REPORT: PILOT
FILE #: 101

THE CENTRE, we see a black and white recording of a young boy. In the bottom left hand corner of the screen a message reads “4/2/63 For Centre Use Only”. The “film” shows a young boy of about four or five years of age standing in the middle of a room, surveying the work he has apparently just completed: the construction of the Empire State Building using Lego blocks. He’s humming a song that sounds much like a nursery rhyme. It goes ‘Geese walk barefoot, cree craw, toad’s foot.’ He looks at the copy and then turns and compares it with pictures of different views of the real thing that are projected onto a wall of the room. Satisfied, he turns towards the observation window of the door and approaches it. Outside the door, a head and shoulders of a man come into view. The young boy loudly utters that he’s finished. The man looks and speaks directly into the camera, “This one has only been with us for thirty-six hours and he’s already demonstrating more talent than any of our others.” The boy knocks on the door and tries to look through the two-way mirror, stating again that he’s finished. The door slides open and Sydney enters the room. He bends down so that he is on the same level as the boy. “Hi, Jarod. I’m Sydney. I’ll be taking care of you for a while.” Young Jarod looks puzzled. “Why? Where’s my Mom and Dad?”

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, 1996. A helicopter approaches a tanker and lands on its deck. Miss Parker is a tall, leggy brunette, wearing tight fitting clothes under a padded jacket and very high heeled shoes. Sydney is a distinguished looking gentleman, late fifties. He, too, is wearing a bulky padded jacket and gloves. Miss Parker and Sydney disembark onto the deck of the ship and are met by a sailor. He leads the way across the open deck towards the bridge. Looking at Miss Parker’s lit cigarette, he remarks that the materials on board are highly explosive. She drops the cigarette on the deck and crushes it with her shoe, stating, “So am I.” The sailor, Miss Parker and Sydney walk to the tanker’s bridge. The sailor tells the two how “Captain Jarod” turned them in because they were dumping toxic waste into the sea. Miss Parker recovers a red notebook which had belonged to Jarod. She opens it and she and Sydney look at a variety of articles on a village where people were getting sick because of contaminated fish. Miss Parker thinks that Jarod accidentally left the notebook behind, but Sydney is convinced that it’s a breadcrumb intended to keep him close. Miss Parker sarcastically quips, “Your little monster needs his teddy bear, huh, Sydney?”, but Sydney stresses that Jarod is not a monster. Sydney discovers a large text book that is lying open along with another. The title is “Modern Surgical Techniques”. Sydney believes that he now knows what Jarod’s up to next.

THE EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM of New York’s Queen of Angels hospital is a busy area with lots of noise, action and people. Walking through the centre of the throng is a tall, slender man with dark hair and dark eyes. He is dressed for a cold climate, dark trousers, turtle-necked sweater and an overcoat. This, we assume is Sydney’s ‘monster’ Jarod. He looks rather confident, not at all like a person who had been isolated from the world for thirty years. Jarod comes across a man who is pushing his mother down a busy hospital corridor and trying to get instructions as to where to take her. A black nurse by the name of Gwen tells them that they need to see Admitting in a not too friendly tone. The woman in the wheelchair protests loudly, but unfortunately in Greek. The nurse tells her to speak English. Jarod is watching the scene with interest and when her son tells the nurse that she won’t speak English, Jarod cuts in. “She says she doesn’t wanna be cut open. She doesn’t trust doctors. I don’t blame her”. Gwen instructs them where to go and the man pushes his mother along the corridor. The woman in the wheelchair twists so that she can look at Jarod. He smiles at her. Suddenly, a young girl on a gurney is being rushed along the corridor by a trail of nurses and ambulance attendants. She is wearing an oxygen mask. Medical jargon is thrown around, the little girl is clearly in distress and in need for emergency medical procedures. They are trying to get a doctor, but the doctor on duty is already in the OR and the doctor on call needs to be paged first. Jarod has followed them into the treatment room, he takes off his coat. He puts on surgical gloves while the nurses call out that the girl’s blood pressure is falling and that she’s going into respiratory arrest. Jarod gets ready to do a tracheotomy, but Gwen, the nurse, doesn’t trust him and yells at a colleague to call security. The girl’s O2 saturation is dropping and she is getting critical. Since no doctor has arrived yet, the tension is building. Two security guards have arrived, but Gwen tells them to stay put. Jarod asks for an ET tube and starts the tracheotomy. A tall, elderly, imposing gentleman with graying hair, in suit and tie has entered and is watching the end of the procedure, asking what the hell is going on. A nurse announces the girl is breathing again. Jarod turns around to his audience, most of whom seem to be standing around looming amazed, uttering, “Now, that’s a nice sound”.

Jarod and Dr. Hendricks, the man in charge, are walking down a hospital corridor towards Hendricks’ office. Jarod is now wearing green hospital scrubs and has presented himseld as Dr. Jarod Russell. He apologizes to Dr. Hendricks for causing confusion that morning, but the latter waves it off. Hendricks introduces Jarod to Nurse Gwen, obviously the head nurse of the ER, who is handing Dr. Hendricks papers he needs to sign. They have stopped in the corridor and Jarod watches as Nicole, one of the nurses, approaches the door to the radiology room, opens it, flicks the OPEN sign over so that the OUT TO LUNCH side is face up and enters the room to be greeted by a smiling young man, before closing the door behind her. Another doctor by the name of Dr. Trader approaches Dr. Hendricks, Gwen and Jarod at high speed. He is a bit breathless. Dr. Hendricks introduces him as Dr. Allan Trader, Chief or Surgery. Upon Trader’s mentioning of having missed Jarod’s performance of a rather unusual tracheotomy in the ER in the morning, Jarod says that it’s a procedure he read in a book. Hendricks and Trader start laughing at what they think is a joke, but actually isn’t. Jarod looks a little confused at first, but then joins in. They walk into Hendricks’s office and sit down at his desk. They ask Jarod why a doctor with his credentials decided to work at a small hospital like ‘Queen of Angels’ and Jarod replies, “Well, I could tell you that it was for the career opportunity, but the truth is, you are the only hospital that is offering stock options. And rumor has it that you might be purchased by an HMO,” playing right along into Hendricks’ and Trader’s lap. The doctors look pleased and Trader tells him, “Don’t worry, Russell. Stick with us and you’ll be driving a new Lexus in no time”. As they are about to part ways, Hendricks asks Jarod if he plays racquetball. Jarod says he’s heard of it and Hendricks invites him for a game. The shake hands and leave the office.

THE CENTRE, BLUE COVE, DELAWARE. The Centre is a large stone structure by a lake. Miss Parker and Sydney are walking down a wide and long corridor. It has an institutionalized air, white walls, uncarpeted floors and lit from what appears to be a skylight high above them. Miss Parker thanks Sydney for having “created a mess big enough to put me back in the field.” She had been recalled from Corporate to take charge of Jarod’s recapture. Sydney says that he’s also thrilled to be working with Miss Parker. She’s planning to zero in on Jarod’s location by tracking him over the ATM, but Sydney tells her not to underestimate Jarod: “If we’re to catch him we need to be patient.” “Look, Syd, you may be satisfied in your laboratory, probing small minds to solve big problems, but I have career goals that do not include schlepping across country, chasing after Boy Wonder.” “You were such a happy little girl. What happened to you?” “I grew up, Sydney. So should you.” They stop at a door and Miss Parker punches a code into a key pad beside it. A little girl, possibly four years old, rides down the corridor on a tricycle. The lock buzzes and they enter what used to be Jarod’s room. It is a well lit room, quite large and on two levels. There are white walls with lots of shiny surfaces and modern furniture. However, it has no visible windows. The top level appears to be a living area, holding a table and chairs, television and video equipment on a trolley and an area behind a partition which can not be seen. The sleeping area and desk with computer is on a lower level. Sydney tells Miss Parker that it’s a waste of energy, that he’s been through Jarod’s room a thousand times. She says she hasn’t and starts prodding and probing some of Jarod’s belongings. She tells Sydney to run Jarod’s last sim. Sydney pushes a button which plunges the room into darkness. A large screen comes to life behind the desk. It shows a plane crash, the plane disintegrating and bursting into flames as it hits the ground. They both look at it while Sydney explains, “This is Jarod’s last project. When the black box on this aircraft wasn’t recovered, Jarod simulated the final moments of the crash. And using his innate pretender skills, Jarod effectively became each member of the cockpit crew and pinpointed the cause of the crash for our clients.” She turns off the video and the lights come on again. “Hell of an environment you keep him in. With input like this maybe we’ll find him masquerading as a postal worker.” Sydney forcefully defends Jarod, “He doesn’t masquerade. He’s a Pretender. He becomes anything he wants to be.” Miss Parker walks over to Jarod’s desk, picking up an origami figure made out of gray paper. Sydney explains that it’s an origami angel and that he hasn’t figured out the emotional connection to Jarod yet. Miss Parker then corrects him. She tells him that it’s not an angel, but Onyssius, “the Greek god of retribution. He defends the weak and abused.” A little annoyed, she hands Sydney the origami figure, “Here’s your breadcrumb, Sydney. Your sociopath thinks he his some kind of vigilante getting even for the little guy.”

INSIDE A TAXI in New York City, Jarod tells the driver to go to St. Andrews Middle School, Queens. As the taxi moves off, Jarod opens a red bound notebook, similar to the one that Miss Parker found on the tanker. This one contains newspaper articles. “Injured 12 Year Old Kevin Bailey” with a picture of a boy in a wheelchair. “Boy Loses Parents” is the heading on another one of the articles.

OUTSIDE ST. ANDREWS MIDDLE SCHOOL, Jarod is standing at the counter of an Ice Cream van, examining a soft serve ice cream cone. He turns it upside down and tests its texture by rubbing some between his fingers. The ice cream man gives him a weird look, informing him that it “tastes better before it melts”. Jarod tentatively tastes it and, upon liking the taste, eats some more. “Hey, this is good… This is really very good. Do they whip air into it to fluff it up?” The ice cream seller gives him an even weirder look. “I don’t make it, pal. I just serve it.” A school bell rings and Jarod turns and watches as a young boy in a wheelchair, Kevin Bailey from the newspaper article, stops to watch some other students at play. Jarod sees how an elderly man, possibly Kevin’s grandfather, comes and takes him to the van. Jarod’s face reflects the pain on the boy’s face.

ON THE STREET, Jarod is standing in front of a bank of television sets in a shop front. A homeless man with a long beard and scruffy clothes is standing beside him, also watching the screens. Wheel of Fortune is on. Jarod’s face bears a look of curiosity and bewilderment. “Now, this is fascinating. They win money by guessing word puzzles?” The homeless man looks at him in confusion, “You never seen Wheel of Fortune? What rock you been living under?” “I’ve been busy” Jarod replies. He looks at the current puzzle. Only three letters ‘T’ ‘H’ and ‘E’ have been added to the puzzle, but our genius has already been able to figure it out. “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, he says and walks away. The homeless man stares after him in clear befuddlement as Jarod is walking over to another homeless man who’s been whistling to get his attention. Homeless man no. 2 tells Jarod that he found out that Jarod’s bank account in Alaska “has been frozen” and that he did what Jarod asked. Jarod hands him a hundred dollar bill. “You give me a c-note for finding out you’re broke?” Jarod replies that they had an agreement and turns to leave. The first homeless man is still watching Wheel of Fortune, but the puzzle has been solved all but for the letter ‘U’. He looks around at Jarod. The puzzle indeed reveals “THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH”.

AT THE QUEEN OF ANGELS HOSPITAL, inside Jarod’s office, Jarod has just finished drawing a syringe-full of blood from his own arm when there’s a knock at the door. He is now in his more formal doctor attire, long sleeved shirt and tie. The red notebook is open beside his computer keyboard. He tells whoever is at the door to wait a second and quickly gathers up the equipment, opens the drawer of his desk and drops the paraphernalia in it before closing it again. He asks the person to come in as he rolls down the sleeve of his shirt using the desk as cover. Nicole, a trainee nurse, blonde, petite and pretty, around twenty years of age, enters. She politely asks Jarod if he could go see the Greek lady since he seems to be the only person she doesn’t yell at. Jarod tells her he will and hands her the vial of his own blood, asking Nicole to have the lab run a complete diagnostic testing on it.

Jarod enters Mrs Nykos’s room after knocking on the door. He greets her in Greek, he has now added a white coat and stethoscope to his doctor’s ‘uniform’. Mrs Nykos is sitting up in bed. She asks him in English, “Are you a doctor?” He evasively answers, “I am today.” Jarod is perplexed that she can speak English and she says she only does when she feels like it. She also tells him that she doesn’t need or want an operation. Jarod is sympathetic to her wishes and tells her that he’ll cancel her operation if that’s what she wants; he’ll try something else. She looks at his inquisitively, “You’re no doctor.” Jarod seems to be concerned as he thinks he’s been caught out, but then she adds, “You’re a human being.” Jarod smiles at her.

AT THE CENTRE, Miss Parker is entering the Tech Room, which is on two levels, a walkway mezzanine overlooking a semi-darkened room filled with computer monitors and terminals and a large display terminal taking up most of the far wall. Sandy, a slight, blonde haired woman who has walked along the mezzanine to meet Miss Parker, tells her that they have an ATM hit on Jarod’s Anchorage account. Miss Parker looks pleased and Sandy informs her that he’s in Santa Fe, Mexico. Miss Parker is already half-way out to take a jet to Mexico, but then Sandy hesitates. “No hold it, he’s not in Santa Fe, he’s in Rome, no, Luxembourg.” Activity gets frantic on the main floor as the Techs try to locate Jarod’s position. Miss Parker unnervedly exclaims, “The little SOB has scrambled the ATM system.” The large screen comes to life with video footage from an ATM machine. It is the homeless man whom Jarod had hired to check his Anchorage account. He holds up a sign “HI GUYS”. He then mouths the words and blows them a kiss, grinning the entire time.

QUEEN OF ANGELS HOSPITAL, outside radiology Jarod meets up with Gwen. She asks if it’s true that Jarod has cancelled Mrs Nykos’s surgery and he tells her yes. “Fine. You’re the doctor. As long as I don’t get blamed for anything.” Jarod informs Gwen that he wants to try a special sort of herbal tea on Mrs Nykos. Gwen looks at him incredulously. “Doctor, this is ‘Queens’. We don’t do tea.” “We do now.” He asks her for the key to radiology and she hands it to him, telling him that Andy’s out to lunch. Gwen then turns to where a boy and a man are sitting on a bench. She holds out her arms. The boy moves to her, greeting her with “Hi, Momma.” She picks him up and gives him a big hug. Jarod watches the exchange with a smile on his face but sadness in his eyes. He walks over to the radiology room door, the “OUT TO LUNCH” sign is displayed. Jarod unlocks the door and enters the room, which is in darkness except for the illumination provided by one set of x-ray viewing panels. Behind the x-ray table on the floor, there is some movement which Jarod glances at and then ignores as he moves to the viewing panels and starts hanging x-rays taken from an envelope he has been carrying under his arm. Out of the blue, he suddenly starts speaking, “I could use a hand with these. That is, if you have one free.” “Oh my God. It’s Doctor Russell.” Nicole jumps up off the floor and starts to straighten her clothes. Andy too, quickly stands and starts buttoning his shirt. Jarod smiles at them as Andy comes over to Jarod, still hastily rearranging his clothes. He puts on his glasses and looks at the films. “I don’t understand. Kevin Bailey is Doctor Trader’s patient. Any special reason you’re looking at these?” “Any special reason that you’re in here half naked? I can be forgetful if you can,” Jarod smugly replies. Andy keeps looking at the films, telling Jarod that one of the thoracic vertebrae was crushed, severing the spinal cord. Jarod says that he knew that already, but was wondering why the pre-op and the post-op x-rays are identical. They conclude that someone must have made a duplicate of the post-op film and then labeled it pre-op.

IN JAROD’S LAIR, Jarod is sitting at his desk which faces the windows. He is looking at what looks like a small television screen that is enclosed within a case. There is a keyboard and roller mouse ball. He flicks a switch on the control panel, selects what looks like a small version of a compact disk from a slot in the case and inserts it into the player. The screen comes to life. On the bottom of the screen we read “JAROD 10/31/70 FOR CENTRE USE ONLY”. The scene, in black and white, depicts a twelve year old boy. He is running backwards and forwards up a set of four stairs towards a fake door. He is holding a long slender brown paper wrapped parcel in his hands. On the far wall of the room is a large video screen. Sydney is sitting on a chair out of the way, watching what Jarod is doing. This is obviously one of Jarod’s simulations. He tells Sydney what he’s doing, how he’s feeling, experiencing what the someone he’s pretending to be must have felt. Very soon it becomes clear that he’s pretending to be Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who shot John F. Kennedy in 1964. Young Jarod starts aiming the gun he’s using for the simulation, telling Sydney, “I can’t fire enough shots before the car goes under the overpass. I can’t. I can’t do this alone. He wasn’t alone.” As Jarod is watching the digital recording on his computer screen, he mutters to himself, “He had to have help. Trader wasn’t alone either, Sydney.”

ON A RACQUETBALL COURT, Jarod appears to be having trouble keeping up with Hendricks in a rally. Finally, Jarod misses and is brought up short against the side wall. Both men are enjoying themselves. Hendricks, too, is out of breath. He bends and picks up his water from the corner of the court, telling Jarod it was a good game. Hendricks toasts Jarod with the bottle and drinks.

In the Sports Club Lounge, Trader is sitting at a table having a drink. He is relaxed, slumped in his chair. Jarod and Hendricks, fresh out of the locker room and dressed in their ‘doctor uniforms’, approach his table and sit down. Trader tells Jarod not to be annoyed at having been beaten by Hendricks, informing him that “he never lets anyone win”. Hendricks takes out a glass container with some kind of pills in it and swallows some. Jarod picks up the glass and reads the label, asking if Hendricks has got a heart problem. Trader cuts in, “Miles is a type A time bomb. Two heart attacks. One more and it’s bypass time.” They engage in small talk about the hospital and Jarod incidentally mentions that he expected “there to be more fallout from the malpractice problems.” Trader and Hendricks exchange an uncomfortable glance. “Unfortunately that’s the cost of doing business. We’ve had our share of difficulties, but I would put the Queen of Angel’s record up against any hospital in the country,” Hendricks tells him. When Jarod mentions the name Kevin Bailey, Trader suddenly becomes very still. Hendricks informs Jarod that there’s nothing to worry about, that the Kevin Bailey case is now behind them.

ST. ANDREWS MIDDLE SCHOOL, outside the school, Jarod approaches Kevin Bailey, who is wheeling himself towards his ride. Jarod is carrying two ice cream cones, he holds one out to Kevin. Kevin rejects it. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you? You talk to strangers, you end up on milk cartons.” He starts to wheel away from Jarod, but Jarod follows. He tells Kevin his name and offers him the ice-cream cone again. “It tastes better before it melts.” Kevin is having trouble getting his chair to go fast enough to get away from Jarod and the latter asks him, “Your hands still cramp up when you wheel?” Kevin stops wheeling and looks up at Jarod. “How would you know about it?” “I have a good imagination.” There is the sounds of kids having a good time from behind them. Kevin looks towards them, remembering the good times. Jarod pauses and listens as well. He crouches down beside Kevin. “It’s gonna get better, I promise.” Kevin gives him a look of disgust, fuelled by anger and leaves.

AT THE CENTRE, in Jarod’s room, Sydney is sitting in a chair staring at the wall when the intercom buzzes. He turns and flicks a switch. A secretary informs him that “there’s a Shreve Harmon calling on line seven”. Sydney smiles to himself. “Shreve and Harmon. Built the Empire State Building. Put him through and trace the call.” The phone buzzes and he picks it up. “Very clever, Jarod.” Upon Sydney’s asking if Jarod is all right, he says he’s broke, the Centre froze his bank account. Sydney begs him, “I want you to come home.” “Well, now there’s an interesting way to put it. Home,” Jarod answers sarcastically. Sydney asks him, “Why did you leave?” “You’re the shrink, Sydney. You want the truth? It’s because of the lies. Your lies.” “What lies?” Jarod stands and looks at a number of newspaper articles which he has stuck to the wall near his desk. He pulls one of them down. “I found out the real application of my simulations, Sydney. South Pacific Fleet simulation 118. You took my results and blew a ship out of the water. 133 people were on board. My outbreak simulation. You used it in the field. 46 people died of the Ebola virus, Sydney! Simulation 27. Simulation 16. Simulation 42!” Jarod’s voice is laden with anger. Sydney stands up and starts pacing. “Jarod, these were military contracts. I had no way of finding out about their ultimate application.” “How many people died because of what I thought up?” Miss Parker enters Jarod’s space and picks up the extension phone. Sydney again begs Jarod to return to the Centre. Jarod crouches down beside his chair and picks up his PEZ dispenser from where it had fallen to the floor. Popping a PEZ into his mouth, he tells Sydney that he doesn’t miss the Centre. From his undertones it is clear that he won’t come back voluntarily. Sydney hisses at Jarod, “Jarod, this is getting serious. They brought in Miss Parker.” “Uh oh. Well, you’d better watch your back too, Sydney.” “What are you doing, Jarod?” “Using the skills you taught me.” He disconnects, goes to take another PEZ, but it’s empty. He throws it on the chair.

Jarod is lying on his stomach on the bed waiting for an ID card to come out of a laminating machine. It contains a picture of himself, JDR in big letters with Jarod D. Russell under it and an ID no., C75. He picks it up and looks at it.

AT THE CENTRE in the Tech Room, the Techs are in a mild panic as Miss Parker enters and is met by Sandy. The techs tell them that they’re locked out. Sandy informs her that a client hired them to see if the Stock Exchange was vulnerable to manipulation. Sydney then states that Jarod spent four months on that simulation. The client gave them five million to test the results. Today is the date of the test, which Jarod knew. One of the techs tells them, “Everything was going to plan until someone on the floor started to manipulate the markets. He’s stolen our five million.” Miss Parker quips, “Gee, I wonder who that could be.” Sydney cuts in, “Well, at least we know where he is.”

ON WALLSTREET, NEW YORK CITY, Jarod crosses the street, removes his bright red jacket and throws it in a trash receptacle, smiling while doing it.

QUEEN OF ANGELS HOSPITAL, out on the roof. Mrs Nykos is sitting in a wheelchair, laughing. Jarod is crouched in front of her and is making marks on the sole of her foot with a pen. Nicole, who is standing next to Mrs Nykos hands her a cup. Jarod asks Nicole to massage the marks on her feet. Mrs Nykos is wondering about Jarod’s strange medications and she demands the truth from Jarod. Jarod crouches down beside her. “What truth?” She places her hand on the back of his neck. “A man who gives me the sun, who massages my feet and who gives me stinky tea. Who are you?” She places her hand on his cheek as she notices his crestfallen look. “Och, so much sadness … and so much joy.”

INSIDE A NOBEL HOTEL, in the foyer Miss Parker and Sydney are checking in. The desk clerk informs them that their rooms have already been prepaid in cash. He also tells them the gentleman who paid for them left them something. He pulls an ice bucket from under the counter containing a box of Rocky Road Ice Cream. Around it, a spray of silver ribbon with a card attached to it. It reads “Welcome to the Empire State”. Sydney is trying to hide a smile and Miss Parker silences him with one of her needle-sharp comments, “Not a word.”

AT THE SILVER RAIL BAR, Jarod approaches Trader who is sitting at the bar. He pauses long enough to loosen his tie before getting Trader’s attention. Jarod sits down on a barstool next to him, and Trader orders a ginger ale for himself and his colleague. Jarod looks very worn out and beat. Upon Trader’s inquiring as to the reason for his rough look, Jarod explains, “Four gun shot wounds, a lobectomy and a ruptured spleen. And I’m only half way through. Allan, I think I might have screwed up today. Really screwed up. The lobectomy. I think I left a haemo inside when I sowed her up.” Trader quickly dismisses it. “No problem.” Jarod seems surprised. “No problem?” Trader tells him to take it out again under the pretense of having found internal bleeding, thus lying to the patient and covering everything up. Trader’s pager suddenly goes off, due to the fact that Jarod had arranged it to do so with the help of the homeless man who had handled his bank-account business earlier. Trader tells Jarod he has to go. “Well, thanks for the advice, Allan,” Jarod tells him as Trader leaves the bar.

OUTSIDE QUEEN OF ANGELS HOSPITAL, Jarod follows Trader back to the hospital and watches an exchange between Allan and Gwen Porter. Trader shows Gwen the message on the beeper. She shakes her head.

INSIDE JAROD’S OFFICE, Jarod uses his desktop computer to access The National Police Information Network. He finds a criminal record for Gwen Porter. There’s a knock at the door. It’s the nurse Nicole, handing in the lab results on the blood test of Jarod’s own blood. He reads it and doesn’t seem to be happy with the results.

We see another replay of a DSA recording of Young Jarod being approached by Sydney. “This one’s been with us for only thirty-six hours and he’s already demonstrating more talent than any of our others.” Jarod tells him that he’s finished building the Lego model of the Empire State Building and then demands to see his Mom and Dad.

IN A CORRIDOR OF THE HOTEL, a fireman, complete with helmet and breathing apparatus is ushering people towards the emergency exit. The building’s fire alert message is sounding loudly. Miss Parker walks past the fire fighter, turns towards Sydney and gestures down, telling Sydney that she’ll meet him downstairs. As Sydney walks past the fireman, the latter puts a gloved hand on his shoulder, urging him to hold on a second. Then he removes his breathing apparatus. It is Jarod. “Sorry to wake you, Sydney, but I needed to speak to you, face to face.” Jarod hands him a piece of paper, explaining that these are instructions about how to retrieve the Centre’s five million (minus Jarod’s ‘commission’) that he stole at the stock exchange. “Don’t look so surprised. I don’t want money. I want the truth. Who am I? Did The Centre adopt me? Was I bought or was I stolen and where are my Mom and Dad?” Sydney plays Mr. Innocent, “Jarod, we’ve been over this a thousand times. Your parents died in a plane crash.” “Yes, I know the story, Sydney. It’s been burned into my brain for the past thirty years. You see, I did a little checking. There’s this genetic anomaly that’s in my blood that should be in my supposed parents. But it’s not. Therefore it’s impossible that I’m their son. So, the truth, for once.”

Outside, on the way down the fire escape, Miss Parker, who is lighting a cigarette as she moves down, stops suddenly, realizing that there was no smoke when they were ushered out of the hotel. She turns and starts forcing her way through people as she returns up the stairs.

Back in the hotel corridor, Sydney tells Jarod that he honestly didn’t know about Jarod’s parents. Jarod is still angry, “I am not gonna to be your little science experiment anymore, Sydney. I can be anything I wanna be. You trained me well. I can be a doctor, I can be an engineer, I can be an astronaut, for God’s sakes. But I don’t know who I am. Tell me who I am.” “I don’t know either. At the time I had no reason to question what the Centre told me. I swear.” “Then prove it. Give me tomorrow’s code to the Centre’s mainframe. The truth about who I am has to be in there.” Sydney says he can’t do that. Miss Parker and some sweepers appear at the end of the corridor and Sydney is forced to come to a quick decision. Miss Parker gives the order to shoot Jarod. Sydney turns to Jarod, giving him the code and telling him to go. Jarod moves towards the elevator and disappears. As the sweepers are about to aim at Jarod, Sydney blocks the path of Miss Parker and the sweepers, giving Jarod time to slip into the elevator and make his escape. By the time Miss Parker gets around Sydney, the elevator doors have closed. She bangs her fists on the door in frustration and strides back to Sydney. She’s very annoyed. “Make up your mind, Sydney. Be a scientist or a mommy. You can’t be both.” She marches off down the corridor, the sweepers close on her heels.

AT A TRAIN STATION, Jarod is following Gwen as she exits the station. He calls her name and she stops, surprised to see him. Jarod tells her he wants to talk to her for a minute, handing her an x-ray envelope. Gwen takes out the x-ray, it’s Kevin Bailey’s. He confronts her about why she helped Trader to cover everything up. He also hands her her criminal record that he dug up in the police archives. Tears well in Gwen’s eyes as she tells Jarod that she’s got a job, a good husband and a kid and that she didn’t want to lose any of that. “What would you do if your wife came home and told you that she was a crack-head and a convict?” Jarod looks at her with a genuinely understanding expression. “I’d say that she’d paid her debt and I’d ask her why she didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth. At least that’s what I think I would do.” Gwen is scared, but Jarod finally gets her to tell him what happened. “I had to page Dr. Trader that night at the Silver Rail. We all knew he drank, but nobody wanted to admit it. I showed him the x-rays. Even I knew that the boy should have been stabilized. But he insisted I was wrong and … He severed the little boy’s spinal cord when he moved him. But it was Dr. Hendricks who covered it all up and threatened to expose my past if I didn’t go along. See, when Trader realized what he’d done he gave me the pre-op x-rays and told me to burn them. But I couldn’t. I went to Dr. Hendricks instead. I don’t know why I thought it would do any good. He’s been covering for Trader for years. He took the x-rays and he made me swear that I wouldn’t tell anybody that he had them. He said he might be able to use them for insurance.” Jarod thanks Gwen for being honest with him and when he’s about to go, Gwen tells him, “Dr. Hendricks isn’t gonna give you that film. He’d rather die than risk that hospital sale.”

IN JAROD’S LAIR, Jarod is sitting at his desk, the phone tucked into his shoulder. He is addressing an envelope while waiting for an answer. When Dr. Trader answers his phone, Jarod asks him to meet him at the Silver Rail, today at noon. Trader agrees. Jarod hangs up and dials another number. He picks up a mortar and pestle and starts grinding some tablets into a fine powder. This time it’s Dr. Hendricks he’s got on the phone. Jarod asks him if he would be interested in another game of Racquetball with him, today at noon. Hendricks also agrees. Jarod then tips the powder into a bottle of water.

AT THE RACQUETBALL COURT, Jarod and Miles Hendricks have just finished their game. They are both out of breath and it is apparent from their conversation that Jarod has again lost the game. Hendricks asks him to toss over his water. Jarod picks up Miles’ water and his own, swapping his into Miles’ water cooler. Miles takes a swig and they go to the tiered seating behind the court where Hendricks sits down. He is having trouble getting his breath, holding his hand to his chest in obvious pain. Jarod asks him if he’s okay, but Hendricks slumps over. Jarod yells for someone to call an ambulance.

AT THE SILVER RAIL, a waitress informs Dr. Trader that Jarod will be running a little late. Trader accepts the news and orders another drink.

AT THE EMERGENCY ENTRANCE of the Queen of Angels hospital, Jarod jumps out of the back of the ambulance shouting instructions as he follows the gurney carrying Miles. He informs the hospital staff that Dr. Hendricks is having a heart attack and that they should prepare the OR.

IN THE HOTEL LOUNGE, Miss Parker approaches Sydney who is reading a newspaper. She sits opposite him, “You lied to me. Last night you told me that Jarod came here to return the five million. All he really wanted was the mainframe code.” “It was the least I could do. He was lied to about his parents. So was I.” “Stop pouting. It was need to know. You didn’t.” She informs Sydney that they tagged Jarod’s file and that they have been able to track him to the Queen of Angels hospital. She ushers Sydney to go. As he sees the sparkle in her eyes at the imminence of Jarod’s recapture, he states, “The Centre wants him alive.” She smiles at him, “Preferably.”

IN THE OR AT THE QUEEN OF ANGELS HOSPITAL, Jarod, now wearing hospital scrubs, approaches the operating table and crouches down beside Miles, telling him that they haven’t been successful in bringing in a cardiologist fast enough and that Dr. Trader will be there soon to do the operation. Hendricks pleads that Jarod do the operation instead of Trader. Jarod reluctantly agrees. “Okay, okay. Okay, Miles. No problem. But first you tell me where Kevin Bailey’s pre-op x-rays are.” Hendricks tells him willingly. “Now, you do the operation, Jarod.” Jarod smiles his best smug smile, “I’d like to, Miles, I really would, but that wouldn’t be ethical. You see, I’m not really a doctor…and you’re not really having a heart attack.” He good-naturedly pats him on the shoulder, stands up and moves away from the table. Trader steps in to prepare Hendricks for the operation.

In the meantime, Sydney, Miss Parker and a handful of sweepers have arrived at the hospital. Miss Parker instructs them to work their way up. Jarod is not to escape at any rate.

In the OR corridor, Jarod taps on the window of the nurses’ station, telling Nicole to page security to stop Dr. Trader’s operation because he’s drunk. Jarod walks away as Nicole does what Jarod told her.

In Dr. Hendricks’ office, Jarod finds the x-rays, removes them and throws his red notebook on the desk. Sydney spots Jarod as he comes out of Hendricks’s office. He smiles at him and Miss Parker, turns and runs for the stairs. He speeds up a few stairs to the floor where Mrs Nykos is staying and enters her room. She is standing by the window looking out and engages him in small talk, not realizing his precarious situation. In the corridor, Miss Parker barges into another room, surprising its occupant and visitors. Then, they suddenly hear a cry from one of the other rooms. Miss Parker, Sydney and some sweepers enter the Greek lady’s room to find her sitting up in bed, pointing at the open window. She tells them that a man just climbed out of her window and up the fire escape. Miss Parker and the rest of the gang go after him. When everyone has left the room, Jarod emerges from under Mrs Nykos’s bed. “Efrahisto,” he thanks her in Greek and stops to blow her a kiss before he leaves through the door.

Meanwhile, Miss Parker, Sydney and the sweepers arrive on the rooftop. Sydney, more clued in than the others, runs straight to the edge and looks down just in time to see Jarod getting into a taxi. He smiles up at Sydney and Miss Parker who are watching helplessly, unable to prevent him from leaving. Miss Parker gives Sydney a not too friendly look.

ON THE STREET, Jarod posts Kevin Bailey’s x-rays in a public postbox. He walks down the street and looks up at the Empire State Building, glad to be seeing it in person.

AT THE BAILEY RESIDENCE, Kevin’s grandfather hands Kevin the envelope from Jarod. Surprised, the boy takes out the x-rays and examines them.

AT THE AIRPORT, Jarod is sitting in the flight lounge, reading a newspaper. A headline on the front page says “Bailey settlement in the millions”. An attendant approaches Jarod, telling him he’d better board, otherwise he might miss the flight. Jarod looks at her. “Don’t worry. They’re not going anywhere without me,” he replies and places his cap on his head. He is wearing an airline pilot uniform. He gets up and walks down the tunnel towards the aircraft, pulling his luggage on a trolley behind him.