A Preemptive Strike - part 6

EXT. SUPER 8 MOTEL - MORNING

A large metal object is RATTLING around and snow is TUMBLING
forward in front of it.

Pulling to an overhead shot, we see that it's a snow plow,
working hard to get rid of the previous evening's snowfall.

Inside the vehicle, a SNOW PLOW DRIVER in his 50s with a
grey beard is smoking a cigarette, listening to "Your
Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams. He's singing quietly to
the music as he bounces in his seat.

SNOW PLOW DRIVER
(singing quietly)
When tears come down like falling
rain
You'll toss around and call my
name
You'll walk the floor the way
I do your cheatin' heart will tell
on you

Another close up of the front of the plow. Snow continues
piling up and FLYING MADLY to each side.

Back in the cab, the man removes the cigarette from his
mouth to cough violently. He rolls down the window and
spits out of it. He then replaces the cigarette and
continues puffing. Suddenly there is a JOLT and he drops
his cigarette between his legs.

SNOW PLOW DRIVER
Whoa!

He grabs the cigarette and puts it back in his mouth. The
snow plow starts to make a GRINDING noise as it moves along.
The driver comes to a stop, puts his cigarette out in the
ashtray of his cab and steps out.

Now outside of the plow, the driver walks forward, before
realizing how cold it is. He goes back to the cab and grabs
his large winter hat and gloves. He closes the cab door and
takes out his cigarettes, lighting up a fresh one. He puts
on the hat and gloves and starts humming the song again. He
walks around to the front of the cab to see what the problem
could be.

Everything appears normal at first glance. The driver digs
at the large pile of snow with one hand in front of the
plow. Still, everything seems fine. He digs further, now
with both hands, until he finally finds deep in the pile
what appears to be hair.

SNOW PLOW DRIVER
The heck...

Brushing away the snow, he realizes with horror that it's
the head of a young woman.

The camera focuses on the head with a face frozen in horror
and we see the driver running to the hotel in the
background, out of focus. The music from the snow plow's
radio can still be heard: "Your cheatin' heart will tell on
you"


INT. AVERY ADVERTISING - MORNING

LOBBY

John is walking into work through the lobby of Avery
Advertising. He has a day's worth of stubble on his face
and his shirt is wrinkled. His eye is still quite purple
from the earlier incident. He seems calm, given the current
situation.

STEVE PETERS
Hey, how are you doin' buddy?

JOHN AVERY
Hey, Steve.

John glances uneasily at the receptionist's desk as he walks
by.

John heads straight to his office and closes the door behind
him.

JOHN'S OFFICE

John opens his laptop lid and goes to a local news website.
He scrolls through the list of top stories. He reaches the
bottom of the page and breathes a sigh of relief. Just
then, Steve walks in. John pushes his laptop screen down.

STEVE PETERS
Oh, hey, sorry...didn't mean to
interrupt, I just wanted to ask
about the Gustafson project.
Amanda called earlier this
morning, she was wondering if it
could be done by the end of the
week.

John doesn't appear to be paying attention.

STEVE PETERS
Um...also, I don't know if you've
heard, but Chantel at Upper Philly
was fired last week, so we're
going to be dealing with Allison
from now on. I can forward you
her contact info.

John nods, uninterested.

STEVE PETERS
John. You OK, buddy? You look
like hell. Wild night last night?

John makes eye contact with Steve.

JOHN AVERY
Yeah, uh, I'll...I'll take care of
it. Listen, I need to make a few
phone calls, so...

STEVE PETERS
Oh, geez, yeah, I'm sorry, I
barged in didn't I? I'll talk to
you later, all right?

John forces a fake smile and nods as Steve turns to leave.

STEVE PETERS
Oh, sorry, one last thing before I
let ya go. Elizabeth never came
in this morning. Want me to give
her a call, see if she's feeling
OK?

JOHN AVERY
No! No, that's...that's OK,
Steve. Actually, I...we talked
last week and she's...she's just
taking some time off. That's all.

STEVE PETERS
Time off? Jesus, she just got
back from Cuba a few weeks ago.
How much vacation time does a
secretary get around here?
(a beat)
Well, who's covering for her? I
need some shit faxed out ASAP and
I don't know how to work the god
damn thing.

John doesn't respond, he's staring into space.

Steve gives up and leaves the room looking upset.

John opens his laptop again and continues scrolling through
the list of stories. He suddenly stops scrolling when he
comes across a story titled "Body found in Moraine State
Park". John's eyes go wide. He clicks the link and begins
to read the story.

News Article: A body was found on the shores of Lake Arthur,
yesterday, just outside the city of New Castle. The cause
of death has not yet been confirmed, but it is considered
suspicious, New Castle Police said.

A concerned parent, whose seven-year-old child spotted the
body, called police.

"Police were contacted and confirmed it was a body," said
Staff-Sgt. Richard Levy. "It is being treated as suspicious.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact police."

There's a KNOCK at the door. John JUMPS in his chair and
looks up.

STEVE PETERS
Sorry bud, there's someone here
for you.

Steve walks away before John has a chance to ask who it is.

John closes the laptop lid and stands up. He walks
cautiously to the lobby to find a man in a brown puffy
winter jacket and large fur hat with flaps, hovering over
Elizabeth's desk. As John gets closer, he notices that the
man is flipping through an "Avery Advertising" brochure
that's laying on top of the counter. The man is DETECTIVE
HARRIS of the New Castle police department. He's a
middle-aged man with stark features and a pale complexion.

LOBBY

A static noise comes out of Detective Harris' walkie talkie
and he responds back to it.

DETECTIVE HARRIS
Yeah, I'll only be a few minutes
up here, Laurie, sit tight.

John approaches the man cautiously.

JOHN AVERY
Can I help you, sir?

DETECTIVE HARRIS
Mr. Avery?

JOHN AVERY
Yes.

DETECTIVE HARRIS
Nice to meet you, Mr. Avery, I'm
Detective Harris with the New
Castle police department. I'm
sorry to barge in like this, I'm
sure you're a busy guy. Your name
IS on the wall after all!

The detective motions to the "Avery Advertising" logo on the
wall.

John laughs nervously.

DETECTIVE HARRIS
Would you mind if we talked
somewhere in private for a few
moments?

JOHN AVERY
Oh, I'm actually awfully busy this
morning. I have a few calls to
make and I really need to--

DETECTIVE HARRIS
I know the feeling. I'm awfully
busy too, Mr Avery, but this will
only take a few minutes. I
promise. Then you can kick me on
outta here!

The police officer gives John a pleasant smile.

John glances nervously at Elizabeth's desk and then back at
his own office.

JOHN AVERY
What's this all about?

DETECTIVE HARRIS
Well, thing is, I'd actually
rather not say at the moment. Mind
if we step into your office? Like
I said, I just need a minute or
two of your time and I'll be outta
your hair.

John nods hesitantly.

JOHN AVERY
Yeah, OK...right this way.

DETECTIVE HARRIS
(pointing to the
Avery Advertising
brochure)
Mind if I take one?

JOHN AVERY
Sure...

Detective Harris looks John up and down and inspects the
various offices as he walks behind him to John's office.

JOHN'S OFFICE

John closes the door behind them.

DETECTIVE HARRIS
Mr. Avery, when was the last time
you were in contact with Miss.
Reisenfeld?

John stares at the officer, offering up a terribly fake
smile. He's cornered, and he knows it, it shows in his
face.

STEVE'S OFFICE

Steve is watching intently as John and the officer are
discussing something. The officer starts writing something
down on a notepad, before continuing to talk to John. John
starts rubbing his face with his hand as the officer
continues talking. John puts a finger up as if to say "one
second". Detective Harris brings his walkie talkie to his
mouth. John reaches into his jacket pocket, pulls out his
GUN and before the officer can reach for his own weapon,
SHOOTS him in the side of the face with a loud BANG,
splattering blood all over the glass windows of the office.

A look of horror comes over Steve's face and he gets up
quickly from his desk and RUSHES into the hallway.

John RUNS out into the hallway towards the front door. One
of the graphic designers, Kyle, is standing in the way. John
SHOOTS him in the shoulder with another loud BANG and BARGES
through the door.

Detective Harris is lying on the floor in John's office,
blood spurting from where the bullet pierced the side of his
face.

Everyone runs into the hallway after hearing the gunshots
and there are a variety of screams and "Oh God"s as people
are processing what has just happened. Several people rush
over to Kyle, several others to Detective Harris.

STAIRWELL

John is running down the stairs, taking them two or three at
a time. He trips and FALLS at the bottom of one of the
flights of stairs but only falls down a few to the next
landing. He manages to get back up with only a few scrapes
to his leg and continues running full tilt down the
stairwell. He has a look of madness on his face. What
little bit of sanity he entered the office with is now long
gone.


EXT. AVERY ADVERTISING - CONTINUOUS

John BURSTS through the side door of the large office
building and runs around to the back of the building,
searching for his car. His running is slow because of all
of the snow from the previous night. He trips and FALLS
again, this time taking a few seconds to regain his
composure and get back on his feet.

COP
Stop! Stop where you are! Drop
your weapon and put your hands on
your head!

John looks behind him and sees the female officer aiming her
gun at him. Beside the officer is the police cruiser that
Detective Harris and herself arrived in.

John aims haphazardly at her and FIRES, but the bullet
doesn't hit her. The officer FIRES back, the first shot
missing it's intended target and the second HITTING HIM in
the leg.

JOHN AVERY
No! Nooooo! Arghhhhhhh!

John is SCREAMING like a child, holding his leg in pain,
while at the same time trying to inch his way forward toward
his car.

The officer RUNS over and KICKS his gun away. She then
handcuffs John while trying to reach her partner on the
walkie talkie.

COP
Detective Harris, please respond,
I've got a man down in the parking
lot. Detective Harris, please
respond. Repeat, I've got a man
down, possibly Mr. Avery.

The camera pulls away from the parking lot, pulling away
into the sky. People come running out of the building
looking horrified. The female officer signals that they
shouldn't come any closer. The camera continues pulling out
on the snow-covered parking lot until the camera fades
completely to white.

FADE TO WHITE

The following text fades in over white:

One Year Later


INT. AVERY HOME - DAY

The front door of the house opens and an alarm system starts
beeping. The REAL ESTATE AGENT, a slim woman with dark hair
and a fake tan, reaches into her pocket and pulls out a
piece of paper with the alarm code on it. She punches it
into the system and it stops beeping.

REAL ESTATE AGENT
OK! Come on in, folks!

A middle-aged ASIAN MAN and his younger wife step into the
home.

REAL ESTATE AGENT
As you can see, the house has a
very open feel to it the moment
you walk in. It's VERY inviting!

The Asian couple don't seem to be overly impressed.

REAL ESTATE AGENT
I should also mention, the alarm
system does come with the house.
Well...shall we take a look
around?

ASIAN MAN
There's a hole.

REAL ESTATE AGENT
Beg pardon?

The Asian man points to the area of the wall where John and
Dafino had previously fallen down the stairs.

ASIAN MAN
Hole in wall.

Oh...oh my! You're right, I did not notice that. You know
what...it's probably just from when the movers were here. A
little bit of patch work and it'll be good as new! Let's go
check out the rest of the home...you're going to love the
kitchen!

The Asian man and woman exchange a glance.

UPSTAIRS HALLWAY

REAL ESTATE AGENT
Now, there are three bedrooms up
here. I believe one of them was
being used as an office, do either
of you ever work from home?

The Asian couple shake their heads in unison, still looking
unimpressed.

REAL ESTATE AGENT
Well then, maybe you could turn it
into an exercise room! If you'll
come right this way, we'll take a
peek at the master bedroom.

The three of them walk into the master bedroom. As they
walk in, they all notice the dried up blood still on the
carpet.

REAL ESTATE AGENT
Oh my...must just be a bit of
paint. That should come right
out, I'd imagine.

A long shot of the Asian couple looking very unimpressed.


INT. HOUSE - EVENING

It's early evening and Anton and Rachel are lying on Anton's
couch together. Rachel is clearly pregnant.

RACHEL AVERY
The house finally sold today.

ANTON BRODY
You're kidding, that's fantastic.

RACHEL AVERY
I feel like the last of it's
behind me now.

Anton hugs Rachel tightly and rubs her belly. The baby
kicks.

ANTON BRODY
Did you feel that?

RACHEL AVERY
Of course. She's a feisty one.
Just like her daddy.

ANTON BRODY
Her?

Rachel smiles.

RACHEL AVERY
According to the ultrasound...

ANTON BRODY
You said they couldn't tell!

RACHEL AVERY
(smiling widely)
Surprise!

ANTON BRODY
We're gonna have a baby girl...

Anton smiles. He leans over and kisses Rachel. He then
leans down and kisses her belly.

ANTON BRODY
C'mere.

Anton helps Rachel get up from the couch and they walk
outside using the double French doors at the end of the
room. It's dusk on the beach and the sun is just
disappearing behind the Pacific Ocean. Anton and Rachel lay
down on matching recliners and stare out at the waves.


FADE OUT.