Circle of Treason Page #5

---

HATHAWAY:

Is he credible?

SANDY:

We think so. His knowledge of our

operations stands up.

The room reacts; if this is genuine, it’s dynamite.

REDMOND GERBER:

We got to test it out, set up (to Sandy)

a probe... Does he have evidence?

BEARDEN SANDY:

Find a guy, some KGB scumbag He’s asked for fifty thousand

in a backwater somewhere -to furnish specifics.

REDMOND HATHAWAY

We put it out there he’s Well, for God’s sake let’s

working for us, flush it pay him.

through Warrenton.

Jeanne is studying a copy of the letter, her own reaction

inscrutable.

HATHAWAY (CONT’D)

Jeanne. How many of these twelve

or so blown cases -

REDMOND HATHAWAY (CONT'D)

(jumping in)- How many can be explained

It’s Sixteen. Maybe more. by a technical breach?

A beat on Jeanne.

22.

JEANNE:

(mildly)

Oh, all of them. In theory.

Sandy catches what the others miss: a hint of skepticism in

her voice. Gerber and Hathaway stand, bringing the meeting

to a close.

HATHAWAY:

It’s good work, Sandy. I’ll go

brief Seventh.

Normally, Sandy would be proud of the acknowledgement. But

as she moves around the room to gather the letters in a file,

she keeps an eye on Jeanne.

GERBER:

All right, let’s flush this probe

through Warrenton. Until then,

Moscow rules apply. No phones, no

cables, pass all intelligence by

hand. Paul, send someone over to

Germany and this get this guy paid.

Milt, you got any scumbags in mind?

BEARDEN:

Plenty.

As the men file out, Sandy has arrived at Jeanne, who’s still

studying the letter.

JEANNE:

I’d like to keep this.

Jeanne glances up at Sandy, who, after a beat, nods.

INT. CIA - 5TH FLOOR - S/E DIVISION VAULT - DAY

Moving through the secure vault, Jeanne locates a particular

five-drawer safe. She opens a drawer in the safe, and, after

a minimal search, brings out the file she’s after.

INT. CIA - 2ND FLOOR - JEANNE’S OFFICE - LATER - DAY

Jeanne is comparing the ‘Mister X’ Letter with samples of KGB

handwriting from the file. We see that the distinctive

cursive in a note under a KGB First Directorate letterhead is

noticeably similar. There’s a KNOCK. Jeanne turns the

letter and file face down.

JEANNE:

Yeah.

23.

Sandy comes in, carrying an issue of the Soviet hunting and

fishing periodical: OKHOTA.

SANDY:

You should ask for a new office.

JEANNE:

There’s nothing wrong with this

one.

SANDY:

Maybe something with a window.

Jeanne, with no patience for small talk, waits to hear what

Sandy wants. Sandy drops the magazine on her desk.

SANDY (CONT’D)

Okhota. It was part of Beep’s

comms plan. In eighty-four he

contributed a recipe. Every other

article was about killing game, not

cooking it.

JEANNE:

You read them all?

SANDY:

Took me the weekend, most of today.

JEANNE:

Your weekends must be busy. I’m

surprised you found time.

Sandy hears the criticism in it, but lets it go.

SANDY:

(of the magazine)

It’s an anomaly. Maybe he was

trying to communicate. I think we

should run a reply.

Jeanne considers her.

JEANNE:

No.

SANDY:

No?

JEANNE:

That wouldn’t be wise.

Sandy a little stung; then why ask for the goddamn magazines?

24.

SANDY:

You wanted to check he was okay,

right? You’re worried about him.

(Jeanne doesn’t deny it)

So we should warn him.

JEANNE:

I don’t advise it.

SANDY:

(impatient)

We ran him together for three

years, you know how important he

is. He’s served this agency since

the sixties.

(nothing from Jeanne)

Everything CIA knows about Soviet

Military Intelligence, it learned

from you. And you learned it from

him. If he’s compromised...

JEANNE:

Any attempt to communicate risks

exposing him.

SANDY:

(appealing to her emotion)

Jeanne, I know what size pants this

guy wears - I don’t even know that

about Gary.

JEANNE:

Who?

SANDY:

My husband. Gary?

JEANNE:

(continuing)

If he’s retired and still alive,

then it stands to reason Beep is

not in immediate danger. It’s been

what, seven years since he was

mentioned in traffic? They’d have

wrapped him up by now.

SANDY:

Unless the penetration isn’t

technical. Unless the Sovs have

someone inside.

Jeanne, though we may sense she knows this is a possibility,

shrugs, noncommittal.

25.

JEANNE:

There has never been an active

agent of the Soviets working for

CIA.

SANDY:

You mean we never found one.

It hangs there.

SANDY (CONT’D)

I know you don’t like this source

in Bonn. Mister X.

JEANNE:

We have to play it out.

Sandy, aware Jeanne is holding back what she’s thinking,

knows her well enough to know she won’t get it out of her.

JEANNE (CONT’D)

I don’t want to be the one who

exposes Beep. I don’t imagine you

do, either.

Sandy stares, a beat, then walks out. Jeanne watches after

her... then opens the magazine Sandy left - to a recipe for

cooking game birds, featuring a shot of the Soviet General

under the byline D.F. POLYAKOV.

EXT. RUSSIAN COUNTRYSIDE - DAY

We are deep in the countryside outside Moscow.

That same silver-haired retired Soviet general - POLYAKOV -

is fishing with his granddaughter by a stream in a field

below a rustic farmhouse (a dacha).

Polyakov is demonstrating how to cast a fly when he notices

something in the distance - a VAN turning in off the road and

starting down the long tree-lined drive to the farmhouse. It

causes a barely perceptible tension in him.

POLYAKOV:

(in Russian)

Here, run inside. Go and help your

grandmother.

The girl hesitates, but something in his eyes warns her to

obey. As she runs off, Polyakov glances back across the

fields as if contemplating escape.

He gathers up their fishing gear and walks towards the house.

26.

INT/EXT. FARMHOUSE - DAY

We TRACK the little girl through the house as she searches

for her grandmother. Not finding her in the kitchen, she

moves through the hall, glancing in to her grandfather’s book-

lined study, calling out:

GIRL:

(in Russian)

Grandmamma!?

Moving through to search in the living room, the girl is

distracted by movement outside and rushes over to the window.

Through the window she sees KGB MEN restrain her grandfather

outside, an arm around his throat, lifting him into the van.

The girl stares out in horror as the van - reflected in the

window - drives away. She turns and screams into the house.

INT. CIA - 2ND FLOOR - C CORRIDOR - DAY

Jeanne comes down the C.I. hallway to Hathaway’s office.

INT. LEFORTOVO PRISON - DAY

Polyakov, in a blue KGB jumpsuit, moves under guard along a

dank corridor in the bowels of the prison.

INT. CIA - 2ND FLOOR - HATHAWAY’S OFFICE - DAY

Hathaway glances up from his paperwork as Jeanne comes in.

JEANNE:

What is it, Gus?

He looks at her, then finds and hands to her a restricted-

handling cable. Jeanne hesitates, bracing herself for the

shock of bad news. She reads it.

INT. LEFORTOVO PRISON - CELL - DAY

Polyakov stands in a fall of light from a narrow window. He

enjoys the sun on his face, his expression calm and composed.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes