Human Target s01e01 Episode Script
Pilot
1 Blending in.
You have no idea what it's like always blending in.
You forget who you are.
Eventually, you start to forget who you ever were.
They push you and push you further into the margins.
Treat you like dirt.
Take away your manhood.
Make you small.
Somebody had to do something about it.
I hear you, Hollis.
I really do.
He used you, took advantage of your work, and cut you loose.
It's a terrible thing.
But I got people to answer to and they're already talking about kicking down doors.
Look, since I don't think either one of us want to go down that road just yet, help me buy some time, send out the employees.
No.
No.
That--that won't work.
Let me finish.
The deal is I get the bystanders, you keep Ken Lydecker.
He's the only one you really want anyway.
You'll still have leverage and I'll have something my bosses.
We'll all get to live a little while longer.
Human Target 1x01 Pilot All right.
Everybody but Lydecker out.
Let's go.
Move.
this way.
This way.
Keep moving.
This way.
Hey, buddy, we alone yet? Shut up, I'm-- I take that for "yes.
" 'scuse me.
Are you Ken Lydecker? Yeah.
Well, if you're out here, who's that inside? Whew.
Where's Lydecker? You've been around here.
You're the auditor.
Not really.
Listen, word of advice, never make threats.
You want to do something, don't talk about it.
Do it.
What? Lydecker.
You've been sending him threats for weeks.
Got him planning.
Got his guard up.
Now look where you are.
Threats just make things messier.
No more threats.
Just action.
You just committed suicide for that snake, That rat.
You realize that? Okay.
Well, first of all, I don't think you can be both of those things at the same time.
Second, you were a salesman.
You got fired.
Let's not do this like he had you working a chain gang.
He took out eight years of my life.
Left me with nothing.
No severance.
No savings.
He broke me.
And he deserves to die for it.
No, he doesn't.
Yes, he does.
No, he doesn't! Nobody deserves to die.
And frankly, after seeing your behavior this afternoon, I think Lydecker deserves a medal for putting up with you for as long as he did.
What are you doing? I'm gonna take the gun away from you.
Guns are dangerous.
They're not for messing around.
You think I'm messing around? I think we've been here for, what, six and a half hours? I'm tired.
I missed lunch.
Enough already.
Are you crazy? Am I crazy? I'm assuming that was a rhetorical question.
You don't want to go out like this, do you? No.
So I'm gonna go outside.
I'm gonna get as close to Lydecker as I can.
And then I'm gonna finish what I started.
And you can stand there and say whatever you want.
That I'm about to do a terrible thing.
That I can still get out of this.
But it's not gonna change anything.
This is still gonna happen.
Hollis, what'd I tell you? No threats.
Hello, Carmine.
So how's your buddy today? Happy to be home.
Morning, Winston.
Checking up on me? Why, did something happen? I could care less about you.
Who do you think's been feeding that beast the whole time that you've been laid up? I don't know.
Figured you finally got a hold of the mailman.
He's been eating him.
Lydecker sent payment.
This? Oh.
Oh.
Whiskey? It's not whiskey.
It's a 25-year-old bottle of Takagi.
That's $900 a pop.
You know, when I suggested that we can keep transactions quiet by bartering instead of cash, I assumed you knew that I meant bartering for things of significant value.
That stuff's not easy to come by.
You hold onto it for ten years, it'll be worth ten times as much.
Oh, so it's an investment.
Exactly.
Mm.
You know, a guy who blows up the building he's standing in, you don't think him a long-term investor.
We're still having this conversation? Really? I told you it was the only way to stop the guy from killing Lydecker and dozens of bystanders.
Yeah, so you've said.
However, What I'm trying to figure out is how the whole thing even got that far.
Why not challenge him at the outset? You said the guy didn't arm the vest until late in the game.
Why not disarm him cleanly beforehand? So you think I let it get that far 'cause I thought it'd be fun? I don't know.
Why don't you tell me.
Why don't you just ask me what you want to ask me.
Are you slipping? I waited because I felt Lydecker was in no immediate danger.
Do you really think that I would've pulled the trigger if I didn't know there was a bearing wall six feet away? If I didn't know that homemade fuse was gonna have at least a three-second delay? Where are you headed? I'm going to see Peale's got a referral for us.
I can come.
Ha ha.
No.
No, you can't.
No.
See, you can't 'cause the shop's closed.
And it stays closed until you recover.
No discussion.
Thanks for worrying.
But there's nothing to worry about.
It was about a week ago.
I get in the car to go to work and it won't start.
Two hours later, I'm at the dealership and the mechanic comes out with this look on his face.
He says "good news is your battery's dead.
" Bad news is he found eight ounces of primasheet 2000 under the hood.
Plastic explosive.
I don't know why anyone would want me dead.
I've never gotten threats.
Don't have any enemies.
I don't know what this is.
That's why I need your help.
And the police refused to grant protection? You know the deal with the department.
Captain gave me two men, no overtime.
Given the situation, it ain't hardly enough.
The situation? What situation? Tell him what you do.
I work for McNamara Engineering.
I run the design team for the Monterey line.
The California Bullet Train.
You're looking at the lady responsible for the most expensive public works project in U.
S.
history.
The last thing McNamara needs right now is more controversy surrounding the project.
But I'm not here speaking for the company.
I'm here cause she's my wife.
With the train's maiden voyage coming up tomorrow, you can understand why we want to keep this information private.
If you can help end this thing faster and safer than the police can, then you're the man we want.
All right, well, um, We're not taking any new clients on at the moment.
But, uh, I can refer you to another sec-- no.
I was told that you provide a unique service.
That you're the people that I need.
Why me? You can flush this person out, yes? Get him to reveal himself and take him out? I work with a cover.
Blend into the background.
Let you appear vulnerable so the threat reveals itself.
And then eliminate the threat.
I don't want to live my life in fear.
Whoever's behind this shouldn't have that kind of power over me.
How fast does this train go? Safe cruising speed is about 200 miles per hour.
Would I get to ride on it? I assume so.
Okay.
I'm in.
Let's go over the cover again.
Who am I? You're Tony Graham, my new translator.
Good.
What happened to your old translator? the company provided one to deal with our Tokyo financiers, but she made too many mistakes so I hired my own.
While we're on the subject, You are fluent in Japanese, right? Guess we'll find out, won't we? Mr.
Situ wishes you congratulations on a well-deserved celebration and says that he's honored to be invited.
Thank you.
I'm so glad you could be here.
What? They're our biggest investors.
What did you just say? Oh, he wanted to know how I recognized that his dialect was satsuma-ben.
Told him my grandfather was stationed in Tokyo.
After the war, dated a steward from a small fishing village on the island of Kyushu.
My grandfather sponsored him when he came to the U.
S.
for college.
Became a friend of the family and he taught me Japanese.
Wow, that's--is that true? No.
Do you really think whoever's after me is gonna be on this train? Three hours in a confined space with no escape, no apparent security.
This is where he makes his next move.
Then why are you letting me on it? Because there's no escape for him either.
When he moves, I'll be standing right next to you.
In three hours, one way or the other, this thing is going to be over.
When my father started this company, I doubt he'd have thought the state of California Could ever accomplish something like this.
But in three hours, we'll be in L.
A.
Nothing will ever be the same again.
And it's all because of you.
So here's to you.
Don't sweat what everybody says about her.
I'm sure you'll enjoy working for her.
What does everybody say about her? Well, that she's miserable to work for.
That if you're not as smart as she is, you must be incompetent.
That mistakes should be punishable by death.
So it isn't true.
No, it's true.
So if she's so difficult, why does anyone put up with working with her? The truth? James.
He protects her from everybody.
Even McNamara.
Ah, speak of the devil.
I was, uh, just telling Tony here how everybody hates you-- except for me, of course.
Tom was James' best man.
He introduced us.
He's McNamara's general counsel.
You'll have to excuse me.
Our Undersecretary for Mass Transit insists on bugging me about the tab for today.
So what was the tab for all this? All in? About $80 billion.
How much of this came out of my taxes? About $62 billion.
Even I want to kill you just a little bit right now.
Well, it sounds like she's got enemies.
Line forms the left.
If there aren't at least ten people on this train that want her dead, I'd be amazed.
Listen, see if you can pull the call logs on this phone.
You know what, just out of curiosity, does she know you're on her phone? No.
I swiped it.
I want to see if she's talking to anybody interesting.
I want to go 12 rounds with her on it.
And another thing, see if you can find Guerrero.
Let's bring him in on this.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Why not? Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Wait a minute now.
You're not serious, are you? No one handles this corporate crap like he does.
Do you really think you can trust that animal? Sure.
As long as we pay him on time.
Oh, get a load of this.
I'm watching a guy who won't stop shifting his coat.
She thinks I'm flirting with her.
Anyway, see if you can pull the call logs.
I'll keep trying to figure out how she got herself into this mess.
Let me know when you find Guerrero.
Oh, yeah.
soldier boy oh, my little soldier boy You the guy who been digging around Soucha's Bank, asking questions, making trouble? And you're employees of the bank? You could say that.
Well, I'm--I'm sorry, but your employer's involved with some pretty shady loans with this director's families.
And my friends need to know just how shady if they're gonna make their case.
So afraid we're at an impasse.
We're at a what? Impasse.
It means we disagree without prospect of resolution.
You know, we came here to explain it to you, but you don't seem to be getting it.
Maybe the three of us can take a little walk out back to the alley.
We can explain it a little better so there's no impasse.
I got to warn you guys, if this gets violent, I'm gonna fight back.
You think you're gonna fight back? All right, maybe fight back's a little misleading.
I'll take the beating 'cause that's all you two amateurs are cleared to do.
And then one night soon, I'm gonna break into your houses and kill each of you in your sleep.
Probably start with you, Alfredo.
That way Steven here can have a few extra days with Marla and the girls.
It's only fair.
How do you know my name? Your employer keeps sensitive information on a drive he thinks is secure.
It isn't.
Shall we? This is Guerrero.
Funny, my phone has the same ring.
Yeah, go ahead.
Guerrero is in.
But listen, I went through her call logs.
I found something here that could be pretty interesting.
It's strange, don't you think, that we both have the same Wait a second.
That is my phone.
Okay.
Let me know what you find.
You stole my phone.
Do you know a times reporter named Mark Hoffer? He covers the project.
He'd call me for a background or a quote.
Why? Well, his name's not in your contact list, but his number shows up as incoming at least a dozen times, mostly unreturned.
Well, I'm bad at returning calls.
I haven't spoken to him in almost a year.
What difference does it make? Hello? We've never met, but I think you know who I am.
My name's Bill Arnold.
I think you know what I've been saying about you in Sacramento.
But now that I see what you've created, now that it's real, I think the first thing I need to say to you is I'm sorry.
Evidently, you were worthy every penny.
'scuse me.
We were having a conversation.
Wait a minute.
Just sit down.
Keep your mouth shut.
What's going on? The ice in your glass, it's cubed and no one else's are.
Oh, my gosh.
What happened? We need a doctor! Is there a doctor here? We need a doctor.
Well, I rigged the door downstairs.
that ought to give us a little bit of warning in case somebody comes looking for you.
This was the plan.
Flush him out.
Get him to commit.
Look at me.
You trust me? So what do we do now? Well, he's irritated he's got to come to us.
We let him make that mistake.
Whoa! Son of a bitch.
Hey.
I need some information on a guy that works in your office.
And you couldn't use a phone? Where's the fun in that? It's been a rough day.
Let's just cut to the chase.
Who's the guy? Mark Hoffer.
Sacramento desk.
Is that supposed to be a joke? Was it funny? You saying you don't know? Yeah.
When? No such thing as a coincidence.
Okay, keep digging.
Mark Hoffer was killed this morning.
With a car bomb.
Same explosive as the one used in your car.
Oh, my God.
There has to be some sort of connection here.
Now what is it? Uh, uh, about a year ago, he wrote a piece exposing corner cutting within the project.
Hoffer got this information from an anonymous source within the company.
Any Chance that anonymous source is sitting at the table with me right now? The cost cutting was jeopardizing safety measures.
I kept telling them that a train this big and this fast had to be flawless, but they stopped listening to me.
I had to do something.
After that, McNamara got scared.
He gave me everything I wanted.
What else aren't you telling me? Nothing.
Well, I don't buy it.
People who get themselves in your kind of trouble are usually holding something back.
Either it's pride, or they're embarrassed, or they're just stupid, so which one are you? You telling me I deserve this? Nobody deserves this.
I'm just saying people have secrets.
Secrets are dangerous.
So what are you keeping from me? Do you hear that? Hear what? The brakes.
They're squealing.
So? This isn't a trolley car.
If the brakes are squealing, something's wrong.
So much for the flawless train.
It is flawless.
Get down.
Tom.
Let him go.
Let him go.
What the hell is going on back here? It's all right.
It's all right? Bill's up there hanging on by a thread.
It's a coin toss whether he makes it to L.
A.
alive.
And then this guy drags you back here.
He didn't drag me back here.
W--wait a minute.
It's complicated, but I'm okay.
Then why did you pull all those emergency brake handles in the last car? What are you talking about? Tom, just go back downstairs.
If anybody asks if you saw Stephanie, you say no.
Stephanie, I'm your friend.
You can trust me.
Go.
Hey, dude.
Breaking and entering is a crime, you know.
Yeah, it's good to see you too, Winston.
It's been awhile.
Oh, not long enough.
What are you doing in my office? And what the hell are you doing on my computer? I'm checking out the contents of Mark Hoffer's hard drive.
There's not much here.
It's mostly personal.
Do I want to know how you came about it? Editor at the paper owes me.
Couple years ago, a gas company hired a guy to hassle him over a story he's working.
Got nasty.
I got him out of it.
How? I decided to stop hassling him.
Listen, you, don't get comfortable here.
Because as soon as this case is done, you're gone.
Spent too much of your life in an office, Winston.
Look at you.
It's made you weak.
Yeah.
No surprise, but I think McNamara management might be involved in this.
That's good news.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
All right, cool.
I'll, uh, I'll go pay him a visit.
Well, how is that good news? Companies like this aren't built to off people, Winston.
Tends to get sloppy.
Someone talks, the wrong guys listen, and suddenly word's all over the street.
Wait, who are you going to see? The wrong guy.
Hate him.
if Tom was right about these emergency brake handles, we might have a problem.
The killer thinks you identified him, right? He's afraid he's caught so he wants to get off the train.
He pulls one emergency brake.
It doesn't work, so then he pulls them all.
Well, that's what we want.
He's panicking.
He's getting that much closer to making a mistake.
He already did.
I think he blew out our brakes.
Come again? The emergency brake system is complicated.
Physical brakes combined with a magnetic system that's controlled by the computer.
Problem is, the emergency brakes in the unfinished cars aren't tied into the computer yet.
So when our guy kept engaging the disks, it must've overwhelmed the safety.
So what are you saying? It's like going 100 miles an hour on the freeway with your foot on the gas and the emergency brake on.
If we engage them again, they're gonna explode.
I'm sorry, did you say explode? Yeah.
It gets worse.
There's a curve in the R-2 tunnel about 70 miles ahead.
We need the brakes to slow down or we'll derail.
If we do hit the brakes, and they blow up, they're gonna take the wheels with them and then we'll derail.
70 miles, that's, like, 20 minutes.
Less.
We need to warn everyone up front or a lot of people are going to die.
Get ready to move.
We should call up front, let them know what's going on.
How did you--? Where's your phone? A vest? You wore a vest? Where's my vest? I'm your vest.
Where's your phone? Back there.
What about the intercom? Don't tell me.
It's not hooked up yet.
How you doing? Haven't seen you around for a while.
Haven't been looking for you.
Answer for everything.
That's why I stopped finding work for you.
You didn't know if you've heard of any work put on the street by a company called McNamara Engineering? Not to the best of our recollection.
You sure? Hang on.
I'll check again.
Yeah.
I'm sure.
What do you care for anyway? You want to know if there's open work, but you don't want to take it.
What, are you window-shopping? I see.
You've gone over to the other side.
You're fighting the good fight, making the world safe for democracy like your friend Chance.
Word of advice, Give it up.
Maybe it works for him, but not for somebody like you.
Just making life hard on yourself, my friend.
Companies have secrets.
Husbands hate wives.
Brothers envy brothers.
What'd you just say? You want me to write it down for you? No.
I got it.
That's the-- shh! What's the matter with you? If he hears us, we're gonna be dodging bullets.
That's the grate to the next car.
You can just unscrew it.
We're running out of time.
Hurry.
Hi.
Excuse me.
In less than ten minutes, there's a very good Chance that this train is going to crash.
I suggest that we get off it.
I told you.
I'm the interpreter.
We need to get off this train.
Off the train? You sound like a crazy person.
What are you talking about? In a few minutes, we're gonna engage the brakes to take the R-2 tunnel curve.
The problem is the disks are overheated.
Once we engage them, the disks are gonna explode right out of their housing.
This train is gonna go into the tunnel and it's not gonna come out.
All right, uh, let's everyone take a breath here.
This train is perfectly safe.
Its brakes are perfectly safe.
Damn it.
Listen to me! Stephanie, we're only 18 miles out.
Brakes engaged a few minutes ago.
Now look, you disappear, you come back here, you're making a scene, you're getting everybody upset.
Shh.
Shh.
Shut down the brakes.
Shut them down now.
There's a name for the kind of train this just turned into.
How did this happen? It's a long story.
I'll explain after we get everybody off the train.
We're going 220 miles per hour.
No one is gonna get off of this train.
Run brake assist.
There's a supplemental braking system in the rear car.
It's too weak to slow the entire train at this speed.
But if we separate the car, we can slow it down before it hits the curve.
Okay.
Okay.
Let's get moving.
Everyone to the back of the train.
What the hell happened back there? He eliminated the threat.
Did you recognize him? There's not much left of him.
But there's enough to start digging into who hired him.
Well, look who found the front door.
Still got the call logs from the client's cell phone.
Yeah.
Good.
Read me back the incoming calls from Mark Hoffer.
I don't work for you.
The dates and times, please.
Um, August 20, 53 pm.
April 24, 7:31 pm.
February 25-- What is this? Get Chance on the phone.
The system isn't online.
We'll have to cut the hydraulics manually.
Is there time? We're fine.
Once I disconnect the hoses, cars won't separate until the rear car hits its brakes.
Why don't you let somebody else do that? I know the guts of this thing better than anyone.
It's okay.
I'll be okay.
Go.
Go.
I'm sorry.
For what? All this.
I figure somebody should say it.
Well, at least I know what I'll be doing Monday morning.
What's that? Building the damn thing all over again.
Is everyone onboard? Is everybody here? Yeah.
Everyone's here.
Hit the brakes.
Down to the last connection here.
Ready? I thought you said these don't lock.
They don't.
No.
No.
How much time? About two minutes to the tunnel.
Maybe we could strap ourselves in.
Hope the cars hold together.
Will they? We're gonna die, aren't we? At this speed, the wake turbulence passing off the tail of the train, it's gonna run just north of level, right? Excuse me.
The wake, the turbulence, the wind coming off the back.
Yeah.
There'd be a bit of an updraft.
About 160, 170 degrees? Roughly.
How did you know that? Lucky guess.
Cut two of those seatbelts as close to the seat as you can.
Wait a minute.
No, no, no, no.
What are you afraid of? Dying.
It's not gonna happen.
Come on.
This'll be fun.
This isn't gonna work.
I'm open to suggestions.
Here.
Put this on.
Exhale.
Hard.
Can't believe it's over.
It's not exactly over.
Be kind of nice to find out who's behind all this, don't you think? Well, at least it's over for a little bit, right? We'd like to thank you for everything.
But I think after all this, it might be nice to go home, be alone tonight, just the two of us.
Okay.
Thank you.
Hello.
I just finished looking at the expense reports of a reporter by the name of Mark Hoffer.
Who is this? They include a number of expenses at a hotel in Laguna.
These stays coincided with phone calls placed by him to Stephanie's cell phone.
When did you find out your wife was sleeping with Mark Hoffer? Forgot your tie.
See, I had a hunch it wasn't the assassin who tried to stop the train and escape.
It just didn't fit.
It was you, wasn't it? And once your guy missed with the ice cubes, you figured things might be getting a little bit out of control.
You're afraid that if I caught him, he'd finger you, and everybody on the train would know that you hired him to try to kill your wife.
It was you? Because of me and Mark? It was over.
It'd been over for a year.
I hadn't even talked to him.
I know.
Then why now? We--we were better This whole last year, we've been better.
It's the money.
If he'd done this last year, You don't finish the train-- no bonus.
This way, he gets the money.
You were wrong.
Maybe I did deserve what was coming to me.
I'm responsible for this.
You risked your life for me and I lied to you about who I was.
Everybody does that.
I don't care what anybody says.
Sometimes it's a lot easier.
You did something you regret.
We're hardwired to do things we regret.
It ain't gonna change.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
And it's certainly not a reason to die.
I don't even know what I owe you.
Can you at least tell me your name? Christopher Chance.
Is that true? And don't you dare count it.
See ya, Chance.
Well, I told him his services were no longer needed.
Why is that funny? Oh, he'll be back.
Oh.
Hey, listen, um what do you say you take some time off now.
What are you worried about? What's so different about now than anything else I've ever done? And don't get started about how you think I'm losing it because you sound like an idiot.
Well, fine.
I did think that at first, that you were loosing focus.
I haven't lost focus.
No, I-I believe you.
I do.
And now I'm really worried.
I ask myself "why would he just continue to do this-- "just put himself in situations where he ends up in front of "one loaded gun after another? "what is it? Is it the rush or some kind of weird penance?" And then it hit me.
Maybe he keeps putting himself in front of that loaded gun because deep down, he hopes that one of these days he'll get what he really deserves and the gun will finally go off.
Go ahead.
Tell me I'm wrong.
Tell me you're planning on being around for awhile.
What the hell are they doing? I don't know.
Open up that bag right there.
Whiskey? It's not whiskey.
Really? 'cause it looks like a bottle of Japanese whiskey to me.
I hired you to protect me from those people.
And your plan is to have a smoke and a drink? You know, there was a day I would've felt bad opening up a bottle like this.
But I'm learning to live in the now.
I mean, it might taste better in ten years, it might be worth more.
But what if I'm not around to find out? What the hell are you doing? Ah.
You're really missing something here.
Smooth.
Good finish.
You'd never even know this stuff burns like jet fuel.
Man, you crazy? Let's find out.
You have no idea what it's like always blending in.
You forget who you are.
Eventually, you start to forget who you ever were.
They push you and push you further into the margins.
Treat you like dirt.
Take away your manhood.
Make you small.
Somebody had to do something about it.
I hear you, Hollis.
I really do.
He used you, took advantage of your work, and cut you loose.
It's a terrible thing.
But I got people to answer to and they're already talking about kicking down doors.
Look, since I don't think either one of us want to go down that road just yet, help me buy some time, send out the employees.
No.
No.
That--that won't work.
Let me finish.
The deal is I get the bystanders, you keep Ken Lydecker.
He's the only one you really want anyway.
You'll still have leverage and I'll have something my bosses.
We'll all get to live a little while longer.
Human Target 1x01 Pilot All right.
Everybody but Lydecker out.
Let's go.
Move.
this way.
This way.
Keep moving.
This way.
Hey, buddy, we alone yet? Shut up, I'm-- I take that for "yes.
" 'scuse me.
Are you Ken Lydecker? Yeah.
Well, if you're out here, who's that inside? Whew.
Where's Lydecker? You've been around here.
You're the auditor.
Not really.
Listen, word of advice, never make threats.
You want to do something, don't talk about it.
Do it.
What? Lydecker.
You've been sending him threats for weeks.
Got him planning.
Got his guard up.
Now look where you are.
Threats just make things messier.
No more threats.
Just action.
You just committed suicide for that snake, That rat.
You realize that? Okay.
Well, first of all, I don't think you can be both of those things at the same time.
Second, you were a salesman.
You got fired.
Let's not do this like he had you working a chain gang.
He took out eight years of my life.
Left me with nothing.
No severance.
No savings.
He broke me.
And he deserves to die for it.
No, he doesn't.
Yes, he does.
No, he doesn't! Nobody deserves to die.
And frankly, after seeing your behavior this afternoon, I think Lydecker deserves a medal for putting up with you for as long as he did.
What are you doing? I'm gonna take the gun away from you.
Guns are dangerous.
They're not for messing around.
You think I'm messing around? I think we've been here for, what, six and a half hours? I'm tired.
I missed lunch.
Enough already.
Are you crazy? Am I crazy? I'm assuming that was a rhetorical question.
You don't want to go out like this, do you? No.
So I'm gonna go outside.
I'm gonna get as close to Lydecker as I can.
And then I'm gonna finish what I started.
And you can stand there and say whatever you want.
That I'm about to do a terrible thing.
That I can still get out of this.
But it's not gonna change anything.
This is still gonna happen.
Hollis, what'd I tell you? No threats.
Hello, Carmine.
So how's your buddy today? Happy to be home.
Morning, Winston.
Checking up on me? Why, did something happen? I could care less about you.
Who do you think's been feeding that beast the whole time that you've been laid up? I don't know.
Figured you finally got a hold of the mailman.
He's been eating him.
Lydecker sent payment.
This? Oh.
Oh.
Whiskey? It's not whiskey.
It's a 25-year-old bottle of Takagi.
That's $900 a pop.
You know, when I suggested that we can keep transactions quiet by bartering instead of cash, I assumed you knew that I meant bartering for things of significant value.
That stuff's not easy to come by.
You hold onto it for ten years, it'll be worth ten times as much.
Oh, so it's an investment.
Exactly.
Mm.
You know, a guy who blows up the building he's standing in, you don't think him a long-term investor.
We're still having this conversation? Really? I told you it was the only way to stop the guy from killing Lydecker and dozens of bystanders.
Yeah, so you've said.
However, What I'm trying to figure out is how the whole thing even got that far.
Why not challenge him at the outset? You said the guy didn't arm the vest until late in the game.
Why not disarm him cleanly beforehand? So you think I let it get that far 'cause I thought it'd be fun? I don't know.
Why don't you tell me.
Why don't you just ask me what you want to ask me.
Are you slipping? I waited because I felt Lydecker was in no immediate danger.
Do you really think that I would've pulled the trigger if I didn't know there was a bearing wall six feet away? If I didn't know that homemade fuse was gonna have at least a three-second delay? Where are you headed? I'm going to see Peale's got a referral for us.
I can come.
Ha ha.
No.
No, you can't.
No.
See, you can't 'cause the shop's closed.
And it stays closed until you recover.
No discussion.
Thanks for worrying.
But there's nothing to worry about.
It was about a week ago.
I get in the car to go to work and it won't start.
Two hours later, I'm at the dealership and the mechanic comes out with this look on his face.
He says "good news is your battery's dead.
" Bad news is he found eight ounces of primasheet 2000 under the hood.
Plastic explosive.
I don't know why anyone would want me dead.
I've never gotten threats.
Don't have any enemies.
I don't know what this is.
That's why I need your help.
And the police refused to grant protection? You know the deal with the department.
Captain gave me two men, no overtime.
Given the situation, it ain't hardly enough.
The situation? What situation? Tell him what you do.
I work for McNamara Engineering.
I run the design team for the Monterey line.
The California Bullet Train.
You're looking at the lady responsible for the most expensive public works project in U.
S.
history.
The last thing McNamara needs right now is more controversy surrounding the project.
But I'm not here speaking for the company.
I'm here cause she's my wife.
With the train's maiden voyage coming up tomorrow, you can understand why we want to keep this information private.
If you can help end this thing faster and safer than the police can, then you're the man we want.
All right, well, um, We're not taking any new clients on at the moment.
But, uh, I can refer you to another sec-- no.
I was told that you provide a unique service.
That you're the people that I need.
Why me? You can flush this person out, yes? Get him to reveal himself and take him out? I work with a cover.
Blend into the background.
Let you appear vulnerable so the threat reveals itself.
And then eliminate the threat.
I don't want to live my life in fear.
Whoever's behind this shouldn't have that kind of power over me.
How fast does this train go? Safe cruising speed is about 200 miles per hour.
Would I get to ride on it? I assume so.
Okay.
I'm in.
Let's go over the cover again.
Who am I? You're Tony Graham, my new translator.
Good.
What happened to your old translator? the company provided one to deal with our Tokyo financiers, but she made too many mistakes so I hired my own.
While we're on the subject, You are fluent in Japanese, right? Guess we'll find out, won't we? Mr.
Situ wishes you congratulations on a well-deserved celebration and says that he's honored to be invited.
Thank you.
I'm so glad you could be here.
What? They're our biggest investors.
What did you just say? Oh, he wanted to know how I recognized that his dialect was satsuma-ben.
Told him my grandfather was stationed in Tokyo.
After the war, dated a steward from a small fishing village on the island of Kyushu.
My grandfather sponsored him when he came to the U.
S.
for college.
Became a friend of the family and he taught me Japanese.
Wow, that's--is that true? No.
Do you really think whoever's after me is gonna be on this train? Three hours in a confined space with no escape, no apparent security.
This is where he makes his next move.
Then why are you letting me on it? Because there's no escape for him either.
When he moves, I'll be standing right next to you.
In three hours, one way or the other, this thing is going to be over.
When my father started this company, I doubt he'd have thought the state of California Could ever accomplish something like this.
But in three hours, we'll be in L.
A.
Nothing will ever be the same again.
And it's all because of you.
So here's to you.
Don't sweat what everybody says about her.
I'm sure you'll enjoy working for her.
What does everybody say about her? Well, that she's miserable to work for.
That if you're not as smart as she is, you must be incompetent.
That mistakes should be punishable by death.
So it isn't true.
No, it's true.
So if she's so difficult, why does anyone put up with working with her? The truth? James.
He protects her from everybody.
Even McNamara.
Ah, speak of the devil.
I was, uh, just telling Tony here how everybody hates you-- except for me, of course.
Tom was James' best man.
He introduced us.
He's McNamara's general counsel.
You'll have to excuse me.
Our Undersecretary for Mass Transit insists on bugging me about the tab for today.
So what was the tab for all this? All in? About $80 billion.
How much of this came out of my taxes? About $62 billion.
Even I want to kill you just a little bit right now.
Well, it sounds like she's got enemies.
Line forms the left.
If there aren't at least ten people on this train that want her dead, I'd be amazed.
Listen, see if you can pull the call logs on this phone.
You know what, just out of curiosity, does she know you're on her phone? No.
I swiped it.
I want to see if she's talking to anybody interesting.
I want to go 12 rounds with her on it.
And another thing, see if you can find Guerrero.
Let's bring him in on this.
Oh, yeah, sure.
Why not? Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Wait a minute now.
You're not serious, are you? No one handles this corporate crap like he does.
Do you really think you can trust that animal? Sure.
As long as we pay him on time.
Oh, get a load of this.
I'm watching a guy who won't stop shifting his coat.
She thinks I'm flirting with her.
Anyway, see if you can pull the call logs.
I'll keep trying to figure out how she got herself into this mess.
Let me know when you find Guerrero.
Oh, yeah.
soldier boy oh, my little soldier boy You the guy who been digging around Soucha's Bank, asking questions, making trouble? And you're employees of the bank? You could say that.
Well, I'm--I'm sorry, but your employer's involved with some pretty shady loans with this director's families.
And my friends need to know just how shady if they're gonna make their case.
So afraid we're at an impasse.
We're at a what? Impasse.
It means we disagree without prospect of resolution.
You know, we came here to explain it to you, but you don't seem to be getting it.
Maybe the three of us can take a little walk out back to the alley.
We can explain it a little better so there's no impasse.
I got to warn you guys, if this gets violent, I'm gonna fight back.
You think you're gonna fight back? All right, maybe fight back's a little misleading.
I'll take the beating 'cause that's all you two amateurs are cleared to do.
And then one night soon, I'm gonna break into your houses and kill each of you in your sleep.
Probably start with you, Alfredo.
That way Steven here can have a few extra days with Marla and the girls.
It's only fair.
How do you know my name? Your employer keeps sensitive information on a drive he thinks is secure.
It isn't.
Shall we? This is Guerrero.
Funny, my phone has the same ring.
Yeah, go ahead.
Guerrero is in.
But listen, I went through her call logs.
I found something here that could be pretty interesting.
It's strange, don't you think, that we both have the same Wait a second.
That is my phone.
Okay.
Let me know what you find.
You stole my phone.
Do you know a times reporter named Mark Hoffer? He covers the project.
He'd call me for a background or a quote.
Why? Well, his name's not in your contact list, but his number shows up as incoming at least a dozen times, mostly unreturned.
Well, I'm bad at returning calls.
I haven't spoken to him in almost a year.
What difference does it make? Hello? We've never met, but I think you know who I am.
My name's Bill Arnold.
I think you know what I've been saying about you in Sacramento.
But now that I see what you've created, now that it's real, I think the first thing I need to say to you is I'm sorry.
Evidently, you were worthy every penny.
'scuse me.
We were having a conversation.
Wait a minute.
Just sit down.
Keep your mouth shut.
What's going on? The ice in your glass, it's cubed and no one else's are.
Oh, my gosh.
What happened? We need a doctor! Is there a doctor here? We need a doctor.
Well, I rigged the door downstairs.
that ought to give us a little bit of warning in case somebody comes looking for you.
This was the plan.
Flush him out.
Get him to commit.
Look at me.
You trust me? So what do we do now? Well, he's irritated he's got to come to us.
We let him make that mistake.
Whoa! Son of a bitch.
Hey.
I need some information on a guy that works in your office.
And you couldn't use a phone? Where's the fun in that? It's been a rough day.
Let's just cut to the chase.
Who's the guy? Mark Hoffer.
Sacramento desk.
Is that supposed to be a joke? Was it funny? You saying you don't know? Yeah.
When? No such thing as a coincidence.
Okay, keep digging.
Mark Hoffer was killed this morning.
With a car bomb.
Same explosive as the one used in your car.
Oh, my God.
There has to be some sort of connection here.
Now what is it? Uh, uh, about a year ago, he wrote a piece exposing corner cutting within the project.
Hoffer got this information from an anonymous source within the company.
Any Chance that anonymous source is sitting at the table with me right now? The cost cutting was jeopardizing safety measures.
I kept telling them that a train this big and this fast had to be flawless, but they stopped listening to me.
I had to do something.
After that, McNamara got scared.
He gave me everything I wanted.
What else aren't you telling me? Nothing.
Well, I don't buy it.
People who get themselves in your kind of trouble are usually holding something back.
Either it's pride, or they're embarrassed, or they're just stupid, so which one are you? You telling me I deserve this? Nobody deserves this.
I'm just saying people have secrets.
Secrets are dangerous.
So what are you keeping from me? Do you hear that? Hear what? The brakes.
They're squealing.
So? This isn't a trolley car.
If the brakes are squealing, something's wrong.
So much for the flawless train.
It is flawless.
Get down.
Tom.
Let him go.
Let him go.
What the hell is going on back here? It's all right.
It's all right? Bill's up there hanging on by a thread.
It's a coin toss whether he makes it to L.
A.
alive.
And then this guy drags you back here.
He didn't drag me back here.
W--wait a minute.
It's complicated, but I'm okay.
Then why did you pull all those emergency brake handles in the last car? What are you talking about? Tom, just go back downstairs.
If anybody asks if you saw Stephanie, you say no.
Stephanie, I'm your friend.
You can trust me.
Go.
Hey, dude.
Breaking and entering is a crime, you know.
Yeah, it's good to see you too, Winston.
It's been awhile.
Oh, not long enough.
What are you doing in my office? And what the hell are you doing on my computer? I'm checking out the contents of Mark Hoffer's hard drive.
There's not much here.
It's mostly personal.
Do I want to know how you came about it? Editor at the paper owes me.
Couple years ago, a gas company hired a guy to hassle him over a story he's working.
Got nasty.
I got him out of it.
How? I decided to stop hassling him.
Listen, you, don't get comfortable here.
Because as soon as this case is done, you're gone.
Spent too much of your life in an office, Winston.
Look at you.
It's made you weak.
Yeah.
No surprise, but I think McNamara management might be involved in this.
That's good news.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
All right, cool.
I'll, uh, I'll go pay him a visit.
Well, how is that good news? Companies like this aren't built to off people, Winston.
Tends to get sloppy.
Someone talks, the wrong guys listen, and suddenly word's all over the street.
Wait, who are you going to see? The wrong guy.
Hate him.
if Tom was right about these emergency brake handles, we might have a problem.
The killer thinks you identified him, right? He's afraid he's caught so he wants to get off the train.
He pulls one emergency brake.
It doesn't work, so then he pulls them all.
Well, that's what we want.
He's panicking.
He's getting that much closer to making a mistake.
He already did.
I think he blew out our brakes.
Come again? The emergency brake system is complicated.
Physical brakes combined with a magnetic system that's controlled by the computer.
Problem is, the emergency brakes in the unfinished cars aren't tied into the computer yet.
So when our guy kept engaging the disks, it must've overwhelmed the safety.
So what are you saying? It's like going 100 miles an hour on the freeway with your foot on the gas and the emergency brake on.
If we engage them again, they're gonna explode.
I'm sorry, did you say explode? Yeah.
It gets worse.
There's a curve in the R-2 tunnel about 70 miles ahead.
We need the brakes to slow down or we'll derail.
If we do hit the brakes, and they blow up, they're gonna take the wheels with them and then we'll derail.
70 miles, that's, like, 20 minutes.
Less.
We need to warn everyone up front or a lot of people are going to die.
Get ready to move.
We should call up front, let them know what's going on.
How did you--? Where's your phone? A vest? You wore a vest? Where's my vest? I'm your vest.
Where's your phone? Back there.
What about the intercom? Don't tell me.
It's not hooked up yet.
How you doing? Haven't seen you around for a while.
Haven't been looking for you.
Answer for everything.
That's why I stopped finding work for you.
You didn't know if you've heard of any work put on the street by a company called McNamara Engineering? Not to the best of our recollection.
You sure? Hang on.
I'll check again.
Yeah.
I'm sure.
What do you care for anyway? You want to know if there's open work, but you don't want to take it.
What, are you window-shopping? I see.
You've gone over to the other side.
You're fighting the good fight, making the world safe for democracy like your friend Chance.
Word of advice, Give it up.
Maybe it works for him, but not for somebody like you.
Just making life hard on yourself, my friend.
Companies have secrets.
Husbands hate wives.
Brothers envy brothers.
What'd you just say? You want me to write it down for you? No.
I got it.
That's the-- shh! What's the matter with you? If he hears us, we're gonna be dodging bullets.
That's the grate to the next car.
You can just unscrew it.
We're running out of time.
Hurry.
Hi.
Excuse me.
In less than ten minutes, there's a very good Chance that this train is going to crash.
I suggest that we get off it.
I told you.
I'm the interpreter.
We need to get off this train.
Off the train? You sound like a crazy person.
What are you talking about? In a few minutes, we're gonna engage the brakes to take the R-2 tunnel curve.
The problem is the disks are overheated.
Once we engage them, the disks are gonna explode right out of their housing.
This train is gonna go into the tunnel and it's not gonna come out.
All right, uh, let's everyone take a breath here.
This train is perfectly safe.
Its brakes are perfectly safe.
Damn it.
Listen to me! Stephanie, we're only 18 miles out.
Brakes engaged a few minutes ago.
Now look, you disappear, you come back here, you're making a scene, you're getting everybody upset.
Shh.
Shh.
Shut down the brakes.
Shut them down now.
There's a name for the kind of train this just turned into.
How did this happen? It's a long story.
I'll explain after we get everybody off the train.
We're going 220 miles per hour.
No one is gonna get off of this train.
Run brake assist.
There's a supplemental braking system in the rear car.
It's too weak to slow the entire train at this speed.
But if we separate the car, we can slow it down before it hits the curve.
Okay.
Okay.
Let's get moving.
Everyone to the back of the train.
What the hell happened back there? He eliminated the threat.
Did you recognize him? There's not much left of him.
But there's enough to start digging into who hired him.
Well, look who found the front door.
Still got the call logs from the client's cell phone.
Yeah.
Good.
Read me back the incoming calls from Mark Hoffer.
I don't work for you.
The dates and times, please.
Um, August 20, 53 pm.
April 24, 7:31 pm.
February 25-- What is this? Get Chance on the phone.
The system isn't online.
We'll have to cut the hydraulics manually.
Is there time? We're fine.
Once I disconnect the hoses, cars won't separate until the rear car hits its brakes.
Why don't you let somebody else do that? I know the guts of this thing better than anyone.
It's okay.
I'll be okay.
Go.
Go.
I'm sorry.
For what? All this.
I figure somebody should say it.
Well, at least I know what I'll be doing Monday morning.
What's that? Building the damn thing all over again.
Is everyone onboard? Is everybody here? Yeah.
Everyone's here.
Hit the brakes.
Down to the last connection here.
Ready? I thought you said these don't lock.
They don't.
No.
No.
How much time? About two minutes to the tunnel.
Maybe we could strap ourselves in.
Hope the cars hold together.
Will they? We're gonna die, aren't we? At this speed, the wake turbulence passing off the tail of the train, it's gonna run just north of level, right? Excuse me.
The wake, the turbulence, the wind coming off the back.
Yeah.
There'd be a bit of an updraft.
About 160, 170 degrees? Roughly.
How did you know that? Lucky guess.
Cut two of those seatbelts as close to the seat as you can.
Wait a minute.
No, no, no, no.
What are you afraid of? Dying.
It's not gonna happen.
Come on.
This'll be fun.
This isn't gonna work.
I'm open to suggestions.
Here.
Put this on.
Exhale.
Hard.
Can't believe it's over.
It's not exactly over.
Be kind of nice to find out who's behind all this, don't you think? Well, at least it's over for a little bit, right? We'd like to thank you for everything.
But I think after all this, it might be nice to go home, be alone tonight, just the two of us.
Okay.
Thank you.
Hello.
I just finished looking at the expense reports of a reporter by the name of Mark Hoffer.
Who is this? They include a number of expenses at a hotel in Laguna.
These stays coincided with phone calls placed by him to Stephanie's cell phone.
When did you find out your wife was sleeping with Mark Hoffer? Forgot your tie.
See, I had a hunch it wasn't the assassin who tried to stop the train and escape.
It just didn't fit.
It was you, wasn't it? And once your guy missed with the ice cubes, you figured things might be getting a little bit out of control.
You're afraid that if I caught him, he'd finger you, and everybody on the train would know that you hired him to try to kill your wife.
It was you? Because of me and Mark? It was over.
It'd been over for a year.
I hadn't even talked to him.
I know.
Then why now? We--we were better This whole last year, we've been better.
It's the money.
If he'd done this last year, You don't finish the train-- no bonus.
This way, he gets the money.
You were wrong.
Maybe I did deserve what was coming to me.
I'm responsible for this.
You risked your life for me and I lied to you about who I was.
Everybody does that.
I don't care what anybody says.
Sometimes it's a lot easier.
You did something you regret.
We're hardwired to do things we regret.
It ain't gonna change.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
And it's certainly not a reason to die.
I don't even know what I owe you.
Can you at least tell me your name? Christopher Chance.
Is that true? And don't you dare count it.
See ya, Chance.
Well, I told him his services were no longer needed.
Why is that funny? Oh, he'll be back.
Oh.
Hey, listen, um what do you say you take some time off now.
What are you worried about? What's so different about now than anything else I've ever done? And don't get started about how you think I'm losing it because you sound like an idiot.
Well, fine.
I did think that at first, that you were loosing focus.
I haven't lost focus.
No, I-I believe you.
I do.
And now I'm really worried.
I ask myself "why would he just continue to do this-- "just put himself in situations where he ends up in front of "one loaded gun after another? "what is it? Is it the rush or some kind of weird penance?" And then it hit me.
Maybe he keeps putting himself in front of that loaded gun because deep down, he hopes that one of these days he'll get what he really deserves and the gun will finally go off.
Go ahead.
Tell me I'm wrong.
Tell me you're planning on being around for awhile.
What the hell are they doing? I don't know.
Open up that bag right there.
Whiskey? It's not whiskey.
Really? 'cause it looks like a bottle of Japanese whiskey to me.
I hired you to protect me from those people.
And your plan is to have a smoke and a drink? You know, there was a day I would've felt bad opening up a bottle like this.
But I'm learning to live in the now.
I mean, it might taste better in ten years, it might be worth more.
But what if I'm not around to find out? What the hell are you doing? Ah.
You're really missing something here.
Smooth.
Good finish.
You'd never even know this stuff burns like jet fuel.
Man, you crazy? Let's find out.