Here's an idea.
Why don't we swing north,
play a few hands in Vegas?
Sure,
and you can explain why we're 300 miles off the approved route.
You guys can catch up in the follow car.
There's a big climb ahead.
Probably right.
We'll see you at the top of the hill.
Ray leave already?
Figured he could use a head start.
Nice. Just what we needed.
Hey, Ray.
Ray, we're having car trouble.
You may have to hold up.
Ray, this is Chris. Give me a shout back.
I'm not getting an answer.
Ray, come on, man, talk to us.
Everything all right?
Ray, answer me.
We're on scene now.
Profiling, yeah. Not yet.
Hey.
Who's got a handle on this?
All right, I'll talk to you later.
Hey, Don Eppes, FBI.
Hi. Agent Sinclair.
Brent Hauser,Department of Energy.
Where are the two other drivers?
Three of them rotate each shift.
When they tried the follow car,it wouldn't start up.
How long has the rig been missing?
Four hours.
Four hours?
Any reason we weren't notified right away?
Transportation of nuclear waste is under the supervision of the Department of Energy.
Not when it's stolen, it isn't.
I would rather we not jump to any conclusions,Agent Eppes.
Has there been any notice to the public, any city agencies?
That would only cause a public panic.
I'd rather wait until we have more information,
we can implement a more focused public safety plan.
Mr. Hauser, I got New Mexico on the phone for you.
Isolation plant in Carlsbad.
Where the cargo was headed.
Excuse me.
The guy doesn't want to tell four million people in Los Angeles
that he's lost a truckload of radioactive waste.
He wants to bet he's going to find it so he can be the hero.
If he doesn't, we've got a big problem on our hands.
The nuclear material entered the area here,
from its origin point in Ridgeland,
en route to an in-ground burial site in New Mexico.
D.O.E. set up a perimeter,
but not until 40 minutes after the truck disappeared.
I mean, it could be anywhere.
Highway Patrol's thinking it's got to be relatively local,
given the roadblocks they did get a chance to set up.
What about the chance the shipment's already been removed from the truck?
We're fairly confident that that hasn't happened yet.
You're "fairly confident"?
Removing the materials would cause a sizable radiation leak.
We have several airborne sensors up over the area.
So far,
they're all negative.
So this stuff is only dangerous
if someone tries to take it out of one of the containers?
Look,my team has a right to know what we're dealing with here.
The holding casks the materials are shipped in...
they don't offer 100% containment.
You're saying the casks leak?
Only at NRC-approved levels.
All right, so left alone,
they are a hazard to anyone near it.
It's a matter of practicality.
A leak-proof container would be too heavy to transport.
Let's just assume whoever stole it has bigger plans.
What could they do with it?
Worst case scenario?
A dirty bomb.
We all use math every day...
to predict weather...
to tell time...
to handle money...
Math is more than formulas and equations...
It's logic...
It's rationality...
It's using your mind to solve the biggest mysteries we know.
...ultimately, yielding a Gravadan zero model of "MQed" over "K".
Which happens to be precisely the range I predicted.
Charles,I am indebted to you.
Wait.
Whoa...
Whoa, whoa, ho, ho. Whoa! Ho!
What?
T- t-t-t-t-t...
Don't say "T-t-t-t-t-t. "
Oh, hold on,
hold... hold on!
Why are you saying "Hold on"?
What the hell was I thinking? 'Cause...
What is it?
This-this entire line is-is, uh, unfounded.
It's-it's unusable
Tell me you're joking here.
I am.
I'm kidding around
Why are you doing this to me?
Well, because...
- Do you not know how important this presentation is? - It's fine.
This is our last opportunity
for peer review before Atlanta and you do
"T-t-t-t-t. "
- Don't do that. - I'm sorry.
- No, stop say... - You know, you fall for that every time at this point.
- Then don't do it... - Because...
Excuse me for barging in here.
I gotta talk to you.
All right, well,I'll let you...
Actually, you being a physicist,
I wouldn't mind if you stuck around.
What can either of you tell me about cesium-137?
- Cesium... - Yeah.
Well, it's a by-product of the fission of plutonium and uranium.
It has a half-life of 30.2 years.
Half-life... that's how long it stays dangerous?
How we measure radioactive decay.
What's going on?
What you hear stays in this room.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
A truck carrying three casks of this stuff was hijacked this morning.
Oh, that's not optimal.
You weren't exposed, right?
No, as far as we know,no one has yet.
That's encouraging.
But what I would like to know is specifically what happens if anyone is.
Well, the danger comes from something called ionizing radiation.
You see,any energy source gives off some radiation.
Cell phones,computer screens,
- even a light bulb... - That's right,
but ionizing radiation is particularly damaging
because it has the energy to literally knock an electron off an atom.
For instance,normally an electron is locked in orbit around an atom.
It's sort of spinning round and round like-like this, okay?
But when an atom is exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation like gamma rays,
the energy can cause an electron to break free.
Once that electron is knocked free,
the atoms can't combine with other atoms the way the normally would,
which becomes a real problem when those collisions occur inside the human body.
An atom without an electron won't form the right molecules.
Cell function is disrupted,
DNA chains get broken,
mutated...
So, it's cancer?
Cancer, leukemia...
any number of diseases or immune deficiencies.
May I ask
if those in possession have made it known
what they intend to do with this material?
Well, nothing good.
I can promise you that.
From the information we're getting, it's a dirty bomb.
Well... dirty bomb phraseology is really a misnomer.
We're talking radiological dispersion.
Right.
Over how large an area?
It depends on, really,
the power of the explosive used.
So let's say a medium-sized explosive, like,
uh, 15 or 20 kilograms of...
of TNT...
The amount of radioactive material in the casks...
You said there were three?
That's right.
Uh...
So, we're talking 500 grams of cesium-137...
Don't forget the wind variables and rain and specific topography...
Try no rain and put the bomb in the city somewhere.
No rain, huh?Okay. Um...
The dispersal area's going to be about 26,000 square meters.
That's like a tenth of a mile on each side, right?
A city block.
Bigger bomb, maybe two blocks.
Tell us about the route you took.
It's a straight shot to Carlsbad.
And who decides the route?
It comes from the company.
The head of transportation makes the call based on weather, traffic.
They try to avoid high population areas,
stuff like that.
So the head of transportation knows.
Who else?
No one.
Route's kept secret until about two hours before we leave.
The thing is it's not like the truck's camouflaged or anything.
It's got radiation warnings all over it.
But prior to going to breakfast,
you weren't aware of anyone following you?
No,and that's part of my job:
to watch the mirrors.
Radio in if I see something.
What about the missing driver?
Who? Ray?
Yeah. How well do either one of you know him?
We've done a few hauls together.
Whose choice was it to stop at that diner?
His, but I mean,that's not really odd.
I mean, we all take turns picking.
Is there any way he could have had access to the follow car while you two were eating?
You think Ray was involved in this?
Someone disabled the car.
We'd like to know if Raymond Sites had the opportunity to do that.
He went outside to smoke a cigarette,
but it was only for a minute.
Hey, Don...
- Hey. - What'd Charlie say?
We'd better find that truck.
- I think I've got something on the missing driver. - Yeah?
Before his current job,about a year ago
Raymond Sites worked for another trucking company.
Got fired for a substance abuse problem.
I see... meth.
Yeah, he used it to stay awake during the long hauls.
I don't understand...
how could D.O.E. miss this?
For his termination,
they agreed not to put the information in his employee file.
Take a look at his bank account records.
Thank you for coming down,Mrs. Sites.
Yeah, well,
those agents really didn't give me much of a choice.
Have you heard from your husband today?
- Ray? - Mm-hmm.
No, he's on a haul.
Why do you want to know about Ray?
Your husband's truck disappeared this morning.
What do you mean, "Disappeared"?
Where's Ray?
Well, that's what we'd like to know.
Well, is something being done to find him?
We think your husband's truck was hijacked to get to the cargo.
I always worry about him,hauling what he does.
The radiation terrifies me.
But I never imagined something like this.
We also think he might be involved in all this.
No, that's not possible. Not Ray.
We're aware of the problem he had at his previous job.
We're also aware that he made a deposit with a cashier's check
for $25,000 into your joint account.
That money didn't come from his employer.
He was driving day and night.
He just... needed something to keep himself awake.
And then when he had a problem,
they just let him go.
You don't understand the strain we were under,
Ray being unemployed for so long.
Mrs. Sites, if your husband is involved in this and people get killed...
No. It's not like that. It's not.
- They lied. - Who lied?
Ray was approached by some men.
When was this?
Hmm... maybe six weeks ago.
They said they were with a group trying to stop nuclear waste being hauled on the highways.
Said they wanted to stage a protest,you know?
Peaceful...
block the highway... carry signs...
So he got $25,000 in return for what?
He was supposed to call them,tell them his route.
Excuse me.
Did he mention any names?
Eppes.
- No. - Uh-huh.
Look, you don't know Ray.
He would never do something like this
if he thought people were going to get hurt.
It was just...
it was just the money.
We needed it.
Please, I'm telling you:
he's a victim here.
Okay.
Terry.
L.A. Sheriffs just found her husband.
It's our missing truck driver,
- Raymond Sites. - All right, let me inform dispatch...
Sheriff's office received an anonymous tip about an hour ago.
One shot,side of the head.
Any question about whether these people are willing to kill has been answered.
So it turns out the wife is right...
Raymond is a victim.
Coroner's report.
Won't be much consolation to the wife,
but the bullet that killed Raymond Sites only ended his life by a few years.
Autopsy found malignant tumors up and down his spine.
Yeah, well, I mean he spent months breathing in nuclear waste.
Yeah, so much for Hauser's idea of safe leaks.
Ballistics get us anything?
Nine millimeter.
Doesn't match anything on file.
Guys.
Sheriff's Homicide said
they found two cell phones on Raymond Sites.
One was his...
the other's unregistered.
Phony CID code,
and a single voice message on it.
We have the truck you're looking for.
The price is $20 million for its safe return.
If you don't pay what we ask,
we will detonate the nuclear material in Los Angeles.
I'm sure you're aware of the consequences
if you force us to do that.
You've got 12 hours to arrange the money.
We'll be in touch with an account number and electronic transfer instructions.
Call came in 53 minutes ago.
Means we've got 11 hours.
Tell me about the caller.
Uh... that it's from a cell phone presents problems.
It's digitally transmitted,
which dulls down the distinctive features of the caller's voice,
and cell phone companies compress voice-mail files to conserve storage space, so...
it's further masked.
- Just best guess. - No discernible regional dialect.
White male. Mid-20s to late-40s.
All right, so not foreign then.
I don't think so.
If I had more to work with, I could...
It's all right. I understand.
Just get it to Strategic Operations,all right?
Okay.
If they really intend to detonate a dirty bomb,
nuclear material is only one ingredient.
Well, we should be checking with any places that deal with high explosives, so...
construction sites,military bases,
fertilizer wholesalers.
So. It is a dirty bomb.
No, Charlie, it is just a threat right now. Okay?
We have no idea where.
Wherever they can inflict the most damage.
I mean,all we know is Los Angeles.
- Los Angeles... - Let me ask you this.
What do you think the possibility of predicting where they might strike is?
A ton of variables,
but we actually know more than we think we might because, for example,
we know that their target is urban,
because they must have the ability to move the material.
Right, but,to explode it in an urban area
that means they got past the roadblocks,
which is an even bigger problem, right,
in terms of pinpointing a target?
Physical flexibility may only be disguising a mathematical inflexibility.
I don't understand. What?
In observing their preparation so far,
I'm assuming that they're going to be taking into account
the exact same variables I am to identify an optimal target.
Okay, now,I'm considering weather,
I'm considering wind,
structural landscape,population density,traffic flow,
and mind you,these are fixed values,
- in a narrow time frame like 11 hours. - Yeah.
More like ten and a half.
Ten and a half.
If I could just get my hands on some geo-spatial radar-imagery data, you know,
I- I'd be able to narrow the list of targets,
but there's still a variable I don't have.
The type of explosive they'll use.
- That'll tell me the effect of the impact. - Don.
Engineer from the Jet Propulsion Lab just called in,
responding to an internal DOE alert.
Says she was approached awhile back by two men wanting to know about handling nuclear material.
Do we think she's for real?
Says they specifically talked about cesium-137.
He asked a lot of questions,
mostly about handling high-level isotopes.
Did either one of them say why they wanted the information?
They said they were researching a screenplay.
This being L.A.,
I didn't give it a second thought,
and then I saw the internal alert.
You said they specifically mentioned cesium-137?
No. Cesium was my idea.
My lab experimented with cesium generators as a possible power source aboard a deep-space probe,
- so it's an isotope I'm familiar with. - You have a message.
Did they touch anything while they were here?
One of them maybe had a Coke or something.
Nothing else?
No. Oh, no. Wait, uh...
A book. Uh...
If I remember, it was a biography of Louis Slotin.
Don't touch it.
Please, just point to it.
Who is Louis Slotin?
He was a physicist at Los Alamos
who personally handled radioactive material for the Manhattan Project.
They were curious as to how he'd accidentally set off a chain reaction in his lab.
How did he do that?
Slotin was keeping two halves of a plutonium sphere apart using a screwdriver.
The screwdriver slipped and the halves came together,
generating a vast flux of radiation.
He used his body to try and protect the other scientists in the lab.
He died nine days later.
Total disintegration of internal functions.
Charlie, you in there?
Ha!
What are you two geniuses into now?
Hey, Dad.
And what are my old city planning maps doing out like this?
What's happening?
Well, no one's really supposed to know.
Charles, perhaps it would be best to inform your father of the impending Armageddon.
Armageddon?
- No, don't tell me. - You really are...
You two spotted another one of those asteroids hurtling towards the Earth, huh?
Several thousand, actually,
but that Armageddon we have decades to resolve.
Charlie,what is he talking about?
Nothing...
A truck carrying nuclear waste was hijacked. Yesterday.
What?
Now, wait a minute.
Why didn't I hear anything about this on the news?
Because they're not telling anyone.
What do you mean, they're not telling anyone?
How the hell are people supposed to protect themselves?
In the first place,
uh, we-we're not even sure that there,
- that there is a bomb, so... - A bomb!?
Well, we don't know where it's going to go off.
Well, maybe not.
But I would suggest that
people quickly taking a ride out of town in an easterly direction might be of help right now.
Well, possibly not, with these current wind conditions.
Look, an evacuation without information will lead to mass public panic.
Well, speaking for the huddled masses,
I'd rather not have some government official making that decision for me right now,
thank you very much.
And what are you doing with my maps?
You really are something,you know that?
The public has a right...
Hey, hey, hey.
- He is a planner. - I said he's not supposed to know...
You know what, Dad?
You can help us.
How can I help you?
Charlie, I'm not a physicist,
and I'm certainly not an expert on nuclear contamination.
But you were a city planner.
You know about urban density,
and these are your maps.
Okay, listen up, everybody.
Gather round.
We got a possible suspect.
Fingerprint match from the book we got at JPL gave us this man,
Darryl Gerth, G- e-r-t-h.
White male, 29 years old.
Did five years for a failed armored-car robbery.
I want to run down all his known associates,
I mean anybody who ever did a heist with him.
We gotta find this guy ASAP.
Okay, let's go.
Don, come here.
Five pounds of C-4 explosive is missing from the Naval Weapons Station at Seal Beach.
When did that happen?
Inventory is taken every 14 days.
Last one was eight days ago,
so within the week.
How does someone get access to C-4 in a Naval base?
Enlisted men,
civilian contractors,
maintenance crews,they'd all have access.
All right, run it down.
If it's the same people who stole the truck,
they got nuclear material,
high explosive,and that is a dirty bomb.
Our suspect's parole officer hasn't seen him in weeks.
No known address,
but I have a line on the foster parents.
Maybe he stays in touch.
Okay, good. Get him in here and talk to him.
I'm gonna go tell Charlie about the C-4.
It's the one variable he's been missing.
Some kids, by the time you get 'em, the damage is done.
Nothing you do makes a difference.
Darryl got into trouble?
Always,
and the worst part,
he was a, a ringleader.
He got other kids in trouble, too.
Even our own son, Mark.
Arrested when he was 16 for helping Darryl steal Social Security checks.
We need to locate Darryl.
Is your son still in contact with him?
Oh, God, no.
Part of his probation,
Mark joined the Navy.
Navy got him squared away,better believe that.
Mr. Watson, where's your son currently stationed?
Uh, Seal Beach.
Naval Weapons Station.
- The same place the explosives were missing from. - Yeah.
Where does your son live? Does he live on base?
No. He has an apartment over in Fullerton.
Fullerton. Thank you.
Clear.
Got something.
Got a minty smell.
Cyclohexanone vapor.
And we have...
waxy cellophane wrapper.
C-4.
Bomb's for real, no question.
All right, well... we know that.
Agent Eppes!
Cell phone's ringing.
Put it on speaker.
This is Agent Eppes.
Grab a pen, Eppes.
I'm going to give you an account number.
As soon as we hang up,
you'll transfer the money.
Wait, wait. Hold-hold on.
You said 12 hours.
It's only been six.
You gotta give me more time than that.
You there?
Maybe what you need is a little motivation, Eppes.
Wait. Look.
Say, downtown, in one hour.
Gotta give me more time than that.
One hour. We'll be in touch.
Charlie, you gotta tell me what you got now.
Well, don't we have like six hours?
Well, they pushed it up.
They pushed it...
Ah, he needs to know now.
Well, we still have algorithms to test and variables to explore here.
Charlie!
Okay, um... okay,
we've pinpointed seven likely targets.
There's one in Westwood,
there's two in Century City.
Downtown. Forget everything else.
- Just tell me downtown. - Downtown. Okay.
He needs downtown so,
okay, there's, there's there's two.
There's one in Driscoll Plaza
and another in Angeles Square.
Angeles Square?
Wait a minute.
Driscoll Plaza...
- and Angeles Square. - No good.
We've got 58 minutes and nowhere near the manpower to clear two areas.
- Right. - Even if we try,
the traffic would gridlock.
We couldn't get our own men in there.
All right, Charlie, you gotta make a choice.
You gotta give me one now.
Just choose one.
Just one,one of them.
Statistically,they're both of nearly equal probability.
Right. Mathematically,
we have no justification for choosing one over the other.
Donnie,go with Angeles Square.
Dad, how do you know that?
Charlie says it doesn't hold up mathematically.
I know what Charlie says,
but I know these maps,
and I would choose Angeles Square.
All right, tell me why.
It's the height of the buildings.
It creates what we used to call an urban canyon.
The air currents through the buildings spread the radiation much further.
If I wanted to inflict as much damage as I could,
that's where I would go.
- Angeles Square, I'm telling you. - All right.
Let's evacuate Angeles Square.
Let's go.
...if I can get you to go to the evacuation center...?
Move it along.
Move it along, sir.
We're clearing the area now.
All right, well, all the buildings have been evacuated.
With 15 minutes,
seems odd we haven't heard from them,don't you think?
Yeah, bomb squad is searching,
but the device could be concealed anywhere on this plaza.
We got a lot of ground to cover.
Well, we got no choice.
We got to do what we can.
Keep your eye on your watches.
- Make sure you leave at least five minutes to clear the area, okay? - All right,
so you guys got that?
Quarter after, we're out of here, no matter what.
- Got it. - Okay.
Got any word on casualties?
Two of our guys got it pretty bad.
Doesn't look good.
How close were you all to the blast?
- 80, 100 feet. - Are you sure?
- We were close. - My ears won't stop ringing.
I'm not picking up any radiation. You're clean.
You all are.
Thank you.
All right, so it wasn't a dirty bomb.
D.O.E. just finished analyzing the bomb.
Their tests failed to find a trace of cesium-137,
or any nuclear material.
All right,so they've still got it.
Why didn't they use it?
Raymond Sites was murdered, right?
These guys killed to get their hands on what was in that truck.
Yeah. I mean, everything they have done has been planned.
They only thing they haven't kept to is a time frame.
First they say 12 hours,
then they say an hour,
then they blow the bomb 11 minutes early.
And why didn't they call back,
give us a chance to pay?
What if they didn't use the cesium because they didn't have to?
Like, I hold a gun to your back,
you're going to do what I say.
Doesn't matter if I have the gun,
as long as you think I do.
They wanted us to think they were blowing a dirty bomb.
So they steal a truck.
That gets our attention. Then we do just what they wanted.
Which is what?
What'd we do?
Evacuated Anles Square.
Well, we didn't do so bad today, did we?
No, today, was good.
But what about tomorrow?
Yeah, uh...
You know,I think I understand why you like helping Don so much.
It's not a bad feeling.
What's the matter, Charlie?
You've got that look that you get when you can't stop worrying about something.
He's right. You seem a little perturbed.
You're still not mad about my pulling that phone out of your hand, are you?
- I was going to say Driscoll Plaza. - Huh?
Before you grabbed the phone out of my hand
I was... I was about to say Driscoll Plaza,
and I would've been wrong.
Oh.
Well, come on, Charlie.
I was the one that didn't give you the right variables.
You know, the heights of the buildings.
Listen, if you've got one failing,
it's only that you don't think like a criminal.
Of course, what does that say about me?
I would've been wrong.
Why would they want us to evacuate Angeles Square?
And, why not tell us it was Angeles Square in the first place?
'Cause by narrowing the threat to downtown,
they tell us and they keep us off balance at the same time.
I mean, there's got to be something here,there's just got to be.
Gerth is a thief, right?
So what was he after?
What about the Diamond Mart?
Combined inventory has to be significant.
I think it's outside the evacuation zone.
There's no banks.
What's in this building?
This 2215 building?
There we go. Uh...
a ticket office,
we got two brokerage firms and Aronson Conservators,
they do art restoration.
I talked to your assistant.
She says nobody knows about the work you do.
Well, with paintings of this importance,
it's just safer not to publicize.
Besides, all the museums know who we are,
and the larger private collections.
Let's see.
Oh, no.
Oh, no!
I- I locked that vault myself.
Even with the bomb threat and the...
and the policemen yelling at me.
You're sure?
- I locked the vault! - All right, all right.
Look, don't touch anything.
Oh! Oh, my God.
It's... it's... They're all gone.
- Every one of them. - All right.
Ms. Aronson, tell me exactly... any...
I am fine. The paintings are gone.
I need to know exactly what's missing.
Uh, six Van Goghs,for the LACMA exhibit,
and two Rembrandts,a Degas...
What is it worth?
It's not about the money.
We're insured for the money.
It's about the significance.
Well, we're going to need an approximate dollar value.
I don't know.
Close to $100 million.
Security system runs through the basement.
Evacuation gave them all the time and access they needed.
The streets are blocked.
How would they get the heavy equipment past the security perimeter?
Well, they could have been inside the building already.
Eh... check this out.
Rental agent from the building where the artwork was stolen picked out Gerth from a photo array.
Says he came by about two months ago,
leased some office space on the ground floor.
Went by the name of Donald Garrity.
Garrity...
That's the same name on Raymond Sites' cashier's check.
Yeah, that's the same alias.
Where's our list of truck rentals?
Probably watched from the window.
Waited till everyone was out then helped themselves to the art.
We were played.
Bingo.
Garrity.
Rented a 25-foot van out of Avis in Homewood, California.
25 feet. That's large enough to transport those casks.
Yeah, do me a favor.
Get on the phone,
see if you can get the address they used on the rental agreement.
All teams be advised... watch your fire.
We have possible hazardous material inside the target area.
All clear. Roger that.
- All right - that's clear.
Let's do it.
Three... two... one... execute.
FBI!FBI!FBI!
Get down! FBI!
FBI! FBI!
Down! Down!
Gimme your hands now.
You two, this way.
Let's go.
- Let's go. - Clear!
Gimme your right hand. Get up!
Damn.
Nothing.
The casks aren't here.
Where's the cesium?
Don, I got the art.
Look at me. Where's that cesium?
You're going to tell me where those casks are.
I got no idea what you're talking about, man.
Let's go.
Come on.
Right now,I can tie you to the murder of Raymond Sites,
to the theft of nuclear material,
the Angeles Square bombing.
If you're lucky,you're gonna spend the rest of your life in a maximum security prison.
Oh, you think so, huh?
And that's if you're lucky.
Now, I wanna know where that truck is.
That's good, 'cause I want some things, too.
All right,what do you want?
The first thing I want is for you to let me go.
Well, that ain't gonna happen.
Well...
Then you're going to be looking at a dirty bomb after all.
What?
Oh, you didn't think I had a backup plan?
The explosives were stolen from the Naval Weapons Center.
The same base that you're stationed.
The truck driver, Raymond Sites, shot in the head.
That's murder with special circumstances.
I didn't have anything to do with that.
I wasn't even there.
There or not,you're on the hook.
Mark,
the only way to help yourself is to help us find the truck.
The Navy kid's scared,
but he's not giving us the truck.
My guy wasn't talking either.
Yeah, and Gerth thinks
he's going to trade that truck for a free ticket out of here.
Look, let me float something.
We've been operating under the assumption that those casks have been moved.
What if they haven't?
What if they're on the original truck exactly as they were the day they were stolen?
Like you said before,
they only need us to think they moved them.
Right.
That would explain why the truck in the warehouse had no trace of radiation.
This truck is sitting inside our perimeter;
it's not outside.
Larry and I have been doing some research on tracking radiation signatures.
Now, between the sensors that scan from planes
and those you could install at random points in the area,
we would be able to triangulate a location for that radioactive material.
All right, well, that's great.
How long would it take?
Like a... like a week.
Or maybe two.
A week? Charlie,the truck is leaking radiation, you understand?
He's right, Charles.
I mean, these casks were not designed to contain cesium for extended periods of time.
This material in particular has an insidious method of attack.
Which is...?
Look, even in small amounts,
whether ingested or inhaled,
they spread throughout the entire body,
they invade and destroy the soft tissue.
Longer exposure
and we're talking acute radiation poisoning;
the Walking Ghost phase.
The Walking Ghost phase?
Yes, like the people in Chernobyl.
Somebody starts feeling nauseous,they vomit,
they start feeling better,
they think they are better.
But no, it's...
it's just a grace period.
A week later,
it's internal bleeding
and certain death.
You said you have the guys that stole the truck, right?
That's right.
They don't know where it is?
Well, Charlie,they're not talking.
- None of them? - No.
They're trying to use the truck as leverage,if anything.
They had a plan going in.
We got 'em separated.
We're trying to play them against each other, but...
What about putting them together?
No, Charlie.
You keep suspects isolated in the dark.
That's how it works.
I understand that.
That, that's not what I'm speaking about.
I'm actually talking about something completely different
I'm talking about something called "The Prisoner's Dilemma. "
Game theory.
The mathematics of decision-making.
- Uh-huh. - How to achieve the optimal outcome from a complex situation.
So for instance, um...
...say two people were to commit a crime.
Now, if neither of them talk,
they each get a year.
If one of them talks,
he gets no time at all,
and the other guy gets five years.
If both of them talk,
they each get two years.
So you see,
unless they can trust each other not to say anything,
talking is the best strategy.
Yeah, but I already told you
they're not talking.
Well, maybe that's because none of them realize
how much the others have to lose.
All right,listen up.
We're going to do things a little different.
This is Charlie Eppes.
He's a professor of mathematics and an excellent teacher.
What we're going to do is find out
if any of you are good students.
What kind of crap is this?
Shut your mouth.
Good afternoon.
What I'm going to do here today,
mathematically,
is construct a risk assessment for each of you.
Basically quantify,if I can,
the various choices you face...
their respective consequences.
The only ones facing consequences are those people who are going to get hurt by that truck.
Gerth, I'm not going to warn you again.
Okay...
So, "G" is for Gerth.
Uh, "W" is for Watson,
"F" is for Fitchman, okay?
I've assigned some variables based on data like respective ages,
criminal records,
loved ones on the outside.
Wait,What does that have to do with anything?
Having family on the outside would effect your motivation,
wouldn't it?
Your desire to stay out of prison.
Okay.
Okay, there it is.
There it is. All right.
Fitchman,
you have a risk assessment of 14.9.
"W... "
yours is 26.4.
"G... "
you have a risk assessment of... 7.9.
What's that supposed to mean?
What that means is old Mark here has the most to lose by going to prison.
That's exactly what it means.
Don't listen to him, Mark.
Hey, look at me.
Mark...
this is truth.
This math here proves it.
You stand to give up the most.
You're the youngest.
You have parents you're still in touch with on the outside, right?
You have the shortest criminal record.
Hey, why don't you just save it, huh?
You are the youngest,
you have the most potential to make something of yourself.
And the most to gain if you do.
Mark, listen to me, boy. Hey...
Look, I spoke to your father.
Mark...
He said you're not a bad kid,
it's just that Darryl here has been a bad influence on you.
So this is your chance to prove him right,
your one chance.
Okay, I'll tell you what you want.
- Good. - Mark!
You said nobody would get hurt.
And then what'd you do?
You just shot that guy for no reason.
- I'll kill you if you talk. - Yeah.
- Do you understand? - I'll kill you!
Hey, hey! Get him out of here.
Wait, wait,I'll tell you something.
I mean, I got, like, a 14.9.
That's pretty good, right?
What? You didn't think I had a back-up plan?
Okay, the truck's in an abandoned factory off Sixth Street.
I'll alert the search teams.
Wait a minute. What?
Somebody's with it.
His name's Baker.
He did time with Gerth a while back.
Here he is, Carl Baker.
- Part of Gerth's crew. - That's him.
What's he supposed to do?
Nothing until he hears from Gerth.
All right, let's do it.
All right,the truck's here.
We're too far to get a reading from here.
- Yeah? - There's no movement.
The door's ajar, though.
All right, let's do it.
All units, we're good to go here.
Approach with extreme caution.
Our primary objective is to secure that truck.
- Everyone's got their assignments? - Roger that.
All right, let's line up.
Okay, on me.
Three, two, one.
Execute, execu...
Get out of the way!
Hold your fire! Hold your fire!
Get your hands up!
Get 'em up where I can see 'em right now!
Get your hands up!
Get back!
Get your hands up!
- Get back, or I'm gonna dump 'em! - All right.
You hear me?I'll dump the casks.
Carl, just stay calm now.
Don't tell me to calm down!
All right! All right!All right! All right!
Calm down,just calm down.
Stay calm!
All right,all right!
All right, hold, hold!
Hold! Hold!Look, hold!
Everybody hold!
It's just you and me, Carl.
We're just going to talk now.
You're going to let me drive out.
- It's not going to happen, Carl. - You're gonna!
Carl, it ain't gonna happen.
Where's Gerth?
Gerth gave you up.
- No. - Yeah, Carl.
No, he didn't.
You think about it.
How else would we be here, Carl?
You all right?
You sick, Carl?
Huh? You been throwing up?
How do you know that?
That's the radiation.
I was feeling bad before,but I...
I feel fine now.
Carl, listen to me.
You're in what's called the "Walking Ghost" phase.
You're gonna get sick again,
and it's gonna kill you unless you get immediate attention.
Now, I can have a Medevac chopper here in 20 minutes, Carl.
Listen to him, Carl.
This is the only chance you have to save your life.
All right,just take it easy now.
That's it. You come out of there and you come nice and easy.
All right?I want to see your hands.
Get 'em up where I can see 'em now.
Nice and easy, Carl.
You're gonna get down on your knees, okay?
Come down onto your knees.
- All right. - Please...
Cuff him. Let's go.
Please get me to a doctor.
Okay, Carl,we'll do that.
- Please? - All right, let's go.
It's all yours.
Thank you very much.
I mean...
it was pretty impressive.
These are three hardcore dudes,
and Charlie's up there scribbling all these crazy equations.
- Crazy equa...? - Hear that, Dad?
Crazy equations.
Now, I did a risk-assessment analysis
based on a model used to determine a bank's exposure to mutual credit obligations.
That's what I did.
Yeah, it's a compliment. I mean,
the point is is that they bought it.
Don's right. I mean,
the important thing is you're getting the truck back.
Isn't that enough?
Yeah, I mean, you know,
you can get an award for a performance like that.
A per...? It wasn't a performance.
It wasn't a scam.
That was math.
That was actual math.
I don't make this stuff up.
- Want to hear about math? - Here, here's math.
Dinner was $92.
Divided three ways is 30 bucks apiece. Pay up.
Actually, I got to hit an ATM.
- I don't have any cash. - Now, that's a scam.
- Come on. - Here we go.
Look, I always get stuck with the check...