04x12 - Black Thorn

[bunniefuu]

Baby, you're just too much.

You do better walking.

Too tired, my brother.

I've been on the move for six months.

You a salesman?

I'm a hunter, Sam.

You're pretty quick.
You read my name on the card there.

What kind of a hunter?

Let me off in the corner.

Take it easy, Sam.

Keep the change.

You're a little meaty, huh?

Are you Julie?

Why?

A friend on the coast said to
look up a fox by the name of Julie.

Yeah? What friend?

Silence is all question answered.

Oh, you want a reading?

Why don't you say that?

If I use the tarot deck,
it'll be eight dollars.

And that includes any questions, naturally.

Just one question. Where is
Anthony Mira?

A lousy cop.

I'm not a cop treat, lady.

I'm just a man that's looking for a man

that's running hard by
the way of Los Angeles,

Detroit, and Chicago.

Look, I don't want to be
mixed up in any snuffing.

Sister Julie,

do I look like a man
that would be part of a snuffing?

I'm not here to snuff Tony Mira.

I'm here to save his naughty bone,

God willing, and with
your help and cooperation.

Well, there's nothing I know.

He thinks I have some special gift.

I told him it wasn't so,
just away with cards,

but he don't believe me.

That's all I can tell you.

To Tony, my ace of wands, from Julie.

Where'd you get that?

Oh, I just looked down
once, and that was like magic.

Well, the ace of wands is not magic.

It's his inner card from the tarot deck.

All of his aspects are strange.

He owes a lot of dues in his 12th house.

He's weird.

He never did the same
thing twice, not the same way.

He came by cab one
time, he'd walk the next,

or change the meeting
place at the last second.

Crazy.

Only once did he take
me to the same place twice.

A dive south of Houston.

Really freaky.

One bite of steak, one
look over his shoulder.

It's all in his chart.

It's what they call paranoia.

He's just being careful, love.

It keeps him alive.

What do you mean?

He's an executioner for
Syndicate Green,

a hit man.

Why, his horoscope
should have told you that.

Good day, Sister Judy.

Yeah.

Hey, uh, Charlie
there?

Charlie?
- Yeah.

Your bookie.

Yeah, Charlie.

What do you want today, Charlie?

Yeah, the first at Belmont.

Make it a double.

Number seven, two, and six, four.

Twenty each.

Okay.

Seven, two, six, four.

Well, well, well, well.

A deputy commissioner and a city council.

They haven't had lasagna today.

Uh-huh.

You've got to be crazy walking in here.

I want to talk to Mr. C.

Tony, you're dead.

Lie down.

Matty, I'm carrying
your marker a long time.

Now, you've got to help me square myself.

Then how'd you get out, huh?

Hey, Tony, they were boxing
you for m*rder one first.

Hey, man, I don't know.

The judge says no bail.

All of a sudden, I'm out on $200,000.

I put up 10%.

I'm out on the street three hours.

Somebody tries to hit me.

To hit me!

Now, Matty, you know who I am.

They can keep sending
their soldiers all day.

Who cares? Are they kidding?

I took down three since I left the coast.

They were good, Matty.

But I am better.

I am the best.

You got wheels?

No, I'm back.

Okay.

I 'll send word.

You're telling me no?

Now you say no?

This man is destroying me, and you say no?

I say they're around him, like Fort Knox.

I say it's not worth to die for.

$100,000 ain't worth it to pull him down.

You yellow banana, you!

Get out of here! Beat it!

Big-head man, get out!

Yeah?

They're cold from the coast.

They were right.

He showed.

What are you bothering
me with that stuff for?

You know what to do with them.

Do it! Run no more, baby.

Papa's come to take you home.

I thought I lost you in Chicago.

But now we're together again.

Start her up.

It happens?

Sure it does.

You've flooded it, you turkey.

Now get out.

Slowly.

You walk ahead.

Give me a break, Harms.

I'm giving you a break, sugar, about
taking you back to that Gordon Fisco.

Let's go.

He's got my piece.

Did Mary make that
phone call?

Yeah. Mr. C. don't want
to hear your story.

Coming here was a gutsy
shot, but it don't pay off, move.

Get in.

You drive.

I'm gonna go check.

You better watch the driving, friend.

Johnny Mallick took a knife in the belly.

The round one over here found him.

Oh.

Matty, what can I tell you?
You lost your right arm.

Oh, no, no, no, Kojak.

I lost my best friend.

Yeah, what'd you think I meant, baby?

You, fat one, talk to me.

Well?

Well what, baldy?

Who's the belong?

It's Charlie the bartender.

What are you doing out here?
What did you see?

Well means move your lips.

Well, I came out for a little fresh air.

I see the stiff.

I do my good citizen act.

And if you want to know any more,

why don't you go get
yourself a wine, knobhead?

Not a mixed drinks, Matty? Good.

Because you just lost your beefy butt.

Come on, Lieutenant, give me a break.

Sure.

Lieutenant, the Tex found
some blood over there on the wall.

And it couldn't be his because
he fell where he got slit.

Check it out against his anyway.

Eight, nine, ten, four, and out, you!

You want to come with me, hot lips?

Sad face that you drive the car.

All right, take it easy.
Just take it easy, you understand?

I'm going, I'm going.

Get yourself an apron.
You're going to tend the bar.

Go.

This guy walks in.

Their eyes pop out. They talk.

I can't hear anything.

The guy goes out.

Matty gets up, makes a telephone
call, and sends his muscle after this guy.

A car won't start.

A g*n goes off.
I run out to see what's going on,

and I see a cab taking off. That's it.

What about the $100,000 contract rumble?

Just what I sent up Saturday.
It's still on.

Nothing about when, nothing about who's
got the contract or the intended victim.

Okay. You go through the books,
you even come up with a new face?

If not, nail down the portrait, okay?

I'll give you a story to
bring back to the bar.

I just can't believe it.

You take your own undercover man away.

You mean you just drive away?

Eight months of work put in jeopardy
from a bunch of lead-footed local cops.

Well, I can't
apologize enough, Mr. Whelan,

but if we hadn't
investigated that homicide,

it might have seemed a teensy-weensy
bit suspicious, don't you think?

Don't try and con me, Kojak.

The state of New York went on
the hook for 83 grand to buy that bar.

We spent a year looking for exactly
the right place that's also for sale,

and you local people
are stomping all over it.

Whelan, I'd like to remind the
new special prosecutor for narcotics.

We've gotten a gold mine
of information out of there.

You have, I haven't.

That bar was purchased for one
purpose and one purpose only.

Turkish whites on
the street again and in

quantities, and I want
the man who put it there.

And that bar was supposed
to lead me right to him

until your bulls broke all the china.

You want us out? Say the word.

Captain,

I wanted federal
people to get on this from the start,

but no, they insisted you
local people knew the scene.

Maybe they were referring
to traffic control, huh?

Whelan, one of my men has
his tuchus on the line in there.

Gentlemen, I think we've said it all.

What?

Did I say something?

Lieutenant, Captain, I
got a make on the guy

who came out of the
alley, and you were right.

He took a cab and I got the
drop point off the trip sheet.

Well?

Well, you want it standing
up or sitting down?

You want it here or in Staten Island?

Six foot six, torn to 60 pounds,

fingers like baseball
bats, hands like suitcases.

Should I continue?

Settle these your arms.

Big black dude from the coast, the
one who works for different bondsmen,

the one who goes after bail
jumpers for a percentage, him.

What's he doing in that bar?

What'd you do, forget your key, coochie coo?

You're taking quite a
chance, aren't you, Kojak?

Hi.

All right, folks, there's
nothing to see now.

Come on, get back.

Why the party, Kojak?

I thought we were on
the same team, sort of.

Salathiel.

If I knew it was you,
but downstairs the desk

has a Cosimo Medici
register in this room.

Is that right?

How's bounty hunting?

Good, bad, up and down.

Keeps me in the grits and watermelons.

Why don't you cut that shuffling down
the levee old man river routine, okay?

Got a master's degree from Berkeley,

Captain, Special Forces, Vietnam.

So who's the target for today?

And how does it relate to your
stabbing in the alley?

Okay.

Things have been kind of slow.

And I heard about this hot bar downtown.

So I thought I'd shop around.

Just shopping, la-di-da, like that?

Never even got inside the place.

Just walking past the alley, two steps,
a car fly by,

and I'm hugging the bricks trying to get out the
way, and I'll be damned

if some crazy dude
don't take a shot at me.

I'm a half a block down the street in
the cab before I realized I'd been hit.

And that's the truth, your honor, sir.

What kind of car make color?

Man all I saw was a flash of that g*n.

I didn't need to see nothing else.

My feet just started moving.

Listen, that's no need for
me to be lying to you, Kojak.

Money, Salathiel.

Money, money, money.

You'd lie to the Pope to protect
the 20% you get for bail jumpers?

Maybe I'll go back and learn some more.

Forget it.

Eh, well, look, Salathiel,

we got our eyes on that bar, okay?

We got a big gambling
operation coming down.

Gambling?
- Yeah.

So you forget about it, and, uh,

I'll forget that you were
a witness at a homicide.

Never even heard of the place.

Mm-mm.

In the morning,

you come down,

and you tell us all about that
walking by, all right?

First thing.

Cosimo Medici.

Man didn't bet or not.

Just wrote it down.

Yeah, I want Rizzo to
get down here and give

Saperstein a hand outside
the Gramercy Park Hotel

to follow a liar by the
name of Salathiel Harms,

aka Cosimo

Medici.

Capisce?

Yeah.

Tony Mira.

Hey, Tony, I'm glad you called.

Oh, yeah, sure you are.

You tell Mr. C.

his muscle-bound Mary was number four.

You tell him I want to take down anybody
he sends, or he can sit down and talk.

Tony, he wants to talk.

On a level.

He said there's a way.

All of a sudden, he says,
uh, he can make you happy.

And you can make him happy.

Okay.

Tell him okay.

I'll call you tomorrow.

He said today.

Tony!

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Hey, bruh, that's some guys that are
following me down on our homeboy.

Slow them up, please.
- Right on.

All right, man.

Bye-bye, boys.

Oh.

Oh.

Hey.

Hey.

Yeah.

I thought you wanted me
to meet you at your hotel.

Change my mind.

Huh?

What were you standing
there for?

You know me.

I eat surprises.

You know I've been going over my moves?

Very careful moves.

For the last six months.

All very, very careful.

All except one.

You want a drink or something?

How'd that picture get there?

It's an old picture.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

It was in my pocket.

When they picked me up in Frisco.

And they forgot it back.

Lieutenant, line three, San Francisco.

Yeah, hiya, Ted.

How's it going?

Okay, that's fine.

Listen, not too many months
ago, anybody jump a sizable bail?

Yeah, you want to call
me back?

Okay, hang on.

What's this about?

That knife in behind the bar.
I didn't buy that big slob story.

I really think he's here on business.

Yeah, Ted.

No, no, that's too small.

I mean something real big.

Yeah, that's more like it.



Hey, thanks, baby.

Yeah, return the favor.
Just don't send the giants back.

We ripped down the polar grounds.

Here.

Entity, the Mira Mira.

Six months ago, federal indictment,

expl*sive device causing
death and destruction.

Crocker!

Yo.

Call the Feds.

Tell them we think that Tony
Mira's in the neighborhood.

Get the flyer with his picture,

meet Stavros somewhere,

and he can butt up the make-up show.

So, how much is after Tony Mira?



I'd love to get paid that way.

$3,600 a suspect.

Ah, Frank.

$36,000.

Julie?

Hello?

Sorry, sister.

I did a job.

I got careless.

They grabbed me.

But I never talked.

And the rest you know.

I've laid it out. I laid it all out.

Including my life by coming here.

I trust you.

Oh, you trust us, Tony?

So how come you got
your hand in your pocket?

It's a grenade, yes?

Doesn't matter.

This is a child's game we all play.

You talked, you didn't talk.

What matters is you're here.

And you can square yourself.

Do us both a favor and live.

Name it.

Name it and it's done, Mr. C.

There was a man bothering me.

Hurting us.

Costing us.

I had a price out for him. Big money.

But nobody came to me and said,

I am the man to do it.

I want you to be that man, Anthony.

Who is he?

They say he wears bulletproof clothes.

That he's guarded night and day.

He's out of your life, Mr. C.

Don't you want another
price tag?

No price.

I'm doing this to prove myself.

You're a professional, Anthony.

Professionals get paid for what they do.

The contract is a hundred grand.

A hundred thousand dollar hit.

It's gone.

The neck is broken.

Shattered, actually.

He sold the rest of it.

Okay, thanks.

What'd you come up with?

Oh, nothing in here except the curve sign.

Leo, Leo the lion.

Could be a name.

Uh, Leo, Leon.

Maybe it's Leonard.

All right, you guys.
This is it.

We're right down to the wire.

Place is a morgue since Johnny.

Johnny got tucked down in an alley.

A hundred grand.

Mirror, mirror on the wall.

Drink your drink.

Hey, what did I say?

I said a hundred grand.

And to drill yourself.

He's a dead man.

He had a tank.

He's a dead man.

I'll lay you even money.

You don't go through with it.

Come on.

Put it up.

Come on, put it up.

You'll find some banana in the stars.

And chicken out.

You talk too much, honey.

Donnie.

The law.

Put it.

Are you sure?

I'm sure.

Parker, give me the
federal flyer on Tony Mirror.

Captain?
- I know.

Tom's just put the collar
on the president of the

UN, but jumping bail on the Security
Council, right?

Almost as good.

Stavros came up with
an early Christmas present.

A 100 grand hitman.

Oh.

And a bail jumper, Tony Mira.

You're sure?

Eighty percent.

Eighty?

All right, maybe fifty.

Make it ninety.

Catch this, armed and
considered dangerous, et cetera.

Mira is known to
frequent occult book shops...

and other places dealing in astrological
and psychic, et cetera, et cetera.

That homicide, the DOA with the
signs on the floor?

One was a Leo.

So all we have to do is find out
what she met with that other symbol.

Huh? Hey, brother.

Ain't your brother.
So take a walk, you fool.

I am from the Department of Health, Mr...

uh... Duffy. And I ain't the manager.

Then you'd have no objection
to my inspecting the upper, uh...

Oh, go ahead, go ahead.

I think they're gonna fix it.

Good. I just want to make sure
for myself what he's talking about.

Make sure I got the right hotel.

The man making the complaint,
he's about five-eight and a quarter...

dog hair, bad complexion.

Here's the picture he
left at the department.

Yeah, Mr. Martin. One hundred.

Oh, he ain't in.

Yeah, that's him.

Someone from the
Department of Health's up there.

All right, open up, please.

Come on, we know you're in there.

I'm calling my bookie. You
want something?

No, no.

Marty, you want to take
care of that customer?

Charlie, I'm busy with stock.

I'll have a Remus Fizz.

I don't know nothing
about those fancy drinks.

Why don't you go find yourself
a high-class joint someplace?

Hey, I know you.

From Chicago, right?

I never been there.

Well, you told me you
were in Chicago once, eh?

Yeah, well, I forgot.

Take a walk. Get out of here.

Oh, I thought you leaned
over to kiss me hello, Stavros.

I'll give you a kiss hello.

I'm telling you to get
the hell out of here.

I am telling you I want Tony Mira.

Tony Mira?

Who doesn't?

I don't care who doesn't. It does.

Trouble, Charlie?

I was just asking your man here
what time does Lily come to work.

Who?

Lily, your waitress.
I'm supposed to meet her here.

No, Lily, man. Not here.

Don't call me man.

Hey, I swear.

Do I look like Lily to you?

No, but he does.

They are the dumb
that they are with broads.

Yeah.

Hey, anybody.

Go to the phone and call the cops.

You understand?

Hey, miss, please call the cops.

Miss!

Hey, lady, please call the cops.

The b*mb squad.

Please, lady.

What is this, a joke?

For God's sake, will you go?

Will you go to the phone and call the cops?

Move!

Lady, move!

When Rizzo calls back, pull him in, okay?

We'll get that cuckoo from the
coach to thank for Flush and Mira.

Well, Frank, you look dashing.

Pretty when you are, Captain.
- Yeah, no way.

Dedication of a new municipal pier.

Really?

Lieutenant.

For you.

Kojak.

What?

You know, we can kiss that
bar goodbye for sure now.

You better keep away, Kojak,
and keep that b*mb squad working.

I don't know, you know
something, Salathiel?

I've been looking forward to
this little tate-to-tate for days now.

You know, every time we manage
to build a nice little sandcastle,

you come along with your
big fat feet and you kick it over.

Listen.
- You caught me, baby.

You came here to pick up Tony
Mira, and you blew our cover.

Listen, can we talk about this later?

What are you doing at the Hotel Lance?

I went to the toilet.

Okay.

You keep up with those gags and that's
exactly where you're going, down the tube.

Okay, that's how I earn my bucks.

Going up the bail jumpers,
and that's an honest profession.

Now, you listen, Coochie Coo.

If you picked up a lead in that
room, now's the time to share it.

Otherwise, you and he
are going to take a ride on

a long, long bus with
little wire mesh windows.

Now, you listen here, Kojak.
- Ah!

Don't move!

Mira's on the run for his life.

That's a hit on him.

If you had kept in touch with your
friends like me, you know that's not true.

He picked up a hundred grand contract.

Relax.

Is there a reason you're still like that?

Oh, you, Coo, consider the
fact that if it goes, you go, too.

Hey, Lieutenant.

Didn't you tell them they
found it ten minutes ago?

Listen.

That hundred grand
hit, is that on the level?

Who is it?

We're not sure.

Harms.

It's a man's life.

I found this in Mira's room.

That's Whelan, the new special prosecutor.

I was going to call you.

Oh, sure you were.
Give me that.

Fear security units, tighten up on Whelan.

I'm on my way.

All right, I'm picking up Crocker.

Wow.

No statements right now.

A little later, folks, please.
If you don't mind.

Just a little later.

Excuse me.

Ladies and gentlemen, if
you'll please just excuse us.

I think it'd be insane
to try anything here.

Hey, Whelan, you're
endangering everybody near you.

Lieutenant, are you trying
to tell me that I cannot

go out in public until
this thing is resolved?

Now, would you do that if your
life was threatened?

Excuse me.

Frank, you got to take it out of his hands.

But how?

The highest rank I pulled is sitting.

By the time Albany takes any action,
you and I will be retired for a year.

Did you get lucky?

Sure did.
- That's good.

Which one is Whelan's car?

Brown one in front of the cab.

Is it well covered?
- Yeah.

Keep your eyes open, okay?

Okay.

All right, sure.

That's it.

Hey.

Have me a relief.

Oh, yeah? Yeah.

Ten minutes.

Don't stretch it longer.

Yeah.

Hey.

Hey.

Don't start this car, mister.

The what?

Hey.

Hey, fellas, grab that guy.

I need your cab.

Where to?
- I need it.

What's going on?

Hey, come back with my cab.

What's wrong with you?

Hey, get back here.

Now, you're telling me a black
guy took your ignition keys,

stole your cab, and a cop drove away
in your blue and white?

Yeah, a cop.

Rope off Whelan's car.

Yeah.

Give me a car.

I've got you surrounded, Mira.

Hey, what's he doing here?

What the heck is going on?

Time to talk, old buddy.

I need to know who hired you.

I'm listening, sugar.

Hey, turn blue.

Oh, when I was a kid in St. Louis, we
used to play this game called Meatball.

Now, I forget all the rules, but
you ask the personal question.

If you didn't answer, you yell, Meatball.

And sure enough, they'd answer.

Who hired you, Meatball?

Meatball, who
hired you? Meatball.

Hey, hey.

Who hired you?

Meatball.

Who hired you, Meatball?

You're not going to talk, huh?

Who hired you, Meatball?

Meatball!

Lieutenant, that's ill*gal.

Yeah, I know, but look at the rhythm.

Hey, Lieutenant.

What are you doing here?

You got no warrant.
You got no right to be here.

Captain, this was
all a big thing he put

together to break in
on legitimate business.

Well, you don't fool nobody.

Harassment, that's what it is.

Would I do that to you?

You mean, would I bend the law
in order to put you away forever?

What about the beef? Whose is it?

This is all my property. Now, get out.

Verified.

Crocker!

Read him his rights.

Hey, Hums.

You made Whelan a happy headhunter.

Now you can make me happy.

Give me my man.

I don't know about that, Sal.

What do you mean you don't know?

I bust this case of you and get my skin
in a ring of doing and you don't know?

Well, yeah, he's in my jurisdiction.
What can I tell you?

Your jurisdiction?
You know you can do it

while he's standing there
with my cuffs on him?

Well, what can I tell you?
The captain thanks you. I thank you.

The city of New York thanks you.
I like that.

Oh, come on, Kojak. I saw that movie.

I mean, look at this outfit.


My six month's up tomorrow.

And if I don't have him
back by then, the bail will

be forfeit and I don't even
get my handcuffs back.

All right, well, see you
next time you're in New York.

Kojak!

How we color folks gonna ever get
in here with you treating us like this?

Oh, don't you lay that number on me.

Ah, Crocker, give him his cuffs
back and leave the body on it.

That ought to update you
a couple of decades, huh?

Who loves you, baby?

Yeah, sure.

And Crocker, take him to the
airport, will you, via the subway?

Maybe he'll get himself mugged.

Theo.
What?

He's walking off with our
prisoner and you helped him?

Frank, remember that game we used
to play when we were kids? I'll swap you.

You don't make everybody happy, predicated
on the idea that a trade is a trade.

All right, you gotta give
a little, you take a little.

A trade is a trade. What do we got?

Well, for starters, we got our China
shop back, minus that big black bull.

Besides that, I called the DA's office.

San Francisco had first-rate prison.
First call.

What do you mean, they had first call?
I thought we had first call.

No, no, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

That's how it is.