Below the Line - Recap

On a late night at a diving platform belonging to the Pollard Underwater Center, a team of technicians plan to send a diver, Danny Murray, down in an experimental suit, to investigate some mysterious night dives. The boss, Henry Pollard, wonders if he's having second thoughts but Danny makes the dive. He descends into the ocean depths and as he goes down, Henry Pollard takes over the oxygen controls and triggers a switch disrupting the pressure. Danny's suit overinflates and then explodes, killing him.

Annie Murray is teaching an elementary school class and afterward Ray arrives. She doesn't recognize him until he identifies himself as Stingray. She says that her husband Danny disappeared and no one at the center will admit Danny is working there. Danny only came back for the weekends and stayed at an apartment, but missed his son Eric's birthday. Ray agrees to investigate and then meets with a former client Ellen, who is a commercial director. He uses her contact in the Navy to get a record as a Navy diver and goes to Pollard to get a job. Pollard shows Ray around his underwater research center, and displaying his special projects including his power research project and his tank for training dolphins. A dolphin researcher, Karen Marshall, comes in and Pollard introduces her. She ducks Pollard's invitation and Ray takes the job. The end-of-day alert goes off and Ray gets a look at the security. He then goes to Danny's apartment and finds the door unlocked. He goes inside and finds Karen going through Danny's stuff. Ray also finds a photo of Danny and Karen together. Ray claims to be a friend of Danny's and notes that Pollard denies Danny worked for him. As Ray walks by the radio, he notices static generated by his security badge, indicating a transmitter. Ray reveals Danny was married and a surprised Karen doesn't take the news well. Karen says that Pollard is a snake and keeps hitting on her. She admits she's in a low-security position and can't get close to the divers Danny worked with.



That night, Pollard goes over Ray's record which looks clean, but he insists on checking Ray out personally while having his man check further. Outside, Ray slips over the fence and slips in using a security card. They pick his badge up on the security system and identify the number, then set off the alarm. Ray slips into the tunnels to stay ahead of the security guards, who are following him using the tracking system on the badge. He notices two divers discussing their dive that night and notes the time after midnight. He also sees that there's a network of piping. Then he apparently slips into a dead end, but has only left his badge there. Ray goes into the divers' locker room and finds a locker with a damaged suit with Danny's name on it. Ray gets out ahead of the security guards and off the grounds.

The next day, the security team checks all the badges and take away another man: Ray "borrowed" his badge. Pollard lets him go and still suspects Ray on general principles. Later, Ray is being tested in a tank when Pollard orders the technicians out. He then starts interrogating Ray about his Naval background while running up the pressure to distract him. Ray answers all of his questions correctly and Pollard congratulates him.



That night, Ray walks on the beach with Karen and admits that Danny was involved in something dangerous and something strange is going on at the center. She laments the fact she isn't being seriously and they end up kissing. The next day as the center closes down, Ray slips his badge into a woman's purse so the security system shows that he's not in the building based on his badge transmitter. They lock up the center as Ray slips into the tunnels and follows the pipe network to a facility where the men are stealing oil.

Pollard's security check reveals that Ray's cover identity died on Iwo Jima in 1945. Pollard insists on keeping Ray around to find out what he knows, while his security chief Frank Gallagher is worried that they'll blow up a nearby oil platform to eliminate Ray and cover their tracks. Pollard isn't concerned about the destruction and plans to set the charges.



Ray and Karen take a boat out to the ocean and Ray goes diving to trace the pipes. Karen wonders what will happen with them once it's over but Ray can't promise her anything. He then follows the pipes to an oil rig and returns to the boat where he explains what Pollard is doing. However, Pollard is waiting for him: Karen has betrayed him. They take him back to the center and lock him in a decompression chamber until they can put him on the rig when they set off the explosion. Pollard raises the pressure, preventing Ray from breaking out, while using the telemetry systems to constantly monitor him. Frank then provides Pollard with five-minute explosive charges, which Pollard plans to attach himself.

In the chamber, Ray goes into a yoga trance and slows down his heart beat and collapses. The technician, concerned, restores the pressure to normal and goes in to investigate. Ray revives and knocks him out, then slips away. Gallagher finds out what's going on and sets off the alarm. Ray hides in Pollard's office but Karen finds him and offers to get him out. She admits that Ray is giving her second thoughts and Ray accepts her help. She warns him that there isn't enough time to get to the rig but Ray insists on saving the men.



Pollard and two of his men depart with the explosives, with Ray not far behind. Ray takes out the other two men then struggles with Pollard who attacks him with a spear gun. Ray manages to attach an explosive charge to Pollard's scuba tank and get away as the charge detonates safely away from the rig.



Ray confronts Karen as she tries to get away and informs her that she doesn't get to walk away. The police arrive as Ray takes her car keys to prevent her escape then slips away.

Later, Ray goes to visit Annie and her son Eric and tell them what happened to Danny, and that someone will eventually continue the work that Danny was a part of. She says that she noticed Ray glanced down when he was lying to Eric about what happened to Danny, and then asks him if Danny was having an affair. Ray tells her straight out that there wasn't and Annie is convinced. Annie goes over to get Eric and introduce Ray, but he's already slipped away.

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