Are you all right?
You need to get out of the street, honey
You need to get out of the street Watch out
Watch where you're going
Keep moving
Go on
Hey Excuse me
Champagne, please
- I'll have the same - Yes, ma'am
Here you go
Thank you
You do know it's free
Nobody tell you this is a charity concert?
Well, it can't be that charitable
if they force you to sit through the damn thing
Cheers to that
Cheers
I'm Jacob
Hi, Elizabeth
Pleasure to meet you
So what do you do?
I'm special science advisor to the FBI
How intriguing
Job description would be?
Well, scientific advancements
have greatly benefited humanity, but
if those advancements are abused, could be very dangerous
My job is to make sure that never happens
And what kind of science crimes do you like to handle, Jacob?
Kind of classified
What about your phone number?
That classified, too?
Hood
We have some place to be
Let me give you my card
Duty calls
I always wanted to say that
Sorry to interrupt
The FBI is holding 2 seats on a flight that leaves in half an hour
So what's this about, Rachel?
Okay, Teresa Kimsey
She's 16, went missing July 7th
Suddenly showed up August 9th
Unharmed?
Physically
Benjamin Gonzales, 15
Disappeared August 11th
Reappeared September 8th
And Reggie Leinhart, 17
Missing September 10th, back October 15th
When the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children detected the pattern
they contacted the FBI
Well, the approximate age is the same
Duration of abduction is roughly a month
That's not what they're focusing on
Or why they want you involved
All of the children are severely autistic
At least, they were when they were abducted
- Were? - Now they're exhibiting symptoms of savant syndrome
From mentally challenged to mentally gifted in the space of a month?
That's extraordinary
When they found Reggie Leinhart,
he'd carved 657 squares
in the side of an 18-wheeler with a screwdriver
Perfect quadrilaterals
Benjamin Gonzales's mother
found her recently abducted son
frantically building that
Which means these must be Teresa Kimsey's
I find it hard to believe that these children were diagnosed
with Heller's syndrome
It's a relatively rare form of ASD
Autism spectrum disorder
I have a cousin who's autistic
But he has a mild form
So, what were you saying about Heller's syndrome?
Well, it's one of the most severe
A child can be developing normally
and then sometime between the ages of 2 and 4,
they start to regress
They lose skills that they've already developed
like, uh, language, motor skills
Some of them even stop communicating altogether
Savantism
is an even more uncommon condition
where a developmental disability coexists
with an extreme ability in other areas
like mathematics or art
Yeah, I never understood how that works
Well
Okay
Um, wait Look
Wait That's mine
This is an ordinary person's brain
By ordinary you mean incredibly charming and full of personality
Ordinary people organize
They sort things
They make connections
It's called logic
Now, this
Um, what are you doing?
Is the brain
Hood
of an autistic person
You see, although types and degrees of autism
vary widely across the spectrum,
most of them have trouble with connections
The ability to organize that I was talking about Now
Hood
This
is the brain
of a savant
It's the ability to focus on one thing
to the exclusion of everything else
Now, if you have nothing but toothpaste in your suitcase,
what would happen?
- You'd know a hell of a lot about toothpaste - Exactly
You know everything there is to know about toothpaste
You'd be a toothpaste expert
The question is:
how does a severely autistic
otherwise ordinary person
become a savant
inside of a month?
What happened to these children?
- And why? - Well, we'll start with Teresa Kimsey
She's our first victim, with the thickest case file
And next time,
use your own luggage
I didn't know the FBI had a science division
They don't They have a Science and Technology branch-
deals with all manner of intelligence-gathering
and criminal investigation
And then there's me
Is this Teresa?
Yes. She was 2
when that picture was taken
She was such a funny baby,
always smiling
About 6 months later, she just stopped
No more smiling, no more hugs
Sometimes she'd look at me
like she didn't know who I was
Before we go in, I should warn you
Usually Teresa doesn't like visitors
She can get anxious and upset
But then
she hasn't exactly been herself lately
Wouldn't even go near a coloring book
before she went missing
Hi, Teresa
Now I
can't get her to stop drawing.
And not that I want to
Mrs Kimsey,
would you mind if we spoke to Teresa for a few minutes?
Well, actually, you see,
Teresa doesn't really talk
Oh, it's okay She doesn't need to
There was a 13-year-old girl with autism
at Syracuse a few years ago
She never spoke
Certainly didn't think she could read or write,
and when they gave her a computer keyboard
she typed out the words "I love Mom "
So Teresa's preferred method
Would appear to be drawing
Hiya
This
is me
Sort of
I like science
That's an atom
this is
Rachel
She likes to beat up bad people
Hey
And this
is you
Can you show me what happened to you
when you went away?
You were sleeping?
Were you sleeping?
You're being very helpful,
Teresa. Thank you
What is that?
Some kind of tube
Is that a tunnel?
Were you in a tunnel?
Where'd they take you, honey?
Is that a
Was she in an MRI machine?
Were you in a machine?
You see, these are, uh,
these are surface coils
They increase the magnetic sensitivity
And these
Rachel, can I have the sidewalk picture, please?
These are DTIs-
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
DTI is a specific type of MRI
that tracks the movement of water through the brain
Teresa,
you're drawing what's inside your head?
But
the last time she had an MRI
was when she was but 5 years old
Where?
Well, the Autism Institute of Chicago
We're meeting with the chief administrator,
Catherine Bonatelli
Both kidnap victims
Benjamin Gonzales and Reggie Leinhart
had MRIs taken here
They were also 5 years old at the time
That's got to mean something, right?
Means we're getting closer
I don't understand
Why are these children being taken?
That's what we're trying to find out
Well, I want you to know that the Institute will do
whatever we can to help
Thank you Rachel
Do you have the picture of Benjamin's sculpture?
These were taken of Teresa
over 10 years ago
I hope they still pertain to your investigation
Miss Bonatelli, we'll also need to see the scans
for Benjamin Gonzales and Reggie Leinhart
Excuse me Do you mind if I take over for a second?
Oh, sure
These scans are almost exactly the same
Even if these patients have the same type of autism,
there is no reason their scans would be this close
Brain patterns are as unique as fingerprints
Why would somebody be kidnapping kids with the same brain pattern
I'm going to need to see all the DTIs you've made here
Oh, I'm sorry, but we've confidentiality issues
Without express permission from every patient involved
Or a court order
Our facility's been taking DTIs since '94
We're talking thousands of patients
And if any one of them
matches the 3 we just found,
they're in real danger of being abducted
So the sooner we get started, the better
Hood
Yep
I think I've got one Scott Butler
He doesn't have Heller's syndrome
like the other 3 victims
But his scans were also taken when he was 5
He's 18 now
And they're almost identical to the others
Yeah, that's a match
If these MRIs were taken over 10 years ago,
then it's not these MRIs
that the kids are remembering, is it?
No, I don't think it is
I'm going to try Scott's contact number
Yeah
Voice mail full
We'll need to go check on him
Hold on
I found another one
Cameron Stewart
5 years old when he had the scan done
Now he's 16
Let's give it a try
Hello?
Hello Is this Mrs Stewart?
Yes. Who's this?
Hi I'm Jacob Hood
I'm-I'm with the FBI
Is your son home, please?
Hello?
Did the police call you?
No Is he all right?
Then, how did you know?
Cameron went missing from school this morning
All right now We have to be real quiet Okay?
Don't want to upset our new friend Cameron
Hello, Cameron
You're going to be very comfortable here
I promise
Missing Persons Unit is at Cameron Stewart's residence,
getting a full report
Dr Hood and I found 4 more potential victims
Are they accounted for?
Yeah, they're all accounted for
Placing undercover units at each one of their houses,
24-hour protection
Mr Butler?
Scott Butler?
Scott?
Scott? Hood, look at all of his mail There's at least a month's worth
He's already been taken, Rachel
Taken and returned
Clear
Looks like he lives alone
Well, that explains why no one reported you missing, Scott
Scott
we're with the FBI
Do you mind if I, if I just make a recording of that?
Scott, would you mind stopping playing for a moment
I'd like to ask you some questions
Scott, are you all right?
He's bleeding
Get an ambulance
Code 8 Ambulance needed at 146841st Street, East of Michigan, apartment 307.
You hear that?
What?
Music
The same notes
Same as what?
Full sentences, Hood
Hear that?
Now listen
Same notes
Scott's phrase used the same notes
as a common anesthesia machine
You don't need one of those to get an MRI
I don't think someone was taking pictures of his brain
I think they opened it up
I don't think he was the only one either
Look at the back wall
It's a clean room filter
You don't need one of those to get an MRI either
You only need them for operations
Time of death is 3:47 p m
'Cause of death: rapid blood loss
due to a trauma to the carotid artery
Cause of trauma: yet to be determined
Perhaps I can help with that
I'm sorry Who are you?
FBI
I'm Dr Jacob Hood
If you don't mind,
I'd like to take a look at the body
What is this about?
What are you looking for?
A scar
Would you mind if I, uh
What kind of scar?
Can I borrow a nasal probe?
Right here
Thank you
This should just take a second
Okay I got it
There's the scar
Have you taken X-rays yet?
Cameron?
Cameron
Cameron?
The operation was done through an incision in the gum,
and then you walk the bone up to the pituitary gland
It's a new kind of brain surgery
that doesn't leave any visible scars
Wait You're saying someone secretly performed
brain surgery on this boy without consent?
That's exactly what I'm saying, Dr Fisher
Someone tried to alter Scott's brain neurons
by surgically implanting some kind of microfilament
That sounds risky
The brain is highly prone to infection
Or you can nip the carotid artery during the procedure
and the clot wouldn't hold
One sneeze would dislodge the clot,
and you'd bleed to death
Which is exactly what happened to Scott
Hood, Teresa and the other 2 boys could be walking around
with these wires inside their head
Cameron Stewart could be undergoing
the same procedure as we speak
We need to go
Can you check the wires for serial numbers
when you do the autopsy, please?
No problem
Don't send me somewhere else, please
This is the 3rd place
that I've been to in this hospital
Now where is he?
Where's Scotty? I want to see him
I just I want to see my son
You're Mr Butler?
Do you know something about what's happened to Scotty?
What's happened to my son?
It was a month
A month
The most he'd ever gone without calling me back
was 2 weeks
I should've flown out to check on him
Why didn't I fly out?
It's not your fault
Yeah
Yeah, it is
I never should have let him move away
He had no business living by himself
How long was he on his own?
I lived with him the first 6 months
to make the transition
He was high-functioning in terms of his autism
He had been on his own about a year now
He only wanted to be normal
What did I do?
I promise you, Mr Butler, it was nothing you did
Whoever took Scott would have done it
whether he was with you or not
Still no answer at Teresa's
I hope she's all right
What is up with this damn traffic?
You okay?
I'm fine I just
I just keep thinking about Cameron Stewart,
out there somewhere
Who would do this, Hood?
Put kids through this?
What would their motive be?
Well, some people believe that autism, specifically savantism,
is like some sort of clumsy step forward
on the evolutionary path
to the ultimate potential of the human mind
And if someone could figure out
how to recreate what gives them
certain advanced abilities while preventing the disabilities
then you can significantly advance human intelligence
How does sticking wires in somebody's brain do that?
By forcing the neurons to find
alternate paths to their destination
Those alternate paths could be better paths
I'll try her cell
No
Miss Young
- Hi - Dr Hood, hi
Teresa, look who's here
She spoke yesterday
She said,
"Thanks, Mom
Do we have any ice cream?"
And "Where's Bob?"
Who's Bob?
- Our dog - Oh
Mrs Kimsey
um, we'd like to take Teresa to the hospital
Why?
What is it?
She needs an X-ray
No
No, she's not going anywhere
Mrs Kimsey
Teresa might have been, um, subjected to an experimental neural implant
Her health could be at risk
But Teresa's never been better
Look at her
I mean, she's talking
Not a lot, but she is talking
She called me Mom
for the first time in 16 years
Do you know what that's like?
No, I don't
And that horrible month
No, uh-uh
No, I don't want to lose her again
Of course you don't, Mrs Kimsey,
but this is happening to other teenagers, too,
just like Teresa
One died yesterday
Another was taken from his home
Kidnapped
His name's Cameron, and he's 16 also
You see, the more we know
about what happened to Teresa
the better chance we have to find him
I'm sorry
She's not going with you
Yes, I am
I wanna help you find him.
Cameron's gone
He must be hiding
I searched his room
He's scared
It's not unusual for them
to find refuge in extremely confined spaces
I looked everywhere
He's gone
You okay back there, Hood?
You're awfully quiet
It's nice, but I'm starting to worry
There's probably only 50 or 60 doctors
in the Midwest capable of this
kind of surgery- maybe we should just visit
them all and see if Teresa recognizes anybody
You can't just go around confronting
upstanding members of the medical community
without probable cause
Why not?
I have to go to the bathroom
Cameron?
Teresa?
You okay?
Come on, Teresa You're scaring me
What's going on?
Teresa?
You okay?
Hood
You're drawing again?
Well
I suppose it is still
her dominant form of communication
Teresa, what is this?
Looks like a pattern
It's definitely some kind of sequence
I wonder
What?
Synesthesia
Or, actually, a specific kind
of synesthesia called grapheme
Okay, back up and start
with the first word I don't understand
Um, many people with savant syndrome
experience something called synesthesia
where one sensory experience
triggers an overpowering response in another
Like, um,
every time you hear a door slam,
you get a taste of mint in your mouth
or vice versa
Okay and grapheme?
Well, it's the most common type, where letters
or numbers are perceived as inherently,
uh, colored or textured
So, like, an A could be red?
That's right
Okay, so she could be writing a name
Yeah, or a place
Teresa, do you mind if I borrow one of these?
7 letters or or numbers
Could be a phone number
It's hard to see what you're doing
with all the graffiti, Teresa
Graffiti
No, that's it
She's not writing around the graffiti
She's using it
If she's intentionally incorporating it,
we can use it as a key
That's brilliant
Okay, okay, Teresa,
so the first color in your sequence is
yellow- what's yellow?
I got a 4 here that's yellow
There's yellow scribbling over a 4 over there, too
Okay
Red's next
These 2 Os are red
It's not a phone number
It's a license plate
I have to be honest with you
The very idea that you're considering me
some kind of suspect is
well, incredibly insulting, not to mention absurd
This is your license plate number, isn't it, Miss Bonatelli?
And you got it from a girl who has a severe case of Heller's syndrome
It may be a simple coincidence,
or she may actually remember it
from her earlier visits to the facility
When she was 5?
Do you have any idea how long
we've been doing research on autism here?
Do you?
Over 2 decades,
and we still don't know what causes it
Right now, one out of every 150 children has autism
That means one and a half million in America alone,
and it's growing
Which means we'll have 4 million
in one decade
The research has to continue
What happened to Scott Butler isn't research
It's murder
If that's the case
I certainly hope you capture whoever
is responsible for all this
I can't believe we just let her go
We don't have any proof
Proof?
It's obvious
Law is like biology, Hood
You can't just decide something's true
You got to dig up some dirt,
find a few nasty little microorganisms to prove your point
Good use of a scientific analogy, Rachel
Hey, speaking of digging up dirt
I just got a text
My friend at the Bureau who's running
a background check for me
It seems Miss Bonatelli did some consulting work
for a company that was a cover
A cover for who?
The CIA
You weren't easy to find, Mr Whittier
Means I'm fairly good at my job, Agent Young
Means you are, too, I may say
Must have friends in high places
What we have
is a dead 19-year-old boy
and a 16-year-old who is missing as we speak
Somebody's operating on autistic children
without their consent
Catherine Bonatelli did some consulting work
for you in '05
I'm assuming it involved her work
at the Autism Institute of Chicago
If this person in question did do some contract work for us,
those records would be
part of our HCS
Human Control System
But HCS info is accessible on a need-to-know basis only
Well, unless the health and well-being of innocent teenagers
means nothing to you,
we need to know right now
If the person in question, this Catherine Bonatelli,
did contract work in '05,
it would have involved an interest
in a common trait of autism: superior memory
We would have used her as an easy access route
for information, statistics
Possible test subjects?
Never got that far
People realized that it would be decades
before we got anywhere useful on this,
not to mention the potential
for a public relations disaster of epic proportions
So, if this
theoretical pilot study ever did exist
it was shut down
So, basically, you're telling us nothing
If someone is doing what you say
to these children, I'd like to help
The Agency would like to help
So, prove it
When it comes to passing sensitive information,
the trick is to make sure that you didn't leave behind
physical evidence of any kind:
notes on paper, phone records,
voice recordings, that kind of thing
The best way to leak
is simply lean forward and whisper in another person's ear
What?
- What did he say? - Catherine Bonatelli's
coded cell phone number, we can use it to trace her movements
Stay here I'm gonna go check this out
Rachel?
Rachel
Are you okay?
I'm okay I'm okay
But Miss Bonatelli isn't
Building was rented in Miss Bonatelli's name
Do you think she's our mad scientist?
No, no, she didn't even go to med school
Brain surgery's not the kind of thing
you learn on the internet, no matter what they say
Probably wasn't her idea to blow herself up, either
It's pretty clear there was someone else
Bonatelli provided the test subjects based
on the DTIs from the Institute, but I don't think
she knew the medical details of what was going on
Or how far they'd go to cover their tracks
No
We've gone over the whole site
She's definitely the only casualty
Cameron?
What did you find?
He's nearby
They weren't just doing the surgeries in this building
They were holding them in here, too
So, where's Cameron?
If he's still alive,
they've moved him somewhere
Hey, Hood
Or maybe he escaped
I need an immediate door-to-door search
for a special needs 16-year-old named Cameron Stewart
Yes, ma'am
Have you seen this boy?
In this place?
No
You're welcome to look around if you want
We won't be long
Take your time
Rachel
he was here
Are you sure?
We have no other choice
Are you really going to do this at the hospital?
There's nowhere else left
I can't believe we did that at the lab to Catherine
We have to stop
It's too risky
Don't think about the risk
Think about the reward
Now what?
We've got one clue left
It's not here
What do you mean, it's not here?
How do you lose a brain?
Well, the brain is here,
but the wires- they were in a specimen cup
Okay, who has access to this area?
Hospital staff, cleaning crew
I'm sorry Somebody must have made a mistake
It wasn't a mistake
The wires are gone for the same reason
they blew up the building
Whoever's behind this is getting rid of the evidence
I need to find out what the wires were made of
The compound could tell us where it was made,
and right now, we have nothing
No No, we do have something
Or more specifically, someone
You're doing great, Teresa
Just remain still
And thank you for helping us
You're very brave
The composite of the wires
in Teresa's brain is primarily platinum
As in wedding bands?
As in nerve stimulators
They're like small defibrillators
that are surgically implanted in the chest
to shock the vagus nerve and prevent epileptic seizures
If somebody's dismantling them to make neuroconductors,
they're gonna need more than a few
We need to find out
what local hospital is ordering an abundance of these things
Hold on Those missing wires
It's not easy to swipe something
from a hospital morgue without clearance
You're right
Our doctor must have privileges at this hospital
I have 8 doctors
who requisitioned nerve stimulators in the last year
No Hang on 7
Hmm That's strange
Why?
It's okay It's just,
the stimulators usually go through the thoracic department,
but I've got 25 of them assigned to a surgeon in neurology
What? Why would a brain surgeon be implanting nerve stimulators?
What's the surgeon's name?
Dr Edward Fisher
The doctor who tried to save Scott Butler?
I'll have Chicago PD pick him up
Do you have his address?
Don't need one He's upstairs
Scheduled for surgery about 15 minutes ago
Nobody move
Put that down slowly, Dr Fisher,
and step back from the table
You don't understand
You don't know what I'm doing
Then tell us What are you doing?
Trying to save my son
Your son?
Noah
He's 4
Diagnosed with Heller's syndrome a year ago
He's autistic
So you're trying to fix him?
Find some kind of cure?
Who are you to say he needs fixing?
Just 'cause someone's mind works
atypically doesn't mean they can't experience happiness?
Or thrive on their own terms?
In fact,
one of those atypical people
helped us find you, Dr Fisher
You remember your patient
Teresa Kimsey?
I'm so close to a breakthrough, I can't stop now
You don't understand
I understand you can't conduct
deadly experiments on other peoples' kids to save your own
Noah deserves
a normal life
I have to finish now
Get any closer to that boy's head,
and I'll put a bullet in yours
Why was Fisher working on teenagers
when Noah's only 4?
Our brain stops maturing around 15 or 16
If you operated any younger, there'd be no way of telling
if the changes were due to
the operation,or simple maturation of the brain
Poor kid
Let's hope he has more family
If they're anything like Mom and Dad, maybe not
Any news on Noah?
I wonder if he has an aunt, an uncle
Actually, I've filed for a friend-of-the-court brief for adoption
Not for me
I love kids
I'm a big fan, but all that traveling we do,
along with all the scientific crimes and crises
Then who?
Mr Butler, Scott's dad
He has the experience,
and, uh, I don't know
It seemed like a good idea
What?
That's very thoughtful, Hood
Sensitive
What, scientists can't be sensitive?
She hasn't spoken in a week now
I understand why they had to remove the wires,
but I miss her
She's still in there
We're going to start therapy at the
Son Rise Institute in Massachusetts next week
Teresa?
We wanted to thank you
for your help
Now, we wouldn't have found the bad doctor
if it hadn't been for you
You're an amazing girl