The Saint Page #17

JILLIAN:

Nothing, I was just thinking that when my research was stolen I felt like the Buffalo Bills after they lost four World Series.

WHITEHEAD:

Hah hah, I bet you did. I'm a baseball fan too hah hah...

Jillian looks at him differently.

The Buffalo Bills lost four Super Bowls, Whitehead. They continue toward the waiting sedans.

JILLIAN'S EYES dart around. Her forehead is sweaty. And she bolts from him, taking Whitehead by surprise. JILLIAN sprints across the circular drive for Templar's car, Whitehead after her. The men by the waiting Mercedes converge on Jillian from the side. TEMPLAR throws open the passenger side door for Jillian. The men coming from the Mercedes open fire on Templar, blowing in the sedan's side window. Templar ducks. JILLIAN'S almost there... She reaches the open sedan and dives inside. She tries to shut the door; WHITEHEAD gets hold of it. JILLIAN SCREAMS at Templar.

JILLIAN:

Go!

Templar floors it. The car SQUEALS away from the curb. Whitehead runs alongside, trying to get the door open. The car accelerates. Whitehead sprints but can't keep up. His feet leave the ground; he clings to the doorframe through the blown-out window. Whitehead pulls his gun from his shoulder holster and aims across Jillian's body at Templar. His finger squeezes the trigger as Jillian shoves his hand up. BULLETS blow holes in the roof of the car.

JILLIAN hits Whitehead, hard, in the head. Whitehead's head snaps back. She hits him again. Whitehead falls away from the car. He rolls twenty feet and stops, dazed but alive.

INT. TEMPLAR' S STOLEN SEDAN - DAY

Templar guns the sedan through a RED LIGHT. Cars to the left and right SCREECH to a stop. The sedan flies on...

JILLIAN:

TAKE ME TO THE EMBASSY.

TEMPLAR:

We're going to the airport.

Templar guns the accelerator.

EXT. MOSCOW - GORKY STATION - CIRCULAR DRIVE - DAY

The TWO MERCEDES pull up to Whitehead, who staggers to his feet. He gets in the lead Mercedes; the two cars race off after Templar and Jillian.

INT. TEMPLAR'S STOLEN SEDAN - DAY

Templar floors it through another intersection. he looks in his rear view mirror. There's no sign of the two Mercedes. They've escaped.

TEMPLAR:

Good.

JILLIAN:

Is it? Who's worse – them or you?

Templar looks down and registers shock --

- - IN THE INTERSECTION AHEAD, A BLIND MAN with a walking stick is tap tapping across the intersection. Jillian cringes, expecting the worst. Templar throws the steering wheel and --

EXT. MOSCOW - INTERSECTION - DAY

-- The sedan swerves, clearing the BLIND MAN by two inches, skidding wildly through the intersection.

INT. TEMPLAR'S STOLEN SEDAN - DAY

Templar fights the wheel but he's losing...

The skid can't be corrected. Jillian SCREAMS.

EXT. MOSCOW - INTERSECTION - DAY

The sedan slides sideways, hits the curb and flips over, spinning like a top across the sidewalk.

CUT TO:

INT. WHITEHEAD'S MERCEDES - DAY

The Mercedes moves through traffic. Whitehead and the other men look around. The Mercedes rounds a corner. Across the intersection is the OVERTURNED SEDAN on the sidewalk, surrounded by gawking PEDESTRIANS.

EXT. MOSCOW - INTERSECTION

The Mercedes pulls up. Whitehead and his men get out. They warily approach the sedan, drawing guns. The pedestrians back off, getting the hell out of the way.

Whitehead and his men surround the car. They kneel, guns trained inside...Templar and Jillian are gone. Whitehead barks at his men.

WHITEHEAD:

Fifteen block radius. Go house to house.

Whitehead looks around at the surrounding buildings. We FOCUS on one of them, a RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH several blocks away, under scaffolding and mesh wire, in the process of renovation. CAMERA pushes in on the church's HUGE ONION SHAPED TURRET. . . . .

INT. MOSCOW - RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

… and we're in the turret's interior: round, with stained glass windows, a desk and chair. A trap door leading to the vestibule below BANGS OPEN.

JILLIAN comes up, followed by Templar, his gun in hand. They're cut and bruised, exhausted. Jillian slumps against the wall, shivering. Templar puts his equipment on the desk and goes to each of the windows. From this elevation he can see the entire city.

TEMPLAR'S FIRST POV - RED SQUARE, a mile across town, where a thousand Muscovites are listening to a pro Michael Romanov speech.

Shifting from Red Square to the city outskirts, we see MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, where Remy waits.

TEMPLAR'S SECOND POV - THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY is just a few blocks away - we see the American flag flying from the roof stanchion. In the intersections around the embassy, Tretiak's men stand by their vehicles, watching. Every point of access to the embassy is sealed. We see WHITEHEAD. A Mercedes pulls up to him. ILYA gets out.

TEMPLAR:

The embassy's surrounded.

BACK TO SCENE - JILLIAN is staring at Templar's computer. The modem is engaging. JILLIAN sits up, staring at the screen. Jillian reads an ELECTRONIC MESSAGE which appears:

BEAR CONTACTING LION.

GIVE HER TO ME.

IN RETURN, 20 MILLION AND SAFE PASSAGE.

IF YOU REFUSE YOU WILL DIE.

Jillian's eyes grow wide with terror. Templar looks out a third window.

TEMPLAR'S THIRD POV - Tretiak's men are going building to building in a fifteen block radius sweep, closing in on the church.

TEMPLAR:

The airport's out. They're drawing a noose around us. We don't have much time.

TEMPLAR turns away from the window. He sees Jillian looking at his computer. He walks over to it and reads the message. Jillian gets slowly to her feet, watching Templar. JILLIAN's mouth quivers as Templar types: LION CONSIDERING OFFER. Templar looks at Jillian. She stares back. A long moment. Neither moves.

JILLIAN:

What are you going to do? Tell me. I deserve at least that.

(desperate now)

I'll die. If you take their offer, they'll kill me.

TEMPLAR:

And if I don't, they'll kill me. Interesting situation I'd say.

Jillian sinks to the chair, her voice shaking.

JILLIAN:

Oh god. It's over, it's all over... You're not human. You're an animal.

TEMPLAR:

I'm a businessman. I perform services for profit. And spare me the lecture. You didn't spend ten years in that mildewed basement for the good of humanity, you did it to get rich. Richer than anyone on earth. Richer than God.

(beat)

I'll make you an offer - pay me my fifteen million out of your royalties - should come to about one month's. . .

Pause. She slowly looks up at him.

JILLIAN:

I don't hold the patent rights to cold fusion.

TEMPLAR:

What?

JILLIAN:

You fool. Don't you understand?

(her voice cracks; she begins to softly cry)

It wasn't about money, it wasn't about becoming rich...

TEMPLAR:

If you don't own the patent rights, who does?

JILLIAN:

A foundation in my name. The royalties were going to go to scientific research, curing cancer, .. .christ how can you understand this...

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