The Night Manager Page #6

He looks up to see a figure waiting in a corner. ANGELA BURR.

Alone. She smiles. So does he.

ANGELA:

Hello Joel.

STEADMAN:

Angela.

Nothing more said but we know there’s some history here.

39 INT. LONDON. WHITEHALL PUB. EVENING. 39

STEADMAN and BURR sit with pints in an English pub. STEADMAN

tastes it.

BURR:

What do you think of the ale?

STEADMAN:

Jury’s out. You’re not drinking I

suppose.

BURR:

You didn’t tell me you were flying

in.

STEADMAN:

You didn’t tell me something much

more important than that.

He means her belly. The tone raises spectres of the past,

intensely personal.

BURR:

I’m here about work.

Beat. He nods. BURR quietens her tone.

BURR (CONT'D)

What were you doing in Madrid two

weeks ago?

Night Manager ep 2 final

STEADMAN:

How the hell you know that?

BURR:

You got an operation I don’t know

about Joel?

STEADMAN:

Jesus you’ve got some nerve.

Beat. She smiles.

STEADMAN (CONT’D)

All right. It’s an operation called

Limpet. We’re conducting

surveillance on Richard Onslow

Roper. His people have been talking

to a Spanish lawyer in Madrid.

BURR:

Juan Apostol.

STEADMAN:

Otherwise known as Apo. We think

there may be a new deal in the

pipeline.

BURR:

But you can’t get close.

STEADMAN:

Can anyone?

BURR puts an envelope on the side of the table. STEADMAN

opens the envelope. Reads.

BURR:

Phone records from the mobile

telephone of Lance Corkoran.

Roper’s front man. Calls to Madrid,

Beirut and London.

STEADMAN:

How did you get this?

BURR:

From a new asset. I want to get him

inside Roper’s set-up.

STEADMAN:

You any idea how dangerous that is?

She does.

STEADMAN (CONT’D)

You tell River House?

BURR looks round. Shakes her head.

Night Manager ep 2 final

BURR:

It has to be a church mouse

operation.

STEADMAN:

Then why come to me?

She smiles.

BURR:

For your money of course. Why else?

He bridles at this. She suddenly takes his hand.

BURR (CONT’D)

Joel. I’m on my own and I don’t

like it. I’m doing something no

one’s ever done before, and I’m

sh*t scared. I need a friend.

They share a look. There’s a whole heap of history in that

gaze.

40 INT. DEVON. ROSUMS COTTAGE. BEDROOM. NIGHT. 40

Close-up RICHARD ROPER, slightly degraded image, taken from

the web, is talking to an audience.

ROPER (ON LAPTOP)

Do an exercise in your mind. Take

everything you own. Your clothes,

your house, you car. What part of

it is not dependant on the world of

capital and commerce? What part of

you? I’ll tell you. None.

Night. PINE sits at his laptop. Watching a web clip of

RICHARD ROPER giving a Ted-style lecture.

ROPER (ON LAPTOP) (CONT’D)

The con of modern liberalism is to

see a conflict between capitalism

and social care. In fact the

opposite is true. The great

philanthropists of our time are

businessman. Entrepreneurs.

Investors. My SafeHaven project for

refugees is not funded from love

and a bleeding heart. I do it

because it benefits me to have the

communities in which I want to work

sympathetic to my interests. The

truth none of us want to admit is

that only by freeing capital do you

free the world.

Night Manager ep 2 final

PINE stares at ROPER’s face. That’s when the brick comes

through the window.

Instantly he turns out all the lights in the cottage.

Takes off his boots.

Then glides outs the back door.

41 EXT. DEVON. ROSUMS COTTAGE. NIGHT. 41

PINE stands outside.

Looks out. Early dawn light. No one in sight. He stares at

the moonlit landscape. The soldier staring at the darkness.

Knowing the assailant is there somewhere.

He stays absolutely still. Listening.

Then he hears it. A flurry of an owls, suddenly into the air.

PINE begins to move, utterly silent.

HARD CUT to behind the hedge in front of PINE where his

ASSAILANT begins to walk fast, up the hill away from the

cottage, towards a waiting car.

He keeps low, behind the hedge, trying to escape.

He climbs, keeps low.

Almost there.

Then he stops dead. A voice behind him. Quiet.

The ASSAILANT turns, knife in hand. In once move, PINE has

the knife on the ground. The ASSAILANT in his grasp. He picks

up the knife holds it to the Assailant’s neck.

PINE:

Now listen to me. I understand that

I’m new here. I understand the

people who sent you don’t want me

here. But I am here. I don’t need

you to like me. I don’t much like

any of you either. I just need you

to work with me. Just for a little

while. And then I’ll be gone. But

if you cross me again, I’ll kill

you.

He places the knife delicately against the ASSAILANT’s neck.

PINE (CONT’D)

Is that clear?

Night Manager ep 2 final

42 I/E. DEVON. ROSUMS COTTAGE. KITCHEN. DAY. 42

Morning. PINE hears a noise, walks out of the cottage. Still

alert.

But cycling down the track is MARILYN. She is carrying six

bottles of mineral water.

MARILYN:

My mother says you want mineral

water.

PINE:

I don’t think so.

MARILYN:

Oh. Well I’ve brought them now.

And already she is walking into the front door.

PINE follows her inside.

She stands there, all woolly jumper and long legs in jeans.

Waiting.

PINE:

Would you like a coffee?

MARILYN:

Wouldn’t say no.

She sees the smashed window. The glass has been cleared up.

MARILYN (CONT’D)

What happened there?

PINE:

Bird flew in, went a bit crazy.

She stares at him, not sure she believes that. Then she turns

to look at the blue holdall that is sitting in the living

room, zipped up.

MARILYN:

I googled you, Jack Linden.

PINE:

Oh yes? What did you find?

MARILYN:

Bugger all.

She stares at him.

PINE:

Well I don’t do Facebook if that’s

what you mean.

Night Manager ep 2 final

Beat.

MARILYN:

What do you do here all day?

PINE:

I read. Walk a bit. Bit of

painting.

MARILYN:

These yours?

Two canvases that rest on the side.

PINE:

Yes.

MARILYN:

I can paint. I was good. Won

prizes.

PINE:

Why don’t you do it any more?

MARILYN:

Because I married a loser, had a

brat, and screwed up my life that’s

why.

Beat.

PINE:

You’re not with the father?

MARILYN:

He hasn’t been Billy’s father since

he was three days old. Came into

the hospital with a box of Cadbury

milk chocolates, and tuckered all

the nice ones. Couldn’t wait to

flee.

PINE:

Where did he go?

MARILYN:

Don’t ask me.

PINE:

Abroad?

MARILYN:

Tom Quince? He never had a passport

in his life. Probably somewhere

round Bude smoking a ton of pot and

trying to sleep with the weekend

talent.

Night Manager ep 2 final

Beat. PINE just adjusts the tablecloth.

PINE:

More coffee?

He smiles and pours.

43

INT. DEVON. ROSUMS COTTAGE. BEDROOM. DAY. 43

The rain is battering the window.

MARILYN and PINE are f***ing on his bed, highly physical. Her

on top. No-nonsense morning sex.

44

INT. DEVON. ROSUMS COTTAGE. BEDROOM. DAY. 44

MARILYN and JONATHAN PINE are in bed together. Naked. Asleep.

Or she is. That’s what he wanted.

Pine rises, goes to her phone on the side. Looks through the

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