Prime Target (2025) s01e02 Episode Script

Syracuse

Merci.
You mind if I sit?
You already are.
But do you mind?
If I said yes, would that end
the conversation?
It's not for me. Let's not pretend.
Actually, it is.
Actually, I would take a guess
that you stole that
from the rose garden at Rue de la Paix.
So, what's it gonna be today?
You wanna go sailing? Windsurfing?
Beach partying, tonight.
Hoped that maybe you could come?
Look, I get your situation, Denis.
I do.
There's about 500 women in this town,
and you've already slept
with most of them.
So, when a stranger turns up,
- it's only inevitable
- Tell me something.
What exactly are you doing here?
Why go traveling if you don't
want to have some fun?
Yeah, it's great seeing you.
I thought American girls
were supposed to be fun.
Only in the song.
Hi, Taylah, how are you?
Good, and you?
Good, I'm almost finished.
There's still a bit of work to do.
Little blighter!
Thank you, Elise.
Hey, Olson.
Hey.
Have a good one.
You too.
He was a good man.
And quite an incredible legacy, you know.
To
To have all of his writing.
You didn't actually
like him though, did you?
Not really.
It's okay.
I don't care. You can say.
I didn't always like
the way he made you feel.
- Sorry.
- No.
No point in pretending, is there?
He was talented. Yeah.
But that just meant you got
eclipsed sometimes. That's all.
Look, what do you want me to do? Go?
Stay?
Yeah? Shut up?
Take you out, get you drunk, what?
Tell me.
Help me decide about this.
Well
- just postpone. I mean
- No.
- Everyone will understand. I think it's
- I can't do that.
It's too important.
Will you go to Baghdad for me?
I just can't face it right now.
Andi, this is your dream.
There's an academic out there.
A good guy. I've worked with him before.
Akram Nizar. He's in charge of the dig.
I'll introduce you.
I mean, yeah.
Sure. I
I mean, look, it would be my honor.
Oh, Edward.
I can't think how you must be feeling.
Yes.
I'm sorry to ask,
but I need access to his office.
He was reading my research.
Your research can wait.
No, it's important. It's my only copy.
Edward, listen.
We're all coming to terms with this.
Just take the week off.
- Give yourself some space.
- Yeah.
Edward.
Not allowed in there, sir.
It's Master's orders.
What the hell is going on in here?
I just wanted my work back.
The professor stole it from me.
Edward, can you hear yourself?
At this, of all times.
There is something going on here.
He was trying to warn me
of something, and then he burned my work.
Do you have proof?
Has anyone else seen this work?
You'll be sent down for this.
- Hey.
- Hey.
How were things in town yesterday?
That guy from the village
keeps on bothering me.
Well, have you logged it yet?
No. It's not a problem.
You know the routine.
Any interaction with locals,
we have to log it.
There are protocols.
And the reason that we have to log
any interaction with locals
is because there isn't supposed to be any.
Don't worry about it.
I'm sticking to my cover.
Listen to yourself.
"Sticking to my cover"?
You're not undercover.
You're a surveillance officer.
From now on, I want you
to keep your head down, okay?
I am your boss, Taylah.
You gotta do what I say.
My boss?
That's right. The new recruit should
be here soon. You can show him around.
You're the boss.
How about you show him around?
Plus I need to stay by the computers.
I'm not here to babysit some grunt.
I can come back later.
Okay. So that's where we eat.
Seven o'clock.
Elise is a decent cook.
And in the fridge,
everyone has their own little space.
Like being back in college.
You'll get some interest from the locals,
but it's nothing you can't really handle.
Students on a gap year
tends to be the story.
And as a part of the European unit,
we hide in plain sight,
moving every few months.
So, where was your last posting?
Maryland. And then Chicago.
So this is your first foreign assignment?
That's kind of different.
Well, top of my class at Fort Meade.
Well, you are
top of the stairs right here.
Right, Alex.
So, where do you think the next
digital weapons will come from?
- Well, I guess research labs?
- Yeah.
Stanford, Berkeley, MIT.
Most college research projects
are confidential. But look.
See, the NSA monitors
15 key mathematicians in Europe.
We have the capacity
to plant or access any camera.
The surveillance is pretty basic.
Just static cameras. No audio.
We watch the whiteboards,
study the documents.
But we need to see algebra.
Do you need to understand it?
No.
I mean, I try to,
but that's an analyst's job.
All we have to do is take stills.
And you upload it to the Syracuse server.
And up the chain it goes.
Got it. And why is it called Syracuse?
Because of the siege of Syracuse.
See, the might of the Roman Empire
held off for over a year,
thanks to weapons designed
by the mathematician Archimedes.
And here we are,
two and a half thousand years later,
where the right sequencing of digits
can shut down hospitals,
power plants, factories, the water supply.
See, anything digital
is vulnerable to attack.
And in our world,
everything is computerized.
And of course,
computers are designed using math.
Right now
math nerds are probably
the most dangerous people on the planet.
Newton studied here. Ramanujan.
I've dreamt of spending my life here
since I was 11 years old.
I'm not sure how relevant
childhood passions are.
Not even remotely relevant, Master.
What is, however,
Professor Mallinder considered you
to have the best mind
he'd worked with in 30 years.
And yet you accuse him of this nonsense
in the wake of his suicide.
Were you to retract the accusation,
police have not been involved,
so I think we might be better placed
to show some understanding if you did.
And apologize. In writing.
To the college and to Andrea.
Fuck.
You need to think
about what was wrong with him.
Why he'd steal my work and destroy it.
Why?
Will you apologize?
I will not.
You need a hand?
It's all right. I don't have much.
What are you gonna do?
Where are you gonna go?
I can't leave Cambridge, so
Thanks.
Keith, do you mind if I make a quick call?
'Course, sir.
Hi, Brian Brooks.
Hello?
Hi, Dad. It's me.
Are you You okay?
Yeah, I'm fine.
Actually, I
Hold on, I'm just rushing out
with the kids. Can you call me back?
Guys, we're gonna be late.
- Rachel, we're gonna be late. Come on.
- Hurry up!
Yeah, say hi to them for me.
So, yeah. This is your den.
Here is your key.
- Good luck.
- Thanks.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Night, Taylah.
- Hey.
- Hey.
What you got and who's that?
Mallinder.
Cambridge.
- I've been monitoring him.
- Yeah.
Something about him
is bothering me.
Okay.
Yeah. Keep watching.
What's he doing with the tablecloth?
I don't know.
He seems rattled.
Okay, safe to say
you've already sent this up?
- Yeah, of course.
- Yeah.
Mallinder. Look into him.
Okay.
Kind of Texas style.
Kind of Tennessee style.
- Right, right, right.
- Honestly. Amazing.
Oh, yeah. I re
Elise.
Wow.
What?
Where are you going, Professor?
Okay.
Olson!
Would it have hurt you so much
to say sorry?
This time is precious.
Sad to see you squander it.
So, what will you do? Go home?
I'm not leaving Cambridge. I'll appeal.
And they'll take me back.
- Simple as that?
- Yeah.
Once I've discovered
why Mallinder destroyed my work.
I think he left that for me to find.
He mentioned others.
But their work's been removed
from the records.
Why an icosahedron?
The Greeks believed this object
described the shape of the universe.
That the gods alone
had the ability to fashion it.
The father of numbers
Pythagoras?
Yes.
Pythagoras had a pupil called Hippasus.
Hippasus managed to draw this by hand.
He made himself equal to the gods.
And Pythagoras killed him for it
because the knowledge was forbidden.
No one believes
the things you said about him.
I know they don't.
But I do.
No one knows this.
But after you came over
Whatever was on that tablecloth,
it meant something to him.
He waited till I left the house
the next day,
and then he burned it out there.
And then you start accusing him
of destroying your work.
And like I say, no one believes you.
But I do.
I think this is a message
to warn me off, perhaps. But why?
I need to know why.
So do I.
He told me the last time I saw him
that someone in his past
had done the exact same research
that I'm doing now.
Safiya.
She was a mathematician?
Yes, they were
They
She
She was very complicated.
She
Sorry, I can't go there right now.
- Hey.
- Hey.
You seen the coverage?
Yeah. We've checked with MI5.
Police are confirming it's a suicide.
Apparently, he left a voicemail message.
- Police have got it.
- What?
Well, did he give a reason?
No.
You should take some time off.
Okay? Just let it go, Taylah.
It's not your fault.
Taylah, are you even listening?
This has to end.
I'm trying to say goodbye,
but it's not easy.
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry
that I couldn't give you more.
Just try to be happy.
It wasn't ever anything that you did.
Fully clothed IC1 male, in late 50s,
discovered unresponsive
in driver's seat of vehicle.
There is no apparent sign
of trauma to the male
or forced entry to the vehicle
at this time.
Taylah, I told you to take some time off.
Initial cause of death
is believed to be self-inflicted
carbon monoxide poisoning.
Oh, shit.
How did I miss that?
We've been looking into the wrong person.
What?
All this time we've been focused
on Mallinder, but it's not even his
it's not even his research.
Something's not right here.
- There you go.
- Thanks.
You're not supposed to be here.
I'm trying to get in touch
with an ex-student.
She graduated 30 years ago,
her name's Safiya.
- Safiya
- I'm interested
in her area of research.
Safiya Zamil.
Maybe if I left my new address,
you can pass it on to her?
Okay.
Safiya? Yes.
- You taught her?
- She was in my tutorial just last week.
What's her thesis on?
It's okay. I can ask the college.
- Hi, I'm here to get work out of storage.
- Mr. Brooks, you're not suppo
Her name's Safiya Zamil.
Professor Osborne sent me.
You can call him if you like.
But I'm sure you know he's not very well.
He's looking for her thesis.
Wait here. I'll go take a look.
We don't have her thesis, but
Here. This was hers.
What?
This has to end.
I'm trying to say goodbye,
but it's not easy.
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry
that I couldn't give you more.
Just try to be happy.
It wasn't ever anything that you did.
This has to end.
I'm
This has to end.
It wasn't ever anything that you did.
Olson. He didn't kill himself.
- Mallinder.
- What?
That wasn't his real voice
in the suicide message.
It was artificially generated.
Whoever made it looped the background.
I think he was murdered
and that we're witnessing a cover-up.
Someone's deleted the footage.
You've got no interest
in just a quiet life, have you?
Olson, I need you to look into it.
Hi.
Look, I heard about what happened.
I thought I could maybe,
I don't know, be a friend.
I'm starting a shift soon.
Why don't you come and have a drink?
I just I need to understand
what happened.
Okay. Well, explain.
You know, sometimes it just helps
to say these things out loud.
I don't know why I'm telling you this.
Okay, so she was doing
the same work that I'm doing now.
- Right.
- Her and Mallinder were close.
Close as in?
He was in love with her, I think.
Mallinder who killed himself?
Having destroyed my work.
- Your work into the prime numbers.
- Prime numbers.
Okay. Got it.
Well, you've come to the right place.
What's a prime number again?
Hi. Did you find the student
I was asking about yesterday?
- Safiya Zamil.
- Oh, yes. Yes.
Well, we tracked down her family.
But I am sorry to tell you,
she died 30 years ago.
What?
Suicide.
Who is it?
Edward Brooks?
What do you want?
How do you know where I live?
College gave me your new address.
Look, I know it's late, but can we talk?
All right. I'm working.
That's good.
We want you to work.
That's me.
I represent a research institute
just outside Cambridge.
Kaplar.
We're interested in developing your work.
Edward?
Look, I can come back.
I'll come back.
Hey. What did they say?
Olson.
They're not gonna follow it up.
- What?
- Yeah.
They think it's crazy.
And your crazy idea
has made me look crazy for believing it.
So, what are we supposed to do now?
We just go back to our
our surveillance
and act like nothing ever happened?
Yeah. Correct.
No. The message was faked.
It was a professional job, Olson.
And now this student,
Edward Brooks, is on their radar.
Taylah, just don't.
Olson, we were all hired to do a job.
To identify academics
whose work is potentially dangerous.
Okay? And what happens when we find one?
What happens when we file a report
that says someone is a risk?
Just don't make problems for me, okay?
I like my job and I wanna keep it.
No, we go to Fort Meade.
We have to. Or just you go
and tell someone at the top.
Taylah, no.
But Ols
Oh, my
Shit!
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