"_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "You have made a very big mistake," "Mr. Dalton." "I can't imagine what you hoped to achieve with this vicious and unwarranted attack but I promise you, we will meet you in equal measure." "President Ostrov, I can assure you that the United States is just learning of this with the rest of the world." "Your lies are beneath you." "And they are an insult to myself and the Russian people." "You will pay for this." "I am flattered that you think we could organize a cyber attack capable of crippling a city of Moscow's power and magnitude." "If we had managed to pull that together, it would have to be in response to something equally unprecedented." "Like someone hacking into the navigation and communication system on Air Force One, putting the lives of all on board at risk." "You are insane." "Russia never hacked Air Force One." "And the U.S. didn't black out Moscow." "So we can part on neutral ground." "No, we will part on my promise that Russia will not stand for this affront to its sovereignty, and retaliatory measures will be taken immediately." "Well, I like her." "She's got moxie." "Mr. President, I think we can file that one under "message received."" "Am I the only one concerned about her subtle vows of retaliation?" "Par for the course." "That's pretty much the clarion call of any aggrieved demagogue." "Actually, the smart thing for her to do would be to deny the U.S.'s involvement." "Spare herself the embarrassment of taking the hit." "So we're betting on smart?" "The fact that she's even running the show is theater." "She's gonna listen to the counsel of her generals and advisors." "They understand the cost of a military response." "And we can track any movement in that regard." "But we're not too concerned." "She's been put in her place." "And she knows we won't tolerate any signs of aggression toward us or Ukraine." "All right." "Well..." "I'll get to work on State's non-denial denial." "Make it a full-throttle denial." "Lying to save the world is allowed." "It's in the Constitution." "Okay." "Where the cyber attack is concerned, we're in the dark right along with them." "That's good." "I'm not really going to say that." "I would." "Thanks, everyone." "Is it wrong to eat cereal for dinner?" "I don't care." "So how was your day, Slugger?" "Or..." "Boomer." "What is the universal linebacker nickname?" " Brainless." " Be nice." "So this horse walks into the doctor's office." "The doctor says..." " why the long face?" " ...why the long face?" "I don't know." "I just love that." "It gets me every time." " Thank you." " Yeah." "So?" "What's up?" "I, uh, just got some bad news from the coach." "Oh, no." " Is he cutting you?" " No." "He's, uh, he's starting me." " Well..." " Wow." " ...hey, that's great." " I mean..." "I'd think you'd be excited about that." "We're facing the biggest team in the league, with the playoffs on the line, and suddenly it's my turn?" "Well, Jason, he must have seen a lot of progress in practice." " Otherwise, he wouldn't put you in." " Yeah." "Nice try, Dad." "Derrick got benched for a "D" in geometry," "Eli broke his arm and Gabe's moving to Florida." "So I'm sort of forced into this one." "Are you afraid you're going to get hurt?" "No, I'm worried about being humiliated and letting the whole team, and in fact the whole school, down." "I mean, I did this to make friends and I'm about to alienate everyone I know." "Jace, it's gonna be okay." "Or maybe you won't even play." "Everyone's saying that Russia's going to retaliate for the cyber attack." "Hard to have Friday Night Lights with no lights." "What cyber attack?" "Where did you get this?" "Um... every major news outlet?" "Yeah, well, it's all speculation." "There's no evidence of an attack." "Why don't you kids go eat in front of the TV?" "Sound good?" "Okay, now I know the world is ending." "So..." "Was it us?" "Russia has an antiquated infrastructure." "The blackout could be the Chernobyl of the power grid." "Okay, I know that we can't divulge stuff, but I didn't know we'd moved on to spinning each other." "I'm just giving you what the White House's official position is." "Okay, let's try this:" "If it was us, was it in response to what happened on Air Force One?" "Solar flares happened on Air Force One." "I was read in to that one." "I know about the malware." "Well... but not who was behind it, because we didn't know." "And we do now?" "Are you okay?" "'Cause I know that you've been very stressed out." "Don't gaslight me." "I..." "You're the one who's been all worried about us keeping secrets." "That was just venting." "This is real world." "Henry, we almost went to... to prison for sharing classified information." "So we cannot talk." "I thought maybe being on the verge of World War III might change the rules." "Nope." "Can we maybe just... stop talking about what we may or may not be talking about?" "Sure." "Where are you going?" "Can't talk about it." "Do you know anything about the situation in Russia?" "Nothing." "I could speculate, but DIA hasn't read me into anything." " Any word from Dmitri?" " No." "I don't know how long he stayed in Moscow after he contacted us." "Did he feel like he'd been compromised?" "He didn't say anything, but it could be the reason that he wanted out." "That would be unfortunate." "Has the president seen the battle plan report from Doroshevich?" "The president?" "No." "Uh, why would he?" "He might be interested to know about a planned attack on Ukraine." "You think he doesn't know Russia has designs on Ukraine?" "He might also be interested in what wasn't in the report." "What would that be?" "Any plan to attack the computer system of Air Force One." "Okay, I'm not connecting the dots here." "If the blackout was an attack by the U.S., they went under the assumption that Russia was behind the hack of Air Force One." "Okay." "The playbook that Dmitri gave us laid out Russia's entire strategy for the invasion of Ukraine, including aggressive diversionary tactics to deter U.S. involvement." "Okay, what is your ETA on the point, Henry?" "Gamed out every crazy scenario, from taking over Arctic drilling sites to instigating conflict with ISIS." "But there was nothing... nothing about a hack of Air Force One." "Just because they didn't put it in the report doesn't mean they didn't do it." "You're trying to prove a negative." "You don't want to get into a dialectic with me." "Okay." "You're right." "I don't even want to have this conversation." "You're crossing lines." "Just tell me you'll make an effort to get this report to the White House." "How?" "Call the President." "Demand to see him." "Henry, you might be coming a little unglued." "I know you're upset about Dmitri." "At least get it into the hands of Ephraim Ware." "The DNI needs to know about this." "Stop." "You're getting above your pay grade." "And mine." "You've done your duty, Professor." "Let us handle this." "These three pipelines went off-line approximately two hours ago." "We've received reliable verification from both U.S. and European intelligence that the pipelines were shut down by direct order of Maria Ostrov." "Those particular pipelines provide 40% of Western Europe's supply of gas." "Just as they're heading into one of the fiercest winters predicted in decades." "So much for blustering." "It's a clear message that she's not playing by the rules." "She's escalating the conflict." "Turning America's NATO allies into collateral damage." "Mr. President, they want to break the alliance so they can run the table with Eastern Europe." "It's something Pavel Ostrov coveted and now she's trying to make it happen." "This has stopped being a dialogue." "It's a march to war." "Then we need to retaliate." "And we need to hit them hard." "We can neutralize the targets in Crimea." "Air strikes to follow, to address any aggression on the Ukraine border." "And, worst-case scenario, boots on the ground." "Just enough to make a point." "And what point is that?" "That we're willing to use military force." "But I thought the point of the power grid attack is that we weren't willing to do that." "That was before this latest action." "You had to know they would respond." "We honestly thought it would be much more measured." "This... this is extreme." "They escalated, so we have to." "Why can't we reach out to our allies?" "Western Europe's holding us fully accountable." "They're blaming us for all of it." "Well, of course they are." "Because no one knows what's going on." "We're still calling" "Air Force One solar flares." "What are you proposing?" "I want to go before the UN." "I want to give them a lay down speech and spell it out for them, step by step." "We give evidence of military overreach by Russia against the U.S. and Ukraine." "We divulge all of their aggression." "The attack on Air Force One, the Poloniumed hacker, the financial records that point to Russian GRU." "Mr. President, that is a radical roll of the dice." "Putting all our cards on the table leaves us nowhere else to turn if the allies don't go for it." "Which, given the current climate," "I think it's a pretty safe bet they won't." "Nowhere else to turn?" "You mean, as opposed to all those other comfortable options we'll have after we launch a full-scale military campaign against the world's second biggest nuclear power?" "Elizabeth, it's an enormous gamble." "For starters, it would have to be the speech of your life, right up there with Adlai Stevenson in the Cuban Missile Crisis." "I think that's an apt analogy." "And I think I'm up to it." "I don't see what we have to lose." "Sir?" "All due respect, everything." "The upper hand, the element of surprise..." "General, we forfeited all that with the cyber attack." "Now we're being pulled into Russia's game." "Escalating the conflict is our only choice, unless we can get the allies to circle the wagons." "It's... it's gonna take the world's commitment to war in order to actually stop the war." "It has to happen in the next 24 hours." "We-we cannot give Russia time to one-up our show of force should we decide to go there." "Agreed." "Let's get on the line with President Bozek." "We can't do this alone." "We need to get Ukraine on board." "I appreciate you taking me into your confidence, Mr. President." "Tell me, what is your plan." "We intend to draw a line in the sand." "And that line is the Ukrainian border." "In addition to the, uh, lethal aide we've already provided, we plan to send American advisors to the east and enforce a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace." "You don't know how long" "I've waited to hear these words of support from you." "Tell me, what can I do in return?" "I'm-I'm glad you asked, Mikhail." "All of this will depend on the support of our allies, which I have to rally in the next 24 hours." "It won't be easy, so the more evidence that we have to convince them that Ostrov was behind the cyber attack on your plane and ours, the better." "I'll need any information that you have." "That is easily provided, Madam Secretary." "And I will need you at my side when I make the address at the U.N." "I will make preparations to fly to New York right away." "Thank you." "Better get your staff to work on the speech of your life." "The objective is simple." "Convince the entire world... particularly our allies... that we are justified and willing to go to war to contain Russian aggression." "So, your basic St. Crispin's Day speech." "Yes." "Hopefully without having to go into battle." "Once we have the authority, the idea is that we won't have to enforce it." "That's a big risk." "We're aware." "How much of the classified stuff do you want me to use?" "Outside of sources and methods, the president has authorized all of it." " All of it." " All if it?" "We're giving up George Lasko as the guy who hacked Air Force One?" "His connection to Russia?" "The attack on President Bozek's plane?" "The Polonium assassination...?" "That pretty much covers what I mean by "all of it."" "If we are showing our entire hand, it means the end of any kind of negotiation." "That's why this speech has to work." "Hi, welcome to Smokin' Al's." "I only have ten minutes." "That's all I need." "I have to admit I never expected you to be in a place like this." "Well, that's why we're here." "Does your wife know that you eat like that?" "Of course not." "What can I do for you, Henry?" "I need to bring you some intelligence that I've uncovered." "I've taken it as far as I can with DIA, but it stalled." "I assume you talked to Jane Fellows about this?" "She essentially terminated my assignment, but you're my original recruiter." "That's where it ends." "Russell, my asset managed to lift" "Russia's entire playbook for the invasion of Ukraine." "They spell out every scenario imaginable, including a number of ways to manage the U.S. reaction." "Yet nowhere is this exhaustive document is there any mention of hacking Air Force One." "Why are you telling me this now when we are right in the middle of a military campaign against Maria Ostrov?" "Before the Challenger exploded..." "The space shuttle?" " What kind...?" "What is...?" " Low-level engineers discovered serious design flaws with the shuttle;" "particularly related to the O-rings, which they knew could not withstand extreme changes in temperature." "They kept pushing the information upstairs, but it stalled." "Or 9/11..." "Here we go." "The CIA and FBI may have had enough foreknowledge of Al-Qaeda's plan to stop the attacks, but because of bureaucratic intransigence, they never even spoke to one another." "So what, so in this parable, I'm the lackey, who waves you off and says it's above my pay grade?" "No, that was Jane Fellows." "You're the guy that never got the information in the first place." "You have the power to stop this." "Stop what?" "We've already engaged." "You mean the cyber attack on the power grid?" "The entire intelligence community believes" "Russia was behind Air Force One." "So even if they didn't do it, they did it, understand...?" "There you go." "And you're willing to go to war over that?" "We are trying our damnedest to stop a war by creating a united front... do you get that?" "!" "If you tell your wife any of this "Russia didn't do it" nonsense, based on classified Intel from DIA, you'll be thrown in prison for the rest of your mortal days." "Both of you, understood?" "Just keep your head down and your mouth shut." "For God's sake, just do what we tell you to do." "Well, whoever she is," "I hope she fed you." "We finished off the Kung Pao chicken." "She was an endless seminar on the Sino-Soviet split and its effect on the end of the Cold War, which is ironic given the day's headlines." "Might be a spring roll or two left." "You could have that." "We have to talk." "No, we really don't." "I understand you're scheduled to speak at the U.N. tomorrow." "That's right." " What if I knew something that would change" " Stop!" "the way that you approach this?" "Henry, I-I don't make the decisions on how to approach this." "You're gonna reveal Russia's involvement in the Air Force One hack in hopes of getting the allies to fall into place." "And if you do your job well, which you have a track record of doing, then the world will be poised to go to war with a country that is just unstable enough to take the bait." "If you're wrong, do you really want to be on the side of that?" "Well, obviously I wouldn't make this speech if I thought I were wrong." "At what point would you be willing to violate this cone of silence between us?" "What would it take?" "Would millions of lives have to be at stake?" "Because that's where we are." "You're scaring me, Henry." "Good, because this is scary." "I'm willing to roll the dice on going to prison." "But what I'm not willing to do is live with what might happen if we don't talk." "We know things that can help each other." "That's not the point." "Actually, that is the point..." "I don't think the Russians hacked Air Force One." "Look, we have incontrovertible proof." "Do you?" "On multiple fronts." "Then explain this to me." "If Russia hacked Air Force One, then they have the most advanced cyber capabilities of any country on the planet." "And what is their response to a counter-cyber attack by the United States?" "They shut off the gas." "You have more to go on than speculation?" "I mean, if we're gonna go all the way with this..." "I have an asset, who works for a top advisor to Ostrov." "If Russia didn't do this, if they're not behind it, then who?" "I don't know." "Does it really matter?" "I have to present some plausible theory to get them off of this path..." "I haven't gotten that far." "But, babe, I know this is a leap." "And I know there's a chance that I'm wrong." "But what if I'm not?" "_" "I need you guys to streamline whatever we have that directly links" "Lasko with the Russians." "Primarily it's the money." "An e-mail on his computer from a Russian bank... one associated with GRU..." "informing him of a wire transfer to his Cayman Islands bank account." "Okay, it says here the NSA was monitoring this bank for criminal activity." "So where's the record of a transfer from Russia?" "Uh..." "NSA has no corresponding record of a wire transfer." "But they're not perfect." "It's, you know, often these shady banks have multiple..." "If NSA has no record of a wire transfer, then how do we know that the e-mail is legitimate?" "We traced its IP address back to Moscow servers." "IP addresses can be faked to look like they come from anywhere." "Sure, but it's a convergence of evidence." "Ma'am, the odds of all this being counterfeit are very slim." "It's like he says... "a convergence of evidence."" "I heard him." "And I'm gonna ask you both to stop saying that." "Because "convergence of evidence"" "is beginning to sound eerily like the new "weapons of mass destruction"" "So, Oliver, I'm gonna ask you again." "On the eve of my telling the entire world that" "Russia is behind the greatest cyber attack in human history, prompting actions which could lead us all into the greatest world conflict in human history... there's a chance that all the evidence we have here is fake?" "Yes, ma'am." "There is a chance." "It's a little long." "I could definitely take some trims." "I might've used, uh, JFK too many times." "But I think it will get the point across." "Madam Secretary, Russell Jackson's office is demanding to see a draft of the speech." "He wants to vet it in time for changes." "I'm sure he does." "And, uh, you are scheduled to leave from the White House lawn in two hours." "Four major networks cleared time for a breaking news segment." "I'm gonna, uh, take this little window of time." "I'm just gonna say this." "What if we're wrong?" "About what?" "Oh, I don't know." "Everything." "All of it." "What if Russia wasn't behind the Air Force One hack?" "Isn't it a little late in the game for that?" "Oh, no." "I-I think it's exactly the right point in the game." "It's, uh, fair to say that Russia is not an utter certainty, but nothing points to another actor." "And given that, I think... clearly, the-the White House thinks... that we should proceed with what we know." "How many messes have we gotten ourselves into with what we were almost sure we knew?" "I'm just asking for a quick, exhaustive review." "Let's just take a few minutes and consider the other possibilities." "Okay, so let's... backtrack." "We're reasonably sure that George Lasko was behind the hack of Air Force One." "He had previous connections to Russia and China, North Korea and Iran." "And now he's dead by way of polonium poisoning." "I think we can rule out Iran." "Our nuclear agreement closely monitors their radioactive material." "We can rule out North Korea." "Their nuclear capabilities are not sophisticated enough to synthesize polonium." "That leaves China, which makes some sense." "How is that?" "With Russia and the U.S." "locked in a slowly escalating conflict..." "Or quickly escalating." "...China is free to shore up control over Southeast Asia." "It's a long shot, but it might be worth looking into." "Even though it would ruin my speech." "You're saying China framed Russia for the Air Force One hack?" "I'm not saying." "I'm just asking." "Mr. Jackson's office is again asking for your speech." "This time in all caps." "He is officially shouting." "Right." "Tell him we're putting the finishing touches on the speech." "Yes, ma'am." "If you'll excuse me," "I obfuscate more effectively by phone." "You will be the first to know." "Okay." "Good-bye." "I hate to bother you." "Yes, I read your first draft." "You're really gonna make me ask?" "I think it's the finest piece of writing" " I've ever seen from you." " Really?" "No, I'm shining you on because I hate to disappoint." "It is good, isn't it?" "It's brilliant." " She's never gonna use it, is she?" " Matt... this speech was intended to rally the nations of the world into a potential war with Russia." "If the secretary never reads it out loud, that would mean the best of all possible outcomes had been achieved." "Don't you agree?" "Of course." "Minister Chen, thank you for coming in on such short notice." "I was surprised by the urgent nature of the request." "I'm aware that you are scheduled to appear before the UN in a few hours." "Please, have a seat." "Word is that you intend to address the recent events in Russia." "Minister Chen, you-you recall a couple of months ago when the communications system on Air Force One was shut down?" "The result of solar flares, was it not?" "That was our best working theory at the time, yes." "But we have reason to believe there may be other factors involved." "You mean someone hacked into the system?" "Possibly." "I wanted to ask you about information that you might have about other actors who might have had reason to engage in such aggression." "One of the things I've always valued about you, Madam Secretary, is that you tend to speak plainly." "I urge you to do so now." "Did you guys do it?" "Did China hire George Lasko, aka Dash, to hack Air Force One?" "You can't be serious." "I assure you," "I have never been more serious." "And why would we do that?" "Engaging the U.S. and-and Russia in a costly military conflict would free China up to pursue a number of foreign interests." "In the year 2000," "China owned only six percent of the United States' foreign debt." "Now we own over 21%." "We have over $1 trillion in U.S. securities and hundreds of billions in Russian securities." "If we pitted the two of you against each other in a nuclear war, what good would that do our investment portfolio?" "So you had nothing to do with Air Force One?" "China is playing a long game, Madam Secretary." "When we come for you, it won't be with missiles and cyber attacks." "We'll repossess you." " I apologize, Madam Secretary." " Thank you, Blake." "_" "Grilling Oliver Shaw about the Air Force One hack in front of the Director" " of National Intelligence?" " I wouldn't call it a grilling." "And now I'm hearing about some emergency meeting with Minister Chen about God knows what." "Maybe we got different playbooks, but when appealing to the world to go to war with Russia," "I think it's important to get the facts straight." "Your facts are about as straight as they're gonna get." "I hope to hell you're not talking to Henry about this." "What does Henry have to do with anything?" "He came to me, babbling about some half-cocked theory." "Well, that's between you and Henry." "I have serious questions." "And I am telling you that you don't." "Marine One is out there on the lawn right now," "Air Force One is ready at Andrews, ready to take you to the UN to make a speech you insisted on giving not 24 hours ago." "If I make this speech and we're wrong, it could destroy the U.S.'s credibility for decades." "If I miss the speech, Russell, it's barely a footnote in history." "I am telling you to get on Marine One." "The president's waiting." "Aren't you supposed to be at the UN right now?" "Henry, you'd better be right about this." "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "Jeffrey, when I say the secretary won't be addressing this matter in the press today, that is exactly what I mean by that." "Obviously, she had a reason for canceling her appearance at the UN." "Look, I'm not saying it's related to national security." "You are." "And if you print it, you'd better have your attorney on speed dial." "Wow." "You're getting good at that." "I'm getting a lot of practice today." "Look, if we just release a statement, the press will calm down." "Anything we feed them is going to make them hungrier." "Let's wait until we have something to say." "Like, for example, I've been fired." "Mr. Jackson's office has been eerily quiet." "Yes, and it's speaking volumes." "What's it saying, exactly?" "The White House doesn't want to look unstable in the middle of a crisis." "They'll deal with me later." "...announcing our renewed partnership with the people of Ukraine." "Today, we are drawing a line in the sand." "Because when it comes to the cause of freedom, we are all Ukrainians." "My speech was so much better." "Well, in order to facilitate avoiding the press," "I'm officially making myself unavailable." "I have a football game to get to." "And when I get back, let's figure out what I'm going to say about not having anything to say to the UN." "What?" "I don't know." "It's kind of bizarre." "Then it ought to feel right at home." "What?" "When Bozek came to D.C. a month ago, he was on his knees begging for NATO membership." "Now look at him: at the White House, with the President of the United States doing everything but making a blood pact?" "He's getting more than he wanted." "He is, isn't he?" "I'm saying it's weird." "What are you saying?" "The man had to jump out of his own plane." "That's insane, right?" "Right." "Pull the staff together." "Find out everything you can about the incident on Bozek's plane." "Quietly." "And if word gets out," "I'll swear you all went rogue." "Yes, ma'am." "Come on, Panthers!" "Let's go!" "Hold 'em!" "You got this!" "Tackled by number 46..." "I don't know what I was worried about." "I mean, he's doing great." "He's missed every tackle." "That's what I'm talking about." "He's doing the bare minimum." "Babe, I think he's playing at the top of his game." "Well, even better." "Those big guys are just brushing by him." "Works for me." "So is it a totally crazy idea that the Ukrainians hacked into Air Force One, pinned it on the Russians, and then orchestrated their own plane crash to cover their tracks?" "Why?" "Because I need to know just how crazy it is before I go down this road." "No, I mean, why would they do that?" "How do you get the President of the United States to commit to taking on Russia?" "Make him think that he was attacked by them." "Then he'll never allow for any kind of aggression against Ukraine." "That's a huge swing." "Desperate times, desperate measures." "45." "Third down." "So... is it nuts?" "Is it possible?" "How long did it take the passengers to jump after the plane got in trouble?" "According to the black box, uh, 48 seconds." "Were there any fatalities?" "And how banged up were they?" "The report gave no indication that any of the passengers were injured." "Well, that's interesting." "When I was doing parachute training, everybody always had something on their first couple of jumps." "Cuts, bruises, sprains, even a couple of fractures." "And this was a bunch of Marines in top physical condition jumping out of a stable plane." "Not a bunch of diplomats bailing from a nosedive." "Nice hit, Jace!" "Great play, Panthers!" "They stopped a potential touchdown drive." " Hi." " What do you want?" "I need your help." "I'll ask you again." "What do you want?" "You went to Ukraine to meet with Bozek and his staff directly after the incident with their plane, right?" "The day after." "Yes." "What kind of physical shape were they in?" "Fine." "Cuts, sprains, bruises?" "Any kind of injuries?" "Bozek had a small laceration on the side of his face." "Otherwise, not a mark on them that I saw or that anyone mentioned." "Huh." "You're not doubting that the crash happened?" "There's documentation." "They found the wreckage." " I'm not doubting that." " Then what?" "You didn't come all the way over here to ask me how they looked." "Actually, I did." "Thanks, Craig." "I know you have a wrathful grudge against me that you might well take to your grave and we are never going to see eye to eye about what transpired, but I do know one thing about you." "First and foremost, you're a patriot." "I really do wish you well." "Wow." "You guys look like you've been here all night." "Well, because they've been here all night." "I was going for sarcasm." "Oh, sorry." "I've been here all night, too." "So what have we got?" "Matt has a friend in Defense." "Matt has a friend?" "In the Defense Department." "None of my jokes are landing." "Must be the sleep deprivation." "So my friend in Defense somehow got his hands on the manifest for that Ukrainian flight." "Both versions." "Both?" "Two days before the flight, the entire passenger roster list changed." "The original list was just his usual inner sanctum." "But suddenly, the guest list changed to include seemingly random members of his staff." ""Seemingly."" "What's the connective tissue?" "Everyone on board the plane, including Bozek, was a former officer in the Ukrainian Army." "All with hundreds of hours of paratroop training and experience." "Wow." "What are the odds?" "There are no odds." "Ma'am." "We're just getting a report that a man has died in a Vietnamese hospital of polonium poisoning." "What?" "The, uh, alpha particle signature off his body indicates that it's polonium-210." "That's the same kind that was used to kill George Lasko." "Where was this man from?" "Ukraine." "Specifically, an agent with their Foreign Intelligence Service." "A man named Sasha Marchuk." "He spent two days trying to secure a flight out of Cambodia, but was denied because of his grave and indeterminate illness." "He finally staggered into a hospital in Biên Hoa where he admitted that he was suffering from polonium poisoning." "By then, it was too late." "He died of liver failure just a few hours ago." "I don't understand." "Who is he?" "He's the person who hired the hacker," "George Lasko, and then killed him to cover the tracks." "But polonium is a tricky murder weapon and he accidentally poisoned himself." "You're saying the Ukrainians were behind the cyber attack on Air Force One." "What would they possibly have to gain?" "President Bozek was panicked about Russian aggression and he knew Ukraine could never stand up to them without international aid." "So he decided to take matters into his own hands." "He sought out Lasko and gave him countless resources to develop his malware and hack Air Force One." "He figured we'd blame Russia and get pulled into the conflict." "But when we didn't take the bait, he followed up with an appeal to join NATO." "His request was denied, so he escalated the ruse." "He uploaded fake financial records onto Lasko's laptop, transactions pointing back to Russian GRU." "And then he attacked his own plane?" "Yes, sir." "He covered for the lives of the passengers by replacing officials with trained paratroopers." "That was the final piece of the puzzle." "We just found it." "It wasn't Russia." "We were duped, Mr. President." "It was Bozek all along." "Mr. President," "I could not be more at a loss." "Mikhail, believe me when I tell you this will go much better for you if you dispense with this approach." "My parents and grandparents suffered countless horrors at the hands of the Russians." "I was not going to let Ukraine be swallowed up by the Russian monster once again." "I resolved to do everything in my power, from risking my life to risking yours, Mr. President, to preserve my country's independence." "I would do it again." "Well, luckily for you, this scheme of yours has put us all in the same box." "If we reveal the deception," "Russia will hit you with everything it's got, killing millions of innocent people." "And a wordless pulling out of troops makes us look weak, exposing you to the same outcome." "So, for the time being, we are maintaining our presence and enforcing our no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace." "40 million Ukrainians don't deserve to get slaughtered because of what you did." "Thank you." "And my people thank you for your great mercy." "Let's be clear." "If you breathe one word of this to anyone, we will expose you, capture you, and throw you into the same dark hole where we kept Noriega." "Dude, he was coming across the line like Beast Mode with a jet pack." "You came out of nowhere, dude." "He was dragging you and trying to shake you off, but you wouldn't budge." "Then he just tried to fling you and he was down." "Boom!" "I thought there was gonna be nothing but a grease spot." "The Secretary of State." "Oh, hey, Mom." "The, uh... the guys brought pizza." "I know, it... it smells so good." "Don't let me interrupt." " Your son is one crazy-ass ball player, ma'am." " Dude!" "Yeah, I know." "And now he's out for the season." "It's so sad." "She's not sad." "Not the least bit sad." "But I'm glad you had a good game." "Dude, you're totally coming back next year." "Oh, you know it, dude." "Our son has a whole new group of friends named Dude." "They named him MVP of the game." "Giving him a trophy." "Wow." "And I don't have to worry about him for a whole nother season." "Oh, forget it." "He's already told me he's retiring his jersey." "What?" "He's talking about fencing now." "Swords." "Fabulous." "Thank you for talking to me about things that could have sent us to prison." "So you followed through on your theory?" "Oh, yes." "All the way to the president's office." "World catastrophe avoided." "Still have to find a way to extricate the U.S. from Ukraine without losing any more lives." "Otherwise, they'll just keep banging the drum until someone fires a shot." "My asset's gone dark." "I don't know if he got trapped in the blackout or he fled to Stockholm in time." "I-I have no idea." "Henry, I'm sorry." "Why is Jason quitting football?" "Is it because of me?" "Because if he's really good at it, then he should do it, even if it scares me." "Uh, no, he's quitting because it scares him." "Believe me, he has nothing more to prove there." "Hello, Mr. President." "Yes, sir." "I'm on my way." "You're a praying man, right?" "I'll get St. Francis on it." "He owes me." "There's a development over Ukrainian airspace." "The Russians just violated the no-fly zone." "Half an hour ago." "What does Ostrov say?" "Nothing at all out of Moscow." "They're not picking up the phone." "The message is clear." "They're not recognizing our authority." "It's their show." "Then we have to be equally clear." "Our men are locked and loaded, Mr. President." "Just waiting for the order." "Permission to engage, sir?" "Permission granted."