The Rock Page #6

INT. PENTAGON - CORRIDOR - NIGHT

Womack and Amway exit into the corridor. They huddle

tightly against the wall. Sotto voice: -

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

You're not actually suggesting ...

C.I.A. DIRECTORY AMWAY

The man spent every night for six months making a dry-run of his escape. He=

knows every inch of that island. We have to, Jim.

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

I am very uncomfortable about this.

INT. WOLFBURG PENITENTIARY - CELL BLOCK - NIGHT

A long row of cells. CAMERA slowly DOLLIES past cell after

cell. Sullen INMATES stare blankly at us ...

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK (O.S.)

I knew, I knew someday, this would come back to bite us.

CAMERA moves through a door marked "ISOLATION." At the end

.of a gloomy corridor is a CAST-IRON DOOR.

BACK TO THE PENTAGON CORRIDOR

C.I.A. DIRECTORY AMWAY

it won't bite anyone - if handled correctly. When was the last time you saw=

him?

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

when he escaped from San Quentin.

C.I.A. DIRECTORY AMWAY

The man was an S.A.S. trained killer.

BACK TO WOLFBURG - IN THE ISOLATION CELL

TWO FEDERAL MARSHALS open the cell.'s steel locking bar. They push open the=

door. Dark inside. A MAN sits on the bed.

C.I.A. DIRECTORY AMWAY

Can we risk letting.him out?

A SHAFT OF LIGHT cuts across the cell floor.

C.I.A. DIRECTORY AMWAY

The question is:
can we not?

THE SHAFT OF LIGHT slices the face of JOHN PAUL MASON. He is British, at=

least once was, imprisoned without trial for 33 years on U.S. soil. For=

now, we have no idea why.

EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - DULLES AIRPORT HANGAR - MIGHT

Raining. An F.B.I GULFSTREAM 4 JET sits on the tarmac.

EXT. F.B.I. GULFSTREAM - NIGHT

F.B.I. Director Womack sits with FRANCIS REYNOLDS, 30, an Assistant U.S.=

Attorney from the Justice Dept. Goodspeed sits across the aisle.

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

I'm told you're our best chemical weapons man, Goodspeed. What's your=

education?

GOODSPEED:

B.A. Columbia. M.A. and P.H.D., Johns

Hopkins, biochemistry and toxicology.

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

Excellent. What do you know about V.X.

gas?

Pause. Goodspeed stares at Womack.

GOODSPEED:

This isn't a training exercise, it it

sir.

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

No Goodspeed. It's not a training

exercise.

HOLD ON GOODSPEEDIS reaction, and CUT TO:

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - FEDERAL BUILDING - DAWN

Dawn breaks over San Francisoo. A BLACK SEDAN and BLACK SUBURBANS pull up=

to the F.B.I.'s West Coast office. Goodspeed, Womack and Reynolds get out,=

go inside.

INT. F.B.I. - OBSERVATION ROOM - MORNING

We watch MASON being led into an INTERROGATION ROOM, his

legs in irons, his hands cuffed behind him.

'We are watching through a TWO-WAY MIRROR, and WIDEN TO: Womack, Goodspeed,=

Reynolds and ERNEST SANCHEZ, S.F. Bureau Agent in Charge, are watching=

Mason. Sanchez is a gruff guy with the subtlety of a heart=

attack.

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

The following is a state secret. Disclose it to any party and you will be=

subject to prosecution. His name is John Mason. A British national=

incarcerated on Alcatraz island in 1962, escaped in 1963.

AGENT SANCHEZ:

Director, no one's ever escaped from

Alcatraz ...

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

I'm telling you facts, Agent Sanchez. Do not argue and do not question. He=

was recaptured and sent to San Quentin, from which he escaped in February,=

1976. He's been held at Wolfburg since. He has no identity. He does not=

exist. Understood?

(turns to Sanchez)

I want one thing: how he escaped Alcatraz - specifically the route he took=

through the island's tunnels.

AGENT SANCHEZ:

You want him conscious or unconscious

afterward?

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

Don't even entertain it. This man laughs at strong arm tactics. dodium=

pentathol doesn't work either.

GOODSPEED:

Why,s he going to help us now?

U.S. ATTORNEY REYNOLDS

(hands Womack PARDON)

Mason's papers are in order, sir.

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

Because I'm willing to give him what he

wants, Goodspeed - a full pardon.

AGENT SANCHEZ:

Steep price for some information.

(waves pardon away)

I don't need that to get what you want.

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

Sanchez - try subtlety.

AGENT SANCI-IEZ

It's my middle name.

(to Goodspeed)

Watch kid, maybe you'll learn

something.

Sanchez exits.

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

(grumbles)

I ask for an interrogator and what do I

get ...

IN THE INTERROGATION ROOM - MASON

looks around. He focuses on the mirror. He stares right

through at GoodsDeed. Goodspeed is fascinated, unnerved.

GOODSPEED:

(to himself)

Jesus l-ook at this quv.

INT. F.B.I. - INTERROGATION ROOM - MORNING

Sanchez walks in, sipping coffee. Mason sits there,=

eyes

forward.

SANCHEZ:

I'm F.B.I. Special Agent in Charge

Sanchez.

Sanches sits. Mason stares at the table.

MASON:

In charge of what? F***ing me over

for another three decades?

SANCHEZ:

(congenial)

Hey. Easy. I just want to talk.

MASON:

You know what F.B.I. stands for Sanchez? F***ing Bloody Idiots. I don't=

want to talk to you.

A pause. Sanchez glares at Mason.

SANCHEZ:

Just some questions about Alcatraz. It's a tourist attraction now. You=

remember Alcatraz, Mason.

The word "Alcatraz" registers with Mason.

MASON:

Do I remember Alcatraz.

SANCHEZ:

Not the island itself. The tunnels

underneath it.

IN THE OBSERVATION ROOM

F.B.I. DIRECTOR WOMACK

Real subtle, Sanchez ...

IN THE INTERROGATION ROOM

SANCHEZ:

There's no harm in cooperating with us.

MASON:

Who's "us?" F.B.I.? C.I.A.? Why

should I do that?

SANCHEZ:

Maybe there's a gift in it for you.

MASON:

(to the mirror)

Timeo danaos et dona ferentes.

THE OBSERVATION ROOM

Goodspeed smiles slightly:

GOODSPEED:

"I fear the Greeks even when they bring

gifts."

THE INTERROGATION ROOM

MASON:

Are you capable of reading, Sanchez?

Sanchez is getting flustered.

SANCHEZ:

I don't have time for this sh*t... (pause; stares at mason) Yes. I can=

read.

MASON:

The story of Alchimadus. Know it?

SANCHEZ:

No.

THE OBSERVATION ROOM

GOODSPEED:

(to himself)

Ancient Greece. Alchimadus was

imprisoned by his king.

THE INTERROGATION ROOM

MASON:

Thomas a Beckett. Heard of him?

SANCHEZ:

Maybe. Not really.

THE OBSERVATION ROOM

GOODSPEED:

(to himself)

Archbishop of Canterbury. Imprisoned

and executed by Henry the Second ...

THE INTERROGATION ROOM

MASON:

Solzhenitsyn. I've a sneaking

suspicion you've heard of him.

THE OBSERVATION ROOM

GOODSPEED:

(to himself)

Russian poet and dissident exiled to

Siberia.

THE INTERROGATION ROOM

Sanchez draws a blank on Solzhenitsyn.

SANCHEZ:

Look, I'm asking the f***ing questions

here.

(beat)

You can trust the F.B.I.

MASON:

That's a good one, Sanchez. What do you call and F.B.I. Agent who can't=

tell a lie? A mute.

Mason turns away. As if Sanchez no longer exists.

Suddenly, over a wall-mounted INTERCOM:

U.S. ATTORNEY REYNOLDS (V.O.)

Uhm, Agent Sanchez, could we have a word with you?

SANCHEZ:

Here, call your lawyer and tell him

you're going back to jail.

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