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View Full Version : The Cleaners, Part I


Saint Fawkes
10-31-2007, 07:00 PM
If you recall, when I first joined I said that I mostly wrote scripts. Finally, I have lived up to that claim.

This is a short dramedy type-thing. It has some minor swearing and a crapload of shooting.

Formalities aside, continue on to part one of The Cleaners, complete with pretentious Roman numeral!
___________________________________________

Black screen.

GARY (V.O.): It’s never easy, ya know? It’s never easy.

Sound of a gun being loaded.

GARY (V.O.): Never. It never goes according to plan.

A laser sight comes on, illuminating the darkness enough to show the tip of a handgun barrel.

GARY (V.O.): Never once since Tucker and I got into this business has it gone according to plan.

The laser sight switches off again, and we hear footsteps moving farther away.

GARY (V.O.): Hell, after a point you just sorta stop trying.

Cut to: a door with a in an empty hallway with a men’s room sign on it. Gary Church is leaning on the wall by the door with his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms crossed over his chest, waiting impatiently. He wears tuxedo, and he wears it well. His jet black hair is slicked back across his head. He’s decent looking, but in a plain, forgettable sort of way.

GARY (V.O.): To make the plans work, I mean.

The men’s room door opens, and Tucker O’Malley comes out. He wears a tux too, but he’s obviously not the fancy party type; his jacket is very loose and sloppy, and his bow tie is in his jacket pocket; he seems to have given up on it. He a bit taller than Gary, and much less sophisticated looking. His brown hair is curly and uncombed, and a slightly-later-than-five o’clock shadow adorns his jaw. He carries a long suitcase.

GARY: You ready to go?

TUCKER (grinning): Like you read about.

Gary sighs, obviously not content.

GARY: Okay, let’s go.

GARY (V.O.): You just sorta go with it.

The two of them leave the hallway with the bathroom in it and enter a crowded ball room.

TUCKER: Ya know somethin’, Gary?

GARY (annoyed): I actually know a few things, Tucker.

TUCKER: I hate places like this. How come we never get sent to smelly back alleys anymore?

GARY: Because we asked to stop being sent to smelly back alleys, remember?

As they talk, the two of them are heading toward the grand staircase at the back of the room.

TUCKER: Well yeah, but that was before I knew that leaving the smelly back alleys would mean we’d have to spend our weekends hanging around a bunch of guys who think they crap gold.

Gary rolls his eyes, disgusted.

GARY: Jesus Christ, would you at least try to pretend to be sophisticated?

TUCKER: Look, at least the guys in the smelly back alleys don’t get all sobby as soon as they see us. They’re in smelly back alleys, how much worse can their life get?

They reach the stairs on that note and start up toward the second floor, which is just as crowded.

The second floor is really more of a balcony that overlooks the first floor, but there’s large set of wooden double doors on the north wall of the second floor.

TUCKER: But these guys, I mean, damn! You hold up a fist and their ready to trade away their wife and kids. When did criminals get respectable?

GARY: Shut up.

TUCKER: No, seriously—

GARY: No, seriously, shut up. We’re here.

They’ve reached the top of the stairs and are facing the double doors. They glance briefly at each other and head through. There’s a pair of Secret Service-looking security guards (black suits, shades, wires, the works) on either side of the hallway. They start toward Gary and Tucker as the doors fall shut behind them.

1ST GUARD: Gentlemen, I’m going to have to ask you to—

Gary hits 1st Guard in the neck with the side of his hand, grabs his head, and slams his knee into his face. Tucker drops 2nd Guard with less subtly; he palms the man’s head and clubs it against the wall.

The two of them glance at each other again and then continue forward to the end of the hall, where there’s another set of double doors. Gary checks his watch and they speed up slightly.

Cut to: BOSSMAN’S OFFICE. The Bossman’s office has four more security guards in it, all holding Uzis. There’s a big window at the rear of the room. The Bossman himself is an incredibly obese man with blond hair, wearing a suit that doesn’t quite fit him. He’s on the phone, yelling in Spanish. The doors slam open.

Worms eye view as Tucker and Gary come in, both holding guns. Gary holds a GLOCK 17 handgun, silenced; Tucker, on the other hand, has an AMT AutoMag V with a laser sight below the barrel. The AutoMag is huge; the barrel is nearly a foot long, but Tucker seems able to wield it just fine in one hand. The two of them spray bullets indiscriminately until both their guns are empty. They quickly reload their guns and head toward the window at the far end of the room. As they walk on either side of the desk – Tucker going right, Gary going left – we can see that everyone in the room is dead. The four guards are on the floor and the Bossman is slumped in his chair.

Tucker sets his suitcase on the desk and opens it, removing a long sniper rifle. He smashes the butt of the rifle through the window and looks out.

Cut to: Tucker’s POV through the scope. As he zooms in, we see what this party is about: there’s a wedding reception going on in the backyard. Tucker is setting up a shot on the groom’s head.

Cut to: side shot of Tucker aiming out the window. Gary is next to him, watching with binoculars.

TUCKER: I’ve got a shot.

GARY: Wait till they say the vows.

TUCKER: Is the altar wired?

GARY: No.

Tucker looks away from the scope to stare at Gary.

TUCKER (patronizingly): Then how will we know when they say the vows?

GARY: He’ll kiss her, dumbass.

Pause.

TUCKER: Oh. Yeah.

Cut to: the altar. The priest is going over the vows almost mechanically; he’s obviously done this many times before.

PRIEST: …‘til death do you part?

The groom has a passing resemblance to the Bossman, though he’s much better looking.

BRIDE: I do.

PRIEST: You may kiss the bride.

Cut to: Tucker’s POV through scope, watching the groom kiss the bride. His crosshair is on the groom’s temple.

TUCKER: They’re done.

GARY: Hold on, wait for—

Cut to: side shot of Tucker aiming out the window while Gary watches through the binoculars. Gary winces as Tucker fires. The gunshot echoes around the huge yard. Far away, the bride screams in horror.

GARY: Man, that’s just wrong.

Tucker glances irritatedly at Gary.

TUCKER: What’re you, my mother?

Gary sighs resignedly as Tucker loads his rifle into the suitcase and closes it up.

GARY: Let’s go.

The two men head out of the Bossman’s office. As they walk down the hall, 2nd Guard is starting to wake up. Tucker absent mindedly steps on his face as they pass. They holster their guns (that’s why Tucker’s jacket is so loose; so that he can carry his huge pistol without it being visible) and open the doors, heading back down the stairs into the party, which is clearing out very quickly. They stop at the last step, glance over the panicked crowd, look at each other, Tucker smiles.

GARY (V.O.): Someone once said improvisation is the spice of life.

TUCKER (screaming exaggeratedly): OH GOD WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!

He runs through the crowd, screaming nonsensically as he shoves toward the main door. Gary rolls his eyes and follows in Tucker’s wake.

GARY (V.O.): If I ever meet that jackass I’m gonna shoot him in the face.

Cut to: long shot of the parking lot (NIGHT) outside the MANSION everybody is running out of; the Bossman, apparently, is pretty well off. Tucker is laughing as he and Gary climb into their rental car, Tucker driving. He backs quickly out of their parking spot and turns the car.

TUCKER (O.S., still chuckling): Oh man…

GARY (O.S., exasperated): You are a sick, sick man.

The car drives away. The screen fades to black as the noise of the engine fades in the distance.
___________________________________________

That's not the end, I'll post the next part soon enough.

Ava_adore123
11-01-2007, 04:40 AM
Ok i dont actually write scripts but I've gone to quite a few play readings (where a new draft is read out by actors and the audience gves their opinions) and quite a few drama classes. So i'll try my best!

Ok this is for a movie...

Well, with any script there should be a lot of differienation (or however it's spelt) between how the characters speak. With this, I saw a little but otherwise, hmm.. the VO sounded like Tucker speaking. In the way of colloquisms and shortening of words and so forth. Other than that, it worked.

My dad (who writes plays) says that if you can put your hand over the characters names and actually tell who's talking you've succeeded. With this, you've succeeded =)

I'm not quite sure where this is going but the disturbing scene with but the bride and the quick dialogue already drew me in. It goes at a quick enough pace for it's theme. So kudo's on that.

You might want to cut down on the directions, usually if your script is accepted they only want a tiny bit of direction, not facial expressions and too much about outfits. The actors and directors kind of take over there. I'm assuming you put that in for the readers so we could visualise it anyway.

Otherwise, it was very good. I hope that ^ was adiquete! I've never critiqued a script.

Good work! =)

Saint Fawkes
11-05-2007, 08:01 PM
The feeling I was trying to create with the difference between Gary's dialogue and voiceover was that his actual personality is not that different from Tucker's, but he thinks that he should act professional.

Thanks for the crits and the compliments.

Saint Fawkes
11-05-2007, 08:15 PM
GARY (O.S.): Okay, sometimes it actually is pretty easy…

Fade in: RENTAL CAR, NIGHT. Gary is in the car, on a cell phone.

GARY (cont): …but we don’t work on difficulty factor, so quit screwing around and give us our goddamn wage.

He pauses, listening.

GARY: I don’t care about extenuating circumstances. All I want to hear you say is “I am so very, extremely sorry I tried to cheat my loyal employees and will be wiring the rest of the money immediately because I value the lives of myself and my family.”

Pause.

GARY: Now was that so hard?

Pause.

GARY: Good. Let’s try to keep it friendly and honest in the future and I predict a long and successful partnership here. See ya around, Chief.

He hangs up.

TUCKER: Ya know, you shouldn’t say “goddamn.” It ain’t right.

Gary stares at him incredulously.

GARY: You just shot a man while he was getting married.

Tucker starts to reply, can’t think of anything, and shrugs.

TUCKER: Yeah, that’s fair.

They both look straight ahead for a moment in silence.

Cut to: POV of night vision scope. Crosshair follows the rental, staying on the hood of the car. We see for the first time the car is on a backcountry road, way out in the middle of nowhere. Wide fields stretch on either side of the road.

TUCKER (O.S.): Still, you shouldn’t talk to the Chief that way. We need the work.

GARY (O.S.): Look, if that arrogant son of a—

The crosshair jerks upward as a gunshot goes off.

Cut to: the RENTAL CAR, as the bullet punches through the hood.

TUCKER: Christ!

He swerves wildly in his panic and then struggles to regain control.

Cut to: close up of the shadowed face of the sniper. He’s in a parked Honda Ridgeline, aiming his rifle out of the passenger side window.

SNIPER: Damn.

Cut to: close up left front tire as a second gunshot goes off and a bullet tears the tire to pieces.

Cut to: Tucker is struggling to keep the car on the road.

TUCKER: Goddamn it!

Cut to: outside shot as the front left tire sends up a spray of sparks. The car spins onto its side and slides several yards along the road before coming to stop.

Cut to: close up. Tucker and Gary are sideways in their seats, both breathing hard. The windshield is cracked and Gary has blood on his face, but they’re both alive and conscious.

GARY: What the hell is—?

Another gunshot and both of them struggle to get their seatbelts off and get out. Tucker shoves open his door and uses it for cover against the sniper until he can climb out of the car and drop down onto the road.

Sniper’s scope POV as Gary climbs out behind Tucker. Sniper tries to get a shot but can’t quite pull it off. He fires another shot at the door, more in frustration than anything else, and it punches through the metal, grazing Gary’s left arm.

Cut to: COUNTRY ROAD. Tucker is crouched behind the car, his gun in his hand, when Gary lands hard on the pavement, clutching his arm.

TUCKER: You okay?

GARY: Jesus Christ!

TUCKER: You’re okay.

He switches on his laser sight and leans out from behind the car. Cut to: Tucker’s POV. He scans the horizon, pausing as he notices the silhouette of the Sniper’s truck. Cut to: COUNTRY ROAD as Tucker pulls back into cover. Gary is still lying on the pavement, trying to stop the bleeding from his arm.

skippy
11-10-2007, 02:18 AM
There's not much I can say. When it comes to your directions they're kinda idiot proof. Which makes an actor feel like an idiot. Same goes for the reader. When you have the dialogue with the phone, we understand there are going to be pauses and when he says goodbye that he hangs up the phone. At most I advise that you write telephone dialogue as "Hey what's up... Oh that's great, I'll tell Lucy about that... Alright I'll see ya later." And then go to the other character's line.

As for giving your characters more... character, that depends what you're aiming this for. If your only plan for this is for people to read it, you really want to make your characters distinct. But if by any chance you want it to be ready for an actor to pick up the script, you shouldn't worry about it. You'll want a brief description of the character at the beginning of the script to give an actor something to base their character off of, but it's their job to make the character distinct, that's how I've always seen it. If you really want different characters then you should make it clear in their dialogue but otherwise don't worry about it.

Plotwise: it's interesting. I want to see upcoming events. One of those films for action junkies it seems, choppy cuts it seems like. I can't say much since there really isn't much plot yet so continue

Saint Fawkes
01-13-2008, 05:36 AM
TUCKER: I see him. Can you get to the trunk?

GARY (incredulously): I’ve been shot!

TUCKER (condescendingly): No, you’ve been grazed. There’s a subtle difference.

GARY: A bullet hit me, okay? I am bleeding a lot!

TUCKER: Can you get to the damn trunk or not?

Gary glances back and painfully rises to a crouch.

GARY: Can you cover me?

TUCKER: Yeah.

GARY: Okay, on three.

Tucker leans his back against the car, raises his gun, and prepares to lean out.

GARY: One… two…

Tucker glances back at him.

TUCKER: Wait, go on three, or three and then go?

GARY: What?

TUCKER: Do I cover you when you say three, or right after you say three?

Gary stares at him.

TUCKER: It’s an important distinction, okay?

GARY (exasperated): Go on three.

Tucker looks back around the car, grinning as soon as he’s out of Gary’s sight.

GARY: One… two…

He raises himself slightly, ready to move, and draws his gun.

GARY: Three!

Tucker leans around the side of the car, lines his laser sight up with the Ridgeline in the distance, and starts shooting spastically. Gary sprints around the rear of the car, shoots the lock off the trunk, yanks it open, and pulls out Tucker’s suitcase. Tucker’s gun comes up empty and he drops back behind cover. Gary scrambles toward the car.

Cut to: the SNIPER’S TRUCK. The barrel pops out of the window again and flashes. Follow the large bullet in slo-mo as it speeds over the field toward Gary’s leg. At the last moment, Tucker’s suitcase swings in front of the bullet, stopping it with a loud thump.

GARY: Dammit!

He makes it behind the car to find Tucker reloading his gun.

GARY: Nice covering fire, jackass.

TUCKER: You get the rifle?

Gary hands him the suitcase. Tucker opens it and pulls out his rifle.

TUCKER: Thing’a beauty.

He glances around the rental again and pulls back quickly.

TUCKER: Okay, cover me until I can get a bead on him.

GARY: You’ve got your Longslide, right?

Tucker reaches into the right side of his jacket and pulls out an AMT Hardballer Longslide. Tucker seems to have a thing for big pistols, because this one is even bigger than the AutoMag.

TUCKER: Watch it, this thing always jams up.

Gary tosses his GLOCK to his left hand and takes the Longslide his right.

GARY: Ready?

TUCKER: Yeah.

GARY: Go!

Gary stands up behind the car, firing both guns at the distant Ridgeline. Tucker lies down on his stomach, by the edge of the rental, aiming through the scope carefully. Meanwhile, the Longslide jams and stops shooting. Gary looks at it furiously.

GARY: Motherless son of a b—

A bullet hits him in the chest and he falls backward. Tucker glances away from the scope to look at him and then goes back to aiming.

TUCKER (muttering): Nice covering fire, jackass.

He fires the rifle.

Cut to: POV of Tucker’s rifle’s bullet as it speeds over the field toward the sniper. We see the sniper setting up his next shot as the bullet heads toward his forehead. Just before it hits, cut to:

Wide shot of SNIPER’S TRUCK. We hear a loud thud and the thump of a falling body.

Cut to: COUNTRY ROAD. Tucker looks up from the scope, smiling with satisfaction.

TUCKER: Gotcha.

He glances at Gary, who’s still lying on the ground.

TUCKER: You okay?

Saint Fawkes
02-15-2008, 12:43 AM
Gary groans in pain.

GARY: Are you sure my vest is a Type 4?

TUCKER: Hell if I know. You seem to be somewhat alive.

Gary sits up painfully.

GARY: Ow. Ow. Ow.

Tucker is calmly packing up his rifle.

TUCKER: Can I have my Longslide back now?

GARY: It jammed.

TUCKER: I warned you.

He picks up the Longslide where Gary dropped it. He grips the slide and yanks hard on it. A spent shell pops out.

TUCKER: There, all better.

He extends his hand, which Gary takes, and pulls him to his feet.

GARY: Ow.

He picks up his GLOCK and holsters it.

GARY (resignedly): Okay, let’s get going.

TUCKER: Going where?

Gary points at the SNIPER’S TRUCK in the distance.

GARY: To his car.

TUCKER: All the way out there?

GARY: Unless you want to walk back to San Fran? Besides, I wanna see if we can figure out who was shooting at us.

Zoom out to a long shot as the two of them start across the field. Gary periodically says “Ow” as he walks.

Cut to: bird’s eye view pointing down from the roof of the SNIPER’S TRUCK. The unfortunate sniper lies on his back, his rifle lying on top of him. The inside of the car is stained with blood. The sniper’s head is obscured in the darkness; probably a good thing, since you can bet he’s not pretty. We hear footsteps as Gary and Tucker approach.

GARY (O.S.): Ouch.

TUCKER (O.S.): Quit whining.

GARY (O.S.): Huh? No, I mean this guy. Pretty messy.

TUCKER (O.S.): Oh, yeah. Not exactly gonna be a pleasant ride home. Can you ID him?

GARY (O.S.): From that mess where his head used to be? I don’t think so.

The passenger side door opens and Tucker and Gary starts pulling the body out of the car. Camera doesn’t move from truck’s roof.

GARY (O.S.): Besides, why would I be able to ID him any better than you?

TUCKER (O.S.): Well they have pictures at those little briefing things, right?

GARY (O.S.): Yeah, but you see those too.

They manage to get the body out and we hear a thump as they drop it to the ground.

TUCKER (O.S.): Yeah, I guess.

GARY (O.S.): Can we sit in this thing?

TUCKER (O.S.): Yeah, the blood should mostly be dry by now.

Gary climbs into the passenger seat; Tucker climbs into the driver’s. The keys are still in the car, so Tucker guns the motor and they’re outta there.

Cut to: wide shot of the Golden Gate Bridge. We can just make out the Ridgeline driving across the bridge among the other traffic. The camera follows it across.

GARY (O.S.): No, he had a big ass rifle and he was shooting the hell out of our car.

Cut to: the inside of the truck. Tucker is driving, Gary is on his cell phone again.

GARY (frustrated): Stay—? I got shot! Twice! You know I hate getting shot! No, you listen to me: I can’t assassinate a damn thing all punched fulla bullet holes, so why don’t you get your geeks on your mainframe and find out who’s taking shots at us! Good. Let me know as soon as you’ve got anything.

He hangs up.

Saint Fawkes
07-24-2008, 04:00 AM
TUCKER: Seriously, you need to not be so confrontational with that guy. He pays us, remember?

GARY (annoyed): When did you get all rational all of a sudden?

TUCKER: Look, I happen to like this gig, okay?

GARY: I thought you wanted to go back to the smelly back alleys?

TUCKER: Yeah, but the guys who crap gold get a heavier price.

Gary sighs.

GARY: You know, we should really get this car off the road as soon as possible.

TUCKER: Why?

GARY: Because it’s covered in blood. Looks like a Tarantino movie.

TUCKER: Oh right, that. Where can we take it to?

GARY: I’ve got an apartment near here. Just drop it off in the garage and we can take my car back to the Chief’s place.

TUCKER: Okay. Where?

GARY: Go left here.

Cut to: the dimly lit GARAGE is not very full. The bloodstained Ridgeline pulls into a space. Tucker and Gary climb out. They cross the garage to a red sedan. Gary produces his keys from his tux and climbs into the driver’s seat. Tucker climbs in next to him. Gary turns on the car and the headlights come on. For the first time, Gary notices the Ridgeline’s license plate.

Cut to: close-up of the license plate, which reads I H8 LA.

Cut to: close up of Gary and Tucker in the car.

GARY: Oh crap.

TUCKER: What?

GARY: That car. It belongs to one of the Chief’s Cleaners.

TUCKER: So his maid was taking potshots at us?

GARY: Not that kind of Cleaner.

TUCKER: What other kind is there?

GARY: Jesus, haven’t you listened to any of our mission briefings?

Long, awkward pause.

TUCKER: Define “listen.”

GARY: You’ve gotta be kidding me.

TUCKER: Well I figured you’d tell me if there was anything important!

GARY: Cleaners are hit men that work for the Chief, but they don’t take out targets. They take out assets when they become liabilities.

TUCKER: …what?

GARY (exasperated): If one of the Chief’s guys gets seen by too many witnesses or kill too many civilians, they become a liability to the organization. That’s when the Chief sets the Cleaners on ‘em.

TUCKER (incredulous): And you didn’t think this was worth telling me?

GARY: I thought you were listening!

TUCKER: Wait, what did we do? How did we become liabilities all of a sudden?

GARY: I don’t know, but they’ve got like fifty of these guys. We need to get to the Chief before anymore of them find us.

TUCKER: Great. Wonderful. Can we get moving now please?

Gary steps on the gas and they head out of the garage.

Cut to: worm’s eye view of the sidewalk. GARY’S CAR drives past. We see Beowulf’s feet first; he’s leaning against the wall, very relaxed. He wears very shiny black shoes and plain black slacks. Pan up his body. He wears a black suit jacket and has shiny, long black hair. It hangs around his face anime-style as he watches the car pass by. He raises a hand to his left ear.

BEOWULF: I see them.

He walks toward his car, a black Sedan with heavily tinted windows, and climbs in. The car drifts forward, staying just within view of GARY’S CAR.

Cut to: GARY’S CAR. Gary’s driving; Tucker is checking the load and the sights of his AutoMag. As the conversation continues, he will also check his Longslide, the S&W Centennial in his ankle holster, and a combat knife under his jacket. The radio plays in the background.

GARY: You remember that guy Vic?

TUCKER: Yeah, sure. He’s the dude who did that Vegas job, right?

GARY: Yeah, that’s him. You ever wonder what happened to him?

Tucker switches to the Longslide.

TUCKER: I figured he went back to New York. He was always talkin’ about goin’ back to New York.

Gary shakes his head.

GARY: Got spotted in Vegas by a reporter. Cleaners did ‘em both.

Tucker switches to the Centennial.

TUCKER: No way. The reporter too?

Gary nods, starts to say something, and pauses. He turns up the radio volume.
TUCKER: What?

GARY: Listen.

Willis
07-24-2008, 04:05 AM
Why is the dialog so formal?

Ex. "You need not to be so confrontational"

Ex. "we can take my car back to the Chief’s place."

Better:

Ex. " Relax, don't be so uptight"

Ex. "Let's run it by chiefs place"

Saint Fawkes
07-24-2008, 04:38 AM
No, it's, "You need to not be so confrontational with that guy." It's a style of speaking, not a grammatical error. :wink:

Willis
07-24-2008, 04:39 AM
Oh Okay Then, Ignore My Comment.
Swagg On.

Saint Fawkes
07-26-2008, 06:40 AM
...swagg...?

Saint Fawkes
08-03-2008, 09:15 PM
Is that in reference to teh script, or the word swagg?

Saint Fawkes
08-03-2008, 09:50 PM
RADIO: …widowed on the altar by a sniper’s bullet, Ms. Sullivan has so far refused to talk to reporters. Though no suspects have been arrested, the killing seems to be related to organized crime, since the groom’s father, drug kingpin Jonas “The Bossman” Sullivan was found apparently murdered around the same time.

Gary laughs as realization hits him.

GARY: Clever, isn’t it?

TUCKER: So what? We did a mob hit. We’ve done ‘em before.

Gary shakes his head.

GARY: No, idiot. Who has the most to gain from this?

Tucker shrugs and switches to the knife.

GARY: With the groom’s father dead, the groom gets his whole empire. So who gets it if the groom dies?

Tucker looks at him in surprise.

TUCKER: His wife.

Gary nods.

GARY: That’s why they told us to wait for the vows.

As they’re talking, Gary stops at a red light and Beowulf’s car pulls up next to him. They don’t notice its driver’s side window rolling down.

TUCKER: Note to self: never get married.

GARY: Man, and she really convinced everybody too. Ain’t that a—

There’s a silenced gun shot and the passenger side window cracks right next to Tucker’s head.

TUCKER: Christ!

Gary slams on the gas, running the red light. The black Sedan doesn’t follow. GARY’S CAR swerves through a chorus of car horns for a moment before pulling back into the correct lane. Gary looks in the mirror but doesn’t see anyone chasing them.

TUCKER: What the hell was that?

GARY: Another Cleaner.

Tucker glances at the cracked window.

TUCKER: You had your windows bulletproofed?

Gary shrugs.

GARY: I figured it couldn’t hurt in this business.

TUCKER (to himself): I gotta get my windows bulletproofed.

GARY: That was faster than I expected. We need to get moving.

TUCKER: Hey, you’re drivin’. I’m just the guns and the looks.

Gary sighs and they continue onward.

Cut to: BEOWULF’S CAR. Beowulf watches from his car as they drive away. When the light turns green, he takes a right and drives off.

Cut to: wide shot of a church tower. Subtitle reads: ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA. The sky is gray and dark.

Cut to: inside of CHURCH TOWER. Tex, a young man with messy blond hair and a Texan accent, is staring through a sniper rifle down from the church tower window. A moment passes, and then he fires the rifle.

TEX (under his breath): Gotcha.

He doesn’t see someone (Cadmus) aiming a handgun at his head from few inches away.

Cut to: blackness. We hear a gunshot and then silence.

Cut to: close up a Chinese flag fluttering in the wind. Subtitle reads: CHINESE EMBASSY, MARYLAND. Allyson, a blond woman in a white suit, leans on the inside of the gate, watching a limousine in the parking lot. As she watches, a Chinese man in an expensive suit comes out of the embassy and heads toward the limo. He climbs into the back and shuts the door. A moment later, the limousine explodes. Allyson smiles and pushes open the gate.

Cut to: close up of the gate’s latch. As it opens, we see a nearly transparent wire snap.

Cut to: long shot of the embassy. A man with an angry expression (Ajax) watches as the gate explodes.

Cut to: a dark office, richly furnished. Subtitle: MANHATTAN, NEW YORK. A middle-aged businessman with graying hair opens the door and flicks on the light. Sitting in his chair is a man in a black jumpsuit: Sarge. He holds a silenced pistol. Before the businessman can speak, Sarge shoots him twice and he falls backward. Sarge spins in the chair to face the window, where he sees the glow of a laser sight (Herakles). The window breaks and there are two silenced gun shots as Sarge jerks backward in the chair.

Cut to: a train car’s booth. Two men sit in it. The first is an angry looking short guy with gray stubble and black shades. The second is Lopez, a large Hispanic man. The short guy is lying on his face, snoring loudly. Lopez is reading a magazine, but looks up every few seconds to glance at the short guy. Cut away to an outside shot of the train going into a tunnel. Cut back to Lopez in his booth. Everything goes dark for a moment. There’s a low grunt and a crack and the snoring stops abruptly. A moment later the car is light again. Everything is exactly how it was, except the short guy is no longer snoring. Lopez stands up and walks out of the booth.

Cut to: area between two train cars. A man (Akhilleus) leans on the wall. Lopez walks out of one of the cars. He glances at Akhilleus briefly and starts to continue. Akhilleus suddenly produces a garrote wire and throws it around Lopez’s neck. Lopez lets out a gasp as he struggles to breath, but the Cleaner is winning. Lopez collapses to the floor as we

Cut to: an average looking office building. Pan down from the top to the street, where GARY’S CAR has just parked. Gary and Tucker climb out and head toward the building, which is the CHIEF’S BUILDING.