First Draft: Tom Jankiewicz

Revised Draft: D.V. deVincentis & S.K. Boatman & John Cusack

NEW CRIME PRODUCTIONS Registered WGA

--address deleted

--for privacy

--phone deleted

May 4, 1994

FADE IN:

ROLL CREDITS OVER:

EXT. GOLF COURSE - DAWN

VARIOUS EXTRA CLOSE-UPS of this luxurious patchwork of brilliant greens:

A POLISHED BRASS SPRINKLER HEAD

pops up from the ground and begins to water the already dew-soaked lawn.

A FLEET OF DUCKLINGS

No mother in sight, cruise through the thrushes.

GRAVEYARD OF GOLF BALLS, UNDERWATER

At the bottom of a water hazard.

PALM FRONDS

After a neat they sway, revealing the barren desert that surrounds the artificial oasis. The sun already bakes the air. We hear the opening guitar strains of the Kim Deal-Kurt Cobain suet of "WHAT I DID FOR LOVE," as we CRANE DOWN the palms to

A BRAND-NEW TITLEIST 3 BALL.

Just on the edge of the rough. A pair of yellow trousers moves in. An iron confidently addresses the ball, and chips it out. The trousers walk out after it.

HANDS

Digging dirt out of the grooves of the iron's face with a golf tee, while on the way to the green. Both hands are gloved, instead of one, and the gloves are black.

YELLOW TROUSERS

In a squat over the ball, sizing up the curvy, fifty-foot journey to the hole. The figure positions himself and the putter above the ball, then pops the ball lightly. The ball rolls and bobs with purpose toward the hole, dodging hazards and finding lanes, until it finally falls off of the green and into the hole.

THE GLOVED HAND

Sets the ball on the next tee. The figure moves to a leather golf bag. The hands pull the wipe rag off of the top of the bag and drop it on the ground, reach into the bag, drawing out a compact SNIPER RIFLE, affixed with a long silencer. The figure drops one knee down onto the rag, the other foot firmly setting its spikes. We move the figure to see the face of the sniper, concentrating down the scope in his half-squat. He is MARTIN BLANK.

We SWING AROUND behind his head to look down the barrel with him. Four-hundred yards away, on another part of the course, another green is barely visible through groves of trees and rough. Three miniscule, SILVER-HAIRED FIGURES come into view. One of them, in a RED SWEATER sets up for first putt. He could be an investment banker, or an arms trader.

MARTIN'S ARM

Flinches, and a low THUNK reports from the rifle. A second later in the distance, the

RED SWEATER'S HEAD

Seems to vanish from his shoulders into a crimson mist. His body crumples to the green.

MARTIN

Returns the rifle to the bag, pulls out a driver, moves to the tee and whacks the ball. He watches its path and whispers absentlyÖ

INT. CLUB HOUSE PATIO - LATER

The outdoor post-golf luncheon area of an elite Texas golf club. Martin sits in on the fringes of a conversation between a group of executive types. CLUB MEMBER #1 has a Buddha-like peace in his eyes through the philosophical talk.

Club Member #1 turns to Martin.

Club Member #1 pulls a laminated card from his wallet and hands it over to Martin. In the distance, sirens begin to wail.

INSERT - WALLET-SIZE P.P.P. CARD

A pizza-shaped diagram showing six "sections".

Sirens are getting louder, closer to the club.

EXT. COUNTRY CLUB - DAY

The source of the sirens are almost upon us. Martin walks toward his rented Town Car as the VALET pulls it up. He meets the Valet by the trunk, where he trades tip for keys.

MARTIN AT CAR

He fishes out the laminated "Personal Pan Power" card, looks at it, and tosses it onto the ground. Police cars, now visible in the distance, wind into the long club driveway. Martin gets into his car and pulls away.

LAMINATED CARD

As it lays on the asphalt. The wheel of a police car rolls to a stop on it.

INT. AIRLINER - DAY

Martin sits in a first class seat, the tray table flipped down. On the left side of the tray is a stack of magazines of all kinds - Sports Illustrated, Mademoiselle, Wired, Rolling Stone, National Review, Spin, National Geographic, and on. He draws one off the top, and flips through it, impassively taking in images and reading nothing. When he is done with one, he discards it into the empty seat next to him and draws another-- Martin's way of instantly and massively uploading the world around him:

Toothless hockey player in triumph, Sony product parade, crouched starving child with vulture in the background, supermodel in suede, Tic Tacs, living former Presidents, arm in arm, smiling, etc.

INT. HIRED CAR, NEW YORK - DAY

The livery weaves out of the arrival lanes at Kennedy airport. Martin reclines in the back seat, a conversation having already begun.

INT. CAR - MANHATTAN STREETS - LATER

The car cuts through the upper east side. Martin and the Driver exchange looks through the rear-view mirror.

The Driver pauses for dramatic emphasis

No reaction from Martin.

INT. HOTEL ROOM, NEW YORK CITY - DAY

A sedate and well-appointed four-star suite on the Upper East Side. Martin stands in front of one of the open windows watching the canopied entrance of an elegant high-rise across the street. He lifts an eye rinse cup to his eye and tilts it back. A cellular phone RINGS, interrupting him. He moves to the desk and draws one of three phones from his briefcase, depresses a scrambler module, flips it open, and listens for a moment.

Martin hangs up. Picks up another phone and dials. As he waits for an answer, he goes to a Fed Ex blueprint tube lying on the bed.

He breaks the shipping seal and pulls out a series of finished metal parts including a long thin barrel, a scope, and a silencer.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - SAME

Martin stands in front of the window, phone in one hand, the scope in the other. Next to him, the assembled rifle rests across the arm of a chair.

He glances over to a second window to his left, which offers a view further down the street. He goes to it. He raises the scope and sees

MARTIN'S P.O.V./SCOPE- WINDOW #2

A few blocks down, small even through the high-powered scope, is your average BICYCLE MESSENGER dressed in lycra racing gear, weaving through traffic toward us. Slung low across his right hip is a black canvas bag. The Messenger's hand is hidden in it. The other phone begins to RING.

MARTIN

He sets down the phone and answers the other, still watching the messenger.

Martin drops the phone and moves away from Window #2 to the rifle. He mounts the scope and he looks out Window #1 at the high-rise.

MARTIN'S P.O.V./SCOPE - WINDOW #1

Of a DOORMAN opening the door for a group of five men in suits. Four BODYGUARDS form a perimeter around the fifth man, a mall, avuncular figure in his forties dressed in Saville Row finery.

MARTIN

Takes a step back into the shadows of the room, and raises the rifle toward Window #2.

MARTIN'S P.O.V./SCOPE - WINDOW #2

of an empty street. The bicycle messenger flashes past.

MARTIN

concentrating, tracks the path of the Messenger, leading him left to right across the blind spot of the hotel room wall between Window #2 and Window #1.

STREET

the bicycle Messenger bears down on the group of men, drawing a Mac-10 submachine gun from his bag. The group see him-- just as Martin's sniper FIRE explodes the Messenger's chest. Two of the Bodyguards collapse onto their boss. The other two open fire on the Messenger as he wipes out horribly into a parked car in front of them.

MARTIN

withdraws from the window, and picks up the phone again and begins to break down the rifle.

Martin listens patiently as he works.

EXT. STREET - SAME - INTERCUT

DOORMAN'S HANDS

unbuttoning his double-breasted long coat.

MARTIN

just finishes packing.

STREET

The two bodyguards kick at the Messenger's body. The other two begin to move off of their boss, who rises cowering. The Doorman stands behind it all, unbuttoning his coat.

DOORMAN

a tall, dark, sharp-featured man in his forties, wearing a handlebar moustache. He moves toward the group of men as he flips open his coat back over two huge chrome .44 Magnum Charthouse Bulldog revolvers and OPENS FIRE on them.

MARTIN

is closing his bag when he hears the gun-thunder.

Martin drops the phone, grabs his scope, and spins to the window.

MARTIN'S P.O.V./SCOPE

of the Doorman kicking through the pile of dead bodyguards. He gets to the man at the bottom-- their boss. The Doorman FIRES both guns.

MARTIN

reacts, surprised to see a second shooter. He pulls himself from the window, puts away his scope, and accelerates his exit.

HIGH-RISE FOYER

Outside, we see the doorman drop both guns on the pile of bodies. He walks back toward us through the glass doors and makes his way through the building toward the service exit. He sheds his uniform and stuffs it into a plastic bag.

MARTIN

his two parcels in hand, exits out the side door of the hotel and walks down the street.

DOORMAN

now wearing rich man's sweats, hops off the loading dock, walks to a Lincoln Town Car, and drives off.

INT. MARTIN'S AND GROCERS CARS - DAY

Martin rolls down FDR Drive in a Lincoln Town Car once again on the cellular.

Martin notices another Town Car appears in the next lane. We recognize the Doorman behind the wheel, phone in hand. He is GROCER.

Grocer ignores this.

Martin hangs up and pulls away.

INT. AIRLINER - DAY

Martin sits in first class, wiping his face and hands with an airline hot towel. He folds the wet cloth and once again speeds through the images from a thick stack of magazines. He looks up as he hears

INT. APARTMENT, CHICAGO - NIGHT

Martin walks into a sparsely furnished apartment. He wearily drops his carry-on bag and briefcase in the hall.

INT. LIVING ROOM - LATER

Martin sits on a futon couch watching MTV with no sound. On the coffee table in front of him is a phalanx of vitamin bottles. Martin takes some capsules from each and washes them down with a reddish-orange beverage.

INT. LIVING ROOM - LATER

Martin lies on his back on the hardwood floor. His eyes are closed and he wears a set of headphones as he absently taps his chest.

After a moment, his eyes open, alerted. His head turns to the side, and his hands lightly cup the headphones.

CLOSE-UP: WIRE

from the headphones as it winds to a small metal box, with one unmarked switch and one amber light- definitely not a walkman. The wire continues out of the other side of the box, across the floor, connecting to a suction cup stuck to the floor.

MARTIN - A MINUTE LATER

draws a pre-cut section of the floor, the width of a pencil and twice as long, by a string.

VIDEO MONITOR - A MIUNTE LATER

The greenish Starlight (night vision) image of a young, HUSKY MAN sleeping on his back, as seen from above. A fine thread snakes from behind CAMERA to just above the man's slack mouth. We PULL BACK to reveal a Sony Watchman that holds the IMAGE. KEEP PULLING to reveal Martin watching it as he maneuvers the thread down past the fiber-optic cable through the hole in the floor.

MARTIN - A MINUTE LATER

concentrates as he applies three drops of blue liquid on the thread. As the drops run down along the thread through the floor, his attention shifts to the

VIDEO MONITOR

The drops, huge in the foreground, become smaller as they make their way down the line toward the sleeping man.

MARTIN

adjusts the thread minutely with one hand, and lowers the fiber-optic cable with the other.

VIDEO MONITOR

The face begins to fill the screen as the fiber-optic follows the drops toward it. Suddenly, the man snorts and turns his face...

A DROP FALLS

It misses the man's mouth and hit's his cheek.

VIDEO MONITOR

The man's eyes snap open in terror as he looks directly into CAMERA. His image falls away as the fiber-optic is jerked back up through the hole in the floor.

MARTIN

stuffs the apparati into an open duffel bag, and flies out of frame.

INT. HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER

A BODYGUARD sits outside an apartment door. A muffled but dire scream is heard from within and he is on his feet, gun in hand. An exit door in the hallway slams open revealing Martin, his gun already pointed at the Bodyguard. The Bodyguard levels his at Martin.

The Bodyguard hesitates just long enough to get double-tapped through the head.

Martin moves to the dead Bodyguard, and locates a retractable key chain on his belt. He unreels the ring of keys and opens the door. He lets the keys retract back to the belt and drags him into the apartment.

INT. HUSKY MAN'S APARTMENT - SECONDS LATER

Martin moves silently down the hall in a crouch. He comes to the bedroom and slips across the threshold.

INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

Martin crouches down outside the bedroom door. He points the gun at the door, and reaching up turns the knob. As the door opens, the Husky Man FIRES wildly over Martin's head. Martin returns with one shot to the hut which sits the man down on the floor.

Martin kicks the gun away from the fallen man, and raises his barrel to the man's forehead.

Martin cocks the gun....

EXT. EAST-WEST HOLDING COMPANY, LOS ANGELES - DAY

The perpetual sun shines down on a small lot of pre-fab office bungalows.

INT. BLANK HOLDING COMPANY

A small suite of dry-walled offices.

EAST-WEST HOLDING COMPANY

is stenciled on glass doors behind Martin who stands in front of a young woman reading from some kind of invitation. She is MARCELLA MAYES.

Marcella holds up the mauve envelope and smiles slyly. For the first time, Martin looks scared.

Martin begins to walk past her into his office, but Marcella stops him.

Marcella looks concerned.

She hands him a piece of paper. He scans it.

Martin looks at her wearily. He puts it into the paper shredder at the side of her desk.

She raises a thick brown dossier from the top of her desk and puts it down again. Martin moves through a door to his private office.

MARTIN'S OFFICE

Martin goes into his office and sits at his desk. On the walls are a couple of boring prints of tallships. A bookshelf holds trappings of a loose attempt at a cover-- a few shipping manifests, sealane tables, and other specialized reference books on import/export. He sits and stares.

NEW ANGLE

Time has passed, and Martin still sits at his desk massaging his gums with a rubber-tipped dental pointer.

C.U. MARTIN'S TEETH

The dental tool jumps across the gaps between his teeth like a hummingbird.

MARTIN

pulls back his jacket lapel and fits the utensil into a pocket protector that is also home to a toothbrush, emery board, tweezers, and comb. He stands and walks out of his office.

FOYER

Martin moves toward the door. As he passes Marcella she hands him the mauve envelope and a travel portfolio.

Martin stops short as he reaches the threshold. He holds up the envelope, and stares a dagger through it. On his way out, over his shoulder...

INT. DR. OATMAN'S OFFICE - DAY

Martin slouches on a leather couch. He holds the mauve envelope, now open.

DR. OATMAN sits in the window. He is Kris Kringle-esque, and wears a sheepskin vest, rough-hewn shirt, faded Levis, and old Frye boots. Oatman nods with the suave understanding of a man happy to collect fifty thousand in fees before asking a tough question.

CLOSE-UP - MARTIN

CUT TO:

MARTIN'S P.O.V. - FROM ABOVE

Of a crowded gymnasium. The alumni below stops what they are doing and look up at Martin, DRAWING GUNS OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES AND OPEN FIRE ON MARTIN. THE UNITED FORCE INSTANTLY DISINTEGRATES, AND ALL 400 PEOPLE TURN THEIR GUNS ON EACH OTHER. A BLOODBATH ENSUES. ONE ALUMNI SHOOTS HER OWN HEAD OFF, ANOTHER MOWS DOWN THE BAR, ETC.

CUT BACK TO:

MARTIN AND OATMAN

Oatman twitches nervously, almost spilling his coffee.

Beat.

INT. CHURCH -

A SERIES OF QUICK SHOTS:

MARTIN

From the back of the darkened empty church, we see him mount the altar.

MARTIN'S HANDS

open the gilded doors to reveal the chalice. He removes it, squirts a clear liquid into the cup, and swishes it out. He returns the chalice to the cabinet.

MARTIN

Sits in the back pew of the church, now crowded for Mann. He watches the PRIEST lift the chalice into the air, murmur a prayer, and drink from it. The Priest collapses behind the altar.

C.U. OF ALTAR CARPET

The chalice bounces free from the Priest's hand as it hits the ground.

INT. OATMAN'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

Oatman's glad the session's just about over.

INT. COMDO - NIGHT

Very dark. No pictures or plants. Almost no furniture, and what he does have is black. The only sign of life is a CAT. The cat watches on as Martin sorts through a cardboard box, finally coming to a photo album.

INSERT-ALBUM

A teen-aged Martin Blank: shy boy with a nervous smile. He poses with his mother, an older woman with a kind smile... but her eyes are dark; aged by a life of work and worry. On the opposing page is a gilt funeral announcement that reads: "IN LOVING MEMORY... VISTOR ALLEN BLANK...."

turns the page.

INSERT-PHOTO ALBUM

A photograph of a tall, thin girl: a bright smile from within a bulky winter coat. A girl he's always wondered about: DEBI NEWBERRY. Handwritten on the photo in girlish loops: "Would you rather...?!"

INT. KITCHEN - SAME

Martin pulls himself away from the album and the cat follows him, moaning hungrily--

Martin opens a restaurant-style refrigerator. It holds various bottles of vitamins, spirulina, wheatgrass, digestible hydrogen peroxide, fluoride treatment, oxygenated mouth rinse, and thirty cans of CATFOOD.

He opens a can for the cat and a bottle for himself. While the cat eats, he returns to the cardboard box. Finds a YEARBOOK. Flips it open....

INSERT-YEARBOOK

A picture of a senior class "Blues Brothers" party: a group of teens mug to the camera in Blues Brothers get-ups. Sprinters race for a finish line, their chests stretching for the tape.

DEBI NEWBERY'S SENIOR PICTURE

A more mature version of the girl in the album. Her name appears under his picture...

INT. GROCER'S KITCHEN - NIGHT

Track light fills the gourmet-rustic kitchen. GROCER stands, wearing a burgundy Fila sweat suit, pushing beets into a vegetable juicer. Next to the juicer are piles of celery and carrots, as well. A low-key BLIP is heard from another room. Grocer tops off the glass and takes it out of the kitchen.

INT. GROCER'S GREAT ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Grocer enters the main room of the villa-style A-frame. He moves to an antique oak desk and sits in front of a COMPUTER.

ON-SCREEN GRAPHICS

"Click OK for remote access caller"

OK is clicked.

"Availability for two days in Detroit area"

"Terms"

"$560,000"

"When"

"Now"

"OK/ FAX materials"

Grocer leans back in his chair and sips the juice. After a moment, the FAX machine on the desk rattles. The computer beeps.

"confirmation number of wire transfer#: AJ6687-OI99471"

Grocer hits the return button after taking in the number. A graphic appears:

"Connection is terminated/ Status idle"

Grocer's FAX begins to moan and chatter. Grocer raises his juice glass to the computer in a lazy toast.

INT. PLANE - NIGHT

Martin reclines in first class, soaring toward the Midwest on the red-eye. He has already scanned his magazines and they are piled in the empty seat next to him. He sets aside a Powerbar. Martin reads Kill Without Joy. After a moment, he sets the book down and takes up Iron John.

INT. DETROIT AIRPORT TERMINAL - EARLY MORNING

At the edge of the airport bar sits LARDNER and MCCULLERS, two Government Spooks, agency unknown. They are both in blazers, no ties, early thirties, and they watch the passing crowd.

In the background, Martin passes by them as he walks down the hall. Without directly regarding him, the two stand, drop some cash on the bar, and begin to leave.

Lardner can neither confirm nor deny this.

They exit.

EXT. EXIT RAMP, DETROIT AIRPORT - MORNING

INSIDE MARTIN'S CAR

Martin, in a black Lincoln Town Car, veers off of the airport artery and on to a turnpike. The radio broadcasts the news.

MARTIN'S CAR

blows past CAMERA and on down the road. After a beat, a mid-eighties Ford Country Squire station wagon follows, occupied by two figures.

INSIDE THE COUNTRY SQUIRE

are Lardner and McCullers. They listen to the same broadcast.

MARTIN

flips through the dial, pausing on Rush Limbaugh who waxes fascistically.

...and then turns the dial again and cuts in on "Armageddon Time," slow reggae vibe by The Clash.

EXT. HIGHWAY-

Martin drives down the roadway... headlong into his past. Dig it...

INT. MARTIN'S CAR

Martin turns up the volume as he reacts to a familiar voice....

CUT TO:

CLOSE-UP - A FULL, FEMALE MOUTH

lit only by dime slivers of sunlight, in front of a microphone. Stray, gossamer strands of hair hanging in her face move in front of her mouth as she speaks....

CUT TO:

MARTIN

looking somewhere far away, beyond what is before him in the windshield...

CUT TO:

THE DEEJAY'S HANDS

as they distractedly toy with the wire at the base of the mic.

CUT TO:

MARTIN

still rapt, makes a sharp turn into a shopping district.

CUT TO:

HER MOUTH

CUT TO:

MARTIN

slows on a quaint street of cute shops. He creeps up to a storefront on hid right and stops, staring through the passenger window....

CUT TO:

DEBI NEWBERRY

the female deejay. She sits slumped in a well-worn executive chair, her back to the studio console and the picture window behind it that opens to the street....

she swivels in the chair to face the street....

DEBI'S P.O.V.

of Martin's Town Car outside, Martin silhouetted in shadow.

DEBI

Her brow furrowed as she peers at the car, something summoned by the dark figure. Her words falter almost imperceptibly.

MARTIN

Shaken from his trance by her stare, pulls back into the street and disappears....

INT. MARTIN'S CAR - MORNING

Martin drives, listening to the radio. He turns the corner with an expectant look on his face. Suddenly his face drops as he slows and pulls over....

MARTIN'S P.O.V. - 7-11 STORE

Martin looks left of the store, then right, behind him, then back at the store. Bewildered, he gets out of the car.

WIDE SHOT

of Martin as he walks with purpose. He halts in the middle of the lot. He puts his hands on his hips, stares, then moves in.... We stay wide as he enters the store and addresses the clerk inside.

CARL, the store clerk tries to get a grip on this question.

Martin's head pans the room, processing.

EXT. 7-11 PAYPHONE - MORNING

Martin continues to gaze at the structure as if it's a lunar landscape.

Martin hangs up. He watches one-stop shoppers come and go.

INT. NURSING HOME - DAY

MARTIN'S P.O.V.

of a NURSE leading him down a drab, antiseptic hallway. She banks into the sunlit room where a wispy woman in her late fifties sits expectantly on the edge of the bed clutching her purse in one hand, a filterless Pall-Mall in the other, a light coat on. This is MARY BLANK. She suffers from Alzheimer's or something just as debilitating.

The nurse gently eases Mary up. Martin hugs Mary stiffly and pats her shoulders. Mary takes hold of Martin's arm. They start out of the room.

EXT. SUBURBAN STREET - DAY

They walk past a school-yard park fitted with a set of swings, baseball diamonds, and a small grove of trees. She smokes and hacks.

Mary coughs horribly.

Martin decides to change the subject.

Mary leans in close, smiling.

EXT. NURSING HOME - DAY

As they head toward Martin's car, Mary stops and points to it.

A nurse approaches with a wheelchair.

Together, Martin and the nurse help Mary into it. Mary gazes at Martin, taking him in.

Martin bends down and kisses her on the cheek. The nurse spins the chair around and heads toward the building. He is somewhat fatigued from the experience, but he tries once more to connect.

The nurse stops and turns Mary around to face him. Mary looks up at Martin and brightens. She starts to sing out like Ethel Merman, arms out Broadway style.

Mary stops short, and squints at Martin.

EXT. GRAVEYARD ROAD - DAY

Martin stops the car and looks out the window at the sea of headstones. He jerks his hand in a stiff wave...

He drives off.

INT. MARTIN'S SUITE - DAY

The room features a big square bed, dresser and television. Martin enters, kicks a leather bag under the bed, and grabs the steel-sided briefcase.

MARTIN

pries out a wall vent, slides in the case and replaces the vent.

EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY

Lardner and McCullers are staked out along the main strip of town. Lardner snores, face pressed up against the passenger window. McCullers lays back in his seat, a to-go cup in his lap. He taps the cup with one finger as he absently sings his favorite Bob Seager song to himself...

McCullers catches of Martin's Town Car coming down the street. He nudges Lardner, and points.

LARDNER AND MCCULLERS P.O.V.

of Martin pulling into a space on the street outside the radio station. He gets out, looking nervous.

INT. RADIO STATION - DAY

Debi flips on the "ON-AIR" switch and prepares to speak into the microphone. Martin walks in. Debi sees him. They stare at each other. The song ends. Dead air. After a moment...

Debi turns to turntable B and finds it empty. She turns back to turntable A and lets the record roll on.

Debi swivels around to face Martin.

After a long pause....

Debi says nothing, just stares at him, in shock.

Debi slowly grooves into irony, her best defense.

Their eyes lock on each other....

The request line buzzes.

Beat. Debi makes the move.

Beat.

They run out of words, the moment too big for small talk. Martin gets the fear, breaks it off.

Martin leaves Debi sitting alone, in disbelief.

EXT. RADIO STATION - DAY

Martin steps out of the storefront station along the fashionable Grosse Pointe shopping district. He stops in the middle of the street with a strained look on his face.

INT. LARDNER & MCCULLERS' COUNTRY SQUIRE - SAME

LARDNER & MCCULLERS' P.O.V.

of Martin standing in the street.

LARDNER AND MCCULLERS

They frown, wondering at Martin's next move.

INT. DEEJAY BOOTH -

Debi lost in thought, still. After a moment, she sits upright and flips the "ON-AIR" switch.

EXT. STREET -

Martin stops in his tracks. His face softens, then becomes determined. He turns and walks back toward the station.

INT. DEEJAY BOOTH -

Debi broadcasting...

DEBI'S P.O.V.

of Martin walking back into the station.

Martin comes into the booth. The temperature rises as they square off.

INT. COUNTRY SQUIRE -

McCullers is not to be outdone.

INT. DEEJAY BOOTH

Martin and Debi locked in a passionate embrace. They break away.

Martin obeys. Debi clandestinely flips the "ON-AIR" switch as she drops into her chair. The "ON-AIR" light bar goes on above and behind Martin. Unbeknownst to him their conversation is put out over the airwaves.

Martin says nothing.

A beat as Martin realizes he's been had. He seems about to bolt.

Debi jabs a phone line on the console.

Martin deflates.

Stabs another line.

Martin looks up, humiliated.

She turns to him and shrugs apologetically.

Martin has his answer.

EXT. RADIO STATION - DAY

Martin leaves the station, alone and beaten down.

He scans the main strip.

MARTIN'S P.O.V.

A MAN walks down the street. He is FELIX, a bookish, forgettable man in his forties, wearing Le Coq Sportif sweats and shoes. He looks as if he has a dark cloud over his head. Martin's seen him somewhere, and doesn't like what he remembers. Martin's POV TRACKS him.

FELIX'S P.O.V.

As he walks down the street, he spots the Country Squire, and eyes Lardner and McCullers in the front seat.

MARTIN'S P.O.V.

follows Felix's eyes to Lardner and McCullers and catches their look. Their eyes lock, neither wanting to betray that they've made each other. They all do a pretty good job. His P.O.V. swings to a square-jawed, hale fellow wearing dark sunglasses who is approaching directly and only a few feet away. The man is going for something in his breast pocket...

MARTIN

reaches into his own jacket, most likely for a gun....

THE MAN

pulls out a glasses case, and takes off his shades-- He is PAUL SWIDERSKI.

MARTIN AND PAUL

Martin relaxes.

No trace of recognition on Martin's face.

They shake. Martin looks him up and down, astonished at the respectable veneer of his old burn-out friend.

INT. PAUL'S BMW - DAY

Martin and Paul rive through Grosse Pointe, Michigan: Wide streets lined with huge, shady oaks. Castle-like homes on golf-course green lawns. A comfortable, Midwestern Beverly Hills. They are cruising their old haunts, Paul smoking a joint.

Martin looks out the window, breathing in the past.

Paul offers Martin the joint. He declines.

Martin regards Paul archly.

Beat.

EXT. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOUSE - DAY

MARTIN'S P.O.V.

of a lovely YOUNG COUPLE on the front porch of a mid-sized Wright home.... Perhaps that could be him if things were different, but for now it feels like along shot. Paul is hawking the house to them out of earshot.

MARTIN AND THE GUARD

standing in the driveway.

The woman turns at Martin and smiles. Martin smiles back.

Paul walks the happy couple down the steps.

Paul looks at Martin and the Guard, inviting them into the sell.

All look to Martin....

All are confused. Martin thumbs to the guard.

Paul looks at his shoes and rolls his shoulders.

EXT. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT HOUSE

Lardner and McCullers sit in the wagon, watching the house in the distance.

INT. PAUL'S BMW - LATER

Martin and Paul cut through a particularly charming neighborhood.

MARTIN'S P.O.V.

A sprawling gingerbread mansion rises into view. A long and winding driveway cuts through thickly wooded property to the house.

C.U. OF MARTIN

Martin's not listening. His eyes track the house out the window.

MARTIN'S P.O.V.

of the mansion.

They roll slowly by Debi's house.

They drive in silence for a beat. Paul suddenly swerves to the shoulder, jams the brake, and turns on Martin.

Paul, satisfied, gets back on the road.

EXT. ROAD - DAY

Paul makes a turn. They approach a large car dealership. The sign above it says

DESTEPHANO'S BAVARIAN MOTOR WORKS

Paul slows outside the lot. BOB DESTEPHANO-- a big, angry-looking man in an expensive suit-- stands in the lot, puffing up amidst his stable of expensive cars.

Bob turns his back on them and begins to walk away.

EXT. RADIO STATION - NIGHT

Martin climbs out of Paul's car and begins to walk toward his own. Paul calls after him.

Martin nods him off. Paul pulls away.

MARTIN

stands across the street from the radio station, looking at Debi in the window.... Martin draws a thin rifle scope from his back pocket, and lifts it to his eye....

MARTIN'S P.O.V. - SCOPE

of Debi, in the crosshairs, bored, tapping a pencil to the beat of an unheard song.

MARTIN

dejected. He puts the scope away and gets in his car.

INT. 7-11 - NIGHT

Martin walks into the store, looking around once again at his old home. To the left of the door, a typical suburban teenage SKATEBOARDER is lost in the "Mortal Combat" video game and something too loud from his walkman. Carl, still working the double, nods to Martin.

Martin moves up one aisle to the gum rack. He picks out a pack of Beaman's and unwraps a stick as he heads to the counter. On the way, he makes a black Town Car pulling into a spot next to his own. He immediately changes course, and bee-lines for a rear aisle where he ducks down....

FELIX

Comes through the door, drawing a Mac-10 for each hand.

MARTIN

grabs the gum out of his mouth and sticks it onto the bottom of the Glock .9mm he has produced from somewhere in his suit.

CARL

grabs the cash drawer, sets it on the counter, and puts his hands up.

THE SKATEBOARDER

Plays on.

FELIX AND CARL

Felix shoots CARL DEAD on his way toward

MARTIN

Bolts up the cooler aisle. Bursts of FIRE follow him, taking out each freezer door behind him.

MARTIN AND FELIX

EXCHANGE FIRE John Woo-style between the aisles of the cramped store. Felix delivers a close-to-home burst as he jumps the counter, sending Martin diving out of view.

MARTIN

pinned behind the Slurpee machine, pauses to reload his now two Glock nines. Martin steals a glance to get a bead on Felix and is met with a salvo that rocks the Slurpee machine, spattering him with several flavors... and that's all he can take. Martin comes up BLASTING with both guns, but all that's left of Felix is swinging doors and squealing tires.

Martin moves to the cashier island, low to the ground.

THE SKATEBOARDER

Twitches and jerks, still absorbed in his game and oblivious to the surrounding carnage.

CASHIER ISLAND

Martin crawls through the waist-level swinging door and moves to Carl.

CARL

is really dead. Martin rolls him over to check it out and finds

A BOMB

under the corpse.

MARTIN

Flips the corpse back on top of the device and leaps the counter toward the doors. He grabs the shoulder or the Skateboarder, who shrugs him off, annoyed--

The video game screen explodes. Shot full of Martin's bullets. The Skateboarder reacts backward and Martin jerks him out of the double doors.

EXT. 7-11 - CONTINUOUS

The Skateboarder is running like crazy, and Martin's car is peeling out in reverse as the 7-11 is blown to hell.

INT. MARTIN'S CAR - MOMENTS LATER

Martin's hair is matted with Slurpee as he tries to drive and cool out. He sees his do in the mirror, pulls out a comb and starts to comb it back into a slick Pat Riley style.

EXT. RADIO STATION - NIGHT

Martin walks in, not looking half bad, considering. Debi looks up from some reading. "Naïve Melody" by the Talking Heads plays in the studio.

Beat.

Beat as Debi considers. She spins her seat to face him.

Beat.

The question is open.

EXT. JOSHUA TREE CAMPSITE - NIGHT

Under a crisp and starry night, a man and a woman sit around a campfire. As we MOVE CLOSER we see that the woman is Marcella reading, "Women Who Run With Wolves." She tends to s'mores on the campfire, assembles one, and hands it to MONTY, her young outdoorsman boyfriend. Monty is perched on a small boulder, engaged in a Tai-Chi-like ritual, wearing Patagonia's finest. There is a path of crystals leading from the fire to the boulder. In the background is a tent and a Nissan Pathfinder. Monty's watch goes off.

Marcella gets up.

She tousles Monty's hair on the way to the truck.

INT. TRUCK - CONTINUOUS

Marcella gets in. She shuts the door and dials the phone.

INT. MARTIN'S SUITE - NIGHT - INTERCUT

Martin sits on the edge of the bed in a towel.

Marcella pauses, taking this in.

Marcella considers this.

Martin eyes the vent.

Beat. Marcella doesn't know what to make of this.

Martin hangs up. He moves up to the air vent, deciding to get down to business. He pries it open, and withdraws his briefcase, putting it down on the bed and propping it open. He looks at the unopened dossier for a moment, flips it over in his hands, and tosses it on the bed.

BRIEFCASE

We catch a glimpse of Martin's weapons. Martin picks up the envelope and is about to tear the seal when

THE PHONE RINGS

Martin drops the envelope and lifts the receiver.

Beat.

She hangs up. Martin smiles and replaces the receiver. He turns to the apparatus laid out on the bed.

GUNS, BULLETS, ETC.

What has been his life is beginning to look more like death to him. He places the envelope in the case, then returns the case to its hiding place.

EXT. DINER - DAY

Lardner and McCullers stake out Martin from the Country Squire across the street.

They both laugh, as if at some great joke. Their laughter is caught short by the sight of

LARDNER AND MCCULLERS' POV

GROCER

moving into the diner.

INT. DINER - LATE MORNING

Martin sits in a window booth splitting nutrient caplets into an apple juice and looking out the window.

GROCER

slides into the booth, across from Martin.

MARTIN AND GROCER

Martin draws a nasty little PPK pistol from his waist, and levels it at Grocer under the table-- but Grocer is already drawing his pistol down there, and there is an instant Mexican breakfast stand-off.

A waitress approaches.

Martin and Grocer's eyes remain locked.

The waitress nods pertly and leaves.

Beat.

Grocer looks a little hurt.

Grocer loses it.

Long beat as Grocer gets a hold of himself.

INT. SUITE - BATHROOM - NIGHT

Martin sits at a desk, staring at the reunion card. He tosses it aside, gets up, and moves in front of a mirror. He wears a crisp black suit and practices his greeting smile...

EXT. DEBI'S HOUSE - EARLY EVENING

Martin makes his way up the walk leading to the front door, holding a simple bouquet of flowers. He skips up the front steps and finds the doorbell. After a moment, Debi answers.

She backs into the house, and he follows.

INT. NEWBERRY FOYER - CONTINUOUS

Martin follows Debi into the hall. Both are enjoying this atavistic ritual.

MARTIN'S P.O.V.

through a doorway leading into a den. All that's visible of MR. NEWBERRY, Debi's father, is a pair of legs resting in a Barcolounger.

DEBI

moves up the stairs and disappears.

MARTIN

looks at the legs, rolls his shoulders, and heads into the den.

INT. DEN - CONTINUOUS

Mr. Newberry sits in the recliner reading a Tom Clancy novel. He is a corporate Aspen-dude-ranch sort with a good head of hair. He sighs, closes the book on his knee and looks up to Martin.

Newberry lays down his book, and moves behind the wet bar.

Debi's footsteps are heard coming down the stairs.

Mr. Newberry watches Martin turn and walk out of the room.

EXT. DEBI'S HOUSE

Martin and Debi pull away from the curb.

INT. CAR - DUSK

Martin and Debi drive through that to Debi is town, and to Martin is a widening pool of quicksand.

Martin's right hand shakes off of the wheel a bit. He grips it tighter. Suddenly, Martin turns the wheel and pulls into a gas station parking lot, halting next to a pay phone.

Debi nods, a little confused but going with it.

EXT. PAYPHONE - MINUTES LATER

Martin stands at the kiosk next to the Town Car, mid-conversation.

INT. OATMAN'S OFFICE - INTERCUT

Oatman treats his patient.

In the background, Lardner and McCullers drive past the station.

Martin looks to Debi. She looks up and smiles. We hear Dr. Oatman's command, Martin mumbles them back.

Martin takes in a few breaths.

INT. MARTIN'S SUITE - SAME

Felix rummages delicately around the room. He goes to the

NIGHTSTAND

The reunion invite.

FELIX

picks it up and scans it.

EXT. GROSSE POINT HIGH SCHOOL - DUSK

Lardner and McCullers sit it the parking lot. They watch Martin and Debi pull into a space.

MARTIN AND DEBI

climb out of the car. Martin, breathing deeply and wiping his sweaty palms, leans against the car and tries to calm himself. Eighties music echoes from the gym.

He pulls himself off the car and heads toward

GROSSE POINTE HIGH SCHOOL

A sprawling red-brick Gothic structure with many wings. It is topped by church-like towers. It's scary.

INT. GYM - NIGHT

Martin and Debi enter and pause to take in the entire scene. A benevolent Ronald Reagan hangs crookedly above. Basketball nets are swung back, draped with crepe. Lights are half-low and the music is loud. Alumni are dancing.

Debi heads off into the gym, smiling back as she strands Martin. Arlene rises from a card table. They have little to say. Martin wasn't part of her crowd.

Arlene gives him a NAMETAG. As a special torture, the tags have YEARBOOK PHOTOS. Martin looks at the name tag uncomfortably.

She smiles at his joke and is immediately distracted by the next arrival. Martin moves off...

He circles the crowded gym. Looking for familiar faces. He stops at the open bar.

The bartender gets him a beer. Martin recognizes a guy at the bar. He is well-appointed and shiny. He is KEN ALDRIDGE.

Bob Destephano arrives next to them and orders a drink. Eye contact is made.

Bob turns slightly toward them. They continue in their conversation.

Bob wants to join the conversation but doesn't know how.

Bob takes another drink and mopes off, Martin watches him go.

Ken chuckles. The bartender arrives with the bottle. Martin grabs it and begins to move off.

Ken hands Martin a Monte Blanc pen with Ken's title and business address printed on the shaft. Martin reads it and puts it in his kerchief pocket.

Ken goes back to listening to the Guys at the bar.

MARTIN

makes his way through the upbeat crowd of well-wishers. TERRY emerges like an inkspot on a clean white whirt, and intercepts Martin. His angst is barely under control as he sidles up to Martin.

Martin shrugs.

Terry stops suddenly as if he's finished. Martin reads this man's nametag.

Terry turns on a dime.

Terry slinks off.

BAR - SAME

Bob Destephano grabs two more scotches off the bar and turns to leave, thoroughly morose. In his path, he finds DAN KORETZKY, the good-looking side of brainy.

There's a sudden lull in the conversation. Bob tries his drunken hand at relating...

Dan points up to a group of happy, laughing people. Bob walks off shaking his head and smiling bitterly.

INT. GYM - LATER

Debi and Martin are seated at a round table with six others in an area blocked off for dinner. Plates of gumbo are arriving and the wine is poured. DARIUS, an African-American, is in mid-conversation with AMY, who looks like she walked out of a Laura Ashley catalog and sits on the other side of Martin. DENNIS and MIKE are two suits in the midst of a non-stop sports conversation.

They both crack up at this.

ANGLE ON DARIUS, MARTIN, & DEBI

Debi perks up; this should be interesting.

Martin begins to draw strange looks from all over the table. Martin may be in trouble.

Silence. Martin pushes on.

Nods of assent come from around the table. A brief silence, and then....

Debi suppresses a laugh.

Across the table from Martin and Debi, Dennis turns to Darius.

Amy leans in to Martin.

Debi nods, indicating to