Synopsis of Page 47
Written by TK
Moscow
Sydney cuts the guide wire that is keeping her trapped in the gunfire and swings across the large alley between the two old warehouses. She smashes through the window of the building across the street. The guard runs in and starts running upstairs to get to her. She runs upstairs to get away. She finds an old freight elevator and disappears down into it just as the guard reaches her. He runs downstairs and tries to catch her in the elevator, but she ambushes him, kicks his ass, and gets away. When she exits the building, another man is there with a gun, but Dixon shoots him and whisks Sydney away in the surveillance truck.
Will is in bed. Jenny comes in, obviously having just left the bed to get something to eat. She asks him if he also wants something to eat, and he says he has to rush off to interview David McNeil. Jenny asks him about the dinner next week, and Will has no idea what she's talking about. It turns out she left him a letter on his desk that he never read saying he won the Kaplan Award for an article he wrote last year. He has a black tie dinner he has to attend next week to accept the award. She asks him if he wants to celebrate on Friday, but he says he has plans. She is disappointed.
Later, while Jenny is in the shower, Will calls Sydney's cell phone. She and Dixon are still in Moscow, packing up. Will tells Sydney about the award. She is very happy for him. He asks if she wants to come celebrate with him on Friday, and she says she'd love to.
At Credit Dauphine, Sloane is showing Jack a videotape of Will meeting with McNeil. Unfortunately, they only have video, not audio. Sloane tells Jack that even though Jack said Will wasn't a threat, now that he's talking to McNeil it seems like he really could be a threat. Sloane says they have to take care of Will. Jack says Sloane is being premature, and they should wait until they can get audio so they can hear what Will and McNeil are talking about. Sloane is perturbed that Jack doesn't seem as concerned as he should be. Sloane takes a pill (a painkiller?) for his still injured finger.
Sydney's apartment
Francie is morose about the cancelled wedding and having to send back engagement gifts. She is upset that she can't even bring herself to take off her engagement ring. Sydney points out that she's still wearing hers too. They take off their rings together.
Will comes into work and is congratulated for his award by a small cake from a co-worker, Abigail. He goes to get plates for the cake and gives directions to a delivery guy who is looking for the office of someone upstairs.
The delivery guy gets back into his truck and puts on a set of headphones. He can hear Will's conversation with Abigail.
Sloane is briefing everyone at Credit Dauphine. He says the surveillance in Moscow was great. They have learned that Ivankov's body was shipped freight, packed in frozen cod fish, to the K-Directorate HQ in St. Petersburg. Lavro Kessar, the K-Directorate second-in-command, is missing. They think he's being held as hostage by The Man, and will be exchanged for the Rambaldi manuscript. Everyone is frustrated that they still seem to know nothing about The Man. Marshall analyzed Sark's speech patterns and figured out that he spends a lot of time in Ireland, probably Galway. Sloane says that K-Directorate and Sark are planning an exchange in Tunisia. He is sending Sydney and Dixon to intercept the manuscript and bring it back to SD-6. They leave tonight.
Sydney meets with Vaughn. He says that the few pictures she got of the manuscript in Argentina were fascinating. As best they can tell, Rambaldi was a 16th century inventor who had an almost psychic vision of the future of technology. The manuscript seems to be some sort of instruction manual. They found something about "100 segments" but they're missing more info on it. Sydney should do the same thing again: deliver the book to SD-6, but get pictures for the CIA. Vaughn also asks about Sloane's wife, Emily. Sydney says they used to be pretty good friends, but Emily has been really sick lately and Sydney hasn't spoken to her since she found out the truth about Sloane. Vaughn tells Sydney to get back in touch with Emily, go over to her house to visit her, and plant a bug. Sydney is outraged that Vaughn wants to use her friendship with an innocent woman, but Vaughn convinces her of the good that it could do.
Sydney calls Emily. She asks Emily how she's doing and says that she misses her.
Will and McNeil are talking. McNeil says his lawyer assures him his daughter is safe. Will reports that 42 companies use McNeil's encryption software. Will has had time, so far, to check out 18 of them. Of the 18, six have a similar board member: a man named Alain Christophe. Christophe retired from the CIA 12 years ago. From '82 to '89 Christophe was head of counterintelligence at Langley. McNeil smiles and says that SD-6 should be afraid.
Will is driving, and speaking into a hands free cell phone, ordering someone to get more info on Christophe and to get "North by Northwest" tickets for Friday night. Suddenly, he is cut off in a tunnel by a van. A bunch of masked guys with guns jump out, put a bag over Will's head, and kidnap him.
In Tunisia, a skimpily clad Sydney talks her way aboard the K-Directorate boat and disables the agents aboard. She finds the Rambaldi manuscript, and wastes valuable time taking pictures for the CIA. Sark arrives, and Dixon warns Sydney. Sydney, with no time to make a proper getaway, just decides to drive off on the K-Directorate boat. Sark watches the boat drive away, unaware of who is piloting it.
A hooded Will is deposited in an old warehouse and punched in the stomach when he tries to talk. A masked figure with a distorted voice plays a tape for Will of Will's last conversation with McNeil. The masked figure says that Daniel Hecht, Eloise Kurtz, and McNeil's wife were all innocent victims, a matter of circumstance. It's up to Will whether or not there are more innocent victims. The masked figure shows Will pictures of his family and loved ones and recites their names and addresses, the last of which is Sydney herself. The masked figure says this is Will's last warning. Will is then knocked out and his hands are untied. The masked figure leaves, pulling off his mask as he goes. It's Jack.
A man reports to Sloane's office, saying that he's questioned everyone from the boat. He reports that the captain was a civilian, and knows nothing. Sloane says to kill the captain then.
At home, Sydney answers her phone when it rings. It's Emily. Emily thanks Sydney for calling before. Sydney guiltily says that Emily doesn't need to thank her. Emily says she's been feeling better lately, and asks Syd to come over for dinner, and to bring a friend.
Syd reports to Vaughn that she's going to dinner at Sloane's house. Vaughn gives her the bug to plant in Sloane's home office. Vaughn mentions that they've been looking over the pictures of the Rambaldi manuscript. One page, page 47, is blank. In other Rambaldi books, page 47 is always a very significant page. Jack is working on how to get the page out and replace it with another blank so that the CIA can analyze it. Vaughn asks Sydney if she's going to bring a friend to dinner as Emily suggested.
Will's cell phone rings. He wakes up in the abandoned warehouse, lying on the floor in a puddle of sunlight with a bruise on his face. He answers his phone. It's Sydney, apologizing for changing their plans at the last minute and asking him to dinner at her boss's house. Will does his best to pretend nothing is wrong.
Jenny picks up Will. She asks what happened, but he refuses to talk about it. She says she'll take him home and make him some mending noodle soup that her grandmother used to make. She starts chatting about how Will needs to meet her grandmother. Will rather unceremoniously interrupts her and dumps her. She stops the car, furious, and kicks him out, saying she's also quitting her job.
Francie is trying to figure out how to phrase her "the wedding was cancelled" notes with returned gifts. She reads a sample to Sydney. The phone rings, and it's someone asking for Joey's Pizza. Francie, who answered the phone, comments that they need to change their number. Sydney says she has to go out to get a bottle of wine for tonight.
Sydney, in her dinner attire, meets Vaughn and is surprised to see her father there as well. The two men report that Sloane has the Rambaldi manuscript at home, and it's being picked up by a courier to go to Germany on Monday morning, so tonight is their only chance to steal the blank page and replace it with a fake. Syd is nervous about it. Jack says he'll be there to back her up. The plan is that Vaughn will call Syd's cell phone during dinner pretending to be a distressed Francie. Syd will go to Sloane's office to take the call in some privacy, and will break into Sloane's safe and do the switch. Syd mentions she's also bringing Will, and Jack is none too pleased to hear that. Jack leaves. Vaughn tells Syd to only make the switch if she feels like she can get away with it. Vaughn tells Syd she looks pretty.
Sydney and Will arrive at Sloane's house and Emily greets them warmly. Will shakes hands with both Jack and Sloane, and makes chit chat about how Jack is now doing some investment analysis for the bank where Sydney works. Sloane takes Sydney to his office to show her the Rambaldi book, in case she didn't get a chance to look at it before. She says she didn't even have time to open it. Sloane mentions that a courier is taking it to England on Monday for analysis. Sloane talks about how he's sort of obsessed with Rambaldi. Sydney says she's not sure she's a believer yet.
At dinner, Emily raves about the article that Will wrote last year on the immigrant worker who helped a bunch of illiterate illegal Mexican immigrants escape their evil slave driver in Los Angeles. Emily voted for Will to win the Kaplan prize. As Emily and Will wax poetic on this hero of a man who was working for the devil, and how the devil is now in jail where he belongs, Jack and Sydney obviously see the parallel to their own lives. Emily suddenly grows still and Sloane rushes to her side, asking if she feels okay. Emily recovers, apologizing to her guests and saying that she's adjusting to new medication. Sydney's cell phone rings. She tells everyone it's Francie and goes to Sloane's office to take the call.
The following scenes alternate between the dinner table and Sloane's office
Sydney goes into Sloane office and begins to break into the safe. At the table, Sloane asks Will what story he's working on now. Will avoids the question, but Sloane pushes it a little. Sydney opens the safe and pulls out the manuscript. Jack offers to go get another bottle of wine. Will compliments dinner. Syd pulls out the blank page and replaces it with one from her bag. Jack pokes his head in to check on Sydney and almost scares her to death. Jack comes back out with a bottle of wine, but Sloane says he had something special in mind and goes to get it himself. Sloane walks into his office just as Sydney finishes closing the safe. He tells her she looks pale. She says Francie is in bad shape. She walks out of the office, and Sloane looks a little suspicious.
The next day Jack, in Sloane's office, tells Sloane that Will Tippin won't be a problem anymore. Sloane says that security section already told him what Jack did. Jack is not too pleased that Sloane had him followed by security section. Sloane says that Will has another meeting with McNeil this afternoon. Jack says Will is probably going to tell McNeil that he's dropping the story. Sloane hopes so, but if not, he's got someone in place to take care of Will immediately.
As Will walks into the prison, a guy casually bumps into him, placing a bug on him. The guy gets into his car and puts on headphones. He listens to Will's conversation as he puts together a gun and a silencer. Will meets with McNeil. He tells McNeil he was kidnapped and he has to drop the story. Jack is listening in on the conversation too. McNeil urges Will not to give up, and tells him that SD-6 could kill him anyway, even if he does drop the story. McNeil says that exposing SD-6 is the only insurance Will has. Will considers McNeil's argument, but then says that SD-6 threatened his family and friends, and he just can't put them in danger. The man with the gun starts to take it apart. Jack sighs with relief.
Vaughn is in his office, about to rush off to a meeting, when a guy from the CIA sci-tech department comes to him with the Rambaldi document. He says they figured out how to read it. Vaughn looks at the document in shock and cancels his meeting.
Sydney rushes to meet Vaughn. She asks him what was so urgent. He tells her how they used the liquid that Cole tried to steal from SD-6 to make the ink appear on the Rambaldi document. He shows it to her. It's a sketch of a woman's face surrounded by text, and the woman looks eerily like Sydney herself.
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