SCENE 1

(Day. Inside a busy casino. A casino dealer's hands expertly shuffle the cards as poker-faced players watch. The dealer looks over at WAYNE, probably in his mid thirties, one of the men playing. The dealer deals the cards and WAYNE checks his hand, he has the three of hearts and the two of clubs. He stares back at her a moment, then slams down his cards and walks off. He stands next to AMY, a pretty blonde woman playing a One Armed Bandit slot machine nearby. The camera moves to MR. BURT, an middle-aged man, who is sitting at the bar.)

MR. BURT: Bartender? Seven and seven, pack of Morleys.

(WAYNE leaves the floor and makes his way over the to the bar, ordering.)

WAYNE: Seven and seven, pack of Morleys.

(MR. BURT notices WAYNE at the bar.)

MR. BURT: We have a winner!

WAYNE: Do I know you?

MR. BURT: Do you know me? Come on, Wayne-O. I'm part of the regular game? You know your problem, my friend? It's not the cards. It's playing the hand you were dealt. Well, you guys get a bad deal, it's all in what you do with it. You know what I'm saying, pardner? You can think. Cards can't. they just lie there. You gotta make them work for you. (We see that MR. BURT is playing Patience on the counter. Before he turns over his next card, he tells WAYNE what it's going to be) Jack of Hearts. (WAYNE looks impressed.) Two million, five hundred and ninety-eight thousand, nine hundred and sixty possible five card hands. Twelve hundred and seventy-seven flushes, and then you got your suit. One million, ninety-eight thousand, two hundred and forty ways to make two pairs. And yet, the game can't beat the man. Man only beats himself. And so on and so forth.

(WAYNE looks over at AMY, still at the same slot machine, playing over and over again.)

MR. BURT: She comes here every Friday. Loses her paycheck. Cries all weekend. Such a nice girl. I keep hoping her luck is gonna change and she could catch a break.

MR. BURT: We gonna blow this joint? Call it a night?

(Wee see AMY leave the slot machine and head for the Ladies toilets.)

MR. BURT: I know, you're bluffing me, right? You're gonna show me Fifth Street. Walk right out of here, surprise me, for a change.

(WAYNE heads off after AMY. MR. BURT reveals the cards left in his hand. They're the same as WAYNE had earlier.)

MR. BURT: Three of hearts. Two of clubs.

(A large man has started playing on the machine AMY was playing on moments earlier. He hits the jackpot.)

HEAVY-SET MAN: I won! I won!

(Suddenly a woman runs out of the toilets, screaming.)

WOMAN: (screaming) Oh, my god! Help me, please! Help me! Somebody help me! There's a woman who's been murdered! Somebody help me! Oh, god! She's been murdered! Help!

(MR. BURT'S face remains poker-faced, showing no reaction. He carries on playing cards at the bar as we hit the opening credits.)

OPENING CREDITS

SCENE 2

FBI HEADQUARTERS

WASHINGTON, D.C.

(Day. Upbeat French music [Karl Zero (Remix by Le Tone) Lyrics - Ca Va Ca Va (Remix)] continues to play during the scene. REYES is walking down the corridor, reading a newspaper. The main headline reads "CASINO MURDER OFFERS NO CLUES". We see a picture of AMY beside the article. REYES walks towards the lift, not looking up from the article and causing everyone else to move out of her way. She gets into the lift, standing at the back. The lift fills with other people, 3 either side of her and one in front of her, giving a 3-2-3 arrangement in the lift.)

(REYES is now sitting in the X-Files office. She taps once on two files, and counts on her fingers absent-mindedly. We see there are three files on front of her on the desk. SCULLY enters.)

SCULLY: Agent Reyes?

REYES: Three plus four is seven. Seven and six are thirteen.

(SCULLY looks unsure.)

SCULLY: What are you doing?

REYES: (Pointing to the files) Ten, thirteen, fourteen, sixteen. I want to ask you to open your mind to something. I don't want you to think I'm crazy, all right?

SCULLY: Why would I think that you're crazy?

REYES: Do you believe the universe is knowable as a mathematical calculation of the whole, reducible to a single equation?

SCULLY: No.

REYES: Why not?

SCULLY: Because I don't think that its complexity allows for it to be reduced so simply.

REYES: But you accept that some people do?

SCULLY: I presume you mean the so-called Unified Theory, what physicists often refer to as the theory of everything. An equation so simple they say that it might be printed on a T-shirt. It's a holy grail in the world of science. Potentially the most important question that mankind has ever asked. But that such a complex calculation is even possible is a subject of enormous controversy. Is that what you mean?

REYES: Uh... potentially.

(REYES displays some crime scene photos on the projector. They are pictures of dead women.)

REYES: Carla Maria Carpenter, born two, one, seventy-seven. Killed outside a nightclub two years ago. Her murder remains unsolved. Judy Ann Fuller, born three, twenty-one, sixty-nine, killed at a mall two years ago, unsolved. Julie Frances Gresham, born one, twenty-two, eighty, killed in her parked car last month, unsolved.

SCULLY: Agent Reyes, if there's a connection that I'm supposed to be seeing, I'm not seeing it.

REYES: And our latest victim, Amy Sheridan Noffsberger, born four, four, seventy-seven, killed two weeks ago in a casino. Police have yet to find her killer.

SCULLY: Agent Reyes, am I to presume that you've solved these unsolved murders by using some kind of numerical calculation?

REYES: Letters of names assigned values, added to birth dates, reduced to the lowest common denominator. A-J-S equal one. B-K-T...

SCULLY: Numerology, Agent Reyes... You're trying to solve these cases by using what is essentially a child's game.

REYES: It's been in use since the Sixth Century B.C., when Pythagoras determined that the world was built on the power and influence of numbers.

SCULLY: And, uh, when exactly did you stumble upon it?

REYES: We did it as kids. I still do it. You meet people at a party, ask them their birth date. It's kind of an ice breaker. And as I was reading the story of this woman, I calculated she was a fourteen. What they call a karmic number. An extremely significant numerological number, prompting me to look at all these other unsolved cases. The victims of which also work out to have karmic numbers. Ten, thirteen, sixteen.

SCULLY: So in other words, you haven't actually solved these cases.

REYES: Maybe "cracked" is a better word.

SCULLY: Without any other evidence to directly connect them, circumstantial or forensic.

(SCULLY is looking intently at the photo on the projector.)

REYES: What?

SCULLY: Can you enlarge this? (REYES zooms in on the photo.) Can I see the rest of those photos?

REYES: What is it?

(SCULLY looks at the other photos.)

SCULLY: There's a pattern in the bruising. All four of the victims have it. Three small circles. It might be from a ring that the killer wears.

REYES: So you're saying these cases are connected? That numerology may actually be driving the killer, and that I'm definitely not crazy?

SCULLY: Or that maybe you're both crazy.

(REYES looks humoured.)

SCENE 3

(Italian neighbourhood. Inside, WAYNE gets dressed, then looks out the window. We notice a silver ring on his finger with a skull design. He buttons up his shirt, and moves to the window. Background music is Karl Zero Lyrics - Ponciana.)

(Across the street, MR. BURT is doing card tricks for two Italian men.)

ITALIAN MEN: (laugh)

OLD ITALIAN MAN: E' veramente speciale! [He's very special!]

(MR. BURT starts another trick, noticing WAYNE looking out the window at him. He gives a smiling nod, and WAYNE closes the shade. MR. BURT mouths the words of the French song as the citizens go about their movements in time with the music.)

MR. BURT: (sings/mouths the words in French)

(OLD ITALIAN MAN #2 points to the wrong card during the trick.)

OLD ITALIAN MAN #2: Mamma mia!

(MR BURT turns over the king card to the surpise of OLD ITALIAN MAN #1.)

OLD ITALIAN MAN #1: Ma come fa? [God! How he can do this?]

OLD ITALIAN MAN #2: Vabbuò io me ne vaco, tanto cu vuie è inutile... nun c'è sfizio [Well, I go away. There's no fun to play with you.]

MR. BURT: (Italian) Arrivederci.

(WAYNE has left his building and walks across the street and walks over to MR. BURT.)

MR. BURT: (to man) Wayne-O! (Italian) Come stai?

WAYNE: Quit following me, or you might find yourself dead real soon.

MR. BURT: Oh, come on, Wayne-O. That's not your style. Doesn't fit your pattern. Far be it for me to rat you out. Can't show 'em what they can't see. Now, two clowns, and a man with a crown. (MR. BURT starts a card trick with two Jokers and a King card.) You want to try your luck, sailor? King runs, but he can't hide. How can you lose? Kids stuff. (WAYNE points at a card.) There goes the neighbourhood. (MR. BURT turns it over revealing a Joker.) Pop Mr. Bunny right next-door. (He turns over the next card revealing the King.) You know, there's a secret to this game, Wayne-O. And I'm gonna tell you what the secret is. Choose better. (MR. BURT smiles at WAYNE.)

(WAYNE moves closer.)

WAYNE: You got somethin' to say to me, you say it.

MR. BURT: Son, I just did.

(He upsets the table and cards, then stomps off. MR. BURT watches as REYES bumps into him across the street. She heads into the Hotel Knickerbocker.)

SCENE 4

HOTEL KNICKERBOCKER

(REYES walks down a corridor until she comes to door marked "333 - VICKI BURDICK, NUMEROLOGIST - Your destiny awaits you.)

(REYES opens the door and enters. We see a blonde lady sitting at a desk. She doesn't look up when REYES enters.)

REYES: Hello?

BURDICK: Uh, there's a clipboard over there, uh, with three forms. Only fill out the top one, or all three if you want to unlock your most secret numbers to love, life and true personal happiness.

REYES: I'm not here for a personal chart. I'm with the FBI, investigating a series of deaths that seem to have a numerological connection.

BURDICK: I give valuable insights to the living. The dead pretty much already know their future.

REYES: Well, these are murders. I'm looking for your help in trying to solve them.

BURDICK: You may over estimate the kind of work I'm capable of here.

REYES: My hope is in doing the victim's complete numerology you'll be able to draw a picture of the killer.

BURDICK: I don't think you understand. I run a little business here. Uh, people come to me, they want to improve their lives, how to get rich, how to marry the man of their dreams. I mean, look around. If I could actually provide that kind of information? I don't have to draw you a picture.

REYES: You don't believe in it?

BURDICK: At best, it's an art.

REYES: I have established an undeniable numerological connection between the victims in all of these cases. (REYES hands BURDICK a the crime folder. She starts looking at the photos.) If I found the killer, I might prevent this happening again.

BURDICK: Let me see what I can come up with.

(REYES' phone starts to ring. She answers.)

REYES: (into phone) Monica Reyes.

(The screen splits in half to show DOGGETT and REYES talking on the phone.)

DOGGETT: Monica? You're not gonna believe this. We found two more cases. Two more victims to add to this thing. Both with the same marks on their faces. Now I knew you were good, but this? This is career launching. You'd better get back here.

SCENE 5

(Back in the FBI building, REYES enters and is immediately greeted by a large group of FBI agents, including SCULLY. They start applauding her enthusiastically.)

DOGGETT: Nice work.

FBI AGENT: Well done. Well done.

REYES: Thank you.

FBI AGENT: By brilliantly tying these murder cases together, VICAP is now working hard to develop a profile on the man we are officially calling the "Triple Zero Killer". Through the identification of a pattern he leaves on his victims, we have been able to connect six unsolved cases to one murderer, including these two new cases. Agent Scully will act as the point person on the case forensics. That's three recent killings, and three from 1999. The developing pattern now appears to be murders in threes, on a serpentine trail up across the eastern seaboard. Agent Doggett will lead the task force, and is ready to roll. Here's what we don't know. One: How he chooses his victims. Two: How the killer kills. And three: If he'll kill again soon, or disappear as he did two years ago. (The agent has counted the three items on his hand.)

DOGGETT: He may have been incarcerated during those years. We may be lookin' for someone with a record.

FBI AGENT: That's an excellent observation.

SCULLY: The killer is strong. He uses his fists as weapons. Brute force. He is angry and he acts on impulse.

FBI AGENT: Good. Important. Agent Reyes, we're all working off your lead. Give us the benefit of your special insight into this case.

REYES: Well, the killer probably has a soul number of either four or six. His birth path is, I'm guessing, a nine or maybe a six. The destiny and realization numbers are definitely karmic. I'll know for sure once I've got the charts from the numerologist, but the killer is almost certainly working off numerical vibrational disharmonies.

(REYES' cell phone rings.)

REYES: That's her now. (into phone) Monica Reyes.

BURDICK: (vo on phone) Agent Reyes?

BURDICK: (into phone) I've been running numbers here on the murder victims.

BURDICK: (into phone) And the strangest thing has come up.

REYES: (vo on phone) What? What is it?

(WE cut to BURDICK'S office. Someone enters as BURDICK has her back to the door.)

BURDICK: Oh, there's three forms on the clipboard. Fill out the top one or all three if you want to unlock your most secret...

(BURDICK turns around in her chair and stares over at doorway, motionless.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 6

(Later in BURDICK's office. The FBI AGENT looks at BURDICK's body in the body bag.)

FBI AGENT: I want her body sent to Quantico. I want facts, I want details. I want Agent Scully to go over this woman with a fine tooth comb.

DOGGETT: Yes, Sir.

FBI AGENT: And I want you, Agent Reyes, to tell me who else knows about this.

REYES: Knows about what?

FBI AGENT: About this case. About you coming to this office to see this woman.

REYES: I don't think I told anyone.

FBI AGENT: Then how did the killer find his way here? Chance? Coincidence?

REYES: I, I ...

(The FBI AGENT interrupts her as she tries to explain.)

FBI AGENT: We've got a guy working the whole eastern seaboard, murdering up and down the coast. Tell me how it is he winds up here in this city in this building on this floor in this room, on the same day you came here to see her, if he didn't know?

REYES: That's actually why I came to see this woman. To find out who the killer is, why he does what he does when he does it.

FBI AGENT: We have a reputation to uphold, Agent Reyes. The FBI doesn't go to numerologists, for the same reason we don't consult horoscopes or palm readers or crystal balls. A killer kills for a reason. He lives in the world of cause and effect, as we all do. He gets an impulse and acts on it. Always the case, even if he doesn't know it. And that's how we catch him.

REYES: If he acts on impulses he can't understand, isn't it possible we can't understand them either? Can we not accept that every killer is not driven by the same impulses, and that there are some impulses that not every killer kills for.

FBI AGENT: No.

REYES: Why not?

FBI AGENT: Because it's unacceptable.

DOGGETT: But if Agent Reyes didn't tell anyone she was comin' here, the only person who would possibly have any idea is somebody at the FBI.

FBI AGENT: An inside job? I don't buy it.

DOGGETT: But don't we at least have to accept that as a possibility?

FBI AGENT: No, we don't.

REYES: Why?

FBI AGENT: Because it's highly improbable.

DOGGETT: But not impossible.

FBI AGENT: Six of one, half dozen of the other.

DOGGETT: How would you like us to proceed, Sir?

FBI AGENT: The bottom line is I want results. I don't care how you go about it. What I want is this killer caught. All right, let's get the body out of here.

(The FBI AGENT heads for the door. Two other FBI technicians start to move the body bag.)

DOGGETT: Maybe you were followed.

REYES: How? If the killer didn't even know I was looking for him?

DOGGETT: I don't know. You explain it then.

REYES: This woman called me, just before she was murdered. She had something to tell me. Something she found in the victim's charts.

DOGGETT: Their charts?

REYES: Their numerology. A calculation of numbers that rule their lives, in thirteen different categories.

DOGGETT: But a calculation based on what?

REYES: On names and birth dates.

DOGGETT: And because my name is John J. Doggett, and I was born April Fourth, 1960, I got some kind of magic number?

REYES: Six. Which makes you an active, adaptive, curious person, who insists on their independence, loves a bargain, and above all else, wants to be successful.

DOGGETT: Well, that describes pretty much anyone.

REYES: (Smiling) People are people.

DOGGETT: Right. They're non-numbers.

REYES: Then what was she calling me for?

DOGGETT: (beat) I'm gonna leave you here to figure that out. I'm goin' back to the Bureau.

SCENE 7

(Upbeat Italian music - "La pansè" is playing. In Italian la pansè is a flower, but in this song there is an erotic double meaning because it alludes to a vagina. MR. BURT holds up a number six domino at the same time REYES leans out the window.)

MR. BURT: (whistles)

(WAYNE APPROACHES. MR. BURT has the dominoes stood up in a circle around the table.)

MR. BURT: (Italian) Buongiorno. Wayne-O.

WAYNE: Who do you think you are?

(WAYNE notices several police officers nearby and looks cautious.)

MR. BURT: Who do you think I am?

WAYNE: Don't say a word.

MR. BURT: Do I ever?

(DOGGETT walks by the table as MR. BURT sets loose the dominoes. DOGGETT watches, looking at both men, then walks away.)

WAYNE: You're just tryin' to get me caught.

MR. BURT: I'm just playin' a game of dominoes. Long as you're sitting here, though, how you feelin'?

WAYNE: Go to hell.

MR. BURT: Are the reservations in your name? You're a card. You really are a card. But I love you. Got time for a quick game?

WAYNE: I don't play your games.

MR. BURT: Not a truer word's been spoken.

(WAYNE gets up to leave the table. As he leaves, we see that MR. BURT is holding the "three" domino in his hand.)

SCENE 8

(In the lab at Quantico, SCULLY examines BURDICK's body with a large, round magnifier. She looks at the left cheek, revealing the same pattern of three marks on the cheekbone as before. She picks up her voice recorder and starts talking.)

SCULLY: The deceased is Vicki Louise Burdick. Upon external examination, cause of death appears to be a fatal blow to the maxilla, in which a small three-ring pattern lies. I will begin my internal examination at six-oh-six PM

(SCULLY looks up at the lab clock, it reads 06:06:00. SCULLY picks up a scalpel from the tray. She notices the marks again on the arm of the deceased. She looks at her voice recorder, the tape counter is reading 666.)

(SCULLY looks concerned as if the numbers appear to be conveying something.)

(In the background we hear "La pansè" continue to play.)

SCENE 9

(REYES is working alone in BURDICK'S hotel room. SCULLY approaches the door and enters.)

REYES: Agent Scully.

SCULLY: I've got something to show you.

REYES: What is it?

SCULLY: I figured out what the triple zero pattern on the victim is. They aren't zeroes at all. It's the number 6-6-6, only worn away. (SCULYL shows REYES an enhanced photo of AMY'S face.) It must be stamped on the killer's ring. 6-6- 6, the work of the devil.

REYES: Of course. How'd you figure that?

SCULLY: I didn't.

REYES: Then how'd you discover it?

SCULLY: Completely by accident.

REYES: I discovered something, too. The victim's charts. When the numbers were figured, the numerologist found they were a match to her own numbers.

SCULLY: Uh... And how did the killer find her?

REYES: It obviously wasn't an accident.

SCULLY: And how does that help us find the killer?

REYES: It doesn't.

(SCULLY looks slightly dejected.)

SCENE 10

(DOGGETT is in the office standing in front of a wall containing crime photos and information. A newspaper clipping has the headline "Her Number Was Up.". DOGGETT then traces the pattern of the killings on a map of the North Eastern US, which appears to look like the number six. Music used in scene is Karl Zero with Daisy d'Errata Lyrics - Inouis.)

FBI AGENT: Agent Doggett. I think we have a psychological profile on the murderer.

DOGGETT: What is it?

FBI AGENT:Based on the amalgam of forensic detail, facts such as time and place the murders were committed and the amount of force used, we believe the killer is a man in his mid-20's to late 40's, of average build and looks, who is driven by a rage stemming from a hatred of his mother from a very early age. He was a bed wetter, who was made to feel inferior, which he took out on the world by killing small animals.

DOGGETT: That's it?

FBI AGENT: Go to work.

DOGGETT: That's the average profile of almost every single serial killer the FBI's ever hunted down.

FBI AGENT: Is that really all that surprising? (DOGGETT looks back at the photos on the wall.) Is there a problem, Agent Doggett?

DOGGETT: It's the way Agent Reyes found the cases. I don't think she should so easily be dismissed.

FBI AGENT: You don't believe in this nonsense.

DOGGETT: Look at this. The path of the killer forms the number six.

(DOGGETT shows the FBI AGENT the map on the wall.)

FBI AGENT: Your point?

DOGGETT: I don't know. I just noticed it.

FBI AGENT: Have you noticed all babies look like Winston Churchill? Same difference, Agent Doggett.

DOGGETT: What if this is the killer's pattern? What if the number six has some kind of significance to the murders?

FBI AGENT: It may. To you and Agent Reyes. But not to victim number seven.

(The FBI AGENT points to another victim photo on the wall.)

SCENE 11

(Later in the hotel. REYES and SCULLY exit BURDICK's office.)

REYES: If I could analyse these numbers, I know we could figure this out.

SCULLY: Despite what we know about the victim's numerology, about the ring that we think that he wears, we really know next to nothing about where to start looking for this man.

REYES: The answer's gonna come to me.

(The lift doors open. SCULLY notices someone inside.)

SCULLY: You going down?

(We see it is WAYNE. He nods to SCULLY. REYES and SCULLY enter this lift. They stand in silence as it descends. As SCULLY exits, WAYNE holds his arm to stop the door closing.)

SCULLY: Thank you.

(SCULLY notices the silver skull ring on his finger. She draws her gun and turns around quickly.)

SCULLY: Get out of the elevator! Move!

(WAYNE raises his arms.)

WAYNE: Just-Just be cool. Be cool. All right? Everything's gonna be fine. Be cool.

(WAYNE backs into the open lift just as the doors close. The lift starts to descend.)

SCULLY: It's him.

REYES: It's going down.

SCULLY: Stairs.

(REYES and SCULLY head for the stairwell.)

(Music at end of Scene is Karl Zero Lyrics - Torero.)

SCENE 12

(Basement garage. We can hear the Italian song "Torero" in the background. They enter from the stairwell and see a car race off. The security gate closes, blocking their exit.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 13

(Moments later. SCULLY and REYES go back to the elevator as REYES tries to make a call on her cell phone.)

REYES: It's not getting reception.

SCULLY: Great.

(REYES' phone beeps at her.)

REYES: No service.

SCULLY: We have to get an APB out on that car. Did you happen to see a plate?

(SCULLY finds a keypad on the door, and tries random numbers in a bid to open it.)

SCULLY: We've got all the numbers on this case except for the ones we need.

REYES: Maybe there's another way out.

SCULLY: Well it's only midnight. There's gotta be somebody coming in or out soon.

REYES: How do we know who was driving that car? That it was even him? That the killer's not still here.

(They look around and draw their guns.)

(They move through the garage. SCULLY issues a warning to whoever may be in the garage.)

SCULLY: We're Federal Agents and we're armed! If you are here, and you make any sudden moves, we will be forced to consider you a threat.

(They notice someone sitting in an old car. They hold their weapons over the car.)

SCULLY: Stay where you are! Right there!

REYES: Hands where we can see them! Get out of the car, slowly.

(MR. BURT slowly gets out, his arms up.)

MR. BURT: Did I do something wrong?

SCULLY: Step out around the back of the car.

(MR. BURT slowly moves to the rear of the car. REYES and SCULLY hold aim at MR. BURT.)

SCULLY: I want you to show us some identification.

MR. BURT: I don't have a wallet.

REYES: Do you have some form of I.D.?

MR. BURT: I don't think so.

SCULLY: Sir, what are you doing here?

MR. BURT: Waiting for a friend.

SCULLY: At midnight, in a parking garage?

MR. BURT: We have this regular game we play.

REYES: What kind of game?

MR. BURT: Checkers. The checkers are... in the trunk... if either of you play.

SCULLY: Sir, does it look like we're here to play checkers?

MR. BURT: What are you here for?

(MR. BURT'S arms lower, but REYES quickly notices.)

REYES: Get your hands back up in the air! Step forward. Put your hands on the trunk.

(REYES moves over to him and frisks him for weapons. SCULLY covers her with her gun. MR. BURT seems to enjoy the procedure.)

REYES: He's clean.

SCULLY: All right. Let's pop the trunk.

(The trunk is opened, revealing a checkers boards and probably over a hundred CDs, scattered around the boot.)

SCULLY: What's all this?

MR. BURT: Music.

REYES: You must really like music.

MR. BURT: Oh, I love it. The classics, of course. Mozart, Bach, the earlier jazz, Louis Armstrong, Sinatra, Doo-Wap, Elvis, marching bands...

SCULLY: Sir, enough.

MR. BURT: Don't get me wrong. I love all music. But I prefer the stuff that lasts. (He looks at SCULLY) Do you like them? Keep them. Thanks to the wondrous world of digital technology, I can always make more.

SCULLY: What time is your friend coming?

(MR. BURT looks at his wrist. He is not wearing a watch.)

MR. BURT: Soon.

REYES: What do you want to do?

SCULLY: I don't know. I don't know.

MR. BURT: I have some nice dance music.

SCULLY: We happen to be here, Sir, because there is a serial killer on the loose.

MR. BURT: How many did he kill?

REYES: Seven women now.

MR. BURT: How you gonna catch him?

SCULLY: We're not, stuck down here.

MR. BURT: You sure there's nothing I can do?

SCULLY: Do you have the combination to the door?

MR. BURT: No ...

REYES: Do you have a cell phone that works?

MR. BURT: I wish I did. There's always checkers.

(Later on, SCULLY is playing checkers against MR. BURT. She has just lost to him.)

MR. BURT: Next victim?

SCULLY: (to Reyes) How did we get ourselves into this?

(REYES is now playing MR. BURT, who pulls off an elaborate move, taking out all her pieces. SCULLY suddenly starts firing at the locked door. She tries to open it, but it is still locked. SCULLY looks fed up.)

(SCULLY is now playing checkers against REYES and MR. BURT is dancing the cha-cha-cha around in the background to the music playing, which is Karl Zero with HenriI Salvador Lyrics - El Bodeguero. REYES looks down at the board, and something dawns on her. The turns the board around half a turn, so that now REYES has black pieces and SCULLY has red pieces.)

SCULLY: Agent Reyes?

REYES: Your hair colour.

SCULLY: I don't believe it.

MR. BURT: What?

REYES: What if we are his next victims?

MR. BURT: You?

REYES: The seventh victim was a blonde.

MR. BURT: But neither of you are blondes.

REYES: He kills in threes. Blonde, redhead, brunette. The next victims will be a redhead and a brunette.

MR. BURT: Amazing... from a game of checkers.

(SCULLY gets up and draws her gun on MR. BURT at point blank range.)

SCULLY: Who are you?

(He raises his arms above his head quickly.)

MR. BURT: Obviously someone you were very lucky to have run into.

SCULLY: You're part of this.

MR. BURT: How do you figure that?

REYES: No. It's all in the numbers. It makes perfect sense. The numbers led us to the killer. The killer led us to the garage. And now all we've done is recognize the killer's real serial pattern.

MR. BURT: So you're saying I didn't have anything to do with it?

(Looking more comfortable, he drops his hands.)

SCULLY: Keep your hands up.

(He quickly puts his hands above his head again.)

MR. BURT: Why?

SCULLY: I don't know.

MR. BURT: What's this about numbers?

(He drops his arms again. SCULLY looks like she's about to explode with frustration.)

SCULLY: Will you just...

MR. BURT: I'm very good with numbers.

REYES: The killer is driven by an impulse we believe is numerological.

MR. BURT: Of course. He's a serial killer.

SCULLY: No, that's... that's not what she means. (sigh) She thinks that his acts are determined by a calculation of numbers.

MR. BURT: So the killer is not in control of his actions - the numbers are.

MR. BURT: Well, are the numbers helping you catch him, or are they helping him not get caught?

REYES: That's a good question.

MR. BURT: So... it's a kind of a game.

SCULLY: No. It's not.

REYES: No, maybe it is. Maybe that's what this is about. Who wins the game.

(MR. BURT looks excited.)

MR. BURT: I think she's on to something.

SCULLY: Agent Reyes. You can't reduce a complex factor as physical and psychological into a game.

REYES: You're a scientist, Agent Scully. Your world is ruled by numbers. Atoms, molecules, periodicity.

MR. BURT Wow ...

REYES: And wouldn't it follow that everything made from those things is ruled by numbers, too? Genes, chromosomes, us, the Universe.

MR. BURT: Go, girl.

SCULLY: Agent Reyes, that is utter nonsense, okay? It would mean that all we are are checkers on a checker board being moved around by some ... forces completely outside and unbeknownst to us.

REYES: What did Einstein say?

MR. BURT: Einstein. Now there's a winner.

REYES: God does not play dice with the universe.

SCULLY: Nor does he play checkers. (SCULLY looks happy with her retort) Look, Agent Reyes, you can't reduce all of life, all creation, every piece of ... of art, architecture, music, literature... into a game of win or lose.

REYES: Why not? Maybe the winners are those who play the game better. Those who see the patterns and the connections, like we're doing right now.

MR. BURT: Free will.

REYES: Maybe we're not the next victims. Maybe we're here, because we saw the numbers, and read the patterns, and we're here to catch the killer.

SCULLY: But the killer is outside, killing, and we are stuck in a parking garage.

REYES: What if he's not? (MR. BURT looks uneasy) What if we didn't look hard enough? (REYES draws her gun) What if the killer is still down here?

(SCULLY notices MR. BURT is looking at her.)

SCULLY: What are you lookin' at?

(Suddenly the lights go out.)

MR. BURT: The same thing you are.

[Fade to black]

SCENE 14

(Later in the garage. MR. BURT sits at his checkers board, stacking the checkers.)

MR. BURT: So what now?

SCULLY: You go left and I'll go right. (to Mr. BURT) You? You stay right where you are.

MR. BURT: Oh, there's no getting rid of me.

(REYES walks past a concrete pillar. Suddenly WAYNE grabs her around the mouth. The struggle for a couple of second before the hit the ground. REYES' guns falls to the ground. WAYNE crawls after it. He picks it up and sits on the floor, aiming at REYES. Suddenly, short ring out and WAYNE is hit, falling back to the ground.)

(DOGGETT emerges from the shadows, his weapon drawn. SCULLY moves over to WAYNE'S body, kneeling down.)

SCULLY: He's going fast.

(DOGGETT helps REYES to her feet.)

DOGGETT: Are you okay?

REYES: Yeah, I think so.

(SCULLY tries to communicate with WAYNE.)

SCULLY: Can you hear me?

REYES: Why'd you do it? Kill those women?

(WAYNE holds his head up for a couple of seconds, before slowly falling back to the ground.)

SCULLY: (to Doggett) How did you ever find us?

DOGGETT: I saw somethin' in his pattern. Made me realize there was gonna be nine victims. And that maybe you two were gonna be eight and nine.

(REYES and SCULLY notice that MR. BURT has disappeared. They run through the garage, looking for him.)

REYES: Where'd he go?

(They look around for MR. BURT, dumbfounded.)

SCENE 15

(Back in the FBI building. The FBI AGENT and nearly 20 other agents are staring at DOGGETT'S map on the wall, the figure "6" clearly highlighting the path of the killer. Music used in the scene is Karl Zero Lyrics - I Love You For Sentimental Reasons.)

(They all slowly turn their heads clockwise, until the number "6" on the wall turns into a "9", the map now appearing upside down. They all stare at the map, intrigued by its significance.)

SCENE 16

(SCULLY'S apartment. She is just putting WILLIAM down in his cot, stroking his cheek. WILLIAM looks content, and SCULLY smiles at him. She turns off the light and walks out of his bedroom, pulling the door half closed. She goes into her room. She's in her silk pajamas and climbs under her duvet. She turns off her bedside light, and settles down. She lies awake, it seems there is something on her mind. She gets up again and picks up the phone.)

(The phone rings in REYES' bedroom. Her alarm clock shows the time as 9:09. REYES' picks up. The screen splits in half.)

REYES: (into phone) Hello?

SCULLY: (into phone) All right. I need to know.

REYES: (into phone) What?

SCULLY: (into phone) What my numerology is. My number. Whatever you call it. What am I?

REYES: (into phone) You're a nine.

SCULLY: (into phone) Which means what?

REYES: (into phone) Nine is completion. You've evolved through the experiences of all the other numbers to a spiritual realization that this life is only part of a larger whole.

(SCULLY is silent, and looks happy at what she's hearing.)

REYES: Dana, are you there?

SCULLY: (into phone) There's something else that's buggin' me.

REYES: (into phone) What's that?

SCULLY: (into phone) Who was that man?

REYES: (into phone) God knows.

SCENE 17

(Night. Back in the Italian neighbourhood. WAYNE'S body is removed in a body bag from the Hotel Knickerbocker. The body bag is placed on a stretcher and wheeled away.)

(Two old Italian men, standing near the Hotel's entrance, walk away, singing "Io, mammeta e tu" [Me, your mother and you]. They sing the lines of the song alternately, as they walk.)

(They walk along the street, which seems to be in the middle of a large street party. People line the streets, a band plays, and a ferris wheel is in motion in the background.

(A young Italian couple approaches, complaining to the old men in Italian, waving their arms about to make their point.)

(The old men ignore them and carry on along the crowded street. A group of women dance behind the men as they walk, giving a very musical feel to the episode's conclusion. The camera begins to pan out, until we can see the whole street, brightly lit and full of movement. The camera continues to pan upwards, until we can see more streets and houses, then the whole neighbourhood and further still, until we can see a large part of the City. The image is now greyscale, as we start to be able to make out the face of MR. BURT, his facial features appearing from the mosaic of different shades of grey in the picture.)

[THE END]