The Card Player (Il cartaio)

Anna. These are for you. Happy birthday.

How do you know it's my birthday?

I know all about you.

Thank you.

Who are you celebrating with? Anyone in particular?

We could celebrate together, if you want.

It's not a good idea. We're colleagues, you know that.

What's the matter? Don't you like flowers?

Thank you, anyway.

-Carlo, they're waiting in the car. -Yes,

I'll go get the gun in the drawer.

See you later.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Ham sandwich, no tomato.

How could I forget? Right?

You're welcome.

1 NEW MESSAGE

But... what... video poker?

-Anna? -Where are you going?

This is a joke.

It's not a joke! Look at the photo, look!

Don't you see it?

Come with me.

-Are you sure she's the English tourist? -Yes, yes.

Sorry to bother, sir, but it's an emergency.

He's not a liar. He's serious.

That's the photo of the girl.

Who is she?

She's the English tourist we've been looking for, Christine Gildred.

The kidnapper just sent this message

saying he's keeping her prisoner and he wants to play with us.

Poker. In one hour sharp.

A poker game?

We received an e-mail

from someone whose identity is still unknown.

Silence, please!

He says he kidnapped the English tourist

who, as we know, disappeared yesterday.

He attached a photo of the girl.

He wants to bet on her life, playing video poker with us.

If we refuse to play, he will kill her.

If we lose, he will kill her.

But he says that if we win, he will let her go.

I don't believe him. He's just another mythomaniac.

How can we trust a blackmailer?

There is one last detail.

He says that for every hand he wins,

he will... mutilate her.

Video poker? That's absurd.

-How? -An online chat room.

He gave us the coordinates. He thought of everything.

And time is running out.

Then get down to work. Go online and start to play.

But I've never played poker. I hate card games.

Just buy some time.

Keep him busy as long as you can so they can track him down.

There's a password: "The card player."

That's also his nickname.

Come on, man. Where are you?

My name? Sara.

How's it going?

We're trying. Keep him busy.

Just the two of them playing with a full deck.

And there's the joker. Strange.

Usually there's no joker in poker. We need to follow his rules.

He wants to play five hands, one after another.

The police go first.

Whoever wins three games out of five takes it all.

He's filming her live with a web cam.

We're running out of time.

No. We can't give in to blackmail.

We're the police. It could be a bluff.

What if it wasn't?

That girl's life is in our hands.

We must give her a chance.

We cannot indulge the provocations

of the first maniac who tries to bait us.

But he told us what he'll do if we don't play.

I'm the one in charge here. I'll take responsibility for it.

We are not going to play. Tell him that.

Tell him!

Too late.

-You filthy bastard! -He killed her!

So, did you make him? Did you get his position?

No, he uses different proxies and different routers.

With these programs, we don't stand a chance.

-Go to hell. -It's an encoded message, sir.

We did nothing to save her life.

Come on!

Hurry up with that bag.

Get rid of those photographers. Now!

Exactly! Away, now!

The girl was kidnapped in Rome, and in Rome we found the body.

We did everything we could.

He could be hiding behind a firewall.

He could also use different proxies to jump from channel to channel.

That's all bullshit. You should have played.

The girl could be alive now,

but you didn't give her a chance.

Who is that?

British police. That's the inter-force procedure.

-Great, another asshole. -Fuck you!

You shithead!

Separate them!

Stay calm! Stop it!

I'll be watching you until the case is resolved.

And you won't be able to cut me off.

-What does he want? -Nothing.

I haven't done anything! I told you!

I haven't done anything, you assholes!

Wait!

What do you want?

I just want to say that I agree with you.

-I wanted to play, too. -Well, now you've told me.

I'm Anna. Inspector Anna Mari.

John Brennan. London Police, currently at the embassy in Rome.

You're not British, are you?

No, I'm Irish, but I've lived in London for 20 years.

Everyone in there thinks you're an asshole.

-I am. -But you were right.

There's someone supporting you.

Who would that be?

You are really an asshole.

What can I get you?

What can I do for you, darling?

No defensive wounds. She didn't bite or scratch her attacker.

No signs of sexual abuse...

except for this.

I found it in her vagina.

The joker.

The wild card.

Maybe it's his way to tell us he's crazy.

Hey, what are you doing? Those gloves are mine.

I specialized in forensic medicine.

Just because you didn't see it, doesn't mean it wasn't there.

-What is it? -I don't know.

It seems to be some kind of seed.

A seed?

Anna, your signature.

Where did he come from?

Thank you.

How come the best ones work at the embassy?

When I was still in London,

I lead an intervention during a robbery

that turned into a siege.

I killed two robbers and put the third in the hospital.

One of the dead was a minor.

I couldn't know. They wore masks.

The press made a fuss and blamed the Police Department.

I was the scapegoat.

So they shipped me here to Rome

to protect British tourists from bag-snatchers. Happy now?

-Where did you meet him? -At Eva's party.

-He was the blond one. Don't you remember? -Ah, yes. I do.

Do you think he's too young for me?

-How old is he? -He's 20.

-Ten years younger than you. -Not too much younger, right?

Well...

-I'm going to meet him tonight. -Okay.

-I'll tell you everything. -Okay, bye.

-Hello. -Hello. Come on.

-You filthy bastard! -He killed her!

John.

-There's a new message. He wants to play. -Very well.

Here we go.

This game. Again.

If we don't play, we sentence the victim to die.

That's true.

Anna is right. We have to try.

If you agree to play, it'll be easier for us to track him down.

What are we going to do? Time's ticking away.

-What are you waiting for? Hurry up! -Calm down. Okay, we're in.

But you are going to play. Poker is not my thing.

Let's start.

It's our turn.

Who wants to play?

I can try.

I'm not that bad.

If no one else wants to give it a shot.

Go ahead, Carlo.

Okay.

Let's begin.

Four, four, three,

two...four!

Good! Three of a kind.

-Draw two cards. -Sorry, I'm the one playing, okay?

Come on.

Nine, five. Fuck.

All right. We still have a set of four.

Ten, six, jack...

queen, ace.

He's got nothing. But he could try for a straight flush.

There he goes! Fuck!

Damn!

That's horrible!

What's he doing to her?

Hold the pair, draw three cards.

The straight flush is rare.

-But there it was. -He didn't have alternatives. \We do.