Lines by Avery Markham 1
Avery Markham[to Katherine Hale's corpse] I always scoffed at people talking to loved ones who'd moved on. Seemed impractical to me. Can't hear you. They're gone. And I'm a practical man. Except when it comes to you, it seems. Revenge, Katherine. What did you in? Damn it, I told you I would get Duffy! Why didn't you trust me? For once, why couldn't you just do what you were told to do? I'll always love you, Katherine, but you need to know. I may be talking to a ghost, but I am still a practical man. I'd love to gut Wynn Duffy from nose to tail, but I have got to go and get my goddamn money.
Scenes with Avery Markham 14
Avery Markham
Know what I do, keep my people loyal?
Avery Markham
Overpay them. Christmas bonus, Easter bonus, President's Day bonus, Pappy Van Winkle on their birthday. Don't nobody bite this hand.
Yeah, well, it must be a little harder to turn a profit, I would imagine.
Avery Markham
There's plenty to go around, and it's a small price to pay for loyalty.
All right, but what if one of them did betray you? What would you do then? Cut off a finger the way Grady used to?
Avery Markham
If cutting fingers were enough, Grady would still be alive, wouldn't he?
Well, what, then take out an eye?
Avery Markham
An eye? I don't know. One-eyed guy can still see, still get a driver's license, even. Both eyes maybe. That'd be a good start.
Avery Markham
Ava, I've known my share of criminals. It's an ugly part of my past that I hope to remedy by investing more wisely in the future.
Well, you're off to a bang-up start kidnapping me.
Avery Markham
Wasn't my choice, I assure you.
Whose was it, then? [indicating Walker] His?
Avery Markham
It was yours. Come to reconnoiter my place of business, living some fantasy outlaw life, just you and Boyd against the world.
Sounds like you know a thing or two about it.
Avery Markham
I know for a woman to survive in this line of work, she's got to be harder than the men, ready to do the things they won't. I know women who have that in them. My question is, are you that kind of woman, Ava? Because if you ain't, then you'll never be more than a token, something that can be threatened or hurt just to keep your man in line.
Avery Markham
Last time I saw you, you were no bigger than minute. Peacocking around your daddy like you thought you was already a full-grown bad man.
I recognize you now, Mr. Markham. That being said, I still don't recall being bounced on your knee. Nevertheless, it, uh, seems that I owe you an apology.
Avery Markham
Like I said, I can't blame you for not remembering.
No, sir. The apology that I owe is for my craven attempt to pilfer that which rightfully belongs to you. As defense, I offer only my ignorance.
Avery Markham
Meaning you thought you were stealing from Calhoun?
Avery Markham
And now you know the prize in question belongs to me.
Avery Markham
Mm-hmm.
And any, uh, plan that I had for my next attempt should be considered abandoned as foolhardy, not to say unworthy.
Avery Markham
Hmm. I hope you'll understand when I say I don't want to see either of you at the portal again. Next time you want a slice, order in. Have it here in 30 minutes, or it's free. And if I see you in my place of business again I'll kill you. [beat] Come to it, I guess you ain't all that big now. Grown, but still just playing pretend.
Somebody please tell me what all you're talking about.
The man is making you an offer you can't refuse: sell or he kills you.
Avery Markham
Oh, come on, now. I may make you an offer you can't refuse... but that's because I'm offering you more money than you ever imagined.
And if I don't want it at any price?
Avery Markham
Then you'd be a bird so rare as to never before have been sighted.
The negotiation has ended. I told you you can't have my land. I'm adding hers to the list.
Avery Markham
I don't see how you can do that, legally speaking.
You want to follow that thread, be my guest. Till then, you can put away your suitcase of money.
Avery Markham
Or what? You gonna give me 24 hours to get out of town, Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens?
And he said he didn't do his homework.
I'm just saying there's no deal to make here.
Avery Markham
First you turn me down. Now this. What's next? Third time? You gonna tell me that, by the power vested in you, that there's something else I ain't allowed to do? This is still America, last time I checked the flagpole.
What's next is entirely based on the next choice you make.
Avery Markham
I think I'll burn one on the way out. Helps me think. You gonna haul me in?
No, not for weed. I can assure you of that.
Permission to speak freely, sir?
Avery Markham
You about to give me an opinion, or a warning, or both? Seems to me I've been perfectly clear about what I expect to transpire down here. Shouldn't be any more up for discussion.
Avery Markham
And who am I supposed to have killed?
Well, we've heard that'd be quite a list. You don't mind, we'll just focus on the last 24 hours.
Choo-Choo's a rock. He'd never give us up.
Avery Markham
Not on purpose. Feds have got guys that spend their whole lives tying people in knots—
I'm not— [pauses] Choo-Choo and I were in the sandbox together.
Avery Markham
I know.
I was in the Humvee right behind his when he got blown up. I.E.D. flipped them over, then landed on our hood. Crushed their gunner like a bug on our windshield. Choo-Choo's in the captain's seat. [laughs bitterly] We got that door open... You wouldn't think anybody could be alive in there. Medics picking splinters of the driver's bones out of his face. He lives through that? No.
Avery Markham
One morning when I was in the Corps, we found a dead Cong who'd stepped in a punji pit in the dark. Thing about punji sticks, they're not meant to kill. A dead soldier reduces the force against you by one, but a wounded soldier slows down a whole unit. Cong used to cover their stakes with human shit, make the wounds infect. But rather than being a drag on his comrades, make them carry him back, this feller just decided to put a gun in his mouth.
One man dies so the others can live.
Avery Markham
Anybody can run a peacetime command. Real leadership's about making the hard choices.
Harlan. Hell of a place to make your fortune.
Avery Markham
Fortune? Hell, I'm putting down roots.
Tough to do in quicksand.
Let's just say you're putting down roots, I'm pulling up. Sick of the past.
Avery Markham
True. Past is a shadow. Always there behind you.
In Harlan, shit, it ain't behind you. It's vertical. Dig down another layer, turn up some horror.
LMLoretta MacCready
My fix is the same as yours, Mr. Markham. Promise of legal weed. The difference is, I've been here for generations. You all knew my daddy. [crowd murmuring in agreement] You all know me. Know that I'm Harlan through and through. And so is my partner.
Avery Markham
And who might that be?
LMLoretta MacCready
The only other soul I know who cares about this place as much as I do: Boyd Crowder. [to the crowd] Every one of you who has been approached about your property, this is my offer. I will give you cash for your land, same as Markham, but the difference is I don't want to move you guys out. Just want to move some seed in. And along with that seed, we bring security and protection now and in perpetuity. Hire the locals to help with the farming, pay it back. You think Avery Markham and his city mousette ain't gonna cut and run win or lose? She look like Harlan to you? Throw in with me, and we'll make Harlan prosperous our own selves. Give this county back to the people the way we all know it should be!
Avery Markham
You know, I don't get you. Give you some of my own money to help you out. 24 hours ago upstairs, I figured you and me are simpatico. I see you're just jerking me around and using me to get Boyd.
Don't take it personal. I'm just doing what I gotta do.
Avery Markham
Yeah. That's my plan.
Avery Markham
Doing what I gotta do.
Avery Markham
You ever notice how the necessities of our line of work weigh heavy on your conscience?
Always seemed to me, as far as conscience goes, the sweet spot is you either be poor enough you can't afford to have one or rich enough you can afford to hire someone to carry the weight.
Avery Markham
Well, I've always loved you, Katherine. I just don't trust you.
Well, I accepted your proposal, Avery. Would it be so bad for the two of us to live together, not trusting each other, just like everybody else in the whole wide world?
[finding Derrick Waters mortally wounded]
Avery Markham
What the hell is this?
Yeah, he tried to pull on me.
Avery Markham
You just gonna let him lay there and bleed?
Was I supposed to take him to the hospital?
[Markham kills Derrick]
Avery Markham
Hope he wasn't someone dear to you.
Just someone I paid to watch my back.
Avery Markham
Money not well spent, I'd say.
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