Covert Affairs s03e02 Episode Script

I'm Parker.
The Peace Corps is incredibly selective.
Eritrea? Can you just be happy for me? What's going on, Jai? Come with me.
You're being reassigned.
Okay.
That's enough.
Who are you? Lena Smith.
I'm your new boss.
I think you were being underutilized at the DPD.
I want you to do high security clearance on a person of interest named Simon Fischer.
Mr.
And Mrs.
Quinn? This way, please.
Annie.
You look like you got some color.
I was able to make the sweep.
Whatever was on Simon Fischer's tablet is now on that.
Nice work.
I knew you would be good at this job.
I do have some concerns about the value of what's on there.
Meaning Meaning It all came a bit too easily.
Maybe you're just that good.
I don't know.
The passports of those German spies? Keep talking.
I'm listening.
He left them right out in the open.
Like he wanted me to find them.
Do you think he's on to you? I don't know.
He's hard to read.
As are you.
Decompress these files.
Tell me what you find.
Did you spend the night with Simon in Marrakech? Uh, yeah.
Do you have someone in your life? A boyfriend? No, I don't have a boyfriend.
Someone you care about? Someone who would be compromised by this? No.
I'm completely free and unencumbered.
I'm just looking forward to getting a good night's sleep in my own bed.
Go, then.
I'll let you know what we find.
Great.
Excuse me, Lena, but the D.
C.
S.
Would like to see you in his office.
And he asked that Ms.
Walker come along, as well.
Lena, sorry to pull you away.
Annie, could you wait outside? Of course.
This doesn't look good.
Your two moms getting called to the principal's office.
You do something wrong? Probably.
I didn't know Lena reported to Arthur.
I didn't know Lena reported to anybody.
You know what this is about? My guess is it has something to do with what happened in Barcelona this morning.
This morning, Spanish intelligence detained a Canadian couple who were trying to enter Barcelona from Livorno.
A Mr.
And Mrs.
Ken and Andrea Quinn.
They came to Barcelona to purchase a hand-crafted computer virus from a hacker known as Red Rover.
Red Rover? His handle's all we've got.
He's been on our radar for three years, but he's been able to maintain his anonymity.
And the Canadians' angle? Fronts for the Chinese.
It's China's new M.
O.
On the continent.
Europeans prefer to do business with other white faces.
Canadians seem harmless.
Is that what we're looking at here, Joan? Yes.
It is.
M.
S.
S.
Is backing them.
But they don't know their fronts have been taken off the game board yet.
This gives us a rare opportunity.
If we can send a team out to pose as the Quinns, we can make the buy and bring the malware back to reverse engineer.
So, even if the Chinese obtain another copy, we can inoculate its target.
So what does this have to do with me? Annie and Auggie have been spearheading the D.
P.
D.
's attempt to locate and neutralize Red Rover.
But due to the recent reorganization Neither of them report to you anymore.
Right.
Now I see what this is all about.
Um Is it bigger than a bread box? No.
No? You just said yes a few questions ago.
I don't get why everything always has to be compared to a bread box.
I don't know! I think this game was more fun in theory.
Yeah.
The Stuxnet virus dismantled Iran's nuclear enrichment program.
If this one's aimed at us, who knows what damage it could do? You're telling me why it's something we need to do.
You're not telling me why it's something Annie needs to do.
Ah, how long are we talking here? We put them on the next flight out.
They're back tomorrow evening.
What do you think, Lena? This hasn't already been decided? No, this is the first I'm hearing about it.
I'm hoping we can talk this out.
Well, I can't afford to lose Annie at this stage.
She just started working for you.
And she's just beginning to learn.
She got her foot in the door.
I need to make sure she's able to keep it there.
Annie's game and enthusiastic, but she's picked up some bad habits along the way.
I'm not sure how we resolve this.
Well, Arthur, you've been put in an awkward situation here.
Someone's going to need to be the bigger person.
There goes your good night's sleep.
You two have always campaigned to go out in the field together.
Well, here's your chance.
Congratulations, Mrs.
Quinn.
Mr.
Quinn.
For the next 36 hours.
I now pronounce you husband and wife.
Let's go get you up to speed.
Annie? Yeah! Wait, I thought you came here to unpack.
I did.
And now I'm packing back up for my next trip.
Today? Yeah, today.
Are you going for the Smithsonian, or are you going for Hey, normally I wouldn't ask those kinds of questions, you know I wouldn't.
It's just that I'm a little shaken with what happened yesterday.
What happened yesterday? Jai Wilcox died in a rock climbing accident in West Virginia.
It was in all the papers.
I did I did hear that, actually.
It's awful.
I'm so sorry.
I know I only met him that one time he came over for dinner, but I really liked him.
I did, too.
He was a good friend.
Well, how, um How good a friend was he? Um, what do you mean? Well, they're saying that he was Henry Wilcox's son.
So did he work for the State Department, or did he also I'm doing it again, aren't I? Did Jai really die in a rock climbing accident? I gotta get to the airport.
I understand.
Come back soon, okay? Bad news.
One of us has a middle seat.
Oh.
I'd say I'd flip you for it, but Do you really need a window? I'll take the middle.
You sure? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm going back out into the field, I'd sit in baggage if I had to.
Can I ask you a question? Since when did you start asking permission? What are we doing here? Are you having some sort of metaphysical dilemma? Because if you are You're the one who's been tracking Red Rover.
You know the world, you know the players.
What did I do, help you with a few hours of research? This isn't the first time you've been underqualified, you know? Come on, Auggie.
I'm serious.
All right, look.
Joan's fiefdom is under attack.
She's not the type to walk away from a fight, so pulling us back, even for just a day, sends the message that she won't just roll over.
Do you think it's permanent? Us being reassigned? Nothing is ever permanent in the Agency.
But it's best if you carry yourself as if it were.
Flight 44 That's us, darling.
So, what's it like working for Lena? I don't know.
I'm not sure yet.
I'll tell you one thing.
She is really different than Joan.
Yeah? How so? Hmm, she's more approachable.
You know? Like we're all in it together, as equals.
She's given me plenty of autonomy so far.
Really? Where did she send you first? Nowhere.
Just a local fact-finding mission to get my feet under me.
Local? Huh! Since when did Marrakech become local? I'm sorry.
How did you know? I could tell from your tan lines.
Look, don't worry about it.
I know how hard it is to serve a new master.
But you will need to pay for that little indiscretion.
Mmm.
I know.
I'll take the middle seat.
Oh, it's like you can read my mind.
Lena.
Joan.
Thank you For your understanding earlier.
I hope Annie's absence hasn't jeopardized anything too critical.
Is this you gloating, Joan? You've always been so remote.
It's hard to read you sometimes.
Oh, I think you read me just fine.
I don't get how you run your department.
You're willing to jeopardize the big picture just to chalk up a win.
I might have picked up some bad habits along the way.
Like dragging me without warning in front of the D.
C.
S? I was just following protocol.
So that's what that was.
We're not the new girls in Nairobi anymore, trying to make our stripes.
It diminishes the both of us when you run to a man to help solve our problems, even if that man is your husband.
That man also outranks you, so I'd watch how you refer to him.
The next time you want some consideration regarding one of my operatives, just come to me directly.
It's 12:08.
The meeting was set for noon.
Well, we are on Barcelona time.
I'm just saying, if you were back at your desk right now, this would be the time you'd tell me to pull the ripcord.
Yeah, and then you wouldn't listen to me, and you'd do whatever you want.
Mmm.
Why are you sitting so far away? We're married.
This is supposed to be romantic.
Give me your hand.
That's better.
You're enjoying this way too much.
Aw, I'm enjoying this just the right amount.
What's going on? Change of plans.
How many different ways can this go wrong? Besides the obvious red flag of changing the meeting spot, there's a few.
Like, we can't be sure the Chinese don't know their fronts have been detained.
Or the fronts themselves may be feeding us bad intel.
The prudent move would be to not answer this, right? Yup.
We're not gonna make that move, are we? Hello.
Is this Red Rover? Do you have the money? Do you have the package? A motorcycle will pull up to the curb in 15 seconds.
Put the money in its sidecar.
If it's all there, you will receive further instructions.
That wasn't the deal.
We need to see the package.
Five, four We're doing this, right? Three, two, one.
All right, the drop's been made.
Now what? I think we just got played.
What about the bike? Uh, the license plate was blacked out.
Congratulations.
We have a deal.
Where's the package? Check under the phone.
Nice doing business with you.
Tell me we got it.
It looks like we do.
All's well that ends well.
I gotta tell you, I imagined a more romantic honeymoon, Mr.
Quinn.
You turned our bed into a work station.
Uh-huh.
You could have at least carried me across the threshold.
Our flight doesn't leave for four hours.
I need some privacy to run these diagnostics.
Are you even listening to me? Well, you asked why we're here in the safe house, didn't you? No, I didn't.
Oh.
First thing a guy does as soon as he gets married? Stop listening.
Or so I'm told.
How much more time do you need? Um, 10, 15 more minutes.
Come here.
You gotta check this out.
What am I looking at? Poetry.
No, actually, I take that back.
It's more like sheet music.
Red Rover is using the basic building blocks of the Stuxnet virus, but this thing's got so much more soul.
It's got melody.
I have to take your word for it.
Zero day attacks.
Man-in-the-middle attacks.
Modular, sophisticated, it's like Miles in his Kind of Blue period.
You should've told me you were such a dork when you proposed.
I might've said no.
Whatever you say, dear.
I think the Chinese know what we did.
That's impossible.
The Spanish separated the Quinns, denied them access to communication.
This just came in from Spain.
Three MSS operatives were just spotted at El Prat an hour ago.
Rebecca.
Get me Nestor Campos at the C.
N.
I.
Annie and Auggie, what's their status? They've secured the package.
They're on the next flight home.
I don't understand why you were so eager to give Auggie the ball on this one.
Why, you think he's not qualified? Is this about me taking Auggie away from you and moving him to the O.
S.
P? Because I have got bigger fish to fry at the moment than to be playing these passive aggressive games.
How did you get these photos so fast? I was in the middle of a drill-down on the Iberian desk.
It came up.
So just good timing? You are micromanaging this op, Arthur.
Auggie's out of pocket for a couple of days and you're climbing the walls? What else have you tasked him with? Campos, line three.
Nestor, what have you got? You done? Yeah.
Almost, just running one last test.
Hey, listen That dork comment that you made about me earlier.
Did you mean that? Come on, we both know you have certain dork-like qualities.
No, that's not I meant the part about where you said you wouldn't marry me because of it.
Did you mean that? I'm confused.
About what? Is this you, Auggie Anderson, asking me, or are you Mr.
Kenneth Quinn? Does it matter? Well, I'm just trying to figure out where this is coming from.
I'm gonna ask Parker to marry me.
When? As soon as possible.
I was gonna go back to Eritrea last night, but this mission kind of changed my plans.
I bought the ring four days ago.
Been carrying it around ever since.
Haven't shown it to anybody yet.
How long have you been dating her? What do you mean? Oh, yeah, I guess we haven't talked about this much, have we? Um About three Four months.
Mmm, and most of that's been long-distance, right? Yeah.
What did she say when you read her in on who you work for? Well, she didn't say anything.
I haven't read her in yet.
Auggie! Annie, I know what I'm doing.
Don't roll your eyes at me.
I can hear them spinning from here.
You think this is a reaction to what happened to Jai? Maybe it is.
And if it is, I'm okay with it.
One of our own got blown up by a bomb.
Life is too short not to react to something like that.
It's Joan.
Hello? What's your 20? We're about to leave for the airport, why? There's a new development on the ground over there.
The Canadians that were rounded up? They've just been found murdered.
They were supposed to be in custody.
They were, in different facilities even.
There were two separate security breaches coordinated perfectly.
It's no longer safe for you in Barcelona.
Understood.
What's going on? We got to get out of here.
Gun! On your left! Stairs.
Uh, take my arm.
No, I can do this faster on my own.
What? I'm not leaving you behind.
Run point, clear the floors below.
Go.
Clear.
Clear.
Clear.
Got it! Ann! Are you okay? Are you okay? Yeah.
I dropped the case.
It's okay.
It's okay.
It's okay.
The virus is based off of the Tilded platform.
I couldn't tell what it was designed to target specifically, but I'm guessing a SCADA system of some sort.
Probably U.
S.
Based.
So, what kind of damage are we talking about here? It depends on the target.
It could offline whole manufacturing runs, weapons programs.
Maybe tap into our network backbone.
Joan, it's going to cause a lot of hurt.
We have to intercept this thing before the Chinese put it into play.
There's no getting the package back now.
Not without an army.
It's probably on a plane to Beijing as we speak.
Well, I'm not suggesting we go after the package.
What I'm saying is we need to find Red Rover and turn him.
He's the only one who will know how to counter this virus.
You've ID'ed Red Rover? No.
Yes.
I'm sorry? Is that a yes or a no? No, we haven't positively ID'ed him.
I've worked up a profile.
Based on what? Hello? Based on what? Joan, we got a bargain with this virus.
Red Rover could have sold it for a lot more.
So, you're saying he's not motivated by money.
Perhaps.
Maybe he doesn't know how talented he is.
But he's held on to his anonymity.
So, maybe he's the sort of person who will respond to being recognized.
Annie, do you think we have the bandwidth to pull this off? On the ground, now? We'd still have to find Red Rover.
We can question the waitress.
- What waitress? - At the cafe.
She might have a description of the guy who passed her the note.
It's worth a shot.
No, that's not a shot, Auggie.
That's a shot in the dark.
But, Joan, I Look.
Guys, this is on me.
I sent you in there with faulty intel and without adequate support.
Let's not compound the error, okay? I want you to get on a plane and come back home.
They said the food was the worst thing about prison, but they were wrong.
It's the golf.
They don't take care of their greens at all.
I wanted to extend my condolences on your loss.
You came all the way out here just to tell me that? I know we've had our differences, but Jai was still part of our family.
A mountain climbing accident, huh? What did you tell everyone happened with his car? Fuel line defect.
And people bought that? I don't know why I'm surprised.
Perhaps because I'm still in shock.
I wanted to attend the service, but somebody must have considered me a flight risk.
I suppose I should be flattered.
I'm sorry you couldn't attend, Henry.
It was a fine service.
Very dignified.
I can still see him walking into work the first day.
Chalk striped suit.
Rep tie.
And those shoes? He must have stayed up all night polishing them.
He will be remembered.
I understand you've had some visitors recently.
Investigators from the task force.
You mean the buzzards.
I heard you weren't cooperating.
Now, it is revealed.
What? Why you came.
You have an agenda.
Oh, I didn't have an agenda.
Please.
The decision to stick you behind a desk, reclassify you as overt.
That was mine.
You made a horrible spy.
Your eyes give too much away.
I'm imploring you, Henry.
Please sit down with them.
I wasn't allowed out for the funeral.
My own son.
After 30 years of service.
So, you're not cooperating.
Why? To get payback? You know how opinion is shaped, Henry.
Your intransigence is fueling speculation that you might have been involved somehow in the bombing.
People think I murdered my own son? What motive? Revenge? Do people think I'm capable of something so horrific? And what do you think? Oh, I'd like to believe you had nothing to do with it.
But every time I thought you couldn't possibly sink any lower, you proved me wrong.
I brought you into the agency.
I made you.
You were supposed to be my trusted lieutenant.
My protege.
And the whole time, you were stabbing me in the back.
That's not an accurate record of what transpired My son was assassinated! Right here.
In our own backyard.
You shouldn't have held yourself up as A mentor, or a guardian, if you couldn't follow through and protect your charges.
You want to search someone's hands for Jai's blood? Search yours.
I see a cab stand ahead.
I can't believe you're pulling the ripcord.
That was Joan's call, not mine.
Because you put it in her head.
We don't have the bandwidth? We don't.
We are outnumbered and outflanked.
Since day one, you have been bucking Joan's authority like it is a source of pride.
And now, all of a sudden, you salute and fall in lock step.
It's because of me, isn't it? You think I'm some sort of a burden.
I do not think that.
Then why did you come back up the stairs to help me? Because you were down.
You should have gone for the package.
That was our mission.
To get the package home.
Not to help me.
I don't want to go back to the way things were.
I don't want to get stuck behind my desk.
I want to move forward with my life across the board.
But I don't have a Lena in my corner.
My only champion is Joan.
If I disappoint her You won't disappoint her.
She wants us to follow orders.
She wants us to come home.
Come on, Annie.
She wants a win.
And so do I.
I have to take this.
Fine.
Hello.
Yes.
Question for you.
Have you boarded your flight back stateside yet? No.
Not yet.
Good.
I might have a change of itinerary for you.
We've traced Simon to Munich.
He's staying at the Konigshof.
You want me to stop by? Why not? Spur of the moment, throw caution to the wind.
You've got that gear.
How did you trace Simon? From the sweep drive? No, the sweep drive was a cropper.
Nothing of real value on it.
But we have other sources.
Wait, the drive came up with nothing? Well, you said it yourself.
Anything you could get that easily was probably not worth getting.
Yeah.
Uh Besides, do you really need a sweep drive? Get intimate enough with a man and he'll tell you everything.
So, can I book you a flight? Actually, I'm not sure when I can wrap this up.
Joan promised me you'd be done by the end of the day.
Just hop over to Munich then.
I will do my best.
Lena.
Um Let me get back to you.
Auggie? Hola.
Hola.
I don't know if you remember me.
I was here earlier and I forgot to tip my waitress.
She's, like, um, dark hair, kind of spectacular looking Pilar.
Pilar.
Yes.
Is she here? No.
Oh.
Um Could I leave her some cash? Because I feel kind of horrible.
Yeah, of course.
You Americans love to tip.
Another one was here ten minutes ago to do the same thing.
That's a coincidence.
Yeah.
Um, what did you say her name was again? Pilar.
Pilar Sastre.
Sastre? Ten minutes behind.
I thought I taught you better than that.
You thought wrong.
Well, it's not the first thing I got wrong today.
Listen.
I, uh I feel like I should You don't need to.
You were right.
I was being overly cautious and overly protective.
I already lost one friend this week, I don't want to lose my best one on top of that.
So, we're besties.
Try not to freak out about it.
Well, we had our first fight.
Now, we're like a real married couple.
Did you check the apartment? I knocked.
Nobody answered.
The manager didn't give you the actual address, did he? No.
I called in a favor.
Cross-checked her DNI number with the Spanish tax authorities.
You? Phonebook.
Oh.
Well, I didn't have that option.
Come on.
What is it? Here she comes.
I hope you're right.
Excuse me.
I don't know if you remember us from the restaurant earlier today.
No.
Sorry, I don't.
We sat in your section.
You passed us a note? I'm not interested.
Listen, um What do you think you're doing, huh? Pilar? We just want to ask you a couple of questions.
Well, so you know, I have one million volts at my disposal.
And I have no fear to use all of them.
We're not here to hurt you.
Yeah, you don't say.
Look, we just want to know if you remember anything about the guy at the restaurant who gave you the note.
No.
I am letting you in, but don't mess with my shit.
What's that humming sound? Uh, I don't know how to describe exactly what I'm seeing.
No need.
I'm already there.
If you came to get your money back, too bad.
No refunds.
No.
No.
We didn't come for your money, Red Rover.
We came for you.
They're still not picking up.
Okay.
Well, um, just keep trying.
Both of them.
Hey.
You got a minute? For you, Paul, I've got two.
Yeah, well, I only need the one.
I don't have much time.
I just slipped away from a JSEC meeting.
Oh, so it's going to be one of those kind of minutes.
Yeah, I'm afraid so.
I feel like every time I see you, it's because I've been eavesdropping on your husband.
Why would you be eavesdropping on Arthur? Well, you know the NSA's part of the task force investigating Jai's murder, right? I assumed it would be.
Yeah, well, I've been running point.
Combing through hours of recorded phone conversations and emails.
All signed off on by FISA, of course.
Of course.
Yeah, well, the upshot is this.
In the weeks leading up to his death, a private security firm had been hired to tail Jai.
And Arthur was the one doing the hiring.
From a private account.
Now, did you know anything about this? I came to you as a friend, Joan.
I can't have any of this coming back to me.
Who else knows about this? Today? Just me and you.
But next week? I don't know how wide it's going to get.
Not exactly a jazz aficionado.
In case you haven't figured it out by now, your profile was about a hundred percent wrong.
I'm going to turn this girl.
Watch me.
Sorry.
The music helps chill me out when I get stressed.
No, that's okay.
It's catchy.
You guys want a beer? Uh, no, thank you.
We're okay.
What are you doing? I wanted to see if he really was blind.
I really am blind.
So.
How much trouble I am in? Well, you just sold a virus on the black market.
Add to that your taking down Telecom Orange last Christmas You guys know about that? I thought you weren't involved in law enforcement.
We're not.
But I'm sure Interpol would be happy to finally ID you.
I knew something wasn't right about you two.
You were supposed to be Canadian.
Why did you target the U.
S.
With your virus, Pilar? It's what they asked me to do.
I was just happy someone noticed me.
Look, I'm not out to upend the world or anything.
That's not why I got into this.
Why did you get into it? Because my boyfriend was into it.
I thought he'd be happy, but nope.
He got jealous and hooked up with some gamer girl he met online.
I guess I wanted to show him he made a mistake.
Excuse my reach.
What's going on? Nothing.
Listen, I don't know if you know this or not, but you're an extremely talented programmer.
Leet, even.
Leet? I don't know about that.
No, you are.
You're one of the best I've seen.
Hmm.
Now, I'm assuming you can disarm that malware.
Well, I designed it, so, yeah.
Good.
Then come with us.
Design the antivirus.
And then? Who knows? We could certainly use someone with your talents.
I don't know.
I never thought of myself as someone who'd work for the CIA.
Well, you're a natural.
That exchange that you orchestrated? It seemed like a professional did it.
How did you insert yourself into the cafe? I used to work there.
I have the manager wrapped around my finger.
He lets me pick up shifts whenever I want.
It's good cover.
Good cover? You already have the lingo.
Look.
I used to be a lot like you.
Angry, lost, and looking to tear things down.
But trust me, it is more rewarding to build things up.
Come with us.
Help us.
It will change your life.
This is a lot to process.
Can I ask you a question first? Anything.
Why do you guys suck so much, huh? Does this "build things up" speech actually work with anyone? We'll double the money we already paid you if you'll come and design the antivirus.
Triple it, and I'm all yours.
Done.
You got five minutes.
Pack a bag.
Anything you need.
Passport, computer.
Whatever.
Assume you're not coming back.
I'm ready to go.
Now, how about you tell your goons to stand down, huh? What goons? Is there another way out of this place? Come on.
Go.
Go.
She's coming back for another pass.
Where's Pilar? I don't know.
Annie, we can't lose her.
Here she comes.
Let's go.
Hang on.
Flight 228 to Panama City will continue boarding at this time for passengers with tickets in rows 35 to 20.
Please have your boarding pass ready.
It was one thing to breach protocol when you were reporting to me directly.
But it's another thing entirely under these circumstances.
I still cannot believe you people fly commercial.
Who's this? Pilar, this is your new handler, Joan Campbell.
Joan, this is Pilar Sastre, also known as Red Rover.
You're my handler? I slept on the flight over, so don't worry about me needing any rest.
Now, let me tell you what I'm going to need from you.
Okay? A quad core laptop.
As much RAM that fits.
They make an interesting pair.
I'm not sure who I'm more afraid for.
Joan.
Yeah, definitely Joan.
All right, listen.
I have to admit, my radar was a little off on this one.
You know what I like about you? Just one thing? Your positivity.
You see the best in people until they prove you wrong.
That makes me a chump.
That makes you a romantic.
And a little bit of a chump.
You want a ride home? Uh, no, thank you.
But you can point me in the direction of the ticket counter.
I'm catching the first flight back to Eritrea.
Attention, passengers.
This is the final boarding call for flight 332 to Peru at gate So you can propose? Yeah.
It was good practice, being married to you for a day.
I promise I won't contest the divorce.
This is crazy.
It's crazy, right? To buy an engagement ring literally blind.
It could be horrendous.
You want me to take a look? Just to make sure? Please.
I couldn't go the traditional route 'cause of the blood diamond trade, so I thought she'd like this.
It's beautiful.
If she doesn't like it, she's not the right girl.
Thank you.
For everything.
Yep.
This way? Yeah.