Numb3rs s03e14 Episode Script
Take Out
Wallets, purses, cell phones, everything on the table.
If you hold back, you get shot.
Do it, do it! Too slow! Too slow! Don't think.
Do.
Everything on the table.
I'll shoot you in the face.
Don't look at me.
L.
A.
P.
D.
! Don't move! Drop the weapon.
Put your hands in the air.
Now! Put your hands in the air.
Tranquilo.
Go, go, go! Let's go.
Vamos, vamos, vamos! Stay seated.
You move, you die.
Go, go, go! This is a disaster.
This tux is very It's very itchy.
Stop whining.
As promised, you look like James Bond.
You do.
My circle-circle tangent joke went right over the senator's head.
Come on.
External similitude humor isn't for everybody.
Oh I laughed my head off.
Millie, I'm no fundraiser No, but you know what you are? You're a fund magnet, all right? Your five minutes with the senator raised us a quarter of a million dollar grant.
Really? Yeah.
That's not too bad.
It's fantastic.
Are you kidding? That's five new jobs in five minutes, all right? That is a real victory.
Listen, these lobbyists, these politicians, all right? They don't want to understand what they're funding.
They could care less.
They're bored.
They want to be impressed.
You are so impressive.
You're the one and only Charlie Eppes- more dazzling in person than your legendary name would suggest.
Legendary.
Don't go too far.
You just keep doing what you're doing.
You reel them in, and I will seal the deals, all right? In astronomical terms, it's called syzygy.
It's where all of the planets are in perfect alignment.
You, me and a room full of money for the university.
What? Hey, Don.
Well, I-I'm kind of in the middle of something right now.
Oh.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'll be right there.
I'm sorry.
This is really important.
Could have guessed.
I understand.
See you.
No way to predict where they go next.
All right, yeah, I understand.
Well, listen, this is Agent Eppes.
Why don't you brief him? Hey.
How you doing? Uh, well, uh, we were chasing a pattern robbery.
Two guys, in masks, with body armor, in and out of upscale restaurants in under ten minutes.
They were grabbing purses, wallets, cell phones.
No jewelry, never touched the register.
They've been hitting all over the Valley.
No way to predict where they'd go next.
We had to split up.
Two-man spotter teams in a dozen restaurants with Rapid Deployment Teams waiting for the signal.
What, they didn't call it in? They did.
We weren't fast enough.
I screwed up.
Bad plan, bad intel.
I got these guys killed.
All right, Jim, you just got to give yourself a break, all right? Give yourself some air here.
You didn't get anyone killed, all right? Just give us a minute, all right? All right.
So the, uh, witnesses said that the officers ID'd themselves.
They were able to disarm the robbers, but then two customers over here popped up with handguns and opened fire.
And they collected their bullet casings before they left.
So, what, they come in, they scope it out, they signal the other two Yeah Yeah? Nice.
Very, uh.
.
James Bond.
No.
Yeah, no, I didn't think so, either.
So, two police officers were hurt.
They were killed, actually, in a robbery here.
There have been eight restaurant robberies, all at upscale places.
Hmm.
This is pretty spread out.
I mean, I can tell you that no geographic pattern jumps out at me.
Maybe with more data on methods and times What about those bank robberies you predicted? Remember? Was that the time you got shot? Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, they killed two cops here, you know? So, needless to say, we'd like to shut these guys down before they hit again.
I'll find them for you.
So,we went through the reservations.
The inside couple used a fake name, bogus number.
Yeah.
Well, go figure.
But I went back, and I cross-checked it with the other robberies.
I figured, you know, if they're part of the M.
O.
, maybe they screwed up somewhere- they used the same name, or the same phone number.
Right.
And? And they didn't screw up.
I have nothing.
Getting anywhere with the profiles? Three guys and one girl.
It really could be any number of dynamics, so unless a witness can remember something other than big guns and Hispanic accents, um Right.
Think we know why they're taking the cell phones.
Victims can't cancel their credit cards before they're maxed out.
They've been getting over 60 grand a hit.
How are they burning the cards so fast? They're doing it online.
Uh, victims are being charged for big ticket items: plasma TVs, hotel reservations.
Right.
Well, what about tracing the goods? Well, that's the thing.
There aren't any goods.
They're setting up these dummy Internet corporations, they're running the charges, and then shutting them down the next day.
That's money laundering in the new millennium.
Yeah.
So I got our techs on the service providers.
See if we can get some names, find out who's building the sites, and where the money's going.
Wait.
You remember that guy? Uh, what was the name, Ricky Jones? He was hitting all those Beverly Hills jewelry stores, and they were leaving the gold and taking the the customers' credit cards? I know what you're talking about.
I'll reach out to him.
You know, I still believe most criminals are not perfect at first.
You know, they make mistakes, they leave evidence behind.
And now that we know the M.
O.
's, maybe we should go back and look at those first robberies again.
Yeah.
Why-Why don't you guys go, huh? Sweet.
FBI's paying for lunch.
No.
No Moron.
That's absolutely incorrect.
Makes no sense whatso Oh! I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to startle you.
In Antarctica, we're used to doing everything very quietly.
It's like a-a big library with penguins.
Sorry about leaving last night.
Oh, no.
Don't be.
Actually, the school made out very well.
You made us a lot of dough.
Thank you.
Oh, yeah? Interesting analysis, huh? Yeah.
Used it a couple years ago to predict bank robberies, but it's not quite lending itself to the current problem as easily as I'd hoped.
You know- and don't take this as a criticism, but Is it criticism? Yes.
Okay then.
A couple months ago, I read about the system used to differentiate between institutional targets- you know, like banks and stuff- and civilian targets- like a Like restaurants? Yeah.
Wait.
Are-are you Are you talking about Homeland Security's threat matrix? Yeah.
I think it might serve your purposes a bit better.
Yeah, there was an article about a year ago.
Mm-hmm.
It was this one.
How did you know? I don't know.
How'd I know? Let's see.
You run off to help the FBI, and, uh, I read an article about two police officers being killed.
My advanced math degree allows me to put two plus two together.
Professor Millie, thank you.
You're welcome.
Oh, and after you left, I spoke to a couple lobbyists from MacMillan Pharmaceuticals.
Apparently, they're looking for a reason to dump their excess riches into our humble coffers.
A reason Mm-hmm.
Such as? Oh, I don't know.
Maybe having one of the world's greatest minds as point man on their new pharmacokinetic modeling project.
Talking about me? My mind? Now, you know, they just require a little dazzling.
No tuxedo required.
Okay.
Just set it up, and I'll-I'll be there.
Great.
Done.
You know, Sinclair, every time you pull me out to pick my brain, my credibility drops.
Well, yeah, you have cred, and you have good word with the parole board.
You have a choice, man.
Well, you're not looking local.
I don't know of any crews that ambush cops.
You think it was an ambush? Oh, hell, yeah.
This type of work attracts two kinds- the ones that are about money, and the ones that are about violence.
If it's about money, you might hit somebody, show him his own blood, but you don't pull the trigger.
All that gets is more panic and less time to get clear.
Okay, so you think these guys- this-this crew- they're about violence.
No.
I don't think so, no.
They're not wild enough.
Ricky, dude, help me out, man.
You're doing business.
Suddenly there's cops everywhere you want to be.
Most people in my line of work will either lay low or move on, but these guys decided to send you a statement.
You think they're trying to back us off by killing cops? Who'd be dumb enough to think that? I don't know, but they're a different kind of crazy.
Hey.
Thanks.
Hey.
How's it going? Oh, I don't know.
Um, how'd it go at the restaurant? You find anything? Just an overdone steak.
The owner said these guys knew the layout, 'cause they clipped the wires to the security camera.
If there was a learning curve, it was somewhere else.
All she could remember were Spanish accents- one so heavy she could barely understand him.
Yeah, they knew their guns, they maintained discipline, policed their brass.
I'm thinking it's possible they might have been ex-military.
Right, and this guy says that they were sending us a message.
You know, soldiers from an unstable political environment would be more likely to go head-to-head with authority figures.
Right, and the accents.
Yeah.
I mean, we've trained a lot of Central and South American Special Forces over the years.
It could have been a group up here on a rotation, and they got the lay of the land, and then decided that robbery pays better than soldiering.
Sure.
Why don't you run with that, see what we get? Okay.
All right Um, I saw yo envelope.
From Trauma Recovery.
I got the same thing last month.
It's on the spree killing? Yeah.
It's ridiculous.
I mean, you, know, the Review Board already cleared me.
Yeah, but, you know, the thing about therapy- if you put a little bit in, you get a lot out.
Yeah, well, the guy better sign the thing and get me out of there.
This threat matrix isn't quite right yet.
It's set to predict the unpredictable- terrorist attacks- but robberies, they're they have their own unique set of characteristics, you know? Why did you start out with the threat matrix to begin with? It was Millie's suggestion.
Oh.
So after all that kicking and screaming about the tuxedo, it sounds like you guys did some bonding.
Yeah, I mean, I have to say, it wasn't so bad, you know? I mean, you dazzle them with a little Pythagorean wit and their checkbooks crack open.
I'll tell you, if we can get this MacMillan pharmacokinetic modeling project, well, who knows what else the MacMillan Pharmaceuticals? Yeah.
What? I mean, they have a reputation for exploiting Third World countries.
They'll charge $500 for a vial of AIDS serum that costs 50 cents.
I didn't know that.
I'll talk to Millie about it.
I think that would be wise.
What's missing here? Something's missing here.
I don't know.
Uh, food? Where are those menus? Right.
That's it.
Hey, Dave, did you find anything on the money trail? Yeah.
I followed the phony Web site and credit card charges back to an anonymous offshore bank account in Nauru.
Nauru? A small island in the South Pacific.
Bank's refused to cooperate unless we can prove that specific deposits came from a felony.
We can't point to specific deposits if they won't let us look at the accounts.
And that particular Catch-22 has made the small island of Nauru a favorite financial center for all kinds of high-end lowlifes.
That's great.
Yeah, I came up empty on the ex-military angle, too.
Seems over the past 30 years, we've been a foreign exchange program for just about every country south of Texas.
Trained paramilitary groups, special forces- as soon as the country turns or the army stops paying A lot of unemployed soldiers who need work.
All right.
Maybe Charlie could help us narrow down the list.
So Amita and I adapted Homeland Security's threat matrix to examine these eight robberies by target, time, location, and security.
We came up with this list of similar targets.
Then we went even further, evaluating the restaurants in terms of architecture and access to fast escape routes.
It looks pretty much like the LAPD's list.
Right, so I figured I was on the right path, but set theory wasn't really working, so then I applied multidimensional graph Laplacians and PageRank matrices Yeah, that's what I would've done, too.
Well, of course you would've because that's a way to investigate a group of things, and identify their shared properties, right? Think about a refrigerator stocked with groceries- a steak, wine, apples, a pie.
Now, each of those items is unique and can be purchased at several different stores, but more likely, a family makes a single shopping trip.
You figured out where the robbers are shopping for their targets? Simon's L.
A.
Restaurant Guide.
Yeah.
The eight restaurants they attacked scored 93% or higher on food quality and price.
Cost I get- these guys, they're after the fattest credit cards.
And the higher the food scores, the trendier restaurant, the fattest credit cards.
And we used those variables to narrow it down even further.
So you think one of these restaurants is their next target? this site has the highest probability.
Lie down! What's happening? Lie down! What's Happening? Wallets, purses, cell phones.
Everything now! Now! Everything goes in the bag.
If you hold back, you'll get shot.
,I have a family.
Shut up! Let's go.
Quickly.
Don't shoot.
Don't shoot! Shut up! Three guns through the front door.
These guys didn't even bother with the couple in the back this time.
Double tap.
It looks like an execution.
They killed two cops to get away last time.
Wonder what this guy did? Could be trying to send us a message, you know.
Third World countries, paramilitaries and drug gangs, they'll execute civilians just to warn the local authorities if they don't back off, they got to expect more bodies.
Yeah, well, it ain't going to work here.
They didn't hit the most likely location.
Charlie, you got the date and time right, man, you just missed the exact place where they were going to hit, that's all.
No, no, I actually missed something else.
Look, this place barely showed up on my threat matrix.
If I'm off by this large a margin, there is no way I can pinpoint these attacks.
All right, Charlie, just relax, okay? First of all, it's not your fault, you know? Just keep working and do your thing.
I mean, come here, don't worry about it.
The State Department had no luck with Nauru.
Their courts turned down our application for bank records.
Island's whole economy is pinned on banking.
These guys are just protecting their asset.
Yeah, but they're making our life so difficult, 'cause with no account information, we have no identifiers.
There's no way to trace back to the killers.
Well, try Treasury.
I mean, we've shut down offshores before.
We just need a soft spot, someone in L.
A.
we can pressure.
You have a thing with the psychologist? Yeah.
I know this is just an appointment for you.
Okay.
But? But you never know what's going to happen till you walk in that door.
Think I need help? I don't think they've made the person yet who doesn't.
This is a waste of time.
Millie.
Hey.
Oh.
Professor Eppes.
What can I do for you? Oh.
How goes your threat matrixing? It didn't work.
Really? Oh, wow.
I thought it was a good approach.
Yeah, I know; so did I What do you know about MacMillan Pharmaceuticals? MacMillan- Oh, well, I know that their pharmacokinetic modeling could save the lives of the- what- who overdose on simple, over-the-counter painkillers every year.
That's what I know.
Well, did you know that drug companies exploit Third World countries.
They sell them overpriced and expired medication Look, these companies, they're not demons, they're not angels.
They are profit-seeking concerns- some better than others, some not so great.
It just seems to me that it should be as important to know where the money's been as where it's going.
I've done my homework, Charlie, thank you.
As corporations go, I would characterize them as relatively responsible now, all right? So don't worry.
Relative? Yeah.
Relative to what? See? I should've known better than to try to get that word past a fellow math geek, huh? Touché.
Have a seat.
No, I have the originals.
So Look, is there some kind of problem? There's not a problem.
FBI just wanted us to talk.
What about? Anything.
Look, I don't hate my dad, all right? I like women, I respect them as people, I don't get off on pulling my gun.
What else do you want to talk about? How do you feel when you pull your gun? Give me a break.
You brought it up.
Listen Yes, I shot Crystal Hoyle, a spree killer who kidnapped one of my agents and was driving straight at a roadblock with a car full of grenades.
There was a trained sniper on the scene.
An Agent, uh Edgerton.
Mm-hmm.
Why do you think he didn't take the shot? Well, uh, 'cause I took the shot first.
Because you're a better shot? No.
Oh, well, I don't get it.
Let me tell you something, all right? Every single day, I have to make decisions that effect a lot of people's lives.
Now, I don't expect you to understand that.
I expect you to just sign this document and let me get back to my job, please, sir.
Why do you think I wouldn't understand what you do? 'Cause it's not a textbook.
If you're not in it, it's impossible to explain.
ex Well, I wasn't in the FBI.
Yeah, well But I was undercover narcotics in East L.
A.
I did two years on a CRASH team in Compton, too.
Well, you know, I'm sorry.
I didn't know that.
No, you didn't.
You're gonna walk in here with no respect for my work, expecting me to respect yours.
No, man, that's not it.
It's just Thing is, I'm hung over, and I'm hungry, and you are my last session before lunch, and I was ready to run through a half dozen routine questions, listen to your routine answers, and walk you out that door, and now I don't know.
You got to take that? No, I don't.
So, I hear that, uh, you and Millie had a, uh, philosophical discussion about ends and means? What, do you and Millie just talk about me a lot? You're a very interesting pic, Charlie.
Yeah, so, what do you think about MacMillan Pharmaceuticals? What do you think? Oh.
Commerce versus ethics, huh? You know, I spent 30 years dealing with that very subject, and I still don't have a good answer, and I wouldn't trust anyone that said they did.
But if budget's not important, then you can judge a project on any grounds you want- you know, morals, ethics.
Of course, if I had turned down all those corporations with a spotty track record, a lot of low income housing would never have been built.
Well, Dad, if I take the money, then I'm just tacitly approving of their methods.
I feel if we can turn some of these giant corporations down, then we can get them to change their ways.
Oh, I applaud your idealism, Charlie.
Got it from you.
Experience has tempered my activism with pragmatism, and I would like to think the wisdom to continually balance the two.
And which way do you think this balances out? I have no idea, but right now, I'm just an angry renter, wondering when his landlord is gonna send the spider people around again.
You know what? I have to go.
Uh.
Don't worry.
I'll load the laundry.
Hey, where is everybody? Hey, what do you mean, they're working.
Hey, look, I know I screwed up.
Come on, hey, Charlie, look, seriously, with all you do for us? Well, my math wasn't wrong, but my assumptions were wrong.
You know, I assumed that all the data belonged to the same set.
Right.
I mean, it's like, it's like searching for a spider or its prey, by studying its web.
You see, we use tension values of the silk web, like vibrations and weather conditions, and other variables to reliably predict where the spider is and where the next insect is going to get tangled.
However, there are some species that build overlapping webs.
You see, I was assuming that only one robbery team was responsible for all that data, and that, that's where I was wrong.
So you're saying it's two teams working together? Not together, in tandem.
Right, planning together but executing separately.
That's all you need to do is untangle those webs.
Vamos! Andele! FBI! What's your name? What are you doing here? When did you When did you get in this country? You want to play games? What's your name? When did you enter the country? Why are you here? You can't talk? Come on, tell me.
Where you from? When did you sneak into this country? We've got to put an end to this.
You want to be in there? They're clearly trained in counter interrogation.
Probably by us.
See the way they're sitting, their body posture, they're refusing to make eye contact the tapping on the tables- they're just trying to throw off the interrogator's rhythm.
We're all operating off the same manuals.
All right, so, I mean, nobody's talking, right? No, we got no hits on Interpol, we got nothing on the U.
S.
database.
They're ghosts.
And your web thing, you think that's going to help us find the other team, or no? No, I doubt it.
By catching one team, we've already sort of changed the variables.
If there are more robberies, then, yeah, maybe I can revisit the threat matrix, but The minivan they used wasn't stolen.
The car registration came back to a Jaime Lopez, deceased.
So it's another dead end? Nah, not exactly.
In addition to robbing and killing, our guys are scofflaws.
Four parking tickets on the 900 block of Alvarado in the past five weeks.
And only six houses on that block are occupied, and four of the families have been there And one of the other two houses belongs to this guy- Bernardo Infante.
Should that name ring a bell? Only if you served in the Mexican Army.
Up until last year, he was a colonel in the Corps of Military Police.
Now, they regard interrogation as an art form, so he would be the guy to teach you how to resist it.
And what's he doing up here? Believe it or not, the guy's an elementary school teacher.
All right, go for it- shake him up, see what he does.
So what's eating you? Nothing.
Donny, even for you, this is taciturn.
I just got to go see this guy.
What guy? This hard-ass psychologist.
Because of the Hoyle shooting.
You know, like I'm trigger-happy or something.
Why, is that what he said? Basically.
And what did you say? I don't have time for this crap.
Well, maybe you ought to make time.
Yeah, well, here we go- what, you too? A) I don't see anything wrong with talking to someone.
And B) maybe he ought to understand that you're the one that will always take the shot.
Yeah, thank you, you know? I mean, I was doing my job.
Well, it's also Megan's job and David's job and Colby's.
It seems like you save all the dirty jobs for yourself.
Dad, I do what has to be done, period.
You know, it's not like I like doing the dirty work.
Don, I've always been proud of the way that you shoulder other people's burdens.
I mean, even when you were a kid and you sacrificed for Charlie.
But if you going to regard your life's work as just a series of dirty jobs then I think it's worth talking about.
I mean, to someone.
Don't.
FBI.
Agent Sinclair.
Agent Granger.
We need you to come downtown with us right now.
And then? Just stop moving, Señor Infante.
Don't make another move toward these kids.
What do you want? Are these friends of yours? No, are they friends of yours? We need you to come downtown.
We want to ask you a few questions about these people.
Those aren't people.
Death squads? ??? Men and women who kill outside the law.
No one kills outside the law.
Well, here, perhaps not.
In Mexico it's different.
I was a Colonel, and I had to watch these death squads work.
In one village, they killed every man, every woman and almost every child.
Do you know who the men in these death squads are? I know their type.
I trained their type.
Convincing myself that my only duty was to be a good soldier and follow orders.
This village that I mentioned, three young children survived.
That's six young eyes that saw the faces behind the masks.
Now, as a soldier, I had a choice to make.
Turn these children over to the death squads, or smuggle them to Los Angeles.
These men followed you all the way up north, for the children? They tried to wring words from a man who taught silence.
They would have killed me, but they knew if they did, my secret would die with me.
They watch me.
Waiting to see if I make a mistake.
Give over the ones that they want to kill.
So why the robberies? In Mexico, they killed farmers for coins in their cushions, or gold fillings in their teeth.
But here, they're with those with real money.
If you trained these men, did you teach them how to launder the money as well? There are lawyers here in Los Angeles, men who you go to when you need your money cleaned, to run your operations my operations.
We can help keep the children safe.
You can't keep your own police safe from these animals.
This is unbelievable.
All he gives us is a a list of lawyers? He doesn't trust us.
I mean, I don't agree with him butI understand him.
Right.
Got a file from the Treasury on our offshore.
These type of banks require a legal go-between to open an account.
It's called an Introducer.
What's an Introducer? It's a fence for rich people.
And for legit offshores, it's a way of insulating themselves from dirty money.
What about the ones that aren't legit? The ones that funnel stolen credit card charges from dummy Web sites? Well, they still need an Introducer, just one that's not so clean.
There's a list of dirty go-betweens for our offshore in there.
We have a match to Infante's list.
Yeah? Luis Salazar.
The DEA suspects he spent the better part of the '90s laundering drug money.
Contacts with paramilitaries The cartels hired them for their security.
Sounds like? Yeah, does it say where he is now? In a penthouse downtown.
Wow, help the cop killers and live the good life.
Hey, go pick him up.
Luis Salazar! FBI! We want to Unlocked door at the shady lawyer's apartment.
It's never a good sign.
The guy needs to hire a maid service.
Guy needs to hire an arsonist.
David I'm no doctor, but I don't think this guy died in his sleep.
Balistics matched the bullet in alazar's head to the ones used to kill the parking valet.
All right, so then how are we doing on the money trail? Salazar's murder gave us the wedge we needed with the offshore bank.
They handed over the transfer records this morning.
And we handed them over to Charlie this afternoon.
I mean, so that's the thing.
Why kill your bank contact if you're just going to steal more credit cards, right? The stolen credit cards charge large transactions through dummy online stores, who sends the money to an offshore bank in Nauru.
Right, and then we figure Don's postulate, that the money then headed to Mexico.
Okay.
Okay.
Charlie, there's just too much.
I mean, we can data-stream mine all day long and still not find a discernible pattern in all this muck.
No, I think it-it-it's No, we need something else.
We know how much and where it's going.
And the offshore bank sends the money into Mexico City, but you know, we're looking for a few hundred thousand dollars out of $40 billion of identical transfers.
Ah, you're right.
We need something else.
I talked to Millie and she's set on taking MacMillan's money.
And you're set against it.
Yeah, well, someone has to be.
I don't know.
I mean, literally, I do not know.
You both make such compelling points.
That's the paradox.
It just seems like everyone's right.
I mean, I just- still I think I need to go to that meeting with my eyes and my mind wide open.
And what if you don't like what they have to say? Well, then Millie's out of luck.
Fair enough.
Since when did you become my conscience? Around the same time we started making out.
Oh, hi, Millie.
I, I was going to cook for you, you know, 'cause you always cook- you're such a good cook- and then I realized I don't cook.
Ah.
Well, I have been known to eat an occasional pi- uh, uh, pi-pizza once in a while.
Thank you.
No, no, I mean, thanks for the food.
No, well, thank you for the haven.
Yeah, well, um You know, I really thought that I was ready for this, but the politics are killing me.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I mean- and no offense, but the geniuses are exhausting.
Go ahead, tell me about it.
But of, of course I had, um, a lot of help Hey, Dad.
Hey, where's Charlie? Oh.
Hi, Millie.
It's all right.
Uh, we w- we were just, uh, going to have a, uh, a, um Pizza.
Hey, what's happening, man? So, listen.
Oh, hey, Millie, good.
You know what? I left you a message.
I know; I got it, Charlie.
Listen, I have some concerns.
Can I talk to you one second? I have some concerns.
I know; it's just one second.
I have serious concerns.
I don't think she's here for you.
Oh.
Right? And it, and it- the thing is broken and I don't even know how to fix it and you're the only one probably, so, uh Oh.
Thanks.
We'll just be outside.
Ah you know what, it's poetic justice 'cause he walks in on me and Amita all the time.
Right, look, we just got to cut him some slack, I think, you know? Cut him some slack? Man, he's dating my boss, all right? So I'm allowed to have my issues.
Ah, I understand.
Hey, look, you can take my shrink appointment.
Shrink appointment? Yeah.
They're making me see a therapist.
Are they really? This post-shooting thing.
Which shooting? I mean, there, there have been a few.
Don't tell me you haven't noticed.
What do you mean? Of course I've noticed.
I mean Anywho.
So what's going on with that money trail? It's not a trail, it's a damn river.
Upstream.
Swimming upstream.
What? Wait a minute.
W-What are you talking about? I gotta go find Amita.
Now, even after the bank in Nauru gave us access to their accounts, we still lost track of the money in the massive transfer to Mexico.
Most of the money stayed in Mexico.
In a death squad retirement plan, I guess.
But some of it had to return to Los Angeles to keep the robbers in business.
Okay, so they're living off the land? Well, death squads can't be cheap, so to find the returning money, it was a matter of using an optimization model, something called Outlier Detection.
Oh, boy.
No, no, it's not a big deal because Charlie helped develop it for the Treasury Department's Terrorist Financial Tracking Program.
Right, you see, at first we were doing a "brute force" search in which you cast a net over a river of information and you try to catch everything.
Outlier Detection, however, is target specific.
It's like fly fishing in the data stream, choosing a spot by spawning behavior, selecting the right bait, a method in which we were able to cast our rod in the spot we wanted and catch the exact type of fish we needed.
Now, knowing the exact variables- how much stolen money existed, the robbery dates, where the transfer originated from- we were able to zero in on seven wire transfers from Nauru to an East L.
A.
wire office.
Well, the transfers weren't exact matches for the numbers or times, but they fit a general pattern.
To pick up a wire transfer, you need a driver's license, right? Isn't this the same woman that David tried to interrogate? Yeah, it is.
Her name is Maria Campos.
AFI report from Mexico.
Maria Campos is married to one Hector Campos.
Ex-Fuerzas Especiales, did a training program at Fort Ord in '93.
Supports the ex-military angle, right? Yeah, he specialized in commanding two-team black ops.
It's a family business.
He runs one team, lets his wife run the other.
It's got to be him.
Trying to kill three kids.
I mean, the border patrol has him coming up a couple of months ago one way.
Mexican authorities haven't seen him, no sign of a return, and Maria Campos gave the wire transfer office an address in East L.
A.
Colby and David are on their way over.
Excellent.
All right.
FBI! Search warrant! FBI! Clear.
Smells like gun cleaner.
Yeah, it's strong, too.
All clear, sir.
Well, that team we took down, they had a P90, right? Uh-huh, but they only had one.
We got about 300, 400 rounds missing out of these boxes.
These guys are all armed up now.
All right, take a look at this.
They got the restaurants they hit marked in this book with about half a dozen others.
Oh, have a look at that.
You recognize that? Is that Infante's school? Yeah.
These guys have killed entire villages.
Everyone? Everyone.
Run! Run! Run! Go! Go! Don't move! Down! Run! Go! Go! Call the paramedics! Hey, guys, it's okay.
It's okay; come here.
Professor Eppes.
Hello.
A true pleasure to meet you.
Pleasure to meet you.
MacMillan Pharmaceuticals could not be happier to have you involved.
Oh, well Uh, Mr.
Meisner and I were just finalizing the funding and clinical trial schedule.
In all honesty, Professor, I could not see this project going forward without you.
Mm-hm, which is why Cal Sci will administer the trials and monitor the drug every step of the way.
Well, not all.
MacMillan will do its own in-house trials.
No, uh-uh.
Everything goes through Cal Sci.
In fact, all the computational analysis will be carried out by Professor Eppes and his staff.
Sorry, that's just the way we roll here.
I'll have to run that by my people.
Oh, no, of course; yeah, run that by Oh, and while you're running stuff by, run by them that five percent of the gross of the profits will go towards a group of Third World AIDS organizations that Professors Eppes and Ramanajun will be putting together for you.
Uh, five percent? Gross, not net.
We barely have a profit margin as it is.
Mr.
Meisner, a pharmaceutical company with no profit margin? Come on.
I can't agree to that.
Sure you can.
You can if you want the participation of Professor Eppes.
Isn't that right, Professor? That's right.
Oh, relax, Mr.
Meisner.
greatest mathematical minds is worth a whole lot more than 100% of nothing.
I'll call you.
Pleasure.
Thank you, sir.
What just happened here? Well, you made my life a little more difficult and a lot more interesting.
Well, I pretty much can say the same thing about you.
Yeah? Hey.
Agent Eppes.
You got any, uh, time, by any chance? Uh, well, if you don't mind hanging out for a while, I'll shake loose ten minutes and sign you off.
No, well, I mean, I wakind of hoping for a little more than that.
I'm pretty booked today.
I mean, just a half hour would be great.
You know, I'll hang out or whatever you want.
You gotta take that? Uh Nah.
Okay.
Thanks.
If you hold back, you get shot.
Do it, do it! Too slow! Too slow! Don't think.
Do.
Everything on the table.
I'll shoot you in the face.
Don't look at me.
L.
A.
P.
D.
! Don't move! Drop the weapon.
Put your hands in the air.
Now! Put your hands in the air.
Tranquilo.
Go, go, go! Let's go.
Vamos, vamos, vamos! Stay seated.
You move, you die.
Go, go, go! This is a disaster.
This tux is very It's very itchy.
Stop whining.
As promised, you look like James Bond.
You do.
My circle-circle tangent joke went right over the senator's head.
Come on.
External similitude humor isn't for everybody.
Oh I laughed my head off.
Millie, I'm no fundraiser No, but you know what you are? You're a fund magnet, all right? Your five minutes with the senator raised us a quarter of a million dollar grant.
Really? Yeah.
That's not too bad.
It's fantastic.
Are you kidding? That's five new jobs in five minutes, all right? That is a real victory.
Listen, these lobbyists, these politicians, all right? They don't want to understand what they're funding.
They could care less.
They're bored.
They want to be impressed.
You are so impressive.
You're the one and only Charlie Eppes- more dazzling in person than your legendary name would suggest.
Legendary.
Don't go too far.
You just keep doing what you're doing.
You reel them in, and I will seal the deals, all right? In astronomical terms, it's called syzygy.
It's where all of the planets are in perfect alignment.
You, me and a room full of money for the university.
What? Hey, Don.
Well, I-I'm kind of in the middle of something right now.
Oh.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'll be right there.
I'm sorry.
This is really important.
Could have guessed.
I understand.
See you.
No way to predict where they go next.
All right, yeah, I understand.
Well, listen, this is Agent Eppes.
Why don't you brief him? Hey.
How you doing? Uh, well, uh, we were chasing a pattern robbery.
Two guys, in masks, with body armor, in and out of upscale restaurants in under ten minutes.
They were grabbing purses, wallets, cell phones.
No jewelry, never touched the register.
They've been hitting all over the Valley.
No way to predict where they'd go next.
We had to split up.
Two-man spotter teams in a dozen restaurants with Rapid Deployment Teams waiting for the signal.
What, they didn't call it in? They did.
We weren't fast enough.
I screwed up.
Bad plan, bad intel.
I got these guys killed.
All right, Jim, you just got to give yourself a break, all right? Give yourself some air here.
You didn't get anyone killed, all right? Just give us a minute, all right? All right.
So the, uh, witnesses said that the officers ID'd themselves.
They were able to disarm the robbers, but then two customers over here popped up with handguns and opened fire.
And they collected their bullet casings before they left.
So, what, they come in, they scope it out, they signal the other two Yeah Yeah? Nice.
Very, uh.
.
James Bond.
No.
Yeah, no, I didn't think so, either.
So, two police officers were hurt.
They were killed, actually, in a robbery here.
There have been eight restaurant robberies, all at upscale places.
Hmm.
This is pretty spread out.
I mean, I can tell you that no geographic pattern jumps out at me.
Maybe with more data on methods and times What about those bank robberies you predicted? Remember? Was that the time you got shot? Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, they killed two cops here, you know? So, needless to say, we'd like to shut these guys down before they hit again.
I'll find them for you.
So,we went through the reservations.
The inside couple used a fake name, bogus number.
Yeah.
Well, go figure.
But I went back, and I cross-checked it with the other robberies.
I figured, you know, if they're part of the M.
O.
, maybe they screwed up somewhere- they used the same name, or the same phone number.
Right.
And? And they didn't screw up.
I have nothing.
Getting anywhere with the profiles? Three guys and one girl.
It really could be any number of dynamics, so unless a witness can remember something other than big guns and Hispanic accents, um Right.
Think we know why they're taking the cell phones.
Victims can't cancel their credit cards before they're maxed out.
They've been getting over 60 grand a hit.
How are they burning the cards so fast? They're doing it online.
Uh, victims are being charged for big ticket items: plasma TVs, hotel reservations.
Right.
Well, what about tracing the goods? Well, that's the thing.
There aren't any goods.
They're setting up these dummy Internet corporations, they're running the charges, and then shutting them down the next day.
That's money laundering in the new millennium.
Yeah.
So I got our techs on the service providers.
See if we can get some names, find out who's building the sites, and where the money's going.
Wait.
You remember that guy? Uh, what was the name, Ricky Jones? He was hitting all those Beverly Hills jewelry stores, and they were leaving the gold and taking the the customers' credit cards? I know what you're talking about.
I'll reach out to him.
You know, I still believe most criminals are not perfect at first.
You know, they make mistakes, they leave evidence behind.
And now that we know the M.
O.
's, maybe we should go back and look at those first robberies again.
Yeah.
Why-Why don't you guys go, huh? Sweet.
FBI's paying for lunch.
No.
No Moron.
That's absolutely incorrect.
Makes no sense whatso Oh! I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to startle you.
In Antarctica, we're used to doing everything very quietly.
It's like a-a big library with penguins.
Sorry about leaving last night.
Oh, no.
Don't be.
Actually, the school made out very well.
You made us a lot of dough.
Thank you.
Oh, yeah? Interesting analysis, huh? Yeah.
Used it a couple years ago to predict bank robberies, but it's not quite lending itself to the current problem as easily as I'd hoped.
You know- and don't take this as a criticism, but Is it criticism? Yes.
Okay then.
A couple months ago, I read about the system used to differentiate between institutional targets- you know, like banks and stuff- and civilian targets- like a Like restaurants? Yeah.
Wait.
Are-are you Are you talking about Homeland Security's threat matrix? Yeah.
I think it might serve your purposes a bit better.
Yeah, there was an article about a year ago.
Mm-hmm.
It was this one.
How did you know? I don't know.
How'd I know? Let's see.
You run off to help the FBI, and, uh, I read an article about two police officers being killed.
My advanced math degree allows me to put two plus two together.
Professor Millie, thank you.
You're welcome.
Oh, and after you left, I spoke to a couple lobbyists from MacMillan Pharmaceuticals.
Apparently, they're looking for a reason to dump their excess riches into our humble coffers.
A reason Mm-hmm.
Such as? Oh, I don't know.
Maybe having one of the world's greatest minds as point man on their new pharmacokinetic modeling project.
Talking about me? My mind? Now, you know, they just require a little dazzling.
No tuxedo required.
Okay.
Just set it up, and I'll-I'll be there.
Great.
Done.
You know, Sinclair, every time you pull me out to pick my brain, my credibility drops.
Well, yeah, you have cred, and you have good word with the parole board.
You have a choice, man.
Well, you're not looking local.
I don't know of any crews that ambush cops.
You think it was an ambush? Oh, hell, yeah.
This type of work attracts two kinds- the ones that are about money, and the ones that are about violence.
If it's about money, you might hit somebody, show him his own blood, but you don't pull the trigger.
All that gets is more panic and less time to get clear.
Okay, so you think these guys- this-this crew- they're about violence.
No.
I don't think so, no.
They're not wild enough.
Ricky, dude, help me out, man.
You're doing business.
Suddenly there's cops everywhere you want to be.
Most people in my line of work will either lay low or move on, but these guys decided to send you a statement.
You think they're trying to back us off by killing cops? Who'd be dumb enough to think that? I don't know, but they're a different kind of crazy.
Hey.
Thanks.
Hey.
How's it going? Oh, I don't know.
Um, how'd it go at the restaurant? You find anything? Just an overdone steak.
The owner said these guys knew the layout, 'cause they clipped the wires to the security camera.
If there was a learning curve, it was somewhere else.
All she could remember were Spanish accents- one so heavy she could barely understand him.
Yeah, they knew their guns, they maintained discipline, policed their brass.
I'm thinking it's possible they might have been ex-military.
Right, and this guy says that they were sending us a message.
You know, soldiers from an unstable political environment would be more likely to go head-to-head with authority figures.
Right, and the accents.
Yeah.
I mean, we've trained a lot of Central and South American Special Forces over the years.
It could have been a group up here on a rotation, and they got the lay of the land, and then decided that robbery pays better than soldiering.
Sure.
Why don't you run with that, see what we get? Okay.
All right Um, I saw yo envelope.
From Trauma Recovery.
I got the same thing last month.
It's on the spree killing? Yeah.
It's ridiculous.
I mean, you, know, the Review Board already cleared me.
Yeah, but, you know, the thing about therapy- if you put a little bit in, you get a lot out.
Yeah, well, the guy better sign the thing and get me out of there.
This threat matrix isn't quite right yet.
It's set to predict the unpredictable- terrorist attacks- but robberies, they're they have their own unique set of characteristics, you know? Why did you start out with the threat matrix to begin with? It was Millie's suggestion.
Oh.
So after all that kicking and screaming about the tuxedo, it sounds like you guys did some bonding.
Yeah, I mean, I have to say, it wasn't so bad, you know? I mean, you dazzle them with a little Pythagorean wit and their checkbooks crack open.
I'll tell you, if we can get this MacMillan pharmacokinetic modeling project, well, who knows what else the MacMillan Pharmaceuticals? Yeah.
What? I mean, they have a reputation for exploiting Third World countries.
They'll charge $500 for a vial of AIDS serum that costs 50 cents.
I didn't know that.
I'll talk to Millie about it.
I think that would be wise.
What's missing here? Something's missing here.
I don't know.
Uh, food? Where are those menus? Right.
That's it.
Hey, Dave, did you find anything on the money trail? Yeah.
I followed the phony Web site and credit card charges back to an anonymous offshore bank account in Nauru.
Nauru? A small island in the South Pacific.
Bank's refused to cooperate unless we can prove that specific deposits came from a felony.
We can't point to specific deposits if they won't let us look at the accounts.
And that particular Catch-22 has made the small island of Nauru a favorite financial center for all kinds of high-end lowlifes.
That's great.
Yeah, I came up empty on the ex-military angle, too.
Seems over the past 30 years, we've been a foreign exchange program for just about every country south of Texas.
Trained paramilitary groups, special forces- as soon as the country turns or the army stops paying A lot of unemployed soldiers who need work.
All right.
Maybe Charlie could help us narrow down the list.
So Amita and I adapted Homeland Security's threat matrix to examine these eight robberies by target, time, location, and security.
We came up with this list of similar targets.
Then we went even further, evaluating the restaurants in terms of architecture and access to fast escape routes.
It looks pretty much like the LAPD's list.
Right, so I figured I was on the right path, but set theory wasn't really working, so then I applied multidimensional graph Laplacians and PageRank matrices Yeah, that's what I would've done, too.
Well, of course you would've because that's a way to investigate a group of things, and identify their shared properties, right? Think about a refrigerator stocked with groceries- a steak, wine, apples, a pie.
Now, each of those items is unique and can be purchased at several different stores, but more likely, a family makes a single shopping trip.
You figured out where the robbers are shopping for their targets? Simon's L.
A.
Restaurant Guide.
Yeah.
The eight restaurants they attacked scored 93% or higher on food quality and price.
Cost I get- these guys, they're after the fattest credit cards.
And the higher the food scores, the trendier restaurant, the fattest credit cards.
And we used those variables to narrow it down even further.
So you think one of these restaurants is their next target? this site has the highest probability.
Lie down! What's happening? Lie down! What's Happening? Wallets, purses, cell phones.
Everything now! Now! Everything goes in the bag.
If you hold back, you'll get shot.
,I have a family.
Shut up! Let's go.
Quickly.
Don't shoot.
Don't shoot! Shut up! Three guns through the front door.
These guys didn't even bother with the couple in the back this time.
Double tap.
It looks like an execution.
They killed two cops to get away last time.
Wonder what this guy did? Could be trying to send us a message, you know.
Third World countries, paramilitaries and drug gangs, they'll execute civilians just to warn the local authorities if they don't back off, they got to expect more bodies.
Yeah, well, it ain't going to work here.
They didn't hit the most likely location.
Charlie, you got the date and time right, man, you just missed the exact place where they were going to hit, that's all.
No, no, I actually missed something else.
Look, this place barely showed up on my threat matrix.
If I'm off by this large a margin, there is no way I can pinpoint these attacks.
All right, Charlie, just relax, okay? First of all, it's not your fault, you know? Just keep working and do your thing.
I mean, come here, don't worry about it.
The State Department had no luck with Nauru.
Their courts turned down our application for bank records.
Island's whole economy is pinned on banking.
These guys are just protecting their asset.
Yeah, but they're making our life so difficult, 'cause with no account information, we have no identifiers.
There's no way to trace back to the killers.
Well, try Treasury.
I mean, we've shut down offshores before.
We just need a soft spot, someone in L.
A.
we can pressure.
You have a thing with the psychologist? Yeah.
I know this is just an appointment for you.
Okay.
But? But you never know what's going to happen till you walk in that door.
Think I need help? I don't think they've made the person yet who doesn't.
This is a waste of time.
Millie.
Hey.
Oh.
Professor Eppes.
What can I do for you? Oh.
How goes your threat matrixing? It didn't work.
Really? Oh, wow.
I thought it was a good approach.
Yeah, I know; so did I What do you know about MacMillan Pharmaceuticals? MacMillan- Oh, well, I know that their pharmacokinetic modeling could save the lives of the- what- who overdose on simple, over-the-counter painkillers every year.
That's what I know.
Well, did you know that drug companies exploit Third World countries.
They sell them overpriced and expired medication Look, these companies, they're not demons, they're not angels.
They are profit-seeking concerns- some better than others, some not so great.
It just seems to me that it should be as important to know where the money's been as where it's going.
I've done my homework, Charlie, thank you.
As corporations go, I would characterize them as relatively responsible now, all right? So don't worry.
Relative? Yeah.
Relative to what? See? I should've known better than to try to get that word past a fellow math geek, huh? Touché.
Have a seat.
No, I have the originals.
So Look, is there some kind of problem? There's not a problem.
FBI just wanted us to talk.
What about? Anything.
Look, I don't hate my dad, all right? I like women, I respect them as people, I don't get off on pulling my gun.
What else do you want to talk about? How do you feel when you pull your gun? Give me a break.
You brought it up.
Listen Yes, I shot Crystal Hoyle, a spree killer who kidnapped one of my agents and was driving straight at a roadblock with a car full of grenades.
There was a trained sniper on the scene.
An Agent, uh Edgerton.
Mm-hmm.
Why do you think he didn't take the shot? Well, uh, 'cause I took the shot first.
Because you're a better shot? No.
Oh, well, I don't get it.
Let me tell you something, all right? Every single day, I have to make decisions that effect a lot of people's lives.
Now, I don't expect you to understand that.
I expect you to just sign this document and let me get back to my job, please, sir.
Why do you think I wouldn't understand what you do? 'Cause it's not a textbook.
If you're not in it, it's impossible to explain.
ex Well, I wasn't in the FBI.
Yeah, well But I was undercover narcotics in East L.
A.
I did two years on a CRASH team in Compton, too.
Well, you know, I'm sorry.
I didn't know that.
No, you didn't.
You're gonna walk in here with no respect for my work, expecting me to respect yours.
No, man, that's not it.
It's just Thing is, I'm hung over, and I'm hungry, and you are my last session before lunch, and I was ready to run through a half dozen routine questions, listen to your routine answers, and walk you out that door, and now I don't know.
You got to take that? No, I don't.
So, I hear that, uh, you and Millie had a, uh, philosophical discussion about ends and means? What, do you and Millie just talk about me a lot? You're a very interesting pic, Charlie.
Yeah, so, what do you think about MacMillan Pharmaceuticals? What do you think? Oh.
Commerce versus ethics, huh? You know, I spent 30 years dealing with that very subject, and I still don't have a good answer, and I wouldn't trust anyone that said they did.
But if budget's not important, then you can judge a project on any grounds you want- you know, morals, ethics.
Of course, if I had turned down all those corporations with a spotty track record, a lot of low income housing would never have been built.
Well, Dad, if I take the money, then I'm just tacitly approving of their methods.
I feel if we can turn some of these giant corporations down, then we can get them to change their ways.
Oh, I applaud your idealism, Charlie.
Got it from you.
Experience has tempered my activism with pragmatism, and I would like to think the wisdom to continually balance the two.
And which way do you think this balances out? I have no idea, but right now, I'm just an angry renter, wondering when his landlord is gonna send the spider people around again.
You know what? I have to go.
Uh.
Don't worry.
I'll load the laundry.
Hey, where is everybody? Hey, what do you mean, they're working.
Hey, look, I know I screwed up.
Come on, hey, Charlie, look, seriously, with all you do for us? Well, my math wasn't wrong, but my assumptions were wrong.
You know, I assumed that all the data belonged to the same set.
Right.
I mean, it's like, it's like searching for a spider or its prey, by studying its web.
You see, we use tension values of the silk web, like vibrations and weather conditions, and other variables to reliably predict where the spider is and where the next insect is going to get tangled.
However, there are some species that build overlapping webs.
You see, I was assuming that only one robbery team was responsible for all that data, and that, that's where I was wrong.
So you're saying it's two teams working together? Not together, in tandem.
Right, planning together but executing separately.
That's all you need to do is untangle those webs.
Vamos! Andele! FBI! What's your name? What are you doing here? When did you When did you get in this country? You want to play games? What's your name? When did you enter the country? Why are you here? You can't talk? Come on, tell me.
Where you from? When did you sneak into this country? We've got to put an end to this.
You want to be in there? They're clearly trained in counter interrogation.
Probably by us.
See the way they're sitting, their body posture, they're refusing to make eye contact the tapping on the tables- they're just trying to throw off the interrogator's rhythm.
We're all operating off the same manuals.
All right, so, I mean, nobody's talking, right? No, we got no hits on Interpol, we got nothing on the U.
S.
database.
They're ghosts.
And your web thing, you think that's going to help us find the other team, or no? No, I doubt it.
By catching one team, we've already sort of changed the variables.
If there are more robberies, then, yeah, maybe I can revisit the threat matrix, but The minivan they used wasn't stolen.
The car registration came back to a Jaime Lopez, deceased.
So it's another dead end? Nah, not exactly.
In addition to robbing and killing, our guys are scofflaws.
Four parking tickets on the 900 block of Alvarado in the past five weeks.
And only six houses on that block are occupied, and four of the families have been there And one of the other two houses belongs to this guy- Bernardo Infante.
Should that name ring a bell? Only if you served in the Mexican Army.
Up until last year, he was a colonel in the Corps of Military Police.
Now, they regard interrogation as an art form, so he would be the guy to teach you how to resist it.
And what's he doing up here? Believe it or not, the guy's an elementary school teacher.
All right, go for it- shake him up, see what he does.
So what's eating you? Nothing.
Donny, even for you, this is taciturn.
I just got to go see this guy.
What guy? This hard-ass psychologist.
Because of the Hoyle shooting.
You know, like I'm trigger-happy or something.
Why, is that what he said? Basically.
And what did you say? I don't have time for this crap.
Well, maybe you ought to make time.
Yeah, well, here we go- what, you too? A) I don't see anything wrong with talking to someone.
And B) maybe he ought to understand that you're the one that will always take the shot.
Yeah, thank you, you know? I mean, I was doing my job.
Well, it's also Megan's job and David's job and Colby's.
It seems like you save all the dirty jobs for yourself.
Dad, I do what has to be done, period.
You know, it's not like I like doing the dirty work.
Don, I've always been proud of the way that you shoulder other people's burdens.
I mean, even when you were a kid and you sacrificed for Charlie.
But if you going to regard your life's work as just a series of dirty jobs then I think it's worth talking about.
I mean, to someone.
Don't.
FBI.
Agent Sinclair.
Agent Granger.
We need you to come downtown with us right now.
And then? Just stop moving, Señor Infante.
Don't make another move toward these kids.
What do you want? Are these friends of yours? No, are they friends of yours? We need you to come downtown.
We want to ask you a few questions about these people.
Those aren't people.
Death squads? ??? Men and women who kill outside the law.
No one kills outside the law.
Well, here, perhaps not.
In Mexico it's different.
I was a Colonel, and I had to watch these death squads work.
In one village, they killed every man, every woman and almost every child.
Do you know who the men in these death squads are? I know their type.
I trained their type.
Convincing myself that my only duty was to be a good soldier and follow orders.
This village that I mentioned, three young children survived.
That's six young eyes that saw the faces behind the masks.
Now, as a soldier, I had a choice to make.
Turn these children over to the death squads, or smuggle them to Los Angeles.
These men followed you all the way up north, for the children? They tried to wring words from a man who taught silence.
They would have killed me, but they knew if they did, my secret would die with me.
They watch me.
Waiting to see if I make a mistake.
Give over the ones that they want to kill.
So why the robberies? In Mexico, they killed farmers for coins in their cushions, or gold fillings in their teeth.
But here, they're with those with real money.
If you trained these men, did you teach them how to launder the money as well? There are lawyers here in Los Angeles, men who you go to when you need your money cleaned, to run your operations my operations.
We can help keep the children safe.
You can't keep your own police safe from these animals.
This is unbelievable.
All he gives us is a a list of lawyers? He doesn't trust us.
I mean, I don't agree with him butI understand him.
Right.
Got a file from the Treasury on our offshore.
These type of banks require a legal go-between to open an account.
It's called an Introducer.
What's an Introducer? It's a fence for rich people.
And for legit offshores, it's a way of insulating themselves from dirty money.
What about the ones that aren't legit? The ones that funnel stolen credit card charges from dummy Web sites? Well, they still need an Introducer, just one that's not so clean.
There's a list of dirty go-betweens for our offshore in there.
We have a match to Infante's list.
Yeah? Luis Salazar.
The DEA suspects he spent the better part of the '90s laundering drug money.
Contacts with paramilitaries The cartels hired them for their security.
Sounds like? Yeah, does it say where he is now? In a penthouse downtown.
Wow, help the cop killers and live the good life.
Hey, go pick him up.
Luis Salazar! FBI! We want to Unlocked door at the shady lawyer's apartment.
It's never a good sign.
The guy needs to hire a maid service.
Guy needs to hire an arsonist.
David I'm no doctor, but I don't think this guy died in his sleep.
Balistics matched the bullet in alazar's head to the ones used to kill the parking valet.
All right, so then how are we doing on the money trail? Salazar's murder gave us the wedge we needed with the offshore bank.
They handed over the transfer records this morning.
And we handed them over to Charlie this afternoon.
I mean, so that's the thing.
Why kill your bank contact if you're just going to steal more credit cards, right? The stolen credit cards charge large transactions through dummy online stores, who sends the money to an offshore bank in Nauru.
Right, and then we figure Don's postulate, that the money then headed to Mexico.
Okay.
Okay.
Charlie, there's just too much.
I mean, we can data-stream mine all day long and still not find a discernible pattern in all this muck.
No, I think it-it-it's No, we need something else.
We know how much and where it's going.
And the offshore bank sends the money into Mexico City, but you know, we're looking for a few hundred thousand dollars out of $40 billion of identical transfers.
Ah, you're right.
We need something else.
I talked to Millie and she's set on taking MacMillan's money.
And you're set against it.
Yeah, well, someone has to be.
I don't know.
I mean, literally, I do not know.
You both make such compelling points.
That's the paradox.
It just seems like everyone's right.
I mean, I just- still I think I need to go to that meeting with my eyes and my mind wide open.
And what if you don't like what they have to say? Well, then Millie's out of luck.
Fair enough.
Since when did you become my conscience? Around the same time we started making out.
Oh, hi, Millie.
I, I was going to cook for you, you know, 'cause you always cook- you're such a good cook- and then I realized I don't cook.
Ah.
Well, I have been known to eat an occasional pi- uh, uh, pi-pizza once in a while.
Thank you.
No, no, I mean, thanks for the food.
No, well, thank you for the haven.
Yeah, well, um You know, I really thought that I was ready for this, but the politics are killing me.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I mean- and no offense, but the geniuses are exhausting.
Go ahead, tell me about it.
But of, of course I had, um, a lot of help Hey, Dad.
Hey, where's Charlie? Oh.
Hi, Millie.
It's all right.
Uh, we w- we were just, uh, going to have a, uh, a, um Pizza.
Hey, what's happening, man? So, listen.
Oh, hey, Millie, good.
You know what? I left you a message.
I know; I got it, Charlie.
Listen, I have some concerns.
Can I talk to you one second? I have some concerns.
I know; it's just one second.
I have serious concerns.
I don't think she's here for you.
Oh.
Right? And it, and it- the thing is broken and I don't even know how to fix it and you're the only one probably, so, uh Oh.
Thanks.
We'll just be outside.
Ah you know what, it's poetic justice 'cause he walks in on me and Amita all the time.
Right, look, we just got to cut him some slack, I think, you know? Cut him some slack? Man, he's dating my boss, all right? So I'm allowed to have my issues.
Ah, I understand.
Hey, look, you can take my shrink appointment.
Shrink appointment? Yeah.
They're making me see a therapist.
Are they really? This post-shooting thing.
Which shooting? I mean, there, there have been a few.
Don't tell me you haven't noticed.
What do you mean? Of course I've noticed.
I mean Anywho.
So what's going on with that money trail? It's not a trail, it's a damn river.
Upstream.
Swimming upstream.
What? Wait a minute.
W-What are you talking about? I gotta go find Amita.
Now, even after the bank in Nauru gave us access to their accounts, we still lost track of the money in the massive transfer to Mexico.
Most of the money stayed in Mexico.
In a death squad retirement plan, I guess.
But some of it had to return to Los Angeles to keep the robbers in business.
Okay, so they're living off the land? Well, death squads can't be cheap, so to find the returning money, it was a matter of using an optimization model, something called Outlier Detection.
Oh, boy.
No, no, it's not a big deal because Charlie helped develop it for the Treasury Department's Terrorist Financial Tracking Program.
Right, you see, at first we were doing a "brute force" search in which you cast a net over a river of information and you try to catch everything.
Outlier Detection, however, is target specific.
It's like fly fishing in the data stream, choosing a spot by spawning behavior, selecting the right bait, a method in which we were able to cast our rod in the spot we wanted and catch the exact type of fish we needed.
Now, knowing the exact variables- how much stolen money existed, the robbery dates, where the transfer originated from- we were able to zero in on seven wire transfers from Nauru to an East L.
A.
wire office.
Well, the transfers weren't exact matches for the numbers or times, but they fit a general pattern.
To pick up a wire transfer, you need a driver's license, right? Isn't this the same woman that David tried to interrogate? Yeah, it is.
Her name is Maria Campos.
AFI report from Mexico.
Maria Campos is married to one Hector Campos.
Ex-Fuerzas Especiales, did a training program at Fort Ord in '93.
Supports the ex-military angle, right? Yeah, he specialized in commanding two-team black ops.
It's a family business.
He runs one team, lets his wife run the other.
It's got to be him.
Trying to kill three kids.
I mean, the border patrol has him coming up a couple of months ago one way.
Mexican authorities haven't seen him, no sign of a return, and Maria Campos gave the wire transfer office an address in East L.
A.
Colby and David are on their way over.
Excellent.
All right.
FBI! Search warrant! FBI! Clear.
Smells like gun cleaner.
Yeah, it's strong, too.
All clear, sir.
Well, that team we took down, they had a P90, right? Uh-huh, but they only had one.
We got about 300, 400 rounds missing out of these boxes.
These guys are all armed up now.
All right, take a look at this.
They got the restaurants they hit marked in this book with about half a dozen others.
Oh, have a look at that.
You recognize that? Is that Infante's school? Yeah.
These guys have killed entire villages.
Everyone? Everyone.
Run! Run! Run! Go! Go! Don't move! Down! Run! Go! Go! Call the paramedics! Hey, guys, it's okay.
It's okay; come here.
Professor Eppes.
Hello.
A true pleasure to meet you.
Pleasure to meet you.
MacMillan Pharmaceuticals could not be happier to have you involved.
Oh, well Uh, Mr.
Meisner and I were just finalizing the funding and clinical trial schedule.
In all honesty, Professor, I could not see this project going forward without you.
Mm-hm, which is why Cal Sci will administer the trials and monitor the drug every step of the way.
Well, not all.
MacMillan will do its own in-house trials.
No, uh-uh.
Everything goes through Cal Sci.
In fact, all the computational analysis will be carried out by Professor Eppes and his staff.
Sorry, that's just the way we roll here.
I'll have to run that by my people.
Oh, no, of course; yeah, run that by Oh, and while you're running stuff by, run by them that five percent of the gross of the profits will go towards a group of Third World AIDS organizations that Professors Eppes and Ramanajun will be putting together for you.
Uh, five percent? Gross, not net.
We barely have a profit margin as it is.
Mr.
Meisner, a pharmaceutical company with no profit margin? Come on.
I can't agree to that.
Sure you can.
You can if you want the participation of Professor Eppes.
Isn't that right, Professor? That's right.
Oh, relax, Mr.
Meisner.
greatest mathematical minds is worth a whole lot more than 100% of nothing.
I'll call you.
Pleasure.
Thank you, sir.
What just happened here? Well, you made my life a little more difficult and a lot more interesting.
Well, I pretty much can say the same thing about you.
Yeah? Hey.
Agent Eppes.
You got any, uh, time, by any chance? Uh, well, if you don't mind hanging out for a while, I'll shake loose ten minutes and sign you off.
No, well, I mean, I wakind of hoping for a little more than that.
I'm pretty booked today.
I mean, just a half hour would be great.
You know, I'll hang out or whatever you want.
You gotta take that? Uh Nah.
Okay.
Thanks.