"Did you hear that?" "Come on." "Freeze, this is the police." "Drop your weapons and place your hands above your heads." "And in the local news, six youth gang members were killed in a shoot-out last night with police in South Los Angeles." "Police Commissioner Davidson called a news conference earlier this morning to comment on the shooting." "As Police Commissioner of Los Angeles County," "I have called this emergency news conference." "We have a crisis." "The juvenile gang problem is completely out of control." "The missing automatic weapons have not been recovered." "We now have a lead which shows that some of the weapons have fallen into the wrong hands." "It's true that law enforcement is being driven to deplorable extremes, but those guns are out there." "And believe me, if the people who have them get organized, no one will stand a chance." "Commissioner Davidson also said that several weapons have been..." "For the six." "One-W-90, this is Lieutenant Bishop in unmarked vehicle, requesting assignment." "Is Staff Seven there?" "Stand by." "One-W-20, this is Staff Four." "If I look around real hard, maybe I can find something for you to do." "Hey, hey, Captain Collins." "Hello there." "I'm surprised to hear your voice, sir." "W-20, so, how's it going so far, Lieutenant?" "One-W-90, okay." "Seeing as I've been on the job exactly four minutes." "W-20, I've got a temporary reassignment for you tonight." "A little supervisory job for the Police Department." "Proceed to Precinct Nine, Division 13, and take over from Captain Gordon." " Isn't that the Anderson Precinct?" " Affirmative." "But they're closing it down." "Nothing for me to do there, except stare at the packing crates." "You wanna be a hero your first night out Lieutenant?" "Yes, sir." "There are no heroes anymore, Bishop, only men who follow orders." "W-90, yes, sir." "Proceeding to Precinct Nine, Division 13." "KMA-492 off." "Starker?" "This way." " Well, they sure gave you some sweet job." " Better than some." "Carrying a busload of hate is not my idea of better than anything." "This is Wells and Caudell." " Is he all right?" " He's just got a little cold." " Where's Wilson?" " We got him in a special room." "This is Napoleon Wilson." " Got a smoke?" " Close the door." "I want you to know something, Wilson." "Now, I don't enjoy driving anybody to death row." "You try anything, anything," "I've got two guards with shotguns and they'll blow you apart." " Sure could use a smoke." " You understand me, Wilson?" "You mumble a little bit, but I get the general idea." "Let's go." "Slipped right out of the chair." "Yeah." "I don't sit in chairs as well as I used to." " Get him up." " Come on, let's go." "I'm all jealous of you, Wilson." "You get all this VIP treatment." "Here they let me walk around almost free." " Hey." " What?" " You got a smoke on you?" " Yeah." " But I'm not gonna give it to you." " Why not?" " Not good for you." "Smoking can kill you." " You don't like competition?" " You think you're real fancy, don't you?" " I have moments." "All right, knock off the talking." "Let's move." "Move." "Okay if I stretch a minute?" "You're gonna chain me to a seat and drive for hours." "We get to Sonora, you're gonna chain me in a cell." "Maybe for as long as 90 years." "Chains is all I got to look forward to." "Go ahead." "You know, Wilson, I'm gonna miss you." "That's not the truth, Warden." "Now, you should always tell the truth." "Even a little white lie can sometimes trip a man up." "He don't stand up as good as he used to." "But the sun-spotting caused an unusually... with the early morning shooting of six youths, now known to be members of a South Los Angeles gang known as Street Thunder." "Davidson also commented on the highly unusual interracial mixture of the gang victims, and pointed..." "All right, let's go over this again." "Now, what are you gonna tell Margaret?" " I forget." " You're gonna say, "Margaret,"" ""I want you to come up and live with us now that Fred is gone."" "I want you to come and live with us, now that Fred is dead." " Gone." " Gone." ""We have a big spare room all ready for you."" "We have a big spare room all ready for you." ""And I told my daddy, if you don't come up and live with us," " "then I'm gonna run away from home."" " She'll never buy that." "Okay, drop that one." " Daddy?" " Yeah?" "I'm hungry." "You'd rather eat than get your nanny out of this horrible neighborhood." "Well, I'd know what to say to her better if I had something to eat." "Where is that street?" "I can never seem to find that street." "Why don't we ask them?" "Bonaire Place." "I think it's down here, just a couple of blocks more." "Mrs. Seward says a policeman's always there to answer questions and to help you when you're in trouble." "Obviously, Mrs. Seward has never taken any big steps outside of the sixth grade." "We're not in any trouble, honey." " Yeah?" " Hello, I'm Lieutenant Bishop." "Yes, sir." "One moment." "I'll tell the Captain you're here." " Hello, Lieutenant." " Hi." " I'm Leigh." " Ethan Bishop." "This is Julie." " Hello, Julie." " Hello." " Things are quiet." " For a change." " You took over at the right time." " Apparently." "When are you moving?" "They shut off the phones and the electricity at 10:00 tomorrow morning." " That sounds pretty final." " Would you like some coffee, Lieutenant?" " Yes, thank you." " Just made some fresh." "I'll get you a cup." "Thanks." "Hello, 7814." "No, I'm sorry, the precinct has been relocated." "Let me give you the new number." "734-3612." "You're welcome." "The phone company should be doing this." "They're supposed to cut in at 5:00." "Hello." "May I speak to Supervisor 12, please?" "Yes, hello." "This is 734-374..." " Black?" " For over 30 years." "I'm sorry." "Two sugars." "I grew up four blocks from here." "When I was about four or five, my father sent me in here one day with a note." "Detective read it and said, "We lock up little boys who can't behave."" "When he went to call my father," "I carved something on the top of his desk with a letter opener." "For months, I was afraid he might see it and come after me." "Why did your father send you in here?" "For using foul language in the presence of my mother." "What did you carve on the desk?" "Kind of advanced for a little kid." "Your father or somebody obviously got you out of Anderson early enough." "The Captain would like to see you now, Lieutenant." "Be right there." "By the way, no one took me out of Anderson when I was a baby." "I walked out, myself, when I was 20." " Enjoy your new police station." " I will." "Thanks for the coffee." "Well, are they out?" "Then get them out!" "Double your patrols." "Go ahead." "Send them up there." "Don't call over here every time another division stubs its toe." "What a night." "We've had a 3-12 every 15 minutes." "Twelve stolen cars, three burglaries, eight aggravated assaults." "And it's not even 8:00." "Could be the sunspots." "Pressure on the atmosphere." "I heard it on the radio." "At 7:00 I'm going over to the new station on Ellendale." "You take over here till Weaver comes in at 4:00." "All you do is answer the telephone and send over any strays." "There may be some who still think this is a police station." " Are there any facilities left over here?" " A couple of cells and a bathroom." "I don't understand why this place is still open." "Well, it is and it isn't, Lieutenant." "The result of transition." "I really think someone in the central office wanted to give you something special on your first night out." "That sure got around fast." "I'm going to talk to Wilson." "Watch me." "You don't mind if I sit down a minute or two, do you, Wilson?" " Got a smoke on you?" " You asked me before." " Well, I never got a definite answer." " I don't smoke." "That's a definite answer." "Another one gone." "When you're in my position, days are like women." "Each one is so goddamn precious." "They always end up leaving you." "What do you want?" " Why?" "Do I have to want something?" " You're a cop." "You're either curious about me or you wanna give me some shit." " I don't understand you, Wilson." " Curious." " You're not a psychopath." "You're not stupid." " I am an asshole." " Can't take everything away from me." " Why did you kill those men?" "Everybody asks me the same question." "I always tell them the same thing." "First time I ever saw a preacher, he said to me, "Son, there's something strange about you." ""You got something to do with death." Being real young, I believed him." " Turned out he was right." " That's no answer." " I thought it was pretty good." " Where'd you get a name like Napoleon?" " I'll tell you sometime." " When?" "Moment of dying." "I'm gonna do my best to be there when your time comes." "Hey." "He's really sick." "I thought the warden said it was only a cold." "The man is sick." " How long till we get to Sonora?" " Another six hours." "We gotta stop." "What's the closest precinct?" "Anderson." " Descanso to Pinehurst." " Daddy?" " To Glen Oaks?" " Daddy?" " Daddy, the ice-cream man." " Wait a second, Margaret." "Here you go." "Okay, by your place?" "Descanso to Pine..." "I mean, Descanso to Glen Oaks, right?" "Right." "Then I..." "Can I get an ice cream?" " It's late, sweetheart." "I'm closed." " The music's still playing." "Please, can't I get an ice cream?" " What flavor?" " Vanilla twist." "Jesus." "Come on." "Come on, I'll give you my money." "Just don't hurt me, please." "Please." "Hey, this is regular vanilla." "I wanted vanilla twist." "Okay, Margaret, I'll see you in a few minutes." "Right, bye." "Gun." "In the truck, under the dash." " Hello." " Hello, Lieutenant, Special Officer Starker." "Ethan Bishop." "I'm on my way to Sonora with three prisoners." "About half an hour ago one of them got pretty sick." " I think it's serious." " What is it?" "Well, I don't know, but I'd like to put him in your holding tanks until I can call a doctor." "I guess you didn't see the sign." "Well, the station isn't here anymore." "It's being relocated." "Well, yeah, but you're here." "Waiting for the electricity to go off in the morning." "Are you telling me that I can't put them in your holding tanks?" "If you just get back on the main boulevard, go about 10 blocks..." "Look, I don't have a lot of time to discuss it." "Now, if what that man has in the bus is infectious, then all of us will have it." "Now, the sooner we can put him in the holding tanks and I get on the phone and call a doctor..." " Okay." "Bring him in." " All right." " Isn't that overdoing it a little?" " Napoleon Wilson." "No kidding." " Got a smoke?" " No." "Sorry." "Well, you see one floating around, snag it for me, will you?" " May be a sick man back there." " Just passing through." "I have to admit it, Wilson." "You do have some fancy moves." "For a man in leg irons." "Come on, man, pull yourself together." "Come on, speak up." "Speak up." "Lieutenant?" " Who?" " Wait a minute." " Lot of action for a closed-down station." " Ease up a little, Chaney." "He can't talk." "He says there's somebody following him." "Who..." "Come on." "Look, operator, I have been waiting 10 minutes." "What do you mean?" "Where's he gone to?" " He's gone on a coffee break." " What's your name?" "What do you mean he's not available?" "Who's after you?" "Where is he?" "Coffee break?" "Get him off the coffee break." "Yes, I'll continue holding." "Police doctors." " Just relax." " Just a minute." "Let's calm down..." " There's nobody out there." " Let's try to..." "You're safe now." "Chaney, help me take him to the Captain's office." " Take it easy." " Come on." "Hello?" "I just got cut off." "Do we have a blanket somewhere?" " Yeah." " Okay, wrap him up." " Make sure he stays warm." " Right." " I'll call the doctor." " Good luck." "I mean, first I got put on hold, then I got cut off, and now I can't even get a dial tone." "They didn't cut you off." " What are you talking about?" " The phone's dead." "Maybe the company shut it off early." "That's it." "I'm leaving." "Lieutenant, you run this station like chicken night in Turkey." "Thanks a lot!" "He was mumbling, something about his daughter being shot." " Where?" " I don't know." "He still can hardly talk." "What about the phone?" " Now what?" " Power failure?" "The streetlights are still on." "I'll call Ellendale on the two-way in my car." "Chaney just fell down." " He didn't fall." "He was shot." " What?" "Couldn't tell if he was still alive." " But there wasn't any sound." " Silencers." "They're using silencers." "They're in those trees over there." "Why would anybody shoot at a police station?" "Starker!" "Lock the doors!" "Stay down, away from the windows!" "Phone breaks down, the lights go off." "With the highway patrol running this place, it's amateur night in Dixie." "Open the door!" "Let me in!" "Get up!" "You're not gonna let us sit in here." "At least take these cuffs off." "Hey!" "Hey!" " Leigh?" " Yeah?" "I want you to stay at the window." "I'll be right back." " You both all right?" " Fabulous, as usual." "What's happening out there?" "Hey." "Come on!" "We got a right to know what's happening." "Hey!" "Left out again." "Life just seems to pass us by, doesn't it?" " I think they're gone." "I can't see anything." " Is there a back way out?" "Past the holding tanks, there's a door at the rear." " We're blocked off back there." " How come?" "There's a big wall with a barbed wire fence around it." "The only way out from the back is to come around front." "Come with me." " What about the houses behind the wall?" " Empty." "All the houses in back are condemned and boarded up." "No one lives nearby anymore?" "There are two houses at the end of the block." " How far are they from the station?" " 500, 600 yards." " That means no one nearby heard anything." " That's impossible!" "They're using silencers." "No gun shots." "The only sounds are the windows breaking." "Well, somebody could've heard that." "I really think they're gone." "I mean, take a look." " I found a box of magnesium flares." " No flare gun." "Figures." "Try to get that open." "Nothing." " Not a goddamn thing moving anywhere." " See?" "If you'll just look outside, you'll see they're gone." "Look, I can't get this open." "Damn thing's solid." "What are you doing with that thing?" "We should be figuring a way to get out of..." "You got any suggestions?" "We're gonna stay here and hold until somebody comes." "Okay?" "We're in the middle of a city, inside a police station." "Someone is bound to drive by eventually." "It may take 15, 20 minutes." "They'll come." "It doesn't look like they cut our phone lines." "They're still connected to the pole." "I'll bet they took out a whole pole down the block." "What does that mean?" "If phone lines are down in the area, no one nearby can call in." "But doesn't the phone company automatically know" " where there's a line down?" " Wait a minute." "There they are." "They've set up a road block." "Someone's coming!" "What does that mean?" "I think we've just been marked for something." " Let me guess what it is." " This is a siege." "It's a goddamn siege." "He's the one they want." "Why don't we give him to them?" "Well, don't give me that civilized look." "This is my station tonight." "He came in here for help." "He's gonna get all the help we can give him." "Very nice, Lieutenant." "Thank you." "No!" "Get them out of the cells." "Come on, baby." "Hurry it up." "Okay." "Get out front." "Quick." "Move!" "Hide!" "Give me a gun!" "They're coming down the hall." " I can't hold it." " Shit!" "The windows!" "Watch the front." "Julie?" "Wilson?" "We gotta barricade that door." "Give me a hand." "Wells, you watch the front and the two offices." "You saved my life." "Twice now." "Twice?" "First time outside by the bus." "I figured that was a mistake on your part, so I let it go." "Then you did it again when you pulled us out of the cells." "You must be serious about keeping me alive." "I want all of us alive." "This time I know somebody heard us." "There'll be squad cars here in five minutes." "Acetylene." " If a stray bullet had hit this..." " Come look at this." "How is it?" "I can't move it, and it hurts like a son of a bitch." "That was close timing in there." "You were good." "If I'd been any good in here, maybe she'd still be alive." "They moved the cars." "Can't believe it." "They parked them where they were before." " Why'd they do that?" " From a distance, the street looks normal." " Like nothing happened." " Like nothing happened?" "They gunned down five police officers, a secretary, one prisoner!" "We killed a dozen of them, and that's "nothing happened"?" "Where are the bodies?" "They took them away." " How'd they do it so fast?" " Maybe they got the good fairy to help them." "You really are a smart ass." " Prison bus is gone and so are the bodies." " They dragged old Starker away." "Too bad." "I promised to tell him something." "What's going on?" "What are they doing out there?" "They're hiding every single sign that there's been an attack on this building." "What I wanna know is what started all of this?" "He came running in here..." " Jesus Christ, 30 minutes ago!" " Now, all of this about one man?" "Don't forget the Cholo." "They delivered it to us." "Cholo?" "You look like somebody spit in your socks." "No one said anything about the Cholo." "All right, all right." "What does it mean?" "It means they don't care." "They're not afraid to die." "Any of them." "They want to rip us apart, no matter what it costs." " It means to the death." " How do you know so much about it?" "I spent some time in a cell with one of them crazy young bastards once." "This can't happen." "Not in the middle of a city." " Not today." " Then let's pinch each other and wake up." "There was gun fire for a minute and a half, two minutes." " I can't believe no one heard us." " Maybe they heard it." "What do they see?" "An empty street?" "An empty police station?" "Maybe somebody from the new precinct will come by." "In the meantime, I've got this plan." "Now, it's called save ass." "Now, the way it works is this:" "I slip out of one of these windows, and I run like a bastard." "Wells." " You know I can't let you do that." " I'm not asking you to let me." "They'll cut you down before you get 10 feet." " Are you on his side, Wilson?" " No sides to it." "We're all together." "I've been shot once tonight." "I don't feel like a second time." "I just wanted to say one thing to you before you jump out that window." "When they drag you off," "I'll lean out and ask them if they wouldn't mind saying a little prayer as they dump you in some vacant lot next to the five other police officers and your sick, handcuffed friend." "I go through all that and his gun isn't even loaded." "Goddamn silencer." "I've been clicking off empty shots all night, and I didn't even know it." "Very close timing." "You are good." "Sometimes." "Problem is he's not alone." "This goddamn thing's got three shots left in it." " Wilson?" " Three rounds." " Leigh." " Two shots." "If there's any spare ammunition around here, I don't know where it is." "Anybody got a smoke?" "Got a light?" "One-X-Five, we have a series of reports of firecrackers and/or gunfire between Ninth and Warren." "The telephone service is still out in the fourth quadrant from Warren to Vermont." "Telephone repair vehicle does not respond to radio communication." "Jesus Christ." "We got a war going on down here and we can't find the damn thing." "This is Unit Seven." "We are making a rapid circuit of Quadrant Four." "Everything looks quiet and normal." "Nothing unusual to report at this time." "We're gonna make another full circuit." "Suggest backup vehicles and helicopter surveillance, over." "One-X-Five, as soon as other units are available, they will be sent into your area." "All helicopters are in use at this time." "How the hell do they expect us to find anything without backup?" " It's that damn Saturday night overload." " This is Unit Seven, 10-4." "Hey, don't you want to check that street?" " That's Gramercy, wasn't it?" " Yeah." " Nothing down there but the old station." " Don't you wanna cruise it?" "What for?" " It'll work." " You guys are crazy." " You sure about the basement?" " I'm sure." " What if you're wrong?" " I said I was sure." "But what if you're wrong?" "I've worked here for five years." "I ought to know the place." " Looks pretty good to me." " Looks like hell, but it's all we got." "Who goes?" "I gotta tell you, I don't know how to hot wire a car." "I'm a cop." " Between me and Snow White." " Shit!" "Shit, shit!" "What's wrong?" "We haven't flipped a coin yet." "I'm gonna lose." " You got a bad attitude, Wells." " I always lose." "Had bad luck all my life." "How do you think I ended up in here?" " Maybe it'll change." " It might." "If we don't flip a coin." " Let's do something else." " What?" "Potatoes." "All right." "One potato, two potato, three potato, four." "Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more." "Eight potato, nine potato, ten potato, eleven." "Kiss my ass and go to heaven." "Y-O-U spells you." "I told you I'd lose." "God damn it, we're gonna do it again." "Hey, hey." "There isn't time." " Well, how come she's out of it?" " All right, if I can do it with one arm." "Still no sign of them." "Let's get moving." " You want me to show you where it is?" " I'll take him down." "You stay up here." "It's right next to the furnace." "You can't miss it." "Nobody gonna wish me luck?" " Good luck." " Good luck." "Look at that." "Two cops wishing me luck." "I'm doomed." "Five feet down to the sewer, 20 yards straight ahead to the manhole." "Right." "What I wanna know is what the hell is the difference between this" " and what I was gonna do 10 minutes ago?" " No difference." "But you stopped me then." "Why not now?" "One thing, when you get out of here, make sure you call the cops before you take off for the border?" "Now, what makes you think I'd do that?" "I'll see you, Wilson." "That basement's not a bad place to be if they come at us again." "The only way in is down that long, narrow hallway." "We might be able to hold them back for a couple of minutes." "We'd be trapped down there." "But we're not gonna last up here with only eight shots between us." "The upstairs is out." "Wide open up there." "Someone will come." "A man with faith, a rare quality." "What about you?" "I've never had too much faith in anyone coming to my rescue." "Maybe you've been associating with the wrong people." " I've been with policemen for five years." " That's enough to grow hair on a rock." " And you?" " I believe in one man." "Hey!" "He's there!" "It's still clear." "Move." "What the hell is he waiting for?" "He's clear in front." "Move, damn it!" "He's out." "Go, you son of a bitch." "They've seen him." "Save it for us." "He made it." "He made it!" " Go, go." " Hit it, hit it!" "He's gonna make it." "Maybe it was just a window breaking." "Sons of bitches." "Too bad, Wells." "He never got to see the border." "We'd better get down in that basement." "Look, we're out of time, out of ammunition." "Just like Wells, we're out of luck." "Take a look." "Let's go." "We can make one last stand." "Take that sign, put it down the end of the hallway." "It'll help us stand them off." " What do we use to hold them back with?" " Anything we can find." " You still have the gun?" " Two shots." "Do I save it for the two of us?" "You save them for the first two assholes who come through that vent." "They're bound to have seen Wells come up out of the manhole." "What do I use on the rest of them that come climbing through?" "Then you'll have to wing it." "None of us know who he is, what happened to him, or what he's done." "He could be anybody or anything." " I'm curious about one thing." " Just one?" "No, there are other things, but at the moment this one interests me the most." " What's that?" " Why didn't you climb through that vent and take off down the sewer in the other direction?" "There are two things a man should never run from, even if they cost him his life." "One is a man who's helpless and can't run with you." "What's the other?" "Come here a minute, Wilson." "The very least of our problems is we've run out of time." "It's an old story with me." "I was born out of time." "Acetylene tank, magnesium flares." "We strap the flares onto the tank then tie them both up on that pipe." "I stand in the doorway with my rifle." "I shoot the flares, they ignite the tank." "We blow the hell out of everybody in this hallway!" "And what's gonna keep it from blowing the hell out of us?" "You hold up that sign in front of the door for cover." " Can you hit it from there?" " I got three shots." "That's enough." " Can't argue with a confident man." " Let's go." "This is Unit Seven." "We've just checked the fire lane between Gramercy and Imperial." "Dark, quiet and deserted." "Request instructions, over." "What are those cars doing over there?" "There's supposed to be a few people on duty." "They've been moving things out of there for the past couple of weeks." "They're probably between here and the new station." "We're wasting time here." "I don't know." "There's something funny back there." "One-X-Five, we have continued reports of gunfire between Ninth and Warren." "How come we don't hear a goddamn thing?" "Most reports are from residents who are unable to pinpoint the location of the gunfire." "The telephone repair vehicle is officially reported lost." "We are sending four backup units in to assist you." "This is Unit Seven." "Still nothing unusual to report." "We cannot locate the source of the gunfire." "Repeat request for immediate helicopter surveillance." "Over." "One-X-Five, as soon as a helicopter is available, we will send it in." "This is Unit Seven, 10-4." "There's something wrong here somewhere." "Would you listen to that?" "It's starting to rain." "Just what we need." "There's something funny about that old station back there." "Hey, that's not rain." "What the hell is that?" "Jesus Christ." "This is Unit Seven, emergency to all precincts and vehicles." "Emergency." "Emergency." "Molotov cocktails." "They'll set the goddamn place on fire." "This is it." "Let's go." "Sorry." "Kind of pretty." "Can I ask you a question?" "Being a cop, I figured you'd get around to it eventually." "How did you come to be named Napoleon Wilson?" "I'll tell you sometime." " When will you tell me?" " Maybe in a minute or two." "Can't argue with a confident man!" "Anybody got a smoke?" "We have a stretcher for you, miss." "Miss." "Get away from him!" "It would be a privilege if you'd walk outside with me." "I know it would." "You're pretty fancy, Wilson." "I have moments."