Maranatha/Transcript

== Episode ==
*Maranatha
== Transcript ==
[polaroid fade up]
[Night, outside a nuclear power plant.]
[Inside, everyone speaking Russian. An alarm is sounding and red lights are flashing danger signals as several workers are at some panels with various lights, buttons and displays. Several workers are trying to fix a major problem. A supervisor is giving instructions to others.]
[Two dials show that the level of something, perhaps radiation, is rising steadily and quickly past '400.' Four lights, two red and two green, can be seen on either side of the dials as they continue to rise. The two green lights are presently lit.]
[The supervisor turns some knobs, presses some buttons, and manages to get the alarm to momentarily stop from sounding. He then inserts a key and activates yet another button that is labeled: 'A35.' He presses that button but the dial again can be seen, climbing past '500' into a red-marked area as it continues on past '600.' Another alarm begins to sound and a red light flashes directly over the panel.]
[The supervisor begins shouting at everyone, waving at them to leave the building immediately. The dial continues to climb toward '600' when several explosions can heard which rock the building. The supervisor begins running through the area, shouting and waving for everyone to evacuate at once.]
[An officer, or guard on duty, on a lower level begins climbing upstairs past several workers as they try to do the opposite – one of them falling on the stairs as the guard climbs over him.]
[Explosions continue to occur as the workers flee down the stairs. Another guard can be seen running with the workers as he meets up with the first guard.]
:GUARD #2: {It's Yaponchik.}
:GUARD #1: {Did you see him?}
:GUARD #2: {He must be here.}
:GUARD #1: {Check Unit B.}
[And he runs off in another direction to search for Yaponchik.]
[Meanwhile, outside the power plant, several workers can be seen running. There are two military trucks moving towards another end of the complex.]
[Also, a man (Yaponchik) can be seen walking toward a chain link fence. He reaches the fence, grabs hold of it with both hands, pauses, turns to look behind him and then climbs over the fence, jumping down on the other side of it as more explosions can be heard from inside the plant.]
CHERNOBYL, U.S.S.R.
APRIL 26, 1986
1:23:35 AM
[Yet more explosions, this time these are visible from outside the complex, with lots of fire and the toppling of a tower from the building. So begins the Chernobyl 'accident.']
BRIGHTON BEACH
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
MAY 4, 1997
[Inside, a Russian Orthodox Church. Numerous votive candles are lit as the views pans across to an icon of a religious figure (Jesus Christ?). The painting has been literally defaced – the figure's face has been vandalized.]
[Two men stand before the painting – one is a priest, the other a police detective, both are Russian and speak in their language.]
DETECTIVE: {Who would do this?}
PRIEST: {It's him.}
DETECTIVE: {Here?}
[The priest nods.]
[There is a close up of the icon. The view pans up the figure, showing its robe with a double-barred cross on either sleeve, to the scratched-out face.]
[The priest walks out the door of the church and towards the gate with the detective behind him. He opens the gate which has a large 'Chi-Rho' symbol (a monogram of chi and rho, the first two letters of Christ in Greek, which appears as a 'P' with an 'X' overlapping the bottom of the first letter) across both doors. They both stand outside the gate.]
DETECTIVE: {Father bless.}
[The priest blesses him, making the sign of the cross before him. Then the detective kisses the priest's right hand before leaving. The priest walks through then closes the gate before returning to his church as we see that another man, Yaponchik, has been watching the two from across the street.]
[As the detective walks down the street, he turns to look back at the church, then turns again and is startled by Yaponchik standing before him.]
DETECTIVE: {Yaponchik?}
[Yaponchik does not respond but he raises a short-barreled shotgun and aims it directly at the detective. As the man begins to cross himself, Yaponchik fires directly at his face. The force of the gun blast slams the detective up against a pole behind him, then he slumps down dead to the ground.]
[Then Yaponchik kneels down beside the dead man, removes from his pocket a pair of snippers and begins cutting the man's fingers off.]
[fade to black]
"Behold ye scoffers, For I will work wonders in your days, Which ye will not believe."
Book of Habakkuk
[polaroid fade up]
[Day, a street market in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Frank is being driven by Lt. McCormick in his car through Brooklyn to meet up with a Russian detective, Yura Surove, who is searching for Yaponchik.]
McCORMICK: A hundred and fifty thousand people leave Russia and come to Brighton Beach. Reminds them of Odessa. Ah, what a dump that place must be. One thing these people got in common is a big hairy eyeball toward law enforcement. Understandable after all those years in the evil empire. I mean, you make a few rubles selling oranges, you're a criminal. Go to church, you're a criminal. Man, it's got to warp your thinking. Anyway, that's the way community relations says to look at it.
FRANK: Third mutilated body left in public.
McCORMICK: And no I.D. due to method of execution.
FRANK: Obviously a terror tactic.
McCORMICK: Well, it's working. None of the usual suspects have anything to say.
FRANK: A thousand people pass the body and no one picks up the phone.
McCORMICK: Welcome to the global village. There's Yura. (points) Guy from Moscow P.D. He's got three dead bodies over there cooling in the morgue – same M.O.
[He pulls the car over to the curb and parks.]
FRANK: And no suspects.
McCORMICK: None he's telling us about. You know what he makes? Hundred and sixty-seven dollars a month, man. 1-6-7. You think you could stay honest on that?
[Both get out of the car.]
FRANK: Maybe he's not in it for the money.
[They walk over to where Yura is standing, waiting for them. They climb over a police tape marking off the area where the Russian detective was killed by Yaponchik.]
McCORMICK: Frank Black, meet Yura Surove.
[They shake hands.]
McCORMICK: (to Yura) This is Frank I told you about. Look, I got a meeting on this downtown, so, you'll clue him in?
YURA: Yeah.
[McCormick heads back to his car and leaves.]
YURA: Frank Black, Millennium Group. I think you'd clue me.
[Frank smiles and they walk over to the crime scene to look at the pole where the detective died. Frank buttons his jacket.]
YURA: He was propped right here. Face removed point-blank by shotgun blast, fingertips cut off to prevent I.D., just like the others. Classic mob M.O.
[Blood splatters can be seen as well as pellet fragments in the pole and on the ground. The force of the blast had ripped to shreds several sheets of paper that had been affixed to the pole. Some of the fragments remaining are covered in blood still clinging to the pole or on the ground.]
FRANK: Except that one of the victims was a woman. That's an unusual target for a mob hit.
[Yura shakes his head.]
YURA: In Russia, everyone is a target.
[Again the pole is shown. We see the pattern of the pellets.]
YURA: From the dispersal, the weapon had to be short, pistol-sized. From the force, 12-gauge or better.
[Frank reaches out and removes a fragment of something that is embedded in the pole.]
FRANK: Looks like glass.
[He places it in Yura's hand.]
YURA: This is handloads. It's designed to obliterate a face.
[Frank looks at the pole again and has a vision.]
[He sees: the Russian detective just prior to being killed; a quick zoom in towards the bloodied pole; the shotgun barrels as the detective saw them, pointed at his face; a nuclear explosion with fire and shock wave; the shotgun barrels as it was being fired; and finally the Chernobyl explosion and fire. Sounds of a man's scream throughout. End of vision.]
[Frank turns away from the pole to speak with Yura.]
FRANK: The man who died here – he stood still. He didn't try to escape.
YURA: So, we know one thing about him. He's definitely Russian. See, an American, when faced with an overwhelming force, he digs in and fights. A Russian, crosses himself, and accepts the inevitable – unfortunately.
FRANK: I'd like to see the other bodies.
[At the morgue, the bodies are brought out for Frank and Yura. The medical examiner goes over his findings for Frank.]
EXAMINER: The blast erased the epidermis and cartilage, caused severe cranial fracture, rearranged enough orthodonture to make a dental match unlikely. Kind of a collector – took the fingerprints with him. Cut off their fingers – here at the third distal joints.
[The left hand of one of the victims is shown. All of the fingertips have been snipped off at the joint.]
EXAMINER: Neat job – heavy tool.
[Frank leans in for a closer look.]
EXAMINER: Tin snips, most likely.
FRANK: Game shears.
[Yura nods as Lt. McCormick enters the room with another man.]
McCORMICK: We found you. Andrei, meet Frank Black, from Millennium.
[They shake hands.]
FRANK: Hello.
ANDREI: My pleasure.
McCORMICK: Yura, from Moscow P.D.
[The two shake hands as if meeting for the first time. Andrei is the second guard who worked with Yura at the Chernobyl plant eleven years earlier. Yura says something indiscernible.]
McCORMICK: Andrei's undercover for us. He's working the clubs in Brighton Beach.
ANDREI: Moscow? You have Zvezdas?
[Yura takes out a pack of cigarettes and hands one to Andrei. Frank watches them both.]
ANDREI: Wow! I meant for tonight but...
[Andrei places the cigarette between his lips and Yura flicks a lighter on as the medical examiner objects.]
EXAMINER: Whoa! I got flammable stuff here.
ANDREI: Excuse me.
[He begins walking towards the door, pulling Yura by the arm with him.]
YURA: One second.
[He leaves with him. As they walk out the room, they speak in Russian.]
[Frank and McCormick return to look at the bodies.]
McCORMICK: Are we finding any pattern yet?
EXAMINER: Victim #1 over here has the body art of a family man – Russian mob guy.
[Frank is bent over the body, looking it over closely. We then see the sheet pulled back from the man revealing a large tattoo across his chest of two large eyes above a city skyline, paper money and a mobster with a tommy gun.]
EXAMINER: Judging from the quality of the tattoos, I'd say he was a real hot-shot in his organization – though whoever pulled the trigger didn't think much of him.
[Frank is distracted by Yura and Andrei out in the corridor. He can see them through the glass-paneled doors. He can hear their muffled speech and see Yura speaking animatedly with his hands.]
EXAMINER: These others, you ask me the only thing they've got in common is the way they met their maker.
[Frank again looks at the two out in the hall. Andrei is smoking and they seem to be arguing about something.]
EXAMINER: They sure look like ordinary citizens to me.
[Frank lifts the sheet to look at the neck of one of the victims, the sole female. There is about a two-inch scar behind the left ear.]
EXAMINER: That's a surgical scar there – something removed.
[Frank moves back some of the hair and notices something shiny in it.]
FRANK: There are flecks in her hair.
EXAMINER: Amazing. Flecks of gold leaf.
FRANK: Gilding.
EXAMINER: Could well be.
[The medical examiner covers the woman's head with the sheet again.]
EXAMINER: I'm just getting going with that guy. But I can tell you right now...
[They walk over to the third body as Yura and Andrei enter the room again. Andrei tosses down the cigarette he'd been smoking.]
EXAMINER: ...we've got thyroid damage.
FRANK: Radiation?
EXAMINER: Something environmental.
YURA: Could be anything. There are toxins all over Mother Russia.
[Frank bends down to look at the hand of this victim.]
EXAMINER: Those two fingers was blown off. Never found the pieces.
[The man's right hand can be seen: thumb, ring and pinky fingers neatly cut off as the others were but the index and middle both have jagged stumps remaining where their fingertips had been blown off by the shotgun.]
[Frank covers the hand with the sheet and has another vision.]
[He sees: the Russian detective's face, beginning as an extreme close up, then pulling back to reveal his complete face; a building engulfed in flames being blown apart by a blast; the detective again, making the sign of the cross using his right hand and his index and middle fingers with the rest cupped in the palm of his hand; a closer view of the man's face as he begins to cross himself; and the building as it is obliterated from the blast. Sounds of screams throughout. End of vision.]
FRANK: (to Yura) Cross yourself in submission...
[Frank mimics the dead detective's gesture of crossing himself.]
FRANK: ...boom. You were right.
[He then looks the head of the victim. He sees something near the hairline. He then turns on and picks up an ultra-violet illuminator wand, holding it close to the head of the victim. The others all lean in for a closer look.]
[We see a marking near the hairline. It looks like three tines of a fork.]
EXAMINER: Definitely post-mortem.
FRANK: It's a smear in the powder burn. (to Yura) What do you make out of it?
YURA: (unconvincingly) It's a mob sign.
[Later, at the police station, Frank uses one of the computers to log in to the Millennium Group's database. He uses a paint program, a stylus pen and a graphic tablet to draw the symbol he saw on the dead man's head – three lines joined at one end, like an arrow pointing up. The box he paints the symbol in is labeled: 'Search Subject 1.' The link box to the database reads: ]
SEARCH OPTIONS
MILLENNIUM DATABASE PATTERN RECOGNITION
MATCH TYPE [EXACT]
[He begins the search and the results state: 'NUMBER OF ITEMS: 4' and their pictures appear on the screen as: 'Kanji Character, Slavonic Letter, Hebrew Letter and Cut Cable Here.' A new box appears asking if a new search is wanted.]
[Frank changes the option for the 'MATCH TYPE' from 'EXACT' to 'PARTIAL' and tries again. This time the results are: 'NUMBER OF ITEMS: 12,763.' He begins looking at all of the search results as they are displayed on the screen, 9 at a time, hitting a key in order to display the next 9 results and using the stylus pen to select the ones he wants to keep track of and investigate further. He also uses a photograph of the UV-enhanced image on the dead detective's head.]
[As Frank continues to search for matches, Yura enters the room and watches him for a moment before shaking his head.]
YURA: Frank, the killer is not in your computer.
[Frank shows Yura the photograph.]
FRANK: The marks on the man's head – they're not mob signs.
[Yura takes the photograph and looks at it before dropping it down onto the desk beside Frank.]
YURA: Well, when you find out what it is, let me know, all right? I'll be out there looking.
[He raps his knuckles on the desk twice before turning and leaving the room. Frank leans back in his chair, removes his glasses and watches Yura walk down the hall.]
[Inside a Russian club in Brighton Beach. A torch song singer begins singing "Ochi chernye". She sings in Russian. Andrei and Yura can be seen at a table near the piano where the singer is standing.]
SINGER: Ochi cherynye, ochi strastnye, ochi zhguchie i prekrasnye...
ANDREI: {She's a friend of mine. Maybe I'll introduce you later.}
SINGER: Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas...
YURA: {I'm working.}
ANDREI: {You work too much.}
SINGER: Znat', uvidel vas...
[Andrei looks at several photocards of Russian icons.]
ANDREI: {Everyone knows you have those for sale by now.}
YURA: {I hope he knows.}
SINGER: ...ya ne v dobryj chas!
ANDREI: {Now put them away. We're supposed to be having fun.}
[He places a drink in front of Yura and puts the photocards down on the table as the singer continues the song in English.]
ANDREI: {If he's interested, he'll find you.}
SINGER: I once had a dream, of a love supreme. Then he came my way, I still bless that day. For my dream came, when I looked at you...
[Andrei glances around the club and notices someone as he enters.]
ANDREI: {Look who's here.}
SINGER: ...with your flashing eyes...
[Yura looks and sees that Frank has followed him to the club.]
SINGER: ...with your big, dark eyes.
YURA: {I'll take care of it.}
ANDREI: {No, leave him.}
[Yura gets up from the table and walks over to Frank]
SINGER: Oh, your big, dark eyes, how they tantalize. When they stare at me, how they glare at me. Every part of you...
[Yura reaches Frank, grabs him by the cuff of his sleeve and yanks him over to the bar.]
YURA: We're staking this out and you'll blow our cover.
[Frank looks down at Yura's hand which is still holding onto him.]
FRANK: Or else you will. You have a problem with me being here?
SINGER: ...in your big, dark eyes.
[As she continues singing, a man, in a leather jacket walks past some patrons at a table, drawing the attention of several people who watch as he passes near them. They know who he is and seemed afraid of him. He walks over to the table where Andrei waits for Yura. He pulls out Yura's chair.]
ANDREI: {That seat's taken.}
[Andrei, who had been laughing and enjoying the singing, recognizes the man before him too and becomes more serious.]
YURA: You can't help here, Frank. You don't speak the language. You don't know what to look for.
[The man sits down at the table with Andrei. It is Yaponchik.]
YAPONCHIK: {You know who I am.}
[Andrei doesn't respond. Yaponchik pulls out the short-barrelled shotgun again, points it at Andrei.]
[Two people walk past Yura and Frank at the bar, speaking in Russian. The name 'Yaponchik' is said by one of them, calling the attention of Yura who turns just as someone shouts 'Yaponchik' and the shotgun blast is heard.]
[People scream and begin running for the door as Frank and Yura try to make their way through the crowd. Frank makes it over to Andrei who lies on the floor with his face blown off.]
[Yura grabs a man and shoves him up against the wall face first, speaking in Russian, trying to get information from him. In his frustration, he pulls out his gun, cocks it and points it at the man's back as he continues to hold onto his coat, pinning him against the wall.]
YURA: (shouts) {Where'd he go? Where'd he go?}
[Frank walks over to him and taps him hard on the wrist holding the gun on the man. Yura turns to face Frank, still keeping his hold on the man.]
YURA: {What?}
FRANK: Who's Yaponchik?
[Yura finally lets go of the man and glances around him but doesn't answer Frank's question.]
FRANK: Who's Yaponchik?
[Then Yura walks out of the room leaving Frank behind.]
[fade to black]
[polaroid fade up]
[The police station in Brighton Beach. Scene opens on a police artist sketch of Yaponchik. Several witnesses have given descriptions to the police. The sketch shows a young man, clean-shaven and in his 20s. It looks nothing like Yaponchik. Lt. McCormick picks up the sketch pad and looks at the drawing.]
McCORMICK: (to one of the witnesses) This is the man you say is the shooter, right?
[The man just stares at McCormick but offers no reply other than to slightly shrug his shoulders.]
McCORMICK: Well, do you recognize this man?
[He holds up another sketch of a different man, different facial features, seems somewhat older than the first one and has some whiskers. This too does not resemble Yaponchik in the least.]
McCORMICK: Your buddy says he looks like this.
[The man gives no response or reaction to the sketch. McCormick then tries the other witness as Frank watches from an office nearby.]
McCORMICK: You identified this man, is that correct?
[The witness nods his head. Frank turns to speak with Yura, who is in the office with him.]
FRANK: The man at the club said the name 'Yaponchik.' You moved in the second he did.
[Yura is leaning against a radiator while looking at one of the crime scene photographs. He then places it up on a board alongside several others.]
YURA: I moved in when things got bad.
FRANK: Who is Yaponchik?
YURA: Who's Dracula? Who's Frankenstein? He's the Russian Bogeyman.
FRANK: Witnesses say he was there.
YURA: Frank, Russia is crazy now – old superstitions coming back. Priests and tea-readers preying on people's fears better than the communists ever did. See, to a Russian, everything must be magic. I mean, it's not enough that a man commits these murders – no, it must be 'Yaponchik walks the Earth.'
[As he says the phrase, he makes the sign of the cross before Frank.]
YURA: Ooo. True evil.
FRANK: You believed he was there.
YURA: No. But if these witnesses did, good. Look at their drawings.
[Frank puts his fingers through a venetian blind on the office window and holds it open to look at the witnesses in the squad room outside.]
FRANK: These people were afraid for their lives. These composites are worthless.
YURA: But you trust them, with this name that they gave you, right?
[McCormick opens the door to the office and enters.]
McCORMICK: (to Yura) You got to make these people understand. We're not playing games here. You don't pull this crap – not in Brooklyn.
[He tosses down onto a table the various sketches that have been drawn. Frank picks up the first one and looks at it. It is of a young man, late 20s to early 30s with a full beard and moustache. Again, he looks nothing like Yaponchik. Yura stares at Frank then heads for the door.]
YURA: (to McCormick) I will talk to them.
[Yura leaves the office and Frank walks over to look at the collection of crime scene photos on the board. The first one is the UV-enhanced photo of the marking on the detective's head. The second is of the other male victim with his face blown off, fingers cut off and he is seen sitting up against a wall covered with flyers. Above his head can be seen the 'Chi-Rho' symbol that was on the church gate earlier.]
[Frank removes the photo from the board and looks more closely at the symbol.]
[Later, Frank goes to that same crime scene and finds the symbol partially covered with new flyers written in Russian. He tears them off to expose the symbol fully.]
[Two Russian children walk by and stare at Frank after he's revealed the symbol on the wall. He watches them as they walk away from him. Then he sees a Russian man also staring at him. The man begins to walk away, turning back to continue staring at Frank. He then walks down a street, opens a gate and enters. Frank follows after him.]
[At the gate, Frank sees the same 'Chi-Rho' symbol he'd just revealed on the wall. It is the gate of the Russian church seen earlier. He opens the gate and walks through an area towards the rear where he sees a door that is closing.]
[Frank opens the door and enters the building.]
[Inside, Russian singing can be heard. Frank is greeted in Russian by a man in the vestibule.]
MAN: Gradji skora.
[The man nods to Frank, who nods in return before continuing along a corridor towards the nave. He stops near some prayer candles before an icon seen earlier with its face scratched off. Frank touches the icon and some gold leaf rubs off on his fingers.]
[A man comes out from the nave and walks past him. Frank then enters the nave as the singing continues. He takes a seat and looks at the people sitting around him. Several of them have deformities. A man has what looks like radiation burns on his neck. A woman has a deformed nose and lip. And a child sitting next to him has a deformed left hand.]
[We then see the photo of the dead Russian detective. This is a service in his memory. The priest who had blessed him before his execution, is conducting the service.]
PRIEST: {Give rest, O Lord, to the soul of thy servant Evgenii, for he has set his hope on Thee, our God, and Thy Son, our Lord Jesus to return in all glory. }
[The priest had been looking at each of the worshippers in church as he spoke and finally spotted Frank sitting among them.]
PRIEST: Amen.
[The congregation crosses themselves.]
[Night. It is raining in Brooklyn Heights. A car is parked under the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge looking out across the river to the Manhattan skyline. A second car pulls up. Peter Watts gets out, runs over to the other car where Frank has been waiting for him and gets in.]
WATTS: (sighs) When you said New York I was hoping for closer to midtown.
FRANK: Thanks for coming, Peter.
WATTS: I was a little concerned at the tone of your call.
FRANK: You find anything?
WATTS: Nothing I'd call clarity but I did get a few answers. That symbol that you found...
FRANK: The monogram of Christ.
WATTS: Yes. My guess is that someone blessed the body secretly.
FRANK: The Russian cop must have known that symbol.
WATTS: It's tough to say but I agree that he's been holding out on you.
[Peter Watts has brought an envelope with him, removes the contents and hands them to Frank. They are a number of photographs of a power plant and its workers.]
WATTS: Before the Soviet Union broke up, Yura worked with the state security forces at Chernobyl.
FRANK: Chernobyl?
WATTS: Somehow, it's the common thread here – the physical deformities of the congregation caused by Chernobyl, this guy Yura, a guard there. Even the name Yaponchik's connected.
FRANK: According to Yura, Yaponchik's a myth.
WATTS: There's no photo of him so, he is a myth. He seems to be vory v zakone.
[Frank doesn't seem to know what that means.]
WATTS: It's a criminal leader respected enough by others to decide disputes.
FRANK: This isn't mob violence. It's not that. It's not about business.
WATTS: Are you familiar with Revelation, Chapter 8, Verse 10?
FRANK: John talking about the apocalypse – bright star falling, brilliant like a torch.
WATTS: The name of the star was Wormwood. One third of the waters became wormwood and many men died because the water was made bitter. Chernobyl is Ukrainian for wormwood.
FRANK: The nuclear accident predicted in the bible.
WATTS: Only many people in Russia believe it wasn't an accident. One of the most persistent rumors about Yaponchik is that he was responsible for Chernobyl.
[Frank again looks at the photographs and spots Andrei and Yura posing with two workers in Chernobyl.]
FRANK: Andrei, the undercover cop. He's there with Yura. Yaponchik, Chernobyl, wormwood, they believe it, both of them. That's why they're searching for Yaponchik. That's why Yura's here.
[The police station in Brighton Beach. Frank sits on a bench in the hall waiting for Yura to arrive. He has the envelope of photos in his hand. As Yura approaches, Frank rises and walks over to him.]
FRANK: You weren't honest with me.
[He removes the photo of Yura, Andrei and the Chernobyl workers and hands it to Yura.]
YURA: I don't talk about Chernobyl, Frank, and neither did Andrei. Would you?
FRANK: What about Yaponchik?
YURA: I told you, he's a myth.
FRANK: Responsible for Chernobyl.
YURA: Another myth!
FRANK: What about wormwood?
YURA: If Andrei were American, if Americans were slaughtered on the streets everyday, would you come to me with these grandmother superstitions?
FRANK: You believe Yaponchik is responsible.
YURA: Others believe it.
FRANK: You bolted when you heard his name. Your rampage was not about the loss of your friend. You didn't check to see if he was alive or dead. You were furious you missed Yaponchik. You didn't go in there as a police officer. You went in there to assassinate Yaponchik. No indictment, no trial – just kill him.
[Yura shakes his head.]
YURA: There is no Yaponchik, Frank.
[He shoves the photos at Frank and walks away.]
[The church. Russian singing in the background throughout. The priest is presenting the Eucharist to the members of the congregation. He takes cubes of bread which have been soaked in wine from a chalice with a spoon and places it in the mouth of each person.]
PRIEST: {Child of God, Thomas. Child of God, Daria. Child of God...}
[The priest pauses, looks up to the see the next person and finds that it is Yaponchik. He stands before the priest with his hands crossed over his chest. The priest stares at him for a moment, then moves on to the next person. Yaponchik fixes his eyes on him but the priest carries on.]
PRIEST: {Child of God, Tatiana.}
[The priest then turns to look at Yaponchik again who has not taken his eyes from him.]
[fade to black]
[polaroid fade up]
[The police station in Brighton Beach. We see the monogram of Christ symbol again in a photograph from the collection Peter Watts had brought Frank.]
FRANK: Chernobyl was not an accident. It was a reactor shutdown experiment that became a disaster when two diesel backup generators failed to come on-line. In Russia, it is widely thought that this was an act of sabotage by a man named Yaponchik.
WATTS: Yeah, we believe that this same man, Yaponchik, committed the homicide that we're investigating and that he'll continue killing until his task is complete.
McCORMICK: And the task is?
FRANK: Terror.
YURA: Yaponchik is a myth.
FRANK: The violence is perpetrated against people who believe otherwise. People determined to make Yaponchik's identity public – to make him pay.
McCORMICK: What people?
FRANK: Ask Yura – he's one of them.
YURA: Yeah, sure. Tell him about wormwood, too. Listen, here's a really good one, lieutenant.
McCORMICK: Look, I understand there's been some disagreement over tactics on this case.
YURA: (to Frank) You think I've been holding out on you? I haven't.
FRANK: I think your judgment is warped by your desire to see Yaponchik dead.
YURA: He killed a New York City detective. I mean, am I being too aggressive here?
McCORMICK: I wouldn't put it that way, no.
FRANK: I don't work with assassins.
[Yura and Frank stare at one another.]
McCORMICK: (to Yura) Look, I'm going to ask you to give these guys 48 more hours, all right? We'll see where we are then. And we better not be where we are right now.
FRANK: We don't expect to be; we have a lead.
WATTS: The priest at the church helped to I.D. another victim – the woman. She restores artwork, religious relics.
FRANK: (to Yura) Icons. Russian icons.
[At the church, a room where the dead woman had done her restoration work. The priest shows Peter Watts and Frank around.]
PRIEST: Galina was missing one week before her family contacted me – told me their fears.
[Peter Watts and Frank look around the room as the priest pauses before an open Russian bible. He reads aloud from it.]
PRIEST: Gradji skora. Yea, gradji.
[Part of the page is shown, in Cyrillic, as the priest passes his hand over the page.]
FRANK: The words spoken at the church door.
PRIEST: 'I am coming soon. Come, Lord Jesus.'
FRANK: The last words in the bible.
[The priest nods. Meanwhile, Peter Watts has continued looking around and he's found something.]
WATTS: Gold leaf. Same as you found on her body. The flecks in her hair.
[Frank has walked over to take a look. Peter Watts picks up an object and looks at it.]
WATTS: Icons.
PRIEST: An icon is a window into the kingdom of God. Galina restored several for the church before she was murdered.
WATTS: From the size of this collection, she must have been trafficking in these things for years.
PRIEST: Not trafficking – protecting.
[He takes the icon from Peter Watts's hands.]
PRIEST: Before, from communists who would destroy them. Now, from criminals who sell to the highest bidder.
WATTS: What's this?
[He goes to a table where a package sits, wrapped, addressed and ready to be mailed. He removes the brown paper, opens the wooden box and finds an icon of the Madonna and Child. Peter Watts then looks at the address on the paper. It reads: Sergei Stepanovich Senin, c/o Russian Consulate, New York, NY.]
WATTS: (to the priest) To the Russian Consulate.
PRIEST: No, Galina would never do this.
WATTS: (to Frank) After protecting something for so long, why would somebody give this up?
[Frank picks up another icon and looks at it.]
FRANK: Maybe she knew what was coming.
[He walks to a window, still holding the icon in his hands, and has a brief vision.]
[He sees: a mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion engulfed in fire; Galina's face; and finally what appears to be that same face horribly disfigured, grotesquely burned and twisted. Screams throughout. End of vision.]
FRANK: She faltered. She was sending these as an offering to save herself. He killed her anyway.
WATTS: Yaponchik.
FRANK: She discovered who he was.
[He turns and faces the others, looking down at the icon of St. Michael the Archangel in his hands – the light from the window reflects off the gold leaf on the icon, illuminating his face.]
FRANK: Rather than cease to be a myth, he killed her like the others. Their deaths created an even greater terror among the believers. Greater silence. Feeding the myth.
[Peter Watts reads the name on the package aloud.]
WATTS: Sergei Stepanovich Senin.
FRANK: I doubt that's his real name – any more than Yaponchik.
CONSULATE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
[Frank and Peter Watts arrive at the Russian Consulate. A woman lets them in. At a table to one side, sits a man (security?) who rises when they enter the consulate. Peter Watts hands the woman the wooden box with the icon and the wrapping still loosely covering it. She then leads them to another room.]
WOMAN: This way.
[They enter a large wood-panelled room. A large portrait of Gorbachev is on the wall.]
WOMAN: Wait.
[A man enters, stares at both of them, but does not speak.]
WATTS: Sergei Stepanovich?
[Another man enters, Yaponchik.]
YAPONCHIK: I am Sergei Stepanovich.
[The security man comes in from the hall and hands Peter Watts the package again, presumably after having checked its contents.]
WATTS: This is for you.
[He places the package on the table before Yaponchik. The silent man opens it and looks at the contents, moving the box again in front of Yaponchik so that he may see it. He picks it up and looks at it.]
YAPONCHIK: (to security) Give them something for their trouble.
WATTS: Why did Galina Landskoi send you this?
YAPONCHIK: My job is to recover icons – treasures looted from my country. Maybe her conscious got to her.
FRANK: She's dead.
YAPONCHIK: (quickly) Any suspects?
FRANK: Turn it over.
[Yaponchik turns over the icon and finds a label. It reads: M (logo) Reproduced under license by The Metropolitan Museum R31-1298]
WATTS: $48 at the museum store. It's a reproduction of the Kazak Theotokos.
YAPONCHIK: No, it's real. The label was added. (pause) What do you think you are doing?
FRANK: She sent you these to save herself.
WATTS: Frank...
FRANK: You killed her anyway.
YAPONCHIK: You don't know what you're saying.
FRANK: Mutilated her – why? To show you can?
YAPONCHIK: (shouts) You can not talk to me this way!
[He pounds his fist on the table once.]
FRANK: Yaponchik.
YAPONCHIK: (more calm) Who tells you that? Crazy Yura? Six months in mental hospital?
[He walks right up to Frank, stands close to him and softly speaks.]
YAPONCHIK: You make a fool of yourself coming here.
[He then turns to leave the room.]
YAPONCHIK: They will escort you out.
[He says something in Russian to his men.]
FRANK: You were a myth. No more.
[Yaponchik pauses for a moment at the door, partially turns his head, then leaves with the boxed icon under his arm.]
[The police station in Brighton Beach.]
McCORMICK: Frank, this guy has diplomatic immunity! You don't go poking him in the face!
FRANK: He's responsible for these murders.
McCORMICK: Says who?
FRANK: It was Yaponchik; we can get him.
McCORMICK: We don't go near these people without an indictment. In fact, we don't go near them at all. The Secretary of State called the Commissioner. You know, I'm getting reamed from both ends over this?
FRANK: Yaponchik is a murderer and a terrorist. He'll vanish soon.
McCORMICK: He's with the consulate so steer clear.
[He closes the door to the room. On the glass, is written: 'OCCB.']
[Frank pauses for moment, looking at the detectives through the glass, then walks to the other room where Peter Watts is quietly sitting at a table. He goes to the board where the crime scene photos are on display and removes one of the photos. He then sits down at the table with Peter Watts.]
WATTS: Even if we caught him in the act, he would still have immunity.
[The photo is an enlargement of the UV-enhanced image of the symbol on the dead detective's head.]
FRANK: A monogram of Christ. It's a shield, protection, against evil.
WATTS: Against Yaponchik.
FRANK: I think the priest sees something different.
WATTS: We know he does. He sees the Second Coming, preceded by wormwood – Chernobyl.
FRANK: In the last days, the Antichrist appears and slaughters the faithful. The bible doesn't say he has horns and a tail. He's an evil man, not supernatural. He can't walk on water.
WATTS: But according to the bible, he miraculously survives a fatal head wound and unites the ten nations of Europe in the war on Israel. You've seen the guy; that's not going to happen.
FRANK: Maybe it's not the ten nations of Europe. Maybe it's the ten nations of Russia: Uzbekistan, the Ukraine, the former soviet republics. Those are the same people that made Ivan the Terrible a saint. (sighs) For six centuries they haven't lived without a dictator.
WATTS: You don't honestly believe this.
FRANK: Doesn't matter what I believe. They believe it.
WATTS: The priest?
FRANK: And Yura and Andrei, stalking the Antichrist in the final days.
[The barrels of Yaponchik's shotgun can be seen, firing. The setting is a sauna at bath house. After the shot is fired, another patron can be seen running from the room. There is a lot of shouting in Russian in the background.]
[Yaponchik can be seen kneeling by the side of his latest victim. Snipping can be heard from the game shears as he cuts off the man's fingers. Blood covers what's left of the man's face.]
[Quietly, Yura has entered the bathhouse, his gun drawn and held in both his out-stretched arms. He follows the sound of the snipping and advances slowly through the steam to the sauna.]
[As Yura enters the sauna, we see a second victim across the room. He is lying on his side facing a blood-splattered wall.]
[Yura creeps up on Yaponchik who at first continues with his work until he realizes someone is behind him. He turns and faces Yura.]
YAPONCHIK: {You can't kill me.}
[He turns back to the dead man, bends down closer to him and continues with his snipping. Yura is pointing his gun directly at Yaponchik's bent head.]
[Yura pulls the trigger, shooting Yaponchik in the head. He falls to the ground; the bloody game shears fly across the floor. Yura steps closer to Yaponchik and spits on him. He bends down, picks up the shotgun and curses him in Russian.]
YURA: Govno!
[fade to black]
[polaroid fade up]
[Night, outside the bath house. Several police squad cars can be seen, lights flashing as well as two ambulances. There's radio chatter in the background. McCormick is on the scene. One of the bodies is carried out on a stretcher and placed inside one of the ambulances. One of the paramedics gets in with the body. As Frank and Peter Watts pull up in their car, the two ambulances leave. They get out and walk with McCormick into the bath house.]
FRANK: What do you got?
McCORMICK: We got three more – too late on all of them. Bet they won't be needing faces in the next world.
FRANK: Anyone seen Yaponchik?
McCORMICK: Uh, per usual, nobody sees anything. Attendant said two of the casualties were Russian.
WATTS: What about the third?
McCORMICK: Don't know yet. We're working on it.
[Inside, the steam has cleared as McCormick points out the locations where the bodies were found.]
McCORMICK: We got three bodies. Here, here, that one over by the steam vent was pretty well poached when we got here.
[Frank stares ahead at the wall with the steam vent and has a brief vision.]
[He sees: a zoom in on the bloody stumps of someone's fingers; a raging fire; a zoom in on the defaced icon from the church; some trees engulfed in flames that bend and sway due to shockwaves from a nuclear explosion; the defaced icon again. Screams throughout. End of vision.]
[On the bloodied wall, there is a sign written in Cyrillic.]
[He then turns to look at the area being photographed and checked by the forsensics team. Blood covers the wall. Tape measures have been laid out for documentation purposes. Frank bends down to look at the bloody game shears on the floor, with a marker card labeled 'F' next to it.]
McCORMICK: Yaponchik must have left in a hurry.
FRANK: No, I think he was the third victim. We have to go to the hospital and see if he's still alive.
McCORMICK: We're talking serious gunshots to the head here. These guys are very D.O.A.
FRANK: The mortal head wound.
WATTS: Wait – you think the wound is healed?
[Frank doesn't respond.]
[The ambulances can be seen on their way to the hospital. Inside one of them, the paramedic is looking at a magazine. Radio chatter can be in the background.]
[Just then the body's arm can be seen to jerk. The paramedic notices it and pulls back the covers but sees no other movement. One of the arms is crossed over the chest; the other has fallen by the side. The paramedic replaces the arm over the man's chest and is about to cover the body again when it grabs hold of the paramedic's arm and the body begins convulsing.]
PARAMEDIC: Oh! This guy's alive!
[The man is then seen being brought into a hospital, an IV has already been started. A doctor, nurse and the two paramedics wheel the stretcher down a corridor. The paramedic gives a rundown of the man's vital signs.]
PARAMEDIC: He's post ictal. BP's 70 over 50.
DOCTOR: Sir, can you hear me? Can you squeeze my hand?
PARAMEDIC: He's Russian. Had zero vitals for 20 minutes. Woke up to a grand mal.
[They finally reach the emergency room.]
DOCTOR: Respirations?
NURSE: Eight and shallow. Pulse 120 and thready.
DOCTOR: Okay, bag him and get another line in him. Fourteen gauge. Who's the neurosurgeon on call?
NURSE: McGreevey just answered his page.
DOCTOR: Okay, we got any history on this guy besides coming back to life after having his brains blown out?
PARAMEDIC: I'm telling you, this guy was gone.
DOCTOR: Yeah, right. We'll take it from here.
[A police car ahead of them, Frank and Peter Watts are in their car on their way to the hospital as Frank gets off his cell phone.]
FRANK: Hospital says he has vital signs.
WATTS: The police and paramedics said he didn't.
FRANK: A hollow point went in the back of his skull – missed his brain somehow.
WATTS: Frank, he was gone.
FRANK: The bullet didn't expand until it hit his face plate on the way out.
WATTS: Do you believe that?
[Frank doesn't respond.]
WATTS: What about Yura?
[Meanwhile, at the hospital, Yura makes his way to Yaponchik's room. He stands outside the door, looking through the glass panel.]
DOCTOR: (to nurse) I don't know how but everything's stable.
[Another nurse pulls a curtain around the bed.]
DOCTOR: How are we doing on O.R.?
NURSE: They're estimating 15 minutes.
DOCTOR: Okay, get Netton to scrub in for the reconstruction. This guy's a special case.
[The doctor and nurse leave the E.R. and Yura, who had hidden himself, then enters the room, pulls back the curtain, stands near Yaponchik's bed and shakes his head. He pulls out his gun, cocks it as Yaponchik opens his left eye to look at him. His right eye is covered with gauze as is most of his face. Yaponchik speaks to Yura in Russian.]
YAPONCHIK: {What will you tell them in Moscow? You shoot a man in the back of the head, and still you fail. }
[He gestures for Yura to move closer to him. He does.]
YAPONCHIK: {I've watched you chase me. I could have killed you many times. You live because I let you live. Do you understand? (pause) You are here to protect me.}
[Yura moves away and holds the gun up against Yaponchik's chest, aiming at his heart.]
YAPONCHIK: {Put down the gun.}
[Yaponchik puts his right hand near the gun to move it away.]
YAPONCHIK: {You cannot do this. You are not the one.}
[Frank, Peter Watts, McCormick and others arrive at the hospital.]
FRANK: (to the doctor) The head wound, where is he?
DOCTOR: Well, he's down here, queued for O.R. Never seen anything like it. This guy's one tough S.O.B.
WATTS: Yeah, that's one theory.
[They all enter the room. The doctor points to Yaponchik's bed. Frank draws back the curtain and the bed is empty.]
DOCTOR: What happened here?
FRANK: They'll move him to the consulate.
DOCTOR: No, there's no way off the floor.
McCORMICK: So, what, he just vanished into thin air?
FRANK: (to the doctor) You have a med evac pad?
[Up on the roof, a helicopter is circling to come in for a landing. Yura is holding Yaponchik upright, waiting.]
[Frank, Peter Watts and the others all run up the stairs to the roof of the hospital. They reach the roof. Painted on the wall beside the door is: Brooklyn Presbyterian Hospital.' There's a locked chain link fence and a barred gate between them and the approaching helicopter.]
FRANK: (shouts) Yura!
[Yura turns to face Frank, still holding Yaponchik with his arm slung over his shoulder.]
FRANK: Yura, you know who he is! Deceiver of all Mankind! Whatever he says to you, he's lying!
[He holds out his arms through the gate to Yura as the helicopter lands.]
FRANK: Yura!
[Yura has turned to face the landing helicopter. In frustration, Frank grabs and yanks at the locked gate.]
[Two men from the Russian consulate get out of the helicopter and run to get Yaponchik and bring him over to the helicopter.]
McCORMICK: He's getting away! That dirt bag's getting away!
[Yura turns back to Frank.]
YURA: It is decided!
[Frank gestures through the gate for Yura to come back to them.]
FRANK: Come on! Come on!
[But as Yaponchik gets into the helicopter, he too gestures for Yura to join him. Yura is confused. He begins moving closer to the helicopter.]
FRANK: Yura! It's not decided!
[Yura hesitates. One of the men from the consulate runs back, grabs him and begins pulling him towards the helicopter as Yura breaks free from him.]
YURA: No! Frank! Don't let me go! No!
[The man again grabs his arm and tries to pull him into the helicopter. Frank strains his arms through the gate's bars.]
FRANK: Come on!
[Yura begins struggling with the man, pulling his way back towards the gate and Frank's out-stretched arms. Yura reaches out with his hand.]
YURA: Don't make it happen! Frank! (in tears) Don't make it happen!
[He reaches the gate and grabs hold of it. Frank grabs hold of Yura through the bars.]
MAN: This man is Russian citizen! Do not interfere!
[He is trying to pull Yura away from Frank's grasp. Peter Watts sticks his hand through the bars and shoves the man's head away.]
[Both Russian consulate men pull their guns and point them at Frank and the others. McCormick and his men also pull their guns, point them at the Russians, creating a standoff. They begin yelling at Yura in Russian.]
MAN: {Come with us. Now!}
[They finally give up, one gesturing to the other with his head and they run back to the helicopter. Yura turns to look at them with Frank still holding him through the bars.]
[They get into the helicopter and Yaponchik can be seen looking right at Yura who begins crying again and starts to crumble.]
[The helicopter lifts off and the call sign can be seen underneath it. It reads: 'E666.']
[Yura is on his knees, crying.]
YURA: What have I done!
[The helicopter goes up into the night sky.]
[The Russian church. Some members are singing in Russian as the priest offers the Eucharist to Yura.]
PRIEST: {Child of God, Yura.}
[Yura steps forward, then turns to nod to Frank who is standing at the rear of the nave. He turns back, kneels before the priest, hands crossed over his chest, eyes closed, head bowed, ready to receive the Host. The priest places it in Yura's mouth and an altar boy wipes his lips with a cloth.]
PRIEST: {Nothing happens but for God's will. When the Evil One walks the Earth, rejoice, for our Lord is soon to come.}
[Yura opens his eyes, raises his head, stands and turns to find that Frank has left the nave.]
[As Frank passes the candles and icon in the vestibule, we see that the icon's damaged face has been restored once again.]
[On his way out, he meets the same man who greeted him before.]
MAN: Gradji skora.
[He shakes hands with the man who repeats the words.]
MAN: Gradji skora.
[Frank repeats them in response.]
FRANK: Gradji skora.
[Subtitle reads: 'He is coming.']
[Frank opens the door and the light from outside fades the scene out to white.]
[fade to black]
[end titles]
== Source ==
Category:Millennium transcripts