"The Black Buddha", Part 2 Forever Knight, Season 3, Episode 2 written by James Parriott transcribed by Marg Baskin proofread by Nancy Warlocke Guest Cast: Vudu........................................Stuart Hughes Newscaster.....................................Ola Sturik Miller......................................Karen Waddell Screed........................................Greg Kramer Inca.....................................Damon d'Oliveira The Angel..................................Joanna Bacalso Urs........................................Kristin Lehman Jude Deshnell..........................Emmanuelle Chriqui TEASER: [various clips from part 1] OPENING CREDITS [SCENE: the front steps of the 96th Precinct. Nick is trying to get inside, but is being mobbed by a group of reporters.] Reporter: Do you have any idea why police stations were targeted? Nick: Not at this time. Reporter: And you can confirm this is the same bomber that took out the plane? Nick: No, I can't confirm anything. Reporter: But you are part of this investigation now? Nick: [angry] Look, we just lost 23 of our people. And two more earlier this week that were very close to me. I don't think anybody, not the RCMP, the FBI, no one's going to tell us to sit on our hands right now, okay? Thank you. [He turns away and goes inside.] Reporter: I guess that's it. [SCENE: inside the squad room of the precinct. Reese comes out of his office as Nick is heading for his desk.] Reese: [to the room at large] Night watch, I'm briefing in five minutes. [to Nick] Make it through the circus? Nick: Barely. Reese: You heard from Tracy? Nick: Is there a reason? Reese: She went off looking for some guy before it all hit the fan. Nick: What's his name? Reese: J.D. Valdez. She was going to a church or something. Ring a bell? Nick: No. [Reese turns away, then calls out to Miller as she walks past him.] Reese: Oh, Sturges. Miller: It's Miller, sir. Reese: Miller, look--see if you can run down Detective Vetter for me. [hesitates] Um, try her here, then try her at home. Oh, Miller--don't call her parents. Miller: Right, sir. [SCENE: Vudu, at work again on bombs, these ones visibly larger than the previous. He's placing them inside metal boxes, of similar size and shape to military ammo boxes.] [SCENE: a briefing room at the 96th. Reese is speaking to the night shift.] Reese: The bombs were Semtex. [a chorus of groans and whistles comes from his audience] Forty kilos of the stuff was stolen from an Alberta mining company last July. Same batch, which means he probably has a lot more. Detonation device was a music box mechanism, which appears to be radio activated by a mobile phone. Miller: Complicated. Reese: That's his signature. Miller: They know who it is? Nick: Four years ago, Seattle. Three bombs all aimed at firefighters. Reese: In Montreal it was postal workers. City officials in Edmonton, and now I guess it's cops. Miller: Vudu? Reese: They never released why they call him that. Nick: The tune on the music box. [SCENE: Vudu, finishing the latest of a stack of bombs, and adding it to the pile.] [SCENE: the precinct. Reese is pacing angrily around the room, as he talks to Nick.] Reese: Mass murder is voodoo to me. I have never been able to understand it. You take a single homicide--usually it's a personal motive. Jealousy. Anger. Retribution. I may not agree with it. I may abhor it, but at least I can *understand* it. Nick: The music boxes were a dead end? Reese: Four thousand manufactured to date in Taiwan. The shipment to Vancouver was reported missing in '84. The serial numbers match, but the trail ends there. [Having answered the interruption, he goes back to his diatribe.] Anyone who participates in the mass destruction of innocent people, man, there's something human missing from their brain. [He crosses to the water cooler, and tries, unsuccessfully, to get a drink. Finally, he crumples the paper cup and throws it away in disgust.] Reese: Take Hitler, that monster of all time. There, now, you can tell me that's hate. You can say it's power. You can say it's racism. Whatever. I still can't put it together. That man was from a different planet. Nick: Look, there's no description of him here. Reese: They don't even have a bad drawing. Vudu might as well have been a ghost. Mass murder transcends motive. The second you contemplate it, you're in another zone. You-- Nick: [interrupting] What about the Hezzbollah? The IRA? Reese: Politics aren't an excuse. Nick: Oklahoma City? Reese: Ah, case in point. Nick: Hiroshima. Nagasaki. Reese: Yeah, but that was to *end* war. Nick: Yeah, but that makes sense to you. You might have made the same decision. Reese: So, you're saying we're all animals? Nick: No, I'm just saying that there's a dark corner in all of us. I mean, there's got to be a reason for his killing. It's not just voodoo. [Miller approaches, visibly reluctant to interrupt.] Miller: Captain. [Reese doesn't immediately respond to the newly acquired title.] Nick: That's you. [He walks away.] Reese: Miller, did you find her? Miller: I tried everywhere but her parents-- Reese: Then I'll guess you'll have to. Miller: Then I took the liberty of trying there, too. [SCENE: Screed's lair, somewhere in the service tunnels beneath the city. The place is filthy, dingy, lit haphazardly by a few candles. Screed is moving around restlessly as he lectures Vachon.] Screed: It's not a screaming problem, mate. You just do what needs to be done. You look her in the babyshoots, and you give her the bloody jammy. [He grabs a rat, and carries it with him as he goes to face Vachon.] You boozle the girl. Vachon: [not enjoying the lecture] She won't whammy, I tried. She's a resister. Screed: Then you suck the puppy proper. [Tracy is sitting in a nearby chair, bound and gagged, overhearing the argument. While Screed talks, Vachon begins to absently stroke a rat which is crouching on a nearby pipe.] Screed: You *do* her. You don't bring her over here and lean on a mate. No, this is a major... [He stops, unable to remember the word he needs.] What is it? Gimme the word? Vachon: Imposition? Screed: There. In position. Do the deed, dude. You wax her. Vachon: I couldn't. [Screed finally sinks his fangs into the rat he's carrying, and drains it noisily. Still wiping the blood from his mouth, he approaches Tracy.] Screed: Bet you had a little taste of her, though, didn't you? Must be a little malenky nectar to go to all this trouble. [He discards the dead rat, pulls Tracy's hair aside, and examines her neck. There are no bite marks.] Screed: [in amazement] Weeellll... Maybe if you gave a little spot to your friends-- [He gets no farther, because Vachon grabs him, flying. They strike a wall, and Vachon holds Screed against it. His feet aren't touching the ground.] Screed: Ice it, dude. I'm behind you. [Vachon releases him, and he drops to the floor.] Screed: [rubbing his neck] Oh, whiplash. [His voice becomes serious, and normal.] Just give me a reason. What's wrong with keeping her at the church? Vachon: The Inka. [Screed makes a disgusted noise, and thumps his head again the wall.] [SCENE: the church. Nick enters and mounts the stairs. As he is exploring, the Inka leaps out and attacks him. Nick rolls away and comes up in full vampire aspect--fangs and glowing eyes. The Inka, who was expecting Vachon, stares at him in astonishment.] Nick: [hissing the words through his fangs] Who are you? [CUT TO: Screed's lair.] Screed: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No thank you, gracias very much. What? You expect me to save your Spanish arse? I don't think so. I'm out of here, Mate. Mate? Did I just call you 'mate'? I don't even know you. I never veo-ed you, I never escuch-ed you. So when I get back here later, you malchiks had better be dust. [He heads toward the exit, still muttering, then stops at the doorway for a final complaint.] The Inka he says, like it was his Aunt Judy or something. [Once she is alone with Vachon, Tracy's passivity vanishes. She starts to struggle against the bonds, making loud noises which are too muffled by the gag in her mouth to be understood. Vachon goes over to her, makes a "shhh"ing gesture, then sits down close to her.] Vachon: If I take it off, will you scream? [Tracy answers him loudly, the words clearer, but still not comprehensible.] Vachon: Will you scream? [She makes another garbled complaint.] Vachon: I'm asking you if you'll scream. [This time she speaks carefully, and the words can be understood through the gag.] Tracy: No, I won't scream. [Vachon removes the gag.] Vachon: There. Tracy: Get me out of this rat-infested hellhole. You were going to bite me-- [Vachon replaces the gag.] Vachon: Or shout. You cannot shout. I wanted to bite you, but I didn't, okay? Besides, you fainted. Now--silently. [He removes the gag again, and this time, Tracy speaks in a relatively normal voice.] Tracy: You will take me out of this sewer immediately. Do you have any idea how many diseases are represented down here? Some of us can actually die from them, you know. [Her voice is steadily rising, but at a "shhh"ing gesture from Vachon, she drops it again.] Tracy: And who the hell is this Inka? [The remainder of this scene is a series of interwoven cuts among three threads: Vachon talking with Tracy; the Inka talking with Nick, and flashbacks showing the events they are each describing.] Inca: I am a soldier of the Great Atahuallpa, leader of the People of the Sun. I met my death in 1531 at the hands of a Spaniard named Javier Vachon. Vachon: Pizarro had laid an ambush at Lake Titicaca. I was running a message to an artillery placement in the hills. [FLASHBACK: Vachon, in conquistador-period armor, slides down an embankment.] Vachon: I remember thinking how impossible it would be to defeat them. [FLASHBACK: As Vachon crosses a shallow river, the Inka watches him, then follows.] Inca: He wore too much armor. I thought I could crush him with ease. [FLASHBACK: The Inka attacks Vachon, and they are seen fighting in the shallow water through the next several lines of dialogue.] Vachon: We fought for what seemed to be hours. Inca: Two great warriors, fighting for our lives... But by the time the sun god had left the sky-- Vachon: We delivered our final blows. [FLASHBACK: Vachon impales the Inka on his pike, but not before receiving a crushing blow from the Inka's war club.] Inca: It was in the darkness that she came to us. [FLASHBACK: As the two dying men lie on the ground, a woman dressed in the ceremonial robes of a Bride of the Sun approaches and kneels between them.] Vachon: Our master. She'd been watching. Said that she could still hear courage in our dying hearts. [FLASHBACK: The priestess licks blood from Vachon's face, then sinks her fangs into his throat.] Tracy: [absolutely fascinated] What was it like? Vachon: It was the most erotic thing I've ever experienced... [Tracy looks away, embarrassed.] Vachon: And yet, it was somehow pure. It was as if she were flowing into me. [FLASHBACK: His eyes open and his face fills with pleasure as the priestess continues to drink.] Vachon: It was everything. Nick: She brought you both across? Inca: Then taught us the way of the night... And told us what she wanted us to do. Tracy: What was that? Vachon: To stop senseless killing in the world. She said that those that treasure life should live, and those that don't, should die. Nick: And because you'd suffered the pain of battle. Of death-- Inca: [very passionately] Yes! We were her warriors. We were her chosen ones... [FLASHBACK: The priestess kisses each of them, then rises and walks away.] Inca: The next morning, she gave us our quippus. Our eternal orders. Vachon: Then she started walking towards the rising sun. Inca: Toward our god as he climbed into the morning sky. He embraced her like a good father. Her spirit riding the smoke higher and higher to his waiting arms. [FLASHBACK: The priestess disintegrates in the sunlight.] Vachon: Then we had to get out of the light. COMMERCIAL [SCENE: Vudu packing up some of the bombs he's made, and taking them out of his lab.] [SCENE: The Nightcrawler, on the air. His speech serves as a voice-over for a series of images: Nick driving the Cadillac through the city, then Vudu moving through the service tunnels beneath the city. As Vudu leaves, he fails to notice Screed, who is rat hunting in the same area. Screed finds one of the bombs he's left behind, and picks it up.] LaCroix: What a piece of work is a man. How noble in reason. How infinite in faculty. In form, in moving, how express and admirable. In action how like an angel. In apprehension, how like a god. The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights me... not. [SCENE: the Raven. There's a live band on stage. Nick arrives, and approaches LaCroix, who is prowling through the club.] LaCroix: Elected to stay? Poor thing... You are becoming entirely too predictable. Nick: Javier Vachon. LaCroix: Who's the last man to play back-up for Charo. Famous Javiers for 400, please. [laughs at Nick's disgusted expression.] You're losing your sense of humor as well. I believe I know the man. Young Spaniard. Irresponsible. [He gestures across the room, to where a scantily-dressed blonde woman is dancing on stage.] LaCroix: She knows him quite well. Nick: Who is she? LaCroix: An innocent goddess named Urs. For the last couple centuries she's been running with his crew. [CUT TO a shot of Urs dancing, then Nick talking with her later, near the bar. Urs speaks distantly, never quite looking at him as she talks.] Urs: He's not here anymore. He left. Nick: He was running from the Inka. Urs: You know about that? Nick: Enough. Urs: Then you know Javier is always running. [CUT TO Tracy and Vachon] Tracy: Why? Vachon: Because I was young. Immortal. I had eternity. The last thing I wanted to do was spend it chained to a mortal enemy of mine. That night, I was the first to rise. He was still buried in the soil. [FLASHBACK: Vachon drags himself out of the ground. He breaks off a sapling to make a make-shift spear, and drives it into the ground where the Inka is buried.] Tracy: But you didn't kill him? Vachon: [laughs softly] No. I should've made sure. Tracy: And he's been chasing you ever since? Vachon: Usually I can keep a step ahead of him. Tracy: All he wants for you to do is what you were ordered to do by your master. Keep your end of the deal. Vachon: There was a world out there. I was young... Why are you looking at me that way? Tracy: Because... I don't think I like you anymore. [CUT TO Nick and Urs talking in The Raven.] Urs: Javier's always running. From the Inka. From responsibility. That's part of his charm, you see. He's so hard to catch. Nick: He took a plane? Urs: Yes. He likes to fly that way. Loves it. It's the roar of the engine. The machine. Nick: Well, this time the machine exploded. It was the plane that crashed. [Urs's face fills with fear, then, when Nick continues, with relief.] Nick: He was the only survivor, Urs--that's the good news. The bad news is he might have a friend of mine with him. And if anything happens to her, he's going to have to answer to me. I need to find him, Urs. It's better for all of us. Please. Help me find him before he runs away again. [SCENE: Screed returning to his underground lair. He's half- singing, half-muttering to himself as he parks his bicycle and enters. Once inside, he senses another vampire.] Screed: Is that you, mate? You do the malchik in? Got me a permie place to rest her toms, you need it. Made a haul tonight. I am knacked. T's putting in these cellular transponders. Bring me a bill easy down at the swap meet. [He finally notices that Vachon hasn't replied.] Screed: V-man? Vachonetti? [Nick hauls Vachon out of the shadows. He's holding the younger vampire--who looks terrified--by a hand at his jaw.] Screed: [who seems more upset by the unexpected/unknown company than by Vachon's predicament.] Oh, fine, bit of a party down here while we're about it, shall we? I finally get a place set up for a little bit of peace and quiet-- Nick: Shut up! Screed: Make yourself at home, mate. Mi casa, su casa. [He ends the comment with a raspberry.] Vachon: [He's having trouble talking, because of Nick's hold.] I told her everything I know about the crash, and then I let her go. Screed: [in disgust] You wuss! Nick: She knows what you are? Screed: I told him to ring her. Nick: I thought I told you to shut up. Screed: Are you an Enforcer? [Nick turns on him angrily, and he holds up his hands in placation.] I'm sorry. Go on... [He continues muttering to himself.] Vachon: She's a resister. She only knows about Screed, here--and me. [Vachon is still very frightened. Nick lets go of his jaw, but he remains frozen in place.] Nick: And the Inka. She's your responsibility now. The rest of our kind will kill her if they find out. Are you going to run away from her like you're doing with the Inka? Your business with him is none of my concern. That's up to you. Your conscience. He's alive and waiting for you at the church. But what you do with Tracy is my business. The only reason you're alive right now is because you let her go. You want to take off, go ahead. But there will come a day, Vachon. There will come a day when you'll have to stop and live up to your word. Believe me, eternity's a long time to keep running. COMMERCIAL [SCENE: the squad room of the 96th. Natalie is there, talking to someone. Tracy walks in and goes straight to her desk. She looks tired and disheveled. Reese spots her from his office, and comes out.] Reese: Tracy! [She doesn't answer.] Detective Vetter, would you care to explain where you've been? I came this close to putting out an APB on you. Tracy: I can't tell you. Reese: [disbelieving] You can't tell me? Tracy: I was... with a source. Reese: Detective Vetter, this is not a newspaper. Reese: An informant, then. [Tracy is lounging back in her chair. Reese looks at the foot she has propped up on her desk with disapproval.] Reese: Comfortable? [Tracy removes her foot and sits up straight.] Isn't that what you were wearing last night? Tracy: [Trying to make a joke of it.] As a matter of fact it is, Captain. Worse for wear, but it is the very same jeans and T- shirt. Reese: You better call your father. I think he's worried. Tracy: Yeah. I'm sure he is worried. Do you want to know what I found out? [Reese leans forward, interested, and Tracy perks up visibly.] Okay, a woman in the cockpit crew, not a flight attendant, carried a wrapped present through security. No one checked it. Reese: Your informant saw this? Tracy: Yeah. He was at the airport. He saw her board the plane. Reese: We have a list of the crew. Tracy: Karen Tomlinson. She was the co-pilot. I checked. [Reese waits, but she says nothing more.] Reese: That's it? Tracy: Yeah. Yeah, that's it... [She slumps, looking tired again.] Do you mind if I just sit here for a minute? Reese: No, no, of course not. Look... Call home, will you? [He looks about her with concern, but leaves her alone. When he's gone, Natalie comes over.] Natalie: Trace? You all right? Tracy: It's just... Have you ever had anything happen that's just the most incredible, the most wonderful thing... And it just.. [Her voice begins to break.] It just turns out to be so disappointing.... [She starts to cry, very softly.] Natalie: [puts an arm around her] It's okay. [SCENE: the loft. Nick is sitting on the stairs, holding the Black Buddha, with Nat standing beside him. "Voodoo Black Magic" is playing on the stereo.] Natalie: So that's what it's all about? Oh, my. Nick: You think she's attracted to him? Natalie: You don't shed those kind of tears over ripped jeans. Yeah, I'd say that he definitely has her in his spell. Nick: Trouble. Natalie: Oh, yeah. Nick: But she's disappointed in him? Natalie: About the same as I was feeling when you were going to walk away because of this Buddha. [She takes the statue from him and looks at it. Nick reaches out, but he doesn't immediately take it back, just touches it and her hands. His expression is unhappy/guilty. Nat looks at him, then gives the statue back.] Natalie: [briskly, to break the moment] So, is this Vudu's theme song? Nick: It's like the chicken and the egg. You wonder if he picked it, or if it just happened to be the tune on those music boxes that he stole. Natalie: What difference would it make? Nick: I want a motive. I want to know why Schank and Cohen died. All these victims... I want a real reason, not some excuse like the Buddha. But this guy... What if it's all black magic to him? What if he believes his voodoo is real? [SCENE: Vudu holding another of the figurine music boxes. The dialogue of the next scene begins as a voice over as he sets it on his work bench.] [SCENE: an interrogation room at the 96th precinct. Reese is questioning Karen Tomlinson's sister. Nick and Tracy are listening to the conversation from behind a one-way mirror.] Jude: My sister said he was charming, great-looking, and terrific in bed. But then, Karen didn't go out with slackers. Reese: That all you can tell me about him? Jude: The one thing Karen liked best about her job... How can I put this delicately? Basically she had a guy in every port, okay? She called this guy "Toronto Jerry." Reese: Did she ever mention whether they'd been seen together in a bar? Restaurant? Hotel? Jude: No. The airport crew always stayed at one of the airport hotels. Nick: Charming. Great looking. Terrific in bed. Not exactly something you can put on a poster. [He looks at Tracy.] Did your informant see her with anyone at the airport? Tracy: I think I got just about all I can get from him. Nick: Some relationships just aren't meant to be. Tracy: [puzzled] Why did you say that? Nick: What? Tracy: "Some relationships aren't meant to be?" Nick: With informants. You know--sometimes they just don't work out. Tracy: Yeah. Right. Yeah, I think this guy's a dead end. [She snickers.] Nick: What? Tracy: Dead end... You wouldn't understand. [SCENE: the Raven. Urs is sitting at the bar, with Vachon beside her. Vachon is playing with the remains of a drink, dipping his fingers into the glass, then sucking them clean. Urs is obviously uncomfortable with the situation, not quite looking at him.] Urs: Will you be back? Vachon: After all this hassle to get out, I don't think so. I'll let Screed know when I've found a place to check in. Urs: [unhappily] I like it here. Vachon: No one's asking you to move. If you want stay, Urs, that's your decision. We're not running as a crew anymore. Urs: Will you be taking a plane? Vachon: [lightly] You gotta get back on the horse. [He finishes his drink, sets the glass aside, then leans over her shoulder to kiss her on the cheek. Urs puts a hand on his hair, to hold him for a moment.] Urs: Javier... he's just going to find you again. [His expression is wry, acknowledging that she's right, but he leaves anyway.] [SCENE: the briefing room at the 96th Precinct. The whole shift is present, including Reese, Nick and Tracy.] Reese: [sounding very discouraged] All we can do is publish her picture, and see if anyone saw her last week with a guy. Miller: He might not even be in the city. Tracy: He's here, and he's setting up his third bombing. And if the pattern holds true, it'll have something to do with the police. Reese: Uh, Trace, we threw out the three-bomb pattern. Nick: Yeah, maybe too soon. Three in Seattle. Three in Montreal. Miller: Four in Edmonton. Tracy: Yeah, but you're assuming that he bombed the courthouse with Dollard. Nick: Well, he blew up Dollard on the plane. Tracy: Why? Because he wanted to keep Dollard's mouth shut? Because they worked together? Think about it. Dollard was making a one- time political statement. Vudu is a serial bomber with a ritual. What if he went after Dollard because the courthouse explosion ruined his three pattern? Nick: You're saying that Vudu went after Schanke and Cohen's plane because he had a beef with Dollard? Because he was just angry with him? Tracy: Stranger things have happened. Nick: Yeah, well, I don't buy it. Tracy: Why not? This is a weird world we live in. There are things--people out there-- Reese: [interrupting] Mass murder voodoo. Dollard screwed up his magic three number, and he killed him. I'm listening, Tracy. Tracy: Three bombings, each bigger than the other, all within the week. That's the pattern. One bomb on the airplane. Ten bombs sent out to police stations. Miller: How much bigger can he go? Nick: It's been five days since the plane went down. We've got 48 hours to find out. Reese: Let's move. [SCENE: Vudu, putting the finished music box into a gift box identical to the one he gave Karen Tomlinson.] COMMERCIAL [SCENE: Tracy standing outside a coffee shop, watching the sun rise. Vudu walks past, and "accidentally" bumps against her.] Tracy: Oh, sorry. Vudu: No, no, my fault. I wasn't looking. Tracy: No, I was somewhere else. Night shift--it takes it out of me. I always need a good hit of coffee for the drive home. Vudu: Yeah, I do the same thing, working nights. Tracy: Oh, yeah? Graveyard? Me, too. Vudu: Gary Reynolds. Tracy: Tracy Vetter. Hi. Vudu: Hi... Well, I, uh... better catch some Zs. Tracy: Right. Vudu: Bye. [He walks away.] Tracy: See ya. [She watches him walk away, smiling.] [SCENE: Screed's lair. Screed is getting ready to sleep, muttering away, half to himself, half to Vachon who is sitting nearby, looking uncharacteristically sober.] Screed: [there's a line, but it's incomprehensible.] Vachon: I didn't ask for an opinion. Screed: Well, you got one. And if you think you are going to be residing in this domicile while that Inka's in town, you've got linguine between the plug holes. [Screed vanishes behind the tentlike structure made of hung sheets which must be his "bedroom". A moment later, his head pokes out again.] Screed: You want to leave--nah, you know you're gonna leave. Leave. [Vachon still doesn't move.] Screed: Well, go on, then. Whatever. [He disappears behind the sheets, leaving Vachon alone to brood.] [SCENE: the Nightcrawler on the air. He serves as a voice over for a scene of Nick in the loft, working at the computer, still trying to find a motive for Vudu's killings.] LaCroix: Why try to probe a murderer's mind? What do you hope to see? His motive? His meaning? His secret dreams? You won't find a clue in mine. [SCENE: the squad room. Nick is sitting on his desk. Natalie walks in.] Nick: You almost done? Natalie: Finished. Cause of death: bomb. Not much more to say. You're here early. Nick: Yeah. I'm trying to make sense of his psych reports. Find a hook. Natalie: You're sure there's one to find? Nick: I don't know. I keep thinking, if Schanke was here-- Natalie: He'd start with the obvious. Nick: The obvious. Vudu attacks institutions of authority, often using women on the inside as carriers. [CUT TO Tracy, coming out of the same coffee shop where she met Vudu that morning.] Vudu: Hey, Trace. Tracy: Hi. Vudu: You start at nine, too? Tracy: Yeah, I always grab something to eat here first. Vudu: Well, you got a couple of minutes? How about another cup of coffee? Tracy: I'd like that. [SCENE: Tracy and Vudu are having coffee on a patio outside the restaurant, laughing together, getting along well. He gives her his telephone number. On the other side of the street, Vachon is leaning against a building, silently watching them. Eventually, Vudu says goodbye to Tracy and leaves, flagging down a passing cab.] Vudu: Taxi! [Tracy notices that he has left a shopping bag, with the music box gift inside, on the floor.] Tracy: Oh, Gary-- [It's too late to catch him, so she picks up the bag and takes it with her as she leaves to go to the precinct.] [SCENE: the squad room at the precinct. Natalie is there when Tracy walks in, looking on top of the world.] Natalie: Oh, my God, whatever it is you're taking, I want some. Tell me, Detective Vetter, have you always been prone to extreme mood swings? Tracy: Well, the most incredible thing happened to me. Well, not incredible--but that's good. The most *normal* thing happened. I met this guy. This nice, everyday, average guy. Who just happens to be very... nice, and extremely good looking. Natalie: And he has a job? Tracy: Underground engineer with the city, thank you very much. Nights, like me. And I'm to call him when I get off, so we can go out for breakfast. [She fishes "Gary"'s phone number out of her shirt, and shows it to Natalie. They both laugh.] Tracy: Normal, normal, normal. Natalie: Normal is good. [Nat rolls her eyes.] Oh, I sound just like your mother. Tracy: Mum's okay--it's Dad that's the killer. [Nick comes in, and Tracy's attention immediately returns to the case.] Tracy: [to Nick] Oh, hey, anything break? Nick: No, and we've got less than twenty hours to come up with something. [Miller approaches them. In the background, the Inca can be seen, standing beside the sergeant's desk.] Miller: Nick--he says he wants to help catch the bomber. Tracy: Oh, uh, I'll talk to him. I got it. [Tracy hurriedly goes over to talk to the Inca. Nat, who has been listening, throws a suspicious glance at the other vampire, then comes over to Nick.] Natalie: Is he a, um...? Nick: Yeah. Natalie: Well, this is getting very, very complicated. [Reese enters.] Reese: Knight! Vetter! [SCENE: Reese, leading Tracy and Nick down the hall to a police lab.] Reese: Some swap meet dealer brought it in twenty minutes ago. Bought it from a scavenger--homeless guy who found it on a sewer pipe. Idiot thought it was a cellular phone transponder. [They reach the lab, where a technician has disassembled the box, and has the components spread out on a table.] Nick: We're sure it's Vudu? Reese: Detonators are a positive match. It contains enough Semtex to level a city block. I think we've got him. Nick: How much Semtex is that? About half a key? Technician: Yeah, about that. Nick: Then he's got enough to make sixty of these. Reese: Sixty? Dear God. Tracy: He could level the city. [SCENE: Back in the squad room. Reese is giving orders, trying to handle the situation.] Reese: All right, let's get people off the streets. Out of the subways. Downtown apartment buildings. Hotels. We've got to get everyone out. Set up search teams. They could be anywhere, so let's start underground. Tracy: I have a friend who's an underground engineer. Let me give him a call. [She hurries to her desk and digs out "Gary"'s number.] Nick: I'm on the homeless guy who found it. [Nick goes over to the Inka, talks to him briefly, then nods, agreeing that the other vampire can come along and help. They leave together.] [SCENE: Vachon is still following Vudu, who is presently at a travel agency, making plans to leave Toronto. Vudu's cellular phone rings, and he answers it.] Vudu: Hello. Tracy: Gary, hi, it's Tracy. Have you got a minute? I've got an emergency here. Vudu: Sure, just finished some structural inspections over on Bloor. Just taking a break now. Tracy: I've got a really bad bomb situation. The entire downtown area. We think they may be underground. Maybe sixty of them. Blue metal boxes, about the size of an oatmeal carton. Vudu: Do they say 'City of Toronto' on them? Tracy: [surprised] You know? Vudu: Yeah, I've seen a bunch of them. I thought they were the new gas monitors. Tracy: Can you show me where? Vudu: Sure. Meet me at St. Patrick's Station, say in ten minutes. They're underneath in the heating tunnels. Hey, listen, I think I left my shopping bag at the coffee shop. Did you happen to find it? Tracy: Yeah, I did. Vudu: Great. Could you bring it with you? Tracy: Sure. Vudu: Thank you. [He disconnects the phone and walks outside. Vachon follows.] [SCENE: The precinct. As soon as she hangs up the phone, Tracy grabs her coat and the parcel, and heads for the door.] Tracy: [calling across the squad room] There's some under St. Patrick's Station. I'm on my way. Reese: [He's on the phone.] Don't touch them yourself. Vetter, wait for the bomb squad. Vetter! [to the phone] I'm sorry, sir, what were you saying? [SCENE: Screed's lair. Nick and the Inka have just arrived.] Screed: Oh, this is wonderful. Give the Inka my fax number, my address on the Internet. You're insane showing him this squat. [Nick sees another of the bombs sitting nearby. When he picks it up, Screed grabs it back.] Screed: Hands off. Nick: Do you know where more of these are? Screed: I'm not telling you skut. Nick: You sold one. Screed: This is the 20th century. I'm not allowed my cut? Nick: They're bombs. Screed: Yeah, and I'm your Aunt Charly. Nick: With enough Semtex in them to blow up a city block. Screed: [no longer so sure of himself] That would be the goo what's inside? Nick: Yeah, that would be the goo. Screed: And these boomers do a city block? Nick: Yeah, and we need to find as many of them as we can. Screed: Two bills apiece? Nick: Twist my arm. [SCENE: A street. Vudu flags down a cab, and starts to get inside.] Vudu: Take me to the airport. [Vachon approaches him, leans on the cab door so that he can't move.] Vachon: Hey, Gary--weren't you supposed to be meeting Tracy somewhere around now? [Vudu knocks him off balance and runs, cutting across the street. Vachon follows--limited to human speed--and runs into the side of a passing vehicle.] Vachon: Get out of the way! [He cuts around the car, but by now Vudu has vanished.] [SCENE: the underground. Screed, Nick and the Inka are hunting bombs. Screed hands over a bundle of them to Nick.] Screed: That's ten. [The Inka arrives, with more. Screed takes them from him.] Screed: Gracias. [The Inka looks at him with disgust, but leaves again, to find more.] [SCENE: Tracy drives up to St. Patrick's Station. She's carrying Gary's shopping bag. He's hiding nearby, and when he sees her, he touches the cellular phone, activating the timer. The music box begins to play. Vachon arrives, and spots Vudu. He flies briefly, grabs the mortal, and slams him back into a wall.] Vudu: You're late. Vachon: For what? [Vudu has a pistol pressed against Vachon's torso. He pulls the trigger twice, and Vachon jerks back, out of frame.] Vudu: Voodoo. [CUT TO Tracy as she cautiously takes the package out of the shopping bag and stares at it.] COMMERCIAL [SCENE: Reese, at the precinct, is on the phone with Nick, who is still underground with the other vampires, hunting for bombs.] Reese: She's at St. Patrick's and won't leave. The bomb squad's on the way, but I dunno, Knight--they were having so much trouble with the other bombs. Nick: Do you have her on the line? Reese: Yeah. Nick: Well, tell her I'm just around the corner, and I'll be with her in less than a minute, all right? Reese: All right. [He hangs up.] Nick: [to Screed and the Inka] Keep going. Screed: The det's set, and you expect me to find more bombs? Nick: Five hundred a piece. Screed: I'm immortal. I'll take my chances. [Nick leaves, the Inka follows him, but Screed goes back to hunting.] [SCENE: Tracy is sitting on the subway platform, beside the detonator, talking to Reese on the phone.] Tracy: Maybe I could drive it somewhere out of range. Reese: Not enough time. Drive yourself out of there, leave the detonator for the bomb squad. Tracy: They're not here, Captain. Reese: I'm ordering you out of there now. Tracy: It's kind of funny when you think about it. It was right there in front of us. Woman cop. Commissioner's daughter. I was his perfect choice. Reese: Tracy, please listen-- Tracy: I should have seen it. It's my fault. Reese: You can't blame yourself. You're a good cop. Tracy: You think so? Reese: [laughs] You carried yourself like a pro in one hell of a week. Tracy: [wryly] Yeah. You don't know the half of it, Cap. Reese: Now, please--get out, will you? [CUT TO: police cars approaching with sirens on; Nick flying through the tunnels; then back to Tracy and Reese's conversation.] Tracy: [There's still no sign of the bomb squad, or anyone else.] That's it, Captain. I'm driving it into the lake. Reese: Tracy! Tracy: No one is here for me, for me, Captain. I'm alone. [Vudu comes up behind her, and takes her prisoner at gunpoint.] Vudu: I'm here, Trace. Just like I said I'd be. Tracy: [into the phone, very quietly] He's here, Captain. Reese: Knight? Tracy: Vudu. [CUT TO Reese's face, as the phone line goes dead, then back to Tracy and Vudu.] Vudu: Now, keep calm. [He uses the gun to indicate the gift box.] Open it. I bought it for you. There's no way to disarm it. There's a range of ten miles. A five-minute mainspring. I mean, it's some of my best work. [As he's talking, Vudu leads her along the station to the far end, where there's a park bench.] Vudu: So let's just sit down, listen to the music, and wait for it to wind down. [He indicates the bench.] Sit down. [He sits beside her, and taps the box with the barrel of the gun.] Open it. [Tracy does so, reluctantly, and looks at the figurine.] Tracy: So how many bombs are there? Vudu: Forty. Should level everything quite nicely. [Vachon walks out of the subway station. Tracy spots him first.] Tracy: Vachon! Vudu: [in disbelief] I shot you. [Vudu leaps to his feet, and fires several times. The bullets miss, or have no effect. Vachon flies forward and grabs him, dragging him away from Tracy. Vachon: [softly] Vudu? [He turns the mortal's head aside, and sinks his fangs into Vudu's throat. Vudu makes a small, wailing sound as Vachon feeds. Nick comes running out of the subway station, with his gun drawn. The Inka is behind him.] Nick: Metro police! [Vachon tosses Vudu to the ground, and retreats to stand beside Tracy, wiping the blood from his mouth. He stands there, watching Nick suspiciously.] Tracy: It's okay. Nick--he saved me. [points at the fallen body] That's Vudu. Nick: [walking forward] He could've disarmed it. Tracy: It's impossible. He said it has a main spring of five minutes. Range of ten miles. [The music box is perceptibly slowing down.] Vachon: It's starting to wind down now. [He snatches the box from Tracy, but isn't sure what to do with it.] Nick: Go! Go get some cover right now. Go on! [The Inka approaches Vachon, and reaches for the box.] Inca: You have done your part. I must do mine. Nick: Get out of here, now! Tracy: Nick, you don't understand. Inca: She went to Father Sun. I will go to Mother Moon. [He takes the music box from Vachon, and flies upwards. Nick kneels down beside Vudu, and lifts him into a sitting position.] Vudu: [singing the song to himself in a faint voice.] That voodoo black magic is in your eyes. You weave that mystery so well. Nick: Why? Why'd you do it? I want to know why. Explain it to me! Vudu: That voodoo you do has me hypnotized. I'm already under your spell. [He dies.] [The timer explodes, far overhead, producing another fireball in the sky. Vachon looks at Tracy, then walks over to Nick, who is standing over Vudu's body.] Vachon: Detective, I'm sure this must all be very confusing... Nick: [puzzled but playing along] Yes. Vachon: I want you to look in my eyes. [When Nick gives him a disbelieving look, Vachon indicates with a slight movement of his head that this charade is for Tracy's benefit. Nick nods, and continues playing the role of confused mortal.] Vachon: Let me tell you what you'll remember--and what you'll forget... COMMERCIAL [SCENE: Vachon's church. He's strumming on an electric guitar when Tracy enters.] Tracy: Hey. Screed's place was empty, so I kind of figured that you'd... Vachon: He runs off to Vegas whenever he has some cash. He'll be back... Did Knight? Tracy: No. Didn't remember a thing. I told him the Inka saved me from Vudu. I ran into the subway station, and when I came out, Vudu was dead, and the Inka and the box were just... gone. They're chalking it up to weird luck. Vachon: I'm sure stranger things have happened. Tracy: I'm not. Um, look-- Vachon: [talking over her words] Maybe I could, um-- [They both stop talking and look at each other.] Tracy: I'm glad you're staying, Vachon. Vachon: So am I. [SCENE: Schanke's grave. Nick and Natalie have come to lay flowers. Nick brought the "Partners of the Month" plaque, which he rests against the headstone.] Natalie: This is the most difficult part, isn't it? Mortality. Having to leave the people you love behind. Nick: You never get used to it. And when it doesn't... make sense, when there's no reason... Natalie: Does it really help to have one? Would it have made a difference if Vudu had been an out-of-work cop, or an anti- government maniac? Would that have cleared it up for you? Made you feel better? Nick: I guess not. Natalie: It should never have happened. Nick: No. Natalie: Don Schanke and Amanda Cohen aren't with us, and they deserve to be. Nick: Absolutely. Natalie: Gone without an explanation. Nick: So what do we do? Natalie: The only thing we can do. Chalk it up to voodoo. [CUT TO the Nightcrawler, speaking into the microphone.] LaCroix: Black magic. Voodoo. Bombers in the sky. People kill people--and I don't know why. END CREDITS