The Night Manager Page #8

47 EXT. TURKISH DESERT. ROAD. DAY. 47

The trucks thunder through the Turkish desert. HUMANITARIAN

AID plastered on the side.

49 INT. HILL FORT. ROPER’S ACCOMMODATION. DAY. 49

JED, inside the room, guarded by TABBY, stares out of the

window, across at the hill fort’s radio station.

50 INT. HILL FORT. RADIO STATION. DAY. 50

ROPER and PINE, LANGBOURNE and FRISKY and JASPER watch the

signal approaching the red dotted line of the border.

51 INT. LONDON. NEW IEA OFFICES. FCO. DAY. 51

BURR and SINGHAL crowd round the laptop watching the flashing

signal.

52 INT. WASHINGTON. STEADMAN’S OFFICE. DAY. 52

STEADMAN watches the same visual. He checks the t-minus

clock. T-minus four minutes.

53 INT. HILL FORT. RADIO STATION. DAY. 53

The tracking signal gets closer to the border. ROPER’s eyes

bore into the screen.

JASPER:

Three minutes to the border.

PINE watches, apparent calm on his face. His eyes betray

nothing.

The Night Manager ep 5

54

INT. LONDON. NEW IEA OFFICES. FCO. DAY. 54

ANGELA BURR’s eyes on the screen. Two minutes. She looks up

at SINGHAL who is smiling at her. She affords a smile back.

The whole team watch, their faces etched with tension.

This is what they came for.

55 INT. WASHINGTON. STEADMAN’S OFFICE. DAY. 55

STEADMAN watches as the clock ticks below one minute. He

leans in.

STEADMAN:

Go get them.

He smiles.

56

INT. HILL FORT. RADIO STATION. DAY. 56

57

The tracking signal is right by the border. 57

At the border.

The convoy stops.

JASPER:

They’re at the border sir.

58

EXT. TURKISH/SYRIAN BORDER. DAY. 58

The trucks are stopped at the border. The DRIVERS look

nervous as the trucks are surrounded by US troops.

59 INT. LONDON. NEW IEA OFFICES. FCO. DAY. 59

BURR leans in.

BURR:

Now. Come on. Have a look inside.

She watches the signal. She whispers as if to ROPER....

BURR (CONT’D)

I’ve got you.

60

EXT. TURKISH/SYRIAN BORDER. DAY. 60

The US troops bark instructions to the DRIVERS who are all

sent flattened to the ground, arms on heads.

The TROOPS approach the backs of the trucks.

The Night Manager ep 5

The ARAB driver calls on his phone.

61 INT. HILL FORT. RADIO STATION. DAY. 61

The signal is still flashing, motionless, at the border.

ROPER watches it as if entranced.

The phone rings. FRISKY picks up. Listens.

FRISKY:

Troops at the border sir. They’re

demanding to open the trucks.

All look to ROPER.

PINE watches him. ROPER stares.

ROPER:

Well we don’t have much choice do

we?

PINE watches. ROPER leans in. Whispers.

ROPER (CONT’D)

Been practising your magic Andrew?

He smiles. PINE can’t help feeling suddenly uneasy.

62 INT. LONDON. NEW IEA OFFICES. FCO. DAY. 62

BURR waits, watching the signal.

63 EXT. TURKISH/SYRIAN BORDER. DAY.

The US TROOPS surround the trucks. They crowbar open thefirst truck.

63

And stare in astonishment.

64 INT. WASHINGTON. STEADMAN’S OFFICE. DAY. 64

STEADMAN watches.

Then his phone rings.

STEADMAN:

Yes?

Beat.

STEADMAN (CONT’D)

What the...

The Night Manager ep 5

65

EXT. TURKISH/SYRIAN BORDER. DAY. 65

More trucks opened. Combine harvesters. Reapers. Fencing.

Tools. Grain and seeds for cultivation.

Farm machinery. All of it.

Not a weapon in sight.

66

INT. HILL FORT. RADIO STATION. DAY. 66

ROPER waits, smiling.

FRISKY listens to the phone. Looks up.

ROPER:

Well?

FRISKY:

They’re being let through.

ROPER and LANGBOURNE smile.

ROPER:

Of course they are. They’re

delivering Tradepass farm

machinery. Just like we said.

ROPER reaches for the champagne. Smiles at PINE.

ROPER (CONT’D)

They didn’t watch the cups.

He smiles and drinks deep.

PINE stands smiling a vacant smile of hidden despair.

67

EXT. SYRIAN DESERT. DAY. 67

The trucks of arms thunder on through the desert to their

unknown destination. With Humanitarian Aid plastered on their

sides.

68

INT. LONDON. IEA OFFICES. FCO. DAY. 68

BURR stares in dismay. SINGHAL watches silently.

The phone rings. It’s STEADMAN. Furious.

BURR:

What happened?

The Night Manager ep 5

STEADMAN:

What happened? I just licensed a

full military swoop on a bunch of

combine harvesters, that’s what.

BURR:

I don’t understand.

STEADMAN:

Your intelligence was bullshit

Angela.

Beat.

BURR:

It’s not possible.

STEADMAN:

You never think he could have been

playing both sides? You never once

think of that?

Beat. She did.

STEADMAN (CONT’D)

You know what I think your boy’s

doing right now? I think he’s

toasting one hell of a piece of

deception.

BURR:

And what if he isn’t? What if Roper

knows it was him?

STEADMAN:

Well then good luck to him. Because

there’s nothing we can do.

STEADMAN has put the phone down.

Beat. Silence in the office. All the OFFICERS stare in dumb

dismay.

BURR sits in silence. SINGHAL watches her with a deep and

painful compassion.

69 EXT. HILL FORT. NIGHT. 69

PINE stands alone in the darkness. A deep dejection has

fallen over him. He stares far across at Roper’s

accommodation.

A light on in the window.

The Night Manager ep 5

71

EXT. HILL FORT. NIGHT. 71

PINE, a hundred yards away, watches the light flick off in

the window of Roper’s accommodation. He turns away.

72

INT. NEW IEA OFFICE. NIGHT. 72

ANGELA BURR sits alone in the utterly empty new IEA office.

Her phone rings. It says HOME. She turns it off.

73

EXT. LONDON. BURR’S HOUSE. NIGHT. 73

ANGELA BURR approaches her house.

Her step is slow and tortured. She is in the grip of a severe

self-loathing. A depression she has not felt for many years.

She approaches her front door, struggles to get the key out,

drops it, curses, then grips it and puts it in the lock.

Only to find that the door is already open.

It pushes open.

74

INT. LONDON. BURR’S HOUSE. NIGHT. 74

ANGELA BURR’s senses heighten. Animal fear and alertness.

She walks in.

To find a kind of chaos has been unleashed in her house.

The living room has been ransacked. Stuff everywhere. Tables

upturned. Books on the floor, papers everywhere.

And on the floor a man. Prone. Her husband.

BURR:

Oh my God. Gordon.

She rushes to him.

He groans.

MR BURR:

I’m OK. I’m OK. Just a blow to the

head.

BURR:

Wait there my love. Wait there.

She rushes to the phone.

The Night Manager ep 5

BURR (CONT’D)

Ambulance and police. Burglary. 43

Cranston Avenue. Yes.

BURR stares in horror at her broken home.

75 OMITTED 75

76 EXT. HILL FORT. DAY. 76

PINE is walking out of his cabin. The sound of jeeps and

trucks. A sense of a huge activity.

PINE:

What’s happening?

FRISKY:

We’re clearing out dream-boy.

And indeed the compound is awash with activity. Trucks

loaded. SOLDIERS preparing for a swift departure.

Then PINE sees it. The cart that belonged to Cengiz and the

boy. Empty.

PINE:

What’s that doing here?

FRISKY:

Oh some local issue. Had to be

dealt with. Chief’s orders. He

doesn’t like to leave traces.

PINE:

What do you mean “dealt with”?

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