Matt Reilly Stories (10 page)

May you rest in peace.

The
syringe goes into Callaway’s immobilised arm. Callaway watches -- terrified --
as the bald man depresses the plunger.

The
contents of the syringe go into his bloodstream.

CALLAWAY

No! -- No!! -- NO!!!!!!!

His
scream carries over as we --

SMASH
CUT TO: EXT. WAREHOUSE - ESTABLISHING – NIGHT

An
ominous-looking building, surrounded by high fences and razor wire.

Super
the legend:

ONE HOUR EARLIER
.

INT.
WAREHOUSE - NIGHT

A
dark, foreboding place. Endless aisles. Wooden crates and boxes fill the
shelves.

NEIL
CALLAWAY, looking a lot fresher and more alive, SLAMS back-first into a shelf,
breathing hard. He looks at A SLIP OF PAPER in his hand by the light of a
penlight. The slip of paper reads:

BOX 26/A-1

Callaway
moves down a narrow aisle, peering at the boxes on the shelves by the light of
his small flashlight.

THE
FLASHLIGHT’S BEAM reveals a stencil on one of the boxes:
26/A-1
.

Looking
fearfully about himself, Callaway hurriedly rips open the box. He extracts --

A
BULGING ENVELOPE.

He
rips open the envelope. In it is THE CIRCULAR TAPE REEL.

Callaway
pockets the tape reel and takes off.

CUT
TO: INT. CALLAWAY’S APARTMENT - NIGHT

A
reel-to-reel tape player plays the mysterious reel.

Neil
Callaway stands at the window, peering out, while behind him, his friend, DANNY
SMITH, listens to the reel through a pair of STEREO HEADPHONES. Danny’s mouth
is falling open at what he hears.

He
stops the reel-to-reel machine. Pulls off the headphones.

DANNY SMITH

Neil. This stuff is fucking dynamite --

It’s
at that moment that the door behind Callaway is violently kicked in.

CUT
TO BLACK:

Super
the legend:

3 DAYS EARLIER
.

INT.
FBI OFFICE - DAY

TWO
MIDDLE-AGED MEN stand around a desk. One wears single-breasted suit with an
WHITE HOUSE ID on his pocket; the second man wears a heavily-decorated US Navy
uniform.

On
the desk before them: A BRIGHT ORANGE REEL-TO-REEL PLAYER.

WHITE HOUSE MAN

The President is concerned. Has the situation been
resolved?

THE DOOR to the office opens and in rushes a young
NAVY             TECHNICIAN. He carries an identical REEL-TO-REEL PLAYER.

YOUNG NAVY TECHNICIAN

Same make. Same model. And now, same serial number.
The unit’s been sealed and a new reel is inside.

WHITE HOUSE MAN

Can you get it out to the crash site?

SENIOR NAVY MAN

No problem. We’ll get one team to lay it and another
team -- who knows nothing -- to find it.

CUT TO: A TELEVISION SOMEWHERE - DAY

The
news. A FEMALE NEWSREADER speaks to camera.

NEWSREADER

And in breaking news, the black box flight data
recorder from doomed British Airways Flight 455 was recovered today by US Navy
divers.

The
TV SCREEN shows a diver getting out of the water holding the BRIGHT ORANGE
REEL-TO-REEL PLAYER we just saw in the office. It is a FLIGHT DATA RECORDER.

NEWSREADER (V.O.)

Investigators are hopeful that the black box will
shed some light on the tragic incident...

CUT
TO: ANOTHER NEWSCAST.

A
MALE NEWSREADER this time.

MALE NEWSREADER

Investigators looking into the BA Flight 455
aeroplane disaster today revealed the contents of the doomed airliner’s flight
data recorder.

A
“sound screen” comes up. It is one of those screens you see on the evening news
when a paragraph of words is displayed while the speaker’s voice is supered
over it. In this case WE HEAR the garbled voice of a pilot:

PILOT’S VOICE

... New York Air Traffic Control, this is BA 455, we
are experiencing complete system breakdown...oil pressure has been lost,
electrical systems have failed, hydraulic wing controls have been lost...If
anybody can hear this, we are going into a dive...

The
male newsreader comes up again.

MALE NEWREADER

The crash of the British Airways Boeing 777 has been
linked to a similar crash of a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 in 1997. In that
incident, complete system breakdown occurred due to faulty wiring in the
cockpit circuitry --

NEW
ANGLE. WE ARE in:

INT.
MOBILE COMMAND CENTRE – NIGHT

The
White House Man is watching the coverage on the TV in near darkness.

The
Senior Navy Man comes alongside him.

SENIOR NAVY MAN

There’s been a leak.

WHITE HOUSE MAN

One of yours?

SENIOR NAVY MAN

No. Yours. One of your aides told a reporter about
the switch. Gave him the location of the real tape.

WHITE HOUSE MAN

Who?

SENIOR NAVY MAN

The leak has been taken care of. The reporter’s name
is Callaway.

WHITE HOUSE MAN

Can he be erased with minimal disturbance?

SENIOR NAVY MAN

By the right person. Yes.

The
Navy Man turns his head and WE PAN TO REVEAL behind him --

THE
EVIL-LOOKING BALD MAN waiting patiently in the shadows.

CUT
TO BLACK:

Super
the legend:

THREE DAYS EARLIER

INT.
MOBILE NAVY COMMAND CENTER - NIGHT

A
caravan-type vehicle. Cramped. Dark.

A
BRIGHT ORANGE FLIGHT DATA RECORDER slams down onto the table.

It
glistens with wetness.

THE
WHITE HOUSE MAN from before is here, as is the SENIOR NAVY OFFICER.

WHITE HOUSE MAN

Nobody knows...?

SENIOR NAVY MAN

It was found by a specialist unit operating outside
the publicised search area.

(beat)

The media don’t know we’ve got it.

INT.
MOBILE NAVY COMMAND CENTER - LATER

WIRES
are plugged into the FLIGHT DATA RECORDER. The SENIOR NAVY

MAN
hits a switch and the reels start to rotate.

Garbled hash.

SECOND OFFICER’S VOICE

(on tape)

Moving to 24,000 feet, sir, all systems normal.

PILOT’S VOICE

Good work, Number Two. Take us up.

The
two senior government men stare intently at the black box flight recorder.

PILOT’S VOICE

Say, anyone hear what the score was in the Mets
game?

FIRST OFFICER’S VOICE

Jesus, what the fuck is that?

PILOT’S VOICE

What the --

And then tangle of frantic voices: SECOND OFFICER’S
VOICE

Is that what I think it is?

FIRST OFFICER’S VOICE

It’s coming toward us, Captain.

(beat)

Jesus Christ --

PILOT’S VOICE

Number Two, get on the radio, see if there are any
Navy ships down there.

Tell them to abort!

SECOND OFFICER’S VOICE

Attention any US Navy vessels in grid sector 675.
This is British Airways Flight 455, we are a civilian airliner and we have a
visual on a --

A
NEW VOICE comes over the line. Harsh. Suspicious.

NEW VOICE

British Airways Flight 455, this is US

Navy ship Liberty, what are you doing in this area?

SECOND OFFICER’S VOICE

(frantic)

US Navy vessel Liberty, we are a civilian airliner
in international airspace, and we have visual contact on a missile of some
sort, heading in our direction and we ask that you immediately abort its flight
--

FIRST OFFICER’S VOICE

Too late!!!

PILOT’S VOICE

NO!!!

The
tape explodes to hash. The sound of static fills the mobile command center.

THE
TWO SENIOR MEN look at each other. They are like stone.

Unmoved
by the drama they have just heard. The WHITE HOUSE MAN pulls out a cellular
phone, steps over to a corner.

He
speaks into the phone in hushed tones. The Navy man doesn’t watch him. The
White House man returns, looks seriously at the Navy man.

WHITE HOUSE MAN

Take appropriate action. Make it go away.

CUT
TO BLACK.

________________

_________________

THE
OLD WATCHER

Mont
St Michel

France,
1454

Every
day for three months, from sun-up to sundown, the old monk watched De Christo
as he worked.

This
was unusual. All the other inhabitants of the island monastery—monks, nuns and
townsfolk— preferred to spend their time gawking at the royal visitors present
at the Mount.

But
all the while De Christo worked in the cathedral, the ancient monk never let
him out of his sight. Bald and hunched and gnarled, his name was Brother
Michael, and he was the caretaker of the great cathedral.

Every
day he would sit in the front pew and watch as De Christo hammered and planed,
rebuilding the flame-scarred structure. Granted, the cathedral of Mont St
Michel contained some of the most valuable Catholic relics in all of
Europe—including a great wooden cross suspended above the altar from the
ceiling which supposedly contained a splinter from the actual Cross of Christ,
golden chalices and silver torch-holders. Brother Michael was protecting the
silverware.