RONIN

                          LARRY (V.O.)
               What is this?

     INT. A BACK APARTMENT - SAME TIME

     A SYRINGE is plunged into Larry's arm.  Sam is tending to
     Larry's wound.  Sam seems to know what he's doing, as Larry
     is also hooked up to a bottle of plasma hanging on a make-
     shift stand.

                          SAM
                   (answering Larry's question)
               It's a cocktail.  Mostly demerol, cut
               with a little crank because we might need
               you awake in the real near future.

                          LARRY
               Fine with fucking me, we got work to do.
               I don't care what it takes, we are
               getting our property back and putting it
               into the hands of the people who are
               gonna pay us a great deal of money when
               we do.  I don't know about the rest of you
               guys, but I'm not the kind of guy
               to just sit back and take it in the ass.
                   (a quick beat)
               I don't mean that in, like, a literal
               way...

                          DEIRDRE
               Of course.

                          VINCENT
               Finding this package is a thing easier
               said than done.  We don't even know what
               it is.
                   (he looks at Deirdre, and
                    suddenly he's deadly earnest)
               What did we steal?

                          DEIRDRE
                   (suddenly defensive)
               I don't know.

                          VINCENT
               When this whole thing started you made it
               clear: you're running the show.  And I
               don't believe you'd be running this show
               if you didn't know what was going on.

                          DEIRDRE
               Well I don't!

                          VINCENT
               And I don't believe you...

     Vincent's gun is out in the blink of an eye, at Deirdre's
     head, but she's as fast as he is and her gun is drawn as
     well, jammed into his stomach.

                          DEIRDRE
                   (suddenly feral)
               You go shoot me if you want, Vincent, but
               you'll be dead before I hit the ground.

                          VINCENT
                   (matching her intensity)
               I don't want you dead, woman, I want the
               the truth!

                          SAM (O.S.)
                   (with a dead cool in his voice)
               Both of you...

     ANOTHER ANGLE - Sam has the two of them covered with his gun -
     an interesting moment, because he can shoot either Deirdre or
     Vincent, but not both at the same time.  The question is:
     whose side is he on?

                          SAM
                   (continuing without missing a
                    beat)
               ...put your guns down and chill out.

     A BEAT.  And then Vincent and Deirdre lower their weapons,
     followed by Sam.

                          SAM
               Like it or now, we're on the same side:
               we're here and the package isn't.
                   (looks at Deirdre)
               You're not the boss any more, you're our
               partner.  So tell us what you know, so we
               can figure a way out of this mess.

     Sam's look isn't romantic, but it implies a level of trust
     based upon their physical intimacy.

                          SAM
               Now, what did we steal?

                          DEIRDRE
                   (she hates to admit this)
               I don't know...
                   (defensively, off Vincent's
                    look)
               Well I don't!  It's a goddamned mystery
               to me just like it is to you.
                   (quick beat, then reluctantly
                    continuing)
               But I do know who we're working for.  My
               people, and the Russian mob.

                          LARRY
               Your people?  Who the fuck is your
               people?

                          VINCENT
               Who do you think, Larry?  The IRA.

                          DEIRDRE
               And you believed me?
                   (passionately)
               But it wasn't my people who did it.

                          LARRY
               How do we know that?

                          SAM
               Because if they had she'd be gone along
               with the package, instead of sitting here
               with us.

                          DEIRDRE
               Exactly.  Gregor, he was the Russian's
               man.  It was my people came up with the
               idea for this run, but the Russians who
               had the capital to finance it.  Gregor,
               he was their insurance, and I was ours.
               Everybody else was supposed to be
               neutral.  Gregor must've got to Swede...

                          LARRY
               I never did trust that blonde fuck...

                          DEIRDRE
               That's why you were riding with him.

                          VINCENT
               The question still remains: what do we do
               now?

                          SAM
                   (he figures something out)
               Gregor's cell phone...

                          LARRY
                   (to himself)
               What are you gonna do, call him up and
               ask him to give us back our shit?

                          SAM
                   (ignoring Larry, to Deirdre)
               Did he bring that with him?

                          DEIRDRE
               I bought it for him -- all the stuff he
               was using, it was in his contract.  Cost
               a nice penny, too, especially that
               goddamned phone: Gregor had expensive
               tastes.

                          SAM
               Check this out.
                   (he's thinking on his feet)
               Gregor's a spook, or he was one until
               recently.  When he was a spy he lived the
               life -- you know, a prince in some
               Eastern Bloc country where nobody had
               shit and Gregor had everything.  Then the
               wall goes down.  No more Cold War.  And
               Gregor is out of a job.  No apartment, no
               special stores with Western food and
               video tapes.  I would bet dollars against
               shit that Gregor liked that phone and he
               doesn't want to give it up.  And I
               wouldn't be surprised if he's arrogant
               enough to think...

                          DEIRDRE
                   (finishing his sentence)
               That we're too stupid to trace his calls.

     Deirdre and Sam share the slightest of conspiratorial smiles
     as they realize they're both thinking the same thought: they
     might still win this one.

     EXT. AIX EN PROVENCE - TWILIGHT

     We're on perhaps the MOST BEAUTIFUL STREET in all of France:
     the Cours Mirabeau in the town of Aix.

     Outdoor cafes line the sides of the street, while a canopy of
     interlocking trees covers everything.  Now we're - MOVING,
     DOWN THE STREET, towards a CAFE, where a DAPPER GENT sits,
     sipping a mineral water.  The Gent has a SATCHEL at his feet.
     Now - A JEEP pulls up to a nearby corner and idles in
     neutral.  The Dapper Gent throws some bills on the table and
     gets up, crossing to - The Jeep.  A door opens, and the
     Dapper Gent, carrying his satchel, gets into the jeep, which
     drives off as we -

     CUT TO:

     INT. JEEP - SAME TIME

     Gregor and the Dapper Gent drive in silence for minute, down
     the length of the Cours Mirabeau.

                          GREGOR
                   (breaking the silence)
               It's a beautiful street, no?

     The Dapper Gent also has an accent, a much thicker one than
     Gregor's; it's an accent that places the Gent as a resident
     of what used to be called the Soviet Union.

                          DAPPER GENT
                   (he can't wait any longer)
               Do you have it?

                          GREGOR
               Always in a rush, you are.  All these
               years I've known you, you could never
               wait for anything.

                          DAPPER GENT
               This is important.

                          GREGOR
               Do you really think so?

                          DAPPER GENT
               You know it is.

     Gregor, still driving, takes out a SILENCED PISTOL, and the
     Dapper Gent reaches for his own piece.

                          GREGOR
               Relax!

     The Dapper Gent loweres his hand, leaving his gun in his coat.
     Gregor pulls the van to a curb.

                          GREGOR
               Look over there.

     GREGOR & THE GENT'S POV: THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD - A GROUP OF
     CHILDREN are playing.

                          GREGOR (O.S.)
               Do you see that one?  The girl in the
               light blue dress?

     We find one particular LITTLE GIRL, around eight, holding the
     end of a jump rope, wearing a light blue dress.  She's
     breathtakingly beautiful, and now - Gregor raises his
     silenced pistol, as if to shoot her.

                          DAPPER GENT
               What are you doing, have you lost your
               mind?!?

     Gregor pulls the trigger, as he does so the Dapper Gent jogs
     his arm, and we hear the soft thwpfft of the silenced shot
     just as the shot goes off - Missing its mark, harmlessly
     shooting into a tree, causing a SINGLE LEAF to float to the
     ground behind the playing children.  Nobody notices a thing.
     BEAT.  The Dapper Gent is visibly shaken, because there is no
     doubt that Gregor would have killed the Girl if the Gent
     hadn't ruined his aim.

                          DAPPER GENT
               Why did you do that?

                          GREGOR
               To make a point.  I don't know her, and I
               was ready to splatter her brains all over
               the sidewalk.
                   (giving the Gent a look)
               I don't particularly like you, so imagine
               what I'll do if you try anything...

     Gregor leaves his gun dangling in the air a moment longer than
     necessary and then starts the jeep as we -

     CUT TO:

     EXT. A COUNTRY ROAD OUTSIDE OF AIX - NIGHT

     A FULL MOON casts a silver light over a field of wild grass.
     A soft wind blows, and the grass moves gently from side to
     side.  Now - Gregor's JEEP glides down this road as we MOVE
     THROUGH TO -

     INT. THE JEEP - SAME TIME

                          DAPPER GENT
                   (squirming)
               Enough!  We've been driving for an hour,
               where is my package?

     Gregor smiles -- he's been waiting for this.  He pulls the
     jeep over and looks at the Dapper Gent.

                          GREGOR
               It's under your seat.

                          DAPPER GENT
                   (incredulous)
               What?

                          GREGOR
               As my American friend Larry would say:
               are you fucking deaf?  It's under your
               seat.

     The Dapper Gent looks down, and sure enough, the edge of the
     Briefcase sticks out beneath the seat.

                          DAPPER GENT
               I can't believe you'd do that, Gregor.  I
               thought I trained you better than that.

     With a laugh the Dapper Gent hands his satchel to Gregor,
     whose eyes literally dance with the prospect of his reward.
     He can't help himself, he opens the satchel and there it is -
     COLD HARD CASH in large bills, enough for Gregor to live like
     a prince for quite some time.  Gregor sucks in an involuntary
     breath and then looks back up to see - The Dapper Gent hasn't
     reached for the Briefcase.  Instead he's taken out his gun,
     and it's only inches from Gregor's head.

                          DAPPER GENT
               I've never particularly liked you either,
               Gregor.

     The Dapper Gent yanks out the Briefcase, and as he does -

     THE SEVERED HAND comes whipping out along with it, still
     attached by the handcuff chain.  The Hand flies up in the
     Dapper Gent's face, and we notice that the Hand is starting
     to rot -- it's bloated and swelling and horrific and it
     scares the shit out of the Dapper Gent, who drops his gun and
     fumbles with the Briefcase as - THWPFFT...we hear the sound
     of another silenced shot as we -

     SMASH CUT TO:

     EXT. OUTSIDE THE JEEP - SAME TIME

     A DARK STAIN splashes against the passenger side window of
     the jeep.  Seconds later - The door swings open, and the
     Dapper Gent's body plunks out onto the ground.  A moment
     later, something wet and viscous plops down on the face of
     the Gent as the jeep drives off.  Now - We HOLD FOR A BEAT on
     the Dapper Gent's dead body, which lies in the silver
     moonlight, blood running out from beneath him, while the
     Severed Hand palms the Gent's face, fingers splayed out
     around his head.  Now - We HEAR the sound of PHONE TONES.
     And not just any phone...

     INT. THE JEEP - SAME TIME

     Gregor finishes punching a number into his CELL PHONE.  We
     hear a single ring on the other end of the phone before it is
     picked up.

                          PHONE VOICE (V.O.)
                   (in Russian, English subtitles)
               Is it done?

                          GREGOR
                   (in English)
               It's done.