FBI: International (2021) s01e12 Episode Script

Feels weird not reaching out for your hand.
I know.
- That's you? - Yeah.
I got an email from an address I didn't recognize.
Can you see who sent it? Whoever sent the email will be able to track your location.
Hello, Scott.
Hey, Mom.
You think I want to talk to you? - That was my hope.
- After 15 years? Yes.
I need your help.
Unbelievable.
I'm not asking you to understand.
- I don't.
- I know.
You're a traitor.
You sold secrets to the Russians, and then you just disappeared.
You know what? It doesn't even matter.
Just walk away.
I am not who you think I am.
If I have ten seconds, fine.
I will use them to tell you this.
I never betrayed this country.
I have been I did what I did My country asked me to sacrifice you, sacrifice my marriage, my life, everything, and it was the hardest thing.
It was the hardest thing that I have ever done.
And if I had to do it again, I would tell them no.
I would tell them that it is too much.
They asked too much.
But, Scott You have to believe me when I tell you that I am working for the CIA.
I never stopped.
I was 16.
I know.
I watched you grow up.
You're a good man, and you've made me so proud.
What do you want? And don't try to sell me some garbage that you care about me About Dad.
Just get on with it.
What is this about? My car will be here in one minute.
Yeah, perfect.
I told you I need your help.
There's a file at the bureau's Washington office.
- It's labelled "Hutchinson".
- What? I need it.
Are you insane? The Hutchinson file will make everything clear.
I know that you owe me nothing, but this is what I owe you.
If the last 15 years have kept you up searching for answers, I'm trying to give them to you.
No.
You don't get to do this.
No.
Get me the file.
I'll be in touch.
I can't let you leave here.
I love you.
I never stopped.
I promise you.
I know what you are up to.
- What'd you say to me? - You are fooling no one.
Maybe you should mind your own business.
And maybe you should be more careful.
Forrester seems a little bent out of shape this morning.
Who's he talking to? Headquarters, I think.
We decided to tap the brakes.
We're not seeing each other anymore.
- Really? - Mutual.
Even Tank is worried about him.
Well, hey, if you need somebody to talk to or just, you know, drink till we're the last ones left in the pub, I'm your girl.
Thanks, Vo.
Hey, we caught a case.
Michael Vestal, an American who started a tech company sharing the same last name.
Sure, Vestal, pretty much the dominant antivirus software company on the planet.
Well, three years ago, Vestal's business partner, Dominic Spilatro, died in a boating accident, though the homicide detectives in the area weren't sure about that word, "accident".
They charged Vestal? Spilatro was attempting to force him out of the company at the time.
The city of San Jose indicted him.
He posted a $2-million bail and fled before the case ever went to trial.
His whereabouts are unknown.
However, none of this has stopped him from maintaining an online presence where he cries innocence while attacking U.
S.
law enforcement, - politicians, and judges.
- Yeah, I read about this.
Apparently, thumbing your nose at Uncle Sam is a good way to go viral.
He's got 1.
1 million followers on social media.
Yeah, he masks his IP when posting, so we haven't had any leads on his location until earlier today.
Frankfurt, Germany, a 60-year-old man, Frederick Schmidt, was murdered in his front yard after having an argument with his neighbor.
Two taps to the back of the head.
Security cam across the street got this.
Our fugitive.
- Frankfurt police have him? - No, not yet.
Then let's get going.
Hey, everything all right? You seemed kind of agitated on the phone.
Yeah.
Just figuring some things out, but yeah, I'm all right.
Ah, somebody looks happy to be working a case in her homeland.
Best beer, best football, best bread in the world.
What's not to love? How are the police? Professional, precise like most things German-built.
Is there gonna be a lot of this while we're here? I'm just getting started.
Kripo Adler, city police, this is Agents Forrester, Kellett, Raines with the FBI.
Willkommen.
I apologize that we do not already have your fugitive in custody.
No need for that.
He eluded the U.
S.
government for three years.
Ah, well, he's here in Germany using the alias Thomas Smith and, with his money, has secured false passports, false visas, false residence permit.
I should also disclose He also gave charitably to our police benevolence fund, but I assure you, there's no corruption in Frankfurt.
And I assure you that was not a concern.
- Okay.
- Kripo Adler takes great pride - in speaking bluntly.
- I find it more efficient.
Would you like to see the crime scene? - Yes, we would.
- Yeah.
Thought Michael Vestal was rich.
Well, Whitey Bulger was in a rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica when the bureau kicked his door in.
People who run aren't who they were before the law started hunting them.
I did a dive on Vestal's finances.
The DOJ froze his personal accounts when he ran.
Been living for two years on whatever he squirreled away offshore.
My guess is, he's running low at this point.
Yeah.
Hey.
What do we got? So The camera across the street only caught the aftermath, but best we can tell, Frederick Schmidt, who lives here, confronted Vestal, who lives here.
What they discussed, we do not know.
Vestal then follows him back to his doorstep, and pop, pop, shoots him twice in the head at close range, then turns, marches back to his house, - and disappears.
- Witnesses? Nein, niemand.
But the victim's wife is here if you'd like to talk to her.
- We would.
- Okay.
Bitte.
I came home and found my husband dead on the doorstep.
He he was his head was covered in blood.
Did your husband know that your neighbor was an American fugitive? Fugitive? He was indicted for murder in the U.
S.
He fled the country unlawfully before his trial.
We we didn't he wasn't I ask because I wonder if your husband possibly discovered his identity and attempted to confront him.
Why would he do that? - Good citizenship.
- Or blackmail.
I don't think he would do this.
My husband was not confrontational.
We barely knew our neighbor.
Hello.
That was a funeral home.
They want to know if I will cremate or bury Frederick.
What should I do? I I think that's your decision, ma'am.
I was going to ask Frederick what he wanted from the market.
Now I'm talking about his remains.
I don't understand.
Forrester, Kellett Vestal's apartment you should come look at this.
Looks like he got out in a hurry.
Well, he's got at least $100,000 worth of tech equipment in his living room.
Switches, routers, masking software.
- I'm sure he's using a VPN - Raines.
Everything you need to camouflage your location.
Guns and ammo too.
Like he's prepared for a siege.
Then where is he? Looks like a house key.
The wrong size for his door lock.
- Safety deposit box? - Too big.
It's apartment.
Love nest? I mean, was he seeing somebody? Because he does not seem like the type to read classic French romance novels.
- Maybe it's hers.
- Maybe.
I'll run down a mistress-lover angle with the local police as we canvass.
Hey, he's got mail with Schlag Security subheaded.
- Where is this address? - Downtown.
Did he hire a security company? Maybe they're protecting him now.
Here, check it out.
Hello, miss.
I'm with the American FBI.
I was hoping to talk to someone about a client of yours.
I'm Harold Pesch, cofounder at Schlag Security.
- Can I help you? - Yeah.
What can you tell me about a client of yours, - Thomas Smith? - Thomas Smith? Well, he's not a client.
He's one of our owners.
We're a data security firm.
Our clients are corporations concerned with digital privacy.
Well, did you know his real name is Michael Vestal and he's a fugitive working illegally in Germany? As of an hour ago, yes.
I opened this firm two years ago.
Thomas Smith approached to invest.
He knew everything about the industry: ransomware, AI-powered security, digital transformations, cyber kill chains.
- He was smart, up to date - And well-funded.
Yes, he had 2 million euros to invest, and, quite frankly, I needed the capital.
Then today I saw his photo on TV with the name Michael Vestal.
He was a fugitive, a murderer.
"Oh, my goodness", I said, "this cannot be".
- Does he have an office here? - Yeah.
- Can I take a look at it? - You may.
Schlag Security is a data security company, and Vestal was a partner, not a client.
They gave me his corporate laptop, - but it's protected.
- Can you crack it? It was owned by an expert in data security, so it may be beyond my skill level.
I doubt that.
I do too, but my gramps told me always act humble.
- Mm-hmm.
- Scott, we have a problem.
Michael Vestal just posted a video to all of his followers.
The U.
S.
government is working with the German government to frame me.
I didn't kill anyone, and yet here are two United States FBI agents in Germany trying to silence me and take away my truth.
Now, the U.
S.
has no jurisdiction here.
These two agents are illegally stalking me.
Well, two can play at that game, right? My followers, I want you to dig deep on these government agents, find out who they are, dox 'em, drag 'em, make life hell for them like they're doing to me! I agree with you.
I don't like our images all over the Internet, especially as it affects UC work.
Between this and the OPR hounding me, how long until Washington decides all we're doing in Europe is attracting eyeballs? - Remember Chicago? - Mm.
The director came down on the SAC, and they split up the entire field office.
Yes.
I just don't want everything that you've built in Budapest to crumble.
- You've worked too hard for it.
- Okay.
We just keep our heads down, follow the facts, make the case, make an arrest.
Anything beyond that, it's out of our control.
Hey.
You seem heavy, like you're carrying 100-pound weights on your shoulders.
I chalk it up to our relationship going sideways, but seems like there's more going on than that.
You can always talk to me.
It's nothing.
Hey, I talked with the cybercrime division at 26 Fed.
They've created dummy profiles for agents Andy Jones and Diane Williams on the FBI's main page.
Hid them behind a hackable firewall so they'll be discovered by any of Vestal's Internet sleuths playing Sherlock Holmes in their mom's basement.
Guess we're Andy and Diane.
It might fool the doxers long enough till they get bored and move on to something else.
Where are we with Vestal's laptop? It has hydra safeguards.
I get past one firewall, four more pop up, but I'm like a dog with a bone now.
Okay, stay on it.
Police did a rundown on all the associates at Schlag.
If Vestal had a lover there, no one's admitting it, and the canvass of the neighborhood was a bust too.
So we still don't know where that key fits.
- Mm-mm.
- City police are monitoring all motorways, train stations, airfields, and bus stations - out of Frankfurt.
- We have posted Michael Vestal's photo everywhere.
If he is in Frankfurt, we will find him.
He is.
In Frankfurt, I mean.
So if we look at the video that he posted The U.
S.
government is working with the German government to frame me.
I didn't kill anyone, and yet here are two United States FBI agents in If we pause the video here, we can make out a reverse image of a street sign behind him.
- Ah, this is good.
- You know the shop? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's Tattoo Strase.
- Yeah, we know it.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- Let's go.
Okay, I'll get my men.
We'll meet you there.
Vo.
Yeah.
I am Katrin Jaeger with Europol.
This is Agent Forrester with the FBI.
You know why we're here? A man told me they would be coming.
I thought he was paranoid, but here you are, American cops in Germany.
Maybe he was not so paranoid.
Is this him? He said to tell you something.
- What's that? - If he dies in police custody, the world will know he was murdered, not suicide.
Did he have a weapon with him? When did he leave? What did you say? I'd be grateful if she'd answer the question.
He left ten minutes ago.
On foot? Direction? Hey, we're up on the phone Vestal used to make the video.
He just powered it on.
He's on the same street as the tattoo parlor.
The address is Friedberger Landstrasse 1022.
Thanks.
His phone is active at the nightclub.
I'll let Adler know.
Hey, can you cut the music, turn on the lights? What? - The music, can you cut it? - What? Cut the music and turn on the lights.
- Now? - Turn it off? Now, now.
- You must leave.
- Hey, I'm with the Everybody freeze! He was here.
He was handing out 100-euro notes.
Pointed you out, said you were stalking him.
You didn't maybe want to, I don't know, ask me about it before the gentle giant over there threw me on the ground? We get a lot of trouble here, and you look like trouble.
You haven't seen trouble.
You know, Vestal knows there's a manhunt for him, and he hasn't left Frankfurt.
Instead, he's playing games, leading us around by the nose.
I mean, why? What? To what end? Maybe he knows he's gonna get caught but decided to make things as difficult for us as he can.
- That means he's an imbecile.
- Mm.
Some criminals get off on the high of being hunted.
Zodiac, BTK.
They feed off contact with the police.
When it's too quiet, they force the contact.
Getting close.
Doesn't look like it.
Looks can be deceiving.
Vestal just posted a new video.
Play it.
The U.
S.
government is trying to silence me.
These are the kind of harassments I face.
He was right there.
Everybody freeze! These are the same two U.
S.
agents in Germany who are pulling guns on innocent people.
They have to be stopped.
He is now up to 1.
8 million followers.
- People love a good freak show.
- He's getting off on it.
There has to be something more going on here.
Well, he masked his IP address, so we can't bounce the location.
Analyze that video like you did before.
- That background is different.
- On it.
I gotta take this.
Scott? Scott, if you can't talk, don't say anything.
Just bring me the Hutchinson file by Thursday.
Text me a time and place when you have it.
I love you, Scott.
- I'll be damned.
- Hey, Gary.
Thought I recognized the number.
- How you doing, my friend? - Yeah.
You still working international operations? Still am.
Well, anytime you guys need an analyst, I'll stamp my passport for you.
I'll keep that in mind.
Hey, Gary, can you do me a favor? Anything.
Look, I've been working an angle over here.
It's a bit sensitive.
An old assignment came up, something with the case name Hutchinson.
Preceded us both.
It would've been at the Washington branch circa 2005.
Okay.
Is there any way that you can pull that file and send it to me when you get back to the office? Look, I can't have my fingerprints on this.
This is sensitive.
Okay, give me a couple days.
Lord knows you bailed me out of a mess or two at Quantico.
All right, man, well, I'll let you get back to it.
- Talk to you soon, Scott.
- Yeah, thanks, Gary.
What? What's going on? What do you mean? I had to take a call.
Your mother? How did you know? Because I know you better than anyone.
And it's written all over your face.
She she made contact in Transnistria.
Why? I asked her that same question.
And? She wants a classified file.
That's a big ask.
Yeah.
So what'd you tell her? Scott, you're not actually thinking about doing it.
Raines cracked the laptop.
Nothing.
Nothing useful? No, there's nothing here.
It's a brand-new laptop, except it's running multiple layers of encryption software.
When you get through it, the entire hard drive is blank.
So why would Schlag Security give us a clean laptop - but make it impossible to open? - To waste our time? Pesch offered up his laptop with no warrant or anything.
Then the question is, why was he intentionally stalling us? It's them! It's them! It's them, the American fascists! It's them! It's them! It's them! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! - Free Vestal! - The American fascists! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Why'd you want to stall us, give us a dummy laptop? I think my rib is cracked.
Sounds painful.
I need medical attention.
You know, I bought some of these this morning at the pharmacy for a headache.
I'm told it's an excellent pain reliever.
Yeah.
Tell us why you've been jerking us around And I think there's a few in there I can part with.
We're selling the company.
Everything I worked for in the last five years - bears fruit today.
- Explain.
We negotiated the sale of Schlag Security for 50 million euros, which was set to close at 3:00 p.
m.
today.
I didn't read anything about it.
Yeah, it's a private company selling to a private company.
A deal that size, especially a private deal, notoriously fragile.
Any undisclosed information Such as one of the partners being a murdering fugitive.
- Could sink the whole thing.
- Mm-hmm.
And then, instead of 50 million, Schlag Security is worth pennies on the dollar.
That about right? And tell me, Raines, how long does it take to put a deal like that together? - Six months to a year.
- Wow.
And how long did you know Thomas Smith was Michael Vestal? I only just discovered it yesterday.
Mm.
A year ago.
And you didn't think it wise to alert someone? My money is wrapped up in this company.
I'll lose everything.
Vestal was dishonest with me.
Why am I to pay the price for the transgressions of my partner? And did you know he murdered his last partner? You're gonna need them.
So now we know why Vestal stayed in town.
He wants to collect his share of the company.
But isn't everything electronic these days? Not everything.
I mentioned how fragile these deals are.
Surely there's a rider in the contract that the buyer can terminate with cause - if the seller has a criminal record.
- Mm-hmm.
Plus, the buyer could sue for the full cost of the purchase or sink the seller with a higher arbitrage on the valuation.
I understood none of that.
Accountants live for this.
There's no way Pesch disclosed who his partner was - on paper to the buyer.
- Mm.
That'd be deal-killing suicide, which means if Vestal's still in Frankfurt, it's because he worked out a side play with Pesch, most likely cash at the close of the sale.
Mm-hmm.
How were you gonna pay Vestal? I don't know what you're talking about.
We have an encrypted messaging service.
I'm to fill a briefcase with cash after the sale and tell him where to meet.
What were you thinking? I mean, I understand trying to keep the balls in play until the sale goes down, but after you got your money, why worry about paying off Vestal? To answer your previous question, I didn't know that he murdered his last partner.
All right, we have you covered from multiple vantage points.
We won't let Vestal near you.
As soon as we get a visual, we'll move in and make the arrest.
I don't know if this is a good We do this all the time in America.
Trust me.
Hey, Vo, what is it? Vestal just made a new post to his now 2.
2 million followers.
Says he's being set up at Hessen-Brandt Plaza.
- When did this go out? - 15 minutes ago.
Ah, son of a Did you alert him? - Don't move.
- What's wrong? - They didn't take his watch? - He wasn't arrested.
He's still stalling, hoping this damn deal will go through.
And now you will be arrested for obstruction.
Free Vestal! Free Vestal! - Free Vestal! - Back up! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Back up! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! - Free Vestal! Free Vestal! - Fascists! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! Free Vestal! It's past noon.
If he was sticking around for a cash payment, he's definitely running now.
The flash mob was just to buy him more time.
I keep going back to one thing.
He killed his partner back in California because his partner was trying to force him out.
- It was personal.
- Right.
And here, he's getting a payday on a big deal that's gonna make him flush again, and he jeopardizes all of that by killing his neighbor.
The neighbor discovered who he was and was gonna expose him.
Could be, or it was more to use Vo's word personal.
The Frankfurt police are totally corrupt.
He's not holding the camera.
Look, a human arm cannot bend that far around to the side.
See, his shoulder is facing forward, so that's not a selfie.
Someone else is holding the camera.
"Madame Bovary".
A key under "Madame Bovary", a book about an older guy who seduces his neighbor's wife.
We need to border check whatever car the wife drives.
Yeah.
Let's go.
Okay.
Lena, remember us? I didn't mean for this to happen.
My husband, Frederick, he was no good to me.
You must believe me.
He was he was boring.
In Germany, we say Love is a sickness one wants to have.
That's what happened to me.
I was sick in love.
May I have a tissue, please? No.
What? I did not appreciate the lies you said about corruption within the Frankfurt Police Department.
We may not have as many followers as you, but it prides me to say we will be posting a new video to our social media account.
I would like to thank you for your assistance with this matter, and we will work with your government to assure that Michael Vestal answers for his crimes, both in Germany and in America.
- We appreciate that.
- Yeah.
This was fun.
Yeah.
- Good to go? - Mm-hmm.
Hey, before we Look, we've been friends for a long time, long enough for me to know when you're standing at a crossroads.
All I can say is, be careful.
Did the right thing, bringing counterintelligence in early.
Of course.
When your mother shows, just hand her the envelope.
We'll immediately move in.
You don't have to do anything else.
We have a van waiting.
We'll bring you up to speed once we have a chance to debrief her.
Most people never have to face the choice of country over family.
It's a patriotic thing you're doing.
She asked for the Hutchinson file.
I'm assuming this isn't it.
So what's in the real file? No idea.
It's time.
Just act normal.
Let her come to you.
All right, that's good.
Just wait there and look casual.
Okay, be patient.