| Series: Millenium | |
| Episode: 3.11: "Collateral Damage" | |
Transcribed by: xrayman | |
| Notes: It is preferable that you provide a link rather than directly copy this transcript to your site. However, if you really want to, please credit jamesmarsters-justmagic.com and keep the rest of this header intact. | |
|
Regular Cast: |
 |
|
It's Greek Week at the Chesapeake Bowling Lanes. The girls team (wearing cowboy hats with the Pi symbol on them) celebrate, taunting the boys team (wearing berets with the Delta symbol on them). It is the boys turn to bowl. TAYLOR: Gentlemen… There is suggestive eye contact between TAYLOR and her boyfriend NICK who is next up. TANNOY: The driver of the Jeep, licence LY4 6757 - your lights are on. The boys celebrate a strike, as TAYLOR puts her coat on, picks up her purse and starts to leave. NICK: Where you going? TAYLOR: I left my lights on. NICK turns to his friends who smirk and encourage him to follow her. He throws his beret to them and starts after her. Cut to outside the bowling alley in the parking lot. It is has been raining. Caption: Williamsburg, Virginia. TAYLOR is walking towards her Jeep. NICK comes out behind her. NICK: Hey! (she turns) You're a really good bowler, you know? TAYLOR: (sarcastically) Gee, thanks. That's like the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. NICK grabs TAYLOR, turns her towards him. There is a short pause, then they kiss. TAYLOR breaks away. TAYLOR: Hey. She looks towards where she left her Jeep, looking puzzled. TAYLOR: Did you move my car? TAYLOR runs towards her Jeep. NICK shrugs and walks after her. TAYLOR is looking in her purse for her keys. TAYLOR: (smiles) Okay, great joke Nick. C'mon, where are my keys? Nick? (the smile fades) Nick? NICK: (jumps from behind another car) Boo! She gives a little start and laughs. NICK smiles at her, she smiles back, then her smile goes as she screams… TAYLOR: Nick! She points behind him, too late as a man in a balaclava (ERIC SWAN) zaps NICK in the neck with a stun gun and guides him to the ground. TAYLOR drops to the wet ground and crawls under her Jeep, losing her cowboy hat. She sees NICK drop to the ground and the assailant's feet, encased in plastic bags, come closer to her. The assailant hasn't noticed her under the Jeep - he looks around for her, the walks back to the other side of the Jeep. TAYLOR makes a run for it, but collides with the attacker, who brings the stun gun up to zap her in the neck too. She knees him in the crotch. As she breaks away from him, she throws her arm at him, punches him, then chops him in the back, making him fall to the floor. She runs from the prone attacker to a man dressed as a security guard (DAVID COUGER). TAYLOR: Help me! Some guy just attacked us. COUGER: Where? TAYLOR: He's right there…. He puts a hand on her shoulder as she turns to point, and brings his other arm up with a stun gun and zaps her in the neck. He lowers her to the floor and moves around her as the first assailant, SWAN, joins him. She lies there twitching as the two men pick her up and carry her off. Opening credits. Cut to FBI briefing room. A home video of TAYLOR WATTS playing on a wall mounted screen. MCLAREN: This is the most recent footage of the victim, Taylor Watts. It was taken in August, just before she was getting ready to go off to college at William and Mary… where she was a well liked freshman. Now I don't need to tell you that this one's different, people. This is family. (MCLAREN turns towards WATTS) Peter? PETER WATTS gets up to address the team. WATTS: First, I know that you have all been pulled off pressing assignments, my wife and I thank you. Uh, a fellow student of Taylor's, Nick Carfahna, was the sole witness. He's been cleared of any involvement, but he was able to provide us with a description of the kidnapper, you'll find that on the last page of your fact sheets. (HOLLIS stares at him) There's not much to go on. He was wearing a mask - probably of the type issued to the troops in Kuwait, now widely available as surplus. The crime scene was equally non-productive. (to an operator off screen) Slide please. No useful prints were developed from the car. Fibre evidence was inconclusive. No footprints were developed. It's been sixteen hours since she was taken. We have not heard from the kidnappers. That's all I have. The current slide is a close up of TAYLORs face. WATTS stares at his daughters picture. MCLAREN: (off camera) Let's get her back. Cut to busy office, outside the briefing room. HOLLIS is walking away, MCLAREN calls to her. MCLAREN: Hollis. The man's daughter has been abducted. HOLLIS: I understand that. MCLAREN: Well I don't appreciate your attitude. HOLLIS: With all respect, I think it's naïve to talk about Taylor Watts like she's just some co-ed who got taken by chance. MCLAREN: You know something about her that we don't? HOLLIS: Sir, the Millennium Group is not mentioned in the briefing, or the enemies they've made, now- MCLAREN: (pointing at her) You and Frank … HOLLIS: Where is Frank? If it were my daughter I'd want him on this case. Why doesn't Peter Watts - WATTS: Frank declined to become involved. There is a moment of tension as WATTS and HOLLIS stare at each other. HOLLIS: I'm sorry about your daughter. WATTS remains silent. FRANK: I know Taylor Watts. It's a terrible thing. Cut to HOLLIS and FRANK in HOLLIS' car. HOLLIS: They told me you refused to help. (shakes head) Didn't sound like you. Do you believe she was actually kidnapped? FRANK: (turns to face HOLLIS) Don't you? HOLLIS: With Watts involved I honestly don't know what to believe. FRANK: Well, they took her. They took her right from here. HOLLIS: They? The witness described a single attacker. FRANK: Doubtful. Not with Taylor Watts. It was planned. A precise operation. HOLLIS: Do you think she's still alive? FRANK: Well, considering the amount of energy they expended to get her, the one thing we can be sure of is that she's alive. Cut to TAYLORs head, upside down. She's lying on a metal table (much like an autopsy table) sobbing. TAYLOR: Don't hurt me please. We see a set of legs (SWAN) encased in surgical scrubs, covered by a long yellow apron. TAYLOR: Please don't hurt me. What do you want? I can get money. SWAN snaps on a pair of blue latex gloves. TAYLOR starts to struggle - She is lying fully clothed, face down, strapped by her ankles and wrists. TAYLOR: (screams) Help me! SWAN comes towards TAYLOR with a pair of angled scissors and starts to cut off TAYLORS jeans. We see a surgical mask covered face. As he starts to cut, TAYLOR screams again. TAYLOR: No! (sobs) Camera follows SWAN as he cuts off her jeans. We can now see he is also wearing plastic eye protection too. TAYLOR: Help me! No! She screams and sobs as her jeans are removed and dumped in a bin. She continues screaming as the rest of her clothes join her jeans, and SWAN directs a hose on her body to wash her down. He washes her hair too. She is quieter now, still sobbing. TAYLOR: What are you doing to me? SWAN cuts off the water. We see water going down a drain with a few specks in it. He approaches with a long handled scrubbing brush. TAYLOR: No! He begins to scrub her with the brush, and she starts screaming again. When done he pulls her head up by her hair (not too roughly) SWAN: Please try to relax. He holds a Polaroid camera in front of her face and takes a picture. Cut to MCLARENs office. WATTS is pointing out TAYLORs picture in her yearbook. MCLAREN: This is kind of uncomfortable for me, but I'm going to have to ask you the same questions I'd ask any father in this situation. Everything okay at home? WATTS: We're a very close family. MCLAREN: Uh, what about boyfriends, ex-boyfriends? WATTS: Just the two on the fact sheet. I interviewed them all personally. You're welcome to try that too. MCLAREN: What about the Millennium Group? Cases that you worked? WATTS: The group's investigating those possibilities. MCLAREN: It would help if we had a list of members. WATTS: I don't disagree with you, but uh, there are issues with that, you know their policy. MCLAREN: You know, this is your daughter's life. Can't somebody make an exception? The phone rings. WATTS looks away, uncomfortable. MCLAREN: (to phone) McLaren. Okay, good. (to WATTS) Highway patrol found the car used in the abduction. The pair leave MCLARENs office. Cut to outside, daytime at a crime scene - the kidnappers' car. PHOTOGRAPHER: (takes a picture) It's clean. FRANK and HOLLIS open the trunk of the car and peer inside. FRANK gets military combat-style images, like seen on TV during Desert Storm. HOLLIS: What's that smell? FRANK: The odour of spectrumaldehyde, a spectracide disinfectant. HOLLIS: Destroying genetic evidence. FRANK: He was just trying to protect himself. HOLLIS: From what? FRANK doesn't answer, but stares at a light above the car, shakes his head, and walks away from the car towards some mud, finding tyre tracks. FRANK: They switched cars. The second vehicle was parked here away from the light. Here's a tyre track. Footprint. (they turn to the sound of a police siren) Cavalry. MCLAREN and WATTS get out of the police car. WATTS and FRANK share a look as he and HOLLIS walk under the yellow crime scene tape towards FRANKs car and get in. FRANK: (to HOLLIS) Forget that it's Watts for a moment. Just think high-risk target, difficult location, elaborate planning. It's a text-book case. HOLLIS: Kidnap for ransom. FRANK: So what's missing? HOLLIS: The ransom demand. Communication from the kidnappers. FRANK: Oh, they've got communication. We just haven't seen it. HOLLIS: What kind of father …? FRANK: You know what kind. They look towards WATTS, now sat back in MCLARENs car, alone. He is looking at a Polaroid of his daughter, obviously sent by the kidnappers. Cut to a notice board back at FBI HQ. There are photos of the kidnappers car pinned to the board. FRANK is looking at the pictures. MCLAREN enters the room. MCLAREN: Frank, are you planning to let me know what you make of all this? FRANK: Sins of the father. MCLAREN: Based on what? There's not one single fact that points in that direction. FRANK: Peter didn't ask you in on this did he? You didn't hear about it from him. MCLAREN: We were notified originally by the local PD, so what? FRANK: He didn't ask for our help because he doesn't want it. MCLAREN: Now look Frank, I was very happy that you were working on this on your own, but you've got to tell me are you in or are you out? Because I can't have you sniping from the sidelines. FRANK: You're looking for possibly two men. Military or police training. High IQ. They feel they're on a mission. At war even. And that warrants a high degree of personal risk. MCLAREN: What kind of mission? FRANK: I don't know yet. (he turns back to the notice board) MCLAREN: Well, you're right about the military part. That tyre tread you pointed us to? It's only sold at military PXs, so is the boot. I've got agents digging through receipts at 42 bases trying to make a match. FRANK: I think we can narrow your search down further. MCLAREN: How? FRANK: They bought a large quantity of a disinfectant known as spectrumaldehyde. Cut to interior of a house with lots of containers on a shelving unit (spectrumaldehyde). A SWAT-style team burst in, sweeping the rooms, armed with shotguns. They make their way upstairs to a closed door. They kick the door open to find a man sat on a bed. SWAT-LEADER: FBI! Put up your hands! (no answer) Put up your hands and turn around! (still no answer) Now! They notice blood on the side of his head, and prod him. We see more blood as the body falls on the floor. SWAT-LEADER: Damn. Cut to later - a close up of the dead man's hand - there is a crocodile clip with black wire leading off it attached to the man's thumb. As the camera pans to reveal a similar clip attached to his other thumb, this time with red wire. We hear WATTS. WATTS: David Couger. Gulf war vet. 5th Special Forces group. He was one of the abductors. The boots match. He was tortured. WATTS and HOLLIS are alone in the room where COUGER was found. As WATTS continues, HOLLIS comes and crouches to examine the body. WATTS: Electrical shock. Fingernails removed. Both corneas ruptured. HOLLIS: Execution wound. Point-blank to the back of the head. We've seen this before. They share a look before HOLLIS rises and leaves the room, pausing at the doorway to look back at WATTS, who is clearly upset. Cut to outside COUGERs house. MCLAREN and FRANK are talking as HOLLIS leaves the house in the background removing latex examination gloves. MCLAREN: Now look, the dead guy in there, David Couger, fits your profile to a T. He's military, Desert Storm. Spent time in a Psych ward when he got back. But his partner's the sick one. Got Couger to help him grab the Watts girl, and then rewarded him like that. FRANK: I'm not sure the other kidnapper did this. Excuse me. FRANK walks over to where HOLLIS is stood, under a tree. HOLLIS: Shot. Point-blank to the back of the head. Just like those skulls in Maine [Episode 3x06; Skull & Bones]. FRANK: It's a Millennium Group execution. HOLLIS: The head-shot's kind of gratuitous considering everything else they did to him. FRANK: It's a sign for members who arrive - behave accordingly. HOLLIS: Do you think we'll find anything in there? FRANK: No evidence. That scene is severe by anyone's standards. I think the group is getting desperate about it. Whatever it is. WATTS stares at FRANK and HOLLIS as he stands in the doorway of COUGERs house. Cut to room where TAYLOR was stripped and washed. The metal table is there, but unoccupied now. The room has a sterile look to it - stainless steel walls, cupboards, etc. TAYLOR is now dressed in an orange jumpsuit - the kind prisoners often wear. She is strapped into a chair facing the door. The door opens and in walks SWAN, still wearing the surgical garb, facemask and eye protection. A tear rolls down TAYLORS face as she looks at him. TAYLOR: Please. My father will do whatever you want, just call him. Please, he'll pay anything I know it. SWAN: He already said no. (off TAYLORs look) I'm sorry, but that's what happened. TAYLOR: What do you mean? SWAN: He said no. He's your father, maybe you understand it. TAYLOR: (quietly) No, I don't. Who are you? SWAN throws a package onto a nearby surface, removes his eye protectors, hat and face mask. TAYLOR: (desperate) Let me talk to him, he'll listen to me, he'll pay it, I know he will. SWAN: I don't want money. I want the truth. About what he does. About the people he works with. TAYLOR: What are you talking about? SWAN: You wouldn't believe it unless you heard it from his mouth. No one will… Which unfortunately makes all of this necessary. TAYLOR: (crying again) Please! I don't understand. SWAN Approaches her and crouches down - a look of sympathy on his face - he reaches to touch her hair, but she pulls back, disgusted. He tries again, and clears her hair from her face, gently touching her chin. TAYLOR takes her chance and catches his finger, biting hard. SWAN screams - when he gets free he punches her in the face. SWAN: I never thought it would go this far. That a father would do this. He starts unpacking the package he threw on the surface near the door earlier. It contains a metal canister and a gasmask. SWAN: I never wanted to kill anyone. He snatches up the gasmask and puts it on. TAYLOR gets increasingly agitated. He turns to face her with the gasmask on and she becomes hysterical again. Then he activates a clip on the metal canister, which releases a cloud of vapour and hisses. SWAN leaves, sealing the metal door behind him. TAYLOR tries to hold her breath - but eventually breathes in. Cut to FBI briefing room. MCLAREN is addressing the team. The wall screen is showing a picture of COUGER. MCLAREN: Sergeant David Couger, is one of two kidnappers who abducted Taylor Watts. We identified and located Couger too late, after he had been tortured and killed by his partner. Now there's a profile of that partner in your briefing packets, supplied by the Millennium Group. He's impulsive, but intelligent. He has periods of lucidity, interrupted by psychotic breaks. Presumably, it was during one such break that he… FRANK: (from the back of the room) He didn't kill his partner. MCLAREN: Who did then? FRANK: Ask that man. Ask Peter Watts. MCLAREN: Alright, that's enough, Frank. FRANK: The Millennium Group got there before us - anything you think you learned from that crime scene, they planted there. MCLAREN: I said, that's enough. FRANK leaves the room. HOLLIS gets up to follow him. MCLAREN: Hollis. She stays. Cut to exterior of Psychiatric Veterans hospital - FRANK goes up the steps. Cut to interior, Dr HARVEY's office. HARVEY: David Couger. I can't believe he was murdered. After everything he went through. FRANK: In Desert Storm? HARVEY: Oh, and afterwards. Each war has its own syndrome. World War II it was shell-shock. Vietnam was post-traumatic stress disorder. The Gulf war gave us, uh, paranoia I guess. Veterans were… obsessed with germs and disease - they felt they were being poisoned. FRANK: Had they? HARVEY: Who knows? It's a psych ward. But a lot of them thought so. FRANK: Other than Couger? HARVEY: He was mild compared to some in his group. And he got better, stopped coming, even for outpatients, about a year ago. I can't believe that he took that girl. FRANK: It's quite likely he was involved with someone from his group. Do you have any files? HARVEY: We're the government. Of course we have files. Cut to later - a pile of files slams into a table. HARVEY: What are you looking for exactly? FRANK: High intelligence, special training. He wouldn't be infantry. HARVEY opens a file which is empty. HARVEY: Oh, this isn't checked out. All the records are just gone. Cut to a close-up of the file - the name is Eric Swan. FRANK: Eric Swan. Do you know him? HARVEY: Oh yeah, he's the talk show king. He ran up a major phone bill here in the office, telling everybody in the country the truth about Desert Storm. FRANK: Do you have an address on him? HARVEY: It should be there. Cut to outside the hospital, FRANK walks down the steps and finds WATTS stood outside under a tree. FRANK stops in the middle of the road. Pauses, then walks towards him. FRANK: She's your daughter, Peter. You know they don't even have a name for what you're doing. WATTS: I'm doing everything I can to get her back. Do you think we're not trying? The group took a big hit when you left. FRANK: (angry) Don't flatter me. WATTS: That's the truth. FRANK: You don't even know the truth anymore. What do they want? How many times have you talked to them? WATTS: It's immaterial - their demands are never going to be met. FRANK: Never be met by you, her father? WATTS: Not by me, by the group. FRANK: Desert Storm. Is that what this is about? (WATTS says nothing) What's the group's involvement? WATTS: Group intelligence helped the US keep casualties down to 147… FRANK: (angry) Another lie… WATTS: (frustrated) Then stop asking me questions you know I can't answer, you know I can't. (tearful) Will you help me find her? FRANK: That's what I've been doing. WATTS: But I'm asking you. They can't know about it, the group can't know. Will you help me? FRANK: Yes, I will. WATTS: I have two photographs - this came yesterday (WATTS shows FRANK the first Polaroid) I was heartened, she looked okay. He shows FRANK a second Polaroid of TAYLOR in the orange jumpsuit, strapped into the chair - she is pale and has red blotches high on her cheeks. The canister can be seen in the Polaroid. WATTS: This came today. FRANK: What's this? What is this canister? WATTS: Judging from her condition she has no more than 36 hours to live. Fade. Cut to a close up of Eric Swan's US Army ID papers. Inside FBI HQ. MCLAREN: So this is our guy, huh? FRANK: He worked closely with Couger, the man we found murdered. They spent time together on a psych ward at Walter Reed. HOLLIS: They both were obsessed by biological agents they said were used in Desert Storm. Swan wrote letters, called into radio talk shows… FRANK: Then he stopped talking. (he hands over the second Polaroid of TAYLOR to MCLAREN). MCLAREN: Good God. What did he do to her? FRANK: Well, she's been infected with some kind of biological agent. I don't think we have much time. (MCLAREN hands the Polaroid to HOLLIS) MCLAREN: Where'd you get this? FRANK: It was delivered to Walter Reed. MCLAREN: So what does he want? Somebody to tell his story? FRANK: No, he's told his story, no-one listened. I think he wants a confession from the people responsible. MCLAREN: Responsible for what? Some figment of his imagination? FRANK: No. The same people who killed his partner. There's a reason he chose Taylor Watts. MCLAREN: So, what do you suggest we do? HOLLIS: He used to call in to Art Bell's radio talk show. It's conspiracy stuff. A forum for people like Swan. We think he called in dozens of times under the name Thomas Paine. FRANK: If he's still listening, I think we can get him to talk. To call in. MCLAREN: And then trace it? FRANK: We don't have much else to go on now. MCLAREN: Peter Watts is her father - he stays in the loop. HOLLIS: Watts can work the trace van with me. Cut to radio studio - ART BELL is introducing his show. ART: From the high desert and the great American South-west, I'm Art Bell, and this is Coast-to-Coast AM Live. Where you never know what's gonna happen next. Except, perhaps, for right now. Goes to commercial - voice somewhere says "and you're clear" - ART and FRANK take off their headphones. ART: Mr Black. You know a lot of my listeners consider you the enemy. FRANK: Me. ART: FBI, NSA, CIA, government. I let 'em talk - that doesn't mean I agree with them. FRANK: Sometimes I agree with them. Voice announces they are back in 5 - they both put their headphones back on. As ART speaks we cut between the studio, the radio in SWANs hideout, WATTS in the trace van, and TAYLOR, now looking very sick with diseased patches of skin and angry red lumps on her face. ART: Well hello. I see in the news that Saddam is back. And before the war-machine of the great Satan, that would be us, begins rolling and mowing down Iraqis, I'd like to take a moment to think about what happened last time. Our guys. Remember our guys? Sick, poisoned, victims of chemical warfare. Biotoxins. A lot of people say our own. Or were they? I wanna hear from you. Triple eight, triple five, zero one, one, one - call toll free from anywhere in the greatest country in the world. Chuck from Cincinnati, you're on the air. "Chuck" is Art Bells assistant, calling in from the sound booth. CHUCK: Er, yeah, listen. I was an MP in Kuwait and I've heard all this flap about Gulf War Syndrome, but do you know what? Seems like it always comes from someone with their hand out. You ever notice that? ART: Are you saying nothing happened? Cut to SWAN, holding the phone to his ear, looking disbelievingly at the radio. CHUCK: Oh yeah, something happened, some greedy yahoo figured out free money and started whining. ART: Alright, lets hear what some other listeners have to say. Line 4, Thomas Paine, you're on the air. (FRANK leans forward at the name) Cut to SWAN on phone looking through window in door at TAYLOR. SWAN: Some of us never asked for a cent. ART: Good to have you back with us Thomas. It's been a while, I've been wondering what happened. SWAN: I've been pretty busy. Okay, a lot of guys never saw anything weird in Desert Storm. Cut to trace van. FBI AGENT: It's a mobile phone in the DC area. I have cell information. It covers an area of about 11 square miles. Cut to trace van turning a corner, then back to studio. ART: What do you know? SWAN: February 25th, 1991 - ground war is well under way, we're on some kind of mop-up assignment. Not supposed to be a lot of Saddam's army left so, who do we fire on? ART: Friendly fire accidents are well documented, Thomas. SWAN: This is not some accident, this is not some mistake. This was premeditated. Totally, totally deliberate. Cut to the trace van. HOLLIS: (to FBI AGENT working computer) How far? FBI AGENT: We're in the cell, I'm tracking radio strengths. Cut back to SWAN. SWAN: … make biological weapons, we say we don't, does anybody actually believe that? Cut to studio. FRANK looks weary. Cut between the studio and SWAN. SWAN: (pacing) And these weapons we supposedly don't make, after you've finished taking out a bunch of half-starved Iraqis, aren't you gonna want to test them out on some real soldiers? Fully inoculated, wearing state of the art gear? The best fighting force in the world, under actual combat conditions. That's what they had in Desert Storm, and that's what they did. ART: Who did? SWAN: (shouts) I did! Okay? (tries to stay calm) The co-ordinates came in, and an order to fire. I loaded the shell… I launched it. Cut to trace van. FBI AGENT: We're getting close. Cut back to SWAN. SWAN: The next day they… denied anything ever happened. But I found them. He stares at an arrangement of triangular folded Stars & Stripes with name tags on his wall. Tears are rolling down his face. SWAN: A whole platoon dead in a medical tent. And they said the Iraqis did it. (quiet) But I know. I was nineteen. They gave me the co-ordinates, and I followed orders. Cut to studio. ART: Thomas Paine, are you there? Cut back to SWAN. More tears, he is struggling to speak calmly. SWAN: I pulled the trigger. So don't anybody tell me it didn't happen. Cut to trace van. HOLLIS: (into headset) Frank? We're closing in, but you've got to keep him on the air. Cut to studio. FRANK pulls a microphone in front of him. FRANK: Thomas, I believe you. Cut to SWAN, looking puzzled at the new voice. Cut to ART, quickly catching up. ART: In the studio I have Frank Black. Cut between the studio and SWAN as they talk. SWAN: Who are you? FRANK: They did the same thing in this country. SWAN: (exasperated) I'm talking about something that actually happened in Kuwait to American soldiers. FRANK: And I'm talking about the death of my wife. Yellowing skin, purple lesions. Bleeding out in the Northwest last year with seventy other people, okay? So don't tell me that never happened, because I'm tired of it, I'm tired. I'm tired of not knowing what killed her. SWAN: Microplasma flavivirus. That's what they call it. FRANK: They'll screw you up with denials Thomas. Don't let them push you into doing something you shouldn't do, because if you do they've got you right where they want you. Now, we're listening. SWAN: I'm done talking. Cut to the studio, trace van and back to SWAN. FRANK: Thomas, are you there? Thomas? (SWAN looks in on TAYLOR) Thomas? SWAN: Now they have to talk. They have to, they have to admit what they've done. FRANK: Who? The army? SWAN: That's who I thought at first, but that wasn't them. FRANK: Who? SWAN: Who does what the government can't do? They know who they are. And they'll admit it. (upset) If they're human they'll admit it. He opens the door to the room where TAYLOR is held. FRANK: You can't count on others, you know that. I can hear in your voice, you're a decent man. (we see SWAN taking a syringe out of a refrigerator in the room) What you say you did… SWAN: What I did! FRANK: What you did in Kuwait, that doesn't make you a killer… The syringe is labelled "Marburg Variant" FRANK: Don't do this. SWAN: They have the antidote now. FRANK: How do you know? SWAN: (looking at syringe) I just know. Believe me I know. Cut to trace van - beeping getting faster - closing in on his signal. SWAN: I'm in trouble. FRANK: Then you can stop this. You have the truth on your side Thomas. That's not everything, we both know that - but it's something. Cut to SWAN. He looks at TAYLOR. Cut to trace van - now very rapid beeping. FBI AGENT: Right here - we got him. Cut to exterior - the trace van comes to a halt. WATTS jumps out of the back. Followed by HOLLIS they run towards a property. Cut to SWAN, he's still looking at TAYLOR - he looks undecided. FRANK: Don't let them win Thomas, don't let them win. Cut to WATTS kicking in a door, cut straight to FRANK and ART ripping their headphones off as their ears are assaulted by feedback. Cut to house where WATTS just kicked the door in. HOLLIS is sweeping the rooms, crouched like a pro - WATTS is swiftly going from room to room, not like a pro. In one room they find two phones taped together - a relay. HOLLIS: A relay. The call was forwarded. (pulls at the wires) We lost him when we opened the door. (to WATTS) I'm sorry. (she leaves the room). FRANK and HOLLIS are looking at the two phones in an evidence bag. HOLLIS: He wasn't about to let that call be traced. It was retransmitted four times, finally by CB radio found in Silver Spring. FRANK: How large an area would this reach? HOLLIS: Virginia, Maryland - millions of homes. They're trying to narrow it down, but it'll take days. FRANK: We don't have days. HOLLIS: I was with Peter Watts when we got to that house and his daughter wasn't there. This is destroying him. FRANK: I know. HOLLIS: So why won't he talk? FRANK: The Millennium Group. We have no idea what he's going through. HOLLIS: He's her father. FRANK: Swan wanted to talk. As long as Taylor's alive, I've got to believe that we can reach him. His toxin - he called it microplasma flavivirus. HOLLIS: Already checked it out, but our guys say it doesn't exist. FRANK: For Swan it exists. And maybe for others. Cut to TAYLOR, now covered in a blanket and shaking. Her lesions are worse. SWAN looks through the window at her. TAYLOR sees him. TAYLOR: Please talk to me. SWAN opens the door. TAYLOR: I heard what you said on the phone. Is it true? SWAN: Yes. TAYLOR: (quiet) But it's not my father. It can't be. SWAN: (regretfully) It is. The Millennium Group. Who he works with. It's what they did - it's what he did. TAYLOR: (upset) It's not. TAYLOR shakes her head and looks at her wrists, strapped to the chair and bleeding. SWAN looks upset and leaves the room. Taylor starts to sob again. Cut to a computer screen. The website is 'Conspiracy Central'. HOLLIS: The internet's Conspiracy Central. His posts as Thomas Paine stopped about six months ago, about the time he stopped calling in to Art Bell. FRANK: You think he's still posting? HOLLIS: Not publicly, but there are a number of private mailing lists devoted to conspiracy topics. (she types into a search engine) Subscribers to every private mailing list that's discussed microplasma flavivirus. (a list comes up) A lot of patriotic pseudonyms - more than one Thomas Paine. FRANK: (points to a name) There. HOLLIS: Subscribes to lists on desert storm, germ warfare, black ops - he's got a local address and telephone number, in range of the repeater. FRANK: We gotta get there before the group does. FRANK leaves. Cut to WATTS, who gets a message on his pager. MCLAREN: News? WATTS: Could be. Excuse me. Cut to SWAN in the holding room. He is contemplating the antidote syringe. He looks torn, as an alarm goes off. SWAN puts the syringe back in the fridge and leaves the room (leaving the door unlocked). He goes to the alarm box and switches it off in disgust. Grabbing a gun from a drawer, SWAN looks out of the window to the car driving up to the house. The car stops and a phone rings. He answers. SWAN: (to phone) Stop right there or I'll kill her. FRANK: It's Frank Black, Eric. SWAN: Don't come any closer. FRANK: Look, I can help you and I want to. SWAN: I don't need help, I need the truth. FRANK: Listen, I know what they've done to you. I know other things they've done. But you don't want to kill that girl. You don't want her to die. SWAN looks over to TAYLOR, who is moaning and having what looks like a seizure. He looks horrified and goes to her. He hears FRANK on the phone. FRANK: Eric? Eric are you there? SWAN: (going to TAYLOR) How do you know? How do you know - how do you know what they've done? FRANK: I know because I was once one of them - until I found out what they are. SWAN: (loosening TAYLORs restraints) Why haven't you told anyone? FRANK: I've tried. SWAN: No-one listens. FRANK: We can make them. We can do it together. I'll protect you from them. I'm coming inside- SWAN: No! (angry) I got a gun! SWAN leaves the room and slams the door. FRANK: Look I'm coming in. I'm unarmed. You know I'm on your side…I think we can make them talk. HOLLIS: Frank - they'll be here soon. FRANK: Listen- A gunshot smashes the window SWAN is looking through. The glass shatters and sprays SWANs face. FRANK: Eric, are you alright? SWAN takes the safety off his gun, he looks furious - his face is bleeding. Frank goes in the direction the shot came from. FRANK: Watts! Watts! WATTS: (coming out of the shadows) We'll take it from here. HOLLIS: (pointing her gun at WATTS) This is an FBI crime-scene and I'm ordering you to leave. WATTS: (angry) That's my daughter in there! FRANK: (to phone) Eric are you there? SWAN: (from phone) What's happening? FRANK: (to WATTS) You missed. SWAN: (angry, from phone) Is that her father? Is it? You tell him she's dying. FRANK: (to Millennium Group assassin) Get out of here! Leave. WATTS looks undecided. SWAN: I've got the antidote right here, and she's dying! Got it? (stares at flags on wall) It's up to him. As another car pulls up, WATTS tells the assassin to leave and takes the phone from FRANK. WATTS: (to phone) Vector 83 point 2, range 1200 yards. We delivered those co-ordinates to you through extra-military channels, along with an order to fire - you challenged the order. You're challenge was noted and recorded under article 15, document number VX732. Dated 25 February 1991. I want my daughter back. SWAN sits heavily on the bed. He is shocked at the confirmation and looks lost. As MCLAREN and FBI agents go past FRANK and the others, SWAN - still stunned, goes to the room where TAYLOR is. Opening the door, he gasps as she is no longer strapped in the chair. He sees the antidote syringe, empty on the floor. Starting towards it, he is grabbed by TAYLOR who was behind the door. She snaps his neck and he falls to the floor, dead. As she is leaving the house, WATTS runs to her and they hug. Cut to the WATTS home. The family are sat round the table, about to eat dinner. WATTS is saying grace. He gives thanks for TAYLORs return. TAYLOR is upset, and tears roll down her face. TAYLOR: Daddy? (pause) It's true isn't it? What that man said. The two stare at each other until WATTS looks away in shame. End Credits. | |
|
|
|
| Millennium TM and © (or copyright) 1013 Productions & 20th Century Fox Television and its related entities. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, duplication or distribution of these materials in any form is expressly prohibited. This transcript and any content on this site relating to Millennium has not been authorized by these entities in any way. No copyright infringement is intended. | |