"Please stop!" "Don't touch me!" "Get away!" "Get away!" "Stop him!" "Get back!" "They beach themselves higher each year." "They want to live on land, but someone keeps pushing them back!" "Come on!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Help!" "Sit." "Sit, Benny." "Sit." "Sit, Benny." "Sit." "Benny won't sit!" " You don't always do what I tell you to do." " It's not the same." "Race you!" "Hey!" "How'd you two get to be so fast, huh?" "Um, Jordan... why don't you go and see if Benny wants something to eat, huh?" " He already ate." " Maybe he wants some water then." " Okay." "Come on, Ben." " Okay?" "Okay." "Hi." "I'm Peter Watts." "Yes." "I-I know who you are." "Has something happened?" "Uh, did Frank call you last night?" "No." "But he wouldn't if it got late or something." " What's going on?" " He never checked in to his hotel in Yakima." "The police there called this morning when he missed his meeting with them." " Have you checked the hospitals?" " Mm-hmm." "Also notified law enforcement along his route... but, uh, nothing so far." "Oh, my God." "He said he was gonna review a few papers." "That was my understanding." "I'd like to take a look through his things, if I could." "Maybe the two of us together could find something." "Yes." "Come in." "Listen, I apologize for even asking this... but is there anything I should know?" "Everything all right here?" "Yeah." "Things have been good." "Not much on his desk." "Let's see what's on his computer." "May I?" "Yes." " what was this case that you sent him on?" " Routine homicide review." "Then why send Frank?" "From what I understand, it's something he wanted to do." "Got a fair amount if Internet activity outside the Group." "One web site in particular." "Some encrypted correspondence." "we can probably undo that." "E- mail." "The correspondence itself has been deleted, but the directory is intact." "You ever hear of a Dr. Daniel miller?" "No." "Frank's using another name besides his own here." "David Marx." "Is that a friend of yours?" "Catherine, help me here." "Five years ago... just before Frank collapsed, he used to vanish." "Sometimes for days at a time." "He would check into hotels using that name." "It was a friend of his, when he was a kid, who died." " Mommy?" " Uh..." " I'll be right there, sweetheart." " Is Daddy all right?" "Unit 311, be advised we have a disturbance at 54th and Lincoln." " Probable 415" " D and D." " Drunk and disorderly." " Plasma row." " Yeah, your turn to do the honors." "Yeah, I know, I know." "We got any rubber gloves or anything in there?" "It's mine!" "Give it to me!" "All right." "Break it up." "Break it up!" "You wanna hand that to me now?" "I see a man somewhere late for an appointment." "Jack, we got a guy here in serious shape." " Hi." " Where's Frank?" "we got a call from the Yakima Police." "He was in pretty bad shape when they found him." " How you doing, Jordan?" " Fine." "Frank." "What happened?" "Hi, Daddy." "Any explanation?" "Maybe he'll talk to you." "He was wearing this hospital bracelet." "David Marx." "Frank." "What's going on?" "I can't remember." "David Marx." "That must've been scary for you." "I already knew." "We found the name on your computer." " I used that name before I left?" " On some e-mail." "It's not what you're thinking." "Something happened to me up there." "And I don't know." "I can't remember." "Wherever I was, someone died there." "Here you go." "Come on in." "You sure this is the right address?" "I'm sure it's the address on his Internet account." "Hey, out there!" "Shut up!" "I've warned you kids." " What can I do you for?" " We're looking for a Dr. Daniel Miller." "Dr. Daniel Miller." "You mean Danny." " Is he in?" " He's in, all right." "The guy hasn't left the building since I've worked here." "Down the hall, 109." "I'd like to talk to him myself." "Tell him his rent's two weeks late." "Dr. Miller?" "The superintendent said you were here." "My name is Frank Black." "David Marx." "You lied about your name?" "You're a doctor?" "Please don't answer a question with a question." "Cornell Med." "Fourth in my class." " I came to you for medical advice?" " Here?" "I've never been here before." "You're barely here now." "You really don't remember." "I can't imagine why I would have been in contact with you." " Do you remember the trial?" " What trial?" "Selective retrograde amnesia." "Possibly psychogenic." "What kind of medicine do you practice?" "I said right up front." "I can't practice anymore." " When did you tell me this?" " E-mail." "Wow!" "I heard it got weird, but... the others just said they saw... crazy, crazy stuff." "What did you do to me?" "I thought I did you a favor, one to another." " One what to another?" " You said you were like me... seeing things." "You told me you were looking for a cure." " You were here?" " According to Dr. Daniel Miller." "He said I contacted him on the Internet." "He keeps tabs on experimental drugs and clinical trials." "Testing drugs before they're approved." "Yeah." "He said I was interested in a third stage efficacy trial." " A drug called Proloft." " Why?" "I don't understand it." "I don't even take aspirin." "Can I help you?" "Yes." "Would you know anything about a clinical trial... that was held here this past Sunday?" "We're closed weekends." "Sir?" "may I help you?" "Sir, may I help you?" "Sir?" "It happened here." "The glass..." "I broke it with my hands." "This couldn't have been a normal trial." "These were animals in a zoo." "They were observing." "Here." "Over there, a camera." "We scoured the clinic." "There were four holes in the ceiling molding, one in each corner." "They could have housed video cameras." "The glass in the door was replaced at some point." "Hair and fibers consistent with a multipurpose room used by many people." "Some latent blood stains, but that's hardly unusual in a medical setting." "The drug company released the test records to us." "No names, of course, but they confirm... that David Marx was in the trial." "Left at 3:45 p. m." " Whose signature is this?" " The attending nurse." "We're trying to contact her." "So it appears you were in this trial." "I would have never taken the drug." "Then whatever happened to you came later." "Everyone was affected." "It must have been in the water dispenser." " No, it was fine." "We checked." " It had to be." "Frank, listen to me." "Your hands were cut up." "There was blood all over them." " We talked about that." " And this person that you say died..." " Did die." " You don't know where you've been... or what you've done." "You see what I'm saying?" "The Group wants you to come in and talk to someone." "Danny's been in touch with the trial participants." "He's gathering them together to find out what happened." "You're welcome to come." "Moxie here is just clumsy." "See?" "That's how that happened." "well, I was scared." "That goes with being paranoid." " Did you see me there?" " Sure." " You were writing down things." " That was the nurse." "I don't know what all this stink is about." "Believe me, I saw much worse down in New Orleans." "Some kind of anti-Alzheimer concoction... that they're trying to snake past the F.D.A." "Everyone was crazy-corn for a whole week afterwards." "I heard everyone was drunk as skunks." " Great turnout." " That's you, sweetheart." "How many people actually do this for a living?" "Be human guinea pigs?" "Thousands at trials every year." " He blinded himself." " That's Oedipus, dear." "With his own hands." "I saw it." "Hey, I saw you tear your own nose off... but there it is, on your ugly face." "So what's that about, huh?" "The man who blinded himself... that's who died." "Based on what?" "On what you heard in there?" " Frank, what are you doing with these people?" " Trying to find out." "So you trust some shut-in you met over the Internet?" " You have to be honest with me." " I have been." "No, you have not been." "You misled us... when you concocted Group business to take you to Yakima." " You misled your wife." " That's not your problem." "I am the person who had to go to your house... and tell your wife that you were missing." "You're not being honest with anybody." "I am trying... very hard." "Frank!" " Excuse me." " Just a moment." "I'm looking for a man that may have been admitted two days ago... suffering from severe eye damage." "Sorry." "Patient records are confidential." "He may have been admitted with me." "I was released yesterday morning." "My name is David Marx." "Wait here." "I'll see what I can do." "Thank you." " He was right here." " Violent, huh?" "The guy nearly broke Jackson's arm." "You know, that new orderly." " Why'd you release him?" " We didn't!" "He fought his way out." "I thought the medical records would help me remember." " They'll show up." " No." "He has them." "Who?" "Peter called." "I know it doesn't seem like it, but he's trying to help." "Then he should be looking for the man who died... instead of questioning whether or not it ever happened." "He doesn't believe you?" "He says I lied to everyone, including you." "He told me some things about Proloft." "That it's being certified to treat certain temporal lobe anomalies... hallucinations." "I would have never taken the drug." "I know that." "I..." "That's not what I mean." "I mean... it makes a kind of sense that you were at the trial." "Not to me." "You had to have a good reason to contact Danny in the first place." "Frank..." "I know you would never lie to me." "So now you just have to find the guy who died." "I must've seen him at the clinic." "They found you there after you left the hospital." "Whatever drew you back must have been pretty important." "Hey!" "Stop the truck." "Turn it off." "Give me your flashlight." "Holy mother of God." "Lacerations, bruises, defensive marks." "Probably finished her off with a blow here." "The occipital bone is shattered." "Whatever caused the cuts on your hands is not what was used to kill her." "My guess is a rock, a pipe, something ad hoc." " Disposal of the body reads the same way." " A struggle." "Not premeditated." "Certainly not well planned." "He doesn't see himself as a killer." "I think a jury would disagree." "But you were right." "Somebody died." "She's not the one." " This guy killed two people?" " Yeah." "Whoever it is has to be somehow hooked into this trial." "A participant, someone from the drug company." "A man of science." "There was someone I was supposed to see." "Some expert." "That's why I went to the trials." "That's the nurse from the trial." " Dead?" " Yeah." "There's another body." "We just haven't found it yet." "You led me to the man that was connected with the trials." "He's some kind of expert on psychotropic drugs." "You saw who I know." "They wouldn't do this." "He almost killed me." "Who is he?" "I don't know!" "All right?" "I don't know!" "I don't know!" "I trusted you!" "What about your family?" "Did you lie about that too?" "I have a wife and a daughter." "Yeah, but you don't really see things, do you?" "I do." "I have a daughter." "One night when my wife was out, I was taking care of her." "They found me on the highway trying to run into cars." "The lights..." "I thought it was... the road to heaven." "Beautiful child." "I thank the Lord every day I didn't drag her out there with me." "It's okay for me... this." "But... my daughter..." "God, I worry what she might have inherited from me." "I've gotta go." "Look... this is my phone number... if anything comes up." "Or call if you want to call." "So you were right." "The water was contaminated." " I thought you checked it." " We did." "And mass spectrometry I.D.'d... a trace residue of mesmertine hydrochloride in a spill trough." " Which is what?" " Proloft." "We simply thought someone from the trial had spit out their medication." " So why are we here?" " Sandy Geiger, Frank Black." " Hi." " Sandy runs the X-ray diffraction facility." "She had a look at the residue from the spill trough." " I thought it was Proloft." " Yes and no." "You'll love this." " So what are we looking at?" " Stereoisomers." "Two different configurations of mesmertine hydrochloride." "Same chemical formula." "Mass spectrometry can't tell them apart." "But look at this." " Two totally different 3-D structures." " Mirror images." "Like thalidomide, the molecule had two forms." "One prevented miscarriages, but the flip side caused severe birth defects." " I remember that." " This is Proloft." "It adjusts serotonin levels, controls anxiety." "But this is what you gave me." "Structurally, it's close to molecules... that lower the threshold for temporal lobe seizures." "causing fight-or-flight response and other primal behaviors." " Almost the opposite of Proloft." " Evil twin." "I had a drink of water." "I never knowingly took the drug." "Anti-Proloft, access to the trial... has to be someone from the drug company." " Was Danny any help?" " Not yet." "Bedford Shriver has 2,000 employees." "If we go in blind, we could tip them off." "That's what this is..." "a trial." "He's testing his product for something bigger." "Massive contamination after Proloft is certified?" "I'm not so sure he'll wait that long." "Danny, open the door." "I need to talk to you." "Danny." "Open the door!" "I just wanna talk!" "Frank, I'm so glad you called." "How are you?" "Better." "We're finally making some progress on this thing." " Jordan asleep?" " Of course." "Do you know how late it is?" "Long day." "Peter and I have been all over the place." "I take it you saw Danny Miller." "Why?" "He left kind of a nutty message for you." "Hang on." "I'll play it for you." "Frank, David." "After you two left, I started thinking... why feel bad when you can feel good?" "It's a choice we make." "And I'm..." "I'm ready to head outside." "Oh, Danny boy" " Frank, are you still there?" " Honey, I'll talk to you later." "From glen to glen" "And down the mountainside" "Oh, summer's" "Gone and all the roses falling" "'Tis you must go and I must die" "But come ye back" "When summer's" "In the meadow" "Oh, my goodness!" "Oh, no!" "The guy just walked out in front of me." "He walked right out in front of me." "You saw it, man." "He ran right at me." "There was nothing I could do." "It wasn't my fault." "Yeah, I know." "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "Peter." "Any word on who Danny contacted at Bedford Shriver?" "It's bad." "Right here." "Once he got going, he talked to half the company." " Obviously he got to our guy." " I stayed at his apartment... until the fiber crew showed up." " I'm sure they'll come up with something." " It takes time." "I also went through some of his things." " You find anything?" " Yeah." "Dr. Daniel Miller is definitely for real." "Top of his class at Cornell." "Chi Sigma Delta." "Did his post doctorate work at the University of Pennsylvania." "Stacks of letters from grateful patients." "Then it all ended in 1986." "But he had a lot of fans." " Until his breakdown." " Even after that." "He hooked people up with experimental drugs." "He helped get them into the trials." "Even people in the late stages of AIDS... psych patients who didn't respond to approved therapies." " A doctor of last resorts." " He helped a lot of people." "Those are his sheets on the trial participants." "I thought you might want to tell them what happened." "Danny left us a message." "I have a hard time believing Hans Ingram... could do the kind of things you're talking about." " He did." " He's been a model employee for 16 years." "Long hours, never misses a day." "Except today." "Wouldn't you know?" "What I mean is there was no sign." "No one." "That's a bad sign." "Does this seem maybe, uh, slightly obsessive to you?" "A guy this neat's not gonna be too happy about getting his door broken." "Get a load of this." "Hmm." "Looks human." "Half the country's on antidepressants already." "Proloft will snag 20 million more." "Fifty million people medicated." "Welcome to the Age of Aquarius." "This guy with his anti-Proloft... probably thinks he's doing us all a favor, right?" "Yes?" "For you." "Peter Watts." "Peter." "We found the other body... ocular trauma, tissue samples removed... turned into a lab specimen..." "but no Ingram." " How about you?" " A hopper of ibuprofen a kilo heavy." " They're testing it for contaminants." " Maybe we got him in time." "From what I'm seeing... dosing random bottles of aspirin won't do it for him." "I think he's gonna make a grander point." "Does Bedford Shriver make a product called Smooth Time?" " You make Smooth Time?" " I've never heard of it." " No." "Why?" " His grand point." "I think we got a box of it here." "All units in the Gateway sector, all districts... we have a stage one alert." "Proceed immediately to 622119th Street." "622119th Street." "Hang on." "Help is coming." "Hang on." "Frank, he's handing out bogus product samples to people on their way to work." " Do you have him?" " He's gotta be long gone." "No, he records everything." "He wouldn't miss this." " Where's Security?" " Upstairs, left." "I saw you coming." "I could've left." "Agitation, 8.5." "You were wild." "I learned a lot from you." " You poisoned me." " I had a plan." "You stepped on it." "Look at them!" "Look at these people!" " You poisoned them all." " No!" "They poisoned themselves." "Now look at this!" "People will take anything!" "We're a nation of zombies." " People are dying out there!" " Half the country's dead!" "The company I work for puts people to sleep." " And you wake them up!" " That's right!" "And when this is over, will everyone go back to their zombie lives?" " I don't think so!" " So you made your big point." " Yes!" " You killed a nurse." "You killed Danny." "What kind of point is that?" "I had a plan." "I..." "Cuff him." "I had a plan, and you ruined it." " I had a plan." " Yeah, I got a plan for you-prison." "He was here before, in your office." "I know." "I'll be right back." "Okay." "Looks like the body count's gonna hold steady at four." "Could've been worse." "It would have been a lot worse if you hadn't found him." " I thought you'd better have this." " David Marx." "Did you see it?" "While you were at that trial... whatever you were after, that's your business." "Peter?" "Thank you." "I'll see you." "No secrets." "I got drawn into these trials because I wanted to find out something." "A few weeks ago, when Helen was abducted... something happened that made me wonder... if Jordan has this thing..." "that I have." "I know that you don't want her to see the things that you've seen." "We don't want her to live in a world where those things exist, but she does." "And if Jordan has any part of my gift... then we'll be there to guide her." "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" " Yes?" " Come and see what Benny can do!" " I taught him myself." " You did?" "Okay, Benny, sit." "Good boy!" "Good boy!" "Revision:" "Thor"