Panic Room Page #4

---

There's a moving box on the countertop. His eyes widen.

This is news to him, bad news.

He takes a step back and a breath. He turns, looks to the

end of the hall. His eyes now adjusted to the darkness, he

notices something he didn't see before, something coming from

under the door to the fourth floor bedroom.

Light. From inside. From another nightlight.

INT. SARAH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

In the top floor bedroom, a nightlight burns in another

outlet. Nearby, Sarah is asleep in bed, the covers kicked

off.

The door to Sarah's bedroom glides open, terribly slowly.

The Man stands in the doorway, staring, aghast, at the

mountain of moving boxes piled in the room. His gaze falls

on Sarah in the bed.

The Man just stares, beside himself. His lips mouth a word,

soundlessly. Doesn't take a lip reader to guess it.

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

In the master bedroom, Meg flops over in bed, facing away

from the doorway, really having a rough go of it. She slept

too hard before, now she's awake, her head is killing her,

she's really paying the price of four glasses of wine.

She lies still, on her side, facing us.

Behind her, the bedroom door moves, silently.

Opening.

The Man stands there, one finger still on the door he's just

pushed open. He stares at the sleeping form of Meg on the

bed, whose back is to him. He has no idea she's awake.

Meg lies in bed, eyes wide open, no idea a Man is standing in

the doorway to her bedroom.

Noiselessly, the Man moves away, down the hall. The moment

his head disappears down the stairwell --

-- Meg flops over again, facing the doorway. She closes her

eyes, gives sleep another try.

CUT TO:

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

The Man walks across the kitchen, shaking his head in

exasperation at the packing boxes all around him. He goes to

the front window, peers outside. He reaches for a light

switch on his right.

Through the window, we can see the stoop light go on. Then

off, then on and off again.

Still through the window, we see the side panel door of the

van slide open.

TWO MORE MEN climb out. They are also dressed in dark

clothes. They also carry satchels.

They walks calmly across the street, grow large in the window

as they approach us. The first intruder (who has a name,

it's BURNHAM) steps over to the kitchen door, runs his

silvery strip through the gap. Another HUM and spark.

AN ALARM PANEL:

flashes again.

ZONE 1 DISABLED

IN THE KITCHEN,

Burnham opens the kitchen door, letting the two other guys

slip inside. RAOUL is a hulking figure whose back seems to

rise up over the top of his slouching head; when he walks it

looks like gravity does all the work, just pulling him

forward. JUNIOR is much smaller, very high-strung, dresses

like a homey, very street, but can't hide the fact that the

street is Park Avenue.

They all freeze, staring at the moving boxes.

JUNIOR:

F***.

BURNHAM:

I know.

RAOUL:

What?

BURNHAM:

A woman and a little girl, both

asleep upstairs.

JUNIOR:

F***!

BURNHAM:

Keep your voice down.

JUNIOR:

They're not supposed to be here!

BURNHAM:

This was your department, Junior.

JUNIOR:

They're not supposed to be here!

BURNHAM:

That's why the key didn't work, they

changed the locks.

JUNIOR:

Fourteen day escrow, man, that's

almost three weeks! They shouldn't

be here for another week! They

don't own this house yet!

BURNHAM:

(pause)

Exactly how is fourteen days almost

three weeks?

JUNIOR:

Fourteen business days. Escrow is

always business days.

Burnham sighs.

JUNIOR:

I mean, right? Isn't it?

BURNHAM:

You're an idiot.

Raoul steps forward, shoves Burnham with both hands in the

chest.

RAOUL:

Watch your mouth.

JUNIOR:

It's okay, Raoul.

BURNHAM:

(to Junior)

Who is this guy?

JUNIOR:

Raoul is cool. That's all you need

to know.

BURNHAM:

This is insane. I'm outta here.

He starts for the door.

JUNIOR:

Wait a minute, wait a minute. We

can still handle this.

(to Raoul)

Can we still handle this?

RAOUL:

It's just the woman and the kid?

BURNHAM:

Unless Daddy comes back later.

JUNIOR:

Daddy's not coming back, she's in

the middle of a divorce, it's just

the two of them. We're okay, here.

(to Raoul)

We can do this, right?

RAOUL:

You're f***in' A we can do this.

BURNHAM:

Not with me. Not with people.

JUNIOR:

Forty-five minutes. That's all you

said you need. That's like nothing.

BURNHAM:

She'll call the cops, they'll be

here before I get unpacked.

JUNIOR:

So we keep an eye on her. Raoul can

totally administrate that part.

RAOUL:

No problem.

BURNHAM:

I don't want Raoul to administrate

that part.

JUNIOR:

They won't get hurt.

BURNHAM:

What about us? What if she has a

gun?

JUNIOR:

Raoul, what in God's name do we do

if she has a gun?

Raoul pulls up his sweatshirt, revealing a .38 tucked into

his belt.

BURNHAM:

A**hole.

JUNIOR:

A guy shows you a gun, Burnham, and

you insult him? Hey, who's the

idiot? Huh?

BURNHAM:

Where did you get this clown?

JUNIOR:

I met him at the tables, same as

you. And frankly, I'm grateful we

have a little muscle right about

now.

BURNHAM:

What tables? I've never seen him

before.

JUNIOR:

Different tables.

BURNHAM:

(to Raoul)

The f*** did you bring a gun for?

RAOUL:

You're welcome.

BURNHAM:

Peace out.

He moves for the door. Junior, trying desperately to hold

this together, gets there first, blocks the door with his

back.

JUNIOR:

We can't do it without you, Burnham.

Junior starts at Burnham. Raoul stares at Burnham.

JUNIOR:

It's still a good plan. It's

just... got a twist.

BURNHAM:

Yeah. Kidnapping.

JUNIOR:

Not if we keep 'em here. You can't

kidnap somebody in their own house.

It's just breaking and entering,

unless we take 'em someplace. Or

something like that, I'm pretty

sure.

BURNHAM:

Pure idiot.

JUNIOR:

I am. I'm an idiot's son. An

idiot's grandson. I'm third-

generation idiot. But for once in

my life I had a good idea, and I'm

not giving up so easy. You are?

Are you actually telling me that for

the first time in your life you're

gonna throw your cards on the table

and go home early? I can't believe

my eyes.

(Burnham hesitates)

Fourteen million dollars upstairs,

Burnham. You'll be out of the hole.

Baby, you'll be so far out of the

hole you could draw bricks every

night for the next twenty years and

still sh*t green.

(Burnham sways)

Come on, Buddy. One more hand.

CUT TO:

INT. MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT

Meg sits up in bed. She's bleary, her head feels like

someone rested a manhole cover on it. She gets up, in the

dark, and staggers off toward the bathroom door, feeling her

way with her arms, her eyes not adjusted to the dark.

She steps through the door.

INT. PANIC ROOM - NIGHT

She walks into the bathroom and feels around for a light

switch, but can't find it. She blinks, squints, tries to get

her bearings. The only light is a harsh white glow that

comes from along one wall, from a bank of tiny video

monitors.

She finds the light switch, flicks it on, it nearly blinds

her. She's not in the bathroom. She's wandered into the

panic room by mistake.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote