The Saint Page #11

Oui. Un moment.

REMY SAMARKAND, 40's, Algerian, pulls himself up and sits on the engine cowling. Bandanna around neck. Cigar. A tattoo here, a scar there... COCO, a young mechanic, hands Remy a CELLULAR PHONE.

REMY SAMARKAND:

Merci, Coco.

(Coco walks off)

Remy Samarkand Aeronautique, Remy Samarkand.

TEMPLAR (v.o.)

I need a favour, Remy.

REMY SAMARKAND:

(smiles)

Anything for Simon Templar...

CUT TO:

EXT. PARIS, FRANCE - CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT - THREE HOURS LATER

The Concorde touches down as we SUPER:

CHARLES DE GAULLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, PARIS, FRANCE

EXT. DE GAULLE AIRPORT - TARMAC

Templar, with his carry-on bags, and Remy Samarkand run across the tarmac toward a LEAR JET being fueled. In the b.g. sits the huge Concorde jet. They yell over the howling jet engines.

TEMPLAR:

IT'S A LITTLE JET, MAYBE A TURBO PROP. ENTERED SCOTLAND FIVE MINUTES AGO, GO ING TO ST. PETERSBURG. CAN WE GET TO IT BEFORE THEN?

REMY SAMARKAND:

OUI . OVER FINLAND.

INT. REMY' S LEAR JET - MINUTES LATER

THE HOMING DEVICE - The screen shows a MAP OF EUROPE. Two locations are pulsing: 1) Remy's jet, moving north from Paris; and 2) The jet carrying Jillian, moving across Scotland heading due east. The plane is in flight. Templar's homing device and mini-computer sit on the cockpit console.

TEMPLAR:

What are you smuggling these days?

REMY SAMARKAND:

Oh, things. How long has it been – two year? Three? Now tell me: what's so important about this plane?

TEMPLAR:

Fifteen million dollars of my money.

(picks up cellular phone)

And a score to settle.

Templar punches numbers and CUT TO:

EXT. EAST BERLIN - DAY

The city's decrepid industrial section. PANNING PAST buildings we come to the facade of "APEX ELECTRONICS," the only well-maintained building on the block.

A throbbing drum-beat is heard within...

INT. EAST BERLIN - APEX ELECTRONI CS - DAY

Organized. Spotless. You could eat off the floor. A STEREO plays GERMAN TECHNO-ROCK at a zillion decibals.

A COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE hangs from a hoist. BERTA FRANK (hereafter "FRANKIE”), late 20's, blonde spiky hair, pretty in a sort of dangerous way, is soldering a panel of transistors to the satellite. A wall-mounted T.V. plays a news program.

GERMAN NEWS ANCHOR

(German)

In Russia, Michael Romanov has been accused of inciting riots and violence in St. Petersburg...

The phone RINGS. Frankie grabs it.

FRANKIE:

Ja.

TEMPLAR (v.o.)

How's the weather in Berlin, Frankie?

FRANKIE:

Simon? Where are you?

INTERCUT - SIMON IN REMY' S PLANE / FRANKIE IN BERLIN

TEMPLAR:

Unimportant. How soon can you be in St. Petersburg?

Frankie looks at her wristwatch.

FRANKIE:

Five hours. What type of job?

TEMPLAR:

Eyes and ears. Two hundred thousand cash for two days work.

FRANKIE:

Who's the mark?

TEMPLAR:

Gregor Tretiak. His headquarters. His office in particular.

Frankie lights a cigarette. Thinks.

FRANKIE:

Gregor Tretiak is not a very nice man, Simon. Four hundred thousand.

TEMPLAR:

Deal. Now listen, Frankie...

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. THE RUSSIAN GULFSTREAM - DAY

Four hours later. Jillian sits, head bowed, unconscious. Yuri sits opposite. He is nodding off. If only Jillian could wake up... The PILOT shouts back.

PILOT:

We're over Helsinki. Yuri wakes, sits upright. Yawns.

INT. REMY'S LEAR JET - DAY

Remy's peering out the window. Sees something.

REMY SAMARKAND:

Simon, there!

Two miles ahead, THE RUSSIAN JET roars past, heading east toward St. Petersburg. Remy jerks the stick, banking into a right turn behind the Russian jet. Remy looks at his ALTITUDE GAUGE.

REMY SAMARKAND:

They're descending.

Remy looks at Templar; Templar nods back. Remy pushes the stick; the Lear jet begins descending.

INT. THE RUSSIAN GULFSTREAM - DAY

Jillian sits, still unconscious. Or is she?

JILLIAN' S POV - THROUGH SLITTED EYES

Through the tiniest slit of eye, so as not to appear conscious, Jillian looks at Yuri, then at TWO PARACHUTES shelved above the emergency exit. BACK TO SCENE - YURI stands up and stretches. He goes to the window and looks out. [Wheelchair trivia: wheelchair armrests are removable, enabling a patient to transfer himself from the chair to a regular chair, or car seat, etc...]

JILLIAN'S RIGHT HAND (photographed in extreme close-up under the blanket) pulls out the PIN securing the armrest to the wheelchair. She lifts the armrest, separating the aluminum tubing, freeing her right wrist.

INT. REMY'S LEAR JET - DAY

Through the windshield is the RUSSIAN GULF STREAM. Remy, his headset on, turns to Templar.

REMY:

The St. Petersburg tower wants us to circle.

TEMPLAR:

No. Follow them down.

REMY:

What do we do when we land?

TEMPLAR:

Haven't figured that out yet.

INT. THE RUSSIAN GULFSTREAM - DAY

The aircraft is tilted forward in descent. The PILOT shouts back to Yuri:

PILOT:

(Russian, subtitled)

Prepare for landing.

The Pilot shuts the cockpit door. Suddenly JILLIAN'S EYES are open; her hands are free and she's throwing off the blanket and gripping the wheels. She pushes; the wheelchair bursts forward. YURI gets to his feet; the wheelchair slams against his shins. Jillian WHIPS the detached armrest across Yuri's head. Yuri falls backward, dazed. Jillian rolls to the emergency door, one hand yanking open the door, the other grabbing a PARACHUTE from the shelf. Wind howls through the cabin. Jillian gets the parachute on. Her ankles are still bound to the footrests. To hell with it, she'll lose the wheelchair in mid-air. She pushes forward as --

-- YURI lunges across the floor, grabbing the wheels. JILLIAN AND THE CHAIR teeter on the edge of emergency door exit, half in, half out. Yuri clings to the chair wheels. His body jerks forward. He's sliding on his stomach. Jillian and the chair are pulling him out. Terror in Yuri's eyes. He grabs for the door frame. His fingers slip. Jillian, the wheelchair, and Yuri hanging from the wheelchair, plunge from the aircraft.

INT. REMY' S LEAR JET - DAY

Templar's bagging his computer and homing device. REMY suddenly clutches his arm.

REMY:

Simon.

Templar looks up.

TEMPLAR' S /REMY' S POV - THROUGH WINDSHIELD JILLIAN AND YURI fall from the aircraft.

INT . THE RUSS IAN GULFSTREAM

The pilot, looking down at Jillian and Yuri, clicks on his short-wave radio:

PILOT:

We have a problem.

EXT. SKIES OVER ST. PETERSBURG - DAY

JILLIAN freefalls in the wheelchair, her ankles still bound to the chair's footrests. YURI is beneath her, clutching the wheels. He tries to pull himself up.

JILLIAN yanks the rip-cord; a plume of silk spills out and Jillian and the chair SLINGSHOT UP, decelerating from 120 m.p.h. to 20 m.p.h. in two seconds. Yuri can't take the "G" force; his hands rip away from the chair. He plummets, SCREAMING, and 3000 feet later he will hit concrete in St. Petersburg.

Jillian pulls out the footrest pins (the footrests separate from the chair in the same manner), freeing her ankles. The chair releases, falling away.

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