02x20 - Countdown

[destinyros2005]

(Night. Outside. Dixon has a man on the ground and a detonator in his hand with a timer on it.)

DIXON: Where the hell's the device?! Tell me or we're both dead!

MAN: Who are you? You're crazy!

(Sydney runs up.)

SYDNEY: Dixon, what are you doing?!

MAN: I don't know what you're talking about!

DIXON: STAY BACK, SYDNEY!

MAN: No way, you're gonna k*ll yourself!

DIXON: I've got NOTHING to LOSE!

(Back in LA at the ops center, Jack and another man -- Director Brandon -- are on comm.)

BRANDON: What the hell's your man doing?

JACK: Agent Dixon, disarm your expl*sive immediately!

BRANDON: Vaughn, can you see them from your position?

(Vaughn and his Delta team are nearby.)

VAUGHN: Negative.

SYDNEY: Dixon, think! Don't do this!

DIXON: Sydney, get out of here!

SYDNEY: I'm not leaving without you.

JACK: Dixon, I repeat -- deactivate that w*apon!

DIXON: Tell me where the box is or we die!

(Vaughn is on a balcony overlooking the scene below with Dixon, the man, and Sydney. He aims his g*n.)

VAUGHN: Base camp, I've got a visual.

DIXON: Tell me! What it's gonna be!

BRANDON: Tell Vaughn to take him down!

JACK: Dixon could be holding a manual detonator. f*ring at him could trigger the expl*si*n.

SYDNEY: Dixon, shut it down!

DIXON: Fifteen... fourteen...

BRANDON: Agent Bristow, I'm pulling rank. Agent Vaughn, this is NSA Deputy Director Brandon. I am ordering you to take that sh*t at first possible opportunity!

(Vaughn aims his g*n.)

DIXON: Sydney, get out of here!

SYDNEY: Dixon, you have to disarm now!

(Vaughn's finger's on the trigger...)

(Los Angeles. 72 hours earlier. At the Dixon household, Dixon's daughter holds a Kleenex in her hand, sitting on the sofa. Various people, dressed in black, eat cake and drink tea. Dixon talks to an elderly man. Marshall, Vaughn and Sydney stand together in a circle.)

MARSHALL: Um, should I say something to him?

VAUGHN: If you want.

(Sydney watches Dixon speak to Jack and then sit next to his daughter. She leans against him and he rests his arm around her. Later, Dixon is alone and taking a moment. He leans against a wall.)

DIXON: Okay, come on, come on, come on...

(He moves to a dresser in the bedroom and opens the top drawer, removing a pill bottle. Vaughn, down the hall, stops when he sees him and sort of hides in the doorway. Tapping out a couple of pills, Dixon swallows them. Vaughn leaves him.)

(Later, in Sydney's bedroom, Vaughn unzips the back of Sydney's dress. In her bra, she moves over to her closet to get a shirt.)

VAUGHN: I saw Dixon take something.

SYDNEY: What do you mean?

VAUGHN: Pills. Uh, he just looked like he was barely holding it together.

SYDNEY: It could've been aspirin.

VAUGHN: It wasn't aspirin.

(He takes off his suit jacket and sits on the edge of her bed. She pulls a shirt on over her head.)

SYDNEY: What are you saying?

VAUGHN: I'm saying he's going back to work days after his wife was m*rder*d and he's self-medicating.

SYDNEY: I think he needs to feel like he's doing everything he can.

VAUGHN: To find Sloane.

SYDNEY: I had the same thing with Danny.

(Sark enters an office somewhere. Sloane is at his desk.)

SARK: I found the man we're looking for. He lives in Panama City. I can be there in seventeen hours.

SLOANE: No. The CIA has a copy of the database Caplan decrypted. They'll deduce who it is we're after if they haven't already done it.

SARK: What do you suggest?

SLOANE: I suggest you call this number.

(He writes it down on a piece of paper.)

SLOANE: A recording will answer for a limousine service. You will leave your cell number only. Within five minutes a man will call you. You tell him exactly what you need.

(He gives the paper to Sark, who takes it.)

SLOANE: Have you heard from Irina?

SARK: She's in Cyprus... inspecting some properties to take the place of the facility in Spain.

SLOANE: I see. (pours drink) I thought I would have some measure of satisfaction with Diane Dixon's death. I k*lled the wrong person.

SARK: Dixon?

SLOANE: I'm taking a leave. I want you to continue without me.

SARK: Sir, not to belittle your grief... but do not deny yourself the victory of a thirty-year pursuit.

SLOANE: If I don't see you again, Mr. Sark, tell Irina that I hope you both succeed where I couldn't.

(Briefing room at the CIA with Marshall, Sydney, Vaughn, Jack and two newcomers.)

JACK: This is Frederick Brandon, NSA Deputy Director. He's coordinating an inter-agency task force to locate and study Rambaldi's work.

BRANDON: Well, first of all, I'd like to say thank you to all of you for welcoming my associate and I.

(He gestures to a young brunette sitting at the table next to him.)

CARRIE: I'm Carrie Bowman, Special Projects. Well, thanks to your technical services specialist--

(She looks at her notes.)

CARRIE: It's a Mr. Flinkman...

(Marshall looks up.)

CARRIE: Uh, we've made an invaluable breakthrough in the Rambaldi investigation.

MARSHALL: Really? Actually, I-I'm Flinkman. Marshall Flinkman.

CARRIE: Hi. (laughs)

MARSHALL: Hi.

CARRIE: So, uh, while the CIA was in possession of Rambaldi's study of the human heart, Mr. Flinkman cataloged and copied it.

(He just stares across the table at her in response.)

CARRIE: D-Do you have the presentation?

MARSHALL: Hmm? Oh, a... presentation. Yeah. I've got--and by the way you can call me Marshall. Everybody calls me... whatever.

(Sydney looks back and forth between Carrie and Marshall, smiling. Marshall stands and starts the presentation. A page from the Rambaldi manuscript of the human heart that Irina later stole is on the screen.)

MARSHALL: Um, okay, uh, take a look right here. Now, these drawings are amazing. Like, Da Vinci-in-his-prime amazing. But the what-could-he-have-possibly-been-smoking element? Well, that is right here. Now, take a look in the corner. You see these little drawings in the corner of the pages? Now, they look just like normal squiggles or doodling, you know, like-like you would do while you're on the phone talking to-- Although... he probably wouldn't be on the phone because, you know, it was the fifteenth century and they didn't actually have phones yet but, um, they are actually specific strands of DNA. Now, I strung them all together and I got a DNA fingerprint.

BRANDON: The DNA of this man. Protero Di Regno, private citizen, living in Panama City. He works as an art restorer.

VAUGHN: You're saying that five hundred years ago Rambaldi drew the DNA profile of a man who's alive today?

CARRIE: It gets even better. Di Regno's DNA profile was a code key. It let us decrypt page 94 of the Rambaldi manuscript.

DIXON: What's on the page?

BRANDON: Times and dates, each marking an apocalyptic event. September the seventh, 1812 -- Napoleon's bloodiest battle with the Russians. June twenty-eighth, 1914 -- the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Started World w*r I. August the sixth, 1945 -- Hiroshima. The list goes on.

SYDNEY: There's a future date listed on the page... isn't there?

BRANDON: Forty-eight hours from now.

SYDNEY: What's the prediction?

CARRIE: The page doesn't say, it just gives the time. It's the equivalent of midnight, eastern standard time.

JACK: We're coordinating with local authorities in Panama City. When you find Di Regno, you'll escort him back here.

BRANDON: Until the moment specified by Rambaldi has come and gone, by national security directive, this operations center is under the jurisdiction of NSA.

(Di Regno's bedroom, night. He's in bed, asleep, until a thudding wakes him up. He looks around and tries to click on the bedside lamp but it doesn't come on. He gets out of bed and looks at his watch on the nightstand. He gets up and walks to another lamp, tries it. It doesn't come on either. He walks over to the window and looks around. A man comes out of the darkness and stabs him. Di Regno falls to the floor.)

(In Panama City, it looks as if Sydney and Dixon have arrived a bit too late. Di Regno is flat on his back in his bloody bed. An extractor is on his chest, opening it up wide, where his heart used to be. Forensics people are around and the investigating cop is at the bedside with Sydney and Dixon.)

DIXON: We've talked to the neighbors. No one saw the person who might've done this.

COP: So far, forensics haven't found anything. No prints, nothing.

SYDNEY: And you believe this wasn't a burglary?

COP: No, nothing was taken. Besides his heart.

(His cell rings. He walks away to answer it. Sydney puts on a pair of rubber gloves and moves around the bed while Dixon takes pictures. While Sydney is a bit bothered to see a dead body whose chest cavity has a huge hole in it, Dixon isn't really bothered at all. Sydney picks up Di Regno's lifeless hand and shows it to Dixon.)

SYDNEY: Look.

(She shows him a tatoo on the spot above his thumb: )

DIXON: Rambaldi.

(Sydney nods.)

DIXON: So why take his heart?

SYDNEY: I don't know. (to another guy) Perdoneme.

(A guy comes over. Sydney speaks Spanish to him, pointing at something on the extractor. He removes it with tweezers and they begin to dust it. She looks at Dixon.)

SYDNEY: It looks like the fingertip from a latex glove. Must've torn off.

(Sydney speaks to Marshall on phone. He's in front of a computer with a file up. Pictured is the man who stabbed Di Regno.)

MARSHALL: I was able to enhance the partial print you sent me off the latex glove. There was a match. Guy's name is Emilio Vargas, he's a freelance assassin specializing in interrogation and wet work. Clients include Russian mafia, Triad, Japanese Yakuza.

SYDNEY: Any intel on where he operates from?

MARSHALL: Well, there is an address in Guadalajara.

SYDNEY: Forward me everything you've got.

(Vaughn follows Jack, who walks through the ops center.)

VAUGHN: I have a request concerning Agent Dixon.

JACK: What is it.

VAUGHN: I know he's been through a lot and I know he wants to feel useful but until he's had a psychological evaluation and is cleared by medical services, I believe it's in his best interests and ours, to remove him from field duty.

JACK: I've worked with Agent Dixon for nearly a dozen years. You've worked with him for little over a month. If he feels ready to be in the field, I'm going to accord him that respect.

VAUGHN: But given his state of mind, do you really think he's the right person to make that decision?

JACK: Yes.

VAUGHN: Jack, he just lost his wife. I mean, with all due respect, why are you fighting with me on this?

JACK: I'm not required to justify my decisions to you, Agent Vaughn. However, I recruited Agent Dixon into SD-6. I'm the man who sold him the lie he was working for the CIA. I introduced him to the man who k*lled his wife. I will not be the one to tell him he can't assist in Sloane's capture.

(At his desk, Marshall chews at his fingernails and notices Carrie, sitting downwind, crying softly with earphones in her ears. She sobs into her hand.)

MARSHALL: Is... everything okay? Miss Bowman?

(She doesn't hear him. He r*fles through some drawers and comes up with a box of tissues. He approaches her.)

CARRIE: Hey.

MARSHALL: Excuse me, I--actually...

CARRIE: Thank you.

(She removes the earphones and takes the box.)

MARSHALL: No problem. I just... everything all right? Or...

CARRIE: (motions to earphones) It's Joni Mitchell. Don't tell anyone, okay?

MARSHALL: No, I-I...

(He goes back to his seat.)

CARRIE: I-I shouldn't bring her to work, it just makes me fatalistic.

MARSHALL: Well, this work we're doing doesn't really help.

CARRIE: No kidding.

MARSHALL: You know, researching this prophecy, trying to predict what sort of disaster's going to hit thirty-six hours from now, it makes me want to throw up.

(She wheels over in her office chair, coming closer. Marshall sits back.)

CARRIE: Do you believe in this stuff? Rambaldi, his prophecy?

MARSHALL: I don't know, um... I was raised more or less by agnostic parents. They were inordinately emperical. Logical to the point of foolishness. Like, "Marshall, you must wear your sweater. It's fifty-two degrees outside." But I'm like, "Mom, I'm not cold. I don't want--" "Well, in this family, we wear sweaters at fifty-two degrees." I mean, there were really no prophecies growing up. Or even Santa Claus, Tooth Fairies...

CARRIE: So the short answer is no.

MARSHALL: Well that's what I keep telling myself.

CARRIE: To tell you the truth, I'm exhausted by the world. Everything -- the evil and the rage and the darkness. And the last thing I need is some fifteenth century dork telling me I got a day and a half to live.

MARSHALL: I understand. I mean, like, I have so much left to do.

CARRIE: Right. (pause) Are you gay?

MARSHALL: Why, is there someone you wanted to set me up with?

CARRIE: No, it's just every cute guy that I meet turns out to be gay.

MARSHALL: Oh.

CARRIE: I'm not stupid. I mean, I'm in Mensa--

MARSAHLL: Hold on -- not gay. I-I mean, I like men in a kind of manly friendly sort of way--

CARRIE: How about sushi? Because when we're done with this job, after thirty-six hours -- of course, assuming we're all still here -- would you maybe... you wanna get some sushi?

MARSHALL: Yeah, I would love that. Oh, and um, Joni Mitchell?

(He puts an imaginary key in his mouth and locks it.)

(Vaughn is at his desk and picks up the phone.)

VAUGHN: Uh, Dr. Barnett? Uh, this is Michael Vaughn. Do you have a minute? There's something I want to talk to you about.

(In Guadalajara, two masked men fight in a ring with people holding cash in the air, placing bets. It's loud and crowded and crazy. Dixon and Sydney enter and go to a bouncer.)

SYDNEY: (speaking Spanish) Tell Vargas we want a meeting. The Triad has another job for him.

(The bouncer nods and speaks in his transmitter. He points the right way. Sydney smiles and they make their way to the meet point. At the foot of a stairwell, they stop and see Vargas, who stands at the top.)

SYDNEY: Mr. Vargas... we come referred by Gurneyev. He was very pleased with the work you did in Gdansk.

VARGAS: Si. The Copertley job.

SYDNEY: No... Janazik.

(He smiles and nods, speaking Spanish. They go upstairs. Walking through the hallway...)

VARGAS: Janazik was a learning experience. I found if you remove the eye slowly, you could keep it connected to the optic nerve. He saw himself in a whole new light.

(Dixon suddenly slams Vargas against a wall, knocking his head against it.)

SYDNEY: Why did you k*ll Di Regno?

DIXON: Son of a BITCH!

(Vargas pulls a Kn*fe and starts fighting with Dixon. Dixon punches him but Vargas kicks Dixon in the jaw. He takes sword over head and flings it at Dixon. When Dixon jumps back, he reaches for the other sword. Sydney meanwhile grabs two curvy swords from the wall and spins them on either side of her, coming closer. She moves Vargas up the stairs. He jabs at her. Dixon comes up but Vargas jumps off the stairwell, landing on the floor below. Dixon does the same. The three of them fight with Sydney breaking the wooden handle of the sword Vargas was using. Dixon kicks him and Sydney points one of her swords at his throat.)

SYDNEY: Why Di Regno? Why'd you k*ll him? Why'd you take his heart?

(Dixon grabs Vargas's wrist and twists his arm.)

DIXON: Talk!

VARGAS: Ahhh!

DIXON: Son of a bitch!

(He twists his arm some more.)

VARGAS: It wasn't his heart, it wasn't his heart! It was a machine! Ahhhh, I don't know!

SYDNEY: Where is it?

(The bone starts to break. Sydney looks at Dixon, a bit alarmed.)

VARGAS: Ahhh! On a truck, on its way to Colombia! Cartagena! Oh God!

DIXON: Is that where Sloane is?

VARGAS: Who?

(Dixon kicks him in the face.)

DIXON: Is that where Sloane is?

VARGAS: Ahhh... who...

(Dixon punches him.)

DIXON: Sloane! Where is he?!

VARGAS: I don't know Sloane...

DIXON: The guy who HIRED YOU!

(He hits him.)

VARGAS: I was hired by phone!

DIXON: How'd he pay you?

VARGAS: Wire... wire transfer!

(He hits him.)

DIXON: Tell me... (hits him)... how... (hits him)... to find... (hits him)... SLOANE!

SYDNEY: Dixon!

(He hits him again.)

SYDNEY: DIXON!

(Coming to, Dixon looks at Sydney and walks out.)

(Barnett's office with Dixon.)

BARNETT: I asked you to come in because I wanted to know how you were doing during what has to be a most difficult time. I am so sorry for your loss.

DIXON: (nods) Thank you.

BARNETT: Do you mind if we talk about the operation yesterday in Guatalajara?

DIXON: No, of course not.

BARNETT: This was four days after the death of your wife.

DIXON: That's correct.

BARNETT: Were you ordered on this mission?

DIXON: No. I was encouraged not to go. I insisted.

BARNETT: Why?

DIXON: Because I have unfinished business.

BARNETT: With Sloane. It says here that you and Agent Bristow interrogated an associate of Sloane's.

DIXON: That's right.

BARNETT: Was that difficult -- being in the same room with someone who might know the whereabouts of the man who k*lled your wife?

DIXON: He didn't know.

BARNETT: Did you ask him?

DIXON: Did Agent Bristow talk to you?

BARNETT: Would she tell me something different?

DIXON: I used necessary force.

BARNETT: There are people at this agency who are working to bring Sloane to justice.

DIXON: Not good enough. I need to be involved.

BARNETT: Agent Dixon, it is my job to determine whether at this time you are fit for duty.

(Ops center. Marshall pours some noodles out of a Thermos into its cup. Sydney sits across from him.)

MARSHALL: Well, I reviewed his medical records and Di Regno never had a heart transplant, nor did he have an artificial heart. I'm sorry, did you--

(He offers her some of his noodles. She shakes her head no.)

MARSHALL: Which leads us to at least two disconcerting questions. What in God's name was keeping him alive and why did Sloane want it so badly? (chews) Mmm, there's more. Now, remember those heart drawings he did? Well, I interpreted the text and Rambaldi referred to conquering tissue degeneration.

SYDNEY: We know Rambaldi was fascinated with immortality.

MARSHALL: Yeah, but even so, what does all this possibly have to do with the doomsday prophecy?

(Sydney looks at the file for a second.)

SYDNEY: Twenty-three hours left. The satellites are tracking the truck. We should get something soon.

MARSHALL: (eating) Mmm, actually, this probably has no connection at all but Di Regno worked as an art restorer. Now, Carrie reminded me -- h*tler was a painter.

SYDNEY: (amused) Carrie?

MARSHALL: What? Oh, did I-- Miss Bowman. I should go.

(Marshall walks away and Dixon comes up, leaning over Marshall's empty chair.)

DIXON: Syd, did you tell Barnett that I wasn't fit for field duty?

SYDNEY: Dixon, no.

DIXON: You didn't put in a request for me to undergo an eval?

SYDNEY: I promise you, no.

DIXON: Somebody did. I've been ordered to report to medical services for a drug test.

SYDNEY: You're worried.

DIXON: I've been taking Vicodin. Now, I stopped, I threw them away, but it doesn't matter, it'll show up on the test. Sydney, they're going to suspend me.

(Vaughn walks in the ops center and goes to Sydney.)

VAUGHN: They've ID'd the truck, it just crossed the border from Panama to Colombia. Your father is developing an op to intercept Di Regno's heart.

SYDNEY: Did you report to Barnett that Dixon was taking pills?

VAUGHN: Yes.

SYDNEY: Come here.

(She takes him down the hall for privacy.)

SYDNEY: You should have called me first.

VAUGHN: Well, I'm sorry I didn't but I don't need your permission to do my job.

SYDNEY: Why would you go out of your way to make things harder for him?

VAUGHN: I'm trying to protect him and you.

SYDNEY: He's handling it!

VAUGHN: If he makes some mistake out there, it could get you k*lled!

SYDNEY: Dixon has saved my life more times than I can count!

VAUGHN: He nearly b*at a man to death.

SYDNEY: He got us our only lead on the Di Regno device.

VAUGHN: Look, I get that you both have a personal stake in catching Sloane. But it can also cloud your judgment.

SYDNEY: It makes me insane when you patronize me.

VAUGHN: Look, this conversation's over. I stand by my decision.

(Nepal. In the wilderness, Sloane is being led up a trail by a young guide. Mountains in the distance. The guide takes a drink from a canteen and offers Sloane some. He waves him off.)

GUIDE: Shall we continue?

SLOANE: I would like to cross the north summit.

GUIDE: You did not tell me this when you hired me.

SLOANE: If I had, you wouldn't have come. I will gladly pay you double the amount we discussed.

GUIDE: No. People that go there do no return the same.

SLOANE: I see. Well, don't worry about me.

(He pats the guide on the shoulder and continues on.)

(Knock on Sydney's front door. She answers to find Vaughn.)

VAUGHN: I wanted to say I'm sorry. You caught me off guard.

SYDNEY: I'm sorry. I know you're just looking out for Dixon... and me.

VAUGHN: His test came back negative. You were right, must have been aspirin. Are we okay?

SYDNEY: Yeah.

VAUGHN: Good.

(They hug. Sydney's worried.)

(At Dixon's house, he lets her inside.)

SYDNEY: I hope I didn't wake the kids.

DIXON: They're at Diane's sister's.

SYDNEY: You passed the drug test.

DIXON: I'm in trouble, Syd.

SYDNEY: What did you do, switch the results?

DIXON: As soon as I left the building, I knew it was a mistake.

SYDNEY: Oh, Dixon...

DIXON: But it was too late.

SYDNEY: Oh, my God...

DIXON: The results were already cataloged.

SYDNEY: Oh, Dixon, you shouldn't have done that.

DIXON: Sloane m*rder*d my wife! I have to make him pay for that.

SYDNEY: I've been called in to talk to Barnett.

DIXON: You can't tell her.

SYDNEY: Dixon...

DIXON: If they find out I doctored my test I'll never work for the government again. How will I take care of my kids? Sydney, I don't know how to do this without Diane!

SYDNEY: I have to go.

DIXON: Syd...

SYDNEY: I have to...

(She leaves.)

(Barnett's office.)

BARNETT: Thanks for coming so late but I was about to finish my evaluation on Marcus Dixon and I didn't feel that it would be comprehensive without getting some input from the person who knows him best.

SYDNEY: What would you like to know?

BARNETT: Your father has argued strongly that Dixon should stay in the field and without any evidence of drug use, I can't countermand him. Is there anything that you think I should know before I give my final decision?

(Cut to a bridge. Dixon drives up in his car, parks it.)

(Barnett's office.)

SYDNEY: Marcus Dixon is one of the strongest people I've ever known. I trust him with my life, without hesitation...

(Cut back to the bridge. Dixon climbs out of his car and takes a few steps forward, not bothering to close the car door behind him.)

(Barnett's office.)

SYDNEY: ...and I am confident that despite the agony he's feeling right now, he will pull through this.

(On the bridge, Dixon stands on the edge, ready to jump. He spreads his arms out wide as the traffic moves below.)

(Sydney walks in the ops center.)

SYDNEY: Hey.

VAUGHN: Hey.

SYDNEY: I got your message.

VAUGHN: The truck left the Pan-American highway towards Cartegena. It looks like its endpoint is the Estrella shipyard. We're going in with Delta force.

SYDNEY: What about Dixon?

VAUGHN: I left word right after I called you. He hasn't called me back.

(Minutes later, with Jack and Brandon. They show Sydney satellite photographs of the area.)

JACK: This is the Estrella, a cargo-freight area with its own security. The perimeter has patrol covering both the north and southeast sectors. Intel indicates that the truck is located here. Sydney, you'll infiltrate the weakest post and secure it. Vaughn and Delta force will join you onboard to determine whether or not this heart is actually a w*apon, an expl*sive.

BRANDON: By the time you'll reach this truck you'll only have twenty minutes until the midnight deadline. If you're unable to locate the Rambaldi device, I've been given authority to initiate secondary protocol to rig the yard with enough C-4 to destroy what the device may be.

(Dixon walks in, buttoning up his suit jacket.)

BRANDON: You're late.

DIXON: Sorry, sir.

JACK: Fill him in on the way. You leave in an hour.

DIXON: (to Vaughn) Uh, could you give us a minute?

VAUGHN: Sure. I'll see you in tech services.

SYDNEY: Okay.

(Vaughn leaves.)

DIXON: Thank you for not saying anything.

SYDNEY: It wasn't just Barnett. I lied to Vaughn.

DIXON: Sydney--

SYDNEY: I need you to look me in the eye and promise me that you can handle this.

DIXON: I promise.

SYDNEY: Okay, let's go.

(Sloane climbs a snowy mountain with the help of ski poles. He sees a palace up ahead on the mountain's edge and takes off his glasses. Inside, he slams open the doors and talks to the various monks walking around.)

SLOANE: I've come to see Conrad.

(He opens another set of doors and barges in. Conrad sits alone.)

SLOANE: Do you know who I am? Do you?

(He takes a g*n and presses it at Conrad's neck.)

CONRAD: Arvin Sloane.

SLOANE: That's right, you son of a bitch.

CONRAD: Your search for Rambaldi... has frustrated you.

SLOANE: Frustrated me? You mean that meaningless quest that you sent me on thirty years ago that made me abandon the CIA and betray everyone I ever loved?

CONRAD: Your wife has been k*lled.

SLOANE: How did you know that?

CONRAD: Put away the g*n. There is something I must show you.

(He lowers the g*n.)

(Cartagena. Two guards are at the weakest point. Sydney takes down one of them by kicking him a few times. Dixon grabs the other and rams his head against the post door. They run into the shipyard and we're back to the first of the episode.)

SYDNEY: We found the truck. No sign of the driver. I'm going to look for the device.

(Vaughn and the Delta force are waiting nearby.)

VAUGHN: Copy, Mountaineer. Base camp, waiting on your signal.

(In LA with Jack and Brandon.)

JACK: Copy that, Boy Scout. Hold your position.

(Sydney's about to go in.)

SYDNEY: Cover me.

(She runs to the truck and opens the door, shining her flashlight inside.)

SYDNEY: It's not here. It's already been moved. Okay, we have to search every container.

BRANDON: You do not have time. Initiate secodary protocol.

JACK: Not yet. We'll give Sydney as much time as we can to find the device.

BRANDON: At least move your team into place.

JACK: Boy Scout, weapons free. Move out.

VAUGHN: Copy.

(The men approach the area with their g*ns aimed. Sydney and Dixon go deeper into the shipyard and see the feet of two men on the other side of one of the trucks.)

MAN: Secure the freight.

MAN 2: Yeah.

(She motions to Dixon to get Man while she'll get Man 2. He nods and they break apart, getting their men. Dixon grabs his guy throws him against the wall and Sydney knocks the other out.)

MAN: Ahh, who are you?

DIXON: CIA! You just took possession of cargo coming from Panama City! Where is it?

MAN: No idea what you're talking about.

(Dixon hits him, hard. He collapses to the ground.)

MAN: Oh, ugh!

DIXON: Where is it!

(He says nothing so Dixon hits him again.)

DIXON: Maybe they didn't tell you what you were transporting but it could be a w*apon of mass destruction.

MAN: Piss off, huh?

(Instead of hitting him again, Dixon backs up, nodding.)

DIXON: Okay, okay...

(He takes out a pack of C-4 with a timer on it. He starts it at thirty seconds.)

DIXON: You see this? There's enough C-4 here to blow us all to hell! Where the hell is the device!

(Sydney runs up.)

SYDNEY: Dixon, what are you doing?!

MAN: I don't know what you're talking about!

DIXON: STAY BACK, SYDNEY!

MAN: No way, you're gonna k*ll yourself!

DIXON: I've got NOTHING to LOSE!

(Back in LA at the ops center, Jack and another man -- Director Brandon -- are on comm.)

BRANDON: What the hell's your man doing?

JACK: Agent Dixon, disarm your expl*sive immediately!

BRANDON: Vaughn, can you see them from your position?

(Vaughn and his Delta team are nearby.)

VAUGHN: Negative.

SYDNEY: Dixon, think! Don't do this!

DIXON: Sydney, get out of here!

SYDNEY: I'm not leaving without you.

JACK: Dixon, I repeat -- deactivate that w*apon!

DIXON: Tell me where the box is or we die!

(Vaughn is on a balcony overlooking the scene below with Dixon, the man, and Sydney. He aims his g*n.)

VAUGHN: Base camp, I've got a visual.

DIXON: Tell me! What it's gonna be!

BRANDON: Tell Vaughn to take him down!

JACK: Dixon could be holding a manual detonator. f*ring at him could trigger the expl*si*n.

SYDNEY: Dixon, shut it down!

DIXON: Fifteen... fourteen...

BRANDON: Agent Bristow, I'm pulling rank. Agent Vaughn, this is NSA Deputy Director Brandon. I am ordering you to take that sh*t at first possible opportunity!

(Vaughn aims his g*n.)

DIXON: Sydney, get out of here!

SYDNEY: Dixon, you have to disarm now!

(Vaughn's finger's on the trigger...)

DIXON: Sydney, please -- GO! What's it gonna be? Tell me!

MAN: Okay, container 246-B! Now shut it off! Shut it off! Shut it off!

(Two... one... zero. Beeeeep. Nothing happens. Dixon stands up as Vaughn and the man both exhale deeply. Dixon looks over at Sydney.)

DIXON: I cut the primer cord. I'm not that desperate.

(They open the container.)

DELTA GUY: We've got the device!

BRANDON: Two minutes forty seconds to midnight.

(At the monk palace in Nepal, Conrad removes a panel on the floor and takes out a box that has the Rambaldi symbol on the cover. Inside, he starts taking out the Rambaldi papers.)

CONRAD: Thirty years ago, I could only tell you so much. The information had to come to you over time or you would not have understood. Certain events... need to unfold. According to Rambaldi's writings, your wife's death, although unfortunate, was a necessary step on your journey.

SLOANE: You knew my wife was going to die... and you didn't warn me?

CONRAD: If I had... I could not have given you this.

(He gives him a scroll of paper.)

(The Delta leader sweeps the suitcase with the heart device inside.)

DELTA GUY: No sign of radioactivity... the device is self-contained, not hard-wired to the case. Do I have authorization to open it?

BRANDON: Nineteen seconds.

JACK: Open the box, Delta leader.

(Conrad holds the scroll out to him.)

CONRAD: You can always choose to ignore it.

(Back at the shipyard.)

DELTA GUY: I have opened the box.

BRANDON: Can you deactivate it?

DELTA GUY: Negative. It's not a b*mb.

JACK: What is it?

BRANDON: Don't answer that, Delta leader. You seal the box and bring it home.

(Sloane unrolls the paper and at the same moment, his watch beeps. Church bells ring in the distance. It's midnight, eastern standard time.)

(Shipyard.)

DELTA GUY: Sir, it's Delta leader. It's all clear, we're packing up.

(The timer goes past midnight.)

BRANDON: Ohhh... I guess Rambaldi was wrong.

JACK: Your jurisdiction just expired. I'll have a jet standing by to take you back to Washington.

(Jack rips off his headset and walks away.)

(In Nepal, Sloane is overcome as he reads the passage on the sheet.)

CONRAD: Now you understand... your journey has just begun.

(Up in the sky, above the mountains in Nepal, lightning flashes and thunder rumbles.)

(Sydney and Dixon get ready to leave.

DIXON: Last night, asking you to lie for me... I'm sorry I ever put you in that position.

SYDNEY: It's okay.

DIXON: (crying) After you left... I got in my car and drove to this bridge I know. I was standing there, looking up at the sky... asking God for forgiveness for what I was about to do. And then I heard something. It was a baby crying. It was a baby crying. I-I didn't know where it was coming from, I was alone... and I started thinking about my babies. I could see them, I could see them in the crib, I saw us sitting up with them at night when they were sick. And so... and so I stepped down from the railing and then I looked up and it wasn't a baby that was crying. It was just a tree branch, bending in the wind.

(Crying, they hug.)

(In La, Sydney and Vaughn are sitting on a bench in a park, each with ice cream in a cub.)

VAUGHN: Can I have a bite?

(She gives him a spoonful.)

VAUGHN: Dixon's going to be okay. He admitted what he did, he turned himself in. That matters to personnel.

(He takes a spoonful of his ice cream.)

SYDNEY: Vaughn, I knew what he did. I knew that he changed his results and I didn't say anything to Barnett. Or you. You know this, but my parents were absent when I was growing up. I never had anyone to disappoint. That's different now. I'm sorry.

(Pause. He looks at her. And then offers her a spoonful of his ice cream. She takes it. They smile at each other and Vaughn gets up, offering his hand. She takes that too, and together they walk down the path with their arms around each other.)