Telefon

- It is time. - No, general. The children.

Lieutenant, now.

Lieutenant.

I want him alive.

- Is that clear? - Of course, general.

Nicolai Dalchimsky!

You don't need to be afraid.

- We won't hurt you. - Thank you.

Where is Dalchimsky?

My son has gone away. I don't know where.

- When did he leave? - Will I ever see my son again?

Please tell me. Will I ever see him again?

Nobody.

Dalchimsky is not in the building, general.

- Search the area. - Yes, general.

- Vladimir. - They're wasting their time. He's gone.

Probably crossed the border already.

- If that is so, God help us. - God?

- So tell me, what do you think? - Not bad, kid. Not bad at all.

Well, I did it all myself.

Well, now, you're pulling a set of 4-11 rear gears.

I tell you that, Dave.

If she was my street rod...

Well, I'd mount myself a set of ladder traction bars in her, that's for sure.

- Bascom's Auto Repair. - Is this Harry Bascom?

Yes, Harry.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep And miles to go before I sleep.

Remember, Nikulin, miles to go before you sleep.

Remember, Nikulin...

miles to go before I sleep.

Hey, Harry! Where are you going?

Good afternoon, sir. May I see your-?

Jesus.

Bascom was an infantry corporal, Korea, '51, '52.

Good-conduct medal, Silver Star, honorable discharge, '53.

A bachelor, no living relatives...

no known association with any radical organizations, registered Republican.

In.

- Sir. - Hold the thought, Putterman, please.

- We're in the middle of something here. - It really can't wait.

Let me see. Yeah. Coached Little League, church elder...

member of Kiwanis, American Legion and National Rifle Association.

Surprised he wasn't in the state legislature.

I have something I think we ought to get up to Sovcom right away.

They meet once a week. We can get it-

You know, but why sabotage a base that's no longer active?

They shipped all that nerve gas out of there about 10 years ago.

Couldn't be sabotage. Not with his record. It's gotta be something personal.

Six auto crashes: One due to faulty brakes...

two by collision with runaway trucks, three by tire failure.

Your typical assorted plane crashes, all with multiple-passenger loss.

Two military, one Sovietflot.

A sudden rash of skiing accidents, one disappearance on an ice floe...

one drowning in the Black Sea, one sailing mishap...

plus five simple fatal cardiac arrests, two terminal cancers...

four massive brain hemorrhages.

Twenty-four high-ranking party members in scattered parts of the USSR...

all deceased within the past 13 days.

Aside from their demise, they had one other thing in common.

They were all avowed hard-line Stalinists all opposed to detente with us.

A purge?

Well, the probability factor of 24 top-brass communists...

dying almost simultaneously is, give or take a point or two...

just under a billion to one.

I'll take this right over to Sovcom.

In.

- Got a curious problem here, sir. - Yeah?

- Harry Bascom. - Yeah?

Died of a burst appendix 22 years ago in Canton, Ohio.

- Harry Bascom? - Yes, sir.

His mother collected his life insurance from the VA just a month before she died.

- Putterman. - Yes, sir.

So, what do you want me to do?

What I want you to do is just let me the hell alone.

You tell the bank to leave me the hell alone and I will leave you the hell alone!

All right, answer the damn phone.

Hello.

Yes, just a minute.

It's for you. Here.

- Yeah. - Mr. Carl Hassler.

Yeah, that's right. Hassler Air charter.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep.

And miles to go before I sleep.

Remember, Sobolev. Miles to go before you sleep.

Remember, Sobolev.

Miles to go before I sleep.

Carl, it's just not going to work.

Every man doesn't have to have his own business.

So you fail. What's so terrible about that?

You can fly for somebody else.

It's easy for you. You don't have to avoid all the bill collectors.

You don't have to lie to people at every store that you go into.

All you have to do is just play sky king in your stupid old whirly bird!

Carl, when you come back, can we talk?

Carl.

Aircraft approaching Apalachicola Naval communication Station, identify.

Aircraft approaching Apalachicola, check your heading.

You are entering restricted air space. Acknowledge.

Aircraft, do you copy? Acknowledge.

Aircraft approaching Apalachicola, you are entering restricted air space.

Do you copy? Acknowledge.

Aircraft approaching Apalachicola, turn immediately to heading 270.

You are endangering your aircraft. Acknowledge.

He's dropped down to 100 feet. He's two miles and closing.

- Number 14, sir. - Hot Pistol. Hot Pistol. At 040, two miles.

Altitude 100 feet.

- Is it a drill? - This is no drill. Execute Hot Pistol.

Goddamn.

Can I help you, sir?

Yes.

I would like see how this set compares with others.

- Please get the news on all the sets. - Sure.

Over in Apalachicola, a helicopter crashed and burned...

near the top-secret Naval communication center.

The public-information office at NAS Pensacola...

has identified the dead pilot as Carl Hassler...

owner of Hassler Air Service.

Apparently, Hassler lost control of the helicopter and was radioing for help.

Exact cause of the crash is not yet known...

but the Naval spokesman reported no damage occurred...

to the highly sensitive equipment on the base.

Did we want remote control, sir?

Operator.

I wish to speak with Mr. Mark Peters in Akron, Ohio.

The area code is 216.

The number 788-8837.

You and you. Over here.

The rest of you pay close attention.

What is the best chance of controlling the puck?

To be quicker than your opponent.

- How do you ensure that? - Watch what he does and beat him to it.

If you see him do it, you'll be too late.

Don't look at him and don't watch the referee.

If you watch the referee drop the puck, again you'll be too late.

Keep your eyes on the ice.

Continue play.

Major Borzov, colonel Malchenko wants to see you immediately at headquarters.

I'll be with you as soon as I've changed.

First, Harry Bascom.

January 17th.

Just seven days ago, Bascom destroyed himself...

and a storage center for nerve gas in the American state of colorado.

Particularly stupid act.

All their cw inventory had been removed 10 years ago.

Carl Hassler, January 20th.

He was shot down and killed while violating restricted air space...

above a Naval communication center.

Mark Peters, on the same day...

blew himself up and an ammunition dump outside Akron, Ohio.

Tell me, major. In all the world, Who is the most secret agent?

Anyone who manages to stay secret.

But there's an even more ideal agent.

One who doesn't know he is an agent.

- Anyone care for tea? - Yes, thank you.

- Service for three, Dimitri. - Yes, sir.

Cleopatra says there will be snow from the west.

Tell me, major. Have you ever seen drug-induced hypnosis?

I think I just did.

When you have finished your discussion with the major, I want that back directly.

Certainly, general.

Meantime, do not let it out of your sight.

Just after the U-2 spy flights, we started the counter operation.

We thought they were looking for targets. A nuclear confrontation seemed imminent.

We gave the operation a code name.

Telefon.

- I never heard of it. - You were never meant to.

Telefon was more than top secret. Much more.

It was a network of the finest deep-cover agents any nation ever produced.

They're to infiltrate, burrow deep...

and wait for the signal to strike in the event of nuclear war.

Happily for all of us, we did not have to activate.

We recruited all the best English-speaking students we could find.

We drilled them in every detail of American life.

Then we handpicked the cream for drug-assisted hypnosis.

When we'd finished, each of them really believed...

that he or she was the deceased American they were to replace.

In areas close to military targets.

You see what a brilliant concept Telefon was.

Cleopatra says there will be snow from the west. Bang, bang, bang.

Yes.

But then we gave them all another trigger phrase.

Part of a poem by an American poet, Robert Frost.

That, coupled with their original Russian name...

would launch them off on their individual missions.

Each mission virtually a suicide trip. But they're all ready to die.

That too was planted in their subconscious.

All it took to activate was a simple telephone call.

When did you bring them out?

We didn't.

They're still there?

All but Bascom, Hassler, Peters.

- How many more are there? - Fifty-one left.

Spread across the entire country.

There are only two of these, listing all the Telefon agents.

General Strelsky's and the one in secret documents.

That one is missing. We now know that Dalchimsky took it.

Why would Dalchimsky be setting off your human time bombs?

Could be that the Stalinist lunatic...