Original subtitles

The FBI.

A Quinn Martin Warner Brothers production.

Starring Ephraim Zimbalist Jr.

Also starring Philip Abbott, Stephen Brooks.

With guest stars Bradford Tillman, Jacqueline Scott.

Tonight's episode, The Divided Man.

Morning, Inspector.

That is so urgent. Oh, yes. Go right in.

The patrolman reported seeing the first explosion at 12 .53 a .m. In minutes,

the fire had spread from storage tank to storage tank and was raging out of

control. Although authorities are answering all queries with no comment,

reported earlier that the arsonist had gained access by cutting his way through

the chain -link fence that surrounds the plant.

Is that live?

Yeah.

It's still dark in California.

Hydrochem Corporation plant in Long Beach.

Sabotage. Whether or not the sabotage was committed by a foreign power is yet

be determined. However, it is well known that the Long Beach installation of the

Hydrochem Corporation is devoted almost exclusively to the production of rocket

fuel for the country's missile defense system. And, in addition, is a prime

supplier of fuel for our space effort.

At any rate... It is rumored that the FBI has already moved into the case and

will begin its investigation even while the fire is raging.

Damage has already been estimated in the millions with no ceiling in sight.

I'm sending a lab technician along, Carter Graham.

Ian Rhodes will meet you at Dulles Field in an hour.

Not a way.

Lewis, you know what the implications are here.

We may be moving a little too far ahead with our space program for some people.

Or this might be a major effort to cripple our defense system.

According to the minute we have anything.

Fire units from neighboring San Pedro have been pressed into service, and we

understand that Los Angeles has offered assistance.

But from the looks of things, the daylight hours will come long before

violent inferno is brought under control.

This is Roger Mason, room 2G. I'd like to place a long

-distance call to Tucson, Arizona, person to person.

Your party's number?

Never mind, operator. Thank you.

Get that off to the lab right away.

You think you can get a good impression?

They're readable, Mr. Durant.

Mr. Durant, the office just radioed that Inspector Hurston's plane is on time

and they want to know if you'll still be able to meet him.

Yeah, there's nothing more we can do here till the fire's out.

Name? Mason.

First to last.

First, my name is Mason Rogers.

Address? I'm from out of town. Miss, can I do this later, please? I've got to

see the doctor quickly.

Oh, yes, of course.

Please stop by on your way out. Thank you.

I'm Dr. Spinner.

Mason Rogers.

Yes, Mr. Rogers.

Well, would you like to sit down and... Doctor, I'm very concerned about a

friend of mine.

Yes? Please sit down.

Well, he, uh... He woke up one morning and he realized that he'd done something

the night before, only it was as if he hadn't done it. I mean, it was as if

somebody else had done it.

I see.

And, uh, can you tell me what it was he'd, uh... Something very bad.

But he'd never done anything like that in his life before, never.

Well, do you, uh... Do you know if he'd been under any kind of emotional stress?

Any, uh... Emotions?

Well, his wife had left him, uh... Only a few days before.

He loves you very much.

Anything else?

Well, his life is devoted to research.

His work is very important, very important.

They shouldn't have taken him away from it, but they did. They make him go out

and sell.

Talk to people, and he doesn't like that. He can't bear it.

When he has to stand up in front of all those executives, those engineers, he

freezes.

Sometimes his mind seems to blank out. He hardly knows what he's doing.

What does he sell, Mr. Rogers?

A product he developed himself in the laboratory.

That's where he should be right now. There's so much to be done.

Well, suppose he, uh...

He refused to put himself through this ordeal and went back to work.

What would happen?

Well, the company would probably go bankrupt.

He'd lose everything.

A man's wife ought to understand that, shouldn't she?

She shouldn't have left him at a time like this.

Mr. Rogers.

Have you ever had this feeling before?

Of being somebody else?

I'm not talking about myself.

I'm sorry.

Mr. Rogers.

Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Now boarding at gate seven.

I'd like to start gathering the bomb ready to do as soon as possible. I

understand you've hinted one of the arsonists.

Well, the arsonist was after the rocket fuel, all right. Looks like a certain

foreign power is trying to tell us something. Were the tanks labeled in any

Brian? Only with the code numbers.

Then you'd assume he knew his target advance.

Employee? Or ex -employee. He had to cut his way in.

I've got a list of names.

Employees, ex -employees, visitors.

Miss, here are my keys. Would you check the car in for me, please? I'm trying to

make a Tucson flight. Flight 426 for Tucson, now boarding at gate 6.

Lou, I got a report from Washington on the list of names we gave him.

Yeah, nothing that looks like a saboteur.

We did turn up something from the Long Beach police, though. A hardware store

was broken into the same night the fire started.

There was a chain cutter missing.

Well, Roger, what... Paul, the world has not come to an end just because I'm

back. Well, what are you doing here?

Roger, I heard about the fire.

Does that have anything to do with... I mean, does it affect us?

I don't know.

Well, you talked with our engineers yesterday.

Yes.

What did they say?

They had me look at the plant facilities to see how much re -engineering it

would take to adapt to our process.

That's wonderful.

They're interested.

What counts.

That means others are going to be interested, too. We can let them bid for

Why'd you come back here? Why didn't you go on... What is your next stop?

Western Dispel, it's Los Angeles.

Paul, I want to wait until we hear from Hydrochem.

They'll make us a fair offer.

Are you serious?

Ten years of work?

Everything we have, you, me...

The whole country, we cannot risk it on one bid. All right, then you go sell it.

Well, I wish I could.

And I wish you could understand my end of the business. Maybe you'd realize how

close we are to bankruptcy.

Paul, I belong in that laboratory out there.

The space program's moving much too fast for me to waste my time doing Walter's

work. Well, I hardly think Walter dropped dead to put this burden on you.

Oh, listen to me. Even if they buy the process, it'll be outmoded in a year.

I've already got some new ideas.

A solid fuel that'll revolutionize... Roger, there's not going to be a

laboratory for you to hide in if you don't... What do you mean, hide?

It was a bad choice of words.

I'm sorry.

But you've got to face facts, Roger.

Nobody else knows how to explain your process to these chemical companies.

Whether we sink or swim, it's entirely up to you.

Roger.

You talk to Karen?

I had dinner with her last night. I think she still loves you.

She has a strange way of showing it, wouldn't you say?

I am in chemistry. Get me Inspector Erskine, please. Field office, Los

Yes, Carter.

I've completed examination of those soil specimens in the Long Beach fire.

Yes? We found titanium -2, probably held the explosive.

Inspector, only personnel in aerospace or aerodynamic work would have ready

access to that material.

And we found ammonium nitrate, indicating the presence of dynamite.

It's a pretty good guess that whoever did it used some kind of standard

device. Yes, sir. Our suspect might have had military training.

Hello, Roger.

Leonard called. I was expecting you.

Would you like to come in?

It's just a furnished place. It was the first one I found.

Well, Karen, I don't understand why you'd want to move into a place like

Would you like a drink? I have some beer.

Yes, I think I would, please.

Did the fire at Hydrochem happen while you were there? Did you see it?

Yes.

It's in the paper there on the coffee table. The center section, I think.

Karen, why did you leave?

Just when I have all this added responsibility, the whole thing has been

on my back, Karen. Everything. You don't know what it's like.

I know what it's like to be alone.

I'm a research chemist, Karen. Sometimes my mind gets full of what I'm doing,

and I... Roger.

Why don't you give it up?

My work?

You can find another job.

Something that will leave room for us.

No, no, no, no.

A wife doesn't walk out just because the going gets tough.

She stands by.

Karen will need you.

Well, you never did before, so why now?

Because you have to do something you don't want to? Because you have to leave

your hiding place?

What is the matter with everybody? Wait!

What is it, Roger? Another headache?

You didn't see a doctor, did you?

Art, it was a dead end. We haven't been able to turn one print in the hardware

store. What about the saboteur's car? Any leads there?

Well, the lab says the tire's a standard.

We're combing the area for someone who might have seen the car, but it wasn't

much traffic. It was late.

It's late now, Lewis.

Art, we're doing everything we can.

Well, if he tries it again, we'll know it wasn't enough, won't we?

Goodbye, Lewis.

Passengers for Tucson, flight 714 may claim their baggage at the street

entrance.

My name is Roger Mason. Is my car ready?

What are you doing there?

The manufacturer and the size match the ones stolen in Long Beach.

Yeah, this rough metal just won't hold a print, Inspector.

There's nothing we can use.

Well, get it off to Washington right away.

Let's hope the lab can match it up with the tool marks in the detection event

they've got.

Lou, if that tool turns out to be the same one used at Hydrochem, what does

do to our ex -employee theory?

I could have worked at both places.

Or visited both.

I'd better get a list of names from the Western distillate people, too.

I want to place a collect called Tucson, Arizona, person to person to Mr.

Paul Leonard.

One moment, please.

What do you mean? You didn't keep the appointment?

Why not?

I got sick, Paul.

I went there. I drove in the gate, but I got sick.

Well, what'd you do? Pick up some kind of a bug or what?

I guess so. I don't know.

I'll call Western and tell him what happened.

Well, maybe you can arrange to stop by there on your way back from San Diego.

Yes, I'll try to do that.

Now, you will go to San Diego, won't you, Roger?

I know how you feel about this, but we... Yes, yes, yes.

All right.

Call me from there.

Anything unknown subversives in the area? Not a thing, Lou. Nothing that

gives us a direction.

Nobody here or ought to be someplace else? No movement at all? I've had a

from every field office in the country.

We're getting absolutely nowhere. Not one solid lead. Nothing but dead ends.

Lou?

What do you think of this?

Just got back from the personnel offices of Western Distillates.

They had a visitor yesterday, a Roger L. Mason.

He made an appointment, but he canceled. He phoned in to say he wasn't feeling

well. What's the point?

He was also at Hydrochem on the 12th.

What's his interest in rocket propulsion?

Apparently nothing very destructive. He's developed and improved fuel, and

taken it to various petrochemical companies for bids.

Hydrochem's considering it.

He's a research chemist?

Mm -hmm.

He's a partner at KPW Laboratories in Tucson.

He'd know how to build a bomb.

Call Military Records in St. Louis. See if he was in the service.

Yes, sir.

Inspector Erskine, will you get me the senior resident agent in Tucson, please?

What was his name? Ellis Harmon.

Yes, Inspector. What can I do for you?

Harmon, I want a quick background investigation on a subject in your city.

Just a discreet inquiry to find out whether he ever had any subversive

tendencies.

Yes, sir.

This is room 16. I'd like to place a long -distance call to Tucson, Arizona.

Your party number?

Area code 602 -622 -4699.

Hello, who is this?

Roger.

Mason checks out okay, Inspector, aside from a family problem.

Okay, give it to me.

Well, he was born in Milwaukee in 1930.

Graduated from high school there. Got his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate

Caltech. Highly respected in his field.

Any subversive tendencies?

None. Not vocal at all on ideologies. Never a joiner.

Devoted his life to chemical research.

He's one -third owner of KPW Labs.

Has he ever been out of the country?

No record of it here, sir, and he's lived in Tucson for the past ten years.

Another dead end.

I beg your pardon, sir.

Lou? Hold on, Harmon.

Mason was in the Army. Lieutenant. He was an expert in demolitions.

He was captured by the Reds, brainwashed, refused to defect, and was

back.

He cracked up, and he was discharged on a Section 8.

Brian, how fast can an Air Force jet get me to Tucson?

Forty -five minutes.

Harmon!

I'll set up interviews with Mason's family, business associates, anyone

him. And his doctor, if he has one, and meet me at the airport.

But it just doesn't make sense, Mr. Erskine.

Unless you can tell me why a man would destroy the very project that could

justify ten years of the hardest work a man ever put in.

Maybe he worked too hard, Mr. Leonard.

Look, spending two -thirds of his life in that laboratory was his idea.

He loved it.

It took wild horses to get him out of there. I told him that he was not going

have a laboratory to hide in if he didn't... Hide from what?

Things he didn't want to face.

Like bankruptcy.

Mr. Leonard, do you know anything about his army service in Korea?

It started before he was captured.

Even before he was in the army, while he was still in school.

Started how?

Well, he was a brilliant student.

And he felt so strongly that his place was in science.

He resented having his studies interrupted by the war.

So even before he left, the thought of it used to bring on these violent

headaches.

And now they're back.

When did they start recurring?

Well, he hadn't had them for years until... until Walter died and Roger had

leave the laboratory.

One last question, Mrs. Mason.

Is your husband handy with tools? Does he use them often?

No, he's... he's a research chemist.

This is Tumar Gunit.

I have an urgent report for Inspector Erskine.

Try the field office, Los Angeles.

He's been working out of there.

Lou, I'm just going to call you.

I've got a report here from Toolmark Unit in Washington.

They have a make on the chain cutter found at Western Distillates.

The Toolmark's placed positively at the scene at Hydrochem in Long Beach.

Good, good.

How about Mason? Can you tie him up with a chain cutter?

Not yet, but we can place him at the scene of the fire if we can match up the

tie impressions with a car from Brooks Rent -A -Car.

It's hard to tell if the company always uses them.

I'll put a tire expert on it right away.

Sounds like you've come up with something.

I talked to a psychiatrist. He tells me he thinks it's possible Mason is

schizophrenic.

Yeah.

Two different people.

Yeah, he could be striking out at the petrochemical plants because they

represent a source of the pressure he feels.

It's all tied up with his wife leaving him, the sudden death of his partner,

threatened bankruptcy, everything.

Then he could keep right on setting fires, couldn't he?

Yes, and it looks as if his next stop is, um...

bay gas and chemical in san diego he's supposed to be staying at the royal

hotel relay that to bill converse in san diego tell him to interview mason right

away right and get down there yourself jim meet me at the airport i'll be there

by dark

Well, Mason's our boy, all right.

The tires matched.

Converse got any leads at all?

Well, he never did check into the Royal Palms, at least not under his own name.

And he didn't keep his appointment with Bay Gas and Chemicals, either.

That ties into what the doctor said.

He's liable to split wide open at any moment. Yeah, but there is one thing he

did do on schedule, though. He rented another car from Brooks here at the

airport.

Converse put it on all points, and he's got several cars cruising the roads

around the chemical plant.

This is it, all right.

I'll call in.

87 to Converse.

Go after him. Don't let him even strike a match in there.

Converse clear.

23 to all cars.

23 to all cars.

Proceed at once to Bay Gas and Chemical Plant. Main gate.

Subject at large in plant area.

48 to Converse. 48 to Converse. Come in.

Converse. Go ahead.

Bill, Inspector Iskin.

We just got in, so he'll probably get there ahead of us. But go ahead and

your men in the area. See if you can dig up a layout of the plant.

Yes, sir. I've got two men in there already.

Okay, boys, stand by.

Where do we stand, Bill? Nothing yet, Inspector.

You can see what we've covered on the chart here. He's in there somewhere.

Oh, and I've put men around the perimeter, too. If he tries to get over

fence, I'll spot him.

Is he armed?

I hope not.

One shot fired in the wrong place, this whole plank can go up like a fireball.

I've instructed the men to keep their guns holstered in the danger areas.

Unit 9 to Control.

Go ahead, 9.

Area J has been searched. No subject.

Unit 9, move to Area K.

9 to Area K. Over.

Unit 4 to Control. Come in.

Go ahead, 4.

I think we've spotted the subject, sir. One of the agents saw a man under the

ceiling plan carrying a blue canvas bag.

In Area M.

All units.

All units.

Converge on Area M. Repeat.

All units, converge on area M. Exercise extreme caution. Do not use firearms.

Repeat, do not use firearms.

Let's go.

Inspector, he's up there somewhere. That's the main unit and it's highly

explosive.

He's carrying an incendiary.

Let him go.

Let him go.

Put that thing down.

Walk away from it.

Well, they're taking him to the hospital now.

The doctor assures me his burns aren't severe.

Well, it's a relief to know the destruction ends right there.

If it had been a foreign power, the apprehension of one saboteur might have

only the beginning.

I'll tell you something, Arthur.

If I have to go around anticipating the patterns of schizophrenics, I'm going to

take a course in psychiatry.

Then you'll be sorry.

Well, from now on, Lewis, we'll see to it that you get only cases that involve

normal, well -adjusted enemies of society.

Good night, Lewis.

Good night, Arthur.

Thank you.