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Covert Distress Code
- 392 statements
- 73 feature instances
- 49 referencing feature instances
| Covert Distress Code | type |
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Also known simply as a "duress code," this is any memorized code word, phrase, or action dropped into a message or conversation to discreetly convey a distress call to someone without unwanted or eavesdropping third parties realizing it. This is an important device for any undercover operative (detectives and spies, say), who can't just "call for backup" if they get into trouble because it'll blow their cover (if not their head), but really anyone can arrange a code ahead of time — you never know when being Crazy-Prepared will pay off. It's incredibly useful if you have to issue a Quiet Cry for Help. As a type of Spy Speak, the code should (for obvious reasons) be easy to remember and easy to work into a harmless conversation without sounding suspicious or off-topic. At the same time, it also can't be something that the character might wind up saying coincidentally in ordinary conversations (i.e. a false alarm). Mind that this only applies to codes that are agreed upon in advance of their usage — see Out-of-Character Alert if the speaker has to improvise a distress code on the spot (because if so, even the intended recipient may fail to notice the signal until later). Sub-Trope of Public Secret Message. Using such a codeword can make a Quiet Cry for Help more subtle and reliable. A Code Emergency may overlap with this if the code is designed not to alert or alarm others who are not supposed to know. Compare Trust Password, which is typically used to provide a sense of safety as opposed to warning about danger, and Covert Emergency Call, which is an unplanned distress call that tips off only rescuers. Also compare Safe Word for code words often of a more… Freudian nature. Compare Deception Non-Compliance. Examples |
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Dropped link to BaldursGate3: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
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Dropped link to RealityCollidesTheEzekielChronicles: Not an Item - UNKNOWN | |
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Reality Collides: The Ezekiel Chronicles (Fanfic) | |
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HanSolosRevenge | |
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| Covert Distress Code | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_109f7814 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_109f7814 | comment |
Sherlock has one between Sherlock and John: "Vatican cameos." The second time it's used, John explains that it means "battle stations, someone's going to die." | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_109f7814 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_109f7814 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sherlock | hasFeature |
Covert Distress Code / int_109f7814 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_15c6ea11 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_15c6ea11 | comment |
Wonder Woman (1942): Diana and Steve have developed a series of handy codes and phrases to clue each other in when they've got to give a message saying one thing but the real danger is another. At one point Steve is quite annoyed when Darnell reads a message to Steve from Diana and takes the danger written about within at face value, despite him knowing his agents have such a code, and not only misses the message that Di is captured but also that she was forced to write the letter and the danger is elsewhere. This nearly causes an interplanetary war when the attempted assassination of the Ambassador of Saturn is not prevented until very nearly after the last minute. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_15c6ea11 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_15c6ea11 | featureConfidence |
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| Wonder Woman (1942) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Covert Distress Code / int_15c6ea11 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_22119589 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_22119589 | comment |
In Alias, Jack is identified as a CIA mole by the new head of SD6 and imprisoned. He's ordered to get Sydney to SD6 HQ so she can be captured too. When calling her, he adds "Oh, and take surface streets, they're doing some work on the freeway."; she recognises this as their private duress code, allowing her to mount a rescue. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_22119589 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_22119589 | featureConfidence |
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| Alias | hasFeature |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_2212773a | type |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_2212773a | comment |
Angel. Angel Investigations doesn't have one, so when Lorne is held captive in Las Vegas, he keeps asking about 'Fluffy' (a non-existent dog) when calling his friends. Unfortunately one of Lorne's character tropes is The Nicknamer, so no-one is suspicious. Lampshaded by Lorne himself in "The House Always Wins", yelling at them about it when they finally realize he's in trouble. |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_2212773a | featureApplicability |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_2212773a | featureConfidence |
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| Angel | hasFeature |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_222c2051 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_222c2051 | comment |
Chuck: The word "pineapple" clears the Buy More out, no questions asked. Chuck activates the code in the middle of Black Friday rush as he's being marched out of the store by a Fulcrum agent. Jeff passes it to Morgan, who after ascertaining that the message was from Almighty Janitor Chuck and not Jeff just messing around, takes up the megaphone and requests everyone to "leave the store in an orderly fashion." Anna then pulls the fire alarm, causing a stampede that allows Chuck to escape. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_222c2051 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_222c2051 | featureConfidence |
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| Chuck | hasFeature |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_247422c7 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_247422c7 | comment |
The cold open of one of the Honor Harrington novels has a scene where a transport is transmitting a code which doesn't mean 'I'm being boarded by pirates', but 'I have been boarded and taken by pirates'. The communications officer notes that he's never seen it used outside of simulations, since once pirates have actually taken a ship they obviously won't start transmitting that code themselves. It turns out the owner of the transport was a bit paranoid and set it up to be used only if its identification was requested by a warship after a pirate attack. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_247422c7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_247422c7 | featureConfidence |
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| Honor Harrington | hasFeature |
Covert Distress Code / int_247422c7 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2477688c | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2477688c | comment |
The girls of The Baby-Sitters Club create such a code to use in case one of them is babysitting and hears a prowler. In a subversion, it turns out that they can't remember the code phrases five minutes after creating them, much less in an actual stressful situation. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2477688c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2477688c | featureConfidence |
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Covert Distress Code / int_2477688c | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2547d61f | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2547d61f | comment |
When Neal Caffrey of White Collar has to go undercover as a foreign man named Mr. Black (whom he assumed was a courier at the time), he is told that if anything bad happens, he should use the words "long flight" to alert Peter. Subverted in that when he discovers that Mr. Black is a hitman and not a courier, he attempts to use the phrase and fails because the criminals have employed a signal jammer. The show has another one when the son of the ambassador to the UN has been kidnapped. Because he's the son of a high-ranking official, he's been prepped for this. His kidnappers force him to participate in a video calling for his ransom. He prepared for this by tapping various letters on his shirt and at one point his knee, spelling out a message for anyone receiving the video. |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_2547d61f | featureConfidence |
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Covert Distress Code / int_2547d61f | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2675c915 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2675c915 | comment |
In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "Collision Course Part 1", Simmons, who is on a spaceship heading to Earth with the Big Bad, finally gets the comms system working and gives a SHIELD code (supposedly her own ID) to Davies. To her surprise, Davies, held hostage on the Zephyr by a Well-Intentioned Extremist preparing to blow up the spaceship, gives it right back. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2675c915 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2675c915 | featureConfidence |
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Covert Distress Code / int_2675c915 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_27b64165 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_27b64165 | comment |
In The Mysteries of Laura, when Laura is held at gunpoint in her room by the suspect of the week, she gets the babysitter to leave by saying she has food poisoning from bad clams. The sitter relays this to the police captain, Laura's ex-husband, who knows Laura doesn't eat clams and figures this means she's in trouble. | |
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Covert Distress Code / int_27b64165 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2a139e05 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2a139e05 | comment |
In The Orville, the phrase "13 button salute" means that the ship has been compromised and advises the recipient notify Union Central. Unfortunately, the Kaylon know about the phrase from Isaac, and when Captain Mercer uses this code to warn the USS Roosevelt of the situation, the Kaylon destroy the Roosevelt. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2a139e05 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_2a139e05 | featureConfidence |
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Covert Distress Code / int_2a139e05 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_33726f29 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_33726f29 | comment |
In The Ink Black Heart from the Cormoran Strike Novels, when Edie Ledwell visits the Strike detective agency to try to get them to help her with Anomie's trolling her online, Pat calls Robin in the partners' office, telling her "Message from Mr Strike. Would you be free to visit Gateshead this Saturday?" As is then explained, in the wake of the agency's successful resolution of a cold case and the ensuing press coverage, they've had two would-be clients of pronounced eccentricity off the street, one wanting them to prove that the government was watching her through her air vent and another wanting them to investigate a neighbor he was convinced was part of an ISIS terrorist cell. After this, they agreed upon a code "which meant, in essence, 'I've got a nutter here.'" | |
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Covert Distress Code / int_33726f29 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_342c4c18 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_342c4c18 | comment |
Modesty Blaise: If Modesty or Willy insert the name 'Jacqueline' into a conversation, the other knows that they are under duress and not able to speak freely. | |
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1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_342c4c18 | featureConfidence |
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Covert Distress Code / int_342c4c18 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_3495152f | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_3495152f | comment |
Hancock: When Hancock is in the middle of his Heroic BSoD, he stops at a liquor store. The clerk rings up $91.10 for one bottle of scotch, which Hancock reacted to angrily at first until he realized how stilted and freaked out the clerk was. The clerk then covers up the zero on the register screen with his finger, signaling "911" and alerting Hancock to the gunman under the counter holding the clerk hostage. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_3495152f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_3495152f | featureConfidence |
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Covert Distress Code / int_3495152f | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_410e0114 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_410e0114 | comment |
The Last of Us (2023): Joel uses 80s songs appearing on the radio as code for being in trouble. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_410e0114 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_410e0114 | featureConfidence |
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| The Last of Us (2023) | hasFeature |
Covert Distress Code / int_410e0114 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4142730f | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4142730f | comment |
Patriot Games: The Ulster Liberation Army's mole inside the British government, Geoffrey Watkins, receives a wrong-number phone call asking for a "Mr. Titus". The mole and the caller recite their respective telephone extensions as code signals, before hanging up. Subverted in that Scotland Yard already suspects who the mole is and has tapped his phone, and know the significance of the call, but have no evidence because there is a Mr. Titus in the building, and the telephone extensions were all correct. | |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_415543c4 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_415543c4 | comment |
The Dick Tracy Show episode "The Copped Copper Caper" had Tracy and Go Go Gomez at an airport looking for BB Eyes and Flattop. BB Eyes ambushes Tracy, bounds and gags him and locks him in a closet. Tracy taps an SOS on his wrist radio which Go Go can't decipher on his wrist radio but which a security agent could. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_415543c4 | featureApplicability |
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Covert Distress Code / int_415543c4 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_43576f5 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_43576f5 | comment |
Supernatural. In "Hunted", Gordon has captured Dean and gets him to call Sam to their location. Dean tips him off via this method (the codeword is "Funkytown"), but Gordon is savvy enough to anticipate this and rig the back door with a Booby Trap for when Sam tries to sneak up on him. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_43576f5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_43576f5 | featureConfidence |
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Covert Distress Code / int_43576f5 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_457b671e | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_457b671e | comment |
Employed several times in 24, the most famous instance being early in Day 5, when Jack Bauer is being forced to misdirect CTU's assault teams into an ambush by the terrorists. He slips the duress code "flank two" into his radio conversations, but CTU initially fails to pick up on it, since their duress codes have been changed in the two years since they fired Bauer. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_457b671e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_457b671e | featureConfidence |
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| 24 | hasFeature |
Covert Distress Code / int_457b671e | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4737c653 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4737c653 | comment |
Elementary In the episode "Rat Race," Sherlock had been texting Joan in illegible acronyms, praising the creation of "SMS language" as an evolution in human communication. When he's kidnapped by the Murderer of the Week, he texts her back, saying he's fine, but in straightforward, grammatically correct English. This tips Joan off that something's not right. In the episode "Paint It Black," the Title Drop is Mycroft's code to his military escort for "come in all guns blazing and rescue me." |
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Covert Distress Code / int_4737c653 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4c9e8c6 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4c9e8c6 | comment |
Use of Weapons. A Properly Paranoid dictator has his own bedchamber under surveillance, with a verbal codeword to alert his guards. Unfortunately the assassin who turns up in the middle of the night has access to superior alien technology, so he's already taken care of the cameras, deactivated the microphones and unloaded the hidden pistol. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4c9e8c6 | featureApplicability |
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Covert Distress Code / int_4c9e8c6 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4cb229a2 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4cb229a2 | comment |
Prince of the City, by Robert Daley (later made a film). Two crooks hear a rumor that the protagonist Robert Leuci is working with the DA to expose corruption, and grab him off the street to interrogate him. On two occasions he's able to get to a phone, call the DA's office and give the distress code. Unfortunately the secretary doesn't recognise the code (it's along the lines of "I can't make breakfast", so doesn't sound urgent). Fortunately a member of the Mafia vouches for Leuci, so he's let go and makes his third call. This time the apologetic secretary puts him through immediately, the DA having returned to his office and realised what's happened. After this cockup, Leuci insists that streetwise NYPD cops be included on his protection detail. This saves his life later when Leuci gives another distress signal (involving scratching his head) only for his backup to assume It's Probably Nothing. A cop among them realises otherwise, yanks out the ignition key to forcibly stop their car, and goes to Leuci's rescue. | |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_4f01368 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_4f01368 | comment |
One episode of Static Shock sees Ebon and the rest of the Meta-Breed kidnap Richie and hold him in an abandoned apartment complex. To communicate for help, Richie secretly turns on his two-way radio and begins badmouthing Ebon, talking about what a big shot he must feel like for hiding at that particular address. The villain catches on and destroys the radio, but not before Static's heard the message and begins traveling there. | |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_53c6fba1 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_53c6fba1 | comment |
Mentioned on the Death Lands book "Pandora's Redoubt". The Companions use a variety of names when greeted by a scouting member for certain actions, like "all clear", "run away" or "kill the guy with me". They explicitly mention that if they use anybody's real name in such a context, they have been coerced somehow and the Companions must shoot the member, whoever is with them, and run the hell away really fast. | |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_564871a | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_564871a | comment |
The main characters of Blue Bloods, all related to each other, have been trained if they are held captive and one of their family members says to the capturer "please don't hurt my family" they are to drop to the ground immediately, allowing the speaker to attack directly. | |
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| Covert Distress Code / int_58173119 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_58173119 | comment |
In Rainbow Six the security firm monitoring the silent alarm in the Austrian investor's manor/castle have a short duress signal conversation over the phone with a member of staff. They feign being a vet calling about the horses, so as not to alert anyone who might be listening to the call. | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_58173119 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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Covert Distress Code / int_58173119 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_588d3db5 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_588d3db5 | comment |
The Professionals. The scout leaves a cross carved on a wall like the usual graffiti to signal to those coming that everything is OK. Fardan explains to Ehrengard that if there was danger, the cross would be inverted. Later the scout realises he's Being Watched and as he's in the Grave of Nameless Men, turns a crucifix upside down to warn the others just before he's captured. Later Ehrengard has been captured and is told at gunpoint to call in the others, and mentions an upside-down cross to warn them. He's shot at once as the banditos holding him prisoner were expecting this trope and told him to only say what they told him to say. | |
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Covert Distress Code / int_588d3db5 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_5c638d89 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_5c638d89 | comment |
The Americans: In the next-to-last episode of the series, "Jennings, Elizabeth", Philip alerts Elizabeth over the phone they need to flee the country by telling her he's going to be late because, "things are topsy-turvy around the office." | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_5c638d89 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
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Covert Distress Code / int_5c638d89 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_6272adf3 | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_6272adf3 | comment |
During the Armenian story arc of The Shield, Shane goes with the Armenians as insurance in case Vic betrays them. As the Strike Team finds out, the gang set up a phone call from their guy who is ostensibly working with the cops, and if he doesn't call, they'll know to kill Shane, which leads to Vic doing this (as the Armenians foolishly let Shane hold onto his cellphone). | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_6272adf3 | featureApplicability |
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Covert Distress Code / int_6272adf3 | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_629940eb | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_629940eb | comment |
Running Scared (1986). Police detectives Hughes and Costanza force Snake to go undercover with a hidden microphone to set up the drug lord Julio. They tell Snake that if he gets into trouble he should say "snakebite" and they'll come rescue him. He does, but it turns out to be a trap organised by Snake and Julio. | |
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Covert Distress Code / int_629940eb | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_6535218b | type |
Covert Distress Code | |
| Covert Distress Code / int_6535218b | comment |
Red Storm Rising: when a young American officer finds himself trapped behind Soviet lines on Iceland. His handlers tell him that if captured, he is to say that things are "Going great." Cue numerous variations of "Things are lousy," "Things could be better," etc. when Mission Control asks how things are going. | |
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Grrl Power: The hero team "Archon" is, typically, organized enough to arrange such codes, as is detailed here. | |
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NUMB3RS: Rookie agent Nikki Bentencourt is sent undercover to catch a group of people kidnapping ATM users and is given the distress code "Mexico" to use if the operation starts to go south. It does, but she's too stubborn to use the word, believing that she can salvage the operation on her own. Don is not happy. Later on, when Colby is in a hostage situation, David says that he could ask the FBI to "send out for Mexican" to discreetly let them know that a tactical entry was imminent. This had been done once before, this time with David as the hostage. SWAT is getting ready to breech, but want to give David a heads-up so he'll have an advantage over the bad guy, so Don, who had been trying to negotiate, asks the suspect if he thinks he can "just get on a plane to Mexico". Unfortunately, despite David understanding the hint, the shooter still gets the upper hand; in the end, David has to take control and talk the guy out himself. |
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Wiseguy. Undercover cop Vinnie Terranova calls his Uncle Mike (actually 'Lifeguard', his Mission Control) and says he can't make breakfast. At one point he's arrested by the local police and has to shout to the woman with him as he's dragged off to relay the message. She does, but knows there's something suspicious as she's Vinnie's cousin, and he doesn't have an uncle called Mike. | |
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The Halo novels established the Spartan-IIs' classified distress call as a simple "Olly Olly Oxen Free". It makes a rather ironic reappearance in Halo 5: Guardians. | |
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On The A-Team "Red Ball One" and "Bag is Leaking" mean "big trouble" and "one of the team took some lead" as explained to Amy by Murdock, who receives the code from the team. | |
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A side mission in Mass Effect 2 has Shepard approached by a guy who turns out to be the cameraman for a reporter who's trying to do an expose on some gangsters. He's learned that the reporter's cover has been blown so he needs to get her out of there by telling her the code. Unfortunately, he's a Non-Action Guy and therefore is far too scared to approach the gangsters himself, so he gets Shepard to do it for him. The code is simply the words "terminal" and "eternity" worked into a conversation. It works, and the reporter escapes by claiming she needs to use the bathroom. | |
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Mass Effect: Quarians returning to the Migrant Fleet have a code phrase that indicates they're in danger. It's a sign of how loyal quarians are that they know full well that giving the duress code signals security to fire on their ship. They also have a second phrase that indicates their mission was successful and the ship they're aboard is no danger to the Fleet; Tali'Zorah's is "After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and shoals of dust, I will return to where I began." A side mission in Mass Effect 2 has Shepard approached by a guy who turns out to be the cameraman for a reporter who's trying to do an expose on some gangsters. He's learned that the reporter's cover has been blown so he needs to get her out of there by telling her the code. Unfortunately, he's a Non-Action Guy and therefore is far too scared to approach the gangsters himself, so he gets Shepard to do it for him. The code is simply the words "terminal" and "eternity" worked into a conversation. It works, and the reporter escapes by claiming she needs to use the bathroom. |
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A variation in The Bourne Ultimatum. Nicky, a CIA agent, has just unexpectedly entered a CIA office where Bourne killed two hitmen. The CIA calls the office to check what's going on. As part of standard procedures, they give Nicky a one-word sign, to which she needs to respond with a countersign: either the "normal" countersign, or the "duress" code. Even though Bourne is right in front of her and pointing a gun at her, she responds with the "normal" sign—confirming that she's sympathetic to Bourne and wants to help. However, she'd already acknowleded that Bourne had been there and agents were down, so her contact tells her that a response team is one hour away, when they're actually five minutes away. Fortunately, she knows he's lying, and guesses she and Bourne have three minutes. | |
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Early in Sudden Impact, Detective "Dirty" Harry Callahan goes to a diner he regularly frequents and orders his usual (which includes black coffee). The waitress pours a ludicrous amount of sugar into the coffee while standing in front of him and making pointed glances at certain people in the diner. Harry correctly interprets this as meaning that said individuals are robbers trying to pretend that nothing's out of the ordinary until the policeman who just walked in leaves. | |
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Lost: During a phone call to the Freighter a mortally injured Naomi asks the person she's talking with to "tell my sister I love her." Miles later reveals that this was a code given to the Freighter crew to signal that they're speaking under duress, and that Naomi doesn't even have a sister. | |
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NCIS In "Bête Noire", Ducky and his assistant Gerald are held hostage in Autopsy. Ari, the hostage taker, needs evidence that is now in Abby's lab. So, while on speaker phone, Ducky yells at Abby he needs the evidence back "stat." "Stat," as Gibbs and others later note, is code for a medical emergency requiring immediate help. As the "patients" in autopsy are typically dead, Gibbs realizes there is a lot more going down. Played with in the episode "Judgment Day." Director Shepard dismisses Tony and Ziva (her security escorts) before going on a dangerous mission. When they call to check up on her, she doesn't use the duress word, so Tony thinks she's OK while Ziva is still concerned. They later find her in an abandoned diner, having been shot and killed. A troubled young man takes hostages (Gibbs among them) and demands to see his mother. The off-site agents find out that said mother is listed as "deceased", and tell Tony, who tells Gibbs that "Special Agent Caitlin Todd" is trying to find the woman. Gibbs gets an Oh, Crap! face but the kid doesn't see it, then we're treated to this conversation as Tony and his SWAT counterpart back off. |
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Known Space. Played with in The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton. Gil is investigating a case of Organ Theft, so arranges for a police psychic to check his safety at regular intervals. Except the only 'slot' she has free for him is 9.45am. He's later abducted on his way home at night, then wakes up in an anonymous apartment with no way of knowing what time it is. He only survives because the psychic got worried when Gil didn't turn up for work and checked him early. | |
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Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Day of the Dove". When Captain Kirk and his landing party are captured by Klingons, he pushes an emergency button on his communicator, warning the Enterprise. When Scotty beams them up he materializes only the Enterprise crew, leaving the Klingons suspended in transit. When the Klingons are finally materialized they are easily captured. This communicator emergency signal is actually revealed to exist two seasons earlier...unfortunately, in that case, it's activated accidentally by a 1960s MP. The result is...not ideal. |
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In CSI: Miami, it is eventually discovered that a woman died because her handler ignored her coded call for help. | |
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Modesty Blaise novels: In A Taste for Death, Modesty and Willie are having a radio conversation when Willie mentions that Jacqueline has come to visit, a pre-arranged code meaning that he's in danger. In The Impossible Virgin, the villain's security measures include a hand-signal (pretending to adjust their tie) that his men have to do when they return to base to signal that they're not under duress and it's safe to open up and let them in. |
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In An Idiot Abroad, Karl's distress code in case he gets kidnapped in the Middle East is "congress tart." | |
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In an episode of Get Smart, the Chief is undercover as a singing waiter, and alerts Max and 99 to a KAOS agent by using the CONTROL Singing Code, substituting words like 'cigarette' in the lyrics while singing Alouette. | |
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Questionable Content: Faye has one, agreed with her mother in case she ends up in a dangerous/abusive relationship. When she ends up becoming roommates with Marten, she ends up having to defy the trope by telling her mother very firmly that the "peaches are definitively not ripe". | |
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After the bank robbery is foiled in Heat Chris goes to pick up his wife Charlene and son Dominick and flee the city. Before he got there, however, one of the cops from the unit that has been chasing his crew made a deal with Charlene that she will get off on any charges if she gives Chris an "all clear" signal when he arrives so they can lure him in and arrest him without having to fight or chase him. When Chris arrives she goes out on the balcony, and at the last moment, possibly even surprising herself considering the terrible marriage issues the two have been having all movie long, makes a tiny hand gesture that the cops can't see warning Chris off instead. | |
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During a con in Leverage, Nate and Sixth Ranger Tara are held at gunpoint by a Corrupt Corporate Executive and Triads who demand $50,000. Tara tells Nate to get the fifty thousand: "Fifty thousand, ok, five-o, do you understand, five-o?" The "five-o" is an explicit covert alert for Nate to switch the con they had been running to one that involves bringing in the police. | |
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The Firm: FBI agent Wayne Tarrance is able to warn Mitch over the phone that the firm is onto him by telling the secretary who answers the phone "Judge Tarrance" wants to talk to him. | |
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Doctor Who In "Warriors Gate", experienced companion Romana does a tongue-in-cheek version where she tells new companion Adric that the signal is her putting her hands up. She is later invited by the villains back to their spaceship; aware it's a trap, she does an elaborate stretching gesture that just happens to involve putting her hands over her head. In "Day of the Daleks", the Doctor uses contemporary slang that the soldiers holding him prisoner don't understand, as they've time-travelled from the future. |
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Divided We Fall: As David and the rest of his Jewish family are being sent off to the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1941, Marie says hopefully that conditions in that camp are supposed to be decent. David says yes, he got a letter from his aunt there, who says that there are theaters and concerts and hot running water. But he doesn't understand why his aunt mentioned that Uncle Otto has developed a cough, because Uncle Otto has been dead for 15 years. | |
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The Bill. The detectives arrest an Eastern European drug dealer and force him to set up a drug buy. They insist he speak English while making the call to avert this trope, but when no-one shows up the dealer smugly points out that they never speak English while making a deal in case they're overheard, so this trope happened anyway. | |
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In a ninth season CSI episode, Riley communicates to Greg that the situation is normal, but calls him by her name to indicate that she is speaking under duress. Greg responds by calling Riley by his last name to indicate he understands. This was something the team was demonstrated practicing during a drill earlier in the episode. | |
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In Lucifer's Hammer there are two sentries guarding the settlement at any time: an outer sentry to talk to people trying to enter, and a hidden inner sentry who watches and guards the outer sentry. If the outer sentry raises both hands over his head, this is the signal for the inner sentry to shoot the person at the gate, presumably because that is the one gesture least likely to get you killed if someone is pointing a gun at you. | |
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In Andromeda, Dylan Hunt blinks "AC 145" in Morse code during a message he sends to the ship that supposedly states that all is well. "AC 145" means no, he's been captured. | |
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A major plot point in New Captain Scarlet episode "Trap For A Rhino". The Mysterons are actually counting on a kidnapped Spectrum agent using her duress code so they can ambush the rescue team and hijack the titular Rhino armoured vehicle, which they intend to use to blow up a nearby nuclear power station. | |
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In Ocean's Twelve, Tess and Danny Ocean have one in case their mutual enemy Terry Benedict finds them: "There's water in the basement and the pilot light is out". When Tess uses it Danny tells her to hang up the phone and immediately drops what he's doing to come home. | |
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In ER, Sam's ex-boyfriend breaks out of prison, is taken to the ER, then proceeds to incapacitate Luka and kidnap Sam. As they and his accomplices are leaving, Abby asks Sam if she's seen Luka. Sam replies (truthfully) that she thinks he's in the procedure room, but follows this up by calling Abby "Abigail". Since no one she works with has ever called her that, Abby instantly knows something's wrong, which unfortunately leads to a multiple-injury shoot-out right there in the waiting area. | |
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At the beginning of The Negotiator, Danny Roman flashes hand signals (1, 2, and 3 fingers) to alert the sniper team when to fire. The "1" signal is worked into his conversation with the hostage taker as a "wait a minute" gesture, while the "2" and "3" are displayed by him holding his hand to his chest with his back turned to the suspect, but in clear view of the sniper team. | |
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Las Vegas: The operations crew, who monitor cameras of all the happenings in the Montecito Casino, are trained to have use certain phrases in case of emergencies. If the ops center itself has been compromised by hostage takers, then they are to use the phrase "Nothing but aces" to alert others of the danger. | |
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On Flashpoint the leader of the SRU team is taken hostage but the rest of the cops are unaware of this. He is told to give his team instructions over the radio as normal and direct them away from the hostage taker. He complies but tells his team members to "stay frosty" — his team's code word for a situation like this. In a fifth season episode, a nurse is kidnapped and forced to make a call to her significant other that she is working late. However, she is not the first nurse to be kidnapped, and so drops the pre-arranged distress code (Dr. Armstrong) into the phone call. |
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Enemy at the Door is set in German-occupied territory during World War II. In "Call of the Dead", a character who's been sent to a German-run prison writes home to his family assuring them that things are going well for him, and marks off the bit that's actually true from the rest that's lies because he wouldn't be allowed to tell the truth with a mention of a non-existant friend named Betty Martin, a reference to the expression "all my eye and Betty Martin". | |
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In "First Date", Xander text messages Willow a codeword that means either "My date is a demon who's trying to kill me - send help!" or "Don't call me because I'm about to score!" Unfortunately as it's been several years since Xander went on a date, Willow has forgotten which one it is. They play the percentages and rescue him. As the demon was an attractive woman who asked Xander on a date, we never discover which code he sent. | |
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Firefly: Simon explains that, after his genius sister River was inducted into an Extranormal Institute, writing letters became her only form of communication with the family. After a while, the letters changed: they were full of references to events that never happened and people they never knew. Simon cracked the code, which said "they're hurting us, get me out." When Saffron's "husband" Durran discovers her and Mal's plot to steal his Lassiter, she taunts him, saying that if he had any brains he would have called the police the moment she came back unannounced. He replies "Oh, I did." and shows her his ring, which contains a transmitter that sends a distress signal when pressed. And indeed, on rewatching the scene where he first comes back, you can see him casually press the ring on his finger when he sees Saffron. |
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In Terra Nova, Cowboy Cop Jim Shannon teaches his family this trick, which comes in handy when his daughter Maddy is kidnapped by a murderer. | |
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In the Breaking Bad tie-in film El Camino, which shows the fate of Jesse after the final episode of the series, Jesse goes to Todd's house, hoping to find Todd's secret stash of drug money and to use it to build a new life for himself. He spends all night searching the apartment without finding anything, and the next day he accidentally stumbles across Todd's hiding place for the money. Just after he does, however, two detectives arrive to investigate Todd's apartment. Jesse surprises one and gets him at gunpoint, telling him to call his partner so Jesse can get out of the apartment. The cop calls out "Hey, lieutenant" to his partner, and since the partner is not a lieutenant or in fact a cop at all, both men are actually petty criminals who knew Todd and are there for for the same reason Jesse is, hoping to find Todd's money, it immediately let's him know that something is wrong and he should be on guard. | |
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In Burn Notice: Ex-spy Michael and ex-terrorist Fiona have developed a number of ordinary phrases they can drop into a conversation to convey meanings like, "this is a trap, be alert" or "this phone call is being made under duress, don't believe anything I'm saying" or "get on the floor and cover up." The last was one Fiona's father taught her and her siblings. One time, when the FBI were waiting at Michael's mother's house to arrest him, on the phone call to Michael, she uses the exact same phrase she would use when her abusive husband was on a tirade and she wanted Michael and his brother to stay away from the house. |
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In The Famous Five a standard covert distress call is for George to sign her name 'Georgina' (something that she hates doing) whenever the bad guys inexplicably ask the captured children to send a note to the non-captured ones, to alert them that something is wrong. | |
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In Half Baked, the protagonists show up to a drug deal wearing wires, with instructions to use the code word "abracadabra" to summon the cops. Unfortunately, the cops monitoring the wire get too stoned to respond, leaving Our Heroes awkwardly trying to play the phrase off as hip new slang. | |
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In The Hobbit, when Bilbo is preparing to sneak up on some trolls, he's told that should he get into serious trouble, "hoot twice like a barn-owl and once like a screech-owl, and we will do what we can" — however, it turns out Bilbo doesn't actually know how to make the correct owl sounds, so it doesn't do him any good. | |
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