Countdown (2025) s01e13 Episode Script

1
[Heather] The governor's
press secretary was killed.
Governor Shelby. It is my
recommendation that you cancel the event.
Who are you to be giving
protection advice to the governor?
- What about the gun?
- [Mark] AI AXSR.
It's the best sniper rifle in the world.
[Bell] Molly's hanging with
some heavy-duty drug players.
I'm happy for you and the doctor.
We would've wrecked everything
we got here.
I think that Todd might be on the job.
Everything that he is doing
is to trigger a response.
Morning, hon.
I know that you're dealing with a lot,
and I am not gonna add
to your burden, okay?
This is his signature. This symbol
is one that Todd used multiple times.
[Oliveras] I can reach out to my contacts
to see who supplies Raising Bane.
Maybe we slide in undercover?
[Mark] He was taking pictures
of Bell and Oliveras.
He set all this up
so he'd know who's on the task force.
Who's hunting him.
[tense music playing]
[breathing heavily through mask]
[chatter over police radio]
[pounding on door]
[Hannah] LAPD! Open up!
- Hi.
- Hi.
- I was surprised you called.
- I was surprised you answered.
Well, you caught me at the right time.
I'm… between things.
Huh.
What happened to Seabass?
- My mom thought he was the one.
- He wasn't?
No.
What does your mom think about me?
Can't stand you.
Eh.
["Like a Bird" playing]
I love it ♪
Yo ♪
I love it ♪
[phone chimes]
I believe in miracles ♪
You believe in love ♪
Throw a rope into the sea ♪
Look what we've become ♪
Clock's ticking.
I love it ♪
A barnacle in the ocean ♪
The floor is all I need ♪
Yep.
It's dark enough to lose yourself ♪
But light enough to see ♪
You sing like a bird ♪
[song ends]
[Julio sighs]
What's up?
Morning.
Going for a run. Been training for a 5K.
- You have to train for that?
- Oh, yeah, sure.
You don't want to pull
a hip flexor or quads.
- Running's high-impact.
- Mm-hmm.
Made protein shakes.
Left one for you in the blender.
And if you can, we need to get
a dinner on the books with the Hamburgs.
I can't make any set plans with…
No, I-I know. Just, when your world
calms down is what I'm saying.
Okay.
- Bye.
- See ya.
[Molly laughing]
- [Shepherd] Where the hell have you been?
- Oh, shit.
- Yeah, "Oh, shit."
- Uh, you should… You should go.
[Shepherd]
Okay, what? Are you on something?
- [sighs] Oh, my God. Get off my back.
- Get out of here, man.
Molly, I am not on your back.
We literally had dinner plans.
Last night. You didn't show up.
You didn't text me, didn't leave a note.
Geez, I'm not your fucking child.
I'm your sister.
Well, then maybe stop acting
like a fucking child.
- [groans] Fuck off.
- Molly.
- Molly.
- [door slams]
- [sighs]
- [phone chimes]
[scoffs] Okay.
- [car engine starts]
- [tires screech]
[footsteps approach]
- Hey.
- Hey.
- You didn't text me back.
- Oh, I didn't?
- No.
- What'd you want?
I had some thoughts on the case.
Why were you so fucking busy?
Oh, well, I didn't want to interrupt
you and the good doctor.
You know, you guys could've been having
a romantic dinner,
and here I am, beep, boop, boop,
inserting myself.
Well, I texted you.
- Maybe I was having a romantic dinner.
- Where'd you take her? Pink's Hot Dogs?
- Don't ever denigrate Pink's.
- [knock on door]
- Uh, briefing.
- Yeah.
- [Oliveras] After… please.
- Oh, no.
- Wouldn't think of it.
- [Oliveras] Okay. Thank you.
[Bell] We discovered a video
from a little mom-and-pop
grocery store up the road from the bar.
Their security camera shows
the part of the street
where Raising Bane's parking lot empties.
It's not HD,
so we can't really see license plates,
but we do have a good capture
of the makes and models of the vehicles.
We're making a comprehensive list,
comparing it to registrations
within a 20-mile radius.
As soon as we locate one owner, dominos.
We'll have five more.
We'll begin to have a picture of who was
at the bar yesterday and what they saw.
[Fitz] And maybe we'll get lucky
and find Todd's ride.
Any new information on the manifesto?
Uh, yes. I discovered that
some of the language
from the manifesto matches verbatim
the rantings of a host
of a talk radio program here in LA.
[host] What you're seeing with your eyes,
what you're hearing with your ears
is something I call "worldsploitation."
And I'm saying no, no, no, no, no.
Not today.
You can't take my rights,
you government imperial horny toads.
You can't take my rights,
you profit-seeking
neotectonic shiftless mudfish.
Yeah. So those, uh, words
are not heard on any other programs.
He's just making these up.
- That's some wackadoodle nonsense.
- What is a neotectonic mudfish?
- It's what I called my last girlfriend.
- [chuckles]
Sound bites come from the Randy Mankin
Truth to Power Hour on AM 1103.
It plays twice a day.
It's not syndicated, can't find it online,
so these words are only heard
in Southern California.
Excellent work.
Meachum, Oliveras,
go pay Randy Mankin a visit
and see if he has any, I don't know,
obsessed fans trying to make contact.
- On it.
- Yep.
[rock music playing]
[music ends]
How are things with the doctor?
Good, I guess.
He's been trying to take me
to wine country,
but this job keeps things fluid, you know?
Yeah, for sure.
I will say that with my life popping off
every freaking five minutes,
it's nice to have some kind
of steady, reliable stability.
Right. Every girl I know is looking for
the most boring guy she can find.
Linda told me you were coming.
I'm Randy Mankin. You're federal officers?
We work for a federal task force.
I'm, uh, Detective Mark Meachum.
This is Agent Amber Oliveras.
I appreciate your service. How can I help?
- Just like that, huh?
- Sure.
But aren't you Randy Mankin,
host of, uh, Truth to Power Hour?
[chuckles] Who, him?
[chuckles] You ever watch wrestling?
You think those guys hate each other
when the cameras turn off?
I used to be the guy
giving financial advice
until the recession knocked
my ratings all the way to Timbuktu.
Guess what?
No one losing their house wants
to hear financial tips from a deejay.
So I make one comment about
how Wall Street's incestuous tryst
with Washington seems downright Orwellian,
and, uh, suddenly my ratings rebound,
and the suits say,
"Try that jacket on full time."
- [chuckles]
- Okay. So you're a hustler.
I prefer the term
"professional entertainer."
- Right.
- Look, it's all fun and games.
- I was a theater major at UCLA.
- Yeah.
Look, tomorrow,
I might be talking about technology
or college football or restaurants,
but right now, anger pays the bills.
Speaking of anger, uh,
you have any obsessed fans
that might not be in on the joke?
Oh, sure. I mean,
anyone who sticks their neck
above the waterline
is gonna attract mosquitoes.
Oh, Gilly.
Tell them about the scary Powerheads.
Yeah, we don't get
so many old-school letters anymore.
But the message boards?
It's a murderer's row.
Brave Internet warriors.
We use an outside security service
to monitor the disturbing ones,
put up a watch list in case
anyone shows up here unexpected.
- Got their faces under the desk there.
- Some real kooks.
Uh, we're gonna wanna see that list.
- Sure.
- Great.
Um, sh-should I be worried?
No.
It's all fun and games, right?
Well, we went through
the flagged accounts of Powerheads,
what the Randy Mankin Power Hour
fans call themselves,
but nothing screamed out Todd to us.
[Bell] You'd be surprised
how many old ladies are into this stuff.
But I'm not sure Marianne Colletta,
age 92,
is sniping people at gas stations.
- Any of these jokers law enforcement?
- Negative.
One guy was in the National Guard,
but he died last year from colon cancer.
Really, none of the flagged posts
sound like our guy. Right?
I mean, a bunch of rantings
from obsessive fans, sure,
but, uh, nothing smart enough
to rise to Todd level.
These names came from where?
The radio station hired a, uh…
a threat-monitoring company.
Worldshield? Something like that?
[Nathan] Ask Worldshield
to expand their parameters.
Tell them we're searching
for specific keywords
found on both the radio show
and in the manifesto.
Maybe somebody wrote a…
a one-time post, like a rough draft.
They didn't flag it
because it was a one-time thing,
but it might be meaningful to us.
Yeah. On it.
POTUS will be here in six days
for the fundraiser.
Right. I haven't been notified
of any change of schedule,
but I'm not at the top
of the list of agents…
I need to be read in on the venue.
Right. Yeah, they absolutely
should do that, and I for one…
- Fitz.
- Yeah?
I need you to tell your boss
to make that happen.
Oh.
Yes, right. That's…
on my to-do list for right now.
Uh, okay.
I spoke to Brian Hume at the
Secret Service and smoothed things over.
- You're lucky the governor likes you.
- I'm just doing my job.
You think your UNSUB lured
your task force to this biker bar…
- What's the name of it?
- Raising Bane.
- To do what? Take pictures of them?
- Yes.
He was by himself?
Well, we don't know if he was
acting alone or part of a group.
We also suspect he could be
or once was part of law enforcement.
You think your people are in danger?
Hey, thanks for running this.
Yeah, not a problem.
Hey, Bell.
Is this the guy
that you saw with my sister?
[Bell] Yeah. Yeah, that's him.
Felony possession. Felony distribution.
- Robbery. Assault.
- Why is he not in prison?
- That's what I'm asking.
- [phone rings]
Hey.
Okay, good. All right. I'll be down.
Hey, uh, that was some friends
I got in ATF.
I put out a notice
on the AI AXSR sniper rifle.
They're swinging by now.
Hopper. Tanaka.
- Finau. There he is.
- Hey.
So, I hear you're a sergeant now, huh?
Oh, must've been a mistake
in the paperwork.
This is Meachum and Oliveras,
part of the task force.
Hi. How you doing?
Well, listen,
you put out an alert on the AI AXSR?
- Yeah.
- It got us thinking…
We did a raid, what, six, seven months ago
on an arms dealer
working out of San Diego.
Big sting, long investigation,
but we were on it,
FBI was on it, San Diego PD was on it.
Not an actual designated task force,
but a lot of departments were involved.
- Okay.
- Well, the raid went mostly tits-up,
but we did recover
a couple containers of arms
supposed to be headed
down to South America.
- Let me guess. Sniper rifles.
- Yeah.
We saw those British long guns,
and they surprised us.
- Not a whole lot of that model in the US.
- Where'd the rifles go after the raid?
Turned everything over to the Bureau.
Anyway,
the arms dealer managed to slip the net.
Name's Ragnar Eggen.
- What's that? Swedish?
- [Hopper] Norwegian.
Made it all the way to Oslo,
as far as we know.
FBI's still looking for him.
We went on to bigger and better.
Who were the Bureau agents
working the case?
Shit, uh…
I don't know. You remember?
There were dozens of 'em.
I can look back through the case file.
- We were sort of independent.
- Yeah, if you could.
I'd like to give 'em my name, see if they
know how the arms dealer got the guns,
any other leads they might have
uncovered since the raid.
Yeah, of course. I'll shoot it to Finau
soon as I get back to my desk.
- Thanks, brother.
- Absolutely.
- Appreciate it, bro.
- Thanks, guys.
All right. Appreciate it. Thanks.
Julio is not boring.
Yeah, no, sorry. He's, um…
Oh, he's-he's steady, stable.
- Exactly.
- That's good.
You're exhausting.
- I'm agreeing with you.
- I can tell.
Let me tell you what I've learned
in 20 years of being in the business
of nearly getting my ass shot off
twice a week.
- I cannot wait to hear this.
- Opposites do not actually attract.
Oh.
When somebody from our world tries to find
somebody from the normal world,
it's a disaster.
'Cause what it really boils down to is,
they don't get it.
And they never will.
You can try to tell them about the job,
and you can describe it to them,
and they'll pretend that they understand,
but they don't.
We don't even tell them everything,
'cause it would blow their hair back
if we actually unload.
So we keep it to ourselves, we…
we push it down, we smile,
we nod and we fake that we're normal.
And the minute that happens,
that is the beginning of the end.
So, it's best to just draw a line.
'Cause mark my words, sister,
soon as he figures out that he'll
never truly be able to hang with you…
disaster.
- So, what?
- Geez.
Break up with Julio and be with you?
- I mean…
- 'Cause you've just been waiting for me
to come around, right?
Pining away for me all by your lonesome.
Maybe I have.
- You are so full of shit.
- You helped me through a tough time.
Okay? That means something to me.
Whatever this is,
it doesn't require extra work.
When we're in the interrogation room,
when we're breaking a suspect,
or whether we're driving crazy
through the hills
or we're chasing a man
who is trying to blow up our city…
this is magic that you can't fake.
And you know it,
and I know it.
Oh, my God.
- You almost had me.
- It was pretty good though, right?
- You're an asshole.
- Yeah, well,
I forgot to put sugar in my coffee.
[rock music playing]
Sir, parking lot doesn't open
for a few hours.
Set time is 7:00 p.m.
Gonna need you to open that gate.
Beg your pardon. Of course.
Go on in.
[rock music continues]
[music ends]
- [laughing]
- [phone ringing]
- Julio.
- Hey, listen.
We don't have to go out with the Hamburgs.
No, I want to.
- I didn't mean to…
- No, I get it. I really do.
I'm just so happy that you're in my life,
I want to share it with everyone.
[Finau laughs]
That's…
[clears throat]
I hear you.
I'm so sorry, but I-I have to run.
- Of course. Call me when you can.
- [line disconnects]
[Shepherd] Oliveras.
- Yeah?
- Uh, could you do me a favor?
Of course.
Could you find out
everything you can on this guy?
[Oliveras] Did you have LAPD run him?
Yeah. Yeah, he's been arrested
for possession and distribution,
but he either beat the charges
or he paroled out,
'cause he's on the street.
Case-related?
No. Hooks into my sister.
Say no more.
I just wanna find out what the DEA
is saying that isn't in a court report.
We never talked.
Thank you.
Fitz. With me.
- Nathan.
- Governor.
I assume this is the venue.
About 50,000 a plate.
How many you expecting?
We're gonna cap it at 200.
Where are we with the investigation?
We have a theory
the shooter might be law enforcement.
Goddamn it. What does that mean?
- We're still gathering information.
- We have less than a week.
Okay, that was the advance team.
Secret Service charted the location.
Tents, sniper positions, CAT team,
medical and emergency plan,
all choreographed for night of.
- It's a go.
- You see? We have nothing to worry about.
Can I take a look at USSS's plan?
I could ask for a special dispensation.
- [phone ringing]
- [Nathan] Do that.
You know the homeowners?
[Shelby] Dear friends.
Hmm. One second, Governor. Sorry, sir.
Put 'em through.
Agent Fitzgerald?
Yes, sir?
I hear it was you who discovered
the threat against my life.
- You found it in some, uh…
- Yes.
- Um, the muzzle pile, sir.
- Right.
- That's, uh… [chuckles]
- Bottom of the barrel.
[chuckles] That's right.
What's that say about you?
They've got you working those leads?
My mom always said,
"No pressure, no diamonds."
I'm fine wherever they want to put me.
I'll prove my worth.
Hmm. My father got me into real estate.
It was always his thing.
He never really got it going,
but he spent most of his life
buying properties in LA,
and he left them to me when he died.
Along with the mountain of debt
that he accrued.
I could've sold them off,
let the banks take whatever was left,
but I decided to do the work and dig in,
turn them around, build them up.
You did really well, Governor.
What was it your mom said?
No pressure, no diamonds.
Smart lady.
[Nathan] What?
Where?
- [chatter over police radio]
- [sirens wail]
Why are we here?
Tell him what you told us.
Guy driving that truck
showed me an FBI identification.
Said he had important business.
It look like this?
Exactly like that.
Have a name on it?
Come to think of it,
his thumb might've been over that part.
[Nathan] Then what happened?
He drove on.
I phoned it into the front office.
He parked over by here
instead of over there.
I didn't think nothing of it
till about five minutes later,
I saw smoke coming up over here.
I don't have to tell you
fire's bad at a horse track.
Thought it might be the stalls.
I drove over here, and… damnedest thing.
[Nathan] What'd he look like?
Beard. Ball cap. Sunglasses.
I guess I should've questioned it more,
but it all happened kind of fast.
I'm assuming
there's more to indicate our guy.
There is.
Looks like he put a substance
on the side of the truck…
excuse us… so that it wouldn't burn.
- Ain't nothing in here but ash, bro.
- [Bell] Yeah, I know.
There's not gonna be a fingerprint to pull
or DNA to swipe at all.
- Where were you?
- Right over there.
Ran over when I saw the smoke.
You didn't see anybody fleeing the scene?
I mean, I wasn't really looking for that.
Guy parks in the middle of a lot,
lights up his truck,
you don't see anything?
I didn't, ma'am.
I want pictures of everyone here.
Yeah, you got it.
You the one in charge here?
I have to let bettors in.
Otherwise we ain't gonna have any races.
And I cannot have a cancellation tonight.
Meachum, Oliveras.
Tell those officers over there
to keep this lot blocked off,
but they can allow visitors
to park cars in the south lot.
Will that work?
Yeah, it's gonna have to.
- I'm just trying to get right over there.
- Hey, officer.
I need all of these…
Um…
the parking… the parking lot.
Just, uh, cars diverted to the south lot.
So, just nobody parks here, okay?
- Are you okay?
- Yeah.
- [Hannah] Hmm.
- Yeah, just need you to…
- South lot?
- [Mark] Yep.
Got it.
Hey, am I gonna see you later, Meachum?
Oh.
Uh,
this case is… it's kinda
all-hands-on-deck right now, so…
[Hannah] Okay.
Well, you know where to find me.
Yep.
- She looks fun.
- Okay. Yep. That's great.
Okay. Ready for some light reading?
You coordinated with the Secret Service?
I have the brief.
Safest place in the world for the governor
will be standing next to the president.
- I agree.
- Where are we on the threat?
- Are we secure?
- Yes.
I have Agent Shepherd running
computer forensics on FBINet
to see if anyone's been trying
to access our case file.
You really think it could be
someone inside the Bureau?
We've been playing catch-up
on this case more than once.
- I'm not taking any chances.
- Okay.
I also have feelers out to the other SACs
to see if anyone's been asking
about our task force.
They got their ASACs on it.
What was the response?
Nothing yet.
Okay. Keep me posted.
Will do, boss.
[Finau] Bye, y'all.
["Make It Rain" playing]
[door closes]
[phone chimes]
[chiming]
[cap rattles]
When the sins of my father ♪
Weigh down in my soul ♪
And the pain of my mother ♪
Will not let me go ♪
What do you have today?
- Swing shift.
- 12:00 to 8:00?
- 1:00 to 9:00.
- Ah.
You want me to make some breakfast?
Uh… no, thank you. I gotta get to work.
Okay.
Sounds good.
[sighs]
I'm gonna hop in,
and I will see you when I see you.
Mm-hmm.
Hey. Um…
I'm not making this boring, am I?
What do you mean?
No, I just…
[sighs] Both of our jobs are so go, go, go
that it's nice to slow down
when we're together, right?
Well, yeah. Definitely.
- Really?
- Really.
Okay. Good.
'Cause I don't want you to think
that I'm-I'm… that I'm not happy.
- You know?
- I don't.
Or… I-I didn't.
Well, I am. Happy.
More of that later?
Yes, please.
Okay.
[shower running]
[engine starts]
What the hell?
[ominous music playing]
[music ends]
- [Heather] Detective Meachum?
- Yeah.
Have you seen Amber?
Uh, no. No, I haven't.
[Heather] I'll try her cell.
I just got off with Computer Forensics.
A Bureau agent named Seth Vaughn Lewis
tried to access information
about our task force
through FBINet 48 hours ago.
Tried or did?
- Unclear.
- [Shepherd] Uh, okay.
Well, the truck that was found at
the horse track was a 2018 Ford F-150,
and it looks like this Seth Vaughn Lewis
registered a 2018 F-150
with the Westwood office.
Also, there was at least three F-150s
caught on camera leaving Raising Bane's.
I want our case file on this restricted.
Any attempt to access sends up flares.
I want everything
on Seth Vaughn Lewis within the hour,
including talking to his supervisor.
I want to know what his caseload is,
I want to know
where he lives, where he eats,
where he sleeps.
I want to know where he is standing
on this earth right now. Let's go.
Hey. Oliveras say anything
about coming in late today?
No.
Does anybody have Find My on Oliveras?
Uh, yeah, I do. Why?
She hasn't checked in yet.
Okay.
Looks like she's at a breakfast place
called Hallie's Café on Sunset.
Calling now.
[phone vibrating]
We got an address for Seth Vaughn Lewis.
It's 10243 Salter Avenue, Arcadia.
Not far from the horse track.
- He could've walked home.
- Correct.
Agent Lewis worked the, uh,
Sisters of Love cult murder case
in San Bernardino in 2017.
That puts him how far out
from the Hammerhead Cabins?
It would put him out and around
that entire region.
- Investigation went on for three years.
- [Shepherd] Yeah, and check this out.
That case involved
strange religious symbolism.
He would've been analyzing all of this.
- Where he got the idea for the manifesto.
- [Finau] Holy shit.
- What?
- My ATF buddies
just sent over the list of FBI agents
they handed the AI AXSR rifles to
after the raid.
- Seth Lewis?
- First name on the list.
- [phone chimes]
- [Mark] Hey.
Uh, Worldshield, the company
that the Randy Mankin Power Hour
they contracted,
to handle threat management?
Put their list of consultants up,
would you?
[Shepherd] Yeah.
[Shepherd sighs]
This is our guy.
Now, we don't know what he has
access to regarding this task force,
so don't discuss anything
with anybody outside this room.
I want to roll on that address
in ten minutes.
[Mark] What about Oliveras?
We're not waiting.
[muffled grunting]
[phone vibrates]
Hello.
Hi, yeah.
Yeah, I'm her sister.
I'm s… I'm sorry, what?
Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I will be right there.
Uh, hi. Hi. Um, I'm Evan Shepherd.
I, uh…
My sister, Molly Shepherd,
I got a call that she's here.
- [receptionist] Her name?
- Molly Shepherd.
I received a call that she's, uh…
that she's overdosed, she's in a coma.
Could you just…
[groaning]
Finau, Bell, around back.
Fitz, Meachum, with me. Front door.
[footsteps approach]
[pounding on door]
[Nathan] Lewis.
[footsteps]
[Nathan] It's SAC Blythe.
We need to talk.
Open up now.
What is this?
Where's Seth?
- He's in the shower.
- [muffled shouting]
Seth!
[muffled scream]
[muffled screams continue]
Sorry.
- [gasps]
- [monitor beeping]
[gasps]
[muffled] No. No!
- What the f… Who the fuck are you?
- Down on the ground.
Get down! Get down!
On your knees! Do it now!
Hands behind your back.
Hands behind your back.
I'm an FBI agent.
[Nathan] You have
the right to remain silent.
- Anything you say can and will…
- [Seth] You can't be serious.
…be used against you in a court of law.
[laughs] What the fuck?
This is absurd.
My badge is on the dresser.
- You have the right to an attorney.
- I know.
If you cannot afford an attorney,
one will be provided for you.
Do you understand?
[muffled grunting]
[muffled shouting]
[muffled] Let me go!
[muffled shouting]
Call my ASAC, Del Kilmartin,
at the LA field office.
- I'm an agent. I'm not a criminal.
- Baby?
Ma'am, ma'am, you need to calm down.
Hey, boss.
Something seem off to you?
- [groaning, whimpering]
- [phone vibrates]
Hey, boss.
Hey, you still got those interviews
in Pasadena tomorrow?
Yeah, but I should have 'em
wrapped up by noon at the latest.
Cancel 'em. Come straight in, first thing.
Why? What's going on?
Well, you're not gonna believe this.
Seth was just arrested.
- What are you talking about?
- Everyone's buzzing around here.
Apparently, Seth was making threats to the
governor or the president or something.
- A task force stung him.
- No shit.
Get this.
He was at home with your ex-wife.
You serious?
You should get back here.
They're gonna want to question you.
I haven't seen or talked to Seth
since before the Ventura incident.
He's your old partner.
They're gonna want to talk to you.
Okay.
Of course. I'll be in right away.
This is nuts.
I agree. See you soon, pal.
Sure. Yeah.
[engine shuts off]
[muffled grunting]
[suspenseful rock music playing]
[muffled shouting]
- Out.
- [groans]
- Out!
- [gasps]
[muffled groans]
Up.
- Hey, listen.
- Move.
- Move.
- You don't know who I am,
but I assure you,
people are gonna come looking for me.
I'm a federal agent.
Run.
What?
Run! Run.
Oh, my God!
Exile ♪
[panting]
Exile ♪
Exile ♪
[song ends]
[breathing deeply]
[exhales deeply]
[wind whistling]