The Streets of San Francisco (1972–1977): Season 3, Episode 11 - Bird of Prey - full transcript
Keller goes undercover as a USAF officer to investigate a woman's murder that might involve a USAF Colonel.
What is that?
♪♪
♪♪
Larynx has been crushed.
Yeah, it looks it.
Must have been pretty
strong, whoever he was.
No other bruises?
Don't seem to be.
No rips, no tears, huh?
Looks like she didn't object
to what was going on before.
Let me know when
you've got another report,
will you, Bernie?
Right.
Okay, that's C-O-R-D,
Cord, is that right?
Yeah, yeah, Harry Cord.
So, what happened, Harry?
I was walking outside
with my girlfriend,
we were coming
home from the movies,
and I heard this scream.
You knew something was
going on, something terrible,
so I tried to get through the
front door, and it was locked,
so I climbed up the building,
and then this air force guy...
Wait a minute, an air force guy?
He had a uniform on?
Yeah.
Well, what was he... An
airman, noncom, what?
I don't know for sure.
I just saw he had his
hands around her throat,
so I went through the window
and ran at him, and he hit me.
Next thing I knew, this
man here was waking me up.
But you don't remember
what rank he had?
No, an officer maybe.
I don't remember any stripes.
What about his face?
Anything that would
give us a description?
No, nothing good.
I'm pretty sure
he had blond hair.
About how big?
I don't know... he was
too big for me, I guess.
Well, you took a real chance,
you know that, don't you, son?
Maybe.
I couldn't just let
somebody kill somebody.
If I had just been
a little quicker...
Steve, how about the
girl who made the call?
No, that was his girlfriend.
Their stories check.
We appreciate anything
you can tell us, Mr. Danielson.
Sure, Lieutenant, no
problem, no problem at all.
Is that her?
Yeah, Gail Kramer.
Oh, no.
You do know her?
Oh, not by name, no,
but, sure, I remember her.
Who wouldn't?
She was a classy kind of lady.
Been in here lots of times.
Drank, uh, whiskey sours, yeah.
What about last night?
Yeah, yeah, she
sat right over there.
Was she alone?
Inspector, that kind of
woman is never alone.
No, she was with some dude.
Air force?
Could be.
A lot of those
guys come in here.
I remember him.
He was an officer, I think.
He had, uh, those ribbons.
You know what I mean,
the, uh, DC something.
That's DFC, honey.
She's new here.
What did he look like?
Oh, come on, Lieutenant,
sitting next to a chick
like that, who looks?
But you're sure, uh, he
was wearing a DFC, huh?
Oh, I'm sure of it, yeah.
Well, if he had one of those,
he earned it, believe me.
During the Tet
Offensive I was in Hue.
I'd still be there
if it wasn't for those
jet jockeys flying over.
Any of those guys come
into my bar, honest drink.
How about a description?
Oh, 35, 40 maybe.
Hair?
Blond, I think.
About six feet, average
build, nice looking, too.
Remember what rank he had?
I remember he had those eagles.
Oh, that makes him
a colonel, full-bird.
I only made sergeant myself.
That makes two of us.
- Marines.
- You're kidding.
Oh, yes, sir, Inspector,
they're expecting you.
Um, there's the line you follow
and here's the Air Force
Office of Special Investigations.
Thank you very much.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I'll get back to you.
Hi.
Dick Higgins.
Mike Stone?
That's right.
This is Inspector Keller.
- How do you do?
- Hello.
The chief of special
investigations assigned me
to handle our end of the case,
although I must
confess I haven't had
that much experience
working with civilians.
Well, I must confess I haven't
had that much experience
working with military
investigations either,
but, uh, I do know
what you're thinking.
Mm-hmm.
Don't get me wrong.
I'll give you every
possible cooperation,
but I'd be less than
honest with you
if I didn't tell you up front,
I think you're on
the wrong track here.
Well, Mr. Higgins,
you wouldn't say
the uniform makes
the man, would you?
No, no.
All a uniform does is make
a different quality of life.
We're as human as the next guy,
but that same
uniform can be worn
by people who are
not in the service,
and I am betting that's
what's happened here.
Impersonating an officer.
Right.
If it's one of those guys,
I want him as bad as you do.
Since you called,
I sent out a directive
to all military police
in the San Francisco area,
requesting specific I.D.
checks on all air force officers.
Excuse me.
Yo.
Good.
The computer is ready.
We'll run your information
through our national index.
Give this man the information
you have, and he'll punch it in.
The man right here?
Right here.
Hello.
Uh, the man is between
30 and 45 years of age,
he's, uh, six feet, blond hair,
180 to 190 pounds,
full colonel, and
he's got the DFC.
Is that all, sir?
Uh, yeah, you got it.
From officers of that rank we'll
have only a few names, I'm sure.
Okay, baby'll do the rest.
Now we've got to
know their whereabouts
at the night of the murder.
Computer can't
help us there, sir.
Well, I'd like a list
of those names.
From now on, legwork.
Two men stationed at McClellan.
Peter Johnson, Carl Abel.
Both colonels, both
match the descriptions.
And both these guys were off
the base the time of the murder?
They were.
Yeah, I want to talk to them.
Not just yet.
Well, now wait a minute.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
I promised full cooperation,
and you're gonna get it.
But hear me out first, okay?
Okay.
These are not ordinary men.
Peter Johnson, an
ace in Korea at 22.
Shot down and wounded in 'Nam.
Abel... the same thing.
A P.O.W. for five years.
I think you can see why I
don't want them dragged in
for questioning like any
common criminal, Mike.
Yeah, I can see that,
but I think you ought to know
what we came up with, too.
All right.
We put our own computer to work,
and it came up
with something that,
well, looks like
a small epidemic.
Take a look at those.
All attractive, all
about the same age,
and all killed the same way...
Strangled by an
unknown assailant.
All here in San Francisco?
No, no, one in San
Francisco, the other in Oakland,
the third was
down the peninsula.
And the kicker is,
the girl from Oakland
was seen going out
twice with a guy in uniform.
Air force?
Mm-hmm, full colonel,
and a friend of hers
says that she's positive
the guy was
stationed at your base.
But no name?
Mm-mm, no prints either
in all three of the cases.
Well, then there's nothing
positive to point directly
to either of these two men.
Not yet, but I'm
still going to want
a complete profile
on both of them.
You'll get it.
Oh, and Mike...
as I said before,
it could be that someone
from the base is the man,
but if it's either of these two,
let's make sure which
one and spare the other.
Fair enough?
Fair enough.
Yeah, yeah, it could be.
Which one?
- Huh?
- Could be which one?
Oh, either one of them.
They look like
brothers, don't they?
Listen, you want me to
keep these pictures here,
show 'em to the girl
when she comes on?
No, no, no, we'd
like to hold onto 'em
for a little while longer,
but, uh, we would appreciate
it if you kept this confidential.
Sure, Lieutenant, I understand.
Good.
Well, now what?
I don't know, I just don't know.
All the leads have been
checked out... all dead ends.
If it's at all possible, I'd just
as soon you wouldn't talk
to these two men
directly, gentlemen.
Well, what if I
did it indirectly?
Well, you know I did
Air ROTC at Berkeley.
Got a few hours in a T-33.
I can at least talk their game.
That's right, you did.
I think it's a good idea, sure.
Sure?
Sure, what, put you in uniform?
Well, you said yourself, the
uniform doesn't make the man.
At least this way I could
check out Johnson and Abel
without having to put
'em through the wringer.
I don't know.
Well, who would know?
I'd have to check it out with
the base commander, Mike.
Colonel Johnson?
Yes.
Steven Keller, Auditor
General's Office.
Sorry, your office
didn't notify you?
No, they didn't. Do you
have any I.D., Captain?
Yes, sir.
Auditor General's Office?
Yes, I'm afraid your special
project's being audited.
You see, Congress
has gotten kind of tight
since the C-5A project,
and our investigations,
well, they help finance the good
ones and weed out the bad ones.
Okay, if you want to talk,
make it lunch at the officers' club.
Say, 1300 hours.
Yes, sir.
- Colonel Abel?
- That's right.
Hi. Steven Keller,
Auditor General's Office.
Oh, yeah. They told
me you'd be out here.
What can I do for you, Keller?
Well, sir, you're gonna have
to bear with me for a while.
I got a lot of questions
and a lot of paperwork.
Now, you are projects
commander of AQS-314?
That's right.
Seems to have an
awful high price tag.
So what exactly does it involve?
Well, without going into
classified information,
it's simply a fire control
system for COIN-type aircraft.
"COIN" being counter-insurgency,
or guerilla-style warfare.
That kind of action, you
need some way to direct fire
at low level and high speed.
Against truck convoys,
barges on rivers.
AQS-314 controls
both target approach
and aircraft weapon systems.
It'll save a lot of lives.
And all of AQS-314
is right in here?
Yeah, most of it.
See, the cost is
in the electronics.
Most people don't know
that the instrument panel
and even the civilian
light aircraft costs as much
or more than the
rest of the aircraft.
Okay.
Thanks a lot, Harry.
Listen, I got to take my run.
Drop by the office later,
I'll show you a
mock-up of the system.
- Thank you, sir.
- All right.
Talk about money, Congress
and appropriations...
That doesn't interest me.
What I care about is the
lifespan of a pilot in combat.
That's my
responsibility: training.
The more a man
flies, the better he gets.
If we get cut off
from fuel allocations,
airspace requests,
even-even spare parts,
then our readiness
as a nation diminishes.
Uh, I'll have a club
sandwich, please.
Make that two.
But you don't know
if it'll ever be needed.
No, nobody knows
the answer to that one.
Without a high
state of readiness,
well, we'll have problems.
Just like Cuba when the
Russians wanted to move in.
Let's face it.
We're just like cops.
Expensive, useless,
sometimes even hated...
Until we're needed.
I see you have a
Vietnam service medal.
Where were you?
Uh, Da Nang.
When was that?
'66, '67.
Hmm. When all hell broke loose.
Yeah.
What unit?
Well, it was a
combat support unit.
Support.
I thought they
went to Han Sa Nut.
What were you doing in Da Nang?
I-I bounced around
a lot, you know.
Have adding
machine, will travel.
Huh.
You, uh, spend
any time in a jet?
Some, yeah.
What was that group you
were with, the, uh, 22nd 31st?
Uh, no, no.
It was the 22nd 37th.
Thank you.
Well, uh, listen, you
want to learn more
about the gunnery program,
there's only one way.
Not exactly an
adding machine, is it?
This bird burns kerosene.
Lots of it.
But, you know, it's worth
it, 'cause it can do anything.
Let's say we got an intercept.
An unknown aircraft
at 35,000 feet.
One of the reasons
pilots need practice
is so they can
withstand g-forces.
Like any other training,
if they're not used
to it, it can hurt them.
Okay, Captain,
you get the aircraft.
No, thanks.
You said you'd flown some.
All right, it's all yours.
Johnson, you take it!
Got it.
Okay, Keller, who are you?
I called a friend of
mine in the Pentagon.
You were never in the 22nd 37th.
You were never in Da Nang.
As a matter of
fact, you don't exist.
So what's the story, Keller?
I'll tell you.
Just get me on the
ground, please, now!
I call it dirty pool.
Would you rather get
hit between the eyes
with suspicion of murder?
Have the burden of
proof fall upon yourself?
No.
Then you have to understand
our responsibility here, Colonel.
First, we have to stop
the man who did the killing.
Second, we have to help him.
He's sick, he's in bad shape.
Okay.
But like I said, I was at Lake
Tahoe with a close friend.
She'll vouch for it.
We'll check it out.
In the meantime, the commander
wants you to stay on the base.
All right.
And continue to
cooperate with Keller, huh?
Sure. Any time he wants
to go flying, all he has to do
is say the word.
The film is ready, sir.
All right. Dr. Brice here?
Yes, sir. He's waiting.
Fine, thank you.
The film is ready.
Are you ready?
I thought you took ROTC.
Huh?
Oh, lay off of me, will you?
Brice is a psychiatrist,
specializing in problems
encountered by
men in the military.
So I asked him to run
down this film for us.
Okay, what'd you find out,
Frank? Anything interesting?
Well, I've already looked at
the film in its entirety twice,
and it's all very interesting
from a documentary
point of view, but, uh,
this point at the end might
turn out to be very interesting.
Now, you say this is from a
debriefing session, Doctor?
Yes, uh, two years ago.
All POWs were
debriefed on their return.
And those sessions were taped.
All right, now this is Abel.
Got pretty rough sometimes.
Now, I'm not
complaining, but it did.
Men died in the camp
from what they did to us.
If you sat there and thought
about it, you'd go insane.
Why no one was coming to help,
why the world was
made out of inhumanity.
Fear.
That's what would get you.
Anyway, as time went on...
I think it was at the
end of the first year...
You were a prisoner
for how long?
Five years.
Anyway, you'd find
that you'd developed
what we called the switch.
- The switch?
- Yes.
When you started to
think about everything,
you threw the switch and you
wouldn't think about it anymore.
You couldn't. It was
like electricity... on or off.
For me, it was a green
field with a few flowers.
I could almost smell it.
Then I'd see Maggie.
I'd reach out and
touch her hair,
and she would say,
"Welcome home."
And I'd lie beside her in the
grass, and she'd lean over me.
Nothing could get through that.
Nothing.
I mean, I don't care
what they did to me.
Thanks to Maggie.
Couldn't have
done it without her.
And you'd say that
this switch was one of
the keys to your survival?
Oh, absolutely.
We all had it, in
one form or another.
I mean, if they
didn't, they didn't last.
I've looked over his
record very carefully.
Now, three days after
this interview was taped,
he was found fit and
released from the hospital
to return to his wife.
Her welcome home to him was
to serve him with divorce papers.
He lives alone now in the BOQ.
She married a doctor,
someone she fell in love with
when he was a POW.
Doctor, if he developed a switch
he could turn
off and on at will,
could he have killed those
girls without remembering it?
Not even being conscious of it?
Well, it's highly improbable,
but, yes, it's possible.
- Because of what she did?
- Possibly.
Where is she now?
North Carolina.
Why didn't he try
to kill her there?
Well, maybe he
couldn't. He loved her.
He hated her for what she
stood for, what she did to him.
Perhaps.
What triggered the switch?
What set it off?
Stop it!
Listen to yourselves.
You're making him
sound like Jack the Ripper.
He's a hero.
He's a man, Dick.
A man who survived five
years in a prison camp.
A man who's been wounded.
All right, so there are no
wounds that you can see.
Nothing that says
he's a cripple.
But the scars he may have
could be worse than
losing an arm or a leg.
"May have."
We don't know
one thing for sure.
Well, we do know that it
can't be Colonel Johnson
who killed those women, because
his Lake Tahoe story checks out.
And we know that all
the I.D. checks in the city
haven't shown up
anybody who impersonates
an Air Force Colonel.
And, as the doctor here
said, we know that Abel has
gone through more hell
than any of us can imagine.
Now, I don't want
to bring him in here
and rake him over the coals.
I don't want to do that at all.
But I want to know where he is
and what he's doing
every waking minute.
Mind if I sit down?
Well, uh, seems to
me I have two choices.
I could say no and sit here
and stare at my drink
for an hour alone,
or I could say yes...
I'm an expert on dilemmas.
- Let's flip for it.
- Oh, no.
Oh, no, no,
let's, uh, let's flip.
Heads or tails?
Heads.
Jim.
You win.
You didn't even look at it.
I would have lied anyway.
Hey, Colonel.
Hi.
A couple of drinks.
Sure.
You two know each other?
No, we just met.
Oh. This is Major Harrington's
wife? Dan Harrington?
Isn't his tour just about over?
I don't really know, Jim.
A little drier this
time around, okay?
Yeah.
And it's Marcia.
How about you, Colonel?
Do you have a name?
Yeah.
Mike, he's not on the base.
What?
Well, how did that happen?
You were supposed
to get with him.
I don't know. I
guess he left early.
I tried to track him
down, but he left already.
Higgins didn't get
anybody on him?
Well, he's got people
set up for tomorrow.
Tomorrow? That doesn't
help us today, does it?
Tomorrow.
All right.
Okay, just a minute now.
Listen.
Make sure they get a
check-in time on Abel, will you?
Right.
Let's hope we don't need it.
Lieutenant, the lady
in the chair's her sister.
She came by about
10:00 to pick up the victim.
Apparently, this
one lives alone.
Maggie Abel.
No, sir. Marcia Harrington.
Marcia Harrington.
That-that's right.
Yeah, I know. I know.
I was just thinking out loud.
She died between 9:00 and 10:00.
Abel returned to
the base at 23:20.
11:20. That's just about right.
It still could be a coincidence.
All right.
Take a look at these.
There's a picture
of the latest victim,
and here's a
picture of Abel's wife.
All right.
They look alike. So?
So, another coincidence?
It could be.
It could be that Abel
came back to the base at 11:20.
I know that. It could be.
But there could be another
coincidence, you know.
I just got through
checking the files again.
Marcia Harrington
is a military wife.
And like all the other victims,
she left her husband
when he was overseas,
just like Abel's wife did.
Now, that could be
a coincidence to you,
but to me, it's a
pattern for murder.
What do you want me to do?
You remember nothing?
I remember meeting
her at the Graf Zeppelin.
I didn't go out with her.
At least I don't think I did.
Well, you know
how it is, Keller.
I was pretty stoned.
Or is it Keller?
Same name, Colonel.
Just a different ID.
- Cop?
- Yes. I work with Lieutenant Stone.
And you've been working on me.
Higgins?
I don't have all the
answers, either, Colonel.
It could be the answer
is locked up inside you.
What are you telling me?
I'm some kind of
a Jekyll and Hyde?
Now, what's wrong with me?
What have I done?
Colonel, I think
there's only one way
to get the answers we all need.
What's that?
I'd like to give you an
injection of Pentothal.
We use it sometimes
in accident cases.
It helps the mind
sort out things
that happen too
fast for the memory,
or which the memory is
trying to erase for some reason.
You're telling me I'm crazy.
No. No, just wounded.
From the time
you were in prison.
A wound we couldn't
know about till now.
And I do things
without knowing it?
Possibly.
All right, let's go.
I loved her.
She was with someone else.
Why?
Why, Maggie?
Why couldn't you feel
the same way as I did?
If I could create you
the way I wanted to,
that should have been
enough for you, too.
What is it about women,
they can't continue without
constant reassurance?
Who gave us reassurance?
Five years... we heard nothing.
I heard nothing.
Had nothing.
But it didn't change me.
Hmm?
Go on.
It did change you, Carl.
It changed you.
You killed Maggie.
No. Loved Maggie.
But you put your hands
around her throat, and...
No. No, no, I couldn't.
I loved her.
But do you know another woman?
Marcia Harrington?
Yes, like Maggie.
- Yes, that's right.
- But not Maggie.
You loved her, too,
and you killed her.
No, no.
- No, no.
- But you went out with her.
Don't you remember?
She left me like Maggie.
She left, and I drank.
Drank to forget.
I could never love anybody else.
Ever.
So, if it's not Abel,
it's not Johnson,
what do we have?
Well, maybe you
win that bet after all.
An impostor?
Looks like that's the
only way we've got to go.
Wait a minute. We
got one more thing.
What's that?
Those matchbooks
from the Graf Zeppelin.
The last two victims were
there just before they were killed.
But we don't know about
the other three, do we?
Well, let's talk
to the bartender.
Good idea.
Here you are, Colonel.
Just like new.
Let me look.
Yeah, they got it out.
Polished the eagles, too.
Blood stains are tough, though.
Me... I always
dress after I shave.
So, uh, where
are you off to now?
Middle East.
Excuse me, sir.
Something wrong, Sergeant?
Is that your uniform?
This? No, no, it belongs
to a friend of mine. Why?
Is your friend
stationed at McClellan?
Yeah, that's right.
And he has his
cleaning done here?
Yeah.
Better check him out.
May I see some
identification, please?
Sure. Sure, no problem.
Uh, would a driver's
license be okay?
Don't move!
That's our man. But
give me your gun.
- You call it in. I'm going after him.
- Okay.
No, uh, not any of
them, but then, like I said,
I've only been here three weeks.
This one.
- I'm sure I've seen her.
- Anybody with her?
No one in particular.
But she used to come in here
when I was managing at night.
What about the other two?
No. I don't remember them.
Maybe Jim will.
He's got an eye for the girls,
especially the married ones.
Does she mean your
bartender, Danielson?
- Yes.
- Is he here now?
No, it's his day off.
I wonder if we could have,
uh, his home address?
Oh, sure, yeah.
It's in my office.
Uh, it's for you, Lieutenant.
It's Mr. Higgins.
Yeah.
Judy, about Danielson.
What do you mean,
"Especially the married ones?"
Oh, nothing, I guess.
No. What, did he have, uh,
some kind of hang-up or what?
Well, he always seemed
to like the retreads.
I mean, if she wore a ring,
and had any interest in planes,
that was it.
He'd come unglued.
Steve?
APs just stopped a guy
carrying a colonel's uniform.
Danielson.
How did you know?
Lady just told me he goes
bongos over airmen's wives.
So, they got him?
No, he ran away.
They got a positive
ID from the cleaners,
and they got a make on his car.
A kind of a light
blue convertible.
Listen, get back to the base,
will you? Talk to the APs?
And I'll wait for his address.
Go to his home.
Oh.
I'm Lieutenant Stone, San
Francisco Police Department.
- Yes.
- Is Jim home?
No, he isn't. Is
something wrong?
No, I talked to him before
at the place where he works.
I wanted to ask him a few
more questions, that's all.
Oh, I see.
Well, he just went into
town to run some errands.
He ought to be
back straight away.
Would you care to wait?
Thank you.
Okay.
Could I get you some
coffee, Lieutenant?
- No.
- I've got some perking.
- No, thanks.
- All right.
These questions
that you mentioned
that you wanted to ask Jimmy...
Maybe, well, would
there be any of them
that I might be able
to help you with?
Well, I don't know.
It's about an officer,
an Air Force officer, a Colonel.
And I thought maybe that
your son would have known him
when he was in the service.
Well, now, you see,
there's a couple of things I
can help you with already.
- How's that?
- Well, number one... Jimmy's not my son.
He's my nephew.
Number two... he's
never been in the service.
Well, I understood he
was in the Air Force.
Oh, no, you got some
wrong information there.
His father, George...
Now that's my
brother... He was a flyer.
You say your brother
is in the service?
What is he now?
A colonel, maybe?
No, my brother's dead.
I'm sorry.
Well, it was a sorry thing.
A man goes off and
risks his life like that
and spends all that
time in a prison camp.
And then he comes back,
and he's treated like dirt.
I have some pictures.
Would you like to see some?
- Yes. Yes, I would.
- All right. Would you come this way?
You know, I don't know
what's become of Jimmy.
He should be back by now.
Now, there's George.
Uh-huh.
Yes.
Excuse me. I-I wasn't following.
You said that-that people
didn't treat him too well?
His wife.
While he was in
that jungle prison,
she was in half the
hotel rooms in the city.
Broke his heart when
he found out about that.
Yeah, I can imagine.
Say, that's quite a plane there.
Oh, that's Jimmy's.
He keeps it over here
at Reddin Field. Oh,
he's so proud of that.
He flies, too, huh?
Oh, my goodness, yes,
every chance he gets.
He takes that little
old plane up to Reno...
He has a cabin up
there... And he flies
over those
mountains all the time.
He says he's as good a
flier as his dad ever was,
even though he never
got a chance to prove it.
I'll bet Jim was pretty
close to his father, then.
No. They were never close.
They never got the chance to be.
Well, my brother was never the
same after what she did to him.
Oh, and what about
her, where is she now?
Well, she left George
as soon as he got back.
And I don't know where she went.
And I don't care, Lieutenant.
I just hope she got
what she deserved.
Does Jim feel that
way about her, too?
Well, how else could he feel?
She deserted him,
too, didn't she?
Suspect now headed north
on Lincoln Avenue,
approaching La Paz.
Request backup units.
Intercept if possible.
Inspectors eight-one
to headquarters.
I'm right on Central Two's tail.
I believe suspect is
heading for Reddin field.
Has a plane there.
Alert airfield to prevent
him from taking off.
Roger.
Hey, you know
that guy Danielson?
- With the biplane?
- Yeah. We just got a message.
The police want him.
If he puts in for
takeoff, don't clear him.
Charlie Fox 408,
Reddin tower calling.
Come in, please.
Charlie Fox, this
is Reddin tower.
Charlie Fox 408,
come in, please.
I'm Lieutenant Stone,
San Francisco Police.
Fella, can you raise him?
- No, sir, he's not responding.
- Well, how about tracking him?
We don't have radar.
Can you get me
McClellan Air Base?
Higgins.
How long ago?
Just now. Listen, he's
flying one of those, um...
those-those two-wing
planes, you know?
Can you track him?
I can do better
than that. Hold on.
Is that Mike?
Yeah. A man just took
off from Reddin Field.
This is Higgins, OSI.
Give me Base Ops. Emergency.
Hurry it up.
Charlie Fox, do you read?
Reddin tower to Charlie Fox.
Come in. Charlie Fox 408.
Say, do you mind if I try?
Go ahead.
CF 408,
this is Lieutenant Stone,
San Francisco Police.
CF 408, can you hear me?
This is Lieutenant Stone,
San Francisco Police.
Danielson...
if you can hear me,
think this over, will you?
You need help, son.
Bring the plane in;
you can't escape.
Danielson, do you hear me?
Danielson...
maybe you couldn't
help what you did,
but we know we can help you.
Delta One to Control.
I have CF 408 in sight.
Am leaving
four-zero for two-zero.
Roger, Delta One.
Is there any way
we can talk to him?
Yeah.
You're on, Inspector.
Danielson, this
is Inspector Keller.
Danielson, can you hear
me? This is Inspector Keller.
Steve, Mike.
Do you have him?
We got him in sight, Mike.
Yeah, he can hear us, all right.
He's ducking down under radar.
Johnson, can you
keep him in sight?
I'll try, but in
that little bucket
he can fly us dizzy down there.
We lost him.
Steve, what happened?
He ducked into a canyon, Mike.
We can't find him.
Which way is he headed?
I-I don't know. I'm
a little turned around
up here myself,
Mike. I don't know.
This is Colonel
Johnson, Lieutenant.
I read 40 degrees toward Reno.
Colonel Johnson, you
said toward Reno, huh?
- Roger.
- Are you sure he's listening to us?
Yeah, he hears us, all right.
All right, Danielson,
if you listen to me,
you just listen good!
We know about
your cabin in Reno.
We'll have the police there
waiting for you
when you get there.
So just forget it!
You forget it, Lieutenant.
I can out-fly you all day long.
When that sun is gone, so am I.
He's about out of canyon.
He's got to come
up for air sometime.
If I time it just right, I
think I can give him some.
That rattled his bones.
See if it changed his tune any.
Danielson, this
is Inspector Keller.
Danielson, do you read me?
This is Inspector Keller.
He's in trouble.
Danielson, pull it out.
Pull it out,
Danielson! Pull it out!
Steve? Mike.
What happened?
♪♪
Delta One to Rescue.
We have a downed aircraft.
Location is 140
for 25, channel 106.
Repeat, Delta One to Rescue.
We have a downed aircraft.
♪♪
Thank you.
What happened?
Danielson died on impact.
Yeah. It figures.
The whole thing
disintegrated when it hit.
Strange, isn't it?
A guy like Danielson,
wanted to be a hero all his life,
ends up insane.
While a guy like Abel, who
thinks he might be going insane
because of what
made him a hero...
- Do you know what I'm talking about?
- No. No, I don't.
But, uh, I got a little
battle fatigue, you know?
So let me just get the gear
off and I'll drive us home.
Well, did you ever ask
yourself why one man's dream
- is another man's nightmare?
- Yes, I've asked myself.
- And?
- And I'll drive the car home, okay?
What are you talking about,
you drive the car home?
Listen... haven't you
ever heard of RHIP?
What?
RHIP.
"Rank Has Its Privileges."
You're a captain today!
Captains don't
drive lieutenants,
- lieutenants drive captains!
- All right, all right,
all right, I'm ready!
I said today... Tomorrow's
a different story.
So enjoy it while
you can, my boy,
- because tomorrow comes awfully fast!
- Oh, man!
♪♪
♪♪
Larynx has been crushed.
Yeah, it looks it.
Must have been pretty
strong, whoever he was.
No other bruises?
Don't seem to be.
No rips, no tears, huh?
Looks like she didn't object
to what was going on before.
Let me know when
you've got another report,
will you, Bernie?
Right.
Okay, that's C-O-R-D,
Cord, is that right?
Yeah, yeah, Harry Cord.
So, what happened, Harry?
I was walking outside
with my girlfriend,
we were coming
home from the movies,
and I heard this scream.
You knew something was
going on, something terrible,
so I tried to get through the
front door, and it was locked,
so I climbed up the building,
and then this air force guy...
Wait a minute, an air force guy?
He had a uniform on?
Yeah.
Well, what was he... An
airman, noncom, what?
I don't know for sure.
I just saw he had his
hands around her throat,
so I went through the window
and ran at him, and he hit me.
Next thing I knew, this
man here was waking me up.
But you don't remember
what rank he had?
No, an officer maybe.
I don't remember any stripes.
What about his face?
Anything that would
give us a description?
No, nothing good.
I'm pretty sure
he had blond hair.
About how big?
I don't know... he was
too big for me, I guess.
Well, you took a real chance,
you know that, don't you, son?
Maybe.
I couldn't just let
somebody kill somebody.
If I had just been
a little quicker...
Steve, how about the
girl who made the call?
No, that was his girlfriend.
Their stories check.
We appreciate anything
you can tell us, Mr. Danielson.
Sure, Lieutenant, no
problem, no problem at all.
Is that her?
Yeah, Gail Kramer.
Oh, no.
You do know her?
Oh, not by name, no,
but, sure, I remember her.
Who wouldn't?
She was a classy kind of lady.
Been in here lots of times.
Drank, uh, whiskey sours, yeah.
What about last night?
Yeah, yeah, she
sat right over there.
Was she alone?
Inspector, that kind of
woman is never alone.
No, she was with some dude.
Air force?
Could be.
A lot of those
guys come in here.
I remember him.
He was an officer, I think.
He had, uh, those ribbons.
You know what I mean,
the, uh, DC something.
That's DFC, honey.
She's new here.
What did he look like?
Oh, come on, Lieutenant,
sitting next to a chick
like that, who looks?
But you're sure, uh, he
was wearing a DFC, huh?
Oh, I'm sure of it, yeah.
Well, if he had one of those,
he earned it, believe me.
During the Tet
Offensive I was in Hue.
I'd still be there
if it wasn't for those
jet jockeys flying over.
Any of those guys come
into my bar, honest drink.
How about a description?
Oh, 35, 40 maybe.
Hair?
Blond, I think.
About six feet, average
build, nice looking, too.
Remember what rank he had?
I remember he had those eagles.
Oh, that makes him
a colonel, full-bird.
I only made sergeant myself.
That makes two of us.
- Marines.
- You're kidding.
Oh, yes, sir, Inspector,
they're expecting you.
Um, there's the line you follow
and here's the Air Force
Office of Special Investigations.
Thank you very much.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I'll get back to you.
Hi.
Dick Higgins.
Mike Stone?
That's right.
This is Inspector Keller.
- How do you do?
- Hello.
The chief of special
investigations assigned me
to handle our end of the case,
although I must
confess I haven't had
that much experience
working with civilians.
Well, I must confess I haven't
had that much experience
working with military
investigations either,
but, uh, I do know
what you're thinking.
Mm-hmm.
Don't get me wrong.
I'll give you every
possible cooperation,
but I'd be less than
honest with you
if I didn't tell you up front,
I think you're on
the wrong track here.
Well, Mr. Higgins,
you wouldn't say
the uniform makes
the man, would you?
No, no.
All a uniform does is make
a different quality of life.
We're as human as the next guy,
but that same
uniform can be worn
by people who are
not in the service,
and I am betting that's
what's happened here.
Impersonating an officer.
Right.
If it's one of those guys,
I want him as bad as you do.
Since you called,
I sent out a directive
to all military police
in the San Francisco area,
requesting specific I.D.
checks on all air force officers.
Excuse me.
Yo.
Good.
The computer is ready.
We'll run your information
through our national index.
Give this man the information
you have, and he'll punch it in.
The man right here?
Right here.
Hello.
Uh, the man is between
30 and 45 years of age,
he's, uh, six feet, blond hair,
180 to 190 pounds,
full colonel, and
he's got the DFC.
Is that all, sir?
Uh, yeah, you got it.
From officers of that rank we'll
have only a few names, I'm sure.
Okay, baby'll do the rest.
Now we've got to
know their whereabouts
at the night of the murder.
Computer can't
help us there, sir.
Well, I'd like a list
of those names.
From now on, legwork.
Two men stationed at McClellan.
Peter Johnson, Carl Abel.
Both colonels, both
match the descriptions.
And both these guys were off
the base the time of the murder?
They were.
Yeah, I want to talk to them.
Not just yet.
Well, now wait a minute.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
I promised full cooperation,
and you're gonna get it.
But hear me out first, okay?
Okay.
These are not ordinary men.
Peter Johnson, an
ace in Korea at 22.
Shot down and wounded in 'Nam.
Abel... the same thing.
A P.O.W. for five years.
I think you can see why I
don't want them dragged in
for questioning like any
common criminal, Mike.
Yeah, I can see that,
but I think you ought to know
what we came up with, too.
All right.
We put our own computer to work,
and it came up
with something that,
well, looks like
a small epidemic.
Take a look at those.
All attractive, all
about the same age,
and all killed the same way...
Strangled by an
unknown assailant.
All here in San Francisco?
No, no, one in San
Francisco, the other in Oakland,
the third was
down the peninsula.
And the kicker is,
the girl from Oakland
was seen going out
twice with a guy in uniform.
Air force?
Mm-hmm, full colonel,
and a friend of hers
says that she's positive
the guy was
stationed at your base.
But no name?
Mm-mm, no prints either
in all three of the cases.
Well, then there's nothing
positive to point directly
to either of these two men.
Not yet, but I'm
still going to want
a complete profile
on both of them.
You'll get it.
Oh, and Mike...
as I said before,
it could be that someone
from the base is the man,
but if it's either of these two,
let's make sure which
one and spare the other.
Fair enough?
Fair enough.
Yeah, yeah, it could be.
Which one?
- Huh?
- Could be which one?
Oh, either one of them.
They look like
brothers, don't they?
Listen, you want me to
keep these pictures here,
show 'em to the girl
when she comes on?
No, no, no, we'd
like to hold onto 'em
for a little while longer,
but, uh, we would appreciate
it if you kept this confidential.
Sure, Lieutenant, I understand.
Good.
Well, now what?
I don't know, I just don't know.
All the leads have been
checked out... all dead ends.
If it's at all possible, I'd just
as soon you wouldn't talk
to these two men
directly, gentlemen.
Well, what if I
did it indirectly?
Well, you know I did
Air ROTC at Berkeley.
Got a few hours in a T-33.
I can at least talk their game.
That's right, you did.
I think it's a good idea, sure.
Sure?
Sure, what, put you in uniform?
Well, you said yourself, the
uniform doesn't make the man.
At least this way I could
check out Johnson and Abel
without having to put
'em through the wringer.
I don't know.
Well, who would know?
I'd have to check it out with
the base commander, Mike.
Colonel Johnson?
Yes.
Steven Keller, Auditor
General's Office.
Sorry, your office
didn't notify you?
No, they didn't. Do you
have any I.D., Captain?
Yes, sir.
Auditor General's Office?
Yes, I'm afraid your special
project's being audited.
You see, Congress
has gotten kind of tight
since the C-5A project,
and our investigations,
well, they help finance the good
ones and weed out the bad ones.
Okay, if you want to talk,
make it lunch at the officers' club.
Say, 1300 hours.
Yes, sir.
- Colonel Abel?
- That's right.
Hi. Steven Keller,
Auditor General's Office.
Oh, yeah. They told
me you'd be out here.
What can I do for you, Keller?
Well, sir, you're gonna have
to bear with me for a while.
I got a lot of questions
and a lot of paperwork.
Now, you are projects
commander of AQS-314?
That's right.
Seems to have an
awful high price tag.
So what exactly does it involve?
Well, without going into
classified information,
it's simply a fire control
system for COIN-type aircraft.
"COIN" being counter-insurgency,
or guerilla-style warfare.
That kind of action, you
need some way to direct fire
at low level and high speed.
Against truck convoys,
barges on rivers.
AQS-314 controls
both target approach
and aircraft weapon systems.
It'll save a lot of lives.
And all of AQS-314
is right in here?
Yeah, most of it.
See, the cost is
in the electronics.
Most people don't know
that the instrument panel
and even the civilian
light aircraft costs as much
or more than the
rest of the aircraft.
Okay.
Thanks a lot, Harry.
Listen, I got to take my run.
Drop by the office later,
I'll show you a
mock-up of the system.
- Thank you, sir.
- All right.
Talk about money, Congress
and appropriations...
That doesn't interest me.
What I care about is the
lifespan of a pilot in combat.
That's my
responsibility: training.
The more a man
flies, the better he gets.
If we get cut off
from fuel allocations,
airspace requests,
even-even spare parts,
then our readiness
as a nation diminishes.
Uh, I'll have a club
sandwich, please.
Make that two.
But you don't know
if it'll ever be needed.
No, nobody knows
the answer to that one.
Without a high
state of readiness,
well, we'll have problems.
Just like Cuba when the
Russians wanted to move in.
Let's face it.
We're just like cops.
Expensive, useless,
sometimes even hated...
Until we're needed.
I see you have a
Vietnam service medal.
Where were you?
Uh, Da Nang.
When was that?
'66, '67.
Hmm. When all hell broke loose.
Yeah.
What unit?
Well, it was a
combat support unit.
Support.
I thought they
went to Han Sa Nut.
What were you doing in Da Nang?
I-I bounced around
a lot, you know.
Have adding
machine, will travel.
Huh.
You, uh, spend
any time in a jet?
Some, yeah.
What was that group you
were with, the, uh, 22nd 31st?
Uh, no, no.
It was the 22nd 37th.
Thank you.
Well, uh, listen, you
want to learn more
about the gunnery program,
there's only one way.
Not exactly an
adding machine, is it?
This bird burns kerosene.
Lots of it.
But, you know, it's worth
it, 'cause it can do anything.
Let's say we got an intercept.
An unknown aircraft
at 35,000 feet.
One of the reasons
pilots need practice
is so they can
withstand g-forces.
Like any other training,
if they're not used
to it, it can hurt them.
Okay, Captain,
you get the aircraft.
No, thanks.
You said you'd flown some.
All right, it's all yours.
Johnson, you take it!
Got it.
Okay, Keller, who are you?
I called a friend of
mine in the Pentagon.
You were never in the 22nd 37th.
You were never in Da Nang.
As a matter of
fact, you don't exist.
So what's the story, Keller?
I'll tell you.
Just get me on the
ground, please, now!
I call it dirty pool.
Would you rather get
hit between the eyes
with suspicion of murder?
Have the burden of
proof fall upon yourself?
No.
Then you have to understand
our responsibility here, Colonel.
First, we have to stop
the man who did the killing.
Second, we have to help him.
He's sick, he's in bad shape.
Okay.
But like I said, I was at Lake
Tahoe with a close friend.
She'll vouch for it.
We'll check it out.
In the meantime, the commander
wants you to stay on the base.
All right.
And continue to
cooperate with Keller, huh?
Sure. Any time he wants
to go flying, all he has to do
is say the word.
The film is ready, sir.
All right. Dr. Brice here?
Yes, sir. He's waiting.
Fine, thank you.
The film is ready.
Are you ready?
I thought you took ROTC.
Huh?
Oh, lay off of me, will you?
Brice is a psychiatrist,
specializing in problems
encountered by
men in the military.
So I asked him to run
down this film for us.
Okay, what'd you find out,
Frank? Anything interesting?
Well, I've already looked at
the film in its entirety twice,
and it's all very interesting
from a documentary
point of view, but, uh,
this point at the end might
turn out to be very interesting.
Now, you say this is from a
debriefing session, Doctor?
Yes, uh, two years ago.
All POWs were
debriefed on their return.
And those sessions were taped.
All right, now this is Abel.
Got pretty rough sometimes.
Now, I'm not
complaining, but it did.
Men died in the camp
from what they did to us.
If you sat there and thought
about it, you'd go insane.
Why no one was coming to help,
why the world was
made out of inhumanity.
Fear.
That's what would get you.
Anyway, as time went on...
I think it was at the
end of the first year...
You were a prisoner
for how long?
Five years.
Anyway, you'd find
that you'd developed
what we called the switch.
- The switch?
- Yes.
When you started to
think about everything,
you threw the switch and you
wouldn't think about it anymore.
You couldn't. It was
like electricity... on or off.
For me, it was a green
field with a few flowers.
I could almost smell it.
Then I'd see Maggie.
I'd reach out and
touch her hair,
and she would say,
"Welcome home."
And I'd lie beside her in the
grass, and she'd lean over me.
Nothing could get through that.
Nothing.
I mean, I don't care
what they did to me.
Thanks to Maggie.
Couldn't have
done it without her.
And you'd say that
this switch was one of
the keys to your survival?
Oh, absolutely.
We all had it, in
one form or another.
I mean, if they
didn't, they didn't last.
I've looked over his
record very carefully.
Now, three days after
this interview was taped,
he was found fit and
released from the hospital
to return to his wife.
Her welcome home to him was
to serve him with divorce papers.
He lives alone now in the BOQ.
She married a doctor,
someone she fell in love with
when he was a POW.
Doctor, if he developed a switch
he could turn
off and on at will,
could he have killed those
girls without remembering it?
Not even being conscious of it?
Well, it's highly improbable,
but, yes, it's possible.
- Because of what she did?
- Possibly.
Where is she now?
North Carolina.
Why didn't he try
to kill her there?
Well, maybe he
couldn't. He loved her.
He hated her for what she
stood for, what she did to him.
Perhaps.
What triggered the switch?
What set it off?
Stop it!
Listen to yourselves.
You're making him
sound like Jack the Ripper.
He's a hero.
He's a man, Dick.
A man who survived five
years in a prison camp.
A man who's been wounded.
All right, so there are no
wounds that you can see.
Nothing that says
he's a cripple.
But the scars he may have
could be worse than
losing an arm or a leg.
"May have."
We don't know
one thing for sure.
Well, we do know that it
can't be Colonel Johnson
who killed those women, because
his Lake Tahoe story checks out.
And we know that all
the I.D. checks in the city
haven't shown up
anybody who impersonates
an Air Force Colonel.
And, as the doctor here
said, we know that Abel has
gone through more hell
than any of us can imagine.
Now, I don't want
to bring him in here
and rake him over the coals.
I don't want to do that at all.
But I want to know where he is
and what he's doing
every waking minute.
Mind if I sit down?
Well, uh, seems to
me I have two choices.
I could say no and sit here
and stare at my drink
for an hour alone,
or I could say yes...
I'm an expert on dilemmas.
- Let's flip for it.
- Oh, no.
Oh, no, no,
let's, uh, let's flip.
Heads or tails?
Heads.
Jim.
You win.
You didn't even look at it.
I would have lied anyway.
Hey, Colonel.
Hi.
A couple of drinks.
Sure.
You two know each other?
No, we just met.
Oh. This is Major Harrington's
wife? Dan Harrington?
Isn't his tour just about over?
I don't really know, Jim.
A little drier this
time around, okay?
Yeah.
And it's Marcia.
How about you, Colonel?
Do you have a name?
Yeah.
Mike, he's not on the base.
What?
Well, how did that happen?
You were supposed
to get with him.
I don't know. I
guess he left early.
I tried to track him
down, but he left already.
Higgins didn't get
anybody on him?
Well, he's got people
set up for tomorrow.
Tomorrow? That doesn't
help us today, does it?
Tomorrow.
All right.
Okay, just a minute now.
Listen.
Make sure they get a
check-in time on Abel, will you?
Right.
Let's hope we don't need it.
Lieutenant, the lady
in the chair's her sister.
She came by about
10:00 to pick up the victim.
Apparently, this
one lives alone.
Maggie Abel.
No, sir. Marcia Harrington.
Marcia Harrington.
That-that's right.
Yeah, I know. I know.
I was just thinking out loud.
She died between 9:00 and 10:00.
Abel returned to
the base at 23:20.
11:20. That's just about right.
It still could be a coincidence.
All right.
Take a look at these.
There's a picture
of the latest victim,
and here's a
picture of Abel's wife.
All right.
They look alike. So?
So, another coincidence?
It could be.
It could be that Abel
came back to the base at 11:20.
I know that. It could be.
But there could be another
coincidence, you know.
I just got through
checking the files again.
Marcia Harrington
is a military wife.
And like all the other victims,
she left her husband
when he was overseas,
just like Abel's wife did.
Now, that could be
a coincidence to you,
but to me, it's a
pattern for murder.
What do you want me to do?
You remember nothing?
I remember meeting
her at the Graf Zeppelin.
I didn't go out with her.
At least I don't think I did.
Well, you know
how it is, Keller.
I was pretty stoned.
Or is it Keller?
Same name, Colonel.
Just a different ID.
- Cop?
- Yes. I work with Lieutenant Stone.
And you've been working on me.
Higgins?
I don't have all the
answers, either, Colonel.
It could be the answer
is locked up inside you.
What are you telling me?
I'm some kind of
a Jekyll and Hyde?
Now, what's wrong with me?
What have I done?
Colonel, I think
there's only one way
to get the answers we all need.
What's that?
I'd like to give you an
injection of Pentothal.
We use it sometimes
in accident cases.
It helps the mind
sort out things
that happen too
fast for the memory,
or which the memory is
trying to erase for some reason.
You're telling me I'm crazy.
No. No, just wounded.
From the time
you were in prison.
A wound we couldn't
know about till now.
And I do things
without knowing it?
Possibly.
All right, let's go.
I loved her.
She was with someone else.
Why?
Why, Maggie?
Why couldn't you feel
the same way as I did?
If I could create you
the way I wanted to,
that should have been
enough for you, too.
What is it about women,
they can't continue without
constant reassurance?
Who gave us reassurance?
Five years... we heard nothing.
I heard nothing.
Had nothing.
But it didn't change me.
Hmm?
Go on.
It did change you, Carl.
It changed you.
You killed Maggie.
No. Loved Maggie.
But you put your hands
around her throat, and...
No. No, no, I couldn't.
I loved her.
But do you know another woman?
Marcia Harrington?
Yes, like Maggie.
- Yes, that's right.
- But not Maggie.
You loved her, too,
and you killed her.
No, no.
- No, no.
- But you went out with her.
Don't you remember?
She left me like Maggie.
She left, and I drank.
Drank to forget.
I could never love anybody else.
Ever.
So, if it's not Abel,
it's not Johnson,
what do we have?
Well, maybe you
win that bet after all.
An impostor?
Looks like that's the
only way we've got to go.
Wait a minute. We
got one more thing.
What's that?
Those matchbooks
from the Graf Zeppelin.
The last two victims were
there just before they were killed.
But we don't know about
the other three, do we?
Well, let's talk
to the bartender.
Good idea.
Here you are, Colonel.
Just like new.
Let me look.
Yeah, they got it out.
Polished the eagles, too.
Blood stains are tough, though.
Me... I always
dress after I shave.
So, uh, where
are you off to now?
Middle East.
Excuse me, sir.
Something wrong, Sergeant?
Is that your uniform?
This? No, no, it belongs
to a friend of mine. Why?
Is your friend
stationed at McClellan?
Yeah, that's right.
And he has his
cleaning done here?
Yeah.
Better check him out.
May I see some
identification, please?
Sure. Sure, no problem.
Uh, would a driver's
license be okay?
Don't move!
That's our man. But
give me your gun.
- You call it in. I'm going after him.
- Okay.
No, uh, not any of
them, but then, like I said,
I've only been here three weeks.
This one.
- I'm sure I've seen her.
- Anybody with her?
No one in particular.
But she used to come in here
when I was managing at night.
What about the other two?
No. I don't remember them.
Maybe Jim will.
He's got an eye for the girls,
especially the married ones.
Does she mean your
bartender, Danielson?
- Yes.
- Is he here now?
No, it's his day off.
I wonder if we could have,
uh, his home address?
Oh, sure, yeah.
It's in my office.
Uh, it's for you, Lieutenant.
It's Mr. Higgins.
Yeah.
Judy, about Danielson.
What do you mean,
"Especially the married ones?"
Oh, nothing, I guess.
No. What, did he have, uh,
some kind of hang-up or what?
Well, he always seemed
to like the retreads.
I mean, if she wore a ring,
and had any interest in planes,
that was it.
He'd come unglued.
Steve?
APs just stopped a guy
carrying a colonel's uniform.
Danielson.
How did you know?
Lady just told me he goes
bongos over airmen's wives.
So, they got him?
No, he ran away.
They got a positive
ID from the cleaners,
and they got a make on his car.
A kind of a light
blue convertible.
Listen, get back to the base,
will you? Talk to the APs?
And I'll wait for his address.
Go to his home.
Oh.
I'm Lieutenant Stone, San
Francisco Police Department.
- Yes.
- Is Jim home?
No, he isn't. Is
something wrong?
No, I talked to him before
at the place where he works.
I wanted to ask him a few
more questions, that's all.
Oh, I see.
Well, he just went into
town to run some errands.
He ought to be
back straight away.
Would you care to wait?
Thank you.
Okay.
Could I get you some
coffee, Lieutenant?
- No.
- I've got some perking.
- No, thanks.
- All right.
These questions
that you mentioned
that you wanted to ask Jimmy...
Maybe, well, would
there be any of them
that I might be able
to help you with?
Well, I don't know.
It's about an officer,
an Air Force officer, a Colonel.
And I thought maybe that
your son would have known him
when he was in the service.
Well, now, you see,
there's a couple of things I
can help you with already.
- How's that?
- Well, number one... Jimmy's not my son.
He's my nephew.
Number two... he's
never been in the service.
Well, I understood he
was in the Air Force.
Oh, no, you got some
wrong information there.
His father, George...
Now that's my
brother... He was a flyer.
You say your brother
is in the service?
What is he now?
A colonel, maybe?
No, my brother's dead.
I'm sorry.
Well, it was a sorry thing.
A man goes off and
risks his life like that
and spends all that
time in a prison camp.
And then he comes back,
and he's treated like dirt.
I have some pictures.
Would you like to see some?
- Yes. Yes, I would.
- All right. Would you come this way?
You know, I don't know
what's become of Jimmy.
He should be back by now.
Now, there's George.
Uh-huh.
Yes.
Excuse me. I-I wasn't following.
You said that-that people
didn't treat him too well?
His wife.
While he was in
that jungle prison,
she was in half the
hotel rooms in the city.
Broke his heart when
he found out about that.
Yeah, I can imagine.
Say, that's quite a plane there.
Oh, that's Jimmy's.
He keeps it over here
at Reddin Field. Oh,
he's so proud of that.
He flies, too, huh?
Oh, my goodness, yes,
every chance he gets.
He takes that little
old plane up to Reno...
He has a cabin up
there... And he flies
over those
mountains all the time.
He says he's as good a
flier as his dad ever was,
even though he never
got a chance to prove it.
I'll bet Jim was pretty
close to his father, then.
No. They were never close.
They never got the chance to be.
Well, my brother was never the
same after what she did to him.
Oh, and what about
her, where is she now?
Well, she left George
as soon as he got back.
And I don't know where she went.
And I don't care, Lieutenant.
I just hope she got
what she deserved.
Does Jim feel that
way about her, too?
Well, how else could he feel?
She deserted him,
too, didn't she?
Suspect now headed north
on Lincoln Avenue,
approaching La Paz.
Request backup units.
Intercept if possible.
Inspectors eight-one
to headquarters.
I'm right on Central Two's tail.
I believe suspect is
heading for Reddin field.
Has a plane there.
Alert airfield to prevent
him from taking off.
Roger.
Hey, you know
that guy Danielson?
- With the biplane?
- Yeah. We just got a message.
The police want him.
If he puts in for
takeoff, don't clear him.
Charlie Fox 408,
Reddin tower calling.
Come in, please.
Charlie Fox, this
is Reddin tower.
Charlie Fox 408,
come in, please.
I'm Lieutenant Stone,
San Francisco Police.
Fella, can you raise him?
- No, sir, he's not responding.
- Well, how about tracking him?
We don't have radar.
Can you get me
McClellan Air Base?
Higgins.
How long ago?
Just now. Listen, he's
flying one of those, um...
those-those two-wing
planes, you know?
Can you track him?
I can do better
than that. Hold on.
Is that Mike?
Yeah. A man just took
off from Reddin Field.
This is Higgins, OSI.
Give me Base Ops. Emergency.
Hurry it up.
Charlie Fox, do you read?
Reddin tower to Charlie Fox.
Come in. Charlie Fox 408.
Say, do you mind if I try?
Go ahead.
CF 408,
this is Lieutenant Stone,
San Francisco Police.
CF 408, can you hear me?
This is Lieutenant Stone,
San Francisco Police.
Danielson...
if you can hear me,
think this over, will you?
You need help, son.
Bring the plane in;
you can't escape.
Danielson, do you hear me?
Danielson...
maybe you couldn't
help what you did,
but we know we can help you.
Delta One to Control.
I have CF 408 in sight.
Am leaving
four-zero for two-zero.
Roger, Delta One.
Is there any way
we can talk to him?
Yeah.
You're on, Inspector.
Danielson, this
is Inspector Keller.
Danielson, can you hear
me? This is Inspector Keller.
Steve, Mike.
Do you have him?
We got him in sight, Mike.
Yeah, he can hear us, all right.
He's ducking down under radar.
Johnson, can you
keep him in sight?
I'll try, but in
that little bucket
he can fly us dizzy down there.
We lost him.
Steve, what happened?
He ducked into a canyon, Mike.
We can't find him.
Which way is he headed?
I-I don't know. I'm
a little turned around
up here myself,
Mike. I don't know.
This is Colonel
Johnson, Lieutenant.
I read 40 degrees toward Reno.
Colonel Johnson, you
said toward Reno, huh?
- Roger.
- Are you sure he's listening to us?
Yeah, he hears us, all right.
All right, Danielson,
if you listen to me,
you just listen good!
We know about
your cabin in Reno.
We'll have the police there
waiting for you
when you get there.
So just forget it!
You forget it, Lieutenant.
I can out-fly you all day long.
When that sun is gone, so am I.
He's about out of canyon.
He's got to come
up for air sometime.
If I time it just right, I
think I can give him some.
That rattled his bones.
See if it changed his tune any.
Danielson, this
is Inspector Keller.
Danielson, do you read me?
This is Inspector Keller.
He's in trouble.
Danielson, pull it out.
Pull it out,
Danielson! Pull it out!
Steve? Mike.
What happened?
♪♪
Delta One to Rescue.
We have a downed aircraft.
Location is 140
for 25, channel 106.
Repeat, Delta One to Rescue.
We have a downed aircraft.
♪♪
Thank you.
What happened?
Danielson died on impact.
Yeah. It figures.
The whole thing
disintegrated when it hit.
Strange, isn't it?
A guy like Danielson,
wanted to be a hero all his life,
ends up insane.
While a guy like Abel, who
thinks he might be going insane
because of what
made him a hero...
- Do you know what I'm talking about?
- No. No, I don't.
But, uh, I got a little
battle fatigue, you know?
So let me just get the gear
off and I'll drive us home.
Well, did you ever ask
yourself why one man's dream
- is another man's nightmare?
- Yes, I've asked myself.
- And?
- And I'll drive the car home, okay?
What are you talking about,
you drive the car home?
Listen... haven't you
ever heard of RHIP?
What?
RHIP.
"Rank Has Its Privileges."
You're a captain today!
Captains don't
drive lieutenants,
- lieutenants drive captains!
- All right, all right,
all right, I'm ready!
I said today... Tomorrow's
a different story.
So enjoy it while
you can, my boy,
- because tomorrow comes awfully fast!
- Oh, man!