Come on, let me in. I'm dying out here with this food.
Sorry.
- I 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.
- I 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.
- If 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?
- I 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. - I'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 personaI 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.
- I have no idea what you said. - He's going to be fine.
If you like, you can go see him now.
I would like that. Thank you.
How do you feel?
- I'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 alI 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.
- It was ruined in Mexico. - It'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. - I'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...
I 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... Is 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... I just...
Special Agent Ben Phillips, FBl. 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. It 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?
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 FBl. 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 FBl...
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.
- It'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 FBl 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 FBl 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.