Original subtitles

[Rabb] On Christmas Eve in 1969,

my father was shot down in Vietnam.

Although he was declared M.I.A., I never gave up hope.

And after 28 years, I found a former KBG officer

who told me my dad was transferred to Siberia as a P.O.W.

He said he had proof my father was still alive.

-No! -[woman] What do you intend to do?

Go to Russia, find him.

Do you realize that the odds

of your father being alive are...

Well, practically nonexistent.

[man 1] Discovering an American P.O.W. on our soil would be disastrous.

[man 2] The closer you come, the more danger you're in.

[man 3] If the information you have were true

I'd try my best to keep it secret.

I don't think you'll find your father, Harm,

but if you do...

You'll want to be the first to know.

I hope he's alive.

In 1980, he was transferred to Beloyka in Northern Siberia where...

He died?

He escaped.

[man 1] Does Major Sokol know of the photograph

-I sent you, commander? -Yes.

Did you tell him Isent it?

-[Rabb] No. -[man 1] Good.

[man 2] You're being set up, Rabb.

Major Sokol and Colonel Parlovsky

are the same animal.

They're both former KGB.

You said we'd get a ride in the mig-29.

A ride, yes. A flight to Beloyka, no.

No pilot would risk breaking the rules that much.

Well, we've got a pilot.

[in Russian] What happened?

What happened? They stole your airplane!

[in English] So how you doing, Mac?

Don't ask.

I'm going to follow this river to avoid detection

but I'm going to have to climb soon.

We burn too much fuel down this low.

Keep your eyes on our six.

I'm going to try and get this radar working.

[exhales loudly]

[groaning] Oh, ho-ho...

Suck it up, marine.

[sighs]

I've got the radar working.

Hang on.

[groaning]

[buzzing]

-Is that what I think it is? -Yep.

What do we do?

Pray.

Missile inbound!

They missed.

Those were heat seekers.

We got between them and the sun.

It's a bigger target.

[Mac] Here they come again!

I won't fool them twice.

[Mackenzie coughing]

Can't we fight back?

We're not armed.

All I have is spit.

I don't even have that.

[beeping]

[explosion]

[opening music playing]

[anchorman] The Russian Air Defense Command

announced this afternoon that a mig-29

flown by two American naval aviators

collided with a migrating flock of geese and disintegrated in midair.

The incident happened over Lake Uchensokye...

It couldn't be them, could it?

Of course not.

The identities of the two officers

a navy lieutenant commander and a marine corps major

are being withheld, pending notification of next of kin.

[Chegwidden] I don't believe it.

It's been confirmed by our embassy in Moscow.

Lieutenant Commander Rabb and Major Mackenzie were killed

while taking a demonstration ride in a mig-29.

Rabb wasn't in Russia to take a joyride, sir.

Evidently, he met a Major Nikolai

who took him for a check ride in a mig-29

then let him take Major Mackenzie up.

Major Nikolai was flying their wing when he saw the mig

strike a flock of migrating geese

and disintegrate in midair.

[Secnav] The Russians are very embarrassed.

-The Russians are lying, sir. -To what end, admiral?

Maybe, if Harm found his father

the Russians don't want us to know it.

Don't sail into those waters, A.J.

They could scuttle your career.

The hell with my career!

If Rabb found his father in Russia

we need to know it-- this country needs to know it!

This country needs to know the truth.

Going public with Rabb's fantasies

would only raise false hopes among M.I.A. families

who have suffered far too much.

You don't have to worry about me going public, Mr. Secretary.

Thank you.

But Rabb did visit his mother before he left.

Oh, god.

You'll handle it.

Yes, sir.

When are they shipping the bodies home?

They haven't found them yet.

What?

What was left of the mig crashed in Lake Uuchensokye. It's quite deep.

They're dragging for the bodies

but they may never recover them.

Webb, Harm and Mac are the closest things to friends you've got.

What really happened?

Admiral, everything I'm telling you I got straight from

Ernie McGill, our chief of station in Moscow.

What didn'tyou tell me?

Let it go, A.J.

Not until I know the truth

and apparently the only way to get that

is to be on the next flight to Moscow.

Admiral, you are not going to Moscow.

[sighing] Mr. Secretary, with all due respect, sir,

you don't want to try to stop me.

That's what you get when you make an admiral out of a seal.

[groaning]

[snorting]

My God.

He must be the one they're searching for.

Maybe they'll give us a reward for finding him.

A reward-- Russians?

They'll blame the crash on us, kill me, rape you

take vlad and burn our wagon.

[helicopter rotor whirring]

We're getting out of here.

We can't leave him hanging there.

He's a Russian!

I want the silk.

[clicking tongue]

[in Russian] He was trying to help you!

[gunshot]

Back off!

We were trying to help you and he kicked my brother!

[in English] You okay?

Yeah. I'm a little woozy.

I must have hit something punching out.

I lost my helmet.

I don't remember much after that

until I saw this guy coming at me

with a knife.

They were trying to help.

Anything broken?

Just my ego.

I've never been shot down before.

You were shot down?

You speak English.

We were raised in England.

You are American spy pilots?

No.

Too bad.

American spy pilots have gold coins

for those people that help them.

I'm afraid all we have is hundred-dollar bills.

Lots of them.

[rotors whirring]

[in Russian] We are searching for two missing pilots.

A man and a woman.

[in English] That's Mark.

What if he's the one who had us shot down?

[in Russian] There is a reward. Fifty thousand rubles.

Have you seen them?

[in English] For a second there, I thought you were going to turn us in.

For a second there, I almost did.

[man clicking tongue]

[Alexei] I knew this would be my lucky day.

How's that?

You're American, boss.

I like Americans. They're not cheap

like the British or the Germans or the French.

[spitting]

Who are the worst of all.

They give you these petite tips

and insult you while they do it.

I hate to disillusion you...

Alexei?

Alexei, but, uh, I don't tip.

You make joke, huh?

Don't you need to know where we're going?

I figured you'll tell me when you're ready.

Meanwhile the meter's running.

That is true.

American embassy.

Sure thing, boss.

According to Major Nikolai, who was flying their wing

they went down here, in Lake Uchensokye.

The Russians have recovered some wreckage

but no bodies.

Has anybody from the embassy

interviewed this Major Nikolai

who witnessed the accident?

I did in Lubyanka prison

where he's under military arrest

for permitting an unauthorized flight.

You believe him?

I believe he's in trouble.

He had a real sweat working.

Admiral, the Russians

have heard rumors as to why Commander Rabb was here.

So far their inquiries have been unofficial

and my job is to keep them that way.

If you're conducting an investigation

no matter how unofficial

it makes that near impossible.

Mr. McGill, I don't give a damn about your job.

I'm here to find out what happened to my people

and, by god, that's what I'm going to do.

Webb said you'd be a bear.

Well, he ought to know.

He also said to make that little speech and when it didn't work,

offer you every assistance.

Webb said that?

Yes, sir, but there is a quid pro quo.

There always is with Webb.

You keep a low profile

and report anything you learn to me.

Mr. McGill, are you recruiting me for the CIA?

It's Ernie, admiral

and yes... I am.

[Alexei, in Russian] He's in the Embassy.

Don't worry, boss.

I'll stick to him like my mother's borscht.

[Gypsy, in English] Hitler tried to exterminate us.

Then Stalin.

But we are a hard people to kill.

Some of us escaped to England

the rest east to Siberia.

Now that the soviet union is gone

my sister and I are going to join the roma

wandering there.

Roma?

It means "the people"--

what you gorgio call "gypsies."

Back in the states, the Navajo call themselves "The People."

Can their men dance on eggs

and their women see the future?

I think if the Navajo men danced on eggs, they'd be scrambled.

They do believe that their, uh, medicine women

are precognitive, though.

But you don't.

The future's not in the rolling of bones

or the, uh, reading of tea leaves.

It is if you have the gift.

Oh, and the roma have this gift?

My sister Rusza has often seen the future

in her dreams.

She dreamed we would return to Russia

and here we are.

Couldn't that be a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Yes... But it isn't.

How far is it to Beloyka?

A month.

Hmm, maybe two.

We have to avoid the main roads.

Well, I don't have two months.

What's so important in Beloyka?

My father was a prisoner of the KGB.

He escaped from a train near Beloyka 18 years ago.

You're wasting your time.

Why?

If he was alive, why didn't he come out

when the soviet union collapsed?

Well, maybe he doesn't know the soviet union has collapsed.

I hear there are villages in Siberia

where people still believe a czar rules Russia.

I don't doubt it.

But if he's gone so deep to ground

you'll never find him.

Well, I have to try.

It can't be more

than a couple days' ride on the trans-Siberian railway.

We'll pay you if you'll take us to a railway station.

There is a station at perm-- a day's ride.

[chuckling] But you'll be spotted.

You're too American-looking.

[Mackenzie] I don't think so.

[giggling] Tell your fortune, sailor?

Good god!

She's a roma child!

Any luck?

Some.

Divers located the cockpit.

The ejection seat's missing.

-They got out. -Are they alive?

I don't know. We swept the forest until dark.

We found nothing. We go up again at dawn.

Who ordered them shot down?

A Colonel Zatkoff alerted air defense command

that a mig-29 had been hijacked

by Chechnian vandals.

They had interceptors up and waiting

before Commander Rabb took off.

And no one checked the authenticity of such an order?

It came from Lubyanka.

Calls from Lubyanka have not been questioned in 80 years.

There is no Colonel Zatkoff at Lubyanka. Who is he?

I thought perhaps you could tell me.

Me? How could I know what the teacher does not?

Oh, you graduated long ago, Mischa.

I'm quite certain that you are a few moves ahead of me

in this chess game we seem to be playing.

I have no idea what you're talking about, Mikhail.

Hmm.

I have secured the silence

of everyone involved in the shoot-down

and put out a cover story.

Lieutenant Commander Rabb

and Major Mackenzie

were killed in a tragic accident

while flying a mig-29.

And everyone believes this?

It is in everybody's interest to believe it--

including the Americans.

I don't mind lying to the Americans

but lying to our superiors is inviting a firing squad.

Not if we root out this "Colonel Zatkoff"

who's trying to destroy perestroika.

What if we do if Rabb and Mackenzie are still alive?

[Rusza screaming]

We've been through this before.

They won't kill her.

But if we interfere, we're all dead.

They wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me!

No! No!

Rusza...

You had a dream, didn't you?

The American...

Is going to die.

[Rusza] We don't need your help.

We don't need your money. We don't want to help you.

So go!

What did we do?

You parachuted into our lives!

[in Romany] Tell him!

You shut up! You abandoned me to the rapists!

[in English] That's not Russian, is it?

No, I think it's gypsy.

We don't speak gypsy.

We speak Romany.

Whatever language it is

you don't use...

Polite! You want me to be polite

when the Russians are going...

-What? What are the Russians going to do? -Just go!

-My sister had a dream last night. -[in Romany] Shut up, Vasya!

[in English] They must know why you're acting like a crazy woman.

She dreamed Russian soldiers tried to rape her.

And you did nothing to stop them!

I would die for you and you know it!

Look...

-You must have had a nightmare, Rusza. -It wasn't a nightmare.

-It was a vision. -Well, how do you know?

Because I have been cursed

with visions since I was 12.

Not all of which come true.

She dreamed I would be shot chasing a chicken.

I never chase chickens.

[Rusza] Good.

If you did, someone would shoot you.

Rusza, these Russian soldiers in your dream

they were looking for us, weren't they?

That's why you want us to go?

Yes, they were looking for you...

Or maybe not you...

I'm not sure; that part of the vision is confusing.

You're not in it. And my brother would die

-defending me. -[Rabb] Then Mac's right.

It was a nightmare.

No, it's a vision.

Tell him the dream, Rusza.

They have a right to know

since we're kicking them out of camp.

Tell them, Ruszka.

I was bathing in the stream...

when four Russian soldiers came from the trees.

I was frightened.

Not by their guns...

But by the looks in their eyes.

And I screamed...

And you were coming to help me...

And Vasya stopped you.

I would tear out their throats.

I know, Vasya... I know.

You came running out of the trees

like a madman.

You shot three of them

before the last one killed you.

Nice fit, Vasya. Thank you.

You don't believe me?

I believe it was a nightmare.

But if it was a vision

then all you have to do is stay out of the water

until we get to perm.

[helicopter whirring]

[De Palma] It was from this military airfield outside of Moscow

that two American naval airmen took off in a mig-29

on what proved to be a fatal demonstration flight.

That's him, boss. ZNN News.

Why do you want to talk to him?

He ran off with my wife.

For real, boss?

I'm here to take her home.

We've got four kids.

Two in diapers.

[speaking in Russian]

You going to beat him up?

If he doesn't take me to her.

You could get in big trouble.

Then I get in trouble.

Then maybe I lose my license! Hey, boss?!

[De Palma] Russian military officers

have privately expressed surprise

at an American naval aviator being allowed to fly

a state-of-the-art Russian fighter.

But with the Russian economy in chaos

and the U.S. backing their IMF loans

no one in the Russian government would even speculate

that this may not have been an authorized flight.

This is chuck de palma for ZNN in Moscow.

Okay, cut it, John

and get some b-roll of the helos going in and out.

I want to do the story on the search effort next, okay?

Sounds like you're not buying

this Russian story either, chuck.

A.J.! What the hell are you doing here?

Don't smile. Don't shake my hand.

I told my driver you ran off with my wife.

You don't have a wife.

-He doesn't know that. -Ah.

Same deal we had on the Aviano investigation?

Works for me.

What do you know?

Well, not as much as I thought I did.

And you wouldn't be here asking me questions

if those officers were involved in espionage.

Now, what would make you think that?

The Russian cover story is a lie.

They didn't collide with a flock of geese.

It's September, A.J.

The geese around here don't migrate until late November.

I should have known that.

And also it's this, uh, this Major Nikolai--

the one that was flying the wing with them

when they went down has disappeared.

My sources tell me that he's being questioned

in Lubyanka prison by the federal security service.

A euphemism for the KGB.

He had a lot of ex-KGB boys in it.

Your driver works for one of them, Major Sokol.

My driver, Alexei?

He's my next interview.

Word is he drove Rabb and Mackenzie around Moscow.

[helicopter whirring]

[speaking to horse]

Looks like they didn't spot us.

Well, I saw your friend falcon, and if I saw him, he saw us.

Her friend?

He's not my friend.

He helped us in Moscow.

[Rabb] He probably had us shot down.

I think yourfriend Parlovsky did that.

His friend, your friend.

It seems like you have as many friends

who want to kill you as enemies.

[Vasya] Get back inside.

Here he comes again.

[McGill] A.J., what are you doing?

-Back so soon. -Come here.

-See that cabby down there? -The one pacing?

[A.J.] His name's Alexei. Ring any bells?

Half-dozen.

Alexei's a common name in Russia.

Well, this Alexei works

for Major Sokol of federal security service.

Major Sokol?

You know how I found that out?

How?

Chuck de Palma

a ZNN correspondent covering the story.

You shouldn't be talking to reporters, A.J.

If a local ZNN reporter knows all the players in red square

why the hell don't you?

Alexei isn't working for Major Sokol.

He's not?!

Then who the hell is he working for?

[Webb] Me, A.J.

Smile. Let them think they'll get more than the fortunes told.

But I don't even know how to read palms.

No one does.

Yeah, but you believe in visions.

Visions are one thing, palms are another.

Remember to give the men long lives

and plenty of women.

And the women?

Ah, they get a husband and plenty of babies.

[Vasya] You're in luck.

A crowd this size could only be waiting for the rossiya

the express train that runs from Moscow

to Vladivostok in six days.

Then we should make Beloyka in two.

Look.

Yeah.

[speaking command in Romany]

They looking for us or are they always here?

Maybe both.

But they're not looking for roma.

We're not very popular, are we?

They're afraid we'll steal their women.

But don't worry; I'll wait till you're on the train.

[MacKenzie] I see many years ahead for you. Prosperous years.

You will live long enough to father ten children and bury three wives.

Hustling the tourists?

She's so natural.

I think you have roma blood in your veins.

My great-grandmother was a Cherokee Indian.

Indians again. There must be some connection.

[loudspeaker announcing in Russian]

Your train arrives in 20 minutes.

Rusza and I will buy your tickets

with our identity papers.

Won't they check our papers

when we get on the train?

I don't know.

I never ride the rossiya.

We'll worry about that when the time comes.

Harm, we shouldn't get on this train.

Mac, we can't take two months to get there by wagon.

I don't think we should go there at all.

What?

If we reach Beloyka we'll disappear just like your father.

Don't let this fortune teller thing

go to your head.

Look at the odds, Harm.

We're in the middle of Russia

with Parlovsky or Falcon trying to stop us.

We don't have any identification papers.

You don't know the language

and you have no plan other than to get us to Beloyka.

Is that sound mission planning?

You chickening out on me?

You know better than that.

Answer my question.

What is your plan other than to take a train to Beloyka?

You're being driven by emotions

and those emotions are going to get us killed.

You can quit.

I can't.

My father is out there somewhere and I'm going to find him.

Or die trying.

Or die trying.

But you shouldn't.

You've come with me farther than anyone I know.

I'll never forget that, Mac.

Well, I guess I always knew it would come down to this.

And that you'd need me

to come up with a dispassionate plan.

[in Russian] They must have paid you

more than fifty thousand rubles.

[shrieking]

-[in English] Where are they?! -Who?

The Americans-- I know they were with you, gypsy.

Those are our tickets. We're joining the roma in Beloyka.

[in Russian] Tell the sergeant to fire in the air after I do.

[in English] I told you he spotted us this morning.

[crowd screaming]

[in Russian] Quiet! No one will be hurt as long as you are quiet!

[in English] Commander!

Sarah!

I know you can hear me.

I'm here to help you.

He's got my attention.

He always had your attention.

I'm not the only one looking for you.

Your only chance is to come with me.

[train whistling]

He's going to expect us to go for the train.

If we can get beyond those lines...

-Harm, I believe him. -Mac...!

If he was ruthless enough to shoot us down

wouldn't he have strafed us on the road?

Commander Rabb... I'll get you to Beloyka!

I'll help you find your father!

Trust my intuition, Harm.

He means it.

[Webb] I couldn't blow Alexei's cover. The stakes were too high.

The Russian mafia thinks Alexei's working for them.

Russian mafia?

They have Alexei keeping tabs

on Colonel Parlovsky and Major Sokol.

One of them is procuring six nuclear-tipped missiles

for the mafia to sell to the highest bidder.

Alexei couldn't stop Rabb from stealing that mig-29

without blowing his cover with the mafia, Parlovsky and Sokol.

You work for Parlovsky andSokol?

They pay me to spy on each other.

How do you keep them straight?

Hell, that's worse than dating three women at the same time.

I should be so fortunate.

All Alexei has to remember

is that he works for the highest bidder. Me.

-Right, Alexei? -Right, boss.

Right, so what has all this got to do

with Rabb trying to find his father?

Once a bad apple, always a bad Apple.

We know the one stealing missiles for the mafia

is the same K.G.B. rogue who ran the P.O.W. Shuttle

that brought Harm's father to Russia.

Quit talking like a cheap spy novel, Webb

and tell me who it is.

We don't know.

You don't know?

Most Intel points to Colonel Parlovsky

but that Intel is connected to Major Sokol

who could be planting it to cover his own butt.

And we can't afford to nab the wrong man--

not when it comes to nuclear weapons.

So, Rabb's the bait and whoever kills him--

that's your man.

I wouldn't put it like that.

Just how the hell would you put it, Webb?

I'm not trying to get Rabb killed.

He was going to keep coming until he found his father.

I thought we'd uncover our man before he stopped Rabb.

Yeah, but you didn't.

They blew him out of the sky and you did nothing to...

You knew they were going to be shot down, didn't you?

So, how is it you don't know

who gave the order?

[McGill] We eavesdrop on all calls from Lubyanka.

We picked up the one from a General Zatkoff.

HarI contacted Alexei

and told him to do everything he could to stop Rabb...

Without blowing his cover.

Webb, Harm and Mac go down.

I'm going to personally put you in the ground with them.

We're talking six nuclear-tipped missiles here, A.J.

In the hands of the highest bidder.

You'd risk a dozen seal teams to stop that.

You're damn right I would.

But at least they'd know

why they were putting their lives on the line!

-Listen. -[helicopter whirring]

That's Major Sokol returning.

And here's Colonel Parlovsky to meet him.

When that helo lands, we'll know which one is our man.

How?

[McGill] Colonel Parlovsky received a call informing him

that Major Sokol had picked up

Commander Rabb and Major Mackenzie at the perm railway depot

traveling under the guise of gypsies.

So, they are still alive.

Why the hell didn't you tell me?

We don't know that.

If Sokol is Colonel Zatkoff...

They're both dead.

But if Parlovsky is Zatkoff they'll be on that helo.

Give me a weapon.

So you can shoot me?

Depends on whether Harm and Mac are on that helo.

[Webb] There's Parlovsky.

There's Major Sokol.

[Chegwidden] Where's Harm and Mac?

They're not on the helo,Webb.

[Webb] Yes, they are.

Thank god.

Parlovsky.

Parlovsky's our man.

He's going to kill them all.

We don't know that, A.J.

And we need to catch the man

Parlovsky's working with.

Admiral.

You okay?

Yes, sir.

Webb, what are you doing here?

Getting decked.

You're going to be okay, Mark.

It's not that bad.

Should have got... Should have gotten shot sooner.

Alexei, what are you doing here?

I came to tell you I quit, boss.

Colonel... Colonel, you know what happened

to my father.

What?

Svis... Chevo...

[Mackenzie] When I heard you were seeking your father in Svischevo

I knew it must be the man I called Tete.

[woman speaking Russian]

That was the name I gave the one who looked like you...

I found him in the barn, nearly frozen to death

and nursed him back to life.

For two years, he worked the farm with me and my brother.

We spoke Russian...

He never told us who he was or where he came from...

But I knew it was from far away...

'Cause he seemed always to be looking to the horizon.

I knew someday he would leave me.

What?

What did she say?

She said that this is where the three of them

came to picnic the day tete was killed.

Tell her to go on.

[speaks Russian]

I was swimming in the pool when the soldiers came.

[woman screaming]

My brother tried to stop tete from helping me.

He was afraid we would all be killed.

But when he saw how bravely tete died...

It inspired him.

He killed the fourth soldier with his bare hands.

Where's my father buried?

[speaks Russian]

[speaks Russian]

[MacKenzie] My brother took the bodies into the taiga and buried them.

I don't know where. He wouldn't tell me.

He was afraid I would go there and someone would see.

Where's her brother now?

[speaks Russian]

[speaks Russian]

He died 15 years ago.

[speaks Russian]

Chekov said, "The strength of the taiga does not lie

In its giant trees and silence...

...but that only migrating birds know where it ends."

Only the birds and your father.

[weeping]

Goodbye, dad. I love you.

[closing music playing]