Ok.
The
good news is nothing's broken.
None of those ribs snapped and there's nothing to suggest any organ damage.
You don't want any of that, trust me,
but you do have some hairline fracturing on the left side of your rib
cage and that's gonna hurt quite a bit for the next week or two.
These things usually take a month to six weeks to heal altogether.
In the meantime, be careful not to get bumped around your ribs.
Certainly don't let anyone hit you. Ok?
Over the counter painkillers are fine.
Now we did see in the X ray and it seemed to have swallowed that tooth. You lost,
it should pass in a day or so. So be prepared.
The doctor's given me some oral disinfectant for you.
You should try to rinse with it every few hours.
You can just rest here for a while until you're feeling well enough.
Thank God.
So I should see the other guy, right?
Your nurse didn't seem too concerned about you.
No insurance,
nothing to ensure
no social,
social
SSN.
Some people put it on forms
a real life, John Doe,
I can see you were being
brutalized.
My card.
Don
Bouchard
office manager.
That's wrong.
We're having a meeting for potential recruits.
Why not come back?
Hard to imagine. I'll look anything like a potential recruit.
What do you want me to say?
You want honesty? I believe in people's potential.
Uh
Even those of us with only potential
can have returns.
Like what?
I only work for cash.
So here's the thing,
I only pay cash
meeting. Huh?
Ok.
Thank you for coming.
I have a number of jobs available that I may offer you
from what I've gathered and from what I see from looking around the room,
their jobs you'll want.
Now, the terms are pretty straightforward.
You do what I tell you to do.
I pay you.
Ok.
That's it.
I'm not gonna ask you to give 100 and 10%.
I'm not going to ask you to think outside any boxes
for your part. The only thing I expect you to care about
is the money at the end of the week.
So let me be extremely clear.
I don't wanna dress this up and make it any more pretty than it is
from 9 to 5. Your basic mental functions belong to me.
Think of it as subletting.
Now,
in case you're imagining medical experiments. No,
I'm talking about filing,
copying
some stapling
ordinary office work.
We've been going through the prologue here.
So let's get to chapter one.
It's called Rules.
Actually, it's the only chapter.
It's a short story.
Called Rules.
It's a poem
with one word
rules.
Now, I should tell you that I fire people often
and easily
and these rules go into effect as I say them. So please do listen carefully.
The first rule
is no talking,
do not talk at work.
You speak when spoken to
by me.
The second rule is no phones.
There are no telephones in the office.
Do not bring one.
What about emergencies?
My dear,
on a scale of 1 to 10.
How would you rate your
intelligence?
I
don't know why
because at times perhaps
a lack of self delusion can provide a measure of redemption.
Uh eight,
8.5,
Carmen.
I'm sorry.
You're clearly years from realizing that
you broke my first rule and your friends and family
if you have any have obviously been too nice to tell you that you're an idiot.
You realize I'm going to have to send you away now.
Oh, no, please, Mr
Bouchard.
Yes, Carmen.
Please don't.
I really need the money,
Carmen.
You're in financial trouble.
I'm shocked.
How did this happen?
Well, I got,
I mean,
I am
left my other job because of creative distances.
Would you say that you have any expensive
tastes
making it?
Ok.
So you just need cash,
the ball's in your court.
I'll do anything.
A very good idea.
What,
why don't you tell us all what you do? Were you lying when you said you'd do anything?
What do you want me to say
you're the one asking for money.
Use your imagination.
I'm sorry.
Are you used to phrasing it in increments of time?
Like 100 for an hour,
Carmen?
It's time for you to leave.
You're wasting the smarter people's time.
You should go.
Now try to listen to the final and most important rule.
The final and most important rule is no one comes
to the office who doesn't work at the office,
not your boyfriend,
not your mother.
No one.
If this or any other rule is going to be a problem for you.
This is the moment to get up and go
move on
because
this just isn't going to be a comfortable situation for you.
You each get $50 for the weekend
so you can have something to eat.
I want receipts.
See you Monday.
Don't tell me
out of luck.
What is this pocket? Change? Any bubble gum in there?
That's legal tender. The fuck you.
It's my income. I told you I didn't have any money now, I do so
I can pay it. Won't take long,
it won't take long to have your throat cut either.
Well,
then you can decide whether it's worth it to kill me
over two grand and throw it all away for good.
Ok?
Give me a couple of months, I'll get your money back with a cover on top.
Get through.
Makes sense.
Feeling better,
better than what
or you have a job.
Things are surely looking up.
You're looking early Bouchard,
that's what they're looking.
You know, you're my favorite kind of employee
you are.
I don't think you could believe in anything more abstract than alive and dead.
Don't bother.
I know how you feel.
It's like hearing your own voice played back at you.
You think that can't be you,
but listen closer.
You don't even mind me saying it.
I have a second job for you.
After hours.
There's extra money in it. Of course,
I want to know what my people are doing after work.
I need to know who they talk to and when,
if they leave a window open,
you should be looking through it.
My main concern is the tall girl,
Mika.
She looks too smart for her own good
every day. I need a report about someone.
It doesn't matter who
act within opportunity
but spread it around.
Yeah,
get some breakfast.
Work starts in four hours.
This is a,
it is not what I had in mind.
Well, John,
everyone in this world has sat where you're sitting right now
and they all had to suck it up.
Not everyone.
Every adult
you should consider yourself lucky to have gotten this far without it.
John. Do you remember that? Cute little girl at the meeting
looked like she had some bad habits.
You should consider her your inspiration.
Someone taught her how to suck it up a long time ago.
Hey.
Oh.
Ok sir.
From the meeting.
Yeah,
sure sir.
Comfort
see that
I need a pass
that
I'm G
John.
Another change.
Oh
God
yes,
I
drink
a P
all right,
but that didn't help.
Ok,
John,
aren't you like,
I mean,
I don't think I've ever been so nervous starting a job.
It's
like I don't know what now I'm getting myself into.
Well,
I have been in the kind of situation you probably imagine it
ST
sharks.
He's no criminal.
It's not a typical scammer. I've seen out there
you turned into this one scene.
What about the office?
I don't know.
I can't make any sensitive.
No,
I wouldn't worry about
it. Sounds like you've seen
a
food fan.
Yeah, man, I've seen some shit
enough to make you hate the guy who invented people.
No, it's, uh,
it's not like that
Indonesian work.
Thank
you.
So,
how long have you been?
I was gonna,
what
you have said
on your own
involved in things like this with people like this.
Just a year.
Yeah.
Where are you from?
West away?
But
that.
Mhm.
Well,
time to make them doughnuts.
Let me get your track.
Ok.
Mhm.
Ok. Ok.
And
mhm.
Thank
you.
Well, I had
the worst part about
it
was I
had
and I
think, no, no, no, I was so poor. I couldn't even
pay
attention.
Not funny.
All right.
Uh, my name is Casey and I like cannoli. Who's next?
Come on, man. I'm just kidding you, John. Right.
Do you mind if I ask what, uh, what you had to do at work today?
Don't really remember.
What are you planning for a career in politics?
Come on. It's not that big a deal. Fess up.
Well,
what's to remember?
I,
I didn't really understand any of it.
It's all blurry, you know,
it's like
a
bunch of le le
and nonsense.
There was this one thing. Um,
well, I had to shred some of it
and, uh,
put the rest in
a
packet. My
detention department back
in
office
there.
I department up today,
but I got that move later on.
What do you have to do with it?
What are you so interested in everyone else for?
I'm just interested in people, I think, uh,
you know,
I've known a lot of people that are just
interested in pleasing themselves with a good time.
Uh,
alcohol, drugs, uh, cigarettes,
bullshit crutch. Uh, it's not me. I just see it all as a crutch.
So, what's a good time? It's not a crutch.
Oh, music, yo. Oh,
yeah. You play an instrument? Yeah. Guitar SG, just like Angus Young
in a band.
Yeah.
OK.
Uh, Christian punk, I think for me it was just,
I wanted to do something that would speak to people
and say you can take those things inside you,
the anger, the frustration,
the fear
and you can put those into a positive.
You know, you can, uh,
you can turn it around on the people that want you to hurt yourself for their own ends.
What's it called?
Your band? Oh,
shut up and pray.
Casey.
Don't you think that so much of music is about sexuality?
I mean, I do, I think music is so sexual.
Uh,
I, I can only speak to the things that I do. Shut up and pray.
But I guess you have to look at
sexuality as one of God's gifts.
Don't try to convert.
It's,
it's not really that
converted.
I know, but that's what you think.
But
what I'm
trying to say is that I don't think that
you're
right.
The
Bible was
written.
So,
yeah, I'm just really,
really
sorry to
me.
It's more
uh
it's a good side of it
you
feel?
No,
that's
OK.
I'll be fine.
I
think we're talking about the same thing. I
don't think
people,
the general rules can still be followed there.
Take care guys,
the general rules can still be followed through all kinds of.
Thanks.
You know, you have a really nice smile.
Can't take credit for it. Really.
Meeting new people is always exciting
Thursday
because then later you can remember your first impressions and laugh at them.
No, mine are usually right on.
Yeah. Right.
Seriously.
OK.
What was your first impression of me?
Well,
the first thing I remember was back in there.
You really seem to enjoy your burger
good.
Very perceptive.
I always make it a point to eat something. What other people do
somehow having the rule lets me enjoy it.
I knew a girl in high school who was anorexic
didn't have a period for three years.
She was in the hospital.
Yeah. Well, that's why my parents wouldn't let me go away to college.
This is the first time I've been away actually.
But, I mean, it would, had to have been a disaster,
actually. Ended up homeless.
So, what brought you here?
I don't know,
looking for something, I guess.
Yeah.
What's that?
Happiness?
What else?
How about you?
A
happiness that forgets nothing.
It's a quotation.
So, what would you call it?
I mean, I don't know what I would call it but I,
I think they would need to change the word sin.
It just seems, uh,
makes it all seem really simple. You know what I mean? I don't like sin is weird.
They,
uh, I guess they would be.
Hello?
Women's bathrooms broken.
What's up?
I figured it out.
What the office,
I don't believe it.
It's not that complicated.
Yeah. But it's a guess. Right. I mean, you don't know for sure.
Listen,
theories can't be proven only disproven.
Ok.
So,
so certain kinds of information come into
the office through the mail department headings.
Just let us know what kind,
every department has its own set of rules.
The documents are filtered, changed, passed on to other departments.
Sent back out of the office, filed or destroyed
all according to the rules.
So it's
like a processing plant information.
No, it's like a computer.
If you have to use an analogy, try to avoid being a reduction as
his job
actually reminds me of this thing I heard of once called the Chinese room.
What is that?
It's the name of the thought experiment.
A what?
Right.
Yeah. It's like a situation you imagine.
So you can test a theory
just using logic.
And in this thought experiment, there's a room,
it's got two openings. One for things going in one for out,
there's a person sitting inside and someone passes in notes written in Chinese.
The guy inside has to pass out Chinese responses that make sense. But
he doesn't know Chinese,
he has to use all these books.
Oh yeah, the place is full of books that have rules like when you see this one letter,
write this other one, unless the first one was next to this third letter.
And there are three spaces you get it,
no translation or explanation, just rules.
But when messages come back out of the room, they make sense.
The point is this guy doesn't need to understand what's going on.
In fact, he can't,
it's impossible.
So what's it mean?
It means that if you follow the rules, somebody gives you,
you're just a part of the machine.
I just keep imagining this stupid fucking asshole
stuck in a room full of books forever.
He's gonna stop following those rules even if he doesn't understand what they mean.
Do you have to think about yourself or you're just part of that room?
He's gotta get up,
break out of the room,
steal those books
and sell them.
Hello?
Hello.
Who is this?
There's a pay phone on the east side of seventh, just south of Collins.
It rings every night at 10 p.m.
It will ring,
it will ring until you answer.
Hello,
John.
It's Eva,
I'm really, really sorry to bother you.
Just having a really, really bad night.
What's wrong?
I just needed to talk
someone.
Oh, I'm sorry.
The Knights are the worst.
What do you mean?
You can't stop thinking about time
and I can't make sense of it anymore.
You know, how long is a night?
If you don't use the words, we use
hours. Minutes, seconds.
But you can't not,
oh, a night, the time it takes for the sun to go around the other side.
But how long is that?
You have to say hours or minutes?
Those words are like the floor of everything.
But if they change for you
or lose their meaning,
I think you're just adrift.
Like in that movie
where the guy in space slips off his ship and just
floats away forever,
but it's just endless time with no measurements.
Maybe it's just standing still.
I
can't think about that.
Look. I'm sorry, you don't have to listen.
Just don't go away, please.
Nothing helps.
When I started eating again,
I used to take these pills,
antidepressants.
But when I went off of them, I was so afraid of not being able to stay better.
It got so bad that I started to be afraid of being afraid.
So maybe you should take the meds again.
What you think? I'm that person.
I'd be nothing.
It'd be less than nothing.
Look, sometimes you just know things
and I know if I went back there,
I started taking those pills
some day,
maybe 10 years, maybe 20. I don't know,
but I die from it.
Well, I would take the meds again,
you know, and I know
that dying isn't the worst thing that can happen to someone.
There's nothing more to say really?
I want you to understand that
suddenly becomes a lot easier to,
to choose happiness.
Right.
Sure.
Oh,
shut up.
Give us a moment. Roger.
I apologize.
So, you're a cop or what?
All right,
then tell me what's going on in the office.
I have a right to know what we're doing in there.
Do you? Look,
I asked the questions here. I don't answer them.
Got it. All right.
Those are the rules. I'll play,
put them out in your little team. Got it.
Bouchard's then.
Not yet.
All right.
So, do you wanna fill me in or is it
gonna be more that
vague shit like
where you've been what you've seen? Oh, you wanna know about my life? No mystery.
I, I had to find myself,
I need to know why you're running,
why you won't use your social.
Well, my family,
my family is trying to find me.
They've got money
connections
and I'm not
ok.
I think you've been honest with me so far.
I
have to wonder why are you watching me?
The bouchard's in you?
No.
So,
well,
I thought I could do some good if I got involved.
Uh
I thought maybe
you might be getting ready to knock the place over.
I mean, there's got to be a lot of payroll and petty cash in there somewhere.
What I mean
is, um,
you know,
I was wondering what it would be worth to you for me.
You know, if I could forget about all this,
the car, that guy,
believe me,
it'd be worth quite a bit
to both of us,
John,
do you know what I call a detective's greatest and
most unfulfilled fantasy?
Um,
to always get your man.
No,
to threaten with impunity
without limit,
to
have your subject isolated,
helpless,
untraceable.
The world's never so gratifying.
Well,
never may be too pessimistic.
So should I ask again?
No. Have any reason to believe you'll
go back on any arrangement we come to.
No. Yeah, I don't expect you to.
You don't even know why yet.
Here it comes.
Does the name Alan Wallace mean anything to you? John
Alan Wallace,
Voorheesville,
Voorheesville, New York. Come on, John. Surely you remember,
I know everything
I need to know.
I want you working for me.
So deal me in already.
There's nothing to really tell.
We're investigating the office obviously.
So what's the score? We don't know.
Come on. We really don't know.
We can't figure out what the office is for.
All leases, purchases, everything paid for in cash
with a series of trusts.
Office managers, brokers
unusually high volume of low level investments.
All legit,
nothing unusual.
But the thing is
from what we can tell,
deposits just about equal disbursements for a net, close to zero. Wait a minute.
What
net profits are zero for how many months?
Decades?
What?
This is a nonprofit?
No, it's a privately held company.
Well, that's how it's filed.
That's right.
No public trading.
No.
Does it, uh,
does it issue any Phantom stock anything to indicate a bottom line of any kind?
No, what we know about its revenue is from tax records and they show it makes no money.
It lost about 800 something dollars last year,
but it rarely lost that much or taken in more than a few 100 a year
makes just enough to keep going.
So, what's the real purpose exactly.
We've tried investigating under the modes of organized crime task forces,
antiterrorism, task forces anything
but the problem is the profits are so small. We can't get any funding or manpower.
To really crack at it. You've been inside, you know who's in charge?
You've seen, you've seen all I got John.
Do you understand any of it?
Any of it fit together?
No.
Listen, we can't search the place without probable cause, right.
We can't go in unless we see an act of crime in progress
or someone invites us in and even then any evidence
we obtain may be inadmissible for any number of reasons.
Why do you think Bouchard
doesn't allow phones inside
because he can make the case that
no one ever called the cops. If they knocked the door down.
They not. You
does
BCHAR. Trust you.
I think so.
All right.
I always have this on me.
I got a guy outside during working hours. He can be in, in 45 seconds.
All I gotta do is press and hold the one button.
Listen, John,
I don't know how dangerous this place is,
but in my line of work, we don't like to take any chances.
Mika takes off her shoes every night after work. It's like watching Mr Rogers. Um,
usually I get the feeling that someone else
is there but I've never actually seen anyone
and uh, right now
she's um, reading
Noam
Chomsky. Well, that's illuminating
Casey.
How's his band doing? Oh, they broke up?
I think they took his too.
Here's Eva,
I figure she sleeps maybe
1214 hours a night. On average.
I think she's depressed.
Well, that's practically good news.
Depressed people tend to be very trustworthy.
I wonder what she thinks of me
and that little depressed mind.
Well, I'll let you know how she's doing.
I still think Mia is the one to watch
who's left the slow guy. Garrett.
Yeah.
Yeah. Garrett.
Find her just the beer
and they're both for me.
Uh,
we got some work to do.
Yeah, I know.
I can't stay long. Yeah. Let's get started. Now
requesting that
back issues of the American Journal of Molecular Biology ordered for
a library in the Russell Senate building in Washington DC.
Yeah.
Yeah, I had a letter to uh
an amicus briefing filed with the Circuit Court of Appeals in California. Um
real estate transfers as gifts to nonhuman entities,
specifically pets, dogs and cats.
Uh
uh
ok. Still pending.
Huh.
Licensing contract for the copyrighted faces of Korean children's characters
for the purposes of manufacturing collectible figures.
They seem to be
friendly. Robots
name given
Donald
Bouchard
address,
same as the office
as usual. What else?
Uh
We've established a grant that funds research on the economics
of genetically modified legumes.
Finally, more risk assessment and cost analysis reports. Hundreds like every day.
What do you do with them?
Organize them according to the results and I pass them on to Ava.
Yeah,
I know.
Um
Hey, Uva. Light.
No man, I
no small
Hoy. You
got a Light
brother. I've been shot. Never been scared if I had to
shoot
someone else anyway.
That's how easy it is. I don't even know what the hell you're saying.
That's what I'm trying to say.
I mean,
I can admit that something's beyond my reach, you know,
beyond human reach. Do you hear uh
shit, I can't get drunk like this.
Why not?
You know? No, I don't, I barely know you. Do you see a name or?
I can't imagine what you must think of a guy like me.
What time is it?
We were supposed to meet Ava like two hours ago. What the fuck are we? I don't know.
Where are we? I heard you see your name or
where are we?
It is.
Oh Christ.
Let's get out of here.
Come on.
No, Jo.
Jo
cut
him.
I'm
sorry, I uh I
got lost and I
couldn't
Yeah,
I came home eventually.
You got lost for
three
hours.
It was pretty far away.
It's just that uh
you asshole and it's not just that
I
really
need
to wait.
I don't remember
you.
You know, I need you something. You think? I like it?
You could make it easier to deal with if you tried to help yourself a little.
What?
What if you go sliding off the air? It can only be one person's fault.
What the fuck do you know about it?
I can't believe, you know,
I took intro psych. I, I live in the modern world. There's no stigma anymore.
Eva, maybe you don't understand what happens when people like you
gonna find you, Eva, who's gonna remember this conversation with 22?
I never took responsibility for your life.
I never pretended to believe you'd lay this on
me,
John. I don't think we're talking about the same thing here.
I'm ok.
I promise
you are.
Yeah.
Yeah,
I want to help.
Ok.
Do you want to spend the night?
No,
this is supposed to fix a hangover,
John,
I'm frustrated
and the arrangement we came to the overtime pay
you receive is implicitly linked to your success.
What
these are the rules?
What do you mean?
Where are your results?
You've captured nothing of import.
Well, maybe you should explain it all to me again. Don't play dumb with me. Pop it.
I'm not your mother.
Tell me about Garrett.
Who does he talk to?
No, he's got a couple of friends um
guy from his hallway comes over.
Does he ever disappear?
Lose you while you're following him?
Mhm.
No.
Never.
Damn.
The good ones. Never let you know they've lost you.
And now you're being paranoid.
You would be too junior. You know, you're as useless as a shit shower.
Why did I choose you?
You know,
I have been entrusted with something,
something bigger than me.
You don't understand that
and I know you don't care.
Well,
I think people should remember what situations they put themselves in.
Yeah.
It's funny.
I used to be like him.
I used to think there was something smarter about being above it all
outside the messy stuff,
but you can't be alive and not breathe somebody else's air.
Well,
you're really sucking it up now, aren't you?
It
takes some more.
Yeah.
Where were you
settling some business? Yeah.
What's it to you?
It's my job.
I was paying off a debt.
He was gonna be very unhappy if he didn't see me today.
Never figured you to get into anyone.
No, I didn't borrow from him. I worked for him.
I lost the death.
So went on your tab.
Have you seen anything coming through the office with the name?
Universal Detective Agency?
But
it's tangled up with Bouchard
somehow.
It's one in a maze of business entities
connected to the office.
But the thing is,
both of them are trusts in
this one.
I don't know
John,
I can't responsibly keep you involved with what I'm doing here.
I can't tell you to leave, but
I can't talk to you about it anymore.
I shouldn't have included you in the first place.
It's not your fault.
So that's it. We're cool.
You're safe with me.
Thanks.
Yeah.
So that's it.
Just walk away that easy.
Yeah.
Jump.
I'm confused.
Help me out here
that night in New York.
It was raining. It was slick.
Was it an accident
or did you plan it?
I don't know.
Keep an eye for it.
Universal Detective Agency.
Yeah.
Hello?
Do you work? In an office.
I do. I got your message.
What's your name?
What's yours?
How'd you come out of your job?
Good luck. I guess
he said
I couldn't make it. How
long have you worked there
for one hour?
What do you know about the office,
Mr Bouchard?
Doing?
Ok. Listen,
I'll tell you what I know, but I don't think it's gonna make you happy.
Let's don't worry about happy
before I answer any questions. You do something for me.
Ok,
I'm gonna give you a list of four names. You got a pen.
Yeah. Hold on.
Ok. Go
Phil. Philip Church,
Mark Steinberg,
Maureen Tate
Anya Arli
Anya with A Y two S as in Arles.
Ok.
I want you to find them, you find out where those people are.
We'll talk from there.
Where do I reach you?
No, I reach you. Same phone, same time. It's the first day you can.
All right.
Look uh
same time. Fine. But uh
different phone. This one, this one's too far out of my way.
Suit yourself.
There's,
there's one near 11
on the south side of Harbor.
It was discreet.
You can get the number there.
Yeah, fine.
All right. Ok.
What you got?
See what you make of this, what is it?
You tell me what
you tell me what it is.
Listen to me, do I pay people
to barge into my office?
I'm glad you asked because you can keep your fucking money and choke on it.
You son of a bitch.
Why did I just sit outside a girl's apartment and watch her self destruct?
What is that? The first line of a joke? Why was I watching her through a window?
You fucking office? Got it.
Look,
I need to know what we're doing here.
Why John?
I thought you work wherever the cache
is.
I need to know why I let her go.
Let her go.
Has something happened to Eva?
Yeah,
she's gone.
If you let her down, it's only one person's fault.
You stink of weakness.
Do you hear me, John?
You reek of failures. Past and future.
You're inhuman. No, John,
I'm a human animal.
That's what humans are.
Weak and smart. Top and bottom of the food chain.
Simultaneous.
And the first step to getting smart is knowing your other side,
the side of you that gets eaten at your whole life.
So
start by telling yourself
she shouldn't have trusted me
even repeat it a couple of times.
It'll make it easier.
Repeat it.
She shouldn't
have trusted me.
Why?
Because
it's not the end of the world to do something terrible.
Have a seat.
You don't pass any real tests by succeeding.
You pass by surviving.
How do you think I got this job?
I passed a test
someday. You'll see this whole thing with Ava as a test too,
but you can't disavow the choice you made.
It's who you are.
You have to be able to say
I did something terrible
or you'll never survive.
I did something terrible.
There you go.
You think? I don't know what you're doing. You fucking snake.
I can't judge my choice until I know what I choose. You're still not getting it.
What is it?
What is this place?
What are we doing here? I can't tell you that
I'll walk out of here and fucking broadcast. Someone will listen.
I would definitely not do that job.
You can't assume that
that there aren't other purposes purposes outside of us.
You know a
job like mine, you know,
there are matters for us to concern ourselves with
and there are matters for us not to
what's important for people like you and me,
John is understanding the rules that govern our purposes.
So you wanna tell me you're not in control here
bullshit. You missed your chance,
John. Do you know what this list means? Where the hell did you get this?
These four people? They're all involved in a multiple homicide investigation
as victims.
Where'd you get the list? John? I wrote it down.
What
John, are you hearing this shit?
What happened to these people?
You know, I can't,
the autopsies are giving the me a serious case of acid
respiratory failure, some type of blood poisoning
only he can't determine which was the cause of death,
which one caused the other or what?
Highly unusual.
Don't ask me for anything else.
It's not even my investigation. Why is it you that's asking me
because John, the name that keeps coming up in the murder investigation
is universal detective agency
involved
with the office. Yeah.
Ok. You're awake now.
Yeah.
Yeah. But I need to know more.
What the fuck is wrong with you,
Jesus.
Tell me this. Were you given any other names?
Why? 1/5 name?
A woman's no. Cut the bullshit. Garrett. What are you after
these four people? They're all dead.
There's one more missing and presumed dead.
Stephanie gets one more. What
we think they were employees.
Bouchard's employees.
What's this
something I picked out of the mail yesterday
in the office?
Yeah. It's a recording of some woman's voice.
Who is, she
tape's kind of hard to make out garbled. I think it's damaged or something.
I was thinking maybe your labs could decode the the names are on here.
No, no. She gave them to me on the phone.
What did she say?
She just hung up?
Why the fuck didn't you? Let me talk to her? Look, man,
I didn't
listen to me if there's anything about this that's in any way,
a variant of what you've told me.
So help me, I'll seek you so deep, John.
Where are you John?
There are murders happening,
taking this shit out of the office.
Don't do it again.
Who knows what brought this shit down on these poor souls?
Fucking scare me, man.
Hey,
hey,
you remember Mika's idea about that Chinese room thing.
What if she was wrong?
What if there's more
in the room and she sees
more than anyone can see.
I mean,
even if the person inside doesn't understand the messages,
there could still be
understanding
happening.
Right.
John, it's an office with pieces of paper moving to and from,
they're moved by people
subject to state and federal law.
What they're doing is either
a crime or it isn't
these four people
d the
understanding never had, wasn't coughed out with their last breath.
Get your priorities straight, man.
Yeah. Listen. Um what you said about me before about Ava
um, you were right.
Save it.
I understand
you have issues with the girl. That's fine.
Yeah,
I uh I wanna keep working,
John.
The only thing you can apologize for is permanently ruining somebody else's life,
but don't push me again.
Yeah,
I have to take some papers to Mia sit here for a few moments.
A meeting with the universal agency.
I don't like the sound of this.
The shard doesn't make a lot of mistakes. That's why we gotta move on this one.
We, no, not this time.
I got a bad feeling about this.
I'll go alone then.
Don't do it, John.
Don't go there,
Stephanie. Right. Keep your voice down. God, I had to get a dumb
one. I'm here to hold up my end.
Did you find out about the rest of them?
They're dead.
Hello.
All of them.
Yeah.
Yes.
You wanna tell me what happened?
All of them.
Definitely.
Yes.
What else can you tell me?
Nothing?
I need to know what, you know,
we work for
board his office.
Eventually we started to get curious. We wanted to know what we were doing.
It was stupid.
We started to get information, tried to piece it together.
Took bigger and bigger risks.
Board
must have found out.
One night men came,
one of us,
the sweet boy
he called as they were coming through his door,
he just said, get out. They're coming for us
by then. I knew how far Bouchard
could reach
or his resources anyway.
I used to wonder how he could be so paranoid. Is it possible that it wasn't Bouchard
that he, that he, that he didn't send these guys?
Yes.
No.
But couldn't you have done something against it? I mean,
against the office.
We had all the information you could ever want altogether. It meant nothing.
The further you go, the more it's just rules
at the end. It, it's just a big book pages and pages of rules. I saw it.
What the hell do I do now?
Nothing.
Don't do anything.
Look at me,
I killed myself.
I guess that place wasn't so different from the rest of the world.
I don't understand either one of them.
That
thing.
What
you,
I
was. Give
me another
one.
The,
I
like
some of us have a join.
Good afternoon.
What, John
Jesus, I've been calling you for hours.
Where should I be?
Oh, kill half an hour.
What's up,
John
John? I had to cancel a meeting this evening
and rescheduled for tomorrow night.
I want to show these people some of your footage.
Can you bring it with you tomorrow?
Sure.
Thank you, John.
See you tomorrow.
Yeah,
I used that tape to subpoena the phone records. A universal detective.
There were two calls made a week after we started working here
to a pay phone in Voorheesville, New York.
And there were two calls made to the town where I'm supposed to be from
where my aliases from
and listen to this. John.
There have been five calls made to Voorheesville
in the last three weeks
and three in the last five days.
Are you understanding any of this?
Yeah,
you said Brouchard
rescheduled the meeting.
Yeah.
All right,
I'm sending my men in.
It's over for you.
Show up to work tomorrow
and act normal.
The skin's serious. Now, John,
act normal.
John,
come here.
Don't go up there.
Well, what happened?
My men didn't come back from the meeting last night.
What?
It's been almost 12 hours.
Get out of here. Ok.
It's over for you.
Richard is on to you, but with no reason to believe he suspect me.
I'm going up to see what's happening.
Ok.
Go somewhere. No one knows you don't go home. Don't go anywhere they could find you.
I don't know what else to tell you.
Sorry. It's all right.
Ok,
Anthea Wallace, please.
It's Alan.
I'm sorry. There's just no time.
Does Victor Malvo still work for? Dad.
Does Victor still work for dad
call him. Now,
tell him to get over to the house as soon as possible.
He's to lock everything down
and stay with you. Do you understand me?
Co
Victor
do it now, do you understand?
I'm sorry,
right
that
we
get
the
this isn't gonna work,
work,
shut up,
shut up
the
fuck
the fuck there.
Stay there
on this shit. He's crazy.
You keep your eyes on the fucking
photocopy.
Mia.
What's taking so
long? Mika?
Shut up. Come on booz.
Where is the money?
Where's the goddamn money? Boo.
You don't think I know what's going on in the office.
You
should
pay for it.
Shut up. Garrett
fucking
shut up. Garrett.
Shut up. If he moved.
You hear me? I have no problem.
I
can't stand here forever.
I have IAB
here. You know what that is? I BS you understand?
You understand?
Just sweat it.
I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get a bandana from my pocket
just slowly.
No.
Look
the
fuck
what
John.
Oh
yeah,
stop.
Hey,
if you call the cops, they'll get here in time to watch. You bleed to that.
We are the cops.
There are plainclothes officers outside this building right
now waiting for one of us to call them
put down
the knives,
bullshit. This is all bullshit. Yeah. Then fucking try something.
You think a place like this can exist without us knowing about it?
Yeah.
You've all been under surveillance.
I've watched
Eika,
I've watched you take your shoes off after work.
I saw you cut yourself on that knife wrapped in newspaper.
Get it.
So I'm gonna tell you this one more time
drop
denies
how the fuck am I supposed to know? I won't get picked up outside
Mika.
All I care about right now is getting you out of here
without someone dying.
So you can take your chances out there
or you can wait here for my backup.
What a
f
we gotta get out of here. Let's go
get the fuck out of here.
Oh my God,
we could have been killed.
OK?
Good work,
good work John.
We
we huh
I know you're not a cop. We
fuck that saying we like you wouldn't kill me if it suited you.
I'm just another employee, right? Just like the last time.
Don't call me John.
You don't call me anything.
Look, I was just doing
that. These people had to die.
Bouchard. Was it you? I don't think so. Was it the universal detective agency?
I don't think so. So who was it?
Who decided that these people had to die?
Only the right person can ask those questions. Look, I'll show you
you you should see
these are the rules
all of it.
Everything's here. The rules that make things happen,
the rules that write other rules, the rules that got you hired.
The rules that got me hired. It's all here.
I know you're asking how you could care enough but you,
you betray yourself by asking the question.
I'll a minute before me, there were others but there were always these rules,
these rules that they and I had to follow in order to be
what the voice reading them out. What does that mean to you?
It doesn't matter the point is that I can do it.
The stupid fucking questions, boy, you'll never survive.
I can see it all over your face. You don't believe me but I know you, you don't know me.
I know you,
you know me.
So what am I gonna do?
Huh? What am I gonna do now? You know me so well, what am I gonna do?
Say goodbye,
Casey?
Get in an ambulance.
Little punk.
He wouldn't call a cop for
doesn't look too bad
good
because it feels like
somebody stabbed me in the gut
if you say so.
Well,
I don't think it's gonna affect your job performance much. I mean
you couldn't dodge that kitchen knife before.
Please don't make me laugh.
I'm sorry,
John. Stop, please
stop right there.
What you got is evidence
bastard
story.
Hello?
I knew you'd answer sooner. Elena,
how are you resting comfortably?
Thanks. Good.
Should stop by sometime.
Maybe
we know about the book John.
Yeah.
So you have to turn it over.
Maybe I'm not finished reading it yet.
Please be reasonable as a favor to me.
I want to close this case.
You have no idea the pressure I'm under.
I wish I could. It's a crime to withhold evidence.
John sue charged me.
Damn it.
What in the hell do you want with that thing? Anyway,
it's just evidence.
Well, there are more things in heaven and earth,
Garrett than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Shut up John.
You know, I have to come after you
with everything we got. We, huh?
Who exactly are we again? Tell you what?
Give me your address and I'll mail you an application.
Make it easy on yourself, man.
I won't stop until I've got you.
I hope you hear that.
Yeah,
I do.
So does this mean we can't still be friends?
Hm.
John
John.