Panic Room Page #11

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They're trying to keep their voices down, but stray words

float up through the open stairwell -- words like "him" and

"warning" and "dangerous."

Burnham chews a fingernail. If only he could get closer. He

throws a look back at the door to the panic room. He looks

back out the bedroom door. Listening.

INT. FOYER - NIGHT

Junior and Raoul are huddled together in the foyer. They're

keeping their voices low, but their conversation is heated.

JUNIOR:

We're not gonna do anything about

him, he's fine.

RAOUL:

If you think I'm gonna let my half

of the fourteen million bucks slip

away because of --

JUNIOR:

"Half?" What did you, take a nap in

math class? Three people, three

shares, one third. Four point six

six six repeating.

RAOUL:

I'm just saying, the man is a

problem. And he's your problem.

Wasn't me idea to bring him along.

JUNIOR:

That's right, Raoul, it wasn't your

idea, none of this was your idea, it

was mine, it's my family we're

ripping off, it's my prick

grandfather who built that f***ing

room, it was my idea to get the

plans, I found the floor safe, and

it was my idea to ask a guy who

builds these rooms to help break

into one! Me, me, me, I, I, I, at

no point did I say "you" or Raoul,"

got it?

RAOUL:

He puts his hands on me again I'll

bury a slug in his ear.

JUNIOR:

No, you will not, because without

Burnham there's no way in hell we're

gonna get into that safe, so as far

as I'm concerned he can paint your

ass blue and run it up a flagpole

and you won't lay a finger on him,

you understand me?

RAOUL:

Don't take no tone of voice with me,

Homes.

JUNIOR:

What is this sh*t you're talking all

of a sudden? You're a bus driver,

"Homes," you live in Flatbush, so

please don't start spouting some

Elmore Leonard sh*t you just heard

because I saw that movie too,

ON THE VIDEO MONITORS,

Junior and Raoul are visible, still arguing in the foyer.

On the next monitor over, Burnham is visible, standing in the

master bedroom doorway, listening.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Meg is watching the monitors, thinking. She notices

something, sits forward abruptly, looking at the monitor that

covers the master bedroom. She squeezes right up close,

staring at the screen.

ON THE MONITOR,

we peer closely at the box next to her bed, the one she was

using for a night table. On top of the box, she sees the

charger for her cellular phone, sitting empty.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Meg sits back, eyes alive with an idea. If only she could

get to that phone, which must be still under the bed. She

looks back at the monitors, at Burnham lingering in the

doorway to the room.

MEG:

Damn.

She turns away from the monitors, to check on Sarah, who's

settled into a corner of the room, looking pale.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

In the bedroom, Burnham is desperate. The argument

downstairs is entering round two, and he's got to hear what

they're saying.

He takes a few steps out of the bedroom --

INT. THIRD FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT

-- and comes into the hallway. He leans over the stairwell.

Where he's standing, he is directly under the camera that

covers the hallway --

ON THE MONITORS,

-- and can't be seen on the monitor that covers the hallway.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Meg turns back from Sarah, to look at the monitors again.

She see Burnham is no longer in the bedroom. And doesn't

appear to be in the hallway, either.

MEG:

Oh yes, yes...

She looks at another monitor.

ON THE MONITOR,

she sees Junior and Raoul in the foyer.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Meg sits back. That leaves Burnham unaccounted for.

MEG:

... the hell is he?

IN THE HALLWAY,

Burnham is still lingering under the camera.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Sarah has come forward to the monitors as well.

SARAH:

Do it.

MEG:

Yeah, but where's the third guy?

SARAH:

Not in the bedroom. Do it!

Meg goes to the door, raises a hand to the green "open"

button. Hesitates.

IN THE MASTER BEDROOM,

we see Burnham, lurking in the hallway, just about six feet

from the door to the panic room. Don't open that door!

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Meg wipes sweat from her palm.

MEG:

If it looks like I can't get back,

just close the door.

SARAH:

No.

MEG:

Close it!

Sarah nods, looks back to the button.

IN THE HALLWAY,

a shouted CURSE rises up from downstairs. Burnham takes a

step toward the stairs.

ON THE MONITORS,

he suddenly appears, in the hallway.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Sarah sees it.

SARAH:

WAIT!

Meg freezes. She looks at the monitor, wide-eyed. Close

one.

IN THE HALLWAY,

Burnham can't take it anymore.

BURNHAM:

Oh, hell...

He turns and takes off down the stairs.

ON THE MONITORS,

Burnham flies down the stairs and appears in the foyer, next

to Junior and Raoul.

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

Meg and Sarah see all three men accounted for, downstairs.

SARAH:

GO GO GO!

Meg leaps up, runs to the door, and punches the green button.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

The door begins to crank open, Meg slips through the gap

sideways before it's even all the way open. She darts across

the room --

-- slides to the floor next to the bed --

-- and flattens herself, reaching underneath it to get the

phone. Damn, that phone slid far, it's right in the middle,

wouldn't you know it.

IN THE FOYER,

the three men hear her footsteps, as one, they take off for

the stairs.

IN THE MASTER BEDROOM,

Meg continues to stretch, her fingers inches from the phone.

ON THE STAIRWELL,

feet race up toward her --

IN THE MASTER BEDROOM,

Meg's fingernails paw the phone, pull it closer to her. She

grabs it, stands --

IN THE HALLWAY,

the three men come off the stairs and race toward her, they

see her as she lunges across, toward the panic room, she

hurls herself through the door --

IN THE PANIC ROOM,

-- and Sarah SMACKS the red button. The steel door closes

with a deafening WHANG.

Safe.

IN THE ENTRYWAY,

the echo of the metallic WHANG reverberates through the

house.

INT. PANIC ROOM - NIGHT

In the panic room, Meg punches 9-1-1 on her cell phone with

trembling fingers.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

The big empty charger cradle is in the foreground when the

three men burst into the room. Burnham stops in the middle

of the floor, turns in a frantic circle.

BURNHAM:

What'd she get, what'd she get,

what'd she get...

His eyes fall on the empty charger.

BURNHAM:

Cell phone.

JUNIOR:

Sh*t!

INT. PANIC ROOM - NIGHT

Meg raises the cell phone to her ear --

-- and gets a rapid busy signal.

MEG:

Oh, no. No, no, no no no no no...

She looks at the phone. It's showing just one signal bar,

and even that one is flashing on and off.

MEG:

Oh come on, come on, come on...

She walks around the room, raises the phone high and low,

trying crazily to find a signal.

But can't.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

In the bedroom, Burnham stands just outside the door,

fingertips lightly resting on it, the ghost of a smile on his

face.

BURNHAM:

(softly)

I don't think we'll be talking on

our cell phone from in there...

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