STARGHER'S HOUSE: The first SWAT TEAM swarms towards the house. They position themselves as a team member busts the front door open with a police ramming device. They proceed through the front door, guns ready.
SWAT TEAM MEMBER: FBI!
Other team members scream the same. An odd quiet is all they encounter. The second SWAT team forces the back door open and they rush into the kitchen. The first team rush upstairs and find Valentine in a bedroom, frightened by these masked figures in black.
ERICSON (into throat mic): I've got the dog!
The second team moves through the kitchen. They all come to a quiet halt and see a motionless man lying on the floor. Stargher appears lifeless. They are startled at the sight of the horrible rings piercing his back.
Moments later, Stargher is wheeled out of the house on an ambulance stretcher. Valentine is muzzled and led away by a K-9 Unit. Stockwell and Novak watch Stargher being hauled away.
STOCKWELL: They'll take him to County General. Reid's already there.
NOVAK: Make sure he stays cuffed. I want two men on him at all times. I don't want anyone treating him but Reid. Not so much as a thermometer up his ass. Understand?
Stockwell nods and follows the stretcher outside. A stoic Ramsey exits the house and approaches Novak.
RAMSEY: Pete, she's not here.
NOVAK: Yea.
Novak would give anything for that not to be true.
RAMSEY (it gets worse): You should come downstairs.
STARGHER'S BASEMENT: Ramsey leads Novak into Stargher's "workroom." It's all here, the table, the piercing supplies, the bleach. An odd, grisly collection of dolls fills cubby holes in a wooden storage/shelf unit. Novak's eyes are like a camera, documenting and storing as much information as possible, but it's overwhelming.
He moves through the basement. Careful not to touch anything. He stops and focuses on the hoist and eight hooks situated over the stainless steel table. Novak notices a metal plaque reading "Carver Industrial Equipment."
Ramsey switches on the video monitor and the screen fills with images of Anne dying in the cell. Novak is painfully, tragically drawn to this. Although he's seen his share of horrific things, Novak is truly disturbed by the sight of Anne, desperate to escape, drowning, slowly dying, and he knows: This is what will happen to Julia Hickson unless he finds her.
THE CELL: Near dark other than a single light and red LED's on cameras. The cell instantly is flooded with light, startling Julia Hickson, sitting on a bench. Provided for her are snack foods, drinking spigot, toilet, shower, and drain.
JULIA: Hello? Can you hear me?
She approaches the glass walls.
JULIA: Hello? Can you hear me? Hello? Say something!
She retreats to the bench, crying.
COUNTY HOSPITAL EXAMINATION ROOM: A doctor is looking at an Electroenphelogram already on a lightbox. He pulls it down and studies it some more. Novak, Ramsey and Teddy Lee stand by, waiting for an answer from Dr. Milton Reid, a brilliant forensic M.D. Finally, he turns to them...
REID: Have you ever heard of Whalen's Infraction?
Ramsey stumped, looks to Novak. Clearly not.
REID: It's a form of schizophrenia. It's very rare and it's very severe. (re: the EEG) And in any schizophrenic, these areas would be affected. But in someone with Whalen's, they're hit hard and they're hit fast.
TEDDY LEE: Can't you load him up with Thorazine? Or Desoxyn?
REID: Normal psychotropics don't work. This thing is caused by a virus that infects the neurological system in utero. It lays dormant until it's triggered by some kind of trauma. Most likely, he's exhibited symptoms for some time, but the infraction, or the breach, didn't occur 'til today. The triggers can vary, usually water related, but the results don't vary. He's not just catatonic, he's disappeared. Like having a dream and never waking up.
RAMSEY: For how long?
REID: Oh, forever.
NOVAK: I think you might be missing the bigger picture here. Now whatever state he happens to be in, there is a girl that is missing, and her name is Julia Hickson. And he is the only one that knows where she is. And he keeps them in this thing for about forty hours. Now he took Julia Hickson at seven-thirty last night . . .
REID: Peter, you know me. If there were anything . . . anything . . .
And then a thought pops in Reid's mind, Novak senses this.
NOVAK: What?
CAMPBELL CENTER: A helicopter descends onto the pad. A stretcher is removed from the side door of the helicopter. The staff watches with a mixture of fear and curiosity as a stretcher bearing the catatonic Stargher is wheeled fast through the corridors by an FBI escort team.
CONFERENCE ROOM: A small TV screen shows footage of Anne drowning in the cell. Catherine, Cooperman, Henry, and Miriam watch with curiosity, disgust, pity. Novak and Ramsey flank the portable monitor/VCR, knowing this is a disturbing but powerful tool. Novak wants the scientists to see, to understand the girl's pain.
NOVAK: He provides them with food, drinking water, and a toilet. Now she thinks she's been kidnapped. That there's a chance of survival. But it's just a form of torture. This is a kind of ritual for him. A cleansing before he takes them home and turns them into a doll, a toy. Now this thing is fully automated. Unless we find her by tonight, this will happen to her.
They all watch the video as the victim struggles for the last few inches of air at the top of the cell.
NOVAK: We requested Mr. Cooperman to contact your board of directors.
COOPERMAN (to Miriam, Henry and Catherine): And they have given their approval. And so have Edward's parents.
RAMSEY: But the decision is yours.
COOPERMAN: Henry.
HENRY: Yes.
COOPERMAN: Miriam.
MIRIAM: It's up to Catherine. She's the one that has to face whatever risks there might be, so I support whatever decision she makes.
All eyes turn to her.
CATHERINE: Can I ask you something?
NOVAK: Please.
CATHERINE: If he wasn't like this, if he was conscious, do you think he would tell you where she is?
NOVAK: There's always a chance of a confession, yea. And there's things that he's done that show a need for disclosure. He hasn't had a sympathetic ear. He wants someone to listen, to try and understand him.
CATHERINE: Look, I feel for this girl, I do. But Stargher may no longer know the truth. For severe schizophrenics, there is no discerning between fantasy and reality.
NOVAK: Is it possible?
CATHERINE: If he came to trust me, yes, but it takes months to earn that kind of trust. . .
NOVAK (repeating with conviction): Is it possible?
Catherine hangs her head. And finds herself looking at photograph of the girl in question. A smiling Julia Hickson looking right at her. They sit in silence while the video continues. She listens to the victim's coughing and crying, her last moments of breath. This seems to make the decision for her.
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