Thirteen Days Page #14

WILHEMY:

A few. I guess.

GROUND CREW CHIEF

Was them 20 or 40 million sparrows?

Ecker, sweat-plastered and foul, steps into the Chief's face.

ECKER:

Those are bird strikes. Sparrows to be

precise. Got a problem with that?

The Chief stands there, glances at the plane one more time,

and shakes his head, 'No.' Ecker takes the Chief's

maintenance clipboard from him, writes in big bold marker:

BIRD STRIKES. He thrusts it back into the Chief's hands and

walks off; the astonished Wilhemy remains behind.

INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - DAY

In Kenny's credenza, a small black and white T.V. plays.

WALTER CRONKITE narrates on the television as a train laden

with TANKS on flatbeds pulls out of a station.

WALTER CRONKITE (V.O.)

Massive military preparations are

underway throughout the southeast in

what Pentagon officials are confirming

is the largest mobilization since Korea.

The railways have been nationalized to

assist in the deployment, here

transporting elements of the U.S. 1st

Armored Division from Ft. Hood, Texas.

A PHONE RINGS. Kenny turns from the T.V., turns down Walter

Cronkite, as he answers.

KENNY:

Yeah?

INT. OAS MEETING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

George Ball stands at the back of a crowded room filled with

applauding OAS DELEGATES. It's for Rusk, at a podium up

front.

BALL:

Kenny. The vote just came down.

INT. OVAL OFFICE - DAY

Kenny opens his door, lets Rusk in. The President, Bobby and

half of EXCOM look up. Rusk stands there somber.

RUSK:

Unanimous. One abstenation.

And then he breaks into a huge grin. Everyone cheers him.

THE PRESIDENT:

About time something went our way.

An Assistant enters behind Kenny. Kenny senses him, turns as

the others move to shake hands with Rusk.

ASSISTANT:

Telephone, Mr. O'Donnell.

INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - DAY

Kenny, grinning, ducks back into his office, closes the door

after the Assistant leaves. He picks up the phone.

KENNY:

Hello?

INTERCUT CALL TO:

INT. READY ROOM - CECIL FIELD - DAY

Ecker stands at a phone, stares out a window at a replacement

plane being fueled. A Crusader, not his shot-up one.

ECKER:

Mr. O'Donnell, I've been ordered to

deliver the film to the Pentagon

personally. What's going on?

INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

Kenny thinks fast. Oh sh*t.

KENNY:

The Chiefs must want to talk to you.

(beat)

Listen to me, Commander, they'll want to

know if you were fired on. Were you?

ECKER (O.S.)

You could say that, sir.

KENNY:

Commander. Do not, under any

circumstances, tell the Chiefs.

END INTERCUT:

INT. PENTAGON - DAY

SUPER:
E-RING. Then SUPER: THE PENTAGON

Ecker, still in his sweat-drenched flight suit approaches a

security checkpoint. GUARDS secure his sidearm and user him

through a doorway. A sign over it reads JCS.

INT. THE TANK - DAY

The door swings open into the Joint Chiefs' SOUND-PROOFED

briefing room known as THE TANK. LeMay, Taylor and Anderson

sit there around the table. Ecker salutes.

ECKER:

Commander William B. Ecker reporting as

ordered!

LeMay rises, prowls over to Ecker.

LEMAY:

Son , I want to know just one thing.

Those bastards shoot so much as a BB gun

at you?

A long beat. Sweat runs off Ecker's head. He can smell

LeMay's breath.

ECKER:

Sir, it was a milk run, sir.

INT. WEST WING HALL - NIGHT

Kenny joins the President and General Taylor in the hallway

as they head for the Oval Office.

GENERAL TAYLOR:

It appears our low-level flights are

getting back okay. Some unconfirmed

reports of small-arms fire from some of

the missions, but that's it.

Slightly behind them, Kenny looks sidelong at Taylor.

THE PRESIDENT:

Guess we can't blame Khruschev for a few

patriotic farmers. And the ships?

GENERAL TAYLOR:

Still heading for Cuba.

THE PRESIDENT:

All right. Then I guess it's time.

INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT

FLASHBULBS go off all around the room as the President walks

in, goes over to his desk. Reporters observe silently, T.V.

cameras track him; Kenny, Bobby and Sorensen watch as the

President sits, takes a pen form his pocket.

THE PRESIDENT:

In accordance with this afternoon's vote

at the OAS, the quarantine shall hereby

be effective as of ten o'clock tomorrow

morning.

Kenny observes in silence as the President SIGNS the

Proclamation of Interdiction.

INT. OVAL OFFICE - LATER

The Oval Office has emptied out. Only Kenny, Bobby, Sorensen

and the President remain. The President looks out the

window, Sorensen sits in a chair in front of the desk. Bobby

and Kenny sit on the edge of the desk.

THE PRESIDENT:

Last summer I read a book. The Guns of

August. I wish every man on that

blockade line had read that book.

The President moves over to the GLOBE by his desk, spins it,

stopping in on Europe.

THE PRESIDENT (CONT'D)

World War One. Thirteen million killed

all because the militaries of both

alliances were so highly attuned to each

other's movements and dispositions,

afraid of letting the other guy have a

theoretical advantage. And your man in

the field, his family at home, couldn't

even tell you the reasons why their

lives were being sacrificed.

(beat)

Why couldn't they stop it?

Can we? The President's fingers turn the globe. It stops on

North America. Kenny and Bobby listen.

THE PRESIDENT (CONT'D)

And here we are, fifty years later. One

of their ships resists the inspection.

We shoot out its rudder and board. They

shoot down our planes in response. We

bomb their anti-aircraft sites in

response to that. They attack Berlin.

We invade Cuba. They fire their

missiles. We fire ours.

The President sets the globe gently spinning and walks away.

INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Kenny rubs his eyes, listens to his phone and the WOMAN'S

VOICE at the other end. It's his wife.

HELEN (O.S.)

When are you going to be home?

KENNY:

I don't know, Helen. I want you to keep

the kids close tomorrow. Leave the T.V.

on, sleep with it on in the bedroom

until I tell you you can turn it off.

HELEN (O.S.)

What's happened?

KENNY:

Nothing. Nothing you don't know about.

Tomorrow's the big day. Just have the

car ready to go if I call or if the

Civil Defense Warning comes on.

HELEN (O.S.)

What happens to you? I'm not leaving

without you.

KENNY:

I'll be evacuated with the President.

A long silence on the other end of the line.

HELEN (O.S.)

Great. So while you're under a rock

somewhere with the President, what am I

supposed to do with your five children?

And to that, there is no answer. A beat, and it's all Kenny

can promise:

KENNY:

I'll find you. But we're not going to

let it come to that. I promise.

INT. WHITE HOUSE CAFETERIA - NIGHT

Kenny hands Bobby and Bundy cups of coffee. The three men

nurse them in the silence of the abandoned cafeteria.

KENNY:

Helen just asked me what sort of

arrangements we have for the families.

BUNDY:

I just checked myself.

(beat)

They're being issued identity cards.

Call comes, and evacuation officers meet

them at pre-arranged departure areas.

They go by helicopter to Mount Weather.

We meet them there.

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