Company Business

In the late Cold War, retired CIA operative Sam Boyd works as a freelance corporate spy for Maxine Gray. His hands-on, old-school espionage is increasingly obsolete in the face of younger computer hackers. He gets pulled back into a high-stakes operation that could drag him back into the field.

Boyd is summoned by Elliott Jaffe to the CIA for a seemingly straightforward prisoner exchange with the KGB, overseen by Colonel Grissom. The plan requires the operation to stay off the books, with a $2 million payment coming from a Colombian cartel as asked by the Russians. He is tasked with coordinating the transfer and safeguarding the KGB mole, Pyotr Grushenko.

Boyd and Grushenko depart for Berlin with the money in a sealed briefcase. The exchange is meant to occur in Berlin, with Sobel swapped for Grushenko's release. The mission hinges on keeping the deal off the books while avoiding informants.

They arrive in Berlin and share a drink at a bar, where Grushenko's love of Starka helps soften the mood. A wary alliance forms between the two men as they adjust to the reality of their mission. The setting foreshadows the trouble to come.

In a closed subway tunnel, the handover goes wrong when Boyd recognizes Sobel among the crowd. He calls Grushenko back, triggering a chaotic shootout with the KGB. The two men are forced to flee as the operation collapses.

With the handover compromised, Boyd and Grushenko are on the run from both the KGB and Boyd's own agency, which brands them rogue. Jaffe is ordered to hunt them down, while Grissom insists Boyd is acting outside orders. The chase forces them to improvise new plans to survive.

Aware that the CIA can trace serial numbers on the cash, they decide to launder the money and live off the funds. They acquire fake IDs and credit cards to slip past authorities and begin their covert operation. The money laundering becomes their lifeline as the net closes in.

Their next move takes them to Faisal, a Saudi arms dealer previously used by the CIA to move money covertly. Faisal finds the situation cash-strapped and unable to easily launder the funds. The rendezvous underscores how the end of the Cold War has upended the old clandestine networks.

The CIA and KGB teams converge on Paris, where Grushenko claims Sobel's true fate is as a Soviet sleeper who had been living in the U.S. under cover as an economics professor. Grushenko reveals that Sobel's handler was a US turncoat codenamed Donald. The revelation reframes the mission as a larger game of deception.

In Paris, Grushenko reconnects with Natasha Grimaud, who is actually his daughter and also works for a Japanese firm to wire the money to a Swiss bank account. Natasha's role adds emotional complexity to the money scheme. The trio navigates the danger as the net tightens.

Natasha is kidnapped by both sides to force Boyd and Grushenko to surrender. Grushenko travels to Switzerland to retrieve the money and the pressure mounts to resolve the standoff. The kidnapping raises the stakes and brings them to a breaking point.

Boyd and Grushenko choose the Eiffel Tower as the handover site to try to outsmart their pursuers. They free Natasha and dodge their captors, but the tower exits are blocked, trapping them briefly. They retreat to Le Jules Verne for one last bottle of Starka.

At Le Jules Verne, Grushenko reveals that he has been in contact with Donald, implying Grissom as the true broker. He leaves a false message that Sobel was a triple-agent for the CIA, destabilizing the CIA's case. Boyd contemplates a life in exile if they can escape.

The twist confirms Sobel was a Soviet asset turned by the Soviets, and the botched handover was a trap to seize the money. The revelation reframes the mission and the loyalties of everyone involved. The film closes on a note of ambiguity about who truly wins.

The story hints at a potential life in the Seychelles if Boyd and Grushenko escape, but the ending remains open and uncertain. The post-Cold War world has rewritten espionage rules, leaving old operatives to adapt or fade away. The final image lingers on the consequences of loyalty and deception.