Mission Impossible (1966) s03e14 Episode Script

Do you have "Evan in G"? Good morning, Mr.
Phelps.
This man, Dr.
Oswald Beck, has succeeded in developing a mutation of the bacteria which causes cerebrospinal meningitis.
A spray of this mutant strain produces death within minutes, yet becomes harmless in a few hours, making it practical for our enemies to use as a battlefield weapon.
Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to destroy the bacteria culture and stop Beck.
As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.
This recording will self-destruct in five seconds.
Good luck, Jim.
That's about capacity.
How do you get it to deflate? It's a valve setup operated by remote control.
Barney, how about the drill? I modified a high-velocity air jet.
Quick and quiet.
All right, your appointment's all set, Cinnamon.
The work is virus immunology? Yes, Bredinsk Medical Institute is researching virus immunology in connection with organ transplants.
Now, to all appearances, it's a minimal-security centre.
And all the buildings are legitimate except one, Building 14.
Jim, are you sure that we have enough time to deceive Olni? After all, he has been working with Beck for over a year now.
Olni is a good security officer.
He knows that Beck has been a mercenary.
As far as he's concerned, once a mercenary, always a mercenary.
What happens if Beck actually accepts the bribe? He won't.
At least not right away.
But he will think about it.
He's too good a businessman not to.
Now, Barney, are you sure the gas in this cylinder is not dangerous? Quite sure, Jim.
It'll knock him unconscious.
It'll mimic all the symptoms of Beck's bacteria.
What about the pill? I'll attach it to the seat of the chair.
It'll work exactly as the gas, with one addition: It will simulate death for six or seven minutes.
Who's going to be their guinea pig? Olni has picked a political prisoner.
An innocent man.
Jim, once we have the specimen, couldn't we just take it and have our labs develop an antidote? We doubt that an antidote's possible, Cinnamon.
That's why we have to destroy not only Beck, but the mother strain and the entire supply of bacteria.
What happens if Rollin actually gets the disease? He'll die, in about ten agonising minutes.
I'm Miss Engstrom.
I have an appointment to see Dr.
Beck.
One moment, please.
Lieutenant Marlov, Security.
Are the preparations completed? Oh, yes, we're quite ready for the general.
- Yes? - The Engstrom woman has arrived.
She's at the main gate.
Oh, the journalist.
I'd forgotten about her.
She'll have to come back some other time for the interview.
Today is too inconvenient.
Captain, the prisoner won't be here for some time.
Besides, we've gotta keep up good relations with the press.
Very perceptive, doctor.
The more they publicise our cover, the less suspicion there will be.
Put things in order for Miss Engstrom.
Have your driver follow the signs to Building 14, Miss Engstrom.
How much do you intend to show General Kirsch of your research? Everything, including my anthropoid experiments.
I do think you're taking a dangerous chance.
What do you mean? You've conducted your experiments, so far, in complete secrecy, even from me.
I've seen only the effects of your work, never the causes.
I have not been paid.
And you won't be until your bacteria is a proven success.
I can assure you I trust that I will be pleasantly surprised.
It would pain me to think that all this time had been wasted.
I have the feeling that you want the experiment to fail, Captain Olni.
I never allow my personal motives to interfere with my duty.
Remember that, Dr.
Beck.
In a larger sense, immunology refers to work on that rejection apparatus so troublesome in the transplantation of organs.
We believe that we're making a real breakthrough here by the use of viruses to suppress this rejection mechanism.
If you accomplish that, doctor, you are likely to win a Nobel Prize.
I would like that.
Not so much for myself, but for this country, which has been very kind to me.
Your research grants, are they to your satisfaction, doctor? Yes.
Of course, one never knows when one's funds might suddenly be cut off.
Doctor, would you be so kind as to verify this biographical data? Certainly.
Very flattering.
More than I expected.
You have researched me rather well.
Did I state something wrong? No, no, no.
I certainly can't argue with these facts.
But in all modesty, I must say that I can't allow this to be published.
Well, of course, you can feel free to edit my copy, to make additions, corrections.
I feel tempted to discuss this with my colleagues.
I'd like to know their reactions.
Anything you wish.
You show extreme self-confidence, Miss Engstrom.
Forgive me, Dr.
Beck.
I did not know you were still occupied.
Rudolph Olni, a colleague of Dr.
Beck's.
How do you do? - Maria Engstrom, the journalist? - Yes.
Yes, and Miss Engstrom has prepared a very interesting biography of me.
Perhaps Mr.
Olni would like to read it.
Oh, no.
I don't think so.
Mr.
Olni knows all about me.
One can never know too much about one's colleagues.
Most interesting résumé.
Yes, Miss Engstrom certainly knows her job.
But I would have dug a little deeper.
I intend to.
You may keep that, Dr.
Beck.
If I decide to edit this copy or make any additions, I will call you, Miss Engstrom.
Yes, I will be at the Victoria Hotel.
Goodbye, gentlemen.
General Kirsch's plane has landed.
He will be here within the hour.
Good.
Building 14.
The signs will direct you.
Which way to Building 14? Inside, they are waiting.
Quiet.
- This way.
- Move.
Who are you? What are you going to do? Trust us.
Nothing will happen to you.
Get in.
Move.
Go on.
Trust me.
Come on.
Right this way.
I'm Dr.
Tilsit.
I'm Dr.
Beck.
Dr.
Zeped.
Captain Olni.
Dr.
Tilsit has sent us the wrong man.
He sent me 200 dossiers.
I selected one man.
You brought me this one.
- Where is prisoner Stoltz? - He's dead.
From the prison commandant.
My identification, the dossier.
Our specimen hanged himself in his cell this morning.
I assure you, the guards are being disciplined.
But medically, this man matches your requirements in every respect.
Very well, doctor, start the workup.
Workup? Workup? What are you gonna do to me? You're a lucky man.
Just a few simple tests and then you'll have your freedom.
Captain Olni, I would like a word with you in private.
I'm very busy man, doctor.
It is urgent.
So I saw their car was definitely following mine.
What time of day was this? Evening, just after I left the penitentiary.
Go on.
Well, they forced my car off the road.
He held a gun at my head, she made the offer.
Five hundred thousand dollars for your new meningitis strain.
I told him, of course, you were only doing virus research here.
Her response? She laughed at me.
And you, doctor, what do you think we're doing here? I know a little about Oswald Beck.
I see.
Can you describe these people? Well, the man, early 30s, husky, a thug type.
But the woman, she was something special.
- How? - Well, in poise, beauty, grooming.
She was blond, late 20s, wore very fashionable clothing.
Spoke with a slight German accent.
I see.
What did you tell her? I told her I would steal the strain for her.
Very good, doctor.
And like a very good amateur counterspy, you ask her where you could contact her? - Yes.
- But she said she would contact you.
- Captain, I did my best.
- Yes, I know.
Marlov, see that Miss Engstrom's incoming and outgoing telephone calls are all monitored.
Yes, sir.
Captain, since my instructions are to sign the certificate of death after I've witnessed the autopsy, will I be allowed to watch the whole experiment? Since you already know the cause of death, I see no reason why not.
The technician Lorkner, please.
Lorkner here.
Hello? Hello.
Hello.
The technician Lorkner, please.
I was cut off.
Hello.
Hello.
General Kirsch.
- General Kirsch is here.
- Finish preparing him.
Our cost per kill will be a fraction of nuclear weapons, yet we can be every bit as deadly, general.
What we're most concerned with is the length of the incubation period.
As you see, we've cut it down almost to nothing.
An entire population could be decimated before anyone knew what was happening.
The prisoner knows nothing.
These instruments will allow us to monitor his vital signals without actually wiring him.
Be seated, Dr.
Tilsit.
How do you plan to infect the subject? Airborne bacteria, as on a battlefield.
Through here.
This way, please.
Now, you may sit or walk around as you wish.
You still haven't told me what you're going to do to me.
Trust us.
You will be free very soon.
What's wrong? I don't know.
Everything is good here.
Sounds as if it could be a loose wire in Microphone Number 3.
Fix it.
So sorry, general.
- Is it over? - Soon.
- Guards! Guards! Guards! - You butchers! You wanna kill me! Let me out! Let me out! Let me out! I offered you freedom.
Is that the way you thank me? Everyone was watching.
I was very afraid.
Have confidence.
Have confidence.
- We only want to help you.
- I can't tell how badly he's hurt.
Take him to the preparation room.
We'll have a look at him later.
I will take care of him, Dr.
Beck.
As you wish.
- Switch on the infrared light.
- Yes, sir.
It will only be a matter of minutes.
Barney.
- Yes, Jim? - Everything go all right? Fine.
- Why? Problems? - I don't know yet.
I made the cylinder switch.
That's our knockout gas in there, not Beck's bacteria spray.
- Good.
Is the balloon in place? - Yes.
It's set to capture all of our knockout gas and release it into the observation room whenever you trigger it.
All right, proceed according to schedule.
All right, you're going to be all right.
- Who are you? - I'm Dr.
Tilsit.
I've got to tell them.
- No, you keep down.
- No, no, I must tell them.
- Tell them what? - There was a bag, a plastic bag It's taking effect.
Shouldn't we be getting a more rapid pulse rate, Dr.
Beck? Pulse still holding.
Terminal convulsion.
Switch off infrared.
Exhaust chamber.
Dr.
Beck, please.
This is Miss Engstrom.
Lieutenant Marlov.
Oh, yes, Miss Engstrom.
Well, I'm afraid Dr.
Beck is busy at the moment.
May I take a message? Yes, please.
Would you tell him that I cannot postpone my departure and I must have our second interview this afternoon.
Thank you.
You're quite welcome, Miss Engstrom.
Take him to the post-mortem room.
I will perform the autopsy immediately.
- The subject is dead.
- Excellent.
You're to be congratulated, doctor.
I'm also to be paid.
We had an agreement.
Two hundred thousand Swiss francs after the first successful human experiment.
That is correct.
But is the experiment a success? The subject did not respond to the gas as expected.
He died.
And an autopsy will reveal exactly how.
Until we know, the money remains here.
You're behaving very foolishly, Captain Olni.
There are still further experiments to come, further breakthroughs.
Without me, you will not make them.
If the autopsy reveals that he died of the bacteria, then you will be paid.
Doctor.
Miss Engstrom called to confirm your afternoon appointment.
I made no such appointment.
We have reason to suspect that she is an enemy agent.
- Why don't you come to the point? - Very well.
She offered Dr.
Tilsit $500,000 for the bacteria.
Did you receive such an offer, doctor? - Yes.
- And you did not report it.
- No.
- Why not? You play the guessing game so well, you answer the question.
We both know that you are a businessman.
Under certain circumstances such as a failure here today, her offer could be most tempting.
Correct? You realise that I could have you executed.
I don't think that General Kirsch would approve.
Now, Dr.
Tilsit, aren't you supposed to be witnessing the autopsy? Yes, captain.
We have prepared the slides to brief you on the earlier experiments, general.
If cardiac arrest is the result of brain damage, we're on This man is not dead, doctor.
That's impossible.
Gas.
Stay with him.
Beck.
Beck, you're a traitor.
Traitor.
Engstrom.
Engstrom.
He's showing signs of meningitis.
Could there have been a leak in the cylinder? - I can't explain it.
- There must have been.
Gamma globulin might help.
Do you have some? - There is no antidote.
- What? There is no antidote.
I think perhaps you are a traitor.
I think you arranged this.
You want them to die.
You arranged it because you are a fraud.
No, no, this is a terrible accident.
The bacteria didn't work.
The prisoner is still alive.
You knew that.
So you sold out to Engstrom and you are killing these men to clear the way.
You don't believe what you are saying.
Yes, I believe it and so will everyone else.
Five hundred thousand dollars is better than a firing squad.
Victoria Hotel.
- Hello? - Dr.
Beck here.
I've called to confirm our afternoon appointment.
Fine.
And I see no reason to make any additions to your copy.
Very good, Miss Engstrom.
I'll be waiting for you.
He's got the culture.
We must get the general and the captain to the hospital.
I'll alert your driver, doctor.