In Los Angeles, President Ronald Reagan's motorcade arrives at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. During the President's speech, Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William L. Petersen) discovers a terrorist on the roof of the hotel, strapped with explosives. As Richard tries to talk him down, his partner, Jimmy Hart (Michael Greene), climbs the side of the building and pulls the suicide bomber off the roof, causing the terrorist to explode in the air. Sometime later, Richard jumps from a San Pedro bridge attached to a safety line then drinks beer with his colleagues and gives Jimmy a fishing rod as a retirement gift. Before Jimmy leaves, Richard insists that Jimmy include him on a stakeout the following day, but Jimmy says that he has only three days left at work and wants to go alone. Meanwhile, counterfeiter and artist, Eric "Rick" Masters (Willem Dafoe), prints thousands of $20 bills at a remote desert warehouse. When Jimmy arrives and finds evidence of Masters' counterfeiting in the dumpster, he is shot dead. Two days later, Richard and a team of agents raid the warehouse, but find only a washing machine. Outside, Richard notices a pool of blood beneath the dumpster and discovers Jimmy's body. Mourning the loss of Jimmy at his beachfront apartment, Richard is visited by a colleague from the warehouse raid, John Vukovich (John Pankow). Richard threatens to bring Masters down by any means necessary and John offers to be his new partner. A week later, at an airport stakeout, Richard and John arrest Carl Cody (John Turturro), one of Masters' operatives, after he uses counterfeit money to pay for his ticket. Visiting Cody in prison, Masters tells him that his lawyer, Bob Grimes (Dean Stockwell), will reduce his sentence, but inquires why Cody's last delivery of cash to Max Waxman (Christopher Allport) was never received. Cody denies Waxman's claim that he postponed a delivery just before he was detained at the airport, and threatens to kill Waxman when he is released. Later, Masters meets with Grimes about reducing Cody's sentence and expresses concern that Cody will expose his operation to the police if he stays in prison. Meanwhile, Richard's girlfriend, Ruth Lanier (Darlanne Fleugel), who works for him as an informant, tells him about Waxman. Backstage at a club, Masters tells his dancer girlfriend, Bianca Torres (Debra Feuer), that Waxman has double-crossed them and she offers to help. As Richard and John keep surveillance on Waxman's office, they observe Bianca make a delivery. Inside, Bianca acquiesces to Waxman's seduction, but leaves the door open for Masters, who interrupts their escapade and forces Waxman to open the safe and return his cash. After a brief struggle, Masters shoots Waxman dead. Although Richard and Jimmy sleep through the murder, they enter Waxman's office with the police and Richard finds a code book with dates, dollar amounts and the initials "R. M." Despite Jimmy's warning that he is tampering with police evidence, Richard keeps the journal. Later, after Richard and Ruth have sex, she asks to receive payment for leading him to Waxman. When he tells her that she won't get paid without an arrest, she predicts that her job as an informant will end her life. Before Richard leaves, Ruth reports that a Chinese man will soon be arriving from San Francisco to purchase $50,000 in stolen diamonds. Richard claims that he is only interested in counterfeit money and threatens to revoke her parole if she stops providing him with information about the Masters case. While John follows a lead to Masters' studio, Masters meets with local dealer, Jeff Rice (Steve James), at a basketball court and agrees to pay him $75,000 to have Cody killed in prison. When the hit fails, Richard interrogates Cody, but Cody refuses to betray Masters. Meanwhile, Masters puts a gun in Rice's mouth, demands his money back and burns the cash. After convincing Judge Filo Cedillo (Val DeVargas) to release Cody so he can assist with the bust, Richard forces Cody to guide him to Masters's print shop, but on the way, Cody asks to see his sick daughter in the hospital. As Richard removes Cody's handcuffs before they enter the hospital room, Cody attacks Richard and escapes. Meanwhile, John meets with Grimes at a bar. Grimes complains about having Masters as a client and agrees to set him up at a meeting with the agents. Richard and John pose as moneylenders from a bank in the Cayman Islands and meet Masters at a gym, asking for a million dollars in counterfeit bills. When Richard explains that they have a client who wants to launder bonds to avoid taxes, Masters demands $30,000 in cash upfront. Unable to produce decoy money from their department for the bust, Richard proposes to John that they covertly intercept the diamond deal Ruth told him about and seize $50,000, but John refuses. Richard blackmails Ruth with prison time to help him with the heist, but when Richard captures Thomas Ling at Union Station, John picks them up in the getaway car. Followed from the station by two men, Richard and John hold Ling at gunpoint. They discover a phone book in his briefcase and cash in a concealed money belt when shots are fired from above, killing Ling. After losing their stalkers in a car chase, Richard and John realize they are being pursued by a large team of cars and armed accomplices. John drives up a freeway off ramp and swerves through oncoming traffic to escape. Later, at an office briefing, Richard and John learn that Ling was an undercover FBI agent. While Richard delivers the cash to Masters, John consults with Grimes about his legal options and learns his only defense is to plead guilty and turn in Richard. Grimes agrees to represent John for $50,000, but John refuses to betray his partner. Meanwhile, Richard collects Cody from his girlfriend's apartment. Later, Richard and John meet Masters at the gym to complete the deal, but as they make the arrest, Master's bodyguard shoots Richard in the forehead and Richard returns fire. Leaving his dead partner behind, John returns to Masters's studio and discovers that Masters set fire to the warehouse. Sitting cross-legged among the flames, Masters asks John why he did not accept Grimes's deal. Masters beats John, covers him with shredded counterfeit bills and attempts to set him on fire, but John shoots him and Masters becomes engulfed in the flames of his own torch. Some time later, John visits Ruth to collect the remaining $20,000 from their heist. Accusing her of knowing that Ling was an FBI agent and setting them up, John tells Ruth that she is now working for him.
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