[Mitch has taken Frank to an elevator]
Do you believe in the nobility of suicide?
No. But if you wanna blow your goddamn head off, go ahead, be my guest.
Nicely put, except I don't want to leave this miserable world alone.
West tower, do you have a shot?
S Sniper
Negative, too dark. Target unclear.
It's better to die with a friend, don't you think Frank?
A friend? You're a damn killer, you sick bastard.
Don't talk to me like that! I saved your life. You owe me.
I was always honest and fair with you.
Go ahead and shoot. Go ahead. [the other agents hear him on the ground floor]
Agent Chavez It's Frank. [to people reacting at the audio] Quiet! Quiet!
Frank are you talking to me?
[trying to keep talking to Leary]
Well, what are you waiting for?
What am I waiting for? I'm waiting for you to show me some goddamn gratitude. [aims pistol as Horrigan moves back] Without me, you'd still just be another sad-eyed, piano-playing drunk. I brought you into this game. I let you keep up with me. I made you a goddamn hero today.
You didn't make me anything.
I redeemed your pathetic, shitty life.
I just did my job. You're the one with the **** pathetic life. Go ahead and shoot, dammit.
They can't see inside. If they fire, you'll be hit.
I want you to thank me first, Frank.
[kneels to him]
All right, Frank.
Shooters, standby to fire. Wait for my command.
Just one thing: Aim high.
[finally sees that Horrigan was on the radio the whole time]
You bastard! [snipers shoot]
I want you to give yourself up.
So I can live a long and fruitful life?
We can work something out.
**** you. Don't **** lie to me. I have a rendezvous with death, and so does the President, and so do you if you get too close.
You have a rendezvous with my ass, mother****er!
Frank. Do you know how easily I could kill you, Frank? Do you know how many times I've watched you go in and out of that apartment? You're alive because I have allowed you to live. So you show me some goddamn respect!
[after a false alarm]
The President was humiliated.
Yeah, well, we're here to safeguard his dignity as well.
What about the time Kennedy's girlfriend was caught in the White House and you said she was with you?
Don't you go believing every rumor someone tells you.
Frank, Wilder told me the whole story. About how you were suspended a month without pay. I'd say that was safeguarding his dignity.
That was different. He was different.
Maybe you were different.
I was different. The whole damn country was different. Everything would be different right now too if I'd been half as a paranoid as I am today. ****.
I heard you and Nixon didn't get along.
Now, that's not true. His chief of staff, though, that was a different story. I remember one time, he wanted me to go out and get rid of some anti-war protesters. I said no, talking about the Bill of Rights and so on. And he says, "look, when I'm talking to you, I am the President." I said, "The President? That's funny, you look more like a sack of shit in a cheap suit to me, sir!"
[laughs]
Well, I like the "sir." It's a classy touch.
Frank, you of all people, I want you to understand because we both USED to think this country was a very special place...
You don't know what I used to think!
Oh, but you know about me? Do you have any idea what I've done for God and country? Some pretty **** HORRIBLE things! I don't even remember who I was before they sunk their claws into me!
They made you into a real monster, right?
That's right and now they want to destroy me because we can't have monsters roaming the quiet countryside, now can we?
What do you see when you're in the dark, and the demons come?
I see you, Frank. I see you standing over the grave of another dead president.
That's not going to happen. I'm onto you.
Forget it, Frank. I am willing to trade my life for his. I am smart, and I am willing, and that is all it takes. That president is coming home from California in a box.
Uh, the address? Come on, Frank. I'll keep you in the game, but I'm not going to throw it for you.
So, you have the guts, Frank. You took the bullet.
Sorry. I wasn't aiming at you.
...
A bulletproof vest is cheating a bit. Otherwise, you played a good game.
It's no game, Leary. I was doing my job. What are we gonna do now?
Do you believe in the nobility of suicide?
No. But if you wanna blow your goddamn head off, go ahead, be my guest.
Nicely put, except I don't want to leave this miserable world alone.
Watching the President, I - I couldn't help wondering why a man like you would risk his life to save a man like that. You have such a strange job - I can't decide if it's heroic or absurd.
Now, why would a man like you want to risk his life to kill a man like that?
Don't you have a psychological profile on me yet?
I don't put a lot of stock in them.
Nor do I. A man's actions don't equal the sum of his psychological parts. Doesn't work that way.
It doesn't work, Frank. God doesn't punish the wicked and reward the righteous. Everyone dies. Some die because they deserve to; others die simply because they come from Minneapolis. It's random and it's meaningless.
Well, if none of this means anything... why kill the President?
To punctuate the dreariness.
It sounds to me like you need to get yourself laid.
You're the same as me. Name one thing in your life that has any meaning.
How do you know? Do you play?
I've seen you in your bar alone. There's no cause left worth fighting for. All we have is the game. I'm on offense. You're on defense.
When do we start playing the game?
What's kept you in the game all these years?
Why don't we get together and have a drink? We could talk about that.
Oh, I'd love to, but I think the less you know about me the better.
Because I'm planning to kill the President.
Oh, now you shouldn't have gone and said that. It's a federal offense to threaten the President. You could go to jail, even if you don't mean it.
I mean it all right. John F. Kennedy said all someone needs is a willingness to trade his life for the President's, right?
Harry Sargent [Frank is arguing with the Chief of Staff after a false alarm]
The president came off looking like a coward on national television.
I thought he came off all right. You're the one that came off looking like a damn coward.
Harry Sargent This is a just a joke to you?
No, you're a joke to me, Harry! You have no idea what we do around here!
Bill Watts That's enough, Horrigan!
Harry Sargent You call me Harry one more time, you'll be busting counterfeiters in Alaska! You keep him away from the president, away from the White House, and you sure as hell better keep him away from me!
Bill Watts Don't talk to the White House Chief of Staff like that.
Bill Watts No, you work for me. At least you did. You're off my detail.
