"this is to your last week as a free man." "All:" "Booyah!" " Why don't I just give you guys the bottle?" "dad." "whoa." " Whoa." "trev told us you were in 'nam back in the day." "1968." "that must've been rough." " Yeah." "not that old Chestnut." "we were on recon." "It was raining so hard we couldn't see five feet in front of us." "I stepped in a bed of bamboo vipers." "One of them gets me by the leg." "I grab my k-bar and I cut the damn snake's head off." " No way." " Not only that." "Little bastard's been holding up my pants ever since." "That's nice." "before we head out on the town." " All right." "To wives and sweethearts." "May they never meet." " Never." " I told Trevor to be outside at 0600." " Well... we're not gonna get our blind." "Trevor?" "Trev?" "god!" "Mike!" "Jake!" "my god." " My son." "He's dead." " Get him out of here." " Come on!" "come on." " We came in for trev's bachelor party." "We're staying at an airbnb a few blocks away from here." " We were supposed to go deer hunting today." " Trevor's dad went inside the house..." "And he found him there." " Is his dad still here?" " No." "He went home to tell his wife." " Thanks." "Stay close." " Got the call about an hour ago." "Saw the lock on the back door was jimmied." " Did you happen to see a murder weapon?" "but there's a knife missing from the butcher block." "drummond." " Dawson." " There's a tan line." "No watch." " Find a wallet anywhere?" " I haven't checked his pockets yet." " Ooh." "Hmm." " We braced ourself for this day when Trevor was deployed overseas." "But we never thought that..." " How long has your son been out of the Navy?" " 18 months." "He enlisted the day he graduated from high school." "He was in ten years." "He had an honorable discharge." " And since then?" " He was a personal trainer at one of those ritzy gyms." "but he looked forward to going to work every day." " His wedding was next Saturday." "Instead we're planning a funeral. but I have our best people on it." " You damn well better." "just like that." "It's so unfair." " When was the last time you saw him?" " We had dinner Thursday." " Things were good between you two?" " We were about to get married. partying with all of our friends and families." "I freaked out a little." "okay? but we found these at Trevor's house." "I just want to confirm that they're yours." "they're not." "they must have been there from before we met." " You're probably right." " It's unbelievable." "and Trevor gets killed in his own place in Chicago." " What'd you guys do for your big night out?" " We started at Trevor's place for beers. and after that went to some joint where all the waitresses wear bikinis." " Big Mel's bikini bar?" " Yeah." "That's the place." "and this waitress hit on him." " Angela." "Total smokeshow." "she was on him like honey on a hot biscuit." " Was Trevor into her?" " Yeah." "he said he was gonna hang around so me and Mike bounced." " You left your friend that was about to get married with miss smokeshow?" "Some wingmen." " we'd like to speak to big Mel." "What can I do you for?" " We're looking for Angela." " The girl in the yellow bikini." " The sex on the beach is pretty sweet." "The climax is very popular." "But my all-time fave is the ménage à trois." "come on." "Come on." "Angela?" " I'll let you know." "What's up?" " What did you do after work last night?" " Went home." " With him?" " Alone." "how did your underwear wind up in his pocket?" " Did something happen to him?" " You know what cops call panties?" "Lie detectors." "and lots and lots of DNA." " He was getting married." "His buddies tipped me 50 bucks to slip him my thong." " And that's all? so I took him to a fight club." " The one in humboldt park on le moyne? so they set up a match for him." "He kicked some dude's ass. come to mama." " Seriously?" " You should've seen him." " I did." "In a body bag." " That's..." "Wow." "what happened when you left the fight club? said he didn't want to screw things up with his fiancée." "So I dropped him off." " And then?" " I went home." "lady-style." "and the happy rabbit." " Uber driver confirms Angela's story." "She never got out of the car." "Stone." "Prelim autopsy's back." "We need to meet him at the morgue." " Penetrating knife wound to the left femoral artery did most of the damage." " Most?" " Bruising and edema and torso." "He put up a hell of a fight. the second one for his life." " Blood alcohol was .23." "I'm sure he wasn't on top of his game." "unarmed man was overmatched by a knife-wielding assailant?" " There's just one anomaly." "Check out the X-ray." " What's that in his stomach?" "looks to me like a computer thumb drive." " There was no corrosion from digestive agents." "The me is sure he ingested it right before he died." " I doubt it accidentally fell into his corn flakes. maybe he was trying to hide it from whoever killed him." "but I can't get in. but it's encrypted up the wazoo." " Something you can handle?" " This is NSA-level cloaking." "maybe we'll get lucky." " This was no run-of-the-mill home invasion." "Let's find out what Trevor Nichols was hiding the old-fashioned way." "all-city tight end." "That's not too shabby." "this guy was still in great shape." "How did someone get the jump on him?" "intruder with a knife?" "I don't like his chances. junk mail from bucktown savings bank." "When was the last time anybody actually got a letter?" " Let me see the bank one." " You can't open a dead man's mail." " You're probably right." "Let's see." "Let's see." "you qualify for a bucktown savings personal wealth account." " How does a Navy vet turned personal trainer make that kind of bank?" " His fiancée was rocking a pretty hefty diamond." " Trevor picked it out." " Looks expensive." " It was." "I think trev was trying to prove a point." " What do you mean? so I think trev was trying to convince me he was serious about getting married." " You went out with Mike soto?" " For about eight months." "That was before I moved to Chicago to be near Trevor." "With over a quarter of a million dollars in it?" " Where did all that money come from?" " I... i don't know." "His dad gave it to him?" "Trevor was murdered." "Now's not the time to keep secrets." " Fine." "Um... and they gave him a bunch of money up front. but I guess that doesn't really matter now." " What was his book about?" " Something about being in the Navy." "a memoir. or I'm gonna be late for Trevor's service." " Okay." " Mr. jefferies." " I'm sorry for your loss." " I know how busy you must be." "This is quite an honor." " Or maybe you're just here looking for votes." "ma'am." "It's the least I can do." " Were you in the service?" "Vietnam." " No kidding." "Brown-water Navy." "My tho river." " I wouldn't have made it through boot camp without Trevor." "I was terrible at ironing." "they were gonna discharge me for inability to properly maintain my uniform." "and trev had ironed even my skivvies." "he said... bro." "000." " Whew." "Damn." "Maybe I should write a book." " Heh." "All of a sudden you have literary aspirations." " What can I say?" "I'm a renaissance man." "How much of this book did Trevor actually write?" "Three chapters." " Don't you need approval from the Navy to publish something like that?" " She says their lawyer signed off on it." " Be nice to see those chapters." "Apparently Trevor was paranoid about plagiarism." " They decrypted the video." " Left clear." " Right clear." " Looks like it's shot with a helmet cam." " State-of-the-art night vision scopes." "M4 assault rifles." "I'm pretty sure that's a seal team." " Hold." " Contact." "Two o'clock." " Room clear." "god." "Is she all right?" "Is she alive?" " O'brien down." " Ramirez down." " Contact." "East wall." "Gotta get Mike." " Get his legs!" "Come on!" "Abort!" "Abort!" " Abort!" "Abort!" "god." "we gotta go." "Leave her." "Let's go." "Let's go!" "Come on!" "She's gone!" "Let's go!" "Let's go!" " What the hell was that?" " Something we weren't supposed to see. they pulled their people out." "But Dr. Carter refused to leave her patients." "she was kidnapped so the Navy sent in a seal team to rescue her." "It was called operation omega." " This was all over the news a couple years ago." "the mission went awry." "Dr. Carter and two of the seals were killed by the rebels." "it was one of the Americans who shot her and left her body there." "that's a memoir I'd want to read." " Let's find out if Trevor Nichols was one of those seals." " Come in." "Come in." " Thank you." " Are you any closer to finding out whoever killed my son?" " We're making some progress." " I'm sorry." "Please." " Did you and Trevor talk much about his time in the Navy?" "not much." " What about his book?" " What book?" " His publisher said..." " She said his book was about his time in naval intelligence." " He wasn't intel." "He was a seal." " Mm." "He was one of the seals who survived operation omega." " How'd you know that?" " It came up in our investigation." "Trevor's Navy buddies Mike soto and Jake Benjamin..." "They were in his seal unit?" " That's right." "Jake was their team leader." " Did Trevor talk to anyone about what happened over there? but he just waved me off." "He did make a visit to the family of the doctor that was killed by the rebels." "He and Jake made a condolence visit to the family in Iowa." "he was pretty shook up about it." " Trevor didn't even tell his father the truth about how Dr. Carter died." " It would be nice to know what he told the Carter family." " Any reason to suspect them?" "the seal team did get their daughter killed." " They live in Iowa." "Let's see if they'll come in for a chat." " When the charity called and told her she couldn't just abandon those poor people." " They wanted a $5 million ransom." "Can you imagine?" "we have a ten-year-old pickup." " Were any of you in Chicago last week?" "no." "This is our first time." " We heard the seals who tried to rescue Kathryn paid you a visit." "anyway." " They felt so terrible about what happened." "The one in charge told us that they almost had Kathy safe at the helicopter when the enemy soldiers opened fire." "but we could tell they still felt bad about it." "and the younger one..." "What was his name?" "I think." "He was so upset he had to go sit in the car." " I saw him out the window." "It looked like he was crying." " Was he the one who was murdered?" " Yes." "I'm afraid so." "mom." "um..." "Yeah." "this came in the mail." " Cashier's check from bucktown savings." "000. so we didn't feel right taking the money." " Trevor sent the Carters part of his advance." "But he didn't tell them the seals killed their daughter. and he couldn't take all that money with a clear conscience." " I doubt his fellow seals wanted the world to know." "Dr. Carter was killed by friendly fire." " They were both in Chicago the night Trevor was murdered." " Have Dawson and nagel dig in." "Tell them to start with the airbnb." "I don't always meet the guests but these two young men were very polite." "They had to extend their stay for a funeral... poor things." "And I know it was a little cramped in here." "I tried to move them but they said they wanted the fireplace." "I told them this weather is nothing." "Wait till it's ten below." " This doesn't look like wood ash." " It's a rivet from a pair of jeans." "And two zippers." " Why were they burning their clothes?" " Do you know when these guys left?" " Just before you got here." "They're headed to midway to fly home." "I told them to walk to Wells and catch the orange line." "Torrent downloaded from RARBG right?" "nagel." " Yeah." "No problem whatsoever." "go that way." " Go ahead!" " move!" "Police!" "Everybody down!" "Move!" "Get back!" "Move!" " Whoa!" "Freeze!" "You're both under arrest for the murder of Trevor Nichols." " The zippers recovered from the defendants' fireplace were from Navy-issued tactical fleeces." "The only logical conclusion is that the defendants burned their bloody clothing after stabbing Trevor Nichols to death." "The people request no bail." " My clients are decorated Navy vets who have served our nation with valor." "They have the utmost respect for its laws." "I only ask as they face these dubious charges they enjoy the same freedom they've risked their lives to protect." "Mr. Olson." "First time in cook county?" "but I've represented men in uniform across this great country." "but men in uniform are men who've been trained to kill." "sir." " One can only hope." "Bail is set at $1 million d bond..." " that's an insult to these patriots." " Let me finish. gentleman." "Bail's still a million smackers." "Call the next case." "guys." "Nothing to worry about." "You seem rather confident about a case that's purely circumstantial." "Where's your motive?" " Ask your clients." " What did you make of Olson?" " His flag-waving will play a lot better with the jury" "Peter." "That "god and country" routine..." "Sometimes my eyes glaze over." " Careful." "We have a vet upstairs." " Do you think soto and Benjamin will tell their lawyer about operation omega?" "he knows." "he..." " Peter stone?" " That's right." " We're seeking to enforce a writ of replevin against you and your office." "too. national security division." "Since law school." "What's this all about?" "That belongs to the United States government." "We want it back. bright and early." " How did the DOJ find out you had this video?" " My money's on an employee in the tech company that did the decryption for us." " Not that it matters at this point." " It matters to me." "Maybe you should've been the one to tell them." "Is the government aware that this footage is." " It seems that way." "What's unclear is whether they know the seal team botched the mission." "this could come as a shock to the powers that be." " Or a leak." "And a cover-up that began two years ago." " You think the Navy spun the story that went public?" " As opposed to an honest mistake?" "Peter." "the Gulf of tonkin." " Those names should be a warning to you." "You've stepped into something way bigger than your pay grade. but I don't have an axe to grind here." " Really?" "Because I see sparks flying." " I just want to be able to prove my murder case." " You're litigating against the justice department in federal court. lots of luck." "boss." " The video in question was recorded by an active duty sailor." "It's property of the Navy." "Neither Mr. stone nor his co-council have much less possess it." " We can't put the rain back in the sky." "We didn't have any inkling of its contents before we watched it." "it could've been a "three stooges" clip." "But for the fact this video contradicts the official statements about operation omega." "It could embarrass the executive branch and have repercussions on our foreign policy." "let me propose a simple remedy:" " But this video is a critical piece of evidence in a homicide case." " How so?" " The victim was a former Navy seal." "He was murdered to prevent him writing." "it's all yours." "the story will be click-bait for every media outlet from here to vladivostok." "there are more important national concerns at stake here than one local murder case?" " Here's one:" "About what our military does in foreign lands." "Transparency breeds trust in our institutions." "And this federal judiciary has courageously upheld these values the Pentagon papers... if we start allowing local officials to become the arbiters that's a national security nightmare" "I can't begin to imagine." "Ms. graziano." "Thank you both for your thoughtful arguments." "You'll have my decision tomorrow." "you think we have a shot?" "I'm not that optimistic." "The DOJ has home court advantage." "though." "I was ready to bust out into "masters of war." " Don't recruit me for the weather underground just yet." "I said what I had to say to try and get justice for Trevor Nichols and his family. it wouldn't be the end of the world." " Mike soto went out with Mia until Trevor stole her away." "Soto arrives at the bachelor party." "He's jealous." "He tries to use bikini girl. things get out of hand. but I'll play it if I have to." " The government asserts a broad principle:" "National security should always carry the day." "Mr. stone has also made a lofty claim:" "Honesty and transparency are Paramount." "let's look at the fine print. the government can point to no individual no American soldier or sailor who will be endangered." "the people of Illinois will likely see two murderers elude justice simply because the Navy wants to perpetuate a lie." "The government's application for a writ of replevin is denied." " I got to say I did not see that coming." " Chalk one up for the underdogs." "Good news." "The writ was denied." "The video is in." " Except you're not going to use it." " What?" " You heard me." " Why?" " Personal experience has taught me military secrets should stay secret." "just because you served in Vietnam doesn't give you a monopoly on national security protocol." "it does. and if there was something that they wanted there was a damn good reason for it." " There's never a good reason to veil the truth." " Then why not open your case files to every defense lawyer you face?" "I'll tell you why not:" "Because it's war. unless you're a misguided fool like Edward snowden." " I do not accept your analogy." " Then maybe you can accept this: sometimes you have to ask men and women to go to far-away battlefields to die for them." "And if you ask your fellow Americans then you don't get to second-guess it all after the fact." " You realize this would probably cost us our case." " I don't give a damn." " I do." "I didn't come here to cling to tired bromides that allow killers to go free." "don't you?" "or find a new job." " Mr. stone?" " It's Peter." "Thanks for coming." " What's on your mind?" " Came to pay my respects." " Could've done that at the house." " There's also something I thought you should know about Trevor." " If it's something I'd rather not hear..." " the Navy didn't tell you the truth about omega." "Trevor didn't either." " I'm sure there are things he wanted to tell me but couldn't." " He was about to go public. maybe." "that's why you arrested Mike and Jake?" " This secret the Navy kept from you... so there's a strong likelihood they won't be convicted." " I understand." " You do?" "did you?" "My son joined up because he felt there was a cause more important than his own life." " Those ideals..." "He came to realize they weren't all they were cracked up to be." " That's not how I see it." " He was writing a book that defied his chain of command." " Every soldier needs a way to let go of the weight he carries." "Trevor found his way." "Doesn't mean I have to agree with it." " Do you even want to know what it was gonna say?" " No." "I don't." " Peter?" " Bought you a coffee." "Tall americano." " Thanks." " Tell me what you think of this:" "There's no reason this video has to go to the DOJ right this minute. so there's no national security issue when they watch it." " When?" "Jefferies won't let you put it into evidence." " Mike soto doesn't know that." " I don't know." "Peter..." "Maybe it's better just to let it go." " And let these two killers walk away scot-free?" "Olson has a huge conflict of interest." "Let's divide and conquer." " Where'd you get that?" " Let's not get hung up on details." "We know you and Jake Benjamin killed Trevor Nichols." "That explains why." "you'd be exposed as the screw-ups who killed Dr. Carter they'll realize you had every reason to kill your best friend and destroy his manuscript." "The reason you're sitting here instead of Mr. Benjamin like he did in the Ukraine." "15 years if you testify against him instead of the 60 to life you'll get if you're convicted." " Mia skyped me a few months before the bachelor weekend." "She showed me the engagement ring that Trevor bought her." "I asked where Trevor got money for a rock like that." "She said he was being paid to write a book." "did you do with that information?" " I called Jake. we just couldn't let it go." " We take a solemn pledge." "It's called the seal code: nor seek recognition for my actions." " And what did you decide to do about Trevor's book?" " Jake said that we had to talk him out of it." " What if he wouldn't listen to you?" " Jake said that wasn't an option." " What did you take that to mean?" " I wasn't sure." "Mr. soto?" "We would have to take matters into our own hands." " By killing him?" "sir. so we waited till we got here in Chicago." " And what happened when you got here?" " We all went out partying." "Jake and I went back to Trevor's house." " Did Trevor know you were coming? and we broke in. that it went against the seal code and everything that we stood for. and that he'd already given away some of the money." "and..." "That's when things got out of hand." "I am so sorry." "I loved Trevor like he was my brother." "I..." " please tell the jury exactly what occurred next." " Jake and I disarmed him." "I held Trevor back Jake spun around just like they trained us to do. and we got the hell out of there." " You made a plea bargain with Mr. stone didn't you?" " Did you inform him that you had a personal motive to kill your friend Trevor?" " What do you mean? but..." " did you tell Mr. stone that you're still in love with Mia before he offered you the deal of the century?" " Objection to that characterization." "Mr. Olson." "aren't you?" "they're perfect for one another." " Isn't it a fact that you told my client that you hated Trevor for stealing Mia?" "it's not." " And that you would do everything in your power to stop their impending marriage?" " Jake's lying." "man?" "Mr. soto." "you went there alone and stabbed him to death because the thought of Trevor and Mia together enraged you." " It wasn't about Mia." "It was about the Ukraine." " Ukraine?" "The simple fact is that you got a sweetheart deal for killing your friend in a jealous rage." "Withdrawn." "Nothing further." "Mr. soto." "your honor." " Mr. Olson opened the door." " Overruled." "The witness may answer." " I can't." "I'm not supposed to. but you swore an oath when you took that witness stand." "and I were on operation omega in Ukraine two years ago." "We were part of a Navy seal team sent there to rescue a doctor who'd been kidnapped by some rebels there." " And what happened on the operation?" " The mission went all wrong." "Dr. Carter and two of our guys were killed." " By the rebels? but it was Trevor that shot and killed Dr. Carter. ripped off half a dozen rounds or so..." "And that's when the ambush went down and all hell broke loose." "The Navy covered it all up." "They told some story about how we were all heroes when the truth was omega was a total train wreck." " You swore on direct that Trevor was writing a book?" " He was gonna tell how the Navy lied to cover up the operation." " Is that why you and Jake killed Trevor?" " Objection!" " Withdrawn." "your honor?" " Overruled." " Jake and I both agreed that it wasn't right that Trevor was gonna get rich off the backs of our dead brothers and piss all over the code." "After everyone pumps you up and thanks you for your service you're supposed to keep quiet but Trevor couldn't do that." "He couldn't live with the shame." "Maybe it wasn't about the money." "Maybe he just wanted to set the record straight so he could make peace with what he did. the jury finds the defendant guilty. the jury finds the defendant guilty. the jury finds the defendant guilty." " I hope you realize I didn't have a choice." "your honor." " Our case was slipping away." " Whether that's true is debatable. you made an end run around my wishes." "I have one ready." " Tear it up." "I'm not vindictive." " Thank you." " Congratulations on being right..." "But you're wrong. they plow so good you don't even know it snowed." " My damn street looks like a hockey rink. the fridge played for the bears and an actor was president." "right?" " What do you have to take the chill off?" "Mr. jefferies." " Mark." "Join me?" " Why the hell not?" "To better days." " Better days." "I had a visitor on Sunday." "Buffed-up rear admiral from Annapolis." " For your son?" " He presented me with Trevor's medals in a black leather box." "Kid sent 'em back." "You still have yours?" " I threw them away years ago." "I hated the damn things." "Couldn't look at them without thinking about some of the things I saw..." "And did." "and I still can't talk about it." "Grant." "Maybe it's time."