John Q Page #13

GRIMES:

Out?

MONROE:

Out. No hard feelings. But you're officially relieved of duty. I'll handle it from here.

GRIMES:

You?

MONROE:

It's not my first trip around the dance floor, you know.

Grimes laughs out loud.

GRIMES:

Yeah.

MONROE:

Hey, I don't like it any better than you do, but I'm under a lot of pressure here. Everyone is wetting their pants on this one. Believe me, my ass is swinging in the breeze.

Monroe turns and walks away. Grimes calls out after him.

GRIMES:

What about the hostages?

MONROE:

They better keep their heads down.

INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON

J.Q. paces back and forth looking at the clock. His level of irritation is growing exponentially.

J.Q.

Where the hell are these guys?

Mitch is now contrite and trying to reconcile with his battered girlfriend.

MITCH:

Julie...

JULIE:

Leave me alone.

MITCH:

I'm sorry. I'm a lousy drunk, okay? I get out of control. I don't mean to, but I do and I lose my mind. But that doesn't mean I don't love you. And I'll change. I swear to God, I will. It's you and me, baby. All the girls in the club, they don't mean sh*t to me. It's only you. I'll get down on my knees if you want me to. Look, I'm on my knees in front of everyone. I'll even forget you kicked me in the nuts. Come on.

JULIE:

No, Mitch. This is always how it goes. You treat me like sh*t, then come crawling back to me like Prince Charming. Not this time. It's over.

She takes off a big diamond from her finger and drops it on the floor. It bounces and disappears under a table.

MITCH:

Aw, come on. Don't do that. That ring cost me twenty grand.

JULIE:

Poor little rich boy. Used to getting everything he wants. Buying his way in and out of everything.

Lester bends over and tries inconspicuously to look for the ring. The security guard gets on his hands and knees. Even Debby sneaks a peek.

MITCH:

Do you mind? Stay away from the ring, please.

SECURITY GUARD:

Hey, she don't want it.

LESTER:

yeah. Finders keepers, man.

The hostages laugh and Mitch goes crazy.

J.Q.

Hey, what's so funny? Does everybody think this is a joke? You all should be thinking about your own lives, hoping that phone rings with some good news. Because in about five minutes, the road is going to get a lot narrower.

EXT. COMMAND POST - LATE AFTERNOON

Monroe moves outside and joins the other SWAT team personnel at the video tap. Grimes follows to plead his case.

GRIMES:

But he's not a wacko, Gus. Married with a family, no history of mental illness. No radical political views. He doesn't fit the profile.

MONROE:

Don't matter. You know as well as I do that anybody can fit the profile at any time.

MOODY:

He's got a gun and he's got hostages. That's a profile.

GRIMES:

How long have we been doing this? You've got to trust me on this one. Gus, I like the guy.

MONROE:

Well I don't. I don't like nut jobs who point guns at innocent people. It pisses me off.

GRIMES:

He's not a nut job.

MONROE:

Maybe you're right. Maybe he's bluffing. Maybe he's just a nice guy with a problem. Maybe he's misunderstood and needs to blow off a little steam. Hey, it's possible. But I can't depend on that, Frank. This a**hole has raised the stakes real high. And I need to match it, just in case he's not bluffing. Now, we've got five minutes before he starts throwing bodies out the door. I've got a chance to end this right now and I'm taking it.

GRIMES:

I'm telling you, you're making a mistake.

MONROE:

Yeah, well. We try harder.

GRIMES:

I want to be on the record. Monroe hands Grimes a set of headphones.

MONROE:

You can be on whatever you want. Now I got you a chair. Put these on and have a seat.

GRIMES:

Gus...

MONROE:

Will you stop already? Jesus, Frank. You're so emotional.

On one of the monitors WE SEE the ER room and hostages. On the other, the red nurses' phone. The images are black and white and grainy.

MOODY:

(into walkie-talkie)

This is Moody. Let's go.

INT. HOSPITAL ENGINE AND POWER ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON

Pitoniak climbs along the narrow catwalk until he reaches the area that houses the air-conditioning unit. We hear the thunderous sound of an enormous compressor. Pitoniak reaches for the AC on/off switch.

INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON

J.Q. paces. Everyone keeps looking at the clock. 5:12 PM. Three minutes to go.

J.Q.

Some first day, huh?

DEBBY:

A little more stressful than I thought it would be.

J.Q. cracks a smile. Just then, a loud rattle echoes through the ER, pipes clanging.

J.Q.

What was that?

SECURITY GUARD:

Air conditioning unit just shut off.

J.Q.

Yeah? Why?

SECURITY GUARD:

The power automatically shuts down when the thermostat hits a certain temperature.

TIGHT ON J.Q.

Something doesn't feel right.

INT. DUCT SYSTEM - LATE AFTERNOON

INTERCUT:

An armed SNIPER pops his head up and slithers along the plated aluminum floor of an AC duct, a remote mini-monitor in the palm of his hand.

EXT. NEWS VAN - LATE AFTERNOON

Snipers lock and load assault rifles, and Tuck Lampley's crew frantically unspools fiber optic cable line to a hospital outsource, cutting and splicing it back to the news van.

LAMPLEY:

Where's my picture?

FREDDY B.

Coming. We just need to unscramble the police encryptment. We're almost there.

LAMPLEY:

Well, hurry up. I've got a contact in cardiology. The cops are setting up a phone call with this guy and his wife. This is going to be unbelievable.

INT. DUCT SYSTEM - LATE AFTERNOON

The sniper continues to crawl through the duct toward a light emanating from a louvered grill.

EXT. COMMAND POST - LATE AFTERNOON

Moody looks at his watch, synchronizes. Monroe does.

MOODY:

(into walkie-talkie)

Are you with a wife? Good. Let's patch it through.

INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON

5:
14 PM. All eyes on the clock. Hostages tired, hot, emotionally spent. Suddenly, a phone clangs. J.Q. looks around, surprised. He sees a desk phone, picks it up. Dead. He moves to another phone. Nothing. But the mysterious phone continues to ring.

J.Q.

Where's the phone? Which phone is it?

INT. NEWS VAN - LATE AFTERNOON

News monitors cackle with white snow. No picture. Freddy B. works the equipment. Lampley pokes his head in.

LAMPLEY:

Come on, goddammit. They're putting the call through.

Suddenly, an audio hook-up. The phone clanging like an alarm bell.

FREDDY B.

Oh, yeah. We got sound.

LAMPLEY:

Good. Good. But where's the video? Come on. I need picture.

INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - TREATMENT AREA - LATE AFTERNOON

J.Q. moves from phone to phone with no luck. The phone keeps ringing. Finally he moves into the corridor, spotting a red phone at the nurses' station.

EXT. COMMAND POST - LATE AFTERNOON

CLOSE ON VIDEO TAP

Surreal, distorted focus, like a funhouse mirror. Suddenly, J.Q. races into frame and snatches the phone.

J.Q.

This better be good, Frank.

INT. EMERGENCY ROOM - TREATMENT AREA - LATE AFTERNOON

DENISE (O.S.)

John?

J.Q.

Denise?

DENISE (O.S.)

Hi, baby. We're on the list!

J.Q.

What?

DENISE (O.S.)

Payne was just here. Mike's name is on the list. You did it.

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