03x08 - Hedgehogs

[bunniefuu]

Run away with me.

Money for the Contras is pouring in.

You've done enough here.

There are other ways to serve.

Mel didn't come home last night.

She stole my car, and I found it stripped.

Look, I'm hoping that you got a better read on where she could be than I do.

I'll ask around.

You think Mel too good to smoke rock?

Man, what you think, we making all this money

'cause this sh*t ain't addictive?

Once the rock get ahold of they ass, the person you knew, they gone.

Get in the f*cking... Damn! Damn!

What the f*ck is your problem, Franklin?

What happened?

Is she okay?

No.

She on the rock now.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you-you see where he looking?

You know, checking that window for reflections?

You know, seeing if anyone's approaching down the opposite street?

And you didn't spot any other surveillance or support?

No, it appears he's working alone.

So he's vulnerable.

He's what we call a hard target.

You know, mean he, uh... he sleeps light, you know, with one eye open.

You ain't gonna ever really get the... get the drop on him.

So, what's next?

Well, I follow him.

You know, bring you back some useful Intel... you know, where he lives, you know, if he has a family, try to find his soft spots.

And say you get yourself caught.

How's Reed gonna take it we trying to follow him?

You ain't got to worry about me.

They don't call the man Top Notch for nothing.

I know it's scary, but we need to push forward, build up leverage, a protection plan.

Protection plan, and that's it?

That's the only option?

No, there's one other thing you can do: run.

Cuba's your best bet these days, but, you know, once the CIA got you in their crosshairs...

Yeah?

... there ain't no real cover.

She gone again?

I'll put the word out.

There's got to be a better way.

There ain't.

Teddy?

I've been trying to give you space, but... it's been weeks.

Yeah, I can't abandon this, you know.

Not now.

Besides, it's not so bad, right?

Sun, surf, fighting the commies?

We can fight communism somewhere else.

If Nicaragua falls, Honduras and Guatemala are next.

I'm not letting that happen.

In a year, I can leave.

Just give me a year.

You know, hedgehogs, in winter, when it's freezing, they huddle together to keep warm.

But then their sharp spines prick each other, so they move apart.

But then they get cold, so they huddle together again, prick each other again, over and over.

Okay.

So we're hedgehogs.

Can't be together, can't be apart.

I'm saying it feels like we've had this conversation before.

You can finish this without me, yeah?

Yeah, she'll come home for a day or two, say all the right things...

Then she'll be gone again.

I, uh...

I can't take her to school, not like this.

No telling what she'd do if she was alone.

Why don't you both come?

To Texas?

Take a break from the city.

Bring her to a new environment.

Hmm. Give her a clean slate.

Well, no, I never really thought of that before.

You sure it wouldn't be putting you out?

Well, I am still suspended from my job, so...

I'll have to think about it. Hey, let me, uh, call you back.

All right, love you, sis.

Andre Wright? Yeah?

My name's Kate Miller.

Do you have a few minutes?

Few minutes for what?

I believe we can help each other.

My agency's knee-deep in a highly sensitive op, and I came across your name during prep.

I'm sorry, what agency?

And how did you get my address?

Detective Han gave it to me.

Detective Han...

He's the LAPD'S liaison to the FBI, DEA, CIA.

We're running at a Colombian drug cartel.

But you know what it's like working for a government bureaucracy.

Higher-ups only want to go after the head honchos.

Makes for a better news conference.

But it's the smaller guys that need to be taken down.

Look, you know, I appreciate you coming all this way, but... got a lot of sh*t going on, so...

The ones doing damage right here, in our neighborhoods... dealers like Franklin Saint.

Did you just say Franklin Saint?

A witness recanted, Saint's file was sealed, and your job was made all but impossible.

I'm here to level the playing field.

Oh, sh*t! Oh, sh*t!

sh*t. f*ck!

sh*t. God...

Come on.

God, come on, man.

We're on the same side, Officer Wright.

That's it.

Whoa.

Hold up.

Your keys.

f*ck.

You all right?

You have a girlfriend, Franklin?

A girlfriend or...?

Nah.

Nothing steady.

You ever been in love?

You not about to profess or nothing, right?

I think I was once. I don't know.

You don't know if you were in love or...?

I mean, I-I cared about her, thought I could see myself with her, but we were young, changing.

Maybe what I thought was right weren't the thing after all.

Oh, yeah.

See, that's-that's exactly it, man.

That is just right. You got to wait... long as you can so that there is as little chance as possible that someone goes and changes on you, because I'm telling you, if you make the wrong decision too early, then you could end up tethered to someone for the rest of your life who drives you completely crazy.

And, you know, after all that, probably, you'll still be in love with her.

All right, man.

Thanks for the advice.

Man, I swear I'm good for it.

n*gga, you ain't good for sh*t, a'ight?

Kick rocks. But I got prospects, for real.

Look, look, I'll be back after my shift with... What you want?

Diapers? Batteries? Get your ass out of here.

f*ck you doing here?

Well, what the f*ck it look like?

n*gga, it look like you slinging on my corner.

Your corner?

Only sign I see say Walnut, not Bitch-Ass Bootsy.

Lil' Lee want a sign, huh?

Lil' Lee want a sign? Yeah, that'd be real good.

I'll show you a sign, m*therf*cker!

I'm telling you, ain't never heard him sound like this.

It was real personal, weird.

Mm. He was talking about love, heartbreak.

Well, maybe that's a good thing. He trying to bond with you.

Nah. Ain't sound like a good thing.

Sound like he was f*cked up. Mm.

Listen, Franklin, I know you got a lot of sh*t you trying to figure out and sort through, but Leon and Jerome, they need to know the truth about what we dealing with. I know.

And I'm-a tell them, too.

I'm-a tell them.

Just got to find the right time, you know?

You talking about maybe needing to run.

This is the time.

Besides, I'm tired of trying to hide sh*t from my man.

They found her. Mel?

Yeah. Look, Franklin.

Franklin, stop.

I know you don't want to hear this, baby, but Mel is gone.

You gonna have to let her go.

I look like I'm out here trying to have a photo sh**t?

You can always pawn it.

Bitch, why don't you pawn it?

Let me guess, 'cause it's stolen, right?

Look, I'll take one rock for it. Just one.

Just one rock.

What...? Wh...?

f*ck!

Got your spies everywhere now, huh?

That's right. Come on. Don't touch me.

They're not gonna sell to you, Mel.

Why? 'Cause you told them not to?

So you can make the sh*t, but I can't smoke it?

Listen.

I'm telling you this as somebody who cares about you:

You got to stop.

Okay?

You can still get cleaned up.

You can still go to school.

Get your life right.

Come on, Mel. You and I both know that you better than this sh*t.

I know.

And I want to get better, Franklin. I just...

I don't know if I can. You can.

You can, 'cause I'll take you home.

Okay? We'll get you out.

Okay? Okay.

Good. Well, let's get out of here.

Big man Franklin Saint, on the ground holding his little nuts.

Oh, what you gonna do? You gonna touch me?

You touch me, my daddy will f*cking k*ll you.

Don't page me about this sh*t again.

One rock.

sh*t.

Damn!

Come on!

Come on!

Where's my f*cking g*n?!

Look to me like they f*cked you up good, homie.

That m*therf*cker sucker punched me.

So y'all was just minding your own business and they came up on you?

Nah, man, we rolled up on them, 'cause they were selling in our territory.

Come on, man, ain't you been listening?

n*gga, what's the move? Who we gonna hit first?

Ain't gonna be no retaliation till I talk to Saint.

Man, f*ck talking. That time is done.

I don't eat no ass, I don't cuss in front of my little sisters, and I don't go to w*r

'cause one of mine's got some cuts and bruises.

This some bullshit. No, this some Leon.

See, your problem is, you got tunnel vision.

Luckily, I can see the whole field.

Somebody get this n*gga some ice.

That sh*t f*cked up.

Hey, it's Reed Thompson. What's up?

Rigo quiere verte.

Okay, where-where is he?

Okay. Yeah, I'll be there in the next half hour.

Okay. Thank you.

What the f...

f*ck!

No. No.

What the f*ck?

Okay.

f*ck!

What is all this?

Take a seat, bro.

I want to tell you a story.

I'll stand. Whatever.

You take a bath?

What?

Uh, no. I take showers.

Showers. I can see that.

Mr. Stand Up, Mr. Won't Take A Seat.

This morning, I'm soaking in a tub.

Getting primo fellatio from a world-champion swimmer... when Mr. Eddie comes in.

I tell you about Mr. Eddie, right?

No?

My DEA mole?

Mr. Eddie comes in, in a tizzy, running his mouth, and says...

You got to leave town, Rigo.

What do you mean, "You got to leave town, Rigo"?

DEA's about to come after you.

I'm trying to hold 'em off, but I'm one man.

I can only do so much. What the f*ck?

Why the f*ck is the DEA coming after me?

Because an hour ago, I was in my office conferring with my assistant, and one of my best guys comes in, happy as a clam, saying...

The case against the Villanuevas has been reactivated.

I thought the Villanueva case was shut down months ago.

Well, now it's reopened.

And Rigo Vasco's wrapped up in it.

Who? Come on, f*ck. You remember.

That rep with the Medellín Cartel in L.A.

I know where he is.

The only link between me... and the Villanueva family... is you, m*therf*cker.

So tell me, Reed Thompson, why the f*ck is the DEA coming after me?

I can't tell you, Rigo. I don't know.

But I can tell you you don't have to worry about it.

What?

¿Por qué, hijo de putas? Why not?

Because my name isn't Reed Thompson.

It's Teddy McDonald, and I'm an officer with the CIA. Yeah, right.

You are the CIA, and me and my best friends, we are the Village People group.

I assume you know who we are.

Yeah, sure. I know.

You overthrow governments and install puppet dictators.

You know how we do that?

We make friends.

Friends who stand to gain as U.S. interests are advanced.

So my question to you right now is:

How would you like to be a friend of the U.S. government?

If you are the CIA... why the f*ck are you bringing cocaine into America?

Why don't we take a ride?

And I'll explain everything.

Holy sh*t.

Here we are, k*lling ourselves to keep these dr*gs away, and our government is just bringing them in.

Man.

It's almost too much to believe.

So, what are you thinking?

Burn the whole f*cking thing down.

I knew a guy in 'Nam.

He was a sn*per.

Best aim I ever saw.

Could sh**t the nipple off a tit from a mile away.

One day, I see him slip something into this little tin box.

So I ask him about it. He shows me.

Inside that box... I sh*t you not... are 16 g*dd*mn thumbs.

This guy cut the left thumb off of every single one of his kills.

Now, you know where that twisted sack of sh*t is working right now?

CI-f*cking-A.

Yeah.

I heard stories like that, too.

Look, partner...

I know you're hurting.

All this sh*t with Mel, that you want payback.

But you go shouting this kind of sh*t from the rooftops, you are gonna have the worst kind of people after your ass.

So, what am I supposed to do?

Turn my back? Look the other way?

No, no, no. No, I didn't say that.

This agency spook... he don't give a sh*t about Mr. Small-Time, hood rat drug dealer.

We k*ll this kid, he'll just find somebody else to take his place.

So, as far as I'm concerned, it's still open season on Franklin Saint.

You want to go after the problem?

We go at him.

Just like you wanted.

Once I move the cocaine, I use the proceeds to buy weapons, supplies, whatever we need.

And I funnel that back to the Contras.

So... what do I get... if I am the best friends with the CIA?

Huh.

Well, in addition to the money, I would feed you intelligence about anybody that, say, gives you headaches.

The Cali Cartel, your cartel, local police, my DEA, your government, whoever.

I keep you safe, you keep my secret.

It's a true partnership.

And if I don't want to partner with American government, what?

k*ll me.

Cut me into little pieces and dump me in the ocean.

And then... in addition to the DEA, you can add the CIA to your list of enemies.

If I say yes, do I get a Rolex Submariner that can deflect b*ll*ts?

Do we have a deal?

You have a big boss, right?

I meet him, and we make this official.

Welcome to the CIA.

Well...

Reed Thompson, to what do I owe the pleasure? Avi, listen to me.

There's been chatter on the wire.

We got to shut everything down for a minute.

What? You got to... you got to get out of town, okay? You got to lay low.

I-I can't tell you any more for right now, but you got to get the f*ck out of that house, and don't even stop to pack your bags, you got it?

My bags are always packed. Yuda!

Hello?

Product's coming early?

No, look, um, we have to shut everything down for a minute.

What? Wait, wait. Wait a second.

_ What?

You got to lay low, go underground.

Stay off the grid.

Why? What happened? Don't contact anyone.

You can't go back to Sinaloa, you got it? No Sinaloa.

Okay. When are you coming down to San Ysidro and check what I've been working on?

What? No, lay low.

I'm saying, don't contact anyone. You got it?

Okay. Okay. Vale.

Hey, man.

Something's going on. We've been compromised.

Compromised how?

I don't know yet, but I'll call you as soon as I know more.

Wait, hold up.

Somebody broke into my spot.

Could it be related?

f*ck. f*ck.

Broke in how? Was there... did they take anything?

Nothing missing.

But they bypassed my alarm and tore up the place.

Okay. The person I'm thinking of, you never would have known she was there.

You just lay low, okay?

I'll, uh... I'll be in touch when I know some more.

Yeah.

Okay.

"She"?

He said it wasn't him.

And you believe him?

Franklin, he calls you right after your place gets busted up, tells you sh*t is going down, and you don't think the two is related?

Look, the person who broke into my spot was angry.

They wanted to destroy it.

This was Andre.

Andre?

How'd he even find your place?

I don't know. He-he must have followed me.

And your alarm?

Well, a lot of these cops have... security system guys on the payroll.

Okay.

Okay, so...

I mean, we all right, then.

Right? You don't keep dr*gs at your place.

You know he ain't got the badge and the g*n.

And from what you can see, it ain't no cash missing, so...

Something else is missing.

A file.

Detailing all my business with Reed Thompson.

Franklin, what the f*ck are you talking about?

I kept it as evidence in case something went wrong.

Wait. What exactly is in it, son?

Everything.

A written record of all my business with Reed.

Top Notch's photos of us together.

Research, newspaper articles, maps... all to do with the CIA and Nicaragua.

And you just had this sh*t just laying around?

Of course not. I kept it hidden.

But Andre f*cking found it.

Wait, you said that Andre has pictures of you with the CIA connect and 200 kilos of coke?

Avi. We have room for the shofar?

No, I don't want this shofar. I hate it. Come on.

Toss me the keys.

Go, go, go, go, go!

Teddy?

Did you do this?

What happened?

Rigo has a mole inside the DEA.

Oh, sh*t. Which he informed me of after I walked into a room lined in plastic.

A chain saw waiting on the table for me.

Holy sh*t, Teddy.

Avi called.

One of his men was gunned down in broad daylight.

Also, somebody broke into Franklin's house.

So I'm gonna ask you one more time.

Was this you, or was this the Agency?

The Agency sent me out here to learn every aspect of your operation, and then take it away from you.

Ending it was my idea.

Jesus Christ.

You've always known how I felt about this op.

You blew up my whole operation.

You outed every last one of my assets.

Have you lost your f*cking mind?!

I could ask you the same thing.

Bringing cocaine into the U.S.?

Exposing yourself, the Agency, me?

Covering up murders?

f*cking committing them? Stop! Stop!

Tell me exactly what you did. I can fix this.

You can't fix this.

It's done.

It's over.

Please just let it go.

We can still walk away from this together.

Before you or the Agency gets hurt.

Sorry.

Walk away from this with you?

You're a traitor.

You're a liar.

And any love that I had for you is completely gone.

I am gonna salvage this op, and after I do, I'm gonna make sure that you spend the rest of your meaningless career in a basement office alone and so miserable.

And I just don't even care.

Hey!

What you doing? Go away, Wanda.

Oh, damn. It's like that?

I thought we was girls.

Bitch, last time I saw you, you knocked me out and stole my mama's necklace.

Oh, that's old sh*t. Come on.

Let's go to the skating rink. I got fired.

Oh, sh*t. What about the, uh... They changed the passcode.

sh*t.

Let's go hustle.

I know this lady, Miss Ethel, live over on 39th.

She'll hook it up.

Hook it up h-how? What you mean, how?

Look, you knock on the door, tell the bitch you selling candy or some sh*t, and then I'll do the hard part.

You talking about stealing?

I ain't helping you rob no old lady, Wanda.

Come on, what, you-you too good to get your pretty hands dirty?

Oh.

You got some on you right now.

No, I don't.

Yeah, you do. Give it up. No, I don't.

What the f*ck you doing? Come on.

Wanda, get the f*ck off of me!

Where are you hiding it at? It's in your p*ssy.

Get the f*ck off me!

I'm sick of this sh*t!

I'm going home. Well, go on, then.

A'ight, run home to your daddy.

Stuck-up bitch!

Mel?

Mel, is that you?

Hey, baby, I just realized that...

How'd you get in here?

Same way I have since I was eight years old.

That my g*n?

You went looking for it in the wrong place.

Put it down, Franklin.

I don't suppose, if I asked you if you told anybody about this sh*t, you'd tell me the truth?

Do you know who these people are, Franklin?

What they're involved in? Sit down.

Put it in the folder.

Look, you're angry and afraid. I get it.

But you don't have to do this.

Put down the g*n down, and we can talk.

Ain't nothing you can tell me I don't already know, Andre.

I know I helped raise you.

You were a good kid, one of the smartest kids I ever knew.

You're not gonna k*ll a cop in his own house.

You took me to that cr*ck den, gave me a chance, so now I'm-a give you one.

Forget you ever saw any of this sh*t, Andre.

Get out of town with Mel, and don't ever come back.

Who is this man that you're protecting?

Huh? You know he don't give two shits about you.

Leave L.A. forever, Andre. Disappear.

And just maybe the two of us can make it out this sh*t alive.

Okay, Franklin.

I'll leave now, tonight.

I'll get Mel far away from you, get her cleaned up and in school.

But then I'm coming back.

I've put in 18 years out of my 20, and I'm not gonna let you run me away and destroy this community.

So, you want to play cops and robbers?

Okay, we can do that.

I'll come back, fresh start, and it's you and me, head-to-head.

And we'll see who's standing.

Here's your file.

You ain't a f*cking k*ller.

Now, get the f*ck out of my house.

You're right, Andre.

I'm not a k*ller.