Covert Affairs s02e05 Episode Script

Hey, watch it! Excuse me.
I wasn't getting out of line.
I just needed to Wait, you're the one who almost ran me over.
I didn't see anyone at the OHB crosswalk.
Well, I wasn't actually in the crosswalk, but There you go.
Drip coffee.
Black.
Thank you.
Two.
Lots of milk and lots of sugar.
Sure.
Coffee.
At your 10:00.
Thanks, Annie.
This Alpha Barbie almost mowed me down in the parking lot this morning.
And then, she took my spot in line at the coffee cart.
You had me at Alpha Barbie.
So, the day is already conspiring against you? Yes.
Mmm.
Are you dressed for a wedding or a funeral? Hmm.
A little bit of both.
You are standing in front of the new head of the Office of Congressional Affairs.
Oh! That's huge.
Congratulations.
Thanks.
Wait.
Your desk isn't cleaned up.
It's cleaned off.
You're leaving me? Well, you went from thrilled for me to sad for you in two seconds.
You're going to lose your covert status.
Am I going be able to see you? We'll make it work.
But not like this.
Not every day.
Believe it or not, this was a very hard decision.
And I'll still be keeping an eye on you.
So to speak.
The OCA is a great job.
It is.
And you'll be on the seventh floor with the big boys.
You can always come by and visit.
Just make an appointment first.
Groan.
Eye roll.
Briefing time, Annie.
Sounds like somebody's day is about to get better.
I heard something about NASA.
Really? You've forgotten me already.
Good luck today.
Thanks.
Have fun with the astronauts.
This area of Northwestern Colombia is now friendly to Colombia's rebel army, FARC.
Just to orient you, Colombia's Batallon Cartagena military base.
This is what our analysts saw over Batallon Cartagena for two hours yesterday.
The area went dark.
The first images following the blackout show at least ten LAV-150's near the base's perimeter.
FARC is spreading its wings.
They've grown bolder.
And as the satellite corruption proves, more sophisticated.
If FARC takes the border area, they could drive into Panama itself and conceivably overtake the canal zone.
This represents a very real danger to U.
S.
interests.
NASA wants a discrete domestic inquest into its satellite maintenance program.
If this can happen to one U.
S.
satellite, it could happen to all of them.
Jai, I want you and Annie to work on that inquest team, along with Reva.
Who's Reva? Auggie's replacement.
No one can ever replace Auggie Anderson, but Reva Kline, everyone.
Reva came from Science and Technology, where she was the youngest Iead project manager ever to hold that position.
Let's make her feel at home.
Hi.
- Welcome.
It's good to be here.
Is that your pedal foot? Ha-ha.
Very funny.
Annie's a fast driver.
My sister wants us to do the Marine Corps marathon.
Training started last night.
Is she married? Yeah.
Hmm.
What? Nothing.
It's just that, in 35 percent of failed marriages, the wife usually takes up a sport or a pastime as a precursor to divorce.
Although running is a really great way to work things out.
Besides, it's cheaper than therapy, right? Okay.
So, Annie, you're going to use your Smithsonian NOG to infiltrate NASA.
Great.
I can use all that knowledge I got at Space Camp when I was 12.
I had no idea you were a space geek.
Get to know me.
It's the final frontier.
Space, I mean.
Not me.
Reva.
What do you think of Space Exploration? If you look at the numbers, the NASA missions waste an inordinate amount of our nation's science budget.
Do you honestly think you can put a price on bold explorations of new frontiers in space? I try to.
I have a spreadsheet here if you'd like to see it.
I can Okay.
Mission.
Annie, you'll head down to NASA headquarters on E Street.
There is a Mars Day reception in the lobby.
NASA employees and their families will be there.
You'll take the oral histories of four NASA staffers who contributed to the maintenance of the satellite.
And I'll take your video and use facial and body language micro-expression analysis to hone in on potential suspects.
So, you're going to watch my interviews and look for tells.
Like in poker.
It's not a primitive gut instinct Iike in a card game.
It works.
Annie, you'll ask four general questions.
Three of which are Iead-ups to the control trigger question.
And one more thing.
Budget cuts at NASA have been severe.
So, don't be disappointed if morale Isn't as high as yours.
Okay.
You're still here with us regular folk.
Bureaucracy never ceases to amaze me.
I had to fill out 12 forms just to get this key card for the seventh floor.
Where I have to fill out more forms.
NASA wants us to investigate scientists and astronauts.
Well, if NASA is requesting it, it's an internal audit.
So, you're not breaching CIA charter.
It still feels weird.
Because it's Americans, or because it's NASA? Both.
Joan knows how you feel.
That's probably why she picked you.
Why is that? Because she knows you care enough to get this right.
Now, I don't know if you caught that, but I just hit seven.
My opponents on the Intelligence Committee are gaining momentum.
They're prepared to ask for an investigation and hearings into Arthur as early as next week.
At least, that's what we're hearing.
Maybe you know something else.
Chet.
Are you sure this is decaf? Positive.
Yeah.
No, don't worry about hearings.
Those clowns on the Intelligence Committee have to justify their jobs.
You're in good hands with me.
So, listen.
I have a tennis date in Hilton Head.
We'll revisit when I get back.
I'm confused.
Are we rescheduling the meeting or was that the meeting? How did you come to work for NASA? I was a double major in physics and aeronautical engineering.
Not everyone can work on ozone mapping spectrometers.
With a minor in applied mathematics.
Air Force.
Fly.
Fight.
Win.
I had Ph.
D's in musical theory and practical philosophy.
I've, uh, always wanted to work for NASA.
Since I was, um, a little boy.
Um, what are you working on specifically right now? TOMS Volcanic Emissions, Ozone Mapping.
I'm an astronaut.
I supervise a team of technicians, um, in the satellite maintenance office.
We always have a contingency plan.
And, uh, no program is green-Iit until we know every solution to every possible externality.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Out of HQ in DC, and down at Canaveral where the action happens.
Space.
Did I mention to you I was an astronaut? Yeah.
Can I Sorry, can I go now? I'm a NASA guy, so I probably will be working right here.
Tell her how close you came to serving on the Presidential Commission for Space Exploration.
That's not a plant.
He's my son.
Charlie.
My dad should be in the Smithsonian.
He basically started working for NASA when he was 10.
I saw the Apollo 15 space launch at Cape Canaveral.
Really? Yes.
My folks drove down from Charlottesville in our Ford Country Squire station wagon.
What's your favorite mission, Charlie? Pioneer 10.
Back from the dead and seven billion miles away.
And still going.
See you, Earth.
I'm with Carl Sagan on that.
We're just a pale blue dot.
Excuse me.
I oversee all multimedia projects at Smithsonian, and the first I've heard of this film is a phone call I got about 15 minutes ago.
Who exactly signed off on your project? Uh, Dennis Stephens.
I have no idea who that is.
I'm calling The board of directors? He's on it.
He's in charge of fund-raising for the next two years, including the Heritage Fund.
Are you familiar with that? Yes, I am.
I'm sorry to interrupt.
No, it's no problem.
Sorry.
The irony of a view you can't enjoy is not lost on me.
But I didn't want to give you a different office just because you can't appreciate blue skies.
By the way, we replicated your DPD work station to the inch.
Well, not exactly.
You added state of the art speakers and some other goodies.
Catered lunch at 1 :00 p.
m.
You're in the big leagues now.
Wow, you've really made this place your own.
Mmm.
And so quickly.
Annie, I had to sift through a lot of your NASA interview footage.
Next time, try to put the control question in the same place during each interview.
You varied it once.
Duly noted.
In 84 percent of perjury cases, the subjects display common physical behaviors.
And in 70 percent of those cases, they actually try to hide themselves.
They put up a physical barrier, Iike an arm.
What are you working on specifically right now? Uh, I, um I supervise a team of technicians, um, in the satellite maintenance office.
Well, that's it? That's our start.
The arm across his waist is the tell.
So, we dug deeper.
The tensile quality in his oculi and oris muscles is inconsistent during this answer.
An involuntary sign of deceit.
Or he was just nervous.
He's got motive.
NASA refused to fund his project on satellite refueling six months ago.
His wife left him Iast year.
And while he was initially admitted to NASA through the astronaut program, he never got to go up in space.
Of all the guys I interviewed there, Will was the only one cut from genuine NASA cloth.
NASA engineers are poorly paid and underappreciated.
Two qualities that fit the treasonous profile.
We need to get him under surveillance.
That's NSA purview.
We'll get Joan to liaise with Fort Meade.
No.
No way.
Absolutely not.
A wiretap means we're in bed with NSA, and they would control the Legacy switch.
Sorry.
An R1 wire transmitter could get around the Legacy Switch.
Supercede the rule of law? Destroy our tenuous relationship with Justice and the NSA? Well, if you let me just finish, I No.
Reva, you are new, so I'll let you in on the way things work in my Division.
There is no Socratic Method here.
My decisions are final.
Are you okay? Um, I'm fine.
I just have allergies.
Uh, pollen counts are at eight point five.
Just so you know, you're not the first person Joan has balled-out on their first day.
Really? She's actually kind of cool.
Well, maybe not cool, but not so bad.
Once you figure her out.
In DST, we didn't have to figure out people.
I mean, we just generated files and charts and studies.
I transferred here to the DPD because I wanted more of a challenge.
And clearly, I've gotten it.
Around here, it's a bit more of a two way street.
Human intelligence and hard facts.
Yeah.
What about one-way surveillance? Bug their home? Why not? We can do it ourselves.
We'd only hear one side of the phone call.
But we'd hear everything that was going on in their house.
We'd maintain jurisdiction over the investigation, and we wouldn't have to interface with NSA.
That will work.
How should we get inside their house? Create a diversion? Call in a bomb threat? No, that's likely to tip off the FBI.
And we don't want that.
How about this? What are you doing? Are you calling the target? Hello? Hey, is this Will? Yes.
Who's this? This is Annie Walker from the Smithsonian.
I filmed you for Mars Day.
I was wondering if I could drop off a photo we have here as a small thank you for doing our piece.
Today? Yeah, today would be great.
I could even take you guys out for a bite.
Well, Charlie and I were planning to grill on the rooftop.
Nothing special, of course.
You're welcome to come.
Around 6:30 or 7:00? I love a good barbecue.
I'll see you tonight.
Annie, when you were up at NASA, did anything seem out of the ordinary? Uh, a PR rep asked me what I was doing, but I handled it.
You handled it.
Did it ever occur to you that you might have blown your cover yesterday? I mean, what are the chances of them having a barbecue the night you invite yourself over? This is a trap.
You get all that? Yes.
And are we responding to a request to declassify these three Afghanistan missions? This is voluntary.
It's part of my transparency push.
Some of our assets in Kashmir have used their influence to open up the region.
Yes, sir.
And Auggie.
Have some fun with this.
We built a school for girls.
It's the feel-good hit of the summer.
Yes, sir.
Hey.
Come on in.
Apollo 15.
You remembered.
I thought you'd appreciate it.
Thank you.
I swear the sun was brighter back then.
I'm sure that's just because Florida is closer to the equator.
Charlie is upstairs Iighting the coals.
Can I get you something to drink? Um, a beer? Sure.
It's clean.
It's just, we're not big folders around here.
No judgment.
Should we go upstairs? I'm hungry, too.
Let's, um Let's go.
Remember, Annie.
You need to give Jai coverage in the apartment from 7:00 to 7:15, for the surveillance installation.
Don't come down from the roof until 7:15.
First star of the night, Dad.
Antares beat Scorpio.
Oh, there's Bootes.
I can just see Spica.
Where? It's nice.
You guys take the time to come and do this once in a while.
Not just once in a while.
I come home from work to look at the stars with Charlie every night.
No matter what.
Let's eat.
Delphinus was the first constellation I ever learned.
My dad taught me.
I got Chicken Pox the first day before third grade.
He carried me out into the backyard, pointed straight up, and told me the story of Delphinus.
So, every autumn, when you look at the small cluster of Delphinus, you must think of him.
Yeah, I do.
Charlie? Set up the telescope.
Come on.
Oh.
Wow.
Are you married or anything? Uh, not that I know of.
You should hang out with my Dad.
He's really cool.
Whoa.
I mean, he can be kind of a dork sometimes, but he built this telescope.
That is impressive.
I know our apartment Iooks really depressing, but it's just because my dad never asks for a raise.
He doesn't believe in asking for anything.
He's really proud about that.
What about you? Nah, not so much.
I've got my eye on a really sweet Vespa.
Oh! Wow.
The weatherman is finally right.
Storm is on its way.
We'd better get downstairs.
Actually, I'm still hungry.
Could I have one more bratwurst? Yeah.
I've got you loud and clear.
I'm walking through right now, talking out loud Iike a crazy person.
You got that? Okay, I'm going to set one more.
It's all we've got time for.
This is really good.
You can take that downstairs.
You don't have to eat it out in the rain.
Mmm.
We just made it.
Oh.
Uh, I left my sweater upstairs.
You guys head on down.
I'll get it.
Thanks, Charlie.
I feel great.
I had a light supper.
Went to bed early.
I slept like a rock.
I ate too much and went to bed late.
But, thanks.
Hey, can I ask you something? Sure.
Is everything okay with you and Michael? I know he's been traveling a lot.
It's fine.
I mean, it's weird.
It's hard to explain.
Try me.
It's nothing earth-shattering.
It's just Danielle, what is it? I don't miss him much.
At all.
Danielle, I'm so No, it's fine.
That's what's so crazy.
I'm fine.
What happened? I don't know.
Do you think it's possible to slowly fall out of love with someone? Any thoughts? Hello? Let's keep running and talking.
So, I don't know whether I should talk to Michael.
Annie? Hey, slow down.
I just want to finish.
You want to win.
Sorry.
Danielle, I want to talk about this, but I realized I just dropped my phone back there.
The museum is going to kill me.
It has everyone's home number on it.
Well, I'll help you.
No.
Uh, don't.
Go home.
Please? The girls have to get ready for school.
Well, I'll call No, you can't.
Because you don't have your phone, and I dropped mine.
I'll be careful.
I promise.
Okay.
Hey! Hey, Annie.
I was surveilled this morning.
I need you to get in touch with Rock Creek Park Police and see if anyone ID'd a female involved in a parkway pileup.
Blue top, long braid.
Okay.
Will do.
As for you, protocol directive 2408.
Got it.
I'll watch my tail.
No.
That means you shouldn't come in today.
Ha-ha! Not going to happen.
I'm in sticker shock.
It's not even itemized.
Neither are our bills to Congress.
He knew we had nowhere else to turn.
He knew we needed a fat cat attorney.
And he got us to dip into our retirement funds for a tennis vacation in Hilton Head? Yeah, don't personalize it.
I was wrong to insist that we hire him.
So, what should we do? I need you to be every bit as gallant as I know you can be.
This doesn't sound good.
I need you to pay him, and then, I need you to fire him.
Please.
I thought I wasn't tailed.
How can you be sure? I took three buses, two metro lines, and the Agency jitney dropped me off at the front door.
AII in all, I'd say public transportation is a better deal than my parking spot.
Your boy, Will, has an active nightlife.
That was the woman who tailed me in the park.
She was with Will? Last night, almost immediately after you left.
Then, Will came back home and we got this.
I have another drop.
Same time and place.
Will's our guy.
Auggie.
This press release about our missions, the school, my efforts to open up the Agency? Yes, sir.
It reads like Crime and Punishment.
Except with no information in it.
You're maddeningly obtuse.
If we're going to depress the hell out of everyone, Iet's not bother voluntarily declassifying anything.
I mean, Auggie, we built a girls' school.
A girls' school.
And I included that.
Along with vague, conditional information about the purpose of the school, itself.
Let me save you some cat and mouse.
Girls will show up.
They will learn.
Lives will improve.
It's straightforward.
Now, I underestimated how difficult a transition it would be for a good covert operative Iike yourself.
Especially one with such talent on the battlefield.
It's not difficult, sir.
I'm asking you to run against every instinct to maintain secrecy.
I learned those skills.
I can unlearn them.
Well, unlearn them quick.
The press conference is tomorrow.
Annie Walker and icy hot menthol.
Marathon training is no picnic.
Hey, these new digs are incredible.
I've got my own thermostat and free lunch.
AII I ever wanted was a job with free food.
But you're not here to talk about my job, are you? The DPD has their NASA traitor dead to rights.
Yeah? Phone calls, surveillance photos But something about it does not line up.
Talk to Reva.
I vetted her with Joan.
She's good.
She's not you.
Annie, I'd love to help you, but I can't.
What do you mean, you can't? You always know what to do.
I just bummed out of my first assignment for Arthur, and I've got to turn it around by the end of the day.
You are the first friend I ever made at this Agency.
And no one I have met here has impressed me more since.
You're going to do great at this job.
I want to make it clear we're just talking.
You're free to go at any time.
In the way I'm free to not take the field sobriety test? Meaning what? Meaning that by not talking, that's a presumption of guilt.
We can talk about talking, or we can talk.
Or we can sit and not talk.
I didn't know who they were at first.
You know who they are now? Colombian rebels.
I'm going to advise you to get an attorney.
Because we're going to have to hand our investigation over to the feds.
I'll tell you everything.
I'm tired of lying.
How did the Colombians make you? I don't understand.
How did they turn you? How did they convince you to spy for them? I was at a science fair of Charlie's.
He was a finalist in the national competition.
She was a very attractive American woman who said that she was from the private sector.
She said her company had heard of my work, and that no price was too high to woo me away from NASA.
She works for FARC.
I know that now.
I knew that her company was coming at me with a strategy of seduction.
But I just didn't care.
After a couple of rough of years, both personally and professionally, she was a tonic.
Then, what happened? Then, I met her again.
This time, at the Planetarium.
She asked me for a manual that I'd written on satellite maintenance.
Which they could reverse engineer.
So, after you gave her the manual, is that when she revealed who she worked for? By that time, they had their hooks in me.
They blackmailed me for more information about the satellite.
I was trapped.
You weren't trapped.
You could have come to us after handing over that first manual, but you chose not to.
I'm sorry.
You want to talk about it? There's nothing really to say.
Maybe it's just a temporary lull.
You know, a passing funk.
Michael's a good father.
You always see the best in everyone.
Maybe I'm naive.
No.
I just need to take a beat and refocus.
Why don't you go for a romantic night out? I'll watch the girls this weekend.
I could do that.
I'm just into Will's finances.
He listed NASA as a beneficiary of part of his 401 K.
So? So, this is not a guy who hates his institution.
Annie, you helped the DPD nail NASA's mole.
Okay? It's in the Fed's hands.
Now, can we move on? Uh, normally, this is the time where my former tech op would encourage me.
Support my gut instinct and assist in my research.
Have you heard of the Hummingbird Project? Was that the one two years ago where DST was making surveillance birds? Yes.
Remote-controlled hummingbirds that could monitor outdoor conversations.
I was behind that.
And even after it failed a very critical test run due to interference, I kept pushing it.
I couldn't let it go.
Well, it sounds Iike a cool idea.
Well, it was.
Until we took it out to Camp Peary for a second test run.
There was just one thing we didn't count on, was weather.
I mean, when the wind blew, we couldn't control the damn things.
My blind faith in that project set me back two years at the Agency.
So, take some advice from me, and get out of your own way.
We're done with the NASA operation.
Move on.
Okay? You know what I get from that story? You were fired up about something.
Auggie, you are the Ernest Hemingway of good news.
It turns out I was right.
You're a natural at this.
You're a quick study.
You're going to help move the Agency into a new era.
Reporters are like tigers in captivity.
If you want to clean the cage, you've got to distract them with a piece of meat.
Many good operatives have come in from the cold.
Yes, sir.
There is a life, a fulfilling life for an overt officer, Auggie.
Come on, Auggie.
It's time.
Micro-expressions don't lie, right? I don't like to use absolutes, but, yes.
Statistically, micro-expressions are excellent baselines of truthfulness.
And putting up a physical barrier Iike your arm or a coffee cup means a lie, right? Right.
Okay.
How did they turn you? How did they convince you to spy for them? I was at a science fair for Charlie.
He was a finalist in the national competition.
Wait a second.
That's his tell.
Right? You're right.
He's lying.
Exactly.
How could he be Iying both times? Somehow, I knew that a beautiful filmmaker who loves space was too good to be true.
What happened to the aspiring astronaut? Annie, in the scope of things, I didn't ruin the world.
Life, or the expansion of the galaxy, for that matter, continues to go on for billions of years, with or without me.
We're just a pale blue dot.
Charlie quoted Carl Sagan when he was talking about Pioneer 10.
It wasn't you they made at the science fair.
It was Charlie, wasn't it? He was only a boy.
A very smart 16-year-old boy.
And then, she came along.
That's all it took to snag a kid with his own ambitions, who also wanted his old man to be a hero again.
How did he get the information? At first, it was just my resume.
Then, it was a paper I wrote.
He thought he was giving my work to someone in the private sector.
They told him that, just by doing that, he had violated the State Secrets Act.
And they just kept asking for more.
When did they have you? As soon as Charlie told me.
I took over the relationship.
I gave them the information about the satellites.
And I didn't know what else to do.
What did Charlie think was happening? He thought I had fixed it all.
He thought things were back to normal.
It's been hard since his mother left.
But it wasn't over, was it? No.
Why the phone call? When I walked you out of the building after the barbecue, I saw they left me a signal.
It was a bike locked up to the bus stop.
That meant they wanted me to meet them immediately.
What did they say at the meeting? They thought you might be on to me.
When you walked in the building, they said someone followed you in then climbed out the fire escape just when we came down from the rooftop.
They assumed that you had bugged my place.
Then, why would you go home and make an incriminating phone call? Wait.
You were trying to get caught? That was just a message I left on my own voicemail.
Once you were out to us, FARC's pipeline to NASA's information would be shut down.
And Charlie would be useless to them.
Well, what was your contingency plan? AII of this.
This wasn't a space mission.
I had to protect my son, no matter what the cost.
Reva.
Annie Walker.
I remember you.
Auggie? I'm back.
Because you missed me so much? Oh, you're good, but you're not that good.
I wasn't ready to blow my cover.
Besides, you are clearly helpless without me.
Completely and utterly helpless.
Are you read in? Yeah.
It's not over, Annie.
Why? Charlie made a call.
He offered to give up everything about his dad's research on satellite rendezvous capacities if they'll let Will go.
He thinks Will is being held by FARC? You've got to get to him before they do.
Charlie, listen to me.
Your dad's safe.
We want to help you.
He told us about FARC.
I'm here to protect you.
Eighty-eight constellations move across the sky each year.
Cast your eyes upward toward the Northern hemisphere Come.
and we will explore just one part of the celestial field that has mesmerized humankind for thousands of years.
Just as countries have natural Charlie, get the gun! It's over.
It's going to be okay.
Do you have other relatives here? I mean, who will you stay with? Grandma for now.
Downside, lots of chores.
Upside, folded laundry.
When can I see my dad? I don't know, yet.
What I do know is I've never seen two people so loyal to each other.
And that will count for something, Charlie.
Come on.
Let's call your grandmother.
Chet, we wanted to talk to you.
Look, there's no reason to thank me.
This is what I do.
That's what we wanted to talk about.
I got him in the third set.
Now, I'm not going to Iie to you.
We could be having a very different conversation if my tennis elbow had flared up.
We're talking about why we hired you.
Yeah, I know, Joanie.
No hearings.
Who do you think I was playing tennis with? I have no idea.
The esteemed Senator from Kentucky.
Jensen? He told his committee this morning there's no reason to pursue an investigation.
Get some sleep, chief.
To everything in its place.
Hear, hear.
What happens to you now, Reva? Um, back to DST.
But with a bump in pay grade.
They're nowhere near as much fun as we are.
But they're more predictable.
Well, you say that like it's a compliment.
Time for more drinks.
Oh.
I've got to go.
I have a date.
Well, well.
Ooh.
Here it is.
It's old.
Did you find it? My dad gave it to me for my birthday when I was just a little older than you.
You guys are really lucky, and not just because I'm babysitting tonight.
There's a really bright star I'm going to show you.
Plus, there's a story to go with it.