Gold Page #23

The Sierra Nevada out the windows. It’s fall.

SUPER OVER --RENO, NEVADA - OCTOBER, 1988

Wells facing Jennings, listening.

JENNINGS:

I think it’s pretty unlikely we’ll

ever see your partner again.

WELLS:

Wait, what do you mean? You’re not

telling me something. What happened to

Mike?

JENNINGS:

A lot of very powerful people are very

angry at Michael Acosta.

WELLS:

What happened!?

Jennings searches Wells's face again for a trace of the

disingenuous.

JENNINGS:

What happened? Yes. That’s what we’re

trying to put together.

(MORE)

121.

JENNINGS (CONT'D)

Seventeen billion dollars of value

disappeared overnight. That is

certain. What else? Michael Acosta

waves goodbye to you in the ballroom

downstairs --ta-ta -- goes back to

Indonesia on a jet chartered with

Washoe funds, and then he does his

disappearing act. This you know...

Off Wells -- PRE-LAP:

The sound of HELICOPTER ROTORS, growing louder. Deafening...

SMASH TO:

EXT. JUNGLE - PRE DAWN

A helicopter chops at the morning air -- flying in low over

the lush jungle as the sun is about to rise.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

First, he’s locked out of the assay

lab in Kalimantan by The Minister of

the Interior. So he goes back to

Jakarta.

EXT. JAKARTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - DAY

Acosta emerges from a plane and walks down the gangway stairs.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

Where he is immediately detained by

Indonesian Military.

Waiting for him at the bottom are INDONESIAN SOLDIERS.

OFFICER:

(subtitled)

This way Mr. Acosta.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

And they hold him while they try to

reproduce for themselves the lab

results claimed by Washoe.

INT. INDONESIAN MILITARY BARRACKS - DAY

Acosta watching men march in formation through a doorway.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

Which of course they are unable to do.

122.

INT. PROSPECTOR SUITE - DAY

Jennings takes his time. He’s enjoying this a little.

JENNINGS:

And at this point either he’s being

moved to an actual prison, or he’s

bribed one of the officers. Either

way, he’s on a military helicopter.

INT./EXT. HELICOPTER - FLYING - DAY

Acosta sits in the hold of the chopper, two soldiers across

from him, a pilot and another SOLDIER up front, all armed.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

They fly north loosely tracking the

Kensana river.

The chopper arcs in, following the river’s course.

Acosta stares out, far into the distance, taking in the

breathtaking beauty.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

Do not underestimate the Suharto

family. They are gangsters whose turf

is a nation of 100 million.

Acosta in the back of the chopper. He’s got a six-pack of

Tuborg Gold in cans. He cracks one, holds the others out to

the soldiers, who decline. He drains the beer. He looks down

at the river as it passes far below, flashing gold in the

sunlight, a snaking golden river, golden dream -

Hands suddenly undo his harness. An involuntary breath. Then a

smile creeps onto his face.

Acosta now at the open hatch door of the chopper. Tighter on

his eyes taking it in. He’s coming home.

IN SILENCE MIKE ACOSTA FALLS FROM THE HELICOPTER

Falling and falling and falling toward canpoy and water -

123.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

A thousand feet up, over the Kensana,

Mike Acosta takes a header.

ON THE PILOT -- as he turns and looks back and sees the EMPTY

SEAT, the soldiers buckling back in. He turns back around.

ACOSTA POV of ONRUSHING RIVER. CLOSER AND CLOSER AND THEN ALL

AT ONCE AS WE SMASH -

INT. PROSPECTOR SUITE - DAY

Wells is on the edge of his seat, eyes red from lack of sleep,

booze, cigarette smoke. He’s shaken up by the news. He doesn’t

want to believe it.

WELLS:

No way. No f***ing way. Mike was too

good, too savvy. He had to be planning

this. He knows what they do to you for

salting. What you think they’d do. He

faked it. Or he paid just to have the

story out.

(desperate)

164 million goes a long way in

Indonesia...

JENNINGS:

(beat)

They found a body.

WELLS:

Are you sure it’s him?

JENNINGS:

I’m not sure of anything, except Mike

Acosta traded water filters for river

gold, but now the Indonesian

government has gone unusually quiet on

the subject and seems to have,

publicly at least, lost all interest

in finding Michael Acosta.

EXT. INDONESIAN JUNGLE - DAY

THE CRANE SHOT of the INDONESIAN MILITARY and DAYAK in semicircle

around the SPLAYED BODY.

One of the soldiers breaks ranks and moves forward, kneeling

by the body. What he sees there sickens him -

124.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

Hands and face were eaten away.

Probably by wild pigs.

BANG. All heads whirl. The BIG SNAKE FALLS. Floats down river.

The soldier finds the wallet, flips it open, checks the ID.

And this time we see the name -- MICHAEL ACOSTA.

And a picture of MIKE ACOSTA, smiling.

JENNINGS (V.O.)

There was an autopsy, corroborating

the identity with dental records from

Boston.

INT. PROSPECTOR SUITE - DAY

Jennings produces documents with a sort of bemused skepticism.

Autopsy. Photos of a pig-eaten body. Affidavit of cremation.

JENNINGS:

Then they sealed the report, cremated

the remains. Interestingly Danny

Suharto dumped a lot of stock as well.

So the Suhartos are even richer, Mike

Acosta is ostensibly dead and buried,

a hundred sixty four million is still

missing, and the question I’m left

with is whether or not you were in on

it?

Wells takes a moment. Slowly shakes his head. Sad.

WELLS:

I can’t believe it.

JENNINGS:

Can’t believe what?

Wells eyes well up. He rubs at them, making them even redder.

He lights a cig to cover the emotions.

WELLS:

...Everyone in the business had

written him off, called his theories

crap, and he couldn’t let that be the

last word on him.

JENNINGS:

You talking about Acosta or yourself?

Wells ignores that.

125.

WELLS:

We were running out of money and I was

sick with Malaria, I think that’s when

the salting started. Mike was sure he

was right, the gold was there, but he

needed to buy us more time to find it.

I don’t think he set out to swindle

anyone, but by the time he realized he

was wrong and there was no gold, he

was in too deep. I honestly think he

just didn’t want to let me down. And I

was fooled just like everybody else.

A pregnant beat. Levine, Jennings’ underling, leans down. He’s

saying something that is mostly muffled... “Either world’s

biggest fool or...”

LEVINE:

...he’s not telling the truth -

WELLS:

The truth!? The only truth here is

that when everyone’s getting rich

nobody gives a sh*t about the truth.

All anyone had to do was look. Open

their eyes. The gold was wrong. The

find was too good. Red flags

everywhere, but no one looked, because

no one wanted to know. Not me, not

you, not anyone. What we all wanted

was to believe. Why? Because we were

making so much money.

Jennings looks over at Banks and Levine. That landed.

JENNINGS:

(to his coworkers)

Mark, Eric, sit down please.

Jennings checks the cassette on the tape recorder. And when he

addresses his questions to Wells we can feel it’s all coming

down to this.

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