Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980): Season 3, Episode 18 - F.O.B. Honolulu: Part I - full transcript

The Chinese (led by Wo Fat), the Soviets (led by Mischa Toptegan) and assorted criminals are all after perfect counterfeit plates. The plates were originally developed by the Chinese, who ...

This is the final call

for Flight 190 for Los
Angeles and Chicago,

now ready for departure, Gate 9.

R and R?

Yeah. It's been a long time.

Yeah. I bet it has.

Want to open this for me?

Sure.

Announcing Flight 14 from
New York and Los Angeles,

now arriving at Gate 8.

Anything you want to declare?



Just this.

A souvenir, huh?

Yeah. It's real old.

The fellow I bought it from
said maybe it's, uh, 4, 500 years.

Well, you know, uh,

I just wouldn't count
on that if I were you.

You enjoy yourself,
Corporal Kurtz.

Thanks.

Next.

If you're heading for Fort
DeRussy, uh, the bus is free.

Uh, just take me to the Ilikai.

Okay.

Room 1805.

He'll take your bag and
meet you at the room.



I'll take it myself, thank you.

Blanks.

They are blanks.

What does it look like, Danno?

Ugly. Marine corporal.

Just returned from
Vietnam. R and R.

Still had his travel orders

and his airplane ticket
stub in his pocket.

Any, uh, witnesses?

Yeah, a group went
up in the elevator.

Bellboy was with him.
Said that everybody got off

except the corporal and
two Chinese businessmen.

Huh, interesting.

Steve.

This is Frank
Sobolt, the desk clerk.

He talked to the corporal.

He had a reservation.
Corporal Robert L. Kurtz.

Uh, it came in by mail.

From where?

Travel agency out of Saigon.

Well, isn't that unusual?

Not necessarily.

Okay. Thanks, Mr. Sobolt.

Well, doctor, what
can you tell me?

Powder burns on the temple.
Small caliber. One shot.

Death was instantaneous.

Here, you better take these.

Mr. McGarrett?

I'll take them if
you don't mind.

Okay, colonel.

"Kurtz, Robert L.

Serial number 19583298."

That's what his
transit order says.

Found it in his pocket.

That's what it says.

Except I don't
have him on my list.

Rest and recreation
list, Honolulu area.

No Kurtz, Robert L.

He wasn't being assigned here.

Well, maybe he was
just passing through.

Then his name would be here.

I'll shoot off a
query to Saigon.

Do that, and let me
know as soon as possible.

Steve.

It's the usual batch of stuff.

Except? All the
clothes are brand-new.

Never been worn.

And not only no laundry marks,

they're not even the same size.

He came off the Saigon
plane, passed your table, right?

Your initials are
on his custom form.

Yeah, I... I remember.

Kurtz. He had it on a nameplate.

Was he carrying
anything, uh, special?

Just the usual thing
the boys bring back, uh,

and a souvenir Buddha.

Buddha?

Hm. It's not on the
list of things we found.

Uh, what kind of Buddha?

Junk.

You could get one just like it

in any novelty shop from
San Francisco to Singapore.

Steve.

Well, it's official now.

Colonel Pierce checked
from Saigon to the Pentagon.

Phony serial number.

And who was Lance
Corporal Robert L. Kurtz?

Leo Price.

INTERPOL matched
his fingerprints right away.

Leo Price.

Wanted for murder,
among other things.

Yeah. Macao. Eight days ago.

Then it was all just a front.

Leo Price came
up with a bright idea

to smuggle something in.

But the plane came from Saigon.

Civilian plane. Had
some soldiers on it.

All he had to do
was buy a ticket.

But first he had to forge
travel orders and dog tags

and get from Macao to Saigon.

Sure went to a lot of trouble.

Not enough.

Somebody was waiting
for him on this end.

Narcotics?

No. Customs went into his gear.

Would have spotted
even one kilo of shipment.

McGARRETT: You're
probably right, Chin,

but the way the hit
was made, in a hotel.

You don't run a risk like that
unless it was big, really big.

Now, what was
inside that Buddha?

Ah, hey, Steve!

Ron!

You're supposed to be in Tokyo.

I was, this morning.

Come on, Steve.
Let's take a walk.

Wait a minute.

Full commander, huh?

Well, nobody told you to
resign your commission.

Well, I figured I was leaving
the Navy in good hands.

Besides, that's the only
way you could get my job.

Hear you've been keeping busy.

Yeah. But I never expected
to see you in Honolulu.

Well, I thought I could
use a refresher course.

What are you really
doing here, Ron?

It looks like we're going to be
working together again, Steve.

On what?

Oh, I could tell you.

But you're not?

Right. Somebody else
is waiting to do that.

They're going to the
new Capitol building.

Well, if McGarrett does
not know, he shortly will.

That will make
it more difficult.

Infinitely.

Nevertheless, it will
not alter the results.

We must succeed no
matter what the cost,

to us, or to Mr. McGarrett.

Steve. Governor.

Commander Nicholson,
Naval Intelligence, Tokyo.

Commander. Sir.

Hello, David. David Carter,

Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-0.

Treasury Department. Pleasure
to meet you, Mr. McGarrett.

All present, sir.

Governor.

Jonathan. Hello, Steve.

Thank you both for
coming so quickly.

Please, uh, be seated.

Gentlemen,

nine hours ago,

I was in Washington
with the president.

Now, what you're about
to hear is totally classified

and a matter of
the utmost urgency.

In fact, it wouldn't be
an overstatement to say

that the future
of the free world

depends on what
we do here in Hawaii

within the next 24 hours.

Gentlemen, there are certain
weapons, ultimate weapons,

which every nation
hesitates to use.

Nuclear weaponry and
biochemical warfare.

These tools of destruction
would leave the Earth in ruins.

An arid devastation so complete

there would be no
survivors, only victims.

One area of vulnerability

that has always
remained sacrosanct...

That is, until now.

Slide Number 1, please.

Every nation has its
own form of currency,

honored and
respected by the others.

That is, until now.

Gentlemen, I'm speaking
of economic warfare.

That is, attacking the
credibility and value

of another nation's currency.

Now, the closest any nation
has come to this prior to now

was during the Hitler regime.

The Germans duplicated
the English pound note.

And if they had been able

to airdrop enough of
these perfect counterfeits,

chaos.

They would have
destroyed England,

perhaps the entire allied world.

Jonathan, you didn't vacate
that desk at the Pentagon

just to recap World War II.

Hardly, governor.

Gentlemen, 10 weeks ago,
another nation succeeded

in creating a set
of perfect plates.

And this time, it's our
currency that's under attack...

by the government of Peking.

In Peking, they instructed me

to achieve an
unqualified success

that brings total victory.

Four years of constant travail
have brought us to this point.

The perfect plates.

We are not thought of
as an industrial power.

People scoff and think
of the water buffalo.

Yet our technology has
succeeded where others have failed.

And through our success will
come ruin for the United States.

China is bent on the economic
destruction of our nation.

Well, there have been
counterfeiting plots before,

but there's always been a flaw.

Not this time.

Carter?

The Thomas Sully
portrait of Andrew Jackson

was engraved by Arthur Seeley.

The next slide, please.

In the background of
the Jackson portrait,

there is a most
minute difference

between the vertical lines
and the horizontal lines.

The spacing of the
vertical lines is greater,

exactly 72
88-hundredths of an inch,

compared to 70
88-hundredths of an inch,

for the horizontal lines.

Mr. McGarrett, according
to our information,

provided by an agent
before he was killed,

that is how exact the
Chinese counterfeit plates

have been made.

What about the serial numbers?

We're told that the Chinese have
managed to manufacture plates

that can vary both the
letters and the digits,

and defy detection.

And they've cracked
our coding system.

Do these bills
exist in quantity?

Not yet, Steve.
Only a sample run.

Thank you, Carter.

But once they are
printed and distributed,

it's all over.

It's brutally simple.

They'll flood the
international market

with counterfeit $20 bills.

Now, as long as we cannot
identify them as counterfeit,

we have no other
choice but to honor them.

You said that the plates
were stolen in Nanking?

Yes, by one of our
deep-plant agents

just before the Chinese
could put them to use.

Then our man was murdered,

and other parties came
into possession of the plates.

Now, in our anxiety
to acquire them,

I'm afraid we made one error.

We offered a reward,
no questions asked.

And that offer has drawn
the riffraff of the world into it.

What kind of reward?

One million dollars.

One million two hundred
and fifty thousand.

That's what the
Russians are offering.

Then my government
will pay $1.5 million.

We must have those plates.

Commander Nicholson has
followed the tortuous path

the plates have
taken since Nanking.

Commander?

Well, it's, uh, been
a pretty bloody path

all the way across
most of Southeast Asia.

Now, our man bought it
trying to reach Hong Kong.

He got as far south
as Kuang-Chou

before he was murdered
and the plate stolen.

They were carried west,
changing hands at Nanchang

and again at Hanoi.

Three more dead.

And the plates
moved on to Vientiane,

where a French businessman
held on to them for six hours

before he was killed.

Now, they were recovered
by Red Chinese agents,

who got as far as Haiphong,
in the Gulf of Tonkin.

They were found with
their throats neatly cut.

And then, somehow,
the plates reached Macao.

Nine days ago,
Steve. I was there.

A Portuguese trader by the name
of Jua Perdeda had the plates.

Leo Price killed him, and
the plates vanished again.

And so did Leo
Price, until today,

and the rest you know.

Was Leo Price working alone?

Well, originally, there
were three of them.

The late Leo Price
and Nicole Fleming.

Born in Manchukuo.
Mother, Russian.

Father, British
businessman, supposedly.

Too many aliases to trace.

Speaks five languages
with absolute fluency.

INTERPOL has a file linking her

to everything from
espionage to blackmail.

Make no mistake. She's
as deadly as she is female.

And her partner until Macao...

A little ferret of a man,

Anthony Cameron Madrid.

Of course, your information

regarding the whereabouts of
Leo Price proved most accurate,

even worth as much
as we paid for it, but...

I didn't know. I thought...
I knew he had the plates.

But obviously he
did not, Mr. Madrid.

So you have
performed only a part

of the function you promised.

Well, I can deliver.
Just give me a chance.

Leo Price double-crossed
me in Penang, left me to die.

A grievance we have
since made up for.

But I should not like to think

that that was the sole
purpose of our agreement.

Where are the
plates, Mr. Madrid?

Precisely!

They're on their way here.

There's no question about it.

We know they're
due to arrive here.

But we don't know how,
we don't know where.

We don't know when.

But this much we do know:
the bees are all gathering,

so it's not going to be easy.

Commander?

Mikhail Ivanovich Topteken.

Known as Misha.

He'll be arriving,
representing the Soviet Union.

And Wo Fat, the Chinese
People's Republic.

Yeah. We've met.

Who was the last
one to have the plates?

She was.

Nicole Fleming.

Yes, that's him.

You're absolutely sure?

Yes, that's my
brother, Robert Kurtz.

As children, we were so close.

But even then, he was wild.

These last few years, I
don't know what went wrong.

I hardly knew him anymore.

And he sent you a wire
from Saigon, Miss Kurtz,

asking you to meet
him here in Honolulu?

This is Steve McGarrett,
head of Five-0.

How do you do?

How do you do?

The wire, Miss Kurtz. He
asked you to meet him here?

Yes.

Have you any idea why?

No.

And I suppose now I never will.

My brother just
said it was important.

I never thought I'd be
taking him home in a coffin.

I understand.

Is there something we
can do for you, Miss Kurtz?

I suppose there are
arrangements to be made,

personal effects.

Personal effects?

Is that why you came
here, Miss Fleming?

Leo Price had a number

of dubious
achievements in his life,

but he didn't have a sister.

I didn't know you
were expecting me.

Oh, it was very
nice of you to drop by

and tell us about poor
Leo's personal effects.

Would you care to
be more specific?

I would not.

We're very interested
in personal effects.

Yours, for instance.

Mr. McGarrett, I
have nothing to hide.

The Kahala. Suite 84.

McGarrett.

Yeah. Clean, huh?

Yeah, figures.

All right, Chin. Thank you.

You may go, Miss Fleming.

Thank you.

I suppose you'll
have me watched.

Constantly.

How nice. Then we'll be
seeing each other again.

Very cool lady.

H.P.D. surveillance team set?

Round the clock.

She tried to bluff us,
Danno, but not very hard,

as if she, uh,
really didn't care

if we found her out or not.

Doesn't make sense unless
she wants us to watch her.

Let's get down to the
lab and go over it again.

You told us to go over
Leo Price's effects.

Again.

I thought it was
a waste of time.

But...

If that's counterfeit,
it's a beauty.

Hm.

Except for the serial numbers.

They're all zeroes.

From a sample run?

Has to be.

I'll get David Carter
over here right away.

The Treasury Department
will want to go over that bill.

Good news?

The news we've been waiting for.

McGARRETT: Colonel?

Steve McGarrett, Hawaii
Five-0, State Police.

You know me?

Oh, I know you, colonel.

And I know why you're here.

You know that too, eh?

A holiday.

That's what it says on
my visa, Mr. McGarrett.

A visa issued by the
United States government.

Would you care to see my visa?

I've already seen a copy of it.

We just thought
it would be easier

to let you use the front door.

Easier for all of us,

especially for someone
so observant as yourself.

Well, have a nice time
on your holiday, colonel.

Relax, enjoy the sun and
the scenery, but no work.

Tell me,

uh, do you come
down to the airport

to greet all visitors to Hawaii?

Only some. But all
colonels from the KGB.

It's a purely honorary title.

I'm glad to hear that.

You're staying at the Kahala?

Is it, um, adequate?

Well, it's a lot better than
the Hotel National in Moscow.

But I don't understand.

It's very simple, Mr. Madrid.

We no longer
require your services.

The plates. You
still need the plates.

True, but to achieve that
purpose, we no longer need you.

But that's not true.

I'm a part of this.

You still need me.

I know these people.
I understand them.

I can help you.

Enthusiasm is
one of your virtues.

But it should be combined
with attentiveness.

It was only an accident
of fate that we ever met.

It will be a fatal accident
should we ever meet again.

You may go now, Mr. Madrid.

Nicole... I forgive you.

I know it wasn't your fault,
what happened in Penang.

There's my boy.

Nicole?

Oh, what's the matter, Tony?

Doesn't Wo Fat need you anymore?

No, he doesn't.

Well, neither do I.

That's not fair.

But that's the way it is.

Steve, this is
Lieutenant Henano,

Army Intelligence.
He's been running

the shortwave radio
triangulation project for us.

Lieutenant, what
is it you've got?

We picked up some signals

that don't fit into the FCC
ham operators' schedule.

High-speed transmissions?

Yes, sir. Finally
got a fix. Here.

Steve.

Maybe they didn't
cover all their tracks.

McGARRETT: Okay, Danno,

let's hear what we got.

That's it.

Try playing it
again. Slow it down.

Slow it some more.

This recorder
won't go any slower.

All right. Call KGMB.
Tell them our problem.

We'll have to cycle this
transmission way down.

What do you think we got, Steve?

Probably a small piece of the
message that got to Wo Fat,

and it will be in code.

Uh, better get the, uh, NAS
cipher man over here too.

Steve.

I thought you might want
to see this right away.

Ballistics.

Ran a test on the gun that
Wo Fat's men were using

and then compared it

with the bullet that
killed Leo Price.

Huh.

Perfect match.

Well, that settles it.

Wo Fat had Leo Price killed

and took whatever
he had with him.

McGarrett.

I'm on my way.

Everyone else had gone home.

There was a rush, so
I had to keep working.

Ron had just called and
said he was on his way over.

Got word from Jonathan Kay.

He wanted that bill in
Washington by morning.

The president was
going to display it

to the National
Security Council.

It was supposed to
go out within the hour.

We had a B-52 standing
by, but by the time I got here...

Somebody hit you
and stole the bill?

First I knew, Ron
was reviving me

and the bill was gone.

And I can understand why.

Until I examined it,

I couldn't believe it
was really possible.

Not just the engraving,

but the ink spectrum, the paper,

the... The texture, the fiber.

Everything was perfect.

Somebody needed
that bill desperately.

Maybe... maybe as an
example of what they can deliver.

Nicole Fleming?

McGARRETT: No,
not her personally.

If she left the hotel,
we'd know about that.

They sure were neat,
Steve. Wiped them clean.

Figures.

All right, Danny, let me try it

at a different speed.

Really slow it down, huh?

All right. Here it goes at 0.9.

Make anything of that?

Well, you're on the right track.

Try it down one more point.

I am expected.

Colonel Topteken.

I assume you took the
necessary precautions

before coming here.

Yes, I managed to evade

my police escort
and your men too.

That does not surprise me.

Although I was surprised
when I was notified

that you had come personally
to discuss this matter.

Again.

It appears that I misunderstood

what you told me in Peking

when you denied the
existence of the plates.

Yes, it's...

It's an extraordinary
piece of work.

It has chanced to find
its way into my hand.

I have already notified the
Kremlin of their existence,

so that should satisfy
your first question.

Conceded. The plates exist.

Which brings us to
the prime question:

their possible use.

Uh, Moscow is willing to ignore

the unilateral
action taken so far.

Moscow is most generous.

The race now being
run is pointless.

Moscow will win, as always.

But competition between
comrades is wasteful

unless there is some
constructive purpose

to be served,
beneficial to both.

And, as always, Moscow
has a proposition to make.

Exactly.

We combine resources,

thereby guaranteeing
recovery of the plates.

There are two of them.
There are two of us.

One in Peking, one in Moscow.

Thereby assuring their safety

as an effective threat
against the Americans.

It also assures that
they will not be used.

Someday, our Chinese comrades

may have as much
to lose as we do.

It is possible to achieve
prosperity and true socialism

at the same time.

Is it?

At the moment, it seems you
have almost as much to lose

as the Americans.

And we can only gain.

We shall consider your proposal.

However, your generous offer

to combine resources
to recover the plates

may not be necessary.

As you wish.

Central? Uh, this is Williams.

Patch me through to Chin Ho.

Chin? Danny.

Can you get over
here right away?

Yeah. Uh, a five-digit
code. But it's in Chinese.

Oh, thank you very
much, young man.

My pleasure.

Just passing by?

To see you.

I'm flattered by your
attentions, Mr. McGarrett.

All of them.

It makes a girl feel so secure.

That's what you want,
isn't it? Lots of attention.

Is that what you think?

Why else would you have created

this, uh, goldfish
bowl for yourself?

Goldfish bowl?

I'm sorry. I don't understand.

All right.

Let's take a few hours ago.

Something very valuable
was stolen from the police lab.

And, of course, you had
nothing to do with that.

You were right
here all the time.

Of course. Your man
was right outside my door.

Unless, uh, you had
somebody do it for you.

I don't have somebody,
Mr. McGarrett.

I'm all alone,

and that's a very
vulnerable position

for a girl to be in these days.

Yes. Very dangerous.

You know, there really
are only two possibilities.

Either you're a diversion,

sitting here so that
we'll all watch you

instead of what we
should be watching.

Or?

Or you're waiting for
them to come to you

so you can make your move,

but be protected by
my people in the interim.

Oh, that would be
clever, wouldn't it?

Yeah.

Except that it won't
work. Not anymore.

What a pity.

The race is on, Miss Fleming.

And you're gonna
come in second at best.

If you're still alive.

Steve, Farlow cracked the code,

and Chin translated
it from Chinese.

Uh, we still haven't
got much, though.

Just a piece. A couple
of word fragments.

Sounds like, uh...

Z-I-L-M-A.

Zilma. Zilma.

Zilma.

Zilma.

No sign of Wo Fat?

Not yet.

McGarrett. Five-0.

This ship is
restricted, captain.

No one is to
board it or leave it.

What is this all
about, Mr. McGarrett?

I am Captain DeJongh.

Under international law, we
can seize and confiscate goods

prohibited by law or treaty
from being imported or exported.

There's some contraband on
this ship and we're gonna find it.

Ah, but you're too late.

Whatever it is, I guess
they already took it off.

Who took it off?

Commander Nicholson,
you Navy Intelligence officer.

His launch stopped
us at the breakwater.

Nicholson.

That's strange.

Uh, when he came aboard,

where did he go
and what did he take?

Well, you better talk to
Zagore, the third engineer.

He is the one Commander
Nicholson wanted to see.

Zagore?

That's him.

Nicholson's got the plates.

Looks like he's going
in business for himself.

Nicholson?

Phone call, Miss Fleming.

Thank you, Miss.

Hello, darling.

Yes, I got it.

And I did what you said.

Every cop in the Western world

must be looking
for me right now.

But there was no
other way, you know.

Do you know what to do now?

Yeah, I know.

And I'll be with you soon.

Mwah.

And now, my dear
Misha, you were saying?

I was saying $2 million.

Two million dollars.