Strange Days Page #21

LENNY:

Jesus.

MAX:

Yeah. So don't walk near me in

public, alright.

LENNY:

Thanks, buddy. See... things

weren't bad enough. They weren't

f***ing bad enough!

MACE:

The only card we have to play is the

tape. You know, we get it to the

media somehow...

LENNY:

Yeah, right, blow it open.

MAX:

(interrupting)

Mace... no disrespect... but you run

this on the 11 o'clock news, by

midnight you got the biggest riot in

history. They'll see the f***ing

smoke from Canada.

LENNY:

Okay... what about Strickland?

MAX:

No. Bad idea.

MACE:

Who's Strickland?

LENNY:

Deputy Commissioner Palmer

Strickland. The sanctimonious prick

who busted me out. His ass is so

tight when he farts only dogs can

hear it. I know this guy. If

there's one cop who's not dirty

it's him.

MAX:

Listen to me, Lenny... stay away

from cops. All cops. You have no

way of knowing who you can trust.

Mace looks from one to the other with a growing expression

of outrage.

MACE:

So you're saying we just pretend is

didn't happen? It happened! The

LAPD executed one of the most

important black men in America! Who

the f*** are you to bury this?!

MAX:

Fine. Do you want blood running

waist deep in the storm drains? The

gangbangers'll spread like a wave

through this city and burn it to the

ground. And when the fires start

the street cops'll be capping off at

anything that moves. It'll be all-

out war and you know it.

MACE:

Yeah, well maybe it's time for a

war!

MAX:

You really want that on your head?

LENNY:

Hey, Max, Mace... whoa... time out.

MAX/MACE

(together/annoyed)

What!?

LENNY:

Whoever killed Iris did Tick. It's

the same sick wirehead sh*t. Same

reason... to burn the trail. If

Faith knows anything about this, and

I think she does, then she's on the

list. So... who's driving?

CUT TO:

EXT. RETINAL FETISH/ALLEY - NIGHT

Roadies are loading out gear through the back doors of the

club into a van in the alley. Lenny and Mace ENTER FRAME

and we follow them between the roadies, going through the

doors into...

INT. RETINAL FETISH

A grungy black corridor. The thunder of music gets louder

with each step as Lenny and Mace walk down the corridor

with purposeful strides.

Through chainlink partitions and banks of dark equipment,

Lenny catches glimpses of the stage. He can see Faith in

a blue-white spotlight. She is a whirling dervish,

convulsing with the divine madness of her music. Beyond

her, beyond the lights, in the gloom... Lenny can just see

Tran and his entourage. Dressed in tuxes, they look out

of place... clearly on their way somewhere else as the

evening progresses.

Faith whirls to a stop as the band crashes in a final

downbeat. The spotlight goes out and the set is over.

ON TRAN, clapping. Watching.

NEARBY, Max arrives through the crowd, scanning for

Tran... spotting him.

BACKSTAGE... FAITH, bathed in sweat, walking along a dark

corridor backstage. WE TRACK WITH HER, as she walks

through the shadows, like a fighter returning from the

ring, soaked and breathing hard.

A HAND shoots from a black doorway and covers her mouth,

pulling her into the shadows. Terrified for a split

second... before she recognizes that it is Lenny. He

pulls her into the room and closes the door. It is Tex

Arcana's VJ control room, full of monitors and constantly

changing graphic images. Tex is not there.

FAITH:

Lenny! Jesus! You scared the Hell

out of me.

Faith sees that Mace is standing there, in the shadows,

waiting. She turns back to Lenny with a frown.

FAITH:

What's going on?

LENNY:

Faith, we know about Jeriko. Iris

made me a copy of the tape.

FAITH:

Oh God, Lenny. I was trying to keep

you out of this.

But she seems relieved now that he knows, now that there

is someone to talk to.

LENNY:

How did it happen? What was Iris

doing riding around with Jeriko

wearing a wire?

FAITH:

We should talk alone.

LENNY:

No. Mace is in this.

MACE:

Tell us.

FAITH:

Tran's gotten obsesses with

playback, a total wiretrip junkie.

And he's such a control freak, he's

been having people followed,

videotaped... recording his business

partners' calls. Wiring up people

left and right.

CUT TO:

INT. CLUB/MAIN FLOOR

Tran looks at his watch and gets up from the table,

impatient.

TRAN:

Let's go get her. We're late.

Max shows up suddenly, right in front of him. Stopping

him.

MAX:

Tran, listen. I was wondering how

you want me to work it tonight, down

at the Bonaventure. You want me

downstairs at the party or upstairs

at the suite? Where you going to

be, mostly?

CUT TO:

INT. TEX'S ROOM

While Max stalls, Faith talks.

FAITH:

Tran and Jeriko weren't getting

along. He was afraid Jeriko was

getting ready to dump him, but he

wasn't sure, so he started with the

surveillance. A couple nights ago

he wires up Iris and sends her and

the other girl, Diamanda, over to

Jeriko's table.

CUT TO:
TWO NIGHTS AGO, Iris, wearing a wig, leaves Tran's

table with Diamanda and moves toward... a booth in the

Retinal Fetish where Jeriko One sits with Replay. Iris

stands over Jeriko for just a moment. Then he nods,

smiles a little, and moves over to make room for her in

the booth right next to him.

FAITH:

That night Iris calls up, freaking.

She comes over and Tran watches the

tape. He just loses it. He can't

believe the disaster she's gotten

him into. He's terrified the cops

will beat it out of her who she was

working for, and come looking for

him.

CUT TO:
TRAN'S LOFT as a tear-streaked and frantic Iris is

telling Tran about how the cops tried to kill her (we

don't hear). Tran backhands her furiously, his face thin-

lipped with rage. She crumples to the floor, sobbing.

Tran keeps looking at the squid tape in his hand like it's

poison.

LENNY:

Kinda guy you can count on in a

pinch.

MACE:

Why didn't he just go public with

the tape? Save himself that way.

CUT TO:
An image of Tran burning the squid tape. It

blazes in his hand and he hurls it into the fireplace like

a venomous snake.

FAITH:

The scandal would wipe him out. If

it got out that he had his own

artists under surveillance... he'd

lose all his other acts. He'd be

over.

Now we see Tran, more composed, comforting Iris. He wipes

at her tear-streaked face. Hands her a wad of bills.

FAITH:

So finally he gives Iris some cash

and tells her to check into the

hotel under a wrong name till he

figures out what to do.

LENNY:

Yeah... he figured out what to do

all right.

FAITH:

You think Tran killed her?

LENNY:

The killer knew right where she was.

Because he put her there.

FAITH:

What a nightmare.

CUT TO:

INT. MAIN FLOOR

Tran impatiently gestures to Corto.

TRAN:

Go get her, Joey. Stupid b*tch.

(to Max)

We'll talk about this later.

CUT TO:

INT. TEX'S ROOM

Mace is getting the sixth sense feeling that seconds

count.

MACE:

Come on. We're out of here.

Lenny gets close to Faith, taking her face in his hands.

LENNY:

Leave here with me, right now.

Mace sighs heavily, rolls her eyes toward the ceiling.

Faith considers her options. Then she smiles at him.

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