Numb3rs (2005–2010): Season 3, Episode 19 - Pandora's Box - full transcript
Charlie splits his genius between solving a plane crash and the burglary at his home.
Hey, Phil, what's your 20?
Blackwell Trail.
I'm going to head on
over to the north side,
check out the campgrounds.
You coming back to the
station for dinner break?
That depends. You cooking?
See you later, wise guy.
Son of a...
Phil, what's that?
Are you all right?
Did you see it?
Plane crash. Went right over me.
Where did it go down exactly?
Just past the third switchback.
I'm almost there.
Emergency crews
are on their way,
but if you're that far out...
Holy...!
Phil?
Send everyone.
This is bad.
Is there anyone alive?!
Can anyone hear me?!
Hello?
Right in the middle
of my lecture.
Charlie, I'm as
embarrassed as you are.
You were snoring...
Charlie, did, uh, we
forget to lock the door?
What?
Wow!
Wait, wait.
They could still be here.
Here.
They got the DVD player
and my laptop.
I've been living in this
neighborhood 30 years.
Nothing like this
has ever happened.
Hey, they, uh... they stole
the case of Bavarian beer.
Uh, they stole the blender.
Why would anyone want a blender?
I'm calling Donny.
Hey, Donny, someone
broke into the house.
No, no, no, we're fine.
I-I think they
were after only...
What? Yeah, sure.
All right. I'll let you
know what the police say.
Yeah. Bye.
Dad, is he coming
or not? No, he can't.
He's, uh, he's got a case...
Uh, some airplane crash.
Did he say where?
Yeah, a small jet in
the Angeles Forest.
Where are you going?
I'm just going to
go grab my stuff,
because it's a plane
crash. I mean, that's...
that's an amazingly
complex dynamics problem.
They're probably
going to need my help.
If I leave now, I should
get there by dawn.
Call the police.
Two sons who solve crimes.
Neither one cares.
So, I talked to David,
he'll coordinate
from the office,
but I haven't been able
to get a hold of Megan yet.
Yeah, she's on
detachment to the DOJ.
Don't ask me, I can't
say any more than that.
I get it... you tell me,
she'll have to kill me, huh?
This guy up here is a forest
ranger named Phil Hadwin.
NTSB said he was the
first one on the scene.
Said he never drew his weapon,
so whoever shot him
must have surprised him.
All right. So, who's that?
We don't know, but
nobody on board.
Said all the passengers on
board were accounted for.
Bob? Yeah.
Don Eppes. Bob Tombrello.
Hey, Don. Good to have
you. Hey, Bob. How's it going?
What have you got here?
We got a corporate
jet carrying five,
including the pilot
and the copilot.
They're all dead.
Seat belts don't do you much
good at 270 miles an hour.
These passengers
were all officers
of a company called AeroNomics;
high-tech defense contractor.
What brought it down?
Little too soon to tell.
We just started
the investigation.
So it's possible
it was knocked out of the
sky... A bomb, a rocket?
I don't think so.
Yeah, you see,
this debris field is too
compact, it's too directed.
So I'm pretty sure the plane
was intact when it hit the ground.
Charlie, what are
you doing here?
Classical mechanics
mixed with a dash
of Ito-Stratonovich
Drift Integrals.
I mean, that's a perfect recipe
for putting a crashed
plane back together.
Yeah? Well, slow down. I mean,
we're just getting going here.
We don't even
know what we've got.
Well, where there's one,
Eppes, there's always two.
Agent Edgerton.
Anybody looking for this?
That's the black box.
How'd you find that?
How I find anything.
Gentlemen, take it
and run diagnostics
on this, please.
Excuse me. Do you
mind if I tag along?
I'm Professor Charles
Eppes. Yeah, Charles.
Ian, didn't know
you were around.
I wasn't till they found
a dead forest ranger.
Done a lot of tracking
on this mountain.
I've already scoured a 100-yard
perimeter, looking for tracks,
signs of encampment.
Figure, what, maybe the guy
who shot him was living in the area,
and drawn by the crash?
How have you been, Eppes?
I haven't talked to you since
the Crystal Hoyle caper.
I'm all right, Ian.
88 variables.
Cruising speed, plane mass,
inclination, fuel burn,
even the cockpit voice
recorder... black box
records everything.
That damage is
worse than I thought.
I'll have to send
this back to our lab
in D.C. to recover the data.
The California Institute of
Science lab is a lot closer.
We've got the equipment there.
We've certainly
got the know-how.
Beats waiting around
five days for results.
That's what I'm saying.
So if the ranger was
the first one on the scene,
and he arrived just
minutes after the crash...
Yeah, but how do
we know he was first?
What, you mean the shooter?
No. I searched all
over these woods.
There weren't any
trails or boot prints.
Well, guys,
I mean, a dead ranger
and a crashed plane...
It doesn't feel like a
coincidence to me.
Well, if the shooter is tied
directly to the plane crash,
he had to be here ahead of time.
Just waiting for the
plane to fall out of the sky?
Wow.
Who knew a black
box isn't really black?
Yeah. For it to be
damaged at all is so rare.
Oh, they must have
been flying awfully fast.
Probably hit the ground
full-force. Yeah, well,
hard enough to damage
the stacked memory boards.
Hey, Amita, um,
what was that... that
DVD you lent me?
Oh, The Bicycle
Thief. The Bicycle Thief.
Yeah. It was great, right? Yeah.
Uh, I won't be returning it.
Oh, you liked it that much?
It was stolen inside
my DVD player,
along with a vase, a blender,
my Dad's laptop.
Wait. Someone
broke into your house?
Yeah, last night.
Police think
it's probably just
a bunch of kids.
If there is anything
our department can do to help...
Yeah, um, you and Ranger
Hadwin were the only rangers
stationed up
here, is that right?
This time of year,
the ridge is quiet.
It was just the two of us.
Did either of you
encounter anyone up here?
Maybe anyone camping
out, or living off the land?
Summers, we see campers.
But, um, now...
Phil and I had the whole
mountain to ourselves.
I'm sorry.
No, it's okay.
I understand you two
were probably close.
Phil was my... husband.
I'm so sorry.
I-I had no idea.
I didn't want it to
make a difference.
I want to help you find
whoever did this to him.
I need this.
I need to be doing something
to keep my mind busy.
Yeah.
Hold on, gentlemen.
This is a crime scene.
This whole area
is off limits to... Sir!
I'm really sorry.
I'll be right back, okay?
Hey, guys, I'm going to
need to see some credentials.
You don't understand.
That's my plane.
Okay, what do you
mean, that's your plane?
My name is Aaron Helm.
I'm CEO of AeroNomics.
Those were my
people in that crash.
Well, sir, I'm sorry, but we
still can't have you back here.
I've got five families who
are looking for answers.
All of the passenger bodies
have been moved to the L.A.
Coroner's Office,
so the families will be
receiving a call shortly.
My God, if this was my fault...
John, we don't know that yet.
And you are?
John Wellner, the
plane's mechanic.
We're a very small company.
The more I can
tell my people now,
the easier it's going
to be for all of us.
Cause of the crash is
yet to be determined.
So please go back
and be with the families.
When we have any real
information, we'll contact you.
All right, there you go.
The input buses are connected.
Gentlemen,
the digital flight
data recorder,
also known as the black box.
This will allow us to recreate
the last moments of the flight...
Altitude, air pressure,
flap movement,
pitch, you name it.
As you can see,
right after wheels-up,
the pilot hands over
control of the aircraft
to the Flight
Management Computer.
And that's normal, right?
Sure. I mean, the fact is,
with the help of the plane's
Inertial Reference System,
the FMC can basically fly
and land a plane within
a millimeter of accuracy.
Okay, coming
through 10,000 feet.
That's where
the plane hits the mountain.
But didn't the impact happen
at around 6,000 feet?
Yes, it did, and the altimeter
is just north of 10,000.
So, it's off by 4,000 feet.
All right, so there's something
wrong with the altimeter.
It's unlikely. Every
plane's got triple back-up.
If one system fails,
a second checks in.
Well, so, the Inertial Reference
System was wrong times three?
How do you look out a window
and not see a
mountain coming at you?
No moon, black sky.
We had the exact situation
a few years back with
Air New Zealand flight 901.
Now, because of that accident,
mistakes like this
are almost impossible.
So what... sabotage?
I can't tell you without the
Flight Management Computer.
Yeah, but isn't
that what this is?
No. This is the black box.
It just records and stores data.
Right, the Flight
Management Computer
is-is the aircraft's brain.
Which, unfortunately, we
haven't been able to find yet.
Wow. Well, uh, with the
data from the black box,
along with a topographical
map of the impact site,
what I can do is,
calculate a highly-precise,
predictive debris field pattern.
That will help us find the
Flight Management Computer.
With some math
and a little persistence,
the Flight Management Computer
shouldn't be too hard to locate.
Thank God
for the geometry of
predictive trajectories.
I was thinking the
exact same thing.
What's the measurement?
45 feet, two inches.
Oh, uh...
Have you heard anything
else about the burglary?
You know what, to be honest,
I'm so caught up with this...
My Dad's dealing
with it. No, I know.
But, um... is he okay?
Uh, I know how he
is about that house.
You know, when I
was an undergrad,
I never locked my dorm room.
Until someone came in one day
and stole a Fossil
watch right off my desk.
Changed my thinking.
I always lock my door, you know?
Sometimes I double and
sometimes I even triple check it.
I noticed that, that
cute little thing you do
where you unlock the
bolt, then relock the bolt.
What's the measurement?
63 feet, three inches.
No, Charlie, the point is,
is that having someone come in
and rob your house can
be a very emotional thing.
You know, maybe this is a
bigger deal than you realize.
It is bigger.
Are we not talking about
the same thing anymore?
We've planted eight flags.
Every one of them, the
trajectories were dead on,
the distances were off.
You allowed room for some
slosh in your calculations, right?
Yeah, but this isn't slosh.
I mean, with slosh...
the distances would
be off in both directions-
some short, some long.
Our predictions, the
distances are short,
every one by...
geez, by almost 15%.
Let me see.
It's like everything's
out of scale.
It's amplified.
Hold this.
Factoring in for this...
new nontrivial amplification
and combining that
with trajectories that
we've already mapped out,
we should be able to find...
the FMC!
Take a look at this.
These tire marks
started under some brush.
The, uh, axle width
and tread block
point to a Ford F-250 pickup.
Doesn't match with any
of the emergency vehicles
in the area.
You think this might
be the killer's truck.
Yeah. Look at this.
What is that, oil? Yeah.
It's concentrated here.
He was sitting
there for a while.
Waiting for the plane to crash.
Sick as it is, I can
see crashing a plane,
but why would you want to
be there when it comes down?
So...
we found the plane's Flight
Management Computer.
That's great, Charlie.
Yeah, but it wasn't
where it was supposed to be.
Yeah, we found it
by adjusting the size
of the debris field.
Sounds like a happy ending.
No, it's a problem.
Here, I'll show you.
You shouldn't come
between a man and his fiber.
All right, so that's
the debris field.
Now, this looks like
it's just sort of a random mess,
but it's not.
See, a debris field
size and shape
is actually governed
by variables like speed,
mass, angle of incidence,
ground topography.
Now, let's say this muffin had
walnuts in it, well, then
the mess would've
been much larger.
See, because walnuts weigh more.
And extra weight
means more mass,
which translates into
greater momentum.
Similarly, what we
have outside is...
a debris field
that's, that's much
larger than it should be.
Larger, because
the plane was heavier
than the manifest indicated.
Right about 1000 pounds heavier.
Well, what exactly
was this weight?
It has to be what the
killer was waiting for.
Just want to know
what's so valuable
that someone's
willing to crash a plane
and kill six people
in order to get it.
Okay, I've looked over
the debris field map twice.
Every major component
of the aircraft
is accounted for.
So, if Professor Eppes'
calculations are right,
we are definitely missing
1000 pounds of cargo.
Trust me, Professor
Eppes' calculations are right.
Those tire marks I found...
there were two sets...
One driving up to the crash,
the other one leaving.
The ones leaving were deeper.
Can somebody do this?
Can somebody know exactly
where this plane was
going to come down?
This peak is aligned
with the San Bernardino
Regional Airport
takeoff path.
We get as many as 15
planes an hour overhead.
So if they messed
with the altimeter,
made sure the plane
was 4,000 feet low...
It would crash right here.
Give or take a mile.
What was on that
plane, Mr. Helm?
Apparently there was a thousand
pounds of undeclared cargo.
Our scramjet prototype.
Which is?
Which is a new breed
of missile propulsion.
It's efficient, it's
clean, it's fast.
We can have some
of my technicians
identify its parts
among the wreckage.
NTSB's already inventoried
the major debris
from the wreckage.
They didn't find
anything like that.
What are you saying? It's gone.
This thing is missing.
Who do you think might
be after it? Could be
any one and a
half-dozen propulsion labs.
We're all racing to develop
a viable scramjet prototype.
First ones in are
going to get billions
in government contracts.
That's why it wasn't
on the manifest.
We were flying it out
to Santa Fe for testing.
We didn't want anyone to know
how far along we were.
How about the
mechanic for the plane?
Who's he? Where's he at?
John Wellner? Yeah.
He isn't here.
After we were out
at the crash site,
saw all our friends dead,
he was a basket case.
I sent him home.
So, the State Department said
because the
scramjet's a prototype,
they're not worried about
it as an imminent threat.
The FAA analyzed the plane's
Flight Management Computer.
It was reprogrammed
two days ago.
Now, you need a lot
of technical knowledge
just to get at the FMC.
It sits inside
an obscure panel
underneath the nose cone.
Something an airplane
mechanic would know.
Colby and Edgerton just called
me from Wellner's apartment.
He never made it back home.
And Helm was saying
that they're worried
that someone's going to rip
off the designs for the scramjet.
So no one supposedly
outside the company
knew the thing was
on the plane.
Which means, pretty much,
whoever wanted it they
had to have an inside man.
Look at this, David. That's
a pretty narrow space.
So if somebody wanted
to mess with that FMC,
it'd be pretty hard not
to leave some prints.
Oh, hey.
Hi, Charlie. Hey.
Hey, uh...
look, I-I just want, um...
I'm sorry about running
out on you last night.
That was...
Well, you did say it was
about an airplane crash.
Yeah, some pretty interesting...
debris field dynamics
emerged, actually.
You know what really bugs me?
Before last night,
everyone who walked through
that front door was invited.
Well, hey, let's be
grateful that it wasn't worse.
That what they took were
just things and things
can be replaced...
Things?!
Some of those things
were lifetime memories.
I mean, really good memories.
Even the bad ones,
they belonged to us.
Somebody violated that.
I-I understand.
Look, I worked on
over 50 criminal
cases, I'm certain
I can crack a minor larceny.
All I need is the right data.
I'll tell you what I can do,
I can apply a Heterogeneous
Poisson Process
on the DVD thefts,
and cross-reference that
with data and stats
on stolen blenders.
I mean, you know, it'll probably
yield some sparse results,
to say the least...
Yeah, well, whatever.
You know, um,
I don't want to sound corny,
but I've always
looked at this house
as an heirloom for you and Don.
Well, then I paid two
percent over market value
for the "heirloom."
Well, capital gains
notwithstanding,
this has been home for 30 years.
Hey.
What's up with the no beer?
You could thank the
burglars for that one.
You look beat.
Yeah, I've just spent three
hours waiting for some prints
that came back smudged.
Smudged? How smudged?
What do you mean?
Smudged. Only 'cause
there's very exciting
work being done
with Deconvolution Algorithms.
Yeah, as in that would
fix my fingerprints?
Yeah.
Now, the principle
here is fairly simple.
Uh, picture a sprinter
and a photographer
with a cheap camera
Now, without the
right shutter speed,
the sprinter's gonna
smear across the frame.
Edges are blurred and fine
details are no longer visible.
A Wavelet-based Deconvolution
Algorithm analyzes the image,
sharpens the edges
and restores the details...
To find the picture
beneath the smear.
The same technique was
used to fix the fuzzy vision
of the original
Hubble Telescope.
And if we apply
a similar algorithm
to our smudged fingerprints...
It's like the computer putting
on corrective lenses.
The prints on the nose
comb belong to Mike Daley.
He works in AeroNomics'
IT department.
Because of their
government contracts,
all employees have to
register their fingerprints.
IT guy would probably know how
to tamper with
the flight computer.
All right, go get him.
Mike Daley!
FBI! Open up.
Up or down? I'll take up.
Hey!
♪ ♪
Bet I can pull the trigger
before you hit the gas.
I know how this looks.
Looks like your fingerprints
all over the nose cone
of the company plane.
Two days later, it's
smashed to a million pieces,
five people are dead.
You reprogrammed
the flight computer.
I always reprogram
the flight computer.
The FAA issues update software
every six months, um...
new approach patterns,
decommissioned runways.
I'm the guy who installs them.
We're a small company.
I help out where I can.
The plane's mechanic
John Wellner is too big
to get into the nose cone,
so he has me do it.
Now, you see...
that still doesn't explain
why you went out the
window when we showed up.
Mr. Helm said that, um,
a computer malfunction
brought the plane down.
I panicked.
Maybe I installed it wrong.
Maybe...
I killed my friends.
Only one problem with his story.
The FAA hasn't issued
any recent updates.
So what did Wellner
have him install?
So, Colby, where
are we with Wellner?
Well, he's not at home,
not at the hangar,
not at AeroNomics,
and he's not answering
his cell phone. All right,
so he's in the wind, right?
Yeah, and I ran a deeper
background check on him.
Clean, this guy is not.
Used to run an air
charter business
out of the Florida Keys.
DEA suspected it was bankrolled
by a Salvadorian drug runner
named Victor Morelos.
Wellner's a drug smuggler?
Well, never proven, but he
tested positive for cocaine
during a flight physical,
lost his license.
Ended up drifting back west
and got a job as a
mechanic for AeroNomics.
All right, well, we've got
enough for a warrant, right?
So, let's hit his apartment.
Agent Granger.
Hey, Ranger Williams.
I just wanted to check in,
see if you had made any
progress on finding Phil's killer.
We're working a few leads.
You know, I can't really
discuss any of the details
while the investigation
is still open.
I'm sorry.
Don't apologize.
Part of coming here
was really just an excuse
to get off the mountain.
Without Phil, it's just me.
I couldn't really figure
out where else to go.
You know, um...
Hey, Colby, warrant
for Wellner's apartment
just came through.
Edgerton's waiting
in the war room.
You're going to
get through this.
What?
More with the plane crash?
Somebody's tricked
the airplane's computer
into thinking it was
4,000 feet higher
than it really was.
So, so the crash
was intentional?
That's why we're dissecting
code line by line.
What's confusing is there's
so much code in this thing.
So, we've decided
to play a little trick
on the program.
We're rolling back
the internal clock
and fooling it into thinking
the plane hasn't crashed yet.
And we've just
faked the plane crash.
The extra code
hasn't been accessed.
Really?
There's nothing.
Well, then, what's it there for?
Well...
your job isn't done yet.
Hitting the side
of the mountain,
that pretty much
ends the flight.
Well, the flight's
computer is its diary, so...
its job isn't over
until Mom and Dad
read all the good parts.
She's right.
I mean, the program
isn't finished running
until the NTSB
downloads the information.
Right.
What was that?
I don't know.
It deleted itself.
It doesn't want to be seen.
Any luck finding Wellner?
Eh, just tossed his apartment.
Empty hangers in the closet,
underwear drawer empty,
no toothbrush.
Sounds like he's
not coming back.
You find any clues to
where he might have gone?
Sure.
Guess who got to
go Dumpster-diving
behind Wellner's apartment?
Oh, seniority is
a son of a bitch.
Wellner had to
pull up in a hurry.
Guys in a hurry make
mistakes, leave a trail.
Shall we?
Four days ago, Wellner
drained an IRA account
despite a ten percent
penalty for early withdrawals.
Bought a Gortex coat,
wasn't in his closet.
That would make sense.
Wellner's Web printouts
are of these little houses
up in Washington State,
Montana and Idaho.
Retiring to the mountains
to do some fishing.
Here's a padlock.
Could be for anything.
Could be... for a storage
facility in Van Nuys.
D-48.
Storage manager
ID'd Wellner's photo.
Said Wellner paid cash
two days ago for the locker.
Here it is.
Just an unschooled guess,
but that looks like
a scramjet to me.
They killed six
people to get this thing.
Think they would have
moved it out of L.A. by now.
It's Sinclair.
Yeah, we found the scramjet.
David.
John Wellner.
Looks like he didn't
make it out of town either.
Gunshot to the head,
just like the ranger.
Shell casing's the same caliber.
The tenants have 24-hour access.
They get in the outside
gate with a PIN code.
So when did Wellner use his?
At 4:48 P.M., and there
was no one else in or out
in 30 minutes
either side of that.
So no witnesses.
Right.
Come on.
So, Wellner gives
Daley a bad program
for the flight computer,
crashes the plane.
And his partners wait
up on the mountain
to collect the cargo.
It's one heck of a partnership.
Put a hole in Wellner's head
and leave him in his
own storage locker?
Yeah, they must have known
we were getting close to him,
didn't want him to talk.
Why leave the scramjet behind?
The locker's rent's been
paid three years in advance.
Yeah, you got to figure
three years from now,
the prototype's
worth less, not more.
Makes you wonder why
the hell six people died.
Why would someone crash
that plane, steal the scramjet
and mothball it?
I don't know.
Better figure it out; we got
a lot of bodies piling up here.
What do you mean?
Your mechanic, John
Wellner, he's dead.
Bullet to the head.
Look, we know he was
working with someone else
and we know you
had a lot of info
at your fingertips.
You keep saying how important
that thing is... I can see
where the company would
pay you to kill the project. Look.
You don't know what
you're talking about.
Just hold tight.
All right, so what do you need?
The plane crash
had nothing to do
with stealing that
scramjet engine.
What?
The scramjet's a mislead.
Look, did you hook the
plane's flight computer
into your mainframe yet?
Yeah, that's how we got the
reprogramming evidence. Well, then,
the program's almost
certainly vectored its way
into the FAA's computers by now.
Whoa, whoa, whoa,
what are you talking about?
What program?
This whole exercise was designed
so that someone could place
a malicious program
into the FAA's computer.
What does this program
do? I don't know yet.
I need access to
the FAA's mainframe.
Do you know how
guarded that access is?
It's the FAA, guys.
It's what he says he needs.
I'll make a call.
Thank you.
Stolen blenders?
That's not this.
That's the break-in, I'm
working on the break-in.
What, Dad's not all right?
That house means a lot to him.
Yeah.
Well, it's like the
screens, remember?
Every summer with the screens.
Right? Putting new screens in
every single window of that house.
Climbing out on that roof, and
then the flies come in anyway.
Right.
Just his way of checking in
with the house once a year.
Yeah, you're right.
Charlie, you have
some fans at the FAA.
If they've got a problem,
they want you to find it.
Great. All right, get to it.
All right, come on.
Review board called me
in on the spree killing case.
Figured it was about
what we did to Buck.
All they wanted to talk about
was you dinging Crystal Hoyle.
I told them you
had the clearer shot.
Is that true?
I figure you had your reasons.
Bad news first, well,
the bad news is that
the rogue program has fully
rooted itself in the
FAA's computers.
Good news is that we don't
have to ground air traffic.
So no mid-air collisions?
This one won't even
lose your luggage.
It was designed for
something very different.
Well, what was it designed for?
Uh, you ever hear of "squawk"?
Yeah, it's a seagull who
wakes me up every morning.
Not just a seagull.
An entire bird sanctuary.
Each bird has it's
own unique squawk.
Enough so that a
bird watcher spying
from the ground
can identify each bird
just by its sound.
Now think of the bird
watcher as the FAA's radar,
and each plane has
its own unique signal
so that Air Traffic Control
can identify each plane
by the code, or
"squawk" it receives.
The squawk is sent
from a transponder
in the plane, which tells
the radar not only location,
but also ground
designation and trajectory.
That's right, now
these are all the planes
flying over the city right now.
And each with its own
unique designation.
Let's say I programmed the virus
to listen for...
This one here. So I enter in its
squawk code.
Now it's gone.
What happened to it?
Whoever controls
this program can make
any plane in Southern California
invisible.
Consider M.C. Escher's
lithograph of the stairs.
Escher was famous for leading
the subjects of his artwork
back to where they started.
Like the path of the
monks in his drawing,
in Strange Loop Theory,
all math as well as
music and even biology,
can fold back in on itself,
and check in with its origin.
So a program that jumps
from computer to computer
can leave certain clues
that take us back to its author.
Amita and I traced
the program's code
via its Strange Loop.
And took you back to
the guy who wrote it?
It took me back to an
AeroNomics Computer used
by an IT technician...
Mike Daley.
Charlie, are you
saying he's behind this?
At least as far as
authoring the code.
Well, now we know why
he ran. This program,
is it tampering with the
FAA's computers right now?
No, it's still waiting
for an activation code.
You wrote the program
that crashed the plane.
We've done this before,
that was Wellner. No, this...
is Wellner.
I want a lawyer.
Why? What for?
You're free to go.
Yeah, go ahead. Take off, right?
I'll tell you how it's
going to go down though.
When they find you... and
they will, pal... they're gonna take
a nine millimeter pistol
and they're gonna put a hole
in your head just like that,
and just like Hadwin.
Not every guy
gets to know the caliber
of bullet that'll kill them.
Nobody was supposed to
die. They said that nobody
was going to get hurt.
Are you kidding me?
You wrote a program that
screwed with the altimeter of a plane
and crash it into a mountain!
What the hell did you
think was going to happen?!
You know, at least your
partners had the guts
to pull a trigger when they
killed Wellner and the ranger.
You hid behind a damn computer!
How could I know about the
ranger showing up so fast?
Look, I see three scenarios.
Okay, one, you walk out of here,
you wind up like that... two,
you go down for this alone,
you take a seat on death
row. Three, you rat out
your buddies and you save
your own miserable ass.
The guy behind it,
Wellner knew him.
We need a name!
I didn't want to know.
My job was to write
the programs and figure
out a way to backdoor
the FAA's computer.
How were you going to
make any money on it?
The backdoor doesn't
work without the pass code.
Wellner's friend, the
guy with the truck,
he was going to
pay us $2 million.
I'll do anything.
I'll cooperate.
Well, we're going to
find out if you mean that.
I played a hunch,
showed Daley a photo array.
He picked out Victor Morelos.
This guy ran drugs with
Wellner, right? Makes sense.
A smuggler's plane, even
without a transponder,
has a chance of being seen.
This program erases
the transponder number,
and the FAA won't
even look for the plane.
Yeah, so he'd
basically own the border.
Hey, don't I get
a bulletproof vest? What for?
Morelos always
goes for the head shot.
Just make sure you get
him to take that program.
The more you can get
him to say, the better.
Um...
I don't know about this.
Right now, everything
we have on Morelos
is circumstantial.
But you on the other hand,
you're a prime candidate
for Guantanamo Bay.
Yeah, and about ten or twelve
years of alternative
interrogation methods
to look forward to.
Yeah, relax, you've
got the fifth best shot
in the country
covering your ass.
Hey, fourth. Right.
You don't want to ask
how I moved up one spot.
Button your shirt.
I've been thinking,
maybe I take my chances
with Homeland
Security after all.
$50 says the kid rabbits.
Too late.
Got a silver Ford
pickup just pulled in.
F-250, I got it.
Hey.
We good?
Good.
Yeah, sure. We're good.
Well?
You bring it?
You bring my final payment?
Well, first we've got to
make sure that this thing
of yours actually works.
Sure. I got the stick drive
right here. Whoa-ho.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Mikey, take it easy with
the hand in the pocket, okay?
Take it easy. I trust you.
My boy here's a
little overprotective.
You're shaking. Calm down.
You really think I'd
try to pull anything
after seeing what
you did to Wellner?
What did I do to Wellner, Mike?
He's blowing it.
It's going south, guys.
What did I do to Wellner, Mike?
Uh...
Who've you been talking
to, Mike? What do you know?
FBI! Don't move! Back up!
FBI! FBI!
Put your hands up!
Put them up!
Back up right now.
Drop it!
I will kill him. You
know I'll do this.
You know I'll do this!
Back up!
I'm walking out
of here right now.
Get away!
Drop the gun!
Back up!
Put your hands up! Get down!
Get down!
You hit? You okay?
That ought to make
me number three.
♪ She says, "Wake up,
it's no use pretending..." ♪
Thanks.
For being here.
♪ Birds are leaving... ♪
I can understand why
you guys moved up here.
Away from the city,
you almost forget where you are.
I'll never forget.
♪ Naked as we came ♪
♪ One will spread our... ♪
♪ Ashes 'round the yard. ♪
No. No chess.
I win, you pout.
Well, we're not playing poker.
I'm not your personal ATM.
Aw, come on...
One game. Hey, come on.
You've said no to
Scrabble, Jenga, Battleship
and air hockey.
Wussy games. Hey.
Hey, Charlie.
I got a breakthrough
on the burglary.
Hey, Millie. Hey, hey, Charlie.
So, I've mapped out
an associative model of crime,
based on the victim
experience, our experience.
It is kind of cool being
a major component
in a criminal equation.
Yeah, and so, so?
I can tell you the
guy's definitely
in Los Angeles. I
can tell you that.
Oh. He's in Los Angeles.
Don't say it like that.
A few more days,
a little more data collected...
I might have a
short list to give
to the police. DON: Hello. Hey.
Hey, in here.
Look what I got.
Hey, Millie, how're you
doing? Good, how are you?
Wait a second, is that...?
My laptop. Your laptop.
Yeah, I had Pasadena
PD track the GPS inside.
Of course! The GPS
in your laptop. It's standard
now on all models since 2005.
They just punch in a code
and there it was blinking
away at, uh, 3rd and Lucas.
What do you got here?
A rather long way around.
Stole my collar.
Your collar, huh?
I would've gotten him.
In six or seven years, maybe.
At least I was working
on it. I wasn't sitting
around playing
games. Ooh, well...
Who wins the games, huh?
Millie Finch, I believe
12, and the Eppes boys
zero. You want to put that
record on the line
with a game of spoons?
Spoons?
What, you boys play
games with your cutlery?
I have an idea that it's
right up your alley. Oh, yeah?
All right, hand me your spoons.
Well, you guys ate
off both of these.
Do we have other...?
Come on, Charlie.
Man up. What are you?
This house is kind of a weird.
Who wants a beer? Anyone?
There's still no beer.
Blackwell Trail.
I'm going to head on
over to the north side,
check out the campgrounds.
You coming back to the
station for dinner break?
That depends. You cooking?
See you later, wise guy.
Son of a...
Phil, what's that?
Are you all right?
Did you see it?
Plane crash. Went right over me.
Where did it go down exactly?
Just past the third switchback.
I'm almost there.
Emergency crews
are on their way,
but if you're that far out...
Holy...!
Phil?
Send everyone.
This is bad.
Is there anyone alive?!
Can anyone hear me?!
Hello?
Right in the middle
of my lecture.
Charlie, I'm as
embarrassed as you are.
You were snoring...
Charlie, did, uh, we
forget to lock the door?
What?
Wow!
Wait, wait.
They could still be here.
Here.
They got the DVD player
and my laptop.
I've been living in this
neighborhood 30 years.
Nothing like this
has ever happened.
Hey, they, uh... they stole
the case of Bavarian beer.
Uh, they stole the blender.
Why would anyone want a blender?
I'm calling Donny.
Hey, Donny, someone
broke into the house.
No, no, no, we're fine.
I-I think they
were after only...
What? Yeah, sure.
All right. I'll let you
know what the police say.
Yeah. Bye.
Dad, is he coming
or not? No, he can't.
He's, uh, he's got a case...
Uh, some airplane crash.
Did he say where?
Yeah, a small jet in
the Angeles Forest.
Where are you going?
I'm just going to
go grab my stuff,
because it's a plane
crash. I mean, that's...
that's an amazingly
complex dynamics problem.
They're probably
going to need my help.
If I leave now, I should
get there by dawn.
Call the police.
Two sons who solve crimes.
Neither one cares.
So, I talked to David,
he'll coordinate
from the office,
but I haven't been able
to get a hold of Megan yet.
Yeah, she's on
detachment to the DOJ.
Don't ask me, I can't
say any more than that.
I get it... you tell me,
she'll have to kill me, huh?
This guy up here is a forest
ranger named Phil Hadwin.
NTSB said he was the
first one on the scene.
Said he never drew his weapon,
so whoever shot him
must have surprised him.
All right. So, who's that?
We don't know, but
nobody on board.
Said all the passengers on
board were accounted for.
Bob? Yeah.
Don Eppes. Bob Tombrello.
Hey, Don. Good to have
you. Hey, Bob. How's it going?
What have you got here?
We got a corporate
jet carrying five,
including the pilot
and the copilot.
They're all dead.
Seat belts don't do you much
good at 270 miles an hour.
These passengers
were all officers
of a company called AeroNomics;
high-tech defense contractor.
What brought it down?
Little too soon to tell.
We just started
the investigation.
So it's possible
it was knocked out of the
sky... A bomb, a rocket?
I don't think so.
Yeah, you see,
this debris field is too
compact, it's too directed.
So I'm pretty sure the plane
was intact when it hit the ground.
Charlie, what are
you doing here?
Classical mechanics
mixed with a dash
of Ito-Stratonovich
Drift Integrals.
I mean, that's a perfect recipe
for putting a crashed
plane back together.
Yeah? Well, slow down. I mean,
we're just getting going here.
We don't even
know what we've got.
Well, where there's one,
Eppes, there's always two.
Agent Edgerton.
Anybody looking for this?
That's the black box.
How'd you find that?
How I find anything.
Gentlemen, take it
and run diagnostics
on this, please.
Excuse me. Do you
mind if I tag along?
I'm Professor Charles
Eppes. Yeah, Charles.
Ian, didn't know
you were around.
I wasn't till they found
a dead forest ranger.
Done a lot of tracking
on this mountain.
I've already scoured a 100-yard
perimeter, looking for tracks,
signs of encampment.
Figure, what, maybe the guy
who shot him was living in the area,
and drawn by the crash?
How have you been, Eppes?
I haven't talked to you since
the Crystal Hoyle caper.
I'm all right, Ian.
88 variables.
Cruising speed, plane mass,
inclination, fuel burn,
even the cockpit voice
recorder... black box
records everything.
That damage is
worse than I thought.
I'll have to send
this back to our lab
in D.C. to recover the data.
The California Institute of
Science lab is a lot closer.
We've got the equipment there.
We've certainly
got the know-how.
Beats waiting around
five days for results.
That's what I'm saying.
So if the ranger was
the first one on the scene,
and he arrived just
minutes after the crash...
Yeah, but how do
we know he was first?
What, you mean the shooter?
No. I searched all
over these woods.
There weren't any
trails or boot prints.
Well, guys,
I mean, a dead ranger
and a crashed plane...
It doesn't feel like a
coincidence to me.
Well, if the shooter is tied
directly to the plane crash,
he had to be here ahead of time.
Just waiting for the
plane to fall out of the sky?
Wow.
Who knew a black
box isn't really black?
Yeah. For it to be
damaged at all is so rare.
Oh, they must have
been flying awfully fast.
Probably hit the ground
full-force. Yeah, well,
hard enough to damage
the stacked memory boards.
Hey, Amita, um,
what was that... that
DVD you lent me?
Oh, The Bicycle
Thief. The Bicycle Thief.
Yeah. It was great, right? Yeah.
Uh, I won't be returning it.
Oh, you liked it that much?
It was stolen inside
my DVD player,
along with a vase, a blender,
my Dad's laptop.
Wait. Someone
broke into your house?
Yeah, last night.
Police think
it's probably just
a bunch of kids.
If there is anything
our department can do to help...
Yeah, um, you and Ranger
Hadwin were the only rangers
stationed up
here, is that right?
This time of year,
the ridge is quiet.
It was just the two of us.
Did either of you
encounter anyone up here?
Maybe anyone camping
out, or living off the land?
Summers, we see campers.
But, um, now...
Phil and I had the whole
mountain to ourselves.
I'm sorry.
No, it's okay.
I understand you two
were probably close.
Phil was my... husband.
I'm so sorry.
I-I had no idea.
I didn't want it to
make a difference.
I want to help you find
whoever did this to him.
I need this.
I need to be doing something
to keep my mind busy.
Yeah.
Hold on, gentlemen.
This is a crime scene.
This whole area
is off limits to... Sir!
I'm really sorry.
I'll be right back, okay?
Hey, guys, I'm going to
need to see some credentials.
You don't understand.
That's my plane.
Okay, what do you
mean, that's your plane?
My name is Aaron Helm.
I'm CEO of AeroNomics.
Those were my
people in that crash.
Well, sir, I'm sorry, but we
still can't have you back here.
I've got five families who
are looking for answers.
All of the passenger bodies
have been moved to the L.A.
Coroner's Office,
so the families will be
receiving a call shortly.
My God, if this was my fault...
John, we don't know that yet.
And you are?
John Wellner, the
plane's mechanic.
We're a very small company.
The more I can
tell my people now,
the easier it's going
to be for all of us.
Cause of the crash is
yet to be determined.
So please go back
and be with the families.
When we have any real
information, we'll contact you.
All right, there you go.
The input buses are connected.
Gentlemen,
the digital flight
data recorder,
also known as the black box.
This will allow us to recreate
the last moments of the flight...
Altitude, air pressure,
flap movement,
pitch, you name it.
As you can see,
right after wheels-up,
the pilot hands over
control of the aircraft
to the Flight
Management Computer.
And that's normal, right?
Sure. I mean, the fact is,
with the help of the plane's
Inertial Reference System,
the FMC can basically fly
and land a plane within
a millimeter of accuracy.
Okay, coming
through 10,000 feet.
That's where
the plane hits the mountain.
But didn't the impact happen
at around 6,000 feet?
Yes, it did, and the altimeter
is just north of 10,000.
So, it's off by 4,000 feet.
All right, so there's something
wrong with the altimeter.
It's unlikely. Every
plane's got triple back-up.
If one system fails,
a second checks in.
Well, so, the Inertial Reference
System was wrong times three?
How do you look out a window
and not see a
mountain coming at you?
No moon, black sky.
We had the exact situation
a few years back with
Air New Zealand flight 901.
Now, because of that accident,
mistakes like this
are almost impossible.
So what... sabotage?
I can't tell you without the
Flight Management Computer.
Yeah, but isn't
that what this is?
No. This is the black box.
It just records and stores data.
Right, the Flight
Management Computer
is-is the aircraft's brain.
Which, unfortunately, we
haven't been able to find yet.
Wow. Well, uh, with the
data from the black box,
along with a topographical
map of the impact site,
what I can do is,
calculate a highly-precise,
predictive debris field pattern.
That will help us find the
Flight Management Computer.
With some math
and a little persistence,
the Flight Management Computer
shouldn't be too hard to locate.
Thank God
for the geometry of
predictive trajectories.
I was thinking the
exact same thing.
What's the measurement?
45 feet, two inches.
Oh, uh...
Have you heard anything
else about the burglary?
You know what, to be honest,
I'm so caught up with this...
My Dad's dealing
with it. No, I know.
But, um... is he okay?
Uh, I know how he
is about that house.
You know, when I
was an undergrad,
I never locked my dorm room.
Until someone came in one day
and stole a Fossil
watch right off my desk.
Changed my thinking.
I always lock my door, you know?
Sometimes I double and
sometimes I even triple check it.
I noticed that, that
cute little thing you do
where you unlock the
bolt, then relock the bolt.
What's the measurement?
63 feet, three inches.
No, Charlie, the point is,
is that having someone come in
and rob your house can
be a very emotional thing.
You know, maybe this is a
bigger deal than you realize.
It is bigger.
Are we not talking about
the same thing anymore?
We've planted eight flags.
Every one of them, the
trajectories were dead on,
the distances were off.
You allowed room for some
slosh in your calculations, right?
Yeah, but this isn't slosh.
I mean, with slosh...
the distances would
be off in both directions-
some short, some long.
Our predictions, the
distances are short,
every one by...
geez, by almost 15%.
Let me see.
It's like everything's
out of scale.
It's amplified.
Hold this.
Factoring in for this...
new nontrivial amplification
and combining that
with trajectories that
we've already mapped out,
we should be able to find...
the FMC!
Take a look at this.
These tire marks
started under some brush.
The, uh, axle width
and tread block
point to a Ford F-250 pickup.
Doesn't match with any
of the emergency vehicles
in the area.
You think this might
be the killer's truck.
Yeah. Look at this.
What is that, oil? Yeah.
It's concentrated here.
He was sitting
there for a while.
Waiting for the plane to crash.
Sick as it is, I can
see crashing a plane,
but why would you want to
be there when it comes down?
So...
we found the plane's Flight
Management Computer.
That's great, Charlie.
Yeah, but it wasn't
where it was supposed to be.
Yeah, we found it
by adjusting the size
of the debris field.
Sounds like a happy ending.
No, it's a problem.
Here, I'll show you.
You shouldn't come
between a man and his fiber.
All right, so that's
the debris field.
Now, this looks like
it's just sort of a random mess,
but it's not.
See, a debris field
size and shape
is actually governed
by variables like speed,
mass, angle of incidence,
ground topography.
Now, let's say this muffin had
walnuts in it, well, then
the mess would've
been much larger.
See, because walnuts weigh more.
And extra weight
means more mass,
which translates into
greater momentum.
Similarly, what we
have outside is...
a debris field
that's, that's much
larger than it should be.
Larger, because
the plane was heavier
than the manifest indicated.
Right about 1000 pounds heavier.
Well, what exactly
was this weight?
It has to be what the
killer was waiting for.
Just want to know
what's so valuable
that someone's
willing to crash a plane
and kill six people
in order to get it.
Okay, I've looked over
the debris field map twice.
Every major component
of the aircraft
is accounted for.
So, if Professor Eppes'
calculations are right,
we are definitely missing
1000 pounds of cargo.
Trust me, Professor
Eppes' calculations are right.
Those tire marks I found...
there were two sets...
One driving up to the crash,
the other one leaving.
The ones leaving were deeper.
Can somebody do this?
Can somebody know exactly
where this plane was
going to come down?
This peak is aligned
with the San Bernardino
Regional Airport
takeoff path.
We get as many as 15
planes an hour overhead.
So if they messed
with the altimeter,
made sure the plane
was 4,000 feet low...
It would crash right here.
Give or take a mile.
What was on that
plane, Mr. Helm?
Apparently there was a thousand
pounds of undeclared cargo.
Our scramjet prototype.
Which is?
Which is a new breed
of missile propulsion.
It's efficient, it's
clean, it's fast.
We can have some
of my technicians
identify its parts
among the wreckage.
NTSB's already inventoried
the major debris
from the wreckage.
They didn't find
anything like that.
What are you saying? It's gone.
This thing is missing.
Who do you think might
be after it? Could be
any one and a
half-dozen propulsion labs.
We're all racing to develop
a viable scramjet prototype.
First ones in are
going to get billions
in government contracts.
That's why it wasn't
on the manifest.
We were flying it out
to Santa Fe for testing.
We didn't want anyone to know
how far along we were.
How about the
mechanic for the plane?
Who's he? Where's he at?
John Wellner? Yeah.
He isn't here.
After we were out
at the crash site,
saw all our friends dead,
he was a basket case.
I sent him home.
So, the State Department said
because the
scramjet's a prototype,
they're not worried about
it as an imminent threat.
The FAA analyzed the plane's
Flight Management Computer.
It was reprogrammed
two days ago.
Now, you need a lot
of technical knowledge
just to get at the FMC.
It sits inside
an obscure panel
underneath the nose cone.
Something an airplane
mechanic would know.
Colby and Edgerton just called
me from Wellner's apartment.
He never made it back home.
And Helm was saying
that they're worried
that someone's going to rip
off the designs for the scramjet.
So no one supposedly
outside the company
knew the thing was
on the plane.
Which means, pretty much,
whoever wanted it they
had to have an inside man.
Look at this, David. That's
a pretty narrow space.
So if somebody wanted
to mess with that FMC,
it'd be pretty hard not
to leave some prints.
Oh, hey.
Hi, Charlie. Hey.
Hey, uh...
look, I-I just want, um...
I'm sorry about running
out on you last night.
That was...
Well, you did say it was
about an airplane crash.
Yeah, some pretty interesting...
debris field dynamics
emerged, actually.
You know what really bugs me?
Before last night,
everyone who walked through
that front door was invited.
Well, hey, let's be
grateful that it wasn't worse.
That what they took were
just things and things
can be replaced...
Things?!
Some of those things
were lifetime memories.
I mean, really good memories.
Even the bad ones,
they belonged to us.
Somebody violated that.
I-I understand.
Look, I worked on
over 50 criminal
cases, I'm certain
I can crack a minor larceny.
All I need is the right data.
I'll tell you what I can do,
I can apply a Heterogeneous
Poisson Process
on the DVD thefts,
and cross-reference that
with data and stats
on stolen blenders.
I mean, you know, it'll probably
yield some sparse results,
to say the least...
Yeah, well, whatever.
You know, um,
I don't want to sound corny,
but I've always
looked at this house
as an heirloom for you and Don.
Well, then I paid two
percent over market value
for the "heirloom."
Well, capital gains
notwithstanding,
this has been home for 30 years.
Hey.
What's up with the no beer?
You could thank the
burglars for that one.
You look beat.
Yeah, I've just spent three
hours waiting for some prints
that came back smudged.
Smudged? How smudged?
What do you mean?
Smudged. Only 'cause
there's very exciting
work being done
with Deconvolution Algorithms.
Yeah, as in that would
fix my fingerprints?
Yeah.
Now, the principle
here is fairly simple.
Uh, picture a sprinter
and a photographer
with a cheap camera
Now, without the
right shutter speed,
the sprinter's gonna
smear across the frame.
Edges are blurred and fine
details are no longer visible.
A Wavelet-based Deconvolution
Algorithm analyzes the image,
sharpens the edges
and restores the details...
To find the picture
beneath the smear.
The same technique was
used to fix the fuzzy vision
of the original
Hubble Telescope.
And if we apply
a similar algorithm
to our smudged fingerprints...
It's like the computer putting
on corrective lenses.
The prints on the nose
comb belong to Mike Daley.
He works in AeroNomics'
IT department.
Because of their
government contracts,
all employees have to
register their fingerprints.
IT guy would probably know how
to tamper with
the flight computer.
All right, go get him.
Mike Daley!
FBI! Open up.
Up or down? I'll take up.
Hey!
♪ ♪
Bet I can pull the trigger
before you hit the gas.
I know how this looks.
Looks like your fingerprints
all over the nose cone
of the company plane.
Two days later, it's
smashed to a million pieces,
five people are dead.
You reprogrammed
the flight computer.
I always reprogram
the flight computer.
The FAA issues update software
every six months, um...
new approach patterns,
decommissioned runways.
I'm the guy who installs them.
We're a small company.
I help out where I can.
The plane's mechanic
John Wellner is too big
to get into the nose cone,
so he has me do it.
Now, you see...
that still doesn't explain
why you went out the
window when we showed up.
Mr. Helm said that, um,
a computer malfunction
brought the plane down.
I panicked.
Maybe I installed it wrong.
Maybe...
I killed my friends.
Only one problem with his story.
The FAA hasn't issued
any recent updates.
So what did Wellner
have him install?
So, Colby, where
are we with Wellner?
Well, he's not at home,
not at the hangar,
not at AeroNomics,
and he's not answering
his cell phone. All right,
so he's in the wind, right?
Yeah, and I ran a deeper
background check on him.
Clean, this guy is not.
Used to run an air
charter business
out of the Florida Keys.
DEA suspected it was bankrolled
by a Salvadorian drug runner
named Victor Morelos.
Wellner's a drug smuggler?
Well, never proven, but he
tested positive for cocaine
during a flight physical,
lost his license.
Ended up drifting back west
and got a job as a
mechanic for AeroNomics.
All right, well, we've got
enough for a warrant, right?
So, let's hit his apartment.
Agent Granger.
Hey, Ranger Williams.
I just wanted to check in,
see if you had made any
progress on finding Phil's killer.
We're working a few leads.
You know, I can't really
discuss any of the details
while the investigation
is still open.
I'm sorry.
Don't apologize.
Part of coming here
was really just an excuse
to get off the mountain.
Without Phil, it's just me.
I couldn't really figure
out where else to go.
You know, um...
Hey, Colby, warrant
for Wellner's apartment
just came through.
Edgerton's waiting
in the war room.
You're going to
get through this.
What?
More with the plane crash?
Somebody's tricked
the airplane's computer
into thinking it was
4,000 feet higher
than it really was.
So, so the crash
was intentional?
That's why we're dissecting
code line by line.
What's confusing is there's
so much code in this thing.
So, we've decided
to play a little trick
on the program.
We're rolling back
the internal clock
and fooling it into thinking
the plane hasn't crashed yet.
And we've just
faked the plane crash.
The extra code
hasn't been accessed.
Really?
There's nothing.
Well, then, what's it there for?
Well...
your job isn't done yet.
Hitting the side
of the mountain,
that pretty much
ends the flight.
Well, the flight's
computer is its diary, so...
its job isn't over
until Mom and Dad
read all the good parts.
She's right.
I mean, the program
isn't finished running
until the NTSB
downloads the information.
Right.
What was that?
I don't know.
It deleted itself.
It doesn't want to be seen.
Any luck finding Wellner?
Eh, just tossed his apartment.
Empty hangers in the closet,
underwear drawer empty,
no toothbrush.
Sounds like he's
not coming back.
You find any clues to
where he might have gone?
Sure.
Guess who got to
go Dumpster-diving
behind Wellner's apartment?
Oh, seniority is
a son of a bitch.
Wellner had to
pull up in a hurry.
Guys in a hurry make
mistakes, leave a trail.
Shall we?
Four days ago, Wellner
drained an IRA account
despite a ten percent
penalty for early withdrawals.
Bought a Gortex coat,
wasn't in his closet.
That would make sense.
Wellner's Web printouts
are of these little houses
up in Washington State,
Montana and Idaho.
Retiring to the mountains
to do some fishing.
Here's a padlock.
Could be for anything.
Could be... for a storage
facility in Van Nuys.
D-48.
Storage manager
ID'd Wellner's photo.
Said Wellner paid cash
two days ago for the locker.
Here it is.
Just an unschooled guess,
but that looks like
a scramjet to me.
They killed six
people to get this thing.
Think they would have
moved it out of L.A. by now.
It's Sinclair.
Yeah, we found the scramjet.
David.
John Wellner.
Looks like he didn't
make it out of town either.
Gunshot to the head,
just like the ranger.
Shell casing's the same caliber.
The tenants have 24-hour access.
They get in the outside
gate with a PIN code.
So when did Wellner use his?
At 4:48 P.M., and there
was no one else in or out
in 30 minutes
either side of that.
So no witnesses.
Right.
Come on.
So, Wellner gives
Daley a bad program
for the flight computer,
crashes the plane.
And his partners wait
up on the mountain
to collect the cargo.
It's one heck of a partnership.
Put a hole in Wellner's head
and leave him in his
own storage locker?
Yeah, they must have known
we were getting close to him,
didn't want him to talk.
Why leave the scramjet behind?
The locker's rent's been
paid three years in advance.
Yeah, you got to figure
three years from now,
the prototype's
worth less, not more.
Makes you wonder why
the hell six people died.
Why would someone crash
that plane, steal the scramjet
and mothball it?
I don't know.
Better figure it out; we got
a lot of bodies piling up here.
What do you mean?
Your mechanic, John
Wellner, he's dead.
Bullet to the head.
Look, we know he was
working with someone else
and we know you
had a lot of info
at your fingertips.
You keep saying how important
that thing is... I can see
where the company would
pay you to kill the project. Look.
You don't know what
you're talking about.
Just hold tight.
All right, so what do you need?
The plane crash
had nothing to do
with stealing that
scramjet engine.
What?
The scramjet's a mislead.
Look, did you hook the
plane's flight computer
into your mainframe yet?
Yeah, that's how we got the
reprogramming evidence. Well, then,
the program's almost
certainly vectored its way
into the FAA's computers by now.
Whoa, whoa, whoa,
what are you talking about?
What program?
This whole exercise was designed
so that someone could place
a malicious program
into the FAA's computer.
What does this program
do? I don't know yet.
I need access to
the FAA's mainframe.
Do you know how
guarded that access is?
It's the FAA, guys.
It's what he says he needs.
I'll make a call.
Thank you.
Stolen blenders?
That's not this.
That's the break-in, I'm
working on the break-in.
What, Dad's not all right?
That house means a lot to him.
Yeah.
Well, it's like the
screens, remember?
Every summer with the screens.
Right? Putting new screens in
every single window of that house.
Climbing out on that roof, and
then the flies come in anyway.
Right.
Just his way of checking in
with the house once a year.
Yeah, you're right.
Charlie, you have
some fans at the FAA.
If they've got a problem,
they want you to find it.
Great. All right, get to it.
All right, come on.
Review board called me
in on the spree killing case.
Figured it was about
what we did to Buck.
All they wanted to talk about
was you dinging Crystal Hoyle.
I told them you
had the clearer shot.
Is that true?
I figure you had your reasons.
Bad news first, well,
the bad news is that
the rogue program has fully
rooted itself in the
FAA's computers.
Good news is that we don't
have to ground air traffic.
So no mid-air collisions?
This one won't even
lose your luggage.
It was designed for
something very different.
Well, what was it designed for?
Uh, you ever hear of "squawk"?
Yeah, it's a seagull who
wakes me up every morning.
Not just a seagull.
An entire bird sanctuary.
Each bird has it's
own unique squawk.
Enough so that a
bird watcher spying
from the ground
can identify each bird
just by its sound.
Now think of the bird
watcher as the FAA's radar,
and each plane has
its own unique signal
so that Air Traffic Control
can identify each plane
by the code, or
"squawk" it receives.
The squawk is sent
from a transponder
in the plane, which tells
the radar not only location,
but also ground
designation and trajectory.
That's right, now
these are all the planes
flying over the city right now.
And each with its own
unique designation.
Let's say I programmed the virus
to listen for...
This one here. So I enter in its
squawk code.
Now it's gone.
What happened to it?
Whoever controls
this program can make
any plane in Southern California
invisible.
Consider M.C. Escher's
lithograph of the stairs.
Escher was famous for leading
the subjects of his artwork
back to where they started.
Like the path of the
monks in his drawing,
in Strange Loop Theory,
all math as well as
music and even biology,
can fold back in on itself,
and check in with its origin.
So a program that jumps
from computer to computer
can leave certain clues
that take us back to its author.
Amita and I traced
the program's code
via its Strange Loop.
And took you back to
the guy who wrote it?
It took me back to an
AeroNomics Computer used
by an IT technician...
Mike Daley.
Charlie, are you
saying he's behind this?
At least as far as
authoring the code.
Well, now we know why
he ran. This program,
is it tampering with the
FAA's computers right now?
No, it's still waiting
for an activation code.
You wrote the program
that crashed the plane.
We've done this before,
that was Wellner. No, this...
is Wellner.
I want a lawyer.
Why? What for?
You're free to go.
Yeah, go ahead. Take off, right?
I'll tell you how it's
going to go down though.
When they find you... and
they will, pal... they're gonna take
a nine millimeter pistol
and they're gonna put a hole
in your head just like that,
and just like Hadwin.
Not every guy
gets to know the caliber
of bullet that'll kill them.
Nobody was supposed to
die. They said that nobody
was going to get hurt.
Are you kidding me?
You wrote a program that
screwed with the altimeter of a plane
and crash it into a mountain!
What the hell did you
think was going to happen?!
You know, at least your
partners had the guts
to pull a trigger when they
killed Wellner and the ranger.
You hid behind a damn computer!
How could I know about the
ranger showing up so fast?
Look, I see three scenarios.
Okay, one, you walk out of here,
you wind up like that... two,
you go down for this alone,
you take a seat on death
row. Three, you rat out
your buddies and you save
your own miserable ass.
The guy behind it,
Wellner knew him.
We need a name!
I didn't want to know.
My job was to write
the programs and figure
out a way to backdoor
the FAA's computer.
How were you going to
make any money on it?
The backdoor doesn't
work without the pass code.
Wellner's friend, the
guy with the truck,
he was going to
pay us $2 million.
I'll do anything.
I'll cooperate.
Well, we're going to
find out if you mean that.
I played a hunch,
showed Daley a photo array.
He picked out Victor Morelos.
This guy ran drugs with
Wellner, right? Makes sense.
A smuggler's plane, even
without a transponder,
has a chance of being seen.
This program erases
the transponder number,
and the FAA won't
even look for the plane.
Yeah, so he'd
basically own the border.
Hey, don't I get
a bulletproof vest? What for?
Morelos always
goes for the head shot.
Just make sure you get
him to take that program.
The more you can get
him to say, the better.
Um...
I don't know about this.
Right now, everything
we have on Morelos
is circumstantial.
But you on the other hand,
you're a prime candidate
for Guantanamo Bay.
Yeah, and about ten or twelve
years of alternative
interrogation methods
to look forward to.
Yeah, relax, you've
got the fifth best shot
in the country
covering your ass.
Hey, fourth. Right.
You don't want to ask
how I moved up one spot.
Button your shirt.
I've been thinking,
maybe I take my chances
with Homeland
Security after all.
$50 says the kid rabbits.
Too late.
Got a silver Ford
pickup just pulled in.
F-250, I got it.
Hey.
We good?
Good.
Yeah, sure. We're good.
Well?
You bring it?
You bring my final payment?
Well, first we've got to
make sure that this thing
of yours actually works.
Sure. I got the stick drive
right here. Whoa-ho.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Mikey, take it easy with
the hand in the pocket, okay?
Take it easy. I trust you.
My boy here's a
little overprotective.
You're shaking. Calm down.
You really think I'd
try to pull anything
after seeing what
you did to Wellner?
What did I do to Wellner, Mike?
He's blowing it.
It's going south, guys.
What did I do to Wellner, Mike?
Uh...
Who've you been talking
to, Mike? What do you know?
FBI! Don't move! Back up!
FBI! FBI!
Put your hands up!
Put them up!
Back up right now.
Drop it!
I will kill him. You
know I'll do this.
You know I'll do this!
Back up!
I'm walking out
of here right now.
Get away!
Drop the gun!
Back up!
Put your hands up! Get down!
Get down!
You hit? You okay?
That ought to make
me number three.
♪ She says, "Wake up,
it's no use pretending..." ♪
Thanks.
For being here.
♪ Birds are leaving... ♪
I can understand why
you guys moved up here.
Away from the city,
you almost forget where you are.
I'll never forget.
♪ Naked as we came ♪
♪ One will spread our... ♪
♪ Ashes 'round the yard. ♪
No. No chess.
I win, you pout.
Well, we're not playing poker.
I'm not your personal ATM.
Aw, come on...
One game. Hey, come on.
You've said no to
Scrabble, Jenga, Battleship
and air hockey.
Wussy games. Hey.
Hey, Charlie.
I got a breakthrough
on the burglary.
Hey, Millie. Hey, hey, Charlie.
So, I've mapped out
an associative model of crime,
based on the victim
experience, our experience.
It is kind of cool being
a major component
in a criminal equation.
Yeah, and so, so?
I can tell you the
guy's definitely
in Los Angeles. I
can tell you that.
Oh. He's in Los Angeles.
Don't say it like that.
A few more days,
a little more data collected...
I might have a
short list to give
to the police. DON: Hello. Hey.
Hey, in here.
Look what I got.
Hey, Millie, how're you
doing? Good, how are you?
Wait a second, is that...?
My laptop. Your laptop.
Yeah, I had Pasadena
PD track the GPS inside.
Of course! The GPS
in your laptop. It's standard
now on all models since 2005.
They just punch in a code
and there it was blinking
away at, uh, 3rd and Lucas.
What do you got here?
A rather long way around.
Stole my collar.
Your collar, huh?
I would've gotten him.
In six or seven years, maybe.
At least I was working
on it. I wasn't sitting
around playing
games. Ooh, well...
Who wins the games, huh?
Millie Finch, I believe
12, and the Eppes boys
zero. You want to put that
record on the line
with a game of spoons?
Spoons?
What, you boys play
games with your cutlery?
I have an idea that it's
right up your alley. Oh, yeah?
All right, hand me your spoons.
Well, you guys ate
off both of these.
Do we have other...?
Come on, Charlie.
Man up. What are you?
This house is kind of a weird.
Who wants a beer? Anyone?
There's still no beer.