The Marburg virus has apparently run its course. Several months after the death of his wife and a nervous breakdown, Frank rejoins the FBI and investigates a plane crash with a new partner.
Frank and Emma investigate a family of identical women who are apparently being killed off.
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FRANK AND EMMA ATTEMPT TO SOLVE A MYSTERY INVOLVING AN ELDERLY WOMAN WHO POSSESSES INCREDIBLE PSYCHIC POWERS.
As seen in the previous episode, Frank and Emma observe as rescue workers extract the bodies of a woman and a little girl from wreckage beneath a bridge. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Mary lapses into a seizure. Doctors and interns rush to her aid, and watch as an EEG machine fluctuates wildly. The woman returns to a normal state, easing the doctor's fears. But unknown to anyone inside the hospital room, one of male nurses is actually a man named Mabius, one of the men Frank observed on the bridge (in the previous episode).
Back at Quantico, Baldwin briefs his task force. He announces that the airliner was sabotaged by a group of people, not by a lone flight attendant. He adds that the group is connected to the viral outbreak that killed seventy people (including Catherine). But Frank believes the group is not comprised of terrorists. Rather, he believes that the women, and their daughters, are being annihilated for reasons unknown. When Peter Watts steps forward, Frank accuses the Millennium Group of orchestrating his wife's death.
When Emma enters the hospital, she discovers Mary's unconscious body on the floor of her room. Emma tries resuscitation, but her efforts fail. Sensing foul play, Emma reviews the hospital's security tapes. She discovers that Mabius injected something into Mary's IV drip and then fled the building. While searching the room for clues, Emma comes upon a digital clock displaying the time "5:12." This piques her interest, as the electrical power was cut a few minutes after four o'clock.
Emma discovers that document cinders found inside the demolished house (see previous episode) were pieces of Freedom of Information requests made five years earlier. The documents made mention of a government project called Grillflame. Frank recognizes the name as a CIA project run through the Stanton Research Institute. Emma travels to the university, where she meets with Dr. Coty. He explains that Grillflame was a government project that employed "psychic spies." The spies-who were identified by numbers instead of names-possessed the ability to project themselves into other environs, allowing them access to other nation's secrets. One of the psychics, Coty recalls, possessed amazing powers that allowed her to see into the future. Emma correctly guesses that the woman was known by the number "512." Later, a forensics doctor confirms that all four of the dead women, who all appear to be the same age, were half-sisters.
Emma and Frank review videotape footage made in 1972 of "512" (who is actually the Elderly Woman) as she projected herself psychically. When this footage is compared with the security tape from the hospital, Frank realizes that Mary did not lapse into a seizure shortly before her death. Rather, she had been in the process of psychically projecting herself for reasons unknown. Frank realizes that a little girl who had been listed on the downed airliner's passenger manifest was not aboard the plane. The crash, he concludes, was part of a smokescreen concocted by the women to save the little girl from the Millennium Group.
By closely studying the hospital security tape, and piecing together the words Mary uttered during her psychic projection, Emma pinpoints the location where the Elderly Woman is hiding. That location is a missile silo in Virginia. The pair travel to the silo, where Frank locates the Elderly Woman, and Emma locates another of the Sisters.
Frank and the Elderly Woman board an elevator and make their way up the silo shaft. But their progress is halted when Mobius sabotages the elevator's electrical control box. Frank forces open the elevator doors and attempts to climb out. But the elevator suddenly springs to life, pinning him between the elevator and the floor above. Frank screams as he is nearly severed in two. Suddenly, the elevator rises, releasing Frank. The Eldery Woman...
Frank and Emma investigate a survivalist group worried about the Y2K bug.
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FRANK AND EMMA SEARCH FOR ANSWERS WHEN A GUNMAN FIRES UPON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.
Students gather inside the gymnasium of Redland High School to celebrate the school's victory at the state academic championships. Amongst the student body are cheerleaders Tammy Meador and Kathy McNew, who encourage their classmates to join them in some rousing cheers. Watching Tammy from afar is Carlton King, an odd, gawky teenager. Carlton lays a book near Tammy's pom poms, then walks towards some nearby doors. Shortly thereafter, Brant Carmody, another student reluctant to join in the celebration, exits the gymnasium. As the school principal announces that ComLogic Computers has donated a system worth over two million dollars, gunfire rings out. Three students, including Tammy Meador, are killed in the melee.
Agents Baldwin and Hollis are assigned to investigate the case. They meet with Giebelhouse, who is still a detective working for the Seattle Police Department. Giebelhouse explains that the shooter, whose identity is still unknown, opened fire from underneath the bleachers. As the murder weapon was recovered, it is hoped that the registration number will provide clues. While searching the gym, Emma comes upon the book that Carlton left near Tammy's pom poms. She decides not to tell the other investigators about the discovery. Later, Giebelhouse contacts McClaren and requests Frank's assistance.
Emma tells Baldwin that other students described Brant Carmody as non-communicative. A record check also reveals that Brant was twice arrested for assault and battery. And it is also determined that the teenager is the son of a very wealthy computer executive. When the agents arrive at the Carmody's front door, shots ring out. Brant's father, Chris, announces that his son shot himself. The agents are unable to revive the boy. Back at Quantico, Baldwin concludes that Brant fired upon his classmates and then committed suicide. But Frank has his doubts. He points out several holes in Baldwin's investigation, including his failure to test either of Brant's parents for powder burns. After the meeting, Frank asks McClaren to send him to the high school so he can perform some detective work of his own. As Frank packs his suitcase, he receives a surprise visit from Emma. She shows him the book she discovered at the gym. The book contains prayers from the Dark Ages, and is inscribed with the name "Skylark." Frank realizes the shooter left it behind as a warning to Tammy Meador.
Meanwhile, Chris Carmody, computer technology czar Jock Hauser, Principal Kalmer and Carlton King's father, Gary, meet in a field in the countryside, where they practice firing their guns at figures of human beings. Jock accuses Chris of telling his son about the group's secret. Chris admits to this, stating that he did so at the insistence of his wife.
Frank and Emma question cheerleader Kathy McNew, who had been dating Brant Carmody. She explains that Brant spoke often of the end of the world, and how society will collapse come the year 2000. Later, as Frank inspects the room where Brant's body was found, he is struck by a series of internal visions. He concludes that Brant was the shooter inside the gymnasium. But he also believes that Brant's death was not a suicide.
Emma searches Brant's computer files and discovers a threatening email message composed by Skylark. Emma contacts an Internet service provider to determine Skylark's real identity. Shortly thereafter, Kalmer, Jock Hauser and Gary King meet at a rural warehouse when they learn that the FBI has identified Skylark as Carlton King.
Emma, Frank and Geibelhouse search the King family's credit card records. They discover purchases for such items as gas generators and non-perishable food, along with assault rifles. They also determine that Gary King co-owns 14,000 acres of desert land in eastern Washington State. Frank concludes that the group to which Gary belongs is preparing for complete technology failure in...
Emma is haunted by memories of the death of her sister while she and Frank hunt a spree killer.
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EMMA TRACKS A KILLER WHOM FRANK BELIEVES MURDERS WITHOUT MOTIVE.
Emma drives along a highway, speaking a few tense words to her passenger, a long-haired man named Rick Van Horn. Suddenly, Emma jerks the wheel. The car swerves out of control, heading towards a large object. All goes black.
In flashback, three days earlier Rick and another man, Peter, rent a room in a hotel. The walls are so thin, however, that someone's snoring filters into the pair's room. Rick straps on body armor, then picks up a gun and a hunting knife. As Peter listens, Rick kicks in the door of the offending sleeper's room and fires off a shot. Rick returns and climbs back into bed.
Emma joins Detective Jay Cooper as police search the hotel room for possible evidence. The victim turns out to be a man named Daryl Norcott, a baker who was passing through town. Emma interviews a transient staying in Rick and Peter's old room. The transient explains that two men handed him the key, explaining that the room was paid for.
Aided by descriptions from the transient, police sketch artists are able to create composites of Rick and Peter. Frank, however, is somewhat perplexed by Emma's interest in the case, as it seemingly does not warrant FBI involvement. Nonetheless, he and Emma travel to the crime scene. While standing in the hotel room, the pair cannot help but notice squeaking coming from bed springs in a nearby room. Frank is struck by several internal visions, including a smiling face. He finds a Smiley Face carved into the wooden bed where Rick slept. Frank comes to believe that the killer did not act with any particular motive.
Meanwhile, Rick and Peter rendezvous with an amorous barmaid named Joni. The threesome, dressed in bullet proof vests, lay siege on a grocery store, killing three people in the process. Emma and Frank review security videotape of the incident. The pair notices Rick picking up Smiley Face jawbreakers from a hard candy display. Emma retrieves a candy wrapper, hoping it will yield fingerprints. Before the pair leaves the store, Frank asks Emma why she has taken an interest in the case. She answers the question with a question: why?
Using a fingerprint found on the candy wrapper, Emma identifies Rick Van Horn as the shooter. To her surprise, Van Horn has no history of previous violence. Frank, meanwhile, studies Emma's FBI file, probing her background for possible clues as to her interest in the case. He discovers that, twenty years earlier, Emma witnessed a man named Michael Wynter kill her sister. Wynter later committed suicide in prison. Every year on the anniversary of her sister's death, Emma requests a murder case hoping to discover why Wynter committed such an unfathomable act.
Meanwhile, Rick, Peter and Joni trick a mountain biker, Kyle, into getting high with them. Rick then offers Kyle three thousand dollars to shoot an apple from his head. Kyle accepts the challenge and fires the gun. Rick comes through unscathed. Rick then takes the apple from this head and removes the gun from Kyle's hand. He points the weapon at Kyle and insists that he place the apple upon his own head. When Kyle resists, Rick threatens to kill him on the spot. With little choice, Kyle places the apple on his head. Rick takes aim then lowers the gun slightly, shooting Kyle between the eyes.
Rick, Peter and Joni enter a pawn shop. They see their photographs being broadcast on a local news program. Panicking, Joni runs outside to retrieve the group's vehicle. But she discovers it is being impounded by a tow truck driver. Joni draws her gun, but is taken into custody when police gain the upper hand. Peter and Rick, however, escape on foot. At the police station, Emma attempts to get Joni to cooperate with the investigation. Joni seemingly softens, but just when she seems on the verge of revealing information, she suddenly demands a lawyer. Emma leaves Frank at the police station and drives off in her car. Shortly thereafter, Rick and Peter...
Frank and Emma investigate murders on the set of a movie based on one of Frank's former cases.
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AS HALLOWEEN APPROACHES A KILLER STALKS MEMBERS OF A PRODUCTION CREW AS THEY FILM A MOVIE BASED UPON ONE OF FRANK'S CASES.
Inside an F.B.I. classroom, a lecturer addresses a roomful of attentive agents. Though we do not see the speaker's face, we hear Frank Black's voice describing a horrific murder case, one that happened during the week just before Halloween.
In flashback, Frank and Emma are summoned to a motel in Trinity, South Carolina. The pair meets with Sheriff Fritz Neuenschwander, who walks them through a murder scene. The sheriff explains that two individuals, actress Marta Danbury and director Lew Carroll, were both viciously murdered inside their room. Both were in town filming a small B-movie on a nearby soundstage.
Shortly thereafter, Frank, Emma and the sheriff travel to the soundstage, where they observe several actors and a film crew shooting a picture which, it turns out, is based on a murder case Frank investigated thirteen years earlier. Frank is offended when he realizes that most of the factual evidence in the case is being completely ignored in favor of sensationalism. Frank and Emma interview the principles, as many had a motive for the killings. Among them is producer Kenny Neiderman, who had been sleeping with Marta Danbury; Rowdy Beeman, who suddenly rose to the rank of director upon Lew Carroll's demise; actress Ruby Dahl, whose role was drastically expanded to compensate for Danbury; Sir Douglas Latham, an aging British stage actor; Sara Cryer, the film's unit publicist; John and Don, the film's screenwriters, who were displeased with Carroll's take on their screenplay; flirtatious star Ramona Tangent; and Mark Bianco, a method actor who portrays Frank Black in the film. Also included on the suspect list is Hugo Winston, whose fiancie was murdered by the killer thirteen years earlier. Hugo declares that the production desecrates the name of the deceased.
Most of the crew members gather to watch the filming of a scene in which Ruby Dahl goes skinny-dipping in a pool. Once the scene is photographed, the crew assembles around folding tables where a caterer distributes sandwiches. As the director bites into his sandwich, he realizes that the "meat" is, in fact, a human finger. Rowdy recognizes a ring on the severed digit, and proclaims that producer Niederman has been killed.
Despite protests from an irate cast and crew, the sheriff closes down the shoot. Meanwhile, Emma speculates that the murderer may be using classic horror films as the inspiration for the manner in which he kills. The pair conclude that the suspect may strike at the motel where the crew is staying. A figure lures them upon the roof of the building, where they discover body of publicist Sara Cryer dangling upside down from a rope, a death that mirrors killings seen in the films Halloween and Friday the 13th. Meanwhile, one of the film's extras, a man named Hector, confesses to the crimes. Frank destroys his credibility. Nonetheless, the mayor proclaims that production may resume.
Frank and Emma realize that horror films were playing on television on the nights of all the murders. The pair consult a television listing and discover that the film Motel Hell is being broadcast that evening. They race to the soundstage, where it is discovered that several members of the crew had their vocal cords severed, a la Motel Hell. Frank also discovers Hugo Winston, his body hanging by the neck, a butcher knife nearby.
Frank finds it difficult to believe that Hugo is the killer. Emma consults the television listings, but because it is Halloween, the airwaves are filled with movie marathons, making it impossible to predict how the killer will strike next. Emma stays at the hotel to watch television, hoping for some insight into how the murderer thinks. Meanwhile, Frank drives back to the soundstage, where the crew films a climactic scene set at a nightclub. He scrutinizes his surroundings as movie extras dressed in Halloween costumes...
Frank and Emma investigate a mass grave that may have links to the Millennium Group.
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FRANK SEARCHES FOR ANSWERS WHEN AN ODD MAN REVEALS INTRICATE DETAILS ABOUT VICTIMS DISCOVERED IN A MASS GRAVE.
In Arlington, Virginia, a man named Ed sits on a park bench, quietly recording thoughts in a leather spine journal. As Ed looks up, he experiences visions of a human skull and skeletal hand. Meanwhile, in Fingus, Maine, construction site workers uncover a skeleton hand and a human skull buried beneath the dirt.
Watts arrives at the site, where he meets with Sheriff Walden. Walden suspects that the unidentified remains came from another area, as everyone living in his small county are accounted for. Shortly thereafter, Agents Baldwin and Hollis arrive at the scene. Baldwin is surprised to see Watts at the site. Watts explains that he and his team happened to be working another case nearby when he received a call regarding the discovery.
Back at Quantico, McClaren tells Frank that, fifteen years earlier, he received a strange letter after a woman named Cynthia Paggett disappeared. The note described in great detail how Paggett was murdered. But police never found a body. Over the course of the year, McClaren received five more letters, each describing the murder of another victim who vanished into thin air. The last two words of the author's latest note read: "Fingus, Maine."
Emma discovers a bullet hole in one of the skulls pulled from the construction site. She also discovers a ceramic plug covering another hole in the skull. Emma realizes that the victim had undergone surgery. She also realizes that such a procedure would be very uncommon, and hopes to identify the victim through the use of medical records.
In the first note McClaren received, the author pinpointed the exact location of Cynthia Paggett's murder. Frank travels to that location, but the old address turns out to be a parking lot. Frank notices someone watching him from an apartment window nearby. When Frank enters the structure, Ed attempts to make a getaway. Frank orders the man to stop. Just as suddenly, Ed freezes, a crazy expression on his face. Later, Frank discovers a hidden door inside Ed's apartment. The door leads to a library containing leather spine journals, each one bearing the name of a different victim.
Using computer technology, measurements taken from the skull are used to reconstruct the victim's face. The image matches Paggett's photograph. McClaren phones the site with word that a suspect has been taken into custody. He tells the agents that there are six victims in all. The agents believe that the case is reaching a conclusion.
Meanwhile, Frank finishes researching Ed's journals-thirty-six in all. The spine of the final volume reads: "Cheryl Andrews, M.D." Frank tells Ed that he once worked with Andrews, who disappeared the previous year. Ed, however, is very vague about what happened to her. McClaren interrupts the conversation when he drops by the apartment. Frank tells him that Ed witnessed the first murder from his apartment window. He then reveals that there are many bodies yet to be found each victim a successful professional.
Frank telephones Emma Hollis. He tells her that Peter Watts is at the dig to find Cheryl Andrews' remains and keep their discovery a secret. He accuses the Millennium Group of killing Andrews. Armed with the new information, Emma unearths more bones.
Ed tells Frank that the lives of all of the victims were detailed in newspaper accounts. In the case of Cheryl Andrews, she had made a trip to Germany to report on a bizarre discovery she had made while performing an autopsy. But Andrews was arrested by customs officials. Records indicate she was deported, but Ed believes she was murdered. Emma phones Frank with information. She tells him that a "Homer B. Pettey" authorized Andrews' release from a German prison. Later, Watts tells Emma that Andrews died in her home town of Omaha ten months earlier. Watts hands Emma a newspaper clipping of Andrews' obituary. Emma travels to the town library in...
The disappearance of a child leads a town to accuse a recently released sex offender who may or may not be guilty. Frank and Emma arrive to determine the truth.
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FRANK PREDICTS DIRE CONSEQUENCES WHEN A CONVICTED CHILD MOLESTER IS RELEASED FROM PRISON.
The year is 1979. The place is Tullane Creek, Oregon. A figure approaches a little girl who is sitting on a swing in a deserted, fog-shrouded park. The girl, whose name is Casey Peterson, screams and runs away when she sees the stranger. Deputy Paul Dietz comes to Casey's rescue. He tackles the man and demands to know the whereabouts of a missing girl named Mary Flanagan. The suspect, whose name is Brunelli, leads police to a derelict trailer. Inside is the body of the girl.
In the present day, Frank and Dr. Angela Horvath attend Brunelli's parole hearing. Also present is a now-grown Casey Peterson and her father, Sam. Horvath, who is a therapist, believes that Brunelli is well enough to be released. Frank surprises Horvath when he states that recidivism in child sex crimes is quite high. But despite Frank's dire predictions that Brunelli might be a danger to society, the parole board releases him.
Brunelli returns to Tullane Creek, where he is met by his attorney, Randle Jarrett. Dietz, who is now sheriff, warns Brunelli that it is his duty to inform the community of his presence. People throughout town scorn Brunelli, and even Brunelli's own father calls him a "piece of dirt." It isn't long before Brunelli approaches a young girl named Julie as she walks along a wooded path. A teacher spots the pair, but they run off when she approaches.
Julie's friend, Shannon McNulty, disappears. Preliminary evidence points to Brunelli, and he is transported to the police station for questioning. While Brunelli is in custody, Frank and Emma search his cabin for clues. The pair discover a small notebook containing ten drawings of a girl on a swing. Frank bends back the pages. As the pages fly forward, the drawings animate, and the girl moves forward and back on the swing. Later, the agents question Brunelli. He gives them precise directions as to where the missing girl can be found (inside an old trailer). But Dietz tells the agents that the trailer is where Mary Flanagan was found years earlier, and that it has already been searched. Nonetheless, Emma travels to the trailer. She discovers that someone left a bunch of wild flowers inside. Meanwhile, Frank studies Brunelli as he sits at the police station. He watches as the suspect lights matches, again and again, and snuffs them out using his thumb and forefinger.
Brunelli is released from jail due to a lack of evidence. Meanwhile, Frank returns to the path in the woods where Mary Flanagan was last seen. Dietz tells Frank that a teacher reported seeing Brunelli talking to a little girl on the path. But police are unsure of the girl's identity. Later, Frank and Emma travel to the home of Brunelli's father. There they discover a scrap of cloth identical to the fabric Shannon was wearing when she disappeared.
Police tail Brunelli to the park where he approached Casey Peterson years earlier. Frank approaches Brunelli. He tells him that, contrary to what police believe, he suspects that Brunelli did not kidnap the missing girl. But Brunelli tells him that he will remember where Shannon is. Later, Jarret escorts his daughter, Julie, to the police station. Julie admits that Brunelli approached her as she walked along the path. She tells police that Brunelli told her, "don't be afraid." She then produces one of Brunelli's St. Josephs medals.
Brunelli manages to slip away from police surveillance. When word reaches Frank, he realizes that Brunelli went to Casey Peterson's house. Frank's hunch is correct: Brunelli approaches Casey and hands her a book of drawings. As Emma drives to the Peterson residence, Frank remains behind at the police station. He reviews a police videotape containing footage of Brunelli's original confession some twenty years earlier. He notices Jarret lighting a cigarette and snuffing out the flame with his thumb and forefinger in the exact same manner as Brunelli. Meanwhile,...
Emma tries to help her drug addicted sister and learns that local addicts are exhibiting strange mutations linked to tainted heroin.
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A TROUBLED GIRL CLAIMS THAT A DRUG DEALER'S HEROIN SUPPLY IS LITERALLY TURNING ADDICTS INTO MONSTERS.
Inside a flophouse motel in Vancouver, British Columbia, a young drug addict named Elissa gives herself a heroin injection. As her roommate, Tamra, prepares to follow suit, Elissa makes her way to the bathroom. Suddenly, Elissa' s body is rocked by violent spasms. Fearing for her friend' s well being, Tamra enters the bathroom. To her horror, Elissa has transformed into a reptilian-looking creature. Tamra runs into the hallway, where she calls for help. There she encounters two drug dealers, Pulga and Johnny. The two men enter the room as Tamra waits outside. Shortly thereafter, they exit and warn Tamra not to tell anyone about the incident. Tamra reenters the room, but finds it empty. She peers out an open window into the alley below, where she sees Elissa' s lifeless body. She then phones Emma Hollis at FBI headquarters.
Back at Quantico, McClaren tells Frank that Emma tested positive for heroin. Frank dismisses the idea as absurd. A short time later, Agent Baldwin discovers a packet containing white powder amongst Emma' s personal belongings. Frank approaches Emma, hoping she will shed some light on the situation. But she decides to take her attorney' s advice and remain silent. Emma travels to Vancouver, where she pays a young dealer to help her find Tamra. The dealer runs off into the night. A short time later, a car pulls to the curb and Tamra, badly in need of a fix, steps out. Emma checks her into a methadone house. There, Emma tells Tamra that the substance she sent her in the mail has not been tested. Tamra claims that the heroin turns people into monsters. She also tells Emma that a dealer named Pulga is distributing the drug. Shortly thereafter, Emma approaches the young dealer she paid to find Tamra. He tells her where she can find Pulga.
Emma drives to the flophouse motel, but she has little luck finding Pulga. She then boards a freight elevator and descends to a vestibule that leads to the alleyway where Elissa met her death. Suddenly, a car enters the alley and bears down on her. Johnny exits the vehicle and opens fire. Emma manages to escape and makes her way back to the elevator. Johnny pursues her into the vestibule, where a struggle ensues. Emma manages to disarm her attacker and knocks him into the space where the elevator will soon land. Realizing he will be crushed, Johnny surrenders. But when the elevator comes to a halt, Pulga, gun in hand, exits. Emma tries to run, but Johnny pins her against a wall. She accuses the duo of selling contaminated heroin. As police sirens sound in the distance, the dealers shove Emma onto the floor and kick her repeatedly. They then make their escape.
Frank travels to Vancouver after he discovers Tamra' s name in Emma' s Rolodex. He visits Emma in her holding cell at the Vancouver police department. He is now aware that Tamra is actually one of Emma' s relatives. Emma explains that Tamra sent her an unmarked packet in the mail. Emma tasted the sample, thereby explaining how she tested positive for heroin use. A short time later, Frank receives a phone call from McClaren. It turns out that the white powder that had been sent to Emma is eighty per cent heroin.
Frank checks with Vancouver police in hopes of verifying Tamra' s story about Elissa. Unfortunately, there are no unidentified bodies at the morgue that match her description. A short time later, Detective Rondell, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, contacts Emma and Frank when Elissa' s body is pulled from a river. As Frank and Emma observe, a coroner performs an autopsy on the body. Emma tells the coroner about Tamra' s claim that Elissa resembled a monster shortly before her death. The coroner explains that his office has seen a number of overdoses in which the victims were searching for that mythological monster, a kind of urban legend. Frank begins to suspect that the disfigurement Tamra spoke of was...
On Christmas, Frank and Jordan go one vacation in Vermont. Unexpectedly, they get involved with a supposedly dead Mafia hit man who appears to be living in the woods with a number of mysterious women.
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AS CHRISTMAS APPROACHES FRANK AND JORDAN TRAVEL TO VERMONT, WHERE THEY ENCOUNTER A MOBSTER WHO HAS SEEMINGLY RISEN FROM THE DEAD.
In 1989, three armed mobsters Donnie, Paolo and Boney march a fourth man through a pine forest located near Coker Creek, Vermont. Their prisoner is Eddie "Scarpino" Gianini, a former colleague who none-too-wisely had an affair with a powerful mob boss's wife. Shortly thereafter, the mobsters open fire, killing Eddie. Later that night, a female form finds Eddie's body and drags it into the forest.
In the present day, Frank takes Jordan Christmas shopping. Jordan takes special interest in a nail polish display. She tells her father the polish is identical to the to the kind she purchased for Catherine the previous year, which is still in its original wrapping back home. Frank decides to spend Christmas in Vermont. As he and Jordan enter the town of Coker Creek, they spy a small monument in front of town hall. The monument is a carving of a hairy creature known as "Littlefoot." A short time later, Sheriff Earl Parker arrests a man wandering almost-naked through town, his body clad only in Eddie's bloodied, bullet hole-ridden jacket. The man, Al Ryan, claims he cannot remember how he came upon the jacket. Realizing he will need help with the case, Parker turns to Frank. At the sheriff's station, Al tells Frank and Parker that he had been attacked and killed by a wolf during a hunting trip. When he regained consciousness, he found himself inside a cave, a feminine figure leaning over his body.
Frank, Parker and Al travel to the pine forest. There they discover the remnants of torn, bloodied clothing. At first, Parker believes that Al attacked and killed a victim. But a wallet found inside a pair of shredded blue jeans identifies them as belonging to Al. Frank concludes that Al probably was attacked by an animal though he is unsure why he shows no signs of having been mauled. As Frank and the others follow the tracks through the woods, they come upon a figure of a man. A chase ensues. The figure suddenly leaps from the brush. Frank tackles the figure which turns out to be Eddie Gianini.
Emma Hollis travels to Vermont to help Frank with the case. She explains that Eddie had worked as a hit man for the Santo crime family. Donnie, Paolo and Boney eventually confessed to killing Eddie, and have been imprisoned ever since. When police received word that Eddie is still very much alive, the threesome was released from jail. Unfortunately, Eddie's reappearance also jeopardizes the government's case against Santo and his top operatives, who were imprisoned when the three mobsters testified against them (as part of a plea bargain arrangement).
Frank and Emma meet with Prosecutor Polgreen, who helped bring down Santo's operation. Polgreen interrogates Eddie, and questions him about the murder of some dead mobsters. To Polgreen's surprise, Eddie confesses to the killings. He admits to having carried out some twenty-seven murders in all. Polgreen is deeply suspicious, especially when Eddie refuses to identify where he has been hiding for the previous nine years.
Frank concludes that Eddie used the "Littlefoot" legend to draw attention away from something else hiding in the pine forest. He, Emma and a search team return to the wooded area, where they discover a small cave. Inside are two waifish women. The women, Rose and Lhasa, are brought to the Coker Creek clinic for treatment and observation. After performing a physical exam, a doctor determines they are both in perfect physical and psychological condition. The women are, however, unable, or perhaps unwilling, to speak. A short time later, Frank watches in amazement as Lhasa heals the battered face of a woman who had been the victim of domestic violence.
Frank begins searching through some photographs that Emma brought with her. Lhasa and Rose see the photos and recognize Eddie's face amongst them. They also recognize stills of Donny, Paolo and Boney...
Frank and Emma investigate a number of apparent drownings that occurred on dry land.
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WHEN JORDAN FALLS GRAVELY ILL, FRANK ATTEMPTS TO LINK HER CONDITION TO THE MYSTERIOUS DEMISE OF THREE PEOPLE WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY SURVIVED A BRUSH WITH DEATH.
Inside a hospital, a priest delivers the last rites to an unidentified patient. Meanwhile, a man we will come to know as Samiel makes his way through the hallway of a moving train. He steals a set of keys from a conductor's station, then makes his way to a compartment holding four passengers, including a little girl Jordan's age. Samiel uses a key to lock the compartment door. Moments later, the trains wrenches violently and plunges into a river. Back at the hospital, the priest continues his prayer, identifying the patient as Jordan Black.
In flashback, two days earlier... As Frank stops the red Cherokee in front of the elementary school, Jordan complains of not feeling well. Frank promises he will pick her up at school if she still feels under the weather at lunch time. Meanwhile, inside a park, a mother videotapes the strange sight of a middle-aged woman flailing her arms and gasping for breath. As the stricken woman collapses, water streams from her mouth.
Emma and Frank investigate the woman's death. Frank experiences a vision, one that prompts him to conclude that the woman drowned. However, Emma explains that the victim died on dry land. A coroner finds a large amount of water in her lungs. Moments later, Frank experiences another vision. He sees more water... and still more bodies. He also notices an indent on the victim's wrist, indicating she wore a watch.
Emma tells Frank that a woman named Lisa Maher also died as a result of the mysterious fluid. It turns out that Maher once suffered from meningoencephalitis, a bacterial infection of the brain which usually proves fatal to adults. Jordan also suffered from the ailment years earlier. Frank discovers that Gertrude Epstein, the woman from the park, miraculously survived a terrible car crash three years earlier. The common link between Epstein and Maher is that both cheated death. Later, Samiel enters a tenement apartment where he approaches a sleeping thirty-five-year-old man. Samiel places his hand over the man's mouth, causing water to stream out.
Frank and Emma investigate the man's death. It turns out that Samiel dialed 911 and alerted authorities of the victim's demise. Frank believes it was an act of compassion. A search of the dead man's apartment turns up a postcard for meetings at Remain in Light, a near death experience group. Later, Frank picks Jordan up from school when she continues feeling sick. As he walks towards the Cherokee with his daughter, Frank notices Samiel standing under some trees, watching from the shadows. Suddenly, Jordan collapses. Frank rushes her to the hospital, where she is placed in a tub of ice to lower her body temperature. Eventually, Jordan's condition stabilizes. A doctor tells Frank that Jordan exhibits symptoms of meningitis, but lab tests have ruled out the disease. Frank insists the illness is not a figment of Jordan's imagination. Moments later, he notices Samiel standing under a large tree two floors below. Frank races outside the hospital, but by the time he reaches the tree, Samiel is gone. Frank finds a woman's watch hanging on one of the tree branches.
With the assistance of a computer sketch artist, Frank creates a drawing of Samiel's likeness. Frank tells Emma that the stranger has been stalking Jordan. He also links Jordan's previous brush with death (when she was diagnosed with meningitis years earlier) with the other three victims. He believes that all four people, including his daughter, have been living on borrowed time. And now, for reasons unknown, Samiel is coming after Jordan. Emma assures him that Jordan's sickness has nothing to do with the case.
Emma discovers Samiel attending a Remain in Light meeting. She escorts him to Quantico for questioning. Frank suddenly launches himself at Samiel. He warns him to stay away from his daughter and...
Peter's daughter is kidnapped by a Gulf War veteran who hopes to force the Millennium Group into admitting their crimes. Frank and Emma attempt to help, but Peter seems determined not to betray the secrets of the Group.
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A VETERAN KIDNAPS WATTS' DAUGHTER IN AN EFFORT TO EXPOSE THE MILLENNIUM GROUP'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE GULF WAR.
Students from The College of William and Mary face off at a bowling alley during Greek Week 1999. Eighteen-year-old Taylor Watts exits the building when it is announced that someone forgot to turn off their automobile's headlights. A classmate named Nick Carfahna follows her into the parking lot. The pair are attacked by two men, one wearing a military-style mask, and a second dressed as a security guard. As Taylor is dragged to a nearby car, her wallet falls from her purse... identifying her as Peter Watts' daughter.
Watts reviews the case for a group of FBI agents. Nick, who survived the attack, provides police with a description of a single kidnapper, whose mask resembled the type issued to troops in Kuwait. After the briefing ends, Emma tells McClaren that no mention was made of the Millennium Group or its enemies. She is also puzzled by Frank's absence. A short time later, Emma finds Frank looking for clues at the bowling alley parking lot. He believes the entire abduction was precisely planned. Meanwhile, one of the kidnappers, a man named Swan, binds Taylor's hands and ankles to a stainless steel examining table. He proceeds to remove her clothing and cleans her body using a power sprayer and coarse brush. Moments later, he photographs her using a Polaroid camera.
The investigators get a break in the case when police discover an abandoned car used in the abduction. As Frank observes the scene, he experiences internal visions of Operation Desert Storm. He also notices tire and boot prints left behind by the kidnappers, as well as the smell of spectrumaldehyde, which is used for the destruction of genetic evidence. Watts arrives at the scene. Sitting by himself, he gazes at Swan's Polaroid of his daughter.
McClaren's team determines that both the tire tread and the boot prints were formed by items purchased from a military PX. Frank helps narrows the search for a culprit when he mentions the spectrumaldehyde. The clues lead FBI agents to the home of David Couger. But when they storm Couger's house, they discover that he has been tortured and executed. Given the nature of the slaying, McClaren concludes that the second kidnapper executed Couger. But Frank suspects otherwise. He believes Couger was murdered by the Millennium Group. Meanwhile, inside the stainless steel room, Swan pulls a safety tab from a canister and sets it near Taylor.
Frank learns that Couger was once a patient in a psychiatric ward at a military medical center. One of the physicians at the center leads Frank to dozens of file folders which contain information on other patients who were part of Couger's group. Frank notices that one of the folders is empty. The folder belongs to Eric Swan. As Frank exits the medical center, he encounters Peter Watts. Watts produces another Polaroid, this one depicting a sickly-looking Taylor, her eyes jaundiced, sitting near the canister. Watts believes his daughter has only thirty-six hours to live. He pleads for Franks help.
Emma determines that Swan used to call Art Bell's radio talk show-a forum for conspiracy theorists-using the pseudonym "Thomas Paine." Bell cooperates with the FBI investigation. He hosts a program devoted to the topic of the Gulf War and soldiers who were exposed to biochemical agents. Swan calls the program and claims that while serving in the Gulf War, he received orders to fire a biological weapon at U.S. soldiers (as part of an effort to test the weapon's effectiveness on fully inoculated soldiers wearing protective gear). Swan followed orders... and killed an entire platoon. The U.S. government blamed the incident on the Iraqis. Bell then introduces Frank to his listening audience. Frank describes for Swan the manner in which his own wife died. Swan recognizes the symptoms. He tells Frank that Catherine died of the Micro plasma Flavi Virus. Swan believes his order came not...
Frank receives a mysterious cassette tape filled with white noise and a visit from beyond the grave.
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SOMEONE MAILS FRANK A CASSETTE TAPE CONTAINING SEEMINGLY HARMLESS WHITE NOISE. BUT FRANK LINKS COPIES OF THE TAPE TO THE BIZARRE DEATHS OF TWO PEOPLE.
As Carol Wheatley drives her car along a mountain road in Washington State, she inserts an unmarked audio cassette into the tape-player. At first, all that Carol hears is a gentle hiss. But the white noise gradually grows louder. As Carol looks up from the player, she sees snow flakes falling in the headlights. When the flakes strike the windshield, they make an impossibly loud sound. The car skids to a halt, and the flakes continue their descent, cracking the windshield. Carol jumps out of the car, only to find herself standing on ice. Beneath the surface is the face of a drowning boy, his eyes bulging in desperation. Carol climbs back into the car and throws the engine in reverse. The car backs out onto the roadway, where it is smashed by an eighteen-wheel truck.
At Quantico, Frank finds an internal envelope containing an audio cassette mixed in with his other mail. He slips the cassette into a boom box and hears the same white noise. Suddenly, he experiences an internal vision: a face under the ice. Frank looks at the internal envelope, and sees that the last name written on it (above his own), is a "Victor Chyren." A check with the operator reveals no such person working at the FBI. Frank then notes the name written above Chyren: Doug Scaife. Scaife, who never heard of Chryen, tells Frank that Giebelhouse sent him the tape for analysis. Nothing could be found on the cassette, except for white noise. Frank listens to the tape and experiences a vision of Catherine standing on the porch of the yellow house. He notices a wave pattern that Scaife identifies as pink noise. Frank concludes that someone intentionally made the tape.
Frank travels to Washington, where he and Giebelhouse review the accident scene. He then interviews the victim's mother, Mrs. Wheatley. Frank correctly deduces that, at some time, there had been an accident, one in which a boy fell through the ice and drowned. Deeply shocked, Mrs. Wheatley confirms this is so. Her daughter had always blamed herself for the accident. Afterward, Frank tells Geibelhouse that the tape is somehow responsible for Carol's death. He also believes there are more tapes in existence. Meanwhile, a designer named Jerry Origo receives a cassette tape in the mail. He places the tape in his player and listens. A hiss fills the room. Suddenly, flames rip through his penthouse apartment.
Geibelhouse and Frank learn that Origo jumped through a window and fell to his death. They travel to his penthouse, where there is no sign of fire. Geibelhouse finds the cassette tape and the envelope it arrived in, on which is a hand-written address. The envelope bears a Seattle postmark, one Geibelhouse hopes to trace. Frank believes that Origo jumped through the window because he thought he was on fire. He also suspects that someone in Origo's life died in a blaze. It turns out that Origo once worked as a building supervisor on a housing project in New Orleans. A blaze erupted, and because smoke alarm batteries were never installed, seven people died. Origo was investigated but never charged. Frank concludes that when people listen to the mysterious tapes, they hear the things they fear most and suffer massive hallucinations. With that, Frank hands the cassette to Geibelhouse and walks off. He drives to the yellow house, where he experiences another vision of Catherine. When Frank snaps out of his vision, he realizes that the house is now blue, and is occupied by a successful contractor named Jeff King. King tells Frank he still gets his mail. He hands him some letters amongst which is an envelope containing a cassette.
As Frank drives, he listens to the cassette tape. He experiences flashbacks in which Watts tells him about the virus, the vaccine, and how only enough exists to inoculate Group members. He makes his way to the remote cabin where...
Lucy Butler returns to torment Frank. This times she is a nanny for a powerful Wisconsin politician.
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FRANK DISCOVERS A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MURDER OF A FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, A GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE WITH A FRAGILE DAUGHTER AND THE EVIL LUCY BUTLER.
John Saxum, a State Attorney General, resides in an old stately manor house in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife, Uma, and fragile daughter, Divina. Una tells her husband that, although he is under pressure to announce his candidacy, she doubts she is ready to become the governor's wife. She believes their daughter's health is of greater importance. The Saxums realize that Divina has disappeared into the gardens on their property. Believing Divina is playing a game of hide and seek, John and Uma search through a hedgerow maze. Unbeknownst to them, their daughter has been swallowed whole by a huge python snake slithering around the maze. The Saxums eventually find Divina, seemingly safe and sound, in the company of her nanny, Lucy Butler.
Meanwhile, Emma Hollis, standing in front of a slide screen, reviews a particularly troublesome case with her fellow agents. The victim was a federal prosecutor, who was stabbed to death in a Pittsburgh motel room. As Emma advances the slides, Frank takes interest in an image depicting a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania phone book sitting on a nightstand. The word "saint" is jotted in ballpoint pen over the letters "PA." Frank rearranges the letters in a series of anagrams until he hits upon "antipas." After the meeting concludes, McClaren transfers Emma off the case and assigns it to Frank. Emma is shocked.
Back at the manor, Lucy lays the groundwork to drive a wedge between John and his wife, prompting Una to believe that Lucy is having an affair with her husband. An elderly gardener watches with suspicion as Lucy leads Divina into the hedgerow maze. He attempts to follow the pair only to be mauled by Doberman pinschers.
Frank uses his computer to access Lucy Butler's file. Surprisingly, no current information is available. He then researches the word "antipas," which leads him to a newspaper story on the dog attack of the gardener, which transpired in Antipas Gardens. An angry Emma interrupts Frank's work. Frank tells her that Antipas is an allusion to Satan. He then shows her Lucy's photograph. Emma counters that the suspect in the motel murder is a male. Later, Frank pays John Saxum a visit. He warns him about Lucy Butler, insisting she is responsible for the death of a Seattle police detective as well as her own child. John counters that Lucy has been a godsend, and credits her with his daughter' miraculous turnaround. He threatens to have Frank investigated. As Frank leaves the manor, he encounters Lucy. He warns her to leave the Saxum family alone.
When Frank returns to his motel room, he uses his computer to research "antipas." He finds crime scene photos of killings in which the victims were all connected to the legal processing of murders. Later that night, Frank awakens to find Lucy writhing atop him in a state of sexual ecstasy. As Frank recoils, Lucy transforms into a demon. When Frank wakes up, there is no one there. Suddenly, there is a pounding at the door. When Frank answers, he finds Emma standing outside. Emma reminds him that he called her about the murder of Una Saxum. Frank tells her he made no such phone call. Realizing what is happening, Frank scrambles to get dressed. He instructs Emma to have the police dispatched to Antipas manor. Meanwhile, Divina lures Una towards the pond in the gardens. Una sees her daughter's image beneath the shallow water and is suddenly pulled downward. When Frank and Emma arrive at the scene, they discover Una's body beneath the water, her face having been pecked away by geese.
Frank convinces Emma to arrest and detain Lucy for as long as possible. In the meantime, he performs research at the hospital where Divina was born. He discovers a perfect match exists between Divina's footprint and that of Lucy Butler's dead child. Meanwhile, Lucy's attorney, Selwyn Wassenaar, demands the release of...
Frank and Emma investigate the suicide of a former FBI agent and discover links between the FBI, the Millennium Group, and the Los Alamos nuclear research center.
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FRANK AND EMMA DELVE INTO THE APPARENT SUICIDE OF A FORMER FBI AGENT WHO HAD INVESTIGATED THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A NUCLEAR PHYSICIST IN1945.
Inside a retirement home, Michael Lanyard opens a box filled with memorabilia. Amongst the many items contained within is a small wooden matryoshka doll. In flashback, in the year 1945, a much younger Agent Lanyard meets with Clyde Tolson, then Assistant Director of the FBI. Tolson shows Lanyard a slide of a mangled body. He explains that the victim was Dr. Carew, a physicist who had been hard at work on an experiment critical to the Allied victory in the war. Back in the present day, the elderly Lanyard places a gun to his head and pulls the trigger.
Baldwin and Emma are assigned to investigate Lanyard's death. Baldwin dismisses the incident as a simple suicide. But Emma's interest is piqued when she discovers Peter Watts' name listed in the retirement home's guest register. She and Frank access folders containing Lanyard's case files and begin to read the contents within.
In flashback, Lanyard drives towards Los Alamos. He is intercepted by General Groves, who attempts to set ground rules for the murder investigation. But Lanyard counters that his authorization goes all the way to President Truman himself. He requests to be driven to Dr. Alexander's residence. When he enters Alexander's home, he finds it vacant. Lanyard searches through some drawers and comes upon a receipt for $10,000 to bail out a man named Warren Kroll. Dr. Alexander interrupts Lanyard's progress. Lanyard demands that he identify Warren Kroll, but the conversation is interrupted when Alexander's young daughter, Natalie, runs into the room. Alexander scoops Natalie (who clutches a matryoshka doll) into his arms, ending the discussion. Later, Lanyard reports back to Tolson by phone. He explains that Warren Kroll was jailed for assault two days before the murder, and was later bailed out of jail by Alexander's nanny, Lily Unser. It turns out that the bail money was withdrawn from Alexander's account. Later, as Lanyard observes the Alexander house from the shadows, he hears a fight break out. Lanyard races inside, where he is attacked by a wild-eyed Kroll. Several M.P.s storm into the house and pin Lanyard to the floor.
Back in the present day, Emma and Frank finish reading the file. On the reverse side of the last piece of paper in the file is an ouroboros, doodled in pencil. Later, Emma approaches Watts at Lanyard's funeral. Watts denies that Lanyard was ever a Group member. He tells Emma that Alexander defected to Russia with plutonium. With the case seemingly at a dead end, Emma researches Lily Unser's name on her computer. She discovers that Unser is a patient at a mental hospital. Unser tells Emma and Frank that Kroll is dead. After performing more research, Frank concludes that Kroll is buried at Los Alamos and labeled as a "John Doe." Frank has Kroll's coffin unearthed. He discovers a lead box, covered with cautionary radioactive symbols, inside. The "hot" box is moved to a nuclear containment room. Inside is a well-preserved male body. Frank recognizes the corpse's face as Dr. Alexander's.
When Lily learns that Alexander's body has been exhumed, she become more cooperative. She tells Emma that Lanyard was arrested by the M.P.s and ordered to stay off the base. Instead, he returned to Alexander's house and, fearing for Natalie's safety, attempted to take the little girl away. However, Alexander detected his presence. Lanyard handed the little girl to Lily and instructed her to leave at once. Suddenly, Alexander literally transformed into Kroll. Moments later, Lanyard discovered a hidden lab inside Alexander's house. Alexander told Lanyard to bring the matryoshka doll to his daughter, as it contains pages explaining everything. Alexander then reached inside a lead vessel and retrieved some plutonium. He morphed into Kroll and attempted to walk out of the lab. But Lanyard knocked him to the ground. Before...
A fundamentalist Jewish sect abducts a pregnant woman hoping to raise a pure child for the priesthood and force the coming of the Messiah.
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FRANK AND EMMA SEARCH FOR ANSWERS WHEN A GROUP OF RELIGIOUS FANATICS KIDNAP A PREGNANT JEWISH WOMAN.
In Brooklyn, New York, a group of masked, hooded figures incapacitate cardiologist Daniel Borenstine with a stun gun and proceed to kidnap his pregnant wife, Jeanie, by placing a chloroform-soaked cloth over her mouth.
Frank and Emma are assigned to investigate the case. Emma discovers that Daniel’s office nurse, Rachel Levinson, left the previous month with the intention of moving out of the country. A short time later, Frank discovers an imprint on the doorframe of the Borenstine’s townhouse. The shape of the imprint indicates that it was a mezuzah—a small ornament containing text from the Torah (the object is attached to the door jam of many Jewish homes). A technician dusts the place where the mezuzah had been, and discovers a "fingerprint" without the usual swirl pattern. Emma and Frank search through Rachel Levinson’s empty apartment. They uncover a partially painted piece of a broken pot that contains symbols of a bleeding sword and a sacrificial scene. It also becomes clear that a group of interwoven figure-eights is, in actuality, a series of ouroboros. Frank tells Emma that the symbol is quite ancient, and not necessarily connected to the Millennium Group. He accesses the FBI’s research library for more information on the symbols. It turns out that the iconography is pre-Christian, and relates to the First and Second temples. The temples were destroyed, and to this day, fanatics wish to rebuild a Third temple on the same spot. According to prophecy, once the Temple is rebuilt, the Messiah will appear. Doing so, however, might trigger a war, as a group of mosques occupy the land.
Meanwhile, inside an abandoned Russian bathhouse, Moses Gourevitch and his acolyte, Rachel Levinson, prepare to deliver Jeanie’s baby. The pair speak in Hebrew, peppered with an occasional word in English. They lower Rachel into a mineral bath, and she gives birth to a healthy child. Despite Jeanie’s pleas, Gourevitch ushers the baby away. Later, Gourevitch instructs Rachel to quiet Jeanie. Rachel injects Jeanie with a sedative. Her unconscious form is later found on the porch of the Borenstine’s townhouse.
Jeanie is transported to the hospital, where it is positively determined that Rachel is one of the kidnappers. During the discussion, Daniel reveals that he was approached by someone from the Millennium Group. Frank reviews the hospital’s video surveillance footage… and realizes the visitor was Peter Watts. When Emma learns of this, she concludes that Watts participated in the kidnapping. Frank warns her not to jump to conclusions. Meanwhile, back at the bathhouse, Gourevitch accuses Rachel of letting Jeanie escape. Rachel denies this is so. Gourevitch then asks to see Rachel’s vestment.
Emma and Frank research some of the clues in the case. The unusual fingerprint pattern turns out to be artificial skin developed in Israel to treat burn victims (used by the kidnappers to hide their fingerprints). They also examine photographs of radical groups, and discover Temple symbols (the sword, the sacrifices, the ouroboros) on the shoulder of one member. That man is identified as Moses Gourevitch. A short time later, Frank realizes that Jeanie’s maiden name was Cohen, a descendant of the Kohain tribe, a people who were traditional priests. Frank concludes that the radicals will raise the child to become a priest who will serve in the third Temple—and where he will welcome the Messiah. Later, he tells Jeanie and Daniel that the baby was birthed in water to keep him unpolluted (as the earth holds the dead). Jeanie then recalls some of the English words spoken by cult members: "sandwich," "mirror" and "subway."
Rachel decides to go to the FBI. But before she can enter the Bureau’s building, she is abducted by cult members and taken to Mount Moriah Park. There, she is found guilty of betraying her cause. Tribunal members stone her to...
When a new family moves into town, Jordan is filled with the uneasy knowledge that the devil is near.
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JORDAN EXPERIENCES STRANGE VISIONS WHEN A NEW FAMILY MOVES INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
Frank supervises his daughter as she rides her new bicycle on the driveway. He steps away briefly to answer the telephone. During his absence, an SUV stuffed with suitcases passes by the house. Inside the vehicle are a father, mother, and their angelic boy, Lucas, whose form is haloed from behind. Fascinated, Jordan leaves the property to investigate. From her point of view, Jordan comes upon a vacant lot, containing only a few skeletal remains of a house destroyed by fire. Suddenly, flames and matter regroup to form a normal-looking house. Jordan’s attention is then drawn to a small whirlwind of leaves, circling a few feet away from her. She then addresses someone… a person who is apparently invisible. Frank finds his daughter and escorts her home.
The next day, Frank allows Jordan to ride her bicycle to school, with the proviso that she page him once she reaches her destination. When Jordan enters the school, she sees Lucas shaking hands with a teacher. Nearby is Lucas’ father, whose face, from Jordan’s point of view, contorts into an evil mask. A short time later, Jordan pages her father using their everything-is-okay code, "007." As Jordan walks down a school hallway, another student bumps into her, sending her careening into Lucas. He grabs hold of his neck and accuses Jordan of biting him. Teeth marks are clearly visible on the boy’s neck. Principal Hawes notifies Frank about the incident. Jordan tells her father that she never bit anyone. She then sees Lucas standing in a school corridor. In a loud voice, she tells him that the man she saw him with earlier is not his father.
Frank receives a visit from Lucas’ parents, Will and Jean Sanderson. Frank apologizes for his daughter’s behavior. Jean points out that what Jordan said about Will in the school corridor is true: he is not Lucas’ natural father. The boy, it turns out, is adopted. When Frank sees Jordan standing on the top of the stairs, he calls to her. Jordan descends the stairs, but as she does so, from her point of view, Will’s face turns scary and mean. She suddenly lunges at Will, and in the process, cuts her knee. Jordan asks her invisible friend, Simon, for help.
Frank takes his daughter to a hospital for treatment. A doctor examines her eyes, but as he does so, Jordan experiences another vision: his face transforms into that of the evil Will. The doctor then gives Jordan a clean bill of health. As Frank drives his daughter home, they pass the Sanderson house. Jordan watches as a Welcome Lady and her three-year-old son, Calvin, pay Will a visit. Jordan tells her father that Lucas’ father is evil.
Meanwhile, as Calvin meanders through the Sanderson home, he happens upon an old wooden display case containing a collection of glass eyes. Will grabs Calvin and pulls him away from the display. A short time later, Emma approaches Jordan in hopes of learning more about her imaginary friend and her visions. Jordan explains how Simon moved to the area from Phoenix. Emma relays the information to Frank. But as it turns out, Frank has already deduced some of the information based upon one of his case files. It turns out that one of the cases Frank is working on pertains to the unsolved murder of a pregnant woman, Mrs. Simon, who lived in Phoenix.
As the Welcome Lady drives away from the Sanderson home, she discovers Calvin playing with one of the glass eyeballs. Calvin begins screaming, as if the eye is hurting him. The Welcome Lady becomes distracted and loses control of her car. She collides with a telephone pole and is killed. Emma tells Frank that the Welcome Lady died as the result of being impaled by several "For Sale" signs. Calvin, however, survived the accident with minor injuries. Jordan tells Frank that the Welcome Lady’s death was no accident. Frank notes similarities between her death and that of Mrs. Simon.
Jordan sneaks inside the Sanderson house. Her imaginary...
Frank and Emma attempt to locate a girl who escapes from a mental institution while Emma's father grows ill.
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A MANHUNT ENSUES WHEN AN ESCAPEE FROM A MENTAL INSTITUTION--WHO IS BELIEVED TO HAVE DECAPITATED TWO PEOPLE--GOES ON THE RUN WITH A DEPUTY POLICE OFFICER.
As alarms blare, twenty-two year old Cassie Doyle escapes from a mental institution and makes her way to a nearby road. She stops a passing police car and tells Deputy Joe McNulty that someone is trying to kill her. The deputy begins to suspect otherwise, but before he can react, Cassie grabs the gun from his holster and points it at his head. Meanwhile, an African-American man places several items--including a headless chess piece and several paper palms--inside a wooden box and mails it to Emma.
Agent Baldwin is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a nursing orderly who worked in the mental hospital where Cassie was interned. It is believed that the missing Cassie is responsible for the orderly’s death, as she was convicted of murdering her parents in 1992. The orderly was decapitated after he was killed, as was Cassie’s father. In both cases, the heads could not be located. Baldwin and Frank observe Cassie’s room at the hospital. The walls and ceiling are covered with writing. A short time later, Baldwin discovers the head stuffed above white ceiling tile in the men’s bathroom.
Though McClaren had instructed her to take some time off, Emma returns to the Bureau. She joins Frank in the conference room, where they review police video of Mr. and Mrs. Doyle’s murder.
Meanwhile, Cassie forces Joe to drive away from the hospital. She convinces the deputy that she had nothing to do with her parents’ murder. She also convinces him that the FBI is out to kill her. Joe stops his police cruiser when he encounters an FBI roadblock. To prove her innocence, Cassie hands him his gun. Joe exits his car, then approaches the FBI agents. When he returns, he instructs Cass to keep her head down. He passes through the road block and drives off.
Baldwin reviews the facts in the case for a handful of FBI agents. Using a slide projector, he shows the group a montage of the ceiling and walls of Cass’s room, which reveals some crossed palms. He then advances to a slide of the nursing orderly, Roger Cheveley, who once served in the Army. Emma notices the same crossed palms on Chevely’s uniform (which is part of a military insignia).
When word of Joe’s disappearance spreads, Frank tells Emma that the deputy is now siding with Cass. When Emma returns home, she examines one of the five wooden boxes kept in a drawer. Inside the box are the paper flowers and headless king. She notices a notch in one of the flowers, and as she unfolds them, discovers images of different parts of a human face. When the pieces are assembled, it forms a photograph of Emma’s sister, Melissa. Emma drives to her father’s apartment. She finds James Edward Hollis on the living room floor, surrounded by wooden boxes, chess pieces and bits of paper.
James is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Emma tells the physician that her sister Melissa was murdered in the family home when she was ten-years-old. Her father then folded a photograph of Melissa’s face into flowers. The physician doesn’t quite know how to respond to this piece of information. But he does tell Emma to allow her father to rest.
The relationship between Joe and Cass grows, and Joe rents a hotel room. Dressed only in a shirt, Cass slides atop Joe. She tells him to close his eyes. As they begin having sex, she tells him to open his eyes.
The headlights from a passing car throw the shadow of crossed palms on the ceiling. Meanwhile, Frank finds Emma inside Cass’s room at the mental hospital. Emma turns on an old desk lamp and sweeps the beam across the writings on the wall. It becomes apparent that the words all combine into a drawing of Cass’s face. Frank asks Emma to perform more research on the dead orderly, Roger Cheveley. Struck by an idea, Frank then pays a visit to the morgue. He asks a doctor to determine if the orderly had sex just before he...
Emma and Frank investigate the mysterious biological research conducted by a former Millennium Group member who is dying from a mysterious disease.
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FRANK AND EMMA INVESTIGATE WHEN FIVE SEVERED HANDS AND A MYSTERIOUS RED BOWL ARE DISCOVERED ABOARD A JAPANESE CARGO SHIP.
Watts is called before the Millennium Group to answer questions regarding recent unauthorized actions. Later, Mabius and an Enforcer embark on a mission to find a man named Dr. Steven Takahashi in the Little Tokyo section of Washington, D.C. Clutching a red lacquer bowl, Takahashi flees his hotel room and takes refuge inside a Buddhist temple. He collapses on the floor, his hand disfigured and swollen. He begs a monk to help save him from his pursuers.
As Jordan observes, Frank inserts a Japanese anime CD-ROM into the drive of his computer. To his surprise, the CD displays not only Frank's name, but a message pertaining to the apocalypse. Meanwhile, Emma participates in the raid of a Japanese cargo boat carrying a shipment of bootleg designer handbags. A black metal case containing five small human hands packed in ice is discovered on board. Also discovered is a red lacquer bowl.
Frank brings the mysterious CD to an FBI technician. He discovers a virus on the CD, one "addressed" to Frank. A short time later, the FBI conducts a briefing on the discovery of the five human hands. Frank takes a special interest in two Kanji characters visible on the back of the Japanese cargo boat. A Japanese agent translates the writing, which reads, "an apocalypse of our own creation."
McClaren informs Emma that the tip about the cargo boat was originally believed to have originated with an undercover FBI agent. But it turns out that someone else within the Bureau sent the information. As a result, McClaren instructs Emma to keep Frank out of the loop about a crucial piece of information: the cells within the five small human hands are growing. Meanwhile, back at the Buddhist temple, an unbound ceremonial book containing sacred text is placed next to Takahashi's bed. Printed on the cover are the same kanji characters seen on the side of the Japanese cargo boat.
Watts stops by Emma's office, where he takes note of the red lacquer bowl. Emma give Watts a frosty reception. Meanwhile, Frank drives back to the ship, where he discovers the bodies of the captain and crew members. He also discovers a fragment broken from the rim of a red lacquer bowl. Later, he informs Emma that the killings are the work of the Millennium Group. Someone from the group boarded the vessel to search for something…something the FBI missed when it confiscated the hands.
Fingerprints taken from the severed hands are run through a computer. One of the prints matches Takahashi. Later, Emma realizes that Watts stole the red lacquered bowl.
Frank visits a Japanese bowl shop. He inquires about a plaque containing the same characters seen on the boat. The shopkeeper tells him the writing came from the Buddhist temple. Frank travels to the temple, where he encounters Takahashi, whose disfigurement has grown. Takahashi recognizes Frank, as he was once a member of the Group.
A tip from an FBI technician leads Emma to Takahashi's last known place of employment: a company called Emergen. Emma sneaks inside a restricted area, where she gains access to a black metal case, identical to the one found aboard the Japanese cargo ship. Meanwhile, Mabius approaches the owner of the Japanese bowl shop. He inquires about a specific kind of red lacquer bowl. The question prompts the shopkeeper to close his hand round a red lacquer chip. Mabius notes this… and impales the man's hand on a dagger. The shopkeeper howls in pain and slowly opens his hand, revealing the chip.
Emma opens the black case and discovers a half a dozen umbilical cords within. She contacts McClaren by phone and requests a search warrant. McClaren sets off to meet Emma at the facility. But before he arrives at the scene, a van enters the research facility and disappears into a cargo bay area. Emma climbs over a fence to investigate further.
Mabius makes his way to the Buddhist temple. Finding the...
Frank receives a series of Polaroid photographs showing the face of a drowning victim. The face is his own.
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WHEN FRANK CLAIMS THAT SOMEONE IS OUT TO KILL HIM, AUTHORITIES SUSPECT HE MAY BE HAVING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN.
Children gather at Frank's house to help celebrate Jordan's birthday. As Jordan blows out the candles, Frank experiences a series of internal visions, including one in which he is trapped underwater, gasping for air. Moments later, a deliveryman brings a package to the house. Inside are Polaroid photographs.
FBI agents gather inside the conference room to hear about the case. Among them is Special Agent Del Boxer, who listens with suspicion as Frank recounts his past experiences with receiving Polaroid photographs. He tells the group that the technique was the m.o. of a killer who is now dead. Three years earlier, he began receiving the photos yet again, but the sender is believed to be deceased as well. In the past, the photos have been of his family. This time, he is the subject of the photographer's lens. Boxer points out that the stills, which depict a drowned Frank floating in a body of water, have all been doctored with the aid of a computer. He also believes that Frank knows more than he is revealing.
Frank tells Emma that he is hiding something from his fellow agents. He describes how, as children, he and his brothers went swimming with some friends. One of the friends played a trick on Frank by yanking him under the water. One of Frank's brothers retaliated by doing the same to one of the boys. Unfortunately, the boy didn't resurface. The boy's body was eventually dragged onto shore, but firemen were unable to revive him. Frank has never been able to put the incident out of his mind. That night, Frank experiences a nightmare in which the stalker attacks him with a knife. When Frank awakens, he moves towards Jordan's bedroom to see if she is all right. Suddenly, an intruder appears. Using a Polaroid camera, the man blinds Frank with a flash. Frank then tumbles down the stairs.
Frank places Jordan in the care of her grandparents until the intruder is apprehended. However, he is unable to provide investigators a description of the intruder. This, coupled with a lack of physical evidence, leads Boxer to conclude that Frank concocted the entire story, perhaps as part of a nervous breakdown.
Frank pays Father Yahger a visit at St. Timothy's (Yahger is familiar with Catherine through her dealings with the church). He tells the priest he feels the presence of evil. Frank confirms that he has reconciled Catherine's passing. But when Yagher asks him if he has reconciled his own, Frank is again struck by the internal images. Frank is left speechless, as the thought had never occurred to him.
When Frank returns to his office, a mail clerk hands him an envelope. Frank immediately instructs everyone, with the exception of the clerk, to evacuate the building. He explains that anyone who came in contact with the envelope may have been exposed to a mass contagion. The incident turns out to be a false alarm, as the envelope contains a piece of mail that had been forwarded from Frank's old address. A short time later, Frank announces that he is leaving the FBI.
Frank realizes that someone has had access to his therapist's files. He pays the therapist a visit, and tells her that for the first time, he is experiencing how a victim feels (instead of how a killer thinks). The therapist encourages Frank to seek out those he trusts—and to let them help. Frank takes the therapist's advice and telephones Emma, who is at St. Timothy's church. Frank makes arrangements to meet Emma there. Meanwhile, Agent Boxer pays Frank's therapist a visit. Boxer states that the therapist's science and understanding are powerless against Frank's fear. He then produces one of Frank's kitchen knives and raises it into the air. Moments later, Boxer morphs into Mabius.
When Emma emerges from the church, she sees a form off in the distance, standing in a graveyard, someone who resembles Frank. The figure suddenly runs off, and Emma gives chase. The...
Frank and Emma investigate a murder in a small town where Emma spent part of her youth.
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FRANK AND EMMA INVESTIGATE THE MURDERS OF SEVERAL YOUNG WOMEN WHO DISAPPEARED IN A SMALL COMMUNITY WHERE EMMA LIVED AS A GIRL.
As twenty-year-old Jan McCall drives her decrepit car along a two-lane rural road in South Mills, Pennsylvania, she notices a flashing red light in her rear view mirror. Jan accidentally drops her marijuana cigarette onto the floor and is unable to retrieve it as she pulls over to the side of the road. A man, his face unseen, steps up to the car and shines a flashlight in Jan's face. Later, a dog digs up a severed foot that had been buried beneath a shrub. A series of toe rings identifies the body part as Jan's.
Emma and Frank travel to South Mills, where Emma lived for a few years as a little girl. Her childhood friend, Tommy Briggs, is now the town sheriff. It turns out that Tommy had sent the severed foot to the FBI hoping for an identification. Emma tells him that an alligator tattoo on the foot may be the mascot of Everglades University. Sand and sunscreen found on the skin and under the fingernails suggest the victim was killed on a sunny day. Briggs believes the location must be Allehela State Park, a few miles away. Emma, Frank and Briggs meet with park ranger Jerry Neilson. Frank moves towards a lifeguard stand, where he experiences internal visions about the girl's attack. He orders the area cordoned off. Later, Frank happens upon a new missing persons listing for Jan McCall. A list of distinguishing marks includes an alligator tattoo. Her automobile is listed as an old Datsun. Briggs remembers a similar car found abandoned ten days earlier. The threesome visit a salvage yard. It is determined that the license plate on the car does not match the vehicle identification number. Frank discovers a bloody face print on a window. A partial fingerprint is also recovered. A computer search identifies the print as Jerry Neilson's.
Police search Neilson's house for evidence, but come up empty handed. Neilson denies any involvement in the girl's death. Frank, however, suspects otherwise. Meanwhile, police match four cars found as the wrecking yard to other missing women. Frank notices Neilson's defensive attitude towards the park. He suspects Neilson may have committed his first murder just outside its borders, something that may have passed for an accident. Upon viewing photos of the missing girls, Frank is drawn to one in particular: Liddy Hooper. Briggs explains that Liddy's death had been ruled an accidental drowning.
Frank and Emma have Liddy Hooper's coffin exhumed. It turns out to be empty. Later, Liddy's daybook "turns up" in the police station. Briggs alerts Emma to the fact that his name, as well as Neilson's, can be found within. He admits having a sexual encounter with the trashy Liddy. He also warns that many other men from the small community, some of them married, are mentioned in the book. Frank takes a special interest in an entry made on the day Liddy vanished, which mentions a local bar. He questions Lana, a woman who works at the establishment. Frank experiences several internal visions when he enters the bar's back room. Lana remembers Liddy has "having a thing" for men in uniform, such as police officers and firemen. But she cannot recall Liddy hanging out with Jerry Neilson.
Using an abandoned vehicle report, Frank makes his way to the location where Liddy's car was discovered. He walks along the wooded edge of a reservoir near a hydroelectric dam. He eventually comes upon a bridge, under which is a cement casting. Frank takes particular interest in a metal ring, which is attached to the casing by a hinge-like pin. He experiences an internal vision of a human foot being shoved through the ring.
Neilson meets Frank at the bar. He proceeds to tell him what really transpired on the night Liddy disappeared. In flashback, Neilson, Sheriff Briggs, paramedic Lee Smith and Deputy Wayne Johnson play cards as Liddy Hooper observes. Wayne "bids" Liddy in lieu of money. He tells the...
Frank investigates a series of murders that replicate a serial killer case from his past while Emma moves closer to the Millennium Group.
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FRANK PURSUES A SERIAL KILLER WHOSE MODUS OPERANDI IS IDENTICAL TO THAT OF A MURDERER WHO DIED IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR; WATTS OFFERS TO AID EMMA'S AILING FATHER.
A frantic Frank rushes inside Jordan's classroom and tells his daughter that they are leaving at once. Jordan calmly retrieves her backpack and, acting as though the summons has been long expected, leaves the room. Frank and Jordan run to the car and eventually begin a journey into the mountains.
Three weeks earlier... Frank and a group of onlookers observe as convicted serial killer Edward Cuffle is strapped into an electric chair. Moments before a black leather mask is placed over Cuffle's face, his eyes lock with someone sitting in the group. He mouths the word, "yes." The executioner then flips the fatal switch, electrocuting Cuffle.
An intruder wearing a night vision device enters the home of John and Cyndie Dryden. As the man, who we will come to know as Lucas Francis Barr, makes his way through the living room, he carves the Roman numeral "II" into a wall. He makes his way upstairs, as the sounds of the couple making love filter through the house. Barr enters the bedroom, his night vision apparatus recording the proceedings. The following day, a cleaning lady finds John and Cyndie's bodies lashed to dining room chairs with barbed wire.
Frank and other investigators comb through the Dryden household, looking for clues. Frank notices a small-bore hole in John's temple. Though Baldwin concludes the injury was the result of a bullet, Frank later explains that the couple died when holes were drilled into their skulls. He tells Baldwin he knows this because the killer is Ed Cuffle... a man who died in the electric chair three days earlier.
Frank tells Baldwin and Emma that Cuffle, the son of a cleaning woman, resented the upper class. As a young boy, Cuffle overheard his mother—who "turned tricks" for extra income—having sex with the men who owned the houses she cleaned. Frank believes that someone is copying Cuffle's modus operandi for reasons unknown.
Watts tells Emma that the Millennium Group is involved in biomedical research. He hints that they have discovered a way to reverse the affects of Alzheimer's disease.
Frank reviews surveillance footage of the execution chamber. He realizes that when Cuffle mouthed the word "yes," he was communicating with a man sitting in the gallery. Unfortunately, the image is so blurry it cannot be electronically enhanced.
Wearing the night vision apparatus, Barr invades another home as the occupants have sex. This time, however, as he enters the bedroom, he spies is own reflection in a mirror. He freezes. The man having sex, Tommy Marcetti, chases Barr from the house. Marcetti and his girlfriend, Maria, contact the police. Frank retraces the intruder's steps. He realizes Barr saw his reflection in the mirror.
Frank returns to the Dryden house, where he encounters Baldwin. He notices the Roman numerals "II," "IX" and "XII" carved into the walls. Frank realizes that the killer is following Jesus Christ's path, the fourteen stations of the cross. The killer, Frank believes, feels as though he is suffering, much in the same way Christ suffered.
As Emma sleeps on her father's couch one night, a figure, gun in hand, approaches her form. Emma's eyes open. She sees her father pointing a gun at her. Emma slams the gun away, causing it to discharge. She then wrestles away the weapon.
Emma places her father inside a nursing home. Watts again approaches her and offers a Faustian deal: the Group will cure her father if she agrees to help force Frank out of the FBI. Emma insists she has no control over her colleague's future plans.
Using a process of elimination, FBI agents pour over military records, hoping to find their suspect. Eventually, Emma is able to match the image of the man in the execution gallery to a military photo of Lucas Barr. Despite Frank's misgivings, Baldwin organizes a raid on Barr's apartment. As Frank...
Frank is held responsible for a man's death while Emma joins with the Millennium Group.
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IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE EXPLOSION, FRANK CONTINUES HIS PURSUIT OF THE COPYCAT SERIAL KILLER.
In this continuation of the previous episode... In the aftermath of the apartment explosion, a wounded Barry Baldwin is placed inside an ambulance. It is believed that he will survive. But during the trip to a hospital, a paramedic deliberately presses a piece of shrapnel down into Baldwin's chest, killing him. When Lucas Barr views a television news report about Baldwin's death, he contacts an FBI phone number listed on the screen.
A quantity of videotapes is confiscated from Barr's charred apartment. It is believed that Barr used the tapes to record the murders. Meanwhile, McClaren tells Emma that he plans on retiring. He informs her of his intention to nominate her as his replacement. Later, McClaren tells a group of agents that Barr phoned the FBI toll-free number from the location of his most recent attack. Frank realizes that the bodies of the victims are missing.
A doctor informs Emma that although her father's mental function is deteriorating rapidly, his physical strength has remained the same, which is highly unusual. Later, Watts reiterates his offer to cure Emma's father of his affliction.
Frank visits the home of Lucas Barr's most recent victims. He notes that the television is set to channel fourteen. That number, Frank notes, is the final station of the cross. Frank believes that Barr phoned the FBI because he was horrified by Baldwin's death. Later, McClaren shows Frank night vision taken inside Jordan's bedroom... meaning Barr had access to the house. McClaren asks Frank to confirm that the "channel fourteen" stations-of-the-cross clue means the killer has ended his mission. But Frank makes mention of "resurrection."
Meanwhile, Lucas Barr moves into the house of a friend, Cheryl Kellough, a pretty 25-year-old who is also quite blind.
Believing Watts and the Millennium Group are responsible for Barry Baldwin's death, Frank demolishes the windows of Watts' house using a 2 x 4. He accuses Watts of attempting to break him down in hopes he will go crawling back to the Group. During the exchange, it appears as if Watts doesn't know if the Group is behind the plot.
Watts accesses the Group's computer via modem to research the case. His connection is cut off, but he nonetheless manages to download a list of aliases for Lucas Barr. Moments later, Emma contacts Watts and informs him she cannot accept his offer. But when she next visits the retirement home, she discovers that her father has been taken away by persons unknown.
Peter Watts tells Frank that a year after Ed Cuffle's capture, Millennium Group scientists learned to "switch on" the psychological process of learning in adults, development that usually ends after infancy. Frank wonders if recreating another Ed Cuffle is considered progress. Moments later, Watts hands Frank the list of aliases for Lucas Barr. He assure him that he has acted as his protector from the very beginning.
Frank brings the alias list to Doug Scaife. While looking at Lucas Barr's high school yearbook, Frank notices the name of the student listed just prior to Lucas. That name, "Doug Baron," matches a name on the alias list. Frank asks Scaife to concentrate his efforts on finding all information on that alias.
When Emma returns to her apartment, she discovers her father, now quite lucid, with a small bandage covering the spot where Group surgeons operated on his brain.
Frank's behavior ultimately leads to the end of his association with the Bureau. But before Frank leaves, Scaife gives him an address for Cheryl Kellough's house. When Frank arrives at the house, he speaks to Lucas and Cheryl through the barricaded door. Cheryl realizes something is terribly wrong; she trips the circuit breakers, plunging the house into darkness. Lucas dons his night vision gear and, cordless drill in hand, finds Cheryl hiding in a closet... where the bodies of his last two victims have been hidden...