Wag the Dog Page #16

MR. YOUNG

Who're you working for?

BREAN:

Nobody whose name you want me to say, Mr. Young, I

promise you.

MR. YOUNG

S'all very well, but when the Fit hits the Shan,

somebody's going to have to Stay After School, and who

do you 'spose that might be.

BREAN:

S'only got to hold for another few days.

MR. YOUNG

Well, I'm not interested in how long its "got to hold

for."

BREAN:

What are you interested in?

(PAUSE)

MR. YOUNG

I'm interested in the Security of My Country, Mr.

Brean.

AMES:

As are we all, and I'd like to take this opportunity to

suggest that the Security of the country would be ill-

served by any, any...any...

PAUSE. THEY LOOK AT HIM.

AMES:

(CONT.)

Any untoward "revelation" regarding, uh...

MR. YOUNG

And I think that the Security of the Country would be

best-served by its citizens obeying its laws.

(OVER HIS SHOULDER, TO AN AIDE)

Gemme a Federal Judge, gemme search-warrants, all

premises controlled by our friends, and bench-warrants

for the two of...

BREAN:

(SIMULTANEOUSLY, WITH THE ABOVE SPEECH)

Well, I'm sure that speaks very well of you and for

your parents. But if forced to choose between the

security of the country and the security of your Job,

which would you pick. And, while you hesitate, permit

me to suggest that they are one and the same. Your

country and your job.

MR. YOUNG

I'm doing my job, Mr. Brean. That's what you see me

doing here. What is it you thought you were doing?

AMES:

And I'd like to point out that I've been on

prescription medication, the side-effects of which...

BREAN:

I'm doing my job, Too.

(OF THE AIDE)

Would you give me a... do you think you could call off

your Dogs for a minute.

PAUSE. MR. YOUNG LOOKS AT THE AIDE, WHO IS EXITING, AND NODS. THE AIDE STAYS

BEHIND.

BREAN:

(CONT.)

Thank you.

MR. YOUNG

What's on your mind?

BREAN:

I have a question for you.

MR. YOUNG

Ask it.

BREAN:

Why do people go to war?

MR. YOUNG

Why do people go to war?

MR. YOUNG

I'll play your silly game.

BREAN:

Why do they go to War?

MR. YOUNG

To preserve their Way of Life.

BREAN:

Would you go to War to do that?

(PAUSE)

MR. YOUNG

I have.

BREAN:

Well, I have, too. Would you do it again...? In't

that why you're here? I guess so. N'if you go to war

again, who is it going to be against? Your "ability to

fight a Two-ocean War" against who? Sweden and Togo?

Who you sitting here to Go To War Against? That time

has passed. It's passed. It's over. The War of the

Future is Nuclear Terrorism. It is and it will be

against a Small Group of Dissidents who, unbeknownst,

perhaps, to their own governments, have blah blah blah.

And to go to that war, you've got to be prepared. You

have to be alert, and the public has to be alert.

Cause that is the war of the future, and if you're not

gearing up, to fight that war, eventually the axe will

fall. N'you're gonna be out in the street.

(PAUSE)

And you can call this a "drill," or you can call it

"job security," or you can call it anything you like.

But I got one for you: you said, "Go to War to protect

your Way of Life," well, Chuck, this

(HE GESTURES AROUND THE ROOM)

is your way of life. Innit? And if there ain't no

war, you can punch out, go home, and take up Oil

Painting. And there ain't no war but ours.

(PAUSE)

HOLD ON THE GROUP.

BREAN:

(CONT.)

It's just for eight more days.....

INT CORRIDORS C.I.A. COMPLEX

AMES, AND BREAN ACCOMPANIED BY SEVERAL BODYGUARD TYPES AND THE YALIE.

BREAN:

(TO THE YALIE)

One more thing, what is that river she's running

across?

YALIE:

What?

BREAN:

...the young girl in the video, the Albanian Girl....

YOUNG NODS, AND MAKES A NOTE IN A BOOK. BREAN TURNS TO AMES.

BREAN:

...she's running, it's some sacred... some ancestral

land, cloven by the Brook named.... give it to Moss,

YOUNG:

No, we're on top of it.

BREAN:

Thank you.

YOUNG:

No, thank you...

BREAN:

(HE CHECKS HIS WATCH)

I should be in Nashville, tell him I'm coming in.

BREAN:

(TO AMES)

(GESTURING TO THE YALIE, AND

BODYGUARDS.)

Nice enogh people... they just hadn't thought it

through...

AMES, AS HE WALKS, TAKES OUT HIS CELLPHONE, AND DIALS.

AMES:

(INTO THE PHONE)

No. I was busy.

(PAUSE)

Yes, I need the new poll fig.... how long? I'll call

in from Nashville. And patch me through to the Big

Bird, will...?

(TO BREAN)

I've got to hand it to you. They sure let us out of

there easy....

BREAN:

(TO HIMSELF)

...they just hadn't thought it through...

THE YALIE SHAKES BREAN'S HAND, AND GESTURES FOR A DOOR TO BE OPENED. BEYOND

THE DOOR WE SEE A HELIPAD, AND THE ROTORS OF A HELICOPTER JUST BEGINNING TO

TURN, BREAN WAVES, AND TROTS OUT TO THE HELICOPTER.

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