City of Fear

My chest, it's, like, burning up.

All right.

Let's go back, Vince. Please, back.

And what am I gonna do, take back that knife I left in that guy?

And give back a pound of 100% pure snow?

You must be a comic, kiddo.

I... I don't wanna die, Vince.

You know what this will bring when I break it down?

Vince!

Miserable...

Hey!

At least you got a nice, clean ambulance.

It's more than some of us get.

We interrupt this programme

to bring you a hot-off-the-wire bulletin.

Two criminals have escaped from the maximum security prison

at San Quentin a few hours ago-

Vincent Ryker and William Dabner stabbed and killed one guard,

wounded another guard and the prison physician.

They reached the rear of the hospital,

leaped into the parked ambulance and roared through the gate

before prison officials could stop them.

- Smart thinking, huh? - We have not been able to determine

the extent of the guards' and Dr Cersei's injuries.

Warden Merrick has just issued a statement to the press

that both men are desperate and considered extremely dangerous.

"Extremely dangerous."

Dabner is described as five foot six, 155 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes.

Vince Ryker is six foot one, brown curly hair and brown eyes.

They are believed headed south.

- All the way to LA, Daddy. - Warden Merrick also warns civilians

that these men are probably heavily armed and must not...

"Heavily armed" is right. A million bucks.

...Ryker and Dabner are not to be approached.

Stay tuned for further hot-off-the-wire details.

And now back to soft music till dawn.

Bunch of lying cops.

Boy, thanks, mister.

- Things are tough, huh, kiddo? - It's that jailbreak.

They're all passing me up. They're afraid, I guess.

I could be one of them cons dressed up like a sailor.

Well, maybe ya are. How do I know?

Want me to get out?

Nah, I'll take a chance. Hop in the back.

Sack out for a while.

Thanks a lot, mister, uh... Justin, Vince.

This is sure swell of you, Vince.

Another one.

You'll have to get out of the car.

Okay, sleeping beauty.

- What time is it? - Eight o'clock.

Licence, please.

Just your licence.

ID card?

Hey, this is the fourth one of these things.

You're not the only one, Mr Justin. Where are you coming from?

Monterey. I left last night, about midnight.

You didn't break any speed laws, that's for sure.

I'll leave the speed stuff up to the young kids.

- What do you do? - Salesman. Cosmetics.

Where do you live?

It's right there on the registration.

I know.

624 North 8th Street, San Diego.

Okay.

Okay, get in.

Where'd you get picked up, sailor?

Gee, I don't know. It was about two or three hours ago.

What's his name?

I was practically asleep when he told me.

It's, uh... uh...

Justin! Yeah, that's right, Justin.

I'm sorry, Mr Justin, I'm not very good on names.

Forget it.

How about it? I've got a million people to see.

So have we, Mr Justin.

We bring you a special news bulletin

from police headquarters-

Police have just identified one of the two bodies

found in the charred wreckage of the ambulance

used in the daring San Quentin escape last night.

The other body is now listed as a John Doe.

A tri-state alarm has been issued for Vincent Ryker.

It is suspected Ryker killed a passing motorist

and has used the body in his effort to confuse police.

We will continue to interrupt our regular programme

- to bring you the latest developments... - Some confusion.

He's one man, holding the lives of three million people in his hands.

The people should know, Mark.

What?

That Ryker is loose with a cylinder of death that could wipe out a city?

That we don't know where he is? We'd start a first-class panic.

We could evacuate.

- Excuse me, Lieutenant. - Yeah?

Will there be anything else, sir?

No, you'd better go down to Traffic, see if anything's come in.

Yes, sir.

Where could we put three million people,

with no guarantee that Ryker wouldn't be right in the middle of them,

no matter where we send them?

June?

Oh, Vince.

Vince, it's been such a long time. So long.

Could have been longer.

I didn't want you out this way.

When I heard... Not this way.

What difference does it make? I'm out. That's what counts, isn't it?

That counts most.

Let me take a look at you.

You haven't changed.

You have changed.

The first year you take it, and the second year you change,

then you get out.

Not this way.

What difference does it make? I'm out the right way.

Could you have waited eight years?

I'd have waited.

For what, an ex-con?

Do you know the difference between a con and an ex-con?

Well, there isn't any.

You're just dead meat, dishwashing the rest of your life.

And what are you now?

I'm plenty, because I've got plenty.

Enough so you won't ever have to work and worry again.

I told you, Vince, I don't want that much.

Darling, I told you before...

But, baby, you've got it. We can go places, live big.

Yes, Vince.

What do you think I am, some kind of animal or something?

Don't you think I know what's good in life and what's bad?

I know what's good.

So do you, and you want it as bad as I do.

Whatever you say, Vince.

I'm not an animal.

I'm a person. I want things, especially you.

Excuse me.

I'm Dr John Wallace. I'm looking for Lieutenant Mark Richards.

Yes, Doctor, they're expecting you in here.

Thank you.

Dr Wallace. Am I glad to see you.

You sounded as if you might be over the phone.

Chief Jensen, this is Dr Wallace of the Air Pollution Control District.

- Glad to see you, Doctor. - Glad to know you, sir.

He's the radiological co-ordinator.

I'm going to give it to you fast, Doctor.

Last night, a convict by the name of Vince Ryker escaped from San Quentin,

after stealing what he believes to contain a pound of pure heroin.

What do you want with me?

It doesn't contain heroin.

It contains cobalt-60 in granular form.

Cobalt-60?

Just how powerful is it, Doctor?

Well, it's easily dissipated and spread.

And, in granular form, it's the most deadly thing in existence.

Contamination begins almost immediately.

Within 84 hours, you're dead.

We know that, Doctor.

Is it in a lead casing?

No, it's in a steel cylinder.

It's being used under controlled volunteer experiments

at the prison hospital.

Steel is worthless against those rays.

What if this Ryker opens it?

We're just praying that he doesn't.

If other people are exposed to the cylinder,

they'll become contaminated too, even if Ryker doesn't open it.

That's what we're worried about.

How big is the cylinder?

Vince, where did you get all the make-up?

I got it from a... friend of mine.

We sort of changed identities for a while.

I'll be right out, baby.

Mm-hmm, you stay there a minute. I wanna look beautiful for you.

Two years, Vince. I want you to think me beautiful.

- What are you doing? - Nothing.

Come here.

I'm gonna make this night last.

The police are gonna pick you up, you know that?

I know.

We won't be seeing each other for a while.

- Vince, can't we? - We can't.

They'll be watching you. They know about us.

Won't be long, will it?

Well, as quick as I can make it.

Then I come back and I'll have a bundle,

and you and I can go away and live somewhere as long as we want.

Vince, I love you so. I've waited...

...so long.

He's got to be in the city by now.

What good are roadblocks if we don't know what to look for?

- There's no protection against it? - Yes, there is.

Line up every man, woman and child

and issue them a lead suit and a Geiger counter.

Mark, that man must be found...

How many men in your radiological unit?

About twenty-five.

That you can trust to be silent?

They've all been trained in panic control. They won't talk.

The cobalt is probably in a confined space.

It won't be easy to detect from any great distance.