Numb3rs (2005–2010): Season 5, Episode 2 - The Decoy Effect - full transcript
The team races to find a group of kidnappers who have their victims drain their bank accounts using ATMs, and Charlie's attempt to reinstate his clearance is slowed by an agent with an agenda that may include Don.
♪ ♪
♪ I'm walking on
the southern street ♪
♪ Cut to the river
'fore I run too low ♪
♪ I'm walking on
the southern street ♪
♪ Cut to the river
'fore I run too low ♪
♪ Old gypsy woman spoke to me ♪
♪ Said, "You're a wolf,
boy, get out of this town" ♪
♪ Old gypsy woman spoke to me ♪
♪ Said, "You're a wolf,
boy, get out of this town" ♪
♪ "You're a wolf, boy,
get out of this town" ♪
(gunshots, screaming) ♪ "You're
a wolf, boy, get out of this town" ♪
♪ "You're a wolf." ♪
So, wideband
mixer-circulator
retro-reflector.
Obviously not.
Obviously.
How about ternary computing?
Nah. No.
Nanometer fabrication
using sacrificial spacer layers.
Nah... You've got
to be kidding me.
Nanometer fabrication!
Hey, nobody kids about
nanometer fabrication.
(laughs) You guys
still going through
Cal Sci's consulting projects?
Oh, yeah.
My NSA clearance is suspended,
so, all really get
to do now is... look.
My next paper's
going to be titled
"Our Friend the Triangle."
Actually, John Conway
and Steven Sigur
already wrote a great
book about that subject.
LARRY: You
know, it is surprising
to see how much of our
work actually intersects
with top-secret
government research.
You know, Cal Sci
has even limited
his access to the
supercomputers.
ALAN: Am I going
to sound too much
like your father, Charlie,
when I suggest that, um,
after time for principle,
there be occasion
for a strategic,
insincere apology?
I wish it were that simple, Dad.
I... I have to petition to get
my security clearance back.
Step one of that
is an interview
tomorrow at the FBI,
with someone called
a security officer.
AMITA: Charlie, you
do have a connection
or two at the FBI.
I don't want to drag
Don into this one.
The facts are on my side.
None of the information I
sent to Pakistan was a threat
to national security.
ALAN: Listen, Charlie,
when you're dealing
with the government,
it doesn't hurt
to have more than just
the facts on your side.
(siren whooping,
indistinct chatter)
What do you say, Nikki?
Alice DeMaire, 33.
An I.T. worker at a small
day trader office off Figueroa.
Two in the back...
A .38 or a nine.
Oh, yeah? The lab
boys been here?
No, but I know bullet holes.
Yeah, perp was described
as male, white, 30s,
dark suit and sunglasses.
Fled in a brown truck.
And the witnesses say, a
flower truck, bread truck.
You know, like that.
So it was stolen, right?
Unless we're looking at
a gang of rogue bakers.
ATM is this way.
NIKKI: You know you're
not in East L.A. when $20 bills
hit the ground and stay there.
What do you say, Colb?
This is our best
photo of the shooter.
He slid back in line twice.
Staying out of camera?
This guy might have
known where to stand,
but he wasn't so careful
about where he ran.
Parking garage right here
has a camera pointed
toward the street.
Give that to LAPD?
Yeah, ten minutes ago.
NIKKI: New guy question.
But what are we doing here?
I mean, this seems like
a straight-up LAPD shoot.
DON: You got a woman who's
kidnapped 23 hours ago,
and her husband was told
to make sure he has $3,000
in his bank account.
DAVID: They're called
express kidnappings.
I saw a few of them when
I was stationed in Tel Aviv.
People are grabbed
off the street, and held
for a couple of
days; they're forced
to drain their bank account
before they're released.
(phone rings) Our
victims' families are scared,
but the dollar
amounts are so small,
they pay up, and, uh,
report it after the fact.
It's the fifth in seven weeks,
and they're all middle
income working women,
raped, assaulted,
and then dumped off.
It's the first time they've
killed. First time anyone ran.
NIKKI: You run from
somebody with a gun,
maybe you figure they're
going to use it anyway.
New guy, you're with me.
Why do I have a feeling
that's going to stick?
A male, white, NFD
dumped the truck.
A gray four-door picked
him up and took off.
Where'd they see it from?
Far side of the roof.
Hence the "no
further description”"
Firemen found evidence
of a Molotov in the cabin.
Another new guy question.
Yeah. How bad are the bad guys
that kill their own
partner for screwing up?
NIKKI: Joey
Herman... frequent flyer
with the California
Department of Corrections.
Discharged from Chino last May
after a three-year bid for
hitting a jewelry exchange.
Guy's a high-end thief,
but no mastermind.
Might explain the
bullet in the head.
It matches the Suspect Three
description and composite sketch
the other victims gave us.
Only three more to go.
Whoever was on the other side
of the gun knows their business.
Lab says the inside of
the van was washed down
with bleach before
it was torched,
so, whatever forensic evidence
we do recover probably
won't work for us
until after we catch them.
All right, in five robberies,
these guys have pulled
down less than 20 grand.
Kidnapping, two homicides...
That's a lot of exposure
for not a lot of money.
In East L.A., people get
stabbed over a six-pack.
COLBY: Yeah, but
this isn't East L.A.,
and these guys aren't
meth heads on a tear.
M.O. says it's a serious crew.
DAVID: These
express kidnappings...
They make sense
south of the border,
or in Third World countries
where a little bit of money's
gonna take you far, but, uh,
nobody moves from
six-figure jewelry hits
to low-take thugging
for no reason.
We're missing some pieces.
But a guy like this...
There's always an ex-cellmate
or a known associate
somewhere in the picture.
Yeah... it sounds
like a lot of grunt work.
Yes, it does.
I wonder who's gonna
get stuck with that.
DAVID: It'd probably be
a seniority thing, I think.
Hmm.
That's going to get old fast.
Yeah, maybe for you it will.
MAN (on TV): The facts
of the shooting are still
under investigation
at this point in time,
but it appears to
be connected to...
Hey, hey, I'm glad you're here.
So, I'm watching the news
here, and I see these...
I mean, is this your case?
DON: Yeah.
I know you can't talk about it.
Just what you see there.
It occurred to me...
And-and, you know,
it's just an idle thought...
That a point-by-point
analysis, using the math
that I've already
refined for you guys...
You just plug that data in
and-and run with it.
Yeah, we're already
on that. You are?
Mm-hmm. Good.
I mean, they aren't
leaving us much.
We're gonna have to
get them on the street.
Doesn't that mean
that you're waiting
for another victim? Or a decoy.
I mean, we could put ten,
20, 30 women out there.
See if maybe they pick one up.
You know, in marketing,
there's something
called the decoy effect.
It's like when you went out
to buy that watch
you got on there.
You had a choice
between a more expensive,
higher-end, waterproof,
scratch-resistant
watch with a tachometer,
and a less expensive watch
that does nothing but tell time.
And you made your choice
by how you balance
function and cost.
But let's say, a third
watch is put on the market.
More expensive,
but no tachometer.
Most buyers will gravitate
toward the original,
higher-end product, regardless
of their prior preference.
So, that third
watch is the decoy.
It exists solely
to steer buyers
to the bigger sale.
And that's called asymmetric
dominance. So, how...?
Well, you can't just put
targets out on the street
that you want
kidnappers to attack.
You can create conditions
that make them more desirable.
A distribution
of police patrols,
inspection points...
I mean, this is stuff you
would normally do anyway,
except funneled through
a series of algorithmic...
You think it's something
Larry or Amita could do?
Well, yeah. No, sure. I...
Sure. Larry and Amita
are very, highly skilled...
I just... I'm just saying
that I could come up
with some very loose expressions
and give them a push
in the right direction.
Hey, so, what do you know
about this FBI Security Officer,
uh, McGowan?
Carl?
Yeah, Carl McGowan.
He's tough, but-but he's fair.
More tough, more fair?
(sighs)
You know, you'll be fine.
That's not an answer.
(phone ringing)
Yeah.
Eppes.
We put out a five-county alert
for any missing persons reports
that match our victim profile.
I started with today's,
figuring these guys
don't snatch more
than one vic at a time.
(computer chirps)
Popped Janet Gerber,
office manager at
an HMO in Hollywood.
Left her job at 4:30,
reported missing at 8:00.
That's pretty fast.
News has everyone on edge.
She is right in the
sweet spot of our profile.
Female, 25, middle income.
Still... Yeah, I wouldn't have
dragged you back here
in the middle of the
night if there wasn't more.
Oh, damn.
Their M.O. holds up,
they'll dump the van, switch
to a delivery truck again.
Right, sure. Blends in
more, easier to control, or...
I'm thinking, press
conference, right?
Put her face on the news.
Maybe these guys
get rattled, let her go.
Only when things
went bad before,
that's exactly
what they didn't do.
What am I looking for?
Credit card bills,
bank statements...
Anything that might
help us track her.
She's never home past 6:00.
But when I called the
police, I was hoping...
Then they told me they'd
kill her if I called you,
but I already had.
They're going to tell
you what helps them,
not what's going to help Janet.
You did the right thing.
(crying): Janet isn't reckless.
She's careful about
where she goes.
She pays attention to
everything around her.
(sniffles)
If they can just grab
you off the street,
no rhyme or reason...
(sniffles)
how do you protect
yourself from that?
The woman on the
TV... They killed her.
The ones before...
They beat them,
they raped them.
We're going to do
everything in our power
to bring Janet back here safely.
Hey, guys, thanks for
stepping up here, huh?
Yeah, well, we're still
getting up to speed.
Um, asymmetric dominance
is pretty basic stuff.
Yeah, but Charlie's
applications of it
are anything but basic.
DON: Well, we're in the
middle of a kidnapping right now,
so it may end up being
for nothing, but thanks.
AMITA: All right. I
would remind you
that the planet known
as rho-1 Cancri e
was discovered
purely by accident,
when scientists were modeling
the motion of its home star.
What?
There is no wasted work.
Right.
Nikki, what do we got?
Uh, the National Bank Network
gave us access to SPIDER...
A tracking program for ATM usage
that they use to detect fraud.
Almost every ATM in the
country is on the system.
It provides real-time
transactions
at 400,000 cash machines
nationwide... check this out.
It even shows how much cash
is available in any machine
at any one time, and
that's how they know
when they have to be refilled.
Okay, so...
Every time you use an ATM
card, SPIDER calls the bank
to make sure you have
enough cash available.
We have three hits already
on Janet Gerber's cards.
Here, here, and here.
The last one was two hours ago.
You get units in there?
I notified LAPD.
Colby and David
are cruising the area.
Do we have any shots of her?
We're running facial recognition
for the other customers.
Oh, what's that?
Right there.
Staying just outside
of camera range.
That's the guy.
We got a hit.
Someone's using
one of her cards at...
COLBY: It's Fifth and Alameda.
(engine revving,
tires screeching)
COLBY: In one piece, please.
Hey, you know the rule:
you complain, you drive.
Too late?
Unless that's him.
Doesn't look like
any of these sketches.
Do they ever?
DAVID: That matches the
description of the kidnapper's van.
(engine roaring,
tires screeching)
(tires screeching)
(tires screeching)
(horn honking, tires screeching)
Hey, look out!
(tires screeching)
FBI!
Stay in the truck!
Yeah, I didn't see him.
(panting)
He's pretty damned dead.
Van's empty.
That leaves two at large.
And they still
have Janet Gerber.
WOMAN: I've already
told you everything
that I remember.
There have been new
developments, Ms. Mooney.
We've got another
victim out there.
I'm sorry.
I've been trying to
forget what happened.
This one.
He'd get out of the van with me
when they told me to get money.
He had a gun.
He didn't...
he wasn't a part
of the rest of it.
You recognize anyone else?
No.
You're sure?
I spent 38 hours with those...
Yes, I'm sure.
NIKKI: In the
report, you said there
was a fourth man, one
they met in the parking lot?
He just talked to
them for a few minutes,
and then he left.
They called someone
every few hours after that.
I got the sense that it was him.
What did they talk about?
Which banks to go to, maybe.
I think... I... I
don't remember.
They had me on the
floor most of the time.
This woman, the one
that they have now...
We're gonna do everything
we can to get her back safe.
NIKKI: Zack Talling.
He was in County
on a drug charge,
during three of the
five kidnappings.
DON: Okay, so they do
Herman for screwing up,
and then they bring in Talling.
NIKKI: The minivan
was scrubbed clean,
and we figure Talling
was supposed to dump it.
He decided to stop
and buy a case instead.
He pockets one of Janet
Gerber's ATM cards,
decides to skim a
little cash for himself.
Definitely hit the
discount rack with Talling.
Liquor stores, carjackings...
There's no more activity
on her other cards?
No, they've gone cold.
When Talling doesn't come
back, they gotta be nervous.
They should have closed up
shop when they lost Herman.
Herman didn't
participate in the rapes.
Maybe he was the alpha
dog, then they turned on him.
That's the alpha.
He doesn't ride with them,
he tells them where to go,
he tells them what ATMs to hit.
And he doesn't
care what his guys do
to the women, but
he's meticulous enough
to scrub down the evidence.
He makes their ransom calls
from burner phones,
kills off his weak link.
So why is this professional
pulling high exposure
for pocket change?
They don't even max
out the withdrawals.
It's all these weird amounts...
$420, $340.
Best guy to answer a
strange digit question...
Can't do that.
Okay.
(knocking on door)
Agent McGowan?
Have a seat, Professor.
So, um...
Just a second.
You didn't bring an
attorney with you?
I didn't realize I needed one.
All the charges were dropped.
To avoid a black eye, I know.
Black eye?
An FBI consultant
sends classified
and potentially
dangerous information
to an unauthorized
foreign group.
I assume that a multiple Ph.D.
can infer the potential
for embarrassment.
That information
was for growing crops.
An embarrassment to the Bureau,
the United States Government,
and to your brother.
My brother... He
probably committed
a slow-acting career suicide
the day he brought you in
to work on that first case.
But that's on him.
You know, I get the impression
that your mind is
already made up.
The FBI's guidelines
very specifically prohibit me
from applying my personal
opinion to the review
of a suspended
security clearance.
And I wouldn't be
so unprofessional
as to ignore agency guidelines.
You know, I've
given a lot of my time
and work to the FBI.
But that isn't why
you're here, is it?
You're here because
a loss of clearance
keeps you from making money
off some big government
research projects.
Just saying that betrays
how little you know about me.
Maybe not yet, but I'm going to.
Your life's going to
become transparent to me.
I'm going to ask you
about things you're going
to think I have no
business asking you about.
And given the
slenderness of the thread
on which your
professional future hangs,
it will behoove you to
answer every one of them
completely and honestly.
Then I will talk to my lawyer.
(indistinct radio communication)
Hey.
Couple of homeless guys
were doing their
weekly scrounge.
We didn't get her home.
One bullet to the
back of the head.
No signs of assault,
no indications of rape.
They were trying to
get rid of her in a hurry.
They're getting sloppier.
And more violent.
Check this out.
Techs say these
and these are fresh.
Two sets.
They dump one truck,
have a backup ready.
They're not done.
Using asymmetric dominance,
we built a consideration
set on the framework
of the prior abductions,
and then we filtered all of that
through a very powerful
regression analysis.
What?
You'll say that for about
three or four months,
then learn to go along with it.
AMITA: Let's call it decoy math.
It's a way of building
optimal conditions
for an off-the-street kidnapping
by the strategic placement
of not only the decoy,
but of additional police
patrols and checkpoints.
We begin with the police patrols
and the presumed boundaries
created by those patrols,
and then we factor
in all of this publicity
surrounding the kidnappings,
and then we can
factor all of that
onto the target pool.
Most women are
being more careful now.
So, the red zones are optimal,
with the orange zones
as secondary targets.
And all of this presupposes
that you will be following
our methods of shaping
these target zones:
disabling street lights to
create darkened conditions
and diverting traffic
to isolate certain streets...
Yeah, but you got
like 50 places there.
Uh, no, we... actually 43.
You got a favorite?
A favorite?
No, but I tell you what.
I would incorporate,
in any distribution,
the corner of
Wilshire and Grand.
That's based on...?
A hunch, I guess.
Guess I'm on the corner
of Wilshire and Grand.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, who
said you're anywhere?
You need 43 decoys.
There more than 42
other female 20s agents
hanging around the office?
(sighs)
CHARLIE: You see it
in academia all the time.
A petty bureaucrat mired
in 20 or 30 years
of mindless habit,
an axe to grind.
And that axe is what, exactly?
Any non-traditional
investigative technique
or any alternative
point of view.
Who the hell knows?
Who the hell cares?
Well, you should,
you should care.
What did your
lawyer have to say?
Same thing as McGowan,
in that I have no real
option but to cooperate.
He's gonna go
through the motions,
but he's already
closed the book on me.
Well, even if that's true,
you have to
fight it as if it isn't.
Yeah, you know what he said?
You know what he said?
Actually, he pretty
clearly implied
that I'd ruined Don's career.
What does Don have
to say about that?
I don't know, I haven't
talked to him about it yet.
Besides, you know, he'll just
grunt and change the subject.
When I sent that
research to Pakistan,
I was well aware of what
it might do to my future.
I didn't stop to think of
what it would do to Don's.
Not really.
Hey.
You got to love
that federal budget.
LAPD Comtecs are
the size of a small brick.
That's right, you're
in the majors now.
(chuckling)
Look, you know all
that "new guy" stuff's
just part of...
Being the new guy?
Yeah.
It's when they stop
busting your ass,
that's when you really
better start worrying.
Nah, I'm not sweating it.
I... I was just out of Quantico,
and they sent me to Detroit.
Right? So I gotta answer
phones for three weeks,
which felt like three months.
One day, they...
they're shorthanded,
so they sent me out
on this no-knock warrant
to these biker outlaws, right?
The Ugly Bastards.
I, uh, volunteered
to take point.
Yeah? So how'd
that work out for you?
I got my ass handed
to me pretty damn good.
I was right back on the phones.
Wild guess... there's a
point in there somewhere?
You got a long career
here hopefully, so, you know,
you don't have to prove
everything in the first month.
My straight out of the Academy?
Some Parker Center genius
decides to dump me
in Knickerson Gardens,
doing buy and busts.
You know, he figured
fresh face, no cop habits...
I'd be the perfect undercover.
Never mind that I hadn't learned
to find my ass with both
hands yet, you know.
Day five, citizen
named Latwan Rivers
sticks a .22 in my face.
Tries to stick something
else somewhere else.
After medical leave,
psych evaluation,
and a piece of paper that has
me promising not to sue the city
for stupidity, Ah.
They offer me any
assignment I want.
Next day, I'm back in
Knickerson Gardens
doing buy and busts.
This is a wild guess... is there
some point there somewhere?
Yeah, I know there're a
lot of answering phones
and DMV checks in
my immediate future.
You give me a chance
to get dirty, I'm there.
All right, noted.
MAN (over radio): Decoy Nine,
we're turning the starting point.
Decoy 18 heading
north on Euclid.
DAVID (over radio): Decoy
Five taking another pass.
(softly): And around
the block again.
You can back off a little, guys.
You're ghosting
me a little tight.
All right, thanks
for that, new guy.
Aw, you know how it is. Yeah.
I know Betancourt can
notch it back a little bit.
Right, 'cause it was
somebody else who nearly
got me shot his second week
showing tough to a
Vietnamese biker gang?
Decoy Five is moving south
on Grand. DON: Hey, Billy,
you better tell Hollywood patrol
to back off another
block, all right?
And Joan, have 14 slow
down on the next pass.
Okay. Hey, 14? Copy that.
Guys, I think we got a bite.
(typing rapidly)
(beeping) Plates come back
to a Volkswagen Beetle.
COLBY: So what do you think?
I say we take that right.
Not a sound. (grunts)
Get into the van, you
might get out again.
We have a hit; we're on.
Five is active. I
repeat, Five is active.
I want units rolling to Broadway
and Ninth, await further.
Get me eyes and ears.
MAN: Down on the
floor! You do not look up!
NIKKI: I'm not going to
fight. Keep your mouth shut!
Take whatever you want (grunts).
I'm sorry. I'm
sorry, I'm scared!
There're two of you. You
have a gun. You deaf, bitch?
Hear that, everyone?
Two in the truck.
Surveillance Five,
what's her distress word?
Mexico.
You gave her our distress word?
DAVID: Truck's pulling over.
(door opens and closes)
One and Two. We have visual
confirmation on
Suspects One and Two.
AGENT: S.O.G. Eight
is two blocks away.
S.O.G. 22 is four.
All right, everyone stand by.
MAN 2: Lisa Hillman,
2527 Tujunga Ave...
818-555-0189.
(over radio): 460,
340, 280,
480, 120.
(truck engine starts)
DAVID (over
radio): We're moving.
All right, you better
break off and run parallel.
Got it.
And Eight, pick it up at Grand.
AGENT (over radio): S.O.G.
Eight, we've picked up the subject.
(phone ringing)
Quiet, everyone.
Hello?
MAN (distorted):
We have your wife.
Lisa Hillman, driver's
license V72533849.
(normal voice): Don't
do anything stupid,
we drop her off
in 12 to 15 hours.
Can I... let me talk to her.
(distorted): Being stupid
would be calling the police,
(normal): canceling
all her credit cards.
Just make sure there's $5,000
(distorted): in all three
of your bank accounts.
$5,000? I don't have that
kind of money. Please
let me talk to her.
(beeping)
Disposable phone, calling
from a two-mile tower zone
in West Los Angeles.
All right, push the three
nearest units in that direction.
And Five, you copy that?
Affirmative. You're
hoping they lead us
to the alpha.
Right, unless
Nikki calls it off.
(engine roaring)
(brakes squeaking)
MAN: You are going
to go take out $460.
You are going to
walk back to this truck.
You are not going
to talk to anyone.
$460... You are
not going to make
eye contact with anyone.
Nod yes.
Get up. Get up!
Have you tried revisiting
the Yukawa potential?
The exponential gives
the interaction finite range.
Oh, and then you're
back where you started.
Charles, as much as
we appreciate your help...
Oh, please, non-collider
related Higgs-Boson physics,
one of my few
pleasures these days.
(whiny): I'm just so tired.
I want to go home.
(lilting flute ringtone playing)
Okay, that's me.
I thought you got
rid of your cell.
Yeah, I did.
But your brother shoved
another one at me.
(ringtone continues)
Yes, Don?
I am on my way.
(phone beeps off)
What is that, the
ATM kidnapping case?
Uh...
(sighs)
You know, I
suspect we're looking
at a combinatorics
problem... Would you mind?
Sure. Uh, do you...?
No. Of course.
Don't wait up.
(door opens and closes)
Third bank,
still no sign of our alpha.
DON (over radio):
All right, keep it tight.
(Nikki gasping)
If you have,
have the Internet, I can
just transfer you the money.
MAN 1: Get back down!
NIKKI: You have a laptop.
(gasping)
Spider something...
(grunt, clattering)
Can we just do this
one and get another?!
Don, we've got to go. On
my signal! On my signal!
Sorry, really.
Sorry. I got $15,000.
What?!
$15,000
that my husband
doesn't know about.
It's in a safe deposit box.
I can get it for you
when the bank opens.
You wouldn't lie to me
just to keep yourself
alive, would you, babe?
I would.
But I swear I'm not.
(laughs)
All right.
Buckle up.
DON: All right, stand down.
Everyone just stand
down, but stay tight.
Mirror everything into
the Tech Room for me.
AGENT: Yes, sir.
SPIDER...
Is a real-time ATM
tracking program. Yeah.
Yeah, Charlie and I did work
on its Distributed
Neural Network
along with half the Cal Sci
Math and Computer Department.
And Nikki tells me they
can run the thing on a laptop.
Yeah. And they're
taking odd amounts.
Instead of like a
hundred or $200,
it's like $460 or $340.
That's right, atypical amounts,
but combined with
specific knowledge
of both nodes of
the transaction.
The Hall effect.
He's tapping off
a gold leaf, he's
applying a magnetic field
perpendicular to
the electrical current
in order to uncover
the potential difference
on opposite sides
of the conductor.
Hold on, I don't have a clue
what you're talking about.
Okay, I have lost
you. Help me out here.
Okay, by knowing the amount,
the card, the ATM, the bank...
He's able to watch the way
money flows through SPIDER.
Okay. He's trying to find a way
deeper inside the program.
To divert the flow, I suspect.
And also, it does
refills. Yeah, sure.
Every four or five days,
when the ATM gets low,
SPIDER sends a message
to the armored car servicing it,
telling it to deliver a refill.
Okay, so if he can
jack his way into the program...
He could schedule the
delivery of large sums
of money to the most
vulnerable of locations,
and at a time of his choosing.
Then what's the possibility
of us hacking our way to him?
It's not easy.
All right, well, then...
get working on it, okay?
DAVID: Fifth and last one, Don.
They've maxed out her cards.
MAN 1: What time you got?
MAN 2: Almost 4:00.
We're supposed to
dump her before dawn.
Doesn't give us
much time, does it?
COLBY: This is going bad.
Don.
NIKKI: Bank opens in four hours.
$15,000.
I swear to God.
You're right about that.
You will swear to God.
(grunts)
(gunshots)
Go, go, go,
everybody get in there!
Let's go, move!
(tires screeching)
FBI! Give me a damn reason.
FBI! Don't move!
Show us your hands.
MALE AGENT: Get 'em in the air!
Got one on the right side!
AGENT: Turn around.
AGENT 2: We got both!
She okay?
Yeah, she's okay.
AGENT (on radio): Two
suspects under control...
(elevator bell dings)
DON: What's the distress word?
Mexico. Why didn't I hear it?
We didn't have the alpha,
and I had everything under...
Took me five seconds
to send them in,
just enough time for you
to get your very
undisciplined head
shot off at least five times!
Boss, I was... Get
changed and start writing!
And when you're done
writing, you can start
getting to know the P904!
That's the telephone.
That's the only
piece of equipment
you're going to be
using for a long time!
Morning.
It's too late for
breakfast, but...
there's still some
coffee. No, thanks.
I owe Amita these lesson
plans for our CBME seminar.
She's probably already
waiting for me at Cal Sci.
Actually, when I left her
at 4:00 a.m. this morning,
she was still at the FBI.
Yeah?
Was there a break on that case?
A break, yes. A conclusion, no.
Okay, well, then I'll
probably drop these off
on the way to campus.
(door closes)
Now, he sure seems
to have lost a step or two
off his stride.
Yeah, it's this NSA
clearance thing.
I guess there were more eggs
in that basket than he realized.
Well, than any of us realized.
You know, as scientists, we
tend to take our relationship
with the government
pretty much for granted...
tend to forget just how much
our work depends on their wallet.
Charlie's struggle
is nothing short of existential.
Well, I guess we have
nothing to worry about, then.
Charlie's always at his best
when his back's
against the wall.
So two more off the low end.
Gang affiliations,
petty crime jackets.
Chaney, the one in the
middle, did time with Talling.
These guys were prepped.
They both lawyered up as soon
as we got bracelets on 'em.
Yeah, we got a
death penalty here.
You tell Robin we want to
cut a deal to get the alpha.
COLBY: It's in the works; it's
just going to take some time.
DAVID: Rape, kidnappings,
now two murders.
This guy has got to be rolling
up his operations by now.
Or skipping ahead.
So Joey Herman screws up.
He kills him, replaces him.
Zack Talling goes
down, he powers
through the two
guys he's got left.
Changes up his M.O.,
ramps up the timetable,
only makes contact by phone.
I mean, he's smart, but I
don't see him going this far
and not getting paid.
AMITA: There's no indication
of intrusion into the system.
SPIDER's administrators
have changed the pass codes,
locked up the back doors.
It could take him
days, weeks even,
to find a new way in.
But he could still be watching?
Passively? Sure.
So Alpha Dog sees every
ATM reorder in the city.
AMITA: In the country.
It's a real-time shopping list
for armored car robberies.
Hey, wha-what...? Look,
I got the visitor's badge.
Jimmy walked me over.
These are for you.
How's it going, guys?
Thanks. And SPIDER is
an independently owned
and operated program,
so there's no
clearance issue there.
At a glance, I can tell you
that the ATM
kidnappings are a way
to map into the
program by locating
known transactions...
A back door, by the way,
we mentioned to the
programmers two years ago...
Charlie, stop.
Come on, you can't.
Y-You can't do this.
No, I can help, all right?
And McGowan... McGowan
can go to hell if he doesn't get that.
Look, you don't understand
the politics here. I'm beginning to.
You have a guy who's kidnapped
and murdered
and facilitated rape.
He's smart, he's
going to do it again.
If it were you, would
you let the rules
get in the way of stopping him?
(chuckles)
Let's do this.
All right, he's gonna move fast.
He's gonna hit once
in the next day or two.
That is if he can put together
another crew that fast.
Yeah, but maybe
he already has one.
I mean, Herman was
the only high-end guy.
DAVID: Maybe that's
why he brought in Talling.
I mean, after
losing Joey Herman,
he wasn't willing to risk
any more of his real talent.
But why risk Herman
on the kidnapping
in the first place?
CHARLIE: He's probably
running his own version
of a scheduling algorithm.
Yeah, computers use them
to weigh the duration or
difficulty of certain tasks
against the system's resources
and then allocate
them accordingly.
You know, your Alpha Dog
has finite resources...
Weapons, money,
vehicles, manpower.
Now, some of these resources
can be used for more than one job
and others only
have one function.
Because time is
his greatest enemy,
he's going to try to
schedule his tasks
for maximum efficiency,
so that no resource sits
idle if it doesn't have to.
All right, so...
The interesting thing
about scheduling algorithms
is no one has come up
with a perfect one yet.
AMITA: No, there are thousands.
The Smith rule, the
O2, the Beam search.
Any programmer can design
one, test it, and name it.
CHARLIE: And just like
a programmer's design
or a guitarist's
signature riff or
a painter's brushstroke,
a scheduling algorithm is the
expression of a unique mind.
It not only shows us the
choices that have been made,
but it hints at the
choices to come...
How he'll play that next chord,
what brushstrokes will follow.
MAN: Faster, come on, go!
(tires screeching)
Where's the money?!
Get down on the ground!
FBI! Don't move!
(over radio): All
units, move in.
AGENT: Get your hands up now!
Drop your weapon!
(indistinct radio communication)
Get down on the ground!
(shouting)
Let me see your hands! Drop it!
AGENT (on radio):
All units, stand down.
Suspects in custody. Over.
How'd it go?
Should have been there...
Bullets flying, cars
crashing. (phone ringing)
(phone ringing)
FBI, Betancourt.
Yeah, one minute, please.
(phone buttons beeping)
So how long am I in trouble for?
Well, um, pre-therapy Don, I
think about three months, easy.
You got post-therapy Don, so...
Yeah, then ten weeks... 11 tops.
(sighs)
Listen, figure out
how to forward
the calls to the switchboard
and we'll take
you out for a beer.
(knocking)
Hey. Hey, Don.
Didn't think you came
up to the 11th floor
without an ADIC directive.
Actually, I want to talk to
you a little about Charlie,
if that's okay.
No kidding.
But I think it'd be better if we
wait for the formal interview.
I'm not here to
defend him or anything,
but you know what I mean,
what the guy does
for us around here...
A lot of people can do.
Not as well, maybe,
but... maybe more reliably.
Yeah, Carl, you've been
out of the field a long time.
And you've been
in it a long time.
Meaning?
Just because it isn't papered
doesn't mean I
don't know about it.
Some questionable tactics,
bureau-mandated therapy,
one of your agents
quitting her job.
Now this thing
with your brother.
I kind of have to wonder what
the hell is going on down there.
Well, an 85% clearance rate.
By any means necessary,
because that's the Eppes way.
Don't think I didn't hear
about you and your
brother playing cute
with the rules
today... And last week.
But the rules are for
everyone else, aren't they?
You know, Carl, you want to
come after me, fine, come after me,
but just don't make it
about my brother, okay?
Nothing's ever
about one thing, Don.
If you can't see that, maybe
that's where the problem begins.
I could write.
Yeah.
My, my publisher's
been bothering me
to do a follow-up
book anyway, so...
(Amita chuckles)
You hated every minute of it.
Not every minute.
Yesterday, when you and Larry
left me to go work on that case,
it felt like when
I was a little kid,
and I stayed home
sick from school.
(sighs)
I always liked sick days.
Game shows, soap operas,
chicken soup.
Chicken soup?
Really?
Yeah, really.
(chuckles)
You worked with Don
for four years, Charlie.
You know, of course it's
gonna feel a little bit weird.
Yeah.
I used to... I've always
looked at my work for the FBI
as... an avocation, you know?
An occasional detour from...
that grand destiny
that people have been
predicting for me since
I was seven years old.
I even suspected
that it was my excuse
for not fulfilling that destiny.
I honestly never thought...
I'd miss it so much.
You're gonna get
your clearance back.
I know.
♪ I'm walking on
the southern street ♪
♪ Cut to the river
'fore I run too low ♪
♪ I'm walking on
the southern street ♪
♪ Cut to the river
'fore I run too low ♪
♪ Old gypsy woman spoke to me ♪
♪ Said, "You're a wolf,
boy, get out of this town" ♪
♪ Old gypsy woman spoke to me ♪
♪ Said, "You're a wolf,
boy, get out of this town" ♪
♪ "You're a wolf, boy,
get out of this town" ♪
(gunshots, screaming) ♪ "You're
a wolf, boy, get out of this town" ♪
♪ "You're a wolf." ♪
So, wideband
mixer-circulator
retro-reflector.
Obviously not.
Obviously.
How about ternary computing?
Nah. No.
Nanometer fabrication
using sacrificial spacer layers.
Nah... You've got
to be kidding me.
Nanometer fabrication!
Hey, nobody kids about
nanometer fabrication.
(laughs) You guys
still going through
Cal Sci's consulting projects?
Oh, yeah.
My NSA clearance is suspended,
so, all really get
to do now is... look.
My next paper's
going to be titled
"Our Friend the Triangle."
Actually, John Conway
and Steven Sigur
already wrote a great
book about that subject.
LARRY: You
know, it is surprising
to see how much of our
work actually intersects
with top-secret
government research.
You know, Cal Sci
has even limited
his access to the
supercomputers.
ALAN: Am I going
to sound too much
like your father, Charlie,
when I suggest that, um,
after time for principle,
there be occasion
for a strategic,
insincere apology?
I wish it were that simple, Dad.
I... I have to petition to get
my security clearance back.
Step one of that
is an interview
tomorrow at the FBI,
with someone called
a security officer.
AMITA: Charlie, you
do have a connection
or two at the FBI.
I don't want to drag
Don into this one.
The facts are on my side.
None of the information I
sent to Pakistan was a threat
to national security.
ALAN: Listen, Charlie,
when you're dealing
with the government,
it doesn't hurt
to have more than just
the facts on your side.
(siren whooping,
indistinct chatter)
What do you say, Nikki?
Alice DeMaire, 33.
An I.T. worker at a small
day trader office off Figueroa.
Two in the back...
A .38 or a nine.
Oh, yeah? The lab
boys been here?
No, but I know bullet holes.
Yeah, perp was described
as male, white, 30s,
dark suit and sunglasses.
Fled in a brown truck.
And the witnesses say, a
flower truck, bread truck.
You know, like that.
So it was stolen, right?
Unless we're looking at
a gang of rogue bakers.
ATM is this way.
NIKKI: You know you're
not in East L.A. when $20 bills
hit the ground and stay there.
What do you say, Colb?
This is our best
photo of the shooter.
He slid back in line twice.
Staying out of camera?
This guy might have
known where to stand,
but he wasn't so careful
about where he ran.
Parking garage right here
has a camera pointed
toward the street.
Give that to LAPD?
Yeah, ten minutes ago.
NIKKI: New guy question.
But what are we doing here?
I mean, this seems like
a straight-up LAPD shoot.
DON: You got a woman who's
kidnapped 23 hours ago,
and her husband was told
to make sure he has $3,000
in his bank account.
DAVID: They're called
express kidnappings.
I saw a few of them when
I was stationed in Tel Aviv.
People are grabbed
off the street, and held
for a couple of
days; they're forced
to drain their bank account
before they're released.
(phone rings) Our
victims' families are scared,
but the dollar
amounts are so small,
they pay up, and, uh,
report it after the fact.
It's the fifth in seven weeks,
and they're all middle
income working women,
raped, assaulted,
and then dumped off.
It's the first time they've
killed. First time anyone ran.
NIKKI: You run from
somebody with a gun,
maybe you figure they're
going to use it anyway.
New guy, you're with me.
Why do I have a feeling
that's going to stick?
A male, white, NFD
dumped the truck.
A gray four-door picked
him up and took off.
Where'd they see it from?
Far side of the roof.
Hence the "no
further description”"
Firemen found evidence
of a Molotov in the cabin.
Another new guy question.
Yeah. How bad are the bad guys
that kill their own
partner for screwing up?
NIKKI: Joey
Herman... frequent flyer
with the California
Department of Corrections.
Discharged from Chino last May
after a three-year bid for
hitting a jewelry exchange.
Guy's a high-end thief,
but no mastermind.
Might explain the
bullet in the head.
It matches the Suspect Three
description and composite sketch
the other victims gave us.
Only three more to go.
Whoever was on the other side
of the gun knows their business.
Lab says the inside of
the van was washed down
with bleach before
it was torched,
so, whatever forensic evidence
we do recover probably
won't work for us
until after we catch them.
All right, in five robberies,
these guys have pulled
down less than 20 grand.
Kidnapping, two homicides...
That's a lot of exposure
for not a lot of money.
In East L.A., people get
stabbed over a six-pack.
COLBY: Yeah, but
this isn't East L.A.,
and these guys aren't
meth heads on a tear.
M.O. says it's a serious crew.
DAVID: These
express kidnappings...
They make sense
south of the border,
or in Third World countries
where a little bit of money's
gonna take you far, but, uh,
nobody moves from
six-figure jewelry hits
to low-take thugging
for no reason.
We're missing some pieces.
But a guy like this...
There's always an ex-cellmate
or a known associate
somewhere in the picture.
Yeah... it sounds
like a lot of grunt work.
Yes, it does.
I wonder who's gonna
get stuck with that.
DAVID: It'd probably be
a seniority thing, I think.
Hmm.
That's going to get old fast.
Yeah, maybe for you it will.
MAN (on TV): The facts
of the shooting are still
under investigation
at this point in time,
but it appears to
be connected to...
Hey, hey, I'm glad you're here.
So, I'm watching the news
here, and I see these...
I mean, is this your case?
DON: Yeah.
I know you can't talk about it.
Just what you see there.
It occurred to me...
And-and, you know,
it's just an idle thought...
That a point-by-point
analysis, using the math
that I've already
refined for you guys...
You just plug that data in
and-and run with it.
Yeah, we're already
on that. You are?
Mm-hmm. Good.
I mean, they aren't
leaving us much.
We're gonna have to
get them on the street.
Doesn't that mean
that you're waiting
for another victim? Or a decoy.
I mean, we could put ten,
20, 30 women out there.
See if maybe they pick one up.
You know, in marketing,
there's something
called the decoy effect.
It's like when you went out
to buy that watch
you got on there.
You had a choice
between a more expensive,
higher-end, waterproof,
scratch-resistant
watch with a tachometer,
and a less expensive watch
that does nothing but tell time.
And you made your choice
by how you balance
function and cost.
But let's say, a third
watch is put on the market.
More expensive,
but no tachometer.
Most buyers will gravitate
toward the original,
higher-end product, regardless
of their prior preference.
So, that third
watch is the decoy.
It exists solely
to steer buyers
to the bigger sale.
And that's called asymmetric
dominance. So, how...?
Well, you can't just put
targets out on the street
that you want
kidnappers to attack.
You can create conditions
that make them more desirable.
A distribution
of police patrols,
inspection points...
I mean, this is stuff you
would normally do anyway,
except funneled through
a series of algorithmic...
You think it's something
Larry or Amita could do?
Well, yeah. No, sure. I...
Sure. Larry and Amita
are very, highly skilled...
I just... I'm just saying
that I could come up
with some very loose expressions
and give them a push
in the right direction.
Hey, so, what do you know
about this FBI Security Officer,
uh, McGowan?
Carl?
Yeah, Carl McGowan.
He's tough, but-but he's fair.
More tough, more fair?
(sighs)
You know, you'll be fine.
That's not an answer.
(phone ringing)
Yeah.
Eppes.
We put out a five-county alert
for any missing persons reports
that match our victim profile.
I started with today's,
figuring these guys
don't snatch more
than one vic at a time.
(computer chirps)
Popped Janet Gerber,
office manager at
an HMO in Hollywood.
Left her job at 4:30,
reported missing at 8:00.
That's pretty fast.
News has everyone on edge.
She is right in the
sweet spot of our profile.
Female, 25, middle income.
Still... Yeah, I wouldn't have
dragged you back here
in the middle of the
night if there wasn't more.
Oh, damn.
Their M.O. holds up,
they'll dump the van, switch
to a delivery truck again.
Right, sure. Blends in
more, easier to control, or...
I'm thinking, press
conference, right?
Put her face on the news.
Maybe these guys
get rattled, let her go.
Only when things
went bad before,
that's exactly
what they didn't do.
What am I looking for?
Credit card bills,
bank statements...
Anything that might
help us track her.
She's never home past 6:00.
But when I called the
police, I was hoping...
Then they told me they'd
kill her if I called you,
but I already had.
They're going to tell
you what helps them,
not what's going to help Janet.
You did the right thing.
(crying): Janet isn't reckless.
She's careful about
where she goes.
She pays attention to
everything around her.
(sniffles)
If they can just grab
you off the street,
no rhyme or reason...
(sniffles)
how do you protect
yourself from that?
The woman on the
TV... They killed her.
The ones before...
They beat them,
they raped them.
We're going to do
everything in our power
to bring Janet back here safely.
Hey, guys, thanks for
stepping up here, huh?
Yeah, well, we're still
getting up to speed.
Um, asymmetric dominance
is pretty basic stuff.
Yeah, but Charlie's
applications of it
are anything but basic.
DON: Well, we're in the
middle of a kidnapping right now,
so it may end up being
for nothing, but thanks.
AMITA: All right. I
would remind you
that the planet known
as rho-1 Cancri e
was discovered
purely by accident,
when scientists were modeling
the motion of its home star.
What?
There is no wasted work.
Right.
Nikki, what do we got?
Uh, the National Bank Network
gave us access to SPIDER...
A tracking program for ATM usage
that they use to detect fraud.
Almost every ATM in the
country is on the system.
It provides real-time
transactions
at 400,000 cash machines
nationwide... check this out.
It even shows how much cash
is available in any machine
at any one time, and
that's how they know
when they have to be refilled.
Okay, so...
Every time you use an ATM
card, SPIDER calls the bank
to make sure you have
enough cash available.
We have three hits already
on Janet Gerber's cards.
Here, here, and here.
The last one was two hours ago.
You get units in there?
I notified LAPD.
Colby and David
are cruising the area.
Do we have any shots of her?
We're running facial recognition
for the other customers.
Oh, what's that?
Right there.
Staying just outside
of camera range.
That's the guy.
We got a hit.
Someone's using
one of her cards at...
COLBY: It's Fifth and Alameda.
(engine revving,
tires screeching)
COLBY: In one piece, please.
Hey, you know the rule:
you complain, you drive.
Too late?
Unless that's him.
Doesn't look like
any of these sketches.
Do they ever?
DAVID: That matches the
description of the kidnapper's van.
(engine roaring,
tires screeching)
(tires screeching)
(tires screeching)
(horn honking, tires screeching)
Hey, look out!
(tires screeching)
FBI!
Stay in the truck!
Yeah, I didn't see him.
(panting)
He's pretty damned dead.
Van's empty.
That leaves two at large.
And they still
have Janet Gerber.
WOMAN: I've already
told you everything
that I remember.
There have been new
developments, Ms. Mooney.
We've got another
victim out there.
I'm sorry.
I've been trying to
forget what happened.
This one.
He'd get out of the van with me
when they told me to get money.
He had a gun.
He didn't...
he wasn't a part
of the rest of it.
You recognize anyone else?
No.
You're sure?
I spent 38 hours with those...
Yes, I'm sure.
NIKKI: In the
report, you said there
was a fourth man, one
they met in the parking lot?
He just talked to
them for a few minutes,
and then he left.
They called someone
every few hours after that.
I got the sense that it was him.
What did they talk about?
Which banks to go to, maybe.
I think... I... I
don't remember.
They had me on the
floor most of the time.
This woman, the one
that they have now...
We're gonna do everything
we can to get her back safe.
NIKKI: Zack Talling.
He was in County
on a drug charge,
during three of the
five kidnappings.
DON: Okay, so they do
Herman for screwing up,
and then they bring in Talling.
NIKKI: The minivan
was scrubbed clean,
and we figure Talling
was supposed to dump it.
He decided to stop
and buy a case instead.
He pockets one of Janet
Gerber's ATM cards,
decides to skim a
little cash for himself.
Definitely hit the
discount rack with Talling.
Liquor stores, carjackings...
There's no more activity
on her other cards?
No, they've gone cold.
When Talling doesn't come
back, they gotta be nervous.
They should have closed up
shop when they lost Herman.
Herman didn't
participate in the rapes.
Maybe he was the alpha
dog, then they turned on him.
That's the alpha.
He doesn't ride with them,
he tells them where to go,
he tells them what ATMs to hit.
And he doesn't
care what his guys do
to the women, but
he's meticulous enough
to scrub down the evidence.
He makes their ransom calls
from burner phones,
kills off his weak link.
So why is this professional
pulling high exposure
for pocket change?
They don't even max
out the withdrawals.
It's all these weird amounts...
$420, $340.
Best guy to answer a
strange digit question...
Can't do that.
Okay.
(knocking on door)
Agent McGowan?
Have a seat, Professor.
So, um...
Just a second.
You didn't bring an
attorney with you?
I didn't realize I needed one.
All the charges were dropped.
To avoid a black eye, I know.
Black eye?
An FBI consultant
sends classified
and potentially
dangerous information
to an unauthorized
foreign group.
I assume that a multiple Ph.D.
can infer the potential
for embarrassment.
That information
was for growing crops.
An embarrassment to the Bureau,
the United States Government,
and to your brother.
My brother... He
probably committed
a slow-acting career suicide
the day he brought you in
to work on that first case.
But that's on him.
You know, I get the impression
that your mind is
already made up.
The FBI's guidelines
very specifically prohibit me
from applying my personal
opinion to the review
of a suspended
security clearance.
And I wouldn't be
so unprofessional
as to ignore agency guidelines.
You know, I've
given a lot of my time
and work to the FBI.
But that isn't why
you're here, is it?
You're here because
a loss of clearance
keeps you from making money
off some big government
research projects.
Just saying that betrays
how little you know about me.
Maybe not yet, but I'm going to.
Your life's going to
become transparent to me.
I'm going to ask you
about things you're going
to think I have no
business asking you about.
And given the
slenderness of the thread
on which your
professional future hangs,
it will behoove you to
answer every one of them
completely and honestly.
Then I will talk to my lawyer.
(indistinct radio communication)
Hey.
Couple of homeless guys
were doing their
weekly scrounge.
We didn't get her home.
One bullet to the
back of the head.
No signs of assault,
no indications of rape.
They were trying to
get rid of her in a hurry.
They're getting sloppier.
And more violent.
Check this out.
Techs say these
and these are fresh.
Two sets.
They dump one truck,
have a backup ready.
They're not done.
Using asymmetric dominance,
we built a consideration
set on the framework
of the prior abductions,
and then we filtered all of that
through a very powerful
regression analysis.
What?
You'll say that for about
three or four months,
then learn to go along with it.
AMITA: Let's call it decoy math.
It's a way of building
optimal conditions
for an off-the-street kidnapping
by the strategic placement
of not only the decoy,
but of additional police
patrols and checkpoints.
We begin with the police patrols
and the presumed boundaries
created by those patrols,
and then we factor
in all of this publicity
surrounding the kidnappings,
and then we can
factor all of that
onto the target pool.
Most women are
being more careful now.
So, the red zones are optimal,
with the orange zones
as secondary targets.
And all of this presupposes
that you will be following
our methods of shaping
these target zones:
disabling street lights to
create darkened conditions
and diverting traffic
to isolate certain streets...
Yeah, but you got
like 50 places there.
Uh, no, we... actually 43.
You got a favorite?
A favorite?
No, but I tell you what.
I would incorporate,
in any distribution,
the corner of
Wilshire and Grand.
That's based on...?
A hunch, I guess.
Guess I'm on the corner
of Wilshire and Grand.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, who
said you're anywhere?
You need 43 decoys.
There more than 42
other female 20s agents
hanging around the office?
(sighs)
CHARLIE: You see it
in academia all the time.
A petty bureaucrat mired
in 20 or 30 years
of mindless habit,
an axe to grind.
And that axe is what, exactly?
Any non-traditional
investigative technique
or any alternative
point of view.
Who the hell knows?
Who the hell cares?
Well, you should,
you should care.
What did your
lawyer have to say?
Same thing as McGowan,
in that I have no real
option but to cooperate.
He's gonna go
through the motions,
but he's already
closed the book on me.
Well, even if that's true,
you have to
fight it as if it isn't.
Yeah, you know what he said?
You know what he said?
Actually, he pretty
clearly implied
that I'd ruined Don's career.
What does Don have
to say about that?
I don't know, I haven't
talked to him about it yet.
Besides, you know, he'll just
grunt and change the subject.
When I sent that
research to Pakistan,
I was well aware of what
it might do to my future.
I didn't stop to think of
what it would do to Don's.
Not really.
Hey.
You got to love
that federal budget.
LAPD Comtecs are
the size of a small brick.
That's right, you're
in the majors now.
(chuckling)
Look, you know all
that "new guy" stuff's
just part of...
Being the new guy?
Yeah.
It's when they stop
busting your ass,
that's when you really
better start worrying.
Nah, I'm not sweating it.
I... I was just out of Quantico,
and they sent me to Detroit.
Right? So I gotta answer
phones for three weeks,
which felt like three months.
One day, they...
they're shorthanded,
so they sent me out
on this no-knock warrant
to these biker outlaws, right?
The Ugly Bastards.
I, uh, volunteered
to take point.
Yeah? So how'd
that work out for you?
I got my ass handed
to me pretty damn good.
I was right back on the phones.
Wild guess... there's a
point in there somewhere?
You got a long career
here hopefully, so, you know,
you don't have to prove
everything in the first month.
My straight out of the Academy?
Some Parker Center genius
decides to dump me
in Knickerson Gardens,
doing buy and busts.
You know, he figured
fresh face, no cop habits...
I'd be the perfect undercover.
Never mind that I hadn't learned
to find my ass with both
hands yet, you know.
Day five, citizen
named Latwan Rivers
sticks a .22 in my face.
Tries to stick something
else somewhere else.
After medical leave,
psych evaluation,
and a piece of paper that has
me promising not to sue the city
for stupidity, Ah.
They offer me any
assignment I want.
Next day, I'm back in
Knickerson Gardens
doing buy and busts.
This is a wild guess... is there
some point there somewhere?
Yeah, I know there're a
lot of answering phones
and DMV checks in
my immediate future.
You give me a chance
to get dirty, I'm there.
All right, noted.
MAN (over radio): Decoy Nine,
we're turning the starting point.
Decoy 18 heading
north on Euclid.
DAVID (over radio): Decoy
Five taking another pass.
(softly): And around
the block again.
You can back off a little, guys.
You're ghosting
me a little tight.
All right, thanks
for that, new guy.
Aw, you know how it is. Yeah.
I know Betancourt can
notch it back a little bit.
Right, 'cause it was
somebody else who nearly
got me shot his second week
showing tough to a
Vietnamese biker gang?
Decoy Five is moving south
on Grand. DON: Hey, Billy,
you better tell Hollywood patrol
to back off another
block, all right?
And Joan, have 14 slow
down on the next pass.
Okay. Hey, 14? Copy that.
Guys, I think we got a bite.
(typing rapidly)
(beeping) Plates come back
to a Volkswagen Beetle.
COLBY: So what do you think?
I say we take that right.
Not a sound. (grunts)
Get into the van, you
might get out again.
We have a hit; we're on.
Five is active. I
repeat, Five is active.
I want units rolling to Broadway
and Ninth, await further.
Get me eyes and ears.
MAN: Down on the
floor! You do not look up!
NIKKI: I'm not going to
fight. Keep your mouth shut!
Take whatever you want (grunts).
I'm sorry. I'm
sorry, I'm scared!
There're two of you. You
have a gun. You deaf, bitch?
Hear that, everyone?
Two in the truck.
Surveillance Five,
what's her distress word?
Mexico.
You gave her our distress word?
DAVID: Truck's pulling over.
(door opens and closes)
One and Two. We have visual
confirmation on
Suspects One and Two.
AGENT: S.O.G. Eight
is two blocks away.
S.O.G. 22 is four.
All right, everyone stand by.
MAN 2: Lisa Hillman,
2527 Tujunga Ave...
818-555-0189.
(over radio): 460,
340, 280,
480, 120.
(truck engine starts)
DAVID (over
radio): We're moving.
All right, you better
break off and run parallel.
Got it.
And Eight, pick it up at Grand.
AGENT (over radio): S.O.G.
Eight, we've picked up the subject.
(phone ringing)
Quiet, everyone.
Hello?
MAN (distorted):
We have your wife.
Lisa Hillman, driver's
license V72533849.
(normal voice): Don't
do anything stupid,
we drop her off
in 12 to 15 hours.
Can I... let me talk to her.
(distorted): Being stupid
would be calling the police,
(normal): canceling
all her credit cards.
Just make sure there's $5,000
(distorted): in all three
of your bank accounts.
$5,000? I don't have that
kind of money. Please
let me talk to her.
(beeping)
Disposable phone, calling
from a two-mile tower zone
in West Los Angeles.
All right, push the three
nearest units in that direction.
And Five, you copy that?
Affirmative. You're
hoping they lead us
to the alpha.
Right, unless
Nikki calls it off.
(engine roaring)
(brakes squeaking)
MAN: You are going
to go take out $460.
You are going to
walk back to this truck.
You are not going
to talk to anyone.
$460... You are
not going to make
eye contact with anyone.
Nod yes.
Get up. Get up!
Have you tried revisiting
the Yukawa potential?
The exponential gives
the interaction finite range.
Oh, and then you're
back where you started.
Charles, as much as
we appreciate your help...
Oh, please, non-collider
related Higgs-Boson physics,
one of my few
pleasures these days.
(whiny): I'm just so tired.
I want to go home.
(lilting flute ringtone playing)
Okay, that's me.
I thought you got
rid of your cell.
Yeah, I did.
But your brother shoved
another one at me.
(ringtone continues)
Yes, Don?
I am on my way.
(phone beeps off)
What is that, the
ATM kidnapping case?
Uh...
(sighs)
You know, I
suspect we're looking
at a combinatorics
problem... Would you mind?
Sure. Uh, do you...?
No. Of course.
Don't wait up.
(door opens and closes)
Third bank,
still no sign of our alpha.
DON (over radio):
All right, keep it tight.
(Nikki gasping)
If you have,
have the Internet, I can
just transfer you the money.
MAN 1: Get back down!
NIKKI: You have a laptop.
(gasping)
Spider something...
(grunt, clattering)
Can we just do this
one and get another?!
Don, we've got to go. On
my signal! On my signal!
Sorry, really.
Sorry. I got $15,000.
What?!
$15,000
that my husband
doesn't know about.
It's in a safe deposit box.
I can get it for you
when the bank opens.
You wouldn't lie to me
just to keep yourself
alive, would you, babe?
I would.
But I swear I'm not.
(laughs)
All right.
Buckle up.
DON: All right, stand down.
Everyone just stand
down, but stay tight.
Mirror everything into
the Tech Room for me.
AGENT: Yes, sir.
SPIDER...
Is a real-time ATM
tracking program. Yeah.
Yeah, Charlie and I did work
on its Distributed
Neural Network
along with half the Cal Sci
Math and Computer Department.
And Nikki tells me they
can run the thing on a laptop.
Yeah. And they're
taking odd amounts.
Instead of like a
hundred or $200,
it's like $460 or $340.
That's right, atypical amounts,
but combined with
specific knowledge
of both nodes of
the transaction.
The Hall effect.
He's tapping off
a gold leaf, he's
applying a magnetic field
perpendicular to
the electrical current
in order to uncover
the potential difference
on opposite sides
of the conductor.
Hold on, I don't have a clue
what you're talking about.
Okay, I have lost
you. Help me out here.
Okay, by knowing the amount,
the card, the ATM, the bank...
He's able to watch the way
money flows through SPIDER.
Okay. He's trying to find a way
deeper inside the program.
To divert the flow, I suspect.
And also, it does
refills. Yeah, sure.
Every four or five days,
when the ATM gets low,
SPIDER sends a message
to the armored car servicing it,
telling it to deliver a refill.
Okay, so if he can
jack his way into the program...
He could schedule the
delivery of large sums
of money to the most
vulnerable of locations,
and at a time of his choosing.
Then what's the possibility
of us hacking our way to him?
It's not easy.
All right, well, then...
get working on it, okay?
DAVID: Fifth and last one, Don.
They've maxed out her cards.
MAN 1: What time you got?
MAN 2: Almost 4:00.
We're supposed to
dump her before dawn.
Doesn't give us
much time, does it?
COLBY: This is going bad.
Don.
NIKKI: Bank opens in four hours.
$15,000.
I swear to God.
You're right about that.
You will swear to God.
(grunts)
(gunshots)
Go, go, go,
everybody get in there!
Let's go, move!
(tires screeching)
FBI! Give me a damn reason.
FBI! Don't move!
Show us your hands.
MALE AGENT: Get 'em in the air!
Got one on the right side!
AGENT: Turn around.
AGENT 2: We got both!
She okay?
Yeah, she's okay.
AGENT (on radio): Two
suspects under control...
(elevator bell dings)
DON: What's the distress word?
Mexico. Why didn't I hear it?
We didn't have the alpha,
and I had everything under...
Took me five seconds
to send them in,
just enough time for you
to get your very
undisciplined head
shot off at least five times!
Boss, I was... Get
changed and start writing!
And when you're done
writing, you can start
getting to know the P904!
That's the telephone.
That's the only
piece of equipment
you're going to be
using for a long time!
Morning.
It's too late for
breakfast, but...
there's still some
coffee. No, thanks.
I owe Amita these lesson
plans for our CBME seminar.
She's probably already
waiting for me at Cal Sci.
Actually, when I left her
at 4:00 a.m. this morning,
she was still at the FBI.
Yeah?
Was there a break on that case?
A break, yes. A conclusion, no.
Okay, well, then I'll
probably drop these off
on the way to campus.
(door closes)
Now, he sure seems
to have lost a step or two
off his stride.
Yeah, it's this NSA
clearance thing.
I guess there were more eggs
in that basket than he realized.
Well, than any of us realized.
You know, as scientists, we
tend to take our relationship
with the government
pretty much for granted...
tend to forget just how much
our work depends on their wallet.
Charlie's struggle
is nothing short of existential.
Well, I guess we have
nothing to worry about, then.
Charlie's always at his best
when his back's
against the wall.
So two more off the low end.
Gang affiliations,
petty crime jackets.
Chaney, the one in the
middle, did time with Talling.
These guys were prepped.
They both lawyered up as soon
as we got bracelets on 'em.
Yeah, we got a
death penalty here.
You tell Robin we want to
cut a deal to get the alpha.
COLBY: It's in the works; it's
just going to take some time.
DAVID: Rape, kidnappings,
now two murders.
This guy has got to be rolling
up his operations by now.
Or skipping ahead.
So Joey Herman screws up.
He kills him, replaces him.
Zack Talling goes
down, he powers
through the two
guys he's got left.
Changes up his M.O.,
ramps up the timetable,
only makes contact by phone.
I mean, he's smart, but I
don't see him going this far
and not getting paid.
AMITA: There's no indication
of intrusion into the system.
SPIDER's administrators
have changed the pass codes,
locked up the back doors.
It could take him
days, weeks even,
to find a new way in.
But he could still be watching?
Passively? Sure.
So Alpha Dog sees every
ATM reorder in the city.
AMITA: In the country.
It's a real-time shopping list
for armored car robberies.
Hey, wha-what...? Look,
I got the visitor's badge.
Jimmy walked me over.
These are for you.
How's it going, guys?
Thanks. And SPIDER is
an independently owned
and operated program,
so there's no
clearance issue there.
At a glance, I can tell you
that the ATM
kidnappings are a way
to map into the
program by locating
known transactions...
A back door, by the way,
we mentioned to the
programmers two years ago...
Charlie, stop.
Come on, you can't.
Y-You can't do this.
No, I can help, all right?
And McGowan... McGowan
can go to hell if he doesn't get that.
Look, you don't understand
the politics here. I'm beginning to.
You have a guy who's kidnapped
and murdered
and facilitated rape.
He's smart, he's
going to do it again.
If it were you, would
you let the rules
get in the way of stopping him?
(chuckles)
Let's do this.
All right, he's gonna move fast.
He's gonna hit once
in the next day or two.
That is if he can put together
another crew that fast.
Yeah, but maybe
he already has one.
I mean, Herman was
the only high-end guy.
DAVID: Maybe that's
why he brought in Talling.
I mean, after
losing Joey Herman,
he wasn't willing to risk
any more of his real talent.
But why risk Herman
on the kidnapping
in the first place?
CHARLIE: He's probably
running his own version
of a scheduling algorithm.
Yeah, computers use them
to weigh the duration or
difficulty of certain tasks
against the system's resources
and then allocate
them accordingly.
You know, your Alpha Dog
has finite resources...
Weapons, money,
vehicles, manpower.
Now, some of these resources
can be used for more than one job
and others only
have one function.
Because time is
his greatest enemy,
he's going to try to
schedule his tasks
for maximum efficiency,
so that no resource sits
idle if it doesn't have to.
All right, so...
The interesting thing
about scheduling algorithms
is no one has come up
with a perfect one yet.
AMITA: No, there are thousands.
The Smith rule, the
O2, the Beam search.
Any programmer can design
one, test it, and name it.
CHARLIE: And just like
a programmer's design
or a guitarist's
signature riff or
a painter's brushstroke,
a scheduling algorithm is the
expression of a unique mind.
It not only shows us the
choices that have been made,
but it hints at the
choices to come...
How he'll play that next chord,
what brushstrokes will follow.
MAN: Faster, come on, go!
(tires screeching)
Where's the money?!
Get down on the ground!
FBI! Don't move!
(over radio): All
units, move in.
AGENT: Get your hands up now!
Drop your weapon!
(indistinct radio communication)
Get down on the ground!
(shouting)
Let me see your hands! Drop it!
AGENT (on radio):
All units, stand down.
Suspects in custody. Over.
How'd it go?
Should have been there...
Bullets flying, cars
crashing. (phone ringing)
(phone ringing)
FBI, Betancourt.
Yeah, one minute, please.
(phone buttons beeping)
So how long am I in trouble for?
Well, um, pre-therapy Don, I
think about three months, easy.
You got post-therapy Don, so...
Yeah, then ten weeks... 11 tops.
(sighs)
Listen, figure out
how to forward
the calls to the switchboard
and we'll take
you out for a beer.
(knocking)
Hey. Hey, Don.
Didn't think you came
up to the 11th floor
without an ADIC directive.
Actually, I want to talk to
you a little about Charlie,
if that's okay.
No kidding.
But I think it'd be better if we
wait for the formal interview.
I'm not here to
defend him or anything,
but you know what I mean,
what the guy does
for us around here...
A lot of people can do.
Not as well, maybe,
but... maybe more reliably.
Yeah, Carl, you've been
out of the field a long time.
And you've been
in it a long time.
Meaning?
Just because it isn't papered
doesn't mean I
don't know about it.
Some questionable tactics,
bureau-mandated therapy,
one of your agents
quitting her job.
Now this thing
with your brother.
I kind of have to wonder what
the hell is going on down there.
Well, an 85% clearance rate.
By any means necessary,
because that's the Eppes way.
Don't think I didn't hear
about you and your
brother playing cute
with the rules
today... And last week.
But the rules are for
everyone else, aren't they?
You know, Carl, you want to
come after me, fine, come after me,
but just don't make it
about my brother, okay?
Nothing's ever
about one thing, Don.
If you can't see that, maybe
that's where the problem begins.
I could write.
Yeah.
My, my publisher's
been bothering me
to do a follow-up
book anyway, so...
(Amita chuckles)
You hated every minute of it.
Not every minute.
Yesterday, when you and Larry
left me to go work on that case,
it felt like when
I was a little kid,
and I stayed home
sick from school.
(sighs)
I always liked sick days.
Game shows, soap operas,
chicken soup.
Chicken soup?
Really?
Yeah, really.
(chuckles)
You worked with Don
for four years, Charlie.
You know, of course it's
gonna feel a little bit weird.
Yeah.
I used to... I've always
looked at my work for the FBI
as... an avocation, you know?
An occasional detour from...
that grand destiny
that people have been
predicting for me since
I was seven years old.
I even suspected
that it was my excuse
for not fulfilling that destiny.
I honestly never thought...
I'd miss it so much.
You're gonna get
your clearance back.
I know.