[The Manager hurries to unlock another case, suddenly eager to please in the face of Morgan's disdain, and places a new tray on the glass top, revealing a stunning DIAMOND NECKLACE.]

MANAGER - They say it's part of the great Koh-I-Noor diamond. It was made for an English Prince's daughter.

[Morgan's interest picks up. He takes it and examines it.]

MORGAN - And reset in Germany. About 1910. Near forty carats...
 

 
ANGELA - [reacts in panic] Wait... wait, I'm not ready!

MORGAN - Nobody ever is.

[He takes a GAS MASK from his coat and pulls it on with practiced speed. The Manager and Guard clutch their throats, choking, staggering. Angela jerks her face away from the deadly cloud, frantically covers her mouth with a sleeve, screams at Morgan.]

ANGELA - My mask! Give it to me!

[Morgan holds the second GAS MASK aloft -- but he dangles it just out of her reach. Angela's eyes widen in terror as the fumes hit her. She lunges for the mask, but he holds her away.]

MORGAN - Let's not make a scene. It'll all be over in a second.

[She makes a last, futile grab for Morgan's mask -- then the gas overcomes her. Eyes wide, she slides down, drags a GEM TRAY with her, crashing to the floor. Morgan calmly steps over her, pulling a bag from his coat and starts scooping gems into it from the cabinets, humming as he does. He's efficient, selective, only taking the best. Finally he lifts the DIAMOND NECKLACE, holds it admiringly. He glances down at Angela, his former partner.]

MORGAN - Sorry, sweetheart. Truth is, you'd never have done it justice.

[He slips it into his bag and leaves. And OFF Angela, lying on her back, covered with scattered jewels--]

[FADE OUT]
 

[MacLeod heads down the embankment, As he nears his barge, he stops -- he's getting the BUZZ. He turns, follows it up to the embankment--]

[MACLEOD’S POV - THE IMMORTAL: A man, dressed in a dark overcoat, scarf and gloves, hat obscuring his face. It is MORGAN, but from this distance, he looks uncannily like Xavier St. Cloud.]

[RESUME MACLEOD reacting. He knows St. Cloud is dead, but the words come involuntarily, a gut reaction.]

MACLEOD - Xavier.

[As he starts toward him, the Immortal turns and walks quickly away. MacLeod goes after him, runs up the embankment.]

[MacLeod reaches the street, scours it -- it looks like he's lost the Immortal. Then -- ANGLE - MORGAN across the street. He's moving away, trying to escape. MacLeod grimly follows.]

[The two Immortals weave through cars and pedestrians in a (HAND-HELD STEADYCAM) foot-chase. MacLeod loses sight of his quarry, then catches tantalizing glimpses of him. As he does, he has brief FLASHES of the real Xavier St. Cloud.]

[FLASH - ST. CLOUD in the first World war.]

[FLASH - ST. CLOUD using gas.]

[FLASH - ST. CLOUD trying to kill MacLeod. He is dressed like the Immortal he's now chasing.]

[We INTERCUT the flashes with the chase, the speed and intensity building as the two immortals play cat and mouse past through streets, until -- NEW ANGLE as the Immortal ducks into a side street. MacLeod follows after him, stepping into--]

[A deserted street. The Immortal has vanished. On the side of an old building, a large DOOR stands open -- the only place he could have escaped. MacLeod enters after him.]

[The space is dark, foreboding, filled with dripping water and huge crates, old machinery. The only light comes from a dirty window high on the wall. MacLeod draws his sword and edges through the silent space, calling into the darkness.]

MACLEOD - Who is it?! Who the hell are you?! [His voice echoes in the space. Silence.] Face me!

[No answer. As he moves on, he feels the BUZZ ahead of him. He readies himself, moves around a crate--]

[WIDER as a GAS PELLET explodes at his feet, sends up clouds of gas. MacLeod covers his face, starts to choke. He starts to turn back--]

[ANOTHER PELLET explodes behind him. More fumes. Covering his mouth with his sleeve, he turns to try for the door--]

[ANGLE - THE DOOR as it SLAMS SHUT, trapping him. MacLeod grabs the door, throws his shoulder at it -- but it won't budge. He's trapped, choking, half-blind. As he keeps slamming against the door--]

[IMMORTAL'S POV - BINOCULAR MATTE - MACLEOD seen through the lenses of a GAS MASK. We hear the Immortal's raspy BREATHING, see MacLeod choking, trying vainly to break the door -- and failing, sagging, trying desperately to stay on his feet. As the Immortal moves closer, MacLeod looks up--]

[RESUME SCENE - MACLEOD’S POV - THE IMMORTAL, a dark outline, stepping eerily through the gas: black coat, the gas mask hiding his face, a glove on one hand, the other held behind him -- it looks like XAVIER ST. CLOUD.]

[MacLeod is stunned. He KNOWS he killed St. Cloud, but this looks enough like him to be his ghost. MacLeod is choking, confused, he knows he'll go down any moment. He raises his sword defensively, backs blindly away. As the Immortal raises his sword, MacLeod sees a FORKLIFT behind him. His only chance. He grabs a large PACKING CRATE, tips it into the Immortal's path, blocking him.]

[NEW ANGLE: MacLeod clambers onto the forklift, choking, lungs searing. He fumbles the IGNITION SWITCH -- and the MOTOR coughs into life, just as THE IMMORTAL charges around the crate, his sword out. MacLeod can barely see. He floors the forklift, turns the wheel, and whips it around, the big FORKS slashing through the air--]

[THE IMMORTAL is forced to dodge aside to avoid the forks. He swings, his sword clangs harmlessly off the side of the machine as MacLeod swings around, heads straight for the door. He's hanging on, slumping over the wheel just as the forklift plows into the door.]

[As the FORKLIFT crashes through the door, sending wood flying, and veers into the street where it crunches into a PARKED CAR and stops. MacLeod slumps over the wheel, half-dead. Two nearby TRUCK DRIVERS leap from their truck and run to MacLeod. As they do, MacLeod throws a look back to the door--]

[ANGLE - THE DOOR: a face, clad in a gas-mask, watching him.]

[RESUME SCENE as the Truckers pull MacLeod from the forklift, help him to his feet. He's coughing, weak, but recovering. He tries to pull away from them--]

MACLEOD - It's okay... I'm all right.

[He turns back to the door -- there is no one there. The Immortal has vanished. And OFF MacLeod's face, as he slumps against the forklift--]

[FADE OUT]
 

 
RENEE - What's the matter? Your source not as reliable as you thought?

MACLEOD - I'm offering help. You want it, or not?
 

 
MACLEOD - Except he's not our boy.

RENEE - I thought the Bureau was stubborn -- but you've got them beat to hell.

MACLEOD - Centuries of practice.

RENEE - [ticking it off] He has the same targets, same M.O... the lab even found the same gas in the victim's bodies. Who else could it be?

[MacLeod looks thoughtful, pushes the computer away.]

MACLEOD - Any pictures? Surveillance tapes?

RENEE - Erased. The guy is very good.

MACLEOD - Witnesses?

RENEE - Several. [beat] All in the morgue.

[MacLeod looks tense, distracted. He starts to pace. A suspicion hits Renee.]

RENEE - Duncan? What's really going on here? [beat] My gut keeps telling me that there's something happening you don't want me to know about.

MACLEOD - [wary] Like what?

RENEE - I think the truth is the best thing we have going.

MACLEOD - The truth.

RENEE - About us... The thing we had.

MACLEOD - [relieved] And that's why you think I'm here.

RENEE - Maybe. [beat] I just want to get it out in the clear.
 

 
[A family party is in progress. Wine is being served by liveried servants. G'Estaing looks on with eighteen-year-old son Bernard as Charlotte G'Estaing plays a minuet on the harpsichord. As she finishes a trill, the others break into applause. G'Estaing raises his glass.]
 

 
MORGAN - [eyeing Renee] But I see you've been busy. [to Renee] Whoever you are, you're perfect.

RENEE - Duncan? Are you going to introduce your friend?

MacLEOD - Just an old acquaintance from the wars.

DUFAY - Won't you join us, Monsieur...?
 

[The time of the Napoleonic Wars. A French noble, PHILLIPE G’ESTAING, hurries his family through the halls -- his wife, CHARLOTTE, and 21 year-old son, BERNARD.]

G'ESTAING - Vite, vite. The English will be here any minute.

CHARLOTTE - But the house, Phillipe, the land, we cannot leave!

G'ESTAING - The war is on our doorstep, Charlotte. We must hurry. [to Bernard] Get the silver.

[Bernard hurries through a door into the next room. A moment later--]

BERNARD - [O.S.] Father!
 

 
XAVIER - If not your lives. [reasonably] Wouldn't it be better to give it to us, than to an invading army?
 

 
XAVIER - [to G'Estaing] What do you say, Baron? Give me the money and you and your family can be on your way... or wait here for the English to march in.

G'ESTAING - [stiffens, gathering his courage] I'm not afraid to die.

XAVIER - No. Not when you're faced with a lifetime of poverty.

[He takes a red-hot POKER from the fire, lifts it thoughtfully, sticks the tip in the glass of wine. The heat makes the glass explode.]

XAVIER - (CONT'D) But there are worse things than death.

[G'Estaing pales, starts to sweat.]
 

 
MACLEOD - The men's tents in this yard... Infirmary behind the kitchen. Has someone checked out the barn?

HASTINGS - Looking into it now, sir.

MACLEOD - All right. See if the owners are here.
 

 
MACLEOD - If this is about revenge, why not just fight me? Why the game?
 

RENEE - (O.S.) He had a wife. A daughter just going off to college.

[Renee is pacing before Dufay's vacant desk. MacLeod trying to comfort her.]

MacLEOD - I'm sorry.

RENEE - Me too. [beat] Dammit. We thought it was from you.

MacLEOD - [gently] Stop beating yourself up, Renee. You couldn't have known.

[BEAT. She looks up at him. Accusing.]

RENEE - But you did.

MacLEOD - [beat] A hunch.

RENEE - Right. If you'd been a few seconds slower, I'd be dead, too. [cold] That's some hunch.

MacLEOD - You think I did this?

[Renee looks at him a long BEAT. Finally--]

RENEE - No. [beat]
 

 
MacLEOD - It's no game. [beat] Just trust me. I'm not one of the bad guys, remember.
 

 
MacLEOD - What about private cellars?
 

 
MacLEOD - Somebody bought it.

RENEE - Duncan, whoever bought this wine is dead by now.

[MacLeod looks thoughtful. He takes the bottle, holds it up and looks at the label a moment -- then hands the bottle back.]
 

 
MacLEOD - He was a murderer with expensive tastes.

[Morgan tightens. The glass stem SNAPS in his hand.]

MORGAN - He was much more than that.

[He turns to the FIRE. PUSH IN on the flames there.]

[TRANSITION TO:]

(See SCENE SEVEN)

[TRANSITION TO:]

INT. G'ESTAING CHATEAU - THE PRESENT - DAY

[Morgan is still talking.]

MORGAN - They told everyone that I took my allowance and ran off to America. [beat] They must have thought I was the devil himself, when I came back to kill them.
 

 
[An awkward moment. She puts her hand out to shake his then drops it.]

RENEE - (CONT'D) Oh, hell.

[She leans up and kisses him, hard. MacLeod responds, and the kiss goes on longer than she intended. Then MacLeod gets the BUZZ -- and breaks off suddenly.]

RENEE - (CONT'D) What's the matter?

MacLEOD - It's all right. I just...

[Morgan is around somewhere. He has to stick with her. He puts on the charm, improvising.]

MacLEOD - (CONT'D) This was kind of sudden. I mean, you coming back, then leaving again... Uh, I think I should probably come up.
 

 
MORGAN - She'll remember Morgan G'Estaing as long as she lives. [beat] Think about that... while you have a head to think with.

[He charges. MacLeod sidesteps, and they fight, battling down the alley. As MacLeod parries a blow, Morgan makes a sudden, unexpected move with his left hand. MacLeod winces and backs off. He looks at his arm -- there's a bloody slash. Morgan is holding a small, sharp knife with a curved blade.]

MORGAN - (CONT'D) Poison, MacLeod.