by Peter Ackers
doki
Heard of the French punishment of ten thousand cuts? That’s what you got coming, you piece of shit. One cut for every pound of my money I don’t get back in the next five minutes.
nick (dazed)
It’s Chinese, you moron.
The Henchmen surround Nick and lift him up. He struggles. Doki pulls a flick-knife and slashes Nick’s ear.
doki
Nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine left. Get this fucker in the garage.
The Henchmen drag Nick away, towards the garage. Doki notices a curtain move in an upstairs window across the street. He simply bows, unafraid. No one will call the police on this guy.
INT. garage - morning
Dirty, messy, with bits of cars littered about like a robot cannibal’s lair. Oil stains everywhere. A rusty motorbike against one wall. A stack of tyres. A calendar with a big-chested beauty posing. A typical auto workshop, really.
And there’s a large wall clock telling us it’s 06.34
The big sliding door rumbles open. The Henchmen carry Nick inside. Doki, Ice, Eli and Zack follow. Doki slaps a light switch and shuts the sliding door.
The Henchmen drop Nick on the floor and roll him into the inspection pit in the centre of the dirty concrete floor. He lands hard. Everyone crowds the edge of the hole, staring in. Nick gets to his knees.
doki
This is the guy, guys. The guy who played with fire. Didn’t I tell you there’s people out there who don’t know Doki and what he’s capable of? They make my life awkward. Because I keep having to teach people the error of their ways. It wastes my fucking time.
Nick rises to his feet. The pit means he’s five feet lower than everyone else. Someone tries to kick him and he drops to his knees again, out of range.
doki
So where’s my money?
nick
Polar bears.
Everyone laughs.
doki
Fucking Polar bears? What? You want to sleep with one? You fantasise about them while in the bath, wanking?
nick
No, you sponsored one. TV advert I saw. You sponsored one for five grand. I gave your address. You’ll get a cuddly polar bear toy in the post in a few days.
doki
You’re a fucking funny bastard. Where’s my fucking money? Or you won’t walk out of here.
nick
His name’s Alexis and he lost his mother to poachers. You’ll get regular update letters from him.
Doki swings a kick at Nick, but he ducks it easily.
doki
One more chance, or your knees and elbows go in a fucking vice. You’re in the big boy’s world now, and it ain’t no place for a guy like you.
Just then BRIGHT LIGHTS come through the sliding door’s two windows. Everyone stops.
doki
The hell is this? Ade, check that out.
One of the Henchmen, Ade, moves to the door and swings it wide. What we see outside is a big 4x4 Toyota Hilux sitting there, facing the garage, bright headlights killing every shadow in the room.
nick
That’s the bigger boys, Doki. Now you’re the one in trouble.
Doki spits on him.
There’s about seven Big Guys in the Hilux’s load bed. They jump out. They all wear black trousers, shoes and white shirts, untucked. The man we know as Carl is there. He’s wearing gloves. Two guys exit from the passenger door, one after the other.
The twins, BART and PATRICK KIELTY. They wear suits, not the silly garb from their dance photo. Early twenties, tall, handsome. Bart is slightly thicker than his twin, all of it muscle.
Nick sees them. His face is stern. These are the two guys he’s been after.
HENCHMAN #2
(to doki)
That guy in the gloves. I think he’s the guy who wanted the kid snatched. Those other two who look the same, they must be the twins.
doki
No shit, Sherlock.
(shouting)
Hey, what the hell are you guys doing here?
No answer. When all the Big Guys are clear of the truck, Bart slaps its side and it bolts like a horse. Straight through the open door, fast, LOUD.
Right at the door, Ade has no time to evade the monster and it swats him aside, a painful but glancing blow. He falls, hits his head, and is out for the count.
The remaining men inside have a fraction of a second more time to react. They scatter aside as the truck races through the garage. Nick ducks as the beast roars overhead and crashes into the back wall, destroying a shelving unit of tools. It stalls.
The Big Guys take advantage of their surprise and rush inside, attacking Doki’s Henchmen. Eli, Zack and Ice stand back, trying to keep out of trouble. Ice waves his gun, but looks reluctant to just start shooting.
But they soon get caught up in it. A Big Guy slaps the gun from Ice’s grasp. A Big Guy and Carl tackle Doki, who’s got some serious fight for a skinny guy.
The twins watch the action, calm. Patrick closes the big door. Guys fight. Nick doesn’t move. Doki’s men are soon overwhelmed, pinned down, Doki, too, and Eli, Ice and Zack. There’s a lot of SHOUTING.
When all of Doki’s cronies are subdued, Bart and Patrick approach Doki, held down on his back by his assailants, Carl kneeling on one arm, the Big Guy on the other. Bart squats by Doki.
bart
Think we robbed you, Doki? Who did you think you were messing with? Scum like yourself?
doki
Get your fucking guys off me. You want a war you can’t win?
bart
War? Wanna-be gangsters thinking they’re high and mighty. There’s no war. There’s just violent idiots acting like animals. Fighting for power? You’ve got no power. You’re just duelling antelope, idiots like you. Money is power, Doki, and we’ve got access to more of it than you. So we can pay more people than you. Hire more lunatics than you. Money must be an issue for you. If five grand is such a big deal.
doki
What you talking about?
bart
Our house, Doki. Coming in my house and trashing it because we paid you less than the agreed amount. That was still a good payday for a lowlife like you
doki
The money was short? Well the joke’s on you because I didn’t even know, because that guy in the hole took the money. So he trashed your fucking house.
bart
What? Make sense, animal.
Nick raises his hand, like a kid in a class. He seems awfully calm.
nick
That was me, yes. I broke in your flat. I broke your stuff.
Hearing Nick’s voice, Bart and the others look over at the guy stuck in a hole in the ground. With faces that say they don’t understand.
doki
Let us up, man. This is the guy you want.
An awkward moment. But Bart gives a wave, and his Men release Doki’s men, who all struggle to their feet. Ice retrieves his gun and slots it back in his waistband. Doki stands at the pit’s edge, jabbing his finger at Nick.
doki
It was this fucker here. He did this. Fucking attacked me. He’s the kid’s dad.
Bart and Patrick look concerned by their new information.
bart
(to doki)
How the hell did this guy get here?
doki
My guys fucked up.
Doki glares at Eli, who looks sheepish. Bart and Patrick approach the pit, staring down.
bart (to nick)
You’re a guy I’ve heard about. Never seen. If I had my way, we would have done this all another way, no fuss. And we never would have met. And I never would have had a problem with you. But now we meet. And now I’ve got a problem with you. You kicked in my door.
nick
And you took my son. My son. So I guess I’ve got a big problem with you, too. I want you to tell me where he is. I want you to take me to him.
patrick (grinning)
We should just t
ell him the score, bro.
bart
That takes us down a path we can’t ever get off, remember that.
doki
Why the hell did you want no one hurt anyway? What did you want this guy’s kid for? You should have planted a dead baby in the house and torched it with him and his bitch wife inside. No one would know any different. Job done.
(to nick)
Where’s my fucking money?
He tries to kick Nick, but it’s easy, being lower, for Nick to avoid it.
Bart steps close to Doki and slaps him in the ear. Doki looks angry and hurt.
bart
Watch who you insult. This is all your fault, remember that. Why’s this guy here? Why isn’t he still asleep in bed? What the hell happened?
doki
He started snooping around. The guy who took the kid got seen doing it.
ice
Hey, I didn’t get fucking seen, okay?
doki (cont.)
But I had my guys dump him. I don’t know how he got back and found us.
bart
Because you’re amateurs, that’s how. This time, you take him to a galaxy far, far away -
patrick (interrupting)
Hey, think, bro. He knows who we are. He’s seen all our faces. That was never the plan. So the plan changes.
The undertone here is obvious. Everyone is silent, considering. Except Doki.
doki
Hear that, dickhead? Your meddling got you fucked. Could have been suffering a long hitchhike from Scotland. Now you’ve stuck your oar in, you’re going in a hole in the ground.
bart
Okay. So we need to think about this.
doki
I think best while on the toilet.
Doki unzips his flies, starts pissing on Nick.
doki
Mass piss, guys.
Soon all of Doki’s people crowded round the pit, dicks out, pissing on Nick, except for Zack. They crowd the pit so thickly we can’t see Nick. Patrick just watches. Bart LAUGHS. And waves for his Big Guys to join in the fun. And so the Big Guys crowd the hole and whip their dicks out.
NICK
In the pit, on his back, pelted by a downpour of the horrible kind. He unzips his trousers and reaches inside.
doki
Ha, look, he’s getting his own dick out. Gonna have a piss-war here.
GARAGE
Guys crowding the pit, LAUGHING. Great fun. But suddenly they’re zipping up, backing away, worried, SHOUTING, tripping over each other. The mass scatters, and we see Nick step out of the pit, drenched, but holding something up in his hand. It’s a grenade, but not the sort we expected. This is an old WWI MK 1 grenade. Guys are running for the door.
Nick
No one leaves.
It works. Everyone stops.
eli
That’s not a real grenade. Look at it.
nick
I run a museum. This is from World War One. Loaded with iron balls. It’ll take the police three weeks to put the jigsaw of flesh together if I drop this.
Nick now unzips his jacket and pulls out an old musket, a weapon hundreds of years old. He points it at the twins.
nick
And this works, too. Eight shots. Also iron balls. They fragment against bone. The exit hole will be big enough to stick both fists into. Who wants to see?
Nick aims at Ice.
nick
Drop that gun.
Ice doesn’t move. Eli grabs the gun out of Ice’s waistband, slowly, and throws it aside.
doki
I don’t know what you think you’re gonna do with that grenade. I bet it doesn’t even work. Or that fucking stupid gun. We should rush him. He ain’t gonna drop it and kill himself.
PATRICK
You first, Doki.
Nick pulls the pin from the grenade. He jams the grenade between his knees.
nick
Try it now. One second fuse. Rush me, hit me, go on. You might pick the grenade up in half a second, but how are you going to get rid of it? You’d toss it fifteen feet in the other half second, not nearly far enough to keep your face. You’d have to carry this thing around for ever.
Points the gun at Ice again. Ice looks scared.
ice
I never hurt you, man. Come on, aim that away.
Nick points the gun at Doki. And the twins.
nick
You three down on your front, on the ground.
Bart and Patrick oblige immediately. Doki doesn’t. Nick takes the grenade in his hand again and steps closer, gun barrel aimed at Doki’s face.
nick
You go down one way or the other.
Doki lays down on his front. Nick turns to the rest of the guys here.
nick
All of you, down in that hole. But not you, Ice. All of you, now.
With more threats and by waving the gun at certain people, Nick forces the Henchmen and the Big Guys down into the inspection pit. It’s quite crammed in there. Ice stands there, looking scared and bewildered.
nick
Ice, you lean in that truck and put it in neutral, and then you roll it over that pit and put the handbrake on.
Ice doesn’t hesitate. Throws open the door, leans in to move the gearstick, and then rushes to the front. He can’t get in front of the vehicle because it’s touching the wall, so he tugs on the wheel well, slowly drawing the truck backwards.
doki
Rush this fucker. He ain’t -
He stops abruptly, with a GRUNT, as Nick stamps on his lower back.
nick
We’ll get to you shortly, Alan Doki.
Ice has rolled the truck back eight feet, over the pit. He leans in the door and pulls on the handbrake. The truck rides high off the ground so there’s room for the men under it to escape. But they can’t use the steps and can’t all escape at once. It’s a delaying tactic.
Nick jabs both twins in the back of the head with his gun.
nick
On your backs, you two.
They roll over, Bart the more willing. Nick points his gun.
nick
Where’s my son?
bart
We honestly don’t know.
doki
In hell, dickhead.
nick
Doki, there’s a knife in the breast pocket of the guy by your right. Keep lying there, and reach for it, give it to me.
The guy to the right is Patrick, and he looks puzzled because there’s no knife. But Doki’s hand reaches onto his chest, feeling, outstretched. Maybe Doki thinks he can get the jump on Nick with a knife.
Patrick realises what’s about to happen before it does, and closes his eyes.
Doki’s extended arm is a bridge between his own shoulder and Patrick’s chest. Nick slams his foot down on the elbow, snapping the arm. Doki SCREAMS. This seems to motivate his men, who threaten Nick with SHOUTED INSULTS.
Nick points his gun at Patrick’s face.
nick
Where’s my fucking child?
He kicks Doki, hard.
nick
Thinking of another wisecrack, Doki?
Nick holds the gun on Patrick and searches his jacket, using the hand holding the grenade.
nick
Grab my hand, I dare you.
Patrick doesn’t, of course. Nick pulls a set of keys, some condoms, and something that looks like a credit card. Everything goes in Nick’s back pocket. He moves to Bart.
nick
Hold still, or you won’t look like twins much longer.
He searches Bart’s jacket, finding various things, but a wallet is the only item he decides to keep. That goes in his front pocket.
nick (SHOUTING)
Where is he?
patrick
We don’t know.
Something comes across Nick, subduing him. The anger seems distant, restrained, a caged animal.
nick (pleading)
Why my son? Why us? Wh
at did we ever do to you? Please tell me where he is. Please give him back to me.
doki
You can have him in pieces, fuckwit.
Nick puts the gun barrel against Patrick’s shoulder.
nick (pleading)
One last chance. I’ll blow this arm right off. Don’t think I won’t do it. That’s my son so please don’t make me do this. Where is he?
Bart and Patrick look a little scared. Nick’s serenity – the calm before the storm? An angry man is easier to read.
patrick
I don’t know. I don’t know. We had him dropped off. That’s all I know.
nick
Where? Where did you drop him?
doki (laughing)
Don’t make me laugh, dickhead. You ain’t got the balls for this. He ain’t got the stones, guys, stop worrying.
Nick’s trying hard to ignore Doki.
nick
(to patrick)
Tell me! Tell me!
Nothing further from Patrick. Nick jabs his head with the gun barrel, but nothing happens. The man’s calling Nick’s bluff, it seems, or knows nothing. Nick stands up, deflated. And tears roll down his face.
doki
You ain’t nothing but a yellow wimp full of anger for some retarded baby. Well I’m gonna cut your little baby’s balls off and feed them down his retarded throat, dickhead.
The storm arrives in a flash. Nick, overwhelmed with sudden anger, moves across Patrick, meaning to get at Doki.
nick (angry)
Shut your mouth you fucking -
And suddenly he trips over Patrick, and drops the gun and the grenade. The grenade rolls. Everyone panics. But when it doesn’t explode, realisation sinks in. By the time the roars of GET HIM are voiced, Nick is already heading for the back door. Angry Big Guys and Henchmen are struggling out of the pit like rats from a drain, hungry for pursuit.
Doki and the twins don’t immediately pursue. The twins get into the truck. Doki rushes for the motorbike stored in one corner, nursing his broken arm.
doki
(to the twins)
He’s going into the school. Head left out of here and left again and cut him off.
EXT. garage, rear - morning
The rear of the garage is a concrete square, littered with bits of motor vehicles and bordered by fencing. Nick bashes the door aside, rushes across the yard, and hauls himself over the fence at the far end.
Guys are hot on his heels, and one Big Guy nearly grabs Nick’s leg as he falls over the fence.
EXT. field - morning
Beyond the fence is a field of mown grass. Up ahead is a school. This is a school field. Nick pelts at full speed. Guys drop over the fence like lemmings off a cliff, all of them enraged and YELLING. Nick’s got twenty metres on them. He passes over painted white lines – part of a four hundred metre running track.
Nick’s running like never before in his life, and that energy increases his lead. Some of the pursuers even stop. But Nick’s only halfway across the field when, far behind, we see someone push through a gate in a hedge. It’s Doki, on the off-road bike. Once he’s through the gate, he spins the rear wheel in the mud and roars off in pursuit, despite his broken arm.
Nick’s head moves, searching for an escape, some help, but there’s nothing. Just open field, nothing to hide behind or use as an obstacle.
Doki’s bike soon races past the lead pursuer. He’s gaining rapidly on Nick.
Ahead of Nick is a long jump pit. The grumble of Doki’s ENGINE fills the air. Nick chances a look back and sees the bike almost upon him.
doki (shouting)
You’re dead, fucker!
Nick closes on the long jump pit from the side. Doki is now just thirty metres out.
Nick can’t outrun him. He rushes over the long jump pit, pausing only momentarily to bend and scoop up some sand – his only weapon.
doki (shouting)
Déjà vu, fucker!
Nick slows, turns, peddling backwards, fist of sand raised, a last desperate hope. Ten metres ahead, Doki pulls a wheelie, clearly planning to do what Nick did to him earlier: hit him with the raised wheel. Nick throws the sand, praying.
Doki’s a second away. But as his back wheel hits the far lip of the pit, his bike is sent into a high somersault. Doki is ejected.
Nick throws his hands up and falls defensively. The bike passes through the point where his head would have been had he remained standing. It lands past Nick. Doki’s body crashes down hard and tumbles in a flail of limbs. He lies still after that, arms and legs twisted in a clearly critical way. Nick stares, shocked.
He is jerked out of his trance-like state by the SHOUTING of the rest of his pursuers. He gets to his feet, rushes for Doki’s bike. As he passes Doki’s body, he stares at it.
Moments later Nick is on the bike, racing away, buckled front wheel wobbling. A Big Guy grabs his arm, but he slips the grasp and is away.
EXT. schoolyard - morning
Nick rides across concrete, past the school buildings, until he comes to a perimeter wall with a locked metal gate in it. He stops the bike, drops it, and scales the gate. No one’s behind him, but we can hear them SHOUTING.
EXT. SCHOOL ROAD - morning
A main road, deserted at this time in the morning. Nick drops over the gate, stumbles across the road because he’s hurt his foot in the jump down, and vanishes down an alley.
EXT. ALLEY - MORNING
Nick limps down a dingy alley lined with rear entrances into the buildings, and dozens of overflowing wheelie bins. He comes to a recessed area with a skip and slips behind it. Hidden.
He sits against the wall, rubbing his hurt leg. He starts to WEEP a little, but then ANGER takes over. He kicks the metal skip. And then he leans his head back against the wall, trying to calm himself.
Checks his watch.
insert:
watch
Reading 06.55
He removes the wallet from his front pocket. Searches it, throwing away cards that don’t give him clues. He finds a small card like a business card.
close up:
card.
It says “Atlantic Nightclub V.I.P” and has an address.
Nick turns it over. There was something stamped on it, but the ink is smudged and we can’t read it.
BACK TO SCENE
Nick throws the card and wallet.
He freezes as we hear, OFFSCREEN, a whining car ENGINE and SCREECHING wheels. Then it’s gone. Nick moves out of his hiding place and looks back down the alley.
REVEAL:
At the end of the alley, two of Doki’s Henchmen rush past, TALKING, then they’re gone. They’re still looking for Nick. He moves the other way down the alley.
We FOLLOW Nick as he jogs.
Soon he comes to an intersection: More alleys. Nick chooses one.
EXT. carson street - MORNING
Another main road. Nick is at the end of the alley, peering out into the street. He’s near a corner. Across the road is another alley. Nick starts across the road at a jog, when suddenly the big black Toyota truck rushes around the corner.
Nick throws himself backwards, ducking behind a parked car. The truck blows past, with two of the twins’ Big Guys standing in the load bed. When the truck is gone, Nick hurls himself across the road and into the new alleyway.
EXT. alley #2 - MORNING
The alley is wide and loading docks line both walls. Nick looks concerned: too wide open.
Behind him we hear VOICES OFFSCREEN. He looks back, and then runs forward.
WE FOLLOW
He’s halfway along when headlights turn into the alley. A vehicle coming. Nick moves towards a loading dock in the left wall. He hauls himself onto the lip, using his foot on a wheeled pallet against the wall below. As he climbs up and presses against the recessed roller shutter, hiding in shadow, the pallet rolls out into the centre of the alleyway.
The car approaches and stops before the pallet, right by Nick’s hiding
place. We see it is the Ford Focus Estate belonging to Eli. Nick is only feet away and can see, as we do, that it now only has one occupant: Zack. He’s on a mobile phone.
Zack exits the car, leaving the engine running and the door open. The driver’s window is down. He’s three feet from the loading bay, five feet from Nick, but doesn’t see him. He moves to the pallet, talking into the phone.
zack
(into phone)
This is a waste of time, Eli, so I’m having one circuit and coming back. This place is a maze. He’s gone.
Zack pushes the pallet out of the car’s way with his foot. BEHIND HIM, we see Nick drop from his perch and leap into the car. The car door slamming makes Zack spin. A second later he’s diving aside as Nick guns the accelerator and throws the vehicle forward.
By the time Zack is up, SHOUTING INTO HIS PHONE, the Focus has hit the end of the alley, turned into the road, and vanished.
INT. focus, moving - MORNING
Nick checks his mirrors, checks ahead. Seems satisfied he’s out of danger. Seems to relax. He winds the window up.
He pulls the keys, condoms and card from his back pocket and dumps them in his lap. He checks the front of the card. Another Atlantic Nightclub V.I.P card. He drops it on the seat. Next, the condoms are tossed. Then he looks at the bunch of keys, and drops those on the passenger seat.
He looks up.
EXT. town street - MORNING
Red traffic lights. The Focus stops. It’s the only car moving. At the traffic lights, a pedestrian crosses, some guy dressed ready for work in overalls.
INT. focus, stopped - morning
Nick’s waiting for the lights. His eyes roam and he spots something. He picks up the card he tossed on the seat.
close up:
back of card
In thick ink is stamped the date and “Family member.”
BACK TO SCENE
Nick notices thin smoke drifting around him. He checks the rear view mirror.
REAR VIEW MIRROR POV: SMOKE DRIFTING UP.
Nick turns, looks back, through the dog cage.
REVEAL:
There at the back between the rear door and the dog cage, below the field of the mirror, is Ice. Laying on his back, wearing earphones, smoking a joint, using just his mouth with his arms by his sides. Chilling. Oblivious to the new ownership of the car. Nick looks shocked.
Suddenly Ice jumps as the joint burns his lips, smoked all the way down. He bats it aside and jerks up, and his eyes rest on Nick. For a moment nobody moves. Then Ice yanks his gun out of his waistband.
INT./EXT. focus
Nick moves quickly. He stamps the accelerator, throwing the car forward. The momentum slams Ice against the back door, momentarily making him lose aim with the gun. As he raises it again, Nick stomps the brake, slamming Ice against the dog cage. Nick throws the car into reverse. But Ice recovers enough to aim the gun.
ice
You had this coming, dickhead.
The car reverses fast, mounts the kerb, and hits a lamp-post hard, crushing the back door.
Nick is jarred against his seat, hard.
Then he looks back. Doesn’t look concerned by Ice anymore. Throws open his door.
Nick rushes to the back of the car. The boot door is bent badly, window shattered but held in place by protective film, and it’s an effort to haul the door open with a screech of metal.
Ice falls out, bloody but breathing, and drops his gun on the ground. Nick takes it.
nick
Thanks for the present.
He closes the warped door as best he can, and gets back in the car.
The car races away, through a red light.
INT. focus, moving - MORNING
Nick looks at the gun while driving. It seems to scare him. He lays it on the passenger seat, careful to turn the barrel away from him.
He picks up the Atlantic Nightclub card again.
FADE TO:
EXT. ATLANTIC NIGHTCLUB – MORNING
A nightclub, closed and dark. The Focus pulls up across the road. Nick exits. Stares at the club. He jogs across the road.
insERt:
plaque
It reads: “LIONEL JOHN KIELTY, LICENCED TO SELL ALCOHOL ON THE PREMISES.”
REVEAL:
Nick at the entrance doors, staring up at the plaque above the doors. There’s a thin metal shutter over the doors.
Nick has the gun. He aims it at the entrance doors. Turns his head away as he FIRES.
The blast is LOUD. The bullet through the shutter and shatters a window in one of the doors.
Immediately there’s a FLASHING BLUE LIGHT from above. Nick looks up. The burglar alarm. Nick seems satisfied. He runs.
cut to:
INT. focus - MORNING
Nick is sitting in the back seat. He has the gun in his hand. He checks his watch.
nick
Quarter past seven. Jesus.
LATER
Nick perks up as he sees something. He manoeuvres himself in the seat so he’s on his front, face against the window.
EXT. atlantic nightclub – long shot - MORNING
A police car pulls up outside the club. Two Officers exit, not looking too speedy about it. As they approach the club, another car arrives. A flash white Range Rover with the registration L10 NEL. From this one exits a guy of about fifty, but lean and handsome and distinguished. He’s wearing a crisp shirt, jeans and workboots. This is LIONEL KIELTY.
The three men meet. Lionel shakes both Officer’s hands. They speak but we’re too far away to hear them.
They approach the club and stare at the door with the busted window. Lionel hauls a big set of keys from his pocket.
INT. focus - MORNING
Nick scrambles from the back into the front and lays low in the driver’s seat. He waits.
LATER
EXT. atlantic nightclub – long shot - mORNING
FROM DISTANCE
The policemen and Lionel exit the front doors. All three men talk, but we can’t hear them at this distance. Lionel locks the doors, closes the shutter with a key. They shake hands.
And part ways. The Officers climb into their car and move away. Soon after, Lionel gets into his car. It moves off. And then the Focus pulls out into the lane behind it, some safe distance behind.
LATER
INT/EXT. FOCUS, moving - MORNING
WIDE ROAD
The Range Rover whizzes along. Behind, keeping its distance, is the Focus with the busted back door.
Inside, Nick looks sleepy, but keeps going. Another time check on his watch.
insert:
WATCH
The time is: 07.58
LATER
MOTORWAY/SLIP ROAD
The Focus follows the Range Rover down a slip road, exiting the motorway.
Inside, Nick winds the window down and leans his head towards the blast of air, needing it to keep him alert.
COUNTRY ROAD
A road between hedges. The Focus follows the Range Rover at a distance.
Nick perks up as he spots something ahead.
The Range Rover slows, the brake lights coming on, clearly seen in the growing light.
Nick sees this and must react. Stop or carry on? He stamps the accelerator.
The Focus blows past the Range Rover, which has come to a stop at a gate in the hedge. As Nick drives past, Lionel is exiting his car, moving towards the gate.
The Focus slows as it turns a bend, slipping out of sight.
Nick looks behind. And hits the brake.
The Focus turns in the road and starts to creep back along the lane.
THROUGH WINDCREEN
We see the road come into view around the bend. We catch the Range Rover disappearing through the gate.
BACK TO SCENE
The Focus stops, close to the gate. Nick exits. And he’s carrying Ice’s gun.
EXT. field #2 - morning
Nick approaches the gate, which is open, and rushes throug
h. There is a dirt track, but it’s churned, as if by the passage of heavy vehicles.
Nick looks at his watch.
insert:
watch
The time is: 08.33.
We see, some two hundred metres in, a partially built large house, with three storeys and outbuildings. It is under construction: ant-like Workmen move about, and there’s trucks and a bulldozer and other construction machinery here. The Range Rover parks near the house. Lionel exits.
Nick starts up the dirt lane, moving quickly, but bending low as if to hide.
Halfway there, Nick hears a CAR ENGINE behind him. The Toyota Hilux has arrived. It comes at speed up the track. Nick rushes into the field and throws himself flat.
The truck rushes past. We watch it approach the house and pull up near the Range Rover. At this distance, just over eighty metres, we can clearly recognise Bart and Patrick Kielty as they exit the truck and move towards a wooden structure. They go inside.
Nick moves through the field, still bending low. Soon, the twins emerge from the wooden shack, with Lionel following. All three make gestures as if conversing, but we can’t hear them. Lionel looks at his watch.
Nick moves off to the left side of the construction arena, ducking behind a stack of long planks. There’s an extension on the house that looks like it might be a two-car garage. It’s just a framework at the minute, covered in blue plastic sheeting. Nick ducks through a slit in the plastic.
INT. half-built house, garage - DAY
Nothing here, except a table with some blueprints on it. There’s a doorway. Nick goes through.
LIVING ROOM
There’s nothing here, either, except areas marked out for where shelving will go, and a skeleton staircase. Thin temporary walls at least hide Nick from the outside.
Three Workmen approach from outside, seen THROUGH THE DOORLESS DOORWAY.
Nick runs up the stairs.
UPPER LANDING
There’s solid flooring here. There are four doorless doorways. Workmen move about behind three of those doorways. We HEAR them TALKING. Nick moves into the fourth room.
FOURTH ROOM
Totally empty. Walls, but no floor: it’s a latticework frame, that’s all. Nick peers in, and down, through the floor, and seems to see something. He sits, feeds his legs through the grid, and lowers himself, dropping into the room below.
FIFTH ROOM
This one’s different. It has thick walls, a finished floorboard floor, sanded, and there’s flatpack furniture, boxed, leaning against one wall. This one’s being readied quicker than the rest of the house.
Nick spots a kind of booklet on a shelf in a built-in cabinet that’s missing its doors. The book is open. He flips through it. It’s filled with swatches showing wallpaper. All kids’ wallpaper.
Now Nick looks at one of the walls and approaches it. The wall shows thick pencil markings, showing where a window will go. It’s star-shaped.
FLASHBACK:
STORAGE ROOM
The star-shaped window.
BACK TO SCENE
Nick’s face is pure anger.
The only doorway in this room leads back into the main house. Nick rushes through it.
SECOND LIVING ROOM
Another unfinished room. Here, though, are five Workmen, hammering away at various jobs. One looks up.
workman
Hey, pal, who are you?
Nick ignores him and goes for the nearest exit.
CONSERVATORY
Long, high, made of plastic framework. It looks nearly ready, the floor complete. There’s no glass in the walls or ceiling, but there’s glass in the doors at the end. Nick doesn’t need the doors. He ducks through the framework.
EXT. field, rear of house - DAY
Now we’re in a back garden. There’s a wide lawn, a big hole cut out for a pond, a tarmac square where a large shed might soon sit, and posts with string strung between them to denote where a fence around the garden may go.
Nick Jogs around the house, coming upon the front again. He sees Lionel and the twins talking to six Workmen, all of them stood around the Range Rover and the Toyota 4x4s. They all look agitated, as if something important has happened.
Nick stands out in the open, but they haven’t seen him yet. Nick eyes them as a lion might watch an antelope. The time for hiding is over. Nick takes a step towards them.
And stops as his arm is grabbed by a YOUNG WORKMAN.
YOUNG WORKMAN
Hey, I got him!
Nick turns, headbutts the man, dropping him. Everyone looks over at the Young Workman’s GRUNT.
workman’s voice
There he is!
So he’s expected. The six Workmen peel away from the Kieltys and move towards Nick. Other Workmen come at him from the house.
Nick strides forward, hauls the gun he stole off Ice, and aims ahead. The Workmen at the side freeze, those in front scatter like birds. It leaves the Kieltys in Nick’s sights.
nick
Got this place all ready for him, haven’t you? Where is he? What have you done with him. Ask me who I mean and I’ll fire right at your faces.
Lionel seems frozen. Patrick doesn’t move. But Bart steps between Nick and Lionel, arms raised.
bart
He’s not here, Nick. That’s the truth. Please put the gun away.
Nick stops just feet away, full of anger, pointing his gun.
nick
One of you knows where he is. Old guy there, he your dad? The night you kidnap my child, you spend it at his nightclub. You turn up heavy handed with bouncers from his club. He’s involved. Move away.
bart
He’s my dad. Put the gun down and we’ll work this out.
nick
Move. I’ll shoot you in the ankle.
bart
Look, I can’t let you hurt my dad. Put the gun away and we’ll work this out.
Nick squints down the gun, aiming at Bart’s knee. Bart jumps aside.
bart
Hey, hey, for fuck sake, stop this.
Nick moves closer, now aiming at Lionel, who looks terrified.
nick
You. Where’s my son? Tell me!
Lionel doesn’t flinch. And remains silent.
nick
One chance. Where is he?
Patrick steps between Nick and his dad.
patrick
I’ll tell you. This has all gone to cock. We should have all sat down like adults. He’s in a van. He’s fine, so don’t worry about that.
lionel
Patrick, be quiet.
nick
What van? Where?
patrick
Until this place is ready. I said this was all too soon. Until this place is ready for him, he’s in a van. People are looking after him. So don’t worry.
nick
What are you saying? He’s locked in a van somewhere? Where? If he’s hurt, I’ll -
He stops, his face creasing in thought.
FLASHBACK:
MCDONALD’S
A blue Mercedes Vito panel van exiting the car park.
BACK TO SCENE
patrick
He’s not hurt. Joe’s fine.
nick
Don’t you fucking use his name! He’s just a piece of meat to you bastards.
patrick
No, he’s not. You don’t know what’s going on here. Look, the van is moving. It’s constantly on the move, so nobody sees him until this place was ready.
nick
Where?
patrick
It’s on a loop between here and Nottingham. M1 motorway. It goes down and back, so it’s never far away if we want to. . .
nick
To what?
Lionel steps forward.
lionel
To visit him. Nick, put down the gun. We need to talk.
Nick considers all this. He looks bewildered, unsure of what all this means. But he doesn’t care. He moves over to the Range
Rover, opens the driver’s door and looks in – still keeping the gun trained on the Kieltys.
Then he moves to the Toyota, takes aim, and, scrunching his face as he fires, puts a bullet in the front tyre. He takes out the other front tyre, too.
Then he climbs into the Range Rover, starts it with a key that was probably in the ignition, and tears out of there like a bat out of hell. He’s heading down the dirt track before anyone can react.
Lionel yanks a mobile out of his pocket and throws it at Bart.
lionel
Phone the van, find out where it is. Now!
INT./EXT. range rover, moving - DAY
Nick’s driving fast. His gun is on the passenger seat. There’s a large roadmap book in the passenger footwell, which he grabs up, flicks open, trying to find a route.
The Range Rover exits the field, onto the country road. It roars away.
Inside, Nick is still checking the map.
LATER
The Range Rover hits a mini-roundabout and takes the turn that a large SIGN says leads to the motorway.
Inside, Nick is searching the glove box and the door pockets for anything he can find that will help him. Then he looks into the back, and we see a baby car seat strapped behind the passenger seat. He doesn’t like the look of that. Reaching back, he starts fumbling with the baby seat.
MOTORWAY SLIP ROAD
The Range Rover takes the slip road illegally fast. Just before it reaches the motorway, the driver’s window winds down and the car seat flies out, landing on the road. Then the Range Rover slips onto the motorway.
MOTORWAY
At such an hour the motorway is getting busy with people off to work. A lot of flash BMWs with executives inside and big trucks, but the Range Rover is the fastest moving thing out here.
Inside, Nick yawns and rubs his eyes. He flicks the heater on and touches the air vents, blowing freezing air into his face. There’s a chocolate bar on the dashboard, which he snaps up and tears open with his teeth.
The Range Rover is in the fast lane, blowing past everything to its left. Ahead there’s another Range Rover, black. The white Range Rover slips into the middle lane to undertake its black brother.
Nick has finished the chocolate bar and discards the wrapper. He seems to see something up ahead.
NICK’S POV THROUGH WINDSCREEN
A blue Mercedes Vito van. It’s in the left lane, indicating to turn off onto the slip road for a service station.
END POV
Nick looks elated. He flicks on his indicator, checks the mirrors.
The Range Rover tries to get across two lanes in time to make the exit, but heavy traffic makes this hard. He cannot make the lane jumps in time and the Range Rover whips past the turn-off.
THROUGH PASSENGER-SIDE FRONT WINDOW
We see the Vito, moving slow on the slip road, and then it’s gone and Nick, staring after it, CURSES and slaps the steering wheel.
The Range Rover slips into the hard shoulder and stops. Nick leaps out and, with gun, rushes up the embankment.
EXT. service station car park – DAY
Nick exits the undergrowth into a vast car park half-filled with cars. There are People here, entering and exiting cars and strolling to and from the service station. He hides his gun in his armpit.
The Vito pulls up in a space some sixty metres away. Nick jogs towards it. Then the side door slides open and four Army Guys with camo fatigues and rucksacks exit. False alarm. Nick stops his pursuit and turns, heading back into the undergrowth.
INT./EXT. range rover, moving - day
MOTORWAY
The vehicle is once again on the move at speed.
Inside, Nick is scanning both sides of the motorway.
LATER
He is leaned back, driving with one hand, losing confidence. Checks his watch. Looks upset.
Then he leans forward, staring through the windscreen.
NICK’S POV
Staring forward. On the other side of the motorway, heading towards us, is another Mercedes Vito in blue. We watch it pass from the windscreen and into the driver’s side window and then rush past.
BACK TO SCENE
Nick’s looking back over his shoulder, watching the receding van. He looks excited. He faces front again.
FOCUS ON:
ROADSIGN that tells us the next exit is 2 miles away.
Nick looks annoyed at this. Then, once again, he seems to spot something ahead.
The Range Rover approaches a gap in the central reservation. There’s a barrier where a portion of the fence is missing, probably due to some crash. The Range Rover slows, forcing cars behind it in the fast lane to swerve into the middle lane. HORNS HONK.
The Range Rover turns at the barrier, and slowly drives through it, pushing aside the plastic fencing. It accelerates into the fast lane on the other side of the motorway, once again causing hassle to drivers in that lane, who swerve into the middle lane and HONK their horns. Soon it is up to top speed.
THROUGH WINDSCREEN
We watch as the Range Rover closes on the blue Vito.
Nick Picks up the gun from the passenger seat.
The Range Rover closes on the Vito, which is in the slow lane. The Range Rover is still in the fast lane.
We pass a sign that advertises the service station we just passed, 1 mile ahead.
The Range Rover slips into the middle lane.
THROUGH WINDSCREEN
We see the Vito in view, sixty metres ahead, and closing.
The Range Rover draws alongside.
Inside, Nick stares out the passenger window, trying to see inside the Vito, but the windows are tinted.
THROUGH WINDSCREEN
We see the service station slip road looming.
The Range Rover inches ahead, rear bumper now level with the Vito’s front bumper.
The slip road is almost upon us.
Inside, Nick holds his speed, flicking glances between the road ahead and the Vito.
THROUGH WINDSCREEN
We see the slip road just metres ahead, rushing at us.
Inside the range Rover, Nick looks scared.
nick
Please God, don’t let them crash.
And he jerks the steering wheel to the left.
The Range Rover jumps quickly into the left lane, dangerously close to the front of the Vito. The Vito swerves left to avoid a crash, into the slip road, and is forced to take it. Its HORN BLARES.
Inside the Range Rover, Nick watches the Vito turn off, forced up the slip road leading into the service station.
The Range Rover blows past the slip road. It races some four hundred metres, and slows, moves into the hard shoulder.
The slip road exiting the service station is here. The Range Rover slows and turns left into the slip road, heading up it, the wrong way. A small car is exiting and its driver is forced to swerve out of the bigger vehicle’s way.
SLIPROAD
HALFWAY UP, the Range Rover turns, stops, blocking most of the road. Nick jumps out, gun in hand. He crouches behind his vehicle.
Thirty seconds later, the Vito looms, heading down the slip road, preparing to exit. Nick points his gun, moving towards the van. It skids to a stop, mere feet away.
nick (shouting)
Out. Out of the van.
Nothing. Nick FIRES into the air. The NOISE is loud. That does it. The Van Driver jumps out, hands in the air. He runs away.
Nick moves to the side of the van with the sliding door and boots it twice.
nick
You inside. Out now.
The door slides open. Two people exit, both Women. Nick waves them aside with his gun.
nick
Anyone else in there? Move away.
woman #1
No. Who are you? What the hell is all this?
Doesn’t seem scared. But she’s doing as he says.
Nick climbs inside the van.
INT. vito - DAY
He’s quite shocked. The va
n is decked out like a child’s bedroom. It looks like the sort of place you might plan to keep a baby for quite a while. There’s canvas pictures hung, a changing station, toys scattered around. There’s even medical equipment, in case a child were to fall ill. And a cot, next to a chair meant for an adult to watch over him. And in the cot, wrapped in a blanket, lays little Joe, awake.
Seeing him, Nick immediately bursts into tears. He grabs his little man into a big hug, TALKING TO HIM. Joe smiles and makes baby NOISES.
After a while, we hear SCREECHING TYRES. Nick notices. With Joe in his arms, he checks his watch.
insert:
watch
09.24.
Nick moves out of the van with Joe.
EXT. slip road - DAY
A new car has arrived here, parked behind the Vito. It’s a workman’s van. No workmen here, though. Out of the van slip Lionel, Bart and Patrick. The twins have to move between their dad and Nick, because Lionel is angry and is trying to storm forward.
Nick raises the gun.
nick
You three, piss off right now and I’ll forget you. I got my son back. Take advantage of that.
lionel
You be careful with him. Put him back in his bed.
nick
You shut your fucking mouth. Get back in that van and go.
Lionel is struggling to get past Bart and Patrick, who restrain him. Nick looks a little puzzled, but still angry.
lionel
I’m not having this, let me past. Joe, I want to get to Joe.
nick
Don’t you use his name! Shut up. You keep away from my son.
lionel
He’s not yours. He’s mine!
long shot
Nick facing down Lionel. Lionel is animated, arms and mouth going. Nick is pointing his gun, immobile. But then the gun lowers. And Lionel moves towards him.
FADE IN:
alarm clock
Digital. It flicks from 10.59 to 11.00 and starts BEEPING.
REVEAL:
INT. haynes house, master bedroom - DAY
Wendy stirs at the BEEPING noise. She’s very groggy but eventually wakes and shuts off the alarm.
She lays there a second or two, letting the sleep ooze out of her, then jumps up quickly, as if realising something. She dresses quickly in trousers and a top.
HALLWAY
Wendy exits into the hallway, moves quickly towards Joe’s room.
JOE’S ROOM
She enters, sees the baby’s cot is empty. She SIGHS. It’s hard to read her face. She turns to exit.
And GASPS as she sees Nick in the doorway, cradling little Joe. They stare at each other for a moment or two. Nick’s face is rock, and Wendy doesn’t know how to react.
Then Nick turns away, starts down the hallway.
nick
This way.
Wendy follows, apprehensive.
LIVING ROOM
FOCUS ON DOORWAY
Wendy enters. She stops suddenly, seeing something in here that shocks her.
REVEAL:
In the living room we have Nick, standing, and baby Joe, laying on the sofa bed. And Lionel is here, sitting on another sofa.
Wendy seems speechless. Nick stands before the fire, facing them both. Behind him, on the mantle, is one of Joe’s baby monitors.
lionel
Hey, babe.
nick (to wendy)
You did look shocked, but now you look like the cogs are turning in your head. Don’t bother with some inventive bullshit. He told me everything.
Wendy glares at Lionel, who simply NODS.
nick
I know all about your dirty affair, Wendy. You met at your dance glass, when he dropped off his sons a few times a week. First the odd lift home, then the odd dinner, while you were supposed to be putting in extra time at the class. Then the odd dirty fuck while I was working late.
Nick picks up a pile of papers laid on the coffee table.
nick
Some people go out of their way to deny things. This guy went to a lot of trouble to prove it about you two. Here, receipts for things he bought you, bills for nights out, even photos of you two taken by friends and all sorts of other people. I think I must be one of the few people in this city who didn’t know.
Nick drops the papers. He and his wife stare at each other.
nick
And I know it’s been going on for over a year. So, is Joe mine? I need to hear it from your cheap mouth.
lionel
There’s no need for -
nick (interrupting)
Yes there is. Try telling me that when she cheats and lies some way down the road in your glorious new relationship.
(to wendy)
Is he mine?
Wendy takes her time before answering. She crosses to Joe and picks him up, and sits beside Lionel.
nick
I guess there’s my answer.
lionel
I explained it to you, Nick. I’m sorry it had to come out this way.
wendy
I am, too. I wanted to tell you.
nick
What way? You mean paying evil bastards to kidnap Joe?
Wendy looks horrified. She looks at Lionel
wendy
Why did you have to tell him that? He could use that against us.
lionel
No, that’s not -
nick (interrupting)
I think he’s about to say that’s not what happened. He’s right, don’t have a go at him. He said nothing. I know about the kidnapping because it happened, you bitch. Some men came into my fucking house and took him. I got him back. And you’re right. I’d use what you did against you. If I believed he was my son, then before bringing you both together here, I would have set it up to record you two bastards confessing what you did and I’d use that to get custody of Joe. And I’d get it, because you’re no mother. What mother does that? You’re not fit to be a mother.
lionel
He found the house, Wendy. He found the van. He had a gun and was going to take our son and I thought I had to tell him Joe wasn’t his, to stop him.
wendy
So now you know. Yes, Nick, Lionel and me are together. It happened slowly, and we were a couple before I knew what was going on.
nick (interrupting)
So sweet, a true-life Disney story.
wendy (cont.)
Then we had Joe, and you thought he was yours and I couldn’t bring myself to tell you he wasn’t. And then you and me started to fall apart. And then I didn’t want you anymore, but you were in Joe’s life.
nick
And the kidnapping part?
wendy
I didn’t want all the trouble, if you really want the truth. If you want the bare bones, Nicolas. We’ve got friends in that position. Lucy, for one. She’s with her new man, but every week she has to give Dale over to her bastard ex-boyfriend for the weekend. I didn’t want that. I don’t want that. I wanted my new life and I didn’t want you seeing Joe. It wouldn’t be fair on Joe and I didn’t want you being a part of my life for years afterwards.
nick
So you arrange a kidnapping. Joe moves into a nice new house in the country, and after a month or so the police tell us he’s probably dead. The news devastates us. A rift appears, with you playing your part of the grieving mother so well. Then you split from me. And you have no reason to see me ever again. You three can go live your fairytale life in a house in the country, the new family together, while I sit dosed up on alcohol and rotting away and pining over my dead son.
(beat)
It explains a couple of things. Why you set yourself up to sleep all night, with those tablets. Easier for you if I’m the one who has to answer all the cops’ questions. Why no one heard anyone break in the house, that sort of thing. And it explains why you took the batteries out of the baby monitor in Joe’s room. And the open window and the sleeping blanket. You planned this well.
(more)
(cont.)
And you know the funny thing? I was checking the time all night. I was panicking. I think I was trying to get Joe back home before you woke, so you wouldn’t know what had happened. You know, I get him back and you wake and never know what had happened? But the funny thing is, I was watching the clock even after I knew this was all down to you. How stupid is that? Or is it? Maybe once I knew, I wanted to get back in time to see how you reacted when you woke up. See your fake concern when you see his cot empty. And I certainly saw it a minute ago. Maybe that was it, but the truth is I don’t know what I was thinking towards the end.
Silence. Wendy and Lionel look awkward just sitting there.
nick
I could go into asking questions about how you’d change Joe’s identity, or would you have kept him hidden from the world forever? Can’t enrol him in school, they’d need to see birth registration documents. He couldn’t get a driver’s licence or a passport or a job. He’d be like the freak who lived in the attic, hidden from the world. But I don’t want to waste my time with that. I want to ask you a question, because there’s a problem with this whole thing, and I think from what I read on Lionel’s face, he knows it, too. Say what you’re thinking, Lionel.
Wendy looks at Lionel. Lionel has a funny look, like maybe he wants to say something.
nick
Speak, man. Tell her.
lionel
When Joe was born, I said we should tell Nick. I said we should get a DNA test, prove it. The baby should have been the thing that finally made you leave him.
nick
DNA test, Wendy. All this crap with a kidnapping to get me out of your life? Why, when a DNA result wafted in my face would have done the trick? Say what you’re thinking, Lionel. Say what you’ve thought every since Joe was born.
lionel
He’s not mine, is he, Wendy?
Wendy has no response.
nick (angry)
No, he’s mine.
Nick takes Joe from Wendy, who gives him up easily. She’s staring at Lionel, probably more concerned with what Lionel’s thinking of her at this moment.
lionel (upset)
So there’s my answer. Congratulations, then, Nick. You got your son back, in more ways than one.
nick
Well done, Wendy. You just ruined two guys’ lives in a couple of minutes.
One-handed while holding Joe, Nick takes the bag of money from his thigh pocket. He takes out the wad of notes. Everyone looks at it, waiting for his next move.
nick
I got my son back, Lionel, you’re right. And that means you didn’t get what you paid for.
Nick tosses the wad of money at Lionel’s chest. Money floats into his and Wendy’s laps.
nick (cont.)
So there’s your refund. Twenty-eight day money back guarantee. Now, I’m going to go get my tape.
Nick leaves the room. Lionel starts to TALK to Wendy, but she puts up a hand to silence him and follows Nick.
INT. haynes house, joe’s room - DAY
Nick enters with Joe in his arms. He crosses to the stereo. Wendy enters after him. Nick presses STOP on the tape deck, slides out the tape.
wendy
Nick, let’s talk about this. Look, I...
She moves to the baby unit and picks it up.
nick
If you’re gong to turn that off, don’t bother. I don’t care what lies you’re about to tell me. You always wanted me, we can make a go of it, you’re over Lionel, anything like that?
Wendy turns off the baby unit.
wendy
Lionel’s people will keep quiet about this. No one will know what happened last night. We’re going to have to talk about this. A baby belongs with his mother. Lionel earns good money. You can’t win this.
Nick shows the tape, then puts it in his pocket. He reaches for the unit in her hands, turns it on.
nick (shouting)
Lionel.
lionel (o.s) (baby unit)
What?
His voice comes from the living room and from the unit in Wendy’s hands. Wendy looks shocked.
nick
I swapped them round.
Wendy looks dejected. Beaten.
wendy
So what happens now?
nick
It’s been a long night, Wendy. I’m not thinking much past sleep.
Nick pushes past Wendy and leaves the room. In the doorway, he is stopped by her voice.
wendy
Nick, please, wait. Don’t let this be the end. There’s always a way around things. Joe’s safe, everything’s the way it would have been this morning if this hadn’t happened. You and me, Joe. All here. We could learn to act as if this never happened?
nick
Never happened? What about your lover-boy in the living room? Make him dissolve, maybe? Make the whole night go away, rewind. Go back in time?
He gives her a LOOK of disgust. He moves towards the door, then stops. Turns to her.
Nick
Something else I realised tonight. It came to me. You care? It answers an important question. Something that fell into place out of the blue.
wendy
I do care, Nick. I do. Tell me. What is it?
For effect, Nick just stares at her for a time, before finally speaking.
nick
You can only fit three fingers in a bowling ball.
And with that, Nick exits.
INT. MUSEUM, corridor, ww1 EXHIBIT - day
We’re outside the museum exhibit from earlier. The museum must be open, because Customers mingle and move past. But the curtains are closed across the glass front of this exhibit. No one seems to care.
iNT. old kitchen - day
Back where we started. Once again we PAN ACROSS, this time in reverse. Across the old table, and Nick’s mobile phone. Here’s the rocking chair. Slumped beside it is the mannequin housewife. Her place in the chair has been taken by Nick, who sleeps. Onward we move. Here comes the baby’s cot. The plastic baby is also on the floor and in its place, also sleeping, is Joe.
THE END
