The Protégé

Transcript by sub. Trader & Clarity

1991 DA NANG, VIETNAM

Hello, did you do all of this?

Beretta 93.

Usually dependable.

We should be good to go now.

Come on.

Don't be afraid.

THIRTY YEARS LATER BUCHAREST, ROMANIA

What the fuck? Are you having a party?

Where is Anton?

Why didn't he answer the phone?

Vali!

Your father is looking for you.

Get up!

Get up, Vali!

Come on, girls, come on. Go home.

Away, away! Come on, get out of here.

Come on Vali, let's go.

Anton?

Where the fuck is Vali?

You had to look over him, where the fuck is Vali?

Yes?

Who's talking?

It's me, Vali.

Vali?

Explain to me where did you go? Why don't you...

Some assholes kidnapped me outside the hotel.

What? Who?

Who kidnapped you?

How they fuck would I know?

They want three million euros now.

Vali, tell them how I am.

They don't fucking care who you are, just pay!

They want three million euros in two hours.

Or they'll cut my throat like a pig.

How dare you take my boy?

There it is. You wanna count it?

Do you know who I am?

Don Preda.

Butcher of Bucharest, Killer of Men.

Tell your boss it's done.

Exactly, who are you people?

We're just...

We just find people who can't be found.

The money.

You gonna have it maybe for an hour.

Then we come take it back, cut you both into pieces and feed you to my pigs.

That doesn't worry you?

No.

Why?

I didn't come here for money.

I came here for you.

Stop the girl. She killed Don Preda. Kill her.

Why are you fighting so hard, huh?

You're going home, motherfucker. Fuck off!

I'm good.

You fucking pieces of shit. You can't leave me here!

Fuck you, you bastards!

Did you take any, huh?

Take what?

Money.

It was all there, right?

We were paid to eliminate the target. We did that.

Yeah, you know, three mil… dirty money… nobody's looking for…

Just saying.

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you're hurting.

Please.

This is R & D Plumbing. Your leak has been fixed.

Please remit the balance of your payment for the withd...

€7,000,000. Transfer complete.

Done.

You need to see a doctor about that cough.

Traditional or a witch?

You? Definitely a witch.

Ah, I know just the voodoo queen to call.

LONDON

Chelmsford was a bloody war zone.

Every train was 30 minutes late and jam-packed as always.

Welcome back.

Thank you for taking care of her,

you know you're the only one she'll tolerate, right?

She gets really mean when you're away.

Spent most of the time hanging out with Proust.

Is that true?

Three weeks, and this is all you come back with?

Ah, you know sellers,

they know you've come all that way, and they play hard to get.

Didn't you wanna just kill people like that?

What do you think you're doing, huh?

So, the other day, he says to me "70 is the new 30."

Well, that's just something old guys say.

How is he doing with his protocol? Is he following the doctor's orders?

More like, following his own orders.

Happy birth...

No more fucking birthdays.

Take birthdays and shove them up your ass.

Bastard.

What a wonderful toy!

You skimped on the candles I see.

Seventy would have been a fire hazard.

Could you make us some tea please?

Sure.

All right, make your wish.

Happy birthday.

Yeah.

To thank you.

A 1958 Gibson Flying V.

This was in production just two years.

There is only 90 in the whole world.

I know.

That sound…

It's the wood.

African limba.

Nothing else sounds like it.

I was just about giving up hope on finding one.

How in the world did you…

You.

You taught me how to find things that didn't wanna be found.

Albert King played one.

Albert King played that one.

No!

No!

You're gonna cry now, aren't you?

Only because I can't play it the way it needs to be played.

Thank you.

One of the twins called me last night, said she was pregnant.

Daisy in Dover?

No, Daisy in Manchester.

Daisy in Dover is a dyke.

It is a rare gift to have a friend who trusts you enough

not to try and help until you ask.

If you fell in the pond with those you'd drown.

Well, if I fell in a pond without them I would probably float away.

- Hi, honey. - Mind your fingers.

That hefa bites.

She's a baby and doesn't know any better.

There.

You have your own secret hideout.

Why am I not surprised?

I bought the building.

- What? - The bookstore.

It's yours. Free and clear.

You didn't have to do that.

I know, but it's your passion.

And, it makes me feel good to know

you'll have something to work on while I'm gone.

What is that?

Those are the souls waiting for me on the other side.

I'm sure they have a reception planned.

Ah… sent away so many prematurely.

Either by my hand or through you.

We never sent anyone away who didn't have it coming.

Maybe.

But… I'm sure there are quite a few spirits up there

waiting for me with a bone to pick.

You really believe you're going up?

Don't you?

Lucas Hayes.

I need our friend to find him for me.

I have him up till 1998, Paris, after that nothing.

- Just find? - Just find.

Discreetly, and with the quickness.

Okay.

I may have to go back to Vietnam.

It'd be nice if you went with me.

I'm never going back there.

Our past is never where we left it, little chameleon.

We all have scars.

You stare at them long enough you remember how you got them.

- Hi. - Morning.

The blue dress has a small tear in it, I was hoping to talk to Benny about it.

What do you think?

Of what?

My, mustache.

Oh, you know, I don't have my contacts in, sorry.

Funny.

You wait till this grows in women like you are gonna be so…

No, it's okay. I'll help you out.

I need you to find this guy.

What? No satellite shots of a mafia compound outside Bucharest?

No, but that was some of your better work.

Moody wants this guy, Lucas Hayes, last seen in Paris in '98 and then nothing.

Yeah.

I'll be with you in a second.

Can I help you?

Yeah, I'm looking for a book, an old book. Like, rare.

- "Like rare"? - Yeah.

Either they are or they aren't.

Books aren't like stake, you can't get them like medium rare.

- It's funny. - Sarcastic.

Yes, but funny.

Listen, my boss' wife is having a party and she collects books, first editions.

Any particular subject?

Birds. It's Audobon's…

"Birds of America"?

Yeah, that's it. He said she's looking for a copy.

- A first edition? - Yeah.

- Sorry. - You don't have it?

No one does, only one first editions exists,