Danny puts the drink down on the ground.
Still no reply. Danny walks away. Humiliated. None-the-less, he braves one last glance back. Only to see --
The runner holding the drink container, contemplating it, as though trying to solve a puzzle.
He looks at Danny, the other half of this puzzle.
Danny doesn’t quite know what to do. He stops. And they stand facing each other for the second time.
A greater distance between them. And yet, somehow, this time they feel closer.
EXT. RIVERBANK. MORNING
Danny and the runner walking, slowly, side by side.
DANNY
My name’s Danny.
MYSTERIOUS RUNNER
(unusual emphasis)
My name is Joe.
He can’t even answer a simple question with ordinary cadence. These nothing words feel like more.
EXT. RIVERBANK. MORNING
The riverbank walk continues, the pace notably more assured, Danny and Joe side by side.
DANNY
Joe, are you...
Danny pulls back on the question. Joe observes. Danny cleverly, lightly, turns it into a joke.
DANNY
Are you...?
(smiles)
I ran out of questions.
JOE
Ask me. Please.
A crucial line, pulling Danny closer.
DANNY
Are you out?
Understandably the question seems enormous to Joe.
JOE
No.
(as if it were a more nuanced variation)
No.
Danny assesses. Joe assesses.
JOE
If you want to go - I can understand, that reaction.
DANNY
I don’t want to go.
Relief on Joe’s face. First emotion we’ve seen from him. He tries to hide it. But Danny’s caught it.
EXT. ALEX’S APARTMENT BUILDING. CHELSEA. MORNING
A square. A grand house. Expensive. Impressive. A security camera. Three locks before the door opens.
Joe observes Danny observing the level of security.
JOE
I work for an investment bank.
(beat)
It’s their apartment.
(beat)
Security is a concern.
Danny nods - okay, whatever. They enter.
INT. ALEX’S APARTMENT. LIVING ROOM. MORNING
The apartment is spectacular. Modern. Immaculately clean. No personal touches. No photographs.
Danny’s amazed. A grown-up life. Adulthood. He studies this other world of success while Joe studies him.
JOE
There’s a terrace.
A jarring estate-agent-like boast? Actually it’s Joe trying to be nice.
JOE
If you want to smoke, I mean.
Joe disappears into the bathroom.
EXT. ALEX’S APARTMENT. TERRACE. MORNING
Danny stands, smoking, on the terrace looking out over the city and square. It’s incredible.
He turns to the bedroom.
INT. ALEX’S APARTMENT. BEDROOM. MORNING
Danny peeks inside the wardrobe. The clothes are expensive. Tailored. Elegant. Meticulously organized.
Danny catches himself in the mirror. His own clothes have ragged style, skilful purchases from second hand shops.
Then, on the surface of a cabinet, an odd looking device. Danny examines it. A personal panic alarm.
Danny puts it down just in time --
Joe enters from the shower, a towel around his waist. A great body. Not an invite. Yet not entirely naive.
We’re on the borderline: a casual sex pick up, or something more. Danny must decide.
DANNY
I’ll let you get dressed.
Danny passes Joe on his way out.
They’re close - that flint-spark pull between them.
INT. ALEX’S APARTMENT. LIVING ROOM. MORNING
The bedroom door closes with no particular haste.
Danny’s about to open the door but recovers his senses and backs off. Muttering disapproval.
Flustered, he accidentally touches the laptop on the table. It’s expensive. The screen comes alive --
Complex computer code. A hypnotic kind of beauty: the soft glow of unfathomable numbers and equations.
Bedazzled, Danny briefly forgets himself and scrolls down, revealing more of this strange magic.
INT. CHELSEA. FASHIONABLE RESTAURANT. MORNING
A corner table. A swanky restaurant.
Joe’s immaculately dressed. He wears his clothes well. Cuts a dashing, if austere, figure. Danny admires.
Danny and Joe at breakfast. Danny eyes the prices, daunted by them. Joe observes.
JOE
I can pay.
DANNY
No, it’s fine...
(beat)
I must be easy to read.
JOE
You are.
DANNY
Is that bad?
JOE
It makes a change. The people I work with are inscrutable.
DANNY
I can be inscrutable.
JOE
Did you look through my clothes?
Danny hesitates, caught, and then laughs. Joe smiles. For the first time since we’ve encountered him.
EXT. ALEX’S APARTMENT BUILDING. CHELSEA. MORNING
At the doorstep. A goodbye.
Joe raises a hand for Danny to shake. A stilted formality. Yet it isn’t disappointing or anti-climactic. Danny finds it cute and happily shakes his hand.
EXT. ALEX’S APARTMENT BUILDING. STREET. MORNING
Danny walking away, with a spring in his step, as though the date couldn’t feasibly have gone better.
He passes various expensive-flash cars, with no interest in them, glancing back at the terrace. Joe isn’t on it.
Danny crosses the road, passing a parked white van. The inside is thick with cigarette smoke. But no driver.
Again, of no interest to Danny, a background detail.
Danny glances back for a second time. Joe is at the window - looking at him.
Danny’s thrilled. He raises a hand. Joe waves back.
The white van blurred behind.
INT. DANNY’S APARTMENT. LIVING ROOM. DAY
Danny stands, recounting his date with great gusto.
Sara and Pavel are seated on the sofa, back from the clubs, worse for wear. Sara smoking a joint, laconic. Pavel is gnashing his jaw, bug eyed.
An empty space on the sofa where Danny would normally have sat.
DANNY
We shook hands.
A love struck Danny checks on his wasted audience.
Sara inhales, unmoved. Pavel turns to Sara, baffled as to why Danny is so happy when he didn’t even get laid.
PAVEL
I don’t understand.
SARA
They shook hands.
Pavel still doesn’t understand. And Danny’s exceptionally pleased with their reaction.
EXT. WHITEHALL. EVENING
Danny waits outside one of the ministries. In the hub of political power.
We see Scottie. Early sixties. Emerging from the grand entrance of a ministry: a civil servant figure from a bygone era. Immaculate Jermyn Street tailoring.
We presume this man can’t be who Danny is waiting for. Yet it is. A kiss as a greeting.
EXT. WHITEHALL STREETS. EVENING
Scottie and Danny walking. An excitable energy in Danny movements, compared to Scottie’s steady steps.
SCOTTIE
Has he rung?
DANNY
He will.
Danny adamantly unconcerned.
SCOTTIE
(gentle)
A week..?
DANNY
I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.
SCOTTIE
Why?
DANNY
Because --
&n
bsp; (thinks)
That can’t be it.
(thinks)
There’s more. There has to be.
SCOTTIE
You love falling in love. The moment when it’s all possibilities and dreams.
Danny misses Scottie’s point.
DANNY
You think he’s out of my league?
SCOTTIE
The thought never crossed my mind.
Danny’s caught. Changes subject. He’s breezy.
DANNY
Where are we drinking tonight?
SCOTTIE
(without much hope)
Somewhere dimly lit and terribly old fashioned.
Danny locks an arm through Scottie’s.
EXT. HAMPSTEAD. DAY
After meeting in Whitehall Danny and Scottie have travelled and are walking.
Danny recounting his date with great gusto. But we’re primarily interested in Scottie’s reaction.
DANNY
We’re at the doorstep, saying goodbye, I’m trying to give him my flat mate’s number because I don’t have a phone, except he doesn’t write it down. And I’m like, “if you don’t want to see me again” and he says:
(acting)
“Numbers, Danny, I have no problem with.” Like he could remember every phone number in the world. And then - we shook hands.
(beat, fondly)
If you’d told me a week ago I would’ve been this happy with a handshake at the end of date...
Scottie has been patiently listening. Tolerant of his friend’s indulgent recounting.
DANNY (CONT’D)
I’m sorry. I’ll stop talking about him.
SCOTTIE
No, it’s okay, you’re (excited --)
DANNY
(interrupting)
It’s just... that feeling... You know? Not being able to think about anyone else?
SCOTTIE
Yes. I know the feeling.
Because he has felt and still feels that way about Danny.
DANNY
Right - of course. With... that guy...
Danny doesn’t understand Scottie feels that way about him and presumes he’s referring to a past lover.
Scottie watches his friend, waiting for some spark of recognition that never comes.
Danny’s mind has already fluttered back to Alex.
Scottie understands that he will never have Danny. It will always be so. And he turns his gaze elsewhere, accepting.
INT. DANNY’S APARTMENT. KITCHEN. NIGHT
Danny enters. Sara’s smoking a spliff. Danny’s eyes are full of hope. Sara shakes her head. Offers her phone. Danny checks, stoically - no messages.
Sara offers the spliff. Danny accepts, smokes and smiles, defiantly. As if to say: “he’s going to call”.
INT. DANNY’S APARTMENT. BEDROOM. DAWN.
Danny wakes. Someone knocking on the front door. He looks at the alarm. Early in the morning.
INT. DANNY’S APARTMENT. HALLWAY. DAWN
Danny staggers out in boxers. And messed up hair. He opens the door. Standing before him is Joe. Pristine.
However, this time he’s nervous. In his own peculiar speech pattern. An echo of Danny’s line.
JOE
Otherwise, how do you know?
Danny nods, happy - he knew it.
INT/EXT. JOE’S CAR / VAUXHALL. DAWN
Joe’s driving. The car is expensive. In perfect condition. Danny in the passenger seat.
Danny playfully admires the car. The leather trim. Not beguiled by wealth, soaking details as character.
The car’s music library: Bach. Nothing else. Joe waits for some comment. But Danny doesn’t remark.
INT/EXT. JOE’S CAR / MOTORWAY. MORNING
Joe and Danny in the car.
DANNY
At some point you’re going to talk about yourself, right? Not your work, I understand. That’s ‘secret’. But the other stuff?
JOE
Why?
DANNY
Isn’t that what you do when you meet someone? I tell you stuff. You tell me stuff.
Joe ponders.
JOE
Like facts?
DANNY
(amused)
Facts. Sure.
Joe ponders some more. But does not offer any facts.
INT/EXT. JOE’S CAR / COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. MORNING
The countryside. The car’s parked. There’s nothing around. Joe steps out. Danny follows.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. MORNING
Picturesque landscape. Bleak. Steel edged. Unusual.
Joe’s at the back of the car. Danny walks towards him.
INT/EXT. JOE’S CAR BOOT / COUNTRYSIDE. MORNING
An antique boarding school trunk in the boot. Cracked leather trim. Rusted metal locks. Seventy years old.
Joe rummages through. A pair of hiking boots. There are numerous Ordnance Survey maps - at least fifty.
Danny’s intrigued by this many maps.
DANNY
You’ve walked all these?
Joe’s nervous it implies he’s weird. Danny reassures him.
DANNY
A lot of...
(struggling to know what to say)
...miles.
Joe calculates the exact amount but catches himself. Instead, he takes out the relevant map for their walk.
JOE
This is us.
They sit side by side, map open, each holding half.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. DAY
Danny and Joe walking. Not typical English countryside. Nothing quaint. Odd. Powerful.
Though Danny might not be expertly dressed, he’s fit and enjoying the walk.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. DAY
Danny and Joe at the water’s edge. The mud flats. The water’s ebb. A kind of magic here.
Danny turns, looking at Joe as he observes the view. Joe turns to Danny. Both looking at each other, not the view.
Danny wants to thank Joe for taking him here but doesn’t quite have the words.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. DAY
Huddled behind the remains of an old fishing boat. Joe has a backpack. Takes out an elegant thermos. Danny watches him fuss with the picnic apparatus.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. DAY
They’re eating a handmade sandwich. Not thin processed bread. Wedges from a nice loaf. They sip tea.
DANNY
(through a mouthful)
You’re so grown up. You drink tea. Out of a thermos. You go on country walks. I must seem young? Compared to the people you work with?
JOE
You do.
There’s an autistic yet ever gentle directness about Joe. Danny - far from being offended - seems to enjoy it.
DANNY
Why are you so grown up?
JOE
I skipped childhood.
DANNY
You’re not joking, are you?
JOE
A joke? No. I started university when I was fifteen.
DANNY
You’ve never... messed around?
JOE
In what sense?
DANNY
Any sense.
JOE
I’ve been serious. For a long time.
DANNY
Why did you change your mind?
JOE
About?
DANNY
Me.
JOE
I wondered what it would be like to do one of these walks with someone.
DANNY
For a moment I was worried you were going to say it was because I made you laugh.
Joe considers this seriously. And literally.
JOE
I don’t think you’ve ever made me laugh.
Mathematically correct. Danny smiles. Joe worries.
JOE
I’m not saying you won’t --
DANNY
I understand.
JOE
I’m sure you will --
(amused)
I understand.
Joe accepts that Danny isn’t upset. And that’s new.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE. ESTUARY. DAY
Danny and Joe returning to the car. Danny’s increasingly excited with how the date’s going. Not fatigued by walk, his pace and energy increasing, orbiting Joe.
DANNY
(playful - mid-flow)
-- you show up, on my doorstep - which is wonderful - except I never told you where I lived - so I’m wondering - and just to be clear, in advance, I don’t mind - but did you carry out some kind of ‘background check’ on me?
Joe seems unsure how to respond.
JOE
The way we met was unusual.
DANNY
(playful)
Right. I get it. You thought - stranger, seduction - not that I’m presuming you’re seduced by me - process ongoing - and... what was I saying...? Okay, you thought, what? Our meeting was part of, like, a ‘set up’?
Danny spots Joe’s anxiety.
DANNY
It’s fine. It’s fun. I just thought you said I was easy to read?
Joe slowly understanding that Danny doesn’t care one bit about the oddness. He begins to play along.
JOE
That would’ve been the reason you were selected. The appearance of innocence.
DANNY
Oh. I’m not innocent.
JOE
You might be the only innocent person I know.
Danny’s stumped.
DANNY
Can you tell me what your real name is now?
Joe looks at him - bewildered and impressed. Danny has no empirical evidence, he just sensed ‘Joe’ was a lie.
JOE / ALEX
My name’s Alex.
From now on JOE is referred to by his real name ALEX.
London Spy Page 2
