Countdown (2025) s01e04 Episode Script

1
Volchek.
[Novikov] My uncle can get us
not just out of the city,
but out of the whole damn country.
- You sure you're okay?
- Yeah, you know what it's like.
You're not really living
unless you're close to dying.
SAC Blythe is one of the only people
standing between the citizens of this city
and a very imminent threat.
- [in Belarusian] He's seen it.
- We have to get rid of him.
- [grunts]
- [tires screech]
[in English] Drew.
[Oliveras] We need a 10-1 immediately
at Chestnut and Brand.
[paramedic] One GSW to the abdomen.
Pulse is faint, lung sound diminished.
Let's get him on the stretcher.
One, two, three, go.
[Mark] Up.
Hey, I'm gonna go. Okay?
Check and see if there's anything
salvageable in there
before PD combs through it.
I saw something in the basement
they don't want me to see.
And notify Blythe.
[siren wailing]
Larry, how long we got?
[Mark] Hey, buddy. Come on. Stay with us.
Right? Keep breathing, okay?
We're almost there.
- Can you grab me a pack of four-by-fours?
- What?
- Gauze pads, up in the corner.
- Shit.
- I got 'em, I got 'em.
- [paramedic mutters, sighs]
I can't get this bleeding to stop.
As soon as I lift this hand up,
fresh pads.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [paramedic] And now.
- [Mark] Oh, God.
Okay, Drew. Okay, okay, I got you.
I'm right here, okay?
Hey, it's Meachum.
Listen to me. I'm right here, okay?
We're almost there.
We're gonna fix you up nice, okay?
Is…
Hey, pal. Hey, hey.
You keep breathing, okay?
Listen to my voice.
Just listen to my voice.
We're almost there. Goddamn it.
- Okay, what do we got?
- GSW to the abdomen. BP is 72/40.
[paramedic 2] Let's go, let's go.
Okay, let's get him in the tube.
Flora, call Dr. Nesbitt
and pull him out of that hernia, now.
[paramedic 1] Wait here.
[worker on PA] Satellite pharmacy 3426.
Satellite pharmacy 3426.
[no audible dialogue]
Officer Drew, uh, Damon…
[swallows]
…died in surgery.
They tried to, uh…
[clicks tongue] They, uh…
[inhales deeply]
They said he lost too much blood.
They did everything they could, but he…
Cora.
What… No.
No. [cries, sniffles]
No. No, no, no.
[sniffles] No, no, no.
[cries, sniffles] Please, no.
[sniffles] Oh, God.
[sobs]
We believe this to be the result
of an act of arson
in connection with a manhunt
for an escaped convict.
There were injuries sustained
while trying to make the arrest,
and a casualty count
has not yet been finalized.
Now, this investigation is ongoing,
so we will alert you
when we have more information.
[sighs] Damon Drew…
[clicks tongue] …was a man who loved
his family, his job, his country.
Not in equal measure, but in that order.
[clicks tongue] He… He knew the…
the pressures and the danger
and the relentlessness
of chasing down threats
who had wished to do harm
to the United States,
but he fought them anyway.
And he did so with grace
and determination.
I believe we have disrupted this
terrorist threat, whatever its endgame.
I believe now is not the time to retreat,
lick our wounds,
take a step back.
I'd like us to put our noses down, focus,
and be the elite task force
I know we can be. Can we do that?
[Mark inhales deeply, sighs]
What about a funeral service?
I asked Cora to consider
keeping it private
as a public funeral
might attract these guys.
Ultimately, it's up to her.
All right, let's get back to work.
Find these assholes.
Meachum.
Did you see anything in the basement?
Any scrap of information,
a location, a name?
I mean, it was pretty dark. I didn't know…
really know what I was looking at. Um…
I saw a map of the LA port.
Wait.
[Nathan] What is it?
There was a name.
There was a name. It was, um…
It was on the side wall.
It was tacked up like it was important.
- Gallagher.
- Gallagher?
Yeah, just like it sounds.
Okay, let's run a reverse search
on that name,
look for any connections
between Novikov and Volchek.
Immigration attorney, business associate,
immigration sponsor, any business ties.
- The works.
- On it.
- Sir, there's a problem.
- What?
LAPD is looking to reassign their
detectives to in-house special units.
This came from LAPD?
That's my understanding.
Thank you, Heather.
[in Belarusian] I think you should
postpone this plan of yours…
We have…
We have… I understand your obsession with…
Don't you ever talk to me…
…like you are in charge.
You burned down my restaurant!
[grunts]
Be glad that's all I burned.
Next, your house…
Your wife…
Anything that stands in my way.
- Okay.
- Do you understand me?
Okay. Yes, I'm sorry.
[coughs, wheezes]
Get your mind right.
It is.
You've been here too long.
No, no. I'm sorry.
- I'm sorry.
- We see it all the way through.
[panting]
Yes. It won't happen again.
It won't happen again.
[panting]
[wheezes, coughs]
[in English] Hey. [sighs]
How'd it go with the notification
to Drew's wife?
Brutal.
Yeah.
[clicks tongue] Lost a son
and her husband in the same year.
I can't even imagine.
The only way to make this right
is to find whoever did this
and put them in the ground.
Yeah. Amen to that.
I should have had a better plan.
What?
[Mark] I was, uh…
[sighs]
I was reckless because…
[clicks tongue]
…'cause that's just how I've always been.
You know, I just blindly followed Timur.
[sighs] I went down those stairs
when I knew it was…
[exhales sharply] …risky and I,
uh… I didn't have an extraction plan.
- Followed your instincts.
- Yeah, and because of that, Drew's dead.
That's what it's like partnering with me,
you see?
[clicks tongue] I'm so busy
not giving a shit about myself
that I don't think for one second
about the people who are backing me up.
[sighs] You done?
- I guess.
- Good.
You know, this isn't the first time
I lost a member of my team.
It was, um,
nine months into working for the DEA.
- Here we go.
- Shut up.
When my training agent
was shot and killed during a raid.
For weeks, I questioned every decision
I made in the run-up
and through the execution of that attack.
If I had gone right instead of left…
If I had been first at the door
instead of second.
If I had brought fucking coffee
that morning
and we had waited
just ten more minutes. [sighs]
Just ten more minutes before the attack,
would Jim still be alive?
But those questions never go away.
So, what you do,
what you learn to do is bite 'em down,
put 'em away and focus on the job ahead.
Otherwise what the hell are we doing here?
Hey. Shepherd found something.
The dance hall in Burbank
was registered under an LLC, right?
So the first thing I did
was pull the permitted visitor registry
at Palmdale for Timur Novikov
while he was incarcerated.
I then pulled the names of the
LLC officers registered with the state,
and comparing the two, I found this name.
Mikhail Durko. Belarusian.
I also found a second address
registered to the LLC,
this one residential in Studio City.
And that is 1421 Wrightwood Drive.
So I contacted
the US Postal Inspection Service
to see who's receiving mail
at Wrightwood…
- [Bell] Mikhail Durko?
- Correct.
You got a photo?
Uh, yes.
[Mark] That's him.
That's Timur's uncle.
That's who we met at the dance hall.
All right. Oliveras, Meachum, Bell, Finau,
go check out that address.
Shepherd, I want Durko's travel history,
immigration status,
business and tax records,
citizenship record,
criminal history, all databases.
- [typing]
- It's done.
Let's go, let's go.
[whistles]
[metal creaking, snaps]
LAPD, open the door.
LAPD!
[car engine starts]
Hey!
Hey!
[tires squealing]
[grunts]
[Finau] Get the fuck out of the car!
- [whimpers]
- On the ground, now!
- Get down!
- I-I thought you were burglars.
[crying]
Where's Mikhail?
[stammers] He-He left.
- Where?
- [breathes heavily]
He… He-He left left. He left me. [cries]
Agent Blythe,
what brings you out to my office?
I think you know.
The LAPD detectives I have working
under my command are essential.
The fact that you went
to the police commissioner
to interfere with their assignment is
unconscionable, misinformed and dangerous.
Agent Rackley from DHS informed me
you lost a member of your task force.
Damon Drew?
And you wanna talk to me
about what is dangerous.
And while I am certainly sorry
for your loss,
I can't help but think
this is a failure at the leadership level.
Your failure.
You have no idea what you're disrupting.
Because you purposefully excluded me.
A decision you're already
coming to regret.
Maybe putting together a team
of some of the biggest malcontents
and agitators
from their various departments,
shocker,
wasn't such a great idea after all.
And while I do appreciate your visit,
I have a meeting.
Back off the transfer.
Or what?
Or you'll see a side of me you won't like.
Wife of Mikhail Durko.
[Finau] They've got her head spinning.
I swear to you, my husband,
he doesn't tell me nothing.
It's different when you're Belarusian.
The wife… [chuckles]
…she doesn't know these things.
No? She just, what, drives around
in her Mercedes doing, what…
taking tennis lessons?
Not this. [stammers] But yes.
[stammers] He makes business,
I stay out of business.
- It's just…
- [Oliveras] Convenient.
[cries]
[sniffles] I knew he was a…
I knew he was doing something wrong.
His, how do you say, um,
his attitude was shit.
[sniffles] He used to love America.
[inhales sharply]
The big land of the free, yes?
A real patriot.
We had restaurant,
we had house, we had life.
And then COVID came.
No restaurant, no people.
Mikhail, he spent his time
on the computer.
Started meeting people,
unhappy people like him. [sniffles]
He was a different person.
And then today he tells me he's leaving.
[inhales sharply]
And then I see you at my front door
and I didn't know what to do.
I-I-I… My life is just…
I was… I was scared.
[crying, stammers]
Don't you see? Do you see?
[sniffles] D-Do you understand?
Give us a second.
[cries]
- What you think?
- Angling for victimhood.
Yeah, that was my read.
It's a fucking act.
[sucks teeth] She knows more
than she's letting on.
Break her.
[Mark] Done.
[sniffles, cries]
You okay?
- No.
- [Mark] You need some tissue?
Maybe some water? Something to drink?
- Yes. [sighs]
- [Mark] Okay, great.
You see that mirror behind me?
- Uh…
- Behind that mirror is a little room.
In that room are four people who say they
haven't seen a performance that shitty
since Jar Jar ruined Star Wars.
[chuckles]
[wife stammers] I don't know what that i…
Doesn't matter.
Here's where we are, Tatsiana.
Your husband is involved
with a terrorist attack
against the United States of America.
- [stammers] No, that can't be.
- And you know where he is.
[stammers] I-I don't.
But you do. And because you do…
That makes you an accessory to a plot
to detonate a weapon of mass destruction.
It's as though
you planted a bomb yourself.
That could mean you get deported.
But we're beyond that.
That could mean jail time,
but we're beyond that too.
No, no, please. [breathes shakily]
[stammers] I… I-I can get him message.
Well, talk to me.
[inhales sharply] The website
that he uses to communicate with them.
[breathes shakily] I know his username.
They're running IP masking software
using VPNs to hide their location.
I could backtrack 'em if I had a month.
Yeah… [stammers] …just send Belavezha44
a message, uh, from his wife.
Use the name Tatsi. T-A-T-S-I.
That's what he calls her.
Tell him, uh, tell him this is the
only way that she knows how to reach him.
Uh, should I send?
[computer beeps]
- Okay. What now?
- We wait.
If he doesn't respond,
we should kick her and follow.
[Finau] Yeah.
We had a case where a little sister
of this banger from Linwood
said that she hadn't seen her brother
in eight years.
Didn't even know
what he looked like since lockup.
We let her go, she made like a beeline
for him right away.
[computer beeps]
[huffs]
What did you say
when you first met your husband?
- [stammers] I, uh…
- Now or never.
Oh. "You look like Yankovski."
[computer beeping]
Okay. Uh, send him another message.
Tell him that they…
they need to meet one more time.
[footsteps approaching]
[stammers] Tell him I…
I have his mother's photograph.
I want to give it to him
and tell him I love him one last time.
[typing]
[computer beeps]
[computer beeps]
[people chattering]
[Mark on radio] Anything?
Nada.
[Bell] No sign of him.
We're 15 past.
Yeah, maybe he had second thoughts.
Sniffed us out?
Could be.
We calling it?
Hold up, hold up.
He's made us. Go, go, go.
[pedestrians clamoring]
[Mark] Hey! Stop!
- LAPD!
- Stop!
- Out of the way!
- [grunts]
Out of the way! Out of the way!
[grunts]
[yelps, groans]
Wait! Wait!
[mutters indistinctly]
He's exiting! Heading up to Hill Street!
Hill Street! He's heading for Hill Street!
[grunts]
- [grunts]
- [grunts]
[grunts]
We got him. He's in the interview room.
Great. Ice him for a minute.
Special Agent Bell.
Your, uh, father worked
with District Attorney Valwell, correct?
- Yes, sir.
- What did he think of him?
My dad, Isaiah Bell,
he was working a task force with LAPD.
The Darcy murders back in '95, I think?
Right, I remember that case.
Cousins or something.
- Talent scouts?
- That's right, yeah.
A pair of cousins murdering young girls
fresh off the bus in Omaha, Idaho,
Nowhere, Texas.
AUSA didn't want to bring charges.
[Bell] Yes, sir. They didn't think
my father had enough evidence.
[inhales sharply] But there was this,
uh, young prosecutor
fresh out of law school,
wanted to roll the dice.
It was Grayson Valwell.
They talked to the DA at the time,
I think they went with local charges
instead of federal.
- And they got the conviction.
- They did.
Yeah, justice for those girls and, um,
those bastards off the streets.
[exhales deeply]
So, I don't know Valwell personally.
I've met him here once, but… [sighs]
…my dad never forgot
that he put his whole career on the line
'cause he believed in his work.
Thank you.
[sighs] And will you let, uh, Oliveras
and Meachum know I'll be right in?
[Bell] Yes, sir.
[chattering]
[inhales sharply]
[sighs]
[typing]
[Mark] Mikhail Durko.
I want to say something.
I want you to know you have the wrong man.
[Mark scoffs]
I am just a poor baker from Cologne.
Yeah, poor baker who, uh,
runs like Tyreek Hill, huh?
Time to pay the piper for your crimes.
Crimes? W-What crimes?
My nephew, Timur Novikov,
was escaped from prison that very day.
Shows up at my place of business with you.
A man I was told
was another escaped convict.
Of course I was scared.
Of course I felt threatened.
That's why I, uh, led you
to the back of the restaurant.
Oh, bullshit.
That's why I was pretended
I am going to shoot you.
You… You pretended?
Yes, I-I was trying to scare him
so he wouldn't come back.
Then, I… I would call to police.
So, the next things I know
more people arrive and, uh, so, uh…
Are… Are these also escaped,
uh, prisoners?
Who am I to know?
So, I was, uh, terrified.
I tried to defend myself.
Mikhail, we have your wife, we have you.
Tell us who was in the basement.
Where is he? What is he planning?
I saw the maps. I saw the schematics.
I saw the plans.
I know nothing.
I even don't know
what you're talking about.
And, uh, it was my nephew
who killed your colleague, not me.
My stupid nephew.
Tell me what I wanna know and tell me now.
[inhales sharply]
Maybe I should call my lawyer.
[sighs]
[sighs]
He won't crack.
We need leverage.
[Finau] Doesn't care about his wife,
that much is obvious.
There was a cousin who, uh…
who picked us up, Timur's cousin.
I mean, he called him
and he was there in no time.
You got Mikhail's family tree?
- Uh, yeah.
- [typing]
- You see him there?
- Mmm. No, I don't.
What was the make and model of his car?
It was a Prius, 2020s.
- Prius?
- Yeah, you fucking believe that?
- [Finau scoffs]
- Is it on his mom's side
- or his dad's side?
- [Mark] I don't know.
Did he have to be told the address
to the dance hall or did he just know it?
- No, he just knew it.
- Okay. Then he goes there a lot.
Call up traffic cams in the area around
the dance hall for seven days prior.
Look for any Toyota Priuses
in the vicinity,
see if we can get a license plate.
You sure it was a Prius?
Yeah. I wouldn't make that up.
You can use a new AI search scan
to look for just Prius hits.
Yeah. Read about that. Thank you.
Wait. Whoa. That's it.
That's it right there
and that's the cousin.
Okay. Car's registered to an address
in Canoga Park.
Yeah, yeah, but his W-2's
are registered, uh, to a factory downtown.
Callahan's Textiles?
It's work hours right now.
Go pick him up.
Good job.
- Hi. LAPD.
- Can I help you?
Yeah, do you know this guy?
[Mark] Go. Go.
[panting]
[pants]
[Mark grunts]
[grunts, groans]
- Get on your stomach!
- [grunts]
[grunts, groans]
- [grunts]
- Are you, Dmitry?
- What did I do? [stammers]
- [Mark shushes] Shut up.
Oh, whoa. Look at that, Meachum.
What? That's not mine.
[Oliveras] Yeah, yeah, no.
They all say that.
You know how many dopes are doing 20 in
Chino for stuff they said wasn't theirs?
This is crazy. You can't do that.
- She can't do that.
- Possession's nine-tenths of the law.
Looks like you're in possession of, uh…
what is that, about two grams of heroin?
- How much time is that?
- Twenty year, minimum.
- Twenty.
- No, no, no. You can't do that.
And that's minimum. You throw in aiding
and abetting your uncle? [exhales sharply]
- What?
- Mikhail Durko's your uncle.
We don't give a damn about you, Dmitry.
But see, your uncle
is involved in a terrorist plot.
We wanna know what he's planning.
This is… [stammers]
…I know nothing of this.
[Mark] But you do know your uncle.
It's like the heroin.
You possess knowledge
and since you're holding out on us,
- we have to charge you.
- His daughter.
- Daughter? What daughter?
- He doesn't have a daughter.
He does.
He does.
His mistress, she had a child.
His name is not on birth certificate.
She's 18 years old.
She's a student at university.
Check my phone. I have a picture.
I have a picture!
I thought you were gonna flush that brick.
I did. Most of it.
Something you wanna tell me?
Nope.
Sir.
Mikhail Durko's daughter.
[Mark] Eighteen,
freshman at Cal State, Northridge.
Tuition links to a dummy account
set up by Mikhail's LLC.
Shepherd's already working up her profile.
This could be the…
the vice that cracks him open.
Uh, sir.
Special Agent Shepherd.
I would like to conduct the interview.
I don't mean to overstep.
I mean, you guys are great in the room.
It's just… I mean, you have to admit
I… I look just like her.
- What's going on?
- Shepherd's getting her feet wet.
[door closes]
[Nathan] How are you, Mikhail?
Can I get you anything? A sandwich?
I'm fine.
- I think.
- We know about your daughter.
[Shepherd] And we know
that you care about her.
Anya.
She's all alone in this world now.
[Nathan] And not only are you
never gonna see her again,
but we're gonna tell everybody
you're her father.
- And she's gonna live in disgrace.
- Hey. Hey.
I know her future.
Mikhail, I know exactly what is gonna
happen to her if you don't cooperate.
She's gonna be a pariah.
No one's gonna wanna date her
or marry her.
She's not gonna have any friends.
A life of isolation.
Her entire family will be deported,
or jailed, or both.
No support. No hope.
Now, I know you may not care
about your own life,
but do you know what happens to Anya next?
Pills. Vodka. More pills.
Harder drugs. Needles.
Anything to make her forget you.
And the first call
comes from the hospital,
- but the second one comes from the morgue.
- Enough. Stop.
Stop. [stammers] What do you want to know?
I'll tell you.
But please make sure Anya is out.
[Nathan] Who is Volchek?
I was, uh, contacted months ago
through a encrypted server.
This man, Volchek… [inhales deeply]
…he, uh, needed a base to operate from.
He told me he was
a proud citizen of back home,
and he planning something patriotic.
I said okay.
I have plenty room in the basement
of my dance hall. Why not?
But I didn't know what he's doing.
I swear.
And, uh…
I need the money.
I have wife, girlfriend, my daughter.
And taxes has been…
How do you reach Volchek?
We made a system for making contact.
Yeah.
[breathes shakily]
Now what?
[Mikhail] Green lets him know
I have information
and I'll be at Van Nuys Airport
at 8:00 p.m.
He'll meet me there.
You're sure?
[Nathan] Oliveras, anything?
Negative.
All right. Let's bag this guy.
Bell, what do you see?
Nothing.
Wait.
Yep. Got him.
Approaching six o'clock.
We got him. We got him.
- Take him. Take him now.
- [siren wailing]
FBI! On the ground!
LAPD! On your knees now!
Show me your hands!
- What the hell is this?
- Ah, who the fuck are you?
Van. Van… Van Herron. I'm a pilot.
I was told to be here.
Fuck.
Oh, goddamn it.
Thank you.
One please.
[chattering on radio]
[laughing]
- [chattering on movie]
- [audience laughing]
[laughing]
[audience laughing]
Every investigation I've ever been
a part of has had its peaks and valleys.
[clicks tongue] This is a valley for sure.
But there will be peaks. There will be.
We're gonna find this guy,
and we're gonna stop him.
I promise you that.
Cora, will you come over here please?
[Cora] Thank you, Nathan,
for letting me come here and do this.
[Nathan] Of course. Anything you need.
I know this isn't allowed,
having me here, having someone
from outside in your headquarters.
But I wanted… [stammers]
…I wanted to look each of you in the eye
and tell you that what Damon wanted,
what I want,
is for you to finish what he started.
Please don't look back
at what he sacrificed and think,
"I could've done more.
I could've tried harder.
I could've stopped it from happening."
Because Damon never let anything
get in his way
when he was trying
to keep this country safe.
Can you do that for me?
Thank you.
And Cora, Damon's name
will forever be remembered
in the hall of badges at the Department
of Homeland Security in DC,
and I know you'll be at the service
when it occurs,
but I also wanted you to know
that he'll be honored here,
and remembered in this office
everyday until the job is finished.
["USA Today" playing]
[Shepherd] So, the consulate,
as can be expected,
is running advanced
cybersecurity platforms.
Yeah. The servers are impregnable
from the outside, so we're blind.
What if we reach 'em from the inside?
[associate, in Belarusian] I located the
prisoner profile for the man in the photo.
His name is Jack Walker…
Come back to me with answers.