Billions 2x1

1. Previously on "Billions"...

2. Bobby fucking Axelrod. Man of the people.

3. We're gonna put him in a cell. The gloves are off.

4. We do whatever it takes.

5. Your value to the firm is absolute.

6. I've been working there since before we were married

7. and long before you were in office.

8. I take care of my people.

9. When Mick Danzig gets tackled on his lawn

10. with a machine gun, I make the problem go away.

11. You don't get to where I am

12. without tolerating a lot of risk.

13. We. Where we are.

14. I made some decisions.

15. You shuttered it, the restaurant and the farm.

16. Let's go! Everybody out!

17. You married a criminal.

18. Walk away from the shame. Divorce his ass.

19. You want me to pressure my husband to back off.

20. - You know I can't do that. - Why not?

21. From here on in, I tell you your position in this,

22. if you have one at all.

23. Your boss got that bogus information on Axe and the cops

24. by accessing his wife's private notes.

25. You betrayed my trust.

26. You sit there and you try to claim moral high ground.

27. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I claim it?

28. While you go on working at a criminal organization,

29. and you can't even fucking admit it to yourself.

30. I tell you about my issues with Danzig,

31. and then there's a fucking investigation underway!

32. I didn't sell you out.

33. Polygraph me, motherfucker.

34. When I get back,

35. be gone.

36. Case is terminated.

37. Come work for Bach's firm on my account.

38. I didn't hear "no."

39. I am so sorry to have doubted you.

40. Your bonus.

41. I was planning to give you two million.

42. It just went up to five.

43. I quit, Bobby.

44. I can't be in denial about

45. what this place is, what you are, any longer.

46. You know the only enemy more dangerous

47. than a man with unlimited resources...

48. is one with nothing to lose.

49. And that is what you are looking at

50. right here.

51. Sorry about the hour.

52. You never have to say that to me.

53. In many ways, this place made me.

54. Sit.

55. There's nowhere that the stark difference

56. between winners and losers is more clear.

57. Ah.

58. I have called you here tonight to tell you

59. how we are going to win.

60. Excuse me.

61. Pardon me. We got to get to work, babe.

62. Don't "babe" me here.

63. No one's opening the doors till Axe says to open the doors.

64. Three fucking weeks working out of my living rooms,

65. I'm creaming to get in there.

66. First one in the lot this morning.

67. You showed up early to take a look around, didn't you?

68. See what really caused this. Unless you believe that whole

69. "fire extinguisher malfunction flood" bullshit.

70. - You won't stop with this. - Come on.

71. - That was no heart attack. - Who had a heart attack?

72. - Clemenza. Only he didn't. - The Rosato brothers killed him,

73. and he's saying this is like that.

74. It is questionable. Fire systems have automatic cutoffs.

75. We weren't even allowed in to get our stuff.

76. I know what you know.

77. I heard Axe went kind of nuts.

78. - Who the fuck asked you? - If Axe says it was

79. a system malfunction, that's what it was.

80. Go time, yeah?

81. We need Wags.

82. Do we?

83. We don't let the animals back in

84. until their keeper is here, too.

85. On it.

86. You must defend your lapels.

87. Put your elbow inside the knee and work the elbow escape.

88. Yeah, I'll do all that next time.

89. When you can master moves like this,

90. you can generate offense out of defense,

91. even off your back.

92. Showtime, folks.

93. He's waiting on you.

94. Donna!

95. Please take this out of here. Give it to some...

96. Sorry, sir. I was trying to stop him.

97. I'm Oliver Dake, Office of Professional Responsibility.

98. OPR. And not just here for a regular review

99. or you would have set up an appointment.

100. Correct. We are quite comfortable

101. not giving advance warning in cases like this.

102. Mm-hmm. And what sort of...

103. An investigation into your recent conduct.

104. - Well, that sounds serious. - Oh, it is.

105. I bet you'd like the use of an office.

106. I would.

107. Follow me.

108. Oh! Look at that.

109. So you were warned.

110. Don't for a moment think it gives you an advantage.

111. Who even thinks on those terms?

112. I have nothing to hide. You'll receive full cooperation.

113. With it, without it, I'll find out what's true.

114. Know that.

115. I'll count on it.

116. Yeah, it's Dake.

117. Where are we at on the Rhoades work-up?

118. You know what?

119. Let's add tax returns to the data that...

120. - It's time, Wags. - Almost.

121. I don't want this to turn into The Who in Cincinnati.

122. Lead them in.

123. Now you fuckers know how much you miss this place

124. when you can't have it.

125. No electronics, personal or otherwise,

126. beyond a phone will come or go.

127. All employees will be issued magnetic ID bracelets

128. that will be necessary for entry and exit through the turnstiles.

129. People ask me what money can't buy.

130. In public, I say some sort of bullshit like,

131. "Love and its many splendored so forth."

132. The real answer...

133. Not much.

134. And the best thing is it gives me access

135. to the world's most fascinating people.

136. Like our next speaker,

137. the finest performance coach there is.

138. I'd advise you to give her your full attention.

139. But I don't have to.

140. She'll get it.

141. It's what she does.

142. Dr. Wendy Rhoades.

143. Performance.

144. That's a loaded word.

145. Scary. Lot of pressure.

146. Not for me.

147. Oh.

148. You can perform?

149. Fucking right I can.

150. Come back to my office and try me.

151. - Never had any complaints. - Nice.

152. You know, they say a trained professional

153. can always tell when someone's lying.

154. That's an exaggeration. We don't always know.

155. But right now, I do.

156. You're lying.

157. Covering.

158. We all get complaints, right?

159. Struggle for you is you remember the complaints, don't you?

160. They lodge deep.

161. They haunt you.

162. Because you want to believe you're perfect.

163. But you know you're not.

164. That's why two billion dollars' worth of these babies

165. are sold every year.

166. Because they bring reassurance that when the time comes,

167. you can step up.

168. Some of you take them.

169. A little blue steel is nothing to be ashamed of.

170. But if I threw this bottle into the audience right now,

171. no one would grab it.

172. The thought that someone might know you need help

173. is worse than not getting the help you need.

174. Still, when the time comes,

175. when you need to pull the trigger

176. on the buy or sell order,

177. you better be hard as a rock and ready to go,

178. because that is the tour you've signed on for.

179. Millions of years ago,

180. a meteor hit the Earth and brought on an ice age.

181. And even the mightiest T. rexes

182. were reduced to fucking skeletons.

183. A meteor is screaming

184. toward this room right now

185. and all the rooms like it.

186. The entire hedge-fund industry

187. is under siege.

188. We deserve it.

189. We've acted as if it would go on forever.

190. Even as shitty returns,

191. the outflow of institutional money,

192. and the rise of quant funds have lighted the way to our demise,

193. we have willfully refused to change.

194. In the great expanse of time,

195. we are already dead.

196. I know it even if you don't.

197. But in this microsecond that we are still breathing air,

198. I'm gonna fight the inevitable.

199. If you have a card in front of you,

200. pick it up, hold it in front of your face.

201. If this room represents all the hedge funds in business,

202. the uncovered faces

203. are the only ones left in 18 months' time.

204. I made it.

205. Is that right, Mafee?

206. You made it?

207. Because this was a random fucking exercise,

208. and I don't see any evidence at all that you're gonna!

209. Put your fucking cards down.

210. Trust almost killed Axe Capital.

211. And that is never gonna happen again.

212. Things got a little too free and fucking easy around here.

213. And to eliminate the possibility

214. of any questionable information passing from any of you to me,

215. all future conversations will be held

216. in the presence of my Chief of Staff, Stephanie Reed.

217. And I mean all.

218. If you see me at the coffee machine,

219. you wait until Steph is there before you pitch me the cream.

220. I am a survivor.

221. And I will do whatever it takes

222. to avoid my fate.

223. Ask yourselves...

224. Are you?

225. You have an amazing level of insight

226. into how we hedgies think.

227. Well, if I didn't after the time I put in...

228. - With Axe.

229. Yes.

230. I don't mean Axe Capital. I mean Bobby himself.

231. You've had sessions with him.

232. You must understand at a molecular level almost

233. why he does what he does.

234. Well, I'm not talking about a rising market.

235. I mean, we all know how to trade

236. once we get a little mo-mo going.

237. But when things get a little choppy,

238. does he steer into the skid

239. or does he retreat to look at alternatives?

240. I thought you'd overpaid me.

241. But if that's what you're really looking for,

242. you weren't even close to the number.

243. The number doesn't exist.

244. I'd never sell him out.

245. You passed the test.

246. Ah. Do I get the whole chocolate factory now?

247. Yes, you do.

248. I thought I wanted to bring you on full time,

249. but now that I know I can trust you,

250. I'm certain I do.

251. Well...

252. that makes one of us, Todd.

253. I'm already set up in an office of my own

254. starting to see clients.

255. Is that permanent?

256. I'm not sure. Yet.

257. I'm keeping my options open.

258. Is that a lie?

259. I hope not.

260. Anyway, why don't you just keep an open mind,

261. and let's find something to collaborate on soon, okay?

262. I have information.

263. - Got your homework ready? - Yep.

264. All right. I got to drop some papers off

265. at the development office. I'll see you guys at pickup.

266. - Okay. - Have a good day.

267. - Bye, Mom. - Bye.

268. Help! Help! Katie fell on the floor!

269. - What's going on? - I'm calling 911.

270. - What happened? - She came in with nausea,

271. threw up in my office. She's having a seizure.

272. She's in anaphylaxis.

273. Epi-pen.

274. That's why hysterical moms aren't school nurses.

275. We don't give adrenaline unless the allergy...

276. She needs a rescue shot. She carries one.

277. I need an ambulance to the Horace School right away,

278. please.

279. Okay. All right.

280. Okay, honey.

281. Listen, you're having a reaction,

282. but I got you, all right? Just breathe for me.

283. Michael, thank you.

284. Why don't you go walk the perimeter?

285. Word out of Washington

286. is that Rhoades' misconduct is being investigated.

287. You somehow put that in motion?

288. Look, when an enemy's down on the field,

289. you got to finish him.

290. If this investigation hurts him,

291. we got to take it the rest of the way.

292. He's really in your head.

293. As long as Rhoades is in that job, I'm not safe.

294. Hall, I want your guys all over it.

295. Bach, I want to file a lawsuit against him immediately.

296. A smart woman once said,

297. "You can no more win a war than an earthquake."

298. It's what's called for. How long to prepare it?

299. Bobby, détente can be good.

300. Like after the armistice,

301. the Europeans back in the cafés, drinking wine.

302. - Making love. - Yeah.

303. And if they would have known the Germans were laying in wait,

304. arming up again, they would have been better off crushing them

305. - when they had the chance. - With a suit comes publicity.

306. Everything that happened

307. gets dragged back through the press, re-litigated.

308. You get called a criminal every single day.

309. Instead of how it is now?

310. With the murky suggestion hanging over me,

311. looming over every encounter?

312. Look, lots of people he's crossed swords with

313. have gone away stuck and steaming.

314. Most can't even get a lawyer

315. to take on an individual case of this nature.

316. You know why?

317. The downside's too steep

318. and the upside's too hard to see.

319. And if you still hope to get Wendy back somehow,

320. I don't see how this can help.

321. You said you had some information on that front.

322. Wendy and Rhoades remain separated.

323. Where is he living?

324. The house.

325. Part of the time.

326. She is, too, part of the time.

327. - How? - They call it nesting.

328. It's bullshit.

329. I tried it for a few weeks between wives two and three.

330. Yes, the parents trade nights.

331. The children stay in the familial home.

332. A utopian idea that's supposed to

333. impart a feeling of well-being in the young ones

334. - during a turbulent time. - Like I said, bullshit.

335. And Wendy was at Krakow Capital earlier today.

336. - What? That fucker's hired her? - Unclear.

337. If we're not getting her back,

338. I've heard about this guy, Lenny Gustaferson...

339. Dr. Gus. He is supposed to be badass.

340. I can't believe she's considering Krakow.

341. That's a bucket shop.

342. I want to know where she's working,

343. the hours.

344. Hold off on that Gus guy until I say.

345. Good.

346. I know Katie. I know that she has the allergy.

347. How does a mother passing by know more than her?

348. I can't administer serious medication

349. just because some rich lady

350. - stopped... - Stop talking.

351. Topher, I am not leaving my kids in the care of this idiot.

352. Are you gonna do it now,

353. or do I have to call the rest of the board?

354. I get it, Lara, but we can't do this thing bang-bang.

355. I need a licensed nurse on premises at all times.

356. Hey, Mo. It's Lara.

357. Look, I know you're working nights,

358. but I need your help.

359. Can you come do a shift here at the Horace School right now?

360. Oh, you're the best.

361. My cousin will be here in 45 minutes.

362. I'll cover until then.

363. Fully licensed.

364. Bye.

365. It'll take a long time to fill Bart Schooner's seat

366. as head of criminal prosecution.

367. Oh, at least 15 minutes...

368. until someone with a law degree

369. and a controlled drinking habit stumbles in.

370. Let me... Let me get serious.

371. I just want to talk about Bart's...

372. Head of Crim. Man.

373. Plum perch.

374. Freaking launch pad to the private sector.

375. I mean, you land it, you're minted.

376. Seven figures the day you leave.

377. How the hell do you get it?

378. There's 75 AUSAs in here all going after it.

379. You got to pay your dues.

380. Yeah. Big cases, ingeniously won.

381. After years of dutiful service.

382. Years and years.

383. So I'm too young?

384. You're getting that?

385. Too green.

386. It'll go to an old hand like one of you two, then?

387. "Experienced", not "old".

388. Seasoned.

389. I'm out of scotch.

390. See, I order two at a time at these things

391. because the waiters disappear like Houdini after the entrées.

392. You got to know that. Plan ahead.

393. Smart. Seasoned.

394. Souses.

395. What I'd like to know is,

396. will Chuck still be the one handing out the job?

397. - The investigation. - Hell yeah.

398. They say Dake rides in on a pale horse.

399. What do you think he's got on Chuck?

400. Well, well, well. Three young apprentices

401. celebrating the departure of a colleague.

402. Sure. But don't they also want to

403. put a foot in his ass and take his spot?

404. Hmm?

405. Oh, come on.

406. You know Head of Crim is the hyperloop

407. that propels you into whatever job you want next.

408. How to get it...

409. Let me tell you.

410. Our practices leave grooves over time.

411. And eventually, those grooves become walls

412. that box us in.

413. So what I figured out recently is,

414. find another way.

415. I found myself in a chess match in Washington Square Park

416. with one of those hustlers

417. who's been taking tourists' money for years.

418. A bit of a crowd had formed.

419. This was a hard-fought match.

420. I had just gained an edge.

421. I had an unstoppable waiting attack when I saw it happen.

422. He swiped both my knights with one capture.

423. Oh, the cheat was very well executed.

424. I was about to go across the table at him.

425. To make sure he was banned from the park,

426. to exact retribution.

427. But then in an instant, I saw...

428. this was the chance

429. to re-frame my entire approach.

430. So instead...

431. I caught what you did.

432. Takes practice to master something like that.

433. It's to be admired in a sense,

434. but that is the last time you use it today.

435. I'm a man who could make things difficult for you,

436. but I won't.

437. As long as you'll understand this.

438. Your next opponent is that boy.

439. And I want him to have a very good time playing against you.

440. Thank you.

441. The man thanked me.

442. Imagine that.

443. And I knew he wasn't gonna cheat anyone else that day

444. and would look over his shoulder thereafter.

445. I had managed something better than payback.

446. By acting with purpose and understatement,

447. I had created a more just environment,

448. which is what I am asking of all of you.

449. This is the new way.

450. Well, how do you know if he did the right thing

451. after you left?

452. Uh, I sat on a nearby bench and watched awhile.

453. Thanks for coming.

454. I know you'll think it's worth the effort.

455. - Quickly, Spyros. - Okay.

456. I always listen to the ground.

457. - It's how I got where I am. - Mm-hmm. And?

458. An investigation has begun

459. into your office's methods and conduct,

460. focusing on an aborted bribery case against Axelrod.

461. And the man leading the investigation

462. is dangerous and capable.

463. A younger, even smarter version of me,

464. if you can conjure that for yourself.

465. I scarcely can.

466. Who is he?

467. Oliver Dake.

468. Are we square now?

469. Don't serve rabbit food to an elephant

470. and ask if he's full.

471. Sir.

472. Would you get these fine young barristers another round?

473. - Of course. - Thank you.

474. Before I go and have a nightcap with Bart Schooner

475. and get his thoughts on who should replace him,

476. let me speak to what's hanging over the table

477. and this entire room.

478. The investigation that Mr. Dake is conducting.

479. You all know how to handle yourselves.

480. I want you all to cooperate,

481. to be truthful, of course.

482. Because I don't believe we have anything to worry about.

483. See what he did?

484. We handle ourselves and Chuck gives someone Head of Crim.

485. Or we cooperate with Dake and try our luck

486. starting over with Chuck's replacement.

487. Yeah, we saw what he did.

488. And so you haven't seen anything

489. that makes you think this office is acting

490. - in an out-of-bounds manner? - Ambiguous.

491. Sharpen up the question so I can give you a good answer.

492. How would you describe Mr. Rhoades' tactical approach?

493. Effective.

494. And his understanding of the rules governing behavior?

495. I can't speak to his state of mind.

496. Uh-huh. Let's, uh...

497. Let's switch gears for a moment.

498. Tell me about your meeting with Axelrod.

499. The aborted settlement?

500. No. Your private meeting.

501. You tell me how that is

502. in any way relevant to your investigation.

503. I am investigating all misconduct,

504. wherever it may be.

505. And however an investigation may start,

506. once I'm in it,

507. I'm like a Goddamned octopus...

508. tentacles out in every direction, looking, listening,

509. sucking up every bit of information that I can find.

510. Look, I reported that meeting

511. the second it was over,

512. and I have the documentation to prove it.

513. Ahhh.

514. You reported it the next day

515. in the afternoon.

516. First chance I got.

517. Or maybe it took you that long to decide

518. what to leave in and what to leave out.

519. I left it all in.

520. Axelrod offered me a job.

521. This is at the pizzeria in Yonkers, yes?

522. That's right.

523. I turned it down.

524. Did you?

525. With no provers in the room,

526. it's only your word and his.

527. If I asked Axelrod, is that how he'd remember it?

528. Yes.

529. Ooh, nice space.

530. Contained.

531. I bet your patients must feel safe here.

532. You gonna invite me to sit down?

533. No.

534. If you knew enough to make an appointment

535. under an assumed name, you knew

536. - I didn't want to see you. - I knew you wouldn't,

537. but that's not the same as not wanting to.

538. Yes, it is.

539. There's this thing that happens when we're in a room together.

540. It always has, Bobby. It just flows like this.

541. But I'm shutting it off.

542. I have shut it off.

543. Okay.

544. First, I apologized.

545. But if it takes me sending you flowers every day,

546. Joe DiMaggio style, to prove it, I will.

547. He did that after Marilyn was dead.

548. Yours would have the same effect on me that his had on her.

549. But I need you back at Axe Capital.

550. Well, that's not gonna happen.

551. Look, there are decisions I have to make

552. over actions that I might take,

553. and I have never had to do it without you.

554. The time to recognize that has long since passed.

555. We are at an inflection point.

556. We have to make big changes to the company.

557. We have to make it quickly.

558. And I am getting conflicting advice from my people.

559. The kind of things that

560. I bounce off you and it all makes sense.

561. I know you well enough to tell you one thing.

562. You'll figure it out.

563. You'll connect the dots, synthesize the information

564. in a way few others in this world can.

565. You always do. It'll be an amazing thing to see.

566. But I won't be there to see it.

567. What, then?

568. This?

569. Just sit here in a nice, small, well-appointed office,

570. listen to bullshit all day long

571. from people who are half as smart as us?

572. I don't know. I was thinking maybe another hedge fund.

573. Oh, is that right?

574. Yeah, I was at another one the other day.

575. I won't tell you which, so don't ask.

576. And the manager played some heavy game theory on me,

577. boxed me into a spot, essentially put himself

578. in a position to win no matter what I said.

579. I know who it is. I can tell already by what you said.

580. Well, I'm tired of being on the losing side of that paradigm.

581. - He was looking to hire you? - Yeah.

582. That motherfucker is just trying to poach my most valued...

583. I'm not your anything.

584. I'm not gonna kick you out.

585. But I am asking you to respect my wishes.

586. Can you do that?

587. Okay.

588. And don't send flowers.

589. Eva's allergic.

590. Gene therapy is finally bearing fruit.

591. - There's a great company... - Next.

592. We buy an algorithm. I know a guy from Wharton

593. with a...

594. We should go to cash, take some time off, and...

595. Okay, fuck this. Do any of you have juice with Raya?

596. I could build a model for it.

597. I don't want to invest in it. I want to get on it.

598. - What is that? - High-end hookup app.

599. - Tinder for the rich and famous. - That's so reductive.

600. It's exclusive, and it's about connection.

601. I was saying with cash on hand...

602. Stop talking.

603. I'm not gonna take any of this dog shit back to Axe.

604. It's time for you folks to sharpen your pencils,

605. and you better come back with one Traci Lords of an idea.

606. And if you need that fucking defined, here it is.

607. A barely legal, market-dominating,

608. brilliant cocksucker of an idea.

609. Thanks for working through lunch.

610. I've got to dump five million shares of Bluudhorn Steel at 40.

611. Problem is, the trade's by appointment.

612. No broker will take all five million

613. and guarantee my price,

614. so I've got five brokers selling a million each,

615. and they don't know about each other.

616. Are you sure about the way you're unloading that?

617. It's kind of shady and not very efficient.

618. They'll find out and ding you later.

619. I've got to get the price.

620. You heard what Axe said. Survive or die.

621. What if you create a zero-cost collar?

622. Right...

623. Use options to protect the sale.

624. Buy $40 puts in Bluudhorn,

625. then sell $45 calls to offset the purchase.

626. You've got free protection at $40.

627. The maximum downside is protected.

628. But now you can be patient,

629. and you don't have to lean on the stock.

630. You're right.

631. That'll save us ten million on this trade.

632. This is why I need to keep you when your internship's over.

633. Yes. I'd believe the same thing were I you.

634. Oh. I ordered you lunch.

635. Vegan.

636. What makes you think I'm a vegan?

637. I don't know.

638. Everything?

639. All of it?

640. Fuck.

641. You're not?

642. I'll eat it.

643. Look, I've eliminated slippage since you've got here.

644. My trade-cost analysis is up 150 bips.

645. And that's before the 10-ball you just saved me.

646. It's not a fluke. It's efficiency.

647. It's you.

648. And now you're leaving.

649. I can't afford that.

650. I'll die off.

651. And that's before I blew lunch with you not being a vegan.

652. Of course I'm a vegan.

653. Here's my problem.

654. The shit that I do to keep most people after an internship...

655. throwing money around, showing them a good time...

656. none of that's gonna work on you.

657. You mean like hot girls showing up at my place

658. and drink till I puke and all that?

659. I agree. That wouldn't work in this case.

660. So how do I keep you?

661. You kind of can't.

662. Just look at him.

663. The everyman grilling away.

664. You know, he sent the chef away tonight

665. because the two of you always do this together.

666. And even though you've frozen him out the past few months,

667. he's still counting on it.

668. That's before I knew what he was.

669. You're the toughest guy in the family, no doubt.

670. But I think we both know what happens if you test me.

671. Now get out there

672. and be a human being to my husband.

673. Under protest.

674. Hey, hey.

675. Mo! Fuck, you're here.

676. - What's going on? - It's good to see you.

677. It's like a hunting knife.

678. You rip it open...

679. Hey, Matt.

680. Axe.

681. I'm glad you came.

682. Yeah, of course, man.

683. You guys know each other, right? Same precinct?

684. Different years. Detective.

685. Long before you became a banker

686. or a trustee or whatever, Raul.

687. Still more police than banker.

688. - Good to see you. - Yeah.

689. I had good come-back about you from the school.

690. Oh, how fucking lovely.

691. Be an easy road to make you the full-time nurse.

692. - Yeah? - Yep.

693. What are we talking about?

694. Well, they'd start you at 72k, something for housing.

695. And I'll get them up from there.

696. Come on, Mo.

697. It'd be so nice to have you around, man.

698. Instead of rolling with these stiffs

699. that I've got up here all the time.

700. Oh, no,

701. it's not much more than what I'm taking down now,

702. and it's still just pulling shifts.

703. If I'm making a change, it's got to be bigger.

704. You know, I need to step up

705. and score my next chapter, you know?

706. Yeah.

707. I know.

708. Certain douchebag motorcycle club was dealing out of

709. the men's room at the Hendricks. And these guys were good.

710. Our undercovers couldn't make one buy off of them.

711. So we started sending in teams to surveil through the ceiling

712. of the men's room. And one day I'm up there.

713. I'm watching. And I see a deal go down.

714. I must have been leaning over too much,

715. 'cause I fell right through the drop ceiling

716. and landed right on my ass in the middle

717. of the men's room.

718. A black man in an N. Y. P. D. uniform.

719. I'm like... I look up,

720. and it's a half a dozen Hells Angels staring down at me.

721. So...

722. They lit in on me with fists, bottles, boots.

723. They damn near beat the cop right out of me.

724. Barely got out of there alive.

725. They say it never happened.

726. Of course not.

727. But the way it still gets told, that night end of shift,

728. every swinging dick at the station

729. went back to that bar with nightsticks,

730. reduced those fucking bikers to smudge marks on the floor.

731. No dealing went on in that bar for a long, long time.

732. See, back then, it came down to factions, superior numbers.

733. When they had them and I was alone,

734. they won.

735. But when we had them,

736. well, it's hard to defend against numbers.

737. That's a lesson you only have to learn once.

738. Absolutely.

739. I need to deploy your specialized computing skills,

740. can-do attitude, the magic of your tech nerdistry.

741. No one's ever said I have a can-do attitude before.

742. That's because you hide it behind a superior, dismissive,

743. and pessimistic mask, but I see past all that.

744. Uh, what do you need?

745. Raya.

746. I need you to hack into Raya and get me an account on there.

747. I can't do... do that.

748. - Of course you can. - I mean, maybe I could,

749. but that site's encrypted with a 128-bit Blowfish cipher.

750. And no brute-force attack has been

751. extensive enough to crack it. There's...

752. There's no way I can make a reasonable attempt and still

753. - complete my other tasks. - Like what?

754. Making sure this place is secure from cyberattack.

755. - You've already done that. - But I have to oversee

756. all our trading software, all our servers, my team.

757. And you will.

758. As soon as you get me onto Raya.

759. Yes.

760. Judge DeGiulio!

761. Mr. Rhoades, sir. At your service, sir.

762. Good. Let me tell you what I need.

763. I'm not really at your service.

764. Chuck, I was quoting "Hamilton."

765. Ah. I haven't been able to see it.

766. What do you need?

767. There's an investigator named Dake up here from D. C.

768. Ooh. That's a hard man. Good one.

769. Yeah, terrific. Yes, I can see that he's good.

770. I'd like him to be good and gone.

771. Now, I need to know who sent him

772. and what they hope to accomplish.

773. Are you familiar with the origin of the word "billet"?

774. Is this another "Hamilton" thing?

775. - No. - Well, then, yes.

776. It came from the French

777. to mean an order to allow a soldier to live in your home.

778. But what it's come to mean is a post or position

779. and responsibilities that go along with it.

780. So my billet is to be a judge

781. and adjudicate on various matters

782. as put forth and et cetera.

783. It is not, and will never be,

784. to do your bidding.

785. I forgot to say please, didn't I?

786. I'm working on that.

787. Please?

788. Always a lovely word to hear,

789. but I'm not some deputy anymore.

790. Oh, no.

791. Uh, I get that and respect it.

792. But we both know why you're not a deputy anymore,

793. so I am asking you to do this one for me.

794. As a final courtesy.

795. Sure, sir.

796. Come by my chambers Friday morning.

797. I should have information by then.

798. And thank y...

799. You're welcome, Chaz.

800. Give me your phone.

801. We need our I. T. staff back and your focus.

802. I can't have you phishing the Internet pointlessly.

803. I'm logging you on to Raya.

804. - How? - I'm a member, so I vouch.

805. You need two reccos. I got Michael Che to second you.

806. Can't have you distracting our staff with this bullshit.

807. - You're a member? - So are you now.

808. All I ask is Chatham House Rule on it.

809. And when you see me on there, don't fucking tap the heart.

810. Sweet!

811. Mr. Rhoades.

812. So, I'm going through my initial round of interviews

813. and all seems, uh, if not kosher,

814. then at least within a reasonable bandwidth.

815. And I'm thinking, you know, I'm just about out of here.

816. Uh-huh.

817. But...

818. Then I

819. become aware of a payment.

820. A payment?

821. That your wife received.

822. From Axelrod.

823. An account of hers that you're a signer on.

824. Right around, uh,

825. well, hell, right on

826. the day that you suspended your investigation into him.

827. $5 million.

828. Now,

829. it may not be a bribe,

830. but, dang, if it doesn't look like one

831. and smell like one.

832. And if I put my tongue on it,

833. I bet it tastes like one, too.

834. Yum-bang.

835. Now, I suppose

836. you didn't know anything about that?

837. If we're doing this, we're supposed to knock,

838. - not just let ourselves in. - Uh-huh.

839. I was gonna let the sitter get them ready for you.

840. She still can.

841. We need to talk.

842. That's not really the idea of this.

843. We have to give each other room.

844. Yeah, I know. I'm aware.

845. Not a social call.

846. What, then?

847. I understand that we are in a temporary moment of separation

848. and no longer in the mode of telling each other

849. our day's events in detail.

850. If we'd been communicating that well before,

851. we might still be together.

852. Are we putting that on me?

853. Half of it at least.

854. But there were some things that really

855. ought to have been discussed,

856. some things that I cannot imagine keeping to myself.

857. For instance, if I had suddenly received

858. a $5 million lump-sum payment

859. the same day that my husband dropped an investigation

860. on the man making that payment,

861. I might have fucking managed to say something about it.

862. I didn't see how that...

863. sequence of events might appear.

864. Is that an apology?

865. I didn't mean to put your reputation in question.

866. Not just my reputation.

867. My job.

868. Perhaps my freedom.

869. Perhaps yours.

870. Freedom? Pfft.

871. I am just beginning to remember what that feels like.

872. And I'm not gonna let you ruin

873. one of the first free nights I've had in years.

874. I always knew I'd end up snared by Axelrod's money. It's poison.

875. And you don't even need to ingest it for it to kill you.

876. - Proximity is enough. - Well, good for you.

877. I no longer have proximity to it,

878. and you no longer have proximity to me.

879. Have fun with the children.

880. Hey, kids, I'm leaving!

881. Your daddy's here!

882. I love you!

883. Hey, guys! Here I come!

884. This place gave me my first real look

885. at how the world worked.

886. I watched people running toward the betting window

887. with high hopes.

888. No plan.

889. Then I'd watch them walk away from the track

890. ripping up their tickets in disgust.

891. That wasn't gonna be me.

892. You didn't bet?

893. Oh, I bet.

894. I bet, but first I figured out

895. where the sharp action was,

896. where the guys who had a plan were,

897. guys who grinded,

898. take the guesswork out of it.

899. They knew which drivers had been rested.

900. They knew which horses were ready.

901. And they also knew which ones were on last legs.

902. How'd you meet those guys?

903. I didn't at first.

904. But I figured out

905. that they always bet late and they bet heavy.

906. So I started watching that

907. instead of that.

908. The numbers told the story. They always do.

909. I started making bets of my own.

910. You know, the right ones.

911. And once I understood what had happened,

912. I watched the track to see how it happened.

913. Strange time for a workout.

914. Yeah, he comes here most days of the week.

915. Likes to run his new prospects out under the lights,

916. get them used to it.

917. He's a good driver.

918. But his father...

919. His father was the best there was.

920. True master. Hall of Fame.

921. Always finished top three.

922. Oh, but to you, top three is never enough.

923. You don't show. You win.

924. That I do.

925. Mine's a different business.

926. Look, you and the team are right.

927. There's too much risk.

928. I could open myself up to a big loss

929. if I made a move and miss.

930. When I used to come down here,

931. I had nothing, so I-I just figured it out.

932. That you did.

933. I need Rhoades gone.

934. Or this will never be over.

935. My suit alone,

936. it's like me firing a pea shooter against a Panzer tank

937. when what we need is a Howitzer.

938. But I know how we can get ourselves a Howie.

939. We find everybody that he fucked,

940. who went away aggrieved,

941. people with real grounds,

942. and we buy up their claims.

943. Ah.

944. Aggregate the lawsuits.

945. Where one is weak, many are strong.

946. And that's a lesson you'll never have to learn more than once.

947. It'll be tantamount to a class-action suit.

948. Not so easy to ignore.

949. Not possible to.

950. The stories won't be about you anymore. They'll be about him.

951. And the world of shit that he is in.

952. You know what you have to do?

953. I know what I have to do.

954. This guy doesn't really come out here a few times a week.

955. No.

956. He doesn't.

957. But I wanted to see him run, so he ran.

958. Do what I need.

959. Get it in motion now.

960. Tonight.

961. - Shit! - Whoa, whoa!

962. Jesus Christ.

963. You all right there, guy?

964. Yeah. Can you hold this for me?

965. Yeah. Come on.

966. Thanks.

967. You've been served.

968. With a lawsuit.

969. One-hundred and twenty-seven of them.

970. Sorry, brah.

971. I'm being sued.

972. Apparently by everyone I've ever met.

973. Didn't make any sense until I saw...

974. this one. Bobby Axelrod.

975. A Bivens Claim for violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

976. Malicious prosecution.

977. And the rest of these are similar,

978. and they all came together.

979. I think he's financing all of them,

980. and I have a feeling he's gonna make this his life's mission.

981. Well, I wish I could say that's all you'll be fending off,

982. but D. C. is all over this Dake investigation,

983. and Dake has told the A. G. about

984. some kind of balloon payment that has a certain stink to it.

985. Yeah. To my wife.

986. Business as usual in her world.

987. I don't imagine that's how he's spinning it.

988. Nor do I.

989. Sort of unspinnable I fear, Chuck.

990. Yes?

991. Chuck, I need to see you in D. C. in my office Thursday.

992. Yeah.

993. Yes, General.

994. That was the attorney general herself.

995. She's summoned me to Washington.

996. Dake did indeed make her aware of the balloon payment.

997. She seems to also know about this, too.

998. So I'm to report to her Thursday...

999. where she will greet me warmly,

1000. shake me by the hand...

1001. and then she'll fire me.

1002. The tip that led to my investigation was called in

1003. from a cellphone that pinged a tower in Yonkers

1004. in the middle of the night.

1005. Why do I give a fuck?

1006. Because you were in Yonkers

1007. at the pizzeria meeting with Axelrod.

1008. And I think whatever you heard in that meeting

1009. made you squeamish.

1010. You know what Rhoades is, Bryan.

1011. You know he should be out of the job.

1012. And I know you made that call.