Mission: Impossible II (2000)

by Robert Towne.

Revised. 12/4/99.

FADE IN:

A WORN SATCHEL (MOVING - DAY)

is being carried by a world weary middle European wearing a black

armband.  VLADIMIR NEKHORVICH exits a gleaming building, pausing

for a moment, under a motto clearly visible above his head,

'Where the future is now'.  He checks the time.

INSERT - WATCH

set in Countdown Mode.  It's at 19 hours forty-seven minutes and

sixteen seconds and dropping, 19:37.15,  :14,  :13,  :12 etc.

O.S. children are singing:

Ring a ring a rosy/a pocketful of posy/

a tissue a tissue/we all fall down.

Nekhorvich looks to see children at play outside the adjacent

Natural History Museum.  They are moving in and around an odd

freeform sculpture.

POV - SCULPTURE AND CHILDREN

a blur where the sculpture seems to be distorting the children,

almost like mirrors in a fun house.

NEKHORVICH

wipes his eyes, a horn honks.  He looks toward the sound.

MOVING SHOT - SATCHEL (INT. AIRPORT SECURITY - DAY)

on the belt that takes it thru X-Ray.  On the other side a guard

opens the satchel and pokes thru a few toilet articles, personal

items, books, a battleship gray digital camera and - in a small

plastic container marked 'S.G.' - a small, square shiny object,

hi-tech and at odds with the other items.  She pulls out an urn-

shaped vessel.

GUARD

What's this, then?

NEKHORVICH

(handing her documents)

The ashes of a colleague, I'm taking them

to his family.  If you wish to open it,

please be careful.

COMPUTERIZED SCREEN DISPLAY (INT. PLANE - MOVING - DAY)

on the cabin wall displays a colorful map showing the flight

point of departure in Sydney, continuously updating distance,

direction and time to its ultimate destination, Atlanta, Georgia.

CAPTAIN'S VOICE

- folks, we're a little over two and a

half hours from touchdown in Atlanta, but

if you look out your windows on either

side of the aircraft, we'll soon be

crossing the southern section of the Rocky

Mountains, a range which includes more

than 50 peaks rising above 14,000 feet.

The chain's loftiest point, Mount Elbert,

at 14, 433 feet should be coming into view

as we pass over central Colorado shortly..

NEKHORVICH (INT. CABIN - DAY)

seems intent on the map, its changing times and distance.  He

checks his watch - the countdown has gone from 20 to three hours

and 32 minutes as Nekhorvich is mesmerized by the descending

seconds whipping by.

ETHAN HUNT sits into shot on the vacant first class aisle seat

beside Nekhorvich.

ETHAN

You keep staring at that watch as if your

life depended on it, Doctor..

NEKHORVICH

Well, yes.  I suppose I am a bit anxious.

ETHAN

They're ready and waiting.  You'll soon be

with old friends.

NEKHORVICH

(meaning Ethan)

I'm with an old friend now, Dmitri.

ETHAN

Sorry it couldn't be under happier

circumstances.

NEKHORVICH

Yes, I'm sorry too.. 'You're sorry and I'm

sorry..'

(bemused laughter, then looks at Ethan)

- you do know Gradski thought the world of you.

Nekhorvich is overcome.  Ethan puts a comforting hand on his

shoulder:

ETHAN

He was quite a man.  Did he know before

the end you two had succeeded?

NEKHORVICH

Yes, he knew.  Just..

ETHAN

..not in time to save him.

NEKHORVICH

No.  After you've lived with Chimera for

twenty hours, nothing can save you.  Not

even...Bellerophon.

Nekhorvich pats the satchel.

ETHAN

You carry them together?  Safely?

With an almost impish grin and a wink:

NEKHORVICH

Yes, and you'll get us to a safe place

with them, thank god!..left to my own

devices, I'm an old fart too inept to read

a railroad timetable!..

Good-natured laughter.  Cut off by a flight steward who passes

by, giving a sidelong silence in Ethan and Nekhorvich's direction.

Oxygen masks suddenly deploy from the ceiling.  Passengers are

puzzled and alarmed.

CAPTAIN'S VOICE

You Captain again.  We've experienced a

slight but abrupt drop in cabin pressure..

A passenger struggling with his mask.  As Nekhorvich fumbles with

the strap on his mask he notes that the display screen shows

their altitude is below 30,000 feet and dropping.  He checks the

countdown time on his watch again.  Nekhorvich looks around him.

The flight attendants are conspicuously absent and all the

passengers who have on oxygen masks are passed out.

INT - COCKPIT

The flight crew now wearing their oxygen masks.

CAPTAIN

(into radio)

Pan, pan, pan, Denver Center.  This is

Trans Pac Flight two-two-zero-seven, 747

heavy.  We are not reading you.  We're

unable to maintain cabin pressurization.

We have initiated a descent to one six

thousand.

The Co-pilot is working on the plane's altitude when his hands

slip off the controls.  His eyes flutter, then:

CO-PILOT

Captain, I don't..can't..

He passes out.  The Captain, HUGH STAMP, turns to verify that the

relief pilot is also unconscious at the controls.

He then removes his oxygen mask, sets the auto pilot, inputting

numbers to slow the plane and descend.  As the craft titles

downward...

INT - GALLERY

The flight attendants are pulling on jump suits.  Stamp emerges

from the cockpit.

INT - CABIN

Ethan returns.  Nekhorvich beckons to him.  Ethan sits.  Grinning

around, Nekhorvich conspiratorially:

NEKHORVICH

..it seems we have a problem, Dmitri.

ETHAN

(in the same tone)

You keep calling me Dmitri.  You really

shouldn't.

Nekhorvich's eyes narrow.

NEKHORVICH

You're not Dmitri?

With a lightning swift move Ethan breaks Nekhorvich's neck.

ETHAN

- no.

He grabs the satchel.

ETHAN (cont'd)

(to Wallis)

Wallis, hold onto it.

Wallis slashes the satchel handle open, takes the satchel for

Ambrose.  He peels off the latex mask, revealing SEAN AMBROSE.

ETHAN (cont'd)

Ulrich, pull the -

He tears off the vocal oscillator at his adam's apple, clears his

throat, now as Ambrose:

AMBROSE

- pull the NO2 tank and dump it, it's potential evidence..

STAMP

(the 'captain' into shot)

All done, chief..

AMBROSE

(what else)

- right -

(kidding)

- don't go too far ahead of me now -

STAMP

Not possible..

Ulrich has rolled back the carpet over an access panel just

beneath them that leads to the belly of the plane.  Stamp pulls

back the panel, hops into the compartment below which is four

walls of electronic equipment.  Stamp kneels and slides back the

floor hatch.  The wind howls, puffs of cloud zip by beneath them.

As they descend into the belly:

WALLIS

Checkpoint Charlie plus 30, altitude minus

two-zero-thousand.  Airspeed one-seven-

niner knots..

AMBROSE

It's that time.  Go.

They don goggles and, with Ambrose in the lead,

the team leaps, one after another from the hatch, sailing off

into the sky.

INT - COCKPIT (DAY)

An automated voice repeats in an ominous monotone:

VOICE

Terrain, terrain.  Pull up, pull up.

The co-pilot stirs.  He blearily rouses himself just in time to

see:

A mountain rushing toward him.  As mountain meets airplane, the

frame is filled with fire, but when camera pulls back from the

fireball, it is in fact no more than a match head filling frame,

which ignited, lights a fuse..

The MI theme music kicks in, the main credits roll to:

EXT - FACE OF MOUNTAIN (DAY)

For a moment it might be thought part of the same range when the

plane crashed but when Ethan Hunt climbs into frame the angle

widen and titles down, revealing more of where he's come from

than where he's going.  Aside from the fact that he's in the

midst of free-climbing what is easily a sheer rock face of at

least a thousand feet, there's the sunny picture-postcard view of

a lovely valley and pellucid lake thousands of feet below.  Ethan

climbs out of shot.

WIDE UP ANGLE (DAY)

revealing the summit, a light breeze hitting the lichen and

whatever growth has a slender purchase on the rocky mountainside,

fluffy clouds overhead.

Ethan into shot.  Despite the spectacularly precarious handholds

he's using to hang onto the mountain and his life, he appears

relaxed, engaged - for him - in the equivalent of busman's

holiday.  It's leisurely danger for Ethan; one might almost

expect to hear Julie Andrews trilling 'Climb Every Mountain' on

the soundtrack.

Then a rock he's been grasping crumbles and Ethan drops about six

inches before he grabs onto the mountain again.  As he hangs by

five fingers thousands of feet above the earth he doesn't seem

terribly concerned until he spots a helicopter.

It's materialized behind the summit and passes surprisingly close

just overhead, casting its shadow downward over Ethan.

Instinctively, Ethan flattens himself against the rock surface,

as if the copter poses some sort of threat to him.  But when

its rotors whir it into the distance Ethan relaxes and resumes his

climb.

A HAIRY OVERHANG (EXT. MOUNTAIN - DAY)

near the summit Ethan departing from the vertical and is now

traversing the mountain with more of his back than his feet

exposed to the earth far below.  He's clinging to the mountain

almost like a fly walking on the ceiling.  When he reaches for a

handhold that will restore him to the vertical, he dislodges a

lizard - and manages to catch it before it plunges thousand of

feet to oblivion.

ETHAN

Whoaa..

He pockets the lizard, climbs the overhang.

REVERSE ANGLE - SUMMIT

with Ethan's hand, then Ethan coming into view and making the

summit.  He reaches into his pocket and releases the lizard who

favors Ethan with a stern reptilian stare by way of gratitude.  To

lizard:

ETHAN

You're welcome.

The lizard scampers off, then a low beeping sound at his back

attracts his attention.  He turns to see the source of the

beeping, a small package in day-glo colors with a day-glo

streamer.  Ethan looks to the sky where the helicopter is now

ominously circling back.

Ethan lifts the day-glo package and waves it in the direction of

the copter.  With a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

The helicopter once again turns, banks and disappears.  Ethan has

opened the beeping package and finds a pair of sunglasses.

ETHAN'S POV SUNGLASSES

First, a retinal scan.

ELECTRONIC VOICE

Identity confirmed.

SWANBECK

Good morning, Mr. Hunt.

Swanbeck's face flashes onscreen.  Over his introduction of Nyah

is a series of satellite photographs whose subject is so elusive

she never seems to give the camera a clean shot.

SWANBECK'S VOICE

Your mission, should you choose to accept

it, requires you to recover a stolen item,

designated Chimera.  Essential to the

mission is the recruitment of a civilian --

a Miss Nyah Nordoff-Hall.  She is a highly

capable professional thief currently

active in Spain.

A series of Nyah's 'accomplishments', i.e., warrants, complaints,

Interpol summaries of her various criminal activities, as well as

glimpses of the elusive Nyah circulating about Seville.

SWANBECK'S VOICE (cont'd)

Her dossier's available on I-COM 3.  You

have 48 hours to recruit Ms. Nordoff-Hall

and meet me in Seville to receive further

details.  Should you or any member of your

IM force be caught or killed, the

Secretary will disavow all knowledge of

your actions.

Swanbeck's face reappears on screen:

SWANBECK'S VOICE (cont'd)

And Mr. Hunt - the next time you go on

vacation, please be good enough to let us

know where you're going.  This message will

self-destruct in five seconds.

Ethan removes the glasses, then tosses them into space.

ETHAN

If I let you know where I'm going -

The glasses explode in a puff of smoke.

ETHAN (cont'd)

- won't be on holiday.

Ethan, with a fair amount of disgust, gets to his feet and jumps

off the mountain, in, what for a moment looks like a suicidal

snit.  Then, somewhere hundreds of feet below camera, there's a

little puff of color as the tulip-shaped chute pops out of his

back-pack.  Begin the sound of a castanets and the animal-like cries

of flamenco dancers.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT - ANDALUSIAN VILLA (EVE)

Bustling in the activity of a large private party, with arriving

guests and attentive valets, as a young woman, her face unseen,

exits her car and enters the villa.

A FLASH OF SKIRT AND LACE (INT-EXT. VILLA - FLAMENCO DANCERS - EVE)

where to the cries of dancers add graceful feminine hands

wielding the castanets.  The dancers perform on a raised platform

and NYAH NORDOFF-HALL'S face can be glimpsed thru the swirling

skirts and pounding heels, looking thru, not at them.

REVERSE ANGLE - ETHAN

looking back in a similar way to Nyah; surreal lighting and the

relentless chorus of pounding heels seem to isolate them in the

crowed party.  Nyah continues to look at Ethan over the shoulder

over her wanna-be escort, a very attentive gentleman.  Nyah

offers up her empty glass, and the gentleman eagerly takes it to

the bar for a refill, leaving Nyah and Ethan looking at one

another.  Ethan approaches her.

ETHAN

Do you know me?

NYAH

No.  Should I?

ETHAN

No.  You just looked as if you did.

NYAH

No.  Just as if I'd like to.

ETHAN

Oh.  Well.  I think that can be arranged.

NYAH

Not tonight.  Bad timing.  Sorry -

ETHAN

There's not enough time in the world for

any of it to be bad.

This stops her.  Nyah moves closer to him, until they're nose

to nose.  Whispered but breezy:

NYAH

Look, it's either you or the rent and I

don't mind telling you it's not an easy

choice.

ETHAN

What if I pay the rent?

NYAH

Uh-huh.

ETHAN

Uh-huh?

Glancing at the gentleman making his way back with her drink

then:

NYAH

Go find the wealthy lady you came with and

next time we meet - I'll pay your rent.

(kissing him, sweetly)

Now bugger off.

And purposeful creature that she is, she takes her frustrated

desire upstairs, timing her footsteps so as to use the sound of

the dancer's steps to cover her own.  Once upstairs, a security

guard near the master bedroom can be seen eagerly following her

down the hall, both moving past a pair of windows, visible to

Ethan.  In a few moments, Nyah can be seen past the

windows in the opposite direction, without the guard following.

In another moment or two, a very puzzled looking security guard

can be glimpsed in the first window, looking up and down the

hall, clearly having lost sight of Nyah.  Ethan smiles, moves out

of shot.

INT - MASTER BEDROOM (EVE)

Nyah has opened the door and moves swiftly thru the bedroom.

INT - BATH (EVE)

A decadent looking affair with suggestive lighting, mirrored

walls.  The tub has a tray across it which includes a wine cooler

chilling a bottle of Crystal and a mound of caviar on a bed of

ice.  Nyah can't resist.  She spoons a dollop of the caviar and

downs it before she moves along the frescoed walls of the tub to

its back.  There, she pulls out her compact and removes the puff,

revealing an electronic density meter.  She turns it on and holds

it at the rear of the tub.  Its sweep gauge jumps sharply from

green thru yellow and into red.

NYAH

(her fondest hopes confirmed)

Mmmm.

She now steps into the tub and focuses on the grout between the

tiles just above the sop dish.  Her knee eyes search for any

cracks in the grout and she spots one.  Using a tweezers she

pulls the silver of the grout out from between the tiles, revealing

something that looks like a credit card wedged between the tiles.

She slips the card into a narrow opening under the sop dish.

There's the sound of hydraulics and two arms move the marble

casing out from the rear of the tub.  Nyah breathes a sigh of

relief and anticipation: kneeling in the tub she finds herself

looking down at an open safe, revealing some half-dozen locked

compartments.  As she studies them:

ETHAN

Decisions, decisions.

Nyah looks up to see Ethan's reflection in the bathroom

mirrors, looking down at her kneeling in the tub.

NYAH

What are you doing here?

ETHAN

Think you're the only one who can pick a

lock?

NYAH

(not altogether pleased)

I see.  You're not just another pretty face..

Before Ethan can answer, a voice can be heard coming from the

bedroom warbling Granada in Spanish, and with considerable gusto.

NYAH (cont'd)

Oh god.  A bloody baritone.

Nyah catches a reflection behind Ethan's in the bathroom mirror.

She reaches up and grabs Ethan by the lapel, yanking him into the

tub, pulling him down on top of her.  Once again they're nose to

nose.

ETHAN

I take it you prefer tenors.

She glances up at the mirror.  In it is the reflection of SENOR

AUGUSTO DE L'ARENA, a big amiable Castilian in his fifties who's

changing a white dinner jacket that's had wine split on it.  He

breaks into a heavily accented version of 'Now or Never', and

disappears from the dressing room mirror.

NYAH

Would you mind if I'm on top?

ETHAN

Oh, either way works for me.

With a jaundiced look she rolls over on top of Ethan and begins

working on one of the safe compartments, using a tiny torque

wrench from a tube of lipstick and a carbide pick from a mascara

brush.  She glances down and is rather disconcerted.  Continues

working with the pick and wrench.

ETHAN'S VOICE

You're never gonna find it there.

NYAH

(she jumps, dropping the torque wrench)

Damn it!  Find what?

ETHAN

His ex-wife's Bulgari necklace that goes

up for auction Tuesday.

Looking down to Ethan, a touch of indignation:

LOOKING UP

more or less, hands locked behind his neck as he rests against

the raked back of the tub, his eyes and nose inches from Nyah's

lower pelvic region as she straddles him.  Not exactly in the mood

to move:

She stiffens - he knows too damn much.

NYAH

- right..where is it?

ETHAN

Far right.

She immediately switches her efforts from top left to the

bottom right compartment.  She's utterly nonplussed:

NYAH

Where's the bloody -

ETHAN

(plucking it off his chest,

offering it up like a mechanic

under the chassis)

- torque wrench.

NYAH

- this is very disconerting..

ETHAN

Hey, you put me here.  I just do what I'm

told.

NYAH

- right..

She unstraddles him and, with a few deft moves with the torque

wrench and carbide pick - and it's open.  She withdraws a velvet

pouch and opens the pouch.  Out spills the spectacular necklace.

NYAH (cont'd)

Lovely.

(starting to close the safe)

Who are you and what's it going to cost me?

ETHAN

(having sat up)

I wouldn't do that.

NYAH

Do what?

The alarm goes off.

ETHAN

That.

The bathroom is suddenly filled with security guards, gun drawn

Senor de l'Arena, looking highly upset, pops in.

SENOR DE L'ARENA

Oh, Senor Keyes, thank God it is you!

(in Spanish to security guards,

annoyed)

It's Senor Keyes, the security engineer.

ETHAN

Well, Senor de l'Arena the goods news is

that the heat sensors were activated.   But

Miss Nordoff-Hall, my associate -

Senor de l'Arena kisses Nyah's hand.

SENOR DE L'ARENA

Mucho gusto, senorita.

ETHAN

- did feel that she had rather too long to

work on the safe before they triggered the

alarm, isn't that right Miss Hall?

NYAH

Oh yes.  Absolutely.  Much too long I

should yes.

Nyah's initial shock and panic slowly gives way to a wary,

intensified curiosity - about Ethan.

ETHAN

Under the circumstances I think we would

recommend re-setting the senors to

respond to a lighter load.  How do you

feel about forty kilos, Miss Hall?

NYAH

Indeed.

ETHAN

Well, Senor de l'Arena, there's no reason

to disrupt your party any longer.  we have

some further concerns about the disposition

of your security guards, which you'll

receive in our written report by fax in the

morning, hard copy to follow.  Shall we?

He offers Nyah his arm.  They start out.  Ethan immediately stops.

ETHAN (cont'd)

Miss Hall. Haven't you forgotten

something?

Nyah looking genuinely puzzled.

NYAH

The necklace?

Nyah slowly reaches into her dress and withdraws the glittering

string of diamonds and rubies from her bust.

SENOR DE L'ARENA

(a great kidder)

What are you trying to do, senorita?  Rob

me.

They all laugh, and Ethan's got her out the door.

EXT - ANDALUSIAN VILLA (LATE NIGHT - PRE DAWN)

The stars dimming, the sky a gun metal blue.  Ethan and Nyah

emerge from the villa, walking slowly.  Nyah's clearly

preoccupied.

NYAH

I'm missing something here, aside from a

500,000 pound necklace.  Even after I

botched the job, I could've walked out of

there with the bloody thing.

ETHAN

At least you walked.

NYAH

If you weren't going to let me get away

with it, why did you let me go thru with

it?

ETHAN

Wanted to see how good you were.

I'm hoping we might work together.

NYAH

May I say something, no offence?  You

look like a gigolo, you sound like a

thief, you act like a cop - what the

bloody hell do you have in mind?

ETHAN

Working under adverse conditions.  Highly

adverse conditions.

NYAH

Sounds smashing.  I'm in.  Muchacho, mi

carro, por favor!  Now be serious.  You

couldn't possibly want me off tonight's

performance..

ETHAN

You didn't do that badly.

Her car arrives.

NYAH

(as she moves to her car)

You're apologizing for me?  Quite the

gentleman..

ETHAN

(opening the car door)

Not really.  I triggered the alarm..

One foot on the floorboard she freezes, back to Ethan.

ETHAN

Hey, the Bulgari job last week was

flawless.  And I've always been partial to

pale yellows.

She slides behind the wheel.

NYAH

(as he leads on the car)

I don't do laundry, or put up with

cheeky bastards who set me up on their

territory so they can poach on mine.

She takes off, spewing bits of gravel and dust in her wake.

Ethan smiles and shakes his head.

ON THE ROAD - NYAH (MOVING)

around curves, hair flying, she's free.  Her car phone rings.

Perplexed, she lets it ring once or twice picks it up:

NYAH

(tentatively)

Hola..

ETHAN

Hi.  Would you mind slowing down?

NYAH

Where did you get this number?  I don't

even have it!

ETHAN' VOICE

Would you like it?

She hits the End button and disconnects.  The phone immediately

rings again.  She refuses to pick up.  Ethan pulls alongside hers.

She looks at him.  They speak through the open cars.

ETHAN

Pull over and listen to me, will you?

Just listen..

NYAH

Listen to what?

ETHAN

I need your help and I thin you can use

mine.

NYAH

Your help?  What are you talking about?

ETHAN

Scotland Yard, Interpol, every Dutch

authority.  I can make them go away.

NYAH

Oh bloody hell.  You're a spy.

She floors it and shoots ahead of Ethan, nicking his car as she takes off.

ETHAN

(to himself)

I deserved that.

SERIES OF DRIVING SHOTS - NYAH AND ETHAN

Ethan rings her again.  And keeps ringing.  Her face becomes

grim, her flight progressively more desperate and with Ethan's

pursuit progressively more determined.  They are reaching the

limits of adhesion around blind curves.

MORE SHOTS DRIVING (DAWN)

The sky's battleship gray; Ethan pursues Nyah around hairpin

turns high above the Costa del Sol; they rip thru patches of

marine fog drifting on the road, obscuring it.

Both are appalled by the other's willingness to escalate risk in

this game of flight and pursuit until Ethan tears thru a fogbank

and sees on his GPS what Nyah can't see thru the fog -

less than four hundred meters ahead is a turn she can't possibly

negotiate and if she can't she'll plunge off the road hundreds of

feet to rock and sea below.  Ringing her number again:

ETHAN

(half to himself)

Slow down, slow down.

She turns up a mound and loses control.  She spins out and heads

toward the edge of the cliff.

NYAH

(realizing she's in trouble)

Uh-oh.

Ethan cuts her off and sends them both into a 540 degree spin.

Her car stops just at the cliff's edge.

Furious she wrenches open the car door and gets out.

ETHAN

No!

Suddenly there's no Nyah.  Ethan leaps over to Nyah's car and

sees Nyah dangling over the ocean and rocks hundreds of feet

below, holding the door handle.

NYAH

Oh..oh..

Taking a firm grip on her wrist.

ETHAN

Don't look down.  Just..look at me.

That's it..that's it..

He pulls Nyah up to the car, across the seat and half into

his arms.  For a long moment it looks like she's in shock.  Then:

NYAH

What's you name?

ETHAN

Ethan Hunt.

NYAH

Well, Ethan Hunt, what is it you want to

talk to me about?

Thru the veil of morning fog, Nyah looks at Ethan.  Her dark eyes

suggest wit, and willingness, and longing.

ETHAN

...more than I thought..

They scarcely to move to bring their lips together:

NYAH

Awfully short notice..

ETHAN

Care to wait a decent interval?

NYAH

Who wants to be decent?..

DISSOLVE:

CLOSE - ETHAN (INT-EXT. SAFEHOUSE - SEVILLE - DAY-EVE)

sleeping.  His eyes open slowly.  He comes to full consciousness,

his head still on the pillow.  Something approaching serious

anxiety informs his features.  He lifts his head and looks at his

left, angle widening.  Nyah lies on her side facing him,

sleeping serenely.  Anxiety on the order of oh-God-this-isn't-

approved-recruiting-technique, confirmed.  He lets his head flop

back on the pillow.  Then he turns so he and Nyah are profile to-

profile.  As he looks at her sleeping his anxiety fades, replaced

by curiosity and even wonder.  He lifts his hand and just

brushes her cheek.  Her eyes open.  She knows where she is.

ETHAN

So what've you got against spooks?

Nyah smiles.

NYAH

When they've got your recruiting

technique?  Not a thing.

ETHAN

Oh.  Well..this isn't exactly by the book.

NYAH

They've got a book for this?

ETHAN

They've got a book for everything.

NYAH

The only other spook I knew was a liar.

Charming but absolutely incapable of

telling the truth.  He'd lie about his

favorite color.  But then I reckon it's an

occupational hazard.  All spies really do

is conceal the truth and tell lies.

ETHAN

Not revealing information doesn't

necessarily make someone a liar.

NYAH

That's not the point.  In the end what

spies rely on is the one thing they think

they know that you don't.

ETHAN

Which is?

NYAH

That they're lying.

Ethan laughs.

NYAH (cont'd)

..once they know that they can

get very very..crosee..

Nyah shoulder and moves into Ethan.

ETHAN

So where did I got right?

NYAH

You're not a liar.  Or you're an awfully

good one..

(then)

..this thing these blokes pinched..

ETHAN

I don't know that they 'pinched' it.

Don't even know that they're blokes.

Nyah stops to think about this.

NYAH

Well, then, what I am I doing here?  I assume

I'm meant to be some sort of thief-to

catch-a-thief..

ETHAN

So do I.  Sort of.

Nyah looks at Ethan, a little worried.

NYAH

Spoken like a spook..you ever afraid?

ETHAN

Of what?

Nyah laughs.

NYAH

Ask a question, you get an answer!..

ETHAN

Damn, you're beautiful.

NYAH

That's because I'm on my back.

Quick as a cat Ethan flips Nyah over so she's looking down

at him.

ETHAN

I don't think so.

She sinks into his arms.

EXT-INT - STREET - SEVILLE (VALENCIA FESTIVAL) (EVE)

Ethan's step is unusually jaunty as he bounces along, making his

way thru the festive and jostling crowds preparing for the Crema

portion of the Fallas de Valencia.  On this night great papier

mache effigies, some serious, some comic, are placed all thru the

city and torched in great bonfires.  Outside the bar Ethan's

looking for there's a street vendor, hawking Fallas mementos and

flowers.  He starts past the vendor, and it hits him - he's going

to buy some flowers.

He chooses a colorful spring bouquet so fresh the dew can be

seen on the petals.  Ethan pays the vendor, starts into the bar,

and thinks better of walking into Swanbeck with the bouquet.

Turns back to the vendor.

ETHAN

Are you gonna be here a while?

VENDOR

Si, senor.

ETHAN

I'll pick'em up on my way out, okay?

Ethan enter the bar and goes upstairs to the second floor where

he passes security at a pair of double doors.

INT - IMF BRIEFING ROOM

Swanbeck stands looking out the window.  Noisy crowds from the

festival provides a constant walla, and during the sequence, the

first effigies are lit, and smoke and flame provide a vivid

background thru briefing room's window.

SWANBECK

Fetival's a pain in the ass.  Honoring

saint by setting'em on fire.

(turning to Ethan)

Sit down, sit down.

Ethan sits.

SWANBECK (cont'd)

Let's you know what they think of saints,

doesn't it?  Damn near set me on fire on

my way over here.  As if I haven't been

burned enough today.

A moment where it's impossible to tell which way the wind is

going to blow between these two.  Then civilly:

SWANBECK (cont'd)

Sorry I barged in on your vacation.

ETHAN

Sorry I didn't let you know where I was.

SWANBECK

Don't be.  Wouldn't be on vacation if you did.

ETHAN

Well.  You're sorry and I'm sorry.

SWANBECK

Why did you phrase it like that?

ETHAN

Like what?

SWANBECK

'You're sorry and I'm sorry.'

ETHAN

You gotta be kidding.

Swanbeck turns to his computer and begins play on a DVD, and

projected onto a computer screen staring back at Ethan is:

VLADIMIR NEKHORVICH

NEKHORVICH

(with exaggerate brio)

Well, Dmitri!  How are you?..

Nekhorvich pauses as if waiting for reply.  Ethan smiles.

ETHAN

..I'm fine..and you?

NEKHORVICH

I'm fine..

Ethan laughs.

ETHAN

I'm fine and you're fine..

With Ethan simultaneously whispering:

NEKHORVICH

I'm fine too.. I'm fine and you're fine - do

you remember, dear fried, how you got

Sergei and I to repeat those lines from Dr.

Strangelove and we gave you the name of that

silly Soviet Premier because we didn't know

your name?..In those days, you not only

saved our lives, you saved our sanity.  'Now,

then Dmitri - we have this little problem':

Every search for a hero must begin with

something that every hero requires; a

villain.  Therefore, in a search for our

hero, Bellerophon, we created a monster

Chimera.  I beg you, Dmitri, come to Sydney

and accompany me to Atlanta immediately.

However we travel, I must arrive at me

destination, within 20 hours of departure.

Forgive this fanciful explanation, but for

now prudence dictates that I communicate

nothing but the gravest urgency.

I fear I can entrust this to no one but

you, Dmitri.  as we say, 'I'm sorry and

you're sorry'..

Swanbeck stops the DVD.

SWANBECK

Let me ask you something.  You have any

idea what the hell he's talking about?

Ethan smiles.

ETHAN

An idea, yeah.

SWANBECK

Like?

ETHAN

Like it's a good idea to pick him up in a

hurry.  And a bad idea to fly him on a

commercial carrier.  So let's get on with

it.  He's still in Sydney?

SWANBECK

Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich is dead.  So is his

colleague, Gradski, but that happened

earlier.  We had Nekhorvich on a flight

from Sydney that crashed in the Rockies..

Ethan sits back, heavily.

SWANBECK (cont'd)

- Hunt, are you listening?..

Slowly looking up:

ETHAN

If he didn't want to go anywhere without

me, how did you get him on the flight?

SWANBECK

You were there.

Swanbeck clears his throat.  He turns back to the computer and

punches in: MISSION DOUBLE IMAGE.  File open to computer scans

of AMBROSE, SEAN, and HUNT, ETHAN, the computer scanning and

comparing their features, millimeter by millimeter, stat by stat,

as the computer then imposes, with the help of the physiognomy

scan, Ethan's face on Ambrose: hence, mission double image.

ETHAN

slowly looks up at Swanbeck.

SWANBECK

When I couldn't find you, I had to replace

you.  Sean Ambrose was the obvious choice.

He double you, what?  Two, three times?

ETHAN

Twice.

SWANBECK

What did you think of him?

ETHAN

You know we had reservations about each

other.  Isn't it a little late in the day

to be asking me that?

SWANBECK

Not necessarily.

Swanbeck shows Ethan a photo of airline Captain.

SWANBECK

Airline record list Captain Harold

Macintosh as the pilot for Flt 2207.  as

far as the media and all governmental

agencies are concerned, Captain Macintosh

died on the flight, but in fact he missed

it.  He did, however make the next flight -

in cargo, stuffed into a rather small

suitcase considering his size.

Another photo of an open suitcase, the body in it partially

obscured by a ring of police and customs officers.

SWANBECK (cont'd)

Someone on that flight planned an

operation designed to down the plane and

make it look like an accident.  Someone

skillful enough to bring the whole thing

off without a hitch but - they don't

always get your luggage on the plane, even

when you fly first class.

ETHAN

So there's one thing we know Ambrose

doesn't.

SWANBECK

Then you do think it was Ambrose.

Ethan barely nods.

SWANBECK (cont'd)

And you're not surprised.

Ethan gives Swanbeck a look.

ETHAN

Whatever Nekhorvich was carrying Sean

wanted and he wanted to conceal the fact

that he took it.

SWANBECK

Enough to kill Nekhorvich and two hundred

innocent passengers?

Ethan smiles.

ETHAN

Sean feels he hasn't done the job unless

he leaves a lot of hats on the ground.

SWANBECK

The question is why?  What was this

Chimera Nekhorvich was carrying?

Ethan rises and moves to the window.

ETHAN

Right now only Ambrose knows that.

SWANBECK

In any case, you've got to recover Chimera

and bring it to us.

ETHAN

In order to do that, I've got to figure

out how he plans to make money with it.

SWANBECK

- right.  In fact since the plane went

down our banking sources have confirmed a

marked increase in the stock pilling of

cash in terrorists accounts.

ETHAN

'Terrorists?'

SWANBECK

Well you know Nekhorvich's history.

You're the one who got him out of the

Soviet Union was it still in bio-

weapon business.

ETHAN

If that's what you're thinking Ambrose

would have set up a bidding situation with

any number of buyers before he got on the

plane.  Locating him in time to stop

something like that -

SWANBECK

- is where Miss Hall comes in.

ETHAN

(blindsided)

Excuse me?

SWANBECK

Miss Hall and Ambrose had a relationship

which he took very seriously.  She walked

away and he's wanting her back ever

since.  We believe she's our surest and

quickest way of location him.

ETHAN

(acidly)

And then what?

SWANBECK

Then makes sure she continues to see him.

Gets him confide in her and report to

you.

ETHAN

You made it sound as if I was recruiting

her for her skills as a thief.

SWANBECK

Well, then I mislead you.  Or you made the

wrong assumption.  Either way we're asking

her to resume a prior relationship, not do

anything she hasn't already done.

ETHAN

She's got no training for this kind of

thing.

SWANBECK

Go to bed with a man and lie to him?

She's a woman.  She's got all the training

she needs.

Ethan's anger flashes but does his best to contain it.

ETHAN

I don't think I can get her to do it.

SWANBECK

You mean it'll be difficult.

ETHAN

Very.

SWANBECK

Well it's not mission difficult, Hunt.

It's mission impossible.  Difficult should

be a walk in the park for you.  If you can

think of a quicker way to get to Ambrose,

you're welcome to try.  Oh, by the way, you

might want to take a look at these..if you

have any further qualms about getting her

to do the job.

He pulls out a little Minolta digital camera (identical to the

one in Nekhorvich's bag at airport security).  Swanbeck sets it on

the table.  Ethan picks it up the tiny camera and puts it to his eye.

EXT - BAR (NIGHT)

A grim Ethan, starring fixedly ahead of him emerges to an ever

more lively crowd.  as he does:

STREET VENDOR

Senor, senor!  Your flowers.

The vendor holds up the spring bouquet.  Ethan seems genuinely

surprised by them.

ETHAN

Yes.  They're very nice..

And he's lost in the crowd, leaving a very puzzled vendor holding

the bouquet.

STILL OF CRASH SITE IN ROCKIES (THRU MINOLTA STILL CAMERA)

One after the other flashing by.  They are more evocative than

specific in their suggestion of an abrupt, fiery, ending, where

the lives of hundred are literally and figuratively torn apart

and strewn over a desolate landscape.

NYAH

carefully places the little Minolta on a glass-topped coffee

table.  She's beautifully pulled together, the safehouse has the

lights low, flamenco music playing, and when she walks out onto

the balcony Ethan sees the candlelit table and a bottle of

champagne chilling.  There's a light breeze the fire from the

burning effigies throwing smoke and flame all over the city.

NYAH

What's the population of Seville any

idea?

ETHAN

Five, six-hundred thousand.

NYAH

There's nearly 2 million in London.

ETHAN

And six billion in the world.

NYAH

That's lot of people out there..how many

of them, I wonder, are capable of

something like that?

ETHAN

Sean Ambrose, for one.

A long shocked moment.  Nyah laughs.

NYAH

Right...

INT - SAFEHOUSE (EVE - LATER)

The pounding beat of the flamenco music seems to fill the room

Nyah's back to Ethan:

NYAH

(grimly amused)

Not that it matter much but..I seem to

recall you staying something like, 'I was

hoping we could work together.'

ETHAN

This wasn't what I had in mind, Nyah.

NYAH

But it is what you'd like me to do.

so tell me to do it..

She approaches Ethan.  They're inches apart.

NYAH (cont'd)

Come on, out with it.  Tell me to go and

insinuate myself back into Sean's life.

ETHAN

Go and insinuate yourself back into Sean's

life.

NYAH

I'd like a little more conviction..

ETHAN

So would I.  But it's not mine to give.

NYAH

(archness there)

You've either got it or you don't.  Let

your conscience be your guide?

ETHAN

Something like that.

With a smile and a wink.

NYAH

But I don't have a conscience.  I'm a

bloody thief.

ETHAN

You can be a thief and have a conscience.

NYAH

No.  You can be a thief and have a

conscience:  Not me.  Why did you have to

tell me about this!

(pouring herself a drink)

What do I have to do to get away from this

guy?  When you're with him, he messes

about with your head every waking

moment..even now I'll be at some out-of-

the-way-place, a tin of caviar and a

bottle of Crystal shows up at the table,

with two glass, God knows how he finds

out at any given moment where I am in the

world but he does.  And it looks like he's

done it again.  You know his definition of

a  true paranoid?

ETHAN

I don't.

NYAH

Someone in possession of all the facts.

(she turns away, pauses)

Are you telling me I have to do this?

ETHAN

Generally, I don't favor coercing someone.

Not when there's a chance my life could

end up in their hands.

NYAH

And that's the only reason?

ETHAN

Can you think of a better one?

NYAH

Not me.  I was just hoping you might..or

that..somehow in the course of business

this got personal as well as physical.

ETHAN

Look, would it make you feel better if I

didn't want you to do this?

NYAH

Much.

ETHAN

Then feel better!..

Long moment while she looks at him.

ETHAN (cont'd)

Well.  That made all the difference in the

world, didn't it?

Ethan walks out onto the balcony.  She looks at his back.

NYAH

Sean will never be anything but suspicious

if he picks up some sort of 'yoo-hoo-I'm-

not-nad' message.  Not after the way we

broke up.

ETHAN

What wouldn't make him suspicious?

NYAH

Probably that I needed him in some urgent

way..destitute - in serious trouble..the

kind I couldn't possible sort out myself..

Ethan's been smiling slightly.

ETHAN

Serious trouble, Nyah, is something I can

always arrange..

NYAH IN A SPANISH JAIL

standing for front and side mug shot.  O.S. sound of teletype

continues.  SUPERIMPOSE:  Ethan holding up something the size of

a dime:

ETHAN

This little chip sends a coded signal that

can be picked up only by our computer.

On the screen of the GPS computer, a little yellow blip appears

pulsating on the screen.

ETHAN'S VOICE

When it's in your ankle we can track you

within three feet of anywhere in the

world.

OVER ETHAN AND ONTO COMPUTER SCREEN

He types a small Interpol bulletin stating that Nyah Nordoff

Hall, apprehended March 13 in Seville, is awaiting extradition

while the authorities in London, Paris, and Amsterdam squabble

over where she's going to be tried first, for the various thefts

and burglaries she's committed in the three cities.

COMPUTER SCREEN (AMBROSE TENT ANNEX - DAY)

Ambrose picking up on a version of the Interpol bulletin Ethan's

put out.  He leans over the screen for a moment, then moves to

the window, and stares out thoughtful at the bay, almost as if

he were watching...

EXT - NYAH IN JAIL COURTYARD

From a beautiful blue sky,  pan down to the courtyard of the jail

where Nyah is allowed out for an airing, seemingly alone but

being watched by:

ETHAN AND COMPUTER SCREEN

His attention fixed on the screen, Ethan stares at satellite

shot of Nyah in the jail courtyard.

INT - PRISON - NYAH

being allowed a phone call, a prison guard visible b.g.  Cross

cut with Ethan.

ETHAN

Look, I can't run your arrest in CNN, but

I guarantee he's monitoring every law

enforcement agency in the world, for what

they might be saying about him, if nothing

else - he's got the ability and, we

assume, the desire to get you out of

there.

NYAH

This doesn't seem to be accomplishing

much.

ETHAN

Well, I mean it's not a total loss.  It is

keeping a very capable thief off the

street..

NYAH

Very funny..maybe he has heard and

doesn't want to know.  Maybe he's lost

interest.

Her guard, b.g. is handed a note.

GUARD

(to Nyah)

Your lawyer to see you.

NYAH

What lawyer?

ETHAN AND COMPUTER SCREEN

ETHAN

Well, here we go.

SECTOR: AUSTRALIA, moving into NEW SOUTH WALES, and then to:

Sydney.  Here Ethan pulls up names, photos and profiles of

potential candidates.  They scroll past, one face morphing into

another.  Ethan punches in on WILLIAM A. BAIRD.  EXPERTISE:

Qualified in virtually every mode of transport, land, sea, air.

ORDINANCES: Small arms and automatic weapons authority, edged and

impact weapons.  PROCUREMENT: Resourceful.  EXPLOSIVES: Precision

detonation, diffusion.

Ethan punches: Request immediate availability.

EXT - GOVERNMENT BUILDING - SEVILLE (DAY)

Nyah emerges from the entrance to the jail.

ETHAN

Stop and look for something in you

purse..kneel down..

She does.  They're effectively blocked from the street.

NYAH

Limo's waiting.

Ethan hands her a key chain with what appear to be a car-key.

ETHAN

- Ambrose will have counter-surveillance

second to no one's.  When and if he

contacts you, push this button

before you actually end up under his roof

it'll scramble your transmission to us.

She takes the key chain.  Her hands are shaking.

NYAH

When will you be there?

ETHAN

Before you are.

NYAH

How can you possibly?  I've got to get

right on the plane.  I'm leaving now.

ETHAN

You don't trust me.

NYAH

Oh, I do.  But as we know I'm a very poor

judge of character.

ETHAN

He's got you on Qantas flight 2735.  It's

going to be delayed.

NYAH

Yes?

ETHAN

You'll be fine.  I'm going to lose

you.

NYAH

Ethan, you take care of yourself, I'll

take care of myself because if push comes

to shove, I'm gonna bail - and without

giving two week notice.

ETHAN

Well, forewarned is forearmed.  And while

we're at it, be especially sensitive to

any sudden change in Ambrose's plans,

especially any involving you..

They rise.  A quick squeeze of her hand and he's gone.  A look of

something like longing replaces the toughness as she gazes after

him, then starts across the street toward the limo and driver.  MI

music theme kicks in and continues over:

POV HELICOPTER (MOVING - SYDNEY - DAY)

over the Harbor Bridge, sails dotting the bay like confetti.

EXT - FARM (DAY)

pans of sheep are bleating and looking for sort of cover in

response to the sound of a helicopter touching down.

EXT - COPTER (DAY)

Billy and Luther emerge, Luther with computer looking acutely

uncomfortable in a wrinkled suit.

ETHAN'S VOICE

Welcome to Australia, mate.

They look up to a smiling Ethan who points to the ground beneath

Luther's feet.  Luther looks down to see that he is standing in a

pile of sheep-shit.

LUTHER

Thanks - mate.

Both men laugh and all three move to:

INT - FARMHOUSE (DAY)

Luther and Billy with Ethan setting up their operation.  There's

a blip on one of the screens.

LUTHER

It's the transponder.

ETHAN

Put in the coordinates and let's get a

visual.  The visuals aren't coming up.

LUTHER

The satellite doesn't work as fast as I

do.

BILLY

Yeah, I've heard about you, Luther, and I

just want to tell you it's an honor and a

pleasure to be working with you blokes,

whoaa!  That's some transponder!

As Billy speaks, the visual come on line and Nyah has become

visible.

LUTHER

(a jaundiced eye, to Ethan)

It certainly is.  How did we get so lucky?

Ethan pointedly ignore the question.

POV - MOVING (PALM BEACH - DAY)

rounding the tip of the bay's crescent, revealing the beach and

dock at Ambrose's palm-lined residence.

NYAH

The speedboat's engine's are cut.  Nyah looks momentarily

stricken.

POV NYAH (MOVING)

a lone slender figure silhouetted at the end of the dock, still

as the piling besides which it stands.  But the features remain

obscured by the sun at his back.

ETHAN

leans forward as the slender figure grows larger,

BILLY

(to Ethan)

Is it him, then?

POV - MOVING

The tide is too low for the boat to dock, making it necessary for

he boat to approach the shore.  The slender figure moves off the

end of the dock and onto the beach.

THE CIGARETTE

idles into shadow water but the props start chewing into the

sand - the boatman grumbles he can't get any closer.  The slender

figure has moved to the shoreline and the angle of the light

changes - Ambrose is waiting.

Nyah hesitates only a flicker of an instant, slips over the side

into thigh-high water without taking her eyes off Ambrose.

Ambrose strides right on into the bay.  as they are just an arm's

length apart:

NYAH

takes a deep breath, presses the button to scramble the

transponder.

WITH ETHAN (INT. SHEEPFARM SAFEHOUSE)

The picture abruptly goes dead.

BILLY

Damn.  Just when it was about to get

interesting.

ETHAN

It's okay.  She scrambled the

transmission.  Luther, continue feeding

the GPS her position.

Luther punches in.  The signal - and the global coordinates are

given.  They wait.

INT - SPACE

The satellite positions itself.

WITH THE THREE

ETHAN

Can't we speed this up.

Luther shoots him a disgusted look.

LUTHER

With what?  This is the only computer

that'll do this.

THE SIGNALS AND PHOTOS

start to bounce back, growing larger and larger on the screen,

until:  Nyah can be seen, water up to her thighs, lingering in

Ambrose's arms with each blow-up, and linger.  And lingering.

BILLY

- right.  Now there's a bloke who knows

how to deliver a proper welcome.  Don't

get me wrong, mate.  You were quite

hospitable.  Is it him, then?

Ethan's look suggests he's worried about lapse in recruiting

judgment.

LUTHER

It is, Billy.

BILLY

Then we got'em!

ETHAN

We don't know what we've got because we

don't know what he's got, where he's got

it or what he's doing in Sydney with it.

Ethan strides away from the screen, the edge in his voice and the

move not altogether lost on either Luther or Billy.

INT - THE BAY (EXT. PALM BEACH - DAY)

Perfectly poised, still loosely in his arms, Nyah returns

Ambrose's penetrating gaze with a pleasant, clear eyed one.

AMBROSE

Not much luggage.

NYAH

I left in a bit of a hurry.  I'm terribly

grateful, Sean.

AMBROSE

How grateful?

NYAH

Well that depends.

AMBROSE

On what.

NYAH

How hard you had to work to get me out of

there..how in the world did you ever find me?

AMBROSE

(stopping)

How I usually find you, Nyah.

NYAH

How do you that.

AMBROSE

Magic...

NYAH

Ahh..

POV THRU TENT ANNEX WINDOW (AMBROSE COMPOUND)

looking down the length of the dock.  Ambrose, his arm around

Nyah and carrying her suitcase, moves up the dock toward the

house and camera.

Stamp steps into the annex and looks over to Wallis, who watches

Nyah on the monitors.

WALLIS

No flies on her.

(checking her on a scanner

screen)

No bugs either.  She's clean.

STAMP

(drily)

All cats are.

INT - ETHAN - SAFEHOUSE (SHEEP FARM - DAY)

Ethan watches the Nekhorvich video on the computer screen.

NEKHORVICH

...therefore in a search for our hero,

Bellerophon, we created a monster,

Chimera.

Ethan then flips through a series of pictures on the computer

depicting the myth of Bellerophon attacking Chimera.

Billy moves up behind him.

BILLY

What you got there, mate?

ETHAN

A myth..just a myth...shouldn't you be

checking out their countersurveillance?

BILLY

Well you know his blokes'll place the

OSCOR in his annex, where else if you're

pinpointing transmitters, video signals,

covert chip cameras, anything radiating,

oscillating..

ETHAN

..or hard wired..

BILLY

(please)

- or hard wired, right.  First line of

perimeter defence'll run from the back of

the dock to the front of the house.

Whatever moves burps or bleep is gonna be

picked up to a height of twenty feet.

Basically impenetrable, I'd say.

LUTHER

Ethan, here's Nekhorvich, and here's his

boss

Luther scans an entry from the IMF database with newspaper

clippings, sidebars of still of McCloy and Nekhorvich.

LUTHER (cont'd)

McCloy, Jon Chaddick, CEO Biocyte

Pharmaceuticals..D.O.B.  September 30,

1952, Manchester, England.

BILLY

(a little lost)

Well do you disagree with that?

ETHAN

Not at all.  But how about going into town

and confirming your intuitions on site?

BILLY

Oh well, if that's how you feel about it.

Billy leaves.

LUTHER

..then Cambridge..Harvard..entrepreneurial

efforts..in efforts..in 1989, acquired Biocyte in

hostile takeover..

As Luther transfer info to Ethan's computer:

LUTHER (cont'd)

Ethan, have a look at this.

On Ethan's screen appears the Biocyte website; where among he

various icons one offer McCloy's proud detailing of Biocyte's

philanthropic efforts:

MCCLOY'S VOICE

We at out state-of-the-art solar powered

Biocyte building recognized that eternal

vigilance is the price of health.. whether

it's funding the teaching center at the

Royal Prince Edward Hospital, removing

aerosol products from the marker or

braving the influenza quarantine at Bruny

island late last month..at Biocyte your

life..is our life's work..

ETHAN

(quietly)

..Biocyte workers at Bruny Island.

INT - AMBROSE'S (DAY)

They've reached the head of the stairs.  Ambrose opens a door.

It's a large bedroom opening onto a veranda with a view of the

tent annex and the beach, and a very large bed.

NYAH

Your room.

AMBROSE

(yes)

Mmmm.

NYAH

And my room?

A long moment.  Ambrose walks to a mirrored wall.  The mirrors

are sliding doors.  With a sweeping gesture, he slides one of the

mirrors back and reveals a wardrobe of beautiful designer

clothes.

AMBROSE

Thought you could use a little something

to wear.

Nyah stares at the spectacular wardrobe.  Ambrose pulls out a

slinky Armani and drapes it on the bed.

AMBROSE ( cont'd)

Try it on..

Nyah hesitates.

AMBROSE (cont'd)

Go ahead.  I'm dying to see if I

remembered your size..

Nyah picks it up.

NYAH

No changing room?

Ambrose sits on a chair by the window and waits.  Her blouse,

belt, skirt, fall on the bed.  As her slender arm reaches down to

pick up the Armani:

AMBROSE

grips her wrist, the flimsy Armani dangling in the air.

CLOSE - NYAH

meeting Ambrose's look.

NYAH

You're not interested in seeing how it

looks.

AMBROSE

Oh, I am.  Later..

The Armani falls in a fragile heap on the floor.

CLOSE - ETHAN (DUSK)

standing off to one side, listening to Nekhorvich's voice.

NEKHORVICH

..therefore in a search for our hero,

Bellerophon, we created a monster,

Chimera.

LUTHER

Why's Nekhorvich going on about an old Greek myth?

ETHAN

Nekhorvich specialized in recombining DNA

molecules.  In the myth, Bellerophon killed

Chimera, a recombinant monster with the head

of a lion and the tail of a serpent who

plagued the ancient world.  I think Nekhorvich

has created a monster virus in Chimera and

apparently the means to kill it in

Bellerophon.

LUTHER

That simple, huh?

ETHAN

Why not?

CLOSE - NYAH (INT. AMBROSE BEDROOM - DUSK)

lying back on a pillow, looking and off into space to right

off camera.  She hears Ambrose's voice, with Ethan's voice

AMBROSE'S VOICE/ETHAN'S VOICE

Damn, you're beautiful..

Nyah reacts as if she'd been rapped on the nose, her eyes

moist.  She turns abruptly to camera.

NYAH

Did you say something?

AMBROSE

leaning on an elbow, looking down.

AMBROSE

I said you're beautiful, Nyah.

NYAH

Only because..it's spring..chalk it up

(looking him dead in the eye)

- to spring fever.

Ambrose, amused, lights a cigarette and inhaling:

AMBROSE

Won't do, love.  It's not spring.  It's

nearly autumn..You're in Oz.  everything's

upside down and backwards here.

NYAH

(more direct)

Maybe that's it, then.  Everything's upside

down and backwards...

CLOSE - ETHAN (SHEEP FARM SAFEHOUSE - DUSK)

ETHAN

Luther..get us everything you can on the

outbreak of influenza on Bruny Island last

month, including photos of the victims.

LUTHER

Right.  I guess there aren't many flu

epidemics in the middle of summer.

Luther resumes working on his computer and sees Ethan is locked

on Ambrose's compound on his computer screen, thinking of Nyah.

LUTHER (cont'd)

She did it, Ethan.  Nyah's in the

compound.

ETHAN

Yeah?  I've just rolled up a snowball and

tosses it into hell.

Ethan stands.

OUTSIDE THE SHEEP FARM SAFEHOUSE

A brooding Ethan exits the sheep farm safehouse under a setting

sun.

ETHAN'S VOICE

Now we'll see what chance it has.

Ethan stops, looking out over the broken plain.  His voice is

heard overlapping into the next scene.

ETHAN'S VOICE (cont'd)

(softly)

Damn, You're beautiful.

CLOSE - NYAH (NIGHT)

lying in bed, obviously hearing Ethan's voice again, and feeling

very much alone.  She stares out into the night, a gaze that in

its bemused intensity is an exact match to Ethan's.

FADE:

CLOSE - PHOTO - HONG KONG TIMES (INT. AMBROSE STUDY - EARLY DAWN)

its front page, except for the headlines and date, covered with

stacks of paper money, banded bundled dollars piled high as a

cord of wood.  The amount $24 millions is written in ink over the

money.

AMBROSE

Twenty-four mil..

Ambrose's hands shift to another photo of another newspaper, the

LONDON TIMES, this one piled high with English pounds and the

written amount: 37 million pounds.

AMBROSE'S VOICE

Thirty-seven million pounds.  That's a

promising bid.

The third photo is of the AFTERNOON ARUBAN, with $14 million

packaged on it.

Ambrose, wearing a robe and seated at a glass-topped table, sets

this last photo on the table on top the others.  He picks up

Nekhorvich's digital camera, removes the film disk, and snaps it

into its plastic case. He places the case into an envelope

(NOTE: The same envelope seen at the track) and hands it to

Stamp.

AMBROSE

We'll need this at the track.  Well then.

Sorted.

Stamp is seated near him.  Glances toward Ambrose's bedroom and

Nyah asleep in Ambrose's bed.

STAMP

(pointedly)

Not everything.  Why do you think she's

really here?

AMBROSE

From her point of view or mine?

STAMP

Wasn't exactly gagging for it when she

left you six months ago..The question is,

do you trust her?

As he speaks, Ambrose pulls a cigar case and a cutter out of his

robe.  Takes a cigar out of the case and clips the end of the

cigar; the razor-sharp cutter decapitates the tip of the cigar

like a guillotine.

AMBROSE

One considers her timing, of course -

getting nicked within a week of the plane

going down.  Suggestive, even borderline

suspicious, but hardly conclusive.

STAMP

Well, you've thorough about it, at any

rate.

Ambrose opens the cutter again to clean off the fragments of

tobacco trapped by the cut.

AMBROSE

Tell me, Hugh.  You don't exactly hang on

Nyah's every word and gesture, do you?

Fairly ratty nail, that.

Sean touches the nail of Stamp's left pinkie finger.  Stamp

reacts by slightly withdrawing his hand.

STAMP

Sean..

With his left hand Ambrose grabs Stamp's left wrist.

AMBROSE

You're not scrutinizing any casual shrug

for some hair-splitting nuance, are you?

STAMP

Sean, please..

Sean pulls Stamp's hand closer.

AMBROSE

Suppose she is some sort of Trojan horse

sent in by IMF to spy in us, why should I

deny myself the pleasure of a ride or two?

Or don't you think I can learn more from

her than she can from me?

Ambrose twists Stamp's wrist so that Stamp drops to one knee

trying to alleviate the pain.

STAMP

(in pain)

I do!..

Ambrose leans in close to Stamp's face as he places the cutter

around Stamp's pinkie.

AMBROSE

Now Hugh, you must realize that some of us

have the burden of sex to deal with..and

my dear chap.  I may or may not know why

she thinks she's here, but I'm willing to

take the risk, because Hugh, I am gaging

for it..

Ambrose closes the cutter on Stamp's finger and cuts the nail,

just nicking the top of the finger and drawing blood.  Stamp

cries out.  Ambrose tosses Stamp a napkin, light his cigar and

exhale.

AMBROSE (cont'd)

Don't ever question my judgment again.

DISSOLVE:

EMPTY FRAME (EXT. RANDWICK RACE TRACK - DAY)

with no sound, the back stretch an unrecognizable blur until

horses at high speed burst into the frame bringing with them the

sight and sound of their great nostrils snorting and gasping for

jostling and going to the whip, the sound of the crowd

overwhelming all but the announcer's voice carrying everyone

around the far turn and into the home stretch with a ringing,

controlled frenzy.

EXT - PRIVATE BLEACHER (DAY)

Nyah and Ambrose rising as the horses cross the finish.

AMBROSE

(surprised)

You won.

NYAH

(looking at her ticket)

I suppose I did.

AMBROSE

What made you pick that nag?  She'd never

won a bloody thing.

NYAH

'Thief in the Night?'

AMBROSE

Say no more.  I'm off to grab a drink.

Still favor Bellinis?

She smiles, a little shakily.  Ambrose leaves.

A VOICE

Naturally Vain..

It's Billy passing behind her.

NYAH

Pardon me?

BILLY

'Naturally Vain.'  In the fourth.

Check her out.  She's due.

Billy hands her a chest sheet and moves on.  She opens it to the

fourth race.  Taped onto 'Naturally Vain' is a small plastic

piece with the note.  she regards the note, places the plastic

piece in her ear.

ETHAN'S VOICE

You can speak as if I'm right by your

side.

NYAH

(picking up binoculars)

Where are you?

ETHAN'S VOICE

At the mounting enclosure, just off the

tracks at two o'clock.

THRU BINOCULARS - NYAH'S POV - MOVING

thru the crowd onto the track over to the pre-post paddock where

an animated gaggle of owners, heavy batters and investerace touts

surround it.  Only Ethan is stock still - and looking up at Nyah.

CLOSE - NYAH

a swift intake of breath as she see him.

ETHAN

How's it going?  Everything okay?

NYAH

Just like old times.

ETHAN

Just like old times?

NYAH

Just about..

She appears to be the picture of unruffled sang-froid.

ETHAN

Tell me who you've run into at Ambrose's.

ETHAN'S POV (THRU GLASSES)

moving from Nyah to the champagne bar just behind where Ambrose

is seen greeting someone in the crowd and they sit at a corner

table in front of the window overlooking the track.

NYAH

(a breath, then:)

Near as I can tell, there's at least a

half-dozen other blokes about the place.

Maybe more.  Hugh Stamp, an old mate of

Sean's, is the only one I recognize, bit

of a creep and then some..

POV ETHAN

Stamp, stands a pillar, his finger bandages, looking

glum and looking down at Nyah.

ETHAN

We know him.  He's over your left

shoulder, looking right at you as you go on..

NYAH

- Michael, his driver's an Aussie, new to

me.  Then there's the blokes in the

annex at the back of the house.

ETHAN

Have you met them?

NYAH

Annex is strictly off limits to me and

they never come to the main house,

Michael even takes their meals to them

all but shoves them under the door.

ETHAN

(looking into Champagne Bar)

I've no doubt.

ETHAN'S POV MONOCULAR VIDEO RANGE FINDER

of Ambrose sitting with someone whose face is obscured from his

angle by bar patrons.

BILLY

is also looking.

POV RANGE FINDER BILLY

and from his point of view it can be seen that Ambrose is talking

with John McCloy, the head Biocyte.  Ambrose takes an envelope

out of his inner left jacket pocket and from it pulls out a small

plastic container marked 'S.G.' (Identical to the object first

seen in Nekhorvich's satchel at airport security.)  He opens it

and removes a small shiny object about the size of a quarter.  He

turns to the window and gestures.  Stamp enters the bar.

BILLY

Ambrose is meeting some bloke in the bar.

Big bloke, ginger hair. They're into

something.

ETHAN'S POV

ETHAN

I'll be damned.  It's McCloy, the Biocyte

CEO.

LUTHER

Nekhorvich's boss?

ETHAN

Yep.

NYAH

Ambrose has photographs of newspapers with

loads of money piled on them -- thirty-

seven million on the London Times.  What's

that about?

ETHAN

Bids from possible Chimera buyers -- to

prove that as of the date on the newspaper

those bids are back up by earnest money --

INT - VAN - LUTHER

is monitoring both cameras.  All see Ambrose give the little

wafer-like object to Stamp who places it in a small camera, hands

it back to Ambrose and exits, waiting just outside the glass

door.  Ambrose hands the camera to McCloy who looks puzzled.

LUTHER

Looks like Ambrose is showing McCloy how

to use a digital camera..

McCloy puts it to his eye, fumbles, then with Ambrose's

direction:

ETHAN

Whatever McCloy's looking at, he's not

happy about.

McCloy puts the camera down.  The two men have words.  McCloy

shakily leave the table.  Ambrose opens the camera.

LUTHER

Ambrose just pulled the memory card out of

the digital camera and put it into an

envelope, put it in his inner left jacket

pocket...

ETHAN

Left jacket pocket?

LUTHER

Roger that.

ETHAN

Confirm.  Left jacket pocket.

LUTHER

Left jacket pocket confirmed.

ETHAN BY THE MOUNTING ENCLOSURE

ETHAN

Nyah, Ambrose is heading back.  There's an

enveloped inside --

NYAH

-- his left jacket pocket.

ETHAN

Affirmative.

AMBROSE

passes by Stamp on his way back, hands him the camera.

NYAH

(after a brief pause)

Where do I meet you?

ETHAN

Betting table twelve off the paddock.

Nyah, are you up to this?

NYAH

I'll muddle through.

WIDE ANGLE - BLEACHER (DAY)

Ambrose arriving with a pair of drinks.  Nyah rises.

AMBROSE

See anything you like?

NYAH

Yeah.  Naturally vain -- but they're about

to close the betting table and I haven't a

sou..

While Ambrose is still juggling the drinks, Nyah reaches into his

trouser pockets, and rummages around.

AMBROSE

(laughing)

Nyah!

ETHAN

Billy, make sure Nyah's not followed.

BILLY

No worries, mate.

She pulls out a fifty-dollar note.

NYAH

Would you mind terribly?

AMBROSE (cont'd)

(amused and turned on)

- not at all.  But you'll pay for that

and with interest..

NYAH

I've no doubt..

She heads up the stairs.

AMBROSE

(reaching into his pocket for

money)

Hold on.

Ambrose grabs her arm, and she almost drops the envelope she's

just lifted.  (NOTE: It is important not to see her actually lift

it).  She's holding it, pinned between her right arm and side.  As

it's slipping, she notes Stamp above her, looking down and has to

conceal what she's holding from him as well:

AMBROSE (cont'd)

Put down a couple of hundred for.

NYAH

To win?

AMBROSE

What else?

She takes it and as she does the envelope falls, but she manages

to catch it with her left hand, blocking the move with her body

as she does.

WIDER ANGLE - NYAH

moves along the aisle.

ETHAN'S VOICE

Luther, smallest digital you got.  Ready

to transmit.  Betting table twelve.

EXT - VAN (DAY)

designated as NEW SOUTH WALES DELIVERIES, 'anytime, anywhere.'

Luther bursts out of the van, carrying the tiny camera and begins

to thread his way thru cars and foot traffic.

BILLY

in dramatic contrast ambles at a conspicuously leisurely pace.

NYAH

passes Stamp, not seeing him standing just a row above, blocked

from her by one of the pillars.  Stamp idly regards her and then

decides: he follows.

LUTHER

perspiring, approaches the betting table thru the last of the

parked cars.

STAMP

approaches the door thru which Nyah had gone and starts to open

it - only to have the door slammed in his face and on his

bandaged finger by Billy, in a track usher's uniforms.

BILLY

(very solicitous)

Sorry about that, mate, that must've

really - aggrhh!..

Even as Stamp winces in pain his arm has shot out and Billy finds

himself pinned to the wall gasping for air.  If he'd been welded

there by a band of steal he'd have more room to maneuver.

STAMP

Say again?

BILLY

Aggrhh-aggrhh-aggrhh...

STAMP

Whatever you're about in future, watch

your step.  Never know who you might run

into...

Stamp looks around, Nyah's nowhere in sight.  He's lost her.  Sees

his hand's bleeding and lets Billy go, who nearly drops to the

floor.

STAMP

Where's the loo then?

BILLY

(pointing up)

- aggrhh-aggrhh-aggrhh...

Stamp heads up the men's room.

BILLY

(croaking it out)

...

Shakes his head, feeling lucky to escape with his life.

EXT - PADDOCK - BETTING TABLE TWELVE

Nyah into shot.  Stands in line.  She looks around.

ETHAN'S VOICE

How'd you do?  Don't turn around.

Nyah turns and looks Ethan dead in the eye.

NYAH

I managed.

ETHAN

You noticed.  What're you going to do?

Spank me?

She slips Ethan the envelope.  Ethan himself returns the look,

holding it in spite of:

BILLY'S VOICE

Stamp's out of the loo.

Luther arrives, with the camera, opening for Ethan.  Nyah turns

away.  Ethan pulls out the tiny memory card, slips it in the

camera.

ETHAN (CONT'D)

(looking into camera)

This is going to take a couple of

minutes..

LUTHER

is racing back to the van.

LUTHER

There in twenty, Ethan..

NYAH AND ETHAN (IN LINE)

edge toward the window.

BILLY'S VOICE

Stamp's a little shaky, but headed your

way, mate.

ETHAN

Copy that.

(to Nyah)

Who do you like?  In the race?

NYAH

(nervous, she's heard Billy

too)

What race are we talking about?

INT - VAN (DAY)

A sweaty Luther:

LUTHER

I'm booted up.  Go, Ethan.

BILLY'S VOICE

He's heading down the stairs, now..

Ethan places the digital camera on play and begins to go thru the

stills.  As they cliff off, Ethan is visibly affected.

LUTHER IN THE VAN

watches the stills as well.  He's no less affected.

ETHAN WITH NYAH

He mutters some expletive under his breath, then, evenly:

ETHAN

I want you out of Ambrose's place.

BILLY'S VOICE

He's one tier from the bottom.

Ethan glances over to the bottom of the stairs.

NYAH

What are you talking about?

As he lowers camera and removes the memory card.

ETHAN

I want you out of there.

NYAH

Why?  What's happened. What did you see?

BILLY

Thirty steps..

Slipping card back into envelope.

ETHAN

Nyah, you've done more than enough.  Even

the best of snake charmers get bit.

NYAH

Ethan, tell me -

BILLY'S VOICE

Twenty, nineteen..

Ethan's been talking to someone he's been urging to walk, not run

to the nearest exit.  Now he drops all pretence:

ETHAN

I want you out of Australia!

(more quickly)

..I don't know how much more plainly I can

put it.

NYAH

How do you suggest I go about it?

ETHAN

He's touched your heart.  You're

overwhelmed.  You need to think it over.

You'll meet him somewhere in a month.  If

You're not out in 48 hours I'm coming in

and getting you out.  Give me the ear

piece.

She just gets it out of her hear and gives it to Ethan when she

reaches the bookie who warns her to get down her bet.  She gives

him her money and gets the tickets just as the buzzer goes off -

no more bets.  Flustered by it she picks up her tickets but drops

the envelope.  She quickly kneels and scrambles to recover it,

tucking it away and looking up - to see Stamp standing over her.

almost exactly where Ethan had stood when she looked away.

NYAH

tries not to register alarm while she gauges how much Stamp had

seen.

STAMP

Get your bet down?

NYAH

Just..

She rises.  Stamp waits only a moment then follows.

AT THE PRIVATE BLEACHERS (DAY)

everyone's on their feet, the horses are in the backstretch.

Ambrose is watching the race through binoculars.  Nyah comes up

behind and puts her arms around him.  With her left hand she puts

the envelope into his right jacket pocket.

AMBROSE

Your nag is making a run for it on the

outside!

(lowering binoculars)

Bloody hell, Nyah!

She's momentarily startled.  Then:

AMBROSE (CONT'D)

You picked another winner!

NYAH

Well, that's good, isn't?

A BLOW UP (INT. SHEEP FARM IMF SAFEHOUSE - DAY)

of a shot from a digital camera card.

ETHAN'S VOICE

Dr. Segi Gradski, Nekhorvich's

colleague and lifelong friend..

The photos is coded with the data in the lower left hand corner,

01.27.99, the time in the right, 10:02:56 A.M.  Burned into the

photo is '20 hours, 03 minutes after exposure.'

Ethan paunches in.

ETHAN'S VOICE (cont'd)

Twenty hours and three minutes after

exposure.

(sotto voce)

Twenty hours.

Ethan doesn't say anything for a moment, then goes on to the next

photo on the card: '25 hours, 40 minutes after exposure.'  It's

Gradski again.  Gradski's eyes are darkly circled, his skull look

mottled.

ETHAN

Six hours later.

Another photo: '31 hours, 30 minutes after exposure.' Gradski's

bleeding from nose, mouth and ears, the skin eruptions are

pervasive, his body an open wound.

ETHAN ( cont'd)

Six more hours.

The next photo.  '34 hours, 25 minutes after exposure.'  Gradski's

body at rest.

ETHAN (cont'd)

Three hours after that, Gradski was dead..

LUTHER

Here's a victim from the Bruny Island

outbreak.

The victim's face shows a devastation undeniably like Gradski's.

A long, long moment as Ethan, Luther, and Billy sit in silence.

BILLY

Oh, happy day.

Ethan looks again at the first photo of Gradski.

ETHAN

Nekhorvich said 'However we travel, I

must arrive at my destination within 20 hours

hours of departure.'

CLOSE - NYAH (EXT. AMBROSE VERANDA - LATE AFTERNOON)

Nyah is on the balcony.  Ambrose enters with two glasses of

champagne.

AMBROSE

To Australia.  It's made so many convicts

feel at home.  Here's hoping it does the

same for you..

He laughs.  She doesn't.

NYAH

Sean, there's something I've been meaning

to talk to you about... Isn't going to be

easy for me to say.

AMBROSE

(jocular)

Then don't say it.

NYAH

I don't know what to do about you, Sean.

I'm more than a bit muddled.  I need time.

AMBROSE

To do what?

NYAH

Sort it all out.

AMBROSE

And you're going to have time.  There's

been a change of plans.

NYAH

A change of plans?

AMBROSE

Yes.  We won't be able to have dinner

tonight.  Something's come up.  I hope you

don't mind.

NYAH

Oh, no, not at all.  Maybe just a bit.

AMBROSE

Ulrich will be about.  He'll look after

you.

NYAH

Lovely.

INT - AMBROSE STUDY (LATE AFTERNOON)

Ambrose enters, slips off his jacket and hangs it over a chair.

He walks to a desk and brings up a computer the Biocyte website

and McCloy infomercial.  Stamp notes that Ambrose is

on the computer and moves to the desk.

STAMP

I thought you were going to dinner.

AMBROSE

(pulling up something on the

computer)

Hugh, take care of the Nekhorvich memory

card.

STAMP

Where is it?

AMBROSE

In the envelope in my pocket.  My

right.. jacket..pocket..

Stamp leans over and pulls out the envelope.  As he does he sees

Ambrose has pulled up and started to play McCloy's informercial.

AMBROSE (cont'd)

(calmly)

We've got an opportunity here.  I'm not

going to miss it..

CAMERA CARD PHOTOS (INT. SHEEP FARM - ETHAN & CREW)

a microscopic view of myriads of ugly green spiky objects amid

exploding red ones..

ETHAN

Chimera attacking human blood..

One more shot.  A lavender stained group of spiky objects amid

exploding the green ones.

ETHAN (cont'd)

Bellerophon attacking Chimera..

On an adjacent screen is a frozen frame of McCloy looking thru

the digital camera at the racetrack.

BILLY

Ambrose obviously got these from

Nekhorvich on the plane.

LUTHER

What manic invents  disease like that in

the first place?  Why would he do it?

ETHAN

I don't know, but Nekhorvich was not a

manic.  Get me a twenty on Nyah.

LUTHER

She must still be on the property.

ETHAN

I told her to get outta there.

EXT - LIMO (EVE)

McCloy gets in the rear of the limo and lights up a cigar.  The

limo takes off.  another car pulls out and tags along behind the

limo.

INT - OTHER CAR (MOVING)

Michael at the wheel.

INT - LIMO - MOVING (EVE)

McCloy doesn't like the taste of the cigar, goes to toss it out

but the electronic window button doesn't work.  He notices the

evening paper partially open on the seat.  His name leaps out. He

opens the paper

THE HEADLINES

announce that John C. McCloy, CEO of Biocyte, Inc., one of the

world's leading pharmaceutical companies, has died of a straight

and terrible strain of influenza

Shocked, McCloy drops the paper, calling out:

MCCLOY

George.  George.  George.

The drover doesn't turn around.  McCloy can't believe it.  He

bangs on chauffeur window.  The driver turns on the air

conditioning in the rear of the limo.  McCloy clutches his throat

and passes out.

MCCLOY (INT. ICU UNIT - NIGHT)

regains consciousness.  He's got tubes coming out of every

orifice and is contained in the equivalent of a plastic bubble.

Drenched in perspiration and he looks around for a call button.

He grips the side of the bed.

MCCLOY

Bloody room..just..shut your eyes, shut

your eyes.

He can't resist.  Opens them to look up thru the plastic to see:

NEKHORVICH

a shimmering blur coming in and out of focus.

MCCLOY (cont'd)

I'll be buggered!..What's this then?

NEKHORVICH

A visit from an old friend.

MCCLOY

What's happening here?  You're dead!

NEKHORVICH

Fatigued, certainly.  But dead is a little

extreme.  On the other hand, when me dear

Gradski had your pulse and blood pressure

he has less than ten hours to live.

MCCLOY

(confused)

It was in the bloody papers, on the

telly..what's this about Gradski?

NEKHORVICH

You are infected with Chimera, my friend.

INT - AMBROSE BEDROOM (NIGHT) NYAH

is on the phone.

NYAH

International, please.  I'd like to make a

reservation on the next available flight tonight.

OPERATOR

Where to?

NYAH

Where is next available flight going?

The operator answers.

NYAH

Fine.  I'll take it.

She hangs up, goes to the door.  The house is eerily silent.

POV - STAIRWELL (NIGHT)

a play of shadows, the sound of the kitchen fridge.

CLOSE - NYAH

Moves softly downstairs & hesitates at bottom, glancing about.

NYAH

Ulrich?..Ulrich!...

Silence.  she goes into the kitchen.  No one.  She goes out the door.

OVER NYAH'S SHOULDER - MOVING (EXT. SYDNEY - NIGHT)

running pell-mell down to the shore.  Stops.  Looks outside the

small skiff moored at the end of the dock.  It's dark and she

decides to chance it.  She moves onto the pier, trying to glide

by the boathouse.  A figure darts out and grabs her.  She tries to

scream but can't.  The figure whips her around and she sees:

ETHAN

Easy, easy, easy, shhh!

NYAH

Oh Ethan!..

She throws her arms around him.

ETHAN

Are you okay?

NYAH

I am now.  Get me out of here.  Just get

me out of here.

ETHAN

It's going to be okay.

He holds her.

INT - HOSPITAL ROOM

McCloy's strapped down, but manages to reach the call button and

push it.  Again and again.

NEKHORVICH

No use, my friend.  The medical staff

wants no part of this.  Doctors don't

fancy the idea of dying any more than

anybody else.

McCloy stares at Nekhorvich for a long moment.

MCCLOY

How could I possibly be infected?

Nekhorvich shrugs.

NEKHORVICH

That's exactly what Gradski said - 27

hours before he died.  With Chimera, the

most minute exposure can be fatal.

McCloy again looks at his vital sign on the monitor.  He grips

the edge of the hospital bed.

NEKHORVICH

But then you shouldn't be feeling to ill.

not for another three of four hours

anyway.

McCloy breaks a fresh sweat in a sudden spasm of anxiety.

MCCLOY

You have Bellerophon.

NEKHORVICH

(mildly)

Do I?

MCCLOY

You took it!  All of it!  And what if I need

it?

NEKHORVICH

(amused)

'If?'  My, my, my...the five hundred

people on Bruny Island that you

deliberately infected with Chimera needed

it as well.

MCCLOY

Oh, please!  How was I to know they had to

be treated with Bellerophon within twenty

hours?

NEKHORVICH

By asking me.

MCCLOY

You still don't get it, do you?  You want

to make an omelet, you break a few eggs -

I needed to know just how bad the disease

was - in the real world, not the lab.  And

you never know til you try.  You thought

you were genetically splicing together

strains of influenza to create a

cure for all influenzas.  But I saw you

creating a disease so terrible in Chimera

that the cure would be priceless.

NEKHORVICH

You wanted the disease in order to peddle

the cure.

MCCLOY

Well, the thought had occurred to me.  I needed

Chimera in order to peddle Bellerophon.  For

hero to be appreciated, you need a monster.

Now that's not so difficult to understand, is

it?  Look, time was a shot of penicillin could

knock off every bloody bug in the zoo!  Not

anymore!..have you any idea the R&D money it

takes to float one little pissy boutique

antibiotic that's barely effective against one

strain of one bacterium?  If I couldn't makes

money killing the microscopic little shits that

are out there, you'd help me put one out there

I can make on!..there it is.  I've

confessed.  I, John C. McCloy, am in business

to make money.  Lilly's making billions feeding

Prozac to depressed dogs.  Pfizer doesn't even

know where to put the money they're making on

Viagra, and let me tell you that shit didn't do

a thing for me even at twice the recommended

dose, Jesus, who do I have to screw to get a

a break!..now get me out of here, get me treated

and let's go back to work!..

NEKHORVICH

You know, I think it's a little late for

that.  Do give my regards to Gradski if

you see him.

INT - HALLWAY (OUTSIDE MCCLOY'S ROOM)

Nekhorvich heaves a sigh and rips off a latex mask, and the vocal

oscillator, revealing an exhausted Ethan.  Angle widens to

include Luther and Billy in hospital greens.

Luther and Billy nod in disgusted assent.

EXT - ANNEX (NIGHT) NYAH

holds tight in her embrace with Ethan.

NYAH

Ethan, you know what frightens me most

when I'm with him?..the thought of never

seeing you..how are we getting out of here?

ETHAN

Nyah, it's very important not do

anything to alarm Ambrose..

NYAH

What?  You told me to get out of here.  I

thought you were here to collect me.  I

was so relieved.

ETHAN

(with growing urgency)

No time to explain.  You've done well,

and we're so close.  So close.  It's

critical that you do whatever Ambrose

asks.  Don't worry - it'll be over soon..

That's a promise.. Come on, now off you

go!

He gives her an affectionate smile and she reluctantly heads back

to the house, her expression troubled, even suspicious.

INT - HALLWAY (OUTSIDE MCCLOY'S ROOM)

Having just taken off the mask, Ethan stands with Luther and Billy.

LUTHER

(disgusted by what he's heard)

So Ambrose has Bellerophon and McCloy's

got Chimera.

BILLY

There guys are walking around with

different halves of the same dollar bill?

ETHAN

Ambrose got Bellerophon from Nekhorvich

on the plane, but he didn't get the Chimera

virus.

LUTHER

Yeah.  Why else would he come back to

Australia?  If he had them both, he could

sell them anywhere.

ETHAN

I kill Chimera at Biocyte and he's sitting

on a cure without a disease.

LUTHER

You've got the voice print, I'll get us in..

EXT - AMBROSE HOUSE (NIGHT)

Ethan enters and tears off his mask, revealing Ambrose filled

with implacable rage.  He looks up to see Stamp who's been

obviously waiting for him.  Tearing the voice oscillator.

Leaning with both hands on a counter-surveillance monitor table

he stares at the floor, his face rictus of hateful intensity.

STAMP

You were right.  Hunt stung McCloy

tonight.  He knows.  They'll be going into

Biocyte...

Ambrose looks up slowly to Stamp who's been standing by.

AMBROSE

Good..then we go where he'll be, don't

we?  Well done, Hugh.  Well done.

CHAUFFEUR'S WINDOW (INT. LIMO - EVE)

being rapped on by the driver.

MCCLOY

wakes with a start.  The window's lowered -- Billy's in livery.

BILLY

You're home, guv'ner.  Home..

It's taking time to register.  Then:

MCCLOY

- where's George.  My regular driver.

Where is he?

BILLY

Took ill, guv'.  Touch of the flu. They

say it's going around.  Nasty business.

Mind you don't catch a chill now.

Still dazed, McCloy manages to nod and exit the limo.  Billy

drives off.

CLOSE - COMPUTER SCREEN - BIOCYTE BUILDING BLUEPRINTS

(INT. SHEEP FARM SAFEHOUSE)

including all specifications.

ETHAN

Luther, do you have the building up and

running?

Luther punches in and up comes a squat little island a hundred

yards off shore, connected to the mainland by a wooden bridge.

ETHAN (cont'd)

That's not exactly it.

LUTHER

Sorry, that it a Biocyte facility, their

storage structure..

ETHAN

Nyah still on the property?

BILLY

She hasn't left it.

Then:

LUTHER

Okay, here you go -

As Luther speaks, the building - on his computer graphics, one

with the BIOCYTE PHARMACEUTICALS ELEVATORS AND RENDERINGS, is

being rapidly morphed to three dimension existence off the

rendering specifications by Luther, as if the building itself

were being constructed at a madly rapid pace, from its foundation

to its reinforced steel structure, to its honeycombing of floors,

to its outer skin.  Luther's reconstitution of the building lot

static, but moving around and above it even as he proceeds.

ETHAN

Let's start from the inside out.

LUTHER

All storage and production of Chimera is

done here, in this lab on the forty-second

floor, the heart of the building.

BIOCYTE LAB

Only about eight personnel -- chemists in lab coats, workers in

bio-containment suits, etc. -- populate the lab, passing through

security door and air locks, monitoring the virus stock, pading

the injection gun, etc.

LUTHER'S VOICE

Chimera itself is kept in two places: in

production vials in an incubation room and

housed in a small airtight chamber - inside

three injection guns.

BILLY'S VOICE

Mate, you kill it in both places, we're

laughin' and we go home.

WITH LUTHER AND ETHAN

ETHAN

Now how to get in there.

LUTHER

No garage entrance.  Lobby's protected by

five guards on rotating patrol.

Ethan watches the rendition of the Biocyte lobby on screen

CLOSE - AMBROSE (NIGHT)

in overhead light, his eyes are dark pits, somehow underlying her

saturnine intensity:

AMBROSE

If you look at Hunt's operational history, he

invariably favors misdirection and deception.

For a start he won't go into Biocyte from the

ground where he has to risk confrontation

with security.

ETHAN

Not going in from the ground.  Show me the

atrium.

INT - BIOCYTE ATRIUM SHAFT

The height and extent of the atrium are revealed, as well as its

conclusion in a glass floor in the ceiling of the lab.

LUTHER'S VOICE

(unhappily)

The atrium?  One of a kind.  Runs down the

center of the building.  Provides 24-hour

natural light via mirrors and daylight

storage cells.  Optimal growing conditions

for the virus.  Ends in a glass floor which

doubles as part of the lab's ceiling.

WITH LUTHER AND ETHAN

Luther sees the glint growing in Ethan's eye.

LUTHER

Hey, atrium roof closes at sundown.

EXT - BIOCYTE ATRIUM SHAFT

As the sun sets, the louvers of the atrium roof begin closing.

LUTHER'S VOICE

And if the louvers are open for more than

thirty seconds at night, the Civil

Emergency alarms are tipped.  Those even I

can't stop.  Thirty seconds total to get

you in and the cable out.

ETHAN

Security?

LUTHER

Thirty-second opening in the roof and a

250-foot drop.

ETHAN

I'm not waiting 48 hours.  When we're done

at Biocyte, if she's not out of Ambrose's,

I'm going in and getting her out.

CLOSE - AMBROSE (NIGHT)

AMBROSE

No, Hunt will prefer to engage in some

sort of acrobatic insanity to enter

Biocyte somewhere through the atrium where

security is minimal..

Suddenly there's the roar of helicopter rotors.

ETHAN (EXT. SYDNEY - NIGHT)

is poised, upside down, on cable against the Sydney skyline.

THE ATRIUM LOUVERS

begin to open.

WITH LUTHER (INT. VAN)

hurriedly working the atrium's controls, hitting 'ENTER',

repeatedly.

INT - COPTER (HOVERING)

BILLY

Package away in five..four..three..

two..one...

LUTHER

I'm not ready!

ETHAN

I'm gone..

Ethan plummets towards the atrium.

WITH LUTHER (INT. VAN - NIGHT)

LUTHER

(frantically working controls)

C'mon!  C'mon!  C'mon!

ETHAN'S DESCENT

is so swift it appears as though he's going to hit the atrium

louvers but as he reaches roof level they crack open just enough

for him to dart thru like thread thru a needle

Luther begins the countdown.  His countdown continues, running

under the action and dialogue below.

LUTHER'S VOICE

..nineteen..eighteen..seventeen...

ETHAN IN MID-DESCENT (MOVING)

moves down the shaft of bluish light, past the building's walls.

LUTHER'S VOICE

(low)

..sixteen..fifteen..

Ethan streaks thru the beams of light toward the atrium floor.

INT - ATRIUM FLOOR - ETHAN

reaches the end of the cord, slows himself to a stop and sees

the security guard through the window. The guard starts as he

catches a glimpse of Ethan's reflection in the control panels.

ETHAN

Luther, I'm looking at security.

CLOSE - LUTHER

LUTHER

(utterly shocked)

Oh. Uh. Commencing diversion.

(sotto voce, typing swiftly)

Alarm in cosmetics.

INT - ATRIUM FLOOR

Ethan swings himself up to the ledge above the guard's window,

putting himself out of the puzzled guard's sight.

LUTHER'S VOICE

Gotta get that cable out.

Ethan unhooks the cord and flips to the atrium floor.  An alarm

goes off.

LUTHER'S VOICE (cont'd)

There it goes..

Still confused and concerned, the guard doesn't immediately react

to the alarm or the ringing phone.  He finally answers the phone.

GUARD #2'S VOICE

(on phone)

AY!  what's the matter with you?  Can't you

hear the alarm's gone off in cosmetics?

The first guard gives up what's confused him.

GUARD

(sarcastic)

Right.  Then I guess I'll have to trot off

to see who's pinching eyeliner, won't I.

(exits, grumbling)

I'll even check the stairwell on the way.

UP ANGLE - CABLE

being swiftly retracted toward the atrium's opening as it closes.

BILLY

Retracting cable.

LUTHER'S VOICE

(low)

Three..two..one..

UP ANGLE - ATRIUM

The cable just makes it thru the atrium as the louvers close.

BILLY'S VOICE

Cable's clear.

INT - ATRIUM FLOOR - ETHAN

reaches down and presses a silent beeper.

WITH LUTHER (INT. VAN)

sees a little red diamond-shaped light pop on his screen

LUTHER

Transponder activated..Reading package and

Cable is clean.

(exhaling, relieved)

He's on his way.

Staring at the buildings control panels.

ETHAN (INT. ATRIUM)

hugs the floor just out of sight of the befuddled security guard.

AMBROSE'S VOICE

He'll make the attempt at the only possible time

for both of us, 11 P.M. - when the guards rotate

and the buildings air-filtration generators go

active, covering the sound of his break-in..

WITH LUTHER

LUTHER

Ethan, the generators are about to go active.

We'll be out of contact for eleven minutes.

CLOSE - GENERATORS

dark and silent.

GENERATORS

turn over and roar to life.

ETHAN AT BOTTOM OF ATRIUM

cuts into the glass floor, pops it out, and drops thru the

opening.  None of it's heard under the generators..

Ethan drops onto the lab floor and heads across the lab and up

the ramp to the hot zone.

AMBROSE'S VOICE

The frequency of the generators operate to

our advantage - cutting radio

communication from his team for the next

eleven minutes..

INT - BIOCYTE LOBBY (NIGHT)

Stamp, flanked by several of his team in Biocyte security guard

uniform, crosses the lobby toward a pair of actual Biocyte

security guards who appear more puzzled than alarmed at this

unexpected influx.

ONE OF THE GUARDS

What's this, then?  Reinforcements?

STAMP

Not exactly, mate.

WITH LUTHER (INT. CONSTRUCTION VAN - NIGHT)

His attention in drawn to a spot on the grid where Nyah's

transponder blip, a circular yellow one in contrast to Ethan's,

is moving.  Troubled:

LUTHER

Billy.  I think we got a problem.  Nyah's

on the wing.  Up early.  Billy, do you

copy?

INT - CHOPPER

BILLY

Exactly where is she?

LUTHER

..in the building...

BILLY'S VOICE

Say again. Sounds like you're saying

'she's in the building.'

LUTHER

I am. She is.

AMBROSE'S VOICE

Ethan does it the hard way to avoid

confrontation.  Neutralizing security

guards is simply too distasteful to him..

INT - BIOCYTE LOBBY

The two guards who had greeted Stamp and his arriving team lie

inert on the lobby floor.

AMBROSE'S VOICE

I've never found that a problem...

WITH BILLY (INT. HELICOPTER - NIGHT)

Billy's so surprised he momentarily gets loose with the copter

and it banks off.  As it and he recover:

BILLY

Right. Well, then. She's not likely to

be alone. is she?

LUTHER'S VOICE

The question Is 'how many of 'em?' I

can't get thru to Ethan. Not 'til the

generators go off.

BILLY

When's that?

LUTHER'S VOICE

Not for another eight and a half minutes.

WITH LUTHER

staring at the red and yellow blips in vertical alignment, the

Yellow one, Nyah, considerably below the red one, Ethan.

INT - HOT ZONE ENTRANCE (NIGHT)

The door reads.  DANGER: LIVE VIRUS: INCUBATION ZONE.  EXPOSURE IS

FATAL.  Ethan pulls on a protective mask from his pack and puts a

miniaturized recorder up to the voice print activator:

MCCLOY'S VOICE

John C. McCloy..

Ethan's buzzed into the hot zone.  He steps into the air locks.

INT - SHEEP FARM IMF SAFEHOUSE

A small bomb is placed by the dark gloves of someone unseen.

EXT - CONSTRUCTION VAN - NIGHT

a shadow falls across the dirt in front of the bumper.

A SMALL OBJECT

with a digital clock face, its red LED illuminating descending

numbers, is carefully placed inside the bumper.  The magnet on it

doesn't quite catch.  It's then placed more carefully.

INT - CONSTRUCTION VAN

Luther doesn't pick up on the faint metallic sound just outside.

He's concentrating on the flashes on the screen showing the

transponder rising in the building.  Increasingly desperate:

LUTHER

It looks like Nyah's headed toward an

elevator.

ETHAN

working meticulously an a computer monitor.

DOWN ANGLE - ELEVATOR DOORS

and a security guard's body lying in the corridor.  A pair of

trousered legs step over the body and into the elevator joining

Nyah's legs and feet, and other pairs of trousered legs.  The

elevator doors close.

AMBROSE'S VOICE

If Hunt actually manages to squeak thru

the atrium he's liable to make it to

Chimera before we will..

CLOSE LUTHER

On his computer screen the yellow dot continues its ascent, the

two dots growing ever closer.

LUTHER

She's in the elevator heading toward Ethan.

BILLY'S VOICE

How much longer before you can reach him?

LUTHER

Five and a half minutes.

(looking at his chronometer)

He's breached the hot zone..

AMBROSE'S VOICE

On the other hand we know where Hunt will

be and he doesn't know we're coming..

INT - INCUBATION ZONE

In front of each of three large television monitors is a vial

shaped roughly like a sealed beaker somewhere between one and two

liters in size.  Each one is contained behind Plexiglas and each

one pale yellow, one sunset red.  Behind them are monitors marked,

respectively:  WORKING SEED STOCK, MASTER SEED STOCK, IN VITRO

VIRUS.  Behind these is a monitor screen with a blow-up of the

contents of the vials & the magnitude of the blow-up - 950,000x.

These are X-Ray microscope blow-ups, i.e., allowing the viewer to

see the motility of the virus and its metabolism, not dissimilar

to an MRI this of Chimera in its three different cultures..

Ethan's on the computer controls, racing thru to WORKING SEED

STOCK, which calls for optimal levels of 6.9 pH and 11

degrees Celsius.  He drops the pH to zero and punches up the

temperature to a hundred.  The effect on the greenish hue in

the bottle is subtle but immediate - not so subtle is the

effect on the virus seeds viewed microscopically - they

immediately appear agitated, their microscopic DNA innards

contracting and expanding.

Ethan moves on to the Master Seed Stock and the In Vitro Virus

panels on the computer.  The changes he makes are reflected on

the digital monitoring panels before each viral container.

THE WORKING SEED

vial has begun to change colors from sea green to a paler pea-

green.  The liquid itself begins to thicken:

COMPUTER VOICE

(female)

Alert.  Chimera-working-seed-stock-pH-and-

temperature-level-outside-optimal range.

As the liquid grows more viscous the X-Ray have a progressively

more difficult time penetrating the individual cells, resulting

in a low humming sound which grows as the liquid gels.

ETHAN

at the control panels for maintaining the virus.

ANOTHER COMPUTER VOICE

Alert.  Chimera-master-seed-stock-pH-and-

temperature-level-outside-optimal range.

FIRST COMPUTER VOICE

Alert.  Chimera-working-seed-stock-pH-at-

unacceptable-level..

THIRD COMPUTER VOICE

Alert.  Chimera-in-vitro-pH-and-

temperature-level-outside-optimal range..

FIRST COMPUTER VOICE

Alert.  Chimera-working-seed-stock-pH-at-

critical-level.  Alert.  Stock-life

threatened.  Alert.

The X-Ray microscope shows the individual seed-cells sticking

together, some exploding, then all movement ceasing.  The Liquid

itself is suddenly shod thru fluorescent sparks before it

congeals to an opaque mush.

FIRST COMPUTER VOICE (cont'd)

Alert.  Chimera stock life..terminated..

Simultaneously with the seed stock, Ethan's damaging both the

working seed in-vitro virus.

WIDE ANGLE - HOT ZONE

Ethan places a little plastique on a timer and runs up a ramp to

the decontaminant air lock at the back entrance to the hot zone.

BILLY'S VOICE

How're we doin', then?

LUTHER

He should've have killed the virus in the

incubation area..Nyah's exited the

elevator on the same level as the lab.

BILLY'S VOICE

What can we do' mate?

LUTHER

(staring at them)

Hope he kills all the bugs before the

yellow dot gets to the red one.

CLOSE - LUTHER'S SCREEN

The read and yellow blips are now on the same plane.  The yellow

dot moves toward the red one as if drawn by a slow motion magnet.

DOWN ANGLE - ETHAN

looking up as his entire body is hit with air like he's a wind

tunnel.  When the air flow ceases, a green light goes on.

COMPUTER VOICE

Subject is contaminate free.  Zero contaminate

factor.  Subject contaminate free.

ETHAN - GLASS OBSERVATION ROOM

heads up a ramp to the three injection guns.  Hands in gloves he

reaches into the chamber for one of the injection guns.

LUTHER'S VOICE

He's still got three injection guns in the

test lab..They're loaded with doses of

Chimera which he'll destroy by firing

into a hyper-thermal chamber.

He places the barrel of the gun, seals the chamber, and fires.

There's a tiny flash of light.  Ethan withdraws the gun.

INT - CONSTRUCTION VAN

Luther's sweating it as the clock counts down:  :30, :29, :28..

LUTHER

- twenty-seven, twenty-six, twenty-five,

come on, Ethan we're almost there!  I-I'm

off sensitive for this..

In a spasm of anxiety Luther bolts to his feet, wipes his brow.

LUTHER (cont'd)

- eighteen seconds, the generators'll be

off and Ethan's back on line..

Luther glances thru the van window only to see reflected in the

van side mirror:

MIRROR REFLECTION - CHROME BUMPER (EXT. CONSTRUCTION VAN)

reflected in it is the face of a digital clock, its red LED

illuminating the clock's numbers fourteen - thirteen - twelve -

WITH LUTHER

LUTHER

(realizing what he's in for)

Oh - oh - oh -

Even as he moans he's frantically ripping out the computer and

cords dangling, hotfoots toward the van exit.

INT - HOT ZONE - GLASS OBSERVATION ROOM

Ethan fires the second injection gun.  Picks up the third and

last.  He pauses as he's about to fire it, staring intently

suddenly the gun is held by:

NEKHORVICH

who turns the barrel from the hyper-thermal chamber and releases

into his wrist.

BACK TO ETHAN - GLASS OBSERVATION ROOM

whose vision of of Nekhorvich fades.  Still thinking of Nekhorvich he

continues to stare at the gun for another moment and before he can fire:

INT - SHEEP FARM IMF SAFEHOUSE

The bomb's LED readout shows 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. As it reaches 0

a small light on the bomb suddenly stops its incessant blinking.

EXT - VAN

explodes.  Saw horses and dirt fly.

INT - GLASS OBSERVATION ROOM - ETHAN

looks up just in time to see Ambrose and team arrive at the far

end of the lab.  They immediately open fire, shattering the

room's walls and the glass injection gun chamber.  As the

injection gun begins falling to the lab floor below, one of

Ambrose's team runs to grab it, but before he can reach it he is

shot by Ethan, who's falling to the floor below.

AMBROSE

(to Ulrich)

Get it.

As Ethan hits and dives for cover, Ulrich goes for the gun

Ethan shoots Ulrich in the leg.  Ulrich hops back in pain.

AMBROSE

Those were two explosions, your van and

your safehouse, in case you didn't hear

them both -- I believe that means you've

also lost a friend.

Ethan's crouching on the ground protected behind a series of

vertical metal sheets.

ETHAN

And you couldn't walk to tell me about it.

Ethan moves to pick up the injection gun which lies in the

shattered glass on the floor.  Ambrose, Wallis, and a couple of

other Ambrose team members fire, kicking up broken glass.  Ethan

backs off.

AMBROSE

(yelling)

Hold your fire, dammit!

The two spot one another in a mirror on the far wall of the hot

zone..

AMBROSE (cont'd)

Well, Hunt.  How've you been?

ETHAN

(smiling)

Fight a bit of a cold..

AMBROSE

And you're happy about that?

ETHAN

Beats fighting the flu, I'm here to tell

you.

AMBROSE

You know, that was the hardest part of

having to portray you.  Grinning like an

idiot every fifteen minutes.

ETHAN

I would've thought the hardest part was

exercising restraint.  Curbing that

pressing need of your to get your gun

off.  You were in such a hurry to knock

off that 747, you never figured out where

the virus really was.

AMBROSE

I knew where it was.

ETHAN

Oh.  then you knew the only way

could smuggle the live virus to the CDC

scientists in Atlanta was by injecting

himself and using his own bloodstream as a

Petri dish, doing it inside of twenty

hours so he could take the anti-virus and

still have it be effective.  You knew that

while you were knocking him off and

destroying the very thing you came for.

Ethan has been using this exchange to ease a fresh seventeen

round clip into his weapon and he punctuates this last with a

spray of gunfire, attempting to cover his own effort to the reach

the injection gun.  The return fire nearly hits the injection

gun, kicking up glass and dust and making it move around on the

floor.

AMBROSE

Stop!  Put a sock in it!  Hit that bloody

gun and you'll spray the bloody virus all

over the place!

Everybody's regained cover but the injection gun remains out of

everybody's reach.

ETHAN

There it is, guys, the last of it.

AMBROSE

Yep.  You've provided us with a golden

opportunity to have both the bug and the

bug killer.

ETHAN

What was the top bid?

AMBROSE

Why, you going to make me a better offer?

ETHAN

Than thirty-seven million pounds?  Not

really.

AMBROSE

(not amused)

Somebody's been slipping you our mail.

Come on out here, you bad girl.

Nyah walks out into view on her own.  Ethan sees her reflection in

the mirror.  Enraged, but trying to control it.

ETHAN

She doesn't belong here, Sean.  Let her go.

AMBROSE

She wouldn't  be here if it wasn't for

you, Hunt.  from this moment you're

responsible for what happens to her, and

if you're looking out for her well-being,

I suggest you advise her to pick up the

gun and bring it to me.  Ball's in your

court, Hunt.  What've you got to say?

Nyah's waiting for your answer.

A pregnant pause.

LUTHER'S VOICE

(breaking through the static)

Ethan, Nyah's in the building!  Do you

copy?

WITH LUTHER (EXT. BIOCYTE)

a mess amid the rubble of the construction van.

ETHAN

ETHAN

(dryly)

Thank you.

ETHAN (cont'd)

Sure he won't shoot you the minute he's

got it?

AMBROSE

Oh, Hunt, please! One can't hold Nyah

responsible for her actions..

ETHAN

In other words, you're calling her a

flake.

CLOSE - NYAH

listening.

AMBROSE

You know women, mate.  Like monkeys, they

are.  Won't let go of one branch til

they've got a grip on the next...get it,

Nyah.  I'll cover you.

Ambrose cocks his weapon.

AMBROSE (cont'd)

I'm waiting.

NYAH

(not much more than body

length from Ethan)

This isn't exactly working out the way you

thought it would, Ethan.  Sorry.

Finger on the injection trigger, she rises and turns the barrel

on her arm, firing.  The sound of the air pressure pushing the

virus into her is unmistakable, as is the circle of tiny puncture

wounds on her skin.  Nyah moves in front of Ethan, covering him,

as she turns to face Ambrose.

ETHAN

shocked by Nyah's gesture but as she addresses Ambrose he

resets the 'Countdown' on his chronometer to twenty hours.  As

it drops into the nineteen:

AMBROSE

(frustrated in the extreme)

You..bitch!

She's been laughing away with Ethan:

NYAH

You're not going to shoot, Sean.  Not

this bitch.  She's worth thirty-seven

million pounds.

CLOSE - ETHAN'S HANDS

fingers press a red button on a tiny detonator.  There's a bright

heat flash from the hot zone and an explosion of gas and water --

the plastique killing any airborne virus.

Ethan uses the diversion to grab Nyah and run with her to the far

side of the lab, behind a stock of horizontal cylinders.

INT - LAB

Ambrose and team recover from the explosion and begin firing on

the tanks protecting Ethan and Nyah, surrounding the two with

fire and jets of released steam.

INT - LAB - ETHAN AND NYAH

behind the stack of tanks.  Ethan launches an explosive down a

short hallway, blowing a hole in the building's exterior wall.

INT - ENTRANCES TO THE LAB

A group of Biocyte security guards enter from behind Ambrose and

team and catch them off-guard.  All hell breaks loose.

INT - LAB - ETHAN AND NYAH

ETHAN

(outraged)

What did you think you were doing!

NYAH

I wasn't thinking!  Just..trying to keep

you from getting hurt, that's all.

This hits Ethan with the force of a blow.

ETHAN

- you who don't have a conscience.

NYAH

(something of surprise to

her)

I guess I lied..You can't get both of us

out of here, can you?

ETHAN

No.

NYAH

Then you'll have to kill me before it's

too late.  Before I start killing people.

ETHAN

No.

NYAH

I'm infected with Chimera.  You know you

don't have a choice.  Just do it now.

She puts Ethan's gun to her forehead.

NYAH (cont'd)

For god's sake, get it over with.

THE HAMMER

pulls back.

CLOSE - ETHAN

He can't fire, lower the hammer.

ETHAN

We've got 19 hours and 57 minutes before

you start killing anybody.  I'll get

Bellerophon into your system by then.

Just stay alive.  I'm not gonna lose you.

Ethan runs from the cover of the tanks toward the exploded wall

once in the open, he exchanges direct gunfire with Ambrose's

team, wounding a couple men.  He reaches the wall and dives thru,

camera with him as he drops 25 stories, the sound of gunfire in

the air all around him.

Less than a hundred feet from the ground a small dark chute

deploys and Ethan is lost from view beneath it.

PANNING SHOT - PAINTINGS (INT. CULTURAL ARTIFACT CENTER)

of Aborigine paintings, eerie patterns made of man and nature

phantasmagorical, like the patterns that form under the eyelids

shortly before sleep.  B.G. the haunting notes of didgeridoo

insure they're not being overheard.

SWANBECK

(reading the paintings titles)

'Dreaming of Birds and Flying Fox,'

'Bushfire Dreaming,'  'Wind Dreaming,' --

oddly appropriate -

Swanbeck breaks off and turns to a somewhat battered and battle

weary Ethan:

SWANBECK (cont'd)

- since it appears that Chimera, the

mother of all nightmares is on the loose

somewhere around here - is there any way

this disaster can be viewed as a qualified

one?

ETHAN

(tight-lipped)

Not yet.  We did manage to pull any

sensitive equipment and material out of

our safehouse wreckage.

SWANBECK

We could lock down passport control and

all ports of authority, but that won't

stop Ambrose, and beyond him, we don't

know who else we're looking for -- all

terrorist bank accounts of which we're

aware are stable.  No deposits, no

withdrawals.  Therefore no suspects.

ETHAN

We think we've got our finger on the

buyer.

SWANBECK

Do you?  Even assuming you're able to

prevent Ambrose selling Chimera, you've

now got an additional problem.  You

destroyed all of Chimera at Biocyte.  If

Ambrose is going to sell Chimera now,

he'll have to do it by taking a pint or so

of Miss Hall's blood to market.

ETHAN

Yes, I believe that's right.

SWANBECK

But that leaves another seven or eight

pints of Chimera.

ETHAN

You mean that leaves Miss Hall.

SWANBECK

Yes, I believe that's right.  Now my

understanding is that 20 hours after

exposure, the victim becomes infectious.

Highly infectious.

Ethan glances at his chronometer.  Swanbeck sees it.

SWANBECK (CONT'D)

You noted the time of exposure?

Ethan nods.

SWANBECK (CONT'D)

- good.  Then if you manage to get hold of

Ambrose, and obtain what he's got, you've

got -

(glancing at the chronometer)

- 8 hours 57 minutes and twenty-three

seconds to destroy the largest remaining

source of Chimera on earth.

ETHAN

She sacrificed herself..

SWANBECK

Brave girl.  If you can get hold of

Bellerophon with the time limit, you may

spare her the ultimate sacrifice.  But in

either case you've got less than nine

hours to kill her or cure her.  After that

it's out of our hands and a matter of

worldwide material law.  And Hunt.  However

you obtain it, we want you to preserve a

sample of Chimera.  Bring it back alive.

Ethan's staring at Swanbeck.

SWANBECK (CONT'D)

Something else?

ETHAN

Aren't you even curious?  About why she

did it?

SWANBECK

No.  I can't afford to be curious.  And

neither can you, Hunt..

As the eerie wail of the didgeridoo seems to mount in volume and

intensity, the overcast sky filtering into the loft seems

particularly oppressive.  Ethan's up against it and he knows it.

A VIEW OF SYDNEY

from harbors to skyline in all its sunlight splendor.

Nyah sits for a moment, looking steadily at Ambrose.  Ambrose pats

the cannister he's carrying.

AMBROSE

Feel like pleading for your life?

NYAH

(with an edge)

Not as much as you feel like hearing it.

Ambrose slaps her.  With scarcely a flicker of hesitation she

slaps him back.

AMBROSE

God damn it, Nyah!  Why did you do it?  Why

did you save that bastard?

NYAH

If it'll make you feel any better I won't

do it again.

It doesn't.  Full of pain and rage, he gets out of the car.

AMBROSE

If it'll make you feel any better, you're

going to take a lot of Aussies with you

and make me a lot of money.

NYAH

What are you talking about?

AMBROSE

In just a few hours you can be assured of

going down in history as the typhoid Mary

of Oz.  G'day.

A nameless guard from Michael's car idling nearby gets into the

back seat with Nyah.  Ambrose shuts the car door in Nyah's face,

gets in Michael's car takes off.

EXT/INT - IMF HELICOPTER - BLUFF

ETHAN

Luther?..Luther.

Luther drops a tiny part into his computer board and, as he tries

to fish it out with the aid of a magnifying glass:

LUTHER

Ethan, I keep telling you there's not a

chance of locating Nyah til I access the

satellite and there's not a chance of

doing that til I get this thing booted up

and running!  How much time does she have left?

ETHAN

Ninety-seven minutes, twenty-seven

seconds.

BILLY

Before we kill her or cure her..

LUTHER

Right.

ETHAN

Wrong.  All we've got to worry about is

Ambrose.  Nyah will take care of Nyah.

BILLY

What are you talking about?

ETHAN

Unless we dose her with Bellerophon on the

next ninety-seven minutes, Nyah will kill

herself.  So, first things, first.

Swanbeck said there's no cash movement

from any monitored terrorist accounts.

EXT - BEAR ISLAND CAR PARK

McCloy's black limousine is in the car park.

ETHAN'S VOICE

Confirms what Ambrose is gonna do -

INT - TUNNEL - BEAR ISLAND

Barrels of toxic materials line the walls, as an armed guard

patrols the corridor, leading into the main chamber, where we

follow McCloy into

INT - SLABHOUSE

McCloy enters and begins pacing.

ETHAN'S VOICE (CONT'D)

- who he's doing it with, and where he's

gonna do it.

EXT - MOTORCYCLE AND LINE OF VEHICLES (DAY)

speed along an isolated road in close formation before turning

onto a side road, revealed as leading to a bridge across a small

strip of water to a small island.

EXT - BEAR ISLAND - LANDWARD SIDE (DAY)

As the cycles and vehicles cross the bridge and approach the

front gate, the camera swings around the side of the island

establishing the geography and the six cannon emplacements

before coming to a stop on

EXT - BEAR ISLAND - SEAWARD CLIFF - ETHAN

scaling the seaward side of the island with minimal gear

EXT/INT - IMF HELICOPTER - BLUFF

resting like a giant locust, half hidden by a cluster of trees on

the bluff overlooking Bear Island.

Billy's at the controls, with binoculars, maintaining

surveillance of the island and environs.

In the back, Luther is at Work on his GPS computer.

BILLY'S VOICE

Ethan's out from under the bridge and on

the south-east face..

EXT - CLIFF/VIEW OF TUNNEL

Ethan climbs the side of the cliff.

BILLY'S VOICE

Ethan, Ambrose and his tem have

over the bridge -

ETHAN

Copy that.

Ethan reaches the clifftop and sees armed guards patrolling.

BILLY'S VOICE

You all right, mate?  From here it looks

like very security.  What's it look like

like from there?

ETHAN

Risky.

He's over the top and moves swiftly to cover.

Ethan surprises and kills a perimeter guard, then runs to a

length of grating and lifts one of the panels.

Ethan climbs down through the grating in the roof of the tunnel.

Using a bar to swing down, he breaks a second guard's neck and

drops to the floor.

EXT - BEAR ISLAND - ENTRANCE (DAY)

Ambrose and team drive through the entry gate -- passing its

BIOCYTE PHARMACEUTICALS sign and various no-nonsense warnings of

'No Trespassing,' etc. -- before Biocyte security guards close it

behind them.

INT - TUNNEL - NEAR THE GRATING

ETHAN

Breached the structure at the ten o'clock

grating.  In the tunnel moving toward the

target.

Ethan begins heading down the tunnel.

INT - SLABHOUSE BUILDING

Ambrose and team enter, where McCloy and his CHEMIST and

ACCOUNTANT are waiting.  As Stamp stands back, observing, and

Wallis sets up a laptop, Ambrose walks up to a refectory-like

table and stands opposite McCloy.  Ambrose reaches into his coat

and puts two cannisters on the table in front of McCloy.  McCloy's

chemist picks up the cannisters and inserts them into two

chambers connected to his microscope.

CHEMIST

It's a DNA match.  The blood's loaded with

Chimera.

An insert of the microscope plate shows the two samples, as

Bellerophen destroys Chimera.

The chemist presses a button on the chamber and there's a heat

flash.  The chamber red light moves to green, and there's a

mechanical voice: 'Substance destroyed.'

CHEMIST (cont'd)

And they certainly have Bellerophen.

The Kev cannister is out on the table.

MCCLOY

Well, then.  You've got both the virus and

the anti-virus, Chimera and Bellerophen.

Which means I've thirty million for

you

Ambrose doesn't respond.

MCCLOY (cont'd)

That's all the cash I can come up with

AMBROSE

Not exactly.  Wallis?

WALLIS

(off Biocyte figures on laptop)

More like two-two point two million.

AMBROSE

In any case we don't want your cash.

MCCLOY

Then what do you want?

Ambrose picks up a mobile phone and dials.

AMBROSE

Stock, Mr. McCloy.  Stock options, to be a

little more precise..

(into the phone)

- cut her loose..right in the center of

town..the more crowded the better..

(punching off, to McCloy)

How quickly can you manufacture more of

the antivirus.

INT - TUNNEL - CAVITY IN THE WALL

As he moves along the tunnel, Ethan suddenly flattens himself

against a wall as he receives a transmission from Luther.

LUTHER'S VOICE

Ethan, just picked up an Ambrose call -

Nyah's been dropped off.  I think she's

alive.

ETHAN

Where is she?

EXT - HELICOPTER - BLUFF

LUTHER

Somewhere in Sydney.

INT - TUNNEL - CAVITY IN THE WALL

Ethan hears something and ducks into a nearby cavity in the

tunnel wall.  As a guard approaches, Ethan steps out of the

cavity and knocks the guard out, then throws him into the

opposite wall.

LUTHER'S VOICE

Ethan?  Do you copy?

ETHAN'S VOICE

'Somewhere in Sydney?'  Care to harden the

target?

LUTHER'S VOICE

Can't.  Until I can get the GPS up on our

computer..it's still down..

ETHAN

The clock is ticking..

Back to the matter at hand, Ethan completes the move on the

guard and knocks him out.

INT - SLABHOUSE

MCCLOY

Bellerophen?  No time at all once I've got it.

AMBROSE

Good.  Biocyte stock is just a week or two

away from going through the roof.

MCCLOY

(alarmed)

What are you talking about?

AMBROSE

An outbreak of Chimera.

MCCLOY

Where?

AMBROSE

In downtown Sydney for a start.

McCloy is stunned.

AMBROSE (cont'd)

You create the supply, Mr. McCloy, we've

just created the demand.  Three million

people in Sydney and 17 million people in

Australia are going to need Bellerophen

within a matter of days..not to mention

the rest of the world..

INT - TUNNEL - OPEN AREA - ETHAN'S FEET

stealthily approach a couple dozen jittery pigeons, cooing

and pecking.  The intensity of their noise-making increases

as Ethan reaches them.

INT - TUNNEL - OUTSIDE OF THE SLABHOUSE ROOM DOORS

Hearing the disruption of the pigeons, one of Ambrose's

guards leaves his post at the double doors and head the

tunnel toward the birds to investigate.

INT - TUNNEL - OPEN AREA

Ambrose's guard draws his gun and continues approaching the

pigeons.  Before the guard can see him, Ethan runs forward, and

sends the pigeons into scattered flight, blinding the guard.

Ethan jumps into a back flip and double kicks -- first knocking

away the guard's gun and then knocking him out and flat on his

back.  Ethan continues his flip and lands right back on his feet.

INT - SLABHOUSE

AMBROSE

-- now here's the way it's going to

work..Wallis, the shares outstanding are..

WALLIS

Ninety-three point four million.

AMBROSE

Which means, Mr. McCloy, we have to get

our hands on four hundred and eighty

thousand options.  We'll borrow your

thirty million to buy those options.  Your

stock's never sold above thirty-one

dollars a share.  We'll agree to buy at

fifty.

AMBROSE (cont'd)

When your stock goes north of two hundred,

and it will, those options will be worth

billions.  We can borrow whatever we need

to buy the 48,000,000 shares, fifty-one

percent of Biocyte.

MCCLOY

Outrageous.  I won't let you take control

of my company.

AMBROSE

Sit down.  You'll be a billionaire.  Better

than being broke.  I've got terrorists and

other pharmaceutical companies standing in

line.  Ball's in your court, Mr. McCloy.

INT - TUNNEL - OUTSIDE THE SLABHOUSE ROOM DOORS

Ethan pulls a can of explosive material form his pack.  He

rolls it towards the double doors, and it stops just before

reaching them.  Then, pointing his gun to the ceiling, he

fires into the air.

INT - SLABHOUSE ROOM - AMBROSE

hears a noise and looks to Stamp, who heard it as well.

Stamp nods to two guards to check it out.  They head across

the room to the double doors.

INT - TUNNEL - OUTSIDE THE SLABHOUSE ROOM DOORS - ETHAN

waits for the right moment before raising his and firing

at the can of explosives.  Just as it ignites, the guards

open the doors and are blown back by force of the explosion.

INT - SLABHOUSE ROOM - AMBROSE

reacts and turns toward the explosion.  Amidst the flames and

debris, a single white dove comes flying into the room.  And

beyond it, Ambrose can see Ethan Hunt in silhouette walking

slowly past the doorway.

AMBROSE

Run that bastard down.

Orders are shouted, and guards, along with Stamp, hotfoot it down

the tunnel-corridor in the direction of the explosion.

INT - TUNNEL - STAMP AND GUARDS

run down the tunnel.  The guards move commando-style, directed

by Stamp's hand signals.

INT - SLABHOUSE - MCCLOY AND AMBROSE

Ambrose loads his gun and drags the tip of the barrel along the

table.

AMBROSE

We're running short on time, Mr. McCloy.

We've got to conclude our business.

McCloy pauses only a moment before nodding to his accountant.

MCCLOY

Yes, start the transfer.

The accountant begins working on his laptop.

AMBROSE

(to Wallis)

Follow it.  Let me know.

INT - TUNNEL - STAMP AND GUARDS

pass a couple of doorways.  A pigeon flies past Stamp's face and

he stops.  As he turn, Ethan Lowers himself from a hiding place

in the ceiling.  Stamp and Ethan pull their guns on one another.

They're in a face-off until they both agree to drop their guns,

but Stamp catches his in mid-air and points it back at Ethan.

ETHAN

You broke our deal.

STAMP

You're too trusting.  Raise your hands

slowly.

As Ethan raises his hands, he pulls the pin on a grenade and then

kicks it between Stamp's legs.  The handle flies off:  It's live.

When Stamp looks down in surprise at the grenade, Ethan kicks out

his gun.

Trying to escape the grenade, Stamp smashes into Ethan and seems

to have hit him in the jaw.  Both hit the ground as the grenade

explodes, with Stamp appearing to have the upper hand.

INT - SLABHOUSE

As everyone waits for the transfer to complete, the grenade

explodes out in the tunnel.  McCloy and his accountant freeze

with alarm as a sprinkling of dust settles on the room.

AMBROSE

(to the accountant)

Keep it going.

STAMP'S VOICE

Sean, this rat's reached the end of the

maze.

AMBROSE

(into walkie-talkie)

Is he alive?

STAMP'S VOICE

More or less.

AMBROSE

Bring him to me.

INT - HELICOPTER - BILLY AND LUTHER

Luther has the GPS computer starting to access the satellite.

BILLY

(nervously)

We're due to take off.

LUTHER

Not for seven more minutes.

INT - SLABHOUSE - WALLIS

checking his computer screen, which shows the transfer has

finished successfully.

WALLIS

Sean.  Transfer complete.

Stamp drags Ethan in, arms pinned with heavy tape.  Stamp

Ethan look grimy as sandbags after a busy day of tunneling.

Ambrose rises to examine his prize.

MCCLOY

(apprehensive)

What exactly do you intend to do with him?

Ambrose walks behind Ethan and kicks his knees out from under

him.  Ethan falls to the floor.

INT - HELICOPTER - BILLY AND LUTHER

LUTHER

Ethan?  Ethan?  Do you copy?

Luther hears nothing in response but while noise.  He looks to

Billy and indicates there's no answer.

ETHAN

Well, mate, maybe this is one of those

times we shouldn't follow orders.

EXT - HELICOPTER (DAY)

the rotor blades turn over.

INT - SLABHOUSE BUILDING (DAY)

AMBROSE

(to Ethan)

What have you got to say for yourself.

Hunt?  Any last words?

Ethan appears as if he wants to respond, but can't.  Ambrose

kicks him again.

AMBROSE (cont'd)

Stop mumbling.

STAMP

Afraid he's got no choice.  I believe I

broke his jaw.

AMBROSE

Hugh, I'm impressed..

Ambrose has picked up a pair of Berettas, and is proceeding to

load both full seventeen round clips.

MCCLOY

(anxiety mounting)

What do you intend to do?

Ambrose favors McCloy with a glance of genial exacerbation.

AMBROSE

You needn't watch.

FULL SHOT - HELICOPTER (DAY)

rising off the golf green, and banking toward the island.

INT - SLABHOUSE (DAY)

Ambrose standing before Hunt with a pair of fully loaded

Berettas.  The sound of the helicopter grows.

AMBROSE

- right.  We don't have a lot of time,

Hunt.  whatever you've got to say, say it

now.

Ethan indeed makes some considerable effort to speak but can only

manage a few guttural, progressively desperate sounds which

continue as:

AMBROSE (cont'd)

Sorry mate, I can't understand a bloody

word.  How about giving us a big smile to

remember you by?

(hearing the helicopter)

No?  Well, then.  This is what's known as

getting your gun off.

With that Ambrose empties thirty four rounds from the two

Berettas into Ethan whose body jerks crazily on the floor.

McCloy nearly faints, and Ambrose laughs at his squeamishness

until something on Ethan's body catches his eye: the top of the

little finger on the right hand is bleeding.  Ambrose grabs

Ethan's face, and rips off a latex mask: revealing Stamp, eyes

wide open and thoroughly lifeless.  His jaw, under the mask had

been taped carefully close with the same heavy tape Ethan has

used to mount the drain-pipe shotgun on the tunnel wall.

AMBROSE (cont'd)

Bloody hell!

He looks around, but Stamp is gone.  So is the cannister and

kevlar vest that had been on the table moments before.

EXT - BEAR ISLAND

Ethan's on the motorcycle, heading toward the gates, which a pair

of security guards are frantically trying to close.

Billy and Luther in the copter are over the island, and bank so

Luther can fire a grenade launcher and blow the back of Ambrose's

boat.

The guards close the gate, Ethan runs the motorcycle up the

hillock and jumps the gate, over onto the bridge.  Ambrose follows

in the SUV, crashing thru the gate.

They race across the bridge and the road, onto the huge

greensward opposite to and similar in shape to Bare Island.

There, with the helicopter hovering, Ambrose manages to corner

Ethan and after they expend whatever ammunition their weapons

hold, they move into each other bare handed and engage in

ferocious, no-holds-barred combat, the helicopter hovering low

enough to keep away whatever's left of Ambrose's henchmen, the

chopper's downdraft hitting them and flattening the grass around

them.  Ethan prevails.

A SPECTACULAR VIEW OF SYDNEY

on bluffs overlooking the city.  Camera moves slowly to the top

of the bluff.

EXT/INT - IMF HELICOPTER (DAY)

With Billy flying and Luther at the door, machine gun in

hand, the copter nears the Bare Island gun pit and Ethan.

EXT - BEAR ISLAND GUN PIT - ETHAN

runs into the central 'hole' area, guns in both hands and

wearing the kevlar vest.  He runs toward the walled edge of

the enclosure and jumps.  As he pulls himself up the top of

the wall, he sees the IMF helicopter approaching.

A gunman appears from the tunnel entrance and opens fire, the

bullets exploding into the wall around Ethan, who jumps out

of the way to avoid them.

EXT/INT - IMF HELICOPTER

is under fire as well, bullets spraying the windshield,

driving Luther back inside and causing Billy to turn the

chopper around.

BILLY

Man at your six.

EXT - BEAR ISLAND GUN PIT - ETHAN

who rolls and returns fire at the gunman.  Ethan first hits

the gunman in the leg, and then shoots and explodes the

canisters behind the gunman, killing him.

ETHAN

(to Billy)

The field of fire is too heavy.  Back off

and pinpoint their positions.

BEAR ISLAND HILL - MOTORCYCLE

bearing down on him as he stands up.  Ethan just manages to

dive out of its path before a second motorcycle comes up over

the hill.  Ethan flips backwards and fires his pistol,

shooting the second cyclist off his bike.

The motorcycle flies over Ethan, who runs after it and jumps

on, revving the throttle and taking off.

BEAR ISLAND - PARKING AREA - AMBROSE

deploys some of his men via walkie-talkie while others

scramble into their cars.

AMBROSE

(into walkie-talkie)

Hunt's heading for the bridge.  Coming in

at twelve o'clock high.

BEAR ISLAND BRIDGE

A Gold Falcon with several of Ambrose's men inside enters the

bridge from the mainland and speeds toward the island.

EXT - BEAR ISLAND COMPLEX

Ambrose's men exit the complex and get into their cars.

BEAR ISLAND HILL - ETHAN

crests a hill aboard the cycle, the IMF chopper in b.g.

ETHAN

Clear that bridge for me.

LUTHER' VOICE

Roger that.

BILLY'S VOICE

They're tracking you on the left, Ethan.

Prepare for some fire.

BEAR ISLAND ROADWAY

Michael's SUV and Wallis' sedan speed along as a gunman from the

SUV fires on Ethan up the hill, spraying bullets around him.

BEAR ISLAND BRIDGE - GOLD FALCON

approaches the island.  Luther fires his grenade launcher.  It

hits the Falcon's trunk, lifting its back wheel off the ground,

but the Falcon keeps coming, its trunk ablaze.  Luther reloads as

a gunman leans out the window, firing up at Ethan on the hill.

BEAR ISLAND HILL - ETHAN

lays on the cycle's throttle, accelerates down the hill and

propels the bike into the air and off the island, just as

EXT - IMF HELICOPTER - LUTHER

again fires his grenade launcher, this time at the front of the

BEAR ISLAND BRIDGE - GOLD FALCON

on the bridge.  The grenade explodes at the front of the car

and hurls the Falcon into the air and off the bridge.

BEAR ISLAND - HILL/BRIDGE - ETHAN

is in mid-air on the cycle, heading down toward the bridge.  Just

as he lands, the Gold Falcon flies off the bridge, and Ethan

speeds through the flames and off onto the mainland.

BEAR ISLAND - BRIDGE

Michael's SUV arrives and tears through the gate and flames,

followed by Wallis' sedan and then Ambrose, riding a motorcycle.

ROAD LEADING FROM BRIDGE - ETHAN

races up the road to find a white Falcon approaching.

The IMF chopper arrives and gunfire's exchanged.  Luther takes a

hit in the shoulder and drops his gun as the chopper banks away.

INT - HELICOPTER - LUTHER

Luther grips his shoulder in pain and falls back into his seat,

jarring the GPS computer.  It responds by beeping and coming to

life.  Nyah's yellow dot pops up on the screen.

GPS COMPUTER

The target is located.

LUTHER

Ethan, the computer's up.  I've got Nyah.

She's moved out of the city.

ETHAN

Luther, say again.

LUTHER

She's on the North Head Bluff -

approaching the cliffs.  One klick away.

EXT - ROADWAY - ETHAN

ETHAN

(over increasing static)

Copy.  She's only got twenty-eight minutes

left.  Track ahead and pick her up.

INT - IMF HELICOPTER

Luther bands his shoulder wound and monitors his GPS laptop.

LUTHER

We won't be able to cover you.

EXT - ROADWAY - ETHAN

slightly slows the bike to concentrate over the static.

ETHAN

You're breaking up.  Track ahead and pick her

up.  You've got me on GPS.  Bring her to me.

Ethan pulls out and throws away the earpiece.

INT - IMF HELICOPTER

LUTHER

Billy, North Head.  Haul ass.

EXT - ROADWAY

Ethan heads downhill as the SUV approaches on an adjacent road.

He pulls out in front of it, immediately drawing fire.  Without

slowing, Ethan drops to the side his cycle for cover.

INT - IMF HELICOPTER - LUTHER

watches the GPS laptop as the chopper speeds over Sydney.

EXT - ROADWAY - ETHAN AND WALLIS' SEDAN

Wallis' sedan appears from an adjoining road and pulls in behind

Ethan, who climbs back aboard his cycle.  Cut off, the SUV turns

onto a side road to intercept Ethan.

WALLIS

Get him.

ULRICH

I can't get a good shot.

Before an intersection, Ethan both revs and brakes, spinning the

bike and creating a smoke screen.  Wallis' car enters the smoke.

ULRICH (cont'd)

I can't see him, mate.  Slow down!

WALLIS

Shut up.  I know what I'm doing.

Wallis breaks hard, but not hard enough:  he stops just in the

path of an oncoming 18-wheeler.  His car's demolished.

EXT - ROADWAY - ETHAN AND SUV

Ethan pulls out of the smoke as the SUV bursts out of the scrub

behind him, striking the rear of the cycle.  Ethan puts his bike

into a spin and pulls his gun, ending up alongside the SUV

passenger window.  He fires through the window, shooting both

Michael and the bodyguard.

The SUV veers off, crashing into a line of parked cars.  It hits

the first car and flips up and over, landing upside down on

several more parked cars.  Ethan speeds off on his smoking cycle.

Ambrose arrives and then takes a side road.

INT - IMF HELICOPTER - LUTHER

working on his GPS laptop.  The range -- ie, the distance from

the moving copter to the yellow dot, Nyah, on the edge of the

screen -- is reduced to about two kilometers.

LUTHER

(to Billy)

Range is two kay.

BILLY

I hope there's a place to land.

Luther looks up from the screen to see the bluff of North Head at

the entrance to Sydney's harbor.

EXT - THREE-LINED ROADWAY - ETHAN

tearing down the road, when suddenly from a side trail Ambrose

pulls out behind him and begins firing.  Ethan weaves to avoid

Ambrose's fire and passes a car, pulling in front of it for

cover.  The car skids, forcing Ambrose to veer around it.

FROM COPTER TO GROUND (MOVING)

rapidly approaching the North Head bluff.

BILLY

There she is.  I got visual.

LUTHER

We're down to seven minutes 23 seconds..

HIGH ANGLE - NORTH HEAD

moving up behind Nyah who is walking purposefully to the edge of

the bluff and a precipitous drop to rocks and surf a hundred and

fifty feet below.

Camera drops to Nyah's shoulder level and moves with her to the

bluff's edge.  As she's just a few steps away from stepping

off, there's a roar and the helicopter rises into the shot,

before her wild-eyed Billy gesturing, 'Stop!  Stop!' to Nyah.

EXT - ROADWAY

Ethan passes narrowly between a car and oncoming truck.  Ambrose

follows as soon as the truck clears.  Ethan fires backward using

his side-view mirror to aim, exploding Ambrose's windscreen.

Ambrose skids until his wheel clips a rock, knocking him upright.

Ethan turns into a side road and speeds through open scrub.  Back

on the main road, Ambrose roars off to intercept Ethan.

EXT - CLIFFTOP - ROCK LEDGE

On a clifftop clearing, Ethan races along as Ambrose moves to cut

him off.  They head toward one another.

LUTHER'S VOICE

Ethan, we've got her.  Tracking to you now.

We're reading 5 minutes 19 seconds.

EXT - CLIFFTOP - CLEARING

Ethan and Ambrose round a bend and face one another.  Without

hesitating, they charge towards each other.  As they near one

another, each leaps forward and off his bike, and they collide

hard in mid-air.  They fall to the ground fighting as their bikes

skid and Ethan's explodes, raining debris upon them.

Ethan and Ambrose rush towards one another.  Ethan flips Ambrose

to the ground.  Ambrose pulls a gun from his ankle holster.  As

Ethan knocks it away, he loses his own gun and they both fall off

a 30-foot cliff.

INT - IMF HELICOPTER

at top speed over Sydney.  Nyah appears weak and shivers.

LUTHER

(to Billy)

Bearing two one zero.  About 3 klicks.

(into microphone)

Ethan, we're moments away..

EXT - CLIFFTOP - CLEARING - FIGHT

Ethan and Ambrose rise from the fall.  Ethan jumps up and sweeps

Ambrose, dropping him to the ground.  Ethan begins strangling

Ambrose but gets knocked off, and when they both stand, Ambrose

gets Ethan in a choke hold.

Ambrose hits him and grabs a rock and hits Ethan in the

midsection and the face.  Ethan kicks it out of his hand and

connects with several punches, knocking Ambrose to the ground.

Kneeling, Ambrose pulls a knife from a boot holster and cuts

Ethan across the back and face.  Ambrose dives on Ethan and the

knife is poised above Ethan's eye before Ethan grabs the knife

and clears, holding it out toward Ambrose.

AMBROSE

Go ahead.  Use it Hunt.  It's not a bad

way to go.  A lot better than the way that

bitch is going to die.

Ambrose swings again and misses, and Ethan delivers a series of

kicks, leaving Ambrose stunned and barely standing.  Ethan steps

back, and with a running start, strikes Ambrose with a leaping

kick that drops him to the ground and knock the knife out of his

hand.

EXT/INT - IMF HELICOPTER - CLIFFTOP

As they approach in the distance, Billy, Luther and Nyah finally

gain sight of Ethan in hand-to-hand combat.

EXT - CLIFFTOP - CLEARING - FIGHT

Ethan turns and walks away from Ambrose toward the cliff edge.

The copter lands and Luther runs toward Ethan but pulls up,

looking over Ethan's shoulder.  Ambrose has a gun aimed at

Ethan's back.

AMBROSE

Hunt.  You should have killed me.

Near Hunt's feet is his own gun, obscured from Ambrose's view by

dust from the copter.  Ethan tosses the canister to Luther and

then kicks his gun up out of the dirt and into the air.  He

catches it, drops down and fires, killing Ambrose.

EXT/ INT - HELICOPTER ON CLIFFTOP

Ethan reaches Nyah at the copter.  Inches apart, they can only

stare silently at one another.

INT - CULTURAL MUSEUM

Didgeridoo music.  A child admires a painting.  Swanbeck and Ethan

face one another.  A long, long pause.  For a moment it appears as

if Swanbeck has lost awareness of Ethan's presence.

SWANBECK

Sorry, Ethan.  I don't quite know where to

begin.  Any suggestions?

ETHAN

You'd like me to conduct my own

debriefing.

SWANBECK

Why not?  You've done just about

everything else on this operation.

ETHAN

I'd thank you -- but I'm not sure that was

a compliment.

SWANBECK

Of course it was.  Anyone whose operations

requires the level of disinformation that

yours do, is bound to get a little flak

here and there.  You try flogging the

stories on CNN I've had to come up with

about what's been going on around here the

last few days.  At any rate, it's been

most instructive -- what they'll swallow,

or what they'll broadcast with a straight

face.

(picking up a file)

Miss Hall's blood, it appears, has

absolutely no elements of the Chimera

virus.  Not even antibodies.

ETHAN

Yes, I gathered as much.

SWANBECK

And the only other remaining sample was in

the canister you recover from Ambrose.

ETHAN

Yes.

SWANBECK

And that appears to have been destroyed.

It also contained the anti-virus,

Bellerophon.

ETHAN

Well, Bellerophon, it turns out, was only

really effective against Chimera.

SWANBECK

But you were under specific instructions

to bring back a living sample of the

Chimera virus.  I'd be very interested to

know how, after you'd managed its recovery

intact, it subsequently got destroyed.

ETHAN

By fire.  That's the best way, really.

SWANBECK

So you didn't fail mission, you simply

changed it.

Ethan doesn't respond.

SWANBECK (cont'd)

It's no longer enough for you to execute

and implement IMF policy, you now wish to

go in the business of creating it?

ETHAN

No, I don't.  But in this case -

SWANBECK

In this case, it wasn't a bad idea.  In

face, it was a pretty damn good idea.

Just don't make a habit of it.  And, as for

Ms. Hall, in light of her efforts, her

criminal records will certainly be

expunged.  I'm assuming you approve.

ETHAN

I do.

SWANBECK

Where is she now, by the way?  Do you

know?

ETHAN

I don't.  No exactly.

SWANBECK

Well, Hunt, what are your plans?

ETHAN

Not sure.  Some sort of vacation.  I'll

let you know where I'm going.

SWANBECK

Oh, you don't have to do that. Wouldn't

be a vacation if you did.

Ethan and Swanbeck exchange one final, knowing glance.

SKY NEWSCASTER

This incident in the wake of rumors

suddenly surfacing about Mr. McCloy and

Biocyte's financial difficulties --

including criminal allegations of insider

trading, embezzlement, conspiracy to

commit fraud, and stock parking -- have,

understandably, sent stock prices of the

pharmaceutical company plummeting.

EXT - SYDNEY (DAY)

Ethan emerges to a very crowded street.  Billy and Luther are

waiting.  Both look to Ethan.

LUTHER

(worried)

So what did he say?

ETHAN

Good job.  And thanks.

BILLY

(incredulous)

That's it?  That's it? That's it?

LUTHER

(dryly, looking at Billy)

And the check's in the mall.

BILLY

Right.  Just remember, mates.  Billy

Baird's the name.  Anything you need to

get, move or watch, I'm your man.

And Billy's gone.  Ethan and Luther remain alone, both reluctant

to say anything, both reluctant to leave.

One quick bear hug, then:

LUTHER

Always nice hearing from you man.  Stay in

touch..

And Luther's off.  Ethan looks after him, a bit wistfully.  Then,

curiously tentative he moves off into the crowd.  After a half-

dozen steps, something catches his eyes.  He stops.

One quick bear hug, then:

NYAH

(a tad wary)

Do you know me?

NYAH

is inches from him.  Without batting an eye.

ETHAN

No.  Should I?

NYAH

No.  You just looked as if you did.

ETHAN

No...

She wraps her arms around him and kisses him with considerable

conviction.

ETHAN (cont'd)

...just as if I'd like to.

NYAH

Oh.  Well..

He kisses her with a conviction that is more than a match for

hers.

NYAH (cont'd)

..I think that can be arranged.

Looks around at the swirling crowd:

ETHAN

Let's get lost.

And in a moment they've vanished from the frame and into the

crowd.  Camera begins to pull back, the bustling crowd ever

filling the frame - and in the distance, perhaps, just a splash

of a bouquet of flowers can be seen, appearing to bounce along on

its own, the rising beat of the MI theme:

BEGIN CREDITS:  IMF II - CHIMERA