S.W.A.T. (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 21 - Hunted - full transcript
Hondo and Deacon must apply all their SWAT training and skills to evade a gang of armed mercenaries hunting them in the Angeles Mountain following an ambush.
Eight total.
Been about an hour now.
Hope they brought doughnuts.
Clocked a 12-gauge
behind the bar last night.
Spotted a few nines and a MAC-10
on their way in just now.
Just don't give them the chance to pull.
(GUNSHOTS)
Did you hear that?
(SIRENS WAILING)
(GRUNTS)
Adam-228. I have a shooting
at Mansion on the Hill.
(SIREN WAILING)
Patrol's got the entrance blocked off.
Waiting for us to engage.
Boys, this bar is a Smiling
Jackal biker stronghold.
They've been involved in three
shoot-'em-ups this week.
Don't know why they're
trying to kill each other.
Won't keep them from trying to kill us.
Go! Move it!
Come on, man.
(PANTING)
(SCREAMS)
SAVOY: Leave the bags! Leave it!
Move it!
Let's go, let's go, let's go!
There's a back door.
(GRUNTING)
Leg day's over, boys.
Team just got pulled off standby.
I'm at 7.54 miles. What about you?
7.48, but I was saving it
for the stretch run.
You know I got an extra
gear after 30 minutes.
Yeah, excuses are for losers, buddy.
Mumford's unit just responded
to a gang shootout in Burbank.
One of the dead shooters has been ID'd
as a member of the Montrose Merc Crew.
Small-time meth dealers
out of North Hollywood.
I thought Mercs played
nice with other crews.
Kept their little corner. Stayed
out of everyone else's way.
Well, that used to be their rep,
but this is the third
Merc attack on Jackals
in the past week.
Why are they stirring the pot now?
That's what we need to find out.
DEACON: The sarge
from my old patrol days,
Sam Hawkins, he might be of some help.
When I went SWAT, he was
undercover for a long time,
mostly with the Mercs.
He did a solid three years with them.
If anyone knows anything
about 'em, he will.
Sounds like a visit worth paying.
- JESSICA: Three of the
shooters from this morning
are still hiding in the
neighborhood behind the bar.
Mumford's team set up a perimeter,
but they could use extra bodies
to direct the local police.
All right, Street and Tan,
get over there. Chris and Luca,
start pulling every Jackal
and Merc file we have.
Deac, I'm gonna suit up and then
we'll go talk to your friend.
Looks like it's leg day, after all.
Big day. Your first SWAT recruit class
as an evaluator.
No pressure.
(LAUGHS) Hope I'm here when Hicks
has their names put up on the board.
CHRIS: Erika, how are you
feeling about today?
I'm doing a ten-mile jog
to keep my mind off it.
(CHUCKLES) - Congrats on
finishing SWAT Academy.
70 started, ten survived.
Yeah. Still only five spots
available on teams right now.
CHRIS: Yup. I heard you finished
top three on every test.
Yeah. Won't matter much unless
Hicks puts my picture up there.
I can't stand another second
in front of this blank screen,
- so... it's good to see you, Chris.
- CHRIS: Yeah.
Thank you for everything.
Does she really have
nothing to worry about?
You know those other evaluators,
always looking for an excuse.
Hey, I made a promise
that I'd fight for the best.
Erika, she's the best.
DEACON: When Hawkins likes to get away,
he really gets away.
(CHUCKLES) You don't have to tell me.
That corner store we just passed
was advertising half off turkey gizzards.
I mean, I'm just saying.
What was your relationship with this guy?
Well, he was my commanding officer.
Took a liking to me.
He always talked about retiring
and spending as much time
as he could up here.
I'm glad he's finally doing it.
Okay, why is every
white cop's dream of retirement
being around as few people as possible?
I mean, come on now.
I might like this for about a week,
but then I'd be bored off my ass.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
When was the last time you talked to him?
A few years ago. He-he was looking
for some intel on some gun
runners that SWAT had busted.
You got to love undercover work
to do it as long as he did it.
I'm not sure it's where he
saw his career going,
but he was good at it.
The Mercs was his last gig.
He got charges to stick on
most of their top leaders.
It seems like they never recovered.
Well, they're pretty frisky right now.
Let's hope he's still plugged in.
Hold on. Pavement's ending.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
You want to reconsider your retirement?
(SCOFFS) Just me and the birds, huh?
Hell no. I'm cool.
Hey, Hawkins.
See? Only white folks
leave their doors open.
Not at an ex-cop's place.
Hawkins, you there?
Out hunting?
DEACON: Nah, stove's on.
His gear duffel's there.
Deer drag hanging on the wall.
But his gun's missing.
Looks like he might've
cleared out of here in a hurry.
Yeah, but his pickup truck's out front.
If he hightailed it out of here,
he was on foot.
This doesn't feel right.
I'm gonna call it in.
Yeah. No service.
Gonna use the radio.
Deacon, get down!
Get in here, Deac!
(GUNSHOTS RICOCHETING)
(GUNSHOTS)
Someone must've been
sitting on the cabin,
waiting on your buddy. Mercs maybe?
We got to grab whatever supplies
we can and get out.
No. If we don't act now,
they're gonna surround the cabin
and just pick us off.
Deac, get over here!
We got to go!
Those things are gonna pop off!
Go! Get out of here!
Get down! Get down!
Go!
(GUNSHOTS)
HONDO: Go, go.
I'm still topped off.
I got 24 rounds. What do you got?
I got a few left in mine and...
and I got a backup eight.
- What else are we working with?
- Well, no radios,
no cell service, no vests.
We need a plan.
We need a plan.
We needed a plan back at the cabin.
I'm just worried about Hawkins.
I think you're right.
If the Mercs are brave enough
to go after the Jackals,
who's to say they don't go after the cop
that put half their crew away?
They wouldn't have been
setting up for an ambush
if they already had him.
He's probably out here somewhere.
Managed to grab some stuff
from the cabin before we got out.
Might come in handy.
Flare gun.
Only one left. Last resort.
If Hawkins is hiding from these guys,
there's a good chance that
he's in his hunting blind.
We find that, we find him.
And how do we do that?
Trail markers.
Every woodsman knows where to leave 'em
and how to look for 'em.
Oh, so you're a woodsman now?
Spent every summer camping with my dad.
Let's move.
STREET: Did you see
Erika Rogers this morning?
Girl was bouncing off the walls.
Night before my graduation
I kept replaying
my rifle qual on week two.
Tightened up on everything
after 50 yards.
Finished fourth.
Anything was gonna keep me
off the team, it was that.
Ah, that sounds hard, man.
Was top of my class every week,
so didn't have anything to worry about.
Yeah. Must've been tough
down in Long Beach
competing with the guys
who didn't make it up here.
(DOG BARKING)
Something's got him riled up back there.
Hey. Come here, buddy. Hey, come here.
Is this where you live?
- Huh?
- Is he hurt?
There's blood on his paw.
It's not his.
Street, check this out.
STREET: 26-David to 50-David.
Following a blood trail at our location.
- Hands!
- Let me see the hands!
This is 25-David. We got a dead suspect.
That's the Merc Mumford hit.
They must've hid him after he bled out.
Which means they must've been in a rush.
If I was gonna pick
somewhere nearby to hide...
See that high window by the roof
with the drain pipes leading up to it?
Mumford, they're here.
(WHISPERING): Choppers are gone.
You think they gave up?
- Safe to head out?
- We should wait another hour.
LAPD! LAPD! Let me see your hands!
- Don't move.
- Go hands-on! Go hands on!
What's this?
It's a hit list.
Drop it!
HONDO: Drop it now.
You mind telling your buddy
I'm one of the good guys?
Hondo, this is Hawkins.
Deacon, damn. What the
hell are you doing here?
We're looking for you.
We just came from your cabin.
The one with a squad of Merc shooters
camped out front?
They came after you, too?
Two of them tried to get the
jump on me about an hour ago.
I managed to sneak around back,
get some cover.
I thought you were one of them,
- on my trail.
- No, they ambushed us.
They ripped your place apart.
That's the least of my worries now.
I was gonna wait till dark, make my move,
but now, with you two here,
maybe we can make it
to the Ranger station.
There's a radio there.
You guys could call your SWAT
pals, have them pick us up.
Why are the Mercs after you?
And why are they starting wars with crews
five times their size?
I almost crippled them
a couple years back.
I put their leaders behind bars.
My head's probably a trophy
some punk thinks he needs
to rally the troops.
The Mercs were always followers, anyway.
(BIRDS FLUTTERING)
Station's this way.
Guns up, boys, they could be anywhere.
CHRIS: You didn't select Erika Rogers?
JESSICA: Chris, uh, not now.
That woman crushed the guys
that she was competing with.
She finished first
in the climbing course,
she scored one second flat
on the move in her sidearms
and Benelli quals.
And she doesn't get a spot
because you're all afraid of what?
More qualified women might try out now?
I only see four names.
Picking no one was better
than picking her?
- Officer Alonso, that's...
- Captain.
It's okay.
Not that it's any
of your business, Officer,
but a red flag from Rogers' time
working with the 77th
has come to our attention.
We're investigating the matter,
and when we're satisfied, we'll pick
a fifth recruit for a team then.
Now, you wouldn't want us
to give Ms. Rogers
special treatment either way.
Do you?
Those scores are
for the evaluation team only,
Officer Luca.
Not to be shared with anyone else.
20 years on the committee.
Not once did I ever have
to remind your father of that.
- I...
- Not another word.
That's not cool.
Don't bother.
You can't make a call
anywhere in these hills.
No service, no roads, no life.
Don't worry, Ranger station's not far.
So how long you been
out, about six months?
Best decision of my life, man.
I should have never let the brass
keep me under as long as they did.
How about you? It's got
to be what, now, 20-David?
Still 30-David, actually.
Hondo's team leader.
Huh.
I think I prefer gang politics
to police politics.
- Less feelings.
- We were hoping that your knowledge
of the Mercs could help us understand
what's motivating them.
Motivated by the same thing
they always are.
Control, power.
In fact, it doesn't surprise me
that they took a swing at the Jackals.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
We never told you
it was the Jackals
the Mercs were targeting.
Now!
Cover! Cover!
Deac, go, go!
Come on, come on!
We got to go.
(THUDDING)
Deacon!
- (GUNFIRE)
- (GRUNTING)
One of my guys saw your car pull up.
I was hoping it was nothing.
I would've never given the order to fire
if I knew it was you, Deac.
I really hate that it went this way.
Deacon?
(BOTH PANTING)
(GROANS)
HAWKINS: They went this way.
And one of them is injured.
Now, listen, listen,
be careful: these guys
are really, really good.
But there's two of them
and there's ten of us.
Plus, we've got better weapons
and communications.
Just don't let them get to civilization.
(GRUNTING)
Deac.
Hold up, man.
(GRUNTS)
All right, that's far enough.
I think we've bought a few minutes.
Let me take a look at that wound.
(GRUNTS, PANTING)
I counted nine, plus Hawkins.
Those HKs were the same as we use.
Hawkins got a hookup or something?
He could.
He seems to be running the whole crew.
- Oh, man.
- I hit a branch on the way down.
You're gonna have to settle
for conversation as anesthetic.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
(GROANS)
Hawkins was my commanding
officer for five years.
You know how many beers
I had with the guy?
How could I not suspect...?
Deac, stop it.
Whether he lost his way, or
he was always capable of this,
Hawkins decided to switch teams.
Yeah, but how did it get to that?
SWAT protocol has Dispatch
check in every two hours.
- That's in ten minutes.
- Right, when they don't hear from us,
they're gonna send airships
to our last locations.
- That's another 30.
- We did extractions like this
in Somalia.
We got to make the rescue
as simple as possible.
If we can get above that tree line,
they'll be able to spot us faster.
- What?
- It's just a long way up that mountain.
And we're outnumbered,
we're out... we're outgunned,
Hawkins knows the terrain.
You're injured.
I say we make cover, wait
for the airship, use the flare.
(GRUNTING)
No. No, those birds need
a flat place to land.
We got no idea how far we are
from that cabin.
Look, I'm good.
Okay? I can move.
Sorry, Deac,
but I'm making the call.
We're headed up.
You understand?
Roger that.
All right. Now, that plateau
has got to be 40 minutes away.
We're gonna make it in 30.
Let's go.
(GRUNTS)
JESSICA: CHP just spotted
a large group of Jackal bikers
riding into the city.
Did Hondo find anything
from Deacon's contact
about what's causing all of this?
No, I haven't heard
anything back from them,
- but I'll have Dispatch try them again.
- This meth war
is about to become a shooting
gallery in the streets.
- What else do we have?
- Mumford's team found all the Mercs
from this morning; they're bringing one
back to HQ for questioning now.
I did a little digging into
the other Merc shootings.
The first one, last week,
happened at a bar called The Monkey Man.
There was four Smiling Jackals
killed, two top lieutenants.
Here's the thing, though, The Monkey Man
isn't a public Jackal front.
Only Jackals and a
few cops knew about it.
JESSICA: But the Mercs knew that.
So they've got an inside source.
Keep digging, and let me know
if Hondo or Deacon find anything.
I didn't mean to get you
in the doghouse with Hicks.
I'm really sorry.
Look, I shared Erika's results
- with you in confidence.
- I know.
- And I shouldn't have...
- My dad was an evaluator,
and his dad, too;
it's part of my legacy here.
And you wouldn't let someone who
deserved SWAT get railroaded.
You would look at her files,
make sure that Hicks made the right call.
- Right?
- Of course I would.
I'm just asking for the real story.
Seriously?
You already burned me once with Hicks.
I know, and I'm sorry.
It won't happen again.
I promise.
What do you know?
Two years ago, she failed
to properly restrain a suspect.
That's just sloppy procedure.
He broke free and attacked her partner.
The whole reason
why I got Street to help her
through the academy
is that everything that I heard
was that she had what it took to be SWAT.
You're telling me I got fooled by her?
Now, hold up. It never came up before
because her COs never said
anything about it
in our background interviews.
Like they didn't want to report it.
Sounds like there's more to the story
than what Hicks knows.
By the way,
don't let Hicks take a shot
at your legacy.
Your dad was on the committee
that picked me.
You're living up to the Luca name.
We're gonna get to the truth.
HONDO: Deac, we can't stop
every ten minutes for you
to make sound alarms.
These saplings snap loudly
when they're set off.
That buys us ten seconds
that could save our lives.
You hear that stream?
We got to bear away from that,
head in that direction.
All right, never travel
by bodies of water.
- It's the first place the enemy looks.
- Keep pace,
but stay quiet: heel, toe.
You know more than
campfires and marshmallows.
You did a lot more than go camping
with your daddy, didn't you?
Yeah, basic New England woods skills.
(CHUCKLES) Deac, you're from L.A.
Yeah, but I spent a lot of summers
camping with my dad in Vermont.
(GRUNTING): Oh, come on, come on.
(SIGHS)
Yeah, the truth is, my, uh,
my folks had kind of a rocky marriage.
We weren't the type
of family to get a divorce,
so... his summers camping
with me was kind of a...
Catholic compromise.
I knew why my dad did it, but...
I didn't let it get in the way of me
enjoying some time with my old man.
(EXHALES)
A lot of great nights.
Lot of marshmallows.
(LAUGHS SOFTLY)
All right, we should keep moving.
All right, Deac,
wait a minute, wait a minute.
(CHUCKLES)
Your shiny white boy sweat makes
you look like a homing beacon.
We should both mask up.
It's another Marine trick. Come on.
You read the incident report?
Then you know it's enough
to keep me off SWAT.
If it really happened.
It's in the report.
Leave it alone. If it was your first week
on the street, I could,
but you're seven years in
and a training officer.
Just tell me what happened.
It's just us right now.
There is no "us," Chris.
You're already SWAT.
They got no interest in me.
If it wasn't this,
they'd just make up something else.
DISPATCHER (OVER RADIO):
20-David, do you copy?
Dispatch requesting check-in.
This is 30-David. Got a little
static from the mountains.
20-David and I are Code 4.
Sorry for the radio silence.
Couldn't find the target,
still looking for him.
JESSICA: Thanks for letting me know.
That was Dispatch. Hondo
and Deacon just checked in.
They haven't been able
to find Deacon's contact,
so they have nothing.
The Merc shooter's in Interrogation.
I, uh, looked into Erika's records.
I asked her about the infraction,
but she was acting strange,
like she was hiding something.
- It doesn't add up.
- Hicks is looking into it.
Hicks is gonna take
the first version he hears.
I want the truth, even if
it's not good for Erika.
Can you get me the contact info
of her old partner?
Please, Captain.
I went about it wrong this morning.
Let me do it right.
I'll see what I can do.
Mr. Savoy, you've had a busy morning.
(CHUCKLES)
Montrose Mercs for life, sweet thing.
STREET: I don't know why
you're acting so proud.
Half our squad hadn't even heard
of you clowns till this morning.
- Yeah, well, you will now, won't you?
- What, after you've
taken out the biggest rival
meth gang in the city?
JESSICA: We found your list.
Top Jackal members, addresses,
hangouts, even street names.
That's hard information to come by.
This wasn't just a "spray and pray"
for a few more corners.
These are targeted assassinations.
More Jackals are already on their way
into town to retaliate.
- We'll be ready for 'em.
- Well, not you.
We're benching you for the big game.
The city wants this handled.
So there's a deal to be made.
No one in your situation
gets a chance like this.
Take it.
(CHUCKLES) Nah.
Nah, Montrose Mercs for life.
(GRUNTS)
Okay. Right there, Deac.
Right there, that break in the trees.
We're gonna have to climb it.
No, we-we don't know how sturdy
any of those boulders are.
One loose rock, we'd be
back down here on our ass
in less than five minutes.
Not to mention we'd be broadcasting
exactly where we are to Hawkins.
Those choppers are coming.
If we don't get up there soon,
they're gonna pass us by.
We get to that extraction point
as fast as possible,
that is the mission objective.
It won't be any faster if we
don't make it all the way up.
This is not your call.
What makes it yours?
Don't make me pull rank here.
Rank? This stopped being a SWAT mission
about halfway down that
cliff we jumped off of.
Right now it's just two guys
trying to stay alive.
It is my responsibility
to get us out of here.
Look, I get that you
have Marine training.
This is not Somalia.
This is unique terrain.
I spent a lot of time
in woods like these.
I know what we need to do,
and I'm not gonna follow
you up into a situation
that's gonna get us both killed.
I will not do that to my wife and kids.
Do you really think
I would put us in a dangerous
spot like that?
If you take us up there? Yes.
Now, you can come with me or not.
Deacon. Deac.
(GRUNTING)
Look, if you got some type of problem,
- now is not the time for it.
- That hill was a bad call.
I'm talking about this attitude
I've been picking up on since the cabin.
It's no attitude.
Just wish I had more time to get
some stuff that we could use,
like a compass or a map maybe.
That fishing line came in handy.
We were in a situation
and I had to get us out.
I reacted. That's how I'm trained.
If you're still beating yourself up
about not catching onto Hawkins,
I told you, don't let it get to you.
Keep your voice down.
(PANTING)
I can't get us out of here
if I have to worry about whether or
not my partner still has my six.
You don't have to worry
about getting us out of here.
You keep trying to make
calls in a situation
that you don't know
as much about as I do.
It's my job to make the calls.
I understand that's how
you see the job, Hondo.
Deacon, this is my team.
How I see it is how it is.
Don't worry.
There's no question
about whose team it is.
Is this about you getting passed over?
That was nine months ago, man.
You're still thinking about it?
Of course I still think about it.
I thought we buried this,
and I thought you had my back.
I have always had your back.
And I would never put the team in danger.
Yeah, every once in a while,
when I'm driving into work,
about to take a left into the garage,
I think about how long it's gonna be
before I get a shot at a team.
If I ever get a shot.
All because of some mistake Buck made.
You think I didn't deserve this job?
That's not what this is about.
Or that you could've done
the job better than me?
We'll never know.
But I do know that
I was supposed to be next.
And I did nothing to deserve losing that.
Did you ever think about
the position that I was put in?
What'd you want me to do?
Turn the job down?
It was supposed to be my team.
(SAPLING ALERT FIRES)
That's one of the saplings.
50 yards that way.
We can't let him fire a single shot.
Every Merc in the woods
is gonna know our location.
(GRUNTING)
(GUNSHOT)
Just cuff him and get his gun.
- We don't have time to gag 'em.
- Wouldn't do any good anyway.
Rest of the Mercs are on their way.
Drag him over here.
(GRUNTING)
You're good? Let's move, move.
Where are the airships?
They should be here by now.
We've been missing over three hours.
Your car.
Your car at the cabin.
Hawkins could've given
the all clear to HQ.
He'd know the codes.
It could be nightfall before
SWAT comes looking for us.
We got to figure another way out of here.
How?
We're hours deeper into
the woods than we were before.
Okay, you know what?
You've said your piece, man.
I don't need to hear it again.
You wanted me to be honest.
I don't care that you felt
burned when this went down.
I care that you're still holding onto it.
After all this team's been through,
you're still hung up on that.
Hey, I always put the team first.
I have followed you without question.
That is what your job is.
And I could do that and still
feel like I deserved better.
Not if you want this job.
The team comes before
everything else, man.
Putting yourself in danger
doesn't make you a better team leader.
You don't always have to be the one
climbing on top of a moving truck
or-or taking a sniper shot
out of a helicopter.
You tell me that you're thinking
of the team in those moments.
Is that what you're after? The glory?
I want you to admit that
you need to be the hero,
carrying all of us on your back.
I've been holding things up
on my own my entire life.
What, you think that's a choice?
My daddy actually left my mama.
Yeah, when I was 14,
and I could've got
caught up in the streets
and paid my mama's bills
with dirty money.
Or I could step up and be
the man and take care of her
the right way, by myself.
I didn't know that about your father.
You never talk about your family.
Deac, it wasn't easy for me
coming up through LAPD either.
I had to be better than
they thought I was,
just the black dude.
To be as good meant I was only
gonna stay in the same place.
Hey, Hondo.
You saved all of our lives
more than once.
Your approach works.
You make SWAT better.
And I'm proud to serve with you.
I'm not bitter.
I just...
It kills me that I feel this way at all.
(SIGHS)
I don't want to.
(GUNSHOT)
HAWKINS: I found my boys, Deacon.
You must be close.
Why drag this out?
What do we do? Those rocks.
Three o'clock, now. Move.
(GUNSHOTS)
LEWIS: Uh, hello?
Are you Officer Alonso? I was
told I could find you here.
I got a call from a Captain Cortez
asking me to come in?
I'm Ryan Lewis, 77th division.
- Great to meet you.
- Yeah, you, too.
Uh, I'm not sure what SWAT
needs my help with, though.
I want to talk about Erika Rogers.
Specifically about an incident
that happened two years ago.
- Everything's in the report.
- Yeah.
I want to know what's not in the report.
Look, I can't help you.
150. That's how many try out
for SWAT every single year.
Half of them don't make their PFQs,
another 40 wash out in a week,
and then it starts to gets hard.
And those last 40?
They drop out on their own.
Erika didn't.
And unless you can tell me
what happened that day,
it'll all be for nothing.
Please don't involve
me in this, all right?
My wife just had a baby.
I'm on detective track.
Have you seen Erika lately?
- She's given everything for this.
- Of course I've seen her.
I still grab chicken wings
with her once a week.
I mean, she's my son's godmother, okay?
She made me the man I am today.
I owe my career to her.
It was you.
You didn't restrain the suspect.
But Erika had to take the hit for you.
Look, I was still on my probation period.
All right, it would have
been my third strike.
I didn't ask her to do it.
Okay? She just did it.
And if she hadn't, I would've washed out.
So, every day since, I have tried to be
the cop that she put her
career on the line to save.
She needs you now.
They're holding that mark against her
to keep her out of SWAT.
What? No. She-she never said that she...
She doesn't want you to take the hit.
That's why she deserves the spot.
She needs somebody watching her back.
He's got the mother of all deals
on the table.
All he's doing is repeating
how loyal he is.
TAN: He almost took it before.
What's holding him back?
Stay here.
Follow my lead.
Your crew attacked The
Monkey Man bar last week.
Not many people know
that's a Jackal hangout.
(CHUCKLES)
Who are you looking at, Mr. Savoy?
Turn off the cameras
and leave us.
I don't know why you think
someone inside the police
is a Montrose Merc,
but this is SWAT,
and everyone here works for me.
Nothing you say is gonna be leaked.
And the deal I'm offering you
disappears the minute
I walk out that door.
(SIGHS)
All right.
O-Okay.
He used to run with us
before a bunch of our bosses got busted.
He showed up a couple months later
bragging that he used to be a cop,
and how easy it was
to take us down.
But then he said he knew a way
for us to get it all back.
An ex-cop.
He had the hookups, like weapons, intel.
Before we knew it.
He was telling us all what to do.
I need a name.
Look, you know...
If you want this deal, I need a name.
Now.
Hawkins.
Dispatch just sent
the recording of the call.
HAWKINS (ON RECORDING): This is 30-David.
Got a little static from the mountains.
20-David and I are Code 4.
- That's not Deacon.
- Sorry for the radio silence.
Last logged location was, um,
Hawkins' cabin in
Angeles National Forest.
Man, they've been gone, like, six hours.
Get the airships ready.
There's rock cover
50 yards north of here.
Plenty of trees along the way.
- Alternate. Don't spare anything.
- All right.
(GUNFIRE)
DEACON: What happened to you, Hawkins?
You used to be a good cop.
HAWKINS: And then I was a retired cop.
What's that?
Just an old man in the mountains.
I gave my best years to that badge,
and I got nothing in return.
I saw an opportunity for some respect.
Any minute, this sky's gonna
be filled with airships.
Where are they, Hondo? No one's coming.
You don't want two bodies
on your jacket, Hawkins.
Deacon, move!
- Deacon, I'm out.
- Hondo, move!
HONDO: Deacon, left side!
(GRUNTING)
Deacon, go!
- I got one of 'em, Deac.
- Me, too.
So that leaves eight.
I got, uh, four rounds. I got three.
All right, that means
one of is is gonna have
to take out two with one.
Now's a good time to be a hero.
Don't look at me to do it.
If not now, when?
You're passing over the cabin now.
I've got these heat signatures
all over the woods.
I'm counting 12 people.
Some of them aren't moving.
Can't tell which ones
are Hondo and Deacon.
Guys, look. Two o'clock!
Two o'clock!
(GUNFIRE) You ready?
Go.
(YELLS)
(GRUNTS)
(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)
Deac, there's the team.
(GUNFIRE)
Everybody out of here.
Hey!
- Hey, here!
- You guys okay?
Hondo's hurt. His right side.
Luca, get this jacket off of me.
We came as soon as
we learned about Hawkins.
- I hope you brought us some gear.
- You know we did.
Chris, give me your radio. Okay...
Captain...
Captain, how we looking?
It's good to hear your voice, Hondo.
We're not out
of the woods yet, literally.
And we're not gonna be until
we get every last Merc,
especially Hawkins.
The rest of the cavalry's on their way.
Mumford's team will sweep
from the cabin north,
but we can follow the trails
picked up from the heat signatures.
All right.
They're gonna be scattering
in all different directions.
Let's go get 'em.
You up for this, boss?
Hell yeah.
Let's move. Let's go!
JESSICA (OVER COMM):
Two shooters heading south.
Another couple running east
and moving fast.
And a pair heading northwest,
- back up the mountain.
- All right, Street and Tan,
take the crew to the south... go, go.
Chris and Luca, go east... move.
That leaves a pair for you and me, Deac.
Back to the high ground.
(PANTING)
(GRUNTS)
Give me your hands.
Hands! Hands!
Behind your back!
CHRIS: We got one and two.
They should be right here.
We're practically standing on top of 'em.
TAN: Let me see your hands!
Got three and four.
Just two left, Hondo.
Hawkins!
I guess this is where
it ends, huh, Deacon?
Come on, man.
I never come up this far.
I never knew this was here.
Come on, Sam, get out of there.
What are you doing, man?
Get on the ground.
Hondo, high right!
(GRUNTS)
(GUNSHOT)
Is he going to be okay?
He just needs some time alone to process.
He'll be all right.
I guess covering for your partner
isn't as bad as letting a perp go.
You didn't just cover.
You taught him how to be better.
And you took a personal hit
for somebody who needed it.
Lewis told me what you did.
Sorry I lashed out.
- That's okay.
- (CHUCKLES)
Fancy my surprise when I called
Officer Lewis to SWAT headquarters,
and he's already in
the building asking for me.
I wasn't gonna let
a star recruit like Rogers
wash out without doing
the legwork myself.
Yes, sir.
She's gonna make a great officer.
Yeah.
I understand you trust your teammates.
But don't forget I'm your teammate, too.
All right?
Let's go, you guys.
Ah, well-deserved, Erika.
- Welcome to SWAT.
- Yeah.
Congrats.
Congratulations. Thank you, thank you.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
ERIKA: Hey, the other recruits
waited to celebrate,
- so I'm gonna go join them.
- Have a feeling
you're gonna drink them under the table.
Yeah. Taught her how to do that, too.
(LAUGHTER) See you around.
- See you.
- Bye.
ERIKA (LAUGHING): Hey...
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
You didn't wash off, huh?
I've never wanted a hot shower
in my own home more in my life.
- Hmm.
- Yeah.
(SIGHS)
Hey, Deac, uh...
Listen, uh, when I took team leader,
I tried to treat everybody
the same as before.
Just do the job, like a normal promotion.
Those first few weeks,
I was just playing a role.
I think we both were.
Deac, I'll never regret taking this job.
There's been a lot of changes
I've been trying to make
ever since I got here.
But I could've handled it better.
I could've been more direct with you
about how you were feeling
and more honest about how I was.
How I am, Deac.
(SIGHS)
But I know you would have been great.
I really do hope you get your chance.
Well, get home, get rinsed off,
especially before you
start hugging on Annie.
Otherwise you're gonna be
sleeping on my couch.
Later.
You got plans tonight?
(SCOFFS) Hell no.
♪ Living too fast
- ♪ Moments don't last
- You do now.
♪ What are we doing here?
♪ Too distracted to react
♪ Busy lives guided by fear
♪ I think it's time
that we all slow down ♪
♪ And take a long look around.
Been about an hour now.
Hope they brought doughnuts.
Clocked a 12-gauge
behind the bar last night.
Spotted a few nines and a MAC-10
on their way in just now.
Just don't give them the chance to pull.
(GUNSHOTS)
Did you hear that?
(SIRENS WAILING)
(GRUNTS)
Adam-228. I have a shooting
at Mansion on the Hill.
(SIREN WAILING)
Patrol's got the entrance blocked off.
Waiting for us to engage.
Boys, this bar is a Smiling
Jackal biker stronghold.
They've been involved in three
shoot-'em-ups this week.
Don't know why they're
trying to kill each other.
Won't keep them from trying to kill us.
Go! Move it!
Come on, man.
(PANTING)
(SCREAMS)
SAVOY: Leave the bags! Leave it!
Move it!
Let's go, let's go, let's go!
There's a back door.
(GRUNTING)
Leg day's over, boys.
Team just got pulled off standby.
I'm at 7.54 miles. What about you?
7.48, but I was saving it
for the stretch run.
You know I got an extra
gear after 30 minutes.
Yeah, excuses are for losers, buddy.
Mumford's unit just responded
to a gang shootout in Burbank.
One of the dead shooters has been ID'd
as a member of the Montrose Merc Crew.
Small-time meth dealers
out of North Hollywood.
I thought Mercs played
nice with other crews.
Kept their little corner. Stayed
out of everyone else's way.
Well, that used to be their rep,
but this is the third
Merc attack on Jackals
in the past week.
Why are they stirring the pot now?
That's what we need to find out.
DEACON: The sarge
from my old patrol days,
Sam Hawkins, he might be of some help.
When I went SWAT, he was
undercover for a long time,
mostly with the Mercs.
He did a solid three years with them.
If anyone knows anything
about 'em, he will.
Sounds like a visit worth paying.
- JESSICA: Three of the
shooters from this morning
are still hiding in the
neighborhood behind the bar.
Mumford's team set up a perimeter,
but they could use extra bodies
to direct the local police.
All right, Street and Tan,
get over there. Chris and Luca,
start pulling every Jackal
and Merc file we have.
Deac, I'm gonna suit up and then
we'll go talk to your friend.
Looks like it's leg day, after all.
Big day. Your first SWAT recruit class
as an evaluator.
No pressure.
(LAUGHS) Hope I'm here when Hicks
has their names put up on the board.
CHRIS: Erika, how are you
feeling about today?
I'm doing a ten-mile jog
to keep my mind off it.
(CHUCKLES) - Congrats on
finishing SWAT Academy.
70 started, ten survived.
Yeah. Still only five spots
available on teams right now.
CHRIS: Yup. I heard you finished
top three on every test.
Yeah. Won't matter much unless
Hicks puts my picture up there.
I can't stand another second
in front of this blank screen,
- so... it's good to see you, Chris.
- CHRIS: Yeah.
Thank you for everything.
Does she really have
nothing to worry about?
You know those other evaluators,
always looking for an excuse.
Hey, I made a promise
that I'd fight for the best.
Erika, she's the best.
DEACON: When Hawkins likes to get away,
he really gets away.
(CHUCKLES) You don't have to tell me.
That corner store we just passed
was advertising half off turkey gizzards.
I mean, I'm just saying.
What was your relationship with this guy?
Well, he was my commanding officer.
Took a liking to me.
He always talked about retiring
and spending as much time
as he could up here.
I'm glad he's finally doing it.
Okay, why is every
white cop's dream of retirement
being around as few people as possible?
I mean, come on now.
I might like this for about a week,
but then I'd be bored off my ass.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
When was the last time you talked to him?
A few years ago. He-he was looking
for some intel on some gun
runners that SWAT had busted.
You got to love undercover work
to do it as long as he did it.
I'm not sure it's where he
saw his career going,
but he was good at it.
The Mercs was his last gig.
He got charges to stick on
most of their top leaders.
It seems like they never recovered.
Well, they're pretty frisky right now.
Let's hope he's still plugged in.
Hold on. Pavement's ending.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
You want to reconsider your retirement?
(SCOFFS) Just me and the birds, huh?
Hell no. I'm cool.
Hey, Hawkins.
See? Only white folks
leave their doors open.
Not at an ex-cop's place.
Hawkins, you there?
Out hunting?
DEACON: Nah, stove's on.
His gear duffel's there.
Deer drag hanging on the wall.
But his gun's missing.
Looks like he might've
cleared out of here in a hurry.
Yeah, but his pickup truck's out front.
If he hightailed it out of here,
he was on foot.
This doesn't feel right.
I'm gonna call it in.
Yeah. No service.
Gonna use the radio.
Deacon, get down!
Get in here, Deac!
(GUNSHOTS RICOCHETING)
(GUNSHOTS)
Someone must've been
sitting on the cabin,
waiting on your buddy. Mercs maybe?
We got to grab whatever supplies
we can and get out.
No. If we don't act now,
they're gonna surround the cabin
and just pick us off.
Deac, get over here!
We got to go!
Those things are gonna pop off!
Go! Get out of here!
Get down! Get down!
Go!
(GUNSHOTS)
HONDO: Go, go.
I'm still topped off.
I got 24 rounds. What do you got?
I got a few left in mine and...
and I got a backup eight.
- What else are we working with?
- Well, no radios,
no cell service, no vests.
We need a plan.
We need a plan.
We needed a plan back at the cabin.
I'm just worried about Hawkins.
I think you're right.
If the Mercs are brave enough
to go after the Jackals,
who's to say they don't go after the cop
that put half their crew away?
They wouldn't have been
setting up for an ambush
if they already had him.
He's probably out here somewhere.
Managed to grab some stuff
from the cabin before we got out.
Might come in handy.
Flare gun.
Only one left. Last resort.
If Hawkins is hiding from these guys,
there's a good chance that
he's in his hunting blind.
We find that, we find him.
And how do we do that?
Trail markers.
Every woodsman knows where to leave 'em
and how to look for 'em.
Oh, so you're a woodsman now?
Spent every summer camping with my dad.
Let's move.
STREET: Did you see
Erika Rogers this morning?
Girl was bouncing off the walls.
Night before my graduation
I kept replaying
my rifle qual on week two.
Tightened up on everything
after 50 yards.
Finished fourth.
Anything was gonna keep me
off the team, it was that.
Ah, that sounds hard, man.
Was top of my class every week,
so didn't have anything to worry about.
Yeah. Must've been tough
down in Long Beach
competing with the guys
who didn't make it up here.
(DOG BARKING)
Something's got him riled up back there.
Hey. Come here, buddy. Hey, come here.
Is this where you live?
- Huh?
- Is he hurt?
There's blood on his paw.
It's not his.
Street, check this out.
STREET: 26-David to 50-David.
Following a blood trail at our location.
- Hands!
- Let me see the hands!
This is 25-David. We got a dead suspect.
That's the Merc Mumford hit.
They must've hid him after he bled out.
Which means they must've been in a rush.
If I was gonna pick
somewhere nearby to hide...
See that high window by the roof
with the drain pipes leading up to it?
Mumford, they're here.
(WHISPERING): Choppers are gone.
You think they gave up?
- Safe to head out?
- We should wait another hour.
LAPD! LAPD! Let me see your hands!
- Don't move.
- Go hands-on! Go hands on!
What's this?
It's a hit list.
Drop it!
HONDO: Drop it now.
You mind telling your buddy
I'm one of the good guys?
Hondo, this is Hawkins.
Deacon, damn. What the
hell are you doing here?
We're looking for you.
We just came from your cabin.
The one with a squad of Merc shooters
camped out front?
They came after you, too?
Two of them tried to get the
jump on me about an hour ago.
I managed to sneak around back,
get some cover.
I thought you were one of them,
- on my trail.
- No, they ambushed us.
They ripped your place apart.
That's the least of my worries now.
I was gonna wait till dark, make my move,
but now, with you two here,
maybe we can make it
to the Ranger station.
There's a radio there.
You guys could call your SWAT
pals, have them pick us up.
Why are the Mercs after you?
And why are they starting wars with crews
five times their size?
I almost crippled them
a couple years back.
I put their leaders behind bars.
My head's probably a trophy
some punk thinks he needs
to rally the troops.
The Mercs were always followers, anyway.
(BIRDS FLUTTERING)
Station's this way.
Guns up, boys, they could be anywhere.
CHRIS: You didn't select Erika Rogers?
JESSICA: Chris, uh, not now.
That woman crushed the guys
that she was competing with.
She finished first
in the climbing course,
she scored one second flat
on the move in her sidearms
and Benelli quals.
And she doesn't get a spot
because you're all afraid of what?
More qualified women might try out now?
I only see four names.
Picking no one was better
than picking her?
- Officer Alonso, that's...
- Captain.
It's okay.
Not that it's any
of your business, Officer,
but a red flag from Rogers' time
working with the 77th
has come to our attention.
We're investigating the matter,
and when we're satisfied, we'll pick
a fifth recruit for a team then.
Now, you wouldn't want us
to give Ms. Rogers
special treatment either way.
Do you?
Those scores are
for the evaluation team only,
Officer Luca.
Not to be shared with anyone else.
20 years on the committee.
Not once did I ever have
to remind your father of that.
- I...
- Not another word.
That's not cool.
Don't bother.
You can't make a call
anywhere in these hills.
No service, no roads, no life.
Don't worry, Ranger station's not far.
So how long you been
out, about six months?
Best decision of my life, man.
I should have never let the brass
keep me under as long as they did.
How about you? It's got
to be what, now, 20-David?
Still 30-David, actually.
Hondo's team leader.
Huh.
I think I prefer gang politics
to police politics.
- Less feelings.
- We were hoping that your knowledge
of the Mercs could help us understand
what's motivating them.
Motivated by the same thing
they always are.
Control, power.
In fact, it doesn't surprise me
that they took a swing at the Jackals.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
We never told you
it was the Jackals
the Mercs were targeting.
Now!
Cover! Cover!
Deac, go, go!
Come on, come on!
We got to go.
(THUDDING)
Deacon!
- (GUNFIRE)
- (GRUNTING)
One of my guys saw your car pull up.
I was hoping it was nothing.
I would've never given the order to fire
if I knew it was you, Deac.
I really hate that it went this way.
Deacon?
(BOTH PANTING)
(GROANS)
HAWKINS: They went this way.
And one of them is injured.
Now, listen, listen,
be careful: these guys
are really, really good.
But there's two of them
and there's ten of us.
Plus, we've got better weapons
and communications.
Just don't let them get to civilization.
(GRUNTING)
Deac.
Hold up, man.
(GRUNTS)
All right, that's far enough.
I think we've bought a few minutes.
Let me take a look at that wound.
(GRUNTS, PANTING)
I counted nine, plus Hawkins.
Those HKs were the same as we use.
Hawkins got a hookup or something?
He could.
He seems to be running the whole crew.
- Oh, man.
- I hit a branch on the way down.
You're gonna have to settle
for conversation as anesthetic.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
(GROANS)
Hawkins was my commanding
officer for five years.
You know how many beers
I had with the guy?
How could I not suspect...?
Deac, stop it.
Whether he lost his way, or
he was always capable of this,
Hawkins decided to switch teams.
Yeah, but how did it get to that?
SWAT protocol has Dispatch
check in every two hours.
- That's in ten minutes.
- Right, when they don't hear from us,
they're gonna send airships
to our last locations.
- That's another 30.
- We did extractions like this
in Somalia.
We got to make the rescue
as simple as possible.
If we can get above that tree line,
they'll be able to spot us faster.
- What?
- It's just a long way up that mountain.
And we're outnumbered,
we're out... we're outgunned,
Hawkins knows the terrain.
You're injured.
I say we make cover, wait
for the airship, use the flare.
(GRUNTING)
No. No, those birds need
a flat place to land.
We got no idea how far we are
from that cabin.
Look, I'm good.
Okay? I can move.
Sorry, Deac,
but I'm making the call.
We're headed up.
You understand?
Roger that.
All right. Now, that plateau
has got to be 40 minutes away.
We're gonna make it in 30.
Let's go.
(GRUNTS)
JESSICA: CHP just spotted
a large group of Jackal bikers
riding into the city.
Did Hondo find anything
from Deacon's contact
about what's causing all of this?
No, I haven't heard
anything back from them,
- but I'll have Dispatch try them again.
- This meth war
is about to become a shooting
gallery in the streets.
- What else do we have?
- Mumford's team found all the Mercs
from this morning; they're bringing one
back to HQ for questioning now.
I did a little digging into
the other Merc shootings.
The first one, last week,
happened at a bar called The Monkey Man.
There was four Smiling Jackals
killed, two top lieutenants.
Here's the thing, though, The Monkey Man
isn't a public Jackal front.
Only Jackals and a
few cops knew about it.
JESSICA: But the Mercs knew that.
So they've got an inside source.
Keep digging, and let me know
if Hondo or Deacon find anything.
I didn't mean to get you
in the doghouse with Hicks.
I'm really sorry.
Look, I shared Erika's results
- with you in confidence.
- I know.
- And I shouldn't have...
- My dad was an evaluator,
and his dad, too;
it's part of my legacy here.
And you wouldn't let someone who
deserved SWAT get railroaded.
You would look at her files,
make sure that Hicks made the right call.
- Right?
- Of course I would.
I'm just asking for the real story.
Seriously?
You already burned me once with Hicks.
I know, and I'm sorry.
It won't happen again.
I promise.
What do you know?
Two years ago, she failed
to properly restrain a suspect.
That's just sloppy procedure.
He broke free and attacked her partner.
The whole reason
why I got Street to help her
through the academy
is that everything that I heard
was that she had what it took to be SWAT.
You're telling me I got fooled by her?
Now, hold up. It never came up before
because her COs never said
anything about it
in our background interviews.
Like they didn't want to report it.
Sounds like there's more to the story
than what Hicks knows.
By the way,
don't let Hicks take a shot
at your legacy.
Your dad was on the committee
that picked me.
You're living up to the Luca name.
We're gonna get to the truth.
HONDO: Deac, we can't stop
every ten minutes for you
to make sound alarms.
These saplings snap loudly
when they're set off.
That buys us ten seconds
that could save our lives.
You hear that stream?
We got to bear away from that,
head in that direction.
All right, never travel
by bodies of water.
- It's the first place the enemy looks.
- Keep pace,
but stay quiet: heel, toe.
You know more than
campfires and marshmallows.
You did a lot more than go camping
with your daddy, didn't you?
Yeah, basic New England woods skills.
(CHUCKLES) Deac, you're from L.A.
Yeah, but I spent a lot of summers
camping with my dad in Vermont.
(GRUNTING): Oh, come on, come on.
(SIGHS)
Yeah, the truth is, my, uh,
my folks had kind of a rocky marriage.
We weren't the type
of family to get a divorce,
so... his summers camping
with me was kind of a...
Catholic compromise.
I knew why my dad did it, but...
I didn't let it get in the way of me
enjoying some time with my old man.
(EXHALES)
A lot of great nights.
Lot of marshmallows.
(LAUGHS SOFTLY)
All right, we should keep moving.
All right, Deac,
wait a minute, wait a minute.
(CHUCKLES)
Your shiny white boy sweat makes
you look like a homing beacon.
We should both mask up.
It's another Marine trick. Come on.
You read the incident report?
Then you know it's enough
to keep me off SWAT.
If it really happened.
It's in the report.
Leave it alone. If it was your first week
on the street, I could,
but you're seven years in
and a training officer.
Just tell me what happened.
It's just us right now.
There is no "us," Chris.
You're already SWAT.
They got no interest in me.
If it wasn't this,
they'd just make up something else.
DISPATCHER (OVER RADIO):
20-David, do you copy?
Dispatch requesting check-in.
This is 30-David. Got a little
static from the mountains.
20-David and I are Code 4.
Sorry for the radio silence.
Couldn't find the target,
still looking for him.
JESSICA: Thanks for letting me know.
That was Dispatch. Hondo
and Deacon just checked in.
They haven't been able
to find Deacon's contact,
so they have nothing.
The Merc shooter's in Interrogation.
I, uh, looked into Erika's records.
I asked her about the infraction,
but she was acting strange,
like she was hiding something.
- It doesn't add up.
- Hicks is looking into it.
Hicks is gonna take
the first version he hears.
I want the truth, even if
it's not good for Erika.
Can you get me the contact info
of her old partner?
Please, Captain.
I went about it wrong this morning.
Let me do it right.
I'll see what I can do.
Mr. Savoy, you've had a busy morning.
(CHUCKLES)
Montrose Mercs for life, sweet thing.
STREET: I don't know why
you're acting so proud.
Half our squad hadn't even heard
of you clowns till this morning.
- Yeah, well, you will now, won't you?
- What, after you've
taken out the biggest rival
meth gang in the city?
JESSICA: We found your list.
Top Jackal members, addresses,
hangouts, even street names.
That's hard information to come by.
This wasn't just a "spray and pray"
for a few more corners.
These are targeted assassinations.
More Jackals are already on their way
into town to retaliate.
- We'll be ready for 'em.
- Well, not you.
We're benching you for the big game.
The city wants this handled.
So there's a deal to be made.
No one in your situation
gets a chance like this.
Take it.
(CHUCKLES) Nah.
Nah, Montrose Mercs for life.
(GRUNTS)
Okay. Right there, Deac.
Right there, that break in the trees.
We're gonna have to climb it.
No, we-we don't know how sturdy
any of those boulders are.
One loose rock, we'd be
back down here on our ass
in less than five minutes.
Not to mention we'd be broadcasting
exactly where we are to Hawkins.
Those choppers are coming.
If we don't get up there soon,
they're gonna pass us by.
We get to that extraction point
as fast as possible,
that is the mission objective.
It won't be any faster if we
don't make it all the way up.
This is not your call.
What makes it yours?
Don't make me pull rank here.
Rank? This stopped being a SWAT mission
about halfway down that
cliff we jumped off of.
Right now it's just two guys
trying to stay alive.
It is my responsibility
to get us out of here.
Look, I get that you
have Marine training.
This is not Somalia.
This is unique terrain.
I spent a lot of time
in woods like these.
I know what we need to do,
and I'm not gonna follow
you up into a situation
that's gonna get us both killed.
I will not do that to my wife and kids.
Do you really think
I would put us in a dangerous
spot like that?
If you take us up there? Yes.
Now, you can come with me or not.
Deacon. Deac.
(GRUNTING)
Look, if you got some type of problem,
- now is not the time for it.
- That hill was a bad call.
I'm talking about this attitude
I've been picking up on since the cabin.
It's no attitude.
Just wish I had more time to get
some stuff that we could use,
like a compass or a map maybe.
That fishing line came in handy.
We were in a situation
and I had to get us out.
I reacted. That's how I'm trained.
If you're still beating yourself up
about not catching onto Hawkins,
I told you, don't let it get to you.
Keep your voice down.
(PANTING)
I can't get us out of here
if I have to worry about whether or
not my partner still has my six.
You don't have to worry
about getting us out of here.
You keep trying to make
calls in a situation
that you don't know
as much about as I do.
It's my job to make the calls.
I understand that's how
you see the job, Hondo.
Deacon, this is my team.
How I see it is how it is.
Don't worry.
There's no question
about whose team it is.
Is this about you getting passed over?
That was nine months ago, man.
You're still thinking about it?
Of course I still think about it.
I thought we buried this,
and I thought you had my back.
I have always had your back.
And I would never put the team in danger.
Yeah, every once in a while,
when I'm driving into work,
about to take a left into the garage,
I think about how long it's gonna be
before I get a shot at a team.
If I ever get a shot.
All because of some mistake Buck made.
You think I didn't deserve this job?
That's not what this is about.
Or that you could've done
the job better than me?
We'll never know.
But I do know that
I was supposed to be next.
And I did nothing to deserve losing that.
Did you ever think about
the position that I was put in?
What'd you want me to do?
Turn the job down?
It was supposed to be my team.
(SAPLING ALERT FIRES)
That's one of the saplings.
50 yards that way.
We can't let him fire a single shot.
Every Merc in the woods
is gonna know our location.
(GRUNTING)
(GUNSHOT)
Just cuff him and get his gun.
- We don't have time to gag 'em.
- Wouldn't do any good anyway.
Rest of the Mercs are on their way.
Drag him over here.
(GRUNTING)
You're good? Let's move, move.
Where are the airships?
They should be here by now.
We've been missing over three hours.
Your car.
Your car at the cabin.
Hawkins could've given
the all clear to HQ.
He'd know the codes.
It could be nightfall before
SWAT comes looking for us.
We got to figure another way out of here.
How?
We're hours deeper into
the woods than we were before.
Okay, you know what?
You've said your piece, man.
I don't need to hear it again.
You wanted me to be honest.
I don't care that you felt
burned when this went down.
I care that you're still holding onto it.
After all this team's been through,
you're still hung up on that.
Hey, I always put the team first.
I have followed you without question.
That is what your job is.
And I could do that and still
feel like I deserved better.
Not if you want this job.
The team comes before
everything else, man.
Putting yourself in danger
doesn't make you a better team leader.
You don't always have to be the one
climbing on top of a moving truck
or-or taking a sniper shot
out of a helicopter.
You tell me that you're thinking
of the team in those moments.
Is that what you're after? The glory?
I want you to admit that
you need to be the hero,
carrying all of us on your back.
I've been holding things up
on my own my entire life.
What, you think that's a choice?
My daddy actually left my mama.
Yeah, when I was 14,
and I could've got
caught up in the streets
and paid my mama's bills
with dirty money.
Or I could step up and be
the man and take care of her
the right way, by myself.
I didn't know that about your father.
You never talk about your family.
Deac, it wasn't easy for me
coming up through LAPD either.
I had to be better than
they thought I was,
just the black dude.
To be as good meant I was only
gonna stay in the same place.
Hey, Hondo.
You saved all of our lives
more than once.
Your approach works.
You make SWAT better.
And I'm proud to serve with you.
I'm not bitter.
I just...
It kills me that I feel this way at all.
(SIGHS)
I don't want to.
(GUNSHOT)
HAWKINS: I found my boys, Deacon.
You must be close.
Why drag this out?
What do we do? Those rocks.
Three o'clock, now. Move.
(GUNSHOTS)
LEWIS: Uh, hello?
Are you Officer Alonso? I was
told I could find you here.
I got a call from a Captain Cortez
asking me to come in?
I'm Ryan Lewis, 77th division.
- Great to meet you.
- Yeah, you, too.
Uh, I'm not sure what SWAT
needs my help with, though.
I want to talk about Erika Rogers.
Specifically about an incident
that happened two years ago.
- Everything's in the report.
- Yeah.
I want to know what's not in the report.
Look, I can't help you.
150. That's how many try out
for SWAT every single year.
Half of them don't make their PFQs,
another 40 wash out in a week,
and then it starts to gets hard.
And those last 40?
They drop out on their own.
Erika didn't.
And unless you can tell me
what happened that day,
it'll all be for nothing.
Please don't involve
me in this, all right?
My wife just had a baby.
I'm on detective track.
Have you seen Erika lately?
- She's given everything for this.
- Of course I've seen her.
I still grab chicken wings
with her once a week.
I mean, she's my son's godmother, okay?
She made me the man I am today.
I owe my career to her.
It was you.
You didn't restrain the suspect.
But Erika had to take the hit for you.
Look, I was still on my probation period.
All right, it would have
been my third strike.
I didn't ask her to do it.
Okay? She just did it.
And if she hadn't, I would've washed out.
So, every day since, I have tried to be
the cop that she put her
career on the line to save.
She needs you now.
They're holding that mark against her
to keep her out of SWAT.
What? No. She-she never said that she...
She doesn't want you to take the hit.
That's why she deserves the spot.
She needs somebody watching her back.
He's got the mother of all deals
on the table.
All he's doing is repeating
how loyal he is.
TAN: He almost took it before.
What's holding him back?
Stay here.
Follow my lead.
Your crew attacked The
Monkey Man bar last week.
Not many people know
that's a Jackal hangout.
(CHUCKLES)
Who are you looking at, Mr. Savoy?
Turn off the cameras
and leave us.
I don't know why you think
someone inside the police
is a Montrose Merc,
but this is SWAT,
and everyone here works for me.
Nothing you say is gonna be leaked.
And the deal I'm offering you
disappears the minute
I walk out that door.
(SIGHS)
All right.
O-Okay.
He used to run with us
before a bunch of our bosses got busted.
He showed up a couple months later
bragging that he used to be a cop,
and how easy it was
to take us down.
But then he said he knew a way
for us to get it all back.
An ex-cop.
He had the hookups, like weapons, intel.
Before we knew it.
He was telling us all what to do.
I need a name.
Look, you know...
If you want this deal, I need a name.
Now.
Hawkins.
Dispatch just sent
the recording of the call.
HAWKINS (ON RECORDING): This is 30-David.
Got a little static from the mountains.
20-David and I are Code 4.
- That's not Deacon.
- Sorry for the radio silence.
Last logged location was, um,
Hawkins' cabin in
Angeles National Forest.
Man, they've been gone, like, six hours.
Get the airships ready.
There's rock cover
50 yards north of here.
Plenty of trees along the way.
- Alternate. Don't spare anything.
- All right.
(GUNFIRE)
DEACON: What happened to you, Hawkins?
You used to be a good cop.
HAWKINS: And then I was a retired cop.
What's that?
Just an old man in the mountains.
I gave my best years to that badge,
and I got nothing in return.
I saw an opportunity for some respect.
Any minute, this sky's gonna
be filled with airships.
Where are they, Hondo? No one's coming.
You don't want two bodies
on your jacket, Hawkins.
Deacon, move!
- Deacon, I'm out.
- Hondo, move!
HONDO: Deacon, left side!
(GRUNTING)
Deacon, go!
- I got one of 'em, Deac.
- Me, too.
So that leaves eight.
I got, uh, four rounds. I got three.
All right, that means
one of is is gonna have
to take out two with one.
Now's a good time to be a hero.
Don't look at me to do it.
If not now, when?
You're passing over the cabin now.
I've got these heat signatures
all over the woods.
I'm counting 12 people.
Some of them aren't moving.
Can't tell which ones
are Hondo and Deacon.
Guys, look. Two o'clock!
Two o'clock!
(GUNFIRE) You ready?
Go.
(YELLS)
(GRUNTS)
(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)
Deac, there's the team.
(GUNFIRE)
Everybody out of here.
Hey!
- Hey, here!
- You guys okay?
Hondo's hurt. His right side.
Luca, get this jacket off of me.
We came as soon as
we learned about Hawkins.
- I hope you brought us some gear.
- You know we did.
Chris, give me your radio. Okay...
Captain...
Captain, how we looking?
It's good to hear your voice, Hondo.
We're not out
of the woods yet, literally.
And we're not gonna be until
we get every last Merc,
especially Hawkins.
The rest of the cavalry's on their way.
Mumford's team will sweep
from the cabin north,
but we can follow the trails
picked up from the heat signatures.
All right.
They're gonna be scattering
in all different directions.
Let's go get 'em.
You up for this, boss?
Hell yeah.
Let's move. Let's go!
JESSICA (OVER COMM):
Two shooters heading south.
Another couple running east
and moving fast.
And a pair heading northwest,
- back up the mountain.
- All right, Street and Tan,
take the crew to the south... go, go.
Chris and Luca, go east... move.
That leaves a pair for you and me, Deac.
Back to the high ground.
(PANTING)
(GRUNTS)
Give me your hands.
Hands! Hands!
Behind your back!
CHRIS: We got one and two.
They should be right here.
We're practically standing on top of 'em.
TAN: Let me see your hands!
Got three and four.
Just two left, Hondo.
Hawkins!
I guess this is where
it ends, huh, Deacon?
Come on, man.
I never come up this far.
I never knew this was here.
Come on, Sam, get out of there.
What are you doing, man?
Get on the ground.
Hondo, high right!
(GRUNTS)
(GUNSHOT)
Is he going to be okay?
He just needs some time alone to process.
He'll be all right.
I guess covering for your partner
isn't as bad as letting a perp go.
You didn't just cover.
You taught him how to be better.
And you took a personal hit
for somebody who needed it.
Lewis told me what you did.
Sorry I lashed out.
- That's okay.
- (CHUCKLES)
Fancy my surprise when I called
Officer Lewis to SWAT headquarters,
and he's already in
the building asking for me.
I wasn't gonna let
a star recruit like Rogers
wash out without doing
the legwork myself.
Yes, sir.
She's gonna make a great officer.
Yeah.
I understand you trust your teammates.
But don't forget I'm your teammate, too.
All right?
Let's go, you guys.
Ah, well-deserved, Erika.
- Welcome to SWAT.
- Yeah.
Congrats.
Congratulations. Thank you, thank you.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
ERIKA: Hey, the other recruits
waited to celebrate,
- so I'm gonna go join them.
- Have a feeling
you're gonna drink them under the table.
Yeah. Taught her how to do that, too.
(LAUGHTER) See you around.
- See you.
- Bye.
ERIKA (LAUGHING): Hey...
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
You didn't wash off, huh?
I've never wanted a hot shower
in my own home more in my life.
- Hmm.
- Yeah.
(SIGHS)
Hey, Deac, uh...
Listen, uh, when I took team leader,
I tried to treat everybody
the same as before.
Just do the job, like a normal promotion.
Those first few weeks,
I was just playing a role.
I think we both were.
Deac, I'll never regret taking this job.
There's been a lot of changes
I've been trying to make
ever since I got here.
But I could've handled it better.
I could've been more direct with you
about how you were feeling
and more honest about how I was.
How I am, Deac.
(SIGHS)
But I know you would have been great.
I really do hope you get your chance.
Well, get home, get rinsed off,
especially before you
start hugging on Annie.
Otherwise you're gonna be
sleeping on my couch.
Later.
You got plans tonight?
(SCOFFS) Hell no.
♪ Living too fast
- ♪ Moments don't last
- You do now.
♪ What are we doing here?
♪ Too distracted to react
♪ Busy lives guided by fear
♪ I think it's time
that we all slow down ♪
♪ And take a long look around.