Original subtitles

(theme music playing)

(indistinct chatter)

(woman screaming in distance)

(gasps)

WOMAN: What is that?

(stammering)

II

II

Larynx has been crushed.

Yeah, it looks it.

Must have been pretty strong, whoever he was.

No other bruises?

Don't seem to be.

No rips, no tears, huh?

Looks like she didn't object to what was going on before.

Let me know when you've got another report,

will you, Bernie?

Right.

KELLER: Okay, that's C-O-R-D, Cord, is that right?

Yeah, yeah, Harry Cord.

So, what happened, Harry?

(sighs) I was walking outside with my girlfriend,

we were coming home from the movies,

and I heard this scream.

You knew something was going on, something terrible,

so I tried to get through the front door, and it was locked,

so I climbed up the building,

and then this air force guy...

Wait a minute, an air force guy?

He had a uniform on?

Yeah.

Well, what was he-- an airman, noncom, what?

I don't know for sure.

I just saw he had his hands around her throat,

so I went through the window and ran at him, and he hit me.

(sighs)

Next thing I knew, this man here was waking me up.

But you don't remember what rank he had?

No, an officer maybe.

I don't remember any stripes.

STONE: What about his face?

Anything that would give us a description?

No, nothing good.

I'm pretty sure he had blond hair.

About how big?

I don't know... he was too big for me, I guess.

(Keller and Stone chuckle)

Well, you took a real chance, you know that, don't you, son?

Maybe.

I couldn't just let somebody kill somebody.

If I had just been a little quicker...

Steve, how about the girl who made the call?

No, that was his girlfriend.

Their stories check.

STONE: We appreciate anything you can tell us, Mr. Danielson.

Sure, Lieutenant, no problem, no problem at all.

Is that her?

Yeah, Gail Kramer.

DANIELSON: Oh, no.

STONE: You do know her?

Oh, not by name, no, but, sure, I remember her.

Who wouldn't?

She was a classy kind of lady.

Been in here lots of times.

Drank, uh, whiskey sours, yeah.

What about last night?

Yeah, yeah, she sat right over there.

Was she alone?

Inspector, that kind of woman is never alone.

No, she was with some dude.

Air force?

Could be.

A lot of those guys come in here.

(clears throat) I remember him.

He was an officer, I think.

He had, uh, those ribbons.

You know what I mean, the, uh, DC something.

(laughs)

That's DFC, honey.

She's new here.

What did he look like?

Oh, come on, Lieutenant,

sitting next to a chick like that, who looks?

But you're sure, uh, he was wearing a DFC, huh?

Oh, I'm sure of it, yeah.

Well, if he had one of those, he earned it, believe me.

During the Tet Offensive I was in Hue.

I'd still be there

if it wasn't for those jet jockeys flying over.

Any of those guys come into my bar, honest drink.

How about a description?

Oh, 35, 40 maybe.

Hair?

Blond, I think.

About six feet, average build, nice looking, too.

Remember what rank he had?

I remember he had those eagles.

Oh, that makes him a colonel, full-bird.

(chuckles)

I only made sergeant myself.

That makes two of us.

- Marines. - You're kidding.

Oh, yes, sir, Inspector, they're expecting you.

Um, there's the line you follow

and here's the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Thank you very much.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

(door opens)

I'll get back to you.

Hi.

Dick Higgins.

Mike Stone?

That's right.

This is Inspector Keller.

- How do you do? - Hello.

The chief of special investigations assigned me

to handle our end of the case,

although I must confess I haven't had

that much experience working with civilians.

Well, I must confess I haven't had that much experience

working with military investigations either,

but, uh, I do know what you're thinking.

Mm-hmm.

Don't get me wrong.

I'll give you every possible cooperation,

but I'd be less than honest with you

if I didn't tell you up front,

I think you're on the wrong track here.

Well, Mr. Higgins, you wouldn't say

the uniform makes the man, would you?

No, no.

All a uniform does is make a different quality of life.

We're as human as the next guy,

but that same uniform can be worn

by people who are not in the service,

and I am betting that's what's happened here.

Impersonating an officer.

Right.

If it's one of those guys,

I want him as bad as you do.

Since you called,

I sent out a directive to all military police

in the San Francisco area,

requesting specific l.D. checks on all air force officers.

(phone buzzes)

Excuse me.

Yo.

Good.

The computer is ready.

We'll run your information through our national index.

Give this man the information you have, and he'll punch it in.

The man right here?

Right here.

Hello.

Uh, the man is between 30 and 45 years of age,

he's, uh, six feet, blond hair,

180 to 190 pounds,

full colonel, and he's got the DFC.

Is that all, sir?

Uh, yeah, you got it.

From officers of that rank we'll have only a few names, I'm sure.

SPECIALIST: Okay, baby'll do the rest.

Now we've got to know their whereabouts

at the night of the murder.

Computer can't help us there, sir.

Well, I'd like a list of those names.

From now on, legwork.

HIGGINS: Two men stationed at McClellan.

Peter Johnson, Carl Abel.

Both colonels, both match the descriptions.

And both these guys were off the base the time of the murder?

They were.

Yeah, I want to talk to them.

Not just yet.

Well, now wait a minute.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

I promised full cooperation, and you're gonna get it.

But hear me out first, okay?

Okay.

These are not ordinary men.

Peter Johnson, an ace in Korea at 22.

Shot down and wounded in 'Nam.

Abel-- the same thing.

A P.O.W. for five years.

I think you can see why I don't want them dragged in

for questioning like any common criminal, Mike.

Yeah, I can see that,

but I think you ought to know what we came up with, too.

All right.

We put our own computer to work,

and it came up with something that,

well, looks like a small epidemic.

Take a look at those.

All attractive, all about the same age,

and all killed the same way--

strangled by an unknown assailant.

All here in San Francisco?

No, no, one in San Francisco, the other in Oakland,

the third was down the peninsula.

And the kicker is, the girl from Oakland

was seen going out twice with a guy in uniform.

Air force?

Mm-hmm, full colonel,

and a friend of hers says that she's positive

the guy was stationed at your base.

But no name?

Mm-mm, no prints either in all three of the cases.

Well, then there's nothing positive to point directly

to either of these two men.

Not yet, but I'm still going to want

a complete profile on both of them.

You'll get it.

Oh, and Mike...

as I said before,

it could be that someone from the base is the man,

but if it's either of these two,

let's make sure which one and spare the other.

Fair enough?

Fair enough.

DANIELSON: Yeah, yeah, it could be.

STONE: Which one?

- Huh? - Could be which one?

Oh, either one of them.

They look like brothers, don't they?

Listen, you want me to keep these pictures here,

show 'em to the girl when she comes on?

No, no, no, we'd like to hold onto 'em

for a little while longer,

but, uh, we would appreciate it if you kept this confidential.

Sure, Lieutenant, I understand.

Good.

Well, now what?

I don't know, I just don't know.

All the leads have been checked out-- all dead ends.

If it's at all possible, I'd just as soon you wouldn't talk

to these two men directly, gentlemen.

Well, what if I did it indirectly?

Well, you know I did Air ROTC at Berkeley.

Got a few hours in a T-33.

I can at least talk their game.

That's right, you did.

I think it's a good idea, sure.

Sure?

Sure, what, put you in uniform?

Well, you said yourself, the uniform doesn't make the man.

At least this way I could check out Johnson and Abel

without having to put 'em through the wringer.

I don't know.

Well, who would know?

I'd have to check it out with the base commander, Mike.

Colonel Johnson?

Yes.

Steven Keller, Auditor General's Office.

Sorry, your office didn't notify you?

No, they didn't. Do you have any l.D., Captain?

Yes, sir.

Auditor General's Office?

Yes, I'm afraid your special project's being audited.

You see, Congress has gotten kind of tight

since the C-SA project, and our investigations,

well, they help finance the good ones and weed out the bad ones.

Okay, if you want to talk, make it lunch at the officers' club.

Say, 1300 hours.

Yes, sir.

- Colonel Abel? - That's right.

Hi. Steven Keller, Auditor General's Office.

Oh, yeah. They told me you'd be out here.

What can I do for you, Keller?

Well, sir, you're gonna have to bear with me for a while.

I got a lot of questions and a lot of paperwork.

Now, you are projects commander of AQS-314?

That's right.

Seems to have an awful high price tag.

So what exactly does it involve?

Well, without going into classified information,

it's simply a fire control system for COIN-type aircraft.

"COIN" being counter-insurgency, or guerilla-style warfare.

That kind of action, you need some way to direct fire

at low level and high speed.

Against truck convoys, barges on rivers.

AQS-314 controls both target approach

and aircraft weapon systems.

It'll save a lot of lives.

And all of AQS-314 is right in here?

Yeah, most of it.

See, the cost is in the electronics.

Most people don't know that the instrument panel

and even the civilian light aircraft costs as much

or more than the rest of the aircraft.

Okay.

Thanks a lot, Harry.

Listen, I got to take my run.

Drop by the office later,

I'll show you a mock-up of the system.

- Thank you, sir. - All right.

JOHNSON: Talk about money, Congress

and appropriations-- that doesn't interest me.

What I care about is the lifespan of a pilot in combat.

That's my responsibility: training.

The more a man flies, the better he gets.

If we get cut off from fuel allocations,

airspace requests, even-even spare parts,

then our readiness as a nation diminishes.

Uh, I'll have a club sandwich, please.

Make that two.

But you don't know if it'll ever be needed.

No, nobody knows the answer to that one.

Without a high state of readiness,

well, we'll have problems.

Just like Cuba when the Russians wanted to move in.

(chuckles) Let's face it.

We're just like cops.

Expensive, useless,

sometimes even hated-- until we're needed.

I see you have a Vietnam service medal.

Where were you?

Uh, Da Nang.

When was that?

'66, '67.

Hmm. When all hell broke loose.

Yeah.

What unit?

Well, it was a combat support unit.

Support.

I thought they went to Han Sa Nut.

What were you doing in Da Nang?

L-I bounced around a lot, you know.

Have adding machine, will travel.

Huh.

You, uh, spend any time in a jet?

Some, yeah.

What was that group you were with, the, uh, 22nd 31st?

Uh, no, no.

It was the 22nd 37th.

Thank you.

Well, uh, listen, you want to learn more

about the gunnery program, there's only one way.

Not exactly an adding machine, is it?

(jet engine powering up)

This bird burns kerosene.

Lots of it.

But, you know, it's worth it, 'cause it can do anything.

Let's say we got an intercept.

An unknown aircraft at 35,000 feet.

One of the reasons pilots need practice

is so they can withstand g-forces.

Like any other training,

if they're not used to it, it can hurt them.

Okay, Captain, you get the aircraft.

No, thanks.

You said you'd flown some.

All right, it's all yours.

Johnson, you take it!

Got it.

Okay, Keller, who are you?

I called a friend of mine in the Pentagon.

You were never in the 22nd 37th.

You were never in Da Nang.

As a matter of fact, you don't exist.

So what's the story, Keller?

I'll tell you.

Just get me on the ground, please, now!

I call it dirty pool.

Would you rather get hit between the eyes

with suspicion of murder?

Have the burden of proof fall upon yourself?

No.

Then you have to understand our responsibility here, Colonel.

First, we have to stop the man who did the killing.

Second, we have to help him.

He's sick, he's in bad shape.

Okay.

But like I said, I was at Lake Tahoe with a close friend.

She'll vouch for it.

We'll check it out.

In the meantime, the commander wants you to stay on the base.

All right.

And continue to cooperate with Keller, huh?

Sure. Any time he wants to go flying, all he has to do

is say the word.

(chuckles)

The film is ready, sir.

All right. Dr. Brice here?

Yes, sir. He's waiting.

Fine, thank you.

(coughing)

The film is ready.

Are you ready?

I thought you took ROTC.

Huh?

Oh, lay off of me, will you?

Brice is a psychiatrist, specializing in problems

encountered by men in the military.

So I asked him to run down this film for us.

Okay, what'd you find out, Frank? Anything interesting?

Well, I've already looked at the film in its entirety twice,

and it's all very interesting

from a documentary point of view, but, uh,

this point at the end might turn out to be very interesting.

Now, you say this is from a debriefing session, Doctor?

Yes, uh, two years ago.

All POWs were debriefed on their return.

And those sessions were taped.

All right, now this is Abel.

Got pretty rough sometimes.

Now, I'm not complaining, but it did.

Men died in the camp from what they did to us.

If you sat there and thought about it, you'd go insane.

Why no one was coming to help,

why the world was made out of inhumanity.

Fear.

That's what would get you.

Anyway, as time went on--

I think it was at the end of the first year...

You were a prisoner for how long?

Five years.

Anyway, you'd find that you'd developed

what we called the switch.

- The switch? - Yes.

When you started to think about everything,

you threw the switch and you wouldn't think about it anymore.

You couldn't. It was like electricity-- on or off.

For me, it was a green field with a few flowers.

I could almost smell it.

Then I'd see Maggie.

I'd reach out and touch her hair,

and she would say, "Welcome home."

And I'd lie beside her in the grass, and she'd lean over me.

Nothing could get through that.

Nothing.

I mean, I don't care what they did to me.

Thanks to Maggie.

Couldn't have done it without her.

And you'd say that

this switch was one of the keys to your survival?

Oh, absolutely.

We all had it, in one form or another.

I mean, if they didn't, they didn't last.

I've looked over his record very carefully.

Now, three days after this interview was taped,

he was found fit and released from the hospital

to return to his wife.

Her welcome home to him was to serve him with divorce papers.

He lives alone now in the BOQ.

She married a doctor, someone she fell in love with

when he was a POW.

Doctor, if he developed a switch

he could turn off and on at will,

could he have killed those girls without remembering it?

Not even being conscious of it?

Well, it's highly improbable, but, yes, it's possible.

- Because of what she did? - Possibly.

Where is she now?

North Carolina.

Why didn't he try to kill her there?

Well, maybe he couldn't. He loved her.

He hated her for what she stood for, what she did to him.

Perhaps.

What triggered the switch?

What set it off?

Stop it!

Listen to yourselves.

You're making him sound like Jack the Ripper.

He's a hero.

He's a man, Dick.

A man who survived five years in a prison camp.

A man who's been wounded.

All right, so there are no wounds that you can see.

Nothing that says he's a cripple.

But the scars he may have

could be worse than losing an arm or a leg.

"May have."

We don't know one thing for sure.

Well, we do know that it can't be Colonel Johnson

who killed those women, because his Lake Tahoe story checks out.

And we know that all the l.D. checks in the city

haven't shown up anybody who impersonates

an Air Force Colonel.

And, as the doctor here said, we know that Abel has

gone through more hell than any of us can imagine.

Now, I don't want to bring him in here

and rake him over the coals.

I don't want to do that at all.

But I want to know where he is

and what he's doing every waking minute.

Mind if I sit down?

Well, uh, seems to me I have two choices.

I could say no and sit here

and stare at my drink for an hour alone,

or I could say yes...

I'm an expert on dilemmas.

- Let's flip for it. - Oh, no.

Oh, no, no, let's, uh, let's flip.

Heads or tails?

Heads.

Jim.

You win.

You didn't even look at it.

I would have lied anyway.

(chuckles)

Hey, Colonel.

Hi.

A couple of drinks.

Sure.

You two know each other?

No, we just met.

Oh. This is Major Harrington's wife? Dan Harrington?

Isn't his tour just about over?

I don't really know, Jim.

A little drier this time around, okay?

Yeah.

And it's Marcia.

How about you, Colonel?

Do you have a name?

(phone ringing)

Yeah.

Mike, he's not on the base.

What?

Well, how did that happen?

You were supposed to get with him.

I don't know. I guess he left early.

I tried to track him down, but he left already.

Higgins didn't get anybody on him?

Well, he's got people set up for tomorrow.

Tomorrow? That doesn't help us today, does it?

Tomorrow.

All right.

Okay, just a minute now.

Listen.

Make sure they get a check-in time on Abel, will you?

KELLER: Right.

Let's hope we don't need it.

Lieutenant, the lady in the chair's her sister.

She came by about 10:00 to pick up the victim.

Apparently, this one lives alone.

Maggie Abel.

No, sir. Marcia Harrington.

Marcia Harrington.

That-that's right. Yeah, I know. I know.

I was just thinking out loud.

She died between 9:00 and 10:00.

Abel returned to the base at 23:20.

11:20. That's just about right.

It still could be a coincidence.

All right.

- Take a look at these. -(rifling through pictures)

There's a picture of the latest victim,

and here's a picture of Abel's wife.

All right.

They look alike. So?

So, another coincidence?

It could be.

STONE: It could be that Abel

came back to the base at 11:20.

I know that. It could be.

But there could be another coincidence, you know.

I just got through checking the files again.

Marcia Harrington is a military wife.

And like all the other victims,

she left her husband when he was overseas,

just like Abel's wife did.

Now, that could be a coincidence to you,

but to me, it's a pattern for murder.

What do you want me to do?

BRICE: You remember nothing?

ABEL: I remember meeting her at the Graf Zeppelin.

I didn't go outwith her.

At least I don't think I did.

Well, you know how it is, Keller.

I was pretty stoned.

Or is it Keller?

Same name, Colonel. Just a different ID.

- Cop? -Yes. I work with Lieutenant Stone.

And you've been working on me.

Higgins?

I don't have all the answers, either, Colonel.

It could be the answer is locked up inside you.

What are you telling me?

I'm some kind of a Jekyll and Hyde?

Now, what's wrong with me?

What have I done?

Colonel, I think there's only one way

to get the answers we all need.

What's that?

I'd like to give you an injection of Pentothal.

We use it sometimes in accident cases.

It helps the mind sort out things

that happen too fast for the memory,

or which the memory is trying to erase for some reason.

You're telling me I'm crazy.

No. No, just wounded.

From the time you were in prison.

A wound we couldn't know about till now.

And I do things without knowing it?

Possibly.

All right, let's go.

(speaking slowly): I loved her.

She was with someone else.

(whirring)

Why?

Why. Maggie?

Why couldn't you feel the same way as I did?

If I could create you the way I wanted to,

that should have been enough for you, too.

What is it about women,

they can't continue without constant reassurance?

Who gave us reassurance?

Five years... we heard nothing.

I heard nothing.

Had nothing.

But it didn't change me.

Hmm?

Go on.

It did change you, Carl.

It changed you.

You killed Maggie.

No. Loved Maggie.

But you put your hands around her throat, and...

No. No, no, I couldn't.

I loved her.

But do you know another woman?

Marcia Harrington?

Yes, like Maggie.

- Yes, that's right. - But not Maggie.

You loved her, too, and you killed her.

No, no.

- No, no. - But you went outwith her.

Don't you remember?

She left me like Maggie.

She left, and I drank.

Drank to forget.

I could never love anybody else.

Even

So, if it's not Abel,

it's not Johnson, what do we have?

Well, maybe you win that bet after all.

An impostor?

Looks like that's the only way we've got to go.

Wait a minute. We got one more thing.

What's that?

Those matchbooks from the Graf Zeppelin.

The last two victims were there just before they were killed.

But we don't know about the other three, do we?

(sighing)

Well, let's talk to the bartender.

Good idea.

Here you are, Colonel.

Just like new.

Let me look.

Yeah, they got it out.

Polished the eagles, too.

Blood stains are tough, though.

Me-- I always dress after! shave.

So, uh, where are you off to now?

Middle East.

Excuse me, sir.

Something wrong, Sergeant?

Is that your uniform?

This? No, no, it belongs to a friend of mine. Why?

Is your friend stationed at McClellan?

Yeah, that's right.

And he has his cleaning done here?

Yeah.

Better check him out.

May I see some identification, please?

Sure. Sure, no problem.

Uh, would a driver's license be okay?

(grunting)

Don't move!

That's our man. But give me your gun.

- You call it in. I'm going after him. -Okay.

(grunts)

(engine starting)

(tires squeak, engine revving)

No, uh, not any of them, but then, like I said,

I've only been here three weeks.

This one.

- I'm sure I've seen her. - STONE: Anybody with her?

No one in particular.

But she used to come in here when I was managing at night.

What about the other two?

No. I don't remember them.

Maybe Jim will.

He's got an eye for the girls, especially the married ones.

Does she mean your bartender, Danielson?

- Yes. - Is he here now?

No, it's his day off.

I wonder if we could have, uh, his home address?

Oh, sure, yeah. It's in my office.

(phone ringing)

Uh, it's for you, Lieutenant.

It's Mr. Higgins.

Yeah.

Judy, about Danielson.

What do you mean, "Especially the married ones?"

Oh, nothing, I guess.

No. What, did he have, uh, some kind of hang-up or what?

Well, he always seemed to like the retreads.

I mean, if she wore a ring, and had any interest in planes,

that was it.

He'd come unglued.

STONE: Steve?

APs just stopped a guy carrying a colonel's uniform.

Danielson.

How did you know?

Lady just told me he goes bongos over airmen's wives.

So, they got him?

No, he ran away.

They got a positive ID from the cleaners,

and they got a make on his car.

A kind of a light blue convertible.

Listen, get back to the base, will you? Talk to the APs?

And I'll wait for his address.

Go to his home.

(knocking)

Oh.

I'm Lieutenant Stone, San Francisco Police Department.

- Yes. -ls Jim home?

No, he isn't. ls something wrong?

No, I talked to him before at the place where he works.

I wanted to ask him a few more questions, that's all.

Oh, I see.

Well, he just went into town to run some errands.

He ought to be back straight away.

Would you care to wait?

Thank you.

Okay.

Could I get you some coffee, Lieutenant?

- No. - I've got some perking.

- No, thanks. -(laughing): All right.

These questions that you mentioned

that you wanted to ask Jimmy...

Maybe, well, would there be any of them

that I might be able to help you with?

Well, I don't know. It's about an officer,

an Air Force officer, a Colonel.

And I thought maybe that your son would have known him

when he was in the service.

Well, now, you see,

there's a couple of things I can help you with already.

- How's that? -Well, number one-- Jimmy's not my son.

He's my nephew.

Number two-- he's never been in the service.

Well, I understood he was in the Air Force.

Oh, no, you got some wrong information there.

His father, George--

now that's my brother-- he was a flyer.

You say your brother is in the service?

What is he now? A colonel, maybe?

No, my brother's dead.

I'm sorry.

Well, it was a sorry thing.

A man goes off and risks his life like that

and spends all that time in a prison camp.

And then he comes back, and he's treated like dirt.

(laughs)

I have some pictures.

Would you like to see some?

- Yes. Yes, I would. -All right. Would you come this way?

You know, I don't know what's become of Jimmy.

He should be back by now.

Now, there's George.

Uh-huh.

Yes.

Excuse me. I-l wasn't following.

You said that-that people didn't treat him too well?

His wife.

While he was in that jungle prison,

she was in half the hotel rooms in the city.

Broke his heart when he found out about that.

Yeah, I can imagine.

Say, that's quite a plane there.

THELMA: Oh, that's Jimmy's.

He keeps it over here at Reddin Field. Oh,

he's so proud of that.

He flies, too, huh?

Oh, my goodness, yes, every chance he gets.

He takes that little old plane up to Reno--

he has a cabin up there-- and he flies

over those mountains all the time.

He says he's as good a flier as his dad ever was,

even though he never got a chance to prove it.

I'll bet Jim was pretty close to his father, then.

No. They were never close.

They never got the chance to be.

Well, my brother was never the same after what she did to him.

Oh, and what about her, where is she now?

Well, she left George as soon as he got back.

And I don't know where she went.

And I don't care, Lieutenant.

I just hope she got what she deserved.

Does Jim feel that way about her, too?

Well, how else could he feel?

She deserted him, too, didn't she?

(tires squeal)

(tires squeal)

(siren wailing)

MAN (over radio): Suspect now headed north

on Lincoln Avenue, approaching La Paz.

Request backup units.

Intercept if possible.

Inspectors eight-one to headquarters.

I'm right on Central Two's tail.

I believe suspect is heading for Reddin field.

Has a plane there.

Alert airfield to prevent him from taking off.

(siren wailing)

(siren continues wailing)

Roger.

Hey, you know that guy Danielson?

- With the biplane? - Yeah. We just got a message.

The police want him.

If he puts in for takeoff, don't clear him.

(tires screech)

(tires squealing)

MAN (over radio): Charlie Fox 408,

Reddin tower calling.

Come in, please.

Charlie Fox, this is Reddin tower.

Charlie Fox 408, come in, please.

I'm Lieutenant Stone, San Francisco Police.

Fella, can you raise him?

- No, sir, he's not responding. - Well, how about tracking him?

We don't have radar.

Can you get me McClellan Air Base?

Higgins.

How long ago?

Just now. Listen, he's flying one of those, um...

those-those two-wing planes, you know?

Can you track him?

I can do better than that. Hold on.

- Is that Mike? -Yeah. A man just took off from Reddin Field.

This is Higgins, OSI.

Give me Base Ops. Emergency.

Hurry it UP-

MAN (over radio): Charlie Fox, do you read?

Reddin tower to Charlie Fox.

Come in. Charlie Fox 408.

Say, do you mind if I try?

Go ahead.

CF 408,

this is Lieutenant Stone, San Francisco Police.

(over radio): CF 408, can you hear me?

This is Lieutenant Stone, San Francisco Police.

Danielson...

if you can hear me, think this over, will you?

You need help, son.

Bring the plane in; you can't escape.

(over radio): Danielson, do you hear me?

Danielson...

maybe you couldn't help what you did,

but we know we can help you.

(coughing)

Delta One to Control.

I have CF 408 in sight.

Am leaving four-zero for two-zero.

(over radio): Roger, Delta One.

Is there any way we can talk to him?

Yeah.

You're on, Inspector.

Danielson, this is Inspector Keller.

Danielson, can you hear me? This is Inspector Keller.

Steve, Mike.

Do you have him?

KELLER: We got him in sight, Mike.

Yeah, he can hear us, all right.

He's ducking down under radar.

Johnson, can you keep him in sight?

I'll try, but in that little bucket

he can fly us dizzy down there.

We lost him.

Steve, what happened?

He ducked into a canyon, Mike.

We can't find him.

Which way is he headed?

L-I don't know. I'm a little turned around

up here myself, Mike. I don't know.

This is Colonel Johnson, Lieutenant.

I read 40 degrees toward Reno.

Colonel Johnson, you said toward Reno, huh?

- Roger. -Are you sure he's listening to us?

Yeah, he hears us, all right.

All right, Danielson, if you listen to me,

you just listen good!

We know about your cabin in Reno.

We'll have the police there

waiting for you when you get there.

So just forget it!

You forget it, Lieutenant.

I can out-fly you all day long.

When that sun is gone, so am I.

He's about out of canyon.

He's got to come up for air sometime.

If I time it just right, I think I can give him some.

(jet engines roaring)

That rattled his bones.

See if it changed his tune any.

Danielson, this is Inspector Keller.

Danielson, do you read me?

This is Inspector Keller.

He's in trouble.

Danielson, pull it out.

Pull it out, Danielson! Pull it out!

(radio static)

(static stops)

Steve? Mike.

What happened?

II

Delta One to Rescue.

We have a downed aircraft.

Location is 140 for 25, channel 106.

Repeat, Delta One to Rescue.

We have a downed aircraft.

II

Thank you.

What happened?

Danielson died on impact.

(sighs) Yeah. It figures.

The whole thing disintegrated when it hit.

Strange, isn't it?

A guy like Danielson, wanted to be a hero all his life,

ends up insane.

While a guy like Abel, who thinks he might be going insane

because of what made him a hero...

- Do you know what I'm talking about? -No. No, I don't.

But, uh, I got a little battle fatigue, you know?

So let me just get the gear off and I'll drive us home.

Well, did you ever ask yourself why one man's dream

-is another man's nightmare? - Yes, I've asked myself.

- And? -And I'll drive the car home, okay?

What are you talking about, you drive the car home?

Listen... haven't you ever heard of RHIP?

(laughs): What?

RHIP.

"Rank Has Its Privileges."

You're a captain today!

Captains don't drive lieutenants,

-lieutenants drive captains! - All right, all right,

all right, I'm ready!

I said today-- tomorrow's a different story.

So enjoy it while you can, my boy,

-because tomorrow comes awfully fast! -Oh, man!

(starts engine)