Original subtitles

Yes, I'm calling from the church. I'd like to confirm.

I've been getting the runaround for two hours. Can you tell me approximately how

much money was missed?

Was it over $1 ,000?

So, after I got my B .A., I studied abroad.

And it was great.

But after a year, I suddenly got a revelation.

I was an American.

I was more of an American than I'd ever thought.

And I just said to myself, I am not of these people.

I felt that whenever I have to go to the Valley.

Well, it was more than just a matter of missing Walter Cronkite and peanut

butter.

I wanted to come back home and be a part of what was going on.

It's your dad, huh?

Isn't that cute?

He knows I lived with a guy in France for six months.

Old habits die hard.

That's cute.

You want a ninja?

I don't know.

I don't think your father's that crazy about me.

Eh, he's that way with all the guys I go out with.

Besides, I have so many questions I want to ask you about reporting.

Where's my keys?

Oh, here they are.

I've got to start looking for my own apartment.

Can't you come in just for a few minutes?

Oh, I suppose.

Oh, I thought I heard something out here.

Hi, Daddy.

Hello, Charlie. Hello, Joe.

I was just up doing some reading.

Well, Joe, do you want to come in for a root beer?

No, thanks. I've got to get in early in my job.

See, I've got this managing editor who works in a glass office. He sees you

you come in.

Good night, John.

Good night, Johnny.

Good night, Charlie.

Yeah.

Morning, Tim.

Hey, Joe.

I wouldn't let this guy up, but he insists on waiting to see you.

Joe Rossi. Look, I apologize for my story on the artists in Venice. They're

all dope games.

Here. This is for you.

Freedom or death.

That's right.

Same to you.

Who was that?

I guess somebody who reads the trib and sense from something in my pieces that I

was the guy you wanted to communicate with. Would you mind not doing that in

here, Rossi? You might have a bomb in it.

of the dark room. Give me a minute or two to close the door before you open

that.

Why do I get all the wankos?

Something they sense in your pieces?

I'll say this.

This guy has style.

At least I attract a higher class of nut.

What is it? Ah, see? Now you're curious.

Lou, what do we do with something like this?

What is it?

The letter says these are plans for an atomic bomb.

What do you think?

I don't know. It's been a long time since I looked at a bomb plan.

You spent a lot of time drawing me.

Enclosure will find plans for a nuclear device.

We are sending the plans so that you know it works.

Check it out if you doubt us.

This is not a joke.

The device will be detonated at an important point of Los Angeles so these

demands are not met.

What do they want?

Ten million dollars.

We have to publish their message.

Vrasic and Katulich have to be released from prison.

Who?

The negotiations must begin immediately on the formation of a free and

independent Croatia.

Why are they blowing up Los Angeles for that? The United States doesn't rule

Croatia.

Do we?

What's going on?

Bomb threat.

Okay, call the police.

This is supposed to be an A -bomb.

And I think federal people get into it. Let's find out.

Well, see, how'd you get this? Some guy shoved it into my hands in the lobby.

Okay, when we find out more, we'll kick the story back to you.

Everybody thinks so cool about it.

We don't think it could be for real, do you?

Well... No.

You know, it's funny.

If these guys had said there was an old -fashioned time bomb in the trip

basement, we'd all be panicked.

They blew their credibility with the A -bomb bit.

Yeah?

Yeah, what?

Not to worry.

What are you saying?

That the drawings are fake?

They always are.

Always? Mr. August, do you get a lot of A -bomb threats?

Well, I wouldn't say a lot.

Would you?

What's a lot?

One a week?

No. But there are plenty of kooks out there.

Usually the police get called, and they call in the FBI, and Bob calls me or

someone from my agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and we check it

Actually, the nuclear thing isn't as popular as it was a couple of years ago.

Laser ray devices are in now.

We are fighting Star Wars.

So what do you do with those now?

Well, it's policy to treat everyone as the real thing.

Now, we'll find the young man who passed that threat to your reporter.

And perhaps if your people could take the time to give us a description.

Sure. Take all the time you need.

You could also do something else for us.

For obvious reasons, it's important to us that the Tribune...

Sit on this story for a while.

You boys have any trouble with that?

No. It's policy to cooperate with you boys in something like this.

We would like to be kept informed of the progress of the case. Oh, absolutely.

We want to keep the lines of communication open.

It's very important that we keep in touch.

By the way, I really like the Tribune.

I travel around and I have to read a lot of newspapers.

And the Tribune is one I can always look forward to with my morning coffee.

Thank you.

Donovan, how's it going?

Okay, Rusty, how's it going with you?

Oh, you know how it is.

Women. It's not one thing, it's another.

That's true.

I got into one of those situations we get into. You'll appreciate this.

I was lecturing at a journalism seminar at UCLA.

Men, minds, and the media.

Which were you?

Anyway.

Afterwards, this girl came up to talk, and you know how those audiences are.

Well, this girl was different.

She really had a good mind, understood what I was saying, thought I was

terrific. Girls like that are hard to find.

Yeah, wait.

So we had coffee and talked, and I asked her out again. Last night.

Movie and dinner. Did you have a good time?

I don't know.

When are you going to find out?

It's not that simple, Donovan. This girl is Charlie Hume's daughter.

Ah. I don't think I'm ready for that.

If I start dating her, it's going to be very awkward with Charlie.

I mean, let's face it. I'm not exactly the kind of guy he wants his daughter to

be involved with.

Why do you say that?

I'm in the wrong business.

Nobody's more prejudiced against newsmen than a newsman.

Then don't go out with her.

It's not that easy.

If I don't take her out now, it's just like an insult.

How can I face Charlie after I passed on his daughter?

I don't think it's a problem.

If you don't want to take her out, just tell her you're not interested.

Then start looking for another job.

Right.

Thanks, Donovan.

Thanks for lending me that book, Joe. You know, it really does show how TV

just cannot do a story in depth.

Is TV news supposed to?

Oh, yeah, well, I guess you can watch TV for the immediacy and then use the

newspapers for information.

Use both media.

Where's the time?

Joe, who are you with tonight?

What do you mean?

Well, you don't seem to be here with me.

Yeah, well, I've got a lot on my mind.

Look, Joanie, I want to tell you something.

Yes?

This is hard.

What is?

I think we're being followed. Don't turn around or anything.

What?

Your father doesn't drive a tan Cutlass, does he? Joe, are you serious? We're

being followed?

Same car's been near us all night.

Well, maybe they're just going where we are.

Let's find out.

What happened?

They're still with us.

What?

Some nutty radical group made contact with me today. It could be them. In any

case, I'm taking you home right now.

Joe, do you get followed like this often?

It happens.

Boy, dating a guy in journalism sure is a lot more exciting than dating guys in

comparative lit.

Yeah, well, things do heat up sometimes.

Well, what was it that you wanted to tell me?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Look, right now, I think I just better take you home.

Then I'll call and we'll talk.

Lou Grant will continue in a moment here on A &E.

Yes, honey, I'm telling you, I looked all over.

Under the pillow? Sure.

Yeah, I even took the blankets off.

It was a gold necklace, right?

I don't know where else to look.

Don't you have a lost and found?

Look, if I do find it, I'll call you right away.

Okay.

Bye.

Mrs. Pinchot.

Lou. Lou.

Lou, I was being followed last night. I don't know who it was, but I was

definitely being followed.

Yeah, that's interesting. So was I.

You too?

No kidding.

I wonder if anyone else was.

I didn't notice.

Morning, guys. Something kind of weird happened to me last night. I'm sure I

tailed. By who?

Oh, cops, government guys. It was real textbook.

I think that's who was following me.

You were followed, too?

Yeah, so was Rossi.

We were all tailed?

I probably was, too. I was a little preoccupied.

I'm going to get them on the phone and tell them to call off their watchdog.

Wait a minute, Rossi. Hold it. I don't like feds crawling all over me, Lou.

should be crawling all over you. We passed on an A -bomb threat to them, and

they're just following up in a very thorough way.

If they weren't, they'd be pushing us to do an expose on government

incompetence. Let me call them anyway.

I'm going to ask them if they were tailing us, because if they weren't, I

them to know somebody is, so they could tail them.

So it looks like they're taking this seriously.

I thought they said not to worry.

I can't believe that a homemade atomic bomb is a possibility.

Is it?

A homemade atomic bomb that somebody built in his basement?

Come on, Rossi. I'm just asking if it's possible. You need the resources of the

U .S. government to make an atomic bomb. Or the Russian government.

Or at least the Indian government.

In any case, a government.

Yeah, I would. I got a D in high school chemistry.

But what about those guys with glasses who always went around campus carrying

briefcases with the slide rules dangling from their belt loops? I thought they

were building bombs even then.

Some of them probably grew up to be bomb makers, and they work for the

government. All of them? Maybe there's one mad scientist who doesn't.

We're not going to settle this by arguing among ourselves.

Let's find out.

Posse, how would you like a trip out of town?

I could really use it.

Okay. Your madman would need radioactive material for his bomb.

See if he could get it.

Then somebody should see what he'd do with it.

I knew a guy in college who would understand the physics. I could try to

him. Look at all mine.

I've been looking for an excuse to look him up.

He was kind of cute.

So, how can I help you, Billy?

What did you want to know?

Is an unofficial nuclear bomb possible?

I thought you wanted to talk about us.

Yes, it is.

I don't mean theoretically possible.

You mean can a civilian with limited resources build one in his garage?

That's right.

No question about it.

Absolutely.

You've thought about this before?

Yeah, I've thought about it.

I've had nightmares about it.

Designing nuclear weapons was my field for a while.

Sophisticated weapons for the government, but I've also designed

-yourself bombs in my head.

Sure, you could do it. You're a top physicist.

You've always been brilliant. It took the people on the Manhattan Project, and

they were geniuses, years to figure out how to make an A -bomb.

Yeah, those people were high -powered.

But the next guy's right on their work.

One person may have had the creative idea to invent the wheel, but now

can understand how it works.

But the average person would be starting from scratch without access to the work

of the Manhattan Project.

That's not really true.

Just about all that material is unclassified now.

But how many people could really make use of that unclassified material?

20 ,000.

What?

About 20 ,000 people in the world.

Several undergraduates have designed A -bombs for class projects.

Suppose one of those 20 ,000 people who could do it is a...

A little crazy.

Jack, you're starting to make me nervous.

Well, what's saving us is that you need fissionable material to make a nuclear

bomb.

The stuff is hard to work with and even harder to get.

Of course, we know an unofficial bomb is possible, so that's why security on the

uranium and plutonium is so tight.

No, I'm not worried about some nut stealing plutonium from my plant and

an A -bomb in its backyard.

Did it happen?

Well, I'm not losing sleep over it.

Honestly, it's just not a real problem.

The security around here looks like it could keep out the average prowler.

But could a chain -link fence and a couple of guards repel a determined

No.

We could slow them down quite a bit, but we couldn't keep them out.

That doesn't worry you?

No. See, our big problem is safety.

Making sure that we don't have an accident or that we, uh...

Don't contaminate the countryside.

That's what we spend our money on, because that's what the public is

about. And rightly so.

So you don't believe plutonium can be taken from your plant?

No, no, I didn't say that.

I said I wasn't worried, because there are too many ifs.

Sure, if you knew what you were doing, and if you weren't greedy, and probably

if you were crazy, you could flip plutonium out of the plant in minuscule

amounts, and it wouldn't be detected.

How's that?

Well, if you worked in the plant.

and took the same tiny amount, say, in a salt shaker in your lunch pail each

day, it wouldn't show up.

Maybe. But we'd check out our people very carefully.

So right now it's known where every drop of plutonium is.

Well, I think in this plant, within a reasonable margin of error at this

yeah. What about not in this plant?

Well, naturally there is MUF.

MUF? Materials unaccounted for.

Look, we're really on top of this.

The fact that we can state that small quantities are missing proves how

carefully we're monitoring it. How much is missing?

Relatively little.

Enough to make a bomb?

Oh, enough to make several dozen bombs.

And that doesn't worry you?

No.

Because take the worst case.

Say the stuff is in the hands of someone evil.

Well, what are they going to do with it?

It would take a whole Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb.

The picture I get is that you could build a bomb if you could get the

fissionable material.

But there's no way you could get hold of the stuff.

The picture I get is that if you were determined, you could get the fish in

wool material, but no way you could pull the bomb.

You two are starting to make me nervous.

It all sounds so far out.

One guy says you can do it, the other guy says you can get the stuff. Maybe

should introduce these two to each other.

Rossi, phone call. Guy says it's important.

Do me a favor, tell him I'm in a meeting.

He said to tell you freedom or debt.

I think I'll take it.

Line four.

Yeah, this is Joe Rossi. Why haven't you printed our demands?

Try it, Trace.

Who is this, please?

You know who this is.

Are you the same person who handed me the package in the lobby?

I don't know your name.

I'd like to know your name.

We don't need names.

We need action.

What kind of action do you mean? You know what I mean.

Time is running out.

Well, I for one am not really informed on the Croatian situation.

Time is running out.

Not long enough for any kind of trade.

You mean I could make an atom bomb in my garage?

And your kitchen.

You'd need a few things you probably wouldn't have in your cupboard because

chances are the uranium you have would have to be changed.

to get it into a form that's easier to work with.

You'd need a lab furnace, some hydrofluoric acid, flasks, crucibles,

hardware.

The most expensive item would be the lab furnace.

It could run you a couple hundred dollars.

You better figure three or four hundred for all the equipment.

And how much for the insurance policy in case you accidentally blow up Pasadena?

Well, you'd be atomized, too, so you probably wouldn't care. Oh.

Jack, in the late 60s, the AEC discovered someone was missing 15

uranium UF6.

It turned up in a freight room in a Boston airport.

Now, what if you could get hold of some misplaced UF6?

Well, you wouldn't need such special equipment.

For the heating part of the process, your stove at home will do.

Jack, I didn't come to see you, and we didn't invite you over here to ask you

all these questions because we got into this subject by accident.

These are some copies of plans we received at the trip.

I copied a few pages of the drawings before the feds came.

I don't know if there's enough here for you to tell about this thing.

You know, I still have a certain security clearance.

And because of information which is classified, I couldn't tell you if this

was workable.

You could tell us it's not.

You could say, this won't work.

Look, Jack, if this bomb is not viable, just say something so we won't all be

scared out of our socks.

Lou, can I have another beer?

Lou Grant will continue in a moment here on A &E.

The message of those terrorists, or do we just keep quiet about the whole

The police, the FBI, the Department of Energy, they all want us to sit on it.

Of course they do. What do you think?

We don't know what would happen if we ran the story now.

Do you remember what it was like during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Sure. People were scared.

Well, it was a little bit more than that here in this city. Do you remember what

it was like, Mr. Hill? Oh, yeah.

I just moved out here. It was incredible.

Supermarket shelves stripped bare by people who were hoarding. I saw one

interviewed on television with a shopping basket full of carrots. Nothing

carrots. She had heard that vitamin A could help resist radiation poisoning.

The small towns surrounding Los Angeles issued public statements that people

would be shot if they tried to stop in their areas during an evacuation.

Oh, it was not an inspiring moment for us.

So if we did print this story now, we could start a wholesale panic.

Yeah, but what if we don't print their demands?

And these wackos back up their threat and set off the bomb?

They haven't done it yet.

I'm still for holding out.

Mr. Hill?

I agree.

Well, how do we proceed?

We keep working on the story. We try to find the nut who gave Rossi the threat.

What do we know about that person?

Not much.

Well, good luck.

And if you do get close to these extortionists, please tread gently, Mr.

We'll be careful.

Hey, Marty, thanks for calling back. Got a few minutes before your next class?

Okay, I'll make it short. I need a quick history lesson.

Hi.

Just a second, Marty.

Hi. You drove off the other night before I had a chance to give this back to

you. Oh, I meant to call, but things started breaking here. I know.

Look, this is kind of a bad time.

Why don't we meet for a drink later?

That would be nice.

Okay.

Have you seen my father anywhere?

Uh... I'll see you later.

The bomb that destroyed Hiroshima was 20 kilotons.

Perfectly lousy.

One kiloton atomic bomb.

A fizzle.

Set off in the center of UCLA.

Could wipe it and about 30 ,000 people off the skyline.

Oh.

Somebody could be driving up Wilshire Boulevard.

right now in a beat -up station wagon, picking his target.

I just feel that I should warn all these people out there.

To do what?

You're right, there's nothing they can do.

The population of Los Angeles can't move to Utah till this is over.

Jack, this is so horrible.

For five years, I tried to design better nuclear bombs, because I thought if we

made the damn things destructive enough, Their use would become unthinkable.

So, I designed Maverick, which I named after that TV show I liked as a kid.

A thousand times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.

And I designed Snoopy, which could fit in a suitcase.

Very clever.

But I realized I'd been a complete idiot.

How?

Because I was so naive about people.

I mean, sure, the destructiveness of nuclear bombs would deter most people

using them.

But this world produces too many people who don't live by that kind of logic.

There are people out there who would push the button.

And I may have made it a little more likely that that will happen.

Something I accomplished before I was 30.

I just feel so hopeless and lonely.

Jack, let's have dinner together tonight.

Okay.

Pick a place, and if it's still standing this evening, we'll go there.

I'm sorry.

It's a nervous tension.

I don't feel so hot myself.

I don't want to be alone either.

Croatia is south of Slovenia and north of Bosnia.

What's that from, the Lord of the Rings?

It's a map of Yugoslavia, and it's very real to the people who live there.

The Croats.

Yeah. Croatia had been part of Hungary, but was semi -autonomous. And after the

First World War, they drew up a new map, and the Croats found themselves part of

Yugoslavia. Not happily.

Very unhappily. In fact, in 1934, a Croat assassinated King Alexander, but

didn't make things any more fun for the Croats in Yugoslavia.

They wanted to keep their autonomy.

Right, exactly.

I talked to a lot of Croatians. Some were very militant. But I didn't feel

of them were capable of something like this.

Who would be? You don't know these people are really Croatians.

They could be simple extortionists using their Croatian struggle as camouflage.

They could be anybody. None of this is getting us any closer to the guy who

the bomb threat to Rossi.

Move, you got a minute?

Yeah, keep digging.

Beat's just sitting around waiting to be atomized.

Come on into my office.

All right, Johnny.

You hear from the feds?

No, no, no, no, I haven't heard a thing.

What's wrong?

What would you do?

If your daughter was going with a reporter... You're kidding.

Johnny? Uh -huh.

Oh, gee, Charlie. Oh, come on now, Lou.

You have three daughters. What if one of them was getting serious about a nose

man?

I don't know. It's kind of hard to picture.

Try.

Well, I don't think any of my girls would. They're too smart.

But...

But if one of them did, I guess it would depend on the newsman.

Thanks a lot.

What did I say?

Who is it?

Our young friend out there.

Donovan?

Oh, he's not a bad guy.

I know every time he takes a long lunge, you'll be thinking... Not Donovan.

Who could it be? The other one.

What other one?

How does it happen, Lou?

You feed them when they're babies. You nurse them when they're hurt or sick.

You try to get them the best education possible. You endure them in

You get to know them better in college.

And then they come home one night with a reporter.

Damn.

Charlie, we were reporters.

Yeah, you remember what we were like?

Oh, I'm stumped, Lou.

I've never interfered in Joanie's relationships with men.

Didn't you tell her you'd disinherit her if she kept on living with that artist

in France?

Well, he was a very flaky guy.

He was French.

Didn't you tell her she couldn't go with that motorcycle racer when she was

going to Stanford?

I didn't like her riding on the back of that thing at 90 miles an hour. Do you

know the statistics on motorcycle accidents?

Didn't you ground her when she stayed out late with that guy in high school?

It didn't have anything to do with a guy.

Well, he was kind of weird.

Charlie. I never interfered. I tried, but she would never listen to me.

If I try to tell her something now, she won't listen.

I could set Rossi on indefinite assignment to Sacramento.

Nah, that'd never work.

I wonder how he'd like to be Moscow Bureau Chief.

Lou Grant will continue in a moment here on A &E.

Is this anything?

Break -in at an airline ticket office about four weeks ago.

So? Well, no money was stolen, but somebody had used the computer.

Didn't Jack Ridgway say that access to a computer would help somebody trying to

design a bomb?

Yeah.

Very good.

I want Rusty to stay on what he's doing. Give this to Billy when she checks in.

Hey, Donovan.

What do you think?

You think there's someone out there driving around with an A -bomb in his

seat?

I don't know.

That's almost too big to think about.

They came in the back way. There.

I see. And there was actually money in the office at the time? In the safe,

sure. But they went right past it.

Could they have tried to... Sorry.

Oh.

Pardon me.

Tell me, could they have tried to crack the safe and fail it?

Police didn't think so.

It's not really a very sophisticated safe. We don't deal in large sums.

And it showed no signs of being tampered with.

Could this have been a case of industrial spying? Could they have been

records instead of money?

Nothing like that here.

What do you suppose they were after?

They used a computer.

Over an hour's worth of computer time.

It's really valuable, you know.

What kind of problems were they working on?

We have no record of it. All erased.

Whoever they were, they knew what they were doing.

Joanie, I'm really glad you came back from France when we met.

Oh, me too.

And I really like you.

Oh, I like you too.

Joanie, it's great that you're interested in journalism.

But one of the things you're going to learn is that this business is very

on relationships.

Right. That's the hell of it, I know.

You do?

I'm a newspaperman's daughter.

I mean, relationships, they get all bent out of shape. It's part of the price

that you have to pay.

That's right.

I know what you're feeling right now, Joe.

You do?

My father told me all about the big story that you're on.

Oh.

Boy, the whole thing is so sick and rotten.

I mean, I don't want to be blown out of this world.

I haven't even had a chance to be a reporter yet.

You will.

Well, there's a city left to be a reporter in.

I mean, you just, you feel so helpless and so hopeless and scared.

It's like, it's like the whole world is spinning crazily out of control and it

can be such a beautiful world, Joe.

I went to the beach this afternoon.

I watched the surf rolling in for miles up the coast.

The clouds spreading along the horizon, sailboats out on the ocean.

And then I drove into town as it was getting dark.

The L .A.

skyline with the lights on and all the big new buildings.

It was so dazzling I started to cry.

What?

What?

Oh, what is it you were going to tell me about, um, journalism and

relationships? I'm sorry I got started on all this. Please, go ahead.

Oh, yeah.

Well...

We'll just have to take it a step at a time.

Lou.

Lou. I think I got something.

What is it? The group surrounding the consulate building shouting slogans in

Serbo -Croatian and English. Tito must go and freedom or death.

That was your man's message, right? Freedom or death?

That's right.

What else does it say? What's the group? They call themselves the Ides of March.

Ides of March is just March 15th.

A group of Croatians were killed trying to hijack a plane on that date last

year. I called Croatian groups all across the country. Some of them knew

name and got very upset. They disavowed any relation to these Ides of March

people. Doubted they were even Croatians.

So you think this crazy group is planning an anniversary celebration this

maybe with a big bang in it?

I don't know. What do you think?

Hey, fellas, I wish you'd figure it out.

Today's the 14th.

15th is tomorrow.

The 15th of March is tomorrow. We may be coming up on a deadline.

Has that tape been mentioned in any of your communications with these people or

this person?

No.

Isn't it a coincidence this is happening now on an anniversary that is so

important to them? Maybe not.

Maybe.

In any case, we are investigating it thoroughly.

You've been investigating thoroughly ever since this thing started.

And there's still some nut out there in this city with an atomic bomb.

Now, we don't know that. That's just what he says.

But it is possible.

Mr. Brandt, we've dealt with this kind of thing before.

They are never, never real.

Is that still your position?

You've seen those plans.

How real are you taking this threat?

We'd treat them all as if they were real.

How real is this one?

You know I can't discuss the details of an ongoing investigation.

Now, I realize how frustrating this must be for you.

But I can assure you, there is no cause for alarm at this point. And we are.

We are making progress.

Can you indicate the areas in which you've made progress?

Now, I really cannot go into any of those details.

But you are getting closer.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

Closer.

But are you going to beat the deadline?

Is a big chunk of L .A. going to be blown off the map, Mr. Ogans? Mr. Grant,

really cannot go into any of those details.

Oh, I'm glad that you appreciate that, that you understand it.

Sorry, but something has come up.

Is it anything to do with the bomb? I really can't remember anything.

Don't get it.

I have trouble picturing who would want to do something like this.

A guy in England has a little joke.

Advertised weapons -grade uranium for sale.

I don't know who he thought would call him. Red Chinese, maybe.

And nobody did.

He got over 200 calls.

One ad, one day.

Hundreds of private citizens who thought it might be nice to own an atomic

weapon.

Lou Grant will continue in a moment here on A &E.

Oh, Charlie, I'm sorry. I didn't see you were here.

It's okay. I was just deciding. Oh, go ahead. No, no. You go ahead.

Oh, no. You were here first.

It's your quarter.

Look, Joe, I know that you're dating Joanie, as you know. I know.

And this is 1979, and I am, after all, managing editor of a major metropolitan

newspaper, so I have a pretty good picture of what things are like today.

And Joanie is an independent, mature young woman, and you're no kid.

No. So what I'm saying is we can separate this from our work. Keep it in

corner. Okay, that's good.

Just tell me one thing.

What are your intentions?

Well, Joanie's great. She's a great person. And I'd like to get to know her

better. A little better.

That makes sense.

Joanie's special.

Oh, she really is.

Well, how are we doing, Joe? You think our little discussion is clear, dear?

No. Neither do I.

Joe, I must seem so young to you.

Not really.

Well, I am young.

But I do know when something isn't working out, and we are not working out.

There's someone else.

Yeah,

there is.

Okay, well, that's what I thought.

Your father, he is very protective of you.

Oh.

Oh, I see. Oh, that's the problem. That you work for Charles Hume and Charles

Hume is my father.

Well, yeah.

Well, problems have solutions.

I mean, that is, if we both have an interest in continuing this thing, we

be able to find a solution.

You think we could get rid of your father?

Contact. I got a...

Go up right now and tell Lou and Charlie and tell them the note says no cops.

Yes, Johnny.

Okay, I've got it. Yeah, thank you.

Rusty's on his way to meet the terrorists.

They said no cops.

Aren't the feds still following him?

Why didn't you people print our message?

Are you crazy?

Don't you people care if Los Angeles gets blown up? Don't you have a sense of

responsibility?

There is no bomb, is there? You designed one on paper to make your threat

convincing. But now you have nothing to back up your demands.

When the newspaper saw the plants, they'd have to print out demands.

They couldn't take the chance not to.

How could I know I was sending the plants to a newspaper full of idiots?

Where is the bar?

I'm a reporter.

Will you just look inside? Call my editor, Luke Granson. Will you look in

pocket?

It's over. They got everyone.

What about the bomb?

They got it, too. So there was a bomb? Yeah, but it wasn't armed with nuclear

material. The whole bomb threat was really phony?

In a sense. What bomb threat?

Somebody was threatening to blow up a part of L .A. with an atomic bomb.

Really? Yeah, but it wasn't loaded or workable.

I guess not.

You need a whole Manhattan project to build an atomic bomb.

And he's a well -informed person.

Doesn't affect him. He's in financial.

So we'll run the story about this, and that's how people will react.

They'll never know how close we came.

How close did we come?

We just got a call on this. The Fed stopped an attempt to steal some weapons

-grade plutonium from a truck parked outside a coffee shop in Arizona.

Is there a tie -in?

Ogham said he couldn't go into details.

I think that means we came pretty close.

Jack, we're off the hook.

I guess we are.

For now.

Yeah.

So long, Luke.

Go on, Jack.

What else have we got for the first edition?

Well, we had a four -car pileup on a harbor freeway, and the city council was

deadlocked over bike paths for Hancock Park.

We really could use that bomb today.

So let's see each other before the next end of the world.

Yeah. You know, we worry about Russia and China dropping the A -bomb, or India

or Argentina.

But that may not be the way it happens.

It'll probably be another of these lunatic little groups settling a private

dispute in some dark corner of the world.

Not fair.

We're blown up. It should be by somebody big.

Right. Get up. I'll walk you to the parking lot.

Take a trip on the beat with the cops who bring crooks to trial on the

critically acclaimed crime show Law and Order tonight.

Now, an officer is killed and internal affairs is on the case.

Martin Balsam, Kim Hunter and Jack Carter star in Police Story, next on A