The Blacklist Declassified

🔴 Easy-Search Season 10 Scripts

 
Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-e2T
 

NBC’s series The Blacklist created by: Jon Bokenkamp

 
This is all one “page” meaning you can use your browser’s page search to find a quote you remember from Season 9 without knowing which episode it’s in. I use this a lot. Also includes full lyrics to main songs (at end of each episode). To find beginning of major songs, search for ♫.

⭕ For Season 1 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-16b
⭕ For Season 2 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-1m8
⭕ For Season 3 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-1Tj
⭕ For Season 4 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-3lZ
⭕ For Season 5 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: http://wp.me/pDKwi-5Ey
⭕ For Season 6 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-8Mi
⭕ For Season 7 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-9MZ
⭕ For Season 8 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-awu
⭕ For Season 9 Easy-Search scripts, follow this link: https://wp.me/pDKwi-c3J
⭕ For Season 10 Easy-Search scripts, you are here—: https://wp.me/pDKwi-e2T

⭕ For For All Scripts listed individually, with added features (photos, music links and embedded videos, complete navigation, notes, etc), follow this link: https://wp.me/PDKwi-14P

 
You can use your browser’s navigation ~
or use the blue arrow ⬆ to return to the top of each episode
or use the blue double-arrow ⏫ to return to the very top. Enjoy!
 

🔴 Episode 10:1 – The Night Owl
🔴 Episode 10:2 – The Whaler
🔴 Episode 10:3 – The Four Guns
🔴 Episode 10:4 – The Hyena
🔴 Episode 10:5 – The Dockery Affair
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🔴 Skip to End of File

🔴 Script 10:1 The Night Owl

 
Program air date: 2/26/2023 in the US
Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-eg9
Entertainment Weekly Recap: https://tinyurl.com/25asrxv6
 

Brief (Where we’re at): [Before Season 10:] After the task force captured Marvin Gerard – Red’s lawyer and the person behind Liz’s death – Red cornered him in the office of the FISA judge who was about to hand over to Marvin Red’s immunity deal. Red decided, in view of their history and past friendship, not to kill Marvin, but to give him the opportunity to take his own life, which he did after being released from prison. So the Attorney General had to reinstate Red’s deal because, as Panabaker said, “We need the Blacklist” (yes, we do!). The DOJ had decided not to charge Cooper for the crimes he committed while trying to track down his blackmailer, given that they’d found the culprit (also Marvin). Because Cooper had no control over Marvin’s suicide, the DOJ’s decision stands and he will not be charged with any crimes. So the Reddington task force will go on as before.

But, Marvin Gerard played one last trick before killing himself. In prison, he met an early Blacklister named Wujing [Blacklister #84, Episode 1:3], an assassin for the Chinese government, who he helped out with an escape plan. Worse, he told Wujing that Red was the reason Wujing was in prison in the first place (not really true, as it was Liz who caused his arrest), and also that Red was a confidential informant for “the feds.” He gave Wujing a list of other criminals who are in prison because of Red. After making his escape, Wujing now plans to take revenge on Red, and to call upon the others on the list to help him if need be. [I marked these criminals on the list I keep of “Blacklisters and Bad Guys” with an ❌]

The team gathered at Liz’s grave on the third anniversary of her death. They shared memories of Liz, some tearful, some happy. Also shared were two announcements. Aram will be taking time off to live in Brooklyn in New York City. [Actor Amir Arison will be starring in the Broadway version of “Kiterunner.”] Alina Park [Laura Sohn’s character] announced she’s pregnant, so will also being taking time off. Red will be back, of course, after “going away for a few weeks to take the sisters home, eat some peyote, set up the telescope, look at the night sky.” Who knows, maybe he’ll see Polaris up there.

 

Questions we don’t have all the answers to yet:

 
⭕ MAJOR THEMES:

1. What is Red’s life story? What’s his true identity?
2. Who is Red’s family?
3. What’s the relationship between Red and Katarina?
4. How will Wujing use the list of Blacklisters? Who’s on it?
5. Why did Red start his criminal empire? What’s its purpose?
6. How will the series end?

🔻Go to “Unanswered Questions” for more detailed discussion of Major Themes.

 
⭕ Other Questions/Loose Ends:
 
● Who is Red’s heir apparent now, with Liz and Marvin dead? Dembe? Agnes?
● What happened in Brasilia between Red and Dembe that Red said was “a tragedy”?
● Does Red have a continuing relationship with the Russian FSB/SVR/Vory?
● What’s in the box Red gave to Dembe?
● What happened to the Cabal?
● Was the date on the Swan Lake program significant?
● Why did Liz’s memory have to be erased twice?
● Will Mierce and Weecha return for Season 10? Where are they from anyway? What will happen
 to Red and Mierce’s relationship?

⭕ Script 10:1 The Night Owl

 
New York City. Aram Mojtabai, a former member of the Reddington task force, exits the Metropolitan Museum carrying a red bag. He walks past a fountain and over to his bike and unlocks the lock. He looks up and sees a bearded man with shaggy hair looking for a cab. It’s Raymond (“Red”) Reddington. Aram waves at him ]
Aram: Hey! Hey!
[ A cab pulls up. Red walks over to it. He appears to look at Aram, but gets into the cab. The cab takes off. Aram gets out his cell phone and places a call ]

 
[ In the dining room of Harold and Charlene Cooper’s house, Cooper is playing a card game with Agnes Keen. Agnes, who is about 12 years old, is the daughter of Tom and Elizabeth Keen, but both of her parents are dead now, and the Coopers are Agnes’s guardians ]
[ Cooper has lost the card hand to Agnes. Agnes scoops up the cards ]
Cooper: No. No, no, no, no, no.
Agnes: That’s three in a row, Pops. Maybe we should go back to Go Fish.
Cooper: No. Shuffle up, deal again.
[ Cooper’s cell phone rings✨ ]
Cooper: Just give me a minute. I should grab this. [ On phone ] Aram, what a nice surprise.
Aram: Mr. Cooper.
Cooper: Charlene was just asking about you, and I couldn’t tell her anything– where you’re living, what you’re up to these days.
Aram: I know, I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been meaning to. I-I just– I’ve been getting settled, but I’m good. I’m really good. I’m great, actually.
Cooper: How’s New York?
Aram: Uh, well, maybe I could tell you in person. You guys are here, aren’t you? The Task Force is in New York?
Cooper: No, we’re not even up and running. Reddington took the sisters home to Guatemala. That was over six months ago. We’re just twiddling our thumbs till he gets back.
Aram: Well, Mr. Reddington is here.
Cooper: What? Where?
Aram: I just saw him.
Cooper: Saw him? In Manhattan?
Aram: Yeah. Outside the Met. Across the street from the museum. He was, uh– He was just walking.
Cooper: By himself?
Aram: Yeah, no security. No car, either. I called out to him, and he saw me, and then he just got in a cab.
Cooper: Aram, are you sure? You’re sure it was him?
Aram: Yeah, it was him. He looked kind of different. But it was– it was definitely him. ⋘⋙ Mr. Cooper? A-Are you still there?
Cooper: Yes, I’m sorry. It’s just– things were pretty good with Reddington before he left. We’d agreed to be more forthcoming with each other. If he were back–
Aram: He is.
Cooper: Okay, but if you’re right, why was he there? What was he doing?
[ A large 💥🔥‼️ Explosion ‼️🔥💥 rips through the fourth or fifth floor of a building about half a block from Aram ]
— It’s a bomb!
Cooper: Aram, are you alright?! Aram? Aram, are you alright?
[ Aram just stares at the building ] [ 🚨 Sirens blare 🚨 ]

 
[ The Post Office black site ] [ Dembe Zuma is working on files relating to Red’s former lawyer, Marvin Gerard. Marvin was behind the murder of Elizabeth Keen and committed several other crimes to cover it up. When Red found out that Marvin was behind Liz’s murder, he was furious, but in view of their prior friendship, offered him the option of experiencing Red’s retribution, or committing suicide. Marvin chose the latter. Now Dembe has been assigned to complete the paperwork ]
[ Dembe’s phone buzzes «»»»» beep🔅]
Dembe: Please tell me you’re coming in to help.
Cooper: You’re still at it? How much have you done?
Dembe: About half. I swear, it’s taking me longer to document Marvin Gerard’s case than it did to expose him in the first place.
Cooper: Take a break.
Dembe: I can’t. Raymond won’t be away forever. We need to take advantage of this downtime.
Cooper: You still haven’t heard from him?
Dembe: Nothing. There’s a bed and breakfast in Quezaltenango. He’s probably having a champurrado on the terrace.
Cooper: Hmm. Aram just saw him in New York.
Dembe: Say that again?
Cooper: Apparently, Raymond’s back. And probably connected to an explosion that happened a few minutes ago at a townhouse on the Upper East Side.
Dembe: I’ll give Chuck a call right away.
Cooper: I just tried. No answer. Which isn’t surprising. If he’s blowing up townhouses, he probably doesn’t feel like taking questions. No idea what it’s about?
Dembe: No. But it can’t be good.
Cooper: I’m coming in. I have to admit, I was getting used to the time off, being home with Charlene and Agnes. I feel old.
Dembe: You got this, old man.

 
[ Donald Ressler, another agent on the Reddington task force, is attending a Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting. He was romantically involved with Liz Keen in a relationship that developed in the years following Tom Keen’s death ]
Donald Ressler: Well, I’m good. ⋘⋙ I mean, the truth is… every day’s a struggle. Not just recovery, um, which so far, it’s– Look. I-I’m okay.
[ Ressler’s emotions well up ]
Ressler: It’s just mostly, uh… I have a hard time letting go of the past. I mean, it’s in my nature to want to fix things and…
Group Leader: Take your time, Donald.
Ressler: It’s just hard f-for me to accept. I lost someone I loved, and… it can’t be undone. I mean, I- I became an addict. I hit bottom. Uh… I wish it didn’t happen, but it did. [ Sniff ] And letting that go and leaving that be… it’s hard for me. But, uh… here I am. And today… I’m 311 days sober.
Group Leader: That’s wonderful. Good for you.
[ Applause ]

 
[ After the meeting, Ressler walks outside. Dembe is sitting on a bench, waiting for him ]
Dembe: You don’t answer your phone?
Ressler: I carried that Bureau phone for two months after Reddington left. It didn’t ring, I put it away. So, uh, is he back?
Dembe: Not exactly. Come on. I’ll explain on the way to New York.

 
[ Police radio chatter ] [ Crime scene tape surrounds the building where the explosion took place ] [ Ressler and Dembe duck under the tape ]
Sergeant Pickford: Ed Pickford. Sergeant.
Ressler: I’m Agent Ressler. This is Agent Zuma. Apologies for the big foot.
Sergeant Pickford: Man, you FBI guys work fast. My people were still clearing the area when the Bureau let us know a team was coming up from DC to run point.
Ressler: How are things looking?
Sergeant Pickford: A lot of damage. Fire’s saying a single device, detonated in a room on the top floor.
Dembe: Anyone hurt?
Sergeant Pickford: Unknown at this time.
Dembe: Suspects?
Pickford: Look, I’d love to be able to tell you we know what happened here, but to be honest, our hands are tied. Especially since we can’t enter the building.
Ressler: Why not?
Pickford: ’Cause it belongs to the Chinese government. It’s registered as an official annex of the Consulate.
Ressler: An annex?
Pickford: We’ve got over a hundred foreign missions in the city, plenty with multiple locations. No police inside without permission.
Ressler: [ To Dembe ] He blew up part of the Chinese Consulate?
Pickford: “He”? You fellas have a theory on who might’ve done this?
Dembe: No, not really, but how do we find the person that can give us permission?
Pickford: You won’t have to. Something tells me he’s about to find you.
Chin Yao: Excuse me. May I please speak to whomever’s in charge?
Ressler: Agent Ressler, FBI.
Chin Yao: My name in Chin Yao, head of this Consular Post.
Ressler: Mr. Chin, we’re just beginning our investigation, but we believe this explosion was a targeted attack.
Chin Yao: I see. And who do you believe was responsible?
Ressler: Well, we don’t know, but you can be sure that the Bureau will keep you informed of our progress.
Dembe: I see the building has security cameras. We’d appreciate you giving us access to that footage.
Chin Yao: I’m afraid that’s not possible.
Ressler: And why’s that?
Chin Yao: Because we are not requesting an American investigation.
Ressler: Someone set off a device in one of your buildings, and you don’t want to know who or why?
Chin Yao: If a crime was committed, my staff is more than capable of handling the matter on its own.
Ressler: How? Your staff has no law enforcement authority here.
Chin Yao: I’m not here to debate the matter, Agent Ressler. I’m informing you.
Billy (Firefighter): Eddie.
Sergeant Pickford: Yeah, Billy?
Billy: One down. This the Bureau?
Ressler: Yes.
Billy: Sir, you’re gonna want to see this.
Chin Yao: Agent Ressler, to be clear, the FBI is not authorized to enter the premises.
[ Ressler and Dembe leave with Billy ]
Chin Yao: [ Following them ] The property is inviolable. By authority of the Vienna Convention on Consular…

 
[ A burned out room, still smoking. The body of a woman lies on the floor ]
Billy: Best we can tell, she was the only one on the floor at the time of the explosion, but we’ll keep looking.
Ressler: With that much force, why’s the body still intact?
Billy: We think the device was sitting on a mail cart in this area. Looks like she got partial coverage from the desk and this file cabinet. And there’s this.
[ Billy points with his flashlight ]
Billy: Looks like a laptop under her right arm.
Dembe: Can you identify this woman?
Chin Yao: Your presence here is unlawful!
Ressler: Yeah, we heard you, but you’re not here to debate the matter, remember? At this point, you’ll have to take that up with the Attorney General.
Dembe: Yeah, this is now a federal homicide investigation.

 
[ Wujing’s cell phone rings ✨]
Wujing: [ Speaking Mandarin ] Has the situation been contained?
[ Chin Yao is walking outside ]
Chin Yao: No, Wujing. Not at all. The FBI is inside. They have recovered your associate’s body.
Wujing: How? You were supposed to prevent them from gaining access.
Chin Yao: Don’t tell me what I was supposed to do. The Ministry doesn’t know I helped you.
Wujing: Remember who you’re talking to.
Chin Yao: I took a risk out of respect for our history. But you’re a fugitive. If our government knew anything about–
[ Wujing’s phone claps ✽ shut ]
Wujing: Moores is dead.
Zhang Wei (Driver): We needed her help.
Wujing: She told us enough. Everything stays on schedule. It was Reddington. He’ll do anything to keep me from proving the truth. But I will. And he will suffer for what he has done.

 
[ The Post Office war room ]
Ressler: Okay, you’re not gonna believe this. The body recovered from the Chinese Consulate? It was Jennifer Anne Moores.
Cooper: Moores. How do I know that name?
Dembe: Jennifer Moores was once on The Blacklist. She was a key member of a heist crew known as The Fribourg Confidence.
Ressler: Thieves who specialized in robbing criminals.
Dembe: Back then, Elizabeth hired them to steal a flash drive from one of Raymond’s safe deposit boxes.
Cooper: I remember. But we arrested them. So why isn’t she in prison?
Ressler: Because she cooperated with our investigation. And it seems like that went a long way with the US Attorney. She did 19 months at Hazelton and was paroled five months ago.
Cooper: I don’t get it. What’s a former Blacklister on parole doing at an annex of the Chinese Consulate in New York?
Dembe: Moores was a master thief. It’s reasonable to assume that she was hired to steal something.
Cooper: By the Chinese? Why would they look to her? And how’s all this connected to Reddington?
Ressler: I will say this – whatever she was doing, clearly Reddington didn’t want it done.
Dembe: We do have a lead. Problem is, we don’t have Aram.
Cooper: We could call the Lab, have them send another tech, but I don’t like flying blind. I’d prefer to keep this Task Force only until we know what we’re dealing with.
Ressler: You want to bring on a new agent?
Cooper: At least one. Cynthia’s having Main Justice send a list. Aram and Alina won’t be easy to replace, but we can’t do this just us.
[ Cynthia Panabaker, formerly of the Department of Justice, is now a US Senator ]
Dembe: In the meantime, I know someone who can help.
Ressler: One of Reddington’s people?
Dembe: Believe me, if you want to break into a computer, this is the guy.

 
[ Chuck, one of Red’s regulars, picks up a call ]
Chuck: Go for Chuck.
Dembe: Hey, Chuck. It’s Dembe. I need to speak to Raymond.
Chuck: Dembe. Hey, buddy. It’s been months. You don’t write. You don’t call.
Dembe: You were supposed to call me when Raymond got back into the States.
Chuck: And I will. As soon as I hear, you’ll be the first to know. Well, top five. Mm, maybe ten.
Dembe: So you’re not with him?
Chuck: Are you saying he’s already back? How do you know?
Dembe: How do you not know?
Chuck: Hey. It’s Reddington. I only know what he wants me to know. Sent me a postcard a few months back.
Dembe: A postcard?
Chuck: With a picture of the Tower of London. All it said was, “Quick visit to the Tower. Invited to the Key Ceremony. Super fun. Wimbledon tomorrow. Legoland Friday. Red.”
Dembe: He went to London?
Chuck: I guess so, but then the, uh, card was postmarked in Uruguay, and, uh, Dembe… you understand he signed it “Red.” 🔘 [See Note]
Dembe: Yes, I heard. What’s going on? Why so many public places? And who’s handling his security? Chuck, make some calls, see if anyone has heard from him. I was gonna ask him for permission to go see Tadashi.
Chuck: Man, I can’t help you with that, but I’ll get on the rest of it. Hey, wish I could be more help, but I don’t know where the big man is or what’s doing.

 
[ The metal doors of the yellow elevator at the Post Office⚡️clank⚡️open. A livid Mrs Mario Ito emerges with her son Tadashi. They are flanked by two officers. Mrs Ito points at Dembe ]
Mrs Ito: You!! You had my son and me arrested?!
Dembe: Ms. Ito, you’re not under arrest. These agents were just–
Mrs Ito: These agents made us wear blindfolds and ride in the back of a van!
Dembe: There are security protocols. I’m very sorry.
[ Tadashi steps forward into the large room lined with computer displays ]
Tadashi: Whoa! Mom, are you seeing this?! It’s a war room. Do you have any idea what kind of systems must be powering a place like this?!
Mrs Ito: [ To Tadashi ] Don’t get excited. We’re not staying. [ To Dembe ] Where’s Raymond, hmm? I want to have a word with that man.
Dembe: Raymond doesn’t know you’re here. Please. Let me explain.
Mrs Ito: You left Raymond? You don’t work together anymore?
Dembe: No. I became a federal agent about two years ago.
Mrs Ito: And Raymond knows this?
Dembe: There’s nothing to worry about.
Mrs Ito: Nothing to worry about? You’re asking Tadashi to help the FBI! The FBI shouldn’t even know his name! He’s applying for business schools. Oh, my God. All the things he’s done for Raymond. You know about them? Oh, my God. All the things Raymond has done for him!
Dembe: Ms. Ito, we have a situation – a situation involving Raymond – and I need Tadashi’s help to help him.
Tadashi: Please, Mother. Stop worrying. I can do what they’re asking. Maybe. Probably.
Dembe: Look, we need to move quickly. You have my word. I promise. Nothing bad will happen to your son.
Mrs Ito: Raymond usually pays in cash.

 
[ Cooper’s office. He’s just hanging up the phone. Ressler knocks ]
Ressler: Hey. You looking for me?
Cooper: How’s it going with Reddington’s tech guy?
Ressler: Good. Dembe just made a deal with his rep, who also happens to be his mother. The guy’s barely 19.
Cooper: 19 and already as good as Aram? Well, I hope so, because he needs to work fast.
Ressler: Why? What’s up?
Cooper: I just got off with Main Justice. That man from the Consulate you spoke with in New York? He just filed a motion in District Court to preclude us from searching Moores’ laptop.
Ressler: At least we know we’re looking in the right place.
Cooper: Judge Vance wants all parties in Chambers in half an hour.
Ressler: We drew Vance?
Cooper: If we lose–
Ressler: No, we can’t lose. I think Reddington took out Jennifer Moores, and right now that laptop’s the only lead we have to tell us why.
Cooper: I’ll do my best, but on the merits, this could go either way. Let’s just hope the kid cracks it before we get shut down.

 
[ Tadashi is clicking away at the laptop ]
Dembe: Tadashi, I don’t mean to add any pressure, but it’s possible we’re running out of time.
Tadashi: The drive’s a disaster! Any worse, and this would’ve been impossible.
Dembe: Does that mean you can read it?
Tadashi: It’s not just the damage from the explosion, it’s heat from the fire. Expose a drive to over 300 Celsius, and you get damage to the platters and the ROM chip. Add to that the water damage from the sprinklers and the Fire Department hosing down the building?! You get oxidation and a warped drive chassis!
Dembe: Can you read them?
Tadashi: No, but I’m close, so stop stressing me out. Dude. Go hang with my mom.

 
[ Judge Roberta Vance’s chambers ]
Judge Vance: Alright. Why don’t we get started?
Assist US Atty Wendy Flynn: Wendy Flynn for the United States. I’m here with Assistant Director Harold Cooper of the FBI.
Cooper: Good afternoon, Your Honor.
Judge Vance: Don’t be so sure, Director Cooper. I read Mr. Chin’s motion. This may not be a “good afternoon” for the Bureau after all.
Chin Yao: Thank you, Your Honor. For the record, Chin Yao on behalf of the Consulate.
Judge Vance: I’m listening.
Chin Yao: Your Honor – this matter falls squarely within the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, a treaty to which 182 nation states are party, including the United States and China. As you know, the principle of property inviolability is well established and requires that the consular state consent to any entry by the receiving authority.
Judge Vance: Not any entry, Mr. Chin. They’re allowed to enter for an emergency requiring prompt protective action. I’m gonna guess that you’re not upset about the Fire Department risking their lives to protect your staff and your precious annex?
Chin Yao: No, and we’re grateful for their assistance. But the FBI is another matter.
AUSA Wendy Flynn: Your Honor, if I could be heard–
Judge Vance: No. Him. Director Cooper, these were your agents acting as part of a Task Force that you oversee?
Cooper: That’s right, Your Honor.
Judge Vance: And those agents were told, in clear and unambiguous terms, that their entry was not authorized?
Cooper: Yes.
Judge Vance: And they proceeded anyway. And not only did they enter, they removed the laptop in question.
Cooper: They seized evidence.
Chin Yao: Which they had no right to do.
Judge Vance: Let him talk.
Cooper: I’d refer Your Honor to Article 55 of the VCCR. Anyone enjoying consular privileges has a duty to respect the laws of the receiving state. Consular premises can’t be used in a way that’s incompatible with consular functions.
Judge Vance: And this was? Incompatible?
Cooper: Absolutely. The woman killed at this “annex” was a career criminal on parole. An American with no official consular mission. Bottom line – we believe she was there in furtherance of a crime.
Chin Yao: You believe, but your agents had nothing to even suggest as much at the time.
Cooper: If Mr. Chin were operating a drսg lab on the premises, we’d have a right to seize the drսgs.
Judge Vance: But this wasn’t a drսg lab, Director Cooper. Drսgs are contraband on their face. Your agents were investigating a crime, not seizing proof of one.
Cooper: I’ll ask Mr. Chin point blank. Why was Jennifer Moores inside that building? What was her legitimate purpose for being there?
Chin Yao: And I’m telling Director Cooper point blank, I do not have to answer your questions.

 
[ The Post Office. The damaged laptop beeps 🔅🔅🔅🔅 ]
Tadashi: Yes, yes, yes! I’m in. Looks like there were – five active files in use when the drive was disabled.
Dembe: Can you access them?
Tadashi: Not all of them. Three so far. But I should be able to get the other two.
[ Dembe’s phone buzzes «»»»» ]
Dembe: We’re close.
Cooper: Close, but no cigar. It’s over. Vance just ordered us to stop any search and return the laptop.
Dembe: Tadashi, we have to stop.
Tadashi: Stop? Now? I’m almost there. I can get the other files.
Dembe: No, you can’t. Tadashi! I know you’re used to working for Raymond, but this is different. I’m an agent now, and we have rules.

 
[ The Post Office war room ]
Dembe: Okay, we may not have a full picture, but the files we recovered before Vance’s orders tell us a lot about what was going on. Apparently, Jennifer Moores was casing Luxe International. It’s a private company that specializes in fine art storage and logistics.
Ressler: According to their website, they “store and transport expensive and priceless works of art for a global clientele.”
Dembe: They’re headquartered on Montserrat, one of the British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean.
Cooper: So Moores was planning a heist?
Ressler: Definitely. Luxe operates as a freeport, which means it’s a tax haven for the wealthy.
The stuff in there is worth billions.
Dembe: Of course, nobody is supposed to know what’s in there, because the list isn’t public. But Jennifer Moores had one, and she was focused on one item in particular – a sculpture called “The Night Owl.”
Cooper: By Picasso? I’m not expert, but sculpture’s not the first thing I think about when I hear that name.
Dembe: He made over a thousand. And a lot of owls. Some say he became obsessed over them after he found a wounded owl in his studio.
Ressler: “The Night Owl.” Luxe just got the shipment. It was part of a woman’s estate, and when she died, they put it in storage.
Cooper: Any idea what it’s worth?
Dembe: The Met just sold a Picasso sculpture for over $48 million.
Cooper: So, what are we saying? That the Chinese hired Moores, a former Blacklister, to help them steal this “Night Owl”?
Ressler: Maybe Reddington wants it for himself. I mean, at this point, we have three-fifths of the story.
Cooper: So we stay on it. You two, get to Luxe. Make sure they know they’ve been targeted.

 
[ Luxe International, on Montserrat, British Overseas Territory ]
[ Dembe and Ressler present themselves at Security ]
Richard Deever: Richard Deever. I’m head of security here at Luxe. This is one of my associates, Siya Malik.
Ressler: Thanks for agreeing to see us.
Deever: Well, we’re the ones saying thanks. Our clients trust us with their most treasured possessions, so obviously we take any credible threat seriously.
Siya Malik: In your call to corporate, you said you think we’ve been targeted?
Dembe: We know you were. By a career criminal and master thief. This specific person is no longer a danger, but we don’t know who else she was working with.
Ressler: From what we can tell, she was targeting a specific sculpture. A Picasso called “The Night Owl.”
Dembe: Which we understand was recently delivered here.
Deever: It was, but that information was never made public. Obviously, we keep the content of all our shipments strictly confidential.
Siya Malik: “The Night Owl”’s not one of Picasso’s better-known works. The fact that it even exists was a closely guarded secret.
Deever: Can I ask where you got this?
Ressler: I’m sorry. I can’t disclose that. It’s part of an ongoing federal investigation.
Deever: We can’t protect ourselves if we don’t understand what– Fine. Then I’d like to speak to the agent in charge.
Ressler: That “agent” is Harold Cooper, the Assistant Director of the FBI.
Siya: You- You work for Harold Cooper?
Ressler: That’s right.
Siya: [ To Deever ] Harold Cooper runs a secret Task Force. So secret, most FBI agents don’t know about it.
Dembe: And you do?
Siya: Yes, because my mother used to work for Harold Cooper. Her name was Meera Malik.
Dembe: You’re Meera’s daughter?
Siya: You knew her?
Ressler: We not only knew her. She was a friend. And a-a very fine agent.
Siya: Perhaps you could give us a minute.
[ Siya nods for Ressler and Dembe to step out of the room, which they do ]
Siya: [ To Deever ] If we can verify what we just heard, I think we should show them around.
Deever: Bad idea. We can handle this ourselves. Thank them for the intel and let them go.
⋘⋙
[ Siya steps out to talk to Ressler and Dembe ]
Ressler: Hmm. Let me guess. Your boss says thanks for the tip, but, uh, you should give us the brush.
Siya: A guy with Harold Cooper’s connections could change that with one phone call. One “inter-agency” phone call.
[ Ressler takes out his phone ]
⋘⋙
[ Siya returns with Deever ]
Deever: You two don’t take no for an answer. Apparently, your boss made a phone call.
Siya: Follow us, please.
[ They step into an elevator ] [ Siya turns to address Dembe and Ressler ]
Siya: As you may have guessed, this facility is a front. It functions as a black site.
Ressler: International?
Siya: Yes. Used by a number of allied agencies. High-end art storage is a strong cover. It explains the heavy security, shipments coming in and out, and all interactions with the public are by appointment only.
Deever: I’m with the Agency. Most of the other operatives on site are also CIA. Agent Malik is with MI6.
[ The elevator dings🔅and stops. When they step out, there are heavily armed guards ]
Siya: You were right. We did just receive The Night Owl, but it’s not a sculpture. It’s a code name for a prisoner we recently transported.
Deever: We brought him here to be interrogated. It would seem that somehow your thief found out.
[ The prisoner is wearing an orange jump suit. He’s seated, leaning with his head against the wall ]
Siya: His name is Al–
Dembe: Alban Veseli.
Siya: You know him?
Ressler: We call him The Freelancer. (Episode 1:2 The Freelancer)

 
[ Back in the United States, Red is being shown around a vacuous property by a real estate broker named Andrea Athens. Red is clean shaven with his customary short haircut ]
Red: This just isn’t gonna work. I mean, all of this would have to come out. It’s ridiculous. It looks like a cruise ship. Like, what’s this? A balcony?
Andrea Athens: Yes, it’s a balcony on the mezzanine level.
Red: Is that where the water slide and the wave pool are? On the mezzanine level?
Andrea: Mr. Reddington, this place checks a lot of your boxes. 30,000 square feet, no windows, high ceilings.
Red: I don’t need high ceilings, Andrea. I need at least two stories, not just a mezzanine.
Andrea: They do fully catered events, which means it has a working kitchen. I know you didn’t request that–
Red: You’re right. I didn’t. A kitchen is nice, but I don’t need it.
Andrea: You need to work with me here. Two or more stories means stairs, elevators. This is more efficient. And it’s a beautiful kitchen.
Red: Oh, stop with the kitchen already. There’s nothing I love more than a great kitchen. We could get in your car right now and I could take you to any number of fabulous kitchens and cook you a gorgeous meal. A lovely roast chicken, a duck breast. But for our purposes here, what I’m looking for – I don’t need a kitchen. And this has been open to the public. The place I need has to be discreet. I need it to be invisible.
Andrea: That doesn’t exist.
Red: You mean you haven’t found it yet.
Andrea: No, I mean it doesn’t exist! A vacant space that large in this area? Remember, I can only show you what’s available.
Red: Okay, well, don’t take this the wrong way, Andrea, but that’s the first helpful thing you’ve said. So it does exist. It’s just being used by somebody else.
Andrea: Maybe. Yes. Are you saying you want to buy someone out?
Red: How about I buy you lunch and you tell me everything you know about the companies that have factories in the area?

 
[ Back at the offices of Luxe International, which is actually an international black site ]
Siya Malik: About two years ago, a natural-gas pipeline ruptured just outside the town of Glennshire, 80 miles north of London. The blast leveled four blocks and killed 17 people.
Dembe: You’re talking about the blast that killed Randall Ames.
Siya: Yes, a member of Parliament and the UK’s Anti-Corruption Champion. He was on holiday in Glennshire with his wife. At first, we thought it was just a tragic accident, but a closer look made us believe the pipeline was sabotaged.
Richard Deever: A mass accident designed to cover up a single murder.
Ressler: We’re familiar with the M.O.
Deever: Veseli was briefly out of prison around that time.
Ressler: That’s when Keen got him released.
Siya: MI6 made a request, and the Agency brought him here for questioning. But to be honest, we haven’t had much luck. He hasn’t said a word.
Dembe: He’ll talk to us.
Deever: And why would he do that?
Ressler: Let’s just say, uh, we have a history.

 
[ Door buzzes «««»»» ] [ Ressler and Dembe enter Alban Veseli’s cell ]
[ Veseli sees Dembe’s badge and laughs ]
Veseli: I swear. Now I’ve seen everything. You’re telling me the FBI gave you a badge?
Dembe: Things change, Alban. Although, you seem like the exact same man you always were. I should’ve known that pipeline in Glennshire was you.
Veseli: A little work I took on the side. Agent Keen had no idea. I was, uh– I was sad to hear about her passing.
Ressler: Watch what you say about Keen.
Veseli: What am I supposed to say? She set me up, just like Reddington. Got me out of prison, sent me to crash a plane, then warned the FBI so that the Bureau could re-arrest me.
Ressler: Well, we’ll have to walk down memory lane another time. I want to know about Jennifer Anne Moores.
Veseli: Wow. Didn’t see that coming. Mostly because I have no idea who that is.
Dembe: She was working on a plan to set you free.
Veseli: Oh, I like her already.
Ressler: What’s your connection to the Chinese Consulate?
Veseli: Fellas. I’m willing to play. But it would help if I at least knew the game.
Ressler: We’re supposed to believe that you don’t? Jennifer Moores was tracking your movements, casing the black site where you were being sent, and you’re telling us that you knew nothing about that?

 
[ Wujing sits in the back of a van driven by Zhang Wei. With Wujing are several other men. No one speaks. Wujing recalls the first time he suspected that Red might be working with the FBI (Episode 1:3 Wujing). Red had managed to get Liz Keen into Wujing’s secret operations center deep underground to try the retrieve the name a man Wujing had been ordered to kill ]

[ Flashback: ]
[ 🚨 Blaring 🚨]
Wujing: Lock it down.
[ Red and Liz try to escape by the elevator ]
Wujing: Stop! You were right. Maybe that was the FBI outside. In fact, maybe they’re not just outside. Maybe they’re right here in this room.
Red: Think hard before you accuse anybody of anything.

[ Wujing’s musings are interrupted by Zhang Wei ]
Zhang Wei: Wujing. Wujing. Two minutes out.
Wujing: Tell our people to proceed.
Zhang Wei: Clear to proceed.
⋘⋙
[ At the Luxe International black site, people are talking in a small group ]
— I think you’ll be pleased.
[ The message from Wujing is received. Suddenly, Wujing’s men on site jump the others, injecting them with needles that come out from their shirt cuffs. Those injected fall to the ground ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler and Dembe’s interrogation of Alban Veseli ends with the sound of rapid gunfire in the distance ]
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
Ressler: Did you hear that?
Veseli: [ Calmly ] Automatic rifle. Hundred bucks it’s an M-16.
Dembe: We have to get him out of here.
— Watch your back!
— Code four!
⋘⋙
[ Wujing enters the reception area with the operatives from the van ]
Wujing: Alban Veseli is somewhere in this building. Find him.
⋘⋙
Dembe: We have to go.
Deever: Go? We have full security on site, with military training.
Ressler: Well, whoever’s coming knows that. They wouldn’t have attacked the building unless they knew that they had the manpower to overrun your security.
Siya: Overrun? You mean kill everyone in the building?
Dembe: They want him, and they won’t leave without him.
Ressler: There must be another way out of here.
Deever: Yes. Motor pool. We have cars stationed there, but it’s all the way on the other side of the building.
Dembe: Get Veseli ready to move. We have to assume they know where to look, and we need to be gone when they get here.
[ They head out ] [ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
[ Ressler gets a call from Cooper ]
Cooper: Agent Ressler?
Ressler: Cooper, we’re under attack. We’re taking heavy fire.
Cooper: How’s that possible? You’re at an Agency black site.
Ressler: It was Alban Veseli. “The Night Owl”? The heist Jennifer Moores was planning – it was a rescue op to recover Veseli.
[ 💥💥💥 Gunfire 💥💥💥 ]
Cooper: Can you get out?
[ 💥💥💥 Gunfire 💥💥💥 ]
Ressler: [ Excitedly ] There’s a motor pool. If we can make it there, maybe we can still get out!
Cooper: So it’s Veseli’s people behind the attack?
Ressler: [ Panicky ] Look, whoever you called, call them back! Tel them their teams on the ground need reinforcements now!
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ‼️ Gunfight ‼️ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥]
Dembe: [ To Siya and Deever ] They’re too close! We’ll try to keep them back! You two keep going! Get him
[ Veseli ] out of here!
Siya: We can’t just leave you!
Dembe: Nobody’s leaving anybody. We’ll be right behind you.
[ 💥💥💥 Gunfire 💥💥💥 ]
Veseli: A tad optimistic. I want a hug goodbye.
Ressler: Go! Move! Go, go!
[ Siya and Deever go ahead with Veseli ]
[ Ressler and Dembe continue firing 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
Dembe: What are the chances of backup?
Ressler: Getting here on time? Slim to none! We’re at a covert black site on a Caribbean island.
[ 💥💥💥 Gunfire 💥💥💥 ]
Dembe: Then how do they know?!
Ressler: What do you mean?
Dembe: Whoever’s doing this, how did they get that intel?!

 
[ Deever and Siya have made it to the motor pool site with Veseli ]
⋘⋙
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
Ressler: There! We gotta get out of here!
Dembe: Something’s wrong. They have too much info.
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
Ressler: We gotta make a run for it! Come on!
Dembe: Maybe they figured out where Veseli was being taken, but how did they know the code name? And where’d they get the list of the art?
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
Ressler: [ Suddenly understanding ] It was someone on the inside.

 
[ At the car pool site, Deever suddenly draws his gun and points it a Siya ]
Deever: Sorry, Malik. I’ll take it from here.
Siya: Richard?!
Deever: I know. I didn’t see it coming myself. I’m a cliché. A spy who turned for the money.
All I can tell you is — it is a whole lot of money.
[ Siya pulls her gun ]
Siya: I can’t let you take him.
Veseli: Good for you.
Deever: Drop the gun, Siya. Believe me, this guy is not worth dying for. Drop it.
[ Siya slowly lowers her gun toward the concrete floor, but at the last minute tries to shoot Richard, but he is quicker. Both guns go off (💥💥) Siya falls ]
[ Deever gets in a car with Veseli and it speeds away ]
⋘⋙
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
Ressler: [ To Dembe ] Go! Go! Come on — Go!
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
[ Dembe goes ahead ]
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
[ As Ressler dashes across a corridor, he sees Wujing ]
[ 💥💥💥 💥💥💥 ]
⋘⋙
[ Dembe arrives at the motor pool site and find Siya. She is unconscious, but Dembe checks and she is alive ]
[ Ressler catches up ]
Ressler: Wujing’s here! We gotta go!
Dembe: It was Deever. She was hit, but she’s wearing a vest.
⋘⋙
[ Wujing and his crew arrive at the motor pool site as a vehicle speeds away ]

 
[ The Post Office ]
[ Dembe is finishing up a call ]
Dembe: Okay. Thank you.
[ He hangs up ]
Dembe: Nothing yet. We issued a BOLO on all three – Wujing, Veseli, and Deever. But they could be anywhere in the world by now.
Ressler: What about flights off the island?
Dembe: Three private flights left Montserrat within an hour of the attack. We’re checking manifests, but Wujing knows better than to leave a paper trail.
Cooper: So Meera’s daughter became an MI6 agent?
Ressler: Her name is Siya.
Cooper: I met her once. After Meera was killed, I flew to London to pay my respects to her family.
Dembe: She couldn’t have been older than 15.
Cooper: That trip was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in this job. Her husband and kids asking what happened. I couldn’t tell them anything.
Ressler: Well, she has to see you. She insisted on flying back with us.
Cooper: I’d like that.
Dembe: That bullet banged her up pretty good, so we took her over to DC General first, just to make sure she’s okay.
Ressler: There’s a lot of names from the past. Jennifer Moores, Alban Veseli, and now Wujing.

[ Flashback: (Episode 9:22 Marvin Gerard Conclusion, Part 2) ]
Driver: The ministry has a plane waiting. You’ll be in Beijing this time tomorrow.
Wujing: Oh, we’re not going home. Not until I find and kill Raymond Reddington.
Driver: Reddington? Wujing, you can’t do that alone.
Wujing: We won’t have to. I have a list of others who will be glad to join the fight.

Dembe: That’s three former Blacklisters connected to this case.
Cooper: We were notified when Wujing escaped. The Bureau’s got a dozen agents on it, but they never picked up a trail.
Ressler: Well, apparently, he was working with Moores to break Veseli out of custody.
Dembe: Why? Wujing is an assassin. What’s the connection?
[ Cooper’s cell phone chimes✨]
Cooper: You’ve got to be kidding. Guess who just cleared security.
Ressler: Hmm. Reddington.
Cooper: He’s on his way down.

 
[ The yellow elevator doors⚡️clang⚡️open and out steps Red ]
Red: Ah. [ Chuckles ] The gang’s all here. Well, not much of the gang. More of a — coffee klatch.
Cooper: Raymond, we’ve been trying to reach you.
Red: Yes? Well, apologies. I’ve been – busier than expected.
Ressler: Busy? As in blowing up former Blacklisters at foreign consulates?
Red: No, Donald. That didn’t take much time at all. But if you know about Jennifer Moores, then you know a serious threat has arisen. I didn’t reach out, Harold, because I thought – I hoped that I could contain the matter myself, but now, unfortunately, that seems unlikely.
Cooper: You’re talking about Wujing. He’s the threat.
Red: Wujing is the weapon – fired in my direction as a last parting shot by Marvin Gerard.
Ressler: Marvin’s behind this?
Dembe: They could have met at Coolidge. They were both housed on the same cellblock.
Cooper: I’m aware, but Wujing’s escape happened after Marvin’s death. I didn’t make the connection.
Red: Wujing’s been asking questions about me, about any relationship with the FBI.
Dembe: Marvin must have told him. So Wujing knows about the Task Force.

[ Flashback: ]
Marvin: I didn’t have to ask, Wujing. I didn’t have to ask because Raymond is not your friend. He’s the reason you’re in here.
Wujing: What do you mean?
Marvin: He’s a confidential informant. He has an immunity deal with the feds. He feeds them criminals like you, and he keeps his freedom.

Red: He knows whatever Marvin told him, but, still, that isn’t the same as having proof, so –
Ressler: He doesn’t just want to kill you. He wants the criminal world to know about us.
Cooper: Jennifer Moores. Veseli. Wujing’s approaching Blacklisters, criminals we sent to jail.
Red: Some of our former targets are now his targets. You should increase their security. Because – this is only the beginning. [ Chuckles ] Well, that’s all I have for you.
[ Red turns and walks toward the elevator. Dembe follows him ]
Dembe: Raymond. Where’s Chuck?
Red: I don’t know.
Dembe: Who’s in charge of your security? Weecha’s not with you?
Red: No.
Dembe: Where are you living?
Red: New York, mostly.
Dembe: How did you get here?
Red: Took the train. What a nap. Slept the whole way.
Dembe: Where are you going? Is there a car waiting for you?
Red: Dembe, I’m fine. I’ll just grab a cab.
Dembe: Raymond. What’s going on?
Red: Nothing. Well ⋘⋙ nothing and everything. Watch your head.
[ Elevator doors⚡️clang⚡️shut ]

 
[ Cooper’s office. Knocks ✽ ✽ on door ]
Ressler: She’s here.
Cooper: Great. Siya. Please, come in.
Siya: Blindfold. Black-out van. You guys have more security protocols than the White House.
Cooper: We’ve had some issues. We’re being more careful these days. Harold Cooper.
Siya: Siya Malik. It’s been a while.
Cooper: It has. Sorry for that. I wish we’d kept in touch. It’s nice to see you. You know, even all these years later, I sometimes think of the day we met.
Siya: So do I. But I’m guessing we remember it differently.
Cooper: How do you mean?
Siya: You may not realize it, but you made a big impression on the teenage me. I’ve always been incredibly grateful for how you spoke to us that day. You couldn’t tell us anything, but we knew. That was as hard for you to say as it was for us to hear.
Cooper: You became an agent. I had no idea. And MI6. You’re not just an agent. You’re a spy.
Siya: You sound surprised.
Cooper: I’m thinking about your father. He must be the one who was surprised.
Siya: And terrified. But he’s coming around. I don’t make a practice of talking with him about my day-to-day.
Cooper: What made you choose this kind of life?
Siya: Just too many secrets. When my mother died, you couldn’t tell me who she worked with, what she did, or even how she was killed. I think I decided right then and there, I’d do whatever it took to get in the room where the secrets are revealed.
Cooper: And you’ve done it.
Siya: Well, not completely. That’s why I’m here. Maybe it wasn’t an accident, us crossing paths like this.
Cooper: It wasn’t?
Siya: Maybe it’s time for me to finally know more about the work my mother did. If it was that important, maybe it’s time for me to continue what she started.
Cooper: Siya, that’s complicated.
Siya: Please, just hear me out. I’m involved now, yeah? I lost colleagues and friends in that attack. And Deever? I will find him.
Cooper: The secrets you spoke of are only shared with members of this Task Force. I’m in the same position now as I was back then.
Siya: You are, but I’m not. I can talk to my superiors at SIS. They could loan me to your Task Force, just until this case is done.
Cooper: Let me think about it.
Siya: I don’t know what this place is, but something tells me it only exists for the people who work here.
Cooper: I’ll be in touch.
Siya: I hope so. You need agents you can trust. I’m one.

 
[ Wujing sits in a van. The side door opens. There stand Richard Deever and Alban Veseli. Veseli gets in and sits alongside Wujing ]
Wujing: Mr. Deever. You have lived up to your word. If you give us a moment, my associate will transfer your money and discuss your next assignment.
[ Deever closes the van door ]
Veseli: Do I know you, friend?
Wujing: My name is Wujing. We’re not friends, Mr. Veseli. But we do have a common enemy.

 
⬆ go to start of 10:1 The Night Owl
⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ Just Say Goodbye
By Petula Clark

♪ Just say goodbye
And let me walk away
There′s nothing more to say
When love like ours can die

♪ Just say goodbye
Forget the life we knew
The memories of you
Will only make me cry

♪ Just say goodbye
To leave me on my own
To face the world alone
Yet never knowing why

♪ Just say goodbye
And though I don’t know how
I couldn′t hate you now
No matter how I tried

♪ Just say goodbye
It’s sad that you must go
You loved me once I know
This much I can’t deny Oh, my love
My only love
Where did we go wrong
Oh, my love
My only love
How can I
Oh, how can I go on

♪ Just say goodbye
It′s sad that you must go
You loved me once I know
This much I can′t deny

♪ Just say goodbye
And please don’t turn around
Another love you′ve found
Now, spread your wings and fly

♪ Just say goodbye, yeah yeah
Just say goodbye

Lyrics and Credits: https://tinyurl.com/mvavtx79
YouTube: https://youtu.be/lxVaPgQVikM

♫ The Parting Glass (Irish trad.) (Bonus Song)
Sung by George Donaldson

 
♪ Of all the money that e’er I had
I’ve spent it in good company
And all the harm that e’er I’ve done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I’ve done for want of wit
To memory now I can’t recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
 
♪ Of all the comrades that e’er I had
They are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e’er I had
They would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call
Good night and joy be with you all
 
♪ A man may drink and not be drunk
A man may fight and not be slain
A man may court a pretty girl
And perhaps be welcomed back again
But since it has so ought to be
By a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Come fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
 
Lyrics and Credits: https://tinyurl.com/fh7deraf
YouTube: https://youtu.be/GRNZfV8rKQM

 
⬆ go to start of 10:1 The Night Owl
⏫ go to top
 

❌❌❌ End 10:1 Night Owl

🔴 Script 10:2 The Whaler (№ 165)

 
Program air date: 3/5/2023 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-ehC
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://tinyurl.com/4jxa4ywd
 

Brief (Where we’re at): “The Night Owl” in the previous episode turned out to be a code name for Alban Veseli, The Freelancer (Blacklister #145) [Episode 1:2]. Veseli’s modus operandi is to hide crimes, usually assassinations, behind mass casualty events that he himself has engineered. Wujing, (Blacklister #84) [Episode 1:3], hired Jennifer Anne Moores (Leader of a gang of professional thieves, The Fribourg Confidence, Blacklister #140) [Episode 8:5] to track down Veseli. Why? Because Red’s former lawyer Marvin Gerard (Blacklister #80) [Episodes 3.2, 9:21 and 9:22] sent Wujing on a revenge tour in Episode 9:22 by informing Wujing that Red is a confidential informant who was the reason Wujing was arrested and imprisoned (actually, it was Liz who signaled law enforcement to arrest Wujing without Red’s knowledge, but never mind). Marvin had given Wujing a list of other Blacklisters who had been betrayed by Red. Marvin then committed suicide, having been given little other choice by Red.

So, Alban Veseli was on the list Marvin gave to Wujing. Wujing turned to Jennifer Ann Moores, the master thief, to find him. Through his contact at the Chinese Consulate in New York, Chin Yao, Wujing sent Moores to retrieve a list showing where Veseli was being held. Once she had copied the file, however, the room she was in at the Consulate exploded💥🔥‼️🔥💥 killing her.

Shortly before the explosion, Aram (who is no longer working for the task force but is living in New York) saw someone who looked like a shaggy Red walking away from the Consulate and getting into a cab. After the explosion, Aram called Cooper who sent Ressler and Dembe to investigate. Moores had died clutching a laptop which Ressler and Dembe seized over Chin Yao’s objections. Red’s associate, whiz kid Tadashi Ito, was able to recover some of the relevant files. Before they were required to return the laptop, they determined Moores had used the Consulate resources to copy a file providing the location of “The Night Owl.” The location was a high end “shipping” company called Luxe International on the UK island of Montserrat in the Caribbean. Ressler and Dembe followed the breadcrumbs to Montserrat. There they found out that Luxe International was actually deep cover for an international collaboration of intelligence agencies, including the CIA and British MI6. They were told “The Night Owl” was not a sculpture at all but Veseli who was wanted in the UK for creating a mass casualty event that killed a human rights crusader. Unfortunately, before they could resolve what to do with Alban Veseli, Wujing’s men attacked the facility and escaped with Veseli.

At that point, Red, who had been living in New York without informing the task force, showed up at the Post Office to confess that his efforts to thwart Wujing’s revenge tour alone had not been successful and he asked for help.

In addition, at Luxe International, Dembe and Ressler were introduced to MI6 Agent Siya Malik who had been involved in trying to transfer Veseli back to the UK. Siya is the daughter of former Reddington task force member Meera Malik. When Siya found out that Ressler and Dembe worked for the same task force as her mother once had, she went to Cooper to express interest in joining the task force ‘on loan’ from MI6 to help pursue Veseli and to learn more about her mother’s past.

⭕ Script 10:2 The Whaler (№ 165)

 
[ The Crown Rocks Casino in Sydney, Australia ] [ Roulette wheel spins ]
Casino Worker: Black 26
Julianna: Baby, I need more chips.
Marco Luppina: Absolutely not. You just lost $100,000. That’s not a bet. That’s a down payment on someone’s house.
Julianna: Oh, please, baby. You can afford it.
[ Anika de Beer walks over ]
Anika de Beer: Is there a problem?
Marco Luppina: I’m sorry, Anika. I’m not letting her lose any more of my money.
Anika de Beer: Your money? Mr. Luppina, what would your wife say if she knew you were here? She thinks you’re in Dubai, on business. Her family’s business. How are the kids, by the way? Your daughter must be, what, early 20s by now?
Luppina: Yeah.
⋘⋙
[ Mr Cullen walks over ]
Mr Cullen: Anika.
Anika: Mr. Cullen, may I help you?
Mr. Cullen: I need to talk to you a minute.
[ They step aside ]
Mr. Cullen: I’ve been vetting the whales you’re bringing in for your private game this coming Wednesday. An impressive list. A hundred million on the tables in that room.
Anika: You’re welcome.
Mr. Cullen: I’m curious. Most of these people are your regulars – either here or at other parlors – but there’s a name I’ve never seen. A Mr. Yao Liang. And you want to arrange for the casino to extend a $15 million line of credit to him.
Anika: I don’t hear a question.
Mr. Cullen: I’ve done my due diligence, and that person doesn’t exist.
Anika: You don’t need to worry who my players are.
Mr. Cullen: I’m paid to worry, and I’m filing this with the ACT Racing and Gambling Commission.
Anika: You have the house advantage here.
[ They’ve made their way to an elevator ] [ Elevator bell ✨ rings ] [ They get in; doors close ]
[ Anika hits the Emergency 🆘 Stop button ]
Mr. Cullen: What are you doing?
[ Anika throws Cullen to the floor, punches him, and pins him down with her foot ]
Mr. Cullen: Ohh! [ Groans ]
Anika: I’m sorry. Maybe we didn’t get to know each other very well. I’m in and out of here so fast. Or maybe we got off on the wrong foot.
Mr. Cullen: [ Groans ]
Anika: I want you to be comfortable with me. I want you to be comfortable when you leave the house in the morning and start up that sexy Holden HK Monaro. Comfortable that the ignition doesn’t ignite an incendiary device packed with EPX-1, which has the highest detonation velocity of all plastic explosives. ⋘⋙ Comfortable?
[ Mr. Cullen nods ]
Anika: Good.

 
[ Red and Cooper are waiting to order at a street food vendor at a park in New York City ]
Red: Meera Malik’s daughter? After all these years?
Cooper: On loan from MI6 on a provisional basis. She just lost her whole team to Wujing. She has skin in this game.
Red: Well, if she’s anything like her mother, she’ll be a keen asset. With a discerning eye.
Cooper: And you’ll be okay with her?
Red: I believe the question is whether she’ll be okay with me.
Cooper: She’s been fully read-in. She knows what she’s signing up for.

[ Flashback: ] [ Cooper’s office ]
Cooper: Ms. Malik, your government is in agreement, your security clearance has been authorized, and you understand what we do here?
Siya Malik: You work with a very high-level confidential informant. I’ve been debriefed on this–
Cooper: Not just any informant. We work with Raymond Reddington. It’s a symbiotic relationship. On balance, it’s a net plus for us and the work we do. He’s invaluable. You realize now that you know this, there’s no going back?
Siya: My mother knew all of this, too, and she still chose the work.
Cooper: She did.
Siya: Then what time should I be here Monday morning?

Red: I look forward to meeting her.
[ They’ve come to the vendor’s list of offerings ]
Red: See anything you like up there?
Cooper: What are we doing here, Red? This is not the most discreet.
Red: Street food, Harold. I’m on a pilgrimage. I won’t stop until I’ve tried it all. The pan-seared brains are supposed to be delicious here. Ooh, peppery goat breast.
Red: [ To the Food Vendor Employee ] Hi. Okay, we’ll take the number one, three, the five, and I guess the seven. Odds today, evens tomorrow. Homan. [ To Cooper] Live like you’re dying. Am I right, Harold?
⋘⋙
[ Cooper and Red are now seated at a table, waiting for their order to be called ]
Cooper: I just spent three hours on a train from DC.
Red: Ooh, I love that trip. Three hours of peace and quiet. The low rumble of the rails. And a very nice ham and cheese sandwich, I must say.
Cooper: Please. Wujing. What are we doing? Have there been any updates?
Red: It appears he’s out there marshaling his forces.
Cooper: And for some reason, you’ve disbanded yours. I’m hearing you don’t even have security.
Red: Keeping a lighter footprint. Simpler all around. We know what he’s up to. The question is where. In the last week and a half, Wujing’s been spotted in Monaco, Lisbon, Klerksdorp, South Africa. Do you know what all those locations have in common?
Cooper: Not off the top of my head.
Red: Casinos, Harold. Wujing is frequently somewhat fancier surroundings, I assume in the hopes of falling in with a fancier set of friends. The associates of mine who spotted him in Monaco saw him with an Australian woman named Anika de Beer.
Cooper: De Beer? Who is she?
Red: In the world of gambling, de Beer is known as the Whaler. She’s a freelancer who pulls in high-rollers to casinos. She works across the globe. After Monaco, she flew to the Crown Rocks in Sydney. This is a formidable woman. She’d do anything to get whales to the table.
Cooper: What does he want with her? Is this all about money?
Red: Too many things in life are.
Cooper: The same man out gathering an army isn’t taking time to gamble, is he?
Red: I don’t know, but de Beer might. She’s our best lead.
[ Cooper’s cell phone rings ✨]
Cooper: [ On phone ] Char? Is everything all right? ⋘⋙ Oh, no. Not again. She didn’t say anything after school yesterday. ⋘⋙ Sure, I can be free to meet Wednesday. Is it just with the teacher? ⋘⋙ Okay, hon. See you when I get home. Bye.
[ Call ends🔅]
Red: Is there a problem with Agnes?
Cooper: Agnes is having some trouble with a bully at school. An older girl. But we’re handling it.
Red: Anything I can do to help?
Cooper: Thank you, but Agnes already has two parents, and it’s our belief that she needs to work this out herself.
Food Vendor Employee: [ Calls out ] Order’s up. Homan.
[ Cooper begins to reach for his wallet ]
Red: [ Rises ] I’ve got this. Whatever you and Charlene think is best, Harold. But we better working on our working lunch, because I believe this Whaler is now our best chance at getting to Wujing.

 
[ The Post Office war room ]
Cooper: I want you gentlemen to welcome the newest member of our team. Siya?
Siya: Hello. I just want to say that I’m excited about being here. I know my mother felt proud of what she did in this place, and I’m looking forward to feeling the same way.
Dembe: It’s good to have you.
[ Cooper hunts and pecks ] [ keyboard clacking ✵ ✽ ❅ ❅ ] [ computer beeping🔅🔅🔅 ]
Cooper: Aram made it look so easy.
Siya: Here, uh, let me help with that.
Cooper: Thanks, Agent Malik.
[ Photos of Wujing, Anika de Beer and others pop up on the overhead screen ]
Cooper: Right. Anika de Beer. Casinos around the world treat her like royalty because her client list is so impressive. Millionaires, billionaires, tech giants, industry tycoons, and some of the best players ever to touch a deck of cards. She’s working with Wujing, but we don’t know to what end.
Dembe: Could they be planning something with one of de Beer’s whales?
Ressler: Big gamblers, big bank accounts. That’s a lot of very powerful people.
Siya: Is it possible Wujing might be targeting some or one of these players?
Cooper: You just might be onto something. Reddington has informed me that she’s bringing a group of the biggest whales on her roster to the Crown Rocks Casino in Sydney, Australia, in two days’ time for a private game of Texas Hold ‘Em. Whatever she and Wujing are doing, the timing of this upcoming tournament feels suspicious.
Dembe: So, what’s the plan?
Cooper: Well, if we want to get to de Beer, we know exactly where she’ll be in 48 hours. Reddington also informed me that there are still a few open chairs for her Sydney game.
Ressler: So, we’re going into that game?
Siya: How?
Cooper: This is Spencer Waters. Waters is a wealthy music promoter and owner of the Alcazar Theatre in New York. He’s also the organizer of one of the richest poker game pots on the East Coast. It’s a monthly underground game. Millions on the table. No one gains entry without Waters’ approval. The Whaler is known to have eyes in the biggest card rooms around the world, so if we want her attention, we’ll need to make a splash in Waters’ game. Reddington’s already working on an invitation.

 
[ The Alcazar Theater ]
Spencer Waters: I gotta admit. I’m a little nervous sitting here, Mister–
Red: Oh, please, Spencer, it’s Raymond. Although, Steve Jones always calls me “Rotten Ray.” In fact, I did a little guest DJ thing with him on “Jonesy’s Jukebox” using that moniker. Apparently, Johnny got pissed off thinking we were making fun at his expense. Which maybe we were, or maybe we weren’t. [ Chuckling ] I don’t know. It doesn’t take much to piss off John.
Spencer Waters: Steve Jones? Johnny Rotten? Seems like you got a lot of friends. That phone call I got from, uh, Huey Lewis’ manager–
Red: [ Laughs ] Jerry. Yes.
Spencer Waters: Yeah, he told me about that, uh, favor that you did for him once.
Red: Well, technically, it was for an associate of Jerry’s, but Jerry benefited. But I prefer to leave past business in the past. Let’s talk about the future. I’m someone who can do quite a lot when it comes to favors for a person with a fertile imagination.
Spencer Waters: A favor for me? In return for…
Red: A favor for me. Well, actually, it’s for a friend. A friend who enjoys playing cards.
Spencer Waters: I see. Is your friend any good?
Red: Spencer, if it’s a friend of mine, they’re either the very best or the most fun. Often both. [ Chuckles ]

 
[ The Crown Rocks Casino in Sydney, Australia ]
[ Anika de Beer and Mr. Cullen get off the elevator and enter the card room ]
Anika de Beer: I apologize for our disagreement yesterday. That was unfortunate. Now, what can you arrange for me here?
Mr. Cullen: As requested, you’ll have the entire room reserved for your event. The lift is private and dedicated to this floor. You’ll have a checkpoint at the entrance with handheld metal detectors. Fire exits will be locked during the length of game play, but will open automatically in the event the fire alarm is tripped. What about security? Would you like some of our team made available to you?
Anika: No, thank you. I use my own people for events like this – always. Now… what about my list of players?
Cullen: [ Hesitates ] Fully approved. How many of our Sky Villas would you like available to you for the evening?
Anika: All of them. And tell me, which one is the most private?

 
[ Red’s garage office ] [ A man is moving a garment rack ] [ A poker table has been set and a man, Mr Endicott, shuffles cards ]
[ Ressler enters with Siya; Red rises from the red upholstered couch ]
Red: Ah. Welcome.
Ressler: What’s all this for?
Red: Your costumes, Donald. For the theater this evening. Ms. Malik, please allow me to introduce myself.
Siya: You’re a man of wealth and taste?
Red: [ Laughs ] Clever. I’m Raymond Reddington. Please.
[ Red gestures for them to sit on the armchairs facing the couch ]
Red: I knew your mother many years ago.
Siya: And what did she think of you?
Red: I don’t know if she ever liked me very much.
Siya: Mr. Reddington, you and I don’t need to be friends with one another. Like my mother, I’m also extremely capable. I can liaise with you, work beside you, smile at your jokes, but this is a professional relationship to me. Nothing more.
Red: Practiced that, have you?
Ressler: You mind walking us through this?
Red: For Spencer Waters’ poker game, I took the liberty of having an associate of mine concoct a flawless fake identity – E.M. Lyons – buried several layers deep in a couple of dozen databases. Lyons will play in the game tonight with Waters’ full endorsement and my financial backing. It’s the best chance we have of baiting the Whaler. Oh, and Lyons is allowed a plus one.
Siya: So, Agent Ressler poses as Lyons and I’m the arm candy? Is that it?
Red: On the contrary, Emilia Marie Lyons will sit at the card table, and Donald will be the arm candy.
Ressler: Come again?
Red: These are poker players. Experts in bluffing and deception, reading people. It has to be Siya. They’re less likely to see her coming.
Ressler: She’s not ready for this.
Red: I have a feeling any daughter of Meera Malik will be smart and quick on her feet, and you, Donald, will be more believable as her bank and much better as the eyes and ears watching her back. If I were in a pinch, I’d want you watching mine.
Siya: I don’t suppose it makes a difference to anyone that I don’t know how to play poker?
Red: [ Chuckles ] Well, that’s where Mr. Endicott comes in. His services are available to you for as long as you need. A bit of a crash course, if you will. Learn the mechanics of the game, pick out some new threads. There’s some lovely items over there for your choosing. I’ll be off. Errands to run. But I’ll be rooting for the debut of Ms. Lyons and her trusty bankroll tonight. Good luck.

 
[ After Red leaves, Siya turns to address Ressler ]
Siya: “She’s not ready for this”? May I ask what your issue is?
Ressler: You have no idea what you’re inviting in with this job. I mean, this is how he operates. He has no idea putting somebody out on a limb, because he’s out there himself. There’s no line he won’t cross, Agent Malik. I’ll be there when you figure that out. [ Sighs ]

 
[ Red is in his car, watching Agnes’s soccer game ]
[ Children’s voices chattering ] [ A taller girl, Amanda Rutherford, comes up to Agnes ]
[ Amanda kicks the ball away from Agnes, then shoves her ]
Amanda Rutherford: [ Sarcastically ] Great job today, Agnes.
Agnes: Why are you being so sarcastic?
[ Red grimaces ]
[ Agnes and Amanda speaking indistinctly ]
Agnes: What? No! I did. What do you mean?
Amanda: [ Mocking ] “I did.” What?
Agnes: No. I’m on this team.
Agnes: Get away from me!
[ Agnes pushes Amanda ]
Amanda: What are you doing?
[ Whistle 🌬️blows ]
Coach: Agnes!
Red: [ Muttering ] What happens to kids that makes them this way?

 
[ Spencer Waters’ high end poker game in New York City. Siya Malik is using the name Red created for her: Emilia Marie Lyons ]
[ Spencer and Siya/Emilia act as if they’ve met before; maybe they have, part of the con Red designed ]
Spencer Waters: Emilia.
Siya: Spencer.
[ Hug ]
Spencer: How are you, gorgeous?
Siya: I thought you had shows all this week?
Spencer: Ah, Robert Plant canceled on me last minute.
Siya: Oh. Who are you gonna sell overpriced cocktails to now?
Spencer: [ Chuckles ] I think I’ll sell ’em to you and your gentleman friend here.
Siya: He’s the bank.
Ressler: I’m the bank.
Spencer: The bank’s always welcome. Just can’t have you near the tables, I’m afraid. If you make yourself comfortable, plenty of food and booze in the wings with the rest of the guests. Emilia, I’ll show you to your table. Right this way.
[ The poker game proceeds. Siya is facing several men, but one in particular, is a young and confident guy wearing a Trucker Hat ]
[ K.S. Rhoads’ ♫ “Chess” plays ]

♪ ‘Cause you keep throwing up what they’re feeding you ♪

[ The man wearing a Trucker Hat clears his throat ]

♪ It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not ♪
♪ It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not ♪
♪ It is if they can get you to say it enough ♪

♪ (Ah-ah-ah-ah Ah-ah-ah-ah Ahhhh-ah-ahhhh) ♪
♪ I’m never gonna change your mind ♪
♪ (Ah-ah-ah-ah Ah-ah-ah-ah Ahhhh-ah-ahhhh) ♪

Siya: Thank you.

♪ I’m never gonna change your mind ♪

♪ Are you the bullet or are you the bird? ♪
♪ Are you the bullet or are you the bird? ♪
♪ You’re burning the book and you haven’t read a word ♪

♪ It’s only black and white if you’re playing chess ♪
♪ You have to pick a side if you’re playing chess ♪

Siya: $20,000.

♪ That’s the way they keep your head down, I guess ♪

Trucker Hat: Call.

♪ (Ah-ah-ah-ah Ah-ah-ah-ah Ahhhh-ah-ahhhh) ♪

Siya: Pair of kings, queen kicker.

♪ I’m never gonna change your mind ♪

[ Trucker Hat tosses his cards down ]
Trucker Hat: Trip threes. [ Mocking ] I get it. You thought you had something. You keep coming, girl.

♪ I’m never gonna change your mind ♪
♪ Whose eyes are ♪
♪ Are blind? ♪

♪ Oh, we’re all pawns here ♪

[ Trucker Hat leans over and speaks in a low voice ]
Trucker Hat: It’s just not your night. Maybe you want to stop spending your man’s money?
Siya: You want to keep trying to piss me off, or should we just play cards?
Trucker Hat: [ Chuckles ]
[ The Dealer deals ]
Trucker Hat: How much you got left there, short stack? You feeling lucky? I’m putting you all in.

♪ Never gonna change your mind ♪

Siya: Call. $50,000.
[ Siya shows her cards ]
Dealer: Lady wins with a pair.
[ Trucker Hat takes off his hat and runs his hand through his sweaty hair ]
Trucker Hat: You went all in with two fives? With three face cards showing? You didn’t know what I had here.
Siya: Oh, I knew. I watched you win, so I’d know the moment you were losing. Remember? That’s when you called me “short stack.”

 
[ A Scout for Anika de Beer walks over to Ressler ]
Waitress/Scout: Is your player free to talk?
Ressler: Now that she has all the chips, sure.
[ Ressler beckons to Siya ]
Siya: [ To the others at the table ] Excuse me.
Waitress/Scout: My employer would like a word.
[ The Waitress/Scout hands her phone to Siya ]
Siya: Hello?
Anika: There’s my wild card. That was an impressive play. You waited him out and took him by surprise.
Siya: I suppose that’s the game. I’m hosting an event down in Sydney tomorrow. I can send a Gulfstream for you and your bank. Travel, hotel – all on me. I have some talented players coming, but I’d love to see you shake things up like you did there tonight.
Siya: I’ll try my best.
Anika: That’s worth the jet fuel alone. I’ll see you soon.
[ Call ends ]
Siya: [ To Ressler ] We’re going to Australia.

 
[ Sydney, Australia, The Crown Rocks Casino ]
[ Ressler is with Siya at a private bar ]
Siya: You barely said a word to me on the plane ride down. Do you want to continue what you started back in DC?
Ressler: I was being honest in Washington.
Siya: You don’t think I understand what this job is?
Ressler: Well, I think you understand it fine, and you’re ignoring the dangers. Or maybe you understand those, too, and you just don’t care.
Siya: I’m not reckless, Agent Ressler.
Ressler: Neither was your mother, and look where it got her.
[ Siya stares, blinks ]
Ressler: I’m sorry. I’ve seen this job tear down a lot of people. I saw it kill a woman I loved very much named Elizabeth. I saw it kill your mother. It’s nothing personal. You seem very good at what you do. I’m just not sure I want to see it tear you down, too.
Siya: I appreciate that. I do. But I can handle myself.
[ Ressler leaves ]
[ Siya opens an earring case and holds up and long, slim earring ]

 
[ Ressler and Siya check in for the poker game ]
[ Metal detector chirps ✨ ✨ ]
Ressler: They’re taking every precaution here.
Siya: Yes. Let’s hope that we have.
⋘⋙
Anika de Beer: Please, make yourself comfortable. Each game starts one half-hour behind the other so that the games are staggered. Ms. Lyons, you’ll be over at Table Two, starting in just a few moments.
[ Ressler and Siya walk toward the assigned table, checking out the attendees as they walk ]
Ressler: This is quite the collection of people. I see a weapons dealer, a country singer, and a chairman of the Gemeinschaft Bank in Zurich.
[ Siya looks askance at him ]
Ressler: What? Forbes was the only magazine on the flight down here.
Siya: There’s a Saudi royal over by Table Two. The two players at Table Three are both Chinese billionaires. British SIS has a file on both of them.
Ressler: At the same table? Is it a coincidence?
Siya: I don’t know.
Ressler: What does Wujing want here? What is the Whaler providing him?
Siya: I need to sit and play cards.
Ressler: Where do you want me?
Siya: Make yourself useful, honey, and get us some drinks.
[ Siya smiles coyly ]

 
[ Red calls Cooper from his private plane ]
Red: Your brave agents have made it into the belly of the beast?
Cooper: They checked in safely from the casino. They’re off comms for at least a few hours now. Agent Malik sitting at the card table was your idea, I understand?
Red: She’s quite something, isn’t she? Listen, Harold, while I have you, what do you know about the Ruthermans?
Cooper: Who?
Red: Phil and Justin Rutherman, and their one daughter, Amanda.
Cooper: Is that– Did you look into the family of the girl bullying Agnes?
Red: I had a friend do a little poking around, and I saw the bullying myself. Things are volatile–
Cooper: You went to the school? Do you know how totally out of bounds that–
Red: Harold, don’t be absurd. I would never be so conspicuous, let alone creepy, as to loiter outside of a middle school. I found her at soccer practice. I simply thought it prudent to get ahead of the situation.
Cooper: Raymond, for once, please listen to me. Stand down and stop it. I won’t ask you again.
[ line clicks ✠ … beeping🔅🔅🔅]
Red: Why am I always the bad guy?

 
[ The elevator doors open and another Chinese man is wanded in to the room. Anika de Beer welcomes him and shakes his hand. Ressler surreptitiously takes a photo of the man ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler is now in a side room, away from the poker room. He has shared the photo with the Post Office and is discussing it with the task force ]
Cooper: What made this guy stand out?
Ressler: Something. In the way he moved. He was casing the room. It felt military. He’s not in the game. This guy isn’t right for this place.
Dembe: You’re not kidding. That guy is Zhang Wei, former Chinese special forces turned mercenary, no longer associated with their government, wanted for extrajudicial shootings in several NATO countries.
Ressler: He could be recon, scouting this place for Wujing.
Cooper: Agent Ressler, you have a private mercenary in a room full of potential targets and the Whaler. You need to alert Agent Malik to the threat immediately. Alright. I’m on it.
[ Cellphone beeps🔅]
⋘⋙
[ Anika De Beer enters with two guards ]
Anika: You’re not the only one taking pictures. I got this lovely one of Ms. Lyons.
[ She shows Ressler the photo on her phone ]
Anika: I have an NSA-level computer team at my disposal. Routine vetting of every new player at my tables. Took them a day, but they busted her alias. You might’ve fooled Mr. Waters in New York, but you didn’t fool me. So, who are you two? ‘Cause she’s certainly not Ms. Lyons, and I’m very interested in who you are.
Ressler: Well, I could tell you, but that would compromise my partner out there.
Anika: Mm. These gentlemen work with me. They’re not affiliated with the casino, so, if you go with them quietly, they’ll get the answers I need.

 
[ The two guards take Ressler to a private room where a third man waits ]
Nigel: I’m Nigel. I’m in charge here.
Ressler: Then trust me, Nigel, you need to let me explain. Give me my phone so I can make a call.
Nigel: Everybody’s got an explanation. An excuse. We are past that, mate.
⋘⋙
[ Anika goes up to Siya and interrupts the game ]
Anika: Sorry to interrupt your play, but there seems to be a problem with your gentleman friend.
He’s taken ill, I’m afraid.
Siya: Oh, where is he?
Anika: Would you like to come with me?
Siya: Is there a problem?
Anika: Not one that can’t be rectified. They’ll take care of you.
[ Elevator bell dings ✨ ] [ Siya gets in the elevator, escorted by two men. As she gets in, Wujing gets out. As he is wanded in, Anika introduces him as Yao Liang ]
Anika: This is Mr. Yao Liang. Please see him to Table Three and open his line of credit right away.

 
[ Siya is taken to the room where Ressler is and shoved into a chair next to him. After zip-tying them, their captors step aside, allowing Ressler and Siya to speak to one another in hushed voices ]
Siya: We’ve got real problems, I think.
Ressler: I’m aware.
Siya: Bigger than this. Guess who I just saw walk in downstairs? Wujing is here.
Ressler: That’s why the mercenary. He was recon. Case the room.
Siya: What are they doing here?
Ressler: Whatever it is, they’ve done it at several casinos around the world.
Siya: Wujing was using an alias. Going to sit and play at Table Three.
Ressler: With the two Chinese billionaires? You said that MI6 had files on both. Why?
Siya: We’ve got files on thousands and thousands of people. Can’t remember the exact details of those two, but it was probably Triad association, or something of the sort.
Ressler: The Whaler put Wujing in a room with two Triad-associated businessmen and millions on the table, why?
⋘⋙
[ Nigel walks over with the other men ]
Nigel: If you two are done whispering, where did we leave off?
⋘⋙
[ In the game room, Wujing plays against the two Chinese businessmen. He is winning hand after hand ]
⋘⋙
Nigel: Let’s get a few answers.
Ressler: Well, let me save you the trouble. I’m an FBI agent here undercover. She’s MI6. You really don’t want to do what you’re about to do.
Nigel: [ Chuckles ] Sure. So, uh, which one of you do I start with?
Ressler: I guess I’ll be your first dance.
Nigel: Get him up.
[ As two men hold Ressler, Nigel pummels him⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️]
[ Siya removes one of her earrings and pulls out a thin blade which she uses to cut the tie binding on her wrists. She grabs a large vase and smashes⚡️‼️⚡️it over Nigel’s head. Siya and Ressler capably subdue the other two. Then Siya cuts Ressler’s ties with the tiny sword ]
Ressler: Where did you get that?
Siya: Us spies have all the best toys.
Ressler: I keep underestimating you.
Siya: Yes, I’ve noticed that. Shall we check back in with home?

 
Cooper: [ On phone ] But you’re both all right?
Ressler: Yeah, might need some dental work, but yeah, we’re okay.
Cooper: We need to get you out of there.
Ressler: Not so fast. Wujing is here. He’s on site. Downstairs right now.
Siya: Hey, Ressler? Take a look at this.
[ Ressler follows Siya into a back room; Cooper remains on the line. In the back room, there are multiple computer screens focused on Wujing’s game with the Chinese nationals. Cameras focus on each of the players’ hands as they check their cards ] [🔅🔅🔅Computers beeping🔅🔅🔅]
Siya: I’ll be damned. He is gambling.
Ressler: That’s not what I see.
Siya: What do you mean?
Ressler: One of those billionaires just folded with two pair. Lookit, you can see their cards from this angle. Why would he fold with that? Wait. Watch, the other one’s gonna fold now, too.
Siya: They’re letting Wujing win.
Ressler: This isn’t a game. This is a payday.
Cooper: You’re telling me the men in that game are losing on purpose?
Dembe: They must be plants. That makes sense. The Whaler set up the guest list herself.
Ressler: Wujing needs to fund his war with Reddington, right? So, let’s assume that he’s left behind a fortune in Chinese bank accounts before his arrest.
Dembe: Old funds from his spy hunter days?
Cooper: That was over a decade ago.
Ressler: Wujing is a criminal and a fugitive from justice now. Any bank transaction, any money transfer, he has to assume that the Chinese government, the US government, not to mention Reddington and his network – they’re all watching.
Cooper: So he needs to get that money in an untraceable way.
Ressler: Exactly.
Siya: So, Wujing strikes up a working relationship with a casino specialist. He gives her a cut, and she goes to work setting up lines of credit for him under aliases.
Ressler: Clean money for a dirty little war against Reddington.
Siya: He has up to– what looks like millions of dollars.
Dembe: Think about those casinos they’ve already hit in those other cities.
Siya: We can’t let him walk out the door with that money.
Ressler: Well, there’s no way we’re getting anywhere back near that room, not with all this security.

 
[ Red is standing outside of an elevator. His cellphone rings ✨ ]
Red: Harold, what a lovely surprise.
Cooper: Wujing is in Australia. He’s sitting at a table in a casino while two Triad money men hand him millions and millions and millions.
Red: Quite a tidy little scheme, courtesy of our Whaler. She’s a clever one.
Cooper: Wujing’s up millions, and they’re doing it right out in the open.
Red: The best cons are always in plain sight.
Cooper: Ressler and Malik were ejected from the room and we can’t stop him.
Red: Well, don’t worry yourself. I had an inkling he’d make an appearance at the game. So, I have a backup.
Cooper: What backup?
Red: What’s sweet and fun and Red all over?

 
[ Elevator bell dings✨]
Red: Hello, there. My name is Raymond Reddington. I don’t have a seat in this game, but I’d love to play in.
Anika: Mr. Reddington, I’m afraid all our seats are full.
Red: Mm. Anika, tell me – how much is your cut of Wujing’s take here tonight?
Anika: Excuse me?
Red: 10% of his winnings? No, you’re better than that. 15. I don’t know how much you helped him to collect at all those other casinos, but I’m guessing he heads for the door this evening with, what, $20, $25 million? That’s a little less than four to you, yes?
[ Red holds up a small sack ]
Red: Here’s six. In diamonds.
Anika: [ Exhales sharply ]
Red: You can take it right now. I’m a sure bet. ⋘⋙ [ Menacing ] You’ve never made a wrong decision in your life. Don’t start now.
Anika: I’m sure something could be arranged.
Red: Pull me up a chair to the man himself, please.

 
[ Red walks over to the table where Wujing is sitting, stacking his chips ]
Red: Anyone mind if I join the fun? I don’t have a great deal of time, so here’s an idea. What do you say we play one hand? Wouldn’t that be exciting? [ To Wujing ] Just you and me. No limit. I must have millions and millions here.
Wujing: This is quite a bold move.
Red: Well, I’m not armed and you’re not armed, and I highly doubt we’re going to leap across the table and do what? Give each other bloody noses?
Wujing: How’d you know I’d be here?
Red: Calculated guess.
[ The dealer spreads the community cards face up on the table ]
Red: And a $5 million bet.
Wujing: You haven’t checked your cards.
Red: They are what they are.
Wujing: You seem to be a man who takes an awful lot of risks.
Red: Well, there are risks everywhere. Although, you’ve tipped the odds a bit in your favor by stocking the game with your bagmen here. [ Chuckles ]
Wujing: The irony of Raymond Reddington making an accusation. I know exactly what you are. And soon, the rest of the world will see that, too.
Red: You have no idea what I am. You don’t even know how to really look. Your anger and your hate have made you shortsighted.
Wujing: I’m going to be the end of you. I’m all in.
Red: There’s an end waiting for all of us. Call.
⋘⋙
[ Line rings ☎️ ]
Baker: [ On phone ] This is Local Area Commander Baker.
Dembe: This is Special Agent Dembe Zuma, Federal Bureau of Investigation, badge number 81452. We have two agents on the premises of the Crown Rocks Casino. They’ve been assaulted, and currently, there is a wanted fugitive on site in a private gambling suite. I suggest you lock down the facility. [ To Cooper ] We need to get Raymond out of there.
⋘⋙
Wujing: You think you can what? Frighten me off? This is an impressive display of audacity, you sitting there, but there isn’t a tactic you have in your arsenal that will steer me off course.
Red: At the moment, I don’t need anything in my arsenal, except for the two cards in front of me.
Wujing: Then you’d better hope they’re the right ones, if you plan to take me on.
[ Wujing turns his cards face-up ]
Dealer: Three aces.
Red: There’s one thing you should know before we go any further than this table. Whatever they are, if they’re in my hand, they’re always the right cards.
[ Red shows his cards ]
Dealer: Flush wins.
Red: Aha. Look at that.
Wujing: This doesn’t end here.
Red: I hope not. But at least we’ve played a hand.
Concierge: Ladies and gentlemen, excuse me. I’ve just been informed that the police have entered the casino and they’re heading up here as we speak. If everybody can please just remain calm–
[ Alarm 🚨 blaring ]
Zhang Wei: [ To Wujing ] We got to get out of here.
Wujing: [ To Red ] I’ll be seeing you.
[ Wujing leaves with Zhang Wei ]
⋘⋙
[ Siya comes up behind Red ]
Siya: We need to go.
Red: Lead the way, Agent Malik.

 
[ Later, by the main bar, people move about ]
Siya: No sign of Wujing or the Whaler since the game broke up. Security’s checked every inch of the property. They’re not here.
Ressler: We should be done here pretty quick. We found a bunch of hard drives. This game she was running with Wujing was just the tip of the iceberg. Looks like we have evidence on dozens of clients – laundering, conspiracy, illegal gambling, fraud.
Siya: Wow. Great.
Ressler: You know, you saved my ass tonight.
Siya: We made a good team.
Ressler: You can watch my back in the field any day, but I still meant what I said before.
Siya: About not getting sucked down the drain of this job? I didn’t know Elizabeth. I barely knew my mother. Maybe I’m not like them.
Ressler: Welcome to the team, Siya. But I’m still gonna lose sleep over you.
[ Ressler leaves ]
Siya: [ Exhales deeply ]

 
Arnold: You know, I don’t usually take meetings like this.
Red: What sort of meetings do you mean?
Arnold: Ones where I have no idea what’s going on.
Red: Well, I guess I’m just lucky. You should see me at cards. You have a project manager on your team. Philip Rutherman. You also have a $78,000 debt to two bookies in Baltimore.
[ Red places a fat manila folder on the desk in front of Cullen ]
Red: That’s 100. The extra 20-something’s for whatever you like.
Arnold: If that’s for me, what’s for you?
Red: I have it on good authority that there’s an opening for a project manager on a site of yours in Sarasota, Florida, starting in a couple of weeks. I think it’s time that Mr. Rutherman and his family transferred somewhere a little warmer, a little wetter, a little further away.

 
[ Anika de Beer sits in the back of a limo. She checks her plane tickets ]
[ Anika knocks on window to the driver’s seat ]
Anika: [ Loudly ] What’s going on? Why have we stopped? I’m already late for my flight. Hello?
[ The side door opens and Wujing gets in and takes a seat facing Anika ]
Wujing: [ Sighs ] You told me we were safe. You told me you had thought of everything.
Anika: I had. But you never told me you were on some path of assured mutual destruction with Raymond Reddington of all people. You held those cards and you didn’t show me, so I’m not responsible for what happened in Sydney.
Wujing: And that? Was that Reddington, too? How much did it cost for you to betray me?
Anika: I’ll think of another plan. We can get back to work.
Wujing: I have another idea. Tell me – how much is in the bag? Enough to replace what I lost? I guess it’s a start.
[ Silenced ((💥💥)) gunshots ]

 
[ Children chattering, whistle 🌬️blows ] [ Red sits on a park bench looking through a metal fence at Agnes playing soccer ]
[ Cell phone ringing✨]
Red: Hello, Harold.
Cooper: Authorities in Australia are still looking for Anika de Beer.
Red: They won’t find her. Wujing will have disposed of her by now.
Cooper: At least he wasn’t able to collect his money.
Red: He’ll find another way. There’s always another way. This is far from over.
Cooper: So you won’t believe this, but the problem Agnes was having at school seems to have rectified itself. The girl’s whole family just moved to Florida.
Red: That’s serendipitous news.
Cooper: Don’t treat me like an idiot, Raymond. Your fingerprints are visible from a mile away.
Red: You asked me to stay out of it and I’m out of it.
Cooper: [ On phone ] If that’s the case…
[ Cooper steps up from behind Red and sits down next to him on the bench ]
Cooper: … then what are you doing here?
[ Whistle 🌬️blows ]
Red: You know, Maurice Sendak, one of the most celebrated and most wonderful children’s book authors of all time, he said about children– “You tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it’s true. If it’s true, you tell them.” I hear that and I think it’s the best advice, and yet, still… [ Voice shaky ] What if I want to protect her? What if I just… want her to be a safe, happy young girl?
Cooper: I know how much you care. Truly. I know you have the best possible intentions when it comes to her. But that also means allowing her to skin her knees sometimes. I’ve raised two children of my own in my life. Now I’m raising someone else’s, and I can tell you with certainty, they grow up to be ~ whomever they’re going to be.

 
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⏫ go to top
 
 

Episode Songs

♫ Chess
By K.S. Rhoads

♪ Do you know why you’re thinking the way you do?
Do you know why you’re thinking the way you do?
Cause you keep throwing up what they’re feeding you

♪ It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not
It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not
It is if they can get you to say it enough

♪ (Ah-ah-ah-ah Ah-ah-ah-ah Ahhhh-ah-ahhhh)
♪ I’m never gonna change your mind
♪ (Ah-ah-ah-ah Ah-ah-ah-ah Ahhhh-ah-ahhhh)
♪ I’m never gonna change your mind

♪ Are you the bullet or are you the bird?
Are you the bullet or are you the bird?
You’re burning the book and you haven’t read a word

♪ It’s only black and white if you’re playing chess
You have to pick a side if you’re playing chess
That’s the way to keep your head down I guess

♪ (Ah-ah-ah-ah Ah-ah-ah-ah Ahhhh-ah-ahhhh)
♪ I’m never gonna change your mind
♪ (Ah-ah-ah-ah Ah-ah-ah-ah Ahhhh-ah-ahhhh)
♪ I’m never gonna change your mind

♪ Whose eyes
Are blind?

♪ (Oh, we’re all pawns here)

♪ I’m never gonna change your mind
♪ I’m never gonna change your mind
♪ I’m never gonna change your mind
♪ (I’m never gonna change your mind)
♪ [ Instrumental ]

♪ Hmmm mm mmm ~ Mm mm mmmmm
♪ Hmmm mm mmm ~ Mm mm mm mmmmm

Lyrics and Credits: ⇈ (I tried, starting with script)
YouTube: https://youtu.be/AyzwPFHiR7s

 
⬆ go to start of 10:2 The Whaler
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❌❌❌ End 10:2 Whaler

🔴 Script 10:3 The Four Guns (№ 199)

 
Program air date: 3/12/2023 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-ej4
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://tinyurl.com/mr46tdds
 

Brief (Where we’re at): Red has been trying to determine how Wujing has been funding his revenge tour and what his security situation is. Wujing (Blacklister #84) was told by Marvin Gerard (Blacklister #80) that Red was the reason Wujing was imprisoned. Marvin gave Wujing a list of other Blacklisters who had been betrayed by Red, so Wujing could recruit them to help him get revenge on Red. Wujing got help from Jennifer Anne Moores of the Fribourg Confidence group of thieves (Blacklister #140) to help him find Alban Veseli, the Freelancer (Blacklister #145) whose modus operandi is to hide crimes behind mass casualty events. Red managed to eliminate Moores by setting off an explosion while she was retrieving the list showing Veseli’s location (hidden behind the fake identity of a Picasso sculpture called “The Night Owl”). Despite the task force’s efforts, Wujing was able to collect Veseli.

Through his connections at casinos on many continents, Red found out that Wujing was making the rounds of various casinos with help from a woman named Anika de Beer, known as the Whaler ((Blacklister #165). She would set up the games with high roller players (known as whales). The next big game was to be at the Crown Rocks Casino in Sydney, Australia. Red arranged for new task force member Siya Malik to have a crash course in playing Texas Hold’Em poker. She aced her first game and, as planned, was “discovered” by Anika, but when she and Ressler showed up for the game, they were quickly sidelined by Anika’s security. Siya however, broke free and she and Ressler subdued Anika’s security and discovered the games were rigged in Wujing’s favor. Then, Red appeared at the game and threatened Anika with a bribe ‘she couldn’t refuse’ to let him play. Given no choice, she let him be seated at the table with Wujing. Red quickly defeated Wujing, preventing him from walking away with many millions in “clean money.” After the match, Wujing confronted Anika in her limo and killed her, taking the bribe money, a few million dollars in diamonds — a mere pittance compared to what he had expected.

Back home, Red had found out from Cooper that Agnes was being bullied at school and, despite instructions from Cooper, her legal guardian, intervened by arranging to have the bully’s family relocated by his company to Florida. Cooper upbraided Red, but tried to calm Red’s protective feelings toward Agnes, telling him children “grow up to be ~ whomever they’re going to be.”

⭕ Script 10:3 The Four Guns (№ 199)

 
[ An outdoor rally in Washington DC for Senator Cynthia Panabaker’s re-election campaign. Senator Panabaker was once in direct charge of the Reddington task force, but even as she rose through the ranks at the Department of Justice and into the elected position of Senator of Virginia, she has maintained close ties with the task force ]
Senator Panabaker: So let’s do this, Virginia! Let’s get out the vote! Because believe me, I am just gettin’ started!
[ Cheers and applause 🙌🙌🏽🙌🏻🙌🏾🙌🏻🙌🏼 ]
Man: Yes, sir!
Panabaker: Thank you!
[ Two secret service agents are monitoring the crowd, one is Special Agent Will Strickland. The other is Agent Ives. Ives sees a young man with black hair in the crowd. He calls Agent Strickland on his police radio ]
Agent Ives: One o’clock. Black jacket. I’m gonna check him out.
Strickland: Copy that.
⋘⋙
Panabaker: Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you so much. Thank you for coming.
⋘⋙
[ Agent Ames approaches the young man ]
Agent Ames: Turn out your pockets for me.
[ The young man turns his pockets inside out. Agent Ames pats him down ]
[ A middle-aged man with a mustache wearing a baseball cap watches the pat-down ]
⋘⋙
Journalist: Senator? Senator Panabaker. You’ve been campaigning on fiscal responsibility, but you voted this week to increase military spending by $90 billion.
Panabaker: I don’t see the contradiction. We need a strong national defense, but we also need to make sure that money’s spent responsibly. What we can’t have are things like my opponent securing no-bid contracts for his employers. That kind of sweetheart dealing hurts our troops and our taxpayers.
Journalist: But Senator–
Panabaker: I’m sorry. I have another event today. That’s all for now. [ To the crowd ] Thank you so much! Thank you for coming! Thank you!
[ Cheers and applause 🙌🙌🏽🙌🏻🙌🏾🙌🏻🙌🏼 ]
⋘⋙
[ Panabaker sees a friend in the crowd. It’s Harold Cooper, head of the Reddington task force ]
Panabaker: My, my, my! Aren’t you a walking Hatch Act violation.
Cooper: Just a regular civilian, out here to support an old friend.
Panabaker: Oh, I love the sentiment. I hate the “old” part. Let’s just call it friends and leave it at that.
Woman: Gun! He’s got a gun!
[ Gunshot💥 ]
[ Cooper crouches down, reaching for his gun but it’s not clear where the shot was coming from ]
[ Crowd screaming‼️] [ Indistinct shouting!! ]
[ Panabaker has ducked behind a concrete pillar and is breathing heavily. Agent Strickland comes to her side ]
Strickland: Ma’am, are you okay? Have you been hit?
[ He reaches for his firearm ]
Strickland: I’m– I’m disarmed. I’ve been disarmed.
[ Agent Ames checks for his gun ]
Ames: My gun’s gone, too.
Cooper: Do you have eyes on the– You’re bleeding.
Panabaker: [ Panting ] Yeah, it– It’s not mine.
[ It’s Agent Ames who was shot, in the shoulder. He seems to become aware of it no sooner than the others. He slumps back against a fence, but remains conscious ]
Panabaker: Ohh!
[ Strickland speaks into his radio phone ]
Strickland: Shots fired. Agent down. Requesting backup. Repeat, shots fired. Do you copy?
[ Suddenly, he realizes his police radio phone is not plugged in to the transmitter at his waist ]
Panabaker: My God. Harold. What the hell just happened?

 
[ An old grey building has carved above its entrance: “The Public Bath City of New York” ]
[ Red is showing Cooper around ]
Reddington: It’s this way. These were once an oasis for the wretched masses, a respite from their squalid tenements, where plumbing was a pipe dream and people were kicking their filthy buckets in great numbers. Of course, it took an angry public outcry and several cholera epidemics to convince the City Fathers that their citizens needed somewhere clean and wet to relax with a bar of soap.
Cooper: Fascinating, but I can’t keep doing this back-and-forth to New York from D.C. It’s a terrible waste of time. You didn’t really fly me up here to tour an old bathhouse?
Red: Well, no. I–
[ Cooper sees a bed, desk and card table with two chairs ]
Cooper: Wait a minute. Are you actually living here? This place looks like it should be condemned!
Red: I don’t think so. It has great pipes. And now that the steam room’s up and running, the–
[ Cooper picks up a book ]
Red: Only a side project, Harold. I summoned you up here for more pressing business.
Cooper: Is it Wujing? Has he made some new alliance?
Red: Plans on that front are still in the planning stages. Please.
[ Red motions for him to sit with him at the card table ]
Red: But no. I want to discuss the tribulations of our dear Senator. What a harrowing experience for you both.
Cooper: It was a matter of inches. A few to the left, and a Secret Service agent would have been killed. A few to the right, and – Cynthia.
Red: And that’s not the only quandary keeping you up at night. How to explain the stolen radios, the disappearing guns?
Cooper: It makes no sense. We’re talking about the most highly trained, dependable security in the country.
Red: And yet someone brought them to their knees. I’m afraid you won’t like the answer. Pickpockets.
Cooper: I’m sorry, but common thieves did not disarm the Secret Service.
Red: I’m not referring to a gang of delinquents, Harold. These particular pickpockets aren’t scavengers. They’re apex predators.

[ Flashback: ]
[ The events of the campaign rally replay, but with attention given to how the pickpockets lifted the guns and radios ]
Agent Ames: One o’clock. Black jacket. I’m gonna check him out.
Agent: Copy that.
Panabaker: Thank you all for coming. Thank you so much.
⋘⋙
Reddington: [ Voice-over] They study their prey to determine what action will provoke the desired reaction.
⋘⋙
[ Indistinct conversations ]
— We love you, Cynthia!
— Hey! Watch it!
— Ma’am. Ma’am, step back.

Red: And once their diversion has you exactly where they want you, they sink their teeth in so fast, you never see them strike. A highly coordinated ambush, the entire pack moving as one. Then they’re gone. Before you even knew they were there. They call themselves the Four Guns.
Cooper: Guns? So they are hitmen.
Red: No. As I said, they pick pockets. It would be beneath their dignity to threaten violence, and they’d certainly never use a weapon.
Cooper: So what’s with the name?
Red: The Four Guns. Gun as in gonif, the Yiddish word for “thief.”
Cooper: But if they’re not killers, then why did they take a shot at Panabaker?
Red: I don’t think they did. Someone else was there yesterday, someone with a motive, who knew the pickpockets’ skill set and how to use it to make Panabaker vulnerable.

[ Flashback: ] [ A pickpocket hands one of the agent’s guns to the man with the mustache and baseball cap ]

Red: And whoever that someone is, they’re going to try again.
Cooper: How do we stop them?
Red: Well, in this case, it’s going to take a thief to catch an assassin.

 
[ The Post Office ] [ Cooper has been playing surveillance video from the campaign rally, in the moments after the shot was fired ] [ Indistinct shouting ]
[ Cooper clicks off the video ]
Cooper: Reddington has connected our gang of pickpockets to several high-yield thefts, mostly covert jobs.
Dembe: Driftstream Industries. A major energy conglomerate.
Cooper: They lifted a two-factor authentication key off their CTO, took control of their system, and threatened to cut off fuel to half the power plants in Texas, fleecing the company for millions. Sometimes their work gets more notice.
[ The covers of several tabloid newspapers are shown about Norway’s crown jewels being “misplaced” ]
Siya: Oh, my God! Prince Erik! I remember that. They practically stole the crown right off his head, poor idiot.
Ressler: I’m sorry, but why are we looking for them when we should be focused on finding a killer? I mean, Panabaker’s life is on the line here.
Cooper: And the Bureau is conducting an extensive manhunt for her would-be assassin, but Reddington is confident these pickpockets aided in the attack. That means finding them will lead us to the shooter.
Siya: So how do we find them?
Cooper: Start with the scene of the crime. You and Agent Zuma coordinate with our Evidence Response Team. Agent Ressler, you should meet with the Senator’s security detail, but I want to check in on her first, make sure she’s holding up okay.

 
[ Cooper’s Office ]
Panabaker: Agent Ives won’t be grabbing pickle jars off any high shelves for a while, but I’m praying for him, and I just want to get back to what I was sent to DC to do.
Cooper: Great answer, Senator. But I was there, remember?
Panabaker: [ Sighs ] What do you wanna hear? That I’m terrified? That my opponent’s whipped his base into such a frenzy that someone actually tried to kill me?
Cooper: I’ve read your security file. I know why you were assigned a Secret Service detail.
Panabaker: One of those men almost died for me. Do you know what it’s like to ask a stranger to make that kind of sacrifice?
Cooper: Well, I’m no stranger, but you put it all on the line for me last year. You kept me out of prison. I want to repay my debt to you.
Panabaker: Has the cheese slid all the way off your cracker? There’s a reason I put it on the line, and it wasn’t Christian charity. Reddington blackmailed me.
Cooper: You said that was all forgotten.
Panabaker: Forgotten. But not forgiven. I never want to be under that man’s thumb again. Or anyone else on his team.
Cooper: Look. I’m not here to defend Reddington. I can only focus on the future and making sure that you’re still in it. Cynthia– Please.
Panabaker: What do you need from me?

 
[ A room at the Post Office. Special Agent Will Strickland from Panabaker’s Secret Service security detail sits down to talk with Ressler ]
Agent Strickland: Boss asked me to come here today, but I don’t have a lot of time.
Ressler: Of course. I just wanna say, I’ve been where you are. My partner, she, uh– Anyway, I hope you’re getting the, uh, support you need.
Strickland: Yeah, I’ll wait to deal with that once you find the man responsible.
Ressler: You said you never saw his face. You didn’t try to pursue him.
Strickland: My primary directive is to protect the Senator. If there were other agents there, maybe, but I would never abandon my post to chase an assailant.
Ressler: The shooter had to pass through a metal detector to enter the barricades, right? Where’d the gun come from?
Strickland: He shot Agent Ives with his own service weapon.
Ressler: You didn’t see him or even realize that you’d been disarmed until much later.
Strickland: I don’t know how he did it.
Ressler: What if I told you that he had help?

 
[ Two of the pickpockets, Quentin Dodd and Star, are talking with the man in the mustache in the baseball cap. He opens an envelope and takes out a piece of paper ]
Mustache man: The passcode. How’d you get it?
Star: Patience and the right vantage point. Who looks over their shoulder before they type in their code?
Quentin Dodd: So that’s it. We did what you told us. We don’t want any further part in– in– whatever this is.
Mustache man: Do you know what it means to be a patriot?
Quentin: [ Scoffs ]
Mustache man: The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots. I will not stop the bleeding – until liberty is restored.

 
[ Later, after the pickpockets are gone, the man in the mustache removes ~ his mustache, which is a disguise, as he listens to a tape recording of Senator Cynthia Panabaker talking to her aides ]

[ Flashback: ]
Senior aide on recording: Senator, please, just hear me out. Why press the flesh for two hours when you can spend five minutes with someone who can actually bankroll your campaign?
Panabaker: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I need you to hush for a second. Shelly, stop taking notes.
Shelly: Yes, ma’am.
Panabaker: Actually, can you step out for a minute, please?
Shelly: Of course, Senator.
[ Door opens ]
Panabaker: Thank you!
[ Door closes ]
Panabaker: Is that door shut?
Senior aide: Yeah. What’s wrong?
Panabaker: Jonathan, what I’m about to say is not to leave this room.

 
[ Red is at a rare books seller in the Flatiron District in Midtown Manhattan ]
Bookseller: Well, this is interesting. Heavenly Spheres. The first text to suggest Earth is not the center of the universe.
Red: A humbling reminder to us all.
Bookseller: Reading this was forbidden by Sacred Decree. They only printed 400 copies, so a first edition like yours – I’m prepared to offer you 1.2.
Red: I’m not selling. I want to make a trade for something.
Bookseller: Uh, we have a beautiful Audubon.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Something from your private collection.
Bookseller: Private? I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.
Red: Oh, but I’m sure you do.
Bookseller: I recognized your book immediately. It was reported stolen from the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Red: And two minutes ago, you wanted to buy it from me for a million-two. Shall we dispense with the sanctimony?
⋘⋙
[ Red and the Bookseller are now in a back room. The Bookseller removes the fabric cover from a glass case ]
Red: [ Gasps ] Ah.
[ Inside the case are several old books with metallic embossed covers ]
Bookseller: Their shimmer comes from an industrial byproduct – arsenic. The Victorians were mad for it. Put it in wallpaper, linen, lingerie. And when they went truly mad from toxic exposure, doctors thought it was hysteria, “witch fever.” We know better now. Which is why these books have been removed from most other private collections.
Red: And if one were to remove the slipcover?
Bookseller: Time has increased their potency. As the binding deteriorates and flakes off, the arsenic enters your lungs, eventually causing total collapse.
Red: I know exactly which one I want.
Bookseller: Are you prepared to own something so deadly?
Red: Oh, it isn’t for me. It’s for a friend.
Bookseller: Hm.

 
[ A prison ] [ Metal door thuds ⚡️] [ Indistinct conversations ]
[ An Inmate wheels a cart and stops in front of a cell. He has a package wrapped in paper, apparently a book. The man in the cell is Robert Vesco (Blacklister #8), Red’s mentor and friend ~ that is, they are friends when the two aren’t playing tricks on one another. Vesco inadvertently landed in prison when Red miscalculated and Dembe was still trying to prove to Red (and himself) that his allegiance to the FBI superseded his past loyalty to Red (Episode 9:3, The SPK, Blacklister #178) ]
Robert Vesco: I didn’t request anything.
Inmate: Special delivery. Courtesy of Raymond Reddington.
Vesco: Oh, then I definitely don’t want it.
Inmate: Took a lot of juice to smuggle it in. And I wouldn’t refuse a gift from a man with that kind of reach.
Vesco: Please. I taught him everything he knows. Which is half of what I know. Believe me. He tries anything, I’ll see it coming a mile away.
Inmate: And what about me? I’m supposed to make sure you take this.
Vesco: Yeah. He’ll probably kill you.
[ Vesco takes the package and unwraps the book. Inside the cover is a note ]
Vesco: Hmm. [ Reading aloud ] “Dear Robert, as Dickens said, there are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.” “Raymond.” [ Scoffs ] Cryptic bastard.
Inmate: You gonna keep it?
Vesco: Dickens also said, “Get hold of portable property,” especially in a joint like this.
[ Vesco walks away with the book ]

 
[ The Post Office war room ]
[ Dembe plops a large file box of evidence on a table ]
Dembe: Evidence Response Team recovered the firearms and the radios stolen from the Secret Service.
Ressler: This is the gun that was used in the shooting? Where’d they find it?
Siya: Dumped in a rubbish bin near the park.
Cooper: Any CCTV cameras pointed at that trash bin?
Siya: Unfortunately, no. Say what you will about mass surveillance in the UK, we would’ve had you covered.
Ressler: Reddington said the pickpockets don’t wear gloves, right?
Cooper: It would hinder their dexterity.
Ressler: Great. So let’s lift the prints off this stuff.
Dembe: ERT tested the whole box. All the prints are smudged. Pickpockets must have wiped everything down before they tossed it.
Siya: All they got was half a thumbprint on this radio. Doesn’t match either agent or their families, so it’s almost certainly one of our suspects. But it’s only a partial. There aren’t enough points of comparison to make an ID.
[ Cellphone buzzing ] [ Cooper holds up the phone: “Nick’s Pizza” i.e. Red ]
[ Cooper steps away ]
⋘⋙
Cooper: I told you. It’s a dead end. There’s no eyewitnesses, no footage, no physical evidence.
Red: You said something about a thumb. I might be able to work with that.
Cooper: Can’t read it. It’s not a full print.
Red: Eh, my guy won’t need a full print.
Cooper: Your guy? Who’s your guy?

 
[ Red goes to visit “his guy,” Herbie Hambright, who is accompanied by his baby daughter Sue in a stroller. She’s about one year old. Herbie, as usual, is harried ]
Herbie Hambright: [ Groans ] Thank God you called. I was on the verge. Seriously. I can’t remember the last adult conversation I’ve said. Sue’s a great listener. I’m just so sick and tired of my own voice. I always loved talking to Holly, but now most of the time, we just end up talking about Sue. Or pooping.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Is she asleep?
Herbie: Barely. Um, one little fart, and she’ll be up. And she’s definitely gonna fart.
Red: Leave her to me. This shouldn’t take long.
Herbie: All right. Good. ‘Cause Holly’s got us on a pretty tight schedule. What’s the job?
Red: I need you to identify half a smeared thumbprint.
[ Herbie pulls stuff out of a leather workbag ]
Herbie: All right, well, assuming that the finger mark is not too degraded, I probably will be able to get a few skin cells, maybe even some sweat, and then I just extract the DNA. Easy pease, lemon squeeze. Man. I miss this. Don’t you just love the smell of sodium sulfate? Is that just me?
Red: Maybe it’s time for you to get back out there.
Herbie: Yeah, I wish. Wait. Did Holly say something? I applied to a new crime lab. No luck. As usual. What the hell. Nobody at home yells at me when I ruin the prosecution’s case. I mean, Sue yells, but I usually can fix that with a goofy face.
Red: Well, let’s see what you can find. Who knows, maybe it’ll be a fresh start. Yeah, what do you say to that, Sue? Fresh start?
[ Sue farts ]
Red: Ah, she just farted.
Herbie: Thatagirl.
[ Red peers in the front of the stroller at the baby and smiles ]
Red: Hi, there.

 
[ The Post Office war room ] [ Siya arrives with tea for the group ]
Siya: Sweet tea. Tea. And sweet tea with milk.
[ Beep🔅]
Ressler: Oh. Drink up. CODIS just matched the DNA we got from Reddington.
[ Keyboard clacks ] [ Photos and legal documents appear overhead ]
Siya: [ Reading ] Quentin Dodd, a.k.a. the Hook, a.k.a. the Mechanic, a.k.a. the Claw, a.k.a.–
Ressler: Okay, so his aliases are up to date, but the rest of this stuff – Last known address, 2011. Last arrest, 2009. Guess the guy figured out how not to get caught.
Siya: He may have changed up his methods, but what about his obsession?
Dembe: What does that mean?
Siya: Look at what the cops found when they arrested him. Patek Philippe. Cartier. Piaget. Those are five-figure watches. Even when he was pulling the bigger jobs, 7 times out of 10, there was a watch somewhere on that seizure list.
Ressler: So the guy’s got a weakness. How does that help us?
Siya: It may be a long shot, but imagine you’re “the Claw.” You’re cooling your heels in DC after a job, bored, fingers start itching. Where do you go to get your fix?
Dembe: Somewhere with a lot of watches.
Ressler: But he’s not a heist guy. He’s not gonna make a run on some million-dollar watch sitting in a safe.
Dembe: What if he never makes it past the lobby? Think of those people coming and going at those big watch auctions.
Siya: Collectors, ones who like to show it off with a bit of flash on their wrist.
⋘⋙
[ Indeed, Quentin Dodd does frequent watch collectors gatherings ] [ Indistinct conversations ]
[ After meeting, greeting and lifting watches from various collectors, Dodd approaches a new target ]
Quentin: Jim! Jim! Hastings! What are you doing, man? How’s it– Oh, my God.
[ Quentin grabs the man’s hands with both of his ]
Man: Do I know you?
Quentin: No. I’m so sorry. I thought you were someone else entirely. I’m so sorry. That’s my bad.
[ Quentin tries to let go of the man’s hand, but can’t ]
Quentin: Um–
[ The next thing he knows, the “Man,” who is Ressler, slaps handcuffs on him ]
Ressler: Yeah. Well, you wouldn’t have wanted it anyway. It’s a fake. Just for you, Mr. Dodd.

 
[ An interrogation room at the Post Office ]
Ressler: That was some pretty sloppy work leaving your print on that agent’s radio.
Quentin Dodd: Did you find that radio in a trash can? No, ’cause I saw that radio in a trash can, and as I was throwing out my soy latte, I started to pick it up, but I didn’t want to get involved. Figured somebody threw it there, had their reasons.
Dembe: Is that right? Hm. You do understand this is an assassination attempt on a U.S. Senator we’re talking about?
Quentin: Did you find my prints on the gun? ‘Cause I bet not. I mean, you may have some DNA from the trash, but come on, FBI, I follow the old rules – I never smarten up a sucker, I never rat to the cops. My hands are tied here on both counts, fellas.
Dembe: What about the count of grand larceny in the third degree?
Ressler: Or the second. Those were some pretty expensive watches you stole.
Quentin: Ah, but to render that verdict, the people — that’s you — must prove my intent to deprive or appropriate as defined by Penal Law §155.05. Did you see me depriving or appropriating? Point of fact, did you find anything on me at all?
Dembe: You were smart enough to stash the evidence in case you were searched.
Ressler: And we did catch you red-handed going for my watch.
Quentin: Yeah, which you said yourself was a fake. So if it costs less than 50 bucks, it’s a Class D bumped down to a Class A misdemeanor. Hardly a federal offense. I didn’t even cross any state lines. So, with my priors, that’s a year in JCI? And I already graduated from that venerable institute, but I’m a big believer in continuing education…

 
[ Cooper’s office ]
Panabaker: A pickpocket? Harold, please!
Cooper: He’s more than a pickpocket.
Panabaker: Oh, for Pete’s sake. I thought you’d have something to put me at ease before my debate.
Cooper: About that. I don’t think it’s a good idea. In fact, I’d like you to consider suspending all public appearances until we’ve had–
Panabaker: All appearances? I am down 5% in the polls. You trying to help Jerry Hayes walk off with my seat?
Cooper: It could be worse. You could be dead.
Panabaker: I will be dead, politically, if I lose reelection. [ Sighs ] Besides, I have faith in my team. Tell him, Will.
Special Agent Will Strickland: Director Cooper, I can assure you that every precaution has been taken to secure the venue. We vetted the staff, optimized exit routes, and brought in an extra team. I’m confident we can keep the Senator safe.
Cooper: I appreciate that, but, Cynthia, if you insist on going, then I insist on having one of my team there. Agent Ressler, I want you to accompany the Senator this afternoon.
Ressler: Of course.
⋘⋙
[ Ressler draws Cooper aside ]
Ressler: [ Low voice ] Uh, we got a problem downstairs.

 
[ Red is talking on the phone with Cooper ]
Cooper: We caught the thief, just like you told us to, but he wouldn’t give up the shooter.
Red: Ah.
Cooper: Apparently, he knows the penal code better than most. We had to release him.
Red: That’s a shame. Keep your chin up, Harold. There’s always a way.
[ Beeps🔅]
⋘⋙
[ Red closes his flip phone and turns around to address Quentin Dodd, who is sitting handcuffed at a metal table ]
Red: Mr. Dodd. I understand that you can see into a man’s pockets, into a man’s mind. Why don’t you focus that superior perception on me. Tell me what you see?
Quentin Dodd: You got me kind of handicapped here. [ Sighs ] But let’s see. Martin Greenfield suit. Brooklyn clothier. Nice. Paul Stuart shoes. You got wealth and taste, but you don’t like to draw attention. Although, that Rolex isn’t hiding its light under a bushel.
Red: Even a simple man has to check the time.
Quentin: No car keys. You gotta go anywhere, someone else does the driving.
[ Red reaches into his pocket and pulls out tickets to the Metro ]
Quentin: [ Laughs ] Ohh! Metro? You?
Red: No one really looks at anyone on the subway.
Quentin: That’s a fair point. No wallet or billfolds. Just cash in your right front. Firearm behind. An extra mag in your right jacket. A flip phone in your left. Now, for your mind – I’ll tread softly. I assume braver men have plumbed your depths and drowned. The stuff you carry, the way your smile never reaches those eyes – it’s just humor and darkness. A life lived too long with little left to lose. Except the life.
Red: You missed something.
Quentin: I didn’t get a good look at your socks.
Red: In my back pocket. You missed all the people I keep there, including a certain Senator you conspired to have killed.
Quentin: Whoa! I had no idea it was gonna go down like that. I don’t know why I just told you that.
Red: Guess I’ll have to kill you now.
Quentin: Please. I won’t breathe a word.
Red: Oh, but I’d like a word. About the shooter who hired you.
Quentin: I can’t talk about that.
⋘⋙
[ Door opens ] [ Cart wheels squeaking ⚡️]
[ Mr Brimley, Red’s impresario of persuasion, pushes in a cart laden with metal implements, saws, scissors and wires. Behind Brimley trails a wheeled container of supplemental oxygen connected to his face by a long length of clear plastic tubing ending in a nasal cannula ]
Brimley: What do you think, Red? A belt to cut off the blood? Bit rudimentary.
Red: Still, very effective. You see, Quentin, I suspected that you might prove reticent, and I thought an old-fashioned criminal deserves an old-fashioned punishment. You try to take from me, I take your hand.
Quentin: My hand? You– You wouldn’t rob me of my livelihood.
Red: Rob a thief. How ironic.
Brimley: So, we got your bone nibblers – your shaping mallet – [ Scraping ] – and this. Ever smell bone dust? The Gigli saw was invented 130 years ago, but I still haven’t found a cleaner way to sever a limb.
Quentin: Okay. I’ll talk. I’ll talk.
Red: Tell me about the assassin.
Quentin: [ Exhales deeply ] My crew and I were pulling a job, when this… security guard ambushed us. He had footage of us at work. He kept going on about, uh, the sanctity of the law and how we had to pay for our transgressions. He said something strange about a “higher calling.” He was lording this evidence over us, so we had to go along with his crazy plan. Now, I’ve met some weirdos in my line, but this guy? He scared me.
Red: Where can I find him?

 
[ FBI agents burst into an apartment with photos on the wall and an upside-down American flag ]
— FBI!
— Clear right.
Siya: He’s not here. What’s with the flag?
Dembe: A military signal for distress.
[ Drawers sliding ] [ Siya sees a photo that stands out ]
Siya: Is that President Diaz?
Dembe: Why would an assassin take a picture with a former President? A disgraced former President?
[ Siya opens a cabinet of items for disguising a man’s face ]
Siya: Check this out. Whoever he is, we probably won’t recognize him now.

 
[ A man with a mustache and beard and black glasses is going through a security checkpoint ]
Woman: … pockets. Any metal …
[ Beeping🔅🔅🔅]
Man: Yeah. I always set these darn things off. I got shrapnel lodged in my shoulder. Check my ID. You’re gonna have to wand me.
[ Wand clicking ✽ ✽ ✽ ]

 
[ The Post Office war room ]
Siya: Landlord was a bust. [ Sighs ] The office was rented with a fake ID, paid for in cash. But –
we sent our assassin’s little photo collage to the FACE Services Unit, and – we got a hit.
Dembe: [ Reading ] Lucas Roth. He’s ex-Secret Service?
Siya: 23-year career. White House detail under two presidents. Oversaw transitions, inaugurations.
Dembe: Recipient of the Award for Valor. Sounds like a hero.
Cooper: So, why isn’t he with the Service anymore? [ Keyboard clacks •••• ] Retired at 49. A year before he was eligible? That’s strange.
Siya: How do you know what the Secret Service retirement age is?
Cooper: It’s the same as the FBI’s.
Siya: You’re not thinking of–
Cooper: I’m already older than that, but then again, I run a task force that doesn’t exist.
Dembe: Could this guy’s retirement have something to do with Panabaker?
Cooper: Maybe they crossed paths while she was still White House Counsel. I’ll reach out to Roth’s former supervisor.
Siya: And I’ll keep digging into his wormy little brain. Just take a look at this handwriting. Serial-killer vibes.

 
[ The other pickpockets in Quentin Dodd’s group have joined him. They include: the young man with the black hair, AJ; a thirty-something Hispanic woman, Star; and an older man, Pops. They are “The Four Guns” ]
Red: I’m so glad we could parlay our complicated first meeting into a lucrative opportunity.
Quentin: Are you saying I had a choice?
Red: And how about the rest of your crew?
Pops: Us old-timers have a motto – In with the gravy, in with the grief. You want your share of the spoils, you take your share of the trouble that comes along with it. Though I hope there’s gravy at the end of this.
Red: With success, you’ll have enough to fill a bathtub.
Quentin: Eh, shouldn’t be a problem. We just need a few days to plan, maybe a week.
Red: You have three hours.

 
[ Robert Vesco is in bed reading the book Red sent to him ] [ Page turns ]
Vesco: [ Grunts ] Ugh– [ Gasps ] [ Breathing sharply ]
[ Groaning ] [ Gasping ] [ Grunting ]
Vesco: I can’t– I can’t breathe!
[ Grunting ] [ Grunting stops ]

 
[ The debate between Senator Cynthia Panabaker and her opponent Jerry Hayes is underway ]
[ Audience applauding 🙌🙌🏽🙌🏻🙌🏾🙌🏻🙌🏼 ]
Panabaker: While working families struggle to put food on the table.
Candidate Jerry Hayes: The Senator doesn’t get it. She wants to go after–
⋘⋙
[ Ressler is offstage; he takes a call from Dembe ]
Ressler: I’m backstage. Sorry. It’s hard to hear. What’ve you got?
Dembe: The assassin’s name is Lucas Roth. He’s former Secret Service. I just texted you some photos. We need you to show them to Panabaker, see if she recognizes him.
Ressler: I can ask the other agents, but Panabaker’s gonna have to wait. She’s already on stage.
⋘⋙
Panabaker: I consider it an honor having served as Senator from the state of Virginia, but when he looks at this seat, he sees dollar signs–
[ Applause 🙌🙌🏽🙌🏻🙌🏾🙌🏻🙌🏼 ] [ Muffled ]
Panabaker: –another opportunity to funnel contracts to his buddies at Hutton-Crane.
⋘⋙
[ Off-stage in another area, Lucas Roth who is the ex-Secret Service agent who hired The Four Guns, and made his way through security wearing a false mustache, beard and black glasses, kneels on the floor. He has smuggled in the parts of a ghost gun which he hastily assembles. He pulls the plastic pieces out of his socks. Plastic doesn’t show up on x-rays. As for the metal parts and bullets, he talked his way past the people at the magnetometers by claiming he had shrapnel embedded in his shoulder ]
⋘⋙
Jerry Hayes: Contracts mean jobs, good jobs for people in this state. But if that’s your concern, before I even announced my candidacy, I resigned from Hutton’s board and divested all of my–
Panabaker: Divested? [ Laughs ] Come on, Jerry. They’re your biggest contributors! That’s like a man telling his wife he stopped cheating when he’s still going to the clubs every night.
Jerry Hayes: Your friends in the FBI investigated these allegations at the highest level. They found nothing. Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars.

 
[ Once the ghost gun has been fully assembled, Lucas Roth pulls the fire alarm ]
⋘⋙
[ Fire alarm🚨blaring ]
— Stay calm
[ Indistinct shouting ]
[ Special Agents Strickland and Sanz meet Panabaker as she leaves the stage and direct her to come with them; Ressler catches up ]
Ressler: Wait! Senator! Where are you taking her?
Agent Sanz: Code Gray. We’re initiating lockdown.
Ressler: No, I need to stay with the Senator.
Agent Sanz: Not possible. She’s being taken to a designated extraction point.
[ Fire alarm🚨continues ]
Agent Strickland: We’re almost there, Senator.
⋘⋙
[ Ressler follows a few steps behind; he calls the Post Office ]
Ressler: You need to get here. Roth might be on site. They’ve evacuated everyone to a holding area. They’re locking down the theater.
Dembe: Wait a minute. If they’re locking everything down–
Siya: Probably just following protocol.
Dembe: But our assassin’s ex-Secret Service, so he knows the protocol.
Ressler: This could be a setup.
[ Ressler has lost sight of Agent Strickland and Panabaker. He sees Agent Sanz ]
Ressler: Wait. Hey. Where’s Panabaker?

 
[ Lucas Roth steps out from behind Panabaker and Strickland, pointing the ghost gun at them ]
Lucas Roth: Don’t make a sound. Turn around. Slowly.
[ Fire alarm🚨continues ] [ Roth removes Strickland’s firearm from his vest holster ]
Lucas Roth: [ Reverently ] Senator. It’s an honor.
[ Roth is pointing his gun, not at Panabaker, but at Strickland ]
[ Fire alarm🚨continues ]

 
[ Cooper and Dembe arrive at the venue ]
Cooper: What do we know?
Ressler: Panabaker’s driver said she never made it to the car.
Special Agent Sanz: We’ve been monitoring the exits, and she’s not in the holding area.
Dembe: So they can still be inside.
Sanz: Sir, I have the floor plans you asked for. This is an old theater. A lot of the rooms aren’t marked.
Cooper: Then we’ll have to split up. Search systematically, room by room.

 
[ Lucas Roth, Agent Strickland and Panabaker enter a large storage room ]
[ Door closes ]
Lucas Roth: Lock the door, Will.
[ Bolt lock slides, lock clicks ]
Strickland: How do you know my name?
Roth: Move.

 
[ Ressler is on the phone with Siya at the Post Office ]
Ressler: We’re in the basement. There’s no sign of Panabaker.
[ Siya has been going through the items seized from Lucas Roth’s apartment ]
Siya: Here’s the weird thing – I’m not seeing her in these notebooks, either. I’ve skimmed through like 20. Her name hasn’t appeared once.
Ressler: You’d think for someone obsessed with killing her–
Siya: Right, but I have found other names, like Will Strickland.
Ressler: Wait. As in Special Agent Strickland?
Siya: Roth doesn’t like him one bit.

 
[ In the storage room, Will Roth peels off the fake mustache and beard ]
Will Strickland: Lucas. Holy–
Lucas Roth: I’d say nice to see you, but we both know that would be a lie.
Strickland: Oh, my God. You shot Ives.
Lucas Roth: A necessary sacrifice.
Strickland: Necessary sacrifice? You’re insane!
Lucas Roth: I have never been more lucid.
[ Panabaker’s hand moves slowly toward the hidden firearm at her hip ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler walks up to Cooper: ]
Ressler: Malik’s saying that Roth worked with both Strickland and Ives.
Cooper: So we’ve got an ex-Secret Service agent, hates one co-worker, takes a shot at another.
Ressler: But how does Panabaker fit in?
⋘⋙
[ Panabaker draws her firearm and points it at Lucas Roth ]
Panabaker: Put the gun down.
Lucas Roth: Senator. You don’t understand.
Panabaker: I understand if you don’t put that gun down, you’re gonna get shot.
Lucas Roth: I am going to reach into my pocket. It is just a phone. There’s something you need to hear.
⋘⋙
Cooper: [ To Ressler ] We assumed Roth was gunning for Panabaker. She’s the public figure. It only makes sense. But what if she was never the target? What if it was the Secret Service all along?
⋘⋙
[ Lucas Roth holds his phone up ] [ Phone unlocks, Beeps🔅]

[ Flashback: Tape recording plays ]
Panabaker: Jonathan, what I’m about to say is not to leave this room. The FBI’s gonna indict Jerry Hayes for bribery. They got a warrant to search his offices tomorrow afternoon.
Jonathan: Oh, my God. There goes the election for him right there. Congratulations, Senator.
Panabaker: Don’t celebrate yet. I’m not even supposed to know. It’s highly privileged. Obviously, this conversation never happened.

Panabaker: How the hell did you get that?
Lucas Roth: Ask him. He recorded it.
Will Strickland: W-What? Senator, that is a lie!
Lucas: You have been betrayed by the man you trusted to keep you safe.
Strickland: Senator, he shot an agent! He is holding you here at gunpoint!
Lucas Roth: [ To Panabaker ] My apologies if I made you afraid. I didn’t see any other way.
Panabaker: Put down the gun.
Lucas Roth: No. I won’t do that. He must face justice.
⋘⋙
[ Cooper and Ressler hear a gunshot 💥 and run toward the sound ]
[ Ressler kicks the door open, enters, gun drawn. Lucas Roth has been shot in the arm. He sits upright on the floor ]
Ressler: Senator!
Panabaker: Stand down, Will.
Cooper: Cynthia, did you–
Panabaker: What? Did you think I was gonna wait around for you to rescue me? I’m not exactly a shrinking violet.
[ Ressler pulls Lucas Roth up and handcuffs him ]
Panabaker: Donald, I hope you’ve got a second pair of those. You need to take Agent Strickland into custody, as well.
Agent Strickland: Are you kidding me? You can’t believe this crazy man!
Panabaker: I’ll explain it back at the office, Harold. I need a drink.
[ Handcuffs clicking ] [ Ressler and Cooper leave with Roth and Strickland ]
[ Panabaker steadies herself and follows ]
Panabaker: [ Exhales ]

 
[ The hospital unit of the prison where Robert Vesco is an inmate ]

[ Man on PA speaking indistinctly ]
Woman’s voice on PA: Dr. Miller, dial 2-1-6. Dr. Miller, dial 2-1-6.

[ Lead pickpocket Quentin Dodd, dressed as a priest, walks down the corridor ]
[ Door opens and closes ]
[ The old pickpocket, Pops, holding a bouquet of flowers, approaches a nurse ]
Pops: Excuse me, miss. How do I get to the maternity ward? Can you believe it? I’m gonna be a grandfather! 73 years old–
[ Can rattles ] [ The nurse’s syringe is gone ]
Pops: –and I still remember when my Jenny was born. Cute as a button.
[ Pops lifts the guard’s set of keys ]
⋘⋙
[ Quentin, the “priest” speaks to a guard seated at a desk ]
[ The guard gets up from his desk, keys in some numbers to a keypad to a room ]
[ Keypad Beeps🔅] [ Buzzer🌀sounds ]

[ Man on PA speaking indistinctly ]

Quentin: [ To the guard ] May the Lord smile upon you, my son.
[ Quentin enters the room where Robert Vesco is recovering ]
[ Monitor beeping🔅🔅🔅] [ Door closes ]
Robert Vesco: Oh, Jesus. I– I mean, I’m sorry, Father, but if you’re here – am I dying? Nobody told me I was dying.
Quentin: He who believeth in me shall never die. Not today anyway.
[ Quentin uses a key to unlock Robert’s handcuffs ]
Robert: Oh–
⋘⋙
[ Quentin pushes Robert in a wheelchair ]
[ Quentin pushes the door release ] [ Buzzer🌀sounds ] [ Door opens ]
Guard: Hey! Stop right there!
[ The Guard presses the door release ] [ Buzzer🌀sounds ]
[ The Guard chases the wheelchair ]
[ Star, the female pickpocket, pushes a cart in front of the Guard ]
Guard: [ Grunts ]
Star: Watch it!
Guard: I said stop!
[ The Guard chases the wheelchair, but when he catches up to it, it’s not Quentin and Robert; it’s Pops in the chair with AJ, the young pickpocket, pushing it ]
Guard: Where the hell did they go?

 
[ Quentin pushes Robert to a vehicle loading area; a hearse awaits ]
Robert: Wh– A hearse? I don’t think I like the implication.
Quentin: Just get in already.
Robert: Okay.
[ Vehicle door opens ]
Red: Robert!
Robert: Oh, no. No, no, no. No, no way. I’m not getting in.
Red: Come on, Robert.
Robert: You poisoned me with a book!
Red: All part of the plan, Robert. All part of the plan. Get in the car.
Robert: I almost died!
Red: Okay, so maybe there was a 15% chance, 20% at most. Maybe 25%. But here you are! So, get in, sit back, and relax. You’re a free man! Robert.
Robert: All right.
[ Robert gets in ] [ Grunts ] [ Door closes ]
Red: [ Chuckles, giggles ]

 
[ In an interrogation room at the Post Office, Dembe talks with Lucas Roth ]
Lucas Roth: When JFK was in Dallas, he didn’t want motorcycles flanking his limo or agents on the running boards. It wouldn’t have mattered in the end, but the men on his detail still regretted giving in to him. So why did they do it? They liked him too much. That’s why we can’t get close to the people that we protect.
Dembe: If it’s dangerous to like someone, what happens when you don’t?
Lucas: The man that I was assigned to, I truly loathed, politically and personally, but when I saw a gun pointed at him, I didn’t hesitate. I still got the bullet lodged right there. You’re an agent, too, so you know. The job doesn’t care how you feel, if your wife left you, if your child is sick. You took a sacred oath to protect democracy, at all costs.
Dembe: But Agent Strickland?
Lucas: He tarnished the star.
⋘⋙
[ In another Interrogation room, Ressler talks with Agent Will Strickland ]
Agent Strickland: You have no right to hold me here.
Ressler: You recorded a Senator’s private conversations. I’d say I do.
Strickland: Yeah, maybe I bumped my phone while she was talking.
Ressler: Come on, Agent Strickland. You shared those recordings with her opponent. You were trying to swing the vote against her.
Strickland: Well, if you know everything–
Ressler: I don’t know why. Why her?
Strickland: [ Sneers ] Cynthia Panabaker is unfit to hold office.
Ressler: According to who? The voters in Virginia or just you?
Strickland: [ Scoffs ]
⋘⋙
Lucas: He was assigned to protect her, but he violated that sacred trust.
Dembe: What about Agent Ives? The one you shot? Was he involved?
Lucas: No. I’m a trained marksman. I knew exactly where to aim to get Ives benched, but not seriously hurt. I needed to be sure that Strickland was running point today.
Dembe: Why the elaborate plot? Why not just report–
Lucas: Report him to his superiors? You think I didn’t try? The Agency is supposed to be above politics, but in reality – They call it “being made” when you get your first promotion. It’s just like the Mafia. Loyalty is king. If someone on your team screws up – you’re expected to look the other way.
Dembe: So they buried it?
Lucas: And they buried me. But here’s what you need to understand – scandal means something different to us. Appearing compromised can endanger the country, the Presidency itself. I knew they’d never risk it!
Dembe: So that’s why you made the attack so public, so they couldn’t hide–
Lucas: It all has to come out! [ Slams table, exhales sharply ] It’s the only way to restore faith in the Service. It may cost me my life – but I took that oath a long time ago.

 
[ Panabaker waits in Cooper’s office. She is distressed, tearful ]
[ Cooper enters ]
Panabaker: You caught me. How embarrassing.
[ He hands her a handkerchief; she wipes her eyes ]
Cooper: You’ve been through a lot.
Panabaker: I couldn’t let fear slow me down. Nobody’ll vote for a candidate who’s scared of her own shadow. But I guess it got the best of me.
Cooper: So, what happened?
Panabaker: [ Sighs ]
Cooper: You were recorded talking about your opponent?
Panabaker: Jerry kept getting these no-bid contracts. They suspected he was bribing DoD officials, but before they could execute the search warrant–
Cooper: Your Secret Service detail leaked your conversation, giving him time to cover his tracks.
Panabaker: And then he flipped the narrative, making it look like I was behind some kind of witch hunt.
Cooper: But the tables are turning again. A traitor in the Service. This’ll be a massive investigation. Everyone involved will be exposed.
Panabaker: Ah. Yeah. Poor Jerry. Having your name linked with an attempted assassin like that is never a good look.
Cooper: Have you seen tonight’s news?
[ Cooper gets out a newspaper ]
Cooper: They’re already calling you “Cynthia Six Shooter.”
Panabaker: [ Laughing ] Well, that’s enough to win me re-election right there.
Cooper: I’ll drink to that.
[ Glasses clink ]

 
[ Red’s plane is in the air with Red and Robert Vesco on board ]
[ Red offers Robert caviar on a cracker ]
Robert: No, no. You first.
Red: You don’t trust me? [ Chuckles ]
Robert: You left me to rot in cinderblock hell! You almost killed me! Mm. And now what? Am I your guest or am I your prisoner?
Red: My guest, obviously. The caviar I serve my prisoners is just fish eggs.
Robert: Oh, come on, Raymond. I know you. You– You’ve got something up your sleeve.
Red: Nothing. Not even a watch.
Robert: Hm.
Red: I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation, so I installed a tracking device.
⋘⋙
[ The pickpockets are in a car. Quentin Dodd has Red’s Rolex ]
Pops: Again with the watch? You need to seek professional help.
⋘⋙
Vesco: What if he sells your Rolex?
Red: Doesn’t matter now. I’m about to learn the location of his hideout, should I require his services in the future.
Robert: You see? You always have an angle. And I’m the one who taught you that.
Red: Okay, okay, fine.
[ Red gets up and retrieves a package ]
Robert: So you do have a plan.
Red: There. Surprise ruined. Happy now?
Robert: Yeah. Oh, no. I’m not touching that.
[ Robert peers into the envelope ]
Robert: Wait. Is that Treasure Island?
Red: [ Chuckles ]
Robert: Okay. So that’s why you busted me out.
Red: There’s no hidden message, Robert. This is just a simple gift.
Robert: No, no, no. You gave me Oliver Twist because it’s about an old man teaching a young kid how to be a criminal. Plus, they’re pickpockets. Now, this–
Red: Are we sure the arsenic didn’t damage your brain?
Robert: It says “Treasure” right here in the title, Raymond!
Red: Just a little? We should really get your head examined.
Robert: You are not coming near my head.
Red: [ Chuckles ] Oh, no. …

 
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🔴 Script 10:4 The Hyena (№ 200)

 
Program air date: 3/19/2023 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-ekE
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://tinyurl.com/5dr5yr6j
 

Brief (Where we’re at): Red has an adventure planned ~ a treasure hunt, no less ~ for Robert Vesco (Blacklister #8), his old friend and former mentor. Red broke Vesco out of prison by first delivering him in prison a rare book, an edition of “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens with arsenic embossed in the cover. The arsenic might have killed Vesco but, as Red planned/hoped, Vesco only landed in the hospital. Then, with help from a gang of four pickpocket/thieves called “The Four Guns” (Blacklisters #199) [Episode 10:3], Vesco was squirreled out of prison into a hearse, where Red was waiting.

The thieves had been implicated in an apparent asaasination attempt against Senator Cynthia Panabaker, who was running for re-election. After the task force had apprehended but failed to hold the lead thief, Quentin Dodd, Red took over and compelled him to give up the name of the actual perpetrator of the assassination attempt, who turned out to an ex-Secret Service agent named Lucas Roth. It also turned out that Roth wasn’t actually trying to hurt Panabaker at all. Rather he wanted to expose the fact that the head of Panabaker’s Secret Service detail, Special Agent Will Strickland, had betrayed her by recording her conversations and giving the recordings to Panabaker’s opponent in the upcoming election.

Once safely on Red’s plane, Red gave Vesco another book, “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Since “Oliver Twist” had been about a group of pickpockets, Vesco guessed that he and Red would now be going on a treasure hunt.

⭕ Script 10:4 The Night Owl (№ 200)

 
[ Attorney Don Browning is washing his hands in a men’s room at a restaurant. Another man, Sean Bane, hands him a towel to dry his hands ]
Don Browning: Thank you.
Sean Bane: How’s the evening so far, sir?
Brownwick: Very good. Having a nice meal.
Bane: How many clues have you solved?
Browning: What’s that?
Bane: The clues. To the hidden treasure. How many have you solved?
Browning: I think you have the wrong person.
[ Browning tries to leave, but Bane stops him ]
Bane: I know exactly who you are, Mr. Browning, and as you are the executor of Warren Bostwick’s estate, I know what you have access to. How many clues have you solved?
Browning: Excuse me.
[ Again, Browning tries to get by, but Bane grabs him violently and shoves him against the sink ]
Browning: [ Grunts ]
Bane: How. Many. Clues.
Browning: None. I swear. I-I wasn’t allowed in the room when the will was read! I-I tried to listen, but I didn’t hear anything! Ah!
Bane: I believe you.
[ Bane swings Browning around, clanging his head against a sink ]
[ Browning grunts ] [ Body thuds ]
[ Browning lies on the floor, dead. Bane leaves ]

 
[ It’s early in the morning at the Coopers’ house. Red, wearing an apron, is in the kitchen, cutting fruit. Harold Cooper enters ]
Red: Harold.
Cooper: Excuse me. Why are you in my home at this hour? This is not okay.
Red: You’re right. It’s not. I understand that. And under any other circumstances, I wouldn’t have imposed.
Cooper: Did you sleep here?
Red: A very quick catnap. Just on the bench over there. Truly, a half-hour at most, and then the time it took to put together breakfast.
[ Cooper notices what looks like an old British Army coat slung across the bench ]
Red: You see, I was at Mount Vernon, playing a very small part in a Revolutionary War reenactment, when I got to drinking quite late with the 1st Delaware Regiment. One thing led to another. Those Blue Hen boys really know how to hold their whiskey.
Cooper: What is going on with you? Do you even have a home anymore?
Red: Please. Sit down, Harold. Have some coffee. We’ve got business to discuss.
Cooper: Like Robert Vesco? Tell me that wasn’t you that broke him out of prison.
Red: I read he escaped from a hospital. Just as well. Prison’s no place for a man of Robert Vesco’s stature or advanced age.
Cooper: You realize that we have to track him down now and arrest him.
Red: Well, you could do that, but you’ll be leaving three young women in mortal danger. The Hyena is on the hunt.
Cooper: A Blacklister?
Red: Of the lowest order. Are you familiar with Warren Bostwick?
Cooper: New York hedge fund titan. Died a couple years back. They say they never recovered his fortune.
Red: Ah. Last week, Bostwick’s attorney was found dead in the men’s room at Benneker’s. What looked like a slip and fall was really the work of the Hyena. When professional thieves or white-collar criminals are imprisoned, their stolen goods are rarely recovered. Do you know why?
Cooper: They’re too well hidden. Waiting for the felon’s jail sentence to end so they can be reclaimed.
Red: And that’s when the Hyena strikes. A scavenger by nature, he sniffs out the hidden spoils by shaking down family members and associates, torturing them, murdering them.
Cooper: Warren Bostwick may have played it fast and loose in the market, but he was not a criminal.
Red: No, but old Warren did leave behind a hidden fortune worth hundreds of millions, and the Hyena has caught the scent.

 
[ The Post Office war room. Cooper briefs Ressler, Dembe and new task force member, Siya Malik ]
Cooper: His real name is Sean Bane. He uses extreme violence to hunt down what he’s looking for, and right now he’s hunting the lost fortune of this man.
Siya Malik: One week before his death, Warren Bostwick liquidated his portfolio and transferred his massive wealth into an unknown account. To date, those funds haven’t been recovered.
Cooper: Bane is deviating from his usual MO by targeting an innocent man’s fortune. Last week, he killed Bostwick’s attorney. His next logical target would be Bostwick’s three surviving daughters.
Ressler: Triplets?
[ Photos of three identical triplets appear overhead; the young women appear to be in their late twenties or early thirties ]
Malik: Yes, and protecting them won’t be easy. Cordelia’s in a remote village in Bolivia doing relief work, Alex went off the grid eight months ago, and Kendall’s the only one we have a location on.
Cooper: She was CFO of her father’s company until his death. She’s now living in his Westchester mansion.
Ressler: Sorry, but Wujing is amassing Blacklisters as we speak to take down Reddington. I mean, why would he divert us to babysit a bunch of rich women?
Cooper: It doesn’t matter. They’re in danger. Ressler, Dembe, meet with Kendall. Agent Malik, I want you to reach out to some of your international contacts, see if you can track down the other two sisters.

 
[ Red grabs a chair in a room with multiple shower heads and sits down across from a dozing Robert Vesco, reclining in a beach chair. He’s wearing blackout shades over his eyes ]
Red: [ Chuckles ] Hello, Robert.
Vesco: Mmm-hmm?
Red: Comfy?
Vesco: Hmm! I’m limper than a drunk jellyfish. Ooh. I haven’t had a Turkish massage like that since that hammam in Antalya.
Red: Well, after a year in lockup, you deserve it. Lunch from Mama’s TOO! will be here within the hour.
Vesco: Hmm.
[ Vesco lifts the shades to peer out at Red ]
Vesco: Raymond – [ Sighs ] I love the hospitality here, but I feel like I’m being fattened up for a slaughter. When does the axe fall?
Red: There’s no axe.
Vesco: Hmm. So, what gives? First you bust me out of prison. Now you’re treating me like a hairy princess.
Red: I’ve lost a lot of people, Robert. If my circle of friends gets any smaller, it won’t be a circle. I just want to fill my world with people I care about.
Vesco: What a crock of crap. You need me for a job or what?
Red: I need you for a job.

 
[ Ressler and Dembe talk with Kendall Bostwick, who is living in her father’s mansion ]
Ressler: Don Browning didn’t trip and fall in that bathroom. Your father’s attorney was murdered.
Dembe: We have strong reason to believe there’s a violent criminal chasing his fortune, which puts you and your sisters in danger.
Kendall Bostwick: Forgive me, gentlemen, but you’re beginning to sound like the conspiracy nuts. I mean, there are entire subreddits devoted to the mystery of why Warren Bostwick liquidated all of his holdings.
Ressler: And what can you tell us about that?
Kendall: How about I let my father tell you?

 
[ Kendall Bostwick, one of Warren Bostwick’s triplet daughters, shows Dembe and Ressler the video her father made for his daughters to watch after he died ]

[ Video: ]
Warren Bostwick: In my dwindling days here on Earth, I’ve made a bleak discovery. I may be a market genius, but I’m a lousy parent. My three adult daughters are just waiting for me to die so they can cash out. I can feel that every time you visit me. You three are strangers to me, and barely sisters to each other.

That’s why I’m leaving this video, in hopes that I may do in death what I failed to do in life, teach you to work hard – and to work together. It’s the only way you’ll ever see my money.

⋘⋙
[ Red relates the story to Robert Vesco ]
Red: As part of his effort to make them earn their inheritance, old Warren consolidated his assets into Bitcoin.
Vesco: [ Scoffs ] Some financial wizard. He took a bath there, huh?
Red: On the contrary. Even after the market crash, Warren’s fortune has doubled since his death. But more importantly, all his crypto funds are stored in one location.
⋘⋙

[ Video continues: ]
Warren Bostwick: An anonymous digital wallet. I’ve created a passcode for that wallet, which I’ve split into three pieces. At the end of this message, I’m going to read you a poem I wrote.

Red: The poem is a treasure map, its lines filled with hidden clues drawn from his personal life.

Warren Bostwick: Solve the clues to reveal the passcodes and access ungodly riches.

Dembe: Have the three of you been able to solve any of the clues together?
Kendall: [ Scoffs ] Together was never an option. No, I mean, I love my sisters, but they’re free spirits. They don’t know how to hold onto money. But when I find the funds, I’ll provide for them. As the eldest sister, it’s my job.
Ressler: Wait. The eldest? You’re triplets.
Kendall: And I’m the eldest by 12 minutes.
Dembe: Who knows about the existence of the clues and the hidden passcodes?
Kendall:As far as I know, now that Don Browning is dead, just myself and my sisters.
Dembe: Can we get a copy of the poem?
Kendall: Why? So you can become weekend treasure hunters? I’m sorry, but I need to get back to work, agents. Thank you for warning me of the danger.
Ressler: Sorry, but we’ve been authorized to provide you with a full-time FBI detail.
Kendall: And I appreciate that offer, I do, but I’m sure my security team can handle any threats that find their way here. Thank you.

 
Vesco: For two years, Warren’s own daughters haven’t figured it out. What makes you think we can?
Red: Well, we’re men of a certain age who tippled with Warren on many a balmy night in Mustique. Robert, I’d venture to say that you and I know far more details of Warren’s personal life than even his own daughters.
Vesco: Well, what the hell? The girls had their chance.
Red: Shall I read the first stanza of the poem?
Vesco: You have it?
Red: [ Reading ]
  “To find the answer that you seek you’ll need to sit with Hemingway.
   To Have or Have Not your desire.
   Just stay until the sun’s last ray.”
Vesco: How did you get ahold of that?
Red: “To Have or Have Not.” Warren’s daughter Kendall secretly paid a cryptanalyst to comb thorough the entire book for hidden cyphers. That’s how this whole affair came to my attention. The cryptanalyst is one of my better-paid resources.
Vesco: Oh. Hemingway. Warren always struck me as more of a Faulkner guy.
Red: [ Chuckles ] You were struck correctly. I once heard Warren call Hemingway “a drunk Neanderthal who couldn’t string six words together.”
Vesco: [ Chuckles ] So he hated Hemingway. But he loved his Arturo Fuente Hemingway cigars. Ooh. Hand-rolled in the Dominican. Always kept a box in the humidor in his study.
Red: Robert, did you just solve a clue?
Vesco: Well, maybe half a clue. To figure out the rest, we need to find a way into Warren’s study.

 
[ Kendall Bostwick’s home (her father’s mansion ]
[ Doorbell rings✨] [ ♪ Classical music plays ♪ ]
[ Kendall’s Night Guard looks through a viewing label and sees an FBI badge being displayed ]
Man: FBI. For Miss Bostwick.
Night Guard: Go up and see her if you want. Miss Bostwick told you. She doesn’t require any FBI protect–
[ The Night Guard opens the door. The man holding up the badge is Sean Bane (“The Hyena”). He strangles the Night Guard from behind with a strap ] [ Body thuds ]
⋘⋙
[ Kendall Bostwick is working by the fire ] [ ♪ Classical music plays louder ♪ ]
[ Sean Bane appears ]
Bane: Good evening, Miss Bostwick. It’s time you and I had a friendly chat.
[ He snaps the strap ]

 
[ The Bostwick mansion ] [ Police radio chattering ]
[ Kendall Bostwick’s body is being placed on a gurney ]
Guard: I arrived at 7:00 a.m. for my shift, and her body was cold when I found it hanging here, and I called you straight away.
Ressler: Was there a night guard here?
Guard: Jimmy. He’s always here when I check in, but this morning, there was no sign of him. I guess Kendall sent him out so she could, uh–
Ressler: Look, why don’t you write down his cellphone number and address for me, huh?
Guard: Alright. [ Pen clicks ]
[ Dembe walks over ]
Dembe: M.E. says he can’t determine a cause of death until after the autopsy.
Ressler: Don’t need an M.E. to tell me what happened here. This wasn’t a suicide.
Dembe: The Hyena is working his way through the sisters.
Ressler: Yeah, well, we need to find the other two, and their protection’s a priority now.
Dembe: Malik’s reaching out to the relief organization that Cordelia works for. They’re getting word to her.
Ressler: What about Alex? The one who’s off the grid? We have any info on her?
Guard: I know where Alex lives. I’ve driven Kendall to her building in Hoboken lots of times.

 
[ Hoboken, New Jersey ]
[ Ressler and Dembe pull up to a worn-down looking residential building ]
Ressler: A rich Bostwick daughter lives here?
⋘⋙
[ Inside, they go to an apartment ]
Dembe: Urban off-the-grid living. It’s a thing.
[ A surveillance camera blinks overhead ]
Ressler: Well, if she’s here, she knows we’re here.
[ Knocking on door ✽ ✽ ✽ ]
Alex Bostwick: Who are you?
Ressler: Alex Bostwick?
Alex: I said, who are you?
Ressler: Agent Ressler, FBI. This is Agent Zuma. We need to speak to you about your sister Kendall.
[ Locks clicking ✵✠✵ ] [ The door opens slightly but some chain locks remain engaged ]
Alex: They got to Kendall?
Dembe: Her body was found hanging in the study.
Alex: [ Whimpers ]
Dembe: We have cause to believe she was murdered. I’m sorry.
Ressler: You said “they.” Who are “they”?
Alex: I don’t know! I don’t know! They– I mean, I’m trying to find them, too. They hide in the Internet of Things. It’s my father’s fortune that they want, so they hunt me down. Just buzzing bugs in the machine and in my mics, my webcams, my brain. I thought– [ Chuckles ] I thought Siri was my friend, but, no, I mean, wherever I go, they find me, and now, what, they got– They got to Kendall.
Dembe: We don’t want to cause you alarm, but the man who got to your sister, he’s coming after you, too. We want to offer you some protection. Can we come inside?
Alex: [ Chuckles ] Oh– I’m sure you’d love to come inside and find out what I know, huh? You– You are just like them. Or maybe you even are them. That’s it. That’s it. Oh, what the Feds would love to do with Daddy’s money.
[ Door slams ‼️] [ Locks click ✵✠✵✠ ]
Ressler: She’s really not well.
Dembe: We need to put surveillance on this building immediately. Whether she wants it or not.

 
[ Red and Robert Vesco are at the now-empty Bostwick mansion ] [ The door has a police “Do Not Enter” sign plastered on it. Red ignores it and works on breaking the lock ] [ Rattling ]
Red: Ah. Almost there.
[ Door opens ]
Red: Now, if I recall, Warren’s lair is to the right here.
Vesco: [ Chuckles ] Yeah.
[ The enter the smoking room. Red sees a box of cigars ]
Red: Ah. Hemingways. Robert, you called it. [ Chuckles ]
Vesco: So, now what?
Red: “To find the answer that you seek, you’ll need to sit with Hemingway.” Don’t have to ask me twice.
[ Lighter clicks ¤ 🔥] [ They light the Hemingway cigars ]
Vesco: Mmm. Well, it’s kind of batty, isn’t it? I mean, sending your own kids on a scavenger hunt to claim their inheritance.
Red: I don’t know, Robert. Who’s to say how one might feel at the time of their death? Warren may have felt amused, mischievous, or maybe just hopeful. Better that than fear or pain or regret. At the moment of my death, I just want to feel alive.

 
[ Bolivia ]
Cordelia: [ On phone ] Agent Malik. Hi. This is Cordelia Bostwick.
Siya Malik: Thank you for getting back to me, Ms. Bostwick. First of all, I’m so sorry about your sister. They told me you got the news this morning?
Cordelia: Yeah. It’s been a challenging day, that’s for sure. But, uh, you know, this is just gonna take some time to process.
Siya: Of course, and I don’t want to make that any harder, but I need to let you know that your safety is in jeopardy. There’s a dangerous man after you and your sister, and he will find his way to you.
Cordelia: In– In Bolivia?
Siya: He’s chasing your father’s money.
Cordelia: So, you– You want me to come to where a killer is?
Siya: We have no way to keep you safe if you don’t. If you’re here, we can assign you a full-time protective detail in an FBI safe house.
Cordelia: Okay. Um, yeah, I mean, I’m– I’m planning to come back for the funeral, anyway, so just– Just give me the details.

 
[ Vesco and Red are finishing up their cigars. It’s getting close to dark ]
Vesco: Hmm. Well, the Hemingway’s almost dead. I’m nubbing it here, bud. How is this supposed to solve a clue?
Red: Trust the poem. “To Have or Have Not your desire, just stay until the sun’s last ray.” It’s still light out.
Vesco: Yeah. Barely. If we’re gonna do more cigars, I need better light to see.
[ Vesco leans over ] [ Grunts ] [ He switches on a table lamp ] [ Click ✽ ]
Vesco: Ah.
[ The lamp is Tiffany-style, with horizontal hues of red, ivory, and orange ]
Vesco: Raymond. Does that look like “the sun’s last ray” to you?
Red: I’ll bet that’s a Handel lamp. Hand-painted. Take a look under the rim.
Vesco: “H-A-N-D-E-L.” Ah. Oh, there’s a model number, too. “6160. W.R.” What’s that?
Red: That’s the craftsman’s initials.
Vesco: Oh.
Red: Put it all together–
Vesco: It’s a hidden passcode!
[ Both laugh ]
Red: I’ll be damned. So, you sit with the Hemingway cigar until the sun goes down, prompting you to turn on the lamp, revealing the hidden passcode. Not bad.
Vesco: Not bad? Come on. Read the next clue. I’m feeling lucky!
Red: [ Chuckles ] Alright. [ Reading: ]
  “You can’t define its radiance.
  You love it irresistibly.
  So find the stone I speak of.
  And whisper to it softly.”
Vesco: A radiant stone. Irresistible. Uh – Like a gemstone?
Red: No. Warren wasn’t impressed by precious gems. Terrible investments. Too easy to lose or steal. In fact, he once told me the only diamond he ever bought was the one he put on Marilyn’s finger. [ Points ] Right there! And immediately after buying it, Warren had the diamond itself laser-engraved with a miniature code so small, it can only be seen by microscope, so if the ring were ever stolen, he could prove it was hers.
Vesco: That’s vintage Warren.
Red: He engraved everything he owned. Remember? Fountain pens. Golf clubs. Even his racehorse. Tattooed its ear.
Vesco: [ Chuckles ] What are the chances that invisible engraving in Marilyn’s diamond ring is the next piece of the passcode?
Red: Fits the clue. But where’s the stone? Marilyn died in childbirth. Hope he didn’t bury it with her.
Vesco: He didn’t. Look here.
[ Vesco points to a photo of one of the triplets wearing her mother’s ring ]
Red: I’ll be. I believe that’s Alex, the oddest duck in the brood. Warren must have passed the ring down to her.
Vesco: Mmm-hmm.
Red: This young woman is wearing the answer to our next clue.
Vesco: I love a diamond heist.
[ Both chuckle ]

 
[ Ressler sits in the back of a parked van ]
Siya: [ On phone ] We got a hit from one of the area motels where I circulated photos of Bane. He checked out 40 minutes ago, driving a white Chevy van with stolen tags, carrying what looked like a tool belt.
Ressler: Was that the only sighting?
Siya: For the moment.
Cooper: We just issued a BOLO and added the plate to the ALPR hot list. If we get an alert, we’ll let you know.
Siya: I’m leaving for JFK now to meet the third sister and escort her to the safe house.
Cooper: Be careful out there. All of you.

 
[ Tadashi Ito is working at a laptop when Red enters with Vesco ]
Red:Tadashi, any luck finding her address?
Tadashi: Luck? No. Skill? Ya boy! Before Alex Bostwick went off the grid, she was a heavy social-media user, but last year, she went full digital detox, with one exception. Two weeks ago, she accidentally posted to one of her dormant accounts. She wrote to a user named MadIRC. I located him in an obscure chat room, where I lurked until Alex joined under the user name OptimisticPanda. That gave me her IP address, and from there, it was a hop skip to her geodata.
Vesco: What’d he just say?
Red: [ Chuckles ] We have her address. But Alex won’t just open her door for us. If we want to get inside and find her mother’s diamond ring, we need an angle.
Tadashi: Hmm. That’s easy. Alex has devolved into a conspiracy freak. Based on her discussions in the chat room, she’s convinced that she’s being monitored by ultrasonic listening devices.
Vesco: She’s just paranoid. She’s been chasing that fortune for two years!
Tadashi: Alex contacted MadIRC because he claims to have invented an Exotic Modulation Detector to sniff out ultrasonic surveillance.
Red: Did he?
Tadashi:[ Laughs ] No way!
Red: Well, whether he’s invented anything real or not, MadIRC has invented an alter ego. Perhaps we can employ the ingenious MadIRC for our purposes anyway.
Vesco: Yes. MadIRC is just an archetype for a character, waiting for the right actor to step inside and breathe life into the role.
Red: You don’t know anything about ultrasonic surveillance.
Vesco: I have Tadashi here to coach me.
Red: We’ll see. Tadashi, can you send a private message to Alex and make it look like it’s from MadIRC? We should set up a meeting.
[ Keyboard clacking ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ]

 
[ Siya is driving Cordelia Bostwick from the airport to the FBI safe house ]
Cordelia: Ugh. Yeah. I was afraid something like this would happen. Eventually. I mean, with all that hidden money out there, you know, it was only a matter of time before word got out that we were given clues to find it.
Siya: What about you? Did you try finding it?
Cordelia: Sure. I mean, after we watched his video, I wanted the three of us to work together. It’s what my father intended by writing that stupid poem, and I thought it would give us the best shot at solving it.
Siya: I gather that’s not what happened.
Cordelia: Oh, no. The claws came out. Like always. Kendall tried to take control of us. I guess, I don’t know. She thought it was her role as CFO in the company. Poor Alex just started showing strain under the pressure of it all right away and just– crawled into her own shell.
Siya: So you walked away?
Cordelia: That’s right. My father left each of us modest trust funds, and it was enough to get by on. But I really don’t want any part of his wealth now. I’ve just seen what it does to people.
Siya: Well, we’ve got a couple leads on our target, so hopefully we can get you back to your relief work soon. We’re driving to a safe house in Flatbush, where two agents will provide full-time protection.
Cordelia: Okay.

 
[ While Ressler waited in the van outside Alex’s building, Dembe went out to get some fast food. Now he’s back ]
Ressler: Oh. I’m starving. What took so long?
Dembe: Eh, long lines, long lines.
[ Dembe gets in ] [ Grunts softly ]
Dembe: Here you go.
Ressler: Wait. These are French fries. I ordered onion rings.
Dembe: Well, I told them onion rings. They must’ve made a mistake on the order.
Ressler: Yeah, but you have onion rings.
Dembe: Yes. They got my order right.
Ressler: Hey. Somebody’s coming.
[ Red and Vesco are walking along the sidewalk by the building ]
Ressler: I knew it! Reddington just gave us this case to take out the competition. I’m not standing by this time. I’m going to arrest Vesco.
Dembe: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. If the Hyena is out there right now, watching this building, you’ll just alert him to our presence. Keeping the sisters safe is what matters.
⋘⋙
[ Someone else is watching Red and Vesco: Sean Bane, “The Hyena.” He’s watching them through binoculars. He makes a phone call ]
Bane: [ On phone ] I have some bad news for you. The Feds are sitting on Alex’s building. We have a new player in the game. Raymond Reddington, the FBI’s Most Wanted man, just walked inside.
Cordelia: [ On phone with Bane ] Ah. Okay. [ To the two FBi agents who have just been assigned to protect Cordelia ~ from Bane ] Um, excuse me, gentlemen.
[ Cordelia moves into another room, the kitchen ]
Cordelia: Yeah. How did this happen?
Bane: I don’t know.
Cordelia: Okay, well, um, we only have two parts of the passcode, so we need to find out what Alex knows. Can you, um – Can you get her out of there?
Bane: I’ll figure something out.
Cordelia: Uh, without killing her this time?
Bane: Hey! I did you a favor by taking out Kendall. She suspected you.
Cordelia: Just get Alex out and bring her to me.
[ She walks back into the living room, where the agents have been watching tv ]
[ TV playing indistinctly ]

 
[ Inside Alex’s building, Red and Vesco walk to her apartment ]
Red: You keep Alex interested, and I’ll look for her mother’s diamond ring. Hopefully it’s still on Alex’s finger.
Vesco: Have you stopped to consider that if we find this fortune, we’ll be robbing two young ladies of their inheritance?
Red: Pish posh. I told you, Warren thought his daughters were a disaster.
Vesco: Mmm.
Red: Hey. Do you remember the password exchange?
Vesco: I wrote the password exchange.
[ Vesco knocks ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ]
Alex: Hello?
Vesco: I have no mouth and I must scream.
Alex: Great souls suffer in silence.
[ Locks clicking ✵✠✵ ] [ Door opens ] [ Alex is carrying a fluffy white Maltese dog with black button eyes ]
Alex: MadIRC. Hi. Hi. Uh, come in. Come in. Come in.
[ She re-locks the numerous locks ✵✠✵✠ ]
Alex: Hi. Um, I’m– I’m Alex–
Vesco: Oh, shh, child. No birth names. It’s safer that way.
Alex: Ah, yes. No, yes. You’re right. Of course. Our– Our personal data is all we have. It must be protected at all costs.
Vesco: Precisely why I invented the EMD.
Alex: The Exotic Modulation Detector. Yeah. I know. And– Here– Here, come in. Um, you know, I need additional security solutions. The standard sweep tools aren’t enough. And now that they can turn all of our technology, even our lights, into audio transmitters, it’s just, nobody’s safe.
Vesco: Slow down, OptimisticPanda. Uh, one step at a time. First, I’d like you to meet my associate.
Red: Oh. Yes. Uh, CosmicMuffin.
Vesco: To determine whether my EMD can detect emanating light fields here, CosmicMuffin needs to conduct a search first.
Alex: Sorry. What–
Vesco: Eh, purely visual.
Alex: Okay. Okay. Uh, yeah, what– What’s he looking for?
Vesco: Oh, any objects that might interfere with the EMD’s signal reception.
Alex: Like what? Certain metals. Alloys. But the worst are crystals. You can’t have any crystals with a mineral base inside your home, like rubies, emeralds, diamonds.
[ Dog 🐶 barks ] [ Growls ]
Alex: I don’t– I don’t own any gemstones.
Red: You sure about that? Most women have at least one piece of jewelry lying around. An old necklace. A diamond ring.
[ Dog 🐶 barks ] [ Alex pets her dog ]
Alex: Yeah, I mean, I used to own jewelry, but, yeah, I sold it all to finance a personal project. I even had to sell my mother’s wedding ring.
Vesco: So no diamonds?
[ Dog 🐶 barks 🐶 ]
Alex: [ Chuckles ]
Red: [ To the dog ] Hello, you.
Alex: Yeah, Diamond was, um, my father’s best friend, and he knew how much I loved her. I can get a little, um, activated sometimes, and so my shrink says that a service animal can help. She used to say that, but I fired her because she had something pretty suspicious hiding in her Prada glasses.
Red: I’m just gonna finish my search.
[ Red walks toward a side room. He snaps his fingers and Diamond the dog follows ]
Vesco: So, as I was saying, the EMD is a very special thing because without it …
⋘⋙
[ In the side room, Red sits and picks up the dog ]
Red: [ Softly ] We were looking for the wrong Diamond, weren’t we? Yes – Old Warren tagged his racehorse. Why not you, too? I’m supposed to “whisper to you softly.”
[ Red looks in Diamond’s ears and, indeed, finds a tattoo inside Diamond’s left ear ]
Red: Look at that. [ Chuckles ]

 
[ Cordelia carries a pot of coffee into the living room at the safe house ]

Man on TV: –entitlements are nothing more than socialism in action.

Cordelia: Uh, anyone want more coffee?

We all live in America. We all–

FBI Agent: We rely on a steady flow of coffee for this job.
Cordelia: [ Chuckles ] Yeah. I bet you do.
FBI Agent: Thank you.
Cordelia: You’re welcome!
[ TV playing indistinctly ]

 
[ Outside Alex Bostwick’s apartment building, Sean Bane peers around a corner ]
[ Suspenseful music playing ] [ Sean Bane walks over to a power box and drops a heavy bag of tools on the concrete floor ] [ He pulls a chain from the screen panel protecting the power box ]
⋘⋙
[ Inside Alex’s apartment ]
Red: Well, I’d say after a cursory glance around that we’re done here. I’ve seen everything I need to see.
Alex: Ah. Uh, okay. What– What– What does that mean? C-Can you still sell me the EMD? I have money. I wanted to pay you for it.
⋘⋙
[ The power box⚡️sparks⚡️and blows 🔥]
⋘⋙
[ In Alex’s apartment, the lights go out ]
Red: [ Low voice, to Vesco ]There’s something I’ve been keeping from you. We’re not the only ones hunting this fortune.
Alex: What?! You’re loo– You’re looking for the money? Ugh! I cannot believe I let you in. I mean, who– Who are you? How did you even find me?
Red: She’ll be okay, but we can’t be here. I’ll meet you downstairs.
Vesco: Okay.
[ Vesco leaves ]
Red: [ Speed-dialing ] Power’s been cut. The Hyena is here. She needs protection. Hurry.
⋘⋙
[ Ressler and Dembe jump out of the back of the van and run into the building ]
⋘⋙
[ Ressler and Dembe enter Alex’s apartment ]
[ 🐶 Dog 🐶 barking 🐶 ]
[ They find no one (besides Diamond the dog) ]
Ressler: Did Bane get here first?
Dembe: I don’t believe so. Take a look at this. Looks like an old garbage chute.
[ Inside the large garbage chute is a rope ladder ]
⋘⋙
[ Alex emerges from the garbage chute at the ground level. Sean Dane is waiting for her there ]
Sean Dane: Your sister Cordelia told me about your little escape route. Very eager to hear what you’ve learned about the treasure.
[ He grabs her and pulls her toward his vehicle ]

 
[ Ressler calls the Post Office from Alex’s apartment ]
Ressler: We lost Alex. We think the Hyena has her. Unless Reddington has her.
Cooper: Reddington?
Ressler: Yeah, he was here, along with Vesco, too. You know those two frauds are chasing the missing fortune, too?
Siya: Sir!
Cooper: Hold on, Agent Ressler.
Siya: NYC DOT just got a traffic-cam hit on Bane’s white van. It’s moving east on Avenue D toward Flatbush. That’s the neighborhood where I dropped off Cordelia. It’s where the safe house is.
Cooper: The Hyena’s got one sister. Now he’s going after the other. Did you call her protective detail?
Siya: Yes, and no one’s answering.
Cooper: [ On phone ] Agent Ressler, you and Agent Zuma get to that safe house. I’ll try and reach Reddington.
Ressler: Copy.

 
[ Red is driving Vesco ]
Vesco: You didn’t think that I might want to know that there’s a homicidal maniac on the same treasure hunt as us?
Red: I didn’t want to make you anxious.
Vesco: Well, I’m anxious now.
Red: [ Scoffs ]
Vesco: What about Alex? You think she got away?
[ Cellphone rings✨] [ It’s Cooper. Red ignores the call ]
Red: I sent in reinforcements. And since when are you worried about a mark, anyway? You’ve made a life of preying on impressionable minds.
Vesco: Yeah, sure, when they’re functional minds. But Alex– I don’t know. I mean, this poor kid. She’s not dealing from a full deck.
[ Red hands Warren Bostwick’s treasure hunt poem to Vesco ]
Red: Here. Read this. The last stanza. Let’s stay focused here.
Vesco: [ Reading ]
  “Every story much reach an end.
  Such sadness that it doth impart.
  To finish mine, drop to a knee and read what’s carved upon my heart.”
Vesco: Well, that’s grim.
Red: Indeed.
Vesco: “Read what’s carved upon my heart”? You don’t think Warren literally, you know–
Red: What, carved the passcode onto his heart? Robert, please stay with me here. Though I wouldn’t be survived if one of those sisters had exhumed his body by now to check. No, I have a feeling the true hint lies in the first half of the stanza. I’m certain of it. We need to locate Warren’s grave.

 
[ The Bostwick mansion, where Cordelia lives ] [ Sean Bane pushes Alex inside ]
Alex: What is happening? Why– Why are we here?
[ Alex sees one of the FBI agents assigned to protect Cordelia lying motionless on the floor ]
Alex: Oh, my God.
[ Cordelia walks in ]
Cordelia: Ah. It’s been a while, sis. I’m, um– I’m really sorry we pulled you out of your shelter. I know how safe you feel there, but, um– [ Chuckles ] Forces are closing in around us. I need to know if you’ve solved any of the clues.
Alex: You? Did you kill Kendall?
Cordelia: That wasn’t supposed to happen.
Alex: Okay, b-b-but it did.
Cordelia: I tried, okay? I-I am the one who wanted us all to work together to do this the way that our father asked, but Kendall insisted on doing it her way, and you just– Alex, you just crawled into a hole. Okay, well, now we’re doing it my way.
Sean Bane: You’ll want to leave the room in this next part.
Alex: [ Chuckles ] Okay. Well, if you want it so badly that you’d kill Kendall, what’s the point?
[ Alex goes to her bag and gets out a slip of paper, which she hands to Cordelia ]
Alex: It was tattooed inside Diamond’s ear.
Cordelia: [ Chuckles ] The stone was the dog.
Alex: Of course.
  “You can’t define its radiance.
  You love it irresistibly.”
That’s exactly how Daddy felt about that dumb animal.
Alex: She’s not dumb.
Cordelia: I know. I know, Alex. I know you love her as much as Daddy did. And Daddy tailored each of these clues to each one of us. I mean, our best chance at solving the poem was for us to work together.
Alex: Yeah, well, that’s a little hard to do with a dead sister.
Cordelia: [ Scoffs ]
Bane: We’re done here, right? We have all three clues. Time to cash out.
Cordelia: No. No, no, no. Not yet. If Raymond Reddington is as much of a threat as you say he is, then I need to destroy the answer to the third clue before he finds it.
[ Cordelia goes over to motionless FBI agent and retrieves his gun ]
Cordelia: Oh, and, um, you know– I’m, uh, coming around to what you said about Kendall. We just– We really can’t afford to leave any witnesses behind.
[ Cordelia points the gun at Alex ]
Alex: Cordelia. Don’t. Cordelia.
[ From outside the mansion, a shot 💥 is heard ]

 
[ In a cemetery, Cordelia is smashing the monument above her father’s grave when Red and Vesco appear ]
Cordelia: Which, uh– Which one of you is Reddington?
[ Simultaneously, pointing ]
Red and Vesco: He is.
Cordelia: [ Chuckles ] It doesn’t matter. You’re too late. I destroyed the answer to the third clue.
Red: It would appear you and the Hyena make quite a formidable pair. You know he’s still going to kill you, right? The moment you withdraw those funds.
Cordelia: I wouldn’t count on that.
⋘⋙
[ At the mansion, Ressler and Dembe have arrived. Ressler checks the FBI agent ]
Ressler: He’s still alive.
Dembe: But Bane’s not.
[ Bane is slumped against a wall, shot in the neck ]
[ Alex is in the kitchen ]
Alex: [ Whimpering ]
Dembe: Are you okay?
Alex: Yeah.
[ Ressler checks for a pulse on the second FBI guard, who lies on the kitchen floor ]
Dembe: Where’s your sister?
Alex: I-I don’t know. She– She told me to wait here until she gets back. She says we’re gonna be a family again.
⋘⋙
[ The cemetery ]
Cordelia: You, uh, figured it out, huh? The epitaph on my father’s grave. The final piece of the passcode. I mean, I knew the answer because he ordered his tomb before he died and I paid all of his bills. The final stanza said:
  “Drop to a knee and read what’s carved upon my heart.”
This inlay on his monument is made of rose quartz. It’s one of the heart chakras.
Red: Your interpretation of the clue– [ Inhales sharply ] A bit simplistic, don’t you think?
Cordelia: Why? What– What– What are you talking about?
Red: You’re conveniently neglecting the first half of the stanza.
  “Every story must reach an end.
  Such sadness that it doth impart.”
Do you know what made your father sad?
Cordelia: [ Scoffs ] My father was not a feeling man.
Red: On the contrary. One afternoon, he and I were anchored off Carriacou, sitting on the bow of his yacht, when he shared with me the key to his financial success. It was the sadness he felt over the loss of your mother. What drove him to make all that money you’re so desperate for was a desire to dull the pain deep inside. But all the riches in the world couldn’t fill the hole that your mother left in his life. She was his heart, not some silly chakra. Your mother’s body lies right here beside your father, beneath a simple grave marker, because he wasn’t a wealthy man when she passed. Ah! Look. What do you know? There’s an epitaph. The answer to your father’s clue.
Cordelia: What does it say?
[ Cordelia lunges toward the grave marker ]
[ Gun fires 💥 ]
Cordelia: Ow! You shot me in the foot!
Red: [ To Vesco ] We’ve got what we need here. You ready to go?
Vesco: Hold on. We can’t just leave her here with the final piece of the puzzle.
Red: Don’t worry. I have a cleanup crew on standby to pick up the trash.
Vesco: Oh.
Cordelia: [ Whimpers ]

 
[ Red and Vesco visit Tadashi Ito ]
Tadashi: Okay, I’ve strung together the three passcodes and entered them into the login page for Bostwick’s digital wallet.
[ Beeps🔅] [ Beeps🔅🔅🔅]
Tadashi: Ta-da! Shi.
Red: Well done, Tadashi.
Vesco: That’s a healthy balance.
Tadashi: Wait. There’s something else in his wallet. It’s an NFT. Non-fungible token. This one’s a video file.
Red: Is that what the kids call a TikTok?
Vesco: I think that’s a Chatsnap.
Red: Huh.
Tadashi: Stop. I-I’m gonna open the file. [ Key clacks ✽ ]

[ Video recording: ]
Warren Bostwick: Congratulations, girls. In solving all three clues, you’ve taken a journey into your old man’s heart. A fine cigar. A faithful pet. And the love of a good woman. Your mother. That’s what sustained me in life, even after her death. I’m sorry I wasn’t there more for you girls. It’s a great failing, and I do regret it.

[ Flashforward: ] Alex Bostwick, reunited with her dog, Diamond, is waiting on the landing at the Post Office when her sister Cordelia is brought in under guard and on crutches on the yellow elevator to be interrogated. The two sisters exchange looks.

[ Video continuing: ]
Warren Bostwick: But in earning your inheritance, you overcame your differences and pulled together, just as I knew you would. Hopefully, if this experience has taught you one thing, it’s what’s really important. The meaning of family. Enjoy your money, girls. You deserve everything you got.

 
Red: A tragic tale, no doubt.
Vesco: Hmm.
Red: But at least it brought us together, my friend.
Vesco: Yeah. I’m still waiting for that axe to fall.
Red: There is no axe, Robert. Tadashi, transfer half of Warren’s cryptocurrency into Robert’s account.
Vesco: Eh, actually, I was thinking that one-third might be more appropriate for the situation.
Red: Why, Robert, you do have a heartbeat after all.

 
[ The landing at the Post Office ]
[ The doors of the yellow elevator clang open in the distance ] [ Alex cuddles Diamond ]
[ Cellphone chimes✨] [ It’s a text from Alex’s bank announcing a digital transfer ]
[ Alex opens the link. Millions and millions of dollars are pouring into her account ]

 
[ Cooper’s house ] [ Door opens, closes; it’s late ] [ Cooper enters ]
[ Red is sitting at the kitchen table ]
[ Cork pops. Red pours two glasses on Scotch ]
Cooper: Do I need to buy a blow-up mattress?
Red: [ Chuckles ] I know you have questions, Harold, about jailbreaks and Robert Vesco, hidden fortunes. Fire away.
Cooper: Actually, no. I don’t have any questions.
[ Cooper sits at the table ]
Cooper: At this point in our relationship, after 200-some-odd Blacklisters, I’m aware of your games, and nothing you do surprises me anymore.
Red: If that’s the case, perhaps you’ll honor my request to stay away from Robert Vesco.
Cooper: Why’s that?
Red: I can’t be certain, but I may need some… help. The sort of help the task force cannot provide.
Cooper: I’ll consider the request. By the way, who walked away the winner?
Red: What’s that?
Cooper: Bostwick’s riches. You and Vesco. Who screwed over who this time?
Red: Oh, that’s all behind us, Harold. We’ve had our ups and downs, Robert and I, but he’s an old friend, and our days of betrayal are thankfully a thing of the past.
Cooper: Hmm.

 
[ An underground garage. Robert Vesco gets out of a taxi ]
Chang Wei: [ Calls out ] Robert Vesco.
Vesco: I already placed my annual order for Girl Scout cookies. Tell your story walking.
Chang Wei: I represent Mr. Wujing. He was given your information by Marvin Gerard, the late attorney for Raymond Reddington. What if I told you your arrest by the FBI last year wasn’t bad luck? It was a plan. Formulated and orchestrated by Raymond Reddington. You walked into his trap.
Vesco: Why would Reddington do that?
Chang Wei: If you want to learn more, call this number when you’re ready, and we’ll send a car. Mr. Wujing looks forward to discussing your shared interests.

 
⬆ go to start of 10:4 The Hyena
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Episode Songs

[ No ♫ Songs for this episode ]

 
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❌❌❌ End 10:4 Hyena

🔴 Script 10:5 The Dockery Affair

 
Program air date: 3/26/2023 in the US
Script Permalink: https://wp.me/pDKwi-em1
EntertainmentWeekly Recap: https://tinyurl.com/2kd8aty3
 

Brief (Where we’re at): Red’s response to being pursued by Wujing (Blacklister #80) has been to “hide in plain sight,” riding the subway, sleeping in various locations (including at the Coopers’) and riding the rails between New York City and Washington DC. He’s also been taking time to hook up with an old friend, Robert Vesco (Blacklister #8), his mentor and occasional collaborator. He sprung Vesco from prison (Episode 10:3 The Four Guns) and shared an adventure involving a treasure hunt in which the two solved three riddles hidden in a poem left by multimillionaire Warren Bostwick for his triplet daughters. They recovered the fortune and split the money three ways between themselves and the single deserving daughter, Alex Bostwick.

But, fresh from that reaffirmation of their friendship, Vesco was contacted by a representative of Wujing, who informed him that he had been betrayed by Red. How much Vesco knows about Red’s relationship with the FBI is unclear, as is the degree to which he blames Red for his recent incarceration (which Dembe was more responsible than Red). Judging by the past, Vesco will play to win the advantage, but he knows that, especially now, he owes Red as well.

⭕ Script 10:5 The Dockery Affair

 
[ Three weeks ago ] [ Ominous music plays ]
[ Judge Alice Dockery is in her home study. Shelves of law volumes line the wall. A large vase of calla lilies sits on her desk. She has pulled out a file drawer and frantically searches for a file. She pulls one out one and opens it ]
Judge Alice Dockery: Okay. Ohh– Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, God.
[ She makes a phone call ]
[ Line ringing✨] [ cellphone chirps 🔅] [ A police officer in a vehicle answers ]
Detective Patrick Fleming: Hello?
Judge Dockery: Detective? It’s Judge Dockery. Do you have a minute? I just pulled into my driveway. It’s been a day. What’s up?
Judge Dockery: I need to talk to you in person right away. It’s about a case.
Detective Fleming: Which case?
Judge Dockery: Just come to my house. I’ll explain when you get here. Please hurry. I’m scared.
[ Phone clicks ✽ ]
⋘⋙
[ Detective Fleming arrives at the Judge’s home ]
Detective Fleming: Judge Dockery? Front door was open!
[ Fleming enters the study ]
Detective Fleming: Is every– Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. … Alice?
[ Judge Dockery is at her desk, slumped forward, motionless. The vase of lilies is tipped over. Her hand is inside her laptop. Carefully, the detective uses a pen to open the laptop. A single word has been typed on the screen in all caps: BRUNO ]

 
[ The present ]
[ Baby crying❗] [ Herbie Hambright is home caring for his one year old daughter, Sue. He offers her a pacifier ]
Herbie: Can I give you this?
[ The pacifier helps ] [ Crying stops ]
Herbie: [ Softly ] Yeah. There you go. There you go.
[ Knocks on door ✽ ✽ ✽ ] [ Herbie opens the door ]
Red: Heya, Herbie!
[ Herbie motions for Red to keep his voice down ]
Red: [ Softly ] Ah.
[ Red enters and hands Herbie a paper sack ]
Red: This is for later.
Herbie: Thought you were getting in later.
Red: I caught the earlier Northeast Regional.
Herbie: Oh, w-why would you take the Regional? So much needless stopping.
Red: There’s no such thing as a needless stop, Herbie. Time is the ultimate luxury, a thing to be savored, not hoarded, nor compressed, nor controlled, as if any of us can control time in the first place.
[ Harried as usual, Herbie rushes around cleaning up after Sue ]
Red: Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t invite me down here to debate the merits of public transportation – or to watch you housekeep.
Herbie: No, yeah, no. Of course. Man, I-I-I will never get used to the crushing volume of stuff required for someone so small. And why does all of it have to make noise? You know what I mean? Like, I am surrounded by pink, plastic torture devices.
Red: It can be that way with dogs, too. I know a miniature Dachshund, Larry. That little guy’s got tons of stuff.
Herbie. Oh, uh, Holly made sure you had clean sheets on the spare bed and extra towels in the bathroom.
[ Red has been mixing up living arrangements on an almost daily basis ]
Red: Ah, don’t worry about me. Where is Holly, by the way? I was hoping to catch her band. What are they called again? The Vegan-somethings. The, uh– Uh, no, the, uh– No. Meat Vegans!
Herbie: The Vitameatavegemins.
Red: Ah.
Herbie: Yeah. Post-punk klezmer. She’s got a gig in Charlotte tonight.
Red: You married the Jewish Debbie Harry. Oh, well, maybe Debbie Harry is the Jewish Debbie Harry. I wouldn’t know. But good for you, Herbie. Now, tell me why I’m here.
Herbie: Need your advice, Red. I’m not sure if you know about the murder of Judge Alice Dockery a few weeks back. She was killed shortly after presiding over the trial of the infamous mob boss Paul Bruno, now spending his golden years in federal prison. Bruno’s son, Paul Jr., was charged with the judge’s murder. His defense lawyer wants me to consult on the forensics of the case. Retribution is their theory.
Red: From what I know of Paul Sr., retribution is a dish he generally serves cold. This crime is – decidedly hot. He has nothing to gain by tasking his only son with a revenge killing.
Herbie: Yeah, I mean, I agree. But the thing is, everybody in law enforcement sees this as an open-and-shut case. They’re hungry to take down the whole Bruno family, and this is their ticket. But if I accept this job and go against the tide, defying the entire NYPD and defending the Brunos, I’m– I’m just not sure I have it in me to be the lone David going up against that particular Goliath again.
Red: Maybe you won’t have to. Give me a second.
Herbie: Yeah.
⋘⋙
[ Red calls Cooper at the Post Office ]
Cooper: [ Answering ] So you’re in town?
Red: A quick in-and-out, Harold. Just visiting a friend.
Cooper: Does that friend have anything to do with our Wujing predicament? Because I’ve been thinking we should—
Red: I’ve got Wujing covered for now, Harold. This has to do with something else. The Judge Dockery murder in New York?
Cooper: I know the one. Bruno’s son took her out after she sentenced his father to life. From what I hear, they’ve got him dead to rights.
Red: In my experience, things that are that obvious are often obvious for a reason.
Cooper: Are you saying the NYPD got it wrong?
Red: [ Chuckles ] Y-You remember Herbie Hambright, my associate, the forensics whiz who came to your aid before? He’s been approached by Bruno’s defense team. And from what he’s seen so far, he’s not inclined to believe Junior’s the culprit either.
Cooper: And you’re inclined to believe Herbie?
Red: I am.
Cooper: We’ll look into it. Judge Dockery was a venerated legal mind. All of law enforcement owes it to her to get this right.

 
[ Cooper confers with Donald Ressler and Siya Malik in the war room ]
Ressler: We’re wasting time on a cut-and-dried case because of a Reddington hunch about his pal, a convicted mob boss?
Cooper: Reddington doesn’t have a dog in this fight. Herbie, the guy who helped us run down that fingerprint from the Secret Service case, brought it to Reddington’s attention. Herbie believes the case isn’t as cut and dried as everybody seems to think.
Ressler: Look, everyone knows that this was just payback on the one judge who finally had the stones to put away the legendary Paul Bruno Sr.
Cooper: That may be, but when the stakes are this high is precisely when details tend to get overlooked. Let’s take a quick peek under the hood of the case. If the facts support Junior as the perpetrator, no harm done.
Siya: Well, the lead detective on the Bruno case, Patrick Fleming, also found the judge murdered at the scene.
Cooper: Let’s start there. Have him walk us through the investigation.

 
[ Siya and Ressler talk to Detective Patrick Fleming ]
Detective Fleming: The letters B-R-U-N-O were typed out on the keyboard. Her bloody fingerprints on the keys. I don’t know how the FBI does it, but where I come from, that’s what we call irrefutable evidence.
Siya: Yeah, well, we’re just curious.
Fleming: What? You think I’m not? Alice was my friend. I’m starting to wonder if I should take offense to what you two seem to be suggesting.
Ressler: Nobody’s suggesting anything here, all right?
Fleming: Look, Judge called me that night, told me to come over quick, that she just learned something about a case. She was terrified. I never heard her like that. Paul Bruno Jr. had been tailing and intimidating her for months throughout his dad’s entire trial. We have video evidence of Junior parked outside her house, her office, her gym. The guy’s a hothead. That’s obviously what she was spooked about.
Siya: Would you mind if we take a look at your case files?
Fleming: Knock yourself out. You’ll just come to the same conclusion we did.

 
[ Robert Vesco enters a room to meet with Red’s enemy Wujing. Vesco is accompanied by Wujing’s security man, Zhang Wei ]
Vesco: Usually when somebody appears and says they’re taking me to their boss, I assume it’s someone I screwed over. But I’m relieved to say I have absolutely no idea who the hell you are.
Wujing: [ Chuckles ] I am Wujing. I’ve long been a fan of the legend that is Robert Vesco. A man of great escapes and even greater mystery. I myself recently broke out of prison, and I imagine there’s a lot I could learn from you.
Vesco: Well, if you summoned me here to give you a master class on life on the lam, you got the wrong guy. Like they say, those who can’t do, teach. So if you don’t mind, maybe we could put the hood back on and you guys can drop me off someplace I can get a bite to eat.
Wujing: Are you aware of Raymond Reddington’s association with the FBI?
Vesco: First off, it’s none of your business what I’m aware of. And, secondly, any criminal worth their salt cultivates relationships with certain – amenable authorities. Raymond Reddington has the deepest pockets in Christendom and the biggest reach. Of course, he greases the wheels.
Wujing: [ Chuckles ] Oh. Reddington’s doing much more than that. I would say it’s less a “friends with benefits” arrangement than a long-term relationship that your pal has gotten himself into with the U.S. government.
Vesco: Have you heard the name Elizabeth Keen? Hm? Of course, Reddington’s well-connected with the FBI. Hell, his former bodyman, Dembe Zuma, is working for them now, with a shiny gold badge and everything! [ Chuckles ] Mmm. Call me when you have an actual revelation.
Vesco: The FBI has a top secret Task Force sanctioned at the highest levels of government whose sole focus is to bring down criminals like us with the personal help of Raymond Reddington. In fact, that very team was behind your last arrest.
Vesco: And you got this information how?
Wujing: From Reddington’s own attorney, Marvin Gerard, now deceased, as you know – also thanks to Reddington. I suppose you should consider yourself lucky that he only sent you back to prison.
Vesco: Hm.
Wujing: Reddington is working with the FBI, using all of us, including you, as collateral he trades on, chits to play for his, and only his, gain. Ask yourself how he’s always wriggled out of every net.
Vesco: And why are you telling me this now?
Wujing; Because I’m assembling a team of talented and motivated individuals whom, like yourself, Reddington has betrayed. A man like you would be a true asset to the cause, one I think you will find very rewarding.

 
[ The war room at the Post Office ]
Cooper: I wanted to let you know Agent Zuma’s not coming in today, so the two of you will be on your own.
Ressler: Is he okay?
Cooper: I sent him home early yesterday, and he’s still not feeling great this morning. Where are we on the Dockery case?
Siya: Herbie might have had a point about the detectives rushing to judgment, but we can’t yet determine whether any mistakes were made in the investigation. On its face, the evidence against Bruno Jr. looks pretty solid.
Cooper: Maybe someone who appeared in her courtroom wanted to settle a score. What about the leads that weren’t investigated? Ressler, request files for all the cases that the Judge has presided over the last couple of years. And, Agent Malik, Reddington said that Herbie submitted requests for discovery in the Judge’s murder case, but there’s a backlog. That, or it’s being slow-walked to him.
Siya: I’ll make sure we get everything to Herbie ASAP.
Cooper: Good. Reddington seems to think that Herbie might be able to see things others don’t. On that note, let’s play the particulars of our relationship with Reddington close to the vest.

 
[ Herbie’s apartment ]
[ Rhythmic knocking ✽-✽ ✽ ✽-✽ ]
Herbie: Okay, okay.
[ Door creaks ] [ Herbie opens the door, bouncing baby Sue ]
Herbie: [ To Sue, whispering ] Okay.
Siya: Uh– I’m supposed to be dropping some things for an associate of an associate of mine. D– Are you Herbie?
Herbie: Uh, yeah. Yeah, I believe that I’m – the associate – of your – associate. But, um–
Siya: Cute baby.
Herbie: Oh, thank you. Thanks. Yeah. She’s been a howler monkey from hell this morning. Yeah, every morning. You have kids?
Siya: No.
Herbie: Uh, yeah. Sorry. Forgive me. Come on in. Come in.
[ Siya enters ]
Siya: So – how old is she?
Herbie: Ah, she’s almost one. [ To Sue: ] Whee! [ Closes door ]
[ Red steps out ]
Red: Herbie, the water pressure in that shower could strip the hide from an elephant. [ Sees Siya ] Oh, good. You’ve met Siya. Siya, this is Herbie.
Herbie: So the F-B-freaking-I?
Red: Oh, Siya’s just a good friend. She has quite an in with the Bureau. So, Herbie, are these materials gonna work for you?
Herbie: Um. Here.
[ Herbie offers Sue to Siya to hold ]
Siya: [ Nervously ] I-I’m good.
Red: Here.
[ Red holds out his arms ]
Red: Okay. Here you go.
[ Red takes Sue ]
Red: Ah. Yes.
Herbie: Thank you.
[ Red gives Sue a kiss on the cheek ]
Herbie: Okay. Uh, w-what? This is literally everything I’ve been asking for. How did you get your hands on this so fast?
Siya: Fast hands, I guess.
Red: Thank you for stopping by, Siya. Tell the boss hello for me.
[ Another kiss for Sue ]
Siya: Will do.
[ Door opens ]
Red: Okay. Well, have at it, Herbie.
[ Door closes ]
Red: I’ve got a 10 a.m. train back to Penn Station.
Herbie: Okeydokey. I’ll see you later.
Red: Perhaps I could leave this [ Sue ] with you.
Herbie: Ooh. No. I was thinking you’d just take that back to New York.
Red: Okay.
[ Turns toward door ]
Herbie: No, no, no. No, no. I got her. I got her. I got her. I got her.
[ Red hands off Sue to Herbie ]
Herbie: [ To Sue ] Come here.

 
[ Interrogation room. Ressler talks to an Ex-con ]
Ex-con: I despise that judge. There wasn’t a day I didn’t sit in my cell fantasizing about all the ways I could get to her as soon as I got out.
Ressler: And it just so happens that you were released the week she was killed.
Ex-con: Yeah. It’s called good behavior. I went straight to Vegas to marry my girl. Here.
[ Shows some photos on his phone ]
Ex-con: Ain’t she pretty? [ Sighs ] Those are time- and date-stamped, by the way. I got a marriage certificate, an invoice from the Flamingo. We got up to a, uh, lot of marital business in that hotel room, I can promise you that.
Ressler: We’re gonna need to see hard copies of – all of this.
Ex-con: Yeah, I bet you will.
⋘⋙
[ In a different interrogation room, Siya interviews Anton Johnston ]
Anton Johnston: Judge Dockery gave me my life back, bravely defying those who wished to see me punished for a crime I didn’t commit. She offered me a fair trial in what can be a very unfair world. I was devastated by the news of her death. I was hoping to work with her more in the future.
Siya: Right. You, um, intersected with Judge Dockery after you were acquitted?
Anton Johnston: I launched a legal justice foundation after my acquittal and asked Judge Dockery to join the board.
Siya: Did she accept your offer?
Anton: She couldn’t, for professional ethics reasons. She was a brilliant legal mind. It really is such a profound tragedy.
⋘⋙
[ Ressler next interviews a Trophy Wife ]
Ressler: You lost everything when your husband got locked up. Houses, cars, country-club memberships. Now, who’s to blame for that?
Trophy Wife: Him. My husband’s to blame, the moron. He did the insider trading. And I thought he was watching pοrn all those nights in his office. Turns out he was being naughty in a much less interesting way.
Ressler: [ Clears throat ] Where were you on the 8th?
Trophy Wife: A charity gala. It was a pity invite from my friend Talia. She keeps saying I should get back out there, but how can I trust a man ever again? Call Talia. She’ll tell you I was with her. I was crying in the Atherton Club ladies’ room like it was prom night or something.
⋘⋙
[ Siya next interviews a Dentist ]
Siya: And did you blame the judge for the loss of your dental practice after the malpractice conviction?
Dentist: [ Chuckles ] Yeah, but, honestly, I’m glad I got stopped. At first, it was a little defrauding the insurers on a bill or two, but it spun out of control. Unnecessary fillings. Root canals. I couldn’t stop myself. Getting convicted in Judge Dockery’s court changed my path for the better. I’m on a more – authentic journey now.
Siya: And on the 8th?
Dentist: Oh, I-I was at an ayahuasca ceremony led by native Shipibo healers. An intention reset. Highly recommend.
Siya: Right.

 
[ Siya knocks on Ressler’s door ✽✽ ]
Siya: Hey.
Ressler: That was a bust. What is that now – 11 interviews? Nobody seems to have had it in for the Judge or even been in the area that night.
Siya: Right now it feels like this case is exactly as it appears to be.
Ressler: Occam’s razor.
Siya: The Judge led us directly to her killer, Bruno Jr.
[ Siya’s cellphone buzzes «»»»» ]
Siya: [ Answering ] Hello.
Herbie: Siya. Hey, it’s Herbie. Um, you said to call if I needed anything.
Siya: Yeah, of course. What is it?
Herbie: I just made my way through the files. There is something you gotta see.
Siya: Be right there.

 
[ Herbie’s apartment ] [ Rhythmic knocking ✽-✽✽-✽ ] [ Herbie lets Siya in ]
Herbie: [ Softly ] Shh. I finally got her asleep. Judge Dockery couldn’t have typed “Bruno” on her laptop.
Siya: What?
Herbie: [ Whispering ] I said the Judge couldn’t have typed the name “Bruno” because her spinal cord was severed.
Siya: [ Mishearing ] “A cold from severe weather”?
Herbie: Her spinal cord was severed. The cause of death was strangulation, and, of course, spinal-cord transection from a stab wound is fairly rare, so no one would have paid much attention to that injury. But after getting stabbed, Dockery couldn’t have moved a finger, much less her whole body. She would have been paralyzed instantly.
Siya: I’m still having trouble hearing you.
Herbie: [ Loudly ] So the Judge would have been paralyzed!
Siya: [ Laughs ]
Herbie: Oh. Ha, ha, ha. Oh, that’s very funny. Very–
[ Baby crying❗]
Herbie: Oh, God. Oh, I can’t wait till Mommy gets back to deal with her demon spawn. Right, cutie? Yes. Okay. Daddy’s here. All right. Okay.
[ Siya makes a call ] [ Line ringing ✨]
Cooper: [ Answers on speakerphone ] Cooper.
Siya: Hi. It’s me. Herbie was right to be skeptical. Turns out Judge Dockery couldn’t have typed her killer’s name. It would have been medically impossible.
[ Sue cries❗in background ]
Ressler: So someone intentionally put Junior in the frame for the killing.
Cooper: 10-4, Siya. Let’s arrange a prison visit with Bruno Sr., see if he has any idea who that somebody might be.

 
[ A federal prison ] [ Paul Bruno, Sr is brought in wearing handcuffs ]
Paul Bruno, Sr: Ohh. Look. It’s the Feds. This must be my birthday.
Ressler: Easy. I come in peace. Here to talk about your son.
Bruno, Sr: Oh, my son? The son you got locked up for no good reason.
Ressler: Oh, like killing the judge who finally put you away for good?
Bruno, Sr: Junior didn’t kill nobody. Not that you stronzi care about the truth.
Ressler: Hmm, well, that’s where you’re wrong. We think your son might have been framed.
Bruno, Sr: Oh, you don’t say. Gonna try to convince me the Pope’s Catholic next? This is what I’ve been telling these people since they picked up my boy. He’s innocent!
Ressler: Then tell me. Who would have wanted to set him up for this murder?
Bruno, Sr: I’ve been trying to figure it out myself. Because once I do–
Ressler: What about your rivals?
Bruno, Sr: I made peace with the Decanios and Tortorellas before I went in.
Ressler: So nobody but your son had motive?
Bruno, Sr: Look, if we were gonna whack the Judge, don’t you’d think we would have done it before she sent us up the river? Sure, we kept eyes on her, but only because people make mistakes. A lady like her makes a mistake – Scores some blow, kicks a puppy in the belly – [ chuckles ] Whatever. And maybe we got ourselves grounds for a mistrial.
Ressler: Did she make a mistake?
Bruno, Sr: I don’t know about that. She definitely had secrets.
Ressler: Such as? Look, if your son didn’t do this, I need to be able to prove it.
Bruno, Sr: The Judge had a lover. She was real wrapped up when she died. My son and his crew said they saw her go into the Sussex Hotel a couple of times a week. Come out later with a smile on her face. Wasn’t because of the lunch special, if you catch my drift.

 
[ Indistinct conversations ] [ Radio chatter ]
[ Ressler is with an evidence team working at Judge Dockery’s home. Detective Patrick Fleming shows up ]
Detective Fleming: We processed this scene already – thoroughly! Don’t you guys have anything better to do with your time than undermine me and my team? Catch some criminals maybe?
Ressler: Look, we’re on the same side here, buddy.
Fleming: Right, “buddy”– The side that has Bruno Jr. In jail awaiting trial for the murder he committed.
Siya: We believe Judge Dockery may have been in a relationship at the time of her death.
Fleming: Nope. We worked that angle. There was no relationship. Did you actually find any evidence?
Siya: Not yet.
Fleming: That’s because if there was anything, we’d have found it.
Female Agent: Ressler, I think you should see this.
Ressler: I guess you didn’t find that. Tell me those are personal letters.
Female Agent: Unfortunately, no. Seems like standard work-related correspondence and financial documents. Except for this.
Siya: [ Reading ] “You’re going to pay for what you allowed to happen in your courtroom, letting a murderer walk free while our Emma, with all that promise, is all but forgotten. Her disappearance will not go unanswered, nor will your part in it. I will not rest until you get what you deserve. Watch yourself.” So, not a love letter, then?
Ressler: He sounds like an angry guy. Signed by a Frederick Moody. Just a couple weeks before the Judge was killed.
Siya: Emma Moody. That was one of the Judge’s cases we looked at. I spoke to the accused myself, Anton Johnston. He was exonerated and started a legal fund. Maybe Moody was overwhelmed with grief and decided it was time to punish somebody.
Detective Fleming: I worked with Judge Dockery a lot. She got threats all the time. Par for the course. I doubt that means anything.
Ressler: Either way, we’re gonna pay Mr. Moody a visit.

 
[ At the New York City Public Bath where Red has been staying on-and-off, he is on the phone ]
Red: [ On phone ] Like I said, I don’t care what it costs.
Robert Vesco: [ Calling out ] Raymond! Where are you?
Red: [ To Vesco ] I’m in here! [ To person on phone ] We need that equipment to finish construction on schedule. No more delays. Am I making myself clear? Good. Thank you. [ To Vesco ] I was just headed out.
Vesco: Uh, we need to talk.
Red: Okay.
Vesco: I had a meeting with a man who calls himself Wujing.
Red: And?
Vesco: And he had some curious things to say about you.
Red: Most people do.
Vesco: He said you were working with the Feds. No. Wait. It sounded more like– you were working for the Feds, that you were hand-delivering our colleagues to them like cheese puffs on a silver platter – and that I was one of those puffs and that you had had me hand-delivered to prison.
Red: And what did you have to say to that?
Vesco: Well, I told him I didn’t buy it. But he seemed pretty convinced. So convinced, in fact, that he’s spending every waking moment searching for evidence of your supposed arrangement with the government. And when he has it, he will come for you with the gleeful assistance of all the criminals you’ve served up to the FBI over the years. That’s crazy, right?
Red: Hm. Please.
[ Red motions to Vesco to sit down ]

 
[ Siya and Ressler sit at the kitchen table of Frederick and Janice Moody, the parents of Emma Moody. Anton Johnston, who was interviewed by Siya, was acquitted of Emma’s murder with Judge Dockery presiding ]
Frederick Moody: Yep. I sent that letter. So what?
Ressler: You wrote that Judge Dockery was going to pay for what she did.
Janice Moody: He didn’t mean it like that. He was just blowing off steam.
Frederick: You ever lose someone, Agent?
Siya: You threatened a judge.
Frederick: Judge Dockery didn’t care about justice. She let that spoiled rich monster who took our daughter walk.
Siya: You’re referring to Anton Johnston?
Frederick: Emma’s hair and DNA were found in his car. He claimed he just gave her a ride to meet a friend at a bar, but we know he was lying.
Janice: Because Emma never showed up at that bar. Because he did something to her.
Siya: In his testimony, Mr. Johnston didn’t deny that your daughter was in his car. They had offices in the same building, and he offered Emma a ride so she didn’t have to walk in a downpour.
Ressler: All of which can be confirmed by a text she sent to her friend.
Frederick: So where is she then? [ Scoffs ] You’re just like every other tool of the injustice system. “Reasonable doubt.” Ha! What about common sense? She was in his car and now she’s gone! It’s no wonder people feel they’re better off taking things into their own hands.
Siya: Is that what you did, Mr. Moody?
Ressler: Where were you the night the Judge Dockery was murdered?
Janice: He was with me.
Ressler: Can anyone else verify that?
Janice: [ Sighs ] I wore this necklace throughout the trial. Emma had an identical one. It was our thing. A little joke between us. We bought them at a street fair. Emma always said I should have gotten my own name, but there wasn’t a “Janice” necklace on the rack, so I picked her name. Just like I did when she was a baby. [ Crying ] Oh, God. My baby.
[ Frederick puts his arm around his wife ]
Frederick: You both happy now?
[ On a sideboard there is a photo of the bloom of a calla lily ]
Ressler: I’m sorry. Where did you get that flower from?
Janice: It’s from a bouquet I found on the nightstand in Emma’s apartment after she disappeared. It reminds me of when she wasn’t missing. When she was full of life, had a huge career ahead of her. She wanted to be a public defender.
[ Ressler picks up the framed photo ]
Janice: It’s ironic, isn’t it? She believed in the power of the law to change people’s lives.
[ Siya walks over and looks at the photo ]
Siya: Weren’t flowers similar to this found at the Judge’s murder scene?
Ressler: Mr. Moody, don’t leave town. In the meantime, though, we’re gonna need to borrow this.

 
[ The war room at the Post Office ]
Siya: These are definitely calla lilies. This one looks the same, but I’m not absolutely sure. Why don’t we ask Herbie to examine it? He seems to have a wide range of forensic expertise.
Cooper: Give him a call.
Siya: [ On phone ] Hello, Herbie. This is Siya.
[ Herbie is wearing a headband and doing specialized exercises ]
Herbie: [ Loudly ] Hey! Siya. This is Herbie.
Siya: I know. I just said, “Hello, Herbie.” Hold on. I’m putting you on speaker so the rest of the team can join.
Herbie: Team? What team?
Cooper: Hello, Herbie. This is Harold. I’m an associate of Siya’s. We’re here with another member of our team, Donald.
Herbie: Wow. You guys are all working the Dockery case?
Cooper: We are.
Herbie: Cool. Wow.
Cooper: Thank you for that analysis of Judge Dockery’s injuries. There have been some other developments in the case we’d like your expertise on if possible.
Herbie: Yeah, sure thing. Um, I’m headed out to practice right now. Finally getting a little break from the kid. A little foosball.
Ressler: I’m– [ Chuckles ] I’m sorry. Uh, foosball? It’s something you need to practice?
Herbie: When you’re preparing for a tournament, you do.
Ressler: So there’s foosball tournaments, huh?
Herbie: Yes, it’s not just fraternity parties and sports bars. You know what? I’m getting a little tired of the constant dismissal of the sport, quite frankly.
Siya: I’d imagine you are.
Cooper: Anyway, Herbie, we’ve zeroed in on a case Judge Dockery was presiding over a few months before she was killed – The disappearance and presumed murder of Emma Moody. Emma’s father, Frederick Moody, threatened the Judge for letting the defendant, Anton Johnston, go free. Moody’s alibi isn’t rock-solid, but, more importantly, we found a flower in his daughter’s possession that she had right before she disappeared. And this flower looks very much like those that we found at the Dockery murder scene. Do you think you can confirm that they’re the same?
Herbie: Can you send me a photo of the new flower?
Siya: Okay. Photo on the way.
Cooper: When we spoke with Anton Johnston, did he mention any threats after the acquittal? Maybe Moody also tried to intimidate him.
Siya: He didn’t mention it. Johnston credited the Judge with giving him his life back after being wrongly accused. They crossed paths at a charity event after the trial. He seemed genuinely dismayed by her murder, offered to help in any way he could.
Cooper: Let’s take him up on that offer.
Herbie: Hey, these are definitely the same species of lily as the ones from the crime scene. But there’s more than that. They’re – weird. Siya, did you take that photograph using a filter?
Siya: No. Why?
Herbie: I mean, obviously, you can get calla lilies from most grocery stores or florists, but these have, like, a unique shimmer. It’s like they were sprayed with something or some chemical process interfered with their development, which that would be super unusual. And I– I need to run some tests to be sure, but they definitely seem to come from the same source. Can I physically examine the lily from the Moodys? Not right now, of course.
Ressler: Oh. Because of foosball.
Herbie: Victory never sleeps.
Siya: We’ll have the specimen ready for you after your return.
[ Call ends ]
Ressler: [ Sighs ] A forensics nerd who plays competitive foosball.
Siya: Who also happens to be happily married to a super-hot punk-rock singer.
Ressler: [ Chuckles ] Well, that confirms it. I’m definitely doing it wrong.
Cooper: How about you two drop that flower sample off at Herbie’s on your way to Anton Johnston’s residence? Maybe Moody also sent him some poison-pen letters.

 
[ Anton Johnston’s mansion ] [ A beautiful young woman named Paige is being shown around by Anton ]
Paige: Wow! [ Chuckles ] What a gorgeous piece of property you have here! Again, I’m so sorry my meeting went long and we had to sit in traffic, but I am certain I will find a way to make it up to you later. [ She kisses him lightly on the cheek ][ Chuckles ]
Anton: I don’t care how we spend the time as long as it’s together.
Paige: [ Gasps ] Oh, this is gorgeous.
⋘⋙
[ A short while later ]
Paige: [ Gasps ] Ohh. This place really is magnificent.
Anton: Thank you. It was my father’s. I spent my formative years at a boarding school in New Hampshire, so I’ve only recently become reacquainted with the property since my inheritance of it.
Paige: Is it strange to be back here as an adult?
Anton: It’s what my father would have wanted.
Paige: And what about your mother?
Anton: Passed away, as well.
Paige: Oh. I’m sorry.
Anton: Don’t be. She was rarely in the picture. Very much a career type.
[ Both chuckle nervously ]
Anton: Uh, what I mean is she put her job first. My mother was a true workaholic. It’s what led to her untimely death, I’m certain of it.
[ Anton removes the cork from a bottle of whiskey, sniffs it, pours the liquid into tumblers ]
Anton: I’m just grateful you managed to get some time off to be with me now.
Paige: Mm–
Anton: A toast.
Paige: [ Chuckles ]
Anton: To – stolen moments.
[ Glasses click ] [ They kiss ]
Both: Mm– Mmm–
[ Both chuckle ]
Both: Mmm.
[ Paige tastes the liquor ]
Paige: Mmm. Waxed leather. Musk.
Anton: Hm?
Paige: [ Giggles ] Mushrooms. Perhaps a note of blue cheese?
Anton: I like a woman who doesn’t mind a little decay in her single malt.
Paige: This is old. Very old.
Anton: Seventy-five years. It’s Macdonell.
Paige: Ohh! [ Laughs ] I never thought I would have the opportunity to try some. What, at a paltry $30,000 a bottle?
Anton: Mm. To thrill you, so it’s worth every penny.
Paige: [ Sighs ] What a beautiful garden. Do you have help with– Do you have–
[ Anton takes the glass from her and places it on the bar as she passes out into his arms. He scoops up her unconscious body and carries her into the bedroom, placing her on the bed ]
[ Doorbell rings✨]

 
[ Anton answers the door. It’s Ressler and Siya ]
Anton: Oh. What a surprise. Nice to see you again. Agent – Malik. I believe it was? And, uh?
Ressler: Agent Ressler. You mind if we come in?
Anton: Now’s not a great time, to be honest.
Siya: We only need a few minutes.
[ Doors close ]
⋘⋙
[ When they get to the bar, Siya notices the unfinished drinks ]
Siya: Somebody here with you?
Anton: N-No, no. Those are from last night. I’ve neglected to tidy up. Forgive me. So– how can I be of service?
Siya: Some new evidence has come to light regarding the murder of Judge Dockery.
Anton: About the Bruno son?
Ressler: We’d actually like to ask you about the father of Emma Moody.
Anton: Ah. Frederick Moody. Terrifying individual. I-I feel for him, of course, but–
Siya: You two crossed paths?
Anton: More than cross. It may not be noted in trial coverage, but Moody savagely attacked me after the not-guilty verdict. Took three bailiffs to pull him off. He seemed to have a serious problem controlling his rage.
Siya: Has he threatened you since the trial?
Anton: I think there were one or two angry letters. I just ignored them. Wait. Do we think he killed Ali?
Siya: I didn’t realize you were on such intimate terms with Judge Dockery.
Anton: Uh, w-what do you mean?
Siya: “Ali”? Nicknames are usually reserved for people in one’s inner circle. How close exactly were the two of you?
[ Ressler looks out the glass panels to the outside and sees a lawn bordered by rows of calla lilies. He heads outside ]
Anton: Hey, hey! Where’s– Where are you going?
Siya: How close were you and Judge Dockery?
Anton: Okay. Fine. [ Sighs ] For a brief time, Ali and I were – romantically involved.
Siya: Why didn’t you tell me this before?
Anton: I kept quiet about it after her death because she– She would have hated anyone finding out. It would cast a salacious pall over what was a storied judgeship. A judge and a former defendant? Protecting her reputation was the least I could do after all she had done for me.
[ Woman groans ] [ Thud ]
Siya: I thought you said you were alone.
Anton: [ Chuckles nervously ]
Siya: Go. Let’s go.

 
[ Ressler’s line ringing 🔆🔆]
Ressler: [ Answers ] Agent Ressler.
Herbie: Hey. It’s Herbie. Siya wasn’t picking up, so I asked Red if I could get your number.
Ressler: Not a good time, Herbie.
Herbie: Wait. I-I have information on your flowers. The shimmer. It’s unique because the nitrogen content is off the charts. Nitrogen alters leaf reflectance and color, so much so that you could spot it from above a tree canopy if you had a drone or if you had–
Ressler: Still not a good ti–
Herbie: The really important part is that nitrogen content that high can only come from one source. One probable source anyway. If the field tests in the Amazon are correct – and I have no reason to believe they aren’t–
Ressler: Cut to the chase!
Herbie: Decomposing bodies.
Ressler: W-What?
Herbie: Vegetation with this unique iridescence is grown on or near remains – Human remains.

 
[ Anton and Siya enter the bedroom ]
Anton: This, uh– It’s not what it looks like.
[ Paige breathing sharply ]
Siya: [ To Paige ] Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Are you okay? [ To Anton ] Back against the wall!
[ Siya holds her gun with one hand but reaches to check Paige with the other ]
Siya: Hey– You’re okay.
[ Anton jumps Siya ] [ Siya grunting ] [ He tries to choke her, but she elbows him; he breaks away and runs ]
Siya: Ressler!
⋘⋙
[ Anton runs downstairs toward the door. Ressler steps out, pointing his gun ]
Ressler: Not another step.

 
[ An interrogation room ]
Siya: We’re digging up the plot under that flower garden of yours. Three women’s bodies so far. Emma Moody, a television executive who went missing eight months ago, and another body that appears to be that of your mother.
Anton Johnston: She was overseas frequently, and my father wasn’t exactly the “throw the ball around the yard” type, so she decided to send me away to boarding school, which left him alone, abandoned, spiraling into depression until he eventually took his own life.
Ressler: And you blamed your mother for that, didn’t you?
Anton: “Mother”? She doesn’t merit the honorific. She only ever cared about herself. She didn’t even come home when my father passed. She had – “business” in England. Business that was tall and dark and handsome.
Siya: Is that why you killed her? Buried her body on the property?
Anton: Decomposing in that garden was the only time that woman ever nurtured anything.
Ressler: But killing your mother, it didn’t stop your pain or your anger.
Siya: So you began to target other women who reminded you of her, women you courted with the very flowers you grew in your morbid little death plot. Women like Emma Moody.
Ressler: And Judge Dockery.
Anton: No! No. Ali was different.
Ressler: Different how?
Anton: Ali was the first woman who ever saw me for who I am and loved me unconditionally, the polar opposite of my mother. She– She was my c-cure, my salvation. She– She was my person.
Siya: And yet– you murdered her.
Anton: I had no choice.

[ Flashback: ]
[ Anton Johnston is in bed with Judge Alice Dockery ]
Anton: I’m gonna rinse off and then I’m going to make you the best shrimp scampi you have ever had.
Alice Dockery: [ Laughs ]
[ Kiss ]
Anton: I love you.
Dockery: Mm. I love you.
[ Kiss ]
Dockery: Hm.
Anton: [ Chuckles ]
[ Anton gets up ]
Anton: Ahh– [ Looks back at her ] [ Chuckles ]
[ Anton leaves ]
[ Judge Dockerty’s cellphone buzzes «»» beep🔅]
Dockery: [ On phone ] This better be important. I’m–
[ Shower heard running in distance ]
Dockery: Oh. It got moved up to tomorrow? Okay. Yeah. Hold on. I just want to write this down. Yeah, okay. I’m just– I’m looking for a pen.
[ Dockery can’t find a pen. She opens the drawer of the nightstand and reaches inside, but instead of finding a pen, she finds a necklace with a nameplate that says “Emma” ~ just like the one that Janice Moody said she wore that matched her daughter’s ]
⋘⋙
[ Anton returns to the bedroom from his shower ]
Anton: I was thinking we could open the Montrachet Grand Cru. Ali? Where’d you go?
[ Anton walks over to the open drawer of the nightstand and sees the “Emma” necklace lying inside and realizes Dockery must have seen it ]
⋘⋙
[ Back in her study, Dockery looks frantically for the file about the Emma Moody murder; she finds it and opens it. She sees a photo of Emma wearing the same very necklace ]
Judge Dockery: Oh, no. [ Gasps ] Oh, no.

Anton: At that point, there was nothing I could say.

[ Dockery turns around in her study to see Anton ]
Dockery: [ Gasps ] Stay away from me! Don’t come any closer! You were in a relationship with Emma Moody! What did you do to that poor girl?
[ Anton grabs Dockery by the neck, choking her, and then lifts and plunges a knife into the back of her neck ] [ Dockery falls to the floor ]

Anton: Even at the end – I could see it in her eyes. She still loved me.

[ Dockery lies on the floor, her blank eyes staring ]

Anton: [ Sadly ] But once you lose trust in a relationship – you can never get it back.

[ Anton lifts Dockery’s hand and presses her finger to type “BRUNO” on her laptop ]

 
[ Cooper’s office ] [ Knock on door ✽ ✽ ]
Ressler: Agent Malik is transferring Johnston to be arraigned now.
Cooper: Good work on this one.
Ressler: Herbie, too. Without his help, we may never have found all those bodies that Johnston creep buried in his garden.
Cooper: Reddington was right about Herbie’s forensic know-how.
Ressler: He’s a weird guy, but he’s good at what he does. Now, speaking of Reddington, we still don’t know why the Freelancer was broken out of prison. And Wujing – what’s up with him? He’s a seriously bad guy, and he’s still out there, by the way.
Cooper: Reddington says he’s got something brewing. So, for now, we take him at his word.
Ressler: It’s not his word I’m worried about.

 
[ Vesco meets again with Wujing ]
Vesco: All right. I confronted Reddington with the information you shared with me. And do you know what that snake weasel reprobate did? Instead of denying it, he actually confessed. He has been working with the Feds for years. Just like you said. A secret task force just for him. Hm. It’s even named after him, that preening egomaniac. Ahh – When I pressed him for the truth, the floodgates flew open. He’s sitting there, calm as Kool-Aid, saying, “Robert, my dear friend, certainly you understand.” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I said, “No, I don’t.” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. “No, I don’t understand at all.” [ Sighs ] And to think – I trusted that man with my life. Well, fool me once–
Wujing: [ Leaning forward ] Betrayal is a sin that shouldn’t go unpunished. Don’t you agree?
Vesco: As much as it pains me to say it, yes. But it doesn’t pain me. It doesn’t pain me at all! When do we start?

 
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❌❌❌ End 10:5 Dockery Affair

⭕ FINIS