MAX (voiceover): The escape was not my idea. I mean, escape to what? We didn’t know anything else.

(Max joins some other kids like her. They hide, waiting for one last girl to join them, and then one boy gives them instructions via hand signals.)

MAX (voiceover): It was Zack who said we had to leave. So, I guess he saved my life. I didn’t think we should separate. But he wouldn’t listen. And I never even got a chance to thank him.

(The kids split up and continue running.)

GILLETTE, WYOMING
2009

(As another boy is dragged back into the building, Lydecker supervises the pursuit.)

SOLDIER: I’ve ordered a full review, top to bottom, and heads will roll.

LYDECKER: Find them...all of them.

ANOTHER MAN: What if they make it outside the wire?

LYDECKER (into a walkie-talkie): This is Lydecker. I want you to capture if you can, but if any of them make it to the perimeter, you are to terminate. Is that understood?

VOICE ON WALKIE-TALKIE: Confirming, sir. You are giving an order ten-zero-six?

LYDECKER: It’s my responsibility. Shoot them.

(Max and another girl make it to the fence and start climbing up it. A soldier takes aim at them, but Zack attacks him from behind. Soon Zack is surrounded by soldiers and tasered, and he falls to the ground. Max steps on thin ice and falls through.)

OTHER GIRL: Max!

(The other girl is forced to leave Max behind and continue running.)

SOLDIER: Sir, we’ve got seven so far--three wounded, two killed.

LYDECKER: You’ve got a big problem if just one makes it to the outside.

SOLDIER: Well, realistically, sir, it’s ten degrees out here. How far can these kids get?

LYDECKER: Just find them.

(We see young Max hiding in the water under the ice. Her face becomes that of adult Max, sitting on top of the Space Needle, looking out over Seattle.)

MAX (voiceover): Sometimes it seems like it happened to someone else--like maybe it was a story I heard. The hardest part is not knowing if any of them made it. But if I knew for sure I was the only one left, it would be worse. At least now I can make up lives for them, like maybe Jondy’s a fashion photographer or an architect. The truth is they’d just be like me, living on the run, always looking over my shoulder. Hope is for losers. It’s a con job people trip behind ’til they finally get a grip on the cold, hard truth. Still, I hope that they’re out there somewhere, and that they’re okay.

(In her bathroom, Max downs some pills with a shaking hand. As her body seizes, she has flashbacks of her childhood at Manticore with the other kids: marching in line; running on a treadmill; being injected; sitting in class while the words DISCIPLINE, DUTY, and TEAMWORK flash on a screen at the front of the classroom; and being taught to fight. When her seizure is over, she leaves the bathroom and smiles at her roommate Kendra.)

KENDRA: It sucks.

MAX: What sucks?

KENDRA: I come home, it’s 3:00 A.M., you’re still out. I feel like I got hit by a cement truck, and you’ve been up for an hour bouncing around. That, by definition, sucks.

MAX: I made you coffee. That ought to help cope with the injustice of the world a little.

KENDRA: Thanks. It’s starting to kick in. I feel almost human.

MAX: Yeah, me too.

(Max walks her bicycle down her apartment hallway, which is run-down and covered with graffiti, and goes into the apartment of her neighbors, Theo and Jacinda.)

MAX: Knock, knock! Hey, guys.

JACINDA (handing Theo some tea): Hey.

MAX: Let’s roll, hotshot.

THEO (to his wife): Thanks, babe. (To Max) I’m going to have to take a personal day. I’m biting it bad.

MAX: It’s payday. Need me to pick up your check?

THEO: Yeah. You’re the best, Maxie.

JACINDA (to their son Omar, who is eating breakfast): Come on, little bit. You gonna be late for school. Three more bites.

OMAR: Two more.

JACINDA: But big ones.

(Max winks at the boy and looks concerned when Theo lies down on the couch, coughing.)

(As Max leaves her building, she walks past a large graffiti drawing of a man’s face with only his eyes showing. Surrounding the drawing are the words, “EYES ONLY: LOOKING OUT FOR THE PEOPLE.” Max gets on her bicycle and rides through town. Max’s building is unfinished. The city is run-down, with abandoned cars all over and homeless people warming themselves by barrel fires. Some people live in trailers or in abandoned buses. Tough guys, probably drug dealers, and heavily armed police wearing camouflage walk the streets.)

MAX (voiceover): They used to say one nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day. It was sort of a joke, until the June morning those terrorist bozos whacked us with an electromagnetic pulse from eighty miles up. You always hear people yapping on how it was all different before the Pulse. Land of milk and honey, blah blah blah blah, with plenty of food and jobs, and things actually worked. I was too young to remember, so whatever... The thing I don’t get is why they call it a depression. I mean, everybody’s broke...but they aren’t really all that depressed. Life goes on.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
2019

(A cop stops Max at a checkpoint and she shows him her ID.)

MAX: Jam Pony messenger.

COP: Have a good one.

(At Jam Pony X-Press, the boss, Normal, is arguing with a messenger named Herbal Thought.)

NORMAL: So you just left it?!

HERBAL: Nobody there to sign for it, mon. Now, what’s a brother supposed to do? Ride around all day with the damn package?

NORMAL: So you just decided to return it to the sender, or in this case, the sender’s wife?

HERBAL: Like the prophets say, only the unrighteous husband send expensive gift-wrapped underpanties to another woman.

NORMAL: Yes, it’s none of your business. None of your business, or mine.

HERBAL: True. It concern only Jah. But, in this case, I was the instrument of the Most High.

NORMAL: Yes, well, around here I am the most high, all right? Before you do anything, you call for instructions. (Hands him a package.) Here, it’s a hot run--beat it.

HERBAL: All right.

NORMAL (muttering): Moron.

(Max comes in for work. Normal points to his watch.)

NORMAL: Ah, ah, ah. A little late.

MAX: I was on call.

NORMAL: Yes, well, I want you on call here.

MAX: What’s the difference if I’m on call here or deployed in the field?

NORMAL: More like deployed in bed, asleep.

MAX: I don’t sleep.

(Normal hands Max her paycheck.)

MAX: Theo asked me to pick his up, too.

NORMAL: Oh, and Theo can’t pick up his own check because...?

MAX: He’s sick.

NORMAL: Ah, for a change. (Gives Theo’s check to Max) You tell Theo if he’s not in tomorrow, he can start looking for another job.

MAX: I don’t know how to break this to you, Normal--we’re all looking for another job.

(Max greets her friend Original Cindy, who is angrily slamming her locker shut.)

MAX: Morning, sunshine.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Caught some son of a bitch stealing my bike. Used a car jack to break my U-lock and bent a bunch of spokes. Now I gotta get my wheel laced.

MAX: At least he didn’t swing with your ride.

ORIGINAL CINDY: True that, but I broke a nail giving him a cranium crack. And that just wrecks your day, you know what I’m sayin’?

(Original Cindy glances around and sees one of the messengers with his girlfriend.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Now, why can’t I find a girlfriend like that? Brings him lunch every day...thoughtful, sweet, legs from here to there...

MAX: Straight.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Shame wasting a girl like that on a male.

MAX: Hey, Sketchy.

SKETCHY (offering some cookies): Homemade. Natalie baked them for our anniversary. The big one-oh.

MAX: The big one-oh?

NATALIE: We went on our first date ten months ago tonight.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Congratulations.

(A news broadcast on TV is interrupted by a man revealing only his eyes, the same ones from the wall of Max’s building. The top and bottom of the screen run banners saying “STREAMING FREEDOM VIDEO.”)

EYES ONLY: Do not attempt to adjust your set.

MESSENGER: Hey, man, check it out--Eyes Only!

(The messengers all gather around the TV to watch.)

EYES ONLY: This is a Streaming Freedom Video Bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city. There are certain men who move through the world with impunity. Their actions, no matter how vile, are immune from consequence. Edgar Sonrisa is such a man. You’ve seen him, smiling at political fund-raisers...

NORMAL: On your own time, people! Place of business. Bip bip bip!

EYES ONLY: He owns shopping centers, a trucking company, and the largest medical supply company in the Northwest. He also runs drugs and guns up and down the west coast...

SKETCHY: This man is deep.

EYES ONLY: ... very obviously dirty.

MAX: No, you’re easy.

SKETCHY: He ever been wrong about anything?

MAX: He’s on the hustle, same as everyone else.

MESSENGER: Shh! Doesn’t mean he’s not telling the truth.

EYES ONLY: Journalists who have attempted to expose him have been gunned down in the street. Their blood is the ink of our modern news. Those who’ve opposed him have vanished. All of that is about to change.

(Max and Sketchy ride off together. Max notices a hoverdrone floating nearby, turns her hat around so it faces forward, and takes off down a side street.)

MAX: Later.

SKETCHY: It’s your turn to buy lunch!

(Max arrives at a high-rise building with a delivery.)

MAX (voiceover): This was supposed to be the financial district back in the day. America really thought they had it dialed in, money hanging out the butt. But it was all just a bunch of ones and zeroes in a computer someplace. So when that bomb went ka-blooey and the electromagnetic pulse turned all the ones and zeroes into plain old zeroes, everyone’s like, “No way.” Now America’s just another broke ex-superpower, looking for a handout and wondering why.

(Max rides the elevator up to an office.)

MAX: I need a signature.

SECRETARY: Hold on a moment.

(While the secretary is signing the delivery receipt, Max sees a shiny statue in the adjacent building. Before leaving the building, she rigs a side door so that it won’t lock.)

(That night, Sketchy makes a call on a pay phone.)

SKETCHY: You’re not going to believe this, Natalie. Got a late run, so I’m not going to be able to make dinner...I know it’s the big one-oh...Hon, I begged, I pleaded, I pissed, I moaned. I gotta do what I gotta do...We’ll do something special. I promise...I love you, too, mousetrap. Kisses.

(Sketchy goes into an apartment, and we realize he’s been cheating on Natalie.)

SKETCHY: Sorry I’m late.

(At a bar named Crash, Original Cindy is taking bets.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: You wanna be rich? Listen to the bitch. Give Mommy the cheddar. I’ll make your life better. (A man tries to feel her up) Touch the boot, get dropped wet. Original Cindy don’t feature that. Know what I’m sayin’? (To other bettors) You in? Who else?

BARTENDER: What’s the action?

ORIGINAL CINDY: Homegirl can repeat a fourteen-digit phone number by listenin’ to the beep tones.

BARTENDER: So?

ORIGINAL CINDY: On speed dial. Buy-in’s ten.

(He pays her. She calls out to the rest of the bar)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Last chance. (He pulls out a phone) Okay, let’s do this.

(The bartender uses the speakerphone and speed dial to dial a number.)

MAX: 2-0-6-5-5-5-0-1-3-5-7-6-3-3.

BARTENDER: That’s it.

SPECTATOR: How’d you do that?

(A guy named Darren comes out of the crowd and approaches Max.)

DARREN: I’ll have a beer, since you’re buying.

MAX: I wasn’t.

DARREN: How you doing, Max?

ORIGINAL CINDY: You mean until you showed up?

DARREN: You’re not still pissed off?

ORIGINAL CINDY: ’Cause you went out the back door and nailed her girlfriend? Who’d be pissed off about that?

DARREN: You know why I went after Justine?

ORIGINAL CINDY: She was there?

DARREN: Trying to have a relationship with you, Max, is like standing in a fogbank. You know you’re right in the middle of something, except you have absolutely no idea where you are.

ORIGINAL CINDY: And when the fog lifted, there was Darren with his head under Justine’s skirt.

DARREN (to Original Cindy): Could we have a moment?

(Original Cindy walks away.)

DARREN (to Max): I was crazy about you, but you keep everyone at arm’s length like you got some great, big, dark something going on. It’s just the more I tried to get close to you, the more you pulled away.

MAX: I’m really glad we’re having this conversation. You’re right, I was angry at you, but talking about it...the scales have fallen from my eyes and I realize now that...it was all my fault. Could you ever forgive me?

DARREN: I see the perimeter defense system is still fully intact. At least I tried.

(He leaves, and Max rejoins Original Cindy.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Craps all over everything and everyone, then wants Mommy to forgive him.

MAX: Tell me the truth. Am I a female fogbank?

ORIGINAL CINDY: He’s just trying to blame you because he’s a slut.

MAX: Yeah.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Hell, yeah. There is not the slightest grain of truth in anything that that idiot was saying. You are a totally down-ass female and a straight-up friend. Just ’cause you’re a little...

MAX: Foggy.

ORIGINAL CINDY: More like a mystery...which isn’t bad. Just mysterious.

(Max’s pager goes off.)

MAX: Gotta go.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Where?

MAX: It’s a secret.

(Max rides her motorcycle, a Kawasaki Ninja, through the city and into the back room of a laundromat. A man named Vogelsang uses it as an office.)

VOGELSANG: How many times I tell you? You drive away business, roaring in here like that.

MAX: Does kind of break the elegant atmosphere.

VOGELSANG: You got a punk-ass mouth on you, kid.

MAX: My name’s not “kid.” It’s “client,” as in the person who pays for your opulent lifestyle. Now, you got something for me or not?

VOGELSANG: Yeah. Right here someplace. Oh, let’s see. I got a hit on that car. Uh, I got an ’03 Tahoe, blue, Wyoming tags A-G-T-3-4-9. (Hands her a piece of paper) It wasn’t easy. You were off on one of the numbers.

MAX: Sorry. I was nine at the time.

(Max flashes back to the night she escaped Manticore and remembers standing on an empty road as an SUV pulls to a stop in front of her.)

MAX (reading the paper): Who’s this guy? This isn’t who we’re looking for. Her name was Hannah.

VOGELSANG: He got the car in trade for an old pickup and some food. Got no bill of sale or nothing. It was right after the Pulse. The DMV records were wiped out. Got nothing on the seller, but managed to find the guy. Six hours on the phone; say thank you.

MAX: Thank you.

VOGELSANG: He didn’t remember the woman’s name, but she fits the description that you gave like a glove.

(Max flashes back again. She remembers the driver opening the door for her as sirens begin to wail in the distance.)

HANNAH (in flashback): Get in. Hurry. Come on.

VOGELSANG: Guy says he made the trade in Gillette, Wyoming, in the fall of ’09.

MAX: But nothing on Hannah?

VOGELSANG: A nuclear airburst wipes out every record of every kind of computer east of the Rockies and you want me to find a woman that you met when you were nine, whose last name you don’t even know. Maybe you could give me something more on her...some detail...anything.

(Max remembers hiding in Hannah’s car as Hannah checks for pursuers and smiles at her.)

MAX: She was nice.

VOGELSANG: Okay, that’s big.

MAX: I think she was a nurse. There must be some kind of registry of nurses or medical technicians or whatever for Wyoming.

VOGELSANG: A last name would help.

MAX: What about the other kids? Anything on them?

VOGELSANG: They don’t exactly have a search engine for kids with barcodes on their necks...something I’m not even gonna ask about.

MAX: You were going to run through the law-enforcement databases for a match on identifying marks.

VOGELSANG: Nothing so far from arrests, hospital admissions, coroners...This kind of search is heavy spadework. I’m going to need, uh...

MAX: More money? Like I’m shocked to hear you say that.

(Later that night, Max enters the building she made a delivery to via the door she rigged. She steps out onto the roof and anchors a rope to it, then attaches the rope to herself. She jumps off the building, swings over to the other building, and detaches herself from the rope as she lands on the other roof. She uses a skylight to break into an apartment and begins stealing things. Suddenly she hears a man’s voice in another room.)

VOICE: Do not attempt to adjust your set.

(Max peers around a corner and sees a man using some computers to make an Eyes Only broadcast.)

EYES ONLY: This is a Streaming Freedom Video Bulletin. Eyes Only cannot be bought or threatened, and through the Eyes Only informant net, a truth-speaker has come forward. The testimony of one fearless witness will soon lead to the indictment of Edgar Sonrisa for multiple counts of murder. The drug cortodiazapine is expensive, in short supply, and much sought-after as a cancer treatment. It is also the only effective treatment for the Balkan War Syndrome, an otherwise fatal disease...

(A bodyguard notices the rope Max used to break in and hits a silent alarm.)

EYES ONLY: ...but that doesn’t stop Edgar Sonrisa from growing richer, peddling the drug to the few who can afford to pay any price for vanity’s sake. Sonrisa has been replacing shipments with sugar pills, selling the real cortodiazapine on the Canadian black market for $2,000 a bottle while combat vets exposed to bio-war agents go untreated. All over this city, they are repaid for defending this country by being allowed to waste away and die a slow, agonizing death.

(Max spots the statue she saw earlier and slips it into her bag. The bodyguard, gun at the ready, looks around for the intruder. Max hurries into a bedroom to avoid him. The room is occupied by a woman and her daughter.)

MAX: I won’t hurt you.

(The woman throws a lamp at Max in defense. Max ducks, but the lamp shatters against the door and the bodyguard hears the crash. The bodyguard goes after Max and gets soundly beat up. As he lies unconscious on the floor, Max apologizes to the woman.)

MAX: Sorry.

(Eyes Only, whose real name is Logan Cale, appears with a shotgun in hand.)

LOGAN: Put it down! Now!

(Max slowly drops the loot she swiped.)

LOGAN (to the woman in the bedroom): Lauren? You and Sophy okay?

LAUREN: Yeah...we’re okay.

LOGAN: Peter?

MAX: If he’s the side of beef, he’s fine, but give him a minute.

(Logan sees the bodyguard out cold on the floor. Then he sees the statue sticking out of Max’s bag.)

LOGAN: You’re a thief?

MAX: Girl’s got to make a living.

LOGAN (obviously relieved): Thank God.

MAX: First time I ever heard that one.

LOGAN: I was expecting someone else.

MAX: Guess it wasn’t the pizza delivery guy.

LOGAN: We’re just a little tense right now. (Indicates the statue) You have good taste. French, 1920s, attributed to Chitarus.

MAX: Whoever that is.

LOGAN: Oh. So...what, you liked it ’cause it was shiny?

MAX: No, because it’s the Egyptian goddess Bast. The goddess who comprehends all goddesses, eye of Ra, protector, avenger, destroyer...giver of life who lives forever.

(Peter gets up and walks out of the bedroom.)

LOGAN: Stay back, Peter. Security’s on the way.

(Max grabs Peter and twists his arm behind him.)

MAX: I’d love to hang and discuss art, but I gotta jet. By the way, love your show.

SECURITY GUARDS (entering the apartment): Building security!

LOGAN: Hold your fire!

(Max jumps through the glass of a window and lands on a lower part of the building. Logan watches in amazement. After a glance up at him, Max runs away.)

(The next day, Max is in the bathroom, having seizures. While she shakes, she flashes back to Manticore. In the flashback, one of the kids falls to the ground, seizing. The guards take him away while young Max watches.)

DRILL SERGEANT (to young Max): Eyes front!

(Later, in bed, young Max notices her own hand shaking. She sneaks down the hall and peers into a room, where the other kid is being dissected. Lydecker is also in the room.)

(In the present day, Max’s seizure eventually subsides, and she emerges from the bathroom to find Kendra’s clothes draped all over Max’s motorcycle.)

MAX: Kendra, this is a motorcycle. Its sole reason for being is to go fast, very fast, not for you to use as a clothesline. Now, make no mistake. I love you as a friend and a roommate, but I love my motorcycle more. Stay away from the bike, okay?

(A policeman bursts through the front door.)

POLICEMAN: Ladies.

MAX: Morning, Walter. What’s the good word?

WALTER: Oh, just doing my part to keep the squatter situation from getting out of hand.

MAX: Coffee?

WALTER: Read my mind. You notice any trespassers around here?

MAX : Gosh...no.

(Kendra hands Walter an envelope full of money. He counts it and pockets it.)

WALTER (into his radio): Seventh floor vacant and secure.

VOICE ON RADIO: Roger that.

WALTER: Enjoy your day. (Leaves)

KENDRA: What’s with you? Every week this scumbag puts the squeeze on us and every week you roll out the welcome wagon like he’s family.

MAX: Just thought maybe he’d like some coffee with his saliva.

(Max acts like she’s spitting into an imaginary cup.)

KENDRA: You didn’t.

MAX: Every week. (They laugh)

(Jacinda checks out a noise in her apartment. Max appears on her way to work.)

MAX: It’s cool. Before I forget...(Hands her an envelope)...Theo’s pay. Came in real late last night; didn’t want to bother you guys.

JACINDA: Thanks.

MAX: How’s he feeling?

JACINDA: I took him to the hospital again. They gave him some more medicine. He says it’s not helping.

MAX: You know how it is. You or me gets sick...life goes on. A guy gets the sniffles...the world’s coming to an end.

THEO (from the other room): That you, Max?

(Max and Jacinda join him. He is lying on the floor, wrapped in a blanket, weakly playing with his son.)

MAX: Playing hooky again?

THEO (to his son): Hey, Omar, go see your mom.

OMAR: Hi.

MAX: Hey.

JACINDA: Come on, little bit.

THEO (after Jacinda takes Omar out of the room): I know what I got, Max. They put me back on that drug they’re giving the other vets. Only the guy that does those cable hacks says this stuff’s no good.

MAX: Don’t believe everything you hear on TV.

THEO: What if he’s on the level?

MAX: The dealio on Eyes Only? He’s probably some whack rich dude, sitting in a trick apartment, bored stupid. He gets off scaring the crap out of folks like you and me. (Theo nods) I gotta go.

THEO: Tell everybody hey.

MAX (smiling): You tell ’em yourself tomorrow when you’re back at work.

(Max meets Jacinda on the way out.)

MAX: Like I said, guys are the weaker sex.

(Max’s smile disappears as she leaves.)

(In his apartment, Logan is at the computer.)

LOGAN: Bingo.

PETER: What do you got?

LOGAN: Surveillance video from the building next door. I figure this is how our visitor last night got in.

(He zooms in on Max’s Jam Pony ID, which is clipped to her jacket.)

PETER: We trying to ID the perp or your new girlfriend?

LOGAN: If I’d just gotten my ass handed to me by a size three, I might be inclined to mind my own business.

(Sketchy is waiting for Max outside Jam Pony.)

MAX: Hey, Sketch.

SKETCHY: We got to talk.

MAX: About?

SKETCHY: Nothing.

(Inside, Max closes her locker and notices Sketchy waiting for her again.)

MAX: What?

SKETCHY: I need your help, Max. See, I’ve more or less been seeing this other person.

MAX: I don’t see how you cheating on Natalie involves me.

SKETCHY: I know what you’re thinking, but the truth is this other person is not somebody I’m in love with. As a matter of fact, after what she just did, she’s not even somebody I like much. So, in a technical sense, I’m not sure you could really call me and this other person cheating, officially.

MAX: Do guys actually believe these lame, self-serving excuses?

SKETCHY: Max!

MAX: Or do they think we’re just so grateful to have one of you idiots we’ll look the other way? Which is condescending and arrogant.

SKETCHY: Lame, self-serving, condescending...guilty as charged.

MAX: You left out arrogant.

SKETCHY: But there’s another side.

MAX: Oh, here it comes--the part where the guy turns everything around, right?

SKETCHY: I am a victim here.

MAX: Really.

SKETCHY: Hear me out. This other person is a Jam Pony client who happens to be trapped in a loveless marriage.

MAX: And you were a sympathetic ear.

SKETCHY: Exactly.

MAX: And then a sympathetic mouth and then a sympathetic--

SKETCHY: She’s demanding that I blow off Nat or she’s going to do it for me by telling her about us.

MAX: Does this other person have a name?

SKETCHY: Lydia.

MAX: And Lydia telling Natalie the truth makes you a victim in what way?

SKETCHY: I’m a toy to her. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not the kind of guy who gets to be a toy very often. How about never? I guess it kind of went to my head.

MAX: Has it occurred to you to tell Natalie the truth?

SKETCHY: Are you kidding? Even if she doesn’t dump me, she’d never be able to trust me again.

MAX: And why should she?

SKETCHY: Look, Max...I made a terrible mistake, one that I will never, ever make again. Natalie and I are soulmates. I guess it took the thought of losing her for me to understand that.

MAX: What is it you want me to do?

(At Jam Pony)

NORMAL: Pickup...411 Montgomery going to 85 Mather.

HERBAL: All right, I’m on it.

(Logan enters and approaches Normal.)

LOGAN: I’m looking for a young lady who works here.

NORMAL: Ladies would be elsewhere.

(Logan shows Normal a picture of Max.)

NORMAL: Look, pal, she may be easy on the eyes, but she’s trouble...trust me.

MESSENGER: Yo, Normal.

NORMAL: Hot run, 1298 Chapel.

LOGAN: I need to talk to her.

NORMAL: I can’t help you, man.

LOGAN (offering him some money): How about her name and address?

(At Crash, Original Cindy and Max are playing foosball.)

ORIGINAL CINDY: Friends don’t help other friends cheat.

MAX: I actually kind of feel sorry for guys sometimes.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Please.

MAX: They’re prisoners of their genes.

ORIGINAL CINDY: So are dogs. I say hang Sketchy out to dry. Let Natalie see him for the heel he is. Then, maybe she’ll step to the all-girl team.

MAX: Of course, there’s nothing self-serving in that scenario.

(Max notices Logan is in the bar looking for her.)

MAX: So, this guy walks into the bar and says...

LOGAN: We didn’t get a chance to finish our conversation the other night.

MAX: Original Cindy, say hi to my good friend...

LOGAN: Logan Cale.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Hey.

MAX: Sorry about your window.

LOGAN: Can we go somewhere and talk?

ORIGINAL CINDY (pretending to check her watch): Xena’s on.

MAX: Let me get my coat.

LOGAN: The one you’re wearing?

MAX: Right.

(Max and Logan walk along a street outside the bar.)

MAX: How did you find me?

LOGAN: Wasn’t hard.

MAX: Question is why?

LOGAN: You know who I am, where I live. I figured I’d better find out who I’m dealing with in case you were looking to hurt me.

MAX: So, you tracked me down. What do you think?

LOGAN: Too early to tell.

MAX: How does Mrs. Eyes Only like being married to a guy on everybody’s hit list?

LOGAN: Lauren’s not my wife.

MAX: Girlfriend?

LOGAN: One of my sources. Her husband was murdered by a man named Edgar Sonrisa.

MAX: I caught your hack. He’s Satan’s lapdog or something. But what’s your shot in all this? I mean being a famous, underground, pirate cyber-journalist can’t be much of a payday.

LOGAN: My folks were loaded.

MAX: So, what, you like the sound of your own voice?

LOGAN: Look around at all this. Built by people who got up every morning, worked hard trying to make a better life...then the Pulse happened and everyone got scared. They blinked, and before they knew it, they’d turned over the store to a bunch of thugs who were happy to take it off their hands. Overnight, the government, the police, everything intended to protect the people had been turned against them.

MAX: So you miss the good old days. Even though there were still poor people who died from diseases when they didn’t need to and rich people who still spent obscene amounts of money redecorating the house to match the cat. Those good old days?

LOGAN: Even if they took it for granted, they still had a choice. Now they don’t.

MAX: So what are you going to do about it?

LOGAN: Something.

MAX: Personally, I’m more interested in going fast on my motorcycle than giving myself a headache over stuff I can’t do anything about.

LOGAN: You accept the way things are...you’re an active participant in making them worse.

MAX: Is the social studies class over for today?

LOGAN: That was an extraordinary display of athleticism the other night. A little too extraordinary. You want to tell me how you--

(Logan turns around and realizes Max has disappeared. A hoverdrone passes by overhead.)

(At Jam Pony, the next day)

SKETCHY: We’re straight on how this is going down?

MAX: You set up on Lydia. When she’s on her way over to your apartment...

SKETCHY: ...I give you the heads-up.

MAX: And I answer the door, pretend to be Natalie...who is where, by the way?

SKETCHY: Visiting her mother.

(At the entrance to Natalie’s apartment, Lydia buzzes up via the intercom. Max answers.)

MAX: Who is it?

LYDIA: A friend of your fiancé’s.

MAX: What do you want?

LYDIA: To set the record straight about where Calvin was the other night.

(Lydia enters the apartment.)

MAX: Who are you?

LYDIA: My name’s Lydia. Seems you and I have something in common.

MAX: You said you knew where my fiancé was the other night.

LYDIA: Yeah--with me, where he’s been after work two, sometimes three nights a week. We have what you might call an...intimate relationship.

MAX: And I’m supposed to believe you because...?

LYDIA: He been sleeping in a T-shirt lately? So you won’t see the fingernail marks on his back. Bet you didn’t know your boyfriend found a little pain exciting. Well, he didn’t either, at first.

MAX: Calvin told me I could expect a visit from you. I know all about how you threatened him...that if he didn’t break it off with me you’d save him the trouble. Well, it’s over between you and him, and we’re getting married next month.

LYDIA: You’re a very understanding person. You’re also a fool.

MAX: I think you should go now.

LYDIA: Not before I get something straight, you prissy little bitch. I decide when I’m done with your boyfriend, not him--and certainly not you, unless maybe you want to find out how sharp these nails really are.

MAX (grasping Lydia’s wrist): I’m working very hard to respect my elders here, but don’t push your luck.

LYDIA: Let go of my hand.

(Max lets go and Lydia turns to leave, then quickly turns around to hit Max, who is expecting the blow. She twists Lydia’s arm behind her, marches her to the window, and pushes her over the balcony, grabbing her feet.)

LYDIA: Help! Let me go! No, no. No, no. Don’t let me go.

MAX: This is how it’s going to be, Lydia. You’re going to take your threats and your cheesy acrylic nails and you’re going to go figure out your marriage instead of trying to make other people feel as miserable as you do. Understand?

LYDIA: Okay, okay. (Max loosens her grip a little.) Okay! Okay!

MAX: Say “I understand.”

LYDIA: I understand.

(Later)

SKETCHY: You rock, Max. You rock!

MAX: Easy, Sketchy.

SKETCHY: No, I’m serious. That psycho got exactly what she deserved. Yes!

MAX: Lydia may not have been one of humanity’s finer specimens--

SKETCHY: Oh, she’s toxic. Monster in bed, but toxic.

MAX: You would be making a mistake to come away from this thinking she’s the villain in the piece. You are.

SKETCHY: She’s the one who’s trying to ruin my life.

MAX: None of this would’ve happened if you’d exercised even a smidgen of self-restraint or good judgment, which you didn’t.

SKETCHY: Right, that’s true, but...

(Max shoves Sketchy against the side of a parked bus.)

MAX: You were trying to have it both ways and you were being completely selfish. And if I ever find out you’re fooling around on Natalie again, you’re the one who’s going to be hanging by your ankles three stories up. Ya understand, Calvin?

SKETCHY: Okay, okay.

MAX: Say “I understand.”

SKETCHY: I understand.

(That night, Vogelsang leaves his laundromat and walks to his car. An intruder breaks into the building. Vogelsang realizes he forgot his car keys.)

VOGELSANG: Oh, man!

(He goes back inside, only to get beat up by the intruder.)

(Max arrives back home after a long day of work.)

MAX: Kendra, you home?

(Max lies down on her bed, then sits up abruptly when she notices the statue that she had attempted to steal from Logan sitting on the table.)

(Maxs pays another visit to Logan Cale.)

LOGAN: You ever notice how cats always seem to turn up around dinnertime?

MAX: I won’t be staying.

LOGAN: I’m not a half-bad cook.

MAX: Like following me around and pestering the people I work with wasn’t bad enough, but breaking into my apartment?

LOGAN: It was open.

MAX: You got a lot of nerve.

LOGAN: Me? You’re the one who tried to rip off this place.

MAX: I steal things in order to sell them for money. It’s called commerce. But some stranger sneaking into a girl’s apartment is bent.

LOGAN: Bent?

MAX: Bent.

LOGAN: I left you a present.

MAX: Am I supposed to be grateful?

LOGAN: That would not be inappropriate.

MAX: How am I ever supposed to sleep there again knowing some stranger’s probably touched everything I own?

LOGAN: Well, if you’re that nervous, you’re welcome to stay here.

(The bodyguard appears all of a sudden with gun drawn.)

MAX: Whoa there, Tex. We’ve been through this.

LOGAN: It’s all right, Peter.

PETER: This is a tactical exposure, which I go on record as not liking.

LOGAN: Noted. Peter, do me a favor and look in on Lauren and Sophy.

(Peter reluctantly walks away. Max walks over to the window she dove through, which has been boarded up.)

MAX: Send me the bill for this, by the way.

LOGAN: Look...if I made you nervous or uncomfortable or creeped you out...

MAX: Yes, on all counts.

LOGAN: Well, I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention. I had to see you.

MAX: You’d think a guy who’s taken on the job of saving the world would have a few more important things to do than to traipse around after some girl.

LOGAN: I haven’t been able to get you off my mind.

MAX: You need to get out more.

LOGAN: Come here. I want to show you something.

(Logan leads Max to a fancy mirror.)

MAX: American, neoclassic, gold leaf detail, late 1800s. I could probably fence it for two or three grand.

LOGAN: No, I meant this. (Touches her chin) Probably the most singularly beautiful face I’ve ever seen.

MAX: Expensive gifts, surprise late-night visits, over-the-top flattery...Do you always come on this strong?

LOGAN: Only when I meet someone I have to know everything about.

(Logan gently brushes aside Max’s hair and sees the barcode on the back of her neck.)

LOGAN: And now I think I know pretty much everything.

(He abruptly drops her hair and walks away.)

LOGAN: Suppose I could help you locate the other ones?

MAX: The other ones?

LOGAN: The other ones like you.

MAX: You lost me.

LOGAN: Now, come on, Max. First I watch you take out a 250-pound ex-cop bodyguard without breaking a sweat...

MAX: Girls kick ass. Says so on the T-shirt.

LOGAN: Then I watch you dive headfirst out a window like you’re Rocky the Flying Squirrel. (Shows Max a bottle of pills) Then I found these in your apartment.

MAX: You went through my stuff.

LOGAN: They used to sell this stuff in health-food stores as an energy boost. It’s also a neurotransmitter sometimes used in homeopathy to control seizures. Then the light bulb went on. I got an anonymous report a few years ago about a covert genetics lab in the Wyoming mountains...

MAX: I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing here, but I’m out, ’cause you’re a whack job.

LOGAN: I located a guy claiming to be a med tech on something called Project Manticore, which was using recombinant DNA to produce a superior human...a warrior...an advanced infantry soldier.

MAX: Not that I don’t enjoy a good urban legend now and then, but what does any of this have to do with me?

LOGAN: The barcode on your neck, Max. I know who you are and I know who you’re running from. There were a couple dozen of these transgenic kids, and in ’09--a few months before the Pulse--twelve of them escaped.

MAX: Twelve?

LOGAN: I know you’re one of those kids, Max.

(Later, Max and Logan are talking in his living room.)

MAX: We got separated right away. I never knew how many made it.

LOGAN: How well do you remember the lab?

MAX: I remember fine. I just didn’t understand what was going on. It took me a long time afterwards to figure things out.

LOGAN: How much do you know?

MAX: I know they made me. Even got the designer label on the back of my neck to prove it.

LOGAN: Technical term for you is “chimera.”

MAX: Yeah, made-up creature, like in mythology. Head of a lion, body of a goat. Your basic hodgepodge.

LOGAN: Hardly.

MAX: You said you could help.

LOGAN: They would have used surrogate mothers to carry you to term after the in-vitro work. If I can track one of them down...

MAX: What’s in it for you?

LOGAN: Your help.

MAX: I already don’t like the sound of this.

LOGAN: The woman you met--Lauren? She supervised workers removing cortodiazapine from gelcaps by hand and replacing it with powdered sugar. Real drug was shipped out of the country. Placebos were distributed to the county V.A. Hospital and veterans’ clinics in the area.

MAX: My pal Theo’s on that stuff. You’ve got him scared silly he’s going to die.

LOGAN: Your friend has reason to worry. Lauren’s prepared to testify that she was working for one of Edgar Sonrisa’s managers and I’m sure you’re aware of the lengths he’ll go to keep her quiet.

MAX: Which affects me how?

LOGAN: I’ve arranged to put Lauren into witness protection. If you were to go with her...

MAX: I didn’t make it this far by looking for trouble.

LOGAN: She’s put her life on the line and her faith in me.

MAX: Her first mistake.

LOGAN: But if she was with someone like you, with your background and training, the risk goes way down.

MAX: Are you high? I’ve got people looking to either put me in a cage for the rest of my life, turn me into a science project, or kill me. Probably all three. Now I’ve managed to drop off the radar screen and I plan to keep it that way.

LOGAN: Max, hear me out.

MAX: I’ve heard enough.

(Max leaves and heads over to the laundromat. Vogelsang’s nose is broken and his place has been trashed.)

MAX: What happened?

VOGELSANG: I walked in on some hump ransacking the place. Disgruntled former client. Who knows?

(Vogelsang writes a note to Max that says “ROOM BUGGED.”)

MAX: As long as you’re all right.

VOGELSANG: Yeah, I’ll live. Uh, regarding your case, I’m afraid I’ve come up with some bad news about your fiancé. Let me get the file. Would you like to use the restroom to freshen up?

MAX: Please.

VOGELSANG: Please.

(They go outside to talk.)

VOGELSANG: I-I don’t know what your story is, and I really don’t want to.

MAX: Here’s your money.

VOGELSANG: No, no, no. Somebody wants you. Whoever tossed this place, they were just trying to make it look like a robbery.

MAX: How’s this about me?

VOGELSANG: Because somebody is looking for you and I want to stay out of the line of fire. They got a bug on my computer keyboard. There’s a tap on my phone. A mic in the light fixture.

MAX: So, somebody’s tracking one of your investigations, like you said.

VOGELSANG: Hardware is way too sophisticated for my clientele. 99.9% of them...they got me looking for lost dogs, extracurricular tail. I mean, whoever it is is on top of the food chain.

MAX: You’re crazy.

VOGELSANG: Yeah, maybe. But if I were you, I’d take the money, get out of town while I can.

(Max is walking her motorcycle back to her apartment. Omar surprises her in the hallway with a flashlight.)

OMAR: Bang! Bang! You’re dead!

MAX (laughing): Oh, you got me.

JACINDA: Come on, Omar.

MAX: You okay?

(Jacinda sends Omar into their apartment.)

JACINDA: I took Theo to the hospital tonight. He couldn’t walk, so I borrowed some money and we took a cab...but he didn’t make it. He’s dead. Oh my God. (Starts to cry) Oh, Theo...Oh, God...

(Max holds Jacinda as Jacinda sobs.)

(The next morning, Max is seizing in the bathroom and flashing back to her childhood at Manticore. In the flashback, young Max falls to the floor with a seizure while the other kids gather around. Some guards come in and try to take Max away. Zack attacks them and another kid takes one of their guns. The kids sneak down a hallway, the girl with the gun in front. Suddenly they’re faced by Lydecker and some guards. Lydecker shoots the girl dead. The kids jump through a window, hit the ground, and start running.)

(Max arrives at work late. She looks dazed.)

NORMAL: Oh, oh. Lovely of you to join us. Lovely of you to join us. Here, I have a hot run to 842 Beulah. You can tell your pal Theo he just got himself fired, all right? Not that he cares, but, you know...his wife and kid might.

MAX: Theo’s dead.

(Everybody in the place is struck silent. The TV in the corner breaks into a newsflash and the messengers eventually gather around to watch.)

NEWSWOMAN: Two men are dead and another critically wounded after a shoot-out near the Superior Court building today. This dramatic footage was captured by police hoverdrones.

(We see Lauren run to safety, with Peter being shot in the process. Sophy is captured, and Logan is seriously wounded.)

SKETCHY: Did you see that one guy--

MAX: Shut up.

(Lydecker is being briefed on the stakeout at Vogelsang’s laundromat by two agents, Sandoval and Dochnovich.)

SANDOVAL: We’ve been set up on Vogelsang 36 hours, and so far, nothing.

DOCHNOVICH: A few customer complaints...dryer ate my money, rinse cycle’s not long enough...that kind of thing.

SANDOVAL: And three or four P.I. clients, strictly run-of-the-mill. I don’t think this guy can help us.

LYDECKER: Twenty-three computer hits from one detective, browsing Wyoming DMV records from ten years ago...employment files on health-care personnel working in the Gillette area around the same time...He searches prison records for unidentified males and females approximately eighteen to twenty years old...and you want me to believe it’s happenstance?

SANDOVAL: Since the Pulse, there’s been how many thousand missing-person searches? This could be one of them.

DOCHNOVICH: And nothing in those searches or in our surveillance connects him with Manticore.

LYDECKER: No. He’s trying to track down these kids...and we’re not going to do anything to get in his way.

(Max visits Logan at the hospital. He is unconscious. Max checks his wallet for cash and finds it empty.)

MAX: Nurses beat me to it.

(Max sits down beside the bed.)

MAX: Take a header into the deep end when the pool’s empty, you’re going to go splat. Law of gravity. And even Jesus Christ himself had to obey the law of gravity...for a while, anyway. The one I feel sorry for is the poor woman with the kid. She should have told you to stick it, like I did, but she bought your crap about doing what’s right. And just so you know, I don’t feel the slightest guilt about not watching her back. That’s on you, hotshot, 100%.

(Max looks out the window and notices someone getting ready to shoot from across the street. She moves Logan’s bed out of the room.)

MAX: I probably ought to let him just finish the job. At least then more innocent people won’t get kacked on account of you being a bored rich kid. On the other hand, you did lay that statue on me, which I was able to fence for a couple of bucks. I’ve been wanting to buy myself a new motorcycle. (The room blows up behind them.) Thinking about stepping up to a 1200.

(Later, Max uses Logan’s computer to try to identify the guy who blew up Logan’s room at the hospital. She finds a picture that matches the shooter’s face.)

MAX: Bingo.

(Max hears a noise and finds Lauren.)

MAX: Damn! Are you all right?

LAUREN: They took my daughter.

MAX: They won’t hurt her. Your daughter’s the only leverage they have to keep you quiet.

LAUREN: Can you help me get her back?

MAX (starting to refuse): I’d really like to...

(She sees how upset Lauren is and reconsiders.)

MAX: ...so I will.

(Back at the computer)

MAX: The shooter who tried to finish off Logan works for Sonrisa. Surprise, surprise. Bruno Anselmo. Born in 1990, served in Iraq, dishonorable discharge, convicted of armed robbery, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, arson, attempted rape. Your basic Renaissance dirtbag.

LAUREN: What can we do?

MAX: This isn’t my regular line of work. I’m making it up as I go.

(At Sonrisa’s mansion, Max hides in the bushes as a guest arrives.)

DRIVER: Mayor Steckler to see Mr. Sonrisa.

GUARD: Open the trunk.

(Max jumps over the gate, climbs up the wall, and sneaks inside the mansion to look around. She hears a noise and ducks into a nearby bathroom. A woman inside is preparing to inject herself.)

MADAM: It’s not what it looks like. I’m diabetic. Who are you?

MAX: Bruno’s girlfriend.

MADAM: Oh, yeah?

MAX: Yeah.

MADAM: But, see, tonight wives and girlfriends aren’t invited.

MAX: No?

MADAM: No.’Cause tonight the girls are here in a more or less professional capacity. They all work for me--and you don’t. Let’s go.

MAX: Okay, okay. Do you ever have to do something you really don’t want to do?

MADAM: How I make my living. What’s your point?

(Max punches the woman in the face and knocks her out. Then she changes into the woman’s clothes and walks down the stairs to the main party area. A security camera trains on her.)

GIRL: Girl, you work that dress.

BRUNO: Mr. Sonrisa saw you on the cameras. He wants you to come see him.

MAX: I’m on a break.

BRUNO: Guess again.

(Bruno leads Max to a private area where Sonrisa is playing poker with some guests.)

SONRISA: The only thing better than four queens...is five. Come over here next to me, for luck.

MAX: I can see to it your winning streak continues.

SONRISA: I’ll bet you can. Sit.

MAX: Not right now.

SONRISA: Not right now. Okay. When?

MAX: After you get a new personality and lose about twenty years.

SONRISA: Quite a mouth on a girl so young. My guess is, talking isn’t what it does best.

MAX: Only way you’re ever going to find out is reincarnation. Fact is, I am going to provide a service and, uh...you are going to pay me. You’re going to pay me $50,000. (Sonrisa laughs) And I’m going to give you Lauren Braganza.

SONRISA (to the guests in the room): Give us a minute. Now!

(The guests leave.)

SONRISA: Check her.

(Bruno searches Max for concealed weapons or a wire.)

SONRISA: Who are you?

MAX: You gonna put me on your Christmas card list?

BRUNO: No wire.

MAX: Now that the pelvic exam’s out of the way...want the woman, here’s how it works. You pull fifty large out of your mattress and I make a call to bring her over.

BRUNO: Yeah? Or I work your face with a pair of pliers for a couple hours ’til you tell us where she is.

SONRISA: Bruno...

MAX: The plan is I call her cell to okay a meet at a certain location. You’re a player. I’m bringing you this on a plate. My fee is just the normal cost of doing business.

SONRISA (to Bruno): Pull the cash. (To Max) So...how do you get this woman to come to me?

MAX: I told her that it’s just business to you. That all you want is a reasonable solution to this. You give her back her daughter, she agrees to leave the country, I put her on a train to Spain or wherever.

SONRISA: And she bought that?

MAX: I have sincere eyes.

SONRISA: Make the call.

MAX: She’s going to want to know her little girl’s all right.

SONRISA: She’s got my word.

MAX: She’s going to want to hear for herself. Look, we’ve got to keep the momentum up here, not give her a chance to overthink things. If she hears her kid’s voice...

(Max calls Lauren’s cell phone.)

LAUREN: Hello?

MAX: Hang on, Lauren. We’re conferencing in Sophy.

(Sonrisa speed-dials a number.)

THUG: Yeah?

SONRISA: Put the kid on.

SOPHY: Hello?

LAUREN: Sophy, are you okay?

SOPHY: Mommy, where are you?

LAUREN: Don’t worry. I’m coming to get you.

SOPHY: When?

LAUREN: Soon, baby.

SOPHY: Mommy, I’m scared.

LAUREN: There’s nothing to be afraid of. Everything’s going to be okay. I love you--

(Sonrisa breaks off the phone call.)

MAX (indicating the money): Can you put that in a bag or something?

SONRISA: No, no, no, no, no. You get this when I get her.

MAX: Not good enough. Compromise...Bruno comes with me. He holds the money ’til Mommy shows up, then we close escrow. What you do with her after I blaze doesn’t keep me awake at night.

SONRISA: You better hope you’re as smart as you think you are.

(Max and Bruno arrive at a cheesy motel room.)

BRUNO: You know, that whole thing about the pliers, I, uh...never would have done it...probably. Actually, I, uh...I don’t know, I think you’re...I think you’re pretty cool.

MAX: Yeah?

BRUNO: Yeah. You’re smart. You’re hot. You stand on your own two feet. You got a wicked sense of humor. Geez, zinged the boss there a couple of times. I...it was all I could do--

MAX: So what do you think? Maybe after I betray the woman who trusts me and you grease her and her daughter we could, um...go on a date?

BRUNO: Yeah...you got a bad attitude.

MAX: I like to keep it professional is all.

BRUNO: So call her. Get her over here.

MAX: Actually, that’s not gonna be necessary.

BRUNO: What?

MAX: That’s not why we’re here.

BRUNO: What the hell are you talking about? You call her!

MAX: Geez, you are so stupid the word “special” comes to mind. Sonrisa recruit you off the short bus?

BRUNO: Call the skank now!

MAX: You haven’t figured this out yet, have you? You walk in here thinking you’re gonna cap her, then cap me, and take the money back to your boss with your tail wagging. But it’s really the other way around. You think I’m the whack? The fact is, you’re the whack. See, what you don’t know is you’re already in the last two minutes of your life.

BRUNO: You’re in the last two seconds if you don’t cut the crap.

MAX: Sonrisa had no choice but to call me in because you lack that professional edge, Bruno. Any real pro would have popped me the second he saw this thing going sideways, but you’re still standing there with your thumb up your butt. It’s pathetic.

(Bruno shoots at Max, who easily dodges the bullet. She wrenches the gun out of his hand and punches him.)

MAX: Pathetic. (Returns the gun) Come on, you’re not even trying.

(Bruno fires some more shots at Max and gets pummeled in return.)

MAX: Is that all you’ve got?

(Max throws Bruno across the room. Then she grabs a lamp cord and starts to tie him up.)

MAX: The man was right...you are a liability. You can hardly blame him, the way you’ve been taking care of business. Or should I say not taking care of it?

BRUNO: What the hell are you talking about?

MAX: I’m hired to do a piece of work, my mark goes down and stays down. Yours makes it to the hospital. So then you got to go finish the job, only you don’t, and the cops get the whole thing on videotape.

BRUNO: That’s a lot of crap.

MAX: You were caught on a hoverdrone shooting from a roof across the street.

BRUNO: I hate those things.

MAX: It’s embarrassing to the professional community.

BRUNO: No, no, no. No, the boss knows I’ve always been loyal.

MAX: He’s got exposure. Man’s figured the odds, and he can’t take the chance.

(Max pulls down Bruno’s pants.)

BRUNO: Hey, what the hell are you doing?

(Max slaps Bruno on his butt.)

BRUNO: Ow! Don’t touch my ass, man.

MAX (digging into the madam’s purse): This won’t hurt. A triple dose of insulin...you’ll go into a coma...a couple of minutes, you’ll stop breathing... and on a busy night, the coroner will probably mistake it for an O.D. Plus it’s way classier than blowing your brains out.

(Bruno frees himself and grabs his gun. Max makes a run for it and apparently gets shot in the back, landing in the motel’s swimming pool. Bruno runs out to see Max’s motionless body lying at the bottom of the pool.)

BRUNO: Double-crossing son of a bitch thinks I’m gonna roll on him? I’ll do a hell of a lot more than that.

(Bruno takes off. Max, who had faked being shot, climbs out of the pool and hurries to make a phone call.)

VOGELSANG: Yeah?

MAX: This is your punk-ass client. I need you to trace a number for me.

VOGELSANG: Are you sure you want to have this conversation on the phone?

MAX: Just do it. 2-0-6-5-5-5-0-1-8-7-2-8...

VOGELSANG: Okay, would you...hold on a minute, okay? Uh, 7-2...what?

MAX: 7-2-8-9-2.

(We see that Lydecker and his agent are listening in on the conversation.)

MAX: Come on. I don’t have all day.

VOGELSANG: You got a pencil?

MAX: Just give it to me. I’ll remember.

VOGELSANG: All right, hold on. 1-7-4-9-5 Euclid.

MAX: I’m on my way.

(Max arrives at the address, now wearing her own clothes. A group of federal soldiers in SWAT gear are watching her and getting ready to enter.)

VOICE ON RADIO: This is TAC One. Subject’s inside, sir. Standing by for your orders.

LYDECKER: I want a full perimeter seal. Nobody goes in until I say so.

SOLDIER: It’s one girl. Why don’t we just take her when she walks out the door?

LYDECKER: Listen to me carefully. When you have the roads locked off at the front and the back and the alleys on both sides...a man by every door, window, air vent, mail slot, and rat hole around this building...then you come back to me and you tell me that you’re ready. Okey-dokey?

SOLDIER: Yes, sir. (To his team) Let’s move out.

(Max sneaks inside the building, unnoticed by the thugs, who are watching boxing on a TV with bad reception.)

COMMENTATOR: “Do you want to continue?” He said, “Yeah. Hell, yeah.” That’s a fighter.

(The SWAT team is deployed.)

THUG: Get in there, you mutt...hit him again!

COMMENTATOR: He’s in trouble...down he goes!

SECOND THUG: Your boy’s a wuss.

FIRST THUG: Come on!

SECOND THUG: Wuss, wuss, wuss.

(Sophy is handcuffed to a bed downstairs. The SWAT team moves into position. Max ambushes one of the soldiers.)

FIRST THUG: Go, go! Ah! Ah, geez.

SECOND THUG: He’s a wuss. Waste of pantyhose.

LYDECKER (into radio): Stand by. Full breach on my count. Three...two...one.

(There are a few explosions and the soldiers enter the building with guns drawn.)

SOLDIER: Federal officers! On the floor. Down! Drop your weapons now!

THUG: No! You drop yours!

(He motions to another thug to go kill Sophy. Max, dressed in TAC gear, ambushes the other thug on his way to the basement.)

SOLDIER: I said, on the floor! Face down! Drop your weapons!

(The soldiers turn on their laser sightings and the thugs see they are badly outnumbered.)

THUG: All right.

SOLDIER: Go, go!

(The SWAT team rushes in to arrest the thugs and look for Max. Max emerges from the basement, carrying Sophy in her arms. She passes by Lydecker.)

LYDECKER: You...stop.

(Max turns around to face him. Most of her face is hidden by the TAC gear.)

LYDECKER: Put the girl in my car.

(Max turns back around and walks off.)

LYDECKER: TAC One, what is your status? Do you have her or not?

VOICE ON RADIO: Negative. We do not have the subject. Repeat, we do not have the subject.

(Lydecker hears the sound of a motorcycle revving in the distance.)

(Max brings Sophy to meet Lauren on an abandoned street.)

LAUREN: Sophy!

SOPHY: Mommy!

(They hug joyfully.)

LAUREN (to Max): Thank--

(She turns to see that Max has taken off on her motorcycle.)

(At Jam Pony the next morning, a TV is tuned to a news broadcast as a courier enters.)

ANCHORWOMAN: Businessman-philanthropist Edgar Sonrisa was cut down in a hail of gunfire at his mansion late last night. Authorities identified the assailant as 32-year-old Bruno Anselmo...

COURIER: Delivery.

ANCHORWOMAN: ...who died at the scene when bodyguards for the well-known benefactor...

COURIER: Need a signature.

ANCHORWOMAN: ...returned fire. Police are investigating.

(Normal signs for the package.)

NORMAL: Here you go.

COURIER: All right. $127.

NORMAL: For what?

COURIER: C.O.D. from, uh...(Checks package label)...Nutman’s Mortuary.

NORMAL: No. There must be some mistake.

COURIER: No. Thelonius Argentary, this address.

SKETCHY: That’s Theo in there?

COURIER (withholding the package): Not ’til I get my money.

(The messengers all stare at Normal.)

NORMAL: I’m not his next of kin. Anyway, I don’t...I don’t have that kind of cash laying around.

HERBAL: Theo rode for this place a long time, mon.

MAX: He showed most of us the ropes.

ORIGINAL CINDY: Hmm.

(Original Cindy empties a trash basket and the other messengers put money into it. Eventually Normal reaches for his own wallet.)

HERBAL: Keep your money, mon. We can take care of our own.

MAX (taking the package): I’ll make sure his family gets this.

THREE MONTHS LATER

(In his apartment, Logan is making an Eyes Only broadcast.)

EYES ONLY: Forty-seven people paying $20,000 each to be smuggled into Canada so they could earn enough money to eat...are dead. They were marched overboard last night by their ruthless handlers, who operate with the knowledge, support, and active collaboration of government officials only too happy to look the other way for a piece of the action. This must never happen again. Those responsible are on notice. Their power and privilege will not protect them. They will be held accountable. This has been a Streaming Freedom Video Bulletin via the Eyes Only informant net. Peace. Out.

(Logan ends the broadcast. We see that Max has silently entered and has been watching.)

MAX: See you’re back at it...rockin’ the boat.

LOGAN: Somebody’s got to.

MAX: I would have come sooner, but...I didn’t. How you doin’?

(We see that Logan is in a wheelchair.)

LOGAN: Not in any pain...the good and bad news of a blown-out spinal cord.

MAX: I’m sorry.

LOGAN: My mother used to say the universe is right on schedule. Everything happens the way it’s supposed to.

MAX: You believe that?

LOGAN: I’ve never been much for trying to figure out why bad things happen. I just know they do. So, the job’s trying to figure out how to deal with the consequences...which you did. Took that son of a bitch out.

MAX: Not me personally.

LOGAN: Well, on account of you, Sonrisa didn’t get to kill the judge or buy the jury. He’s gone, once and for all. It was war, Max, and you won.

MAX: He had it coming. A friend of mine died on account of him.

LOGAN: Sorry.

(Max shrugs. Logan hands her a small wooden box.)

LOGAN: This is for you. Open it.

(Max opens the box to find the statue she had fenced.)

LOGAN: Turned up on the black market...somehow.

MAX: Thanks.

LOGAN: I need a favor.

MAX: You can keep this. I really don’t have anyplace to put it.

LOGAN: I need you to do a little legwork for me. (Turns to his computer) Joel Solinski. This guy’s got a wife with three kids, an ex-wife with two kids, a mistress, and two girlfriends. The wives get houses, the mistress a condo, and everybody gets a car...all on a harbormaster’s salary.

MAX: I caught the tail end of your hack. The guy’s on the take. He’s paid to look the other way while the smugglers deep-six their cargo.

LOGAN: He’s made a fortune...as an accessory to murder.

MAX: Okay, so the guy’s a beast. Doesn’t mean I gotta get involved.

LOGAN: You are involved. By being alive, you’re involved.

MAX: I got my own problems.

LOGAN: Look...maybe we got screwed out of living in a time when we could hang out for the afternoon in a café someplace wearing $2,000 wristwatches, planning our next vacation, but the world got a whole lot meaner all of a sudden. It wasn’t supposed to...but it did. So now it’s back to the law of the jungle, and there are predators and victims.

MAX: And you still think you can do something to change that?

LOGAN: With your help.

MAX: Look, one thing I’m not is a chump. You want to get the rest of your ass shot off, be my guest, but I kinda like being able to walk.

(Logan opens up a cabinet, pulling out a file.)

LOGAN: On another matter, Federal Corrections used to keep records on distinguishing marks--scars, tattoos. I did a search and came up with this. ID’d as a Michael Hanover. Booked for armed robbery nine years ago. He escaped custody after four hours. Hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

(Max takes a look at the file Logan hands her and recognizes the boy in the mug shot.)

MAX: Zack.

(Later, Max is standing on top of the Space Needle, looking out over the city.)

MAX (voiceover): I knew it. I always knew Zack was out there somewhere. But you know, just my luck, this guy Logan had to be the one to find him. Now he figures I’m gonna go and do the right thing because I owe him...like I even care.

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