The FBI
Title not known
German title: Das mörderische Quartett
(First aired: 1971)
A young man (Robert Ryders) spots a young woman next to the street having trouble with her bike. He invites her to come with him. After some hesitation, she agrees. He talks about planning a bank robbery and other criminal acts, but she thinks he's just joking. She soon learns about his true character. A highway patrol officer stops the car because he was driving too fast. Checking the car, the officer finds the car isn't stolen. Back in his car he is told that the car is stolen - so he goes back. Before he can talk with the driver, the driver shoots the officer..
Louis Erskin (Efram Zimbalist Jr), from the FBI, works with the local police. The wounded officer describes the young man, before falling into coma. A short while later they find the young woman. She tells them he took her hostage but then he let her go. He never mentioned his name but she saw him take painkillers, and she helps them make a sketch. Inspecting the car, they find a package of aspirin. Then they hear another truck has been stolen.
In a restaurant, the young man overhears the conversation of a teenage boy looking for a job with the owner. No openings - so the boy leaves his address - his name is George Arbot (Rick Culman). The young man invites him to lunch. Taking his revolver, the young man forces them to give him all the money from the cash register. Shocked, one of the other guests - a trucker - tries to attack him. George gives him a warning and the young man shoots his attacker in the shoulder. He tells George to grab the money and the key of the car from another guest. After they left the police were called.
Stopping in a forest, George doesn't feel too well though he gets his part of the robbery money. After being warned he's too young and that the young man has a 'mission' to fulfill and is willing to take every risk, George still wants to be a partner. The young man eventually agrees and gives George his weapon as a gift - one of the many he has in his small travel case. Then they meet 2 other boys George had met 2 weeks ago - Roy Sheen and Michael Nabot. (One of them is played by Mark.) The boys are happy that George came back. They are looking for some thrills, too. Fascinated, they want to know how many jobs he has already pulled. They want to become partners - want to get their 'chance'. They'll have to pass a 'test' - they agree and get their own weapons.
Another young woman tells Erskin a bit more about George. He was hitchhiking and she picked him up. George fell in love with her - wanted more, but she wasn't willing. He called her repeatedly, and gave her his address. Erskin asks her to contact him again if George calls her again.
Worried about the toothaches his partner has, George wants to take him to a dentist but he refuses, telling him his father almost died from one. And he starts talking about his plans, how he wants to get his younger brother out of jail because he feels responsible for him - no matter what. His brother killed a police officer and now awaits trial.
Erskin learns that George left his family weeks ago to have some 'adventures' - that he was never in trouble before. They found more evidence in the truck - a cloththat drenched with clove oil used when you have toothaches. He decides to give flyers to every drugstore owner and dentist in the area. George calls the young woman again but what he tells her doesn't make much sense to her: he has now a partner - a business man. He wants to call her again and then meet her at the 'Grovenor'. They find out it's a cinema. Once there, they wait. One of Erskin's team is near the entry, cleaning windows. Then 2 young men arrive - looking a bit nervous. It's the 'test' they have to pass: a robbery. But Erskin and his team arrest the boys who try to get away. Both boys are 18 years old. They only can tell Erskin that the young man is called Dall and that he plans something big.
Finally, George takes his partner to a dentist. The dental hygienist recognizes George and shows the doctor a small note asking him to call the police. He nods. When he tries to give Dall an anaesthetic, George interferes, beating up the doc and leaving with Dall. He still thinks he's Dall's partner but Dall pushes him out of the car. He has to fulfill his mission now alone. Frustrated, he does his first own robbery. During his escape he crashes with a motorbike and hurts his knee.
The owner of the store tells the FBI about that crash - so they know where to look for him. A short while later they find George in Whiteside Emergency Hospital waiting for the doctor. They arrest him. George is worried that his parents will find him in jail to he is willing to help Erskin. He tells them that Dall plans to free his brother. Now they know how he is: D. Victor Foster.
Looking at the newspaper Dall learns that the trial has been delayed. Frustrated he takes hostages to free his brother, Grant. He wants to talk with his brother - but he didn't like what he tells him - that he has already ruined his live and that he doesn't want that his brother frees him. Erskin confronts Foster that has a grenade in his hand. He knows that he has much more in his bag. During a short fight he managed to get hold of the grenade and it detonates outside in the hall.
D. Victor Foster is arrested for murder and the 3 young men, for robbery.