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                                   LIMITLESS



                                  Written by

                                 Leslie Dixon
                         
                         
                         
                         
                            Based on the novel by

                                 Alan Glynn

                         
                         
                         
                         
                                                      December 21, 2009
          INT. A BLACK SCREEN
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           They found me.
                         
          INT. CLOSE 0N - A HIGH-TECH RESIDENTIAL STEEL DOOR
                         
          being POUNDED in. WHAM! WHAM! Whoever's trying to get in is
          serious. The door shudders but doesn't give. It's state-of-
          the-art residential protection.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I might have five minutes.
                         
          We hear the WHRRRRR of POWER TOOLS going to work on his door.
          These people are determined. Professional. And prepared.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) ( (CONT'D)
           I'll never know how they got past
           security in a half-billion dollar
           building.
                         
          EXT. THE CELESTIAL - LOOKING INTO THE LOBBY - NIGHT
                         
          The sleek lobby is deserted. We SEE, through the GLASS, lying
          on the floor, the barest glimpse of the FEET of what are
          presumably TWO DEAD SECURITY GUARDS -- although their bodies
          are largely hidden behind their massive curly walnut desk.
          All the security monitors are BLACK -- the feeds clearly cut.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           They've become sophisticated.
           Before they couldn't have done
           this. But now...?
                         
          The CAMERA RISES, breathlessly, in a blur, up all 80 floors
          of this stunning new building, coming to rest on...
                         
          EDDIE MORGAN,
                         
          30's, lean and stylish, standing on the exterior ledge of his
          multimillion-dollar terrace. New York City looms around him,
          beneath him. His hands are outstretched. Balancing. He is
          calm, but fatalistic. He's clearly going to jump.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           I will never let them touch me.
                         
          His attention is CAUGHT by the SOUNDS of a commotion in the
          next apartment. He looks over, at-
           2.
                         
                         
          THE ADJOINING TERRACE
                         
          Through the gauzy curtains of the window, TWO MEN force A
          MIDDLE-AGED MAN towards the windows... there is arguing.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           My neighbor must've heard the
           noise. Opened his door to complain.
                         
          Two MUFFLED SHOTS - the neighbor drops. The door is pounded
          again. It doesn't give.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           He bought me half a minute. I wish
           he hadn't. Last thoughts are self-
           pitying and mine are no exception:
           the waste. The waste of it all. I
           mean, how many of us ever know what
           it is to become... the perfect
           version of ourselves. I'd come
           that close. To having an impact on
           the world.
                         
          The pounding intensifies.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           And now, the only thing I'd have an
           impact on...
                         
          He looks over the railing...
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           ... was the sidewalk.
                         
          His smile is bitter, as we CUT TO:
                         
          EXT. NEW YORK CITY STREET - DAY
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Not so long ago, this was me.
                         
          Eddie is walking down the street, messily eating a street
          falafel. His hair is longer, his clothes schlumpier, his face
          rounder --he's out of shape. A belly bulges against his belt.
          He wears jeans and that worn-out corduroy "writer's" sport
          coat --the one that your girlfriend fights to give to the
          Salvation Army.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           3.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           I was a writer. Two years after my
           copywriting job at Dexter & Kerr
           came to a non-mutual end, I had, in
           an extraordinary burst of desperate
           energy, bullshitted my way into my
           first book contract. This was it:
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S RATTY RENT-CONTROLLED APARTMENT ON AVENUE A- DAY
                         
          Eddie, slumped in his desk chair, is playing COMPUTER
          SCRABBLE.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Now, at last, I was ready to write.
                         
          QUICK CUTS: --Eddie sprawled on the couch, eating takeout and
          watching TV, the sink in the foreground full of dishes. --
          Eddie shooting baskets into a toy hoop.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Gearing up, that's all.
                         
          --Eddie sleeping in his bed, sacked out, the clock beside him
          clicking to 11:59 a.m.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Getting psyched.
                         
          --Eddie sitting on the john, playing a game on his childhood
          Game Boy.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           A few days did pass this way...
           maybe a few months...
                         
          --Eddie at his desk. He glances at his LAND LINE. The
          message light is unblinkingly green. No one's called.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           Friends fled.
                         
          His POV PANS to the FOOT HIGH STACK OF UNPAID bills next to
          the answering machine.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           And banks became attentive. But
           just in case you think nothing ever
           happened to me....
           4.
                         
                         
          INT. A MIDTOWN COFFEE SHOP - DAY
                         
          A FEMALE HAND slides a KEY across the counter to EDDIE. Eddie
          stares in disbelief at his (now ex) girlfriend, LINDY, an
          attractive, real-looking girl, late 20's. She's dressed in a
          professional suit. She looks very sad.
                         
                          LINDY
           I don't think I can keep this.
                         
          Eddie is broadsided. Hurt.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Just like that.
                         
          She shoots him a look of almost intolerable sympathy.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           I was kind of under the impression
           you cared a little more than just--
                         
                          LINDY
           If I didn't care, maybe I'd be able
           to stand to watch you do this.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Look, I'm going to give 90 pages to
           Mark on Friday. If you could just
           wait, see what he says-
                         
                          LINDY
           Stop. You think I don't know what
           you do all day? I've loved you. I
           know the good stuff, and I know the
           shit.
                         
                          EDDIE
           And it's all shit to you now?
                         
                          LINDY
           You're the one living it.
                          (SYMPATHETICALLY)
           Don't think I don't know it's worse
           for you.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Then you know I could use a friend.
                         
          He tries to push the key back. He cares about her, but he's
          also "working" her sympathy, which she instantly smells.
                         
                          LINDY
           Don't you dare try that shit on me!
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           5.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          She pierces Eddie with a look. Doesn't take the key.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Well -- what'll work, then?
                         
          They both almost laugh. They know each other so well. But
          she looks away, steeling herself.
                         
                          LINDY
           I see where it's going. You'll
           lose your apartment. And then
           what? You'll move in with me--
                         
                          EDDIE
           Not with that enthusiastic invite--
                         
                          LINDY
           --And then it'll go on this way,
           and I'll rag on you, and finally
           boot you out -- and then what? I
           mean, have you run the film?
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           She knew what was beckoning: the
           lower bunk in my childhood bedroom
           in Newark. We'd even had sex on it
           once. And it was a thing to be
           pitied and avoided.
                         
          Eddie sighs. Drops the glib tone. Looks at her, finally
          mustering the honesty she deserves.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Lindy. I really thought I had it
           in me to do something. --I wasn't
           getting around it, but it was
           fucking there. And now, I, ah...
           don't think it is. There.
           --Anything. At all.
                         
          Lindy looks at him, clear-eyed, seeing him as he is, and
          loving him anyway.
                         
                          LINDY
           You know what...? I'd have had you
           move in anyway... if...
                         
                          EDDIE
           If, what?
                         
          She looks away. Its hard for her to admit this:
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           6.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
                          LINDY
           If it was me you wanted. And not
           Melissa.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I never think about Melissa--!
                         
          FLASH!
                         
          INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
                         
          We are in Eddie's mind, in his POV, and we are seeing a
          LOVELY, WILLOWY BRUNETTE, wearing an undershirt, bending
          seductively over him...
                         
          INT. MIDTOWN COFFEE SHOP - DAY
                         
          From Eddie's eyes we can tell the memory is still fresh. She
          shakes her head, looks away. It's clearly over. She gets up.
          He follows.
                         
                          LINDY
           I have to get back.
                         
                          EDDIE
           --Hey, well -- wait -- you didn't
           tell me what happened yesterday.
                         
          We can see on Lindy's face that she's still vulnerably
          pleased that Eddie remembered to ask.
                         
                          LINDY
           I got it.
                         
                          EDDIE
           You got it--?!
                         
                          LINDY
           Yeah. I'll have my own assistant.
           You believe that?
                         
                          EDDIE
                          (GENUINE)
           You deserve it, Lindy.
                         
                          LINDY
           Yeah, thanks. I do.
                         
          She smiles weakly, breaks eye contact. No good to keep
          looking. It's over. Eddie makes an attempt to reach for the
          check, which Lindy grabs.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           7.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           Oh, please.
                         
          He knows she knows he can't pay.
                         
          EXT. MIDTOWN STREET - DAY
                         
          Eddie is walking home, eying the homeless on the street,
          feeling his dismal future breathing down his neck.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           She was right. I was almost 35.
           No one talks about "potential" at
           35. I had missed the on-ramp.
           Soon I'd be sleeping in the lower
           bunk of my childhood bedroom... my
           father happy to welcome me into the
           challenging field of dental supply
           inventory...
                         
          He's interrupted by A VOICE - calm, amused:
                         
                          VOICE
           Eddie. Morgan.
                         
          VERNON GANT looks him over with condescending bemusment. He's
          30, wears an expensive suit, looks like he comes from money.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Of all the useless relationships
           better forgotten and put away in
           mothballs, is there any more
           useless than... the ex-brother-in-
           law?
                         
                          VERNON
           Shit! It's gotta be-- 9 years--?
                         
                          EDDIE
           But who's counting.
                         
                          VERNON
           (taking him in)
           Hey, you!!!
                         
          He genially whacks the sides of Eddie's arms. Eddie
          halfheartedly whacks back. Vernon sizes Eddie up.
                         
                          VERNON (CONT'D)
           Jesus, Eddie, pack it on, why don't
           you?
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           8.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie didn't need that. He's very self-conscious about his
          weight.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Sedentary job, you know...
                         
                          VERN
           So you're still trying to write?
                         
                          EDDIE
           As a matter of fact, I've got a
           book contract.
                         
          Vern looks half suspicious, half impressed.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           How about you?
                          (POINTEDLY)
           Still dealing, Vernon?
                         
                          VERNON
                          (SMUGLY)
           Do I look like I'm still dealing?
                         
          Eddie sizes him up: the suit, shoes, watch, haircut.
                         
                          EDDIE
           No.
                         
                          VERNON
           Come on, let's get a drink. I wanna
           hear about this book.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Nah, I should go--
                         
                          VERN
           You can't tell me you're a health
           nut, now. Not with that tire-
                         
                          EDDIE
                          (ANNOYED)
           Enticing invitation. Thanks.
                         
          Vern plucks the pack of cigarettes from Eddie's upper jacket
          pocket.
                         
                          VERN
           C'mon, c'mon, one beer. Or I won't
           give `em back.
                         
          He holds the cigarettes just out of Eddie's reach.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           9.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
                          EDDIE
           It's one o'clock in the afternoon,
           Vern.
                         
                          VERN
           When's that ever stopped you?
                         
                          EDDIE
                          (SIGHS)
           Fuck.
                         
          INT. BAR - DAY
                         
          A BARTENDER brings beers to Eddie and Vernon who sit at the
          bar. Eddie clearly wishes he were elsewhere.
                         
                          EDDIE
           So... how's Melissa?
                         
                          VERNON
           Ah-hah. That's why you agreed to
           the beer.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm making conversation, Vern.
                         
                          VERNON
           Well, I don't know how Melissa is.
                         
          INT. A BEDROOM - NIGHT (AN ALMOST SUBLIMINAL FLASH)
                         
          Melissa, naked, silhouetted in the bathroom door. BACK TO:
                         
          INT. BAR - DAY
                         
                          EDDIE
           How don't you know? You're her
           brother.
                         
                          VERNON
           I don't see her. She lives upstate
           now, she's got some kinda internet
           home sales kinda job... a couple of
           kids...
                         
          This is unfathomable to Eddie. He tries to keep his voice
          casual.
                         
                          EDDIE
           A couple of kids...
                         
          FLASH!
           10.
                         
                         
          INT. SAME APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM
                         
          Melissa, her lovely face over a mirror, doing lines. BACK TO:
                         
          INT. BAR - DAY
                         
                          EDDIE
           Who's the husband?
                         
                          VERNON
           What are you, jealous?
                         
                          EDDIE
           It's just a question, Vern.
                         
          Vernon can sense his emotion.
                         
                          VERNON
           Walked out on her, if you really
           want to know. But what do you care?
           You guys weren't even married six
           months, were you--? I mean, it was
           just a coke thing, right?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Is that what she said--?! "A coke
           thing."
                         
          It unexpectedly hurts Eddie. Maybe it's just a bummer day. Or
          there's a deeper wound than he knew.
                         
                          VERNON
           But I wanna know about this book.
           How's it going?
                         
                          EDDIE
           (considering the question)
           How's it going... Well... I'm
           behind. I'm behind on my book, and
           it's pretty well polluting my days
           and nights if you really want to
           know.
                         
                          VERNON
           How much have you written of it?
                         
          A beat.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Not one fucking word, Vern.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           11.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          VERNON
           Wow. Creative problem, huh?
                         
          Vern appraises him.
                         
                          VERNON (CONT'D)
           I think I have something that can
           help you.
                         
          He reaches into his pocket. Eddie thinks he knows what's
          coming.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Oh, no-- no, no, no-
                         
                          VERNON
           You don't even know what it is.
                         
                          EDDIE
           You're still dealing.
                         
                          VERNON
           No -- yeah --will you listen?! This
           isn't recreational. I've been doing
           some consulting for a
                          PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY--
                         
                          EDDIE
           You mean a lab in some little
           Yalie's basement? Give me a--
                         
                          VERNON
           No, this is an exclusive product
           coming on-stream next year, they've
           had clinical trials, and it's FDA
           approved.
                         
          A long beat. Eddie bites.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Okay, what is it?
                         
          Vern reaches into his jacket, produces a tiny plastic sachet
          with his right hand, tapping something out into the palm of
          his left. He holds this up for Eddie to see... a TINY WHITE
          UNMARKED TABLET.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           What's in it?
                         
          Vern puts the little white tablet on the bar.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           12.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
                          VERN
           Just take it. Get you over the
           hump.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm too old for this, Vernon.
                         
                          VERNON
           Look, they've identified these
           receptors in the brain that
           activate specific circuits, and--
           you know how they say you can only
           access like 20 percent of your
           brain? Well, what this does--
                         
                          EDDIE
           Vernon. Look at me. Do I look good?
           I smoke too much: my chest is sore.
           A fucking corpse has more energy
           than I do, I've got weird aches,
           possible lumps, rashes, maybe
           they're a condition, or a network
           of conditions. One of these days
           they're all going to hold hands,
           light up, and I'll keel over dead.
           My life's in the crapper, and I
           DON'T think it's going to take a
           sudden upswing into the
           stratosphere if I do some brand
           new, shiny designer DRUG!
                         
          Vern's phone rings. He holds up his index finger --shh! -and
          takes the call.
                         
                          VERN
                          (INTO PHONE)
           Gant.
           (beat, getting agitated)
           When. --I know, but when?
           (looking at his watch)
           Tell him we can't do that. He knows
           that's out of the question. We
           absolutely can't do that.
                         
          Vern is edgy. Very tense. He continues:
                         
                          VERN (CONT'D)
           No, I'm not going to tell him! You
           tell him -- no, now!
                         
          He turns off his phone, gets up.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           13.
                         CONTINUED: (3)
                         
                          VERN (CONT'D)
           Fucking people. I'm afraid I'm
           going to have to leave you here,
           Eddie. But let's hang out again,
           have another beer.
                         
          He takes out his business card, and places it carefully next
          to the little white tablet on the bench.
                         
                          VERN (CONT'D)
           By the way, that's on the house.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I don't want it, Vern.
                         
          Vern smiles at him.
                         
                          VERN
           Don't be ungrateful, now. You know
           how much these things cost?
                         
          Eddie shakes his head.
                         
                          VERN (CONT'D)
           Eight hundred bucks a pop.
                         
          He pats Eddie on the shoulder and goes. Eddie is still
          looking at the pill.
                         
          Which seems to be looking back at him.
                         
                         
                         
          EXT. THE STREET - DUSK
                         
          Eddie makes his way home, a little tipsy and filled with self-
          loathing.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           All the way home she was back on my
           mind ... Melissa.
                         
          FLASH!
                         
          A memory -- Melissa's face as she's talking, laughing.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           She'd been so smart. Smarter than
           anyone around her. And oh, how she
           loved to provoke people...
           14.
                         
                         
          INT. A DOWNTOWN PARTY - PARTY - NIGHT
                         
          Melissa, sparkling, beautiful, surrounded by people, in
          intense conversation with a bunch of downtown types.
                         
                          MELISSA
           --Oh, please, you think
           professional women mentor one
           another? You think there's some
           mutually supportive empathetic
           touch-feely network of kindly pie-
           bakers? --Those bitches hate each
           other! Quick, who was the worst
           boss you ever had? A woman, right?!
           We can't delegate, we can't command
           -- I mean, there's a reason we're
           not generals--!
                         
          The men gasp, shocked and titillated. The women are furious.
          Melissa smiles to herself --she's trying not to crack up.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I thought, by now, she'd be curing
           cancer, directing movies, running
           for the Senate...
                         
          We HOLD ON MELISSA'S LOVELY, CONFIDENT FACE as her voice
          fades down and Eddie's fades in.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           What had happened? Her life made no
           sense. I mean, I could see a
           direct, plausible link between this
           Eddie, broke and buzzed at three
           o'clock in the afternoon, and an
           earlier Eddie...
                         
          INT. A DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN BEHIND A DESK - DAY
                         
          --getting SPLATTERED by some ochre liquid from an offscreen
          source.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ...vomiting on his boss' desk
           during a presentation...
                         
          INT. A BEDROOM - NIGHT
                         
          A YOUNGER, THINNER EDDIE rifles through a bureau, an old lady
          in bed, sleeping, behind him --an oxygen mask on her. She's
          clearly terminal.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           15.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ... or stealing his dying Aunt's
           Percocet.
                         
          EXT. THE STREET - DUSK
                         
          Eddie walks, pensive.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           But there was no link between my
           Melissa and this upstate Melissa
           dumped, cold-calling people from
           her living room.
                         
          EXT. EDDIE'S BUILDING - DUSK
                         
          An edgy neighborhood on the furthest edge of lower Manhattan.
          This block may never be gentrified.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           40 long blocks later I was "home."
                         
          He digs in his pocket for the keys and comes up with...
                         
          THE LITTLE WHITE PILL
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S BUILDING - STAIRWELL - DUSK
                         
          It's a former tenement, fourth-floor walk-up. Eddie trudges
          up the old stairs, the tiny tiles worn away in spots, the
          Victorian moldings disfigured from a hundred and twenty years
          of paint.
                         
          Eddie is suddenly seized by a racking cough -- a horrible
          smoker's cough that makes him double over. He sounds like
          he's 80 years old. He finally gets it under control, gets a
          glimpse of himself in the storefront window. He looks bad,
          and he knows he looks bad.
                         
          He reaches into his pocket. THE PILL sits teasingly in the
          palm of his hand, looking up at him.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Well. There was less than nothing
           to lose.
                         
          Quickly, impulsively, he swallows it.
           16.
                         
                         
          INT. THE LANDING - DUSK
                         
          As Eddie passes, a neighbor's door swings open. Eddie tries
          walking faster.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I didn't want to see anybody.
                         
          VALERIE, 26 and attractive, emerges, dressed to go out.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Especially not my landlord's nasty
           young wife.
                         
          She is immediately soured at the sight of Eddie. Eddie knows
          what she's thinking.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Tuesday.
                         
                          VALERIE
           Look, enough, okay--?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Just tell him-
                         
                          VALERIE
           Steve handles the rents. So feed
           your fucking bullshit to him.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I suddenly had extra reason to get
           away from her. I had thoughtlessly
           ingested a substance.
                         
          Valerie's tirade FADES up or down, depending on when we're
          hearing Eddie.
                         
                          VALERIE
           --Like the rent's not low enough--!
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I had gotten remarkably little
           information from Vernon about what
           this drug would do.
                         
                          VALERIE
           You could be a bike messenger and
           come up with that!
                         
          Eddie continues up the stairs. But she follows, getting in
          front of him.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           17.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           ...What if it was a hallucinogen...
           oh my God... listening to her rag,
           if I were tripping...? I'd jump out
           a fucking window.
                         
          VALERIE'S voice fades up.
                         
                          VALERIE
           --Look, I'm just telling you, he's
           been talking about calling these
           people he knows from the club to
           muscle you out -- I've told him not
           to do that, but he's really pissed.
                         
          We PUSH IN on Eddie's face, into his eyes... where we see his
          pupils contract just slightly. A flicker.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           And then... I felt it.
                         
          EDDIE'S POV - THE APARTMENT UPPER HALL...
                         
          The room is changing... springing into sharper focus.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Levels more, layers more, 3-D
           more... galactically more. But the
           same. Just the depth and beauty...
           of clarity.
                         
          There seems to be more definition, more dimension, a little
          more light -- he can see more clearly. The SOUND drops out
          for a moment; he can see VALERIE'S FACE, mouth contorted,
          continuing to heap the abuse, but there's something in her
          eyes that's not mean... something anxious.He looks at her
          with a sudden keen intelligence. And sympathy.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           What's wrong?
                         
          She's taken aback.
                         
                          VALERIE
           W-What?
                         
          His eyes go to THE BOOK BAG in her arms.
                         
                          EDDIE
           "I was blind but now I see."
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           18.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          On a gut instinct, Eddie takes a shot, pushing his words
          forward with a new, sharp, penetrating intimacy,
          articulateness.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           You don't like me, and I don't
           blame you -- you see a schlumpy
           energy- sucking defeated sack of
           shit sponging off your husband.
           You're hoping I'll blow my brains
           out. But my existence shouldn't
           make you this upset. What is it?
                         
          He's hit a nerve.
                         
                          VALERIE
           Look, that's none of your-
                         
                          EDDIE
           Something wrong at school?
                         
                          VALERIE
           How do you know I'm in school!
                         
          His eyes flick down at her bag.
                         
                          EDDIE
           People who aren't don't usually
           carry dry, academic constipated out
           of print books about Dorothea
           Lange.
                         
                          VALERIE
           Are you some kind of creep? Have
           you been following me?!
                         
                          EDDIE
           I just saw the book--
                         
                          VALERIE
           You can only see a corner of it.
           How did you know?
                         
          He looks down. She's right --only a corner of the book is
          visible. Eddie realizes:
                         
                          EDDIE
           I've seen it before.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           It was true. 12 years ago. In
           college...
           19.
                         
                         
          INT. DORM ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          A slightly younger Eddie is flipping through the Lange book.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           ...sitting on the couch of a T.A. I
           was trying to make, waiting for her
           to come back out of the bathroom...
           hoping she'd have a condom...
                         
                          BACK TO:
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S BUILDING - LANDING - DAY
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Somehow, my unconscious had served
           that up... a memory I'd never even
           recorded. Or was it there the whole
           time... and all I needed... was the
           access?
                         
          ON EDDIE'S FACE - CLOSE
                         
          As it sinks in:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Vern was right. This was no
           recreational drug.
                         
          Eddie's eyes flick to the laptop in her bag, his manner
          suddenly intimate, confident.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           If you're writing a paper, that's
           not the book I'd use.
                         
                          VALERIE
           Well, who asked y-
                         
                          EDDIE
           Cal Berkeley has her oral history.
           I'd start there. Her son is still
           alive. You could Google him. Sons
           of famous people always want to
           dish dirt about their parents.
           You'd get something no one else
           has, and you'd've gone the extra
           mile, a nice little apple for the
           professor.
                         
          During this speech, MUSIC COMES UP and the sound goes down...
          SEVERAL QUICK CUTS...
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           20.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie and Valerie's mouths are moving... she's asking
          questions... he's supplying answers, lots of them...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Information from the odd museum
           show, a half-read article, some PBS
           documentary, was all bubbling up to
           my frontal lobes, mixing itself
           together into a sparkling cocktail
           of useful information.
                         
          Valerie's whole posture is relaxing, the look in her eyes
          becoming... friendly.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           She didn't have a chance.
                         
          INT. THE DOWNSTAIRS APARTMENT FROM EDDIE'S - NIGHT
                         
          A mirror image of Eddie's, but considerably nicer. We HEAR
          the SOUNDS of two people -- Valerie and Eddie -- HAVING WILD,
          mutually satisfying SEX from the other room.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           We'd really worked on her paper,
           too. In 45 minutes it was a
           polished gem. She was pleased.
                         
          We see the laptop set up, books scattered -- then, obviously
          abandoned for a more pleasurable pursuit.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           One nice little side effect...? I
           stayed hard for hours.
                         
          We HEAR female groans of pleasure. Laughter.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
                         
          A dishevelled Eddie opens the door to his apartment. He
          enters, looks around.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           Happy and sore, I returned home.
                         
          EDDIE'S POV - HIS LIVING ROOM
                         
          It's the first wide shot we've seen of it, and it hammers
          home: what a mess. Books scattered across the floor, dirty
          dishes, broken Venetian blind sashes. The nest of a slob.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           21.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ... But it couldn't be my home,
           could it? Who would live like this?
                         
          MONTAGE: Speeded-up shots of Eddie sifting through his books
          and tapes. Cleaning up the kitchen. The bathroom. Picks up
          books. He starts moving the sofa.
                         
          QUICK CUTS: the living room, rapidly whipped into shape. If
          not stylish, habitable. Final shot: he's sitting on the
          (repositioned) couch. Thinking.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           What was this drug? I couldn't stay
           messy on it, I hadn't had a
           cigarette in six hours...
                         
          He stares at the pack in his hands. It looks alien.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           ...hadn't eaten... So. Abstemious
           and tidy. What was this -- a drug
           for people who want to get anal?
                         
          He gets up. Paces.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           I wasn't high, wasn't wired --just
           clear. What I needed to do. And how
           to do it.
                         
          His eye falls on his COMPUTER.
                         
          The MONTAGE CONTINUES: Eddie flipping through research books,
          typing onto his keyboard, the printer printing, doing
          Internet searches... pages and pages spit out of the printer.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S BEDROOM - MORNING
                         
          Eddie, in his underwear, is sleeping soundly. He stirs, rolls
          over, cracks open an eye.
                         
          He gets up, schlumps to the mirror, looks at his unshaven
          face. The penetrating gleam is no longer in his eyes.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           The next morning, I sent a little
           probe down into my brain. No surge
           of brilliance came up to greet me.
           I felt thick and stupid -- a
           shuffling zombie without my coffee
           and cigarette. In short...
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           22.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          CLOSE UP -- EDDIE'S UNDERWEAR is tossed at the hamper -
          missing it by about a foot. The underwear remain on the
          floor.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           I was back.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - MORNING
                         
          Eddie lies on the couch. (Already the room shows signs of
          being messed up again.) His eye suddenly falls on his desk.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           But something remained.
                         
          INT. EDITOR'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
          Eddie drops A STACK OF FRESH PAGES on the desk of MARK
          SUTTON. Mark looks skeptically at Eddie, then the pages.
                         
                          MARK
           You're kidding.
                         
                          EDDIE
           No.
                         
                          MARK
                          (SARCASTIC)
           Words have appeared on paper.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yes.
                         
                          MARK SUTTON
           Written by you.
                         
          Eddie knows he's on thin ice.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Three pages. That's all you have to
           read. If you read them in the next
           hour, and you don't want to keep
           reading I'll give back the advance.
                         
          EXT. FLATIRON DISTRICT - DAY
                         
          Eddie standing on the street, the crowd flowing around him.
          He turns this way and that, clearly anxious, impatient. Where
          to go? What to do to kill the time?
           23.
                         
                         
          EXT. STREET - DAY - THREE SHOTS:
                         
          1. Eddie orders a PRETZEL from a food cart. He is having to
          dig into his pockets to come up with the change. The VENDOR
          becomes so impatient he won't give him the pretzel, and
          serves another customer first. Eddie looks at HIS CELL
          PHONE. Makes sure it's on. No call.
                         
          2. Eddie sits on a stoop, slowly nibbling on his pretzel, his
          eye glued to his phone. No call.
                         
          3. Eddie tosses the finished pretzel's wrapper and SHAKES HIS
          PHONE in frustration. A RING! Eddie jumps up, fumbles with
          his phone just as a passing male WALL STREET SHARK pulls out
          his phone and answers. The ring wasn't for Eddie.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie comes in, then notices something's different. His
          ANSWERING MACHINE has a blinking red light. Eddie clicks the
          button, breathless.
                         
           MARK SUTTON'S VOICE
           Eddie... give me a call when you
           get in... (BEEP)
                         
          The second message is from Mark too.
                         
           MARK SUTTON'S VOICE (CONT'D)
           Eddie, I'm 40 pages further in...
           call me... it's a little grandiose,
           but I'm still reading...
                         
          A third message - BEEP!
                         
           MARK SUTTON'S VOICE (CONT'D)
           Okay, how did you do this? I'd, uh,
           I'd really like to -- shit, just
           call me the minute you get in,
           call. Okay? Okay. (BEEP!)
                         
          Eddie jumps up, gleeful-- he knew it! Then his smile fades.
          Reality hits.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           But how would I finish? It was
           "enhanced" Eddie who displayed all
           that brilliance. Not me.
                         
          EXT. VERN'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY
                         
          Eddie, holding Vern's card, buzzes the buzzer. There's no
          answer. Eddie buzzes again and again. Finally:
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           24.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          VERN'S VOICE
                          (GROGGY)
           Yeah?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Vern! It's Eddie.
                         
                          VERN'S VOICE
           Bad time, okay--?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Vern -- last night 90 pages just
           wrote themselves! I totally chucked
           the novel I pitched them --I
           suddenly SAW, Vern, how this whole
           societal economic class struggle --
           and its solution -- didn't have to
           be futuristic or fictional -- it
           was actually ACHIEVABLE here, in
           our lifetime -- and I could just
           lay it out, like, like a manifesto,
           or something, like Mein Kampf
           except not by a crazy racist fuck!
           (no response, realizing)
           Okay, I won't talk any more about
           this if you let me in.
                         
          The buzzer buzzes.
                         
          INT. VERN'S APARTMENT DOOR - DAY
                         
          The door opens. And Eddie is taken aback. Vern has been
          beaten up. Really worked over. His lip is split, his face
          puffy and bruised. His right hand is bandaged.
                         
                          VERN
           Well, that was fast.
                         
                          EDDIE
                          WHAT HAP-
                         
                          VERN
           Don't ask.
                         
          Leaving the door open, Vern turns around and motions at Eddie
          with his left hand to come in. The place is all mismatched
          antique furniture -- the possessions of someone who collected
          once, with enthusiasm, but who's letting it all go to hell.
          Vern sits, keeping his injured arm elevated.
                         
                          VERN (CONT'D)
           So, Eddie. I guess you're
           interested after all.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           25.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yeah. That stuff's amazing.
                         
                          VERNON
           It works better if you're already
           smart.
                         
          Eddie can't get over how bad Vernon looks.
                         
                          EDDIE
                          VERN-
                         
                          VERN
           You don't want to know.
                         
          And Eddie wants the drug more than he wants to know what
          happened.
                         
                          EDDIE
           What's... um... what's it called?
                         
                          VERN
           It doesn't have a street name yet,
           because it doesn't have a street
           profile. And that's the way we want
           it to stay. The boys in the kitchen
           are calling it MDT-48.
                         
                          EDDIE
           "The boys in the kitchen...?" Vern,
           that doesn't sound FDA approved.
                         
                          VERN
           "FDA-approved," that's a laugh. Did
           you really believe that shit?
                         
          Eddie stares at Vern as he pours himself a coffee.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Okay, so what did we have here?
           Some unknown, untested, possibly
           dangerous drug scammed out of some
           unidentified lab somewhere, given
           to me by a highly unreliable guy I
           hadn't seen in years.
                         
                          VERN
           So you want some more of it?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yes. Definitely.
                         
          Vern chuckles. He knew it.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           26.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
                          VERN
           We'll talk about it. But first
           maybe you can do me a little favor.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Uh... sure.
                         
          Eddie wants to get on with it and get out of there, but Vern
          clearly has him by the balls.
                         
                          VERN
           You can see, I'm in no shape to go
           out right now. Will you hop down to
           the dry cleaners and get my suit?
           And maybe pick me up a little
           breakfast...?
                         
          Eddie sighs. Vern tosses him a set of KEYS.
                         
          INT. A DRY CLEANER'S AUTOMATED CLOTHING RACK - DAY
                         
          As the plastic-wrapped clothes spin towards us...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           It was amazing how quickly it all
           slotted back into place...
                         
          INT. A DINER GRIDDLE - DAY
                         
          As two eggs are flipped, over easy.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ..the dealer-client dynamic......
                         
          INT. VERNON'S BUILDING - HALLWAY - DAY
                         
          And here comes Eddie, carrying Vernon's suit, and greasy bag
          of breakfast...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ...the easy sacrificing of dignity
           for the guaranteed return of a dime
           bag, or a gram, or in this case a
           little pill that was going to cost
           me a month's rent.
                         
          He arrives at Vernon's door. He takes out the keys Vern gave
          him, but he doesn't need them. The DOOR is AJAR.
           27.
                         
                         
          INT. VERN'S APARTMENT - DAY - EDDIE'S POV
                         
          As Eddie pushes the door open, he can see Vernon sitting,
          quite normally, on the couch. As he enters the room, though,
          he sees that the place has been RANSACKED. Destroyed.
                         
          Eddie wheels back to ask Vern what the fuck. And then sees
          it.
                         
          VERN'S FACE -CLOSE
                         
          In the center of his forehead is a neat little BULLET HOLE.
                         
                         EDDIE
                         
          is no tough guy, and sweat springs to his brow. He starts
          shaking... then, seized with horror that they might still be
          in here, he edges to the bedroom. We hear THE POUNDING OF HIS
          HEART as he peeks in...
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S POV - VERN'S BEDROOM
                         
          It's been ransacked, too. Torn to shreds, bureau drawers
          opened and dumped, pillows ripped open with knives. But no
          one is there.
                         
          INT. VERNON'S DESK - DAY
                         
          Eddie's shaking hand can barely hold the phone.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yes... I... I need to report a
           murder. Eddie. Morgan. --Edward J.
           I won't.
                         
          He puts down the phone, puts his head in his hands.
                         
          VARIOUS CUTS OF: Eddie sitting. Shifting his butt in various
          positions. Holding a BASEBALL BAT he's found --just in case
          "they" come back.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           It took them forever. And the
           longer I sat there, the clearer I
           saw... Vern had known whoever had
           done this. He'd opened the door.
                         
          CLOSE ON - EDDIE'S FACE
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           And one guess what they'd been
           looking for.
           28.
                         
                         
          INT. VERN'S BEDROOM - DAY
                         
          Eddie, cleverly wearing kitchen gloves, is now furiously
          tearing through the rubble the thieves have left behind, the
          scattered clothes, under the bed...
                         
          INT. BATHROOM -. DAY
                         
          Eddie pokes quickly through the medicine cabinet -- nothing
          but Tylenol.
                         
          INT. VERN'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
                         
          Eddie sits on the couch with (dead) Vern, staring at him, as
          if a corpse could give up a secret. He looks down at VERN'S
          BREAKFAST CONTAINER.
                         
                          EDDIE
           At least you got your last meal.
                         
          There are lots of takeout containers around.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           You never did like to cook...
                         
          Eddie's eye falls on VERN'S STOVE. Unlike the rest of the
          kitchen area, it's pristine. Unspattered. Eddie jumps up.
                         
          VERN'S STOVE - CLOSE
                         
          Eddie opens it. The inside is as clean as the outside. We
          HEAR SIRENS now -- the cops are finally coming, and Eddie
          must rush. Eddie pulls out
                         
          THE BROILER - CLOSE
                         
          Taped to the inside is A LARGE BROWN PADDED ENVELOPE.
          Slowly, Eddie pulls out the package, reaches into it.
                         
          EDDIE'S HANDS - CLOSE
                         
          He is holding about TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS in cash. But
          that's not all. He reaches in again... there's something else
          inside... Eddie's hand pulls out a LITTLE BLACK ADDRESS BOOK.
          But there's still something else.. he reaches in again. And
          now Eddie's hand pulls out A PLASTIC CONTAINER WITH AN AIR-
          LOCK SEAL... he pries the seal off... Inside are FIVE HUNDRED
          OF THE LITTLE WHITE PILLS.
                         
          Eddie HEARS THE THUD OF APPROACHING FEET, voices. Making a
          decision, he quickly tucks the envelope into his jacket,
          jumps down from the chair... JUST AS A COP pushes through the
          door.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           29.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          He sees Eddie, spins, POINTS HIS GUN right at him.
                         
                          COP
           Let me see your hands.
                         
          Eddie throws his arms in the air.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Heyheyhey! I'm the one that called
           you!
                         
          INT. POLICE PRECINCT - DAY
                         
          Eddie sits, making his statement to an overweight DETECTIVE.
                         
                          EDDIE
           ... No, ex-wife's brother. I just
           ran into him on the street and he
           invited me up to, you know...
                         
          The Detective looks at him suspiciously.
                         
                          DETECTIVE
           Buy some drugs?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Wha-- No! Talk! What're you --
                         
                          DETECTIVE
           Okay, fine, what did this guy do?
                         
                          EDDIE
           He was -- I don't know, I heard he
           was sort of an antiques dealer.
                         
                          DETECTIVE
           A dealer?
                         
          CLOSE ON THE ENVELOPE hidden in his jacket, burning a hole in
          his side. Eddie tries to stay calm.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yeah... of, uh... Viennese kind
           of... chairs... sort of curlicue
           leg kind of things--
                         
          The phone is ringing. The detective picks it up.
                         
                          DETECTIVE
                          (INTO PHONE)
           Yeah. That is correct. An Edward
           Morgan. He's here.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           30.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Mysteriously, the Detective hands the phone to Eddie.
                         
                          DETECTIVE (CONT'D)
           The victim's sister.
                         
          FLASH!
                         
          EXT. A BEACH - DAY
                         
          Eddie sees young, beautiful Melissa, laughing, in the surf.
                         
          INT. POLICE PRECINCT - DAY
                         
          Eddie can't believe it. He stares at the phone, then finally
          speaks into it.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Melissa?
                         
                          MELISSA'S VOICE
           Eddie. You were there?
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           I hadn't heard her voice in 10
           years.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Right before. I'd just run into him
           on the street.
                         
                          MELISSA'S VOICE
           God.
                          (BROKEN)
           This is all so weird...
                         
                          EDDIE
           Melissa --you don't think I had
           anything to do with-
                         
                          MELISSA
           No, no, no, Eddie, I know that. I
           wish I was more surprised. He
           was... involved in some stuff... I
           better not say any more.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Not on this line, no.
                         
          A beat. Eddie still can't believe he's talking to her.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Melissa... maybe...
           (a deep breath)
                          (MORE)
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           31.
                         CONTINUED:
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Do you want to... meet somewhere,
           or...?
                         
          He lets it hang in the air for a moment.
                         
                          MELISSA'S VOICE
           Eddie, I've got to do the funeral.
           And God knows what else. I just...
           we can't meet, okay?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Then... I'll see you at the
           funeral.
                         
                          MELISSA
           No. I don't want that - please
           don't... I'll call you at some
           point, when this is over. Okay?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Okay.
                         
          A beat. Melissa's voice is wan, vulnerable.
                         
                          MELISSA'S VOICE
           Okay.
                         
          She's hung up. Gone. Eddie turns back to the detective who's
          staring intently at him.
                         
                          DETECTIVE
           Something doesn't jell here.
                         
          Eddie tries not to look panicked. The cop looks up, taking in
          the entrance of THREE newly arrested HIGH CLASS HOOKERS.
                         
          They are young. They are blond. They are wearing very short
          skirts and fuck-me heels. The cop eyes them appreciatively.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           But I knew, when his attention
           wandered to something more
           pressing, that he was going to let
           me go.
                         
          EXT. PRECINCT - DAY
                         
          Eddie walks down the stairs, shaken up but profoundly
          relieved. Even a little giddy. Then he stops.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           32.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Only then did it occur to me that
           someone could have followed me from
           Vern's apartment.
                         
          EXT. THE STREET - DAY
                         
          Eddie walks, trying to cast inconspicuous glances over his
          shoulder.
                         
          EDDIE'S POV - THE STREET
                         
          Is this guy following him? That guy? They all look innocuous.
          They all look threatening. He has no idea.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - DAY
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Probably not. Hopefully not.
           Worth the risk?
                         
          Eddie enters, and, casting a surreptitious look around,
          closes the door behind him.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S DINING TABLE - DAY
                         
          The cash, the address book, and the bottle of pills are all
          laid out on the table. Eddie sits, looking at them, realizing
          that his life is now about to be jump-started. Yeah. Worth
          the risk. A smile twitches at the corner of his mouth.
                         
           MUSIC UP UNDER:
                         
          EXT. MADISON AVENUE - DAY
                         
          Eddie is walking down the street, a brisk confidence in his
          step, that penetrating gleam of intelligence back in his
          eyes. We know right away that he's on MDT.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Back on MDT, it was obvious what I
           should do.
                         
          INT. A HIP DOWNTOWN MENS STORE - DAY
                         
          Eddie is being fitted for a sharp looking jacket. The camera
          moves to the mirror and we are suddenly (CONTINUOUS SHOT) in--
                         
          INT. TRENDY DOWNTOWN SALON - DAY
                         
          A hip, pretty girl is giving Eddie a haircut.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           33.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Vern's cash...
                         
          THE CAMERA CONTINUES TO PAN... but instead of finding him the
          chair we are...
                         
          INT. GYM - DAY
                         
          Eddie's doing crunches, getting in shape.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ...combined with an unprecedented
           surge of motivation...
                         
          THE CAMERA PANS to the mirror... but sees a reflection of...
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - DAY
                         
          He sits at his computer, a salad beside him. His printer
          spits out page after page of manuscript.
                         
                          EDDIE
           ...enabled me to finish the book in
           four days.
                         
          INT. MARK SUTTON'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
          Eddie puts down a thicker manila envelope on Mark's desk.
          Mark is astonished.
                         
          INT. A SUGAR BOWL ON EDDIE'S TABLE - DAY
                         
          It contains ten tablets of MDT. Eddie's fingers reach in,
          take one.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           A tablet a day... kept the torpor
           away. And what I could do with my
           day... was limitless.
                         
          INT. THE MET - DAY
                         
          Eddie surveys paintings.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           I now had cultural appetites.
                         
          INT. A PIANO CONCERT - DAY
                         
          Eddie sits attentively in the audience, reading the score
          along with the music.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           34.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Learned to read music in a week...
                         
          INT. THE EAST RIVER - DAY
                         
          Eddie runs, earphones on his head. We HEAR, dimly, French
          phrases.
                         
           EDDIE V.0.
           Even half-listening to any
           language, I became fluent...
                         
          Eddie becomes aware that there's ANOTHER RUNNER --a powerful-
          looking man, gaining on him, closer behind than makes him
          comfortable. Eddie flicks a glance over his shoulder.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           The only cloud was the nagging
           feeling I was being followed.
                         
          With a surge of effort, Eddie speeds up, sprinting across the
          street just after the light changes. WHIZZING TRAFFIC cuts
          the mysterious runner off, stops him from following. He
          remains, panting, at the light.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Was I? Or did MDT create paranoia?
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - DAY - (SERIES OF SHOTS)
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           The focal point of my existence
           quickly became... protecting my
           stash.
                         
          CLOSE ON: the plastic baggie of pills being DUCT TAPED inside
          the top of EDDIE'S BROILER. He SLAMS the broiler closed.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Call it a homage.
                         
          INT. A BAR - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie stands there, in his new clothes, holding court. He has
          an entirely new aura. It's commanding.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I had a new, improved game.
                         
          He banters flirtatiously with a BEAUTIFUL WOMAN.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           35.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
                          (PLAYFULLY)
           So you're saying that any author
           who's commandeered adjective
           status, "Orwellian, Dickensian--"?
                         
                          BEAUTIFUL WOMAN
           --is prosaic. Yes.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Which means a prosaic author's work
           rests on a foundation of acclaim-
                         
                          BEAUTIFUL WOMAN
                          OR ZEITGEIST-
                         
                          EDDIE
           So you're saying praise and fame
           are unrelated to achievement, that
           the greatest hits CD cannot
           possibly contain good songs? That
           Shakespeare's catchiness belies
           mediocrity?
                         
                          BEAUTIFUL WOMAN
           I...
                         
          She breaks off, shrugs, smiles.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Well, then I'd guess you'd rather
           not hear about what I, personally,
           think could launch a thousand
           ships?
                         
          He puts a finger under her chin. He means her face, of
          course. The woman smiles, and blushes.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Fish in a barrel.
                         
          INT. UPSCALE BAR BATHROOM - (UNISEX, FOR ONE PERSON) NIGHT
                         
          TIGHT SHOT (LEGS ONLY) OF this regal, upscale women's panties
          down around her high heels and Eddie's legs between hers,
          pumping. A VASE shatters to the floor beside their feet,
          spilling its pricey orchids.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           And it wasn't just women. I was,
           for the first time in my life, a
           presence...
           36.
                         
                         
          INT. ANOTHER BAR - ANOTHER NIGHT
                         
          The CAMERA circles around a European-looking crowd... that's
          clustered around Eddie. He's finishing a long story -in
          French.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           Of course, all this seemed to work
           better with people I didn't know...
           than with people who knew me...
                         
          INT. A MODEST QUEENS LIVING ROOM - DAY
                         
          Eddie's MOTHER and FATHER, working class schlubs, sit on the
          floral sofa, staring at their now-dapper son, who is waving
          some paperwork in their faces.
                         
                          EDDIE
           ...so, Mom, your 401 K is totally
           mis-invested -- these guys are have
           done ONLY the most Pliocine era
           fundamental analysis and paid no
           attention to eye candy psychology
           surrounding the stock --
           (realizing they're lost)
           Okay, remember when I explained
           default flops? Did any of that
           stick?
                          (THEY'RE LOST)
           CDS's? CDO's CBO's?
                         
          His parents stare at him. They don't know what to make of any
          of this.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           I quickly returned to the
           unfamiliar audience.
                         
          INT. ANOTHER UPSCALE BAR - NIGHT
                         
          A sizable crowd is around Eddie, including finance types in
          suits.
                         
                          EDDIE
           --Sure you get a short term spike,
           but wouldn't that rapid expansion
           devalue the stock completely in two
           years?
                         
          A well-dressed broker - KEVIN DOYLE - shakes his head.
                         
                          KEVIN DOYLE
           No, no, there are safeguards--
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           37.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Against aggressive over-expansion?
           There aren't, because there are no
           safeguards in human nature.
                         
          Eddie's tone isn't aggressive -- it's genial, amusing.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           We're wired to overreach -- you
           look at history, I mean, all the
           countries that ruled the world?
           Portugal? With its big, butch navy?
           All that's left is salt cod and
           cheap condos -- the Brits? Now they
           just sit on their dank little
           island, fussing over their suits.
           Nobody stops and thinks, hey, we're
           doing pretty well, we've got Poland
           and France, and a big Swiss bank
           account -- let's not invade Russia
           in the winter! Let's go home and
           pop a beer and live off the
           interest!
                         
          The crowd laughs. Eddie takes a swallow of his drink.
                         
                          KEVIN DOYLE
           (smiles, gets it)
           Yeah. It'll all happen again.
                         
          Eddie toasts him.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Hey, I want in on it!
                         
          Kevin Doyle, wishing Eddie was right, clinks his glass.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           My brain was just pouring this
           stuff out. Everything I'd ever
           read, heard, seen, was now
           organized and available --here it
           is, here you go..
                         
          EXT. THE BAR - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie leaves with several people. Kevin Doyle presses a card
          into Eddie's hand.
                         
                          KEVIN DOYLE
           You must have a portfolio, but if
           you don't, I'd be very interested
           in working with you.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           38.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie politely takes his card. Smiles charmingly.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Thank you so much.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           "I must have a portfolio." Very
           well -- if I must, I must.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie pulls out the broiler and removes the ENVELOPE OF CASH
          he's taped in there. It's much thinner.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           But Vern's cash was low. And it
           takes cash to make cash...
                         
          INT. MARK SUTTON'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
          Eddie stands opposite Mark's desk.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           But it takes cash to make cash...
                         
          Another ELEGANT MAN is there too, Mark's boss, DUNHAM.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           I'd like to re-negotiate my
           advance.
                         
                          DUNHAM
           Well... sit down, we'll be
           discussing that.
                         
                          MARK SUTTON
           First, ah... I want to apologize,
           Eddie, if I in any way communicated
           a lack of faith in your abilities.
                         
          Eddie smiles coolly. In control. It's Mark who's a little
          nervous.
                         
           MARK SUTTON (CONT'D)
           Mr. Dunham has read your pages, and
           we're prepared to make you what I
           hope will be a very exciting offer.
                         
                          DUNHAM
           What would you say to ten thousand
           more and another forty down the
           road?
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           39.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie holds there gaze, expressionless, but says nothing.
          After an uncomfortable moment, Dunham continues.
                         
                          DUNHAM (CONT'D)
           We think this could be an important
           title, maybe one in a series. I
           have to say, you came out of
           nowhere, but the good ones always
                          DO-
                         
                          EDDIE
                          (INTERRUPTING HIM)
           This isn't going to work.
                         
                          DUNHAM
           What's not going to work? The
           money?
                         
                          MARK SUTTON
           Eddie, we take you very seriously
           as a writer.
                         
          Eddie sounds almost regretful.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yes, but I now see that writing, as
           a profession, is for marginalized
           whiners not fit for anything else.
                         
          Sutton thinks Eddie's kidding. He laughs nervously.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           No, I mean it, look at the life.
           Incarceration, loneliness,
           burrowing down into your own
           psyche, increasingly insulated from
           any truth, because you're not in
           the currents of the world any more,
           you're rattling around inside the
           cage of your brain, self-
           cannibalizing...
                         
          Dunham realizes he's losing Eddie, and jumps in.
                         
                          DUNHAM
           You don't think a best-selling
           author would disagree?
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           40.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
                          EDDIE
           Oh, if you're good, there's some
           remuneration, eventually, after
           paperbacks, but at best your
           career'll be oozing along like a
           snail, a few thousand more copies,
           whoop-dee-doo, you're "developing a
           readership," -- for what? So you
           can end up in Phoenix on a Saturday
           night reading from your own work at
           some holdout indie book store to a
           bored audience of ten? --Half of
           them there for the wine and cheese?
                         
                          MARK SUTTON
           Yes, but if your goal is to have a
                          VOICE-
                         
                          EDDIE
                          (INTERRUPTING)
           I don't think any goal will be
           really achievable, Mark, until I'm
           sitting on a large pile of cash.
                         
          The mens' mouths open. Then shut.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Financial reading material covers every square inch of floor.
          Eddie now has three monitors operating side-by-side in his
          living room, all spewing forth financial information as he
          works the keyboard...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I would have to start very, very
           small... in a down market. No one
           was making money. But no one had
           MDT...
                         
          INT. AT A COMPUTER (LAFAYETTE TRADING FIRM) - DAY
                         
          Eddie stands behind a DAY TRADER who's spewing out an
          explanation of his work.
                         
                          DAY TRADER
           You've got your quantitive analysis
           - "quants..." Algorhythms to find
           minute price discrepancies...
           you're looking at numbers only.
           Price and volume patterns...
                         
          Eddie is staring at the screen, blocks of information forming
          and connecting in his mind.
           41.
                         
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - DAY
                         
          Eddie now sits, riveted to his laptop, keying.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Armed with Vern's last 800 dollars,
           I made 4000 in a day.
                          (BEAT)
           It was too slow.
                         
           TIME/DAY CUT TO:
                         
          Eddie, differently dressed, surrounded by stacks of research,
          again keying away...
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           Next day: $7,500.00
                          (BEAT)
           Still too slow. I needed more
           capital...
                         
          INT. A COFFEE SHOP - DAY
                         
          Eddie sits across from a sinister-looking young Russian in
          his early 30's. This is GENNADY.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Why not?
                         
          The two men stare at each other.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Because I don't see you before. And
           I don't fucking like you already.
           Why do I give you 100 thousand
           dollars?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Because I quintupled my money four
           days in a row.
                         
          Gennady barely glances at the papers Eddie pushes in front of
          him and snorts, half amused, before pushing them back.
                         
                          GENNADY
           You're lucky.
                         
                          EDDIE
           It's not luck.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Okay, you tricked their computer,
           you got some fix on the game.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           42.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie now sees that it's better not to admit that he came by
          the money legally.
                         
                          EDDIE
           You think?
                         
          Gennady smiles.
                         
                          GENNADY
           So you're a crook.
                         
                          EDDIE
           And that's a problem for you
           because--?
                         
          Gennady laughs for a second. Eddie's not wrong about that.
          Gennady looks in Eddie's eyes for a moment, calculating.
                         
                          GENNADY
           You people all get caught.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I won't. And what if I do? You
           think I keep detailed records of my
           investors? You'll have your money
           back long before they figure out
           what happened.
                         
          Gennady just looks at Eddie, thinking it over.
                         
          INT. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK - DAY
                         
          Eddie sits on a bench, waiting. Gennady appears. Hands Eddie
          a large paper bag. Eddie reaches for it; Gennady holds it
          aloft for one last second.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Okay, you take this... you mine.
           You don't pay, you know what we do?
           We cut you around the waist, peel
           your skin, pull it up over your
           head and tie knot in it. And you
           don't die from that. You suffocate.
                         
          He lets the full picture sink in for a moment. Then:
                         
          INT. LAFAYETTE TRADING - DAY
                         
          Cubicle after cubicle of GUYS - all guys - at computers,
          rolling the dice on the stockmarket.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           43.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           My new friend, Kevin Doyle, showed
           me how you could leverage two and a
           half times your cash at a day-
           trading firm...
                         
          Eddie alone in a stall. He takes TWO MDT TABLETS out of his
          wallet, downs them.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           I'd been upping the dose for over a
           week. It seemed to cut my learning
           curve.
                         
          OVERLAPPING DISSOLVES of Eddie working at a furious pace.
          Another trader stands behind Eddie, watching. Second shot:
          three traders are watching. Third shot: nine traders are
          watching him, awed.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           It was instinct. But informed
           instinct -- instinct based on huge
           amounts of research, which, thanks
           to MDT, was conducted more rapidly
           and comprehensively than anyone at
           Lafayette Day Trading would ever
           know...
                         
           TRADER BEHIND HIM
           Why are you buying that? The CEO
           just got indicted...
                         
                          EDDIE
           But not for the big fat defense
           contract he bribed his way into.
           That's still on. Should be
           announced in a week.
                         
          The trader shakes his head. How did Eddie know that?
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           At the end of the week my brokerage
           account contained... over a million
           dollars.
                         
          INT. LAFAYTTE DAY TRADING - OVERHEAD SHOT OF ROOM -- "GOD
                         SHOT"-
                         
          As still more people drift over to where Eddie is sitting...
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           44.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           I'd heard the old metaphors about
           the stock market: it was a
           collective nervous system, a global
           brain, a numerical representation
           of the will of God...
                         
          EDDIE - CLOSE
                         
          Eyes taking in data, fingers reacting on the keyboard...
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           Whatever it was, I was jacked in,
           booted up - my mind was living
           tissue inside the greater,
           functioning whole.
                          (BEAT)
           By the end of the second week I had
           2.6 in the bank....
                         
          INT. LAFAYETTE DAY TRADING BUILDING - DAY
                         
          Eddie at the computer, soaking up information, making trades.
          Kevin Doyle stands behind Eddie, flabbergasted as he watches.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           The word quickly got out.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - DUSK
                         
          Quick cuts of Eddie playing back his messages:
                         
                          EDDIE'S MACHINE
           You have... 19 messages.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Four job offers... my bank, raising
           my line of credit... a reporter...
                         
                          FEMALE VOICE
           Listen, return my call, Mr. Morgan,
           this article's about you's gonna
           get written with or without your
           cooperation... (BEEP!)
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
                          (SARDONIC)
           All my new friends.
                         
                          GENNADY'S VOICE
           ...you stupid shit, I be there
           Thursday for the money, ten
           o'clock!
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           45.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie makes a jerk-off motion, crosses to his window, looks
          down.
                         
          EXT. EDDIE'S POV - HIS STREET - DUSK
                         
          There is a MYSTERIOUS BLACK CAR just sitting at the curb, in
          front of his building. No one gets in or out. Eddie turns
          back to his machine.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           And finally, Kevin Doyle, trying to
           sound casual.
                         
           KEVIN DOYLE'S VOICE
           Eddie, I was having drinks with a
           friend of mine, and... ah, you
           won't believe this...
                         
          INT. A FANCY ITALIAN RESTAURANT - NIGHT
                         
          Lindy, Eddie's ex-girlfriend, is sitting across the table
          from Eddie. She peers at him, confused. Is this dapper
          stranger really her shlumpy ex?
                         
                          LINDY
           Carl Van Loon wants to meet you?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Apparently he does.
                         
          She is pleased for him, but flabbergasted.
                         
                          LINDY
           But you're not in the finance game.
           What can you do for Carl Van Loon?
           (shaking her head,
                          MYSTIFIED)
           Eddie-- I --
                         
          THE BEAUTIFUL HOSTESS appears at Eddie's side. They have a
          brief conversation in Italian. Lindy stares, confused, as the
          hostess leaves.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           Since when do you speak... what
           happened to you?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Self-improvement month. Someone
           gave me a wake-up call.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           46.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          LINDY
           God, Eddie -- I felt so bad about
           that.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Why? It stuck, didn't it?
                         
          Lindy eyes him, half pleased, half apprehensive. He seems so
          different.
                         
                          LINDY
           You didn't do all this for me.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Who says I didn't? So what -- it's
           not getting over? Is that it?
                         
          Lindy looks away, blushes. Sighs.
                         
                          LINDY
           All right, all right -- boy, you
           are really begging for it.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Begging for what.
                         
                          LINDY
           "I'm proud of you."
                         
                          EDDIE
           Gosh. This is so unexpected.
                         
                          LINDY
           I'm actually... more than proud.
           I'm a little...
                         
          Eddie waits for her words, happily expectant.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           ... intimidated.
                         
          They smile at each other. A lot of affection flooding back.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Of course, we started up again.
                         
          INT. LINDY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie is making out with her on her couch.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Her place...
           47.
                         
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           My place...
                         
          His apartment has been seriously transformed. Of course, it's
          nothing but a renovated tenement, but there are some new
          furnishings, rugs, lighting-- the total effect is now one of
          stylish prosperity. She and Eddie sit on the rug in front of
          the coffee table, drinking expensive wine.
                         
          INT. THE BACK SEAT OF A CAB - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie and Lindy, dressed to the nines, are clearly returning
          from a fancy party... and passionately entwined, at the point
          of having hot sex, driver or no driver!
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Every place.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie stands, naked, at the window, looking out.
                         
                          LINDY
           What are you doing, hon?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Nothing.
                         
          He walks back over to her, looks down. She is snuggled up in
          Eddie's pillow, looking very pretty and vulnerable.
                         
                          LINDY
           What, you think somebody's
           watching?
                         
                          EDDIE
           No.
                         
          He's lying. He's not sure.
                         
                          LINDY
           Is there anything you want to tell
           me, Eddie? Now's the time.
                         
          He looks back at her, eyes unreadable. He shrugs.
                         
                          EDDIE
           With success comes enemies.
                         
                          LINDY
           Old Chinese proverb?
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           48.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           No proverb. An inevitability.
                         
                          LINDY
           You should sleep. Isn't your Van
           Loon meeting tomorrow?
                         
          Eddie nods, sighs, turns away from the window. Then stops. He
          turns pale. Is sweating.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           What. What.
                         
          Eddie takes a step. And suddenly... He's across the room.
          Boom. A skip in time.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Then... I found myself at the door.
           With no consciousness that I had
           moved.
                         
          He puts his hand on a table, steadies himself. He catches a
          look, in the mirror, of this lean, handsome, dapper shark he
          has become.
                         
                          LINDY
           Are you all right?
                         
          He doesn't look all right.
                         
                          LINDA
           When was the last time you ate
           something?
                         
          Dully the realization penetrates Eddie's fog:
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           It had been three days.
                         
          INT. THE ORPHEUS ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie sits at a table, discreetly wolfing a few appetizers.
          Kevin Doyle arrives, looking a little nervous.
                         
                          KEVIN
           Hey.
                         
          He sits, launches in.
                         
                          KEVIN (CONT'D)
           He'll be here in ten. Now look,
           since we have a minute, be warned:
           Van Loon's mercurial.
                          (MORE)
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           49.
                         CONTINUED:
                          KEVIN (CONT'D)
           One minute your best friend, the
           next...you're a leper. And he needs
           direct answers... anything
           tentative and you've lost him
           forever. I think we should rehearse
           a few scenarios..
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm eating, Kevin.
                         
          There is so much quiet authority in Eddie's tone that Kevin
          just shuts up. But a moment later, looking at the sweat on
          Eddie's brow, Kevin is pecking at him again.
                         
                          KEVIN
           You up for this? You sure? Because
           I've got a little bit on the line
                          HERE-
                         
                          EDDIE
           Have a toast point.
                         
          Brazening it out again. Because Eddie isn't sure he can pull
          this off either.
                         
          ACROSS THE ROOM - LATER
                         
          There is that little stir from the hostess and staff that can
          only mean the entrance of a very rich and powerful man.
                         
          EDDIE'S TABLE -LATER
                         
          The martini is put down on the table. We tilt up to CARL VAN
          LOON, a young 50, no less vital and intense than the
          hungriest 27-year-old shark on the make. But he affects
          geniality. He sits; the middle-aged man with him, PIERCE,
          does the same.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           So. Eddie Morgan.
                         
          He looks Eddie directly in the eyes.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           What's your secret?
                         
          A beat. Eddie looks at him back, directly in the eyes.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Medication. I'm on special
           medication.
                         
          Another beat. And Van Loon laughs. Pierce doesn't.
           50.
                         
                         
          ANOTHER ANGLE - LATER - THAT NIGHT
                         
          Eddie is in mid-spiel, Van Loon listening intently.
                         
                          EDDIE
           --Yes, that's partially what I'm
                          SAYING--
                         
                          PIERCE
                          (CONTEMPTUOUSLY)
           Pattern recognition? So that's your
           snake-oil? Look, if there's one
           thing we all understand, it's
           understanding itself --that's how
           the business works...
                          (SCOFFING)
           Pattern recognition. Please.
                         
                          EDDIE
                          (POINTEDLY)
           Of course, not everyone can
           understand the patterns.
                         
          Kevin sucks in his breath. Pierce is annoyed. Van Loon is
          mildly amused, but not necessarily impressed. Eddie
          continues with his unstoppable, MDT-fueled insights:
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Look, there's no time for human
           judgement anymore. You see a
           chance, you blink, and it's gone.
           We entered the age of
           decentralized, online decision-
           making, with the decisions being
           made by hundreds of millions of
           individual investors around the
           world, people who don't even know
           each other -- making a killing in
           less time than it takes to sneeze.
                         
                          PIERCE
           Until they weren't.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Same rules, even in a panic. It's
           not understanding how companies
           work. It's understanding how mass
           psychology works.
                         
                          PIERCE
                          (SCOFFING)
           And you have a formula.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           51.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          KEVIN
                          (MEDIATING)
           Well, from 12 thousand to two point
           eight million in ten days--
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yes. I do have a formula, Mr.
           Pierce.
                         
                          PIERCE
                          (SNORTING)
           Delusions of grandeur.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I don't have delusions of grandeur.
                         
          A beat, as we PUSH IN on Eddie's face.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           I have an actual recipe for
           grandeur.
                         
          Kevin stares in horror. Van Loon still says nothing.
                         
          EXT. THE ORPHEUS ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie simply stands there coolly; Kevin is nervously saying
          goodbye to Van Loon and Pierce, making small talk.
                         
                          KEVIN
           ..and, oh, you know, she's on the
           wait list... Rosemary's pretty
           devastated...
                         
                          VAN LOON
           My daughter went there. I'll call
           the school for you.
                         
          Kevin blubbers with gratitude. Van Loon's car pulls up. Kevin
          pumps his hand. Van Loon looks past Kevin -- to Eddie.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           Eddie. Ride?
                         
          It's the first real acknowledgement that he's taken Eddie
          seriously.
                         
          INT. VAN LOON'S LIMO - MOVING - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie and Van Loon regard each other. Finally, Van Loon
          speaks.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           52.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          VAN LOON
           I don't know who you are, Eddie, or
           what your game is, but I'm sure of
           one thing: you don't work in this
           business. I'm up to my ass in
           investment guys, and you don't have
           their half-cocky, half-terrified
           line of bullshit. Which is not to
           say I like yours any better.
                         
          He picks up a file, hands it to Eddie.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           But you obviously pick your stocks
           in a way I haven't seen. So tell
           me. We're thinking of acquiring
           these companies. Take a few
           minutes. What's your take on them?
                         
          EXT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT
                         
          Van Loon's limo pulls up.
                         
          INT. VAN LOON'S LIMO - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie snaps the file shut, hands Van Loon back his pen
          flashlight.
                         
                          EDDIE
           But these companies aren't the
           question, are they?
                         
                          VAN LOON
           What do you mean?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Well -- you're upmarket energy --
           what do you want with these little
           solar/windmill/hippie outfits?
                         
          Van Loon's gaze is expressionless.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           --Unless you wanted to play both
           sides of the fence, control the
           whole energy enchilada. But these
           wouldn't get you there in emerging
           markets. You'd need...
                         
          He eyes Van Loon, who is sitting up straighter. Eddie's hit
          a nerve. He smiels, whistles.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           53.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Whoa, whoa. This must be some big-
           ass merger you're contemplating.
                         
          A flicker in Van Loon's eyes. Bullseye.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           And there's really only one company
           with enough bling to justify a
           merger with Van Loon Associates...
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Have you been talking to somebody-?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Carl, it's just rationalization.
                         
          He says it like it's the simplest thing in the world. Which,
          to a person on MDT, it is.
                         
          Van Loon grinds his teeth. Wanting to talk about it, but too
          skittish.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Is Hank Atwood going to go for it?
                         
          A long beat.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           You are either an amazing con
           artist or a very smart young man.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Come on -- the two of you together?
           The world would have to come to you
           begging for energy like Oliver
           Twist with his little bowl of
           gruel.
                         
          A beat as the two men stare at each other.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           You realize that if the press got
           one whisper of -- I can't fucking
           believe I'm even discussing this--
                         
                          EDDIE
           It doesn't matter. It won't come
           off.
                         
          Now Van Loon chuckles, amused by Eddie's audacity.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           54.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
                          VAN LOON
           The word "brazen" does not even
           begin to go there.
                         
                          EDDIE
           You'd have to back off Libya.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Why? He's come this far--
                         
          Eddie suddenly pulls back the bait.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I don't think you'd want to hear
           about it from some shmuck who needs
           a ride home.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           You're a gusty little prick, Eddie.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Ooh. Now you're curious.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Yeah. I must admit. You've hit a
           couple pretty big buttons. Go on.
           Tell me what you think.
                         
                          EDDIE
                          (DISMISSIVE)
           It's getting late.
                         
          Van Loon laughs.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           All right. You get your shot. Come
           to my office, tomorrow at ten, and
           tell me just exactly how the
           schmuck who needs the ride would re-
           structure this deal.
                         
          Eddie nods.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           And you better be prepared.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm at your disposal.
                         
          Eddie opens the car door. Van Loon eyes his building, scoffs.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           You don't really live here...?
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           55.
                         CONTINUED: (3)
                         
          Eddie smiles.
                         
                          EDDIE
           The Spartans weren't big on
           amenities.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Yeah. And they eventually got their
           asses kicked.
                         
          He gets out. Van Loon drives off.
                         
          EXT. EDDIE'S BLOCK - NIGHT
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I didn't go in.
                         
          Eddie keeps walking by his building.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           I wanted to walk, move, digest,
           ingest...
                         
          His stride picks up, buoyantly.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           There are moments in life, moments
           when you know you've crossed a
           bridge, your old life is over. Van
           Loon was my bridge. One week, two
           weeks from now, I would be
           hobnobbing with ambassadors, flying
           to Dubai for meetings, blowing off
           supermodels, vacationing in Medici
           villas... And that too, was only a
           bridge...
                         
          He steps off the curb.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Suddenly...
                         
          A SHARP, JARRING
                         
                          CUT TO:
                         
          EXT. HOUSTON STREET - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie is stepping off another curb, God knows where.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           There was another skip.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           56.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          He stops, rocked.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           How had I gone that last 20 blocks?
           I got another ten...
                         
          ON EDDIE WALKING...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ... then...
                         
          ...in mid-step...
                         
          EXT. UPPER 5TH AVENUE - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie is walking past the Metropolitan Museum.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I was back uptown.
                         
          A SHARP, JARRING CUT TO:
                         
          INT. A CLUB - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie is suddenly sitting at a bar, picking up a drink,
          people around him...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           What bar was this? Was it
           Harlem...?
                         
          A SHARP, JARRING CUT TO:
                         
          Eddie is dancing with a BEAUTIFUL BLACK WOMAN...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Same bar? Different bar? How long
           had passed...?
                         
          He breaks away from her, starts for the door...
                         
          A SHARP, JARRING CUT TO:
                         
          INT. A CLUB LADIES ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie comes to in the act of banging THE BEAUTIFUL BLACK
          WOMAN savagely, against the stall door.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           And it happened again--
                         
          A SHARP, JARRING CUT TO:
           57.
                         
                         
          EXT. HARLEM STREET IN FRONT OF BAR
                         
          Bam! A LARGE BLACK MAN crumples in front of Eddie -- goes
          down, hit, blood pouring from his nose. (Could he be the
          boyfriend of the girl Eddie's just banged?) Eddie stares at
          his bloody fist. It hurts--!
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           And again...
                         
          INT. A LOFT - NIGHT
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           And again...
                         
          Eddie sits on a plush sofa with several MIDDLE-AGED
          INTERNATIONAL TYPES, some chattering in Italian.
                         
          He has a drink in his hand. There are paintbrushes, paints
          and canvasses strewn around... a live/work space.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           And again...
                         
          A SHARP, JARRING CUT TO:
                         
          (And now the images are speeding up:)
                         
          INT. A HOTEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie is walking down the plush corridor with an ATTRACTIVE
          MIDDLE-AGED LATIN WOMAN we saw at the artist's loft... Now
          it's just FLASHES --skimming stones of consciousness-A WINE
          CORK being popped. A PLATE OF MUSSELS swimming in wine sauce.
          Rumpled SHEETS. And then...A BLUR OF MOTION -- bodies, a
          swirl of riotous color --
                         
          A FRENZY OF SHOTS: A CAB STOPPING. A GARGOYLE ON A BUILDING.
          A DOG LEASH ABANDONED IN A PUDDLE. No rhyme, no reason, just
          image, image, image...
                         
          And then blackness.
                         
          EXT. THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE - DAWN
                         
          Eddie is walking, now with a limp. He stops. Looks back. The
          familiar postcard view of Manhattan is ahead of him, looking
          like it always looks.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           When it finally stopped, I couldn't
           account for the last eight hours of
           my life.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           58.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          He notices his foot hurts when he puts it down. He has a
          limp.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           There was nothing to do but walk
           home.
                         
          He turns around and limps back towards the island.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S BEDROOM - MORNING
                         
          Eddie is sleeping in all his clothes.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           It was my first sleep in two days.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
                         
          Eddie, looking very groggy, is holding a THICK PACKET marked
          "Van Loon Associates, -BY COURIER." The files Carl Van Loon
          sent. Sitting on the dining table is an MDT tablets. He
          stares at them.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Should I? Would I start "skipping
           time" again?
                         
          He pushes the tablets away. Doesn't take them.
                         
          ANOTHER ANGLE - TIME CUT
                         
          Eddie is sitting in his reading chair, exhausted, going
          through the paperwork.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Even off MDT, I decided to give Van
           Loon's files a shot.
                         
          VAN LOON'S FILES - CLOSE
                         
          Eddie leafs through them... pieces of paper charting
          corporate growth, covered with charts, graphs, and mind-
          numbing statistics. PUSH IN ON Eddie's face, as he
          realizes...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           They were fucking hieroglyphs.
                         
          INT. A WALL STREET OFFICE - DAY
                         
          The phone rings. Kevin Doyle picks it up.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           59.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          KEVIN
           Hello--? Eddie--? What are you
           talking about?
                         
          And we CROSS-CUT between them:
                         
                          EDDIE
           I can't make the meeting, I'm,
           uh... I'm sick.
                         
          It's a lame excuse, it sounds lame as he says it, but then,
          he's off MDT.
                         
                          KEVIN
           Yeah, well, you can't have the
           fucking flu right now -- he'll
           never give you this chance again!
                         
                          EDDIE
           I need to, ah, analyze this data-
                         
          We see the two men continue to talk, Kevin growing more
          agitated, Eddie growing more sheepish as we HEAR:
                         
           EDDIE (O.S.) (CONT'D)
           Already I recognized it... the
           thick tongue, the leaden synapses.
           It was regular Eddie - the Eddie
           that, now, was unbearable to be.
                         
          We FADE UP THE SOUND on the two men:
                         
                          KEVIN
           ... Don't you get it?! This is your
           test--!
                         
                          EDDIE
           Well, I can't pass a fucking test
           right now!
                         
                          KEVIN
           And how am I going to look if you
           don't?
                         
          Eddie looks pretty bad. He massages his temples.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Okay, Kevin. Okay.
                         
          He hands up on a still-yammering Doyle. He picks up the MDT
          pill, looks at it.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           60.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           It was my first morning off MDT in
           a month. The beginnings of a
           headache was curling around my head
           like a big fat, greasy python.
                         
          Again, he looks at the MDT tablet, weighing his options.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           But the time-skips had me scared.
                         
          He puts the tablet back down on the table.
                         
          INT. THE REGENCY HOTEL RESTAURANT - DAY
                         
          Eddie walks in, much more tentative in his stride, fear in
          his eyes. This is the real Eddie, the non-MDT Eddie and he
          feels suddenly out of place with the curly maple paneling
          antique Persian carpets.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           My thought -- such as I had one --
           was to tap dance with Van Loon
           until I could find out more about
           MDT.
                         
          INT. BAR AREA - DAY
                         
          Eddie sits on a couch, Pierce on another chair, Van Loon
          opposite, watching him.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           What do you know about Hank Atwood?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Uh... iconoclast... owns, um, a lot
           of Colorado...
                         
          He's struggling.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Uh-huh. So this is "prepared,"
           Eddie?
                         
          He shoots Eddie a look of withering contempt. Eddie holds the
          stare and shoots a look back.
                         
                          EDDIE
           What is this, Atwood 101? Everyone
           knows about Atwood.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Where was he two years ago?
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           61.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          A flash of panic in Eddie's eyes. What's the right answer?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Nowhere.
                         
          An agonizing pause. Then Van Loon nods.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Two years ago Forbes didn't even
           have him on the radar.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yeah, his Great Leap Forward.
                         
          Eddie is faking it. Pierce is looking at him intently. But
          Eddie's staying afloat.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           The guy comes on, out of nowhere,
           so fucking strong he has me on the
           run. Beat me out of two properties,
           invests in bumfuck countries with
           no oil, places I wouldn't go near,
           sextuples his money.
                         
          Eddie's glance flicks to the TV behind the bar. A WOMAN'S
          PICTURE flashes on the TV screen -- and he recognizes it.
          It's the ITALIAN WOMAN he met last night!
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           ...Always picks green technologies,
           invests in them, and a year later
           he owns them.
                         
          Eddie strains to hear the ANCHORWOMAN'S VOICE...
                         
                          ANCHORWOMAN
           ... found dead in her hotel room
           last night, victim of foul play.
                         
          Eddie tries to keep his face immobile. Van Loon's voice
          drones on, distorted now, as we HEAR Eddie's heart pounding.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           ...100 billion if he has a
           nickel... and I have to convince
           him, somehow, that I can raise his
           game.
                         
                          ANCHORWOMAN
           An unidentified eyewitness has
           reported seeing a man with a limp
           leaving the scene.
                          (MORE)
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           62.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                          ANCHORWOMAN (CONT'D)
           Anyone with information should
           contact local law enforcement
           authorities. --Steve?
                         
          Eddie bolts upright.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           You can't tell me he's in this to
           improve the fucking planet. He
           owns a ball team.
                         
          Eddie is pale, sweaty, faint. There's only one thing to do:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Excuse me.
                         
          Eddie dashes out. Van Loon and Pierce look at each other.
                         
          EXT. THE REGENCY - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie bursts from the door, VOMITS into the gutter.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I couldn't have.
                         
          He leans against a street sign, trying to right himself. He
          gasps for breath.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           ...or could I?
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
                         
          Eddie comes in, breathing wildly, panicked.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           If I could walk, talk, conduct
           business, seduce a woman, fight--
           with no memory... could I kill
           someone? Was it even me? Who was
           I?!
                         
          Immediately the PHONE RINGS. He nearly jumps out of his skin.
          He can't answer. He sits on the couch, head in his hands,
          rocking, as it rings. Finally, the machine picks up.
                         
                          MELISSA'S VOICE
           Hi, Eddie... it's Melissa. Listen,
           call me back as soon as you--
                         
          Eddie lunges for the phone, picks it up.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           63.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Melissa--?
                         
                          MELISSA
           (surprised he picked up)
           Eddie--?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Melissa, I want to talk to you.
           Please. Meet me somewhere...
                         
                          MELISSA
           We're talking now.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Nonono -- at Charlie's, across the
           street. At two.
                         
                          MELISSA
           You can't see me, Eddie.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Please. Melissa -- it's important,
           please come -- you have to tell me
           what you're talking about!
                         
          But she's already hung up.
                         
          CLOSE ON - EDDIE'S DRESSER DRAWER - DAY
                         
          Eddie's hands rummage through everything...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I realized that there were other
           people who might know about MDT...
                         
          His hands find what they're looking for. Vernon's LITTLE
          BLACK BOOK.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Vernon's other clients.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S BEDROOM - DAY
                         
          Eddie sits on the bed, the black book open on his knees.
          Eddie looks at the page, then reaches for the telephone.
          Picks it up. Hears STRANGE CLICKS over the dial tone.
                         
          He puts down the phone, fear on his face.
           64.
                         
                         
          EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - DAY
                         
          Eddie walks, slipping through the crowd, trying to suppress
          his limp... he looks nervously behind him... is that MAN in
          the TAN RAINCOAT following him? He tries to walk faster, but
          it makes his limp more pronounced. He turns the corner. He
          seems to have lost the guy.
                         
          EXT. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK - DAY
                         
          Eddie sits on a park bench, making calls on his cell phone.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Hello, may I speak to Paul Kaplan,
           please?
                         
                          WOMAN'S VOICE
                          (SUSPICIOUS)
           Who is this?
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm a journalist. From Electronics
           Today magazine.
                         
                          WOMAN'S VOICE
           Look... my husband died three days
           ago.
                         
          Eddie is floored.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm... I'm so sorry. Goodbye.
                         
           SMASH CUT TO:
                         
          Eddie has dialled another number.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           I, ah, may I speak to Jerry Brady?
                         
                          MALE VOICE
           Jerry's in -- who's this?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Uh-- Bill Johnson.
                         
                          MALE VOICE
           Well Bill... Jerry's in the
           hospital...
                          (VOICE QUAKING)
           ...and he's really sick.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           65.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Oh my God. What's wrong with him?
                         
                          MALE VOICE
           We don't know. He just started
           getting these headaches a couple of
           weeks ago...? Then, uh, last
           Wednesday he collapsed at work...
                         
           SMASH CUT TO:
                         
          Eddie turns to the last page of Vernon's book.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           Of all the people I called, three
           were dead, and the rest were sick.
                         
                         
          Eddie dials the last number. Instantly, there is a RING. We
          RACK FOCUS TO-The MAN in the TAN COAT, sitting a discreet
          distance from Eddie. His phone is ringing. Eddie turns white.
                         
          The man takes out his cell phone and answers.
                         
                          MAN'S VOICE
           Hello...? Hello...?
                         
          The man suddenly looks up. Locks eyes with Eddie. Knows that
          he knows. Eddie leaps up, begins to run. The man leaps up and
          follows.
                         
          EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - DAY
                         
          Eddie runs desperately, as fast as a person off MDT possibly
          can.
                         
          He still has the limp from his blackout escapade, too. He
          can't run fast.
                         
          Tan Coat is gaining. Eddie collides with pedestrians, steps
          on street sunglass displays, sends a saxophonist sprawling.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           In the end, my stupidity saved me.
                         
          Eddie, panicked, not looking, runs for the crosswalk.
                         
          EDDIE'S POV - A HUGE TRUCK
                         
          is barrelling, unstoppably, right towards him--!
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           66.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          EDDIE is frozen. The TRUCK SWERVES, up on the curb. Tan Coat
          must dive out of the way, knocking down pedestrians like
          bowling pins, as the TRUCK hits a STREETLIGHT, mangling it --
          then is WHACKED -- twice -- by TWO CABS piling up behind it.
          When Tan Coat extracts himself from the pile of prone
          pedestrians, his last glimpse is of-
                         
          EDDIE - DOWN THE BLOCK
                         
          disappearing down into a Subway entrance. Swallowed by a
          crowd.
                         
                         TAN COAT
                         
          hesitates, but knows that he can't catch up. Eddie's given
          him the slip. This time.
                         
          INT. CHARLIE'S COFFEE SHOP - DAY
                         
          Eddie, limping, enters, looking around anxiously.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           What was I dealing with? Who could
           tell me? I hoped against hope...
           that Melissa would show.
                         
          EDDIE'S POV - SCANNING THE PLACE
                         
          Not one person in it could possibly be Melissa. Eddie sighs.
          Turns to go.
                         
           FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)
           Eddie...?
                         
          Eddie turns back. There, sitting at a booth, is a thick-
          waisted, short-haired brunette middle-aged woman, wearing a
          large, shapeless sweater. Eddie had looked right at her...
          and not recognized her. She bears no relationship to the
          siren Melissa of his memories. Eddie tries to hide the shock
          on his face.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Melissa...?
                         
          He goes to her, sits. Yes, it's the same person, but
          dramatically, tragically changed. Her face is puffy, her
          pallor blotchy. There are lines under her eyes and around her
          mouth, lines brought on by more than the passage of a few
          years.
                         
          Eddie tries to conceal his shock.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           67.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           You... how are you doing?
                         
          Melissa responds with a cynical shrug. Then, she eyes him.
                         
                          MELISSA
           Don't tell me I look good, because
           I know I don't. I didn't want you
           to see me this way...
                          (BEAT)
           You look good.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I guess I lost some weight...
                         
                          MELISSA
           Yeah, well, MDT'll do that to you.
                         
          They regard each other for minute, unsure of where to start.
          Old emotions. New emotions. Shock. Dismay. Affection.
                         
                          MELISSA (CONT'D)
           I know you've been doing it. I just
           read the Post. Eddie. Short-selling
           stocks? Second-guessing the
           markets? You? Come on.
                         
          Eddie doesn't know what to say.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Since when do you read the Post?
                         
                          MELISSA
           These days, the Post's about all I
           can read.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Melissa, what do you mean?
                         
                          MELISSA
           I mean, I did it too. And I only
           took nine or ten hits. Vernon
           didn't tell you any of this, did
           he?
                         
                          EDDIE
           No.
                         
          Melissa snorts as if to say, typical.
                         
                          MELISSA
           Well, when he told me about this
           amazing new drug...
                          (MORE)
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           68.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                          MELISSA (CONT'D)
           I was like, down the hatch. And it
           was amazing. I read Brian Greene's
           The Elegant Universe in 45 minutes
           and understood it. My work rate
           increased... just, insanely,
           overnight. My boss started to hate
           me -- they offered me his job. And
           then I got scared.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Why?
                         
                          MELISSA
           I'm not stupid. I mean, nobody can
           keep up that level of mental
           activity and not crash. I stopped
           taking it.
                         
                          EDDIE
           And...?
                         
                          MELISSA
           I got sick. Headaches, throwing
           up... I went back to Vernon to see
           if I maybe shouldn't take another
           hit, or half a hit, and then he
           told me about... about the people
           who were dying. One guy didn't die,
           but he's a vegetable, his mother
           has to sponge him down every day...
                          (BEAT)
           How much have you been taking,
           Eddie?
                         
          A long beat as they look into each other's eyes.
                         
                          EDDIE
           A lot.
                         
                          MELISSA
           Well, maybe they've worked out the
           bugs. Maybe... maybe this isn't the
           same batch...
                         
          Eddie hates the look in her eyes. His hands are at his
          temples.
                         
                          MELISSA (CONT'D)
           You're off it right now, aren't
           you?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yeah.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           69.
                         CONTINUED: (3)
                         
                          MELISSA
           Are you getting a headache?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Finish your story.
                         
                          MELISSA
           Well, I didn't take more. And I
           didn't die. But after a while I
           found I couldn't concentrate on
           anything for longer than ten
           minutes. I missed deadlines. I got
           lazy... and slow... put on
           weight... the magazine let me go.
           My husband checked out. Sex? Get
           out of here.
                         
          She leans back, looks him in the eyes.
                         
                          MELISSA (CONT'D)
           That was two years ago, and I
           haven't been the same since. I
           can't read any more -- I mean, the
           fucking New York Post?
                         
          Eddie feels ill, physically ill, hearing this.
                         
                          MELISSA (CONT'D)
           After this, I'm going to have a
           migraine for three days. And I've
           got to pee. Which is another thing.
                         
          She gets up... goes to the Ladies room. And now Eddie sees --
          she wears a LEG BRACE. Like a kid, from the old days, with
          Polio.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           How many times had I thought of
           her, my first real love...
                         
          We see FLASHES OF YOUNG MELISSA...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           But that Melissa had unraveled in
           time and space -- she was a ghost
           now. I was never going to see her
           again, never bump into her in the
           street...
                         
          The tears gather behind Eddie's eyes. He can't help it. He
          puts his hand to his face to hide his emotions.
           70.
                         
                         
          EXT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY
                         
          Eddie leaves with Melissa. He is controlling his tears --
          barely.
                         
                          MELISSA
           You have some left? Good. Go home
           and take it. Take the dose down,
           but don't just stop -- you'll die
           if you just stop. Try to taper off.
           Otherwise, the headache's just the
           beginning... I have to go--
                         
          Eddie, indeed, is rubbing his temples.
                         
                          EDDIE
           But when I run out--
                         
                          MELISSA
           I don't know. I have to go--
                         
          Eddie catches her arm.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Who invented MDT?
                         
                          MELISSA
           I don't know--
                          (BEAT)
           Goodbye, Eddie.
                         
          He lets go of her arm. A puffy, crippled woman about to cry.
          She turns her back and moves away from him, stiffly, limping,
          without looking back.
                         
          EXT. EDDIE'S POV - HIS APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           No one seemed to be watching my
           apartment, maybe I could chance it.
                         
                         ON EDDIE
                         
          He glances around - the coast is clear - and sets off across
          the street. He looks weak, ill - his breathing labored. He
          stumbles - catches himself
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           I was getting sicker by the moment.
           Luckily I had one pill on me...
                         
          He pulls it from his pocket.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           71.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          WHAM! He's pushed up against the wall of his building. Not
          by Tan Coat.
                         
          By GENNADY THE RUSSIAN.
                         
                          GENNADY
           You fucking forget about me? Huh?
                         
          Eddie is stunned -- Gennady whacked his head against the
          building pretty hard. He still clutches the MDT tablet tight
          in his fist.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I... I... ahh...
                         
                          GENNADY
           One o'clock? And you not here?!
           Eddie tries to catch his breath.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm here now!
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - ON THE DOOR
                         
          They come into his apartment, Eddie using all his energy to
          stay upright.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'll get you a check.
                         
          Gennady turns to ice.
                         
                          GENNADY
           A check? A check?! You out of your
           fucking mind?! What you think we
           are, some financial institution?
                         
          Eddie realizes his brain isn't working --of course Gennady
          can't take a check.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Gennady, look-
                         
                          GENNADY
           I cut your balls off!
                         
                          EDDIE
           I wasn't thinking. Look, we just
           need to go to my bank- OOF!
                         
          Gennady has punched him in the stomach. Harder than he's ever
          been punched. Eddie gasps for breath... holds his fist to his
          body, protecting the pill. Gennady notices.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           72.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          GENNADY
           What you got there?
                         
                          EDDIE
                          NOTHING--
                         
          Gennady grabs Eddie's wrist and wrenches his hand open.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           It's aspirin.
                         
          Gennady snatches the pill away from him. Examines it.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Don't look like no aspirin I ever
           see!
                         
          His voice drips with crude contempt.
                         
                          GENNADY (CONT'D)
           What is it? Something good, eh?
                         
          In one swift motion, Gennady pops it in his mouth and
          swallows it!
                         
          Eddie is mute with shock.
                         
          INT. A BANK - CLOSE ON
                         
          Eddie's shaking hands are handing Gennady a thick envelope.
                         
                          EDDIE
           That's the whole thing, plus
           twenty.
                         
          He looks desperately ill. He can barely stand. Gennady,
          meanwhile, is coming on to MDT.
                         
                          GENNADY
           I feel good. What in that shit?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Aspirin and vitamins.
                         
                          GENNADY
           You fucking full of shit, Morgan. I
           know you lie about the movie script
           too.
                         
          He wants to hit Eddie again, but thinks the better of it with
          all the bank cameras.
           73.
                         
                         
          THE MONITOR -
                         
          We see Gennady give the camera a gay little wave, then turn
          and walk out.
                         
          EXT. THE STREET - DAY
                         
          Eddie lurches along the street, staggering like a drunk,
          barely able to walk. People avoid him, veering away.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           I had to get my stash.
                         
          INT. LINDY'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
          Lindy clearly has a mid-level executive job; her office is
          better than a cubicle and she has a bit of a view. There is a
          KNOCK. A FEMALE ASSISTANT appears in the door.
                         
                          FEMALE ASSISTANT
           Lindy...? I wouldn't have let him
           in, but I know you know him...
                         
          EDDIE appears in the door, looking deathly ill.
                         
                          LINDY
           It's all right, Lisa.
                         
          The girl goes. Lindy, sensing something dire, leaps up and
          closes the door.
                         
          Eddie immediately collapses on the floor. Lindy kneels down
          to help him - competent, trying to stay calm.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           Eddie-- What is it--?
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm sorry -- I'm sick. I wasn't
           going to make it home-
                         
                          LINDY
           Okay. Okay, I'll get you to a
                          DOCTOR--
                         
                          EDDIE
           IT WON'T HELP--! I need to get--
           it's very simple: I need my pills.
                         
                          LINDY
           What kind of pills?
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           74.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           They're... for my headaches...
                         
                          LINDY
           What headaches? What are you--?
           (beat, realizing)
           Are you on some drug?
                         
                          EDDIE
           It's... complicated.
                         
                          LINDY
           Oh. Oh. So all this energy of
           yours, all this focus... has been
           some drug, Eddie?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Not... the way you...
                         
                          LINDY
           You need a doctor.
                         
                          EDDIE
           No. That won't--
                         
          Eddie's PHONE rings. He and Lindy look at each other. He
          answers it.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Hello?
                         
          INT. VALERIE (HIS LANDLADY'S) APARTMENT - DAY
                         
          Valerie is on the phone. And we CROSS-CUT BETWEEN THEM:
                         
                          VALERIE
           What the hell are you doing up
           there?
                         
                          EDDIE
           W-what?
                         
          There are, indeed, LOUD NOISES coming from above her.
                         
                          VALERIE
           Are you tearing up your floor or
           something?!
                         
          Understanding in Eddie's pained eyes. He clicks off the
          phone.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I knew what was going on.
           75.
                         
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT -A SERIES OF QUICK SHOTS -DAY
                         
          MALE HANDS are ripping the place to pieces. Pulling the
          toilet from the wall. Cutting open the mattress. Taking apart
          Eddie's computer.
                         
          INT. LINDY'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
                          LINDY
           ...a smart drug...?
                         
                          EDDIE
           It was supposed to be legal.
                         
                          LINDY
           Oh, Eddie... you jerk.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I have a supply... stashed...
                         
                          LINDY
           (knows what's coming)
           No.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I just need... to get it...
                         
                          LINDY
           And I'm supposed to just GO?! In
           the middle of my work day?! To your
           APARTMENT to get you more DRUGS?
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - DAY
                         
          The MALE HANDS have found Eddie's hiding place. They LIFT the
          old BROILER of the STOVE... ...and...
                         
          The MDT IS NOT THERE. The broiler is slammed down in anger.
                         
          INT. LINDY'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
                          EDDIE
           Not to my apartment. I moved it.
                         
                          LINDY
           You did--? Why?!
                         
                          EDDIE
           I was smart. I was on MDT.
                         
                          LINDY
           Then where did you keep it--?
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           76.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          He looks at her, guiltily.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           Oh, you prick.
                         
          INT. LINDY'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
                         
          Lindy enters. Tense, panicked. She walks to a SQUARE END
          TABLE, takes the lamp off it. The table is actually a box --
          she lifts the lid. She reaches in... and pulls out the PACKET
          OF MDT.
                         
                          LINDY
           You asshole... in my fucking
           HOUSE?!
                         
          Furious, she stuffs it into her purse and goes for the door.
                         
          EXT. LINDY'S BUILDING - DAY
                         
          As she leaves, we see that we are in the POV of...
                         
                         A MAN
                         
          across the street. He clicks open a CELL PHONE.
                         
          INT. LINDY'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
          There is a KNOCK on the DOOR. Lying on the floor, trying to
          breathe, Eddie ignores it. His PHONE rings again. It takes a
          lot of effort just to answer it.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Hi -- Have you got it?
                         
                         
          And we CROSS-CUT BETWEEN:
                         
          INT. A MOVING CAB - DAY
                         
          Lindy is on the phone. Her voice is tense, terrified.
                         
                          LINDY
           Yes. --Eddie, there's someone
           following me.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Are you sure?
                         
                          LINDY
           He got into the cab behind me, and
           they're making every turn I'm
           making!
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           77.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Don't get out.
                         
                          LINDY
           What the fuck did you put me in the
           middle of--?!
                         
                          EDDIE
           Call the cops.
                         
                          LINDY
                          (PANICKING)
           There's traffic. We're slowing
           down...
           (to the driver)
           Go around him! Go around!
                          (TO EDDIE)
           Shit! We're stopped dead.
                          (A GASP)
           He's getting out, Eddie -- he's
           walking over here-
                         
          Eddie, helpless on the floor, can do nothing.
                         
                          EDDIE
           LINDY--!!!
                         
          EXT. FIFTH AVENUE - DAY
                         
          Lindy bolts from the cab just as TAN COAT puts his hand on
          the opposite door. She takes off into Central Park. And he's
          after her like a shot.
                         
          EXT. CENTRAL PARK - DAY
                         
          Lindy veers off the path, through the trees, zig-zagging,
          trying to find a place not to be seen.
                         
                         TAN COAT
                         
          Zig-zags too, not far behind her.
                         
                         LINDY
                         
          Begins to scream, desperate:
                         
                          LINDY
           Help! Help!!
                         
          Up ahead, miraculously, A COP ON HORSEBACK. He steps the
          horse toward her. She races over and presses her body against
          the side of the horse.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           78.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          She's so panicked and out of breath she can barely speak.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           There's... a... man... chasing me.
           He has a long, tan --
                         
          The cop seems to be paying attention, then suddenly GRUNTS
          and TWITCHES, his eyes flutter, glaze... and HE TOPPLES OFF
          HIS HORSE to the ground... ...revealing TAN COAT, on the
          other side of the horse. The BLADE in his hand is bloody.
          LINDY runs.... tries to lose herself in a WEDDING PARTY...
          comes to a section of huge, decorative BOULDERS and ROCKS.
          Dives behind one of them.
                         
          Ahead, she can see the outdoor ICE SKATERS, couples,
          families, enjoying the ice. It seems surreal. Several yards
          behind her is TAN COAT, looking behind every tree, every
          trash bin. Lindy picks up the phone, keeping her voice low,
          although she's hyperventilating.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           Are you still there?
                         
          And we CROSS-CUT BETWEEN:
                         
          INT. LINDY'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yes. What's happening?
                         
                          LINDY
           I'm hiding, but I'm stuck. He'll
           find me!
                         
                          EDDIE
           Just be still, stop talking.
                         
                          LINDY
           He killed a cop--
                         
                          EDDIE
           What?
                         
                          LINDY
           He's going to kill me, Eddie!
                         
                          EDDIE
           Listen to me. Can he see you?
                         
                          LINDY
                          (CRYING)
           You fucking asshole--
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           79.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Can he see you?!
                         
                          LINDY
           Not yet. --I don't know what to do!
           What do I do--!
                         
                          EDDIE
           There is something.
                         
                          LINDY
           What?!
                         
                          EDDIE
           Listen to me. Reach into the bag
           and take one of the pills.
                         
                          LINDY
           S-swallow one of those things?!
                         
                          EDDIE
           Yes.
                         
          Tan Coat is getting closer.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           You will know what do to, Lindy.
           Take one, and you'll know.
                         
                          LINDY
           He's got a knife -- I can't think
           my way out of a knife--!
                         
                          EDDIE
           You'll come on in thirty seconds.
           And yes, you will think your way
           out, that's what it does. Are you
           taking it--?
                         
          She swallows the pill.
                         
                          LINDY
                          (A BEAT)
           Yes. He's getting closer.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Lindy. I love you.
                          (A BEAT)
           --Lindy? Are you there?
                         
          A beat. We PUSH IN on Lindy's eyes. Which are changing.
          Growing more steely. Determined.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           80.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
                          LINDY
           Eddie...? I feel it.
                         
          She hangs up. Eddie is left looking at the phone.
                         
          EXT. CENTRAL PARK - DAY
                         
          Tan Coat is perhaps five yards behind Lindy and getting
          closer. But she's not crying any more. She's looking at-THE
          ICE SKATING RINK, and the skaters, whirling across the ice.
                         
                         LINDY'S
                         
          eyes flash. She knows what to do. Suddenly, she BOLTS from
          her hiding place behind the rock, tearing down the hill as
          fast as she can. Tan Coat is behind her like a shot.
                         
          EXT. THE ICE SKATING RINK - DAY
                         
          Lindy races down the hill, pushing past the line of people,
          and onto the ice... Tan Coat is clearly desperate --he
          doesn't give a shit who sees him chasing her.
                         
          In a flash, he's on the ice after Lindy, running and sliding.
          People collide with him, he pushes skaters aside, sending
          them sprawling... Just as he's closing in on Lindy...
                         
          Lindy wheels around, grabs a SIX YEAR OLD GIRL under the
          arms, and HOISTS HER INTO THE AIR, swinging her legs at Tan
          Coat as hard she can! The little girl's skates arc through
          the air --whoosh! -and connect, CUTTING Tan Coat's FACE.
          Badly.
                         
          He sinks to his knees, hand to his cheek, welling blood.
          People scream and scatter. Lindy keeps her wits about her.
          She runs, sliding across the ice, and leaping the fence, with
          surprising grace. She's gone.
                         
          INT. LINDY'S OFFICE - DAY - ON EDDIE'S HAND - CLOSE
                         
          as an MDT pill is put into it. A WIDER SHOT shows Eddie
          swallowing it with a glass of water.
                         
                         LINDY
                         
          sits across the room, looking at him, her expression cool and
          composed.
                         
          They look at each other, a look of understanding.
           81.
                         
                         
          INT. W HOTEL - LOBBY - DAY
                         
          Eddie finishes checking in, Lindy beside him. He seems
          completely restored to his sharp, snappy self. The desk clerk
          gives him a key. He puts his arm around her, leads her to the
          elevators.
                         
          INT. W HOTEL - ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie takes Lindy's hands, sits her on the bed.
                         
                          EDDIE
           We'll stay here for a couple of
           days. We'll be powered up, we'll be
           able to think our way out of
           this...
                         
          He kisses her hands. Looks into her eyes.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           I'm back. All right?
                         
          Lindy looks at him for a long moment.
                         
                          LINDY
           Who's back, Eddie?
                         
                          EDDIE
           I can take care of you now.
                         
                          LINDY
           That was never what I wanted.
                         
                          EDDIE
           A lot's going to happen for us. And
           everything that I will have... I
           will share with you. I will love
           you.
                         
          Lindy's head comes up. She looks at him, steely.
                         
                          LINDY
           You know... you were always smart.
           You could have done this. Not
           this... but some of these things...
           maybe a third of these things...
           without any smart drug at all. A
           third of all this... to most
           people...? ...would be plenty.
                         
          She gets up, turns away from him.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           82.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           I understand that stuff now, Eddie.
           And I don't blame you for taking
           it. No one could ever tell you,
           till you take it, what it can do.
           Invincibility in a bottle. And I
           know I'm going to think about
           taking it again every day for the
           rest of my life.
                         
          There's eerie quiet to her tone that Eddie hasn't heard
          before. A matter-of-fact chill.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           But once you can see everything
           that way, mapped out like that, on
           a grid... and always be right...?
           Who'd want to wing it? Who'd want
           to fuck up? Who'd want to be human?
                         
          She heads for the door.
                         
                          LINDY (CONT'D)
           I just came up to say goodbye. I
           don't ever want to see you again.
           I'm not even going to stay in New
           York. Don't try to find me, and
           don't try to help me.
                         
          She goes. He knows there's no point in stopping her. She's
          done with him.
                         
          EXT. W HOTEL - LATER
                         
          Eddie at the WINDOW, looking down...
                         
          EXT. EDDIE'S POV - THE STREET
                         
          He sees Lindy briskly walking away. RACK FOCUS as Lindy
          passes... GENNADY. Leaning against a sign post. Lighting a
          cigarette. And looking up at Eddie's hotel. Waiting.
                         
          EXT. W HOTEL - DAY
                         
          Gennady stands there, looking up at the hotel. So he's a
          little surprised to find EDDIE walking right up to him.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Looking for me?
                         
          Gennady quickly gets aggressive:
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           83.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          GENNADY
           You think you can run out on me?
           You think I don't know where you
           are?
                         
                          EDDIE
           I was under the impression that our
           business was settled.
                         
          Something is jammed into Eddie's ribs. Something under
          Gennady's coat. Eddie doesn't blink.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Walk.
                         
          Gennady walks him around the corner, down some stairs, to the
          (deserted) ground entrance of someone's apartment. Eddie
          remains cool.
                         
                          EDDIE
           So now you're going to rob me? I
           thought you were a businessman.
                         
                          GENNADY
           I want some more of that shit.
                         
                          EDDIE
           What shit.
                         
                          GENNADY
           The pills.
                         
          He whacks Eddie, hard, across the face. Eddie, stoic, on MDT,
          doesn't react.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Well, so do I. You took the last
           one.
                         
                          GENNADY
           So you get me more.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I can't get more -- the dealer's
           dead.
                         
          Now Gennady smiles.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Oh. Well. Too bad for you. Because
           how you gonna go to those fancy
           meetings with your nose fed to my
           dog?
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           84.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
          Eddie doesn't like that Gennady knows anything about his
          business life. But he stands his ground.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Nothing. I. Can. Do.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Make some calls. One hundred pills.
                         
                          EDDIE
           A hundred can't happen. The
           dealer's dead, I have to call three
           people to even get a line on--
                         
          The gun barrel is brought up beneath Eddie's chin.
                         
                          GENNADY
           You know I don't really do this. So
           clean, like this. What I do to you,
           I do in stages.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I might... be able to get ten.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Ten. Fuck your ten.
                         
                          EDDIE
           (holding his ground)
           Ten. And no guarantee there's more.
                         
          Gennady looks at him for a long, menacing moment.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Oh, I think guarantee.
                         
          But he's accepted the ten. For now. He PUSHES Eddie against
          the wall, hard, knocking the wind out of him.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Self-pity and MDT were not
           compatible. One has to go on...
                         
          INT. HOTEL LOBBY - CLOSE ON - A SMALL ENVELOPE
                         
          being put into Gennady's hand. A wider shot reveals Eddie,
          watching Gennady with contempt as he grabs a fistful of nuts
          off a bar table as he goes. Pig.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ...Patch up what's left...
           85.
                         
                         
          INT. CARL VAN LOON'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
                          VAN LOON
           I won't deny you pissed me off,
           Eddie.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I was sick. I shouldn't have gone
           to the meeting. I tried to cancel,
           but Kevin imploded on me--
                         
          Van Loon looks at Eddie penetratingly.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           I didn't know who or what I was
           talking to.
                         
                          EDDIE
           A hundred and five, is what you
           were talking to, Carl. Delirium.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Look, there can't be any
           instability. Not when you're
           playing at this level.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I sent over my revised projections--
                         
                          VAN LOON
           I didn't ask for your projections.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I know, but I think if you look at
                          THEM-
                         
                          VAN LOON
           I already have.
                         
          A long beat as the two men size each other up. Van Loon looks
          away, but a tiny smile creases the corner of his mouth.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           As a matter of fact, there were
           firings over your projections.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm sorry.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           ...some things my team missed. So,
           oddly enough, I find myself...
           needing to fill a position.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           86.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie stays cool. He's in.
                         
          INT. VAN LOON CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Two months after I started MDT, I
           was helping broker the most
           important merger in corporate
           history.
                         
          Eddie sits with Van Loon, Pierce, and several POWERFUL
          LOOKING MEN, conferring. They look at an elaborate
          chart/graph that Eddie is sketching... even Pierce, his
          detractor, looks impressed.
                         
          INT. W HOTEL - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie is eating a luxurious room service dinner, going
          through files and projections.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           I found that if I maintained an
           even dose... remembered to eat...
           drank no alcohol... the blackouts
           didn't recur.
                         
          Eddie shakes one MDT pill into his hand, downs it.
                         
          INT. LAYFAYETTE DAY TRADING - DAY
                         
          Eddie is back on the trading floor, a crowd around him.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           I was quickly back up to speed...
                         
          INT. A MADISON AVENUE TAILOR'S SHOP - DAY
                         
          Eddie is being fitted for new suits.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Is it possible to construct an...
           imperceptible compartment?
                         
                          TAILOR
           Certainly, sir. How large?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Quite large.
                         
          The Tailor nods, makes a note. He's certainly not going to
          ask any questions.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           87.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           I would never again stash my MDT,
           not in an apartment, not in Fort
           Knox.
                         
          INT. A WINDOWLESS ROOM - DAY
                         
          Eddie, buzzing with charismatic authority, speaks to TWO
          BEEFY MEN, who are professional muscle. (Note: one has very
          elaborate tattoos on his fingers.)
                         
                          EDDIE
           I don't want it known that I have
           any security. You won't precede me,
           you'll follow me, never less than
           ten steps behind... `inconspicuous'
           doesn't begin to describe you.
           You're not there. You're a CEO'S
           wife -- you're wallpaper.
                         
          The men nod. They understand.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S HOTEL BATHROOM - DAY
                         
          Eddie straightens his tie. Then opens his suit jacket,
          reaches in, and pulls along a seam. An invisible POCKET
          OPENS.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           Safer though my stash now was, I
           was not sitting around until it ran
           out.
                         
          INT. A LABORATORY - NIGHT
                         
          The place is state of the art, but it's an after-hours,
          furtive meeting Eddie is having with a TECHNICIAN, who passes
          back a small PLASTIC ENVELOPE to Eddie. In it we see SEVERAL
          TABLETS of MDT.
                         
                          TECHNICIAN
           Well, it's nothing you can cook up
           on a stove top. Whoever made it,
           it's a real pro act.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Can you make more?
                         
                          TECHNICIAN
           Can I combine these ingredients in
           the same exact quantities? Yes.
                          (MORE)
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           88.
                         CONTINUED:
                          TECHNICIAN (CONT'D)
           But the exact method of delivery to
           the brain...? Darts at a
           dartboard.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Meaning...?
                         
                          TECHNICIAN
           Clinical trials. Guinea pig
           people.
                         
                          EDDIE
           That's too long.
                         
                          TECHNICIAN
           It's what it is. Or you'll kill
           people. You need twelve, eighteen
                          MONTHS--
                         
          Eddie tosses the envelope back at him, gets up.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Two million dollars if you do it in
           six.
                         
          He holds up the packet. The guy considers. Then slowly
          reaches for it, taking the MDT back.
                         
          INT . RESTAURANT - DAY
                         
          Eddie is having lunch with several POWER PLAYERS. They are
          listening, mesmerized, to what Eddie is saying...
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           It was all going to work out...
                         
          His eyes flicker upwards. His two SECURITY MEN are seated at
          the bar. The CAMERA PANS to find... Also seated at the bar,
          is the DETECTIVE who questioned Eddie at the police station!
                         
          Eddie gets up, "casually" wanders over to where the detective
          is sitting, pretends to order another drink. He does not make
          eye contact with the detective, or look like he's talking to
          him.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           I thought we straightened this out,
           Detective.
                         
                          DETECTIVE
           This isn't about Vernon Gant, Mr.
           Morgan.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           89.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Fear begins to prick the back of Eddie's neck. But he strives
          for casual annoyance.
                         
                          EDDIE
           What is it about?
                         
          The DETECTIVE hands Eddie a magazine.
                         
          THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS - CLOSE
                         
          It is turned to the middle, and there is a picture of Eddie,
          candid, on the trading floor. That fucking article!
                         
                          DETECTIVE
           A witness identified the Donatella
           Alvarez suspect as this person. You
           want to tell me about your
           whereabouts on the night of June
           12?
                         
          Eddie keeps his cool, does not look scared. Wanders back to
          the table, says a few cool words, and strolls back to the
          detective. The detective gets up. Shall we go?
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Luckily, I could now afford Morris
           Brandt, the best lawyer in New
           York.
                         
          EXT. POLICE PRECINCT - DAY
                         
          Eddie walks down the steps, with a beautifully dressed shark
          lawyer, MORRIS BRANDT, 50's.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Time was bought, and I was released
           -- for now.
                         
          Eddie's two SECURITY GUYS, waiting, fall into step ten paces
          behind him.
                         
                          MORRIS BRANDT
           You're lucky somebody wiped the
           room. Weak circumstantial at best.
           Just between us -- were you there?
                         
                          EDDIE
           I don't remember.
                         
                          MORRIS BRANDT
                          (SHRUGS)
           Busy life.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           90.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          He's heard it all, and doesn't really care.
                         
          INT. CARL VAN LOON'S CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Carl Van Loon and Hank Atwood
           remained unaware that soon, I would
           be in a witness lineup as a
           possible murderer.
                         
          Eddie is making a presentation to the Van Loon Associates --
          and a skeptical-looking OLDER GUY -- HANK ATWOOD.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           ...well, a unified front between
           Van Loon and Atwood would be
           lethally effective, and not a
           moment too soon.. SyCorps, Andine
           and others are jockeying for the
           same industrial concessions in
           Mexico that both our companies are
           secretly sniffing out...
                         
                          HANK ATWOOD
           How do you know this?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Well, the governmental bribe
           structure is, in itself, corrupt,
           so of course information about its
           inner workings, like anything, can
           be bought. And there are other
           barbarians waving cash at the
           gates. I have a list here, in
           descending order of threat...
                         
          Atwood rubs his temples, seemingly distracted. But then, he
          looks at Eddie piercingly.
                         
                          ATWOOD
           Go on.
                         
          INT. VAN LOON'S OUTER OFFICE - DAY
                         
          The meeting has broken up. Atwood is leaving, surrounded by
          minions. Van Loon leans into Eddie.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Eddie...? What's your read.
                         
                          EDDIE
           It flew. Of course, he's not going
           to tell you right now...
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           91.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Van Loon notices -- Atwood is using a cane.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Jesus. He seems frail.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Might be an act.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Yeah, doesn't track. He's not even
           60.
                         
          Atwood's gone. Van Loon looks at Eddie.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           So, Eddie. What are you going to
           do?
                         
                          EDDIE
           When this is over?
                          (SMILES)
           I don't know. You haven't given me
           the answer.
                         
          Van Loon eyes him. Eddie is only half kidding.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           You haven't asked the question.
                         
                          EDDIE
           All right. If all this comes
           off... what's my take?
                         
                          VAN LOON
           You should have pre-negotiated.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I trust you.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           You shouldn't.
                         
          Eddie returns Van Loon's look coolly, implying that it really
          might be in Van Loon's best interest to trust him.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Well, given the scale of my
           contribution, it can't be anything
           lese than forty. Let's say forty-
           five.
                         
                          VAN LOOK
           Done. Forty five thousand dollars.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           92.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
          Both he and Eddie start to laugh.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Forty million's plenty, Eddie.
           There's plenty more where this came
           from.
                         
          He tries to read Eddie's smile which is removed, far away...
                         
                          VAN LOOK
           ...But you're not going to continue
           working for me, are you?
                         
          Eddie opens his mouth. Pauses.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Don't lie. You're already bored.
           Onto the next...?
                         
          Van Loon didn't get to where he is for nothing.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           I would really love to know what,
           after a forty million dollar
           payout, is "next" to you. But
           you're not going to tell me that,
           either.
                          (SMILES)
           And I'm not sure I want to know.
           Might singe my ego.
                         
          He shakes Eddie's hand.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           I'll open a line of credit for you.
           Even a tough nut like you's going
           to want a few toys.
                         
          INT. A HUGE, DELUXE EMPTY APARTMENT - (THE CELESTIAL) - DAY
                         
          Eddie is being shown the apartment by a thirty-something
          female REALTOR. The apartment is still under construction --
          brand new -- and enormous, with a wall of floor-to-ceiling
          windows in the living room showing off spectacular views.
                         
                          REALTOR
           ... three restaurants, health club,
           of course, a private screening
           room, wine cellar, walk-in
           humidor... unparalleled, three-tier
           security system...
                         
          Eddie looks out over the city, feeling a surge. Yes.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           93.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           What is the asking price?
                         
                          REALTOR
           Twelve point five.
                         
          Eddie has to look away from her, biting his lip. He can't
          show her any sign of sticker shock. The face he turns back to
          her is composed, even blase. He shrugs -- no problem!
                         
          We see an almost sexual excitement dance in her eyes.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S HOTEL ROOM - DAY
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           It was, as it turned out, a good
           moment to move.
                         
          Eddie comes in. The room has been completely ripped to pieces
          -- just like Eddie's apartment. Eddie just smiles. Because
          there was nothing for anyone to find.
                         
          EXT. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK - DAY
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           No one knew, or would ever know,
           that I now carried the pills with
           me at all times.
                         
          Eddie stands, waiting, his two security guys lurking 10 steps
          behind. GENNADY appears, now with TWO RUSSIAN THUGS of his
          own. This is new, and Eddie wasn't expecting it.
                         
          Gennady's security guys eye Eddie's security guys, and vice
          versa. Gennady is wearing a suit and looks much more
          sophisticated. Eddie hands Gennady a small envelope. Gennady
          takes it. In his eyes is a penetrating intelligence.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Right away, it was obvious he was
           on MDT.
                         
          Gennady whips out a silver lighter and lights himself a
          cigarette. His movements are elegant, refined.
                         
                          GENNADY
           Next week...? I require twenty
           pills.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Next week? You can fuck yourself.
                          (BEAT)
           Not that you'll feel anything.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           94.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Gennady's eyebrow goes up. Gennady's security guys reach into
          their jackets. So do Eddie's guys. Gennady's eyes flick over
          the situation, motion to his guys to keep still. Gennady
          laughs, an unpleasant sound.
                         
                          GENNADY
           I don't think your Forbes 400 new
           financial friends would appreciate
           the details of your little dilemma
           with the police?
                         
          Gennady turns with a flourish and walks off. Over his
          shoulder, with smug confidence:
                         
                          GENNADY (CONT'D)
           Thursday. You have them here.
                         
          Gennady turns, walks to the curb, where a NEW BLACK TOWN CAR
          is waiting for him and his boys.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Obviously, this could not go on.
           But there is very little on this
           earth that 45 million dollars can't
           solve. And tomorrow at nine, Atwood
           would sign the papers.
                         
          INT. VAN LOON'S OFFICE - DAY
                         
          Eddie, Van Loon and associates are all waiting in the
          conference room. The clock on the wall reads 9:40. Van Loon
          looks glum. A long silence.
                         
                          PIERCE
           Well, you want to call it?
                         
                          ASSOCIATE #1
           Cold feet.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           There was all last night to tell us
           that.
                         
          Van Loon pushes the intercom.
                         
           VAN LOON (CONT'D)
           No call?
                         
                          SECRETARY'S VOICE
           Not yet.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           95.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Okay, the decision could have
           changed -- that makes sense -- but
           the discourtesy doesn't.
                          (BEAT)
           It's still on.
                         
                          PIERCE
                          (SARCASTIC)
           Oh, based on your graphs and
           projections?
                         
                          EDDIE
                          (CALMLY REPEATING)
           I saw his eyes: it's on.
                         
                          PIERCE
           You know, remind me: who the fuck,
           exactly, are YOU?! --I'm sorry,
           Carl, I'm about at the end with
           this unqualified, posturing little-
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Pull it back, Pierce.
                         
                          PIERCE
           Since when is this little pisher
           the fucking Delphi Oracle?!
                         
                          VAN LOON
                          PIERCE-
                         
                          SECRETARY'S VOICE
                          (INTERRUPTING)
           Mr. Van Loon, Mrs. Atwood is here.
                         
          Eddie and Van Loon look at each other. What? Van Loon nods at
          Eddie; the two men get up. Pierce starts to get up too.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Pierce, you can stay.
                         
          Pierce looks bitter -- chastened -- as Van Loon and Eddie go.
                         
          INT. CARL VAN LOON'S INNER OFFICE - DAY
                         
          Van Loon and Eddie enter, to find MRS. HANK ATWOOD, a well-
          dressed, well-preserved and beautiful 50, standing at Van
          Loon's desk.
                         
           MRS. ATWOOD
           I wanted this to be as confidential
           as possible.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           96.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Van Loon and Eddie can't imagine what's coming next.
                         
           MRS. ATWOOD (CONT'D)
           My husband experienced some pain
           and dizziness this morning. He's at
           Lenox Hill, undergoing tests.
                         
          She speaks with great dignity, distraught, but tightly
          controlled.
                         
           MRS. ATWOOD (CONT'D)
           Obviously, it wouldn't be in our
           best interests for this to be
           reported by the press, as it might
           put some of his interests at risk.
           I just want you to know that we
           have every intention of signing the
           contract, and, as soon as he is
           able, we will proceed.
                         
                         
                         
          EXT. VAN LOON'S BUILDING - DAY
                         
          Eddie and Van Loon flank Mrs. Atwood, walking her to her car.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I realize that this is a useless
           platitude, but... if there's
           anything we can do...
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Obviously we want to be as helpful
           and respectful as possible.
                         
           MRS. ATWOOD
           Thank you so much. I rely on your
           discretion.
                         
          She shakes both of their hands. A driver has the door open
          for her; she gets in, now out of earshot.
                         
                          VAN LOON
                          (LOW)
           You think there's a proxy?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Cagey fuck like him giving away
           power of attorney?
                         
          Eddie shakes his head. The two men look at each other darkly.
          The driver closes her door, turns -- and now Eddie can see
          his face. It's TAN COAT.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           97.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          With a huge, angry scar slashed across his cheek. Eddie and
          Tan Coat look at each other. A steely moment of recognition.
                         
          Tan Coat turns away, gets in the driver's side. Van Loon
          watches the car pull away.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Well. He'd better get better.
                         
          We PUSH IN on Eddie's face. Who now knows.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           But Atwood wouldn't get better.
           Because Atwood was out of MDT.
                         
                         
                         
          EXT. MIDTOWN STREET - DAY
                         
          Eddie, beautifully dressed, walks. Ten paces behind walk his
          SECURITY GUYS. He is thinking.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Well. Why be surprised? How many
           other meteoric rises might be
           explained by MDT? At least I had
           some; my life wasn't in jeopardy.
           Only my money...
                         
          INT. POLICE STATION - DAY - CORRIDOR
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           ...and my liberty.
                         
          Eddie stands with his favorite POLICE DETECTIVE and his
          lawyer in an anteroom leading to an institutional door. His
          lawyer talks to him, low.
                         
                          MORRIS BRANDT
           I've been all over them... we can't
           allow any disparity in race or
           physical type between you and the
           rest of the lineup -- they're as
           close to your clones as I could
           possibly get away with -- it's
           going to be one big handsome blur
           to this guy-
                         
          A FEMALE COP approaches Eddie.
                         
                          FEMALE COP
           Mr. Morgan...? I need you to change
           your jacket.
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           98.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie stiffens.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Why?
                         
                          MORRIS BRANDT
           Oh, that's me... I want everyone in
           the same shirt, better for the blur
           factor...
                         
          A beat.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Of course.
                         
          Another beat of hesitation... then Eddie hands Brandt his
          jacket, takes off his shirt, puts on the blue shirt... and
          stoically follows the female cop through the grubby door.
                         
          INT. THE LINEUP - EDDIE'S FACE
                         
          FEMALE COP'S VOICE
                         
          Please turn to the right. Eddie and four other dark-haired
          guys turn to the right. Eddie looks at the black one-way
          window.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Who was out there? The woman's
           husband? Was some bellboy I
           undertipped about to end my life?
                         
          INT. POLICE STATION - ON EDDIE'S SMILING LAWYER
                         
                          MORRIS BRANDT
           Not the dimmest clue. He was
           dithering.
                         
          Eddie blinks at him.
                         
           MORRIS BRANDT (CONT'D)
           "Maybe the third from the right...
           No not him..." --Oh. Here you go.
                         
          He hands Eddie back his jacket.
                         
           MORRIS BRANDT (CONT'D)
           (re: the jacket)
           Thing of beauty. You had it made?
                         
          Eddie just nods, his eyes steely. The lawyer feels the molten
          stare and hands the jacket back.
           99.
                         
                         
          EXT. POLICE STATION - DUSK
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           They'd kept me all day.
                         
          Eddie rushes down the steps, two at a time, looks at his
          watch.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           I'd missed my meeting with Gennady.
                         
                         
                         
          INT. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK - DUSK
                         
          Gennady, wearing a gorgeous cashmere coat, waits, now with
                         
          THREE SECURITY GUYS.
                         
          Gennady looks at his watch, then says something low and
          sinister in Russian to his associates.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           But I had more important
           business...
                         
          INT. VAN LOON'S OFFICE - DUSK
                         
          Eddie hurries into the room. Van Loon doesn't look up. He's
          watching a monitor, which has a live news feed to a financial
          channel.
                         
                          FEMALE NEWSCASTER
           ...And the Dow has been yo-yoing
           all day, amidst speculation that
           Van Loon Associates and Hank Atwood
           have negotiated a merger...
                         
          Van Loon turns to Eddie, furious, agitated.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Have you been talking to anyone?
                         
                          EDDIE
           Not a word, Carl.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Where have you been, Eddie--? This
           is the second time you've turned to
                          VAPOR--
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           100.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          EDDIE
           Personal time, Carl. Phone off.
           You're not telling me there's been
           any movement.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           No. Atwood's in a coma.
                         
                          EDDIE
           A coma?
                         
          Black looks between them as the newscaster continues.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           It had gotten out, somehow. But I
           felt thick, stupid, tired. A small
           pain was starting behind my eyes.
           I'd been unable to take my MDT, and
           I was overdue.
                         
          He shoots Van Loon a glance. Van Loon is miserably fixated on
          the TV.
                         
          INT. VAN LOON'S HUGE, SLEEK BATHROOM - DUSK
                         
          Eddie stands in a stall. Reaches into the lining of his coat.
          Unfastens the opening of the compartment.
                         
          CLOSE ON THE OPENING
                         
          There is nothing inside.
                         
          EDDIE,
                         
          panicked, feels again. Nothing. The MDT is simply not
          there!!! He begins to hyperventilate. Spin in place. Push
          against the stall walls, trying not to scream.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Was it Brandt? Or someone else? The
           police station? A coat room? How?
           How?
                         
          He bursts from the stall, alone in the bathroom. Stares at
          himself, terrified, in the mirror.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           In an hour I'd be useless. In two
           I'd be sick. In 24, dead.
           101.
                         
                         
          INT. VAN LOON'S OFFICE - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie bursts from the bathroom. Trying not to look too wild-
          eyed.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           Eddie--? This came for you.
                         
          Eddie looks at a LARGE BOX on Van Loon's desk. Indeed, his
          name is on it. Eddie, mystified, approaches it. As Van Loon
          continues to stare at the TV, disinterested in the box, Eddie
          gingerly opens it.
                         
          INT. THE BOX - CLOSE
                         
          Inside are the SEVERED HANDS OF EDDIE'S SECURITY GUYS. (One
          black hand, one with the distinctive tattoos.) Gennady.
          Clearly these guys are dead. Eddie grabs the box and starts
          from the room.
                         
                          VAN LOON
           What are you doing, Eddie--?
           EDDIE--!!!
                         
          But Eddie's gone.
                         
                         
                         
          INT. VAN LOON ASSOCIATES - DUSK
                         
          People are leaving for the night. Eddie shoves past them,
          still holding the damning box, frightened, jacked up,
          desperate, shoving people out of the way to get to the
          elevators.
                         
          INT. A LIMO - NIGHT - MOVING
                         
          Eddie sits in the back seat, the box freakishly sitting
          beside him.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           I couldn't think.
                         
          ON EDDIE'S FACE
                         
          His brow is beaded with sweat.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           Only MDT could help me. I had no
           MDT. And then...
                         
          PUSH IN on Eddie's eyes.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           102.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           One thought.
                          (BEAT)
           Was there anywhere...
                         
          We begin to REWIND... in Eddie's mind... through many IMAGES
          we've seen in this movie... stopping briefly at all the
          places Eddie has stashed his MDT.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           ... anywhere at all...I could have
           left one pill...?
                         
          We STOP at the END TABLE in Lindy's apartment, peer inside.
          Empty. We STOP at the UNDERSIDE of the GRILL on Eddie's old
          stove. Nothing. We continue to REWIND -- but every image we
          stop on reveals... nothing.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           I had to keep thinking. Somewhere
           safe...
                         
          INT. THE CELESTIAL - EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie sits at his huge new steel dining table, the evil box
          on the table in front of him, head in his hands.
                         
          (The room is filled with labeled boxes he has never had a
          chance to unpack.) The TV is on in the background. It's a
          financial channel. We see MRS. HANK ATWOOD is giving a
          statement.
                         
           MRS. HANK ATWOOD
           There is absolutely no truth to the
           rumor of this merger. None
           whatsoever. My husband is having
           some tests, this is a difficult
           time, and I would appreciate your
           directing further questions to our
           attorney...
                         
          She motions at the gentleman next to her. --Who is also
          Eddie's attorney, MORRIS BRANDT. The one who was so helpful
          with the police. The one who held his jacket.
                         
          Bitter amusement in Eddie's eyes. At least he knows. The
          APARTMENT BUZZER buzzes. Eddie freezes. Looks at the door. It
          BUZZES again.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           It wasn't downstairs security,
           alerting me to a visitor.
                          (MORE)
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           103.
                         CONTINUED:
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           It was my inner door. Someone was
           in the building, ten feet away,
           right now.
                         
          Eddie walks to his phone, picks it up. Pushes the button,
          puts it to his ear. It's dead.
                         
          He pushes the "on" button again and again. Nothing. The
          buzzer BUZZES again. Eddie rushes to the door, opens the COAT
          CLOSET. In the closet is a state-of-the-art SECURITY MONITOR.
                         
          Gennady and TWO MEN are outside his door! Suddenly the
          MONITOR goes BLACK. Eddie flicks the switch on the monitor.
          Nothing. Eddie flicks the switch again. It's dead. Someone,
          somewhere, has figured out how to disarm it.
                         
          The buzzer BUZZES again. Eddie backs away from the door. We
          HEAR Eddie's shallow, panicked breathing. He lunges for his
          briefcase, pulls out his CELL PHONE.
                         
                         
                         
          THE CELL PHONE - CLOSE
                         
          It reads "No Signal." BAM! The first slam on the door begins.
          BAM! The second. The door holds, but Eddie begins to back
          away in horror.
                         
          BAM!
                         
          We slowly FADE TO BLACK. And FADE IN ON:
                         
          EXT. THE CELESTIAL - EDDIE'S TERRACE LEDGE - NIGHT
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           And so... here I am.
                         
          And now we pick up Eddie where we left him, standing on the
          ledge.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           I knew they would kill me, slowly
           and horribly. But this choice would
           at least be mine.
                         
          We now hear the ZZZZZZZZ! of some major power tool drilling
          at the door, punctuated by more BAMS! -- one way or another
          they're going to get in. Eddie takes a breath, tries to jump.
          He can't.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           But we're instinctive creatures. We
           want to live.
                          (MORE)
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           104.
                         CONTINUED:
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           So, my foggy brain tried to
           remember... where one tablet of
           MDT... might be.
                         
                         
          We PUSH IN on Eddie's eyes... We are still REWINDING in
          Eddie's mind... images of where we've seen him keep MDT...
          nothing... nothing... nothing... We STOP at the SUGARBOWL on
          Eddie's dining table. Then go forward --no, wait!-rewinding,
          stopping again on the SUGAR BOWL. Pushing in on the sugar
          bowl.
                         
          Eddie spins around, looks back into his apartment, eyes
          intense.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
           It was possible. And possible was
           enough.
                         
                         
                         
          INT. THE CELESTIAL - EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Eddie is tearing through boxes as the POUNDING and DRILLING
          become deafening... he rips open a box labeled "Kitchen" -
          it's full of BOOKS. Mis-labeled. JUMP CUTS as he rips open
          other boxes... his hands frantically scattering CDs, cutlery,
          cans of food... The door begins to give. Under the deafening
                         DRILL:
                         
          MORE JUMP-CUTS as Eddie hysterically tears the packing paper
          off of promisingly- shaped objects. --No. A glass. --No. A
          vase. --YES! The sugar bowl. With sugar still inside! Eddie
          rummages, frantically, among the sugar cubes as the door
          gives a few inches, groaning, and we glimpse blurred faces on
          the other side...
                         
                         EDDIE'S HAND
                         
          pokes, wildly, among the cubes... pushing them aside,
          revealing at the bottom of the bowl-
                         
          ONE MDT TABLET looks back up at him.
                         
          Yes. It's really there! Eddie grabs it, just as, with a
          splintering CRASH! -- The door goes down.
                         
          Eddie steps back, brings the pill up to his mouth... But as
          he steps, he TRIPS on a SOUP CAN he's scattered... he FALLS
          backwards... his HAND hits the side of the coffee table...
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           105.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          The MDT TABLET goes flying... (slow motion)... as... ...also
          in slow motion, Gennady and his two thugs smile as they
          advance into the room... THE MDT TABLET... flies... flies...
          towards a GRATE in the floor -- a heating vent -- and HITS
          it... rolling... ... before disappearing forever down the
          grate.
                         
          Eddie knows that's it. His life has ended. He sucks in his
          last breath -- then, with a YELL, he rushes back for the
          terrace... for his suicide leap...
                         
          Thug #1 is quicker. Gets to the door first. Eddie will not
          have the luck to be able to jump. He's trapped between the
          two Thugs.
                         
                          GENNADY
           I told you I want more. You don't
           listen. Maybe you think I'm
           joking...
                         
          He reaches into his coat pocket...
                         
                          GENNADY (CONT'D)
           But I'm down to this last one.
                         
          ...and pulls out a syringe.
                         
                          GENNADY (CONT'D)
           See, I dissolve pill in solution.
           You shoot it - goes straight into
           blood and to brain. Works much
           better.
                         
          He pulls the plastic sleeve off the needle. Jabs himself in
          the arm and injects the cloudy liquid.
                         
                          GENNADY (CONT'D)
           Now. Where do you keep yours?
                         
          Eddie is backed to the wall. Nowhere to go.
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm plum out.
                         
          Gennady just smiles -- that was an unfortunate choice. He
          gives an order to the Thugs who grab their tools and
          disappear deeper into the apartment. WE HEAR them starting to
          tear things up. Gennady and Eddie are alone.
                         
                          GENNADY
           They will find it. Or I will make
           you tell me. Which is quicker? We
           see, huh?
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           106.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
          He clicks open a BLACK ATTACHE CASE. It is filled with
          sinister-looking silver instruments, and knives.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S STUDY - NIGHT
                         
          Thug #2 has found, behind a bureau, a SAFE. He calls
          excitedly, in Russian, to the other room.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Gennady calls back in Russian. Then picks up a particularly
          delicate, yet sharp-looking KNIFE.
                         
                          GENNADY
           This is a waste of my time, you
           know that? I am getting out of this
           part of the business... starting
           import-export company. Very
           exciting stuff. A lot on my plate.
           I need to learn to delegate...
                         
          Eddie is backed up against a table, which is covered with
          stuff he's scattered, which includes a BUTCHER BLOCK with A
          KNIFE in it... Gennady starts arranging his instruments.
                         
                          GENNADY (CONT'D)
           First, I will cut skin from you,
           flay you... you stay alive nice
           long time... then maybe we cut meat
           from you, steaks... or maybe softer
           parts... I get inspiration...
                         
          He looks up, smiles, to see the effect his words have on
          Eddie.
                         
                         ON EDDIE
                         
          Staring back at Gennady, hard, a fuck-you stare. We can't see
          behind Eddie's back, but we can see the butcher block, and
          the knife is gone.
                         
                         GENNADY
                         
          senses something is not right. Looks at Eddie quizzically.
                         
                          GENNADY (CONT'D)
                          WHAT--
                         
          Eddie brings the knife up as hard as he can, right into
          Gennady's stomach. Gennady gasps in surprise, chokes,
          writhes. Eddie drives the knife home, harder, grabbing
          Gennady's other hand, which lashes at Eddie with the fillet
          knife...
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           107.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          The men fall to the floor in a death-struggle. Eddie
          exhausted, off MDT, but determined not to let go. Gennady
          writhes, flails, but doesn't cry out... he's already choking
          on blood. Eyes shocked, surprised. Eddie turns the fillet
          knife back on Gennady, slashes at his other arm; blood
          spurts. But it's not necessary. Gennady's eyes are glazing.
          His gurgling gets quieter. He's quite dead.
                         
          Eddie lies alongside him, panting, arm grazed and welling
          blood from where Gennady's filleting knife slashed him,
          suddenly weak and exhausted.
                         
          From the other room comes the BRRRRRRR! sound of the drill --
          the boys, oblivious, are hard at work on the safe. Eddie
          tries to get up, then falls back.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           Not much of a triumph, was it?
                         
          He's got the shakes... no, more of a convulsion... he sinks
          back to the floor...
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Because I would die here, too.
                         
          There is a break in the convulsion. Then another one starts.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.) (CONT'D)
           Only MDT could help me, and the
           last of it was in this fuck's
           bloodstream...
                         
          Gennady's BLOOD wells around Gennady's body in a crimson
          puddle. A puddle that's creeping closer and closer to Eddie's
          face, which is lying, convulsing, on the floor...
                         
          ON EDDIE'S EYES
                         
          between convulsions, suddenly looking. Looking at the blood.
          It creeps closer to Eddie's face. Eddie is trying to move,
          trying to push his face closer to the blood... he's there...
                         
          And now he turns his face down into the blood.
                         
          And begins to lap it up.
                         
                         
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S STUDY - DAY
                         
          The Thug finally gets the safe open. Inside is only one item -
          -the TATTOOED SECURITY MAN's SEVERED HAND.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           108.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          And its middle finger has been arranged in a vehement fuck-
          you. The thugs are not amused.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S APARTMENT - HALLWAY - NIGHT
                         
          The thugs are coming down the hall, muttering angrily...
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Mouth smeared with blood, Eddie is dragging himself by the
          elbows, across the room. Footsteps coming. Fast.
                         
          INT. EDDIE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT - THUGS' POV
                         
          They burst into the room, see Gennady dead on the floor. The
          camera WHIP-PANS around. No Eddie.
                         
          BEHIND THE COUCH
                         
          Eddie lies, panting. And then it hits. We PUSH IN on Eddie's
          eyes. He feels it. His old friend. MDT.
                         
                         THE THUGS
                         
          look up at a NOISE. Just in time to see Eddie bolting out the
          front door of the apartment.
                         
          INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE EDDIE'S APARTMENT - DAY
                         
          They come thundering out -- see a flash of Eddie disappearing
                         INTO--
                         
          INT. THE OPEN DOOR OF THE APARTMENT NEXT DOOR - NIGHT
                         
          We are in jittery, handheld THUG'S POV shot as they burst
          back in, barreling by rooms, looking in them, pressing on to
          more rooms...
                         
          A MAN'S SHADOWY SHAPE AHEAD, IN THE KITCHEN -
                         
          Thug #2 BLASTS his GUN... the MAN crumples, the glass doors
          behind him EXPLODE...... the MAN goes down...revealing Eddie
          standing behind him --(he's been holding up his neighbor's
          body) and, just as this registers -- WHACK! -- Eddie gives
          THUG #1 a savage shot with a fireplace poker. Thug #1 goes
          down, unconscious... the gun skitters across the floor...
                         
          THUG #2 dives, reaches for it. Eddie grabs a piece of the
          shattered glass and, in a vicious swipe, brings it down on
          the Thug's hand. But this guy is not a tough Russian
          motherfucker for nothing. Bleeding profusely, he doesn't let
          go of the gun... his bloody hand comes up, tries to aim...
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           109.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
          Eddie DIVES BACKWARDS, through the broken glass door to the
          patio. The thug stumbles after him...
                         
          EXT. EDDIE'S NEIGHBOR'S TERRACE - NIGHT
                         
          EDDIE'S HAND, still holding glass, CUTS the awning-rope
          holding up the awning... The awning comes down on the thug, a
          huge canvas curtain DROPPING between the Thug and Eddie.
          BLAM! BLAM! Several holes appear in the canvas as the thug
          tries to shoot Eddie anyway, but Eddie has leapt out of the
          way.
                         
          THUG'S POV - UNDER THE CURTAIN
                         
          As he wrestles it off... he sees Eddie, on the ground, prone,
          just watching him calmly. He starts to smirk. Eddie touches a
          MATCH to the ground. The FLAME shoots across the floor to the
          thug, who now realizes he's standing in a puddle, the
          overturned can of BBQ fluid next to him. In an instant, his
          LEGS AND PANTS are on fire. Now the man screams. Shoots
          blindly. But - click! -- is out of bullets. He rushes at
          Eddie, screaming, on fire, in animal rage. Eddie brings up a
          wrought-iron patio chair to meet him, catching him squarely
          in the ribs. He gasps, bends over... looks up at Eddie,
          beaten...
                         
          The face that looks back is without pity.
                         
          EXT. THE CELESTIAL - 20 STORIES BELOW, A WIDER TERRACE - DAY
                         
          We are looking up at the penthouse. A SHAPE is dropping,
          fast, towards us -- the shape of a man.
                         
          It's here! The man's head EXPLODES against the railing like a
          pumpkin as the rest of him disappears down, out of sight.
                         
           EDDIE (V.0.)
           Later, it would be noted that my
           neighbor was in the music business.
           One of his drug deals had obviously
           gone bad...
                          (BEAT)
           And the night was still young.
                         
          INT. A HOSPITAL ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          A MAN is on a gurney. A NURSE puts a sheet over his head.
          Before our view of his face disappears we realize --it's Hank
          Atwood. Dead.
           110.
                         
                         
          INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          Tan Coat is sitting, stoic and red-eyed in a chair. He senses
          something. Slowly turns his head and looks.
                         
          EDDIE is sitting in the chair next to him. The two men look
          at each other for a moment. Then:
                         
                          EDDIE
           I'm sure you're curious about
           what's happened to your boss. I
           certainly am. If my attorney was
           really working for Mr. Atwood, to
           save his life, then why is he dead?
           At what point was the Pony Express
           supposed to ride in with the life-
           saving medication?
                          (A BEAT)
           Or, did the Pony decide that he
           should be running his own Pony
           show? Minus the dog.
                         
          Tan Coat stares at him, his face without expression.
                         
          INT. A CONNECTICUT UPPERCLASS LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          AN UPPERCLASS HOUSEWIFE enters, in sweats, from the gym.
          Immediately notices something is not right...
                         
          INT. THE HOUSEWIFE'S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
                         
          The place has been ransacked.
                         
                         
                         
          INT. HER BEDROOM - NIGHT
                         
          She rushes in. We SEE her husband - MORRIS BRANDT - tied up
          and gagged, struggling on the floor. Next to him, a smashed
          PICTURE. It once covered a WALL SAFE which is now open. The
          SAFE is empty.
                         
           EDDIE (V.O.)
           I would not go back. I would not be
           stopped.
                         
           FADE OUT.
                         
          TITLE: Eight months later
           111.
                         
                         
          INT. A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OFFICE - DAY
                         
          Desks, employees, volunteers, ringing phones. REUBEN, LATE
          20's, sharp, a JAMES CARVILLE-TYPE, sits on a desk with
          casual authority, is on the phone.
                         
                          REUBEN
           ...actually, no, there's no more
           tickets. --Yeah, I know, an
           overbooked fundraiser -- there's a
           first -- well, here he comes, I'll
           ask him -- Edward!!
                         
          We see Eddie striding down the corridor, wearing a sharp
          suit, looking more dignified than we've ever seen him, more
          adult. The snap and crackle of something new -- power -- is
          in his step. TWO MALE AIDES flank him. Reuben approaches,
          falls into step with them.
                         
                          REUBEN (CONT'D)
           I think we're looking at a second,
           overflow event-- there's a wave of
           donations coming in -- and I don't
           think they're even going to try a
           second debate -- don't go yet --
                         
                          EDDIE
           I have a lunch.
                         
          They have arrived at Eddie's office. Reuben nods at the
          closed door.
                         
                          REUBEN
           John Steadman's in there.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Who's that?
                         
                          REUBEN
           --Eiben-Chemcorps? Look, they're
           your biggest contributor, give him
           his two shitty little minutes.
                         
          Eddie sighs, capitulating. Puts his hand on the door.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Eiben-Chemcorps. What are they --
           research?
                         
                          REUBEN
           Pharmaceuticals.
                         
          Eddie shoots him a look.
           112.
                         
                         
          INT. A LARGE, CASUAL OFFICE - DAY
                         
          Eddie comes in to find JOHN STEADMAN, 50's, well-dressed and
          gentlemanly, waiting.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Mr. Morgan.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Nice to see you.
                         
          He shakes Steadman's hand, but Steadman doesn't get up. Odd.
          In fact Steadman looks uncommonly relaxed, almost slouched in
          his chair, looking up at Eddie with a subtle gleam in his eye
          that Eddie doesn't recognize.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           We appreciate everything you've
           done for us--
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Well, you've done most of it for
           yourself. Senator Morgan.
                         
          He says this with a kind of casual, prescient authority. And
          suddenly, we know he's right. Eddie will win.
                         
                          STEADMAN (CONT'D)
           I mean, everything from here's a
           technicality, isn't it, Eddie?
                         
          Again, that smile. Eddie doesn't know what this guy is
          about. And nobody calls him "Eddie" any more.
                         
                          STEADMAN (CONT'D)
           I think we both know where it's
           heading...
                          (A BEAT)
           If... you can maintain.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Maintain?
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Eventually you'll run out. I just
           want you to know we're here to help
           you.
                         
          Eddie blinks at him. Did he just say what Eddie thought he
          said?
                         
                          EDDIE
           What are you saying?
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           113.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          STEADMAN
           We've gotten most of the bugs out.
           It's longer lasting - you'll only
           have to take one a week.
                         
          Eddie is now dead silent. A long beat. Is it possible? Is
          he really talking to someone who makes MDT?!
                         
                          EDDIE
           Have you been watching me from the
           beginning?
                         
                          STEADMAN
           No. Those of you who indulged...
           distinguished yourselves very
           quickly. You made yourselves clear
           to us.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Who's "us?"
                         
          Steadman just smiles, waves the question away.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           You went the furthest with it the
           fastest, so of course, to us,
           you're the most interesting.
                         
                          EDDIE
           How did it get on the street?
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Security breach. That was never
           our intention. We took care of it.
                         
          Meaning, they took care of Vern.
                         
                          STEADMAN (CONT'D)
           It will never again be on the
           street. It will never publicly
           exist. Obviously I don't need to
           detail the advantages for you.
                         
          A long beat. Eddie doesn't trust this guy -- not a bit.
                         
                          EDDIE
           And what about for you? Why don't
           you take it?
                         
                          STEADMAN
           We don't have to. You'll take it
           for us.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           114.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                         
                          EDDIE
           And in return...? I do what.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Just keep on doing what you're
           doing. We won't bother you much at
           first.
                         
                          EDDIE
           And later...? What will you be
           "bothering" me with?
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Well, given where you're heading,
           some of our ideas are... grandiose.
           But, I think, achievable.
                         
          Eddie takes that in.
                         
                          EDDIE
           And if I don't like your ideas?
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Then we'll say Godspeed. And your
           candle will have shed a brief, but
           lovely, light.
                         
          Eddie knows now. They own his ass.
                         
                          STEADMAN (CONT'D)
           But let's not even go there. Right
           now you should feel relieved, your
           problems are over. We just want to
           keep you healthy... and brilliant.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Luckily I can do that myself.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Well, no, ah, that won't be the
           case. We shut your lab down this
           morning.
                         
                          EDDIE
           My lab?
                         
          Steadman nods.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Which one?
                         
          Steadman doesn't blink.
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           115.
                         CONTINUED: (3)
                         
                          STEADMAN
           All of them.
                         
                          EDDIE
           You sure?
                         
          Steadman suddenly chuckles -- not at all concerned by this.
          Even amused.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           We were right about you Eddie -
           you're gonna go all the way. Let's
           not do anything to jeopardize that.
           There's no downside here - we're
           offering you a limitless supply
           with fewer side effects. I think
           you'll be pleased with the
           arrangement.
                          (BEAT)
           Come on, let's get some lunch. I'm
           starving...
                         
          He heads for the door. Eddie remains still.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Tell me something.
                         
          Steadman stops, looks back at him.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           Did I kill that woman?
                         
          Steadman looks puzzled that Eddie would ask.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           Do you really want to know?
                         
          Eddie thinks. No, he doesn't.
                         
          EXT. CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS BUILDING - DAY
                         
          Eddie and Steadman exit, come down the steps, Eddie looking
          thrown. He drifts along, half-a-step behind Steadman, deep
          in thought.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           It's not so bad, is it?
                         
          Eddie doesn't answer.
                         
                         
                         
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           116.
                         CONTINUED:
                         
                          STEADMAN (CONT'D)
           Doesn't every man on the path to
           greatness have to tolerate the wind-
           drag of compromise?
                         
          A black LIMO waits at the curb.
                         
                          STEADMAN (CONT'D)
           Overall, we'll all be better off...
           foreign policy, the courts, even
           the Constitution could stand a
           little tweaking...
                         
          They descend the last few steps. Steadman opens the limo
          door for Eddie...
                         
          But Eddie hesitates. Doesn't get in.
                         
                          STEADMAN (CONT'D)
           Eddie?
                         
                          EDDIE
           After you.
                         
                          STEADMAN
                          (CORDIAL)
           No, "Senator". You first.
                         
          Eddie gestures for him to get in.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Please.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           All right then...
                         
          He gets in. And Eddie CLOSES THE DOOR AFTER HIM. Stands
          outside the limo, looking back at Steadman through the rolled-
          down window, his face a cold mask.
                         
                          STEADMAN (CONT'D)
           Oh, now. Don't underestimate us.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Don't underestimate your own
           creation.
                         
          Steadman looks at him quizically.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           I mean, you invented it. What does
           it do? It puts me 50 steps ahead
           of you fucks.
                          (MORE)
                         
                          (CONTINUED)
           117.
                         CONTINUED: (2)
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           You think I didn't spend my days on
           MDT devising a personal defense
           structure that would scare the shit
           out of the Israelis--? You think
           there's not people with a bead on
           you right now, right in this
           building? You think this
           conversation is private?
                         
                          STEADMAN
           You don't know the caliber of
           enemies you'll be making.
                         
                          EDDIE
           You want to push that button? I'll
           show you my silos if you show me
           yours.
                         
                          STEADMAN
           You'll run out. You'll die.
                         
                          EDDIE
           Or I'll think of something. Isn't
           that what MDT does? Makes you
           think of something? Might even
           tell me how to get off it.
                         
          A flicker in Steadman's eyes. Anger.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           What if I just ask the drug... how
           to tell the drug... how to fuck
           itself? I mean, isn't it like the
           8-ball?
                         
          Steadman raises his hand to the driver and the limo pulls
          away.
                         
                          EDDIE (CONT'D)
           It always answers.
                         
          As the limo recedes into the distance, Eddie finally exhales.
                         
          And only then do we see it.
                         
          He's scared.
                         
                          THE END



Limitless



Writers :   Leslie Dixon
Genres :   Mystery  Sci-Fi  Thriller


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