Question: Build a movie plot around this: Whose fingerprints are on the evidence? Pedranski
Answer:
The film opens with a hostage situation in South Dakota where FBI Agent Art Jeffries, who, as the inside man, protects a 15 year old kid named James while trying to talk a bank robber named Edgar Halstrom into surrendering. However, the FBI task force kills the robbers and James. Jeffries confronts his superior, Hartley, who tells him he'd report to Washington. An infuriated Jeffries punches Hartley for that and for James' death.A cryptographic code called "Mercury" was created by the National Security Agency and allegedly so complex that its creators believe no computer on Earth can decipher it. Originally it was created during the Reagan Administration as a test to keep the United States' highest priority secrets under wraps. One day, the NSA receives a message from a nine-year-old autistic savant named Simon Lynch who calls a telephone number written in the code which was secretly published in a puzzle magazine by two of the creators, Dean Crandell and Leo Pedranski, to see if anyone could break it. Crandell and Pedranski's division chief, Lt. Colonel Nick Kudrow sees the boy's ability to decipher the code as a liability and rather than rectify the problem adequately, instead plans to silence Simon, sending a hit man, Peter Burrell and his partner Shayes to murder the boy and his parents, Martin and Jenny.After shooting Martin and Jenny, Burrell searches the house, fails to find Simon, and leaves at the sound of approaching sirens (Martin was able to call 911 before dying). Jeffries, who has been demoted following a diagnosis of delusional paranoia, is sent to investigate what is initially thought to be a murder-suicide of Simon's parents. While investigating the scene, Jeffries finds Simon hiding in a cache of his bedroom closet and takes the boy under his wing. Jeffries begins to realize the difficulty of protecting, let alone questioning Simon, because of his impaired social abilities as a result of his autism, but the Chicago PD agree to assign a protection detail to Simon. Burrell tries to kill Simon...