Previously on "the hunting party"...
I don't know what I imagined
finding my mom would be like, but it wasn't this.
Look, I know it's hard
finding out the truth about your biological mother,
- but Lazarus... - Just another psychopath from the pit.
You have no idea what you're into.
She's trying to turn serial killers into weapons?
She's building an army.
Got a live one here for you. Just need your signature.
Don't normally ask, but what is this one?
Phyllobates terribilis.
It's a poison dart frog.
They secrete a toxin that causes paralysis,
heart failure, and death within minutes.
There's no known antidote.
If you say so.
Be careful with that, kid.
Nate.
Nate?
Nate!
Nate.
Help! My god!
Guys, help me!
Do you all have any idea how crazy this sounds?
- Yeah. - Colonel Lazarus,
one of the most highly decorated officers
in the United States military
is actually a convicted serial killer
who was given a new identity
while she herself was an inmate in the pit
and then released back into the world?
She was the first graduate.
And now she's a true believer in the value of the program.
That's why she used a false flag attack
against the prisoner transport,
to assume control of the whole task force
so that she could get her hands on more inmates.
Mallory, she doesn't think psychopathy is a disorder.
She thinks it's the next step in human evolution.
We get this is a lot to take in.
Well, good.
Do you not believe us?
Yes, I do believe you.
Problem is I'm not sure anyone else will.
Ok, look, I know that we've had our differences,
but we need you back in charge
of this task force because right now,
we are working for an actual psychopath.
With your backing, we can take her down.
Elizabeth, this is not politics.
We need to take action.
Everything's politics, especially this.
Colonel Lazarus has a lot of friends on the hill.
So if you want my help, I need rock-solid,
irrefutable evidence.
Get me proof that she's gone rogue,
that this top secret lab even exists,
and that inmates are being hidden there.
Otherwise, it's just she said, they said,
and my money's not on you.
But right now, you've still got killers to catch.
Morales, what do we got?
Inmate l23, Xander wax.
A self-checkout scanner in Washington, D.C.
Picked up a partial fingerprint.
You know this guy, bex?
I do. He's not from D.C.
Well, not all killers go back home, apparently.
What are we dealing with?
We are dealing with a very smart individual,
highly educated.
Xander wax was a biochemist by training,
confirmed to have killed at least ten people.
But that number is believed to be a lot higher.
How much higher?
Estimates are north of 20,
but it's possible he had as many as 40 victims
because his kills were often mistaken as heart attacks
or strokes.
How'd he pull that off?
He used highly lethal animal venoms as poisons.
Snakes, great.
What made Xander so difficult to catch
is that he had no discernible victimology.
Instead, he would leave neurotoxins
on public objects for random people to interact with.
Gas station pumps, buttons in an elevator,
sugar packets in a diner.
He didn't care who he killed.
For him, the thrill was the randomness of it all.
He would relish in the feeling of power and control
knowing that at any moment, some unsuspecting victim
would come across one of his laid traps.
The anticipation of it was his high.
How'd this guy get caught?
They worked backwards through his college days.
A suspicious dorm room death was just the break they needed.
He killed his roommate.
It was his first kill
and his only impulsive, targeted victim.
As is often the case, Xander's mo evolved from there,
driven by his compulsive desire to re-experience that thrill.
All right, let's get to D.C.
Before this monster sets any more traps.
Damn it.
Who are you?
That looks painful.
Ok, but my point is,
humans twist themselves up into knots
making up stories about Adam and Eve, gods and souls
because people desperately want to believe
that they're different than all the other animals
that live on this planet.
We're superior.
Well, I got a little secret for you, doc.
We're just primates with overactive imaginations.
Expand on that.
We don't have any more right to exist
on this minor planet of a very minor star
than some lizard.
Human civilization needs to constantly be reminded
that we are byproducts of chance, randomness,
entropy on a cosmic scale,
dispersion of energy, mud brain.
And if my actions made other people a little more self-aware
of the meaninglessness of their existence,
I did them a favor
'cause the world is chaos and we are all at its mercy.
Wow. I bet he's great at parties.
Yeah, your average psychopath
doesn't usually express this kind of deep nihilism.
Where does a guy like Xander get it from?
He had a fairly stable childhood.
His friends and neighbors described him
as gifted and kind.
However, unlike most serials,
there was one traumatic incident
that shaped his interpretation of reality.
When he was only ten years old,
his parents died in a car accident.
They hit a deer, lost control of the vehicle,
rolled off a 30-foot embankment.
- Oof. - He was in the back seat,
walked out with barely a scratch.
Yeah, I can see how this kind of traumatic event
could really change somebody's worldview.
The experience left him with severe attachment issues
and some major unresolved trauma.
Even more so, the loss of his parents
created his entire life philosophy,
which was on full display during his years of killing.
Exhibit a.
Hey, do you know how long sugar packets sit on the table
at some restaurants, a typical diner?
You might find a sweet'n low
or an equal that's been there two, three years.
Course, most venoms will break down eventually
over time with heat and sunlight.
But if you could find a cool, dark, sealed space,
like, old sody pop vending machine,
get a little boom slang venom, that's an African tree snake,
little bit on the pop top cap,
you are in business for a year.
The anticipation of the kills genuinely brought him joy.
It gave him a sense of control
in a completely uncontrollable world
while simultaneously expressing his view
that all life was random.
He says here he would check the news every morning
to see if someone had been killed.
Listen to this.
"Inevitably, it was a letdown.
"Some grocery clerk or meaningless housewife.
"All of the anticipation, the wondering, immediately gone.
So I would set out to do it again."
Eesh.
He's been out for a couple months.
It's plenty of time for one of his traps to be in play.
- Ross, what do you got? - A body.
A man was found dead two blocks from the mini-mart
where we first spotted Xander.
It's being reported as a snake bite.
Snake bite? This time of the year?
It's hard to believe.
Db's name is bill Reese.
He was a reporter for "the Washington standard."
His body's already at the morgue.
You can see the puncture wounds there
in the back of Mr. Reese's right hand.
Local tissue necrosis is common
with venomous snake bites, as is the swelling.
Is that the only bite Mark?
Any idea what kind of snake?
Early stage tox only confirms the presence of venom,
not the species.
Ok, morales, I'm going to send you
a picture of the bite Mark.
Let me know if you can identify the snake.
You got it, bex.
Who did you all say you were again?
Fish and game.
- Right. - Hey.
This seems like a lot of venom for just one bite.
You sure about this?
Given the enzymatic degradation,
yes, I can assure you the toxicology is correct.
Really, there is no mystery here.
You gentlemen and lady of the fish and game
are looking for a very big snake.
And I'm sorry, but you'll have to excuse me.
I have other cases to attend to.
I don't think he bought your cover story, man.
Hey, morales, any update on that bite Mark?
After powering through a personal phobia here,
turns out you can't identify a species
based off of a snake bite Mark.
Who knew?
But the necrotic appearance of the skin around the bite Mark
suggests a neurotoxin only found in very exotic species.
So not exactly local.
No, far from it.
And that's not all.
Take a closer look.
Are bite marks normally asymmetrical like that?
Nope. An injection was made inside the left one.
An injection?
That'll be why bill's tox screens were so high.
Xander injected him with more venom after the snakebite.
I'm always happy to offer my customers a discount
when they buy in bulk.
Whoa.
Before the pit, Xander would kill anonymously.
He didn't care who he killed as long as someone died.
But now, he's actually choosing his victim
and hiding the murder in plain sight.
Yeah, and he did a good job of it.
I mean, that me was convinced it was just a very big snake.
That's the kind of trade craft CIA uses
to knock off enemy dictators.
What, like a hit job?
That's something peck said.
Lazarus was turning inmates into weapons.
What if Xander was one of Lazarus's graduates?
Guys, she's behind this.
If she is, that means she sent Xander
after an investigative journalist.
He must have been close to something
she wants to keep quiet.
Yeah, but like what, the graduate program, the pit?
I mean, the amount of secret operations
Lazarus is a part of, it could be anything.
I say we call the locals, ask them what they have
on the exotic animal black market trade around here.
Good idea.
I'm going to go to "the Washington standard,"
see if I can find out what bill was working on.
Ok, well, let's stay sharp.
If Xander is working with Lazarus,
we got to assume she's already tipped him off we're here.
I've been looking for this one for a long time.
He is a beauty.
It's a she.
And she is, isn't she?
And highly illegal.
Hey, don't run.
Whoa. Hey, easy, Tony.
We just want to talk to you.
Come back here for a second.
Whoa.
I got permits for all of those.
Is that right? Tony Sullivan?
According to the metropolitan police,
you've been arrested seven times
for selling illegal exotic reptiles.
Allegedly.
Tony, you were convicted,
so it's not allegedly if you actually served time.
Also, that is a coral snake.
Look, we're not going to hassle you with this.
We just need to know if you've ever seen this guy.
Him? Yeah.
Bought a bunch of little beauties...
scorpions and snakes and spiders, whole shebang.
Guy definitely knew his stuff.
All right, we need you to tell us everything
you remember about him.
Well, if I do, will you let this slide?
All I see is a man taking his pets out for a drive.
You're back early. The case over already?
Jen, what's going on?
Xander's working for colonel Lazarus.
Command center's not safe. I'm running the rest from here.
Are you serious?
Hassani.
Morales, we got a lead on Xander's plate.
X-ray, 3, 4, Juliet, Quebec, 2.
Just pulling up the vin.
Got him.
His GPS puts him about 20 minutes from your location
- heading west on prospect. - You're amazing.
Tell bex we'll pick her up on the way.
Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.
I know this is a troubling day for everyone.
But I do need to talk to you about bill Reese.
Bill was my mentor.
He was a tough bastard, but he was our bastard.
Everyone here looked up to him.
I've read some of his work.
He doesn't really do fluff pieces, does he?
Do you know what he was working on?
Quite a few things.
Ok, look, I get it.
If you gave information to a fed without a subpoena,
every reporter in that room
would go running out the front door.
But if bill was working on something that
put his life in danger, I need to know
because all I'm trying to do is ensure nobody else gets hurt.
I promise.
I heard it was a snake bite.
The FBI doesn't investigate snake bites.
I see.
You know, bill used to say this job would eventually kill him.
But until then, it's what kept him living.
He always knew how to find the story.
He was writing about Philip beaumont?
Do you know why?
No, but when he gave me the book,
he said it was just the start of something.
You should speak with Daphne Williams.
I'll leave it to her to decide what she will
and won't say about the piece.
I'm sorry. Who is Daphne Williams?
Bill's protégé.
They were writing the story together.
- Hello? - Daphne Williams,
my name is special agent Rebecca Henderson with the FBI.
I really need to speak with you.
Are you home right now?
The FBI?
I'm going to need a little more context here.
What is this about?
Bill's death wasn't an accident, Daphne.
What do you mean?
It was made to look like one.
Look, I know you were digging into Philip beaumont.
I spoke with your editor.
- We really need to talk. - I'm not...
she told you to speak with me?
Look, why don't I take you in?
I can explain everything.
Ok?
Ok.
Where are you right now?
I'll meet you there.
My house on prospect.
I'm on my way.
Look, if what you're saying is true,
then my source is in danger, too.
What's important is that we make sure you're safe.
Whoever your source is, I promise
we'll protect them, too.
But right now, stay in your house,
lock the door. And leave your phone on
so that I can reach you. Thank you.
I'll be there soon.
I got someone in the car.
Daphne?
- Morales, call an ambulance. - Calling dispatch.
Get her out, get her out.
Tell them to bring an antivenom.
Copy.
Get her out. Get her out.
Hey, Xander's inside the house.
- Got her? - Yeah.
Morales, make it quick. She doesn't have long, ok?
Freeze.
Look who's here.
Put it down.
Drop it!
Hands on the table.
Hassani, jacket pocket.
You might want to be careful with that.
Thanks for the warning.
Jacket.
Hands on the table.
Sit down.
Hands behind your back.
Hey, hassani.
Yeah?
Take a look at this.
Ok.
Xander's not talking.
This is the story bill and Daphne were working on,
the one Lazarus doesn't want getting out.
They got Dulles up there, Whitmore.
They knew about the pit, bex.
This looks way bigger than that.
The institute for human consciousness.
What is that?
It's a think tank run by Philip beaumont.
Bill Reese gave his editor a book about him,
the same book that I found in Lazarus's apartment.
Places like the institute, they have their hands in
all sorts of government projects, like the pit.
Do you think beaumont and this institute created the pit?
Created it, ran it, runs it, maybe. I...
this is going to take us weeks
to go through all of this.
This is what Lazarus was hiding, yeah?
Reporters exposing the truth about Philip beaumont
and his role in the pit?
Did he get her to send you?
Who?
Ok, we know that Lazarus sent you to Bury this.
Unfortunately, Daphne's going to live
and we have you in custody here,
so I think it might be in your best interest to start talking.
You don't even know enough
to know how far from the truth you are.
Ok, so why don't you enlighten me?
More fun to watch you guess.
Hey, where's his kit, Shane?
His kit?
Yeah, his kit.
What are you doing?
So technically under the Geneva convention,
we're not allowed to inject prisoners
with a lethal neurotoxin from a deadly animal.
However, I'm not seeing any labels on these vials.
Are you?
Nope, no labels.
It's probably just saline. No?
Yeah. Right?
Plausible deniability.
Right, hassani?
What?
Yeah.
It's what we call in clandestine services
a green light.
Unless, of course, you just...
you want to start talking.
You won't do it.
I like a mix and match, maybe a little blue in there.
- Yeah, go on. - Yeah?
Should we put the blue one in?
- Yeah. - What's that one do?
Last chance.
All right.
Gonna be really spicy.
Wait, wait, wait, wait!
Please! Please wait.
Xander told us everything.
Ever since the blast,
Lazarus has been looking for her exit strategy.
She cut a deal with a foreign government.
I mean, Xander doesn't know who,
but she's looking for a safe harbor for herself
and a handful of her most prized inmates,
who she believes can be transformed
into the next generation of graduates.
She's defecting,
trading top-secret military assets for a cushy life
and immunity from prosecution.
This is not a golden parachute.
She is determined to keep the graduate program alive.
That is why she's siphoning off key inmates from the program.
What can I do to help?
We have a plan.
There is no chance in hell that we're handing Xander over
to the transport team.
I mean, they all work for Lazarus,
so we're going to transfer custody to your office.
But Mallory, we need a tac team about 20 deep
to go into the facility with us.
And you have to look outside of Cheyenne
because she has moles all over the base.
Yes. I am fully aware.
Just tell me where to meet you.
Morales, you with us?
All set up here.
Tracking your position now.
All right, you guys can take him.
Yes, ma'am.
Mallory.
Mallory?
Whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Hey, hey.
Easy, fellas. We're the good guys here.
We're on the same team.
Guys, what's going on?
Mallory, what's going on? We had a deal.
What are you doing?
Three of you really are quite something.
And it was a good plan.
But you know when people make their biggest mistakes?
When they think they've won.
What have you done?
Load them up.
Get off of me.
Objective complete.
But you got sloppy.
Guys, guys.
Ben, get a qrf team mobilized right now.
- What's going on? - Now.
- Outside. - Yes, ma'am.
It's ok.
I told them not to make these too tight.
Can we talk, just two of us?
What are you going to do with bex and hassani?
Don't worry about them. They're fine.
Completely unharmed.
You know, when I first arrived at the pit,
I thought my life was over.
My hopes, my dreams were completely shattered.
And I was angry, just like you are now.
But the life I wanted for myself was so much smaller
than the life I was given by doctor Dulles.
Caitlin Taylor's life pales in comparison to Evelyn Lazarus's
just like Shane Florence's pales in comparison
to what your life could be.
There's so much more within you.
You see that now, don't you?
That there's a future for us, together.
Mother and son.
DNA does not make us family.
My mother is Shannon Florence.
My father is Gregory Florence.
Good people.
They raised me. They made me who I am.
They lied to you, Shane.
They took you from me
and gave you to strangers because I was unwell.
But I'm not that person anymore.
Shane, I am proof that the graduate program works
and can continue to grow.
But they wanted to erase the entire program,
and I refuse to allow it.
You blew up the pit.
You said it was Whitmore, but... It was you.
Wasn't just me.
Anything?
The quick reaction force is mobilizing now.
They'll be there as soon as they can.
I am sorry about all of this.
Jen... I never meant to hurt you.
Really.
If that's true, if you really are sorry,
I'm going to give you one chance to make things right.
The qrf team is already on their way to the facility,
but I don't know how much time bex and the guys have.
This is your one get-out-of-jail-free card.
If you help me save them, I will let you go.
I need access to the lab's servers.
Psst.
Hey, roomie.
Do you remember me?
I've been thinking about you.
You know what's funny?
You pretended to be the girl in the cell next to mine.
And I fell for it.
But now look at you,
the girl in the cell next to mine.
You should have stayed retired, Rebecca.
That's right.
Lazarus told me all about you.
This should be fun.
I sense that something's on your mind.
You want to talk? You want to talk about it?
You got to be kidding me.
Humor.
It's often used as a shield to cover our true feelings.
How are things at home?
I see you're married.
Ooh.
Were married.
You must be in so much pain.
You know, in India there are subcultures
who self-immolate after the loss of a spouse.
But I think this is going to work out for you.
I'm in.
I've got a visual.
- Look. - There they are.
Wait, what are these guys doing?
They're going to blow the place.
We had no choice, Shane.
They wanted to lock us up, throw away the key,
and pretend the whole thing never happened.
Their mistake was underestimating our will to be free.
How many other graduates are out there?
The reason I am telling you all of this
is because I need you to understand
that you are not safe here.
To the U.S. military, you're an experiment, not a person.
We're the same.
I'm not the monster you think I am.
Every life I took was because it was either me or them.
And I will never go back into a box.
The qrf team isn't going to make it in time.
What are we going to do?
We're going to give our team a fighting chance.
Colonel, the charges are set.
We're ready to secure the inmates for transport
to the airfield.
Charges?
What's he talking about, charges?
What about bex and hassani?
It's time for us to leave.
Let's go.
- Well, hold on. What's... - come on.
Hey, hey.
You are out of your mind.
Don't do this. Do not do this.
Don't do this.
Don't move. Get back inside now.
- Let's go. - Back into your cells.
Close the gate!
Nobody move. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Get on the ground.
Bex.
Go!
Bex.
Bex, get up.
Come on, bex. Open your eyes.
Stop! Put it down!
Drop it!
Is she dead?
Looks dead.
Stop talking.
I'm going to need you to put your hands behind your back
and turn around.
I told you.
I'm not going back in that box.
Just do it. Pull the trigger.
No.
No, I'm not a killer like you.
Shane.
I've seen your military record.
Killing comes naturally to you
because that's who you are.
Even now, you're thinking about putting that bullet
through my brain, aren't you?
You want to kill me.
You hate me for taking your sweet bex, don't you?
Shoot me.
Shoot me!
Turn around and put your hands behind your back.
I won't let them put me back in a box, Shane.
Yeah, you keep saying that. Turn around!
Bex?
- Bex! - Main facility secure.
- Hey. - All right, let's move.
Hey, it's ok. I got you.
I got you. Hey, it's ok.
It's ok. You're all right.
I need a medic!
- Send a medic to our 20. - I'm ok. I'm ok.
- Ok. I got you. - I'm ok.
Hey.
Team leader, main site secure.
They're going to be ok, major.
I'm guessing the good guys won.
But I wouldn't fault you for going back on your word.
I'm going to give you an hour.
Then I'm calling it in.
What about him?
An hour's fair.
When someone like me gets away,
there are going to be questions.
You two are going to need a story.
No, we won't.
I'm going to tell them exactly what I did,
and I'll face the consequences.
True blue Jennifer morales.
Starting without us?
Hey.
They let you out of the hospital already?
Thought they were holding you till tomorrow.
- They tried. - Yeah.
I believe the phrase they used was "causing a scene."
Ok, I am not a prisoner.
I got shot in the arm. That is it.
Also, they don't have whiskey at the hospital.
Good point.
Why don't you guys grab us a table,
and I'll get the first round?
What happens now?
We out of a job?
With Mallory and Lazarus out of the picture?
I don't know.
Hassani left word at Langley, though,
so we should know soon.
Hey.
I haven't had a chance to check in with you.
You ok?
Me?
You're the one with your arm in a sling.
Ok, you know what I mean.
Shane, you don't have to be.
Honestly, I think I'm ok.
I don't know. It's been a weird couple of days.
Yeah, ask me again tomorrow.
Plan to.
Mr. Hassani.
My boss would like a word with you and your friends.
Your boss?
Beaumont?
I must admit I've been watching you all for some time.
And our paths nearly crossed on occasion,
but I was unsure where in this grand disaster
your allegiances lie, until now.
Two reporters from "the standard"
were about to expose a government conspiracy
with you at the center of it.
One of them is now dead. The other is in the hospital.
So if you want to talk about allegiances, Mr. Beaumont,
we might have a few questions of our own.
You're wondering about colonel Lazarus.
She sent her man after bill and Daphne.
You think that means I was involved?
Adds up.
You and your institute are all over Daphne's wall.
- So... - You helped build the pit.
We know that.
You were involved with doctor Dulles,
with Whitmore sciences.
You had a lot to lose if this story broke.
So why help break it then?
You were the source they were talking about, weren't you?
You blew the whistle on yourself.
Leaking the story was a desperate attempt
to do the right thing.
I've tried for years to have the pit shut down,
to put an end to the secret experiments
and the graduate program.
With Lazarus gone, I can ensure
you have everything you need to finish the job
of recapturing all the remaining inmates.
Together, we can end this.
Look, I'm happy you're reckoning with your conscience
and all, but you're correct.
Mallory's gone. Lazarus is gone.
So you should be making the speech to whoever is in charge
of the task force now.
I am.
Agent Henderson, you are now in charge.
Unless you want to return to your position
as head of security at the royal hearts casino.
What is this?
It's a complete list of the inmates.
How are there so many?
Because the pit wasn't just treating serial killers.
They were creating them.