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| Eric
Novak on
his cell phone: They're jerking me around, of course..Yeah,
another fifteen minutes...Yeah, yeah, they know I'm a reporter...Yeah,
I know. I know! I'll call. He places his cell phone on a bench, beside his jacket and walks across the corridor to get some water. He returns to his seat and finds Eva sitting beside his belongings.  Novak sits down beside her: Don't you hate hospitals? Eva: Hate. (They chuckle.) Novak realizes his cell phone is missing: That's weird. I just put my phone down. Did you see it? Eva: Your phone? Novak: Yeah. Eva shakes her head: Sorry. |
| Frank
and Connor are
outside of Dobro's Grill. Frank: Owner's name is Daryl Cooley. Connor: Cooley... (He pounds on the front door.) Mr. Cooley, open up! Mr. Cooley! There's no response. Connor: We don't have time for this. Franks pulls out a small kit and picks the lock.  Connor: That saved time.They walk in and hear a loud noise from the rear of the restaurant. Frank: I don't like the sound of that. They see a man running. Frank: Hey! They chase the man and corner him in the kitchen. Connor: Get him. Get him. Get him.  Frank grabs him. Daryl Cooley: All right. All right. All right, man. Cool down. So, I tipped a few back last night. Just give me the cup and let's get this done...What? Ya'll not from parole? Connor grabs him by the arm and propels him into the front of the diner: Mr. Cooley, a man is dead and more will die because of something that happened in this restaurant in the last 24 hours. Cooley: What?! Connor: Look, I need you to call everyone who worked here today and I want you to get them down here, now. |
Eva
and the
reporter, Novak, are laughing. Eva: Oh, I remember that time as being so free.
Hanging out on this little Greek island, incredible food. Oh, and
the beaches. I used to sunbathe topless, sometimes even naked,
and nobody even cared.Novak: Uh...yeah...well, why would they? Hey, you want to...grab some dinner? ...I'm sorry. That was...was a jerk thing to say. Because I know your Dad's upstairs recovering from surgery...and I'm asking you out... Eva: It's okay. I'd like to have dinner with you. So, uh, what do you feel like? (She stands up and puts her jacket on.)  Novak: Oh, I didn't mean tonight...What about your Dad? Eva: Well, he's recovering...like you said. A girl's gotta eat, right? Novak: ...You know, whatever's upstairs must be one hell of a scoop for you to go to all this trouble. Who do you work for?  Eva: Leave this one alone, Mr. Novak. When it's safe
to give you this story, I promise you'll be the first one I call.Novak: Well, that's touching. Now, give me my phone back cause I'm going to file this story, with or without your help. Eva sighs: Fine. Meet me here in twenty minutes. I'll give you your phone and your story. |
| At the Virginia
hospital, Dr. Miles McCabe checks the baby's eyes. McCabe: Incredible. The whites of her eyes, they're not white. They're blue.  Kelly: Which means? McCabe: I don't think she's been abused. I think we're dealing with an orphan disease. Kelly: A what? McCabe: It's a disease so rare it's almost never diagnosed correctly. Kelly: Is that supposed to be reassuring? McCabe: I'm gonna have to take a DNA sample to make double sure. I need a DNA kit. As they leave the nursery, McCabe: Send a sample, rush to NIH. In less than two hours, they can get it back... Kelly sees two people approach them: Dr. McCabe, this is - uh - Dr. Strickland, my attending and D.A. Musgrave.  Dr.
Strickland: What
the hell are you doing, Kelly? Dr. McCabe, it's the senior staff,
only, that invites visiting doctors.McCabe: I know, and I'm sorry. But, the good news is I think I'm coming close to understanding what's going on with the Haskell baby. D.A. Musgrave: What's to understand? The child's been abused. McCabe: With all due respect, I don't think so. I think she's sick and I think I can prove it with a DNA sample. Dr. Strickland: We already did a genetic work-up. It came back completely normal. McCabe: An orphan disease would not show up in a regular work-up. Dr. Strickland: Dr. McCabe, I want you out of here. The last time I checked, the NIH does not involve itself in the jurisdictions of family services and the local police! McCabe: Then, let me tell you what the NIH involves itself in: answers. Your tax dollars pay for the NIH so that when, God forbid, some unforeseen, nasty,  never-before-seen-or-heard-of calamity, strikes you,
Dr. Strickland, some rubber-stamping bureaucrat doesn't write you off
without even trying. Which is why I'm going to take this DNA
sample. And if you don't like it, you can call your local police
and have me hauled out of here in leg irons!D.A. Musgrave: That's exactly what we're going to do. Dr. Strickland and the D.A. walk away. Kelly: Leg irons? McCabe: We better get this sample sent fast before Dr. Miles goes to jail. |
| At Dobro's Grill. Daryl Cooley: Okay, they're not happy, but they're on their way.  Connor: Thank you. (His cell phone rings.)
Yeah?...When?...Okay. (He hangs up the phone.) Two more
patients showed up. That's twelve victims total.Cooley: Oh, man, somebody else is dying?! Connor: Listen closely. All that matters, right now, is you. You need to focus, right now, on what we're doing here. Do you understand? Cooley: Yeah. Connor: Yes? Cooley: Yeah! Connor: Walk me through your routine. Cooley: Okay, come on. |
Eva meets the
reporter, Eric Novak, and leads him through some winding corridors. Eva:
I'm sorry for the run-around. We all have our jobs to do.
(She returns his cellphone.)Novak: Whatever! You did your job, now I'll do mine. What's going on? Eva: Well, it's complicated. I used to work on Wall Street, big brokerage firms - Chase, Goldman, Sachs, Leeman. I had quite the client base, but it's still Wall Street, right? So, I found myself at this little crisis of conscience which led to a whole downard spiral, which led to a life re-evaluation period. Novak: I mean, what's going on with the blue people? Eva: I'm getting to that. |
At Dobro's Grill,
Connor and Frank are swabbing various surfaces. Frank: Any recent power outages? Heating problems?
Cooling problems?Connor: Do you remember using any ingredients from a new distributor? Anything past its expiration date? Cooley: Never. I take my work seriously. I'm from a family of chefs. Cooley's in Lafayette, Louisiana. Connor: Even a Cooley can make a mistake. Cooley: Not that kind. Dairy is delivered twice weekly and I've used the same distributor since I bought this place. I keep my kitchen spotless!  Connor: Who do you trust most out there? (Indicating the diner's employees.) Cooley: That young kid, Ernesto, is good people. He ain't missed a day in two years. Connor calls out: Ernesto! Come here. How fast can you get this to St. Jerome's? He hands Ernesto the swab samples. At St. Jerome's Hospital, an obviously exhausted Ernesto, watches Dr. Durant run some test on the samples. One of the readouts shows a high level of nitrate.  Durant: What?!She runs some more tests. Then, calls Connor. Connor: Yeah. Durant: I think we're dealing with some form of nitrate poisoning. Connor: Well, that makes no sense. Durant: I got a nitrate hit from one of the kitchen surfaces. So, I re-tested the blood and sure enough, there's nitrate in the blood - in pretty whopping doses. Connor: Well, I've never seen a nitrate strong enough to kill. Durant: I know, but I also know I got a vial full of blue. Connor: Okay, sodium nitrate's most basic application is... Durant: Saltpeter. Connor: Right, meat preservative. Connor to Cooley: Cooley, what food do you put meat preservative in? Cooley: None. I don't use that stuff. Connor to Durant: He doesn't use saltpeter. Okay, if it's ammonium nitrate, it could be a cleaning system, a boiler or a heating unit. But, that all came up clear.  Durant: Could be cold packs in the freezer, fertilizer, some
connection between fertilizer, grain, animals, meat...Connor: Or eggs, milk, cheese, butter. Durant: I don't like this, either, Stephen, but maybe we should start a course of treatment. Connor: If we're wrong, we'll kill them faster than they're already dying.  Durant: But, we're running out of time. Connor: Do not tell me that I am running out of time! Durant: Then, I will tell you that Eleanor Cochran has a half hour, Peter has 50 minutes. So, you tell me whether we're running out or not. Connor: Okay. I need more information. Let's go back to the food. It has to be there. I need to know what each of them had to eat. Durant: All right, I'm on it. |
In the maze of
corridors beneath the hospital. Eva: So, I slunk back home to Mom and Dad. I mean,
doesn't everybody at some point? And it turns out that they had
just moved to within a stone's throw of the NIH.Novak: National Institutes of Health. Eva: Exactly. Which should explain why all the secrecy now. Novak: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey, hey. You don't actually think you're going to ditch me down here, do you?   Eva: Around that corner is a door. Behind that door is
an isolation ward. You won't find it on any of the hospital's
plans but inside, you will find your story.Novak: Puh-leeze! Eva: The choice is yours, Mr. Novak. As Novak heads down the corridor, Eva takes off her shoes, turns and runs back the way they came. She slams a door shut, closing him up in the dark. Novak: Oh, that's nice. Sneak away, you little snake! I still got my cell...She took my battery?! |
| Durant on the phone to Connor: It was the special.
They all ate the breakfast special. Connor: Good work, Natalie. He hangs up the phone and turns to Cooley: The breakfast special. What's in it?  Cooley: Eggs, bacon and sausage, potatoes and toast.Connor to Frank: All right, get samples of all that. Connor to Cooley: All right, twelve people have gone down so far. How many people ate the special? Cooley: Well, on a good day - and today was pretty good - 250. Connor: 250? Cooley: Yeah, but only twelve people got sick. So, what does that mean? Frank: It means we'd have more patients if it was just your special. Either it's not your  special or there's some other combination of factors
involved.Connor: No, I'll tell you what it means. It means we're back to square one. His cell phone rings: Connor..............I see. He hangs up the phone: We have a whole new cluster of victims. Four more people in Dover, Delaware. |
 Durant on the phone to Connor: We had to intubate
Eleanor Cochran. The Dilantin isn't stopping the seizures.
Her blood pressure is 65 by palpation.Connor: Okay, what's the clock? Durant: Fifteen minutes. Maybe, we should check with Dover. Connor: Whatever's happening in Dover is happening here. We keep going with what's in front of us. Frank to Cooley: And how long have you been open? Cooley: Uh...six...six years. Frank: And where do you get your meat? Connor, talking to himself: The answer is here.  He visualizes the restaurant as it was during the day
with all the customers eating their food, including the victims.Connor: What are the variables? No bacteria, no bugs, no viruses... Everyone would be down if it were airborne...  Everyone would be down if it were in the water... 250 people would be down if it was in the breakfast special, but only twelve got sick... He pulls out his cell phone and calls Durant: I need to know what they put on their food. Durant: Stephen, these people can barely speak. Connor: Find out what condiments they used. As she goes to check, he continues to visualize the diner as it was during the day.  Durant: They're all over the map with the condiments - ketchup, mustard, Tabasco. Maybe, we should move off this, try another angle. Connor: What about salt and pepper? Durant: Did you hear me, Stephen? Maybe, it's not there. Connor: Natalie, just ask them! Durant sighs and goes to question the patients, again. Durant: Not all of them used pepper. But, they all used salt. Connor: I'll call you back. (He hangs up the phone.) Connor: Eleanor Cochran, Kyle Peters, Alesandra Denova, Sam Walker, Janice Handerford  and Wes
Douglas. Of those six, how many were regulars?Cooley: You talking to me, the phone or your imaginary friends over there? Waitress: Wes is. Eleanor. Uh...Sandra's been coming here for a couple of years. Connor: Listen, regulars always sit in the same spot. Where? Waitress: They sit in that section. All of them. Connor begins gathering up the salt shakers from that section: I need spoons and a cup of vinegar. Quickly! Someone hands him four spoons: Only three.  He fills the
three spoons with vinegar. Next, he pricks this finger and drops
his blood into each spoon. Then, he sprinkles the salt into the
spoons. The blood in one of them turns blue.Connor: This one's not salt. Cooley: What? Connor: Where's your salt supply? Cooley leads them into a storage room: It's right over here. Connor: When did it arrive? Cooley: Shipment came in last night. Connor, inspecting the area: Okay, so you cooked with this all day. And you forgot to refill the shakers until this morning, when you filled only one - the one all the victims have in common.  Frank tests the salt in the bag: It is sodium nitrate. Connor: Wait, wait, wait, wait. But 35-40 people sat in those seats and most of them used salt. We still don't have it. Let's think - this diner, those customers, that salt shaker. Why did only twelve people get sick when so many more were exposed? Cooley: I don't know, man, but I need a drink. Connor, on the phone to Durant: Start activated charcoal asorbic acid, methylene blue on all eleven victims, now. Eleanor Cochran, first. Durant: You sure? Connor: Now!   As Connor packs
up their equipment, Frank
asks: Are
you sure?Connor: Someone had to make the call. |
 Dr. Miles McCabe
is standing alone outside the Virginia hospital, where Kelly joins him.Kelly: Miles?  McCabe: You know, I've only been on this job three weeks. They sent me down here to make a diagnosis. What if I'm wrong? Kelly: You're not wrong. He turns around to see her holding a copy of the lab results. |
In the car, on the
way back to St. Jerome's Hospital. Frank: It's no fun playing God, huh? Help this one, they live. Don't help that one... Connor: Which makes this a hell of a job. Frank: You don't do this cause it's a job. The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man fights to make the world adapt to him. That's why all  progress depends on the unreasonable man. Connor's cell phone rings: Yeah. Durant: Stephen, you won't believe what I'm looking at. Connor: They're better? Durant: They're better. Connor hangs up the phone: They're better. Frank: Yeah. |
Baby Emma has been
reunited with her parents. McCabe:
Spontaneous bruising, hearing loss and the whites of her eyes turning
blue led me to Brittle Bone Disease. I'm not going to tell you that Brittle Bone Disease isn't
serious.  It is. But, Emma has Type One. It's the
mildest form, so with the right course of treatment and Kelly's help,
I'm sure you can learn to manage it.Mr. Haskell: We'll do whatever we can. Thank you. McCabe: I'm just glad you called us. |
| At St. Jerome's. Durant: That was it, sodium nitrate in the form of saltpeter. Eva: But, saltpeter is preservatives. It's not supposed to make you sick.  Connor: It usually doesn't...in small doses. The victims got a dose of saltpeter from the breakfast special and an additional raw undiluted dose from the salt shaker. They, also, had alcohol in their body. Sodium nitrate deprives cells of oxygen - so does alcohol. Put the two together, they were literally suffocating from the inside out. Frank: The bag of salt came from the Greggson & Mann food plant in New Jersey. They, also, process saltpeter. Somehow, the two got switched.  Connor: They ship it to the Dover site?Frank: Plus a hundred other cities along the East Coast. Connor to Frank: Get a list of Greggson & Mann's customers, now. Connor to Eva: The story you spent the last 12 hours trying to stop - let it roll. Eva: Got it. |
| In the dark basement
of the hospital, Novak calls out: Hello?! A little
help, please! The light comes on and Eva is standing there.  Eva: A
rat maze down here, isn't it?Novak: You're going to jail. Kidnapping, endangerment,  stolen property.Eva: I have an incredible scoop for you, unless you get huffy. In which case, I can speed dial the New York Times just as fast as I can tell you. She offers him the phone's battery. He takes it. |
| On a highway, a
police car pulls over a truck belonging to Greggson & Mann Food
Products. In a kitchen, a young woman prepares a meal for her two children. On the television, a newswoman announces: We've just received word of an urgent recall of Greggson & Mann's food products. Now, those most at risk include anyone with compromised immune systems, the young or the elderly. So, if you have these items in your home, it is suggested that you return them to the store you purchased them at, new or used, for a full refund or simply throw them away. The mother was about to use G & M's salt in the meal she was preparing for her children. |
At St. Jerome's
Hospital, all of the victims are sitting up and talking to their
families and friends. Durant: One salt shaker.Connor: It's always one something. As they head for the door, Dr. McCabe runs up to join them. McCabe: Hey, you guys leaving already? Connor: How was Richmond, McCabe?  McCabe: Uh - it went very well. I made the diagnosis. Technically, it's osteogenesis imperfecta, but it's commonly known as... Connor: Brittle Bone Disease. You don't see that every day. McCabe: Yeah. I guess it was my day. Connor: Then, there's tomorrow. |
A Little League
softball game has just concluded. Lisa Connor and her son, Jack,
are leaving. Lisa: Pretty great, huh? How'd that feel?Connor runs up: Hey! How'd it go? Jack: You didn't miss much. We got killed, 11-1. Connor: Eleven to one? Lisa: Yeah. But, tell him how you did. Jack: Two hits. Connor: You got two hits? Jack: I just focus on the ball now.  Connor: Focus on the ball...(He pulls Jack to him and gives him a big hug.) I'm proud of you. Connor to Lisa: Look, I know it's your weekend and all, but I was wondering if I could spend some time with him tomorrow. You know, hit some balls around, just kinda hang out. What do you say? Lisa: I think we can manage that. Connor: See you tomorrow, buddy. Jack: See ya, Dad. Connor to Jack: Good job. Connor to Lisa: Thank you. As Lisa and Jack walk away, Connor's cell phone rings. He looks at the number, but allows the phone to continue ringing for a while, then answers it: Connor.  |
| Screen captures
courtesy of Bev at: Bev's Web RDAOnline |