MOLDOVA
14 years ago
A little girl, five or so years old with long blonde hair, wakes up in a hospital room. She gets out of bed and leaves her room and calls for her Mama. Outside her door, a man is slouched against the wall, dead. She runs down the hall. Other people are dead, some covered with blood and vomit, lying here and there. She climbs halfway up a staircase and stops, peering down through the railings. Men enter in HAZMAT suits, looking like aliens. One sees the little girl and walks up to the staircase. They stare at one another
MASSAGE ROOM
Eight days ago
A woman in her early 20s with long blonde hair pushes aside a bead curtain and enters a massage room. Red’s accountant Zach Smoll, who is the client, looks up from his prone position on the table
ZACH : You’re new.
The woman coats her hands with massage gel. She pulls back his towel, then gets up on the table and sits astride him
ZACH : Oh!
WOMAN : Roll over.
ZACH : Okay.
WOMAN : What’s your name?
ZACH : Zach.
WOMAN : Zach.
She kisses him then leaves
A second female masseuse enters and begins to coat her hands with gel
MASSEUSE : I see you’re ready.
ZACH : What happened to the new girl?
MASSEUSE : What new girl?
Suddenly Zach’s back and hands break out in an angry, rapidly blistering purple red rash
The Masseuse gasps
Zach vomits
In less than a minute Zach is dead
RED'S ACCOUNTANTS' OPERATION SITE
RED : How much? Smoll was cleaning over two hundred million. How much was lost?
ABE : All of it.
RED : Thank you, Abe.
Liz enters
LIZ : Problems?
RED : Yes. Transactions vital to my interests failed to be tendered.
LIZ : What kinds of transactions?
RED : It seems that a bid I made on the Whistler Cruise Line wasn’t tendered because my accountant dropped dead before he could transfer the funds. In addition, millions are missing that the same accountant was in the process of laundering.
LIZ : I think I’ve heard enough.
RED : It appears my operation is under seige.
LIZ : And this affects the fate of the free world how?
RED : Not at all. However, in order for me to be useful to your task force, I have to maintain a certain stature in the criminal underworld. From time to time, I am compelled to rely on your Bureau’s support in that endeavor. This is one of those times. The interest I hoped to acquire from Whistler Cruise Lines was sold to a long-standing rival, Baldur Magnusson. Rumors have circulated that he assassinated my accountant to secure the deal.
LIZ : What do you need from us?
RED : Some help to determine who murdered my man Jack Smoll. If I can’t staunch the bleeding Smoll’s death has precipitated, all of our work could come to a grinding and permanent halt. I’m under attack, Elizabeth, and I need to find out by whom.
WAR ROOM
LIZ : Roughly 14 hours ago, Zack Smoll was found dead in the Gentle Bliss Massage Parlor. ME’s initial report describes symptoms consistent with acute meningitis.
COOPER : How does Reddington know Smoll didn’t contract meningitis naturally?
LIZ : He didn’t say. But if he’s coming to us with this, it means he’s desperate.
SAMAR : You may think you’re paid enough to serve the public’s interest and Reddington’s. Personally, I don’t.
RESSLER : If someone killed Reddington’s accountant, you think he’s gonna want us to just put him in jail? I mean, the second we find him, he’s gonna insist we turn him over so he can make an example by murdering him.
COOPER : I agree. Agent Keen, tell Reddington he’s on his own.
Aram’s computer quacks
ARAM : Uh, guys, Smoll’s body has just been flagged by the CDC. They’ve rerouted it to a level four biocontainment lab.
RESSLER : What does that mean?
LIZ : It means whatever killed Smoll is a lot more dangerous than meningitis.
COOPER : Get to the CDC. See what you can find out.
HOSPITAL
LIZ : Any idea what we’re dealing with?
DOCTOR NINA : Luschen’s disease. It’s a form of viral meningitis. Symptoms include sudden high fever, stiffened neck, reddish purple rash, seizure, respiratory failure and death.
RESSLER : How contagious is it?
DOCTOR NINA : This strain’s mutated such that it’s transmitted via physical contact. Sweat, saliva, even the lightest touch can be lethal. Good news is it doesn’t survive outside a host. Symptoms present almost immediately after exposure, followed by death in only minutes, which is, ironically, the one saving grace of the disease.
RESSLER : How so?
DOCTOR NINA : It can’t travel. The victim’s incapacitated before he can transmit it.
LIZ : So how did Smoll get infected?
DOCTOR NINA : Lipstick. We found traces of it around the victim’s mouth. Based on the sample, whoever left it behind should have been dead long before she had the chance to even kiss our victim.
RESSLER : So, who is she? Why isn’t she dead?
DOCTOR NINA : Well, for the moment, Agent Ressler, that remains a mystery.
WAR ROOM
Aram laughs in excitement
ARAM : Oh ho ho! I found our suspect.
SAMAR : Good for you.
ARAM : Okay, uh, what’s going on?
SAMAR : Nothing. I’m fine.
ARAM : Really? Because you seems upset. And before, uh, with Mr Cooper, about not getting paid enough …
SAMAR : I just lost it with the ladies in payroll. They gave me your check instead of mine, because, you know, we both have brown faces.
ARAM : I’m sure that was a mistake.
SAMAR : You make 32% more than I do.
ARAM : Oh, you opened my check.
SAMAR : I have a PhD from the London School of Economics–
ARAM : Maybe it’s because you’re on loan from Mossad–
SAMAR : I have the same clearances and responsibilities–
ARAM : Actually, technically–
SAMAR : And people actually shoot at me.
ARAM : That is true. Okay. you should probably say something to Mr Cooper.
Cooper appears
COOPER : Say what?
SAMAR : Aram has a suspect.
ARAM : Yes. Uh, the suspect. Uh, the suspect. Yes. So I found a partial angle from the security camera behind the massage parlor. Check it out. Okay, the CDC has only one other recorded outbreak of Luschen’s in the U.S. A pawn broker in Maryland. The local coroner wrote it off as natural causes. But the weird thing is his pawn shop was robbed the day he died. And so, I dug up some security feeds and look who was there.
COOPER : The same woman at both outbreaks. One a robbery, the other an assassination.
ARAM : And in a bad disguise at both.
SAMAR : What if it’s not a disguise. Look at the time code. It’s July. In Maryland it must have been 90 degrees. So either she’s sick, she has fevers, chills, or she doesn’t want anyone else to get sick, so she’s using a protective covering to mitigate contagion.
ARAM : So she’s not trying to start a pandemic.
COOPER : Well, whatever she’s doing, if we don’t find her soon, someone else is going to die in the process.
NATALIE AND MALIK' S HOUSE
Natalie Luca is lying on her side, in preparation for a spinal tap which will be administered by her boyfriend, Malik Roumain
MALIK : I wish there was another way.
NATALIE : It’s okay.
MALIK : But we need it for the next stage.
NATALIE : You don’t have to explain. This is what we both want. Just do it.
Malik injects her with a long needle. Natalie’s face contorts in pain
BOSTON
MAGNUSSON'S HOUSE
Baldur Magnusson’s phone rings
BALDUR : What do you want?
RED : Are the rumors true that you’re responsible for the death of my accountant, Zack Smoll?
BALDUR : The truth doesn’t matter. It’s about appearances. And at the moment it appears to virtually anyone who gives a damn that I killed Smoll, and your failure to retaliate is proof of your weakness. Whether I killed him or not is immaterial. You have no choice but to come for me.
RED : And you for me.
BALDUR : Which begs the question, why bother with a phone call?
RED : Because we’ve known each other for a long time. We understand each other’s organizations, if Cristobal acted without your authority or someone forced your hand, tell me. We can try and sort it out. After all, you’re a bit long in the tooth for a street brawl.
BALDUR : You think so?
He hangs up
RED'S ACCOUNTANTS' OPERATION SITE
Red’s cell phone beeps
RED : I’ve reviewed the case file you sent.
LIZ : And you’ve got something?
RED : You know, many ancient cultures shares a common figure, a god or demon who brought disease to humanity. The Finns called her Loviatar, the Yoruba people knew her as Shapona. The Greeks of course immortalized Pandora. Odd that they’re always women. Have you ever heard of Mary Mallon?
LIZ : Should I have?
RED : She was a cook for the New York elite in the late 19th Century. When an alarming number of high society swells came down with typhoid fever, a research scientist traced the outbreak to a woman with the rare ability to carry the disease without suffering its effects or exhibiting any outward symptoms. Earning her the name–
LIZ : Typhoid Mary.
RED : Correct. You’re looking for an asymptomatic carrier of Luschen’s Disease. To find your suspect, you need to know when and where was the outbreak that she survived. And, hurry. There’s a reason the plague-bringers were the most feared among the ancient deities.
NATALIE AND MALIK' S HOUSE
Natalie and Malik are eating a meal. They are seated alongside each other but separated by the vinyl panel of a bio-containment unit
NATALIE : You’ve got that little crease between your brow. Right here.
She points to her own brow
NATALIE : It always happens when you’re upset.
MALIK : The spinal tap didn’t yield the results that I was expecting. And we still need specialized equipment, which means that…
NATALIE : More money. More people.
MALIK : I found another opportunity, that we- we can handle, that you can handle, I’m sure of it. Please look at me. I’m gonna figure this out. I swear it. I just need a little more time.
He puts his hand against the vinyl
MALIK : We’re so close.
Natalie places her hand against his, separated by the impermeable barrier. She smiles
KEEN'S APARTMENT
Tom is arriving home with Agnes in a stroller
TOM : All right, home sweet home, baby. All right, c’mon you.
Tom succeeds in unlocking the door, but quickly he senses something is off. He leaves Agnes at the door’s threshhold and, gun drawn, surveys the room. It is only Red
RED : Please excuse the intrusion.
TOM : She’s not here.
RED : I’m not here to see Elizabeth...What do you know about Edgar Legate?
TOM : When it comes to assassins, he’s the gold standard. Nobody’s ever seen the guy.
RED : Precisely. Because he doesn’t exist. Legate is an elaborate fiction, a bogeyman I created.
TOM : No. no, Legate is real, all right. I know at least six jobs the guy’s done.
RED : Or so you believe. Edgar Legate is nothing more than a name I employ to take credit for various killings for which I or my associates are responsible. One of my competitors, Baldur Magnusson, is actively seeking a reliable independent contractor to kill me, someone I won’t see coming. I think Legate would fit the bill nicely.
TOM : And you want me to become Legate.
RED : I thought maybe.
TOM : Forget it. I’m not gonna play dress-up assassin so you can kill someone I never met.
RED : I don’t need you to become Legate to kill Magnusson. I need you to become Legate so Magnusson will hire you to kill me.
TOM : You want me to deliver him to me.
RED : Yes. If you can find a sitter.
POST OFFICE
COOPER : I wanna talk to you after this.
SAMAR : Yeah, sure.
ARAM : So I looked into Reddington’s Typhoid Mary angle and I found something. The first recorded outbreak of Luschen’s in human beings occurred in rural Moldova in 2002. A family of nine wiped out except for one daughter Natalie Luca. She was taken to a local clinic, but the outbreak was deemed too much for them to handle.
COOPER : How did she get out of Moldova?
ARAM : The World Health Organization called in Hawthorne Biologics, a company that specializes in infectious disease response. They brought the girl back to their research clinic outside Alexandria for further treatment.
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD: I had no idea Natalie was capable of anything like this. We care for dozens of patients who are too infectious to live outside of strict quarantine. Out of all of them, Natalie was the sweetest, the kindest.
RESSLER : If she was so infectious, how come she’s at large?
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD: We did our best to give her a normal life. But she was young, determined to be independent. We did everything we could to dissuade her from leaving. But eventually, we had no choice but to comply with her wishes.
SAMAR : How is that possible? She was infected with a deadly contagion.
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD: We had no legal right to hold her. She was young. She was in love.
RESSLER : In love? With who?
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD: Malik Roumain. He was a promising young bio research tech.
VAN
Malik’s reflection appears in a van’s rearview mirror
MALIK : They’re here.
Natalie prepares to get out of the van
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS
SAMAR : But they couldn’t touch each other?
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD:: No. It’s hard to imagine in the absence of physical contact, but certainly not impossible. He advocated for her, agreed to take responsibility for her quarantine, see to her needs. We agreed to a year-long break from testing in exchange for Malik submitting regular reports. Until you called, we had no idea they were gone. The reports kept coming in, so we assumed they were still at the house we’d provided. It turns out, they moved out months ago.
RESSLER : You didn’t check on them?
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD:: We wanted to respect their privacy. If you need anything further from me, please don’t hesitate to call. If anything were to happen to this child, I don’t know that I’ll be able to forgive myself.
RESSLER : If I were you, I’d be more worried about what might happen to everyone else.
VAN
Natalie emerges from the van and approaches a guard for an armored car
NATALIE : Hi. I’m so sorry, but we’re doing this scavenger hunt for my sorority, and I need to kiss two guys with a gun
GUARD : Seriously?
NATALIE : I know. It’s stupid.
GUARD : Do your worst.
NATALIE : So does your friend have a gun, too?
Guard #2 emerges with two heavy leather bags to load into their vehicle. He opens the door to see the first guard dead inside. Immediately, Guard #2 is also overtaken. Vomiting he falls to the ground.
Malik walks over and retrieves the two leather bags
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD
VOLKER GRAVES : If you had allowed me secure the facility as I requested, Malik never could’ve broken her out in the first place.
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD:: We agreed your men would’ve drawn unnecessary attention.
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS EXEC : Enough. What did you tell the FBI?
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD: That Natalie voluntarily chose to leave with Malik. They have no reason to suspect the true nature of our research.
VOLKER GRAVES : It’s only a matter of time before the FBI find them.
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS EXEC : Then make sure you’re there when they do.
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS MD:: Perhaps it would be best to temporarily suspend our research.
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS EXEC : Out of the question. Our top priority at this point is recovering Natalie alive. Understand?
VOLKER GRAVES : Yep.
POST OFFICE
LIZ : Malik Roumain born to immigrant parents. Full-boat to Berkeley at 17. The American dream. By 23, he had his PhD in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins and turned down a number of highly paid offers to accept a post-doc at Hawthorne.
RESSLER : Hawthorne claims that he and Natalie fell for each other while he was working there.
LIZ : Talk about forbidden love.
COOPER : There was another attack. An armored truck was taken down in Bethesda. The CDC’s already on site. They should have something for us soon.
Samar alone with Aram
SAMAR : Aram. Cooper called me in. Apparently the ladies in accounting were not too thrilled with my freakout.
ARAM : Did you tell him why you freaked out?
SAMAR : Yeah, he offered me a raise. 16%.
ARAM : That’s fantastic.
SAMAR : I’d still make less than you.
ARAM : Okay, but, you know, it’s a start.
SAMAR : No, it isn’t. It’s an insult. I turned it down.
HOTEL
In lobby of a hotel
TOM : He’s here.
Outside a room in the same hotel, two goons check the area
GOON : All clear.
Tom gets out, appearing to be very drunk, stumbles toward the guarded door
GOON : Excuse me.
TOM : Huh?
GOON : Wrong door, sir.
TOM : You’re the ugliest chambermaid I’ve ever seen.
Tom springs into action
Tom dispatches both guards
Red appears
RED : Myron, my sincere condolences.
MYRON : Who died?
RED : You did. I need Baldur Magnusson to believe Edgar Legate is in town. And what better way to announce that than by making him believe Legate killed a larcenist of your stature. And what better place for the deadly deed to occur than the flagship hotel Magnusson owns and operates.
Dembe and Tom rough up the room, breaking a lamp, pouring blood on the couch and floor, dropping rifle shells on the floor
RED :By the time our little charade is finished, Magnusson will be scouring the town desperate to hire your killer. Not to worry, Myron, we’ll have you out of there in a jiffy.
Myron is shown being zipped into a body bag on a gurney, and wheeled out. He is unharmed
RED : You’ll be ordering room service and watching the game with my associates before you know it. You’ll provide the body, we’ll provide the evidence.
As the gurney is rolled through the hotel lobby, Tom is reading a newspaper. He rises and leaves, making sure the attentive concierge notices him
POST OFFICE
WAR ROOM
RESSLER : The CDC confirmed the victims of the armored truck robbery died of Luschen’s.
Witnesses saw a 2006 dark red Ford van, partial plate 7-Mike-Echo-6.
ARAM : Okay, the vehicle is registered under a– Alec Moore.
LIZ : That’s him. He must’ve registered the car under an alias.
ARAM : Okay, pulling up his address–
COOPER : Samar, Ressler, get over there. Liz, pull together a Hazmat team. Have them meet them at the location.
HOTEL
In the hotel lobby
CONCIERGE : Can I help you, sir?
RED : As a matter of fact, you can.
Red shows the Concierge a photo of Tom
RED : I believe this man checked out of your hotel earlier today. He’s an old friend, and I completely lost my head and forgot our appointment. I was wondering if you could tell me where he was headed. The airport, perhaps? Train station? Or was he driving himself?
CONCIERGE : I’m afraid I don’t know. And even if I did, I would not be at liberty to say. I’m sorry.
Red pushes some bills toward the Concierge
RED : Keep it. Discretion is a rare and tragically undervalued quality.
The concierge calls Magnusson
BALDUR MAGNUSSON : Yes?
CONCIERGE : Reddington was here looking for one of the guests, Michel Badot. He was there when they removed the body, watching.
BALDUR MAGNUSSON : It’s Legate.
CONCIERGE : What do you want me to do?
BALDUR MAGNUSSON : Secure Legate. I want a word.
NATALIE AND MALIK'S HOUSE
POLICEMAN : Police! Open up!
The police find Natalie’s vinyl enclosure and the medical equipment used by Malik
POLICEMAN : Agent Ressler!
RESSLER : What the hell is this place?
OUTSIDE A WAREHOUSE
NATALIE : You got it
MALIK : Yeah. It cost everything that we got. But if I can isolate the enzymes, we’ll be able to
Phone beeping : Looking at his phone, Malik sees the police in their house
NATALIE : What is it? What’s wrong?
MALIK : They found the house.
NATALIE : Who?
MALIK : The cops. They have all of our equipment and our research.
NATALIE : Well, what should we do?
MALIK : What can we do? Natalie, we have to start all over again.
NATALIE : Malik, I’m sure there’s something we can–
MALIK : Natalie, just –
Malik almost touches Natalie
NATALIE : Don’t!
MALIK : I’m sorry. I love you, Natalie. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do for you. You know that. We’ll- we’ll start again.
NATALIE : How?
MALIK : Another job. One that I heard about from Hawthorne, and I wouldn’t be asking if I knew that it wasn’t absolutely necessary, and it is. But it’s the only way.
NATALIE : But after this, I won’t have to hurt anyone else?
MALIK : No. Never again. I promise. I’ll take your hand in mine.
NATALIE : And I’ll pull you closer.
MALIK : I’ll feel your breath against my skin.
NATALIE : And I kiss you.
MALIK : The two of us.
BOTH : Forever.
STREET
One of Magnusson’s goons comes up behind Tom as he is walking and sticks a gun in his back
GOON : Monsieur Legate. My employer would like a word with you.
NATALIE AND MALIK'S HOUSE
Dr NINA : It appears he was trying to isolate the enzyme in her blood that shields her from Luschen’s.
RESSLER : He was trying to replicate her immunity.
Dr NINA : No, the opposite. The boyfriend was trying to infect himself so he could be immune like her.
SAMAR : He was willing to give himself an incurable disease so they could touch and kiss and be together.
RESSLER : Typhoid Mary, meet Typhoid Larry.
SAMAR : The pawnshop in Maryland, the armored car driver. They were robbing people to pay for their research.
RESSLER : I get that, but what I don’t get is what any of this has to do with Reddington’s man, Smoll.
POST OFFICE
WAR ROOM
COOPER : What are we looking at?
ARAM : Okay, I pulled these from from one of Malik’s hard drives. They’re blueprints for a compound in Sag Harbor, New York, owned by an offshore trust. Now, he also had a number of dossiers, including these. All right, Francois Troyet, owner of the world’s largest private collection of Post-Impressionist art. William Lawsover, a billionaire corporate debt restructurer. Caitlin Montag, gajillionaire author of the Buddy Chanticleer novels. The writing is atrocious, but I can’t put them down.
COOPER : Other than being rich, what do these three have in common?
RED'S CAR
Red on phone
RED : Xavier Holcombe’s annual poker bash. An all cash, no limit marathon with positively obscene stakes.
LIZ : How obscene?
RED : Buy-in is half a million, quite the research grant for our starcrossed outlaws. I bought in on a lark three years ago. Lost my– well, no one has a shirt that expensive. Nevertheless, I had a ball. It’s a weekend of delicious isolation and degenerate risk heaven.
LIZ : Just like everything else is to you. A game. Where’s Tom?
RED : Belgium.
LIZ : You know, Tom and I were just starting to find some semblance of normalcy. And you had to just sweep in, drag him back down your rabbit hole. There must be dozens of contract operatives just like him. Why him?
RED : Tom is very good at what he does. It defines him. He can no sooner choose to stop than a great white shark can choose to stop swimming and eating. He will do what he does. But at least if he’s doing it for me, he won’t risk a double-cross, unlike with the vast majority of his prospective employers. Because unlike them, I genuinely care for him. Or rather you, and your daughter. Holcombe’s game commences precisely at 6:00. You don’t have much time.
RESTAURANT
Two goons escort Tom aka “Edgar Legate” to a table where Baldur Magnusson is seated, eating lobster
BALDUR : Care for a claw? Hmm.
TOM : No, thanks. As I told your goons.
BALDUR : Oh, tut, tut. Don’t be uncharitable. These gentlemen are seasoned professionals like yourself, Monsieur Edgar Legate.
TOM : I don’t insist on the Monsieur.
Tom eyes the forks and other things he can use as weapons
BALDUR : That Saudi oil minister in Kuala Lumpur How on earth did you manage that one?
TOM : I don’t discuss the details of my work.
BALDUR : I appreciate that, particularly as I wish to engage your services.
TOM : You know, I usually require a referral for a new client, but, uh, I might be able to make an exception.
Suddenly, Tom springs into action, quickly disarming the two goons
Red and Dembe enter
Chair scrapes as Red seats himself
BALDUR : So Legate works for you.
RED : In a manner of speaking.
BALDUR : Well, I suppose it was inevitable, one way or the other. Looks like it’s “the other.” Kill me and restore your reputation.
Red, dismissing everybody
He gives Dembe his gun
RED : Give us a moment.You said something before: ‘The truth doesn’t matter.’That the only thing in this world that matters is just the appearance of truth. I fear you might be right about that. Lately I find that the truth has become so elusive. Often imaginary. But in the end, it’s all that we’re left with, isn’t it? What is real, what you can taste and touch and feel. The words that pass between us as we look each other in the eye — are all we have to hold on to. The truth. I hold it dear.
BALDUR : I didn’t kill your accountant. Your deal was falling apart. I stepped in and took it.
RED : I would’ve done exactly the same. Keep the ships, Baldur. As Rat said to Mole, “There is nothing, absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” It’s funny. For the longest time, I’ve been perfectly comfortable knowing I could die at any moment. I could walk out of this room and be shot in the street. I’ve always been fine with that. But lately, I can smell it in the air around me. Like death is slouching towards me from the corners of the room. And I cannot tell if it is here for me. Just an echo of the past. I wish it had been you. Would’ve been so much easier.
HOLOCOMBE'S ANNUAL POKER BASH
Elsewhere, the high stakes poker game is beginning
Voices : « Raise. Three red ».
At a back entrance
MALIK : Uh, oyster delivery for Mr. Holcombe.
HOLCOMBE'S EMPLOYE : About time. You’re an hour late.
Malik unloads boxes of oysters from the back of a van. There is a corpse inside the truck displaying the tell-tale signs of Luschen’s Disease
Natalie gets out of the van dressed in a white server uniform
FBI'S CAR/POST OFFICE
RESSLER : We’re two minutes out.
COOPER : How soon until Hazmat is on site?
ARAM : 10 minutes.
HOLOCOMBE'S ANNUAL POKER BASH
Voices : « Raise. Three red, three black, three red ».
Natalie is in the kitchen. Along with other servers, she takes a tray of oysters and heads to where the guests are playing poker
Samar to Holcombe
SAMAR : FBI. We have reason to believe that your compound is under threat of biological attack. We need you to start evacuating immediately.
Ressler with earpieces
RESSLER : Samar, what do you got?
SAMAR : There’s no sign of Malik. I’m going in.
Natalie sees Ressler and gasps. She drops her tray and runs
Ressler to bystanders
RESSLER :On the ground. Get on the ground! Move! Stop, Natalie, stop!
Natalie runs up a staircase, but Samar is waiting at the top for her, gun drawn
SAMAR : Stop, Natalie! Stop! Don’t move. No one else has to die today.
NATALIE : Malik!
SAMAR : You need to come with us now.
NATALIE : If you wanna stop me, you’re gonna have to kill me.
SAMAR : Please don’t make me do that.
NATALIE : I can’t be locked up again.
Ressler catches up. Taser clicking. Natalie falls
Ressler on phone
RESSLER : Suspect’s in custody.
Hazmat team's takes Nathalie in their van
OUTSIDE HOLOCOMBE'S ANNUAL POKER BASH
SAMAR : There’s no sign of Malik.
RESSLER : Aram, check that local PD has shut down the roads 10 miles in every direction.
ARAM : On it. And that Hazmat team we sent earlier, they should be there any minute.
RESSLER : No, Hazmat’s already transported her. What are you talking about?
ARAM : The Hazmat team.
SAMAR : The Hazmat team is already en route.
Hazmat's van arrives
SAMAR : Oh, my God.
Samar and Ressler run and jump into their SUV
HAWTHORNE BIOLOGICS' HAZMAT VAN
VOLKER GRAVES : We have gone through quite a lot of trouble to find you, young lady.You’re the most valuable asset in our portfolio. Fortunately, the FBI was kind enough to lend an assist and lead us straight to you.
NATALIE : I won’t go back there.
FBI'S CAR/POST OFFICE
Ressler and Samar are attempting to catch up with the van with Natalie
SAMAR : Aram.
ARAM : Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Come on now. All right, uh, satellite’s coming around now. Okay, they’re heading southeast on Holly Knoll Drive. They’re about 200 yards past mile marker 46. Okay, weird.
Vans squealing, crashing
ARAM : There’s another vehicle trying to push them off the road. Uh, okay, now both vehicles are off the roadway. They’re about 1/4 mile before marker 45.
ROAD
Malik has forced Hawthorne’s HAZMAT van off the road. Both Malik and Natalie get out the vans
MALIK : I thought I lost you.
NATALIE : Are you okay?
MALIK : Yes.
NATALIE : What do we do now?
MALIK : We’ll go in the woods. We’ll find a car.
Gunshot. Malik is shot in the abdomen by Volker Graves
Tires screech. Ressler and Samar arrive and jump out of their SUV
RESSLER : Don’t move!
NATALIE : Aah!
Gunfire.In a brief gunfight, Volker and his driver are shot
MALIK : Natalie.
NATALIE : Oh, God.
Malik gasping
RESSLER : Don’t!
Natalie screams
NATALIE : We need help!
MALIK : I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I was wrong.
Malik sinks to the ground
NATALIE : No.
MALIK : I was so wrong.
NATALIE : No.
MALIK : No. I never should’ve made you
NATALIE : I would’ve done anything to be with you.
MALIK : Oh, I take your hand in mine.
Malik is dying, so at last Natalie is free to touch him. She takes his hand. He smiles
MALIK : So soft.
NATALIE : And I pull you close.
MALIK : I feel your breath against my skin.
NATALIE : And I kiss you.
MALIK : The two of us.
NATALIE : Forever.
Thei kiss, at last
Samar to the others
SAMAR : Give her a minute.
Natalie cries
Later, still at the scene, in the midst of police cars’ flashing lights and people mulling about, Natalie talks with Samar and Ressler
NATALIE : I can describe every tile in the room they kept me in. For 13 years, I was just a medical curiosity. But then, there was Malik. He was the only one who really saw me, not the subject, but me, Natalie.
SAMAR : What made you leave?
NATALIE : At first, we thought the research they were doing was our best chance at being together. But when Malik learned what Whitehall was doing–
RESSLER : Whitehall?
NATALIE : Hawthorne’s weapons lab. They weren’t trying to cure me. They were using me, my cells, to develop a biological weapon.
RESSLER : So why didn’t you go to the authorities?
NATALIE : Hawthorne had contracts with the government. We didn’t know who we could trust. I’m sorry. We– We’re really sorry for all those people.
Natalie cries
SAMAR : I know.
POST OFFICE
SAMAR : It was one of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen. He died in her arms. It was like an episode of– I don’t know. Some show. But the point is, it made me feel a little sorry for myself, that I didn’t have someone like that.
ARAM : What, to die in your arms?
SAMAR : And then I started thinking about my raise. 16%. That’s an odd number. And then I thought it’s exactly half of the difference between what you and I make. I went down to the ladies in accounting, and they never talked to Cooper. You did. You gave me half of your 32%.
ARAM : Now we get paid equally.
SAMAR : I don’t want your money.
ARAM : Why not? You were right. We do the same thing.
SAMAR : No, we don’t.
ARAM : I-I know. You put your life on the line.
SAMAR : What you do–
ARAM : No, I’m sure you deserve more. It’s just I have this this student loan and this online poker debt.
SAMAR : What you did, no one else would do for me.
ARAM : I’d do anything for you.
SAMAR : I know. Which is why I have no reason to feel sorry for myself.
Samar leaves, touching his hand as she goes by
KEEN'S APARTMENT
LIZ : How’d it go?
TOM : Honestly, it was great. I was thinking about what you said, about why I needed that. Truth is, I still don’t know. But what I do know is that this family’s the most important thing in my life. I don’t wanna lose it.
LIZ : We just arrested a woman who would’ve done anything to stay with the person she loved, but she lost him anyway.
TOM : I’m not going anywhere.
LIZ : That’s not what I meant. From the beginning, we’ve been fighting secrets and agendas and psychotic homicidal killers coming between us. And for the first time, we’re together, and we’ve got no one to fight. But it still feels–
TOM : Like we’re coming apart?
LIZ : I know this family is the most important thing to you. But it’s not gonna work if you can’t be who you are. I guess I’m just scared.
TOM : Of what?
LIZ : I’m not gonna love that person.
TOM : Do you love me?
LIZ : Yes.
TOM : Then you love that person. Because that’s who I am.
NATALIE'S LOCATION
COOPER : I understand that the work we do depends on you. So I’m going to allow this, but understand this – We are sworn officers of the law. Do not expect us again to carry your water. You work for us, not the other way around. Is that clear?
RED : I’m sorry to have put you in such a difficult position, Harold.
BIOHAZARD CONTAINMENT ROOM
Red enters the area where Natalie is being held in a biohazard containment room
She is seated at a desk in the blue-lit, sterile room, her head resting on the desk. She is wearing a hospital gown
NATALIE : Who are you?
RED : Losing someone we love is painful. Agonizing even unto death. The Japanese call it tako-tsubo – a grieving surge of abnormal electrical waves that causes the heart to deflate and contort until it resembles a … a fishing pot. Hollow and cold, an empty vessel at the bottom of a fathomless sea. I’m sorry for your loss. You have suffered enough of that in your life.
NATALIE : What do you want?
RED : The man you killed at the massage parlour was an associate of mine. You didn’t know him, you didn’t rob him. Someone hired you to assassinate him.
NATALIE : She knew who I was. We had no choice. She said if I didn’t kill him, she would tell
Hawthorne where to find us.
RED : Who?
NATALIE : Isabella Stone.
Red is speechless
RED : Thank you. Natalie, do you mind if I sit here for a moment? For the life of me, I don’t think I could get up right now.
Adapté du site «The Blacklist Classified», mise en page par mnoandco
