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412. Hell Hath No Fury
Dialogue courtesy Cathy's web site.
SECTION ONE: VAN ACCESS
MADELINE: Take him to processing with the others.
OPERATIVE: He’s dead.
MADELINE: That’s his problem.
The prisoners file by Operations and Madeline.
MADELINE: (to Michael) No hostiles unaccounted for?
MICHAEL: That’s everyone.
MADELINE: They’ll be a debrief in 30 minutes.
Michael and Nikita exit.
OPERATIONS: We’ve hit four Red Cell substations in 10 days and still no sign of the man you are looking for. If this mission doesn’t yield results…
MADELINE: We’ll hit four more.
CONTAINMENT
COMPUTER: Entry clear.
PRISONER: Madeline, you are looking for me. I am Leon.
MADELINE: Step into the light.
PRISONER: You would have discovered it soon enough. Maybe this way we can save us all some unnecessary discomfort.
MADELINE: After all these years, I would never have taken you for a man who prefers things comfortable.
Madeline shoots the prisoner with a stun gun. He falls back into the electrical field and is killed. Flash to the Perch.
OPERATIONS: Is that all he said to you?
MADELINE: Yes. He lied. You are aware of the significance of that lie? It means one of the men in that room is Leon. I’ve got him.
MADELINE’S OFFICE
OPERATIONS: You’ve been at it for hours. How about a break?
MADELINE: What?
OPERATIONS: I said ‘How about a break’?
MADELINE: No. I’m fine.
OPERATIONS: Is that according to your professional opinion?
MADELINE: I found him. Look. I’ve been studying visual cues and body language. Did you see that? What that man there. Watch his eyes. That’s Leon.
OPERATIONS: How can you be sure?
MADELINE: I’ve reviewed more than eight hours of data. Virtually, no one in this room makes a move without a reference to him. Even the physical space between themselves and him. I’m sure of it.
OPERATIONS: Yes. I can see that. But the question is ‘can I be sure of you?’
MADELINE: Extracting Leon will have serious impact on Red Cell operations. The amount of knowledge that he carries inside his head…
OPERATIONS: I’m aware of the man’s potential significance. That’s why I won’t risk making any mistakes.
MADELINE: This isn’t a mistake.
OPERATIONS: Well, then, you won’t object if we wait for confirmation.
BRIEFING TABLE
OPERATIONS: We have reason to believe that this man might be Leon code name for Red Cell’s chief strategist. We need to confirm this before we proceed. Birkoff.
Birkoff does not respond.
OPERATIONS: Birkoff. Background.
BIRKOFF: Hmm. Over the last eighteen months Red Cell has been transitioning their security coding from complex cipher to gene coded matrix.
OPERATIONS: As you know, Section has abandoned gene coding more than four years ago. Our knowledge base regarding this technology is extensive.
BIRKOFF: I’ve narrowed down the three most likely routes of communication between Red Cell command and Leon. If we can intercept a gene coded communiqué marked for Leon.
OPERATIONS: We will be able to confirm or eliminate. We’ll send out three teams. Michael will lead Alpha. Birkoff will upload your panels.
MICHAEL’S OFFICE
NIKITA: Michael, do you think we’ve been fully briefed on this mission?
MICHAEL: Why?
NIKITA: It seems clear that Madeline has already identified Leon. If that’s true then Operations is using us to second-guess her.
MICHAEL: He needs to make sure.
NIKITA: I don’t know. Something…I’ve never seen in her. Whatever it is, it’s not just about capturing Leon. It’s personal.
COMM
WALTER: Hey, Amigo, everything okay with you? You seem distracted. Is something on your mind?
BIRKOFF: You’re the guy who makes the life and death decisions about other people’s lives. I thought you had all the answers.
WALTER: I tried to tell you to let this thing slide. But no. You had to push it. And you found out. Yes, you’ve got a twin brother. Yes, he’s free and you’re not and I’m the one that made the call. But that’s the way the cookie crumbled.
BIRKOFF: Only he got the cookie and I got the crumbs.
WALTER: Let it go.
BIRKOFF: Like you let him go.
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
OPERATIVE: (via com) First team returning through west air lock.
Michael and Nikita arrive. They walk through Section. Michael approaches Birkoff at Comm.
BIRKOFF: What have you got?
Michael hands Birkoff a disk. Birkoff inserts it into his computer.
BIRKOFF: It’s a directive for Leon. Priority level 1 and it’s gene coded.
WHITE ROOM
MADELINE: That won’t be necessary.
LEON: Professional courtesy?
MADELINE: A temporary reprieve.
LEON: And them?
MADELINE: If I need them, the results of their work won’t be temporary. I know who you are. But it seems as if my superiors feel they need confirmation.
LEON: It’s hard to imagine looking at you that you have any superiors.
MADELINE: It would simplify things if you did this yourself.
Madeline hands Leon a scalpel.
LEON: You’ve intercepted a gene-coded transmission. All’s fair as they say.
Leon provides his own blood sample. Madeline takes it out of the room; she and Operations take it Walter.
WALTER: It’s positive.
MADELINE: Bring the prisoner to containment. Fifteen minutes.
MADELINE’S OFFICE
VOICE: (via comm) The prisoner is ready for you.
MADELINE: I’ll be right down.
Madeline applies red lipstick to her lips.
WHITE ROOM
Madeline dismisses her assistants before they can begin the torture process.
MADELINE: No. Get out.
They exit the White Room.
LEON: You catch more flies with honey is that it?
MADELINE: It would be a shame to damage such a price package prematurely.
LEON: I’ll take that as a compliment.
MADELINE: It was meant as one. You do understand what’s expected of me.
LEON: If I am who you think I am, you also understand what is
expected of
me. You think you can break me?
MADELINE: With the threat of pain? No. I’m sure you are quite able to turn away from that.
LEON: How then?
MADELINE: Reason. Rationality. We know each other too well to continue playing past the end game.
LEON: Is this the end game?
MADELINE: I think you know that it is.
LEON: And you think you’ve won?
MADELINE: You’re in the chair.
LEON: Sitting or standing, you seem to be answering my questions.
Madeline smiles at him.
LEON: I gather that this fellow, Leon, has been a formidable adversary. Something, given you’re obvious intelligence, you are not accustomed to. I’d imagine a woman like you would find that stimulating. And given how lovely you are… I can only regret that I’m not him.
MADELINE: The gene code was positive.
LEON: Your Leon would think of that, wouldn’t he?
MADELINE: Possibly. He’s also smart enough to play it jus the way you are playing it.
LEON: Touché. So, where does that leave us?
OPERATIONS: (via com) Madeline. My office.
LEON: I hope this isn’t on my account.
MADELINE: Before you die, you’ll tell me what I want to know. It’s up to you how you want to spend that time.
LEON: Dinner for two might be nice.
Madeline pauses then exits.
OPERATIONS' PERCH
MADELINE: The man will not respond to conventional methods. It’s not even worth trying.
OPERATIONS: He doesn’t appear to be responding to your unconventional ones.
MADELINE: You agreed to let me handle this.
OPERATIONS: He’s playing with you and he appears to be winning.
MADELINE: Of course. That’s what he needs to believe. I told you I understand him. He will become overconfident. He’ll blunder.
OPERATIONS: We’ve already damaged Red Cell considerably by taking him out of play. It’s clear he’s not going to give up any information. He’s outlived his usefulness.
MADELINE: You’re not being fair. We agreed this would take time.
OPERATIONS: I want this finished.
They hold a look. Madeline exits. Operations looks down at Comm.
OPERATIONS: Birkoff, I want that interrogation disc as soon as you transmit the data.
BIRKOFF: I’m working on it now.
On the disk, Birkoff sees a scar behind Madeline’s right ear. Walter approaches and sees it as well.
WALTER: What is that?
BIRKOFF: I don’t know. I don’t want to know.
WALTER: It looks like an incision; a fresh one at that.
BIRKOFF: Whatever.
WALTER: Ah, Birkoff, it’s about this whole mess. You know, your bother and all..
BIRKOFF: It’s all right. It’s over. I understand. I have to get this to Operations.
MICRO TECHNOLOGIES
A car drives up, driven by a young man who looks exactly like Birkoff. It is his twin, Jason. He kisses a woman in the passenger seat before getting out of the car.
JASON: Be good.
The woman gets out of the car and follows him.
WOMAN: Tonight? Five-thirty?
JASON: You know I have a meetin’ at five.
WOMAN: So, how’s the merger coming along? Nervous?
JASON: Nah. They’ll close. We just have to sweat it out until they do. It’s them against us. You just have to outlast the other guy.
WOMAN: Well, you’re good at that. You’re good at a lot of things.
They kiss.
JASON: Sometimes I wish somebody’d make my decisions for me. Be a hell of a lot easier that way.
They kiss again. He goes into his office building and she returns to the car. After they leave, Birkoff comes out of hiding, witness to the exchange.
MADELINE’S OFFICE
MADELINE: Cream or sugar?
LEON: No, thank you.
MADELINE: I’ve always been curious. Your attempt to intercept us in Cacheu (spelling?) failed and yet we know you had lead-time.
LEON: The airport there is hell. Nothing but delays.
MADELINE: It was the same in Jabalpur (spelling?) Given your failure to intercede, it’s likely a geographical issue. No substations in that area.
LEON: What would you like me to say?
MADELINE: (laughing) That given the frequencies you use to transmit and the lag time involved that the Algiers substation is your headquarters.
LEON: I could tell you that. Would that please you?
MADELINE: Your appreciation and your confirmation would please me.
LEON: What I think you’d like me to say is that like you the best days of Leon’s life over the last 6 years have been those where you and he went toe to toe. Sparing across continents. Each one trying to out think, out guess, and out maneuver an equally matched opponent. Those days when he could almost taste the sweat on your brow.
MADELINE: Is that true?
LEON: You know that it is.
MADELINE: Yes. And Algiers?
LEON: Is not our central link.
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
MADELINE: Now, watch here, when I touch his hand. You see a sharp rise. He’s reacting to me.
MADELINE: (in video tape) And Algiers?
LEON: (in video tape) Is not our central link.
MADELINE: He’s lying. You can tell by comparative reaction.
OPERATIONS: No margin for error.
MADELINE: I’ve compiled the data a dozen times using variables. I’m positive.
OPERATIONS: You’re emotionally involved. Did you figure in that variable?
MADELINE: Of course. Algiers is the substation.
OPERATIONS: I’ll schedule a briefing.
ALGIERS: RED CELL SUBSTATION
MICHAEL: (in van) Alpha Team approach and hold.
BIRKOFF: (at Comm) They’re shielded from our IR scans. No readings inside.
MICHAEL: Exterior anomalies?
BIRKOFF: None. Perimeter is clean.
Operations and Madeline monitor.
OPERATIONS: Go.
BIRKOFF: You’re go to proceed Michael.
MICHAEL: Alpha Team go to proceed.
OPERATIVE: Alpha Team leader, no hostiles on premises. Looks like we caught a bad one.
Operatives enter the empty building
MICHAEL: Hold position.
The doors close; the operatives are trapped. Sprinklers are activated and acid is sprayed, killing them.
BIRKOFF: Michael, status?
MICHAEL: Anticipate seventy percent loss. It was a trap.
MADELINE: I’ll adjust my numbers accordingly.
OPERATIONS: Madeline. (he strokes her cheek) Kill him.
MADELINE: I still believe he’s…
OPERATIONS: What you believe is no longer a factor. Cancel him.
WHITE ROOM
Leon is strapped to a table, IV inserted, ready to administer a lethal drug.
LEON: You could just shoot me.
MADELINE: This is much more painful.
LEON: I wouldn’t have imagined you’d be a sore looser.
MADELINE: You used me.
LEON: Nothing you wouldn’t have done if the situation were reversed.
Madeline adjusts the IV.
LEON: Your eyes are really quite…
Leon dies; the machines show a flat-line heart rate. Operations and Madeline hold a look; Operations nods, then leaves. Once along, Madeline gives Leon another drug, one that revives his heart. Cut to Walter, outside the room, peering in; witness.
MADELINE’S QUARTERS
LEON: I imagine you’ve put yourself at considerable risk bringing me here.
MADELINE: Why’s that?
LEON: The show you put on…The lethal injection…I gather I was suppose to wake up in…well, somewhere else. If Operations finds out about this…
MADELINE: I made a judgment call. I believe I’m more aware of your value to us than he is. I’m aware that using heavy handed approach to mining that value is out of the question.
LEON: We are quite a pair the two of us. We may play for different teams, stand on opposite sides of the field, but at the end of the day, we have more in common with each other than we do with any of our teammates.
MADELINE: Maybe you’re just playing for the wrong team.
LEON: We’ve known each other far too long to believe something like that Madeline. Teams. Sides. You’d do as well on my team as I’d do on yours. For us, it’s the thrill of the game that makes the heart pound.
MADELINE: You may not know me as well as you think.
LEON: I know you, Madeline, maybe better than anyone else. I know how you have to live inside yourself, isolate yourself because emotionally and mentally you have no equals here. How, more often than not, you have to compromise your thinking just to be understood. How you long for someone with the capacity to meet you where you live. On your level. A day, even a moment, when you don’t have to feel so alone. You’re not alone, Madeline.
They kiss, embracing on the bed.
MUNITIONS
WALTER: Michael, the guy’s not dead.
MICHAEL: You saw it?
BIRKOFF: I got a sample of the intravenous solution she used for the lethal injection. It’s dopamine (?). It will lower body response to produce flat line, but it isn’t fatal.
WALTER: What do you think about this Michael? (he indicates the scar behind Madeline’s ear that is visible on Michael’s panel)
MICHAEL: Incision suggests a post-thalamic inversion.
WALTER: Who the hell would risk that? It’s almost damn near ninety-five percent lethal. Red Cell?
MICHAEL: Maybe.
BIRKOFF: What is it?
WALTER: Oh, PTI, it went out with lobotomies and hack saws. It’s suppose to stimulate the emotional center of the brain. Love, hate, that kind of stuff.
BIRKOFF: If Red Cell could make her fall in love with him.
MICHAEL: She has to be reported.
Michael exits. Walter starts to leave, but is stopped by Birkoff.
BIRKOFF: Walter
WALTER: Hmm?
BIRKOFF: I saw him.
WALTER: You saw who?
BIRKOFF: My brother, Jason.
WALTER: That’s crazy. If they get wind of this…
BIRKOFF: It was like looking in a mirror.
WALTER: No, listen to me…
BIRKOFF: No. No matter how long you’ve been in here at least you know where you came from. You know who you are. Do you have any idea what it felt like to know that I’m part of something? Someone? To make that connection.
WALTER: How many times do I have to tell you? Hmm? You know about the rules of contact in this place. You know that if they get the slightest whiff of this, you are dead and gone.
BIRKOFF: I know. I just had to see him once.
WALTER: And it’s over?
BIRKOFF: Yes.
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
OPERATIONS: Madeline hasn’t been compromised. She submitted to the procedure voluntarily.
MICHAEL: To get him to believe she’s in love with him?
OPERATIONS: He’s too formidable an opponent to try and get him to believe anything. She is in love with him.
MICHAEL: He’ll try to take advantage of that.
OPERATIONS: We are counting on it. Is that all?
MICHAEL: A woman in love may prove to be a more formidable opponent than the one she loves.
MADELINE’S QUARTERS
LEON: You know, you really almost convinced me.
MADELINE: I don’t understand.
LEON: Oh, I think you do, Madeline. First you saved my life and when we made love… When we made love, I could almost believe it. But that’s what you wanted isn’t it? For me to believe it. I was so smart about how to seduce you. Yet, you were in the lead all along. Check mate. The game is yours.
MADELINE: This isn’t a game.
LEON: Madeline
MADELINE: No. It may have started that way. What will it take for you to believe me? What if I could get you out?
Flash to Madeline, in Munitions.
MADELINE: I’ve been reviewing the monthly inventory on Birkoff’s report. There are a number of discrepancies on your inventory that haven’t been reconciled.
WALTER: What kind of discrepancies?
MADELINE: You are aware that checking out unauthorized equipment is grounds for cancellation?
WALTER: There must be some problem with the math. That’s all.
MADELINE: Then I suggest you correct it within the hour. Birkoff has the figures.
WALTER: I’m on it.
Walter exits. Madeline takes unauthorized equipment.
MICHAEL’S OFFICE
NIKITA: Do you believe what Operations said?
MICHAEL: He has no reason to lie.
NIKITA: Is that all love is, Michael? Synapses in the brain? The proper conditioning?
MICHAEL: I don’t know.
NIKITA: Or you don’t want to know. She may feel something for this man. It may even resemble love. But I can’t believe that’s all there is to it.
CORRIDOR IN SECTION
LEON: They can’t trace our movements?
MADELINE: I deleted you from the subsystem entirely. My indications have me in my office.
LEON: The downside of relying on technology.
They arrive at an exit portal. The door swings open and Operations is there.
MADELINE: Paul.
OPERATIONS: (into his phone) I need a security team to transport. (to Madeline) This wasn’t part of the profile.
MADELINE: I’m not on profile.
OPERATIONS: Think about what you are doing, Madeline. Remember the mission. We discussed the possibility of things going too far. And of you letting your emotions get in the way. You have to remember your job.
MADELINE: My job. I’m sorry Paul. There’s more to my life now than my job. My resignation.
Without warning, Madeline shoots Operations twice. She and Leon step over his prostrate form and leave Section One.
RED CELL
LEON: We have a prize package. See that it receives special handling.
The guards strap Madeline into a chair for interrogation.
LEON: The electric chair was imported from the United States. It seems they, like you, have opted for a more civilized form of death. A shame, really. There’s sort of a primitive beauty about the old ways.
Leon approaches Madeline. She is crying. He brushes a tear from her cheek.
LEON: Oh, I think we are passed this now. Don’t you think?
MADELINE: I don’t think you understand how I feel.
LEON: How you feel, Madeline? Madeline, after all these years, to accuse you of having feelings, I wouldn’t stoop that low.
MADELINE: I would have told you anything. All you have to do is ask. I love you.
Leon turns off the torture device.
LEON: All right. Let’s talk then.
SECTION ONE: MEDICAL
NIKITA: Real bullets? Getting hit wasn’t part of the profile?
OPERATIONS: As far as Madeline is concerned, given her feelings for this man, there is no profile. Once she had the operation, the rest was improvisation.
BIRKOFF: (via com) I’ve got location on Madeline’s secondary field locator.
OPERTIONS: Upload the data. (to Michael): I want a storm team mobilized in fifteen minutes.
Michael exits.
NIKITA: So, for love, Madeline becomes your Judas goat. Does she know they’ve implanted a second locator?
OPERATIONS: Fourteen minutes Nikita. I’ll be on point.
Nikita exits.
RED CELL
MADELINE: You are aware that they’ll track me through my implant? They are most likely on their way.
LEON: It’s a known frequency. It’s been phase cancelled.
He kisses her cheek.
MADELINE: No. There’s another one.
Leon runs out of the room shouting orders.
LEON: She’s wearing an implant. There’s no time to evacuate. We are on hot standby as of now.
OPERATIVE: I’m picking up no sign of movement.
LEON: Because they don’t want you to. I want everyone on tactical.
Leon returns to Madeline. Gunfire erupts. Leon sets Madeline free.
MADELINE: If you are thinking of using me to protect…
LEON: No. I know that killing me is more important to them than you are. And if there is a way out of this, I want you with me.
MADELINE: They’ll have us on thermal. Is there another way out of this room?
Leon and Madeline leave the room together. More gunfire erupts. Michael and Nikita invade, and quickly catch up.
MICHAEL: Drop the gun.
Leon drops the gun. Operations enters from the other side of the room. His gun is drawn. Madeline steps between him and Leon.
OPERATIONS: Are you sure you are willing to die for him?
MADELINE: Don’t…
Operations shoots Madeline in the arm, then shoots Leon twice in the chest, killing him. Weeping, Madeline throws herself on Leon’s corpse.
MADELINE: You didn’t have to kill him. You didn’t have to kill him. I’m so sorry.
OPERATIONS: (to Michael and Nikita) Get her out of here.
MADELINE: I’m so sorry. I love you so much.
NIKITA: We have to go.
MADELINE: You didn’t have to kill him. We could have used him.
NIKITA: I’m sorry.
MADELINE: How could you know? How could you know how I feel? (to Leon) I’m sorry.
Michael approaches Madeline.
MADELINE: You didn’t have to kill him. We could have used him.
Michael helps her up and leads her away.
MICHAEL: It’s all right.
OPERATIONS’ PERCH
MADELINE: One hundred percent containment. We’ve downloaded their data bases and cleaned their hard drives. Birkoff is processing the data now. In the end, worth the chances we took.
OPERATIONS: You took.
MADELINE: We were both at risk.
OPERATIONS: Yes. That bullet really did come close.
MADELINE: Did you think I had lost control?
OPERATIONS: You survived the reversal. Any side effects? Lingering feelings?
MADELINE: No. I feel quite well. Have you seen my recommendations for the Crystal Sky Project?
Operations nods.
JASON BIRKOFF’S HOME
Jason enters his home. Birkoff emerges from the shadows.
They stare at each other. Jason is stunned while Birkoff smiles,
delighted.
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