Standoff S1E2 - English Transcript

I just feel lost. Yeah, I've been there. No I had everything and I screwed it up. Okay. Let me help you. Why should I trust you? 'Cause I'm your friend. And 'cause I care about you. Right, just 'cause I'm freaking out, then next week it's going to be some other girl No. There's no other girl. No, come on, listen to me. You're not listening to me. All right, but you've got to let me, okay? You've got to let me. Listen to this (buzzer sounds) Forty-five fifteen. Subject commits suicide. What'd I do wrong? Lea? You broke the cycle of dialogue, you forced her out of her pattern. Yeah, 'cause she was never gonna shut up. "You're not listening, you're not listening. " As long as the subject is talking, you're making progress. Okay, the only statements you're responsible for are your own. CHERYL: Write that down. It is a tactical exchange. One wrong word and you can get someone killed. EMILY: Okay, that'll wrap the hour. I will see you on Thursday. And I'd like to thank Cheryl Carrera and Matt Flannery for their time today. You heading down for lunch? Lea, right? Duff Gonzalez. (conversation continues) (jet engine approaching) (jet flying overhead) I know. All right, I'm checking in. I'll call you when it's done. I know. Hang in there. I love you. Oh, Lehman, good. You're here. Just want to run something by you. How you doing? Good. Were you just running? Uh, what do you mean? I don't know it just seems like this last week or so, you're like a ninja master. Every time I turn my head, it's (hoots) you're not there anymore. Did I do something or are you just playing hard to get? Um what do you think? Yeah? (moaning) Mm. Mm. Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt. I know, it's a terrible idea. You want to hook up tonight? Maybe we'll go out, Westin, around 10:00. Ah, I get you, yeah, you don't want to do that. No, Matt, I don't want to hit the Marriott. Why not? Ah And because he said he'd testify! Well, of course he's going to testify. If we got the place surrounded and we're coming at him with a full tactical I get it. I get it. We're both ninjas. (chuckles) So let's come out of hiding. What, like right now? A a-a "date" date? Yeah, you know Like Well go to a movie, go to dinner, Yeah. see a play. All that. Maybe not the play. I'll pick you up at 8:00. Uh, wait 30 seconds. No. Yeah. No. Okay. (beep) Flight deck. Thanks, Control. Some passenger's out of his seat, refuses to sit down. Now we're going to havto turn around. There goes your date with that cute CONTROLLER: Airlink, traffic dead ahead. (yells) (buzzing) Airlink 550, do you read? Airlink 550, this is Control. Airlink 550, verify visual traffic. John, what happened? Airlink 550, do you read? Oh, my God, I-I think he put them together. Both planes. John? Airlink 550, do you read? John?! He killed them all. NEWSCASTER: to four psengers and a pilot on the private jet, brings the death toll to 180. The FAA has not released an official statement, however, controller error is the suspected culprit. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming already in progress. Uh, yeah Thank you. Here, I got it. Tip. No, no, no. I got it. Why? 'Cause I'm taking you out for beer and fajitas, that's why. Split it down the middle. No You can get the movie. It's a first date. (laughs softly) (chuckles) We should've done this a long time ago. It's well worth the drive. Okay, what's, uh what am I being accused of? 'Cause this is about the best Mexican restaurant Miles away from anyone we know or work with. I agree. So you really wanted to see people from work? Yeah. I mean, if we're going to do this, then we're going to do it. We can't keep doing it in secret. Especially after you told the entire world. Look, I'm sorry I went off. It's just been a weird day with this plane crash and, uh How do you mean? It could've been one of us, you know? I mean, it could've been anyone in this restaurant who thinks they've got all the time in the world. I mean, I'm not saying that I'm any different or that this is news, but No, but what? It made me think about going after the things we really want versus waiting around. You know? It could all go away at any moment. Sabrina. On the TV, they said the planes crashed because of "controller air. " Error. Controller error. Breen, you gonna finish your dinner? Then go clear your plate. It's what happens when an air traffic controller makes a mistake. Well, how did that crash the planes? It didn't. Enough. Sabrina and I are having a conversation, Cathy. (flatware clatters on plate) We don't know what happened. The NTSB will investigate. They'll listen to the voice transcripts, examine the radar data, and they'll find the truth. What is the truth? It's okay, I got it. (sighs) Bed. Gotta get up early tomorrow. For what? Work. EMILY: She's right there. She's getting her coffee. Yeah, exactly. (chuckles): Are you serious? MATT: Yeah, trust me, it's for your own safety. You know, I trusted you last night when you said that we should tell Cheryl about us. Wait, are you going to double-back on that? I'm not doubling back. I'm inching forward. Cheryl! What is it? Matt and I want to run something by you. Okay. (pager beeping) Ah, crap. Forgot I had this thing with the U. S. Attorneys. Um, go ahead and start without me. Matt called his own pager, didn't he? Come on, Jesse, shift's up. Hey, John, I, um I just got here. What do you mean you just got here? Barnes. What are you doing here? I'm here to work, but this kid's in my chair. Jesse can't handle daytime traffic. I'm still training him. John, I told you to take some time. I did. More than one night. Why? I'm fine. I didn't do anything wrong, Joe. Nobody's saying you made a mistake, but the FAA requires us to follow procedure in the wake of an It was pilot error. Pull the tape, you'll hear. The corporate jet popped out of nowhere. I don't know why. His transponder wasn't on. I'm trying to work here. Shut up, Kilroy. Who are you telling to shut up? Okay. Okay, Blake, that's enough! Mark. Let's talk in my office. Get your hand off me. Barnes. No! (grunting) John! (gunshot) (phone ringing) What's going on? We just got called in on a 7500. Grab your kits and make for the helipad. We're flying out behind HRT. MATT: Somebody hijack a plane? Try a hundred. DUFF: Perimeter's secure. Only way out of there is through us. You get the plans up on the smart board? Yeah. Frank, I thought air traffic control was in that the tower at the airport. It is. That tower's for runway traffic, immediate take off and landing ten miles out. This is TRACON. They handle the heavy lifting, arrival and departures for six airports in a 50 mile radius. Right. How do you know all that? I read the briefing, genius. You might want to do the same. Did he threaten you? JOE: No, he never threatened my life verbally. He pointed the gun at me, told me to take Mark out of the room and call 911. Is he going to live? Leg's bad, but he'll make it. Perimeter's secure, unless this guy brings a plane down on top of us in which case I got nothin'. During this time or before, did he ever threaten the integrity of the air traffic in any way? No, John wouldn't do that, he's one of the best we've got, he'd never deliberately put passengers' lives in danger. Killed 180 of them yesterday. That wasn't his fault. Can you prove that? Nobody can prove anything at this point. MATT: Either way, walking around the radar room with a loaded gun isn't doing the integrity any favors, would you agree? JetBlue 300 clear runway four-right, keep up good speed going in. Air Canada 640 clear ILS, four-right-- Just do your damn jobs and you'll be fine. Any of you let the pilots know what's going on, and that causes a panic, causes a crash, it'll be on your heads. American 710, maintain speed one six zero, thank you, at three thousand clear for approach. You really I think you should bring 'em in at that speed? Um It's within regulation Yeah, but it's American 710. Right out of Dallas. It's 9:30 a. m. You've got him third in line, nice and slow. What do you think those folks are going to remember more about their flight? Fact that they landed on a pillow, or missed their connection? Um American 710, pedal faster to one niner zero. Watch your company. Remember rule number three. The customer pays for our mistakes. FRANK: This is the TRACON radar room. One main entrance here. One emergency exit here. We take two teams in hard and neutralize him, use the feed from surveillance camera to time the assault. That's too risky. I don't mean to cramp your style, but if you miss or he gets off a round, hits a controller, we don't just kill one person, we kill 600, 700. Correction, left turn I'm sorry make that two, six, zero. You have traffic at Make that traffic at your one o'clock. Roger that, traffic at one o'clock. Is everything okay, Control? How many planes are each of these guys responsible for? JOE: Up to ten at a time. And I hate to say it, but if you hit a working radar scope, it's even worse. Can traffic be rerouted to central flow without Barnes noticing? JOE: No, no way. John will know we're trying to pull a fast one. So I guess a flashbang grenade's out of the question. Just checking. Best scenario is Barnes walks out of this room. I think we can talk him into that. Margin for error is zero. They're making the call. (phone rings) What? It's for you. Hello. MATT: John Barnes? Speaking. Yeah this is Matt Flannery with the FBI. Just sitting down here in your parking lot with 30 or 40 of my best friends, and we're wondering how it's going in there. How's it going? Well, we're kind of busy right now, Matt. I'm here with 30 or so of my best friends and we're just flying the friendly skies. Here, let me put you on speaker phone Have to stay one-on-one. Yeah, uh, that's not necessary, John. I don't want to distract anyone from their work. Not a problem. They can listen to us, do their taxes, and make airplanes dance And besides, I got nothing to hide from them. Now tell us, is Mark okay? MAT Uh, yeah. Yeah, Mark's going to be okay. We got him to the hospital, His leg's hurt pretty bad though. He came at me and drew his gun. Everyone saw. I understand, you didn't want to hurt him. It was an accident. That's right accidents happen. Accidents Wow, you walked me right into that one, didn't you? Nice job. Nice transition. Not trying to walk you anywhere, John. JOHN: Paying you a compliment, Matt. No need to apologize or condescend. Just say thank you. Say thank you. Thank you. JOHN: So, what is this? What are you, a hostage negotiator? Technically, I'm a crisis negotiator. JOHN: Ooh, crisis negotiator. I like that, it's more P. C. What's it like? It's probably a lot like being an air traffic controller. You know you're responsible for other people's safety, you try to guide them on their best path Okay, I get you. No offense, Matt, but I think it's a little different. Air traffic controller's responsible for more lives in a single shift than a surgeon is in his entire lifetime. Difference is surgeon gets all the money and the chicks. But I catch what you're saying. Here's how this is going to work. If anyone comes at me with any kind of force, or tries to get cute in any kind of way, you're going to have a big problem on your hands. I'm sure Joe Suser told you what kind of problem MATT: That's why I'm here, John. Work out a way we can avoid that. JOHN: It's easy. and ask them for the controller tapes of the Airlink crash. I want to get it clear that the mid-air was operator error, and not mine. Okay, uh, listen, John, I'm told that the NTSB usually takes It takes a couple months for them to back up their investigation, but they know which way it's gonna swing in the first couple days. I want to know what they know. Is it just me or is this the most rational H we've ever talked to? No, he's a total sociopath. Trying to control you, control the situation, control his-- Okay, thanks. Uh, yeah, listen, John, it's going to take me a while to put my hands on those actual tapes. I'm just being straight with you. (whispering): Five hours in, he's starting to lose the picture. Okay, uh, in the meantime, can I do anything for you? Are you hungry? You guys hungry? We'll take some pizza, from Papages. Okay, now, here comes the negotiation part of my job. Uh, how about I throw in a free topping, you throw me out one of the bullets from your gun, you'll still have eight left, and you'll also have pepperoni or sausage. DELTA 59, traffic alert, ten o'clock. one, niner, zero, expedite. I swear he came out of nowhere. This is how accidents happen! Don't call back! Usually I'd say time is on our side, but Now, it's a liability. We need to take away the threat. If you were to transfer all radar operations to anther TRACON like if this place got hit by an earthquake. San Diego. They'd have to manage. Then that's what we'll do. It has to be done one scope at a time, like a traditional hand-off. Barnes would definitely see we're trying to pull the rug out. Then we'll do it in a way that he doesn't see. How the hell do you plan on pulling that off? I don't know, but I know someone who will. LEA: Let me repeat that back to you. You want me to facilitate a transfer of airspace control And to walk each individual controller without alerting the HT, who is himself an experienced air traffic controller? Very experienced. We'll call you when we're ready. Just got off the phone with Washington. Apparently they want us to wrap this up and fast. Oh great, well, we'll just quit messing around. Problem is he won't take our phone calls. The only foothold we have right now is the food. Well, it's been ordered. Yeah, now, I can walk it down there. And try to talk to him through the door, but, chances are, he won't talk back unless he gets what he wants. Voice tapes from the collision are already at NTSB headquarters in D. C. Yeah, I don't think the tapes are what he really wants. John Barnes is in a massive state of denial over the midair collision. These aren't the actions of a man who is confident in his innocence. Even if we have the tapes, they're only going to tell one half of the story-- what the pilot said, what Barnes said-- Not what he was thinking. Right. Unless Unless he told someone else. (keyboard clicking) (beeping) This look real enough to you guys? No one ever pays attention when something goes right. Passengers pray to the pilots to keep them safe. As if they're in charge of jack. BLAKE: Continental 1478, descend and maintain 6,000. PILOT: Thank you. Descend and maintain 6,000. Copy that, Control. (static) Do not react to my voice if you want to live. My name's Lea. I'm with the FBI. Okay, that was over-dramatic, but I got your attention. I'm isolated on your channel, the pilots can't hear me. Here's the deal. just like a normal controller hand-off, except we're not gonna switch chairs. BARNES: If something goes wrong, and then we're the first ones they jump on. You know I didn't do this. He didn't tell me anything except it wasn't his fault. And I didn't ask, because I believed he was telling the truth. How-How did you know that? Because we knew someone on that Airlink flight. Steven Wendelson. Steve and his wife are our neighbors, and John and Steve were friends. They were not just blips on the screen. This is very personal for him. Oh. Sorry. Pizza's here. Oh, yeah, finally. Um Okay, Blake, get ready to pretend like you're doing your job. I'm taking you off line in five, four, three, two Uh, TWA 334, reduce your speed. TWA? San Diego, are you on line? San Diego, affirmative. Traffic received. One down. Throw box. John, it's Matt. I'm standing about 30 feet from the door, speaking on a remote speaker. If you talk in a normal tone of voice, I'll pick you up. What do you want? Same old stuff. No one gets hurt. Peace on Earth. Do you have the voice tapes? Still working on it. In the meantime, though, I got your pizzas out here. Two dozen large, just like you ordered and, uh we're a little bit late getting here so no charge. So, you want us to just slide them down in front of the door? I know you can't exactly send someone out to pick them up. If you'd like, I could Look, I hear ya. Okay, I know you want to set things right and I know why. We spoke to your wife, John. She's real worried about you. She told us about Steve Wendelson. You know. You know about Steve Wendelson. What do you know? What do you think you know about my life? You think I did this on purpose? Hey! Don't even think about it. Oh, no, he can see the simulation. (gunshot) Move. Out of here! No! I told you guys not to Anyone else playing games? Let's find out. I want all traffic to hold and circle on the outer markers. Anyone who doesn't want a bullet in their head Now! Divert all traffic from central to L. A. Freeze all runways. No one takes off. No one lands! You want hostages? I'll give you hostages. Something you said? Surprise delays at LAX and other airports on the ground and in the air. Neither airport nor FAA officials are coming forward with the reason for the standstill. What didn't you tell us? What? What, what's going on? We mentioned Steve Wendelson to your husband You tell me what is going on. No. No, that that can't be. He doesn't know. John doesn't know MATT: John, let's talk about this. I want you to know why we were moving the traffic to San Diego. It wasn't done to trick you, it was done to protect the passengers. It's like I said, okay? I don't want anyone to get hurt. Now that includes your buddies in there and that includes you. We're striking out here. I feel like I stepped on a land mine. Yeah, it's not your fault. Look. This is Steve Wendelson, the guy on the plane that Cathy Barnes told us about. What she didn't tell us is that she was sleeping with him. Oh, great. So she screwed us, too. So what are you saying? Barnes caused the crash just to kill one guy? No, that doesn't make any sense. I believe that he might've made a mistake, but I don't believe this guy's a mass murderer. Yeah, he did make a mistake. He let his personal life affect his work. Yeah, this is a guy who lives and breathes pressure day in and day out. He with it by sublimating it. And all he's got to do is make one mistake. He needs to release that pressure. He needs to talk it out. Yeah, but he can't do that in front of all the guys he works with. Damn it, Jesse, what'd I tell you? Pull your guys apart or they're gonna hit each other's wake. Think-- three steps ahead! He's gone. He's gone. What? We have to do something, man. What do you mean? What do you think I mean? We have to take him out. John, it's Matt. I'm right outside the door. I want to talk to you in private, okay? About friends and neighbors and some other things other people don't need to hear about. so that we can talk one on one It's just an ordinary phone in a hard case and the line only goes to me. So if you want to pick it up, that's great, and if not that's okay, too, I'll just assume you're all right hollering like this. Here comes. (ringing) This is getting ridiculous. If they don't clear us to land in the next 15, I'm going to set us down on the damn 405 freeway. The lowest flight right now is Tropic Gulf flight 714 out of Honolulu. They have about 75 minutes worth. Did I screw up? No, Lea, you did good. Vehicles are clear. It looks civilian out there again. If I ask for a ten minute plan? Cut the power to the room, move in fast with night vision. Hit him before he knows what's what. Only for the assault. The power cycles back up in just over two minutes. What do you want? Talk to me, John. What do you want me to say? That I killed them all? Is that what you want to hear? Is that the truth? It's what they're all going to say. It's what you believe. I believe in the evidence. You say a corporate jet popped out of nowhere. It did. At least That is-- that is what I saw. But you don't know for sure? I knew he was on the plane, okay? I knew Steve Wendelson was on the Airlink flight. I admit it. I had asked him what flight, what time but I wasn't planning on doing anything. And so, the corporate jet? I I don't know. (sighs) You really want to know, that is my answer. (John sighs) All I know is I was tracking the airline flight We met in motels, never each other's house. We bought those disposable cell phones to talk on, the ones with the prepaid minutes that you can throw away when you're done. I found a telephone they used when I was taking out the trash. or something and then another thought occurred. I followed her to a motel. Watched her walk in with the guy down the block. I never told them. The second I saw her I realized, it was my fault she was standing there. It was anyone's fault. just the way John is. of whatever was going on in his head. She's not the kind of person who can handle the level of stress this job brings. I thought I was doing the right thing. I had to turn somewhere. And yet somehow I ended up in here. Can't do this alone, Scott. You've got to move with me. We can take him down in ten seconds and land these damn planes. Shut up, shut up, shut up. Usually I see a way out of jams. That's what I do. But I don't see a way out of this. Uh, there's a way out, John, and I'm going to help you find it. That's what I do. You ever lose someone on the job, Matt? Yeah. How'd you keep your soul? Well, I get up the next morning and I go to work. (quietly): It's now or never When I'm in the zone and I've got a scope full of aircraft, there's nothing like it. It's like I'm conducting a symphony orchestra. You're the first person I ever told that to. JOHN: Wish I told Cathy. Don't shoot, don't shoot. PILOT: Control, do you copy? Control, come in, please. Wait, you've got to go back. No way! You've got to go back. Go to hell. Barnes has got a gun; he's out of his mind. I don't get paid for that; you cannot make me go back. All right, you don't know me, okay, and we will never meet. I am one of the I'm up there. I am sitting on a plane, anxious to get home. Please. Am I going to get home? MATT: John? John? * * Tropic Gulf 714, you have traffic off your 10:00. Tropic Gulf 714, I see him. How long are we going to spend, Control? I'm running on fumes up here. Until I say so, Tropic. We start dropping controllers, we start dropping planes. This has to end. We can't, unless Why is he smiling? He's got a plan. What John Barnes needs is to save 180 people. He needs to go back to work. How? Simple. We put 180 people in danger. Al Pert, Channel 6 News, standing here live at the Los Angeles Air Traffic of today's crisis in the skies. As you can see, they're not letting any media to speak with us. Just make way, please. Could you clear out? See, here come the computer guys right now. Hey. Hi. They're here. Cheryl Carrera. Thank you for lending a hand, gentlemen. Jared Simms, FAA. briefed us on the way over. I've supplied her with the transponder codes. You have our cooperation. I never said "special agent. " So essentially you want me to act like Yeah, but don't go overboard. I'm Crown Air 380. We need the real thing; that's why you're here. Whose scope am I flying on? Who's you're least experienced controller? Northwest 3412, position 16 from the mark at three until established. That's all we're going to get. (alarm buzzing) I got a pop-up. Crown Air just got airspace. If he's got a data block, he must've accepted it. All right, Crown Air 380, this is Control. Do you read? Mayday! Mayday! Uh, Crown Air 380 requesting assistance. Foreign objects struck my windshield. Uh, visibility at half, uh pressure intact. Oh, no, no, no. He's closing in on a Continental. He's closing in on the whole trail. Oh, God. Crown Air 380, slow down, reduce speed to one-six-zero. Do you have visual on traffic ahead? Visibility reduced. Uh, need some help, Control. He gave you a speed correction. You're changing the altitude variable. Okay, where do I put him? There. Slow Delta to one-four-zero. You can put him in that hole. Okay, but that's not a hole. Make a hole. JOHN: You'll not get to full five, but you'll get him in there. Delta 714, slow to one-four-zero. We're going to pin a tail on you. Crown Air 380, maintain speed. Maintain? No, no screw that. Crown Air 380, our second layer is cracked. Uh, we've lost visual. Uh, repeat: visibility zero. Can't see a damn thing out here. Oh, my God, zero vision. Come on, John, get back to work. This thing's going to shatter. Faster, speed him up. (typing) Okay, bring him down. Link them with ILS. Yeah, but that's not going to get them Damn it, Jesse! Fly the plane! JESSE: What are you talking about? All right, get out of your chair. Get out of your chair. Get up. Get up. Crown 380, you've got a clear for ILS, but first we have to shoot you past a company heavy. Traffic up here, 3:00, one and a half miles. I know you can't see them. Don't worry, I can. Descend and maintain 4,000. At 4,000, uh, trust you on the traffic. Uh, Crown 380. Thank you. (exhales) American 772, ILS behind United heavy, one-18-point-three, Okay, guys, we're bringing you in. You're cleared to land on runway four-G, heading two-niner-nine. Come home to Papa. JOHN: Delta 222, turn right, zero-eight-zero. Reduce your speed to two-one-zero. US Air 889, cleared for a right. Northwest 3412, turn left, zero-one-zero-zero. Maintain speed. JetBlue 400, turn left, zero-seven-eight-zero. Lufthansa zero-seven-six, you've got clear skies ahead 300, clear runway, four a right. Delta 222, turn right, zero-eight-zero. Reduce speed to two-one-zero. US Air 889, cleared for a right. (orchestra playing classical music) Northwest 3412, left zero-one-zero. Delta (orchestra continuing) Descend and maintain * * You wanted to see us? Hmm, that's twice in one week. This was a much more pleasant call. He singled out our entire unit for praise. a couple points in Washington. A little something extra in the stocking come tax time? Don't count on it. By the way, did you ever get in touch with that guy from the NTSB? Yeah, turns out Barnes was right-- crash wasn't his fault. Official investigation will take months, but for some reason, the corporate jet didn't have its transponder on. There was no way he could turn that plane fast enough. Does Barnes know this? We made sure he got the information. Okay. Well, that's all on my end. Good work. Anything else? Okay. (stammering): Actually, yeah, there is one thing. Um Still. We figure since there's no Bureau policy against it, and since we're doing good work, according to you, we're going to give it a go, see what happens. Okay, here's the deal. I never see it in the field. Uh, never. And you can't get married. There is a new policy concerning that. Yeah. Well, that's not even part of-part of the equation. Married I was kidding. Oh, right, yeah. No, we knew that, yeah. (stammering)