Numb3rs (2005–2010): Season 3, Episode 2 - Two Daughters - full transcript
The team is in a race against time to rescue fellow agent Megan from the clutches of Crystal Hoyle.
NUMBERS #039 D "Two
Daughters" closed captioned
♪ ♪
♪ Kill it, kill it, and
bring it back to life ♪
♪ Kill it, kill it, and
bring it back to life ♪
♪ Well, it's a hustle, it's a
hustle every day of life ♪
♪ And it's enough to keep
your head above the water, see ♪
♪ It seems the older I get,
the more freedom I have ♪
Face forward.
♪ But everything is
complicated to me... ♪
Turn to the right. ♪ Responsibility,
parkin' tickets, stress ♪
♪ Oh, my God, get off my
back before I snap and break ♪
♪ Know I got to
elevate, rob my fate ♪
♪ Stoppin' by the turn,
to recharge my cells ♪
♪ Get with the bros and
have a couple laughs ♪
♪ Take a long drive,
'cause I'm still alive ♪
♪ And if the pressure didn't
get me then, won't get me now ♪
♪ Stay high as the
sky and bust the... out ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Free ♪
♪ Free, yeah ♪
♪ Free ♪
♪ Yeah, free... ♪
"Buck goes free."
Looks like she left
out the "or else."
Yeah?
We're doing a complete
canvas of the area, but
aren't a lot of people out
here past 9:00, 10:00 at night.
What about this diner?
Shift change was 6:00 a.m.
We're tracking down
the night crew right now.
I mean, she left it
like this for a reason.
She's way off her M.O.
No dead bodies left behind.
COLBY: Yeah, what if
it's not a body, though?
Maybe it's a
hostage. DON: Maybe.
What's the deal with Megan? Where
is she already? I tried calling her
at her apartment and her cell
phone... there was no answer.
Yeah, well, try Larry. We
don't have a number for him.
And you know he's
not listed, right?
Wait. Fleinhardt?
Charlie!
You kidding me?
Fleinhardt and Megan?
Yeah, man, for about
a few weeks now.
So everybody knows?
Everybody knows now.
I can't believe
she didn't tell me.
Yeah, so it's... it's
like I said earlier.
I mean, even with the new
point, I doubt my pursuit curves
are gonna hold up any longer.
You know, given the
arrest of Buck Winters,
the change in movement
from random to-to incentivized,
they're no longer a team.
Right. You got a number
on Larry, give it to Colby.
Uh, actually, Larry
doesn't have a number.
He doesn't have a phone. Really?
He doesn't have a cell phone?
Yeah. He calls them
"electronic leashes."
Look, you could
try him at his office,
but, you know,
it's still pretty early.
(phone ringing) Oh, wait.
Maybe this is her here.
Yeah, I got her.
Megan, what's the deal?
Is this Agent Eppes, number
one on her speed dial?
Who is this?
Exactly who you think it is.
I want a straight-up
trade... Buck for Reeves.
All right, let me talk to her.
Burbank Airport, 6:00 p.m.
Have a Cessna
fueled and ready to go.
All right, get an APB on Megan's
car, and a tap on her cell phone.
Start a GPS tracking. If you get
anything, I want it triangulated.
MEGAN (recording):
Hey, you've reached 323...
Oh, damn! Pull
Winters out of holding.
What-What's going on?
Hoyle's got Megan. Let's go!
DISPATCHER: Attention all units.
We have an APB, 207
kidnapping of a federal agent.
So, Hoyle ditched
Megan's cell phone
in a garbage can off of Alameda.
We got roadblocks
set up all over town.
All right, good.
There she is.
Right.
DON: All right, let's
see how long she waited.
(keyboard clicking)
COLBY: She didn't wait.
She followed.
DON: All right, look.
So, Hoyle wakes up, she
finds Buck missing, right?
They've already killed one
old boyfriend, Pierce Brenner.
DON: And he's out looking for
this guy, Billy Rivers, who-who
is boyfriend number two.
She must have shown up right
at the time we locked up Buck.
And followed us
straight back here.
DON: That takes
some guts, parking
right out there, man.
What kind of person
takes that kind of risk?
The scariest kind...
Too crazy to care, smart
enough not to get caught.
LARRY: We-We had breakfast.
We said good-bye.
What time was that?
Oh, I don't know.
4:30 or quarter to 5:00.
Did you notice anything else?
A car maybe, somebody
hanging around?
No, no. I was just...
I was focused on Megan.
And that is not true.
That's not true.
I had my own agenda.
My own need to return to
my own intellectual orbit.
What the hell is wrong with me?
We're going to get
her back, Larry, okay?
She's one of ours.
If I'd just waited
the 15 minutes,
followed her car
home with my car.
Larry,
Megan is a decorated FBI agent,
she's a black belt in Krav Maga,
and one of the best
shots in this office.
What-What are you...?
Is this your artless way
of saying that I lacked
the competence to defend her?
It's my way of saying
that on a good day,
any one of us can be gotten to.
(door opening)
It's bolted to the wall.
But go ahead and
satisfy yourself.
You've kidnapped
a federal agent.
I'm wanted for murder, assault,
enough robberies to lose track.
You really want to tell me now
how I'm supposed to let you go
before I get into big trouble?
You're smart enough to
know what you're doing.
What I want to know is why.
I told them I'd
trade you for Buck.
That keeps you breathing,
till 6:00 p.m., at least.
'Cause you really think
they're going to
negotiate with you?
(laughs) No, you don't.
You're not stupid,
and I don't believe
you're crazy, either.
Throwing away the life I had,
there are those
who would disagree.
Yeah, 'cause they
don't know what it's like
to live a life that
isn't your own.
(chuckles)
You read a few files,
you figure you understand me?
Yeah, I might know
you a little better
than you think, Crystal.
I left home at 16.
Oh. How long did it take
them to drag you back?
I didn't go back.
But, you know,
things got a little crazy,
and I had a wakeup call,
and I had to decide which
way the rest of my life
was going to go.
(sighs)
Yeah? You ever miss crazy?
16 and waking up every day free,
having no idea where the
day was going to take me?
Yeah, I miss it.
Is there some reason
you're telling me
all this? The more
you know about me, the
less likely you are to kill me.
(laughs)
Sit down.
Crystal took a hostage.
So?
A federal agent she
wants to trade you for.
And you want your agent back?
Then you'd better.
You're not going anywhere until
you tell me what I want to know.
That's fine.
I got all day.
Well, I don't, and
that should worry you.
Yeah? Why?
'Cause nothing matters to me
except getting my agent
back, and I got very little time,
and you're my only lead.
So what?
What are you going to do?
Are you going to beat me up?
I've never beaten a prisoner
in my life, but if you don't
tell me what I want to know
by the time I walk
out of that door,
it's out of my hands.
I'm not telling you
anything.
You sure this is what you
want to do? Do I look unsure?
COLBY: Don, I'm just
saying, I've seen what happens
when you cross certain lines.
It can be really hard
to find your way back.
Colby, the only thing I
want to find is my agent.
Charles.
Why are you just
sitting here?
I'm thinking.
About?
Pareto improvements,
shapely values, centipedes.
You know, Charles,
Megan is a captive,
and she may be gravely wounded.
I think this might be
a time for solutions,
and not these-these
intellectual musings.
Larry, I'm every bit as
concerned about her as you are.
Oh, I doubt that.
But for me to help,
I need to maintain
an even temper
and a lucid thought process,
so, your anxiety
is understandable,
but it's not helpful.
Yeah, I know, I know.
I'm just clouded with emotion,
and I am perversely
resenting you
for your clear-headedness here.
What can I do to help?
Right now?
Leave.
I will do that.
They were staying in an
abandoned house off of Ventura.
She's probably
not there anymore.
All right, you got five
minutes to put together a team.
He tell you where she'd go next?
If he knew, he would've told me.
FBI! FBI!
Clear. Clear.
Megan's car.
All right, pop the trunk.
All right.
She dumped Megan's
phone about a mile
from here, and then
they changed cars.
Took Megan with her...
That means she's still alive.
CHARLIE: So what
we have, really,
is a bargaining game
with incomplete information.
You know, it's as if one
player has offered something
to a second player in
exchange for something
that the second player's
just unable to relinquish.
So the trick, I think,
is to alter the game,
or, you know, alter the
parameters of the game.
You mean like a sudden-death
overtime to break a tie score.
You know what?
That's not a bad
example. That's not bad.
However, imagine two
people playing tic-tac-toe.
If both play rationally, and
neither make a mistake,
well, then the game will
always end in a draw, right?
I mean in order
for one side to win,
you have to alter
the rules of the game,
you know allow "X" to, to
make two consecutive moves
or prohibit "O" from
choosing a crucial square.
You mean cheat. Well, yeah,
I mean you could
put it that way.
See-see our ability
to alter this game
stems from the fact
that Crystal Hoyle,
really, she wants
more than one thing.
When we caught Buck, they
were looking for Billy Rivers.
Rivers has been pretty
good at hiding from her
and from us, though. However,
we can apply some
forward induction
to that problem, as well.
Rivers' criminal history contains
one striking commonality,
the appearance of a specific
attorney in 81.25%
of his arrest record.
So you call that attorney.
You explain to him
that his client derives
a greater benefit
from Crystal Hoyle's
apprehension than having to,
to hide for an indeterminate
amount of time.
You think he might go for that?
Well, hey, you know, look.
Even a lawyer can't
argue with math.
So you got to explain
something to me.
Isn't that how the bad guys
always get caught in the movies,
explaining too much?
You really consider
yourself to be a bad guy?
Don't you?
I don't generally
believe in bad and
good, I believe in reasons.
I think Buck killed his father
and that was his
reason for running.
But I don't know what yours is.
Well, I couldn't
just abandon him.
Sweet boy.
So intense.
Don't you remember what life
was like when you were that age,
and love was just
so uncomplicated?
Yeah, but,
Crystal, he's just a boy.
Oh, really?
'Cause I don't know many
men twice his age
that'd be willing
to take care of a
woman and her...
And her what?
Are you pregnant?
No, I'm not pregnant.
Were you pregnant?
Once upon a time.
When you were 15, is
that why you ran away?
No, I ran away because
I was a B plus student,
soccer team, never kissed a boy.
Parents never let
me out of their sight
they were so afraid of
me screwing up my life.
So that's exactly what you did.
You came here
and you got involved
with a married man,
and your friend Lydia...
said you ran away
for six months.
Did Brenner get you pregnant?
Yeah, all of a sudden
he couldn't leave his wife.
His father-in-law was going
to help him open up a car lot.
So he made some arrangements.
All Pierce had
to do was drive
me to Billy's house.
It was the last I
saw of that bastard.
Until Tuesday night.
But I'll say one
thing for Billy,
he's a better
salesman than Pierce.
'Cause he convinced
me that my daughter
would be better off
with some other family.
Crystal, do you know
where your daughter is?
No.
Billy's going to tell me.
And I'm going to find
her and get her back.
Haven't seen the
girl in like 15 years.
But you knew she
was looking for you.
Uh, that friend of hers,
Lydia, was asking around.
I heard Crystal'd
been on the Strip,
hitting some of the old places,
talking to some
of the old people.
Why does she
want to kill you, Billy?
Who says she does?
She shows up, you drop
everything, disappear,
you tuck tail and run?
Girlfriend shows up, way
past the expiration date,
you don't go out of your way
to make yourself available,
you know what I mean?
I thought he was
here to cooperate.
My client is cooperating.
Came here of his own volition.
Anything?
They're wasting our time here.
Take a look at this.
May change his attitude.
It's the deep background Megan
requested on Pierce Brenner.
DON: In 1992, Pierce
Brenner made a $50,000 payoff.
Pierce who? Not to you.
To you.
Come on, you're
asking me about a single
fee from 15 years ago...
From a dead car dealer
who had the same
girlfriend as your client.
In 1992.
So?
So, that's a small
world, Counselor.
Wait a minute, Brenner's dead?
Hoyle killed him two nights ago,
and if you don't help me here,
you're gonna be
bait for me out there.
Are you threatening my client?
Yeah, you bet your ass I am.
We came in here
voluntarily. Hey.
I have an agent four, five hours
away from being
killed. We're done here.
Oh, you may be but
he's not. Arrest him.
Arrest me? For what? For
statutory rape, how's that huh?
Corrupting a minor, how about
that? Crystal Hoyle was 15.
You've just made a big
mistake, Agent Eppes.
Yeah, sue me.
I'm crossing lines here.
I'm doing things I
wouldn't have done before.
You know, I mean I'm desperate.
I-I don't know what else
to do, I got no answers.
You're not responsible.
No, that's exactly what I am.
And I should have
turned Edgerton loose
on that kid before;
I'd have Hoyle by now.
There's something called the
law of unintended consequences.
Charlie, I don't care
about your laws, all right?
I don't care about your
theories, or your algorithms.
You know, I mean
this is like spitting
in the ocean here.
The ocean?
We're reasonably certain
that Megan and Crystal
are somewhere in here.
Well, there's no such
thing as a perfect dragnet.
The roadblock went up
around the time that
she switched cars.
Right around here.
Well, there's something
called the trawler problem,
where a fast boat
chases a slower boat
until the slower boat
disappears into a fog bank.
Let me guess,
we're the faster boat.
Right, and-and this
is the fog bank.
The boundaries of the dragnet.
The solution to the problem
is for the faster boat to assume
that the slower boat
has turned around
and is heading back toward it.
EDGERTON: Why the hell
would she do that? She wouldn't.
The beauty of the
solution is it doesn't matter.
Using the last known location
of the missing boat
as an origin point,
we spiral out,
and intersect with
the slower boat
before completing a full turn.
Crystal took Megan from here.
At approximately 4:45 a.m.
She then contacted you,
and discarded
Megan's phone here,
at 6:50 a.m.
Shortly afterward, she and Megan
headed back...
here, where we
found Megan's car.
Charlie, this isn't the
open ocean, though.
This is a city.
Right, right. No, we have to
consider variegated terrain.
And a considerable
time gap.
Compensate for
the time lag, add overlapping
search spirals to
maximize the area covered.
Anyone else following this?
Just nod your head and
wait for the punch line.
Punch line... is
something like...
this.
DISPATCH: Special Agent
Epps, what is your current location?
All right, we're turning out to
Whitmore.
We could cross their
paths and not even know it.
Beats the hell out of
sitting around the office
waiting for Hoyle to
make the next move.
DISPATCH: Unit 3, heading
westbound on Whitmore.
Make this left on Beaudry.
Left on Beaudry.
Shouldn't we be
headed to the airport?
You think I'm a fool, don't you?
You don't just abandon
somebody that loves you.
That's the second time you
used the word "abandon."
You talking about
Buck or your daughter?
Billy just took her
right out of my arms.
Okay, listen to me.
You were 15 years old.
That's an explanation,
it's not an excuse.
I was too weak
to protect her then.
I'm not weak anymore.
Crystal, she's not a baby.
You're talking
about a teenage girl
who you wouldn't recognize
if she walked in that door. No.
There's a bond between a mother
and a child... You know what,
that is a fantasy.
You know what reality is?
You are thinking of ripping
her out of the
arms of two people
who've devoted their entire
lives to taking care of her.
And what kind of a life
do you have to offer?
You going to take her
on the road with you
robbing liquor stores?
Shut up! She is old
enough to be Buck's sister.
She's the same age
you were when you
left home, is that why
you're going to do this?
You're going to make your
child live through all the same
mistakes you made?
I thought
you were trying to stay alive.
I just... I want you
to think this through.
DISPATCHER: Report of gunshots,
Twilight Motel, Third and Bixel.
That's two blocks from here.
Yeah, that's the next stop
on Charlie's map.
(siren wailing)
Hey. Room 15.
(gunshot)
Move.
Shots fired, Twilight Motel.
DISPATCH: Copy that. All
units, additional shots fired.
Shoot me and we all go.
Okay.
Slow down, Crystal.
Just calm down.
Grenade!
(grunts)
(siren wailing)
They're up there!
Second floor!
Room 15!
Oh, hey, she's cut, guys!
Hey, Megan, Megan?
Can you hear me?
She's cut bad; it
looks like an artery.
Megan? She's in and out of it.
Megan, can you hear me?
Hold on, let me just
get this put on here.
Silver Pontiac.
I need to take the
vehicle. No, no, no, n-no.
We've got to get her to a
hospital, she's bleeding out here.
She doesn't have much time.
DAVID: Stay with us, okay?
COLBY: I'll get
the door to the car.
EDGERTON: LAPD'll
be here in two minutes.
She's getting away.
She doesn't have two minutes!
Let's go, let's go.
We got you, sweetie.
(grunts)
Stay with us, Megan.
MEGAN: Pierce Brenner
got Crystal Hoyle pregnant,
and then found a lawyer sleazy
enough to do the dirty work.
Yeah, yeah. We're all
over it... Adam Benton.
Paid him 50 Gs, right?
He was too smart to
leave a straight trail
to a 15-year-old pregnant girl,
so he farmed out
some of his dirty work
to one of his regular clients.
Billy Rivers.
Who knows where
that kid ended up?
Turns out this whole
thing wasn't just
about payback after all.
No, I think killing Brenner was
Crystal's way of symbolically
making room for Buck
as the surrogate father,
and once that affair
was uncovered,
which was totally rooted
in all the childhood traumas,
it was like the
floodgates opened
and now she's chasing
a 16-year-old fantasy
of love and family.
Well, Rivers is
thoroughly lawyered up
and we're going to
have a hell of a time
trying to dig up a
15-year-old black market baby.
We sure don't have enough
to take on his attorney Benton.
Judge'll never give us
a warrant on this little.
Right, well, we keep digging.
MEGAN: Hey, guys,
before this gets away
from us, I just wanted to say,
thanks very much for
the really good timing.
DON: Wasn't me.
It was all you, Kickass,
with that gunshot, come on.
It just felt like a really good
time for a Hail Mary there,
but I was so lucky
that you two were
in the area. COLBY: No.
That wasn't all luck.
Ooh, my friend Charlie.
Yeah, he invented
a whole new search pattern.
I think he's calling it
the "Reeves Variation."
(Megan laughing)
Oh, man, you get
kidnapped for the day,
you miss a lot around here.
DAVID: I still don't understand
why Crystal grabbed you.
I mean, she's smart enough
to know we weren't
going to release Buck.
I think she feels like she
failed to protect one child
and she didn't want to see
the same thing
happen to another.
I don't know,
maybe she just subconsciously
wanted her story told.
But you know,
the whole time we were in
there, she was outside the motel
on a pay phone.
DON: Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we're on the phone dump.
Don't you worry, all right,
you just get your rest.
We're supposed to let you
get rest, so let's go, guys.
Good job.
We're glad you're all right.
Charlie never
gave me a variation.
(laughs)
Hey, is she okay?
Yeah, yeah, she's fine,
but you guys got to
keep it short, all right?
David, uh, earlier today,
in the throes of, you know,
unprecedented anxiety and fear,
I-I said some things
and I used a word...
Artless. That's the word.
I just want you to
know, I-I apologize for,
and thoroughly renounce,
the harshness of my language.
You know I have to admit,
I thought I'd been called
every name there was,
but that was a new one, Larry.
Hey.
Oh, I'm sorry. Only
had a few hours...
I didn't want to waste it
going back to my apartment.
How's Megan?
Oh, she's going to be okay.
You can go visit her in
the morning if you want.
Yeah.
I can't stop thinking about
how far I would have
gone to get her back.
How far did you go?
Oh.
Hey, uh, remember
when you were in Little
League and you got beaned?
What, you mean when
John Kinsella thought
I was crowding the plate?
Well, you were
crowding the plate.
I blame myself for not telling
you to back off, but, um...
I took it out on your coach.
I told him to meet
me in the parking lot.
What?
My point is that, um, when
you care about people,
and feel responsible for them,
it can blind your good sense.
Yeah, well, that's the
question: When's it come back?
Or does it?
Well, in my case,
it was right at the
moment that I realized
that Coach McGuinness
was a Golden Gloves boxer.
(chuckles)
You see, when you
wrestle with your choices,
you can take that as a sign
that good sense will return.
Sooner or later.
Yeah, so what's
up with the condo?
Oh, I narrowed it down to two.
You know, Dad...
I kind of hate my apartment.
Relax, they both
have tennis courts.
Well, what I mean is...
I mean, I don't know
if you notice, but
I'm over here a lot.
No, really?
Yeah. And I got
that second room.
I keep thinking I should
do something with it.
It's full of boxes that have
been there, what, two years?
Are you suggesting
that I not move out?
No, what I'm saying is,
just don't underestimate
how great it is
to have somebody to
come home to talk to.
Oh.
Hey. Hey.
What are you doing here so late?
I could ask you the same thing.
Hey...
do you want to grab
that dinner that we missed?
Um, actually, I kind of
knew I'd be here late, so...
I got a sandwich
on the way in.
Um, I'm sorry.
I should have
waited for you, huh?
I should have... (clears throat)
I should have
called you at least.
No, it's fine. I'm not
that hungry anyway.
Um, Larry called me,
and I'm glad to hear
that Megan's okay.
I'm sorry. I really...
I should have...
I should have called you.
I shouldn't have not called you.
I just got so
preoccupied Charlie...
with the trawler problem, and...
Charlie. What?
Have you noticed
that you've been
apologizing to me a lot lately?
Whether you need to or not?
I'm so... I'm sorry.
No, I... It's just I
guess... yeah...
I have been feeling
a little pressure
since you decided to stay.
I don't want to disappoint you.
Or upset you.
But your solution is to walk
on eggshells around me?
Well, when you put it that
way, it sounds a little untenable.
Setting aside for one moment
the massively
egotistical presumption
that I opted for the
professorship at CalSci
just to date you...
No, that's... Look, Charlie,
I accepted an amazing position.
And, yes, I do want to try.
But only if you
want to try, too.
DON: You think she's taking off?
She gave up a lot
to get here to find
a long-lost daughter.
My instinct says no.
Well, you know, you
should talk to Megan...
See what kind of
insights she got on Hoyle.
I have all the insight I need.
What, you don't
ever get tunnel vision
being on a manhunt this long?
I did.
Messed me up, changed me.
I had to give up that game.
That's the difference.
Hunting didn't change
me, it chose me.
Guys, I got the phone
dump back from the motel.
Two calls to the
Washington DC office
of the National Criminal
Information Center.
NCIC? Yeah.
Wait, Hoyle had Megan's
purse. That's her contacts, her ID,
badge. Accessing
a federal database
is a much better reason to grab a
fed than some crackpot hostage switch.
These calls went out
before 9:00 a.m., before
the APB traveled that far.
She was looking for
information on Billy Rivers
and his attorney of record.
Adam Benton.
All right, you on that? Yeah.
All right call me if
you get anything.
All right.
Time of death was
around 2:00 a.m.
Pistol-whipped and then shot.
Looks like Crystal
connected the dots.
She had the same
idea Charlie did.
If you can't find Rivers,
talk to his lawyer.
These files on the floor...
Payments to
hospitals, nursemaids,
birth certificate registrations.
Black market babies.
Scumbag like Rivers just can't
sell the kid out on the street.
He has to find himself a
respectable middle man.
Yeah, I'm figuring
all Crystal Hoyle
really wanted from Billy Rivers
was the name of the
guy who sold her baby.
And the names of the
people who bought it.
It doesn't look like she left
here without her answers.
Which means she knows
where her daughter is.
And we don't.
Aren't you defying the spirit
of the hospital's
discharge rules,
if not the letter?
I have to find her, Larry.
Crystal Hoyle?
Her daughter.
I mean, what's the difference
if we catch every
bad guy on Earth
if I can't save one innocent
life from being ruined?
Okay, granted, but where exactly
are we heading to?
I don't know.
Benton is dead, all
his files are gone.
Crystal Hoyle may be the
only person on the planet
who knows where her
daughter actually is.
Right this way.
You know, in physics we
approach similar conundrums
as inverse problems.
You mean, you
start with the answers
and you work your way back
to the question? That's correct.
Instead of exploring
the psyche of the hunter,
we look at the thought
processes of the hunted.
Okay, so we have
a childless couple
desperate to start a family.
So desperate
that they might turn a blind eye
to the morally opprobrious means
by which the child
comes into their lives.
Yes, you're right.
They would try and erase
all the emotional evidence.
They would take possession
by any acts of normalcy.
But what, what acts?
A birth certificate,
a pediatrician,
a social security number.
The first three
digits of a social
are assigned by the
zip code of the applicant.
CHARLIE: And the next two break
down numbers from the same area
into smaller, easier
to manage blocks.
Even if we focus on numbers
generated in Southern California,
that still leaves us
with a lot of data.
But in California, each hospital
is assigned a batch of
social security numbers
based on birthrate projections.
Which gives us another filter.
Exactly.
So then, by looking at
the remaining numbers
issued around the time
that Crystal's baby
would have been born...
we can apply a
sorting algorithm.
Like...
(computer beeps)
this.
That'll pull out
anomalous data in packets,
which we can further break down.
Right. Good.
You know, I started
playing golf last year
because my dad plays golf,
you know, Don
plays golf, so I thought
it might be something
we could do together.
Sounds great.
Except that I was terrible.
You know, my body wouldn't
do what it was supposed to do,
and the math of the ball
trajectory was always
being challenged by...
reality.
And right away,
I-I-I wanted to quit.
I think I tend... to
give up on things
that I don't learn quickly.
Which is a character
flaw that I am working on.
So, did you get better at golf?
No, I'm still terrible,
but I'm improving.
I'm enjoying the journey.
You know, if we put
something like this
in the filter, I think
that it would...
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that makes it...
That makes it so much more...
elegant.
There she is.
♪ ♪
♪ If there was a way ♪
♪ To give me ♪
♪ The colors that
are in your head ♪
♪ And we played
all our big scenes ♪
♪ You and I go everywhere ♪
♪ It's not like it was ♪
♪ And the children,
they seem to know ♪
♪ ♪
♪ My arms are open wide ♪
♪ But I can't see the light... ♪
(siren approaching)
(indistinct police
radio transmission)
(cell phone rings)
COLBY: Hello?
Megan, a call for you
came in from the switchboard.
Reeves.
She's beautiful, isn't she?
Yes, she is.
Crystal, it's time to come in.
I want to talk to Buck.
You need to trust me now.
I trust you to trace
this phone call.
You have Buck call me
and I might talk long
enough for you to find me.
Crys?
Hey, baby.
How are they treating you?
I screwed up, Crys.
I know you told me to
wait, but I couldn't just...
Shh, don't let it
get to you, Buck.
Screwing up's the part
of life you learn from.
BUCK: I told them it was all me.
I'm going to plead
guilty to everything.
You can turn yourself in now.
They have to let you go.
You sweet, silly boy.
You know how much I love you?
I love you, too, baby.
They can't keep us apart
from each other forever.
You'll wait for me,
won't you, Crys?
(beeping)
Hey, it's Eppes.
We need a helicopter
and a roadblock.
CRYSTAL: Only two
people in the world
I ever loved, and I'm no
good for either one of them.
What are you talking about?
Crys, you're my whole life.
Good-bye, Buck.
Crys?
Crys?
Signal's moving south.
She's running for Mexico.
She's got nothing left to lose.
Everything in front
of her's fair game.
The Galton Board, huh?
You drop enough balls,
you get a bell
curve distribution.
Honestly, Larry, I could do this
all day long.
Observing what happens
when we begin to block the paths.
The distribution changes,
the patterns
alters... and the ball
no longer has a choice
of where to fall.
All right, guys, heads up.
(sirens blare)
OFFICER: Turn off your
vehicle and step out of the car
with your hands in
view. (cell phone rings)
MEGAN (on phone): It
doesn't have to end this way.
I can't think of another way.
Could you tell my daughter...
Tell her what?
Nothing.
It's like I never was.
Crystal...
You might want to get out
of the way, Agent Reeves.
She's coming.
(tires screech)
She's gonna try to run us!
(gunshot, glass breaks)
(tires screeching)
(horn blares)
(horn continues)
All right, guys.
Let's clear it.
LARRY: You know, I am
forever looking outward
for my miracles.
Um, Comet Wild 2,
you know, with its core
forged in stellar flame.
The spectral properties
of supernova
remnant 1713.7-3946...
Just the sheer magnificence
of the Magellanic Clouds
and, I don't know,
every once in a while,
I allow these,
these outer wonders
to kind of blind me to
the, the inner miracles
that are occurring,
transpiring, every day
all around us.
I didn't see any
miracles today, Larry.
No, no, no, but, you see,
the tendrils that
connect human beings
one to another,
they're just so... unlikely.
So inherently, uh... fragile.
I-I think that it's
a miracle that they
even exist at all.
I should shut up, shouldn't I?
No.
You should kiss me now.
Okay.
Of course.
ANNOUNCER: You have to
earn a birdie on this par four.
Hey.
Hey.
You get her?
Bad, huh?
Yep.
Oh, golf?
Yeah, I thought I'd
remove the physical
aspect of the game.
Maybe then I can, uh...
Game your way into
a lower handicap?
Yeah.
Thought you were
done with this sport.
Yeah, I thought I
was, too, and then I...
kinda got into
trouble with Amita.
And golf gets you out of it?
Well, you're the man, Charlie.
You know what? You shouldn't use
your driver, you should
use the 3 wood there.
Because...?
Because of the green.
Here. I'll show you.
All right, just show
me. Just show me, then.
Well, give me the thing.
Why do you have to try...?
This has the ring of a
very familiar conversation.
What are you guys...?
Why do you have to...?
What is your problem?
That's so rude. You're making
a very awkward moment for me.
I have to ask my,
uh, my landlord
for a favor. (bickering)
Will you tell him to stop it?
Will you tell him to quit it?
What?
I would like to, uh,
build a private staircase
to my, uh, bedroom.
At my own expense, of course.
What? I thought
you were moving out.
Well, I changed my mind.
Hold on, so no tennis?
You'll have to play
on the public courts,
my friend, like everyone else.
I'm sorry.
And this shouldn't
be construed as disappointment.
Hmm?
What happened?
Well, I did a little
math of my own.
And I, uh, measured
the, um, benefits of privacy
versus the pleasure
of your company.
Oh. What are you doing?
Well... You're playing golf!
Yeah. Oh!
Thinks he's training
for a comeback.
Is that a 3 wood you're using?
That's Don's 3 wood.
You can't use a 3 wood.
He's gotta get
it up, that's why.
No, you gotta
use a 2 iron. Here,
let me show you.
Dad, what are you talking about?
This is so ridiculous, you know.
A little expertise wouldn't
hurt anybody. This is my game.
This is my TV set.
This is my own house.
Well, why don't you
get us some of your beers then?
Watch the driver.
Quiet. Watch it.
GAME ANNOUNCER: Great shot!
165 yards down the fairway...
Daughters" closed captioned
♪ ♪
♪ Kill it, kill it, and
bring it back to life ♪
♪ Kill it, kill it, and
bring it back to life ♪
♪ Well, it's a hustle, it's a
hustle every day of life ♪
♪ And it's enough to keep
your head above the water, see ♪
♪ It seems the older I get,
the more freedom I have ♪
Face forward.
♪ But everything is
complicated to me... ♪
Turn to the right. ♪ Responsibility,
parkin' tickets, stress ♪
♪ Oh, my God, get off my
back before I snap and break ♪
♪ Know I got to
elevate, rob my fate ♪
♪ Stoppin' by the turn,
to recharge my cells ♪
♪ Get with the bros and
have a couple laughs ♪
♪ Take a long drive,
'cause I'm still alive ♪
♪ And if the pressure didn't
get me then, won't get me now ♪
♪ Stay high as the
sky and bust the... out ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Free ♪
♪ Free, yeah ♪
♪ Free ♪
♪ Yeah, free... ♪
"Buck goes free."
Looks like she left
out the "or else."
Yeah?
We're doing a complete
canvas of the area, but
aren't a lot of people out
here past 9:00, 10:00 at night.
What about this diner?
Shift change was 6:00 a.m.
We're tracking down
the night crew right now.
I mean, she left it
like this for a reason.
She's way off her M.O.
No dead bodies left behind.
COLBY: Yeah, what if
it's not a body, though?
Maybe it's a
hostage. DON: Maybe.
What's the deal with Megan? Where
is she already? I tried calling her
at her apartment and her cell
phone... there was no answer.
Yeah, well, try Larry. We
don't have a number for him.
And you know he's
not listed, right?
Wait. Fleinhardt?
Charlie!
You kidding me?
Fleinhardt and Megan?
Yeah, man, for about
a few weeks now.
So everybody knows?
Everybody knows now.
I can't believe
she didn't tell me.
Yeah, so it's... it's
like I said earlier.
I mean, even with the new
point, I doubt my pursuit curves
are gonna hold up any longer.
You know, given the
arrest of Buck Winters,
the change in movement
from random to-to incentivized,
they're no longer a team.
Right. You got a number
on Larry, give it to Colby.
Uh, actually, Larry
doesn't have a number.
He doesn't have a phone. Really?
He doesn't have a cell phone?
Yeah. He calls them
"electronic leashes."
Look, you could
try him at his office,
but, you know,
it's still pretty early.
(phone ringing) Oh, wait.
Maybe this is her here.
Yeah, I got her.
Megan, what's the deal?
Is this Agent Eppes, number
one on her speed dial?
Who is this?
Exactly who you think it is.
I want a straight-up
trade... Buck for Reeves.
All right, let me talk to her.
Burbank Airport, 6:00 p.m.
Have a Cessna
fueled and ready to go.
All right, get an APB on Megan's
car, and a tap on her cell phone.
Start a GPS tracking. If you get
anything, I want it triangulated.
MEGAN (recording):
Hey, you've reached 323...
Oh, damn! Pull
Winters out of holding.
What-What's going on?
Hoyle's got Megan. Let's go!
DISPATCHER: Attention all units.
We have an APB, 207
kidnapping of a federal agent.
So, Hoyle ditched
Megan's cell phone
in a garbage can off of Alameda.
We got roadblocks
set up all over town.
All right, good.
There she is.
Right.
DON: All right, let's
see how long she waited.
(keyboard clicking)
COLBY: She didn't wait.
She followed.
DON: All right, look.
So, Hoyle wakes up, she
finds Buck missing, right?
They've already killed one
old boyfriend, Pierce Brenner.
DON: And he's out looking for
this guy, Billy Rivers, who-who
is boyfriend number two.
She must have shown up right
at the time we locked up Buck.
And followed us
straight back here.
DON: That takes
some guts, parking
right out there, man.
What kind of person
takes that kind of risk?
The scariest kind...
Too crazy to care, smart
enough not to get caught.
LARRY: We-We had breakfast.
We said good-bye.
What time was that?
Oh, I don't know.
4:30 or quarter to 5:00.
Did you notice anything else?
A car maybe, somebody
hanging around?
No, no. I was just...
I was focused on Megan.
And that is not true.
That's not true.
I had my own agenda.
My own need to return to
my own intellectual orbit.
What the hell is wrong with me?
We're going to get
her back, Larry, okay?
She's one of ours.
If I'd just waited
the 15 minutes,
followed her car
home with my car.
Larry,
Megan is a decorated FBI agent,
she's a black belt in Krav Maga,
and one of the best
shots in this office.
What-What are you...?
Is this your artless way
of saying that I lacked
the competence to defend her?
It's my way of saying
that on a good day,
any one of us can be gotten to.
(door opening)
It's bolted to the wall.
But go ahead and
satisfy yourself.
You've kidnapped
a federal agent.
I'm wanted for murder, assault,
enough robberies to lose track.
You really want to tell me now
how I'm supposed to let you go
before I get into big trouble?
You're smart enough to
know what you're doing.
What I want to know is why.
I told them I'd
trade you for Buck.
That keeps you breathing,
till 6:00 p.m., at least.
'Cause you really think
they're going to
negotiate with you?
(laughs) No, you don't.
You're not stupid,
and I don't believe
you're crazy, either.
Throwing away the life I had,
there are those
who would disagree.
Yeah, 'cause they
don't know what it's like
to live a life that
isn't your own.
(chuckles)
You read a few files,
you figure you understand me?
Yeah, I might know
you a little better
than you think, Crystal.
I left home at 16.
Oh. How long did it take
them to drag you back?
I didn't go back.
But, you know,
things got a little crazy,
and I had a wakeup call,
and I had to decide which
way the rest of my life
was going to go.
(sighs)
Yeah? You ever miss crazy?
16 and waking up every day free,
having no idea where the
day was going to take me?
Yeah, I miss it.
Is there some reason
you're telling me
all this? The more
you know about me, the
less likely you are to kill me.
(laughs)
Sit down.
Crystal took a hostage.
So?
A federal agent she
wants to trade you for.
And you want your agent back?
Then you'd better.
You're not going anywhere until
you tell me what I want to know.
That's fine.
I got all day.
Well, I don't, and
that should worry you.
Yeah? Why?
'Cause nothing matters to me
except getting my agent
back, and I got very little time,
and you're my only lead.
So what?
What are you going to do?
Are you going to beat me up?
I've never beaten a prisoner
in my life, but if you don't
tell me what I want to know
by the time I walk
out of that door,
it's out of my hands.
I'm not telling you
anything.
You sure this is what you
want to do? Do I look unsure?
COLBY: Don, I'm just
saying, I've seen what happens
when you cross certain lines.
It can be really hard
to find your way back.
Colby, the only thing I
want to find is my agent.
Charles.
Why are you just
sitting here?
I'm thinking.
About?
Pareto improvements,
shapely values, centipedes.
You know, Charles,
Megan is a captive,
and she may be gravely wounded.
I think this might be
a time for solutions,
and not these-these
intellectual musings.
Larry, I'm every bit as
concerned about her as you are.
Oh, I doubt that.
But for me to help,
I need to maintain
an even temper
and a lucid thought process,
so, your anxiety
is understandable,
but it's not helpful.
Yeah, I know, I know.
I'm just clouded with emotion,
and I am perversely
resenting you
for your clear-headedness here.
What can I do to help?
Right now?
Leave.
I will do that.
They were staying in an
abandoned house off of Ventura.
She's probably
not there anymore.
All right, you got five
minutes to put together a team.
He tell you where she'd go next?
If he knew, he would've told me.
FBI! FBI!
Clear. Clear.
Megan's car.
All right, pop the trunk.
All right.
She dumped Megan's
phone about a mile
from here, and then
they changed cars.
Took Megan with her...
That means she's still alive.
CHARLIE: So what
we have, really,
is a bargaining game
with incomplete information.
You know, it's as if one
player has offered something
to a second player in
exchange for something
that the second player's
just unable to relinquish.
So the trick, I think,
is to alter the game,
or, you know, alter the
parameters of the game.
You mean like a sudden-death
overtime to break a tie score.
You know what?
That's not a bad
example. That's not bad.
However, imagine two
people playing tic-tac-toe.
If both play rationally, and
neither make a mistake,
well, then the game will
always end in a draw, right?
I mean in order
for one side to win,
you have to alter
the rules of the game,
you know allow "X" to, to
make two consecutive moves
or prohibit "O" from
choosing a crucial square.
You mean cheat. Well, yeah,
I mean you could
put it that way.
See-see our ability
to alter this game
stems from the fact
that Crystal Hoyle,
really, she wants
more than one thing.
When we caught Buck, they
were looking for Billy Rivers.
Rivers has been pretty
good at hiding from her
and from us, though. However,
we can apply some
forward induction
to that problem, as well.
Rivers' criminal history contains
one striking commonality,
the appearance of a specific
attorney in 81.25%
of his arrest record.
So you call that attorney.
You explain to him
that his client derives
a greater benefit
from Crystal Hoyle's
apprehension than having to,
to hide for an indeterminate
amount of time.
You think he might go for that?
Well, hey, you know, look.
Even a lawyer can't
argue with math.
So you got to explain
something to me.
Isn't that how the bad guys
always get caught in the movies,
explaining too much?
You really consider
yourself to be a bad guy?
Don't you?
I don't generally
believe in bad and
good, I believe in reasons.
I think Buck killed his father
and that was his
reason for running.
But I don't know what yours is.
Well, I couldn't
just abandon him.
Sweet boy.
So intense.
Don't you remember what life
was like when you were that age,
and love was just
so uncomplicated?
Yeah, but,
Crystal, he's just a boy.
Oh, really?
'Cause I don't know many
men twice his age
that'd be willing
to take care of a
woman and her...
And her what?
Are you pregnant?
No, I'm not pregnant.
Were you pregnant?
Once upon a time.
When you were 15, is
that why you ran away?
No, I ran away because
I was a B plus student,
soccer team, never kissed a boy.
Parents never let
me out of their sight
they were so afraid of
me screwing up my life.
So that's exactly what you did.
You came here
and you got involved
with a married man,
and your friend Lydia...
said you ran away
for six months.
Did Brenner get you pregnant?
Yeah, all of a sudden
he couldn't leave his wife.
His father-in-law was going
to help him open up a car lot.
So he made some arrangements.
All Pierce had
to do was drive
me to Billy's house.
It was the last I
saw of that bastard.
Until Tuesday night.
But I'll say one
thing for Billy,
he's a better
salesman than Pierce.
'Cause he convinced
me that my daughter
would be better off
with some other family.
Crystal, do you know
where your daughter is?
No.
Billy's going to tell me.
And I'm going to find
her and get her back.
Haven't seen the
girl in like 15 years.
But you knew she
was looking for you.
Uh, that friend of hers,
Lydia, was asking around.
I heard Crystal'd
been on the Strip,
hitting some of the old places,
talking to some
of the old people.
Why does she
want to kill you, Billy?
Who says she does?
She shows up, you drop
everything, disappear,
you tuck tail and run?
Girlfriend shows up, way
past the expiration date,
you don't go out of your way
to make yourself available,
you know what I mean?
I thought he was
here to cooperate.
My client is cooperating.
Came here of his own volition.
Anything?
They're wasting our time here.
Take a look at this.
May change his attitude.
It's the deep background Megan
requested on Pierce Brenner.
DON: In 1992, Pierce
Brenner made a $50,000 payoff.
Pierce who? Not to you.
To you.
Come on, you're
asking me about a single
fee from 15 years ago...
From a dead car dealer
who had the same
girlfriend as your client.
In 1992.
So?
So, that's a small
world, Counselor.
Wait a minute, Brenner's dead?
Hoyle killed him two nights ago,
and if you don't help me here,
you're gonna be
bait for me out there.
Are you threatening my client?
Yeah, you bet your ass I am.
We came in here
voluntarily. Hey.
I have an agent four, five hours
away from being
killed. We're done here.
Oh, you may be but
he's not. Arrest him.
Arrest me? For what? For
statutory rape, how's that huh?
Corrupting a minor, how about
that? Crystal Hoyle was 15.
You've just made a big
mistake, Agent Eppes.
Yeah, sue me.
I'm crossing lines here.
I'm doing things I
wouldn't have done before.
You know, I mean I'm desperate.
I-I don't know what else
to do, I got no answers.
You're not responsible.
No, that's exactly what I am.
And I should have
turned Edgerton loose
on that kid before;
I'd have Hoyle by now.
There's something called the
law of unintended consequences.
Charlie, I don't care
about your laws, all right?
I don't care about your
theories, or your algorithms.
You know, I mean
this is like spitting
in the ocean here.
The ocean?
We're reasonably certain
that Megan and Crystal
are somewhere in here.
Well, there's no such
thing as a perfect dragnet.
The roadblock went up
around the time that
she switched cars.
Right around here.
Well, there's something
called the trawler problem,
where a fast boat
chases a slower boat
until the slower boat
disappears into a fog bank.
Let me guess,
we're the faster boat.
Right, and-and this
is the fog bank.
The boundaries of the dragnet.
The solution to the problem
is for the faster boat to assume
that the slower boat
has turned around
and is heading back toward it.
EDGERTON: Why the hell
would she do that? She wouldn't.
The beauty of the
solution is it doesn't matter.
Using the last known location
of the missing boat
as an origin point,
we spiral out,
and intersect with
the slower boat
before completing a full turn.
Crystal took Megan from here.
At approximately 4:45 a.m.
She then contacted you,
and discarded
Megan's phone here,
at 6:50 a.m.
Shortly afterward, she and Megan
headed back...
here, where we
found Megan's car.
Charlie, this isn't the
open ocean, though.
This is a city.
Right, right. No, we have to
consider variegated terrain.
And a considerable
time gap.
Compensate for
the time lag, add overlapping
search spirals to
maximize the area covered.
Anyone else following this?
Just nod your head and
wait for the punch line.
Punch line... is
something like...
this.
DISPATCH: Special Agent
Epps, what is your current location?
All right, we're turning out to
Whitmore.
We could cross their
paths and not even know it.
Beats the hell out of
sitting around the office
waiting for Hoyle to
make the next move.
DISPATCH: Unit 3, heading
westbound on Whitmore.
Make this left on Beaudry.
Left on Beaudry.
Shouldn't we be
headed to the airport?
You think I'm a fool, don't you?
You don't just abandon
somebody that loves you.
That's the second time you
used the word "abandon."
You talking about
Buck or your daughter?
Billy just took her
right out of my arms.
Okay, listen to me.
You were 15 years old.
That's an explanation,
it's not an excuse.
I was too weak
to protect her then.
I'm not weak anymore.
Crystal, she's not a baby.
You're talking
about a teenage girl
who you wouldn't recognize
if she walked in that door. No.
There's a bond between a mother
and a child... You know what,
that is a fantasy.
You know what reality is?
You are thinking of ripping
her out of the
arms of two people
who've devoted their entire
lives to taking care of her.
And what kind of a life
do you have to offer?
You going to take her
on the road with you
robbing liquor stores?
Shut up! She is old
enough to be Buck's sister.
She's the same age
you were when you
left home, is that why
you're going to do this?
You're going to make your
child live through all the same
mistakes you made?
I thought
you were trying to stay alive.
I just... I want you
to think this through.
DISPATCHER: Report of gunshots,
Twilight Motel, Third and Bixel.
That's two blocks from here.
Yeah, that's the next stop
on Charlie's map.
(siren wailing)
Hey. Room 15.
(gunshot)
Move.
Shots fired, Twilight Motel.
DISPATCH: Copy that. All
units, additional shots fired.
Shoot me and we all go.
Okay.
Slow down, Crystal.
Just calm down.
Grenade!
(grunts)
(siren wailing)
They're up there!
Second floor!
Room 15!
Oh, hey, she's cut, guys!
Hey, Megan, Megan?
Can you hear me?
She's cut bad; it
looks like an artery.
Megan? She's in and out of it.
Megan, can you hear me?
Hold on, let me just
get this put on here.
Silver Pontiac.
I need to take the
vehicle. No, no, no, n-no.
We've got to get her to a
hospital, she's bleeding out here.
She doesn't have much time.
DAVID: Stay with us, okay?
COLBY: I'll get
the door to the car.
EDGERTON: LAPD'll
be here in two minutes.
She's getting away.
She doesn't have two minutes!
Let's go, let's go.
We got you, sweetie.
(grunts)
Stay with us, Megan.
MEGAN: Pierce Brenner
got Crystal Hoyle pregnant,
and then found a lawyer sleazy
enough to do the dirty work.
Yeah, yeah. We're all
over it... Adam Benton.
Paid him 50 Gs, right?
He was too smart to
leave a straight trail
to a 15-year-old pregnant girl,
so he farmed out
some of his dirty work
to one of his regular clients.
Billy Rivers.
Who knows where
that kid ended up?
Turns out this whole
thing wasn't just
about payback after all.
No, I think killing Brenner was
Crystal's way of symbolically
making room for Buck
as the surrogate father,
and once that affair
was uncovered,
which was totally rooted
in all the childhood traumas,
it was like the
floodgates opened
and now she's chasing
a 16-year-old fantasy
of love and family.
Well, Rivers is
thoroughly lawyered up
and we're going to
have a hell of a time
trying to dig up a
15-year-old black market baby.
We sure don't have enough
to take on his attorney Benton.
Judge'll never give us
a warrant on this little.
Right, well, we keep digging.
MEGAN: Hey, guys,
before this gets away
from us, I just wanted to say,
thanks very much for
the really good timing.
DON: Wasn't me.
It was all you, Kickass,
with that gunshot, come on.
It just felt like a really good
time for a Hail Mary there,
but I was so lucky
that you two were
in the area. COLBY: No.
That wasn't all luck.
Ooh, my friend Charlie.
Yeah, he invented
a whole new search pattern.
I think he's calling it
the "Reeves Variation."
(Megan laughing)
Oh, man, you get
kidnapped for the day,
you miss a lot around here.
DAVID: I still don't understand
why Crystal grabbed you.
I mean, she's smart enough
to know we weren't
going to release Buck.
I think she feels like she
failed to protect one child
and she didn't want to see
the same thing
happen to another.
I don't know,
maybe she just subconsciously
wanted her story told.
But you know,
the whole time we were in
there, she was outside the motel
on a pay phone.
DON: Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we're on the phone dump.
Don't you worry, all right,
you just get your rest.
We're supposed to let you
get rest, so let's go, guys.
Good job.
We're glad you're all right.
Charlie never
gave me a variation.
(laughs)
Hey, is she okay?
Yeah, yeah, she's fine,
but you guys got to
keep it short, all right?
David, uh, earlier today,
in the throes of, you know,
unprecedented anxiety and fear,
I-I said some things
and I used a word...
Artless. That's the word.
I just want you to
know, I-I apologize for,
and thoroughly renounce,
the harshness of my language.
You know I have to admit,
I thought I'd been called
every name there was,
but that was a new one, Larry.
Hey.
Oh, I'm sorry. Only
had a few hours...
I didn't want to waste it
going back to my apartment.
How's Megan?
Oh, she's going to be okay.
You can go visit her in
the morning if you want.
Yeah.
I can't stop thinking about
how far I would have
gone to get her back.
How far did you go?
Oh.
Hey, uh, remember
when you were in Little
League and you got beaned?
What, you mean when
John Kinsella thought
I was crowding the plate?
Well, you were
crowding the plate.
I blame myself for not telling
you to back off, but, um...
I took it out on your coach.
I told him to meet
me in the parking lot.
What?
My point is that, um, when
you care about people,
and feel responsible for them,
it can blind your good sense.
Yeah, well, that's the
question: When's it come back?
Or does it?
Well, in my case,
it was right at the
moment that I realized
that Coach McGuinness
was a Golden Gloves boxer.
(chuckles)
You see, when you
wrestle with your choices,
you can take that as a sign
that good sense will return.
Sooner or later.
Yeah, so what's
up with the condo?
Oh, I narrowed it down to two.
You know, Dad...
I kind of hate my apartment.
Relax, they both
have tennis courts.
Well, what I mean is...
I mean, I don't know
if you notice, but
I'm over here a lot.
No, really?
Yeah. And I got
that second room.
I keep thinking I should
do something with it.
It's full of boxes that have
been there, what, two years?
Are you suggesting
that I not move out?
No, what I'm saying is,
just don't underestimate
how great it is
to have somebody to
come home to talk to.
Oh.
Hey. Hey.
What are you doing here so late?
I could ask you the same thing.
Hey...
do you want to grab
that dinner that we missed?
Um, actually, I kind of
knew I'd be here late, so...
I got a sandwich
on the way in.
Um, I'm sorry.
I should have
waited for you, huh?
I should have... (clears throat)
I should have
called you at least.
No, it's fine. I'm not
that hungry anyway.
Um, Larry called me,
and I'm glad to hear
that Megan's okay.
I'm sorry. I really...
I should have...
I should have called you.
I shouldn't have not called you.
I just got so
preoccupied Charlie...
with the trawler problem, and...
Charlie. What?
Have you noticed
that you've been
apologizing to me a lot lately?
Whether you need to or not?
I'm so... I'm sorry.
No, I... It's just I
guess... yeah...
I have been feeling
a little pressure
since you decided to stay.
I don't want to disappoint you.
Or upset you.
But your solution is to walk
on eggshells around me?
Well, when you put it that
way, it sounds a little untenable.
Setting aside for one moment
the massively
egotistical presumption
that I opted for the
professorship at CalSci
just to date you...
No, that's... Look, Charlie,
I accepted an amazing position.
And, yes, I do want to try.
But only if you
want to try, too.
DON: You think she's taking off?
She gave up a lot
to get here to find
a long-lost daughter.
My instinct says no.
Well, you know, you
should talk to Megan...
See what kind of
insights she got on Hoyle.
I have all the insight I need.
What, you don't
ever get tunnel vision
being on a manhunt this long?
I did.
Messed me up, changed me.
I had to give up that game.
That's the difference.
Hunting didn't change
me, it chose me.
Guys, I got the phone
dump back from the motel.
Two calls to the
Washington DC office
of the National Criminal
Information Center.
NCIC? Yeah.
Wait, Hoyle had Megan's
purse. That's her contacts, her ID,
badge. Accessing
a federal database
is a much better reason to grab a
fed than some crackpot hostage switch.
These calls went out
before 9:00 a.m., before
the APB traveled that far.
She was looking for
information on Billy Rivers
and his attorney of record.
Adam Benton.
All right, you on that? Yeah.
All right call me if
you get anything.
All right.
Time of death was
around 2:00 a.m.
Pistol-whipped and then shot.
Looks like Crystal
connected the dots.
She had the same
idea Charlie did.
If you can't find Rivers,
talk to his lawyer.
These files on the floor...
Payments to
hospitals, nursemaids,
birth certificate registrations.
Black market babies.
Scumbag like Rivers just can't
sell the kid out on the street.
He has to find himself a
respectable middle man.
Yeah, I'm figuring
all Crystal Hoyle
really wanted from Billy Rivers
was the name of the
guy who sold her baby.
And the names of the
people who bought it.
It doesn't look like she left
here without her answers.
Which means she knows
where her daughter is.
And we don't.
Aren't you defying the spirit
of the hospital's
discharge rules,
if not the letter?
I have to find her, Larry.
Crystal Hoyle?
Her daughter.
I mean, what's the difference
if we catch every
bad guy on Earth
if I can't save one innocent
life from being ruined?
Okay, granted, but where exactly
are we heading to?
I don't know.
Benton is dead, all
his files are gone.
Crystal Hoyle may be the
only person on the planet
who knows where her
daughter actually is.
Right this way.
You know, in physics we
approach similar conundrums
as inverse problems.
You mean, you
start with the answers
and you work your way back
to the question? That's correct.
Instead of exploring
the psyche of the hunter,
we look at the thought
processes of the hunted.
Okay, so we have
a childless couple
desperate to start a family.
So desperate
that they might turn a blind eye
to the morally opprobrious means
by which the child
comes into their lives.
Yes, you're right.
They would try and erase
all the emotional evidence.
They would take possession
by any acts of normalcy.
But what, what acts?
A birth certificate,
a pediatrician,
a social security number.
The first three
digits of a social
are assigned by the
zip code of the applicant.
CHARLIE: And the next two break
down numbers from the same area
into smaller, easier
to manage blocks.
Even if we focus on numbers
generated in Southern California,
that still leaves us
with a lot of data.
But in California, each hospital
is assigned a batch of
social security numbers
based on birthrate projections.
Which gives us another filter.
Exactly.
So then, by looking at
the remaining numbers
issued around the time
that Crystal's baby
would have been born...
we can apply a
sorting algorithm.
Like...
(computer beeps)
this.
That'll pull out
anomalous data in packets,
which we can further break down.
Right. Good.
You know, I started
playing golf last year
because my dad plays golf,
you know, Don
plays golf, so I thought
it might be something
we could do together.
Sounds great.
Except that I was terrible.
You know, my body wouldn't
do what it was supposed to do,
and the math of the ball
trajectory was always
being challenged by...
reality.
And right away,
I-I-I wanted to quit.
I think I tend... to
give up on things
that I don't learn quickly.
Which is a character
flaw that I am working on.
So, did you get better at golf?
No, I'm still terrible,
but I'm improving.
I'm enjoying the journey.
You know, if we put
something like this
in the filter, I think
that it would...
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that makes it...
That makes it so much more...
elegant.
There she is.
♪ ♪
♪ If there was a way ♪
♪ To give me ♪
♪ The colors that
are in your head ♪
♪ And we played
all our big scenes ♪
♪ You and I go everywhere ♪
♪ It's not like it was ♪
♪ And the children,
they seem to know ♪
♪ ♪
♪ My arms are open wide ♪
♪ But I can't see the light... ♪
(siren approaching)
(indistinct police
radio transmission)
(cell phone rings)
COLBY: Hello?
Megan, a call for you
came in from the switchboard.
Reeves.
She's beautiful, isn't she?
Yes, she is.
Crystal, it's time to come in.
I want to talk to Buck.
You need to trust me now.
I trust you to trace
this phone call.
You have Buck call me
and I might talk long
enough for you to find me.
Crys?
Hey, baby.
How are they treating you?
I screwed up, Crys.
I know you told me to
wait, but I couldn't just...
Shh, don't let it
get to you, Buck.
Screwing up's the part
of life you learn from.
BUCK: I told them it was all me.
I'm going to plead
guilty to everything.
You can turn yourself in now.
They have to let you go.
You sweet, silly boy.
You know how much I love you?
I love you, too, baby.
They can't keep us apart
from each other forever.
You'll wait for me,
won't you, Crys?
(beeping)
Hey, it's Eppes.
We need a helicopter
and a roadblock.
CRYSTAL: Only two
people in the world
I ever loved, and I'm no
good for either one of them.
What are you talking about?
Crys, you're my whole life.
Good-bye, Buck.
Crys?
Crys?
Signal's moving south.
She's running for Mexico.
She's got nothing left to lose.
Everything in front
of her's fair game.
The Galton Board, huh?
You drop enough balls,
you get a bell
curve distribution.
Honestly, Larry, I could do this
all day long.
Observing what happens
when we begin to block the paths.
The distribution changes,
the patterns
alters... and the ball
no longer has a choice
of where to fall.
All right, guys, heads up.
(sirens blare)
OFFICER: Turn off your
vehicle and step out of the car
with your hands in
view. (cell phone rings)
MEGAN (on phone): It
doesn't have to end this way.
I can't think of another way.
Could you tell my daughter...
Tell her what?
Nothing.
It's like I never was.
Crystal...
You might want to get out
of the way, Agent Reeves.
She's coming.
(tires screech)
She's gonna try to run us!
(gunshot, glass breaks)
(tires screeching)
(horn blares)
(horn continues)
All right, guys.
Let's clear it.
LARRY: You know, I am
forever looking outward
for my miracles.
Um, Comet Wild 2,
you know, with its core
forged in stellar flame.
The spectral properties
of supernova
remnant 1713.7-3946...
Just the sheer magnificence
of the Magellanic Clouds
and, I don't know,
every once in a while,
I allow these,
these outer wonders
to kind of blind me to
the, the inner miracles
that are occurring,
transpiring, every day
all around us.
I didn't see any
miracles today, Larry.
No, no, no, but, you see,
the tendrils that
connect human beings
one to another,
they're just so... unlikely.
So inherently, uh... fragile.
I-I think that it's
a miracle that they
even exist at all.
I should shut up, shouldn't I?
No.
You should kiss me now.
Okay.
Of course.
ANNOUNCER: You have to
earn a birdie on this par four.
Hey.
Hey.
You get her?
Bad, huh?
Yep.
Oh, golf?
Yeah, I thought I'd
remove the physical
aspect of the game.
Maybe then I can, uh...
Game your way into
a lower handicap?
Yeah.
Thought you were
done with this sport.
Yeah, I thought I
was, too, and then I...
kinda got into
trouble with Amita.
And golf gets you out of it?
Well, you're the man, Charlie.
You know what? You shouldn't use
your driver, you should
use the 3 wood there.
Because...?
Because of the green.
Here. I'll show you.
All right, just show
me. Just show me, then.
Well, give me the thing.
Why do you have to try...?
This has the ring of a
very familiar conversation.
What are you guys...?
Why do you have to...?
What is your problem?
That's so rude. You're making
a very awkward moment for me.
I have to ask my,
uh, my landlord
for a favor. (bickering)
Will you tell him to stop it?
Will you tell him to quit it?
What?
I would like to, uh,
build a private staircase
to my, uh, bedroom.
At my own expense, of course.
What? I thought
you were moving out.
Well, I changed my mind.
Hold on, so no tennis?
You'll have to play
on the public courts,
my friend, like everyone else.
I'm sorry.
And this shouldn't
be construed as disappointment.
Hmm?
What happened?
Well, I did a little
math of my own.
And I, uh, measured
the, um, benefits of privacy
versus the pleasure
of your company.
Oh. What are you doing?
Well... You're playing golf!
Yeah. Oh!
Thinks he's training
for a comeback.
Is that a 3 wood you're using?
That's Don's 3 wood.
You can't use a 3 wood.
He's gotta get
it up, that's why.
No, you gotta
use a 2 iron. Here,
let me show you.
Dad, what are you talking about?
This is so ridiculous, you know.
A little expertise wouldn't
hurt anybody. This is my game.
This is my TV set.
This is my own house.
Well, why don't you
get us some of your beers then?
Watch the driver.
Quiet. Watch it.
GAME ANNOUNCER: Great shot!
165 yards down the fairway...