Original subtitles

Barnaby Jones, a Quinn Martin production.

Starring Buddy Ebsen.

Also starring Lee Merriweather.

With guest stars Michael Tolan, Rosemary Forsythe,

Jack King, Augustus Summerle.

Tonight's episode, The Alpha Bravo War.

The Pentagon is going to be less than impressed with our setting up time.

What's the holdup, Green?

Soon as they get their observation van in position.

Let's get that Bravo team observer downrange now.

Come Friday, that Army brass is going to have a stopwatch on us.

I'll handle it, Bill.

Double -check the input after you get it focused.

Right.

Alpha Observer in position.

Alpha here.

Alpha Observer in position.

Alpha, ready to fire.

Green.

That's less than two microseconds off. That new R -14 circuit will narrow that

even further if we can prove it out in time.

Either way, General Ormsby has no complaints.

Well, two microseconds might be acceptable to Ormsby, but not to me.

I want that new circuit ready for the trial.

He's delighted.

Alpha team's been doing its homework, Bill.

I still think we should take Ormsby up on his offer to extend the time.

No extension is needed.

I said we'd be ready the 19th, and we will be.

Cover ready to fire.

Bullet.

Put it through a heat and flow test if you're worried about shrinkage.

I'll x -ray it first.

Looks almost alive the way that eye blinks on and off. That's the way we

about it here.

Almost alive.

It sees here and then goes into confidence with its brains here.

And that about sums it up.

Bill Whelan, Mr. Jones.

Mr. Calder mentioned the company was bringing you in to do an independent

investigation. Bill Whelan, you've just been placed in charge of what they call

the Bravo team.

Since Ted Marshall was killed, I was his assistant.

You and your men come to any conclusion as to what caused the accident?

Accident?

Accident is the way your security people phrase it in their report.

You've been wanting to say it. Go ahead.

You think my team tampered with your gear. Take it to Calder.

You explain to me.

A 25 -degree error in that circuitry of ours. The day you put it on the board, I

told you it was overly complicated.

Hey, hey, what the devil is going on here? I am tired of this clown thinking

Alpha Team's got nothing more on its mind than to sink his project.

Look, Bill, you're only afloat because I promised General Ormsby he would see

both systems tested.

Now let's channel all this energy where it belongs, at these tables.

We'll talk outside, Jones.

Look, right from the start, I want you to know that I oppose any outsiders

snooping around this plant.

I'll try not to snoop, Mr. Calder.

Seems to be a little bitterness between you two engineering teams.

No, I wouldn't describe it as bitterness, but a competitive spirit.

Look, exactly what is your function, Mr. Jones?

Both the police and our own security have already determined the accident to

simply that, an accident.

Well, apparently, the board of directors of your company feel that an

independent investigation would sit better with the military and their own

consciences.

Hello.

You off to the big city for a little shopping?

Not if I can coax you away for a leisurely lunch for a change.

You know, a thousand details have popped up since that range accident.

Oh, uh, Mr. Jones, this is my wife, Dory.

How do you do?

Hello. Uh, maybe I can get away early tonight. We'll have some dinner out.

I'm afraid to ask what you consider early.

Oh, say between 8 and 8 .30.

That late again?

I have a meeting scheduled with suppliers at 7. I'll try to break away

Try not to be too late.

I think you'll be wasting your time, Mr. Jones, but I'll introduce you to Ruth

Hanley, my technical assistant.

She can give you a tour of the plant and answer most of your questions.

Oh, thank you, Mr. Calder.

Please tie it up as usual.

You sure you won't be missed at the plant?

Dental appointment.

So that gives us the whole afternoon.

The rivalry is turning savage, that's true.

But there are many factors involved.

The men are mainly exhausted coming down to the wire after almost two years.

Am I asking how big a factor Mr.

Calder is in this rivalry?

He's caught a direct hit.

Mr. Calder told both teams point blank that there was a war between them.

As a matter of fact, the missile development project has become known as

Alpha Bravo War.

If you'd like to take aim, maybe I can give you a clearer idea of what we're

trying to do.

The basic principle is image -seeking.

The missile's on its own after being fired, seeking out the image that you

in that scope.

Bullseye, first time.

In the nose of the missile is a miniaturized camera.

At the moment of firing, a picture is snapped, and the image translated onto a

memory circuit, having all other coordinates predetermined. Wind,

distance, and so on.

Then the missile just keeps looking for the picture it saw at the time of

firing. Roughly, yes.

The Alpha team is sticking to what is known as direct transference, image to

memory to coordinate.

Bravo team is relying on a transference of light density, not only homing in on

the dimension of the target, but fading configuration.

They're still trying to iron out refraction.

Miss Hanley, I'm not only properly confused, I don't see why you're not

this project.

I'll leave it to the men to battle for the upper plateaus. I bruise too easily.

I wonder if I could have a look at the place where the observing van was

yesterday. Of course.

I'll give you a hand.

There's not much to see after the cleanup.

What do you think of the possibility of one team sabotaging the other?

Well, it's not impossible.

The stakes are high enough.

If the government approves the contract, then Mr. Calder is certain to move up

to a vice presidency.

And the leader of the winning team would become chief engineer and oversee the

project. Then, of course, there are bonuses and stock options for the team

itself.

What happens to the losing team? For most who can't be placed elsewhere, it's

severance pay and step to the end of the unemployment line.

A piece of the missile?

Probably a truck.

A piece of a spark plug.

Well, thank you very much for your time, Miss Hanley. My pleasure, Mr. Jones.

Hi.

Hi.

I said to hell with the last meeting, picked up steaks and champagne and

I'd prove I haven't lost my touch.

Well, if I'd known you'd be home so early, I would have cut short my

That doesn't matter.

I'll fix you a drink.

You don't mind, do you, testing your husband's charcoaling talents again?

No, of course not.

Good.

My, you seem in such a good mood.

Mr. Calder?

Yes?

I know you're a busy man, but maybe you should find out what some of your

engineers are doing when they're supposed to be working, like this

What are you talking about?

Who is this?

Well, maybe you should ask your wife who she's been meeting at the Arancho

Motel. I said, who is this?

What's wrong?

Oh, it's just a crank call. I couldn't even make it out.

Hmm.

I'll get changed.

Dory?

How was your shopping trip today?

Just mostly looking at drapery material.

You know me when it comes to making up my mind.

Only Tom Green and Bill Whalen left the plant during the afternoon.

Whalen was back within the hour. He was lunching with a friend.

Didn't Green check back at all? No, he had a dental appointment. It seems he's

been having a problem lately.

Nobody walks around here, not even a boss.

Least of all.

Is this your building?

I'm one of the brains of the operation.

Don't tell anybody there's actually a woman riding herd on the project.

Miss Henley.

Yesterday out on the range, if you recall, I picked this up.

And matching it with another piece that I found in a demolished van, it seemed

to have some sort of an electrical component.

Do you recognize it?

I'm not sure.

It could be part of the circuitry for a homing device we used last year.

A homing device?

Well, if the van had a thing like this in it, maybe that's what pulled the

rocket off course.

Wayne Howser developed the device.

Maybe he could tell you more about it.

Thank you.

What are you implying?

I'm not implying anything. I'm just asking how, in your opinion, that could

been found in the burnout Bravo van.

I really don't know.

But I can see another rumor flying around.

Alpha team plants homing device in Bravo van, knocking them out of the picture,

and along with it, their top man, Marshall.

I've got an even better theory for you, Mr. Jones.

Try this.

Bravo team sabotaging its own missiles.

Oh, come on, Wayne. That puts Bill Whelan on the spot.

So impossible?

Put yourself in Whelan's shoes.

Second banana, top man out, you're in.

Bravo team wins.

You're the fair -haired boy.

Well, let's stay with the facts, which are that that piece of homing device was

found in a Bravo van, a missile was misdirected, and a man was killed.

Because there have to be at least a hundred fragments of that very component

scattered around out there on that range.

The garage man who took away the truck.

There's your answer. He picked up an old homing fragment along with the truck

pieces. Just who is in charge of picking up the pieces of missiles?

Tom Green.

Now there's the man who's got the most to... to gain.

That's a very popular word around here.

I'm coming around to a lighter wire.

Look that up just as well.

Where were you yesterday between early noon and evening?

Part of the afternoon at the dentist.

I called Dr. Woodmore. He hasn't seen you in five months.

Naturally. I changed dentists. Who?

Why don't you lay it out, Calder?

Were you with Dora yesterday?

The question degrades your wife.

Don't tell me what disgrace my wife... Get your hands off me. Now listen to

Don't blame her.

If there's any fault, it's all yours.

That's a lousy thing to say, Reed. I'm sorry.

Would it help if I said there was never anything serious?

Not on Dory's part, at least.

you want, Jones?

I think it's important to find out how come Tom Green overlooked these

fragments.

I don't get it.

Tom Green would never be that callous.

He wasn't infallible.

And he shouldn't have been experimenting with the circuits at this late date.

You know, there's a possibility we're getting some instability in the

mixture. Why didn't it show up before?

Well, I guess this elevates you to head man of Alpha Team.

When are you trying to say something, Waylon?

Look, I asked Calder for some extra time.

Why don't you back me up on it?

With my team in the lead?

It's a ridiculous assumption one team would sabotage the other's work. That

of thing would jeopardize the whole project.

You may have somebody who would take that gamble.

Green was alone in there.

Something he did triggered off the explosion.

He must have made a fatal mistake.

You were the last person to see Green.

He came out of that building pretty hot under the collar. Could you two have had

an argument or something in there? Something would shake him up enough to

that fatal mistake, as you call it? He was away from the plant all yesterday

afternoon.

I admonished him for it, that's all.

That could have upset him.

Hardly. Both teams are accustomed to me chewing them out for one thing or

another.

Excuse me.

They told me at the plant there was an accident.

It's Tom Green.

He's dead.

No.

On the plus side, your loving husband was not caught in the explosion.

What? I missed your initial reaction of relief at seeing me unharmed.

You know something like, thank God you're safe?

Can I help you with anything, Mr. Jones?

Oh, no, thank you, Miss Hanley. I'm just about finished.

Yes, there is one question within your province.

When something goes wrong with a missile, how do you determine that the

was not made in the computer room?

Simply by cross -checking the readout spool that goes into the missile.

But if the missile explodes, wouldn't the spool be destroyed?

Not the master.

They're proofing that now, if you're interested.

Yes.

Yes, I would like to see that.

The spools are initially made up here and contain basic factors such as the

of propellant used in a particular missile, weight, rate of decomposition,

other variables.

And that master spool is automatically locked into the computer.

Kept for reference.

It can't be erased or changed.

And in any kind of an unexplained failure such as this accident, another

duplicate is made and checked for error.

Who has access to the computers and knows how to run them?

Mr. Calder, the head of Alpha and Bravo teams.

Of course, myself.

That makes me a suspect in any computer sabotage, doesn't it?

I try to keep an open mind.

I don't envy your job, Mr. Jones.

Sometimes I don't care about myself.

Mrs. Calder, can I join you?

What are you doing here?

I came across the fact that Tom Green used to frequent this place.

He had some credit card receipts which indicated that he was here yesterday

supposedly he had gone to the dentist.

He was here with you, wasn't he?

I was aimlessly driving about and stopped for a drink and I ran into him

accidentally. Please bear with me, Mrs. Calder.

It's possible that Tom Green's death was not accidental.

Maybe you could help clear that up.

Not an accident.

You mean somebody... We're not sure yet.

At the risk of being indelicate, there's some questions that I have to ask you

about you and Tom.

I'm not going to apologize for it.

And I'm not going to make excuses.

Am I right in thinking that your husband found out about it?

No question of that now.

There was a sudden change in his attitude last night after he received an

anonymous phone call. What was the call about?

He wouldn't say, just that it was a crank call.

But during dinner, he kept asking me what stores I had shopped at that

afternoon, and that's very unusual for him.

Any idea who the caller was?

No, but obviously somebody who wanted to hurt me or Tom, perhaps hoping Reed

would fire Tom.

Or take some more direct revenge?

I won't believe that.

Ms. Calder, on the missile range, the first accident there, Ted Marshall was

killed.

How well did you know him?

You're asking me if I also had an affair with Marshall?

The answer is no.

This is not a situation where my husband is killing off my lovers, Mr.

Jones.

Did you call her?

Oh, come in, Jones.

I just made some coffee. Join me?

Oh, thank you. No, I'll just be a minute.

My wife isn't here. She's late.

Yes, I know. I spoke to her earlier.

Where is she?

She's thinking things out for herself.

And you know about... Yeah.

I had a strange feeling of helplessness coming home tonight.

A situation on my hands I didn't know how to cope with.

I'm used to fighting, of winning by being the stronger.

But how do I fight Dory?

Well, maybe this isn't a question of fighting or proving who's stronger.

I've lost her.

I wanted to show her a man who couldn't be stopped.

Twelve 15 -hour days at the plant and I've lost the very thing I wanted most

this life.

But I'm sure you're not here to listen to my personal problems.

Mr. Caller, I think your business is a good bit like mine.

You gather all available facts, you do some sifting, you throw out the chaff,

then you take a look at what you got left.

Frankly, your personal problems have cluttered up this case.

You mean I no longer have any problems?

Not quite.

Was that a man's voice on the phone?

What?

Oh, Dory told you.

Yes, and obviously disguising his voice.

Look, why don't you tell me what suspicions you have and maybe I can help

The thing about suspicions, Mr. Calder, is that once you verbalize them, they

become accusations.

In your view, which of the two teams has a better chance of winning tomorrow?

Oh, Alpha Team by far.

Unless Bravo and their working through the night can lick their refraction

problem. I gather neither team ever knows when the other has made an

and composed a prize.

No, they like to surprise even me.

Well, there is something that you could do.

You could get on the phone tonight and call everyone connected with the

and kind of let it be known that, in your opinion, it's a toss -up that

team could win.

So if your sabotage theory is correct, you have somebody on one team or the

other feeling an edge is needed tomorrow.

At least that somebody wouldn't get too much sleep tonight.

Anybody home?

It's your friendly neighbor from across the hall.

Friendly neighbor could wait for a hard -working girl to make herself

comfortable. Friendly neighbor likes to watch.

You're improving, my love.

You mean there's room for any?

I am referring to your act with Jones.

Excellent.

By the way, why didn't you just tell him that you didn't know what a homing

device was?

Rule one.

Always tell a detective what he's going to find out eventually.

Well, we may have a problem tomorrow anyway.

I understand that Calder thinks Bravo has a chance.

So I've been hearing.

They stand the same chance they always have.

Absolutely none.

You mean you're going to doctor this fool?

I hadn't planned on it.

But apparently Wayland and his crew have made a breakthrough that we don't know

about.

Why don't you make the drinks and I'll get dressed?

Not until I get a kiss.

They've concluded that Green must have locked in the propellant release gauge.

It must have been defective.

He was afraid to admit it.

Of course, Green was always taking chances that he shouldn't have been.

You're developing a habit of self -defeat.

You know as well as I do what happened to Green.

And to Marshall.

Don't you find it more comfortable pretending that... It's like people

is?

No.

I find it decidedly uncomfortable when you talk as though you're detached from

all this.

Ruthie.

I'll never run out on you, you know that. No, I know you'll never run out on

Because you can't.

Besides, you shouldn't want to.

You're in Tom Green's shoes now.

But don't ever forget who put you there.

Oh, no.

No.

As a matter of fact, I wonder sometimes why you didn't make a play for Tom Green

instead of... Instead of what?

I mean, he was top man.

He had money.

Instead of what?

Arranging things?

You had everything I needed.

And you were going in the right direction with long enough coat deal to

to.

Why don't you kiss me now?

Let's get those observer vans in position.

With the exception of Green having a divorce not entered into a security

that's about it. I'm sorry, Barney, but I wish there could have been more help.

At this stage, it may be out of our hands anyway.

You left a special security pass for my wife today.

Oh, yes, you must be delighted.

One.

The second one is as close. We're in business.

Three two one

Nice

Wayne very

nice. Yeah

One.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Didn't even explode.

Alpha team the winner?

If you don't keep too close track of the casualties.

Did you hear the good news, Bill?

Mr. Calder's finding a spot for everybody connected to the program.

Thank you, but I'll be resigning in the morning.

Isn't that rather drastic?

I know you feel badly about losing, but... Personal reasons.

Demolition just brought in the cape from the Middleton Pact.

They didn't try to detonate it?

That crew must have been looking for a brownie point to rip an army like that.

Here's a drink.

Anyway, the storage is locked up. I have to wait till tomorrow morning.

I have a spare key in my office.

Let's get some air.

Keep on smiling.

Take it easy, lady.

Good night. Thanks for coming.

I thought I'd come over to congratulate you.

Good night.

Good night.

Lori, we've got a lot of things to talk about.

I don't think things can be as they were. I wouldn't want them to be.

Honey, I've learned a few things about myself, as well as you.

Can I get you a drink?

You got a problem down there?

How'd you get in here, Jones?

Back door was unlocked.

Why are you in here?

I suppose the same reason you and Mr. Howes are here, to tidy up a few loose

ends. This happens to be a security building, Jones. You're gonna have to

Oh, I have top clearance.

You know, Miss Hanley, the other day when you and I were out of the range, I

found a piece of something that you thought might be part of a spark plug.

I should have known then that my case was half solved.

Of course, I had no way of knowing that you were the other half.

What are you talking about?

I didn't know what was keeping me awake the other night, and then it hit me.

Most women wouldn't know the difference between a spark plug and a distributor,

but not you, Miss Hanley.

I'll bet you wouldn't recognize a spark plug if it were broken into a thousand

pieces. And I wouldn't bet it gets a chance that you could put them all back

together again.

Look, Jones, we're busy.

One question.

What do you want with that tape?

Move it out, record it, and go home. Good night.

But it's blank.

Brand new. Never been used.

I think this is the tape that you're looking for.

The one you doctored.

So it doesn't match the so -called master in the computer in any way.

Right, Miss Hanley?

That's right, Mr. Jones.

You do come equipped for your type of work, don't you?

Come on, let's go.

How about the tape?

It's going to be destroyed.

Just like Mr. Jones when these bullets hit the fuel tank.

But that's so clumsy, Miss Hanley.

Ruth?

You set this up.

It's all over.

And what about Mr. Whalen?

You sure that you have enough bullets in there?

As I said, Miss Hanley, it would have been clumsy.

Incredible such a bright woman would have taken such chances.

Well, maybe her ambition just exceeded her brightness.

She was clever enough programming that computer, running off any tape she

pleased without touching the master.

We'll have to take precautions against that in the future.

Speaking of the future, I understand Bill Whelan is resigning.

You see why?

He calls it personal reasons.

But I have a hunch he's the one who made that telephone call to me about Dory

and he's afraid I'll find out about it.

Whelan make that call?

I'm almost certain of it.

Since that night, he seems very embarrassed being around me.

There's no point in confronting him now, of course.

You know, Mr. Whelan has been most cooperative.

I'm sure that even though he realized that Bravo team didn't have a chance to

win, he must have felt foolish sending the missile that far off the mark.

I'll see that he gets a bonus.

He's a damn good engineer.

Why don't you tear up his resignation?

Tell him that you've declared a total armistice.

The Alpha Bravo War is over.

You know, there's nothing you can do about the people who are wasted in a

but it's a shame to lose a wounded, too.

Bye, Mr. Holmes.

Bye, Mr. Jones.

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