The Last Swan (4) CU of the detective is throwing up in a wastebasket. He straightens up. DET (sweating) Take this number. At least, they're pros. They know how. He writes the number on a match book cover and throws it in Waxner's lap. WAXNER Do they take MasterCard? The detective leaves, cursing. INT. ROGO’S HOME (11 AM) Garvey and Waxner ransacking Rogo's library, slapping his wife out of the way. A security guard from the drug company has Rogo’s son in an arm lock. Garvey is shoveling books onto the floor. He finds some notebooks. GARVEY Class notes from med school. Sentimental. Rogo’s wife is whimpering. the son is cursing and struggling, trying to kick the security guard in the shins. WAXNER I found it. It's on the menu in his desk top, under 'cancer cure' GARVEY Erase it. WAXNER I have a feeling that, if I do, the whole building will go up. Let's preview it. He manages to unlock the file and cue it in. The screen says: YOU’RE NO BETTER AT THIS THAN YOU ARE AT ANYTHING ELSE. IT’S GONE WAXNER That says it all. GARVEY He wouldn't have it with him. Annabelle. No, that's a little obvious. WAXNER She knew enough to run for it. Yesterday. She didn't come in. GARVEY Why the Hell didn't you think of that before? Call security. No, Christ, those clowns. Call the police. Theft of company property. Patent infringement. Top secret documents. No, that's civil. No, no cops. WAXNER I have a number to call. INT. ANN’S APARTMENT -- ARTSY (NEAR DAWN) Ann wakes up to hear two men trying to break into her apartment. She has a police lock so, it takes them a little time. They have a car jack under the door and are pumping it up. She hears her neighbors complaining, them answering. GOON 1 It's all right, Ma'am, we're cops. NEIGHBOR No, you're not. Ann jumps up then makes the bed before grabbing her clothes and backpack and jumping into a closet. She jumps out again to retrieve a shoe then back in again just as the door is ripped off the hinges and 2 GOONS break in. GOON 2 Gone. So, we wait. GOON 1 Bed hasn't been slept in. She didn’t come home last night so, she wont be back. GOON 2 We ought to look. GOON 1 She's gone so, she took it with her. GOON 2 Cat's still here. GOON 1 People abandon their animals all the time. No fucking compassion. The notebooks and hard disks are in plain sight. Then there are sirens in the distance. GOON 2 Now. Ann waits till they're gone. She slips out of the closet and stuffs the notebooks and disks into her backpack, then make up. She picks up her razor, looks at it, takes out the single edged razor blade and slips it into her pocket. Then a Mace canister. Then 3 more gothic novels. Then she makes a phone call. ANN Martha? MARTHA (V.O.) Annabelle? are you in some kind of trouble? There are men here asking for you. They're waiting out front in case you show up. ANN Thanks, Mart. Can you take care of my cat? You have the keys? MARTHA (V.O.) Where are you calling from? But she sounds too eager. Martha has begun to stink. Ann hangs up, puts the cat in its carrier, grabs it, her backpack and shoulder bag and looks out the rear window. The alley is, clear and she begins climbing down the fire escape. An old woman looks out her window at her. Ann puts a finger to her lips. ANN Three months behind on the rent. The old woman nods understandingly and Ann keeps going. She has her car parked on the street, an incredibly beat up sports car, an old MG or a Morgan. She drives off.. INT. EDITORIAL OFFICES OF THE NY TIMES (DAY) An uncomfortable looking EDITOR is sitting behind a desk and talking to Annabelle. Rogo's notebooks are on the desk between them. ED Unprintable. You dont have the credentials to tell the story. You would have to be the principal researcher, one of the players. Either that or a medical reporter with an international reputation. ANN I'm not asking you to believe this on the basis of my reputation. I have the research record to prove it. ED We are not in the business of evaluating medical research. We don’t have the competence. Or the time. It would have to be taken on faith. Perhaps, if you could find another researcher to co-author it, someone with an established reputation. Even then you would only succeed in embarrassing yourself. Ann tries to interrupt, but he wont let her. There's a book about this: Strategic Deception by Herbig, something like that. Like tricking the Japanese into bombing Pearl Harbor. No one would believe that America would sink its own fleet just because it was obsolete and there was no other way to get rid of it. It couldn't happen. The evidence is irrelevant. People will believe a conspiracy theory if and only if it fits in with what they want to believe anyway ANN Who killed JFK? ED The Russians, I thought everyone knew that. They were still pissed at being forced to get their missiles out of Cuba, that's why. And it had to be covered up because the only alternative was nuclear war. ANN Is that true? ED I dont know, I just made it up, but you see what I mean. It fits, so it's believable. A cancer cure being suppressed, that doesn't fit, it calls too many things into question. I dont know what else to tell you. ANN How about ‘Good-bye’? The editor gives her a sardonic smile. He grows smaller in the background as Ann walks out. INT. DRUG COMPANY LAB CORRIDOR (BRIGHT) Ann is talking to a HINDU MD Ph.D. NAMED GUPTA He speaks fluent New York dialect. GUPTA How the Hell did you get in here? We're supposed to have security. ANN What about Dr. Rogozin? GUPTA Rogo? He was good but, a little noisy. ANN He had guts. GUPTA It's called guts when you win. When you lose it's just stupidity. And he took too many chances. He was lucky for so long, he didn't think it was luck. ANN His luck came back at the end. GUPTA Yeah, that's why he killed himself. Or did he run for it? ANN It was murder. GUPTA I don’t believe in conspiracy theories for the simple reason that too many people would be involved. One of them would have to talk. ANN I'm talking now. Gupta tries to answer and cant. ANN (continuing) It isn't necessary to keep them from talking. All it's necessary to do is keep them from being listened to. Like now. GUPTA Yeah, you're smart enough. He told me that. ANN I'm asking you to test this and see if it's a cure for breast cancer. GUPTA My reputation would be ruined just by being associated with that. Try a younger man who's still got some guts. ANN Then you do believe me? GUPTA Why not? you're obviously telling the truth. ANN Then help me. GUPTA Help you? I'm going to call Waxner and tell him that you were out here trying to peddle the formula. Run for your life, Butch! ANN Butch? GUPTA Yeah, you haven't been reacting to me as though I were a man since you got here. ANN Is this better? She grabs his nuts and gives them a slow twisting squeeze. He doubles up and drops to his knees with an abstracted expression. EXT. YORK AVE (SUNNY) Ann runs out, into the parking lot across the street into her MG and gone. Her cat is screaming EXT. CANCER CLINIC (EARLY EVENING) People are filing out, going home. Ann is sitting in her MG watching them. She sees someone she recognizes and runs up to him. He keeps trying to get into his car, she keeps trying to stop him. ANN Dr. Barthes? Annabelle O'Leary, research assistant to Dr. David Rogozin. BARTHES I heard. I'm sorry. ANN He left some...important research unfinished. I thought you might want to…? BARTHES After what happened, it's hopelessly tainted . ANN He killed himself because his daughter got pregnant and wouldn't get married. BARTHES Rogo didn't seem the type to take that seriously. ANN And she wanted to be an actress. BARTHES I didn't know he had a daughter. ANN And she was hopelessly retarded. BARTHES No doubt, if she wanted to be an actress. I can understand why he didn't want to talk about it. ANN His son was a full time job. BARTHES Yes, I know. I'm very sorry about all of that but... ANN You don’t have to credit Dr. Rogozin on this. You could take the research as your own. There's no need to involve yourself in the scandal. BARTHES What do you get out of this? ANN A cure for breast cancer. BARTHES Yeah, you're cute. I'm cute too. What do you get out of it? ANN Co-authorship. I dont have the credentials to publish on my own. BARTHES All right, this is beginning to make sense. I'm catching the 11 PM shuttle to Kennedy from the 61st Street Heliport. Be on it and you'll have twenty minutes to make your pitch. He escapes into his car and drives away. Ann heads back toward her MG, but goons 1&2 are waiting for her. She isn't sure she recognizes them. She doesn't need to, they’re quick marching toward her, pumping their arms and their eyes are burning. She ducks into the hospital and they follow her. She tries to evade them in the many corridors but they manage to corner her at a locked exit. GOON 1 Dr. Warner wants you. ANN I have nothing to say to him. She slides her hand into her hip pocket, smiling. GOON 1 That's all right, he doesn't have anything to say to you either. He grabs her arm then flicks her nipple with a forefinger. She draws back her hand. He laughs expecting an ordinary feminine slap but, She has a single-edged razor blade between her first two fingers and it drops him to his knees, hands clasped to his face, blood running out between his fingers. Goon 2 grabs her wrists but, She butts the bridge of his nose with her forehead. He lets go. She sweeps his legs out from under him and he goes over backward, landing neatly on his left ear. Ann makes it to her car and drives off. She's being followed by goons 3&4, then they all get stuck in a massive traffic jam. Neither car can move. She jumps out and runs with her backpack and cat carrier. She's almost run over by a motorcycle. It stops and she jumps on, hanging on to her backpack and cat carrier and gripping the driver with her knees. He doesn't seem to mind. It's a big Harley and it takes off riding thewhite line. A bug black Cadillac peels out and starts chasing them down the wrong side of the street, weaving its way through the oncoming traffic. The driver takes the Harley wrong way down a one-way street, detours onto the sidewalk going flat-out at 110. A cop car does a U turn and takes out after him. He leads them down to Park Ave. and opens up. They chase him down to 47th St., circling through the tunnel to the Park Ave. entrance of the Waldorf. He takes the Harley up the stairs, through the open door of the Waldorf and then across the lobby at 60. The men cut and run, the girls just stand there turned coyly sideways and clutching their purses with both hands. The only one with any guts is little old lady who tries to stick her umbrella through the spokes of his front wheel. She misses and he's across the lobby, down the stairs, out the door and into Lexington Ave. EXT. PARK AVE. ENTRANCE OF THE WALDORF (EVENING) The cop car is half-way up the stairs with 4 flat tires. The cops are standing beside it, blaming each other at the top of their lungs. EXT. LEXINGTON AVE (EVENING) The Harley is racing into a sold wall of traffic with another cop car behind it. In front of it is a VW and in front of that is a 16-wheeler of the kind used to transport new cars. It has a back arched like a suspension bridge. The driver skies the Harley up the rear of the VW, onto and over the arched back of the 16-wheeler, over the truck cab and into the middle of the intersection. TRUCK DRIVER’S POV TRUCK DRIVER’S RPOV to catch his expression as the Harley comes over the truck cab EXT. LINCOLN SQUARE PLAZA (EVENING) With three cop cars in pursuit, the Harley skies up the stairs and across the plaza, through the wind-blown spray of the fountain and the outdoor cafe at the far end. EXT. CAFE (EVENING) A FOOT COP is banging away with a .:44 magnum. The only safe place to stand is where he's aiming at. everyone in the cafe hits the dirt, then one hand reaches up to take a lit cigarette out of the ashtray and retreats under the table with it. EXT. WEST SIDE HIGHWAY (NIGHT) The Harley is racing down the highway straight into a cop roadblock with four more cop cars in pursuit. The driver guns the engine and leaps the Harley onto the concrete divider and zooms past the roadblock with the cops blazing away. EXT CHRISTOPHER STREET (NIGHT) The Harley exits the highway and pulls up on a side street behind The Archives. The Driver pulls off his helmet. It’s a girl, A handsome blond AMAZON (MEG) with the worried smile of a lesbian unsure of her welcome. Ann gets of the back of the Harley. ANN Thank you. AMAZON That's all I get? Ann hands the Amazon the cat carrier. ANN You want a cat? AMAZON And? ANN We'll see. AMAZON (smiles) My name is Meg. INT MEG’S APARTMENT (STRICTLY NORMAN ROCKWELL) Flowered slipcovers, lamps with frilly shades, lots of photographs, flowers and figurines. Meg is brewing a huge pot of powerful black tea. She pours Ann some and fills the rest of the mug with cheap brandy, MEG Dont worry, the tea will kill the taste. Ann opens her backpack. She has Rogo’s .38 and quick loaders. Meg sees it and her smile gets a little more worried. Why didn't you kill them. I dont mean the cops I mean...Who was it? Whoever it was, you had a perfect excuse. ANN It wasn't necessary. MEG You could get a reputation as a moralist and not get invited to parties anymore. ANN Why did you save my life? MEG What's wrong with that? ANN Nothing. MEG Do I make you feel shy or what? ANN Or what. MEG That's better. What do you call the business you’re in? ANN Betrayal. MEG Maybe, we shouldn't talk about your job, I think it's getting you depressed. ANN I think you're right. MEG Well? ANN I cant think of anything. MEG That's all right, I'll do all the thinking required for tonight. She takes a box of animal crackers off the shelf. She opens it and spills out 4 white cross amphetamines. MEG (continuing) You don’t mind do you? Ann looks at her with maternal sadness. MEG (continuing) Perhaps you'd like an aphrodisiac? Ann smiles and shakes her head. MEG (continuing) You're not really very affectionate, did you know that? ANN I'm getting there. MEG Why don’t I light some candles? ANN I have an appointment at 11 PM. MEG Plenty of time. EXT. 61ST STREET HELIPORT (NIGHT) Meg and Ann pull up on the Harley. Ann gets off the back. They say good-bye. Meg pulls up the visor on her helmet and kisses Ann on the cheek. Ann grabs her and kisses her fiercely on the mouth then walks away. Meg looks astonished then, after a long moment, drives away. Ann walks into the Heliport. There is a helicopter lazily taking off from the dock. A clock says 10:56 and A FLIGHT ATTENDANT approaches. ANN Is that the 11 o'clock to Kennedy? ATTENDANT The -10:55. On time. I used to fly one of those things in the Afghanistan. ANN You look crazy enough. When‘s the next copter? ATTENDANT They told me it was the last stand of the World War 1 fighter pilot. Another copter is revving up on the pad. ANN Does that one go to Kennedy? ATTENDANT They told me it was like Napoleonic cavalry. It had tremendous shock power and could concentrate very fast but, it was tremendously fragile and could only be used against an enemy who was already disorganized. Actually, you could bring one of those things down with a well thrown coke bottle. Every time one of them takes off I think: Some lunatic is actually going up in that thing. At this point, the copter to Kennedy which has been on a long slow ascent to give the passengers a view of the city straightens out and heads South by Southeast. ANN ` It didn't blow up. ATTENDANT They usually dont but, that one's going to Newark in 10 minutes, if you want to wait. There's always a chance. Ann walks away. Meg drives up on the Harley. She's been lurking somewhere. MEG Call him. ANN They can trace the call. MEG They’re not looking for me. Just dial it. Meg hands Ann her cell phone. Ann takes it, consults an address book and dials. It rings. It’s answered. PHONE (V.O.) …mumble…mumble ANN Dr. Barthes, please…What?…Hello? PHONE (V.O.) He’s dead! and hangs up. Ann hangs up too. ANN He’s dead. Meg starts to speak, but Ann cuts her off. They didn’t say. Ann gets on the back of the Harley. MEG What now? ANN Whatever it is, it will keep till morning. They drive off. EXT. MEG’S BLOCK (NIGHT) Meg parks the cycle and they walk up to her apartment house. She looks up at her window. The lights are on and, through the heavy steel gate, she can see that someone's moving inside. Meg points. ANN Friends of yours? MEG I dont have any. ANN Except one. She hands Meg a cigarette. Meg lights it, takes two puffs, throws it down then climbs the fire-escape to her floor. EXT. FIRE ESCAPE (NIGHT) There are 2 MEN and they're not smiling. They don’t see her. They don’t hear her either, the TV is on full blast. She makes some whistling noises like a pigeon until the cat comes out to the window to meet her, wriggling through the bars of the gate. They realize that something is happening and rush to the window: they’re large ugly citizens but they’re inside and Meg is already headed down the stairs, clutching the cat. They try shooting at her but, cant get a clear shot, they cant get their arms through the bars at an angle that would allow them to aim. One of them grabs the bars of the gate and shakes them in frustration, like a caged animal, as Meg leaps from the bottom of the fire-escape and runs to the cycle still clutching the cat. Ann is already on the Harley, looking prim. Meg does a Western Movie leap into the saddle and they roar off. INT. DINER (NIGHT) A very glitzy diner on a deserted section of the waterfront. (There aren't any like that but, this is a movie) It has the view of the river under the 125th Street overpass of the West Side drive. Ann is sitting with her backpack, holding her cat and using a piece of string for a leash. She has a cup of coffee and a huge piece of Technicolor cake with whipped cream and cherries sticking out of it in all directions. It's untouched. Then Waxner walks in. WAXNER (to the WAITRESS) Coffee. (to ANN) You want anything? He sits down in Ann's booth across from her. She has the .38 pointed at him under the table. WAXNER (continuing) Why are you hanging are around New York? How crazy are you? ANN You want a cat? WAXNER They shed, they tear up the furniture, they eat the potted paints, my wife wouldn't put up with it. What's his name? ANN Schwarzenneger. It's a black cat. WAXNER You wish. You know how many laws you broke tonight? ANN No. WAXNER Neither does anyone else. It will take days to figure it out. ANN Which side are you on? WAXNER My own. Yours, if you get away. I'm the hero who saved you. If you get killed, I did my job. ANN Does that make sense? WAXNER I dont know, most analysis of motivation is science fiction anyway. But, yeah, we're so amateurish that it was clear that you had every chance of getting away. But, why are you still here? How could you do anything so stupid? ANN I'm new at this, it takes a while to develop a mature personality for it. It's too late to worry about it now. WAXNER No, worry. It's too .late to do anything else. You know, the only difference between us and the lab animals is that we think before we act. ANN I got enough of this from Rogo. WAXNER But you dont listen. You are an MD Ph.D., the smartest of the smart, but you act like you learned it all from a comic book. You are a turkey, a gobble cadet. Into the air Junior Birdmen!. Up, Up and away! Take that, you dirty rat! YOU ARE INCOMPETENT ANN Wait a minute. Do you want the notebooks back? WAXNER Hell, no! You have one really great thing going for you. You're expendable. Meanwhile, get out of my life. You're 30, you're not cute anymore. That's what you wanted isn't it? Out? You're out. ANN You ever think of anyone but yourself? WAXNER No, never. Why? do you? ANN The police looking for me? WAXNER Not yet. Dont want the goons and the cops tripping over each other. It takes a while to disengage. ANN Well, call them off for the night, I need the sleep. WAXNER Off the dyke? they're gone. He stands up to go. The cat growls and engorges with rage. It's a big cat and with its hair bristled out it looks big enough to bring down a moose.
Copyright © 1999 Angel Obregon |