Circle of Treason Page #24

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Jeanne is quiet, staring out over the city.

REDMOND (CONT’D)

If it makes you feel any better,

they’ll be handing out medals once

it all dies down.

(a beat)

They want to give you the highest

order of merit. You, me, Dave

Edger.

JEANNE:

Sandy?

127.

He doesn’t say; which is all the answer she needs. She

shakes her head, starts away down the steps.

REDMOND:

(a dry smile)

Hey, it’s okay to take an accolade

once in a while. Why else do we do

it?

JEANNE:

Isn’t that the question.

INT. ALEXANDRIA CITY DETENTION CENTER - DAY

A correctional facility officer escorts Rick along a

corridor, handcuffed, the back of his khaki shirt stencilled

with the word ‘prisoner.’

INT. ALEXANDRIA CITY DETENTION CENTER - DEBRIEFING ROOM - DAY

Bare white cinder-block walls, a small table and chairs, no

windows. The correctional officer unlocks the door and Rick

is shown in. He smiles when he sees who is waiting for him.

JEANNE:

Hey, Rick.

He offers a cuffed hand, his mask of self-possession slipping

momentarily when she refuses to shake it. They sit facing

each other.

JEANNE (CONT’D)

You were smart. You cooperated.

That’ll make things easier for

Rosario.

RICK:

Rosario had nothing to do with

this.

JEANNE:

No? The Rick I knew didn’t care

about driving around in his fancy

car in his suit of clothes like he

thought he was James Bond. Why

else would you do it?

RICK:

If you want a reason, I can give

you four point six million of them.

There was pride in that. Jeanne waves it off, not buying it.

128.

JEANNE:

Oh, you can tell me it was the

money. Or you were disillusioned.

I’ve heard all that.

He smiles at that and we sense the respect he holds for her.

RICK:

I switched loyalties, Jeanne. Is

that so hard to understand? The

time came, I changed teams. You

might have done the same.

(Jeanne just looks at him)

At least, the KGB thought it

wouldn’t be hard to make it look

like you had. When I gave them

your name.

Jeanne looks ready to come across the table at him, but her

voice remains calm.

JEANNE:

You changed teams? You think it’s

a game?

RICK:

Of course it’s a game. We picked

our sides and we learned the rules

and we played the game and none of

us ever changed a thing.

JEANNE:

You betrayed your country. You

betrayed the CIA. You betrayed

your friends. And you want to talk

about loyalty?

He reacts to this mention of ‘friends’ - a momentary lowering

of his eyes, a flicker of shame.

RICK:

I gave up names. Men like your

Polyakov gave up names. We gave up

the names of some of the same

people, who had earlier given up

names. It’s a nasty kind of

circle. But we chose to play.

JEANNE:

You executed those men. You were

scared and you were greedy and you

murdered ten people who were loyal

to the United States.

129.

RICK:

...Scared?

JEANNE:

You’re fifty three years old. How

long do you think you’d keep a

woman like Rosario around without

money? And where do you think

you’d find another? You’d retire

and you’d be alone, and I don’t

think you could face it.

Having heard enough, she stands, content with her own

assessment.

RICK:

(a parting shot)

Where does that leave you?

JEANNE:

Oh, I’m going home to have a glass

of wine and watch Jeopardy. I’ll

be all right.

And she leaves, via a door opposite to the one he came

through. It shuts behind her. We HOLD ON RICK sitting

handcuffed at the table, alone.

Legend:
On April 28, 1994 Aldrich Ames was convicted of

Conspiracy to Commit Espionage and sentenced to life

imprisonment without parole.

Legend:
Between 1985 and his arrest he compromised over one

hundred U.S. intelligence operations. Of the assets whose

names he disclosed to the KGB, ten were subsequently

executed.

Legend:
For his service he received a total of $2.7 million

dollars, with an additional $1.9 million earmarked for him in

Moscow, making him the highest-paid spy in American history.

Legend:
He is currently serving his sentence at the maximum

security Federal Penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

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

Jeanne is packing up her office, putting personal items into

a box - among them a framed photograph of herself more than

thirty years younger, one of only seven women among sixty

trainees at Camp Peary.

Legend:
In the aftermath of the Ames case, a number of

measures were taken to prevent another security breach.

130.

Legend:
CIA Director James Woolsey announced that ‘The

Directorate of Operations can no longer be run as a

fraternity - much less a white male one in which once you are

initiated you’re considered a trusted member for life.’

Carrying the box, Jeanne switches the lights off and shuts

the door behind her on her way out.

Legend:
In May 1994, President Clinton signed a directive

requiring that the Chief of the CIA’s Counterintelligence

Center be an agent of the FBI.

INT. GRIMES HOUSE - NIGHT

A panel of contestants face Alex Trebek on television.

Sandy is watching Jeopardy, curled up on the sofa with Gary,

her head on his shoulder. On t.v., Trebek encourages the

contestants to answer the Final Jeopardy question. Sandy

reaches for the phone.

Legend:
Sandra Grimes retired after twenty six years in the

CIA’s clandestine service, to spend more time with her

family. A grandmother of four, she lives in Great Falls,

Virginia with Gary.

INT. JEANNE’S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Jeanne, too, has the television on, tuned to Jeopardy. She

watches out of the corner of her eye, chatting on the phone

with Sandy, as she searches a particular drawer, eventually

finding in it - a key.

Legend:
Jeanne served on contract as a CIA analyst for

another twenty years. She and Sandy remained close friends

and regular dinner companions until Jeanne’s death in 2013.

Jeanne finally unlocks the windows to her balcony. She steps

outside with the phone, continuing to talk to Sandy as she

stares out over the city.

Legend:
Thanking her posthumously for fifty-eight years of

service, Acting Director Michael Morell described her as ‘a

legend and a true CIA icon.’

As Jeanne laughs at something Sandy says to her over the

phone, we then...

CUT TO BLACK:

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