The Ghost

 The Ghost VIDEO

THE STATION CLOCK SEASON 3 · Episodes 1 · 2 · 3

"Nobody"

New city. Rain. A woman walking alone. Short hair. Different eyes.

"After S2, she disappeared."

"She left a note."

"No one knows what it said."

"Until now."

The city is called Reno.

Small. Cold. Easy to get lost in.

Elle has been here four months.

Fake name. Fake job.

Waitress at a roadside bar.

No one looks at her twice.

That’s exactly what she wants.

She cleans glasses. Serves coffee. Smiles just enough.

At night she writes in a notebook.

Names. Dates. Connections.

What she knows.

What’s missing.

Because Elle knows something no one else does.

Cole turned himself in.

But the network didn’t die with him.

Networks never die with one person.

They’re like roots.

You cut the tree. The roots remain.

Elle knows because she was a root herself.

Three hundred forty-two days inside.

She saw things that aren’t in any file.

She heard names that were never written down.

And one of those names follows her every night.

Elle. Alone in her room. Notebook open.

She writes that name.

Crosses it out.

Writes it again.

BISHOP.

It’s not a surname.

It’s not a name.

It’s a code.

And Bishop is still active.

The bar door opens.

Elle looks up.

A man. Forty. Wet jacket.

He sits at the counter.

— Coffee — he says.

Elle serves it.

The man doesn’t look at her.

But when he pays, he leaves something on the counter.

A folded piece of paper.

Elle picks it up when he leaves.

Opens it.

Three words.

"Bishop found you."

Elle looks out the window. The man is gone.

But there’s a car parked across the street.

Engine off. Lights off.

And someone inside.

Still. Waiting.

The parked car. Darkness inside. No one visible.

"Four months hiding."

"They found her in four minutes."

"How?"

Elle doesn’t run.

Running is what they expect.

She grabs the notebook. Slides it into her jacket.

She exits through the kitchen.

Back door. Alley. Rain.

She walks fast. Not running.

Two blocks. Three.

She stops in a doorway.

Looks back.

No one.

She breathes.

Takes out the paper from the man at the bar.

Turns it over.

There’s more.

An address. A room number.

And a sentence.

"I came to help you. Not turn you in."

Elle thinks for ten seconds.

She goes.

Cheap hotel. Third floor.

She knocks. Room 7.

The same man opens the door.

— I knew you’d come — he says.

— Talk fast — Elle says.

The man steps aside. She enters.

Small room. Computer. Maps on the wall.

— My name is Reeves. — He sits. — I was an agent for twelve years.

— Which agency?

— The one Cole shut down.

— That agency doesn’t officially exist.

— Exactly. — Pause. — That’s why no one looked for us when it disappeared.

Elle studies the maps.

Cities. Lines. Red dots.

— What is Bishop?

Reeves looks at her.

— Not a what. A who.

— Who?

— Cole’s successor. Appointed before he fell.

— Cole had a successor?

— Cole spent thirty years building this. — Reeves points at the map. — You think he didn’t have a plan B?

Elle studies the red dots.

Twelve cities.

— What are these?

— Active operations. Right now. Tonight.

Elle. Cold face. Processing.

— How many people know this?

— You and me.

— Why me?

Reeves opens the computer.

Turns the screen toward her.

A photo.

Elle looks.

She goes pale.

— Where did you get this?

— From Bishop’s files.

The photo: Elle, younger, with an older man. Smiling.

— That man is Bishop — Reeves says.

Elle closes her eyes.

— I know him — she whispers.

— I know.

— I met him inside. When I infiltrated.

— Elle. — Reeves pauses. — Bishop didn’t find you tonight.

Elle opens her eyes.

— He’s been letting you be found from the beginning.

Elle looks at the photo again.

The man smiling beside her.

And she remembers.

A conversation. Inside the network. Over a year ago.

He told her something she ignored.

"When everything falls, Elle, I want you by my side."

She thought it was a threat.

Now she understood it was an offer.

"The Offer"

The photo. Elle and Bishop. Younger. Smiling.

"An offer made a year ago."

"Elle ignored it."

"Bishop never forgot."

— I need to know who Bishop is — Elle says.

— His real name is Edward Rall. — Reeves opens another file. — Sixty-two. Former military. Twenty years in private intelligence. Never in an official agency.

— That’s why there’s no record?

— That’s why he never fell with the others.

Elle studies the file.

Sharp face. Light eyes. Slanted gaze.

He looks like a calm grandfather.

The worst ones always do.

— What does he want from me?

— The same thing Cole wanted from Dana.

— A tool?

— No. — Reeves looks straight at her. — An heir.

Elle lets out a short laugh. No humor.

— Heir to what?

— The network. — Pause. — Bishop is sixty-two. He’s sick. He needs someone to continue this when he can’t.

— And he chose me.

— You spent three hundred forty-two days inside without being detected. — Reeves closes the computer. — To Bishop, that’s not infiltration. That’s talent.

Silence.

— What do you want from me? — Elle asks.

— I want you to accept the offer.

Elle stares at him.

— You want me to go undercover again.

— I want you to actually reach the top this time.

— Last time almost killed me.

— Last time you didn’t know who you were really working for.

— And now I do?

Reeves takes out an envelope.

Places it on the table.

— Open it when you’re alone.

Elle looks at it.

Doesn’t touch it.

— Give me one reason to trust you.

Reeves thinks for two seconds.

— Nina Cole was my source. — Pause. — I taught her how to gather evidence. I told her Bishop existed.

Elle goes still.

— You were her contact?

— I was her protection. And I failed.

Reeves. First crack in his agent mask.

— I’m not going to fail again.

Elle looks at the envelope.

Takes it.

She stands.

— I’ll call you tomorrow.

— Elle.

She stops at the door.

— Bishop has a meeting in four days. In this city. — Pause. — If you don’t show up… he’ll find another heir. And this time he won’t care whether you’re alive or not.

Elle doesn’t turn around.

— I know — she says.

And leaves.

Elle walking alone in the rain. Night city.

The envelope in her hand. Unopened.

"Elle got to her room. She opened the envelope. Inside there was only one thing. A photo. Elle with Nina. The two of them together. Smiling. On the back, Reeves’ handwriting: 'Nina knew you. She said you were the only one who could finish this. She trusted you. So do I.'"

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