Circle of Treason Page #21

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They all react, a perceptible flinch as though he’d looked

right through them. Jeanne then watches, crestfallen, as:

Rick stands to put on his jacket and walks out of the room

leaving the file right there on the desk.

The tech stops the tape. Silence. Then -

SANDY:

(to Wiser, drily, covering

her disappointment)

Over to you.

111.

EXT. LANGLEY - AFTERNOON

Rick wheels out of Langley and roars away... the Jaguar

quickly lost from view in the heavy traffic on the George

Washington Parkway.

INT. SURVEILLING CHEVROLET - AFTERNOON

From the window of the car, parked on a grassy shoulder, we

can see the Jaguar roar past. The SSG (Special Surveillance

Group) GUYS inside barely have time to react.

One of them picks up his radio.

EXT. 23RD STREET - GEORGETOWN - AFTERNOON

Another two-man SSG team in a parked sedan. They watch as

Rick’s Jaguar turns up 23rd street. One picks up his radio.

INT/EXT. JAGUAR - MOVING - AFTERNOON

Rick drives north along Massachusetts Avenue, past the Naval

Observatory. He watches in the rear view... noticing a dark

blue sedan a few cars behind.

INT/EXT. SURVEILLING SEDAN - MOVING - AFTERNOON

At the wheel, another FBI ‘ghost,’ HEARD, 40s, keeps Rick’s

car in view ahead. Then, he reacts as Rick suddenly makes a

hairpin right on Garfield Road. Heard cuts across traffic to

make the same turn.

INT/EXT. JAGUAR - MOVING - AFTERNOON

Cruising south along Garfield Road, Rick checks his rear view

again and sees the blue sedan following.

INT/EXT. SURVEILLING SEDAN - MOVING - AFTERNOON

Heard drops back, putting a couple of cars between him and

the Jaguar... when all of a sudden, the Jaguar just takes

off, cresting a rise ahead and disappearing out of sight.

112.

INT. WAREHOUSE - AFTERNOON

Jeanne and Sandy hover near Wiser, who’s on the radio with

the SSG teams. They don’t need to hear what happened, they

can see it in Wiser’s face.

WISER:

We lost him. The beacon’s saying

he’s still around Garfield Road.

Who do we have north west?

EXT. GARFIELD TERRACE - EVENING

An SSG car parked in a residential neighborhood. One of the

SSG guys inside films with a video camera, as: Rick’s Jaguar

pulls out of a cul-de-sac. He pauses at the corner by a

telephone pole and mailbox, then pulls away, tearing off down

Garfield Street.

JEANNE (V.O.)

It’s the mailbox. The KGB love

their mailboxes.

INT. WAREHOUSE - LATER - NIGHT

Bryant has joined them, reviewing the video footage from

Garfield Terrace earlier in the day

WISER:

We checked, there was nothing

inside. He didn’t make a drop.

JEANNE:

Nothing was what he was looking

for.

(off Wiser’s look)

It’s a signal site.

SANDY:

He must have marked it when you

missed him this morning. Then the

KGB erased it after they picked up

whatever he left for them. That’s

what he was checking for.

Bryant looks to Wiser.

BRYANT:

Let me get this straight. Ames

went operational and you missed

him. Twice.

113.

WISER:

That’s how it looks.

BRYANT:

(looks at him a beat,

evenly)

Good, I just wanted to be clear

about that. So when Director Freeh

unbuckles his pants and the sh*t

starts to fly, I know who to hand a

raincoat to. You follow me?

INT. DINER - NIGHT

Wiser, Jeanne and Sandy share a booth in a late-night diner.

SANDY:

If he gets on that plane, there’s

every chance he’s not coming back.

WISER:

My hands are tied here. We can’t

make a warrantless search of his

house. And Bryant suspended our

trash cover.

SANDY:

(looks at Jeanne)

You can steal his garbage?

WISER:

That’s what I’m saying. I can’t.

Not after he burned our G’s today.

Sandy looks at him, stealing a French fry off his plate - a

girlish gesture, playing her charm.

SANDY:

Gee, Les. What is this, the Girl

Scouts of America? Just don’t tell

him about it.

Wiser gives her a look, thinking she’s joking.

JEANNE:

Suspended indefinitely or suspended

temporarily? How long is a

suspension, anyway? Is it your

fault he can’t be specific?

He looks at the two of them looking at him... his smile

slowly unravelling.

114.

INT. AMES HOUSE - STUDY - DAY

A photograph of a stretch of forested land by a river deep in

the Russian countryside.

Rick, nursing a drink at his desk, flips through the

Polaroids supplied by his Soviet handlers. From here,

through a window, he can see his five-year-old son Paul

playing in their yard with the nanny.

Rick watches them, a decision weighing on him.

INT. AMES HOUSE - LATER - DAY

Rosario, on hold on the phone, comes through the lounge

holding a Nordstrom catalog. Rick emerges from his study to

pour another drink.

ROSARIO:

I spoke to my mother today. You

know her maid, Elsa? She fell down

the stairs.

RICK:

(distracted)

Oh yeah?

ROSARIO:

(into phone)

Yes, this is Rosario Ames. You

remember that tan leather coat? I

wasn’t sure about it but now I am.

(to Rick)

I said we’d help out with her

medical bill.

RICK:

Sure.

ROSARIO:

(into phone)

It’s a thousand dollars? Yes, I’ll

charge it.

Rick, having decided something, suddenly takes the phone and

hangs up. Rosario, shocked, watches him turn on loud MUSIC.

INT. FBI SAFE HOUSE - SAME TIME

In a room littered with empty takeout containers, FBI

TECHNICAL AGENTS monitor listening devices. They glance at

each other as the MUSIC drowns out the feed from the house.

115.

INT. AMES HOUSE - A FEW MINUTES LATER

As Rosario regards the Polaroids of the land in Moscow, Rick

regards her, waiting for an answer from her. Eventually, in

hushed tones

ROSARIO:

I don’t know anyone in Russia.

RICK:

You didn’t know anyone here. That

didn’t stop you marrying me. We’d

be together.

He studies her reaction, waiting, perhaps, for her to

acknowledge what he feels - that all they need is each other.

ROSARIO:

Our son is American. I can’t leave

my mother...

Rick gauges her, sensing her true concern and angered by it.

RICK:

(low, hard)

They have shoes and bags and

thousand dollar coats in Russia

now, too.

ROSARIO:

Stop it...

RICK:

If it’s money you’re worried about,

they’re holding one point nine

million dollars for us. In Moscow.

ROSARIO:

(after a beat, looking

away)

Can’t they give it to you here?

He stares, stunned by this confirmation of what matters to

her. Rosario senses his anger and tries to defend herself.

ROSARIO (CONT’D)

I grew up surrounded by money. And

we had nothing. My father was the

only honest politician in Colombia.

Can you imagine what that’s like,

to spend your whole life having to

pretend to be something you’re not?

Rick just stares... then he takes back the photos and leaves.

116.

EXT. AMES HOUSE - 2512 NORTH RANDOLPH STREET - NIGHT

It’s late at night, the street quiet as a BLACK VAN with no

lights on creeps past the house one way, then the other, then

pulls up outside.

The panel door opens and Wiser hops out, switching the

garbage contained with 2512 printed on it for an identical

one handed to him by another agent in the van.

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