Human Target Page #8

CHANCE (INTO PHONE)

Not sure what you’re finding there, but

I’m feeling like McNamara management may

be involved in this.

GUERRERO (INTO PHONE)

That’s good news.

CHANCE (INTO PHONE)

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.

GUERRERO (INTO PHONE)

You want me to go see him?

CHANCE (INTO PHONE)

I do. See if he’s heard anything.

GUERRERO (INTO PHONE)

I’m on it.

They all hang up. Guerrero puts on his coat to go...

WINSTON:

Why is it good news if the company is

behind this?

GUERRERO:

Because companies like this aren’t built

to off people, so it tends to be sloppy.

Someone talks, the wrong guy’s listening,

and suddenly word’s all over the street.

(CONTINUED)

Human Target - Steinberg Network Revisions 1/23/09 37.

CONTINUED:

WINSTON:

Who are you going to see?

GUERRERO:

The Wrong Guy.

CUT TO:

INT. MONTEREY ONE - COACH CAR - 2ND LEVEL - DAY

Chance hangs up. Off Stephanie’s skeptical look-

CHANCE:

Don’t tell me you aren’t thinking it too.

STEPHANIE:

What if they lied to me about replacing

the connectors...?

CHANCE:

Someone decides you’re making a big deal

out of nothing. Figure they’re $40

billion over-budget, they’re not asking

for a few billion more just to make you

happy. So they lie to shut you up.

Except they find out the Times is writing

about it. Even if they think the train’s

safe, they can’t allow a suggestion

otherwise. No paying passenger would

ever go near this thing. Someone asks,

‘How do we make this problem go away’,

and we’re off to the races...

STEPHANIE:

This sounds awfully paranoid...

CHANCE:

Ask Mark Hoffer how paranoid it sounds.

STEPHANIE:

(beat)

If they lied about replacing those

connectors, we’ve got a much bigger

problem... We’re easily going 50 miles

per hour above safe-speed right now...

CHANCE:

Are you saying that by speeding this

train up, somebody up there may have

unwittingly created the situation they

assured you would never happen?

STEPHANIE:

Pretty much.

(CONTINUED)

Human Target - Steinberg Network Revisions 1/23/09 38.

CONTINUED:

CHANCE:

Alright... Then we need to know if those

connectors were replaced or not.

STEPHANIE:

To be sure, you’d have to do a visual

inspection. Raise one of the cars on

hydraulics, crawl into the access-space-

CHANCE:

How do we do it right now?

STEPHANIE:

You’re kidding...

CHANCE:

If this train can’t stop and we’re the

only people that know, I imagine we’re

gonna have to do something about it.

STEPHANIE:

You want to squeeze into an open-air

crawl-space 8 inches above the tracks,

under a train going 230 miles per hour,

and conduct a visual inspection?

CHANCE:

Not particularly. But tell me there’s

another option.

CUT TO:

INT. MONTEREY ONE - CAFE CAR - DAY

The main car, more somber than before. Bill is unconscious,

laid out on a bench. On James, as he watches Tom enter from

the rear of the car. Tom is conspicuously uncomfortable,

trying to breathe deep. Passing by James, we pick up--

THE STEWARD-ASSASSIN from before, whom we follow as he

approaches the rear of the car, and exits into-

CUT TO:

INT. MONTEREY ONE - EMPTY COACH PASSENGER CAR - CONTINUOUS

He checks his watch impatiently. A beat, before he pulls a

PISTOL, and heads deeper into the train. He’s on his way...

END ACT TWO:

Human Target - Steinberg Network Revisions 1/23/09 39.

ACT THREE:

INT. FOOD COURT - DAY

A generic office building food court. Guerrero approaches a

table where an OLD MAN (60s) sits eating his lunch. But as

Guerrero nears him, a BEEFY GUY in a suit gets up and stands

in Guerrero’s way. They stare each other down a beat, before-

OLD MAN:

(to the Beefy Guy)

It’s alright.

The Beefy Guy steps aside, and Guerrero takes a seat.

OLD MAN (CONT’D)

Haven’t seen you in a while.

GUERRERO:

Haven’t been looking for you.

OLD MAN:

An answer for everything... This is why

I stopped finding work for you.

GUERRERO:

I stopped taking the work you found,

that’s why you stopped finding it.

OLD MAN:

What do you want?

GUERRERO:

I need to know if you’ve heard of any

work put on the street by a company

called McNamara Engineering.

The Old Man looks to the Beefy Guy, who shrugs.

OLD MAN:

Not to the best of our recollection.

GUERRERO:

(beat; disappointed...)

Are you sure?

OLD MAN:

Hold on, I’ll check again.

(beat; an eff-you stare...)

Yes, I’m sure.

Guerrero slumps a bit. Dead end.

(CONTINUED)

Human Target - Steinberg Network Revisions 1/23/09 40.

CONTINUED:

OLD MAN (CONT’D)

What do you care, anyway? You wanna know

if there’s open work, but you don’t wanna

take it? What are you, window shopping...

(it clicks for him; he smiles)

Ah... I see. You’ve gone to the other

side. Fighting the good fight, making

the world safe for democracy...

(coughs out a laugh...)

Like your friend Chance, I suppose. At

least he had the courtesy to tell me to

my face when he lost his nerve.

Guerrero’s getting nowhere, and he’s had enough. He gets up.

GUERRERO:

Thanks for your time.

OLD MAN:

Just making life hard on yourself,

friend. Companies have secrets.

Husbands hate wives. Brothers envy

brothers. This work’s been around

forever, it ain’t going away, it ain’t

even slowing down...

Guerrero stops a moment. Turns back.

GUERRERO:

What did you just say?

OLD MAN:

I said I don’t know what you hope to

accomplish by-

GUERRERO:

Yeah, I got it.

As Guerrero exits, he smiles. Something just clicked for him.

CUT TO:

INT. MONTEREY ONE - CARGO CAR - DAY

An open cargo compartment, the length and width of the car.

High ceilinged, there’s no 2nd floor here. Heavy machine

parts and instruments are bundled in a few rows, most of them

covered under a large tarp.

Chance and Stephanie are beside a panel in the floor,

unscrewing the fasteners keeping the panel secured.

STEPHANIE:

This is crazy.

(CONTINUED)

Human Target - Steinberg Network Revisions 1/23/09 41.

CONTINUED:

CHANCE:

It isn’t crazy.

STEPHANIE:

Do you have any idea what kind of surface

stresses are generated when you move a

train this big this fast? The jet stream

that’ll be swirling 6 inches beneath you

will suck you right under the wheels if

you get anywhere near it.

CHANCE:

(beat)

It may be a little crazy.

Chance finishes with the last screw in the panel.

CHANCE (CONT'D)

Explain to me again what I’m looking for.

A beat. Stephanie has to hand it to him; he’s got balls...

STEPHANIE:

The brake housings are the black boxes

offset from the wheels, by the access

shaft. There’s a seam that runs along

the front of each box. If the connectors

were replaced, the seams should be

jagged. If the seams are smooth...

CHANCE:

...cancel Christmas, I get it. Ok.

Alright, let’s do it.

Chance and Stephanie unlock the panel, and as they hoist it

up, THE WIND NOISE IS DEAFENING. Like standing next to a jet

engine with the cowlings off. Chance takes off his dress

shirt, and we see that the wound on his chest is becoming a

problem. Stephanie is a little horrified by it, but Chance

doesn’t even acknowledge it. He crawls down into-

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