01x07 - Bellerophon

[bunniefuu]

Previously on State of Affairs...

Ar Rissalah is an enemy without national borders.

Aleek Al Moosari, born in River Hills, Wisconsin.

Look at his eye in the recent picture.

He had a medical procedure in Cairo.

We should be able to track the shipment of his meds from the hospital.

I know you leaked portions of that senate report.

There is withholding and lying, and, yes, even treachery.

[Screams]

What happens to you next is a direct result of how you answer my questions.

Have you been able to remember anything else?

Fatah is still my asset.

Marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss.

Construction began in 1848, but was halted between 1854 and 1877.

Okay, let's move on.

[Camera shutter clicks]

[Camera shutter clicking]

[Grunting]

[Dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[Alarm blaring]

[Spray paint can hissing]

Get down the ground! Do it!

Step down! I will sh**t you.

[Speaking foreign language]

On your knees!

Need a translator in the Oval Office.

[Speaking foreign language]

English. English!

Do you speak English?

You are all going to die.

I need you to say it again, Charleston.

[Electronic whirring]

[Explosions]

[Speaking indistinctly]

Hang on, Charlie. Hang on!

Omar Fatah pulled me out of the wreckage.

[g*nsh*t]

He sh*t Aaron.

Omar Fatah is?

A CIA asset.

Your asset.

We turned him three years ago in Kabul before the att*ck.

Ma'am, I'm an employee of Central Intelligence.

I'm not supposed to read you in on compartmented operations like Pegasus unless you specifically ask me, and...

You don't know how badly I wanted you to ask.

Omar Fatah m*rder*d my son.

You've brought wolves to our door, Charleston.

To my door.

If I could trade my life for his, I would...

No.

You don't get to say that.

You created the man who k*lled Aaron.

You ran him for three years and never even thought to tell me that.

You were nearly my daughter-in-law.

You cannot comprehend the depth of betrayal I feel from you.

I'm sorry, Constance.

I don't know why Fatah was there.

I don't know why he pulled me out.

The only answers that I have is that he's still our asset.

And that means we have very high level penetration inside Ar Rissalah.

We're literally right next to Sheikh Hakam.

He wants me to make contact with him.

Do it.

Use Fatah's reach to cut off his arm.

You, on the ground, here in the peninsula...

Ma'am...

You swore to me you would find the people responsible for Aaron's death and k*ll every last one of them.

You broke my heart, Charleston.

Don't break your promise.

Now get the hell off my plane.

I'm ready for my briefing.

Send in Miss James.

Early this morning, James Wilcox, a 19-year-old college student, he managed to breach White House security and he made it all the way into the Oval Office.

[Laughs]

Secret Service is gonna take a b*ating on that one.

It appears that he was motivated by this.

Ar Rissalah.

In the last 24 hours, social media has 65 photos that appear to show Ar Rissalah operatives at locations all across America.

Now FBI and Homeland Security believe we have an A.R. cell operating inside the United States.

This is priority number one.

I need you at NCTC.

I want you to follow the line on Wilcox.

Yes, sir.

And I want you coordinating with the fourth floor.

You mine these photos for metadata and see if you can I.D. any of these subjects.

Copy that.

Where are we on Al Moosari?

He's the only American we know in A.R., and he's instrumental in all of this.

The hospital in Cairo was a bust.

We're still working on tracking his corneal transplants.

We could really use Charlie on this.

Charleston Tucker's gonna be coordinating our analysis in country.

She's working this as a case officer?

Wait, what country?

You got your marching orders, all right?

Go. March.

Whatever's happening with Charlie, we're not read in.

She's on the ground. We're in the stacks.

If our intel sucks, she gets hurt.

Exactly.

So let's have it not suck, shall we?

[Pounding]

[Groaning]

Oh, son of a bitch.

Ah.

Yemen.

Your banks, your politicians...

They're destroying the world for their own piggish personal gains.

Americans are the t*rrorists.

We hold people in Gitmo.

You from Central Intelligence?

Yeah. Lucas Newsome.

We're dropping bombs on them.

So what do you have on this troubled young loner?

Jesus Christ rose in the Middle East.

Oh, boy.

Yeah.

Kid's got issues.

Mm.

History of mental problems.

Arrested multiple times for civil disobedience with both anonymous and occupy.

None of this looks violent.

Not from what we can tell.

He seems to have joined the Jihad about six weeks ago, and around that time he started auditing a class entitled "violent non-state actors in world politics."

Any connection between that and Ar Rissalah?

Connection, no.

Echo? Yes.

The professor that opened our boy Wilcox's mind, Ahmad Ahmadi.

Let's just say he's... been of interest.

This guy recruiting for Ar Rissalah?

I'd love to get in his face and find out.

Then let's do that.

Ironically, it is the tongs and other organized crime cartels throughout Southeast Asia who maintain order in the absence of law.

Ahmad Ahmadi?

Yes.

We need you to come with us.

Who are you?

Special Agent Dale Scott, FBI.

Well, what is this about?

Just want to have a conversation.

Did you read me my rights?

This is illegal.

My name is Ahmad Ahmadi.

I'm being detained against my will.

How long you been in Yemen?

That's classified.

Seriously?

Of course.

Well, now I know why you're in Yemen.

Here's your legend.

Hmm. Australian.

Here's your g*n.

And here's your hotel key.

What about the body armor?

You're not approved for requisition.

Enjoy your stay in Yemen.

[Birds chirping]

[Door closes]

[Laughs]

A box?

A shipping container.

By whom?

I don't know.

But as soon as I do, someone's gonna pay.

[Sighs]

Man, I hate Yemen.

What the hell are you doing here, Nick?

Well, the box opened up, I found a hotel key and discovered I was in Yemen.

Charlie, I'm a very wanted man here.

Whoever did this knows that and knows about you and me.

So this is no coincidence.

It's orchestrated.

Or an ambush.

In a 5-star hotel room?

That entire interrogation was about you.

They wanted me to roll over about you, Fatah, the Pegasus op.

I've already told POTUS everything about the op.

When?

Today.

Huh.

So do we wait for b*ll*ts to start flying, or do we pop open the champagne?

Oh, wait. That's right. We're in Yemen.

Fatah's meeting place is at Sana'a.

Was Sana'a. That's four years ago.

In intelligence terms, that's pre-ice age.

I have to try.

[Sighs]

You feel it, right?

Feel what?

When we walk out those doors, we have no official orders, no official sanctions, no protection, no cover.

This is the deep dark, Charlie.

We find Fatah.

We shut the Pegasus op out.

But if we end up on YouTube with a Kn*fe at our throat, no one's crashing through that door.

No one.

This president came to power under the specter of terrorism, and she uses fear to trample our civil rights.

An unstable college student breaks into the Oval Office, and the White House responds by jailing his former college professor in the name of national security?

This is a witch hunt conducted by a woman who used a deep personal loss to come to power.

And now she's militarizing our intelligence apparatus...

Turn it off.

Specifically, the CIA.

Woman's voice is like an ice pick in the ears.

"Militarizing the CIA."

I like that. Come on.

It's not funny, David.

She's gunning for my job.

Well, everybody's doing that.

I mean, present company excluded, of course.

You know what would fix this?

Boots kicking in a door and b*ll*ts flying right through Fatah and Hakam.

That would give ol' Senator Green a big ol' slice of shut-the-hell-up.

Miss James, where are we on this American cell?

S&T is breaking down the photos.

I'll have an update soon.

The community still thinks that our best bet is Al Moosari.

We believe he's the point man for Ar Rissalah's American cell.

So we put his head on a platter.

Let that be our rebuttal.

What's the update?

The EXIF and GPS information are forged, but with color correction and pixel interpolation data, I've begun to discern a bit of a pattern.

POTUS needs results.

Fatah?

That's Charlie's arena.

I mean, not a peep.

How about Moosari?

We need to make a dent in Ar Rissalah now.

Ar Rissalah's gone aground, which makes me think an att*ck is either imminent or has entered some sort of run-up phase.

How long to break down this data?

Dash?

I-I don't know.

A couple days at best.

There is one other angle we've been working.

Hello, I am calling from the World Health Organization.

It's just, I need the outcomes of transplant patients across the Middle East and Africa.

I have these guys blanketing every pharmaceutical delivery service that operates within 1,000 miles of where Al Moosari had his surgery.

They're looking for clinic records, prescription deliveries, anything that would match the profile and time frame of Al Moosari's surgery.

You're robo-dialing the entirety of Egypt?

It's a little people intensive, but we've already ruled out about half the country.

Talk to National Resources. Get more phone lines.

Let me know when you've covered it all.

You got it.

Mo, this is good, though, right?

Don't get ahead of yourself.

Okay.

I'm gonna be right here, step by step.

Whew, she is tough.

Langley is tracking Al Moosari.

That's waste of time. He's low level.

He's running assets inside the U.S.

He's a lieutenant for Hakam or, at the very least, Fatah.

How many times did we take out aq number three?

Or five? Or nine?

It's just... if we're not getting the top guy, it's window dressing.

It's like t*rror1st whack-a-mole.

Ar Rissalah doesn't go down until Sheikh Hakam goes down.

And Sheikh Hakam doesn't go down until we get our hands on Fatah.

Al Moosari's just a distraction.

The analytics say different.

Yeah, the same analytics that are pushing you towards Fatah?

Yeah, 'cause as of right now, Sheikh Hakam is like Santa Claus on Christmas morning: No one's got eyes on him.

If Fatah's getting all the heat for his boss, the boss is invisible.

Sucks being number two.

Ah, damn it.

[Sighs]

You got papers?

Yeah.

Best the agency could do.

Australian.

Good for you.

I don't.

This'll be fun.

Give me your g*n.

Nick...

Charlie, I have no papers and a lot of people in Yemen want me dead.

Give me your g*n. Let's play it like old times.

Papers.

Yours. Papers.

[Australian accent] Well, it's... it's in the boot.

The trunk. It's back there.

Get out.

It's right here.

Get away!

Okay!

[Screaming in foreign language]

No, I just wanted to show you my passport.

Put the g*n down!

Relax, it's...

No, I have my papers. See?

It's right there. Just look.

I don't understand.

We just need to get across...

Against the law.

I don't understand.

I know.

[Screaming in foreign language]

I completely forgot about the booze.

It's... it's a complete oversight.

It's just... leave her alone!

Okay, okay.

All right, look.

Look, I know this is... This is bad.

If there's any way that we could overlook this...

We haven't done anything wrong.

I swear it'll never happen again.

I work for...

[Screaming in foreign language]

Nuvitech, I...

[Screaming in foreign language]

I don't understand.

[Speaking foreign language]

Okay, okay.

Go!

Okay.

[Laughs]

Nice touch with the whiskey.

I know how much you hate parting with good booze.

Oh, come on now, what am I, a rookie?

I got the good stuff in the wheel well.

Of course you do.

Of course I do.

Who we dealin' with?

Oh, my God.

What is your problem with Yemen?

Oh, yeah.

How well do you know Yemen?

Bits and pieces.

You know Dhamar Ali?

Yeah.

w*rlord.

Went absolutely insane when his moron brother was k*lled in a car accident a few years back.

Yeah, the car crash... That was an accident.

The two b*ll*ts in his head...

Those were pretty well thought out.

Professor Ahmadi, are these photos the target for an att*ck?

Why would you think I'd have any knowledge of this?

Because of my curriculum?

The classes I teach?

This is absurd.

[Laughs]

Well, you know, for someone who claims to have no association with them, you seem to have a lot of interest in Ar Rissalah.

Terror groups are my field of study.

And what exactly is your relationship with James Wilcox?

He's a former student of mine, a somewhat unremarkable one.

Well, he was remarkable enough to gate crash the White House and tag the Oval Office with graffiti.

Now I know you know what that symbol is.

Is that a question or a confirmation?

Anyone with a computer knows what that is.

[Electronic beeping]

Man, that guy was motivated.

He opened up both the carotid and the jugular.

You know, that takes...

First D.B., huh?

No.

Just the first one I've seen do that to himself.

Two.

Shukran.

If Fatah's got eyes on this place, he already knows we're here.

And if he walks through that door, what are you gonna do, put a b*llet through his head?

Not until he puts me next to Hakam.

Good. Then what?

Are you really willing to k*ll both these men?

Looks like Fatah's not the only one watching.

Yemeni secret police.

Oh, my biggest fans.

Give me your hand.

I'm not gonna start sh**ting in this restaurant.

Stand. Walk.

[Dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[Speaking in foreign language]

Shukran.

Come on, Charlie. Where are you?

[Car engine turns over]

Cute.

[Horn honks]

In the last four years, you have moved $2.1 million into numbered accounts...

I told you... in Syria and Iraq.

I run a humanitarian fund-raising campaign!

Or you're raising funds for an American terror cell.

Sir, I feed and clothe refugees that have been displaced by wars that this government has started.

And refugee camps are the principal recruiting ground for Jihadist groups.

Because in the dispossessed, they find the most devout of followers.

They? No,you.

You find dumb kids with nothing to lose, kids that you can indoctrinate, kids like the one that just came within a few tendons of decapitating himself.

I cannot be held responsible for what some crazed young American kid decides he wants...

When is the att*ck coming?

Huh?

Where is Ar Rissalah gonna hit us?

I swear to God...

[Electronic beeping]

You better start thinking about these answers you're giving me,

'cause I'm coming back in here.

What? What are you doing?

This is not Gitmo. You can't put your hands on him.

I've got the green light from Langley to go at this guy.

You want to step out...

No, he's clean, all right?

It's over. His story checks out.

What are you talk...

Look.

NSA traced the bank transfers to legitimate charities in the Middle East.

It's a smoke screen.

Ran email and telephone records through PRISM.

Can't find a single contact he had with Wilcox outside the classroom.

We have to let him go.

And?

Snake eyes.

Professor's not the guy.

Awesome.

You're kidding.

FBI watch list seemed more like racial profiling than real intel.

Professor Ahmadi's just a guy teaching classes, trying to live a life, you know?

You okay?

Yeah, fine.

Please tell me you have something.

Well, we're no longer dealing with 65 photos.

After Senator Green's press conference, the Ar Rissalah symbol became an Internet meme.

Now every disenfranchised teenager and 4chan troll think it's funny to flood the Internet with copycat photos of the Ar Rissalah flag.

How many photos are we talking?

That's the best part, Maureen.

221,412, and that's just the sites we're actively monitoring.

Call center paid off.

I got a line on Moosari.

This is incredible, Kurt.

You got to be kidding.

All right, I'm putting in the call.

Kilo-Alpha-one-seven. Get me the Oval Office.

[Dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[Knocking]

Yes, ma'am.

Two operatives working out of Cairo station have tracked a shipment of anti-rejection meds to a small town near the Red Sea.

They were taken by courier to a well-guarded compound in the hills.

Yes, ma'am.

We have visual confirmation on Aleek Al Moosari.

Seals went in the water at 11:19 local, made landfall at 11:29.

And at present, they're two clicks east of the Al Moosari compound.

The men have been ordered to capture and detain.

Al Moosari is our key to finding Fatah.

Nice job, Miss James. We needed that win.

Thank you, ma'am.

As you were.

Where are we?

Distance to target: 1,500 meters.

Estimated time to contact: six minutes.

Bringing up infrared on the satellite.

Night Stalker 2, this is Viper 6. Over.

Go ahead, Viper 6.

People always show up when it's time to k*ll someone.

Roger, Night Stalker.

We are in final security hold.

Can you I.D. our I.R. badges, over.

That is affirmative, Viper 6.

Be advised we've got an hour and a half loiter time over the OBJ.

We'll be restriking your position.

Roger, Night Stalker 2.

Viper 6 out.

Word out of D.C. is that HQ is about to move on Moosari, like, now.

Good.

Bad.

A newspaper ad?

No one's done a paper countersign in 20 years, Charlie.

It was our backup plan.

It's not like Fatah's gonna be walking around with a burst transmitter.

It was a total long sh*t.

And it worked.

All viper elements, this is Viper 6 actual.

Advance to baseline, crusher and bounding overwatch on my mark.

Acknowledge traffic, over.

Ma'am, the element is two minutes out.

En route, Viper 6. Wilco.

Viper 2, I read you. Lima Charlie.

This is Viper 3.

Hold for your mark, 6.

Initiate the 30-second cycle on our breach.

Over.

I have Charleston Tucker on a secured line for you.

Thank you.

Charlie?

Okay, okay.

Charlie, what is this about?

Madam President, you have to call off the att*ck.

I've made contact with Fatah.

I've set up a meet two days from now.

The go-between Fatah assigned to the meeting is Aleek Al Moosari.

Madam President, you can't take out Moosari.

He's our only link to Fatah.

Seals have reached the objective.

Madam President, we need this. We need this, all right?

We get Moosari, we silence your opponents, and we deal a huge blow to Ar Rissalah domestically.

I say we grab him now.

We rendition the hell out of him until he gives up Fatah.

Ma'am, you can't do that.

If you take out Moosari now, Fatah will think we're doing it on his contacting me.

We will lose him.

Charlie, if I had to wager...

I would bet the House.

Al Moosari is the only one who can get me to Fatah and then to our endgame: Sheikh Hakam.

Ma'am, the men are in place.

Awaiting your order.

This is Viper 6, are we cleared hot?

I say again, are we cleared hot?

Over.

Higher, this is Viper 6.

I'm asking for the record.

Are we a go or a no-go? Over.

Tell the men to stand down.

Abort the mission.

I say again, abort the mission.

Thank you, ma'am.

All viper elements, we are a no-go.

I say again, we are a no-go.

Okay.

What's the where and when for Fatah?

The coordinates are 25.770 north...

Yeah.

By 34.440 east.

Got it. That's... that's in Egypt.

Look at the body of the text.

"Seeking employment.

"Night, day.

"Very enthusiastic.

Respond above."

Your Arabic's better than mine.

"S, e, n, d, v, e, r, a."

"Send Vera."

I told you I'd never let 'em have the good stuff.

You're gonna go, aren't you?

[Sighs]

This isn't a bungee jump.

You were worried about walking into an ambush in a 5-star hotel.

What do you think Fatah has in store for you...

The man you tortured for months?

Oh, I prefer "interrogate."

Don't dodge this, Nick.

You're not going.

Hey, what choice do we have?

If anyone besides me shows up, he's gone.

Who put us together, and why?

[Laughs]

I don't know.

What does it matter?

Here we are.

Yeah.

Here we are.

[Soft music]

♪ ♪

♪ I recognize ♪

♪ What you mean to me ♪

♪ And all the corners of our picture ♪

♪ Are a long time frayed ♪

Hey.

♪ They still symbolize ♪

I'll be okay.

Liar.

♪ What you mean to me ♪

You'll be okay.

That's all that matters.

♪ You ask me to remember ♪

♪ A kiss is but a kiss ♪

♪ Well, I'd be a fool ♪

♪ To want more from you ♪

♪ And I'm gone in a while ♪

♪ I'll be gone in a while ♪

♪ I'll be gone in a while ♪

♪ I'll be gone in a while ♪

♪ It's all that I do ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh, boy, it's all that I do ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ It's all that I do ♪

♪ It's all that I do ♪

♪ ♪

For three years, leading up to the convoy att*ck that k*lled the president's son, Charleston Tucker had been running Omar Fatah as a CIA asset.

Wow.

Wait, is this for real?

Four weeks ago, that asset made contact and sent the message that he could lead us to Sheikh Hakam.

Now the president has been read in and has authorized a change in status for this office.

Now you will still brief the president, along with the rest of the PDB customers, but from now on, your cardinal responsibility is to support Charleston Tucker in her search for Omar Fatah and Sheikh Hakam.

Is that understood?

Yes, sir.

I have advised the directors to give you all the resources and support, but the details of this mission have been classified.

They do not leave this vault.

No one else will be read in.

This is the extent of the team.

The compartment has been designated "Bellerophon."

The guy who rode Pegasus.

That was Perseus.

In the movie.

Read the book.

[Door opens]

That's all.

Director Navarro, there's someone I need you to talk to.

Yeah.

He went for it.

Of course he did.

He's probably the one who sent you here.

You need to catch your flight.

As if it weren't bad enough that she's adopting the already-failed policies of her predecessors, the president is now waging the w*r on terror against her own people.

Look at what the administration has done to this man: College professor Ahmad Ahmadi.

His home is in Shambles.

His reputation has been dragged through the mud.

Ma'am.

Yes.

The PDB team has been brought up to speed.

Nick Vera is on his way to meet Al Moosari right now.

We're monitoring him via satellite.

Thank you, Director Navarro.

Madam President...

Do you want Charleston reinstalled as your briefer?

No.

I want her on Fatah.

I'm perfectly happy with Miss James.

Understood.

Thank you, director.

Thank you, ma'am.

She's a mouthpiece, ma'am.

You're a soldier.

The country won't forget that.

You shouldn't either.

[Crickets chirping]

Thank you. Thank you, sir.

So it looks like I'm staying on with POTUS.

That's great.

Yeah. That's crazy.

That's crazy great.

That's great.

I need a drink. You want to get a drink?

You want to go to the Tombs? I'm buying.

Oh, God. I'm so tired.

I just need a long bath and a good night's sleep.

Thanks for the ride, Kurt.

Seriously, I could've taken a cab.

Come on, you're on my way home, and you've been traveling all day.

Well, it was really nice of you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

All right...

Hey...

Good night.

Okay, good night.

Okay.

Drive safe. I will.

[Knock on door]

Seriously?

I swear, I'm okay.

Lucas.

I don't know why I'm here.

Just took a flyer.

Figured you could use some company.

Senator Green.

Senator.

If you're gonna ask me to stop, I won't.

As long as you insist on burning down the bill of rights.

The FBI made a mistake with Professor Ahmadi.

It's one that I deeply regret, but we are at w*r, Kyle.

Ar Rissalah is real, and despite our political differences, I would hope that you'd at least grant me that.

I'm not your protege anymore.

I'm not your aide.

I'm not your friend.

I'm not even a loyal constituent.

No one would argue that.

You're weaponizing the highest office in the land.

And I wonder, is it really the national interest you're serving, or your own?

Meaning what?

Aaron.

You want revenge.

Your judgment is clouded, Constance.

Oh, don't dress up your own political ambition in a personal att*ck on me.

You look silly in sheep's clothing, Kyle.

The more I see, the more I learn, the more I realize what you are becoming.

And I'm not gonna stop until I make...

Until what, you're sitting in this chair?

[Scoffs]

Anyone but you, Madam President.

Anyone but you.

We are Americans.

One nation. One heartbeat.

Indivisible we stand, united against the foes of freedom and liberty.

United against terror.

We stand united and ever vigilant for justice here in the homeland and abroad.

God bless us all, and God bless these United States of America.

[Speaking foreign language]

[Speaking foreign language]

Oh, American.

Yeah.

Me too.

Funny, isn't it?

Pretty soon we'll have no home to go back to.

Hadn't really thought about it.

Oh. Maybe you should.

[Speaking foreign language]

What are you doing?

[Spits]

[Speaking foreign language]