The World is Not Enough Page #5

DOCTOR GREATREX:

...yes?...

BOND:

I could come for a second opinion?

INT. BRIEFING ROOM, CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ)- LATER

A huge chandelier dominates the vast stone room. SEVERAL

AGENTS listen to the debriefing. ROBINSON and M watch TANNER

explain things; he holds a FIFTY POUND NOTE and KING?S LAPEL

PIN (now blackened, fused, melted to expose electronics

beneath).

TANNER:

...The money was dipped in urea, dried,

and packed tight. In one note the metal

strip had been replaced with a

combustible magnesium circuit -- in

effect a tiny detonator. King always wore

a pin in his lapel, an heirloom called

?the Eye of the Glens?; but someone

switched it for a copy, a ceramic micro-

circuit emitting an electronic signature.

ANGLE:

on BOND as he enters the room. He hangs back in the shadows,

watches Tanner mime the pin moving to the note:

TANNER:

When he came within range of the money --

boom. Ingenious.

M steps forward. Her fury controlled.

M:

We?ve been pawns in someone?s game. They

tricked us into bringing the money to

King. Not just elaborate. Cock-sure.

TANNER:

And expensive. Cost three million plus.

Suddenly the chandelier darkens, the floor brightens into a

VAST SCREEN, showing a satellite image of Central Asia and

the Mediterranean. M and Robinson walk onto the screen.

M:

Cheap, if it achieves your aim of de-

stabilizing the Western World.

She causes the desired stir. Bond steps forward from the

shadows to get a better view. M sees the sling has gone.

M:

007. What do you know of the Caspian Sea?

BOND:

Caviar capital of the world. Matchless

beluga. Firm, yet subtle.

(M looks askance)

Largest landlocked body of water on

Earth. Oil-rich. Hitler wanted it.

Stalin beat him to it.

M:

And now it?s up for grabs, a goldrush.

Far more oil than anyone thought.

ROBINSON:

Latest estimates, six trillion dollars.

It?ll make the Gulf look like a puddle,

see us right through the new century.

The problem is getting the oil out of

there.

M:

There are four pipelines in the works.

Three to the Black Sea, shipping out

through the Bosphorus. All vulnerable to

unstable governments or Russian blockade.

BOND:

So Sir Robert?s goes through Turkey,

direct to the Med...?

ROBINSON:

A huge project. The most expensive of the

pipelines, but the one supported by every

Western leader. None of the American oil

companies were willing to take it on.

But King has connections to the region.

He married into the Vavra family, rich

local industrialists. He used those

connections to hold it all together.

BOND:

Kill the man, kill the pipeline.

M:

Not necessarily. Not with Elektra taking

over.

Tanner notices a RED LIGHT start pulsing. He moves to M:

TANNER:

Your call to the PM.

M nods grimly. As Robinson distributes sealed envelopes:

M:

Our credibility has been hit hard. We

have to hit back harder. Your

assignments.

They open their envelopes, but Bond received nothing.

M:

(to Bond)

I?m waiting for the report on your

medical.

She leaves. Bond is brooding.

CUT TO:

INT. RESEARCH ROOM, CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ) - NIGHT

An ancient nook chock full of hi-tech equipment. Bond

concentrates on a screen displaying PHOTOGRAPHS, NEWSPAPER

AND TELEVISION CLIPS -- all to do with King?s life and times.

Bond touches the screen on a photo of...ELEKTRA.

INT. SCREEN

One story dominates -- the KIDNAPPING OF ELEKTRA KING. A

Polaroid of Elektra savagely beaten, ear bandaged, holding a

newspaper:
beneath the photo is scrawled ?$5,000,000.?

NEWSCASTER:

...somehow managed to shoot two of her

captors and escape...

POLICE VIDEO:
Elektra interviewed; bruised, emotional.

VOICE:

... the leader, the one who escaped. Can

you describe him?

ELEKTRA:

He shouted. He shouted all the time --

Bond touches Elektra?s face, freezing her tears.

His eyes wander to the photo with the ransom demand:

$5,000,000. A thought forms. He takes out his wallet,

opening it and removing:

THE RECEIPT FROM LACHAISE.

E.C.U. The strange figure, in pounds: 3,030,303.03.

Bond taps some keys. The words EXCHANGE RATE appear on the

screen...pounds to dollars.

He enters ?3,030,303.03 POUNDS STERLING? and through

multiplication by the exchange rate this becomes:

?5,000,000 US DOLLARS.? He stares at it.

CUT TO:

INT. PASSAGEWAY - CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ) - DUSK

Bond paces the flagstones, FOOTSTEPS ECHOING.

INT. BRIEFING ROOM - CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ) - CONTINUOUS

Bond opens the door on M who stands alone by the window,

looking out at the long shadows on the moors.

BOND:

Tell me about the kidnapping of Elektra

King.

She turns, her brow furrowing.

M:

Who told you to look at Elektra?s files?

BOND:

I took the initiative.

M:

You haven?t been given an assignment in

this case.

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