"My name is Michael Westen." "I used to be a spy until" " We got a burn notice on you." "You're blacklisted." "When you're burned, you've got nothing- no cash, no credit, no job history." " You're stuck in whatever city they decide to dump you in." " Where am I?" "Miami." "You do whatever work comes your way." " You rely on anyone who's still talking to you  a trigger-happy ex-girlfriend" " Should we shoot them?" "an old friend who used to inform on you to the F.B.I." "You know spies." "Bunch of bitchy little girls." " Family too" " Hey, is that your mom again?" " if you're desperate." " Someone needs your help, Michael." "Until you figure out who burned you, you're not going anywhere." "In the world of intelligence, if an operative hands you a crossword puzzle, chances are you've just received a coded message." "It's the art of steganography- sending coded messages that don't look like messages unless you have the key." "So does this new handler of yours set all her meetings with crossword puzzles, or is she just flirtin' with you?" "These people burned me, blacklisted me and threatened my family." "I think we're a little past flirting." "Keep the engine running." "If you see her leave" " Tail her." "I know." "We can't take more proactive measures?" "There's room in the trunk." "The idea is to find out who she's working for without her knowing, Fi." "It calls for something a little more subtle than throwing her in the trunk." "You ready, Sam?" "All set." "Listen, Mike, I hate to bring this up, but is this gonna take a while?" "'Cause I got a meeting of my own I gotta get to." "Yeah, the Pilates class with Veronica." "Fi told me." "Look, it's a great way to strengthen your core, okay?" "Give me a break, will you?" "I'm in the doghouse with Veronica, and it's all your fault." "What?" "Yeah." "She's still all over me... about how the Cadillac got all banged up." "I won't make you late, Sam." "Just make sure you get a shot of Carla before you go." "In covert ops, you always want to be the one setting the meeting." "When you're following someone else's instructions," " they set the agenda, they control the security- and they get to make you jump through hoops to remind you they are in charge." "Hello, Michael." "Can I get you something to drink?" "I'll have what you're having." "Oh, I don't think they serve qishr here." "Mmm." "Yemenese coffee." "I prefer to brew it myself." "Drinks you get in restaurants, you never quite know what's in them, do you?" "Thank you for meeting me at the mall." "Work has been so busy that I just don't get the time to shop." "Well, we can't have that." "Give me your boss's number." "I'll give him a call." "Cute." "It's a security badge- Integrated circuit processor, embedded hologram over laminate patch" "Makes it damn near impossible to duplicate." "Where'd you get it?" "That's not your concern." "What you need to know... is there's one counterfeiter in Miami who can forge it" "A Tunisian- name is Nefzi." "You gonna introduce us?" "No, you're gonna make the approach on your own." "That's the way we do things, and that's why we like working with people like you." "We'd like the duplicate and the original back in two days." "Then... what?" "We're done with the burn notice?" "I get my life back?" "It's not that simple, Michael." "Not by a long shot." "But playing nice has its rewards." "You can keep whatever you don't give to Nefzi." "Looking for Sam?" "You know, Michael, I brought friends too." " What did you do?" " Don't worry." "They're fine." "Next time, the kids stay home." "Carla's guys were good." "We never saw 'em coming." "The way they covered their approach was impressive." "Polite bunch too, for countersurveillance types." "Not with this." "Sam still pouting?" "It was Veronica's." "Mmm." "What's the security badge for?" "I don't know." "Figure that out, we might be able to answer a few questions." "I gotta find a Tunisian counterfeiter." "What about Barry?" "He's a weasel, but he launders money for half of Miami." " He could probably put you in touch." " Yeah." "Barry didn't enjoy our last meeting." "He's dodging me." "Avoiding Sam's calls too." "No." "Gonna need a fresh face." "Someone he won't expect." "You know how I feel about money launderers." "The last one I dealt with, they're still finding pieces of him all over Belfast." "Do it for me?" "Your charms no longer have any effect on me, Michael." "Do it for all the yogurt you can eat?" "Fine." "But I can't promise that I won't kill him." " Yeah, Sam?" " Hey, Mike, I'm headed to the Carlito." "Um, look, there's a thing I need to talk to you about right away." "I hope he will come." "Oh, he'll be here." "Just grab a seat." "Hey, Mike." "Whoa, whoa." "Hey, hold up." "Mike." "Is this a job, Sam?" "It's not a good time for a job." "Look, I know you got this whole counterfeiting thing." "But just hear her out." "She's a real sweetheart." "She's got a problem with a stalker." "Stalker?" "Yeah." "You were a Navy SEAL." "You can't handle this?" "Yeah, well, look, normally I'd handle it with a few stern words and a baseball bat, but this is kind of a- kind of a delicate situation." "Plus, she asked me in front of Veronica." "So?" "When I'm on a job, it turns her on." "It's all I can do to keep up." "The things this woman does" " Got it." "I'm trying to get some too." "Got it." "Got it." "I got it." "His name is Raul." "I met him at the restaurant where I am a hostess." "He calls me all the time." "I say I'm not interested, but he thinks I am teasing." "The guy won't take "Hit the road, Raul" for an answer." "He pays all the bartenders at the restaurant to tell him who I talk to, and every day he just comes- he comes and watches me." " Have you gone to the police?" " Yes." "They say they cannot do anything unless he hurts me." "But he gets so angry." "Every day it gets worse." "I don't want to wait until something terrible happens." "It's gonna be fine." "Like I told you, Mike is the best in the business." "I'll see what I can do." "What time does Raul usually show up at the restaurant?" "At the restaurant?" "Ay, no." "Por Dios, you can't." "Raul, he's a very big customer." "If you make a problem there, I will lose my job." "Okay, it's fine." "Don't worry about it." "We can meet him somewhere else." "Tell us where to find him." "Um" "I go to church every day." "Raul always wants to pick me up." "How did you and Sophia meet, exactly?" "Oh, we're in the same cooking class." "Oh, Veronica set it up." "It's one of those things where they get a famous chef in, they crack open a couple eggs and a bottle of wine." "Not exactly the kind of thing that a hostess making minimum wage signs up for." "Don't know." "She wants to be a chef." "Must have saved up." "Yeah, Ma?" "Michael?" "You still haven't fixed my coffeemaker, and I can't find the warranty." "Warranty?" "That thing was built in 1967." "Well, I need it for my poker game." "Can you come over later?" "There he is, Mike." "Hello?" "Yeah, I'll be there." "See you later, Ma." "That stalker happens to have a MAC-10 in his jacket." "Oh, you knew, didn't you?" "Mike, look, I did a little pre-scouting, but" "I" " I knew he was packin'." "I didn't know he had a MAC-10." "I thought it was, like, a regular gun." "Adios." "Gracias." "Bye." " I'm in a jam, and this girl Sophia, she's in real trouble." " Yeah." "I just need a little help." "We're gonna have to do recon." "You're buying lunch." "Okay, you got it, Mikey." "I'm starving anyway." "Need a refill here, hon." " Ugh!" "Oh, God." " Hard man to find." "Just tell Mike it's not personal, okay?" "Last time I saw him there was this kind of, you know," ""Do this for me or we're enemies for life" vibe." "It scared me a little." "Barry, he just needs some information." "All right." "We're looking for a Tunisian counterfeiter." "You know any?" "Tunisian." "Where is Tunisia even?" "Is that next to Spain or something?" "Listen, I gotta be outta here." "I got a rubdown in, like, 10 minutes." "Ow, ow, ow." "All right." "All right, I got it." "Uh" "Nefzi." "You're talking about Nefzi." "You don't wanna deal with him." "Trust me." "He's the go-to guy for all the hard-core stuff." "Fake money for coke deals, counterfeit passkeys... for bank robbery stuff that gets people killed." "Plus, he's the most arrogant son of a bitch in South Florida." " Where can we find him?" " He operates out of a TV repair store down in South Miami." "Word is, Nefzi was part of the security force for the Tunisians back in the early '80s." "Nasty." "If he brings out the electrodes, I'd leave." " You see?" "That wasn't so hard, was it, Barry?" " We're done here?" " Mm-hmm." " Okay. 'Cause if you want," "I can arrange a massage for you or something." "Dinner after?" "Who needs electrodes when you have one of these?" "Hey, I was just asking." "You know, they stopped making parts for this when Nixon was president." "I'm gonna get you a new one." "You know, Michael," "I've started seeing a counselor." "And she said that there are unresolved issues between you and me." "Really?" "And she'd like you to come to the sessions." "Counseling... with you." "Yeah, uh" " Now's not a really good time, 'cause I have a lot on my plate." "I'm just gonna throw this out." "You know, I've been waking up with night sweats ever since you sent me to Fort Lauderdale... because of those men with guns who were chasing you, Michael." "Fine." "I will go with you." "I knew you'd think it was a good idea, so I made our first appointment for tomorrow." "I'm gonna take this." "Yeah, Sam?" "Mike, I tailed Raul to his job." "Man, you gotta see this." "More guns." "Great." "Yeah." "Looks like Raul's in charge of this operation." "Yeah." "Hey, dumpling." "Oh, just taking care of that thing for Sophia." "Well, Sammy will take whatever reward you wanna give him, baby." "Uh, pumpkin, let me call you back." "We need a better look, see who we're dealing with." "You think you can handle that, pumpkin?" "Yeah." "I got it, Mike." "Wait-Wait-Wait a second." "Let- Let me see if I hear that right." "He says I'm uninsurable?" "Well, that's a pretty big word for a guy who can't read without moving his lips." "Hey, you need something?" "Here's what we do then." "You tell Jerry" " Jerry's not moving my cargo anymore, okay?" "Yeah, you tell him that." "My God." "Hey, uh, you el jefe?" "You ship stuff?" "'Cause I got stuff to ship." "I'm talking Pilates equipment- a lot of it." "You know, it's those things that are in gyms." "They're like big beach balls." "All of a sudden every joker in Tampa's gotta have 'em, so I need to make this happen like, you know, yesterday." " You have the wrong place." " Well, hear me out." "I mean, these are your trucks, right?" "I'm just" " I'm just looking to rent a little extra space." "You know, off the books, frankly." "Sorry." "All of our spaces are taken." "Oh, I get it." "Okay, I'll play your game." "How much you want?" "Like five bucks?" "Leave now." "We'll just consider that a down payment for the future." "Okay, thanks a lot." "You have a good one now." "Take care." "Okay." "Big opportunity, right out the window there." "Who are you?" "Who am I?" "What do you mean?" "We stopped by Raul's work." "He's loading trucks full of lidocaine and coffee cans." "I don't know." "I don't underst" " Lidocaine is used to cut cocaine, and coffee masks the smell from the dogs." "Dios mío." "Drugs?" "Drugs." "Shocking." "You never saw anything, huh?" "Now, it never occurred to you that most trucking executives... don't drive in Porsches and carry MAC-10s?" "Please don't hurt me." "You approached Sam at a cooking class... which costs more than you earn all week." "And then you happen to mention a sad story about Raul?" "What a coincidence." "Sam can help." "I'm telling you the truth." "Who are you?" "I'm D.E.A. I'm a cop." "I've been undercover for two years, making a case against Raul's boss, Campos." "He runs a billion dollars in cocaine through Miami for the Valdez cartel, and Raul is his number two guy in charge of security." "Okay, look." "Is Raul really stalking you or was that a lie too?" "No, it's the truth." "The hostess job at Ernesto's is my cover." "That's where Campos likes to eat and talk business." "I tried not to draw attention to myself, but Raul noticed me." "And if you went to the D.E.A. with your problem, they'd pull you off the job." "Yeah." "My investigation would be over." "I've worked too hard to let that happen." "That's why I came to you." "Nice touch, approaching me through Sam." "Well, I'm sorry I lied, but I needed to be sure you'd help me." " You'd do the same thing." "I've heard the stories." " What stories?" "There are rumors about a guy who took on a cartel a while back." "I found the people you helped, and they told me what you did." "Don't believe everything you hear." "Listen, I don't care who you were." "I just need help." "They have a big shipment coming in a few days." "I'm really close to finding out where." "But not if Raul kills you first." "I could go to jail for involving you." "I'm out here alone." "Do you understand?" "Yeah, actually." "I have a pretty good idea what that's like." "Ernesto's- That's where I work." "There's Campos." "He and Raul meet every day for lunch." "Is that kind of firepower normal, or is this a special occasion?" "Campos is in a turf war with the Mexicans." "They put a hit out on him last week." "It's pretty ugly." " Ugly's good." "We can work with ugly." " How?" "I need to get in with Raul quietly." "Make myself useful, get some information." "Then I let Campos know that Raul is spilling information to a new friend behind his back." "Campos deals with Raul for us, and it looks like you had nothing to do with it." " You make it sound so easy." " That sounded easy?" "Thanks a lot." "Raul?" "You don't have to do this." "I know." "Sam told me about your latest client." "She sounds like a handful." " Just helping her with the job." " Where'd all these checks come from?" "Barry." "Whatever you said to him must have been convincing." "These are leftovers from a defunct shell company." "What are you doing with them?" "Becoming a forger." "Approach the Tunisian with a few phony checks" "And you're not just a client- you're a colleague." "Check fraud is more about technique than high-tech equipment." "Some old checks, a roll of Scotch tape, some nail polish remover, and you're in business." "Nail polish remover is mostly acetone, which dissolves ink." "Get your hands on a check that's been filled out by the account holder, dissolve everything but the signature, and you've got yourself a blank check." "There may be no honor among thieves, but there's a certain amount of respect." "Establishing you're in the same racket is a great way to make an introduction." "Nefzi, right?" "How did you find me?" "Barry." "Barry referred you?" "Ah, in a manner of speaking'." "He called you a son of a bitch." "Which I figured, anybody Barry doesn't like, cool by me." "Anyway, I took this job." "I gotta dupe this." "Little out of my league." "I'm good with papers, not with computers." "I think this is a computer thing, right?" "Yes, it's a computer thing." "Why would anyone believe you could do this?" "Did I mention I'm good with papers?" "Check fraud is for children." "Counterfeiting electronics takes real skill." "No argument from me." "That's why I'm coming to you." "I can do this job, but, uh, it'll cost you." "Yeah, I figured." "Maybe we could do whatchamacallit, like the barter?" "You know?" "I give you some of my work, and you do the badge for me." "This is hack work I can do in my sleep." "Cash only- 10,000." "Five now, five on delivery." "Okay." "People who try to cheat me, they regret it." "You understand me?" "I wouldn't dream of it." "When can I get the badge back?" "I can have a basic knockoff by tomorrow, but if you want a better quality, it'll take a few days." "Take your time." "Yeah, Mom?" "Michael, I'm at the counselor's office." "You missed our appointment." "Oh!" "Um, some-something came up." "I should've called." "Yeah, well, they have a very strict cancellation policy here, Michael." "It's worse than the airlines." "I'll... pay for the session." "That's not the point." "Hello?" "You look upset." "Is everything okay?" "Yeah, everything's fine." "Just some personal issues." "Thanks for asking." "If you need to talk, Michael, I'm here for you." "I appreciate that." "Why don't you give me your home number, and I'll take you up on that?" "I assume we'll be getting our badges soon?" "Few days." "That wasn't what was agreed to." "We were expecting them sooner." "Yeah, well, that's the best I can do." "I doubt that, Michael." "Yeah." "The man I'm looking for." "And why is that?" "You're in - let's call it the shipping business." "And me- let's call me a consultant." "Now, a guy moving your kind of cargo is always looking to make it go... from point "A" to point "B."" "I can help with this job." "I can make your life easier- a lot easier- for the right price." "I don't know what you're talking about." "I import coffee." "Right, and I used to work for the Mexicans." "Let's cut the crap." "Sophia." "You know, where I come from, talk like that... can get you killed." "Well, I'm sure you wouldn't want blood all over that nice suit, so why don't you just hear me out?" "Talk." "I busted my ass for the Mexicans." "They didn't truly appreciate what I do." "And what is it exactly that you do?" "I expedite things." "I got a lot of friends." "Who are these friends?" "Police, Customs on the docks." "Anything beyond that, I'd be giving away my trade secrets." "But I can assure you that your deliveries... would come on time, hassle free." "How does that sound, my- Too good to be true." "Strange that you come to me and not to my boss." "What do I want with your boss?" "You'll be my boss." "I don't even wanna meet Campos." "I mean, the way I see it," "I'm just here to make you look good, me to make money." "As long as I'm paid, you can be the hero." "You know, if you're interested, give me a call." "Sit, sit." "Allow me to buy you a drink, huh?" "Sí." "Sophia." " My girlfriend." " Mmm." "Raul, I have to work." "Very nice girl, huh?" "Mmm." "Catholic." "Oh." "A volcano waiting to erupt." "She loves me more than her own life." "That's a lot." "Mom?" "I wanted to apologize for, you know, missing our appointment." "Michael, the new coffeemaker." "Oh, thank you." "It's more than enough apology." "Why didn't you wake me last night?" "I was in a hurry." "Uh, excuse me." "You were here long enough to read the paper." "Did your mom like the coffeemaker?" "I picked it out myself." "Built-in grinder, integrated water filter, makes up to 10 cups." "Perfect for her weekly poker game." "Yeah, I'd stay away from her." "You were the one that told me I needed to buy her a coffeemaker." "What about these?" "Do you like these?" "Depends on where you're staying." "They're nice for South Beach, but if you're in Coral Gables," "I'd go with something conservative." "Always pushing, always probing." "It's cute." "But you need to understand something." "Right now you work for us." "And who would that be?" "There's an easy way to do this and a hard way." "I like my way." "Is that why you decided to take your time delivering the badges?" "See how I respond?" "Ah." "Quality work takes time." "Right, right." "Every puppy starts off chewing the furniture, Michael." "Eventually they learn." "Next time I give you a deadline, I expect you to meet it." "Don't test me again, or the next time I leave a gift at your mom's house, it's not gonna be a coffeemaker." "If you wanna make a friend, solve a problem for them." "No problem to solve?" "Create one." "Almost done, Michael." " Make it look professional." " Yeah." "I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that." "You getting friendly with Raul?" "Yeah, friendly enough." "If I know my drug cartels, it won't take much longer... to make it look like he's going behind his boss's back." "Gotta go." "Relationships are about trust." "People trust you when they have something on you- like, say, the name and address of a mistress in Orlando... or information about a secret gambling habit." "It's all about making them feel secure." " Money problems?" " That's my business." "Relax." "If things go well, everything's okay." "If it doesn't, we know where your friends and your family are." "A little insurance in case you get scared and run to the police." "Fine." "Maybe now you'll give me a route and shipping information so I can do my job." "Mmm." "That is not how it works." "Then how the hell am I supposed to help you... with the Mexicans and police if you keep me in the dark?" "You tell me what you know first." "Man, this is a waste of my time." "No." "You sit." "People don't trust information they get for free." "If you wanna sell someone on a lie, you have to make them drag it out of you." "It's effective, but often painful." "You said you can be useful, no?" "Fine." "You tell me something." "It checks out, we talk." "If not- All right." "The D.E.A., they got a G.P.S. tracking device on one of your trucks." "I got a source in the D.A.'s office." "Huh?" "I've always liked to think the "C" in "counseling" stands for "communication. "" "It sounds like what Madeline needs... is for you to share something from that part of your life that's been closed off." "Mmm." "Nothing's coming to mind." "You're missing the point." "Yeah, right, Ma." "I am." "Let's try it this way." "Madeline, um, you've mentioned there were times... when you wanted more communication but didn't get it." "Can you share an example with Michael?" "Every year, Michael called me on my birthday." "About eight years ago, he forgot." "I was very upset, and I never understood why he didn't communicate." "Michael, would you like to respond?" "At the time, I was stationed overseas, transporting a colleague to a locked facility." "There were some individuals who were trying very hard to prevent me from doing my job." "I was injured and in a field hospital for six weeks." "They didn't have a phone, so I could not communicate." "Excellent." "Now it's your turn, Michael." " My turn?" " Mm-hmm." "When I was nine, I stole groceries... because Dad blew his paycheck." " Go on." " The owner's son, Tommy Knox, the bag boy, caught me while I was running out." "Pounded me pretty good, gave me a black eye." "But I got away with the groceries." "When I got home, you took the groceries, Mom, but you never asked me about the black eye." "Any communication about that?" "Boys fight, Michael." "I thought you'd bought the groceries." "Then why did we never go back to that store?" "Madeline?" "Let's talk about the time that we went to Disney World." "So what made you pick her?" "There was something about her I liked." "I don't know what I was thinking." "Really?" "I didn't think it was so bad." "Yeah?" "It's Raul." "I've been thinking about your proposal." "Meet me at the restaurant." "Raul, what's goin' on?" "What's going on?" "Well, that is what I would like to know." "What are you talking about?" "What is this?" "A friend of mine used to be in the secret service in Venezuela." "He knows how to find things, like phone records." "I had him look through Sophia's cell phone." "You two were talking, no?" "Hmm?" "Did you think that I would not find out?" "I don't know what she's told you." "She did not tell me nothing." "I had to figure it out for myself." "Now I will ask you the same thing I ask her" "How long have you and this puta been sleeping together?" " You are out of your mind, Raul." " Do you think that I am stupid?" "No, I don't think you're stupid, Raul." "I know you are." "Inexperienced operatives abandon a cover I.D. under pressure." "Experienced ones just play their roles harder." "Stop wasting my time!" "Of course I talked to Sophia." "I was checking up on you!" "You don't think I do my homework on the people I'm doing business with?" " I'm a professional!" " Please, Raul." "I wish that I could trust you." "Nothing happened." "You know, she's right- nothing." "She wouldn't give you up." "I tried to give her money." "She wouldn't take it." "But if you wanna shoot her, go ahead." " In fact, I'll do it myself." " No!" "Sí." "¿Bueno?" "Can we talk now?" "We done playing games?" "No." "It is time for you to meet the boss." "Yeah." "Remember we said no bosses?" "That's not how I operate." "I don't care." "That is how I operate." "Mike, that's gonna screw up the whole plan." "I thought the idea here was to make Raul seem like a traitor." "Well, how are you gonna catch him selling secrets behind his boss's back... when he's standing right in front of the guy introducing you?" "If we can't make Raul a traitor one way, we're gonna have to do it another way." "Fi, get me a sniper rifle and some C-4." "Ooh, I like where this is goin'." "I just opened that." "We have work to do." "Morning, fellas." "How you doing?" "I'm back." "Good to see you." "Most people think distracting a group of guys... is best done by a beautiful woman." "The problem with beautiful women is people want them to stick around, which can cause a lot of problems." "Ever seen one of these, huh?" "I got plenty more ready to go." "Look, I gotta talk to your supervisor again." "Tell him I'm offering some real money, okay?" "Mucho" "Obnoxious guys, they just wanna get rid of." "Diner" " Come on." "In the car, huh?" "Raul says you may be able to help us." "He told me about the G.P.S. device." "What else do you know?" "I know your operation has problems, vulnerabilities." "Vulnerabilities?" "You have problems with your perimeter out there." "I know how the feds are getting to your trucks." "Show me." "You see those boats?" "They're an easy access point." "You ready, Sam?" "Go." "I'm not talking about fencing." "I'm talking about a wall." "You know, blocking the view from the street." "Hey, there she is!" "Hey, come on over here, mamacita." "Come over here to big Chuck." "Give it up!" "Give me some!" "I have to go." "I need to handle something with Sophia at the restaurant." "Sorry." "You don't think Raul would" " Nah." "What?" "Oh, nothing." "Raul would never go to the cops." "Of course not." "No." "I know." "It's just that Sophia's not at work today, so why is he going to the restaurant to meet her?" "Most assassinations involve the firing... of a single well-placed bullet." "Get down!" "The trick to selling an assassination attempt... is to use a lot more firepower," "and an explosion or two doesn't hurt." "Hit the deck!" "Raul set you up!" "Drug cartels have their own internal justice system." "It doesn't involve courts or lawyers or proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." "If they think you might be a traitor, they'll kill you just to be on the safe side." "Run, Raul." "Run, baby!" "And we fit a half a kilo of cocaine in every can." "Look, I'm not talking anymore, okay?" "Not until I'm-I'm sure that you can protect me from Campos." "Don't worry." "You cooperate, we'll take care of you." "Just gotta make sure you're telling us everything." "So we're gonna have you talk to one of our agents- someone who knows your operation pretty well." "Hello, Raul." "Hey." "How'd it go?" "Raul took a plea." "He's headed to a maximum security facility, for his own protection." "With what he gave us, Campos will be going away for a long time too." "I can't thank you enough." "If there's anything- There is." "The rumor you heard about me- keep it a rumor." "Don't worry." "Wow." "You can't even tell the difference." "Of course you can't." "It took three prototypes, but that one's my masterpiece." "Now, the rest of the money." "Yeah." "Hey, any way of telling what these things are for?" "Of course there are ways." "There's an extra five grand in the bag if you could tell me." "You know, I got a guy who wants to know what building these get you into." "I can find out." "Come back next week." "In intelligence, a good adversary lets you think you're winning." "They know the best attack is the one you don't see coming." "So you learn to be vigilant when you think you've got the upper hand, because that's when they'll strike." "If you walk in on a corpse and can't catch your breath, you might be suffering from a panic attack, or someone might be pumping nitrogen gas into the room to displace all the oxygen." "It's not a bad way to kill someone." "They suffocate before they've realized there's a problem." "It won't show up on a tox screen, and there's no trail left behind, unless you know where to look." "There are a lot of disadvantages to being at the scene of a crime" "You can get arrested, you can get yourself killed, and no matter how many times you've done it, it's never fun hanging out with a dead body." "But the advantage is there's no one around to object to a little intelligence gathering." "Mom." "Hi, honey." "Want some coffee?" "I made a pot." "No." "Uh, we gotta go." "Don't we have the session?" "I decided to find another counselor- one who asks better questions." "Mom, what I did while I was away I don't like to talk about, but if you want to spend time together, we can do that." "We can take a pottery class together." "No, thanks." "That's all I need... is another ugly ceramic ashtray." "I remember when you came home with the groceries." "You said you bought them." "And you looked so proud... that it broke my heart." "I thought that you didn't want me to know, Michael." "Hmm." "I always hated that bag boy." "It's nice to know I was right about him." "He was awfully good, don't you think?" "Are you gonna kill everyone I talk to?" "Better them than you, Michael." "No more nitrogen gas, no more high-powered rifles." "All right, fine." "Oh, look." "You forgot your money." "No, I'm never gonna work for you, Carla - not that way." "That's okay, Michael." "I'll hold onto it for you." "Hey, Mike." "What's up?" "Yeah, Sam, I think I got something." "Carla speaks Arabic with a Kurdish accent." "Huh." "Do you think she was stationed there?" "I was hoping you could ask around?" "Will do, buddy." "But I gotta tell you, it's not much to go on." "I know, Sam, but it's more than we had."