Assassins

From above the chopper blades of the police helicopter chasing the cab below – we see the cab appearing, disappearing, and reappearing from underneath a viaduct below.

The cab passes under an overpass. They lose sight of it, but it'll only be for a moment as they move up and around.

EXT. CAB YARD – NIGHT

The cab appears from around a corner sliding quickly into a parking lot. Rath slips out the door and disappears.

EXT. CAB YARD – AERIAL – NIGHT

Down below we see a parking lot full of cabs and the first police car to arrive.

EXT. PARKING LOT – NIGHT

The other cop cars pull up. As the police begin to search, and the helicopter hovers overhead, we follow

the beam of the Zenon light up to the chopper where everything becomes white...

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. HOTEL ROOM – NIGHT

The white of Rath's computer screen.

Rath types, calls up a file. A chess game sets up in four neat rows. A line reads: "Game Started May 5, 1980"

The pieces move, accompanied by COMPUTER VOICE notation of the move and the date they were made. Rath studies the screen.

RATH

Fifteen years and I still remember.

(watches)

Those were good moves, Nicolai. You were the best.

The screen and the computer voice both ask: "ENTER NEXT MOVE". A beat before Rath types in the move Bain gave him.

RATH

Bishop takes rook pawn.

A big moment as the computer moves: Bishop takes rook pawn. A beat and the screen starts to flash: "CHECK. CHECK. CHECK." Rath can't believe what he's seeing.

COMPUTER VOICE (V.O.)

Game in check.

RATH

(softly)

I'm a mark. A mark... Who the hell is Miguel Bain?

A pause. Rath finally clears the screen, types the access code, waits. As the system comes on line.

Contractor: "Hello, Robert."

Rath: "Who the hell is Miguel Bain?"
 

Contractor: "That's no way to talk to a lady."

Rath: "Who???"

Contractor: "The name Bain is not familiar"

RATH
Are you setting me up?

(a beat)

Is this how it went, Nicolai?

Rath: "He was there. He stole the contract."

Contractor: "I'll make inquiries, Robert."

RATH

I bet you will.

Contractor: "$2,000,000. That's the bonus on the next contract."

RATH

I quit. I'm gone.

Rath moves to shut down the rig, but then hesitates.

Contractor: "Robert? Are you there?"

RATH

Two million. Two million and I'm gone.

Rath: "Location?"

Contractor: "Seattle."

Rath: "The mark?"

Contractor: "Surveillance epert. Selling a synthetic heroin formula to a Dutch buyer.."

A beat as Rath thinks things over. Then...

Rath: "Conditions?"

Contractor: "Retire the mark, retire the buyer and retrieve the information. A computer disc."

Rath watches as miniaturized pages flash on his screen. Many of an angular-faced Dutch man. His henchmen. A complete file, except...

Rath: "The surveillance jacket on the seller?"

Contractor: "A ghost. All we have is an internet logo."

The transmit prompts again. The screen goes black except for two green, slit-iris cat eyes. Under that, "MEOW@comsat.next". And as we move in on the eyes:

MATCH CUT TO:

INT. ELECTRA'S APT. – ELECTRA'S KITCHEN – PEARL – DAY

A live cat with the same eyes. She watches as a kid's remote control dump truck whirs past her. In the truck bed, a bowl of tuna fish. Pearl chases. Her pride stops her. She waits, pounces as the truck backs up. Pearl wins. As she eats...

Electra sets down a remote control, kneels to watch Pearl eat. A surveillance genius, an "information assassin," Electra depends on smarts and intuition to succeed in a dangerous world. Like most geniuses, she's a free spirit.

ELECTRA
Mmmm. Hungry Pearl.

Electra steps over to check on the progress of a coffee machine. Almost done.

As she waits, she flips through a packet from "One Hour Photo."All photos of Pearl. Electra stops to study one.
 

ELECTRA
(shows Pearl)

I like this one, baby. It's your good side.

She pours coffee, takes a sip, sighs with satisfaction.

EXT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT BUILDING – DAY

At the base of three massive transmit towers. Two stories, eight apartments. We see Electra enter her second floor living room. In the apartment directly below we see a young couple (JENNIFER & BOB) fighting.

INT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT – LIVING ROOM – DAY

Like the control booth of a low-rent network television show. TV's of various size, make and quality are stacked and set in a semi-circle around an overstuffed chair.

Electrical cables and bundles of fiber optical cable are duct-taped to the walls. Some disappear through holes punched in the floor, others the ceiling. They hang like vines in a jungle.

Electra settles into her chair. Flicks a remote. The CD PLAYER KICKS IN SOME MUSIC. The first two TVs show empty apartments. A third – an old woman rolling out dough. The view is wide-angle, from above. Just like a cooking show.

ELECTRA

Yummy.

Electra switches on another TV. Jennifer and Bob's argument.

BOB (V.O.)

(TV)

I don't give a shit what your mother thinks. I'm not sleeping with your mother; I'm sleeping with you.

JENNIFER (V.O.)

(TV)

You won't be for long with that attitude.

Electra turns UP the VOLUME, leans forward as the drama unfolds.

BOB (V.O.)

(TV)

Jesus, Jennifer, if you're so god damned worried about your mother's approval, why don't you move back home so she can pat you on the head when you do something right.

ELECTRA

Jerk.

Electra's PAGER SOUNDS. She barely looks at it.

Jennifer starts to say something, but stops, trying to keep herself from crying.

BOB (V.O.)

(TV)

Oh good. Go ahead and cry.

Jennifer exits the room, slams the door hard behind her.

BOB (V.O.)

(TV)

You like to slam doors?

Electra switches one of the sets to a shot of Jennifer crying in her bedroom.

BOB (V.O.)

(TV)

I can slam doors too!

Bob exits the apartment, slamming the door on his way out. Electra switches all the TVs to shots of Jennifer. She watches, listens to her cry.

Affected, Electra reaches out, her fingers lightly touching the screen. She isn't simply a voyeur. She cares about these people's lives. As her PAGER SOUNDS again...

TELEPHONE TABLE

A system like Rath's. Electra picks up a cellular, dials. As a woman's voice answers, Electra clicks a stopwatch.

WOMAN (V.O.)

Room one-fifteen. Slipping a filter over the mouthpiece, Electra responds in a deep baritone.

ELECTRA

I have the merchandise.

(or alternate)

I have the disc.

She picks up a computer disc, holds it at arm's length.

WOMAN (V.O.)

The buyers arrive at noon. Flight 10-55.

Electra covers the receiver, thinks things through.

ELECTRA

Off the plane. Customs. They're Dutch... A half hour.

She twists the filter to the high pitch of a child.

ELECTRA

I'll attempt contact at 12:30 and every fifteen minutes after that.

WOMAN (V.O.)

You have the hard copy images?

Electra reviews photos of the Dutch, similar but not the same as Rath's.

ELECTRA

Affirmative. What do I call the principal?

Electra checks the stopwatch. Forty-eight seconds...

WOMAN (V.O.)

Call him Remy. How will they know –

Electra hangs up, sticks the disc in her pocket.

ELECTRA

They'll know.

EXT. ELECTRA'S APARTMENT – DAY

Electra comes out carrying Pearl's porta pet and a shoulder-slung duffel bag. She puts them in the back in her Mustang convertible. Hopping in, Electra pulls out of a parking spot identified with her apartment number.

EXT. THE HYATT – DAY

It has a big day ahead of it. Electra's car drives past the main entrance and she turns into the parking garage entrance.

INT. PARKING GARAGE

Electra pulls into a spot up front, hands the attendant $20.

ELECTRA

Keep it handy.

He nods. Sunglasses on, carrying her duffel bag and porta pet, Electra heads for a bank of elevators. She steps in.

INT. HYATT – ELEVATOR – LOBBY LEVEL – DAY

From inside, the doors open at the lobby level. A man and a woman with a white fur coat step inside.

Backed in a corner, Electra stares at a veritable wall of fur. She doesn't like it. Setting down the port-a-pet, she reaches into her duffel for what looks like a canister of breath spray.

INT. UPPER FLOOR – HALLWAY – DAY

The elevator doors open. None the wiser, the couple step out. As they walk down the hallway away from us we see a large circle with a slash through it on the back of the fur coat. As the doors close we hear.

ELECTRA (V.O.)

You're welcome, Pearl.

INT. AIRPORT – INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL – DAY

We hear a SCREAMING JET OVERHEAD.

Four Dutch men exit the jetway. They look like lions in leather jackets. They move predatorily, REMY recognizable from Rath's computer info.

INT. THE HYATT – ROOM 718 – DAY

A laptop computer, a transmitter and a remote intercom rest on the coffee table. On the computer, Electra scrolls through airline flight information. She finds KLM flight 1055. The screen flashes: Arrived.

INT. UNITED TERMINAL – ESCALATOR – DAY

Looking past a digital clock we see the Dutch ride down the escalator, jumpy.

INTERCOM (V.O.)

Mr. Remy, to the white courtesy phone. Mr. Remy.

Remy looks to his #2. Suddenly, the four of them pound down the escalator steps, snaking between people, pushing others out of the way.

WHITE COURTESY PHONE

Remy picks up the receiver. His men fan out, ready for trouble.

REMY

Hello?

ELECTRA (V.O.)

Are you ready to go shopping on the Home Information nextwork? The price is $40,000.

REMY

Where are you?

ELECTRA (V.O.)

Are you ready? Yes or no?

REMY

Yes.

INT. THE HYATT – ROOM 718 – DAY

Electra's on a cell phone.

ELECTRA

There's a payphone bank in the Hyatt Hotel by the elevators. You got twenty minutes.

She hangs up, clicks her stopwatch.

INT. UNITED TERMINAL – DAY

Remy hangs up, motions to his men to follow. As the Dutch move away, we RACK FOCUS back to a man in the background.

It's Rath. Looking absolutely non-descript. He waits till they're almost out of sight before following. Rath scans faces as he moves. Someone else may be here as well.

UNITED TERMINAL EXIT

The Dutch exit. Rath's about to follow when he spots a young man turning away to a cash machine. Bain?

Drawing the .22, Rath closes the gap, spins him. The young man, holding his cash, turns into the barrel. It's not Bain and in an instant the gun is gone. Rath is shaken, but nearly as much as the young man. Rath moves on.