Escape to L.A.

[Sarah's home]

(Esther parks outside number 1032. It is boarded up and has Keep Out painted on the boards.)

ESTHER: Sarah? It's me. It's Esther. Sarah? Are you there?

(Someone undoes the five locks on the front door and opens it, but keeps the chain on.)

ESTHER: Hey.
SARAH: These people, they were looking for you. They kept asking me questions about you.
ESTHER: I know. I'm sorry. I can't stay long but what have you done with the house? Where are the kids?
SARAH: They're in here with me.
ESTHER: Can I see them?
SARAH: Esther, I'd never hurt them.
ESTHER: But, I can't stay.
GIRL [OC]: Mom!
ESTHER: I'm leaving town. I've got to go today.
SARAH: Don't go to Boston. There's cholera in Boston, they said on the news. Don't go to Philly either. Dysentery. New York's got typhus and hemorrhagic fever.
ESTHER: Sarah, that's just what they're saying online. It's not that bad.
SARAH: But we've changed. All of us, didn't we? Something in the air infected us. It made us godless.
ESTHER: Let me in. Let me see the girls.
SARAH: I'm not letting them out. They can't come outside. I won't let them.
ESTHER: Let me in, Sarah, please.

(Sarah shuts the door on Esther.)

GIRL [OC]: Mom, tell her to stop.
ESTHER: Honey, I know this is crazy but, you're safe, I promise. Look, I'm working with these people and we're gonna stop this. I'm leaving town with them and we've got some things to do, but I'll come back as soon as I can. Please. Please let me say goodbye to the girls.
SARAH: No.
GIRL [OC]: Mom!
SARAH: No.
ESTHER: I'll come back As soon as I can, okay?

[Esther's car]

(Esther makes a phone call.)

ESTHER: Hello. Yeah, I'd like to report there are two children that I believe might be in danger. Melanie and Alice Drummond, daughters of Sarah Drummond. Their address is 1032 King Sovereign Road. I'm sorry, I can't give you my name. I just want you to help them.

[Surveillance car]

(The black car has the rotating triangle on its media screen.)

ASSASSIN: Confirmed. I found Esther Drummond. The pathway to Torchwood's open and clear.
COUSIN [OC]: Follow her to Harkness. Do what you like with the others.

CANDICE: And the miracle continues with health care throughout America now reaching a state of crisis.
NNM: The courts have been flooded with claims and counter claims as people adjust to a new form of life.
SICK MAN: I had a heart attack in October. The company replaced me, but I can still work. It's not like I'm gonna die, am I? So if I have to sue them to get my job back, then I will.
MONROE: Who is there to speak for the living when the White House is silent? The Vatican is silent? The scientists are silent? Well, I am not.
CANDICE: In business news, pharmaceutical companies are predicting record profits. PhiCorp has pledged a payback scheme in local communities around its Los Angeles headquarters.

[Venice Beach, California]

REX: Ugh. Twenty seven hundred miles. Man, am I sick of your ugly faces.

(They all get out of the estate car and stretch.)

REX: Anyone got change for the meter? Last thing we need with a stolen car is getting a ticket.
JACK: No coins.
ESTHER: No, I've only got plastic. You said no plastic.

(Rex goes to a magazine vendor.)

REX: Hey, my man. You got change for a dollar?

(They head onto the beach.)

GWEN: Wow, look at that horizon. We've reached the edge of America.
JACK: Decades since I saw the Pacific. Must be about seventy years.
ESTHER: Are you kidding when you say things like that?
JACK: Oh, ho, ho. I wonder.
GWEN: So where's PhiCorp from here?
ESTHER: Maybe about ten miles that way. Technically it's another city. PhiCorp headquarters is in Los Angeles and we're in Venice.
JACK: We need to find somewhere to hide while we plan the assault.
GWEN: Oh, can't we stay here by the sea? Not some stinking, dirty pit for once, Jack. Please?

(Rex has got himself something to eat. A hippie woman hands him a leaflet.)

WOMAN: Hey, man. Believe.

(It says Dead is Dead. He sees them posted up all over the place, then makes a call.)

[Washington DC / Venice Beach]

VERA: Can't get rid of you can I, dead man walking?
REX: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me ask you something. What is this Dead is Dead shit? I see posters all over the place.
VERA: It's the latest campaign. As if Oswald Danes wasn't bad enough, this one is led by Ellis Hartley Monroe. One of those small-town mayors trying to make a name for herself. Where are you?
REX: Sorry, Doc, no can say. But if I wanted to know where I could get prescription drugs in Los Angeles, no questions asked, then you could make your own conclusions.
VERA: And that's the only reason you called me?
REX: Well, you are the doctor.
VERA: What are you doing in LA?
REX: I never said I was in LA.
VERA: Well, it might surprise you to learn that I haven't got my own private network of drug runners on the West Coast.
REX: Come on, Vera. You'll find a way. I've seen what you can do with the doctor patient relationship, and the Hippocratic oath, it doesn't cover it.
VERA: Ellis Hartley Monroe started the Dead is Dead campaign, and do you know why? She thinks we should treat people who should have died as if they're already dead. And right now, I think she's got a point. I'm busy. Thank you, Rex.
REX: You are so gonna call me back.
VERA: I am so not.

[Abandoned hospital]

(A group are being taken on a quick tour by a woman.)

BISME: We don't have all day, Doctor Juarez. This hospital has been empty since '92, '93. But it's still in remarkable condition, all things considered. So if you could listen. Now, we have representatives from City General, Saint Mary's, Saint Helen's, The Open Brook, Grand Maple Forest, Attenwood's and Woolsey Heights, yes? All of you with ICU Departments stretched to the breaking point. This would be the solution. We bring 'them all here, all the emergency patients en masse. Rather than fifteen hospitals at maximum capacity, we have one. This one.
VERA: But this place is abandoned. We're gonna need equipment and staff.
BISME: All that taken into consideration, but the strategy would work.
SIMRAN: So we just put everyone inside and close the door? Do you know what they used to call that in the old days? A plague ship.
Let me stress this. This is a short term measure. The plan itself would have to be initiated by tomorrow.
VERA: That's impossible.
SIMRAN: That's not enough time.
BISME: The people want a healthcare solution and they want it immediately. Now for most of the people, Miracle Day is just that, it's a miracle. People are beginning to move beyond the panic to the possibilities of a golden age.
VERA: As long as the sick and the old are hidden away from sight.
BISME: Exactly. But let's not forget, this isn't anything new. The western world has always hidden its unwanted. We signed on for that a long time ago before any miracles appeared. And you, you said yourself, the plague ship is an old idea. Now I have set up a schedule and I've made a list of transport liaison managers. If you would just

[Apartment]

(The team are shown the accommodations by a hefty tattooed man.)

LANDLORD: I'm not gonna pretend. It ain't nirvana. If you want somewhere with no questions asked, this is the best I've got.
REX: Well, as long as it's got electricity and a roof, this is all we need.
ESTHER: Hot water would be good.
LANDLORD: I don't suppose it's any good asking who you are.
JACK: We're travelling circus folk.
REX: Yeah, and he's the clown.
GWEN: I'm the bearded woman, but I've shaved.
JACK: Yeah, you missed a bit. Cash in hand, and there's more of that tomorrow as long as you don't tell anyone we're here. If anybody does ask, you let us know straight away.
LANDLORD: Sure thing. By the way, if you get hungry, there's a cafe on the corner that does a guava jalapeno cheese tart that's just fabulous. Laters.

(Their landlord leaves.)

REX: Fabulous? What is it with you? You make everybody around you gay?
JACK: That's the plan.
ESTHER: Okay, now we can use this place as our delivery address, we can order that spare server. Then we start in on PhiCorp. But first thing we've got to do is lift out the security profile.

(Gwen's phone rings.)

GWEN: Oh, sorry, I've got to take this. Sorry. Er, yeah. I, sorry.

[Venice Beach / Swansea]

GWEN: No, you know what Torchwood's like. It's terrible. I mean we're living in this shed thing. And there's no electricity, there's no water, it's dark and cold and damp.
RHYS: Huh. I thought it was boiling hot in Los Angeles all year round.
GWEN: Yeah, well, they lied, Rhys. They lied.
RHYS: What's that noise? Is that people?
GWEN: Yeah, street gangs.
RHYS: Was that a seagull?
GWEN: Er, it's a woman, er, on the rampage. A mad woman. Anyway, so how's my little girl?
RHYS: Don't call me that, Gwen.
GWEN: You're very funny. Do I get to say hello?
RHYS: No. It took me two hours to get her to sleep. She was fretting like mad. I'm not waking her, so tough.
GWEN: I'm not on holiday, Rhys. I'm out here working.
RHYS: Still tough. So, what's happening with PhiCorp then?
GWEN: Uh, yeah, things. Esther's bouncing this signal off a Chinese satellite so I don't want to say too much just in case.

(Someone is taking photographs of her.)

GWEN: There's one thing you've got to sort out, okay, and that's my dad. They keep saying that the hospitals are full of MRSA, so can you get him out?
RHYS: That's impossible, honestly, now. They said on the news no one's allowed to move. But he's safe enough, Gwen.
GWEN: I have never felt so far away. Look, I just don't trust the hospitals, Rhys. Please, there's go to be something you can do. Look, I've got to go, okay? I'm busy. They really need me. We're on a mission. Er, just get my dad out, Rhys, okay, and I'll phone you tonight.
RHYS: It's already tonight.

(Gwen ends the call. The photographer reports in.)

MAN: Torchwood located.

[Apartment]

(They are using a plain wall as a big screen for the computers.)

GWEN: Sorry. Rhys. Sorry.
ESTHER: We've all got family. The sooner we get this done the sooner we can see them.
GWEN: Okay, what do you need me to do?
REX: Well, this PhiCorp raid means we need to lift out the security protocols on Jilly Kitzinger's files. You think you can do that?
GWEN: Mmm hmm. Got Torchwood software ready and waiting.
DANES [on wall]: There is a lot of
GWEN: You're obsessed with this bastard.
JACK: I'm gonna put a permanent trace on him so we always know where he is.
ESTHER: What about Kitzinger? Did we find anything more on her?
REX: She's freelance. She's been working with PhiCorp for about six months. She's good, but I don't think she's connected. She just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
ESTHER: Just like Oswald. We're wasting our time tracking them.
JACK: It's never a waste of time, because our greatest problem is that what's happened to the world is invisible. But quite by chance Oswald's found himself right at the heart of it. George Eliot wrote this chapter in Middlemarch. She said that if you take a piece of metal with random scratches all over it and hold a flame up to the metal, the scratches look like they're forming patterns circling around the light. And that's Oswald. He's blazing away and patterns are starting to revolve around him. And all we have to do is keep watching.

[Danes' hotel]

(Danes is in a very nice hotel room, with a soft bed. He is enjoying listening to the fizz as he unfastened drinks bottles from the mini-bar. There is a knock on the door and Jilly enters. A guard's back can just be seen outside.)

JILLY: Change of plans. Got some statistics here. You'll need to memorise them. The White House is planning some sort of rally in Los Angeles. We might have to move by the end of the week. But the good news is, PhiCorp has asked me to stay at your side full time. Evidently someone over there believes you're important. Who am I to argue?
DANES: Glorious. I'll bet that's killing you, Miss Kitzinger, because you can't stand the sight of me.
JILLY: No I can't. No sir, not at all. But it is not my job to like you. I will find your coffee. I will accompany you to the studio, recommend whether Diane Sawyer is better than Piers Morgan. All that and more, but between me and you, it's your hands. I can't look at your hands without thinking about what they did.
DANES: You ever wonder why anyone considers me important?
JILLY: I'm sure someone's got a reason.
DANES: Wouldn't you like to know what it is?
JILLY: Very much so.
DANES: How much do you know about our masters at PhiCorp? Because I did a little searching of my own last night. It's been a long, long time since I was allowed online. I tried to find out who's above PhiCorp, who owns them. And the strangest thing happened. The information just scattered away. All sorts of names and tangents and diversions, but nothing tangible. And that's when I recognised the pattern, because I've had a lot of experience perfecting how to hide myself online. And suddenly I'm looking at someone else doing the same but on a massive scale. Worldwide. I wonder why. Time to go.
JILLY: What for?
DANES: Central News, three thirty. Isn't that right?
JILLY: If you would let me finish, they cancelled you. Apparently they've booked someone else.
DANES: Who did they get?
JILLY: Ellis Hartley Monroe, the darling of the Tea Party. She's been looped on channel 55 all day long, and she's radical.
MONROE [on TV]: I think someone's got to say it. Dead is Dead. We are surrounded by people who should have died. I'm sorry for them, yes, nut these people fill me with terror. Am I the only one brave enough to say it? They should have perished. I'm sorry, but they should. And by persisting, they are draining the resources of healthy living citizens. Now I'm nobody special, but I'm a mother and a voter and an American, and I'd like to think that that means something. This is what I want.
JILLY: Looks like you've got a rival.
MONROE [on TV]: The Dead is Dead campaign asks
JILLY: You'd better think of a line, Oswald, or you'll be yesterday's news.
MONROE [on TV]: And taken to a place that's safe. And I mean safe for the rest of us.

[Apartment]

MONROE [on TV]: The Dead is Dead campaign asks that these citizens be removed from society and taken to a place that's safe.
ESTHER: All I got, a couple of aspirin.

(What, he got through that mega-bottle of painkillers already?)

REX: Thanks.
MONROE [on TV]: Well, that's political pragmatism.
ESTHER: Haven't you got family in California?
REX: No, I'm from New York.
ESTHER: But when you were injured I went through your file, and
REX: There's no one.
MONROE [on TV]: I appreciate that this is a delicate subject. Don't speak ill of the dead, my mother always told us.
ESTHER: That's the problem with this job. Family always comes second.
REX: I said there's no one! Okay?
MONROE [on TV]: Because Dead is Dead, and sometimes segregation is vital and necessary. Because these living deceased should not have equal rights. No sir. They should be removed. They should be contained. And then they should wait. Because I believe their passage to the afterlife has but paused. And when this miracle ends, death will find them. Their time will come and they will die.

[Maurice's apartment]

(An old man is returning with shopping when he sees his front door is open, so he gets out his concealed shotgun and enters cautiously.)

REX: Don't shoot. It's me, Dad.
MAURICE: What the hell are you doing in my place?
REX: Getting these.

(Metanec pain killers.)

MAURICE: You put them back. Those are mine.
REX: Looks like stolen property to me.
MAURICE: So what if they are? You gonna arrest me?
REX: CIA agents don't arrest people, Dad. You know that.
MAURICE: Yeah, then what? You gonna torture me? You people, you've already ruined the world and now you want to take away a man's livelihood?
REX: Somehow this is my fault?
MAURICE: You and your precious government. You changed the rules on us. Don't tell me this ain't some damn experiment. I don't want to live forever, especially like this.
REX: Put the gun down, Dad.
MAURICE: Don't you tell me what to do. Not in my

(Rex gets the shotgun off his father.)

MAURICE: Son of a bitch. Give me that back.
REX: No, you're liable to shoot somebody.
MAURICE: It ain't even loaded.
REX: Really?

(Rex breaks it open to see two shells in the barrels.)

MAURICE: Well, so what if it is? I need protection living in this dump.
REX: But you don't have to live this way. Don't you understand that?
MAURICE: Don't you pretend to give a shit if I live or die.
REX: Please, come on, please. Don't give me
MAURICE: You never cared for anybody and you know it.
REX: Don't give me that. That's bullshit, Dad. That's bullshit and you know it.
MAURICE: What did you come here for, Rex? Tell me that. What the hell did you come here for?
REX: I got hurt, Dad. I got hurt bad.

(Rex shows him the wound where the steel rod went through his heart.)

MAURICE: So what? I've been dying out here for fifteen years. You never once cared. Get the hell out.

[Apartment]

(Rex unpacks their new server.)

ESTHER: So to recap, there's over a hundred dedicated servers identical to that one inside the PhiCorp building, all containing corporate data. But, according to Jilly Kitzinger's information, number one thirteen is a secure server accessible by only the highest corporate brass.
JACK: That's our target.
ESTHER: And when PhiCorp says secure, they mean secure. I have never seen firewalls like this before. Our only option is to steal number one thirteen, to physically take it and cover our tracks by leaving a duplicate in its place.
GWEN: Which is empty.
ESTHER: So we damage it. Fire damage. PhiCorp will think the information's lost, not stolen and they won't overreact.

(Gwen's phone rings.)

GWEN: Oh, sorry. It's off.

[Swansea]

(Rhys gets a text - Not Now! while he is feeding baby Anwen.)

RHYS: That's your mother, that is. How do you like that then, eh?

[Apartment]

REX: All right, I can scout out the building. So how are you gonna get me inside?
JACK: I don't think so. Not your mission, Agent Matheson. You're still on CIA lists. It's way too risky to pass you through security.
REX: And hat makes you any better?
GWEN: Jack wiped us off the map, remember? He's got a piece of software that removes any reference to Torchwood online. There's no record of us, unlike you.
REX: Okay, Dead is Dead. That's me, huh?
ESTHER: Rex, you're a better strategist than any of us. Maybe you can figure out what to do next. Let's check this out. This is the IT centre where the servers are housed. Floor 33, maximum security, completely enclosed. We need to gain access, but it's restricted with some heavy duty biometrics. Only one man can gain total access, the man who designed it. Nicholas Frumkin.
REX: Well, what kind of biometrics? I mean, what level?
ESTHER: Every entry needs voice print, palm print, iris recognition by him and him alone.
REX: Okay. Then I know exactly what you need to do.

[Park]

(Jack and Gwen are strolling hand in hand when they meet a couple pushing a baby in a buggy. Gwen uses what is apparently a Minnesotan accent.)

GWEN: Oh, hey. My gosh, look at her. She is a beauty. Hey, baby.
JACK: Don't I know you? I swear we've met before. You're er
FRUMKIN: I'm Nicolas.
JACK: That's right. Nicholas Jackson, isn't it?
FRUMKIN: No, Nicholas Frumkin.
JACK: Yeah, yeah. I think we've met.

[Apartment]

(Back at the apartment, the computer plays that back for Esther.)

COMPUTER: Nicholas Frumkin. Nicholas Frumkin. Nicholas Frumkin.

[Park]

JACK: My name's John Smith.
GWEN: Your baby is just so amazing. She's just awesome.
JACK: She's a keeper, isn't she?

(Gwen holds out an aluminium drinks bottle.)

GWEN: Would you mind holding that for me? Thank you so much.

(Later, Rex will spray the metal bottle to reveal Frumkin's fingerprints.)

GWEN: Look at you. Wow. Oh, thank you. I'll just take that off you.

(Carefully, by the handle and straight into her bag.)

JACK: Hey, doesn't she remind you of our little girl?
GWEN: Yeah. Oh, you should see her.
FRUMKIN: You know, we'd better be moving along. It's lunch hour, you know, so

(But Jack and Gwen have got the photograph on their phone.)

JACK: Oh, there she is.
GWEN: There she is. Her name is Sally Anne Louise Matilda Jane. We couldn't choose.
FRUMKIN: She's beautiful.
GWEN: Thank you, I know. Look at her little face!

(Gwen pushes the phone almost into Frumkin's eye, and the computer grabs his iris pattern.)

[Apartment]

ESTHER: Got it.

[Park]

GWEN: So it was er, it was awesome meeting you. Just super good.
FRUMKIN: Yeah, you too. See you around.
GWEN: Sure thing, hot diggity.
JACK: See you later. Take care.

(The couples part.)

JACK: You're so never doing that accent again.
GWEN: I am mortified. I'm absolutely mortified.

(The man has been watching them.)

[Abandoned hospital]

(Everyone is wearing surgical masks as the place gets set up.)

VERA: I thought you had a system.
MALE NURSE: We did have a system. The system fell apart. Saint Helen's and Open Brook sent all their patients here at the same time. We can't even move them upstairs.
VERA: Why not?
MALE NURSE: Second floor, no electricity. This building has been abandoned for twenty years. Then we get all the patients from Conniston Drive.
VERA: But that's a hospice.
MALE NURSE: The hospices are closing down. They're redundant. But their intake is still sick.
VERA: So they just sent them without asking?
MALE NURSE: You know how long it takes to process one patient? Imagine what we're dealing with. Hey, the public's not allowed inside.
WOMAN: Look, just take him. Take him! That's his books and his pills and he likes that old sweater.
MALE NURSE: You can't just dump him here with us.
WOMAN: Yeah? Well, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of his piss and his smell. Everything he eats he throws up. Am I supposed to look after him forever now? I'm not doing it. I tried but I can't, okay?
MALE NURSE: But, but you can't. Ma'am!

(Vera heads into a makeshift ward.)

VERA: That hallway should be empty. Go and fetch Mister Holland. This is disgraceful.
PATIENT: Doctor, help.
SICK MAN: Hey, why don't we get masks?
VERA: I know. I'm sorry, but we haven't got our procedures right yet. Just give us a little more time.
SICK MAN: I don't want to lie next to these. They're like corpses.
VERA: I know, I'm sorry, but they aren't actually dead.
SICK MAN: What if they're infectious?
SICK WOMAN: Can't you take the baby outside? It's not safe in here. They keep talking about disease.
VERA: Is she yours?
SICK WOMAN: I don't know who she is. She's not my problem. She was just left there. No one's checked on her in twenty minutes. It's not my job.
VERA: For God's sake, there's not paperwork with that baby. There's no ID. This is ridiculous. Find Sally Richter. Tell her it's an emergency. Tell her I said so. Doctor Juarez, City General.

[Outside the abandoned hospital]

VERA: Look at this. And we're calling it a sterile area?
BISME: Teething troubles. The transfer itself seems to be working on the whole.
VERA: Yeah, until we get cholera.
BISME: Doctor Juarez, I told you this is a temporary measure. It's only for a short term.
VERA: Then? What happens next?
BISME: I'm not at liberty to say.
VERA: I am on the medical panel.
BISME: One of the panels. One of the many panels. One of the fifteen, and that's in DC alone. I guarantee plans are being made and we'll make

(Monroe is giving an interview.)

MONROE: No, that's not fair, ladies and gentlemen. The slogan Dead is Dead is hardly appropriate on hospital grounds. But this project demonstrates the bold thinking that we need in America. Behind me, we have people in the right place. It's as simple as that. People in the right place. Behind those doors they pose no danger to society.
REPORTER: Over here!

[Limousine]

(Jilly joins Danes in the back.)

JILLY: Tiny little problem.
DANES: Those cameras were here for me.
JILLY: I know. It's just a timing malfunction, that's all. The moment I lose my platform, I get thrown back to the mob. And I'm not doing that. Do you hear me? I'm never going back. So if you don't want me angry with you, missy, if you don't want PhiCorp angry with you, you're gonna put this right. Is that understood?
JILLY: Perfectly.

(Jilly gets out of the limousine.)

RADIO [OC]: The words of Ellis Hartley Monroe, a philosophy which is now sweeping around the country. She's put drug campaigners such as Oswald Danes in the shade as her popularity soars. The Dead is Dead campaign has connected with the public

[Outside the abandoned hospital]

MONROE: This is why I need your pledges and support, not for me, but for the greater good. Because I want to fund a programme nationwide that rebuilds our wonderful cities, that zones them to redistribute the population in accordance with the Miracle. This would be a new America, a new world, a new heaven. Now it seems to me we've relied too much on the pharmaceutical companies, or as I call them, drug dealers. Companies like PhiCorp profit off disaster and I think that's wrong.

(Danes has donned a surgical mask and is standing at the hospital door.)

REPORTERS: Oswald! Oswald!
WOMAN REPORTER: He's going in, Mrs Monroe. Why don't you?

[Abandoned hospital]

DANES: We'll keep these doors closed because this must be hygienic. See? Very hygienic.

[Outside the abandoned hospital]

SIMRAN: Brave man. I wouldn't go in there.
VERA: Do you know who that is?

[Abandoned hospital]

(Danes talks to the patients.)

DANES: I think that they are scared of you. But not me. I'm not scared of you. How, after all, how could I be? Because we're the same. Yes, we are. I am just the same as you. Just the same.
OLD WOMAN: I'm so cold.
DANES: Oh, it's all right. Of course. Of course. Here, hang on. Just a moment, please. There we go.

(He fetches her another blanket.)

DANES: Everything is will be fine. There. How is that?
REPORTERS [outside]: Oswald! Oswald!
DANES: You've been abandoned, all of you. You're the unwanted. And there are people out there who are preaching all sorts of dangerous lies about you. And who is out there talking on your behalf? Hmm? I'm here to tell you, I will. I promise I will. Because you need help. You need food. And you need security. And I swear to you, I will not rest until those things are given to you. And I will help you.
PATIENT: Bless you.
DANES: Yes, and you. I'm here to help. I will help all of you. Yes, join with me now. And I can understand your pain, all of you. I understand it because I have suffered the same as you.
SICK MAN: I still recognise you behind that mask. You bastard.
DANES: That's okay. No, that's fine. I understand, sir. I will not hide. I have come in here to stand beside you. And I am proud of that, sir. I will not hide my face.

(Danes removes the surgical mask. The reporters outside can see it through the windows.)

DANES: But we're the same. Don't you see? I was supposed to die. I was abandoned and I was faithless, and I was lost. Look at me. Look at me. I mean, after the miracle, I have risen. Oh, I have risen with unending life. And I can promise all of you that same rapture.
REPORTERS [outside]: Oswald, over here!
SICK WOMAN: Please, whoever you are, this child's been abandoned. Can't you get her some help?
DANES: Oh, poor little thing. Of course. You see, she's fine now. Dead is not dead. No, not anymore. Life is life. Aw, look at her. I can promise you with all my heart, this little girl will live forever and ever, and ever, and ever!

[Outside the abandoned hospital]

(The reporters are going crazy as Danes holds up the abandoned baby for them to see through the windows. Jilly is on the phone.)

JILLY: Listen, clear the damn schedule. It is Oswald twenty four seven from here on out. Doctor Juarez.
VERA: This is disgusting.
JILLY: I know!
REPORTERS: Oswald! Oswald!
MONROE: If you think I'm sharing a camera with that man. What the hell am I paying you for? Get a hold of Fox, tell them I'm heading for New York.

(Mrs Monroe takes a coffee from the chauffeur then gets into her car.)

[Monroe's limo]

MONROE: Hotel then airport. No, hotel first, then I need to see Mister Coulidge. Can you find his address? It's in the book. This coffee tastes kind of weird.

(Monroe drops the cup, then passes out. The chauffeur contacts the people behind the triangle.)

[Frumkin's car]

(In an underground car park, Nicholas Frumkin gets into his vehicle. A man pops up from the back seat and puts a knife to his throat. He also has a recorder.)

FRUMKIN: What do you want?
ASSASSIN: What's your name, sir?
FRUMKIN: I'll give you money.
ASSASSIN: I just need your name. Nice and clear, if you could.
FRUMKIN: Frumkin. Nicholas Frumkin.
ASSASSIN: There's an organisation, Mister Frumkin, called Torchwood. Now, I'm only telling you this so you know who's to blame. Torchwood is about to access your secure site, which means I also need access using your biometrics.
FRUMKIN: I can tell you how to get in. There's a code.
ASSASSIN: No, there's not.
FRUMKIN: There is. I swear to you, there's a code that you can use to
ASSASSIN: Shush, shush, shush. I'm afraid I studied all the specifications. The protocol is quite clear. I need the biometrics of poor Nicholas Frumkin. Which means firstly your voice. Consider that done. And then
FRUMKIN: Please. Please don't. Please.
ASSASSIN: It's your system, which means it's your fault. Because the next thing I need is the palm of your hand, and then one of your eyes. But just one.
FRUMKIN: No!
ASSASSIN: Don't worry, no one dies.
FRUMKIN: Argh!

[Apartment]

(Rex and Jack are using a blowtorch on the server hard drives, to imitate fire damage.)

JACK: Whoo!

[Truck]

(Esther is monitoring the Eye-5s, which the screen says are offline. Oops, blooper.)

REX: Everything online?
ESTHER: Yeah. Good signal.
REX: Those two clowns should be in position. I'll go check that 105 access. You know, I should be running this operation, not going to check the road. I'll be back.

(Rex leaves, and Esther makes a call.)

VERONICA [OC]: Social Services.
ESTHER: Hi. Yes, I'm calling from FBI. police liaison. I was given this number by Susan Malpass. I just need to check some details on, let me see, the name's Drummond. Sarah Drummond, King Sovereign Road.

[Social services / Truck]

VERONICA: I've got it right here. Children Alice, seven and Melanie, eight.
ESTHER: That's it. We're just chasing an update.
VERONICA: Well, they're in the system now.
ESTHER: Right. I'm sorry. What does that mean?
VERONICA: It'll take a few days. They'll stay at Brayden Long Heights until we can find them foster homes. We'll try and keep them together. It shouldn't be too much of a problem.
ESTHER: I'm sorry. Are you saying that they've been removed from the home?
VERONICA: That's right. This morning at eight a.m.
ESTHER: I thought you said you were gonna work with the family.
VERONICA: We tried. Of course we did. But it wasn't considered safe, and the mother has been admitted for psych.
ESTHER: She what?
VERONICA: She's been under observation in the psych ward under the care of a Doctor, where is it? Doctor Cottesloe. That's it. No report on file yet. Should be something in tomorrow or the next couple of days.
ESTHER: What happened? How did she end up like that?
VERONICA: What did you say your name was?
ESTHER: Where is she? Where is she now?
VERONICA: I'm sorry, who are you exactly? Can I ask what's the reason for this call?

[Truck]

(Esther rings off.)

ESTHER: Okay. Okay, okay.

(She is starting to dial another number when Rex returns.)

REX: Access is fine. Okay, let's see those two do their stuff.

[PhiCorp HQ]

(Gwen checks her appearance. Hair pinned back, red lipstick, tight black dress and high heels. A business woman wearing Eye-5 contact lenses.)

GWEN: Okay, here we go.

[Truck]

(Esther types good luck. Rex scoffs.)

ESTHER: What is wrong with good luck?
REX: It's kids' stuff. Torchwood keeps treating this like it's a game.

(Esther's phone beeps.)

REX: Oh, I'm sorry. Are we interrupting you? Who could be sending you messages right now?
ESTHER: It's just this thing. It's personal.
REX: No one should have that number.
ESTHER: Shush, shush. We're in.

[PhiCorp lobby]

LOBBY GUARD: Can I help you?
GWEN: Yes, I'm here for the training sessions.
LOBBY GUARD: Your name?

(Gwen hands over a fake passport.)

GWEN: Yvonne Pallister, international sales.
LOBBY GUARD: Only problem is I don't see any training going on today.
GWEN: I got an email last night from Lorraine in Human Resources.
LOBBY GUARD: I'll call them.
GWEN: Okay.

[Truck / PhiCorp lobby]

(Esther intercepts the call.)

ESTHER: PhiCorp Human Resources. This is Lorraine. How may I help you?
LOBBY GUARD: Yeah, I have an Yvonne Pallister down here. She says there's some kind of training.
ESTHER: Yes. Send her right up. Floor twenty one.

[PhiCorp lobby]

LOBBY GUARD: Okay. Floor twenty one. Go on up.
GWEN: Thank you.

[PhiCorp service area]

(Jack backs up a delivery lorry and opens the rear.)

BURLY GUARD: Hold up. Hold up. Who are you?
JACK: Delivery.
BURLY GUARD: I don't have anything on my schedule.
JACK: It says Human Resources.

(Another intercepted phone call.)

[Truck]

ESTHER: Human Resources. Yes, our document shredder had crapped out. We had to rush a new one. Send it on up.

[PhiCorp service area]

BURLY GUARD: Sure thing. Go on up. Need some help?
JACK: No, I'm good.

[Truck]

(Tears are running down Esther's face.)

REX: What's wrong with you?
ESTHER: Nothing.

[PhiCorp]

(Gwen meets Jack at the service lift.)

GWEN: Hello, handsome. Love the uniform.
JACK: Ditto. Come on.
GWEN: Oh, hold on. Whoever wears heels to work is heroic. Why do women put up with these things? Look at 'them.

(She removes her shoes and holds them up.)

JACK: The fire department's average response time is twelve minutes. When they arrive, Esther's gonna direct them to the fourteenth floor. That should buy us another five minutes before they start checking other floors. Let's go, mistress.

(Jack sets fire to his delivery note then blows it out under a smoke detector to set off the alarm.)

[Truck]

ESTHER: Fire on the fourteenth.

[PhiCorp floor 33]

TANNOY: Please exit the building.

(The staff leave in a quiet and orderly manner. Jack and Gwen arrive outside the server room.)

COMPUTER: Please state your full name.

(Gwen plays back the recording.)

FRUMKIN [on tape]: Nicholas Frumkin.
COMPUTER: Please place your right hand on the sensors as indicated.

(Frumkin's prints have been transferred to a latex glove, which Gwen is wearing.)

COMPUTER: Please look closely at the circle below.

[Truck]

ESTHER: Iris in five.

[PhiCorp floor 33]

(The Eye 5 transforms to Frumkin's iris pattern.)

COMPUTER: Access granted.
GWEN: I never thought that would work.
COMPUTER: Welcome back, Nicholas.

[Truck]

ESTHER: They're in.
REX: Good. You want to tell me what's wrong?
ESTHER: My sister. Child Protective Services. They took her kids.
REX: And they've got your number?
ESTHER: No, I set up a relay. It's anonymous, okay?
REX: All right.
ESTHER: And if you really want me to be heartless, Rex, I'm the one that reported her. Happy now?

[PhiCorp server room]

JACK: Server one thirteen.
GWEN: Little bastard.

(Gwen is about to start disconnecting cables when her phone beeps.)

[Truck]

(They see this through the Eye-5s.)

REX: Now she's on the telephone? What the hell is wrong with you people?

[PhiCorp server room / Cardiff hospital]

GWEN: Yeah, Anwen all right?
RHYS: She's fine. She's at home. Look, I know you're busy, but I was just phoning about your dad.
GWEN: Is he okay?
RHYS: He's fine. Same as ever, no change. I just saw him and he sends his love. But I did what you said and I made a fuss about getting him moved.
GWEN: Okay. Look, I haven't got time for this, sweetheart. Just tell me, can you get him out of there?
RHYS: Yes I can. Shall I go ahead?
GWEN: Oh, I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. Just do it and leave me alone. Oh, and give Anwen a big kiss. Okay? Bye.

(They swap the PhiCorp hard drives for the burnt ones in the packing case. Jack leaves Gwen to finish off reconnecting.)

JACK: Good luck.
GWEN: Okay, go.

[Truck]

(Esther talks and types.)

ESTHER: Reattach six five five dash three two one.
REX: But still, it must have been tough, though.
ESTHER: There's nothing else I could have done. She wouldn't even let me see them. She had the house all barricaded up.
REX: Wait, you saw the house?
ESTHER: Well, yeah.
REX: You went by the house! What if you were followed? Oh my God, you're such an idiot.
ESTHER: I'm doing my job, okay? And then three two two to three four zero.
REX: You've compromised the security of the entire mission! Come on!

[PhiCorp server room]

(The assassin sneaks up behind Gwen.)

GWEN: Three two two. Okay, three two four.

(Gwen realises there is someone behind her, turns and gets punched.)

[Truck]

ESTHER: I've lost her.
REX: What the hell just happened?

[PhiCorp service area]

(Jack opens up the back of the delivery truck to see the burly guard with a tight ligature around his neck.)

JACK: Gwen.

[Truck]

ESTHER: Output from the Eye-5s goes dead without consciousness.
REX: Oh, so she's unconscious now?
ESTHER: I don't know.
REX: I warned you!

[PhiCorp server room]

(The door is still ajar. Jack draws his gun and enters. He finds Gwen bound and gagged with computer cable.)

JACK: Gwen! Can you hear me?

(He drops his gun.)

[Truck]

COMPUTER: Are you all right?
ESTHER: It's back. Oh, no.
COMPUTER: Can you hear me?

[PhiCorp Server room]

JACK: Who did this, Gwen?

(The assassin puts Jack's lights out.)

[Truck]

(Esther and Rex get to see the spy's face.)

ESTHER: Oh no, no. Please God, no.
REX: God damn it! This is all your fault!

[PhiCorp]

(The lift is up on 33. The guards are all hors de combat.)

REX: Come on. Come on. Esther, can you override this elevator?

[Truck / PhiCorp]

ESTHER: I can't. The fire department has closed the whole thing down.
REX: Okay.
ESTHER: Rex, it's thirty three floors. Sixty six flights of stairs and you've got a ruptured chest.
REX: Oh, man. Good luck.

[PhiCorp server room]

(Jack suddenly wakes up to find himself tied to a server with computer cable.)

JACK: Ah! Ah!
GWEN: Jack. You okay?
JACK: Yeah. What happened?
ASSASSIN: I did.

[Truck]

ESTHER: I'm so sorry.

[PhiCorp server room]

GWEN: Who the hell are you?
ASSASSIN: Names aren't important right now.
GWEN: Oh great, he's cryptic.
JACK: What do you want?
ASSASSIN: Well, clearly, you dead.
JACK: Then why am I still alive?
ASSASSIN: That's the point. It's got to be said Miracle Day has hardly been advantageous for those in my line of work, the day the killing stopped. But I can't tell you, Jack, how wonderful it is, how truly wonderful it is to meet somebody who's mortal. It's my holy grail.
GWEN: If he's the only one that can die, then it's in your interest to keep him alive.
ASSASSIN: That's exactly what I'm doing. Haven't you noticed the absence of killing? Because this captain fascinates me. I've been paid to eradicate him, but that only makes me wonder why. What makes you so different?
JACK: I don't know.
ASSASSIN: And yet you're the only one left, the only true human.
JACK: If I knew, I would tell you. I'm trying to find out the same thing myself.

(Esther types - ask who's employing him.)

GWEN: (sotto) Yes, I know. Thank you. (normal) Who employs you?
ASSASSIN: Don't you have any idea, Jack? They told me it was a very long time ago. Don't you remember?
JACK: Who? Who told you that?
ASSASSIN: This would be so simple in the old days. Tell me what I want, or I'll slit her throat. I keep wondering during these miraculous days, would it be better or worse knowing that her pain will last forever? I think better.
JACK: Leave her alone!
ASSASSIN: Then tell me!
JACK: I don't know.

(Rex is gasping his way up the stairs.)

ASSASSIN: You're very special to them, Jack. They trust me enough to tell me that. But I hear rumours of miracles yet to come, of a new society being forged here on Earth, and I'd like to guarantee my place. So, tell me, what did you give them so long ago?
JACK: When?
GWEN: Tell me who's employing you.
ASSASSIN: You'll never stop them, for this is who they certainly are. They are everywhere.

[PhiCorp floor 26]

(Rex stumbles, and drops his gun with a clatter. His shirt is covered in blood. A Dead is Dead leaflet is on the stairs.)

REX: Shit.

[PhiCorp server room]

ASSASSIN: They are always. They are no one. They have been waiting for such a long time. Searching the world for a specific geography.
JACK: What the hell does that mean?
ASSASSIN: That means that they've found it. And they've made it magnificent.

(The man puts away his knife and takes out his gun.)

GWEN: Who are they!
ASSASSIN: They once had names.

[Truck]

COMPUTER: Long ago.

[PhiCorp server room]

ASSASSIN: And those names were

(Rex empties his gun clip into him. The assassin falls against the wall, leaving a smear, and gurgles into unconsciousness.)

REX: Oh, shit.
GWEN: He was just about to tell us.
REX: Thanks? Anybody? Thanks?
GWEN: And you shot him in the throat.
REX: Yeah, well, dead is dead.

DANES: It's such an unfortunate phrase, Dead is Dead. It's coarse. I know, as a survivor, it's hurtful. The last thing that we need right now is a campaign that's going to empower the mob.
CANDICE: The words of Oswald Danes are quickly becoming a worldwide phenomena.
NMM: Today the story of Danes and the abandoned child truly went viral.

(Japanese reporter, Spanish reporter.)

NMM: As the White House stays silent we ask is Oswald Danes now becoming the voice of the people? Is he the one true representative of this miracle age?

[TV studio]

(Backstage.)

JILLY: You are trending like never before, you clever bastard.
DANES: Miss Kitzinger, you make it all sound planned. I was just trying to help those unfortunate souls.
JILLY: Well, it's working. Guess what they're calling you in France. The Sainted Danes.
DANES: That's almost blasphemous.
JILLY: And now you're a definite for the Miracle Rally. Flights are booked to Los Angeles. They want you to speak from the stage and guess who you're replacing.
DANES: Ellis Hartley Monroe?
JILLY: Ellis Hartley Monroe. Oh, she must be livid.

CANDICE: We contacted the office of Ellis Hartley Monroe asking for a response but they told us that Mrs Monroe will not be making any statements for the foreseeable future.

[Monroe's limo]

(Monroe wakes up bound and gagged, still in the back of her car, but in a wrecker's yard.
COUSIN [OC]: Mrs Monroe? We'd like to apologise. We're really very, very sorry about this. Indeed, we'd like to imagine if time and tides had flown a different way, we could have almost been friends. I hope that's some consolation at the end.

(The grabber picks up the limo.)

COUSIN [OC]: The truth of it is, we liked your message, Mrs Monroe. We liked your style, but we already have Oswald Danes. We don't need another. And certain aspects of your strategy were revealing our hand just a little too soon. And we have been planning this so carefully for such a long time.

(The limo gets dropped into the crusher.)

COUSIN [OC]: Because we are everywhere. We are always. We are no one. And soon the families will rise.

(The compacter disgorges a cube of crushed car. Deep inside, an eye flickers from side to side.)

[Apartment]

JACK: Anything yet?
ESTHER: Oh, it's gonna take days, weeks, but I'm rushing through a primary sift for basic patterns.
JACK: Good morning.
REX: Yeah.
JACK: Thanks again for saving my ass yesterday.
REX: I was saving her ass. You were just gravy.
ESTHER: I'm sorry I made such a mess of it.
REX: That was your final warning. You give it any more thought? That maniac said it was someone you knew.
JACK: Not that easy when you've lived through thousands of years.
REX: Gonna keep talking that shit, huh?
ESTHER: Got it. First basic pattern, land prices. Estimates dating back years and they're all linked to these construction plans.
REX: Plans for what?
ESTHER: They're calling them overflow camps for all the patients in ICU. Looks like PhiCorp is taking charge of them, like they own them. Sold some kind of strategy to the UN.
GWEN: PhiCorp and whoever else is behind them. But what the hell are they up to?
REX: Whatever it is, I bet it ain't good.

(Gwen's phone rings.)

GWEN: Bollocks! Bollocks! I am so, so sorry. I have been so busy I didn't ring you back. But look, I'm gonna call you back in half an hour and that is a promise.

[Cardiff Hospital / Apartment]

(The beds in the corridors are empty.)

RHYS: Calm down. Don't worry. I'm phoning with good news, that's all. It's about your dad.
GWEN: What is it? What's happened?
RHYS: I said it's good news. Now stop and listen, you daft thing. I've got him onto that scheme, top of the list.
GWEN: What scheme?
RHYS: Government's stepped in to prop up the NHS. They're spending millions, they said. They're building these sort of camps to help people.
GWEN: Overflow camps?
RHYS: Aye, that's it. And I got your dad inside the South Wales site.
GWEN: Okay, Rhys, listen to me. Do not let them go. Do not let them take my father. I haven't got time to explain, just bloody move.
RHYS: They just moved him out.
GWEN: Then stop them, okay? This is bloody PhiCorp, Rhys, and they are up to something. Move! Don't let them go! Just get him back. Get him back now!

(But the last of the ambulances have just left.)

RHYS: Gwen? It's too late.

[Apartment]

GWEN: They've got my dad, Jack. They've got my dad.

Transcript originally provided by Chrissie. Adapted by TARDIS.guide. The transcripts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

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