Blood & Treasure (2019) s01e09 Episode Script

The Shadow of Projekt Athena

1 When I left the FBI, I thought my crime-fighting days were over, but then I learned that terrorist Karim Farouk was on the hunt for Cleopatra, one of the world's most valuable treasures, lost for over 2,000 years, to use her as part of a massive terror attack.
To find him, I needed some help, so I went to Lexi Vaziri, a thief.
LEXI: Excuse me, a master thief.
And my father was killed by Farouk.
DANNY: Lexi and I have a complicated past.
LEXI: He wants to bring Farouk to justice, I want revenge.
DANNY: Also, there's a mysterious group who want Cleopatra as much as we do.
LEXI: We're not sure whether they're good or bad, but the one thing we all agree on DANNY: Is that we need to find Cleopatra [TIRES SCREECHING.]
LEXI: Before Farouk does.
Previously on Blood & Treasure Farouk's looking for Cleopatra, and a group of Nazis took her after World War II.
We need to find out where they went.
I need the entire file on Operation Paperclip.
The top secret U.
S.
program that recruited Nazi scientists to work for us after World War II.
HARDWICK: Came across an old list of names.
One of the names kind of stuck out.
LEXI: Vaziri.
I'd say your father was in the Brotherhood.
- So it's not true? - No.
Can you trace this for me? It's one of Lexi's underworld contacts she's been texting with.
LEXI: Fabi.
He's in the Brotherhood of Serapis.
I gave that number to Gwen.
Fabi's number, to trace.
WOMAN: We triangulated and traced the number.
Carabinieri HQ in Rome.
Ground floor.
DANNY: Good morning.
How did you sleep? I had this terrible dream that I was thrown into hell, and this angel, who sounded a lot like Chuck, was screaming about me befouling his bedroom.
That wasn't entirely a dream.
Chuck left town for a conference early this morning.
On his way out the door, he loudly expressed his concerns about what would happen here while he's gone.
[CHUCKLES.]
He's ridiculous.
Completely.
Wait.
How do you mean? I mean we won't befoul his bedroom, or anything in general, I guess, together.
I think maybe the word "befoul" isn't helping here.
Are you saying you want to just keep things professional between us? I think so.
We should, right? I mean, we're a disaster when we get together, every time.
You're not wrong.
So is that the file the FBI gave you? Operation I want to say Stapler? Paperclip.
Operation Paperclip.
I was close.
Have you found where the U.
S.
hid all its Nazi scientists? Well, there's detailed information here on German U-boats and shipping routes, but looks like most of these ratlines, which were the escape routes for Nazi fascists, were facilitated out of Spain.
And since the Nazis with Cleopatra were forced to detour to Casablanca, - all the information is useless.
- Not necessarily.
One of the failures in the lead up to 9/11 was that the intelligence agencies weren't talking to each other.
Now, there's only one other agency who cares about finding Cleopatra as much as we do The Brotherhood of Serapis.
Yeah, they must've been tracking the Nazis back then.
Maybe together we can connect the dots.
I'll bring it to Fabi.
We'll bring it to him.
[LOW CONVERSATIONS NEARBY.]
What's so urgent you couldn't tell me on the phone? Hey.
I think it's time we talked.
Yes.
He knows everything I do.
She's a thief and a liar.
And you're a double agent.
And I can have both of you arrested and thrown into a prison cell.
- You're not gonna do that.
- Why not? I took the precaution of ensuring our safety.
In the event that anything happens to either of us, I left a file with a friend to be sent to the FBI that reveals your identity as a member of the Brotherhood of Serapis, which is implicated in at least one murder that we know of, Max Najjar.
You'll be the one who ends up in a prison cell.
LEXI: So how's about we skip the anger and denial portion and get right to acceptance, shall we? We've got a lot to discuss.
What do you want? We're suggesting an alliance.
You want Cleopatra.
We want Farouk.
Now we can be enemies, but if Farouk wins, people die and Cleopatra likely gets destroyed in the process.
Operation Paperclip.
DANNY: The U.
S.
government's effort to shelter Nazi scientists to help them win the Cold War.
I know what it is.
We've been looking for this for years.
- How did you get it? - Doesn't matter.
What matters is, it's real.
Now, the Nazis made it to Casablanca with Cleopatra.
We know they left the gold sarcophagus there and took the inner coffin with her in it.
Can you help us narrow down where they went after that? Nazi hunters have already found many of the names on this list and brought them to justice.
Others I recognize from our own operations.
I eliminated two of them myself.
Based on Lexi's tip, we've been looking into shipping manifests from the Port Authority in Casablanca.
We know they left on one of three ships.
Two were destined for Argentina, which was a Nazi haven after the war.
Let's go get her.
[SPEAKS ITALIAN.]
The Brotherhood has maintained ourselves for millennia by being very careful about who we work with.
DANNY: Well, your bosses don't even need to know we were working together.
I think I know where to go, but I have to consult our archives to get the exact location.
Meet me at the train station in two hours.
We'll take the long way out of Rome so no one tracks us.
[SPEAKS ITALIAN.]
We'll be there.
Also, get rid of your phone soon as you can.
I, uh, found Lexi's burner phone in Casablanca.
Didn't know who was on the other end of it, so I gave Gwen the number to track.
Just be careful, she may be onto you.
[HORN TOOTS.]
Going somewhere? Don't.
[GRUNTS.]
[GRUNTS.]
[GRUNTING.]
[PANTS, GROANS.]
You're under arrest for the murder of Max Najjar.
[OVERLAPPING CHATTER.]
[CHATTER QUIETS.]
- LEXI: We're screwed.
- We're fine.
As far as I see it, we have one option.
This, this is the carabinieri.
The holding cells they're keeping Fabi are here.
We need a truck.
I know how to get us an untraceable one.
We'll back it up here.
We'll also need some misdirection.
- I know a great explosives guy.
- Let me stop you right there.
First of all, your plan is to break Fabi out of the carabinieri like it's the sheriff's office in a Western? At least I'm pitching things and not doodling on a map of Argentina.
I wasn't doodling.
The areas in black are potential places the Nazis might have taken Cleopatra.
It's the whole country.
[CHUCKLES.]
And most of the continent.
So your brilliant plan, as I understand it, is for us to go door-to-door across South America searching for Nazis for the rest of our lives? Actually, no.
I just got off the phone with a client of mine, Mrs.
Hoffman.
Not the Mrs.
Hoffman? Long story short, I found a way for us to narrow our search.
It's just gonna take a bit of a side trip.
- Where? - Poland.
Poland? That's hours in the wrong direction.
Yes, Poland is hours in the wrong direction, but it's also where Moshe Cohen lives.
He's ex-Mossad and a Nazi hunter, and he knows Argentina like the back of his hand.
Mrs.
Hoffman's known him since he was a baby.
Why can't we just phone him? We can't just phone him because he's a recluse.
Doesn't have a phone.
There's no way to contact him except in person.
Yes, you can finish the crackers before we go.
DANNY: Okay, this guy has spent decades hunting down Nazis and terrorists, then decided to move back to the country where three million Jews were rounded up to be murdered.
That's pretty gangster.
Yup.
So he's understandably concerned about security.
Just let me do the talking.
I'm guessing the sign says "No trespassing"? That was a close call.
[EXHALES.]
[SIGHS.]
[CLICKS.]
Crap.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Don't move.
Bloody hell.
It's a pressure sensitive plate for a bomb.
[SIGHS.]
I always assumed I'd be the one to get us killed.
I'm filled with so many contradictory emotions.
[GUN CLICKS.]
Who are you, and what are you doing here? Mrs.
Hoffman sent us.
I I represented her.
Her family had a Vermeer? The painting was seized by the Nazis in Long story short, Danny got it back.
- I got this.
- Doesn't seem like you do.
Well, if you'd stop interrupting me.
So you two are a couple? - We're trying to figure things out.
- It's complicated.
Mr.
Cohen, we're trying to stop a terrorist, and we need your help.
I am sorry about my inhospitable greeting.
But in my line of work, you can never be too careful.
So who is this terrorist? Karim Farouk.
Mm.
I am aware of him.
Apparently, reports of his death were premature.
LEXI: Oh, he's most definitely alive, and he's looking for a treasure to be used somehow in a terrorist attack.
We need to find it first to stop him.
Who did he take from you? I know the look in your eyes.
You want vengeance.
Farouk killed my dad.
What kind of treasure is he after? In 1942, the Nazis raided the tomb of Antony and Cleopatra.
They escaped with Cleopatra only.
Farouk has stolen Antony and is now looking for Cleopatra.
So you want to track the Nazis who took her? Did you ever hear anything while you were in Argentina? Anything that could help us zero in on where they went? The Nazis plundered many things from many people, but only the occultists would have had any interest in Cleopatra.
So that means you are looking for Colonel Jürgen Steiner's group.
This box is like a - Like an anchor tied to my soul.
- [MEDALS CLATTER.]
I would like to cut it loose, but What would I be without it? This is Colonel Steiner.
I never found the bastard.
Have you ever seen the file on Operation Paperclip? I, uh I knew of the operation's existence.
Not the name, but the The effect.
It became much harder to bring these men to justice when the U.
S.
government was protecting them.
Well, combined with what you know, maybe we can finally figure out what happened to Colonel Steiner and Cleopatra.
How long have you been a member of the Brotherhood of Serapis? This is ridiculous.
I'm being set up.
Fabi, I know you're a double agent.
After I gave you the intel that led us to Farouk's safe house in Libya, coincidentally, Max Najjar showed up dead there.
We know Max Najjar is connected to the Brotherhood of Serapis, so did you kill him to keep him quiet? [SCOFFS.]
Have you been using me this whole time to help the Brotherhood? I have done nothing inconsistent with the goals of the carabinieri.
Then help me understand why you did what you did to Max Najjar.
Who have you been communicating with? Hmm? Who is this? Steiner's occultist group of Nazis was keeping Cleopatra in Castle Schädelberg near Gruneland Dam in Bavaria.
They had a replica of Cleopatra's tomb and a bunch of lab equipment.
Ah, a radionics lab, most likely.
Grenzwissenschaft, uh, border science, a mix of the occult with the scientific method of the time.
That explains why they needed a damn nearby, to power their lab.
I don't know what their plans were for Cleopatra.
It was something called Projekt Athena.
It's referenced here in the Paperclip file.
Project was put on hold when the castle was bombed and they fled.
We've confirmed they took Cleopatra from Germany all the way to Casablanca by way of Spain.
Not Steiner.
He was separated from the group.
Disappeared, apparently, with the help of the U.
S.
government in exchange for help against the Soviets.
As far as I know, he made it to Austria in the '90s.
And from there, his trail goes cold.
I-I never found a sign of him in Argentina.
You know, according to the shipping manifests we received, only two of the three ships that left Casablanca went to Argentina.
And we assumed that's where Steiner's group went, but maybe we were wrong.
Where did the third ship go? - Right here.
- [CLEARS THROAT.]
Quebec.
Look, there's a dam here near the town of Saint-Denis.
That's a good place to start if you're building a new radionics lab.
The town of Saint-Denis is infamously known for one thing: an unexplained malfunction caused a blackout and a breach in the dam, flooding the town, killing hundreds of people.
And it happened on August 12, 1945.
The anniversary of Cleopatra's death.
Yet another coincidence.
That explains why we never found Steiner.
We never knew about this ratline.
We're off to Canada.
You have one more hunt left in you? [CHUCKLES SOFTLY.]
I wish I was young like you.
But I will take great satisfaction from closing the Steiner file.
We'll do our best.
Thank you, Moshe.
[LOCK CLICKS.]
Transfer is ready.
Don't make any problems for me.
Ah, Enzo, you know me.
I thought I did.
We've had each other's backs too many times to count.
Did you ever not trust me then? [HANDCUFFS CLICKING.]
Am I no longer the godfather of your son? [GRUNTING.]
[GASPING.]
[QUIETLY.]
: Forgive me, my friend.
Sleep well.
I'm sorry.
[PANTING.]
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE.]
[COIN CLATTERING.]
[LINE RINGING.]
- MAN: Where are you? - Rome.
I am burned.
MAN: Head to Site Y.
We'll bring you in.
I'm not coming in.
I need new documents for travel.
To where? Track down every private jet belonging to Jacob Reece.
Whichever one Lexi Vaziri is on, that is where I am going.
I believe she's heading into danger.
TRUMAN [OVER RADIO.]
: A short time ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima.
That bomb has more power than 20,000 tons of TNT.
The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor.
They have been repaid manyfold.
And the end is not yet.
That was six days ago.
Soon our Axis allies will also admit defeat.
We cannot compete with this superpower.
But Truman is right.
The end is not yet.
Victory can still be ours.
Mark this date: 12 August, 1945, the 1,975th anniversary of the Egyptian queen's death, as the day we unleashed our own superweapon, Projekt Athena.
Cleopatra, holy incarnation of Athena, I summon you now, to bestow your powers upon us.
May I have power over water ALL: Air, the waters, streams, riparian lands, men who would harm me in the realm of the dead and the living, those who would order harm done to me upon earth.
May the Fourth Reich begin! [YELLING.]
- [ELECTRICAL CRACKLING.]
- [MEN SHOUTING.]
[ELECTRICAL CRACKLING.]
[SHUDDERING GASPS.]
- - Over here.
Look.
A plaque.
It's the Saint-Denis Dam disaster of '45.
What? Thought you'd be getting to punch old Nazis? No.
Sorry, Lex, time is a cruel mistress.
I mean, couldn't there just be one too-angry-to-die Nazi left for me to send to hell? S O S.
DANNY: Yeah, there's more.
D E A.
It's an anagram of ODESSA, a secret group of SS officers formed at the end of World War II who facilitated secret Nazi escape routes.
This is an old coded message signaling a Nazi safe haven.
I bet the cafeteria here sells strudel.
Well, I thought we like strudel.
We do, but in this context, it would be ominous.
Right.
Okay, let's see what else we can find out.
WOMAN: You don't belong in here! This entire place is off-limits! Who are you? Oh, we're just, uh, enthusiasts, really.
"We give a dam.
" That's our club motto.
Ah.
We get a handful of you folks every year.
Sorry, but this is not a museum.
Dam workers only.
None of them look like you, though.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- I'm Danny, by the way.
Caroline.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to escort you out.
Oh, you sure we can't just have a little look around, Caroline? Dam rules.
[LAUGHS.]
[BOTH LAUGHING.]
Ah, but there's no rule that I can't take you the long way.
"We give a dam"? I know.
I could barely hold back my high five.
Now go.
Work your asset.
So, the disaster of '45 Oh, all anybody ever wants to talk about.
It was a freak occurrence.
We've had over 70 years of a perfect record since.
What caused it? Do you know? A massive power fluctuation.
- From where? - Ah, they don't know.
The town wasn't that big at the time.
Caroline, I'm sure a lady such as yourself who's in the know has probably heard some theories.
Well, I heard rumors it was from the old weather station.
Some crazy stories about what used to happen out there back in the day.
Old weather station.
And is that close by? So those lines feed the weather station? Used to.
They aren't even connected to anything anymore.
Station's still out there, though.
A few miles inland.
[BIRDS CHIRPING.]
DANNY: That's a lot of electricity running into a weather station.
Mm-hmm.
Let's take a closer look.
How is this possible? I mean, this happened hours ago.
Why am I finding out about this now? I'm sorry that you were not my first call after I was assaulted.
So what, now he's just magically disappeared? Captain Fabi has betrayed us all.
We will find him, Agent Karlsson.
[EXHALES.]
I think someone lives here.
Okay, so we'll wait for them to come back.
Or just break in.
Duh.
Hi.
I'm Lexi.
Apparently, we've never met.
- [EXHALES.]
- MAN: Excuse me? Hi.
Uh, do do you live here? I do.
Name's Georges Larose.
I can't offer you much, but I do have tea.
We're-we're fine.
Thanks.
So, you're writing a book about the dam? The disaster of '45, specifically.
The dam failed.
The town flooded.
They rebuilt.
Not much of a story.
Well, when you say it like that How long have you been the caretaker here? When the government decommissioned it in the '90s, I bought the whole thing for a few grand.
They were happy to get rid of it, I guess.
And I like the peace and quiet here.
Uh, the old caretaker from the time of the disaster left some stuff behind.
There's some of his journals are over there - You're welcome to them.
- That'd be helpful.
Thanks.
Actually, I will take that tea, if you don't mind.
- I'll be right back.
- Thanks.
[WHISPERS.]
: Hey.
Over here.
[GASPS SOFTLY.]
- Is that? - The Black Sun.
DANNY: It's different from the Nazi version we saw on Castle Schädelberg.
Huh.
looks like a ceremonial sundial.
It's from her tomb.
When the Nazis took Cleopatra.
Larose is one of them.
Don't overreact.
I get to send the last Nazi to hell after all.
So when I say, "Don't overreact.
" CAROLINE: Hey! This isn't a museum! What is it with people today? I'm sorry, miss, I'm looking for a couple of friends of mine.
I believe they came through here: a woman and a man.
Ah "You give a dam.
" Yes.
Well, your friends left without you a couple hours ago.
Do you have any idea where they went? Sorry.
No.
Oh, miss.
You know where this man lives? Larose only brought up the old caretaker's journals when he saw me looking at it.
He was trying to distract me.
Yeah, but he's still too young to be one of the Nazis who took Cleopatra.
So who is he? I have a better question.
Who Are you? - [GRUNTS.]
- [TASER CLICKING.]
[SCRAPING.]
Where's Lexi? Is that your girlfriend's name? [QUIETLY.]
: She's not my girlfriend.
Who's the girl?! The girl's a thief.
She's looking for a treasure.
Cleopatra.
Yeah.
Cleopatra's long gone.
Where? I got rid of her after my father died.
He thought Cleopatra could help him defeat the world.
Complete nonsense.
So You're here to clean up loose ends for Operation Paperclip.
Tell me why I shouldn't kill you.
Because I called the CIA.
They already know you're here.
When my father wasn't wasting his time with Projekt Athena, he was monitoring Soviet communication over the Pole for the CIA.
This entire area is shielded from radio and mobile activity to keep the people from spying.
If you worked for the CIA, you would know that.
I ask One more time.
Who Are - You! - [YELLS.]
[GROANS.]
Come on.
Come on.
Oh, there you go.
[PANTS.]
[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING.]
- Fabi.
- Stay still.
The caretaker here is a very dangerous man.
Yes, we figured that out, thank you.
Now, let's go save Danny.
- [GRUNTS.]
- [SIGHS.]
Let's go.
Okay.
Okay.
I don't work for the CIA.
I'm an international lawyer who's hunting a terrorist.
Your lies are getting worse.
I'm telling the truth! Karim Farouk.
He attacked the pyramids.
Now he's looking for Cleopatra.
We're trying to find her first to stop his next attack.
She does have some kind of power? [CHUCKLES.]
Or bad people just come to the same bad ideas.
That's my father you're talking about.
Your father's a Nazi.
[PANTING.]
[DANNY YELLS IN PAIN.]
- Danny? - LAROSE: Who are you?! - Who sent you?! - [DANNY YELLS.]
[HUSHED.]
: Lexi.
Lexi.
- Wait, wait.
- What are you waiting for? Listen, we go in without a plan, we get Danny killed.
He's already being killed.
[DANNY YELLS IN PAIN.]
[GRUNTS.]
Oh, I thought you were dead, and I'd never get to tell you I was right.
Nobody needs to die here.
Just tell us where Cleopatra is.
Ask Eduardo Sanchez.
- He has her, and good riddance.
- The narco? That's right.
When the Cold War ended, the CIA stopped paying the bills, so I became a smuggler.
Right.
That's all we needed to know.
Let him go.
What about your partner out there? I heard two voices.
Are you gonna shoot me in the back the moment I leave? [PANTS.]
I recognize you.
I killed your partner when you were here for my father.
He won't let me walk out of here alive.
Fabi, tell him he can go.
Doesn't matter what he says.
I'm gonna take one of you for insurance.
LEXI AND DANNY: Take me.
I'll go.
- Lexi, stop.
- Danny, stop.
- Here.
- No.
- Fine.
I'll take you.
- No.
- Lexi.
- Let me do this.
- [GUNSHOT.]
- No.
[GRUNTING.]
I'm not letting you leave here.
- You shoot, she dies.
- I'll be fine.
No, you won't.
Trust me, Lexi.
I know this man.
He killed my partner.
My partner was your mother, Jamila.
- [GRUNTING.]
- [GUNSHOTS.]
[FABI GROANING.]
Fabi.
Fabi.
[GROANS.]
[GRUNTS.]
I don't understand.
I thought my father was in the Brotherhood.
I'm sorry.
It wasn't your father, it was your mother.
She died because of me.
I failed your mother once.
I could not fail her again.
Her spirit lives on in you, Lexi.
[GROANING.]
: She wanted you to To follow [GASPING.]
[GRUNTS.]
[FLAMES CRACKLING.]
[LOW MURMURING.]
What happened? They have found Captain Fabi.
He's dead.
How? Where? He was shot, in North America.
Quebec.
Anonymous tip led the police to the scene.
Can I see the report? I have been instructed to tell you that the death of Captain Fabi is carabinieri business.
We will take care of it.
We're only informing Interpol as a matter of courtesy.
[BEEPING.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Chuck keeps raving about this restaurant around the corner.
Says they have the best Cacio e Pepe in town.
You want to go? Dinner's on me.
[SIGHS.]
My mother had this whole other life I didn't know about.
She wanted me to be this whole other person.
Prepared me for it since I was born, I just never Never realized it.
She never told you anything about Serapis? My dad didn't tell me, either.
Was that why he sent me to boarding school? To keep me from it? And maybe he was right to keep it from me.
Fabi is is dead.
My mother's dead.
[CRYING.]
: Everyone I love dies.
Everybody dies, Lex.
The people closest to me die too soon.
You need answers about your mom, about yourself.
There's only one place you're gonna get them.
I, uh [CLEARS THROAT.]
I took this off Fabi before we called the cops.
I thought you might want to bring it back to the Brotherhood.
Thank you.
But what if the answers I get just make everything more complicated? Yeah, you'll be walking uninvited into the crypt of a 2,000-year-old secret order.
It's absolutely gonna make things more complicated.
But whatever happens, we're gonna get through it together.
I know.

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