Tomorrow Never Dies Page #14

HARMSWAY:

Remember the golden rule, Mr.

Stamper:
He who has the gold, rules.

He drops the gold back in the hold.

HARMSWAY:

Is the helicopter ready?

STAMPER:

Fueled and waiting.

HARMSWAY:

Good. We have an appointment in Hong Kong.

INT. HALLWAY - BANK OF LONDON - NIGHT -

M and Bond, striding down a hallway to exit the building.

M:

...You're turning into quite the

politician, 007.

BOND:

I have an excellent teacher.

(sideways glance)

'Make sure you wear the uniform'?

M:

(ignoring his jibe)

What do you make of all this?

BOND:

It doesn't quite add up.

They've come to a door. Pause as he opens it. He explains:

BOND:

The infrared satellite images. No

heat, no flame, no explosion. If

that boat went down where they said

it did, there should have been some

residual heat reading on the surface.

M:

Sabotage?

BOND:

A three-thousand ton frigate doesn't

just vanish into thin air.

She nods and pushes through the door. He follows.

EXT. BANK OF LONDON - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS -

M:

I've already contacted our station in

Kuala Lumpur. They're lining up a

local contact.

(beat)

I want you to find that gold, and

secure it.

They've arrived at her car. The door is already open.

BOND:

... Didn't Elliot Harmsway just move

his headquarters to Kuala Lumpur?

She turns, freezes Bond with a look:

M:

Contrary to what you may believe,

007, the world is not filled with

mad-men who can hollow out volcanoes,

stock them with big-breasted women,

and threaten the world with nuclear

annihilation.

Bond reacts to the comeuppance. She continues:

M (cont'd)

The case is closed. The Italian

authorities ruled the girl a suicide.

We had enough trouble keeping your

name out of the media. For

everyone's sake -

(beat)

Your job is to find the gold. Not

settle some personal score with

Elliot Harmsway.

EXT. 'HARMSWAY BUILDING' (HONG KONG AND SHANGHAI BANK) - HONG KONG - DUSK

Super:
HONG KONG. Harmsway's helicopter is perched atop the famous

tinker-toy-styled building in the Central district.

INT. PENTHOUSE BOARDROOM - DUSK

A CHINESE CHOP comes down firmly on a legal document. GENERAL LI (of

the People's Revolutionary Army) is seated with a squad of lawyers:

GENERAL LI:

And that is the fifth document. With

your counter-signature, the sale will

be complete.

The document is passed across to HARMSWAY, sitting with his own legal

counsel. One of the men is WHISPERING TO HIM, INTENSELY:

YOUNG CHINESE LAWYER

Are you sure? If we waited -

Harmsway waves the lawyer off, silencing him. Addresses the General:

HARMSWAY:

General Li:
My young associate here

has just informed me that if I waited

a year, I could perhaps receive a

higher price for this building.

(beat, wryly)

He has great faith in Hong Kong. As did

my ancestors. With obvious results.

Nervous chuckles around the table, but the General is reserved.

HARMSWAY (cont'd)

Yet to sell this building for more

money - to profiteer - would run counter

to the Chinese sprit of guanchi - mutual

trust and obligation; it would violate

the ancient principles of feng shui -

(beat)

- the reason we sign five documents

instead of an unlucky four, and why this

building has a fifth, non-functioning

ventilation shaft on its roof.

(beat)

Wind and water, fire and rain, earth

and sky - feng shui. All things - at

one, in balance, with nature.

GENERAL LI:

...Most eloquently put, Sir Elliot.

HARMSWAY:

Thank you, General Li. Now I'll just

sign this last document -

He puts the pen to the paper, and BREAKS THE PEN. Alarmed looks.

HARMSWAY (cont'd)

Terribly sorry. Mr. Stamper?

From behind, Stamper hands him a pen. Harmsway innocently starts to

sign in RED INK -

GENERAL LI:

Sir Elliot! Red ink -

HARMSWAY:

Of course! How foolish. More bad

luck. I'll just borrow yours -

He takes General Li's pen, and signs his name with a flourish.

EXT. ROOF OF 'HARMSWAY BUILDING' -

Under the whirring blades of the chopper, Harmsway bids farewell to

General Li. He and Stamper get in helicopter.

CLOSE ON THE HELICOPTER -

As Harmsway waves good-bye from the window, the helicopter rises,

REVEALING a METAL CABLE attached to the LANDING SKID.

WIDER -

The cable leads to a spool, which runs to the FIFTH METAL VENTILATION

SHAFT Harmsway referred to in the last scene.

INT. HELICOPTER - AIRBORNE -

Harmsway pops open a bottle of champagne.

HARMSWAY:

An old Chinese toast to our friends...

RETURN ON ROOFTOP HELIPAD -

The General SEES THE CABLE GROW TAUT AROUND THE VENTILATION SHAFT.

He reacts with horror.

INT. HELICOPTER/HARMSWAY ROOFTOP POV -

Harmsway glances down to watch the VENTILATION SHAFT TOPPLE onto the

General and his aides, scattering them like rats.

In the chopper, the pilot cuts the cable, and Harmsway lifts a

champagne glass:

HARMSWAY:

Confusion to the enemy. In 48 hours,

that building - and all of Hong Kong

around it - will cease to exist.

AERIAL - SKIES ABOVE STRAIT OF MALACCA - DAY -

A BRITISH MILITARY C-130 airship is dropping sono-buoys into the

water from a low altitude. me plane veers off, revealing A BRITISH

SEA KING command and control helicopter, hovering above.

INT. SEA KING HELICOPTER - AIRBORNE - DAY

Bond holds a map of the channel. He's standing over several CREWMAN

seated at radar, sonar, and navigation consoles.

CREWMAN 1

Sounding:
Bottom is thirty fathoms.

CREWMAN 2

Nothing. Negative bounce.

BOND:

We should be right over it.

They hear a SHARP DINGING SOUND -

OPERATOR 2

Wait - I'm getting something.

BOND:

Where? What is it?

The man points at one of the screens, where Bond sees a COMPUTER

GENERATED MAP OF THE SEA FLOOR, with the FAINT OUTLINE of a WARSHIP.

OPERATOR 2

Not sure yet -

He types in some commands on a keyboard, and a 3-D rendering of a

boat appears on another computer screen. Lots of data:

OPERATOR 2

The Shinjuku. Japanese troop

carrier. World War II.

BOND:

Let's make another pass.

CO-PILOT

(calling out)

We have traffic on the deck -

They look down and see an HNN (Harmsway News Network) boat.

BOND:

Get rid of them.

NEW ANGLE - EXT. SEA RING CHOPPER & HNN BOAT -

The chopper hovers above the HNN boat -

PILOT (on pa speaker)

Please leave the area. please leave

the area.

EXT. HNN WORLD HEADQUARTERS (PETRONAS TOWERS)- KUALA LUMPUR - DAY

We're looking up at the world's tallest building: The 1500' twin

Petronas Towers. (They look like an architectural collaboration

between Friz Lang and H.G. Wells.) At the 50th floor, there's a sky

bridge connecting the buildings, where -

INT. SKY BRIDGE - (HNN HEADQUARTERS) - DAY

Elliot Harmsway strides out of an elevator (in Tower 1,) into a group

of waiting assistants. Without breaking stride -

YOUNG MALE ASSISTANT 1

Good morning Sir Elliot! Welcome to

Kuala Lumpur -

HARMSWAY:

Morning, morning all. What have we got?

His EXECUTIVE SECRETARY rushes to keep up, reading from a pad, as

they cross the sky bridge to HNN's main reception area, in Tower 2:

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

The Canadian Prime Minister wants to

set a lunch -

HARMSWAY:

Pencil it in for the next trip -

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