Lone Target (2014) s01e03 Episode Script

Narrator: Almost every country has a specialized military tracking unit [ All grunt .]
trained to capture terrorists [ Indistinct shouting .]
guard borders [ Dog barking .]
and hunt criminals.
Stand back! and now they're about to face one of their toughest targets Joel lambert.
Let's go.
Come on.
A former Navy seal and expert in escape and evasion All right.
Come back.
Joel's mission is to put them to the test They're not prepared for this.
This is my turf.
Narrator: And evade capture for 48 hours.
Quitting is never an option.
I'm gonna die before I quit.
Narrator: And today, Joel faces off against the Philippines' army scout rangers.
So, gentlemen, this is a test for us.
Narrator: Over the next 48 hours, Joel tries to escape [Bleep.]
The jungle.
as they rush to catch him.
Narrator: The hunt is on.
-- Captions by vitac -- captions paid for by discovery communications lambert: Scout rangers know that I'm infiltrating somewhere on mt.
Santa Rita, but they don't know where.
This is an old world war ii communications tower.
And it's a great location to start a deception trail.
I know this Mountain is crawling with rangers, so I'm gonna draw them in here using a smoke grenade, and then I'm gonna use the existing tension wires to zip-line down into the jungle.
To create a diversion, I'm gonna pop smoke.
[ Clank .]
[ Grunts .]
[ Explosion, hissing .]
This is a climbing strap.
We use it to lower equipment and secure things in the jungle.
[ Grunting .]
Aah! [ Shouting indistinctly .]
[ Grunts .]
I've just entered right here at that tower.
I have 48 hours to make it all the way down to this cove, where a small boat will pick me up and take me out of this place.
I don't know if they saw me or if they saw the smoke, so It's time to make some distance.
Let's go! Got to find a way down.
Here we go.
This'll work.
My zip-line has already taken me deep into the jungle.
But I have another 10 Miles to go to reach my extraction point, which the rangers have no idea where that's at.
If they want to catch me before I escape, they are gonna have to physically capture me.
Let's move.
[ Breathing heavily .]
Watch your bare skin, guys.
Watch yourself.
Thorns.
Narrator: Joel carries with him a map and compass, three quarts of water, a machete, two smoke grenades, and rain gear.
Anything else he needs, he'll have to scavenge from the jungle.
Okay, let's move.
The army scout rangers are an anti-terrorist combat unit.
Unfortunately for Joel, his diversion didn't work, as he was seen zip-lining.
Now the rangers are racing toward the tower where he was spotted.
Lambert: Got to find a good place to cross this road.
[ Vehicle approaching .]
They're onto me.
Game on.
[ Grunting, panting .]
I am leaving a lot of sign.
They're gonna be on that so fast.
So, we're just gonna have to go for it.
I prefer to use stealth and try not to leave tracks, but as steep as this is, and as thick as this jungle is, my trail is completely obvious.
I just got to move fast and try to make as much distance as I can.
[ Brakes squeal .]
Narrator: The rangers are led by combat veteran lieutenant jerson jurilla and are considered one of the world's best jungle-tracking teams.
This is the site where our intel told us where the Navy seal has last been seen.
Narrator: This 16-man unit doesn't depend on high-tech assets, but relies solely on their highly-tuned tracking skills.
Jurilla: I told my guys, look on our left and right flank so that we could see his exit from the upper portion down here.
This is a temperate, wild, humid, steamy, full-on [Bleep.]
you jungle.
I think it's the most difficult environment to operate in.
At least, it's the one I like the least.
Narrator: Joel now faces the impenetrable, steep, 45-degree slope of mt.
Santa Rita.
We're not even an hour in, and already I'm miserable.
[ Grunting .]
It's gonna be ugly.
Narrator: The rangers look for Joel's tracks by casting -- systematically searching in a circular pattern to locate any sign of spoors.
Jurilla: We cannot see clearly this footprint, because there is no direct light on it.
But if I'm gonna use my flashlight, then make a shadow on the footprints, then I can tell this is a Panama boot -- like my boots.
This is still fresh.
He's heading toward southwest direction.
Narrator: Only two hours in, and the rangers have Joel's track line and begin their descent, just one mile behind their target.
And it's slow going for Joel.
Lambert: Everything about the jungle is hard.
Ohh! We're talking thorns.
We're talking thorns that can kill you.
Ow! [Bleep.]
Ow! That vine really got me.
There's big thorns on that.
[ Grunts .]
[ Groans .]
Oh, God.
I need to keep up the fluid.
Starting to get little cramps.
If you start to cramp, it's probably 'cause you're dehydrated.
[ Swallows .]
[Bleep.]
Track You still find the spoor there.
You would see that.
The foliage there, it's changed color.
Narrator: Because visibility in the jungle is so low, sound is an extremely important part of tracking.
The rangers use of hand signals allows them to communicate with each other but not give away their position.
Whoa.
Ugh.
Here, want to -- you got it? Cool.
We're following a stream.
Unfortunately, the rocks are wet and covered with lichen, so my rock-hopping technique -- trying to avoid leaving footprints -- doesn't really work, because I'm smearing and scraping up this lichen as I move.
Just as easy to track as if I were leaving footprints in the mud.
But it allows me to make up some time.
We can move a lot quicker.
Narrator: The conditions of the jungle make it impossible for Joel to do any anti-tracking, giving the hunter force a clear path to follow and quickly gain on his position.
Hey, and now this one.
Hey, did you see that? It was disturbed, then someone His boots could slide on that.
[ Breathing heavily .]
We're coming out of the jungle, into the valley floor, which is good.
Because I'm not gonna be having to cut a hole through the jungle for them to follow anymore.
But it's gonna really expose me.
This is a good place to put in a booby trap.
I know these guys can't be far behind me.
I got to do anything to create some distance between me and them.
I don't want to hurt them.
I just want to let them know I'm there and that I mean business.
So, I've just measured how well this will fit around the smoke grenade.
So, this is how it's gonna work.
The trigger is held in place.
Nothing is in the way.
This comes through.
The trigger will come up and catch on the basket and pull this off of the grenade.
Pull the pin.
Poof.
Poof.
I have the smoke.
They're delayed here.
I know where they are.
I've just bought some time.
Narrator: Booby traps, by design, are used to slow down, deter, or kill their targets.
But in this case, Joel's non-lethal smoke grenade is designed to delay the rangers, forcing them to move more cautiously.
I know it's really nice to be out of that jungle.
And this open area's gonna speed us up, but it also completely exposes us.
We want to minimize our exposure in the open area, and we want to minimize our time exposed in the open area.
[ Explosion .]
It's the smoke.
They hit my booby trap.
[ Indistinct conversation .]
That's way too close.
Way too close.
Narrator: Joel has finally left the thick jungle with hunter force close on his trail.
In hopes of buying himself some time, he's left something in the path of the rangers.
Smoke grenade.
[ Explosion .]
[ Smoke hissing .]
It's the smoke.
They hit my booby trap.
Narrator: Joel's booby trap has forced the rangers to move more cautiously unsure of what else Joel may have left in their path.
I am not making good time at all.
Definitely nearing habitation.
So, we're coming up on a village.
I can use this to my advantage.
Human intelligence, or what people tell you, is some of the best intelligence that you can get, but it's also some of the most unreliable.
I go in and then conspicuously leave in a deceptive direction.
When the hunter force comes through, they're gonna ask around, and they're gonna point them exactly the way I want them to think I went.
This is a huge risk, but if it works, I'll finally be able to put some real distance between me and the scout rangers.
If it doesn't work, I'll probably be captured in minutes.
10 minutes, everybody will know I've been through here.
What's up, guys? Oh, here we go! All right, guys, coming through.
Hi.
Oh, man.
This is a little more than I was expecting.
That was just way too much.
Now that everybody knows, in this whole village, which direction I've gone, I have to -- I have no choice -- I have to throw a deception in it.
But it's a great place for it.
[ Grunts .]
Narrator: The rangers enter the village of pastolan, unsure of where Joel may be.
They know how inconsistent human intelligence can be and proceed with caution.
I'm gonna find a spot to break track and move off in a different direction and throw a big loop in to cost them time now that I really know where I'm at.
It looks like a jeepney.
This could be our shot.
Jeepneys come from old world war ii jeeps that were left here by the Americans, and they turned them into these crazy taxis.
[ Horn honks .]
Yeah.
I want to take advantage of every opportunity that's thrown my way.
And in this case, I can possibly leapfrog ahead.
No one's gonna be here to tell them where I went.
[ Indistinct conversations .]
Narrator: Lieutenant jerson's cautious questioning has paid off, as a local woman leads him to where she saw Joel exit the village.
This thing's moving way too slow.
Come on, come on, come on.
Hey, can you stop, pease? Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right.
See you later.
All right.
I'm sure they saw that.
Now, I'm gonna the direction I really wanted to go.
Narrator: The jeepney has taken Joel 1 1/4 Miles South of the village and the rangers.
He now has six Miles to travel to his extraction point, which, unfortunately, takes him right back into the dense jungle.
[ Conversing in Filipino .]
Jurilla: The first time that I asked there, they told me that he moved that way.
Then the other guys, they told me they didn't see anything.
Narrator: As Joel anticipated, human intelligence is unpredictable, as the villagers all unintentionally give conflicting reports to the rangers.
With five Miles still to travel and unsure of how much of a lead he has, Joel falls back on a technique that's already proven useful in slowing down his pursuers -- a booby trap.
Lambert: I'm gonna do what's called a malay gate.
It's a common trap, mostly for catching pigs.
[ Grunting .]
There we go.
[ Grunts .]
Let's see what we're gonna get.
I'm making a piece of the trigger that's gonna attach to the tripwire.
Put it right up off the ground.
By placing plants in certain areas, I can literally make them step exactly where I want them to.
With any luck, they'll come right through there.
Gotcha.
Narrator: Having lost Joel's spoor in the village, the rangers are now on the outskirts, casting for any sign of his direction and questioning villagers in hopes of new information.
Lambert: Every step here is a battle in the jungle.
And even if it's an easy step, the environment that you're battling -- the humidity and the heat and the dehydration -- is the battle.
I'm a little freaked out about leeches.
This is exhausting.
Very careful.
No sign.
Narrator: After another hour, the 110-degree heat and extreme humidity take their toll on Joel's mind and body.
Lambert: It's an ideal time to take a rest because I need to take a rest.
Narrator: Hopeful that his jeepney ride gave him a good lead but exhausted from his three-hour jungle trek, Joel decides to take a two-hour break to stave off heat exhaustion.
Lambert: I think this is our best bet.
I'm gonna go ahead and buckle my belt around this vine.
It's not gonna be comfortable, but it'll keep me from rolling down the hill.
[ Grunts .]
This isn't gonna be a very good sleep.
I'm just trying to get a couple hours of down time so that I have enough energy to make it to extract.
If tomorrow's anything like today, I don't know how I'm gonna make it.
Phew.
Narrator: Having lost Joel's trail and with light fading, the rangers make camp.
It's getting dark already, so we must stay in this area.
Lucky for them, Joel has stopped moving as his two-hour break accidentally turns into several.
Oh! Damn it! Ah.
Oh, man.
Ah.
Holy [Bleep.]
what is that? Oh [Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Leech, man.
I hate leeches.
Narrator: Ex-Navy seal Joel lambert is trying to evade capture by the Philippines' scout rangers.
But the extreme heat and near-impassable terrain has left Joel close to exhaustion.
Joel's two-hour rest has unintentionally turned into several hours.
Lambert: Oh! Damn it! Oh, man.
Ah.
Narrator: And he's not alone.
Oh [Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
Leech, man.
I hate leeches.
Look at the size of that thing.
Well, he's been feeding on me.
I don't know how long.
Aah.
Aah [Bleep.]
Come on.
Aah! He must've got right in between my pants and my shirt.
God.
Aah.
I think I can feel more on me.
I got to do a check.
Oh, man.
Aah.
Look at that.
This thing could get the eyelets on your boots.
It's a nasty, disgusting creature.
It's like a blood-sucking, parasitic, alien slug.
Nasty.
I hate the jungle.
I hate this [Bleep.]
place.
Narrator: Having slept longer than expected, Joel moves a quarter-mile South by sunrise.
Got a nice source of running water here.
We're so high up, I don't think there's any habitation above us that could pollute this, so I'm just gonna have to risk it and drink here.
Narrator: Not wanting to risk heat exhaustion, Joel takes advantage of the stream to replenish his water supply, knowing he'll once again have to battle the heat and humidity.
The rangers return to the village, relentless in their hunt for Joel's spoor.
Jurilla: All right.
Go! Narrator: The jeepney driver has brought lieutenant jerson and his men to the spot Joel exited yesterday.
My guys is confirming the tracks, if it's really the one that we've been tracking of.
Narrator: Having confirmed a match of Joel's boot print, the rangers move quick to make up time.
Looks like an old helicopter landing zone.
The Philippines have been a long-time U.
S.
ally.
Back in the day, this would be the only way they'd be able to get troops in and out, especially if there was a medical emergency.
That's the tower that we came off of.
It looks like it's 50 Miles away.
It feels like it's 100.
Narrator: Joel has made it halfway to his extraction point, but he has less than 22 hours to continue southwest, through 4 1/2 Miles of thick jungle and steep elevation changes.
1 1/4 Miles behind, the rangers are closing in.
[ Indistinct conversation .]
Once again, Joel has forced the rangers to move cautiously.
It's safe now.
Move.
This right here is what happens when the sun gets in.
It just sets the growth crazy.
It makes for really slow, difficult going.
This totally goes against the grain of being sneaky, here, with my parang.
[Bleep.]
[Bleep.]
[ Grunts .]
This isn't tracking.
This is just cutting a [Bleep.]
hole in the jungle while people follow me.
[Bleep.]
Stupid.
In the last 3 1/2 hours, we've probably gone 500 meters.
This is unbelievable.
At this rate, I'm gonna be three hours late and miss my extract.
Narrator: The rangers track Joel's spoor to the helicopter landing zone, and they're now only 1 1/4 Miles behind.
Jurilla: We've found some tracks in this area.
So, this is his track line.
Tracker, move.
Lambert: [ Breathing heavily .]
The sun's starting to move up in the sky.
I thought it was hot already, but it's about to get a lot worse.
Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are very serious issues out here.
If that happens to me, it could kill me.
Whew.
Really [Bleep.]
sucks.
You can see, my clothing -- how much water I've lost just in sweat.
[ Breathing heavily .]
That water that's leaving my body has got to be replaced.
[ Grunts .]
[Bleep.]
Vines.
Narrator: Joel's machete has left a clear, visible trail for lieutenant jerson and his men to follow.
Joel is near exhaustion, but he must now start the ruthless 1,500-foot ascent of hill 394 or risk being caught.
We're gonna have to use these vines as a ladder.
It's the only way we're gonna be able to get up this hill.
It's way too steep.
The soil's just sliding completely out from under our feet.
Every step is a massive effort.
I have to lift my leg way up high and press down on all this vines.
This is extremely slow going, and it's taking everything out of me, and I don't have much left to give.
This is thick from head to toe.
I have to hack a man-sized hole to get through here.
There is no possible way I'm gonna make extract.
[Bleep.]
The jungle.
[Bleep.]
Hate this place.
I don't know if I'll make it on time.
I don't know what I have left.
As miserable as this is, this is my heritage as a frogman.
The seal team started in 1962 and went straight to Vietnam, in the swamps, in the mangrove forests, in the jungle.
And that's where they made our name.
That's where they earned the nickname "the men with green faces," or the "devils with the green faces," because they were fierce and effective jungle fighters.
Now I got to live up to that.
I'm a desert frog, though.
[ Chuckles .]
Lambert: I feel like [Bleep.]
I'm exhausted.
Narrator: After climbing a brutal hill with a 40-degree incline and battling near-impassable jungle, Joel is suffering from signs of dehydration and heat exhaustion.
We're not accustomed to this humidity, elevation, and heat.
[ Grunts .]
This is the worst one ever.
Narrator: Just a half-mile away, lieutenant jerson and his team are used to the humidity and continue closing in on Joel.
Trying to keep my tactics, but in vegetation like this [Sighs.]
There's not much I can do.
Just keep pushing.
It's really easy to let the circumstances get inside your head.
You can't do that.
You have to concentrate on the mission and push through.
If my navigation's correct, we should be coming up on a logging road.
It's a ballsy move, but if I can get onto that, I can make up some time.
And this road just might save my ass.
[ Panting .]
No matter how bad you're hurting or how much it sucks, failure is not an option, and quitting is never an option.
I may die doing this, but I'm gonna die before I quit.
Narrator: Using the logging road, Joel quickens his pace, gaining a half-mile on the rangers, who are now 1 1/4 Miles behind.
Jerson and his men follow Joel's track line from the crest of the hill to the logging road.
As afternoon comes, the jungle once again fights back -- this time, with a storm.
Lambert: And it's gonna rain.
My God.
Really, can anything else go wrong? It's right in the middle of typhoon season.
The skies are gonna open, man.
Looking on the bright side, there's no way they're gonna be able to track through this.
It's gonna give me a little bit of advantage.
Look, it's heavy rain, so all the spoor immediately wash away.
Narrator: The rain has forced the rangers to do speculative tracking, moving in Joel's assumed direction of travel.
Lambert: I hate the jungle.
[ Breathing heavily .]
Don't have to like it.
I just got to get out.
[ Grunts .]
[ Thunder rumbles .]
Narrator: As afternoon becomes evening, the powerful storm officially becomes a typhoon, with winds up to 75 Miles an hour, forcing Joel and the rangers to switch their tactics from evasion and capture [ Thunder crashes .]
to just surviving the night.
Lambert: [Bleep.]
Man.
[Bleep.]
[ Thunder crashes .]
There's no way to know if this is gonna stop any time in the near future.
When the rain comes down like this, it completely washes away all of our footprints.
It's gonna be extremely hard to tell where it is that we passed, so we got to -- we got to look on the bright side.
[ Thunder crashes .]
Narrator: With just 1,500 feet between them, both sides are unaware of how close they set up camp to one another.
[ Branches snapping .]
Hear that? Those are branches falling.
Dead trees getting knocked over by the wind and the rain.
It's extremely dangerous.
And there's nothing I can do about it but just hunker up and hope they don't come down next to me.
[ Branches snapping .]
We got to start moving.
There's enough light.
Come on, guys.
I know this sucks, but this is it.
We're getting close to extract.
So pull it together.
Just get your minds off your misery.
And just one foot in front of the other.
Follow my line of march and, as we say in the seals, "Charlie Mike" -- continue mission.
[ Thunder rumbles .]
Hoo! Navigation in this jungle -- it's near-impossible.
I got to stay on my map and stay on my compass heading, because getting lost out here -- that would be the end of things.
All right, let's go.
A real big concern is rapidly rising rivers, like this one right here.
Come on, guys.
Watch that bank.
Whoa! No! Whoa! No! [ Grunts .]
[ Grunting .]
Man: Joel! Joel! Narrator: The ground has given way under Joel's feet.
He now hangs over a quickly rising river.
Lambert: [ Grunting .]
That river has risen, and the current is out of control.
I can't risk crossing that.
I'm gonna have to box around and try to find a better place to cross.
Narrator: The swollen river forces Joel back into the jungle along an animal track, just 3/4 of a mile from the rangers' current position.
I think we may be okay with rain.
I'm gonna take off the rain gear.
Oh, we're getting close.
Can't quite smell the ocean yet, but [Sighs.]
we're just a few kilometers away.
A couple days ago, I would have straight hurdled this.
Now I can't decide whether to go over it or under it or take a nap on it.
Go under.
[ Grunts .]
Narrator: The rangers once again have Joel's tracks, heading South.
Noting his consistent direction of travel, lieutenant jerson projects his extraction point must be at the ocean front, just 1 1/4 Miles ahead.
With time running out, lieutenant jerson and patrol 1 follow Joel's spoor through the jungle while patrol 2 heads to their vehicles in an attempt to leapfrog in front of Joel and cut him off before he reaches his extraction point.
There's some rice paddies.
We're definitely in a populated area.
This is the last open area before extract.
[ Buffalo lows .]
I've got to that concealment as quickly as possible without being seen.
Narrator: The rangers now put their plan into action.
As patrol 1 closes in from the rear, half of patrol 2 reaches the rice paddy that they expect Joel will be crossing.
The other half sets up an ambush at the edge of the ocean as their last line of defense.
The rangers have camouflaged themselves by creating ghillie suits that allow them to wait unseen.
Lambert: The ocean is just 300 meters away.
Got to stay in whatever cover I can -- just be on the jungle's edge and try to find a way to get there.
The other half of patrol 2 begins their search at the rice paddy, only 300 feet from Joel's position.
Lambert: [Bleep.]
The hunter force is on me.
[ All conversing in Filipino .]
I'm taking off the shine of human skin and making it flat and muddy so I'll blend in and they won't see any kind of reflection or glare from my face.
They might block my path.
I'm gonna try and get behind them so I can move, hopefully, without them ever seeing me.
Here comes the rain.
Narrator: The return of the rain might be Joel's lucky break, as it reduces visibility for the rangers.
Lambert: Oh [Bleep.]
Get down! Get down! [Bleep.]
As soon as they're past, we're gonna move.
It's gonna be stealthy.
It's gonna be slow.
Lots of patience.
Got to wait and see what they do first.
Narrator: With no sign of Joel, patrol 2 moves out of the rice paddy to regroup and strategize.
Lambert: This might be my chance.
Give me that camera bag -- the green one.
All right.
Let's go.
[ Breathing heavily .]
It's less than 300 meters.
Narrator: Just 150 feet behind Joel, lieutenant jerson and patrol 1 have caught up, still following Joel's spoor.
Oh, [Bleep.]
Man: Freeze! Freeze! Freeze! Freeze! Freeze! Freeze! [ Shouting in Filipino .]
Stop! Stop! Stop! I warn you -- don't you ever think to run! I won't hesitate to shoot you! Man: Come here! Understand? [ Speaks Filipino .]
Move! Move! On your knees! On your knees! Put your hands on your head! Remove -- remove your bag.
Put your hands on your head! Lambert: I'm done.
Would I like to operate against these guys in the jungle? I just did, and I lost.
This is their backyard, and it's alien planet for me.
I don't like it at all.
They're really good.
This is what they do.