Mission: Impossible Page #4

PHELPS:

He's our guy.

ETHAN:

Isn't he chairing the Armed Services hearing?

PHELPS:

Not this week. This week he's flyfishing

at the Oughterard Slough in County

Kildare, with one of our best Irish guides.

ETHAN:

He won't be back in a hurry?

PHELPS:

No, not in a hurry. What do you think?

You think the plot'll work?

ETHAN:

Sure. If the main character does.

PHELPS:

If you were me, Ethan, who would you

trust to make him believable?

JACK comes breezing in with a piece of bubble gum.

JACK:

Sorry, am I interrupting?

ETHAN:

Always.

JACK shows the gum to ETHAN.

JACK:

Stick of gum. If you come up against a

lock you can't pick --

Half the gum is red, the other half is green.

JACK (CONT'D)

Red light. Green light. Mash them

together, asta lasagna. Don't get any on

you -- you have five seconds.

He offers the gum to ETHAN.

PHELPS:

Are you gonna take it?

CLAIRE glances up from the computer and catches ETHAN's eye.

PHELPS may have caught the glance, but is focused on ETHAN.

ETHAN:

(relenting)

Give me the God damn gum.

JACK:

Just don't chew it.

PHELPS:

Thank you.

CUT TO:

EXT. AMERICAN EMBASSY - NIGHT

The American Embassy glitters beside the Vltava River. Party

at the Embassy tonight.

INT. AN ELEVATOR SHAFT - NIGHT

JACK, wearing black coveralls and slightly odd-looking

eyeglasses (they're called Visco glasses), enters an elevator

shaft through a small door at the base of the wall. He looks

up the shaft, shining a flashlight until he finds what he's

looking for --

-- a gray metal box, protruding from the wall one floor up.

INT. SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT

PHELPS is at a table in the safe house apartment, watching

the bank of monitors HANNAH wired together earlier. The

monitors are alive now, showing various views of the inside

of the Embassy, where the party is going on, and one view of

the elevator shaft.

PHELPS wearing an IMF headset and speaks into the mouthpiece.

PHELPS:

Ethan. Jack's inside. Window's open by

twenty-three hundred.

INT. EMBASSY - NIGHT

Inside the Embassy, the party is a formal, tuxedoed affair

that's in full swing on the second floor.

SENATOR WALTZER, the man who was on TV, walks up a grand

staircase, headed in. An AMERICAN DIPLOMAT in a tuxedo

hurries up to him.

DIPLOMAT:

How do you do, Senator, I'm Rand Housman,

the Ambassador's aide. If I could just

steer you through the reception line here

--

The DIPLOMAT pilots the SENATOR by one arm, guiding him to a

reception line at the base of the stairs to the party.

DIPLOMAT (CONT'D)

Allow me to introduce Jaroslav Reid, the

director of the National Gallery -- Petr

Brandl, the mayor of Prague --

SARAH, a very attractive young American dressed in an elegant

gown, steps out of the reception line and shakes hands with

WALTZER.

SARAH:

I bet you don't remember me, do you, Senator?

SENATOR WALTZER:

Of course I do. How are you, Miss

Norman?

He leans in and kisses her on the cheek, and as he does so

SARAH whispers something in his ear.

SARAH:

He's in pocket. Under the archway behind me.

Her tone, her words -- we realize she's on the team.

The SENATOR pulls a pair of Visco glasses from his pocket

(and if we didn't know the SENATOR was ETHAN before, this

confirms it), puts them on, and looks up, over her shoulder.

UNDER AN ARCHWAY NEAR THE ENTRANCE,

ALEKSANDER GOLITSYN, the Ukrainian, has just come in from

outside.

INT. SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT

PHELPS sees the SENATOR's point of view of GOLITSYN, through

the glasses, broadcast back to PHELPS' monitor. He speaks

into his microphone.

PHELPS:

Sarah, mark the package and go to two.

INT. EMBASSY PARTY - NIGHT

SARAH still has the SENATOR's attention.

SARAH:

Your advance team mentioned you'd want a

tour of the facility, so I've gone ahead

and set that up for you --

SENATOR WALTZER:

Terrific. Let's get going.

(to the Diplomat)

Will you excuse us?

He slips an arm around SARAH and they walk off, not into the

party, but the other way, toward a staircase that leads

further into the Embassy.

DIPLOMAT:

Uh, sir?

INT. ELEVATOR SHAFT - NIGHT

JACK climbs up the elevator shaft, towards the gray metal

box. He just begins to remove the cover when he hears a

noise from above. He looks up and sees the elevator above

him descending.

JACK quickly pulls himself flush against the wall. The

elevator comes down adjacent to him and stops, pinning him

to the wall.

JACK:

Great. Come on.

INT. EMBASSY PARTY - NIGHT

As the SENATOR and SARAH pass behind the entering GOLITSYN,

SARAH pulls a small bottle of perfume from her purse. But as

she sprays, she points it slightly to the left, missing

herself and hitting the back of GOLITSYN'S head. He never

notices. They move on and down the flight of stairs.

INT. SAFE HOUSE - NIGHT

JIM PHELPS monitors the Visco views of the party. He looks

to the fourth monitor and checks a view of the party, a jumpy

one, as someone hurrying up stairs.

PHELPS:

Hannah. He's marked. Lets go.

INT. EMBASSY PARTY - NIGHT

On a flight of stairs, HANNAH, dressed for the party and

slightly out of breath, hurries up the stairs.

Rate this script:4.0 / 4 votes