Paranoia Page #2

Come on!

Hey, buddy, where you going?

Could be love.

Wake up.

Hey, wake up.

- Hmm?

- I have to go.

So do you.

No breakfast?

Did I, uh,

do something wrong?

If you had done something wrong,

you wouldn't be here, would you?

So...

So, uh, we...

...are leaving.

Wait a second,

I don't even know your name.

Are you taking the fire escape?

OK.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

Hey. Black,

or cream and sugar?

- You stalking me now?

- I just want to know your name.

Why? So you can poke me,

friend me, ask for my number?

Or you could

just give me your number.

You're not

relationship material.

Relationship?

You're looking for a relationship?

I love relationships.

I'm great at relationships.

No. Actually, I'm just trying

to get rid of you nicely.

Didn't we have sex?

I have a thing for bridge-and-tunnel

guys when I drink.

Did you just call me

bridge-and-tunnel?

You took me out

for cheese fries.

Cheese fries!

Oh. Then what?

Then you had the night of your life.

Your words, not mine.

Oh... Black.

Adam Cassidy?

My name is Miles Meachum.

Mr. Wyatt would like to speak with you.

How did you know where I was?

I mean, I don't even live around here.

Ah! Mr. Cassidy.

The man who claims he knows

my business better than I do.

Here, take a seat.

- Drop of vino?

- Uh... No.

It seems you were the beneficiary

of an accounting error we made.

I don't know

what you're talking about.

The Ethion discretionary

fund.

Where's my money?

We used it on market research.

At Club Rise?

Sixteen grand?

It must be a very detailed report.

You think you can rip me off

and get away with it?

Credit card fraud?

No, sir, I'm sorry.

I'm gonna pay you back.

No you won't. It wasn't a loan.

Now there's two ways

we can play this.

Are you a horse or a dog?

A horse is motivated by fear.

He's running from the whip.

The whip here being felony fraud.

- He's a dog.

- A dog is motivated by hunger.

He's chasing the rabbit,

his next meal.

You were raised

in a low-income home in Brooklyn.

Your mother died

when you were seven.

Your W-2 says you

now support your father.

30?

So, it means you came

across that bridge every day

hungry to succeed.

- Everyone wants to succeed.

- Yeah, but not like us.

Your father spent 32 years

as a security guard.

- Where's the ambition in that?

- What's this about?

You want more out of life!

I grew up like you.

I mean, different streets.

Same dream,

but nobody gave it to me. No one.

And what if I told you

I could make you rich?

And give your friends their jobs back?

That was a smart pitch

you gave yesterday.

I started out at Eikon.

Jock Goddard was my mentor.

Do you know him?

Yeah, of course I know him.

I did my graduate thesis

on semi-conductor memory.

Goddard's basically the reason

cell phones aren't the size of bricks.

He founded Eikon.

And built it

into the largest publicly traded

technology company in the world.

And ever since I left,

he has spent

every waking moment

trying to destroy me.

Eikon has a new smartphone coming

that's said to be a game-changer.

They're calling it Occura.

You are going to work for Eikon.

- What?

- Get us in the door, you get 500K.

Get us what we need, you'll see

another million in stock options.

Money like that

would allow you to take care

of your father and a whole lot more.

Eikon's not just going

to hire me.

They will when

we're done with you.

This is illegal.

It's stealing trade secrets.

This is the opportunity

you have been waiting for.

Now, you could have done a lot of things

with that credit card last night.

Your father's health insurance premium,

graduate school loans,

but you decided to take your mates

out on the town, living it large.

Because you want to know

how the other half lives.

We are the other half!

That's what I'm offering you.

If I say no?

You and your friends will be prosecuted

to the full extent of the law.

And you don't want to sit around

and watch me make tea, do you?

What are you, the TV police?

- You were asleep.

- My eyes were closed.

Where you going?

- I caught a break at the company.

- A break, what kind of break?

A kind of break that pays our rent

and keeps your pretty nurse around.

It's a training thing,

so I'll be gone all weekend.

It's Friday night. I thought we were

going to Benzio's for pizza and beer.

I got to work, Dad. That's how you

climb the ladder in this business.

You work harder than the guy below you.

Otherwise you get stuck

doing the same job your whole life.

Look...

Here's some money.

You can order in, OK?

No, no. Thanks.

All right.

What exactly do you do

for the company, Judith?

I have a PhD

in behavioral psychology.

I can take one look at you and tell you

why you haven't succeeded.

Why don't you tell me

how you really feel?

I can give you the tools to ascend

to the highest ranks

of corporate America.

But you have to lose the attitude.

This way.

I'll show you to your room.

When we meet someone, an immediate

cognitive process takes place.

We construct our first ideas on them

based on their appearance.

So, if you want to be accepted,

you have to look the part.

You have to fit in to get in.

What happened with Wyatt and Goddard?

Jack's a brilliant businessman.

He was always able to imbue his products

with a magic of big ideas,

but Wyatt was the brains.

Without his designs,

none of it would have been possible.

Hmm. Sounds like a perfect pairing.

For Goddard, yes. Wyatt gave him

the best years of his life.

Jock lost his son Dylan

to a drug overdose.

So, if you talk

about losing your mother...

No, I won't.

Then, appeal to his void.

Say you had no father figure.

I have a father.

You don't aspire to be like him.

Which brings us to trust.

If you can convince him

that you're just like him,

that you share the same

beliefs as him,

it will engender trust.

And trust is

the holy grail of espionage.

She makes it sound so easy.

But this is a man who recognized me

for who I was years before I did.

He kept me close because that's

what you do with an enemy.

When I got restless, he promised me

partnership. It was genius.

I saw the finish line

and I gave him every good idea I ha...

- Who's this?

- He's the new tailor.

I'm George Gardelo, sir.

Would you excuse us,

George?

- Yes. Of course.

- Just for a second.

What's going on?

That's how it happens.

A little guy with a needle and thread

brings down an empire.

You really believe that?

Look, it doesn't matter. If you let

no one in, you get burned by no one.

You know what Picasso said?

"A good artist copies.

A great artist steals."

There's nothing original left

in the world, Adam.

We're all stealing

from someone.

You might want

to remember that.

If I lose one percent market share,

one percent, and I'm ruined.

There is the Dutch deal,

but they're offering half

of what Eikon's willing to pay you.

No, no, I don't care.

I would rather counter

the Dutch for a fraction

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes