Assassins Page #7

INT. YELLOW CAB - NIGHT

The bus continues, Rath slams on the brakes. Bain bangs

into the glass as the cab shudders to a stop.

EXT. CAB - STOPPED - NIGHT

Rath is getting out of the cab, .22 at the ready. Bain's

got about three seconds to live and knows it.

Several blocks away a POLICE CAR -- LIGHTS FLASHING --

races towards them.

SIRENS WAIL. Gritting his teeth, Rath gets back behind

the wheel. A huge grin from Bain as he looks back at the

police car that's bearing down on them. Rath throws it

in gear, flips a U-turn and races off.

INT. CAB - ACCELERATING - NIGHT

BAIN:

You and me. We're teammates!

Companeros!

Rath speeds up. Faster and faster. Bain suddenly

doesn't feel so safe, beat. As Bain buckles his

seatbelt...

INT. POLICE CAR - NIGHT

Where one of the OFFICERS is on the radio.

OFFICER:

... in pursuit of yellow cab,

number 5-0-1, reported stolen

near same twenty as officers

down. Proceeding west on...

EXT. POLICE HELIPAD - NIGHT

Two police officers race to waiting HELICOPTER. As it

LIFTS OFF towards the skyline of the city. We LIFT OFF

next to it, RISING and SWINGING WITH it as it turns

towards the city skyline.

EXT. CITY STREETS - CHASE - NIGHT

The cab at 60. The cop car stays with. A hard braking

left and then a sliding turn and the cab is nearing a

street running under a viaduct.

INT. YELLOW CAB - CHASE - NIGHT

Bain smiles as they leave the cop behind.

Ahead, a second cop car turns off a side street and heads

right at them. Rath turns under a viaduct.

BAIN:

Can you feel it, Rath?! It's

real! We're alive!

RATH:

Don't count on it.

BAIN:

Before I went freelance, I was

an exchange student.

(smiles)

C.I.A. University. You were a

legend at Langley. Even if you

were Army.

(looks ahead)

I know this neighborhood. Turn in here.

Rath turns under a viaduct.

EXT. ROAD UNDER VIADUCT - NIGHT

It's a race with the two police cars right behind.

INT. YELLOW CAB UNDER VIADUCT - CHASE - NIGHT

Down the straightaway, two sets of cop lights and SIRENS

behind them. Bain leans forward, right behind Rath.

BAIN:

I studied everything you ever

did, Rath. God damn you were

good. You and the Russian.

Nicolai Talinkov --

The name hits Rath like a hammer.

RATH:

Tachlinkov. How did you know

about Nicolai?

Rath turns, nearly broadsiding a train car.

BAIN:

They said he shaded you. Over

and over. And in the end, he

aced you. Shaded and faded.

They say he's living on some

Greek island, but I say you

were the best. I say Nicolai's

dead as a clavo.

(thinks; smiles)

A doornail. Am I right?

Rath doesn't answer.

BAIN:

I heard you guys played chess.

Coded in the New York Times

obituaries.

Rath's past is chasing him almost as hard as the cops.

BAIN:

Ten miles of microfilm, but I

found it. The last game ends

before anyone wins.

(smiles)

He thought you were his friend.

That's how you got him, right?

EXT. INTERSECTION - VIADUCT - NIGHT

Rath starts to answer when... Suddenly an enormous truck

appears, blocking their path. Rath is forced to brake.

He whips the wheel around, powerslides a grinding U-turn

in front of the truck.

BAIN:

Hey, Rath.

(opens door)

Black queen to king's bishop 4!

Bain throws himself out of the door. Rath whips a look

over his shoulder as Bain tumbles head over heels toward

the truck. What he said means something, but no time to

explain now. As he continues...

BACK TO BAIN:

Pushing himself to his hands and knees, Bain watches the

two cars disappear. He disappears into the darkness.

EXT. INTERSECTION - VIADUCT - NIGHT

The cab races away from the intersection with the police

cars in pursuit.

INT. YELLOW CAB - NIGHT

Rath takes another hard turn. But suddenly the cab is

bleached white by a searchlight.

INT. POLICE HELICOPTER - NIGHT

Where a HELI-COP trains the light on the cab below.

HELI-COP

We got you now, rabbit.

EXT. SKY - AERIAL - NIGHT

From above the chopper blades of the police helicopter

chasing the cab below -- we see the cab appearing, dis-

appearing, and reappearing from underneath a viaduct

below.

The cab passes under an overpass. They lose sight of it,

but it'll only be for a moment as they move up and

around.

EXT. CAB YARD - NIGHT

The cab appears from around a corner sliding quickly into

a parking lot. Rath slips out the door and disappears.

EXT. CAB YARD - AERIAL - NIGHT

Down below we see a parking lot full of cabs and the

first police car to arrive.

EXT. PARKING LOT - NIGHT

The other cop cars pull up. As the police begin to

search, and the helicopter hovers overhead, we follow

the beam of the Zenon light up to the chopper where

everything becomes white...

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

The white of Rath's computer screen.

Rath types, calls up a file. A chess game sets up in

four neat rows. A line reads: Game Started May 5, 1980.

The pieces move, accompanied by COMPUTER VOICE notation

of the move and the date they were made. Rath studies

the screen.

RATH:

Fifteen years and I still

remember.

(watches)

Those were good moves, Nicolai.

You were the best.

The screen and the computer voice both ask: ENTER NEXT

MOVE. A beat before Rath types in the move Bain gave

him.

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