Numb3rs (2005–2010): Season 4, Episode 10 - Chinese Box - full transcript
Ben, who we learn is a laid-off FBI wiretapping subcontractor, runs through the metal detector in the lobby and shoots the agent who let him go. He then grabs a woman as a hostage and backs into an elevator, where David Sinclair confronts him at gunpoint and trades himself as a hostage if Ben will let the woman go. While Ben and David talk at gunpoint in the elevator, stopped between floors, Charlie Eppes tries a number of times to explain the "Chinese Box" theory to the agents dealing with the hostage situation. Meanwhile, the agents discover that Ben's seemingly paranoid story that he has been under surveillance turns out to be true. When agents try to quickly move and open the elevator, Ben manages to take David's pistol away and keep the elevator closed. Charlie convinces Don Eppes to let David call the shots to resolve this situation by showing Don the "Poison Cookie" game, implying that this also relates to the "Chinese Box" problem. Ben gives David his pistol back and tries to get David to shoot him when he decides there's no way out of this situation. Don calls to let Ben know that they found proof Max Devane really was keeping him under surveillance, and that he was going to be in trouble for it. David then convinces Ben that it's better to be arrested for his actions than to die for them.
♪ You got no time
for the messenger ♪
♪ Got no regard for the thing
that you don't understand ♪
♪ You got no fear
of The Underdog ♪
♪ That's why you
will not survive. ♪
(rhythmic handclaps)
Hey, Colby.
SAC kicked this back.
Again? Yeah, they want
to know where we're at
on the Title 3s. Okay?
We're heading out.
Oh, yeah, you going
to the stash house?
Yeah. We're gonna
pick up breakfast first.
Okay, egg whites
on wheat, please.
Granger?
Lumberjack special,
double the pancakes,
please. What's going on?
Oh, uh, Narcotics
is shorthanded.
The SAC asked me
to fill in for a few weeks.
They asked or you asked?
I think it's better, don't you?
Liz, it's not like I don't
think you're a good agent.
I mean, I still want
you on the team.
Yeah, I can't help but wonder if
you'd be saying the same thing
if I was the one
who called it off.
Hey, Don, I got a judge
on the phone about the Title 3s,
but he wants to talk to you.
You know, I'm...
You know when it comes
to promoting the book,
I'll do anything the
publisher asks me to,
but taking publicity pictures in
the middle of the FBI's bullpen
seems kind of tacky. What?
Mathematician, published author,
FBI crime-solver.
What's tacky about
being presented
as the Renaissance man you are?
I don't know, I'm
just a tad bit worried
that the more
popular the book gets,
the farther it gets
away from the math.
Yeah, well, if you want to
reach the widest audience,
touch the most
hearts, you have to...
Sell out.
Sell a lot.
(elevator bell dings)
Going down. (sighs)
Did you ever notice
the first car you get
is always going the wrong way?
Well, actually, the elevator
paradox accounts for that.
See, any one elevator
spends most of its time
in the larger section
of the building,
so that's more than likely
the direction it's coming from
when you hit the call button.
If we were to stand
here for several hours...
(elevator bell dings)
Saved by the bell.
Got Lakers tickets
for next Saturday.
(gasps): And
Colby can't make it?
As nice as it is to
be second choice,
I'm going back east
for a couple weeks.
Really?
Larry mentioned that he
was headed back east as well.
(laughs)
I bet you two are
getting back together.
Granger owes me 20.
You bet on me and Larry?
You know, I left
my wallet upstairs.
I'm serious. I'll be right back.
I'll meet you out front.
Whoa! Hey!
(metal detector beeping)
GUARD: Hey! Hey...
(gunshots)
(panicked shouting) Move! Move!
GUNMAN: Back up!
Move! Back up! Drop the weapon!
Drop the weapon and let her go!
It's not my fault!
I acted in self-defense!
Self-defense from who?
Who's trying to
hurt you? From you!
From all of you... You
won't leave me alone!
Okay, you just, sir,
tell me what you need.
What I need?!
You need a hostage.
(gasps)
You need a hostage...
now you have two.
David?
I'll kill her.
Then I will kill you.
Nobody wins.
Too many things to
keep track of, you know.
What's going on out there,
what's going on in here.
It's hard to watch
both of us, you know.
You're going to make a mistake.
You don't want
to make a mistake.
I'll let her go if
you let the door go.
No, we can't do that.
Yes, we can. Yes.
Yes, I will.
(screams)
I'm ready to die
right now! Are you?
Are you?!
(panting)
Okay... what now?
Just a minute of quiet, okay?
Let me think.
David Sinclair.
What?
While you're thinking,
you think about my name...
David Sinclair.
You have a name
maybe I can think about?
Ben Blakely.
Surveillance subcontractor.
He's a wizard with wiretapping
and hidden cameras.
MAN: All right,
let's go, fellas.
Look alive. I want
rappel gear up on six.
Special Operations
Group can only do so much,
so sometimes we
have to outsource.
He was working on
a RICO case for me,
standard OC surveillance.
Agent Devane,
do you have any idea
why he would shoot at you?
He started acting nutty,
thought we were following
him, tapping his phones.
So I had to let him go,
revoke his clearance.
Shutting him out of all
government contract work?
I knew he was tightly wound,
but I didn't see him as the
disgruntled shooter type.
Obviously not.
All right, would you follow
him off to the hospital.
I'm going to need a
complete statement.
DON: What happened?
I've got this ex-contractor
who's having
paranoid fantasies...
And what, David trades himself?
I mean, what's that about,
and why didn't you stop him?
He made a judgment call.
DON: Yeah, well,
not a very good one.
Okay, you weren't there.
And I wouldn't
have done it either,
but he wasn't wrong. He
saved that woman's life.
You're right, you're right.
King, SWAT. Car is
stuck between floors
so we're setting up positions
here and in the bullpen. Right.
Is anybody opening up a line
of communication with Blakely?
I'm going to give
him a couple minutes,
let him think
about his situation.
Maybe put in a psych
warfare soundtrack,
shake up his world,
soften him up a little.
Before we start isolating and
agitating a disturbed suspect,
maybe we should let
him air his grievances,
let him think that
we're listening to him.
DON: I agree.
Hey, you can go through
the motions if you want,
but we're going to
end up assaulting.
It's just the way it goes.
Just set your positions. No
moves until I say, all right?
Why don't you get a line
on Blakely, his background.
Liz, I want you to go
to the hospital, all right?
So somebody just walked into the
FBI and started shooting people?
Yeah, seems to happen
every year or two around here.
Actually, if you consider
the number of people
carrying guns in the city
and account for the
amount of criminals
associated with this building,
even weighted against
the security measures...
I suppose they deal with this
stuff all the time here, huh?
David is going to be okay?
Probabilistically.
So what do we do now?
What? We just wait?
Until they need me.
What are they going
to need you for?
There's always something.
What-what is that, Charlie?
It's a thought.
More of an abstract notion.
Yeah, about what?
About getting
David out of there.
You know what's
going on out there?
Guns, cops,
more guns.
Your people are
getting ready to kill me.
They don't want to.
Yes, they do.
What was your plan, Ben?
You thought you'd
come in here shooting
and walk out the front door?
I didn't have a plan.
I didn't think.
I just wanted it to stop.
I told Devane, over and over
again. And who's Devane?
Okay, and what did you tell him?
The FBI guy I shot.
I told him to stop following me.
He had people spying on me.
Do you know what that's like,
to never have any privacy?
Always wonder who's
watching you, and from where?
(over P.A.): This is Don Eppes.
To talk to me, you
just push the call button
on the panel there.
Now, sir, I want you to
understand two things:
We want you to surrender,
and I will do anything necessary
to ensure the safety
of Agent Sinclair.
The first step
is for us to just start
talking, now, okay?
What you want right
now, Ben, is time.
You need time to think.
If you don't answer up,
you're going to push
everybody out there to act faster.
That is exactly
what you don't want.
He's fine.
Tell them. Tell
them you're fine.
Everything's fine in here, Don.
DAVID: Everybody's
keeping a level head.
Mr. Blakely, you've
got to understand,
sooner or later, you're
going to come out of there.
What do you want to do, Ben?
DON: Ben? Ben?!
BLAKELY: I don't
want to talk right now.
And I don't like being watched.
He terminated contact.
Playbook says we shut
down the air-conditioning,
kill the lights,
run a fiber optic
line to the car,
restore our visual.
Uh, actually, Don,
you're better off not
looking inside the elevator.
This must be the math brother.
Exactly what made you
come to that conclusion?
You're not an FBI agent, but
you walked in here like one.
Look, he earned that walk, okay?
What were you going to say?
It's a classic
thought experiment
called the Chinese Room,
in which there's a
computer inside a room
receiving questions written
in Chinese characters
that it answers back in Chinese.
It's programmed so
perfect that the questioner
thinks he's talking
to an actual person,
which is called the Turing test.
Now, imagine there's
a man inside the room
who doesn't speak Chinese
but answers the questions back
using the same
rules as the computer,
writing back
predetermined responses.
John Searle argued
that you can't get meaning
from a blind
manipulation of symbols,
while others argued
that semantics...
I get that the elevator is
the Chinese Room, right?
Who's the computer?
Uh, it's not about
the Turing test.
The answer's far more
abstract than that. I don't get it.
I mean, more data is
always better, Charlie,
so why not look?
I'm pointing out that there
are programmed responses
logical to both
David and Blakely...
How long to get a camera
in there? Ten minutes.
We get a visual, we put
an armor piercing round
through the thinnest wall.
Not the nicest way
to resolve this thing,
but it's the fastest.
You can't guarantee
you're going to kill the guy
before he pulls the trigger.
Even if I could, I wouldn't.
All right, just put the
camera in for now.
I've been helping
you for four years.
You know, I haven't been
wrong too many times.
Well... I mean,
this isn't just some...
Some thought experiment?
WOMAN: I don't
believe it, not Ben.
He witnesses life,
he doesn't live it.
Did you notice
any warning signs...
Erratic behavior,
increased agitation?
He showed all of those signs,
especially before our divorce.
Our son died in a car
accident seven years ago.
After that, he just
disappeared into his work.
I think watching other people
made him feel less
lonely somehow.
He seems to think
that he's being watched.
He's thought that for 25 years.
Sweeping the apartment for
bugs, avoiding store cameras.
I think when you know how easy it is
to take somebody else's privacy away,
you're just that much more
sensitive about your own.
Do you think there's any way
you could get through to him?
Agent Reeves, I don't
think I can help you with Ben.
He's as much a mystery
to me as anybody else.
It's... it's getting
hot in here.
Probably a safety mechanism...
Save power during a malfunction.
What do you think
they're doing out there?
Trying to find a way
to end this peacefully.
(grunts)
The agent you shot...
Devane.
He thought I wouldn't find out.
Find out what?
That they were following
me, spying on me.
Why?
He destroyed my life's
work... to cover up his...
Cover up what?
DON: Ben.
Hey...
(mutters): Sons of bitches...
What was Devane
trying to cover up? Eppes!
Hey, Ben, stay with... Ben!
Eppes!
Yeah, Ben, what's up?
Do you really think you can
pull a fiber optic snake past me?
You pull it.
Pull it!
Ben, listen to me...
I don't care if we
both die in here!
Ten, nine...
Ben, you are going
to make me shoot!
Then do it. Do it right
now... We'll both die.
Ben, calm down,
okay? It's just a camera.
I will not be watched!
Don't back yourself
into a corner!
You don't have to do this!
Seven, Easy!
Six...
I will not be watched!
Five!
You can't do it,
Eppes... Negotiation 101.
Four, three... Blakely,
lower your gun!
I'm pulling it. Pull it!
All the way out!
It's out. It's out.
(gasping)
Okay... okay.
All right.
Okay.
You realize we just told
wingnut he's in charge.
Maybe we should try
some passive surveillance.
Thermal imaging?
Yeah, we can read heat
signatures through the walls,
but the problem is, it's
not enough information
to give us a clean shot.
Well, it's better than nothing.
Not according to your brother.
Everything I heard about
the guy, he's like a magician.
Are all his ideas so out there?
Yeah, sometimes.
Should we be thinking about it?
Rib stopped one, and, uh...
the other was a
through-and-through.
Good thing he wasn't
a better shot, huh?
You know, something's
just not making sense
about Ben Blakely.
He profiles as
volatile and paranoid,
but none of the bellwethers
of explosive, violent
action are there.
Meaning what?
Meaning he was
ripe for an episode,
but something set him off.
I'm guessing that something,
you're not telling me?
Is she for real?
As real as the files we
accessed on your RICO case,
the SAC shut it down
six weeks before
you fired Blakely.
So what exactly has he
been doing for six weeks?
Blakely already had surveillance
cameras and wiretaps set up
with a dozen
organized crime figures.
I let him keep recording
until the warrants expired.
I figured I might get lucky.
Unauthorized use of Bureau
funds for an unapproved activity?
I mean, come on, that's a
hell of a disciplinary review.
They're going to
have to move fast.
I'm retiring at the
end of the month.
Look, I rolled the bones,
tried to go out on a
win instead of a loss,
and it blew up in my face.
You think two bullets
isn't punishment enough,
then report me.
LIZ: You know,
those interrogations
where the subject is telling
you just enough of the truth
to make it hard to tell
where the lie starts?
I think he made a
bad judgment call,
and now he's just
trying to cover his ass.
An internal investigation's gonna
have to find the truth eventually.
Yeah, but David doesn't
have “eventually” kind of time.
I think we have to go
open up Ben Blakely's head
and get a good look inside.
So... how long you
been in surveillance?
Twenty-five years.
I made the tra...
the transition from...
from analog to digital...
reel to reel and directional
microphones to laser switchers
and omnidirectional receivers.
Not a lot of us did.
Yeah.
Must've seen and heard
a whole hell of a lot, huh?
No, not really.
It's just information, to be
packaged and moved on.
I... I hear it, but
I never listen.
I find that hard to believe.
Twenty-five years?
Exactly.
All those voices,
all those words...
if I had listened to all of it,
if I had listened to any of it,
I'd have gone...
I'm not crazy, you know.
The FBI has been watching me.
I can prove it.
How?
It doesn't matter, does it?
If you were working
for Devane, right,
and he had everything
you recorded...
why watch you?
I don't know...
All right.
And where was killing
him going to get you?
I mean, it wouldn't
get you any answers.
Oh, maybe it would.
Maybe now, someone will tell
me why I was being watched.
Or maybe...
maybe all I want is
this moment, right now,
with no one watching me.
(labored breathing)
I couldn't sleep...
knowing they were listening.
I...
I just...
I'm just tired all the time now.
I can't focus.
Okay, the thermal camera's in.
Car's too small... the heat
signatures are blurring.
Even if they haven't
changed positions,
I still can't advise
taking a shot.
I don't see what
we can do but insert.
How many times have I been
there for him? How many?
And he interrupted me.
He cut me off, like
I'm some kind of...
Consultant? Okay, fine,
but he didn't have
to act like the-the...
The boss.
I'm getting subtle clues
that you're on his side.
No, no, no. No sides.
It's just that you're both
in a very stressful situation.
You have to admit, the idea
of not looking
inside the elevator,
given the circumstance,
it's a little, uh... Zen.
Zen, radical, maybe,
but, you know, he didn't
even allow me to
formulate the argument.
I mean, I know I'm right.
That's not even true.
I failed.
I failed to make
myself understood.
Sometimes there are
things in my head that are
so purely what they are...
that when I try to
turn them into words,
they either are no words,
or I just don't know how.
And... you can't
imagine how that feels.
How hard it is to have an
idea and not be able to share it.
Hey, can you do me a favor,
come take a look at something?
Yeah, sure.
DON: This is the
image from the elevator.
I need to know if there's any
way of reading these things
that I don't know of.
I don't know, maybe.
If you would allow
me to try to explain
the Chinese Room
theory... No, no, no.
Listen to me, okay?
We're going to assault.
What I need to know,
is there anything
that I can do to improve
David's chances?
Yeah. Of course.
I can do something.
I can't guarantee
it'll be enough.
Whatever you can do, I
would appreciate it, okay?
You know, when I was a kid, um,
we lived in this brownstone.
When the phone
would ring downstairs,
you know, I'd pick it up.
If it was one of my
older sister's boyfriends,
you know, she'd, she'd take
it on the upstairs extension.
I never really cared what
they were talking about.
I couldn't help but
listen in, you know?
It's the human urge... To
light up the dark corners,
look for answers
in other people.
But at the end of the day,
there are no answers there,
just more lives as sad
and singular as our own.
That's why you
stopped listening?
What answers were
you looking for, Ben?
You know, I don't think
anyone understands loss
until they've lost a child...
not really.
And once you truly
understand loss,
you realize it's worth
anything to never feel it again.
I stopped listening, Sinclair,
because I didn't
have the strength
to take their pain, too.
So why didn't you just quit?
Just walk away?
Twenty-five years, Sinclair.
I don't know anything else.
More coffee...
and I found some, uh,
well, some kind of cookies.
It seems like I spend
half my life bringing
you boys food and
beverages, you know?
K-means cluster analysis.
It's hard to believe
that there was
a time when I considered
myself math literate.
Well, the process
can get complex,
but the concept's fairly simple.
You know, David and
Blakely are throwing off
two coinciding
heat signatures...
Like two schools of fish
passing through each other,
looking to the naked
eye like a single group,
but when you analyze the
data continuously... examine
the movement and behavior
of each individual fish...
You can separate
the two clusters.
And figure out
which one is David,
and which one is
the, uh, crazy guy.
Well, first I have to
separate the heat signatures.
You know, discerning
which one is which
requires a whole
other analysis of height
and weight and body type.
Son of a gun.
I know this elevator.
Been on it enough times.
No, I mean it's a
Schindler 400A.
The Convention Center
project I've been consulting on
has four of them.
I need to talk to Don.
MEGAN: I didn't know
there were this many ways
to spy on a person.
Really.
Okay, so where
do we start looking?
And what are we looking for?
I'd skip all the raw
surveillance material
and the work stuff for now.
We're looking for a letter,
or an emotional
trigger of some kind.
Okay.
Or course there's almost
nothing personal in here.
There's not one photograph,
or one knickknack.
It's like he's consciously
burying all of his memories.
I got a file folder
labeled "Them."
Now we're talking paranoia.
Is it like a list
of grievances?
What is that?
Video files,
I think.
Just 'cause you're
paranoid doesn't mean
that everyone isn't watching.
ALAN: Okay. This
pulley system here
is called the
Overspeed Governor.
It keeps the elevator
from dropping too fast.
Yeah, we can drop the
car anytime you want.
But if you override
the emergency brake,
the car will start moving slowly
because that's what
it's designed to do.
Well, that would give Blakely
plenty of time to shoot David.
But if you reset the
Overspeed Governor,
raise its maximum speed...
Diversion, right?
How far you think it will drop?
No more than five or six feet.
KING: So we drop
the box, my guys go in
while they're
still rattled, right?
Still a lot of risk, guys.
Well, less if we know
where they both are.
DAVID: I don't know about you,
hey, but... but
I'm getting hungry.
Yeah, sure.
Drugged food.
A chance for them to
drop in some tear gas.
Hey, Ben, nothing makes them
more nervous than silence, okay?
You got to start putting
some demands out there.
Open the lines of communication.
You want them to stay outside,
you got to get them
talking here in this room.
Well, I'm supposed
to take your advice?
Man, if they don't think
there's any reasoning with you,
they're going to bring
this elevator down
to the ground floor, and
they are going to breach it.
Even if we haven't
shot each other by then,
I do not want to
be in the line of fire.
Ben...
do you want to live?
I'll put it another way.
(crying)
You want to live.
(sniffling)
That's why you shot Devane.
To protect yourself.
'Cause you wanted things
to go back the way they were.
But you didn't think
this thing through,
so now it's up to me
to help you out, okay?
Ben, I am going to
walk you out of here.
I'm going to go to jail.
Yeah.
Probably.
Eight by eight box,
24/7
with no privacy, huh?
How do you think I'd do?
So, maybe you're wrong.
Maybe living isn't my best bet.
He has dozens
of files like this.
Yeah, he's Warspying.
Just when I'm convinced
you can't come up
with something new.
Most video surveillance
cameras operate
and broadcast on unprotected,
2.4 gigahertz video feeds.
DON: You're talking
like Wi-Fi, right?
Exactly, and
intercepting those feeds
requires a video receiver,
an omni-directional
antenna, really not much else.
It's probably hidden
in his briefcase.
All right, so he
sweeps his loft...
Probably a routine
check for bugs...
Realized he is being watched,
unlocking all the
paranoid fantasies,
exacerbating the privacy issues.
All right, so who the
hell is watching the guy?
CHARLIE: Can't tell you that,
but I can tell you where from,
give or take 35 feet.
How?
It's like any other
signal, okay?
It-it gets stronger
as you get closer to the
receiver and the transmitter,
gets weaker as
you get farther away.
You plot enough points
where the image is
clear, and you apply
inverse geometry.
Uh, like fireflies
flickering on and off
during a summer night,
apparently random blinks
of light in the darkness,
but math reveals their
true path and purpose:
what trees they've
laid eggs beneath;
where they've gone to mate,
bringing rhythm and
pattern to their light show.
DON: All right, let's just focus
on the thermal image, all right?
This program doesn't need
me to finish its work for it.
And given the wealth of data,
the geometry should
take, like, 15 or 20 minutes.
Good idea... about the elevator.
You know, I-I feel kind of funny
about being so
involved here, and, uh,
if anything should happen...
Well, it won't.
You know, I'm a little old for
hollow reassurances, Colby.
You see, this was my idea,
and if David gets hurt, I
am responsible for that.
Oh, yeah, that's true.
Some hollow reassurance
would be nice now.
Look, Alan, there's
no instruction manual
for how we handle
these situations.
I mean, not really.
You know, we make our
best guesses out there,
and, you know, we just hope.
So, how do you
wrestle with that?
Having to make
these big decisions,
having people's lives
literally in your hands?
I mean, sure, it's not every day
that your best friend's
life is on the line, but...
Actually, a lot of days it is.
CHARLIE: Based
on body type, a small
height differential,
and allowing for inaccuracies
in the cluster analysis,
I can say that this is David,
but I can say that
with only 65% certainty.
Yeah, well, that's a big 35%.
And that's why I
can't advise going in.
All right, wait, but
somebody's got to ask.
What does your Chinese
Room say? All right.
It's an analysis of
Blakely's stated objectives
and David's impact
on his environment.
It's, it's a weighted matrix
of risk-reward, all right, so...
Hold-hold on a second.
Can't you do all that stuff
and still see in the box?
No. The act of
observation creates...
creates a relationship
between the-the viewer
and-and the subject, all right?
I can't tell you why
I know what I know.
Unfortunately, not in any way
that you'd
understand, but-but...
but I'm hoping to arrive
at a persuasive strategy
before it's too late, okay?
Yeah, well, it's too late.
I mean, look, no demands,
the guy's refusing to negotiate.
Okay? We cannot wait any longer.
Elevator's ready to drop.
DON: All right.
Any way to give
your guy a heads-up?
Yeah. Our distress
word is Mexico.
Mexico.
Yeah, let's do it.
Don. Charlie.
Look, I want to go in there.
Okay, David is my partner.
I know his moves
better than anyone.
I can make sure these
guys don't overreact.
Don, tell me the
argument to make.
I will make it.
All right, you go
in behind SWAT,
same as any other action.
Got to give up on
this one, buddy.
I didn't get where I am
by giving up on being right.
(beep) Ben, this is Don Eppes.
How are we doing in there?
Everything's fine, Don.
Everybody's good.
Could maybe, uh, use some
water, some sandwiches...
No! No one comes in.
DON: Ben, listen to me.
We've been in your loft.
We saw the video.
We know someone
was following you.
(whirring)
Someone.
We're going to help
you figure out who.
I promise you this.
You know who. I put
bullets in the son of a bitch!
You tell me why!
Well, come on out,
and we'll figure
it out together.
(whirring)
Oh, you'll whitewash everything.
You'll protect your
own, throw me in a cell,
and then stare at me.
And what will it
all have been for?
DON: What is it all for?
Ben, you've got
to talk to me here.
Ben, I want to help you.
David wants to help you,
but you got to be realistic
about your situation.
Ben, you're in an elevator.
You can't just walk out...
hop on a plane to Mexico.
Now!
(rumbling)
Hold it!
(gunshot)
(gunshots)
(grunts)
(gunshots)
(grunts)
No! Hold your
fire! Hold your fire!
(labored breathing)
COLBY: He's got a
through-and-through on the left shoulder,
but otherwise stable.
BLAKELY: It didn't work, Eppes!
I have both guns now.
I'm in control now.
You tell them!
You tell them.
Everything's status quo, Don.
(panting)
Why?
Why are you lying?
I'm not going to give you
the power you want, Ben.
Not until I think
you're going to make
the right decision.
But I have both guns.
You're still in the
same position.
You shoot me, you're
as good as dead.
(loud, pained grunt)
Oh, it feels like I've
been kicked in the ribs.
(grunts)
Not that I'm complaining about
a bulletproof vest working now.
What the hell you
doing shutting the door?
Trying to keep your men
from killing my partner.
You got no business jumping
to the front of the action. Hey!
My men are trained.
Trained to do
what, shoot too fast?
Guys! Later.
Oh, you should
talk to your brother.
He may be out
there, but at least
he's got a plan he's
willing to stick with.
(David gasps)
At least we know where
we both stand, huh?
(panting)
You tried to kill me.
DAVID: Really?
I-I distinctly remember
not shooting you
when I could have.
(panting) (electrical fizzing)
(knocking) About time.
I ordered a half an hour ago.
LIZ: Oh, you owe
us $15. Fifteen?
You tipped generously.
We need to talk to
you about Ben Blakely.
Ben who?
You know, that guy
you've been following
around the city videotaping.
LIZ: Okay, well, since you
obviously don't have a lie handy,
you should know
that Blakely's holding a
federal agent at gunpoint, okay?
So we're just a little
short on patience.
Wow. This is some
hobby you got here.
Well, I gross 200K a year.
I mean, not that
I get to enjoy it.
I spend most of my
time in places like this.
How'd you find me?
Inverse geometry.
Ben Blakely.
He's one of the
best in the business.
Not as good as me...
Really? 'Cause he knew
that you were watching him.
He intercepted your video feeds.
Oh, that briefcase.
Ah, he was Warspying me.
Cheap bastards wouldn't spring
for the double-encrypted feeds.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Cheap bastards being?
The Elcar campaign.
The guy running for governor?
Yeah, Elcar got hit with
three scandals in two weeks.
Figured they were being bugged,
so they hired me
to sweep the offices.
I backtraced the
bugs to Blakely.
Started taping him to
see if we could get a lead
on who hired him.
I can't believe he was onto me.
Damn, he played that cool.
DON: We're back
to where we started.
"However beautiful the strategy,
you should occasionally
look at the results."
Winston Churchill.
That's pretty much
what King said.
You got yourself
another fan. Yeah.
I tend to get more respect
from people who didn't give me
noogies when I was six.
Listen, Blakely is the
man in the Chinese Room.
He processes information
without ever understanding
its significance.
Okay, so? And so
that's the way he likes it.
You know, it keeps his world
contained; that's his rulebook.
Right. Him, David, no cameras.
There is an impartial two-player
perfect information
game called Chomp
in which two players take
turns removing cookies.
The object being
to avoid taking
the lower left corner,
which is the poison cookie.
You can mathematically
prove that using
optimal moves, the first
player will always win,
but you can't
mathematically determine
first moves that
will guarantee a win.
David made the first move
getting in the elevator?
You became the third player
when you screwed
up the winning strategy.
Chaos theory holds
that outcome is sensitive
to initial conditions.
So you've got to restore
the decision-making process
to David because he started it.
Don, if you were
in that elevator,
who would you want
to make the next move?
So when you told us you were
retiring, you failed to mention
that you had your
next job lined up.
Governor's reelection campaign.
Official title:
Intelligence Chief.
Unofficially, you're
the dirty tricks guy.
Without telling them
you moved Blakely
from RICO surveillance
to spying on the governor's
political rivals.
I have no idea what
you're talking about.
We're talking about
misappropriation
of government funds.
You're not just
going to lose your job,
you could end up bunking
with some of the people
you've been busting.
I had a whole story worked out.
Why he was watching
a campaign building
while he was on a RICO case.
And you know he never asked?
Huh.
The man as oblivious.
Not so oblivious
he didn't figure out
he was being followed.
So you destroyed
his career to protect your own.
What's going on
over there, buddy?
Talk to me.
There's no way
out of this for me.
The longer I sit here,
not knowing what I want...
Not knowing what comes next...
I'm just giving them more
time to try something else,
something after that.
Best bet, they kill me.
What do you mean "best bet"?
Believe it or not,
this is the longest
conversation I've had with...
anyone in...
Since my wife...
Since my son.
So what am I holding on to here?
You're getting
ahead of yourself.
Ben, slow down. No.
No, it's clear now.
Pick it up.
I'm not going to do that...
Pick it up and shoot me.
We've been through
too much, okay?
I'm walking you
out of here today.
Just do it for me, damn it!
Or I swear to God,
I will kill you where you sit!
DON (over intercom):
Ben, Don Eppes.
You were right.
Devane was following you.
We got proof and a confession.
Look, Ben, I don't know
what else to give you here.
I mean, I can't lie to you
and tell you everything's
going to be okay.
But I can tell you we do
believe you, and I guarantee
that Devane's going to pay.
David, look, it's all yours.
Negotiation is in your hands.
Okay.
Hey.
(grunts)
We're on our way down, Don.
Let's go.
You do it,
and I'll k...
You're going to kill me?
If you really want to die, Ben,
that's your best bet.
If these elevator doors open,
and I'm on the floor...
SWAT will fill
you full of holes.
Thing is, I don't
think you're a killer.
You've had too
many chances today.
Even with Devane.
You could've got closer.
You could've fired more shots.
End of the day, I
think you're just tired.
You're tired of
looking at pictures
and listening words that
don't mean anything to you.
You're tired of being alone.
And you're scared.
You're scared
of the alternative.
You're sure about that?
I'm betting my life on it.
(bell dings)
It's okay! It's okay!
(handcuffs tightening)
So now what?
I ask myself the same
question every morning.
Hell of a last day.
What do you mean "last day"?
I thought you said Narcotics
was just for a few weeks.
You know what I mean.
Look, maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe we should just
give it another shot, huh?
Because of what we got,
or because you don't
want to feel like you bolted
from another relationship?
Come on, Don, you stuck with us.
Even after it was obvious
it wasn't going to work.
Accepting the obvious
isn't running away.
And for what it's worth, I don't
think you're that guy anymore.
So when the right
thing comes along...
you're going to stick with it.
I wanted it to be us.
See you around.
There's a leap
of faith, isn't it?
Getting back on this
elevator after they
monkeyed with the
Overspeed Governor?
Yeah, I can't believe that
publicity photographer.
I told her I don't want
her printing those candids.
Oh, you mean those of
the intrepid Charles Eppes
working side by
side with the FBI
in the middle of
a hostage crisis?
No, why should she
want to use that? Hey.
Hi. Bye.
Hey. Oh.
We came back up here
'cause I thought I
might've left something.
Well, I'm almost done, so
why don't you guys hang out
and I'll buy the first round?
Yeah. Yeah, okay.
for the messenger ♪
♪ Got no regard for the thing
that you don't understand ♪
♪ You got no fear
of The Underdog ♪
♪ That's why you
will not survive. ♪
(rhythmic handclaps)
Hey, Colby.
SAC kicked this back.
Again? Yeah, they want
to know where we're at
on the Title 3s. Okay?
We're heading out.
Oh, yeah, you going
to the stash house?
Yeah. We're gonna
pick up breakfast first.
Okay, egg whites
on wheat, please.
Granger?
Lumberjack special,
double the pancakes,
please. What's going on?
Oh, uh, Narcotics
is shorthanded.
The SAC asked me
to fill in for a few weeks.
They asked or you asked?
I think it's better, don't you?
Liz, it's not like I don't
think you're a good agent.
I mean, I still want
you on the team.
Yeah, I can't help but wonder if
you'd be saying the same thing
if I was the one
who called it off.
Hey, Don, I got a judge
on the phone about the Title 3s,
but he wants to talk to you.
You know, I'm...
You know when it comes
to promoting the book,
I'll do anything the
publisher asks me to,
but taking publicity pictures in
the middle of the FBI's bullpen
seems kind of tacky. What?
Mathematician, published author,
FBI crime-solver.
What's tacky about
being presented
as the Renaissance man you are?
I don't know, I'm
just a tad bit worried
that the more
popular the book gets,
the farther it gets
away from the math.
Yeah, well, if you want to
reach the widest audience,
touch the most
hearts, you have to...
Sell out.
Sell a lot.
(elevator bell dings)
Going down. (sighs)
Did you ever notice
the first car you get
is always going the wrong way?
Well, actually, the elevator
paradox accounts for that.
See, any one elevator
spends most of its time
in the larger section
of the building,
so that's more than likely
the direction it's coming from
when you hit the call button.
If we were to stand
here for several hours...
(elevator bell dings)
Saved by the bell.
Got Lakers tickets
for next Saturday.
(gasps): And
Colby can't make it?
As nice as it is to
be second choice,
I'm going back east
for a couple weeks.
Really?
Larry mentioned that he
was headed back east as well.
(laughs)
I bet you two are
getting back together.
Granger owes me 20.
You bet on me and Larry?
You know, I left
my wallet upstairs.
I'm serious. I'll be right back.
I'll meet you out front.
Whoa! Hey!
(metal detector beeping)
GUARD: Hey! Hey...
(gunshots)
(panicked shouting) Move! Move!
GUNMAN: Back up!
Move! Back up! Drop the weapon!
Drop the weapon and let her go!
It's not my fault!
I acted in self-defense!
Self-defense from who?
Who's trying to
hurt you? From you!
From all of you... You
won't leave me alone!
Okay, you just, sir,
tell me what you need.
What I need?!
You need a hostage.
(gasps)
You need a hostage...
now you have two.
David?
I'll kill her.
Then I will kill you.
Nobody wins.
Too many things to
keep track of, you know.
What's going on out there,
what's going on in here.
It's hard to watch
both of us, you know.
You're going to make a mistake.
You don't want
to make a mistake.
I'll let her go if
you let the door go.
No, we can't do that.
Yes, we can. Yes.
Yes, I will.
(screams)
I'm ready to die
right now! Are you?
Are you?!
(panting)
Okay... what now?
Just a minute of quiet, okay?
Let me think.
David Sinclair.
What?
While you're thinking,
you think about my name...
David Sinclair.
You have a name
maybe I can think about?
Ben Blakely.
Surveillance subcontractor.
He's a wizard with wiretapping
and hidden cameras.
MAN: All right,
let's go, fellas.
Look alive. I want
rappel gear up on six.
Special Operations
Group can only do so much,
so sometimes we
have to outsource.
He was working on
a RICO case for me,
standard OC surveillance.
Agent Devane,
do you have any idea
why he would shoot at you?
He started acting nutty,
thought we were following
him, tapping his phones.
So I had to let him go,
revoke his clearance.
Shutting him out of all
government contract work?
I knew he was tightly wound,
but I didn't see him as the
disgruntled shooter type.
Obviously not.
All right, would you follow
him off to the hospital.
I'm going to need a
complete statement.
DON: What happened?
I've got this ex-contractor
who's having
paranoid fantasies...
And what, David trades himself?
I mean, what's that about,
and why didn't you stop him?
He made a judgment call.
DON: Yeah, well,
not a very good one.
Okay, you weren't there.
And I wouldn't
have done it either,
but he wasn't wrong. He
saved that woman's life.
You're right, you're right.
King, SWAT. Car is
stuck between floors
so we're setting up positions
here and in the bullpen. Right.
Is anybody opening up a line
of communication with Blakely?
I'm going to give
him a couple minutes,
let him think
about his situation.
Maybe put in a psych
warfare soundtrack,
shake up his world,
soften him up a little.
Before we start isolating and
agitating a disturbed suspect,
maybe we should let
him air his grievances,
let him think that
we're listening to him.
DON: I agree.
Hey, you can go through
the motions if you want,
but we're going to
end up assaulting.
It's just the way it goes.
Just set your positions. No
moves until I say, all right?
Why don't you get a line
on Blakely, his background.
Liz, I want you to go
to the hospital, all right?
So somebody just walked into the
FBI and started shooting people?
Yeah, seems to happen
every year or two around here.
Actually, if you consider
the number of people
carrying guns in the city
and account for the
amount of criminals
associated with this building,
even weighted against
the security measures...
I suppose they deal with this
stuff all the time here, huh?
David is going to be okay?
Probabilistically.
So what do we do now?
What? We just wait?
Until they need me.
What are they going
to need you for?
There's always something.
What-what is that, Charlie?
It's a thought.
More of an abstract notion.
Yeah, about what?
About getting
David out of there.
You know what's
going on out there?
Guns, cops,
more guns.
Your people are
getting ready to kill me.
They don't want to.
Yes, they do.
What was your plan, Ben?
You thought you'd
come in here shooting
and walk out the front door?
I didn't have a plan.
I didn't think.
I just wanted it to stop.
I told Devane, over and over
again. And who's Devane?
Okay, and what did you tell him?
The FBI guy I shot.
I told him to stop following me.
He had people spying on me.
Do you know what that's like,
to never have any privacy?
Always wonder who's
watching you, and from where?
(over P.A.): This is Don Eppes.
To talk to me, you
just push the call button
on the panel there.
Now, sir, I want you to
understand two things:
We want you to surrender,
and I will do anything necessary
to ensure the safety
of Agent Sinclair.
The first step
is for us to just start
talking, now, okay?
What you want right
now, Ben, is time.
You need time to think.
If you don't answer up,
you're going to push
everybody out there to act faster.
That is exactly
what you don't want.
He's fine.
Tell them. Tell
them you're fine.
Everything's fine in here, Don.
DAVID: Everybody's
keeping a level head.
Mr. Blakely, you've
got to understand,
sooner or later, you're
going to come out of there.
What do you want to do, Ben?
DON: Ben? Ben?!
BLAKELY: I don't
want to talk right now.
And I don't like being watched.
He terminated contact.
Playbook says we shut
down the air-conditioning,
kill the lights,
run a fiber optic
line to the car,
restore our visual.
Uh, actually, Don,
you're better off not
looking inside the elevator.
This must be the math brother.
Exactly what made you
come to that conclusion?
You're not an FBI agent, but
you walked in here like one.
Look, he earned that walk, okay?
What were you going to say?
It's a classic
thought experiment
called the Chinese Room,
in which there's a
computer inside a room
receiving questions written
in Chinese characters
that it answers back in Chinese.
It's programmed so
perfect that the questioner
thinks he's talking
to an actual person,
which is called the Turing test.
Now, imagine there's
a man inside the room
who doesn't speak Chinese
but answers the questions back
using the same
rules as the computer,
writing back
predetermined responses.
John Searle argued
that you can't get meaning
from a blind
manipulation of symbols,
while others argued
that semantics...
I get that the elevator is
the Chinese Room, right?
Who's the computer?
Uh, it's not about
the Turing test.
The answer's far more
abstract than that. I don't get it.
I mean, more data is
always better, Charlie,
so why not look?
I'm pointing out that there
are programmed responses
logical to both
David and Blakely...
How long to get a camera
in there? Ten minutes.
We get a visual, we put
an armor piercing round
through the thinnest wall.
Not the nicest way
to resolve this thing,
but it's the fastest.
You can't guarantee
you're going to kill the guy
before he pulls the trigger.
Even if I could, I wouldn't.
All right, just put the
camera in for now.
I've been helping
you for four years.
You know, I haven't been
wrong too many times.
Well... I mean,
this isn't just some...
Some thought experiment?
WOMAN: I don't
believe it, not Ben.
He witnesses life,
he doesn't live it.
Did you notice
any warning signs...
Erratic behavior,
increased agitation?
He showed all of those signs,
especially before our divorce.
Our son died in a car
accident seven years ago.
After that, he just
disappeared into his work.
I think watching other people
made him feel less
lonely somehow.
He seems to think
that he's being watched.
He's thought that for 25 years.
Sweeping the apartment for
bugs, avoiding store cameras.
I think when you know how easy it is
to take somebody else's privacy away,
you're just that much more
sensitive about your own.
Do you think there's any way
you could get through to him?
Agent Reeves, I don't
think I can help you with Ben.
He's as much a mystery
to me as anybody else.
It's... it's getting
hot in here.
Probably a safety mechanism...
Save power during a malfunction.
What do you think
they're doing out there?
Trying to find a way
to end this peacefully.
(grunts)
The agent you shot...
Devane.
He thought I wouldn't find out.
Find out what?
That they were following
me, spying on me.
Why?
He destroyed my life's
work... to cover up his...
Cover up what?
DON: Ben.
Hey...
(mutters): Sons of bitches...
What was Devane
trying to cover up? Eppes!
Hey, Ben, stay with... Ben!
Eppes!
Yeah, Ben, what's up?
Do you really think you can
pull a fiber optic snake past me?
You pull it.
Pull it!
Ben, listen to me...
I don't care if we
both die in here!
Ten, nine...
Ben, you are going
to make me shoot!
Then do it. Do it right
now... We'll both die.
Ben, calm down,
okay? It's just a camera.
I will not be watched!
Don't back yourself
into a corner!
You don't have to do this!
Seven, Easy!
Six...
I will not be watched!
Five!
You can't do it,
Eppes... Negotiation 101.
Four, three... Blakely,
lower your gun!
I'm pulling it. Pull it!
All the way out!
It's out. It's out.
(gasping)
Okay... okay.
All right.
Okay.
You realize we just told
wingnut he's in charge.
Maybe we should try
some passive surveillance.
Thermal imaging?
Yeah, we can read heat
signatures through the walls,
but the problem is, it's
not enough information
to give us a clean shot.
Well, it's better than nothing.
Not according to your brother.
Everything I heard about
the guy, he's like a magician.
Are all his ideas so out there?
Yeah, sometimes.
Should we be thinking about it?
Rib stopped one, and, uh...
the other was a
through-and-through.
Good thing he wasn't
a better shot, huh?
You know, something's
just not making sense
about Ben Blakely.
He profiles as
volatile and paranoid,
but none of the bellwethers
of explosive, violent
action are there.
Meaning what?
Meaning he was
ripe for an episode,
but something set him off.
I'm guessing that something,
you're not telling me?
Is she for real?
As real as the files we
accessed on your RICO case,
the SAC shut it down
six weeks before
you fired Blakely.
So what exactly has he
been doing for six weeks?
Blakely already had surveillance
cameras and wiretaps set up
with a dozen
organized crime figures.
I let him keep recording
until the warrants expired.
I figured I might get lucky.
Unauthorized use of Bureau
funds for an unapproved activity?
I mean, come on, that's a
hell of a disciplinary review.
They're going to
have to move fast.
I'm retiring at the
end of the month.
Look, I rolled the bones,
tried to go out on a
win instead of a loss,
and it blew up in my face.
You think two bullets
isn't punishment enough,
then report me.
LIZ: You know,
those interrogations
where the subject is telling
you just enough of the truth
to make it hard to tell
where the lie starts?
I think he made a
bad judgment call,
and now he's just
trying to cover his ass.
An internal investigation's gonna
have to find the truth eventually.
Yeah, but David doesn't
have “eventually” kind of time.
I think we have to go
open up Ben Blakely's head
and get a good look inside.
So... how long you
been in surveillance?
Twenty-five years.
I made the tra...
the transition from...
from analog to digital...
reel to reel and directional
microphones to laser switchers
and omnidirectional receivers.
Not a lot of us did.
Yeah.
Must've seen and heard
a whole hell of a lot, huh?
No, not really.
It's just information, to be
packaged and moved on.
I... I hear it, but
I never listen.
I find that hard to believe.
Twenty-five years?
Exactly.
All those voices,
all those words...
if I had listened to all of it,
if I had listened to any of it,
I'd have gone...
I'm not crazy, you know.
The FBI has been watching me.
I can prove it.
How?
It doesn't matter, does it?
If you were working
for Devane, right,
and he had everything
you recorded...
why watch you?
I don't know...
All right.
And where was killing
him going to get you?
I mean, it wouldn't
get you any answers.
Oh, maybe it would.
Maybe now, someone will tell
me why I was being watched.
Or maybe...
maybe all I want is
this moment, right now,
with no one watching me.
(labored breathing)
I couldn't sleep...
knowing they were listening.
I...
I just...
I'm just tired all the time now.
I can't focus.
Okay, the thermal camera's in.
Car's too small... the heat
signatures are blurring.
Even if they haven't
changed positions,
I still can't advise
taking a shot.
I don't see what
we can do but insert.
How many times have I been
there for him? How many?
And he interrupted me.
He cut me off, like
I'm some kind of...
Consultant? Okay, fine,
but he didn't have
to act like the-the...
The boss.
I'm getting subtle clues
that you're on his side.
No, no, no. No sides.
It's just that you're both
in a very stressful situation.
You have to admit, the idea
of not looking
inside the elevator,
given the circumstance,
it's a little, uh... Zen.
Zen, radical, maybe,
but, you know, he didn't
even allow me to
formulate the argument.
I mean, I know I'm right.
That's not even true.
I failed.
I failed to make
myself understood.
Sometimes there are
things in my head that are
so purely what they are...
that when I try to
turn them into words,
they either are no words,
or I just don't know how.
And... you can't
imagine how that feels.
How hard it is to have an
idea and not be able to share it.
Hey, can you do me a favor,
come take a look at something?
Yeah, sure.
DON: This is the
image from the elevator.
I need to know if there's any
way of reading these things
that I don't know of.
I don't know, maybe.
If you would allow
me to try to explain
the Chinese Room
theory... No, no, no.
Listen to me, okay?
We're going to assault.
What I need to know,
is there anything
that I can do to improve
David's chances?
Yeah. Of course.
I can do something.
I can't guarantee
it'll be enough.
Whatever you can do, I
would appreciate it, okay?
You know, when I was a kid, um,
we lived in this brownstone.
When the phone
would ring downstairs,
you know, I'd pick it up.
If it was one of my
older sister's boyfriends,
you know, she'd, she'd take
it on the upstairs extension.
I never really cared what
they were talking about.
I couldn't help but
listen in, you know?
It's the human urge... To
light up the dark corners,
look for answers
in other people.
But at the end of the day,
there are no answers there,
just more lives as sad
and singular as our own.
That's why you
stopped listening?
What answers were
you looking for, Ben?
You know, I don't think
anyone understands loss
until they've lost a child...
not really.
And once you truly
understand loss,
you realize it's worth
anything to never feel it again.
I stopped listening, Sinclair,
because I didn't
have the strength
to take their pain, too.
So why didn't you just quit?
Just walk away?
Twenty-five years, Sinclair.
I don't know anything else.
More coffee...
and I found some, uh,
well, some kind of cookies.
It seems like I spend
half my life bringing
you boys food and
beverages, you know?
K-means cluster analysis.
It's hard to believe
that there was
a time when I considered
myself math literate.
Well, the process
can get complex,
but the concept's fairly simple.
You know, David and
Blakely are throwing off
two coinciding
heat signatures...
Like two schools of fish
passing through each other,
looking to the naked
eye like a single group,
but when you analyze the
data continuously... examine
the movement and behavior
of each individual fish...
You can separate
the two clusters.
And figure out
which one is David,
and which one is
the, uh, crazy guy.
Well, first I have to
separate the heat signatures.
You know, discerning
which one is which
requires a whole
other analysis of height
and weight and body type.
Son of a gun.
I know this elevator.
Been on it enough times.
No, I mean it's a
Schindler 400A.
The Convention Center
project I've been consulting on
has four of them.
I need to talk to Don.
MEGAN: I didn't know
there were this many ways
to spy on a person.
Really.
Okay, so where
do we start looking?
And what are we looking for?
I'd skip all the raw
surveillance material
and the work stuff for now.
We're looking for a letter,
or an emotional
trigger of some kind.
Okay.
Or course there's almost
nothing personal in here.
There's not one photograph,
or one knickknack.
It's like he's consciously
burying all of his memories.
I got a file folder
labeled "Them."
Now we're talking paranoia.
Is it like a list
of grievances?
What is that?
Video files,
I think.
Just 'cause you're
paranoid doesn't mean
that everyone isn't watching.
ALAN: Okay. This
pulley system here
is called the
Overspeed Governor.
It keeps the elevator
from dropping too fast.
Yeah, we can drop the
car anytime you want.
But if you override
the emergency brake,
the car will start moving slowly
because that's what
it's designed to do.
Well, that would give Blakely
plenty of time to shoot David.
But if you reset the
Overspeed Governor,
raise its maximum speed...
Diversion, right?
How far you think it will drop?
No more than five or six feet.
KING: So we drop
the box, my guys go in
while they're
still rattled, right?
Still a lot of risk, guys.
Well, less if we know
where they both are.
DAVID: I don't know about you,
hey, but... but
I'm getting hungry.
Yeah, sure.
Drugged food.
A chance for them to
drop in some tear gas.
Hey, Ben, nothing makes them
more nervous than silence, okay?
You got to start putting
some demands out there.
Open the lines of communication.
You want them to stay outside,
you got to get them
talking here in this room.
Well, I'm supposed
to take your advice?
Man, if they don't think
there's any reasoning with you,
they're going to bring
this elevator down
to the ground floor, and
they are going to breach it.
Even if we haven't
shot each other by then,
I do not want to
be in the line of fire.
Ben...
do you want to live?
I'll put it another way.
(crying)
You want to live.
(sniffling)
That's why you shot Devane.
To protect yourself.
'Cause you wanted things
to go back the way they were.
But you didn't think
this thing through,
so now it's up to me
to help you out, okay?
Ben, I am going to
walk you out of here.
I'm going to go to jail.
Yeah.
Probably.
Eight by eight box,
24/7
with no privacy, huh?
How do you think I'd do?
So, maybe you're wrong.
Maybe living isn't my best bet.
He has dozens
of files like this.
Yeah, he's Warspying.
Just when I'm convinced
you can't come up
with something new.
Most video surveillance
cameras operate
and broadcast on unprotected,
2.4 gigahertz video feeds.
DON: You're talking
like Wi-Fi, right?
Exactly, and
intercepting those feeds
requires a video receiver,
an omni-directional
antenna, really not much else.
It's probably hidden
in his briefcase.
All right, so he
sweeps his loft...
Probably a routine
check for bugs...
Realized he is being watched,
unlocking all the
paranoid fantasies,
exacerbating the privacy issues.
All right, so who the
hell is watching the guy?
CHARLIE: Can't tell you that,
but I can tell you where from,
give or take 35 feet.
How?
It's like any other
signal, okay?
It-it gets stronger
as you get closer to the
receiver and the transmitter,
gets weaker as
you get farther away.
You plot enough points
where the image is
clear, and you apply
inverse geometry.
Uh, like fireflies
flickering on and off
during a summer night,
apparently random blinks
of light in the darkness,
but math reveals their
true path and purpose:
what trees they've
laid eggs beneath;
where they've gone to mate,
bringing rhythm and
pattern to their light show.
DON: All right, let's just focus
on the thermal image, all right?
This program doesn't need
me to finish its work for it.
And given the wealth of data,
the geometry should
take, like, 15 or 20 minutes.
Good idea... about the elevator.
You know, I-I feel kind of funny
about being so
involved here, and, uh,
if anything should happen...
Well, it won't.
You know, I'm a little old for
hollow reassurances, Colby.
You see, this was my idea,
and if David gets hurt, I
am responsible for that.
Oh, yeah, that's true.
Some hollow reassurance
would be nice now.
Look, Alan, there's
no instruction manual
for how we handle
these situations.
I mean, not really.
You know, we make our
best guesses out there,
and, you know, we just hope.
So, how do you
wrestle with that?
Having to make
these big decisions,
having people's lives
literally in your hands?
I mean, sure, it's not every day
that your best friend's
life is on the line, but...
Actually, a lot of days it is.
CHARLIE: Based
on body type, a small
height differential,
and allowing for inaccuracies
in the cluster analysis,
I can say that this is David,
but I can say that
with only 65% certainty.
Yeah, well, that's a big 35%.
And that's why I
can't advise going in.
All right, wait, but
somebody's got to ask.
What does your Chinese
Room say? All right.
It's an analysis of
Blakely's stated objectives
and David's impact
on his environment.
It's, it's a weighted matrix
of risk-reward, all right, so...
Hold-hold on a second.
Can't you do all that stuff
and still see in the box?
No. The act of
observation creates...
creates a relationship
between the-the viewer
and-and the subject, all right?
I can't tell you why
I know what I know.
Unfortunately, not in any way
that you'd
understand, but-but...
but I'm hoping to arrive
at a persuasive strategy
before it's too late, okay?
Yeah, well, it's too late.
I mean, look, no demands,
the guy's refusing to negotiate.
Okay? We cannot wait any longer.
Elevator's ready to drop.
DON: All right.
Any way to give
your guy a heads-up?
Yeah. Our distress
word is Mexico.
Mexico.
Yeah, let's do it.
Don. Charlie.
Look, I want to go in there.
Okay, David is my partner.
I know his moves
better than anyone.
I can make sure these
guys don't overreact.
Don, tell me the
argument to make.
I will make it.
All right, you go
in behind SWAT,
same as any other action.
Got to give up on
this one, buddy.
I didn't get where I am
by giving up on being right.
(beep) Ben, this is Don Eppes.
How are we doing in there?
Everything's fine, Don.
Everybody's good.
Could maybe, uh, use some
water, some sandwiches...
No! No one comes in.
DON: Ben, listen to me.
We've been in your loft.
We saw the video.
We know someone
was following you.
(whirring)
Someone.
We're going to help
you figure out who.
I promise you this.
You know who. I put
bullets in the son of a bitch!
You tell me why!
Well, come on out,
and we'll figure
it out together.
(whirring)
Oh, you'll whitewash everything.
You'll protect your
own, throw me in a cell,
and then stare at me.
And what will it
all have been for?
DON: What is it all for?
Ben, you've got
to talk to me here.
Ben, I want to help you.
David wants to help you,
but you got to be realistic
about your situation.
Ben, you're in an elevator.
You can't just walk out...
hop on a plane to Mexico.
Now!
(rumbling)
Hold it!
(gunshot)
(gunshots)
(grunts)
(gunshots)
(grunts)
No! Hold your
fire! Hold your fire!
(labored breathing)
COLBY: He's got a
through-and-through on the left shoulder,
but otherwise stable.
BLAKELY: It didn't work, Eppes!
I have both guns now.
I'm in control now.
You tell them!
You tell them.
Everything's status quo, Don.
(panting)
Why?
Why are you lying?
I'm not going to give you
the power you want, Ben.
Not until I think
you're going to make
the right decision.
But I have both guns.
You're still in the
same position.
You shoot me, you're
as good as dead.
(loud, pained grunt)
Oh, it feels like I've
been kicked in the ribs.
(grunts)
Not that I'm complaining about
a bulletproof vest working now.
What the hell you
doing shutting the door?
Trying to keep your men
from killing my partner.
You got no business jumping
to the front of the action. Hey!
My men are trained.
Trained to do
what, shoot too fast?
Guys! Later.
Oh, you should
talk to your brother.
He may be out
there, but at least
he's got a plan he's
willing to stick with.
(David gasps)
At least we know where
we both stand, huh?
(panting)
You tried to kill me.
DAVID: Really?
I-I distinctly remember
not shooting you
when I could have.
(panting) (electrical fizzing)
(knocking) About time.
I ordered a half an hour ago.
LIZ: Oh, you owe
us $15. Fifteen?
You tipped generously.
We need to talk to
you about Ben Blakely.
Ben who?
You know, that guy
you've been following
around the city videotaping.
LIZ: Okay, well, since you
obviously don't have a lie handy,
you should know
that Blakely's holding a
federal agent at gunpoint, okay?
So we're just a little
short on patience.
Wow. This is some
hobby you got here.
Well, I gross 200K a year.
I mean, not that
I get to enjoy it.
I spend most of my
time in places like this.
How'd you find me?
Inverse geometry.
Ben Blakely.
He's one of the
best in the business.
Not as good as me...
Really? 'Cause he knew
that you were watching him.
He intercepted your video feeds.
Oh, that briefcase.
Ah, he was Warspying me.
Cheap bastards wouldn't spring
for the double-encrypted feeds.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Cheap bastards being?
The Elcar campaign.
The guy running for governor?
Yeah, Elcar got hit with
three scandals in two weeks.
Figured they were being bugged,
so they hired me
to sweep the offices.
I backtraced the
bugs to Blakely.
Started taping him to
see if we could get a lead
on who hired him.
I can't believe he was onto me.
Damn, he played that cool.
DON: We're back
to where we started.
"However beautiful the strategy,
you should occasionally
look at the results."
Winston Churchill.
That's pretty much
what King said.
You got yourself
another fan. Yeah.
I tend to get more respect
from people who didn't give me
noogies when I was six.
Listen, Blakely is the
man in the Chinese Room.
He processes information
without ever understanding
its significance.
Okay, so? And so
that's the way he likes it.
You know, it keeps his world
contained; that's his rulebook.
Right. Him, David, no cameras.
There is an impartial two-player
perfect information
game called Chomp
in which two players take
turns removing cookies.
The object being
to avoid taking
the lower left corner,
which is the poison cookie.
You can mathematically
prove that using
optimal moves, the first
player will always win,
but you can't
mathematically determine
first moves that
will guarantee a win.
David made the first move
getting in the elevator?
You became the third player
when you screwed
up the winning strategy.
Chaos theory holds
that outcome is sensitive
to initial conditions.
So you've got to restore
the decision-making process
to David because he started it.
Don, if you were
in that elevator,
who would you want
to make the next move?
So when you told us you were
retiring, you failed to mention
that you had your
next job lined up.
Governor's reelection campaign.
Official title:
Intelligence Chief.
Unofficially, you're
the dirty tricks guy.
Without telling them
you moved Blakely
from RICO surveillance
to spying on the governor's
political rivals.
I have no idea what
you're talking about.
We're talking about
misappropriation
of government funds.
You're not just
going to lose your job,
you could end up bunking
with some of the people
you've been busting.
I had a whole story worked out.
Why he was watching
a campaign building
while he was on a RICO case.
And you know he never asked?
Huh.
The man as oblivious.
Not so oblivious
he didn't figure out
he was being followed.
So you destroyed
his career to protect your own.
What's going on
over there, buddy?
Talk to me.
There's no way
out of this for me.
The longer I sit here,
not knowing what I want...
Not knowing what comes next...
I'm just giving them more
time to try something else,
something after that.
Best bet, they kill me.
What do you mean "best bet"?
Believe it or not,
this is the longest
conversation I've had with...
anyone in...
Since my wife...
Since my son.
So what am I holding on to here?
You're getting
ahead of yourself.
Ben, slow down. No.
No, it's clear now.
Pick it up.
I'm not going to do that...
Pick it up and shoot me.
We've been through
too much, okay?
I'm walking you
out of here today.
Just do it for me, damn it!
Or I swear to God,
I will kill you where you sit!
DON (over intercom):
Ben, Don Eppes.
You were right.
Devane was following you.
We got proof and a confession.
Look, Ben, I don't know
what else to give you here.
I mean, I can't lie to you
and tell you everything's
going to be okay.
But I can tell you we do
believe you, and I guarantee
that Devane's going to pay.
David, look, it's all yours.
Negotiation is in your hands.
Okay.
Hey.
(grunts)
We're on our way down, Don.
Let's go.
You do it,
and I'll k...
You're going to kill me?
If you really want to die, Ben,
that's your best bet.
If these elevator doors open,
and I'm on the floor...
SWAT will fill
you full of holes.
Thing is, I don't
think you're a killer.
You've had too
many chances today.
Even with Devane.
You could've got closer.
You could've fired more shots.
End of the day, I
think you're just tired.
You're tired of
looking at pictures
and listening words that
don't mean anything to you.
You're tired of being alone.
And you're scared.
You're scared
of the alternative.
You're sure about that?
I'm betting my life on it.
(bell dings)
It's okay! It's okay!
(handcuffs tightening)
So now what?
I ask myself the same
question every morning.
Hell of a last day.
What do you mean "last day"?
I thought you said Narcotics
was just for a few weeks.
You know what I mean.
Look, maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe we should just
give it another shot, huh?
Because of what we got,
or because you don't
want to feel like you bolted
from another relationship?
Come on, Don, you stuck with us.
Even after it was obvious
it wasn't going to work.
Accepting the obvious
isn't running away.
And for what it's worth, I don't
think you're that guy anymore.
So when the right
thing comes along...
you're going to stick with it.
I wanted it to be us.
See you around.
There's a leap
of faith, isn't it?
Getting back on this
elevator after they
monkeyed with the
Overspeed Governor?
Yeah, I can't believe that
publicity photographer.
I told her I don't want
her printing those candids.
Oh, you mean those of
the intrepid Charles Eppes
working side by
side with the FBI
in the middle of
a hostage crisis?
No, why should she
want to use that? Hey.
Hi. Bye.
Hey. Oh.
We came back up here
'cause I thought I
might've left something.
Well, I'm almost done, so
why don't you guys hang out
and I'll buy the first round?
Yeah. Yeah, okay.