Shooter (2016) s03e03 Episode Script

Sins of the Father

Previously, on "Shooter" You ever hear of a group called "Atlas"? There's no story here, Nadine Atlas is a boogeyman.
I work for Senator Hayes, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Can you begin to realize the things that come across my desk? You're having a heart attack, Senator.
I'm not worried about Atlas anymore.
Hayes' heart attack took care of that.
- It's over.
- Hayes is not the end of this.
I know a place where you'll be safe.
This is a kill list.
Who's Carlita Cruise? Department of Agriculture.
Passports.
She was prepared.
Why would somebody who works for the Department of Agriculture have a go bag? How much do you think you know about your father? Atlas and the Swaggers have been interlinked since the beginning.
I haven't heard the name Jimmy Poole in a long time.
He had a good job lined up at a slaughterhouse.
This was an ambush, Sheriff.
First guy was a decoy, second guy was set up in there waiting for me.
You were at Bama.
I wanna know why this company offered Jimmy Poole a job.
Who's Jimmy Poole? Jimmy Poole didn't kill my dad.
- There was a second shooter.
- What'd you find? Three bullets, like you said.
Someone left this patch on the body.
- What about the bullets? - Two at 125 grams, and the bigger one at 173.
173's a rifle round.
My dad was killed by a sniper.
Where you been, Swagger? You said morning.
Couldn't get here.
VC ambush.
You still got the map? You're late.
You're late.
Fall back! Go, go, go! Go, go.
Go, go, go! Hey, where's O'Shea? I don't know.
- Shit, he must've fallen behind.
- God damn it.
Don't stop till you get to the rally point.
- Sergeant - Go! I'm sorry, Sarge.
He came out of nowhere.
Okay.
I'll be your prisoner, all right? Take me.
Big rank.
Let the kid be.
Sarge, don't do it.
Just come to me.
Bring it on in.
All right, come on.
Let's go.
What the hell are you boys doing here? I thought I told you assholes to go back to the rally point.
Not without you, brother.
Nice throw, by the way.
Come on.
Let's go.
Sir, Lieutenant said you needed me? You don't need to be formal with me, Swagger.
Russo will be fine.
You and your men celebrating? Uh, we were reading some letters from home, listening to a little Creedence.
You got a woman at home, Swagger? West Texas, right? Yes, sir.
Her name's, uh, June.
I bet Miss June would be proud of you.
What you did today you saved your entire patrol.
Thank you, sir.
We're looking for educated men like you to help us out.
It would be a promotion.
Give you and June a real future after the war.
You interested? Yes, sir.
That'll be all.
Hey.
What's in the box? Some of my dad's things my mom had put in storage.
I was hoping I'd find It's nothing.
I'm almost done.
All right.
You have visitors.
What? Team Swagger.
They picked up a stray.
All we got from the safe so far is a kill list, usual suspects, and a new name Carlita Cruise.
I take it Carlita's not the talking type? No idea.
She disappeared and left me with a nice parting gift.
Now, Julie said that you made a pretty big discovery at the cemetery something about your father? Yeah.
Solotov kept saying that Atlas and my dad were tied together.
I don't know if he's right or not, but there definitely was a second shooter the night my dad was killed.
Oww.
All I got so far is Bama Cattle.
Uh, Bama, as in Red Bama? You know Red Bama Junior? No, I know Red Bama Senior.
He's been undersecretary for the Department of Agriculture for three administrations.
Department of Agriculture it's the same as Carlita, the missing Atlas agent.
That can't be a coincidence.
Why the hell would Atlas wanna kill your dad? No idea.
I'm gonna find out.
Pull.
Ugh, shit! Reload it, Bert.
Shit.
You guys need to shut your mouth when I'm aiming.
You need to go easy on the trigger.
I didn't know your salary included shooting tips, Bert.
How much is my dad paying you for that? Pull.
Hey.
Salinger told you to stay at the slaughterhouse.
Now, I don't see a lot of cattle being processed out here.
I don't work for Salinger, Dad No, but he works for me, and when I give him an order, you follow it.
It's called chain of command.
Now, you really stepped in it with that gas station business.
Going after Swagger with a couple of illegals? What in hell is wrong with you? I'm really sorry.
I am.
Yeah, I know you are, son, but sorry don't count here.
You didn't break a vase.
I was just trying to help out like we talked about.
You let me deal with Swagger.
Give me one more chance to get him.
If you could've got him, he would already be got.
Now get on back to work.
Probably a lot of cow shit to sweep up.
What does Swagger know? Well, he dug up his old man's body.
He's gotta know by now that Poole isn't the only shooter.
You want me to clean it up? My son needs to learn that the way you hit your target is to know where its headed.
Pull.
Nice.
The Capitol Hill crowd doesn't come around this way.
I don't think the gentrification wave has hit here yet.
How much did Carlita have in there? About ten grand in small bills.
Petty cash for an Atlas agent.
She was expecting us.
Or someone else.
No, Memphis had it right.
I was more hoping than expecting.
How many others did you bring? Just me.
I'm not here for a fight.
You just had a gun on us.
Man, you guys are dour.
Did someone die? I mean, other than the people that you've killed.
We don't usually put on a smile for someone who tries to blow us up.
Sorry about that.
Call it a cheap alarm system.
These locators are getting harder to find.
What do you want from us? You're not the only ones who wanna take down Atlas.
So you one of the good guys now? I didn't say that, but you know as well as I do it's the only way off their kill list.
Them or you.
And why are you on the list? Two up, two down.
That's how they prevent leaks.
Someone gets made, they kill everyone around him.
Where do you fit in the hierarchy? Up or down? That's not important, but here's a question.
Did you know you'd set off such a shit storm killing Senator Hayes? - We didn't kill Hayes.
- Come on, Johnson.
Memphis has a headache, and I don't have time for the bullshit.
Okay.
Let's say we're interested in a partnership.
What's your plan? First, let's go somewhere I know they can't track us.
- Yo.
- Hey.
Do you have any coffee? I usually just go for a run in the morning.
Nadine sent me Jimmy Poole's prison file.
Is that a hard no on the coffee, though? Poole was the guy who killed my dad.
Rick Culp was the security guard on duty the day he broke out.
You follow? Yeah, um, how does that help us with Bama? I don't know yet, but I talked to Culp two days ago.
Asked him about Poole.
He played dumb.
Next thing I know, I got people shooting at me.
Seems to happen a lot with you.
Uh, just an observation.
Let's go.
You know, I don't mind staying here.
I can just I like it.
It's cozy, yeah.
You can put your shoes on or go barefoot.
Doesn't matter to me.
I'll grab my shoes.
So you got some unresolved issues with your father, huh? My dad died when I was pretty young too.
He was a corporate lawyer.
Worked all the time.
Got hit by a drunk driver coming home one night.
I remembering being really mad at him for working late again.
And then for a while I felt like it was my fault, which of course I know it wasn't, but, uh, I guess kids, you know, sometimes feel guilty about things that are outside of their control.
So do adults.
Dude, do I look like a therapist? I'm just making small talk, man.
That's what two people do when they're stuck in a car.
Or they just sit in silence.
Fair enough.
There's Culp.
Let's go.
Little early in the day to be tying one on, Rick.
I'm in a hurry.
I hope it's to the shower.
You smell like the ass end of a whiskey barrel.
I don't have time for you, Swagger.
You lied to me about Jimmy Poole.
The hell I did! Who paid you to help him escape? How much you get, Rick? Okay, he should not be driving.
Don't worry about it.
We're gonna be right behind him.
Culp's been in there a really long time.
Hey, quit turkey necking.
Sorry.
Looks like they leveled up on security.
Spent some real money.
That explains it.
Red Bama? Holy shit.
What business does that backwoods drunk have with the undersecretary of agriculture? The kind that's so off-books you gotta meet at a slaughterhouse.
I'd give you a sidearm if I thought it'd calm you down.
Uh, no, I don't I don't like guns.
Or cilantro, actually.
- I pretty much hate cilantro.
- Have you ever shot a gun? No.
How do you know you don't like them? I don't wanna hold the power of somebody's life in my hands.
You don't need a gun to hold the power of somebody's life in your hands.
I told you, boy.
I wanna talk to your dad.
I'm running the operation.
Oh, so Little Junior's all grown up now, huh? All right, big man.
I want another 15,000.
You got your money.
Yeah, for keeping my mouth shut, but for not for getting Bob the Nailer off my back.
Bob the what, now? All right, if you and your daddy don't give me the cash, I'm gonna tell Swagger everything I know, then you can have some nice father-son time in Polunsky.
Maybe you can share a cell.
Find two men you can trust.
Burn his clothes.
Toss his body in the shoot.
Take his car into the junkyard.
- I was handling it.
- You weren't handling shit.
Swagger's not some local loser you can push around.
He's a professional, and he's messing with my timeline.
We can't afford to be one minute off schedule.
- You hear me? - Loud and clear.
They're moving his car.
That's it.
- We going in? - No need.
But you wanna talk to Culp, right? He's gotta come out of there eventually.
Not if he's dead.
How do we know Culp is dead? The guy who moved the car had on polypropylene shoe covers.
He was trying to avoid blood.
- At a slaughterhouse? - Yeah.
And then I saw the smoke coming out the back.
They probably incinerated anything they couldn't use for feed.
Did you know Culp was gonna get himself killed? - I knew it was possible.
- Why didn't you stop him? Culp made his choice 30 years ago.
Jesus.
Stop the car.
Stop the car.
- No.
- No, sto I can't do this.
I gotta get the hell out of here.
- I don't wanna be a part of this.
- You worked for Hayes.
I didn't know what he was into.
I didn't it's we can do something about Bama, okay? We need to call the police.
The only thing that happens then is we make ourselves targets.
A man is dead because we baited him.
How do you just let that go? 'Cause we got bigger problems.
Well, excuse me if I put a value on human life.
Nadine didn't make me promise to keep you in one piece, I'd tell you to tuck and roll right now.
I'd just Appreciate it if you'd clue me into the plan next time.
Why? So you can cover my six with your bachelor's in poli-sci? I was an English lit major.
Poli-sci minor.
This is cozy for a fallout shelter.
How long have you had this place? Since I knew Atlas wanted me dead.
Anyone else know about it? No one still breathing.
The government turned most of these Cold War-era ones into museums, walled off a few of the ones that were too far off the beaten path for the tour.
Everyone should have a safe house.
The satphone is Atlas issued.
No one's called on it though since my name got on the list.
Access is encrypted.
How's it work? Uses a digital key with a revolving pass code.
I was issued one.
How come I didn't get one? Don't be jealous, Isaac.
I'm amazed Swagger hasn't put a bullet in your head.
He got over it.
- Mostly.
- Huh.
Good, because it's gonna take more than you two to take Atlas down.
Half the agents in Atlas don't even know it.
They're just pawns in a game they don't know they're playing.
And Atlas is planning something big.
Why not run? I mean, you had exfil plans.
You had papers.
Why did you stay? They killed my wife.
There's no running from that.
The only way to get out is to die, or kill the ones in charge.
To do that, we've gotta leap frog the low-level agents, like us.
Operators are knuckle draggers to Atlas grunts.
They only tell us where to put the bullet, but the cleaners are the star students.
They have to coordinate with the higher ups to know how to handle the bodies.
Direct contact with the shot callers.
Do you know any of the cleaners? No, but I think I know how to draw one out.
Wait, what, are you planning on using yourself as bait? - That's insane.
- It's the best way.
I mean, unless Isaac here wants to man up and be the worm on a hook? Ladies first.
Thanks for worrying about me.
Where you going? Just walk in like you belong.
Nobody will say anything.
White man's privilege.
Give me your jacket.
Okay.
It's velvet.
It's a little hot for velvet.
Hi, hi, uh, Harris Downey.
Here on tour with my wife, Cookie.
Could you tell me more about the golf pro? I'm just not sure yet.
- It's this way, right? - Oh, yes, yes, it is.
Oh, perfect.
Follow me this way.
Your jacket's a little tight in the shoulders, isn't it? How long you work for Atlas? Atlas? That the guy that holds the earth on his back? Atlas holds up the sky, asshole.
I work for myself, Mr.
Swagger.
Company name is Bama Cattle and the U.
S.
Government, of course.
Then why did you pay Rick Culp to help Jimmy Poole escape from prison? No idea what you're talking about.
I saw Culp walk into your slaughterhouse.
Never saw him walk out.
I didn't know your dad, but I've heard that he was a self-righteous prick.
Seems to run in the family.
Well, there's nothing wrong with having a moral compass.
What is morality to one person can be sin to another.
Like my eating this rib eye.
There are over a billion people who think that I'm sinning right now.
You didn't answer my question.
I don't know anyone named Culp.
Jimmy Poole was a criminal through and through, and if I'm remembering right, your father's job was to catch criminals.
Poole was a better shot, I guess.
You offer a lot of criminals jobs? 'Cause his family said you had one waiting for him at Bama Cattle once he got out.
I felt sorry for his wife, Edie.
Something your dad and me had in common, from what I hear.
Uh, you ready to go? This place is a little rich for my blood.
Also, they asked me to leave.
Who's your friend? This is Harris Downey.
He used to work for Senator Hayes.
Tell me who was on the long gun the night my father was killed, and I'll leave you and your idiot son alone.
All right, stand down.
We're leaving.
You ladies are disappointing the shit out of me.
Did you not hear me? Come with me, Swagger.
You heard him, Swagger.
Get the hell out of here! I saw you on the range earlier.
Not much of a shot, are you? No, sir, but I'm working on that, sir.
Gutierrez can hit a target at over a thousand yards while I'm screaming obscenities in his ear.
We have our rifleman.
Are you cutting me, sir? Of course not.
If I'm no good with my rifle, then why am I here? Because your men didn't leave you that day near the Sepon River.
Because when I pulled you from that room, every single one of those men lifted their eyes from their weapon, even though they know if they did, it would lose time from their assembly.
They respect you.
Leaders are born, not made.
And I need the leader whose men followed him into the shit that day, one his men will never question.
- That's you.
- Yes, sir.
I'm honored, sir.
So stop spending your time trying to be the perfect shot, and start spending your time studying this.
None of the others will know what the real mission is.
Training will be intense not this bullshit timed rifle assembly.
You think you can handle that, Swagger? Hell yes, sir.
Half of this is redacted.
Your dad's patrol was probably black budget.
That's my guess too.
Did he talk much about the war? Nobody talks about that war, especially not him.
We'd go hunting sometimes, and not say a word for hours.
We both liked it that way.
Bob Lee, you know, uh your father's still gonna be dead even if you find the man that killed him.
That's very deep, Harris.
I'm just saying that sometimes it's best to leave things alone.
Or maybe talk to your wife about it.
I mean, is she is she cool with you being out on the road all the time? She knows who she married.
Hey, I've never been married.
Most women I dated lose their shit if I didn't come home when I said I would except for Nadine.
She's really independent, you know? She ask about me? All right, the only name in that file other than my dad's is somebody who lives in Texas.
That's where we're going.
Did you call first? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Is it is the road like this the whole way? Anyone out here could be Atlas the woman with the baby stroller, angry guy with the shitty briefcase.
Couple fighting by the coffee truck.
You think they'll show? Carlita said this is where she does her drops.
Wouldn't you stake it out? Probably.
Just not sure why we're trusting a woman who tried to blow us up.
Do we have a better option? If we don't find our way up the Atlas food chain, we might as well dig our own graves.
10:00.
- Got it.
- Wait.
There.
He made us.
- You sure? - Let's go find out.
Operator's on your six.
Any sign of the cleaner? Negative.
I always wanted to meet one of you.
Traitor's not a good look for an operator, and Russo has a long, long memory.
- Where is he? - Eat shit.
Russo's location, I let you live.
Well, yeah, maybe, but Russo won't.
Let's move.
Carlita's gone.
Maybe she got what she wanted.
We were worms on a hook.
So, um, I know this is totally your thing, but maybe maybe try like a good cop thing this time? - What? - You know? Like, you know "Simon & Simon"? Like, more like the younger Simon than the older Simon? Just a gentler kind of approach here, maybe? - Who's this Simon? - Okay, it's a it was a show.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
- Mr.
Colby? - Yeah.
- I'm - Bob Lee Swagger.
We gotta clean our bunks, Tommy.
What? Our bunks, man.
We gotta make sure that they right as rain before the Sergeant comes.
He's losing it.
Colby, hey you hang in there, okay? Swagger? That's right.
I can't, I I'm sorry, Swagger.
I'm so sorry.
Hang in there.
I can't, Sarge.
I just can't.
You can do this, Colby.
Colby Hey, I give up.
Let me out, please? I need water.
I need water.
You you said you'd let me out if I gave up.
Just say the word, Swagger.
Always figured if Bob Lee Swagger showed up at my door, trouble would be right behind.
You preparing for battle? Better to be prepared than wind up with your dick hanging out.
Yes, sir.
This was such a bad idea.
You served with my dad.
We trained together.
Yeah, I couldn't get much detail from his file.
Read like a black ops unit.
I don't know for certain.
I washed out.
He tried to help me, though.
He was good that way.
Always trying to make you better.
When your dad first contacted me after the war, he was asking questions about the men running the unit.
Got killed two weeks later.
That's when I moved up here.
You were thinking they're coming for you too.
You're not supposed to ask questions.
It's the first thing they taught us.
Maybe you should heed their advice.
Too late for that.
Harris, stay low! I'll call an ambulance.
Mantel piece.
The shadow box.
Take it.
I got it.
Trap door in the kitchen.
It leads to a crawl space.
Harris, when I say go, you run to that trap door as fast as you can.
He's dead.
Pull your shit together! If you go into shock, you're no good to either of us.
Got it? Yeah.
We need Downey alive! All right, run to the car.
I'm gonna lay down cover.
- I don't think I can - Do it! Okay.
Ah! Oh, shit.
Now can we call the police? Those men weren't just coming for me.
They wanted you.
Why? You must know more than you think.
Man, I told you.
We can't go to the police.
Atlas has their hands in everything.
You're being paranoid.
We call 911, I guarantee you a truck full of good ole boys with ARs will show up.
I don't know anything about Atlas.
You sure about that? 'Cause Red's sending his dudes after you for a reason.
Fine you know what? You got me, okay? I'm a I'm a spy.
Harris Downey, international man of mystery.
Well, you must know something, even if you don't know what you know.
Where are we going? Somewhere safe.
See? Not so easy to get Bob Lee Swagger, after all.
What are you talking about? I told you it wasn't easy.
Even Salinger couldn't get it done.
Heard he and his boys got shot in the woods like a couple of dogs Salinger is dead because of your mistake.
Now don't you go on peacocking around me again, or I will feed you to Swagger myself.
Ugh.
Carlita fu ed us.
She cleared out.
Atlas is just better at this than us.
For all we know, they grabbed her when we were chasing that agent.
Bullshit.
She played us.
Of course you're not angry.
I'm saving it for the right time.
Yeah, well, now we're back with nothing.
We might have something.
Atlas satphone.
We just need to access it.
She left her password generator.
Of course.
She wanted us to take out that agent so she can intercept the cleaner herself.
Guess this is our consolation prize for being duped.
What? I'm just wondering how many more of you are out there former Atlas agents with a personal grudge.
You look like a new man.
I guess I am.
I wanted to be the first one to officially welcome you to the family.
This family have a name? Thank you.
You're gonna have to get used to staying here until we can find a place to put you.
Yeah, I'll be okay as long as, uh, nobody else dies on top of me today.
Yeah, man, I know that was some heavy shit, but, you kinda kicked ass.
Thanks.
Smart man.
Again, thank you.
No, not you, dude Colby.
That patch is from the Phoenix program.
And this one was buried with my dad.
That's why there's so much redacted intel in here.
Hayes used to meet with a bunch of old Phoenix guys once a month.
I always just thought it was some veterans' outreach.
That's weird.
Government said the Phoenix program ended after the war.
What if they just changed their name? To Atlas? If Phoenix became Atlas, then my dad was one of the founding fathers.

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