Written by Frank Military

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 393.

Smith synopsis: Episode 12

Bobby sits in front of the blown-open safe in his secret apartment. He keys his cell. Ringing. Hope's voice-mail answers. ... Bobby listens to her voice, pacing. Takes out his gun, fidgeting, clicks safety on and off. Beep, "Hope, you need to call me. We're in trouble. Call now. This isn't about us." Bobby quickly grabs all of his fake IDs, passports, drivers licenses, a lifetime of aliases.

Bobby heads back to his house, runs into the bedroom, looking for anything that will give him a clue as to where Hope is. He knows this is not a good place to be. Doesn't want to spend a lot of time here. He stops, thinks.

Suddenly the cell rings -- It's Charlie, "Bobby, we need to talk. Come to my house." Bobby tells her "no way." Bobby turns on the television. Flicks the channels. The botched Houston cash robbery is all over the news. Then Bobby sees the photos appear.

On screen: Tom, Jeff, Annie, and, finally, Bobby. No Joe and no Marley. The FBI doesn't have names to go with the faces, but they're clearly close. Bobby knows Yves double crossed him. But it really doesn't matter; he's through the looking glass now. Charlie tries to play him, "Let me help you..." Bobby tells her to go to hell. Charlie's voice grows dark, "I hear Hope is gone... If you won't come in, then let me find her for you. I'll find her faster than you can. I have more resources than you, Bobby." Her veiled threat to kill Hope isn't so veiled. Bobby thinks, "I'm just a loose end now for you to clean up." She denies it, tells him she will help him, protect him, "There's a car waiting for you outside." Bobby, suddenly alert, is up, looking out the window. Two of Charlie's men wait by the car. Bobby knows he's in trouble.

The next thing we see is Bobby crashing his Aston Martin out through the garage door. He drives off through the suburban neighborhood, with Charlie's men in pursuit.

Suddenly Bobby's cell rings; it's Joe calling from his house. He's worried for Bobby. Joe's watching the news, sees the photos of the gang, "You're in trouble. What do you need?" Bobby wants to protect Joe. Tells him he doesn't need anything. Joe's not buying it, "They've got nothing on me -- no pictures, nothing. Let me help you." Bobby's eyes flick up to his rearview; he sees Charlie's guys. He knows he's going to need help.

Meanwhile in the Los Angeles FBI SMITH Task Force office, Dodd and company try to get names for the faces and aliases that Yves gave him. In the middle of the frenzy of activity, Valez sidetracks Dodd with an LAPD DETECTIVE who reveals, DCFS reported a guy named Shawn Mullins has been missing since the dates of the Tanner robbery. Shawn Mullins did time for shutting down the alarm system at the Port of Houston. He's a good candidate for the dead phone man from the Tanner robbery. THE LAPD Detective also tells Dodd, Shawn Mullins' brother is dead and his wife is missing. Sounds to Dodd like there's nobody alive they can talk to. LAPD tells him, "There is one guy, named ... Joe Garcia. Moved in fast on Shawn's girlfriend." Dodd nods, "I want to talk to him." Now even Joe isn't safe.

As Bobby turns onto the highway, Charlie's guys pull up alongside the Aston Martin and open fire into Bobby's car. He's hit. Fighting to stay in control, Bobby jams on the gas, putting a little distance between him and Charlie's men. Bobby squeezes his bloody arm, turns and sees Charlie's men quickly gaining ground. They slowly pull alongside the Aston Martin, raising their automatic weapons, taking aim at Bobby. But then -- Boom! Charlie's men are blindsided by a crazy black, souped-up 1966 Mustang Fastback flying down the highway next to them. Charlie's guys are stopped cold, spinning onto the shoulder of the highway. Joe emerges from the fatally crippled Fastback and slides into Bobby's car. They take off, leaving Charlie's guys in their wake. Joe quickly puts an improvised tourniquet on Bobby's arm.

Back at the Los Angeles FBI SMITH Task Force office, using FBI face-matching technology, Dodd puts a lot of names to Bobby's picture. Dodd lays out what they know about Bobby to the rest of the task force, "Every few hours a new alias turns up, different name, different states." Dodd starts putting pictures of Bobby's passports, social security cards, drivers licenses up on a board. Bobby Williams, a.k.a. Bobby Tedesco, Michael Rosner, Steven McNeil, Bobby Stevens etc. We see a collage of personas laid out. A financial advisor in Boston, a medical technician in Denver, a chef in New York. Dodd tells the task force, "This is our SMITH. He's here in LA, might be using one of these names. Let's find him fast."

Bobby and Joe find ROGER [the safecracker Hope used to break into Bobby's safe in episode 11] in his locksmith shop. Bobby and Joe rough him up. He was the last person to see Hope. Roger doesn't know anything. Just to be sure, Bobby and Joe put Roger's hand in a vise. "She's in danger, Roger..." The vise doesn't jar Roger's memory. The scared safecracker tells Bobby that Hope was on the phone a lot. Roger didn't hear anything specific. This gives Bobby an idea that leads him to Marley's house.

Bobby and Joe pull Marley out of the house, shove him and his computer into the Aston Martin. Bobby tells Marley to start hacking the cell-phone company computers. Wants GPS location on a Hope Stevens' cell phone. Bobby gives a scared Marley his account number and tells him go to work. At the same time LAPD comes back with an address for a Bobby Stevens in Santa Clarita. Bobby Stevens was one of the aliases that was kicked back from the computer. Valez holds up Bobby's current driver's-license picture. It's their Smith. Dodd, Valez and the others move out to pick him up. Trouble is, when they get to the suburban, cookie-cutter neighborhood, Dodd and company get lost. As Dodd and a parade of FBI cars search for Bobby and Hope's address, Valez tells him, "This is Deering Lane... We're looking for Deering Avenue." Valez, frustrated, tells Dodd, "All the streets look the same. Why'd they give them the same names?" Dodd takes in the monotonous landscape, "Makes you understand why the guy turned to a life of crime." She thinks he's joking, but the look on Dodd's face tells us he's starting to get some insight into Bobby.

In another suburban home, Gloria opens the door, sees it's Bobby and tries to close it. Bobby forces it open, pushes his way inside. Bobby sees they have the television news on in the other room. They know Bobby is a wanted man. There's no finessing the situation now. Bobby tells them he really needs to know where Hope is, she's in danger. Sy and Gloria honestly don't know. Hope has called but hasn't told them her location. Bobby wants to know where the kids are. Gloria doesn't want to say. Bobby runs deeper into the house and finds the kids in the bedroom watching a DVD. He says hi to them, keeping it casual, then comes back out and tells Sy and Gloria to take the kids and get out of town. "Don't tell anybody where you're going. There are people who are going to be trying to get to Hope, to kill her. They'll go after the kids. Don't even tell me where you're going. You're in danger, my kids are in danger. Come on, go!" Gloria and Sy hesitate for a beat, but then start to pack.

Bobby takes this moment to see his kids for what could be the last time. Hugs them. They see he's bleeding. Bobby tells them he fell, "Daddy's going to be just fine..." Bobby's heart is breaking as he subtly says goodbye to Jason and Emily. We intercut this goodbye with --

Dodd, Valez and the task force violently break into Bobby and Hope's house. The Task Force begins tearing it apart. As we watch Bobby torn from his kids emotionally, we watch the physical destruction of his home and his life with Hope. The kids' rooms are destroyed, the photo frame Hope gave Bobby is pulled apart, etc. Dodd picks up a picture of Hope. He stares at it, fascinated. Bobby's life is slowly coming into focus.

At the same time Bobby sadly watches Sy and Gloria drive off with his kids.

Later, Joe and Bobby go back to JG Custom Classics. They park in a side alley, and Joe heads inside. Bobby's eyes sear Marley, who squirms as he works, trying with little success to hack into the phone company. Bobby tells the kid, "If we get picked up, you just met me. I hired you for this one thing. You don't know who I am. Tell the cops you know me as David Churchill. You had nothing to do with anything else." Marley stops working, realizes that Bobby is trying to protect him. He nods "thanks." Bobby tells him, "I didn't tell you to stop working."

Joe comes out of the garage, drops into the driver's seat. He opens a duffle bag filled with cash. It should be enough to get Bobby out of the country, hold him over until he can access his offshore accounts. They pull out.

They only drive a few blocks when Bobby checks the side mirror and suddenly sees a Jaguar following them. Probably some more of Charlie's men. Bobby tells Joe to lead the tail to a side street, "Let's take care of this." Isolated on a dark street, Bobby and Joe, armed, are about to charge out of the car- when Bobby's cell phone rings. It's Annie. As he hears her voice, he sees her getting out of the Jag, "I came for my cut, gentleman." Not only does she want her cut, she wants a bigger cut because Tom and Jeff are dead. Bobby, disgusted with her, throws a pile of money at her. Annie picks up the cash off the street. Not an easy thing to do in heels. As she collects her money, Bobby gets back into the car. They pull out. Bobby eyes flick to Marley. He shakes his head. Still no luck hacking the phone company. Bobby calls Hope's cell again and gets voice-mail.

Later, at LAX's passenger pick-up, Annie waves to Cindy coming out of baggage claim. As Annie loads Cindy's bags into the trunk, we find out that Annie called Cindy at the last minute with a promise of making a lot of money. As the girls settle into the car, Annie tells Cindy, "The mark's a drunk, with a fetish for threesomes and a huge, expensive coin collection. Seduce him, keep him drinking. Take the coins. Easy stuff." As they pull out, Cindy asks where the mark lives. Annie guns the car, "Desert..." As the car sweeps by us, we see Annie is pulling a black Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 motorcycle on a trailer behind the Jag. Back with Bobby and Joe, Marley hits a key, looks at the screen and pumps his fist, "Hell yeah..." He's got Hope's location. She's near downtown.

Dodd and Valez go to Hope's workplace and question Steve, the dentist, who tells them that Hope has been staying at a condo that he owns. Dodd asks for the address. Steve, nervous, casually adds, "Just so you know... I didn't want to think it at first, but I'm pretty sure she's been skimming from the insurance company..." Dodd takes this in and quickly heads out.

As Dodd closes in on his search for Hope, so does Bobby. On a residential street, near downtown. Marley's checking the blip of the GPS on his computer, tells Bobby, "She's right near here."

Moving fast through a similar-looking residential street near downtown, Dodd and Valez and several other cars move, searching for Steve's condo. We sense they are about to run right into Bobby, who is also looking for Hope. But then we realize that Bobby and his guys are in another neighborhood. Marley looks at the nearby freeway, "She's not on the street, she's on the 101." Joe pulls a hard "U" just as --

Dodd and Valez break in the door of Stevess condo and find the place empty. They start searching it and find Hope's passport, but it doesn't say "Hope Stevens," it says "Gwen Parker" (this is the same passport from episode 9). Dodd tells Valez to put out an APB for a Gwen Parker. Valez picks up her ringing cell. It's LAPD; turns out Hope Stevens is on parole... Dodd tells Valez to have her parole officer call her in. Valez tells him she already has, and it turns out Hope is on her way into her parole officer's as they speak. Dodd nods, "Let's meet her."

On another street, Bobby stands next to the Aston Martin. Marley checks his computer. She's right here. Bobby looks around, sees a CALIFORNIA STATE BUILDING. Knows where she is. He snatches Marley's baseball cap off his head and heads towards the building.

As Bobby walks into the lobby, he sees a large sign for the California Department of Corrections. He looks on the lobby card. Sees: Parole Division -- 3rd Floor. The place, naturally, is overrun with cops. He keeps his collar up, the baseball cap pulled down. Then -- Hope appears behind him. He feels her gaze. But doesn't move. Then he turns, their eyes meet.

Dodd and Valez, sirens blaring, race to the parole office. Valez shoots a look at Dodd, who sits calmly in the back, feeling the end coming.

Bobby tells Hope she's in danger. Still outwardly emotionally detached, she tells him to get out of there, this is the worst place for him to be. She's seen the television, her parole officer's called her in. Bobby doesn't care about that. Charlie is going to kill everybody, she's cleaning up her trail. Anybody that can turn on her, she's going to kill. Hope has to run. Emily and Jason are safe with her parents. She again urges, "Bobby, get out of here..." She sees he's wounded under his jacket. Filled with emotion, he tells her -- "You and the kids are all that ever mattered to me." She's overwhelmed by it all. She fights every instinct inside her to run with him. He tells her again to get out of town, and then, "I'm so sorry... You were my life." After a long, painful beat, he turns and heads out back to the street. Just in time to see ...

The FBI cars pulling into the underground of the building. He knows they're right behind him now. Bobby gets back to the car. Joe, seeing the FBI, tells Bobby to take the car and go. Bobby says bye to Joe, who hugs him, "We almost made it, Bobby." Bobby nods, "Yeah, almost. Maybe someday." They both know it'll never happen. After a beat, Joe and Marley disappear into the city.

Bobby drops down into the Aston Martin. He looks into his lap. He can't go on. Why run? For what? Then he looks up and --

Hope is standing in front of the car. He takes her in for a long beat. She can't live without him. She'd die with him if she had to. Hope, compelled, gets into the car. Unsure if this is right, unsure of anything except her need to be with him. Bobby takes her hand as the car roars into the street.

As the sun sets, Annie drives Cindy into an empty truck stop. "I want to close my eyes." Annie lifts a large weekend bag from the back seat, reaches inside. Cindy nods, "I'll drive." But before she finishes her words -- the sound of a silencer cuts her off. Cindy's blood spatters on the passenger window. Annie, holding a Beretta with a silencer on it inside her bag, looks at Cindy's lifeless body. That went well.

Hours later, Bobby and Hope drive in silence, passing a sign for downtown San Diego. Bobby pulls over. Looks Hope in the eye, "You sure you want to do this? We're not going to see the kids for a long time." Hope doesn't know what is right, or what she wants, "I don't know... Think for both of us..." Bobby puts his arms around her. All she's ever been sure of her whole life is that she can't live without him, "Let's just go..." Bobby, is uneasy with it all.

Later that night, Joe's boys are playing poker in the back of JG Custom Classics. Joe, wound tight, watches the news of their robbery unfolding on the television. There's a knock on the door. Joe clicks off the television, gets up to answer it, opens the door, to --

Dodd and Valez. They show him FBI ID. "We need to speak to Joe Garcia." Joe stares at them for a beat. His life as he's known it is about to change forever. "Sure... Let me get him for you." Joe walks to the back, looks at VICTOR, 31, his cousin. Victor looks so much like Joe they could be brothers. Joe whispers to him "Time's come." Victor, surprised, nods calmly. Joe opens a safe, hands Victor several documents in a rubber band, "The shop's yours."

Victor rips a large sign down from the wall with a picture of Joe next to JG Custom Classics logo, revealing another sign underneath it. It's the same ... except with Victor's picture.

Joe unlocks a metal locker. Takes out and pulls on a backpack, baseball cap. Heads out the back of the shop. He knew this day would come.

At the front door, Victor opens up to Dodd and Valez, "You're not going to bust me on the poker game, are you?" Dodd looks at him hard, "You Joe Garcia?" Victor takes out a driver's license, complete with matching picture. Dodd stares at the license. Victor tells him, "This is my place, what do you need?" He points to the sign.

Outside on the street, Joe walks for several steps, finds a Honda Odyssey minivan -- no more muscle cars. Tosses in the backpack and takes off into the night.

As Bobby and Hope approach the Mexican/American border, Bobby tells Hope they should go through separately in case anything happens to him. He gives her a rendezvous place and kisses her. Looks in her eyes. He gets out of the car and heads over to a taxi, slides in, "Tijuana."

Hopes pulls up to the crossing. Shows her license. The BORDER GUARD takes it, smiles at the pretty lady, goes to run it. Several lanes over we see --

Bobby, in the cab, pull into the crossing. Holds out his license. The Guard takes it. He studies it and looks hard at Bobby. Bobby, sensing he's about to be caught, puts his hand on his 9mm inside his gym bag. Then, unexpectedly, the Guard walks into the kiosk to run the license. The Border Guard comes out to give Hope back her license. She smiles. He doesn't. "I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the car." Several lanes away, Bobby watches. Inside the kiosk, ANOTHER GUARD picks up the phone, dials, tells somebody, "We got a hit on an all points, on a Gwen Parker..." Back with Hope, the Border Patrol Guard looks Hope in the eye. "Is this your license?" She nods, "Of course."

In the Los Angeles FBI Smith Task Force office, Dodd, moving quickly, ducks into an office, sees Valez -- Hope Stevens is trying to cross the border using her Gwen Parker alias.

Back at the border, Bobby sits watching Hope interact with the Guard in the distance. Bobby's guard comes back holding Bobby's license. Bobby's grip on his 9mm tightens. The Guard looks at him for a beat too long, "Mr. Davis... Here's your license. Have a safe trip." And with that, the cabby pulls out, heading across the border into Mexico.

At a Ralphs supermarket, Joe's mom, EMMA, stands waiting with Ryan. Joe drives up, looks around for any cops. All safe. He gets out, hugs his mom. Hands her a duffle bag filled with cash. She knows what this means, her eyes filling with tears. Joe tells her, "House is paid for. Victor will send you payments from the shop." Joe, fighting his emotions, hugs his mother, "I'll be back one day, Mama. Then Joe kneels down next to Ryan, "Hey, little man. Give him a hug."

Back at the border, Bobby, near some cover, watches Dodd, arrives with several other FBI vehicles in the distance. Dodd gets out. Bobby's eyes instinctively locking onto him. Several border guards greet him. This is all going bad quickly.

Dodd and Valez enter the border patrol offices. Dodd is told border guards have a photo of Bobby getting through the crossing two hours earlier. He's long gone inside Mexico now. Then Dodd sees Hope sitting in the office. Dodd checks a picture he took from the house. It's her. He introduces himself, "Mrs. Stevens?" Hope says her name is Parker... Dodd nods, "It's a little late for that." He drops the picture of her, Bobby and the kids in front of her. Hope absorbs this.

In LA, Joe is taking care of some unfinished business, moves around the side of Charlie's mansion and stealthily takes out two of Charlie's men. He then moves in through a window. An alarm sounds, but Joe is moving too quickly for it to make a difference. He gets into the bedroom, where Charlie is trying to get a gun out of the draw. Joe's got the drop on her. She knows it's over. She makes one request, "Joe... My daughter... Please..." Suddenly Souri appears in the doorway. Joe shoots Charlie. Souri runs to her. Joe considers taking out Souri. Then thinks better of it. He's out the door.

Against a desolate desert-scape, Annie drags Cindy's body out of the car and into the brush. She takes a bottle of lye and pours it on the dead girl's face and hands, melting her flesh, making identification impossible. Annie then takes out her own drivers license and passport, stares at her old identity for a beat, then reaches down and sticks them in Cindy's purse and walks off back to her car. Leaving the Jag, Annie seductively straddles the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14. She looks around, taking in the wasteland, somehow cleansed and reborn in her new identity. Looking forward to her new life, she guns the bike and explodes down the highway into the horizon.

Back outside Charlie's, the first faint sounds of sirens can be heard in the distance as Joe gets into the minivan. Then he turns and sees Ryan in the car seat in the back, "Ever seen snow, little man?" The kid tentatively shakes his head "no." Joe smiles and takes off ... into the night that starts the rest of his life.

In the border patrol office, Dodd interrogates Hope. She hasn't seen Bobby in days. She just thought it would be good to get out of town. Doesn't have any idea where he is. Dodd puts several evidence photos from the various jobs Bobby and gang pulled on the table, the dead Tanner guard, the armored car, etc. Dodd studies her, "You don't look surprised." Hope doesn't say anything. Dodd tells her she is going to go down as an accessory on all of the robberies, he's seen her record, knows she must be involved. This makes her chuckle. She'd never give Bobby up like that. Dodd sees it. Senses the connection between her and Bobby, his curiosity piqued, he asks her, "Who is he?" Hope knows there is something more to his question, something beyond the investigation, "What are you talking about?" Dodd shrugs; he wants desperately to know who Bobby is beyond the crimes, "Is he a good husband... Father?" Hope, taken aback, thinks, tells the truth, "Yeah... The best... He never did anything halfway." As Dodd smiles sadly, takes this in, a border guard sticks his head in the door, "There's a guy on the phone wants to speak to you... Says he's Bobby Stevens." Hope adds it all up fast, "It's not him... Don't believe him."

Dodd goes outside and takes the call. Hope's heart sinks. She knows what Bobby is going to do. Dodd, alone, takes the call from Bobby, who's watching the crossing in the distance, talking on his cell. Dodd wants proof he is speaking to Bobby Stevens. Bobby quickly tells him, "Gold brick, fake tattoo, cigarettes, inhaler..." Dodd nods, relieved, "Nice to meet you, Bobby...if that's your real name. You even remember your real name?" Bobbys silent. It's been a very long time since he was that person.

Dodd smiles, introduces himself, tells Bobby he's in a lot of trouble, tells him he's got Hope, "She seems ready to roll over on you." Bobby knows it's a lie, "You think I'd believe that?" Dodd smiles, "No... I had to try it... So what's the deal?" Bobby lays it out, "Blink, and I'm a thousand miles away... Hope had nothing to do with any of it. She stayed straight. Tried to keep me straight... She really, really tried." Dodd senses the emotion in Bobby's voice, "What do you want?" Bobby thinks, "Lay off her, she goes back, gets our kids, lives her life... Finds another guy... Happily ever after." Dodd bargains, "And I get?" Bobby tells him, "Me... I walk in now. You get your bad guy. If you can't promise that, I'm a ghost... Forever. And you know I can do it." Dodd thinks, "You got it... My word..." Bobby nods and slowly hangs up. Takes in his last breaths of freedom.

Minutes later as Hope is lead by Dodd and several other agents to a waiting FBI car. She and Dodd see--

Bobby, emerging out of the desert heat like a mirage, walking towards them, back across the border. Hope screams for Bobby not to come back, "No, Bobby! Run!" Bobby doesn't break stride. It's a mythic, stoic moment. Dodd tells his agents to tell Border Patrol to let Bobby into the country. Sure, confident, Bobby keeps walking. When Bobby finally gets across, Valez quickly moves behind him, cuffing him, "You have the right to remain silent..." Through it all, Bobby's eyes are fixed on Hope. A potential lifetime of love and life, quickly slipping away, like sand through their fingers. It's all disappearing. Hope moves to him, as the agents try to hold her back. Bobby leans into her, pressing his head against her neck, and whispers, "I'll get out." As Hope is pulled back, he smiles sadly at her. She looks at him, amazed; if anybody could do it, it would be him. He gives her a wink and then Bobby is pushed into the waiting FBI car. Staying with Bobby in the car, once his face is out of sight from Hope, all of the optimism and bravado of escape drains out. Dodd slides in next to Bobby, tells the driver to pull out. The two together at last. Inside, Bobby looks back at Hope through the back window of the car, watching her recede into the desert. As Hope's image gets smaller and smaller ...