"THE ASSIGNMENT" Screenplay by Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai 7/2/1996 SHOOTING DRAFT ESTABLISHING SHOT - EXTREME CLOSE - UP - COBBLESTONES - PARIS - EARLY MORNING TITLE SEQUENCE BEGINS We OPEN with the screen filled with a dark gray, cut down the middle by a black crevice. We should be unsure of what we are looking at. Is it the surface of the moon or some primeval canyon covered in volcanic ash? Just then a liquid with a yellowish tinge finds its way down through the crevice and further divides the screen in two, like a river border dividing East from West perhaps. CAMERA PULLS BACK AND UP to reveal that the dark gray gulch filled the screen was in fact two paving stones on a Parisian street and the yellowish river that ran down the middle of the stones comes in two tiny streams that lead to two little boys, who are peeing on the pavement, laughing at their mischief. The boys are twins. They wear backpacks and are set to go off to school. Just then we HEAR the voice of a WOMAN shouting in French (with English subtitles). FRENCH WOMAN (O.S.) What do you think you're going?! You ought to be ashamed behaving like that! CAMERA PULLS BACK AND UP to reveal ever more scenes of life on this particular street. The woman shouts at the children from her window and the children run off. At the corner, fresh bread is being delivered to a sidewalk cafe, as chairs are set out at tables by white aproned waiters who are preparing for their morning clientele. CAMERA PULLS BACK AND UP to reveal a taxi driver arguing with a deliver man as a husband kisses his wife goodbye and set off for work as we continue pulling back and across the city over Montmartre, picking up an argument between two drivers here, fresh bread being delivered to a cafe over there. Chairs are being set up at sidewalk tables as the city awakens and we float across Montmartre into a small residential quarter. Husbands kiss wives who send school children on their way as TITLES CONTINUE and the city comes more and more to life and we hover across a small square just up from the Place de la Opera, not far from the Boulevard Saint Germain-des-Pres, with Montmartre in the b.g. The square has a sidewalk cafe with tables extending out onto a peninsula of pavement that stretches to the foot of a small hotel, whose shuttered windows overlook the square. As we pull back and back over the small square, we literally... SFX SHOT ...Pull backwards through the slats of the shutter, going from an aerial shot, being sucked in through the semi-closed shutters into a hotel room where we continue ever so slowly, pulling back. INT. HOTEL ROOM - PARIS - EARLY MORNING The first thing we SEE in this shot which should appear seamless in its one continuous motion transition from the preceding scene, is a spider-web. We are TIGHT on the web in which a still-living insect struggles against his silky bonds. The web begins to tremble as from up above the spider drops, spinning thread lowering itself down on this latest victim, soon to be lunch. As the spider makes this journey we become aware in the b.g. of the panting sounds of lovemaking. It is a woman's breathless sighs and gasps we hear, but under that, perhaps a man's voice, perhaps not. The sounds build to a climax as the camera continues to pull back until it discovers the glistening body of a beautiful young Parisian woman in post-coital dewy Nirvana. Then, the figure of a nude man in silhouette enters frame and crosses over to the shuttered window. His face and body are half-lit by the slats of light that penetrate from the world outside the hotel room. He lights a cigarette. CUT TO: ANGLE ON - CLOSE ON THE MAN whom we will come to know as CARLOS. He lights the cigarette and takes a thirsty drag sucking the smoke deep into his lungs, glancing out at the street and alternately at the spider who tiptoes down to her prey. He watches the spider envelop the still-living victim with her spindly legs. Then he takes another drag on the cigarette and the ash glows bright, a burning ember which he touches ever so slowly to the spider's body. It sizzles. CARLOS (whispering to the burnt spider) You lose... He looks out through the shutters at the digital clock across the square. Then he glances back at the girl whom we will call COLETTE. The conversation is in French with English subtitles. COLETTE What do you mean? CARLOS I mean get out. COLETTE You're a pig, you know that? How can you be like that? Carlos crosses to her slowly. He runs his hand across her cheek, then down across her throat. Death is in his eyes. CARLOS (barely above a whisper) Leave without saying another word. INT. BATHROOM - HOTEL - DAY Carlos stands in front of the mirror. The mirror is cracked and in it we see the fractured face of Carlos staring back at us from opposite sides of the cracked glass. He wears surgical gloves. From a make up kit by the side of the sink he removes a piece of false hair and spirit gum as TITLES CONTINUE. A. Carlos affixes a John Lennon mustache. B. Carlos puts on a brown wig of moderately longish hair such as one might have seen on a student in Paris in the early seventies. C. Carlos puts on a pair of John Lennon granny glasses and the student look is complete. D. Carlos stands in front of a full length mirror in jeans and a blue work shirt over which he puts a worn grey jacket. He now looks every inch the young French student dressing down to look like one of the proletariat. END OF TITLES E. Carlos takes an M26 hand grenade and puts it into an inside pocket of his coat. He puts a machine pistol and snaps its ammo clip into it and puts it in his student's shoulder bag and then takes a Walther PPK and places it in his jeans at the small of his back. All the while that he is doing these things he sings: "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE." CARLOS (singing) All you need is love... Rum da, da da da All you need is love Rum da da da da All you need is lo-ve Love is all you need. Love is all you need. SUPERIMPOSED: Paris, September 15, 1974. EXT. / INT. SIDEWALK CAFE - DAY It's a hot Sunday afternoon and the complex of shops and a cafe in St. Germain-des-Pres is bustling with young clientele. Inside the cafe, there is a second floor with a balustrade overlooking the tables inside. Outside, there are tables set up on the sidewalk. JACK SHAW, a tall, husky American in his late thirties, sits at one of the front tables outside. He reads the International Herald Tribune. The headline is, "Terrorists Seize Embassy, Issue Demands And Threaten Attacks." Jack sips his espresso. ANGLE ON CARLOS dressed as in preceding scene. He enters. Just then Jack looks up and sees him. For an instant, Carlos looks at Jack, tenses just slightly. Jack looks back at his paper paying no attention. Carlos pulls out a cigarette, pats his pockets for a light. Then he crosses to Jack. CARLOS Pardon monsieur... He mimes flicking a match and Jack looks for a match. He's out. He offers the lit end of his cigarette. Carlos cups Jack's hand. CARLOS Merci. He crosses away from Jack, smiling and goes inside the cafe. Jack follows him absentmindedly, tracking his progress through the windows, though his view is obscured somewhat by reflections of the street. Carlos steps casually to the railing overlooking the tables inside as Jack sees the double image of Carlos and the reflected street scene. Carlos leans over, pulls the pin from an M26 grenade, and lets the "spoon" come off in his hand. We HEAR the timing fuse hiss as Carlos nonchalantly counts to himself. CARLOS (counting) One thousand one... one thousand two... one thousand three... ANGLE ON - JACK He looks up just in time to see Carlos drop the grenade casually into the crowd below. Their eyes lock for a beat; then Carlos smiles, turns and bounds away. Jack's eyes widen in horror. He gets up, about to cry out a warning. CUT TO: ANGLE ON the crowd below as the grenade EXPLODES, filling the air with smoke and flying glass, its metal ripping through flesh and bone. People are wounded, bloody and writhing in pain and screaming in panic. ANGLE ON JACK disheveled, covered with the shattered glass of the window, but not but not seriously hurt, he struggles to his feet. He looks around for Carlos who has vanished, now realizing who he was. As he looks around, he sees a SMALL BOY staring at his left arm with heart-rending disbelief. The boy has no hand. CUT TO: EXT. SIDEWALK CAFE - PARIS - DAY There are throngs of ambulances, police and military personnel, wounded survivors are being tended to. All is confusion and off in a corner we SEE Jack, standing with a man in a suit. The man's name is DU FOLTIERE. He shows Jack an I.D. DU FOLTIERE Du Foltiere, Monsieur, intelligence liaison officer. DST. My understanding is that you are the Deputy Chief of Station, CIA, Paris, and that you witnessed by coincidence this attack. JACK That's right. DU FOLTIERE And you have told my subordinate that you recognized the terrorist as Carlos? Du Foltiere pulls out a small notebook to take notes. JACK That's not what I told him. I said he recognized me. Afterwards I realized who he was. By then it was too late. DU FOLTIERE (writing in his notebook) Ah yes... The deputy chief of station did not recognize him... But he recognized you. JACK I wasn't the one wearing the disguise. DU FOLTIERE Yes of course... But then how are you sure it was him? JACK How often do you see someone holding a live grenade listening to the fuse? Besides, the arrogant son of a bitch bastard smiled at me. EXT. INT. OPEC HQ - DAY SUPERIMPOSED: Vienna, December 21, 1975 It's a cold Sunday morning with a light snow just beginning to fall when SIX YOUNG MEN and ONE WOMAN enter the headquarters of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries -- a modern, seven-story block of concrete and glass. They all carry Adidas sport bags over their shoulders. Their leader, Carlos, with dark beret and sunglasses, sports a long white raincoat -- the kind that was very much in fashion that winter. Next to him is KOJ, a Japanese terrorist and his most trusted Lieutenant. CARLOS (singing) I shot the sheriff... But I did not shoot the deputy... CUT TO: INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - THIRD FLOOR At a long oval table TWELVE OIL MINISTERS. Miniature national flags in chromium holders in front of them. Behind, sitting or standing, the SECRETARIES, ADVISERS, INTERPRETERS AND BODYGUARDS. VENEZUELAN OIL MINISTER ...Obviously some of the members are exploiting the oil price differentials as a loophole... This body has been very precise in its policy. CUT TO: INT. ENTRANCE HALL - GROUND FLOOR The group with the Adidas sport bags approaches the reception desk. Carlos -- moustache, sideburns, and wispy beard in reddish brown -- smiles politely at the female RECEPTIONIST. Behind the reception desk are two circular staircases which wind their way up to an elevator that is visible behind the railing at the top of the landing. There is what appears to be a security man standing at that elevator with an earpiece and tell-tale bulge under his jacket. CARLOS (in German) Pardon me. Is the conference still in progress? Smiling back, the ash-blonde receptionist nods. RECEPTIONIST (in German) Yes, but sir... CARLOS (in German) I have an urdent delivery for the ministers. As if on urgent business, Carlos quickly heads up the flight of stairs before the security man who stands next to the receptionist can react. The security man speaks quickly into his walkie talkie. ANGLE ON - THE LANDING by the elevator at the top of the stairs. Carlos bounds up the stairs and pushes the elevator button. The Security Man near the elevator listens intently to what is being said in his earpiece and he steps forward to challenge Carlos. Carlos smiles at him and whips out a 9mm. silenced Beretta and fires two shots right between the Security Man's eyes. He falls over the railing and lands face up on the console in front of the terrified receptionist. Carlos leans over the rail in one move and fires two shots into the upturned face of the Security Man who stands next to the shocked receptionist. The receptionist screams. CUT TO: INT. CONFERENCE ROOM NIGERIAN OIL MINISTER (angry) I protest the unfound charges of the oil minister from Venezuela. We do not use, nor intend to use, the lower gradings to capture more of the market -- His words are cut short when the door is kicked open, and Carlos strides in. CARLOS (brandishing his automatic) EVERYONE FREEZE! Everyone frantically hits the floor. That is, with the exception of TWO BODYGUARDS. They try for their weapons. A short burst from Carlos' Beretta machine pistol which is pulled from the inside of his trenchcoat brings them to the floor. This weapon is not silenced, but deafening. Just then Koj enters the room from the corridor. KOJ We've got company. Suddenly, there's the sound of INTENSE GUNFIRE coming from the corridor. ANGLE ON - CARLOS He reaches into his trenchcoat and pulls out a pocket-sized Chinese RGD5 grenade. He yanks the pin, lets the spoon fly, listens to the fuse hiss, counts quite calmly and then tosses the live grenade to Koj who catches it and in one movement tosses it out the door. A loud sound of GRENADE EXPLOSION, and plaster powders those glued to the floor. GASPS OF TERROR. But the gunfire outside ceases. CARLOS My name is Carlos. You'll do as I say. His smile is cunning, mocking, and... familiar. EXT. VIENNA AIRPORT - SNOWSTORM - MAGIC HOUR We SEE an Air France jet liner touch down on the runway. EXT. VIENNA AIRPORT - SNOWSTORM - MAGIC HOUR Jack comes down the steps of the just-landed jet. The blizzard whips around his face as he walks down the stair unit and onto the tarmac, pulling his overcoat up around him. EXT. AMERICAN EMBASSY, VIENNA - SNOWSTORM - MAGIC HOUR - EST. INT. OFFICE - AMERICAN EMBASSY - VIENNA - NIGHT Behind the desk is CARL MICKENS, the CIA Station Chief -- tall, angular, cropped grey hair. He is in mid-conversation with Jack Shaw who sits opposite him, his overcoat over the arm of the chair in which he sits. He has obviously just come from the airport. MICKENA ...Twenty million dollars ransom. JACK Who's asking for it? MICKENA "The Arm of the Arab Revolution." Alias of the month time. (shrugs) Could be anybody. The point is... their leader claims to be Carlos... JACK He does, does he? MICKENA He wants to make sure everyone knows it's him. He wants the credit and the Austrians want a positive ID. That's when your name came up. JACK Who brought my name up? MICKENA The guy who says he's Carlos. The Austrians want you there to identify him. JACK Where? MICKENA At the airport. Tomorrow. When they provide the plane to fly him and the hostages to Libya. Carlos evidently feels very comfortable in Libya. JACK They got him here in their own backyard and they're gonna let him walk away?! MICKENA They've got no choice, Jack. JACK Bullshit! Let 'em handle it like the Israelis would. MICKENA They're not the Israelis Jack. It's not their fight. JACK Then let me take him out! They want me to meet him at the airport. I can get close enough to get a clear shot at him. We can end this shit now. MICKENA Jack! He's got seventy hostages. JACK Fuck the hostages! Mickens looks at him almost in horror. Jack knows he has let down too much of the mask of professionalism as it were. JACK (apologetically) Harold, we can handle it with a minimum loss of life. MICKENA We will handle it with no loss of life. Those aren't just any hostages. They are the oil ministers of the richest countries in the world, and that twenty million bucks they're gonna have to pay isn't gonna break 'em you know. It's nothing to them. They just want to pay it and... it's not our fight. JACK What do you think Carlos is gonna do with that money? Put it in mutual funds? He'll use it to hit us. Let me assemble a team and we can... MICKENA Jack goddamnit, there isn't any team to assemble! You're a fuckin' dinosaur. We're out of the assassination business. All of us! You got a personal hard on against this guy because he made you look like an asshole and now he's gonna rub your nose in it. I can appreciate your feelings, but it's not going down on our soil. It is not with our nationals and it is not our fight! Now I got my orders and you just got yours. INT. VIENNA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - VIENNA - NIGHT Carl, Jack and various other CIA functionaries walk quickly down the corridor with Austrian police and intelligence officers. Jack carries a briefcase as do they all. ANGLE ON - JACK JACK I gotta hit the john. INT. MEN'S ROOM - VIENNA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - NIGHT Jack stands inside of a stall in the men's room. He has just crossed a certain frontier in his mind and stepped in to the area known as no man's land. He quickly takes off his overcoat and jacket and we SEE attached to his arm a harness made up of straps and springs. He opens his briefcase and attaches to the harness a .32 caliber Beretta. He fumbles with the adjustments, racing against time. Finally, he seems to have adjusted everything just so. Then he lowers his arm to his side. Then he raises the right arm as if shaking hands and the harness slams the .32 caliber Beretta from his forearm straight into his palm. He resets the gun back into the forearm position. He has a look of grim determination on his face. The only question is, is it the look of someone who is crazy enough to do what he is contemplating. EXT. VIENNA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - BLIZZARD - NIGHT On the tarmac, an Austrian Airways DC9. TV cameras, lights, generators are set up in front of the plane, sending beams and pools of yellow light into the darkness and the snow which swirls all around as a pool of REPORTERS stands ready to record whatever is about to go down. Among a small group of OFFICIALS is Jack Shaw. Everyone's eyes are on an approaching yellow curtained bus. ON BUS As it gets closer, we can detect through its windshield a white raincoat and a black beret. Carlos is standing by the driver with a machine-pistol in one hand and a grenade in the other. CLOSE - JACK His eyes strain to get a better look at the terrorist, his arm down at his side. BACK TO SCENE As the bus parks by the DC 9, Carlos jumps out and waves to the media. Not the customary V-sign, but the wave of a celebrity... The hostages then, under their captors' guns, file compliantly out of the bus and onto the plane. A line of exhausted, bleary-eyed middle-aged men in expensive suits and in need of a shave. Carlos however, is as fresh, alert and energetic as the morning of the attack. And he's definitely savoring the moment. ON JACK Tense, he tries to be inconspicuous as he leans towards Mickens. JACK (whispering) I think it's him, but I can't be sure. Not with those dark glasses and the beard... ON CARLOS Everyone on board, he too climbs the mobile steps and disappears into the plane. Suddenly, he reemerges and comes down to where the officials and Jack stand. As Jack watches him intently, he faces the MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR. In the window of the plane we SEE Koj holding a grenade to the pilot's head. ANGLE ON CARLOS CARLOS Minister of the Interior, I presume...? The distinguished-looking man, who looks a bit like Kurt Waldheim, nods. CARLOS I'm sorry this had to happen in Austria. We have no quarrel with your government. His eye catching Jack, he stops in mid-sentence. A devilish smile crosses his lips as he turns towards him. He pulls a cigarette out and crosses right over to Jack, up close and as they say, very personal. The snowflakes whirl surrealistically around them as the two stand face to face. CARLOS Pardon monsieur... He mimes flicking a match. He takes off his glasses and looks at Jack and smiles. CARLOS We were never really properly introduced Mister Shaw. My name is Carlos. With a cunning, mocking smile he extends his hand out to shake Jack's. Jack stares at him, ever so slowly beginning to raise his hand. With that move he knows the gun will come slapping into his palm and he will be able to take Carlos out no matter what the cost. JACK (smiling) Eat shit and die slow. His hand starts rising. In another second the gun will spring into it. Just then we hear: MICKENA (O.S.) Jack, no! Jack turns to look at Mickens. Mickens indicates the photographers. MICKENA You don't want your picture taken shaking his hand. Jack is momentarily confused. He has turned to Mickens thinking perhaps he was calling out a warning and now the moment for the shot has passed. He turns back to Carlos who shrugs and steps over to the Austrian minister so that the Minister now is between Jack and Carlos and the shot is lost. CARLOS (to the minister) As I was saying, I'm sorry about the loss of life. And thank you for your cooperation. Once again he sticks out his hand. Only this time, as the cameras roll, Austria's Minister of the Interior shakes the hand of the archterrorist in what will go down in history as the "handshake of shame." ON JACK His eyes tell it all. EXT. JERUSALEM - WESTERN WALL - DAY We begin with an ESTABLISHING SHOT of Al Aksa Mosque and the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem. These are the two most famous landmarks in Jerusalem's Old City skyline. OVER THIS WE SUPER: JERUSALEM - AUGUST CAMERA then pans and tilts down and we are above the Western Wall looking down on the bobbing black hats of Hassidic Jews, the knitted skullcaps of more modern Orthodox, here and there the olive shirt of Army uniform with M16 or Galil assault rifle that sways in prayer as well. CROSS DISSOLVE: To the Jerusalem stone paving stones that make up the square in front of the wall as we glide across the intersecting lines of paving stones set one next to the other until a glowing cigarette comes into view and then a foot which crushes it out. There should be something in this sequence that is reminiscent of our opening, a foreboding that just as the cracks in the Parisian paving stones led us to Carlos once before, perhaps these new stones will lead us once again to some act of terror. NEW ANGLE to reveal a man standing in silhouette, the man who has just crushed out the cigarette. We cannot see his face because he has a camera to his eye. NEW ANGLE - POV THROUGH THE CAMERA LENS Through the lens of the camera just established we SEE an old Rabbi praying at the wall. CLICK! The shutter captures the shot. BACK TO SCENE The man in silhouette now lowers the camera and we SEE that he is CARLOS! There is no mistake even though the nose, perhaps is a little different and this time he is clean- shaven, it is still Carlos the Jackals. He smiles slightly. EXT. CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE Busy photographing it, Carlos doesn't seem to notice the TWO ARABS who watch him surreptitiously. He walks in front of soldiers who laugh and look at us POV Carlos. ANGLE Carlos reaches into his pocket. Is he perhaps going for a grenade to toss at these soldiers? We build tension as he pulls out instead, another roll of film and with great determination, we have the CLICK of the door of the camera to enhance our music beat as tension builds. Surely it can't be long till Carlos does something awful. EXT. MOSLEM QUARTER - DAY Carlos walks towards the Suq, working his way through the crown from the Damascus gate as we reveal more soldiers in the foreground, surveilling the area. EXT. MOSLEM QUARTER - DAY From the POV of the two Arabs following him, we SEE Carlos lost, or pretending to be, as he ambles along through the Suq, past all sorts of vendors hawking their wares. Heads of fish are cut off with the swift slash of a knife in one stall, freshly skinned lambs hang by their feet in another. Carlos, still looking lost, approaches a street vendor hawking rosary beads. We SEE them talk but cannot hear their dialogue. Carlos walks on. EXT. MOSLEM QUARTER - DAY A group of children play an impromptu game of soccer. NEW ANGLE - SAME SCENE - POV CARLOS THROUGH CAMERA LENS We watch these innocent children playing. If this was a gun sight they'd be dead. CLICK! NEW ANGLE It is Carlos who has taken the picture. His smile at the sight of the children is no longer a subtle one. There is some secret enjoyment here. It's then, that he notices the Two Arabs tailing him. CLOSE ON - CARLOS He frowns. Now what happens can be interpreted in one of two ways. Carlos takes a turn down an alleyway that has at first a shop or two, and then is nothing but deserted and foreboding alley. He is either trying to shake the two Arabs or he has just entered every tourist's nightmare: a deserted alley in a foreign country with two bad guys. He quickens his pace. The Arabs do too. Carlos now knows they're after him and he takes off running. EXT. MOSLEM QUARTER - DAY - CHASE SEQUENCE ANGLE So do the two Arabs. Only now there are THREE MORE ARABS coming after him. MOVING A tense, desperate CHASE in the Moslem Quarter's labyrinth of twisted alleys and narrow streets. When his Arab pursuers lose sight of him briefly, Carlos takes something out of his pocket, some sort of ID and throws it in an alleyway. EXT. SUQ - JERUSALEM - DAY Carlos races through the Suq, past a group of Arabs who begin heeding the call to prayer. They roll out prayer mats and begin acclaiming in Arabic that there is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet. Carlos grabs one of the canvas awnings that shade the alleyways and this cafe. He rips it off, trying to make an obstacle course between him and his pursuers. He overturns trays of olives, sacks of sunflower seeds, anything he can get his hands on. NEW ANGLE Carlos runs headlong into a copper serving platter that is hanging on display. He is disoriented, terrified, and then seemingly from out of nowhere, he is tackled, grabbed by the Arabs and dragged to a dark alley between two stores. Carlos is overcome and brought down to the ground. One of the Arabs evidently has a deep dislike for Carlos and though Carlos is subdued, he kicks the shit out of him. CUT TO BLACK: INT. WINDOWLESS CELL - DAY This room is your worst nightmare in the Middle East. It could be a cellar suite in Beirut, or an interrogation cell in Damascus. There is no way of knowing. It is simply an empty room with a large metal ring embedded into the floor, to which Carlos is shackled. Battered and badly bruised, he's obviously in great pain. The room's metal door SCREECHES as it opens slowly and a new man whom we will call AMOS enters. With him are two of the Arabs we've seen earlier. They're bareheaded now, without their kaffiyehs. AMOS (accented English) How do you feel? He smiles. CARLOS (broken English) I do not speak English. (in Spanish) Yo soy Cubano... de Cuba... Castro... Su amigos... Amigos... Entiende? AMOS You spoke English well enough to your contact... the street vendor... so please let's not play games. We're both professionals, Carlos. CARLOS (with heavy Cuban accent) My name... Ramirez... no Carlos. AMOS Yes, I know what your name is... Illich Ramirez... CARLOS No Illich. AMOS Alias Carlos Sanchez, alias Carlos Martinez, alias The Jackal. CARLOS (with heavy Cuban accent) Jou're loco man... No Carlos... I am tourist... Amos swoops down and with one hand pulls Carlos by the hair over across his knee with his throat up and other hand in a hammer lock. Amos brings his face down to Carlos. AMOS Listen to me you piece of shit. I'm trying very hard to be professional about this but you are in Israeli hands now... So don't play games with me... entiende hombre? Carlos whose neck is stretched back like a goose about to be slaughtered can barely croak out an answer. CARLOS Okay. Amos loosens his grasp and straightens up. Carlos winces in pain from broken ribs. As he speaks it is now unaccented English, just the slightest trace of Spanish background. CARLOS You... You're telling me you're Israelis... not Arabs? (relieved) I'm in some kind of an Israeli prison... is that what you're telling me? AMOS Amazing how much your English has improved in just a few seconds... CARLOS (trying to be very reasonable) Look, obviously there has been some kind of mistake. I don't know who you think I am, but I am a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy, okay? I am Lieutenant Commander Annibal Ramirez of the U.S.S. Yorktown, Sixth Fleet, docked in Haifa. I am not Carlos or Sanchez or Illich or the Jackal or whoever you think you just caught. If you call the U.S. Embassy and ask for the Sixth Fleet Liaison Officer, he'll confirm everything I've said. He is not pushy, just firm and decisive. AMOS Remarkable... remarkable performance... the chutzpa of it is unbelievable... my hat is off to you Carlos. Carlos, who from now on out will be referred to by his real name, RAMIREZ, has had it with the reasoned approach. He now adopts the demeanor of a U.S. Naval Officer reaming an enlisted man a brand new bunghole. RAMIREZ Your hat's off?! I'll tear your head off! You get on the horn and you call the U.S. Embassy and you call the Sixth Fleet Liaison Office and then motherfucker you go out and find yourself a good lawyer and I'll tell you somethin' Jack, I'm gonna sue your ass so bad that your great great grandchildren will still be shovelin' shit to pay off the debt! Amos is doing his best to look unflappable. AMOS Carlos... give me a break, huh? If you were an American officer you would have... ID papers, dog tags. RAMIREZ I ditched 'em in an alley just before you guys got me. Go back there you'll find 'em. AMOS You ditched them. RAMIREZ Per instructions... An American officer on shore leave in the Middle East must travel in mufti, civilian clothes. A bunch of Arabs start chasing me... could be terrorism... could be kidnapping... instructions are to ditch our tags, our ID or anything else that could identify us. That's why I spoke Spanish, that's why I said I was a Cuban, not an American. And you broke my ribs here asshole. I'm gonna sue you, I'm gonna sue your government... I'm gonna sue every fuckin' Jew I can get my hands on you, understand me?! INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE RAMIREZ'S CELL - RUSSIAN COMPOUND -DAY Amos walks down the corridor. For the first time, he looks the tiniest bit concerned. RAMIREZ (shouting after him) I'm gonna sue Menachem Begin, I'm gonna sue Moshe Dayan, I'm gonna sue the goddamned B'nai B'rith or whatever you call it. INT. AMOS' OFFICE - JERUSALEM - DAY Amos sits in his office looking very worried. A long-haired baby-faced agent comes in. He could pass for a typical student traveling on holiday. His name is YONI. YONI Sir? AMOS Yoni... I want you to go back to the old city... where we caught... Carlos... I want you to be very inconspicuous. Take a half dozen men... you comb every alleyway there... every garbage can... everything you can find... for what looks like a U.S. military ID if there is such a thing there. YONI What's the problem? AMOS Who said there was a problem? There's no problem. I just asked you to do something and you're going to do it. So there's no problem. EXT. ALLEY OF OLD CITY JERUSALEM - DAY Yoni and half a dozen plainclothed Shin Bet agents walk through the alley looking around. Yoni is dressed like a long-haired backpacking student; others dressed like Arabs, others like tourists. As inconspicuously as possible, they search alleys and trash cans like the homeless searching for food. INT. AMOS' OFFICE - JERUSALEM Amos sits at his desk. Just then Yoni walks in. Amos looks up. AMOS Nu? Yoni puts a U.S. Navy ID complete with photo and a set of military dog tags on Amos' desk. ANGLE - CLOSE ON THE ID It identifies its bearer as Lt. Commander Annibal Ramirez U.S.N. There is a picture of Ramirez in the upper corner of the ID in uniform. ANGLE ON AMOS He holds the ID and then sits back in his chair defeated and lets out a very Jewish sigh. AMOS Oyyyy. CUT TO: INT. CIA HEADQUARTERS - TERRORISM SITUATION ROOM - DAY This is a high-tech, ultra modern chrome and glass room which features a map of the world etched in plexiglass with terrorist hot-spots marked prominently. On the glass as well is the logo of the CIA. In this Situation Room we find WINSTON SCOTT III, a 50-year-old pin-striped suiter who appears to be amused. With him is Monroe, his Black deputy and Jack. In front of Jack, spread out on the desk is a file on Ramirez. We SEE it as Jack does. Notes on the interrogation, Polaroid photos of Ramirez in custory and the developed pictures from the roll of film which Ramirez was taking in Jerusalem. Jack listens to Scott and Monroe, but as he does he is taking in all the information in Ramirez's file, making no judgments, just taking in information. SCOTT I love it! Those cocky Israeli bastards thought they hit the jackpot. Got the Jackal right in their own backyard... MONROE State Department's goin' apeshit. And the Navy... Admiral Trost was so pissed he was ready to shell the port of Haifa. Jack, however, isn't sniggering. He's thinking hard as he looks at all the information on the desk. JACK You're not gettin' it are ya? SCOTT What? JACK These weren't some yokels... This was the Israeli General Security Service... The Mossad. The best in the business. They have the most complete dossier there is on Carlos, the latest pictures of him... everything. I mean what's that tell you? SCOTT That they really ate it this time. JACK Scott... doesn't it hurt to walk around like that with your head up your ass... I mean isn't it painful? His eyes glance down to the pictures, especially the photos of the children. Something begins to click. EXT. NORFOLK, VA - DAY SUPER: NORFOLK, VIRGINIA EXT. T-BALL FIELD - NORFOLK, VA - DAY Almost nothing is as cute as 3 foot 5 inch 6-year-olds struggling to play the most elementary form of baseball, T- ball. ANGLE ON - 6 - YEAR-OLD JOEY RAMIREZ He is the first baseman and he is intent upon the batter who stands at the T. ANGLE ON - THE PARENTS cheering their kids on. Amongst them we recognize MAURA, Annibal Ramirez's wife, who is cheering for her son's team. She holds a ten month old baby as she cheers. NEW ANGLE on Annibal Ramirez, resplendent in his summer whites, his face still showing the faintest remnants of bruises at the hands of the Israelis. He holds his sea bag in his hand. There is a waiting taxi behind him as he strides over towards the baseball diamond. ANGLE ON - JOEY He sees his father just as the batter hits the ball. JOEY Poppi! The pitcher scoops the grounder up and tosses it to Joey whose eyes however have lit up at the sight of his sailor father home from the sea so the ball hits him in the side of the head and he goes down. Ramirez wants to rush out to his son, but Joey straightens himself up quickly, not wanting to be embarrassed by an over-protective parent. ANGLE ON - MAURA AND RAMIREZ Maura has followed her son's gaze at Ramirez and feels no embarrassment whatsoever as she runs into his arms, still holding her baby. She kisses him. MAURA I thought you weren't coming back till tomorrow... RAMIREZ I wanted to be here for his game. Look how beautiful she is! He picks up the baby and kisses her. RAMIREZ Just like her mother. MAURA What happened to your eye? RAMIREZ Nothing. Just fell. It doesn't matter. I'm home. EXT. RAMIREZ'S HOUSE - NORFOLK - A MONTH LATER - DAY It's a stucco, single-level structure in a clean, middle income neighborhood. Jack Shaw pulls up, crosses out of his car and knocks on the door. The door opens revealing Ramirez in a T-shirt and pair of sweats. Jack looks at his face, the unmistakable face of Carlos. RAMIREZ Joey watch Yolanda... okay? JACK Jesus... RAMIREZ I beg your pardon? JACK Lieutenant Commander Ramirez my name is Jack Shaw... I'm with the government... I'd like to talk to you about what happened in Israel. CUT TO: EXT. RAMIREZ HOUSE - BACKYARD - NORFOLK - DAY ANGLE - CLOSE ON the barbeque's coals which burst into flame as fluid and then match are applied. OVER this we hear RAMIREZ I want to sue them, okay? I want to sue the guy who broke my ribs. I want to sue their government and their Mossad... and I want to sue Golda Meir! NEW ANGLE - ON JACK AND RAMIREZ They stand at the barbeque as Joey plays shooting hoops. Ramirez holds Yolanda. Ramirez and Jack speak quietly. JACK Mrs. Meir is dead, Lieutenant Commander. RAMIREZ Then you might want to have them dig her up because I intend to sue her. Jack chuckles. JACK Commander Ramirez when I said I was from the government, perhaps I should have been more specific. I'm from the CIA. Jack reaches down, opens his briefcase and pulls out a large photo album-like briefing book. He opens it up and hands it to Ramirez. On the first page there is an 8×10 enlargement of a photo of Carlos entering a building. It is grainy but it certainly looks exactly like Ramirez. JACK Does the man in that picture look familiar? Ramirez looks at the picture with the same look on his face that Jack had when he saw Ramirez for the first time. YOLANDA Poppi... RAMIREZ That's not me... I mean I know it looks like me... but... JACK I know it's not you. RAMIREZ It's... this Carlos guy. Just then, Joey yells from the tree he's in. Jack automatically hides the picture as if the kid were from a rival intelligence agency. JOEY Poppi, you don't need to watch the fire, come climb with me. RAMIREZ Get out of that tree, Joey. Your mother sees that and I'm dead. Now when Jack speaks it is more guarded and in even quieter tones. JACK This is the only recent shot we have of him... telescopic lens from half a mile away taken by the Israelis. Can you blame 'em for what happened? The only difference is the eyes. Ramirez looks at the picture in shock at the resemblance. RAMIREZ Okay I get it now, you're here to talk me out of my lawsuit. But see I identified myself but they kept me in that cell for two more days chained to that wall after I told 'em who I was so... JACK Lieutenant Commander, I am not here about your lawsuit. Carlos is the single most vicious terrorist in the world. He's personally carried out or masterminded the worst terrorist attacks in modern history. Men, women, children. Children like yours... blown to bits or slaughtered in cold blood. Annibal... why did you join the Navy? RAMIREZ (as if by rote) To serve my country. JACK To serve your country... to protect her from her enemies. Well Carlos is one of her enemies now. And he'll probably become a bigger one... terrorism... unfortunately is a growth industry. RAMIREZ Why are you telling me all this? JACK Lieutenant Commander, the governments of most countries in the free world have been after Carlos for ten years and we have nothing to show for it. There is exactly one person in the world who can help us get Carlos. And that person is you. RAMIREZ What do you mean... to get him? JACK All I can tell you is it may take as much as six months to a year of preparation. It will involve a high degree of risk. That much said, you may never as much as lay eyes on him yourself. But if we succeed Carlos won't be a threat to anyone anymore. Now I know you're going to need some time to think about it so... RAMIREZ No I don't need any time. The answer's no. JACK Annibal... RAMIREZ Lieutenant Commander... I am a Naval Officer... that's what I was trained for... that's what I'm good at... See you came to the wrong address. You want James Bond. He lives in London and he's got an Aston Martin. You can't miss him. We HOLD on Ramirez's look and Jack's half-smile. INT. OFFICERS' CLUB - NAVAL BASE - NORFOLK - EVENING The Officers' Club is decked out for a reception for ADMIRAL CRAWFORD. All the officers are in dress whites and all the wives wear white gloves and cocktail dresses as a Navy string quartet plays softly in b.g. There is a reception line and the Admiral stands with his aide who introduces each of the guests who pass through the line. NAVAL AIDE Admiral Crawford this is Commander and Mrs. Ward Scowcroft. CRAWFORD I know your family well, Commander, I was with your father at the Academy. I expect great things from you Ward... great things. SCOWCROFT I won't let you down sir. Next up are Ramirez and his wife Maura. NAVAL AIDE Admiral Crawford this is Lieutenant Commander and Mrs. Annibal Ramirez. CRAWFORD Annabelle?! RAMIREZ (smiling) It's Annibal sir. CRAWFORD Yes... of course... well ... I'm glad to see we're getting some Mexican American officers in the ranks. I'm an L.A. boy myself so I have a real soft spot for authentic Mexican food... My stomach doesn't always go along with it but... MAURA We'd love to have you over to dinner Admiral but the cuisine would be Cuban not Mexican. I think your stomach would find it more agreeable... not to mention your taste buds. CRAWFORD You're Cuban Americans... oh I'm sorry... you grow up in L.A. and you hear Ramirez and... anyway it was a pleasure meeting you. He looks uncomfortably over to his aide who gently keeps the line moving. CAMERA FOLLOWS ANNIBAL AND MAURA DOWN THE RECEPTION LINE. There in front of them is Jack in a white linen suit. JACK We do keep bumping into each other don't we. How do you do, Mrs. Ramirez? I was over at your lovely home the other day but I felt cheated because I had to leave before I had the pleasure of meeting you. MAURA The pleasure is mine... JACK Para servirle, Yo soy encantado de conocerte. MAURA Encantada Senor... JACK Shaw... Jack Shaw. MAURA Senor Shaw. Mucho gusto. RAMIREZ My wife speaks English Mister Shaw... so do I. JACK Perdonname, I didn't think you'd be embarrassed to speak Spanish in front of the Admiral. A sus ordenes. ANGLE ON THE BAR - Ramirez stands at the bar. RAMIREZ (to bartender) I'll have a club soda and... uhh... a glass of white wine please... Jack steps up behind him. Jack holds a small wrapped package. JACK Let me guess the white wine is for your wife right? Cause you're afraid to drink anything stronger than club soda around the brass. How do you stand this shit Annibal? I mean they're all so fuckin' constipated. RAMIREZ My wife is waiting for her wine... if you'll excuse me. Jack stands in front of him blocking his way. JACK Oh there's a fiery retort. RAMIREZ (under his breath) How about fuck you. JACK I'd believe it if you said it a little louder... Ramirez controls his anger which is starting to show through in the bulging veins. JACK Look at these guys. You don't belong with them. You belong with me. What did Darth Vader say to Luke? Come over to the dark side? You have no idea of the power we have. RAMIREZ Hey... I told you I didn't want anything to do with you. JACK How's it going to look in your jacket? Your country came to you requesting help and you turned it down. Not exactly promotion material, know what I mean? These people don't want you in their club, Annibal. I do. RAMIREZ The answer is no. That's the end of it. EXT. RAMIREZ HOUSE - DAY We open on a shot of the front door. The doorbell is rung and the door opens after a beat, revealing Ramirez. We don't yet see who is at the door. RAMIREZ Oh Jesus... what do you want? NEW ANGLE Revealing it is Jack who is at the door. JACK I want you to come with me. RAMIREZ Well then get set for disappointment. JACK Okay. Then you are ordered to come with me. RAMIREZ You can't order me to do shit. Just then the cellular phone which Jack holds rings. Jack smiles and holds out the phone to Ramirez. JACK It's for you. Ramirez takes the phone, totally faked out. He presses the "send" button and gingerly says... RAMIREZ (into Cell phone) Hello... who? Oh... yes sir... Yes sir... Yes sir... Yes sir. I will... yes sir. We HOLD for a beat on Ramirez's look at Jack who stands there unable to keep from smiling. CUT TO: EXT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - DAY A helicopter lands in its air ambulance spot outside the Emergency Room entrance of Bethesda Naval Hospital. Out step Ramirez and Jack. They cross over to the hospital entrance. We SEE a sign on the wall identifying this as BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - EMERGENCY ROOM ENTRANCE. INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - DOCTOR'S LOUNGE - DAY Jack is there with Ramirez. He hands Ramirez a white lab coat and puts one on himself. Ramirez's coat has a tag he doesn't even notice, which says: DR. RAMIREZ on it. RAMIREZ What's this? JACK Put it on. RAMIREZ Why? JACK Because I just told you to. You need a phone call for that, too? Ramirez resignedly puts the coat on. INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - CORRIDOR - DAY Jack and Ramirez walk down the corridor. JACK The boy was flown here from Germany. His parents are U.S. military personnel. Navy family. A bomb was planted in a grocery store that was frequented mainly by U.S. military dependents. They believe it was Carlos or one of the Cells he runs. How old is your kid? This last is asked almost as an afterthought. RAMIREZ (quietly) He's six. JACK Hmmph... so is this kid. INT. INTENSIVE CARE - HOSPITAL - DAY In the hospital bed is a six-year-old swathed in bandages. The child is pitiful with IVs sticking in him and tubes running underneath the bandages, and a heart monitor beeping weakly above him. His parents sit next to his bed. The father wears the khaki uniform of a Naval Lieutenant. NEW ANGLE ON Jack and Ramirez. They watch this scene through the little window in the door and then they enter the room. BACK TO SCENE The parents turn to them as they enter. The parents wear the look all parents wear in their children's hospital rooms at the signt of the doctor who may be able to save their child's life. A look of hope. A look of desperation. FATHER Hello Doctor Shaw. Is this... Is this the Specialist you told us about? JACK Doctor Ramirez, Lieutenant and Mrs. Newcomb... the parents of the child who was wounded in the terrorist attack. Ramirez's eyes dart in panic from Jack to the Newcombs. They stick out their hands. Finally, he offers his. FATHER You're the one who's going to do the surgery. JACK He's going to help out. FATHER They told us you were the best person in the world to do this. JACK He's the only one. Jack turns to Ramirez. JACK Here's the boy's chart, Doctor. As you can see, one kidney was destroyed by the shrapnel. There's a large perforation in the left lung, the spleen, the large intestine, the stomach lining were all torn. There are over a hundred individual shrapnel fragments. It was obviously designed by Carlos to maim, not to kill. HOLD on Ramirez's look of helplessness which turns to anger. INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - DAY Ramirez and Jack walk down the corridor. Ramirez is tearing off the lab coat. RAMIREZ What kind of a sadistic son of a bitch are you? You use those poor people... you use anything to get what you want. Jack reaches into the large pocket of his lab coat and pulls out a small photo album, the kind families use to put in the 3×5 photos of their vacations. He puts it into Ramirez's hand. JACK To get what I want? He hands him the photo album. JACK These are pictures of just some of Carlos' victims. Most of them are children. We haven't had time to get that kid's picture in yet. Up until I heard about you, all we could do about Carlos was take pictures of his victims. I wasn't lying to those people. You are the only one who can do anything about Carlos. I'm not the bad guy, Annibal. Carlos is. I'm just trying to make you see the choices. Ramirez is still too angry to speak. JACK Who are you angry at? Me for bringing you down here or Carlos for blowing up that kid? Which of us deserves your anger? INT. RAMIREZ HOUSE - STUDY - NIGHT Ramirez sits at his desk looking at the presentation book Jack gave him. The study is a reflection of the man, Navy pennants, photos, ships in bottles, family photographs. He is very much at home in this sanctuary. INTERCUT Photos of victims. Bloodied children, women, men, each atrocity labeled with the place of the attack and number of dead and wounded. Just then there is a knock at the door. Ramirez closes the book and covers it with a newspaper as his wife Maura enters wearing a very sexy teddy with a short robe over it, giving off the promise of a wonderful night of conjugal bliss. MAURA What are you doing? RAMIREZ I was just reading some... manuals... She bends down and kisses his neck. MAURA Read 'em on the Navy's time... this is my time... She sits into his lap, they kiss and the robe slips down off her shoulders. He kisses her more passionately now. INT. CHILDREN'S ROOM - RAMIREZ HOUSE - NIGHT Ramirez enters. He is wearing a robe, having just gotten up out of bed. It is perhaps, one in the morning. Joey is asleep, holding a stuffed animal. The baby is asleep in her crib looking like a little angel. Ramirez pulls the cover up on the baby and pats her gently so as not to wake her and then bends down and kisses his son. EXT. NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT - SUBMARINE BASE - DAY WE SUPER THE WORDS: "NOVEMBER, 1986" Ramirez pulls up in a car with his wife and two children. He is wearing his khaki uniform and carries a sea bag. He embraces Maura. RAMIREZ You'll see... it'll go by fast. MAURA Not fast enough. Ramirez bends down to hug Joey. RAMIREZ You take care of Mommy, okay? JOEY But why do you have to go? RAMIREZ Well they're finally giving me my chance to go into subs... that's what I've always wanted you know... JOEY New color subs... RAMIREZ Nuclear... JOEY Is there going to be a war, Poppi? RAMIREZ Not if I can help it. JOEY Then why do you need to go away? RAMIREZ Because sometimes countries need soldiers and sailors to be on guard so there won't be a war... So all the little children like you and baby Yolanda will be safe. JOEY Why can't somebody else's Daddy go on the sub and you could stay here and go to my games? RAMIREZ Because I'm the one they asked and I'm the one who knows how to do the job. He kisses Joey, stands up and kisses Maura and the baby she holds and walks past the guard gate, showing his ID as his wife and children wave. EXT. AERIAL SHOT - MONTREAL, CANADA - DAY Montreal is an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence. It is a city part way up a mountain, Mount Royale. We TRACK a car as it drives up out of the city, up the mountain to of all places, a cemetery which sits at the foot of a deserted prison that looms above it. The cemetery like the prison is deserted. There can be no more desolate place than a graveyard full of long-dead prisoners whose prison has long since been shut down. WE SUPER THE FOLLOWING WORDS: TEMPORARY CIA SAFE HOUSE - MONTREAL, CANADA EXT. ROAD LEADING TO CEMETERY - DAY We SEE Jack's car with him and Ramirez in it driving into the cemetery. As it does, it crosses in front of a video camera inconspicuously placed in a tree. CUT TO: EXT. CEMETERY TO ABANDONED PRISON - MONTREAL - DAY A camera mounted atop a light fixture pans with Jack's car all the way up to the prison entrance. Signs on the prison proclaim that it is closed and that trespassing is forbidden. As Jack pulls up at the prison, a plainclothed operative comes out and as Ramirez and Jack pull Ramirez's bag out of the car, the operative slips into the driver's side and whisks it away. The ground around the area is full of snow that has not been plowed so the look of desertion is complete. INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - MONTREAL - DAY There is an observation tower in the middle of the room which has become home to the pigeons who now flap noisily out of it as Jack crosses with Ramirez. The place has the look of an impromptu military encampment in a bombed out wreck of a building. In the observation room are several nondescript types. Jack shows Ramirez in. JACK This is an ad hoc operation set up specifically for your mission. When that's over, not even a trace of it will remain. You don't need to know anyone's name. And from now on, your name is Miguel... Security. RAMIREZ So your name really isn't Jack Shaw? JACK (smiling) Of course it is. INT. CORRIDOR - OFF OBSERVATION ROOM - DAY Jack walks Ramirez down the corridor. They pass the Surveillance Room, the small cell with its satellite dish and single computer terminal and operator established earlier as Technician #1. From here, cables snake their way along everywhere. The place has the look of a mobile high-tech spy station that just happens to be set up in a former prison. Ramirez looks around. The idea of being in a prison is obviously uncomfortable for him. JACK Your mother is Irish... Irish American. RAMIREZ Yes. JACK Something wrong, Miguel? RAMIREZ ...No... not really. JACK Your father was in a Cuban prison if I'm correct. Ramirez turns and looks at him in surprise. JACK Your mother used to take you to visit him there, didn't she? RAMIREZ (quietly) Yes. JACK I'm sure that's a disturbing memory. He looks Ramirez straight in the eyes. RAMIREZ You didn't set this up in a prison because it was the first piece of real estate you were shown, did you, sir? JACK Let's just say everything has its purpose. And Miguel... no one is to know anything about you other than that you're our student. So don't call me sir, because it's like wearing a sign on your forehead that you're military. From here on out forget the Navy. RAMIREZ Yes sir... Gotcha... INT. COMMAND ROOM - ABANDONED PRISON - DAY Jack and Ramirez walk along until they come to a site which could as easily be in a space station on the dark side of the moon. There in the middle of a huge room looms a plastic enshrouded satellite tracking system. The plastic hangs down from the roof encapsulating this area to protect all of the state of the art computer equipment from the dust. Inside this plastic shrouded space we SEE technicians at monitors which display every approach to the prison as well as monitors which display the surveillance images transmitted back via satellite. JACK This is our surveillance and satellite tracking center. Just as we are plotting to destroy Carlos, if he knew what we're trying to do, I assure you he'd try to find a way to kill us first. INT. PLASTIC COVERED COMMAND CENTER - ABANDONED PRISON -DAY Jack pushes through the plastic shroud into a command center- like room. He and Ramirez enter. This place is high-tech, computers and neon lighting. JACK Carlos has two main safe houses. One in Libya, one in East Germany. We have satellites that pass over each one three times a day. Unfortunately, the Russians know exactly when our satellites are in position so we have to assume that Carlos knows as well. They cross over to the satellite tracking monitors which display both the Libyan and East German safe houses. Sitting in front of one of the monitors is Amos, typing controls into the satellite tracking system. JACK There's one person I want you to meet, though I think the two of you have already been introduced. Amos now turns and comes around to Ramirez. AMOS Hello Miguel... My name is Amos. Ramirez stares at him. RAMIREZ Oh yeah... I didn't recognize you without my foot chained to the floor. AMOS I hope there are no hard feelings. RAMIREZ There are a lot of hard feelings. And I'm still gonna sue you when this is over. JACK Miguel, this is a combined Israeli- American operation. Amos here knows Carlos better than anyone in the free world. He was the one who took that picture of Carlos in Libya. RAMIREZ If you could get a picture of him why didn't you just kill him? AMOS Don't let all this equipment fool you. Carlos still has the home court advantage. He has the best protection in the world... three layers at least at all times. Next and maybe most important... Carlos himself. The French DST came to arrest him once. He was at his apartment, drunk, playing his guitar. He actually had them convinced it was all a mistake. Then he went into his bathroom, took a shave mind you so he would look his best for the interrogation and when he came out managed to shoot each of them through the forehead. Then he got the informer who had betrayed him, put him down on his knees and killed him... Think of it. He took a shave and didn't even nick himself once. Amos is quiet, lets that sink in. AMOS Finally, there are political realities. Whoever hits Carlos has to realize that he'll unleash against himself a fanatical wave of terrorist activity in retribution. JACK That by the way, is the last question you're going to ask. From now on you'll get information when and how we want you to get it. Not before. You don't ask questions, you just do what you're told. EXT. CEMETERY - MONTREAL - SUNSET Amos, Jack and Ramirez walk amongst the tombstones. Jack and Amos have warm coats. Ramirez does not. He shivers in the cold, but tries not to show his discomfort. AMOS This is going to be unlike any learning experience you've ever had before. For one thing, we're going to push to all your limits. Fatigue, frustration and fear. We're going to make you more terrified than you've ever been in your life just to see how you handle the fear. Any other learning experience you get things ninety- nine point nine nine nine percent right you get an "A." Here if you get things ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent right... you get... Jack walks right up to Ramirez and mimes a gun with his thumb and index finger and puts it right up to Ramirez's temple and goes... JACK Dead! And I'll tell you the truth. I honestly in my heart of hearts don't care whether you live or die. Don't take that personal. I don't care whether I live or die. I do care about getting Carlos. That's all I care about. RAMIREZ But nothing personal, right? AMOS I'm not as cold-blooded as my American friend... it would bother me very much if you were dead... so we will teach you to stay alive... but no questions... just do. Otherwise... He puts the imaginary gun to Ramirez's temple. RAMIREZ When do we start? JACK You already have. What were the names on the last three tombstones you passed on your right? RAMIREZ I... I don't know, I wasn't looking. I wasn't paying attention. JACK That's what will get you killed. Carlos is always looking... always paying attention. Always. AMOS Because Carlos is the master of the techniques of survival which we will teach you and because he is an efficient killer for whoever employs him, then for him there are simply no rules. Unlike you Miguel, you're a rule follower, aren't you? Ramirez says nothing. AMOS Carlos is the opposite of that and that's what's so seductive, you know? He can kill whomever he chooses... ravish whoever he chooses... take whatever he chooses. Do... whatever he chooses. It is to be in many ways a superman, not bound by the mores or morals of humanity. JACK And if you learn what we can teach you, you'll be one, too. If not, you'll be dead. INT. ABANDONED PRISON - CAFETERIA - THE NEXT MORNING It is a huge, empty room. Ramirez sits at the lone table as Amos enters. Ramirez is eating a bowl of porridge. His breath steams out in the cold. The room is freezing but instead of a warm jacket, he wears light prison overalls. AMOS Good morning. How's the porridge, you like it? RAMIREZ 'Morning. It's not bad. He finishes what's left in the bowl. Amos reaches over to a side warming table. There is a huge pot of porridge there. AMOS Good... finish everything in the pot. RAMIREZ There's got to be like... eight helpings in there maybe... AMOS No questions... Just do. From now on, unless otherwise indicated Ramirez is in the too-tight shirt and tie and light jacket. Jack is in the distance, observing. INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - ABANDONED PRISON - DAY Ramirez is doing furious situps, hanging off the balcony of one of the tiers, with his feet linked under one of the bars so that as he does his sit-up it is over an abyss. Amos stands in front of Ramirez, puffing on a cigar as he speaks, so that Ramirez is gulping in breaths of cigar smoke as he exercises. AMOS Name and place of birth! RAMIREZ Illich Ramirez. Caracas, Venezuela. AMOS Your father? RAMIREZ Doctor Jose Altagracia Ramirez... Do you have to smoke that cigar? AMOS Yes. There is a silence between them. This is obviously the end of that subject. Then Amos goes on. AMOS Carlos' father abandoned him and his mother because he wanted to be a playboy. Your father abandoned you in effect, when he was sent to prison. Either way, it's a lonely child missing his father. I want you to take what you know of your real father and superimpose it onto this the image of Carlos' father, so when you talk of one you are talking of the other with the same emotion... the same love, the same resentment... the same sadness, the same anger. CUT TO: EXT. CEMETERY - MONTREAL - DAY As Jack and Ramirez walk toward the cemetery, we SEE Ramirez who wears a lightweight white parka so that he shivers in the cold in contrast to Jack's heavy winter gear. Ramirez carries what appears to be a gun. JACK You need to not only remember the names on every tombstone, but where they are so when I call out a name, you whirl and shoot. They walk into a scene that is completely surreal. Standing behind every tombstone is one of the crew of trainers. Each man wears a white parka and white pants against the freezing cold. In the center of their impromptu circle stands Ramirez, also wearing white, but of much lighter material so that he shivers in the cold. All of them including Ramirez hold paint pellet guns. It is a cemetery full of living targets which can shoot back. Jack stands outside the circle. RAMIREZ It's kind of cold. You think I might be able to borrow a warmer jacket from someone? JACK Brisson! We don't want you to be comfortable. That's just what will get you killed. Ramirez hesitates a moment, trying to remember where the tombstone with the name "Brisson" is. The trainer who stands behind the "Brisson" tombstone has no such hesitation. He fires at Ramirez and an ugly black splotch of paint explodes on Ramirez's white suit. Ramirez shakes his head in frustration. JACK DuPres! Paquet! Ramirez whirls, misses one, is hit again with another black splotch but hits the Paquet tombstone square in the chest with a black splotch of his own. INT. KITCHEN SET - PRISON - DAY In the middle of a huge room, a movie set has been erected. There are flats supported by sand bags which form the "set" of a kitchen. The set is perfect in every way but its position inside of a huge prison hall lends a quality of the macabre, since no movie is being shot here and no audience will ever see these performances. Jack is there with Ramirez. He opens the refrigerator and Ramirez looks inside as Jack times him on his watch, then closes the refrigerator. Ramirez sneezes. He has caught a cold but must ignore it. RAMIREZ Top shelf... some milk, some juice, maybe some cottage cheese, a couple bottles of beer, some tomatoes... I don't know... JACK What kind of milk, how many cartons, open or closed, what kind of juice, how full was the bottle, was it cottage cheese or cream cheese, how many bottles of beer, how many tomatoes? This is life and death! Jack opens the cupboard. JACK Look here... Ten seconds, how many cups, saucers, plates, look this time! INT. CAFETERIA - ABANDONED PRISON - MONTREAL - DAY Ramirez sits practicing his Venezuelan accent in English, repeating phrases he hears from a native speaker on a tape recorder as he eats another of the interminable bowls of porridge. EXT. CEMETERY - MONTREAL - DAY Ramirez once again stands in the center in his lightweight white parka surrounded by trainers in heavy white parkas. Jack is nearby. JACK Here's the thing about Carlos. He doesn't fit any mold. His father is an extraordinarily wealthy playboy who's a Marxist at the same time... DuFraisne! Ramirez whirls and misses and is hit by the trainer. Jack shakes his head and continues. JACK The guy's such a fanatic he names his three sons after Lenin. And I don't mean John. The same thing is true for Carlos. He's a guerilla fighter who loves champagne and caviar... LaPierre! Ramirez whirls and hits the trainer in his shoulder at the same time that he himself is hit. Jack's look betrays no emotion. JACK He doesn't want to be Che Guevara, he wants to be the James Bond of the People's Liberation Front. It's not so much radical chic as an excuse for sadism. Paquet! As he says this last, Ramirez whirls and shoots another trainer, dead in the chest. Ramirez smiles. He is beginning to enjoy playing terrorist. EXT. DIRT ROAD - DAY We are speeding down the road in a suped-up open Jeep POV Ramirez, who is driving. Suddenly, we SEE Jack and Amos up ahead. Amos pulls a lever and a barrier snaps up at chest level across the road. We jam on the brakes and CUT TO: INT. JEEP - DAY Ramirez is at the wheel. Suddenly he sees the barrier plate a hundred yards in front. He hits the brakes and the emergency brake at the same time. NEW ANGLE The tires scream and leave black tracks, as the Jeep slides sideways towards the barrier. Just before reaching it, the car completes a 180-degree turn and roars back, but at the last second fishtails and swerves off the road. ANGLE ON - RAMIREZ He is obviously frustrated. ANGLE ON - JACK He shakes his head in disgust. JACK Dead again. EXT. BELVEDERE - DAY Ramirez and Jack walk together on the belvedere which is an observation area with a railing around it, overlooking the abandoned prison. In between the belvedere and the prison is a field which is almost completely barren except for one tree. It sits down below. In the distance, we SEE a snow mobile approach with its lights on. Just then, Jack takes a pocket sized remote transmitter and slips it into the front pocket of Ramirez's jacket, turning it on as he does. RAMIREZ What's that? JACK It's a transmitter. RAMIREZ For what? JACK Target practice. You're the target. Jack quickly moves away from Ramirez. As Ramirez moves, he notices that the snow mobile changes direction as well, and continues to home in on him. And then there is a second snow mobile. And then a third, all of them coming straight for him. He starts to run. The snow mobiles turn and continue bearing down on him, driving him closer toward the railing. We SEE the snow mobiles are controlled by radio antennas, evidently homing in on his transmitter. Jack, who has moved quite a ways off, pulls out a Beretta and sets it on the rail. We SEE on the snow mobiles, a lit- up remote device. JACK If you shoot out the receivers, they'll stop. There are ten rounds in this clip. The first two are live, the next three dummy, then three live, two dummy. Ramirez stands like a deer in the headlights for an instant and then goes running for the gun. He cannot make it to the gun before the first snow mobile barrels down upon him. He is right against the rail now and goes diving into the snow. The snow mobile goes directly over him and crashes through the rail, falling down to the field below. Ramirez is up and running, grabs the gun, fires two rounds and misses, then hits three dummy rounds which click away as the second snow mobile draws closer. Then he fires and hits a headlight, then fires and misses, then fires and hits the remote device. That snow mobile stops in its tracks. The third now barrels down on Ramirez. He clicks off two dummy rounds and just before the snow mobile hits him, a shot rings out. The receiver shatters and we SEE Jack standing with the smoking gun with which he has just saved Ramirez's life. JACK Three times dead. INT. CAFETERIA - ABANDONED PRISON - DAY It is after lunch and Jack and Amos are eating ice cream sundaes while Ramirez sits eating the last bit of porridge from the huge bowl. AMOS You finish all your porridge? RAMIREZ (deadly) Yeah... yeah... I finished all my porridge. AMOS Good now you can have some more. He motions for the waiter who crosses with a fresh pot and starts to ladle it out into Ramirez's bowl. Ramirez reaches up and tears at his tie and rips open the top button. Ramirez explodes batting the waiter's hand away and sending the bowl flying. RAMIREZ Enough of this porridge shit man, hi jo deputa! Fuck it man... I ain't eatin' no more of this shit! And I ain't wearin' this fuckin' shirt anymore either! With that he rips off the tie and rips open the shirt. AMOS Why Miguel amigo, whatever is the matter? RAMIREZ I'll tell you what the matter is man... I been here twelve mother fuckin' weeks an' all I've had to eat the whole time is this shit! And those dumb ass basketball games... what's that?! You damn near kill me with those fucking snowmobiles... I haven't seen my family in three months and I still don't know what any plan is or what I'm supposed to be doing! AMOS Congratulations! You're acting like a child... like a spoiled brat... JACK And not a Navy Lieutenant Commander, which is exactly what would get you killed. AMOS Finally you're acting like a willful spoiled child which is just what Carlos was. JACK We couldn't just let you study Carlos. If this thing is going to work, you have to become him. Ramirez looks at him in disgust. RAMIREZ The two most elite intelligence services in the world and the best you can come up with is this porridge bullshit?! AMOS As a child Carlos was fed that porridge that you love so much every day. He hated it. Every woman or man he's ever been close to he told about that porridge... how the very smell of it made him sick. And now it makes you sick. JACK When he was in school he was a scrawny little kid. The last one to get picked for any teams. He felt as clumsy as we've made you feel... AMOS His father smoked cigars... the same ones whose smell you complained about. The only cover that can save your life... is the one you believe yourself. Now... are you ready to pass the next test? Ramirez just looks at them, in a kind of shock. AMOS I'll take that for a yes. You're about to go into your house. Your wife has told you she was away with the children for a week. She is entering the house for the first time in a week with you. The children are still at Grandma's so the two of you have a nice romantic time ahead of you. Walk through the house... through the living room and the kitchen only. You have thirty seconds. Walk casually through the house so as not to make her suspicious of anything you do and find out if she's telling you the truth or not. If you pass this test your questions will be answered. If not... you'll be sent home to Virginia and this will be the end of it. INT. ABANDONED PRISON - LIVING ROOM SET - MONTREAL - DAY Ramirez walks casually through the living room with camera following. Amos and Jack walk behind him. Ramirez bends down to tie his shoe near the sofa. He crosses into the kitchen and camera follows. He opens the refrigerator and takes out a carton of milk. He takes a drink from the carton and dribbles some onto his shirt and onto the floor. He gets an "I'm such a slob" look on his face. Then he replaces the milk, crosses to the sink, takes the sponge off the sink and a paper towel. He mops up the spill with the sponge first and then with the paper towel, then tosses the paper towel into the trash. As he speaks, Ramirez himself will be amazed at how much he is able to deduce using the techniques he's been taught. JACK (looking at watch) Time's up. AMOS Nu? Is she telling the truth or lying? RAMIREZ She's got to be lying, otherwise this would be a very short test and I don't think that's what you had in mind. She had a man over. JACK How do you know? RAMIREZ She hasn't been here in a week? Then why was the sponge still damp. It means she washed dishes. Take a look at the dish rack. There's water in the tray underneath it. Probably from a couple of plates. There's a bit of water in the silverware tray. The milk is still fresh... not even a hint of being sour and the date on it is a week from today... means she just bought it yesterday or the day before. The margarine's fresh-bought but it's already been opened. Same with the bread. AMOS How do you know it was a man? RAMIREZ (ignoring him a beat) She might have met him at a bar because there's a book of matches in the garbage. She was probably careful to throw the cigarette away but there's still a bit of ash and that cigarette smell at the bottom of the liner. JACK What else? RAMIREZ I think they made love on the sofa because one of the cushions has been turned over and there's the indentation of a tennis shoe print in the rug over there. He looks down at Jack's shoes. RAMIREZ Sorta like the ones you're wearing, Jack. Besides, I know it was a man because I smelled after-shave on the couch. He gets a quizzical look, crosses to the couch, sniffs. RAMIREZ ...Cheap kind. He crosses to Jack and sniffs Jack as well. RAMIREZ Jack... you've been fucking my wife. He holds index finger and thumb up to Jack's head like a gun, reprising his mentor's gesture to him and making the sound of a gunshot with his mouth. RAMIREZ Now who's dead? CUT TO: EXT. CEMETERY - DAY We have four quick cuts. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! In each one, Ramirez who stands in the center of the trainers, whirls like a ballet dancer and beats each trainer to the punch, hitting dead center on each one with his paint pellet gun. From the side, Amos and Jack nod to each other approvingly. EXT. CEMETERY - DAY A triumphant Ramirez walks with Amos and Jack. JACK The plan is to get the KGB to eliminate Carlos for us. Carlos knows every link between the KGB and every terrorist organization in the world. He's not only the smoking gun, he knows every contact there ever was. We make the KGB think that Carlos is ready to turn... ready to go over to the CIA, and they'll take him out. RAMIREZ Why would they think Carlos would go over to the CIA? AMOS Money... fifty million... not for the forces of world revolution this time, but for him, in his pocket with a new identity and CIA protection. They'll believe it... if we lay it out right... they'll believe it. RAMIREZ When do we move? AMOS Not so fast. You're far from ready. I would think another three months of training and then... RAMIREZ Bullshit! I'm ready now. Give me any test you want. Christ, I already passed your tests... what more do you want? EXT. ABANDONED PRISON - SUNSET The sun is just setting. There is the silhouette of the prison in the snow. A kind of dark serenity permeates the scene. INT. CAFETERIA - ABANDONED PRISON - SUNSET Ramirez sits at the table in the huge, dark and empty room. The table is set with champagne and caviar. He has his Arabic book and tape and earphones. RAMIREZ (studying to himself in Arabic) Shoo Ismak? Isme... Carlos. Isme Carlos. INT. NEW MONITORING ROOM - ABANDONED PRISON - EVENING We are in a new setting. It is a kind of dungeon, perhaps once a solitary confinement cell. It is crowded here now with Jack, Amos, and Technician #1 who sit in front of a new bank of monitors. On one we SEE Ramirez eating in the cafeteria. AMOS It should be hitting him now... ANGLE ON MONITOR We PUSH IN on Ramirez on the monitor. INT. CAFETERIA - ABANDONED PRISON - EVENING Ramirez sits as before. He is eating his caviar as he looks at his Arabic textbook. ANGLE ON - THE TEXTBOOK It shows a picture of a street in an Arab country, possibly Libya. It is a typical street scene; a dispassionately sterile photograph in which one can almost hear the BBC announcer voice in your head saying, "And here is a typical scene in lovely Tripoli..." There is a man in a business suit walking on the sidewalk in this picture. We CUT back and forth between Ramirez and then as Ramirez strains to look harder, unbelievingly, we PUSH IN tighter on the picture from his POV and to our amazement, the man in the picture looking back up at us is Ramirez! Then suddenly the man in the picture moves and his finger comes up to his lips and he looks at us and says, "SHHHHH." Just then, a street vendor in the same scene pulls out a gun and shoots Ramirez in the picture in the head. Ramirez falls and the picture goes back to a still shot of Ramirez lying face down in the black and white photo, oozing black blood onto the white sidewalk of beautiful downtown Tripoli. He looks out the window at the bluish sky as we shift focus between him and his background. He looks down at the bowl of porridge. ANGLE ON - THE CAVIAR It is crawling with ants. BACK TO SCENE Ramirez picks up the bowl and throws it across the room. RAMIREZ Jack! Jack!!!! Amos!! You motherfuckers! He gets up, looks at the TV camera and walks down the corridor to the observation room. INT. CORRIDOR - ABANDONED PRISON - MONTREAL - EVENING Ramirez walks down the corridor past the surveillance room. The satellite dish is still there but there are no technicians to be seen. He follows the cable that snakes down the corridor towards the command room. INT. COMMAND ROOM - MORNING Ramirez walks along the cable until he comes to the plastic- enshrouded satellite tracking system. He pulls one of the plastic panels to discover that the place is totally empty. He bends down and picks up the cable as if it were a lifeline on a strip at stormy sea. He follows it hand over hand to where all the equipment was -- it's gone. He looks around and through the plastic, starts to see the silhouettes of people moving and talking. Abruptly, he pulls the panel aside -- just some pigeons against the moonlight shafts. INT. OBSERVATION ROOM - EVENING Ramirez enters the Observation Room with its looming observation tower that now has become home to the hundreds of pigeons inside it. The place is completely deserted. RAMIREZ Jack!! At the sound of his shout, hundreds of pigeons explode out of the observation tower like bats in a primal cave. Ramirez instinctively crouches in terror. RAMIREZ Amos you piece of shit! Wen anta? Coos echtak ya sharmuta! ANGLE ON POV Ramirez. It is blurry and then there are brilliant flashes that cut across our eyes, slicing across our vision, blinding us. BACK TO SCENE Ramirez knows they have doped him. RAMIREZ So she tried the first bowl of caviar and said, that's too hot, and she tried the second bowl and said, that's too cold and so she tried the third little itsy bitsy bowl of caviar that belonged to little Miguel and that turned into maggots and that was just right... INT. CORRIDOR - ABANDONED PRISON - NIGHT Ramirez runs down the corridor. There are cells on either side of him now. They are empty. He is trying to hold onto his sanity. NEW ANGLE - POV RAMIREZ The cells are now full and each of the cells contains... him! He is trying to get out of all of them. ANGLE ON - CELL #1 Ramirez is in Carlos' black jeans and T-shirt.