Unlocked Page #5

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And, with a word, he stops them.

But not this time.

- Then next time.

- I'm not here for the next time.

What's the target?

- I don't know. Each link is separate.

- But the meet?

At least you must know the meet?

That rule is never broken, Alice.

- (SIGHS)

- Mercer, when he's ready,

will contact my messenger.

And we are all in God's hands then.

I like to think we have a say.

ALICE:
Where the hell is he?

(LINE RINGING)

AMJAD:
Hello.

Hey, it's me. Where are you?

The other side of the park.

It's the tallest building.

I followed your man here.

- Morning, ma'am. This way.

- Hiya.

SECURITY GUARD:
The moped was found

abandoned in a tunnel two nights ago.

I didn't tell you to follow him.

You didn't tell me not to. Flat 1906.

- What?

- You stay here. And keep watch.

You heard the lady.

You're welcome.

Any of you got a spare cigarette?

Got a spare one?

- Yeah, 'course, bruv.

- Safe.

(MOBILE PHONE RINGS)

Emily?

EMILY:
Turn around, Alice, we've got it.

- Come again?

- We found the phone.

The courier's been pinged.

A coded sequence was sent through.

We have the meet site.

Six o'clock. Brent Cross boathouse.

Well done, Alice.

- So we're ditching this guy, then?

- We don't need him now.

The meet is on. About three hours.

A boathouse in Brent Cross.

- That's big news, right?

- Yeah

I gotta say, this beats a sandstorm

in Helmand province, hands down.

Helmand province? That's in Afghanistan?

Hmm?

You said you served in Iraq.

Oh, I was on the ground in both wars.

I forget to mention it.

Hmm.

Soldiers don't forget their deployments.

Who are you?

(SCOFFS)

You're joking, right?

Jack Alcott.

40 Commando Royal Marines,

Helmand Task Force.

We forced a hardpoint for

three straight days in Operation Musa Qala.

To you, I'm just another wrong'un.

The nine JSOC operators that owe me

their lives...

Well, they might disagree.

Happy?

What's next?

Next...

We part company.

Alice...

I am telling the truth.

You're selling the truth. Face the wall.

ALICE:
Get back inside!

(ALICE YELPS)

ALICE ON RECORDING: About three hours.

A boathouse in Brent Cross.

(ALICE GROANS)

JACK:
Come on.

Up we go. Up we go.

All right, darling. All right.

Helmand f***ing Province.

Always comes down to tradecraft, doesn't it?

- Beware of the short-notice gigs.

- You too.

No kidding.

JACK:
Shame it had to be you, really.

- Why?

- 'Cause I like you.

- Quite like to have had your back.

- It's never too late.

(LAUGHS) To what?

Run away together?

Let you put a bullet in my back?

No. Quick recce and scoot.

In and out, that's the job.

- Mercer's recognition protocol?

- There you go.

It'll go easy on us both

if you give it to me now.

We both know it's never gonna happen.

Well, we both know what happens if you don't.

Come on.

Do you really think I wanna bleed you out

in the car park? 'Cause I don't.

- (LIFT DOORS OPEN)

- But I will.

Lovely dogs. What are they? Rottweilers?

(GRUNTS)

Motherf***er!

Well played.

- Brought your f***ing A-game, eh?

- (GROANING)

You're not gonna make this easy, are you?

I am definitely earning my keep today.

(ALICE GROANING)

Give me the f***ing protocol, Alice!

Oh, what a f***ing shame.

In a different world...

In a parallel f***ing universe,

it doesn't come to this.

(C*CKS GUN)

But we live in this one.

F*** you!

Cop a bit of this!

MAN:
Knowles?

- Emily.

- Dr Adam Roizman, Public Health.

We spoke on the phone.

We were told Five's chasing

a threat and to loop you in on this.

Now the mother rang 999.

Frantic, as you can imagine.

Thanks to her we were able to isolate

him quickly.

Oh, God.

EMILY:
He responded positive to Marburg.

Incubation was fast, so we're dealing

with a mutation, probably.

Symptoms in adults, two to five days.

And in children, even faster.

Now, if this is Mercer,

and he got it from the Soviet stockpile

then it's a virus designed to be sturdy.

It will last between lab and host,

which puts in play our worst fear,

aerosolised distribution.

Alice? Are you listening?

Five has no Arabic-speaking

18-year-olds on staff.

By the time we could scramble one together...

- He's a kid, Emily.

- Exactly.

Khaleel's couriers are always kids.

It's a good plan, Alice.

Mercer won't know he's ours.

He'll deliver the original

stand-down message.

Mercer will pull the plug

and we'll start making arrests.

He's had no training.

I recruited him.

- If I knew it'd come to this...

- I know. But you didn't.

And it has.

AMJAD:
Ah, this is sick.

I can't wait to tell my mates about this,

and see the look on their faces.

- You can't.

- Yeah, I know, I know, I know.

I'm just saying, this is like bad arse, isn't it?

Well, can somebody take my picture with them?

No.

What's that, a HK?

- Oh, my days, I thought you only used those...

- Hey, hey, hey. Focus.

Let's run it again. I'm Mercer.

(IN ARABIC)

Good.

Good? That was perfect, man.

Look, this guy's mine, baby.

I got this. He's mine. I got this. (LAUGHS)

ALICE:
We'll have three watchers

on you, with video feeds to the van.

- What's that?

- It's an earpiece.

So you can hear us.

- (LAUGHS)

- Okay?

Okay, gentlemen.

We're going live in 30 minutes.

How's the feed to HQ?

- Fine.

- Good.

- How are you doing out there, Amjad?

- Cold.

- When's something happening?

- Anytime now.

Yeah, you can just say you don't know.

Alice, can I have a word?

MI6 has a file on you, you know.

I got a peek at our Cobra meeting.

ALICE:
Something juicy?

EMILY:
Other than Paris, you mean?

The bridge bombing was tragic.

Not just because Algerian terrorists

killed a lot of people that day.

If there's something you wanna tell me,

Emily, just tell me.

I am telling you.

After the bombing,

France's DGSI launched an inquiry.

A magistrate put the seal on it.

There were leaks

that made it into MI6's report.

Leaks saying what?

Well, among other things,

there was a discrepancy.

Between the time you broke the prisoner

and the time the French police were alerted.

Do I have your attention?

Ninety minutes.

More than enough time to stop the bombing.

Someone at the CIA wanted it to happen.

The French pressed Langley,

but they were unresponsive.

Just as they were unresponsive when asked

if a CIA employee was among those killed

on the bridge that day.

A whistleblower, it turns out.

With access

to drone strike after-action reports.

He was about to reveal CIA's

mathematical inadequacies.

- Make them public.

- Civilian deaths?

The numbers were being slashed, routinely.

- (SIGHS)

- Hundreds of reports altered.

- Are you okay, Alice?

- Yeah.

- Do you want to sit down?

- No, I don't want to sit down!

I wanna know how good this intel is.

Six trusts its source.

I'm sorry.

I can only imagine the burden

of those deaths,

but it was never yours to carry.

ROMLEY:
Prelim analysis is back.

The kidnappers used an A300 Win Mag round

fired from an AT308C sniper rifle

with suppressor.

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