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Transcript of Millennium episode "19:19"

Presented below is an episode transcript of 19:19 from Chris Carter's Millennium TV series. These transcripts have been provided thanks to the dedication and time consuming hard work of Millennium fans Libby and Maria Vitale. Millennium - This is who we are is extremely greatful to Libby who has painstakingly checked, updated and edited each one for accuracy to make sure that they are as true to the actual episodes as possible.

 

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19:19 - Transcript


Season:

2

MLM Code:

#MLM-206

Production Code:

5C06

Original Airdate:

1997-11-07



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Episode Profile | Synopsis | Credit List | Original Fox Photos |  Episode Images


19:19

[MLM-206 (5C06)]

 

Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong Directed by Thomas J. Wright
Edited by James Coblentz
Air Date: 7 November 1997

[Transcribed by Libby]

 

[The scene opens by showing a number of radios and TV sets, all tuned into to news stations. One radio is broadcasting a weather forecast. A TV station has a news report about Saudi Arabia. TV: sports report, Magic 109 Nets 112. Radio: news report, Olsen Creek. A young man, Matthew Prine, is surrounded by these radios and TVs. He sits down, remote in his hand and clicks on yet another TV: news report, Hungary. His attention is caught by a news report about an earthquake, 5.5 on the Richter scale. He looks at a handwritten list on the floor of severe weather events: Flood, Bangladesh, 1988 Armenian earthquake, 6.8, 1988
Bay of Bengal, cyclone, 1991
Hurricane Andrew 1992
Mississippi flood 1993
Sagvenay flood 1995
Kobe, Japan earthquake 7.2
He adds another entry to the list: Landers earthquake 5.5.
He listens to another news report - Yassir Arafat. Then adds an entry to another list: Eastern kings I-98. Another news report - Czech Republic. More reports come in on other TV channels of NATO expansion. He starts circling some of the lists and connecting them with lines, drawing more lines, ticking off items on lists, finally writing "ME" and circling it. ]

[Outside. An isolated trailer in a rural area. On the roof are antennae and dishes. Prine exits. Grassland extends into the distance.]

PRINE: And when the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second Beast say, "Come." And there went out another horse that was red.

[The scene starts to change, clouds moving quickly, the light changing. There's a crash and a flash.]

PRINE: And power was given to him that sat thereon.

[A roiling cloud.]

PRINE: To take peace from the earth.

[Wind blows open the trailer door.]

PRINE: And to make men slay each other.

[Mushroom cloud.]

PRINE: To him was given a large sword.

[Wind blows stronger.]

PRINE: The great day of his wrath is come! And who shall be able to stand.

[The burning light diminishes, leaving a scorched and barren land.]

[fade to black]

[main titles]

[polaroid fade up]

[Poster - "Vanished" - photos of six children - "Have you seen these children".]

WATTS: These are the flyers they've been handing out across the state.

[Watts and Frank are sat in a car.]

WATTS: The parents started calling the school when the children didn't show up on time. Five hours later there's still no trace of them, or the bus.
FRANK: Bus driver?
WATTS: Vernon Roberts. Born and raised here. Been driving the school bus for 22 years. More than likely he's a victim too. This is a small town, Frank, farmers mostly, in the heart of the bible belt. Everyone knows his neighbors. I have to believe that whatever happened here came from without.
FRANK: If this was an abduction, we have to find the point of encounter before the rain flushes away every trace.
WATTS: The FBI's been informed. The State troopers are checking out the bus route.
BROKEN BOW, OKLAHOMA

[They get out of the car which is parked in front of the McCurtain County Sheriff's office. Thunder rolls in the background. As they approach the front door, a Deputy comes out.]

DEPUTY: Mr Watts, they found the bus.
WATTS: Let's go.

 

[By a roadside, a crane is pulling a bus out of a water channel running alongside the road. Frank and Watts approach the group of people standing by.]

WATTS: Sheriff Cayce. This is Frank Black.
FRANK: I understand this location is quite a distance away from the normal route.

[Sheriff Cayce doesn't answer - he is just staring at the bus. Frank goes over to him.]

FRANK: Sheriff?

[Frank notices the Sheriff's demeanor.]

FRANK: Do you have a child on that bus?
CAYCE: My daughter Jessica. She just turned eight. Before I saw the bus in the water I still had hope this was something, anything, other than this. I prepared myself. I recalled the times I had to tell a father that his child just died. I thought I knew how it would feel to be on the other side of this.

[Frank and Watts move away, realizing that this is not the time to talk to the Sheriff.]

 

[The bus has been hauled out of the water. Frank and Watts go over to it.]

WATTS: If this was just an accident, the bodies are still inside.
FRANK: Is it insanity to wish for a mass abduction?
WATTS: Better a slim chance than no chance.

[They pull open the door. Water rushes out. Frank climbs in slowly and looks around. It's empty apart from a few belongings.]

FRANK: We got our wish.

[Frank picks up a backpack - it has the name: Jessica Cayce.]

 

[Another vehicle. A van of some kind. In the back are the children and the bus driver, Vernon Roberts.]

GIRL: Mr. Vernon. Where are we going?

[Vernon is cradling another little girl.]

VERNON: We'll see when we get there, honey.

[The girl starts crying.]

GIRL: I wanna go home.

[The other children start getting upset.]

VERNON: OK. Everybody listen to me. I want you to hold hands with the person next to you. Can you do that?

[The children and Vernon are sitting on the floor of the van. They join hands.]

VERNON: Everybody holding hands? We're gonna have a prayer. Our Father –

[The children join in.]

ALL: who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven –

[The prayer continues, heard by Matthew Prine who is driving the van, and his Accomplice. They also then clasp hands and Prine joins in the prayer.]

PRINE: – as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

[The white van they are in turns in off the road past a mailbox. As the prayer ends the scene changes to show Frank and Watts searching the bus.]

 

[The children's belongings have been spread over a tarpaulin on the ground. Photographs are being taken of the labeled belongings. Frank puts his hand on Jessica Cayce's backpack. He has a vision of an atom bomb's mushroom cloud. Then he walks over to the bus again and sees a white mark on the door.]

[Frank is standing on the road, looking into the distance. The Sheriff approaches him.]

CAYCE: Crime scene's back there.
FRANK: No, it's here. And up that road about five miles. That was the point of encounter. Before the bus driver could drop off the first student.

[The abduction scene plays out as Frank's explanation continues as voice-over.]

FRANK: [VO] The bus would have been forced to stop because of an obstacle. Debris on the highway, or a disabled vehicle. The abductor would be feigning weakness or injury so as not to present a threat to the bus driver. He would approach with difficulty, further disarming suspicion. The next move is pure surprise, with a blitz attack so sudden and vicious, the abductor easily disables his only threat. He might kill the driver, though I would have expected to find the body on the bus. Moments after the point of encounter, he drives away. Although he's never done this before, in his mind he's lived it a thousand times. In less than ten minutes they arrive here, and the abductor guards the front. A truck or a van pulls up behind the bus. The children are herded towards the emergency exit in the rear and forced into the escape vehicle. The bus is then driven into the river to buy him time.
CAYCE: There must have been more than one kidnapper.
FRANK: There was an accomplice, but this was from the mind of one man. To find the children you are going to have to understand the why of it.
CAYCE: Well, with all due respect, Mr. Black, I really don't care why, I just want to catch him.
FRANK: I detected a white paint mark on the edge of the emergency door. I believe that's the color of the kidnapper's vehicle.
CAYCE: I'll get a bulletin out on a white van or truck right now. That'll give us something to work on until we get the ransom demand.
FRANK: There won't be a ransom demand.
CAYCE: How do you know?
FRANK: Experience.

 

[In another location, a police car is parked just off the road in a small industrial area. There are clouds in the sky and the sound of rolling thunder. A white van being driven down the road. The police officer notices and follows the van discreetly.]

OFFICER: [into radio] Dispatch, this is baker seven responding to an APB on a white truck or van. I need to run a plate and a 10-29 on a late eighties Econoline. Texas license Romeo Fox Sierra four five eight.
DISPATCH: [on radio] Baker seven, that's a clean plate. No warrants outstanding. No reports.

[The van suddenly picks up speed.]

COP: Whoa! I got a rabbit. Heading east on Lonsdale.
DISPATCH: Baker seven proceed on Code two, possible hostages.

[Back at the bus scene a Deputy runs up to the Sheriff.]

DEPUTY: Sheriff, Highway Patrol's in pursuit of a white van. It's running east on Lonsdale road.
CAYCE: He's heading our way. I want to get patched into that trooper. Let's get every available vehicle on this now. Mr. Black? Looks like you get to ask him why face to face.

[Cayce is driving a police car, Frank with him.]

CAYCE: [into radio] Baker seven, this is McCurtain County Sheriff, you got a 20 on that white van?
OFFICER: [on radio] Still proceeding east on Lonsdale, approaching Highway 58.
CAYCE: [into radio] If he gets onto 58 we'll cut him off at the junction to 60. If he stays on Lonsdale we'll set the roadblock up at Lewis road.
FRANK: They run a plate on that van?
CAYCE: [into radio] You got a name to go with the vehicle?
OFFICER: [into radio] The vehicle is registered in Texas to a Robert Rene Thomas.

[Watts is also in Cayce's police car, sat in the back.]

WATTS: Texas?
OFFICER: [on radio] 36, Caucasian, 165, 5-9, brown hair, brown eyes.
WATTS: Doesn't make sense to come from out of state.
FRANK: The abduction was too well organized. They either knew or studied those children.
CAYCE: [into radio] Was the vehicle reported stolen?
COP: [on radio] Negative.

[Back to the police car following the white van.]

OFFICER: [into radio] He's now heading south down 58.
CAYCE: [into radio] Let's take this guy out at the junction to 60. Light him up a quarter mile away and we'll be waiting.

[Cayce's car is leading a convoy. The first two vehicles continue down the road, another car takes a left.]

[The white van speeds up.]

OFFICER: He's putting the hammer down now, I'm going to light him up.

[The officer switches on lights and siren.]

[Other police vehicles screech to a halt across a junction. Police officers with rifles take up positions. The white van approaches. Then halts diagonally across the road.]

CAYCE: [through loudhailer] Step out of the vehicle.

[Two men get out of the van.]

CAYCE: Keep your hands where we can see them. Interlace your fingers and put them on top of your heads. Now lay face down on the ground.

[The two men are complying. When they are down on the road, the cops run over to them. Frank opens the back door. The van is full of electrical equipment of various kinds.]

MAN: I know we were speeding. I'm sorry. If we can just get the ticket? We've tracked a splitting storm with a BRN{1} of 89. That's right for a supercell. We got to get the turtle out of the van and on to the ground.
CAYCE: What the hell are you talking about?
WATTS: They're not the ones we're looking for. They're meteorologists, storm chasers.

[Cayce and another cop pull the two men to their feet.]

MAN [Storm chaser]: Officers? Piece of advice. I'm reading vortex signatures at around ten thousand feet, so whoever you're looking for, you'd better find them quick, 'cos there's a bad boy out there.

[Frank has another vision of an atom bomb.]

STORM CHASER: And when he hits –
FRANK: There'll be nothing left to find.

[In the distance, a flash of lightning, thunder.]

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

[The children and Vernon are still in the van. They wake up as the van stops. From outside, camouflage netting is pulled over van. It is night. Inside, Vernon crawls over to the back doors. The two abductors open the back door and hit Vernon. Prine looks into the van at the children.]

PRINE: Come out one at a time. I need a piece of clothing and your name.

[The men pull Vernon to his feet.]

PRINE: You. Get in the hole. And help them down.

[Vernon goes over to a ladder leading down a round metal shaft.]

 

[Sheriff's office. Frank and Watts enter.]

FRANK: This can't be about the money. The parents of these children are farmers, clerks, working class.
WATTS: I've consulted with the Group. They think it's highly unlikely this was an act perpetrated by foreign terrorists. They're checking recent militia activity, possibly a political statement.
FRANK: This feels more personal.
WATTS: An act against the parents? Hurt them through their offspring?
FRANK: It's terrifying there's been no communication. If they're using these children as commodities to be bartered then they should have contact us by now to assure us that the goods were safe.
WATTS: Unless he has another purpose.
FRANK: Every child of school age in Broken Bow was in that bus.
WATTS: He's taken more than the children, hasn't he.
FRANK: He's taken away the future.

 

[Prine climbs down the shaft. It leads into what looks like a trailer, buried underground. He goes over to Vernon.]

PRINE: How many children were on your bus today?

[Vernon doesn't answer. The Accomplice checks the number of children.]

ACCOMPLICE: Seventeen.

[Prine turns to the Accomplice.]

PRINE: There are eighteen in the school. You were to make certain.
PRINE: [to Vernon] You tell me who's missing.
VERNON: I can't. [pause] I can't.
PRINE: It's no good if they're not all here.

[The Accomplice hands Prine a large pair of pincers. The children cower.]

PRINE: Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.

[Vernon looks horrified as Prine slowly opens the pincers.]

PRINE: Vernon, tell me, are you worthy?

[Prine uses the pincers, though we don't see how. Vernon screams in agony, the children cover their faces.]

 

[A shot of the top of the shaft fades into a shot of swirling coffee in a plastic cup.]

RADIO VOICE: – issued a storm advisory for south eastern Oklahoma. There is a forty percent chance of thundershowers tonight, increasing to sixty percent by tomorrow. Now, back to this week's top forty countdown on KROZ.

[Frank sips coffee from the plastic cup as Cayce comes up.]

CAYCE: I was going over the log books for this afternoon –

[Frank holds his hand up to stop him, and turns up the radio.]

CAYCE: What? You want to hear your favorite song?

[Radio: The Carpenters' Bless the Beasts and the Children: "And I saw the Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." ]

WATTS: How did you know there would be a message?
FRANK: Even I know that song's not in the top forty.

[Radio station. Inside a small studio.]

ANNOUNCER: So, after the weather, which I do live, I play the pre-records and then instead of Spice Girls I get Psycho Boy.
CAYCE: I want a list of all the people who have access to this room - janitors, technicians, anybody with a key.

[Recording of the broadcast: "And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and –"]

WATTS: Interesting choice of music, considering the message. He's quoting the bible.
CAYCE: I wouldn't make too much of that. It's not uncommon from folks around here to cite the bible in everyday conversation.
WATTS: The passage is from Revelation 19, verse 19. Maybe he considers himself the one on the horse.
FRANK: Nineteen? There were 18 victims. Seventeen children and one bus driver. [to Cayce] How many children attend the school?
CAYCE: Eighteen.
WATTS: Making nineteen victims.
FRANK: Who missed school today?

 

[Night. Police cars, lights flashing, drive along a road and turn into a driveway.]

FRANK: He's in there.
CAYCE: [to Watts] Cover the back yard.

[Frank and Cayce move to either side of the front door. They enter the house through the open door. Inside, there are signs of disturbance, bloodstains. They go upstairs. Suddenly a man lunges at Frank. Cayce shouts at the man, Rick, the child's father.]

CAYCE: Rick! Rick! Where is he!
RICK: My son! [He points to bedroom, where there is an open window.] My son!

[Frank eases Rick down onto floor. Cayce goes into bedroom and is jumped on by Prine. The two tumble down the stairs. Prine gets up and Cayce grabs him and throws him through the open front door and down the steps. Cayce starts waling on him, shouting "Son of a bitch". Frank hauls him off.]

FRANK: No! No. That gets you nothing, nothing. Believe me, I've been there. He's the only one that can help us.

[Prine is lying unconscious, stretched out down the steps, arms outstretched.]

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

[An interview room, with cells towards the back of the room. Prine is sat at a table.]

CAYCE: We're running your prints. It's only a matter of minutes before I'll know your whole history.

[He slams his hand down on the table. Prine jumps.]

[On the other side of the interview room is another room behind a one-way window. The conversation can be heard in that room via a loudspeaker system.]

CAYCE: Where are they. You're in a world of trouble.

[Frank and Watts are watching through the one-way window.]

CAYCE: [via loudspeaker] Give me a reason to help you.

[Cayce sits on the table.]

CAYCE: [loudspeaker] We are gonna find them. It's gonna be a lot easier for you if you help.
FRANK: He's not going to talk. And you're not going to find anything that matches his prints.
WATTS: He has to have a prior record. It's highly unusual for a criminal to start a career with a mass abduction.
FRANK: He's not a criminal. He hasn't committed any crime, that's the message he's giving us. To him this is a fight between good and evil and we're the ones with the horns and the pitchforks. Until we understand that and act accordingly, we're not going to find them.

[A Deputy enters the interview room.]

DEPUTY: [loudspeaker] Sheriff. This was just found at the Tisdale ranch.
FRANK: Damn. What's he doing.

[Interview room. The Deputy has handed over a plastic bag, containing bloodied clothing.]

CAYCE: It's too late, asswipe. I don't need your help. I got you now. You are going to die for your sins if I have to kill you myself!

[Cayce has grabbed Prine, but the Deputy hauls him off.]

FRANK: We just lost round one.

 

[Night. Police searching an area of ground using flashlights.]

COP: Got another one!
ANOTHER COP: Found one over here!
FRANK: Sheriff, it's a decoy. They're not here.
CAYCE: Well, this is all I can do. I'm afraid if I don't keep going, and keep moving, no matter how hopeless, then it'll become exactly that. Every piece of clothing that we found has blood on it. Frank, I don't trust myself to face this animal again.
FRANK: I'm not trying to make you feel better by saying this, but I don't believe that the blood on those clothes are from those children.
WATTS: It's not human. The lab ran a quick analysis. They determined the blood came from an animal. Also they found fiber embedded in the fabric so the blood was painted onto the clothing.
FRANK: Lamb's blood. Passover?

[Watts nods.]

WATTS: Also Revelation chapter 6, verse 5. The lamb opened the seven seals. No luck on the fingerprints yet, so his identity is still a mystery.
CAYCE: The lamb in Revelation represents Jesus Christ. Is that who this guy thinks he is?
FRANK: No. Feels more like he's sending us clues. Sheriff, where is the nearest religious bookstore to Broken Bow. One that has a big stock of specialty items. Books on prophecy, revelation, apocrypha.
CAYCE: Well, every store in the world is as close as the post office. Mail order is the way most people shop.
WATTS: The Group has a database that can help. It can spit out the name and address of anyone who's bought a bible through the mail in this country over the last ten years. And we can narrow that search if he's purchased specialty items.
FRANK: You telling me the Millennium Group keeps track of anyone who buys a book?
WATTS: Certain books.

[Frank looks at Watts.]

FRANK: Why?
WATTS: Exactly this reason.

 

[Inside the buried trailer, some of the children are moving a mattress. Jessica goes over to Vernon who is sitting slumped against the wall.]

JESSICA: Mr. Vernon. Um, if we pile up these mattresses we could reach the top and get out.

[He doesn't answer. She sits down next to him.]

JESSICA: We've already started. But we need your help. [pause] My Daddy always said that it's not what you've done, it's what you're gonna do.

 

[Watts and Frank are in a car, driving along a country road.]

WATTS: Two more names left on the list.
FRANK: Interesting how many households bought a new bible and at the same time renewed their subscription to Guns and Ammo.

[They both smile ironically.]

WATTS: Hey, I got a call from the Group. Back in Seattle there's a warrant issued in your name because of an unpaid traffic ticket.
FRANK: That's a mistake. They never sent a notice. Then informed me it was overdue, citing a vehicle I've never seen let alone driven. Seems there's been a lot of distractions like that lately.
WATTS: Well, we'll take care of it.
FRANK: No, I'll handle it.

[They've reached their destination and drive off the road up a dirt track. Frank has the atom bomb vision again. Ahead is the trailer from the opening scene.]

FRANK: That's it.

[They stop and get out. Watts knocks on the door. No answer. He opens it and hears voices - from the radios and TVs.]

WATTS: Anybody home?

[They look around. There are dozens of TVs and radios. Frank looks down at the floor where Prine has written his lists. He sits down and looks them over. Watts comes over and also sits down.]

FRANK: Can you send for Lara Means?

[Watts looks at Frank, surprised.]

FRANK: I know she works with the Group. She knows I do.
WATTS: She's a good forensic psychologist.
FRANK: We can use her friends in high places.

[WATTS looks over the lists.]

FRANK: We're sitting inside someone's brain.

 

[Interview room. There's a copy of the lists from the trailer on the floor. Frank is sat watching as Prine traces over the letters "ME". He points to one list: Libya, Syria, Iran.]

PRINE: This is wrong. Eastern kings will be pitted against the kings of the north. Europe, the United States, not Iraq.

[Frank gets up and crosses out one item and writes in another. Lara and Watts are watching through the one-way window; Cayce is videoing the interview.]

PRINE: [via loudspeaker] Gog is not China. It's the Russians. So that makes Magog, America.
WATTS: That was a nice call, Lara. Copy it down incorrectly.
LARA: An obsessive personality would never be able to stand the glaring errors in his work. It's just a jump start to get him talking. Still up to Frank to draw him out.

[Frank stands back and Prine sits crossed legged on the floor and looks at him.]

PRINE: Do you have any idea what you have here?
FRANK: After the second great struggle between the nations will come the third world war which will determine everything. With eyes open, will the world's nations enter into these catastrophes? They shall not be aware of what is happening and those that would and will tell shall be silenced.

[Frank goes over to Prine and crouches down.]

FRANK: [on loudspeaker] I was paraphrasing. Stormberger, 18th century.
PRINE: You understand my problem.
FRANK: You felt Matthew Prine had to act.
PRINE: Somebody had to. I didn't see anybody else stepping up.
FRANK: So by taking the children you can stop it, stop the war before it starts.
PRINE: World War III has already started. People always think that wars happen in the future but they really happen in the past. The fighting is just the inevitable result of events that have already occurred.
FRANK: So why take the children?
PRINE: Just as he who will fight the war is born, so is he that will end the fighting.
FRANK: One of the children was a peacemaker.
PRINE: He - or she - is our only hope. I have seen the seeds of destruction. I am protecting the future.
FRANK: From what?

[Lara whispers something to Cayce.]

PRINE: If I knew what, I would have eliminated the threat myself.
FRANK: So you have no intention of harming them. When will they be returned.
PRINE: When I see the sign.
FRANK: What if you don't see that sign?

[Prine gets up, Frank likewise.]

PRINE: Then our savior wasn't there.

[He walks into the cell at the back of the room and sits on the bunk. Looks at Frank.]

PRINE: Then it doesn't matter if these live or die.

 

[Buried trailer. Mattresses are piled up. Vernon and a boy on top of the pile are attempting to open the trapdoor. Outside it is night. A digger drives into view. The people in the trailer hear the sound of the engine over them. The digger, driven by the Accomplice, drops a heavy weight – a pallet of oil drums - right on top of the trapdoor.]

[fade to black]

[polaroid fade up]

[Video of Frank and Prine in the interview room.]

FRANK: [on video] Since you know you have no intention of harming them –

[Video zooms in on Prine's hands.]

FRANK: [on video] – when are you going to release them.

[Prine scratches his hand.]

LARA: There. That's the tell.
CAYCE: Looks like he's scratching his hand.
LARA: Exactly. But it's when he chooses to scratch that's telling.

[Lara rewinds the video and hits play - Frank: "so by taking the children".]

LARA: This is the first explicit mention of the children during the interrogation. Watch the right hand.

[Prine scratches his hand.]

LARA: There. If he just had an itch or whatever, you'd expect him to scratch randomly. This scratching is subconsciously motivated. Every time he's forced to think about the children, he reacts. He's showing us his guilt.
CAYCE: I know he's guilty. What we need is a location of the children.
WATTS: If his motives are what he says, are the children in danger?
FRANK: He claims to be protecting them.
LARA: Yet, here's my thing. He can't even bring himself to acknowledge the children. His words: "It doesn't matter if these live or die."
FRANK: Do you think he would manifest this same behavior, this tell, if he was brought in to a location near the children?
LARA: If we were to drive him by the place where the children were kept and watched him without his knowledge, I've a feeling he'd scratch his skin to the bone.
CAYCE: There's over eighteen hundred miles in the county. There's no way we could drive by every possible hiding place.

[Watts goes over to a map.]

WATTS: There was an eight-hour time lapse between abductions, divide that in half, that's four hours travel time, take away thirty minutes for transferring the children into the van, submerging the bus.
LARA: Subtract thirty minutes for planting decoys and getting the children into their hiding place.
FRANK: They took an hour to plan and execute the second abduction.
WATTS: That's a half hour to forty-five minutes actual travel time.

[Watts draws a circle on the map around Broken Bow.]

FRANK: They're hidden in Broken Bow.
CAYCE: It's still too much ground to cover. Fifteen minutes alone with him and I'll get us an answer.
LARA: That's not gonna work. Not with a zealot.
FRANK: Sheriff, with all due respect, if your interrogation fails, the children are going to pay the consequences. I don't think you can afford to risk that. [to Watts] We need the lab. I think we should contact the Bureau in Oklahoma city.
WATTS: The Group has an access to a closer one is Muskogee.
FRANK: [to Cayce] I think we found a way to narrow down the location.

 

[Interview room. Prine is sat at the table. Deputy and Cayce enter. Cayce slams some clothing down onto the table. Prine flinches.]

CAYCE: Put this on. You're being transferred in the morning.

[They leave and Prine starts taking off his jacket.]

 

[Sheriff's office. Frank is emptying the pockets of Prine's jacket - dust, dirt.]

WATTS: Storm warnings have shut down commercial flights. I'm going to have to take a car to Muskogee.
FRANK: Whoever helped Matthew Prine will suspect he's been captured.

[He is pouring the dirt into an evidence bag.]

FRANK: We don't have much time before he acts.
CAYCE: I'll get you on a cropduster, fly there direct.

[Watts and Frank exchange glances.]

FRANK: Better you than me.

 

[Inside the buried trailer. Sound of vehicle above.]

[Outside - day. The Accomplice picks up a shovel and starts shoveling dirt over the air shafts to the trailer. Inside the trailer, it gets dark as the light is cut off. ]

 

[Outside the sheriff's station someone is fixing equipment into the roof of a police car. Frank's cellphone rings.]

FRANK: Yeah.
WATTS: [on phone] Just got the results. The soil sample has an unusually high concentration of bauxite.
FRANK: Bauxite? [to Sheriff] Is there an aluminum processing plant or a quarry nearby?
CAYCE: There's an abandoned quarry about ten miles out of town.
FRANK: [to Watts on phone] They're at the quarry. We're on it.

[Outside Sheriff's station. Prine, in handcuffs, is led out by Deputy Jack and put into the back of the police car. The car drives off out of the compound. A short distance down the road is a gray van, inside of which Lara switches on a remote camera system. This shows Prine sat in the back of the police car.]

LARA: Got it.
FRANK: Give him about a fifteen second head start. That will keep us well within range without arousing his suspicion.

[Cayce checks his watch, then switches on the van's engine and the van drives off followed by another police car.]

 

[Inside the buried trailer. The children and Vernon are sitting very still in the semi-darkness.]

GIRL: Jessica?
JESSICA: Sssh. Don't talk and don't move. We have to save the air.

 

[The police car with Prine in it drives along the road. There is thunder and rain. Following at a distance is the gray van and the police car.]

CAYCE: [into radio] Jack? When you get into the quarry be ready to make sudden turns on my directions.

[Cut to the car containing Prine.]

CAYCE: [on radio] Don't you talk to that bastard no matter what he says.

[Video monitor in the gray van.]

LARA: Well in the next few minutes we'll know whether we should've just beat the hell out of him.

[Frank looks at Lara.]

LARA: Here's my thing. I'm results oriented.

[The car drives into quarry area. Prine looks around. The video zooms in on his hands. He's scratching his hand.]

LARA: We got a confirmation.
FRANK: [to Cayce] Send him into the heart of the quarry because that guy didn't want any audience when he unloaded those children.
CAYCE: [into radio] Jack. Make the next left.

[The car turns left as the van enters quarry area.]

[The car drives further into the quarry area. The video shows Prine's hands.]

LARA: Oh, we are close.

[The car drives into an open area with oil drums and a small shack. The video shows Prine's hands fall apart. Frank reaches for Cayce's radio.]

FRANK: [into radio] Jack. Stop.

[The car stops quickly.]

FRANK: [into radio] Back up. Slowly.

[As Jack turns to check behind him, a shot is fired, shattering the window.]

LARA: Oh my god.
FRANK: Jack's been hit. Go!

[The van and police car race to the area.]

[The Deputy's car is still reversing until it hits something. Prine starts getting out as the van and police car arrive. Frank and Lara run over to the car. Frank pushes Prine back into the car. Cayce points his gun at Prine.]

CAYCE: Don't you move, you son of a bitch.

[Another shot is fired, shattering the window next to Cayce. They take cover as the cops in the police car return fire. The Accomplice is behind a concrete block structure, firing a rifle.]

FRANK: [to Prine] Tell him to stop shooting. Now.
PRINE: Let me go.
FRANK: Tell him!

[Cayce pulls Frank out of the car and starts shouting at Prine, while the gunfire continues.]

CAYCE: Where are they! Where are the children!
PRINE: And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying –
CAYCE: I don't give a damn what happens. You understand? You have ten seconds to tell me where they are before I kill you.

[Prine has continued reciting the biblical passage.]

CAYCE: You understand me?

[As Cayce starts counting down, the Accomplice fires and shatters the back window of the car. Frank grabs Cayce.]

FRANK: Cayce! Put it down! Put it down!

[Prine looks out the back window. The storm has heightened and he sees a tornado touch down.]

PRINE: The sign!
FRANK: We've gotta find cover.

[The others take shelter, while Prine gets out of the car and walks towards the tornado. He raises his hands. It is now very dark and the wind is very strong. He smiles. The tornado picks up and whirls away debris. While the others find whatever shelter they can, behind the concrete blocks, Prine stands in the open as the tornado continues on its path. The tornado takes the shed, then the oil drums, then Prine. Then the wind abates and the sky grows light again. Frank, Lara, and Cayce come out from behind their shelter. The ground is littered with debris.]

FRANK: [to Lara] You all right?
DEPUTY: [VO] Hey, Sheriff. Over here. Found the shooter.

[The Accomplice is lying on the ground, crushed by one of the large concrete blocks he had been hiding behind. The Sheriff, Frank and Lara stand in silence.]

CAYCE: There's no-one left to tell us where they are.

[Lara notices something. Over a small ridge can be seen the figure of a small boy. Lara draws Cayce's attention. Another child is seen. Over the other side of the ridge is the trailer, now exposed as a result of the tornado. Children are climbing out of the access hole cut into the roof. They are shielding their eyes from the bright sunlight. Cayce sees Jessica and runs towards her. Lara follows, slowly. Frank leans up against the stone blocks they had been sheltering behind. Cayce calls to his daughter and she runs into his arms. Lara continues up the slope to help the children down. Frank smiles as he watches the reunion between father and daughter.]

 

[Outside McCurtain County Sheriff's office. There has been damage here from the storm. Lara, Frank and Watts exit.]

WATTS: State troopers are following the path of the tornado. Still no trace of Matthew Prine.
LARA: Well, maybe he went somewhere over the rainbow.

[Watts smiles.]

WATTS: The damage from the storm was considerable. Of particular interest, the schoolhouse where the children would have been in class was completely destroyed.
LARA: Are you suggesting that he actually saved the children?

[Watts just smiles at her.]

FRANK: The only thing that we can be sure about is that it will be the children that will save us.

[Poster of missing children.]

[fade to black]

[end credits]

{1}Bulk Richardson Number [or BRN] - a non-dimensional [i.e., no units] number relating vertical stability to vertical shear [generally, stability divided by shear]. High values indicate unstable and/or weakly-sheared environments; low values indicate weak instability and/or strong vertical shear. Generally, values in the range of around 50 to 100 suggest environmental conditions favorable for supercell development. From: www.science501.com/PTWeaGlAF.html

Starring:

Lance Henriksen (Frank Black)
Megan Gallagher (Catherine Black)

Also Starring:

Terry O'Quinn (Peter Watts)

Guest Starring:

Kristen Cloke (Lara Means)
Christian Hoff (Matthew Prin)e
Steven Rankin (Sheriff John Cayce)
Colleen Rennison (Jessica Cayce)

Co-Starring:

David Abbott (Vernon Roberts)

Featuring:

Kurt Evans (Deputy Jack)
Drew McCreadie (Storm Chaser)
Bill Marchant (Accomplice)
Robyn Wood (Little Girl (II))
Sally Stevens (Radio Singer)

Uncredited:

Jeff Gulka (Boy in the Bus)
Elizabeth McCarthy (Susan)
Taylor Anne Reid (Girl in the Bus)

Music by Mark Snow
Editor: James Coblentz
Production Designer: Mark Freeborn
Director of Photography: Robert McLachlan
Executive Story Editor: Michael R Perry
Associate Producer: Julie Herlocker
Associate Producer: Kathy Gilroy-Sereda
Associate Producer: Jon-Michael Preece
Consulting Producer: Chip Johannessen
Consulting Producer: Darin Morgan
Co-Producer: Robert Moresco
Co-Producer: Paul Rabwin
Producer: Thomas J Wright
Co-Executive Producer: Ken Horton
Co-Executive Producer: John Peter Kousakis
Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong
Directed by Thomas J Wright

Executive Producers: James Wong & Glen Morgan
Executive Producer: Chris Carter



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