Code of Silence Page #21

Music returns to the car and gets in.

BRENNAN:

I could use a cup of coffee.

EXT. POOL HALL - DAY

Eddie squeals to a stop, hops out of the car, starts for the

pool hall.

Eddie enters the poolhall.

INT. POOL HALL - DAY

The place is busy. Everybody in sight is either mean or ugly.

Eddie enters and a dozen pair of eyes are on him.

The pool players not connected with this confrontation take

one look at him, hang up their cues, and split.

Eddie heads for the back of the room. A pair of heavyweights

fall in behind him. One of them grabs Eddie.

HEAVY:

Hey, you ain't got no business back

there.

EDDIE:

I want your opinion I'll beat it out

of you.

Eddie spins with deadly precision and catches them in mid-

step and they go down like gut-shot rhinos.

He heads for the rear hallway and everybody clears a path.

He steps up to the door in back and kicks it in.

INT. POOL HALL BACK ROOM - DAY

A startled Camacho, DEGAS, looks up, straw in hand with a

line of coke on a mirror on his desk.

EDDIE:

Where is Luis?

DEGAS:

Get the hell out of here.

Eddie grabs Degas by the hair and starts slamming his face

into the mirror which shatters with every blow.

EDDIE:

Talk to me, Degas, or I'll hit you

with so many lefts you're gonna beg

for a right.

He holds up Degas' head to look him in the eye. Blood and

cocaine stain the man's face.

DEGAS:

He's coming here. He's on his way.

Eddie lifts the head once and gives Degas one punch in the

face that sends him ass over teakettle across the floor.

INT. POLICE COMMUNICATIONS ROOM - DAY

Beneath the lighted map of Area 4, the police dispatcher

trying to raise Eddie's backup.

DISPATCHER:

We need a verification on a back-up

for Unit 1462...

The dispatcher at the next panel overhears the call.

SECOND DISPATCHER

1462. That's Cusack, right?

First dispatcher nods.

SECOND DISPATCHER

Good luck finding a backup for that

character.

INT. POOL HALL - DAY

Eddie opens the door and emerges from the back room. A dozen

Comacho goons have gathered. Behind them are another two

dozen hostile spectators. But no sign of the backup.

He pulls out his gun. The remaining innocent bystanders split

for the exit. Eddie walks forward into the room. The Comachos

and their soldiers stand around him. Several have guns.

Eddie keeps them under the point of his gun. He gets to the

door and has to turn his back on it to keep the gang in his

sights.

A gun is pressed into Eddie's back. He drops his gun.

Luis kicks Eddie across the room. Eddie lands at the feet of

the gang.

LUIS:

Take him apart.

Eddie springs to his feet, and in the same motion decks his

nearest attacker. The battle is on. Hardwood pool cues crack

around him.

The first four or five never get a chance to lay a finger on

him. Battered and broken, they litter the billiard tables

and floor. But Eddie is outnumbered 20 to 1.

INT. TAVERN - DAY

Cragie and Kosalas sit at the bar. The TV is off, and the

few customers pay attention to the police monitor.

DISPATCHER (V.O.)

(from radio)

...request verification for backup

for unit 1462. Patrol 47, are you in

the area.

OFFICER (V.O.)

(from radio)

Squad. 47. We're having vehicular

problems. Not able to respond.

Cragie smiles. Kosalas looks ashamed.

EXT. SQUAD CAR - DAY

Two uniformed police sit in a cruiser.

DISPATCHER (V.O.)

(from radio)

...need backup at 18th and Halstead...

One cop turns to the other.

COP:

F*** him.

INT. POOL HALL - DAY

Coming at Eddie now from all sides, the Comachos wear into

him. Finally they begin to connect. Blind-sided, he goes

down and they are on him like jackals.

They drag him to the top of the rear stairs, and kick him

down to the alley.

It seems like they are about to finish him off when suddenly

all is quiet. The crowd parts. Eddie looks up through swollen

eyes to see Luis Comacho standing above him, cool as ice.

Luis reaches down and pulls Eddie's head up by the ear.

LUIS:

The sun comes up. You give me Luna,

or the girl dies -- slow.

Luis kicks him in the face.

EXT. POOL HALL ALLEY - NIGHT

Eddie opens a bloody eye and looks over his surroundings.

He's alone. He moves, a joint at a time, checking himself

out.

Staggering to his feet, he opens a spiggot on the wall. He

lets the cold water wash over his head.

INT. POOL HALL - NIGHT

Donato hobbles through the deserted pool hall, his pistol in

his hand.

EXT. POOL HALL ALLEY - NIGHT

Donato comes out the back door of the poolhall, and finds

Eddie sitting on his haunches and resting against a wall

between two garbage cans.

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