"There she is." "Morning Sweetheart, how is the number?" "Inspirational." "You spoil me." "So have a heart attack." "I'm gonna try adjusting your dose." "How long have you been awake?" "I never really slept." "Yeah, I could feel you obsessing all night." "I'm sorry." "Problems at the office." "Aw, poor you." "I'm about to replace a nine-year-old's liver." "Oh." "Remember... 30 minutes of cardio." "Do I get to pick which kind?" "Inflation looks fine." "But tell BLS I want those wage numbers as soon as they come in." "Oh, Andy... have my cappuccino ready when I get to the office." "Let me bottom-line this for you:" "you want the first lady to use your flowers in her arrangements, grow 'em in America." "Senator..." "Senator, I think the national science advisor is a little more qualified to speak on this topic." "Well for starters, he's a scientist." "Senator, I'm gonna have to call you back." "Okay." "Okay." "That'll work." "A meeting at 7:00 a.m." "On a Monday." "I mean, who does that?" "♪Besides you." "That would be the president's cybersecurity czar." "He does know he's not an actual czar, right?" "Yes." "If he was an actual czar, he would delegate." " He's briefing us in person." " Why would he do that?" "Ah." "Take a wild guess." "Oh, good morning." " Morning." " Early morning." "So let's make this, uh, brief." "Of course." "Uh, major government breaches, including the one at OPM, have been traced to personal accounts on UNCLASS government computers." "So, starting tomorrow, the State Department and other government agencies will expand the two-step verification system from SIPRNet to all personal accounts accessed on government computers, including e-mail, banking, and social media." "So I need a 16-digit, alphanumeric password just to log in to Facebook?" "Or compose a tweet?" "That's ridiculous." "So is Facebook." "Okay, Inspector Gadget." " Any other questions?" " Um, yes." "Do I need to worry about my car being hacked remotely?" "I heard it's a thing." "Mr. Moran." "Honestly, yes." "If you want to play it safe, you can bike to work, like me." "Uh, Mr. Shaw, you're needed immediately at the White House." "Is the secretary coming?" "She'll meet you there." "I'm gonna have to cancel tonight, I'm sorry." "What is it?" "It's complicated." "I..." "I mean, it's classified." " Sorry." " It's fine." "You should go." "I'll call you." "Uh..." "Uh, can someone give me a ride?" "My apologies, Mr. President." "All right, let's get started." "Director Ware?" "As you know, we've had a lot of near misses in the hunt for George Lasko, aka Dash, the man responsible for the cyber attack on Air Force One." "One hour ago, we pinpointed his location in Koh Kong, Cambodia." "Is this human or signals intelligence?" "It's both." "Mr. Shaw?" "Two weeks ago, we got a tip from an ex-associate that Dash was somewhere in Southeast Asia." "So I designed an algorithm to hunt through Interpol surveillance footage." "And using that search tool, CIA focused its attention on ports of entry." "Today we got a hit." "This is Lasko entering Cambodia yesterday under an assumed name." "We traced that same name to a location near this river, where we believe he is still residing." "How long do we have?" "Not long." "Ever since the attack," "Dash has never stayed in one place for more than 48 hours." "And this footage is already a day old." "Sir, SEAL Team 4 is on a JSOTF mission in the Philippines." "We could redeploy them to the target in less than three hours." "In a highly sensitive area." "Your point being?" "A military extraction is risky." "Loud and m-messy." "I would suggest a CIA Ops team." "Small," " quiet and effective." " Like the one in Turkey, that left one American dead." "Um..." "Ephraim, how-how quickly could we get a Black Ops team ready?" "Nearest assets are at Bangkok Station." "12 hours, minimum." " All the more reason to send in the SEALs." " Mr. President, our relationship with Cambodia is crucial to keeping China in check." "We go in guns blazing, and we're dealing with more than just a few broken windows..." "we're looking at the death of our diplomatic strategy in the Pacific." "Honestly, who cares?" "This guy hacked Air Force One." "I'm with Craig on this." "Get Dash now, mend fences later." "I agree with Secretary McCord." "The quieter the better." " Go on." " Look, we have two objectives here." "We want to get the man, sure." "But we also need access to his data." "That's the only way to find out the truth about what happened with Air Force One." "If anything happens to his equipment or if Dash gets killed..." "We'll be back to square one." "Point taken." "Let's let the CIA take the lead on this one, Craig." "Better hope to God he's still there." "You heard the news about Admiral Hill," "I'm assuming?" "Yes." "I'll, uh, be sad to see her go." "Yeah, I won't." "Hill and Secretary McCord were natural allies." "Have a seat." "Coffee?" "Uh... yes, please." "With the admiral gone, there's room for a new voice that comports with POTUS's better instincts." "Meaning yours." "Yours, too." "That little Cuba stunt notwithstanding." "I don't follow." "Sure you do." "You and Senator Parisi tried to sabotage the Cuba deal." "That's absurd." "Do you really think I would stab the president in the back?" "I know you did." "But you're lucky." "We've got an election coming up." "We can't afford another Andrew Munsey situation." "So you get a pass." "One." "In other words, you have no proof... for whatever it is you think I did." "McCord knows about Cuba, too." "She wants to go to the president." "Your word against his star pupil from CIA?" "I don't like your odds there, sport." "I shut her down, obviously, but..." "I expect something in return." "Right now... she thinks I'm working against you." "But if we play our cards right, we can turn the tables." "Box her out for good." "Which you want because?" "Because of that extraction in Cambodia, which is just the latest example of her pulling POTUS into reactive positions that are bad for national security, not to mention his reelection prospects." "'Cause you're less of a liability than she is." "And 'cause I don't like her." "And that brings us to Ellen Hill's replacement." "I think General Reeves is our guy." "Kelsey Reeves to chair the Joint Chiefs?" "I'd have to vet him." "Trust me, he's clean." "And he gets what we're trying to do." "POTUS still values your counsel." "A good word from you would go a long way." "Well, I'll think about it." "Don't piss me off, Craig." "Why not?" "What are you gonna do?" "My job is to provide the president an impartial opinion." "If Reeves is the right candidate for the job, I'll back him." "If not..." "I won't." "Thanks for the coffee." "I've been officially summoned to Moscow." "My flight leaves this afternoon." "We knew this was coming." "I'm not ready." "Do you remember how to get to the secure phone?" "Men's room past security, near carousel four." "Toilet paper dispenser, Second stall past the sinks." "Dmitri." "You're ready." "There's a rumor that Maria Ostrov might appoint Doroshevich as the next chief of the general staff." "If that's true, you'll have access to the military planning at the highest level." "That's good news, Dmitri." "That's what we planned." "Dmitri, I know what you're putting at risk here." "And I promise I will do everything in my power to keep you safe." "That's me talking, that is not the U.S. government." "I spoke to my sister Talia this morning." "Her tumors are shrinking, but you probably knew that." "I heard from the team in Stockholm." "They're predicting a full remission." "Yes." "She is very happy." "Thanks, professor." "For everything." "Good-bye." "Do svidaniya." "Up there." "Sterling's not there yet." "Why not?" "You can lead a horse to water..." "So now what?" "I think it's pretty obvious... we give him a nudge." "And when the moment comes... we gut him like a pig." "What kind of a nudge are we talking about?" "We can't exactly blackmail Sterling" " to back Reeves." " Unless Russell knows something I don't know." "I vetted him myself." "There are rumors, but nothing a reporter would care about." "Which in Washington, makes Craig Sterling a bona fide unicorn." "A unicorn that has to endorse General Reeves for Joint Chiefs." "Until he does, my part of the plan can't happen." "The essential problem is Sterling" " doesn't view you as a threat." " Not yet, anyway." "So where's the nudge?" " I don't have it yet." " Then what good are you?" "You're the one who brought Judas to the White House." "A lecture on loyalty from the Dark Prince of K Street?" "I want this guy gone." "Traitors are like serial killers; they don't stop at one." "Exactly." "So let's tell Dalton." " That's not possible." " Not if we want to win an election." "If the Cuba thing leaks, it's a scandal." "The president needs plausible deniability." "No reporters asking him what he knew and when he knew it." "Trust me, we've gamed it out." "Sterling has to go of his own volition." "That's the only way to eliminate him and protect the president at the same time." "Well, frankly, that's not my problem at a certain point." "Tensions with Russia are escalating daily, and the longer Craig Sterling stays in the situation room, the closer we get to war." "If he doesn't resign, and fast," "I'm going directly to the president." "Are we clear?" "Well, I'll look forward to putting that on his schedule." "Don't tell Carol." "A wise man once said, "The stiffest tree is the most easily cracked."" "What is that, Sun Tzu?" "Actually, it's Bruce Lee." "The point is, I've got the nudge." "You want to take Sterling down?" "Let's see how far he'll bend before he breaks." "Guess who was in my office this morning." "McCord's hatchet man." "Mike Barnow?" "And his stupid dog." "My assistant's allergic..." "it caused a hell of a..." "What did he want?" "Copies of my official schedule from last week, when we were meeting about the whole..." "Don't say it." "Not here." "I thought Russell Jackson had her under control." "He does." "She's just looking for a back door." "You mean like going to the press?" "Maybe." "But we have to play this very carefully." "What did you tell him?" "Barnow." "That I was taking some personal time for prayer and reflection." "He didn't buy it." "Well, he doesn't have to." "Unless there's something to find?" "Of course not." "Hey, I handled things at my end." "I'm just giving you a heads-up." "Thanks, Jamie." "I mean it." "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "CIA capture team ready to breach." "They're entering now." "Clear!" "He's gone." "What did we expect?" "We were too slow." "Hang on." "We got something here." "It's a body." "What the hell?" "Polonium." "I've seen it before." "Ephraim, do your guys have a Geiger counter with them?" "Shelby, radiation check." "Stand by." "He's crapped up." "He's hot." " Get them out of there." " Bag and tag." "Roger that." "Polonium poisoning." "There's only one country that uses that method of assassination." "Russia." "They were obviously behind the hack on Air Force One." "Now they're covering their tracks." "Mr. President, I think it's time to consider retaliatory options." "Elizabeth, do you think this is actionable?" "Polonium in and of itself isn't proof, but... if we get secondary confirmation from that tech, yes, sir." "Evacuating now." "I think we should retaliate." "Good." "General Kohl." "I want strike options from CyberCom on my desk in 12 hours." "Yes, Mr. President." " I'm going to the president." " We're not there yet." "You heard him." "We are on the verge of a cyber war with Russia." "I..." "If that's where it goes, fine." "But Craig Sterling is just a little too excited" " at the prospect for my taste." " Mine, too." "Well, then let's end it now." "Let's expose the scheme with Senator Parisi..." "And destroy Conrad's legacy." "Is that really what you want?" "Come on, listen, listen." "I once spent two days in a deer blind near Lake Wissota, nothing but caffeine pills and squirrel jerky to keep me awake." "I came home with a ten-point buck." "You what?" "Some things are worth the wait." "Not with Maria Ostrov on the throne." "She's already amassing troops on the Ukrainian border." "Either we..." "What do you think about General Reeves?" "Craig Sterling just proposed him to replace Ellen Hill." "Excellent." "That's a... good choice, I'm thinking." "Russell?" "I agree with the secretary on this one." " He's a fine candidate." " Good." "He was on my short list, too." "Have OGC get into it." "Yes, sir." "See?" "Nudge worked." "Now you're a threat." "I'm gonna call Mike and tell him to tee up the reporter." "I would say I told you so, but you know I'm above that." "Squirrel jerky." "Really?" "Yeah." "I wouldn't recommend it." "_" "You hear anything?" "No." "But Dmitri's now been MIA for more than eight hours." "It's possible there's an innocent explanation." "Well, I admire your optimism, Professor." "Look, Dmitri will lay low until he sees an opening." "That's how he was trained." "I'm sure he'll recover the phone soon." "Problem is, he can't." " Why's that?" " We had the phone removed." "We couldn't risk it falling into the wrong hands." "How the hell is he supposed to contact us?" "There's a strong possibility Dmitri's been exposed." " Or he defected." " No." "We can't make that assumption." "Either way, we're in a holding pattern." "What does that mean?" "We just sit on our hands?" "No." "We have agents retracing his steps, hacking into his service records." "But, Henry, the simplest explanation is... we lost him." "I refuse to believe that." "Let me know when you have something." "Harvest Glow melon extract... the natural rejuvenator." " Hi." " Hi." "...discover the natural..." "You think this stuff really works?" " Not a chance." " See, that's what I thought." "But the melon doesn't age." "It's weird." "How much did you buy?" "I..." "Just... the sample pack." "Two sample packs." "So... you've had a lot of... extra work lately." "Are there any actual TV shows on?" "Because God forbid we should talk?" "You have a bad day?" "Just your typical national security opera." "Puccini or Strauss?" "What's the one where they all die in the end?" "Well, if it's any consolation, I had a rough day, too." "I'm listening." "You first." "You know, I get we're duty-and honor-bound, committed to lives of service and all that, but this part where we can't talk about the most important things that we do all day, uh, that... cannot be healthy for us." "The most important part of my day is this, coming home." "Oh, you're good." "And your skin looks beautiful." " Pushing it." " It's so smooth." "Wait till you see it after a bucket of that stuff." "Sorry I had to cancel on you the other day." " I wanted to make it up to you." " Oh, no apologies necessary." " But go on." " Uh, there's this vineyard in Mount Airy that's actually supposed to be pretty good." " I figured we would drive up there..." " Not bike?" "Yeah." "Uh, no." "I actually figured we'd Zipcar." "Did you know the average car goes unused, like, 90% of the day?" "It's crazy inefficient." "So kind of like an all-day thing?" "Yeah." "We could... do a tasting, enjoy a picnic." "I have cleared my schedule accordingly." "Well, I got to check mine." "Aw, Saturday's no good." "I'm sorry." "Oh, that's no problem." "What about next week?" "Pretty bad, too." "How about if I call you?" "Uh, no, sure." "Yeah." "Absolutely." "Well, I will..." "I will talk to you then." "Are you blowing me off because you think I blew you off?" "Because, but for matters of national security..." "I know." "It was an unintentional, classified blow-off." "Got it." "Uh, Nadine." "Excuse me." "I got to..." "Oh." "Absolutely." "Uh, peace." "Peace?" " Didn't mean that." " This article is why God made expense accounts." "I need an extension." "Yes, another one." "You..." "Oh." "Crap." "Let me call you back." "Gordon, you remember Vanessa, don't you?" "Hi, Mike." "I know what you're thinking." "Is this a friendly hello, or is it the other thing?" "Spoiler alert: it's the other thing." "You're due." "Geez." "Already?" "You owe me a favor, not a birthday card." "You're due when I say it's due." "Yeah, I was sort of hoping you'd get hit by a bus first." "Tough luck." "Got a job for you." "And what happens if I refuse?" "Nothing." "Your dull, uninspiring life will continue as ever." "Oh." "So there's incentive." "Mmm." "There's an opening in Public Affairs at the Pentagon." "Deputy Communications Director to the SecDef." "Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from a gig on a major news network." "What's the pay grade on that, GS-12?" "More like 14." "Are you serious?" "Are you gonna throw that ball?" "There you go." "See?" "It's easy." "I have Vanessa Chung from The Chronicle on the line." "You know they have software for that, right?" "I'm old-school." "Vanessa." "How can I help you?" "Hi, Craig." "It's been a while." "I'm, uh, doing a profile on that nominee for the Joint Chiefs," "General Reeves." "I understand you endorsed him." "That's right." "Was there a quid pro quo on that?" "Because I have information that he bribed you for your support." "That's absolutely ridiculous." "Can I quote you on that?" "No." "Who the hell is your source?" "Mm, it's high-level, Craig." " You care to comment?" " No." "And if you print any of this, I'll sue your ass." " You hear me?" " Nice try." "It's running tomorrow." "When exactly did this alleged bribery take place?" "Last Thursday, Dryden House in Georgetown." "I wasn't even there." "Do you have proof?" "What, for every minute of the day?" "Yeah." "Craig." "You there?" "Craig?" "You set me up." "I beg your pardon?" "Reeves is dirty, isn't he?" "That's why you made me endorse him before I was ready." "That's why I am getting phone calls from Vanessa Chung." "From The Chronicle?" "She just accused me of meeting Reeves last week and taking kickbacks." "And you think I'm the source?" "This is funny to you?" "This is my career we're talking about." "Take a breath." "You really think" "I'm gonna expose the president to a scandal with an election coming up?" "Come on." "It's a bluff." "How much you want to bet that reporter is working for Mike B.?" "Just to screw me." "Yeah, well, she'll regret it, believe me." "What about the story?" "Just to screw me." "Yeah, well, she'll regret it, believe me." "What about the story?" "Give her an alibi." "I can't." "It involves a certain senator from Illinois." "Well, that's unfortunate." "All right." "I can kill the story." "The editor and I go way back, but Chung..." "Chung is a bulldog." "She's not gonna stop until she has the truth." "What do you want me to do?" "Handle it." "How do I know you're not playing me right now?" "Well, I gues you don't." "But, if you want to save your skin you don't really have a choice, do you?" "Dmitri's gone." "What?" "What-what do you mean?" "I mean his file's been wiped from the Russian system." "It's like he doesn't exist." "Damn it." "Someone wanted him to disappear, and it sure as hell wasn't us." "That's why I'm pulling his support team from Moscow." "Already?" "You can't do that." "It's my operation." "I'll do whatever I need to." "There are Russian troops amassed on the Ukraine border." "We need solid Intel," " now more than ever." " Exactly." "And I can't afford to keep assets in place for a kid who, let's face it, is probably dead." "What if you're wrong?" "You just want to write him off?" "No." "But if it comes to it, that's exactly what we're gonna do." "Or do we have a problem?" "No." "It's so easy for you, isn't it?" "Hey." "I learned the hard way, don't make this personal." "Okay." "Dmitri is in a position to become the most highly placed U.S. intelligence asset we've ever had in Russia." "He deserves every chance we can give him." "Just..." "Come on." "A couple of days to make contact." "That's all I ask." "You have 24 hours." "If he doesn't make contact by then, I'm shutting it down." "I definitely spooked him." "And the surveillance?" "Already in place." "If he takes the bait, we'll be ready." "Good." "What about our hacker?" "Any word on the Russia connection?" "We're still going through his effects." "It looks like he converted 20 million rubles, cash, into bitcoin over a week ago." "Still not definitive." "Not until we know exactly where that money came from." "I agree." "We need decrypts on that laptop." "Oliver Shaw is into it." "All right." "Let me know when you have something." "Yeah." "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "Petrov." "_" "_" "_" "Oh." "Uh..." "_" "_" "_" "Uh, Mr. Goodwin?" "This is Arkady from the Russian Fur Exchange." "I'm sorry for the delay, but I just joined a new sales team." "Your custom order is ready, and it includes an additional bonus gift." "We will be shipping in a half hour with full tracking." "Thank you." "Good-bye." "Oh." "Oh." "Hey, what's up?" "Got a signal from Dmitri." "He's okay." "Well, are you sure?" "Yeah, he left a coded voicemail." "And he's been transferred to the GRU." "Okay, is he operational?" "Yes, and he has something." "What is it?" "I don't know." "He's on his way to the dead drop now." "Okay." "ETA?" "30 minutes." "Great." "Thank you." " What's going on?" " Sir, you need to come with us." "Thanks, Armando." "Both of you." "I should have known." "Remember when I said you get a pass for betraying the president in the middle of negotiations with Cuba?" "Well, I lied." "And you're detaining me, why?" "Because you committed a crime." "No, I had a conversation with a senator from Illinois." "Yes." "But then again... there's this." "That's the planner you shredded in your office last night." "Planner that contained evidence of your conspiracy with Senator Parisi." ""Contained" being the operative word." "You can't prove anything." " Thing is, we don't have to." " That planner also had notes of official White House meetings." "By destroying it, you violated the Presidential Records Act of 1978." "It's a little thing they introduced after Watergate." "Which, if I'm not mistaken, carries a prison term of up to three years." "Probably more like 18 months when all is said and done, but still." "You can't do this." "We just did." "Way I see it, you can leave out the back door with your dignity intact, or you can go out the front in handcuffs." "It's really up to you." "Son of a bitch." "Not bad, as far as resignations go." "He always was a plain-spoken man." "Never should have trusted him." "I would say "I told you so,"" "but you know I'm above that." "Ha!" "Russell, this may be the most relaxed I've ever seen you." "What can I say?" "Career assassination is good for my heart." "Hello." "I see." "Right away." "That was the Pentagon." "They've decrypted Dash's laptop." "We have secondary confirmation." "It was Russia." "They paid him." "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this." "That makes two of us, sir." "By the way..." "Craig's resignation." "That was... sudden." "Yes, Mr. President." "General Reeves still on track?" "He'll breeze through the senate." "My team at CyberCom has come up with three possible retaliatory strikes against the Russian Federation, which we've designated Phases X, Y and Z." "X is our least aggressive option." "We target the Ostrov administration itself, initiating DNS attacks against government Web sites." "Phase Y:" "we expand that attack to military infrastructure." "Deactivate satellites and interrupt communications networks." "That alone should give them serious thoughts about attacking our interests in Ukraine." "And Phase Z?" "The kitchen sink." "We do all of the above, plus, we hit the Moscow power grid." "Give 'em a night they'll never forget." "Oliver, how prepared are we to withstand a counterattack?" "Sensitive networks have all been upgraded." "We're as ready as can be." "Good." "Because I want to make the Kremlin go dark." "Sir, I would strongly suggest that you consider Phase Y instead." "Phase Y is proportional, sir." "I'm aware of that." "I'm not looking for a proportional response." "I want to send a message." "Going after the military is one thing, but if we publicly humiliate Maria Ostrov in front of 12 million of her fellow countrymen, she'll have to retaliate." "I think she'll crumble after the first punch." "Either way, it's time to see what she's made of." "Conrad, I think this is a mistake." "You have eight hours to remove our key personnel from Moscow." "Meanwhile, summon the Russian ambassador." "I want them to know exactly what this was about." "Sir." "General Kohl, start the clock." "Yes, Mr. President." "You need to talk to him." "There's nothing to discuss." "Then look me in the eye and tell me that you're not afraid of where this is going." "Come on." "We got rid of Sterling because we wanted to stop a war." "We can walk this back." "I got rid of Sterling because he was sabotaging the president's agenda." "And right now, that agenda is sending the strongest possible message to Moscow." "When the president makes a decision, it's my duty to fall in line." "I suggest you do the same." "As you can see, Ostrov's plans are much more aggressive than anyone at the Pentagon anticipated." "She won't stop, not till she has all of Ukraine under military occupation." "Henry, this is a major intelligence coup." "Yeah, thanks, but I'm not the one putting my life on the line." "We do owe a great deal to your asset, that's true." "Well, I'm glad you feel that way, because Dmitri left a handwritten note with the plans in his dead drop." "Saying what?" "I hope he knows what that means." "That we can't protect him?" "Oh, yeah." "He knows." "Where will he go?" "Best guess?" "He'll seek asylum in Sweden with his sister." "At the end of the day, she's pretty much all he's got." "Madam Secretary, the Ambassador of Russia." "Elizabeth." "I hope this is quick." "One of my girlfriends has tickets for tonight's recital at the Kennedy Center." "Oh, don't worry." "It will be." "Mr. Ambassador, you have been summoned here to answer for the illegal and unconscionable cyber attack your country made on Air Force One." "Air Force One was hacked?" "In a deliberate assault... by your country." "I thought it was a solar flare." "Don't play games with me." "Please, Madam Secretary, I'm merely trying to..." "Just listen." "I have a message for your president." "The United States maintains its right to retaliate when we deem it necessary." "Tonight... we deem it necessary." "When is this happening?" "Right now."