Strike Back s01e05 Episode Script

(SCREECHING / EXPLOSION) (SCREAMING / SHOUTING) (MACHINE-GUN FIRE) Air Tac, Air Tac! We need air support! "Sit tight, Sierra 2-0, we're on the way.
" Aaargh! Medic! Medic! I'm on it! It's gonna be OK! Just stay still! Stay still! (SHOUTING) Come in, Air Tac! Where are you?! Where the fuck is my air support?! "Fast Air inbound, Sierra 2-0.
" (MACHINE-GUN FIRE) (CHATTER IN PASHTO) (SHOUTING) Sir, enemy reinforcements coming in from the south! Enemy reinforcements! We need that air support! Now! "Saxon 4-3, inbound your location 1 minute.
" Josefa! (FRANTIC CHATTER IN PASHTO) (PLANE ROARS OVERHEAD) "30 seconds till contact.
" (SHOUTS IN PASHTO) Target painted, sir! Target painted! Target painted! Delta Oscar Bravo 7-4 Papa Alpha! Confirm! "Target confirmed, Delta Oscar Bravo 7-4 Papa Alpha.
" (CHATTERS IN PASHTO) (SHOUTS IN PASHTO) "Target locked, Sierra 2-0.
" "Weapons going hot.
" Yes! "(BEEPING)" Fuck.
Incoming! (ALL SCREAM) (INSURGENTS CHEER) You beauty! Some kind of malfunction in our guidance system.
The fourth time our missiles have hit American troops in the last month.
RAF Fast Air JDAM was launched at a Taliban position.
Struck the American Marines instead, a full 600 metres wide of the painted target.
Major casualties and the Americans want answers.
Air Tac HQ have identified an electronic footprint.
Someone on the ground cracked the encryption codes.
Impossible.
All our systems are 100% hack proof.
Not any more.
If the Taliban can breach our systems and redirect our missiles, that's serious.
We need answers and solutions quickly.
OK.
We're now losing badly in Helmand.
The tide's turned against us and we don't know why.
Maybe what we have on our hands is some kind of new-breed warlord.
He has to be stopped.
He's tying the operation in knots.
Gerald Baxter.
Gerald Baxter in Iraq 2003 was a technical-support contractor, civilian, not military.
A missile-guidance software engineer.
But he screwed up.
He was responsible for the accidental bombing of a village.
Women and children died.
Baxter was deemed psychologically unfit for active service in conflict zones.
Returned to Britain where he was diagnosed and hospitalised with post-traumatic stress disorder.
We think he may now be in Afghanistan.
All records of Baxter stop at September 2005.
There's no trace of him after that date.
Keep at it, everything we can get on him.
OK, John, your mission is to locate and extract Gerald Baxter.
So I go in as an arms dealer? OK, what are the three standard phases of missile guidance? I want a translator and a fixer with connections to the Taliban.
Boost, mid course, terminal.
You're supposed to know this.
Give me two types of radar-control guidance.
Command.
Locked? No, it's beam rider.
Is it? John, you're gonna have to be careful.
(SIGHS) I mean it, be careful.
I'll be careful.
(HORN TOOTS / HUBBUB OF VOICES) So that's 7.
62 by .
39 mil FMJ ammunition with steel core.
(TRANSLATES) Let's say 170 million rounds at .
.
$85 US per thousand.
(TRANSLATES) Come on, Ukrainian manufacture, fully-accredited EUCs.
(MUTTERS IN PASHTO) The governor is not interested.
(SIGHS) OK.
I have associates connected to Arafel Systems in Chandrigar.
These associates can get access to the LTD code encryption software on the next generation of Brimstone laser-guided missiles.
(TRANSLATES) Yeah, a hacker's paradise.
These weapons are due to come online with ISAF forces within the next three months.
Control them and you control the war.
The governor would like to be sure you are who you say you are, Mr Wallace.
Go back to your hotel, he'll be in touch.
Come on then, get on with it.
Oof! (YELLS) (ALL SHOUT IN PASHTO) "(RINGING TONE)" Frank! Hey, Hugh.
Good to see you.
Frank Arlington, this is Lieutenant Thompson.
Sir.
US Special Security attache to the London desk.
I'm your liaison for the blue on blue response operation.
Sir.
Timing of these friendly fire incidents couldn't be worse.
The president's troop surge proposal comes before Congress next week, so we need to rectify this situation as soon as possible.
I'm here to help.
Liaise, facilitate.
Whatever it takes.
Glad to hear it, but let me assure you, we've got this situation under control.
Come this way.
Gerald Baxter.
We're not sure how he got into Afghanistan.
Maybe he's being held against his will, maybe not.
Are you extracting or eliminating? We want him back in one piece.
We need to know how he's redirecting our missiles.
Has he passed on his knowledge to the Taliban? Plus his intel on Taliban strategy could be invaluable.
How do you plan to do that? We already have a man in the field.
Who? Where is he? (CHUCKLES) Hey.
We're not laughing about this at Langley or in the White House.
A presidency's at stake in Afghanistan so it would be helpful if you were to keep me in the loop every step you take.
Is that clear? And will this information sharing be reciprocal? No, it won't.
But be assured we'll be pursuing our own enquiries with extreme vigour.
"OK, we've got a white pick-up.
" "Several Talibs crammed in there.
" "Copy, standing by.
" "Could be a westerner in the back.
Hold to confirm.
" "Copy that, Delta Bravo, copy.
" Don't move, OK? "Yeah, it's a westerner.
" "Copied and confirmed.
" "OK, Afghan cops are checking the pick-up.
" "Yeah, they're paying them off.
" "Haven't even challenged them.
Moving 'em on now.
" "Copy, stand by.
" You move, I kill.
"OK, flag it up, Delta Bravo.
Could be a kidnap, could be our lead.
" "Roger, we'll track and observe.
Delta Bravo out.
" Josefa! Si, si! Josef Mohammed.
What's your name? Tom Wallace.
Welcome to Chateau Taliban, Tom Wallace.
We've been expecting you.
You alright, pal? So what you got? You already know what I've got.
Arafel Systems, Chandrigar? They're designing missile guidance software on new Brimstones.
So what I've got access to the LTD code encryption on those missiles.
You control their every move.
(SPEAKS PASHTO) Tommy Wallace! Arms trader, western decadent.
You have one minute on missile guidance system programming.
Your time starts now! No, I - Name two control systems governing all missile guidance.
Altitude, flight path.
Two categories of radar guidance.
Command and beam rider.
Name the only .
.
Nobel Prize-winning author to play the World Cup.
Albert Camus.
Which of the above categories does the current Brimstone use? Technically neither.
It operates on homing, not radar.
Uses an amplitude comparison monopulse method.
Who do you work for? Tom Wallace Enterprises.
Alright.
You're coming with me.
I don't think so.
I've come far enough.
You want these codes, you're coming with me.
Bring protection but I want a guarantee that you aren't just a bunch of fanatics.
I'm not here to play, I'm here to do business.
Watch your lip.
I don't trust you as far as I can throw you, and these chaps here, they reckon you're morally polluted, tainted and corrupt.
I happen to have the ear of the only man in this country worth talking to about buying this shit.
And scum like you, you're not fit to lick the boots of a man like A man like who? Excuse me? Who are you talking about? Who's your boss? Yeah, right.
Sorry, mate.
I've got to kill you now.
Incoming! (GUNFIRE) Josef! Get down! On your knees! On your knees now! Don't shoot! On your knees! Hands on your head! Sir, Gerald Baxter's background, It's not only him who disappeared but his whole family.
Wife, kids.
There's no trace of them.
The whole family? You're sure? No trace? Absolutely nothing.
New identities.
I'm sensing the hand of the firm.
But if MI6 put Baxter back into the field after 2005 knowing he was psychologically unstable, I mean, if the Americans were to put Baxter through the courts .
.
it'd be the British government in the dock.
Treat Baxter's wife as a missing person but find her, OK? MI5 and 6.
We need to know.
Was Gerald Baxter on their books? Let's get these prisoners bagged and tagged! Get them in there! Move them prisoners! I wanna talk to you! We're on your side, you numpties! We're kidnap victims! We're aid workers! We save the starving children and that! You can't do this! Your name, please, sir.
Tom Wallace.
Your name, please, sir.
Josef Mohammed.
I demand a lawyer! I demand a phone call right now! I need to see your face.
(SHOUTS) Just put your arms down.
Sir, put your arms down! Let me see your face.
Just intercepted this on US comms.
Two westerners picked up after a surprise attack on a Taliban base.
They're being held at US marine base Victor.
Shit! Anything about MI5 and 6? They say at no point did they have Gerald Baxter on their books.
They're lying.
Keep pressing.
We need to get Porter and Baxter out of there.
Looks like you might need to call in a few personal favours.
Maybe.
Ask Arlington to hand them over.
Maybe.
US intelligence officers will handle everything, standard protocol.
We'll inform the appropriate UK authorities.
Sorry, request denied.
Unless you have some vital information you'd like to share with us.
OK, Frank, the man you have in custody identifying himself as Josef Mohammed we believe he's Gerald Baxter.
Good.
If Gerald Baxter is responsible for the deaths of, what, 22 US marines, then under the terms of the treaty he has to be tried in the US.
Is there something else? The other man who was captured.
Excuse me? The other westerner captured with Baxter is - He was captured alone.
Frank, according to US marine comms, a second man was picked up.
He's our deniable asset.
Deniable asset.
More deniable liability, huh? Either way, Baxter was captured alone.
For Christ's sake, I've seen the photos! Gerald Baxter was captured alone.
My name is John Porter.
You might want to write that down.
The prisoner, the British man you're holding, he's mine.
What British man? What the fuck are you lot playing at? That bloke over there.
His name is Gerald Baxter.
He's responsible for the deaths of (PHONE RINGS) Yeah? Uh-huh.
Yeah.
OK.
He's been designated R4.
R4? What the hell Welcome to 1984.
I am a British citizen.
I wanna phone my lawyer, I wanna speak to the embassy! You hear me?! We have rights! We subjects of Her Majesty's government and that shit! Get in.
In! Who the hell are you guys?! I don't understand.
The Americans have reason to hold Baxter but Porter? Why would they deny he even exists? They're going to kill him, aren't they? Listen guys, I've got connections in this country, OK? I've got access to a lot of money.
Kill laughing boy and you name your price! (YELLS) (GUNSHOTS) (YELLS) (GUNSHOTS) Cool.
Holy crap, that was amazing.
That was just like a movie.
How did you, boom, boom? Thanks, man.
It's the second time you've saved my life, huh? Think you'll find I was saving my own life.
I know exactly what's going on here.
We're having a bromance! (LAUGHS) Shh.
(BEEPING) What is that? (BEEPING CONTINUES) Shit.
Homing pigeon.
They're coming to get us.
It's a distress signal.
Let's get out of here.
Undo my cuffs! Why do the Americans want you dead? Who gives a monkey's? Why do they want you dead?! I work for them.
What?! Not now.
I used to.
The Yanks took me into Pakistan.
Why? You're not military.
Cos they like what I can magic up on the old computer software design, missile guidance systems, hacking, you name it, I can do it.
Then I went and got myself kidnapped, spent 18 months chained to a radiator.
Now the Yanks want me dead cos I know a lot of stuff.
Secrets like what they were up to in Pakistan.
What? "(MOBILE RINGS)" Danni.
"Sir, I found Baxter's family.
" Where? "Connecticut.
Fast-tracked through the American citizenship process.
" Well done.
Good work.
(CAR BEEPS) CIA.
CIA? I'm a bleedin' civilian.
Tech support.
CIA.
You converted to Islam? Is that what happened? Ptth! Right? Islam? Allah schmallah.
Ramadama ding.
I don't think so.
No.
Look, forget it.
Let's get the hell out of here! Converted to what? What is going on with you? Who are you following? I converted to Zahir Sharq.
Do you know who that is? Zahir Sharq? Zahir Sharq's your man.
He's the future father of this nation.
Every rebuilding programme in this country pays dues to Zahir Sharq.
Yeah, protection money.
Protection money? Taxes.
He's a visionary.
He'll take your missile encryption codes.
He will pay big time.
Don't mean to rush you or anything, but the Yanks have got eyes in the sky, in the mountains and ground.
If we don't get a move on, we are toast.
Calm down.
It's a deal.
Where are we headed? Ten miles down the road.
Then we're on foot.
Where to? Sharq's cave? Cave? Man like Zahir Sharq doesn't hide in a cave, you English prick.
This dozy English prick just saved your arse, so why don't you just tell me where he is? Pakistan.
Great(!) But we do this my way.
No funny stuff, understand? Don't tempt me.
(ENGINE REVS) Let's go swim with the Sharq, shall we?! To the triumph of outcome over methodology.
To the non interference of the joint intelligence committee.
(GLASSES CLINK) We've been digging.
Gerald Baxter was a civilian tech support operative recruited by Langley.
Family given new identities.
Fast-tracked through US immigration quicker than a Nazi rocket scientist.
Your firm knew Gerald Baxter was psychologically unstable.
Yet you recruited him and sent him back into the theatre into Pakistan.
You're responsible for the deaths of your own marines.
Now 22, I believe, and you want Gerald Baxter dead and Porter too.
Cover it up and blame it on us.
What do you want? I want them back.
The American government takes the blame for this.
I don't care how you spin it, but you do not dump it on us.
And what do we get in return? The truth will never see the light of day.
I'll close down Porter and Baxter.
If you haven't already buried them in the Afghan desert.
Very funny.
You haven't heard from them, have you? No.
And you don't have them to trade, do you? No.
(CHUCKLES) John bloody Porter.
Forged on a Northern housing estate.
Smart boy.
Give you the slip, did he? Well, Frank, it's only a matter of time before he comes home.
Think about my offer.
Hey, Hugh, there are some in the administration who think you guys are more part of the problem than the solution.
The Anglo-American love in, it's over and there's a 'go it alone' strategy on the table in the White House.
So if I were you, I'd think twice before having principles.
"Get me Langley, code four.
" "Yes, sir.
Connecting you now.
" '(WHIRRING)' Shh, shh.
Down, get down.
Move, move.
OK, we're clear.
"(BEEPING)" OK, bad boy.
Pick up's arranged.
You got a meet with Zahir Sharq.
Great.
So how far do we go, Joe? Not far and it's Josuf.
Yeah, but what's your real name though? My real name is Josuf Mohammed.
Bollocks.
You're not Arab, Afghan or Pakistani.
You're from Cowdenbeath.
Sir, MI5 and 6 have come back.
They categorically deny any knowledge of Gerald Baxter.
Good.
All down to the Americans.
Porter and Baxter have slipped their net.
Sir? Over there, Pakistan.
Over there, Afghanistan.
Show me the border, Tommy, huh? Show me the border.
Why? Cos these are tribal lands.
Tribal lands that have been tribal lands for thousands of centuries.
People here don't give a monkey's shit about the nation bleeding state of international law.
At least the Soviets had the balls to invade instead of dicking around with Afghanistan.
Listen, mate, I'm not here for a history lesson.
I just wanna do business, sell some guns.
You see, you're following Zahir Sharq on point of principal.
Cos you think that he somehow can solve this mess of a war.
I don't buy it.
Oh, really? Who are you? Alright, Mr Business man, I'll show you who I am.
You see this? Special Forces bit of kit.
Get one of these if you're gonna be cutting about Afghanistan, flogging weapons of mass destruction.
Look at that.
My daughter did that.
She was six at the time.
It reminds me why I'm here.
She was trying to help me.
To bring an end to all of this.
'Gerald Baxter was responsible for the accidental bombing of a village in Samara.
Women and children died.
' That is the business that we're in.
That is the business we're in.
Drone.
Shit! (COMM) "Commencing search pattern.
" Move! "Switching to thermal imager.
" So this is their last known position, US Marine FOB Victor.
Not quite a needle in a haystack, but not far off.
I want a team in there now to bring them out.
Get our Electronic Intelligence looking for them.
We need to get to them before the Americans.
Understood? "Commencing IR sweep.
" Come on, move! In here! Hold still, absolutely still.
It'll think we're rocks.
I am a rock.
"Clearing November Zulu 2356.
" Don't move! I'm sorry, mate.
You fucking Americans! Go to hell! I'll never see my little girl again.
Dad! I don't deserve to.
Till I've made all this stop.
All this killing! I gotta make it stop.
Maybe you're asking too much of yourself.
Maybe you're asking too little of yourself.
Zahir Sharq will make it stop.
That's what he's all about.
He's the only one who can.
Come on.
Sharq's waiting.
Your carriage awaits, princess.
Salam Alaikum.
Nothing like a bit of homeland security, huh? If you're not on the list you're not coming in.
See, this ain't Afghanistan.
And it ain't Pakistan.
I guess, you'd have to call it Sharqistan? Is there no end to your talent? Salam Alaikum.
Mercenaries.
The best.
The Taliban are paying us a visit.
This guy here, Zaman Qalzai, he's been extorting money.
I thought that's what you lot did.
Na, Sharq's changed the rules.
He's not a Taliban fanatic.
Go back to your hotel, we'll be in touch.
He's a politician.
And when politics fails? Who wins? Oh, yeah.
Guy with the biggest gun, silly me.
Josuf.
In tribal lands, nothing is what it seems, Mr Wallace.
Mr Sharq.
That man extorted $20,000 from a French Electricity supply company in Lashkar Gah.
But, I had already done a deal with that company.
I see.
Protection.
Shadow taxes for a shadow government.
Tea? No, thank you.
You see in business, you need consistency, price stability, you know.
So I will return the money he extorted from the company.
You spend the money you raise from those taxes on weapons.
Which is why I'm here.
You do want the encryption codes? Of course.
So let's do a deal and get myself back to Kabul.
All in good time, Mr Wallace.
Look, I'm a business man.
Indeed.
Some business man.
This guy's a real bad ass.
Twice he's saved my life.
He's a strong man, a fit man, he's resourceful, ruthless, clever.
He's a classic binary thinker.
This man is a British Special Forces operative.
Very good, Josuf.
Even better than an arms dealer.
You, Tommy Wallace, are so outed.
They want intelligence.
They? Spare me the secret service mind games.
They want intelligence.
I'm trying to help you here.
Why? Do you think maybe I'm your only mate here now? And that maybe you've screwed up and I'm not military after all.
No, you're military all right.
Am I? Oh, aye.
Prove it.
Dah, dah, dah, dah! Silk map.
Dollars.
Note.
Offering a reward for anyone that returns you to your people.
Do you want this? Your family.
They miss you.
Time to come home, Gerry.
Gerry's gone, all right? Sharq's using you, Gerry.
I told you already! I'm not Gerry! 'I'll never see my little girl again.
' 'Or her mother.
' They miss you, Gerry.
(BEEPING) "Good morning, Mr Sharq.
" "Good morning.
" I have something you want and you have something I want.
I'll give you the two men, but I want access to information and hardware.
OK, I'll talk to my people.
I'm sure they'll be interested in doing a deal.
Good.
You've got the ballistics report.
I can't reach Porter.
But you can.
Warn him his life is in danger.
Otherwise He has bullet fragments lodged in his brain.
We will win this war.
You're obsolete, you prick! I know it all.
Frank.
You do not fuck with the big boys! No, John, nothing is ever over.