[eerie music]
♪ ♪
Copyright: 2004 Home Box Office, Inc.
[thunder crashing]
♪ ♪
[groaning]
(Bobby) Come on. Give me your hand.
I don't think I'm gonna make it, Bobby.
Come on, Ern.
The good Lord didn't bring you
this far down the road just to let you die
of a quart of tequila.
He wants you to hurt a little.
What's Lambasino's birthday?
[groaning]
(Bobby) 8/31/42.
Bingo.
Welly, welly, welly, my droogs, what have we here?
Take ya up, down, or sideways, partner.
What'll it be?
Look at this.
Remember I told you about somebody
stealing my buck knife?
[groaning]
Here it is, that son of a bitch.
Lambasino ought to be arrested.
Come on, Ernie.
Get dressed, man.
You don't want Brook on your ass
this early in the week.
Hey, how do my eyes look?
Like two piss holes in the snow.
(Brook) What it comes down to is that for the past two years,
Del Amo has had the piss-poorest record
of any United States Border Patrol sector
in the sovereign state of@(exas.
[cheers and applause]
Quiet!
Frankly, gentlemen,
the attitude of this division sucks.
It is so bad that I have been required
to take steps to ameliorate the situation.
Mr. Lacy has come all the way from Washington, DC,
to demonstrate a system which he himself has devised.
His invention will prove a great boon to all of us
in the accomplishment of our goals.
Somebody get those blinds.
(Lacy) Basically, this is a scanning system.
This maplike matrix you're looking at
represents an area of 40 square miles.
The input is generated by geosensors,
small electronic modules
implanted in the Earth at given intervals
and so sensitive,
they will pick up the coins in a man's pocket.
Haven't got any coins in their pocket.
That's why they're trying to cross the border.
[laughter]
That's enough, Wyatt.
(Lacy) Any activity in the neighborhood
of the geosensors will generate
a signal on the screen, like this.
Here, for example, you can observe
an imaginary illegal alien
heading from quadrant C5 to quadrant C6.
Well, how do you regulate the ovulator?
You're pushing it.
The what?
Well, the ovulator.
I mean, how do you keep it from malfunctioning?
Send someone out to fix it, asshole.
(Brook) That's enough.
Wyatt.
(Lacy) As I say,
this signal is artificial, so to speak.
The actual geosensors will be buried
throughout your sectors.
You mean we have to go out and bury those things?
That's right.
They will then transmit a signal
to this console whenever an illegal alien
enters the area where they're buried.
Make sure you set the scan sensitivity
for two feet and up so we don't have to apprehend
every jackrabbit that runs across the desert.
Remember, gentlemen, these geosensors
will only detect objects above the two-foot scan level.
I'm sorry.
I seen a jackrabbit out there in sector seven
that was big enough to stand flat-footed
and fuck a Shetland pony.
[laughter]
(Brook) Yes, Wyatt.
I'm just curious, sir, as to how these geosensors
are going to affect us.
There won't be a need for so many agents on patrol.
That means considerable savings for the taxpayer.
Well, what you're trying to say here
is that, uh, once we go out
and bust our asses planting those things
that, uh, about 2/3 of us are gonna be out of a job.
Isn't that right?
We tried them sons of bitches in 'Nam.
Didn't work then; ain't gonna work now.
(Brook) Quiet down.
It's working in other sectors.
Del Amo is next.
Take those blinds up.
Can I just get something straight in my head here?
(Brook) No, you can't, Wyatt.
I'd just like to ask the man one question, sir, please.
Let me just get it straight that the 1/3 of us left
that you don't fire are gonna be sitting
in some room watching some machine
that's watching some other machine.
I mean, I didn't personally join the Border Patrol
to watch television, sir.
I mean, why didn't anybody ask us about this?
How come we weren't informed?
Shut up, goddamn it!
(Bobby) 'Scuse me, sir.
What Ernie's trying to say is, maybe we should have been asked.
We didn't sign on with the Border Patrol here
to mess with computers and radar screens.
A lot of us in the room here turned down promotions
'cause we didn't want desk jobs.
And I think it's important you know what we want,
'cause, uh, the way it sounds is,
we don't have any choice in the matter.
You think I'm gonna ask you for a vo?
This is a bureau decision.
You're right.
You don't have any choice in the matter.
(Ernie) Come on, man.
You know he'd sell us out yesterday
to score points with Washington.
Take it easy, Ern.
Don't take everything so damn seriously.
Seriously, Jesus Christ, Bobby--
Don't hit my jeep.
Hey, Lambasino, do me a favor.
Do not fuck with me today, huh?
I was just funnin', Ernie.
(Bobby) Got any sign?
Yeah, we spotted some tire tracks
out by the old paseo turnoff.
Figured we'd let you boys of the day shift check 'em out.
Colder than a witch's titty out there.
You pissed off about something, Ernie?
I told you to drop it, goofball.
Who you callin' goofball, goofer?
You, cowboy.
Your locker looks like a drugstore.
Why don't y'all just back off?
You know, we skim a little bit off the top
from time to time just like everybody else.
Yeah, we turn it in, you think Brook's
gonna send it on to central office?
That son of a bitch has furnished his house
with stuff we's turned in.
It ain't exactly like we're stealing, Bob.
What about my knife?
What knife? His knife.
That was his knife.
Well, it was laying around an awful long time, Bobby.
You ain't sore, are you?
Fuck off.
In the meantime,
either clean out your locker
or change your birthday.
You're a good old boy, Bobby.
What's in the box?
Ask Brook. Big surprise.
Gonna make it?
[sighs] You know, I can't-- I can't believe
we're gonna be dumped for some goddamn computer.
I mean, once we plant them things,
what's gonna happen to us, Bobby?
I never seen a computer
that could track a man 40 miles.
[man over radio] Unit two, come in.
You know, you're okay.
You know, you got a great education.
I mean, you can get another job.
I mean, I got two options.
Either I lose my job, or I'm gonna spend--
[man over radio] Unit two.
My life in some goddamn basement looking at blips
on some goddamn TV.
You shut up! Shut up!
Shut up!
Yes, sir, we're just leaving.
[man over TV] We got a call from the sheriff's office.
There's a report of a plane putting down on Alianza.
Check it out.
Affirmative, unit two clear.
Let's go check out those tire tracks Lambasino found.
Tell me about it, Ern.
You know, sometimes I get the feeling
that this shit really doesn't bother you.
I don't like it any better than you do.
I got a little longer fuse is all.
You show me the ticket out of here,
and I'll take it.
But like my daddy said,
if you can't get out of it,
get into i
I thought your daddy said if you can't fix it, fuck it.
He said that too.
(Ernie) What do you think?
(Bobby) Beats the shit out of me.
Just tire tracks.
No footprints.
Either they flew away, or they're still in sight.
(Ernie) Illegals?
You want me to call in a two-eight,
see if it's stolen?
(Bobby) Brook thinks we're up in Alianza.
Let's check it out.
[eerie music]
♪ ♪
[gasps and screams]
Oh, no, it's all right.
It's okay. We're here to help you.
You scared the shit out of us.
I'm awfully sorry, ma'am, but--
About time a couple of you got here.
We could have died out here like this.
Lucky we came along at all. You could look at it that way.
Yeah, well, now you're here.
Now what are you gonna do,
sell us tickets to the policeman's ball?
We're with the Border Patrol.
We don't have any balls.
[laughs]
Howdy.
(Ellen) Hi.
What are y'all doing out here?
(Doris) What's it look like?
The goddamn car crapped out.
You mind if I, uh-- if I take a look at your IDs?
Well, if you look any harder, your eyes will wear out.
Look, we're on the level, honest.
I mean, we worked the late shift last night.
We're phone operations over at the telephone company
in San Antonio, and we were trying
to take the shortcut to Durban-- I grew up in Durban--
but, uh, we got lost.
And then the godd--
(Ernie) Damn car cropped out.
Yeah, that's what you just said.
Can you fix it?
I'll see what I can do.
You'll see what you can do?
[sighs]
You wanna keep 'em or let 'em go?
Are you kidding?
What's the problem?
Oh, fan belt's gone.
The fan belt is gone.
And the water pump's shot.
(Ernie) Well, listen,
we can get 'em as far as Del Amo,
but what are we gonna do about it then?
I'll slip Jim a fiver at the gas station,
make sure they don't get any replacement parts in
till tomorrow.
Which one you want?
(Ernie) The mean one.
You're a sick man.
You bet.
You ain't gonna spin 'em a story?
No, you're the mechanical genius.
You go spin 'em a story.
Well, we'll call a tow truck
to come and take this down to the gas station,
but it probably won't be ready till tomorrow,
so I'll drop you ladies off at a good motel.
Well, anything you can do, we'd appreciate it.
Oh, crap.
I'm starved.
You guys got anything to eat?
Watch it!
Excuse me.
Let me give you a hand.
Come on, Doris.
[Brook over radio] Mobile units two and three, do you copy?
Logan, Wyatt!
Units two and three, check in, goddamn it.
Logan, Wyatt!
You leave me alone.
[screaming] You leave me alone!
There's 40 other guys out here.
Why don't you call one of them?
Didn't you want me to get this finished?
I mean, as soon as I finish this,
I'm out of a job.
[screaming] Wouldn't that make you happy?
Wyatt here.
Moron.
[Brook over radio] Where the hell are you, unit three?
Where have you been?
Sector seven, sir, near the paseo wash.
Logan there too?
Do you copy, Wyatt?
Say again, sir.
Is Logan with you?
Negative.
He headed up toward Alianza, sir,
to check out that plane that was reported
by the sheriff's department.
Highway patrol just phoned in a code three from Dos Gatos.
Get your ass over there and cover it.
Del Amo, unit two, over.
[man over radio] Hold on, unit two.
[Brook over radio] Yeah, Logan.
Got a position on Wyatt, sir?
You pick up any sign of that plane?
Say again.
Airplane, Logan.
The one Wyatt told me you'd gone to check out.
Uh, yes, sir, right.
Up on the Alianza Mesa, no question about it.
All right, Friday you and Wyatt
pull the night shift.
You can stake it out.
That's the day after tomorrow, sir.
You know where the plane puts down, don't you?
Yeah, sure, absolutely.
Where'd you say you sent Ernie?
Dos Gatos, got a code three.
That doesn't give us much lead time.
[dramatic percussive music]
♪ ♪
[man over radio] Calling units two and three. Do you copy?
Unit two--
[mysterious music]
♪ ♪
[sirens wailing]
How ya doin'?
Hey.
What happened?
The driver of the water tanker
said the van run right through the stop sign.
Said he saw him coming.
He was coming pretty fast.
He figured he'd stop at the intersection,
but he just hit him broadside,
bowled the damn thing right over.
Driver of the water tanker is in the hospital,
and the van driver's dead.
How many were in the van?
21, all told.
Eight dead, five bodies been removed.
Three still in there.
13, various injuries.
Do we know who it belonged to?
Fellow over there by the Lincoln.
Across.
[mysterious music]
♪ ♪
[sirens wailing]
You understand, Sheriff Wells, that my client
is under no obligation whatsoever
to answer your questions at this time.
(Wells) That, in fact, Mr. Henshaw,
is one of the greater sorrows of the state of Texas,
but since this here van is your client's property,
I'm gonna question him anyway.
Look, the van is mine,
but if you would check the records,
you would see that I reported it stolen
from my ranch several days ago.
No doubt the man behind the wheel
is the one who stole it.
It is him you should be questioning.
As the Lord would have it, as you damn well know,
Mr. Pedroza, the driver of that van is dead.
[snapping]
How unfortunate for justice, señor.
(Wells) You always drive around with your lawyer?
That question's irrelevant, Sheriff,
and I'd be careful not to intimate anything
that you can't prove.
Mr. Pedroza is a respected man in this community.
Mr. Pedroza--
Mr. Pedroza is scum.
That remark is noted, Officer...
Wyatt, Ernest Wyatt.
W-Y-A-T-T.
Be cautious, my friend.
Don't you ever call me your friend.
You stand here lying to our faces
with that white piece-of-shit lawyer
in your pocket while they pull
your people out of here in plastic bags.
Careful, son.
Now, that van was no more stolen
than that school bus was stolen last month.
You pick up wetbacks in Chihuahua,
and you pack them into anything on wheels.
You promise them freedom,
and you sell them death.
You are a fucking assassin.
You are a fucking butcher.
Your own people!
You got a dirty mouth, kid.
You got a dirty job.
Come on, come on.
Come on.
You okay?
[sighing] Man, I've had it.
That scumbag Pedroza.
Brook and his little radar boxes.
I don't know. Maybe Brook was right.
Maybe we don't have any choice in the matter.
What the hell happened to you?
We got a choice.
Remember that ticket out of here
we were talkin' about this morning?
I found it.
It looks like he drove straight into the wash.
Probably slammed into the wall over here,
and the bank caved in on him.
Then there was more rain and more mud.
Covered him up for a while.
Light switch is on.
He was traveling at night.
Is that wiper switch on?
Yeah.
Gearshift's in third.
[sighs]
Tell you something,
he was making good time for desert driving
at night in the rain.
Open it.
$800,000.
[laughs]
Looks like it came straight from some bank.
What if it did? So what?
If this guy pulled off some heist,
it's gotta be long forgotten now.
No, this stuff's gotta be phony.
Bullshit.
We'll keep these and run some kind of check on them,
but they're good, Ernie; I can smell it.
What the hell you doing?
[sighs] I'm gonna find out who this guy was.
A, he's a bag man for the mob who decided to go independent,
or B, he's a pusher who just got paid off
for a dope shipment.
No respectable civilian's gonna be
driving around the desert with all that cash.
Piece of paper with some phone numbers.
Texas driver's license.
Michael J. Curtis,
1113 Bligh St., apartment D, San Antonio, Texas.
Caucasian.
Brown hair. Brown eyes.
Issued, '62, expires, '66.
You check the plates?
Yeah, Texas.
M-S-star- 6-4-7-4, 1963.
I'll have the Sheriff's Office run a check on it.
There's something else in here.
Give me a hand with this.
Rods, reels, rifle.
Hunting and fishing shit.
Tsk, tsk.
Well, what do you think?
It's just not right to take it.
What's not right?
As far as the rest of the world's concerned,
this money's gone.
For 20 years.
Shit, Ernie, an hour ago,
you were so hot about the Brooks
and the Pedrozas, you were ready to walk.
Now we got a ticket to ride out of here first class,
and you're worrying about whether it's right or not.
It's only money, man.
Come on, I'll tell you what we'll do.
We'll cover this up, we'll camouflage the jeep,
we'll cover up our tracks,
and stash these cases at the coffin place.
We'll check out the money,
and if it's okay, then we'll split it in half
and get the hell out of here.
I don't know.
I gotta think about it.
You're the only man I know
who'd screw up his own wet dream.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
I never thought these things would come in handy.
[groaning]
I missed the right corner.
I think that we could make magic together.
Wait, wait, no, where you goin'?
What's your name, darlin'?
That's a pretty name.
Bobbie Jo.
Thank you.
We were going from El Paso to San Anton.
'Bout 582 miles of the hottest highway
this side of hell.
Old Jim there, he says,
"Guess I'll get me a tan."
This is not a--
You told me you weren't gonna tell that story.
(Lambasino) Oh no, I'm gonna tell that story.
[laughter]
(Ernie) Wait a minute. I got a clean one.
This guy's driving along in his car,
and he's just driving along,
and all of a sudden, this cop pulls him over.
And the cop says, "What are you doin'?"
And the guy says, "What do you mean?"
He says, "What's that in the back of your car?"
And the guys says, "What?"
He turns around, and the back of the car
is filled with all these little penguins.
He says, "You can't do that.
What are they doing there?"
He says, "They're with me."
He says, "You can't have 'em there.
You take those penguins directly to the zoo right now."
The guy says, "What, now?"
He says, "Yeah, right now.
Take them to the zoo."
He says, "Okay, all right."
He drives off.
The next day, the cop's directing traffic.
The car pulls up, and he sees it coming again.
And he looks in the car,
and he says, "You, pull over! Pull over!"
And he says, "What?"
He says, "What did I just tell you yesterday?"
He says, "What are you talking about?"
He says, "I told you about it.
You can't have those things."
He says, "What things?"
He says, "Look in the back."
"I thought I told you to take those penguins to the zoo."
The guys says, "I did. We had a ball.
Today we're gonna go to the beach."
Is it always like this?
Like what?
Well, I mean, do you come here a lot?
You mean you're not having
the best time of your life?
Is this as good as it gets?
No.
Sometimes Ernie pukes.
Yeah, Ernie's different.
He's about 15 years younger, for openers.
He still believes in God and country
and his job, his duty.
The Raiders.
He's got a lot of integrity.
He's a real straight arrow.
They don't make them like that anymore.
He's the best man in the unit.
And you?
I can sight a rifle pretty good,
and I can direct traffic if I need to,
but I haven't got what Ernie's got.
Which is?
Which is the brave, young notion
that he can still do something about it.
But if you don't believe that,
then why are you still with the Border Patrol?
I like it.
I like the freedom of it.
I like the fact that Del Amo's so far from anything important,
nobody messes with us.
The sector me and Ernie work is so undesirable,
nobody messes with us there either.
They bend the rules to keep us happy.
But it's nice just being out there
in the desert.
It's beautiful.
And I like the thrill of the chase.
202 is a DC area code.
The other's probably San Antonio,
but they're both disconnected.
No cards, no social security,
nothing.
If the guy was a crook,
you'd figure he'd have more ID than this,
even if it was phony.
Wouldn't ya?
Weird.
Well, anyway, even if somebody
stumbled on that jeep, there's no way
they could trace that money here to you or me.
Yeah, but we can trace it.
We got his license, San Anton address.
Okay, we'll go to San Antonio tomorrow.
You check out the address.
I'll check out the money.
Wait a minute.
Those two girls work for the phone company, right?
Why don't you ask your girl
to go and check out those two numbers for us?
Why don't you ask Doris?
Who?
Doris.
The mean one.
No, I couldn't do that.
No, she's all worn out.
[laughs]
I don't know.
Shit.
You think maybe we ought to tell the sheriff about this?
Is that what you want to do?
This is serious, Bobby.
$800,000 is serious.
(Ernie) Hey, what are you doin'?
Can I help you?
Yeah, maybe you can tell me something
about this bill.
I won it in a poker game the other night,
and I noticed it said "Silver Certificate"
up there on top where it usually says
"Federal Reserve Note."
I thought maybe it was phony.
Whose backyard did this come from?
Well, there's nothing phony
about a silver certificate,
so long as its printed by the U.S. of A.
You don't see 'em anymore is all.
Government stopped issuing them in '62.
Let's see.
Good background.
Isolation behind the numbers.
Good paper.
Smith/Dillon signature.
Yep.
It's good?
Sure is.
What about this one?
Federal reserve note.
'63 green seal series.
Dillon/Granahan signature.
K makes it a Dallas bill.
As good as they make 'em.
You're sure.
If I didn't know the difference
between a good bill and a bad bill,
I probably wouldn't have lasted very long
in this business, now, would I?
Thank you.
Come again.
'Preciate it.
What'd I tell ya?
You satisfied?
That stuff's gotta be stolen.
The guy in the jeep probably knocked off
a Dallas bank.
So what?
I swear to God, man, you act like an old woman.
"Well, I don't know. it might not be right."
Well, it might not be right.
At least not for me.
Look, I didn't ask you to bring me in on this
in the first place, man.
Is that it?
It's okay for me, then?
Okay, I'll tell you what we'll do.
Let's go back, dig up all the money,
and you can turn it in to Brook,
and he might not even punish you.
Look, I'm willing to take the money.
[laughs]
I am.
Oh, that's so big of you, Ernie.
I wanna take it as long as we can prove
that we got as much right to it
as anybody else.
Now, look, the guy in there said
that they stopped making the silver certificate in 1962
and that the federal reserve note
was issued in '63,
the same year as the plates on the jeep.
Now, what if we went to the library
and we just checked out to see if there was
any kind of a robbery or a heist
pulled off for that year?
Anyway, I still gotta check out
the address on that guy's license.
Well, since you're not gonna find his house,
just drop me off at the library.
Pick me up when you're finished.
[eerie music]
♪ ♪
Any luck?
Couple $75,000 armed robberies.
Some mail fraud.
How 'bout you?
The house doesn't even exist anymore.
Tore everything down years ago
to make room for a parking lot.
So then I checked motor vehicles,
and their records only go back for ten years,
so we are back at point A.
Well, let's get out of here.
I had enough of this place for a day.
Can we take the money now?
You said 24 hours.
We still haven't heard from Ellen yet.
Gotta see if they traced those two phone numbers.
Aw, crap.
Shh.
The plane.
What plane?
The airstrip I was checking out
at Alianza yesterday.
No, no, that's just a lot
of horseshit I told Brook.
No, it ain't.
We're staking it out tomorrow.
Well, who found it?
I found it.
You told Brook you found it?
What was I gonna do,
tell him I was taking the girls to a motel?
I told him I found it when I went looking for it.
Tomorrow morning, he's gonna want to know
where the son of a bitch is.
There goes our day off.
[knocking]
Come on in.
Sheriff Wells, Agent Logan.
Yeah, met you at Dos Gatos.
Good to see you again.
Ernie Wyatt.
You, you any kin to Matt Logan?
He's my daddy.
Son of a bitch.
Let me show you something here.
Top row, third from the right,
that's me.
Who's that standing next to me?
That's my old man.
Yep.
Y'all sit down.
Yeah, them's Texas Rangers, boy.
Me and your dad and all the rest.
We was the best there was.
They call it Department of Public Safety now.
What do you say to a shot of sour mash?
We got a report about a plane
setting down over on Alianza Mesa.
It's about 30 miles east of here.
Hell, boy, don't you think
I know where it is?
I know this territory
better than anybody 'cept God,
and sometimes I wonder about Him.
Here you go.
Now, let's...
Yeah, we've had reports about a plane
landing on Alianza.
Comes in pretty regular.
There's an old desert rat over there.
Amarillo, they called him.
He's seen it.
Calls in to complain.
Says it spooks his mule.
Here's to your dad. God bless his soul.
Better days.
[dog barking]
Amarillo?
Who's asking?
This here is Agent Wyatt.
I'm Agent Logan,
Border Patrol.
Just come up from Sheriff Wells' place.
He says you reported a plane setting down
on Alianza Mesa over there.
So?
You can put up that old Sharps.
It's the folks in the plane we're interested in.
Have you actually seen the plane
set down on the mesa, sir?
No.
(Bobby) But it lands there regular.
Tuesdays and Fridays.
Well, how do you know it lands on Tuesdays and Fridays
if you've never really seen it set down, sir?
There's a seismic fault runs across the top
of that mesa running west by northwest,
cutting it in two.
This side's brush cover.
The other side is flat and clear
for about 225 yards.
At 5:00, a Cessna 175 comes in.
60 knots, just short of stalling speed.
Throttle cut back, flaps down,
rudder working hard into the wind.
How'd I know it was 175 Cessna?
How did I put it all together?
I pissed away 40 years of my life
as an aeronautical engineer for a company called Convair.
Did you ever hear of Convair, son?
Yes, sir.
Things spooks my mule.
Don't be surprised if we show up here
tomorrow afternoon with some of the boys
to stake it out.
Our guess is,
they're flying in dope from down south.
We're much obliged to you.
(Amarillo) You boys better step on it.
Get off the desert.
On the blacktop.
Why's that?
Gonna rain.
Crazy old fart.
I heard that.
What's the problem?
Nothing adds up.
No leads on the money, the phone numbers,
the license.
I feel like we ought to get out of here, man.
Right now.
This is a beautiful bust tomorrow, Bobby.
Okay, what if we make the bust,
and as soon as we've done that,
we'll clean out our lockers,
pick up the money, and get out of here?
Bobby.
Morning, sir.
Wyatt and I are all set
to stake out Alianza.
Logan, Wyatt,
I'd like you to meet Inspector Carson,
Inspector Hawthorne, Inspector Strunk.
These gentlemen will be handling the plane, Logan.
It'll be their collar.
You and Wyatt will take orders from Inspector Carson here.
(Carson) I want a briefing on that airstrip, Logan.
Why'd you call them?
This is our bust.
It's not a matter of who gets the credit, Logan.
It's a matter of efficiency.
We do our best work when we interface
with our sister agencies.
Besides, Washington likes to get involved
in these matters,
and this department owes Washington
all the favors it can turn its way,
don't you agree?
I've just been demonstrating our new scanner here.
Inspector Carson was very impressed
by the transmitters that you installed
out in section seven.
Good work, Wyatt.
We're staying at the Highland Tower Motel,
room 103.
There's a meeting at 9:30 sharp.
By then I'll, uh-- I'll want that briefing, Logan.
You boys want a minute to uniform?
Yeah. Yeah, we do.
Let me demonstrate this for you gentlemen.
So Brook's men will lead us in two platoons:
one group from the west to establish a perimeter
along this portion of the mesa,
a second from the east to secure this quadrant here.
Agent Wyatt will lead the east group.
Agent Logan and myself will bring in
the group from the west.
Get all this, Wyatt?
Each of you will be issued walkie-talkies.
We'll operate on the number two band.
Our three vehicles and your jeeps
will be in concealment at the bottom of the mesa.
Here, here, and here.
(Ernie) Where you gonna hide
the Ferris wheel, coach?
Find this a circus, Wyatt?
What he's saying is, out there in the desert,
anything that's man-made or has a regular outline
is gonna stick out like a sore thumb,
especially from the air.
With five vehicles out there, you stand a good chance
of blowing your whole bust.
So what's your MO, Logan?
Well, you really just need half a dozen men
to stake out that runway.
Split 'em up;
hit the plane from both sides at the same time
as soon as it touches down.
I don't care about the plane.
I want the pickup vehicle.
He'll lead us to a warehouse full of drugs.
(Bobby) That's just one warehouse.
If you nail the plane,
you're a step closer to the source.
Or you could let the transaction take place,
let the vehicle get away,
then nail the plane
and follow the vehicle to the warehouse,
and you'd have your warehouse full of drugs and the source
if you're lucky.
Okay, Logan.
We'll try it your way.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Stuart, all clear.
Logan, Robert E.
Born 6/8/41.
Graduated West Point, 1963.
'Nam, Green Beret hero.
Three Silver Stars,
recommendation for the Medal of Honor.
Had the world by the tail at 24.
And then all of a sudden, poof,
he ups and quits.
No record of him till '72.
And what's he doing now?
Sweating his nuts off in the desert,
driving a jeep,
saying, "Yes, sir" to assholes like Brook,
who five years earlier
would have been polishing his shoes.
What's with you, Logan?
Why the hell you wasting your life
out here in the toolies?
I like the peace and quiet.
Bullshit, you copped out.
Why?
You don't actually believe
you're doing something worthwhile down here, do you?
Hell, when Nixon was president,
they found a wetback working for him
at San Clemente.
Fuckin' president had a greaseball
cooking him dinner.
Made all the papers.
Anybody care?
Hell, no.
I just do my job, Carson.
No, you ran away.
Admit it.
You were afraid you might become a big shot.
No, I was afraid I might get just like you.
You're hiding out here to get away from the pressure.
It's not the pressure, man.
It's the politics.
Oh, come on.
Politics?
This whole fucking nation is politics.
You work for the Border Patrol,
a division of the Immigration Bureau,
which answers to the Department of Justice,
which is directly responsible
to the Congress of these United States.
Now, you don't think that's political?
You think you've beaten the political system
because you're hiding out at the bottom of it.
I don't work for the system.
I work for the law.
The law. Christ.
You work for the same law
that pays all our salaries:
the law of supply and demand.
Think about it, whiz kid.
Your fucking job depends on those wetbacks,
and if we didn't have them, we'd invent them.
Otherwise, how would your department
justify the millions it gets from Congress each year?
It's the American way, pal.
Supply and demand.
And when the supply is lacking, create it.
Shit.
Every morning I get up, I thank God
for drugs and murder and subversion,
because without them, we'd all be out of a job.
Who are you?
You're not some fed who's down here for a drug bust.
What are you really doing here?
I'm a fixer, Logan. I fix things.
Yeah, what kind of things?
Whatever needs fixing.
[Wyatt over radio] We got visual contact with the van
approaching the top of the mesa.
Copy, Ern, we're all set.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Here he comes.
Get ready to move.
Get ready, Bobby.
I'm going in.
Let's go.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[gunshot]
♪ ♪
Stop it!
Stop the plane!
[grunting and groaning]
Jump, Ernie!
Ernie!
Goddamn it!
(Carson) What the fuck happened?
Why didn't he jump?
You tipped him off!
You wanted to let him get away.
You son of a bitch, is that why you're here?
And you killed Ernie, goddamn you!
I was shooting at the plane, Logan.
These are my witnesses.
Where are your witnesses, asshole?
I knew that son of a bitch
wasn't here to make a drug bust.
You don't send a fixer in a blue suit
all the way down here from Washington
to collar a goddamn pusher.
You send him here to protect a source.
Somebody back there's protecting the goddamn money.
Well, screw 'em.
Tomorrow we get the cash
and split for Mexico.
What is this?
It's tea.
[knock at door]
Who is it?
(Ellen) It's us, Ellen and Doris.
(Bobby) Hey.
We went by where you work,
and they said that you'd either be here
or at the hospital.
You okay?
Oh, yeah, I just got a cold or something.
I hope it's okay, us just dropping by like this.
Sure, hey, it's lucky you caught us.
We're gonna be leaving tomorrow.
They told us we gotta take our vacation now or never.
Want a beer?
(Ellen) Sure.
Uh, where you goin'?
Mexico.
Ernie, aren't you gonna offer me a drink?
Oh, yeah, make that two, will you, Bobby?
(Doris) We traced them two numbers
you gave Ellen and left a note where you work.
What?
(Doris) Them two numbers.
We traced 'em, and one of them belongs
to a guy named Beck from Washington, DC,
and the other one used to be
the Dallas Police Department about 20 years ago.
You left that information with someone at headquarters?
(Ellen) Uh-huh.
That friend of yours.
We met him in the bar the other night.
Uh, what's his name?
Lamba...
(Bobby) Lambasino?
Yeah, that's the one.
We gave him the note,
and he said he'd give it to you tomorrow.
We would have brought it by here.
We really didn't know if you'd be home.
I tried to call you last night,
and when I couldn't get an answer
I got worried,
so we went down to headquarters.
Your boss said you were in some kind of mission.
Sure were a lot of folks crammed into where you work.
Lamborgino was real happy for you.
He said some federal guys found a farmhouse
chock full of cocaine and stuff.
(Ellen) Yeah, while we were there, they even brought in a body.
(Doris) A skeleton's all he was.
A skeleton?
Yeah, I never saw
so many people upset all at once.
That's when they told us
to get our fannies out of there.
Can I use your powder room?
Yeah.
I gotta talk to Ernie about something.
I'll be right back.
Okay.
We're in deep shit, man.
Nobody knows where those numbers came from.
I wish I could explain this to you,
but I can't.
Something's going on,
and Ernie and I have to get away from here.
Are you in some kind of trouble?
I can't tell you anything more.
I don't want to get you involved.
Are you really going to Mexico?
Yeah.
I knew it.
Look, um...
I wouldn't be a lot of trouble,
and I speak a little bit of Spanish.
You hardly know me.
I know how I feel.
Listen, I like you a lot.
I mean it.
But I can't take you with me now.
Will you at least let me know you're okay?
Yeah.
(man) We want what you took from the jeep.
Huh?
The jeep in the Marita Wash.
You reported it, didn't you?
What if I did?
I didn't take anything.
There was nothing there to take.
Who the hell are you?
[gunshot]
Max, did Lambasino leave a note for us?
It's probably on the board.
No, it's not. We already checked.
So what's the story
with that skeleton they brought in?
Who knows?
Carson's handling it, and nobody's saying nothing.
Logan, Wyatt,
I'm leaving the unit, boys.
The powers that be have transferred me
to administration.
I'll be working in Washington.
Congratulations.
Who's the new CO gonna be, sir?
Washington promises a decision on that
within the month.
In the meantime, Inspector Carson here
will be acting as interim chief.
I guess that's the old American way,
isn't it, pal?
You learn fast, Logan.
Seen Lambasino and Roget?
Nope, must not have checked in yet.
Probably down at Marita Wash
watching what's going on.
What's going on down at Marita Wash?
You don't know?
Shit, go check it out.
It's a sight.
This is Strunk. It's on the flatbed now.
Nobody's allowed past this point.
Really?
Orders, sir.
Oh, come on, man.
We're all on the same side here, now.
I'm Agent Wyatt. This is Agent Logan.
I can see you're Border Patrol,
but I still can't let you through.
Sorry.
What is it, some kind of military secret?
I don't know. Guess so.
Got any idea what your buddies
are looking for back there?
You'll have to ask the men in charge.
They don't look like the kind of guys
I want to be asking a bunch of questions.
Thank you.
Those guys in the suits are Carson's men.
Yeah.
Hey, look at this.
Man leading a horse.
Or a mule.
(Ernie) I thought we'd have heard about this.
Somebody would have seen it, reported it.
Look at this.
Here and here.
Two men.
Street shoes.
And this here.
These tracks look familiar?
Standard 18x40s, heavy duty, no offset.
Probably a jeep.
Lambasino and Roget?
City vehicle, two-inch offset.
Front end's out of alignment.
Well, what now?
Check the entire state of Texas
for every car that needs a front end job?
Looks like Lambasino and Roget
took off after him.
Without reporting this?
Bobby, I rode all the way here with my radio on.
Nothing.
What is it about that jeep
that Carson's got the entire 5th Army out there?
How come the guy that was driving it
didn't have anything on him but a license?
Where did he get all that money?
How come the only guy
that reported it is lying there dead?
Why didn't Lambasino or Roget call this in?
[frenzied dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Where's the city car?
Looks like it's already come and gone.
[mysterious music]
♪ ♪
You two found the tracks heading here.
Am I correct?
It was a city car.
Front end's out of alignment.
Picked it up at an old desert rat's place
about ten miles from here.
He was killed, and his place had been burned.
Lambasino and Roget had been there.
They followed the city car.
We picked up both sets of tracks,
and they led us here.
So that's your story, huh?
What do you mean, story?
You had no idea what they were up to.
Am I right?
Did you?
Did I what?
Did you have any idea what they were up to?
What who was up to, Logan?
Del Amo, this is special unit one.
Come in, please.
Hawthorne here. I copy.
I'm at the scene,
and there are no problems.
Yeah, I copy.
We've got an informant's word here
that a Mr. Pedroza is sending up
a truckload of wetbacks.
It's supposed to be crossing the border
in the vicinity of Balancing Rock.
And we have a sighting of an unidentified car
located somewhere near a place called Soledad Mountain.
Good.
That'll give these two something to do.
Well, you heard the man, hotshot.
Get your ass in gear.
You check out that car.
Pedroza's mine.
I'll meet you at Soledad in two hours.
Let's get out of here.
Let's go get the money and split.
No, sir.
Not while I got a chance to sting out Pedroza.
To hell with Pedroza,
and to hell with the car.
Goddamn it, I'm telling you, Ernie,
we should go now.
Can't do it, Bobby.
[man over radio] This is special unit two.
I'm at Soledad Mountain. No sign of Logan.
Del Amo, unit two, copy?
[Carson over radio] Logan, I told you to check out the mountain.
Now, where the hell are you?
I did. That's where I am.
Soledad Mountain.
I sent you to Soledad Mountain.
Now, where the hell have you been?
How the hell do you know where the hell I am?
Just get your ass back here, Logan, now.
Where's Ernie?
Wyatt's been back for over an hour.
He caught Pedroza red-handed.
He's probably home celebrating by now.
He wouldn't do that.
Come on back, Logan.
You're tired.
He said he'd be here.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[crying]
[sobbing]
♪ ♪
There's unit one.
Special unit one, this is headquarters.
Target subject sighted 500 feet south by southeast.
[gunshots]
[man over radio] Approaching on foot.
We'll transmit as soon as we confirm the kill.
[groaning]
We lost the target.
They got him.
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
[grunting]
[gunshot]
[screaming] Logan!
Damn you!
[gunshot]
[groaning]
What the hell's happening?
[gunshot]
Who the hell is that?
[gunshot]
[grunting]
Why?
Fuck you, pal.
[gunshots]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Who were you?
[yelling] Who were you?
[screaming] Who were you?
[gunshot]
Let's see your hands, please.
Why'd you boys go digging
where you had no cause to be?
That rifle right there,
that's the one that did it.
They just gave me a license number.
Told me there was this fellow, name of Curtis,
gonna show up afternoon or night of the 22nd.
"Get out there and wait for him."
I was to give him his money.
Give him a fishing rod case
with room for a rifle,
direct him to the border.
Then what happens?
Out of the blue, you boys
laid that license number on my deputy,
and the nightmares started all over again.
Come on.
You might as well do it here.
I ain't letting you take me back.
(Wells) I ain't taking you back.
I want you to get in this jeep,
go south, Mexico.
Change your name.
Change your looks.
I'm giving you this chance because you're Matt's boy.
If I get in that jeep, I ain't running.
I'm going back and tell them what I know.
Hah, well, I guess you haven't heard, have you?
You're a mad dog killer, son.
You knifed your own partner for that box of money.
Hell, it's been on this radio for over an hour now.
You poke your nose around there, you're gonna get shot on sight,
and they'll give them a medal for it.
They're saying...
they're saying I killed Ernie?
They got you, Matt's boy.
Same as them others.
Do you want to die?
Go on back there.
You want to live, you go.
Take the money.
What about you?
Oh, they'll be coming. You can bet on that.
I'll wait here for them.
Buy you some time.
Whatever happens should have happened years ago.
Come on, son.
Don't be a martyr.
We already got enough of them.
Go on.
Be different.
Be the one that got away.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
I'll be back.
You get a chance, you might tell 'em that.
I'll tell 'em.
♪ ♪
Copyright: 2004 Home Box Office, Inc.
Captioning by CaptionMax www.captionmax.com
(Scott Richardson) ♪ I dug up a secret ♪
♪ buried in shifting sand. ♪
♪ Stumbled into a mystery ♪
♪ hidden by the high command. ♪
♪ Guess who pulled the trigger. ♪
♪ Guess who pulls the strings. ♪
♪ Same faceless fixers ♪
♪ who never want to hear me sing. ♪
♪ Caught in the flashpoint. ♪
♪ Stuck with the truth pounding in my brain. ♪
♪ Grieving for the innocence ♪
♪ I'll never see again. ♪
♪ Once there was a fair-haired boy ♪
♪ living in Camelot. ♪
♪ But they shot him right down in Dallas town ♪
♪ when the chess game got too hot. ♪
♪ The whole world watched in horror ♪
♪ as the facts got pushed aside. ♪
♪ Now I'm running down to Mexico ♪
♪ with a secret they tried to hide. ♪
♪ Caught in the flashpoint. ♪
♪ Stuck with the truth pounding in my brain. ♪
♪ Grieving for the innocence ♪
♪ I'll never see again. ♪
♪ Caught in the flashpoint. ♪
♪ Stuck with the blood money in my hands. ♪
♪ Skeletons can't talk, ♪
♪ and I'm the only one who understands. ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Hmm, yeah. ♪
♪ Oh. ♪
♪ ♪
♪ The power brokers who made him a god ♪
♪ laid him down. ♪
♪ An accident hid the evidence, ♪
♪ but evidence will always be found. ♪
♪ Caught in the flashpoint. ♪
♪ Stuck with the truth pounding in my brain. ♪ ♪