patience, marvin. it has its moments.
half a million serbians reside in the u.s., marvin. serbians don't like bosnians. read a newspaper. it's good for you. hold out your hand.
coal miners use canaries, we use those. sorry guys.
july 1, 0.900 hours, agent william goodspeed and agent. trainee marvin isherwood. initiating exam of a wooden crate. suspicion of seran gas device inside.
appears to be kitchen items, cleaning agents, and.  .  old clothes.
careful, goddamn it marvin!
i've got some bad news and some really bad news. the bad news is the gas is corrosive. it's eating our suits.
enough c-4 explosive to blow the chamber and enough poison gas to kill everybody in the building.
chill, marvin. where's the goddamn sprinklers?
get that away from me. i hate needles.
lonner, where's the goddamned water?
i don't like needles.
hey honey.
not now.
yeah, somebody's in a bad mood.
much better. she sits with him. puts her arm around him.
had a close one.
not really.
could we change the subject?
hey! now there's some good news.
carla pestalozzi? no. definitely not. you could have posed for the mona lisa. sophia loren looks swedish next to you. i hope that's a compliment. i could change my name. how 'bout bobby sue pestalozzi? billy io pestalozzi?
stick with carla.
we've talked about this, carla, we've talked it up, down, inside and out .
you're what .  ?
shit, shit, shit what time is it. hello. i'll be downstairs in ten minutes.
i've got to go to san francisco.
i've got to go. she grabs his arm. i can't.  i cannot deal with this right now .  bill, i am very catholic. and very pregnant. and very unmarried. help me with this.
i love you. i will marry you. i just didn't plan on this, that's all. tell you what: come to san francisco.
it's probably just a training exercise. check into a hotel, order up some champagne, i'll finish up my business and .
b.a. columbia. m.a. and p.h.d., johns hopkins, biochemistry and toxicology.
this isn't a training exercise, is it sir.
why's he going to help us now?
jesus look at this guy.
"i fear the greeks even when they bring gifts."
ancient greece. alchimadus was imprisoned by his king.
archbishop of canterbury. imprisoned and executed by henry the second .
russian poet and dissident exiled to siberia.
you mind if.  uhm.  i take a shot?
take his cuffs off.
no actually, i'm bill goodspeed. mr. mason, we really need your help. that's a pardon and release contract from the attorney generals office. it makes you a free man, provided you cooperate.
i'm a field agent.
i'm a chemical biological weapons expert.
uhm, well, emancipated. unfettered.
i don't understand.
well yes i suppose .
yes. you'll be outside.
a hostage situation. a matter of life and death.
i think we can arrange that.
sir, that's a legal document.
sir, those references to alchimadus, beckett, solzhenitsyn: all had something in common.
they were imprisoned for doing nothing wrong. what's going on, sir?
listen carla: i'll explain later, but don't come to san francisco.
you're on a need to know basis and you don't need to know.
jesus.  jesus christ.
all units, this is caretaker. we've got a signal six. mason's in the elevator! let me know where he stops!
exits, looking at mason getting into the humvee. the humvee explodes out of the hotel driveway.
that's him!
where is he sir? right in front of me. what's he doing? he's on the phone. i don't fucking know, his stockbroker! oh shit. gotta go.
shit shit shit shit .
it's not mine.
neither is this.
not now isherwood. go to february 1976. who was transferred to wolfburg from san quentin that year?
hit nine nine nine nine.
f.b.i. miss. your father is working with us. he's helping us resolve a.  .  dangerous situation.
yes madam. we've got to go, john.
no cuffs until we get to the cars,
you almost got me killed. twice.
it hurts.
well, the thermal imaging photos picked up the poison gas. here. the prison morgue. it's probably being kept refrigerated. makes sense. v.x. gas begins to lose its toxicity at higher temperatures.
no sir, but i've studied them .
a little, sir.
no sir. should i begin the briefing on diffusing and detoxification sir?
sir, these are very complicated devices.
sir?
thank you.
i join the f.b.i. i ask for fieldwork. they say, "bill, you're too fucking smart for field work." every year i put in for a transfer and every year i sit in that goddamn lab like the fucking maytag repairman in the commercial. then the call finally comes, and it's a whole fuckin, city at stake? oh jesus.
i've got some bad news and some really bad news sir. maybe the bad news isn't bad, maybe actually it's good .
my girlfriend's pregnant.
motor oil?
uhn uhn. i hate needles.
wait a minute. what if this thing crashes .
what's going on?
don' t do it.
we're never gettin off this island.
 god jesus we're gonna die
don't shoot me. mason was actually slinging it over his shoulder.
wait. where're you going?
yes i mind. i mind very much.
it's me sir.
he says he's leaving the island sir.
he's got a gun, sir.
would you stop. just stop. i don't know whatyou did or why you were sent to jail, but there are a million people across that bay who might die.  fuck this. stop. freeze.
f.b.i. stop right there. i really mean it.
now he has all the guns, sir. . you've got to help me. what do you want me to do, beg?
now what?
i don't get it. you're going to help me?
you don't have to get all bent out of shape.
all right, all right. don't call me idiot, okay?
something's a little off here: i'm the f.b.i. agent, you're the convict, and you have all the guns.
the morgue?
you didn't learn that in prison.
i've got some questions for you but they can wait.
careful. the second you don't respect this, it kills you.
i need a hand here. mason. now.
hands the poison pearl strand to mason. mason holds it like a string of wind chimes.
any epidermal exposure or inhalation and you'll know: a twinge at the small of your back as the poison seizes the nervous system. then loss of muscular function. then you spit your guts out, it looks like a tub of spaghettils spilled on the floor, then your skin turns black.
pier 39 come in.
we're in the morgue. i'm removing the rocket's guidance system chips. without em the rocketslll fly about 500 feet and splash down like a wounded duck.
moves on to the third and fourth chem rounds. suddenly there's a beep. goodspeed and mason whirl. pvt. gamble's walkie talkie is talking to them:
shut up; you're making me nervous.
wait a minute. fuck. hummel stole fifteen chem rounds. there's only twelve here. here. quickly. do these last four.
mason!
wait.
pretty easy killing an unconscious man. how about trying me? punk. what're you waiting for? limp dick.
i rolled snake-eyes. shithead.
it's all i could think of.
he thinks we're seals.
i'll go.
what, vou?
good point. okay here, take 'em.
what are you doing?
what about mr. henderson?
wait.
i.  i don't know if i can do this.
well thank-you, thank-you very much.
mason. mason?
where are you?
this is tiny.
the cell, mason.
i only got one chem round. there are two left. i fucked up.
i'm not a field agent, all right? so cut me a break.
what is your beef with the bureau, anyway clmon. tell me.
how?
jesus. why didn't you just tell hoover and the bureau where the microfilm was? make a trade?
i see your point. something's been on my mind. about your escape.
you went down the shower drain, through the tunnels to the power plant, under the steam engine and out through the intake pipe - that much i've got ' but.  howld you get out of your cell?
i only ask because, in our current situation, it might be useful information .
hey! hey what's happening? mason. mason?
shit.
grabs his guns and gear and follows after mason. 225 ext. alcatraz - infirmary command center - morning hummel sits behind the desk. baxter, frye, darrow, hendrix in front of him. silence. hummel stares at his phone. the tension is palpable.
mason. john. what happened - the injustice done to you - doesn't mean you can walk away from this. a million people across that bay will die.
you were once a different man.
you were a civil servant. sworn to do your duty. just like me.
you'll never make it.
fine. i'll fuckin, do it myself.
that change things?
partners?
grabs the semi-consious hummel and drags him down the corridor-.
it's not too late, general. tell me where the last chem round is.
don't .
shoots crisp. crisp falls dead. a255 int. infirmary -
you shoot me, i'll drop this and we're both dead. one of these pearlslll kill everything within 200 feet. you know how this shit works?
you know the elton john son, "rocket man"?
well it happens to be my favorite fuckin, song!
emerges on the roof. sets down the chem round. pulls out the poison pearl strands, his hand shaking. with the other hand, he unclips the rocket guidance chip.
exits and kneels, reaching for his other pantleg. pulls out his green flares. he cracks the flares and fires them up.
just come and get me, sir. i'm tired.
mason, uhm, john, i have something to tell you. you know that pardon contract you signed?
you knew? all this time?
all i know is that whatever you did, you don't deserve to go back.
god's speed.
what's that? mason?
neither did i sir.
vaporized, sir. blown out to sea.
he saved my life, sir. is sanchez going to accept this? .
bill goodspeed, mr. president.
thank you, mr. president. the man you should be thanking is john mason.
director womack.
you want to know who really killed president kennedy, honey?