Principle

 John Miller‘s family is left back in the mid-west when he was a teenager.  He soon learned that he was a math wizard, sailed through advanced mathematics courses, and later specialized in big data.  Though he stopped practicing his religion, some aspects of his past never went away.  In particular, he still abhorred violence and used modern facilities as minimally as possible.

Sara was his girlfriend from college days. She also loved a simple life. Got attracted to John because of the philosophy he practiced. What worried him the most was the rise of neo-Nazism sending shock waves across the USA. To use his mathematical skills to predict terrorist activities well in advance he applied for a new opening in the FBI’s anti-terrorism department and was selected. Soon after his appointment Sara and John got married.

Mitchell was his new companion at the job. She was a modern woman who loved all new technologies and would be always amazed at the advances the AI was making. John used to show the limitations and would tell her that one should use and ride the new technologies as they can never replace the human brain. Though she would mock his reliance on human intelligence, she became his good friend.

After analyzing a series of suspicious chatter that has planted many code words John realizes that though the date and time are not confirmed the terrorists are going to attack a mall pretty soon. He somehow manages to convince his superiors to have that Mall closely guarded and as soon the terrorists enter the Mall, agents can foil their attempt and catch them red-handed.  His boss gives him a chance and arranges a small team to keep vigilance on the mall. Curious to know the accuracy of his results, he also decides to join the team as an observer.

Sara is very happy because she has good news to tell John that she is pregnant. John is happy that night. The next morning, while manually cleaning the home, Sara tells him that she needs some shopping to be done and she will come in late afternoon. John nods and leaves for his job.

Mall. At some distance, FBI agents are keeping an eye on the mall. John is busy re-calculating the probability of his prediction over the laptop. As time progresses, the agent's vigilance is relaxed as nothing suspicious activity is detected. Mitchell as usual starts casually making fun of his predictions, leading to the arguments. John suspects as he cannot see anybody coming out of the Mall. He is about to pronounce his doubt to alert the agents, he sees that Sara is approaching the entrance of the Mall.

Terrified John jumps out of the van and tries to attract Sara’s attention. But as she is in her reveries cannot notice him and enters the mall. John rushes towards the mall, against protests from his colleagues.  He listens to the shrieks from Sara. His heart is racing as he gets in, and stops as if frozen. Two terrorists are already inside and have taken 10—15 people as hostages. Sara’s face brightens as she sees John being present at the scene.  Without caring for the terrorists, she runs towards him but terrorist tries to hold her back.  Looking at the distraction of the terrorists, a young mall attendant grabs the opportunity and jumps on one. The Gun of the baffled terrorist slips out of his hand and falls in front of John. John is in a dilemma about whether to lift it or not. Sara is yelling at him to take the gun, but he cannot. Risking her life she rushes towards the gun, but at the same moment FBI agents are at the door with guns ordering terrorists to surrender.  Desperate terrorists shoot at Sara and only then surrender.

Fatally wounded Sara dies in John’s lap. With all dreams shattered John keeps on blaming himself for pregnant Sara’s death. Mitchell consoles him but blames his moral convictions. John reasons with her but in vain.

His department is happy because of John’s accurate prediction about terrorist attacks. They encourage him to follow his impeccable  skills in analysis and predictions better than advanced AI.  John continues to work with the FBI with laurels on his head but intense grief in his heart. He keeps to himself though Mitchell tries her best to pull him out of his miseries.

His new boss, Major William Tanner, though did not much believe in what John was doing with constant remarks that  “Co-incidences do not make the science”. William was six and a half feet tall, ripped, and a veteran of the Iraq war.  He was a hothead and preferred to go in blazing guns and ask questions later.  Needless to say, William and John were barely on speaking terms.  William would have kicked out John had it not been for William’s boss who understood the value of John’s work.

John hates to be alone as memories of Sara start surfacing as soon he is done with his work at hand. He keeps on increasing his workload though not demanded from his superiors. Working late nights till he is exhausted, he returns home. He can feel watching Sara manually washing the clothes or cleaning the home. For some time he has lost sense of being.

However, because of his predictions, three possible terrorist attacks are foiled. He is now getting some clues that Al-Quaeda may also participate in terrorist activities again. He turns FBI on the high alert despite staunch opposition from Tanner. Mitchell also is very serious now because she has experienced John has never gone wrong in his mathematically supported predictions. She had to admit that human intelligence is superior to AI. She fights on his behalf with skeptical colleagues and superiors.

One day suddenly John tells her that he would like to practice a gun. Mitchell can understand his point and takes him to the shooting house where FBI agents practice shooting. John is disturbed when he enters that place and listens to the shots being fired. Mitchell holds his hand and takes him inside. She hands him a revolver and teaches him the basics as to how a revolver functions and leads him to the range. John, undetermined, holds the gun, his emotions go on exploding, lifelong nourished values and the violent present gets engaged in a battle and he sweats. Mitchell commands, “Fire John at the target…”

John drops the gun and cursing himself, runs out.

“I just cannot overrule my ethics…no gun…no violence ever…” says he to irate Mitchell.

With endless efforts, from big data analysis, John realizes that there are more than one terrorist and all of them must be of Iranian origin.  He figures out that they must be planning to set explosives in a New York subway station.

Tanner of course disagrees with his prediction.  He is convinced that there is one lonely wolf behind the threat if at all there is one.   

John and Tanner continue bickering. Mitchell keeps on convincing Tanner that the ratio of John’s successful predictions is 100% accurate and he cannot go wrong this time too”. John gives his reasoning supported by the data and clues he has gathered from the select call recordings.  

Slowly William comes to accept the fact that the attack might happen in New York but he is still adamant that the attack is going to happen in a shopping mall.
Based on the inputs provided by John, the FBI gets an alert when more than one Jihadist enters the United States. There is also an indication of the possible date of attack but no indication of the target, while John is adamant that the target is the subway as he could predict it from the data.

When John finds that Tanner yet is not convinced, he starts hunting for the Jihadists and starts getting closer to them and pinpointing their destination of attack. Suddenly he gets hold of one piece of conversation and he is startled. He knows now that the attack is going to happen in one hour. He alerts Tanner but Tanner is adamant and thinks, as his other colleagues have falsely predicted, the attack is going to take place on X shopping mall and prepares to rush there. The entire force is on its way to X Mall.

Frustrated with the stupidity of Tanner, John is left with no choice but to travel to the subway station where he is sure an attack is going to happen.

Hamid, the jihadist is already at the station with his accomplice.  They are all prepared to launch an attack from two entrances of the station, trapping everyone inside.  Hamid decides to grab a coffee since he needs to wait for 15 minutes.  Something interesting happens when he is having his coffee.  A young innocent angel-looking girl walks up to him and says Hello.  She asks where the jihadist is from and welcomes him with the words “Welcome to America”. The girl’s mother whisks her away. Hamid watches the mother and daughter cynically.

John meanwhile is hunting for suspicious terrorists in the station.  He is aware of how the plan will be executed by terrorists. He looks desperately everywhere. He does not find any.  Meanwhile, Hamid walks towards the other end of the subway while speaking on the radio with his other associate who is going to blast the other end as soon metro enters the station and bombards and shoot blindly the entrapped commuters.

John sees through the crowd a man walking hastily toward the end of the subway. Getting suspicious John dashes through the crowd and reaches him. From behind he kicks him hard. Hamid loses his balance and falls, and while getting back to his feet he wields his gun.

But now mad with rage, without caring for the imminent threat, John knocks him flat. He snatches his gun and asks where his accomplice is and what he is going to do. Hamid, after receiving hard blows, tells him that his accomplice is at the other end of the subway and he is going to explode as soon train enters the station.
Hearing this John wants to kill him, but cannot, rather hits his head hard to make him unconscious, and as he looks ahead, he senses the train is approaching the station.

He, like mad, holding the gun, runs towards the other end of the subway.  
As if the race between life and death.

Now, when Mitchell curses Tanner as the activities are normal at the X Mall, feeling that John must be right this time as well, hurries toward the subway with her colleagues. 

John, while running is exasperated, shouting at the people who obstruct his way…his eyes are searching for the terrorist.

He manages to reach the end of the subway.

The train has been slowed down to a stop.

And he notices the terrorist who is waiting for the signal from Hamid.

He is confused as to why the explosion at the other end hasn’t taken place…
And John notices him.

He points his revolver at him and asks to surrender.

The terrorist is determined. He is about to push a button. John is still undetermined. His fingers quiver. He looks back at the train and the crowd of innocent people.

He closes his eyes and pulls the trigger. The terrorist is dead. His falling like an uprooted tree reminds him of Sara. Tears trickle down his eyes.

Listening to the sound of a gunshot, people are terrified.

He looks at them, desperately wanting to say, “Calm down, the threat is over…”
His voice is muted in that noise.

He looks at the dead body of the terrorist and at his gun.

Now surfaced FBI agents are rushing towards him.

He gives a sad smile.

The trickling of blood from the terrorist’s chest and the resemblance of the blood flowing through Sara’s stomach make him crazy….

Before Mitchell and the FBI team can reach him, he raises the revolver and places the barrel on his temple.

Mitchell’s voice echoes, “No……”

He pulls the trigger…

As his body falls, Mitchell holds him and gives a heartrending wail.

The End
 

(Basic concept by Harshavardhan Deshpande)