Thomas Devoe: I don't know about these guys, but General Aleksandr Kodoroff doesn't ride around on a nuclear transportation train. It's like Ivana Trump on the subway.
Costello: Urinalysis from a Moscow traffic stop last month, .367.
Julia Kelly: I'm amazed he could turn the key.
Costello: Yeah, that's definitely a few cocktails.
Thomas Devoe: It doesn't make sense. You don't... You don't kill a Dimitri Vertikoff. There are certain rules - killing him isn't useful.
Julia Kelly: Is it ever?
Thomas Devoe: I'm not gonna shoot you unless I have to. And if I have to I'll feel really bad about it. Now sit down!
Hamilton: Russia, what a fucking mess! God, I miss the cold war.
Julia Kelly: So do you think he set us up?
Thomas Devoe: Who?
Julia Kelly: Your friend.
Thomas Devoe: No.
Julia Kelly: How can you be so sure?
Thomas Devoe: Because he's my friend.
Answer: Presumably they couldn't take the risk that removing the wire would stop that plate detonating, and/or were worried that there might be a failsafe to detect a wire being cut. Physically removing the charge seemed like the safer bet.
Jon Sandys ★