The Debt Page #16

RACHEL:

We can’t lie about this!

STEPHAN:

No, you know what? We have to. We

have to! This is...this isn’t

about us. This is about Israel.

This is a national humiliation!

We can’t be seen to fail. And in

the end, Vogel rots away his life

in some jungle, looking over his

shoulder, waiting for the

bullet...? Who’s to say...?

He looks at them both, trying to convince them, trying to

convince himself.

STEPHAN (CONT’D)

Maybe that’s a worse fate. Maybe

that’s...The important thing is

justice... justice is seen to be

done!

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Rachel turns to David, waiting, expecting him to say

something. But David looks like he’s been barely listening,

lost in his own thoughts. He notices Rachel staring at him.

DAVID:

He’s gone. What does it

matter?(Beat) He’s gone.

Stephan seizes on this, sensing he’s close to convincing

them.

STEPHAN:

(Seizing )

He’s right. It makes no

difference. No difference. All we

have to agree is that we never

talk about this. No matter what

happens, we never tell anyone.

The truth stays in this room.

Between us. Agreed?

Rachel looks at David again, wanting some kind of sign.

STEPHAN (CONT’D)

(To Rachel)

Agreed? Say it. (Silence) I need

to hear you say it!

She’s still staring at David. He’s still avoiding her gaze.

STEPHAN (CONT’D)

(To Rachel)

Say it. Say...

DAVID:

Agreed.

Silence. Rachel closes her eyes. Instead of relief she

feels a kind of immense disappointment.

RACHEL:

David...?

STEPHAN:

Rachel? Say it. It’s an oath. Say

it.

We CLOSE on Rachel. The moment that will change her life

forever.

From outside comes the sound of some REVELLERS on the

street cheering, more fireworks. We hear some people

chanting a countdown to the New Year...

REVELLERS (O.S.)

(From outside)

...vier, drei, zwei, ein!

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But just before the expected barrage of fireworks we...

CUT TO:

170 EXT. DAVID’S APARTMENT - 1997 - NIGHT. 170

The young Mossad Agent stands smoking outside David’s door.

This is the scene we saw earlier. From within we can hear

indistinct shouting.

171 INT. DAVID’S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS. 171

Rachel is holding the PRINTED SHEET - the point at which we

left this scene earlier.

RACHEL:

(crying out)

How could this happen? You said

he would never speak! You said

he’d never...

STEPHAN:

We don’t know it’s him.

RACHEL:

Oh God! Oh God!

STEPHAN:

If you read it...

RACHEL:

He’s alive! He’s in the Ukraine!

What else is there to read?

STEPHAN:

This is a little internet story.

(Grabbing the paper,

reading)...“a psychiatric patient

claiming to be the Surgeon of

Birkenau...” Some crazy old man.

No-one is paying this any

attention. Yet.

RACHEL:

(as if her mind was

elsewhere)

How did you find it?

STEPHAN:

David comes back after all this

time, I want to know why. I had

his apartment searched. This was

on his computer...

Rachel stares at him.

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STEPHAN (CONT’D)

He didn’t say anything to you

last night..?

Rachel doesn’t answer.

STEPHAN (CONT’D)

Rachel..?

RACHEL:

No!

Beat.

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RACHEL (CONT’D)

(quietly)

Why would he do this..?

STEPHAN:

Because he couldn’t handle it. I

told him we had to deal with it

and he couldn’t handle it. He

thought it was all going to come

out and he panicked...

He trails off, thinking about what happened down on the

road. Rachel stares at him. His previous words have just

sunk in.

RACHEL:

(Suddenly)

Deal with it? (Beat) What does

that mean? Deal with it?

Stephan stares at her.

RACHEL (CONT’D)

What did you tell him to do?

STEPHAN:

(Simply)

I told him to find Vogel. I told

him to finish it.

Rachel stares at him. She stands up, starts to walk away,

comes back, slaps him hard across the face.

RACHEL:

(quiet rage)

Did you know he’d been ill? Did

you...? You knew, didn’t you? You

killed him. YOU killed him! You

knew he wasn’t strong enough...

STEPHAN:

(overlapping)

F*** DAVID! I don’t want to hear

about David! David took the

coward’s way out!

RACHEL:

You could have left it alone!

It’s an old man in a hospital!

You said - nobody will believe

it! No-one will notice!

STEPHAN:

There’s a journalist.

This stops her.

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STEPHAN (CONT’D)

A Ukrainian. He’s heard about it

and he’s going to interview

Vogel. (Beat) Then it all comes

apart. (Beat) We don’t have the

name of the hospital. You have to

find out where he is.

Rachel stares at him.

RACHEL:

What are you talking about?

STEPHAN:

David’s taken himself out of the

equation. (Indicating his chair)

I can’t do it. You’re the only

one left.

RACHEL:

Are you insane?

STEPHAN:

We can’t...

RACHEL:

I’m not...Look at me! I’m not

capable of...This is insane. I

can’t do this.

STEPHAN:

(Beat. Simply)

You have to, Rachel. Because for

thirty years you’ve been taking

the credit for it. (Beat,

carefully) And there’s Sarah.

It’s as if he’s struck her. Beat.

RACHEL:

I won’t do this.

She walks out.

172 EXT. STAIRWELL OUTSIDE DAVID’S APARTMENT - NIGHT 172

And into the stairwell. As before, the Mossad agent stands

to let her pass, and watches as she sweeps down the stairs.

173 INT. RACHEL’S HOTEL - MORNING 173

The scene we saw earlier.

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Rachel is packing, folding clothes neatly, precisely,

silently - but all the time there’s a terrible tension

about her movements.

She tries to close a drawer but it sticks, She keeps

trying, then in a sudden rush of fury yanks the drawer free

and hurls it across the room.

She stands breathing hard.

Then something we didn’t see - her gaze settles on a

photograph beside her table - SARAH holding her son,

smiling at us.

Rachel stares at the photograph, her breathing slowing.

174 EXT. PATIO TERRACE. HOTEL NEAR TEL AVIV - DAY 174

Stephan sits amongst the remains of a meal.

Sarah and her husband are on the beach below, playing with

their son.

Stephan watches them. He senses a presence and turns to

find Rachel behind him. She sits down, stares down at the

beach through her dark glasses.

Stephan watches, almost holding his breath, working through

lightning calculations of how to handle her. But Rachel is

the first to speak.

RACHEL:

(Beat)

I always knew this would happen.

I knew we’d be punished. I knew

we’d have to pay.

STEPHAN:

(Quietly)

I thought I’d already been

punished.

RACHEL:

God doesn’t plant car bombs.

STEPHAN:

I wasn’t referring to the

wheelchair.

They look at each other.

STEPHAN (CONT’D)

If I could go back, Rachel, I’d

change it all. If I could give

you back a chance to be happy, to

be...

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