Cliffhanger Page #20

EXT. RANGER STATION - HELIPAD - DAY

Winds or not, Maggie is untying the helicopter's rotor from

the bolts on the helipad. Frank, who has obviously just

awakened, rushes out of the station.

FRANK:

Maggie -- what are you doing --

MAGGIE:

I'm going to go nuts if I sit here one

more hour.

FRANK:

Still a little breezy out, Mag --

Maggie gets into the helicopter and starts the rotor.

MAGGIE:

(over engine's whine)

You coming?

Frank hesitates, but climbs in the other side. The helicopter

lifts off and heads toward the mountain range.

EXT. MOUNTAIN - AERIAL SHOT - DAY

The next obstacle Hal is leading the gang through is a

buttress -- a large, stark boulder formation -- that lays

between the mountain they've just come from, and the nearest

mountain to it:
the Tower. This is lower down from the

summit -- it's solid and treeless.

Hal and the rest of the expedition is totally exposed as they

climb in single file up to the top. Terrain is flat enough

that the climb amount to an uphill run on all fours.

CLOSER ON HAL AND GANG

Hal leads the gang forward -- and keeps casting anxious

glances back at them. And beyond them. Travers notices this.

TRAVERS:

Forget about it. He's smart, but he's

not invisible.

Hal looks back. Travers is right. There's absolutely no way

Gabe can come up behind them without being seen.

LOWER DOWN ON BLUFF

where the bluff meets a tree-lined plain. Gabe, in hiding,

watches Hal and the others go up. No, he can't follow them up

the bluff's side without being seen. But Gabe moves closer to

the bluff's base -- Gabe shoves through some trees to the

beginning of

THE "CHIMNEY"

A crevice runs the entire length and breadth of the bluff.

GABE:

pulls out his ancient binoculars, and scans the crack.

GABE'S POV - THE CHIMNEY

Starting with an outside view, we can see that the crevice

runs all the way up, and through, the bluff -- but it's a

zig-zag, not a straight line.

Picture a mine shaft designed by a madman. The crack moves

upward, then erratically to the side, then straight up again.

The width of the crack is uneven, ranging from six inches to

six feet. And that's just how it looks on the outside.

There's no telling what the interior is like.

Gabe turns the binoculars to the inside of the crack. It's

hard to see much -- it's very, very dark. But it looks as if

the crack goes all the way through the bluff, as well as all

the way up it. On this route, Gabe can tunnel through the

mountain instead of going up the side.

GABE:

puts away the binoculars and wedges himself into the crack,

starting the long process of going up -- and through -- the

mountain formation.

EXT. COLORADO WILDERNESS - PLANE CRASH SITE - DAY

A frenzy of activity, as several dozen Treasury agents sift

through the snow for the wreckage of the CT-39, some taking

photos, some taking videotapes, some putting the pieces into

bags for analysis. Many bags. Many small bags.

WIDER ON CRASH SITE

The Treasury plane has been completely pulverized by the crash

and its subsequent explosion -- there are few pieces here that

aren't charred, and fewer still that are any larger than a

paperback book.

WRIGHT:

unhappily walks through the carnage and past agents gathering

up the plane, to a harried crash specialist from the FAA --

ROSS STUART (40s) -- who is organizing the debris.

WRIGHT:

What can you confirm?

STUART:

Well, sir -- it crashed. That, I can

confirm.

(condescending)

We've been here just about one hour.

These events take months to analyze.

So if you'll excuse me --

He walks away -- but Wright, pissed, spins him around.

WRIGHT:

No, I don't think I will. The reason

the FAA pays you is to exercise your

vast, amazing knowledge of these

"events". So I expect you to come up

with some stunning insights, something

a slow-witted f*** like me hasn't

already observed.

(gesturing to wreckage)

One:
it didn't blow up in mid-air,

because the debris isn't widely

dispersed. But was there a bomb on

board that could have disabled it? I

wonder.

(pointing back)

Two:
There wasn't an attempted

landing. Otherwise, there'd be debris

to the east of the wreckage, where the

plane was coming from. Did it come

straight down? That's got me

scratching my head too.

(gesturing back to

wreckage)

And three:
the flight recorder's

tracer led us here in the first place.

So where is the goddamn thing? That

one's got me all aflush with

curiosity.

STUART:

(a little cowed)

You'll be the first to know.

WRIGHT:

Oh, I believe you.

Wright storms off as agents delicately handle debris.

EXT. TOP OF THE BLUFF/VISTA - DAY

A vista. From this point, you can see everything else in the

mountain range. The only thing left that's taller is the

Tower, a hundred yards away. Between the two mountains lies a

drop of a mere four thousand feet.

Hal has led the rest of the gang up to the edge. Travers

approaches him, furious.

TRAVERS:

I thought you said there was an easy

way across.

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