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| 日期：2006-8-8 20:50:06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2
By
Robert Towne
Revised. 12/4/99
NOTE: THE HARD COPY OF THIS SCRIPT CONTAINED SCENE NUMBERS
AND SOME "SCENE OMITTED" SLUGS. THEY HAVE BEEN REMOVED FOR
THIS SOFT COPY.
FADE IN:
A WORN SATCHEL (MOVING - DAY)
is being carried by a world weary middle European wearing a black
armband. VLADIMIR NEKHORVICH exits a gleaming building, pausing
for a moment, under a motto clearly visible above his head,
'Where the future is now'. He checks the time.
INSERT - WATCH
set in Countdown Mode. It's at 19 hours forty-seven minutes and
sixteen seconds and dropping, 19:37.15, :14, :13, :12 etc.
O.S. children are singing:
Ring a ring a rosy/a pocketful of posy/
a tissue a tissue/we all fall down.
Nekhorvich looks to see children at play outside the adjacent
Natural History Museum. They are moving in and around an odd
freeform sculpture.
POV - SCULPTURE AND CHILDREN
a blur where the sculpture seems to be distorting the children,
almost like mirrors in a fun house.
NEKHORVICH
wipes his eyes, a horn honks. He looks toward the sound.
MOVING SHOT - SATCHEL (INT. AIRPORT SECURITY - DAY)
on the belt that takes it thru X-Ray. On the other side a guard
opens the satchel and pokes thru a few toilet articles, personal
items, books, a battleship gray digital camera and - in a small
plastic container marked 'S.G.' - a small, square shiny object,
hi-tech and at odds with the other items. She pulls out an urn-
shaped vessel.
GUARD
What's this, then?
NEKHORVICH
(handing her documents)
The ashes of a colleague, I'm taking them
to his family. If you wish to open it,
please be careful.
COMPUTERIZED SCREEN DISPLAY (INT. PLANE - MOVING - DAY)
on the cabin wall displays a colorful map showing the flight
point of departure in Sydney, continuously updating distance,
direction and time to its ultimate destination, Atlanta, Georgia.
CAPTAIN'S VOICE
- folks, we're a little over two and a
half hours from touchdown in Atlanta, but
if you look out your windows on either
side of the aircraft, we'll soon be
crossing the southern section of the Rocky
Mountains, a range which includes more
than 50 peaks rising above 14,000 feet.
The chain's loftiest point, Mount Elbert,
at 14, 433 feet should be coming into view
as we pass over central Colorado shortly..
NEKHORVICH (INT. CABIN - DAY)
seems intent on the map, its changing times and distance. He
checks his watch - the countdown has gone from 20 to three hours
and 32 minutes as Nekhorvich is mesmerized by the descending
seconds whipping by.
ETHAN HUNT sits into shot on the vacant first class aisle seat
beside Nekhorvich.
ETHAN
You keep staring at that watch as if your
life depended on it, Doctor..
NEKHORVICH
Well, yes. I suppose I am a bit anxious.
ETHAN
They're ready and waiting. You'll soon be
with old friends.
NEKHORVICH
(meaning Ethan)
I'm with an old friend now, Dmitri.
ETHAN
Sorry it couldn't be under happier
circumstances.
NEKHORVICH
Yes, I'm sorry too.. 'You're sorry and I'm
sorry..'
(bemused laughter, then looks at Ethan)
- you do know Gradski thought the world of you.
Nekhorvich is overcome. Ethan puts a comforting hand on his
shoulder:
ETHAN
He was quite a man. Did he know before
the end you two had succeeded?
NEKHORVICH
Yes, he knew. Just..
ETHAN
..not in time to save him.
NEKHORVICH
No. After you've lived with Chimera for
twenty hours, nothing can save you. Not
even...Bellerophon.
Nekhorvich pats the satchel.
ETHAN
You carry them together? Safely?
With an almost impish grin and a wink:
NEKHORVICH
Yes, and you'll get us to a safe place
with them, thank god!..left to my own
devices, I'm an old fart too inept to read
a railroad timetable!..
Good-natured laughter. Cut off by a flight steward who passes
by, giving a sidelong silence in Ethan and Nekhorvich's direction.
Oxygen masks suddenly deploy from the ceiling. Passengers are
puzzled and alarmed.
CAPTAIN'S VOICE
You Captain again. We've experienced a
slight but abrupt drop in cabin pressure..
A passenger struggling with his mask. As Nekhorvich fumbles with
the strap on his mask he notes that the display screen shows
their altitude is below 30,000 feet and dropping. He checks the
countdown time on his watch again. Nekhorvich looks around him.
The flight attendants are conspicuously absent and all the
passengers who have on oxygen masks are passed out.
INT - COCKPIT
The flight crew now wearing their oxygen masks.
CAPTAIN
(into radio)
Pan, pan, pan, Denver Center. This is
Trans Pac Flight two-two-zero-seven, 747
heavy. We are not reading you. We're
unable to maintain cabin pressurization.
We have initiated a descent to one six
thousand.
The Co-pilot is working on the plane's altitude when his hands
slip off the controls. His eyes flutter, then:
CO-PILOT
Captain, I don't..can't..
He passes out. The Captain, HUGH STAMP, turns to verify that the
relief pilot is also unconscious at the controls.
He then removes his oxygen mask, sets the auto pilot, inputting
numbers to slow the plane and descend. As the craft titles
downward...
INT - GALLERY
The flight attendants are pulling on jump suits. Stamp emerges
from the cockpit.
INT - CABIN
Ethan returns. Nekhorvich beckons to him. Ethan sits. Grinning
around, Nekhorvich conspiratorially:
NEKHORVICH
..it seems we have a problem, Dmitri.
ETHAN
(in the same tone)
You keep calling me Dmitri. You really
shouldn't.
Nekhorvich's eyes narrow.
NEKHORVICH
You're not Dmitri?
With a lightning swift move Ethan breaks Nekhorvich's neck.
ETHAN
- no.
He grabs the satchel.
ETHAN (cont'd)
(to Wallis)
Wallis, hold onto it.
Wallis slashes the satchel handle open, takes the satchel for
Ambrose. He peels off the latex mask, revealing SEAN AMBROSE.
ETHAN (cont'd)
Ulrich, pull the -
He tears off the vocal oscillator at his adam's apple, clears his
throat, now as Ambrose:
AMBROSE
- pull the NO2 tank and dump it, it's potential evidence..
STAMP
(the 'captain' into shot)
All done, chief..
AMBROSE
(what else)
- right -
(kidding)
- don't go too far ahead of me now -
STAMP
Not possible..
Ulrich has rolled back the carpet over an access panel just
beneath them that leads to the belly of the plane. Stamp pulls
back the panel, hops into the compartment below which is four
walls of electronic equipment. Stamp kneels and slides back the
floor hatch. The wind howls, puffs of cloud zip by beneath them.
As they descend into the belly:
WALLIS
Checkpoint Charlie plus 30, altitude minus
two-zero-thousand. Airspeed one-seven-
niner knots..
AMBROSE
It's that time. Go.
They don goggles and, with Ambrose in the lead,
the team leaps, one after another from the hatch, sailing off
into the sky.
INT - COCKPIT (DAY)
An automated voice repeats in an ominous monotone:
VOICE
Terrain, terrain. Pull up, pull up.
The co-pilot stirs. He blearily rouses himself just in time to
see:
A mountain rushing toward him. As mountain meets airplane, the
frame is filled with fire, but when camera pulls back from the
fireball, it is in fact no more than a match head filling frame,
which ignited, lights a fuse..
The MI theme music kicks in, the main credits roll to:
EXT - FACE OF MOUNTAIN (DAY)
For a moment it might be thought part of the same range when the
plane crashed but when Ethan Hunt climbs into frame the angle
widen and titles down, revealing more of where he's come from
than where he's going. Aside from the fact that he's in the
midst of free-climbing what is easily a sheer rock face of at
least a thousand feet, there's the sunny picture-postcard view of
a lovely valley and pellucid lake thousands of feet below. Ethan
climbs out of shot.
WIDE UP ANGLE (DAY)
revealing the summit, a light breeze hitting the lichen and
whatever growth has a slender purchase on the rocky mountainside,
fluffy clouds overhead.
Ethan into shot. Despite the spectacularly precarious handholds
he's using to hang onto the mountain and his life, he appears
relaxed, engaged - for him - in the equivalent of busman's
holiday. It's leisurely danger for Ethan; one might almost
expect to hear Julie Andrews trilling 'Climb Every Mountain' on
the soundtrack.
Then a rock he's been grasping crumbles and Ethan drops about six
inches before he grabs onto the mountain again. As he hangs by
five fingers thousands of feet above the earth he doesn't seem
terribly concerned until he spots a helicopter.
It's materialized behind the summit and passes surprisingly close
just overhead, casting its shadow downward over Ethan.
Instinctively, Ethan flattens himself against the rock surface,
as if the copter poses some sort of threat to him. But when
its rotors whir it into the distance Ethan relaxes and resumes his
climb.
A HAIRY OVERHANG (EXT. MOUNTAIN - DAY)
near the summit Ethan departing from the vertical and is now
traversing the mountain with more of his back than his feet
exposed to the earth far below. He's clinging to the mountain
almost like a fly walking on the ceiling. When he reaches for a
handhold that will restore him to the vertical, he dislodges a
lizard - and manages to catch it before it plunges thousand of
feet to oblivion.
ETHAN
Whoaa..
He pockets the lizard, climbs the overhang.
REVERSE ANGLE - SUMMIT
with Ethan's hand, then Ethan coming into view and making the
summit. He reaches into his pocket and releases the lizard who
favors Ethan with a stern reptilian stare by way of gratitude. To
lizard:
ETHAN
You're welcome.
The lizard scampers off, then a low beeping sound at his back
attracts his attention. He turns to see the source of the
beeping, a small package in day-glo colors with a day-glo
streamer. Ethan looks to the sky where the helicopter is now
ominously circling back.
Ethan lifts the day-glo package and waves it in the direction of
the copter. With a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
The helicopter once again turns, banks and disappears. Ethan has
opened the beeping package and finds a pair of sunglasses.
ETHAN'S POV SUNGLASSES
First, a retinal scan.
ELECTRONIC VOICE
Identity confirmed.
SWANBECK
Good morning, Mr. Hunt.
Swanbeck's face flashes onscreen. Over his introduction of Nyah
is a series of satellite photographs whose subject is so elusive
she never seems to give the camera a clean shot.
SWANBECK'S VOICE
Your mission, should you choose to accept
it, requires you to recover a stolen item,
designated Chimera. Essential to the
mission is the recruitment of a civilian --
a Miss Nyah Nordoff-Hall. She is a highly
capable professional thief currently
active in Spain.
A series of Nyah's 'accomplishments', i.e., warrants, complaints,
Interpol summaries of her various criminal activities, as well as
glimpses of the elusive Nyah circulating about Seville.
SWANBECK'S VOICE (cont'd)
Her dossier's available on I-COM 3. You
have 48 hours to recruit Ms. Nordoff-Hall
and meet me in Seville to receive further
details. Should you or any member of your
IM force be caught or killed, the
Secretary will disavow all knowledge of
your actions.
Swanbeck's face reappears on screen:
SWANBECK'S VOICE (cont'd)
And Mr. Hunt - the next time you go on
vacation, please be good enough to let us
know where you're going. This message will
self-destruct in five seconds.
Ethan removes the glasses, then tosses them into space.
ETHAN
If I let you know where I'm going -
The glasses explode in a puff of smoke.
ETHAN (cont'd)
- won't be on holiday.
Ethan, with a fair amount of disgust, gets to his feet and jumps
off the mountain, in, what for a moment looks like a suicidal
snit. Then, somewhere hundreds of feet below camera, there's a
little puff of color as the tulip-shaped chute pops out of his
back-pack. Begin the sound of a castanets and the animal-like cries
of flamenco dancers.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT - ANDALUSIAN VILLA (EVE)
Bustling in the activity of a large private party, with arriving
guests and attentive valets, as a young woman, her face unseen,
exits her car and enters the villa.
A FLASH OF SKIRT AND LACE (INT-EXT. VILLA - FLAMENCO DANCERS - EVE)
where to the cries of dancers add graceful feminine hands
wielding the castanets. The dancers perform on a raised platform
and NYAH NORDOFF-HALL'S face can be glimpsed thru the swirling
skirts and pounding heels, looking thru, not at them.
REVERSE ANGLE - ETHAN
looking back in a similar way to Nyah; surreal lighting and the
relentless chorus of pounding heels seem to isolate them in the
crowed party. Nyah continues to look at Ethan over the shoulder
over her wanna-be escort, a very attentive gentleman. Nyah
offers up her empty glass, and the gentleman eagerly takes it to
the bar for a refill, leaving Nyah and Ethan looking at one
another. Ethan approaches her.
ETHAN
Do you know me?
NYAH
No. Should I?
ETHAN
No. You just looked as if you did.
NYAH
No. Just as if I'd like to.
ETHAN
Oh. Well. I think that can be arranged.
NYAH
Not tonight. Bad timing. Sorry -
ETHAN
There's not enough time in the world for
any of it to be bad.
This stops her. Nyah moves closer to him, until they're nose
to nose. Whispered but breezy:
NYAH
Look, it's either you or the rent and I
don't mind telling you it's not an easy
choice.
ETHAN
What if I pay the rent?
NYAH
Uh-huh.
ETHAN
Uh-huh?
Glancing at the gentleman making his way back with her drink
then:
NYAH
Go find the wealthy lady you came with and
next time we meet - I'll pay your rent.
(kissing him, sweetly)
Now bugger off.
And purposeful creature that she is, she takes her frustrated
desire upstairs, timing her footsteps so as to use the sound of
the dancer's steps to cover her own. Once upstairs, a security
guard near the master bedroom can be seen eagerly following her
down the hall, both moving past a pair of windows, visible to
Ethan. In a few moments, Nyah can be seen past the
windows in the opposite direction, without the guard following.
In another moment or two, a very puzzled looking security guard
can be glimpsed in the first window, looking up and down the
hall, clearly having lost sight of Nyah. Ethan smiles, moves out
of shot.
INT - MASTER BEDROOM (EVE)
Nyah has opened the door and moves swiftly thru the bedroom.
INT - BATH (EVE)
A decadent looking affair with suggestive lighting, mirrored
walls. The tub has a tray across it which includes a wine cooler
chilling a bottle of Crystal and a mound of caviar on a bed of
ice. Nyah can't resist. She spoons a dollop of the caviar and
downs it before she moves along the frescoed walls of the tub to
its back. There, she pulls out her compact and removes the puff,
revealing an electronic density meter. She turns it on and holds
it at the rear of the tub. Its sweep gauge jumps sharply from
green thru yellow and into red.
NYAH
(her fondest hopes confirmed)
Mmmm.
She now steps into the tub and focuses on the grout between the
tiles just above the sop dish. Her knee eyes search for any
cracks in the grout and she spots one. Using a tweezers she
pulls the silver of the grout out from between the tiles, revealing
something that looks like a credit card wedged between the tiles.
She slips the card into a narrow opening under the sop dish.
There's the sound of hydraulics and two arms move the marble
casing out from the rear of the tub. Nyah breathes a sigh of
relief and anticipation: kneeling in the tub she finds herself
looking down at an open safe, revealing some half-dozen locked
compartments. As she studies them:
ETHAN
Decisions, decisions.
Nyah looks up to see Ethan's reflection in the bathroom
mirrors, looking down at her kneeling in the tub.
NYAH
What are you doing here?
ETHAN
Think you're the only one who can pick a
lock?
NYAH
(not altogether pleased)
I see. You're not just another pretty face..
Before Ethan can answer, a voice can be heard coming from the
bedroom warbling Granada in Spanish, and with considerable gusto.
NYAH (cont'd)
Oh god. A bloody baritone.
Nyah catches a reflection behind Ethan's in the bathroom mirror.
She reaches up and grabs Ethan by the lapel, yanking him into the
tub, pulling him down on top of her. Once again they're nose to
nose.
ETHAN
I take it you prefer tenors.
She glances up at the mirror. In it is the reflection of SENOR
AUGUSTO DE L'ARENA, a big amiable Castilian in his fifties who's
changing a white dinner jacket that's had wine split on it. He
breaks into a heavily accented version of 'Now or Never', and
disappears from the dressing room mirror.
NYAH
Would you mind if I'm on top?
ETHAN
Oh, either way works for me.
With a jaundiced look she rolls over on top of Ethan and begins
working on one of the safe compartments, using a tiny torque
wrench from a tube of lipstick and a carbide pick from a mascara
brush. She glances down and is rather disconcerted. Continues
working with the pick and wrench.
ETHAN'S VOICE
You're never gonna find it there.
NYAH
(she jumps, dropping the torque wrench)
Damn it! Find what?
ETHAN
His ex-wife's Bulgari necklace that goes
up for auction Tuesday.
Looking down to Ethan, a touch of indignation:
LOOKING UP
more or less, hands locked behind his neck as he rests against
the raked back of the tub, his eyes and nose inches from Nyah's
lower pelvic region as she straddles him. Not exactly in the mood
to move:
She stiffens - he knows too damn much.
NYAH
- right..where is it?
ETHAN
Far right.
She immediately switches her efforts from top left to the
bottom right compartment. She's utterly nonplussed:
NYAH
Where's the bloody -
ETHAN
(plucking it off his chest,
offering it up like a mechanic
under the chassis)
- torque wrench.
NYAH
- this is very disconerting..
ETHAN
Hey, you put me here. I just do what I'm
told.
NYAH
- right..
She unstraddles him and, with a few deft moves with the torque
wrench and carbide pick - and it's open. She withdraws a velvet
pouch and opens the pouch. Out spills the spectacular necklace.
NYAH (cont'd)
Lovely.
(starting to close the safe)
Who are you and what's it going to cost me?
ETHAN
(having sat up)
I wouldn't do that.
NYAH
Do what?
The alarm goes off.
ETHAN
That.
The bathroom is suddenly filled with security guards, gun drawn
Senor de l'Arena, looking highly upset, pops in.
SENOR DE L'ARENA
Oh, Senor Keyes, thank God it is you!
(in Spanish to security guards,
annoyed)
It's Senor Keyes, the security engineer.
ETHAN
Well, Senor de l'Arena the goods news is
that the heat sensors were activated. But
Miss Nordoff-Hall, my associate -
Senor de l'Arena kisses Nyah's hand.
SENOR DE L'ARENA
Mucho gusto, senorita.
ETHAN
- did feel that she had rather too long to
work on the safe before they triggered the
alarm, isn't that right Miss Hall?
NYAH
Oh yes. Absolutely. Much too long I
should yes.
Nyah's initial shock and panic slowly gives way to a wary,
intensified curiosity - about Ethan.
ETHAN
Under the circumstances I think we would
recommend re-setting the senors to
respond to a lighter load. How do you
feel about forty kilos, Miss Hall?
NYAH
Indeed.
ETHAN
Well, Senor de l'Arena, there's no reason
to disrupt your party any longer. we have
some further concerns about the disposition
of your security guards, which you'll
receive in our written report by fax in the
morning, hard copy to follow. Shall we?
He offers Nyah his arm. They start out. Ethan immediately stops.
ETHAN (cont'd)
Miss Hall. Haven't you forgotten
something?
Nyah looking genuinely puzzled.
NYAH
The necklace?
Nyah slowly reaches into her dress and withdraws the glittering
string of diamonds and rubies from her bust.
SENOR DE L'ARENA
(a great kidder)
What are you trying to do, senorita? Rob
me.
They all laugh, and Ethan's got her out the door.
EXT - ANDALUSIAN VILLA (LATE NIGHT - PRE DAWN)
The stars dimming, the sky a gun metal blue. Ethan and Nyah
emerge from the villa, walking slowly. Nyah's clearly
preoccupied.
NYAH
I'm missing something here, aside from a
500,000 pound necklace. Even after I
botched the job, I could've walked out of
there with the bloody thing.
ETHAN
At least you walked.
NYAH
If you weren't going to let me get away
with it, why did you let me go thru with
it?
ETHAN
Wanted to see how good you were.
I'm hoping we might work together.
NYAH
May I say something, no offence? You
look like a gigolo, you sound like a
thief, you act like a cop - what the
bloody hell do you have in mind?
ETHAN
Working under adverse conditions. Highly
adverse conditions.
NYAH
Sounds smashing. I'm in. Muchacho, mi
carro, por favor! Now be serious. You
couldn't possibly want me off tonight's
performance..
ETHAN
You didn't do that badly.
Her car arrives.
NYAH
(as she moves to her car)
You're apologizing for me? Quite the
gentleman..
ETHAN
(opening the car door)
Not really. I triggered the alarm..
One foot on the floorboard she freezes, back to Ethan.
ETHAN
Hey, the Bulgari job last week was
flawless. And I've always been partial to
pale yellows.
She slides behind the wheel.
NYAH
(as he leads on the car)
I don't do laundry, or put up with
cheeky bastards who set me up on their
territory so they can poach on mine.
She takes off, spewing bits of gravel and dust in her wake.
Ethan smiles and shakes his head.
ON THE ROAD - NYAH (MOVING)
around curves, hair flying, she's free. Her car phone rings.
Perplexed, she lets it ring once or twice picks it up:
NYAH
(tentatively)
Hola..
ETHAN
Hi. Would you mind slowing down?
NYAH
Where did you get this number? I don't
even have it!
ETHAN' VOICE
Would you like it?
She hits the End button and disconnects. The phone immediately
rings again. She refuses to pick up. Ethan pulls alongside hers.
She looks at him. They speak through the open cars.
ETHAN
Pull over and listen to me, will you?
Just listen..
NYAH
Listen to what?
ETHAN
I need your help and I thin you can use
mine.
NYAH
Your help? What are you talking about?
ETHAN
Scotland Yard, Interpol, every Dutch
authority. I can make them go away.
NYAH
Oh bloody hell. You're a spy.
She floors it and shoots ahead of Ethan, nicking his car as she takes off.
ETHAN
(to himself)
I deserved that.
SERIES OF DRIVING SHOTS - NYAH AND ETHAN
Ethan rings her again. And keeps ringing. Her face becomes
grim, her flight progressively more desperate and with Ethan's
pursuit progressively more determined. They are reaching the
limits of adhesion around blind curves.
MORE SHOTS DRIVING (DAWN)
The sky's battleship gray; Ethan pursues Nyah around hairpin
turns high above the Costa del Sol; they rip thru patches of
marine fog drifting on the road, obscuring it.
Both are appalled by the other's willingness to escalate risk in
this game of flight and pursuit until Ethan tears thru a fogbank
and sees on his GPS what Nyah can't see thru the fog -
less than four hundred meters ahead is a turn she can't possibly
negotiate and if she can't she'll plunge off the road hundreds of
feet to rock and sea below. Ringing her number again:
ETHAN
(half to himself)
Slow down, slow down.
She turns up a mound and loses control. She spins out and heads
toward the edge of the cliff.
NYAH
(realizing she's in trouble)
Uh-oh.
Ethan cuts her off and sends them both into a 540 degree spin.
Her car stops just at the cliff's edge.
Furious she wrenches open the car door and gets out.
ETHAN
No!
Suddenly there's no Nyah. Ethan leaps over to Nyah's car and
sees Nyah dangling over the ocean and rocks hundreds of feet
below, holding the door handle.
NYAH
Oh..oh..
Taking a firm grip on her wrist.
ETHAN
Don't look down. Just..look at me.
That's it..that's it..
He pulls Nyah up to the car, across the seat and half into
his arms. For a long moment it looks like she's in shock. Then:
NYAH
What's you name?
ETHAN
Ethan Hunt.
NYAH
Well, Ethan Hunt, what is it you want to
talk to me about?
Thru the veil of morning fog, Nyah looks at Ethan. Her dark eyes
suggest wit, and willingness, and longing.
ETHAN
...more than I thought..
They scarcely to move to bring their lips together:
NYAH
Awfully short notice..
ETHAN
Care to wait a decent interval?
NYAH
Who wants to be decent?..
DISSOLVE:
CLOSE - ETHAN (INT-EXT. SAFEHOUSE - SEVILLE - DAY-EVE)
sleeping. His eyes open slowly. He comes to full consciousness,
his head still on the pillow. Something approaching serious
anxiety informs his features. He lifts his head and looks at his
left, angle widening. Nyah lies on her side facing him,
sleeping serenely. Anxiety on the order of oh-God-this-isn't-
approved-recruiting-technique, confirmed. He lets his head flop
back on the pillow. Then he turns so he and Nyah are profile to-
profile. As he looks at her sleeping his anxiety fades, replaced
by curiosity and even wonder. He lifts his hand and just
brushes her cheek. Her eyes open. She knows where she is.
ETHAN
So what've you got against spooks?
Nyah smiles.
NYAH
When they've got your recruiting
technique? Not a thing.
ETHAN
Oh. Well..this isn't exactly by the book.
NYAH
They've got a book for this?
ETHAN
They've got a book for everything.
NYAH
The only other spook I knew was a liar.
Charming but absolutely incapable of
telling the truth. He'd lie about his
favorite color. But then I reckon it's an
occupational hazard. All spies really do
is conceal the truth and tell lies.
ETHAN
Not revealing information doesn't
necessarily make someone a liar.
NYAH
That's not the point. In the end what
spies rely on is the one thing they think
they know that you don't.
ETHAN
Which is?
NYAH
That they're lying.
Ethan laughs.
NYAH (cont'd)
..once they know that they can
get very very..crosee..
Nyah shoulder and moves into Ethan.
ETHAN
So where did I got right?
NYAH
You're not a liar. Or you're an awfully
good one..
(then)
..this thing these blokes pinched..
ETHAN
I don't know that they 'pinched' it.
Don't even know that they're blokes.
Nyah stops to think about this.
NYAH
Well, then, what I am I doing here? I assume
I'm meant to be some sort of thief-to
catch-a-thief..
ETHAN
So do I. Sort of.
Nyah looks at Ethan, a little worried.
NYAH
Spoken like a spook..you ever afraid?
ETHAN
Of what?
Nyah laughs.
NYAH
Ask a question, you get an answer!..
ETHAN
Damn, you're beautiful.
NYAH
That's because I'm on my back.
Quick as a cat Ethan flips Nyah over so she's looking down
at him.
ETHAN
I don't think so.
She sinks into his arms.
EXT-INT - STREET - SEVILLE (VALENCIA FESTIVAL) (EVE)
Ethan's step is unusually jaunty as he bounces along, making his
way thru the festive and jostling crowds preparing for the Crema
portion of the Fallas de Valencia. On this night great papier
mache effigies, some serious, some comic, are placed all thru the
city and torched in great bonfires. Outside the bar Ethan's
looking for there's a street vendor, hawking Fallas mementos and
flowers. He starts past the vendor, and it hits him - he's going
to buy some flowers.
He chooses a colorful spring bouquet so fresh the dew can be
seen on the petals. Ethan pays the vendor, starts into the bar,
and thinks better of walking into Swanbeck with the bouquet.
Turns back to the vendor.
ETHAN
Are you gonna be here a while?
VENDOR
Si, senor.
ETHAN
I'll pick'em up on my way out, okay?
Ethan enter the bar and goes upstairs to the second floor where
he passes security at a pair of double doors.
INT - IMF BRIEFING ROOM
Swanbeck stands looking out the window. Noisy crowds from the
festival provides a constant walla, and during the sequence, the
first effigies are lit, and smoke and flame provide a vivid
background thru briefing room's window.
SWANBECK
Fetival's a pain in the ass. Honoring
saint by setting'em on fire.
(turning to Ethan)
Sit down, sit down.
Ethan sits.
SWANBECK (cont'd)
Let's you know what they think of saints,
doesn't it? Damn near set me on fire on
my way over here. As if I haven't been
burned enough today.
A moment where it's impossible to tell which way the wind is
going to blow between these two. Then civilly:
SWANBECK (cont'd)
Sorry I barged in on your vacation.
ETHAN
Sorry I didn't let you know where I was.
SWANBECK
Don't be. Wouldn't be on vacation if you did.
ETHAN
Well. You're sorry and I'm sorry.
SWANBECK
Why did you phrase it like that?
ETHAN
Like what?
SWANBECK
'You're sorry and I'm sorry.'
ETHAN
You gotta be kidding.
Swanbeck turns to his computer and begins play on a DVD, and
projected onto a computer screen staring back at Ethan is:
VLADIMIR NEKHORVICH
NEKHORVICH
(with exaggerate brio)
Well, Dmitri! How are you?..
Nekhorvich pauses as if waiting for reply. Ethan smiles.
ETHAN
..I'm fine..and you?
NEKHORVICH
I'm fine..
Ethan laughs.
ETHAN
I'm fine and you're fine..
With Ethan simultaneously whispering:
NEKHORVICH
I'm fine too.. I'm fine and you're fine - do
you remember, dear fried, how you got
Sergei and I to repeat those lines from Dr.
Strangelove and we gave you the name of that
silly Soviet Premier because we didn't know
your name?..In those days, you not only
saved our lives, you saved our sanity. 'Now,
then Dmitri - we have this little problem':
Every search for a hero must begin with
something that every hero requires; a
villain. Therefore, in a search for our
hero, Bellerophon, we created a monster
Chimera. I beg you, Dmitri, come to Sydney
and accompany me to Atlanta immediately.
However we travel, I must arrive at me
destination, within 20 hours of departure.
Forgive this fanciful explanation, but for
now prudence dictates that I communicate
nothing but the gravest urgency.
I fear I can entrust this to no one but
you, Dmitri. as we say, 'I'm sorry and
you're sorry'..
Swanbeck stops the DVD.
SWANBECK
Let me ask you something. You have any
idea what the hell he's talking about?
Ethan smiles.
ETHAN
An idea, yeah.
SWANBECK
Like?
ETHAN
Like it's a good idea to pick him up in a
hurry. And a bad idea to fly him on a
commercial carrier. So let's get on with
it. He's still in Sydney?
SWANBECK
Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich is dead. So is his
colleague, Gradski, but that happened
earlier. We had Nekhorvich on a flight
from Sydney that crashed in the Rockies..
Ethan sits back, heavily.
SWANBECK (cont'd)
- Hunt, are you listening?..
Slowly looking up:
ETHAN
If he didn't want to go anywhere without
me, how did you get him on the flight?
SWANBECK
You were there.
Swanbeck clears his throat. He turns back to the computer and
punches in: MISSION DOUBLE IMAGE. File open to computer scans
of AMBROSE, SEAN, and HUNT, ETHAN, the computer scanning and
comparing their features, millimeter by millimeter, stat by stat,
as the computer then imposes, with the help of the physiognomy
scan, Ethan's face on Ambrose: hence, mission double image.
ETHAN
slowly looks up at Swanbeck.
SWANBECK
When I couldn't find you, I had to replace
you. Sean Ambrose was the obvious choice.
He double you, what? Two, three times?
ETHAN
Twice.
SWANBECK
What did you think of him?
ETHAN
You know we had reservations about each
other. Isn't it a little late in the day
to be asking me that?
SWANBECK
Not necessarily.
Swanbeck shows Ethan a photo of airline Captain.
SWANBECK
Airline record list Captain Harold
Macintosh as the pilot for Flt 2207. as
far as the media and all governmental
agencies are concerned, Captain Macintosh
died on the flight, but in fact he missed
it. He did, however make the next flight -
in cargo, stuffed into a rather small
suitcase considering his size.
Another photo of an open suitcase, the body in it partially
obscured by a ring of police and customs officers.
SWANBECK (cont'd)
Someone on that flight planned an
operation designed to down the plane and
make it look like an accident. Someone
skillful enough to bring the whole thing
off without a hitch but - they don't
always get your luggage on the plane, even
when you fly first class.
ETHAN
So there's one thing we know Ambrose
doesn't.
SWANBECK
Then you do think it was Ambrose.
Ethan barely nods.
SWANBECK (cont'd)
And you're not surprised.
Ethan gives Swanbeck a look.
ETHAN
Whatever Nekhorvich was carrying Sean
wanted and he wanted to conceal the fact
that he took it.
SWANBECK
Enough to kill Nekhorvich and two hundred
innocent passengers?
Ethan smiles.
ETHAN
Sean feels he hasn't done the job unless
he leaves a lot of hats on the ground.
SWANBECK
The question is why? What was this
Chimera Nekhorvich was carrying?
Ethan rises and moves to the window.
ETHAN
Right now only Ambrose knows that.
SWANBECK
In any case, you've got to recover Chimera
and bring it to us.
ETHAN
In order to do that, I've got to figure
out how he plans to make money with it.
SWANBECK
- right. In fact since the plane went
down our banking sources have confirmed a
marked increase in the stock pilling of
cash in terrorists accounts.
ETHAN
'Terrorists?'
SWANBECK
Well you know Nekhorvich's history.
You're the one who got him out of the
Soviet Union was it still in bio-
weapon business.
ETHAN
If that's what you're thinking Ambrose
would have set up a bidding situation with
any number of buyers before he got on the
plane. Locating him in time to stop
something like that -
SWANBECK
- is where Miss Hall comes in.
ETHAN
(blindsided)
Excuse me?
SWANBECK
Miss Hall and Ambrose had a relationship
which he took very seriously. She walked
away and he's wanting her back ever
since. We believe she's our surest and
quickest way of location him.
ETHAN
(acidly)
And then what?
SWANBECK
Then makes sure she continues to see him.
Gets him confide in her and report to
you.
ETHAN
You made it sound as if I was recruiting
her for her skills as a thief.
SWANBECK
Well, then I mislead you. Or you made the
wrong assumption. Either way we're asking
her to resume a prior relationship, not do
anything she hasn't already done.
ETHAN
She's got no training for this kind of
thing.
SWANBECK
Go to bed with a man and lie to him?
She's a woman. She's got all the training
she needs.
Ethan's anger flashes but does his best to contain it.
ETHAN
I don't think I can get her to do it.
SWANBECK
You mean it'll be difficult.
ETHAN
Very.
SWANBECK
Well it's not mission difficult, Hunt.
It's mission impossible. Difficult should
be a walk in the park for you. If you can
think of a quicker way to get to Ambrose,
you're welcome to try. Oh, by the way, you
might want to take a look at these..if you
have any further qualms about getting her
to do the job.
He pulls out a little Minolta digital camera (identical to the
one in Nekhorvich's bag at airport security). Swanbeck sets it on
the table. Ethan picks it up the tiny camera and puts it to his eye.
EXT - BAR (NIGHT)
A grim Ethan, starring fixedly ahead of him emerges to an ever
more lively crowd. as he does:
STREET VENDOR
Senor, senor! Your flowers.
The vendor holds up the spring bouquet. Ethan seems genuinely
surprised by them.
ETHAN
Yes. They're very nice..
And he's lost in the crowd, leaving a very puzzled vendor holding
the bouquet.
STILL OF CRASH SITE IN ROCKIES (THRU MINOLTA STILL CAMERA)
One after the other flashing by. They are more evocative than
specific in their suggestion of an abrupt, fiery, ending, where
the lives of hundred are literally and figuratively torn apart
and strewn over a desolate landscape.
NYAH
carefully places the little Minolta on a glass-topped coffee
table. She's beautifully pulled together, the safehouse has the
lights low, flamenco music playing, and when she walks out onto
the balcony Ethan sees the candlelit table and a bottle of
champagne chilling. There's a light breeze the fire from the
burning effigies throwing smoke and flame all over the city.
NYAH
What's the population of Seville any
idea?
ETHAN
Five, six-hundred thousand.
NYAH
There's nearly 2 million in London.
ETHAN
And six billion in the world.
NYAH
That's lot of people out there..how many
of them, I wonder, are capable of
something like that?
ETHAN
Sean Ambrose, for one.
A long shocked moment. Nyah laughs.
NYAH
Right...
INT - SAFEHOUSE (EVE - LATER)
The pounding beat of the flamenco music seems to fill the room
Nyah's back to Ethan:
NYAH
(grimly amused)
Not that it matter much but..I seem to
recall you staying something like, 'I was
hoping we could work together.'
ETHAN
This wasn't what I had in mind, Nyah.
NYAH
But it is what you'd like me to do.
so tell me to do it..
She approaches Ethan. They're inches apart.
NYAH (cont'd)
Come on, out with it. Tell me to go and
insinuate myself back into Sean's life.
ETHAN
Go and insinuate yourself back into Sean's
life.
NYAH
I'd like a little more conviction..
ETHAN
So would I. But it's not mine to give.
NYAH
(archness there)
You've either got it or you don't. Let
your conscience be your guide?
ETHAN
Something like that.
With a smile and a wink.
NYAH
But I don't have a conscience. I'm a
bloody thief.
ETHAN
You can be a thief and have a conscience.
NYAH
No. You can be a thief and have a
conscience: Not me. Why did you have to
tell me about this!
(pouring herself a drink)
What do I have to do to get away from this
guy? When you're with him, he messes
about with your head every waking
moment..even now I'll be at some out-of-
the-way-place, a tin of caviar and a
bottle of Crystal shows up at the table,
with two glass, God knows how he finds
out at any given moment where I am in the
world but he does. And it looks like he's
done it again. You know his definition of
a true paranoid?
ETHAN
I don't.
NYAH
Someone in possession of all the facts.
(she turns away, pauses)
Are you telling me I have to do this?
ETHAN
Generally, I don't favor coercing someone.
Not when there's a chance my life could
end up in their hands.
NYAH
And that's the only reason?
ETHAN
Can you think of a better one?
NYAH
Not me. I was just hoping you might..or
that..somehow in the course of business
this got personal as well as physical.
ETHAN
Look, would it make you feel better if I
didn't want you to do this?
NYAH
Much.
ETHAN
Then feel better!..
Long moment while she looks at him.
ETHAN (cont'd)
Well. That made all the difference in the
world, didn't it?
Ethan walks out onto the balcony. She looks at his back.
NYAH
Sean will never be anything but suspicious
if he picks up some sort of 'yoo-hoo-I'm-
not-nad' message. Not after the way we
broke up.
ETHAN
What wouldn't make him suspicious?
NYAH
Probably that I needed him in some urgent
way..destitute - in serious trouble..the
kind I couldn't possible sort out myself..
Ethan's been smiling slightly.
ETHAN
Serious trouble, Nyah, is something I can
always arrange..
NYAH IN A SPANISH JAIL
standing for front and side mug shot. O.S. sound of teletype
continues. SUPERIMPOSE: Ethan holding up something the size of
a dime:
ETHAN
This little chip sends a coded signal that
can be picked up only by our computer.
On the screen of the GPS computer, a little yellow blip appears
pulsating on the screen.
ETHAN'S VOICE
When it's in your ankle we can track you
within three feet of anywhere in the
world.
OVER ETHAN AND ONTO COMPUTER SCREEN
He types a small Interpol bulletin stating that Nyah Nordoff
Hall, apprehended March 13 in Seville, is awaiting extradition
while the authorities in London, Paris, and Amsterdam squabble
over where she's going to be tried first, for the various thefts
and burglaries she's committed in the three cities.
COMPUTER SCREEN (AMBROSE TENT ANNEX - DAY)
Ambrose picking up on a version of the Interpol bulletin Ethan's
put out. He leans over the screen for a moment, then moves to
the window, and stares out thoughtful at the bay, almost as if
he were watching...
EXT - NYAH IN JAIL COURTYARD
From a beautiful blue sky, pan down to the courtyard of the jail
where Nyah is allowed out for an airing, seemingly alone but
being watched by:
ETHAN AND COMPUTER SCREEN
His attention fixed on the screen, Ethan stares at satellite
shot of Nyah in the jail courtyard.
INT - PRISON - NYAH
being allowed a phone call, a prison guard visible b.g. Cross
cut with Ethan.
ETHAN
Look, I can't run your arrest in CNN, but
I guarantee he's monitoring every law
enforcement agency in the world, for what
they might be saying about him, if nothing
else - he's got the ability and, we
assume, the desire to get you out of
there.
NYAH
This doesn't seem to be accomplishing
much.
ETHAN
Well, I mean it's not a total loss. It is
keeping a very capable thief off the
street..
NYAH
Very funny..maybe he has heard and
doesn't want to know. Maybe he's lost
interest.
Her guard, b.g. is handed a note.
GUARD
(to Nyah)
Your lawyer to see you.
NYAH
What lawyer?
ETHAN AND COMPUTER SCREEN
ETHAN
Well, here we go.
SECTOR: AUSTRALIA, moving into NEW SOUTH WALES, and then to:
Sydney. Here Ethan pulls up names, photos and profiles of
potential candidates. They scroll past, one face morphing into
another. Ethan punches in on WILLIAM A. BAIRD. EXPERTISE:
Qualified in virtually every mode of transport, land, sea, air.
ORDINANCES: Small arms and automatic weapons authority, edged and
impact weapons. PROCUREMENT: Resourceful. EXPLOSIVES: Precision
detonation, diffusion.
Ethan punches: Request immediate availability.
EXT - GOVERNMENT BUILDING - SEVILLE (DAY)
Nyah emerges from the entrance to the jail.
ETHAN
Stop and look for something in you
purse..kneel down..
She does. They're effectively blocked from the street.
NYAH
Limo's waiting.
Ethan hands her a key chain with what appear to be a car-key.
ETHAN
- Ambrose will have counter-surveillance
second to no one's. When and if he
contacts you, push this button
before you actually end up under his roof
it'll scramble your transmission to us.
She takes the key chain. Her hands are shaking.
NYAH
When will you be there?
ETHAN
Before you are.
NYAH
How can you possibly? I've got to get
right on the plane. I'm leaving now.
ETHAN
You don't trust me.
NYAH
Oh, I do. But as we know I'm a very poor
judge of character.
ETHAN
He's got you on Qantas flight 2735. It's
going to be delayed.
NYAH
Yes?
ETHAN
You'll be fine. I'm going to lose
you.
NYAH
Ethan, you take care of yourself, I'll
take care of myself because if push comes
to shove, I'm gonna bail - and without
giving two week notice.
ETHAN
Well, forewarned is forearmed. And while
we're at it, be especially sensitive to
any sudden change in Ambrose's plans,
especially any involving you..
They rise. A quick squeeze of her hand and he's gone. A look of
something like longing replaces the toughness as she gazes after
him, then starts across the street toward the limo and driver. MI
music theme kicks in and continues over:
POV HELICOPTER (MOVING - SYDNEY - DAY)
over the Harbor Bridge, sails dotting the bay like confetti.
EXT - FARM (DAY)
pans of sheep are bleating and looking for sort of cover in
response to the sound of a helicopter touching down.
EXT - COPTER (DAY)
Billy and Luther emerge, Luther with computer looking acutely
uncomfortable in a wrinkled suit.
ETHAN'S VOICE
Welcome to Australia, mate.
They look up to a smiling Ethan who points to the ground beneath
Luther's feet. Luther looks down to see that he is standing in a
pile of sheep-shit.
LUTHER
Thanks - mate.
Both men laugh and all three move to:
INT - FARMHOUSE (DAY)
Luther and Billy with Ethan setting up their operation. There's
a blip on one of the screens.
LUTHER
It's the transponder.
ETHAN
Put in the coordinates and let's get a
visual. The visuals aren't coming up.
LUTHER
The satellite doesn't work as fast as I
do.
BILLY
Yeah, I've heard about you, Luther, and I
just want to tell you it's an honor and a
pleasure to be working with you blokes,
whoaa! That's some transponder!
As Billy speaks, the visual come on line and Nyah has become
visible.
LUTHER
(a jaundiced eye, to Ethan)
It certainly is. How did we get so lucky?
Ethan pointedly ignore the question.
POV - MOVING (PALM BEACH - DAY)
rounding the tip of the bay's crescent, revealing the beach and
dock at Ambrose's palm-lined residence.
NYAH
The speedboat's engine's are cut. Nyah looks momentarily
stricken.
POV NYAH (MOVING)
a lone slender figure silhouetted at the end of the dock, still
as the piling besides which it stands. But the features remain
obscured by the sun at his back.
ETHAN
leans forward as the slender figure grows larger,
BILLY
(to Ethan)
Is it him, then?
POV - MOVING
The tide is too low for the boat to dock, making it necessary for
he boat to approach the shore. The slender figure moves off the
end of the dock and onto the beach.
THE CIGARETTE
idles into shadow water but the props start chewing into the
sand - the boatman grumbles he can't get any closer. The slender
figure has moved to the shoreline and the angle of the light
changes - Ambrose is waiting.
Nyah hesitates only a flicker of an instant, slips over the side
into thigh-high water without taking her eyes off Ambrose.
Ambrose strides right on into the bay. as they are just an arm's
length apart:
NYAH
takes a deep breath, presses the button to scramble the
transponder.
WITH ETHAN (INT. SHEEPFARM SAFEHOUSE)
The picture abruptly goes dead.
BILLY
Damn. Just when it was about to get
interesting.
ETHAN
It's okay. She scrambled the
transmission. Luther, continue feeding
the GPS her position.
Luther punches in. The signal - and the global coordinates are
given. They wait.
INT - SPACE
The satellite positions itself.
WITH THE THREE
ETHAN
Can't we speed this up.
Luther shoots him a disgusted look.
LUTHER
With what? This is the only computer
that'll do this.
THE SIGNALS AND PHOTOS
start to bounce back, growing larger and larger on the screen,
until: Nyah can be seen, water up to her thighs, lingering in
Ambrose's arms with each blow-up, and linger. And lingering.
BILLY
- right. Now there's a bloke who knows
how to deliver a proper welcome. Don't
get me wrong, mate. You were quite
hospitable. Is it him, then?
Ethan's look suggests he's worried about lapse in recruiting
judgment.
LUTHER
It is, Billy.
BILLY
Then we got'em!
ETHAN
We don't know what we've got because we
don't know what he's got, where he's got
it or what he's doing in Sydney with it.
Ethan strides away from the screen, the edge in his voice and the
move not altogether lost on either Luther or Billy.
INT - THE BAY (EXT. PALM BEACH - DAY)
Perfectly poised, still loosely in his arms, Nyah returns
Ambrose's penetrating gaze with a pleasant, clear eyed one.
AMBROSE
Not much luggage.
NYAH
I left in a bit of a hurry. I'm terribly
grateful, Sean.
AMBROSE
How grateful?
NYAH
Well that depends.
AMBROSE
On what.
NYAH
How hard you had to work to get me out of
there..how in the world did you ever find me?
AMBROSE
(stopping)
How I usually find you, Nyah.
NYAH
How do you that.
AMBROSE
Magic...
NYAH
Ahh..
POV THRU TENT ANNEX WINDOW (AMBROSE COMPOUND)
looking down the length of the dock. Ambrose, his arm around
Nyah and carrying her suitcase, moves up the dock toward the
house and camera.
Stamp steps into the annex and looks over to Wallis, who watches
Nyah on the monitors.
WALLIS
No flies on her.
(checking her on a scanner
screen)
No bugs either. She's clean.
STAMP
(drily)
All cats are.
INT - ETHAN - SAFEHOUSE (SHEEP FARM - DAY)
Ethan watches the Nekhorvich video on the computer screen.
NEKHORVICH
...therefore in a search for our hero,
Bellerophon, we created a monster,
Chimera.
Ethan then flips through a series of pictures on the computer
depicting the myth of Bellerophon attacking Chimera.
Billy moves up behind him.
BILLY
What you got there, mate?
ETHAN
A myth..just a myth...shouldn't you be
checking out their countersurveillance?
BILLY
Well you know his blokes'll place the
OSCOR in his annex, where else if you're
pinpointing transmitters, video signals,
covert chip cameras, anything radiating,
oscillating..
ETHAN
..or hard wired..
BILLY
(please)
- or hard wired, right. First line of
perimeter defence'll run from the back of
the dock to the front of the house.
Whatever moves burps or bleep is gonna be
picked up to a height of twenty feet.
Basically impenetrable, I'd say.
LUTHER
Ethan, here's Nekhorvich, and here's his
boss
Luther scans an entry from the IMF database with newspaper
clippings, sidebars of still of McCloy and Nekhorvich.
LUTHER (cont'd)
McCloy, Jon Chaddick, CEO Biocyte
Pharmaceuticals..D.O.B. September 30,
1952, Manchester, England.
BILLY
(a little lost)
Well do you disagree with that?
ETHAN
Not at all. But how about going into town
and confirming your intuitions on site?
BILLY
Oh well, if that's how you feel about it.
Billy leaves.
LUTHER
..then Cambridge..Harvard..entrepreneurial
efforts..in efforts..in 1989, acquired Biocyte in
hostile takeover..
As Luther transfer info to Ethan's computer:
LUTHER (cont'd)
Ethan, have a look at this.
On Ethan's screen appears the Biocyte website; where among he
various icons one offer McCloy's proud detailing of Biocyte's
philanthropic efforts:
MCCLOY'S VOICE
We at out state-of-the-art solar powered
Biocyte building recognized that eternal
vigilance is the price of health.. whether
it's funding the teaching center at the
Royal Prince Edward Hospital, removing
aerosol products from the marker or
braving the influenza quarantine at Bruny
island late last month..at Biocyte your
life..is our life's work..
ETHAN
(quietly)
..Biocyte workers at Bruny Island.
INT - AMBROSE'S (DAY)
They've reached the head of the stairs. Ambrose opens a door.
It's a large bedroom opening onto a veranda with a view of the
tent annex and the beach, and a very large bed.
NYAH
Your room.
AMBROSE
(yes)
Mmmm.
NYAH
And my room?
A long moment. Ambrose walks to a mirrored wall. The mirrors
are sliding doors. With a sweeping gesture, he slides one of the
mirrors back and reveals a wardrobe of beautiful designer
clothes.
AMBROSE
Thought you could use a little something
to wear.
Nyah stares at the spectacular wardrobe. Ambrose pulls out a
slinky Armani and drapes it on the bed.
AMBROSE ( cont'd)
Try it on..
Nyah hesitates.
AMBROSE (cont'd)
Go ahead. I'm dying to see if I
remembered your size..
Nyah picks it up.
NYAH
No changing room?
Ambrose sits on a chair by the window and waits. Her blouse,
belt, skirt, fall on the bed. As her slender arm reaches down to
pick up the Armani:
AMBROSE
grips her wrist, the flimsy Armani dangling in the air.
CLOSE - NYAH
meeting Ambrose's look.
NYAH
You're not interested in seeing how it
looks.
AMBROSE
Oh, I am. Later..
The Armani falls in a fragile heap on the floor.
CLOSE - ETHAN (DUSK)
standing off to one side, listening to Nekhorvich's voice.
NEKHORVICH
..therefore in a search for our hero,
Bellerophon, we created a monster,
Chimera.
LUTHER
Why's Nekhorvich going on about an old Greek myth?
ETHAN
Nekhorvich specialized in recombining DNA
molecules. In the myth, Bellerophon killed
Chimera, a recombinant monster with the head
of a lion and the tail of a serpent who
plagued the ancient world. I think Nekhorvich
has created a monster virus in Chimera and
apparently the means to kill it in
Bellerophon.
LUTHER
That simple, huh?
ETHAN
Why not?
CLOSE - NYAH (INT. AMBROSE BEDROOM - DUSK)
lying back on a pillow, looking and off into space to right
off camera. She hears Ambrose's voice, with Ethan's voice
AMBROSE'S VOICE/ETHAN'S VOICE
Damn, you're beautiful..
Nyah reacts as if she'd been rapped on the nose, her eyes
moist. She turns abruptly to camera.
NYAH
Did you say something?
AMBROSE
leaning on an elbow, looking down.
AMBROSE
I said you're beautiful, Nyah.
NYAH
Only because..it's spring..chalk it up
(looking him dead in the eye)
- to spring fever.
Ambrose, amused, lights a cigarette and inhaling:
AMBROSE
Won't do, love. It's not spring. It's
nearly autumn..You're in Oz. everything's
upside down and backwards here.
NYAH
(more direct)
Maybe that's it, then. Everything's upside
down and backwards...
CLOSE - ETHAN (SHEEP FARM SAFEHOUSE - DUSK)
ETHAN
Luther..get us everything you can on the
outbreak of influenza on Bruny Island last
month, including photos of the victims.
LUTHER
Right. I guess there aren't many flu
epidemics in the middle of summer.
Luther resumes working on his computer and sees Ethan is locked
on Ambrose's compound on his computer screen, thinking of Nyah.
LUTHER (cont'd)
She did it, Ethan. Nyah's in the
compound.
ETHAN
Yeah? I've just rolled up a snowball and
tosses it into hell.
Ethan stands.
OUTSIDE THE SHEEP FARM SAFEHOUSE
A brooding Ethan exits the sheep farm safehouse under a setting
sun.
ETHAN'S VOICE
Now we'll see what chance it has.
Ethan stops, looking out over the broken plain. His voice is
heard overlapping into the next scene.
ETHAN'S VOICE (cont'd)
(softly)
Damn, You're beautiful.
CLOSE - NYAH (NIGHT)
lying in bed, obviously hearing Ethan's voice again, and feeling
very much alone. She stares out into the night, a gaze that in
its bemused intensity is an exact match to Ethan's.
FADE:
CLOSE - PHOTO - HONG KONG TIMES (INT. AMBROSE STUDY - EARLY DAWN)
its front page, except for the headlines and date, covered with
stacks of paper money, banded bundled dollars piled high as a
cord of wood. The amount $24 millions is written in ink over the
money.
AMBROSE
Twenty-four mil..
Ambrose's hands shift to another photo of another newspaper, the
LONDON TIMES, this one piled high with English pounds and the
written amount: 37 million pounds.
AMBROSE'S VOICE
Thirty-seven million pounds. That's a
promising bid.
The third photo is of the AFTERNOON ARUBAN, with $14 million
packaged on it.
Ambrose, wearing a robe and seated at a glass-topped table, sets
this last photo on the table on top the others. He picks up
Nekhorvich's digital camera, removes the film disk, and snaps it
into its plastic case. He places the case into an envelope
(NOTE: The same envelope seen at the track) and hands it to
Stamp.
AMBROSE
We'll need this at the track. Well then.
Sorted.
Stamp is seated near him. Glances toward Ambrose's bedroom and
Nyah asleep in Ambrose's bed.
STAMP
(pointedly)
Not everything. Why do you think she's
really here?
AMBROSE
From her point of view or mine?
STAMP
Wasn't exactly gagging for it when she
left you six months ago..The question is,
do you trust her?
As he speaks, Ambrose pulls a cigar case and a cutter out of his
robe. Takes a cigar out of the case and clips the end of the
cigar; the razor-sharp cutter decapitates the tip of the cigar
like a guillotine.
AMBROSE
One considers her timing, of course -
getting nicked within a week of the plane
going down. Suggestive, even borderline
suspicious, but hardly conclusive.
STAMP
Well, you've thorough about it, at any
rate.
Ambrose opens the cutter again to clean off the fragments of
tobacco trapped by the cut.
AMBROSE
Tell me, Hugh. You don't exactly hang on
Nyah's every word and gesture, do you?
Fairly ratty nail, that.
Sean touches the nail of Stamp's left pinkie finger. Stamp
reacts by slightly withdrawing his hand.
STAMP
Sean..
With his left hand Ambrose grabs Stamp's left wrist.
AMBROSE
You're not scrutinizing any casual shrug
for some hair-splitting nuance, are you?
STAMP
Sean, please..
Sean pulls Stamp's hand closer.
AMBROSE
Suppose she is some sort of Trojan horse
sent in by IMF to spy in us, why should I
deny myself the pleasure of a ride or two?
Or don't you think I can learn more from
her than she can from me?
Ambrose twists Stamp's wrist so that Stamp drops to one knee
trying to alleviate the pain.
STAMP
(in pain)
I do!..
Ambrose leans in close to Stamp's face as he places the cutter
around Stamp's pinkie.
AMBROSE
Now Hugh, you must realize that some of us
have the burden of sex to deal with..and
my dear chap. I may or may not know why
she thinks she's here, but I'm willing to
take the risk, because Hugh, I am gaging
for it..
Ambrose closes the cutter on Stamp's finger and cuts the nail,
just nicking the top of the finger and drawing blood. Stamp
cries out. Ambrose tosses Stamp a napkin, light his cigar and
exhale.
AMBROSE (cont'd)
Don't ever question my judgment again.
DISSOLVE:
EMPTY FRAME (EXT. RANDWICK RACE TRACK - DAY)
with no sound, the back stretch an unrecognizable blur until
horses at high speed burst into the frame bringing with them the
sight and sound of their great nostrils snorting and gasping for
jostling and going to the whip, the sound of the crowd
overwhelming all but the announcer's voice carrying everyone
around the far turn and into the home stretch with a ringing,
controlled frenzy.
EXT - PRIVATE BLEACHER (DAY)
Nyah and Ambrose rising as the horses cross the finish.
AMBROSE
(surprised)
You won.
NYAH
(looking at her ticket)
I suppose I did.
AMBROSE
What made you pick that nag? She'd never
won a bloody thing.
NYAH
'Thief in the Night?'
AMBROSE
Say no more. I'm off to grab a drink.
Still favor Bellinis?
She smiles, a little shakily. Ambrose leaves.
A VOICE
Naturally Vain..
It's Billy passing behind her.
NYAH
Pardon me?
BILLY
'Naturally Vain.' In the fourth.
Check her out. She's due.
Billy hands her a chest sheet and moves on. She opens it to the
fourth race. Taped onto 'Naturally Vain' is a small plastic
piece with the note. she regards the note, places the plastic
piece in her ear.
ETHAN'S VOICE
You can speak as if I'm right by your
side.
NYAH
(picking up binoculars)
Where are you?
ETHAN'S VOICE
At the mounting enclosure, just off the
tracks at two o'clock.
THRU BINOCULARS - NYAH'S POV - MOVING
thru the crowd onto the track over to the pre-post paddock where
an animated gaggle of owners, heavy batters and investerace touts
surround it. Only Ethan is stock still - and looking up at Nyah.
CLOSE - NYAH
a swift intake of breath as she see him.
ETHAN
How's it going? Everything okay?
NYAH
Just like old times.
ETHAN
Just like old times?
NYAH
Just about..
She appears to be the picture of unruffled sang-froid.
ETHAN
Tell me who you've run into at Ambrose's.
ETHAN'S POV (THRU GLASSES)
moving from Nyah to the champagne bar just behind where Ambrose
is seen greeting someone in the crowd and they sit at a corner
table in front of the window overlooking the track.
NYAH
(a breath, then:)
Near as I can tell, there's at least a
half-dozen other blokes about the place.
Maybe more. Hugh Stamp, an old mate of
Sean's, is the only one I recognize, bit
of a creep and then some..
POV ETHAN
Stamp, stands a pillar, his finger bandages, looking
glum and looking down at Nyah.
ETHAN
We know him. He's over your left
shoulder, looking right at you as you go on..
NYAH
- Michael, his driver's an Aussie, new to
me. Then there's the blokes in the
annex at the back of the house.
ETHAN
Have you met them?
NYAH
Annex is strictly off limits to me and
they never come to the main house,
Michael even takes their meals to them
all but shoves them under the door.
ETHAN
(looking into Champagne Bar)
I've no doubt.
ETHAN'S POV MONOCULAR VIDEO RANGE FINDER
of Ambrose sitting with someone whose face is obscured from his
angle by bar patrons.
BILLY
is also looking.
POV RANGE FINDER BILLY
and from his point of view it can be seen that Ambrose is talking
with John McCloy, the head Biocyte. Ambrose takes an envelope
out of his inner left jacket pocket and from it pulls out a small
plastic container marked 'S.G.' (Identical to the object first
seen in Nekhorvich's satchel at airport security.) He opens it
and removes a small shiny object about the size of a quarter. He
turns to the window and gestures. Stamp enters the bar.
BILLY
Ambrose is meeting some bloke in the bar.
Big bloke, ginger hair. They're into
something.
ETHAN'S POV
ETHAN
I'll be damned. It's McCloy, the Biocyte
CEO.
LUTHER
Nekhorvich's boss?
ETHAN
Yep.
NYAH
Ambrose has photographs of newspapers with
loads of money piled on them -- thirty-
seven million on the London Times. What's
that about?
ETHAN
Bids from possible Chimera buyers -- to
prove that as of the date on the newspaper
those bids are back up by earnest money --
INT - VAN - LUTHER
is monitoring both cameras. All see Ambrose give the little
wafer-like object to Stamp who places it in a small camera, hands
it back to Ambrose and exits, waiting just outside the glass
door. Ambrose hands the camera to McCloy who looks puzzled.
LUTHER
Looks like Ambrose is showing McCloy how
to use a digital camera..
McCloy puts it to his eye, fumbles, then with Ambrose's
direction:
ETHAN
Whatever McCloy's looking at, he's not
happy about.
McCloy puts the camera down. The two men have words. McCloy
shakily leave the table. Ambrose opens the camera.
LUTHER
Ambrose just pulled the memory card out of
the digital camera and put it into an
envelope, put it in his inner left jacket
pocket...
ETHAN
Left jacket pocket?
LUTHER
Roger that.
ETHAN
Confirm. Left jacket pocket.
LUTHER
Left jacket pocket confirmed.
ETHAN BY THE MOUNTING ENCLOSURE
ETHAN
Nyah, Ambrose is heading back. There's an
enveloped inside --
NYAH
-- his left jacket pocket.
ETHAN
Affirmative.
AMBROSE
passes by Stamp on his way back, hands him the camera.
NYAH
(after a brief pause)
Where do I meet you?
ETHAN
Betting table twelve off the paddock.
Nyah, are you up to this?
NYAH
I'll muddle through.
WIDE ANGLE - BLEACHER (DAY)
Ambrose arriving with a pair of drinks. Nyah rises.
AMBROSE
See anything you like?
NYAH
Yeah. Naturally vain -- but they're about
to close the betting table and I haven't a
sou..
While Ambrose is still juggling the drinks, Nyah reaches into his
trouser pockets, and rummages around.
AMBROSE
(laughing)
Nyah!
ETHAN
Billy, make sure Nyah's not followed.
BILLY
No worries, mate.
She pulls out a fifty-dollar note.
NYAH
Would you mind terribly?
AMBROSE (cont'd)
(amused and turned on)
- not at all. But you'll pay for that
and with interest..
NYAH
I've no doubt..
She heads up the stairs.
AMBROSE
(reaching into his pocket for
money)
Hold on.
Ambrose grabs her arm, and she almost drops the envelope she's
just lifted. (NOTE: It is important not to see her actually lift
it). She's holding it, pinned between her right arm and side. As
it's slipping, she notes Stamp above her, looking down and has to
conceal what she's holding from him as well:
AMBROSE (cont'd)
Put down a couple of hundred for.
NYAH
To win?
AMBROSE
What else?
She takes it and as she does the envelope falls, but she manages
to catch it with her left hand, blocking the move with her body
as she does.
WIDER ANGLE - NYAH
moves along the aisle.
ETHAN'S VOICE
Luther, smallest digital you got. Ready
to transmit. Betting table twelve.
EXT - VAN (DAY)
designated as NEW SOUTH WALES DELIVERIES, 'anytime, anywhere.'
Luther bursts out of the van, carrying the tiny camera and begins
to thread his way thru cars and foot traffic.
BILLY
in dramatic contrast ambles at a conspicuously leisurely pace.
NYAH
passes Stamp, not seeing him standing just a row above, blocked
from her by one of the pillars. Stamp idly regards her and then
decides: he follows.
LUTHER
perspiring, approaches the betting table thru the last of the
parked cars.
STAMP
approaches the door thru which Nyah had gone and starts to open
it - only to have the door slammed in his face and on his
bandaged finger by Billy, in a track usher's uniforms.
BILLY
(very solicitous)
Sorry about that, mate, that must've
really - aggrhh!..
Even as Stamp winces in pain his arm has shot out and Billy finds
himself pinned to the wall gasping for air. If he'd been welded
there by a band of steal he'd have more room to maneuver.
STAMP
Say again?
BILLY
Aggrhh-aggrhh-aggrhh...
STAMP
Whatever you're about in future, watch
your step. Never know who you might run
into...
Stamp looks around, Nyah's nowhere in sight. He's lost her. Sees
his hand's bleeding and lets Billy go, who nearly drops to the
floor.
STAMP
Where's the loo then?
BILLY
(pointing up)
- aggrhh-aggrhh-aggrhh...
Stamp heads up the men's room.
BILLY
(croaking it out)
...
Shakes his head, feeling lucky to escape with his life.
EXT - PADDOCK - BETTING TABLE TWELVE
Nyah into shot. Stands in line. She looks around.
ETHAN'S VOICE
How'd you do? Don't turn around.
Nyah turns and looks Ethan dead in the eye.
NYAH
I managed.
ETHAN
You noticed. What're you going to do?
Spank me?
She slips Ethan the envelope. Ethan himself returns the look,
holding it in spite of:
BILLY'S VOICE
Stamp's out of the loo.
Luther arrives, with the camera, opening for Ethan. Nyah turns
away. Ethan pulls out the tiny memory card, slips it in the
camera.
ETHAN (CONT'D)
(looking into camera)
This is going to take a couple of
minutes..
LUTHER
is racing back to the van.
LUTHER
There in twenty, Ethan..
NYAH AND ETHAN (IN LINE)
edge toward the window.
BILLY'S VOICE
Stamp's a little shaky, but headed your
way, mate.
ETHAN
Copy that.
(to Nyah)
Who do you like? In the race?
NYAH
(nervous, she's heard Billy
too)
What race are we talking about?
INT - VAN (DAY)
A sweaty Luther:
LUTHER
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