Reacher (2022) s04e07 Episode Script
Vote for Sampson
1
Previously on Reacher
Hand over the drive, Reacher.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
- [MAN] Gun!
- [GUNSHOT]
[GUNSHOTS]
[LILA] I got it. Move.
- [TIRES SCREECH]
- [JACOB] We got a GSW to the chest.
[OFFICER] He's one of the guys.
[OFFICER 2] Stop! Get
down! On the ground now!
Jacob. Mother of God.
- You're safe now, kid.
- Why are we idling, Monty?
I love you so much, Jakey.
- It's for the best.
- No, no, no.
- Please don't let them take me.
- Shut the fuck up.
- I get locked up, they'll get to me.
- Shut the
How long until they figure
out it's all connected,
to Indonesia and Anna Merrick?
He's on the run.
His only option is to go
after the guy in that photo.
You find that man and
you'll find Jack Reacher.
[REACHER] We need to speak
with Leo Ahlquist, please.
I want to know what's on these servers,
and how it's connected
to that photo you're in.
- Don't move.
- [REACHER] So, the mercenaries
- have been yours the whole time.
- [AHLQUIST] You should've walked out
of that police station three
days ago and left Philly.
Don't deal with them in the
office. Take them off-site.
They're gonna drive us deep into the
woods and then they're gonna kill us.
[GUNS CLICKING]
[MERC] Time to die.
[BIRDS SINGING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[MERC] No head shots.
- Less blood to clean.
- [ENGINE APPROACHING]
[HORN HONKS]
[ENGINE STOPS]
[MAN] Hey, there.
Can you guys help me out?
I-I've been trying to find the
lake, and I'm just lost as hell.
[MERC] Yeah, wrong way, pal.
This is private property.
- Ah, man, I must have taken a bad turn.
- [WHISPERS] We got to warn him.
- We shout, they'll kill him.
- [MAN] This place is so confusing.
Maybe he'll just leave.
Just turn around, go
back the way you came.
See, that's the thing, I don't
even know where the main road is.
D-Do you mind taking a
look at my map for me?
- [CAR DOOR CLOSES]
- Yeah, sure. Let's take a look.
- No!
- [GUNSHOTS]
- [BIRDS SQUAWKING]
- [WINGS FLUTTERING]
♪
Reacher. Ma'am.
- [EXHALES]
- [REACHER] So, Sampson did know
who was in that photo.
Not till after you called.
Did some checking with old sources,
figured out it was Ahlquist.
Sent me down here to talk to him.
Showed up at his building to see
these guys load you two into a van,
so I followed.
Unlock us.
We have a conversation
to finish with Ahlquist.
[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS]
[DOG BARKING]
[ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[DARK MUSIC PLAYING]
End of the line.
- [CAR DOOR CLOSES]
- [GRUNTS]
[JACOB PANTING]
- Let's go.
- No. Get-get off.
[DOCHERTY] Let's go.
- All right.
- [JACOB] Okay.
- [DOCHERTY] Down there, around the corner.
- Listen. Listen to me.
- Listen
- [DOCHERTY] I don't
just do what I fucking tell you.
[JACOB] You don't have to do this.
[PANTING]
♪
[HANDCUFFS CLICK]
[MUTTERS] All right. That's better.
[MUTTERING SOFTLY]
Okay. Face me.
Okay.
Get out of here.
I-I thought you were gonna kill me.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY] What the hell
kind of cop you think I am?
I don't know. What kind are you?
The kind who almost turned
the car around three times
to actually bring you in.
- So why didn't you?
- Because of that guy
whose ear Reacher ripped off.
We thought he was on the job.
Turns out, no one could
find him in the system.
Next thing we know, these CIA assholes
come to take him away,
tell us "it never happened."
Real men in black shit.
And that one-eared fuck,
he had a tranquilizer gun
and a key to Reacher's cell.
What does that sound like to you?
That they were gonna murder him.
So, what the hell has my
partner gotten herself into?
It's really complicated.
Then speak slowly.
[EXHALES] The night my sister died,
she had a jump drive with sensitive
government information on it.
The thing that the
Feds were looking for?
They weren't the only
ones who wanted it.
These two Indonesian women, the CIA,
some well-trained operatives.
But we found it first.
Is that how we got to that, uh,
shoot-out in that restaurant?
Yeah.
The women wound up with it.
Do you know what's on it?
A decades-old photo.
Tamara and Reacher went to talk
to one of the men in the picture,
some, uh, chemist named Leo Ahlquist.
Chemist?
- What?
- We found a bunch of chemistry stuff
at the restaurant, like beakers
and Bunsen burners and shit.
Looked like someone was
planning on making something.
That can't be good.
So, where's this Ahlquist?
Dover.
It's a little out of my jurisdiction,
but if she needs help in
Philly, tell her to call me.
I'll do what I can.
You know how Tamara ended up
working with a clock-puncher like me?
By insisting on doing the right thing.
You know, she's a pain in the ass,
but she's the most
stand-up police I know.
And I knew all that stuff they were
saying about her on
the news was garbage.
Are you gonna get in trouble for this?
Not if I can help it.
Hey.
Okay. Right here.
Just right here.
- "Right here" what?
- Butt of the gun,
right here where the
skin is tight, all right?
The story will be you faked a seizure,
I checked on you, you attacked,
you headbutted me, knocked
me loopy and then escaped.
You got 15 years on me.
They'll believe that you
got the jump on my old ass.
Maybe I also ran off with the gun, too?
No, don't press your luck, all right?
I'm gonna be fucked enough over this
without losing my piece, all right?
Let's do this. It's showtime, all right?
- [SHOUTS] Ow, ah, oh.
- Ooh.
- Okay, all right, all right, good, good.
- Okay. You okay?
Good. Good work, good work.
All right, now get moving,
keep your head down.
Oh, can you do me a favor?
I'm pretty sure I'm
doing you one right now.
Check in on Russell Plum.
GSW admitted to Penn Presby.
Okay? Tell him
I'm sorry I left him at the library.
Yeah, sure.
I don't know how to thank you.
By getting the fuck out of here.
We're not friends now, all right?
We're not having a
moment here. Get lost.
[LINE RINGING]
[AUTOMATED VOICE] The
person you have reached
- is not available at this time.
- You got to be fucking kidding me.
Please leave a message.
- [VOICEMAIL BEEPS]
- Where the hell are you?
I need confirmation
you completed your
assignment, so we can
[DARK MUSIC PLAYING]
We never got to finish our talk.
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
[GRUNTING]
[SCREAMS] Ow!
[GROANS]
How did you find me?
I saw how many hard
drives you had to shred,
so I waited outside your office
till you were done and tailed you.
I can get you money. You want money?
- I'll get you money.
- I want answers.
What's in that photograph
that's so important
you and everyone else are
willing to kill for it?
Remember how I said I
was gonna make you talk?
No, no, n [SCREAMS]
Goddamn it!
Fuck!
No, no, no! Wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait.
I'll tell I'll tell you
anything you want to know. Don't
The photograph.
[PANTING]
It contains the formula
for a chemical weapon
of mass destruction.
There's no formula in the photograph.
It's there. You just can't see it.
- [BONES BREAK]
- [SCREAMS]
- Start making sense!
- Okay, okay.
Let me explain.
Get to it.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
After the '95 sarin gas
attacks on the Tokyo subway,
the U.S. figured that chemical weapons
would be the next WMD of choice
for the world's worst terrorists
so the CIA secretly contracted DARPA.
I was working there,
an assistant, just out of grad school.
They assigned me to a
project, Operation Mongoose.
We were supposed to
create chemical weapons
and then reverse engineer them
to find antidotes and countermeasures.
[SPRINGFIELD] Geneva Protocol and
Chemical Weapons
Convention outlawed them.
[PANTING]
It was all off the books.
An Indonesian Army general named Putra
was trying to get the
U.S. Special Forces
to come and train his men for a while.
Now, Putra was sketchy, but Washington
saw an opportunity to cut a deal.
In exchange for training,
Putra would allow the CIA to build
a secret chemical weapons
lab in the rainforest.
John Sampson knew about this?
[GRUNTS SOFTLY] No. We were
told to keep it from Sampson
and the guys under him.
[YOUNG SAMPSON] Stay low.
Stay low.
Stay low.
- [TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
- [GUNFIRE IN DISTANCE]
Stay low. Stay low.
Move, move, move.
[AHLQUIST] Sampson was a Boy Scout.
If he'd known we were
breaking international law,
he'd have blown the whistle.
He thought we were there
doing malaria research.
The only Delta guy who knew
what we were really doing
was their commanding officer, Cahill.
He helped us cover it up.
So, that's why Cahill was
on the subway that night?
- Still trying to bury all this?
- Yes.
When that clerk Merrick
stole the Delta files,
she must have tripped
some alarm in the system.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
The Department of Defense sent
some of their guys to follow her
see where she was
taking the stolen info.
They picked up her trail
a few blocks from work.
They figured it was low-level stuff,
since it was from Indonesia in '98.
They had no idea what
that photo could unleash.
[PHONE RINGING]
They called Sampson's
office as a courtesy.
It was late.
- Cahill was the only one there.
- Cahill.
He knew, if those files
were being targeted,
there must have been
something incriminating in it.
It didn't take him long
to realize what it was.
Cahill caught up with
the Feds tailing Merrick,
he cut them off, made them
get into a fender bender
on the highway so they lost her scent.
Feds never saw him, and
he kept on Anna's tail.
He was Delta.
That kind of stuff
was in his wheelhouse.
He tracked her all
the way to the subway.
He was gonna take the drive from
her as soon as he got her alone.
Then everything went to hell.
But you know that part, don't you?
[INSECTS TRILLING]
So, when the cops came, Cahill
slipped out and called to warn you.
[AHLQUIST] He made two calls.
One to me and one to Foster,
the CIA officer who
ran Operation Mongoose.
I know Foster. I ripped his ear off.
[TAMARA] Calling Foster makes sense,
'cause Cahill wanted whatever was on
that drive to never
see the light of day,
and Cahill figured
that the CIA gave them
the best chance of doing that quietly.
But why call you?
Like you said, you
were just an assistant.
Snap that shit.
No! No! No! [SHOUTS]
He called because I was using
what we learned in the jungle,
and Cahill knew that.
How did he know?
Uh, after I made billions off
pesticides, when my company grew,
my name was in the press a lot
and Cahill recognized me from Indonesia.
He reached out years ago,
worried that I was gonna do something
to expose Operation Mongoose.
I told him that would be the
last thing I'd let happen.
What we created in
that illegal operation
was the basis for my whole business.
If that comes out, we're all ruined.
That's why you hired the mercenaries.
You wanted to make
sure the job got done.
But if they had the same goal as
the CIA suppress the drive
why kill the CIA operatives in D.C.?
My company's done business in some
of the world's most dangerous places,
and so we've had to hire some of
the world's most dangerous people.
Sometimes, they've gone too far.
I never wanted them to kill anyone.
[PANTING]
Except maybe those two women.
You know who they really are?
My guys found out through
some of their sources.
The older one, who
calls herself "Amisha,"
used to be in Putra's
special forces unit.
Worshiped him, from what I understand.
The younger one, Lila, is her acolyte.
Both extremely dangerous.
You could call them international
criminal opportunists.
They usually work for hire,
except, in this case,
they saw an opportunity
to make a lot of money and they took it.
- And we're back to the photo.
- [GROANS]
Sampson was documenting
the training for Washington.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
I guess we'd gotten careless,
but we were doing things that none
of the soldiers there understood anyway.
We looked down on them,
thought they weren't very smart.
We probably should have
been better with security.
Sir, General Putra wants to
take a photo with the two of us.
Okay, but let's do it outside.
No, no, no, no. Too bright.
It will turn out much
better in here. Come.
Now you send this to Washington,
D.C. so they will always know
what a good friend they have in me, yes?
Of course, General.
[AHLQUIST] Cahill would have
destroyed the photo after,
but when it was developed,
he saw that the whiteboard
with our formula on it was in
the background, out of focus.
And so, the photo, one
of countless others,
just became part of the official
documentation of our time down there.
Any sensitive information
became completely illegible.
Illegible in the '90s.
Yeah. Newly developed AI,
when applied to image deconvolution
can, essentially,
digitally refocus the lens.
So, what was unclear
yesterday is clear today.
[TAMARA] Okay. Let's say
they have the formula now.
How hard is this stuff to make?
[SIGHS] It's impossible
without the root biotoxin.
Abrin.
Seventy times more lethal than ricin.
It's hard to get potent
samples in America,
it's relatively common in
the Indonesian rainforests.
We derived it from a plant
called the rosary pea.
- Shit.
- What?
Lila has rosary peas.
I saw them.
[LILA] My mother gave me
this bracelet when I was 16.
Two seeds in each box.
Me and her, always together.
If the formula was secret,
how did Lila and Amisha know
about the seeds before
they got the photo?
We used Putra's soldiers to gather them,
so I guess they must have known
the seeds were somehow integral.
That was fucking stupid.
Shut up.
They were free labor.
So, they have the seeds.
What do they need to make the weapon?
Chemicals available at any supply shop.
But it's how we process them with
the seeds that makes it so lethal.
So, they could be making
this stuff right now?
They could have already made it.
- [DARK MUSIC PLAYING]
- [QUIET CHATTER]
[GLASS CLINKING]
Hey.
So, this is our helper?
They said you, uh, were
looking for somebody
to try some new kind of skag.
I-I'm down for that.
But I won't do any sex stuff.
[LILA] No. No sex stuff.
Just the greatest high you'll ever know.
Sit.
You're gonna enjoy this.
♪
[PANTING SOFTLY]
What does it do?
It makes all your problems go away.
[GRUNTS, INHALES]
[GRUNTS]
[GASPING]
[WHEEZING GASP]
[CHOKING]
Toxins are extremely effective when
deployed against a single target.
You said that you were
researching weapons
that could be used in mass attacks.
No one's ever figured out
how to effectively deliver
chemical toxins over a
widespread outdoor area.
[AHLQUIST] We did.
When aerosolized, this stuff
hangs in the air like a fog,
and it's light enough
to move on air currents.
So, it spreads quickly.
You send a suicide bomber with that
stuff strapped to him into Times Square,
you'll kill everyone
within a ten-block radius.
Most in seconds.
[TAMARA] You said this whole project
was meant to keep shit
like this from happening.
We were trying to create
our worst-case scenario,
the thing we feared the most,
and then work backwards to
find a way to neutralize it.
So, there's an antidote?
We never got that far.
Project was scrapped when Putra somehow
found out what we were doing down there,
and he stole the weapon.
Slaughtered an entire
village because its leaders
allied with Putra's political enemies.
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
The U.S. covered it all up.
It was a bad look, even
if it wasn't our intention.
And now Lila and Amisha are
gonna sell it to God-knows-who.
Our goal was defense, it wasn't offense.
I was postgrad, man. I was
working off student loans.
You know, I was just
doing what I was told.
Yeah, doing what you were told.
You used the formula
to make yourself rich.
[AHLQUIST] I modified it.
My pesticides are only
deadly on fucking bollworms.
I prevent famine.
You understand?
People eat because of me.
People died because of you
you protecting your own
ass and your bank account.
What did we lose?
A government clerk?
A fucking football player?
A few mid-level CIA agents?
Saving the world comes with costs.
[TAMARA] Okay, what do
we do with this asshole?
Even if we get the drive
from Lila and Amisha,
they can still track him down
and get the recipe from him.
I'm not gonna tell them anything.
I swear.
You spilled your guts
after a few broken fingers.
I've seen what these women do to people.
You'll talk.
[ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYING]
Wait. Wait!
Wait, wait, w
Jesus Christ, Reacher.
I'm the head of security for a man
who might be the next president
of the United States of America.
You can't do shit like
that in front of me.
Saving the world comes with costs.
I'm good with it.
Make enough to kill thousands.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
- [TIRES SCREECH]
- [HORN HONKS]
Sorry. I'm sorry.
[SIREN WAILING]
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[OFFICER] find
out as soon as you can.
[OLD-FASHIONED RINGING]
[RINGING STOPS]
Oh, shit.
[BOBBY WOMACK SINGS
"ACROSS 110TH STREET"]
I was the third brother of five ♪
Doing whatever I
had to do to survive ♪
I'm not saying what
I did was all right ♪
- [PHONE RINGING]
- Trying to break out of the ghetto ♪
Was a day-to-day fight ♪
Jacob. What's going on with Plum?
[JACOB OVER PHONE] Don't know.
The cops at the hospital
ID'd me, and I had to run.
Last time I saw him,
he didn't look good.
Shit. [SIGHS]
- You okay?
- Not really,
'cause I just found out
Lila's auctioning off the drive
on the dark web at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.
How do you know that?
Plum put those feelers out to
his contacts on some message board
looking for info on the drive?
Well, I've got his phone,
and one of his journalist
buddies got back to him.
This guy found an auction notice
on the dark web, and from the
chatter he picked up, it looks like
most of the world's leading
scumbags will be bidding.
So, any luck finding out
exactly what's for sale?
The formula for a chemical WMD.
Fuck.
Yeah, it's bad.
Might be worse than you think.
The auction notice mentions a
proof of concept demonstration.
And cops found chemistry
supplies in that old restaurant.
That makes sense.
You don't spend billions on a
weapon unless you know it'll deliver.
They must've already made the
stuff if they set the auction.
That's why they forced Anna to
delete the file after she stole it.
If there's only one copy of the formula,
that makes it even more valuable.
If the auction's tomorrow,
they're gonna kill people
tonight to prove it works.
Aren't they cutting it close?
Can't they just
- delay the auction?
- [REACHER] Not if some of the buyers made
it clear they don't want it delayed.
And the last thing Lila and Amisha
need right now is to look weak.
They promised a sale,
they'll deliver a sale.
They just didn't expect your sister
to fubar their whole operation.
Search online, see if there's
anything going on in Philly
that'll make a suitable target.
How do you know the attack will be here?
It's the sixth largest city in America.
They'll rack up a huge death toll.
And it's where they
were gonna meet Anna.
They had the chemistry equipment
standing by.
It's much less risky to make
a weapon and use it locally
than it is to transport something
so deadly somewhere else.
Especially now that
the cops, us, the mercs
and the CIA are all looking for 'em.
They'll keep their
exposure to a minimum.
They'll make it in Philly and
they'll set it off in Philly.
What the hell am I looking for?
Something outdoors that shows how
well the poison works in open air.
Citizens Bank Park?
No. I caught the last Phillies
game before a road trip.
The Chinese Lantern
Festival in Franklin Square.
I saw banners for that.
[TAMARA] It's next
weekend. What about this?
"The Philadelphia Orchestra
Plays Movie Scores at the Mann Center."
Outdoor venue, seats 14,000.
Nothing else going on tonight.
- That's the one.
- I'll call it in.
We're wanted by the Feds and Philly PD.
Who's gonna believe us?
Docherty.
He had me in custody and he let me go.
Why the hell'd he do that?
Because of you. He'll listen
if you call him, Tamara.
Also, I need you guys
to come pick me up.
[ORCHESTRA PLAYING "THEME
FROM MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE"]
[INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER]
[TAMARA] It's pretty chilly
for a summer night.
Looks like a storm's coming.
So, Amisha knew the whiteboard
formula was out of focus
because she took the photo?
- Right.
- And when technology advanced enough,
she realized that she could
now make the formula legible.
[REACHER] But the photo
was stored in the old files
at Delta Force HQ in Fort
Liberty, North Carolina.
Breaking in would be impossible.
But when Congress decides to
digitize old government files,
Amisha saw her chance.
They moved the files off base
to a government facility
that isn't as secure.
Amisha does her research,
figures out which clerk has
weaknesses they could exploit.
Like a single mom with a son.
A million things had to fall
into place for me to lose them.
[CHEERING IN DISTANCE]
[CONDUCTOR IN DISTANCE] And thank
you for coming out, Philadelphia.
- Have a wonderful evening.
- [VEHICLE APPROACHING]
Oh, shit.
[TAMARA] It's okay. It's Docherty.
[ENGINE SHUTS OFF]
[CAR DOOR OPENS]
Well, this was a fucking bust.
Cops and dogs in every
corner of this place.
They searched everyone who
went in, delayed the show,
pissed off the venue, pissed
off some city officials
who were here with
their fucking families.
And you know how many cubic
tons of shit I had to eat
pretending that some hick
cop got the best of me?
Now I got half the department out here
on a goddamn snipe hunt.
I trusted you, and you fucked me.
- Wasn't intentional.
- Oh.
Like an accident?
Like what happened
with that Ahlquist guy?
I saw the news, dickheads.
Ahlquist died in an
accident this afternoon.
Thrown from his car, broke his neck.
You have something to do with that?
I hit a deer.
[JACOB] Hey, did-did you
get in to see Plum?
He's still in surgery.
I'll check on my way home.
- [VEHICLE APPROACHING]
- [INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER]
Look, why don't you guys get out of here
before somebody recognizes you?
Or maybe I'll point you out to them
after the bullshit you pulled here.
[CAR DOOR OPENS]
- [CAR DOOR CLOSES]
- [ENGINE STARTS]
[TAMARA SCOFFS]
I don't get it.
This checked all the boxes.
Outdoors, huge crowd, in Philly.
- The fuck are we missing?
- We should go.
There's gonna be a ton of
traffic coming through here soon.
Wait.
Traffic.
They're gonna attack the highway.
Based on what?
Auction's at 10:00 a.m.
They aren't hitting here, so
what's their next best chance
at killing thousands outdoors?
Morning rush hour.
Bad traffic starts around 7:30.
Makes sense.
Get people bidding on their weapons
at the same time 24-hour news channels
are broadcasting live coverage
of the death they can cause.
But how do you attack a highway?
Retrofit a refrigerated
truck so the exhaust system
shoots toxins out the back.
Travels right into the
vent system of every car
packed in bumper-to-bumper for miles.
Rent a crop duster and
buzz the interstate.
What's around here? 95?
95, Roosevelt Boulevard, the Schuylkill.
Everything's jammed in the morning.
Every car will become a coffin.
Who's gonna listen to us?
We just used up our goodwill with
the only cop in the city who would,
and we can't shut down
interstates on our own.
We can't.
The federal government might be able to.
[RICHARD IACONA PLAYS "ROULETTE"]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[JOHN] Hey, Nick, Colleen.
Thank you guys for being
here. We appreciate it.
Don.
- Hey, John, how are you?
- Get your checkbook out, buddy.
- Good to see you.
- [LAUGHS]
Oh, fuck. Thank you for being here.
Congressman.
- Mike Dunston.
- Hey, Mr. Dunston.
Please. Mike. I just
wanted to introduce myself.
I had the winning bid
for the dinner with you.
Oh, thank you. Looking forward to it.
- And who do we have here?
- Oh, this is my son Kyle.
- Oh, nice to meet you, Kyle.
- Hello, sir.
Kyle, why don't you have a seat
over there for a few minutes?
I know we'll have
time to talk at dinner,
but I just wanted to plant a seed.
I own HydroMade Power.
We build state-of-the-art
hydroelectric plants,
- and we have a new project
- Yeah, I'm already aware of it.
Well, then you know that
it's good for the power grid
and good for the environment, too.
What I've seen looks promising,
but your donation to my wife's
charity won't affect my vote.
I just got to make sure we're on
the same page there, Mike. [LAUGHS]
- Of course, of course, I just
- [PHONE RINGING]
Sorry, Congressman.
[GRUNTS SOFTLY]
It's the regulatory commission.
Can you believe that?
- Oh.
- I-I'll be right back.
Completely understand.
[SIGHS] Can't believe your dad
bid on a dinner with a
boring old congressman
instead of those box seats.
Big Phillies fan?
Not really. Just never
been to a game with my dad.
Hmm. He doesn't like baseball?
He's always got work.
[PHONE VIBRATING, RINGING]
I know how he feels.
[MIKE SIGHS]
Sorry about that.
Say, Mike, got an idea.
How about you, me and Kyle
catch a ball game instead?
Right? Dinners can be
boring, and the Phillies
have that kid that can
throw at 105 miles an hour.
- [PHONE VIBRATING, RINGING]
- Some Texas Tommys, couple of beers,
and you and I can even
talk a little business.
Sound good?
Um, sounds great.
I'll have my office set it up.
Sorry, uh
Just another minute.
Yeah?
I'll leave by the fourth inning.
You'll have him all to yourself.
[PHONE VIBRATING, RINGING]
Reacher.
Springfield told me what
happened in Delaware.
Can't say I approve of
the way you do business.
We have reason to believe the
toxin Ahlquist told us about
is gonna be used on
a Philadelphia freeway
- during rush hour tomorrow morning.
- Based on what?
The women calling themselves
Lila and Amisha Hoth
have scheduled a dark web auction
of the chemical formula
at 10:00 a.m. local time.
And they want a successful strike
before then to drive bidding.
Shit. I'll call Homeland.
[WOMAN] Let's do lunch when
I'm in Washington next week.
[ELSPETH] Sounds good.
[JOHN] Hey. Have you seen Springfield?
Yeah, he headed down to the
service entrance a few minutes ago.
Security there isn't answering on
the walkie, and he's pissed as hell.
What, no one from security?
Not at the service entrance.
Probably punched out early just
'cause the dinner service is over.
That's not why they're not answering.
I need you to get back to the hotel.
- Why?
- I don't have time to explain.
Just go now.
[PHONE RINGING]
- Yeah.
- [JOHN] They're not gonna hit
the freeways tomorrow.
They're hitting here,
where I am, tonight.
Where are you?
Penn's Landing in Philadelphia.
Outdoor fundraiser, lots of people.
Not as many as they'd kill
during morning rush hour.
Why would they attack
a smaller charity event?
Because it's my wife's charity event.
They know I'll be here.
I didn't tell you this before,
'cause it wasn't relevant,
but when I said
Delta hunted down and
took out General Putra,
I was the one who pulled the trigger.
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING IN DISTANCE]
[GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING CONTINUE]
No!
[GUNFIRE]
[SCREAMS]
[COUGHS]
[GROANS]
[SHOUTING CONTINUES IN DISTANCE]
[FOREBODING MUSIC PLAYING]
[JOHN] The woman calling
herself Amisha saw me do it.
She idolized Putra.
If she needs to pick a place in
Philly to demonstrate her weapon,
why not an event that
also exacts some revenge?
Get paid, get payback.
It's a nice bonus for her.
No reason she wouldn't
choose your event.
Penn's Landing's not far.
Hang on.
- [TIRES SCREECHING]
- [CAR HORN HONKS]
- [PHONE BEEPS]
- Hey, stay on the line.
Springfield.
Sir, we have a problem.
Let me guess.
Guard at the service entrance is dead.
Throat slit.
[QUIETLY] Fuck.
The shit's gonna break bad here soon.
Do you want me to send Elspeth home?
I already did.
Negative. She's
approaching me right now.
Oh, damn it, Elly.
Look, get her out of here. I got to go.
[TIRES SCREECHING]
Reacher,
we got a murdered security guard here.
This is happening now.
Evacuate the venue.
They see people running out,
they'll trigger the weapon early.
Right now they don't know we know.
Our best chance is to
neutralize the attack.
How? We don't even know how
they're gonna aerosol the toxin.
Yes, we do. Ahlquist already told us.
He said a suicide bomber
would take out Times Square.
Should be more than
enough for Penn's Landing.
Lila and Amisha aren't
gonna sacrifice themselves.
They're in this to get rich, not die.
But if they have terrorist
contacts to sell the weapons to,
maybe they got one of those
groups to loan 'em a zealot.
They get proof the toxin works
and credit for the attack.
When we got the jump
drive from my mailbox,
Plum said something about
Lila flying in someone from
the country of Djibouti.
Did you get a look at the guy?
No.
We don't need a photo.
Sampson, you were Delta.
Assume you know The List?
Of course I do.
Run it down.
Number one: Inappropriate clothes.
Big, baggy, to hide explosives.
Number two: Uneven movement
because of the weight of the
device or due to being drugged.
Number three: Carrying a bag
a knapsack, briefcase.
Number four:
Clenched fist around
the detonation device.
Run the light.
[HORNS HONKING]
[JOHN] Number five:
Nervous behavior, jumpy.
[REACHER] Number six:
Mumbling to themselves,
possibly praying.
Number seven:
Odd breathing patterns.
[REACHER] Number eight:
Only looking straight ahead
so you don't have to see
who you're about to kill.
Number nine: Intense focus.
Number ten: Walking
with directed purpose.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[TIRES SCREECHING]
We're almost there.
You're gonna be too late.
[REACHER] Why?
'Cause I found him.
[ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[AMISHA] It's an honor to meet you.
We cannot thank you enough
for your selflessness
and will forever be in your debt.
Got to go, Reacher.
He hung up.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[TIRES SCREECH]
[GRUNTS]
[GUARD] Hey. Hold on.
Main entrance. Huge guy
just tore through here.
[STARTLED CHATTER]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[GUARD 2] Hey!
[SHOUTS]
[JOHN SHOUTS]
[STARTLED CHATTER]
[GUESTS SCREAMING]
[MAN GRUNTS]
[REACHER PANTING]
- [MOTÖRHEAD PLAYS "ONE MORE FUCKING TIME"]
- Both your eyes wide open ♪
You see the shape I'm in ♪
It wasn't of my choosing ♪
It's only bones and skin ♪
And I will plead no contest ♪
If loving you's a crime ♪
So go on and find me guilty ♪
Just one more fucking time ♪
All your life is in your head ♪
All your dreams are in your sleep ♪
And if your dreams are hid too deep ♪
They're just a waste of time ♪
When you try to chase the dream ♪
You never seem to know the time ♪
You never recognise the signs ♪
And nothing's what it seems ♪
Both your eyes wide open ♪
You see the shape I'm in ♪
It wasn't of my choosing ♪
It's only bones and skin ♪
Previously on Reacher
Hand over the drive, Reacher.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
- [MAN] Gun!
- [GUNSHOT]
[GUNSHOTS]
[LILA] I got it. Move.
- [TIRES SCREECH]
- [JACOB] We got a GSW to the chest.
[OFFICER] He's one of the guys.
[OFFICER 2] Stop! Get
down! On the ground now!
Jacob. Mother of God.
- You're safe now, kid.
- Why are we idling, Monty?
I love you so much, Jakey.
- It's for the best.
- No, no, no.
- Please don't let them take me.
- Shut the fuck up.
- I get locked up, they'll get to me.
- Shut the
How long until they figure
out it's all connected,
to Indonesia and Anna Merrick?
He's on the run.
His only option is to go
after the guy in that photo.
You find that man and
you'll find Jack Reacher.
[REACHER] We need to speak
with Leo Ahlquist, please.
I want to know what's on these servers,
and how it's connected
to that photo you're in.
- Don't move.
- [REACHER] So, the mercenaries
- have been yours the whole time.
- [AHLQUIST] You should've walked out
of that police station three
days ago and left Philly.
Don't deal with them in the
office. Take them off-site.
They're gonna drive us deep into the
woods and then they're gonna kill us.
[GUNS CLICKING]
[MERC] Time to die.
[BIRDS SINGING]
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[MERC] No head shots.
- Less blood to clean.
- [ENGINE APPROACHING]
[HORN HONKS]
[ENGINE STOPS]
[MAN] Hey, there.
Can you guys help me out?
I-I've been trying to find the
lake, and I'm just lost as hell.
[MERC] Yeah, wrong way, pal.
This is private property.
- Ah, man, I must have taken a bad turn.
- [WHISPERS] We got to warn him.
- We shout, they'll kill him.
- [MAN] This place is so confusing.
Maybe he'll just leave.
Just turn around, go
back the way you came.
See, that's the thing, I don't
even know where the main road is.
D-Do you mind taking a
look at my map for me?
- [CAR DOOR CLOSES]
- Yeah, sure. Let's take a look.
- No!
- [GUNSHOTS]
- [BIRDS SQUAWKING]
- [WINGS FLUTTERING]
♪
Reacher. Ma'am.
- [EXHALES]
- [REACHER] So, Sampson did know
who was in that photo.
Not till after you called.
Did some checking with old sources,
figured out it was Ahlquist.
Sent me down here to talk to him.
Showed up at his building to see
these guys load you two into a van,
so I followed.
Unlock us.
We have a conversation
to finish with Ahlquist.
[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS]
[DOG BARKING]
[ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[DARK MUSIC PLAYING]
End of the line.
- [CAR DOOR CLOSES]
- [GRUNTS]
[JACOB PANTING]
- Let's go.
- No. Get-get off.
[DOCHERTY] Let's go.
- All right.
- [JACOB] Okay.
- [DOCHERTY] Down there, around the corner.
- Listen. Listen to me.
- Listen
- [DOCHERTY] I don't
just do what I fucking tell you.
[JACOB] You don't have to do this.
[PANTING]
♪
[HANDCUFFS CLICK]
[MUTTERS] All right. That's better.
[MUTTERING SOFTLY]
Okay. Face me.
Okay.
Get out of here.
I-I thought you were gonna kill me.
[LAUGHS SOFTLY] What the hell
kind of cop you think I am?
I don't know. What kind are you?
The kind who almost turned
the car around three times
to actually bring you in.
- So why didn't you?
- Because of that guy
whose ear Reacher ripped off.
We thought he was on the job.
Turns out, no one could
find him in the system.
Next thing we know, these CIA assholes
come to take him away,
tell us "it never happened."
Real men in black shit.
And that one-eared fuck,
he had a tranquilizer gun
and a key to Reacher's cell.
What does that sound like to you?
That they were gonna murder him.
So, what the hell has my
partner gotten herself into?
It's really complicated.
Then speak slowly.
[EXHALES] The night my sister died,
she had a jump drive with sensitive
government information on it.
The thing that the
Feds were looking for?
They weren't the only
ones who wanted it.
These two Indonesian women, the CIA,
some well-trained operatives.
But we found it first.
Is that how we got to that, uh,
shoot-out in that restaurant?
Yeah.
The women wound up with it.
Do you know what's on it?
A decades-old photo.
Tamara and Reacher went to talk
to one of the men in the picture,
some, uh, chemist named Leo Ahlquist.
Chemist?
- What?
- We found a bunch of chemistry stuff
at the restaurant, like beakers
and Bunsen burners and shit.
Looked like someone was
planning on making something.
That can't be good.
So, where's this Ahlquist?
Dover.
It's a little out of my jurisdiction,
but if she needs help in
Philly, tell her to call me.
I'll do what I can.
You know how Tamara ended up
working with a clock-puncher like me?
By insisting on doing the right thing.
You know, she's a pain in the ass,
but she's the most
stand-up police I know.
And I knew all that stuff they were
saying about her on
the news was garbage.
Are you gonna get in trouble for this?
Not if I can help it.
Hey.
Okay. Right here.
Just right here.
- "Right here" what?
- Butt of the gun,
right here where the
skin is tight, all right?
The story will be you faked a seizure,
I checked on you, you attacked,
you headbutted me, knocked
me loopy and then escaped.
You got 15 years on me.
They'll believe that you
got the jump on my old ass.
Maybe I also ran off with the gun, too?
No, don't press your luck, all right?
I'm gonna be fucked enough over this
without losing my piece, all right?
Let's do this. It's showtime, all right?
- [SHOUTS] Ow, ah, oh.
- Ooh.
- Okay, all right, all right, good, good.
- Okay. You okay?
Good. Good work, good work.
All right, now get moving,
keep your head down.
Oh, can you do me a favor?
I'm pretty sure I'm
doing you one right now.
Check in on Russell Plum.
GSW admitted to Penn Presby.
Okay? Tell him
I'm sorry I left him at the library.
Yeah, sure.
I don't know how to thank you.
By getting the fuck out of here.
We're not friends now, all right?
We're not having a
moment here. Get lost.
[LINE RINGING]
[AUTOMATED VOICE] The
person you have reached
- is not available at this time.
- You got to be fucking kidding me.
Please leave a message.
- [VOICEMAIL BEEPS]
- Where the hell are you?
I need confirmation
you completed your
assignment, so we can
[DARK MUSIC PLAYING]
We never got to finish our talk.
[THUNDER RUMBLES]
[GRUNTING]
[SCREAMS] Ow!
[GROANS]
How did you find me?
I saw how many hard
drives you had to shred,
so I waited outside your office
till you were done and tailed you.
I can get you money. You want money?
- I'll get you money.
- I want answers.
What's in that photograph
that's so important
you and everyone else are
willing to kill for it?
Remember how I said I
was gonna make you talk?
No, no, n [SCREAMS]
Goddamn it!
Fuck!
No, no, no! Wait,
wait, wait, wait, wait.
I'll tell I'll tell you
anything you want to know. Don't
The photograph.
[PANTING]
It contains the formula
for a chemical weapon
of mass destruction.
There's no formula in the photograph.
It's there. You just can't see it.
- [BONES BREAK]
- [SCREAMS]
- Start making sense!
- Okay, okay.
Let me explain.
Get to it.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
After the '95 sarin gas
attacks on the Tokyo subway,
the U.S. figured that chemical weapons
would be the next WMD of choice
for the world's worst terrorists
so the CIA secretly contracted DARPA.
I was working there,
an assistant, just out of grad school.
They assigned me to a
project, Operation Mongoose.
We were supposed to
create chemical weapons
and then reverse engineer them
to find antidotes and countermeasures.
[SPRINGFIELD] Geneva Protocol and
Chemical Weapons
Convention outlawed them.
[PANTING]
It was all off the books.
An Indonesian Army general named Putra
was trying to get the
U.S. Special Forces
to come and train his men for a while.
Now, Putra was sketchy, but Washington
saw an opportunity to cut a deal.
In exchange for training,
Putra would allow the CIA to build
a secret chemical weapons
lab in the rainforest.
John Sampson knew about this?
[GRUNTS SOFTLY] No. We were
told to keep it from Sampson
and the guys under him.
[YOUNG SAMPSON] Stay low.
Stay low.
Stay low.
- [TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
- [GUNFIRE IN DISTANCE]
Stay low. Stay low.
Move, move, move.
[AHLQUIST] Sampson was a Boy Scout.
If he'd known we were
breaking international law,
he'd have blown the whistle.
He thought we were there
doing malaria research.
The only Delta guy who knew
what we were really doing
was their commanding officer, Cahill.
He helped us cover it up.
So, that's why Cahill was
on the subway that night?
- Still trying to bury all this?
- Yes.
When that clerk Merrick
stole the Delta files,
she must have tripped
some alarm in the system.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
The Department of Defense sent
some of their guys to follow her
see where she was
taking the stolen info.
They picked up her trail
a few blocks from work.
They figured it was low-level stuff,
since it was from Indonesia in '98.
They had no idea what
that photo could unleash.
[PHONE RINGING]
They called Sampson's
office as a courtesy.
It was late.
- Cahill was the only one there.
- Cahill.
He knew, if those files
were being targeted,
there must have been
something incriminating in it.
It didn't take him long
to realize what it was.
Cahill caught up with
the Feds tailing Merrick,
he cut them off, made them
get into a fender bender
on the highway so they lost her scent.
Feds never saw him, and
he kept on Anna's tail.
He was Delta.
That kind of stuff
was in his wheelhouse.
He tracked her all
the way to the subway.
He was gonna take the drive from
her as soon as he got her alone.
Then everything went to hell.
But you know that part, don't you?
[INSECTS TRILLING]
So, when the cops came, Cahill
slipped out and called to warn you.
[AHLQUIST] He made two calls.
One to me and one to Foster,
the CIA officer who
ran Operation Mongoose.
I know Foster. I ripped his ear off.
[TAMARA] Calling Foster makes sense,
'cause Cahill wanted whatever was on
that drive to never
see the light of day,
and Cahill figured
that the CIA gave them
the best chance of doing that quietly.
But why call you?
Like you said, you
were just an assistant.
Snap that shit.
No! No! No! [SHOUTS]
He called because I was using
what we learned in the jungle,
and Cahill knew that.
How did he know?
Uh, after I made billions off
pesticides, when my company grew,
my name was in the press a lot
and Cahill recognized me from Indonesia.
He reached out years ago,
worried that I was gonna do something
to expose Operation Mongoose.
I told him that would be the
last thing I'd let happen.
What we created in
that illegal operation
was the basis for my whole business.
If that comes out, we're all ruined.
That's why you hired the mercenaries.
You wanted to make
sure the job got done.
But if they had the same goal as
the CIA suppress the drive
why kill the CIA operatives in D.C.?
My company's done business in some
of the world's most dangerous places,
and so we've had to hire some of
the world's most dangerous people.
Sometimes, they've gone too far.
I never wanted them to kill anyone.
[PANTING]
Except maybe those two women.
You know who they really are?
My guys found out through
some of their sources.
The older one, who
calls herself "Amisha,"
used to be in Putra's
special forces unit.
Worshiped him, from what I understand.
The younger one, Lila, is her acolyte.
Both extremely dangerous.
You could call them international
criminal opportunists.
They usually work for hire,
except, in this case,
they saw an opportunity
to make a lot of money and they took it.
- And we're back to the photo.
- [GROANS]
Sampson was documenting
the training for Washington.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
I guess we'd gotten careless,
but we were doing things that none
of the soldiers there understood anyway.
We looked down on them,
thought they weren't very smart.
We probably should have
been better with security.
Sir, General Putra wants to
take a photo with the two of us.
Okay, but let's do it outside.
No, no, no, no. Too bright.
It will turn out much
better in here. Come.
Now you send this to Washington,
D.C. so they will always know
what a good friend they have in me, yes?
Of course, General.
[AHLQUIST] Cahill would have
destroyed the photo after,
but when it was developed,
he saw that the whiteboard
with our formula on it was in
the background, out of focus.
And so, the photo, one
of countless others,
just became part of the official
documentation of our time down there.
Any sensitive information
became completely illegible.
Illegible in the '90s.
Yeah. Newly developed AI,
when applied to image deconvolution
can, essentially,
digitally refocus the lens.
So, what was unclear
yesterday is clear today.
[TAMARA] Okay. Let's say
they have the formula now.
How hard is this stuff to make?
[SIGHS] It's impossible
without the root biotoxin.
Abrin.
Seventy times more lethal than ricin.
It's hard to get potent
samples in America,
it's relatively common in
the Indonesian rainforests.
We derived it from a plant
called the rosary pea.
- Shit.
- What?
Lila has rosary peas.
I saw them.
[LILA] My mother gave me
this bracelet when I was 16.
Two seeds in each box.
Me and her, always together.
If the formula was secret,
how did Lila and Amisha know
about the seeds before
they got the photo?
We used Putra's soldiers to gather them,
so I guess they must have known
the seeds were somehow integral.
That was fucking stupid.
Shut up.
They were free labor.
So, they have the seeds.
What do they need to make the weapon?
Chemicals available at any supply shop.
But it's how we process them with
the seeds that makes it so lethal.
So, they could be making
this stuff right now?
They could have already made it.
- [DARK MUSIC PLAYING]
- [QUIET CHATTER]
[GLASS CLINKING]
Hey.
So, this is our helper?
They said you, uh, were
looking for somebody
to try some new kind of skag.
I-I'm down for that.
But I won't do any sex stuff.
[LILA] No. No sex stuff.
Just the greatest high you'll ever know.
Sit.
You're gonna enjoy this.
♪
[PANTING SOFTLY]
What does it do?
It makes all your problems go away.
[GRUNTS, INHALES]
[GRUNTS]
[GASPING]
[WHEEZING GASP]
[CHOKING]
Toxins are extremely effective when
deployed against a single target.
You said that you were
researching weapons
that could be used in mass attacks.
No one's ever figured out
how to effectively deliver
chemical toxins over a
widespread outdoor area.
[AHLQUIST] We did.
When aerosolized, this stuff
hangs in the air like a fog,
and it's light enough
to move on air currents.
So, it spreads quickly.
You send a suicide bomber with that
stuff strapped to him into Times Square,
you'll kill everyone
within a ten-block radius.
Most in seconds.
[TAMARA] You said this whole project
was meant to keep shit
like this from happening.
We were trying to create
our worst-case scenario,
the thing we feared the most,
and then work backwards to
find a way to neutralize it.
So, there's an antidote?
We never got that far.
Project was scrapped when Putra somehow
found out what we were doing down there,
and he stole the weapon.
Slaughtered an entire
village because its leaders
allied with Putra's political enemies.
[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]
The U.S. covered it all up.
It was a bad look, even
if it wasn't our intention.
And now Lila and Amisha are
gonna sell it to God-knows-who.
Our goal was defense, it wasn't offense.
I was postgrad, man. I was
working off student loans.
You know, I was just
doing what I was told.
Yeah, doing what you were told.
You used the formula
to make yourself rich.
[AHLQUIST] I modified it.
My pesticides are only
deadly on fucking bollworms.
I prevent famine.
You understand?
People eat because of me.
People died because of you
you protecting your own
ass and your bank account.
What did we lose?
A government clerk?
A fucking football player?
A few mid-level CIA agents?
Saving the world comes with costs.
[TAMARA] Okay, what do
we do with this asshole?
Even if we get the drive
from Lila and Amisha,
they can still track him down
and get the recipe from him.
I'm not gonna tell them anything.
I swear.
You spilled your guts
after a few broken fingers.
I've seen what these women do to people.
You'll talk.
[ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYING]
Wait. Wait!
Wait, wait, w
Jesus Christ, Reacher.
I'm the head of security for a man
who might be the next president
of the United States of America.
You can't do shit like
that in front of me.
Saving the world comes with costs.
I'm good with it.
Make enough to kill thousands.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
- [TIRES SCREECH]
- [HORN HONKS]
Sorry. I'm sorry.
[SIREN WAILING]
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[OFFICER] find
out as soon as you can.
[OLD-FASHIONED RINGING]
[RINGING STOPS]
Oh, shit.
[BOBBY WOMACK SINGS
"ACROSS 110TH STREET"]
I was the third brother of five ♪
Doing whatever I
had to do to survive ♪
I'm not saying what
I did was all right ♪
- [PHONE RINGING]
- Trying to break out of the ghetto ♪
Was a day-to-day fight ♪
Jacob. What's going on with Plum?
[JACOB OVER PHONE] Don't know.
The cops at the hospital
ID'd me, and I had to run.
Last time I saw him,
he didn't look good.
Shit. [SIGHS]
- You okay?
- Not really,
'cause I just found out
Lila's auctioning off the drive
on the dark web at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.
How do you know that?
Plum put those feelers out to
his contacts on some message board
looking for info on the drive?
Well, I've got his phone,
and one of his journalist
buddies got back to him.
This guy found an auction notice
on the dark web, and from the
chatter he picked up, it looks like
most of the world's leading
scumbags will be bidding.
So, any luck finding out
exactly what's for sale?
The formula for a chemical WMD.
Fuck.
Yeah, it's bad.
Might be worse than you think.
The auction notice mentions a
proof of concept demonstration.
And cops found chemistry
supplies in that old restaurant.
That makes sense.
You don't spend billions on a
weapon unless you know it'll deliver.
They must've already made the
stuff if they set the auction.
That's why they forced Anna to
delete the file after she stole it.
If there's only one copy of the formula,
that makes it even more valuable.
If the auction's tomorrow,
they're gonna kill people
tonight to prove it works.
Aren't they cutting it close?
Can't they just
- delay the auction?
- [REACHER] Not if some of the buyers made
it clear they don't want it delayed.
And the last thing Lila and Amisha
need right now is to look weak.
They promised a sale,
they'll deliver a sale.
They just didn't expect your sister
to fubar their whole operation.
Search online, see if there's
anything going on in Philly
that'll make a suitable target.
How do you know the attack will be here?
It's the sixth largest city in America.
They'll rack up a huge death toll.
And it's where they
were gonna meet Anna.
They had the chemistry equipment
standing by.
It's much less risky to make
a weapon and use it locally
than it is to transport something
so deadly somewhere else.
Especially now that
the cops, us, the mercs
and the CIA are all looking for 'em.
They'll keep their
exposure to a minimum.
They'll make it in Philly and
they'll set it off in Philly.
What the hell am I looking for?
Something outdoors that shows how
well the poison works in open air.
Citizens Bank Park?
No. I caught the last Phillies
game before a road trip.
The Chinese Lantern
Festival in Franklin Square.
I saw banners for that.
[TAMARA] It's next
weekend. What about this?
"The Philadelphia Orchestra
Plays Movie Scores at the Mann Center."
Outdoor venue, seats 14,000.
Nothing else going on tonight.
- That's the one.
- I'll call it in.
We're wanted by the Feds and Philly PD.
Who's gonna believe us?
Docherty.
He had me in custody and he let me go.
Why the hell'd he do that?
Because of you. He'll listen
if you call him, Tamara.
Also, I need you guys
to come pick me up.
[ORCHESTRA PLAYING "THEME
FROM MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE"]
[INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER]
[TAMARA] It's pretty chilly
for a summer night.
Looks like a storm's coming.
So, Amisha knew the whiteboard
formula was out of focus
because she took the photo?
- Right.
- And when technology advanced enough,
she realized that she could
now make the formula legible.
[REACHER] But the photo
was stored in the old files
at Delta Force HQ in Fort
Liberty, North Carolina.
Breaking in would be impossible.
But when Congress decides to
digitize old government files,
Amisha saw her chance.
They moved the files off base
to a government facility
that isn't as secure.
Amisha does her research,
figures out which clerk has
weaknesses they could exploit.
Like a single mom with a son.
A million things had to fall
into place for me to lose them.
[CHEERING IN DISTANCE]
[CONDUCTOR IN DISTANCE] And thank
you for coming out, Philadelphia.
- Have a wonderful evening.
- [VEHICLE APPROACHING]
Oh, shit.
[TAMARA] It's okay. It's Docherty.
[ENGINE SHUTS OFF]
[CAR DOOR OPENS]
Well, this was a fucking bust.
Cops and dogs in every
corner of this place.
They searched everyone who
went in, delayed the show,
pissed off the venue, pissed
off some city officials
who were here with
their fucking families.
And you know how many cubic
tons of shit I had to eat
pretending that some hick
cop got the best of me?
Now I got half the department out here
on a goddamn snipe hunt.
I trusted you, and you fucked me.
- Wasn't intentional.
- Oh.
Like an accident?
Like what happened
with that Ahlquist guy?
I saw the news, dickheads.
Ahlquist died in an
accident this afternoon.
Thrown from his car, broke his neck.
You have something to do with that?
I hit a deer.
[JACOB] Hey, did-did you
get in to see Plum?
He's still in surgery.
I'll check on my way home.
- [VEHICLE APPROACHING]
- [INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER]
Look, why don't you guys get out of here
before somebody recognizes you?
Or maybe I'll point you out to them
after the bullshit you pulled here.
[CAR DOOR OPENS]
- [CAR DOOR CLOSES]
- [ENGINE STARTS]
[TAMARA SCOFFS]
I don't get it.
This checked all the boxes.
Outdoors, huge crowd, in Philly.
- The fuck are we missing?
- We should go.
There's gonna be a ton of
traffic coming through here soon.
Wait.
Traffic.
They're gonna attack the highway.
Based on what?
Auction's at 10:00 a.m.
They aren't hitting here, so
what's their next best chance
at killing thousands outdoors?
Morning rush hour.
Bad traffic starts around 7:30.
Makes sense.
Get people bidding on their weapons
at the same time 24-hour news channels
are broadcasting live coverage
of the death they can cause.
But how do you attack a highway?
Retrofit a refrigerated
truck so the exhaust system
shoots toxins out the back.
Travels right into the
vent system of every car
packed in bumper-to-bumper for miles.
Rent a crop duster and
buzz the interstate.
What's around here? 95?
95, Roosevelt Boulevard, the Schuylkill.
Everything's jammed in the morning.
Every car will become a coffin.
Who's gonna listen to us?
We just used up our goodwill with
the only cop in the city who would,
and we can't shut down
interstates on our own.
We can't.
The federal government might be able to.
[RICHARD IACONA PLAYS "ROULETTE"]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[JOHN] Hey, Nick, Colleen.
Thank you guys for being
here. We appreciate it.
Don.
- Hey, John, how are you?
- Get your checkbook out, buddy.
- Good to see you.
- [LAUGHS]
Oh, fuck. Thank you for being here.
Congressman.
- Mike Dunston.
- Hey, Mr. Dunston.
Please. Mike. I just
wanted to introduce myself.
I had the winning bid
for the dinner with you.
Oh, thank you. Looking forward to it.
- And who do we have here?
- Oh, this is my son Kyle.
- Oh, nice to meet you, Kyle.
- Hello, sir.
Kyle, why don't you have a seat
over there for a few minutes?
I know we'll have
time to talk at dinner,
but I just wanted to plant a seed.
I own HydroMade Power.
We build state-of-the-art
hydroelectric plants,
- and we have a new project
- Yeah, I'm already aware of it.
Well, then you know that
it's good for the power grid
and good for the environment, too.
What I've seen looks promising,
but your donation to my wife's
charity won't affect my vote.
I just got to make sure we're on
the same page there, Mike. [LAUGHS]
- Of course, of course, I just
- [PHONE RINGING]
Sorry, Congressman.
[GRUNTS SOFTLY]
It's the regulatory commission.
Can you believe that?
- Oh.
- I-I'll be right back.
Completely understand.
[SIGHS] Can't believe your dad
bid on a dinner with a
boring old congressman
instead of those box seats.
Big Phillies fan?
Not really. Just never
been to a game with my dad.
Hmm. He doesn't like baseball?
He's always got work.
[PHONE VIBRATING, RINGING]
I know how he feels.
[MIKE SIGHS]
Sorry about that.
Say, Mike, got an idea.
How about you, me and Kyle
catch a ball game instead?
Right? Dinners can be
boring, and the Phillies
have that kid that can
throw at 105 miles an hour.
- [PHONE VIBRATING, RINGING]
- Some Texas Tommys, couple of beers,
and you and I can even
talk a little business.
Sound good?
Um, sounds great.
I'll have my office set it up.
Sorry, uh
Just another minute.
Yeah?
I'll leave by the fourth inning.
You'll have him all to yourself.
[PHONE VIBRATING, RINGING]
Reacher.
Springfield told me what
happened in Delaware.
Can't say I approve of
the way you do business.
We have reason to believe the
toxin Ahlquist told us about
is gonna be used on
a Philadelphia freeway
- during rush hour tomorrow morning.
- Based on what?
The women calling themselves
Lila and Amisha Hoth
have scheduled a dark web auction
of the chemical formula
at 10:00 a.m. local time.
And they want a successful strike
before then to drive bidding.
Shit. I'll call Homeland.
[WOMAN] Let's do lunch when
I'm in Washington next week.
[ELSPETH] Sounds good.
[JOHN] Hey. Have you seen Springfield?
Yeah, he headed down to the
service entrance a few minutes ago.
Security there isn't answering on
the walkie, and he's pissed as hell.
What, no one from security?
Not at the service entrance.
Probably punched out early just
'cause the dinner service is over.
That's not why they're not answering.
I need you to get back to the hotel.
- Why?
- I don't have time to explain.
Just go now.
[PHONE RINGING]
- Yeah.
- [JOHN] They're not gonna hit
the freeways tomorrow.
They're hitting here,
where I am, tonight.
Where are you?
Penn's Landing in Philadelphia.
Outdoor fundraiser, lots of people.
Not as many as they'd kill
during morning rush hour.
Why would they attack
a smaller charity event?
Because it's my wife's charity event.
They know I'll be here.
I didn't tell you this before,
'cause it wasn't relevant,
but when I said
Delta hunted down and
took out General Putra,
I was the one who pulled the trigger.
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING IN DISTANCE]
[GUNFIRE AND SHOUTING CONTINUE]
No!
[GUNFIRE]
[SCREAMS]
[COUGHS]
[GROANS]
[SHOUTING CONTINUES IN DISTANCE]
[FOREBODING MUSIC PLAYING]
[JOHN] The woman calling
herself Amisha saw me do it.
She idolized Putra.
If she needs to pick a place in
Philly to demonstrate her weapon,
why not an event that
also exacts some revenge?
Get paid, get payback.
It's a nice bonus for her.
No reason she wouldn't
choose your event.
Penn's Landing's not far.
Hang on.
- [TIRES SCREECHING]
- [CAR HORN HONKS]
- [PHONE BEEPS]
- Hey, stay on the line.
Springfield.
Sir, we have a problem.
Let me guess.
Guard at the service entrance is dead.
Throat slit.
[QUIETLY] Fuck.
The shit's gonna break bad here soon.
Do you want me to send Elspeth home?
I already did.
Negative. She's
approaching me right now.
Oh, damn it, Elly.
Look, get her out of here. I got to go.
[TIRES SCREECHING]
Reacher,
we got a murdered security guard here.
This is happening now.
Evacuate the venue.
They see people running out,
they'll trigger the weapon early.
Right now they don't know we know.
Our best chance is to
neutralize the attack.
How? We don't even know how
they're gonna aerosol the toxin.
Yes, we do. Ahlquist already told us.
He said a suicide bomber
would take out Times Square.
Should be more than
enough for Penn's Landing.
Lila and Amisha aren't
gonna sacrifice themselves.
They're in this to get rich, not die.
But if they have terrorist
contacts to sell the weapons to,
maybe they got one of those
groups to loan 'em a zealot.
They get proof the toxin works
and credit for the attack.
When we got the jump
drive from my mailbox,
Plum said something about
Lila flying in someone from
the country of Djibouti.
Did you get a look at the guy?
No.
We don't need a photo.
Sampson, you were Delta.
Assume you know The List?
Of course I do.
Run it down.
Number one: Inappropriate clothes.
Big, baggy, to hide explosives.
Number two: Uneven movement
because of the weight of the
device or due to being drugged.
Number three: Carrying a bag
a knapsack, briefcase.
Number four:
Clenched fist around
the detonation device.
Run the light.
[HORNS HONKING]
[JOHN] Number five:
Nervous behavior, jumpy.
[REACHER] Number six:
Mumbling to themselves,
possibly praying.
Number seven:
Odd breathing patterns.
[REACHER] Number eight:
Only looking straight ahead
so you don't have to see
who you're about to kill.
Number nine: Intense focus.
Number ten: Walking
with directed purpose.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[TIRES SCREECHING]
We're almost there.
You're gonna be too late.
[REACHER] Why?
'Cause I found him.
[ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[AMISHA] It's an honor to meet you.
We cannot thank you enough
for your selflessness
and will forever be in your debt.
Got to go, Reacher.
He hung up.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING]
[TIRES SCREECH]
[GRUNTS]
[GUARD] Hey. Hold on.
Main entrance. Huge guy
just tore through here.
[STARTLED CHATTER]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[GUARD 2] Hey!
[SHOUTS]
[JOHN SHOUTS]
[STARTLED CHATTER]
[GUESTS SCREAMING]
[MAN GRUNTS]
[REACHER PANTING]
- [MOTÖRHEAD PLAYS "ONE MORE FUCKING TIME"]
- Both your eyes wide open ♪
You see the shape I'm in ♪
It wasn't of my choosing ♪
It's only bones and skin ♪
And I will plead no contest ♪
If loving you's a crime ♪
So go on and find me guilty ♪
Just one more fucking time ♪
All your life is in your head ♪
All your dreams are in your sleep ♪
And if your dreams are hid too deep ♪
They're just a waste of time ♪
When you try to chase the dream ♪
You never seem to know the time ♪
You never recognise the signs ♪
And nothing's what it seems ♪
Both your eyes wide open ♪
You see the shape I'm in ♪
It wasn't of my choosing ♪
It's only bones and skin ♪