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305. Imitation of Death
Written by Cyrus Nowrasteh
Directed by Brad Turner
Transcribed by Christine
[Note: Transcript dialogue only until updated.]
SHOPPING MALL
INGRAM: Nothing near the south entrance.
NIKITA: He should keep going.
BIRKOFF: Go deeper. I’ll coordinate with other units.
INGRAM: A description would be nice.
BIRKOFF: Still no update. A male, under twenty is all we know.
INGRAM: Could it be a child?
BIRKOFF: It’s possible. All units, new intel. Male, eighteen. Dark hair, cloth overcoat.
NIKITA: Ingram, your sector, southeast corner. Stay on him.
INGRAM: Are you sure this is the one? He doesn’t look eighteen to me.
BIRKOFF: That’s got to be him. Kill him.
BIRKOFF: Do it. Kill him.
WAR ROOM
OPERATIONS: This is the last known photograph of Vero Menchik. It was taken when he was six years old. We ran a twelve-year growth progression. Is this the boy you saw yesterday?
NIKITA: Yes, it is.
OPERATIONS: How does a child get transformed into a suicidal bomber? We can thank this man, Ivan Chernov. He steals or kidnaps children off the streets, trains and conditions them for several years, then sells them to terrorist organizations to use as they see fit.
NIKITA: His ideology?
OPERATIONS: None, except making a profit. That would make him harder to track but for one habit – cocaine. We’ve established contact with one of his connections. Michael, you and Nikita will meet Chernov, establish a relationship, locate his operation, put him out of business. Take Chernov alive. The initial meeting is set for two o’clock this afternoon. You’ll be leaving in one hour.
MADELINE: Have you had a chance to study Chernov’s psyche profile?
NIKITA: I just got it.
MADELINE: He’s old school Russian. He prizes strength, and because you’re a woman, he’s likely to test you.
NIKITA: I’ll look forward to it.
MADELINE: He won’t challenge you personally. He’ll leave that to his subordinates. The stronger you are with them, the more intrigued he’ll be, but make no move against Chernov himself.
CHERNOV MEETING
CHERNOV: You are Michael?
MICHAEL: Yes. Chernov?
CHERNOV: Yes. How nice to make your acquaintance.
CHERNOV: And, this is?
MICHAEL: A colleague.
CHERNOV: Ah, yes, your beautiful bodyguard. I was told about her. I brought some colleagues as well. Not as a threat, but useful in their way.
CHERNOV: Check the goods.
NIKITA: You can take the goods when we’re ready to give them to you.
CHERNOV: With your permission…
CHERNOV: I believe $200,000 was the amount we agreed on. The account number?
MICHAEL: 2-1-0-4-6-3.
MICHAEL: I’ll look forward to our next transaction.
CHERNOV: Why wait, Michael? Let’s do it now. I’ll give you an extra half million for your colleague.
MICHAEL: She’s not just a colleague; she’s a friend.
CHERNOV: Well. That makes a difference. Make it an even million then.
MICHAEL: Done.
NIKITA: Michael? What’s happening?
OPERATIONS' LOFT
BIRKOFF: Sudan was successful, but with higher casualties than expected.
OPERATIONS: Egypt?
BIRKOFF: Ninety percent successful. The variance was due to operative error. Felix missed his mark by nearly a full minute.
OPERATIONS: The profile?
BIRKOFF: Tapes indicate the profile was solid. Felix messed up.
OPERATIONS: And, not for the first time. Put him in abeyance.
BIRKOFF: Will do.
OPERATIONS: That’s it.
HALLWAY
FELIX: Birkoff!
BIRKOFF: Felix.
FELIX: What was that all about?
BIRKOFF: Routine progress report.
FELIX: Did he talk about Egypt.
BIRKOFF: Sure.
FELIX: My name come up?
BIRKOFF: No.
FELIX: You’re lying.
FELIX: I’m in abeyance, aren’t I?
BIRKOFF: Back off, man!
FELIX: Am I in abeyance or not?
BIRKOFF: I don’t know.
FELIX: You’re a little tin god, aren’t you? Pushing buttons, deciding who lives, who dies. Guess what? Little tin gods die too.
Felix leaves. Michael walks up.
BIRKOFF: Michael, you’re back.
MICHAEL: It was an easy sale. Didn’t take long.
BIRKOFF: Got a second? I just had a little run in with Felix.
MICHAEL: Don’t worry about him. He’ll be in abeyance soon.
BIRKOFF: That’s what pissed him off.
MICHAEL: Then, what’s the problem?
BIRKOFF: He threatened to kill me. What do you think I should do?
MICHAEL: Don’t let him.
CHERNOV’S COMPOUND
NIKITA: Birkoff, I’m in.
BIRKOFF: Did they do a scan?
NIKITA: No. Transponder’s still there.
BIRKOFF: Activate it. We’ve got your location. Deactivate.
NIKITA: How long before the team gets here?
BIRKOFF: We’ll get there as quick as we can.
CHERNOV: Welcome. I apologize for the Spartan accommodations. It’s only temporary, I promise you. As you know, my name is Ivan Chernov. Your friend never did tell me yours.
NIKITA: That’s because it was none of your business.
CHERNOV: Well, we’ll have to call you something. What shall it be?
NIKITA: My name’s ‘Nikita’.
CHERNOV: Nikita. A good Russian name, though usually given to a man. Still, a touch of home is always nice. Take off your clothes, Nikita.
NIKITA: Go to hell, Chernov.
CHERNOV: Well, you can remove them yourself, or I can stun you again and these two can strip you while you lie helpless on the floor. The choice is yours.
NIKITA: Tell them to leave.
CHERNOV: Nice try, but I’ve seen you in action. Naturally, I prefer to have my colleagues nearby.
CHERNOV: Put your clothes back on before you catch cold. You see, Nikita, you are here for a very special reason.
NIKITA: And that is?
CHERNOV: The future.
NIKITA: Birkoff, did you get that?
BIRKOFF: Yeah, what did he mean?
NIKITA: You don’t know?
BIRKOFF: No.
NIKITA: Then, there’s something going on the Section doesn’t know about. You should call off the attack.
BIRKOFF: I’ll have to clear it with Operations.
NIKITA: Then, do it.
OPERATIONS' LOFT
OPERATIONS: The mission is less than an hour from engagement.
BIRKOFF: Nikita thinks there’s something going on that we don’t know about.
MADELINE: Do you agree?
BIRKOFF: From what I heard? Yeah.
OPERATIONS: All right, put it on hold. Inform Nikita.
MADELINE: Nikita was right to ask for a delay.
OPERATIONS: Yes, she should be commended. Looks like we were right about what Chernov’s really up to.
MADELINE: Perhaps so, but I hope not.
CHERNOV'S COMPOUND
CHERNOV: Are you feeling all right?
NIKITA: I’m fine.
CHERNOV: It’s in your own interest to be frank with me.
NIKITA: Frankly, I’m not wild about these accommodations.
CHERNOV: The results of your scan were very favorable. You’ll fit in nicely to our work here.
NIKITA: What work?
CHERNOV: You have no idea?
NIKITA: There’s rumors that you sell children to terrorists.
CHERNOV: That’s true. And, why not? We’re all capitalists now, manipulating people to buy things or make things. I simply manipulate them to be things, and I plan to branch out into another line of business.
NIKITA: Such as?
CHERNOV: We’ll be discussing that shortly. In fact, I have hopes that you’ll find it interesting.
NIKITA: Don’t hold your breath.
CHERNOV: Don’t judge too quickly. You’ll join us whether you like it or not, so you better make the best of it. You’re free to move around, take things in, get a feel for the place. The grounds are under heavy surveillance and are constantly guarded, so please, do nothing foolish.
COMM
Birkoff begins to drink from his coffee, but hesitates, suspicious when he smells it.
MUNITIONS
WALTER: You’re right. Cyanide.
BIRKOFF: I knew it.
WALTER: You’re sure it was Felix?
BIRKOFF: Who else?
WALTER: Can you prove it?
BIRKOFF: No, but he threatened me.
WALTER: Anybody hear him?
BIRKOFF: No.
WALTER: Better tell Michael.
BIRKOFF: I tried. He won’t help.
WALTER: What are you going to do?
BIRKOFF: I’ve got to get rid of Felix somehow.
WALTER: You can’t just walk up to someone and kill them, even in here!
BIRKOFF: He might do it to me. What’s he got to lose, he’s in abeyance!
WALTER: What mission is he scheduled on?
BIRKOFF: Bulgaria.
WALTER: That’s in seventy-two hours. Libya is leaving in twenty-four. Why don’t you reschedule him?
BIRKOFF: I’d need an excuse.
WALTER: Do a psyche work up that matches him better for Libya, file a report and… pffft, he’s history.
BIRKOFF: That could work. Thanks, Walter.
CHERNOV'S COMPOUND
TEACHER: Again!
TEACHER: You see the barrel attaches to the stock right here. Put it in gently.
NIKITA: What is in there?
GUARD: It is off limits.
NIKITA: Chernov said I could go anywhere I wanted.
GUARD: Not here.
MILAN: The scope is mis-aligned. It’s defective.
GUARD: You are defective. You are incompetent. Do you understand me?
MILAN: It’s just…
GUARD: Shut up! I am the one doing the talking.
NIKITA: Leave him!
CHERNOV: Nikita! I asked you to do nothing foolish!
NIKITA: He’s a boy.
CHERNOV: And, you wish to protect him?
NIKITA: Yes, he’s being hurt.
CHERNOV: He’s not a boy at all. By any normal definition, he’s a thing. I’ll show you.
CHERNOV: Go and get a knife.
CHERNOV: See this woman? Slit her throat. Slit her throat!
NIKITA: What have they done to you?
CHERNOV: That’s enough. If I believed in fate, I would say that you were destined to come to us when you did. The timing is absolutely perfect.
NIKITA: Timing for what?
CHERNOV: You’re going to be a mother.
NIKITA: You’re crazy! You’re crazy! Let me go! You touch me, I’ll kill you! Don’t you touch me!
CHERNOV'S COMPOUND
NIKITA: Is anybody out there?
NIKITA: I need water and painkillers quickly. Please.
NIKITA: Birkoff, are you there?
BIRKOFF: I’m here.
NIKITA: Send the team now.
BIRKOFF: Are you all right?
NIKITA: Just send the team.
BIRKOFF: Right. Red Team, move in.
NIKITA: How long?
BIRKOFF: Twenty-three minutes.
NIKITA: Oh, it hurts. Thank you. Get up. Out, out! Tell them to leave.
CHERNOV’S LAB
CHERNOV: You heard her, out. Quickly!
CHERNOV: Nikita, please.
NIKITA: Sit down. If you move, I will kill you.
CHERNOV: You’re beginning to annoy me.
NIKITA: It’s fate, remember? You took one of my eggs.
CHERNOV: Yes.
NIKITA: Cloning?
CHERNOV: We may create clones, or we may blend your genes with those of others whose talents complement yours. Probably both.
NIKITA: So, this is the new business that you’re in?
CHERNOV: Acquiring children leaves too much to chance. By making them in-house, we can provide the precise product that our clients require.
NIKITA: How many of these children have you already made?
CHERNOV: None yet, but we are close. Very close.
CHERNOV: Nikita, we can’t stay…
NIKITA: Sit down.
OPERATIVE: Okay, come with us.
CHERNOV: So. This was a setup from the start. Who are you with? Interpol? CIA?
MICHAEL: You okay?
NIKITA: Yes.
COMM
BIRKOFF: Leaving so soon?
FELIX: You know what your problem is, Birkoff?
BIRKOFF: No. What’s my problem?
FELIX: You’re predictable. I figured you’d have me reassigned to an earlier mission, and you did. You think I might not be coming back, but I will.
BIRKOFF: Oh, really?
FELIX: Yeah. I’ve been here a long time, Birkoff. There are ways, and I’ve found one. You’re going to see me again, real soon, and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it.
MUNITIONS
WALTER: He’s just bluffing. It’s a last scare, out of spite.
BIRKOFF: Yeah. I mean… nobody comes back from an abeyance mission, right?
WALTER: Right.
BIRKOFF: What?
WALTER: Nothing.
BIRKOFF: No. What?
WALTER: Well, there are stories. Someone gets a hold of a profile in advance, see how they’re going to die, and then they get around it somehow.
BIRKOFF: I need a gun.
WALTER: You know I can’t do that. All weapons must be checked out, accounted for.
BIRKOFF: You must have one or two stashed away for emergencies. Look, if Felix dies on the mission, I give it back, we have a good laugh. If not, it might save my life. Walter.
MADELINE'S OFFICE
MADELINE: Has Level Eight analyzed Chernov’s files? Good.
MADELINE: You should be resting.
NIKITA: I’m fine. I wanted to ask you how much of Chernov’s compound survived the assault.
MADELINE: The lab had an auto-destruct mechanism. All genetic material was destroyed. Your egg included.
NIKITA: His suicide was a mistake on my part. I know that you wanted him alive.
MADELINE: As it turns out, we don’t need him. Under the circumstances, you did well.
NIKITA: Birkoff said that one of Chernov’s children was sent out before the raid. A boy named Milan.
MADELINE: We tracked him to Kiev. We’re staging a mission right now.
NIKITA: I’d like to be on it.
MADELINE: Why?
NIKITA: I met the boy at Chernov’s compound. I’ll recognize him.
MADELINE: He’s carrying a bomb. We can’t afford to go soft.
NIKITA: I’ll kill him if I have to.
EN ROUTE TO KIEV
MILAN: Sir? How far to Olana?
MAN: About ten kilometers.
MILAN: Then, I need your bicycle.
MAN: What?
MILAN: I have a train to catch. I need your bicycle.
MAN: Get your own, you little brat!
COMM
MADELINE'S OFFICE
MADELINE: He entered the building. It blew up six seconds later. How could he have survived?
BIRKOFF: I don’t know, but the mission tapes aren’t totally conclusive.
MADELINE: They can’t cover every possible angle.
BIRKOFF: There’s one tape missing. Sector five.
MADELINE: It was defective. We had to destroy it.
BIRKOFF: Did it show anything?
MADELINE: No. What is this about?
BIRKOFF: Felix made some threats. He said he had a way out of abeyance.
MADELINE: It was just talk. I’m sure he’s dead.
BIRKOFF: Did anyone at the debrief actually see him die?
MADELINE: No.
BIRKOFF: It just seems strange. There were three other abeyance ops… they’re all verified. Felix isn’t. The one tape that could verify him is defective. This is some kind of test, isn’t it? To see how I’ll react under stress.
MADELINE: What makes you think that?
BIRKOFF: Because it’s the kind of thing that happens here all the time. Is that it? Is this a test?
MADELINE: No.
BIRKOFF: ‘Course, if it was a test, you couldn’t tell me, could you?
MADELINE: No. You have a mission that reaches engagement in six minutes. Are you aware of that?
BIRKOFF: Yes.
MADELINE: Perhaps you should return to your station.
KIEV
NIKITA: Birkoff, I’ve got nothing. How about the others?
BIRKOFF: Nothing so far. Intel suggests he’s approaching from the southeast, maybe along the canal.
NIKITA: Birkoff, I’ve got him.
NIKITA: Milan? Hey. My name’s Nikita, remember me? I met you before. I stopped a man from hurting you once, remember? You can’t reach the target now. You should just take the bomb off.
BIRKOFF: If he lets go of the trigger, you’re dead, Nikita.
MADELINE: Don’t move any closer. He’ll see it as a chance to take an enemy with him.
NIKITA: All right. We could just sit here and talk awhile, and you could see that you and I really aren’t that much different. Milan, Chernov’s dead now. Did you know that?
MADELINE: He’ll self-destruct to avoid capture. It’ll happen within seconds.
NIKITA: You don’t have to do what he taught you to do. Do you know why we caught you? Because we’re better than he was. Much better. We can teach you to fight, kill, destroy… so much better than he did. In the whole wide world, there’d be no one as dangerous as you, Milan. No one. Promise. Promise.
MILAN: Promise?
NIKITA: Promise.
MUNITIONS
NIKITA: Something’s been bothering me, Walter.
WALTER: Yeah.
NIKITA: When I apologized for letting Chernov die, Madeline said, ‘As it turns out, we probably don’t need him’.
WALTER: So?
NIKITA: So suppose the Section heard the rumors that Chernov was into genetics. Maybe the whole mission was designed to see how far along he was.
WALTER: Could be.
NIKITA: And, if they don’t need him, it’s probably because they’re further along.
WALTER: That could be, too.
NIKITA: If the Section had a genetics lab, where would it be? Level Eight?
WALTER: Yeah, but you’ll never gain access.
NIKITA: I still remember a few tricks that Adrian taught me.
WALTER: Sugar, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
LEVEL EIGHT
GIRL: Who are you?
NIKITA: A friend.
GIRL: You’re not supposed to be here.
NIKITA: Well, I know. I got lost. Don’t tell anyone I was here, all right?
GIRL: All right.
NIKITA: What’s your name?
HALLWAY
BIRKOFF: Die, bastard!
BIRKOFF: I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.
MICHAEL’S OFFICE
MICHAEL: It could be your imagination.
NIKITA: My imagination’s got nothing to do with it. I’ve seen pictures of myself when I was little. That little girl was me.
MICHAEL: Human cloning isn’t possible now, let alone when you first came to Section.
NIKITA: Maybe for Section it was possible. Maybe. Come with me. See for yourself. What are you afraid of?
LEVEL EIGHT
NIKITA: I know what I saw.
MICHAEL: Let’s go.
The End
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