Eye In The Sky Page #24

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We cut between them:

STEVE answers on the phone.

He is not okay. And neither is CARRIE.

STEVE:

Yes Ma’am.

COLONEL POWELL:

You have done your job well.

STEVE:

Thank you, Ma’am.

COLONEL POWELL:

We have eliminated three high value

targets.

A beat. STEVE is silent.

COLONEL POWELL (CONT’D)

And we have saved a lot of lives.

STEVE:

Yes, Ma’am.

STEVE is desolate.

CARRIE is pale and in shock.

POWELL hesitates a moment longer. Then hangs up the phone.

She notices MUSHTAQ sitting in silence, just looking at her.

YELLOW SHOOTING SCRIPT 12 September 2014 131.

COLONEL POWELL:

I’m sorry, Sergeant, I couldn’t see

any other option.

MUSHTAQ:

Yes, Ma’am. I understand that.

But MUSHTAQ doesn’t understand it. POWELL’S military

intelligence career has been reduced to lying about

percentages in order to complete her mission.

MUSHTAQ stares at her, numb.

COLONEL POWELL:

You will file your report as a 45

percent CDE.

Silence from MUSHTAQ.

COLONEL POWELL (CONT’D)

Sergeant?

A beat.

MUSHTAQ:

45 percent. Yes, Colonel.

POWELL can’t hold MUSHTAQ’S look.

340 EXT. PICKUP TRUCK - NAIROBI CITY STREETS - AFTERNOON 340

MUSA cradles ALIA in his arms in the back of the pickup as it

speeds its way - horn blaring - through the streets...

341 INT. SQUADRON OPERATIONS ROOM - NIGHT 341

COLONEL WALSH is looking at the Reaper image. It’s just

sitting still.

COLONEL WALSH:

Steve you need to get us close in

on the remains of Danford.

342 INT. GROUND CONTROL STATION - NIGHT 342

STEVE and CARRIE glance at each other.

In stunned silence, CARRIE starts to zoom in as STEVE pilots

the Reaper slowly back over the destroyed house and they hone

in on the scattered parts of a dead body in the rubble.

YELLOW SHOOTING SCRIPT 12 September 2014 132.

343

INT. ROOM - HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE - NIGHT 343

LUCY, unsettled, but still professional, matches the image of

the dead body parts, of the clothing, to the image of Susan

Danford taken when she was alive earlier.

344

INT. GROUND CONTROL STATION - NIGHT 344

CARRIE and STEVE both stare silently, numbly at the screen.

They see the chatroom message: “Based on the footage I am

seeing, body confirmed as Susan Helen Danford.”

345

INT. PJHQ - LONDON - AFTERNOON 345

POWELL picks up the secure telephone.

COLONEL POWELL:

(quietly, sombre)

Mission accomplished.

346

INT. BRIEFING ROOM A - WHITEHALL - AFTERNOON 346

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL BENSON

Good job. Well done, Katherine.

COLONEL POWELL:

Thank you, Frank.

347

EXT. SKY ABOVE NAIROBI - LATE AFTERNOON 347

For the first time we see the MQ-9 Reaper UAV. It is 20,000

feet up in the sky.

We see Nairobi far, far below.

The Reaper turns around and heads back home.

348

INT. BRIEFING ROOM A - WHITEHALL - LATE AFTERNOON 348

The meeting is over. GEORGE and BRIAN leave quietly, briefly,

awkwardly, shaking Benson’s hand.

As the room empties, ANGELA looks across the table as BENSON

begins packing his things.

YELLOW SHOOTING SCRIPT 12 September 2014 133.

ANGELA:

In my opinion, that was

disgraceful. And all done from the

safety of your chair.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL BENSON

I have attended the immediate

aftermath of five suicide bombings.

On the ground. With the bodies.

What you witnessed today, with your

coffee and biscuits, is terrible.

What these men would have done

would have been even more terrible.

That is how it is.

(almost killing her with

the line)

Never tell a soldier that he does

not know the cost of war.

He takes his briefcase and walks out.

349 INT. CORRIDOR - COBRA - WHITEHALL -LATE AFTERNOON 349

As BENSON exits the room, his AIDE-DE-CAMP hands him the

Annabell Time To Care doll. He is momentarily confused, then

manages a half smile.

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL BENSON

Thank you, Captain.

He takes the doll and walks away down the quiet hallway.

350 INT. CORRIDORS / OPERATING THEATRE - HOSPITAL - DUSK 350

MUSA, carrying ALIA, and FATIMA - in bloody clothes and with

bloodied faces - alarm everyone as they burst through doors

into a busy hospital corridor.

Moving down the corridor, they shout for attendance.

A NURSE rushes forward.

Seeing the extent of Alia’s injuries, she rushes them into a

rudimentary operating theater.

MUSA lays ALIA onto an operating table.

A DOCTOR approaches quickly and takes a look at her.

But it doesn’t take him long to realize that ALIA is dead.

He looks at FATIMA and MUSA.

YELLOW SHOOTING SCRIPT 12 September 2014 134.

An agonising silence. And it slowly dawns on them that they

have lost her.

CLOSE ON ALIA - lying there, very still.

And then MUSA lets out the grieving roar of an animal that

echoes into the next scene -

A350 EXT. CREECH AIR FORCE BASE - DAWN A350

CAMERA PANS across a vast, empty desert, and finds the

isolated airforce base shimmering in early morning heat.

351 EXT. GROUND CONTROL STATION - MORNING 351

A METAL DOOR is shoved open hard. STEVE and CARRIE step out

into the blazing sun and blinding light of the Nevada desert.

They stop as they see COLONEL WALSH standing alone in the

harsh light a short distance away, silently waiting for them.

STEVE holds a canned drink. His hand shakes. Adrenalin has

kept him going. Now he is drained. A mental wreck.

CARRIE looks confused. Can’t process what has just happened.

WALSH eyes them both, then tries awkwardly to offer comfort:

COLONEL WALSH:

You did well. Both of you.

They stand in silence for a moment.

STEVE:

Will you let me know what happened

to the girl?

COLONEL WALSH:

I will find out.

STEVE:

I need to know that.

COLONEL WALSH:

I know you do.

STEVE:

Text me or something.

COLONEL WALSH:

I’ll do that.

YELLOW SHOOTING SCRIPT 12 September 2014 135.

STEVE:

Thank you.

Silence again. Then -

COLONEL WALSH:

We should get you home... I need

you back here in twelve hours.

STEVE and CARRIE stare at COLONEL WALSH blankly. Lost.

352 EXT. ALIA’S COMPOUND - EASTLEIGH - DAWN (FLASHBACK) 352

ALIA, laughing, swinging her hips, her hula hoop whizzing

around her.

353 INT. CAR - A ROAD - ENGLAND - NIGHT 353

CLOSE ON POWELL, as if she is seeing the image of ALIA,

driving in silence for a while, lost in thought.

Then she snaps out of her reverie and taps the screen on her

car’s inboard computer. She selects ‘check messages’.

COMPUTER VOICE:

You have one unheard message...

Her husband’s voice comes on.

SIMON (V.O.)

Katherine, I want you to know that

I don’t appreciate your angry calls

first thing in the morning. Neither

do the boys want to be humiliated

in front of their girlfriends.

Robert is under a lot of stress

with his exams so you back off.

This is just about the last thing she wants to hear. As she

drives on, she is as tense as she was in the morning.

We pre-lap the rising SOUND of an angry crowd...

354 EXT. AMADU’S COMPOUND - EASTLEIGH - DUSK 354

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