Undertow

ZIGGY: My man. Ain't but two-ninety here. Goddamnit, Frog, when you work a g-pack for a guy, a kick back supposed to be five hunnerd.

FROG: Stash got hit, yo.

ZIGGY: I ain't hearing that shit, I want my fuckin' money! You best know I ain't playin', motherfucker. Okay, that's how you want it? Fine! But when I roll back past here tomorrow, money gonna be right, or you gonna see. You gonna see who you're fuckin' with! Do I look like a fucking punk?

FROG: Hey yo, shorty. Give me a Snapple and a bag of crab chips from the corner.

[Rock music on car radio]

ZIGGY: What the fuck is your problem, asshole? Oh, fuck, fuck! This is bad, shit! Fuck, fuck, this is really bad. Oh shit, shit, shit, shit!

CHEESE: Get your ass out that car.

ZIGGY: Hey alright, alright, alright, alright!

BASEBALL BAT MALE: Shut up.

CHEESE: Where the money at? Check his socks. You got something for me here, Zig, huh? You got some dough for me, man? Oh Jesus, jackpot. Cheese... Man, hold up, man. Ain't enough here to really call this shit money, man.

ZIGGY: Cheese, take it easy, I'm working on it. But my people you know...

CHEESE: What the fuck you think this is, huh, man? What what what, oh oh oh, you think this supposed to get played some other way, huh? Is that what you think, man?

ZIGGY: Dammit, sonofabitch that hurt.

CHEESE: Yeah, yeah, I know it did.

ZIGGY: Alright, alright, look, how 'bout the coat? Take the coat, alright? Ah, I paid... I paid two large for it, so... So that plus the cash I gave you and then I can get seven-hundred more by the end of the week. You know I will! You know right there, you can fix that.

CHEESE: Two thou'? For this? Shit. Not even a black man could style that shit. You know what I'm sayin', man? What you laughin' at, man?

ZIGGY: Look, c'mon, chill, be cool about it. I'ma get your money by Friday. Then you'll see there's no need to get all fuckin' dramatic out here!

CHEESE: Look, man, I ain't paid by Friday, you dead by Saturday, man. Hey yo, take my man's ride.

ZIGGY: Fuck, I need that! I fuckin' need that! (Spitting) Fuck you!

CARVER: Why me?

DANIELS: You don't want the posting, I'll take someone else. Valchek gave me the pick of his district.

CARVER: I'm not saying I don't want it. I'm asking why you would choose me after what happened last go 'round.

DANIELS: Yeah, I thought about that too. Looking down that list of names on the southeastern roster, I'm saying to myself, why take a man who you once, who already proved himself disloyal? Now why would I do that?

CARVER: I have no fucking clue, Lieutenant.

DANIELS: Because if I caught him once, he might be the last sonofabitch to try it twice. And I'm guessin' you got enough shame on you from the last time so that it won't happen again.

CARVER: No, sir, it won't.

DANIELS: One other thing, as far as I'm concerned, those stripes on your sleeve aren't earned. Your paycheck may say sergeant, but on this detail, Detective Greggs runs your team.

CARVER: Same as it ever was.

[Door closing]

HERC: Well?

CARVER: I'm in.

HERC: C'mere, you sweet bitch.

CARVER: Oh! Don't be grabbin' my dick, faggot.

CLAUDE: I raised him on the radio. He's on his way in right now.

BUBBLES: Apreciate that, Officer. Nice day. Summit Silver four-fity. Top of the line right here. Over there?

McNULTY: Yo' Bubs.

BUBBLES: McNulty the sailor man, huh? Watch the front.

McNULTY: Here. Stick that on that thing there, will ya?

BUBBLES: The cleat. Ain't you know nothing. Look at you, I don't know, maybe it's just me, but somethin' way the fuck wrong with this picture. What the hell is that?

McNULTY: A Baltimore knot.

BUBBLES: Baltimore knot? What the hell is a Baltimore knot?

McNULTY: I don't know, but it's never the same thing twice. What can I tell you, my detectin' days are over.

BUBBLES: Fuck you have me hunt up Omar then for?

McNULTY: That's old business, you remember Bird? His trial's up next week. Omar's got some witnessin' to do.

BUBBLES: He said you can reach him here at this number. If you leave a message.

McNULTY: Good work, Bubs. As always, here. Cab fare.

BUBBLES: Um... Yo, you say tit-for-tat and we let slide on a little county caper. I gotta... I gotta think that, you know, you need to think 'bout what you had me endeavoring to accomplish. I mean, what the fuck, man. I'm not out there askin' about no random-ass, who-give-a-damn nigger. No sir, man. I'm makin' inquiries in your behalf in regards to that fuckin' unforgivin' motherfuckin' Omar, man. Omar!

McNULTY: Why, he play you hard?

BUBBLES: I go at him respectable, he put that goddamn shotgun in my face, man. I'm lookin' at two goddamn tubes of the harbor tunnel starin' right at me, each one 'bout yea-big. I damn near pissed in my pants, and he's gonna stand there smilin' like this shit is funny. It ain't funny. "McNutty", I know I'm payin' taxes on some things, I gotta believe this is more aggregation than... "Good work, Bubs" and a little bit of this.

McNULTY: For your pains.

RALWS: Where are we at with the Jane Does?

FREAMON: Takin' a hard look at the port. We're gonna drop a grand jury summons on every stevedore who worked the ship. Keep rattling cages.

RAWLS: How's the port police broad workin' out for us?

FREAMON: She knows the docks okay.

BUNK: No detective, though.

RAWLS: In that case, you need someone fresh. Cole, maybe, Massy or whoever's up. You need to get your ass over to the southeastern today. You're detailed temporarily.

FREAMON: Whoa, Colonel. Colonel, respectfully, did you just fuck me over without giving me even half a chance to clear this case?

RAWLS (chuckling): Let's be clear, Detective Freamon. When I fuck you over, you'll know it. You'll be so goddamn certain, you won't need to ask the question... And you, Detective Moreland, are now all alone with fourteen red names. How's it feel?

ELENA: And the parking pad in the rear is invaluable for Federal Hill.

PROSPECTIVE BUYER: The deck has a harbor view?

ELENA: Yes, in two directions. Go on up, take a look, I think you'll love it.

NICK: This ain't Federal Hill.

ELENA: Excuse me?

NICK: This is the Point, Locust Point.

ELENA: Oh, well as far as real estate goes, anything that is below Montgomery Street and above the water is now called Federal Hill. Are you two house hunting?

AIMEE: We just started.

ELENA: Well, if you're interested in this area, I could run some listings for you. This particular house--

NICK: My aunt Treesey's.

ELENA: Really, your aunt? Is she a relation to the McDonalds?

NICK: Nope. She's a relation to me.

AIMEE: She died like four years ago. The family sold the house right after. Is that the price?

ELENA: That's the listing, yes.

NICK: They ain't gonna get that much, right?

ELENA: Well, I can't say for certain, but one just like it in the twelve-hundred block sold for three-forty last week.

NICK: Three-forty, huh?

AIMEE: Thanks.

ELENA: Yeah.

AIMEE: Maybe we should rent.

DANIELS: sWe're here because Valchek wants us here, because he believes this man and his down-at-the-heels union local has too much money. So to start with, you and Freamon are gonna put some D.N.R.'S on the union hall phones. Also, run what you can on the union finances and on Sobotka personally. We put that together quick, copy it to the major to show him we're on it, and buy ourselves a little time. Meanwhile, you three do what you do best. Find out where the port folks like to cop on a Friday night and set up some hand-to-hands, maybe a reverse or two.
HERC: A lot of these port guys are white, aren't they? I mean, some of the southeast street dealers, too. So that means you're gonna need a white boy to go down to some of these southeastern corners, right? So Kima, carv on the rooftops. It's my time to front. I'ma show you w it's done, homes.

GREGGS: Cool Lester smooth.

CARVER: Hey!

GREGGS: What's happening?

FREAMON: Same fuck-ups in the same shit detail, workin' outta the same shithouse kinda office. You people lack for personal growth, you know that?

DANIELS: It's a tempory posting. Rawls gets you back at the end of the run.

FREAMON: If he wants me. Last I looked, I was high on his shit list.

CARVER: Then we did you a favor.

FREAMON: I wouldn't go that far. But fuck it. Who we chasing? Frank Sobotka?

PREZ: How fuckin' good is he?

GREGGS: You know the man?

FREAMON: Me and Bunk Moreland were fuckin' with this guy last week, working that case about those dead girls in the container.

DANIELS: He a suspect?

FREAMON: Not exactly, just someone who know what dirt's gettin' done down on the port terminals. Why are you guys on him?

PREZ: 'Cause my father-in-law hates his guts. Which in the southeastern, goes for probable cause.

CARVER: Valchek thinks he has too much cash.

FREAMON: So you're thinkin' drugs?

HERC: In this fuckin' town, what other crime is there?

DONETTE: You know I would've been down here sooner, it's just, with Terrell bein' sick and all... But Dee, I got everything we need paid for. When you come home, Stringer sayin' they gonna hook you up with somethin' outta the mix. Like runnin' a club, or straight business, like. String say they gonna keep you apart from it and give back some time for family. For you and me and Terrell.

DEE: Family, huh?

DONETTE: They thinkin' about how they can do for you. They makin' all these plans even though you been playin' cold with your uncle. Stringer say so anyhow. Why you be like that? Throwin' them off when they lookin' to do for you.

DEE: Donette, they playin' you with that we family and it's all about love. That's how they do. When they got no more use for you, that family shit disappears. It's just about business, Donette.

DONETTE: Dee, they gonna be there for us.

MALE#1: Stony, what's up, man, you got that death grip.

MALE#2: You know Stony got that check. Slow down, fool, 'cause I'm sayin' you need to spend that shit here. Death grip be a fuckin' bomb, yo. I ain't got no ends. Motherfucker said it ain't shit.

STONY: Naw, I ain't say that.

POOT: Hey yo that's enough! Let that shit be.

STONY: Fuck y'all.

MALE#3: Yeah, motherfucker.

MALE#4: Hey, yo B.! Shit jumpin' off in the pit, yo.

STONY: Damn.

BODIE: Yo, what the fuck was that?

POOT: Fiend bad mouthin' our shit. Sayin' death grip ain't all that.

BODIE: So now we're beatin' nigger's ass over speakin' the truth?

POOT: I ain't hit him, the younguns, yo. You can't tell these fools nothin'.

BODIE:We stompin' niggers over bullshit, man. Somebody gotta pull Stringer up on this.

NICK: Hey Zig, what's up? Jesus, Zig, what the fuck happened?

ZIGGY: Fucking niggers got me.

NICK: What?

ZIGGY: Took my money, and they got Princess, too. You hear me, they got my fuckin' car. If I had a gun, I swear to god I would've capped every one of those motherfuckers.

NICK: You call the cops?

ZIGGY: Can't. It was over some dope.

NICK: You bought a fucking package, didn't you? Didn't you?! Serves you right, you stupid fuck. From who? White Miike?

ZIGGY: This nigger Cheese up on Wolfe and Ashland. A few ounces, you know?

NICK: Why not White Mike?

ZIGGY: Fuck Mike, you know how he be.

NICK: Why the fuck would I know how he be.

ZIGGY: Nicky, it ain't my fault. Alright, it ain't! Look, business has been slow, package ain't turned around yet. But the fuckin' hoodleheads ain't hearing it, so I get jumped. They got Princess, man. They're holdin' her for fuckin' ransom. An' now they're tellin' me... They're tellin' me I don't have the money by Friday, they're going to kill me. I need twenty-seven hundred.

NICK: So? You're a drug dealer, go sell some fuckin' drugs. You fucked up the package, didn't you, Zig? I ain't givin' you the money.

ZIGGY:They're gonna kill me.

NICK: I gave my money to Aimee for an apartment. Security deposit and some furniture over at Littlepage's. I ain't got it for ya, Zig.

VALCHEK: You cocksuckers.

GREGGS: (outside) Major in?

(Other female) Yeah, just knock.

[Knocking]

VALCHEK: Yeah.

GREGGS: Major, we're about to make some hand-to-hands around the port. Lieutenant Daniels said I should see you about a surveillance van.

VALCHEK: The van? Um, the van's on loan to the southwest.

GREGGS: Okay.

VALCHEK: Fuck with my ass, will ya?

LUCAS: Bringing us back to our old friends, supply and demand. (Bell ringing) Alright, your research papers are here. Remember Friday, take-home test. Well done, Mr. Bell.

STRINGER: Mr. Lucas, you got five minutes?

LUCAS: Absolutely. Somethin' I've been thinkin' about, maybe you can help me out with.

LUCAS: I'll try.

STRINGER: What are the options when you got an inferior product in an aggressive marketplace?

LUCAS: Well, if you have a large share of the market, you can buy up the competition.

STRINGER: And if you don't?

LUCAS: Reduce price to increase market share.

STRINGER: That assumes low overhead.

LUCAS: Of course, otherwise, you operate at a loss, and worse, as your prices drop, your product eventually loses consumer credibility. You know, the new C.E.O. of Worldcom was faced with this very problem. The company was linked to one of the largest fraud cases in history, so he proposed--

STRINGER: ... To change the name?

LUCAS: Exactly.

[Chattering]

[Whistling]

COLE: Which one?

BUNK: He's got a weenie in his hand.

MASSY: On this case, ain't that you?

COLE: Thomas Pakusa, come on down.

HORSEFACE: The fuck is that? Grand jury summons.

OTT: Grand jury?

COLE: You lie to us, you hurt our feelings. You lie to them, it's perjury.

BUNK: And one more I just dropped on your barbecue chef outside.

SOBOTKA: You used to be a lot more fun, you know that, Bea? That's John Spamanato right there.

SPAMANATO: Johnny Fifty, how you doin', officer?

BUNK: Johnny Fifty? What the fuck is that?

SOBOTKA: Sonofabitch drinks fifty-three beers on his twenty-fifth birthday. So as to be, whaddaya call it, poetical, we rounded it off.

SPAMANATO: "Grand jury for the circuit court of Baltimore City."

BUNK: You worked the Atlantic Light, right? Everybody on that ship testifies.

SPAMANATO: About what?

SOBOTKA: About them girls in the can. The detective here thinks we know somethin' about that mess. He thinks we'd leave 'em there on the dock, in a box, dyin' there in the dark because... Because why, Detective? What reason would we have to want girls to die like that? Why would any of us leave 'em in there if we knew anything about it? I got a wife. And three sisters. And they got daughters. And I got too much respect for women not to be pissed off at what's in your heads right now.

RUSSELL: But of all the cans on the terminal, that's the one you lose in the stacks.

SOBOTKA: We didn't know shit, goddamnit! You want us to dance with a grand jury, we will! What do you say, Johnny?! What do you say to any question?!

SPAMANATO: I take the fifth commandment.

SOBOTKA: And if they offer you immunity to testify against your union brothers?

SPAMANATO: I don't remember.

SOBOTKA: Don't remember what?

SPAMANATO: Nothing.

SOBOTKA: What you're forgetting, Detective, is that every I.B.S. local on the East Coast has had its ass in front of a federal grand jury two or three times already. You want to throw your summonses, throw 'em. You want to subpoena our records? Shit, you don't even need a subpoena no more. Our books have been open to the Justice department for eight years. We're here through Bobby Kennedy, Tricky Dick Nixon, Ronnie "The Unionbuster" Reagan and half a dozen other sons-a-bitches. We'll be here through your weak bullshit, no problem! These four ain't workin' today. You wanna leave the papers here, I'll make sure they get 'em and go downtown on 'em.

BUNK: C'mon.

SPAMANATO: Today?

BUNK: Now!

NATHAN: You described the weapon used to kill Mr. Gant as a three-eighty semi-automatic. You provided the size, and even suggested the manufacturer..."Australian, or one of those A-countries." Is that correct?

OMAR: Indeed.

NATHAN: And you were approximately fifty feet from the shooter?

OMAR: Yes, ma'am, you know, give or take.

NATHAN: Mr. Little, at that distance how were you able to determine who manufactured the weapon?

OMAR: I wadn't.

NATHAN: Then how were you able to relate that information to the detectives?

OMAR: Bird showed it to me.

NATHAN: He showed you the weapon, before the murder?

OMAR: Which murder we talkin'?

NATHAN: Bird committed more than one murder?

OMAR: Fish gotta swim, you know what I'm sayin'? Like I said before, Bird was off showin' that thing to everybody, talkin' about this deed an' the next. I didn't really pay the boy no mind until y'all came and showed him some interest.

NATHAN: Mr. Little, if you, um... If you wouldn't mind waiting outside, I'd like a few words with officer McNulty.

McNULTY: I thought he did good.

NATHAN: Imagine the mileage Maury Levy gets out of me putting that sociopath on the stand.

McNULTY: You gotta admit, it'll be different.

NATHAN: Dress him up at least. I can't have him on the stand looking like that. Here's a voucher for court clothes. Anything with a tie.

WHITE DEALER: Yo, I'm sayin' dirt, ya wanna be my nigga, ya gots to be wit me, for real. Ya ain't when ya ain't 'bout business. Ya see what I'm sayin', yo.

GREGGS: Well, I'll be...

WHITE DEALER: All da time I be on post. But damn, homes... Ya all the time up in some damn crib, trying' to play' house wit them bitches. I'm sayin' y'all be seriously fucked up 'cause I'm out here, gettin' done what needs done. Feel me, nigga?

CARVER: Thievin' motherfuckers take everything, don't they?

WHITE DEALER: You know what I'm sayin', dirt. You wanna be my nigger you gots to deliver for real.

BUNK: How'd we do, Charlie?

CHARLIE: I've almost got one of them ready to swear that the docks are actually near the water.

RUSSELL: They don't scare, them guys. What now?

BUNK: You tellin' me you never had a C.I. down there, right?

RUSSELL: A C.I.?

BUNK: An informant. You ain't got no informants on the dock? Someone you could go to on this? Someone you got a history with? They say a police is only as good as his informants. Meaning, we ain't about much.

McNULTY: The voucher says one-fifty. Look on the clearance rack. It's a look.

OMAR: Naw it ain't.

McNULTY: Here, you figure it out for yourself. I'm going across the street to the federal building. I'll see you in about a half hour.

OMAR: Hey look, man, if I ain't here, I'm round the way on Howard Street, Lydell's. Either that, or I'll be with Muffy at the club.

GREGGS: Where's he at?

CARVER: Said he had to go get his props. Twelve-oh-eight.

(Female on radio): Go ahead twelve-oh-eight.

CARVER: Request lateral with twelve-ten.

HERC (on radio) K.G.A., He can meet me on six.

(Female on radio): Do you copy, twelve-oh-eight?

CARVER: Ten-four, on six. Yo dickhead, where you been at?

HERC (on radio): When you're working deep cover, Carv, you gotta get into the part.

WHITE DEALER: Hey, what's up, you need a little help?

HERC: Might be, bro. Ya got any raw up in here?

WHITE DEALER: You got it to spend?

HERC: For sure.

WHITE DEALER: Then we good. Lemme get with my nigga, be back, alright one.

HERC: Yo, Carv. You copy this, it's all in the props, baby. All in the props.

[Laughing]

CLEARY: Feel any different? Me neither. Special Agent Cleary.

McNULTY: Jim McNulty, from the City.

CLEARY: How can I help you?

McNULTY: Found floating off the Key Bridge. We think she has to do with the dead girls they found in the container over at Patapsco.

CLEARY: Your people were just over here on that, asking for a trace on the can. Homicide fellas.

McNULTY: Yeah, black guys, Moreland, Freamon?

CLEARY: Yeah, you working with 'em?

McNULTY: Sorta, I fished her out. I kinda feel like it's on me to find her people.

CLEARY: You're kidding, right?

McNULTY: No, I thought maybe if you guys have, you know, been pulling in any women who've been over here on the circuit.

CLEARY: Step into my world, Virginia.

[Door buzzer]

SPIROS: A grand jury?

NICK: They snatched up some of our guys, drove 'em downtown.

SPIROS: Well, you know nothing.

NICK: Yeah, no shit, we know nothing. The only guy they got that even knows you had a can that day was Horse and he ain't gonna say shit to nobody.

SPIROS: You sure?

NICK: Horse is a rock. Don't ever worry about him. My uncle neither.

SPIROS: But you say he wants to stop.

NICK: Yeah, for a little while. He wants you to stop moving cans through our docks, at least until this shit chills.

SPIROS: These were local police, right?

NICK: Yeah.

SPIROS: Their interest is in the girls. That happened on the ship, the ship is gone. A dead end. The malaka they want, we already got to in Philly

SERGE: Another dead end.

SPIROS: The police are going nowhere. But more important, we address Frank's concerns. You tell your uncle I will meet with him.

NICK: He says he wants to meet with the Greek.

SPIROS: Anything he can say to the Greek, he can say to me.

NICK: Says he wants the Greek. Says you tell him when and where.

SPIROS: Niko. About that other business. The chemicals.

NICK: What do you need 'em for?

SPIROS: It's just business. Everything is just business with us. Buy for a nickel, you sell for a dime.

NICK: Yeah? Who wants a dime's worth of fuckin' chemicals?

McNULTY: So these are undocumenteds from just this field office?

CLEARY: Maryland and Delaware only.

McNULTY: Any of 'em still in your custody? I'd love the chance to show some photos, maybe get lucky.

CLEARY: Everyone in that book was deported, you can guess that some of 'em are already back.

McNULTY: Any field office have anything active?

CLEARY: That's what I'm looking up right here. You got some girls in custody in San Diego, also Seattle.

McNULTY: Anything I can drive to?

CLEARY: Closest is a case up in Jersey, Hudson County. Raid on a couple clubs up there put about a dozen in their bullpen four days ago.

McNULTY: That'll work.

CLEARY: So you really gonna go up there on your own time?

McNULTY: I'll take a day, yeah.

CLEARY: What's between you and this girl?

McNULTY: You seen what happens down at the morgue when they can't I.D. a body? I have.

[Doorbell]

RUSSELL: Hey, Mau. How you been?

MAU: Same old.

RUSSELL: Yeah? You gettin' some days?

MAU: Pretty much. I'm in the tower now, working the lanes. You, um... You wanna come in? I got, I don't know, some beers, maybe some Bacardi around.

RUSSELL: Maybe we could just go for a cup of coffee and talk, you know?

MAU: Let me get my jacket.

DONETTE: So I tell him, Dee, "why you actin' like that?" He just sit there like I ain't say a damn thing. He off the damn hook.

STRINGER: You tell him about the plans, right?

DONETTE: I told him ya'll was gonna set him up and everything. And he know how ya'll been while he away. He knows some. I mean, damn, heon't need to know about it all, right? Anyway, I'm sayin' I'll get down there next weekend and he look at me like I ain't sayin' shit. He say just leave him alone. (Oven timer ringing) Uh-oh, gotta turn that roast. You gonna see, String, for real. Little Donette know how to burn.

STRINGER: Your father buckin' us, little man. What you think about that, huh? Yeah. I think you're right.

NICK: What you lookin' at?

SHAVED HEAD DOCKER: Fuckin' Ziggy, man. I'm about to get my ass shot behind his bullshit.

NICK: We're reasonable, they're reasonable.

SHAVED HEAD DOCKER: Fuck that, maybe on your side of town.

DEALER: What's up?

NICK: Came to see a man about a car. Maybe tell Cheese we're here?

DEALER: Yo Cheese, white boy.

CHEESE: Yo, man. Hey yo, you got my money, man?

NICK: That's what we came to talk about.

CHEESE: Yo, you gotta a lot of heart coming up in here without my fuckin' money.

SHAVED HEAD DOCKER: Yo man, we thought maybe we can work somethin' out so you can get what's yours.

CHEESE: How you plan to do that?

NICK: You give the car back, I'll get him to sell it off. Camaro with a three-fifty in it, it's gotta be worth more than three grand.

CHEESE: That's right clever. Right clever, I got to say. And I appreciate ya'll comin' all this way so much, I'ma give the boy another week to pay. Of course, that ride ain't worth nothin' near three thou. Oh, ya don't believe me? Have a look. (Laughing)

(They round the corner, to see Ziggy's Camaro engulfed in flames.)

[Sirens]

MAU: You show up at my door, I'm thinkin' better thoughts than this. And you counted on that, huh?

RUSSELL: Who else am I gonna ask?

MAU: I ain't no snitch, Beadie. Not even for you am I a snitch.

RUSSELL: I'm not thinkin' about it like that. I'm thinkin' here's a guy, and we had some times together and even though, you know, it didn't get to where he mighta wanted it, he's still a good guy. Someone I can talk to about this.

MAU: How come it didn't go nowhere?

RUSSELL: You did good, who knows? I don't know, you never know. I could show you pictures of how they died. Broken fingernails, blood on the walls.

MAU: All of a sudden, you're a cop.

RUSSELL: Help me with this, Mau.

MAU: You didn't get shit from grabbin' up Horseface and them, did ya? It's kinda funny when you think about it. I mean, you runnin' around like your head's all chopped off, lookin' for someone to clue you in. When a lot of what you're askin' about is right there for the takin'.

RUSSELL: How so?

MAU: Used to be us checkers did everything with paper and a pencil, right? Every move on a ship, we wrote it down. When that ship sails, and there ain't no problems, then that paper gets tossed. That don't happen today, right? Nothin' gets tossed anymore.

RUSSELL: The computer. Thanks, Mau.

ZIGGY: Well?

NICK: Good news and bad, Zig.

ZIGGY: Those fucking niggers. Gimme the bad.

NICK: They're still gonna kill you, they're gonna wait a week.

ZIGGY: What the fuck can be good?

NICK: You can cancel your car insurance.

HERC: Let me get two red tops. There we go. I hope you guys are takin' notes.

[Rap music]

CARVER: Oh shit.

HERC: One on one.

CARVER: One more time with that toothpick, I'm going to stab him in the fucking eye with it.

[Speaking Greek]

THE GREEK: Ashamed he should be to be Greek and call this a diner.

SPIROS: A talk would ease his mind.

THE GREEK: Ease my mind first. This business with the grand jury.

SPIROS: We checked the courthouse. There is nothing special, just the regular panels. They're trying to scare the men on the docks.

THE GREEK: And?

SPIROS: Nobody talks. But Sobotka, as I said, is upset. It is more attention than he expected.

THE GREEK: He will need money for his lawyers. Double his fee. But I don't need to meet with him. Let the money talk.

STRINGER: Everything we get from Atlanta been walked on. Each one weaker than the other. And this nigga Roberto is on the shelf to us right now. I mean, it's gettin' hard to hold onto the towers without our name all over the product is what I'm sayin'.

AVON: Who got the good shit?

STRINGER: Eastside.

AVON: Eastside, eastside who?

STRINGER: This nigger Milton got a small cut. Prop Joe. This Jamaican cat who got the strip off Gay Street. You know who out?

AVON: Yeah, you talkin' about Petey, Petey Dixon.

STRINGER: You go over to the expressway lunchtime, you can watch the fiends travellin' from west to east.

AVON: Damn.

STRINGER: I mean, I'm cuttin' shit with shit right now. Tryin' to cheat, but sooner or later...

AVON: I hear ya, man, I'm on it.

STRINGER: You workin' it out with Dee?

AVON: Boy gotta find his own way.

STRINGER: I'm sayin', you know, I think we should keep reachin' out to this kid. Give somethin' to him and his girl. I don't know, show 'em we got a plan. Take some real estate, put it in Dee's name. He has somethin' to come home to.

AVON: Do it. Thing is String, what happened, happened. You know what I mean? Push come to shove, I been fair to him, ain't I?

STRINGER: You've been fair. Too fair.

SOBOTKA: Where's the Greek?

SPIROS: He sent me.

SOBOTKA: Fuck you and fuck him!

SPIROS: Frank, Frank. He sent me to tell you that we're doubling your fee, to help with any legal troubles. He also told me to tell you he regrets that you are still having problems on our behalf.

SOBOTKA: They're throwin' my people in the back of police cars, and this asshole can't even talk face-to-face. I'm done! I'm out! I don't need nothin' more to do with you people. I don't need the trouble or the money. I got a union to run.

SPIROS: They used to make steel there, no? Smoke from the stacks. But inside...

NICK: Potassium permanganate. Spell "permangante". F-u-c-k. You even know what the fuck you're doing there, Zig?

ZIGGY: I'm in the checker's local, right? You know while you local forty-seven boys were busy having bulk cargo dropped on your heads, we was out grabbin' the future by the balls.

NICK: So you just type that shit in there and ask it for an answer?

ZIGGY: Nick, let me ask you. You know, why do we even give fuck what the shit is for? If they want it, they want it. I mean, besides, if I don't get some money soon, I'm fucking toasted.

NICK: Whoa.

PORT MANAGER: I don't know who you've been talking to, but we don't have that kind of stealing goin' on down here. It's not like the old days.

BUNK: No?

PORT MANAGER: Well, a little here and there, but for the most part, the new technology has changed everything. Look, see this little box right here?

RING: You fuckin' mind?

SOBOTKA: Ring's a little stressed right now. Having misplaced a frozen can full of Japanese tuna steaks that was supposed to be at the Jessup wholesale market, like, yesterday.

RING: Bite me.

PORT MANAGER: Frank, these officers are--

SOBOTKA: I know who they are.

PORT MANAGER: Frank, here helped set this system up. He probably can explain it better than I can, if he doesn't mind.

SOBOTKA: No problem, chief. In a nutshell, what this shows is the Aqua Verde at berth four. The plan calls for eighty-five moves. That's cans, containers, coming off the ship and others going back on. Now, you look at the screen, you see that every time a can goes on or off, the computer creates a record and puts it in the permanent database.

BUNK: He was sayin' that the computer makes it hard to steal off the docks.

SOBOTKA: Did our illustrious port manager tell you that right now, we got a hundred sixty boxes missing off the Patapsco terminal alone? Or the last time we inventoried the truck chassis, we came up three hundred light? No, I suppose not, that's management for ya.

BUNK: A hundred sixty, huh?

SOBOTKA: Not that all of them are stolen. 'Cause you can lose a can by accident, no problem. For one thing, these handhelds use radio waves. And with all the equipment and container stacks out there, sometimes them waves get knocked down. That happens, a can don't get entered. Or, just as easy, a checker makes the wrong entry. Either 'cause he's lazy, he's sloppy, or he's still shitfaced from the night before. Or, simpler than that, you got fat fingers, no offense, so imagine February on the docks. You're wearing Gortex gloves, tryin' to punch numbers on that thing.

RUSSELL: You're sayin' that's what happened to the can with the girls in it?

SOBOTKA: Beadie, darlin', I don't know what happened there. I'm just sayin' if you go by the computer, it might look like there's some kinda dirt goin' down, when it's really just a glitch in the system.

BUNK: The customs seal was broke on that box. Shouldn't that get noticed?

SOBOTKA: You're off-loading a ship the size of a small town, you might notice a broke seal, you might not. Look, you wanna keep pullin' our chain, you can. But it ain't like it's just that one box that went missing. We lose them son-bitches all the time.

PORT MANAGER: Frank give you everything you need?

RUSSELL: He did, thanks.

BUNK: They're playing us.

NEWARK I.N.S. SUIT: You drove all the way from Baltimore on a hope and a prayer, huh?

McNULTY: Yeah, I'm dead-ended on this. Is there anything we can offer any of them for cooperation?

NEWARK I.N.S. SUIT: You could marry one of 'em, make her an American housewife. Short of that, they're goin' back the fuck where they came from.

McNULTY: Where do you hold 'em?

NEWARK I.N.S. SUIT: County detention. We keep the undocumenteds outta general pop.

STRINGER: Y'all heard of Worldcom? Alright, let's try this... Y'all get jacked by some knocko's. But y'all clean. Y'all got an outstanding warrant, like everybody in here. What do you do? What do you do?

POOT: Give another name.

STRINGER: Why?

POOT: 'Cause your real name ain't no good.

STRINGER: Alright, it ain't good and, follow through. Alright, death grip ain't shit?

POOT: Then change up the name.

STRINGER: What else?

ROCK: Yo, I got it, change the caps from red to blue, right? Make it look like we got some fresh shit, boom.

BODIE: And you know what else we might could do, give each tower its own name, right? And then we do like some fake competing. So a fiend gets some bad shit from one, he'd go back to the other.

STRINGER: There's a thinkin' man, right there.

ROCK: See nigger, ain't that the fuck I just said.

NICK: You and my uncle talk?

SPIROS: Sure.

NICK: How'd it go?

SPIROS: No problem. Three boxes. All of them on the Wilhelmina. And you should tell your uncle that it's three times the usual fee for each.

NICK: We, um, checked on those chemicals. We looked into that. I was worried, you know. Before I deliver, I want to know what you need it for. A bomb, or some shit? I ain't down for that. You use that shit to process drugs, don't you? Cocaine. You still want it, I got it on the Fairfield piers, no problem.

SPIROS: When?

NICK: End of the week.

NEWARK I.N.S. SUIT: Maryska. She's good with English.

McNULTY: They're dead. All I'm trying to do is get word to the families.

MARYSKA (speaking Russian)

McNULTY: What did she say?

MARYSKA: She wants to know, if she knows a girl, does she get to stay?

[Speaking Russian]

NEWARK I.N.S. SUIT: You want a good restaurant for dinner? Or are you headed right back?

DANIELS: A computer?

BUNK: To run a trace on the missing containers in the port database.

DANIELS: You're looking for what?

RUSSELL: A pattern for our case, we need to know who left those girls on the dock and why.

FREAMON: We're supposed to be on Sobotka and the checkers union anyway, so folding one investigation into the other makes sense.

DANIELS: Not to me it doesn't. I'm not bringing your open murders anywhere near this detail, that's a loser for us.

BUNK: Lieutenant.

DANIELS: We bring in a few drug rips and show that we gave Sobotka and his union look, it's more than enough for Burrell. He returns the favor and I'm outta the basement and running an investigative unit again. You dirty me up with murders I can't solve, it doesn't play like that.

BUNK: Homicide's not the place to sprawl a case, Lieutenant. Rawls, Landsman... They have no patience for anything but a quick shake.

FREAMON: We got enough room for it here, anyway.

DANIELS: You can set up here at the off-site and we can share information. But the murders stay with homicide. Unless, of course, you find a suspect.

[Bell ringing]

SHAVED HEAD DOCKER: Three ro-ros, four containers. I got all my cards up, including long numbers, and we're still short.

SOBOTKA: A good day.

SHAVED HEAD DOCKER: That it is.

SOBOTKA: Hey, everybody works today, even you, my little J-series wonders. Even you.

NICK: Is Horse workin' the Wilhelmina today?

SOBOTKA: I told that motherfucker I told him!

NICK: He said he talked to you. He said its triple-rate for every can.

SOBOTKA: Triple? Call Horse in the tower. Tell him he's working the Wilhelmina.

OTT: Alright.

SOBOTKA: It's now or never for us, I got no choice.

NICK: Today we got ships, uncle Frank, today. But the writin's on the fuckin' wall.

SOBOTKA: Fuck the wall.