03x07 - Scavengers + Hard Drive + Dragonfly

[bunniefuu]

Director Webber.

There you are.

Still not a fan of these things?

Getting all dolled up to kiss the ring seems like a giant waste of time to me.

Well, let me suggest that you never run for U.S. Senate.

Sort of feels like that's 90% of what I do.

I'd rather be working.

No offense. None taken.

Truth is...

I only RSVP'd to this shindig to see you.

I didn't think you would agree to meet with me any other way.

You're right. I wouldn't have.

Wait, Matty.

I need your help.

Yesterday I received a very disturbing e-mail.

Whoever sent it is demanding $10,000, or they're gonna release photos of me... with a woman.

Senator, our history allows you the privilege of knowing about the organization that I work for.

But if you've been hacked, you need to take that up with the FBI Cyber Unit, just like everybody else.

I wasn't hacked.

Someone somehow got their hands on one of my old computers.

Huh. Well, then it seems like you have two choices.

One, pay the ransom, and hope your wife doesn't find out.

Or two, don't pay, and come clean before this blackmailer outs you.

I strongly suggest option "B."

Good night, Senator.

I wish it was that simple, Matty.

That same computer has another file that this blackmailer doesn't realize they have yet.

It's a file from my time on the committee overseeing covert ops.

It's Dragonfly.

Dragonfly?

Are you sure?

Meet Senator.

Todd Steckler from Ohio.

Two years ago, one of his aides wiped his office computer and brought it to a recycling center.

But instead of it being recycled, it was illegally shipped overseas to Ghana.

Why would somebody's old computer be sent all the way to Ghana?

Because it's more expensive to recycle electronic waste here than to export it to a developing country where it gets dumped in a landfill and forgotten.

Really? Sadly, Mac's correct.

Some of the most reputable recycling services do this under the radar.

I don't know how many computers I've thrown out in my life.

You're telling me there's a chance they're rotting in one of those landfills? Unfortunately, a very good chance.

Almost 50 million tons every year of junked TVs, computers and cell phones make the exact same trip.

All right, so what happened to the senator's computer once it got to Ghana?

All we know is that once the computer was shipped overseas, it fell into the hands of an extortionist, who, 36 hours ago, sent this e-mail.

Matty, that's an e-mail threatening to expose.

Steckler for cheating on his wife. That's correct.

I'll take this one, Ri. I think what she's trying to say is, what is Senator Scumbag's personal trash doing in the Phoenix's lap?

Because those photos aren't the only sensitive material on that computer.

There is also a file called Dragonfly.

It is this file that I need retrieved before the extortionist stumbles onto it.

And there it is.

Okay, that makes more sense.

What is this Dragonfly, exactly?

That information is need to know.

Now, the four of you need to hurry, or you will miss your flight.

There's a car waiting to take you to LAX.

Matty, you just said LAX.

We don't usually fly out of there. Today you do.

You're flying commercial.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, now. Mm-mm.

Come on, let's...

I'm sorry, but what part of "hurry" or "you'll miss your flight" did you not understand?

Go. Matty, I don't...

I don't fly commercial.Jack.

Please.

Okay, yes, ma'am, yeah, yeah, we'll handle it.

I gotcha. We'll handle it.

Uh, that was weird.

Yeah, very.

Any idea what this is about?

No, but I've never seen her like this before. Really?

What do you mean, Jack? She's scared.

You know, maybe Dragonfly is a... a secret FBI document revealing that Tupac's alive and well and living in the Caymans.Or... it's a series of photos shows who really sh*t JFK.

Ooh, that's good. Or maybe proof that Stonehenge was built by ancient aliens. What do you think of that?

Ah. Maybe it's evidence that a asteroid is two years from colliding with Earth, and the government is staying mum to avoid a massive public panic.

I love how fired up you get.

Passion! As must as I'm enjoying these theories...

Which is all they are...

I think if Matty wanted us to know what Dragonfly was, she would have told us herself. Yeah, well, whatever it is, it's got to be really important.

She'd never agree to help some scumbag senator cover up his infidelity.

It's important, all right.

But come on, now, Mac... you got to be a little bit curious about what it is, aren't you?

Don't you even want to guess? My level of curiosity is irrelevant... we should stay focused on the op.

I'm always focused on the op, there, fun dodger. Jack, pull over right here.

That's the bank the senator's extortion payment was routed to.

We got 30 minutes till it opens.

Okay.

We got some time, now, before this extortionist shows up, so... who's on snacks? Aw, great.

Stakeout pillow.

Jack, please tell me you left the Willie Nelson CDs at home.

Oh. Yeah.

Evidence that Tom Hanks isn't a nice person.

No, wait. Evidence that Tom Hanks isn't a real person at all, dude.

Like, there is no Tom Hanks.

Look, whatever Dragonfly is, it's got to be personal to Matty, because why else would she send us to recover something that she can't talk about and doesn't want on the Phoenix books?

Someone just put through the ten grand.

Right there. Blue hoodie. Backpack.

Y'all follow him on foot. I'll stay here with the van in case we need a quick getaway. Yeah.

Go, go, go.

That's him.

Nice and easy.

Why are they stopping?

The mirror.

He made us.

Oh, I got him!

Got you now!

Damn!

Who we chasing.

Boze, give me a lift.

Hey, he's just a kid.

How old are you? 16.

Stop kicking me, you little psychopath!

That hurt! Then let me go!

Not gonna happen. I didn't do anything to you.

That's true, but we were monitoring the $10,000 you just withdrew. You've been caught blackmailing a U.S. senator. Yeah, crime like that carries a sentence of at least a decade in prison.

But we'll let you off with a warning ifyou tell us where his computer is.

Hey! Don't touch that!

This model's, like, seven years old, but...

I'm seeing hardware from other machines added to it to boost performance.

Did you build this? No.

Custom-built rigs modded like that are sold on every corner in Accra.

Computers are kind of my thing, too.

Got to admit, this is pretty legit.

You seem smart, so I don't blame you for not talking.

My friends and I, we don't care about the blackmail.

You give us the computer we want, we'll let you walk away.

How do I know I can trust you?

You really are crazy.

We're not the ones extorting people.

I know you don't care about trusting us.

You're playing scared so we sweeten the deal, right?

That's what I thought. Let's bottom-line it, then.

You give us the location of the senator's computer, and we will let you keep the cash.

I know where the hard drive is being kept, but I don't know how to get to it.

Joseph keeps them locked up, and he's got the only key.

We're not worried about a locked door, but who's Joseph? The man we work for.

We?

Ten grand for a tour of your office.

Put it right there.

When you said you were taking us to an E-waste junkyard, I don't know what I was imagining, but it wasn't this.

So, what are all these kids doing?

They're, uh, breaking down electronic scrap into something that they can resell, like gold, plastic, copper.

Literally turning peoples' trash into treasure.

Uh, we call them "scavengers," 'cause their job is to search the landfill for anything that can be sold in town.

Uh, circuit boards, cameras, batteries, monitors, keyboards.

What do computer fans go for?

Uh, 19 cents a pound.

Uh, LCD screens are the real prize.

Those go for 60 cents each.

80 if they're not cracked.

Those always go quick at the beginning of the day.

Most kids sleep here so that they can get in first, and get to the best stuffs.

Danso, what did I tell you about cracking those printer cartridges open?

They're full of poison.

Mind if I show you another way?

Cellular PCB boards are made from epoxy resin, which makes them incredibly strong, so you can use one of these as a lever...

...to pry this casing open...

...without throwing toxic ink in the air.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Hey, maybe I'm missing something here, but how is it even possible to blackmail the senator if everything that gets sent here is-is broken down for scrap metal?

Well, because not everything is broken down. Follow me.

There's more.

Hard drives are pulled from computers and brought here where they can be scanned for pictures, e-mails, videos, anything that can be used to blackmail their previous owners.

You guys built a sophisticated data-mining operation entirely out of other peoples' junk.

So you're scraping through text messages and e-mails, using key words looking for proof of behavior that can be blackmailed, but how did you find explicit photos?

I wrote the script that looks for color values, matching skin tones.

I'm not saying any of this is okay, but, damn.

This is where.

Joseph locks the hard drives that have data on them.

But like I said, he has the only key.

Ah, don't worry about that.

When it comes to locked doors, my boy Mac, here...

He's undefeated.

So, after we have the hard drive, we're all in agreement, we're definitely taking a peek at Dragonfly.

Right? Nah.

Matty would know we looked.

Not if we get.

Riley to help. Oh, yeah.

Ri. What makes you assume I'd want to help?

I mean, that's what you do.

I mean, I'm just saying.

It's Matty.

Why is she calling me? She never calls me.

You think she knows I was just talking about her? Yeah, probably.

Hey, Matty. How are you?

In need of a status update, Bozer.

Do you have the senator's drive?

Uh... your timing is terrifying, as ever.

Uh, yes, we are seconds away from having the hard drive in hand. Good.

The moment you confirm Dragonfly is on that drive, I want you on your way to the airport.

Copy that.

What's going on?

Joseph is here.

Bozer? Call you back, Matty.

He wasn't supposed to come today.

You have to hide.

Hide?

I hate to break it to you, kiddo, but Jack Dalton doesn't hide from anybody, especially not dudes named Joseph.

Please. You have to.

If he finds out I brought you here...

Just tell us where.

Jack...

Okay, but for the record, this is under protest.

Get out of the way! Good God.

What, these kids sleep in here?

Welcome, sir.

I trust all is here.

Oh, come on, Mac. We got to do something.

Anything we do impulsively here could make their lives a lot worse.

Worse than this?

Abina said the senator's drive was somewhere in that stack.

Mac, we can't just let 'em take it.

We're not gonna make a move here and endanger these kids' lives.

Get back to work!

We got to get to the van.

If we lose Joseph, we lose the hard drive.

Yeah, hold on now.

That road we took in here was wide open.

They'll spot us immediately if we try to follow 'em, especially in that soccer mom van.

So what do we do? Just let the reason we came here speed away?

Abina, do you know where he's taking that hard drive?

Yes. His house.

Can you take us there?

I can, but it will cost you.

Abina, for future reference, that is not a house.

That is a fortress.

Yeah, a fortress paid for by poor people and the sweat of little kids.

Agreed.

So how are we gonna get past all of that and get inside?

Mac?

I don't know.

Yet.

Okay, so let me get this straight.

You were just one picked lock away from retrieving that drive, but backed off?

And now, it's being kept inside a compound guarded by four lookout towers and a small army?

Yeah.

That pretty much sums it up, but I assure you that the circumstances made it impossible to make a move on the hard drive earlier. Give me that thing.

Matty, relax.

We're gonna get your little file back, okay?

Don't worry. It's just gonna be a little bit tougher than we originally anticipated.

That's really great to hear, Jack.

Now tell me.

Okay.

Here. Why don't you take that one?

Thanks.

Still ironing out the details, but... look, I know I can make it over the fence.

It's the lookout towers that are another story.

They have sight lines in every direction.

I can move the guards for you.

Uh, sorry, kid, okay? No more moola.

You already cleaned us out.

It's okay. I don't want money.

If I do this, I want to come home with you.

Give me that thing.

Did you, uh...?

Did you hear that, Matty?

Yes, Jack, I did, and while I feel terrible for this young girl, I can't just pull a random civilian out of her home country! Yeah. I'm not saying...

A country I can't even acknowledge that my agents are currently in. Hey, I understand...

Hey, Matty, listen, Abina's the key to accomplishing our objective.

Without her help, we might as well just leave right now, empty-handed.

So exactly how bad do you want whatever's on that drive?

Tell the young lady she has my word I will do everything I can to get her somewhere safe.

But that will have to be good enough for now.

Thank you, Matty.

Wheels are in motion to bring you home with us.

So what's your plan for getting past the lookouts?

Yes.

Joseph.

It's Abina. You have to come quick.

The Sakawa Boys are raiding the landfill again.

You have to hurry. They're taking everything.

Quick! Back to the yard!

Now!

There.

That should do it.

Move it! Quick! The Sakawa Boys are at the landfill.

Move!

This place is freaking huge, man.

What do you say we divide and conquer.

Before old Joe-Joe realizes he's being duped.

Bozer and I will take the main house, you take the back.

Signal if you find the drive.

Hey, Boze, how serious were you about checking Dragonfly behind Matty's back?

I mean, she knows everything about our lives, Mac, but what do we know about her?

Not much. It's how she wants it.

Sure, but whatever's on that drive, Matty just agreed to airlift Abina out of Ghana to ensure she got it back.

How could we not look?

I found embarrassing photos on hundreds of computers before, but no one has ever showed up to get them back.

So what else is on that drive?

Honestly... all we know is it's really important to our boss.

So you're risking your lives for your boss and you don't even know why?

She must be a good woman.

She is.

Don't worry.

If my boss says she'll do anything to get you out of Ghana, she means it.

When I was young and working as a scavenger, I always used to wonder where the electronics came from.

And then Joseph made me start searching hard drives, and... I saw the photos.

And the more I saw, the more I dreamed of living one of those lives.

Well, what'd you see yourself doing?

Majoring in computer science.

At a university in Boston or California.

I'd live in a dorm with my friends, take classes, go to parties.

Your boss will let me do that?

Yeah.

Sure.

You can do anything you want, as long as you use your skills to help people, not harm them.

It's gonna feel a lot better, Abina.

Trust me.

You two, stay here! You two, the east side!

The rest of you with me!

You find the Sakawas... engage!

Mac, you're up.

Hey! What are you two doing?

Really?

Don't you...

Intruder! Intruder in the house!

Intruder! Intruder!

Intruder! Back to the house!

Now!

You got a faster way through that door?

Now that we can make noise, I do.

All right, Jack, we got incoming.

Five minutes, tops. Any luck on your end?

No hard drives in the back house, just Joseph's gross little man cave.

On the bright side, I did trash the place.

Okay. All right.

Which one's the senator's? No clue.

Just start trying 'em.

Mac, they're surrounding the place and trapping you inside. You got to get out of there.

We're doing our best here, Riley.

Would that help?

Spread out. Search the perimeter.

Look in the back house.

Go downstairs. You, come with me.

We're out of time.

Hey, hey, Mac. This is it, right?

Dragonfly, that's it. Grab it. Let's go.Okay.

Yo, Mac. What's up?

We got the drive.

Yeah! Yeah, good, let's get out of here.

There they are!

We got company, boys.

This way!

I'm not gonna be able to hold these guys off for too much longer.

Look!

Let's go, let's go!

Let's go.

Come on, let's go!

Yeah.

Yeah, you're doing great, Riley.

Just don't let your foot off the gas.

Wasn't planning on it, Jack.

Okay, Matty, we have the hard drive.

That's a big "yee-haw" on that one.

Mission accomplished. But, uh, we still got a problem.

We need to get out of Ghana, like, now.

And we're taking Abina with us.

So, we're just hoping you have her all-all squared away on that front, yeah? I'm working on it, Jack.

I'll be in touch soon, hopefully with good news.

Hopefully's not gonna cut it, Matty. We got to get Abina out of here or bad things are gonna happen. Riley, I recognize that you've taken a liking to this young girl, but this op is off the books, remember?

If we're gonna get Abina out of Ghana, it has to be done legally. Yeah, we didn't forget.

We're just hoping whatever strings you're pulling, you-you pull 'em rather quickly.

We're in a bit of a pickle here.

Hey, am I seeing things, or did those dudes just totally, randomly stop chasing us?

They totally, randomly did.

Which is either really good...

...or really...Yeah, it's bad.

Bozer, why is the m*llitary chasing us?

Joseph has powerful friends in the government.

That's how he keeps the landfill operating.

Did I mention how much I hate this guy?

Hey, Mac, you know how annoying it is when Jack runs out of b*ll*ts?

Well, that's about to happen to us with random junk.

We got company, Riley. Okay, what you're gonna want to do here is a pursuit intervention technique. First...

Yeah, that'll work.

That'll work.

Wait, no, no, no, no, not the microwave.

What.

Riley, when I give you the signal, stomp on the brakes.

Brakes? Look, nobody's in the mood to die today, dude.

What is that thing?

A magnetron.

Just tell me it's gonna save our lives, please.

I don't really have time for a lecture on electromagnetic fields. I just need to get closer to the alternators in the Jeeps' engines so I can fry them out with this thing.

Jack, plug this in.

Okay, you're good.

Mac, time to do whatever you're doing.

Bozer, hit the "popcorn" button. Riley, hit the brakes!

Inside every microwave oven is something called a magnetron, which emits radio waves at such a high frequency they excite the molecules inside whatever you're cooking.

But if you remove the magnetron from its housing and focus its energy into a narrow beam, you can do a whole lot more than warm up last night's leftovers.

Yeah, good driving, girl.

Popcorn button? Really?

Great job, Mac.

I've wondered about this place.

Never thought I'd score an invite.

Well, lucky for you I don't trust you to have this conversation anywhere else.

You have an update? My team retrieved your drive.

This is very good news.

Before you start celebrating, I need a favor from you.

I need your help getting someone out of Ghana.

Who? A young girl who helped my people accomplish their objective.

If your people accomplished their objective, then this young girl has nothing more to offer.

This girl is the only reason why we have your photos.

The only reason why your marriage and career aren't gonna go down in flames.

I'm sorry, I can't.

I'd have to spend too much political capital to make that happen under the radar.

Besides, I already did you one favor.

Warning you Dragonfly was at risk is the only reason it won't be getting out.

The only reason hislife...

...won't be in immediate danger.

You're gonna do me one more favor today, Todd.

Because if you don't, the photos of you and that blonde are gonna make their way into the inbox of every last staffer and talking head in the district.

You wouldn't.

No secret stays buried forever.

Okay, it's a dot AVI extension.

Means it's a video file.

Without even opening it, I can see that it's over two gigs, created in 2010, and protected with.

AES 256-bit encryption.

Which means what, for those of us that were in the fifth grade twice?

Someone really doesn't want anybody watching it.

You could break through that kind of encryption, though, right, Riley?

Of course I can.

But that doesn't mean we should.

Look, of course I want to know what's on Dragonfly, but if Matty wants to keep it to herself, shouldn't we let her.

Agreed.

Good news, Abina.

You've been booked on a flight to Los Angeles. Congratulations.

Matty came through.

Like she always does.

Now, we can discuss this on the plane, but right now we should get to the airport before soldiers start shutting everything down. Yeah?

Yeah, good plan.

Hey, how's about I drive this time, Furiosa?

If you insist.Yeah.

Abina.

A Danso? I need your help.

Danso, what's wrong? Please.

I gave you a place to live.

A way to earn money.

And how did you thank me?

Huh? By helping people steal from me.

Now here's what's going to happen next.

You bring me that hard drive, and whatever's on it that I overlooked, or I start hurting your friends.

And we both know that I can always find more scavengers, eh?

You have 30 minutes... or I start with Danso.

All right, I'm counting four, maybe five of his men by the hostages.

Bozer, any chance you could focus on that thing?

Doing the best I can, Riley.

Not exactly working with Panavision precision here.

Okay.

Junkyard Joe's got three two-man teams patrolling the yard looking for us.

Yeah, make that four two-man teams, Boze.

They're everywhere.

I wish we could just sh**t them.

All right, I think I can carve a path through the patrolling guards, get us close enough to Joseph, but... even if I do, we still got a problem:

The stationary guards.

Unless I can knock all them out at the same time, we still got a problem.

We can't. The moment we move on them, someone could get hurt, or worse.

We need to separate the kids from the guards.

Yeah, agree, but how? Signal the kids without Joseph's men knowing.

How are we gonna signal the kids without getting Joseph's... What's the main difference between the hostages and the men guarding them?

Okay, Mac, you're doing that annoying thing your dad does where you ask a question instead of...

Age. The hostages are much younger than the men guarding them. We can use this.

People's ability to hear high frequencies degrades as they age, so a five-year-old can hear higher frequencies than a 20-year-old, who can hear higher frequencies than a 40-year-old.

You just have to calibrate the frequency.

You guys hear that? Yeah.

How about now? I can still hear it.

Right, because you're younger we're older, we can't hear it.

Which should work on a guard.

Wow. Abina, I need you to record a message to your friends, telling them to run when they hear the whistle.

Fast.

It's working. The kids can hear.

Abina's recording, but the guards are totally oblivious.

Joseph.

I brought you what you want.

Now let them go.

Where are your new friends?

They left.

Without the drive that was so important to them that they came all the way to Ghana to retrieve?

I swapped it out for a decoy before I ditched them.

Maybe the 12 of you will survive after all, huh?

Give me the drive.

I'll give it you.

Only after you let them go.

You are in no position to make any demands, Abina.

Actually, I am.

Okay, Mac. Perimeter's clean.

Get your battery bombs ready.

You're clear to the hostages.

Whatever's on this drive must be very valuable...

Enough!

Mac, it's time.

Riley, give them the signal.

Give me the drive, now.

Don't move.

I told you.

We did it.

We sure did.

I'm happy to report that not only is Joseph Musah's entire operation being ripped out by the roots, but the corrupt Ghanaian soldiers that were helping him have already started turning on each other.

Ah, that's great news.

You can also tell Abina that she's booked on the next flight back to L.A.

And I was able to secure her temporary housing while we sort out her situation.

Matty, I don't know how you did that, but thank you. Yeah, thanks, Matty.

You can thank me by getting that drive back to the Phoenix.

Pronto. Yes, ma'am.

Hey, Mac.

I thought about what you said earlier and realized you were right.

Matty always has our backs.

We should have hers.

If she wants to keep Dragonfly a secret, then that's her right.

Yeah, I agree.

Works for me. Let's go home.

Abina. We got to get going if you want to make the flight.

I'm not coming.

Why? I'm sorry.

I can't abandon them. They need somebody honest to lead them, or another Joseph will come in and take over.

They need me.

A Where are you gonna live?

We'll figure something out. We always do.

Yeah, that's just not gonna work for me.

I know you don't know why you went to Ghana.

But I'm so grateful that you did.

Thank you for this.

Cards on the table, Matty, I seriously considered looking at Dragonfly.

I was really curious... still am, to be honest... But none of us looked.

You deserve that.

I appreciate your honesty, Bozer.

Now, who's ready for more good news?

Oh, I think we all are.

Matty, come on, now.

Don't-don't leave us hanging.

Actually, I'm gonna let someone very special show you herself.

Hi, Riley, hi, everyone.

You won't believe what's happening here.

Phoenix just partnered with a non-profit to build Abina and her friends new prefabricated homes near the landfill, ensuring that she'll be working in the safest environment possible.

We're so excited. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Hope to see you guys again soon.

My name is Ethan Reigns. Born February 11, 1974.

As you can see, I'm standing in an office at CIA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Today's date is August 6, 2010.

I'm making this video because tomorrow I start deep cover, and I need my true identity on record in case something ever happens to any the few people who are read-in on my assignment, codenamed Dragonfly.

Matty...

I want you to know that this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

I'm so sorry.

I love you.

I love you, too.