Original subtitles

I told

you! I warned

you! Wet tarmac, short runway, 25 knots, fog with lightning!

You disallowed me to complete a proper safety check despite incredible threats

of sabotage!

You forced me to take up the need to be, excuse me, and bully me, but I managed

to get it, therefore, in any way. And now, needless to say, we've been blown

by somebody trying to assassinate you again. And we're going to crash after

If we survive, I'm appointing you to the Trans -European Aviation Authority.

You're fired.

What's that? What'd you say? You're fired. I'm fired in the middle of

force land?

Mayday, mayday, mayday, Chai Yolo. Let me show you a request for immediate

clearance. We've got a quick field and a, uh, we've got a soybean field, which

is going to be...

Rescue workers are laboring to extinguish the fiery wreckage of an ill

dual -engine aircraft in a perhaps futile attempt to recover and identify

remains of Anatole Chagat Korda, international businessman, maverick in

fields of armaments and aviation, among the richest men in Europe.

This was Korda's sixth recorded airplane crash.

Dogged for years by accusations of profiteering, tax evasion, price fixing,

bribery. The court is specialized in the mediation of clandestine trade

agreements. His moniker in financial circles, Mr. 5%. He is survived by ten

children, nine boys, one novitiate nun, his daughter Liesl, and is pre -deceased

by three wives.

A controversial figure, some will mourn his death, others inevitably will

celebrate.

Grandmother, why are we here?

I don't know you.

Captain, what exactly would Mr. Corder have experienced during those final

seconds of his life before he was incinerated while you rocketed through

strapped to a chair?

Truly a horrific display of... Actually, no, he's still alive.

Mr. Corder, sir. Oh, fine.

What's that in your hand?

I don't know. I think it's a vestigial organ.

I tried to get it back in. It's not as easy as it looks.

The chair recognizes the bureaucrat from Baltimore.

Thank you.

Subject, Jar Jar Korda, our single common enemy who works consistently and

relentlessly against the interests of all our competing nations. The one item

only on our agenda which unites us.

He twingles our banks.

He dodges our tariffs. He ties up our courtrooms in tactical lawsuits.

He provokes war, as well as peace, in direct conflict with our shared

agenda. Subject's new venture relies heavily on personal capital and wildly

overreaches liquid resources.

Our objective, with your approval, disrupting, obstructing, impeding,

Corda's enterprise in any manner possible, with option to cancel in event

subject sudden and probable death.

All in favor?

Aye.

I expect you to take notice of my death.

The reports were inaccurate, needless to say.

Let me get directly to the point.

I've appointed you sole heir to my estate, which you may come into sooner

than later, and provisionally manager of my affairs after the event of my actual

demise on a trial basis.

Why? Why what? Why sooner rather than later, since you survived again?

And why am I sold out to your estate? You have eight sons at last count. Nine

sons. Nine sons. What about them?

They're not my heirs.

Why not?

I have my reasons. Which are what?

My reasons?

I'm not saying.

I'm not saying.

It's been six years since our last meeting.

I apologize.

I apologize.

I forgive you.

You're dying.

Thank you. No.

But I keep getting assassinated unsuccessfully so far, and I can't allow

enemies to benefit from killing me.

That's the top priority in my life at this time. If they get me, you get them.

Provisionally. Like an audition?

Like a trial period.

Of being your daughter?

Of being sole heir to my estate and manager of my affairs after the event of

actual demise.

The personal family aspect, I agree.

That matters for the discussion, but for now there's much to explain, and it's

all in these shoeboxes.

Borderland and C -Phoenician infrastructure scheme.

My most important project of my lifetime.

30 years' work.

May I move?

Over there.

Over where?

Over there? Why?

They say you murdered my mother.

What? They say you murdered my mother.

Who said that?

They. That's what they say.

I feel they need to address it. It's why I agreed to come here today.

They say that. Well, it's, uh, forgive me.

I know you're pious.

It's a goddamn lie. I never murdered anybody's mother in my life.

Okay, I have no choice but to take away your word. I never personally murdered

anybody at all, ever.

You arranged murders, perhaps?

Don't put words in my mouth.

Of course I didn't and don't.

I've employed violent men to do violence on occasion in the distant past.

I take no relish in it.

They say you murdered all your wives.

I'm going to sue them for libel in that case, whoever they are.

If you can provide me with their identities.

In fact, I was very fond of your mother.

and never would have murdered her under any circumstances whatsoever.

I didn't know her that well.

I thought you came here because I summoned you.

My plan is to be a nun.

Not anymore, right?

Your brothers are there.

Jasper, David, Philip, Michael, Harry, Jamie, Samuel, Stephen, Thomas.

Hello, boys.

Will they be joining us for luncheon?

Of course not.

They live in a dormitory across the street. I don't know. I don't know what

they're doing here. Today is Saturday.

Not a microphone.

Be careful with your hands. That was a very good shot.

You understand this changes your life.

This shoebox contains my idea for the dam we're going to build.

This shoebox contains my idea for the canal we're in the middle of digging.

This shoebox contains my idea for the tunnel we already finished drilling.

This shirt box contains my

plan to assemble the massive workforce required for the project.

In short, we're going to need slave labor, but that's available to us.

This hat box contains my negotiations with parents in shipping, mining, and

railroads. These littler sock boxes contain my agreements with Titans in

banking, real estate, and business.

You're not my heir.

Who the deuce is that? He's been eavesdropping on us.

I'm the new tutor.

Ah, of course.

Welcome.

Bring me the polygraph.

I always keep a tutor on staff to give lessons to an animal in my free time.

He's going to teach us about insects and related subjects.

He's an expert in that field.

We'll be with you shortly.

This is my daughter, Liesl. This is Professor... Bjorn.

Professor Bjorn.

Information. The boxes on this carpet all together present a blueprint to set

the wheels of commerce in motion throughout a potentially rich, now

region. Then to retain an appropriate but extremely valuable 5 % of the

revenues.

for the next 150 years.

This is just crazy.

Yes, I admit. If it works, it's a miracle.

What is it going to?

What's in the glove box?

That's the gap.

You still didn't sign it?

I told you I'd take my vows at the end of the month. I told you. Unfortunately,

no. The church could claim a lien on our family business.

You can still believe in God if you wish.

The pigeons are there.

Not for me. I take only food across the bread in the daytime.

How about you?

Me? I can eat the horse and eat for the attention.

You're invited to lunch in that case.

Thank you, sir.

Point your finger.

Full name?

Are you wearing a bow tie?

Are you now or have you ever been employed in the conduct of industrial

espionage? Or engaged in a professional contract attacking for high technology?

You may be able to come home.

Keep me with you, Reverend Mother.

I write with perplexing tidings.

See what I mean?

Poisoned. Poisoned.

My father has appointed me provisional successor and prospective beneficiary of

his vast fortune, gained entirely, as he knows, through unholy mischief.

How will your slaves be compensated?

I believe they will receive a small stipend. It's really up to the king. We

can't interfere on that level.

God may have something to say about that.

You got slavery in the Bible?

I'm against it.

What worse is the pledge of a swindling rogue?

There's a terrible famine in this region. It's shoebox, I mean. I know,

us. This friendless man bewilders me. In what sense, Archie? We did that.

Normally, there'd just be the normal level of poverty there. But presently,

control the grain.

Now we make our move and we supply provisions on our own terms. That works.

It's so ethical.

It's damnable.

To hell.

Nevertheless, I foresee an opportunity to accomplish, by the grace of God...

Significant good works with the enormous resources he proposes to place at my

disposal. Memorize his combination. I can't tell you where the thief is.

mean my will.

Perhaps this could be even his deeper intention.

Where does it come from?

Mexico. They're not the character.

I mean this brutality.

You don't know me. The boys live across the street.

There's no love in this house as far as I can observe.

God is absent.

Why?

I remain profoundly reluctant to leave the Order and long for the hour of my

return to Sanctuary.

I think it's not my fault.

It's a self -fulfilling prophecy which starts in the nursery.

No one cared about her for me except my nanny, and she was dismissed and put to

shame. What for?

She overstepped her position.

It had to be done.

Also, his poor boys, my brothers, thirst and hunger for sisterly affection, the

wings of heaven.

What advice can you afford your

humble servant, me?

She was murdered by the way.

Not a suicide, the official ruling.

I think I know who did it.

But I've tried to stay out of it, frankly.

The son of my father.

He's the murderer, I suspect.

The son of your father. In other words, your brother.

I have a brother. Uncle Newbar. He's my mother's murderer.

I suspect.

We always hated each other, of course.

But we do conduct business together through an intermediary.

Because he's very clever.

Thou shalt not kill.

I agree.

We must bring that man to justice if what you say is true.

Rockwell?

Wake up, Minority.

He isn't.

Sign the papers.

For my war, the solemnest thing, and we shall bring ferocious revenge down upon

this cold -blooded butcher.

You're a woman.

Meaning, get him arrested.

I think so.

He is one of our principal partners, of course.

I'll pray on the matter.

Amen. God has called me here for a purpose.

No slaves, no famine, no dormitory.

You're on a trial period.

We've annulled your sacred covenant, Miss Luthor. A secular rosary will

from the door the next afternoon.

I hope you'll find it for lacking.

P .S. How is your rheumatism?

I pray for your health and comfort.

Jasper? What's this about?

Don't make him be religious.

I already did. We're reading Genesis.

Amen.

Why would anybody do something they didn't know how to do?

Does this food come from our usual kitchens?

I feel it tastes better.

That's great.

I have a friend cooking. I'm building up.

What? What? What?

What are you afraid of? Don't worry. They eat only worms and crickets and

sometimes their own mates.

Are you men or mice?

You should be lying.

No bugs on the table.

I am sorry.

Yes,

sir?

The nails are good.

Thank you, sir.

They're good.

Also, he likes your suit.

Did you eat dinner with your father when you were a little boy?

No.

A new rule.

From this day forward, you're allowed a maximum of two authorized friends.

Each of you. And we're going to make a list.

Nobody not on that list will be permitted to enter these premises at any

Also, a new motto.

Break, but don't bend.

I didn't know you live in a slum.

Fix the leak.

Never buy good pictures.

Buy masterpieces.

Why do you adopt the children?

It's completely odd.

Of course, I have my boys, but the adopted ones might turn out to be

This fellow could be smarter than I am, for all we know.

This is a bashable rivet.

Perhaps the most effective device in mechanical hardware ever conceived for

purpose of permanently coupling to beams, rods, posts, or pillars.

It's the foundation of modern civil engineering, though its usage, of

dates from the Bronze Age.

Regular price, 10 for a nickel.

Wake up. The new plane is on the tarmac. We're leaving in ten minutes. What?

Wake up.

Why?

Where are we going?

I'll tell you in the air. Tell me now.

I'll tell you in the car.

Tell me now.

Obey me. I'm going back, please.

It's sabotage. Look, over the past 50 years, the market value of bashable

has risen commonly, measurably, from three and a quarter to 27 and a half

dollars per keg barrel.

Last night, rivets rocketed to 900.

What does that mean for us? It means the gap explodes.

There's a run on bulls.

All categories of construction materials across the entire West or Near East.

My enemies are manipulating the markets. We're manipulated.

Who's that?

Archer. I hired them to bring the house down. I sent them back for insurance

purposes. They're just doing an assessment right now.

That's not my suitcase.

I got you a new one.

The other one wouldn't be suitable for this voyage.

It looks like a picnic basket.

Today, tonight, and tomorrow, we're rendezvous with every Titan in every

and pretend we agree what we already agree. But in fact, we don't. We can't.

Somebody's got to cover the gap. How much is the gap? The gap is not like

yet. It's partly a deficit in funding against our total projected revenues.

It's more protection against an empty slice of a pie that was too big for the

pan. I mean the amount.

Everything we've got, our entire fortune, plus a little bit more.

Initial countermeasures rendered highly effective results, as you can see.

Subject now engaged in desperate campaign of clandestine site visits.

Criss -crossing region to confront each principal partner in efforts to re

-renegotiate terms of charter agreement and salvage enterprise before official

signature signing ceremony end of month.

Also, newly obtained medical report indicates subject may be suffering

from blunt force head injury.

Are those screws or bolts?

Possibly both.

Likely accumulated over several incidents.

What's in the fruit crate?

Leave that alone, it's fragile.

What is it?

That is fragile.

Leave the fruit crate alone.

But what is it?

It's hand grenade.

Are you satisfied?

Can you accept not to be careful around it? Why are we traveling with a box full

of hand grenades?

I have extras.

A large number of them.

For me, at this time, a hand grenade is cheaper than a bullet.

Do you use them?

That's not really the point.

Point your finger.

You'll be acting as my administrative secretary for the time being.

The last one got blown in two, as you know.

That rucksack, which you're responsible for, contains all the liquid currency to

my name at this moment. Keep it on your person at all times, and don't lose it.

I'll do my best. Great, Scott.

Look at this one.

Isn't it remarkable how he's able to hang on at his airspeed?

What does he hang on at his airspeed?

Hey, we do a lesson now, or should I talk to you? I expect you know about

of fragments, the tiny hairs with claw -like structures that create microscopic

irregularities on an apparently smooth surface.

But the dragonfly is also furnished with little tags. Hold that thought.

Call the portafili.

When was your last confession?

I think I was 14.

Oh dear.

Do you still believe in God?

Sadly, no.

Are you an atheist?

I'm a scientist.

You're an atheist.

Are you chaste?

Not particularly.

Is that important?

I don't really know.

Are you very terribly pure yourself?

Obviously. How can you ask me such a thing? Look at me.

It wouldn't matter in the least. Even if you were the cheapest girl in the

sadiest brothel in the sadiest red light district. Oh dear. On a swirling orb.

Nothing could detract from your loveliness.

Thank you.

You're welcome. I speak my heart.

I'm a Bohemian.

I thought you were born in Oslo.

Not really, Bohemian.

Actually, I've only been to one brothel.

It's definitely cold.

We're starting our detent.

Prepare your documents before we deplane so you never delay my schedule.

Passports.

I don't have a passport.

Normal people want the basic human rights that accompany citizenship in any

sovereign nation.

I don't.

My legal residence is a shack in Portugal.

My official domicile is a hut on the Black Sea. My certificated abode is a

perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sub -Saharan rainforest

accessible only by goat bath.

I don't live anywhere.

I'm not a citizen at all.

I don't need my human rights.

What was that?

Nothing.

The same sound I heard last time before the plane exploded, but this time it

didn't. So, nothing to worry about.

Myself, I feel very safe.

You have a long journey, don't you? You must find a suitable place to bury it.

Yes. I never lost interest in you, by the way.

I always followed your progress with great interest.

Followed how? Bjorn!

Hmm? Where's the rucksack? In the car.

Followed how?

Well, I generally kept various operatives observing your activities.

cards, your medical history, your personal... You've been spying on me all

entire life.

It's not called spying when you're the parent.

It's called nurturing, or at the very least, interest.

Here comes the prince.

Actually, that's another fellow.

I think that's us.

Try to get the hand grenade.

Oh, no, the assassin shot your driver.

I pledge to commentate his family on behalf of the king who regrets the

of devilish brigands in the imperial realm. I think I recognize that

He used to work for me, maybe.

Who's this?

My daughter, Liesel. How do you do, your highness?

She's the bride of Christ.

What a pity.

You may address me directly.

I beg your pardon. You're stunning.

Thank you. They got him right through the pump.

The driver, I mean. Poor man. He didn't suffer.

Believe it or not, I brought you a humble symbol of the gratitude of my

people for your heroic endeavors toward the prosperity of our commonwealth.

Another knife.

He's got one, too, under the habit of showing.

Help me dig more.

I brought you it at the airport.

Help yourself to a hand grenade.

You're very kind.

How confident are we in this tunnel at the

current stage of construction?

One hundred percent.

Don't be alarmed by that, Trevor.

Would you like to hold my hand?

I was going to suggest the same thing. Thank you both.

It's a very good talk.

Myself, I feel very safe.

Yes, but you're in the habit of surviving.

This is not the document we agreed to validate.

What? Of course it is. You've been fiddling with it. The deal's already in

place. This is just a symbolic meeting to make the unfinished track. It's a

formality. Not anymore.

Help us come to a hangar, then. Have you been fiddling with it?

Fairly.

Somebody's got to cover the gap.

Somebody else.

I'll change it back. We can see the point. We're walking away.

The results of our bountiful treasury have been acutely depleted during the

drilling of this... That is not our problem.

It is.

And yours.

Goodbye.

Let's resolve it the way we did in Colorado with the dispute over the Fort

Johnson client.

Two on two.

First to five.

Put that at a spectacular disadvantage.

I've never played the game in my life. I don't even know the regulations.

We're the underdog yet. I still like our chances.

Basketball, by the way, is their greatest strength.

It's their greatest weakness.

Two beers, please.

Not for me. I've never tasted hot liquor in my life, except communion wine.

That's not hot liquor. Anyway, on a hot day in a dark tunnel, beer's delicious.

Here's your beer.

Okay, two beers.

One zip.

A respectable attempt.

Classic backhand layup.

I beg your pardon?

I didn't say anything.

Did you hear what Mr. Regan just spoke to me? When he referred to my mother, he

referred to the Sovereign Queen of a population of ten million loyal

He didn't say anything about the Sovereign Queen. Don't listen to that.

trying to get into your head.

Just play your game, Farouk, if I may call you that, your highness. I don't

how I could play my game. It's utterly foreign to me.

You're good.

I'm not good!

Does that count?

It doesn't count, but I've never seen it done before.

You gotta bounce it when you move.

That's a rule I should have mentioned.

How well do you know him?

How well do I know?

Not well, mostly by reputation.

I see.

What's your directive in that case?

My directive?

I would say... Am

I prying?

Are you prying?

Maybe. Half and half. Prying against the selfish reasons genuinely concerned for

your future welfare.

What's it like? I wonder. Climbing the earth. On fire. How many times? Six so

far. Yikes.

Sportsmanship, gentlemen.

Part of the game. Nothing personal.

Get it right this time, twerp.

Could you imagine falling in love with a man like me, by the way,

hypothetically?

You're drunk. On three beers.

I think I mean it as a genuine question.

Just because the cloths do not engage in romantic behavior of any kind, it's a

vow. Okay, stop flirting with the prince!

Besides, I thought you were not a man anymore. You're a... business lady.

Is this an act?

You asked me that before. I don't know what you're talking about.

Left -handed blind man, over -the -shoulder swoop.

Worst plane crash I ever survived in my life.

I think I died, actually.

For about a minute and a half.

But you're coming back now.

Did we give up?

It's a good shot. How'd you stay? Play your game?

I'm not really a sportsman.

I'm more interested in gardening, for instance.

My enemies are everywhere.

I'd like my daughter to come to me.

She's drinking the beer in the dining car with your administrative secretary.

Fetch the nun.

She's actually a tutor.

Sorry for my bad manners, but the beer's pretty dry.

I was present at your birth.

The midwife was a leathery old hag.

I cut the umbilical cord with hedge clippers of my own design.

I was very fond of your mother and never would have murdered her under any

circumstances whatsoever.

How'd you get the religion?

My surviving parents sent me to live in a convent to survive.

To keep you away from boys?

Didn't expect you to get brainwashed.

You're the only child that did wish to try to be a proper father, too.

But it wasn't possible.

In the name of my grandmother, she didn't recognize me.

Is it typical of him? In my experience, not at all. Normally, I'd say he's the

shrewdest, most resourceful businessman alive.

Ha!

One last shot.

From the end of the train tracks.

If Farouk succeeds, then you'll proceed according to the original document

before I fiddle with it. But you covered 10 % of the cap, and I swear my word of

sullenness to Harper.

Me? You. You missed it. There's half a million Swiss francs in that rucksack.

You heard him.

Okay, Farouk, if I may call you that, Your Highness.

Take the shot.

for me to propel the ball in this manner.

We knew your mother.

One moment.

Good husband.

What tribute is this?

Do people not tell you that?

Nobody ever told me I was anybody's anything.

You're starting to do... What's that?

I don't know. Go find out.

He has my eyes, too.

Uncle Nebo.

He's not human.

He's biblical.

What did you pray specifically to get Prince Farouk to make that impossible

granite shot, even as an atheist without God's will who were budgeted by him on

him? It's not witchcraft.

The phrasing of it, which I don't recall, doesn't matter.

What matters is the sincerity of your devotion.

That's it.

That's what?

No, that's it.

What?

The pilot says you got a telephone call on an airplane.

Where is it?

Did you just tell Marseille Bob that Sacramento Consortium agreed to cover

gap? No. All of it, you said. I think French will call if you'll fill him with

vision. Okay, yes. I'm doing the strategy. Listen carefully.

Is this supposed to be here? It was under the lunch trolley.

Oh, dear.

How much time does it take?

Eight to nine minutes.

Perfectly fine. We land in time.

Myself, I feel very safe.

One, two, three.

You're very kind. May I offer you a champagne cocktail?

Not for me. I've never tasted hard liquor in my life except beer and

wine. It's not hard liquor.

It's a delicious concoction with carrots and a sugar cube.

Okay, two -something cocktail.

I knew your mother.

is your handwriting.

This is you.

Obviously the Sacramento Consortium refused to cover the gap and you're

to secretly blackmail me to salvage the agreement.

Actually, I suppose it's extortion. It's so crude you've been fiddling with it.

That's absurd.

It's far -fetched. What do you get for suspicious ideas?

It's very French.

How could we know you were going to receive an anonymous letter? Nothing you

will convince me.

I'm absolutely unflinchingly certain you are responsible for this, as you say,

anonymous letter. If you deny it again, I'm throwing you out.

Well,

anyway, you're wrong about my handwriting.

You're redrafted it. Why did you just do that?

You just admitted everything after swearing us to never reveal your

deceitfulness, even under pain of torture for the rest of our lives. You

that a strategy?

He doesn't fall for it.

They cover 10 % plus for another five.

What's become of you?

Too many airplane crashes, I think.

I'm walking away.

One taxi.

I'll change it back. We concede the point. Too late.

No, no.

I'll change it back. We concede the point. Still too late.

No, no, no, no.

I'll change it back.

We concede the point.

What was that?

This is a robbery.

On behalf of the Jungle Unit of the Intercontinental Radical Freedom Militia

Corps, all money, jewels, and watches into the bag, please.

Where are the guns?

Who are they? I don't know these. They must come from our town.

The proceeds of this seizure will benefit not only the administrative

of our organization, but also orphans and widows, the blind, the sick, the

wounded, farmers, teachers, and the construction of hygienic wastewater

systems.

I'm shooting my ceiling.

Just rob my customers and make your getaway. You're getting angry. No.

None of the funds generated by the sale of your property will be squandered.

These pamphlets articulate our policies.

It's too much.

Why are you shooting my ceiling?

This is a robbery on behalf of the Jungle Unit. I understand that. I'm

about my ceiling. You idiots are destroying a magnificent nightclub.

Grab the roof and get out!

Let's communicate.

He took a bullet for me.

I took a bullet for you. I'm aware of that. I witnessed the event. Where's the

wound? Right here where the blood is gushing out of me.

It's not too bad, actually.

I think your diplomatic credentials brought it down.

Excuse us for that needless violence.

They thought me, but your father did something heroic, I suppose.

It should have been him, actually.

Clock it out.

Me?

Go ahead.

The meetings at midnight.

You're still walking away.

How can I?

Don't mention anything.

To Marty about the gap.

Just pretend our job is building trust and cementing.

Bjorn!

Where's the rucksack?

Oh, I shouldn't keep it in the taxi.

Any of you folks allergic to powdered insecticides?

Of course not. Any of you folks bearing firearms or other weapons on your first?

I carry a dagger. May I ask the purpose of the hand grenade you folks brought on

board? It's a gift, I think. He has extra.

Do I need a blood gun, sir?

Hiya. Hiya. Come in. Good to see you, man. Come in. Hiya. How are you, man?

Come in.

Hiya. Hiya.

I've been shot, but my diplomatic credentials slowed it down. This is my

daughter, Liesel. Do you need a blood count, Liesel? I'm a negative universal

donor. If that's what you're looking for, who shot it? It's a leak from out

town. Geez, man, you should have asked. Not yet.

This is Professor Bjorn, my administrative secretary.

Welcome aboard. Make yourself at home, man. Have a seat.

Use it there, use it there, use it there, use it there. I sit here.

I woke up in the middle of the night to a commotion downstairs.

Shouts and slams and breaking glass.

I shrieked like a cat trapped in a cupboard.

I got up and snuck out through the hatch in the upstairs gallery.

They locked me in at night.

I slid down to where our banister.

Deadstock didn't see me, the under -butler at the time.

I walked down the long front room gallery, bum bum in one hand, mouthy in

other. The grandfather clock chimed, 3am.

The door opened and my father stepped out into the light.

He was wearing white pyjamas and a white dressing gown.

His face was covered with cuts from a plane crash as usual.

His hair was wild.

Go to bed, he said.

Where's mama, I said.

Asleep, he said.

But it wasn't true.

She was there.

standing in the reflection in the mirror in the doorway behind you at the back

of the room.

She had on gloves and a coat.

Her blouse was unbuttoned.

Her breasts were naked.

Your mother won't be living with us anymore, you said.

Go to bed.

I walked in reverse to the stairs, then I ran.

They sent me away in the spring.

Objection, Your Honour.

That's a distorted version of the story. It's told from a child's point of view,

which is forgivable.

but maddening. I never saw her again.

I'm not on trial here. I want to...

I'm

going to confess something terrible which you may never forgive me.

Take five, man.

The reason I know who killed your mother, which I didn't do, is because I

something else, which maybe caused it to happen.

Your mother wasn't a nun like you.

She took lovers.

One, two, three, four.

I defended this insult in spite of my own infidelities, and I tricked them,

in my own handwriting, into thinking your mother was betraying him behind his

back with my administrative secretary at that time.

The result?

He murdered them both, I think.

Did you love her?

I was very fond of you.

No. No.

We must bring that man to justice, meaning get him arrested if what you say

true. I could

do it.

You'd like that?

That was my confession of something terrible. I told the poisonous lie and

mother's dead.

I always expected the worst from you.

I could get it with hope too.

We can no longer honor the precise terms we agreed to validate.

This document outlines our revised proposal.

Good luck, good man.

Prince Farouk and his father cover 5%. The Sacramento brothers cover 10%.

Marseille, Bob, and Wheaton, 15%. You're the richest.

25%. Why would I do that? We made an airtight, legally binding contract.

No, I said 12 .5%. 15 % because I took a bullet for you.

Why?

It's because if you don't, I refuse to put the pen back in.

Well, that's 100%.

It's a great scheme which, if it works, is going to benefit all our partners for

generations to come. We're privileged to thank you for your participation.

Liesl, out.

I'm not leaving the room so you can hand grenade yourself as a business tactic.

You ask me my strategy?

This is my strategy.

Will it work?

No, but my daughter and Ranger of the Shrapnel won't. Liesl, out.

You should go.

You should go.

Why wouldn't I just say yes now and betray you later? You're putting a hand

grenade to my head.

I think I trust you too in return. Not to tell the truth or keep your word,

obviously. But I suppose I'm moved by this absurd performance.

I'll pitch in, man.

20%. Sharply compromising my chances of profitability in an already extremely

high -risk venture.

Just... to watch you conduct the grand finale.

Thank you for the blood.

You're welcome.

Intercepted message from subject in transit suggests possible strategic

with House of Sussman and Korda. Also, encrypted dispatch from undercover

operative reports as follows.

Target's resources continue to dwindle as partners grow dubious and bewildered.

Target repeatedly places significant cash funds directly into Operative's

personal possession.

Tried to misplace, however, Operative does not have heart to steal or destroy.

Too cruel under circumstances.

I'll debate that with him.

Further, Target has appointed daughter his official successor.

Currently a nun.

Not for long, I hope.

Should I be kneeling?

The only terms I dictate is our marriage on a statutory basis would have to be a

purely romantic union.

I'm obliged to keep my daughter sold here to my estate.

My father and his father, your grandfather, I mean, nearly killed each

Maybe you know that, do you?

No, I'm new to my family.

Best friends, whatever it means in their case. They went into business together.

formulated a very effective poison gas.

Killed tens of thousands of soldiers, made tens of millions of dollars.

One day in their laboratory, a heated argument erupted into a plugging match.

They attacked each other with lethal measures with an experimental new

of their weaponized aerosol, which fortunately turned out to be less

than the original compound.

Both survived, but that was the end of their partnership.

I asked my father 40 years later, nearly on his deathbed, still suffering my

neural effects from the incident, what was the argument about?

You know what he said?

Who could lick who, I guess?

Or whom?

That maybe is the source of most of our problems on this barren earth.

Who could lick who?

Or whom, I guess?

If something gets in your way, flatten it.

That was my father's advice before he cut me out of his will.

He has to be mummified and buried in a pyramid.

We bought the land and drew up the plans, but never built it.

We had him cremated instead.

Nothing he can do about it.

Is this based?

Of course. It's a proxy for the real one, which I'm unable to pay for at this

time. If you care to advance me a portion of the funds... I'm not paying

anything. I authorize a 150 -year lease on the property and water rights. Maybe

I might consider briefly marrying you as an experience, like a chapter in a

book, depending on the advice of my tax attorney.

I'm going to have to go with a guess.

It's against the interest of my utopian outpost.

I'm not asking you. I'm telling you as your potential future husband.

No.

I'm not asking you.

I'm begging you.

That's your favorite second cousin. No.

If she does marry me, I'm not sure we can compel her to cover the gap.

Depending on the jurisdiction where the wedding text plays.

Do you believe the official ruling my mother's death was caused by suicide?

No. Who murdered her then in that case, in your opinion?

I only know what they say.

It's my uncle, my father.

The diplomatic pouch arrived.

Open it.

List of contents.

One, fresh socks and pairs.

Two, a book.

Thieves of the Americas by Carsten and Freud.

Three, financial reports for review.

Four, bills to be paid.

Five, emergency directive, urgent.

Six, fresh handkerchiefs. Go back to five.

Ah, yes. Must be important.

Bring it back.

Sabotage again.

Give this to the pilot. New flight plan.

Where are we going?

Home. A parliamentary motion just passed intended to thwart me specifically.

I need to be there with the notary by noon tomorrow.

What happens if you don't? I become an English subject.

Then they seize our worldwide assets, extradite me and send me to prison.

Ah, got it.

This is for you.

Happy birthday.

How old are you?

Twenty -one.

We can't read your handwriting.

Is this a one or a seven?

It's... God damn it. It's a G.

He's been fiddling with it.

What? You're tapping in Morse code.

Am I what? I didn't notice.

That's strange.

He's been fiddling with it.

You speak Morse code.

Oh, no, no, not fluently. I learned it at a school point.

You speak Morse code.

I'm the librarian of our back -of -the -convent collection of classical Latin

scrolls and codices.

I do deciphering.

Fascinating.

Golly. Oh, dear.

Somebody poisoned his beer. We should have tested him. You let him drink in

cockpit. Just beer.

Stand back and hang on.

Uh -oh.

Why am I up here being stalked? by a fighter jet. I have a vocation.

I think I recognize that assassin too. He used to work for me also.

I'm disinheriting myself from you.

What a terrible thing to say to a father.

Especially during a trauma period. Good heavens, he's back!

Next time he strikes us, hit him with a hand grenade.

I bear no hostility towards your father or his interests.

Your father, however, on occasion bears decisive hostility to the United States

government and its allies and enemies.

It's my job to observe, report, and maintain... Well, it's an interesting

I suppose. After the war, my own primary interests are very similar to the

persona I present to you, Professor Bjorn. I completed my studies at

and had to establish an expatriate scientific journal, publishing poetry,

drawing, and ecological prose.

Eventually, our government offered to subsidize the magazine in an effort to

promote American cultural interests.

But really, they just wanted us all to become intelligence operators.

I hope you don't feel betrayed.

I could go ahead and turn back into my normal self right now, if you like. It's

not that different from how you see me already.

See what I mean? Basically the same person.

No, you're different.

I'm not actually a bohemian. I'm a moderate conservative, politically.

Also, I'm not from Oslo. I'm from Wilmington, Delaware.

Also, I know how to drink, although I do find I'm less inhibited when I pretend

to be drunk.

Also, I wrote that book.

I was going to recommend it to us.

Is that a fake mustache?

No, yes, based on my real one, which I usually have.

I feel

deeply

terrible about this.

You employed me in good faith to teach you about insects.

This is a wonderful setting for us to continue our lesson.

I've never seen so many bugs in one place in all my life, with the possible

exception of a garbage dump near Rome, which was equally breathtaking.

Why do you ask if I could imagine falling in love with a man like you?

Hypothetically? Yes.

Was it part of your mission?

No, it wasn't part of my anything.

I might justify it as trying to infiltrate your family business, but to

the truth, I still mean it as a genuine question.

both as Professor Bjorn and as Agent Carlson of the covert North Americans.

Don't help me!

Don't help me.

Wrap this around a tree trunk.

I may go under for a moment, but I'll take it. No, you won't. I'll save myself

myself.

Bless us in these thy holy gifts. What is the bounty we seek to thy merciful

bounty? We humble ourselves. Dost thou not fear God?

Before thee in thy name. Amen.

Amen.

Are you against slavery and the Bible?

It's damnable to hell.

I believe they received a small stipend.

The yield of Adam's loins crucified my only begotten son.

I know, I know.

Jesus.

I'm not dead yet.

Why didn't you let me think? It's redundant.

Our mission is strictly dedicated to sabotaging your business interests. We

never resort to extra -legal violence.

I'm not gullible.

I'm aware of that.

What's the idea?

To demolish your enterprise and pillage all its assets.

That was horrible.

I'll never forget it.

I'll put a traumatic effect on myself until the day I die.

Really? I don't know if I feel terrible or flatter.

Or both.

Like maybe I matter.

What did they do to you?

Our family?

I'm sorry I frightened you. It won't happen again.

you play with my polygraph?

We're taught to. It's not difficult.

You do karate?

Of course.

I'll teach you if you like.

Well, it's too late.

I don't know how many more times I can die.

These filthy books should all be burned.

Except this one.

It's sacrilegious, but it speaks to me.

Keep it. It's yours.

Open your birthday present.

It's a beautiful piece.

What's your real first name, Agent Carlson?

I'm happy to just go by Bjorn.

My only pleasant memories of a miserable childhood take place below stairs.

I was allowed to dine with the household staff once a week.

They pretended to love me.

What choice did they have?

To this day, I'm a very good cook and dishwasher.

6 .15.

The cock crows.

The robin brings worms to its chicks in the nest on my windowsill.

Sister Mary pumps the water pump at 7.

The bell rings for morning prayers.

The shape of the day is exactly the same.

I like it that way.

As a little boy, I kept fleas in plastic bags in my bedroom and did my

morphology and microscopy at night.

I lived with my mother's sister.

My parents conducted their research abroad.

Aunt Beth was very kind, but she never approved of my practices.

The house was regularly fumigated, resulting in a great loss of specimens.

Later, out of jealousy and loneliness, I betrayed them.

The kitchen staff.

I told my father the truth.

They steal.

I thought I would become his ally.

Instead, he gave me a tremendous beating and didn't speak a word to me for 90

days.

He fired them all just the same.

I'm going back to the sisters.

No, you don't. How can you? We're marooned. You guys are my sole heir. On

trial basis.

I'm finished.

You're hired.

I don't forgive you after all, I'm ashamed to say. Plus, we've got to get

revenge on Uncle Lupar.

Or bring him to justice, if you prefer.

I'll leave that to you and your conscience.

I don't have one.

Plus, what about the poor slaves and the family? I'm going back to the sisters

to pray and study and work diligently to overcome my weaknesses of character,

which are probably genetic.

In other words, it's all my fault again.

You can burn the house down after all, if you want.

There you are.

Hello again, here in the middle of the jungle. How extraordinary to stumble

across your craft site, I gather.

Hello, hello, hello.

I'm not a businessman.

On the contrary, I'm a communist revolutionary, heavily armed, and living

secret jungle encampment with a band of freedom fighters.

However, even I can see your plan on its surface defies the basic laws of

economics. That's why it's never been done before.

My plan defies everything.

What's your connection to the company?

Me? I pretend to be its administrative secretary, but really I'm the tutor. But

actually, in fact, I'm a spy for the United States government.

Wow. Religion is a side of the oppressed creature. It's a protest against

suffering. I agree.

You're not an atheist.

Of course I am.

Some of my colleagues, however, only claim to be.

I had a private army once. Big headache.

Fifteen minutes to spare. Where's my notary? We need fingerprints and

signatures. You're all official witnesses.

You're very pious, Mr. Liesel, but you're not plain.

The stones on your pipe, for instance.

Not to mention the opulence of your rosary.

And this astonishing dagger.

A gift from a prince.

Mother Superior, you've approached me when I might require your trust and

guidance.

Worldly adornments do serve certain good people for the good.

We're not all destined to deny ourselves man's earthly pleasures.

Some thrive in tranquil simplicity.

Others find beauty in color.

Splendor and jubilation.

This is no reproach, my child.

You were a rich girl, always were.

Of course you would continue to cherish your ongoing patronage of the Abbey.

You just won't be a nun anymore.

Is God more interested in my money or my soul?

I can't speak for him.

Maybe I can assist in this area, both as a father and as an expert mediator.

I gather you kicked her out.

I'm urging Liesel to return to her family and greater society.

Will the superiors still want her to fund the construction of the new

With gratitude.

Of course.

Are you authorized, by the way, to do a baptizing if somebody wants to be

Catholic? Me?

You're an atheist.

I feel I have a religious awakening now, if that's what we call it.

Tell me how this awakening came to pass.

Well...

I would say partly it's because of my near -death episodes.

I get a kind of visions.

Never mind the details. Then partly there's the fiduciary benefit.

And mostly, and I would weight this factor up to maybe 75%, it's simply the

influence of my daughter's influence, which has a profound effect on me. And I

think at my age in the end, finally, it's better I just go on her side.

The point is to be delivered from sin and purified. It doesn't work if you're

lying.

I'm not lying.

I'm capable of and willing to genuinely believe in the opposite of my personal

convictions. I can do that in certain situations.

You remember the combination?

Another shoebox?

This one's older.

What's inside?

I don't know.

Supposedly a relic quarry of our family history, sealed half a score ago by my

father's notary.

I willed it to you, but since we're here, take it.

I'll open it later.

great -grandfather built the hotel.

Liesel would have been the fifth generation proprietor, except my father

to an American conglomerate, who ruined it, of course.

The venue is situated on a precarious border among three fiefdoms, two of

remain under martial law after a military coup.

In exchange for me allowing you to steal the painting rolled up in that shipping

tube, You and your terrorists provide security services to our entire party

throughout the UNR. I saw the painting.

You'll appreciate.

It's good timing in a business sense.

Even an immediate divorce might bear profit.

You reach him? Yeah. His holiness refuses to cover the gap. Any evidence?

I know, Felix. He's done.

We'll need to sweeten the pot.

Tell him I offered nine more souls.

Are you still an enemy spy?

At the moment, no. I thought I might be more useful as a double agent.

I could pay you any extra.

Oh, no, naturally. It would be included in my tutorial fees.

My operational handler, codenamed Excalibur. Agent Carson.

Excalibur. I know about the bashable rivets, and the bolt spikes and

gravel, too. This office can neither confirm or deny any such knowledge, nor

would it allow us to acknowledge dead knowledge. It's Davaton!

I swear my word of solemnest honor, I'll never let you win.

Ah, I've arranged for you to accuse him in person, by the way. You don't call no

ball. Of course. It's crucial we confront this unspeakable evil.

Also, it's even more crucial we secure his financial investment position.

As you know, I'd never admit the possibility of and even avoid the word

Maybe that's a weakness.

On the other hand, we're only missing one slice of the pie that was baked too

big for them.

Just a dud.

Just do that.

Myself, I feel very grave.

The new bar has arrived.

Off the record, the gap might be bottomless. Closer to an abyss.

In fact, there's even more to it now.

A further dimension than I previously anticipated.

The immortal.

You used to work for me.

Me?

No. I was in disguise.

I recognized this assassin.

Who hired you to kill me?

I don't know.

If it turns out you're not my dealer, can I adopt you?

With your permission?

Yes.

In that case, whatever happens, we'll be fine.

Exactly as we agreed, my dear Noobar.

The validation of your proprietary shares up to 55 % advance against the

shortfall. This is just a symbolic meeting. It's a formality.

Lisa has additional objectives, of course, as you're aware.

My father promised to arrange for me to accuse you in person. That's what I'm

here to do.

Why would I, my dog?

She wasn't normal.

Help yourself to a Hagridate. I'm very glad to have my own.

What's your blood type, Lisa?

I don't know. They never tested it, to my knowledge.

You have my eyes.

Do people not tell you that?

Nobody ever told her she has any money or anything.

All the way outside.

Because you can't.

The truth.

Although in my opinion it was me who admitted to the truth.

He's the fool for standing in for a fact.

I'm astonished you didn't say it already.

And if I did kill him, I'd never admit it. I invented that lie.

To trick you. Of course you do. But it was true.

The blood types prove it.

Probably. You got my blood.

And hers.

I've got everybody's blood.

I know. Yes, I do. I know. Of course I do.

They don't.

They say you murdered all your wives.

Wait.

Who put in the sun just so I don't lie?

I didn't murder that wife, your mother, or any other.

I would even go so far as to say I'm incapable of it. Whatever they say about

me, behind my back, whoever they are.

I wasn't taught to either.

To be the positive.

Where did he come from?

I can't remember.

I'll open the shoebox.

My father, on his birthday.

My uncle.

My mother on her wedding day.

A carton of six poison glass samples.

A rare stamp, a gold coin, a skeleton key.

Secret letters.

My grandfather.

Some of him just ashes.

I'll take one.

It's a staggeringly ambitious project.

We're situated entirely in a perpetual war zone.

It's our family business.

My nerve is final.

Wow. You're pulling out your entire investment and breaking your promise to

Stabbing everybody you love once and simultaneously in the back. Yes.

Why'd you come here in that case?

The country says.

It's me.

I'll cover the gap.

Everything we got, our entire fortune, plus a little bit more.

I proceed as a silent partner, taking a complete loss upon my hands. It's an

opportunity for any future upside, and I'm still on the hook for unlimited

and deficits.

Fine. I'll do it.

Fine. I'll do it.

The slaves will be paid. The famine will be finished.

We'll beat those bureaucrats.

And my most important project of my lifetime comes to pass.

Without us.

I don't want a fortune.

I present to you now, at this time, the first symbolic demonstration of our

abundant desert harvest, born from deep within the earth's rich elemental...

Cindy, go ask for another word.

Yes, my dear Nubar. How can I help you?

I've changed my mind. I'll do it myself.

This is tremendous.

I know it.

It's not a business deal. My name is Final. I mean, your assassination.

So it is you, the enemy, trying to murder me all along. The son of my

own half -brother.

I've got everybody's blood.

No, you don't. Yes, I do. No, you don't.

You're worse than me.

You're not human.

You're biblical.

Can't you stop?

Can't you leave me alone?

Why do you need to always keep assassinating me all the time?

Who could they call I guess?

Let's communicate.

When I pray, no one answers.

I only pretend he does.

Then I do whatever I think God probably would have suggested.

Usually it's obvious.

Peace be with you, Reverend Mother.

Our new quarters, though modest, cramped, meagre, and shabby, are,

charming and versatile.

The boys, to my delight, finally begin to thrive and flourish.

I do serve a purpose here.

Agent Carlson resigned as a double agent and accepted a staff position at our

local grammar school.

My stepmother annulled her brief union with my father.

And one, and two, and three, and four.

My father's entrepreneurial energies remain robustly invigorated by the

austerity of our poverty.

I do admire his resilience and ambition, though I don't believe these come from

God.

The Phoenician scheme continues to deepen and widen.

It may be a sizable step backwards for civilization.

But it will produce some good works.

I'm sure of it.

Could you imagine marrying a man like me?

I mean it as a genuine question.

Is that paste?

No. Yes. I think so. I don't know. The same one.

Cousin Hilda sent it back. I asked your father for his consent and he loaned it

to me to give to you.

Pia, to this day, he's a very good cook.

And a whore.

You say yes?

On a trial basis.