Shooter Page #5

already edited together

to show the angles.

Who delivered them?

An unnamed agency

who will never confirm or deny.

They denied, which is a...

Which is a confirmation of sorts.

Of what?

That you are asking questions

way outside your pay grade.

Oh, come on, just tell me.

You don't want to be here

for that review.

They don't have to stop at firing you.

They can charge you and hold you.

The ASAC's job

comes with Delta clearance.

- Thank you.

- Go.

This is a copy of a chat room transcript.

These guys talk about everything.

I didn't give it much thought at the time.

We just traced it to a donut shop

with free WiFi.

But this,

this is a Delta-level clearance request

out of the FBI field office in Philadelphia

seven minutes ago.

Funny thing,

Google Maps puts the donut shop

only three blocks away

from the field office.

There's only one guy who met

with Swagger before he disappeared.

He lives in Philly.

And he works for the FBI.

Nicholas Memphis.

...really strange company.

Contracts with a lot of the Fortune 500.

Offices in Virginia, Delaware,

registered in Panama.

They own a boat

that's flagged out of Libya.

They're definitely not government,

but they have high ex-military contacts

like you wouldn't believe.

These are contractors.

I can't tell

what this company does, but...

Hey.

Hey, hey, hey!

Memphis?

Memphis!

For a man who didn't know much,

you sure took a long,

painful time to tell it.

Get him some water.

Good.

Got to pee yet?

Got to flush them drugs

out of your system.

Look awful suspicious

if you were to go and shoot yourself

pumped full of the same sh*t

the agency uses.

I'm not going to shoot myself.

Sure you will.

Take him out. Get him ready.

No!

That's my gun.

Yeah.

You wrote a real touching

suicide note, too.

All overwrought with guilt

about your mistakes.

Quit your struggling.

This thing works.

It's not the first time we've used it.

Russo. Russo!

Davis, get out here!

What is the goddamn hold-up?

Don't kill me, please!

Don't kill me! I believe you!

Kill you?

Had enough chances.

I wanted you dead, you'd be dead.

What kind of a**hole'd

think up a thing like this?

Not bad with a poodle shooter

and a makeshift silencer, huh?

Help me toss these boys in the water?

You set me up and you used me as bait!

You think? Flushed them out, didn't it?

I was kind of hoping to keep one alive,

but they were

kind of determined to kill you.

You can hire a good lawyer,

and I'll call the Bureau.

They can work out some kind of deal.

This is explainable. You can prove

that you didn't shoot the Archbishop.

I don't think you understand.

These boys killed my dog.

Hey, this is the 21st century.

You can't go to war with these people.

In the end, the law is all...

In the end,

the law'll never catch and hold them.

In a year or two,

they'll be back in business.

New names, new messenger boys,

same old story.

And I'll be dead.

It's gonna be

some hard, hairy work, Pork.

There's gonna be more shooting,

and more people are gonna die.

Now, I didn't start it, but be sure as hell

I mean to see it through.

So you get it straight. You in or you out?

You know, I missed a meeting today

where I was going to get fired

for unprofessional conduct

because I was kidnapped by people

that don't exist.

I'll take his legs.

It's a good call, Pork.

You're trying to tell me

a rookie FBI agent

overpowered and killed

the three of them?

No.

They were shot from a distance

of about 200 yards.

With a .22.

- Swagger's alive.

- Yes.

And that young kid,

FBI Agent

Nick Memphis,

who managed to pry out

a Delta-level clearance,

hasn't come back to the office

and is out there with him.

What?

I just went over

Swagger's financials again.

Once a year, he sent flowers

to someone with his Visa card.

I cracked the FTD database,

got an address.

Donnie Fenn's widow.

Anniversary of his death.

She went back to using

her maiden name,

which is why we missed it the first time.

She's maybe the only person

in the entire world

that would believe anything

that Swagger had to say.

Look. Keene City, Kentucky.

It's just within driving range.

- What are you waiting for? Take the jet.

- All right.

We've given Swagger a new war,

he's found a new spotter.

This is about to get worse.

I think we're here.

Hey. Swagger.

I think we're here.

Welcome to Tennessee.

Patron state of shooting stuff.

Hey, who is this guy?

This guy was the greatest gunsmith

east of the Mississippi. He's a legend.

He knows more about guns

and the people who shoot them

than Smith And Wesson.

Don't really matter anymore. He knew

we were coming the last three miles.

- You mind your manners.

- All right.

You boys come a long way.

What you looking for?

Wisdom.

You come to the wrong place.

Maybe.

Say a man wanted to fire a bullet

from one rifle

and have it match exactly to another.

Could that be done?

Take a seat.

Have a chair, son.

If you could get a bullet that had been

shot clean through the first rifle,

could make the grooves match.

Kind of thing ain't been done

in a long time, though.

The bullet that was taken

out of the Archbishop

was completely mangled on impact.

FBI match was metallurgical.

Thank you, Mother.

Yeah, but you couldn't guarantee that

going in, so they had to be sure.

And I still can't figure out

how they could be.

- Good coffee?

- Yep.

Look on your left, there.

Second shelf down.

Red leather spine.

Written by a guy named Schofeld.

Put it there 15 years ago.

Don't figure it's moved since then.

Yeah. Paper patching.

State of the art. 1870s Africa.

Paper-wrapped bullet.

No metal on metal

going down the barrel.

Grooves would match.

Paper unwinds at the muzzle.

Leaves no traces when it hits.

Interesting question, though.

Hope I satisfied you.

I got another one.

I thought you might.

Suppose I was looking for a man

to make a 2,200-yard cold-bore shot.

Who's alive that could do that?

Seems I heard about a shot like that

being made not too long ago.

Said the guy's name

was Bob Lee Swagger.

Never met the man,

so I wouldn't know him.

Yeah, they said that, all right.

They also said

that artificial sweeteners were safe,

and WMDs were in Iraq,

and Anna Nicole married for love!

Would've been

a bad job to take, though.

How come?

Whoever took that shot's

probably dead now.

That's how a conspiracy works.

Them boys on the grassy knoll,

they were dead within three hours.

Buried in the damn desert.

Unmarked graves out past Terlingua.

And you know this for a fact?

Still got the shovel.

Sake of argument,

somebody other than him?

There was a guy in Russia.

They locked his ass up.

Another one in France.

I know he's dead.

There was one guy,

but he don't shoot no more.

A brutal son of a b*tch.

Most boys shoot to kill.

He'd shoot to wound,

wait till his friends come to help,

kill them too.

Turned one target into four.

Men, women, children.

Rate this script:4.0 / 2 votes