The Cost
DEALER: 'S up, Bubs?

BUBBLES: Hey.

DEALER: Well, there you go.

JUNKIE: Well, what you got?

DEALER: I got some starters.

BEY: My fault, "A". I should've never left you alone, homie.

AVON: Man, you ain't pull up when you did, I'm gone.

BEY: Listen, what I want to know is how the fuck we come back on this cocksucker?

AVON: We don't. Not now. Ya feel me? Listen, your advice, Stringer, your advice was good advice, you know what I'm sayin'? I want to let you know that. What I want you to do now, I want you to put the word out there. I want you to let him know we willin' to squash this, if he is.

BEY: And then what the fuck if he ain't?

STRINGER: Naw, this nigga lives in the town too, he gonna listen, if we parlay.
BEY: And then when he creep out of his hole and shit.

STRINGER: Boom.

BEY: Okay.

AVON: Smoke.

BEY: Say no more, got you.

STRINGER: Put that out there, yo.

BEY: A-ight.

STRINGER: About them police, yo. They was on your ass after the game?

AVON: Yeah, man, it was like two cars.

STRINGER: See, if they on you, then they got a name. If they got a name, then they know you ain't got no runs.

AVON: Yeah, but they don't want no traffic charges, you know what I'm sayin'? I think they tryin' to see where I might go.

STRINGER: Where the fuck was you gonna take their asses?

AVON: I was takin' them to the barbershop. For real, I was goin' to get a haircut.
STRINGER: Get a fade? I know, "B", but... The motherfuckers are on us. What the fuck?

AVON: They always been on us, we just got to be careful.

STRINGER: Well, you not been talking on any phones. And you not been touching any drugs. And from now on, you are not doing the money runs. Me and Bey, we gonna take care of that shit until this whole thing cool off. Let me get that pager.

AVON: Oh, what's up, you serious?

STRINGER: Serious, I'll get you a New York supply number only. Any of these motherfucking local cats want to talk to you, they gotta talk to me. We gotta build a wall around you, "B".

PHELAN: Another month on a fresh phone?

McNULTY: Yeah, they ripped out the pay phones in the low-rises. Now they're walking a block or two away.

PHELAN: I'm just asking, how much longer until you bring this case. The quicker you can, the better for everybody. Yourself included. Look at this, Judge Gwynn sends his regrets. He can't make lunch. Like I got the plague all of a sudden. There's your new phone, 30 days.

McNULTY: A couple of weeks ago, when Burrell wanted to take down the wire, you were the one breaking it off in his ass.

PHELAN: Jimmy, Jimmy, there's a lady here.

McNULTY: Rhonda talks more trash than both of us, your honor.

PEARLMAN: I have never been anything other than lady-like, your honor. Detective McNulty is going out out of his way to insult an officer of the court.

PHELAN: McNulty, I hold you in contempt.
McNULTY: Who doesn't?

McNULTY: What's with him?

PEARLMAN: You haven't heard?

McNULTY: No.

PEARLMAN: What's wrong with the picture?

McNULTY: Don't know.

PEARLMAN: Phelan isn't in it.

McNULTY: What, he's up for election? I thought charges had 15-year terms.

PEARLMAN: They do, but Phelan was named to finish Halpern's term, which only had two years left. So he has to run on his own in the primary.

McNULTY: What, he's not on the ticket? Why the fuck not?

PEARLMAN: Maybe it's the company he keeps?

McNULTY: Oh, fuck.

DONETTE: No, see, you ain't thinkin' how much room the baby gonna need. Especially when he get to growin', 'cause, I mean, there are things we got to have. Like a real crib, a play desk, and you know he gotta have one of them cars. I'm not sayin' your place ain't nice enough. 'cause, for you it do just fine, but if we gonna a family, we need at least one more room, if not two. But, so, you add the bedroom set, a nice bedroom set like the one they got down at that baby store on Howard Street, and that's a room right there. And I think we might could get some better furniture and put your stuff in the other bedroom, seen better days. I think you know that much. Dee, where you goin' at? [Door closing] I told you I need money for the new bedroom set. Dee!

MALE #1: Yo man, we gettin' down to it.

MALE #2: I get to you when I get to you.

McNULTY: That's the main stash house.

CARVER: Say what?

FREAMON: The incoming call is the guy who runs the main stash for Barksdale's people.

SYDNOR: Who is he?

McNULTY: We don't know.

SYDNOR: So, you all just guessing he's on the stash, right?

FREAMON: No, he's on it.

McNULTY: Lester was checking the logs a couple of weeks ago when he picked up the pattern.

FREAMON: Every time they get down to the ends on a package, somebody in the tower hits that pager number.

McNULTY: And then, within a half hour every fucking time, a call comes back to from that number in Pimlico.

SYDNOR: Which is?

FREAMON: It's a payphone in a Mondo mart in Reisterstown at Cold Spring Lane. You see it now? Hmm? When the supply gets low, they page this mope, who always calls back. Same phone, same pattern.

SYDNOR: So, y'all think that he's taking the re-up order and that the stash is somewhere near the Mondo mart, right?

McNULTY: You are on it, detective Sydnor.

CARVER: Okay, so what do you do with this?

McNULTY: What do we do?

CARVER: We're gonna be sittin' on that pay phone in Pimlico all day and all night, waitin' on Mr. Mondo mart.

McNULTY: Herc, too.

CARVER: Herc's out this whole week. In-service training.

FREAMON: That's too bad. So, instead of three eight-hour shifts, you two are gonna have to pull 12 hours.

CARVER: Just fucking kill me now. [Chuckling]

GREGGS: Heard from Omar?

McNULTY: Nope.

GREGGS: I'm gonna go try to scare him up.

McNULTY: Well, everyone on the wire keeps talking about how this kid's all tore up about the dead stickup boy. I'm gonna see for myself.

GREGGS: Alright.

McNULTY: You need us, we're on the radio.

FREAMON: Okay.

[Car radio playing]

ORLANDO: Hey, what up, man? This first time, I can go four ounces of rock. But hey, if the shit is right, then next time I can step that up.

WIG: Almost ain't worth it for four.

ORLANDO: I'm just this first go-round. You do right by me, I'll turn around and come back on it.

WIG: Where your money at, man?

MALE IN THE BACK: We good.

ORLANDO: So, where the shit at? [Laughing]

[Dog barking]

FEMALE: Ain't nobody been there, but you. Nobody came in my house, but you.

MALE: Everybody.

FEMALE: Nobody, but you. You're the only person that came in my house.

SPONSOR: So, what you got goin' for you? Family?

BUBBLES: Mother dead. Father, who the fuck know.

SPONSOR: Brothers, sisters?

BUBBLES: A sister, she lets me stay in the basement, but she lock the door so I can't go upstairs. She can do for me. I got a kid, a son. Imagine me bringing life into the world.

SPONSOR: What's his name?

BUBBLES: Keyshawn. Mother took him Jersey way, said I wasn't fit to be with the boy. I ain't disagree.

SPONSOR: Well, at least you got your health. Here's to health.

SPONSOR: I got the bug. Had it since '94. Gave that shit to my ol' lady. Worried about passing it on to my baby girl. Naw, I was spared that at least.

BUBBLES: Damn, how you carry it? You ask her forgiveness?

SPONSOR: 'Course.

BUBBLES: What she say?

SPONSOR: What she needed to say. Look, forgiveness from other folks is good, but ain't nothin' but words comin' at you from outside. You want to kick this shit, you got to forgive your own self. Love yourself some, brother. And then drag your sorry ass to some meetings.

BUBBLES: Meetings?

SPONSOR: What the fuck do you wanna hear? That you strong enough to do this by yourself? Gettin' clean's easy part. Now comes life.

McNULTY: It's this one here with the orange cord going out the back. They're pirating juice from the other house.

UNIFORMED COP#1: You fucking gotta be kidding me. Now I'm policing for BG&E?

McNULTY: They're not there yet. But when this kid here posts, snatch him up.

UNIFORMED COP#1: Park our asses outside this shit hole and wait for some little project yo to raise up?

McNULTY: Mrs. McNulty raised no fools. Four Faidley's crab cakes in the bag, 24 Dutch beers in the box.

UNIFORMED COP#2: Faidley's, huh?

UNIFORMED COP#1: You're alright, McNulty. I don't care what all them other fucks downtown say about you.

McNULTY: 11-35, what's up?

KIMA ON RADIO: Our friend wants a meet. Same spot.

McNULTY: Copy that, 15 minutes.

UNIFORMED COP#1: What's the deal with the yo boy? What he do?

McNULTY: He stumble into my world.

SHARDENE: I have to go.

DEE: Shardene.

SHARDENE: I said, I have to go.

DEE: I can't have five minutes?!

SHARDENE: No, not right now.

McNULTY: How close did you get?

OMAR: Y'all be chalkin' that nigger if Wee-Bey hadn't pop at the last second like...

GREGGS: Remember when we last talked? You were gonna lay back, let us work our case.

OMAR: I said, I'd do what I can. Still, I thought I might let y' Avon's people got in contact, talkin' about they want to end the beef. They offered me some kind of amnesty.

McNULTY: Amnesty?

OMAR: Look, manhunt and stop hittin' them in the head for they product. They gonna call off the bounty.

GREGGS: Take the truce, Omar.

OMAR: I might, if they ain't tryin' to play me. They said they want to parley on it.

McNULTY: Parley?

OMAR: Look, I don't know, man, but right now I need some assistance from y'all. Yo, son, I go to the ER, Avon, you know he gonna have his henchmen waitin' in the parking lot for me. Look, I know y'all friendly with a couple of doctors, right? Right?

WIG: He says he can buy weight. Says he runs with some decent-size locals.

CHIEF: Like who?

WIG: Barksdale. Avon Barksdale.

CHIEF: Run it through the dex and H.I.D.T.A., See what comes back.

WIG: Alright, I'm gonna check around, see if anybody's working these names you're giving us. And if you full of shit, pal, I'm gonna know it quick.

ORLANDO: But, what happens to me while you checkin'

WIG: Eager street. City jail, motherfucker.

MAMA ON THE PHONE: Luis came home last week. I ain't seen him since afram. Uh-huh. Yep. I can't believe it.

[Belching]

SYDNOR: Damn, Carv, you's triflin'.

CARVER: Yeah, I admit it, I'm disgusting.

SYDNOR: Cheesepuffs and fuckin' ring-dings?

CARVER: Yeah.

[Phone ringing]

FREAMON: Yeah.

SANTANGELO: The big fuck from the high-rise, what's his name?

FREAMON: Little man.

SANTANGELO: Yeah, him.

[Phone ringing]

CARVER: Yo.

FREAMON: Be ready, we're on it.

BUNK: Look at this pretty motherfucker.

NORRIS: Too fucked up to drive home, McNulty?

McNULTY: Hey, Bunk. Kid gave us a murder. More than that, he's put in Stringer Bell.

BUNK: Oh, yeah?

McNULTY: Picks out Wee-Bey, Bird and Stinkum from photo arrays. Puts them all up at the Greek's the night they grabb up Omar's boy Brandon. Puts Bell in the truck, too. Says Stringer told me to point out the stickup boy.

BUNK: Geez, what do you have over him?

McNULTY: Not a fucking thing. Kid was ready. Barely had to push him.

BUNK: Whose case?

McNULTY: Norris's.

BUNK: How old?

McNULTY: 16. Lives in a shit-hole vacant over on Argyle. When I grab him up, I swear he's halfway into a nod.

BUNK: Using?

McNULTY: Hmm. When they killed the stickup boy, the motherfuckers dumped the body in the alley right behind where this kid and all the other low-rise hoppers lay their heads. Can you imagine? All he can think about.

BUNK: You telling me he's gonna have to testify?

McNULTY: Not yet, we'll get there. Problem is, what do I do with him now?

[Camera clicking]

[Phone ringing]

FREAMON: Yep.

SANTANGELO: Big boy picking up.

FREAMON: Okay.

MALE: You holler at me, right?

LITTLE MAN: Where you at, man, we all the way down.

MAIN STASH MAN: First thing tomorrow, man.

[Phone ringing]

CARVER: Yeah?

FREAMON: It's him, stay on it.

CARVER: Right.

MALE: I didn't do nothing, man, get me outta here.

MALE ON RADIO: The two-two grounded slowly towards third gets through at the last moment.

MALE: Where my phone call at? Suzuki's at the line drive, up the middle, a base hit for Suzuki. Suzuki's very patient at the plate.

PRISONER: Yeah, man, it's me. Guess who's up in here. Pimpin' ass Orlando, from the club. Yeah. Courtside.

DANIELS: So, how long you been slingin'?

WALLACE: Since I was, maybe, 12.

DANIELS: And how long were you with Barksdale's crew in the low-rises?

WALLACE: With D'Angelo? Not long. He came down from the towers at the beginning of the summer. Before that I worked for Ronnie Mo.

McNULTY: D'Angelo ever talk to you about what happened in the two-two-one building? With Pooh getting shot? How about anything else like that?

WALLACE: Like what?

McNULTY: Killings, murders.

WALLACE: Naw, Dee, he was good to me. He alright.

DANIELS: But D'Angelo, he was who you called that night at the Greek's, right?

WALLACE: Yeah, but he didn't go up there. It was mostly those tower boys.

McNULTY: And Stringer, you said Stringer was in the truck. He called you over, asked you to point out the stickup boy.

PEARLMAN: All of it corroborated by the beeper logs and the phones.

McNULTY: Stinkum's dead. We've already got bird for the Gant killing. This ties them all in.

DANIELS: D'Angelo, too.

BUNK: Maybe, but since he didn't show at the Greeks, and tells the jury he didn't see the murder coming.

McNULTY: Well, it's enough to charge him, anyway.

PEARLMAN: Parents?

McNULTY: Alcoholic mother. In the wind, no fixed address. Says he's got a grandmother down on the eastern shore, but he hasn't seen her in years.

BUNK: How about a hotel room?

DANIELS: On whose dime? No way the deputy approve the manpower to stash a 16-year-old, much less the room service.

LANDSMAN: McNulty, line two.

DANIELS: How 'bout you run this up to front office? See if the state's attorney will kick in.

PEARLMAN: He's a kid, Cedric. Even if we clear the money, do you really want to put a juvenile in a hotel for six months, waiting on a trial date? I think you all need to get with grandma down on the shore.

McNULTY: Now? She's doing this right now? They don't have to set a hearing date or something like that? Christ, yeah, okay. Yeah. I fucking need a fucking lawyer.

PEARLMAN: What?

CARVER: Still, you can see that they got the security bars and look there. Cameras... It's all over the yard out the street.

SYDNOR: And I checked with Verizon, there's no phone service at that address.

FREAMON: Well, that's a telltale right there.

SYDNOR: So what? We try to write a warrant for this place, right?

CARVER: Right?

FREAMON: What are you seeing?

PREZ: No pattern, really. Except this cluster of old storefronts and warehouses on the Westside of downtown.

FREAMON: Uh-huh.

PREZ: Around Paca, Eutaw, Howard Street, mostly.

FREAMON: Storefronts?

PREZ: Vacants, usually. Three different holding companies.

FREAMON: Detective Prezbylewski...

PREZ: What?

FREAMON: You have a gift for the paper trail. Tomorrow calls for some street work, though. Are you street ready?

PREZ: Um, you know the lieutenant has me in-office. I don't have my gun until the grand jury.

FREAMON: You won't need one.

PREZ: On the street? No gun?

FREAMON: No gun. Not for this.

BUCKMAN: Furthermore, Mr. McNulty, having utilized his sons in an act of police work, involving a criminal suspect, actually lost track of them in the crowd of a municipal market. This is simply unacceptable, your honor.

JUDGE: Be that as it may, an emergency ex parte order is an extraordinary you actually want me to limit visitations to afternoons only and you want Mrs.. McNulty present at all visitations? C'mon.

BUCKMAN: It is not a single lapse, judge. Mr. McNulty has time and again failed to properly care for the children when they're in his custody. I have a list of recent events, your honor, that justify an order.

JUDGE: Ms. Pearlman, do you have a response you'd like to offer up here?

PEARLMAN: Nope.

JUDGE: Nothing?

PEARLMAN: If this were possession with intent, I'd be a prosecutor with a plan. But a domestic? Your honor, I'm officially clueless. In fact, as an employee of the state, I should not actually be here.

JUDGE: Alright, listen up, people. Before you have me make a ruling on an emergency petition, everybody here needs to take a deep breath, huh? Literally, c'mon. Now, then, is Mr. McNulty capable of having a civil conversation with Mrs.. McNulty?

McNULTY: Yes, your honor.

JUDGE: And is Mrs. McNulty equally capable of having a conversation with Mr. McNulty?

ELENA: Yes.

JUDGE: Good, then I'm going to lunch. And let's see when I return if we can't busy this court with something just a little more engaging than the problems of the McNultys.

ORLANDO: Look, the charge is on me, I understand that, I'll carry that. But the least our people can do is throw down a little something to pay the bondsman.

LEVY: That's the deed of transfer for the club. And the other thing is a license transfer application they're both backdated and notarized for last week.

ORLANDO: What?

LEVY: A front has to be clean. And right now, you ain't that. Sign.

ORLANDO: I want my bail paid. You send me a bondsman, I'll sign.

LEVY: Is that what you want me to tell him? That I asked you to sign and you wouldn't? Hmm? You wanted to be in the game, right? Now you're in the game.

ELENA: Unbelievable, you show up with her.

McNULTY: Elena, you went for an emergency ex parte. I grabbed whatever lawyer was standing around.

ELENA: Oh, she was standing? Hey, ask her if she wants the pictures back. Let's see: I've got her at the restaurant, with you pulling out her chair. I've got her at the motel parking lot with you opening the car door for her because you're such a fucking gentleman now.

McNULTY: Yeah, well, I can't believe you hired Buckman. The son of a bitch never made a case that counted.

ELENA: Yeah, well he caught your cheating ass.

McNULTY: Elena, why are we here?

ELENA: Because you can't... you can't have Sean and Michael around criminals. You can't lose them in a Baltimore market. That's why.

McNULTY: It wasn't a criminal. I know the guy. It was a game we were playing. It was daylight on a crowded street. They could've been following Al Capone. It would've been fine. Look, Elena, these are my sons. I love them. Do you hear, I love them. I'm not gonna let them get hurt. I love you, too. Still do.

ELENA: Does she know about the detective and the pictures?

McNULTY: No, why would I tell her about that?

ELENA: And are the two of you still...

McNULTY: No. Yes... Little. C'mon, let's make nice for the judge. Okay.

MALE ON TV: We know we have a month more to go and we're not gonna let up. We are going to raise more, we are going to spend more, and on election day, we are going to be out there, pushing the vote in every precinct.

DANIELS: You ready? C'mon, we'll get dinner first.

WALLACE: Ain't so hungry.

DANIELS: C'mon. How much were you using? I'm askin' if you're gonna be sick in my car.

WALLACE: A cap now and then.

DANIELS: You just snorting? You be alright in a day or two. C'mon.

STRINGER: Yo, this nigga comin' or what, man?

JOE: Said he would, if I guaranteed a parley. And I'm here on it. 'Course, he said y'all would be paying my fee, rather than his own himself.

STRINGER: Your fee?

JOE: I'm doin' like one of them marriage counselors. Charge by the hour to tell some fool he need to bring some flowers home. Then charge another hour tellin' the bitch she ought to suck some cock every little once and a while. You know, keep a marriage strong like that. Speakin' of cocksuckers. Don't believe we met. Proposition Joe. You ever steal from me, I kill your whole family. Alright. Y'all both hereon my guarantee, so respect that shit and say what you feel. I'm up outta here.

STRINGER: I gotta man who say he gonna give you your life back, yo.

OMAR: Who, Barksdale?

STRINGER: My man say, tell that motherfucker that if he can find a way not to dip in our pockets, we're gonna call this shit even.

OMAR: Y'all aced Bailey, and what you did to my boy? So, y'all think after what you did to Brandon, we supposed to find some even on this, huh?

STRINGER: Yo, I don't know shit about shit, a-ight? I'm just the messenger.

OMAR: Whatever, man.

STRINGER: You know there's dead on both sides, right? And there's gonna be a whole lot more if this beef keep up. But the truth be told... There be more soldiers in one half than the other. You know what I'm sayin'?

OMAR: Hey, look here, son, you tell Barksdale, that he's been paid back for what he did to my peoples. But as for his product, well, a man's got to earn a living, you know?

STRINGER: I don't know nobody called Barksdale, "B". The man I'm talking about, can't have his shit taken like that. That won't do.

OMAR: A-ight, tell him throw me some cash then, and we'll see... 'Bout five or 10,000. You know what I mean, for my retirement, homes.

STRINGER: Five if you can keep quiet about it.

OMAR: Send my money through Joe, man.

STRINGER: You go through Joe, you're not gonna see 2,000 of that. Why don't you tell my man where you at--

OMAR: Naw, naw, naw, naw. We gonna figure something else out, you heard? I be in touch, homes.

McNULTY: How careful is Stringer Bell?

GREGGS: "I don't know no one named Barksdale." Shit.

McNULTY: Still we got him tied to the Brandon killing. That can be enough for one day's work.

OMAR: Did what I could for y'all.

DANIELS: Is she alright?

WALLACE: Yeah, I spent the summer here when I was nine.

DANIELS: When was the last time they saw you?

WALLACE: When I was nine. What's that?

DANIELS: What?

WALLACE: That noise.

DANIELS: It's crickets.

WALLACE: Cricket. Crickets.

AVON: He try to go in my pockets again?

STRINGER: This nigga talkin' 'bout five g's, "B".

AVON: Oh, shit.

[Knocking]

BEY: What's up, baby?

SHARDENE: Antwon said to bring these up. Y'all want anything else?

BEY: Naw, we cool.

AVON: I'm sayin' though, how we supposed to pay that?

STRINGER: He talkin' 'bout goin' through Joe, but I'm like, fuck...

AVON: Hey, yo, yo, yo, yo. Thank you, Ma, you know what I mean? You look good and your services are appreciated. Keep them tips, I hope you makin' them, baby. Make the motherfucker come down to the towers to get the rest of his money, you know what I'm sayin'? If he stupid enough to come down to them towers.

STRINGER: It's a wrap, pow, y'all get go.

AVON: How you supposed to pay that?

GIRLS: A-ight.

CHERYL: Y'all thank you. No, no, no, you see, I went to journalism school. Northwestern. So, y'all can't stay with me on this.

GREGGS: irl, you talkin' like you some crusty old reporter.

CHERYL: Well, excuse me?

GREGGS: Bitch, you work at a TV station.

CHERYL: It's the same thing, alright? Look, c'mon, stop talkin'.

GREGGS: Here we go.

CHERYL: Bring it.

GIRL#1: C'mon, Kima.

GREGGS: C'mon. I gotta work tomorrow.

TOGETHER: Aw!

CHERYL: Candy ass. That's all I have to say. Okay, you see?

GIRL#1: I'm with you.

CHERYL: Alright. Look at Tonya. And she run a damn art gallery. You see, police in this town ain't about shit.

GREGGS: Guess not.

CHERYL: Mm-hmm, thank you.

GREGGS: Can't hold our liquor. Can't hold a donut. [Laughing] And if you ask me, I guess we... ain't good in bed, neither.

CHERYL: Oh, don't go there, officer. Don't go there.

GIRL#2: Kima, how did you know you wanted to be a cop? I mean, how did you choose that? When you were little, did you think about it at all, or...

GIRL#3: C'mon, Kima.

GREGGS: I remember when I was in the Northeast, still field-training as a cadet. I didn't know if I was gonna stick with it or not. And then we got this one call, we chased this purse-snatch up into these apartments. I T.O. And shit, I ain't even no police yet. You know, I'm just a trainee. And I'm alone. Anyway, I mean, I don't know how, but I find the guy. So, I catch him and I hold on to him and I manage to get to my radio. And we in the middle of this parking lot, and we're rolling around and shit and this motherfucker's steady kicking my ass trying to get away. And I look over and I see these black patents, and these uniform blue pants. I look up and it's Charlie Smoot, Charlie fucking Smoot, you know, this guy's a legend. He looks down at me and he smiles, you know real quiet-like. And he drops his cuffs. He says, "Here ya go, rook." That's all he says. Here you go, rook." And then he dropped the bracelets and walked away. I mean, I know you don't like it. But shit, I was proud.

FEMALE: Ooh.

GIRL#3: Goddamn.

SYDNOR: Lester says we ain't gonna write a warrant on this place. How do we not with all this P.C.?

GREGGS: We're on the main stash, right? Why would we kick the door in when all we have to do is park a van down the street and follow the entire Westside drug supply in and out of the place?

McNULTY: We're gonna start picking up pieces of Barksdale's world we never even knew about.

WIG: Been hell looking for you people. What the hell's the name of this unit anyway?

GREGGS: What up, Wig?

WIG: Aw, shit, Kima in the house. What up?

GREGGS: State Police, C.I.D., out of Pikesville. Name of Troy Wiggins, but pay no attention to the man, 'cause he about 90-95% pure bullshit.

WIG: Kima, she just talk like that 'cause I had her when she was good.

GREGGS: Shit, you motherfucker turned me the other way.

WIG: Shit, a-ight. Here's the thing, boys and girls. I'm doin' a reverse buy down in Arundel, right? And I get this Westside asshole nibbling on four ounces?

McNULTY: A whole four ounces?

WIG: I know, he ain't much, but... I get him in the boat and he starts floppin' around, sayin' he can buy weight from some motherfucker name of Barksdale. I never heard of no Barksdale. And the computer has Avon Barksdale as an active Baltimore city target. So, I go down to city narcotics and Dawson, he sends me down here to see y'all.

McNULTY: So, what's the name of your fish?

WIG: Wendell O. as in, oh-shit-I-tried-to-buy from a state police Blocker.

McNULTY: That wouldn't be Orlando Blocker would it?

WIG: Yeah. U on it?

McNULTY: Orlando.

SHARDENE: They keep that back room locked. And even if I do get back there, on an errand, then they kinda shut down. They just... they get real quiet.

FREAMON: You said you heard one say something about making someone come into the towers.

SHARDENE: Yeah.

FREAMON: Which one was talking?

SHARDENE: He was tall, I think.

FREAMON: Alright, but who else was there?

SHARDENE: I don't really see that well without my glasses.

FREAMON: Where are your glasses? You can't see faces without those? You don't wear those while you're working, do you, darlin'?

SHARDENE: Would you? I gotta live off drinks and tips.

McNULTY: No way!

PEARLMAN: Why not?

McNULTY: Because a player wouldn't be the name on the liquor license. And a player would have a connect for Barksdale's coke. He wouldn't walk into state troopers.

PEARLMAN: He caught a charge and now he's talking out his ass.

McNULTY: I mean, face it. You're never gonna get Avon or Stringer in the same room as the dope. We make this case on their voices alone.

PEARLMAN: So maybe he can't buy from Barksdale. Maybe he can only buy from Savino or Wee-Bey.

GREGGS: Well, fuck him, then. We already got Wee-Bey tied to a murder, and Savino's the runt of the litter.

PEARLMAN: We can take whatever Orlando gives us about the club. The money laundering... maybe or the girls. For that kind of cooperation a few years is fair...

SUIT: Daniels in here?

DANIELS: Yeah.

SUIT: Call from Deputy Commissioner for you. You want it in here?

DANIELS: No.

McNULTY: He doesn't miss much.

[Pager beeping]

BUBBLES: I need some help here.

GREGGS: C'mon, bubs. You got me comin' across town in the middle of a fucked-up workday just so you can hold 10, that shit ain't right.

BUBBLES: Hold on, I don't need 10. Okay, I don't know. I need a place of my own. Alright, some bed, some sheets, some clothes. I definitely need some new clothes.

GREGGS: How long you been clean?

BUBBLES: Three days.

GREGGS: You serious about it?

BUBBLES: Who knows?

GREGGS: What the fuck am I gonna do with a clean informant? Did you think about that? A-ight, I'm on it with you.

BUBBLES: Yeah?

GREGGS: Yeah. Yo, what the fuck, gimme some love.

BUBBLES: Okay, I mean, I think I can get, a mattress, my own place, everything for like couple hundred dollars.

GREGGS: A-ight. We'll talk. I gotta be somewhere tonight, so, hit me on my page tomorrow.

BUBBLES: Tomorrow?

GREGGS: I got you.

CHIEF: The cooperator says he can buy weight.

DANIELS: Not from Barksdale or Bell.

CHIEF: How can you be sure?

DANIELS: How much dope or coke do you think Avon Barksdale into the room? A kilo? Two kilos, 20 kilos? We are not going to buy our way up the ladder here. These people do not touch the drugs. They don't go near the drugs. The wire is what gives us Barksdale. It gives us the whole crew. Day by day, piece by piece.

BURRELL: Buy-bust, lieutenant. It's what I asked you for months ago. It's what we do successfully time and again to make these cases.

McNULTY: Why New York?

OMAR: Must be somethin' happenin' out there, man. Too big a town, you know what I mean?

McNULTY: You don't believe in the truce?

OMAR: If he had said, "We ain't paying, just be happy to live," I'd have been like, a-ight they keepin' it real. But he say, c'mon down I'm, like, man, please. Hey, look here, homes, I ain't asked for much, but, um, I'm a little light on traveling money. I'm sayin' I could go around the block and get myself paid, but I'm thinkin'.

McNULTY: You keep in touch with my pager. We're gonna need you for the Gant trial. Go easy, Omar. Stay free!

MALE #1 ON TAPE: They be picking me up outside the cut-rate on Lex and Fulton. I be up there after 10, right?

MALE #2: That'll work.

DANIELS: Listen up, people. We've got 30,000 in buy money courtesy of our friends over at D.E.A., But the thing is, they can't have that money walkin' on them.

D.E.A. COP: Definitely not.

DANIELS: So, Kima will be in the car for the buy, fronting as our C.I.'s girl.

CARVER: Lookin' the part, too.

DANIELS: Now, where's your weapon gonna be?

GREGGS: He might pat me, so, it has to stash in the car. I figure when Savino gets in the car at the cut-rate, I'll be going in back, it'll be up under the rear seat.

DANIELS: And we probably can't be close enough for an eyeball on this, but the car will be a live wire, and Kima will be throwin' us 20s whenever she can. Rhonda?

PEARLMAN: I only want to remind Mr. Blocker here that his plea agreement is contingent on cooperation. And a buy-bust on Savino Bratton is less cooperative than a buy-bust from someone higher up on the food chain. If you can get Savino talking about Avon or Stringer that's better for us and better for you.

CARVER: They already know that he got jacked on a reverse buy, right? Why wouldn't they assume he's snitchin'?

ORLANDO: I need money for a lawyer, right?

DANIELS: That's the story. He got popped,  now he needs to get right back into it to pay the bondsman and the lawyer. Alright. Let's make this work.

D.E.A. COP: Careful... That's my career you're holding there.

SYDNOR: You got a unit?

CARVER: Parked in the mezzanine.

SYDNOR: Gimme the keys, man.

CARVER: Naw, I'm driving, motherfucker.

DEALER: C'mon, man.

BUBBLES: Ain't up.

DEALER: Death row.

[Car radio]

ORLANDO: My girl... Half the money hers.

GREGGS: Baby, since we're going down North Avenue, stop by the carry-out, so I can pick me up some cigarettes.

DANIELS: They're goin' up north, stay loose.

FREAMON: Shit. It's too loud.

McNULTY: Does any unit have the eyeball?

CARVER: Negative, 11-35.

McNULTY: C'mon, Greggs, tell us where the fuck you are.

SAVINO:Pull in there, pull in there. Don't fuck with this scam. I'll be right back with your shit.

[Car radio playing loudly]

[Car radio shutting off]

GREGGS: Where are we? The sign said Longwood, but I could swear this was Warwick.

ORLANDO: Hoppers be turning the sign poles to fuck with y'all.

GREGGS: I make it we're on the north side of Warwick, in an alley... I don't know, shit, half of block west of Longwood, maybe? I hope y'all copy that.

DANIELS: Yeah, that puts us about eight blocks away. I'm pushing in a little closer.

McNULTY: All units be advised. Warwick near Longwood in the North side alley. Or near that 20.

GREGGS: This got the right feel for you?

[Car ignition starting]

SYDNOR: You creepin' closer?

ORLANDO: He better not be long, 'cause, see, I don't know where the stash is, and if they draggin' us all over this part of town, you know.

GREGGS: What's that?

ORLANDO: What?

GREGGS: Something ain't right.

ORLANDO: What?

GREGGS: Shit ain't right. Signal 13

McNULTY: Gunshots, gunshots.

CARVER: Shit.

McNULTY: 11-35.

POLICE RADIO: 11-35.

McNULTY: Signal 13, Warwick, near Longwood, officer down.

KIMA ON RADIO: Two males, black hoodie, both of 'em, one is--

[Gunshots]

McNULTY: Signal 13, Warwick, near Longwood, in the alleys. Checkthe alleys! Check the alleys!

SYDNOR: North side, 28 hundred block. Nothing.

CARVER: Jesus, Kima.

McNULTY: We got an officer down, she's a number one, two of 'em, one undercover.

MALE ON POLICE RADIO: 10-38. 100 block of Baker is clear.

McNULTY: 29 hundred is dark.

[Tires screeching]

FEMALE ON POLICE RADIO: Five, 10-38 is responding.

MALE ON POLICE RADIO: 10-4.

SYDNOR: 11-71, does anyone have a visual? Does anyone have a visual?

DANIELS: Foxtrot.

MALE ON POLICE RADIO: What are we lookin' for?

McNULTY: 11-35 to KGA. We can't find the officer down. We need Foxtrot. Looking for a green Lincoln town car with a brown vinyl roof, parked in those alleys.

FOXTROT PILOT: Foxtrot en route 3-14.

FEMALE ON POLICE RADIO: 3 be advised, we have a signal 13.

MALE ON POLICE RADIO: 70-20, rear odd-side. 33 hundred block of Baker, clear. Visual, rear even-side of Warwick and Longwood.

DISTANT MALE VOICE ON POLICE RADIO: Signal 13, signal 13. Officer down, officer down.

MALE ON POLICE RADIO: SUV, west on Warwick, make the next right. Be advised, no movement at scene.

[Sirens blaring]

McNULTY: In here! Call for a medic!

[Helicopter hovering]

DANIELS: Officer down! Need a medic!

MALE ON POLICE RADIO: Office 7-8-20, 10-23...

FEMALE ON POLICE RADIO: 10-4.

CARVER: Fuck!

DANIELS: Where the fuck is the medic?! Signal 13, we got an officer down!

FEMALE ON POLICE RADIO: 10-38 is responding.

[Sirens blaring]

MALE ON POLICE RADIO: Do we have a description?

FEMALE ON POLICE RADIO: Any unit on scene? Do you have a description of the suspect? That's a 10-47.