"On Christmas Eve in 1969, my father was shot down over in Vietnam." "Although he was declared MIA, I never gave up hope." "And after 28 years, I found a former KGB officer who told me my dad was transferred to Siberia as a POW." "He said he had proof that my father was still alive." " No!" " What do you intend to do?" "Go to Russia." "Find him." "Do you realise that the odds of your father being alive are practically nonexistent?" "Discovering an American POW on our soil would be disastrous." "The closer you come, the more danger you're in." "If the information you had were true, I'd do my best to keep it secret." "I don't think you'll find your father, Harm, but if you do..." "You'll wanna be the first to know." "I hope he's alive." "In 1980, he was transferred to Beloyka in northern Siberia where..." " He died." " He escaped." "Does Major Sokol know of the photograph" "I sent you, commander?" " Yes." " Did you tell him I sent it?" " No." " Good." "You're being set up, Rabb." "Major Sokol and Colonel Parlovsky are the same animal." "They're both former KGB." " You said you'd get us a ride in a MiG." " A ride, yes." "A flight to Beloyka, no." "No pilot would risk breaking the rules that much." "Well, we've got a pilot." " How are you doing, Mac?" " Don't ask." "I'm gonna follow this river to avoid detection." "But I'm gonna have to climb soon." "We burn too much fuel down this low." "Keep your eyes on our 6." "I'm gonna try and get this radar working." "Suck it up, Marine." "I got the radar working." "Hang on." " Is that what I think it is?" " Yeah." " What do we do?" " Pray." "Missile inbound." " They missed." " Those were heat seekers." "We got between them and the sun." "It's a bigger target." " Here they come again." " I won't fool them twice." "Can't we fight back?" "We're not armed." "All I have is spit." "I don't even have that." "The Russian Air Defence Command announced this afternoon that a MiG-29, flown by two American Naval aviators," "collided with a migrating flock of geese and disintegrated in midair." "The incident happened over Lake Uchenskoya..." " It couldn't be them, could it?" " Of course not." "The identities of the two officers, a Navy lieutenant commander and a Marine Corps major, are being withheld pending notification of next of kin." "I don't believe it." "It's been confirmed by our embassy in Moscow." "Lieutenant Commander Rabb and Major MacKenzie were killed while taking a demonstration ride in a MiG-29." "Rabb wasn't in Russia to take a joy ride, sir." "Evidently, he met a Major Nikolai, who took him for a check ride in a MiG-29, then let him take Major MacKenzie up." "Major Nikolai was flying their wing when he saw the MiG strike a flock of migrating geese and disintegrate in midair." " The Russians are very embarrassed." " The Russians are lying, sir." "To what end, admiral?" "Maybe if Harm found his father, the Russians don't want us to know it." "Don't sail into those waters, A.J. You could scuttle your career." "Oh, to hell with my career." "If Rabb found his father in Russia, we need to know it." "This country needs to know it." "This country needs to know the truth." "Going public with Rabb's fantasies would only raise false hopes among MIA families who have suffered far too much." "You don't have to worry about me going public, Mr. Secretary." "Thank you." "But Rabb did visit his mother before he left." "Oh, God." " You'll handle it." " Yes, sir." "When are they shipping the bodies home?" " They haven't found them yet." " What?" "What was left of the MiG crashed in Lake Uchenskoya." "It's quite deep." "They're dragging for the bodies, but they may never recover them." "Webb, Harm and Mac are the closest things to friends you've got." "What really happened?" "Everything I'm telling you I got straight from Ernie McGill, our chief of station in Moscow." " What didn't you tell me?" " Let it go, A.J." "Not until I know the truth." "And apparently, the only way to get that is to be on the next flight to Moscow." "Admiral, you are not going to Moscow." "Mr. Secretary, with all due respect, sir, you don't wanna try to stop me." "That's what you get when you make an admiral out of a SEAL." "He must be the one they're searching for." "Maybe they'll give us a reward for finding him." "A reward?" "Russians?" "They'll blame the crash on us, kill me, rape you, take Vlad and burn our waggon." " We're getting out of here." " We can't leave him hanging there." "He's a Russian." "I want the silk." " You okay?" " Yeah, I'm a little woozy." "Must have hit something punching out." "Lost my helmet." "I don't remember much after that." "Saw this guy coming at me with a knife." "They were trying to help." " Anything broken?" " Just my ego." "Never been shot down before." "You were shot down?" " You speak English." " We were raised in England." "You are American spy pilots?" " No." " Too bad." "American spy pilots have gold coins for those people that help them." "I'm afraid all we have is hundred-dollar bills." "Lots of them." "That's Mark." "What if he's the one who had us shot down?" "For a second there, I thought you were gonna turn us in." "For a second, I almost did." "I knew this would be my lucky day." " How's that?" " You're American, boss." "I like Americans." "They're not cheap like the British or the Germans or the French who are the worst of all." "They give you these petite tips and insult you while they do it." " You know, I hate to disillusion you..." " Alexei." "Alexei, but I don't tip." "You make joke, huh?" "Don't you need to know where we're going?" "I figured you'd tell me when you're ready." " Meantime, the metre's running." " That is true." " American Embassy." " Sure thing, boss." "According to Major Nikolai, who was flying their wing, they went down here, in Lake Uchenskoya." "The Russians have recovered some wreckage, but no bodies." "Has anybody from the embassy interviewed this Major Nikolai who witnessed the accident?" "I did, in Lubyanka Prison where he's under military arrest for permitting an unauthorised flight." "You believe him?" "I believe he's in trouble." "He had a real sweat working." "Admiral, the Russians have heard rumours as to why Commander Rabb was here." "So far, their enquiries have been unofficial, and my job is to keep them that way." "Your conducting an investigation, no matter how unofficial, makes that near impossible." "Mr. McGill, I don't give a damn about your job." "I'm here to find out what happened to my people, and, by God, that's what I'm gonna do." " Webb said you'd be a bear." " Well, he ought to know." "He also said to make that little speech, and when it didn't work, offer you every assistance." " Webb said that?" " Yes, sir." " But there is a quid pro quo." " Well, there always is with Webb." "You keep a low profile and report anything you learn to me." "Mr. McGill, are you recruiting me for the CIA?" "It's Ernie, admiral." "And yes, I am." "Hitler tried to exterminate us." "Then Stalin." "We're a hard people to kill." "Some of us escaped to England, the rest east to Siberia." "Now that the Soviet Union is gone, my sister and I are going to join the Romany wandering there." "Romany?" "It means the people." "What you gorgio call Gypsies." "Back in the States, the Navajo call themselves the people." "Can their men dance on eggs and their women see the future?" "Well, I think if the Navajo men danced on eggs, they'd be scrambled." "They do believe that their medicine women are precognitive, though." "But you don't?" "Future's not in the rolling of bones or the reading of tea leaves." "It is if you have the gift." "Oh, and the Romany have this gift?" "My sister Rusza has often seen the future." "In her dreams." "She dreamed we would return to Russia, and here we are." "Couldn't that be a self-fulfilling prophecy?" "Yes." "But it isn't." " How far is it to Beloyka?" " A month." "Maybe two." "We have to avoid the main roads." "What's so important in Beloyka?" "My father was a prisoner of the KGB." "He escaped from a train near Beloyka 18 years ago." " You're wasting your time." " Why?" "If he was alive, why didn't he come out when the Soviet Union collapsed?" "Well, maybe he doesn't know the Soviet Union has collapsed." "I hear there are villages in Siberia where people still believe a tsar rules Russia." "I don't doubt it." "But if he's gone so deep to ground, you'll never find him." "Well, I have to try." "Can't be more than a couple days' ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway." "We'll pay you if you'll take us to a railway station." "There is a station at Perm." "A day's ride." "But you'll be spotted." "You're too American-looking." "I don't think so." "Tell your fortune, sailor?" "Good God." "She's a Romany chai." " Any luck?" " Some." "Divers located the cockpit." "Ejection seats are missing." "They got out." " Are they alive?" " I don't know." "We swept the forest until dark and found nothing." "We go up again at first light." "Who ordered them shot down?" "A Colonel Zatkoff alerted Air Defence Command that a MiG-29 had been hijacked by Chechnyan rebels." "They had interceptors up and waiting before Commander Rabb took off." "And no one checked the authenticity of such an order?" "It came from Lubyanka." "Calls from Lubyanka have not been questioned in 80 years." "There is no Colonel Zatkoff at Lubyanka." " Who is he?" " I thought perhaps you could tell me." "Me?" "How can I know what the teacher does not?" "Oh, you graduated long ago, Mischa." "I'm quite certain you're a few moves ahead of me in this chess game we seem to be playing." "I have no idea what you're talking about, Mikhail." "I have secured the silence of everyone involved in the shoot down and put out a cover story." "Lieutenant Commander Rabb and Major MacKenzie were killed in a tragic accident while flying a MiG-29." "And everyone believes this?" "It is in everybody's interest to believe it, including the Americans." "I don't mind lying to the Americans, but lying to our superiors is inviting a firing squad." "Not if we root out this Colonel Zatkoff, who is trying to destroy perestroika." "What do we do if Rabb and MacKenzie are still alive?" "Wait." "We've been through this before." "They won't kill her." "But if we interfere, we're all dead." "They wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me." "No!" "Rusza?" "You had a dream, didn't you?" "The American." "He's going to die." "We don't need your help." "We don't need your money." "We don't want to help you." "So go." " What did we do?" " You parachuted into our lives." " That's not Russian, is it?" " No, I think it's Gypsy." "We don't speak Gypsy." "We speak Romanes." "Well, look, whatever language it is, you don't use..." "Polite?" "You want me to be polite when the Russians are going..." "What?" " What are the Russians going to do?" " Just go." "My sister had a dream last night." "They have a right to know why you're acting crazy." "She dreamed Russian soldiers tried to rape her." "And you did nothing to stop them." "I would die for you and you know it." "You must have had a nightmare, Rusza." " It wasn't a nightmare, it was a vision." " Well, how do you know?" "Because I have been cursed with vision since I was 12." "Not all of which come true." "She dreamed I would be shot chasing a chicken." " I never chase chickens." " Good." "If you did, someone would shoot you." "Rusza, these Russian soldiers in your dream, they were looking for us, weren't they?" "That's why you want us to go?" "Yes, they were looking for you." "Or maybe not you." "I'm not sure." "That part of the vision is confusing." "You're not in it, and my brother would die defending me." "Then Mac's right." "It was a nightmare." "No, it's a vision." "Tell them the dream, Rusza." "They have a right to know since you are kicking them out of camp." "Tell them, Rusza." "I was bathing in the stream when four Russian soldiers came from the trees." "I was frightened." "Not by their guns, but by the looks in their eyes." "And I screamed." "And you were coming to help me, but Vasya stopped you." "I would tear out their throats." "I know, Vasya." "I know." "You came running out of the trees like a madman." "You shot three of them before the last one killed you." "Nice fit, Vasya." "Thank you." "You don't believe me?" "I believe it was a nightmare." "But if it was a vision, then all you have to do is stay out of the water until we get to Perm." "It was from this military airfield outside of Moscow that two American Naval airmen took off in a MiG-29 on what proved to be a fatal demonstration flight." "That's him, boss, ZNN News." "Why do you want to talk to him?" " He ran off with my wife." " For real, boss?" "I'm here to take her home." "I've got four kids." "Two in diapers." "You're going to beat him up?" " If he doesn't take me to her." " Boss, you could get in big trouble." "Then I get in trouble." "Then maybe I lose my licence, eh, boss?" "Russian military officers have privately expressed surprise at an American Naval aviator being allowed to fly a state-of-the-art Russian fighter." "But with the Russian economy in chaos and the U.S. Backing their IMF loans, no one in the Russian government would even speculate that this may not have been an authorised flight." "This is Chuck DePalma for ZNN in Moscow." "Okay, cut it, Johnny." "And get some B-roll of the helos going in and out." "I wanna do the story on the search effort next, okay?" "Sounds like you're not buying the Russians' story either, Chuck." "A.J., what the hell are you doing here?" "Don't smile, don't shake my hand." "I told my driver you ran off with my wife." " You don't have a wife." " He doesn't know that." "Same deal we had on the Aviano investigation?" " Works for me." " What do you know?" "Well, not as much as I thought I did." "And you wouldn't be here asking me questions if those officers were involved in espionage." "Now, what would make you think that?" "The Russian cover story is a lie." "They didn't collide with a flock of geese." "It's September, A.J." "The geese around here don't migrate until late November." " Should have known that." " And also, it's this Major Nikolai, the one that was flying the wing with them when they went down, has disappeared." "My sources tell me that he's being questioned in Lubyanka Prison by the Federal Security Service." "Euphemism for the KGB." "Yeah, a lot of ex-KGB boys in it." "Your driver works for one of them." "Major Sokol." " My driver, Alexei?" " He's my next interview." "Word is he drove Rabb and MacKenzie around Moscow." " Looks like they didn't spot us." " Well, I saw your friend Falcon." " And if I saw him, he saw us." " Her friend?" "He's not my friend." "He helped us in Moscow." " He probably had us shot down." " I think your friend Parlovsky did that." "His friend, your friend." "It seems like you have as many friends who want to kill you as enemies." "Get back inside." "Here he comes again." "A.J., what are you doing back so soon?" "Come here." " You see that cabby down there?" " The one pacing?" "Name's Alexei." "Ring any bells?" "Half dozen." "Alexei's a common name in Russia." "Well, this Alexei works for Major Sokol of the Federal Security Service." "Major Sokol?" " You know how I found that out?" " How?" "Chuck DePalma, ZNN correspondent covering the story." "You shouldn't be talking to reporters, A.J." "Local ZNN reporter knows all the players in Red Square." "Why the hell don't you?" " Alexei isn't working for Major Sokol." " He's not?" " Then who the hell is he working for?" " Me, A.J." "Smile." "Let them think they'll get more than their fortunes told." "But I don't even know how to read palms." " No one does." " Yeah, but you believe in visions." "Visions are one thing." "Palms are another." "Remember to give the men long lives and plenty of women." "And the women?" "They get a husband and plenty of babies." "You're in luck." "A crowd this size can only be waiting for the Rossiya, the express train that runs from Moscow to Vladivostok in six days." "Then we should make Beloyka in two." " Look." " Yeah." "They looking for us, or are they always here?" "Maybe both." "But they're not looking for Romany." "Gypsy." "Well, we're not very popular, are we?" "They're afraid we'll steal their women." "But don't worry." "I'll wait till you're on the train." " Hustling the tourists?" " She's so natural." "I think you have Romany blood in your veins." "My great-grandmother was a Cherokee Indian." "Indians again." "There must be some connection." "The train arrives in 20 minutes." "Rusza and I will buy your tickets with our identity papers." "Won't they check our papers when we get on the train?" "I don't know." "I never ride the Rossiya." "We'll worry about that when the time comes." "Harm, we shouldn't get on this train." "Mac, we can't take two months to get there by waggon." " I don't think we should go there at all." " What?" "If we reach Beloyka, we'll disappear just like your father." "Mac, don't let this Gypsy fortune-teller thing go to your head." "Look at the odds, Harm." "We're in the middle of Russia with Parlovsky or Falcon trying to stop us." "We don't have identification papers, you don't know the language, and you have no plan other than to get us to Beloyka." " Is that sound mission planning?" " Chickening out on me?" "You know better than that." "Answer my question." "What is your plan other than to take a train to Beloyka?" "You're being driven by emotions and those emotions are gonna get us killed." "You can quit." "I can't." "My father is out there somewhere and I'm gonna find him." " Or die trying." " Or die trying." "But you shouldn't." "You've come with me farther than anyone I know." "I'll never forget that, Mac." "Well, I guess I always knew it would come down to this." "And that you'd need me to come up with a dispassionate plan." "Beloyka." " Where are they?" " Who?" "The Americans." "I know they were with you." "Those are our tickets." "We're joining the Romany in Beloyka." "I told you he spotted us this morning." "Commander, Sarah." "I know you can hear me." "I'm here to help you." " He's got my attention." " He always had your attention." "I'm not the only one looking for you." "Your only chance is to come with me." "He's gonna expect us to go for the train." "If we can get beyond..." " Harm, I believe him." " Mac." "If he was ruthless enough to shoot us, wouldn't he have strafed us on the road?" "Commander Rabb." "I'll get you to Beloyka." "I'll help you find your father." "Trust my intuition, Harm." "He means it." "I couldn't blow Alexei's cover." "The stakes were too high." "The Russian mafia thinks Alexei's working for them." "Russian mafia?" "They have Alexei keeping tabs on Colonel Parlovsky and Major Sokol." "One of them is procuring six nuclear-tipped missiles for the mafia to sell to the highest bidder." "Alexei couldn't stop Rabb from stealing that MiG-29 without blowing his cover with the mafia, Parlovsky and Sokol." " You work for Parlovsky and Sokol?" " They pay me to spy on each other." "How do you keep them straight?" "That's worse than dating three women at the same time." "I should be so fortunate." "Well, all Alexei has to remember is that he works for the highest bidder." "Me." " Right, Alexei?" " Right, boss." "So, what does all this got to do with Rabb trying to find his father?" "Once a bad apple, always a bad apple." "We know the one stealing missiles for the mafia is the same KGB rogue who ran the POW shuttle that brought Harm's father to Russia." "Quit talking like a cheap spy novel, Webb, and tell me who it is." " We don't know." " You don't know?" "Most intel points to Colonel Parlovsky, but that intel is connected to Major Sokol, who could be planting it to cover his own butt." "And we can't afford to nab the wrong man." "Not when it comes to nuclear weapons." "So Rabb's the bait, and whoever kills him, that's your man?" "I wouldn't put it like that." "Just how the hell would you put it, Webb?" "I'm not trying to get Rabb killed." "He was gonna keep coming until he found his father." "I thought we'd uncover our man before he stopped Rabb." "Yeah, but you didn't." "They blew him out of the sky and you did nothing to..." "You knew they were gonna be shot down, didn't you?" "So how is it you don't know who gave the order?" "We eavesdrop on all calls from Lubyanka." "We picked up the one from a Colonel Zatkoff." "I contacted Alexei and told him to do everything he could to stop Rabb without blowing his cover." "Webb, Harm and Mac go down," "I'm gonna personally put you in the ground with them." "We're talking six nuclear-tipped missiles here, A.J." "In the hands of the highest bidder." "You'd risk a dozen SEAL teams to stop that." "Damn right, but they'd know why they're putting their lives on the line." "Listen." "That's Major Sokol returning." "And here's Colonel Parlovsky to meet him." "When that helo lands, we'll know which one is our man." " How?" " Colonel Parlovsky received a call informing him that Major Sokol had picked up Commander Rabb and Major MacKenzie at the Perm railway depot, travelling under the guise of Gypsies." "So they are still alive." "Why the hell didn't you tell me?" "We don't know that." " If Sokol is Colonel Zatkoff..." " They're both dead." "But if Parlovsky is Zatkoff, they'll be on that helo." " Give me a weapon." " So you can shoot me?" "Depends on whether Harm and Mac are on that helo." "There's Parlovsky." "And there's Major Sokol." "Where are Harm and Mac?" "Damn it, Webb, they're not on the helo." "Yes, they are." " Thank God." " Parlovsky." "Parlovsky's our man." "Parlovsky's driver is going for a weapon." " He's gonna kill them all." " We don't know that, A.J." "And we need to catch the men Parlovsky's working with." " Admiral." " You okay?" "Yes, sir." "Webb, what are you doing here?" "Getting decked." "You're gonna be okay, Mark." "It's not that bad." "I should have gotten shot sooner." "Alexei, what are you doing here?" "I came to tell you I quit, boss." "Colonel." "Colonel, do you know what happened to my father?" "What?" "Svischevo." "Svischevo." ""When I heard you were seeking your father in Svischevo," "I knew it must be the man I called Tete." "That was the name I gave the one who looked like you." "I found him in the barn, nearly frozen to death and nursed him back to life." "For two years, he worked the farm with me and my brother." "We spoke Russian." "He never told us who he was or where he came from." "But I knew it was from far away because he seemed always to be looking to the horizon." "I knew someday he would leave me."" "What?" "What did she say?" "She said that this is where the three of them came to picnic the day Tete was killed." "Tell her to go on." ""I was swimming in the pool when the soldiers came."" "No!" ""My brother tried to stop Tete from helping me." "He was afraid we would all be killed." "But when he saw how bravely Tete died, it inspired him."" "He killed the fourth soldier with his bare hands." "Where is my father buried?" ""My brother took the bodies into the taiga to bury them." "I don't know where." "He wouldn't tell me." "He was afraid I would go there and someone would see."" "Where is your brother now?" ""He died 15 years ago."" ""Chekhov said, 'The strength of the taiga does not lie in its giant trees and silence," "but in that only migrating birds know where it ends.'" "Only the birds and your father."" "Goodbye, Dad." "I love you."