Outbreak Page #3

ROBBY:

(quietly)

I know.

A long beat.

ROBBY:

I'll look after them on one

condition:
if you're not back in

four days, they're mine.

Gillespie doesn't like it.

GILLESPIE:

Okay.

(CONTINUED)

12.

CONTINUED:

ROBBY:

In writing.

She unlatches the door and moves inside. The dogs race

after her. Gillespie enters...

FRONT HALL:

overflowing with moving boxes, some sealed, others waiting

to be packed. Gillespie feels awkward, a stranger in his

own home.

She hands him a prescription pad. He crosses off her

nameplate, "Roberta Keough, MD," and starts writing

while Robby enters...

KITCHEN:

ROBBY:

Hey, guys, c'mon!

They follow her in.

ROBBY:

Guess what I got?

The DOGS BARK excitedly.

ROBBY:

Damn straight!

She opens the freezer, grabs a couple of frozen bagels and

flips them to the DOGS. They catch the bagels and start

CHOMPING.

ROBBY:

I missed you guys so much.

Gillespie hands her the note.

ROBBY:

(reading it)

'I, Michael Gillespie, agree that

if I'm not back in exactly four

days from now, the ownership of my

dogs, Osler and Harvey, will go

to Roberta Keough.'

(handing it back)

Time and date it.

He does. She points to a huge box on the kitchen

table:

(CONTINUED)

13.

CONTINUED:

ROBBY:

That's stuff from med school...

Some of it's yours. I don't know

if you want any of it.

He fishes through it, shoving aside old medical books

and equipment. He finds an old wood stethoscope with

thick rubber tubing. He shoves in into his pocket.

GILLESPIE:

Got a place yet?

ROBBY:

An apartment.

GILLESPIE:

The first thing you'll do is spend

the whole night unpacking...

You'll stay up 'til dawn but

you'll get everything in its

place.

ROBBY:

(smiles)

Probably.

GILLESPIE:

Nothin' in my life has been

organized since you left, Robby.

Beat. She's surprised at his admission. And uncomfortable.

So's he. He continues searching through

the box and pulls out...

A photo taken during their honeymoon cruise: they're

both smiling radiantly as they hold between them a

trophy of a dancing couple.

GILLESPIE:

Y'know, this is the only evidence

on Earth that I was ever graceful.

He checks her reaction. There is a hint of a smile.

ROBBY:

Take it.

GILLESPIE:

Nah, people might see it... get

the wrong impression.

He drops the photo back in the box and moves toward

the door.

(CONTINUED)

14.

CONTINUED:

ROBBY:

Four days.

GILLESPIE:

Or less.

As we hear the front DOOR OPEN and SHUT, HOLD ON

Robby:
a hint of regret.

CUT TO:

ANDREWS AIR BASE, MARYLAND

COMPUTER KEYS POUNDING: "Andrews Air Base, Maryland."

Flood lights illuminate a huge C5A transport plane

waiting on the runway, its nose cocked open exposing

its innards to the pouring rain. Several enlisted

men rapidly wheel equipment into the open hatch. A

private pushes a dolly loaded with boxes with the red

cross emblem up the ramp.

DR. ISAAC "IZZY" BERMAN, a short, bald Army Major in

his late 30's directs traffic.

IZZY:

Blood in the freezer over the

right wing. C'mon! Gut it!

We're late.

The private grunts and pushes the dolly slowly up the

ramp. Izzy lends a hand, and the two of them run it up

the ramp.

Mike Gillespie, dressed in a uniform, climbs down from

the cockpit. Now we see his rank: Colonel.

GILLESPIE:

Where the hell's Yaffe?

IZZY:

His wife... she's due tomorrow.

I put him on leave.

GILLESPIE:

We need him now! Who's going to

read the electron micrographs?

IZZY:

I will.

(CONTINUED)

15.

CONTINUED:

GILLESPIE:

You can't even read a Playboy

pinup.

IZZY:

He said he'd get a guy to fill in.

GILLESPIE:

We can't wait.

A Jeep drives across the tarmac, toward them and comes

to a park a short distance away. The Driver scurries

out to open the passenger door to let -

General Ford get out.

IZZY:

What does he want?

The driver pulls two suitcases out of the Jeep and

follows Ford into the plane.

FORD:

I'm comin' along, Mike.

GILLESPIE:

Sir, we're going into very

dangerous territory.

FORD:

I'm well aware of the dangers.

GILLESPIE:

Beggin' your pardon, General, I

don't think you are. You've had

only the most cursory training

on how to avoid contamination.

Concerns for your safety would

distract us.

FORD:

Nothing distracts you, Colonel.

You won't even know I'm there.

GILLESPIE:

Sir, I'm not comfortable -

FORD:

Mike, have a little compassion for

an old man who's been rotting

behind a desk.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

16.

CONTINUED:

FORD (CONT'D)

For once I'd like to be there

when one of these buggers hits.

You're not going to tell me I

can't go, Colonel, are you?

GILLESPIE:

No, sir.

FORD:

Good. I feel wanted, now.

(beat)

I get airsick in the back. I'll

be up with the pilot.

As they watch him move forward and out of sight:

IZZY:

The guy wouldn't know a virus from

a Barbie Doll. I'm not lookin'

after him. He's yours.

GILLESPIE:

Bullshit.

IZZY:

All of a sudden, playing golf and

pushin' papers isn't good enough.

Damn, when I'm his age, that's all

I'm gonna want to do.

Gillespie flips a coin, covers it over his wrist.

IZZY:

Heads. No! Tails.

Gillespie lifts his hand and smiles.

IZZY:

F***!

Gillespie grabs the phone to the cockpit.

GILLESPIE:

(into phone)

Rafferty, rock and roll with this bird.

INT. COCKPIT

The Pilot, CAPTAIN RAFFERTY, checks General Ford,

nestled in safely behind him.

RAFFERTY:

(into headmike)

T minus sixty seconds.

17.

DOWN BELOW:

Gillespie pulls a lever and the hatch starts to close.

IZZY:

Wait!

Mike follows his eyes out to the -

TARMAC:

where a BLACK MAN carrying a duffel bag is sprinting

toward them at incredible speed, like a ghost through

the pelting rain.

Berman swings the lever down and the hatch starts to

open but the Man doesn't wait for it to lower

completely. Without breaking stride, he leaps the

four feet onto the plane and slides to a stop right

in front of Gillespie. He steadies himself and

salutes:

SALT (BLACK MAN)

Captain Walter Salt reporting, sir.

Izzy smiles. He looks at Gillespie, who is impressed

but won't show it.

SALT:

I'm sorry to be late, sir. I was

wrapping up some tests in my lab -

GILLESPIE:

-- Strap in.

The huge JET ENGINES come to life. Gillespie, Berman,

and Salt strap themselves into the row of jump seats

along the fuselage.

Issy is filled with the excitement of a young kid who

can't believe his luck:

IZZY:

You're not the football player

from West Point, that Salt?

SALT:

The same, sir.

IZZY:

I thought you had the Heisman

sewed up 'til you hurt your knee.

(CONTINUED)

18.

CONTINUED:

SALT:

You and my mother, Major... I was

never that good. But thank you

for saying so, sir.

IZZY:

Don't call me sir. The only one

who does that is the Colonel here.

Everyone else calls me Izzy.

SALT:

Izzy, sir?

IZZY:

My mother calls me Isaac, but I

hate it. I pitched for my high

school team. My dad thought I

was gonna be another Dizzy Dean.

So he called me 'Izzy.'

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