Alias s01e08 Episode Script

My name is Sydney Bristow.
Seven years ago, I was recruited by a secret branch of the CIA called SD-6.
I was sworn to secrecy, but I couldn't keep it from my fiancé, and when the head of SD-6 found out, he had him killed.
That's when I learned the truth.
SD-6 is not part of the CIA.
I'd been working for the very people I thought I was fighting against.
So I went to the only place that could help me take them down.
Now I'm a double agent for the CIA, where my handler is a man named Michael Vaughn.
Only one other person knows the truth about what I do.
Another double agent inside SD-6.
Someone I hardly know.
My father.
SLOANE: Security Section has made us aware of the concern that you may have a mole in your department.
It would appear so.
There are some in The Alliance who believe you may have more than one.
It is our intention to make an example of them.
I know.
I'm taking care of it.
VAUGHN: What can you tell me about this woman? Anna Espinosa? SYDNEY: She's with K-Directorate.
I don't like her, if that's what you mean.
I'm leaving for England tonight.
SD-6 has traced the Rambaldi artifact to the Engineering Science Department at O xford.
K- Directorate is on this.
I need to act fast so that Anna doesn't get there first.
DIXON: So FTL found the Rambaldi artifact in Tunisia.
- Why'd they send it here? - Analysis.
The Engineering department is among the best in the world.
Remember, the lens has to be within 2 feet of the key card to get a reading.
Got it.
How do I look? For the record, that's a question you never have to ask.
FTL agents are here posing as campus security.
- Watch your back.
- You too.
For a journalist, you have quite a remarkable grasp of Engineering principles.
What is your background? My family was in demolition.
Really? - So is it true? - What? That your department's just received ancient technology from Tunisia.
Oh, who told you that? Well, you just did.
I'd love to see your lab.
DIXON: See anybody, Syd? I've spotted Professor Hoyt.
- Do you see anything? - Get closer.
I can't tell if he's got the card.
Anything? Yeah, the key card's in his breast pocket.
But you're too far away.
Get him to turn towards you.
[With British accent.]
Excuse me.
Professor Hoyt? Yes? Hold that for 30 seconds.
I'm Molly Zertan with the Marissa Foundation.
We're very interested in your current study.
Really? Which one? Hoyt is currently studying the crashworthiness of transportation vehicles.
Your study on the crashworthiness of transportation vehicles.
Oh.
Wonderful.
Yes, yes.
Well, getting funding is very difficult, particularly in today's economic climate.
The duplicate key card's printing! That is so true.
Got it, Syd.
I'm on my way.
Excuse me.
Contact university security.
Tell them someone's trying to break into the Engineering lab.
Then the FTL guards will know.
Anna's here.
Copy that.
Calling the guards right now.
Freeze right there! Oh, thank God.
Someone's done something terrible to Professor Blume.
I'm the lab.
I don't see anything.
Oh.
Okay, I got it.
[Engine revving.]
Got a minute? Of course.
Eloise Kurtz.
She was found dead two days ago in Echo Park.
She was a new promotion at SD-6.
Yes, I know.
You retired her, didn't you? I think the more pressing question is why did you send her to talk to a reporter without running it by me first? I wasn't keeping it from you.
This reporter Will Tippin? Yes.
He's a friend of Sydney's.
He was looking into the name Kate Jones.
One of her aliases.
I tasked Eloise Kurtz to lead him down a dead end so he'd drop it.
You underestimated Tippin.
Agent Kurtz's lack of field experience put us all at risk.
What are you doing using a junior agent, Jack? Talk to McCullough.
I used Eloise Kurtz based on his assessment of her field ability.
He gave her his highest rating.
In any case, I had contingencies, all of which are now irrelevant.
Tell me something.
How did Tippin get a lead on the Kate Jones alias in the first place? I don't know yet, but I'm looking into it.
Well, your efforts notwithstanding, that reporter may well be a casualty of his own curiosity.
I'd consider that a last resort.
I know you want what's best for Sydney, and if at all possible, we should spare her the pain of losing someone else.
Well, how do you suggest we proceed? Leave it to me.
I'll get Tippin off the story.
And if you can't? Then I'll kill him myself.
This is unacceptable.
You've missed class.
- I know - Turned in papers late.
But my job Sydney, enough about your job.
Things have been getting worse since we last spoke.
If you want to be a banker, be a banker.
I understand.
This is probably not the best-written analysis of Fitzgerald you've ever read, but, come on, this is not a "D" paper.
There's no spirit in this paper.
No soul.
You fix it by Friday or I'll have to re-evaluate your place in this program.
Dr.
Wilkinson.
Yes, I'll hold.
Hello, Dr.
Peterson.
Dr.
Wilkinson.
How are you? Of course.
Yes, I'd like to discuss about the meeting last night, if we can get together.
I think lunch would be fine.
A late lunch? Yes.
Yes, let's talk about the meeting.
Yes.
That's what we talked about, yeah.
Yeah, that's right.
Hold on a second.
Who are you? Who are you?! Security Section said you assaulted one of its officers.
This wasn't Security Section.
It wasn't standard procedure.
This was a tracker, and he has been constant.
I have seen him three times in the past two days, and I found this under my car.
If there is something you want to know about me, then ask me.
The sanctity of this agency requires the sacrifice of some personal freedoms.
SD-6 is stepping up security.
McCullough assigned the tracker.
That's his province.
Now, we have a briefing.
Do you think you can focus? Yeah, I think I can.
Good.
The clock you retrieved was designed by Giovanni Donato.
He died in 1 503.
His initials are engraved on the bottom.
Now, Donato was a master clockmaker, but more importantly, he was the only man that Milo Rambaldi ever collaborated with.
There is a single reference to Donato in our Rambaldi archive.
Apparently, Rambaldi commissioned the clock himself.
And because of Rambaldi's involvement, you think it's more than just a clock.
That was Rambaldi's style.
Hiding codes in designs within his artwork.
- Go, Marshall.
- Sorry.
I know we're all a bit hungry for lunch, so I'll try to use the maximum amount of brevity possible.
Now, as a clock, this piece was far ahead of its time.
A margin of error of less than one second per decade.
The weirdest part about it is this gear assembly.
It's a part of it that doesn't seem to serve any real purpose.
This number on the back.
What is it? A date? We're analyzing that.
You know what we found so far? Nothing happened on that day.
Literally, it's the one day in history that zero things occurred.
We have very good reason to believe that this clock will reveal another piece of the Rambaldi puzzle.
The problem is the clock doesn't work.
Without specific instructions, we can't risk damaging it.
We've located a direct descendant of Donato in Positano.
Luckily, he went into the family business.
Your mission, Agent Bristow, is quite simple.
Take the clock to Donato, get him to fix it, and bring it back.
That's it? That's it.
Dad.
Do you have a few minutes? Yes, of course.
Could you just Somewhere quiet.
Somewhere else.
In here.
Signal jammer.
We're okay for 60 seconds.
They'll think it's radio interference.
Talk quickly.
Sloane's having me followed.
I confronted the guy last night.
I thought it might have been K-Directorate looking for revenge after Oxford.
I talked to Sloane.
He insists it's all routine.
Should I be worried? I'm one of only five agents in this office who knows the truth about SD-6.
I've had Sloane's trust, but lately, I haven't been informed of much at all.
So what does that mean? Two things concern me.
While you were in Romania, Marshall noticed some computer abnormalities.
I assumed it was just a system error, but it's possible he realizes that the SD-6 network's been compromised.
Could Sloane trace it to CIA? I don't know.
The second thing.
Carl Dreyer is coming in from op comm to upgrade the biometric scanners.
But if Sloane suspects a double agent, Dreyer is the one he'd turn to.
If that's the case, the first thing Dreyer will do is give each of us a functional imaging test.
- What's that? - Lie detector test.
I studied the CIA instruction book on how to take a successful LDT.
This isn't like that.
This test monitors variations in blood flow inside the brain.
It's very difficult to deceive.
If he can't, he'll get someone who can.
Dad, you seem nervous.
[Beeps.]
Well, I think that should be fine.
Thanks for coming to me.
Of course.
[Door opens.]
WILL: No, I think that's nice.
Yeah, of course.
I think he's gonna love it.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, Mom, I got to go.
Mom, I got to go.
My boss is standing right here.
I love you, too.
I'm sorry.
There's still no quote in here from Daniel Hecht's fiancée.
Yeah, I know.
We can't keep having this conversation.
We don't have quotes from the deceased relatives.
Can you just stop for a second? No, I'm not gonna do this story.
Excuse me? I'm not gonna run this story.
You pushed me to let you pursue this.
And then you convinced me that there was a connection between these two deaths.
I still think something terrible happened.
I told you this before.
If running this story's gonna hurt my friend, I don't want to.
You haven't told her that you're working on this, have you? Like I said, you either finish this or I will put another writer on it.
Now, you tell her and get the quote.
This goes to bed tomorrow.
- [Knock on door.]
- WILL: It's me.
SYDNEY: It's open.
Hey, Will.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What's the paper on? It's a redo.
Professor said it didn't have any soul, so I'm writing a paper with soul.
It's got lots of soul.
"Laura, all my love forever and a day.
Jack.
" That's not your dad, is it? - Yeah.
- Wow.
That's uncharacteristically sweet of him.
He actually has a heart, which I'm learning little by little.
He bought all of these for my mom.
Oh, I got your message.
You're going on another trip? What's that, like, seven this month? The bank ever gonna let up? Shed our skin, let the sun shine in At the edge of the ocean What's up? We can start over again There's this situation at work.
Just some money is missing from petty cash.
It looks like there might be a formal inquiry.
- They don't suspect you? - No.
But it looks like they're gonna give us all lie detector tests, which is just Can I make a suggestion for the eight millionth time? Why don't you just quit your job? You can get a job anywhere.
I don't know.
I just think it's weird.
I know.
Somewhere far away from home When I close my eyes, I see I still wear this.
I know.
[Telephone rings.]
Hello? MAN: Joey's Pizza? Wrong number.
What are you doing here? I just came by to say hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Have you ever had unauthorized contact with members of any intelligence agency besides SD-6? No.
Okay, again.
You have to stay under 30.
This test measures the blood flow to the emotional part of your brain.
If you want to divert the blood, you have to engage the reasoning sector.
- I'm trying.
- You're reacting emotionally.
It's not like there's this switch you can flick.
You just have to split your focus.
Maybe that's the problem.
I've split my focus already.
CIA, SD-6, and school and my friends.
Sydney, you can do this.
You have to.
Have you ever had unauthorized contact with members of any intelligence agency besides SD-6? No.
Better.
Are you romantically interested in anyone? Could be a question.
No, I'm not.
Interesting.
Ask me again.
No, we've got our answer right here.
That's very good.
Moving on.
Hey.
If this were for real, I'd be dead by now.
Wouldn't I? We're just getting started here, okay? Signor Donato? [Speaking Italian.]
[Speaking Italian.]
Milo Rambaldi.
You are American.
Yes.
Only an American would come to my door without telephoning.
Seth, can you get in touch with my contact at the airlines? I need to run a back trace on a passenger manifest.
I'll be in my office.
You ever seen the passenger manifest for flight 8 1 6? No, but my guy at the airport told me over the phone.
He was gonna fax it to me.
Seat 11 A, Daniel Hecht.
Look up seat 11 B.
Yeah, it was Kate Jones.
I know.
Look at it.
Zachary Cohen? There was no Kate Jones booked on that flight.
- I don't understand.
- I don't understand either.
There's no longer a single fact to support your theory that someone is covering up Daniel Hecht's murder.
What about Eloise Kurtz? A woman who someone hires to tell you that she's Kate Jones so you will stop looking for the real Kate Jones.
Yeah, that's right.
I hate to be insensitive, but she's dead.
I have my notes from my interview with her.
You have no recording.
What about the video blackout the night of Danny's murder? You really want to try to build a case on lack of photographic evidence? And you put down Jenny as your fact checker.
She said she didn't make a single call.
That's because she didn't.
I was doing her a favor.
She does a lot of work for me.
I was giving her research credit.
It was like a gift.
It was like a lie.
Yes, it was a lie.
It was a kind lie.
On the eve of your first front-page story, you suddenly get cold feet.
What are you saying? I made this whole thing up? Look, I swear to God, the only reason I didn't want this story to run is 'cause I don't want to hurt Sydney Bristow.
That's it.
You're a talented writer, Will, but I promise you, if anything like this ever happens again, the only thing you'll be inventing are facts on your own résumé.
The first Giovanni Donato.
His timepieces were miracles of precision.
Kings and queens offered him vast riches if only he would design clocks for them.
He refused.
But he did make one exception.
For Rambaldi.
Mmm.
Why? Rambaldi made him a promise.
What did he promise? Rambaldi promised him he would live an impossibly long life.
He even revealed to him when he would die.
Was he right? Of course.
This symbol on the front.
What does it mean? The magnific order of Rambaldi.
Rambaldi's most loyal followers, entrusted with safeguarding his creations.
Sadly, like most things that once were pure, criminals now use this symbol to infiltrate the order.
What about this date? It must have meant something to Rambaldi.
The clock was built from one of his designs.
He never did tell me what it meant.
What did you say? [Chuckles.]
Oh.
My mother never told me.
I don't think she knew.
There's still one piece missing I don't have.
So it won't work? It will tell time, if that's what you mean.
The clock is finished.
I've got Bristow in my sight.
Take the shot whenever you have it.
Mr.
Donato What was Rambaldi working on? The clock is fixed.
Now it's over.
Ohh! [Gunshot.]
Oh, yeah.
Hey.
Welcome back.
Thanks.
Okay, so, the good news is I went by your professor's office to drop off the paper, but he wasn't in, so the secretary wanted me to leave it with her.
Remember sophomore year? So I waited around and handed it to him personally.
Thank you, Francie.
- Was there bad news? - Yeah.
I was making lemonade, and I spilled it all over your mom's book.
I am so sorry.
I think it's gonna be fine.
Don't worry.
Hey, it doesn't matter.
Thank you for handing in the paper.
You're welcome.
Have you leaked information about SD-6 to other intelligence agencies? No.
Are you a double agent? No.
But my father is.
I'm sure he'd be thrilled if you gave Dreyer that answer.
Not now for the CIA.
20 years ago for the KGB.
My mother was a teacher.
My father used to buy her books.
First editions, one a month, shipped from a bookstore they discovered on a trip to Prague.
- But we really need to - Listen to me.
I thought it was the sweetest thing.
Romantic.
A side of him that died when she did.
Last night, I discovered codes hidden inside those books.
It's obviously how the KGB was sending him messages.
What kind of codes? One-time pads.
Blocks of cipher text, written in sets of five Cyrillic letters.
Staple of the KGB.
Yeah.
We'll deal with that.
I want to see those books.
Right now, you have Dreyer's test coming up.
Your life still depends on how well you do.
[Telephone rings.]
Hello, this is Will.
Hey, Will, it's Mike.
- Hey, Mike, how you doing? - Okay.
Your friend Eloise brought her car in here.
Eloise Kurtz? Yeah.
She never picked it up.
She told me she needed it right away.
- She did? - Yeah.
You know where she is? You mind if I come down there and take a look at her car? No, no problem.
Come down to the shop.
You know where we are.
[Cellular phone rings.]
Will Tippin.
JUNE: How kiss-ass of you.
What? The stargazer lilies and the card.
"I didn't make up a single fact.
" I thought you knew me well enough to know that I didn't.
I am calling to clarify that you are on the soil-erosion story.
- [Static.]
- I don't want you to waste another minute on Kate Jones.
Are we clear? [Static stops.]
Yeah.
We're clear.
As you know, for some time now, we have been operating under the assumption that the sum of Rambaldi's inventions are greater than the parts.
This clock is evidence of that.
Thank you.
Hi.
All right, now, who here remembers this? The Golden Sun I got from the church in Málaga.
That's right, the polymer.
If you look at it closely, hundreds of tiny imperfections, air bubbles, nothing unusual, right? But what is unusual is this.
Now, I realize that if you set this to exactly 12:22.
21, 22 And then this happens.
Ms.
Bristow, ladies first.
What is that? It's a star chart.
A snapshot of the sky taken from one specific place on Earth at one specific moment in time.
Sorry I'm late.
DIXON: Sort of like an ancient GPS system.
If you have the date and the time the snapshot was taken.
That's the genius.
These two things separately.
Nothing at all.
But you put them together, and That sound that you're that boom? That's my mind blowing.
If we assume that star chart refers to the date on back of the clock, August 1 6, 1 523, at 2:22 A.
M.
GMT, then the only spot on Earth with that exact view of the stars is the southern slope of Mt.
Aconcagua on the Chile-Argentina border.
"X" marks the spot.
So we think Rambaldi has stored something there? Possibly.
Your mission is to find out.
Marshall will fill you in on the op tech.
Oh, and, Sydney, before you head off, I want you to go down to Psych and see Carl Dreyer.
What is your name? Sydney Bristow.
What color are your eyes? Brown.
Are you sitting down? Yes.
Are you an agent of SD-6? Yes.
Are you a double agent? No.
This is a still camera with a digital signal uplinked to a geosynchronous keyhole satellite.
Whatever's in Argentina, we won't have to wait for the pictures.
Is there a transmission window? Uh, no, it's geosynchronous orbit.
Just point and click.
Yeah.
You seem a little distracted.
Was it the test? I'm not sure I passed.
They're still watching me.
It took me 20 minutes to shake the guy they had tailing me.
They wouldn't be sending you on a mission if you failed.
I don't think they know the results yet.
I know how much you want to do this.
Take down SD-6.
But your life is more important.
If you really think you failed the test, we have a plan in place to take you out.
A protection program.
No.
I can't do it.
Live in hiding.
Not a chance.
Good luck in Argentina.
and we should be there.
There are easier jobs than this.
God, no kidding.
You know, I've been meaning to tell you something.
I'm proud of you.
What? Of me? Yeah.
Why? I've worked with a lot of people.
You make it look easy.
The thing I admire most is your courage.
My courage? After what happened with Danny.
The way you came back.
Your commitment to the job.
And I know what we do isn't for ourselves.
It's for the good of the country.
Still, uh Thanks.
You're saying it's a bug? No, I'm saying it's a tarantula.
This thing hops channels so fast, you could never intercept a transmission.
My guess is it's encrypted, to boot.
Where can you buy this? Buy this? You can't.
This is government issue.
My sister's husband is Secret Service.
His transmitter couldn't touch this.
If you ask me, I'd say it's Intelligence.
What's the frequency, Kenneth? DIXON: What do you think this Rambaldi guy's all about? SYDNEY: I wish we knew already.
I can think of 1,000 places I'd rather be right now.
Hey, I think we're almost at our waypoint.
What the hell are we doing here? It feels like a wild-goose chase, doesn't it? Aw, damn it.
I can't get a line of sight to the satellite.
It's a low Earth orbit.
We're blocked by the mountains.
[Beeping.]
[Beeping quickens.]
[Rapid beeping.]
Hey, give me a hand here.
I'm going in.
All right.
I'll hike out until I can acquire the satellite and call for support.
Syd, be careful.
Dixon, I found it.
It's Rambaldi's journal.
I found it.
DIXON: [Whispering.]
Sydney, I don't know how they found us.
- K-Directorate.
- Dixon? - They're here.
Anna's here.
- [Gunshot.]
- Sydney, get out of there now! - Dixon, do you copy? - [Gunshots.]
- Dixon, do you copy? Have you finished with Sydney's results? I think we've found our mole.
What did you do to Dixon? Put the book down.
[Screams.]