary tract infection on my first day.
TOM: can’t hear you. Remember, we have the last adoption meeting today. One-thirty.
IN THE KITCHEN...
Tom scrapes the burnt char from a piece of toast and takes a giant bite. He hands the other half to Liz who buzzes past, takes a bite, grabbing her purse as.
TOM: You heard me, right? One-thirty?
LIZ: One-thirty. Last meeting. Make or break. Don’t worry about me, babe, I’ll take the train from work and meet you there.
TOM: I’m in the car. As Tom disappears into the hall, Liz tosses the burnt toast to the dog. She opens the fridge. Grabs an apple.
TOM: You got the keys?
LIZ: In my pocket.
TOM: I got your coffee. These two are good. In locked-sync step.
OUTSIDE THEIR BROWNSTONE...
Liz vaults down the steps, apple in her teeth. She stops when she sees Tom standing by their car watching her.
LIZ: What?
TOM: You.
LIZ: I forget something?
Tom smiles, marveling.
TOM: We both woke up seven minutes ago. My shirt’s on backwards and my eyes can barely focus. You’re dressed, composed and as beautiful as you were the day we met.
LIZ: I’m forgetting something.
Tom pulls Liz’S F.B.I. Badge from behind his back. Almost forgot it. As she pockets the badge we realize Liz is an F.B.I. agent. She steps closer. Looks into her Tom’s eyes.
LIZ: You know I’m not going to let this job come between us and our family. We want a family, we’re gonna have a family. Today’s the day.
TOM: We can do this. He holds her eyes.
TOM: I’m proud of you, Lizzy. You worked hard for this. Nervous?
LIZ: No. I’m good. I just don’t want any more big surprises today.
Tom pulls Liz close and they kiss, but their embrace is interrupted by a low, thunderous rumble. Leaves rustle. The rumbling swells as they look overhead to see a helicopter rising over their brownstone. POLICE CARS emerge out of nowhere. JUMP the curb. Cordon off a large area of the park across the street where the chopper lands. Agent Ressler exits, running toward Liz.
RESSLER: Agent Keen?
He flashes his badge. Liz blinks in disbelief.
RESSLER: Donald Ressler. Washington Field
Office. I need you to come with me right away. Liz holds out her finger, dangling the keys to Tom.
LIZ: (dumbstruck) I don’t think I’ll need the car.
COOPER’S OFFICE / F.B.I.
Liz sits in silence with three agents. Ressler and Cooper enter. They’ve been talking. Cooper sits across from Liz.
COOPER: Harold Cooper. Assistant Director of Counterterrorism.
LIZ: Yes, sir. I know who you are, sir.
COOPER: Wanna tell us what’s gong on?
Nobody notices how Liz clutches her right hand into a fist, nervously opening and closing the grip, running her fingers against the skin of her palm.
LIZ: I’ve been vetted by the agency like everyone else. Same background checks. Psych profiles. I’m sure OPR’s trolling my digital footprint right now, and I can tell you what they’ll find. Nothing. I have no history with Reddington.
Cooper watches Liz. Isn’t convinced.
COOPER: They tell me today’s your first day as a profiler.
LIZ: Yes. Reassigned from New York. Graduated Quantico last month.
COOPER: Congratulations. (flat) Profile yourself.
LIZ: Sir?
COOPER: Who are you? What does he see? Profile Elizabeth Keen.
LIZ: Oh, uhm. Well… I’ve been with the Bureau for four years; head of the Mobile Emergency Psych Unit in New York. Worked bank robberies, murder, extortion.
COOPER: We’ve read your resume.
Liz looks trapped for a moment. Uneasy silence. Then something clicks and it’s as if another woman emerges.
LIZ: My colleagues call me ‘sir’. They think I’m a bitch. Like most kids who raise themselves, I display narcissistic behavior. I can be withdrawn. Disconnected. Despite, or perhaps because of my past, I have a deep yearning to understand the criminal mind. I’m board certified in forensic psychology, and yet I’m under the delusion I can erase my childhood by having kids of my own. All this manifests itself in the occasional, regrettable, fit of anger.
The agents are speechless. Liz blinks. Feels naked.
COOPER: Do you find it odd Reddington surrendered himself the same day you started working as a profiler?
LIZ: It suggests he was waiting for me.
COOPER: Why you specifically?
LIZ: Because I’m new. He thinks I can be easily manipulated. Obviously, the man doesn’t know me very well.
There’s a strength within this woman that’s undeniable.
THE HIVE.
Liz, Cooper and Ressler wind their way through a maze of monitors, techs, and control boards. This is mission control and the room from which Red is carefully monitored. The techs and support staff fall silent as Liz moves through their space. We sense their collective respect; like Romans watching a gladiator enter the Coliseum. Cooper and Liz stop before a steel door.
COOPER: If you need anything, remember, we’re right here.
This doesn’t give Liz comfort. Suddenly, a chest-rattling Alarm sounds. Hydraulic locks disengage. Liz steps into...
A MASSIVE AUDITORIUM.
State of the art. Impenetrable. At the center of this dark room is a small, BULLETPROOF PRISON TUBE. Red sits alone under the hot lights. He sees Liz and he rises. Her heart pounds as she steps inside...
RED’S CONTAINMENT CELL.
RED: Agent Keen. What an honor.
He extends his hand like a boy on a date. Liz keeps her arms folded and tries to project confidence. Drags the only other chair in the cell to Red’s side of the table.
LIZ: I heard you wanna talk.
She sits. Red is captivated. We INTERCUT with the Hive as everyone watches the monitors in silence.
LIZ: Well?
Red can’t take his eyes off of Liz.
LIZ: You’re the one who surrendered. Made all the demands. Asked me here. I’m here.
RED: You got rid of your highlights. Much less Baltimore. Do you get back home much?
She tries not to look surprised by this.
LIZ: Tell me about Zamani.
RED: I haven’t been home in years.
Liz feigns a smile. Takes a moment. She needs to establis.
LIZ: Your wife, Ellen, you know she lights a candle every Christmas Eve. Still mourns the day you disappeared even though she knows you’re alive. No way you’d come back after twentyfive years, face the life you left, everyone you betrayed, in order to settle some grudge.
RED: Perhaps it’s a sizable grudge.
LIZ: Why involve me? I’m nobody. First day. Nothing special about me.
RED: Oh, I think you’re very special.
He says it in an weirdly erotic way. Liz flicks a glance at the agents behind the glass. Her discomfort betrays her.
RED: Within the hour, Ranko Zamani will abduct the daughter of U.S. General David Ryker. His team will use an EM pulse bomb to create a diversion and grab the girl. If you don’t move quickly she will die. That’s what I know.
LIZ: And how do you know this?
RED: Because I’m the one who got Zamani into the country.
LIZ: I should believe you?
RED: Of course not. I’m a criminal. Criminals are liars. Everything about me is a lie. But if anyone can give me a second chance, it’s you. The two of us have overcome so much.
Liz leans back. Doesn’t like this.
RED: I mean, look at you. Abandoned by a father who was a career criminal. A mother who worked two jobs, despite her addiction, to keep you in school, out of juvenile court. You practically raised yourself. And yet here you are, about to make a name for yourself, about to catch Ranko Zamani. I’m gonna make you famous, Lizzy.
LIZ: Don’t call me Lizzy.
She says it with force, but she’s screaming inside.
RED: We both know the past does not equal the future. You’ve learned from your experiences, they’ve given you tremendous insight. That’s why you’re gonna believe me.
THE HIVE - SECONDS LATER
Liz buests through the door. Shoulders past Cooper and goes directly to Ressler.
LIZ: What did you tell him?
RESSLER: What?! Nothing.
LIZ: Then how did he know those things? Private things? About my family?!
RESSLER: Why didn’t your father’s criminal record show up in your background report? You told us he.
She turns to Cooper.
LIZ: I think we should contact the SWAT commander at Quantico; roll a team to the girl’s school.
RESSLER: Nonsense. He’s bluffing.
LIZ: He’s establishing his value.
RESSLER: I’ve been the field agent on this guy for eight years, trust me --
LIZ: And eight years got you what? You asked me here. You asked my opinion. So here it is: that girl is gonna be taken.
Cooper considers this. Wheels turning.
COOPER: Roll HRT to the school. Call Bolling AFB Command, patch us through to General Ryker.
IN A CORRIDOR
Liz steps into a stall and closes the door. Needs a minute to gather herself. She takes a few calming breaths before. she slams her fist into the wall of the stall repeatedly. Raw unchecked energy. Liz falls back. Making that habitual rolling fist, running her fingers against her palm until she grabs her phone. Dials her husband.
TOM: Lizzy, hey, What’s going on? I’ve been wanting to call, but --
LIZ: I need to hear your voice.
TOM: What’s with the helicopter?
LIZ: The helicopter was nothing. I just had an interview with. I can’t even tell you. Classified. This entire day is classified. I flew over the White House!
TOM: Over the what?!
LIZ: I’m telling you, they gave me Level Four clearance. Insane. I just interviewed the number four... I met with the Assistant Director...
TOM: Okay. Breathe. Just breathe.
LIZ: If you knew half the things --
TOM: I can’t. Remember? Classified. Those things, they don’t matter because you’re gonna be amazing.
LIZ: Tell me I can do this.
TOM: Lizzy, when have you ever failed? This lands with her. Calms her.
LIZ: I don’t deserve you. I promise I’ll make this up to you, let’s take tonight and.
RESSLER: What are you doing with that phone? We’re on a SCIF floor. You can’t --
LIZ: (to Tom) Gotta go, babe.
She clicks the phone off.
RESSLER: You put on a great show in there. Sounded real smart. But you better pull yourself together because you just called in the calvary. SWAT. This is your show now. Your neck on the line.
PENTAGON
A MARINE in dress blues moves through the Defense Department headquarters, past security, and into a room full of generals gathered around a table. The men turn as general David Ryker stands. Ryker is a Four Star General. Distinguished. Fierce. The Marine salutes.
MARINE: Sir. We have a situation, Sir. It’s about your daughter.
HOLTON-ARMS PRIVATE SCHOOL
Where agents pile out of suburbans and into the SEA OF children. Pandemonium. A thousand little girls in plaid skirts and sweaters.
RESSLER: What the hell happened?
POLICE COMMANDER: Campus security freaked, saw SWAT and activated the emergency plan.
RESSLER: Where’s the girl?
Agents sort through the faces as Liz searches for.
LIZ: Beth?! I’m looking for Beth Ryker!
A teacher rushes Beth Ryker toward Liz. Beth is an angel with two missing teeth. Bright eyes. Heart pounding. Liz takes her hand. Races toward the closest SUBURBAN. She can’t find Ressler, but there’s no time. A SWAT AGENT lifts the girl into the suburban and Liz dives in behind. Motions the driver.
WASHINGTON
Liz’s suburban rolls through the city. We INTERCUT betweenthe vehicles. Ressler and Liz are now separated. It wasn’t planned this way, but the girl’s safe. SWAT teams trail in bumper-lock.The little girl stares at the fully armed SWAT Agent seated across from her. His radio crackles.
RESSLER: Target onboard. Notify McNair.
DISPATCH: Copy. You have an HRT escort.
Beth’s eyes well with tears as --
LIZ: Can you turn that thing off?
The little girl starts crying.
LIZ: Hey. You’re okay.
BET: His my Daddy hurt?
LIZ: Oh, no. Your Daddy’s fine. We’re on our way to see him right now. Hey, your name’s Beth, right? I’m Beth. Elizabeth. My friends call me Liz.
BETH: My Daddy has a pin like that.
She’s looking at the american flag pin on Liz’s lapel.
LIZ: I bet Daddy has lots of medals.
Liz sees the caravan is crossing the Potomac. They pass over the massive WOODROW WILSON BRIDGE, escaping Washington.
LIZ: To get a pin like this you gotta be really brave, like your Dad. Like you were back there.
Liz removes the pin from her lapel and pins it on Beth’s sweater. Beth touches the pin. It reflects the sunlight. She forgets her tears as. Beth looks at her own charm bracelet. Kiddie jewelry. A trinket from a gum ball machine. She takes it off and starts to clip it around Liz’s wrist.
LIZ: Oh, you don’t have to give me... Thank you. It’s beautiful.
BETH: It’s a charm bracelet. It’s got little animals.
Beth leans into Liz. Feeling safe now. Liz puts her arm around the girl. She’s got a way of putting kids at ease.
LIZ: You’re safe with me.
Liz spots a few tail lights ahead.
LIZ: (into her radio) What’s going on up ahead?
RESSLER: Accident. Dispatch is re-routing.
Liz eyes the accident as their suburban slows. Ressler gets out, talks with an officer, but Liz senses something. Eerie silence. She considers their stalled caravan as she looks in the rearview mirror to see the bridge lights and traffic signals flickering out. One by one, the power outage races toward them like a tidal wave.
LIZ: It’s happening... (into her radio) It’s happening !
The entire bridge lurches. Cars shake. Ressler looks down to see the steel plates between his feet open up.
RESSLER: The bridge. Turn around. GO!
THE DRAWBRIDGE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.
LIZ: Take my hand, Beth. Stay with me.
The Kidnapper climbs into the car. Reaching for Beth. Liz swats at him as he GRABS THE LITTLE GIRL. She reaches out.
LIZ: BETH. TAKE MY HAND.
They lock eyes. FORTY PERCENT. The girl grabs Liz’s hand but suddenly the suburban falls. Liz goes with it. As the car falls away, the Kidnapper’s left holding Beth, dangling from the rappelling line as Liz’s car ROLLS TWICE. Lands hard. The Kidnappers holding Beth climb up toward the apex of the bridge which is now fully open. Below ON THE POTOMAC a SPEEDBOAT arrives. The Kidnappers rappel down, girl in hand, into the boat. As they speed away Liz opens her eyes. Her world slips into focus. She reaches out. Lying among the splintered glass she finds... BETH’S CHARM BRACELET.
F.B.I. HEADQUARTERS
Liz sits on a bench in a hallway. A small bandage covering a split in her brow. She holds Beth’s charm bracelet like a rosary. Stares ahead, unblinking, eyes locked on the silent image of General Ryker who can be seen through the glass wall of Cooper’s office. Ryker is SCREAMING at Cooper and Ressler. Eviscerating the agents. Tears well in Liz’s eyes as she watches, heavy with guilt. She knows she may have cost the General’s daughter her life. Liz is watching this verbal brawl when her phone vibrates. She looks down. Six missed calls. Realizing the time as.
LIZ: Tom. My God. I meant to call.
We INTERCUT with Tom. Pacing nervously. Sneaking a call in the hallway outside their ADOPTION AGENCY.
TOM: Are you close? What’s going on?
LIZ I’m stuck here.
TOM: Stuck?! You’re kidding, right? Everyone’s waiting.
LIZ: I’m the worst. I’m so sorry. It’s just, Tom, this crazy day.
Ressler KNOCKS on the glass. Waves Liz into the office for her ass chewing. She holds up a finger, asking the General and the others wait, juggling Tom as.
TOM: Lizzy, babe, if this is too much... we don’t have to do this. We can start a family next year. I can tell these people right now. But if we’re gonna go through with this we gotta do it together. I can’t do it alone, Lizzy. I need to know you’re one-hundred percent.
Liz looks at the waiting General. Turns her back on him. Her priorities suddenly slip into focus.
LIZ: I’m one hundred percent.
TOM: You say that, but...
LIZ: Tom. Our family. It’s all that matters. She’s speaking from the heart. He smiles.
TOM: I believe you.
CASE AGENT (O.S.): Mr. Keen? Is your wife coming?
Tom whips around. Greets the CASE AGENT with a big, warm smile and an extended hand as.
TOM: Let me handle this.
LIZ: Good luck, babe. Love you.
Liz hangs up. Smiles to herself. She loses herself in the warmth of Tom when General Ryker comes storming out of the office. Moving down the hallway.
LIZ: Sir?
The General turns to Liz.
LIZ: I want to personally tell you how sorry I am for your daughter’s --
GENERAL RYKER: You’re not just out of a job. I’m gonna see to it the D.O.J. files charges. Criminal negligence. You better beg God my girl comes home alive because this thing’s coming down on you, sweetheart.
Ryker marches off down the hallway.
LIZ: I’m gonna get her back.
RED’S HOLDING CHAMBER
An Interrogator from the High-Value Interrogation Team sits across from Red. They’ve been at this for hours.
INTERROGATOR: Is the girl dead?
Red’s silent. Eyes locked on the Interrogator.
INTERROGATOR: Is that why we haven’t heard from the abductors? No demands? What other reason would there be? It’s been four hours. You think we’re gonna overlook the fact you turned yourself in the exact same day this thing went down?
IN THE HIVE...
Cooper sees they’re getting nowhere. Knocks on the glass.
COOPER: Kill the cameras. Everyone out.
GENERAL RYKER. Chest full of medals. He sits down before Red who is not intimidated whatsoever.
GENERAL RYKER: The US Government doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. But I’m not the government. I’m here as a father.
Red blinks at the General’s medals as if they’re meaningless.
GENERAL RYKER: Is this about immunity? You want your crimes forgiven? I’m personal friends with the Attorney General. There are things you’ve done that I can make people forget.
Silence. The General EXPLODES.
GENERAL RYKER: ANSWER ME! This is a my baby’s life we’re talking about. Your people haven’t made one demand!
RED: I already told you people how this works. You wanna talk? Go get Elizabeth Keen.
The General stares daggers.
THE HIVE
Liz does a walk of shame. Past Cooper. Past Ryker. All eyes are on Red’s ‘chosen one’ as she makes her way into...
RED’S HOLDING CHAMBER.
Red extends his hand. Liz keeps her arms folded. He sees Liz is wearing the CHARM BRACELET Beth gave her; the one with the tiny plastic animals.
RED Nice bobble. Reminds me of my daughter. She loved jewelry.
LIZ: Where’s the girl?
RED: you women and your jewelry.
LIZ: It’s been four hours.
RED: I told you Zamani would take her. Told you that’s all I knew. It’s in your hands now.
He notices the way Liz is nervously opening and closing her fist, running her fingers against the skin of her palm.
RED: Why do you do that?
She places her hand in her lap.
LIZ: I need your help with Zamani.
RED: How about we trade. You tell me, I tell you. Tell me about that scar on your palm. I’ve noticed how you hide it.
Liz swallows. Reluctant.
LIZ: There was a fire. I was fourteen.
RED: Someone tried to hurt you.
LIZ: Not exactly.
RED: But the scar, what does it remind you of? When you touch it? May I?
Liz reluctantly extends her hand. Red takes her palm, runs his fingertips over the scar tissue as if he might see into her past. It’s uncomfortable. Red’s thumb follows the scar up her arm, under her sleeve. He looks into her eyes.
RED: Is a child really what you want?
Liz pulls away. Stunned.
LIZ: How on earth do you know.
RED: I know it’s exciting, that you’ve waited, but a baby can’t fix what happened in the past.
She stands, indignant.
LIZ: How dare you. You lost the privilege of speaking about parenthood when you abandoned your wife and daughter on Christmas Eve. Addy, right? How old would she be now? Thirty? You don’t know because you walked away, so keep the Fatherly advice to yourself.
RED: You won’t find the girl until you learn to look at this differently.
LIZ: And how should I look at this?
RED: Like a criminal. It may come easier to you than you think. Shall I show you?
F.B.I. / THE WAR ROOM
Liz and the other agents watch as Red walks the room eyeing the MASSIVE WALL OF CLUES. He moves with a sense of pride and curiosity. Takes in the details.
LIZ: So?
Red steps back. Considers the collage of PHOTOS and POLICE REPORTS. Silence. Then with complete confidence.
RED: Irrelevant.
He TEARS DOWN A MUG SHOT. Rips down a surveillance photo.
RED: Waste of time.
RESSLER: Hey, you can’t just…
Red continues down the wall, pulling down precious documents, moving pieces. The analysts watch in disbelief as Red weeds out the unimportant. He grabs a surveillance photo and rips it in half; holds up the half with the image of a YOUNG SERB.
RED: Miroslav. He’s more than a driver. They call him The Chemist. Weapons expert. Turned down MIT to work for al-Qaeda in South Africa.
Red pins THE CHEMIST to the wall, then grabs a photo of a GROUP OF MEN outside of bank.
RED: The German? Reinhardt? You’re right that if money was involved he laundered it, but his Swiss account is a dead end. He runs everything through a former IRS man named Kagel. Works through the Caymans. What about the girl? What do you have on the girl and her father?
An analyst works keyboard. Images of BETH fill the screens. Beth’s school portrait. Beth and her father, General Ryker.
RED: What do you see, Lizzy?
She blinks at Red. Only Tom calls her Lizzy.
LIZ: Well, the timeline would suggest a singular event. Something in DC. Not sure how the girl fits.
RED: What about the Chemist?
LIZ: Important. Well paid. What he’s planning is expensive, maybe some kind of attack.
RED: You’re thinking like a cop. What does a criminal see?
RESSLER: Okay, this is nonsense.
LIZ: Taking the general’s daughter was risky. She’s a well protected --
RED: she’s critical to the mission.
Cooper and Ressler exchange a suspect glance as Liz scans the photos. She finds a picture of Zamani reaching into a pocketsized CONTAINER OF PILLS.
LIZ: Zamani’s sick. C.I.A. says he carries Nipah virus. Dying makes him dangerous. Nothing to lose.
RED: And the General’s daughter?
LIZ: Her father, the General, spent time in Bosnia supporting NATO troops --
RED: Zamani’s home turf.
LIZ: he came under public scrutiny when U.S. led forces bombed a suspected chemical weapons facility in the Bihac pocket region.Never did find proof of the weapons, but the bombing released unknown chemical agents. Poisoned the village and... (then, realizing) Jesus. His family.
Liz sees a photo of Zamani with his YOUNG SONS.
RED: Follow that pit in your stomach.
LIZ: Zamani’s wife and sons were made sick in the bombing orchestrated by General Ryker. They died. Zamani survived. He wants revenge. (realizing) He hired the Chemist to build a bomb. Detonate it in DC. Has a return flight tomorrow at 10:00 AM which means it’s gonna happen soon. Tomorrow morning. His dying wish.
Red guides Liz. Exhilarated. The teacher and the pupil.
RED: Why no offer to trade the girl?
LIZ: Because he needs her. Zamani lost his family, he’s gonna use the General’s daughter to even the score. Deliver the bomb.
The room ERUPTS into a hive of activity. Red quietly turns to Liz, an olive branch.
RED: I have an acquaintance. They call him the Innkeeper; runs a series of safe-houses. Lean on him. He’ll know where to find the Chemist. Find the Chemist, you find Zamani.
LIZ: Where is this Innkeeper?
RED: If I tell you, you have to give me something in return. I need to be moved. Higher security.
LIZ: You’re inside the F.B.I.
RED: My point exactly. It’s not safe.
MCNAIR ARMY BASE
An F.B.I. convoy escorts RED’S ARMORED TRUCK past uniformed guards and onto the historic U.S. military base on Greenleaf Point. Majestic views of the Potomac. Sprawling lawns.
SUN-DIAL MOTEL
Agents pour into the tiny motel near Reagan National. They throw “THE INNKEEPER” to the ground. Hands behind his head. Boots on his neck. As the Innkeeper begs, we JUMP BACK TO:
GENERAL’S ROW / FORT MCNAIR
Red steps from his armored vehicle and takes in his new home; a breathtaking COLONIAL MANSION overlooking the Potomac. The Army owned home is not only historic, but one of the most well protected estates in all of Washington.
INSIDE RED’S HOUSE...
Agents remove the mirrors and silverware. Cameras are installed. Red admires the beautiful coffered ceilings. It’s a fitting home for a military man.
NEGLECTED APARTMENT / IVY CITY
SWAT TEAMS burst down the door and the inhabitants scramble. Some sort of lab. The agents push through a door into a room filled with elaborate BOMB MAKING SUPPLIES. They pull a FIGURE down from the fire escape. Hands behind the head.
SHORELINE / FT. MCNAIR
Ressler finds Liz looking out at the boat yard, drinking in the beauty of the water. A rare moment of peace.
RESSLER: They found the lab. Interrogating the Chemist as we speak.
LIZ: We have the Chemist?
RESSLER: Big fish, right? Based on what we pulled from his lab we think we’ve caught it in time. Shut down his operation. We’re making progress.
LIZ: What about the bomb?
RESSLER: HDS is running samples. We’ll have results within hours. Liz stares out at the water. He lights a cigarette.
LIZ: I didn’t choose any of this. He doesn’t believe her.
RESSLER: Of course not. He chose you. There’s a bigger picture we’re not seeing, but we will. Give it time.
LIZ: I gotta clear my head. Get out of here for a bit. Grab a shower.
RESSLER: Don’t go too far. As she walks away, he watches her go. There’s not a bone in Ressler’s body that trusts this woman.
LIZ’S BROWNSTONE
Liz returns home. It’s like entering another world. Soft music. Candlelight. In the entry, she finds a small PINK WICKER ROCKING CHAIR stuffed with pink blankets, books and bibs. Mylar balloons proclaim, ‘IT’S A GIRL!’
LIZ: Oh, my God. Did they say yes?!
In the arms of a stuffed animal Liz finds the ADOPTION PAPERWORK. Opens it. Tears standing in her eyes.
LIZ: It’s OFFICIAL? How did you – I can’t believe...
Liz rounds the corner to find Tom, his back to her, seated at a beautiful candlelight dinner. There’s Champagne. Flowers. Her shoulders drop as Liz sits down and looks to Tom to see.
LIZ: We’re gonna have a baby!
Tom is duct taped to the chair. He’s been BEATEN and TORTURED. Zip-ties on his wrists. Tape over his mouth. Pure fucking horror in his eyes. Liz’s heart stops as a DARK FIGURE reaches past her breast, into her jacket, and delicately removes her WEAPON. He’s a colorless TWIG OF A MAN, chemical burns on his neck and jaw. As he sits at the table between Liz and Tom we meet ZAMANI. An anemic little ghost. Looks like he was raised in a veal cage. Zamani speaks with a thick SERBIAN ACCENT. His lungs rattle with each breath.
ZAMANI: Tom and I already have met. Been talking. Trying to figure out how you knew I was in town.
Liz looks to Tom. There’s blood matted in his hair. The vessels of one eye have ruptured.
ZAMANI: I tell him you took the General’s daughter minutes before I was going to. Forced me to re-think things, which I did quite well, I think.
Zamani serves himself a slice of fish
ZAMANI: But then your people come for my Chemist friend. I was finished with the Chemist, so you save me a payment for services. For that, I thank you. But it did make me wonder what else you know. What else do you know?
LIZ: I don’t. Tom, please...
Zamani takes a bite, chewing through heavy, hoarse breaths.
ZAMANI: Over here. I ask question. What else do you know about my plan?
LIZ: An attack... uhm, a bomb maybe. We’re not sure, we don’t know --
Zamani stands. Pours Liz a glass of Champagne.
LIZ: we only knew about the girl. Everything else... speculation. Tom, babe, it’s gonna be okay --
Zamani buries his STEAK KNIFE in the meat of Tom’s thigh. Tom let’s out a MUFFLED SCREAM.
ZAMANI: What. Else. Do you know?
LIZ: I swear... nothing...
Zamani holds his chest. Removes a POCKET-SIZED CONTAINER of pills from his jacket and puts one on his tongue. Chases it with Champagne. As he does, we see a penny-sized TATTOO on the back of Zamani’s hand. It’s the SILHOUETTE OF A SUNBURST; jagged rays reaching out from the center, violently whipping about.
ZAMANI You are not as smart as Reddington says. My friend, he was always so obsessed with you. Not sure why. What I have planned will make for many casualties. Chemical agents, no? What you call... biblical. So now you have choice: stop me now and save many Americans... or save only one. What do you choose?
Zamani yanks the knife from Tom’s thigh and PLUNGES IT INTO TOM’S ABDOMEN. He turns the knife, DRAGS IT to his sternum. Liz SCREAMS. She LEAPS UP as leaves. Liz chases, but stutter-steps back to Tom. Can’t have both. She runs to Tom. Holds him. Dials 911 as Zamani vanishes. Blood everywhere. Phone ringing.
LIZ: Hold on, babe. You’re gonna be fine. We’re gonna get you help.
EMERGENCY OPERATOR: 911. What’s your emergency?
HOSPITAL ROOM
Tom lies in a hospital bed. Tubes and wires protruding from his chest. Liz sits beside Tom. Holding his hand. Watching machines breathe for the man she loves.
LIZ: Babe... if you can hear me... you can’t let this happen. Not today. This was supposed to be a happy day. The beginning...You’re the one good thing in my life. I don’t know how it works without you. Don’t leave me alone.
We leave her, praying over her dying husband.
RED’S HOUSE / FT. MCNAIR
We follow Liz down a corridor. Fueled by anger. Fearless.
IN THE STUDY...
Red stands. Liz is on fire. A boiling pot of crazy.
LIZ: Did you send him? Are you the one who did this?
RED: Lizzy, what’s…
LIZ: Don’t call me Lizzy, goddamnit. He was in my house. My husband’s on a ventilator because Zamani came.
Red face goes blank.
RED: Tell me what happened.
LIZ: Don’t play stupid. You’re the only thing connecting us. He told me that you’ve talked to him about me.
RED: Liz, you have to tell me what happened. What did you see?
LIZ: What did I... I saw the love of my life being tortured. Disemboweled.
RED: No, what did you see?
LIZ: Stop acting like we’re some kind of team. I don’t know you. I didn’t ask for any of.
RED: This is bigger than us, Liz. We’re at the center of something that you can’t possibly understand.
LIZ: Goddamnit, I want the truth!
RED: Honestly?! The truth? The truth is Zamani did you a favor, Lizzy.
Suddenly, Liz pulls THE PEN from her pocket and stabs Red in the neck, spins around and traps him in a military choke-hold.
LIZ: I told you not to call me Lizzy.
She holds her thumb over the bloody PUNCTURE WOUND in Red’s neck. His breathing quickens. His eyes bulge.
LIZ: Now, you were in the army, so you know from training I just punched a hole in your carotid. The artery will likely vasospasm; reduce its own flow. Best chance, one minute before you pass out. So here’s how it works, asshole... You tell me how I find Zamani and make this right, or I let you die right here. Understand?
RED: Yes, but...
Red gasps for breath, clinging to life.
RED: ...if you let me die, you’ll never learn the truth about your husband.
LIZ: You know nothing about my husband.
Red allows a faint little smile. Strangely, Liz is the one who now looks trapped. Wheels turning. She has no choice but to call.
LIZ: Guard, I need a medic !
Red falls to the floor. Guards rush in as Liz collapses next to Red trying to stop the bleeding. She barks orders. Blood everywhere. We jump from the chaotic frenzy to.
LIZ AND TOM’S BROWNSTONE
Liz sits in a fog, doing another round of interviews with the POLICE. There’s no sound. Only a dull BUZZING SOUND. Liz watches the detectives comb through her life. They collect samples. Take pictures. But Liz can’t take her eyes off of Tom’s DRIED-BLACK BLOOD in the carpet.
LATER...
After the police are gone. Liz is on her hands and knees scrubbing the blood out of the carpet with a bucket and brush. As she does the BUZZING SOUND swells, mimicking her rising frustration. The harder she scrubs the more helpless Liz feels. She is completely powerless. Finally, Liz THROWS the brush across the room. Bloody water splatters the wall as we CUT TO.
WALTER REED MEDICAL CENTER
We follow Liz down a long, narrow hallway. She flashes her badge. Moves past security. Finds Ressler who is speaking with another agent outside Red’s room.
RESSLER: Can’t go in. He’s with the Nurse. You shouldn’t even be here.
LIZ: I know. I was out of line before, but I can’t just sit at home and wait while there’s a chemical...
Liz trails off as the MALE NURSE exits Red’s room. Pushes his cart past. She waits until the Nurse is out of earshot.
LIZ: This isn’t just about me and Tom. That weapon is going to detonate. We still don’t know where. Red is willing to talk to me. Please. Give me ten minutes.
Reluctant, Ressler nods. Allows Liz past. But as Liz steps into RED’S ROOM she sees the bed is EMPTY. The window OPEN. Her entire world seems to slow down and Liz realizes... Red is GONE.Liz steps back into the hall. Sees the MALE NURSE who just left Red’s room. He steps into the elevator. As he locks eyes with Liz, we recognize the Nurse as Red’s chauffeur from the opening scene: THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT. Liz steps toward him, dizzy with fear, but the elevator doors close and we JUMP TO.
UNION STATION
Red shoulders his way through the Rotunda. He’s now wearing a stolen topcoat and fedora. He finds a table outside a busy coffee shop and sits down next to a thin, HUNCHED FIGURE. As the man turns, we reveal it’s Zamani. The two men hug.
RED: It’s good to see you, old friend.
Zamani sits with Red, genuinely humbled.
ZAMANI: Face to face. What an honor.
RED: I felt it was important to handle these final details myself.
Red hands Zamani a PASSPORT and TRAVEL DOCUMENTS.
RED: How did things go with Agent Keen?
ZAMANI: Paid her a visit like you asked.
RED: And Tom? The Husband?
ZAMANI: Like you asked. Small price to pay for getting me out of the country.
RED: Word is you have big plans.
Zamani shrugs.
RED: Tell me one thing: the General’s daughter. Why take such a risk?
ZAMANI: This is about so much more than one girl; it’s about the children. All of them. The ones who will grow up with my memory living inside them, as I’ve lived with the memory your country gave me...
Zamani holds his chest. Shallow breaths. He reaches into his jacket and removes his pocket-sized CONTAINER OF PILLS. As he takes one out. Places it on his tongue.
ZAMANI: I’m giving their plague back to them. Giving it to their children. In sixty years they’ll be talking about this day, about my legacy.
RED: We should all be so fortunate.
Red stands as F.B.I. AGENTS STORM THE ROTUND RESSLER leads the charge, pushing through the crowd. In his earpiece, he’s guided by a TECH in a surveillance van, but when he arrives at the table Red and Zamani are gone.
TECH: Up ahead. Fifty yards.
Ressler moves toward Red. Toward the trains. Red quickly opens his phone and dials as we INTERCUT with Liz inside –
LIZ’S CAR
Liz cell rings.
RED: There’s a wrinkle. Zamani wants more than the General’s daughter.
LIZ: (perplexed) Red?! Where are… how did you...
RED: He’s after children.
LIZ: You son of a bitch, if you think I’m not gonna hunt you down and…
RED: We don’t have time. I need you to set aside your anger. Listen to me. I think between the two of us there may be an answer. I need you to tell me what Zamani said. Think back. What happened in your house? What did you see? Liz tries to remember, her world SPINNING.
LIZ: He, uhm, he asked about the girl... and about the Chemist...
IMAGES FLIP THROUGH LIZ’S MEMORY. We see FLASHES of the confrontation. Of Zamani torturing Tom.
RED: What did you see? At your house?
The dizzy assault of MEMORIES take Liz to:
LIZ: There was a tattoo. it’s the SILHOUETTE OF A SUNBURST; jagged rays reaching out from the center, violently whipping about.
RED: Zamani’s Serbian Orthodox. He wouldn’t tattoo himself. Body modification is a desecration.
LIZ: I know what I saw. This mark, I’ve seen it before…
RED: It wasn’t a tattoo. Where did you see it, Lizzy?
Liz remembers her frantic morning. Being late. Tom holding the TWO TOURISM BROCHURES for his field trip. TOM Air and Space or the National Zoo? Liz flicks the zoo brochure. We see the same SUNBURST IMAGE in the brochure. The logo for the Smithsonian National Zoo.
LIZ: It wasn’t a tattoo...(realizing)...it was a stamp. He’s gonna bomb the National Zoo.
UNION STATION
Ressler shadows Red through the station. But as the train pulls away, Ressler sees the platform is empty.
RESSLER: Where did he go?
TECH: In front of you. Twenty yards.
RESSLER: There’s nobody.
Ressler sees the TUNNEL and jumps down onto THE TRACKS.
THE NATIONAL ZOO
The hand of a child is STAMPED at the entry. The same PENNYSIZED TATTOO Liz saw on Zamani’s hand: an ADMISSION STAMP.
INSIDE THE ZOO...
Liz pushes past families. Children everywhere. She spots BETH SITTING ON A BENCH. The little girl looks terrified.
LIZ: Beth, remember me? Are you alone?
BETH: He said to wait here for my Daddy.
Liz sees Beth’s BACKPACK and carefully unzips it to reveal THE BOMB. It’s a marvel of molded plastic and parallel circuitry. A digital countdown reads “00:03 MIN / 00:13 SEC”. Liz takes a heart pounding breath. Reaches for the shoulder strap.
BETH: He said not to take it off...
Beth unzips her sweater to reveal a TANGLE OF WIRES wrapped around her torso. The backpack is booby trapped. Slowly, Liz reaches out. Her phone RINGS. She JUMPS. Answers.
RED: Whatever you do, don’t touch it.
LIZ: There’s less than three minutes. I gotta evacuate... call the bomb --
RED: Your people will never be there in time. My friend. He’s on his way.
LIZ: Your friend? What…
The call disconnects as we’re HURLED BACK TO:
SUBWAY TUNNELS
A flashlight beam dances in the dark as Ressler chases Red INTO THE TUNNELS. Something falls from Red’s pocket before Red slows down. Slump shouldered. Out of breath.
RESSLER: Hands in the air.
Ressler trains his WEAPON on Red. Picks up the small tin canister Red dropped as THE LIGHT OF A TRAIN illuminates the tunnel. Reveals it’s not Red he’s been chasing but Zamani. He clutches his chest. Lungs failing.
RESSLER: Get off the track.
Ressler steps closer. The TRAIN is almost upon them.
ZAMANI: Tell the General his girl was an “unfortunate civilian casualty”.
He opens his arms THE TRAIN EVISCERATES ZAMANI. Ressler ducks into the nearby alcove. Inches from the train. As it passes, he opens Zamani’s medicine canister and dumps the contents into his palm. Among the pills he finds --
RESSLER: Son of a bitch.
NATIONAL ZOO
Liz is on the phone, calling for backup, when she glances at the timer on the bomb. “01 MIN / 00:16 SEC”. Their fate is all but sealed. Liz looks to Beth. Behind her, she sees a ukrainian man with a duffe bag emerge through the sea of kids. He’s bald. Blond eyebrows. Looks like a thumb. The Ukrainian sits on the bench next to Beth and removes a TOOL KIT from his bag.
LIZ: Who are you? What are you doing?
The Ukrainian barks at Liz in Slavic as he cuts open Beth’s backpack with a pair of surgical scissors.
LIZ: I don’t know what you’re saying.
He motions for them to be still. Liz holds Beth. Watches in disbelief as the Ukrainian works to dismantle the bomb. Beth tries not to move, but she can’t help it. The Ukrainian is frantic. Screaming. Confusion in a foreign language. Beth cries as Liz sees “00:32 SEC”. This is it. She finds Beth’s eyes.
LIZ: You know, I was really scared once, too. I was all alone, but I had a secret weapon to help me. My Daddy gave it to me. You wanna see my secret weapon?
Beth quivers. Nods yes. Liz slowly, gently, opens her palm to reveal her BURN SCAR.
LIZ: I never show this to anybody. It’s super special. Like magic.
BETH: What does it do?
Liz is soft and calm. Pure motherly instinct.
LIZ: Any time I feel scared or afraid I touch it... and it makes all the bad things go away, makes me brave. Do you want to see if it can make you brave?
Beth nods. Places her palm in Liz’s palm. As she does, Liz wraps her free arm around the girl and closes her eyes. The sound evaporates Tranquil silence. It’s as if the entire world falls away, nothing else matters, until.
UKRAINIAN: ÚZASNY!!!
Liz’s eyes POP OPEN. The Ukrainian throws his arms around Liz, talking a mile a minute. Kiss her square on the mouth.
LIZ: Did you stop it?
He removes the bomb from the backpack. The countdown clock is stopped at “00:12 SEC”. A collective exhale as.
LIZ: He stopped it.
The Ukrainian places the device in his duffle bag.
LIZ: What? Wait. What are you...
RED: Consider the device his payment.
The Ukrainian turns to see RED approaching through the crowd. They embrace. The Ukrainian picks Red up in a full-on bear hug. He then turns and zips his bag, blows Liz a kiss, and saunters off into the zoo with a bomb in his duffle bag.
LIZ: What the…WAIT! He can’t... that’s a biological weapon.
RED: He’s fascinated with the things. Has more use for it than I do. (to Beth) Run along, now. Daddy’s here.
Beth whips around to see GENERAL RYKER running toward them. With RESSLER. Surrounded by agents. Beth grabs Liz’s hand. Looks at the scar. It really is magic. As the AGENTS rush in, Red lowers himself to his knees, hands behind his head.
LIZ: I’m gonna ask you again. I deserve the truth. Did you send Zamani to kill my husband ?
RED: We’re going to make a great team. F.B.I. AGENTS storm Red. Guns drawn. Ressler takes him down but Red’s eyes never leave Liz. He smiles as if she has just passed some strange, perverted test.
BETH: DADDY!
General Ryker lowers himself to his knee and Beth jumps into her father’s arms. As they embrace, Ryker smiles to Liz.
GENERAL RYKER: Thank you.
A weight is lifted. Liz’s shoulder’s drop. We hear.
COOPER: Who. Is. The Ukrainian?
RED: His name slips my memory.
CONFERENCE ROOM / F.B.I.
A review is underway. Red sits, Cooper, Ressler and a team of D.O.J. LIAISONS. Tempers run hot.
COOPER: You gave away a biological weapon.
RED: So the bomb is gone. It didn’t detonate. The girl’s safe. Zamani is dead. Frankly, I think all this worked out swimmingly.
RESSLER:This was never about Zamani. You surrendered and infiltrated the F.B.I. to get at our intelligence. To get that weapon.
RED: Agent Ressler, are you suggesting I would surrender myself and use your resources to hunt down Zamani and settle a score? Steal a biological weapon? That all of this is part of a some larger plot? I think it’s more likely I tried to help in good faith, but had to finish the job on my own because you were too goddamned stupid.
Ressler stands, livid.
COOPER: I think we’re finished.
RED: This was fun. Let’s do it again.
Cooper closes his notebook. Meeting over. But as the agents begin to gather their things, Red remains seated.
RED: No, really. Let’s do it again. You do understand, Zamani was only the first.
COOPER: First what?
RED: Name. On the Blacklist.
Cooper looks confused.
COOPER: What’s... the Blacklist?
RED: It’s why we’re all here, of course. My wish list. A list of names I’ve been cultivating for over twentyfive years; politicians, mobsters, hackers and spies.
RESSLER: We have our own list.
RED: Please, Agent Ressler, we all know your “Top Ten” is little more than a publicity campaign. Junior high bullies at best. I’m talking about the criminals who matter. The men I’ve spent my life protecting ones you can’t find because you don’t know they exist. Zamani was a small fish. I’m Ahab. But if you want the whales on my list, you gotta play by my rules.
Cooper sits, intrigued.
RED: One: I never stay in the same location two nights in a row. Two: I want security. I’ve already vetted a list of twenty-four Secret Service agents, pick two from my list. Three: I want an RFID tag imbedded in my neck -- not that garbage from VeriChip you stuck in my arm, I want the DARPA tested, fully encrypted, 8-millimeter tag. Four: whatever I tell you falls under an immunity package that I negotiate myself. And finally... most importantly... I speak only with Elizabeth Keen.
LIZ AND TOM’S HOUSE
Liz is on her hands and knees trying to scrub Tom’s blood out of the carpet. She sits back. Looks at the mess. She wants this hideous reminder out of her life for good so we cut to. The furniture is shoved aside and Liz is ripping back the carpet with a claw hammer. Going mad. She pulls back a swath, but stops when she sees a series of CUTS IN THE SUB-FLOOR. Boards that have been removed and replaced. It’s a HIDING PLACE. She uses the hammer to pry up the boards to reveal a LARGE DUFFLE BAG. AT THE KITCHEN TABLE... Liz sits in silence staring at the bag. Heart in her throat. She finally finds the courage to unzip the bag to discover BUNDLES OF CASH. Lots of them. Several hundred thousand dollars worth. Liz sits thunderstruck. She reaches into the side pocket of the duffle bag where she finds a BUL M-5 PISTOL. She holds the gun in her fist. A sick, drunken feeling washes over Liz as she reaches back into the pocket and removes a bundle of PASSPORTS. Twelve of them. Each with a different name and nationality. Each one with a PHOTO OF HER HUSBAND TOM. Liz trembles. Red was right. The man she has come to love is an imposter. That eerie, drunken feeling carries us to.
BLACK-SITE PRISON
Armed soldiers escort Liz through a series of security check points. Into a the bowels of an anonymous ship. She carries herself with a sense of purpose. A fire in her belly. Liz is shown through a doorway and into...
A PRISON CELL.
Red steps forward. Out of the shadows. That soft smile.
RED: You’ve discovered something about your beloved husband, haven’t you Lizzy?
She SNAPS back
LIZ: My name’s Liz, not Lizzy. To you I’m Agent Keen. Now, let me tell you how this is gonna work: I ask the questions. You answer. Screw with me and I walk. Starting right now, there are no more games, no more secrets... I want the truth.
RED: I’m here to help you find it.
She stares at Red. Into the unknown.
LIZ: Tell me about this Blacklist.
THE END
Ecrit par mnoandco, albi2302