01x05 - House of Wisdom

[bunniefuu]

[bell tolling]

[reporter speaks
French on radio]

[door opens, closes]

[footsteps approaching]

Hey.

It's so good to see you.

[Taylah] Hey.

It's been too long.

Cathedral burned down.

[Jane sighs]

Yeah. The whole
city's in mourning.

I saw the smoke when I
came in on the train.

[Jane sighs] It's a
tragedy. For everyone.

What about you?
How are you doing?

[Taylah sighing]

Have you spoken to
the boy's parents?

[Taylah inhales deeply]

Are you okay in there?

- [sighs]
- It's really good to see you.

[Taylah sighs]

[breathes deeply]

You were always
such a smart kid.

Precocious.

Always had to have
the last word.

- [sighs]
- Like a professional litigator.

- Even at four years old.
- Look, Jane...

if you're trying to make me smile or
laugh, it's-it's-it's not gonna work.

Okay.

What am I doing here?

Your mom didn't tell you?

She told me you
had a job for me.

And you were curious
enough to get on a plane?

Good for you.

I wanted to thank
you for what you did.

What I did?

I know it was you.

What? You think I can
just wave my magic wand?

- [scoffs] Yeah.
- [chuckles]

[chuckles]

You know what I think?

I think something happened.
And it was very sad.

And now you can either let it define
you or you can put it in the past.

Where it belongs.

If you understand that going to
jail isn't going to bring him back,

then you can move
forward with your life.

Some people, just born
to burn very brightly.

And you're one of them.

You're gifted.

All we have to do now
is figure out how.

Here's my work details.

{\an8}Give me a call.
When you're settled.

Okay?

- [footsteps departing]
- [sniffles]

[door opens, closes]

- Are you free?
- [driver] Yes. Please, come on. Get in.

[clears throat]

[phone rings]

Taylah, you there yet?

[Taylah] Just landed. We need to speak to
Andrea Lavin and get access to the site.

Okay, listen. I
did some digging.

You were right.

Syracuse has been compromised.

Someone hacked the
NSA's operating system.

So, it's just you and me now.

Closed circle.
Report only to me.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

Just take care of
yourself. [sighs]

You too.

[line clicks]

[Andrew] I love Baghdad.

City of unanswered questions.

You know, you can still disappear
pretty much anything in Baghdad.

Sure. [sighs]

You know, this Brooks kid is
something else. [clicks tongue]

- Too smart for his own good. Sadly.
- [file slams]

Problem, Jane?

No.

- No problem.
- Good.

I've just contacted Kasim.

Kasim's still in Iraq?

Oh, yes.

He's tracking
Brooks as we speak.

Okay.

But, Andrew...

Mm-hmm?

If she is harmed in any way,
I will hold you responsible.

Well, if she's harmed in
any way, I probably will be.

[buskers singing in Arabic]

[door opens]

- [Taylah] Hmm. Connecting rooms.
- [sighs]

Don't you knock?

- What?
- Nothing.

Yeah.

Look, I need you to talk
to Andrea Lavin. Now.

What do I... What do I say to her
when she asks what we're doing here?

I don't know.

Tell her... [stammers] ...you
have important information

and you gotta see her
as soon as possible.

Look, we need access
to that site, Ed.

- [sighs]
- That's why we're here, isn't it?

[phone beeps]

- [sighs]
- Hi, it's Andrea. I can't get to the...

How is it going?

The inscriptions
are extraordinary.

But my work has only just begun.

There's so much
here to translate.

All of these were found on
the floor of the chamber.

It's French.

Seventeenth century.

We're not the only ones
who have been down here.

[market patrons chattering]

[Andrea] We need to
trawl the records.

See if any excavations took
place in the late 1600s.

- [Akram chuckles]
- [phone rings]

- Excuse me.
- Of course.

[Ed] Andrea, I've been
trying to call you.

- Edward.
- I'm in Baghdad.

What?

- I'm with someone.
- Wha...

- We need to talk to you.
- Okay.

Do you know the Abbas Café?

Yes, I know where that is.

Okay. We'll head there now.

[Andrea] Okay. See you there.

Everything okay?

Robert's PhD student.
He's here in Baghdad.

I have to go see him now.

Sure.

What's going on there?

[Akram sighs] The gas expl*si*n.

There were a number
of casualties.

How many?

Five dead. Others wounded.

[Andrea] Oh, my God.

Nothing's ever
just clean, is it?

- [Akram sighs]
- There's always a cost.

Right. Uh...

Okay. Um...

Um, Andrea,

I know this may
come as a surprise,

and I'm sorry that I'm the
one that has to say it...

but your husband, he
didn't take his own life.

He was m*rder*d.

m*rder*d?

[Taylah] Yes.

I'm sorry.

And this understanding is
based on what, exactly?

- Uh, she's...
- [stammers]

She's an agent with the US
National Security Agency.

Sh-She... She does surveillance.

You've been watching my husband?

[Taylah] Yes.

For how long?

Years.

Years?

You were watching him.

And me, I suppose.

Our house. My home.

So basically, you've
been spying on us.

The voicemail that he left you on
the day he died, it wasn't real.

It was generated by AI.

The message was faked.

And by who... [stammers] ...it's
not exactly clear at this point.

[sighs]

But we think it has to do with the work
that he was doing on prime numbers.

That we, NSA, believed at
the time he was working on,

but actually, the work was Ed.

[sighs] Look, I know that
this is a lot to take in,

but we're here because
we need your help.

Remember what we
said about my work?

- About Safiya?
- Stop. Please.

You see, when I
heard "suicide..."

I didn't believe it.

I knew it wasn't
Robert. I... I knew.

[sighs]

I told you something
wasn't right. Remember?

I've been so angry with him.

Angry with him for leaving.

For being such a coward.

[Taylah sighs]

And now you need my help. Now.

After spying on me for
years. [breathes shakily]

Violating my privacy.

Well, no.

It doesn't work like that.

Look, I-I know that
this is a shock...

Shock?

I've known you for ten
minutes, young lady.

All we need is access to the site, so
we can start to figure out why and...

Don't push me.

- Andrea...
- I'd like to be alone now.

[sighs]

Hmm.

[sniffles]

[Mallinder, on voicemail]
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 trying to say goodbye,
but it's not easy.

I'm so sorry.

[people speaking Arabic]

Why'd you really come find me?

[Taylah grunts]

The truth?

I couldn't let another
person die because of me.

Before Mallinder and Olson,

I lost the person I loved
in a motorcycle accident.

And I was driving.

I couldn't deal with it.

And then there was
Jane. My Godmother.

- [Ed sighs]
- [scoffs]

You know, usually people
say something at this point.

Like, "It wasn't
your fault," or...

- [Ed stammers]
- [sighs]

Well, I... [stammers]
...wasn't there.

- [chuckles]
- So...

God, it amazes me.

How you're able to
disconnect from everything.

What do you mean?

All this death and
chaos around you,

and somehow you just
still focus on the math.

[chuckles] Thanks.

Oh, that's not a compliment.

What I'm saying is that this is the
price you pay for things that you do.

Like, people can get
hurt. People can die.

And that's my fault? [scoffs]

- Well, I...
- Sorry, I'm just... I'm...

[stammers] What are
you trying to say?

That it's about accountability.

Right. Accountability.

Yeah, I've heard that one
before. [inhales deeply]

- [scoffs]
- Scientists have had that thrown at them,

I don't know, since
Galileo. Servetus. Landau.

I'm just saying... [stammers] ...the...
[sighs] the truth, discoveries, ideas,

they're not intrinsically
good or bad.

It's what you do, it's what
other people do with them.

- No, that's a cop-out.
- But it's not a cop-out.

You can't stop the truth.
That would be the real crime.

We weren't talking about me.

We were talking about you,
and now we're arguing.

[stammers] We're not
arguing. I'm just simply...

- Never mind.
- [sighs]

[sighs]

Look, I know I'm-I'm
not like most people.

I do know that.

I don't have a lot going on
in my life, but I have this.

This idea.

And I know it's out there,
and I... and I can't...

I can't just walk away from it.

Okay, Archimedes.

I get it.

I guess it's up to
me to keep us safe.

[knocks on door]

Hey, Cole... [speaks
indistinctly]

Okay, we got the green
light to execute Brooks.

Kasim is standing by.

That didn't take long.

I know. Reminds you of
the good old days, huh?

- [chuckles]
- But, Jane,

there's a lot at stake for both
of us here, so we do this fast.

We do this right. Before he unearths
something we can't shut down.

Okay. Let me take care of it.

[inhales deeply, sighs]

We need to get Brooks
out in the open.

He's headed for
the dig site later.

There she is.

Good to see you again, Jane.

[inhales deeply, sighs]

[line ringing]

- [Taylah] Hey.
- Hey. I'm just checking in.

How'd it go with Andrea Lavin?

[Taylah] Ugh, God. Horrible.

She kind of freaked out. Sh...

Well, that sounds to me
like a shock reaction.

No, I-I know, I know.

I'm just, um... I'm worried
she won't let us into the site.

But we can try
again later, right?

Yeah, yeah. I-I hear you.

Um, but this time,
let Edward go alone.

Um, you think?

Well, Andrea doesn't
know you, right?

She knows Edward. So
there's a connection.

Look, Jane, I don't
know. He's not really...

I mean it.

Give him the space he needs.

Look, Jane, are y... are you sure
that's the right move though?

It's the smart move.

Promise me.

- [Taylah stammers]
- [Ed] Hey.

- Uh, look, I gotta go. Bye.
- Taylah.

- [Ed] Should we go?
- Yeah.

sh*t. [sighs]

We should talk about yesterday.

Look, I'm sorry.

Walk with me, will you?

I listened to the message again.

Okay.

[Andrea] I couldn't
hear anything unusual.

[announcer speaking Arabic]

Your friend. How
reliable is she?

Everything she's told
me has proved true.

And she has her boss at
the NSA protecting us.

Target moving
through the market.

[announcer speaking Arabic]

Who's with him?

[market patrons chattering]

Same white woman in her 50s.

Anybody else?

Concentrate on the target, Jane.

[Ed] That dinner at your
house. Your tablecloth.

I think Robert's death
was somehow connected.

[Jane] Kasim.

Nobody else. 100%.

Target locked?

Yes.

Neutralize target.

[Andrew sighs]

[inhales deeply, sighs]

sh*t. [panting]

Ed!

[pants] Excuse me.
Excuse me. Excuse me!

And I bet he was trying to
get me to abandon my work.

I think he was
trying to protect me.

He knew more than he was letting on and
the answer might be in that chamber.

Ed! Ed, behind you! Move!

Ed!

- [announcer speaking Arabic]
- Excuse me! Move!

- [market patrons clamoring]
- What is this? What's going on?

- Kasim?
- [Kasim grunting]

- Kasim.
- [grunting]

[panting]

[both grunting]

[Bogdan panting]

[both grunting]

[breathing heavily]

[both grunting]

- [grunting, chokes]
- [grunts]

[Kasim panting, grunting]

[choking]

[Bogdan grunting]

[Kasim choking]

[panting]

[grunts, panting]

[panting]

Hey. [grunts] Hey.

[sighs]

Kasim?

- [grunts]
- [Jane] Kasim?

Did you get Brooks?

Kasim!

Did you get him?

[breathing heavily]

[gasps]

[Jane] Kasim?

[breathes shakily]

Edward Brooks. Akram Nizar,
our chief archaeologist.

- [Akram speaking Arabic]
- Hi.

[stammers] Uh, it's a
real honor to be here.

Is she giving you
the grand tour?

- Yes. I can't wait.
- Okay. Let's do it.

Let's go.

[Taylah] Hey.

- Hey, you okay?
- Yeah.

Wait, wait, wait.

We don't want too much
disturbance down there.

- You'd better wait up here.
- Yeah. Okay.

Hey, what's going on?

Uh... [sighs] ...nothing.

- [Ed] No. Something's wrong.
- [stammers] Go.

Just do your thing.
I'll see you after.

[Ed] They stood here.

[Andrea] What?

The makers. The people who
actually created the maths.

Musa al-Khwarizmi.
Father of algebra.

"The man who made zero."

Yeah.

You don't know what this means.
[sighs] To me. Being here.

Well, actually I do.

Nah, I mean, to be
stood in this place...

[sighs, stammers] ...where
the ideas were born.

[stammers] It
changed everything.

[sighs]

Where are the maths tablets?

Here.

[speaking Arabic]

Prime numbers.

What else does it say?

I haven't translated it yet.

Uh, can you try? Please?

- "As for the set of..."
- Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on.

"As for... [stammers] ...the set
of prime and incomposite numbers,

it is infinite."

Um.

"Just so are

the prime and
incomposite number..."

Are you able to decode this?

Yes.

The essence of
maths is universal.

It's... [stammers] It's
the language of ideas.

You can bury them
for nine centuries,

but... [sighs]
...they're still here.

His thoughts, no one's ever
been able to translate them.

But if-if you did, then I might
be able to understand the concepts

and turn them into algebra.

This could be a
prime number theorem.

[both chuckle]

[sighs]

[Bogdan grunts]

[shutter clicks]

[Andrea] "The ratio of
two to..." something.

"Constant number multiplied
by a... a natural number."

Yeah, there's a gap here.

Quite a large part is missing.
The writing's been eroded.

[Ed] What?

No. No, no, no, no. Wha-What
do you mean? What happened?

[Andrea] Most likely
water erosion.

I need that part. With-Without it,
this is... this is meaningless.

I can do this, Andrea, and-and
I haven't come all this way

- for something like this to stop me.
- Stop.

I understand, but I think we
should take a little break.

[Ed] Andrea.

I need... I need to finish this.

It's waited 900 years.

- [sighs]
- It can wait another day.

[sighs]

[Andrea] Edward, come on.

[phone chimes]

[breathing deeply]

[Andrew] I just got off
the phone with Baghdad.

- [door closes]
- Local police filed a report.

Is that it?

Well, we're trying to get more
CCTV. We'll get more intel.

But look at this.

[sighs] What the hell happened?

Kasim was exceptional.

Well, clearly he was taken
out by someone better.

So we have company?

Yeah, someone else is
tailing our mathematician.

But who? State? Non-state?

- China?
- Organizatsiya?

Look, it doesn't matter who. The
fact is, it's out of the box now.

Ed Brooks? No longer
our little secret.

So we need to back off. We can't
be seen anywhere near this.

Or...

Or what?

Look, we're blind here.

Whoever these people are, we don't know
what they know about the prime finder.

We have to.

You're not suggesting we build it?
'Cause that's a dangerous game.

We've spent years trying to stop
this global threat. That's over now.

Brooks likes your girl, right?

So we keep them together,
we keep him safe.

Wrap him in Bubble Wrap if we
have to. Whatever it takes.

And when he finds his holy
grail, then we pounce.

But Jane, for this to work, your
girl has to be with us 100%.

We need to bring her
into our little circle.

Can you trust her?

- Of course.
- Jane.

Can you trust her?

Yes, Andrew. I can.

If we can't stop this weapon from
being created, we have to control it.

- [speaking Arabic]
- [vendor chuckles, speaking Arabic]

- [speaking Arabic]
- [speaking Arabic]

Bye.

[shouts] What are you...

- Shh!
- [in Arabic] Leave me alone!

[in English] Andrea Lavin.
I do not wish to harm you.

[stammers] I'm a
colleague of Charan's.

I... I knew him.

[breathes heavily]

Read this. [inhales sharply]

This is a structural report into
the expl*si*n at Bayt al-Hikma.

- Well, that was an accident.
- I-I gave this report to Charan.

A-And he said he would try
to help and... and you see?

[breathes shakily] You
see what they did to him?

- [elevator dings]
- Who?

- I have to go.
- [stammers] Who are you?

- People are looking for me.
- Yes, but how did you get this?

[breathing heavily] I wrote it.
Don't trust anyone from the site.

- [Taylah] Andrea.
- Can I come in?

[Taylah] Yeah.

- [Andrea] Listen to this.
- [door closes]

"In my opinion, the gas expl*si*n theory
does not fit the facts on the ground.

The chamber seems to
have been revealed

by the use of a carefully
positioned expl*sive charge."

It was deliberate.

And he said he gave this to my friend,
and that's the last time he saw him alive.

[Taylah sighs]

Okay. So who else have you told?

No one. I came straight to you.
This is your world, not mine.

Hmm.

So now you need my help?

Okay. Well, first. For your
own safety, tell no one.

- We don't know who else knows about this.
- Mm-hmm.

I say you and Ed go back to work
and act like nothing ever happened.

I just...

What?

No, I just keep thinking,
whoever k*lled Charan...

were they the same
people who k*lled Robert?

Look, Andrea, I don't know.

But we'll figure it out.

I promise.

[door opens, closes]

- [speaks Arabic]
- [speaks Arabic]

[Bogdan speaks indistinctly]

[Nizar speaking indistinctly]

[water dripping]

[Ed] What are you searching for?

[shutter clicks]

You're looking at the damage
from the expl*si*n. Why?

[Andrea] I'll tell you later.

Andrea, we need to figure
out this missing piece.

[sighs]

There's some evidence French
archaeologists were here,

back in the 17th century.

They kept excellent records.

I wonder if maybe...

Look here.

I think those are paper fibers.

So?

Can you throw the light on?

Before photography,
before scanners,

if you wanted to make a record
of something like this...

[shutter clicks]

...you either had an
artist make a copy of it

or you made an impression.

Like a brass rubbing.

So you'd press damp paper onto the stone
then peel it off very, very carefully.

The French call it estampage.

Then what happens to it?

Well, like most things from
the past, it disappears.

But if they survive, they
get collected in museums.

Berlin has a very big
collection. Athens too.

Maybe they did this
before it became eroded.

It's worth a shot.

[scoffs] Yeah. Okay.

Uh...

So?

How is it going?

[Ed] Uh, we're not...
we're not there yet.

There's a missing section.

- [Akram] Right.
- Yeah.

[Akram] Where does that
leave you, exactly?

Not sure. And the... the
French coin could be a lead.

You know, if any
early archaeologists

- have been here...
- We'd better be getting back.

Good night.

Good night.

[Andrea] I think we shouldn't talk to
other people about what we've found yet.

- Hey.
- [Taylah] Hey.

[in Arabic] I wonder if the
French archaeologists...

[in English] Estampage...

Of course.

[phone chimes]

[keys clacking]

[mutters] It's online.

[sighs]

[Andrea] Here, see.

That's it, isn't it?

It's in Orléans, in France.

Part of the Mersenne Collection,
housed in the university's archive.

Does it show the missing
piece? Is it legible?

They only show the upper
half of the panel. Sorry.

But it is the same
panel. I'm sure of it.

It has the same spiral
pattern you were drawing.

How do I see the rest of it?

You go to Orléans.

[footsteps approaching]

[Ed] We found it. The missing
piece from the chamber.

- It's in Orléans.
- Great.

- When do we go?
- Uh. [exhales sharply]

Look, there's something I
gotta tell you guys. Okay?

What's wrong?

Well, yesterday at the
marketplace, um... [sighs]

- [Ed] What?
- I think that someone tried to k*ll you.

Wait. What? k*ll me?

Yeah. The k*ller was stopped
before he even got to you.

- [Andrea] Stopped?
- Wait. Whoa, whoa.

- [sighs]
- How? By whom?

Um...

This guy. His name
is Bogdan Vlahovic.

- It's the guy from the dig.
- [Taylah] Exactly.

He's an ex-mercenary
soldier and g*n for hire.

I mean, you name it.

- What are you saying? What? Uh...
- [phone buzzing]

Uh.

Sorry. I'm saying that people
are paying attention, Ed.

To you and to everything
that you're doing.

Some people want you dead. And
other people want you alive.

Okay. And somebody, presumably one
of the above, blew up a street.

[Ed] Blew up a street.

- You, uh... You mean the site?
- Yes.

So you've known
this for how long?

Which part?

I mean, take your pick.

Look, Ed, there's
so much going on.

I'm trying to
understand it myself.

- Okay?
- Okay. But who actually are these people?

[stammers] Is it Kaplar? Is it...
Is it cousins of Kaplar? Who?

- I don't know. Ed... [stammers]...
- Who's trying to k*ll me?

- ...please be quiet. Stop.
- [cutlery clangs]

[sighs]

[sighs] Look, I don't know.

I don't know. Okay. I
know as much as you do.

But I say we catch a flight to
Paris. We try to get to Orléans.

Try to look at this missing piece
and create your prime finder.

And in that, we have control.

Something to bargain with.

And look, Andrea, I don't think
it's safe for you to stay here.

I can't leave.

Not before the chamber
has been documented. No.

I don't think you understand.

I do and thank you.
But I will stay.

Take this.

All my translations
are on there.

And... please find
out who k*lled Robert.

Be careful.

Let's go.

[Jane sighs]

[grunts]

- [groans]
- Okay, finally.

- [Jane sighs]
- Check your inbox.

What am I looking at?

[Andrew] Courtesy of
our friends in Baghdad.

Look.

- Who is that?
- They're running a match as we speak.

[sighs]

[Jane sighs]

[breathes deeply]

[sighs]

[phone buzzing]

[Taylah sighs]

[Ed] Hmm? You're
not gonna get that?

Hmm? [sighs]

[buzzing continues]

Why aren't you getting
it? It's-It's Jane.

- [Taylah] Okay.
- [phone beeps]

[Jane] I sent you a text.

When you get to the airport,
go directly to check-in.

There are two tickets
under your names.

We're going to get you
and Edward on that flight.

Let's just get you home. Okay?

Taylah.

[Taylah sniffles]

Taylah, what's wrong?

[sighs]

Did you get him?

What?

It's a shame about
what happened to Kasim.

[sighs]

[sighs]