Circle of Treason Page #14

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d*cks if CIA drew them a map.

They’ve been looking into this

since eighty six. If they had

anything, they’d have made a move

by now.

73.

ANDRE:

These women, what are their names?

Rick hesitates, recognizing the line he’d cross by naming

them.

ANDRE (CONT’D)

Could either of them have been the

traitor? It would be easy to find

a source to say so.

A long beat on Rick.

RICK:

Jeanne Vertefeuille. Sandy Grimes.

Andre writes their names down on a notepad. Rick watches him

uncertainly, finishing his vodka.

INT. CIA - JEANNE’S OFFICE (NHB) - DAY

Another notepad, where Sandy finishes jotting down a list of

five CIA officers with, underlined at the top: Aldrich Ames.

WIDER on the room, where Holt, Milburn, Dan Payne and Redmond

are writing their lists, bent over notepads like kids

covering their exam papers. Sandy tears off her note, folds

it and drops it on Jeanne’s desk. Jeanne and Sandy regard

each other, listening to the scratch of pens in the otherwise

silent room, as one by one, the men finish, fold, and drop

their lists on Jeanne’s desk.

As Jeanne unfolds each list, adding a descending numeric

score beside each name, we notice everyone included Rick.

Sandy moves to Jeanne, watching over her shoulder as she

writes down a name - Aldrich Ames - and adds a score - 21.

The next highest name - Thompson’s - only scores 17.

Jeanne and Sandy hold a look; they have their consensus -

there’s no going back.

INT. CIA - NEW HEADQUARTERS BUILDING - CIC PEN - NIGHT

It’s quiet in here now, just the hum of computers and glow of

the lights over Sandy’s cubicle. The six of them gathered

there.

74.

HOLT:

Stop thinking like an analyst. You

find a suspect and you focus on him

until he’s busted or eliminated.

MILBURN:

(skeptical)

There are others with fifteen,

sixteen points.

HOLT:

Ames is the only one with

undisclosed finances.

MILBURN:

What about this retiree - Thompson?

JEANNE:

I spoke to him, he’s not hiding

anything.

MILBURN:

Do we maybe want to check?

DAN PAYNE:

I looked into his Medicare. His

wife’s illness cleared them out.

SANDY:

Anyone who gave up that many names

is gonna have made millions.

MILBURN:

Okay... Bearden.

JEANNE:

(after a beat of

consideration)

If you were working for the KGB and

you were responsible for the

decimation of our operations on

behalf of your Soviet friends -

would your next move be to go and

risk your life training teenage

Mujahideen how to shoot down their

Hind-24s in Afghanistan? We don’t

see eye to eye. But I don’t think

it’s Milt.

MILBURN:

That’s your idea of analysis?

75.

SANDY:

It was me, I’d take a nice cushy

posting somewhere warm, with a lot

of expensive shops.

HOLT:

Like Rome?

Sandy smiles, ‘you got it.’

HOLT (CONT’D)

So where do we start?

SANDY:

I want to run a full computer scan

of his D.O. records. Put together

a deep chrono. His postings, his

meetings, his overseas travel,

vacations, sick days, every badge

in and badge out. If he’s meeting

Soviets, there’ll be a pattern.

JEANNE:

We still need to explain the money,

or tie it to the KGB.

HOLT:

If we go digging around in his bank

accounts or financial records,

they’re obliged to notify him. The

Right to Financial Privacy Act.

DAN PAYNE:

Yeah, there’s a provision in there

for any matters concerning foreign

counterintelligence.

SANDY:

(incredulous)

What?

They all look at him.

DAN PAYNE:

(shrugs)

But we’ve never used it.

A dry beat.

JEANNE:

Well, Dan... maybe now’s the time.

76.

INT. AMES HOUSE - STUDY - NIGHT

A man’s wallet - Rick’s - sitting on his desk. The study is

dark. Then a door is opened and light spills in.

RICK (O.S.)

It’s in my other coat!

ROSARIO:

(calling back through the

house)

I’ve seen it!

Rosario, dressed expensively for dinner, comes in to search

for the wallet without bothering to turn on the light. She

moves books and files aside, spilling some on the floor and

cursing softly in Spanish.

She finds the wallet and grabs it, reaching to pick up the

books from the floor. As she does, a sheet of paper and

several Polaroid photographs fall out.

Rosario picks up the note and examines it in the half light:

It’s a financial statement of sorts. It reads: ‘Dear Friend,

this is your balance sheet as on the May 1, 1989. / All in

all you have been appropriated 2,705,000 $...’

And below the brief financial summary, a P.S. ‘We believe

these pictures would give you some idea about the beautiful

piece of land on the river bank, which from now belongs to

you forever...’

RICK (O.S.)

(calls out)

We’re gonna be late!

Rosario doesn’t answer, glancing at the photographs. They

show a tract of pine-forested land on the water somewhere.

Though where, Rosario can’t say.

INT/EXT. AMES HOUSE - A FEW MINUTES LATER

Rick at the door, ready to go. Rosario arrives, hands him

the wallet.

RICK:

All right, let’s go.

Never looking at him, Rosario precedes him out to the car.

77.

INT. GERMAINE’S - GEORGETOWN - NIGHT

Washington power brokers mingle with journalists and talk-

show hosts over Vietnamese food in the dimly-lit restaurant.

At their table dead center, Rosario is quiet, though she

manufactures a smile as Rick shakes hands with and introduces

her briefly to a passing senator. Once he’s gone...

ROSARIO:

Where does our money come from?

RICK:

(looks at her)

I told you. Robert. I manage his

investments, he cuts me in.

ROSARIO:

No.

(fixes him)

Where does it come from?

They hold their look a long, uncomfortable beat. Then, their

friends arrive, sparing Rick further interrogation - for now.

INT. CIA - NEW HEADQUARTERS BUILDING - CIC PEN - NIGHT

Dan is typing at his computer in his cubicle beside Sandy’s.

A National Security Inquiry letter, addressed to Citibank.

He hits print and, as it rolls off the machine, gathers up

several more letters already sealed in envelopes for the

Dominion Bank of Virginia and the Pierpoint Investment Group.

He puts the Citibank letter in an envelope, puts that in his

briefcase with the others, grabs his coat and turns to Sandy

working at her computer.

DAN PAYNE:

‘night.

Sandy just waves, intent on her screen. On the monitor, we

see digitized D.O. (Directorate of Operations) records.

She types Ames, Aldrich H. into a search field. It takes her

to biographical information from his Office of Personnel

file:

Born May 26, 1941, River Falls Wisconsin... George Washington

University... Clerk-typist Directorate of Operations records

division, 1962-1967... Operations Officer, 1967- present.

She types in another search, this time using his operational

pseudonym -Wells, Rick P.

78.

This brings up the first of thousands of pages of reports

written by, or concerning him, from his operational files.

It’s going to take her months to read them all.

She returns to his personnel file and begins another search,

typing -Ames, Aldrich H. - and scrolling through fields of

green type to find his annual Performance Appraisal Report.

There are thirty to choose from so she selects the dates most

relevant to the compromises -1984-1985.

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