[The episode commences with the song, "Unknown Thought," by Pearl Jam. It is daytime and a mailman is walking down the street as Celia is coming out of her home. The mailman smiles as she greets him. He hands her one envelope. She opens it and begins to read.]
AGENT GOUGH: [voice] Dear Celia, I don't know your last name and I don't know where you live. But I know you have two young boys. Twins, I believe. And I know you didn't have a flash-forward.
[Switch to various scenes as Unknown Thought is playing. Azure ocean waters, on a sunny day with a mountain to the right. Switch as Aaron walks into a room, stops and watches Tracy sleep. Switch to Demetri as he focuses on the board in Mark's office. He is in deep thought. Switch to the porch of Celia's house. There are many reporters with microphones and cameras. Celia is showing Al's letter to the press. Switch to a Los Angeles Post newspaper box. A picture of Celia is on the front page along with the headline, "The Future Can Be Changed."]
All the thoughts you never see
You are always thinking
Brain is wide, the brain is deep
Oh, are you sinking?
Feel the path of every day
Which road you taking?
Breathing hard, making hay
Yeah, this is living.
[Switch to a hotel along the coastline. Waves are gently breaking on the sand. Olivia is standing on a balcony looking at the water. She walks back into the room. Mark is lying on the bed. Olivia leans over him and they kiss. Switch to the side of a mountain where Nicole is standing at a lookout point over the ocean.]
Feel the air up above
Oh, pool of blue sky
Fill the air up with love
All black with starlight
Dream the dreams of other men
You'll be no one's rival
Dream the dreams of others then
You will be no one's rival
[Switch to Nicole working at the hospital. As she passes a bulletin board, a poster has caught her eye. It reads, "Sanctuary, There is a New Way." She takes the poster from the bulletin board. Switch to Bryce sketching at the nurses' station. Switch to Lloyd and Dylan in is hospital room where Lloyd is doing card tricks for Dylan. Switch to a FB corridor where Janis is greeted by many co-workers. There is a large banner that reads, "Welcome Back Janis." Wedeck walks to Janis, kisses her cheek then hugs her.]
Nothing there, nothing here
Nothing left, nothing left
Ohhhhh
A distant time, a distant space
That's where we're living
A distant time, a distant place
So what ya giving?
[Switch to news broadcast. A photograph of the front page of the Los Angeles Times with Celia is shown as two men speak. Lloyd is in Dylan's hospital room reading the newspaper as the news is aired on the TV.]
NEWS REPORTER: They all saw Agent Al Gough alive and well on April 29th. What this guy apparently was trying to show us is we can't take what we saw for granted.
PUNDIT: OK, bottom line is, this is a new world. This is a new day and I just think we need to take a moment and let that sink in.
[Lloyd is watching the newscast. He looks over at the monitor of his laptop. An E-mail he has composed is on the screen.
To:[email protected], [email protected], [only el is shown of the 3rd address] [email protected].
Subject: We have to take responsibility.
Body: //ssw-fileserver/datassw/documents83479.pdf
Lloyd Simcoe
The newscast continues as Lloyd pays close attention to the conversation.]
NEWS REPORTER: What we need to have answered right now is the question, "Is there going to be another world blackout?"
PUNDIT: Hmm.
NEWS REPORTER: People are terrified.
PUNDIT: Let's get back to the big question.
NEWS REPORTER: What big question?
PUNDIT: Do we have free will?
NEWS REPORTER: That's the big question?
PUNDIT: Possibly the central question of human existence for millennia.
[Lloyd sends the E-mail and receives confirmation, "Message Sent." The 3rd address is seen in the shot. It is [email protected]." Switch to Janis in Wedeck's office. Wedeck is working with his computer. She places her gun and badge on his desk, and then clears her throat. Wedeck looks then contuse to work.]
WEDECK: If this is supposed to be your resignation, you can forget it.
JANIS: You're not even gonna let me explain myself?
WEDECK: You were attacked. You were shot. You returned to duty to find out a co-worker jumped off a building.
[Wedeck looks at Janis.]
WEDECK: Am I in the right ballpark here?
JANIS: My life's not making a whole lot of sense right now and I think I need a little time off to figure it out.
WEDECK: Totally understandable. But, uh, I need you here.
JANIS: I know we've been shorthanded since the blackout. But ever since Gough, [pause] since Al…
[In the background is a snippet of Al standing on the ledge of the FBI building then falling off. Real time.]
WEDECK: This isn't about Al.
JANIS: Yes, it is. When I found out about what he did, and why he did it, it just really made me think about my own future. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Do I lean into what I saw? Do I fight it? What if my getting shot was [pause] some, I don't even know, some sort of a sign that this baby's not meant to be?
WEDECK: You're gonna let a bullet decide whether or not you bring a baby into this world? [pause] If Al's death proved anything, it's that our choices still matter, now more than ever.
[Switch to Dylan's room at the hospital.]
LLOYD: Well, I believe without reservation or recrimination that your card is [quickly] the ace of spades.
[Dylan is agape as Lloyd produces the aced of spade from behind Dylan's head. Dylan smiles and claps his hands. Lloyd is laughing.]
SIMON: Well that certainly answers that question. I've been wondering how a Nobel finalist and the recipient of the MacArthur prize spends his idle moments.
[Lloyd stands up and walks toward Simon.]
LLOYD: This isn't the time or the place, Simon.
SIMON: You've dropped off the radar, Lloyd without so much as a phone call. I've had to check myself into the hospital to have my bruised ego x-rayed. [looks around Lloyd] Hello, Dylan. Remember me?
[Dylan continues to shuffle the cards. Simon tries to get Dylan's attention.]
SIMON: [silly voice] Why, this is not my pancake!
LLOYD: [sternly] We're not having this discussion in front of my son.
[Lloyd and Simon step out into the corridor.]
SIMON: Yea, well, I'm done having you dictate when and where we talk. Myhill forwarded the E-mail you sent him or should I call it a suicide note?
LLOYD: It's the only logical move.
SIMON: [sarcastically] If you're hell-bent on self destruction, then yes, I suppose it is. But I still have doubts as to the cause of the blackout.
LLOYD: Our experiment killed twenty million people, Simon. Twenty million.
[Simon turns his head and rolls his eyes.]
LLOYD: The world has been upended. People need answers. We have to go public and tell the world that we caused the blackout.
[Simon stares at Lloyd. Switch to hotel room with Olivia sitting up in bed, resting her head on the headboard.]
OLIVIA: All right. I guess we have to leave this room sometime.
MARK: No. no, no, no, no, no, no. I have a reservation with the hotel that says different.
OLIVIA: Oh.
[Marks drinks from a cup of coffee.]
MARK: Plus, you haven't opened your gift yet.
[Mark reaches over and shows Olivia a nicely wrapped present.]
OLIVIA: Mm, what's this?
[Mark teases Olivia by keeping the present just out of her reach.]
MARK: Just a little something to celebrate.
[Olivia wrests the present from Mark.]
OLIVIA: And what are we celebrating.
MARK: Second chances, I guess [pause] and the fact that we can change the things we saw.
[Olivia gently strokes the back of Mark's neck.]
OLIVIA: I never thought we couldn't, Mark.
[Mark takes Olivia's hand from his neck and kisses it. The ringing of a cell phone interrupts them. Olivia hands Mark his cell phone.]
MARK: That's the office.
MARK: I told them not to call unless it was an emergency. I promise.
OLIVIA: Mm hmm.
[Mark exhales deeply and answers the phone.]
MARK: Yeah.
DEMETRI: Hey, it's me.
MARK: This better be good, Dem.
[Demetri is looking at the monitor of his laptop. He is at work.]
DEMETRI: Yeah, I'm sorry man. Um, something came up. Did you bring your laptop?
MARK: Yeah.
DEMETRI: I'm sending you some video we got from Barstow P.D. this morning.
[Switch to the hotel room. Demetri's voice is heard as Mark sets up his laptop.]
DEMETRI: Remember when you had Marcie plug in all the clues off the Mosaic board into N.C.I.C.?
MARK: You've got something?
DEMETRI: Yeah. Barstow P.D. caught a homicide. Eyewitness managed to record it on her cell phone.
[The video shows tow men having an altercation with a third man who is holding on to a small attaché. The two men are beating the third man.]
DEMETRI: When it hit the system, N.C.I.C. kicked back a red flag.
MARK: Why?
DEMETRI: Stay tuned, man.
[Mark continues to watch the video. One man wrests the attaché from the third man, hands it to the second man, and then shoots the third man. Another graphic is displayed. At the bottom is, "Image Enhanced." It is the arm of the shooter. It has a tattoo of three stars. As Mark stares at the monitor, a snippet of his flash-forward is shown. It is the part where two armed masked men are in his office on April 29, 2010. The red line from the laser sights is shown, then the mask then the arm with the same three starred tattoo. Real time.]
MARK: I'm headed back right now.
[Mark looks over at Olivia then back to the monitor.]
FLASHFORWARD
[Switch to Mark and Demetri walking through the atrium at the FBI building.]
MARK: What do we have? Anything that might help us I.D. our tattooed friend?
DEMETRI: Not really. The victim, Neil Parofsky, is an aeronautics engineer who works out of a plant in El Segundo. Watch and wallet were missing, so everybody's thinking robbery.
MARK: Is that confirmed by whoever shot the cell phone video?
DEMETRI: Uh, Ingrid Alvarez. Yeah, she saw Parofsky hand something over before he got shot, so she thought it was a mugging, too.
MARK: Great.
[The two men walk into Mark's office.]
MARK: First day back?
[Janis is startled then turns around. She was reading the board.]
MARK: I should have gotten you flowers.
JANIS: They're for your wife …
[Janis hands a bouquet of flowers to Mark.]
MARK: Aww.
[Mark and Janis hug.]
JANIS: …for stitching me back together. And these are for you.
[Janis hands a manila folder to Mark.]
JANIS: Hard copy stills taken from that cell phone. Video forensics enhanced the images as best they could.
[Mark fingers thru the photographs as Demetri watches. Mark stops at a forearm photograph with the three tattooed stars. Snippet from Mark's flash-ward, shows a piece of paper with three stars, forearm with tattoo, red laser sight lines, paper with three stars.]
DEMETRI: So now we just gotta figure out why someone would want to hit an engineer from El Segundo.
MARK: Have Vreede get into Parofsky's life, friends, family, bank accounts, whatever.
[Mark pins a photograph of the tattooed forearm to the board.]
DEMETRI: All right. What are we gonna do?
MARK: What was the name of that eyewitness?
DEMETRI: Uh, Ingrid Alvarez.
MARK: We'll be talking to her. If the guy in her video is one of the men I saw in my vision, this is our best lead so far, our only lead. I'm putting him away now. Find out who sent him and make sure he never shows up here on April 29th. [pause] Al sacrificed himself to prove we could change the future.
[Switch to the hospital. Olivia is sitting in her office. She opens the gift Mark gave her.]
MARK: [voice only] So let's change it.
[Olivia opens the box to find a lacy black bra with matching panties. Snippet from Olivia's flash-forward shows her getting up from her bed and then looking down into the living room as she says, "Hey, honey." She is wearing these two pieces of lingerie. Real time. She holds the bra for a second, puts it down and puts her hand under her chin. She is looking at the lingerie in the box. Bryce stands at the door her office.]
BRYCE: Everything okay?
[Olivia quickly folds the red tissue paper over the lingerie.]
OLIVIA: Hey.
BRYCE: You're uh, you're back early.
[Olivia closes the box.]
OLIVIA: Yeah. Uh, Mark had a w, work thing.
[Olivia puts the box in a desk drawer, gets up and joins Bryce.]
OLIVIA: So what's going on here?
BRYCE: Oh, the usual.
[Olivia puts on her lab coat and they walk down a corridor.]
BRYCE: You haven't been gone that long.
[Switch to Aaron's house. Tracy is lying on the sofa bed crying. She is still asleep. She is having a bad dream. She is in the humvee as a Jericho man aims a grenade launcher at the vehicle she is struggling to get out. She grapples with the door handle, the grenade is launched, she screams. Abruptly she wakes up, still screaming. She sits up and is crying loudly. Aaron rushes to her side and tries to comfort her.]
AARON: It's all right. It's all right. It's all right.
[Aaron hugs Tracy as she cries.]
AARON: It's all right. It's all right. It's all right.
[Tracy wakes up and pushes Aaron away.]
TRACY: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
AARON: Tracy…
TRACY: I'm sorry.
[Tracy gets off the sofa and gets her crutches. She continues to cry.]
AARON: Tr, Tracy! Trace. Trace.
[Tracy hobbles away. She is missing her right leg below the knee.]
TRACY: It's pathetic waking up every damn day like this.
[She sits at the table and fumbles as she puts her leg prosthesis on.]
AARON: Maybe if you'd just talk about it…
TRACY: [interrupts] I told you. I don't want to talk about it.
[Aaron gets up and walks to the table where Tracy is still fumbling with her prosthesis.]
AARON: Well, I'm not giving you a choice anymore. I've been grieving for you for two years, Trace. Hell, I even had, had your grave exhumed two months ago because I was convinced that you were, you were alive.
[Tracy walks back to the sofa bed, grabs a pillow, hugs it then sits down. She is crying.]
AARON: If you want to keep hiding out here, if you want me to pretend to the world, your mom included, that you're still dead, you have to tell me what happened. After what I saw in my flash-forward, I'd believe anything at this point. Listen to me Trace, four months from now, I'm gonna be sitting by your side in Afghanistan. You saw it and I saw it. Isn't that why you came home? Obviously at some point, I'm gonna get involved, wh, whatever it is. So let's just cut to the chase and get started.
[Tracy and Aaron look at each other. Switch to the hospital.]
OLIVIA: How about the Simcoe boy? He was supposed to be discharged while I was gone.
BRYCE: Not yet. He was complaining of calf pain, so we removed the cast, did a Doppler and the kid's got a D.V.T.
OLIVIA: You're kidding me.
[Bryce shakes his head indicating no.]
OLIVIA: Man, I'm going to be a grandmother before this boy goes home.
BRYCE: I don't get it. Why are you so anxious to get rid of him? Is it his dad, Mr. Simcoe?
OLIVIA: What makes you say that?
BRYCE: Just that you guys have a weird relationship. I mean, every time he comes around, you get crazy tense, and …
LLOYD: Dr. Benford? Uh, actually, Dr. Varley just told me about Dylan's status, but uh, what exactly are the ramifications?
[Simon interrupts and is reading from Dylan's chart.]
SIMON: Would it be safe to leave the boy's bedside for a while? I see here that you have him on Heparin. Now the risk of complications at that dose is relatively minimal. Is that correct?
OLIVIA: I'm sorry. And you are?
LLOYD: A good question.
SIMON: I'm a friend of the family. Frankly, I was hoping to pry Lloyd away from the hospital for a while, steak dinner, some fraternal martinis.
[Simon opens the chart and reads more.]
SIMON: Do you think you could see fit to sanction that? I mean, the boy is essentially ready to be discharged, if I've read his chart correctly.
[Olivia motions to get the chart from Simon.]
OLIVIA: May I?
[Olivia reads the chart.]
OLIVIA: Uh, yeah. Barring any complications, I see no reason why Dylan couldn't go home in the next couple of days.
SIMON: Well, it's settled then. Lloyd, you've been absolved of any guilt, parental or otherwise.
LLOYD: Lovely. [to Olivia] Thank you very much for your help.
SIMON: [smirks] Mm hmm.
OLIVIA: Of course. Dr. Varley.
[Olivia and Bryce leave Lloyd and Simon by walking down away from them.]
SIMON: Nice legs. Are you sleeping with that woman?
LLOYD: That is none of your concern, Simon.
[Simon is still watching Olivia as she walks away.]
SIMON: Everything you do is my concern now since you pressed "Send" on that idiotic E-mail of yours which brings me to the purpose of my visit.
[Simon grabs Lloyd's elbow and guides him the opposite way down the corridor. Soon, the turn left from the corridor.]
LLOYD: I'm going public with or without Myhill's cooperation or yours.
SIMON: Good luck getting anyone to believe you without it.
[Lloyd stops walking and turns face to face with Simon.]
LLOYD: [defiantly] Good luck stopping me.
SIMON: Well, it appears we're at an impasse. There are two ways to settle this. The first is oh, so tawdry and public. I make a general annoyance out of myself, kick over as many anthills as possible…
LLOYD: [interrupts] Enough, Simon.
SIMON: Or we settle this in a more, civilized manner.
LLOYD: Define "civilized."
SIMON: Do you remember how we settled whose name would go first on the application for the Sloan Fellowship?
[A poker game, in progress, is shown in the background as Simon and Lloyd continue to speak.]
SIMON: Texas Hold 'em, no holds barred. You win, we go public, hang ourselves out to dry. I win, you keep your mouth shut and your guilt in check, and we buy ourselves some more time.
LLOYD: [scoffs] You want to wager the fate of millions of people on the outcome of a poker game?
SIMON: The Gods did it all the time; dice, chess, whatever took their fancy. They loved tinkering with the lives of those mere mortals.
LLOYD: We're not Gods, Simon.
SIMON: Twenty million deaths on our shoulders. Isn't that what you said? If that doesn't qualify us for Godhood, tell me, what does?
[The poker game is in real time now. Simon is at one end of the poker table and Lloyd is at the other. Two men sit between them. The dealer is ready. Simon is fiddling with some chips.]
SIMON: Let the games begin.
[Switch to a street with several police cars. Several people are watching the activity. Mark and Demetri park their car and walk toward one of the police vehicles. Janis is with them.]
DEMETRI: Hey, what is Barstow P.D. doing here?
MARK: Let's hope three star guy didn't get to our witness.
JANIS: Do you think she drives a gold sedan?
MARK: Maybe not anymore.
[The driver's door is open and a dead female body is partially out of the car. Below the waist is in the car while above the waist is lying on the sidewalk. Mark introduces himself to a detective from the Barstow P.D.]
MARK: [extends hand] Special Agent Benford, FBI.
DECTIVE MALCHIODI: Detective Rick Malchiodi, Barstow P.D.
MARK: We think your victim might be an eyewitness in a homicide.
DECTIVE MALCHIODI: That's a hell of a coincidence.
MARK: How's that?
DECTIVE MALCHIODI: Her roommate said she witnessed a homicide, too.
MARK: Her roommate?
DECTIVE MALCHIODI: Yeah. Uh, Alvarez. Ingrid Alvarez.
[Ingrid Alvarez is sitting by a tree. A police officer and a neighbor try to comfort her.]
DECTIVE MALCHIODI: Came home from work, found her roommate there, double-tapped to the side of her head. So looks like they got the wrong roommate, huh?
[Switch to the poker game. Simon checks his cards. A game is in progress.]
SIMON: I believe it's to you. How much money you want to give me this round?
LLOYD: Twenty five hundred.
SIMON: I hope you don't drag this game out as long as the last one.
[Lloyd knocks on the table, the next man knocks on the table, the third man waves indicating no card requested, Simon stands pat. The dealer deals one more card out.]
SIMON: [sarcastically] When you lose, you'll be able to console yourself that I've prevented you from confessing to a mass murder.
[The two men look at Simon.]
SIMON: Manchester figure of speech. Twenty-five hundred. I'll call.
[Lloyd shows his cards, which show his loss. Switch to the FBI building. Mark, Demetri, Janis and Ingrid Alvarez are in a conference room. Ingrid is sitting at the head of the table.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: I don't understand. You're saying they killed Blanca, but they were trying to kill me.
MARK: That's what it looks like to us, yes.
INGRID ALVAREZ: And it's because of what happened in the alley?
JANIS: Now, Ingrid, what exactly did happen in the alley? We have the video, but it would really help us to get your account.
INGRID ALVAREZ: I was working late, me and one of my clerks.
[As Ingrid recounts the events on the evening in question, they are shown in the background. The shop is, "Birds Plus."]
CLERK: Can't say I see you as a blonde Miss Alvarez.
INGRID ALVAREZ: And I can't see you as a rock star, but that's what you say your vision was.
INGRID ALVAREZ: [real time voice] I was locking up for the night.
CLERK: You want me to walk you to your car? I mean, it's kind of late.
INGRID ALVAREZ: I'll be fine.
[They walk in opposite direction of each other.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: [real time voice] I went to my car, but there were men in the alley, three of them. They were fighting, arguing, but I couldn't hear what about. But when it got physical, I hid.
ATTACKER 1: I said, where is he? Where is he?
[Attacker 1 slaps the victim in the face. Ingrid ducks down by the driver's side of her car. She folds the side view mirror flat. Attacker 1 starts beating the victim. Real time.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: I called 9-1-1 but they put me on hold. I still can't believe I stayed calm enough to think to use my phone.
[Scene at the alley as she continues. She turns on the video camera in her cell phone and records what is happening among the three men. The victim is standing against a brick wall as Attacker 1 aims a handgun at him.]
VICTIM: [begging] No! Please don't!
[Attacker one shoots and kills the victim. Ingrid ducks below the side window of her car. She is so scared she is crying. The two attackers walk away.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: My hand was shaking so much.
JANIS: Now you told the police the victim gave the other men something right before they shot him?
[As Ingrid speaks the incident is played again in the background. One man is beating the victim unmercifully. The other attacker is inspecting a small attaché.
INGRID ALVAREZ: [real time voice] They were arguing about a case or something. But I didn't see what it was.
DEMETRI: [real time] What about the faces of the other men? Do you think you could describe them?
INGRID ALVAREZ: I didn't get a very good look.
[The attackers are calming leaving the scene of the shooting. Ingrid is speaking in real time.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: But I think one of them maybe had gray hair. The other one was bald and he was big, muscular. [real time] It was very dark.
MARK: We're gonna sit you down with a sketch artist, all right?
[Ingrid nods yes.]
MARK: Whatever you can give us, if you can remember anything else, it could be a big help.
[Ingrid nods yes again.]
MARK: Okay.
[The incident is played in the background. The two men are talking to each other as they leave the alley. Ingrid is speaking in her real time voice.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: As they were walking away they were talking about something. [real time] It sounded like, "Q.E.D."
[Mark looks at Janice then Ingrid.]
MARK: Thank you.
[Switch to the poker game. The dealer deals out cards. The man to Mark's left tosses the cards indicating he is out of this hand. Simon is fiddling with some chips. The man who is out of the hand speaks.]
CARD PLAYER 1: You guys ever read about that inevitability index thing that's been in all the papers?
LLOYD: Five thousand.
SIMON: [smugly] It's a scam. Some entrepreneurial huckster's attempt to sell us on the idea that the odds of the future happening can be "calculated." It's all rubbish. Fate is fate. We're not responsible, Lloyd.
LLOYD: What about free will?
SIMON: No such thing.
LLOYD: Oh, since when did you become such a hard determinist?
SIMON: [smugly] Simple quantum suicide theory. I will win this hand and every subsequent hand we play, ad infinitum. Q.E.D.
LLOYD: Don't you get tired of hearing yourself pontificate?
SIMON: [angry] Don't you get tired of being a self-righteous prig? We're scientists, Lloyd, not attention-seeking reality show contestants looking for their fifteen minutes of fame on a talk show.
LLOYD: You always do this.
SIMON: What's that?
LLOYD: Use intellectual argument to defend your behavior.
SIMON: What?
LLOYD: Okay, so you sleep with Cabrini's wife, and you call it electromagnetism. You fire your assistant and blame it on Darwin.
SIMON: Shut up, Lloyd.
LLOYD: And now you've upended the entire world, and you hide behind determinist rhetoric.
SIMON: [angry] You’re not the only one who's lost someone, Lloyd.
LLOYD: Oh who, Simon? Who have you ever cared about?
SIMON: I'll call.
[Lloyd throws his cards down and is out of the game. Simon wickedly smiles at Lloyd.]
SIMON: [deeper smugness] You see, I knew you were bluffing this entire time. You know why? Because there's no such thing as luck or fate or "There but for the grace of God." This game is pointless. I've already won. The future's already happened.
[Switch to a snippet from Nicole's flash forward. She is being held under water against her will.]
SIMON: [Simon's voice] Fighting is futile.
[Nicole is sitting at a table at the hospital. She is staring at nothing.]
OLIVIA: Hey, Nicole. Nicole? Hey, you okay?
NICOLE: Sorry. My mind wandered.
[Quick snippet of Nicole being held underwater.]
NICOLE: I'm guessing Mark told you what I saw.
OLIVIA: He did, yeah, but only 'cause he's worried about you. We both are.
NICOLE: You don't have to be. I'm gonna be fine. The future can change. It's all over the news.
NURSE: [to Nicole] Hey, crazy-huge floral delivery for the quintuplets. Can you give me a hand?
OLIVIA: Go, go, go.
[Nicole gets up to help the nurse.]
NICOLE: Don't worry, Olivia. You know, we can change what we saw. Just like we could before the blackout, everything's back to being up to us again.
[Olivia says nothing. Switch to Aaron's house. He is sitting at a table.]
TRACY: Dad
[Tracy walks to the table and stops.]
TRACY: My humvee got attacked.
AARON: Yeah. Your friend Mike told me that. But that was two years ago, Tracy. Why didn't you go back to your base?
TRACY: I couldn't. The attack, we were fired on by supposed friendlies.
AARON: Marines?
TRACY: Jericho, P.M.C., Private Military Contractors.
AARON: Yeah, I've heard about the, but that doesn't explain why…
TRACY: Jericho works for the military, which means that I can't trust the military.
AARON: Whoa, hold on a second. W, why would you say you can't trust the military?
TRACY: About two weeks before my humvee was attacked, I was working long-range recon on this village in the foothills near Kunar. I was alone. Orders were to stay covert so the locals wouldn't see me, but there must have been someone else out there.
AARON: Jericho.
TRACY: [nods] And I watched them. I watched as they wiped out a village. They killed women and they butchered children. They slaughtered them.
AARON: Why? Why would they want to do that?
TRACY: I don't know, but I told my superior officer, and about a week later…
[Afghanistan scene plays as Tracy speaks. The humvee is chasing a white SUV on a dirt road.]
TRACY: …Mike and I pulled duty at a forward roadblock near the Kalikata mountains. Out of nowhere, a Haji truck breached our roadblock. We took off after them.
[The incident continues to be shown. Mike is driving the humvee.]
TRACY: [Afghanistan] Damn!
MIKE: Embrace the suck, Stark.
[Mike laughs then quickly pounds on the brakes. The humvee skids a bit to the side of the road.]
MIKE: Who the hell are these guys? They're not Hajis.
TRACY: Burro, Burro! We're gonna get whacked. Get out! Go! Get out!
[Mike and the soldiers in the back seat quickly exit the humvee. Tracy's door is stuck and will not open. Into the humvee, a Jericho man fires a grenade. Tracy screams. The humvee explodes and a massive fireball rises up in the sky. The firing of automatic weapons is heard. Tracy is laying on the ground unconscious. She slowly regains consciousness.]
TRACY: [real time voice] I don't know how I survived. I thought I was the only one.
[Tracy tries to move and is writhing in agony. Her right leg has been blown off at the knee. She rolls herself over and tries to crawl away. Finally, she just lies there and screams for help. Switch to Mark parking his car and quickly exiting. He gets in the passenger side of Aaron's truck, which is also parked.]
MARK: What's been going on? You sounded a little freaked when you called. Did you slip or something?
AARON: No, no, no, no. I, just, uh, look. I didn't believe it myself.
[Aaron takes out his cell phone and hands it to Mark..]
AARON: I took this picture at my house.
[Mark takes the phone and looks at a picture of Tracy standing with her crutches. Mark forwards to another picture.]
MARK: Oh! My! God! It's Tracy.
[Aaron smiles.]
MARK: How?
AARON: How??? Tracy would kill me if she knew I was talking to you but, she was, she was in a humvee with three other soldiers. It got blown to hell, a bloody mess. Body parts everywhere, including her leg. The DNA, …
MARK: Right.
AARON: … it got basically thrown into the mix.
MARK: Then where has she, [pause] wh, what has she been doing for the past two years?
AARON: This is what I need to talk to you about. Basically she's been on the run. She saw something she shouldn't have and got in trouble with Jericho. They're this…
MARK: Yeah, military contractors.
AARON: Yeah. They were the ones who attacked her. I, I know this sounds like something out of a Baldacci novel or something, but [pause] Tracy was dead and now she's alive. So I, uh, I really need your help, Mark, 'cause Tracy's scared to death of these Jericho guys and I'm afraid they're gonna try and find her.
[Switch to the Benford residence. Olivia is sitting on the bed doing paperwork. Mark takes of his jacket and puts down his gun.]
OLIVIA: You all right?
MARK: Yeah. [long pause] Saw something today and it got me thinking that if this person's future could come true, and it did, even though it seemed impossible, then maybe these visions are more set in stone than we thought.
OLIVIA: Or maybe we have to work that much harder.
MARK: You’re right. You're right.
[Mark lays on the bed, resting his head on Olivia's thigh. He looks at the papers she was working with.]
MARK: Hey, did you open my gift?
OLIVIA: Oh. They're lovely.
MARK: You didn't put 'em on?
OLIVIA: I figured you'd just take 'em right off again.
MARK: [chuckles] Right.
OLIVIA: We can change things, Mark.
[As Olivia speaks, we see the janitor cleaning in the hospital. He is emptying Olivia's trash basket. The gift box and lingerie are in the trash basket.]
OLIVIA: We just have to decide how badly we want to. How far we're willing to go to make it happen. But I say there's nothing, nothing that we shouldn't be willing to do for one another.
[Mark holds Olivia's hand, pondering. Switch to Wedeck's office at the FBI building.]
WEDECK: So what are you suggesting?
MARK: Set a trap for our suspects. Draw 'em out.
WEDECK: I know a lot's changed lately, but we still don't use civilians as bait.
MARK: Ingrid knows the risks.
WEDECK: Then work the case. Work, work the, the Parofsky angle.
MARK: We've been doing that.
JANIS: Parofsky was chief engineer at Micro-Circadian Electronics.
DEMETRI: He was recently let go on suspicion of corporate espionage.
JANIS: What if Parofsky is selling his work to the highest bidder? Ingrid did say that they took a package from him right before they shot him.
DEMETRI: So whatever was in there was valuable enough to kill for.
MARK: Look, Stan, it's a real lead. Ingrid's gonna be protected on this. I promise.
JANIS: What makes you so sure they'd try to hit her tonight?
MARK: They already tried to kill Ingrid once. If we get the word out we're gonna release her from custody, they might try again.
JANIS: Why do you say that?
WEDECK: We went to Utah. D. Gibbons knew we were coming. You unearthed the Somalia photos. Five minutes later we're getting shot at. Whoever we're investigating knows what we're doing before we do it.
DEMETRI: You think we've got a mole.
[Wedeck puts his hands up in the air, then brings them down, puts his hands in his pocket and looks out of his office door.]
MARK: We [pause] have a mole. Two men with assault rifles are gonna get into this building five months from now and someone's gonna let 'em in.
DEMETRI: We catch these guys tonight, we can finally put a face on our enemy.
[Switch to Aaron's patio behind the house. He is handing Tracy a cup of tea.]
AARON: Careful, it's hot.
TRACY: Guess there's no chance of getting any bourbon in there.
AARON: Probably not a good one. No.
TRACY: When did you start drinkin' whiskey, anyway?
[Tracy puts her head into the back of the chair and rolls her eyes.]
AARON: I told Mark Benford.
TRACY: You what?
AARON: He can help.
TRACY: Are you insane? You don't know these people, dad. I gotta get out of here.
[Tracy gets up quickly from her chair and goes into the house.]
AARON: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a second.
TRACY: I came to this house specifically because I thought I'd be safe but I see now that was a big mistake.
AARON: Mark's a Fed, Trace. I mean he's, he's practically family.
TRACY: The second that Jericho knows that I'm still alive, they'll find me and they'll kill me.
AARON: That's not true. Don't you remember your flash-forward? The fact that you even had one proves that you're gonna be alive.
[Snippet of Aaron's flash-forward is shown as he talks to Tracy. Tracy is lying on a cot as Aaron's hands her his pocketknife. There are men with guns guarding over the site. There are a lot of pictures and inscriptions on the walls. He raises his head and looks away from Tracy.]
AARON: [real time voice] I was with you. I, I gave you my pocketknife. You were on a cot, fell asleep, we were in some kind of bunker or a cave surrounded by guards and there was graffiti all over the walls. I think someone was calling my name. Then I stepped outside.
[Still in Aaron's flash-forward, he leaves the bunker and goes outside. He is speaking with an Afghani man.]
AARON: [real time voice] There was a man out there. He was very concerned about you. He said something strange.
AFGHANI MAN: [flash] The account has been verified.
AARON: [real time voice] Then I gave him an envelope. I don't know what was in it. "The accounts have been verified." Does that mean something to you?
TRACY: No, but this guy. What did, what did he look like?
AARON: Tall, dark, scar.
TRACY: Khamir. Kahmir Dejan. He was a field medic with the I.M.C. He, he took care of me. He, he got me back together. That's why I left. I was so afraid that Jericho would kill Khamir to get to me.
AARON: That's not gonna happen. Five months form now, he is alive. I saw him. All three of us were there, Trace.
TRACY: How can you be so sure that everything we saw will still come true.
AARON: Enough of mine has come true already that I'm a believer. You came back to me, Trace. Didn't you? I don't know what could drag us both back to Afghanistan, but I have to trust what I saw.
[Switch to Ingrid Alvarez's bird shop. Mark and Demetri are sitting in a car, which is parked across the street from the shop. Mark is speaking on a two-way radio.]
FBI AGENT: The area's secure. We're good.
MARK: Roger that. All units stay on Tact-2. These guys are pros, former military, based on that video we saw.
[Janis is walking up and down the aisles of cages in the bird shop. Birds are tweeting and squawking.]
JANIS: Ingrid, you have a lot of amazing birds.
INGRID ALVAREZ: My babies, the only real family I've ever had.
[Ingrid is setting up a cot.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: Each one of them is special to me. [kisses a bird.] It's hard to believe I ever thought of giving them up.
JANIS: What do you mean?
INGRID ALVAREZ: My flash-forward.
[Ingrid's flash-forward is shown as she describes it to Janis. Various exotic birds are shown.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: In my vision, I wasn't working at the store anymore. I had blonde hair and I was living in New York.
[Ingrid is wearing overalls with a patch on the left shoulder, which reads, "Bronx Zoo." Back to real time.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: So the next day I put it up for sale.
JANIS: Well, since we're standing here, I'm guessing you didn't have a lot of buyers.
INGRID ALVAREZ: It was all for the best. I don't know what I was thinking, planning on changing my life for a future that might not even come true.
[Janis nods. Switch to Mark and Demetri in the stakeout car. Demetri yawns.
MARK: We keeping you awake, cupcake?
DEMETRI: [chuckles] I'm sorry, man. I was up late with Zoey last night.
MARK: Oh?
DEMETRI: I told her what happens to me, is gonna happen to me, supposed to happen to me.
[Mark nods.]
DEMETRI: She wants me to quit. Get out of the line of fire, I guess.
MARK: Are you [pause] thinking about it?
DEMETRI: I wasn't. I mean, who knows? I quit. I get hit by a bus, right? That's my luck. Whatever, right? What am I supposed to do? Become a barista until my date with death?
MARK: That's one way to go.
[Switch back to bird shop.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: When this is over, whether it's tonight or later, I'd like for you to have one of my cockatiels.
JANIS: Oh no, no.
INGRID ALVAREZ: A thank you gift. Don't make me insist.
JANIS: Ingrid, if you truly loved your birds, you're not gonna want to give one to me, but thank you. Very sweet.
[A loud noise startles Ingrid and Janis.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: What was that?
[Janis readies her gun.]
JANIS: Stay here.
[Janis cautiously begins to locate where the noise occurred.]
JANIS: Sabre -2 this is Sabre-1
MARK: This is Sabre-2, go.
JANIS: Think I may have some movement here.
MARK: You want us to move in on your position?
JANIS: Could be nothing. Let me check it out first.
[Janis flips a wall switch and turns on the lights in the room ahead of her. Suddenly, all the light in the shop go dark.]
JANIS: Sabre-2, we have a breach.
[Mark and Demetri exit their car and start running to the shop.]
MARK: Sabre-2, all units, surround the perimeter! Nobody gets out!
JANIS: Mark, I've got Ingrid covered in back.
[Mark and Demetri enter the shop. They cautiously step through the shop with their guns at the ready. Mark takes one aisle. Demetri takes another aisle. Mark has a quick snippet of his flash-forward where he cocks his gun after seeing red laser sight lines. Holding a flask to his forehead. Real time. Flash of doll head with Baby Doll Photographs on the board. Shot of Mark and Demetri looking at doll heads at the Divine Doll Factory. Shot of dolls hanging from string in a circle at the top of the stairs of the doll factory. Flash of masked man's face then red laser sight lines. Real time. There is another snippet of the laser red sight lines and Mark in a corner waiting for the masked men to get closer. Real time. Mark and Demetri continue to slowly and quietly check the shop. A man's forearm is seen. It has a tattoo on it of three stars. Snippet from Mark's flash, where one of his attackers has three-star tattoo on his forearm. Real time. Demetri sees the man now.]
DEMETRI: Freeze! Mark!
[A gunshot is heard.]
[The gunfire in the bird shop has stopped. Demetri is leaning against a cage. He brings is right hand up to his eyes. Mark slowly approaches him.]
MARK: You saw him turning on me. He was making a move.
[Demetri rolls his eyes a bit at Mark.]
DEMETRI: It was dark. I didn't get a good look. But I do know we can't interrogate a dead man.
[The dead tattooed man is lying on the floor face down, in a pool of blood. His firearm, silencer still attached, is on the floor to his left. The gun is pointing toward the dead man. Pictures are being taken of the man. Switch to Ingrid standing outside of the shop. There are several police cars in the street with their lights flashing on and off. There is indistinct chatter on the police radios. Janis walks over to Ingrid.]
INGRID ALVAREZ: What does this all mean?
JANIS: I'm sorry, but one of the men you saw is still out there and he's not gonna stop until he finds you. We need to put you in witness protection.
INGRID ALVAREZ: That's okay. I think that's my future. I should have trusted my gut all along.
[Switch to the poker game. Simon is fiddling with chips by picking them up with one hand then letting them drop into the other hand.]
SIMON: Judging from your dwindling amount of chips, the pain is almost over.
[The dealer deals out a hand. Lloyd and Simon sit pat after seeing the dealer's cards - King of Hearts, King of Clubs, Five of Hearts. The dealer deals himself one card down and the Eight of Hearts.]
SIMON: What are you thinking over there, mate? Maybe you got a pair of eights, working a full boat. How much do you have left?
LLOYD: Just under fifteen.
[Simon looks at his chips and tosses in four of them.]
SIMON: Five thousand.
[Lloyd matches the five thousand as a hostess brings Simon another drink. He tips her with a chip.]
SIMON: Thank you.
[The dealer deals himself another card down and one up which is the Seven of Hearts. The dealer looks at Simon. Simon stares at Lloyd as he sips his drink.]
SIMON: Why don't we make this hand winner take all? If you win, we’ll go public. [smugly] But of course I'll win, and you'll keep your mouth shut.
LLOYD: Fine.
[Simon pushes many piles of chips to the middle of the table. Lloyd pushes his meager pile of to the middle of the table.]
SIMON: [sarcastically] As a physicist, Lloyd, you really are a genius. But you were never very good at concealing your tells.
[Simon flips over his two hidden cards. They are the King of Diamonds and the King of Spades. Simon's eyes open wide in disbelief.]
SIMON: Ouch.
DEALER: Four of a kind for Mr. Campos.
[Lloyd turns over his two hidden cards. They are the Nine of Hearts and the Six of Hearts.
DEALER: Straight flush. Pot and game to Mr. Simcoe. Congratulations.
LLOYD: [to dealer] Keep the chips. Call it a tip. I got what I came for.
[Lloyd leaves the parlor and Simon quickly follows him.]
SIMON: How did you beat me.?
LLOYD: Did I tell you Dylan really loves magic?
[Lloyd flips out a card. It is the Ace of Hearts. Simon is seething.]
LLOYD: Sleight of hand's his favorite. There are some things even I won't leave to chance. That being said, I'll let you have the first pass at drafting the announcement. All right?
[Lloyd places the card in Simon's jacket pocket and gives him a pat on the cheek. Lloyd then turns and walks away leaving Simon speechless. Switch to Mark's office at the FBI building. Mark and Demetri enter.]
MARK: Thanks for backing my play there.
DEMETRI: I just want to make sure which play it was.
[Demetri closes the office door.]
DEMETRI: Is this about taking tattoo man off the streets or putting him under it?
MARK: What the hell are you talking about?
DEMETRI: Look, I know you said if we get this guy, we might be able to change our futures.
MARK: But?
DEMETRI: Look, I just wanted to make sure the plan here wasn't to kill him so he can't kill me or come after you in your office.
MARK: Whatever gave you that idea?
DEMETRI: Because I had it. The second you suggested tattoo man might be the guy who's supposed to kill me, I thought, I'm gonna kill him first.
MARK: But now you think I actually did [pause] that I went that far.
DEMETRI: I would've.
[Mark does not reply. Demetri leaves Mark's office closing the door behind him. Switch to Janis working in her cubicle. She is reading an article on her monitor about Sperm Donation.]
WEDECK: What are you doing here so late?
JANIS: [smiles] Trusting my gut.
WEDECK: Hmm.
[Wedeck chuckles. When he sees what she is reading, he chuckles again and pats her shoulders. He sits down.]
WEDECK: Your E-mail said you had something for me.
JANIS: Yeah, I do. N.S.A. finally sent back a new rendering of that Suspect Zero photo.
[The monitor now displays the rendered photo.]
WEDECK: Hmm. Looks like the old one.
JANIS: It is. This [brings up new photo] is the new one.
[The photo is of Suspect Zero standing at the gateway at Super Oxide Stadium. Wedeck see something and moves his chair closer to the monitor.]
WEDECK: What's that on his hand?
[Janis looks at the monitor then zooms in on the hand.]
JANIS: It looks like a ring.
WEDECK: Can the image be enhanced any further?
JANIS: N.S.A.'s working on it right now but it took them this long to get this far.
WEDECK: Tell them to put their foot on the gas. If we can tie this jewelry to the guy wearing it, we'll have our first workable lead. Good job.
[Wedeck leaves the cubicle as Janis continues to work. Switch to Mark pulling up the driveway to his house. As he enters the house, Olivia is folding laundry on the dining room table.]
OLIVIA: Hey.
[Mark closes and locks the door. He puts down his messenger bag and starts pacing in front of the bay window. He is juggling his keys in his hand.]
OLIVIA: Wow. You look like you had a perfectly ordinary day. Worse than ordinary?
[Mark continues to pace.]
OLIVIA: Mark?
MARK: I killed a man tonight.
[Olivia stops folding laundry and walks over to Mark.]
OLIVIA: What happened?
MARK: I had a shot at changing my future, [pause] changing our future, [pause] and I took it.
OLIVIA: Oh, Mark. Come here. Come here.
[Olivia hugs Mark to comfort him. Mark holds onto Olivia.]
MARK: Maybe April 29th's just gonna be another day at the office now.
[Olivia looks at Mark.]
OLIVIA: [concerned] What does that mean?
MARK: I, uh, [pause] I told you in my flash-forward I was in danger, right?
[Olivia nods]
MARK: A man was trying to kill me. But tonight, I got to him first.
[Olivia hugs Mark tightly.]
MARK: I changed the future, Livvy. We have a second chance. We have a second chance.
[Switch to a truck yard. It is nighttime and it is raining and thundering. A military cargo truck pulls into a parking area. The passenger rolls down his window. A bald man leans out with a package. He is wearing black, has his shirt sleeve rolled up and there is a three star tattoo on his forearm.]
TATTOO MAN 2: Hey.
[Another man, dressed in the same attire, takes the package. This man also has a three star tattoo. He walks into a building. Tow other men carry gasoline cans. They have one in each hand and both men have three star tattoos on their forearms. The man with the case enters a warehouse area. There is a table with a man sitting at it, in the center of the room, which is basically empty.]
MAN AT TABLE: You have them?
[The man with the tattoo puts the case down on the table. The man sitting there, turns the case around, unzips the leather cover then opens a metal case which has six rings in a foam protector.]
MAN AT TABLE: There were supposed to be seven.
[The man takes one ring from the case. It is silver colored with an inscription on the side. It has a dark stone set in it. He puts the ring back and closes the metal case and zips the leather cover. He speaks to the man who brought him the case.]
MAN AT TABLE: After the first atom bomb test, you know what a colleague of Oppenheimer's said?
[The man with the tattoo just looks at this man and remains quiet.]
MAN AT TABLE: "What a foul and awesome display." He then added, "Now we are all sons of bitches."
[The man stands up, aims and shoots the man who brought him the case. He puts the gun on the table and takes the case. He calmly walks away in the opposite direction of the entry.
[END]
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