"MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE" (1996)

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

Written by

David Koepp and Robert Towne

FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT

16TH AUGUST 1995

We're in a large closet. JACK KIEFER, an athletic American in his late thirties wearing a headset, is wedged into a corner, staring at a television screen.

The television shows a surveillance view of the living room that lies outside the confines of the closet. The TV image is in black and white. JACK shifts, trying like hell to get comfortable but he's been there a while

ON THE SCREEN

A bare bulb shines down on the contents of a shabby hotel room. Directly under the blub a man, GENNADY KASIMOV, sits in a straight backed wooden chair in his blood-stained T- shirt. There are a couple of THUGS and a stray HOOKER in the room behind him. A legend:

ANATOLY gets up out of the chair and goes to a bed across the room. A WOMAN lies half under the sheets. She's lying in an unnatural position on the bed, and the sheets are smeared with blood. She's dead. ANATOLY lifts her eyelid.

ANATOLY moves away from the WOMAN.

IN THE CLOSET

JACK, impatient, checks his watch.

ON THE SCREEN

Desperately he tugs at ANATOLY'S jacket. But ANATOLY hits his hand away and smacks him around the head.

IN THE CLOSET

JACK reacts.

ON THE SCREEN

ANATOLY bends close to KASIMOV.

ANATOLY paces up the room, away from KASIMOV.

IN THE CLOSET

JACK leans forward.

ON THE SCREEN

IN THE CLOSET

ON THE SCREEN

IN THE CLOSET

ON THE SCREEN

Back on screen, ANATOLY places a hand on KASIMOV'S shoulder as if he had just anointed him.

IN THE CLOSET

In the closet, JACK types the name into a computer and cross checks -- "MIEDIEV" comes up, then "posting/American consulate/Kiev."

JACK turns and nods to a WHOREHOUSE WAITRESS in costume in the closet next to him, dressed in traditional Russian tunic and virtually no bottom. She quickly leaves.

We enter the room for the first time as the WAITRESS does. She's carrying a tray with a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses.

He pours them out and hands one to KASIMOV.

He drinks. He blinks. Something felt funny about that. Dizzied, KASIMOV swoons and passes out on the floor. ANATOLY moves to the closet door and opens it.

IN THE CLOSET

ANATOLY reaches up to his face --

--and tears away a mask of flesh. He's no middle aged Russian mobster, he's ETHAN HUNT, an American in his early thirties. He gestures to KASIMOV contemptuously. JACK hands ETHAN a hypodermic kit and he goes quickly back into the room.

Immediately, there is activity, and PEOPLE everywhere. TWO OTHERS come into the room and carry KASIMOV out.

ETHAN goes quickly to the body of the dead woman. He cheeks the pulse in her neck, shines a penlight in her eye. He strips the adrenalin kit and jabs the long needle into the dead woman's thigh. He checks her pulse again, checking a stopwatch. In about ten seconds, the woman's eyes open.

CLAIRE is her name, a French woman of thirty or so. She half rolls over, GROANS, and wipes some of the blood from her mouth.

Meanwhile, MEN in overalls take apart the room. The ceiling lifts right off the walls, and the walls themselves start to come down, revealing the "hotel room" to be an elaborate set in the middle of an empty warehouse.

JACK comes into the room from the closet. He hands CLAIRE her jewelry, including a watch and a wedding ring. ETHAN stops what he's doing, noticing. She looks up at him questioningly.

JACK comes into the room from the closet. He hands CLAIRE her jewelry, including a watch and a wedding ring. ETHAN stops what he's doing, noticing. She looks up at him, questioningly.

She almost unconsciously slips the wedding ring onto her finger. ETHAN notices. He turns and SHOUTS to the room at large.

OUT OF HERE YET?!

He walks across the room and out the door. CLAIRE, worried, clutches her hands together, glancing down at her wedding ring.

We move in on it --

-- and come out on another wedding ring, this one on a MAN's finger. One of several he's drumming on an arm rest in the plush first class cabin of a commercial airliner. He shoves some money into his wallet, and as he does so we catch a fleeting glimpse of a photograph of CLAIRE.

The pilot's voice makes an announcement.

VOICE (O.S.) Ladies and gentlemen, we have leveled off at our cruising altitude of thirty-eight thousand feet-and we should be arriving in Prague right on schedule.

A FLIGHT ATTENDANT makes her way between the seats, passing out menus.

A passenger takes one. The ATTENDANT continues on.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT

Would you like to watch a movie Mr Phelps?

The MAN with the wedding ring looks up. JIM PHELPS is in his mid-forties, good-looking, intense. He's a tired man, and not just now, it's a profound fatigue. He looks up at the ATTENDANT and smiles warmly.

A look crosses the FLIGHT ATTENDANT'S face; her tone becomes stilted.

The ATTENDANT turns and walks away. PHELPS sits back, shakes a cigarette out of a pack, and taps it nervously on the armrest.

AT THE FRONT OF THE CABIN.

The FLIGHT ATTENDANT opens a case loaded with video 8 cassettes of feature films. She opens a panel in the top of the case and withdraws a tape hidden back there.

The ATTENDANT returns with the tape and hands it to PHELPS. He takes it without a word and she moves on.

PHELPS reaches down and turns a lever on the support between his seat and the empty one beside him. He flips up a small movie screen and angles it toward himself, away from the other passengers. He puts on a headset, opens a door in the armrest, and puts the tape in.

He presses play.

ON THE TAPE,

the image of a man comes on. EUGENE KITTRIDGE is fortyish, but seems permanently stuck in the Nixon era -- horn rimmed glasses, short short haircut, rather be caught dead than tieless. But if he catches your eye, he will never, ever look away. He's seated at a desk, looking into the camera.

The screen winks and shows an image of GOLITSYN, a burly man in his forties. The image is herky-jerky videotape, presumably taken from a concealed camera as GOLITSYN walks down a foreign street.

This morning, we learned that Golitsyn has stolen one half of a CIA NOC list, the list of our non- official cover agents working in Eastern Europe.

The screen shows an image of what such a list might look like, code names and other information scrolling by on a computer screen at high speed.

The Embassy itself comes on screen, a beautiful old building at the base of the Charles Bridge, which spans the Vltava River.

Still photographs come on screen, some of which we're already seen -- JACK KIEFER, CLAIRE and ETHAN.

PHELPS sits back in his seat, closes his eyes, and rubs his tired brow. KITTRIDGE himself comes back on the tape.

PHELPS inhales deeply --

-- the tape in the armrest starts to smolder, sending up a plume of wispy smoke --

-- and PHELPS exhales, concealing the plume in a cloud of cigarette smoke.

SARAH and HANNA, a German woman in her mid-thirties enter. Another legend:

PRAGUE

The IMF team's safe house is a sparsely furnished Prague apartment with a panoramic view of the city.

The IMF team is scattered around the room. Sketches, pads, overfilled ashtrays and equipment are strewn everywhere. JACK and SARAH seated next to each other - JACK demonstrating the VISCO glasses to her. CLAIRE is seated opposite JACK at the computer. JIM and ETHAN are in the kitchen. HANNAH taking a roll of black-out curtain through the room.

ETHAN and JIM PHELPS are in a heated conversation.

CLAIRE, who is at the computer behind them, somehow seems to be the reference point in the following exchange:

"Oh, I suppose it was my friend Lou." "No, what's the matter, don't you think I have any friends of my own?!"

PHELPS laughs. ETHAN doesn't. The back of CLAIRE'S head is in his line of sight.

He leads ETHAN to the window, which overlooks the city.

ETHAN's POV of Embassy.

ETHAN nods.

CLAIRE, who is working at a computer, has pulled up a quicktime video image in a box on her screen. In it, an old edition of the McLaughlin Report, the PBS news show, is playing.

ETHAN is distracted by it.

INSERT - TELEVISION

SENATOR WALTZER, a bearded, bespectacled man in his forties, is holding forth:

BACK TO SCENE

ETHAN looks back at JIM.

JACK comes breezing in with a piece of bubble gum.

JACK shows the gum to ETHAN.

Half the gum is red, the other half is green.

He offers the gum to ETHAN.

CLAIRE glances up from the computer and catches ETHAN's eye. PHELPS may have caught the glance, but is focused on ETHAN.

The American Embassy glitters beside the Vltava River. Party at the Embassy tonight.

JACK, wearing black coveralls and slightly odd-looking eyeglasses (they're called Visco glasses), enters an elevator shaft through a small door at the base of the wall. He looks up the shaft, shining a flashlight until he finds what he's looking for --

-- a gray metal box, protruding from the wall one floor up.

PHELPS is at a table in the safe house apartment, watching the bank of monitors HANNAH wired together earlier. The monitors are alive now, showing various views of the inside of the Embassy, where the party is going on, and one view of the elevator shaft.

PHELPS wearing an IMF headset and speaks into the mouthpiece.

Inside the Embassy, the party is a formal, tuxedoed affair that's in full swing on the second floor.

SENATOR WALTZER, the man who was on TV, walks up a grand staircase, headed in. An AMERICAN DIPLOMAT in a tuxedo hurries up to him.

-- The DIPLOMAT pilots the SENATOR by one arm, guiding him to a reception line at the base of the stairs to the party.

SARAH, a very attractive young American dressed in an elegant gown, steps out of the reception line and shakes hands with

WALTZER.

He leans in and kisses her on the cheek, and as he does so SARAH whispers something in his ear.

Her tone, her words -- we realize she's on the team.

The SENATOR pulls a pair of Visco glasses from his pocket (and if we didn't know the SENATOR was ETHAN before, this confirms it), puts them on, and looks up, over her shoulder.

UNDER AN ARCHWAY NEAR THE ENTRANCE,

ALEKSANDER GOLITSYN, the Ukrainian, has just come in from outside.

PHELPS sees the SENATOR's point of view of GOLITSYN, through the glasses, broadcast back to PHELPS' monitor. He speaks into his microphone.

SARAH still has the SENATOR's attention.

He slips an arm around SARAH and they walk off, not into the party, but the other way, toward a staircase that leads further into the Embassy.

JACK climbs up the elevator shaft, towards the gray metal box. He just begins to remove the cover when he hears a noise from above. He looks up and sees the elevator above him descending.

JACK quickly pulls himself flush against the wall. The elevator comes down adjacent to him and stops, pinning him to the wall.

As the SENATOR and SARAH pass behind the entering GOLITSYN, SARAH pulls a small bottle of perfume from her purse. But as she sprays, she points it slightly to the left, missing herself and hitting the back of GOLITSYN'S head. He never notices. They move on and down the flight of stairs.

JIM PHELPS monitors the Visco views of the party. He looks to the fourth monitor and checks a view of the party, a jumpy one, as someone hurrying up stairs.

On a flight of stairs, HANNAH, dressed for the party and slightly out of breath, hurries up the stairs.

She also has a pair of Visco glasses, which she trains on the party below. She pushes a micro switch on the side of her glasses, activating an electronic filter, which tints the lenses.

HANNAH'S VISCO POV

the party looks the same, but one head in the crowd stands out. That head is GOLITSYN'S, his hair a fluorescent green where SARAH sprayed it.

The SENATOR (let's just call him ETHAN) and SARAH come down the stairs and pass a sign that says "Denied Area -- Political Attaches Only." ETHAN checks his watch. 23:00.

He nods to SARAH, they round a corner, and come to an elevator at the end of the corridor. A sign in front of it says "Out of Order." They head for it anyway.

A MARINE GUARD appears from behind a side door, catching them by surprise.

SARAH flashes an ID at the GUARD and keeps talking.

She walks up to the thumbprint analyzer on the elevator bank and slides her thumb inside. The panel lights up and flashes a message -- "ACCESS DENIED." SARAH and ETHAN trade a look.

She tries the thumb again, Still no soap.

Now the GUARD, noticing that Sarah's not being allowed access, comes closer to them.

JACK is still pinned to the wall by the elevator, listening to their conversation.

Finally, the elevator moves down a floor and JACK is freed.

He quickly opens the gray metal box, revealing a maze of circuitry. He patches in his computer, climbs on top of the elevator, and hits the keyboard, beginning to download.

Ignoring the GUARD, SARAH turns and slides her thumb into the thumbprint analyzer once more. The panel glows, this time the message flashes --

The GUARD, surprised, now catches sight of the SENATOR.

He snaps a salute. ETHAN and SARAH get into the elevator and the doors close behind them.

JACK looks down at the elevator below. Through a grating, he can see them inside.

PHELPS moves from JACK's view of the elevator car to HANNAH's view of the party on his video monitors.

HANNAH, stationed on the second floor of the Embassy, moves to get a better view of the party. She reacquires GOLITSYN's glowing head.

This work room is filled with combination lock filing cabinets and various computer terminals. ETHAN hands SARAH his Visco glasses and she crosses the room, placing them upside down on top of a filing cabinet.

ETHAN straps on a Visco wrist monitor and tunes it in, switching several times.

SARAH adjusts the glasses.

THROUGH THE GLASSES,

the view of the main computer terminal is upside down, but clear. Anyone sitting there will be recorded.

On PHELPS' monitor, we see ETHAN, via his Visco glasses on the filing cabinet, standing next to the computer. PHELPS barks out a warning.

ETHAN pushes the elevator button but the elevator is already moving up.

In a split view, we see both sides of the elevator wall simultaneously -- on one side, JACK is lying on top of the rising elevator, on the other side, ETHAN and SARAH are waiting for it to arrive.

The elevator stops, the doors open --

-- and GOLITSYN gets on. GOLITSYN descends in the elevator with JACK on top and ETHAN and SARAH waiting down below!

PHELPS sees JACK's point of view of the elevator, with GOLITSYN inside.

ETHAN and SARAH are waiting in front of the elevator, the one GOLITSYN is about to step off of! ETHAN looks around, for a place to hide.

PHELPS whips over to a laptop and starts typing.

He jabs ENTER on his keyboard.

The elevator doors WHISK open, revealing the empty shaft beyond. ETHAN and SARAH jump into the shaft.

ETHAN and SARAH jump down into the five foot empty space below the work room floor. Above them, the elevator continues its descent, with them hiding below. The elevator drops to just over their heads and stops.

GOLITSYN steps off the elevator, crosses the room and slides a 3.5 computer disk into the computer in the work room. Through the Visco glasses, we can clearly see him at work, downloading the vital information.

Waiting below the elevator, ETHAN takes off his jacket, starting to reverse it. He checks his Visco wrist monitor as GOLITSYN perpetrates the theft. He smiles and speaks into a microphone.

Back inside, ETHAN strips off his mask and wearing his now reversed jacket, he and SARAH exit the small door at the base of the elevator shaft.

JACK rapidly disconnects his equipment. But as he pulls the final electrical clip from the elevator's wiring, it flashes and SPARKS.

ETHAN and SARAH exit an Embassy service area by the waterfront and blend into the Embassy crowd, as an amorous couple.

ETHAN'S voice comes over HANNAH'S earpiece.

HANNAH breaks off and goes up the stairs.

The button marked "ROOF" lights up, seemingly all by itself.

The car engages with a sharp jolt --

--and starts to rise. JACK looks down, into the elevator car, through the grate. There's no one in it.

On one of his monitors, PHELPS sees the elevator moving in the shaft.

PHELPS is typing at his keyboard and jamming the enter button but gets no response.

JACK'S face pales. He looks up, above him, at the approaching ceiling.

GOLITSYN pulls out the now-programmed disk from the computer, slips it in his jacket pocket and heads for the door.

JACK looks up through his Visco glasses at the approaching roof, covered with spikes.

Through the monitor, ETHAN sees JACK'S P.O.V. of the roof of the building approaching. Fast.

On top of the elevator, JACK has ripped open the control panel again and is frantically trying to adjust wires to get the thing to stop.

He swears, his fingers fumble, he works faster and faster. He looks up. The roof of the building is nearly upon him.

JACK looks up again, he cringes, he covers his head with his hands, he SCREAMS --

--and he's crushed to death against the roof.

ETHAN is staring at the static on the monitor that once was JACK'S signal.

He closes his eyes, knowing what that means.

PHELPS also sees the static.

He gets up and races out of the apartment.

GOLITSYN, who now has the disk, jabs again and again at the elevator button but it won't even light up. He studies the elevator doors and jumps into the shaft, just as ETHAN and SARAH did moments before.

He hits the floor of the elevator shaft and exits the small door at the shaft's base.

PHELPS hurries towards the bridge.

PHELPS dashes onto the Charles Bridge and heads across the river, toward the Embassy. He throws a look back, over his shoulder. Paranoia's setting in.

Outside the Embassy, GOLITSYN escapes, pushing through the service area door and racing past a DRUNKEN COUPLE who are in the midst of a lover's quarrel, in Russian.

Pan past the embankment and onto the bridge where PHELPS is still racing to meet ETHAN. But he stops suddenly, as if hearing something and looks behind him, at the deepening gloom.

ETHAN and SARAH hear PHELP'S voice over the monitor.

Over ETHAN's shoulder, SARAH sees GOLITSYN getting away. Fog starts to roll over the river towards the bridge.

Seated in the getaway car, CLAIRE listens to JIM and ETHAN argue.

Outside the Embassy, SARAH and ETHAN argue.

ETHAN takes off for the bridge, leaving SARAH to shadow

GOLITSYN.

HANNAH hurries toward the getaway vehicle.

ETHAN moves to the bridge stairs.

ETHAN continues to run toward the stairs to the bridge. Past CLAIRE who sits in the getaway car. He looks on his monitor and again sees PHELPS' POV. Only ominous silence. Phelps is looking back over his shoulder. The bridge is deserted.

SARAH follows GOLITSYN as he hurries toward the shore, where a cobblestone promenade runs along the river. He disappears into the fog at the edge of the river.

ETHAN checks his monitor again.

The point of view goes crazy for a moment, then over and down to a bloody hole in his own chest.

His head rocks again, then goes over the side of the bridge and makes the long, hard fall into the river below.

ETHAN's face goes white with shock.

He races up the rest of the stairs to the bridge but there's no sign of PHELPS.

ETHAN runs to the railing and looks down into the river but sees only dark, choppy waters below, now becoming obscured in the gathering fog.

He turns and looks to the embankment. He can faintly see GOLITSYN, hurrying along the promenade. ETHAN gives chase.

ETHAN runs towards the getaway car, reaching a vantage point on the top of the stairs, he can see CLAIRE'S outline, visible in the driver's seat. But as he descends the stairs

-- --the car explodes and bursts into flames.

The force of the blast knocks ETHAN back.

He watches the burning car in stunned silence for a moment, a stunned CROWD starts to gather.

Remembering SARAH, he rushes down the stairs towards the embankment.

SARAH comes out of the fog near the riverbank and sees GOLITSYN again, slowing down. A MAN comes out of the fog an seems to ask GOLITSYN for a light.

SARAH draws closer. Behind her, the DRUNKEN COUPLE seems to be hanging with her for some reason.

ETHAN continues towards the embankment.

SARAH is almost to GOLITSYN. Suddenly, the MAN in front of GOLITSYN pulls him towards him. Sensing something wrong, SARAH quickens her pace. The MAN is now hunched over GOLITSYN, facing away from SARAH, going through GOLITSYN's pockets.

The figure finds what it's looking for -- the disk -- and takes it. SARAH comes closer --

-- and the figure whirls. It brings a knife up sharply, plunges it into her chest and slinks away out of sight.

ANGLE ETHAN races around the corner onto the embankment. He bursts out of the fog, just in time to see SARAH fall to her knees, over GOLITSYN's body. ETHAN sees the knife in her chest and

GASPS.

He pulls the knife out of SARAH, who is close to death. He looks at it -- it is a black Teflon knife with a serrated edge.

AT THE BODIES

SARAH goes still. ETHAN lays her down, turns the other body over and sees that it is GOLITSYN. He quickly begins rummaging through his pockets.

ETHAN hear police sirens and sees...

ANGLE A Prague police boat, SIREN wailing, arrives at the dock in front of the Embassy. The DRUNKEN MAN and WOMAN stop suddenly.

As THREE POLICE leap off the boat and race toward the explosion, ETHAN leaps over the gate and races up the alley and out of sight.

ETHAN unscrews the mouthpiece of a payphone receiver. He's holding a flat piece of metal with six prongs on it, a modernist cockroach. He CLICKS the cockroach into the guts of the phone's wiring, piercing it with its little prongs.

He screws the mouthpiece back on, holds the phone's tongue down for a second, releases it and listens. He has a dial tone. Now he punches in a fourteen digit number he knows by heart.

After a moment, a FLAT VOICE comes on the other side.

There is a long pause and then familiar voice comes on the line.

Pause. A funny series of CLICKS comes over the line.

ETHAN closes his eyes. KITTRIDGE'S voice is strong and reassuring and he needs that right now.

He hangs up. ETHAN does the same. He stares at the phone for a moment, thinking. He checks his watch.

ETHAN steps out of the phone booth and starts down the street. Every face seems to be starring at him now, every sound is menacing. He pulls his coat in tight, shoves his hands in his pockets and walks among the crowd.

ETHAN makes his way past the old town clock, a towering, gothic structure and into a plaza, surrounded mostly by residential buildings.

Brilliantly lit up from inside, the restaurant positively shimmers, every table visible from everywhere in the plaza.

EUGENE KITTRIDGE is seated at a table in the middle. He and ETHAN make eye contact. ETHAN walks to the table, a couple of quick, seemingly cursory glances around the room as he goes. KITTRIDGE has been working on a pretty good-sized lobster. He rises to greet ETHAN and they sit.

He spots a stack of documents on the table.

ETHAN picks them up. There's a Canadian picture bearing ETHAN photo and the name Phillipe Doucette, credit cards, driver's license, etc.

KITTRIDGE seems to be at the point of saying one thing, then, carefully:

The figures around the room have grown restless. KITTRIDGE tries to indicate that it's okay. He pulls some papers out of his jacket.

ETHAN stares at him levelly.

He now shoves the papers across the table. They're xeroxed copies of a Wisconsin bank account in the name of DONALD and MARGARET ETHAN HUNT. It shows a balance of $127, 000.

ETHAN takes something from his jacket pocket. While KITTRIDGE talks, ETHAN unwraps whatever is in his hand.

We see what ETHAN holds in his hand -- it's the piece of bubble gum, half red, half green. He squeezes the gum, mushing the two sides together.

ETHAN lashes out, swatting KITTRIDGE'S glass of wine off the table in one quick motion. As he does, he hurls the piece of gum.

Diners look up, startled at the sound of the breaking wine glass. KITTRIDGE follows the trajectory of the glass --

-- and sees the piece of gum, stuck to the tank. His eyes widen. KA BOOM!

The tiny piece of plastique explodes, SHATTERING the fish tank. A hundred gallons of water flow over the MAN and WOMAN, knocking them to the ground.

At the same time, ETHAN bolts for the door.

ETHAN races out of the restaurant and takes off, into the deserted square.

Silence. ETHAN enters the darkened entry.

ETHAN glances up at the stairwell. Naked light bulbs illuminate the way up. He slips off his jacket and shirt, then puts his jacket back on.

ETHAN unscrews a bulb. He crushes the bulb in his shirt and scatters the glass fragments on the steps. He climbs to the next bulb.

At the now-darkened door to the apartment, there's the soft sound of another bulb being POPPED in cloth, glass fragments dropping and ETHAN'S at the door.

In the darkened safe house, ETHAN goes to a vase with flowers, picks it up and unscrews the bottom, retrieving a Sig Sauer automatic. He moves through the rooms, checking them as he goes.

ETHAN checks the shower, then goes to his shaving kit, pulling out a shaving cream can and a hairspray can. He unscrews the bottoms, retrieving cash in various denominations from various countries and a couple of passports.

As he pockets them, he catches sight of himself in the mirror. He's a mess. He splashes water on his face.

ETHAN greedily tears the cap off a bottle of mineral water and proceeds to guzzle it as if he was dying of thirst.

He comes back into the living room. Still drinking, he notices flickering lights on the other side of the room, the static from the four monitors PHELPS was watching. One by one, he switches them off.

The computer emits a DIAL TONE, then STATIC as it hits its connection. It prompts ETHAN along:

SELECT USENET GROUP

ETHAN TYPES IN

job 314

The computer replies:

SEARCHING STRING NOT FOUND

ETHAN tries again:

The answer:

SEARCH STRING NOT FOUND

He tries a few more, quickly -- "job," "jobs," "joblist.com," but nothing comes up. He tries something else -- "scroll usenet groups."

The computer scrolls names of bulletin boards at a dizzying speed, by the hundreds. That's not going anywhere.

ETHAN pauses, slaking his bottomless thirst and trying to figure out what permutation of "job 314" he should add to the others on his computer screen. He MUMBLES.

He rummages around on the desk, checks the bookshelf and finds a Gideon Bible. He turns to Job 3:14 and reads the Bible passage "Kings and Counsellors..."

He thinks for another moment, then punches back into the Internet and under the command "Select Usenet Group" he types:

126 ENTRIES FOUND, SPECIFY GROUP 126

ETHAN:

BOOK OF JOB

The computer presents a multi-colored screen of religious icons and artwork with an accompanying message:

WELCOME TO THE BOOK OF JOB DISCUSSION

GROUP. WHICH CHAPTER AND VERSE DO

YOU WISH TO POST YOUR ENTRY UNDER?

ETHAN types his answer "Job 3:14" and the screen presents a "stickie" for him to write his message on. He does:

ANGLE A rhythmic CRUNCHING sound and from the darkness on the other side of the room, PHELPS staggers toward him, wet and muddy, his middle a hopelessly bloody mess. He looks like he's dying on his feet. ETHAN freezes, appalled.

ETHAN tries to speak but nothing will come out.

ETHAN reaches out to grab PHELPS but can't seem to touch him. PHELPS suddenly vanishes into thin air, ETHAN awakens from the dream and finds himself leaping to his feet, gun cocked and pointed at --

ANGLE It's CLAIRE.

CLAIRE freezes, her hands half-raised.

Her right hand has moved a fraction. She freezes again.

Ethan grabs her wrists, shouting.

ETHAN releases her wrists.

He grabs a sleeve and literally tears the coat off her, half- spinning her around. The coat hits the floor like a dead body. CLAIRE'S instinctive move is to cover her chest.

CLAIRE begins to shiver. ETHAN circles her, runs his hand cursorily across her body. It accentuates CLAIRE'S shivering.

ETHAN grabs her by the wrists.

We're supposed to be back here at four o'clock, four o'clock, if we abort, we don't return here until four o'clock, 0-four hundred, four am, four o'clock --!

She sags. A moment. Then the clock begins to chime -- BONG, BONG, BONG, BONG. In the wake of the bells' reverb, ETHAN releases his grip on her wrists.

ETHAN sits in front of the computer, staring blankly at it, still waiting for a response. CLAIRE sitting on the end of the bed. Dawn approaches, it's very, very quiet.

A long moment while she stares at ETHAN's back.

The computer blinks and makes a noise - ETHAN goes to it.

THE COMPUTER SCREEN

Blinking -- "MESSAGE WAITING." ETHAN hurries over and clicks on the message box. The screen blinks and the message shows up:

JOB - CORNER OF NEKAZANKA AND PRlKOPY ONE P.M.

BUY A PACKET OF DUNHILL

AND ASK THE MAN SITTING ON THE BUS

STOP BENCH FOR A MATCH

CLAIRE looks to ETHAN.

ETHAN arrives at the bus stop outside the Savoy Arcade. A MAN in a black wind-breaker sits on the bench, his back to

ETHAN.

Without turning, the MAN offers up a box of matches. As ETHAN takes them, TWO MEN from behind take him by either arm and escort him into a car which has just pulled up.

ETHAN slides into the back seat, between the TWO MEN. MATTHIAS, the man on the left, holds up a black hood. He extends it to ETHAN, who doesn't take it.

Reluctantly, Ethan pulls the hood over his head and the car takes off.

The black hood still on his head, ETHAN has trouble sitting upright. He's before a desk, in an apartment somewhere in the city -- it's impossible to tell where, as the blinds are drawn. The place is roomy and lavishly furnished -- expensive Oriental rugs, well-chosen objects of art.

Somewhere down the block, a dog BARKS, steadily, every few seconds. In the hallway outside the apartment door, someone is VACUUMING. MATTHIAS and the OTHER MAN are nearby.

MAX'S figure into frame. MATTHIAS removes ETHAN's hood. When it comes off ETHAN finds himself looking up at a tall woman of indeterminate age. She's handsome to the point of severity.

ANGLE MATTHIAS boots up. There's a little musical noise and the screen brightens. The computer WHIRS and CLICKS and a complex list of names, addresses, phone numbers and other personal information scrolls by. But Matthias is watching the digital read-out on the RF scanner.

On the scanner, the digital read-out is now in the thirties.

She looks from the scanner to ETHAN as if she's trying to make up her mind about something.

MAX still doubts it. The OTHER MAN goes to the windows --

--nothing happens. He opens the French doors that lead out onto a balcony.

The OTHER MAN comes out on the balcony. Nothing out here but a beautiful day. He walks to the railing and looks down at the street.

Down below, the dog that's still barking is tied to a street sign. WOOF. WOOF. WOOF. Abruptly, it stops.

Back inside:

A pollution control van and a taxi arrive amidst other street activity. KITTRIDGE and the FEMALE CZECH AGENT exit the taxi as BARNES and TWO OTHER UNDERCOVER MALE IMF agents leave the van.

Led by KITTRIDGE, the FIVE IMF AGENTS wearing Kevlar-lined trenchcoats creep through the lobby of the building and hit the stairs. They climb them silently.

A CLEANING WOMAN is vacuuming the hall carpeting when the AGENTS come up the stairs, guns drawn. Her jaw drops and she turns off the vacuum cleaner.

KITTRIDGE looks at her sharply and gestures. She turns the vacuum back on. They reach the door of a certain apartment and --

-- KICK through it. The AGENTS swarm into MAX'S apartment, guns waving in all directions. KITTRIDGE sweeps in between them and takes command of the place --

--but there's nobody here. TWO AGENTS race into the bedroom, and just as quickly out again.

MAX, ETHAN, MATTHIAS and the OTHER MAN move quickly across the bridge that connects Max's apartment to the tower.

KITTRIDGE kicks open the door to the balcony, comes outside, and looks around. Nobody in sight.

MAX manages to laugh without coughing. Then, with an admonishing forefinger:

MAX settles back and regards ETHAN. A theatrical sigh. She fancies this guy.

KITTRIDGE waits on the balcony for his AGENTS to complete their search. HARRY BARNES, a middle-aged, gray suited, somewhat gray-faced bureaucrat, comes to join Kittridge.

ETHAN enters the living room. CLAIRE walks out of the bedroom holding a gun.

ETHAN reaches into his jacket and holds up a hefty wad of currency.

The KY57 crypto phone, a black box with an ordinary phone receiver in the top, THUNKS down on the table.

ETHAN plugs the phone cable from his laptop into the back. The green display on top of the KY57 dials a number and makes a computer connection.

On the computer, the screen says:

I.M.F. PERSONNEL DATABASE

ENTER PASSWORD NOW

ETHAN types a password and the screen asks him for the

CATEGORY?

He types in a single word.

DISAVOWED

The word "disavowed" dissolves slowly over the stateroom of a high speed train, where the newly assembled IM force has gathered around a table -- KRIEGER, a dangerous-looking Frenchman of forty or so, LUTHER STICKELL, a muscular, soft- spoken American in his mid-thirties. ETHAN, and CLAIRE. LUTHER regards the others warily.

ETHAN nods. KRIEGER turns to CLAIRE.

ETHAN looks at KRIEGER.

ETHAN looks back at LUTHER. LUTHER thinks.

While ETHAN talks, we see what he's referring to:

A CIA ANALYST carrying a glass of iced tea and several file folders walks down a long corridor in the headquarters building. He comes to an impressive guard station and rests his chin on a strange-looking optometric device.

Apparently the device approves and the ANALYST is buzzed into a "RESTRICTED" area of the building.

The ANALYST reaches a curtained area. He shoves the curtain aside and comes to a large, vaulted door. He slides a card- key into a slot, leaves it there and slides a second card- key into the slot beneath it.

A panel next to the ANALYST says "INTRUSION COUNTERMEASURES OFF." The ANALYST next spins a three digit combination code, CHUNKS the door open and steps into --

-- the secured terminal room. It's not large but it's impressive. A single terminal is bolted into the middle of the floor and the glass and tile walls of the room overlook computer storage towers.

The ANALYST closes the vault door behind him and walks across the room. As he walks, the floor tiles light up under his feet, turning off again when he lifts the weight from them.

A thermometer on the wall shows the temperature is 72 degrees. The ANALYST sets his glass down, boots up the computer, and starts entering data from the file folders.

The ANALYST turns and takes a sip of his iced tea. A drop of condensation runs down the glass and hits the floor. When it makes contact, the floor panel lights up.

The other team members gathered around the table look at ETHAN skeptically.

The middle of the night and the train is dark. The team members come out of the stateroom to go to bed -- KRIEGER heads in one direction, ETHAN and CLAIRE in the other.

ETHAN stops. His attention is drawn to the car ahead. There is a window in the door to the car and he looks through it.

ETHAN'S P.O.V. THRU WINDOW (INT. BUSINESS CAR - NIGHT)

Ethan sees the business car, a plush space for busy executives to get some work done on the train. There are laptops, cellular phones, desks that fold out in front of spacious seats.

A FEMALE EXECUTIVE, forty or so, is seated at one of the desks, typing away into her laptop.

ETHAN knocks on the compartment door.

ETHAN and CLAIRE enter, ETHAN closing the compartment door. He pulls an envelope from his jacket and holds it out to her. She takes it, waits.

CLAIRE's coolness causes ETHAN to hesitate just enough to take it in.

And they're suddenly, violently in each others arms, kissing and half-falling onto the converted bed. She suddenly resists. He senses it and pulls away.

He rises and goes to the door. He's got his hand on the knob when CLAIRE wraps her arms around him from behind, turns him to her and kisses him, deeply. This time they sink slowly to the bed.

Seen from the air, CIA headquarters is a sprawling complex, two huge buildings surrounded by acres of parking lots hacked out of a thick forest.

LANGLEY

KITTRIDGE, BARNES, and their STAFF are hard at work, photographs and biographical data of ETHAN on various computer and television screens around the room. KITTRIDGE leans back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

AGENT LOWDEN/AGENT

KITTRIDGE brings his chair legs down on the floor with a

BANG.

From somewhere in the building, an ALARM sounds, not too loud in here.

AGENT PAT/AGENT

The alarm get louder as it goes off in another part of the building.

An AGENT is just coming in from the hallway.

SIRENS BLARING, three fire trucks race past an inconspicuous gray van parked on the shoulder of a two lane highway.

Three FIREMEN stomp into the main lobby of the CIA headquarters building. ETHAN and KRIEGER are among them, in firemen's jumpsuits, carrying packs of equipment.

ETHAN takes a breath as they cross to the GUARD's desk. He looks up, above him.

Etched into the top of one wall are the words "AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE."

They reach the GUARD. ETHAN, who wears Visco glasses, elbows to the front of the group and takes charge.

The GUARD checks a screen in front of him.

The FIREMEN look at each other. Who is this guy? But he seems to know what he's talking about, so --

One fire truck is parked slightly behind the others in the parking area of the headquarters building. Second truck roars past. LUTHER watches it go.

LUTHER is in the belly of the fire truck with a ton of equipment -- three laptops, a bundle of phone cable, a mini- dish antenna, a cellular phone, several thick phone company manuals with names like "COSMOS" and "SWITCHED ACCESS SERVICE."

One laptop serves as a Visco monitor, showing a video image in which LUTHER watches ETHAN'S point of view of the stubborn GUARD, who's finishing his sentence.

LUTHER turns to a screen on another computer and searches through a complex facilities menu.

He finds what he's looking for and double clicks on it. A red box on his screen lights up --

-- and the same red box lights up on the GUARD'S screen. From in the distance, a new ALARM begins to wail.

ETHAN turns and looks at one of the FIREMEN behind them -- it's CLAIRE. CLAIRE and KRIEGER follow ETHAN/GUARD to corridor.

CLAIRE quickly slips out of her fireman's jumpsuit, revealing a business suit underneath. She clips an ID tag to her breast pocket.

She pulls a piece of paper from her pocket, a computer printout of a man's ID photo. She stares at the face, studying it.

CLAIRE, carrying a cup of coffee and a muffin, looks for a spot among the tables in the cafeteria of the headquarters building.

She sees a MAN sitting alone, reading a newspaper. It's the man whose picture she looked at in the storage room. She sits next to him.

He looks up and gives her an acknowledging half smile, then goes back to his paper.

He turns to pick up the paper and in the moment he is facing the other way, CLAIRE pulls out a small vial resembling a perfume sampler. She dumps the clear liquid contents into his coffee. He turns back and hands her part of the paper. CLAIRE smiles.

COFFEE MAN drinks up. CLAIRE stares at his shoulder strangely. He notices.

She reaches out and flicks something off his shoulder blade.

He smiles. But she hasn't flicked something off his shoulder blade, she's flicked something onto it -- a little piece of shiny gray metallic tape. CLAIRE leaves the table. COFFEE MAN drinks up and leaves the table.

LUTHER stares at another one of his laptops, this one with a blueprint of the inside of the building. A cursor begins to flash in one of the rooms. LUTHER smiles.

A GUARD carrying an MP5, a handheld machine gun, leads ETHAN and KRIEGER to a heavy metal door marked SERVICE.

They turn a corner, walking directly past --

-- COFFEE MAN, who's coming the other way. We stay with

COFFEE MAN.

COFFEE MAN comes out of the cafeteria, walks down the corridor. he goes to the restricted access door, taps the control panel.

ETHAN and KRIEGER in the service area - preparing. ETHAN putting the mask in a bag.

The GUARD returns.

The GUARD moves towards ETHAN, who kicks back at him, pushing him back to KRIEGER, who zaps the GUARD on the back of the neck. He twitches and slumps to the ground, unconscious. KRIEGER quickly grabs him around the neck.

ETHAN turns. Holding the GUARD'S head with one hand, KRIEGER pulls a stiletto from the sheath in the back of his belt with the other. He jabs it toward the base of the GUARD'S skull -

-- but ETHAN is on him in a flash. He grabs KRIEGER's knife arm shoving it up against the wall. Staring into KRIEGER'S face in warning.

ETHAN releases him and walks away.

The Guard is tied up, lying on the floor of the Service Area Room. ETHAN and KRIEGER are below the open vent into the duct system.

The first climb is straight up. KRIEGER cups his hands under ETHAN'S foot and lifts him up into the duct as he starts to climb.

ETHAN and KRIEGER crawl quickly through the ducts, moving horizontally now. They reach a juncture and turn right.

ETHAN and KRIEGER reach a ventilator shaft in the duct. A laser net protects the ventilator, red shafts of light cris- crossing every which way. ETHAN looks down, through the net.

He can see the computer room below and the top of the TECHNICIAN'S head.

In the duct, ETHAN signals to KRIEGER, making a triangle of his hands. KRIEGER wriggles forward and hands him a multi- sided, pyramid shaped glass object.

ETHAN raises the pyramid and intercepts a portion of one of the laser net's beams. The pyramid glows and we realise what it is -- a prism.

The laser beam now captive in the prism, ETHAN carefully moves it out of the centre of the ventilator shaft and directs it toward another prism, clearing a path through the shaft.

Up in the ceiling above it, one of the screws starts to move in the ventilator shaft, unscrewing. When it appears ready to drop out, a thin strip of metal snakes out from between the bars of the shaft and edges up next to the screw.

The screw drops out of its hole but it doesn't drop to the floor, it zips over and clings to the side of the metal strip with a gentle CLICK, as to a magnet.

The screw is pulled up, through the shaft. Now the whole shaft moves, down, into the room, held by a hand.

It turns sideways and is pulled up, into the duct.

A rubber tube snakes down, through the hole, coming to a stop near the thermostat, which says it's seventy-two degrees. A gentle WHOOSH is audible as frosty air blows through the tube, cooling the room.

The TECHNICIAN defaults the security systems outside the terminal room.

It is eerily still in the locked-down computer room we saw earlier. No-one is there, there's not a sound but for the gentle HUM of the computer as it waits to be put to use.

Now ETHAN's head descends slowly into the room, his hair falling in front of him.

At first it seems he's just poking his head in for a look, but he keeps coming and coming -- first his head, then shoulders, then waist, then knees, and finally we see his ankles and understand.

He is lowered to stop in front of the thermometer and temperature read out on the computer. Suddenly ETHAN is lifted back up quickly to hang at ceiling height above the computer as the ANALYST enters the room.

The TECHNICIAN crosses to the computer and sits down, a stack of work to his right.

The TECHNICIAN is working away at the computer. He pauses and wipes some sweat from his forehead.

With a strange look on his face, the TECHNICIAN looks up. It's almost as if he senses ETHAN above him but instead --

-- he vomits.

He reaches for the garbage can and upchucks again. Puzzled, sick and feeling another wave coming on, he drags himself to his feet, hauls himself across the room and leaves.

Even sick, the TECHNICIAN still thinks to re-activate the alarm systems with a card-key. They HUM back to life efficiently, a light flashing:

INTRUSION COUNTERMEASURES ON

ETHAN descends again, slowly but steadily, until he is at the same height as the computer terminal to hang horizontally in front of the computer.

A heavy velcro strap binds his ankles together, secured by a rope that leads up into the ventilator shaft and through the set of pulleys.

KRIEGER holds the rope, his jaw clenched, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

Unfortunately, he's three feet away from it. He stretches his arms but can't reach.

He blinks, unable to believe this. He curls himself into a situp and looks up, into the shaft.

KRIEGER sees the predicament.

ETHAN gestures to him, pointing to the floor. Slowly, KRIEGER drops him another few feet. Now ETHAN's lower than the terminal and still three feet away from it.

He closes his eyes, summoning his strength and does another situp, bringing himself up right in front of the terminal.

In the fire truck, LUTHER, who is watching on the Visco monitor, turns his head upside down to get a look at what ETHAN sees.

He cups his hands around the microphone of his headset and begins to whisper. We hear only the moist, airy sound of his breath, not the words.

ETHAN's ear receiver WHISPERS ever-so-slightly. He reaches out, to the upside down keyboard, cranes his head to see it and starts typing, softly.

The computer HUMS, activated. ETHAN unbuttons his pocket, withdraws a 3.5 disk and slides it gently into the floppy drive.

The computer accepts it with a soft WHIR. ETHAN winces, even that soft sound is deafening in these circumstances.

But no alarms go off.

LUTHER cranes his head again to see the computer terminal through ETHAN's trembling viewpoint. He WHISPERS more commands.

ETHAN types in the contends, presses enter and the screen displays a comforting message:

DOWNLOADING

LUTHER'S eyes widen as he gets his first look, on the Visco monitor, of the specific information they're downloading. The NOC list.

KRIEGER shakes with the strain of holding the rope. His eyes suddenly widen as he sees something next to him.

It's a rat. KRIEGER stares. The rat stares back. Neither moves. Puzzled by KRIEGER'S lack of response, the rat crawls forward, inquisitive.

KRIEGER's eyes water, his nose twitches. He's about to sneeze.

LUTHER pulls himself together and WHISPERS another command into the microphone.

The 3.5 disk is ejected from the floppy drive. ETHAN pockets it and signals to be raised.

Slowly, his body starts to move up. As it does, a bead of sweat rolls down his nose, balling at the tip.

ETHAN ignores it. But below him, he sees the floor tiles, four of them lit up under the wheels of the chair at the computer terminal.

His eyes widen as he realizes something --

--the drop of sweat falls --

--and he catches it with his right hand.

CIA ANALYST crosses corridor from restricted access door to bathroom.

A toilet FLUSHES, smashing the silence, and the TECHNICIAN staggers out of the bathroom. He goes to the sink and throws some water on his face. He's still unaware of the piece of shiny metallic tape stuck to his shoulder blade.

He walks out of the bathroom, crosses corridor to door.

On one of LUTHER'S laptops, the blinking cursor starts to move down a corridor. LUTHER speaks into his microphone.

ETHAN is near the ceiling, but KRIEGER isn't pulling any more. ETHAN looks up at him, wide-eyed and gestures to pull him up. KRIEGER shakes his head no.

ETHAN gestures -- "WHAT?!"

The cursor is halfway across the screen.

ETHAN still dangles. Holding the rope with one hand, KRIEGER holds out his other, demanding something. He wants the disk.

The TECHNICIAN makes his way back down the corridor, toward the computer room.

The blinking cursor is near the edge of the screen and LUTHER is sweating.

ETHAN, still hanging upside down, has refused. KRIEGER demands again.

The TECHNICIAN passes through the optometric scanner.

ETHAN is hoisted up.

ETHAN has the diskette in his mouth. KRIEGER leans down and takes it. He drops the knife.

The TECHNICIAN deactivates the alarm systems, swings the door open and comes back into the room.

He turns to close the door behind him and in so doing just misses seeing ETHAN'S head as it is pulled back up into the ceiling.

ETHAN throws smoke cannisters and he and KRIEGER crawl frantically back through the duct, the way they came.

CLAIRE walks quickly past the GUARDS in the reception area and out of the building.

The TECHNICIAN enters the room and shuts the door. He sees the knife, picks it up, looks at it and then puts it down. He resumes his work at the computer but when he punches up his program, something prints out on his screen. Its header:

KEYSTROKE LOG -- FILE DOWNLOAD

9.58 AM

And it goes on. The TECHNICIAN'S eyes widen in disbelief. He spins back in his chair and reaches for the nearest telephone.

In the communications room, tempers are running a little high. KITTRIDGE is on his feet, berating his staff.

Now it's coming together in KITTRIDGE'S mind and a horrible thought occurs to him.

There is nervous silence for a moment. Behind KITTRIDGE, on the other side of the room, the phone starts to ring.

An AGENT gets up to answer it as a creeping fear pervades the room.

Nervous laughter goes around the table. It fades. On the other side of the room, the AGENT who answered the phone turns, receiver in hand, face ashen.

He holds the phone out to KITTRIDGE, terrified, the bearer of extremely bad news.

They all turn slowly and look at him. He holds the phone out to KITTRIDGE, shaking slightly.

It may be a HUMAN SCREAM or it may be a SIREN'S WAIL but it echoes over the forest as a lone fire truck ROARS away from the headquarters building, making its escape.

LUTHER, KRIEGER, CLAIRE and ETHAN, the victorious team, are in the truck's cab. They exchange looks of massive relief. But no one speaks. LUTHER, in particular, looks heavily troubled by what they've just done.

ETHAN looks at CLAIRE, who is jammed into the seat next to him. She drops her head on his shoulder, exhausted.

KRIEGER, in the driver's seat literally and figuratively.

ETHAN just looks straight ahead and to CLAIRE.

The TECHNICIAN who discovered the theft of the list sits at one end of the now-empty conference table in the communications room. KITTRIDGE sits in a chair beside, staring gravely at him.

He gets up and walks to the door, where HARRY BARNES hovers. KITTRIDGE lowers his voice, it's barely audible.

He gestures to the TECHNICIAN, who watches them anxiously.

He leaves. Barnes turns to the TECHNICIAN, who looks up at him anxiously.

Night. This street is a row of nondescript hotels, one after the other, with anonymous names like "Hotel Pomeroy," "Hotel Vincent," and "Hotel Berridge."

LONDON

This barely furnished flat is as nondescript as the row of buildings it's in. ETHAN hurriedly digs through an overnight bag until he finds what he's looking for -- the now-battered bible he's used to contact Max. He flips through the pages and crosses the room to his laptop, which is powered up and waiting on the tiny desk.

LUTHER, alone in a chair across the room. is seriously preoccupied. KRIEGER is sprawled-on a ratty sofa, hoisting a lager and watching CNN.

CLAIRE is at the window staring out, anxious.

KRIEGER glances over the back of the sofa at ETHAN.

From the desk, ETHAN glances up. Then goes back to the computer. KRIEGER continues to glare over the sofa back.

ETHAN ignores him, working. His computer jams with static as it connects to a BBS. The screen blinks and displays the familiar Bible group service through which he's contacted Max. When it asks him which chapter and verse for the posting, ETHAN flicks through the Bible, looking for the next code. He begins to type.

MAX -- Now might be an excellent time to interpret Scripture face to face. Meet on TGV, noon tomorrow. Take seat 27. Bring our mutual friend Job.

KRIEGER suddenly appears over his shoulder and knocks bible out of Ethan's hands to the floor.

He goes back to the computer, his finger hovering over the "ENTER" button.

LUTHER and CLAIRE watch this growing conflict closely. ETHAN sighs and stands up. KRIEGER pulls out the blue disk he took from ETHAN in the computer room and waves it in front of him.

OR Lachez - moi

OR T'agueue

He reaches into his briefcase and pulls out an identical disk. He puts it back in his jacket pocket.

KRIEGER stares for a second.

He holds the jacket pocket wide open, for KRIEGER to look into. KRIEGER does. The pocket is empty.

ETHAN walks over to CLAIRE, reaches into the pocket of the trousers she's wearing and pulls out the disk.

He palms the disk in his right hand.

While he talks, he rotates his hand, palm away from KRIEGER. When he rotates it back, the disk is gone again. He holds up his left hand. It's there now.

ETHAN shows his hands -- now both are empty.

ETHAN pats his pockets, pretending to be frantic.

KRIEGER just stares at him, shaken. CLAIRE laughs. KRIEGER looks at her. He turns completely red. When he looks back at ETHAN, ETHAN holds two disks -- one in each hand.

He tosses his worthless disk into the trash can and storms out, SLAMMING the door behind him. ETHAN picks up the Bible and sees Drake Hotel.

She leaves, closing the door behind her, leaving ETHAN and LUTHER alone.

ANGLE ETHAN waits a moment, then casually walks to the trash can, picks up the disk KRIEGER threw out and brushes it off carefully.

He replaces it, in the trash, with the blue disk from his jacket pocket.

Claire opens the door.

ETHAN follows CLAIRE into her room where she shows him the television screen.

INSERT - SCREEN

On the screen, an anchor in the CNN news center.

CNN reporter speaks to camera, on the steps of a courthouse.

BACK TO SCENE

ETHAN looks. CLAIRE behind him.

INSERT - SCREEN

An OLDER COUPLE, mid-sixties, exit the doors and are led down the steps of the courthouse in shackles. The Reporter and other news crews race up to the door.

Camera follows the couple downstairs. Police roughly pull them away from the news crews.

BACK TO SCENE

INSERT - SCREEN

BACK TO SCENE

VOICE (O.S.) Similar to methamphetamines, cat is seen by officials as one of the most powerful and dangerous drugs in the world. Some thirty-four cat labs have been seized so far, but the recently widowed Mrs. Hunt and her brother-in-law are believed to be involved in a global drug distribution network.

A public official exits the building. The reporter and other news crews charge up to him.

The image on the television changes to an interview with a PUBLIC OFFICIAL who faces a bank of microphones.

BACK TO SCENE

ETHAN switches TV off and paces away from it. His anger erupts and he kicks the old filing cabinets, then picks up a chair and throws it across the room so it smashes into the wall. CLAIRE tries to get hold of him, but he shakes her away.

CAMERA SWING PANS between them.

ETHAN comes out from a side street by Liverpool Street Underground Station and crosses the road to the main station. CLAIRE watches him from the window.

ETHAN hurries down escalator. CAMERA MOVES IN on him. He crosses to the TELEPHONE BOXES. He starts to dial a number.

A light flashes and a phone BUZZES. KITTRIDGE in shirt and tie, picks up. BARNES and several other AGENTS are monitoring newscasts and engaged in various activities related to the Hunt case.

What do you need for a pinpoint? (to Ethan) Been watching a little T.V., have you?

One of the technicians frantically scratches something on a piece of foolscap and waves it at KITTRIDGE: "80 SECONDS".

KITTRIDGE nods.

At the console, the number 44 flashes on the TECHNICIAN'S screen.

BARNES scratches England and 22 seconds on foolscap and waves it.

The TECHNICIAN opens another line on his console and begins patching through to Whitehall.

The wall clock is thirty seconds and counting down. The TECHNICIAN is frantically signalling KITTRIDGE to keep talking. KITTRIDGE is momentarily stuck. Fortunately:

Click. ETHAN has hung up. KITTRIDGE looks hopefully to the TECHNICIAN who says:

Surprisingly KITTRIDGE is not as upset as he is puzzled.

Clearly that's the question that KITTRIDGE is turning over in his mind and he doesn't have a simple answer to it.

Close Digital clock. It reads 23.59. Angle widens to show ETHAN looking at it with grim satisfaction. He opens the door of the phone booth and almost SMACKS right into --

--the pale, weary, ghostlike figure of a man standing just inches in front of him. Startled, ETHAN looks up, but what he sees shakes him to the core.

The man is JIM PHELPS.

ETHAN SHOUTS and almost falls back into the phone booth. PHELPS leans against the door of the booth and smiles weakly.

PHELPS falls towards ETHAN. ETHAN tries to speak, but can't even form words.

ETHAN and PHELPS opposite one another in a booth, PHELPS looking clammy and listing to one side. But the banter seems friendly and very quick - two friends and close colleagues able to follow one another's reasoning easily, finishing each other's sentences:

PHELPS smiles warmly, has to steady himself to maintain an upright position. He opens a medicine bottle and takes the pain killers.

PHELPS grips the sides of the table.

A reprise of PHELPS'S narrative only now ETHAN'S telling it and camera is showing the events as ETHAN sees they actually happened.

At the Embassy PHELPS sends the elevator to the top of the building, watching it go and crush Kiefer.

On the Charles bridge PHELPS using the Visco glasses aims the gun toward them, fires, cants the glasses and tosses them into the Vltava River.

There on the embankment, in the night and fog, it is KRIEGER who takes out GOLITSYN and SARAH thru the fence..

Here it is CLAIRE with back to camera who presses the detonator and turns dreamily to face it, the explosion brilliant behind her...

PHELPS presses the remote detonator and the car blows..

OVER SHOULDER - PHELPS (INT. RAILWAY CAFE)

ETHAN looking intently at him.

Awkward moment.

PHELPS looks away. Seems badly shaken.

PHELPS breaks off abruptly. Apparently some inner struggle over this threatens to overwhelm him. Then, controlling it:

The door to CLAIRE'S room in the safe house opens, throwing a shaft of light over her form. ETHAN creeps in and closes the door behind him.

It is approximately one a.m. . CLAIRE is huddled in the corner. ETHAN enters and stands looking at her.

She draws him down by his hand to kiss her.

He kisses her again, more fully. She wraps an arm around him and he holds onto the kiss. The room appears to revolve around them.

Suddenly it's bright, broad daylight, so bright it hurts our eyes.

KITTRIDGE and BARNES step off a military helicopter, blinking at the sunlight and hurry down the steps.

TWO AGENTS immediately flank KITTRIDGE at the bottom and fall into step alongside, ready to brief him. One of them holds out a small package with "for Job" written on it.

KITTRIDGE looks at him. He rips it open. A note inside simply says:

TGV. LONDON TERMINUS

Noon.

KITTRIDGE looks at his watch. It's ten to twelve.

As he reads the note, something else falls out of the envelope and CLUNKS to the ground.

He bends over, picks it up, and looks at it. Cradled in his hand, we can't see what it is. But to him, it's very interesting.

He steps up his pace, headed for the car.

The sleek front power car, looking like the nose of an SST, gets its 25,000 volt charge from the overhead catenary.

The rear power car gets its jolt.

The TGV starts to move, pulling out of the station.

The business car is similar to the one ETHAN saw on the first train they look across Europe. It's crowded, maybe THIRTY MEN and WOMEN in suits, most of them already immersed in work on their laptops or talking on their cellular phones.

One such woman is MAX in her seat, number 27. MATTHIAS and the OTHER MAN, last seen dropping off ETHAN in Prague, sit across from her, her laptop is on the table next to her, in her briefcase.

A MAN puts a cellular phone and a radio/cassette machine on the bunk-bed. We only see his hands as he proceeds to take the parts of a pistol out of the cassette machine and assemble a wicked-looking pistol from the seemingly innocuous electrical parts inside.

MAX is reading the Financial Times. MATTHIAS is looking out of the window. A cellular phone rings inside MAX's briefcase in front of MATTHIAS. MATTHIAS takes the phone out.

MAX reaches down and does as instructed, finding the computer disk as promised. She hands it to Matthias who strips off the velcro covering and slots it into the drive next to the computer in the briefcase. He boots it up quickly and turns the briefcase containing the computer toward MAX for her to see.

One half of the screen, with the heading "CRYPTONYM AND OPERATIONAL SPECS" is already jammed with information. The blank second half of the screen acquires the title "TRUE NAME," and information starts filling itself in rapidly -- names, addresses, identities.

As the two sides match up, a legend flashes:

IDENTITY MATCH

LUTHER, three rows behind in another seat, is at work on a laptop of his own. A mobile Nokia phone is beside it - red light flashing.

KITTRIDGE and BARNES move through the second class car. They turn around and start working their way back again.

At the front, CLAIRE is getting desperate. A LARGE MAN passes through the door behind her.

The LARGE MAN continues back, nearing KITTRIDGE and BARNES, who are forced to step into empty seats on the side in order to make room for him to pass. As they move by him, their vision is momentarily blocked --

-- and CLAIRE gets up to follow.

She follows to the rear of the car and she passes through the door and out of the car, after KITTRIDGE and BARNES talk in doorway.

KITTRIDGE and BARNES go off back through the next coach. CLAIRE follows into the same doorway and stops to speak into her wristwatch to ETHAN:

She moves onto the next coach, going after KITTRIDGE and

BARNES.

On her computer screen in the business car, an ominous message flashes.

MAX hangs up and hands the phone to MATTHIAS who slots it into the briefcase next to the computer. He dials a number on the keyboard and pushes send. The computer emits a DIAL TONE. Her computer flashes a message.

MODEM DENIED

The MAN assembling the gun CLICKS the last piece, the silencer, into place.

KITTRIDGE and BARNES looking - stop in doorway.

LUTHER sees them coming. He smacks the laptop shut and positions his jamming phone on the table to point at Max's computer. He gets up, taking his computer with him, headed for the rear of the car. A WAITER sees the phone and goes after LUTHER with it.

OTHER PASSENGERS' phones nearby go haywire. LUTHER looks to MAX. Exits car.

Her dial tone finally hits the static of a computer connection and the message on her screen changes:

TRANSFER IN PROGRESS

LUTHER shuts himself in the bathroom. The OTHER MAN follows him, tries the door and waits his moment. The OTHER MAN bangs against the door. LUTHER braces himself against the door.

CLAIRE walking through. She pauses to listen in her earpiece.

She walks on.

KITTRIDGE and BARNES are looking at the people in the Business Car behind MAX. CLAIRE passes them by heading for the last executive coach to get to Club and Baggage Car. She passes the OTHER MAN at the bathroom door. He follows her.

KITTRIDGE and BARNES have seen CLAIRE go through MAX'S Business Car and past the OTHER MAN at the bathroom door. They follow, but suspect the locked bathroom door and stop there to listen.

CLAIRE moves swiftly through the last car (after MAX'S car). up into the Club Car and opens the door leading to the BAGGAGE CAR. Goes in. The door slams shut.

CLAIRE enters a little breathless. Spotting PHELP'S profile in the darkened car.

Here PHELPS pulls out his assembled pistol.

PHELP'S watch alarm goes off.

JIM turns to CLAIRE.

CLAIRE goes to ETHAN.

ETHAN hands her the money.

CLAIRE goes to Jim with the money.

CLAIRE starts to count.

CLAIRE hands PHELPS the money.

PHELP'S watch alarm goes off.

ETHAN throws JIM the Visco glasses.

PHELPS and CLAIRE are stunned.

PHELPS points the gun at ETHAN.

PHELPS shoots CLAIRE. Struggle between PHELPS and ETHAN. The gun is lost. PHELPS beats ETHAN to the ground. His watch alarm beeps rapidly. He turns, goes up the stairs and...

ETHAN goes to CLAIRE.

CLAIRE dies. ETHAN looks to ladder hatch and climbs ladder.

PHELPS climbs up a ladder past an inert engineer slumped over the control panel -- an obvious earlier victim of PHELPS. PHELPS puts on a pair of clear goggles, reaches a trap door and climbs through it --

-- halfway out onto the roof of the train. He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a suction cup with a handle on the end of it. He SMACKS the suction cup down on the roof and pulls himself the rest of the way out.

He pulls out a second suction cup and SMACKS it down on the smooth surface of the train.

Now for the tough part. Using the suction cups, PHELPS slowly pulls himself forward, a foot at a time, pulling and replanting the cups as he goes.

He drags himself over the length of the final car, to the back of the train, where the rear engine slants off sharply, a window for the ENGINEER.

Half kneeling on the roof, PHELPS pulls out the clip from his belt.

He looks up, scanning the sky behind the train. From out of the fog, a helicopter approaches.

PHELPS turns and looks ahead, in the direction the train is going. In the distance, he can see the chunnel approaching the tunnel under the English Channel. His eyes widen.

KRIEGER is at the controls. He sees the approaching tunnel as well.

PHELPS crawls like hell to get into position. Looking up, he sees KRIEGER pointing frantically behind him. PHELPS turns.

ETHAN is climbing out the trap door.

A cable and hook swing down from the helicopter, almost touching the roof of the train. PHELPS crawls closer to it.

ETHAN, behind him, is in a far more precarious position. Without goggles or suction cups, he has to use his fingers to grab small holes on the roof.

He is flipped over by the wind, ending up facing the other way. Loses his grip and is blown backwards over the roof.

KRIEGER sees the Chunnel entrance approaching. He gestures to PHELPS and tries to move the cable closer to him, passing over PHELPS and then back to him.

PHELPS grabs the cable and is about to hook the cable onto his belt, ETHAN slides into him and they both crash onto the roof.

ETHAN grabs the cable out of PHELPS hand and clips it onto the roof.

PHELPS and ETHAN struggle, but they are hurtling dangerously closer to the chunnel entrance.

They're now right on top of the chunnel entrance.

KRIEGER sees the tunnel, only seconds away now. He paws at the controls, jerking back desperately on a certain lever.

PHELPS kicks ETHAN and he falls off the far side of the train. PHELPS falls off the near side and holding onto the strap manages to pull himself back on.

-- The train ZOOMS into the tunnel --

-- AND THE HELICOPTER ROARS RIGHT IN BEHIND IT!

As the train roars into the tunnel, the business car goes nearly dark and the message on MAX'S computer screen changes one last time. This time it says:

CONNECTION TERMINATED.

TRANSFER LOST.

MAX'S face falls.

Another CONDUCTOR races into the power car, past his inert companion, and is shocked to see the copter right behind the train. He grabs a radio and SCREAMS into it.

VOICE (O.S.) Stop the train!

For a moment, we see no one. No ETHAN. No PHELPS. Moving around to the other end of the car, we see where they've gone.

They're dangling from either side of it.

PHELPS paws for one of the suction cups and pulls himself back onto the roof of the train. ETHAN reaches for the other cup.

The helicopter, fortunate that this tunnel is double track and barely wide enough to accomodate it, pursues, KRIEGER pushing it up to full speed again.

But it can't lift up high enough to go completely over the train.

PHELPS, nearing the back, manoeuvers himself to the windshield of the rear power car, trying to grab the skid of KRIEGER'S copter.

He doesn't see what's headed toward him, coming from the other direction.

Another train.

At the last moment, PHELPS notices the reflection of the oncoming train in the windshield and swings back onto the roof of his train, barely avoiding getting creamed by it as it blows by.

The helicopter avoids the oncoming train too -- and PHELPS misses the skid.

KRIEGER tips the front of the copter, trying to decapitate ETHAN with the rotor. PHELPS jumps onto the skid, but the copter pitches so far forward the blade hits the top of the tunnel. SPARKS and chunks of cement fly.

KRIEGER levels the chopper quickly. ETHAN uses the moment to leap from the train onto the other helicopter skid.

PHELPS and ETHAN now hang on the skids, facing one another. Crouching on the skid, ETHAN digs in his pocket and pulls out --

-- a red and green piece of bubble gum.

PHELPS sees it and SCREAMS at KRIEGER, who scrambles frantically for his gun.

ETHAN mashes the red into the green, slaps the gum onto the copter's underbelly and turns away from it.

PHELPS kicks vainly at the gum, SCREAMING --

-- but the gum EXPLODES. The force of the blast rockets ETHAN forward, he lands on the train's windshield.

The helicopter whirls and BASHES into the tunnel, veers wildly, then pitches forward and down, smashing PHELPS under the skid and EXPLODING in a giant fireball.

ETHAN, stuck on the windshield, can only watch as the wreckage of the copter tumbles down the train towards him.

It stops just short of him, with its bent and broken rotor blade barely missing his throat.

ETHAN lays his head against the windshield glass, utterly drained.

KITTRIDGE comes back into the business car and is joined by BARNES. LUTHER, only slightly bruised, stands up next to them and gestures to MAX and her laptop.

MAX looks up, stunned. KITTRIDGE leans over and peers at her screen. He just smiles and sits down next to her, content to wait for her to speak.

When she finally does, she's almost charming.

KITTRIDGE leans closer to her and lowers his voice, just as friendly.

LUTHER sits on a high stool, his PowerBook next to him, while he sips a beer. A television screen is featuring follow-up coverage of yesterday's dramatic helicopter-train wreck in the chunnel. Aside from emphasizing that it was the work of a lone, crazed character in a helicopter who was killed in the crash, there are comments about how miraculous it was there were no other fatalaties. There are intermittent sounds of aircraft taking off and landing, announcements of arrivals and departures. ETHAN into shot. He sits beside

LUTHER.

LUTHER picks up his beer.

They drink.

The two men understand one another and LUTHER will say no more. The two exchange slight gestures of farewell and in a moment ETHAN disappears from the bar, leaving a contemplative LUTHER looking after him.

ETHAN HUNT slumps down in his scat, dosing. A FLIGHT ATTENDANT makes her way down the aisle, holding a case filled with movie cassettes. She stops before a lady passenger.

She then stops before ETHAN.

ETHAN just stares at her. This couldn't be what it's sounding like.

The camera moves into ETHAN's face. They found him. They want him back. He looks up at her and.....

CUT TO BLACK.