Numb3rs (2005–2010): Season 2, Episode 22 - Backscatter - full transcript
The Russian mob threatens Don and his family, however Charlie refuses to give up working the case.
♪
Turn here.
Come on, come on.
Almost got it.
Man, we gotta get a
better signal. It's too weak.
Okay, okay, stop.
Anything? Yeah, any minute now.
There's lots of unsecured
networks around.
Just find something
quick. Let's get out of here.
Yes, got one.
Okay, we're in.
Bombs away.
There's all the accounts.
Damn it. Damn it!
Didn't you watch to see if
anyone was following us?
FBI! Stop...
I gotta get rid of the laptop.
FBI! Don't move!
Don't move!
Hey! Don't move!
Don't move! Take
him, I'll get the driver!
I'll go around the front.
FBI!
Get out of the way!
FBI!
Don't move!
Put your hands behind
your back, thumbs up.
I didn't do anything wrong.
Yeah? What are you doing
driving around jacking networks?
Or trying to. You
jacked an FBI signal.
What is, uh, fishing,
as it refers to
computer hacking?
Well, it's spelled with P-H,
and it's when people
send out fake e-mails
made to look like real e-mails
from banks and
financial companies
and then ask people for their
personal account information.
And some people are dumb
enough to give it to them?
Yeah, they send out between 75
and 150 million of the things a day.
Five percent respond.
So that's 3 to 7
million people daily,
to the tune of
$500 million a year.
Boy, those are scary
statistics, let me tell you.
Hey. Dinner.
These guys they caught today
stole two million
bucks in three months.
Come on in. You can just put
that right there. You're kidding.
Okay. ALAN: Hope
it's not meatballs.
Excuse me.
I just want to check things out.
That's enough.
It's for everybody.
It smells good.
Mr. Eppes?
I'm sorry, the card you
called the delivery on with
was declined.
All right, hold on,
let me try this one.
You know what? Let me get it.
No, no, no, no, I
got it. I owe you.
That's so weird. I just paid that.
- Hi, it's Becky...
You don't owe me, you know.
All I did was set up an
amplified Wi-Fi signal.
Any of your FBI
techs could done that.
Hey, Charlie, these are
busy people, you know?
I would have had to
wait. I appreciate it.
All right, are you sure?
Yeah, everything's here.
Um, this card was declined, too.
You might want
to call your bank.
What, are you kidding me? No.
That's weird. Give me
one second. Here you go.
No, no, no, Dad, please. All right,
let me get this thing figured out.
Just give me a second
here. How much is that?
Um, $65.35.
You can keep all that.
Thank you. Okay.
I think that's yours,
'cause I would never
eat something like that.
I mean, that's ridiculous.
You know what? It's probably some
glitch in the restaurant's computer.
What's up?
The bank's saying my
accounts are empty.
Get out of here. Your
checking account?
Everything.
We all use math every day.
To predict
weather, to tell time,
to handle money.
Math is more than
formulas and equations.
It's logic.
Math is more than
formulas and equations.
It's rationality.
It's using your mind to solve
the biggest mysteries we know.
No, I didn't take
all my money out.
Your system was hacked.
Because I'm an FBI agent!
They sent out 4,000
phishing e-mails.
Within hours, they had
a few hundred people
sending in account
information. Hey.
Well, they weren't sending
e-mails indiscriminately.
They weren't chumming.
They were working off a
particular list of bank customers.
And do we know what
kind of customers?
Those with large balances
and low activity,
mostly seniors.
Right, 'cause they'd respond.
Boy, they got into the
bank's confidential database.
You know, that's not easy.
Right.
Thing is, it wasn't our idea.
Whose idea was it?
I can't tell you.
You sure about that?
You're in some
serious trouble here.
I've got a clean record.
I'm a first-time offender.
What's... What's the
worst I'll get, probation?
You know, there's
this thing called
the Identity Theft
Penalty Enhancement Act.
And convictions for
aggravated identity theft,
including phishing,
get a mandatory two
year prison sentence.
And then I throw in wire fraud,
and you're looking
at 15 to 20 years.
You're not gonna get out of jail
till you're hitting
your midlife crisis.
My girlfriend, she's...
She's gonna leave me.
She's gonna leave me if
she finds out I got arrested.
It wasn't even our idea.
We were working for these guys.
What guys?
We met them at a
cybercafe. Two Russians.
We'd been hacking
into secure systems,
screwing with
people's credit cards.
They found out, said
if we didn't cut them in,
they would report
us to the cops.
What were their names?
Len and Alex. That's all we got.
They... They talked
about this Yuri guy.
I think he was their boss.
And the phishing was their idea?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
They... They took
the money we made.
Gave us, like,
$1,000 for each run.
So why did you keep
working for them?
Dude, like I said, this Yuri
guy doesn't let you just stop.
If we tried to stop,
we were dead.
These guys were
working for the Russians?
I mean, come on,
are we buying this?
No, it's a classic
Russian Mob scheme.
They hang out at cybercafes,
check cashing operations,
looking for people
pulling off scams.
Yeah, and then force
them to work for them
with threats and blackmail.
All right, I'll call the
organized crime task force,
see if they have anything.
You don't need to call.
Hey, Lieutenant Walker.
Hey, Gary.
FBI report hit my desk,
flagged it as a probable
Russian syndicate operation.
Yeah, well, the suspect said
the people they worked
for spoke Russian.
Threatened to kill them
if they didn't cooperate.
That's no empty threat.
You know the saying
about the Russian
Mob? What's that?
They'll shoot you just
to see if the gun works.
Oh, great. Come on,
let's see what you got.
So how did this
get your attention?
LAPD's got several cases
involving a guy named
Yuri Koverchenko.
I've been after him
for a couple of years,
and it looked like
one of his operations.
Our suspects said they
heard the name Yuri
from the people they dealt with.
This is Yuri Koverchenko.
It's the best shot
we have of him.
He's elusive, he's careful,
he's rumored to be former KGB.
We suspect him
of setting up dozens
of computer frauds,
insurance scams,
Medicare frauds.
So, mostly white collar stuff?
Yeah, but don't let that
fool you. He's brutal.
Linked to some eight murders
within the past six months.
We busted a doctor who was
part of a scam Koverchenko ran,
and he was about to cut a deal.
They killed him, his wife,
and his teenage daughter.
Killed an entire family.
Over an insurance scam.
Hey. The bank reimburse you yet?
No, I... I gotta prove somehow
I didn't withdraw
the money myself.
Maybe we should remind them
who investigates bank robberies.
Yeah. Well, look,
I figure we got two ways to
chase this thing down, right?
Find who stole your money,
find out where the phishers are
that got the prime list
of bank customers, right?
Yeah, 'cause the same
people should be behind both.
Yeah, but why go after
my brother personally?
Well, that really
doesn't make sense.
Walker said that Yuri
usually keeps a low profile,
and this seems like a play
to get the FBI's attention.
Yeah, well, it worked.
Hey. Hey.
So I'm making
progress on finding out
what happened to Don's account,
but you know, it's scary.
You can hit a few keys
and wipe out a life savings.
Well, still, banks are safer
than keeping your cash
under a mattress.
Hey, I'm all for giving up
wealth and material possessions.
Mmm, living like a monk?
No, like a grad student.
But, you know, I think I've
found the original attack.
An unauthorized access
into the database of Don's bank.
Hmm. Can you tell me how
they were able to
break the encryption?
Well, the bank used a standard
encryption that was easy and cheap,
but it was
vulnerable to attacks.
Well, then, trace
back to the hacker.
Well, I can try, Charlie,
but the Internet's real-time.
I mean, after some of
these malicious events,
there's nothing left to trace.
Aren't there any techniques
we can employ here?
Yeah, there's hop-by-hop or ICMP
or this thing
called backscatter,
but they all have to be done
while the attack is happening.
Right. Right.
The Internet's a
river of information.
Tracing back to the source
of an Internet attack.
Well, that's like trying
to trace back to the specific
source of water in a river.
You can only find the
source of an Internet attack
if there's data flow to follow.
But without the data source...
Then we can't trace it back.
The hacker would
have to attack again
in order for us to locate him.
Has there been any current
activity in Don's account?
Yeah, there's this
one persistent adbot.
Spyware.
It pops up all
over the Internet.
It's used to monitor
what sites people click on.
Could be that it's a
plant. A plant to find out
if Don's account
has been reimbursed,
so the hacker can
just hit him again.
Oh! By the way,
Larry called from his
string theory conference.
Uh, he was confused
about something.
What, his... his double
special relativity theory?
No. Whether he was in
St. Louis or Cleveland.
He's so geographically
challenged.
Where is his conference?
Minneapolis.
We send warnings about phishing
with every monthly statement,
but too many
customers still fall for it.
Who has access to
the customer files?
Well, I'm the senior security
officer here at Passina National,
so in the tech section, the
files can only be accessed
by me and my tech security team.
This is Lamont,
and that's Colleen.
Hi. Hi.
Hi.
All right, well, our people will want
to take a look at your system here.
Good, I've just found
suspicious code runs
in certain transactions I
think you guys should look at.
And I've cross-referenced
every unauthorized entry
that's taken place
in the last 24 months.
Thank you. That's a
really good start. Sure.
What month are you? Oh, seventh.
Oh, yeah? Congratulations.
Thank you.
All right, well,
I still want to take a look
at their personnel files,
fingerprints, the
whole deal, all right?
Look, I know you guys need
to consider the possibility
of an inside job, but I worked
with Colleen for eight years,
and Lamont for four.
I know them, they're my team.
We're going to need
your file and prints, too.
Okay.
Uh, excuse me.
Reeves.
Agent Eppes, I get
all the fraud bulletins
for this region, so I know
your account was hacked into.
Mmm-hmm.
If you'd like, I could call
the security
officer at your bank,
explain your connection
with this case.
Maybe you get your
money back faster.
How could that have happened?
Hold on a second.
Our two phishers,
Smith and Whitley,
they made bail. They're gone.
What?
I told them to call me if these
guys made bail. I told them.
Jail computer records
show you were contacted.
I wasn't.
So, they hacked
into the bail system?
This is Koverchenko's M.O.
Shot twice in the head,
dumped out with the
garbage by the river.
That's Daniel
Smith's girlfriend.
She picked them both
up from the holding center.
He's sending a message
that he can get to anybody,
and we can't stop him.
A man ID'ed as Ned Spope
put up the bail money,
paid with a fake credit card.
Number was stolen. That
number belonged to Don Eppes.
Don told me that he
cancelled all his credit cards.
Bondsman thought he
was using a secure Web site
to verify the account, but
his system was hacked.
The Web site was a fake.
And that name.
Ned Spope?
It's an anagram.
So they used his card, his name,
and they bailed
out his suspects.
Why are they making
this about Don?
I don't know, but there's
one more thing to consider.
Yuri Koverchenko
just lost two workers.
He's just going to find
more, and kill them.
Yeah, unless we stop him.
Hey, Charlie, could you
check out my computer?
My Internet connection
is running too slow.
Uh, yeah, we
piggybacked your wireless
to try to find the person
who stole Don's money.
Yeah, we set up a system
using the power of
several computers,
to hopefully speed things up.
Any luck? It
depends on if I'm right
about the hackers
monitoring Don's accounts.
You see, there's this
technique called backscatter
which will trace back to
the source of the hack.
Yeah, these computers
are sending data
back along all the routes that
lead to the bank's database
to find the source
of the attack.
And if there's even a trickle
of data flowing
downstream, well,
we can calculate its effects
on the flow going upstream,
find where it came from.
A computer runs through it.
I think we got something.
Charlie isolated the computer
that cleaned out your account.
Tracked it back to this address.
Appears to be an
illegal auto parts shop.
All right, call the AUSA and
get a phone warrant, all right?
This address is linked to an auto
insurance scam run by the Russians.
Could be Yuri Koverchenko.
Well, good. He's got to
screw up sometime, right?
And so there you have it, fresh
from a real-world application.
A new way of tracking
Internet activity.
Is this something you
developed as an FBI application?
I've removed specifics
from the incident,
but yes, it is from
a criminal case.
You can still see the basic
sequences we analyzed.
The FBI is using the information
gained from this work to locate
a person behind an unauthorized
access of a computer database.
Cool.
Guys, just talked
to the spotter.
Indicated two main
entries here and here.
They got microphones picking
up four voices in one room.
No visual confirmation.
Uh-huh. Any idea
what they're saying?
It's in Russian, but one
of our guys speaks a little.
He said they were eating lunch
and talking about their
favorite reality shows.
Things are about to get a lot
more real for them in a hurry.
All right, let's do it,
let's go, guys, let's roll.
This is basic Internet
subrouting and tracking codes.
What's the significance
of that line of code?
Actually, I don't know.
Wasn't part of the
original program.
Looks like some sort of
modular polynomial, doesn't it?
Which can be easily restated
as a string of numbers.
What's going on?
I don't know.
Where are they?
They were just here.
I don't want to
over-think this, but why?
Why this line of numbers?
23-5-18
is W-E-R in Sloane's
Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.
Maybe it's simple
alphabet cipher.
"We're waiting for you"?
I mean, what? They
couldn't have gotten far, right?
Got to be somebody
here someplace.
There's only two ways in,
and we have 'em both covered.
Starting to get a feeling I
haven't had in a long time.
Guys, get out of here!
This thing is wired!
Get out!
Hang in there, buddy.
Are you all right?
How many times you hit?
My shoulder. All
right, just breathe deep.
These guys were
totally waiting for us.
It was a damn trap.
All right, you're all right.
You're all right. Just
take it easy, just breathe.
Hang in, buddy. Come on.
All right, buddy, hang in there.
Hey, how's David?
He's stable. There's
not much damage.
Yeah? Good. All right.
Says to tell you he
wants back ASAP,
and that no, I
can't have his desk.
All right, come on, I want
to go over every detail of this
and figure out what
the hell happened.
I know what happened. The Russian
Mob just went to war with the FBI.
Yeah, but why? And
how did they know?
It was a setup.
He laid a trap, and I
walked you all right into it.
He used our backscatter search
to create a subvert
in our computers.
A... A subversive
virtual machine
that ran underneath
our operating systems.
He had complete
control of the software
Amita and I were using.
What does that mean?
It means we didn't
find his computer.
He led us where
he wanted us to go.
This is someone
who's highly skilled
in cutting-edge
computer techniques
and an advanced
multistep thinker.
Great. And Yuri's got
him working for him.
He wiped out your
accounts because he knew
that the Bureau was
using me as a resource,
and that I would use some
high-end techniques to try to track him.
With that knowledge,
he set his trap.
But why? That's the
thing I can't figure.
I mean, what... what
the hell is the guy's goal?
And why is he going after Don?
To try and answer that,
I want to try
multiplayer game theory,
what I like to call team theory.
Okay, it's used by corporations
and by the Pentagon.
It's like football.
Each side tries to move
the ball into their end zone
and tries to prevent the other
side from doing the same.
Players play their roles
and each side watches
the other's players
to predict their next move.
In football, we
know the objective.
If I analyze their actions,
we'll learn about the players,
and about the coaches.
Right, their goal.
Wait a minute. You're
equating the Russian Mob
with a football team?
When the New England
Patriots' coach, Bill Belichick,
when was asked why
he was so successful,
you know what he
said? He said economics.
Well, it's hard to
argue with someone
who's won three Super
Bowls in the past four years.
Just came from seeing
your man, Sinclair.
He's doing well. He's a...
He's a tough guy. Yeah, he is.
Gary, in your opinion, what do you think
these guys are hoping to accomplish here?
It could be a power
struggle within the Mob.
One side setting us up
to help take out
the other, or...
That's it?
You know, Eppes, I... I
really don't think that that is it.
They... They seem to be
coming after you. You alone.
And why they're doing
that, I have no idea.
But in all my years
working organized crime,
I've never seen
anything quite like this.
I highly recommend
taking extra precautions.
So, this isn't the end of it?
Russian Mob has shown
us over and over again
its willingness to make
retributions personal.
They will come after the
people that you work with,
and the people closest to you.
So besides the hacker, how
many players are on the other side?
That's an unknown variable.
We'll try our first
approach with three.
The hacker, the Yuri
character and the third will be
a super-category
for all the others.
Hey.
Hey. Hi.
Hey. I hope you have some
new data. I could use some.
Well, actually, no, Charlie.
There's been a change. So...
Okay, what kind of change?
Well, the Bureau
wants a unit on this
that's more familiar
with the Russian Mob.
Because of the ambush?
You're being taken off this case
because I missed something.
No, no, it's just, these
things happen. It's nothing.
I... I've just now begun working
on the team theory analysis.
Well, I'm off it,
so you're off it.
Okay?
So please, do me a favor,
and just pack this stuff up.
I'm gonna send
someone over to get it.
All right? I'll see
you guys later.
Something's wrong.
Don just doesn't let cases go.
Well, it sounds like the
decision was made over his head.
He's way too calm about it.
What are you doing?
Testing a theory.
Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Los Angeles.
Yes, I'm calling about
the Whitley-Smith case.
I think I have some important
information that relates to the case.
Could you put me
through to the lead agent?
Hold, please.
That case is being
handled by Don Eppes.
I could put you
through to his voicemail.
He's still lead
agent, I knew it.
Why would he
lie to you, Charlie?
I don't know.
But if he's still on
the case, so am I.
Why are you asking me
about auto insurance scams?
I don't get how this is
connected to my bank.
Well, we're hoping there's something
that stood out that you might remember.
No, nothing.
You're the only one here today?
Sorry?
Your team's not here?
Lamont's kid is sick.
And Colleen's working from home.
And have you had any more
unauthorized transactions?
No, everything's back to normal.
All right.
There are two ways
to define functions,
implicitly and explicitly.
Let's switch gears, if we could.
I want to apply a
little decision theory
to a practical situation.
Let's all say that we're
in a crowded room,
and we would like to contact
the police as soon as possible.
How would we go
about doing that?
Call 911? Of course.
Call 911.
Or, if we know an
FBI agent, like I do,
call him.
But we can't seem to get
any... any clear signal, so...
So we send someone to
find a campus security officer.
Who'd like to see
how fast they can find
a campus security officer?
How about you four on the
end? One, two, three, four.
Time yourselves.
Bring the officer back here.
Go.
What else? What other ideas?
Sure.
You've never seen them before?
No.
They were in your office?
Yeah.
There were files on the
floor. My team theory work.
I mean, obviously, they wanted
to know what you were working on.
Oh, Charlie.
My work at the house!
Yeah, everything
looks okay here.
You did all this? Yeah.
Uh, someone mind
telling me what's going on?
Have you seen anyone
hanging around the house?
No. Should I have?
Dad, when was the last
time you smoked a cigarette?
1979.
Explain how a mathematician
ends up on a case
involving the Russian Mafia.
I told him to drop it.
You know he can't
just drop that stuff!
Hey, I'm standing
right here, okay?
So talk to me. DON:
Did I tell you to drop out?
Now, you endangered yourself,
and you endangered Dad!
Well, you lied to me.
Yeah, to protect you!
All right, just tell us
what we should do...
Nothing! and
Charlie and I will do it.
I don't want you to
do anything, all right?
I got agents here 24-7.
I can still help you. Come on!
No, listen to me. Let me
make this as clear as possible.
You're not working this
anymore, you understand me?
You can't tell me
what I can't do.
Yeah, Charlie, when it comes
to the FBI, I certainly can!
You're done, you
hear me? You're done!
Koverchenko's made
another move to target you.
This time your family.
But we've got no forensics on
either Charlie's office, or your house.
Ditto the auto shop.
We're compiling all LAPD files
on new Russian Mob scams,
looking for any that
might link to Koverchenko.
All right. That sounds good.
Maybe Charlie can
help us find a pattern.
Hey, look, I'm not
exposing my brother
or my family to
any more of this.
Doesn't matter, Eppes.
You don't choose who
he comes after. He does.
He knows about Charlie,
he knows about your father.
And you can't go back.
Yeah, well, hey,
they want a war?
Fine, we'll give them a war.
As soon as the security team
is done sweeping the house,
I can let you guys back in.
We'll keep a few
agents posted out front.
Shouldn't you be home
recuperating or something?
I wanted a piece of this,
even if it means
baby-sitting you guys.
Baby-sitting, huh?
We need more watching
than half a dozen
able-bodied agents
could provide?
Don doesn't want Charlie doing
any more work on this case at all.
Oh, I see. He figures
you could stop him?
You know, for a really nice guy,
you've got two
very stubborn kids.
Yeah, well, they get
that from their mother.
The only way you can change
her mind was, you know...
I can't really say, I
couldn't manage it myself.
Amita.
What's a nice
mathematician like you
doing in a garage like this?
Beats me.
One minute, I'm
analyzing computer codes,
and the next, I'm under
threat from the Russian Mafia.
This would be your cognitive
emergence work, right?
Yeah, it is.
Why?
'Cause there's a
section right there labeled
"Yuri Koverchenko
game theory," Charlie.
Busted.
Look, you can't expect me to
stop thinking about this case.
And even if I didn't
write anything down,
it would still be
in my mind, okay?
So I might as
well write it down,
so at least, you know, my
process is more effective.
In other words, "I'm
gonna do it anyway,
so why don't you
let me do it right?"
That's right.
Look, you better believe
I'm on the brink of seeing it.
There's a pattern to
everything Koverchenko's done.
I can feel it.
You can feel it?
Is that a math term?
Before creating proofs,
mathematicians
often rely on intuition.
Fine, I hope Don's intuition
doesn't tell him I'm
helping you do this.
Mr. Eppes, could I entice
you into a game of air hockey?
Sure, why not?
I'll play the winner.
Okay.
And I have to warn you,
even with a gimp
arm, I am deadly.
I'm not scared.
The old fake-out.
That's right. Get them to
think one way, go the other.
Do that one more time.
Let's see if you can do it again.
I can do that every time.
One more then.
That's it.
What's it?
Look, I... I gotta talk to Don.
Don was very specific.
You're not working with
the FBI on this one at all.
You know what? The FBI's
not the only game in town.
Hey. Hey.
Got anything?
Yeah, I tried something
a little unorthodox.
What's that?
I consulted a mathematician.
Gary, what the hell? I
told you. Hey, he called me.
Look, I don't care.
It doesn't matter!
Listen, Eppes, I've been
working Russian Mob scams
since before you
joined the Bureau.
And let me be clear,
you cannot protect your
brother by taking him off the case.
If Koverchenko wants him dead,
he's gonna make sure that
he waits as long as he needs to.
Oh, yeah? Then what
am I supposed to do, Gary?
Once you got into
it with Koverchenko,
there's was only one way out.
You got to get Koverchenko.
Now, when you first
introduced me to Charlie,
I thought you were a little
cuckoo, but I learned something,
and I think Charlie can help us.
You told me to take
precautions. That's what I did.
I told you to take precautions.
I didn't tell you to back off.
You got to go at this guy
with everything you got.
You know, it should
have been my choice!
Okay.
In an attempt to define motive,
I was able to perform
a posterior distribution,
gain insight into the
Russians' game theory.
Right, English, please,
Charlie, come on.
Koverchenko was
trying to get to you.
He took your money,
he bailed out suspects
using your name,
ambushed your team
and threatened our family.
So you're saying this
is about retribution?
No, no, it's about distraction.
A play that's designed to
look like a whole other play.
Like in football. A reverse.
That's it precisely.
He wanted your focus
off your investigation
and onto him.
Off? So off the phishers?
Exactly.
And I ran this scenario
through my team theory analysis,
and I found that all his
moves fell into a pattern.
A pattern that began
the day you arrested these guys.
You're saying that
there was something
in that original investigation
that Koverchenko
doesn't want us to find?
Logically, whatever Koverchenko
was trying to distract you from seeing
was right in front of you.
So what were your early leads?
Passina National Savings Bank.
The customers they phished
came from its database.
And, Don, we were
at Passina National
the day the suspects
were bailed out.
Well, then
whatever he doesn't
want you to see
is at that bank.
What's going on? Please.
Okay. Okay!
I... I did everything you asked.
I didn't tell the FBI anything.
Relax. We know.
But it's time to start.
What's going on?
Your employees aren't
home with sick kids
or working out of the house.
We know they were kidnapped,
and they're going to kill them
if you don't do
everything they say, right?
Now, we picked you
up in a blind spot, okay?
So nobody knows
where you are. Nobody.
No, I'm sorry, I
cannot help you.
You don't really have
a choice there, Sam.
Lamont and Colleen, they'll die.
I don't have family in
California, but they do.
Right. Money's
not important to me,
my job doesn't matter,
but their lives matter.
And let me tell you something.
If you do everything they want,
they're still
going to kill them!
Then they're going
to come after you!
And they might, might,
leave their children alone.
We're your only chance.
We're their only chance.
Somehow I'm getting the
feeling that I'm your only chance.
They wiped out your finances,
they gunned down your agents,
they killed your eyewitnesses.
God knows what else
they've threatened you with.
Answer one question
for me. All right.
Are you scared of them?
Yeah.
You bet your ass
I'm scared of them.
But that's not going to stop me.
All right.
All right.
This is what they want me to do.
My instructions are to arrive
at the bank at my normal time.
At 9:10, an individual
will arrive in the bank
wearing a light-colored
jacket and carrying a briefcase.
He'll introduce himself
as the computer technician
I supposedly called in.
I'm to escort him
through security
and into the main computer room.
On-site hacking
means they need access
to an encryption
they can't break.
Which must mean
access to the ATMs.
It's not the money in the
accounts they're after, either.
Last year, in the Bay Area, the
Russian Mob was able to steal
200,000 credit card and
bank card ID's in one day.
Passina National's
linked to at least
50,000 ATMs around the country.
All right, so they just need ten
people a day to use those machines,
they got half a
million accounts.
Yeah. They take $1,000
from each account,
that's a half billion dollars,
which they then route to
untraceable overseas accounts.
And then they kill the
hostages and Morton.
If anybody but me comes
into the room, it's over.
But they won't,
because I control who has
access to the computer room.
It's like Yuri said.
Anything happens to me,
I don't make the right
call at the right time,
your employees will be killed.
I understand. Good.
Then I'll get to work.
MORTON: At 5:00 exactly,
if everything has gone okay,
he calls to indicate
the money is secure.
I hope Don's right about this.
Yeah, me too.
Yeah, they've made
contact. It's going down now.
Are you hungry?
No.
It's coming up on lunch,
I thought maybe I
could get us some food.
Now shut up.
Everything is on schedule.
Just waiting on a phone number.
We need that number.
Where's that number?
Come on.
The guy's cell
phone is right there.
Just needed to stretch.
Sit down
and stay down.
I said get back.
No problem.
I really can't take you
looking at your watch anymore.
Sorry. Sorry.
Wait, wait, it's here.
Morton's text message.
Ah! Hacker's cell
phone number, yes!
Okay, now for
Charlie, come on, kid.
Hello.
Hello?
My name is Professor
Charles Eppes.
Do you know who I am?
How did you get this number?
How about you come
ask me in person?
You seem to know a lot.
I'd like to talk to you
about where you learned it.
Is everything all right?
It's early, what's up?
I just got a call from
the mathematician.
You screwed up somewhere.
Gave him what he needed
to hack your phone.
No, no, I don't see how...
Listen to me.
The FBI has no idea
where you are or
what you're doing,
or they would have
never have let him call you.
The situation
is still in control.
Keep working, get it done.
We got it! He made the call.
And we have a GPS track working.
I'll call you in a minute.
Almost done.
Must have been
quite an operation.
Took you all day.
Yeah, well, I had a lot to do.
We've got five minutes.
Walker says LAPD is
handling the containment.
All right, well, tell them
to stay clear, all right?
I mean, I don't want
anyone spotting us.
Yeah. They won't
move until they get
an official notice from us.
This guy's some psychopath.
Yeah. He probably thinks
he's invincible by now.
I'm guessing he
doesn't feel the need
to put too much distance between
him and the FBI.
Eppes.
1327 Palmetto.
1-3-2-7.
1-3-2-7.
Okay.
I got it, it's downtown.
All right, let's do it.
Unit one to unit two,
you're a go, you're a go.
Copy that, Don. On the move.
I wouldn't if I were you.
Well? Is it done?
All done for you, my friend.
Who...
FBI! FBI!
Got him! Go! Get the others!
I'm getting the hostages.
Lamont! Are you okay? Colleen?
Big breaths,
Colleen, big breaths.
FBI! Get out of the way!
Get out of the way!
Nice to finally meet
you in person, Yuri.
Nice shot.
And I called your family, too.
They're going to
be right over here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hello?
Hey, Don.
Hey, David.
Our team found the guy
who was watching the house.
I heard all about it.
Good job. Thanks.
Look, man, you don't have to
hang out here, you can take off.
That's okay. I think your dad
wanted me to hang around.
Hey, what do you
think? What do you think?
Oh, I see why you're
hanging around.
There you go, Agent Sinclair.
And there's a lot more
where that came from.
All right. Thanks, Mr. Eppes.
He gets the treatment, huh?
Yeah, and there's
more coming right up.
Dig in, dig in.
I got to tell you, that
was a crazy couple days.
I mean, it's good we all
came out of it all right...
It would appear to be so.
In a million years, I never
would've imagined that. You?
I think Charlie would say
it was a statistically
possible but unlikely event.
Yeah, I'm thinking maybe Charlie
should just work at CalSci, Dad.
You're going to fire him?
Look, I'm the first to admit
he's done an amazing job for us.
Right? I mean, but...
Wouldn't it put
your mind at ease?
Donny, what would
put my mind at ease
would be to see you two
boys working together.
Besides, you
don't seriously think
you're going to get him to stop.
Nah, I guess not.
Hey, Chuck, you need
some help back there?
Come on, Suzy Homemaker,
we're ready to eat.
Come on, come on.
Go on, go on, eat, eat.
I have to say, Mr. Eppes...
Alan.
Alan.
I've never seen two brothers
so completely different
and so much alike.
If you call me Chuck
one more time...
Yeah, well, all right,
how about Chucky?
Tell me about it.
Chucky? How about
I call you Donald?
How about I call you nerd?
How about I call you...
Turn here.
Come on, come on.
Almost got it.
Man, we gotta get a
better signal. It's too weak.
Okay, okay, stop.
Anything? Yeah, any minute now.
There's lots of unsecured
networks around.
Just find something
quick. Let's get out of here.
Yes, got one.
Okay, we're in.
Bombs away.
There's all the accounts.
Damn it. Damn it!
Didn't you watch to see if
anyone was following us?
FBI! Stop...
I gotta get rid of the laptop.
FBI! Don't move!
Don't move!
Hey! Don't move!
Don't move! Take
him, I'll get the driver!
I'll go around the front.
FBI!
Get out of the way!
FBI!
Don't move!
Put your hands behind
your back, thumbs up.
I didn't do anything wrong.
Yeah? What are you doing
driving around jacking networks?
Or trying to. You
jacked an FBI signal.
What is, uh, fishing,
as it refers to
computer hacking?
Well, it's spelled with P-H,
and it's when people
send out fake e-mails
made to look like real e-mails
from banks and
financial companies
and then ask people for their
personal account information.
And some people are dumb
enough to give it to them?
Yeah, they send out between 75
and 150 million of the things a day.
Five percent respond.
So that's 3 to 7
million people daily,
to the tune of
$500 million a year.
Boy, those are scary
statistics, let me tell you.
Hey. Dinner.
These guys they caught today
stole two million
bucks in three months.
Come on in. You can just put
that right there. You're kidding.
Okay. ALAN: Hope
it's not meatballs.
Excuse me.
I just want to check things out.
That's enough.
It's for everybody.
It smells good.
Mr. Eppes?
I'm sorry, the card you
called the delivery on with
was declined.
All right, hold on,
let me try this one.
You know what? Let me get it.
No, no, no, no, I
got it. I owe you.
That's so weird. I just paid that.
- Hi, it's Becky...
You don't owe me, you know.
All I did was set up an
amplified Wi-Fi signal.
Any of your FBI
techs could done that.
Hey, Charlie, these are
busy people, you know?
I would have had to
wait. I appreciate it.
All right, are you sure?
Yeah, everything's here.
Um, this card was declined, too.
You might want
to call your bank.
What, are you kidding me? No.
That's weird. Give me
one second. Here you go.
No, no, no, Dad, please. All right,
let me get this thing figured out.
Just give me a second
here. How much is that?
Um, $65.35.
You can keep all that.
Thank you. Okay.
I think that's yours,
'cause I would never
eat something like that.
I mean, that's ridiculous.
You know what? It's probably some
glitch in the restaurant's computer.
What's up?
The bank's saying my
accounts are empty.
Get out of here. Your
checking account?
Everything.
We all use math every day.
To predict
weather, to tell time,
to handle money.
Math is more than
formulas and equations.
It's logic.
Math is more than
formulas and equations.
It's rationality.
It's using your mind to solve
the biggest mysteries we know.
No, I didn't take
all my money out.
Your system was hacked.
Because I'm an FBI agent!
They sent out 4,000
phishing e-mails.
Within hours, they had
a few hundred people
sending in account
information. Hey.
Well, they weren't sending
e-mails indiscriminately.
They weren't chumming.
They were working off a
particular list of bank customers.
And do we know what
kind of customers?
Those with large balances
and low activity,
mostly seniors.
Right, 'cause they'd respond.
Boy, they got into the
bank's confidential database.
You know, that's not easy.
Right.
Thing is, it wasn't our idea.
Whose idea was it?
I can't tell you.
You sure about that?
You're in some
serious trouble here.
I've got a clean record.
I'm a first-time offender.
What's... What's the
worst I'll get, probation?
You know, there's
this thing called
the Identity Theft
Penalty Enhancement Act.
And convictions for
aggravated identity theft,
including phishing,
get a mandatory two
year prison sentence.
And then I throw in wire fraud,
and you're looking
at 15 to 20 years.
You're not gonna get out of jail
till you're hitting
your midlife crisis.
My girlfriend, she's...
She's gonna leave me.
She's gonna leave me if
she finds out I got arrested.
It wasn't even our idea.
We were working for these guys.
What guys?
We met them at a
cybercafe. Two Russians.
We'd been hacking
into secure systems,
screwing with
people's credit cards.
They found out, said
if we didn't cut them in,
they would report
us to the cops.
What were their names?
Len and Alex. That's all we got.
They... They talked
about this Yuri guy.
I think he was their boss.
And the phishing was their idea?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
They... They took
the money we made.
Gave us, like,
$1,000 for each run.
So why did you keep
working for them?
Dude, like I said, this Yuri
guy doesn't let you just stop.
If we tried to stop,
we were dead.
These guys were
working for the Russians?
I mean, come on,
are we buying this?
No, it's a classic
Russian Mob scheme.
They hang out at cybercafes,
check cashing operations,
looking for people
pulling off scams.
Yeah, and then force
them to work for them
with threats and blackmail.
All right, I'll call the
organized crime task force,
see if they have anything.
You don't need to call.
Hey, Lieutenant Walker.
Hey, Gary.
FBI report hit my desk,
flagged it as a probable
Russian syndicate operation.
Yeah, well, the suspect said
the people they worked
for spoke Russian.
Threatened to kill them
if they didn't cooperate.
That's no empty threat.
You know the saying
about the Russian
Mob? What's that?
They'll shoot you just
to see if the gun works.
Oh, great. Come on,
let's see what you got.
So how did this
get your attention?
LAPD's got several cases
involving a guy named
Yuri Koverchenko.
I've been after him
for a couple of years,
and it looked like
one of his operations.
Our suspects said they
heard the name Yuri
from the people they dealt with.
This is Yuri Koverchenko.
It's the best shot
we have of him.
He's elusive, he's careful,
he's rumored to be former KGB.
We suspect him
of setting up dozens
of computer frauds,
insurance scams,
Medicare frauds.
So, mostly white collar stuff?
Yeah, but don't let that
fool you. He's brutal.
Linked to some eight murders
within the past six months.
We busted a doctor who was
part of a scam Koverchenko ran,
and he was about to cut a deal.
They killed him, his wife,
and his teenage daughter.
Killed an entire family.
Over an insurance scam.
Hey. The bank reimburse you yet?
No, I... I gotta prove somehow
I didn't withdraw
the money myself.
Maybe we should remind them
who investigates bank robberies.
Yeah. Well, look,
I figure we got two ways to
chase this thing down, right?
Find who stole your money,
find out where the phishers are
that got the prime list
of bank customers, right?
Yeah, 'cause the same
people should be behind both.
Yeah, but why go after
my brother personally?
Well, that really
doesn't make sense.
Walker said that Yuri
usually keeps a low profile,
and this seems like a play
to get the FBI's attention.
Yeah, well, it worked.
Hey. Hey.
So I'm making
progress on finding out
what happened to Don's account,
but you know, it's scary.
You can hit a few keys
and wipe out a life savings.
Well, still, banks are safer
than keeping your cash
under a mattress.
Hey, I'm all for giving up
wealth and material possessions.
Mmm, living like a monk?
No, like a grad student.
But, you know, I think I've
found the original attack.
An unauthorized access
into the database of Don's bank.
Hmm. Can you tell me how
they were able to
break the encryption?
Well, the bank used a standard
encryption that was easy and cheap,
but it was
vulnerable to attacks.
Well, then, trace
back to the hacker.
Well, I can try, Charlie,
but the Internet's real-time.
I mean, after some of
these malicious events,
there's nothing left to trace.
Aren't there any techniques
we can employ here?
Yeah, there's hop-by-hop or ICMP
or this thing
called backscatter,
but they all have to be done
while the attack is happening.
Right. Right.
The Internet's a
river of information.
Tracing back to the source
of an Internet attack.
Well, that's like trying
to trace back to the specific
source of water in a river.
You can only find the
source of an Internet attack
if there's data flow to follow.
But without the data source...
Then we can't trace it back.
The hacker would
have to attack again
in order for us to locate him.
Has there been any current
activity in Don's account?
Yeah, there's this
one persistent adbot.
Spyware.
It pops up all
over the Internet.
It's used to monitor
what sites people click on.
Could be that it's a
plant. A plant to find out
if Don's account
has been reimbursed,
so the hacker can
just hit him again.
Oh! By the way,
Larry called from his
string theory conference.
Uh, he was confused
about something.
What, his... his double
special relativity theory?
No. Whether he was in
St. Louis or Cleveland.
He's so geographically
challenged.
Where is his conference?
Minneapolis.
We send warnings about phishing
with every monthly statement,
but too many
customers still fall for it.
Who has access to
the customer files?
Well, I'm the senior security
officer here at Passina National,
so in the tech section, the
files can only be accessed
by me and my tech security team.
This is Lamont,
and that's Colleen.
Hi. Hi.
Hi.
All right, well, our people will want
to take a look at your system here.
Good, I've just found
suspicious code runs
in certain transactions I
think you guys should look at.
And I've cross-referenced
every unauthorized entry
that's taken place
in the last 24 months.
Thank you. That's a
really good start. Sure.
What month are you? Oh, seventh.
Oh, yeah? Congratulations.
Thank you.
All right, well,
I still want to take a look
at their personnel files,
fingerprints, the
whole deal, all right?
Look, I know you guys need
to consider the possibility
of an inside job, but I worked
with Colleen for eight years,
and Lamont for four.
I know them, they're my team.
We're going to need
your file and prints, too.
Okay.
Uh, excuse me.
Reeves.
Agent Eppes, I get
all the fraud bulletins
for this region, so I know
your account was hacked into.
Mmm-hmm.
If you'd like, I could call
the security
officer at your bank,
explain your connection
with this case.
Maybe you get your
money back faster.
How could that have happened?
Hold on a second.
Our two phishers,
Smith and Whitley,
they made bail. They're gone.
What?
I told them to call me if these
guys made bail. I told them.
Jail computer records
show you were contacted.
I wasn't.
So, they hacked
into the bail system?
This is Koverchenko's M.O.
Shot twice in the head,
dumped out with the
garbage by the river.
That's Daniel
Smith's girlfriend.
She picked them both
up from the holding center.
He's sending a message
that he can get to anybody,
and we can't stop him.
A man ID'ed as Ned Spope
put up the bail money,
paid with a fake credit card.
Number was stolen. That
number belonged to Don Eppes.
Don told me that he
cancelled all his credit cards.
Bondsman thought he
was using a secure Web site
to verify the account, but
his system was hacked.
The Web site was a fake.
And that name.
Ned Spope?
It's an anagram.
So they used his card, his name,
and they bailed
out his suspects.
Why are they making
this about Don?
I don't know, but there's
one more thing to consider.
Yuri Koverchenko
just lost two workers.
He's just going to find
more, and kill them.
Yeah, unless we stop him.
Hey, Charlie, could you
check out my computer?
My Internet connection
is running too slow.
Uh, yeah, we
piggybacked your wireless
to try to find the person
who stole Don's money.
Yeah, we set up a system
using the power of
several computers,
to hopefully speed things up.
Any luck? It
depends on if I'm right
about the hackers
monitoring Don's accounts.
You see, there's this
technique called backscatter
which will trace back to
the source of the hack.
Yeah, these computers
are sending data
back along all the routes that
lead to the bank's database
to find the source
of the attack.
And if there's even a trickle
of data flowing
downstream, well,
we can calculate its effects
on the flow going upstream,
find where it came from.
A computer runs through it.
I think we got something.
Charlie isolated the computer
that cleaned out your account.
Tracked it back to this address.
Appears to be an
illegal auto parts shop.
All right, call the AUSA and
get a phone warrant, all right?
This address is linked to an auto
insurance scam run by the Russians.
Could be Yuri Koverchenko.
Well, good. He's got to
screw up sometime, right?
And so there you have it, fresh
from a real-world application.
A new way of tracking
Internet activity.
Is this something you
developed as an FBI application?
I've removed specifics
from the incident,
but yes, it is from
a criminal case.
You can still see the basic
sequences we analyzed.
The FBI is using the information
gained from this work to locate
a person behind an unauthorized
access of a computer database.
Cool.
Guys, just talked
to the spotter.
Indicated two main
entries here and here.
They got microphones picking
up four voices in one room.
No visual confirmation.
Uh-huh. Any idea
what they're saying?
It's in Russian, but one
of our guys speaks a little.
He said they were eating lunch
and talking about their
favorite reality shows.
Things are about to get a lot
more real for them in a hurry.
All right, let's do it,
let's go, guys, let's roll.
This is basic Internet
subrouting and tracking codes.
What's the significance
of that line of code?
Actually, I don't know.
Wasn't part of the
original program.
Looks like some sort of
modular polynomial, doesn't it?
Which can be easily restated
as a string of numbers.
What's going on?
I don't know.
Where are they?
They were just here.
I don't want to
over-think this, but why?
Why this line of numbers?
23-5-18
is W-E-R in Sloane's
Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.
Maybe it's simple
alphabet cipher.
"We're waiting for you"?
I mean, what? They
couldn't have gotten far, right?
Got to be somebody
here someplace.
There's only two ways in,
and we have 'em both covered.
Starting to get a feeling I
haven't had in a long time.
Guys, get out of here!
This thing is wired!
Get out!
Hang in there, buddy.
Are you all right?
How many times you hit?
My shoulder. All
right, just breathe deep.
These guys were
totally waiting for us.
It was a damn trap.
All right, you're all right.
You're all right. Just
take it easy, just breathe.
Hang in, buddy. Come on.
All right, buddy, hang in there.
Hey, how's David?
He's stable. There's
not much damage.
Yeah? Good. All right.
Says to tell you he
wants back ASAP,
and that no, I
can't have his desk.
All right, come on, I want
to go over every detail of this
and figure out what
the hell happened.
I know what happened. The Russian
Mob just went to war with the FBI.
Yeah, but why? And
how did they know?
It was a setup.
He laid a trap, and I
walked you all right into it.
He used our backscatter search
to create a subvert
in our computers.
A... A subversive
virtual machine
that ran underneath
our operating systems.
He had complete
control of the software
Amita and I were using.
What does that mean?
It means we didn't
find his computer.
He led us where
he wanted us to go.
This is someone
who's highly skilled
in cutting-edge
computer techniques
and an advanced
multistep thinker.
Great. And Yuri's got
him working for him.
He wiped out your
accounts because he knew
that the Bureau was
using me as a resource,
and that I would use some
high-end techniques to try to track him.
With that knowledge,
he set his trap.
But why? That's the
thing I can't figure.
I mean, what... what
the hell is the guy's goal?
And why is he going after Don?
To try and answer that,
I want to try
multiplayer game theory,
what I like to call team theory.
Okay, it's used by corporations
and by the Pentagon.
It's like football.
Each side tries to move
the ball into their end zone
and tries to prevent the other
side from doing the same.
Players play their roles
and each side watches
the other's players
to predict their next move.
In football, we
know the objective.
If I analyze their actions,
we'll learn about the players,
and about the coaches.
Right, their goal.
Wait a minute. You're
equating the Russian Mob
with a football team?
When the New England
Patriots' coach, Bill Belichick,
when was asked why
he was so successful,
you know what he
said? He said economics.
Well, it's hard to
argue with someone
who's won three Super
Bowls in the past four years.
Just came from seeing
your man, Sinclair.
He's doing well. He's a...
He's a tough guy. Yeah, he is.
Gary, in your opinion, what do you think
these guys are hoping to accomplish here?
It could be a power
struggle within the Mob.
One side setting us up
to help take out
the other, or...
That's it?
You know, Eppes, I... I
really don't think that that is it.
They... They seem to be
coming after you. You alone.
And why they're doing
that, I have no idea.
But in all my years
working organized crime,
I've never seen
anything quite like this.
I highly recommend
taking extra precautions.
So, this isn't the end of it?
Russian Mob has shown
us over and over again
its willingness to make
retributions personal.
They will come after the
people that you work with,
and the people closest to you.
So besides the hacker, how
many players are on the other side?
That's an unknown variable.
We'll try our first
approach with three.
The hacker, the Yuri
character and the third will be
a super-category
for all the others.
Hey.
Hey. Hi.
Hey. I hope you have some
new data. I could use some.
Well, actually, no, Charlie.
There's been a change. So...
Okay, what kind of change?
Well, the Bureau
wants a unit on this
that's more familiar
with the Russian Mob.
Because of the ambush?
You're being taken off this case
because I missed something.
No, no, it's just, these
things happen. It's nothing.
I... I've just now begun working
on the team theory analysis.
Well, I'm off it,
so you're off it.
Okay?
So please, do me a favor,
and just pack this stuff up.
I'm gonna send
someone over to get it.
All right? I'll see
you guys later.
Something's wrong.
Don just doesn't let cases go.
Well, it sounds like the
decision was made over his head.
He's way too calm about it.
What are you doing?
Testing a theory.
Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Los Angeles.
Yes, I'm calling about
the Whitley-Smith case.
I think I have some important
information that relates to the case.
Could you put me
through to the lead agent?
Hold, please.
That case is being
handled by Don Eppes.
I could put you
through to his voicemail.
He's still lead
agent, I knew it.
Why would he
lie to you, Charlie?
I don't know.
But if he's still on
the case, so am I.
Why are you asking me
about auto insurance scams?
I don't get how this is
connected to my bank.
Well, we're hoping there's something
that stood out that you might remember.
No, nothing.
You're the only one here today?
Sorry?
Your team's not here?
Lamont's kid is sick.
And Colleen's working from home.
And have you had any more
unauthorized transactions?
No, everything's back to normal.
All right.
There are two ways
to define functions,
implicitly and explicitly.
Let's switch gears, if we could.
I want to apply a
little decision theory
to a practical situation.
Let's all say that we're
in a crowded room,
and we would like to contact
the police as soon as possible.
How would we go
about doing that?
Call 911? Of course.
Call 911.
Or, if we know an
FBI agent, like I do,
call him.
But we can't seem to get
any... any clear signal, so...
So we send someone to
find a campus security officer.
Who'd like to see
how fast they can find
a campus security officer?
How about you four on the
end? One, two, three, four.
Time yourselves.
Bring the officer back here.
Go.
What else? What other ideas?
Sure.
You've never seen them before?
No.
They were in your office?
Yeah.
There were files on the
floor. My team theory work.
I mean, obviously, they wanted
to know what you were working on.
Oh, Charlie.
My work at the house!
Yeah, everything
looks okay here.
You did all this? Yeah.
Uh, someone mind
telling me what's going on?
Have you seen anyone
hanging around the house?
No. Should I have?
Dad, when was the last
time you smoked a cigarette?
1979.
Explain how a mathematician
ends up on a case
involving the Russian Mafia.
I told him to drop it.
You know he can't
just drop that stuff!
Hey, I'm standing
right here, okay?
So talk to me. DON:
Did I tell you to drop out?
Now, you endangered yourself,
and you endangered Dad!
Well, you lied to me.
Yeah, to protect you!
All right, just tell us
what we should do...
Nothing! and
Charlie and I will do it.
I don't want you to
do anything, all right?
I got agents here 24-7.
I can still help you. Come on!
No, listen to me. Let me
make this as clear as possible.
You're not working this
anymore, you understand me?
You can't tell me
what I can't do.
Yeah, Charlie, when it comes
to the FBI, I certainly can!
You're done, you
hear me? You're done!
Koverchenko's made
another move to target you.
This time your family.
But we've got no forensics on
either Charlie's office, or your house.
Ditto the auto shop.
We're compiling all LAPD files
on new Russian Mob scams,
looking for any that
might link to Koverchenko.
All right. That sounds good.
Maybe Charlie can
help us find a pattern.
Hey, look, I'm not
exposing my brother
or my family to
any more of this.
Doesn't matter, Eppes.
You don't choose who
he comes after. He does.
He knows about Charlie,
he knows about your father.
And you can't go back.
Yeah, well, hey,
they want a war?
Fine, we'll give them a war.
As soon as the security team
is done sweeping the house,
I can let you guys back in.
We'll keep a few
agents posted out front.
Shouldn't you be home
recuperating or something?
I wanted a piece of this,
even if it means
baby-sitting you guys.
Baby-sitting, huh?
We need more watching
than half a dozen
able-bodied agents
could provide?
Don doesn't want Charlie doing
any more work on this case at all.
Oh, I see. He figures
you could stop him?
You know, for a really nice guy,
you've got two
very stubborn kids.
Yeah, well, they get
that from their mother.
The only way you can change
her mind was, you know...
I can't really say, I
couldn't manage it myself.
Amita.
What's a nice
mathematician like you
doing in a garage like this?
Beats me.
One minute, I'm
analyzing computer codes,
and the next, I'm under
threat from the Russian Mafia.
This would be your cognitive
emergence work, right?
Yeah, it is.
Why?
'Cause there's a
section right there labeled
"Yuri Koverchenko
game theory," Charlie.
Busted.
Look, you can't expect me to
stop thinking about this case.
And even if I didn't
write anything down,
it would still be
in my mind, okay?
So I might as
well write it down,
so at least, you know, my
process is more effective.
In other words, "I'm
gonna do it anyway,
so why don't you
let me do it right?"
That's right.
Look, you better believe
I'm on the brink of seeing it.
There's a pattern to
everything Koverchenko's done.
I can feel it.
You can feel it?
Is that a math term?
Before creating proofs,
mathematicians
often rely on intuition.
Fine, I hope Don's intuition
doesn't tell him I'm
helping you do this.
Mr. Eppes, could I entice
you into a game of air hockey?
Sure, why not?
I'll play the winner.
Okay.
And I have to warn you,
even with a gimp
arm, I am deadly.
I'm not scared.
The old fake-out.
That's right. Get them to
think one way, go the other.
Do that one more time.
Let's see if you can do it again.
I can do that every time.
One more then.
That's it.
What's it?
Look, I... I gotta talk to Don.
Don was very specific.
You're not working with
the FBI on this one at all.
You know what? The FBI's
not the only game in town.
Hey. Hey.
Got anything?
Yeah, I tried something
a little unorthodox.
What's that?
I consulted a mathematician.
Gary, what the hell? I
told you. Hey, he called me.
Look, I don't care.
It doesn't matter!
Listen, Eppes, I've been
working Russian Mob scams
since before you
joined the Bureau.
And let me be clear,
you cannot protect your
brother by taking him off the case.
If Koverchenko wants him dead,
he's gonna make sure that
he waits as long as he needs to.
Oh, yeah? Then what
am I supposed to do, Gary?
Once you got into
it with Koverchenko,
there's was only one way out.
You got to get Koverchenko.
Now, when you first
introduced me to Charlie,
I thought you were a little
cuckoo, but I learned something,
and I think Charlie can help us.
You told me to take
precautions. That's what I did.
I told you to take precautions.
I didn't tell you to back off.
You got to go at this guy
with everything you got.
You know, it should
have been my choice!
Okay.
In an attempt to define motive,
I was able to perform
a posterior distribution,
gain insight into the
Russians' game theory.
Right, English, please,
Charlie, come on.
Koverchenko was
trying to get to you.
He took your money,
he bailed out suspects
using your name,
ambushed your team
and threatened our family.
So you're saying this
is about retribution?
No, no, it's about distraction.
A play that's designed to
look like a whole other play.
Like in football. A reverse.
That's it precisely.
He wanted your focus
off your investigation
and onto him.
Off? So off the phishers?
Exactly.
And I ran this scenario
through my team theory analysis,
and I found that all his
moves fell into a pattern.
A pattern that began
the day you arrested these guys.
You're saying that
there was something
in that original investigation
that Koverchenko
doesn't want us to find?
Logically, whatever Koverchenko
was trying to distract you from seeing
was right in front of you.
So what were your early leads?
Passina National Savings Bank.
The customers they phished
came from its database.
And, Don, we were
at Passina National
the day the suspects
were bailed out.
Well, then
whatever he doesn't
want you to see
is at that bank.
What's going on? Please.
Okay. Okay!
I... I did everything you asked.
I didn't tell the FBI anything.
Relax. We know.
But it's time to start.
What's going on?
Your employees aren't
home with sick kids
or working out of the house.
We know they were kidnapped,
and they're going to kill them
if you don't do
everything they say, right?
Now, we picked you
up in a blind spot, okay?
So nobody knows
where you are. Nobody.
No, I'm sorry, I
cannot help you.
You don't really have
a choice there, Sam.
Lamont and Colleen, they'll die.
I don't have family in
California, but they do.
Right. Money's
not important to me,
my job doesn't matter,
but their lives matter.
And let me tell you something.
If you do everything they want,
they're still
going to kill them!
Then they're going
to come after you!
And they might, might,
leave their children alone.
We're your only chance.
We're their only chance.
Somehow I'm getting the
feeling that I'm your only chance.
They wiped out your finances,
they gunned down your agents,
they killed your eyewitnesses.
God knows what else
they've threatened you with.
Answer one question
for me. All right.
Are you scared of them?
Yeah.
You bet your ass
I'm scared of them.
But that's not going to stop me.
All right.
All right.
This is what they want me to do.
My instructions are to arrive
at the bank at my normal time.
At 9:10, an individual
will arrive in the bank
wearing a light-colored
jacket and carrying a briefcase.
He'll introduce himself
as the computer technician
I supposedly called in.
I'm to escort him
through security
and into the main computer room.
On-site hacking
means they need access
to an encryption
they can't break.
Which must mean
access to the ATMs.
It's not the money in the
accounts they're after, either.
Last year, in the Bay Area, the
Russian Mob was able to steal
200,000 credit card and
bank card ID's in one day.
Passina National's
linked to at least
50,000 ATMs around the country.
All right, so they just need ten
people a day to use those machines,
they got half a
million accounts.
Yeah. They take $1,000
from each account,
that's a half billion dollars,
which they then route to
untraceable overseas accounts.
And then they kill the
hostages and Morton.
If anybody but me comes
into the room, it's over.
But they won't,
because I control who has
access to the computer room.
It's like Yuri said.
Anything happens to me,
I don't make the right
call at the right time,
your employees will be killed.
I understand. Good.
Then I'll get to work.
MORTON: At 5:00 exactly,
if everything has gone okay,
he calls to indicate
the money is secure.
I hope Don's right about this.
Yeah, me too.
Yeah, they've made
contact. It's going down now.
Are you hungry?
No.
It's coming up on lunch,
I thought maybe I
could get us some food.
Now shut up.
Everything is on schedule.
Just waiting on a phone number.
We need that number.
Where's that number?
Come on.
The guy's cell
phone is right there.
Just needed to stretch.
Sit down
and stay down.
I said get back.
No problem.
I really can't take you
looking at your watch anymore.
Sorry. Sorry.
Wait, wait, it's here.
Morton's text message.
Ah! Hacker's cell
phone number, yes!
Okay, now for
Charlie, come on, kid.
Hello.
Hello?
My name is Professor
Charles Eppes.
Do you know who I am?
How did you get this number?
How about you come
ask me in person?
You seem to know a lot.
I'd like to talk to you
about where you learned it.
Is everything all right?
It's early, what's up?
I just got a call from
the mathematician.
You screwed up somewhere.
Gave him what he needed
to hack your phone.
No, no, I don't see how...
Listen to me.
The FBI has no idea
where you are or
what you're doing,
or they would have
never have let him call you.
The situation
is still in control.
Keep working, get it done.
We got it! He made the call.
And we have a GPS track working.
I'll call you in a minute.
Almost done.
Must have been
quite an operation.
Took you all day.
Yeah, well, I had a lot to do.
We've got five minutes.
Walker says LAPD is
handling the containment.
All right, well, tell them
to stay clear, all right?
I mean, I don't want
anyone spotting us.
Yeah. They won't
move until they get
an official notice from us.
This guy's some psychopath.
Yeah. He probably thinks
he's invincible by now.
I'm guessing he
doesn't feel the need
to put too much distance between
him and the FBI.
Eppes.
1327 Palmetto.
1-3-2-7.
1-3-2-7.
Okay.
I got it, it's downtown.
All right, let's do it.
Unit one to unit two,
you're a go, you're a go.
Copy that, Don. On the move.
I wouldn't if I were you.
Well? Is it done?
All done for you, my friend.
Who...
FBI! FBI!
Got him! Go! Get the others!
I'm getting the hostages.
Lamont! Are you okay? Colleen?
Big breaths,
Colleen, big breaths.
FBI! Get out of the way!
Get out of the way!
Nice to finally meet
you in person, Yuri.
Nice shot.
And I called your family, too.
They're going to
be right over here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Hello?
Hey, Don.
Hey, David.
Our team found the guy
who was watching the house.
I heard all about it.
Good job. Thanks.
Look, man, you don't have to
hang out here, you can take off.
That's okay. I think your dad
wanted me to hang around.
Hey, what do you
think? What do you think?
Oh, I see why you're
hanging around.
There you go, Agent Sinclair.
And there's a lot more
where that came from.
All right. Thanks, Mr. Eppes.
He gets the treatment, huh?
Yeah, and there's
more coming right up.
Dig in, dig in.
I got to tell you, that
was a crazy couple days.
I mean, it's good we all
came out of it all right...
It would appear to be so.
In a million years, I never
would've imagined that. You?
I think Charlie would say
it was a statistically
possible but unlikely event.
Yeah, I'm thinking maybe Charlie
should just work at CalSci, Dad.
You're going to fire him?
Look, I'm the first to admit
he's done an amazing job for us.
Right? I mean, but...
Wouldn't it put
your mind at ease?
Donny, what would
put my mind at ease
would be to see you two
boys working together.
Besides, you
don't seriously think
you're going to get him to stop.
Nah, I guess not.
Hey, Chuck, you need
some help back there?
Come on, Suzy Homemaker,
we're ready to eat.
Come on, come on.
Go on, go on, eat, eat.
I have to say, Mr. Eppes...
Alan.
Alan.
I've never seen two brothers
so completely different
and so much alike.
If you call me Chuck
one more time...
Yeah, well, all right,
how about Chucky?
Tell me about it.
Chucky? How about
I call you Donald?
How about I call you nerd?
How about I call you...