RONIN

     BEAT.  The Phone Voice doesn't respond for a moment -- whoever
     this is they didn't expect to hear from Gregor.  The Voice
     switches to English.

                          PHONE VOICE (V.O.)
               Gregor, is that you?

                          GREGOR
                   (with a low chuckle)
               Much to your disappointment, no doubt.

                          PHONE VOICE (V.O.)
               It was a mistake, it shouldn't have
               happened.

                          GREGOR
                   (suddenly cold, furious)
               I'm in the middle of saving you people a
               great deal of money -- the least you
               could do is have the decency to pay me!

     BEAT.

                          PHONE VOICE (V.O.)
               So what do we do?

                          GREGOR
               What I do is none of your concern.  What
               you should do is wait for my next phone
               call.  I'm going to find a place where I
               can tilt the field in my favor.  When I'm
               ready, I'll call you and tell you what I
               want you to do.

     The Phone Voice says something unintelligible in Russian, cut
     off by Gregor as he angrily snaps off his cell phone and we -

     CUT TO:

     INT. THE CHEAP APARTMENT - DAWN

     Larry snores on the couch, while Deirdre sleeps in a sleeping
     bag on the floor.  Vincent sits in a ratty easy chair, feet
     propped on an overturned crate, dozing lightly.  Suddenly -
     Vincent's eyes open, warily, as if something has changed in
     the room.  He looks around - No Sam.  Vincent gets up, takes
     out his gun, and silently gets to his feet.  He moves down a
     long hall and - No Sam.  Now, like a cat, Vincent moves into -

     THE BATHROOM: pitch black.  He moves in, swipes the string of
     the overhead light and - nothing.  Nobody's here.  The only
     place left is the front door, and now Vincent approaches.  He
     opens the door, gun still at ready, and moves out into -

     INT. THE LANDING OUTSIDE - SAME TIME

     This is a small building.  There is no other apartment on
     the floor.  At the far end of the landing, there is a small
     ladder which leads up to -

     THE ROOF.  And the door which leads to the roof is flapping
     in a light wind.

     EXT. THE ROOF - SAME TIME

     Vincent bursts onto the roof, gun straight out, finger on the
     trigger, only to find - Sam is there, his gun pointed at
     Vincent.  A BEAT, then both men give little laughs and put
     their weapons away, like Samurai so trained in combat that
     they know when it's safe to relax.

                          SAM
               What's going on?

                          VINCENT
               You weren't around when I woke up, I
               thought maybe something had happened.
                   (off Sam's look)
               This has been one very fucked up job,
               Sam, and I'm not taking any more chances
               on anybody...
                   (a quick beat)
               Including you...

     In answer Sam takes out Vincent's pack of cigarettes and
     tosses them back to him.  Vincent looks almost delighted at
     this.

                          SAM
               I came up here to sneak a smoke.

                          VINCENT
               You were smoking?

                          SAM
               I hope you don't mind I took your pack.
               It was on the table.

                          VINCENT
                   (very sincere, offering the
                    pack)
               Please, help yourself.  Smoke as many
               you'd like.

     Sam considers for a minute, and then takes one.  Vincent does
     so as well, and he searches for his lighter, which he can't
     seem to find, because - Sam has it, and he lights their
     cigarettes, and then hands the lighter back to Vincent.

                          SAM
                   (a shrug of the shoulders)
               I borrowed that, too...

                          VINCENT
                   (puffing contentedly)
               Of course...whenever you feel like it
               just help yourself.

                          SAM
               I have a feeling I'm about to start
               buying my own.

     BEAT.  The two men smoke in silence, looking out at -

     THE CURVED SHORELINE OF NICE -

     Which glitters with thousands of lights from the apartment
     buildings, and a thousand more from the cars that travel on
     the road that leads into town: the Promenade des Anglais.

                          VINCENT (O.S.)
               That was a bad bit of business, today.

     BACK ON Sam and Vincent.

                          SAM
               It was at that.

                          VINCENT
               A lot of people died.

                          SAM
               I've seen a lot of people die before.

                          VINCENT
               I haven't.  Not like that.  How do you
               get used to it?

                          SAM
               You don't.  You just learn to live with
               it.

                          VINCENT
               I won't lie -- there have been times when
               I had to do it, times when the only way
               to get out alive was to see that the
               other man didn't.

                          SAM
               We live in a singular world, my friend.

                          VINCENT
               I never really thought I was part of the
               world you move in, Sam, to tell you the
               truth.
                   (off his look)
               I'm a hood, a thief.  Big time in a small
               time king of way.  To the local police
               I'm a prize, to the local hoods I'm a
               legend.  But to a guy like you I'm just
               another two bit hired gun.

                          SAM
               You might be a hired gun, Vincent, but I
               got a feeling you cost more than two
               bits.

     This conversation might have gone further, but it is
     interrupted when Deirdre pokes her head up onto the roof.

                          DEIRDRE
               Christ, I was starting to think that the
               two of you had thrown it in and walked
               away.
                   (to Vincent)
               There's someone on the phone downstairs
               asking for you, and my somewhat limited
               French leads me to believe that he might
               have something to tell us about Gregor.

     EXT. THE HIGHWAY - LATER - NIGHT

     A car we haven't seen before, a CITROEN, hums up the French
     highway in the night, along on the road.  It's a postcard
     moment, but only for a moment.

                          LARRY (V.O.)
               I'm telling you...

     INT. THE CITROEN - SAME TIME

                          LARRY
                   (continuing)
               That I could be dead and I'd drive better
               than you.

     Deirdre is driving, and Larry -- much to his chagrin -- is in
     the passenger seat, watching her every move.

                          DEIRDRE
                   (very curt)
               Oh shut up...

     IN THE BACK SEAT -

     Sam and Vincent have a MAP spread out.  Vincent is tracing
     Gregor's route so far, and we follow his RED MAGIC MARKER as
     it traces a line up the highway.

                          VINCENT
               He's going north.
                   (circles something on map)
               That's Aix en Provence, where he used the
               phone.

     Sam runs his finger along the length of the highway on the
     map.  Destination: Paris.

                          SAM
                   (making up his mind)
               He's going back.

                          VINCENT
               Not necessarily.  He could go off road at
               any number of places.  He might not even
               be in the country anymore.

                          SAM
               It's Paris.  The route's too indirect for
               anything else.  A guy like Gregor, he
               doesn't waste time on this road unless he
               has to be on it in the first place.
               Otherwise, he'd be out of the country by
               now.  He's going to Paris.
                   (beat)
               Now I just hope we can find him before he
               gets there.

                          DEIRDRE
               If somebody else doesn't find him first.

     EXT. THE TOWN OF ORANGE - DAY

     Orange, pronounced "Au-Ronge", is a mid-sized town of fifty
     thousand souls.  It is small, charming, quaint, and it has
     one particular thing that no other town in France can claim -

     AN ANCIENT ROMAN THEATER that has been painstakingly
     restored.  We see this Roman Theater from the outside, as we
     MOVE THROUGH the streets of the town, to the TOWN SQUARE.
     It's packed -- every seat in every outdoor cafe is filled
     with a tourist having breakfast.  This normally quiet place
     explodes one month out of the year, when an internationally
     famous music festival is held in the Roman Theater.  We come
     upon -

     A TABLE OF AMERICAN TOURISTS: a Family.  Dad is angry at Mom.

                          DAD
               Opera?  This is an opera festival?

                          MOM
               I told you that, Henry.

                          DAD
               I thought you meant Phantom of the Opera.
               You know, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Cats, that
               kind of thing.

     Mom and Dad continue their discussion, but we've left them
     behind, MOVING THROUGH the seats and cafes until we get to a
     cafe on the outskirts of the Town Square.  Here, in the most
     removed table in the entire Square, we find Gregor sitting in
     the shadow of the trellis.  Unless you're on top of him you
     can't see him, but he can see everything perfectly.  His cell
     phone sits on the table in front of him -- he picks it up and
     starts to punch in a number.

     CUT TO:

     EXT. A REST STOP ON THE HIGHWAY - MEANWHILE

     THE CITROEN is parked among a number of other cars.  Sam is
     sleeping in the back seat, while Vincent is seen on an
     outdoor pay phone at the other end of the parking lot.
     Deirdre and Larry sit at a nearby picnic table, eating French
     fast food, which we get a good look at as we - PAN THE LENGTH
     OF THE TABLE, which is covered with pasta, grilled sausages
     with dijon mustard, really good fried potatoes.

     In fact, everything that's on this table is so far beyond the
     imagination of your average American truck driver that Larry
     can't contain himself.  He's stuffing himself, washing
     everything down with the wine which is also sold at these
     road-side rest stops.  Deirdre drinks coffee.

                          LARRY
                   (mouth full)
               This...this is incredible. Is the rest
               of Europe like this?

                          DEIRDRE
                   (with a laugh)
               Some places, not all.  Italy, for
               instance, they're serious about their
               food.  But try bloody Britain, anywhere
               in the U.K., you don't get much fancier
               than a deep-fried bar egg.  Food's not
               our thing, you see.

                          LARRY
               What is?

                          DEIRDRE
                   (everybody knows this)
               Best beer in the world known to man or
               God.

                          LARRY
                   (with a snort)
               Best beer in the world?  Budweiser for
               me, thanks.

                          DEIRDRE
                   (with unconcealed scorn)
               Budweiser?  You talk to me of beer and
               you've the unbridled gall to mention
               Budweiser in the same sentence?  That's
               not beer!  Christ, it's not even a poor
               excuse for rabbit piss.

                          LARRY
               Oh yeah?  Whatta you drink, then?

                          DEIRDRE
               I drink what every civilized man, woman
               and child in the world drinks: Guinness.

                          VINCENT (O.S.)
               I hate to interrupt a conversation of
               such cultural depth...

     CUT AWAY TO REVEAL: Vincent -

     Who has finished his phone call and returned to join them.

                          VINCENT
               ...but we've got to get back on the road.

     Vincent raps lightly on the car window next to Sam's head --
     Sam's eyes shoot open: a light sleeper.  All eyes are on
     Vincent, who waits for a BEAT before he reveals his news.

                          VINCENT
               We've got him.

                          LARRY
               I'm driving.

     EXT. THE TOWN SQUARE - A LITTLE LATER - DAY

     Gregor is seated where we saw him last -- at the little table
     in the corner cafe.  He's been here for hours, observing the
     Town Square, and now, he finally sees what he's been looking
     for - TWO MEN, definitely not tourists here for the music,
     have entered the Square -- everything about these guys
     screams GUNMEN.  Now, as Gregor watches - A PUNKED-OUT TEEN
     comes up to the men and hands them a small envelope.  The
     Gunmen look around the Square, trying to see where Gregor is,
     but he's too far back in the shadows.  The Gunmen ask the
     Teen a question, to which the Teen can only shrug his
     shoulders.  Now - The Teen walks away, leaving the Gunmen to
     open the envelope and look at its contents, which are quickly
     read.  From OFF SCREEN we hear the sound of Gregor punching
     in a number on his cell phone.  Simultaneously, the Gunmen
     finish reading the instructions Gregor has sent them, and
     turn around to face - A PAY PHONE.  The phone rings, and one
     of the Gunmen goes to pick it up.

     EXT. ANOTHER STREET - MEANWHILE

     The Citroen pulls into town and slows to a crawl, cruising
     the streets, looking for Gregor.

     INT. THE CITROEN - SAME TIME

     Vincent stares out of the window and sees something that
     causes him to swear under his breath in French.  It's -

     The Gunmen walking down the street.

                          VINCENT
               I know those men.

     Sam frowns: he also seems to recognize at least one of the
     gunmen.  None of the others in the car notice Sam's reaction,
     but we do.  The Gunmen are heading straight for -

     EXT. THE ANCIENT ROMAN THEATER - MEANWHILE

     THE MID-AFTERNOON SUN shines down on the open air Roman
     Theater.  The theater itself is almost two thousand year
     old.  A semi-circle of seats surrounds a huge Stage Wall, a
     massive structure which is one of the best preserved of its
     kind in the world.  THE GUNMEN enter at the bottom of the
     theater, holding ticket stubs.  They are with a Tour Group
     led by an ANCIENT GEEZER who speaks in rapid-fire French.  As
     the tour moves off to see the Stage Wall, the Gunmen hang
     back and then separate from the crowd.

     EXT. OUTSIDE THE THEATER - SAME TIME

     THE CITROEN sits at a curb.  Larry sits behind the wheel of
     the car, the getaway driver with the motor running.  Vincent
     and Deirdre are already walking towards the Theater.  Sam
     stays behind for a second to say something to Larry.