The Mother Line The Honourable Woman

-NESSA STEIN:

-'Who do you trust?'

-Samir Meshal. He's dead. Suicide.

'How do you know?'

The Israeli Government has, er, had no hand in this.

Nessa Stein.

Not quite the woman she appears to be.

'By how they appear?'

DOOR SLAMS

Kasim!

'What they do?'

Seven years ago, The Stein Group launched its first phase

of the telecommunications roll-out into the Palestinian territories.

How come it was Ephra Stein that launched it and not his sister?

Lay the cable. And when they're down,

there's something else we want you to do.

How come he was in the lead back then,

but now their roles are reversed?

If it gets your sister out,

you'll have to step down as head of the company

and then you have to put Nessa in your place.

What does she want Nessa Stein to achieve?

Equality of opportunity between Palestine and Israel.

Jalal El-Amin. To what do I owe this honour?

Your third-phase cabling contract into the West Bank.

We're now in a position to bid for this.

TRANSLATED FROM HEBREW:

Your sister's kidnapping, the child's kidnapping, your academy -

I think it's all connected.

It's a wiretap, Mr Zahary.

You asked me to trust you!

And you should, you should!

Not this time.

For Christ's sake, Nessa.

One thread to pull it all together. And all I have to do is find it.

'So, when you think about it like that...'

Nessa Stein's leaving her house.

Alone.

'..it's a wonder we trust anyone at all.'

This programme contains strong language, scenes which some viewers may find disturbing

and some scenes of a sexual nature from the start.

SHE GROANS

Do you have a bed at least?

Not for you.

OK, I'm used to a sofa.

How about the floor?

You might have to warm me up a bit first.

Maybe I want you cold.

Aah...

NESSA MOANS

Now I want you to try and get out.

I don't know if I want to play this game.

Who said it was a game?

I know you.

I knew you the minute I first saw you.

OK.

So how do you think you're going to look on TV

after I've broken your nose?

Don't break my nose.

Not a good look for all those good deeds?

I said the fucking floor.

I bet you've been doing this for years, haven't you?

SHE LAUGHS

And you've always got away with it...

..because people didn't know who you were.

But now they do...

SHE GASPS ..and you didn't think about that, did you?

SHE MOANS

Big, clever girl.

Still, I bet it won't happen again, will it?

So I'd better make the most of it.

Let me go.

Baroness Stein...

Let me go.

No!

Modeh ani l'faneykha.

ATIKA: Don't be afraid.

KASIM: I'm safe.

-NESSA, TEARFULLY:

-I can't do this.

ATIKA: If it's the price... for a nation.

RADIO COMMUNICATION IN ARABIC

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

Nessa Stein?

SHE LAUGHS

Er, my, my name's Max Boorman, we need to get you to hospital.

Go away.

You need help.

I know who you work for. Go away.

-You need help.

-You think(?)

We need to get you to a hospital.

-SHE LAUGHS

-No hospitals.

No, no, no, no. Somewhere private. I can take you somewhere private.

Ah, so what, they'll sell the story to The Telegraph instead of The Sun?

No-one's selling any stories.

Why? Are they bound by the Official Secrets Act?

Er, something like that.

It owns them.

And not a damn thing they can do about it.

DOOR OPENS

DOOR CLOSES

Baroness Stein.

SHE LAUGHS

(Fuck's sake.)

His name's Tom Crace.

He's an accountant with two HMRC investigations pending.

Married 11 years, two children - youngest, two, a girl, Melanie.

The flat he attacked you in belongs to his company.

There's a culture of casual sex and blind eyes.

But not for rape.

That's off books -

even for a bent accountant.

He's tidying up now. A blood sample's been taken.

He says he's not got HIV or Heps

or anything.

You arrested him?

Do you want us to?

No.

Sure?

Mm-hm.

So, you'll be given a number to call in 48 hours

for the full plethora of results.

You need to give me a code word.

Fucking idiot.

Atika.

A-T-I-K...

Doesn't matter - you just have to say it when you phone.

A-T-I-K-A.

OK.

Let's get you home.

I know what happened...

..in Gaza...

..to you and Atika.

Can I ask you a question?

You're going to anyway, so just do it.

What happened tonight, has it happened before?

Did it happen then?

What does it say in my file?

It doesn't.

Why do you need to know?

I want to help.

You want to help me or you?

Both of us.

All you spies need to co-ordinate better.

Co-ordinate with who?

With your colleague - Monica Chatwin.

I wouldn't say she's a colleague.

More a competitor.

Ah.

So she wants your job.

Unless, maybe...

you help me out a little.

Why would I want to do that?

Oh, my God!

I was hit by a car.

Deliberately?

What?

Who hit you?

Frances, aren't you supposed to be in Tel Aviv?

-(There's something you need to see.)

-What?

BROADCAST IN HEBREW:

OK.

Thank you.

It's been claimed.

Who by?

Samarian Defence League.

Yaniv Levi.

You've heard of him?

Horrible...

..horrible Israeli terrorist.

Mm, he's a very bad boy.

Why did they kill him?

Pro-Palestinian statements to the press

intent on exposing Israeli corruption.

Our institution's not corrupt.

Except that's not what he found, is it?

But it isn't.

Who told you that?

Your brother?

Because he runs that side of things now, doesn't he?

Has done for, what, seven years?

And do you trust him?

He's my brother.

That's not what I asked.

Yes, it is.

So you think if he'd been targeted covertly by the Israeli military,

he'd have had the strength to stand up to them?

All on his own.

He's not on his own.

Mmm... He's got me.

Couldn't that be the problem?

What if he wishes he was?

What if he wanted to feel he was in control of things again,

like he used to be, before his little sister took his job?

He didn't want it.

And why was that?

Are you trying to help?

Oh, yeah, I really am.

Doesn't feel like it.

Feels like you're trying to put a split

right in the heart of this business.

Unless it's already there.

-SHE SIGHS

-Oh, I need to rest.

What about the press?

I'll do it.

Looking like that?

Give it to your brother.

Although, be careful,

that's a lot of pressure.

Are you sure he can take it?

-What are you trying to prove?

-My point.

But you don't have to answer.

I'll just wait until I see who you decide to put in front of the camera.

-Kasim's kidnappers...

-What?

You don't think this is connected?

Do you?

When it comes to Israel and Palestine...

isn't everything?

Thank you for taking me home.

SHE WINCES

LOCKS CLATTER

Obviously, this tragic event is of huge concern

to the Stein Foundation and to the Kidma Academy.

But at this point, I am sure you'll understand,

it is not appropriate for us to make any comment

on anything until the facts of this situation are completely understood.

Except, of course, for us to reiterate

our heartfelt condolences to Shimon Ben-Reuven's family -

the private expressions of which, I'm sure you will agree,

should remain just that.

-MAN:

-Was he murdered?

CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK

JALAL EL-AMIN: Your person is making a statement to the press?

Yes.

Denouncing these terrible things, I'm sure.

What happened was undeniably a tragedy.

We're not yet in a position to pinpoint exactly the cause.

Your academy was in cahoots with the IDF.

We can't say that for sure.

I can reassure you, without a doubt,

that if we discover anything to support that claim,

I will condemn the academy without reservation.

IF you discover? Isn't that exactly what this teacher's done?

What else got him killed?

It appears to be because of the comments that he made to the press.

We don't know yet if what he said was true.

Yaniv Levi is an Israeli attack dog...

and they just let him off the leash.

We don't know that. Not yet.

-I

-know it. Someone had to pay him.

I'm not sure he's a gun for hire.

He always has a price, of course he does. What Jew doesn't?

-SHE SIGHS

-The contract you're bidding for.

For obvious reasons,

the companies we work with need to be scrupulously neutral.

HE SCOFFS

A comment like the one you just made could devastate our activities.

Which brings me to the background check

I've had drawn up on your company.

It doesn't exactly make for an even-handed read, does it?

It doesn't matter.

Well, it matters to me.

It doesn't matter what I say or what you read there.

You're going to give me the contract.

No, Jalal El-Amin, I'm not.

Yes, you are.

Because then your secret will be safe.

Mm...

SHE SIGHS

Why have you taken so long?

We didn't expect to have to do this.

(To take a child.)

-Replace Samir Meshal.

-And what is he supposed to do?

We need a Palestinian standing by your side.

-Looking over my shoulder.

-Yes.

Why?

Because we have to be certain.

Of what?

That you are everything you say.

TRANSLATED FROM HEBREW:

Mr Zahary.

Looks like we're flying out together.

How did you find that out?

Luck! Lady Luck!

She's been chasing me all my life...

brazen hussy!

My daughter.

Would you please be so kind as to offer me

one of your pomegranate shakes?

No ice, please, and a straw.

It's good for the grey cells, pomegranate, stops you going gaga.

We shouldn't be talking, Mr Zahary.

Oh, the fuck?

I once got caught in Sao Paulo in fog.

For six whole hours, I did nothing but talk to Nazis.

Thank you, darling.

You see, people think I'm very stupid...

I'm sure they don't.

Oh, no, no, they do, they do - on the technical side of things,

they think I don't know my Tier IIIs from my PSTNs

to my PABXs...and, let's face it, it is fucking boring.

But I'm going to let you in on a secret now.

I do know.

Everything.

But I don't allow them to know that I know

because then I can look at them

without THEM knowing that I really do.

-You follow me?

-I think so.

OK, so let me say this in plain English,

so we don't have to speak in capital letters,

even though now you know that I can.

That sniffer you've found - is it still up and running?

Yes.

So whoever's listening doesn't know that you've found it.

Correct.

Good.

So what that device does is it duplicates all the information

that goes along the mother line

and then this material is re-routed back into the system

until, eventually, it reaches the decoders of whoever's listening.

Am I right?

You're right.

See?

So, do you know why I'm a billionaire?

Cos everything, every single thing on a telecommunications network,

is monetarised.

Every little bit of traffic that uses a line

is paid for by someone, somewhere.

And in order for that to be done,

every single one of those lines has to have a number.

Now, do you know who does the itemised billing

for all those millions of numbers?

My company.

So if you look into that sniffer,

you'll find the lines and the numbers that it uses

and then, if you give those numbers to me...

..I can find out who is paying the bill.

Does that make sense to you?

Ugh, truly, that is disgusting!

BEEPING

TRANSLATION:

BEEPING

YAVIN: Am I safe?

I have a family, three children.

I am engineer, I understand there are risks,

particularly working where I do. But this...

Am I safe, Baroness Stein?

From whom?

From you.

BEEPING

INDISTINCT VOICES ON LINES

Daddy used to play on this as a boy, so be very careful...

..and, er, you know, watch where you're putting your feet.

Nessa! The woman in black! Are you all right?

Oh, Ephra...

What?

You've ruined us!

Go inside, girls.

Did you let them put that listening thing on our lines?

Let them set up a secret department

to decode in our university?!

I had no choice!

Oh, no, because this secret owns YOU, does it?!

-That's what it cost to get you out! I got you out!

-You're blaming me?

-No, you're the one who went to Gaza.

-I went to Gaza

because other people were sending money there first.

Yeah, and I got him out, too.

Who?

The soldier.

No-one was going to help him, Nessa, no-one.

And no-one was going to help you either.

That makes you the big man, does it(?)

You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me.

With what, Ephra, with what?

You turned me into a puppet...

-and you never said a word.

-You've got secrets of your own, Nessa,

-nothing to do with me.

-I wouldn't have been there if not for you.

Want to know why they've taken the boy?

Because the Palestinians were suspicious

that this is what you and the Israelis were up to all along.

Oh, my God! It's true.

-You're blaming me for Kasim's kidnap?

-No!

They wanted Samir Meshal close enough to watch over us.

And so now they've got someone else.

Who?

Who do you think?

Oh, El-Amin...

And you want to know what my choice is?

I haven't got one.

Cos every fucking road on this leads back to you!

And I'm sorry. But I just wanted...

-What?

-Help...help...help...

What did you want? You wanted to be Papa?

-No!

-The great Eli Stein?

-Please...

-Look at you. You couldn't even be my brother.

You know what I think?

All this big "World Stage Reconciliation" stuff - why don't you

take a good, hard look at yourself first?

-Get that from your therapist?

-Well, tell me it isn't true.

What would you do if you met the man who ordered Papa's death?

Would you just give him a big hug, Nessa?

I certainly wouldn't stick a knife in his neck.

-Wouldn't you?

-Would YOU?

Yes, I would!

Well, then, whatever happens from now on,

you're no longer a part of it.

Nessa...

Fine, fine, get rid of me, then. Get rid of everyone.

But when you're standing there all on your own, ask yourself this -

was it them, or is it me?

We have absolutely no knowledge

of the group operating within your university.

None.

Do you know, there are moments in a diplomat's career, Daniel,

when the only thing to do is just to tell it straight.

We have absolutely no knowledge of the group...

Is it also your policy to allow military veterans into universities

at the expense of Israeli Arabs?

-We have absolutely no...

-Could you fucking shut up?

Is that how it is, to tell it straight?

SHE SIGHS

No.

THIS is how it is.

I've been set up as some kind of a front, haven't I,

seven years ago, by your government and my brother

and you've both colluded to make sure I never found out?

-We have absol...

-I haven't finished!

Now that I HAVE found out, this is what you're going to do about it.

One. Your government will continue to support

the Stein Group in all its activities.

From now on, there will be no preferment policy

in any institution to which my name is attached.

Two. As we speak, our entire cable network is being swept

and that will continue with your government's full support.

Three. If, for whatever reason, this happens in the future,

it doesn't matter what you do or what you say,

you will be doing it in public - because that's the stage I'll be on.

And believe me, I'm very good on a public stage.

SHE CLEARS HER THROAT

Now you can speak.

Your claim would damage you more than us,

-no matter what.

-You want to put that to the test?

Because, believe me, I've got nothing else to lose.

Your points have been noted, Miss Stein.

Not that it matters, but I am a baroness.

I was made one for my public efforts in international reconciliation.

My marriage status really doesn't come into it.

One last thing. Whoever I choose

as partner for the next phase of this project, you will support.

Who have you chosen?

Because of the recent, tragic loss of Samir Meshal,

the Stein Group has had to re-launch our search

for a partner on the Phase Three roll-out

of fibre-optic broadband into the Palestinian territories.

After an extensive process, I am delighted to announce

that Jalal El-Amin and Tahet Technology has won the contract

to share in the next stage of this exciting journey.

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE ON TV

-NESSA ON TV:

-'Because of the recent, tragic loss of Samir Meshal,

'the Stein Group has had to relaunch our search for a partner

-'on the Phase Three roll-out of...'

-PHONE RINGS

'..fibre-optic broadband into the Palestinian Territories.

'After an extensive process,

'I am delighted to announce that

'El Jalal-Amin and Tahet Technology have won the contract

'and share in the next stage of this exciting journey.'

JOURNALIST COMMENTS IN HEBREW

Whatever it is you think you're going to find, you won't.

It's gone. So's my brother.

-JALAL EL-AMIN: Good.

-So give the boy back.

Soon.

When?

Go to Hebron. Open Phase Three.

Do that and all will be well. Trust me.

All you have to do is shake my hand.

OK, same to you.

That was Monica Chatwin

calling to congratulate me on my brave choice of partner.

Well, maybe she should be advising you, then,

because you're certainly not listening to me.

It took your analyst, what,

three strokes of a keyboard to link the El-Amin family to the PLO?

-PLO run the Authority now.

-You know what I mean.

Where are we?

A sniffer on all international traffic

in and out of the Territories.

Are you sure the Israelis put it there?

Well, they'll deny it anyway.

And the Palestinians had suspicions of their own

so they decided to get a man in on the inside of the Stein Group.

Night before he left Washington,

Samir Meshal made a call into the Palestinian Territories.

It lasted four seconds, and whatever he said...

..someone heard.

And that got him killed.

Now, with him, his people had all the time they needed to discredit me

and put him in with Nessa.

But after they lost him, the new fucker - what's his name?

El-Amin. They had to be more blunt.

And take the child.

Is my guess.

Which is why she agreed to make him a partner -

-to get the boy back.

-Yeah.

All this for a housekeeper's kid?!

In a child's eyes, the world entire.

I wouldn't know, I don't have one.

This doesn't add up.

If the Palestinians were suspicious of the Steins,

why didn't they just say it out loud?

Maybe they want proof.

They're not going to get that. Not now.

Whatever it is they want,

they want it with Nessa Stein staying exactly where she is.

Why?

TV: 'Come on, everyone, say hello!

-'Bonjour.

-Ni hua...'

BEEP

'..we've just had this watch come in.

'We wanted to...'

BEEP

'..mature conifer plantations,

'preferring a location with access to water.

'Cemeteries, gardens and parks

'have allowed it to spread into urban...'

Raargh! HE LAUGHS

Oh...

THEY MOCK GRUNT AND GROWL

-MAN:

-Tariq!

Tariq! Tariq!

SPEAKS IN ARABIC

DOOR LOCK CLICKS

TOILET FLUSHES

Come on.

You like it?

You want one for yourself?

You know what you've got to do to get one?

You've got to believe in something.

Believe in it so much...

..you will do anything...

anything...to make it happen.

(Yeah?)

That's me.

This is what it costs.

(You want to touch it?)

I didn't want it.

I didn't want any of it.

But those were my orders and I am a soldier and...

a soldier has no choice.

No.

Do you think you can do that?

Yeah, very good. Give it to me.

I have a boy your age.

I hope he is brave too.

Just like you.

HE SIGHS

HAYDEN-HOYLE: Just before he left America, and the day before he died,

Samir Meshal made a telephone call into the Palestinian territories.

Which your lot hear.

So, what did he say that meant you had to go and kill him?

We didn't kill him.

You've probably heard the rumour that I only got this job

because I slept with my boss.

No, I hadn't.

Oh, well, it's true, I did.

It cost me my marriage.

Well, what really cost me

was because actually my wife didn't think I stood for anything.

And the joke was, of course...

..I didn't have to because all I had to do was...

..lie down for it.

Anyway, I'm a biddable night-watchman, that's me.

And I know pretty soon someone's going to bowl me a googly

and I'll be out.

It's cricket. It's a cricket analogy.

I don't know why I said it, I don't even play the game.

But when that happens...

..when it's all over...

..I just want to be able to walk towards the pavilion thing,

you know...

..with my head held high.

Just for once.

I'd really like to do that, Judah.

I really would.

If that makes any sense.

We didn't kill Samir Meshal.

OK.

Someone else did.

We had heard something and we did want to pick him up,

but, er, we didn't get the chance.

-Because somebody else got there first.

-Yes.

-Who?

-Whoever else was listening.

-How would they do that?

We don't know.

What did you hear him say?

"She...has...agreed."

-That's it?

-That's it.

Who's "she"?

What did she agree to?

That's why I'm telling you.

But someone knows, and whoever it is,

they killed Samir Meshal.

Ah! Delicious!

So there is this service line.

It's used for software updates, maintenance, that sort of thing.

It's also another way in for someone to listen.

Piggy-backing onto the same device?

Seems so.

-Who?

-Well, you think I would have waited this long if I had that news?

There's no number attached to it, so we can't tell where it goes,

and it doesn't come back for billing.

So all we can say is that it goes through us,

and then...

HE WHISTLES AND SPEAKS IN YIDDISH

On its own sweet way.

Is it still live?

Mm-hm.

Good.

Then, let's switch it off.

No, you do that, the whole thing goes kaput.

(No, no, no...)

Like it's a technical fault, completely innocent.

Mm.

Then all we have to do is wait and see who comes to fix it.

Shouldn't take him a minute.

BEEPING

BEEPING

They're back on.

BEEPING

Let me know where they end up.

SLOW BEEPING

We'll get something new, I know we will.

And this time it won't be for anyone else -

not your father, your sister.

It'll just be for you.

And me.

And the girls.

You're a wonderful father, Ephra.

Don't let them see you like this.

I'm stuck in a loop, aren't I?

Playing Neil Diamond records?

Thinking about it.

Then, yes, you are.

I can change.

Would that involve black denim?

-It could if you wanted it to.

-I don't.

Then it won't.

Do you spy on me?

I mean, not like that...

I mean like this.

What a question!

I've just texted you the address of a restaurant.

Thursday, 8pm.

It'll be a window seat.

-Great.

-For you to spy on.

There's something I want you to see.

TEXT ALERT

MONITOR BEEPS

REPEATING SEQUENCE OF BEEPS

You'd better come and look at this.

Tell me it's not that fucking easy!

DOOR SHUTS

America.

May I say you look particularly fetching in that shade of blue?

The Americans killed Samir Meshal.

I thought we'd agreed to look away from that particular direction.

I did. I looked so far the other way

I seem to have come round full circle.

BEEP

I trust you don't need me to translate.

SHE REPLIES IN ARABIC

If only my arsehole were big enough.

Who did you get that from?

Really?

Who has agreed to what?

Ah, well, no, that bit I really can't tell because I simply don't know.

Don't go growing a pair of balls on me, Hugh, not at this late stage,

I might get jealous.

Do you think maybe that's why my hair's falling out?

I think what you're doing now could have a serious effect on your health.

As long as I have your support, Julia, I'm happy to live dangerously.

I do have your support...

..don't I?

Stay away from the Americans, Hugh.

Seriously.

Got a nice little Ivy League chancellorship hiding up your sleeve?

I have a strange concern for a long-term colleague

with whom I once used to sleep.

Oh.

Now, that IS a surprise.

Something will happen.

I'm sure it will.

Soon.

But if it was me...

..well...you know what it would be like if it was me.

There's something you should know.

How many other lies are you going to keep

-in this house?

-She shouldn't have told you.

And that's supposed to make me feel what?

-I only just found out myself.

-And you didn't tell me!

It wasn't mine to say!

Your own wife!

Which secret is the one you don't tell your own wife?

I have no secrets from you.

I tell you everything.

If your sister swore you to secrecy, you'd keep it, I know you would.

-The child belongs to her.

-Yes.

I wouldn't keep that secret, not that one.

Not when our whole life's been turned inside out because of it!

And why did SHE agree to it?

I don't know, Rachel! I don't know!

What those two have been through, we can't even begin to understand, can we?

I do, when it's wrecking my marriage.

It's not.

I said I'd support you, but what does that mean?

You lied to your sister.

You lied about your business.

You've lied about the Academy, you've lied to everyone. Ephra...

And now you've lied to me.

I'm the one who got them out, Rachel! Me! I got them out!

If I hadn't, they'd have died!

Do you understand that? They would have died!

And there's nothing you or anybody else could have done about it.

Except I did. I did!

And all this, all this shit...

this is what it cost me!

You shouldn't have lied to me.

Not under my own roof.

Have I caught you at a bad time?

What do you want?

What, no vampire comparisons?

Just...get on with it.

OK.

I know what you did.

To get your sister out of Gaza,

the Israelis nailed you for a sniffer on your cables

and a listening unit within your Academy.

That's quite a price to pay.

It was worth it.

That must be hard...

..to be a hero that nobody thanks.

Tell that to my wife.

Yes, well, not many people will understand.

But you do.

Nothing I've done...

I can ever say it was worth it.

But I'd like to.

Even now.

What is it that you want?

Who else did you tell? About the wiretap?

One of yours.

Who?

Monica...

BOTH: ..Chatwin.

SHUTTER CLICKS

SHUTTER CLICKING

GUNSHOT

Tariq! Tariq!

BOY WHEEZES Tariq!

Tariq!

SHOUTS IN ARABIC

-OK, OK, OK.

-SHOUTS IN ARABIC

Tariq!

THEY SPEAK IN ARABIC

Hey, where are you going, huh?

-REPLIES IN ARABIC

-No, no, no.

You cannot tell them about me, you have to say the gun was yours, OK?

You kept it loaded!

The gun is yours.

OK?

OK, huh?

Say it, OK?

Call the ambulance when I'm gone.

Your boy is strong.

He will survive.

But I was never here.

I need help.