Numb3rs (2005–2010): Season 4, Episode 8 - Tabu - full transcript
A wealthy man's daughter is kidnapped, and Megan is astounded by his behavior while the team tries to rescue her.
(upbeat pop song playing)
♪ See, I just want to dead 'em ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Will I got to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
(beeping)
♪ My life ain't perfect ♪
♪ I can't find the purpose... ♪
Harper!
It's a party, not a funeral.
Uh, it was my mom's.
God, you can be such
a bitch sometimes.
(earpiece chirps)
♪ Should I get a reverend? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Will I go to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ See, I just want to dead 'em ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Will I go to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ The same, the same,
the same as usual ♪
♪ It may just move you ♪
♪ On stage assume you know I
can choose just to make you move ♪
♪ I'm making the news,
you're making a fool ♪
(earpieces chirping)
♪ You make me want to flirt ♪
♪ Make me want to whirl,
see your body on the floor ♪
♪ See a trolley on the morgue ♪
♪ Anybody have a sword
to break this chain off? ♪
♪ Somebody please help
me take this brain off ♪
♪ I'm feeling like a
slave, this chain of hate ♪
♪ It's trained to make
this brain an ape ♪
♪ But no cane can
take this pain away ♪
♪ So I pray and wait on
a rainy day and say... ♪
♪ I just want to dead 'em ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
(explosion)
(screaming)
(gunfire and screaming)
♪ Will I go to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ See, I just want to dead 'em ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Will I go to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know. ♪
(thunder rumbling)
(thunder crackling)
(cell phone vibrating)
(whispering): Eppes.
All right, all right, all
right, I'm on my way.
(garbled radio transmission)
DON: What do you
got, Billy? Nothing.
MEGAN: Did you recognize
any of them, Miss Simms?
It all happened so fast,
I didn't even see them.
What about before?
Did you see anyone hanging
around, watching Ella?
Everyone.
I mean, she's Ella.
Right. Thanks very much. Mm-hmm.
(clears throat)
So, what, straight-up grab?
Yeah, with flash grenades
and automatic weapons,
and they were professional
enough not to hurt anyone.
Well, a lot of witnesses.
And not a good one in the bunch.
It's not any ordinary
club kid; it's Ella Pierce.
What, that rich
kid? The party girl?
Somebody's been
trolling Internet fan sites.
Her father is Warren Pierce.
He's worth, like, $2 billion.
He's got textile
factories in every country
in the world without
a minimum wage.
He been notified?
I talked to him
on his plane en route to Aspen.
He's on his way back. Uh-huh.
MAN: How you doing?
Jeff Upchurch. Hi, there.
Critical Incident Response.
Hey. Don Eppes.
I was on my way to Guadalajara,
and they rerouted me.
I'm guessing I was the nearest
specialist in the area, so...
MEGAN: Specialist in what?
You guys do, what, ten,
15 kidnappings a year?
Mexico City, I do 15 a month.
Work kidnappings
Europe, Asia, Afghanistan.
It's always different,
always the same.
So, what's different about
this one? I don't know yet.
But the big money snatches
tend to put you in contact
with a higher class of lowlife.
If they know their business,
and I'm certainly
guessing they do,
we're looking at
simultaneous movement,
expected payouts,
bargaining strategies.
Lot of variables here.
You guys talking about
imperfect information games?
I'm gonna check in SID.
You must be Professor Eppes.
Pleasure. Bureau gave me
a copy of the action report
from the Che Lobo
kidnapping last year.
Got to tell you, I'm very
impressed with the maze math.
Thanks. Could use some
similar inspiration on this one.
Sounds like you might
have already started.
You were just talking about
game theory, right? I was.
Assuming that our
kidnappers are experienced,
or they have benefited
from the experience
of other kidnappers, we can use
an optimization method
here called a tabu search,
which is basically
a way of excluding
bad data.
Places where the
kidnappers won't go
to isolate where they will go.
I guess that's why
they call it tabu, right?
These kidnappers...
They're like a group of hikers.
But they've mapped
out a very specific route.
That route is
complicated by the terrain,
by the density of foliage,
by dangerous animals,
by water barriers.
They deal with these
obstacles using their experience,
using the accuracy of
their maps, their needs.
And a tabu search can
pinpoint the optimal route
that the hikers can then choose.
Now, assuming that
our kidnappers' goal
is the safe collection
of a ransom, I can interpret
their methodology; I
can predict their actions.
Okay. How soon?
Not a lot of information
here, you know?
My projections are
going to be fairly general.
(phone ringing) But as always,
the more data that comes
in, the more helpful I can be.
Yeah. Eppes.
(garbled radio transmission)
Key's still in the ignition.
I got something a
little something here.
They left us a souvenir.
Check this out.
(machine whirring)
MAN: Warren Pierce
is a criminal, a
ruthless parasite
who lives off the backs
of the workers he exploits.
His debt to society
has come due,
and if he doesn't pay it...
(sobbing)
the People's Nationalist Agenda
will take it in the
blood of his daughter.
We'll contact Mr. Pierce
with our demands at noon today.
DAVID: People's Nationalist
Agenda, aka the PNA.
Anti-corporate, anti-free trade.
Anti-Warren Pierce.
The guy who runs the Web
site... He calls himself Santee,
but the Bureau's
counterterrorism unit...
They don't have a face
to go with that name.
They don't even
think it's one person.
Thing is, we don't even have
any identifiable members.
I mean, the banners go up
at antiglobalization protests,
somebody spray-paints "PNA"
at a vandalized construction site,
but there doesn't seem to be
any real, centralized organization.
All right, so maybe
they're just messing
with us, you know?
Maybe they're just
hiding behind these guys.
Okay, so the van used in
the abduction was registered
to a Diamond Lane Rentals,
reported stolen last week.
Start with anyone who'd
know the girl's schedule, right?
That's got to be
half of Los Angeles.
The good-looking half.
These celebrity socialites...
They live electronically,
so I'll go deep on the
e-mails, text messages,
phone logs, the works.
Yeah, good.
So what happened last night?
I don't know. You know, it
was late, and I took the call.
I thought I'd let you sleep.
That's it? That's all
you're going to give me?
(sighs) That's all there is.
Look, Don, we both know
things haven't been
clicking since Leah was killed.
I think you just wanted me
out of your face for
a few hours, right?
I don't know. Look,
even if that's true,
is it that big a deal?
It's something to
talk about, yeah.
Well, I mean, I'm in the middle
of a kidnapping here. Come on.
All right.
You know, I'll just
wait for a bank robbery.
(door closes)
Ever since Ella
became a media darling,
a power partier,
I've been waiting for
something like this to happen.
And you never saw to it
that she got any security?
She turned down bodyguards.
Said any kidnapper would pay
to give her back after two days.
And with the joke,
you let the issue drop?
That's not at all what I meant.
Anything Ella
ever asked for, ever needed,
I've always given her gladly.
What you need to understand,
Mr. Pierce, is that
ransom is enough business
to make a fellow like
yourself confused.
Meaning?
Kidnappers will position.
They will establish
bargaining power.
Gentleman such as yourself
that's used to
calling the shots,
used to winning...
You're asking me to be humble.
I'm asking you to be smart.
(phone ringing)
Okay, this is what
we talked about.
Want to stay calm, engaged.
Keep them on the
phone as long as possible.
Is everybody ready? All set.
Whenever you are, sir.
Hello.
If this isn't Warren Pierce,
Ella Pierce is as good as dead.
Who are you?
Don't ask who I am.
Ask how much I want.
I need to know my
daughter is all right.
ELLA: Dad? Daddy?
(sobbing)
Ella?
(sobbing)
Demand 1:
shut down all of your company's
sweatshops operating
in the Third World.
If it's me you want...
Demand 2: $40
million in restitution
paid to the thousands of
men, women and children
your company has
exploited in the Third World.
I'll give you $10 million.
In a secured Swiss account.
(beep)
(click, dial tone)
Guy's using a sat phone.
He's bouncing the signal.
What the hell was that?
A counteroffer.
You're lowballing on
your daughter's life?
I talked to him in a
language he understands.
Do you understand that
they hung up on you?
That you put your
daughter's life in more danger?
He'll call back.
And now, if you'll excuse me,
I'm going to make
arrangements for payment.
MEGAN: Guys like that...
It's all about money
and power. Actually,
that was the right call,
straight out of the playbook.
He pays too much,
too fast, too soon,
PNA's going to figure
they didn't ask enough.
They're going to come
back looking for more.
You really think he could be
operating out of your playbook?
You got a different theory?
That his daughter's just
another negotiable asset.
You get this out of
your favorite head shop?
No, Charles.
This cannot be
purchased in any shop.
I've constructed
my own Hero's fountain.
Named after Hero of Alexandria,
the Greek mathematician
and engineer.
You see, once the
pressure is right,
the water will flow
under its own power.
And how is this part of
your achieving Zen, Larry?
Einstein said
religion should arise
from the experience
of all things
natural and spiritual
in a meaningful unity.
Now, made from the
parcels of my former self,
this fountain
perfectly analogizes
the seamless integration of both
my physical and spiritual lives.
AMITA: Shouldn't
you be at the FBI?
The kidnapping is
all over the news. Oh.
Yeah. The ransom
negotiation cut short,
so I may need to
rethink my tabu search.
Maybe
weight the data
with a Bayesian prior.
While I condone none
of the major felonies,
do have to say, kidnapping...
That does hold a certain...
conceptual intrigue,
this business
of affixing value
to a human life.
Oh, I think it's almost there.
Observe, Charles:
water rising to a new level,
as is my own hope.
I'm out of here.
It dawned on me
while I was looking
at Larry's Zen rock garden.
What? Larry has
a Zen rock garden?
Yeah, actually, it
was his Hero fountain
that got me going, but
it's an even longer story.
Let's reconsider my
hiker analogy, all right?
Uh-huh. And think of a mudslide
falling in front of the hikers.
It changes terrain, it
changes their direction.
Right, okay. So my tabu search
accounted for the kidnappers
following a planned path,
but with Pierce's counteroffer,
they've had to
break off contact.
They've essentially
been detoured.
They have to find a new
way to get to their waterfall.
We're expecting them to
make another ransom-oriented
decision, to hike around
the mudslide, right?
But I-I think they're going to
abandon that path completely.
I think they're going
to find another way.
Everyone down on the ground!
Open the safe.
So what do you
think, kill the Pierce girl
and go underground?
Oh, that would be giving up.
Essentially turning around.
I based my analysis
on the information the
PNA put up on their Web site:
their stated goals,
their state of mind.
I think they're going
to going to bulldoze
through this mudslide.
I think they're going
going to do something
sudden, something violent,
something completely unexpected.
LIZ: All right, so the
safe holds cash deliveries
from payroll trucks
and they drop off
two to $300,000 a day.
But these geniuses hit two hours
after the money
went to the bank.
So they got six, maybe
seven grand in petty cash.
DON: Not the hit they were
hoping for. Their movements
are really synchronized;
it suggests a high degree
of discipline, a high
degree of conviction.
Let's not dance around it.
What are we thinking here?
Judging by the way
she's balancing that rifle,
my money says it isn't
even loaded. That
girl could be holding
a gun behind her back.
I mean, look at this face.
That is the face
of a scared little girl.
So they lose the ransom,
they hit Pierce's
business, but I don't get
why drag the girl along?
LIZ: Puts her
in the line of fire.
Human shield, maybe it's
their counteroffer to Pierce.
They placed her
in deliberate frame
of that security camera.
They want us to see her face.
They're asserting dominance.
I think they just
want to violate
Pierce and show him that
they control his destiny.
That looks like an alpha to me.
Think he's our mythical Santee?
(ringing)
Warner.
What?
Pierce just e-mailed
the PNA's Web site
and told them he isn't paying.
PIERCE: I've dealt
with rogue governments,
guerilla fighters,
organized crime.
They all understand
the rules of negotiation.
If these animals aren't
going to speak to me
in a language I
can understand...
Well, that's why I'm here, sir.
To help translate.
Look, we both
know that if I cave in,
they're going to bleed me dry.
And I still won't get Ella back.
That's always possible.
So what was my choice?
Well, you had a
couple of options, sir,
the worst of which was
negotiate with the PNA
without talking to me first.
So you think I should back down?
Tell them I'll pay.
No, you change
your direction too quick, it's
just going to confuse them.
We definitely don't want
these guys panicking.
The next move is theirs.
Let's just hope it's not
killing your daughter.
You don't have much
of a bedside manner.
Must be why
I don't get invited
to many parties.
DAVID: Still trying to break
into Ella Pierce's
e-mail account.
It turns out it's encrypted.
It's locked with a
software tool used
primarily by IT programmers
at major corporations.
That's funny, huh?
I mean, why would
she be doing that?
If you don't, that
stuff will turn up
on some online
celebrity gossip site.
You know the whole
world knows your business.
Let me ask you something.
I mean, not about this.
About Liz?
Yeah, how'd you know?
You asked permission to ask.
Hey, I got to end it.
I mean, it's just way too
complicated with work.
The thing is, every time I do,
we end up in bed.
Hey, man, you guys
work funky hours,
long stakeouts,
you're dodging bullets together.
It sounds like adrenaline.
I mean, adrenaline is
great, but, you know,
I don't know if that's
a real relationship.
I'm sorry, you wanted
to ask me a question.
I think you just answered it.
MEGAN: So what kind of
lizard decides that his daughter
isn't worth a fraction
of his bank account?
Loathe as I am
to contradict you,
the decision is so
entirely out of character.
It suggests true
emotional anguish.
Larry, what the hell would
you know about his character?
I think what he's simply
pointing out is that
Pierce has violated his
own corporate game theory.
It's standard minimax.
It's a tug of war,
a demonstration
of brute strength
between two opposing
sides where one side can pull
the other side
across a center line.
However, after the
competition started,
one team can embarrass the other
by letting go of the rope.
That team humiliates
its opponent,
but they've lost.
So essentially, Pierce
has let go of his rope.
He's struck back in
the way least likely
to achieve a positive result.
Which runs counter to
the instincts responsible
for his corporate success,
ergo my observation
that his judgment
is clouded by a
high state of distress.
Yeah, but, Larry,
I went through Ella's things,
and I found letters
from her father,
throughout her
childhood that were typed.
They were dictated
to a secretary.
I know, because his
secretary's name is cc'd on them.
What kind of father
would do that?
So you two
just stick to the blackboard
and I'll take care
of the profiling.
I expect that from my brother.
Any idea what's going on there?
Yeah, some.
So PNA put this
up ten minutes ago.
The People's Nationalist
Agenda is not to be taken lightly.
Their recent action
towards my father's
corrupt business interests are
just a taste of what's to come
until he responds to
the PNA's demands.
Close the sweatshops.
Pay the ransom.
Sent directly to the
national news outlets as well.
It'll be all over TV tonight.
So what, he piss on them,
they piss on him?
All right, meanwhile,
we've made some headway
on your alpha.
He's looking more and
more like our "Santee."
Facial recognition
software connected him
to several
antiglobalization protests
and then a gun store
robbery in Seattle,
two months ago. Similar MO.
All the same characters.
My guess is that
this is where they
decided to graduate from tree
hugging and disorderly conduct
to heavy felonies.
The problem is that
Santee managed to keep
his nose clean,
at least on paper.
There's no rap sheet, no ID.
20s, wanted, off the grid.
Listen, um...
I know this isn't
the right time to talk.
But I just want to make
sure we make the time.
I think so, too. I mean, uh...
We will.
Okay.
It's an MPEG file,
and from its resolution,
I think it came
from a sat phone.
DAVID: Okay, how
does that help us?
I mean, if we had
a DTMF decoder...
it's a dual-tone
multi-frequency.
It's touchtone.
You couldn't have just
said that to begin with?
Yeah, but it wouldn't
have been as much fun.
The decoder works kind
of like a prism.
Instead of refracting light
into its individual frequencies,
its component colors,
the decoder separates the phone
signal into different
tones and numeric values.
From which we can then decipher
the actual phone number.
Okay, where can we
get one of these things?
If the kidnappers are using
a land line or a
cell phone, you can
buy a DTMF decoder from
a consumer electronics store.
Right, but they're using
a sat phone, so...
Hacking a satellite
signal requires a little more
sophistication, but I
can put a unit together.
I mean, I built
my first computer when I was 13.
I know my way
around a circuit board.
And, you know, the Electrical
Engineering Department
has all the parts
I need. All right,
so If they're using
a satellite phone,
this thing is going to tell us where
they were, not where they are
now, right? Yeah, that's why
I've been patiently
waiting here.
I think the additional
information has
helped my tabu search,
and I think I have an idea where
the PNA might show up next.
As far as hunches go, I
certainly played worse.
They appear where he works,
so his neighborhood
could be next.
When it comes from Charlie,
it's kind of a hunch-plus.
So I've heard.
(computer beeping)
Also heard some stuff about you.
Yeah, like what?
You like to run with
the tactical boys.
The first through the
door, that sort of thing.
Cowboy enough to
get your name out there,
but not unsafe.
I just had a few things
on my mind, man.
Kicking in doors
and dodging bullets?
That's my kind of therapy.
I came up through
Special Forces.
Nearly bounced off the
walls in that damn field office.
You ever consider going
for the adrenaline fix full-time?
You get to travel,
leave the paperwork
to guys like...
(chuckles)
Well, you.
(over radio): Report
of a silent alarm
at 7626 East Ellendale.
Ellendale, that's
two blocks from here.
It's also Harper Simms' address.
That's Ella Pierce's friend.
(car starts)
(honking)
DAVID: FBI! Nobody moves!
Let me see your hands!
You in the car!
Up! Let me see them hands!
Back off!
It's never gonna happen.
(car starting)
What the hell just
happened here?
Looks like our rescue mission
just turned into a manhunt.
DAVID: All right, Harper,
just tell us what you saw.
They were waving guns around.
Yelling... I thought
I was going to die.
And Ella?
Was showing them
where everything was:
the cash, my mom's jewelry,
the safe.
She was acting like
the brat that she is,
except with a gun.
And that loser Steffen,
calling himself Santee now...
You, uh, you recognized Santee?
Yes. Steffen Cavani... the
stoner we went to high school with.
Come on! She's totally with him.
Yes and no. How no?
She's young and
she's vulnerable,
and she hasn't had any contact
with anyone outside
of her captors.
What, like, brainwashing?
She would not be the
first person to identify
with her victimizers
and then act accordingly.
She's with them
a day and a half.
You have no idea how quickly
someone's will can be broken.
(sighing): Mr. Pierce.
You have my full cooperation.
Thank you.
The sooner Ella's apprehended,
the sooner my legal team
can prepare her defense.
Wow. There's no "There
must be some kind of mistake,"
or "My daughter's
not capable of that?"
Do you have children?
Do you?
I did some background.
After your wife died,
your daughter came
into a large inheritance
and sued for emancipation.
Ella went through a great
deal after her mother's death,
and she lashed out at me.
Yeah, and you lashed back
with a team full of lawyers and
put her back inside her glass jar.
She was a 16-year-old
girl, emotionally overwrought,
and I was not going
to let her ruin her life.
No, you were just going
to hold her hostage instead.
It is a small wonder she is
identifying with her kidnappers.
It's probably the only
love she's ever know.
All right, all right.
CHARLIE: Hey.
Hey. How goes the decoder?
Who knew tracing a phone number
could do so much
damage to a manicure?
What?
Is it wrong to get turned
on at the sight of you
in goggles and rubber gloves?
Oh, damn it.
Whoa. Are you all right? Yeah.
That's the third
circuit I've blown today.
I've got a spare in
my office. I'll be back.
Okay. (knock at door)
UPCHURCH: Excuse
me, Professor. Oh, hey.
Is that a decoder?
Yeah, this is it.
Not exactly what I imagined
after reading some of your more
ethereal musings on cake-cutting
theory, I've got to tell you.
Well, sometimes cake
is a series of algorithms
that help formulate an analysis.
And other times,
cake is just cake.
(chuckles)
Listen, I wanted to
spitball something at you
about that tabu search.
It's funny you mention that
because I've been
giving it some thought.
It's quite possible that
the PNA's tactical shift
might actually help us.
Hitting the house makes
no tactical sense whatsoever.
I agree. It's like
your hikers just...
It's like they decided
to chase after a butterfly.
You know what?
That's a great analogy.
Because once
the hikers veer off,
chasing after that butterfly,
they reveal the butterfly's path
with the evidence that
they leave in their wake...
With footprints and
with broken branches.
That evidence allows
me to analyze their tactics
using decision analysis.
Figure out which
butterfly they're chasing.
Steffen Cavani.
He went to high school with
Ella Pierce and Harper Simms.
Gets expelled from Berkeley
after a semester for
disruptive behavior,
then falls straight
off the grid.
The techs finally cracked
Ella Pierce's e-mail account.
Turns out her and Cavani
have been going back
and forth for nearly a year.
You have to
listen to this stuff.
LIZ: "Can't believe you're the
same guy in Moscowitz' history class.
"If I'd known the real you,
I would've jumped
you a long time ago.”
Lots more where that came
from, all in the same vein.
All right, so, what, she
hooks up with the loser guy
and hides it from Harper.
He starts working on her
poor little rich girl complex,
makes her feel guilty
about Daddy's sweatshops.
Sounds like Megan's department.
Yeah, well, Megan's on a
little bit of a time out, so...
Again?
What about the dead shooter?
Reggie Woods, 25.
String of arrests for
disorderly conduct,
mostly related to
antiglobalization rallies in Seattle.
Reggie was busted in Glendale
2006 for defacing a police car.
His partner in crime
was Lucas Cavani,
who purely coincidentally
happens to be Steffen's cousin.
We've got a call
into his parole officer.
Delivery van.
You still purging the office?
I'm trying to find
suitable homes
for the material
shards of my past
that no longer
inform my present.
Now, it seemed to
me you an affection
Respighi's Ancient
Airs and Dances.
Oh, thank you.
Still no respite from the case?
Oh, Ella Pierce was kicked
out of boarding schools
from New York to Lausanne.
I got DUIs, stint in rehab.
It's like a textbook example
of trying to draw love
from her father through
negative attention.
Unless I'm just seeing too
much of myself in the case.
As your friend, I would
not presume to speculate,
particularly given our last
exchange on the matter.
Oh, Larry, I'm... I'm
really sorry about that.
I had no right to snap at you.
I mean, maybe you could just
not be my friend for a minute
and tell me the truth.
Mm...
You know, I've always
been cautious in addressing
the issues you
have with your father.
Well, I know there's
profound pain there.
But having said that,
it is surprising to me that
humanity was able to arrive
so quickly at a correct
model of the solar system.
There's this driving tendency
to orient the universe
in rotation around...
well, our own little world.
Thanks for the Respighi.
(loud music playing,
pounding on door)
DAVID: Lucas, FBI!
Open up!
Yeah, nice try, Frank.
I'll have your rent tomorrow.
(yells)
Get up against the wall!
I want to see your
hands! Against the wall!
I didn't do anything. Hey...
Reggie Woods is dead.
What?
He made a mistake of pointing
a gun in my general direction.
Your cousin happened to
be standing right next to him.
(turns off music) Steffen?
Yeah. Oh, man, that idiot.
He hasn't been right since
he got involved with that bitch.
Ella Pierce?
Yeah, I guess you
never get over the one
who wouldn't talk
to you in high school.
I'm all for fighting the power,
but she talked scary
way above my tolerance.
That's why I got some distance.
You can check, whatever
you want to check.
I don't run with
those guys anymore.
Yeah, so where do they run?
Reggie told me they
had a squat in East LA,
near the freeway.
That was a few
months ago, though.
While you're out there
fighting the power,
try recycling.
Something Larry
said got me thinking
about a misspent youth.
You and Larry warming up again?
I think we're making our
way off the back burner.
Hmm. How are you and Don?
How's that been going?
Trying not to get burned.
(laughs)
It's a challenge.
I think you should get
hazard pay for even trying.
Speaking of, I got a
seduction going on here
in these e-mails, only Ella
seems to be the aggressor.
She flatters Santee,
she speaks to his political
convictions, he mostly
agrees with her.
He begs her for sex.
Certain words jumped out.
(chuckles)
How the hell would he
even get near a girl like this?
She's famous, she's insulated
by money and privilege,
and he barely registers
outside of the Web site.
It's a lot easier
for the "it" girl
to reach out to
the class burnout.
Which is also the
perfect instrument
to lash out at her father.
Oh, God.
Ella must have
planned this whole thing.
CHARLIE: So I used
decision analysis
to reset the parameters
of my predictive model.
I factored in the impulse
motive of the PNA.
Find our butterfly?
Yeah, my analysis keeps
pointing back to Warren Pierce.
So why did they hit
Harper Simms' house?
It seems to predicate on
opportunity and familiarity.
Look, they're
attacking locations
that Ella Pierce can facilitate.
So what's the next inside job?
I can answer that.
Intel says this posted
in the last ten minutes.
I have seen the harm and wrong
my business
practices have caused
to the great working
peoples of the world.
I call on my board of directors
to immediately
dismantle my factories,
for my bank to dissolve all
of my assets immediately.
Warren Pierce
Industries has 24 hours
to show us their sincerity.
In the great struggle
for world justice,
my father will no longer
receive preferential treatment.
PIERCE: I'm instructing my board
to divest all interests in
Asia and Latin America
and donate the proceeds
to relief agencies.
As of tomorrow,
Warren Pierce Industries
will cease to exist.
I don't understand.
I thought we had eyes
on the guy. We did,
but we pulled them all when
this stopped being a kidnapping.
And he has his own security.
Well, where were they?
LIZ: He's buying time.
The board will never go along
with dissolving his company.
Yeah, but he's out of time.
His refusal to pay the ransom
pushed her over the edge.
Daddy didn't play
with her her whole life.
If he doesn't play
with her now...
There's only one way this
is going to end up for Pierce.
How's it going, guys?
CHARLIE: Good, good.
We're almost there.
We've intercepted
the PNA's upload
of Pierce's communique
to their Web site,
and she's running it
through the decoder.
I isolated the CDMA code,
and separated the
information on the MPEG.
And this is gonna
lead us to where
the signal was
transmitted from, right?
Mm-hmm. Provided we
don't blow another circuit.
Okay, I got a lock on
the phone number...
(trilling)
North 34 degrees, 38 minutes,
west 118 degrees, 14 minutes.
DAVID: That's East L.A.
Lucas said they were
squatting near the freeway.
AMITA: Ah, there it is.
Knocking on the door
from 300 miles above Earth.
We're about to
knock a lot harder.
(beeping)
David, talk to me...
You got a visual?
I have Pierce.
Confirming five bad guys:
three men, two women,
including Ella Pierce.
Liz?
Locked and loaded...
We're in position.
Hey.
I've got the Web cam set up,
and I'm hacking into
the PNA Web site.
All right, good.
Now, listen, Megan, you
know, if this girl is in your head...
She is... that's why I'm
the best person for the job.
Any word? GINA: Nothing.
Looks like the old
man's been lying to us,
trying to save his ass.
Time's running out, dude.
Ella, we gotta do something.
Show him we're
not messing around.
Maybe if we start
sending him back in pieces.
Why are you doing this?
It's what Pierces do...
Taking control of your life,
telling you what to
do with your money.
We're in.
(over speaker): Steffen...
MEGAN: Steffen Cavani,
this is Agent Megan
Reeves from the FBI.
We have the house surrounded.
Take the perimeter!
I got nothing to say.
You're gonna
have to let Piece go.
STEFFEN: Why, so
you can blow us all away?
So maybe you're
not going to spend
the rest of your
life behind bars.
Steffen, I know this whole
thing wasn't your idea.
I know Ella roped you into it.
What are you talking about?
MEGAN: She's the heiress
to a multibillion-dollar
empire, Steffen.
Don't you think
she could've just
written a $40-million
check to a relief agency?
Do you really think she
cares about sweatshops?
They paid for her Maserati.
She's trying to divide us.
MEGAN: Steffen, the
only thing she cares about
is hurting her father.
You're just the
ride to the prom.
She's got other
plans for the night.
No more talk!
(static crackles)
I think I lost them.
Ella, what are you doing?
All right, we fire over their
heads, fire over their heads!
I want them walking
out of here! Roger that.
(bullets ricocheting, pinging)
David, talk to me.
No target acquisition,
Don... They're too dug in.
Not all of 'em.
Two boys, two girls left.
PIERCE: Ella!
They're going to kill you!
Who cares?
You already killed me,
just like you killed Mom.
She didn't die from the cancer,
she just didn't want to
live in that house any more!
You know that's not true!
Your mother wanted to live!
I promised her I
would take care of you!
By trapping me in your world?
Honey, please!
You turned me into
a tabloid princess,
a punchline on David Letterman,
all so you could sell
some damn clothes!
Well, now you're in my headline.
Please!
If this escalates, we scare
them into shooting Pierce.
All right, let's go... Tear
gas 'em, tear gas 'em!
They're not gonna
let us out of here!
Do not punk out
on me now, Steffan.
I have had enough of
people making promises
they won't keep.
(gas hissing)
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
(coughing)
(coughing, gas hissing)
I got two coming out.
Come here! Come here.
(coughing)
All right, we got 'em.
We got 'em, we got 'em.
The rest of you inside,
you have 15 seconds
to come out with your
hands up in the air.
It's over.
(coughing)
Don't do it, Steffan!
I'm bringing out
Pierce! Don't shoot!
You're not leaving me!
I don't see Ella.
Shots fired! Shots fired!
David...?
No, there's too much smoke.
In the arm?
What kind of cowboy is that?
Not a cowboy.
Just a field agent.
(sniffs)
Don't say anything.
Don't say anything, honey.
I have the best lawyers!
I love you, too, Dad.
(ice hockey
sportscast plays on TV)
Hey.
(mutes TV)
Hey.
So it got pretty hairy
out there today, huh?
(sighs)
Yeah, well...
Loquacious, as always.
You want to order some food?
What are we doing?
Tonight?
(heavy sigh)
Look, the last few
days, we've tried to talk,
and, you know, now
I just... I feel tired.
I think we just keep
coming back out of habit...
you know?
I don't want to feel like
we lead each other on.
I mean, you deserve
so much more than that
and I just keep
screwing these things up.
See you tomorrow, boss.
(door shuts)
You managed to bring
the monastery with you.
It's calming.
Well, feel free to find your
center here, anytime you wish.
Every time I think
I'm over my father
or my childhood, I...
(groans)
I think I let this case
take me for a ride.
Struggle is not
altogether a bad thing.
The charged particles
of the solar wind
require heat and combustion
to escape the
gravitational pull of the sun.
From tumult comes freedom.
(wry laugh)
You have this great way of
making my neuroses sound cosmic.
My center is back east, so
I'm gonna go visit my dad.
I already booked
the airplane ticket,
it's nonrefundable...
You want to come with me?
(laughing): Oh, really?
Um... are you serious?
I don't know, it just
sort of came out.
I guess not.
This is very odd,
because for some time now,
my wanderlust has stoked in me
this deep inner urge
to visit New York.
I would have to
talk to Brother Theo.
While he's in deep meditation,
I've been made
custodian of his rabbit.
Lucky rabbit.
(water gurgling, sputtering)
♪ See, I just want to dead 'em ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Will I got to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
(beeping)
♪ My life ain't perfect ♪
♪ I can't find the purpose... ♪
Harper!
It's a party, not a funeral.
Uh, it was my mom's.
God, you can be such
a bitch sometimes.
(earpiece chirps)
♪ Should I get a reverend? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Will I go to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ See, I just want to dead 'em ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Will I go to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ The same, the same,
the same as usual ♪
♪ It may just move you ♪
♪ On stage assume you know I
can choose just to make you move ♪
♪ I'm making the news,
you're making a fool ♪
(earpieces chirping)
♪ You make me want to flirt ♪
♪ Make me want to whirl,
see your body on the floor ♪
♪ See a trolley on the morgue ♪
♪ Anybody have a sword
to break this chain off? ♪
♪ Somebody please help
me take this brain off ♪
♪ I'm feeling like a
slave, this chain of hate ♪
♪ It's trained to make
this brain an ape ♪
♪ But no cane can
take this pain away ♪
♪ So I pray and wait on
a rainy day and say... ♪
♪ I just want to dead 'em ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
(explosion)
(screaming)
(gunfire and screaming)
♪ Will I go to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ See, I just want to dead 'em ♪
♪ I don't know ♪
♪ Will I go to Heaven? ♪
♪ I don't know. ♪
(thunder rumbling)
(thunder crackling)
(cell phone vibrating)
(whispering): Eppes.
All right, all right, all
right, I'm on my way.
(garbled radio transmission)
DON: What do you
got, Billy? Nothing.
MEGAN: Did you recognize
any of them, Miss Simms?
It all happened so fast,
I didn't even see them.
What about before?
Did you see anyone hanging
around, watching Ella?
Everyone.
I mean, she's Ella.
Right. Thanks very much. Mm-hmm.
(clears throat)
So, what, straight-up grab?
Yeah, with flash grenades
and automatic weapons,
and they were professional
enough not to hurt anyone.
Well, a lot of witnesses.
And not a good one in the bunch.
It's not any ordinary
club kid; it's Ella Pierce.
What, that rich
kid? The party girl?
Somebody's been
trolling Internet fan sites.
Her father is Warren Pierce.
He's worth, like, $2 billion.
He's got textile
factories in every country
in the world without
a minimum wage.
He been notified?
I talked to him
on his plane en route to Aspen.
He's on his way back. Uh-huh.
MAN: How you doing?
Jeff Upchurch. Hi, there.
Critical Incident Response.
Hey. Don Eppes.
I was on my way to Guadalajara,
and they rerouted me.
I'm guessing I was the nearest
specialist in the area, so...
MEGAN: Specialist in what?
You guys do, what, ten,
15 kidnappings a year?
Mexico City, I do 15 a month.
Work kidnappings
Europe, Asia, Afghanistan.
It's always different,
always the same.
So, what's different about
this one? I don't know yet.
But the big money snatches
tend to put you in contact
with a higher class of lowlife.
If they know their business,
and I'm certainly
guessing they do,
we're looking at
simultaneous movement,
expected payouts,
bargaining strategies.
Lot of variables here.
You guys talking about
imperfect information games?
I'm gonna check in SID.
You must be Professor Eppes.
Pleasure. Bureau gave me
a copy of the action report
from the Che Lobo
kidnapping last year.
Got to tell you, I'm very
impressed with the maze math.
Thanks. Could use some
similar inspiration on this one.
Sounds like you might
have already started.
You were just talking about
game theory, right? I was.
Assuming that our
kidnappers are experienced,
or they have benefited
from the experience
of other kidnappers, we can use
an optimization method
here called a tabu search,
which is basically
a way of excluding
bad data.
Places where the
kidnappers won't go
to isolate where they will go.
I guess that's why
they call it tabu, right?
These kidnappers...
They're like a group of hikers.
But they've mapped
out a very specific route.
That route is
complicated by the terrain,
by the density of foliage,
by dangerous animals,
by water barriers.
They deal with these
obstacles using their experience,
using the accuracy of
their maps, their needs.
And a tabu search can
pinpoint the optimal route
that the hikers can then choose.
Now, assuming that
our kidnappers' goal
is the safe collection
of a ransom, I can interpret
their methodology; I
can predict their actions.
Okay. How soon?
Not a lot of information
here, you know?
My projections are
going to be fairly general.
(phone ringing) But as always,
the more data that comes
in, the more helpful I can be.
Yeah. Eppes.
(garbled radio transmission)
Key's still in the ignition.
I got something a
little something here.
They left us a souvenir.
Check this out.
(machine whirring)
MAN: Warren Pierce
is a criminal, a
ruthless parasite
who lives off the backs
of the workers he exploits.
His debt to society
has come due,
and if he doesn't pay it...
(sobbing)
the People's Nationalist Agenda
will take it in the
blood of his daughter.
We'll contact Mr. Pierce
with our demands at noon today.
DAVID: People's Nationalist
Agenda, aka the PNA.
Anti-corporate, anti-free trade.
Anti-Warren Pierce.
The guy who runs the Web
site... He calls himself Santee,
but the Bureau's
counterterrorism unit...
They don't have a face
to go with that name.
They don't even
think it's one person.
Thing is, we don't even have
any identifiable members.
I mean, the banners go up
at antiglobalization protests,
somebody spray-paints "PNA"
at a vandalized construction site,
but there doesn't seem to be
any real, centralized organization.
All right, so maybe
they're just messing
with us, you know?
Maybe they're just
hiding behind these guys.
Okay, so the van used in
the abduction was registered
to a Diamond Lane Rentals,
reported stolen last week.
Start with anyone who'd
know the girl's schedule, right?
That's got to be
half of Los Angeles.
The good-looking half.
These celebrity socialites...
They live electronically,
so I'll go deep on the
e-mails, text messages,
phone logs, the works.
Yeah, good.
So what happened last night?
I don't know. You know, it
was late, and I took the call.
I thought I'd let you sleep.
That's it? That's all
you're going to give me?
(sighs) That's all there is.
Look, Don, we both know
things haven't been
clicking since Leah was killed.
I think you just wanted me
out of your face for
a few hours, right?
I don't know. Look,
even if that's true,
is it that big a deal?
It's something to
talk about, yeah.
Well, I mean, I'm in the middle
of a kidnapping here. Come on.
All right.
You know, I'll just
wait for a bank robbery.
(door closes)
Ever since Ella
became a media darling,
a power partier,
I've been waiting for
something like this to happen.
And you never saw to it
that she got any security?
She turned down bodyguards.
Said any kidnapper would pay
to give her back after two days.
And with the joke,
you let the issue drop?
That's not at all what I meant.
Anything Ella
ever asked for, ever needed,
I've always given her gladly.
What you need to understand,
Mr. Pierce, is that
ransom is enough business
to make a fellow like
yourself confused.
Meaning?
Kidnappers will position.
They will establish
bargaining power.
Gentleman such as yourself
that's used to
calling the shots,
used to winning...
You're asking me to be humble.
I'm asking you to be smart.
(phone ringing)
Okay, this is what
we talked about.
Want to stay calm, engaged.
Keep them on the
phone as long as possible.
Is everybody ready? All set.
Whenever you are, sir.
Hello.
If this isn't Warren Pierce,
Ella Pierce is as good as dead.
Who are you?
Don't ask who I am.
Ask how much I want.
I need to know my
daughter is all right.
ELLA: Dad? Daddy?
(sobbing)
Ella?
(sobbing)
Demand 1:
shut down all of your company's
sweatshops operating
in the Third World.
If it's me you want...
Demand 2: $40
million in restitution
paid to the thousands of
men, women and children
your company has
exploited in the Third World.
I'll give you $10 million.
In a secured Swiss account.
(beep)
(click, dial tone)
Guy's using a sat phone.
He's bouncing the signal.
What the hell was that?
A counteroffer.
You're lowballing on
your daughter's life?
I talked to him in a
language he understands.
Do you understand that
they hung up on you?
That you put your
daughter's life in more danger?
He'll call back.
And now, if you'll excuse me,
I'm going to make
arrangements for payment.
MEGAN: Guys like that...
It's all about money
and power. Actually,
that was the right call,
straight out of the playbook.
He pays too much,
too fast, too soon,
PNA's going to figure
they didn't ask enough.
They're going to come
back looking for more.
You really think he could be
operating out of your playbook?
You got a different theory?
That his daughter's just
another negotiable asset.
You get this out of
your favorite head shop?
No, Charles.
This cannot be
purchased in any shop.
I've constructed
my own Hero's fountain.
Named after Hero of Alexandria,
the Greek mathematician
and engineer.
You see, once the
pressure is right,
the water will flow
under its own power.
And how is this part of
your achieving Zen, Larry?
Einstein said
religion should arise
from the experience
of all things
natural and spiritual
in a meaningful unity.
Now, made from the
parcels of my former self,
this fountain
perfectly analogizes
the seamless integration of both
my physical and spiritual lives.
AMITA: Shouldn't
you be at the FBI?
The kidnapping is
all over the news. Oh.
Yeah. The ransom
negotiation cut short,
so I may need to
rethink my tabu search.
Maybe
weight the data
with a Bayesian prior.
While I condone none
of the major felonies,
do have to say, kidnapping...
That does hold a certain...
conceptual intrigue,
this business
of affixing value
to a human life.
Oh, I think it's almost there.
Observe, Charles:
water rising to a new level,
as is my own hope.
I'm out of here.
It dawned on me
while I was looking
at Larry's Zen rock garden.
What? Larry has
a Zen rock garden?
Yeah, actually, it
was his Hero fountain
that got me going, but
it's an even longer story.
Let's reconsider my
hiker analogy, all right?
Uh-huh. And think of a mudslide
falling in front of the hikers.
It changes terrain, it
changes their direction.
Right, okay. So my tabu search
accounted for the kidnappers
following a planned path,
but with Pierce's counteroffer,
they've had to
break off contact.
They've essentially
been detoured.
They have to find a new
way to get to their waterfall.
We're expecting them to
make another ransom-oriented
decision, to hike around
the mudslide, right?
But I-I think they're going to
abandon that path completely.
I think they're going
to find another way.
Everyone down on the ground!
Open the safe.
So what do you
think, kill the Pierce girl
and go underground?
Oh, that would be giving up.
Essentially turning around.
I based my analysis
on the information the
PNA put up on their Web site:
their stated goals,
their state of mind.
I think they're going
to going to bulldoze
through this mudslide.
I think they're going
going to do something
sudden, something violent,
something completely unexpected.
LIZ: All right, so the
safe holds cash deliveries
from payroll trucks
and they drop off
two to $300,000 a day.
But these geniuses hit two hours
after the money
went to the bank.
So they got six, maybe
seven grand in petty cash.
DON: Not the hit they were
hoping for. Their movements
are really synchronized;
it suggests a high degree
of discipline, a high
degree of conviction.
Let's not dance around it.
What are we thinking here?
Judging by the way
she's balancing that rifle,
my money says it isn't
even loaded. That
girl could be holding
a gun behind her back.
I mean, look at this face.
That is the face
of a scared little girl.
So they lose the ransom,
they hit Pierce's
business, but I don't get
why drag the girl along?
LIZ: Puts her
in the line of fire.
Human shield, maybe it's
their counteroffer to Pierce.
They placed her
in deliberate frame
of that security camera.
They want us to see her face.
They're asserting dominance.
I think they just
want to violate
Pierce and show him that
they control his destiny.
That looks like an alpha to me.
Think he's our mythical Santee?
(ringing)
Warner.
What?
Pierce just e-mailed
the PNA's Web site
and told them he isn't paying.
PIERCE: I've dealt
with rogue governments,
guerilla fighters,
organized crime.
They all understand
the rules of negotiation.
If these animals aren't
going to speak to me
in a language I
can understand...
Well, that's why I'm here, sir.
To help translate.
Look, we both
know that if I cave in,
they're going to bleed me dry.
And I still won't get Ella back.
That's always possible.
So what was my choice?
Well, you had a
couple of options, sir,
the worst of which was
negotiate with the PNA
without talking to me first.
So you think I should back down?
Tell them I'll pay.
No, you change
your direction too quick, it's
just going to confuse them.
We definitely don't want
these guys panicking.
The next move is theirs.
Let's just hope it's not
killing your daughter.
You don't have much
of a bedside manner.
Must be why
I don't get invited
to many parties.
DAVID: Still trying to break
into Ella Pierce's
e-mail account.
It turns out it's encrypted.
It's locked with a
software tool used
primarily by IT programmers
at major corporations.
That's funny, huh?
I mean, why would
she be doing that?
If you don't, that
stuff will turn up
on some online
celebrity gossip site.
You know the whole
world knows your business.
Let me ask you something.
I mean, not about this.
About Liz?
Yeah, how'd you know?
You asked permission to ask.
Hey, I got to end it.
I mean, it's just way too
complicated with work.
The thing is, every time I do,
we end up in bed.
Hey, man, you guys
work funky hours,
long stakeouts,
you're dodging bullets together.
It sounds like adrenaline.
I mean, adrenaline is
great, but, you know,
I don't know if that's
a real relationship.
I'm sorry, you wanted
to ask me a question.
I think you just answered it.
MEGAN: So what kind of
lizard decides that his daughter
isn't worth a fraction
of his bank account?
Loathe as I am
to contradict you,
the decision is so
entirely out of character.
It suggests true
emotional anguish.
Larry, what the hell would
you know about his character?
I think what he's simply
pointing out is that
Pierce has violated his
own corporate game theory.
It's standard minimax.
It's a tug of war,
a demonstration
of brute strength
between two opposing
sides where one side can pull
the other side
across a center line.
However, after the
competition started,
one team can embarrass the other
by letting go of the rope.
That team humiliates
its opponent,
but they've lost.
So essentially, Pierce
has let go of his rope.
He's struck back in
the way least likely
to achieve a positive result.
Which runs counter to
the instincts responsible
for his corporate success,
ergo my observation
that his judgment
is clouded by a
high state of distress.
Yeah, but, Larry,
I went through Ella's things,
and I found letters
from her father,
throughout her
childhood that were typed.
They were dictated
to a secretary.
I know, because his
secretary's name is cc'd on them.
What kind of father
would do that?
So you two
just stick to the blackboard
and I'll take care
of the profiling.
I expect that from my brother.
Any idea what's going on there?
Yeah, some.
So PNA put this
up ten minutes ago.
The People's Nationalist
Agenda is not to be taken lightly.
Their recent action
towards my father's
corrupt business interests are
just a taste of what's to come
until he responds to
the PNA's demands.
Close the sweatshops.
Pay the ransom.
Sent directly to the
national news outlets as well.
It'll be all over TV tonight.
So what, he piss on them,
they piss on him?
All right, meanwhile,
we've made some headway
on your alpha.
He's looking more and
more like our "Santee."
Facial recognition
software connected him
to several
antiglobalization protests
and then a gun store
robbery in Seattle,
two months ago. Similar MO.
All the same characters.
My guess is that
this is where they
decided to graduate from tree
hugging and disorderly conduct
to heavy felonies.
The problem is that
Santee managed to keep
his nose clean,
at least on paper.
There's no rap sheet, no ID.
20s, wanted, off the grid.
Listen, um...
I know this isn't
the right time to talk.
But I just want to make
sure we make the time.
I think so, too. I mean, uh...
We will.
Okay.
It's an MPEG file,
and from its resolution,
I think it came
from a sat phone.
DAVID: Okay, how
does that help us?
I mean, if we had
a DTMF decoder...
it's a dual-tone
multi-frequency.
It's touchtone.
You couldn't have just
said that to begin with?
Yeah, but it wouldn't
have been as much fun.
The decoder works kind
of like a prism.
Instead of refracting light
into its individual frequencies,
its component colors,
the decoder separates the phone
signal into different
tones and numeric values.
From which we can then decipher
the actual phone number.
Okay, where can we
get one of these things?
If the kidnappers are using
a land line or a
cell phone, you can
buy a DTMF decoder from
a consumer electronics store.
Right, but they're using
a sat phone, so...
Hacking a satellite
signal requires a little more
sophistication, but I
can put a unit together.
I mean, I built
my first computer when I was 13.
I know my way
around a circuit board.
And, you know, the Electrical
Engineering Department
has all the parts
I need. All right,
so If they're using
a satellite phone,
this thing is going to tell us where
they were, not where they are
now, right? Yeah, that's why
I've been patiently
waiting here.
I think the additional
information has
helped my tabu search,
and I think I have an idea where
the PNA might show up next.
As far as hunches go, I
certainly played worse.
They appear where he works,
so his neighborhood
could be next.
When it comes from Charlie,
it's kind of a hunch-plus.
So I've heard.
(computer beeping)
Also heard some stuff about you.
Yeah, like what?
You like to run with
the tactical boys.
The first through the
door, that sort of thing.
Cowboy enough to
get your name out there,
but not unsafe.
I just had a few things
on my mind, man.
Kicking in doors
and dodging bullets?
That's my kind of therapy.
I came up through
Special Forces.
Nearly bounced off the
walls in that damn field office.
You ever consider going
for the adrenaline fix full-time?
You get to travel,
leave the paperwork
to guys like...
(chuckles)
Well, you.
(over radio): Report
of a silent alarm
at 7626 East Ellendale.
Ellendale, that's
two blocks from here.
It's also Harper Simms' address.
That's Ella Pierce's friend.
(car starts)
(honking)
DAVID: FBI! Nobody moves!
Let me see your hands!
You in the car!
Up! Let me see them hands!
Back off!
It's never gonna happen.
(car starting)
What the hell just
happened here?
Looks like our rescue mission
just turned into a manhunt.
DAVID: All right, Harper,
just tell us what you saw.
They were waving guns around.
Yelling... I thought
I was going to die.
And Ella?
Was showing them
where everything was:
the cash, my mom's jewelry,
the safe.
She was acting like
the brat that she is,
except with a gun.
And that loser Steffen,
calling himself Santee now...
You, uh, you recognized Santee?
Yes. Steffen Cavani... the
stoner we went to high school with.
Come on! She's totally with him.
Yes and no. How no?
She's young and
she's vulnerable,
and she hasn't had any contact
with anyone outside
of her captors.
What, like, brainwashing?
She would not be the
first person to identify
with her victimizers
and then act accordingly.
She's with them
a day and a half.
You have no idea how quickly
someone's will can be broken.
(sighing): Mr. Pierce.
You have my full cooperation.
Thank you.
The sooner Ella's apprehended,
the sooner my legal team
can prepare her defense.
Wow. There's no "There
must be some kind of mistake,"
or "My daughter's
not capable of that?"
Do you have children?
Do you?
I did some background.
After your wife died,
your daughter came
into a large inheritance
and sued for emancipation.
Ella went through a great
deal after her mother's death,
and she lashed out at me.
Yeah, and you lashed back
with a team full of lawyers and
put her back inside her glass jar.
She was a 16-year-old
girl, emotionally overwrought,
and I was not going
to let her ruin her life.
No, you were just going
to hold her hostage instead.
It is a small wonder she is
identifying with her kidnappers.
It's probably the only
love she's ever know.
All right, all right.
CHARLIE: Hey.
Hey. How goes the decoder?
Who knew tracing a phone number
could do so much
damage to a manicure?
What?
Is it wrong to get turned
on at the sight of you
in goggles and rubber gloves?
Oh, damn it.
Whoa. Are you all right? Yeah.
That's the third
circuit I've blown today.
I've got a spare in
my office. I'll be back.
Okay. (knock at door)
UPCHURCH: Excuse
me, Professor. Oh, hey.
Is that a decoder?
Yeah, this is it.
Not exactly what I imagined
after reading some of your more
ethereal musings on cake-cutting
theory, I've got to tell you.
Well, sometimes cake
is a series of algorithms
that help formulate an analysis.
And other times,
cake is just cake.
(chuckles)
Listen, I wanted to
spitball something at you
about that tabu search.
It's funny you mention that
because I've been
giving it some thought.
It's quite possible that
the PNA's tactical shift
might actually help us.
Hitting the house makes
no tactical sense whatsoever.
I agree. It's like
your hikers just...
It's like they decided
to chase after a butterfly.
You know what?
That's a great analogy.
Because once
the hikers veer off,
chasing after that butterfly,
they reveal the butterfly's path
with the evidence that
they leave in their wake...
With footprints and
with broken branches.
That evidence allows
me to analyze their tactics
using decision analysis.
Figure out which
butterfly they're chasing.
Steffen Cavani.
He went to high school with
Ella Pierce and Harper Simms.
Gets expelled from Berkeley
after a semester for
disruptive behavior,
then falls straight
off the grid.
The techs finally cracked
Ella Pierce's e-mail account.
Turns out her and Cavani
have been going back
and forth for nearly a year.
You have to
listen to this stuff.
LIZ: "Can't believe you're the
same guy in Moscowitz' history class.
"If I'd known the real you,
I would've jumped
you a long time ago.”
Lots more where that came
from, all in the same vein.
All right, so, what, she
hooks up with the loser guy
and hides it from Harper.
He starts working on her
poor little rich girl complex,
makes her feel guilty
about Daddy's sweatshops.
Sounds like Megan's department.
Yeah, well, Megan's on a
little bit of a time out, so...
Again?
What about the dead shooter?
Reggie Woods, 25.
String of arrests for
disorderly conduct,
mostly related to
antiglobalization rallies in Seattle.
Reggie was busted in Glendale
2006 for defacing a police car.
His partner in crime
was Lucas Cavani,
who purely coincidentally
happens to be Steffen's cousin.
We've got a call
into his parole officer.
Delivery van.
You still purging the office?
I'm trying to find
suitable homes
for the material
shards of my past
that no longer
inform my present.
Now, it seemed to
me you an affection
Respighi's Ancient
Airs and Dances.
Oh, thank you.
Still no respite from the case?
Oh, Ella Pierce was kicked
out of boarding schools
from New York to Lausanne.
I got DUIs, stint in rehab.
It's like a textbook example
of trying to draw love
from her father through
negative attention.
Unless I'm just seeing too
much of myself in the case.
As your friend, I would
not presume to speculate,
particularly given our last
exchange on the matter.
Oh, Larry, I'm... I'm
really sorry about that.
I had no right to snap at you.
I mean, maybe you could just
not be my friend for a minute
and tell me the truth.
Mm...
You know, I've always
been cautious in addressing
the issues you
have with your father.
Well, I know there's
profound pain there.
But having said that,
it is surprising to me that
humanity was able to arrive
so quickly at a correct
model of the solar system.
There's this driving tendency
to orient the universe
in rotation around...
well, our own little world.
Thanks for the Respighi.
(loud music playing,
pounding on door)
DAVID: Lucas, FBI!
Open up!
Yeah, nice try, Frank.
I'll have your rent tomorrow.
(yells)
Get up against the wall!
I want to see your
hands! Against the wall!
I didn't do anything. Hey...
Reggie Woods is dead.
What?
He made a mistake of pointing
a gun in my general direction.
Your cousin happened to
be standing right next to him.
(turns off music) Steffen?
Yeah. Oh, man, that idiot.
He hasn't been right since
he got involved with that bitch.
Ella Pierce?
Yeah, I guess you
never get over the one
who wouldn't talk
to you in high school.
I'm all for fighting the power,
but she talked scary
way above my tolerance.
That's why I got some distance.
You can check, whatever
you want to check.
I don't run with
those guys anymore.
Yeah, so where do they run?
Reggie told me they
had a squat in East LA,
near the freeway.
That was a few
months ago, though.
While you're out there
fighting the power,
try recycling.
Something Larry
said got me thinking
about a misspent youth.
You and Larry warming up again?
I think we're making our
way off the back burner.
Hmm. How are you and Don?
How's that been going?
Trying not to get burned.
(laughs)
It's a challenge.
I think you should get
hazard pay for even trying.
Speaking of, I got a
seduction going on here
in these e-mails, only Ella
seems to be the aggressor.
She flatters Santee,
she speaks to his political
convictions, he mostly
agrees with her.
He begs her for sex.
Certain words jumped out.
(chuckles)
How the hell would he
even get near a girl like this?
She's famous, she's insulated
by money and privilege,
and he barely registers
outside of the Web site.
It's a lot easier
for the "it" girl
to reach out to
the class burnout.
Which is also the
perfect instrument
to lash out at her father.
Oh, God.
Ella must have
planned this whole thing.
CHARLIE: So I used
decision analysis
to reset the parameters
of my predictive model.
I factored in the impulse
motive of the PNA.
Find our butterfly?
Yeah, my analysis keeps
pointing back to Warren Pierce.
So why did they hit
Harper Simms' house?
It seems to predicate on
opportunity and familiarity.
Look, they're
attacking locations
that Ella Pierce can facilitate.
So what's the next inside job?
I can answer that.
Intel says this posted
in the last ten minutes.
I have seen the harm and wrong
my business
practices have caused
to the great working
peoples of the world.
I call on my board of directors
to immediately
dismantle my factories,
for my bank to dissolve all
of my assets immediately.
Warren Pierce
Industries has 24 hours
to show us their sincerity.
In the great struggle
for world justice,
my father will no longer
receive preferential treatment.
PIERCE: I'm instructing my board
to divest all interests in
Asia and Latin America
and donate the proceeds
to relief agencies.
As of tomorrow,
Warren Pierce Industries
will cease to exist.
I don't understand.
I thought we had eyes
on the guy. We did,
but we pulled them all when
this stopped being a kidnapping.
And he has his own security.
Well, where were they?
LIZ: He's buying time.
The board will never go along
with dissolving his company.
Yeah, but he's out of time.
His refusal to pay the ransom
pushed her over the edge.
Daddy didn't play
with her her whole life.
If he doesn't play
with her now...
There's only one way this
is going to end up for Pierce.
How's it going, guys?
CHARLIE: Good, good.
We're almost there.
We've intercepted
the PNA's upload
of Pierce's communique
to their Web site,
and she's running it
through the decoder.
I isolated the CDMA code,
and separated the
information on the MPEG.
And this is gonna
lead us to where
the signal was
transmitted from, right?
Mm-hmm. Provided we
don't blow another circuit.
Okay, I got a lock on
the phone number...
(trilling)
North 34 degrees, 38 minutes,
west 118 degrees, 14 minutes.
DAVID: That's East L.A.
Lucas said they were
squatting near the freeway.
AMITA: Ah, there it is.
Knocking on the door
from 300 miles above Earth.
We're about to
knock a lot harder.
(beeping)
David, talk to me...
You got a visual?
I have Pierce.
Confirming five bad guys:
three men, two women,
including Ella Pierce.
Liz?
Locked and loaded...
We're in position.
Hey.
I've got the Web cam set up,
and I'm hacking into
the PNA Web site.
All right, good.
Now, listen, Megan, you
know, if this girl is in your head...
She is... that's why I'm
the best person for the job.
Any word? GINA: Nothing.
Looks like the old
man's been lying to us,
trying to save his ass.
Time's running out, dude.
Ella, we gotta do something.
Show him we're
not messing around.
Maybe if we start
sending him back in pieces.
Why are you doing this?
It's what Pierces do...
Taking control of your life,
telling you what to
do with your money.
We're in.
(over speaker): Steffen...
MEGAN: Steffen Cavani,
this is Agent Megan
Reeves from the FBI.
We have the house surrounded.
Take the perimeter!
I got nothing to say.
You're gonna
have to let Piece go.
STEFFEN: Why, so
you can blow us all away?
So maybe you're
not going to spend
the rest of your
life behind bars.
Steffen, I know this whole
thing wasn't your idea.
I know Ella roped you into it.
What are you talking about?
MEGAN: She's the heiress
to a multibillion-dollar
empire, Steffen.
Don't you think
she could've just
written a $40-million
check to a relief agency?
Do you really think she
cares about sweatshops?
They paid for her Maserati.
She's trying to divide us.
MEGAN: Steffen, the
only thing she cares about
is hurting her father.
You're just the
ride to the prom.
She's got other
plans for the night.
No more talk!
(static crackles)
I think I lost them.
Ella, what are you doing?
All right, we fire over their
heads, fire over their heads!
I want them walking
out of here! Roger that.
(bullets ricocheting, pinging)
David, talk to me.
No target acquisition,
Don... They're too dug in.
Not all of 'em.
Two boys, two girls left.
PIERCE: Ella!
They're going to kill you!
Who cares?
You already killed me,
just like you killed Mom.
She didn't die from the cancer,
she just didn't want to
live in that house any more!
You know that's not true!
Your mother wanted to live!
I promised her I
would take care of you!
By trapping me in your world?
Honey, please!
You turned me into
a tabloid princess,
a punchline on David Letterman,
all so you could sell
some damn clothes!
Well, now you're in my headline.
Please!
If this escalates, we scare
them into shooting Pierce.
All right, let's go... Tear
gas 'em, tear gas 'em!
They're not gonna
let us out of here!
Do not punk out
on me now, Steffan.
I have had enough of
people making promises
they won't keep.
(gas hissing)
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
(coughing)
(coughing, gas hissing)
I got two coming out.
Come here! Come here.
(coughing)
All right, we got 'em.
We got 'em, we got 'em.
The rest of you inside,
you have 15 seconds
to come out with your
hands up in the air.
It's over.
(coughing)
Don't do it, Steffan!
I'm bringing out
Pierce! Don't shoot!
You're not leaving me!
I don't see Ella.
Shots fired! Shots fired!
David...?
No, there's too much smoke.
In the arm?
What kind of cowboy is that?
Not a cowboy.
Just a field agent.
(sniffs)
Don't say anything.
Don't say anything, honey.
I have the best lawyers!
I love you, too, Dad.
(ice hockey
sportscast plays on TV)
Hey.
(mutes TV)
Hey.
So it got pretty hairy
out there today, huh?
(sighs)
Yeah, well...
Loquacious, as always.
You want to order some food?
What are we doing?
Tonight?
(heavy sigh)
Look, the last few
days, we've tried to talk,
and, you know, now
I just... I feel tired.
I think we just keep
coming back out of habit...
you know?
I don't want to feel like
we lead each other on.
I mean, you deserve
so much more than that
and I just keep
screwing these things up.
See you tomorrow, boss.
(door shuts)
You managed to bring
the monastery with you.
It's calming.
Well, feel free to find your
center here, anytime you wish.
Every time I think
I'm over my father
or my childhood, I...
(groans)
I think I let this case
take me for a ride.
Struggle is not
altogether a bad thing.
The charged particles
of the solar wind
require heat and combustion
to escape the
gravitational pull of the sun.
From tumult comes freedom.
(wry laugh)
You have this great way of
making my neuroses sound cosmic.
My center is back east, so
I'm gonna go visit my dad.
I already booked
the airplane ticket,
it's nonrefundable...
You want to come with me?
(laughing): Oh, really?
Um... are you serious?
I don't know, it just
sort of came out.
I guess not.
This is very odd,
because for some time now,
my wanderlust has stoked in me
this deep inner urge
to visit New York.
I would have to
talk to Brother Theo.
While he's in deep meditation,
I've been made
custodian of his rabbit.
Lucky rabbit.
(water gurgling, sputtering)