When
co-founder of a San Francisco newspaper THE DAILY SENTINEL, JOHN PAUL,
is shot in his home, FRANK SCANLON, district attorney, considers John's
position as a crime and politics reporter and rules out robbery as a
motive. BRITT REID, publisher for the Sentinel, promises his father,
DAN, who'd co-founded The Sentinel with John, that he won't rest until
he finds out who did this.
At the paper, John's former position
as executive TV producer is taken over by REX, a shameless opportunist,
who exhibits not one trace of remorse for the company's recent loss. In
fact, the first meeting he holds in his new office is with a goon named
TOMMY, who inquires about what Rex plans to do with his newfound
corporate capital. When Rex suggests that he's thinking of bowing out
with his cut after an illicit job they've just completed, Tommy won't
allow it and tells Rex that the crew needs something of him--the
ability to communicate anywhere, in real-time, without being detected
via discreet usage of his TV station for two weeks--if anyone can
manipulate info, it's newsmen, he says. With the right people in key
positions within The Sentinel, he concludes, anything is possible. He
promptly gives Rex a short list of people to fire.
In the
forensics lab, a print is lifted from inside John's condo--its match is
Mr. YAO XCHAN, a known Chinese national drug smuggler with gang
connections, most recently known for his attempt to smuggle over a
quarter ton of dope into San Francisco via commercial shipping. Frank
calls Britt with his address, and Britt and Kato promptly change
outfits--Kato, into hat and mask, with gloved hands, and Britt into a
green suit, clad as the GREEN HORNET. They both hop in his car, the
BLACK BEAUTY, type in the address, key in commands, and send a metallic
black bee that rises from a small door on the car's hood to fly off
under their control and give them closer views of their destination.
After it locates Xchan, they break into his apartment and Hornet
questions him about his whereabouts during the shooting three days ago,
but he doesn't answer--he finally admits that he had pulled the trigger
himself. He'd been paid by someone, but just before his eyes glaze over
and he passes out, all he can utter of the name is, "Choo... choo..."
In
Britt's office, the following day, one of the TV news engineers, BILL,
complains that Rex is firing all the good guys and bringing in a bunch
of new guys he's never even heard of. Britt question Rex about where
these new people are from, and he vaguely responds that they're the
cream of the crop, from all over the country. Britt says he'll be
watching--but in the meantime, no more personnel changes.
MIKE,
a reporter, tells Britt about the Hornet being out last night, and
victimizing a suspect in John's murder--after the cops took the suspect
to jail, his million dollar bail had been posted by a woman named SUE
ANN LEE. Britt tells him to get the story out as soon as possible.
On
the evening of the Sentinel's 30th anniversary party, Rex officially
introduces Britt to his new TV crew--RAY JORDAN, BRUCE KONIG, TIM
SMITH, TOMMY CHEW--and Sue Ann Lee. Not only does Britt recognize that
name as that of the woman who'd bailed out Xchan, but he recognizes the
name "Chew," from the sounds that Xchan had uttered before passing out.
He tells Kato about it and they conclude something must be going on,
and they need to find out what as soon as possible. He tells Kato to
get a pen...and leave it on the group's table.
When they
download the pen's data later, they hear two voices engaging in a
choppy discussion about all their distributors being in place, about
dope inside trucks, about a fake game, a great idea, airwaves, and only
one thing to worry about--Bill, the nosy engineer and Britt, if he
finds out. They decide they'll take care of Bill tonight. Upon hearing
this, Britt and Kato decide to suit up and follow Bill home from the
party. Once Bill gets to his garage, three men hop out of an SUV that's
been trailing him, drag him out of his car and start beating him, until
the Green Hornet appears with a three foot bat and invites himself to
"play." He and Kato beat the thugs so badly that they must scramble
away with the little that is left of their dignity. The Green Hornet
bugs their car before they flee, then calls an ambulance for Bill,
before speeding away himself.
They track the thugs down and meet
them at a cannery, where Tommy scolds his goons for blowing it--Bill's
still in the picture.
The next morning, Frank calls Britt
demanding to know what he/Green Hornet and Kato are doing--now everyone
thinks that the Green Hornet beat up Bill. On top of that, they're
responsible for a shooting on the freeway and an explosion by the
docks--both of which are all over the papers. Frank says they must be
getting close to something and he knows it has something to do with
Xchan, but they need to bring him in now, or he's going to split the
country.
Later, at home, Britt pulls up the TV station's new
numbers challenge game on his computer and studies it. He asks Rex
about it the next day at work, and he tells him it's a new TV game they
developed to air during news breaks starting tonight. The winner gets a
cash prize, and it'll be good for the sponsors as well as for the
station. Rex's responses convince Britt that it all seems legit. He
asks why all his new hires have been sporting injuries around the
office since the weekend. Rex claims that he heard they'd had a little
football game this weekend.
Mike comes to see Britt about the
piece in the paper on the explosions down by the docks the other
night--he thinks there's more to it than just chemicals catching fire
in a dumpster. He'd done some snooping around and found out about more
activity that night--a truck involved in a chase, and he'd seen it
himself, behind a building, completely wrecked and burned out. He heard
there was a break in, but most of the guys around the cannery didn't
want to talk about it at all, and he doesn't think the police report
even scratched the surface. Britt suggests that they just let the cops
pursue this one. Still, Mike insists there could be a much bigger story
there, but Britt insists he can't put his reporters in danger. When
Mike says the Black Beauty was also seen in the area that night, Britt
dismisses it as a joke.
Later, at home, Britt watches the debut
of the Super Secret Numbers Challenge, and compares it with information
he'd retrieved from the docks the night he and Kato had gone snooping
around. He deciphers that some of the numbers refer to an address,
others correspond with the day's date, and the next numbers could
represent military time. From that he gathers: Clay St. and Taylor, ten
o'clock tonight. He and Kato suit up and drive there, to catch a group
of men in a truck full of mysterious boxes containing heroin inside
ornate vases. Britt calls Frank and tells him to send someone downtown
to Clay and Taylor. Later, Frank congratulates him on a job well
done--except for the bodies he'd left him, cuffed and executed. But
Britt swears they had all been alive when he left.
In the
office, CASEY, Britt's secretary, overhears a conversation in the TV
editing room between Tommy and Rex--one speaker orders that if anyone
sees the Green Hornet, they're to shoot him and his driver on sight.
When they spot her near the door, Casey tries to play off any
possibility that she's heard them, but they seem to be on to her
eavesdropping.
Immediately she calls Britt and tells him she
wants to discuss something, but not over the phone. On her way to
"lunch" however, a large man snatches her from behind and tosses her
into the backseat of a black BMW, between Xchan and another man, who
smothers her with a cloth to her face until she passes out.
LISA, Casey's friend, who's witnessed it all, calls Kato to report this to him.
Casey's kidnappers take her to a rental room and lock her inside until they're done with a "project" they're working on.
The
Green Hornet and Kato track down Rex and take him to a remote park to
interrogate him about Casey's whereabouts. He finally admits that Tommy
has her at his place, and gives them the address. They find the rental
room, beat up the goons that are guarding it, and rescue Casey.
Though
Casey's supposed to be "missing," she and Britt go out to dinner, and
she spots one of the kidnappers while they're out. She demands that
Britt kiss her, to protect her cover. They trail the kidnappers in his
car and watch behind tinted windows as they and other workers load more
boxes into another truck. They both recognize Tommy, as well as Xchan
among them and try to figure out what's going on. Britt calls Kato to
meet him in thirty minutes.
The Green Hornet and Kato invade the
operation on the docks and Rex flees and calls CC to tell her he needs
to talk to her. They'll go out for a nightcap.
He meets her at
the Global Marketing office and asks where she'd like to spend the rest
of her life--tonight. She names the Bahamas, and he whips out two cases
full of money. As she asks where he'd gotten so much money from,
someone fires at the door. Rex asks if she'd told anyone he was there,
and she names Tommy. He panics and tells her they have to split, but
she says she wants nothing to do with this. But he tells her it's too
late--Tommy will kill them both. When Tommy and his thugs burst inside,
Rex reasons that at least the cops should be there in a minute; but CC
tells him she'd turned off the alarm because she thought they were
leaving. Just as Tommy turns the gun on Rex and CC, the Green Hornet
and Kato burst in and corner him in the office. They leave them all
immobilized inside and outside of the building for the cops to retrieve.
