Page Eight Page #5

Had he talked about dying?

He was worried about the future.

But he said whatever mess he left behind,

he could trust you to clear it up.

Benedict was honest and hard-working.

And he looked things in the eye.

So I'd say it's important

that you don't let him down.

Julianne, it's your father.

(CAR APPROACHING)

I've got bad news. Can you call me?

Or call your mother.

I may be hard to get hold of for a while.

Did he say he'll take over?

(TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

You must be Mr Worricker?

- Joseph Pierpan.

- How do you do?

- My daughter's told me so much about you.

- How is she?

Nancy says you know

a lot of influential people.

You work at the Home Office.

Oh, she told you.

My son was murdered.

Can you imagine?

And I am daily mocked by people

who refuse to admit who did it and why.

Do you have children?

A daughter.

I'm not going to detain you.

But it would mean the world to us

if you could help.

This is kind of you.

Why is it kind of me?

Don't you think it might be

what I want as well?

What are they saying up your way?

Well, they're saying it was a heart attack.

Do you have any reason to think differently?

You went up there.

Yeah, I saw the guilty egg.

We were at university together.

Ben was my tutor.

We even went on

the Vietnam marches together.

He recruited me.

First it was counter-espionage, then

counter-terrorism. There's no difference.

He still said it was dishonourable work

you could do in an honourable way.

The better man?

I betrayed my wife and he married her.

I never knew if he did it for her

or if he did it for me.

(BOTH CHUCKLING)

Whichever.

I'm in his debt.

He was an all-round decent person.

When's your husband getting back?

- He's not getting back.

- Why not?

Because we had a disagreement.

Yeah, I'm up the Swanee.

I work for an unprincipled maniac.

God, she's as mean as cat meat.

And meanwhile, I am trying to hold down

my pathetic high-powered job.

You want to get out?

I don't have the courage.

I don't have the guts.

They're gonna go after you, you know that.

- Tell me.

- What, you hadn't guessed?

Jill Tankard took me into a cupboard

and told me there was no such thing

as pure intelligence.

Well, then.

They don't trust you.

They're gonna use Benedict's death.

There's gonna be a departmental shake-up.

They've been setting you up.

Setting me up? How?

They're gonna say you

put Benedict up to it.

It was you that gave Benedict the source.

I didn't. I didn't give him his source.

I only saw the file for

the first time this week.

- I know that.

- I don't know the source.

I'm sure. But they don't care.

They're gonna tie a tin can around your

tail and run you out of the building.

They don't like you, Johnny.

It's personal.

Do they have a reason?

Well, the usual reason.

They think you're anti-American.

I'm not.

All right, then, they just feel

that you have more fun than they do.

I've got a question.

I mean, I don't mind if you don't answer.

I don't mind. I'll answer anything.

When I said, "l only saw the file

for the first time this week,"

you said, "l know."

- Oh, yeah, so?

- How do you know?

It's important, Anna. How do you know?

How do you know I hadn't seen the file?

I know

because when I started sleeping with you,

I made a decision.

What decision?

I decided to trust you.

(SMIRKS)

It's a bit arbitrary, isn't it?

Yes.

But so far you've never let me down.

NEWSREADER:
North Utsire, northerly,

becoming cyclonic four or five,

occasionally six in far north.

Becoming variable three later.

Fair, good.

South Utsire, north-westerly five or six,

veering easterly or south-easterly,

four or five.

Becoming variable three later.

Fair, good.

(BREATHING DEEPLY)

Nothing if not predictable.

Sh*t!

Johnny? Johnny?

Are you there? It's Jill.

I'm answering. Good morning, Jill.

Have you forgotten?

We're due to meet, we've got a meeting.

JOHNNY:
Well, that's it.

Problem is, I've got that tickle

you get at the back of your throat

when you know you're gonna be ill.

JILL:
Where are you, exactly?

Aren't I at home?

I'm in Battersea, aren't I?

That's not what it says here.

This is hardly the day to go undercover.

Goodness, you're playing with the toys.

Are you playing silly buggers?

No, not at all. I thought it was you that

was playing silly buggers, very much so.

After what happened yesterday,

we're on amber.

Everyone's got to open their safe.

I'm happy to open my safe.

There's nothing in it but half a bottle

of brandy and some shaving cream.

But I can't do it today.

Not if the whole department's

to avoid the flu.

You think with Benedict gone

you move up a peg.

But you don't, you move down.

I hope to God you know what you're doing.

(WOMAN SPEAKING HINDI)

Oh, Mr Eliot, I thought I heard you.

Mrs Ashanti.

It's been so long since we saw you.

I've been travelling.

I'm only in this country for a couple of days.

NEWSREADER:
The death has

been announced of Benedict Baron,

the director general of MI5.

Baron will be remembered for his policy of

making the security service

more accountable.

Under his direction,

the secretive organisation...

The Road House.

Rather a come-down, isn't it?

Isn't this where

you used to meet Gerry Adams?

Is it, Rollo? You'd know better than me.

So, who are you this time?

My name's Eliot, after the poet.

Mmm? Eliot who?

Tom Eliot, you idiot.

Never heard of him.

What does he do? Christmas cards?

- Two coffees, please.

- WAITRESS:
Sure.

- You vanished.

- I was in Israel.

Good. Do I owe you?

No, it's fine. The paper paid.

- You can open it.

- I'd rather hear it from you.

- Well, she's perfect, isn't she?

- Is she? Tell me.

Well, if they'd invented her,

they couldn't have done a better job.

You gonna have to tell me who "they" are?

I'm assuming that "she" is Nancy.

Is there anyone else in your life?

- Nobody at all?

- Since you ask.

Well, Nancy is a perfectly

pitched creation.

Is she? Is she a creation?

If you want to know, yeah.

It all stacks up.

Yes, she did have a romantic-looking

brother, who was indeed killed.

And yeah, there was one of those

Israeli Army inquiries

where they concluded

the Israeli Army never does anything wrong.

Her father is indeed

an impeccable Arab scholar,

living a quiet and saintly

life in Damascus.

There she is, Johnny.

The wronged woman, the grieving sister.

Waiting for you, brilliantly rehearsed,

learnt her lines, ready to go.

What are you saying? Too good to be true?

I didn't ask you to pimp for me, Rollo.

Nor did I ask you to vet a girlfriend.

She's not a girlfriend, she's a neighbour.

Oh, she's kind of a fantasy neighbour,

isn't she?

Perfect for an old spy

who's lost faith in the old values.

I haven't lost faith.

- Haven't you?

- No, I still believe in them.

The purpose of intelligence

is to find the truth,

not to confirm what we already believe.

We're meant to look for what's there,

Rate this script:2.0 / 1 vote