Original subtitles

Previously on Number. Dwayne Carter did a tour together in Afghanistan. Your

friend is bought and paid for by the Chinese government.

The man who saves your life, you put him in jail. Things I could tell you about

squeaky clean Colby Granger. If you find the Janus List, trust it!

Ashby was building a Janus List. A master list of double agents and

Welcome to the Janus List. The following people have been co -opted. United

States FBI agent Colby Granger by the Chinese.

I mean, do you understand what you're telling me?

Nothing you don't know.

Nothing everybody's not going to know tomorrow.

David.

How long have you been lying to us, huh?

From the beginning, David.

You ain't no damn spy.

You're a traitor.

Get out of here.

You ain't no damn spy.

You're a traitor.

I mean, do you understand what you're telling me? Stop.

Bring it back. Bring it back.

You know what? I will put cases on every one of you. Every one of you.

How long have you been lying to us, huh?

You ain't no damn spy.

You're a traitor.

Get out of here.

Wayne Carter approached me while I was at the academy.

They could make a copy of a training manual.

It didn't seem like a big deal.

You know, he'd ask for a file.

So consider the game of chicken in which there are three Nash Equilibria. Each

driver can choose to drive straight at the other consistent with a rational

strategy and rationally crash.

So game theorists recognized this conundrum during the 1950s as we

nuclear annihilation.

So mathematical theory confirmed what we instinctively understood, that the sane

man often operates at a disadvantage.

So what am I illustrating?

I'm illustrating the ability of math to do more than define the parameters of

our lives. It can illuminate the human condition.

And someday, perhaps, it will even...

define what lives deepest in our hearts.

Okay? Tomorrow, however, we are going to return to parameters, specifically

partition congruences.

All right. You guys are done.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Oh, hey. There you are.

Your analysis of game theory seems a little bleak.

Yeah.

I noticed you haven't been doing any consulting work for the FBI.

Well, Don hasn't asked me, you know.

Honestly,

it's been kind of nice getting back to teaching.

Breathing.

Kissing you.

I can't understand. I just didn't really believe in much of anything.

Are you finding your answers here?

Monksemeyer asked me the same question.

Hey, I'm sure you know.

The Dobsonian telescope owes its very existence to the hours that John Dobson

spent at the Vedanta Society Monastery.

I did not know that.

I just think I needed some kind of perceived madness daily obligations.

You?

To what do you owe your respite?

What makes you think I'm taking your respite?

Well, given the many hours you've spent here, your distribution over the past

many weeks, I mean, it's highly doubtful that you could be maintaining your

official duties as well.

I have some leave time coming.

That I think I really needed.

You know, with everything that happened with Colesie and my work for the DOJ

before that.

Still not at liberty to discuss it.

I'm not sure that I'm ready.

You know, I feel like I've been sleepwalking since I got back. I'm

present from somewhere else at the same time. You know, I had a very similar

experience on my first face walk.

It's effective.

Oh, for want of a more elegant term, quantum disconnectedness.

And did it go away?

Unfortunately, it did.

Who else was involved?

Carter was my cutout. He never let me near an antler.

Honey,

you might have to be five weeks.

Just something about his confession. It just doesn't feel right.

Do you understand what you're telling me?

It doesn't feel right.

Like what?

I don't know. Like, I see it coming for one thing.

Well, no one did.

Come on, you gotta allow yourself a few mistakes in life.

Yeah, well, people die that way.

How's it been?

Last chance to turn back.

Spent two years lying to everybody about everything.

Stop now, it's all for nothing.

Expect something to happen during the transfer.

Take the guard's cell phone.

Number six on the speed dial.

Who else knows?

Almost no one.

I'm alone.

You got me.

Hey, kids, you got some Johnny Ash up there?

Seriously, I may be a traitor, but at least I'm an American.

Any of you guys even got green cards?

Man, you ever shut up?

Solitary for three weeks.

Conversation's been a little thin.

Excuse me for being social.

Don't move or I'll pull your brains out.

Wait. Grab this gun.

This ain't going our way, Granger.

We gotta go.

Get down! Don't move!

Didn't hear you get up.

Oh, hey.

Well, you know, since Millie's been on me to publish lately, I thought I'd dust

off some of my insights into Grubner basis calculations.

Mathematical analysis of the friendship dynamic.

Yeah, I figured I could navigate through the 11th grid using the minimax theorem

in in -person games.

Did it work?

Actually, my insights into the network externalities of school elections were

absolutely bulletproof.

Payoff strategies for doing other people's homework.

We're not quite as well - I'm telling you, it's absolutely new. I just bought

it. It's like your third one. With the shoes, which I have to try on right now.

Charlie, last chance.

Oh, I love the game of golf, but no, thank you. We have other print over

I don't remember this.

You remember it? Yeah, yeah, the friendship math, right? Wow, yeah,

right. Yeah, yeah, I tried to read this.

Really? Yeah. Why?

You know, I thought I could pick up girls.

Of course.

Yeah, well, it's like 11th grade, right? Wow, yeah, it's 11th grade.

All right, Dad, let's get out of here. No, no.

They've got to be too small.

What?

When?

Yeah, yeah, all right.

Yeah, I'm on my way.

All right, what's up?

Wayne Carter and Colby just escaped.

There's got to be something in here.

Where's my keys? Where the hell are my keys? You left them on the hook in the

kitchen.

Charlie, I think you better help him.

Come on, you did this before. What was it?

Chase curves, right?

Pursuit curves, and they're not really applicable here, Dad.

Although, you know, I have always suspected that the set covering

problem could be an invaluable aid in positioning... No, no, these aren't my

keys! Oh, they're on the coffee table.

It's potentially revolutionary. Now, picture...

Picture a coastline at night. To keep ships from crashing on the rocks, we

lighthouses, right? But lighthouses are a limited resource because they cost

time. They cost money and materials.

But using set covering deployment, we can determine the best placement for our

limited number of lighthouses to illuminate the ocean.

Put your ankle up here.

Where'd you get the key?

Swallowed it right before they busted me.

Figured it was just a matter of time.

Standard -issue cuffs use the same one. Give me that thing.

I have to make a call.

Use the phone right in the office there.

Right in there.

No, it's me.

Yeah, we need a ride.

Now!

Faith and Alvarado?

We get a rival, we got to go to 5th and Alvarado. All right.

Hey, man, put on something to cover that up.

Yeah, good idea.

Oh, man. Oh, man, I must have tripped the alarm. What?

We can get one.

Stay, Mike.

We got it.

What's up, Megan?

Thanks for coming back early.

All right, so what do we got?

Carter and Granger are being moved to a new holding facility.

Transport was ambushed in the round. Driver hit the panic button. The

time was faster than they probably expected.

Would you explain why there's two dead, a third in critical, and a fourth guy

was ID'd as Jimmy Hong Tran?

What's that, like dealing me?

Yeah, he's a local mob. Not talking strictly hired muscle.

Granger and Carter use a diversion to overpower the guards. They slipped away

during the firefight.

Now, eyewitnesses saw them taken off down Hill Street. They were shackled

together at the ankle.

But the driver said that Colby's hands were free, so they must have gotten a

somehow. Yeah, that's right here.

That's how they got loose.

And if they lost it while they're still in leg shackles... Yeah, so they're

going to be trying to cut those off, right?

Charles, the monks do not appreciate FBI agents.

Knocking at their door, especially during morning contemplation. Yeah, I

have anywhere to call you. Yes, by design.

Much as I respect.

I've even embraced your work. Kobe escaped from jail.

All right.

You were programming a matrix for set covering deployment.

Doesn't seem to be much use for a cosmologist here.

Plenty of use for a friend, though. Look, intellectually, I know that this

is no different than any other case I've worked on. A problem needs to be

solved. In every case, there is a human component. In this instance, a personal

component. I can't reconcile what I know about the man with his actions. Try as

I might to put that out of my head. I don't know, Charles.

You ignore any reality, no matter how uncomfortable, only at your own risk.

But on the other hand, you incorporate it, and I don't know, who knows what

insight might rise up here from the dead.

I'm not sorry I dragged you out of bed, Larry.

They lost the key. They cut the link. It looks like one of them's still wearing

a belt.

Made a call.

Tried to.

Well, I can get a dump on the phone line.

Yeah.

LAPD lost them in the back alley, but think they might have dumped them in the

farmer's market.

Why are we doing this?

We're acting like this is any other case, and it isn't. What do we do?

Go home and leave it for somebody else?

No, I think we've got to address what we're feeling because it's affecting the

work. I feel like I'd really like to put him back in prison.

You sure you're up for this?

Hey, that's not fair. That's not what I said.

What do you want me to say?

How do I feel? I feel like it's my fault, that Colby's my responsibility.

We moved the foot patrols into the unknown occupancy grid.

Won't that compromise the coverage in the central zone?

Okay. How about a terrain -guarding algorithm?

There's always terrain -guarding algorithms at the end. Hey, Charlie

Charlie, it's Cole.

I need to talk to Don.

Then why call me?

If the FBI doesn't have enough time to trace me through your phone, Charlie,

think like a mathematician. Is there any reason not to put me through to Don?

Uh, no.

Colby.

I gotta call you back.

What, you call my brother?

Is this a threat?

Don, my handler is Agent Michael Kirkland, counterintelligence out of D

When Dwayne first came to me back at Quantico, I reported it.

Kirkland has been using me to feed cherry -picked information through

the Chinese to make sure that Carter's working for someone high up the DOJ.

Who's that?

That's the thing, man. We haven't flushed him out yet. When Carter got

Kirkland figured if I got thrown in jail with him and escaped with him, that was

our only shot that he might lead me on.

The problem is, I can't get a hold of Kirkland right now. I don't know if

something's happened to him or if I'm being set up. Who else can verify this?

The ranking guard on the transport.

Other than that, Don, I don't know. Kirkland kept this whole op extremely

Oh, you're giving me a story here I can't even check out? I'm giving you

Kirkland, Don.

Okay, you don't trust me.

I get that, all right?

You have to understand that I trust you.

The fact is, you are the only person that I can trust right now.

So DC says there is a Michael Kirkland in counterintelligence, and he's been in

North Hollywood for the past six weeks. Any number of ways Granger could have

known that. He could be a name he sold to the Chinese.

You go talk to him, all right? But let's just keep this to ourselves, okay?

We're not going to report contact with an escaped prisoner? No, I just want to

find out what Colby gains by telling us the story, you know?

Because you think he could be telling the truth.

Any of you familiar with trust metrics?

Uh, sure. In psychology, it's a measure of how much a member of a group is

trusted by the other members.

We can't trust anything Colby says.

Well, it's not an either -or proposition if we employ a fuzzy system.

Yes, I am done with that.

Now, how would we describe this ice cream?

Wet, hard, cold.

But none of those words mean anything unless we have a basis for comparison.

Using fuzzy logic, we create a range of those states and assign the ice cube

values accordingly.

Similarly, a person's honesty is not absolute. We all lie to varying degrees

varying reasons. So what are you going to tell us? What percentage to believe

them? More like a probabilistic statement.

I mean, let me do the work. If you guys don't want to use it.

At least that's right.

Don't you really have your hands full trying to figure out the possible escape

routes? Well, actually, my spec covering deployment yielded a very interesting

byproduct.

So we created a dynamic adaptive system adjusting for crowds, 911 calls, and

suspicious activities.

Yeah, of course, it must seem all fairly abstract to you.

No, no, no, I get it. The thicker lines are higher probabilities, right?

We started where they escaped, take them to the garage.

Why do the subway stations have lower values?

Coverage. There are police on the station stairs and platforms.

Yeah, but not all the trains.

They disappear here and... And they haven't shown up here, right?

Yeah. Well, well.

Don has gotten much better at the math.

He puts on a good game face, but it seems like he's hurting.

Well, it's hard enough Colby betrayed him, and now even more confusion about

he is and what he's doing.

You know something?

We might do well to consider a strange neutral B -Mason on here.

Okay. If something as simple as a heavy bottom -handing quark bound to a strange

quark can reverse its identity three million times a second, how do we expect

something as complex as the human mind to simply remain unchanged?

Go away!

Don't move!

I let Colby go.

Oh, come on, man. You didn't let him... But we do have to assume that he's moved

beyond the boundaries of my set deployment by now. I let him get away. I

him. I was looking right at him.

All right.

Were you basing your decision on his statement, the circumstantial context,

disposition towards giving him the benefit of the doubt? Were you actually

putting it in an equation?

Well, of course, man.

Factors into my trust metric.

I just don't know why I believed him.

Unless it's so simple as I don't want to admit I was wrong in the first place.

Don, you have a big ego.

Thanks. And you have a ginormous ego.

Thanks. But you're not stupid, you know. You made the best decision you could

with all the available information you had.

And if past performance is any indicator, man, you were

Probabilistically, huh?

I know math is full of absolutes, and unfortunately...

The rest of life isn't.

That didn't say much, huh?

Never heard him talk, I'm gonna think of it.

Remember when I dragged your ass out of that Humvee? Yeah, you remember why?

Sometimes I think the burns are payment enough for the things that we've done.

Other times I know they're not. Holding that key, sitting in jail for five

weeks, you trusted me to make a move, and I knew I could trust you to wait.

Well, we're in this together, right?

Damn straight.

The rest of them go to hell, as long as we keep dragging each other out of the

wrecks.

What were you thinking trying to shoot it out with the cops?

I was thinking I'm going to die before I go back to jail.

It's the smoke screen, right?

Granger sends us off chasing ghosts while he gets clear.

You know, the best way to find out is to just ask Kirkland herself.

Can you smell it?

Only one thing smells like that.

Damn.

Clear.

Special Agent Michael Kirkland.

Is that Agent Sinclair?

Yeah. Is that Agent Michael Kirkland?

Yeah, he's dead.

Whoever tortured Kirkland didn't know he had aortic valve stenosis, induced a

major heart attack.

And DC is pushing us off. Their official statement is that...

Because Kirkland was in counterintelligence, his operations may

need to know. Yeah? What about unofficially?

I got the impression no one has any idea what he was doing in Los Angeles.

Obvious theory is he was a spy.

You know, it may be Carter's mystery contact.

He outlived his usefulness with the Chinese, and they kill him.

What do you think?

I don't know.

DC's already asking us how he found the body.

Don, we have to come clean.

Look, Colby's telling the truth. We got a leak at the DOJ.

Come on in.

How you doing?

Take a seat.

Any problems?

Nothing we couldn't handle.

Do you know who I am?

Should I? Well, that's a question I need answered, Agent Granger. Oh, it's not

Agent anymore.

My Kirkland says differently.

Am I missing something?

You've been missing it for two years.

He's a triple agent, Dwayne.

He's been feeding us lousy intel and spying on the FBI for the last two

May I have the phone, please?

How long were you planning on playing this? All the way through to China?

If I had to.

You were responsible for transporting Carter and Granger?

Yes, sir.

The orders came in late. I was ranking officer on the block.

Sir, am I in trouble?

You know an Asian named Mike Kirkland?

No, sir.

Riley, let's suppose your orders were, in fact, to help these guys escape.

Agent Epps, are you accusing me of treason?

That's what helping traitors escape from custody would be, treason. Agent

Kirkland was found dead this morning, okay?

So if there's some kind of classified operation going on, there's people's

in jeopardy. You understand what I'm saying?

Yes, sir.

I mean, Kirkland picked the right man. That guy can definitely keep a secret.

Or he has no idea what we're talking about.

All right, either way, it would only confirm Colby's story. It's not going to

help us find him.

All right, maybe we just chased this thing wrong.

The last time we went after Carter, what did he do? Met a run for China.

Then he arranged a murder from prison. He pretended to cooperate with us. Yeah,

but that was only to convince the CIA to trade him back to China.

Right, so how's he planning to get there?

You're suggesting we develop a projective analysis assuming that Colby

Carter intend to get to China?

Not Colby, just Carter.

Everyone agrees on who he is, you know, what his motivations are.

Well, that makes sense, Charlie.

Isn't there a mathematical term for removing the clutter?

Yeah, we call it removing the clutter.

Oh.

I mean, I suppose we could develop some expressions.

All right, we go.

Well, that's how it is, you know.

Gets an idea.

How you doing, David?

You know, just trying to treat it like another case, you know?

I don't see how you can.

I mean, it's you and Colby.

That's the thing about friends.

Sometimes they turn on you.

Yeah, that's the big test, isn't it?

How do you deal with a really close friend who lets you down?

And Mr. Epps, he didn't just forget to pick me up from the airport.

He sold out his country.

I don't want to get all 1960s on you, but I've heard that accusation tossed

around a lot in my lifetime.

And the truth is, it's never that simple.

I mean, you might owe it to yourself and Colby to try to understand why he did

what he did before you actually closed the book on him.

Excuse the camera, I can't remember things like I used to.

I should have realized you were a plant from the start.

We have that in common. I was born in Beijing, absorbed into an extensive

training program just after I could talk.

They sent me to the United States, where I was educated and assimilated.

I was even pre -med before I followed my path into government service.

Unfortunately, Kirkland died before he could answer the important questions

like, does the FBI know my name yet?

And if I go to Washington, will I be arrested?

It's just that, Dwayne.

He's been working with us this whole time.

Why don't we start with something simple, something I already know, like

name.

Arabian Nights.

stalking horse.

Lesson number one.

You can't lie.

I don't bluff.

I may need to find a new monastery.

So I was on my way to the FBI to help answer some questions, and I had to stop

and take a deep breath before I went the rest of the way because I'm not sure

about the optimality of giving Don the solutions he's asked for.

Because you're not sure he'll use them wisely?

I'm not sure they're right. I mean, they're right, but how can I be sure

they'll produce the right outcome?

Well, he's certainly wrestled with this question before.

Yeah, the stakes have felt a little personal.

One could posit that any outcome the solution produces is the one that was

to be.

Science transcends functions and facts. It's all a path to understanding higher

truths.

Just yesterday I made that very same point to my intro game theory class.

Every professor should spend time in the back of his own classroom.

Ah, you're right. Thank you.

Sorry to interrupt your meditation.

Silent contemplation has certainly taught me one thing. What's that?

You can contemplate silence, but you can never find it.

What I administered was a non -lethal dose of tubocurine.

It paralyzes the muscles and depresses the respiratory capabilities, creating

what I've heard described as the sensation of slowly drowning.

You and I are in the same position, both fighting for freedom, both fighting for

our lives.

Think of what you do in my position.

Multiply that by five, and you'll understand what I'm willing to put you

through.

We assume that Dwayne Carter intends to get to China from Los Angeles by a

direct and safe path.

Now, he is aware of all the resources at your disposal, police dragnets and

surveillance on family and friends. I mean, you don't need Karmaker's

to see where this is going.

Ernst Strauss posited a room full of mirrors and a man lighting a match.

Like lighthouses, that man wants to illuminate everything.

Now, as the reflection of the light bounced from wall to wall, Strauss

if there was a room so complex that a match lit in the right place couldn't

reach every corner. Well, it was 40 years before George Takarsky devised an

answer. A 26 -sided room. In the spirit of that problem and solution, I looked

for Carter's Dark Corner, the nearest, safest Chinese soil.

We already have the Chinese constant staked out.

But he has a much simpler, more viable option.

Any ship flying a Chinese flag is considered foreign soil once it's out of

contiguous zone 24 nautical miles offshore.

It's practically untouchable. Right. So a value -based algorithm ruled out

private yachts and cruise ships and any boat incapable of making a trans

-Pacific journey. However, it weighted heavily towards freighters and the port

of Los Angeles.

recorded 13 Chinese freighters as of yesterday.

Do they know my name?

Have they been watching my contacts?

How much of my network is compromised?

Kirkland never said, and I never asked.

Is that what Kirkland said when I asked him?

I know Kirkland. She tortured him. He didn't tell you anything.

That's right.

Conucleodinyl benzylate.

It produces akathisia, an intense desire to move.

It also amplifies pain receptors so that even a pinprick will

feel like you're being stabbed.

Also causing hallucinations and a lot of mental and physical control.

Good.

Then you'll know what to expect.

Four Chinese freighters pulled out of harbor this morning. The Tang Shih was

scheduled to load bicycle parts in a paper pulpit in Vietnam next Tuesday.

They had it pushed out of harbor this morning.

NSA satellite image is two hours old, but you can see he's moving past the 12

-mile mark.

What makes the Tang Shih really interesting is the bicycle parts are

loaded by the China National Airport Company.

So now watch for the possible front Chinese intelligence.

You see that boat right there?

Take a look at this.

You see, you know what? Do me a favor. Zoom in on that black SUV.

That's a whip antenna, isn't it?

One of ours?

Let's see.

Infrared markings.

Run it.

All right.

All right, so the car was signed out to this guy. His name is Mason Lancer. He's

a special assistant to the Deputy Attorney General.

That's exactly the kind of position that would have access to classified

information, but you'd still need somebody to go out and steal what he

reach. Yeah, like Carter.

Or Colby Granger.

Now, the ship is 16 miles out, and it's still outside the 12 -mile territorial

mark, but it's inside the contiguous zone.

Which means we still need a search warrant from the State Department if we

to board.

How long does that take? Between three hours and two days. No guarantee that

they're going to say yes.

Once they cross that 24 -mile mark, there's no way we can get on at all. All

right, look, it comes down to this.

Do we, in fact, think that Colby is a traitor? That's all it's about, do we?

And if we do, we let the Coast Guard watch and we wait for a warrant. And if

he's not, he could be dead by then.

Yeah.

Um, so, uh, this is the trust metric I prepared on Colby

Granger.

It's a man's life put down on a few pages of expressions distilled down to

index of trustworthiness, which is a single number that incorporates all

of his behavior, like the risks he's taken or the orders he's obeyed or

disobeyed, the confidences he's shared.

Yeah? So what does it tell us?

Nothing.

Nothing we don't already know in our hearts.

I'm in.

I don't know what to believe, but I'd like to go find out.

All right. We roll intent.

Do they know my name?

Your name, your dog's name, your grandmother's name. Everybody knows

The last syringe is potassium chloride.

The finisher in the lethal injection cocktail.

If I can't know what you know, then it's really best for me that no one else

does.

What it comes down to is, do you want to spend the last hours in unholy pain

just so that you can die?

Granger.

Don't do this. It's not worth it for some secrets nobody will care about six

months from now. Dwight, I really wish somebody else had pulled me out of that

fire.

Why?

Because I hate owing you.

What are you doing?

What I said I would.

Potassium chloride.

Oh, man, that stuff will stop us hard cold.

Plunger wasn't fully deployed, but he's not breathing.

Call me. I gotta get a medic.

Stay with me. Wake up.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Colby just keeps on this guy, huh? Colby, come on. Let's go.

Come on. Colby.

We've got to control that. Oh, damn.

Colby. You hear me? Let's go.

The doctor says vitals have stabilized.

It'll be a day or so before the drugs are out of the system.

Until I saw that needle sticking out of his chest.

I was sure he was guilty.

He saved his life.

I still don't know who he is.

I didn't know him when he was a spy.

I knew some guy who pretended to be a spy.

He pretended to be my partner.

You coming in?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, I don't feel any of the lesser for a night away from broccoli, carrots, and

coarse -grained bread. I'm stuffed.

You know, celebratory food always tastes better, Larry. Don't you think?

Okay, to Colby Granger and his rapid recovery, we hope.

Yeah, well, then in that case, to Don's instincts.

Yeah, and your trust metric. Sounds like a new chapter in the mathematical

analysis of friendship dynamics.

I'm not familiar with that paper.

That was early Charlie Epps. Yeah.

Mathematics of friendship.

It's like a self -help manual for eggheads. Something like that. No

You guys might be on to something.

Don't, Charlie.

We'll be just kidding. Dust off the old paper and convert the playground to an

office. Run a few new expressions.

I could publish anyway.

Certainly not the attempt to wrestle order out of the chaos of interpersonal

relationships. But how are you going to address higher order constraints? Don't

egg them on, Larry.

Heuristics. Heuristics.

Everybody knows that. That's why I didn't get through it to begin with.

complicated. Heuristics.