The Sting Page #17

CUT TO:

INT. DRUGSTORE - DAY

The phone rings and Lonnegan answers it.

VOICE:

Wrecking Crew at 4-1, Grand Theft

to place, Made to Order to show.

Lonnegan smiles and hangs up the phone.

CUT TO:

INT. THE STORE - DAY

Lonnegan's in line at the betting window. There are four

people in front of him this time, and they are moving rather

slowly. The "Last Flash" call is heard on the speakers.

LONNEGAN:

(getting impatient)

C'mon, let's hurry up there.

The man at the head of the line turns around and gives

Lonnegan a chilling look, as if he were beneath contempt.

He puts down $25,000 on Grand Theft. The next man in line

plunges down $30,000 on Wrecking Crew.

Just as Lonnegan is about to step to the window, Gondorff

gives a quick signal to Singleton. The speakers come on.

CALLER:

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is

Arnold Rowe, your caller for the

$100,000 Fairfield Stakes at

Hollywood Park in Los Angeles. A

mile and 3/8 for three year olds

and up. And they're off!

LONNEGAN:

(counting out his money)

Twenty-thousand on Wrecking Crew.

NILES:

I'm sorry, sir. We can't take bets

after the race is started.

He points to a sign above the window, which says exactly

that. Lonnegan grabs up his money in disgust.

GONDORFF:

Don't take it so hard, pal. You

probably woulda lost it.

Lonnegan wanders over to the bar in a funk.

CALLER:

And around the first turn it's

Wrecking Crew by a half length,

Grand Theft second by one, His

Dandy is third by one half, followed

by Change of Heart, Back Flip, Made

to Order and High Ground.

The assembled patrons are once again thoroughly involved in

the race. Eirie comes up to Lonnegan at the bar.

EIRIE KID:

Who you got?

LONNEGAN:

(half-heartedly)

Wrecking Crew.

EIRIE KID:

Me too. Maybe it's our day.

Lonnegan nods and wanders away. Hooker comes over to him.

HOOKER:

What happened?

LONNEGAN:

I didn't get the bet down in time.

HOOKER:

(pissed)

Oh, Jesus.

CUT TO:

INT. STORE OFFICE

Gondorff and Niles, back in the office.

NILES:

(looking out at the floor)

Looks like he's sulking.

GONDORFF:

If we're lucky, this'll bring him

back stronger than ever.

CUT TO:

THE FLOOR:

CALLER:

Coming for home, it's Wrecking Crew

by six lengths, Made to Order is

second by two and a half, High

Ground is third by a length and

Grand Theft is coming fast on the

rail. It's Wrecking Crew, Made to

Order and Grand Theft. Wrecking

Crew wins it by five lengths, Grand

Theft is second by a nose, Made to

Order is third by two. Time for

one and 3/8 mile, 2:11 and 4/10

seconds.

Eirie explodes in a joyous frenzy. He grabs Lonnegan by the

shoulders and shakes him.

EIRIE KID:

We won! We won! You hear that! I

won 30,000! You hear that!

Yeh, Lonnegan heard that. Lonnegan shakes loose, grabs his

coat and heads for the door.

EXT. ALLEY - DAY

He finds Hooker waiting for him outside.

LONNEGAN:

Tell your friend I'll have the

money here by post-time tomorrow.

We'll take the first race where the

odds are 4-1 or better. And make

sure I can get to that window this

time.

HOOKER:

How am I gonna do that?

LONNEGAN:

(coarsely)

I don't know, figure something out.

Lonnegan storms across the street to his waiting car and

drives off. Hooker relaxes into a smile. He's already

figured something out.

CUT TO:

INT. SLEEZY DINER ACROSS FROM HOOKER'S APT. BLDG. - EVENING

Hooker sits at the counter finishing a plate of meat loaf.

Loretta is down at the cash register, leaning on the counter,

looking idly out into space. Hooker glances over at her

every once in a while to see if she might be interested in

striking up a little conversation. She's not. He finishes

his meal and comes down to the register to pay his bill.

HOOKER:

Meat loaf, apple pie and a cup of

coffee.

LORETTA:

(ringing it up)

Sixty-five.

Hooker gives her a dollar. She goes to the register for

change.

HOOKER:

What time you get off work here?

LORETTA:

2:
00 A.M.

HOOKER:

You doin' anything tonight?

LORETTA:

(handing him his change)

Yeh, sleepin'.

Hooker figures that's enough of that. He pockets his change

and starts out the door, when suddenly he stops short.

EXT. STREET

Across the street in a doorway is the silhouette of a man.

It's Cole. He's pretending not to look at the diner, but

Hooker isn't fooled.

INT. DINER

He goes back to Loretta at the register.

HOOKER:

You got a back door to this place?

LORETTA:

No. What's wrong with the front?

HOOKER:

(urgently now)

Look, I don't have time to f***

around. There's somebody out there

I don't need to see. You got a

fire escape or anything?

LORETTA:

No.

HOOKER:

All right, do me a favor. Go into

the bathroom, open the window and

wait for me there.

LORETTA:

What the hell for?

HOOKER:

Just do what I tell ya and

everything'll be jake.

Cracks of concern begin to appear in Loretta's marble.

LORETTA:

What does this guy want?

HOOKER:

(evenly)

He'd like to kill me.

Loretta just looks at him a second. Realizing that this is

no joke, she turns and walks slowly but steadily to the

bathroom. Hooker waits until she's out of sight.

EXT. STREET

Hooker goes to the front door and steps outside. Cole looks

up at the sound of the door. Hooker makes a big show of

spotting him, and runs back into the diner. Cole, his cover

blown, draws his gun and races across the street in pursuit.

Arriving just in time to see --

INT. DINER

Hooker go into the bathroom, he charges in after him, only

to find the place empty. He goes quickly from stall to

stall, on the chance that Hooker might be hiding in one of

them.

He comes to one that's closed, and seeing a pair of woman's

legs under the door, rejects that, and moves on to the next

one.

We cut inside the stall to reveal Loretta sitting on the

toilet with her skirt hiked up. Right behind her, crouched

on the back of the seat, is Hooker.

Cole has finished his rapid inspection now, and having found

nothing, looks around for Hooker's probable escape route.

He sees the open window and climbs out to find himself in a

small air shaft, from which he knows Hooker could not escape.

Hooker, seizing the time, bursts out of the stall and runs

back out through the diner. Cole sees him, but too late to

get off a shot. He climbs back in the window and gives chase.

EXT. STREET

We pick up Hooker barreling down the street with Cole a

hundred yards or so behind. Hooker makes a sharp cut into

an alley, and we see immediately that it's a hopeless dead

end. Inexplicably, he makes no attempt to run back out.

Cole draws up and cuts into the alley, anticipating the kill

which should be easy now. He prepares to sight down his

victim, when suddenly he realizes there is no victim in

sight. Hooker, miraculously, has vanished. Cole scans the

alley frantically for some trace of him. There are no

windows or doors at the street level. Not even a drain pipe.

Just brick wall. It's impossible. Hooker has disappeared

into thin air.

Cole slams his gun into his shoulder holster with a curse,

and starts back out of the alley, when all of a sudden he

stops in utter terror. His mouth drops open and he chokes

out the words:

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