what's in the case?
you're always lugging that case around. i'm curious.
what do you sell?
must travel a lot, huh?
whole country, or just hereabouts?
how's your wife feel about it?
she must get lonely, with you gone all the time. does she?
do you get lonely?
ya miss fucking her, harold?
did it myself. it's sort of a hobby. i've got more. would you like to see them?
tell me: those jokes about the traveling salesman and the farmer's daughter - are they true?
here. this one's my favorite.
really says it all, wouldn't you agree?
that's a matter of opinion.
there's a rest stop, next off-ramp. pull into it.
nobody wants your money, harold. just pull in.
because i don't wanna do this at 70 miles an hour. it could be dangerous.
mrs. speck?
just wanted to offer my condolences. i didn't know him well but.  i think harold was a much more complex man than people realized.
i'm very sorry for your loss, ma'am.
hey, listen, i'm sorta new in town. ya know where i can find a good donkey show?
oh. forgot. wrong country.  in america animals have rights. don't they, virgil?
turn around.
turn around!
yes?
agent mackelway. come in.
the name of this theory was "suspect zero." the idea of suspect zero posits that if a serial killer were diabolical enough, he could traverse the country without ever being caught, killing randomly.
tell me, what makes a killer catchable?
now imagine a killer with no patterns, no tell-tale fetishes, no rituals, no hidden desire to be caught. a perfect vessel of evil, killing without ever leaving a single meaningful clue in his wake.  he'd be immune to capture, wouldn't he? your task forces, your forensics teams - they'd be helpless.
as a citizen of the world, it's hard not to. wouldn't you say? evil is all around us, i think - a part of the natural order of things. like gravity. like wind. a vast black wave, corrupting everything it touches. a virus invades a cell, causing it to dysfunction. perfectly logical. but did it ever occur to you that something may have invaded that virus, something capable of using it to mutate so powerfully?
just because something's invisible to us doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
have you ever seen a fifty-foot shark?
a shark, as we know, will only attack humans if he runs out of food. but biologists have theorized that for a shark of fifty feet the ocean would be an endless buffet. he'd never run out of food, so he'd have no need to come to the surface. consequently, we would never see him. do you follow? we'll never see one. but that doesn't mean they don't exist. hence suspect zero.
some of my colleagues think i'm fascinated with evil. i think the truth is just the opposite: evil is fascinated with us. what better vehicle could there be for creating havoc in the world - what better instrument - than man? we're vain, we're stubborn, we're deceitful, we have an imagination that is limitless in its perversions. of course evil keeps trying to harness us. wouldn't you?
excuse me.
evening, officer.
'course. is there a problem?
sure.
officer, i am carrying something that could be construed as a weapon. i'd like to hand it over, voluntarily, so you won't think i'm trying to conceal anything. would that be all right?
it's a hunting knife, right here on my hip.
i was on my way to the woods. my gear's in the trunk. would you like me to hand it to you? i don't know what the procedure is for something like this.
happy to.
a fifty-foot shark.
ya know, i used to be in law enforcement too.
mmm-hmmm. fbi. 'course this was some years ago.
psy ops. classified.
oh. sorry. just found myself wondering what was inside that truck.
of course.
read anything interesting lately?
i've found him, you know.
zero.
myths don't kidnap little boys. do they?
was she pretty?
i could hear her moaning, right under the navajo chanting. whole thing was downright tribal. what's she look like?
fair enough. we'll stick to business: how'd ya like my old room?
"hope house." you were there.
dyson re-paint it? my room. did he re-paint it?
but you saw what was underneath, of course.
no. you tell me.
well, well.  must be quite a moment for you. congratulations.
waiting for you.
awfully conventional - don't ya think?
apprehend the fugitive, then call it in for your pat on the head.
i'll get over it. but i'm not too sure that little boy will.
the one from the diner, in denton.
i can find him.
same way i found starkey, and speck, and fulcher.  and you.
i need someplace quiet - someplace i can concentrate.  and your assurance that once he's located, we go get him together.
then i can't help you.
i'm talking about uncompromised justice. no trials. no lawyers. no hiccups in a chain of evidence that can set a monster free. you of all people should be able to appreciate the value of that.
i won't be doing this much longer. actually, this is the end of it. i've
come to accept that. but there is one last thing to--
do we have an understanding?
good. this is good. sort of thing you'd never find in a procedural manual. it tells me i was right about you.
i know. but we have work to do first.
don't pick that up.
this is the guy who put all those pins in that map of yours! and i can take you to him!
right here.
are you afraid?
"imagine a killer with no patterns, no tell-tale fetishes, no rituals of any kind. no hidden desire to be caught. a perfect vessel of evil."
and the name we give that killer.  is zero. are you afraid?
it'd be customary at this point to start praying. i hear a lot of that. haven't seen too many answers though. i wouldn't hold my breath waiting for another janitor to break in here and save you, either. you're alone.
my, my. must be extremely satisfying to watch yourself say something so heroic. i'm almost envious.
the boy's under the bed. in pieces. are you afraid?
i know what you're thinking: "there is pain coming. am i going to take it like a man?" let me put you at ease: you won't. none of them do. men, women, children. they all weep, they all beg. they pass out, they piss themselves. they attempt negotiation: you wouldn't believe how many men have lain right where you're lying right now - grown men, with wives and children back home - offering all kinds of sexual gratification in exchange for a five minute reprieve. it's pathetic. are you afraid? then there's that moment when they realize there's nothing left to be negotiated. they're just mine. and they're helpless. and the look in their eyes, the level of surrender.  well, it's almost pornographic. i put this mirror here because i don't want you to miss it. are you afraid?
how about now?
are you afraid?
hmmm? agent mackelway? are you?
are you?
are you afraid?!
open your eyes! open your eyes goddammit or i'll cut the fucking lids off!!
are you afraid?!?!
stand up.
it's over now. can you stand?
we really do have to go.
this is where he'll be. with the boy. zero. he's coming home today. we're going to be there.
you're ready to come with me now. you've been in the pit. stand up.
soon. i promise.  but not yet.
please.  i'm begging you.
why?
there were five of us. in the program.
we'd come in in the morning, have a cup of coffee, talk about the yankees. then you'd go to your room, with your pen and
your pad of paper, always alone, and you'd try to lock in. son of sam. john wayne gacy. ted bundy. he might be driving his car, or having a beer or brushing his teeth.  or cutting someone's eyes out.
if you did it right, you got all of it: the way it sounded. the way it smelled.  those people were looking up at you, begging you for mercy. it was like being god. . except you're not. because you can't do a thing for them. can't make it stop. you're just watching, helpless.
they wired us into this current, the five of us: darkness, the pit itself. we were plugged right into it. but nobody taught us how to shut it off.  we were just men. and we saw things men shouldn't see. agony, torture, evil - and it never shut off. even now, it's still there.
no. they're dead now.
they broke down. then they opted out. killed themselves.  after a while, those conversations about the yankees became impossible. ya see?
we're here.
all of 'em.
can't let him hit the interstate.
up.
up.
are you going to shoot him?
shut up.
shut up!!!
look at him, mack. he's not human anymore. go dig up that old lady's backyard - you'll find bodies there.  maybe hundreds of them. of course, ya gotta get a warrant first, chain of custody's gotta be followed. one breach, and he walks. my way, he's eliminated; the world is rid of him. it's a lot closer to justice than having some prosecutor tell you you've left a tissue sample in the wrong lab. isn't it?
you have to understand: none of this was arbitrary. we were chosen, you and i. whap! o'ryan just swung that tire-iron into zero's rib cage. we hear bones crack, and air rushing from the guy's lungs. he drops to his knees, gasping.
i saw us here. you did too. thump! another violent swing of that tire-iron, busting up the other side of zero's torso. now both sides of his rib-cage have shattered. breathing is almost impossible.
bullshit! if i'd made my fucking point you would've shot him yourself by now!
or what?
would you shoot me?
i want you to think for a second. about your destiny. who you are. you're cursed, like i am - except you keep running from it. you hear things. you see things. that's why you can't sleep, why your head always aches.
and it's why you are going to let me kill this animal. and then you're going to kill me.
i can't do that, mack. i've seen all this already. for months now.
every time, we're in this field: same wind, same rain. and you.
it's okay. i want you to. i'm begging you to.
i'm tired, mack.
pull the trigger.  i'm not going to jail. now pull the fucking trigger!
fucking coward.
some things are not up to us to decide. they just exist. they're inevitable. this field. this rain. this moment. it has all already happened. you know that. you've seen it too.
shut it off for me.
of course you will. i've seen it.
that's impossible.
you don't understand. those fucking faces
on that map. they call to me. i see their eyes in the dark - they're staring at me: "how did you let this happen to me?" but that's the thing about them - they're like pictures. they never blink. they just. stare, and always at me. that's my destiny, do you see? i didn't help them when they needed me and this is my penance. fine. i accept it. but i'm opting out now, ya get it? i can't stand this anymore! i wanna close my eyes for once and see something other than torture. it's not a bad start, mack. we've made the world a little safer now. speck, fulcher, starkey, now zero. we've made justice. but i get some too. you have to end all this for me. that's why you're here. it's your destiny.
but i've seen it!
yes i can! and you can too! that's why i chose you!
fine. i'll make it easy for you:
look. it's perfect. won't even need a hearing this way. you apprehended the suspect in the commission of a murder. then he turned on you and you fired in self-defense.
these things are bigger than you - haven't you seen that yet? destiny. justice. mercy. they're vast. we're just puppets!
you don't get to decide that!
it's funny. i never saw anyone else out here. did you? mackelway doesn't answer. he can't. o'ryan eyes him.
do it, mack. please. please. i'm begging you.
yet.
thank you.