NCIS: Hawai'i (2021) s01e17 Episode Script
Breach
1
Let's get this over with.
Take your time, brother.
Got to love this view.
Yeah.
Beautiful.
Here you go.
- Very smooth, Tom.
- Yeah? Well, it's a little hard to operate down here.
Gonna need to replace this valve.
It's rusted out.
Damn it! Sounding a little grumpy there.
Let's just wrap this up.
Well, the quicker you finish, the quicker we hit the bars.
I figure we kick off at Barefoot, if you're up to it.
As the saying goes, we build, we fight.
We party all night.
Hooyah! What the hell was that? It's probably just the tower settling.
- They doing a release?! - There's nothing scheduled.
I need to get out of here now! Come on, Tom.
Double-time.
Dax, help me! Help! I can't get it open! Tom? Tom?! - Hey.
- Hey.
Every letter of the alphabet here? Weird, especially since it's supposed to be an accident.
Who's our victim? Petty Officer Second Class Thomas Priestley, Naval Construction Group.
What was a Seabee doing out here? Dam provides power for civilians and military.
Crew comes out every year for annual inspection.
According to Priestley's partner, Petty Officer Dax McCaffrey, there's an automated water release every hour.
But shortly after they started, the system rebooted, activating and opening the control gates, locking Priestley in the well.
The dam released off schedule.
- How would that happen? - It shouldn't.
Whenever inspections are underway, power at the dam is suspended.
Petty Officer McAffrey insists proper protocol was followed.
I don't know.
Maybe it's some sort of system error.
No.
You don't get a full-court press like this for system errors.
Could be sabotage, maybe a terrorist attack, but whatever it is, we need to get in touch with the company that controls the dam.
It's owned and operated by Oahu Water Supply.
Track them down, and I'll confer with our friends here.
Roger that.
Kai, cue Ernie up.
See if he can get to the bottom of this malfunction.
You know, once the tea is gone, you can just pop those bad boys in your mouth.
You don't actually need the straw for the boba.
The boba straw is four millimeters wider than your standard straw.
- "Why," you ask? - I didn't.
Because it was designed specifically to suck the boba out of it.
Use the straw, it's the law.
I stand corrected, and bow to your boba brilliance.
I've just I've never seen anyone take their snack so seriously.
You sound like my mom.
I'm not sure that's a compliment.
Growing up back East, there was an international market near my mom's work.
Sometimes she'd take us there.
They had a boba stand.
This was before it was so popular.
Ooh, the olden days.
I would beg her for one every time we would go by.
They were expensive, we didn't have that much money, but she would do it every time.
Aw.
'Cause she loved you.
Or she wanted to shut me up.
Either way, it was delicious, and I made sure to make it last.
Now you drown yourself in those pearls of sugar any time you want.
No, once a week, just like with my mom.
Even pleasure should be taken seriously.
I'm not sure that tracks, but Oh, actually, I-I left my credit card in the shop.
I'll be right back.
- Really? - Yeah.
What the hell? I didn't call an Uber.
- I'm sorry.
What's going on? - You need to come with us.
- Hey! - Ernie? Ernie! Hey! Tell me again what Lucy said.
Two black SUVs pull up.
Men in suits grab Ernie off the street.
Just like that? Just like that.
Lucy's with HPD now.
They tried to track down the SUVs, but they're gone.
What about Ernie's phone? It was turned off.
No email? Text? - Some kind of hidden message to us? - Nothing.
Okay.
There's got to be CCTV footage.
Not much to go off.
No plates, men in suits unidentifiable.
The problem is, we sort of need Ernie to find Ernie.
Our computer expert getting scooped up right after the dam has a system malfunction that drew every federal agent on the island to investigate.
You think it's related? Look at the SUVs.
Black Suburbans.
Reads like government.
Ernie's government.
If some other agency needed him, couldn't they use a phone like normal people? It's bad manners, and you know whose manners are the worst FBI didn't grab Ernie.
I mean, kind of your guys' thing.
Make a big show with all those sunglasses y'all wear.
I assure you it wasn't us.
Who then? CIA? Well, when the CIA grabs you, no one sees.
That doesn't help.
Ernie being taken isn't your fault.
Yeah, but I should've stopped it.
- How? - I don't know.
Gotten an actual license plate, or followed 'em or jumped on the damn hood of the car.
I There's nothing you could have done.
What are you doing? Just being supportive.
Well, stop.
It's weird.
What? Being supportive is weird? The way you're doing it, all nice and sweet, and Maybe hands to ourselves, okay? Right.
Yeah, okay.
Tell me you got something.
No pulse on Ernie yet.
Sorry.
Bad turn of phrase.
FBI hasn't found him, but based off your hunch, I pulled a list of federal agencies not usually on the island.
That's a lot of names.
Government's got people coming in and out all the time.
Look at this group right here.
All arrived within the last day.
Direct from D.
C.
, same flights.
Got some Homeland folk, bunch of NSA analysts.
And then there's Hank Braddock.
Hank Braddock from Justice? Who's Hank Braddock? One of the old guard.
Hard-charging maverick.
Thought he was on track for Deputy Director, but they gave him RDET instead.
You think this is RDET? We need to find out.
That starts by locating Braddock.
I'll make a few calls.
Do it in the car.
Lucy, with us.
Hey, what's-what's, uh, RDET? I was gonna ask you.
Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force.
It was initiated a little over a year ago to combat the rise in ransomware attacks.
The system breakdown at the dam could be a cyberattack.
That's a safe bet.
Credentials out.
- Anyone see Ernie? - Not yet.
Authorized personnel only.
Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant.
NCIS.
You weren't invited.
Well, since you probably took one of my people, I'm saying we are.
Step outside, and I'll explain.
Ernie! Thank God.
I was so worried! Lucy, hush.
I'm busy.
Ow! I thought you were kidnapped, or being tortured.
Lucy, I'm sorry.
I'm okay.
We were all worried.
Well, you should be, but not for me.
We have got four hours before a ransomware attack takes out water and power on the entire island.
Look, we're all friends here.
Friends don't kidnap other friends' computer specialists.
Situation is severe.
Severe methods were called for.
This is sounding less and less like an apology, Braddock.
I don't apologize for doing my job, and I'm not here to coddle you.
I'm Alan Mateo, CEO of Oahu Water Supply, and I think I can explain.
Someone should.
Two days ago, we got a ransom demand on our internal server.
The threat was credible, and we were given 48 hours to pay.
So the dam release that killed Petty Officer Priestley was a proof of concept play? Your sailor was collateral damage.
Not the way I'd word it to his family.
Of course not.
My guys were already en route when it happened, but as you know, it made a big noise.
You should have alerted NCIS.
Clock was ticking.
There was no time.
Time enough to stage Ernie's abduction.
How much are they asking for? $5 million.
Or they shut down our system, and we potentially lose all water and power on Oahu.
We have a few hours left to track them down and eliminate the threat.
Or just spitballing We pay the ransom, which we're ready to do.
The official position of RDET is we don't pay or negotiate with ransomers.
The official position of my board is that you can't stop us.
But Mr.
Mateo here is willing to delay the payment a little longer in order to give us a fighting chance, in the spirt of cooperation.
Right? We're giving you a little rope.
Well, my team's here to help.
FBI, too.
Look, I don't need more cooks.
What I do need is to figure out how the suspects gained access to the system.
According to Ernie, the source of the attack was some sort of pineapple.
Like the fruit? No, like a Wi-Fi router.
Giving the suspects access to the system.
Someone would have had to put a physical device within our network.
Give Jesse and Kai a heads up.
We need to track this pineapple down.
We have three hours and 20 minutes left.
Let's make it count.
Employees on site at the dam control center were able to locate the Wi-Fi pineapple.
No one noticed it before? Hidden under a utility panel.
- Who put it there? - We ran through all dam personnel.
No red flags, no unauthorized trips to the control center.
So we took it a step further.
We checked incident reports and police blotters.
There was a trespassing incident reported a few weeks ago.
Yeah, a maintenance door was broken into.
HPD never pursued an investigation.
Why not? Nothing was stolen or damaged.
And trespassing's not unusual.
That dam is a prime site for thrill-seekers.
Teenagers doing all kinds of cliff dives, putting themselves in stupid situations.
Well, follow up with any leads from HPD and let me know what you find.
We need to track down whoever placed that pineapple before the next attack.
We have been more than cooperative here, but I have a responsibility to my customers.
Braddock doesn't seem to understand.
I can't let service go down.
Considering the military makes up a big part of your customer base And considering a Navy sailor was killed on your company's property You should continue to cooperate.
Do you understand what happens if the power grid goes down? It wouldn't be some sort of rolling brownout.
No.
It would be catastrophic.
Every service you have Gas, communications, food, medical care runs on electricity.
- The island would be paralyzed.
- Followed by a steep uptick in crimes, fires, possibly mass panic.
Okay, that all sounds bad, and that's why our focus is to find the people responsible and to stop 'em, but if you want to pay the ransom Then I end the threat, full stop.
I'm sure you're all great at your jobs, but I'm trying to be, too.
I need to discuss with my board.
- Guy's just covering his ass.
- Well, try and see it from his point of view.
His point of view is to pay off the ransomers so they can do it again.
More complicated than that.
No, no.
No.
Sometimes there's no nuance.
It's just right and wrong.
I'm gonna go check on Ernie.
- You need water? - No.
- Something to eat? - No.
- Maybe a sandwich? - I'm good, Lucy.
Come on.
A genius can't do whatever it is you're doing here on an empty stomach.
I'm not just any genius.
You okay? I'm fine.
But shouldn't you be focused on the screen that way? - Don't need to.
- Why? - You do something brilliant? - Yup.
I built a program to hunt vulnerabilities within the code already in the power grid network.
So instead of looking for the ransomware, you're looking for the road the ransomware took.
It's a virtual bloodhound, baby.
Well, we wouldn't even be in this position if you'd installed the original software.
You're right to think I'm that good, but you're wrong about the software.
The system was built 15 years ago.
There would have been no risk contingencies for someone placing a pineapple within the network.
I mean, even in the best-planned systems, humans are the wild card.
All this programming must be exhausting.
Ah.
It is the rocky path to Jericho.
No clue what that means, but I bet these guys do.
Do you know any of 'em? Red jacket is Titus.
He's what we call a "white hat.
" Made his bones going after hackers who attacked voting systems.
Oh, and, uh, who's the one in the Unabomber hoodie? Felicia.
She's infamous.
She used to run with the DarkSide.
The gold standard of black hat hackers.
White hat, black hat.
Cat in the Hat.
What's it all mean? White hats hack for us.
Black hats hack for themselves.
Looking for money, power, chaos.
Like executing ransomware attacks? How can you trust her? I barely trust anyone.
But Felicia's generally good people.
At least, since Braddock caught her trying to bring down the NASDAQ.
I'm sorry.
How does getting caught make her good? Because people are complicated, Lucy, just like code.
And just like code, there's always a weakness in the system.
Oh! Amazing! - What is it? - A hidden code.
Elegant.
It's beautifully written.
Some sort of backdoor, I think.
I-I'm not sure.
Is it connected to the breach? Yes.
No.
Maybe.
Uh, look, I got to dig in.
How long will it take? 20 minutes, 20 days.
We have less than two hours.
Agent Braddock.
You have a lead on our hackers? We're following up on a break-in from the dam a few weeks back.
Doesn't sound promising.
Well, considering my team's only been read in for about an hour, I'd disagree.
You're right.
I should've brought you into this grade A cluster sooner.
You know what Mateo's doing there? Getting his board and his insurance company to approve the ransom.
Well, did you explain to him that paying doesn't guarantee an end to the threats, it only incentivizes future attacks? Learned a long time ago.
No one responds to reason, only action.
He's panicking.
We can't.
We have to work with the time we have, and the best tech minds on the island.
I appreciate your confidence, but it's my head on a pike if Hawai'i's grid goes down.
Well, you can keep your head where it is for now.
We have a line on a suspect who may have placed the pineapple.
We caught his image on a CCTV near the dam control same day as the break-in.
Well, go get him.
According to his rap sheet, this is where Rodney resides.
Guy's in and out of state Identity theft, burglary, but nothing on his profile suggests hacking.
Ah, maybe he learned computers at Halawa.
Their continuing ed is second to none.
We've got a runner! I'll cover the front.
NCIS.
Stop! Come on, get up.
What are you doing, man? Let go of me! I didn't do nothing, bro! Yeah.
You definitely run like an innocent man.
Jesse and Kai have our pineapple suspect in custody.
- Questioning him now.
- Great.
'Cause I'm on the verge of slipping through this backdoor.
Could make contact with the ransomware code any moment.
We could beat this deadline yet.
Doesn't matter.
Mateo paid the ransom.
He what?! We still have, like, 20 minutes.
His board got nervous.
I couldn't stop him.
The money's been transferred.
If they keep their word, the ransomware disappears, along with our chance to find these hackers.
All right, look, that's a big "if," Ernie, okay? Keep working.
Mateo may think he solved his problem, but we still have a killer to find.
I swear to God, I've been clean since I got out of prison.
Sure.
We believe you, Rodney.
Except for the little B and E at the Nuuanu Dam two weeks ago.
Not me.
We got video of you parking half a mile away.
And we got your fingerprints all over the pineapple.
The what now? Stop stalling.
Who are you working for? You guys are blowing this out of proportion.
I don't think so.
We take threatening to shut down all water and power on the island kind of personal, Rodney.
Especially when you demand $5 million in ransom.
What ransom? No more lying, Rodney.
Okay, look, I admit I was hired to place that Wi-Fi thing.
They paid me a grand.
That's it.
Who's they? Where'd you get the pineapple, Rodney? We need names, numbers, locations.
I don't know, guys.
No, we're not playing around here.
If you don't tell us now, something very bad is going to happen.
What kind of bad? That kind of bad.
Power's out on the entire leeward side.
Utilities and Internet service is down all over the island.
Pearl Harbor's running on backup generators.
- But it's not sustainable.
- I don't understand.
We paid the ransom.
What else do they want? The risk-reward is heavily skewed to the hackers here.
Chances of getting caught are already close to zero.
As long as they have access to the system, they can shut down water and power at any moment.
This is what you get when you listen to the board and not the professionals.
It's the governor.
I got to answer.
What a jackass.
So we have no idea what they'll do next.
Uh, we'd have a fighting chance if any of us had power for our computers.
My guys are getting the backup generators on-line.
- You're welcome.
- Oh, yes.
All right, it feels like there's two options for the hackers here.
Either that was practice, or it was a distraction.
Oh, if it's practice, it's not for water and power.
Hackers played their hand with this last attack.
You just said they can turn the power - on and off at will.
- Yeah.
They could've, but they're they're gone, out of the system.
So there's no way to track them? Well, the program I built isolated a piece of code they exploited.
I need some time, but I may be able to find out who they are.
Um, if you're trying to intimidate me, it's working.
This isn't intimidation.
- This is just reality, man.
- Half the island is down.
We don't know when it's coming back up.
I didn't do this.
Yes, you did, by placing this simple device, you created this nightmare.
Blood's on your hands, too, Rodney.
Dead sailor at the Nuuanu Dam.
That's just the start.
Oxygen tanks will stop working at the hospitals.
Accidents will increase in the streets.
Communications will shut down.
- Total mayhem.
- All because of you, Rodney.
All right, look, when I got out, I was hard up.
An old friend of mine told me about this dark website called "back-page.
" Supposed to be anonymous.
Respond to an ad, do the job, get paid in crypto.
You don't know what a pineapple is, but you know crypto? You think I don't read? Crypto's the future, bro.
Okay, so you responded - to an ad.
- Mm-hmm.
They wanted you to place the pineapple.
- Yeah.
- How did they get it to you? Box in the mail two days before the job.
I got rid of the packaging Ah, you're really not trying to help yourself here.
Let me finish.
I got rid of the packaging, but I remember where it was shipped from.
I got one of those photogenic memories.
You don't say.
Delivery Depot, Akron, Ohio.
Oh, my.
Just Please tell me that this a bleat of victory.
It's unbelievable, though I should have guessed all along.
But how could I? How could I? You got our hackers? - Something better.
I got the source.
- The source of the hack? The source of the entire system, of everything that's modern software.
A hidden signature, deep in the mother code.
Look! Look! Look! Okay, well, do you know whose signature it is? Does Beethoven know Mozart? Well, I mean, of course he did 'cause Mozart was his teacher.
And this is my teacher, though I never met the man.
Kevin Rooker.
The Rook! The Rook! The Rook! Look, I know you're expecting me to react, but I don't understand.
He's the grandfather of every program that runs the world.
His code laid the groundwork for most infrastructure systems today.
I mean he's the Matrix.
Sounds like lot of systems that he could exploit - if he wanted to.
- Yeah, well, technically, yes, but doesn't fit his character at all.
He's a purist.
Doesn't care about money, fame, success, society.
- That sounds suspicious to me.
- He walked away from the tech world years ago.
And where did he walk to? No one knows.
He just vanished.
Well, we got to figure out where he is and see if he's behind this or can help us stop it.
Good luck with that.
Kevin Rooker has been off the grid for ten years.
Before that, he was everywhere.
Started with the NSA right here in Hawai'i where he developed many of their programs.
Then he went independent.
Did contract work for the government, financial institutions.
And, of course, utility companies.
- All right.
Why'd he quit? - NSA wanted his help with cyber warfare Weaponizing his source code to go after foreign infrastructures.
He refused, but NSA went ahead with it.
That was enough for him.
He walked away, disappeared.
Well, how disappeared is he? Well, NSA's not gonna let someone like Rook too far out of their sight.
It took some digging, but I was able to find him right here where it all started Abandoned farmhouse in Waialua.
Maybe a secret hideout abandoned farmhouse for ransomware attacks? All right.
Why don't you two find out? As in, uh, us two? Her and me? That a problem? - Not at all.
- No, it's totally awesome.
Great.
I'm heading back to Pearl.
Water and power is still out on the leeward side.
Red Cross is setting up food and shelter, but resources are limited.
You guys follow up on Rodney's Akron lead? Got the FBI checking out Delivery Depot, trying to figure out who sent the pineapple, but nothing yet.
Rodney did give us access to his back-page profile.
Here's his communication with the suspect who hired him.
Instructions on how to place the pineapple, turn it on.
Keep reading.
There's details in there that not just anyone would know.
Yeah, shift changes, CCTV blind spots.
Even descriptions of the people who work security.
It'd be nearly impossible for our hackers to know this stuff.
Unless they had an inside man.
Someone who works at the dam.
We already looked into their employees.
Time to look again.
This is Rook's secret hideout? Could be.
Hard to tell.
Should we go in? Ernie's running a back trace on the Internet connected to the address.
So, should we go in? We should wait.
This is ridiculous.
- Well, this is the job.
- No.
Not the waiting.
Us.
- There is no us.
- Yes, I know.
That part's done.
But we should be able to move past it, be cordial and not want to crawl out of our skin every time we're in a room or a car together.
You want to be friends.
Yeah, I think we could be.
Sure.
Sure.
We can, uh, forget about the past and how you lied to me, broke my heart and - just pretend it didn't happen.
- Okay, that's not what I'm saying.
Which part did I get wrong? Well, I don't want to pretend it didn't happen.
I know that I hurt you.
But I would like forgiveness.
How am I supposed to forgive you? You never even apologized.
- I apologized.
- No.
No.
You tried to explain your out-of-town girlfriend, tried to blame circumstances.
But not once did you say, "Hey, Lucy, I'm really sorry that I hurt you.
" - Oh, you're right.
- I know.
I should have apologized.
- Then why didn't you? - Well, I guess because I figured that once I did this would truly be over.
Check it out.
That's Rook.
- Hey, hey, what are you doing? - He went inside.
- Yeah, I know.
- So we should, too.
He could be armed or could have other suspects with him.
- All right.
Then what? - I'll take the lead.
Is that an alarm? NCIS! What's going on here? We were just about to rock.
My programming days are behind me.
And I'm not a hacker.
- I don't even use email.
- And yet, a backdoor in your infrastructure software has been used to shut down the Nuuanu Dam.
Half the island is without power, and a Navy sailor's dead.
That sounds like a "you" problem.
Becomes a you problem when we take you away in cuffs.
I walked away from coding years ago for exactly this reason.
You let computers run your world, you risk computers destroying it.
I'm sorry.
Can we just address the fact that one of the greatest coders in the world is in a garage band? Band's just a hobby.
My real passion is building and refurbishing guitars.
It's a far cry from building the world's largest infrastructure systems.
Music is simple, and hard to weaponize, though you people have tried.
Got a lot of animosity towards the government.
Look, the problem sounds terrible, if not entirely plausible.
Hard to believe someone could have accessed my backdoor since they're not me.
Strong argument for your guilt.
But if they did, they're wasting their time turning off the power for a few dollars.
So much more they could do with the source code.
What do you mean? You have no idea how many systems my code's imbedded in.
Okay.
So either you did this - I didn't.
- Or you're the only one who can help us figure out who did and why.
I can't.
Your band will understand.
I can't be drawn back in.
A man died this morning because someone took control of your code.
This isn't about you.
It's about all the other people who might get hurt.
Lucy and Whistler were able to get Rook to cooperate.
They're en route to the command center now.
But we are still one inside man short.
We looked back into all the dam employees, anyone who worked I.
T.
or might have been involved with system maintenance.
- And? - None of them look good for this.
The best person to coordinate the attack would be someone who knows the codebase and has full access.
Yeah, but not just any utility worker could do this.
It takes skill to break into the system.
And right now, the best hackers on the island have full access.
That's right.
Get a list of all the hackers working with RDET.
Ernie, - this is - All my dreams becoming reality.
Loyal and dutiful protégé at your service.
Call me Kevin.
You can call me Ernie, or "Ern" for short.
No, just Ernie.
No one calls me "Ern.
" I don't know why I even said that.
I'm so giddy.
Yep.
Shouldn't-shouldn't you tell him where to look? Well, Mozart knows how to find an aria in an oratorio.
More of a Robert Fripp man myself.
Looks like some I.
T.
hack threw in an addendum to my code.
Forced the system to try to upgrade for automated and remote management.
That's how they got control of the system.
Oh, it's not part of your original code.
That's why it was vulnerable to attack.
Hack hacking, as far as I can tell, but it got the job done.
The problem is with the rest of the software, not my mother code.
How do you know that for sure? I built a master codebase with a unique access key.
No one living or dead can get full control.
And what's the unique access key? - Him.
- Part of my signature is what's called a compiler backdoor.
It's a particular set of commands.
I put one in every system I built.
When the student is ready, the master appears.
Teach me your ways.
- Sorry.
- Let me get the power back up first.
This doesn't add up.
Ransomware attackers usually get in, get their money and get out before they can be traced.
Our suspects got their ransom, still went through with the attack, and have been quiet ever since.
Well, there are dozens of other systems Rook worked on.
Hackers could target them next.
Yeah, but Rook's here now.
And he has an access key in all the major systems he's coded.
So he can stop the hackers.
There's nothing more that they can exploit.
No, unless their plan all along was to draw him out.
Once the ransom was paid, they had no other cards to play.
The hackers had to escalate to bring Rook out of hiding.
He could be the target here.
Jesse and Kai need me.
Keep at it.
No wasted effort.
No mistakes.
Elegant.
Why did you ever retire and deny the world your talents? I had nothing left to give.
I was too tied up in the work.
What I did became who I was.
And there was no more pleasure, only more work.
Yeah.
It can be hard to separate the two.
Power's restored.
Resetting.
All right.
Executing commands.
Everything seems to be running smoothly.
Rook.
We need to get you out of here, now.
What's going on? Rooker's the target of this whole operation.
Let's go.
What are you talking about? We checked out every cyber engineer RDET brought in.
None of them, not even the black hats, popped suspicious.
But then we started looking into which of them might have ties to Akron, Ohio.
Where the pineapple came from.
Thank God.
All right, tell me what you learned.
We tracked down family members, college buddies.
We found this.
One of the RDET agents was in Pittsburgh days before the pineapple was shipped.
Less than two hours' drive to Akron.
Who was it? Hank Braddock.
RDET team leader.
Come on.
- Get in the car.
- Hey.
Hey, sorry, uh, where you taking Rook? We're taking him to a safe house.
We'll keep him secured until the threat is gone.
And, uh, where is this safe house? Wouldn't be very safe if I said.
Seems maybe he's safest here, you know, surrounded by federal agents.
Don't tell me my job, I won't tell you yours.
And who are you texting? Just my boss.
She should know.
You don't need to do that.
- It's all good.
- I'm telling you to stop.
Ernie! I think you just saved my life.
No way was I letting him get you twice in one day.
Do we have any idea where Braddock could be taking Rook? Went back over recent phone calls, texts, emails.
Nothing.
Talked to HPD, they put a BOLO out.
FBI's tracing his phone, his email, his Internet.
Can't get far.
Dude's a professional hacker hunter.
He knows how to hide.
But he doesn't know how to hack.
Are we saying somehow he put the ransomware into the Dam system? He's been involved in ransom attacks for over a decade.
Knows enough hackers who'd do it for the right price.
But why? He's supposed to be one of the good guys.
Spent his whole career watching bad guys get away with millions.
Passed over for promotions.
I mean, maybe he's over it.
But he got his ransom and still kidnapped Rook - in broad daylight.
- Guys, the $5 million is nothing.
He's after the brass ring.
What's that? We know Rook's mother code is used in operating systems across governments and private institutions.
Not just utilities.
Airlines, retailers.
Banks.
The Royal Bank of the Netherlands? If Rook opens up that system, Braddock could walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Alert the bank.
- Yeah, I'm working on it, just What's wrong? Hold on, my computer's being weird.
They hack into your system, too? No.
It's Rook.
He just sent a message? Using an open access system wherever he is to communicate.
Even in the best coded systems, humans are the wild card.
Yeah, and what a brilliant wild card.
Can you imagine how scared he is? Gun to his head, life on the line, and he manages to send me a message? It's really just like Hey, Ernie, since his life is on the line, maybe tell us where he is? Sorry.
Lanai Lookout Post.
The Lookout.
It's remote, it has power, it's close to the water.
Perfect escape route.
Let's move.
You in the bank's system? I am, but this isn't gonna work.
Just transfer the money.
They're gonna notice a hundred million dollars has gone missing.
That's my problem.
You're right about that.
You got nothing but problems.
Just stay away.
Or what? You'll shoot Rook? I certainly hope not.
Look, you're already responsible for one death.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
I didn't know about the maintenance crew.
None of it should have happened, Braddock.
Your whole career was spent fighting this.
And what was my reward? RDET? Chasing hackers until they put me out to pasture? No.
That's a bunch of bull.
This isn't the answer.
You are gonna back away.
Rook is gonna finish the transfer and I'll disappear.
There's nowhere to go.
Yeah, I know.
Your team is out there.
I get it.
But I still got some fight left.
Uh, uh done.
Come on.
Hey.
- Ow.
- They're on the move.
Braddock.
Put your hands up.
It's over.
- You okay? - Yeah.
Stop! Put the gun down.
You got a job to do? Do it.
Just give up.
No one was supposed to get hurt.
No one else has to.
Just one more.
Braddock Braddock! Not today, buddy.
Nice setup, man.
You're being kind.
Nah, man, no.
You made this a home.
Something I could never achieve.
That's why I gave it up.
No matter how good I was, it just never made me happy.
But I guess you are.
Me? Happy? Yeah, I guess.
Honestly? I haven't thought about it.
Oh.
Uh, sorry.
Just Swept all your digital footprints since coming back online.
You can now return to your life of peace and no one will know you were back.
Thank you, Ernie.
It's really that easy.
Go back to guitars.
Never touch a computer again.
Find what makes you happy, Ernie.
Hey.
Hey.
FBI get the money returned to the bank? Yep.
And we got a lead on the hacker who helped Braddock with the ransomware.
- Guy will be in cuffs by morning.
- Cool.
Well, have a good night.
Lucy.
Can we put a pin in the difficult conversation? Yeah.
Just one thing.
It's all my fault.
I was scared of breaking up with Cara.
Of starting something with you, because you're the most amazing woman I've ever met.
And I am truly so sorry I hurt you.
Thank you.
Take your time, brother.
Got to love this view.
Yeah.
Beautiful.
Here you go.
- Very smooth, Tom.
- Yeah? Well, it's a little hard to operate down here.
Gonna need to replace this valve.
It's rusted out.
Damn it! Sounding a little grumpy there.
Let's just wrap this up.
Well, the quicker you finish, the quicker we hit the bars.
I figure we kick off at Barefoot, if you're up to it.
As the saying goes, we build, we fight.
We party all night.
Hooyah! What the hell was that? It's probably just the tower settling.
- They doing a release?! - There's nothing scheduled.
I need to get out of here now! Come on, Tom.
Double-time.
Dax, help me! Help! I can't get it open! Tom? Tom?! - Hey.
- Hey.
Every letter of the alphabet here? Weird, especially since it's supposed to be an accident.
Who's our victim? Petty Officer Second Class Thomas Priestley, Naval Construction Group.
What was a Seabee doing out here? Dam provides power for civilians and military.
Crew comes out every year for annual inspection.
According to Priestley's partner, Petty Officer Dax McCaffrey, there's an automated water release every hour.
But shortly after they started, the system rebooted, activating and opening the control gates, locking Priestley in the well.
The dam released off schedule.
- How would that happen? - It shouldn't.
Whenever inspections are underway, power at the dam is suspended.
Petty Officer McAffrey insists proper protocol was followed.
I don't know.
Maybe it's some sort of system error.
No.
You don't get a full-court press like this for system errors.
Could be sabotage, maybe a terrorist attack, but whatever it is, we need to get in touch with the company that controls the dam.
It's owned and operated by Oahu Water Supply.
Track them down, and I'll confer with our friends here.
Roger that.
Kai, cue Ernie up.
See if he can get to the bottom of this malfunction.
You know, once the tea is gone, you can just pop those bad boys in your mouth.
You don't actually need the straw for the boba.
The boba straw is four millimeters wider than your standard straw.
- "Why," you ask? - I didn't.
Because it was designed specifically to suck the boba out of it.
Use the straw, it's the law.
I stand corrected, and bow to your boba brilliance.
I've just I've never seen anyone take their snack so seriously.
You sound like my mom.
I'm not sure that's a compliment.
Growing up back East, there was an international market near my mom's work.
Sometimes she'd take us there.
They had a boba stand.
This was before it was so popular.
Ooh, the olden days.
I would beg her for one every time we would go by.
They were expensive, we didn't have that much money, but she would do it every time.
Aw.
'Cause she loved you.
Or she wanted to shut me up.
Either way, it was delicious, and I made sure to make it last.
Now you drown yourself in those pearls of sugar any time you want.
No, once a week, just like with my mom.
Even pleasure should be taken seriously.
I'm not sure that tracks, but Oh, actually, I-I left my credit card in the shop.
I'll be right back.
- Really? - Yeah.
What the hell? I didn't call an Uber.
- I'm sorry.
What's going on? - You need to come with us.
- Hey! - Ernie? Ernie! Hey! Tell me again what Lucy said.
Two black SUVs pull up.
Men in suits grab Ernie off the street.
Just like that? Just like that.
Lucy's with HPD now.
They tried to track down the SUVs, but they're gone.
What about Ernie's phone? It was turned off.
No email? Text? - Some kind of hidden message to us? - Nothing.
Okay.
There's got to be CCTV footage.
Not much to go off.
No plates, men in suits unidentifiable.
The problem is, we sort of need Ernie to find Ernie.
Our computer expert getting scooped up right after the dam has a system malfunction that drew every federal agent on the island to investigate.
You think it's related? Look at the SUVs.
Black Suburbans.
Reads like government.
Ernie's government.
If some other agency needed him, couldn't they use a phone like normal people? It's bad manners, and you know whose manners are the worst FBI didn't grab Ernie.
I mean, kind of your guys' thing.
Make a big show with all those sunglasses y'all wear.
I assure you it wasn't us.
Who then? CIA? Well, when the CIA grabs you, no one sees.
That doesn't help.
Ernie being taken isn't your fault.
Yeah, but I should've stopped it.
- How? - I don't know.
Gotten an actual license plate, or followed 'em or jumped on the damn hood of the car.
I There's nothing you could have done.
What are you doing? Just being supportive.
Well, stop.
It's weird.
What? Being supportive is weird? The way you're doing it, all nice and sweet, and Maybe hands to ourselves, okay? Right.
Yeah, okay.
Tell me you got something.
No pulse on Ernie yet.
Sorry.
Bad turn of phrase.
FBI hasn't found him, but based off your hunch, I pulled a list of federal agencies not usually on the island.
That's a lot of names.
Government's got people coming in and out all the time.
Look at this group right here.
All arrived within the last day.
Direct from D.
C.
, same flights.
Got some Homeland folk, bunch of NSA analysts.
And then there's Hank Braddock.
Hank Braddock from Justice? Who's Hank Braddock? One of the old guard.
Hard-charging maverick.
Thought he was on track for Deputy Director, but they gave him RDET instead.
You think this is RDET? We need to find out.
That starts by locating Braddock.
I'll make a few calls.
Do it in the car.
Lucy, with us.
Hey, what's-what's, uh, RDET? I was gonna ask you.
Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force.
It was initiated a little over a year ago to combat the rise in ransomware attacks.
The system breakdown at the dam could be a cyberattack.
That's a safe bet.
Credentials out.
- Anyone see Ernie? - Not yet.
Authorized personnel only.
Special Agent in Charge Jane Tennant.
NCIS.
You weren't invited.
Well, since you probably took one of my people, I'm saying we are.
Step outside, and I'll explain.
Ernie! Thank God.
I was so worried! Lucy, hush.
I'm busy.
Ow! I thought you were kidnapped, or being tortured.
Lucy, I'm sorry.
I'm okay.
We were all worried.
Well, you should be, but not for me.
We have got four hours before a ransomware attack takes out water and power on the entire island.
Look, we're all friends here.
Friends don't kidnap other friends' computer specialists.
Situation is severe.
Severe methods were called for.
This is sounding less and less like an apology, Braddock.
I don't apologize for doing my job, and I'm not here to coddle you.
I'm Alan Mateo, CEO of Oahu Water Supply, and I think I can explain.
Someone should.
Two days ago, we got a ransom demand on our internal server.
The threat was credible, and we were given 48 hours to pay.
So the dam release that killed Petty Officer Priestley was a proof of concept play? Your sailor was collateral damage.
Not the way I'd word it to his family.
Of course not.
My guys were already en route when it happened, but as you know, it made a big noise.
You should have alerted NCIS.
Clock was ticking.
There was no time.
Time enough to stage Ernie's abduction.
How much are they asking for? $5 million.
Or they shut down our system, and we potentially lose all water and power on Oahu.
We have a few hours left to track them down and eliminate the threat.
Or just spitballing We pay the ransom, which we're ready to do.
The official position of RDET is we don't pay or negotiate with ransomers.
The official position of my board is that you can't stop us.
But Mr.
Mateo here is willing to delay the payment a little longer in order to give us a fighting chance, in the spirt of cooperation.
Right? We're giving you a little rope.
Well, my team's here to help.
FBI, too.
Look, I don't need more cooks.
What I do need is to figure out how the suspects gained access to the system.
According to Ernie, the source of the attack was some sort of pineapple.
Like the fruit? No, like a Wi-Fi router.
Giving the suspects access to the system.
Someone would have had to put a physical device within our network.
Give Jesse and Kai a heads up.
We need to track this pineapple down.
We have three hours and 20 minutes left.
Let's make it count.
Employees on site at the dam control center were able to locate the Wi-Fi pineapple.
No one noticed it before? Hidden under a utility panel.
- Who put it there? - We ran through all dam personnel.
No red flags, no unauthorized trips to the control center.
So we took it a step further.
We checked incident reports and police blotters.
There was a trespassing incident reported a few weeks ago.
Yeah, a maintenance door was broken into.
HPD never pursued an investigation.
Why not? Nothing was stolen or damaged.
And trespassing's not unusual.
That dam is a prime site for thrill-seekers.
Teenagers doing all kinds of cliff dives, putting themselves in stupid situations.
Well, follow up with any leads from HPD and let me know what you find.
We need to track down whoever placed that pineapple before the next attack.
We have been more than cooperative here, but I have a responsibility to my customers.
Braddock doesn't seem to understand.
I can't let service go down.
Considering the military makes up a big part of your customer base And considering a Navy sailor was killed on your company's property You should continue to cooperate.
Do you understand what happens if the power grid goes down? It wouldn't be some sort of rolling brownout.
No.
It would be catastrophic.
Every service you have Gas, communications, food, medical care runs on electricity.
- The island would be paralyzed.
- Followed by a steep uptick in crimes, fires, possibly mass panic.
Okay, that all sounds bad, and that's why our focus is to find the people responsible and to stop 'em, but if you want to pay the ransom Then I end the threat, full stop.
I'm sure you're all great at your jobs, but I'm trying to be, too.
I need to discuss with my board.
- Guy's just covering his ass.
- Well, try and see it from his point of view.
His point of view is to pay off the ransomers so they can do it again.
More complicated than that.
No, no.
No.
Sometimes there's no nuance.
It's just right and wrong.
I'm gonna go check on Ernie.
- You need water? - No.
- Something to eat? - No.
- Maybe a sandwich? - I'm good, Lucy.
Come on.
A genius can't do whatever it is you're doing here on an empty stomach.
I'm not just any genius.
You okay? I'm fine.
But shouldn't you be focused on the screen that way? - Don't need to.
- Why? - You do something brilliant? - Yup.
I built a program to hunt vulnerabilities within the code already in the power grid network.
So instead of looking for the ransomware, you're looking for the road the ransomware took.
It's a virtual bloodhound, baby.
Well, we wouldn't even be in this position if you'd installed the original software.
You're right to think I'm that good, but you're wrong about the software.
The system was built 15 years ago.
There would have been no risk contingencies for someone placing a pineapple within the network.
I mean, even in the best-planned systems, humans are the wild card.
All this programming must be exhausting.
Ah.
It is the rocky path to Jericho.
No clue what that means, but I bet these guys do.
Do you know any of 'em? Red jacket is Titus.
He's what we call a "white hat.
" Made his bones going after hackers who attacked voting systems.
Oh, and, uh, who's the one in the Unabomber hoodie? Felicia.
She's infamous.
She used to run with the DarkSide.
The gold standard of black hat hackers.
White hat, black hat.
Cat in the Hat.
What's it all mean? White hats hack for us.
Black hats hack for themselves.
Looking for money, power, chaos.
Like executing ransomware attacks? How can you trust her? I barely trust anyone.
But Felicia's generally good people.
At least, since Braddock caught her trying to bring down the NASDAQ.
I'm sorry.
How does getting caught make her good? Because people are complicated, Lucy, just like code.
And just like code, there's always a weakness in the system.
Oh! Amazing! - What is it? - A hidden code.
Elegant.
It's beautifully written.
Some sort of backdoor, I think.
I-I'm not sure.
Is it connected to the breach? Yes.
No.
Maybe.
Uh, look, I got to dig in.
How long will it take? 20 minutes, 20 days.
We have less than two hours.
Agent Braddock.
You have a lead on our hackers? We're following up on a break-in from the dam a few weeks back.
Doesn't sound promising.
Well, considering my team's only been read in for about an hour, I'd disagree.
You're right.
I should've brought you into this grade A cluster sooner.
You know what Mateo's doing there? Getting his board and his insurance company to approve the ransom.
Well, did you explain to him that paying doesn't guarantee an end to the threats, it only incentivizes future attacks? Learned a long time ago.
No one responds to reason, only action.
He's panicking.
We can't.
We have to work with the time we have, and the best tech minds on the island.
I appreciate your confidence, but it's my head on a pike if Hawai'i's grid goes down.
Well, you can keep your head where it is for now.
We have a line on a suspect who may have placed the pineapple.
We caught his image on a CCTV near the dam control same day as the break-in.
Well, go get him.
According to his rap sheet, this is where Rodney resides.
Guy's in and out of state Identity theft, burglary, but nothing on his profile suggests hacking.
Ah, maybe he learned computers at Halawa.
Their continuing ed is second to none.
We've got a runner! I'll cover the front.
NCIS.
Stop! Come on, get up.
What are you doing, man? Let go of me! I didn't do nothing, bro! Yeah.
You definitely run like an innocent man.
Jesse and Kai have our pineapple suspect in custody.
- Questioning him now.
- Great.
'Cause I'm on the verge of slipping through this backdoor.
Could make contact with the ransomware code any moment.
We could beat this deadline yet.
Doesn't matter.
Mateo paid the ransom.
He what?! We still have, like, 20 minutes.
His board got nervous.
I couldn't stop him.
The money's been transferred.
If they keep their word, the ransomware disappears, along with our chance to find these hackers.
All right, look, that's a big "if," Ernie, okay? Keep working.
Mateo may think he solved his problem, but we still have a killer to find.
I swear to God, I've been clean since I got out of prison.
Sure.
We believe you, Rodney.
Except for the little B and E at the Nuuanu Dam two weeks ago.
Not me.
We got video of you parking half a mile away.
And we got your fingerprints all over the pineapple.
The what now? Stop stalling.
Who are you working for? You guys are blowing this out of proportion.
I don't think so.
We take threatening to shut down all water and power on the island kind of personal, Rodney.
Especially when you demand $5 million in ransom.
What ransom? No more lying, Rodney.
Okay, look, I admit I was hired to place that Wi-Fi thing.
They paid me a grand.
That's it.
Who's they? Where'd you get the pineapple, Rodney? We need names, numbers, locations.
I don't know, guys.
No, we're not playing around here.
If you don't tell us now, something very bad is going to happen.
What kind of bad? That kind of bad.
Power's out on the entire leeward side.
Utilities and Internet service is down all over the island.
Pearl Harbor's running on backup generators.
- But it's not sustainable.
- I don't understand.
We paid the ransom.
What else do they want? The risk-reward is heavily skewed to the hackers here.
Chances of getting caught are already close to zero.
As long as they have access to the system, they can shut down water and power at any moment.
This is what you get when you listen to the board and not the professionals.
It's the governor.
I got to answer.
What a jackass.
So we have no idea what they'll do next.
Uh, we'd have a fighting chance if any of us had power for our computers.
My guys are getting the backup generators on-line.
- You're welcome.
- Oh, yes.
All right, it feels like there's two options for the hackers here.
Either that was practice, or it was a distraction.
Oh, if it's practice, it's not for water and power.
Hackers played their hand with this last attack.
You just said they can turn the power - on and off at will.
- Yeah.
They could've, but they're they're gone, out of the system.
So there's no way to track them? Well, the program I built isolated a piece of code they exploited.
I need some time, but I may be able to find out who they are.
Um, if you're trying to intimidate me, it's working.
This isn't intimidation.
- This is just reality, man.
- Half the island is down.
We don't know when it's coming back up.
I didn't do this.
Yes, you did, by placing this simple device, you created this nightmare.
Blood's on your hands, too, Rodney.
Dead sailor at the Nuuanu Dam.
That's just the start.
Oxygen tanks will stop working at the hospitals.
Accidents will increase in the streets.
Communications will shut down.
- Total mayhem.
- All because of you, Rodney.
All right, look, when I got out, I was hard up.
An old friend of mine told me about this dark website called "back-page.
" Supposed to be anonymous.
Respond to an ad, do the job, get paid in crypto.
You don't know what a pineapple is, but you know crypto? You think I don't read? Crypto's the future, bro.
Okay, so you responded - to an ad.
- Mm-hmm.
They wanted you to place the pineapple.
- Yeah.
- How did they get it to you? Box in the mail two days before the job.
I got rid of the packaging Ah, you're really not trying to help yourself here.
Let me finish.
I got rid of the packaging, but I remember where it was shipped from.
I got one of those photogenic memories.
You don't say.
Delivery Depot, Akron, Ohio.
Oh, my.
Just Please tell me that this a bleat of victory.
It's unbelievable, though I should have guessed all along.
But how could I? How could I? You got our hackers? - Something better.
I got the source.
- The source of the hack? The source of the entire system, of everything that's modern software.
A hidden signature, deep in the mother code.
Look! Look! Look! Okay, well, do you know whose signature it is? Does Beethoven know Mozart? Well, I mean, of course he did 'cause Mozart was his teacher.
And this is my teacher, though I never met the man.
Kevin Rooker.
The Rook! The Rook! The Rook! Look, I know you're expecting me to react, but I don't understand.
He's the grandfather of every program that runs the world.
His code laid the groundwork for most infrastructure systems today.
I mean he's the Matrix.
Sounds like lot of systems that he could exploit - if he wanted to.
- Yeah, well, technically, yes, but doesn't fit his character at all.
He's a purist.
Doesn't care about money, fame, success, society.
- That sounds suspicious to me.
- He walked away from the tech world years ago.
And where did he walk to? No one knows.
He just vanished.
Well, we got to figure out where he is and see if he's behind this or can help us stop it.
Good luck with that.
Kevin Rooker has been off the grid for ten years.
Before that, he was everywhere.
Started with the NSA right here in Hawai'i where he developed many of their programs.
Then he went independent.
Did contract work for the government, financial institutions.
And, of course, utility companies.
- All right.
Why'd he quit? - NSA wanted his help with cyber warfare Weaponizing his source code to go after foreign infrastructures.
He refused, but NSA went ahead with it.
That was enough for him.
He walked away, disappeared.
Well, how disappeared is he? Well, NSA's not gonna let someone like Rook too far out of their sight.
It took some digging, but I was able to find him right here where it all started Abandoned farmhouse in Waialua.
Maybe a secret hideout abandoned farmhouse for ransomware attacks? All right.
Why don't you two find out? As in, uh, us two? Her and me? That a problem? - Not at all.
- No, it's totally awesome.
Great.
I'm heading back to Pearl.
Water and power is still out on the leeward side.
Red Cross is setting up food and shelter, but resources are limited.
You guys follow up on Rodney's Akron lead? Got the FBI checking out Delivery Depot, trying to figure out who sent the pineapple, but nothing yet.
Rodney did give us access to his back-page profile.
Here's his communication with the suspect who hired him.
Instructions on how to place the pineapple, turn it on.
Keep reading.
There's details in there that not just anyone would know.
Yeah, shift changes, CCTV blind spots.
Even descriptions of the people who work security.
It'd be nearly impossible for our hackers to know this stuff.
Unless they had an inside man.
Someone who works at the dam.
We already looked into their employees.
Time to look again.
This is Rook's secret hideout? Could be.
Hard to tell.
Should we go in? Ernie's running a back trace on the Internet connected to the address.
So, should we go in? We should wait.
This is ridiculous.
- Well, this is the job.
- No.
Not the waiting.
Us.
- There is no us.
- Yes, I know.
That part's done.
But we should be able to move past it, be cordial and not want to crawl out of our skin every time we're in a room or a car together.
You want to be friends.
Yeah, I think we could be.
Sure.
Sure.
We can, uh, forget about the past and how you lied to me, broke my heart and - just pretend it didn't happen.
- Okay, that's not what I'm saying.
Which part did I get wrong? Well, I don't want to pretend it didn't happen.
I know that I hurt you.
But I would like forgiveness.
How am I supposed to forgive you? You never even apologized.
- I apologized.
- No.
No.
You tried to explain your out-of-town girlfriend, tried to blame circumstances.
But not once did you say, "Hey, Lucy, I'm really sorry that I hurt you.
" - Oh, you're right.
- I know.
I should have apologized.
- Then why didn't you? - Well, I guess because I figured that once I did this would truly be over.
Check it out.
That's Rook.
- Hey, hey, what are you doing? - He went inside.
- Yeah, I know.
- So we should, too.
He could be armed or could have other suspects with him.
- All right.
Then what? - I'll take the lead.
Is that an alarm? NCIS! What's going on here? We were just about to rock.
My programming days are behind me.
And I'm not a hacker.
- I don't even use email.
- And yet, a backdoor in your infrastructure software has been used to shut down the Nuuanu Dam.
Half the island is without power, and a Navy sailor's dead.
That sounds like a "you" problem.
Becomes a you problem when we take you away in cuffs.
I walked away from coding years ago for exactly this reason.
You let computers run your world, you risk computers destroying it.
I'm sorry.
Can we just address the fact that one of the greatest coders in the world is in a garage band? Band's just a hobby.
My real passion is building and refurbishing guitars.
It's a far cry from building the world's largest infrastructure systems.
Music is simple, and hard to weaponize, though you people have tried.
Got a lot of animosity towards the government.
Look, the problem sounds terrible, if not entirely plausible.
Hard to believe someone could have accessed my backdoor since they're not me.
Strong argument for your guilt.
But if they did, they're wasting their time turning off the power for a few dollars.
So much more they could do with the source code.
What do you mean? You have no idea how many systems my code's imbedded in.
Okay.
So either you did this - I didn't.
- Or you're the only one who can help us figure out who did and why.
I can't.
Your band will understand.
I can't be drawn back in.
A man died this morning because someone took control of your code.
This isn't about you.
It's about all the other people who might get hurt.
Lucy and Whistler were able to get Rook to cooperate.
They're en route to the command center now.
But we are still one inside man short.
We looked back into all the dam employees, anyone who worked I.
T.
or might have been involved with system maintenance.
- And? - None of them look good for this.
The best person to coordinate the attack would be someone who knows the codebase and has full access.
Yeah, but not just any utility worker could do this.
It takes skill to break into the system.
And right now, the best hackers on the island have full access.
That's right.
Get a list of all the hackers working with RDET.
Ernie, - this is - All my dreams becoming reality.
Loyal and dutiful protégé at your service.
Call me Kevin.
You can call me Ernie, or "Ern" for short.
No, just Ernie.
No one calls me "Ern.
" I don't know why I even said that.
I'm so giddy.
Yep.
Shouldn't-shouldn't you tell him where to look? Well, Mozart knows how to find an aria in an oratorio.
More of a Robert Fripp man myself.
Looks like some I.
T.
hack threw in an addendum to my code.
Forced the system to try to upgrade for automated and remote management.
That's how they got control of the system.
Oh, it's not part of your original code.
That's why it was vulnerable to attack.
Hack hacking, as far as I can tell, but it got the job done.
The problem is with the rest of the software, not my mother code.
How do you know that for sure? I built a master codebase with a unique access key.
No one living or dead can get full control.
And what's the unique access key? - Him.
- Part of my signature is what's called a compiler backdoor.
It's a particular set of commands.
I put one in every system I built.
When the student is ready, the master appears.
Teach me your ways.
- Sorry.
- Let me get the power back up first.
This doesn't add up.
Ransomware attackers usually get in, get their money and get out before they can be traced.
Our suspects got their ransom, still went through with the attack, and have been quiet ever since.
Well, there are dozens of other systems Rook worked on.
Hackers could target them next.
Yeah, but Rook's here now.
And he has an access key in all the major systems he's coded.
So he can stop the hackers.
There's nothing more that they can exploit.
No, unless their plan all along was to draw him out.
Once the ransom was paid, they had no other cards to play.
The hackers had to escalate to bring Rook out of hiding.
He could be the target here.
Jesse and Kai need me.
Keep at it.
No wasted effort.
No mistakes.
Elegant.
Why did you ever retire and deny the world your talents? I had nothing left to give.
I was too tied up in the work.
What I did became who I was.
And there was no more pleasure, only more work.
Yeah.
It can be hard to separate the two.
Power's restored.
Resetting.
All right.
Executing commands.
Everything seems to be running smoothly.
Rook.
We need to get you out of here, now.
What's going on? Rooker's the target of this whole operation.
Let's go.
What are you talking about? We checked out every cyber engineer RDET brought in.
None of them, not even the black hats, popped suspicious.
But then we started looking into which of them might have ties to Akron, Ohio.
Where the pineapple came from.
Thank God.
All right, tell me what you learned.
We tracked down family members, college buddies.
We found this.
One of the RDET agents was in Pittsburgh days before the pineapple was shipped.
Less than two hours' drive to Akron.
Who was it? Hank Braddock.
RDET team leader.
Come on.
- Get in the car.
- Hey.
Hey, sorry, uh, where you taking Rook? We're taking him to a safe house.
We'll keep him secured until the threat is gone.
And, uh, where is this safe house? Wouldn't be very safe if I said.
Seems maybe he's safest here, you know, surrounded by federal agents.
Don't tell me my job, I won't tell you yours.
And who are you texting? Just my boss.
She should know.
You don't need to do that.
- It's all good.
- I'm telling you to stop.
Ernie! I think you just saved my life.
No way was I letting him get you twice in one day.
Do we have any idea where Braddock could be taking Rook? Went back over recent phone calls, texts, emails.
Nothing.
Talked to HPD, they put a BOLO out.
FBI's tracing his phone, his email, his Internet.
Can't get far.
Dude's a professional hacker hunter.
He knows how to hide.
But he doesn't know how to hack.
Are we saying somehow he put the ransomware into the Dam system? He's been involved in ransom attacks for over a decade.
Knows enough hackers who'd do it for the right price.
But why? He's supposed to be one of the good guys.
Spent his whole career watching bad guys get away with millions.
Passed over for promotions.
I mean, maybe he's over it.
But he got his ransom and still kidnapped Rook - in broad daylight.
- Guys, the $5 million is nothing.
He's after the brass ring.
What's that? We know Rook's mother code is used in operating systems across governments and private institutions.
Not just utilities.
Airlines, retailers.
Banks.
The Royal Bank of the Netherlands? If Rook opens up that system, Braddock could walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Alert the bank.
- Yeah, I'm working on it, just What's wrong? Hold on, my computer's being weird.
They hack into your system, too? No.
It's Rook.
He just sent a message? Using an open access system wherever he is to communicate.
Even in the best coded systems, humans are the wild card.
Yeah, and what a brilliant wild card.
Can you imagine how scared he is? Gun to his head, life on the line, and he manages to send me a message? It's really just like Hey, Ernie, since his life is on the line, maybe tell us where he is? Sorry.
Lanai Lookout Post.
The Lookout.
It's remote, it has power, it's close to the water.
Perfect escape route.
Let's move.
You in the bank's system? I am, but this isn't gonna work.
Just transfer the money.
They're gonna notice a hundred million dollars has gone missing.
That's my problem.
You're right about that.
You got nothing but problems.
Just stay away.
Or what? You'll shoot Rook? I certainly hope not.
Look, you're already responsible for one death.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
I didn't know about the maintenance crew.
None of it should have happened, Braddock.
Your whole career was spent fighting this.
And what was my reward? RDET? Chasing hackers until they put me out to pasture? No.
That's a bunch of bull.
This isn't the answer.
You are gonna back away.
Rook is gonna finish the transfer and I'll disappear.
There's nowhere to go.
Yeah, I know.
Your team is out there.
I get it.
But I still got some fight left.
Uh, uh done.
Come on.
Hey.
- Ow.
- They're on the move.
Braddock.
Put your hands up.
It's over.
- You okay? - Yeah.
Stop! Put the gun down.
You got a job to do? Do it.
Just give up.
No one was supposed to get hurt.
No one else has to.
Just one more.
Braddock Braddock! Not today, buddy.
Nice setup, man.
You're being kind.
Nah, man, no.
You made this a home.
Something I could never achieve.
That's why I gave it up.
No matter how good I was, it just never made me happy.
But I guess you are.
Me? Happy? Yeah, I guess.
Honestly? I haven't thought about it.
Oh.
Uh, sorry.
Just Swept all your digital footprints since coming back online.
You can now return to your life of peace and no one will know you were back.
Thank you, Ernie.
It's really that easy.
Go back to guitars.
Never touch a computer again.
Find what makes you happy, Ernie.
Hey.
Hey.
FBI get the money returned to the bank? Yep.
And we got a lead on the hacker who helped Braddock with the ransomware.
- Guy will be in cuffs by morning.
- Cool.
Well, have a good night.
Lucy.
Can we put a pin in the difficult conversation? Yeah.
Just one thing.
It's all my fault.
I was scared of breaking up with Cara.
Of starting something with you, because you're the most amazing woman I've ever met.
And I am truly so sorry I hurt you.
Thank you.