Covert Affairs s02e09 Episode Script
Sad Professor
Hey.
I'm going to be working late tonight, so don't wait up.
Are those scones? Easy, "Debbie Drive-Thru.
" Sit down and eat with your sister.
Do you remember her? The one who bakes you goodies every day? Yeah.
Sounds vaguely familiar.
But I am so late.
Oh.
Well, then, I'll drive you.
Uh Come on.
I'm seriously overdue for some Annie time.
Annie time is pretty awesome.
But I need my car because I have a thing tonight.
I thought you said you were working late.
Yeah, the thing is an Acquisitions conference in Arlington.
I know.
Thrilling stuff, right? You know, you've been working past 10 o'clock for weeks now.
Is everything okay? Yeah, it's fine.
Have a great day.
What Yield, people.
Why won't you yield? Auggie, wait up.
Twenty minutes Iate, Walker? If I didn't know you any better, I'd say you were getting cocky.
Actually, I had to drive all the way to Capitol Hill to lose a tail.
Seeing as I'm only I have good reason to be cocky.
Probably another round of random surveillance checks.
Was it CIC? Worse.
My sister.
Ouch.
If I can't fool my sister, how am I going to fare against "FSB" counter-intelligence? Ah, what you're going through is completely normal.
When I first joined the Agency, my brother tailed me, checked emails, eavesdropped on phone calls After a while, he just stopped.
Why did he Iose interest? Oh, I bought him an Xbox.
I don't think that's going to work with my sister.
What's Arthur doing in the DPD? If Arthur is in here, it's either bad news or really bad news.
He's walking with Joan up to her office.
Huh.
- Good morning.
I'm afraid I'm here under unfortunate circumstances.
Two days ago, an active CIA Case Officer, code name "Moonlight" was killed in the Iine of duty.
The loss of life for any public servant is tragic.
But at the Agency, it is the rarest of events.
In the last 65 years, the U.
S.
Armed Forces have lost one 101,712 lives.
Law enforcement, 10,635, CIA The number lost on U.
S.
soil? Four.
Those with "need to know" will be looped in further.
Until then, all I can say is We've lost a good operative.
I've never seen it so quiet in here.
Mmm.
If they can get to one of us, it means they can get to any of us.
Annie? A word? I have something very difficult to tell you.
The operative who was killed He was someone you knew.
That's impossible.
Every covert operative I know is in that bullpen.
Mark Ramsay? Why do you have a photo of my Georgetown Ianguage professor? Was he somehow associated with Moonlight? Annie, he was Moonlight.
And you're the only one who can help us find his killer.
I always thought Mark was this bookish Ianguage professor.
And now, you're saying he was CIA for 20 years.
His NOC gave him unparalleled access.
He taught all over the world.
Lomonosov, the Sorbonne, ETH Zurich He recruited some of the Agency's most valuable assets, who still pay dividends to this day.
The last time I saw Mark, he begged me not to join the Agency.
Why would he do that if he was an operative? Maybe he was pushing you to test your resolve.
Ramsay was tracking a local spy ring.
A Pakistani state-sponsored group called Lashkar-e-Taiba.
We think he got too close and his contact inside turned on him.
What What does his wife have to do with this? Mark was making monthly drops of his findings, but was killed before he could make his last one.
We think that intel held the identity of the entire Lashkar spy ring, and we need you to leverage your relationship with Safia in order to find it.
You want me to go to the house of a grieving widow whose husband was just murdered and ask her where the classified documents are hidden? If only it were that simple.
You can't mention the CIA.
Safia didn't know Mark was with the Agency.
How How is that possible? Have you told your sister? If Mark didn't tell his wife, it's not our place to, either.
You're to go to Safia under the guise of paying your respects.
We don't have time for a "slow burn" approach.
Annie should just lay her cards on the table and read Safia in.
Okay.
So, just tell Safia the truth and get her permission to bring everything back to Langley for inspection.
I just heard.
I am so sorry.
It still doesn't seem real.
That your Professor died, or that he was CIA? Both I guess.
Hmm.
And now, I have to go tell Safia that he spent their entire marriage Iiving a lie? It's like delivering the message her husband died all over again.
What's that? I thought you could use some cheering up, so I bought you a Zeiss A1 Axio with phase contrast and a digital camera adapter.
Fantastic.
Mmm-hmm.
I still don't know what you're talking about.
It's a microscope.
And we're going to use this baby to interpret Ramsay's intel transmission.
And what Robert should be showing you right now is a microdot.
I remember reading about those at the Farm.
Full-size documents shrunk to a single period.
Put one on a normal-Iooking document and they're impossible to find.
But if you know where to look Is it working? Do you see anything? Yeah.
It's amazing.
Good.
Wasn't sure how that was going to play out.
I thought we stopped using these after World War II.
Yeah, well, Ramsay was an old-school spy.
Sometimes, the low-fi approach is the best way to stay under the radar.
Great.
So, all I have to do is scour the house of a college professor Iooking for a single millimeter-sized period on a normal-Iooking document.
It's like finding a needle in a haystack.
You know, forest Yeah.
Full of haystacks.
Ironically, I have about as much chance of finding it as you do.
Oh, come on.
That's funny.
Because I It's Sorry.
I was still thinking about breaking the news to Safia.
I've never read someone in before.
Is there a CIA protocol for how to do it? No.
There are as many approaches as there are personalities in the Agency.
The important thing is to be direct and definitive.
They were married for 15 years, Auggie.
This is going to shatter her.
It will be easier coming from a friend.
Would have been easier coming from her husband.
Rachmaninoff was the bane of my existence in grad school.
And the man had hands the size of shovels.
It hardly seemed fair.
Annie.
It's been far too long.
Mmm.
I'm so sorry about Mark.
Hmm.
Mark always said you were his star student.
And he did love callas, didn't he? Come.
We'll put them in water.
You're sure you're okay having so many people over so soon? Mark's students were his passion.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate his life than having everyone over for good food and good conversation.
Huh? Actually, there is something I wanted to talk to you about.
The lamb.
Mark was always the cook.
But I'm making do.
He learned to make this lamb biryani dish to impress me when we were first dating.
I didn't have the heart to tell him I preferred burgers and fries.
Mmm.
A little dry? It's delicious.
Hmm? Could I have a glass of water? Of course.
Safia? When you have a minute? Would you Pardon me for a moment, please? Sure.
You must have tried the lamb? How can something be both cold and burnt at the same time? I know.
Clearly, you haven't been here the past two days.
Is she really okay? She seems in awfully good spirits for all she's been through.
Well, she hasn't slept or left the house since Mark was killed.
I knew something didn't seem right.
Actually, it's a totally normal defense mechanism, according to the Kübler-Ross Grief model.
Although there is some convincing scholarship out of Yale disputing the classical "Five Stages" theory.
Fascinating.
Would you, uh, excuse me for a second? Could I Could I talk to you for a second in private? It's about Mark.
Stay for lunch.
After everybody leaves, we'll have time to talk.
Hmm? First We feast on lamb.
I'll never forget my father's face when they first met.
You have to understand, for a traditional Pakistani, there's only one sin worse than marrying an American.
Marrying an African American? Exactly.
But when Mark broke out in fluent Urdu and named the starting midfield of the Pakistani Football Federation, Dad was sold.
So, how much longer do we have to walk before you show me what's in that envelope? This is hard.
I'm sorry.
What What is this? It's a commendation record.
Yes, I can see that.
But why does it say "Central Intelligence Agency" on the top? Because Mark was an undercover CIA operative.
For 20 years.
I work for the CIA, as well.
That's what I came here to say.
Safia, wait.
Please let me explain.
There's nothing to explain.
Mark was no spy.
His idea of danger was a jacket without elbow patches.
I know how you're feeling.
This was a shock for me, too.
With respect You don't have the slightest idea what I'm feeling.
And yet, somehow, you feel entitled to come out here, make up some absurd fabrication, and try to flip my life upside down.
Please.
Just go home.
Come here.
We've got to go.
Now.
Nice work clocking the license plate.
Jai's running it now.
It's definitely Lashkar.
They're trying to eliminate Ramsay's intel before we find it.
How is Safia handling everything? I don't think this is quite the way she envisioned her day going.
Are the movers really necessary? They're absolutely necessary.
It's standard procedure when any officer dies to scour every inch of his life and reconstruct Ioose ends.
We need to find that microdot.
No stone goes unturned.
Two armed Lashkar militants are after that intel and are willing to kill for it.
Whatever leeway time we thought we had, we obviously don't.
Stay on him.
Ma'am, I told you we have orders to take everything back to Langley.
Annie, tell him he can't take my instruments.
That was my grandfather's concert violin.
Don't worry.
We'll put everything back exactly how we found it.
Guys.
Why don't you take five? Take a break, everybody.
What's this all about? These men are looking for information to identify Mark's killer.
Not the movers.
The thugs who shot at us.
They're the ones who murdered Mark? We still don't know.
We think so.
So, it's true.
He was a CIA agent.
I went to his office.
I sat in on his classes.
So, that was all fake? Mark's job at Georgetown was real.
And when he taught abroad, that was real, too.
I still think of him as my professor.
But he was also recruiting assets and spying on foreign nationals and sending that information back to Langley.
So, he should have told me.
I would have understood.
I'm sure there were a million times he wanted to.
But it's hard to find the right moment.
And And the Ionger you wait, the harder it gets.
So, instead, he just came home every night, Iooked me in the eye and lied to me.
Compartmentalizing is the only way that some operatives can cope.
If anything, I'm sure he was trying to protect you from danger.
Safia, we need to start talking about a safe place for you to stay.
No.
You've taken enough from me already.
I'm not leaving.
Annie.
We found this behind a false wall in the closet.
It looks like a safety deposit box key.
Do you know anything about that? How is it you guys didn't even know about this box? Spies are secretive people.
Home vaults, bank boxes, safe houses Anything to keep sensitive intel out of the wrong hands.
Doesn't it get tiring keeping all those secrets? Sometimes.
Please.
Take as much time as you need.
Thank you.
What is that? It's a "microdot" kit.
Mark used this to create his intelligence transmissions.
My God.
Look at all this stuff.
These These are postcards from every city we've ever visited.
Athens, Shanghai, Lisbon Summers in Maine.
I can't believe he kept all these.
Mark's wedding vows.
He was so nervous that day.
You know, he could wax eloquent in front of a packed Iecture hall, but when he read these His voice trembled.
I'm so sorry.
I have to take all this back to Langley.
We will get it back to you the moment we are done with it.
No, it's okay.
I understand.
AII right.
What's the word from the embassy? I'm compiling a briefing for Arthur right now.
Maybe you can brief your boss first.
Islamabad's in full denial mode.
They claim they've shut down all militant groups.
According to the Pakistani government, Lashkar doesn't exist.
Huh.
Try telling Safia Ramsay that.
And what do we have on the car? The Chrysler? The car was a rental.
We traced payment back to the Pakistani Welfare Agency.
Well, that's right out of the playbook, isn't it? Using a charitable organization as a front.
"Give us money for food aid, and we'll use it to buy guns.
" And what do we have on the PWA? Small D.
C.
-based office.
Pakistan desk has been monitoring their activities since the 26l1 1 Mumbai attacks.
I have full dossiers on every employee.
We've got a lot of options here.
Rubina Jafari, personal secretary to the CEO.
Young.
Single.
Jai.
You think you can find an in? I don't think that will be a problem.
There's Baked Alaska in the freezer.
But I experimented a little bit, and it's a little too baked, not quite enough Alaska.
What are you still doing up? Watching the coverage of this horrible shooting in Georgetown.
They say it's a gang initiation.
Can you imagine? I mean, I drove past that corner last week.
Professor Ramsay was a beloved member of the academic community.
He is survived by his wife, Safia.
Uh I'm sure the cops are on top of it.
They usually They usually get those guys.
Wait, you know, they said he was a language professor at Georgetown.
Did you have him? He was my advisor, actually.
Wait, someone you know was killed? And you didn't tell me? It was a busy day.
"Busy day" gets you out of not calling your niece on her three-quarter birthday.
Not out of telling me your your friend was killed.
Sorry.
Can we just drop it? Uh Oh, I'm sorry.
No, I should be more sympathetic.
I can't imagine how hard this must be for you.
Um Thanks.
Uh For the record, that was, um It's just the right amount of Alaska.
So, these are all Ramsay's possessions? Everything, from the house, the office, the car It's difficult enough finding a document the size of a period.
But when your subject apparently never throws away a single book, paper, receipt Let's just say it's been a long day.
It probably doesn't help that he was a fan of the ellipses.
A double dash now and then would be nice.
Barber! Status report.
Yeah.
Just finishing our second pass.
What do you want us to do next? Third pass.
You see, people? It's just like I told you an hour ago.
We're going to have to do another pass.
Where do you think the microdot is? Maybe the guys that ransacked his place got to it first.
Maybe he kept his intel somewhere else.
Maybe there never was a microdot.
I have no idea.
What about the stuff from the safety deposit box? Ran it all a dozen times.
Nothing.
Wait, something's missing.
Where are the wedding vows? Is she home? No one has come or gone since I've been here.
Okay.
Safia? Safia, I need those wedding vows.
So, you're saying Safia's working with the men who killed Mark? She was born three kilometers from the Lashkar headquarters in Muridke.
She's lived here for 20 years.
And these militant groups Iove to recruit Westerners.
She's gone, Annie.
What does that tell you? That she could be in trouble.
Or she could be fleeing from us.
I understand how you're feeling.
You've just Iost a friend.
But we have to be objective, not emotional.
It's our job.
I know this looks bad, but you have to trust me on this.
I know Safia.
What she and Mark had was real love, not some spy versus spy espionage game.
I'm not sure you knew Mark as well as you thought you did.
This is a paper I wrote for Mark's Russian Ianguage class.
Where did you get this? Annie Mark was the one who originally submitted your name to the CIA.
He said you were one of his brightest language students, and we would be foolish not to recruit you.
So, when I applied to Langley three years ago You had already been on our radar since college.
Annie.
I am not saying Safia is definitely working with Lashkar, but we wouldn't be doing our job unless we tracked her down for questioning.
I've got a team out Iooking for her now.
What are they going to do when they find her? For now, we just want to find out what she did with those vows.
She isn't being accused of a crime.
Yet.
Uh, and And what can I do? You need to stay on the bench until we find her.
Is that clear? Annie.
Is that clear? Yeah.
No typing, no pages turning Even odds says you're staring contemplatively into space, pondering the great mysteries of the universe.
Do you ever wonder why you were hired? Ten thousand applications a month.
Why did the Agency pick you? I always assumed it was for my body.
Auggie.
I was recruited.
There are not a lot of guys who can write an unbreakable Java-based daemon and have won their high school state wrestling championship two years in a row.
Why? What's on your mind? I always thought I came to the Agency on my own terms.
Now, I find out they had a file on me when I applied.
Annie, it's the CIA.
We have a file on everyone.
Had any progress tracking down Safia? Nothing.
Joan's authorized a trace on her cell phone and credit cards, we've notified the authorities, flagged her passport She's a ghost.
She cannot be a spy.
This is the woman who made me Toll House cookies.
Okay, I know what I'm supposed to tell you in this situation.
I'm supposed to tell you to let Joan run her op.
I am not supposed to tell you to go down to the annex and investigate for yourself.
And I'm definitely not supposed to tell you that the code for the door is "92762 pound.
" Smithsonian Institution.
How may I direct your call? We have Danielle Brooks at the Smithsonian looking for Annie Walker.
Okay.
Send her down to the Castle.
I'll be right over.
And his supervisor sent me to the National Gallery.
So, I trudged all the way across the mall, waited there another and then, was told I had to come back here.
Where I started two hours ago! And who are you Iooking for again? Annie Walker.
That was the first thing I said.
Hey.
Auggie Anderson? Danielle Brooks.
You gave my daughter's third grade class the most amazing tour? Right.
Yes, you were Annie Walker's sister.
Hey.
Yeah, actually, I feel more like Annie Walker's casual acquaintance.
I can't even find my sister in her office.
Yeah, the bureaucracy around here is crazy.
Unfortunately, Annie's out of the office.
She has an Acquisitions conference.
Oh, no.
She said that was yesterday.
It's a week-Iong thing.
It's a big deal around here.
It's kind of like our fashion week.
I tell you what.
Can I buy you one of the Smithsonian's famously bad cups of coffee? That sounds wonderful.
At least someone around here is helpful.
Follow me.
You know it's bad luck to read in a bar, right? You're wasting your time.
I have a rule against dating Indian men.
AII right.
If you ask me, you're the one wasting time.
We both know how this charade plays out.
No? Where could you possibly be going that's more fun than this? Everything's more fun with champagne.
Tech Intel.
I'm in.
Dude, are you eating a sandwich? They ordered Wagshal's.
Whatever.
Just take me through this.
Okay.
Set her Bluetooth to discoverable.
Then, open "spiral attack" from your phone.
Enter her IMEI number, then star seven, six, send.
And We're done.
There you go.
It will take a day to drill down these names, but your end of the mission is done.
You can just go home, lucky.
Yeah.
Actually, I think I'm going to stick around for a little bit.
Why? What are you Hello? What did I miss? So, you really think I shouldn't be worried about Annie? Oh, she'll be fine.
We're just in the middle of our busy season.
Well, she's always in the middle of a busy season.
Do you know she canceled on Scott three times last week? Scott, the doctor she's been seeing? Oh, right.
Dr.
Scott.
There's a table.
Do you want to sit down? Sure.
I'm just worried that she's pushing everyone she's close to away.
Well, your concern is completely natural.
My brother was worried about me when I first joined the Institution, too.
The thing you have to realize is that this isn't just a job.
It's a way of life.
The Smithsonian? It's one of the pillars of our country.
We are out there on the front lines, protecting America's art.
Art that is under attack.
Who's attacking art? The funding cutters.
And the only thing standing between them and total annihilation is the Smithsonian.
It's the first Iine of defense.
Defense of the art? Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Look, this is a very demanding job for the people who work in it and for their families.
With the long hours, the travel, the confidentiality Your sister has devoted her life to public service.
And at the end of the day, that's what makes it all worthwhile.
Wow.
I had no idea so much went into working at a museum.
Well, it's not just a museum, Danielle.
It's the museum.
Next.
Thank you.
Safia? Safia, it's Annie! Safia? Why are you following me? Why can't you just Ieave me alone? Safia.
I need you to put the gun down.
I came here as a friend.
You came here to find Mark's files.
You're not a friend, you're a spy.
Put the gun down before you hurt us both.
You can trust me.
I don't know who I can trust anymore.
Maybe we can work that out together.
When you told me Mark had this whole other life, it made me question everything.
I wondered whether he ever loved me at all.
And then, everything became clear in one moment.
The safety deposit box.
That's when I realized, in spite of everything he hid from me I was always in his heart.
So, you took the vows and you fled.
We came to North Haven every summer.
No matter how busy we got, this was our oasis.
That's why he didn't file this house with the Agency.
He wanted it to be just between you.
The last time I saw Mark, he told me not to join the Agency.
I didn't understand why until just now.
It's not easy deceiving people.
Especially the people you love.
And Mark didn't want me to suffer through a lifetime of lying.
Do you still have those vows? Sure.
Mark was trying to transmit that brief to the CIA, but he was killed before he ever got the chance.
But why Why would he hide this on our wedding vows? He must have sensed that it wasn't safe in the house, so he put it in that box, and he put it on a document that no one would suspect.
If anything happened to him, he wanted the exact right person to find it.
I think he wanted it to be you.
We need to take this to Langley.
Arthur? Why am I just finding out you re-tasked four of my field officers to the Ramsay investigation? I don't get it.
We've drilled down on every assignment Ramsay ever worked.
We vetted every asset.
What are we missing? Don't do this.
Do what? You are more involved with this investigation than I have seen you in years.
You and Ramsay both graduated from Annapolis.
You both cut your teeth in the D.
I.
And by all appearances, you seem to share a similar taste in historical fiction.
I think you're worried this could have been you.
Oh.
I'm not worried about me.
I'm worried about you.
I'm worried about our team.
This happened in our backyard.
I'm not going to rest until we catch these guys.
What did you say you were doing here? I cross-referenced Rubina Jafari's contacts with Ramsay's known associates.
Tommy Burleigh.
Studies nuclear physics at Georgetown, took three language classes with Ramsay.
He has Top Secret clearance and access to sensitive DOE labs.
Ideal target for Lashkar recruitment.
Mmm-hmm.
And his sizeable student loans, suspiciously paid off last year.
Ramsay must have sniffed out he was selling info to Lashkar.
And Lashkar had him killed before he could get out word.
You have to tell Annie.
I'm trying.
Her cell's out of range.
Annie, look who I found.
You've met Tommy, right? It's an awful strange coincidence, running into each other on a remote island in Maine.
Yes, well Mark and Safia would wax poetic about their respites to North Haven.
So, I thought I'd take a couple of days to clear my head.
Where's your luggage? And your shoes are pretty clean for the middle of mud season.
Tommy, what's going on? Please, Safia.
You have to help me.
Hey.
Safia, they're going to kill me.
Annie.
Tommy must have worked with the men who killed Mark.
What? Stairs.
What? We have to get off this boat.
Under that net? Over there.
Run.
Are you okay? Are you okay? You sure? Okay.
Come on.
Ramsay's microdot confirmed the identity and locations of seven Lashkar operatives.
Tommy Burleigh and Malik Murabanti were picked up by the Coast Guard.
That leaves five still at large.
Mmm-hmm.
So, what's the next move? Conventional wisdom says we slowly squeeze the lemon.
Bring all seven in, turn them, and send them back out to catch bigger fish.
But it's your decision.
And it's my job to support it.
So, the more relevant question is What do you think is the move? I don't think we use killers as chess pieces.
I want them brought to justice.
The CIA takes care of its own.
Your DPD, your call.
But I'm glad that's your call.
Because that's what I was hoping you'd say.
Today, we gather for our most solemn occasion.
Unveiling a new star on our Wall of Honor.
Each of these 103 stars represents the memory of a devoted intelligence operative, a treasured colleague, a beloved friend.
It is our job at the Agency to honor these men and women by continuing to serve the country they gave their lives to protect.
Case Officer Mark Ramsay did not die in vain.
His intelligence led directly to the capture of seven militant extremists, men who posed a significant threat to our nation.
This is the culmination of a distinguished career.
One marked by devotion, sacrifice, by patriotism.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
I don't want that to be Danielle.
I don't want her to be at a star ceremony, finding out who I really was for the first time.
I don't want to keep this secret from her anymore.
Then, don't.
I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but she deserves to know the truth.
Just like Safia did a long time ago.
Did you ever read your brother in? Eventually, I had to.
How did it go? Oh, terribly.
He didn't speak to me for six months.
But it was still the right thing to do.
Because eventually, he came around.
And now, we're closer than we ever were before.
I don't think I can go six months without talking to my sister.
Danielle is a different person.
And there's no telling how she's going to react.
The point is, no one on the other side of this conversation can ever truly be ready.
You just have to decide if you are.
Thanks.
Mmm-hmm.
See you in the morning.
Oh, hey, Walker, one more thing.
Yeah.
When were you going to tell me about Dr.
Scott? Sorry.
Those details are "need to know.
"
I'm going to be working late tonight, so don't wait up.
Are those scones? Easy, "Debbie Drive-Thru.
" Sit down and eat with your sister.
Do you remember her? The one who bakes you goodies every day? Yeah.
Sounds vaguely familiar.
But I am so late.
Oh.
Well, then, I'll drive you.
Uh Come on.
I'm seriously overdue for some Annie time.
Annie time is pretty awesome.
But I need my car because I have a thing tonight.
I thought you said you were working late.
Yeah, the thing is an Acquisitions conference in Arlington.
I know.
Thrilling stuff, right? You know, you've been working past 10 o'clock for weeks now.
Is everything okay? Yeah, it's fine.
Have a great day.
What Yield, people.
Why won't you yield? Auggie, wait up.
Twenty minutes Iate, Walker? If I didn't know you any better, I'd say you were getting cocky.
Actually, I had to drive all the way to Capitol Hill to lose a tail.
Seeing as I'm only I have good reason to be cocky.
Probably another round of random surveillance checks.
Was it CIC? Worse.
My sister.
Ouch.
If I can't fool my sister, how am I going to fare against "FSB" counter-intelligence? Ah, what you're going through is completely normal.
When I first joined the Agency, my brother tailed me, checked emails, eavesdropped on phone calls After a while, he just stopped.
Why did he Iose interest? Oh, I bought him an Xbox.
I don't think that's going to work with my sister.
What's Arthur doing in the DPD? If Arthur is in here, it's either bad news or really bad news.
He's walking with Joan up to her office.
Huh.
- Good morning.
I'm afraid I'm here under unfortunate circumstances.
Two days ago, an active CIA Case Officer, code name "Moonlight" was killed in the Iine of duty.
The loss of life for any public servant is tragic.
But at the Agency, it is the rarest of events.
In the last 65 years, the U.
S.
Armed Forces have lost one 101,712 lives.
Law enforcement, 10,635, CIA The number lost on U.
S.
soil? Four.
Those with "need to know" will be looped in further.
Until then, all I can say is We've lost a good operative.
I've never seen it so quiet in here.
Mmm.
If they can get to one of us, it means they can get to any of us.
Annie? A word? I have something very difficult to tell you.
The operative who was killed He was someone you knew.
That's impossible.
Every covert operative I know is in that bullpen.
Mark Ramsay? Why do you have a photo of my Georgetown Ianguage professor? Was he somehow associated with Moonlight? Annie, he was Moonlight.
And you're the only one who can help us find his killer.
I always thought Mark was this bookish Ianguage professor.
And now, you're saying he was CIA for 20 years.
His NOC gave him unparalleled access.
He taught all over the world.
Lomonosov, the Sorbonne, ETH Zurich He recruited some of the Agency's most valuable assets, who still pay dividends to this day.
The last time I saw Mark, he begged me not to join the Agency.
Why would he do that if he was an operative? Maybe he was pushing you to test your resolve.
Ramsay was tracking a local spy ring.
A Pakistani state-sponsored group called Lashkar-e-Taiba.
We think he got too close and his contact inside turned on him.
What What does his wife have to do with this? Mark was making monthly drops of his findings, but was killed before he could make his last one.
We think that intel held the identity of the entire Lashkar spy ring, and we need you to leverage your relationship with Safia in order to find it.
You want me to go to the house of a grieving widow whose husband was just murdered and ask her where the classified documents are hidden? If only it were that simple.
You can't mention the CIA.
Safia didn't know Mark was with the Agency.
How How is that possible? Have you told your sister? If Mark didn't tell his wife, it's not our place to, either.
You're to go to Safia under the guise of paying your respects.
We don't have time for a "slow burn" approach.
Annie should just lay her cards on the table and read Safia in.
Okay.
So, just tell Safia the truth and get her permission to bring everything back to Langley for inspection.
I just heard.
I am so sorry.
It still doesn't seem real.
That your Professor died, or that he was CIA? Both I guess.
Hmm.
And now, I have to go tell Safia that he spent their entire marriage Iiving a lie? It's like delivering the message her husband died all over again.
What's that? I thought you could use some cheering up, so I bought you a Zeiss A1 Axio with phase contrast and a digital camera adapter.
Fantastic.
Mmm-hmm.
I still don't know what you're talking about.
It's a microscope.
And we're going to use this baby to interpret Ramsay's intel transmission.
And what Robert should be showing you right now is a microdot.
I remember reading about those at the Farm.
Full-size documents shrunk to a single period.
Put one on a normal-Iooking document and they're impossible to find.
But if you know where to look Is it working? Do you see anything? Yeah.
It's amazing.
Good.
Wasn't sure how that was going to play out.
I thought we stopped using these after World War II.
Yeah, well, Ramsay was an old-school spy.
Sometimes, the low-fi approach is the best way to stay under the radar.
Great.
So, all I have to do is scour the house of a college professor Iooking for a single millimeter-sized period on a normal-Iooking document.
It's like finding a needle in a haystack.
You know, forest Yeah.
Full of haystacks.
Ironically, I have about as much chance of finding it as you do.
Oh, come on.
That's funny.
Because I It's Sorry.
I was still thinking about breaking the news to Safia.
I've never read someone in before.
Is there a CIA protocol for how to do it? No.
There are as many approaches as there are personalities in the Agency.
The important thing is to be direct and definitive.
They were married for 15 years, Auggie.
This is going to shatter her.
It will be easier coming from a friend.
Would have been easier coming from her husband.
Rachmaninoff was the bane of my existence in grad school.
And the man had hands the size of shovels.
It hardly seemed fair.
Annie.
It's been far too long.
Mmm.
I'm so sorry about Mark.
Hmm.
Mark always said you were his star student.
And he did love callas, didn't he? Come.
We'll put them in water.
You're sure you're okay having so many people over so soon? Mark's students were his passion.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate his life than having everyone over for good food and good conversation.
Huh? Actually, there is something I wanted to talk to you about.
The lamb.
Mark was always the cook.
But I'm making do.
He learned to make this lamb biryani dish to impress me when we were first dating.
I didn't have the heart to tell him I preferred burgers and fries.
Mmm.
A little dry? It's delicious.
Hmm? Could I have a glass of water? Of course.
Safia? When you have a minute? Would you Pardon me for a moment, please? Sure.
You must have tried the lamb? How can something be both cold and burnt at the same time? I know.
Clearly, you haven't been here the past two days.
Is she really okay? She seems in awfully good spirits for all she's been through.
Well, she hasn't slept or left the house since Mark was killed.
I knew something didn't seem right.
Actually, it's a totally normal defense mechanism, according to the Kübler-Ross Grief model.
Although there is some convincing scholarship out of Yale disputing the classical "Five Stages" theory.
Fascinating.
Would you, uh, excuse me for a second? Could I Could I talk to you for a second in private? It's about Mark.
Stay for lunch.
After everybody leaves, we'll have time to talk.
Hmm? First We feast on lamb.
I'll never forget my father's face when they first met.
You have to understand, for a traditional Pakistani, there's only one sin worse than marrying an American.
Marrying an African American? Exactly.
But when Mark broke out in fluent Urdu and named the starting midfield of the Pakistani Football Federation, Dad was sold.
So, how much longer do we have to walk before you show me what's in that envelope? This is hard.
I'm sorry.
What What is this? It's a commendation record.
Yes, I can see that.
But why does it say "Central Intelligence Agency" on the top? Because Mark was an undercover CIA operative.
For 20 years.
I work for the CIA, as well.
That's what I came here to say.
Safia, wait.
Please let me explain.
There's nothing to explain.
Mark was no spy.
His idea of danger was a jacket without elbow patches.
I know how you're feeling.
This was a shock for me, too.
With respect You don't have the slightest idea what I'm feeling.
And yet, somehow, you feel entitled to come out here, make up some absurd fabrication, and try to flip my life upside down.
Please.
Just go home.
Come here.
We've got to go.
Now.
Nice work clocking the license plate.
Jai's running it now.
It's definitely Lashkar.
They're trying to eliminate Ramsay's intel before we find it.
How is Safia handling everything? I don't think this is quite the way she envisioned her day going.
Are the movers really necessary? They're absolutely necessary.
It's standard procedure when any officer dies to scour every inch of his life and reconstruct Ioose ends.
We need to find that microdot.
No stone goes unturned.
Two armed Lashkar militants are after that intel and are willing to kill for it.
Whatever leeway time we thought we had, we obviously don't.
Stay on him.
Ma'am, I told you we have orders to take everything back to Langley.
Annie, tell him he can't take my instruments.
That was my grandfather's concert violin.
Don't worry.
We'll put everything back exactly how we found it.
Guys.
Why don't you take five? Take a break, everybody.
What's this all about? These men are looking for information to identify Mark's killer.
Not the movers.
The thugs who shot at us.
They're the ones who murdered Mark? We still don't know.
We think so.
So, it's true.
He was a CIA agent.
I went to his office.
I sat in on his classes.
So, that was all fake? Mark's job at Georgetown was real.
And when he taught abroad, that was real, too.
I still think of him as my professor.
But he was also recruiting assets and spying on foreign nationals and sending that information back to Langley.
So, he should have told me.
I would have understood.
I'm sure there were a million times he wanted to.
But it's hard to find the right moment.
And And the Ionger you wait, the harder it gets.
So, instead, he just came home every night, Iooked me in the eye and lied to me.
Compartmentalizing is the only way that some operatives can cope.
If anything, I'm sure he was trying to protect you from danger.
Safia, we need to start talking about a safe place for you to stay.
No.
You've taken enough from me already.
I'm not leaving.
Annie.
We found this behind a false wall in the closet.
It looks like a safety deposit box key.
Do you know anything about that? How is it you guys didn't even know about this box? Spies are secretive people.
Home vaults, bank boxes, safe houses Anything to keep sensitive intel out of the wrong hands.
Doesn't it get tiring keeping all those secrets? Sometimes.
Please.
Take as much time as you need.
Thank you.
What is that? It's a "microdot" kit.
Mark used this to create his intelligence transmissions.
My God.
Look at all this stuff.
These These are postcards from every city we've ever visited.
Athens, Shanghai, Lisbon Summers in Maine.
I can't believe he kept all these.
Mark's wedding vows.
He was so nervous that day.
You know, he could wax eloquent in front of a packed Iecture hall, but when he read these His voice trembled.
I'm so sorry.
I have to take all this back to Langley.
We will get it back to you the moment we are done with it.
No, it's okay.
I understand.
AII right.
What's the word from the embassy? I'm compiling a briefing for Arthur right now.
Maybe you can brief your boss first.
Islamabad's in full denial mode.
They claim they've shut down all militant groups.
According to the Pakistani government, Lashkar doesn't exist.
Huh.
Try telling Safia Ramsay that.
And what do we have on the car? The Chrysler? The car was a rental.
We traced payment back to the Pakistani Welfare Agency.
Well, that's right out of the playbook, isn't it? Using a charitable organization as a front.
"Give us money for food aid, and we'll use it to buy guns.
" And what do we have on the PWA? Small D.
C.
-based office.
Pakistan desk has been monitoring their activities since the 26l1 1 Mumbai attacks.
I have full dossiers on every employee.
We've got a lot of options here.
Rubina Jafari, personal secretary to the CEO.
Young.
Single.
Jai.
You think you can find an in? I don't think that will be a problem.
There's Baked Alaska in the freezer.
But I experimented a little bit, and it's a little too baked, not quite enough Alaska.
What are you still doing up? Watching the coverage of this horrible shooting in Georgetown.
They say it's a gang initiation.
Can you imagine? I mean, I drove past that corner last week.
Professor Ramsay was a beloved member of the academic community.
He is survived by his wife, Safia.
Uh I'm sure the cops are on top of it.
They usually They usually get those guys.
Wait, you know, they said he was a language professor at Georgetown.
Did you have him? He was my advisor, actually.
Wait, someone you know was killed? And you didn't tell me? It was a busy day.
"Busy day" gets you out of not calling your niece on her three-quarter birthday.
Not out of telling me your your friend was killed.
Sorry.
Can we just drop it? Uh Oh, I'm sorry.
No, I should be more sympathetic.
I can't imagine how hard this must be for you.
Um Thanks.
Uh For the record, that was, um It's just the right amount of Alaska.
So, these are all Ramsay's possessions? Everything, from the house, the office, the car It's difficult enough finding a document the size of a period.
But when your subject apparently never throws away a single book, paper, receipt Let's just say it's been a long day.
It probably doesn't help that he was a fan of the ellipses.
A double dash now and then would be nice.
Barber! Status report.
Yeah.
Just finishing our second pass.
What do you want us to do next? Third pass.
You see, people? It's just like I told you an hour ago.
We're going to have to do another pass.
Where do you think the microdot is? Maybe the guys that ransacked his place got to it first.
Maybe he kept his intel somewhere else.
Maybe there never was a microdot.
I have no idea.
What about the stuff from the safety deposit box? Ran it all a dozen times.
Nothing.
Wait, something's missing.
Where are the wedding vows? Is she home? No one has come or gone since I've been here.
Okay.
Safia? Safia, I need those wedding vows.
So, you're saying Safia's working with the men who killed Mark? She was born three kilometers from the Lashkar headquarters in Muridke.
She's lived here for 20 years.
And these militant groups Iove to recruit Westerners.
She's gone, Annie.
What does that tell you? That she could be in trouble.
Or she could be fleeing from us.
I understand how you're feeling.
You've just Iost a friend.
But we have to be objective, not emotional.
It's our job.
I know this looks bad, but you have to trust me on this.
I know Safia.
What she and Mark had was real love, not some spy versus spy espionage game.
I'm not sure you knew Mark as well as you thought you did.
This is a paper I wrote for Mark's Russian Ianguage class.
Where did you get this? Annie Mark was the one who originally submitted your name to the CIA.
He said you were one of his brightest language students, and we would be foolish not to recruit you.
So, when I applied to Langley three years ago You had already been on our radar since college.
Annie.
I am not saying Safia is definitely working with Lashkar, but we wouldn't be doing our job unless we tracked her down for questioning.
I've got a team out Iooking for her now.
What are they going to do when they find her? For now, we just want to find out what she did with those vows.
She isn't being accused of a crime.
Yet.
Uh, and And what can I do? You need to stay on the bench until we find her.
Is that clear? Annie.
Is that clear? Yeah.
No typing, no pages turning Even odds says you're staring contemplatively into space, pondering the great mysteries of the universe.
Do you ever wonder why you were hired? Ten thousand applications a month.
Why did the Agency pick you? I always assumed it was for my body.
Auggie.
I was recruited.
There are not a lot of guys who can write an unbreakable Java-based daemon and have won their high school state wrestling championship two years in a row.
Why? What's on your mind? I always thought I came to the Agency on my own terms.
Now, I find out they had a file on me when I applied.
Annie, it's the CIA.
We have a file on everyone.
Had any progress tracking down Safia? Nothing.
Joan's authorized a trace on her cell phone and credit cards, we've notified the authorities, flagged her passport She's a ghost.
She cannot be a spy.
This is the woman who made me Toll House cookies.
Okay, I know what I'm supposed to tell you in this situation.
I'm supposed to tell you to let Joan run her op.
I am not supposed to tell you to go down to the annex and investigate for yourself.
And I'm definitely not supposed to tell you that the code for the door is "92762 pound.
" Smithsonian Institution.
How may I direct your call? We have Danielle Brooks at the Smithsonian looking for Annie Walker.
Okay.
Send her down to the Castle.
I'll be right over.
And his supervisor sent me to the National Gallery.
So, I trudged all the way across the mall, waited there another and then, was told I had to come back here.
Where I started two hours ago! And who are you Iooking for again? Annie Walker.
That was the first thing I said.
Hey.
Auggie Anderson? Danielle Brooks.
You gave my daughter's third grade class the most amazing tour? Right.
Yes, you were Annie Walker's sister.
Hey.
Yeah, actually, I feel more like Annie Walker's casual acquaintance.
I can't even find my sister in her office.
Yeah, the bureaucracy around here is crazy.
Unfortunately, Annie's out of the office.
She has an Acquisitions conference.
Oh, no.
She said that was yesterday.
It's a week-Iong thing.
It's a big deal around here.
It's kind of like our fashion week.
I tell you what.
Can I buy you one of the Smithsonian's famously bad cups of coffee? That sounds wonderful.
At least someone around here is helpful.
Follow me.
You know it's bad luck to read in a bar, right? You're wasting your time.
I have a rule against dating Indian men.
AII right.
If you ask me, you're the one wasting time.
We both know how this charade plays out.
No? Where could you possibly be going that's more fun than this? Everything's more fun with champagne.
Tech Intel.
I'm in.
Dude, are you eating a sandwich? They ordered Wagshal's.
Whatever.
Just take me through this.
Okay.
Set her Bluetooth to discoverable.
Then, open "spiral attack" from your phone.
Enter her IMEI number, then star seven, six, send.
And We're done.
There you go.
It will take a day to drill down these names, but your end of the mission is done.
You can just go home, lucky.
Yeah.
Actually, I think I'm going to stick around for a little bit.
Why? What are you Hello? What did I miss? So, you really think I shouldn't be worried about Annie? Oh, she'll be fine.
We're just in the middle of our busy season.
Well, she's always in the middle of a busy season.
Do you know she canceled on Scott three times last week? Scott, the doctor she's been seeing? Oh, right.
Dr.
Scott.
There's a table.
Do you want to sit down? Sure.
I'm just worried that she's pushing everyone she's close to away.
Well, your concern is completely natural.
My brother was worried about me when I first joined the Institution, too.
The thing you have to realize is that this isn't just a job.
It's a way of life.
The Smithsonian? It's one of the pillars of our country.
We are out there on the front lines, protecting America's art.
Art that is under attack.
Who's attacking art? The funding cutters.
And the only thing standing between them and total annihilation is the Smithsonian.
It's the first Iine of defense.
Defense of the art? Metaphorically speaking, of course.
Look, this is a very demanding job for the people who work in it and for their families.
With the long hours, the travel, the confidentiality Your sister has devoted her life to public service.
And at the end of the day, that's what makes it all worthwhile.
Wow.
I had no idea so much went into working at a museum.
Well, it's not just a museum, Danielle.
It's the museum.
Next.
Thank you.
Safia? Safia, it's Annie! Safia? Why are you following me? Why can't you just Ieave me alone? Safia.
I need you to put the gun down.
I came here as a friend.
You came here to find Mark's files.
You're not a friend, you're a spy.
Put the gun down before you hurt us both.
You can trust me.
I don't know who I can trust anymore.
Maybe we can work that out together.
When you told me Mark had this whole other life, it made me question everything.
I wondered whether he ever loved me at all.
And then, everything became clear in one moment.
The safety deposit box.
That's when I realized, in spite of everything he hid from me I was always in his heart.
So, you took the vows and you fled.
We came to North Haven every summer.
No matter how busy we got, this was our oasis.
That's why he didn't file this house with the Agency.
He wanted it to be just between you.
The last time I saw Mark, he told me not to join the Agency.
I didn't understand why until just now.
It's not easy deceiving people.
Especially the people you love.
And Mark didn't want me to suffer through a lifetime of lying.
Do you still have those vows? Sure.
Mark was trying to transmit that brief to the CIA, but he was killed before he ever got the chance.
But why Why would he hide this on our wedding vows? He must have sensed that it wasn't safe in the house, so he put it in that box, and he put it on a document that no one would suspect.
If anything happened to him, he wanted the exact right person to find it.
I think he wanted it to be you.
We need to take this to Langley.
Arthur? Why am I just finding out you re-tasked four of my field officers to the Ramsay investigation? I don't get it.
We've drilled down on every assignment Ramsay ever worked.
We vetted every asset.
What are we missing? Don't do this.
Do what? You are more involved with this investigation than I have seen you in years.
You and Ramsay both graduated from Annapolis.
You both cut your teeth in the D.
I.
And by all appearances, you seem to share a similar taste in historical fiction.
I think you're worried this could have been you.
Oh.
I'm not worried about me.
I'm worried about you.
I'm worried about our team.
This happened in our backyard.
I'm not going to rest until we catch these guys.
What did you say you were doing here? I cross-referenced Rubina Jafari's contacts with Ramsay's known associates.
Tommy Burleigh.
Studies nuclear physics at Georgetown, took three language classes with Ramsay.
He has Top Secret clearance and access to sensitive DOE labs.
Ideal target for Lashkar recruitment.
Mmm-hmm.
And his sizeable student loans, suspiciously paid off last year.
Ramsay must have sniffed out he was selling info to Lashkar.
And Lashkar had him killed before he could get out word.
You have to tell Annie.
I'm trying.
Her cell's out of range.
Annie, look who I found.
You've met Tommy, right? It's an awful strange coincidence, running into each other on a remote island in Maine.
Yes, well Mark and Safia would wax poetic about their respites to North Haven.
So, I thought I'd take a couple of days to clear my head.
Where's your luggage? And your shoes are pretty clean for the middle of mud season.
Tommy, what's going on? Please, Safia.
You have to help me.
Hey.
Safia, they're going to kill me.
Annie.
Tommy must have worked with the men who killed Mark.
What? Stairs.
What? We have to get off this boat.
Under that net? Over there.
Run.
Are you okay? Are you okay? You sure? Okay.
Come on.
Ramsay's microdot confirmed the identity and locations of seven Lashkar operatives.
Tommy Burleigh and Malik Murabanti were picked up by the Coast Guard.
That leaves five still at large.
Mmm-hmm.
So, what's the next move? Conventional wisdom says we slowly squeeze the lemon.
Bring all seven in, turn them, and send them back out to catch bigger fish.
But it's your decision.
And it's my job to support it.
So, the more relevant question is What do you think is the move? I don't think we use killers as chess pieces.
I want them brought to justice.
The CIA takes care of its own.
Your DPD, your call.
But I'm glad that's your call.
Because that's what I was hoping you'd say.
Today, we gather for our most solemn occasion.
Unveiling a new star on our Wall of Honor.
Each of these 103 stars represents the memory of a devoted intelligence operative, a treasured colleague, a beloved friend.
It is our job at the Agency to honor these men and women by continuing to serve the country they gave their lives to protect.
Case Officer Mark Ramsay did not die in vain.
His intelligence led directly to the capture of seven militant extremists, men who posed a significant threat to our nation.
This is the culmination of a distinguished career.
One marked by devotion, sacrifice, by patriotism.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
I don't want that to be Danielle.
I don't want her to be at a star ceremony, finding out who I really was for the first time.
I don't want to keep this secret from her anymore.
Then, don't.
I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but she deserves to know the truth.
Just like Safia did a long time ago.
Did you ever read your brother in? Eventually, I had to.
How did it go? Oh, terribly.
He didn't speak to me for six months.
But it was still the right thing to do.
Because eventually, he came around.
And now, we're closer than we ever were before.
I don't think I can go six months without talking to my sister.
Danielle is a different person.
And there's no telling how she's going to react.
The point is, no one on the other side of this conversation can ever truly be ready.
You just have to decide if you are.
Thanks.
Mmm-hmm.
See you in the morning.
Oh, hey, Walker, one more thing.
Yeah.
When were you going to tell me about Dr.
Scott? Sorry.
Those details are "need to know.
"