by Peter Ackers
NICK’S POV:
THROUGH THE SIDE WINDOW Nick sees the Prostitute as the car passes her, and behind her, a neon shop sign floats by. Bright, big letters reading: “BALTI WORLD.”
END POV
ICE
Hey, dickhead, you wanna be one of Eli’s girls? Stick you in a leotard, some black lipstick. Frustrated businessmen go wild for you.
eli
Leave the man alone, he’s had a rough night so far.
Zack LAUGHS.
Nick looks at Ice again. Ice sees him staring from under the blindfold. Like some kid threatening his brother in secret while the parents sit in the same room, Ice starts making little gestures at Nick with his knife, cutting and stabbing movements, pretending to gouge eyes, slice a throat, stab a heart. And MOUTHING WORDS as he performs these acts. Nick turns away after a short time.
LATER
EXT. estate, STREET #1 - NIGHT
The car makes a hard left onto a new street, lined with big old houses. Then the car stops.
INT. focus - NIGHT
Nick reacts as the engine shuts off and Eli and Zack throw open their doors and exit. Moments later, the rear door of the Focus is opened, allowing Ice to slip out.
NICK’S POV:
Under the blindfold he sees the three guys standing at the back of the car, peering in. Eli opens the cage door. Their hands reach in for him.
END POV
EXT. ELI’S house, front - NIGHT
Nick is dragged out and marched towards one of the houses. Through a garden gate and up a concrete path, moving quickly, maybe so the neighbours don’t see. You’d figure that in a neighbourhood like this, the neighbours choose not to see anything that a man like Eli does.
Zack opens a tall gate in a fence at the side of the house and they’re through, into
EXT. eli’s house, rear garden - NIGHT
Small, enclosed. Not much here except an outdoor toilet
eli
Hang on a sec. Toilet’s still knackered.
They stop. Nick tilts his head back so he can see.
NICK’S POV:
He watches Eli cross the enclosed yard to the toilet. It’s made of wood but looks ramshackle. Sandbags on the top keep the roof in place, and a thick plank propped against a wall at an angle seems to keep the whole thing upright. Eli goes inside. The contraption wobbles as he slams the door shut.
Ice sneaks over and lightly kicks the plank, making the toilet wobble fiercely.
eli (O.S.)
Ice, you bastard! Every bloody time. I’ll kick your arse.
Ice scuttles back, laughing.
Soon Eli emerges.
END POV
Nick is taken through a door in the back of the house.
INT. eli’s house, kitchen - NIGHT
A typical kitchen. Nothing special. Old work units, modern appliances. Three closed doors, not including the back door.
As soon as the group enters the house, Nick’s mellow attitude changes. He slaps his head against Zack’s shoulder, dislodging the blindfold. And he goes mad, shaking himself free of Zack’s grasp. He begins SHOUTING JOE’S NAME and running across the kitchen before his captors can react.
One door is partly open and Nick hooks his foot around and yanks it wide, but that door gives into a pantry. The next door he kicks open, but is grabbed before he can enter. Beyond the doorway we see a living room, and a middle-aged WOMAN lying on a sofa. TV SOUNDS play. She jerks upright, seeing Nick.
woman
Jesus, Eli, who you bringing back now?
Eli grabs Nick round the neck, both hands.
eli
Sorry, mum. Just another idiot who doesn’t know to avoid the big boys.
(to nick)
This is the door you want, asshole.
And he thrusts Nick through the only door left to open.
nick
You said I could see my son. He’s a baby. He needs his parents.
cellar
A big cellar, equipped as a home gym-cum-storage room. Fitness apparatus at the front, boxes of junk piled at the back. Dim, lit only by a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.
Stairs lead down into the cellar. Eli drags Nick down them, followed by Ice and Zack. All three haul him to a bare wall from which hangs a punchbag on a bracket. Eli removes the bag and all three force Nick’s arms above his head and hook the handcuffs over the bracket. He hangs there, struggling.
Ice moves to a free-standing punchbag and starts kicking it, making Bruce Lee-type NOISES as he does so. Zack and Eli stand ten feet before Nick, watching him.
nick (scared)
Where’s my little boy? He’s just a baby. What are you going to do to me?
eli
Your boy’s not here, pal. But you are. And you’re here because you fucked up by following us. Now you’re in some mad dog’s cellar hanging by handcuffs, and you better answer his questions truthfully, or things will turn worse for you. We can do this one of two ways. I recommend the way where you just answer the questions.
Ice finds this funny.
nick
I just told you the truth. If something happens to my boy, I’ll…
eli (interrupting)
Shut up. This is the real world and your anger won’t give you superhuman strength and your love for your son won’t save the day. You need to stop thinking you’ll come out of this okay just because you’re a good guy, or that bad old me will get what’s coming. I could kill you and your child and see out my days an old man, sipping tequilas on a Mexican beach.
(beat)
Who did you tell about us? How did you find us?
nick
I followed your car. I heard you, whichever one of you it was. Heard you take my child. Where is he?
Ice stops kicking the bag.
ice
You heard shit, man. I took your kid. You didn’t hear nothing. Probably just went in to check on him at the wrong time.
Nick glares at Ice.
eli
Keep your mouth shut, Ice.
(to nick)
No offence, pal. This wasn’t personal. We were paid to snatch your kid. Some people think babies fetch a lot of money. Like selling DVD players. So we snatched him for someone. If it’s any consolation, this guy isn’t likely to pay top dollar for some baby just to hurt it. Surely you’d be happy to know your kid went to some rich family who couldn’t conceive? Picture him twenty years from now, riding in the mountains in his Ferrari with babes in the back seat.
nick
Is that what’s happened? My son was kidnapped to sell to rich people? By you animals.
ice
Top dollar, man. Should have taken better care of your most valuable possession. Gotta be worth a lot if they’re paying us two grand for delivery. I love it, man. In and out, half a minute, two grand for the hassle, split right down the middle.
nick
I want my child back! Please!
eli
It ain’t straight down the middle, Ice. That would make it a two-way split.
ice
Two middles, then. Six hundred and -
eli (interrupting)
No, Ice. I get a grand, you two split a grand.
ice
You said a three-way split.
eli
That’s still a split. Now stop arguing. Our man here’s getting his hopes up. He’s picturing us arguing and then fighting and in the melee he escapes, finds his son, gets safely home. Sorry, pal, that’s not what’s gonna happen here. Gotta ask you again. Does anyone know what’s happened yet? Might anyone have phoned the police?
zack
Pointless question, Eli. If he thinks it’ll scare us, he’ll say yes. If he thinks we’ll hand the kid over, he’ll say the police and the FBI and Jack Reacher know.
ice
Who?
The phone on Eli’s arm rings. Eli checks the screen to see the caller’s ID.
eli
There’s a ladder of hierarchy here, pal. Ice here is
the dirt the ladder’s planted in. I’m a high rung, but not the top one. So excuse me while I take this call.
He lifts his arms to take the call, talking into his wristband phone like some Secret Service agent.
