The Siege Page #7

Hub looks at Elise. Samir is leaving -- it's now or never.

HUB:

Take him down.

FRANK:

(keys his radio)

Go.

THREE AGENTS brace Samir politely but firmly, and lead him

to their car. Samir slides into the back seat next to Elise.

In the REARVIEW MIRROR, Hub watches as a look seems to pass

between them. Then again, it may not have happened.

FRANK:

Samir Nazhde, my name is Frank Haddad,

I'm a Federal Agent. We have reason

to believe you are an accessory to

the bombing of Bus 87.

SAMIR:

Are you crazy --?

FRANK:

You are an associate of Ali Waziri.

SAMIR:

Who? I know no one by that name.

Elise is looking out the window, seemingly oblivious.

FRANK:

You got him a student visa.

SAMIR:

I sign these applications as a matter

of course, hundreds of them. Everyone

wants to come to the land of

opportunity and Baywatch.

Elise tries to keep a smile off her face. Hub clocks this.

FRANK:

You spent two years in Israeli jails

during the Intifada.

SAMIR:

The only ones who didn't were women

like you.

Frank BACKHANDS him across the mouth. Samir says something

in Arabic to Frank, who responds in kind.

HUB:

Frank --

FRANK:

Sorry. Family matter.

(to Samir)

You're going downtown, my friend.

SAMIR:

You cannot hold me. I know my rights.

I watch American television.

FRANK:

Defrauding the INS is a Federal

Offense.

(hands Samir to waiting

agents)

Reservation for one, please.

CUT TO:

CTF HEADQUARTERS - LATER

They enter the BULLPEN. It's well past midnight. People are

sacked-out in sleeping bags while others continue working.

ELISE:

Club Fed.

Frank leans over Danny Sussman, who has fallen asleep, face

down on his desk, and sings in a lovely brogue:

FRANK:

(singing)

"Oh, Danny-boy, the perps, the perps,

are call-ing...

(as he awakens)

We need a search warrant on Samir...

HUB:

Frank, c'mere a sec. I want to show

you something.

He leads Frank into another CUBICLE. Perched on nearby desk,

Elise is dialing a phone, she stops to watch them:

HUB:

(quietly)

Frank, you ever hit a prisoner again

I'll have your badge.

FRANK:

-- Someday I will tell you what those

people did to my village in '71.

Hub waits for him to calm down.

HUB:

(touches his arm)

Okay. But right now, act as if I'm

capable of saying something funny...

Now, let's go see about that warrant.

As they walk back, Hub says to Danny:

HUB:

Find me a Judge who'll play ball

this time. And set up a polygraph

for Samir.

ELISE:

I still don't understand why we're

tipping our hand with him --

FRANK:

What's there to tip?

HUB:

You're just trying to protect your

asset.

(to Elise, pointedly:)

Aren't you, Elise --? He's your Joe,

your asset. He's working for you,

you're his case officer -- right?

How should she respond? How thin should she slice it?

ELISE:

...Sometimes... in addition to being

a nationality, being a Palestinian

is also a... profession. A lucrative

one.

HUB:

Meaning, he's your Joe.

ELISE:

Mine. Yours. The Israelis. The Saudis.

At one time or another, everybody in

the Middle East has slept with

everybody else.

FRANK:

So you're saying... you sleep around?

ELISE:

Only professionally.

HUB:

So we share him.

ELISE:

No.

HUB:

(to Frank)

-- Call INS, find out his status and

start deportation proceedings.

ELISE:

I can't let you do that.

HUB:

Oh, you can't let me do that. What

precisely is your involvement with

these people.

ELISE:

(sighs, then:
)

Samir's been a very important...

project of mine for some time... I'm

the only one he'll deal with. He's

very well-connected -- and extremely

high-strung.

HUB:

...Call the judge.

ELISE:

(looks at Frank)

How easy is it to get inside, Frank?

How good are your sources in the

mosques? How many people you got in

Hamas --?

Franks shakes his head, ruefully. She's right.

ELISE:

No surveillance. I've seen your deft

touch.

HUB:

Daily reports. We tap his phone.

ELISE:

And I get to see the transcripts.

HUB:

Fair enough.

ELISE:

And I run him.

HUB:

We share him.

ELISE:

He can't know we're talking.

HUB:

Then don't tell him.

ELISE:

Done.

HUB:

(to Frank)

Let him fly.

(back to her)

But we better start seeing product.

She nods. A deal. For now.

HUB:

Any more surprises for me?

ELISE:

Not tonight.

HUB:

Then I'm going home to get some

things.

FRANK:

I'll have somebody drive you.

HUB:

I'll grab a cab.

And he's gone. Frank turns to Elise:

FRANK:

Elise. I'm really high strung, too.

She just smiles and walks away.

OUTSIDE THE FEDERAL BUILDING -- MOMENTS LATER

Not many people around. Hub stands on the corner. A TAXI

cruises up. On duty. Available. He slows long enough to see

that Hub is black and passes right by.

AT A RED LIGHT:

The taxi driver stops just long enough for Hub to slam his

SHIELD on the windshield.

IN THE TAXI:

Hub sits in back, hurtling into the night. The driver's ID

identifies him as ABDUL HASSAM. Hub shakes his head.

IN THE SHOWER:

As the hot SPRAY hits him, he runs his hands through his

hair and feels the BITS OF SHATTERED GLASS. Dried blood runs

off in rivulets from his hands. Not his own. He leans against

the shower wall, closes his eyes.

CUT TO:

ELISE -- BRUTALLY SLAPPED ACROSS THE FACE

We are in her apartment. Samir looms over her.

SAMIR:

You let him HIT ME --!! You cannot

care about me and let such things

happen!

ELISE:

Next time don't be such a smart ass --

SAMIR:

Sometimes I hate you just because

you are so American. It makes me

want to hurt you. I think about

f***ing you and hurting you.

Elise can taste the blood in her mouth -- but it's the price

she's come to accept. In a heartbeat, it's all business.

ELISE:

-- You want to f*** me? Then work

with me.

SAMIR:

Don't tell me what I have to do.

ELISE:

No? Do we really want to have this

conversation again? Do we --?

Something quietly ominous in her tone. He lowers his eyes.

And like a sailboat, Elise changes tack. Strokes his arm.

ELISE:

I need you to help me. I need you to

be strong. As you have always been

strong. For both of us. -- Samir?

Look at me...

BACK TO HUB -- WHO AWAKENS IN THE DARKNESS

He's fallen asleep in a chair. In his lap is a pile of visa

applications. His BEEPER goes off. He rouses himself.

BACK TO ELISE -- ROUGHLY TURNED OVER IN BED BY SAMIR

Sex without any shred of tenderness. As Samir kisses the

back of her neck, we SEE in her eyes the thousand-yard stare.

BACK TO HUB -- ON THE STREET

In the doorway of an apartment building, Frank hands Hub a

styrofoam cup of coffee. It's a ritual between them.

BACK TO ELISE -- LYING IN BED AS SAMIR SMOKES

SAMIR:

-- Some people just cannot live in

the camps. For my brother, it was

already like dying. The only thing

he lives for is movies.

He sits up in bed, reaching for another cigarette.

SAMIR:

-- And then some sheik tells him

that, to die for Allah is beautiful.

If he does this thing, our parents

will be taken care of, and he will

live on in Paradise with seventy

virgins. Seventy.

(sighs)

And my brother, he needs to believe

it very much, so he straps ten sticks

of dynamite to his chest and goes to

the movies...

(a rueful laugh)

And I become a VIP. It is very

confusing.

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