Original air date: February 6, 1999

Written by: Tommy Thompson

Directed by: Michael Lange

Jarod helps a young woman trained in covert operation simulations that somehow all made the headline news-much in the same way the Centre used Jarod’s simulations.

Jarod’s Discoveries: Poker

Jarod’s Occupations:

Jarod’s Aliases: Jarod

Behind the scenes insights and the Creator’s Take

Official Synopsis

Jarod assists a woman who is being blackmailed into assassinating a politician. Miss Parker finds herself attracted to a handsome stranger.

Inside a bus station, Jarod plays poker with a ticket counter employee and two obnoxious frat boys, Louis and Zipper.  Claiming he has no more money with which to bet, Jarod removes his Omega watch and places it on the table.  Louis values the watch at some four thousand dollars.  Intimidated, Louis throws his cards on the table, giving up a perfectly good hand.  Jarod wins the substantial pot on a bluff.  Shortly thereafter, a nervous woman, Rachel, enters the station.  Rachel attempts to purchase a ticket on the next bus out of town, but when a sedan pulls up in front of the station, Rachel heads for the bathroom.  A large armed man named Oscar enters the bathroom.  Jarod comes to Rachel’s rescue and knocks her attacker to the floor.  Surprisingly, Rachel’s reaction is one of anger.  She storms by Jarod and walks out the rest room door.  Jarod checks Oscar’s pocket and discovers a snap shot of Rachel.  On the reverse of the photo is a phone number and address, along with the letter/number combination “M2.”

Back at the Centre, Sydney and Broots discuss their plans for the upcoming weekend.  It soon becomes apparent that Miss Parker has no plans of her own.

Using the information written on the back of the photo, Jarod locates—and breaks into—Rachel’s house.  Gun in hand, Rachel confronts the intruder.  Jarod notices a photograph of Rachel’s children nearby.  He wonders about their whereabouts.  Their conversation is interrupted when Rachel receives a phone call.  As Jarod listens, Rachel is instructed to meet the caller at Rock Creek Park at 10 a.m.  Rachel uses the gun to knock Jarod unconscious.  When Jarod awakens, the time is 9:43.  He hurriedly makes his way to Rock Creek Park.  There, Rachel rendezvous with Oscar on a carousel.  Oscar gives Rachel a case, its contents unknown.  He instructs her to take the case to the Chester Hotel, where she is to await further instructions.

Meanwhile, a handsome stranger, Thomas Gates, approaches Miss Parker at a gasoline station as she attempts to purchase cigarettes from a vending machine.  Thomas manages to retrieve Parker’s coins from the broken machine.  After handing her the change, he walks away.  Parker finds herself inexplicable drawn to the man.

Jarod follows Rachel to the hotel.  He opens the case…revealing a high-powered rifle inside.  Rachel tells Jarod she intends to use the weapon to get her children back.  She explains that the C.I.A. recruited her out of college, and was trained in the simulation of covert operations.  But slowly, Rachel began to realize that the government was using the simulations to stage covert operations that became newspaper headlines.  Rachel requested a transfer from the head of M2, a man named Alex Renfro.  Her request was eventually granted, and for ten years, she lived a quiet life.  But ten days earlier, her two children were kidnapped.  Rachel fears that if she disobeys instructions, her children will be murdered.  Jarod runs a background check on Renfro.  It turns out that he, along with all of the other members of M2 and their families, died “accidentally” within 48 hours of a political assassination.  Rachel realizes why she was given the rifle.  Later, Oscar drops by the hotel room and gives Rachel a photograph of Senator Reist.  Oscar tells Rachel that the Senator will be giving a speech at Slaton Hall that evening.  He instructs her to assassinate him.  A short time later, Jarod sees Alex Renfro, who is very much alive.

Miss Parker instructs Broots to run a background check on Thomas.  She again encounters him at the gas station.  This time, he invites her to join him for some stargazing through his new telescope.  Their conversation is interrupted by Brigitte, who calls Parker away.  Brigitte orders Parker not to fraternize with Thomas until a thorough background check has been completed.

Rachel locks Jarod in a closet and makes her way to the convention center.  She climbs upward, onto the catwalk, where she aims the rifle at the Senator’s forehead.  Just as she begins to squeeze the trigger, Jarod approaches.  He convinces her to lower the weapon.

Renfro telephones Rachel when he receives word that she failed to go through with the assassination.  Rachel begs him not to harm her children.  Jarod grabs the phone away from Rachel.  He tells Renfro that he has surveillance footage taken of him outside the Chester Hotel.  He threatens to expose Renfro and his operation unless he turns over the children…and gives him 30 seconds to make up his mind.  Jarod then hangs up the phone.  At the last moment, Renfro returns Jarod’s call and agrees to his terms.  When Renfro hangs up, he instructs Oscar to kill Rachel and her family once the tape has been turned over.

Both parties meet at Rock Creek Park, where the exchange is to take place.  Jarod hands Renfro the videotape and, moments later, the children are released.  Renfro slides the video into a cassette player located in the back of the sedan.  On the tape is Jarod, sitting at a table dealing cards.  Jarod addresses the camera, telling Renfro that he knows M2 has no intention of letting Rachel and her family live.  He states that there is a new player at the table… and that Renfro will not like the hand he has been dealt.  Renfro opens an envelope attached to the tape case… and finds a pair of Aces and a pair of Eights inside.  Renfro realizes they are a “dead man’s hand.”  Moments later, the sound of police sirens fill the air.  Renfro and Oscar are taken into custody.

Jarod telephones Parker and encourages her not to let the Centre take away her happiness.  Later, a casually dressed Parker drives to a wooded area, where she asks Thomas to tell her everything there is to know about him.