"Timing by Fist_Rothbone" "Well, thanks for the information." "I appreciate it." "There's no chance a mistake could've been made?" "A misreading?" "Human error?" "It happens." "Oh." "Well, that sort of rules that out then, doesn't it?" "So this really is reality." "Mr. Secretary, your car." "Oh, yes." "Thank you." "Eddie, let's take the parkway." "Okay, buddy." "Final offer." "Nonnegotiable." "For every buckle-down hour you give Algebra Two... you get two with quality time with Nintendo and Sega." "Deal?" "Just whatever you do, don't tell your mother." "Good." "Now, put her back on." "Okay, hon." "Number-one son back on the straight and narrow." "Me?" "Fine." "Just needed a little field trip to clear the head." "Bit of a nightmare day." "I'll see you in a bit." "You bet." "I love you, Liz." "This is a very dynamic game, Mr. Dapina." "You can be honest, Angela." "This game is as bloody as it gets." "Believe me, the kids will eat this up." "First, tell me what keeps crashing the damn thing." "You have been virused, Mr. Dapina, and a not so very nice one." "You're the best." "I knew I could count on you." "What should we do?" "Don't hit the escape key on any of your systems for a while." "One keystroke will wipe out your whole system." "I don't know how these things happen." "I just ordered that security program." "What's it called?" "Gatekeeper?" "That's what they all say." "Did you install it?" "Absolutely." "The minute we got it, I think." "Everything's under control." "It's gonna be okay." "You're the best." "Will we be able to get this in stores by week's end?" "Absolutely." "Everything but the virus." "A friend of mine collects them." "I don't know, some people save string." "You are a genius, Angela." "I can't thank you enough." "You might think differently once you get my bill from Cathedral." "Whatever it is, it's worth it." "I'd love to show you my appreciation." "Take you out to dinner tonight, some drinks." "Get you out of the house." "Oh, I'm very flattered and appreciative, but l" "You gotta eat." "Unfortunately, I already have dinner plans, so" "How about tomorrow?" "The next day?" "These plans are kind of a standing arrangement." "But I appreciate it." "Thank you." " You're still the best." " l'll speak to you soon." "Bye-Bye." "Large." "Garlic?" "Thank you." "No one leaves the house anymore." "No one has sex." "The net is ultimate condom." "Come on." "Talk like that, Iceman... could lead to the eventual extinction of our species." "My sympathies exactly, Angel." "Let's have a date and procreate." "Not me." "In two days, I'm off on vacation." "Just me, the beach and a book." "I'm there, babe." "Look no further." "Sorry." "Not my type." "I'm crushed." "So what do you want in a man?" "Butch." "Beautiful." "Brilliant." "Captain America... meets Albert Schweitzer." "Spends all day dashing into fray... while making world... safe for democracy." "At night, playing Bach cantatas... while curing cancer." "Settle for a guy who puts the seat down?" "Listen, Angel, you're dreaming." " You're one of us." " We accept you." "We accept her." "You're one of us." "One of us." "Yeah, I know." "It's beautiful." " l love Chopin." " You know this piece?" "Well, I should." "You taught it to me." "Brought you something." "Just don't let the nurses eat it all this time." "My favorite." "How did you know?" "Do you wanna-- We could play it together." "I'm going on vacation for about a week to the Yucatan." "If for any reason you need to get in touch with me... I don't know if they have phones there, but you can talk to one of the nurses" "You must be one of my students." "No, Mom." "My name's Angela." "Can you bring me some candy when you come again?" " My favorites are those" " Almond Roca." "Yeah, I know what your favorites are." " Angela Bennett!" " Who is it?" " FedEx." " Coming." "Thank you for using our reservation service." "Have a pleasant flight." "Line five, please." " Oh, I have another one going out." " Okay." "Here you go, ma'am." "And here's your virus, Dale." " Can I use your pen?" " Yeah, sure." "This is a nice place." "Thanks." " Have a nice day, ma'am." " You too." "Mozart's Ghost!" "The hottest band on the Internet." " Cathedral Software." " Dale Hessman, please." "Please hold." " Hello." " Hi, it's Angela." "Angela?" "FedEx had you signing for that disk three minutes ago." " What took you so long?" " I was having way too much fun... with this Mozart's Ghost." "By the way, I sent you a whopper of a virus for your hall of fame." "Just be a little careful with the escape button." "Look, here's the problem." "Pop yourself into concert information." "All right." "Houston Utilities." "Dale, I think you took a wrong turn here." "Not quite Ticketmaster, is it?" "See anything unusual?" "No, looks like a normal web page to me, except for that... little icon at the bottom of the screen." "Click on it, and then press control-shift." " My God." " So, what do you make of all this?" "Simple." "It's a programming glitch." "It's a futzed keystroke that sent you the wrong Internet address." "Last night it sent me to Amtrak's central mainframe and the Mayo Clinic." "Neither of them are on the same subnet." "Angela, I've accessed a system I shouldn't have." "If someone gets ahold of that disk, they'd have an awful lot of power." "Why don't you just crawl in there, find the program error and delete it?" "Not quite ready to do that yet." "Look, what's your day like tomorrow?" "Oh, no." "No." "I'm going on my first vacation in six years." "I just confirmed my reservation." "There are no refunds." " What time is your flight?" " 12:00." "But I have to pack." "I'm gonna be a complete madwoman." " Why don't you wait till I get back?" " l don't think so." " Just tell me what this is about." " I'd rather not on the phone." "I can fly down tonight in my Cessna, be there by breakfast." "We'd have five hours." "You know this shit better than anyone." "Fine." "Fine." "I'll see you at 7:00." "Great." "So, they finally get to meet." "I'll be the tall guy." "I'm gonna be the one with "Spineless Simp" tattooed to her forehead." "Bye." "See you tomorrow." "Why do I do this?" "Burbank Tower." "Cessna 739 Mike Bravo." "Intercepting approach course l.L.S., runway eight." "Three-nine Mike Bravo, we've lost radar contact." "Say your position and altitude." "Just passing the middle marker at 1,300 feet." "Three-nine Mike Bravo, that's a negative." "Verify your position and check your instruments." "All normal, for crying out loud." "You must be able to see my lights." "That's a negative." "Execute a missed approach immediately." "Contact approach control on 124.5." "Okay, Burbank, but still everything looks ok" "Shit!" "God!" " Cathedral Software." " Hi." "Russ Melbourne, please." " One moment, please." " Mozart's Ghost!" " Russ Melbourne here." " Hi. lt's Angela." "I thought you'd be long gone." "No, I was getting ready to leave." "That's why I'm calling." "I'm glad you're still going, but when you get back, we need to talk." "We're really desperately short of your genius up here." "Oh, please. I'm far from being a genius, Russ... especially with a room full of people looking over my shoulder." " That's not the reason I called." " Just think about it, will ya?" "The honchos up here aren't gonna let me replace Dale... on such short notice, not with all the security breaches we've had in the past." "Replace Dale." "Okay." "What?" "You're kidding, right?" "Oh, God, I'm sorry." "I thought you'd heard." "What?" "What happened?" "Angela, Dale's dead." "His plane crashed last night outside L.A." "I just talked to him yesterday." "He was coming to see me." "Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?" "Let's talk when you get back, huh?" "And try to have a good vacation." "Okay. I'll talk to you soon, Russ." "Plenty of time." "Ain't nothin' comin' in or goin' out for the last hour." "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please." "We are sorry to announce... there is a computer malfunction, and all flights have been temporarily" " The whole airport is down." " When we get further information... we will advise you." "Thank you very much." " We will let you all know." " Excuse me." "I understand." "We're doing the best we can." "A blood test taken last week... at Bethesda Naval Hospital did in fact reveal... that Undersecretary of Defense Mike Bergstrom... was infected with the aids virus." "You okay?" "Yeah. lt's all these people." "No, I meant are you okay with your soda?" "Would you like a refill?" " No, I'm fine. I've had three." " The malfunction has been repaired." "One more, and I'll be able to fly myself to Mexico." "Looks like you won't have to." "Enjoy your flight." " Mozart's Ghost!" " Waiter, I'd like a gibson, please." "It's a martini with an onion instead of an olive." "is that okay?" "Thanks." "Excuse me." "Could I have one too, please?" "I'll take mine up at the bar." "Didn't think anybody else drank those anymore?" "I guess I'm not as unfashionable as I once thought I was." "is that business or pleasure?" "is there a difference?" "Not a great deal if you're a hacker." "That's a nice piece of hardware." "I assume you're in the business." "Isn't everybody?" "Nope." "God, we're pathetic, aren't we?" "Excuse me?" "Well, we're here." "We're sitting on the most perfect beach in the world... and all we can think about is where" "Where can I hook up my modem?" "Yeah, exactly." "Um, I'm Jack Devlin." " Angela Bennett." " Angela?" "My most embarrassing secret." "You know Breakfast At Tiffany's?" " Very well. lt's my favorite film." " Right." "I wore out my membership renting it." " You know what I'm talking about." " Yes." "Very much so." "When I was about 13... I had this sort of identity crisis." "I used to think I was one of the characters." "You thought you were Audrey Hepburn?" " No, I used to think I was the cat." " The cat?" "I'd sit there... and I'd play out the last scene of the movie." "I'd just play it over and over again." " You know the last scene?" " Yes, I know the last scene." "Out in the pouring rain, out in the alleyway." "I'm soaked to the bone, and I'm scared." "And I'm... abandoned." "I'm alone." "That's it." "Moon River" "Wider than a mile" "Would you have dinner with me tonight?" "Come on." "It's your last night." "You know what?" "I would-- l would actually really love to." "Great." " lt's a company perk." " God, this is a company perk?" " Yeah." " Some perk." "I think I got a calendar one year from Cathedral." "Where are you from?" "Colorado?" "Yes, it has to be." "The eastern" "Maybe it's the southeastern part of the state." "The teeming metropolis of La Junta, population 50." " La Junta?" " That's pretty good." "is my accent that strong after all these years?" " No, it's just a trick I do." " Oh." "Why "after all these years"?" "How long have you been gone?" "Oh, boy." "It seems like a lifetime." "Let's see. I was, uh-- l was 15 going on 10... and we moved from La Junta to San Jose..." "Tulsa, um" "So your father got transferred a lot?" "No, not really." "No." "He, um-- l don't know." "He just, you know-- He just transferred out one day." "What?" "What are you looking at?" "You." "Me?" "Computers are your life, aren't they?" "Yes." "Perfect hiding place." "Thanks." " Well, yeah, okay." " Nice one of you." "I have one or two other interests, I'll have you know." "Such as?" "What's your speciality in computers?" "Oh, anything, pretty much." "Beta testing, mostly, but pretty much anything." " That's way over my head, I'm afraid." " No, no." "You just go into people's systems, you find the faults and you fix it." "What happens if they don't have any faults?" "Don't believe I've met one yet." "You must be a bit cold." "Not really." "Well, yeah, a little bit." " Here." " What?" "It goes around here." "Better?" " Want one?" " Oh, God, I used to smoke those." "But you quit, right?" "Well, I refuse to." "I reckon you gotta try a few things in life without a safety net... or how else you gonna know you're alive?" "Well, I take my share of risks." "I don't always floss." "I rip the tags off my pillows when they're new." " My kind of woman." " Yeah, well" "Pretty adventurous?" "I don't know." "What did you have in mind?" "Dare you risk it?" "Shit!" "My purse!" " Fuck!" " No!" "Don't!" " lt's not worth getting killed over!" " Come back!" " Jack, come back here!" " You !" "Stop!" " lt's not here." " lt's not in hotel." "I look everywhere." "So I come here. I do like you say." "Whoosh, like magician." "Oh, yeah." "You're the midget Houdini." "Okay." "Now the dinero." "God, I had everything in that bag." "I had my passport, my credit cards." " Ow." " Sorry." "Thanks for doing this." "Well, you're the one bleeding to death." "I am the one crying about my MasterCard." "I apologize for having been a jerk." "What do you mean?" "I'm the jerk." "Only trying to impress you." "Well, for future reference... you should know that the living tend to interest me more than the dead do." " Yeah?" " Yeah." "I suppose that's quite healthy." "I suppose we ought to call up the Cancun police on the ship-to-shore." "It's not working." "We'll have to head further out." "You can head to Morocco for all I care." "It's beautiful out here." "How we doing?" "Still no dice." "I'm just going down below." "I won't be a minute." "Maybe we didn't go out far enough." "No, this should do it." "Tonight's been so out of control, huh?" "Yeah." "I hope you don't take this the wrong way... but this isn't exactly my style." "I thought you liked taking risks." "well, yes, but I mean" " You know what I mean." " What?" " You know, first date." " Yeah." " Sex, one-night stand." " Oh, sex." "Yes, that sort of thing." "You've always been a relationship kind of girl." "Absolutely." "Both times." "So when was the last time?" "Um, 1933." "Oh, I see." "And who was he?" "Your college boyfriend?" "Yeah, I bet he was the" "He was the captain of the drinking team." "Wasn't ready for a relationship." "Oh, I wish I had been that lucky." "No, it was my shrink, actually." "You know the story." "I thought I was lonely, and he forgot he was married." "That's okay." "It didn't last very long." "My mom developed Alzheimer's around then, so it was really" "You know what?" "I'm gonna shut up right now." " l'm just gonna be quiet." " lt's okay." "No, actually, it's me who doesn't want to hear it." "Sorry. I'm rambling a little bit because I'm a little nervous." "You want a drink?" "Yes." "That'd be greatly appreciated." "Thank you." "So, what's this for?" "It's, uh-- lt's for shark fishing." "Shark fishing?" "With a silencer?" "Yeah." "You certainly seem to know your ordnance." "Colorado." "You grow up with guns." "Yeah." "So, who are you, Jack?" "Who am I?" "I'll tell you who I am." "I'm Captain Goddamn America meets Albert Schweitzer." "That's who I am." "Isn't that what you always wanted?" "It is." "I remember." "It was butch... beautiful... brilliant, spends all day... dashing into the fray... fists flying." "Sorry, I don't know any organ cantatas." "Was that it?" "And if you'll excuse me... it's time to make the world safe for democracy." "Where's the clip?" "Give me that!" "Bitch." "Somebody, I need help." "Somebody?" "Hello?" "Please, somebody, I need help." "Keys." "Okay." "What?" "No." "How did I get here?" "How'd I get here?" "A fisherman found you." "He brought you here." "You were very lucky they came by." "How long have I been here?" "Three days." "Try not to talk too much." "Oh, we found a man's wallet... filled with pesos and a lot of U.S. dollars." " We tried to contact him" " No." "He" "No." "There was no luck finding this man." "There was a disk." "Green square, plastic disk." "Ah, yes." "The disk was ruined by the sun." "You relax now, hmm?" "Get well." " No. I need-- - ln a few days." "Look at you now." "You haven't got the strength." "Please." "My clothes." "How much do I owe you?" "Please." "You have to relax now." "You have to rest." " You need a few days." " l need my clothes." "I have to go." "I just need my clothes." "In national news, we go to WNN correspondent Daniel Schorr." " Hi. I need" " Wall Street panicked when prices... appeared to tumble at a rate reminiscent of the Black Tuesday crash." "Officials suspended trading when it became clear... that the losses were fictitious and caused by computer pranksters." " l need my room key for 2806, please." " What is the name?" "Angela Bennett." "Wall Street expects to open tomorrow... with its computers protected by Gregg Microsystems' latest security program... aptly nicknamed the Gatekeeper." "What about that prank downtown?" "Pranks?" "Short-sheeting someone's bed is a prank." "These Praetorians could've done serious damage to our economy... just as the actions recently at LAX." "No, I'm sorry." "Angela Bennett checked out last Saturday night." "No." "Sorry, you don't understand." "I'm Angela Bennett." "I'm standing right here." "I didn't check out." "It's not on the computer here." "Let me check one more thing." "No Angela Bennett." "She checked out last Saturday night." "No, I didn't check out." "I would know if I checked out." " l didn't check out." " According to the computer, you did." "There's nothing I can do for you." "Okay?" "I'm sorry." " Excuse me, sir?" " Step here, sir, please." "That room is fine." "We'll take it." "That's for you." "Okay." "This one." "Excuse me, ma'am." " There you go." " Thank you." "Please dial your card number again now." "The card number you have just dialed is not valid." "Miss Marx?" "Please dial your card number again now." " Ruth Marx?" "Excuse me." " The card number you have just dialed" " Are you Ruth Marx?" " No." "You're not the woman who was here about a temporary visa?" "No, I am here about a visa, but-- ls your Social Security number 915-30-1717?" "You live at 407 Finley Avenue, Venice, California?" "Yeah." "Well, then according to the computers... of the California Department of Motor Vehicles... you're Ruth Marx." "So if that's who you are... you need to sign your name there, and we'll issue your visa." " But I'm not" " You're not what?" "I'm not clear about something." "Without this, I can't get back into the United States. ls that correct?" "That's correct." "So all I would have to do is just sign Ruth Marx and" "Right there." "Okay." "Think, think." "Oh, my God." "Oh, my God." "Where're you runnin'?" "Don't run." "Take your time." "Relax." "My name is Stan Whiteman, Whiteman Realty." "Let me show you around." "You'll like it." "Oh, I definitely saw her move out." "Okay, when was this?" "Three days ago." "Moving van, moving men, furniture." "I've been in Mexico for over a week." "How could I be in L.A. selling my house?" "It wasn't your house to sell!" "It's not her!" "It's not Angela Bennett!" " Calm down." " l am Angela Bennett!" "The real Angela Bennett had the deed and the mortgage papers!" "I got 20,000 in computers." "I checked every record. lt's not her!" "Ma'am, it would help if you could produce some form of identification." "You know what?" "I agree with you." "But as I have told you 1,000 times today... I had everything stolen in Cozumel." "Please." "Ask her how she got across the border without a passport." " l had a temporary issued." " Do they do that?" " l don't think they do that." " Oh, my God." "This is ridiculous." "Here." "Here it is." "This is it." "It's just that it's under a different name." " Why's that?" " Because they think I'm not me." " ls this your signature?" " Well, no." "It's my handwriting, but I just signed a different name that they gave me." "It's a federal offense to forge a visa." "Oh, really?" "It is?" "And what is it to steal an entire house?" " Yo, Mike." "You wanna run this?" " l'll be right back." "It's not gonna make any difference, because what they've done is... they've screwed with my information and my fingerprints." " Who's they?" " I have no idea." "Where do you work?" "Do you work around here?" "Yeah, I work in my house, but my office is in San Francisco." "But I've never been there." "I work out of my house." "You don't know one person in a town you've lived in for four years... who can vouch you're Angela Bennett-- not a mother, a father?" "My mother is not well." "My father is" "No." "There's, uh-- There's my therapist Alan Champion." " Your therapist?" " My ex-therapist, all right?" "Yeah, we've got a Ruth Marx trying to run a scam at a house." "She's wanted for prostitution and narcotics." "We're gonna bring her in." "Um, would you excuse me?" "I'm gonna be right back." "I'm just gonna use" "Mrs. Raines... is she or isn't she?" "She kept to herself, didn't talk to anybody." " Where's the girl?" " She's" "Where's my phone?" "Anybody seen my phone?" "Excuse me, sir." "Did you see a young woman running out of here?" " No, sir. I haven't seen anyone." " Thanks." " Yeah?" " What the hell happened, Devlin?" "Don't worry." "We'll get hold of the disk." "We'll find who she's been speaking to." "She's out here on her own." "She's feeling pretty vulnerable." "We don't want another Cozumel, Devlin." "She's your responsibility." "Deal with it." "I said I'd take care of her, all right?" " Cathedral Software." " Russ Melbourne." " Cathedral Software." " Russ Melbourne." "Mr. Melbourne is no longer with the company." "What do you mean?" "May I connect you to someone who could help you?" "I've never dealt with anybody in operations." " l don't know anybody else." " Who may I connect you with?" "Head of Security Systems." "Tell them that it's Angela Bennett." "Thank you. I'll put you through to Miss Bennett." "What?" "No." "I am Angela Bennett." "This is Angela Bennett." " Who is this?" " This is Angela Bennett." "Hello?" "This is someone that can help you." "Give us the disk, Angela." "You have the wrong person." "I don't know what you're talking about." "Just give us the disk, and we'll give you your life back." "I don't understand. I don't have your disk. I don't know what you mean." "Give us the disk, Angela." " What's the number?" " 555-7605." " Did you get the address?" " It's 3100 California." "Hi." "This is Dr. Alan Champion." "I can 't come to the phone right now." " Please be home." " Please leave your name, your number." "You know the drill." "Are you screening?" "Please be screening." " Hello?" "Hello. I'm home." " Hi. lt's me." "I need your help." "I'm in a lot of trouble." " Shit." " I'm not sure what you want me to do." "Hold on." "This is a cell phone, right?" "Yeah, so we can't put a normal trace on it." "Listen." "There's no problem." "No." " Just get the number." " Right." "But don't dial it." "Just send out a signal." " Send it from the base?" " Yeah." "Then find me two repeater cells that can pick it up." "Give me the bisect, and it'll find it within a few hundred yards." " Okay." " Go." " Go, go." " Nice to see you too." " l'm sorry." "Just go." " Come on. I'm not a cab." " Say hi." " Hi." "Can we go now?" "Yeah, now we can go." "Listen, do you still have that laptop that I gave you?" " Uh-huh. I'm wearing it." " l'm serious." "Do you have it?" " Yes, I have it." " We need to get it and go to a hotel." " Now that's doable." " Alan, just go." "Just go, go, go." "I swear to God. I asked for a quarter, and she gave me a telephone." "Yeah, that's right." "I'm calling everybody." "Clever girl." "Voila." "Ouch." "Alan, you don't have to stay if you don't want to." "I'm sure that-- God, what's her name?" "Amy." "Don't worry." "It's over with Amy." " l'm sorry." " Don't be, dearie." "We're not." "This is bizarre." "I haven't seen you in so long." "What are we even doing here?" "I just figured you would be safe." "Oh, great." "So I've gone from being a self-centered asshole to safe." "Thank you very much." "No, I just figured that they couldn't trace me to you and that your" "Your patient records are confidential, right?" "My patient records." "Yeah, I knew I had my subtle charms." "It's just you're the only person I have to turn to right now." "And you know what, Angie?" "I'm gonna take that as a big compliment." "Guess what time it is." "Gibsons." "Almost." "We have no onions, so we'll have to use these." "Seldane, the antihistamine of champions." "I could always make you laugh, couldn't I?" "You know what?" "I'm gonna pass." " No drink?" " No drink." "All right." "I come bearing gifts." "Some of Amy's clothes for you here." "Try these on." "This is such a nightmare." "It's like I'm not even me anymore." "Hey, come here." "Come on." "Look at me." "You're freaking me." "You gotta take a breath, take a pause." "Okay, if you're not you, tell me who you think you are." " Christ, you're not even listening." " l am listening." "But come on." "Somebody stole your purse." " l didn't expect you to believe me." " l do believe you." "That's not true." "You know what I believe?" "I believe you're a very frightened woman." "In general, you're disconnected from the human race." "I think you're way out there on your own." " You mix in your father leaving" " Oh, no." "My father has nothing to do with the fact that my car's missing." "It has nothing to do with the fact that my house is empty." "It has nothing to do with the fact that the police department... is chasing after me and that somebody out there wants to kill me." "I believe something happened, but that just doesn't make sense." "I don't want to be simplistic... but I think you're reaching out." "You know what?" "You're absolutely right." "I'm reaching out to anybody who knows me... anybody who will listen to me and believe me... be my friend and somebody to trust." "Hey, Angie, I'm sorry." "Sometimes it's easier for me to play doctor than it is to listen." "I just don't understand." "Why me?" "I am nobody. I am nothing." "But they knew everything about me." "They knew what I ate, what I drank, what movies I watched." "They knew where l was from." "They knew what cigarettes I used to smoke." "And everything they did, they must have watched on the Internet." "I don't know." "Watched my credit cards?" "Our whole lives are on the computer, and they knew that I could be vanished." "They knew that nobody would care and it wouldn't matter." "It's going to be okay." "What can I do?" "I need for you to take my mom and just put her anywhere." "I don't care where." "Just put her under a different name." "I don't know what these people will do." "You can do that 'cause you're a doctor?" "I can put your mom in a sanitarium for observation." "How's that?" "That would mean a lot to me, 'cause she's all I got left right now." "All that you have left?" "Christ, Angie, they've really gotten into your head with this." "Put yourself in my shoes." "I don't hear from you for a long time." "I get a phone call, this convoluted story." "Come on." "I'm not buying the whole package, but I'll tell you what I can do." "I have a friend in the federal building." "His name's Ben Phillips." "He's an fbi agent." "Why don't l-- l've been running from the police ever since I got back in this country." " That's the last thing that I need." " Well, that's great, Angela." "Why don't you just live the rest of your life in this hotel room?" "Well, do you trust him?" "Yeah." "I used to hold his head over the toilet at frat parties." "Come on. I'm serious." "Do you trust him?" "Yeah, I trust Ben." "I do." "Let's formulate our plan." "I'm gonna go back to my place." "I'll figure out the best way to transfer your mom to the sanitarium." "Then I'll call Ben." "If I get any information, I'll get back to you." "Don't be so down." "Come here." "It's gonna be okay." "I'm on watch now." "You know, this would've never happened if you had stayed with me." "Hey, Alan, thank you... for everything." "You're welcome." "You stay put, kiddo." "Merci." "Now prompt me, please." "Okay, you carried this around, Devlin, because it was important." "Bethesda Naval Hospital." "Password." "Okay, password." "We're gonna try you." "No." "Okay." "Well, you look familiar." "Let's try you again." "Come on." "Okay." "Bergstrom?" "What?" "Oh, my God." "Yeah." " Someone's on." " Think it's our girl?" "Whoever it is is covering their tracks." "A dozen hops so far." "A pop in Switzerland, a Unix box in the University of Montana... five different routers at Berkeley." " They know what they're doing." " How long will it take to track her?" "Depending how long she stays on, 15 minutes, half hour at most." "Call me the second you find her." "And that other matter?" "That's free of charge." "Thanks." "Praetorians?" "What?" "I need more information." ""The Big Bad Wolf, Cyberterrorists--"" "I need more information." ""LAX, Wall Street, Atlanta." "Dangerous." "Don't mess with them."" "They've already started messing with me." ""Meet in lRL. ln Private." "In real life."" "No, no." "It's gotta be a public place." "Where it's safe with a lot of people." "The Santa Monica Pier by" "Where?" "The Ferris wheel." " Any luck?" " 8833 Rosewood in West Hollywood." "Remind me to buy you guys something nice." "Hello?" "Angie!" "Come on, let me in." "I'm dying out here with this food." "Sorry." " l thought, you know." " Forget it." "I figured you'd be hungry so I stopped on the way over." "I got your favorite." "Chinese." "It's your favorite." "I never cared for it, remember?" "That's immaterial. I knew it was somebody's favorite." " How's my mom?" " Mom is fine." "She's safely ensconced at the county sanitarium." "Everything's good." " Great." "Thank you." " Listen." "About the Chinese." "Let me make it up to you." "Let's go to that Greek restaurant." " l can't. I gotta go." " Really?" "Every time I see you now you're running away." "I'm not." "There's a guy from the Internet... who might know something about what's going on." "Can I tell you about Ben Phillips, the guy you wanted me to talk to?" "I told him your story." "He wants to see you first thing in the morning." "Can't you wait" "Does he know about LAX and Wall Street, and what happened in Atlanta?" "Of course." "Kids black out part of a power grid and spell "Braves Suck."" "is that a national emergency?" "Cyberbob's figured it out, and he knows what he's doing." " lf we don't talk, it'll be too late." " Listen to you !" "Cyberbob!" "You're meeting a guy named Cyberbob!" "Have you ever even seen him?" " l don't want you going alone." " Come with me." " Sure." "Where are we to meet him?" " Santa Monica Pier." " Yeah?" " Hi." "Bob Fox?" "These people are dangerous." "They killed Dale because of what he knew." " They think I have this program." " l'm with you." "But first, somebody tries to kill you, now this guy Dale" "They put somebody in my place at Cathedral to get rid of any traces." "Why would anybody want to do this?" "They would want somebody in Cathedral's mainframe to set traps... to make sure this doesn't happen again." "That would take weeks!" "You cannot do that from the outside." "Remember that Internet number that Devlin guy had?" "I plugged it in, and I'm staring at the personal medical files... of the Undersecretary of Defense Michael Bergstrom." " The guy who blew his head off." " Yeah." "They said a computer blood test told him he had aids, right?" "When they did the autopsy, there was no hiv found." "Maybe when they do my autopsy, I can finally prove I'm not Ruth Marx." "What's frightening me is I'm starting to think you're not delusional." "I need to get back to Cathedral... get on that Mozart's Ghost program, 'cause that's gotta be it." "They've got this echo system on their computers... where you can retrace your keystrokes in case you made a mistake." "Are you all right?" "Alan, what's the matter?" "Pull over." "You're scaring me." "Come on!" "Talk to me." "Pills." "What pills?" "What are you talking about?" "Get over here." "We'll go to the hospital." "Be okay, isn't he?" "He's allergic to penicillin." "They have him intubated and pumped full of epinephrine." " l have no idea what you said." " He's going to be fine." "If you like, you can go see him now." "I would Iike that." "Thank you." "How do you feel?" " l'm starving." " Yeah?" "Well, the minute you get out... I'll cook you the best microwave meal you've ever had." "How long they gonna keep me here?" "I think just another day." "And will you be handling the outpatient care, nurse?" "Do you mind?" "Visions of sponge baths dance in my head." "I gotta go." "You gonna be okay?" "I'll be fine." "I'm more worried about you." "I'll be fine." "Wish it was over, but I'll be fine." "I know." "Come here." "I wanna tell you something." "Come closer." "I've wanted to do that since yesterday." "Yeah, well... when you get better, I might let you do it again." " Do you still think I'm crazy?" " Sure, I do." "Always have." "Get your cotton candy, fifty cents." "Great picture!" "Bye." "How you doin'?" "Howdy." "Everybody's a winner!" "Step right up." "Honey, wanna dance?" "Give Benny a big hug." "Come back here." "It's safer to stay right here." "Sorry, Bob couldn't make it." "Hey!" "I hope this isn't how you greet all your old lovers." "That's not exactly the category you fit into." "I'm surprised you didn't kill me, then fuck me." "It was difficult, right?" "I was genuinely attracted to you." "I still am." "I'm gonna genuinely attract the Santa Monica Police... if you don't let go of me now." "You've been avoiding them since you ran out of that house." "They'd still be very interested in hearing... how you crashed Dale Hessman's plane, how you tried to kill me." " They'd love to hear about that." " Go ahead." "Feel tree." "They'd be happy to make your acquaintance." "Do you know that Ruth Marx has a criminal record?" "For drugs... prostitution." " You've got quite a record." " Almost as good as Bergstrom has." "I know about Bergstrom's suicide and I know all about the Praetorians." "I'm sure they'd love to hear about that." "Everybody has their button... and Bergstrom's just happened to be homophobia." "You have to know people well enough to know... which button to push." "I don't have your disk." "If I had it, I would give it to you." " lt was ruined in Mexico." " lt's okay." "But all we need now is what's up here, so you come with me." "I promise you I'll look after you." "Come on." "I don't understand." "What do you want?" "It's not about what I want." "It's about what my employers want." "Take a look around you." "Think things are working?" "I don't think so." "They think they can make things better." "By killing people?" "I don't ask too many questions." "I suggest you do the same." "Big boy, dance." "Don't push !" "Hey, you, jerk!" "Jeez!" "Dr. Henry to icu." "Dr. Garcia, stat to ambulance bay." "Code blue, 515 west." "Everybody clear?" "Three hundred." "Let's go." "Everybody, clear." "He's got no pulse." "Get her outta here!" "He's my friend." " Please help me." " Let me go!" " Hit him again." "Clear." " Alan, no." "Get off of me!" " Mrs. Champion, I'm sorry." " l'm not Mrs. Champion." "There were complications." "Would you like me to call you a cab?" "You're very upset." "Can someone pick you up?" "Ma'am?" "Would you like to talk with a counselor?" "Maybe you should lie down for a while." "I don't understand." "You said he was gonna be fine." "I know I did." "I'm sorry." " We think the insulin caused" " No, he was on penicillin." "Dr. Champion was being held for the treatment of diabetes." " He went into insulin shock at 9:25." " He was not a diabetic." "I'm afraid he was." "I can pull up his files." "Hello?" "You've no idea what it does to me hearing the sound of your voice." "Don't hang up." "Please." "This is important." "If you would... just take a step back from all of this... you'd see that you and I, we're really not so very different." "We're both loners." "We're both isolated." "We're both really untrusting." "We're both looking for the same clarity." "You've come to mean a great deal to me." "You mean shit to me." "Look-- l have to admit an arrogance in my perceptions of you." "I've come to visit a friend of mine." "An old piano teacher friend of mine." "You leave my mother alone." "It seems I have no choice." "She's being moved by Dr. Champion." "The late Dr. Champion." "Shit!" "Driver, this is the Highway Patrol." "Reduce speed." "Pull over to the side of the highway and turn off your engine." "There it is." "There she is!" "Police!" "Stop!" "My name is Angela Bennett." "Freeze!" "Police!" "My name's Angela Bennett." "Get down!" "Get down !" "Get your hands around the back." ""You have the right to remain silent." "If you give up that right... anything you say can be used against you in a court of law." "You have the right to an attorney and to have him present during questioning."" "Look, I wanna help you." "I've been appointed to help you, but everything you say is so farfetched." "They've changed your name, your friend's medical records because" "Just think about it." "Our whole world is sitting there on a computer." "It's in the computer." "Everything." "Your DMV records, your Social Security... your credit cards, your medical history." "It's all right there." "Everyone is stored." "And there's this little electronic shadow on each of us... just begging for somebody to screw with." "They've done it to me, and they're gonna do it to you." "Look, Miss Marx." "I'm not Ruth Marx." "They invented her." "They put her on your computer with my thumbprint." "I hate to tell you this, but the California Criminal Justice computers... all of them, have been protected by the Gatekeeper security programs... for the last six months... so nothing that you're describing could possibly happen." "Oh, my God." "It's the program then." "It's" " The Gatekeeper program, it has a flaw." "If they changed my identity and it has a flaw, then the Praetorians know this." " That solves it." " Yeah." "Think about it." "You want to tell me again how you ended up in a stolen car?" "Okay, listen to me." "It's like a Trojan horse, this thing." "The Praetorians hack into computers, and they cause this chaos." "LAX." "Wall Street." "The Department of Water and Power in Atlanta." "They do this so the people buy this program." "They buy this program, and they get a false sense of security." "Only to find out that they've unwittingly allowed the Praetorians... free and exclusive access to the system." "Imagine what they can do with this power." "They can do anything." "This is absolutely fascinating, Ms. Marx." "Please, my name is Bennett." "Write it down if you want." "It's Bennett." "B-E-N-N-E-T-T." "Bennett." "I have no reason to make any of this up." "As your court-appointed attorney... I'm obligated to do what you wish... so I will call you "Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile" if you want." "But take some advice." "If you go before the judge with this craziness... I guarantee you will be found incompetent to stand trial... and they will hold you indefinitely." "Hi." "This is her daughter." "Hi, Mom." "It's me." "How're you doing?" "You doing okay?" "How's that new nurse treating-- ls she" "It's Angela." "Mom." "It's Angela." "Mom, listen." "I need you to do something for me." "There's a lady here that I need for you" "She's gonna get on the phone." "I need you to tell her that I'm me." "'Cause she doesn't believe me." "Can you tell her that?" "Mom?" "Mom, don't." "No." "Are you there?" "I just want you to know that I love you and" "Lady?" "What?" " Would somebody answer the damn phone?" " Here she is." "Who's come to get me." "Can you just-- l just" "Special Agent Ben Phillips, fbi." "I'm Alan's triend." "It's a terrible thing what happened to him." "I'm so glad that you're here." "Two seconds after Alan told me your story... the Computer Crimes Division hit the bricks chasing this down... beating every bush from here to eternity trying to find you." "Sorry it ended up being a place like this." "Me too." "Let's get outta here, get you someplace safe." "We've got a field office about 40 minutes from here." "Then what do we do?" "Then I'm going fishing." "A shark named Jack Devlin." " Ring any bells?" " Yeah." "He's their one-man dirty-duty squad." "Smart, efficient, lethal." "Moral conscience of a chain saw." "Scary son of a bitch as he is, the guys behind the keyboards are worse." "The Praetorians." "Our first good lead." "We've been chasing them for years." "Look, we have to move A.S.A.P. so start sketching me a quick background." "All right?" "Like for instance... how the hell did you access their system in the first place?" "I didn't." "A programmer at Cathedral sent the disk to me." "Goddamn disk." "That's what kick-started all this, huh?" "Angie." "Tell me." "Did you make a copy of the disk before it was ruined in Mexico?" "Damn!" "The disk is only hope we have of catching these bastards." "Did you talk to anyone?" "Give copies of the disk to anyone?" "You guys are amazing sons of bitches." " Excuse me?" " Amazing." "Amazing, amazing." "How'd you know it was ruined?" "I only told Devlin it was ruined." "How'd you know it was ruined?" "What's your name?" "You're not with the FBl. lt doesn't even matter." "Since I touched that disk, I've been running from one nightmare to the next." "I'm tired. I am out of it." "I'm so out of it." "What are you doing?" "Get off the gas!" "Let go!" "You're gonna kill us both!" "Let go!" "My seat belt!" "After what appeared to be playful but costly computer tampering... an incident today has taken a darker turn." "We go live to Dermot Conley in Chicago with that report." "Police were called in as the recent comedy of computer errors turned ugly... when six Chicago banks were forced to shut their doors... due to computer tampering bringing the city's economic life to a halt." "It's a desperate situation." "City services will be conducted through the one bank unaffected by the glitches." "That bank, National Fidelity, sources say... was protected by Gregg Systems' aptly named Gatekeeper program." " Reporting live, Dermot Conley." " Thank you, Dermot." "In related news, Jeff Gregg, billionaire founder of Gregg Systems... was in Washington for today's announcement... by newly appointed Undersecretary of Defense Calvin Shoemaker... that the Pentagon will be outfitting the entire federal government... with Gregg's touted Gatekeeper program." "Remember, in this day and age, information is sacred, is power." "And society must protect that from terrorists." "Ironically, today's announcement came two weeks to the day... of the recent suicide of Shoemaker's predecessor Michael Bergstrom... a vocal opponent of the Gatekeeper program." "In local news, a spectacular car crash leaves one unidentified man dead." "We go live to Lynn Blades at the scene of the crash." "Thank you. I am just yards away from where the body was found... with a gangland-style gunshot wound to the head." "Police are searching for the passenger of that car... a young woman in her 20s, brunette, going under the name of Ruth Marx... and believed to be wanted on federal charges of car theft." "All Cathedral employees, this is a reminder... that the Cathedral booth at the Moscone Center... is in the northwest corner of the convention hall." "Okay." "All right." "Mozart's Ghost!" "The hottest band" "Don't do this to me." "Do not do this to me. I am Angela Bennett." "Me." " Cathedral Software." " Angela Bennett, please." "Programing." "Angela Bennett." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Who the hell is this?" " You got something to say?" "Otherwise" " Don't hang up." "Angela?" "All right, Miss Bennett, now that I know where you are... let's see if we can get you away from your machine." "How about I start a little fire... right here?" "This is a fire alarm." "Please proceed to the nearest emergency exit." " Angela." " What?" " There's a fire in the building." " Yeah, just a sec." "Don't give me a sec." "Let's go!" "Now!" "Come on!" "Mozart's Ghost!" "The hottest band on the Internet." "About time." "Password." "If there's a fire, where's the smoke?" "There's no smoke." "We're looking into it, ma'am." "What's this?" ""Terminate all Mozart's Ghost files now and terminate--"" "Gotcha, don't I?" "Who is Praetorian?" "Okay, let's search you out." "It's Gregg." "All Cathedral employees, return to your workstations." "The fire department has advised us this was a false alarm." "All clear." "Where are you?" "There you go." "You did do this, didn't you?" "Come on !" "You gotta go to the john too?" "Disk, where are you?" "Where are your disks?" "Virus." "Thank you, Dale." "Save." "Come on, come on." "Yes!" "Thank you." "We are going to the convention." "Oh, my God!" "Security." "Had a break-in on the fifth floor at Cathedral." "You're looking for a female, about 5'7", brunette." "Did you see a brunette?" "Did she come by here?" " Sorry, nobody came by here." " Only people are firemen." "Devlin." " Where is she?" " She's gotta be with the firemen." "We have to find her now." "She's copied the disk." "How the hell did that happen?" "You were supposed to get rid of everything." "You were to put a bullet in her head." "She should never have been alive to make that copy." "Smart." "Better call Gregg." "She's gone to the Moscone Center." "Jesus!" "She could be anywhere." "Are you sure she's out there?" "She's out there." "She won't be hiding in some corner." "She came here to use a computer." "Get away from the computer." "What did you think you were trying to do?" "Save the world?" "Not the world, just myself." "It's too late for that." "The offer's been withdrawn." "Look at the screen." "Everything on that disk was just sent to the fbi." "Everything." "So?" "Proof that the Gatekeeper program has a back door." "My, my." "Proof that Bergstrom and Dale's murder were orchestrated by Gregg." "Watch her." "The beauty of the Gatekeeper system is that we can get in the fbi... like it's the public library." "It's a beautiful system." "Let's finish and get out." "These people make me nervous." "No harm done." "Everything you've done will be wiped out by just escaping the system." "Really?" "Goddamn it, you're in the mainframe." "It's eating through Gregg's system." "Do something." "It's a virus eating through the Gatekeeper program." "There's gonna be nothing left." "Everything will be destroyed." "Take the far side!" "Stop!" "Shit!" "It's just you and me now." "Do you realize you've changed everything?" "Yeah." "One little stroke of the key... and you've wiped out my employer." "You've canceled my contract." "You've reversed everything they've done to you." "Taken back your life." "That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" "I knew you'd do the right thing." " lt's not responding to anything." " Try a new password." "Excuse me, Miss." "I can't remember what you told me to plant." "Why don't I come outside and help you?" "The law caught up with billionaire Jeff Gregg today... as fbi agents escorted him from his exclusive New York penthouse." "Gregg will be arraigned tomorrow on nine counts of conspiracy, fraud... and complicity in the death of Undersecretary of Defense Bergstrom." "An fbi spokesperson attributes the surprising arrest... to a transmission sent over the Internet by an Angela Bennett... a program systems analyst from Los Angeles." "In other news, San Francisco police are investigating... two mysterious deaths at the Pan-Pacific computer convention." "A young woman found shot to death in a back-room area... has been identified as 28-year-old Ruth Marx." "The other deceased, a male in his 30s, is as yet unidentified." "Turning now to weather, the forecast for the weekend... is bright and sunny with patchy early-morning clouds." "It seems like summer is finally here."