Covert Affairs (TV Series)

What Is and What Should Never Be (2010)

Eion Bailey: Ben Mercer

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ben Mercer : You changed things for me, Annie.

  Annie Walker : And you left me. I was in love with you, and you skipped out with a note.

  Ben Mercer : If I would have stayed any longer, you would have been in danger.

  Annie Walker : From what?

  Ben Mercer : My mission. I was with the Agency.

  Annie Walker : [softly]  I knew it. With Stas, on the train tracks. It was you who saved me.

  Ben Mercer : I was tracking him. I'm on my own now.

  Annie Walker : And... and somehow that's my responsibility?

  Ben Mercer : I was in love with you, Annie. That was it.

  Annie Walker : I've thought... so long about what I would say to you if I ever saw you again, and now, I realize I don't wanna talk. I want you to talk. Why are you here... now?

  Ben Mercer : The Cole painting at the auction.

  Annie Walker : You marked it on my programme.

  Ben Mercer : There's more there. Keep digging. Just... push it hard.

  Annie Walker : What kind of cryptic nonsense is that? You show up two years later, out of the blue, and you expect me to "push it hard"? You push it hard!

  [turns away] 

  Annie Walker : I don't believe you!

  [walks past] 

  Ben Mercer : There's an arms dealer. Seraf Murat. The auction is one of the ways he moves his money.

  Annie Walker : That's why that guy over-bid so much.

  Ben Mercer : Murat's Number Two, Russ Hilburn. He wasn't just buying a Thomas Cole painting. He was buying a Cole and schematics for a Russian missile guidance system.

  Annie Walker : That doesn't make sense. The CIA would wanna stop that. Why would...

  Ben Mercer : They want to control it. They wanna control him. I want to stop Murat.

  Annie Walker : So, just to be clear. You're not asking for forgiveness. You're asking me for a favor. What do you want me to do?

  Ben Mercer : Go to Sophie Jacklin, the Bramble's director. Ask her about February 22nd, Lots 19 and 75. It may take some coaxing, but I think she'll come into Langley with you. And if you have to use my name, you use it.

  Annie Walker : You know her?

  Ben Mercer : Call her "Mona Lisa" and she'll know you're not bluffing.

  Annie Walker : [shakes head]  No.

  Ben Mercer : [whispers]  Annie. I know this is a lot to take in.

  Annie Walker : The CIA would...

  Ben Mercer : Forget protocol. The Agency is using you to get to me. You can't believe anything they say about me or anything I've done.

  [emphatically:] 

  Ben Mercer : Do not trust Joan and Arthur.

  [as she walks past, grabs her arm:] 

  Ben Mercer : Maybe I don't deserve this, but I'm asking you to trust me. Trust the man you fell in love with in Sri Lanka.

  [and the beads are there to remind Annie]