PRAGUE
Jim walks down a street and is seen entering a building. Inside the building, Jim stands up giving his team a briefing of the mission. Ethan, Jack, Claire, and Hannah sit at a table, while Sarah stands near a window with the drapes drawn.
Jim: A very straightforward objective. We photograph Golitsyn stealing the NOC List, follow him to his buyer, apprehend both of them. Now, here's the plot. Ethan, you're going into the embassy in character, during a party, hide in plain sight, highest possible profile. You game?
Ethan: Wouldn't have it any other way.
Jim: Sarah, you're at the party already as the embassy's Washington visitor liaison. Make contact with Ethan. You'll run the game together.
Sarah: I haven't a thing to wear.
Jim looks at Sarah and shrugs.
Jim: Well, I'm sure you'll work it out.
Claire and Hannah smile at Jim's comment. Jim points at Claire.
Jim: You'll mark Golitsyn, hand him off to Hannah. Hannah, you'll have him for the duration of the interior. Find yourself a perch and stay on him.
Hannah puts her hand on her chin.
Hannah: No problem.
Jim: Jack?
Jack straightens up.
Jack: Yeah?
Jim points at a board showing the layout of the embassy elevator.
Jim: Fingerprint security, there's access through the elevator shaft here.
Jack: So I guess I'm not wearing my tux.
Jim: Open, close, get out. Zero residual presence. Claire...
Claire looks up at Jim.
Claire: Mmm-hmm?
Jim: You'll cover outside in the vehicle. Hannah will join you as Golitsyn goes exterior, you two stay on him from there.
Claire and Hannah share an understanding look and Hannah nods.
Claire: Okay.
Jim: Anything goes wrong, I call abort. Everybody walk away immediately. Regroup here at 4:00 a.m. That's 0400. Any questions?
There are a few seconds of silence until Ethan breaks it.
Ethan: Yeah. Can we get a cappuccino machine in here? 'Cause I don't know what you call this.
He holds up a foam cup.
Jack: I call it "cruel and unusual."
Ethan laughs.
Claire: Hey, I made that coffee.
Ethan: Exactly. Is it possible it's even worse than the sludge you made in that barn in Kiev?
Claire rolls her eyes.
Claire: Thank you.
Jim: Hey, take it easy on my wife's coffee, will you?
Ethan: Oh, we missed you in Kiev, Jim.
Jim: Missed you too, Ethan.
Jack: Were you off on one of your cushy recruiting assignments again?
Ethan: Yeah, where'd they put you up this time? The Plaza?
Jim smirks.
Jim: Drake Hotel, Chicago.
Ethan, Jack, and Claire: Ooh.
Hannah laughs.
Jack: What a shame. 24-hour room service.
Ethan: Chauffeured cars.
Jack: Fat expense account.
Ethan: And he's getting soft in his old age.
Jack: Yeah, he is. Look at him.
They all laugh.
Jim: Okay, listen. If that list gets out into the open, the names of our agents in every country in Eastern Europe will be up for grabs to the highest bidders. Third world terrorists, arms dealers, drug lords, any and everybody who'd like to get rid of long-term coverts like us. If they're exposed, they'll be executed. So, I'll run the whole show from the crow's nest here. Everyone knows their roles. Let's punch out the details.
Cut to some time later, where we see the agents going over the details of the mission.
Sarah wears a pair of glasses and Jack explains them. He points at the bridge.
Jack: There's a camera built right into the bridge. Whatever you see, it sees, and then it transmits it back here.
He points at a monitor that shows the feed from the glasses.
Jack: See?
He holds up his wrist and there's a small device strapped on it like a watch. He holds it close to his mouth.
Jack: (Whispers) Can you hear me?
Sarah: Of course I can hear you.
Jack: (Normal tone) No, no, in your, uh... Oh, you need an earpiece.
He picks an earpiece up off the table. Sarah takes it and places it in her ear.
Jack: (Whispers into the wrist device) You have lovely eyes. Can you hear me now?
Sarah smiles.
Sarah: Loud and clear.
Jim shows a map of the area the team is operating in to Claire and Hannah.
Jim: If he has a car waiting, and he rolls, you stay with him no matter what. You should take the afternoon, drive the streets around this little quarter. They're confusing as hell.
Claire: Mmm. What do you think I've been doing all morning?
Jim and Claire sit watching something on a computer. Ethan stands behind them.
Ethan: We're using Waltzer?
Jim: He's our guy.
Ethan: Isn't he chairing the armed services hearing?
Jim: Not this week. This week, he's flyfishing at the Oughterard Slough in County Kildare with one of our best Irish guides.
Ethan starts laughing.
Claire: Yep. And he won't be back on anytime soon.
Claire smiles.
Waltzer: (On computer) ...irrelevant at best or unconstitutional at worst.
Interviewer: With all due respect, Senator, it sounds as if you want to lead the kind of change that Senator Frank Church led in the 1970's and in the process destroy the intelligence capability of this country.
Waltzer: No, John. I want to know who these people are and how they're spendin' our taxpayers' money. We were livin' in a democracy the last time I checked.
Jack shows Ethan a piece of gum that has a red side and a green side.
Jack: Stick of gum, right?
Ethan: No?
Jack: No. Red light, green light. You come up against a lock you can't pick, you mash 'em together...
Jack imitates an explosion.
Jack: Hasta lasagna, don't get any on ya. You'll have about five seconds.
He hands the gum to Ethan.
Jack: Just don't chew it.
Ethan gives Jack a look.
Later, at the embassy, a crowd of people walk across the fine, polished floors of the building. Jack enters the elevator shaft through a small metal door. He looks up and sees a terminal. Jim watches the feeds from the glasses of Ethan, Hannah, and Jack.
Jim: Ethan, Jack's inside. Let's go.
A man approaches Ethan with his arm outstretched for a handshake.
Rand: How do you do, Senator? I'm Rand Housman, the ambassador's aide.
Ethan shakes his hand.
Ethan: (In Waltzer's voice) Hello, Mr. Housman.
Rand: How was the opera?
Ethan: Uh, it was boring.
Rand laughs.
Rand: Let me see if I can steer you through this reception line.
Inside the elevator shaft, Jack climbs up and stops at a spot close to the terminal and turns on the lights on his glasses. He places a small device on it.
Mr. Reid: How do you do, Senator?
Rand: His wife, Mrs. Reid.
Jim: Windows open by 2300.
Rand: Petr Brandl, the mayor of Prague.
Ethan: How do you do, sir?
Rand: And Mrs. Brandl.
Sarah runs to Ethan.
Sarah: Senator!
Sarah chuckles and sighs.
Sarah: I bet you don't remember me, do you?
Ethan: Why, of course I do. How are you, Ms. Norman?
Sarah: (Under her breath, through her teeth) He's in pocket, on the stairway.
Golitsyn walks up a stairway to where Ethan and Sarah are.
Woman: Mr. Golitsyn, nice to see you.
Jim: Hannah.
Hannah stands on a higher stairway, watching Golitsyn.
Jim: Pull the shade.
Hannah presses a button on her glasses.
Jim: Sarah, mark the package and go to tunnel.
Sarah discreetly sprays Golitsyn with a small perfume spray bottle, which marks Golitsyn on Hannah's glasses.
Sarah: Your advance team mentioned that you'd like a tour of the facilities, so I've gone ahead and set one up.
She walks past someone.
Sarah: Excuse me.
Ethan follows her.
Sarah: This way. Thank you.
The elevator starts going down. Jack squeezes himself into a small side compartment to avoid it. It stops right in front of him and he sighs.
Jack: Oh, great.
Sarah: ...which leads to the denied area, which is the only limited-access area in the whole facility.
Sarah and Ethan stop at the elevator door and Sarah presses the button with her thumb. The elevator starts to move down again and Jack gets on top of it. The button scans Sarah's thumbprint. A computer in a room with a couple guards attempts to read it as one guard watches it in slight confusion. Jack places a device on the elevator.
Jack: Governor's in position now.
The other guard looks at the computer and the first guard shakes his head and the second gets up and exits the room. He comes from the door next to Ethan and Sarah.
Guard: Excuse me. Can I help you?
Sarah: Oh, I'm sorry.
She starts rummaging through her bag.
Sarah: Uh, as you can see, there's a Marine guard and video surveillance, and this place is like... Excuse me. I'm sorry.
She puts a pair of glasses on.
Sarah: I know it's in here somewhere.
Ethan: Now, Sergeant, why are you not in your uniform this evening?
Jack remotely accesses the thumbprint database on the computer in the security room from his computer.
Sergeant: Uh, we've been ordered to wear civilian clothes this evening, sir.
Sarah hands the Sarge an identity card.
Sergeant: Be right back.
He leaves.
Sarah: Tell me, Senator, do you not have someone on your staff named Jack?
Ethan: Jack? Well, I think we did have a Jack. An unreliable fellow, as I recall. Constantly late and behind in his work.
Jack scoffs.
The guards continue to examine Sarah's thumbprint.
Ethan: We were forced to tie him behind one of my best stallions and drag him around my barn for a few days.
Jack: Relax your trap, foghorn. I'm workin' on it.
Jack successfully uploads Sarah's file into the database and the computer in the security room matches the print. Jack sighs.
The Sarge comes back out.
Sergeant: Sorry, sir.
He hands the card back to Sarah.
Sergeant: Thank you. Have a nice evening.
Sarah: Thank you. Come.
They enter the elevator and Sarah presses a button. The elevator starts moving down again. Ethan looks up through the elevator vent.
Ethan: (In normal voice) That date with Sarah is definitely off.
The elevator stops and Ethan and Sarah get off. They enter a small database room. Sarah sits at a computer and inserts a floppy disk into it. Golitsyn walks through a crowd of people on the ground floor of the embassy. Ethan sets his glasses down on a high elevation point. Ethan and Sarah switch places. Golitsyn walks down a flight of stairs.
Ethan: Higher.
Sarah places a book under the glasses and sets them back down. Golitsyn gets closer to the elevator. Hannah watches.
Hannah: He's heading to the denied area.
Ethan takes the disk out of the computer.
Jim: Get moving, Ethan. He's rolling to you.
Ethan gets up and he and Sarah make their way back to the elevator. They leave the glasses there. Ethan presses the button, but nothing happens.
Ethan: Jack? Jack, we're in position here.
The elevator starts moving up.
Ethan: Jack.
Jack: I didn't touch it.
He attempts to stop it. Golitsyn stands at the elevator door on the upper floor.
Sarah: What about my coat? I'm going to freeze.
Ethan: Jack, open the doors.
Golitsyn enters the elevator. Jim watches from Jack's camera feed.
Jim: He's in the box, Ethan. He's in the box.
Ethan: Okay. We're taking Golitsyn's exit. Open these doors.
Jack: I don't have it.
Jim uses the computer in the room with him.
Jim: I'm opening the doors. Go under.
The doors open.
Ethan: Go.
They enter the shaft. The elevator comes back down. They duck to avoid being crushed. It stops and Golitsyn enters the database room. He sits at the computer and inserts his own floppy disk. Ethan watches him from the camera on his wrist device.
Ethan: He's got it.
Jack: Alright.
Ethan: Saved your ass again, Jack.
Jack: Give me a break, pops.
Sarah: Such a nice ass.
Ethan takes his coat off.
Jack: And a lonely ass.
Jack chuckles.
Ethan: Transport in five minutes.
Sarah helps turn Ethan's coat inside-out from a white coat to a black one.
Jack: Yes, indeed.
Ethan rips off his mask. Golitsyn takes the disk out of the computer and puts it in his coat. Jim watches him. Ethan and Sarah get out of the shaft through the same door Jack entered through. They exit the embassy through a side door. Golitsyn gets up, walks to the elevator doors, and presses the button. Ethan and Sarah pose as a couple getting intimate to throw off anyone suspecting anything.
Ethan: Jack, we're in position. Open the doors and let the package roll.
Jack: Roger that. Opening doors now.
Ethan: Stairway, you're wrapped. Go to transport.
Hannah takes off her glasses and leaves. The elevator engages and starts moving up quickly.
Jack: Hey.
Jim: Jack, what are you doing.
Jack: I'm not doing anything.
Jack tries to stop it, but his computer reads "SYSTEM ACCESS ERROR".
Jim: I don't have control, Jack.
Jack: (Slightly panicked) Uh, then I got a problem.
Jim: Cut the power.
Jack then grabs one of the wires on the elevator.
Jim: Cut the power, Jack.
Ethan: Come on, Jack.
Jim: Cut the power.
Jack cuts the wire.
Jim: Jack? Jack?
Jack looks up and sees the elevator shaft spikes open up and he screams. His camera feed goes dead
Ethan: Jack? Jack? Jack? Jack, do you copy? Jack?
Jim: Man down, Ethan. Man down.
Ethan looks at Sarah in disbelief. The elevator doors open. Jim stands up, grabs his coat, puts it on, and leaves the room. Golitsyn jumps into the shaft and leaves.
Jim: Ethan, stay where you are. I'm coming to you.
A drunken couple sings a song in a foreign language and walks past Ethan and Sarah. Sarah sees Golitsyn exit through the same door she and Ethan did a moment ago.
Sarah: The package is out in the open.
Ethan looks over.
Ethan: Jim, he's in the open.
Jim jogs down a street wearing his own set of glasses.
Jim: En route.
Sarah leans her head against Ethan's shoulder and continues to observe Golitsyn. Jim stops on a bridge and looks around.
Ethan: Jim, he's in the open. Jim the package is in the open.
Jim starts walking again.
Jim: I've got a shadow.
Ethan: Can you lose him?
Jim: No. Abort.
Jim starts running.
Sarah: Ethan, he's out of pocket.
Golitsyn leaves the scene.
Ethan: I can't do that.
Jim: We're being ambushed, Ethan. Abort. That's an order.
Ethan: Negative. Golitsyn is on the move.
Jim: No, dammit! No! I said abort!
Ethan thinks for a second.
Ethan: Sarah, eye on the package. Jim, I'm coming to you.
Ethan tries to leave but Sarah stops him.
Sarah: Jim gave an abort. We should walk away.
Ethan: No. We are going to recover that disk. You understand me? Now, go.
He runs off. He tries to act casual as he walks down a street. Hannah walks down another street. Sarah strolls down the street Golitsyn took, following him. She looks behind her and sees the same drunk couple from earlier. She continues walking.
Jim: Where are you?
Ethan: About 200 yards from the bridge.
Jim: They're covering this frequency. Cut all radio communication. Repeat. Cut all radio communication.
Sarah pauses for a moment. Claire sits in a car and sees Ethan walk past her. She looks confused. As Ethan walks up a flight of stairs, he hears a gunshot on his communication device.
Jim: Ethan!
He looks at his wrist device and sees a hand holding a gun pointed at Jim. The assailant's face is not shown. Jim looks down at his hands and they are covered with blood.
Jim: (Groaning) Ethan...
Ethan sprints up the stairs. Jim falls off of the bridge and into the river below. When Ethan gets on the bridge, Jim is gone. He looks around in shock.
Ethan: Sarah, abort. Repeat, abort.
She doesn't respond.
Ethan: Abort! Do you read me?
Sarah stands still and looks down a foggy path.
Ethan: Sarah? God.
He starts to sprint to her location. Sarah continues her pursuit of Golitsyn. Hannah gets into a car. When Ethan is close by, a parked car explodes. He stops in his tracks and looks on in horror.
Ethan: (Whispering) Claire. Oh, my God. My God.
He runs back down the stairs. Sarah sees Golitsyn getting grabbed by an unseen assailant. The drunk couple from earlier seems to look at something in the fog. The man whispers something. Sarah gets closer and sees Golitsyn being stabbed through a wooden gate. She doesn't see the attacker's face. She gasps. Ethan continues sprinting and gets to Sarah's location. He sees both Sarah and Golitsyn's bodies against the gate. He grabs Sarah.
Ethan: (Quietly) Oh, no. Sarah.
He pulls a bloodied knife out of her abdomen and his hand shakes as he holds it. He hears a siren from a boat and tries to wake Sarah, but to no avail. He gets Golitsyn's body and tries to find the disk. Again, he is unsuccessful. The officers on the boat speak in a foreign language and get off the boat. Ethan climbs over the gate and runs away. The couple continues looking on and the man holds his hand to his ear. Ethan runs into a phone booth and grabs the phone. He dials a number and grabs a cloth from his coat and wipes the blood off his hands.
Ethan: (Hushed) My God.
Male Operator: Satcom 7.
Ethan: Central Europe, unsecured.
Male Operator: Designator?
Ethan: Bravo-Echo-1-1.
Male Operator: Switching.
Kittridge: This is Kittridge.
Ethan: Go secure.
Kittridge: Okay, go ahead.
Ethan: This is Ethan Hunt. They're dead.
Kittridge: What? Who's dead?
Ethan: My team. My team is dead!
Kittridge: Jesus.
Kittridge: Golitsyn's gone. They knew we were comin', man. They knew we were comin', and the disk is gone.
Kittridge: Are you intact?
Ethan: (Angrily) The disk is gone, did you... Do you read me? The list is in the open!
Kittridge: Listen, I read you. Let's just bring you in safely then we'll worry about that, okay? Were you followed?
Ethan looks around.
Ethan: I don't think so. I don't... I don't think so.
Kittridge: No, don't think, be sure. Are you clean?
Ethan: Yes.
Kittridge: Okay, location green, one hour. I'll be there myself.
Ethan: (Surprised) You're in Prague?
Kittridge: One hour.
Kittridge hangs up.
Ethan walks to a restaurant called "Akvárium" and sees Kittridge sitting at a table. He joins the table Kittridge is seated at.
Kittridge: I am... I can't tell you how, uh, sorry I am. I know how much Jim, in particular, meant to you, Ethan, personally as well as professionally.
Ethan looks down.
Ethan: Yeah.
Kittridge takes something out of his coat and places it on the table. Ethan picks it up.
Kittridge: Here's a passport, uh, visa. Usual drill. We'll work the exfiltration through Canada, debrief you at Langley. Uh, throw the Prague police a bone or two, you know. Toss them a few suspects. You follow me?
Ethan: Yeah, I follow.
Kittridge: I think we've lost enough agents for one night.
Ethan: You mean, I'VE lost enough agents for one night.
Kittridge: You seem hellbent on blaming yourself, Ethan.
Ethan sighs.
Ethan: Who else is left?
Kittridge rests his head in his hand.
Kittridge: Yeah, I see your point.
Ethan looks intently at Kittridge.
Ethan: Why was there another team?
Kittridge: What?
Ethan: Of IMF agents at the embassy tonight.
Kittridge: I don't quite follow you.
Ethan leans closer.
Ethan: Well, see if you can follow me around the room. The drunk Russians at the embankment at 7:00 and 8:00, the couple waltzing around me at the embassy at 9:00 and 11:00, the waiter standing behind Hannah at the top of the stairs, bow tie, 12:00. The other IMF team. You're worried about me. Why?
Kittridge thinks for a second.
Kittridge: Well, for a little over two years, we've been spotting serious blowback in IMF operations. We have a penetration. The other day, we decoded a message on the internet from a Czech we know as "Max".
Ethan looks at Kittridge knowingly.
Ethan: The arms dealer.
Kittridge nods.
Kittridge: That's right. Max, it seems, has two unique gifts. A capacity for anonymity and for corrupting susceptible agents. This time, he'd gotten to someone on the inside. He'd gotten himself in a position to buy our NOC list, an operation he referred to as Job 314, the job he thought Golitsyn was doing tonight.
Ethan shakes his head as he realizes something. He furrows his brow.
Ethan: But the list Golitsyn stole was a decoy.
Kittridge smirks.
Kittridge: That's correct. The actual list is secure at Langley. Golitsyn was a lightning rod, he was one of ours.
Ethan slowly shakes his head, his brow still furrowed.
Ethan: This whole operation was a mole hunt.
Ethan rubs his face with his hands.
Ethan: This whole operation was a mole hunt.
Kittridge: Yeah. The mole is deep inside.
Ethan looks at Kittridge again.
Kittridge: And like you said... you survived. I want to show you something, Ethan.
He pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket.
Kittridge: Since your father's death, your family's farm has been in receivership, and now, suddenly, they're flush with over 120 grand in the bank. Your father's illness was supposed to have wiped out that bank account.
Ethan reaches into his pocket and pulls out the gum that Jack gave to him earlier.
Kittridge: Dying slowly in America, after all, can be a very expensive proposition.
Ethan furrows his brow again.
Kittridge: So... why don't we quietly get out of here and onto a plane?
Ethan looks at Kittridge furiously.
Kittridge: I can understand you're very upset.
Ethan: Kittridge, you've never seen me very upset.
Kittridge: Alright, Hunt. Enough is enough. You have bribed, cajoled, and killed, and you have done it using loyalties on the inside.
Ethan bends the two ends of the gum.
Kittridge: You want to shake hands with the Devil, that's fine with me. I just want to make sure that you do it in Hell.
Ethan clenches his fist, smashing the two sides together. He aggressively swipes his arm across the table, making the gum fly onto the aquarium in the restaurant. Ethan ducks. The gum explodes, causing the aquarium to shatter and a man to fly out of the window. As all of the water and the sea life flow out of the aquarium, Ethan jumps out of the shattered window and flees the scene.