TENET
Written by
Christopher Nolan
ORCHESTRA TUNING, audience settling. High officials in
glassed-in boxes toast each other. Doors closing...
BAM (from behind the orchestra) TERRORISTS with MACHINE
GUNS BURST in... The audience SCREAMS... The terrorists cover
the ordinary people... the HIGH OFFICIALS are held in the
BOXES...
INT./EXT. VAN, PLAZA, DOWNTOWN KIEV, UKRAINE (DAY)
As POLICE FLOOD THE PLAZA, the DRIVER turns to the PASSENGER
DRIVER
(in Ukrainian)
Wake up the Americans.
The Passenger turns to the back where four BLACK-CLAD YOUNG
MEN SIT, WAITING. The nearest one seems to be SLEEPING...
PASSENGER
Hey
EYES CLOSED, the young man COCKS his weapon, chambering a
round, POPS it out of the slide, CATCHES it, opens his eyes
this is THE PROTAGONIST...
The Passenger nods, 'okay'. The Driver looks down at a
VARIETY OF UNIFORM PATCHES...
SIRENS. The Americans shoulder WEAPONS, pull on HELMETS...
A UKRAINIAN SWAT VAN SCREECHES to a halt outside the theatre
The Passenger spots its markings TOSSES the corresponding
patches to the Americans, who slap them onto their shoulders.
Ukrainian SWATs pour out of the SWAT van
The Americans JUMP out of the back of their van, SLIPPING
UNNOTICED INTO THE STREAM OF SWATS pouring into the lobby...
INT. LOBBY, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
SWATs mass at each entrance... the Protagonist watches GAS
CANISTERS brought in TO THE AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM. The
SWATs pull on GAS MASKS...
INT. BOX, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
A WELL-DRESSED MAN sitting next to a UNIFORMED OFFICIAL looks
down into the stalls people SLUMP, UNCONSCIOUS, IN A
WAVE...
2.
He turns to the Official who motions calm, draws a
SIDEARM...
INT. THEATRE, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
A Terrorist wets a rag in a drinking fountain, ties it around
his nose and mouth. Others have WORKMAN'S RESPIRATORS AND
FACE MASKS. They COCK THEIR WEAPONS, preparing...
INT. LOBBY, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
THE SWATS BREACH POURING into the theatre exchange
GUNFIRE with the TERRORISTS...
INT. CURVING CORRIDOR DAY
RUNNING. Fast but silent...
FOLLOW the four Americans they hit a junction hand
signals they SPLIT two ways
FOLLOW two of them one of them PEELS OFF up a staircase
FOLLOW the last, the Protagonist checking each box...
INT. BOX, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist BURSTS in takes out the Official beside the
Well-Dressed Man
PROTAGONIST
We live in a twilight world...
The Well-Dressed Man stares, shocked
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
We live in a twilight world...
WELL-DRESSED MAN
(focuses)
And there are no friends at dusk.
PROTAGONIST
You've been made. This siege is a
blind for them to vanish you.
WELL-DRESSED MAN
But I've established contact
PROTAGONIST
Bring you in or kill you I have
two minutes. Make up your mind.
The Well-Dressed Man nods, climbs to his feet...
3.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Where's the package?
WELL-DRESSED MAN
Coat check.
He hands the Protagonist a numbered ticket.
INT. CORRIDOR, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
The battle between SWATs and Terrorists rages... SWATS move
down the corridor, checking the boxes one by one...
INT. BOX, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist SMASHES the glass checks the drop to the
stalls, pulls out a black rope, ties it to a column...
As they DROP, Terrorist gunfire rings out they LAND
hiding amongst the UNCONSCIOUS AUDIENCE. The Well-Dressed Man
takes a seat, FEIGNS SLEEP the Protagonist ROLLS under the
seats
BLAM! Terrorists near the stage open fire SHOTS ring out
hitting two sleeping audience members, nearby the Well-
Dressed Man TWITCHES the Protagonist holds his ankle
urging him to keep still
BLAM! A third sleeping audience member is shot the
Protagonist jumps up, DRAWING THE TERRORISTS' fire away from
the Well-Dressed Man
The Protagonist races towards two REAL UKRAINIAN SWATS who
cover him from the Terrorists one of them goes down.
The Protagonist takes cover beside the real UKRAINIAN SWAT
WHO IS PLANTING A BOMB UNDER THE SEATS... he gestures to the
dead SWAT's pack... the Protagonist unzips the bag to find a
BOMB, COUNTING DOWN IN SYNC WITH THE OTHER BOMB
UKRAINIAN SWAT
(in Ukrainian, impatient)
What're you doing?
The Ukrainian SWAT uses his gun to PROD the Velcro patch on
the Protagonist's shoulder. It FALLS OFF...
UKRAINIAN SWAT (CONT'D)
(in Ukrainian)
Who are you?
The Protagonist is at a loss... BAM! The Ukrainian SWAT is
taken out by another 'SWAT'
'SWAT'
No friends at dusk, huh?
4.
PROTAGONIST
You'll do.
The Protagonist GRABS the bombs, points at the Well Dressed
Man
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
(to the 'SWAT')
Get him to the rally point.
The 'SWAT' leads the Well-Dressed Man down a fire exit
INT. LOBBY, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist RACES across the lobby, gunfire RINGING OUT
LEAPS over the counter into the COAT-CHECK AREA...
Landing on the floor next to an unconscious coat-check girl.
He spots another bomb '4:23', '4:22'... the Protagonist
checks the number on the coat-check ticket and efficiently
moves across numbered racks until he finds a SPORTS BAG.
He unzips it to find a BLACK METALLIC OBJECT the size of a
softball.
He stuffs it into his pack and SCRAMBLES over the counter...
INT. SERVICE CORRIDOR CONTINUOUS
the Protagonist RUNS, checking numbers on doors... he STOPS
at a door, THROWS it open, JUMPS in low
INT. UTILITY ROOM CONTINUOUS
THREE 'SWATS', guns trained, and the Well-Dressed Man. The
Protagonist throws a bomb to SWAT 2, then shows the OBJECT to
the Well-Dressed Man
PROTAGONIST
I've never seen encapsulation like
this.
WELL-DRESSED MAN
We don't know how old it is. It's
the real deal.
PROTAGONIST
Did you have an out?
WELL-DRESSED MAN
Service tunnels to sewers.
PROTAGONIST
Swap clothes.
5.
The 'SWAT' and the Well-Dressed Man start changing. The
Protagonist hands SWAT 3 the object
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Take this, take him, take his exit.
I don't trust ours any more.
(to SWAT 2)
Can you defuse it?
SWAT 2
(shakes head)
Centrally synchronized. Are there
more?
The Protagonist nods, STUFFS the bomb in his pack
PROTAGONIST
Covering their tracks.
SWAT 2
Taking out the audience?
PROTAGONIST
Just the cheap seats.
SWAT 3
Not our mission
PROTAGONIST
Mine, now.
The newly dressed 'TARGET' steps up
'TARGET'
I'm with you the Ukrainians are
expecting a passenger.
INT. THEATRE, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist and the 'Target' race through the SLEEPING
AUDIENCE COLLECTING BOMBS the TIMERS tick down '1:58',
'1:57'.
Crouched at a bomb, the Protagonist notices a BULLET HOLE in
the side of the chair a TINY WHIFF OF SMOKE GATHERING...
CLICK a gun is to his head he spins around to see a
SWAT... '0:34', '0:33'... The 'Target' has his own gun on the
SWAT A STAND-OFF all around them, UNCONSCIOUS
CIVILIANS...
PROTAGONIST
Walk away you don't need to kill
these people.
The Protagonist turns back to the bomb... '0:32', '0:31'. At
the bullet hole the PUFF OF SMOKE THICKENS...
6.
the Protagonist, confused, REACHES towards it... the SWAT
COCKS his weapon...
BLAM! With EXPLOSIVE FORCE THE BULLET HOLE DISAPPEARS A
NICK HAS APPEARED IN THE PROTAGONIST'S UNIFORM he SPINS
the SWAT is SHOT THROUGH THE CHEST AND DROPS... revealing a
FIGURE, also in a gas mask and tactical gear...
The Figure TURNS the Protagonist sees, on the Figure's
pack, a small TALISMAN a COIN with a hole tied to a zip by
ORANGE AND YELLOW THREAD the Protagonist turns back to grab
the bomb
'TARGET'
That wasn't one of us.
PROTAGONIST
I'll take the help.
The Protagonist GRABS the last bomb: '0:03'... he looks up to
the boxes, where REAL SWATS EVACUATE THE HIGH OFFICIALS...
THE PROTAGONIST LOBS THE BOMBS UP INTO THE BOXES...
EXT. PLAZA, DOWNTOWN KIEV CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist and 'Target' emerge an EXPLOSION above them
-
INT. THEATRE, CONCERT HALL CONTINUOUS
INNOCENT CIVILIANS STIR under the EXPLOSION IN THE BOXES
EXT. PLAZA, DOWNTOWN KIEV CONTINUOUS
The van PULLS UP rear door open they JUMP INSIDE
INT. VAN MOMENTS LATER
The Protagonist pulls off his mask. BREATHING. The Passenger
turns grabs the 'Target's face, SOMETHING WRONG... the
Protagonist turns to the Driver WHO HAS A GUN POINTED AT
HIM ...
BLACK SCREEN:
SCREAMING. The Protagonist's screaming. Close on his eyes
FLICKERING, SWEATING, PLEADING, DEFIANT... and we are
EXT. RAIL YARDS DAY
The Protagonist, tied to a chair, in a windswept rail yard.
In front of him, the 'Target', also tied to a chair, back to
us. The Driver steps back, SWEATING. BLOODY PLIERS in hand.
7.
DRIVER
(breathless)
A man can be trained to hold out
for about eighteen hours.
The Driver gestures at a CLOCK on a table
DRIVER (CONT'D)
So your colleagues will clear by 7.
The Driver PUSHES the 'Target's chair over. The 'Target'
lands hard on his side on the gravel. Groaning.
DRIVER (CONT'D)
He didn't last eighteen minutes.
The Driver pulls out a KNIFE. Leans in to the Protagonist
DRIVER (CONT'D)
But he didn't have anything to
hide. You were smuggling a nobody.
The knife moves towards the Protagonist's throat...
DRIVER (CONT'D)
Risky.
...then to his collar which he CUTS
DRIVER (CONT'D)
Or were you counting on this?
...pulling out a SILVER CAPSULE. The Protagonist stares.
DRIVER (CONT'D)
Death, CIA issue.
The Driver TOSSES the pill, WAVES the pliers at the clock
DRIVER (CONT'D)
Spare yourself once they're clear.
The Protagonist looks at the clock '5:38'. A FREIGHT TRAIN
RUMBLES PAST, CLOSE... As we close in on the clock, THE
PROTAGONIST'S SCREAMS ARE DROWNED OUT BY THE FREIGHT TRAIN...
The Driver steps back. The Protagonist breathes heavy, blood
dribbling... the Driver follows his gaze to the clock
'6:53' then checks his watch. Frowns theatrically, picks up
the clock, SHAKES it
DRIVER (CONT'D)
Running fast...
The Driver SETS THE HANDS BACK ONE HOUR. The Protagonist
watches, DESPAIRING... as the Driver puts the clock back on
the table, the Protagonist notices the 'Target's FINGERS
WIGGLING... in them is a SILVER PILL...
8.
Freight trains rumble past in opposite directions, sound
BUILDING... The Driver approaches, bloody pliers in hand
PROTAGONIST
We were alone.
DRIVER
I didn't ask. Which means we're
finally getting somewhere.
The Protagonist HURLS himself onto the 'Target's hands face
SMASHING gets the PILL into his mouth BITES DOWN
DEAFENING TRAIN NOISE...
Arms GRAB at him HANDS PRY his jaw as he SEIZES, MOUTH
FOAMING... the Protagonist's EYES GLAZE and we
CUT TO:
Black screen.
Supertitle:
TENET
FADE IN:
The Protagonist opens his eyes. A man stands beside his bed.
SWAYING gently. This is FAY.
FAY
Welcome to the afterlife.
The Protagonist lifts his head and we are
INT. BOAT AT SEA DAY
The Protagonist sees the STEELY OCEAN SWELL...
FAY
You've been in a medically induced
coma while we got you out of
Ukraine and rebuilt your mouth.
PROTAGONIST
The pills are fake?
FAY
We swapped yours for a sedative.
PROTAGONIST
Why?
FAY
A test.
The Protagonist runs a finger around his mouth. REALIZING.
9.
PROTAGONIST
Test? They pulled my teeth out.
Fay lets that dissipate. The Protagonist closes his eyes.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Did the team get clear?
FAY
No. Private Russians, we think.
PROTAGONIST
Somebody talked.
FAY
Not you. You chose to die instead
of giving up your colleagues.
EXT. DECK OF THE BOAT LATER
The Protagonist stands in the wind, contemplating the
horizon.
FAY (O.S.)
We all believe we'd run into the
burning building, but until we feel
that heat... we can never know. You
do.
PROTAGONIST
I resign.
FAY
You don't work for us you're
dead.
The Protagonist turns to Fay, confused.
FAY (CONT'D)
Your duty transcends national
interests. This is about survival.
PROTAGONIST
Whose?
FAY
Everyone's. There's a cold war.
Cold as ice. To even know its true
nature is to lose. This is
knowledge divided all I have for
you is a gesture
(interlaces his fingers)
in combination with a word
'tenet'. Use it carefully, it'll
open the right doors, but some of
the wrong ones, too.
10.
PROTAGONIST
That's all they've told you?
FAY
The test you passed?
(beat)
Not everybody does.
Fay breaks eye contact with the Protagonist. The boat
continues to nose into the swell.
EXT. LAUNCH, WIND FARM AT SEA DUSK
The Protagonist is driven away from the boat on a launch,
towards the GIANT WHITE TURBINES of the ocean wind farm.
The launch SLIPS amongst them, seeking the ladder of a
particular one...
The Protagonist climbs the ladder to a door. He tries it
it's open. He turns to see the launch move off into the
gathering dark. The Protagonist ENTERS the wind turbine.
INT. WIND TURBINE CONTINUOUS
In the bare space, the Protagonist finds a SPORTS BAG, a COT,
a pallet of WATER and PROTEIN BARS. He opens the sports bag
to find passports, cash, credit cards and a HI-VIZ VEST.
Under the vest is a small black cylinder. He unscrews the top
to find three SILVER SUICIDE PILLS. The Protagonist shakes
his head as he tosses them back into the bag.
INT. WIND TURBINE LATER
The Protagonist EATS, DRINKS and EXERCISES by CLIMBING the
endless interior ladder of the turbine. The stash of food and
water SHRINKS...
The Protagonist does PULL-UPS at the very top of the ladder,
FEET DANGLING over the VERTIGINOUS DROP...
INT. WIND TURBINE MORNING
The Protagonist is woken by a repeated AIR HORN. He pulls
himself off the cot, opens the door to find
EXT. WIND TURBINE CONTINUOUS
A large CATAMARAN nosed up to the windmill, ladder in place,
MAINTENANCE CREW in HI-VIZ VESTS moving on and off the
turbine. Other boats service other turbines. The Protagonist
pulls on his VEST and CLIMBS down onto the catamaran.
11.
EXT. EUROPEAN PORT DAY
The Protagonist disembarks with the rest of the wind-farm
crew. As they file past a car the driver, also in hi-viz,
steps out into line, leaving the door open, engine running.
The Protagonist gets in. The GPS is already set...
EXT. OFFICE COMPLEX LATER
A bland suburban office park. The Protagonist gets out of the
car, wearing his hi-viz and carrying a clipboard. Heads
inside, passing numerous STAFF coming out...
INT. LOBBY, OFFICE COMPLEX CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist moves through the lobby unimpeded. Checking
the tenant listings he sees 'WINDFARM TRANSITIONS B-2'.
INT. CORRIDOR CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist walks up to B-2.
FEMALE VOICE (O.S.)
With a hi-viz vest and a clipboard,
you can get almost anywhere.
Almost.
The Protagonist turns to find a brusque young woman. This is
BARBARA. He joins his hands, interlacing the fingers...
PROTAGONIST
A pretty obscure tenet.
Using a key card, she ushers him through a door into
INT. OFFICE, LABORATORY CONTINUOUS
Barbara hands the Protagonist a cup of tea.
BARBARA
No small talk, nothing that might
reveal who we are, or what we do.
PROTAGONIST
I thought I was here to find out
what we do.
BARBARA
You're not here for 'what', you're
here for 'how'. 'What' is your
department. And not my business.
12.
PROTAGONIST
Well, to do what I do, I need some
idea of the threat we face.
Barbara considers the Protagonist. Sips her tea.
BARBARA
As I understand it, we're trying to
prevent World War Three.
PROTAGONIST
Nuclear holocaust?
BARBARA
No. Something worse.
INT. SHOOTING RANGE MOMENTS LATER
Barbara hands the Protagonist a semi-automatic. He
reflexively checks the chamber and magazine EMPTY.
BARBARA
Aim it and pull the trigger.
The Protagonist SHRUGS, lifts the empty pistol, sights a
target 25m away with several holes in it...
He squeezes the trigger BAM! a shot. He is CONFUSED...
BARBARA (CONT'D)
Check the magazine.
The Protagonist checks the clip THERE IS A ROUND IN IT.
PROTAGONIST
How?
Barbara pulls on PROTECTIVE GLOVES and removes the round from
the clip, placing it next to an identical one on a table.
BARBARA
One of these bullets is, like us,
travelling forwards through time.
The other one's going backwards.
Can you tell which is which?
The Protagonist shakes his head. Barbara reaches forward
BARBARA (CONT'D)
How about now?
One of the rounds FLIES UP INTO HER HAND, FALLING IN REVERSE.
The Protagonist is taken aback. Barbara holds the round
towards him so he can inspect it
13.
BARBARA (CONT'D)
It's inverted its entropy runs
backwards. So, to our eyes, its
movement is reversed. We think it's
a type of inverse radiation,
triggered by nuclear fission.
PROTAGONIST
You didn't make it?
BARBARA
We don't know how. Yet.
PROTAGONIST
So where'd it come from?
BARBARA
Someone's manufacturing them in the
future. They're streaming back at
us.
Barbara places the round on the table, in front of a CAMERA.
BARBARA (CONT'D)
Try it.
He puts on a glove moves his hand over it, nothing.
BARBARA (CONT'D)
You have to have dropped it.
The Protagonist reaches out again it LEAPS UP INTO HIS
HAND.
PROTAGONIST
How can it move before I touch it?
She cues up the recording of what he just did
BARBARA
From your point of view you caught
it, but from the bullet's point of
view...
She plays it BACKWARDS
BARBARA (CONT'D)
...you dropped it.
ON THE SCREEN: the round FALLS from his hand.
PROTAGONIST
But cause has to come before
effect.
BARBARA
No. That's just how we see time.
14.
She PULLS the round towards herself using one finger the
round follows her finger as if MAGNETIZED...
PROTAGONIST
What about free will?
BARBARA
That bullet wouldn't have moved if
you hadn't put your hand there.
Either way we run the tape, you
made it happen.
She LAUNCHES it up into her other hand
BARBARA (CONT'D)
Don't try to understand it. Feel
it.
Barbara PLAYS with the round in increasingly IMPROBABLE,
BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENTS... The round SHOOTS AWAY FROM HER the
Protagonist CATCHES IT...
PROTAGONIST
Instinct. Got it.
Barbara smiles, swaps him the round for the pistol. She then
places a TRAY COVERED IN SHELL CASINGS beside him.
The Protagonist aims at the target a shell casing LEAPS
into the gun he FIRES, and a bullet hole near the bullseye
VANISHES
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Why does it feel so strange?
BARBARA
You're not shooting the bullet,
you're catching it.
PROTAGONIST
Whoa.
The Protagonist examines the target no bullet holes.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
I've seen this type of ammunition
before.
BARBARA
In the field?
PROTAGONIST
I was almost hit.
BARBARA
Then you are exceedingly lucky...
The Protagonist turns to her...
15.
BARBARA (CONT'D)
An inverted bullet passing through
your body would be devastating. The
inverse radiation would spread
through your body. Like polonium
poisoning. Not pretty.
The Protagonist examines the rounds...
PROTAGONIST
These look like today's.
BARBARA
They may have been made today, then
inverted years from now.
PROTAGONIST
Where did you get them?
BARBARA
They came with the wall. I was
assigned it, like all the material
I'm studying here.
PROTAGONIST
Do you have an analysis of the
metals?
BARBARA
Sure. Why?
PROTAGONIST
The mixture of alloys can tell me
where they might have been made.
Look, I know you said that 'what'
is my business
BARBARA
Let's not go off-topic.
PROTAGONIST
I'm not seeing Armageddon here.
Barbara takes the round from him, and beckons him to follow
INT. ARCHIVE CONTINUOUS
Between tall sets of DRAWERS...
BARBARA
A bullet may not seem like much,
but it's a simple machine lead
bullet, brass casing, gunpowder. If
they can invert this I see no
reason they couldn't invert pretty
much anything. Even a nuclear
weapon can only affect our future.
(MORE)
16.
BARBARA (CONT'D)
An inverted weapon might be able to
affect our past as well.
Barbara stops at a drawer. Gestures around herself
BARBARA (CONT'D)
Now that we know what to look for,
we're finding more and more
inverted material...
She opens a drawer, revealing a VARIETY OF RUSTED BITS AND
PIECES SCREWS, CRACKED LENSES, METAL RODS, BUTTONS...
BARBARA (CONT'D)
...remnants of complex objects.
The Protagonist reaches out and lets a RUSTED BUCKLE leap
into his hand.
PROTAGONIST
So what do you think we're seeing?
BARBARA
The detritus of a coming war.
The Protagonist looks around at the MULTITUDE of DRAWERS.
EXT. CROWDED STREET, MUMBAI DAY
The Protagonist walks out of an electronics store, opening a
new phone, and slips into the throng. He dials
MALE VOICE
(over phone)
Yup?
PROTAGONIST
We live in a twilight world.
MALE VOICE
(over phone)
No friends at dusk. I was told
you'd left the building.
PROTAGONIST
Even the dead need allies.
MALE VOICE
(over phone)
Specifically?
PROTAGONIST
An assist in Mumbai. To get to
Sanjay Singh.
17.
MALE VOICE
(over phone)
Singh? He never leaves his house,
and his house... well, it's
PROTAGONIST
Yes, it is I'm looking right at
it.
Above the bustling street, a HIGH-RISE HOUSE, at least twenty
storeys tall, with two large balconies, towers over...
MALE VOICE
(over phone)
I'll see who's on deck. Bombay
Yacht Club, two hours.
As the Protagonist hangs up, he spots a figure, on the top
balcony. A WOMAN IN A SARI, standing high above the city.
INT. BOMBAY YACHT CLUB EVENING
The Protagonist enters the quiet ex-colonial establishment.
Takes a seat. A BUSINESSMAN sits down next to him.
BUSINESSMAN
It seems you need an introduction
to a prominent Mumbai local on
short notice. I'm Neil.
Neil offers his hand. The Protagonist takes it
PROTAGONIST
I need an audience with Sanjay
Singh.
NEIL
Not possible.
PROTAGONIST
Ten minutes, tops.
NEIL
Time isn't the problem. Getting out
alive's the problem.
(thinks)
Would you take a child hostage?
The Protagonist shakes his head.
NEIL (CONT'D)
A woman?
PROTAGONIST
If I had to. I'm not looking to
make much noise here.
18.
Neil keeps thinking. Signals a waiter
NEIL
Vodka tonic.
(gestures at the
Protagonist)
Diet Coke.
The Protagonist stares at Neil. Neil looks up, confused.
NEIL (CONT'D)
What? You never drink on the job.
PROTAGONIST
You're well informed.
NEIL
It pays to be in our profession.
PROTAGONIST
Well, I prefer club soda.
NEIL
(grins)
No, you don't.
Neil raps his knuckles on the table, thinking.
NEIL (CONT'D)
How's your parachuting?
PROTAGONIST
Broke an ankle in basic training.
Singh's house isn't tall enough to
parachute off of.
NEIL
(thinks)
But it's bungee-jumpable.
PROTAGONIST
I don't think 'bungee-jumpable' is
a word.
NEIL
It may not be a word, but it may be
your only way out of that place.
(a thought occurs)
Or into it, for that matter.
EXT. HIGH-RISE HOUSE EVENING
ARMED GUARDS patrol the balconies.
19.
INT. HIGH-RISE HOUSE CONTINUOUS
Inside one of the magnificent rooms, a middle-aged Indian man
mixes drinks. This is SANJAY SINGH.
EXT. LOW ROOFTOP NEXT DOOR TO HIGH-RISE HOUSE CONTINUOUS
Neil and the Protagonist race across the roof carrying a
sports bag. Neil pulls out a WINCH, the Protagonist pulls out
a large CATAPULT, loops it around two pipes, glancing down
into the WALLED YARD at the foot of the high-rise house.
Neil BOLTS the winch to the roof, the Protagonist sights the
upper balcony of the high-rise house, FIRES a ball with a
line up and over the balcony railing...
EXT. HIGH-RISE HOUSE CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist and Neil lie next to each other as the WINCH
RUNS, TENSIONING THEIR ELASTIC LINES... they LAUNCH
themselves, FLYING UP to land against the side of the
building
They RUN SILENTLY UP THE BUILDING, onto the UPPER TERRACES,
SHOOTING TWO GUARDS with silenced pistols...
INT./EXT. HIGH-RISE HOUSE CONTINUOUS
Sanjay Singh hands a drink to the Woman in the sari. They
move out onto the balcony
EXT. BALCONY CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist surprises Sanjay, holds him at gunpoint
PROTAGONIST
(to the Woman)
Stay back.
(to Sanjay)
I was almost taken out by a very
unusual type of ammunition in
Ukraine. I want to know who
supplied it.
SANJAY
My name's Sanjay. And you are?
(silence)
No chit-chat?
The Woman pushes a RED BUTTON on the wall
20.
PROTAGONIST
There's no one at the other end. No
one who's going to help you,
anyway.
INT. SECURITY STATION, HIGH-RISE HOUSE CONTINUOUS
An alarm buzzes, the Security Guards are frozen, Neil has a
gun on them, a finger to his lips...
EXT. BALCONY, HIGH-RISE HOUSE CONTINUOUS
Sanjay tries to turn to see the Protagonist
SANJAY
Why would I know who supplied it?
The Protagonist pushes his head back around with the gun
PROTAGONIST
The combination of metals is unique
to India. If it's from India, it's
from you.
SANJAY
A fair assumption
PROTAGONIST
Deduction.
SANJAY
Deduction, then. Look, my friend,
guns are never conducive to a
productive negotiation.
PROTAGONIST
I'm not the man they send to
negotiate...
He COCKS his weapon puts the gun to Sanjay's head
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
But I am the man people talk to.
SANJAY
(charm curdles)
I can't. I can't tell you.
PROTAGONIST
You're an arms dealer, friend
this may be the easiest trigger
I've ever had to pull.
21.
WOMAN (O.S.)
To say anything about a client
would violate the tenets he lives
by...
The Protagonist GLANCES at the Woman... whose fingers are
casually INTERTWINED. The Protagonist brings his free hand up
to hold the gun in both hands, fingers INTERLACED...
PROTAGONIST
If tenets are important to you,
then you can tell me. Everything.
WOMAN
Not while you have a gun to my
husband's head.
The Protagonist releases him.
WOMAN (CONT'D)
Sanjay, make us a drink.
INT. TERRACE OVERLOOKING MUMBAI, SANJAY'S HOUSE LATER
Overlooking the extraordinary bustle of the city. Sanjay has
left. His wife hands the Protagonist his drink
PRIYA
I'm Priya Singh.
PROTAGONIST
This is your operation?
PRIYA
A masculine front in a man's world
has its uses. The dealer you're
looking for is Andrei Sator.
PROTAGONIST
The Russian oligarch?
PRIYA
You know him?
PROTAGONIST
Not personally. Made his billions
in gas, moved to London and married
an English girl. Said to be on the
outs with Moscow.
PRIYA
Very good. Except the 'gas' he made
his billions from was actually
plutonium, and he's said to be on
the outs so he can feed British
Intelligence whatever the Russians
want them to think they know.
22.
PROTAGONIST
None of which explains how or why
you sold him inverted munitions.
PRIYA
When I sold him the rounds, they
were perfectly ordinary.
PROTAGONIST
So how did he get them inverted?
PRIYA
We believe he's functioning as some
kind of broker between our time and
the future.
PROTAGONIST
He can communicate with the future?
PRIYA
We all do. Credit cards, email,
text anything that goes into the
record speaks directly to the
future. The question is can the
future speak back? And, if so, what
are they saying?
PROTAGONIST
And I'm supposed to find out?
PRIYA
To get anywhere near Sator would
take a fresh-faced protagonist...
She reaches up to touch his cheek.
PRIYA (CONT'D)
Fresh as a daisy. Get close, find
out what he's receiving and how.
PROTAGONIST
Is it safe to involve British
Intelligence?
PRIYA
I have a contact who's out of
Sator's reach.
PROTAGONIST
One of us?
PRIYA
No, he thinks we're chasing
plutonium.
SIRENS. BANGS! Priya looks over to see POLICE CARS arriving
far below, in the WALLED YARD at the foot of her house...
23.
PRIYA (CONT'D)
You'd better get out of here.
PROTAGONIST
Can't you explain things?
PRIYA
You have to start looking at the
world in a new way this conflict
runs backwards and forwards
simultaneously. Your name on a
police report reveals your identity
to the future they pass it back
to Sator
PROTAGONIST
My cover's blown before I get near
him.
PRIYA
You got in you must've had a plan
for getting out.
The Protagonist pulls a CLIP and cord from his harness
PROTAGONIST
Not one I loved.
Priya watches him clip onto the balcony rail. Neil FLIES
PAST, dropping from the balcony above.
The Protagonist JUMPS, SLOWING as he DROPS BEHIND THE WALL,
OUT OF REACH OF THE POLICE, into a MARKET STREET and RELEASES
his harness disappearing into the crowd...
EXT. MEMBER'S CLUB, LONDON DAY
The Protagonist walks down the busy Mall, and up the steps...
INT. MEMBER'S CLUB, LONDON DAY
The Protagonist enters, is approached by a STEWARD.
STEWARD
Can I help you, sir?
PROTAGONIST
I'm Mr Crosby's lunch.
STEWARD
I presume you mean Sir Michael
Crosby's lunch?
PROTAGONIST
Presume away.
24.
STEWARD
If you'll follow me.
INT. LOUNGE, MEMBER'S CLUB CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist is shown to a table where a distinguished
middle-aged man is already eating. CROSBY.
CROSBY
Started without you, hope you don't
mind.
PROTAGONIST
I'll catch up.
(to the Steward)
Same for me.
STEWARD
I'll send the waiter.
PROTAGONIST
No, just pass on the order.
Crosby smiles at the Protagonist's handling of the Steward.
CROSBY
I gather you've an interest in a
certain Russian national.
PROTAGONIST
Anglo-Russian. So I'll have to
watch my step.
CROSBY
Indeed. He's tapped into the
intelligence services I've warned
them he's feeding them rubbish, but
they don't seem to care.
PROTAGONIST
Tell me about him.
CROSBY
I assume you're familiar with the
Soviet-era secret cities?
PROTAGONIST
Closed cities, not shown on maps,
built up around sensitive
industries. Most of them have been
opened up and renamed as regular
towns.
CROSBY
Not the one Sator grew up in.
Stalsk-12.
(MORE)
25.
CROSBY (CONT'D)
In the seventies our people
estimated its population at almost
200,000. Unacknowledged to this
day. Thought to be abandoned.
PROTAGONIST
Abandoned?
CROSBY
Some kind of accident. After which
we think it became a site for
underground tests. Just two weeks
ago, same day as the Kiev Opera
siege, our satellites detected a
detonation in north-west Siberia,
about where we think Stalsk-12 was.
PROTAGONIST
Nuclear?
CROSBY
Big enough to be noticed. Sator
emerged from this blank spot on the
map with an ambition that
eventually led him here, to buy his
way into the British establishment.
PROTAGONIST
Through his wife?
CROSBY
Katherine Barton, eldest niece of
Sir Frederick Barton. She works at
Shipley's, met Sator at an auction.
PROTAGONIST
He's into art?
CROSBY
Like a lot of wealthy criminals, he
thinks if he covers his walls with
tasteful, expensive things it'll
distract from the bloodshed.
Judging by the lovely girl he
married, there might be something
in it.
PROTAGONIST
Happy marriage?
CROSBY
No. Practically estranged.
PROTAGONIST
How do I get to Sator?
CROSBY
Through her, of course.
26.
PROTAGONIST
You may have an inflated idea of my
powers of seduction.
CROSBY
Hardly. We have an ace in the
hole...
Crosby slides a SHOPPING BAG over to the Protagonist's feet.
The Protagonist looks inside: a small FRAMED DRAWING.
PROTAGONIST
You're carrying a Goya in a Harrods
bag?
CROSBY
It's a fake, by a Spaniard named
Arepo. One of two we confiscated
from an embezzler in Bern. We hung
on to this one for a rainy day I
felt the first drops when India
called.
PROTAGONIST
What happened to the other one?
CROSBY
A Rubens. It turned up at
Shipley's, where it was
authenticated by Katherine Barton
before going under the hammer. And
who do you suppose bought it?
PROTAGONIST
Her husband? Does she know it's a
forgery?
CROSBY
Hard to say. Rumour had it that she
and Arepo were close.
Crosby looks the Protagonist over
CROSBY (CONT'D)
Look, no offence, but this is a
world where someone claiming to be
a billionaire gets asked if they're
just a dollar billionaire.
PROTAGONIST
And?
CROSBY
Brooks Brothers won't cut it.
PROTAGONIST
I'm assuming I have a budget.
27.
CROSBY
(tosses him a credit
card)
Save the world, then we'll balance
the books. Can I recommend a
tailor?
PROTAGONIST
I'll manage. You British don't have
a monopoly on snobbery, you know.
CROSBY
Not a monopoly. More of a
controlling interest.
The Protagonist rises, taking the credit card and the bag.
PROTAGONIST
Thanks for this. By the way, is she
a Kate or a Kathy?
CROSBY
A Kat, I believe.
The waiter arrives, bearing food, supervised by the Steward.
PROTAGONIST
Could you box that for me?
STEWARD
Certainly not.
The Protagonist smiles at Crosby, who nods goodbye.
PROTAGONIST
Goodbye, Sir Michael.
EXT. WEST LONDON PRIVATE SCHOOL DAY
Mothers stand at the railings waiting for their kids. One of
them, a smart YOUNG WOMAN, stands a little apart from the
group. SCHOOLKIDS pile out of the school...
INT./EXT. CAR CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist watches from across the road as the Young
Woman SPOTS her son. She offers him her hand, but he reaches
up to take his NANNY'S. She moves her hand to pick something
off his jumper before he is put into the back of a BLACK
RANGE ROVER with tinted windows.
The Protagonist watches the Young Woman wave at the departing
car carrying her child. Utterly alone.
28.
EXT. SHIPLEY'S, LONDON DAY
A BENTLEY pulls up a DOORMAN opens the rear door, the
Protagonist emerges, IMMACULATELY TAILORED, holding a
beautiful leather briefcase.
INT. SHIPLEY'S CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist is approached by a REPRESENTATIVE
REPRESENTATIVE
How can I help, sir?
PROTAGONIST
I have an appraisal with Ms Barton.
REPRESENTATIVE
(to receptionist)
Tell Kat her client is in the
Fallow Room.
INT. APPRAISAL ROOM MOMENTS LATER
The Protagonist admires the paintings on the walls. The door
opens and the Young Woman from the school gates comes in,
dressed for business. This is KAT BARTON. She looks bemused,
but gives him a genuine and friendly smile
KAT
I'm sorry, I wasn't notified of any
appointments, Mr...
PROTAGONIST
Goya?
KAT
Mr Goya?
The Protagonist opens his briefcase...
PROTAGONIST
No, I'm told you're the person to
see about...
Offers the drawing to her...
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
...Goya.
She takes it, suddenly interested...
KAT
Wow. It's extraordinary.
She lays the drawing on the table and grabs a loupe
29.
PROTAGONIST
What's it worth?
KAT
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
There's a lot of work before any
kind of valuation provenance,
microscopic examination, X-rays...
She is bent over the table, peering through the loupe.
The Protagonist studies her reaction as he
PROTAGONIST
But what does your heart tell you?
She steps back. Something about the drawing BOTHERS her...
KAT
I'm sorry, where did you say you
acquired this drawing?
PROTAGONIST
Tomas Arepo.
Kat rises and turns to face the Protagonist. Cold.
KAT
What do you want?
PROTAGONIST
What I want is complicated.
KAT
Do you work for my husband?
PROTAGONIST
I've never met your husband. That's
the reason I'm here. Is there
somewhere we can talk?
KAT
In London? Not really.
INT. RESTAURANT NIGHT
The Protagonist and Kat sit at a corner table.
PROTAGONIST
I bought my Goya for cents on the
dollar from an irate Swiss banker.
Traced it to Arepo, and realized
I'd scored a bargain when he told
me who'd paid top dollar for
another one of his pictures. Your
husband.
30.
KAT
Where's the bargain? Your drawing's
an obvious fake.
PROTAGONIST
My drawing's a very good fake you
know that better than anyone. The
information's the bargain.
KAT
The information that I helped
defraud my own husband?
PROTAGONIST
He and I are in related businesses,
but he's a hard man to meet. If you
and I were to make an arrangement
KAT
Arrangement? You mean blackmail.
Don't be afraid of the word my
husband isn't. And I'm sorry to
tell you he got there first.
PROTAGONIST
He knows? And he's never done
anything about it?
KAT
Why would he?
PROTAGONIST
He paid nine million dollars
KAT
Which would barely cover the
holiday he just forced us on.
PROTAGONIST
Where'd you go Mars?
KAT
Viet Nam. On our yacht. His yacht.
Kat looks the Protagonist up and down...
KAT (CONT'D)
You've got the suit. The shoes, the
watch. But I think you're a little
out of your depth.
PROTAGONIST
(sharp)
People who've amassed fortunes like
your husband's aren't generally
okay with being cheated out of any
of it.
31.
Kat sips her wine. Wanting to talk. Knowing she shouldn't.
KAT
The drawing is his hold over me. He
threatened me with the police,
prison, the works. He controls me,
my contact with my son, everything.
Leaving him would never have been
easy, now it's impossible. My life,
now... You can't fight. Just beg.
Or worse. In Viet Nam I tried to
love him again. If there were still
love, he might give me my son. We
sat on that bloody boat and watched
the sunsets, imitating an earlier
time. He seemed happy, so I asked.
And he made me an offer. To let me
go if I agreed to never see my son
again. I expressed myself
INSERT CUT: a CRYSTAL BOWL of RASPBERRIES SMASHES onto the
polished wood of a yacht's deck
KAT (CONT'D)
Then took Max ashore. He called us,
contrite. But when we came back...
INSERT CUT: Kat and Max on a launch Kat follows Max's gaze
to see a FEMALE FIGURE SLIDE into the water...
KAT (CONT'D)
I glimpsed some other woman diving
off the boat. And he'd vanished.
I've never felt such envy.
PROTAGONIST
You don't seem the jealous type.
KAT
Of her. You know how I dream of
just diving off that boat? Of
freedom?
PROTAGONIST
But you share a son.
KAT
And that's my life.
PROTAGONIST
Did you know the drawing was a
fake?
KAT
The authentication took months
Arepo and I became close, maybe too
close. Maybe my judgement was
clouded. I failed.
(MORE)
32.
KAT (CONT'D)
But Andrei can't conceive of
failure, only betrayal. I didn't
betray my husband. In retrospect,
maybe I missed my chance.
PROTAGONIST
And he let Arepo walk free?
KAT
If you'd actually met Arepo, as you
claimed, you'd understand that he
no longer walks anywhere.
PROTAGONIST
We spoke on the phone
KAT
He can't do that, either.
The Protagonist considers this.
PROTAGONIST
Where's the drawing?
KAT
Why?
PROTAGONIST
Get me the introduction, I'll take
the drawing out of the equation. No
picture, no prosecution. No hold
over you.
Kat looks at the Protagonist. Not daring to hope.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
I might just be your second chance
KAT
(snaps)
I don't need redemption.
PROTAGONIST
At betrayal.
A LARGE, WELL-DRESSED THUG sits down at the table. He takes a
green bean from the Protagonist's plate and chews it
vacantly. This is VOLKOV. The Protagonist looks at Kat
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Friend of your husband?
(she nods)
You knew this would happen?
33.
KAT
They won't kill you. Andrei
dislikes tangling with local law
enforcement on that level.
PROTAGONIST
You must really not have liked the
look of me.
KAT
(rising)
The look of you is fine. It's
better to get to the nasty part
before I care one way or the other.
He takes her hand, pulls her forward to kiss her cheek.
PROTAGONIST
(whispers)
There's a number in your left coat
pocket. Don't call from home.
A Thug puts a MEATY HAND on the Protagonist's shoulder.
KAT
You won't be taking my call.
PROTAGONIST
I might surprise you.
She leaves, BREEZING out through the kitchen... at Volkov's
nod, two Thugs escort the Protagonist from his chair, heading
towards the kitchen a WAITER moves to object Volkov,
eating the Protagonist's leftovers, pulls the Waiter up
short, shaking his head.
EXT. ALLEY BEHIND RESTAURANT MOMENTS LATER
Kat exits the restaurant, DISTRAUGHT, walking past a waiting
THUG, then sliding into the back seat of a MERCEDES.
INT./EXT. MERCEDES CONTINUOUS
The driver is a GAUNT RUSSIAN.
KAT
Please, let's go.
The Gaunt Russian does not react, but watches through the
rear-view mirror as a THUG enters the kitchen
KAT (CONT'D)
Can we get going?
34.
INT. RESTAURANT KITCHEN CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist enters the kitchen, followed by the two
thugs. CHEFS and BUSBOYS retreat as the other thug
approaches...
INT./EXT. ALLEY BEHIND RESTAURANT CONTINUOUS
Kat turns from the window
KAT
Please!
GAUNT RUSSIAN
He wants you to see...
INT. RESTAURANT KITCHEN CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist JACKKNIFES HIS LOWER LEG UP into the crotch
of the thug behind him SPINS him into the Thug next to him
POTS and Pans flying
INT. RESTAURANT CONTINUOUS
Volkov wipes sauce with bread, enjoying noises from the
kitchen...
INT. RESTAURANT KITCHEN CONTINUOUS
The Third Thug SWINGS the Protagonist DODGES, takes the
blow on the shoulder SLAMS his head into the Third Thug's
neck, leaving him GASPING the Protagonist GRABS the Third
Thug, RACING for the WINDOW...
INT./EXT. MERCEDES CONTINUOUS
Kat FLINCHES as, with a CRASH of plates, a body TUMBLES down
the stairs...
GAUNT RUSSIAN
And he gets what he wants.
Then she sees something else... the Protagonist exits.
KAT
Not always, apparently.
EXT. ALLEY BEHIND RESTAURANT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist brushes himself clean, SPOTS the Mercedes,
starts moving towards it
35.
INT./EXT. MERCEDES CONTINUOUS
The Gaunt Russian SCRAMBLES to get the car moving. Kat looks
back at the Protagonist as the car ROARS away...
EXT. SCHOOL GATES DAY
Kat is crouched, talking to her son, MAX. The Nanny hovers
MAX
Anna says we're going to Pompeii
and see lava.
KAT
We'll go together. I'll be there,
too.
Max looks up at the Nanny. Kat hugs him, tight. The Nanny
TAPS Kat on the shoulder. Kat smiles at her son, tears in her
eyes, as the car pulls away. She pulls out her phone,
dials... hears a RINGTONE behind her
The Protagonist is there.
PROTAGONIST
I said I'd surprise you. He's a
cute kid.
KAT
Max. He's everything.
PROTAGONIST
Where's the drawing?
KAT
Oslo. At the airport.
PROTAGONIST
The airport?
INSERT CUT: a Rotas car drives across an airport apron, and
down a ramp...
KAT
Do you know what a freeport is?
PROTAGONIST
A storage facility for art that's
been acquired
...into a SLEEK facility the OSLO FREEPORT as a STAFF
MEMBER stands ready to greet a new CLIENT...
36.
KAT (V.O.)
But not yet taxed. We started a
network Rotas, his construction
company, built them, I brought in
clients. The facilities are tax
havens...
The client is NEIL... he takes in the security
arrangements...
PROTAGONIST (V.O.)
The clients can view their
investments
EXT. OSLO OPERA HOUSE DAY
The Protagonist is standing on the roof of the Oslo Opera
House, briefing Neil...
PROTAGONIST (V.O.)
without importing them, so they
avoid paying tax.
NEIL
Sort of a transit lounge for art?
We go back to Kat, on the street, briefing the Protagonist...
KAT
Art, antiques, anything of value,
really.
PROTAGONIST
Anything?
KAT
Anything legal...
Then back to the Protagonist briefing Neil...
PROTAGONIST
But it's not unlike the Swiss
banking system. Opaque.
Back to Kat
KAT
Rotas has assets in the Oslo
Freeport. I'm guessing it's there.
PROTAGONIST
Guessing?
Back to Oslo
NEIL
Guessing?
37.
Back to Kat
KAT
We make trips there four or five
times a year.
PROTAGONIST
To view art?
KAT
And whatever he does it turns out
art is of no importance to Andrei.
PROTAGONIST
But the freeports are.
Kat nods.
INT. FREEPORT DAY
A STAFF MEMBER brings Neil into a LUXURIOUS GALLERY
STAFF MEMBER
Some freeports are just warehouses
here, you can actually enjoy your
possessions...
Then through doors into an ANGLED INNER CORRIDOR...
STAFF MEMBER (CONT'D)
The structure of the vaults is
based on The Pentagon each vault
a separate structure within the
others. Damage to one structure
won't compromise the others.
They arrive at a door in the corridor. The Staff Member uses
his thumb to unlock a door
STAFF MEMBER (CONT'D)
Clients have biometric access
straight in off the tarmac.
NEIL
From the terminal?
STAFF MEMBER
(confused)
From their private planes.
NEIL
Of course.
Neil checks the locks as the Staff Member opens the door into
38.
INT. FREEPORT SHIPPING AREA CONTINUOUS
A VAST SHIPPING AREA filled with SHIPPING CONTAINERS
STAFF MEMBER
Our logistics department ships to
and from other freeports without
customs inspection...
Neil notices ROTAS containers marked for delivery to TALLINN.
NEIL (V.O.)
What're you hoping to find?
EXT. OSLO OPERA HOUSE DAY
PROTAGONIST
You really want to know?
NEIL
I'm not sure.
PROTAGONIST
Bring some lead-lined gloves.
NEIL
Jesus. Nuclear?
PROTAGONIST
When you're on the tour
INT. FREEPORT DAY
Neil is shown back into one of the vaults...
PROTAGONIST (V.O.)
Pay attention to the fire
precautions.
NEIL
Documents are vulnerable to
STAFF MEMBER
Fire. Absolutely
NEIL
I was going to say, water damage
from sprinkler systems.
STAFF MEMBER
We don't use sprinklers.
(points to vents)
The facility is flooded with halide
gas, displacing all the air within
seconds.
39.
NEIL
Can you show me?
STAFF MEMBER
If I did, we'd suffocate.
NEIL
What about the staff in here?
STAFF MEMBER
Halide only fills the vaults they
just have to get into the corridor.
There's a ten-second warning.
NEIL
You only give them ten seconds?
STAFF MEMBER
Our clients use us because we have
no priorities above their property.
NEIL
Blimey.
STAFF MEMBER
Well, sir, you asked.
INT. OSLO AIRPORT DAY
The Protagonist and Neil walk through the terminal.
NEIL
Vault doors are fireproof,
hydraulic closers, simple key and
electronic triggers. Surprisingly
easy, once there's a lockdown.
PROTAGONIST
Why a lockdown?
NEIL
Power switches to fail-safe,
sealing outer doors, but inner
doors revert to factory settings
and pickable locks. Child's play,
really.
PROTAGONIST
Child's play? They're inside
airport security. They have to
worry about climate control, not
armed raids.
NEIL
So how do we get fire power through
the perimeter to trigger a
lockdown?
40.
EXT. CROWDED AIRPORT BUS, OSLO AIRPORT DAY
The Protagonist and Neil look across the tarmac to the
freeport structure.
NEIL
Back wall of the freeport...
The Protagonist notices Neil start to smile...
PROTAGONIST
You've got something?
NEIL
You're not going to like it.
EXT. OSLO STREET DAY
The Protagonist looks at Neil in disbelief.
PROTAGONIST
You want to crash a plane?
NEIL
Not from the air, don't be so
dramatic. I want to run a jet off
the taxiway, breach the rear wall,
start a fire.
PROTAGONIST
How big a plane?
NEIL
Well, that part is a little
dramatic.
They approach a MAN sitting on a harbour-front bench.
NEIL (CONT'D)
This is Mahir. His team will work
the plane.
PROTAGONIST
There can't be passengers
MAHIR
Norskfreight. They use the hangar
on the west side of the freeport.
PROTAGONIST
You want to crash a transport
plane? What about the crew?
MAHIR
We'll pop the slides, chuck 'em off
41.
PROTAGONIST
On the move?
MAHIR
What's the problem? They'll be
fine.
PROTAGONIST
It seems... bold.
MAHIR
(smiles)
'Bold' I'm fine with I thought
you were going to say nuts.
PROTAGONIST
And if you get caught?
MAHIR
We won't.
PROTAGONIST
If you do?
MAHIR
Everyone assumes terrorism, but no
one's died. Swift extradition, then
lost in the system. It'll barely
make the news.
NEIL
That may depend on the size of your
explosion.
MAHIR
Actually, the gold bars might get
some play.
PROTAGONIST
Gold bars?
NEIL
Norskfreight ships treasury gold
once a month.
MAHIR
We blow the back, drop the gold out
on the runway.
NEIL
No one's going to be looking at
your building, I guarantee you.
INT. HOTEL ROOM, OSLO DAY
Neil takes LUNGFULS of air, hyperventilating Mahir starts a
stopwatch. The Protagonist studies some plans...
42.
PROTAGONIST
The space at the centre of the
pentagon's too big... there's
something there, not marked.
Neil runs out of air. Mahir checks his watch.
NEIL
A vault within a vault?
PROTAGONIST
Maybe.
MAHIR
Eighty-five seconds.
NEIL
Ample.
MAHIR
Won't you be running?
(turns to the
Protagonist)
Start packing.
The Protagonist starts BREATHING HARD...
EXT. FREEPORT NIGHT
The Protagonist and Neil, carrying BRIEFCASES, head inside.
EXT. APRON, OSLO AIRPORT CONTINUOUS
Two WORKERS (Mahir and his associate, ROHAN) back up a MEAL
TRUCK to a TRANSPORT PLANE. They LIFT the cargo until it is
level with the front side door...
INT. FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist follows Neil through security. Their
briefcases are examined, finding FRAMED DOCUMENTS...
INT. TRANSPORT PLANE CONTINUOUS
Mahir and Rohan carry crew meals through the door and into
the galley, where they stack them into the catering units,
supervised by a GUARD...
INT. GALLERY SPACE/LOUNGE, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
The Staff Member brings Neil an espresso. The Protagonist
subtly checks his watch...
43.
INT. TRANSPORT PLANE CONTINUOUS
Mahir points past the Guard
MAHIR
You gonna eat that?
The Guard turns Mahir GRABS him from behind, Rohan stuffs a
COTTON PAD over the Guard's face, rendering him unconscious.
They ROLL him into the catering-truck lift... Mahir pops out
and signals ANOTHER GUARD...
THREE GUARDS have been dumped into the truck lift Rohan
sends it DOWN, SEALS the plane door. Mahir approaches the
cockpit as the PILOTS perform checks SHOWS THEM HIS GUN...
MAHIR (CONT'D)
Alright, lads?
INT. CORRIDOR, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
The Staff Member leads Neil and the Protagonist into the
vaults...
INT. TRANSPORT PLANE CONTINUOUS
At gunpoint, the Pilots nervously pull back from the hangar.
Rohan checks the stacks of GOLD BARS secured in the rear.
EXT. APRON, OSLO AIRPORT CONTINUOUS
The plane is TOWED back onto the taxiway and lifts its
engines, easing forward...
INT. TRANSPORT PLANE CONTINUOUS
Rohan SLASHES the restraining straps CROUCHES behind the
pile of gold pulls out a GRENADE GRABS the nearest gold
bar and STUFFS it into his waistband before PULLING THE
PIN...
INT. VAULTS, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
The Staff Member shows Neil and the Protagonist into a vault.
Neil puts down his briefcase pulls out the framed
documents.
EXT. TAXIWAY, OSLO AIRPORT CONTINUOUS
The transport plane BARRELS down the taxiway...
44.
INT. TRANSPORT PLANE CONTINUOUS
Rohan TOSSES the grenade behind the gold at the tail of the
plane and DUCKS as it BLOWS
EXT. TAXIWAY, OSLO AIRPORT CONTINUOUS
BLASTING a hole in the rear of the plane... GOLD BARS POUR
OUT, CLATTERING ACROSS THE TARMAC...
INT. VAULTS, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
Hearing the distant explosion, the Protagonist and Neil start
PACKING AIR... the Staff Member stares at them, quizzical
NEIL
(between breaths)
Yoga.
INT. COCKPIT, TRANSPORT PLANE CONTINUOUS
Mahir forces the Pilots from their seats
EXT. TAXIWAY, OSLO AIRPORT CONTINUOUS
The INFLATABLE SLIDE BURSTS OPEN, DRAGGING on the asphalt, as
the Pilots roll onto it, SCRAMBLING DOWN to the ground,
ROLLING AWAY from the giant plane...
INT. COCKPIT, TRANSPORT PLANE CONTINUOUS
Mahir TURNS the stick HARD LEFT, AIMING AT THE REAR WALL OF
THE FREEPORT
INT. TRANSPORT PLANE CONTINUOUS
Rohan lowers a ladder behind the forward landing gear he
and Mahir climb down
EXT. TAXIWAY, OSLO AIRPORT CONTINUOUS
Mahir and Rohan jump down onto the asphalt, racing back
between the wheels as the giant plane SMASHES INTO THE BRICK
WALL OF THE FREEPORT, ERUPTING IN A MASSIVE EXPLOSION...
INT. VAULTS, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
The vault is ROCKED by the explosion ALARMS SCREAM DOORS
START CLOSING Neil looks, panicked, at the Staff Member
45.
NEIL
Ten seconds, right?!
The Staff Member BOLTS PUSHING PAST THEM they take a last
gulp of air GAS HISSES IN. They pull apart the frames of
the documents, BREAKING THEM INTO LOCK-PICKING APPARATUS
lockpicks, small crowbar they go to work on the INNER DOOR,
PRYING open a panel HOT-WIRING it the door SLIDES UP
INT. CORRIDOR, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
They BURST into the corridor, GASPING the door SLAMS DOWN
behind them they HUSTLE down to the next vault door get
to work. The door opens, they GULP AIR, then RACE inside
INT. VAULT 2, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
round the corner past RACKS, CRATES, some BROKEN stop at
the next door, the Protagonist picks the lock his PICK
BREAKS Neil BOLTS back to where they entered the
Protagonist STRUGGLES, pulling out pieces of the pick Neil
gets to the first door
NO HANDLE the Protagonist uses a different tool Neil
SMASHES the door, full-blown PANIC he looks to the end of
the vault where the ROLLER DOOR is BROKEN at the bottom,
halide gas HISSING OUT
Neil races towards it the Protagonist gets his door OPEN
Neil STUMBLES past the Protagonist DRAGS him through the
door
INT. INNER CORRIDOR CONTINUOUS
They lie GASPING. Neil hears something, looks around
NEIL
(urgent whisper)
There's someone in here with us!
The Protagonist is up, moving down the corridor...
They arrive at two doors, side by side: the Rotas vault. They
each work on a door. Neil's OPENS
NEIL (CONT'D)
Need a hand?
The Protagonist works his door... nothing.
PROTAGONIST
Actually, yes.
Neil leans over, hits 'ENTER', the door OPENS.
46.
INT. ROTAS VAULT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist enters a room, one side of which is a LONG
GLASS WINDOW. Neil is on the other side of the glass, in an
IDENTICAL ROOM. There are BULLET HOLES in the glass. At the
end of each room is a tube, like a sealed in REVOLVING DOOR.
The Protagonist's feet crunch BROKEN GLASS...
Neil examines BULLET HOLES in the wall opposite the glass.
WISPS of SMOKE gather near the holes Neil reaches up
PROTAGONIST
Don't touch them
NEIL
What the hell happened here?
The Protagonist sees a STRIPPED AUTOMATIC PISTOL on the
floor. He picks it up, thinking
PROTAGONIST
It hasn't happened, yet.
Neil looks at the Protagonist, quizzical A LOUD HUM STARTS
UP from the revolving door... the Protagonist looks down
MOVEMENT beneath his feet the DEBRIS SMOKE GATHERS the
revolving doors ROTATE, OPENING a BLACK-CLAD FIGURE in a
GAS MASK LEAPS BACKWARDS from the tube reaching behind
itself to GRAB the stripped automatic in the Protagonist's
hand
On Neil's side an identical BLACK-CLAD FIGURE LEAPS out
FORWARDS knocks Neil over, moving for the vault door
A SLIDE jumps into the Backwards Figure's hand he
REASSEMBLES the gun in the Protagonist's hand a MAGAZINE
jumping up to LOAD IT BLAM!
A bullet is SUCKED OUT OF THE WALL THROUGH THE GLASS
'HEALING' THE BULLET HOLES the Protagonist STRUGGLES with
the Backwards Figure whose REVERSE MOVEMENTS seem ALIEN and
IMPOSSIBLE
Neil gives chase RACING out of the vault door
The Backwards Figure pulls the Protagonist sideways, lining
up his head with the next bullet hole BLAM! GLASS FLIES UP
as the shot JUST MISSES the Protagonist's head
INT. CORRIDOR, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
Neil CHASES the Forwards Figure down the corridor
47.
INT. ROTAS VAULT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist STRUGGLES the Backwards Figure PUSHES him
towards the next bullet hole, STRANGE REVERSE GROANING
building in its throat, behind the black gas mask, the GROAN
PEAKING AS the Protagonist takes his PICK and STABS the
Backwards Figure in the arm and SMACKS the Figure's gun out
of its hand it BOUNCES out the door
The Figure RISES into the Protagonist's arms PULLS him
backwards we can't tell if it's PUSHING or the Protagonist
is PULLING as they move backwards through the door
INT. CORRIDOR, VAULT CONTINUOUS
The Figure PUSHES/PULLS the Protagonist down the corridor
INT. CORRIDOR, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
Neil RACES around a corner, GRABS the Figure's MASK, which
COMES OFF he looks, SURPRISED, at the Figure's face, WHICH
WE CANNOT SEE, then TURNS, RACING back the way he came...
INT. CORRIDOR, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist and the Backwards Figure struggle into
INT. VAULT 2, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
They SMASH into the racks and crates the Protagonist GRABS
the gun raises it to the Figure's head
NEIL (O.S.)
NO! Don't kill him!
The Protagonist freezes Neil steps up, DESPERATE
NEIL (CONT'D)
We need to know if you're
compromised.
The Protagonist THROWS the Figure to the ground
PROTAGONIST
Why are you here?!
The Protagonist tries to rip off the gas mask, but it is
strapped tight the REVERSE KEENING gets LOUDER and LOUDER.
The Protagonist STEPS onto the Figure's injured arm...
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Who sent you?!
48.
The Figure's reverse screaming gets louder the Protagonist
KICKS its arm, HARD, AGAIN AND AGAIN
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
HOW DID YOU KNOW WE'D BE HERE!
A BOOM! from outside AIR starts BLOWING ACROSS the
Backwards Figure, SUCKING underneath the broken roller door
the Backwards Figure SLIDES impossibly across the floor and
underneath the door which SLAMS shut, unbroken behind him.
The Protagonist and Neil look at each other...
NEIL
We have to go.
EXT. APRON, OSLO AIRPORT CONTINUOUS
One of the plane's JET ENGINES has come loose, STILL
THRUSTING, SWINGING AROUND, wreaking HAVOC for the EMERGENCY
SERVICES an AMBULANCE SKIDS SIDEWAYS, avoiding the
THRUST...
Mahir and Rohan stand at a distance, watching the MAYHEM
along with DOZENS of other UNIFORMED AIRPORT WORKERS...
INT./EXT. FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
EMTS race in past the Staff Member...
INT. VAULTS, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
Neil moves to the other door works the lock SIRENS sound
PROTAGONIST
What happened to the other guy?
NEIL
I took care of him.
The door opens they slip into the outer vault
INT. OUTER VAULT, FREEPORT MOMENTS LATER
They reassemble the document frames, then LIE DOWN,
'unconscious' EMERGENCY SERVICES BURSTS IN...
INT. HOTEL ROOM, OSLO DAWN
Neil hangs up his phone
49.
NEIL
Mahir and Rohan slipped out clean.
(turns to the
Protagonist)
I've seen too much and I'm still
alive. Which means you've decided
to trust me.
PROTAGONIST
Or I've lost my edge.
NEIL
Oh, your edge is intact.
The Protagonist looks at Neil.
PROTAGONIST
There's a cold war.
NEIL
Nuclear?
PROTAGONIST
Temporal.
NEIL
(skeptical)
Time travel?
PROTAGONIST
No. Technology that can invert an
object's entropy.
NEIL
You mean reverse chronology. Like
Feynman and Wheeler's notion that
a positron is an electron moving
backwards in time.
PROTAGONIST
Sure, that's exactly what I meant.
NEIL
I've a master's in physics.
PROTAGONIST
Well, try to keep up.
NEIL
The implications of this are
PROTAGONIST
Beyond secret.
NEIL
Then why'd you take me in?
50.
PROTAGONIST
I thought we'd find the drawing and
a couple boxes of bullets.
NEIL
You were as surprised as I was.
PROTAGONIST
I'm going back to Mumbai for
answers. I'll set you up as go-
between. But remember to you, all
this is about plutonium. Or when
we're done, they'll kill you.
NEIL
Won't you have to anyway?
PROTAGONIST
I'd rather it was my decision.
NEIL
So would I. I think.
INT./EXT. FERRY BOAT, MUMBAI DAY
The Protagonist boards, approaching Priya at the rail.
PRIYA
I don't like to leave my house.
PROTAGONIST
And I don't like bungee jumping.
But we need to talk.
PRIYA
What about?
PROTAGONIST
Inversion.
PRIYA
We spoke about it
PROTAGONIST
I don't remember anything about
people being inverted
PRIYA
We're trying to do with inversion
what we couldn't do with the atomic
bomb uninvent it. Divide and
contain the knowledge. Ignorance is
our ammunition the more any one
of us knows, the greater the risk
that we're actually making the
situation worse.
51.
PROTAGONIST
Risk more.
Priya gestures at the paper. A headline: 'OSLO GOLD FREIGHT
CRASH TERRORISM? ROBBERY? BOTH?'
PRIYA
Your work?
The Protagonist nods.
PRIYA (CONT'D)
What did you find in the vaults?
PROTAGONIST
Two antagonists, one inverted. We
took out the regular one, the
inverted one got away.
PRIYA
Both emerged at the same moment?
PROTAGONIST
Yeah.
PRIYA
They were the same person. You saw
someone re-inverting. Sator's built
a turnstile in that vault.
PROTAGONIST
Turnstile?
PRIYA
A machine for inverting.
PROTAGONIST
You told me the technology hasn't
been invented, yet.
PRIYA
It hasn't. He's been given it by
the future.
PROTAGONIST
For what?
PRIYA
You've the best chance of finding
out.
EXT. MUMBAI STREET MOMENTS LATER
They walk, BODYGUARDS at a discreet distance.
PRIYA
Have you met him?
52.
PROTAGONIST
I was close.
PRIYA
Get closer.
PROTAGONIST
I've been compromised. Unless that
antagonist was a coincidence.
PRIYA
The wife set you up?
PROTAGONIST
Maybe. There's a good chance I get
killed as soon as I go back in.
PRIYA
This was always a suicide mission
that's why they recruited a corpse.
PROTAGONIST
Who did? Who are we working for?
PRIYA
Everyone. Survival. You need more,
consider yourself working for me.
PROTAGONIST
Well, Boss, I need a way to
succeed.
Priya thinks. Looks at the Protagonist. Deciding.
PRIYA
What if you have something he
needs?
PROTAGONIST
Such as?
PRIYA
Plutonium 241. Sator tried to lift
the only loose 241 from under a CIA
team at the opera siege in Kiev. He
got the team, but not the 241.
PROTAGONIST
Who did?
PRIYA
Ukrainian security services. It's
moving through Tallinn in a week.
53.
PROTAGONIST
Helping an arms dealer steal
weapons-grade plutonium is
unacceptable. I'm just gonna take
him out.
PRIYA
No. Sator has to stay alive until
we know his part in things.
Leverage the situation without
losing control of the 241.
PROTAGONIST
It's too dangerous.
PRIYA
A terrorist bomb, even one that
kills millions, is nothing compared
with what happens if we don't stop
Sator.
PROTAGONIST
From. Doing. What?
Priya looks up the road at the cars STREAMING past...
PRIYA
We're being attacked. Not by
terrorists or rogue states...
PROTAGONIST
Who, then?
PRIYA
We're being attacked by the future.
And we're fighting over time.
PROTAGONIST
Time?
PRIYA
Theirs is running out, so they're
coming for ours. And Sator is
helping. You have to find out how.
EXT. TERRACE, AMALFI COAST DAY
The Protagonist leaves the tourists behind, heading down a
leafy path to emerge at a terrace overlooking the sea. Kat
stands there, alone. The Protagonist falls in beside her.
KAT
I saw the news from Oslo. Do you
have the drawing?
54.
PROTAGONIST
You don't have to worry about it
any more.
KAT
You destroyed it?
PROTAGONIST
I didn't think you'd want it back.
KAT
Does he know?
PROTAGONIST
Not yet, so sit tight.
KAT
Sit tight? Why? Every day my son
spends with that monster, he thinks
a little less of me.
PROTAGONIST
It won't be long. In the meantime,
introduce me.
KAT
As what?
PROTAGONIST
I'm a former First Secretary from
the American Embassy in Riyadh, we
met at a party last June
KAT
We were at a party in Riyadh, but I
don't think it was June
PROTAGONIST
June 29th. 7 for 7:30, salmon on
the printed menu swapped for sea
bass on the night. Sator left
early, that's when we met. Don't
offer any of this, it's there if he
asks. I came into Shipley's in
London, you ran into me here and
want to show me the yacht.
KAT
He'll think we're having an affair.
PROTAGONIST
And he'll want to meet me.
KAT
Or have you killed.
PROTAGONIST
Let me worry about that.
55.
KAT
Did I look worried?
EXT. DOCK, AMALFI DAY
The Protagonist and Kat look out at an enormous yacht.
KAT
Sleeps 70, with crew. Four tenders,
two helicopters, missile defences
PROTAGONIST
Jesus. Worried about pirates?
KAT
Andrei loves playing one government
off another. The day they turn,
that's his refuge.
PROTAGONIST
What if I joined you?
She nods at Volkov, holding the launch's line.
KAT
I'm not sure Volkov's taking
passengers just now.
PROTAGONIST
Then let's take mine.
The Protagonist nods at Volkov as they walk past.
EXT. HARBOUR, AMALFI MOMENTS LATER
The Protagonist GUNS his boat hard, carving a GLITTERING PATH
across the calm harbour. Kat sits, enjoying the speed.
The Protagonist pulls up alongside the yacht, CREW MEMBERS
SCRAMBLE, unaccustomed to unauthorized approaches. The
Protagonist follows Kat's gaze to a FIGURE above, but the sun
is behind it. Kat steps onto the yacht.
The Protagonist gives the figure a JAUNTY SALUTE. No
response. The Protagonist ZIPS back towards shore, passing
the yacht's launch. He waves at Volkov.
INT./EXT. YACHT MOMENTS LATER
Follow Kat into the enormous lounge. She drops her bags
MALE VOICE (O.S.)
Who's the American?
56.
She turns. A middle-aged man with cold eyes and a thin beard
stands in the doorway. THIS IS SATOR.
KAT
A friend.
SATOR
The man from Shipley's?
KAT
Who you tried to have beaten up?
SATOR
I ask again. Who is he?
KAT
We met in Riyadh. In June at the
American Embassy.
SATOR
Good with fists for a diplomat...
KAT
Paranoia's your department. He
seems nice, I invited him to the
dinner.
(turns away)
Max?... Max?!...
SATOR
He's visiting Pompeii and
Herculaneum.
KAT
Overnight? You just sent him off?!
SATOR
He's my son.
KAT
Our son. I told him I'd go with him
SATOR
I explained you were busy. With
your friend.
He turns, walks away. She watches him leave.
INT. RESTAURANT, AMALFI COAST EVENING
The Protagonist walks towards a table where Sator, holding
court, attacks some crabs. Volkov stops the Protagonist and
FRISKS him, in full view of the diners.
57.
PROTAGONIST
Where I'm from, you buy me dinner
first.
Without looking, Sator gestures at a seat, Volkov lets the
Protagonist pass. He sits.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Mr Sator? I'm
SATOR
(quiet)
Don't bother. Just tell me if
you've slept with my wife, yet.
The Protagonist glances up at Kat, opposite, chatting.
PROTAGONIST
No. Not yet.
A glance from Sator between buttery mouthfuls of crab.
SATOR
How would you like to die?
PROTAGONIST
Old.
SATOR
You chose the wrong profession.
Sator returns a toast from a grinning guest. Reaches a greasy
palm to the Protagonist's cheek, as if in friendliness...
SATOR (CONT'D)
There's a walled garden up the
road. We're going to take you
there, cut your throat, not across,
in the middle, like a hole. Then we
take your balls, stuff them in the
cut, block the windpipe.
PROTAGONIST
Complex.
SATOR
It's gratifying to watch a man you
don't like try to pull his own
balls out of his throat before he
chokes.
PROTAGONIST
Is this how you treat all your
guests?
SATOR
The ones using my family to get to
me.
58.
PROTAGONIST
How else is someone supposed to get
to you?
SATOR
Only a fool wants to be near me.
PROTAGONIST
Or someone who has something worth
delaying your gratification for...
Sator signals Volkov Kat glances over as Volkov RISES
SATOR
We're finished.
PROTAGONIST
Do you like opera?
At this, Sator pauses. Waves off Volkov.
SATOR
Not here. You sail?
PROTAGONIST
I've messed around on boats.
SATOR
Be on the dock at eight. Ready to
do more than mess around.
Kat, relieved, watches the Protagonist leave.
EXT. DINING ROOM, YACHT MORNING
Kat enters, dressed in sailing gear. Sator is already seated,
similarly dressed, reading his phone, with a cup of coffee.
KAT
Max has missed too much school this
year. I'm taking him back to
England.
SATOR
No, you're not. He has a tutor
here.
KAT
The school won't be okay with
SATOR
Yes, they will.
KAT
Can I finish?!
59.
SATOR
Look around you he has everything
he needs here.
A SERVANT places a plate with a silver cover in front of Kat,
then pours her coffee.
KAT
You don't care what he needs. You
bought the trappings of a king, but
we both know you're a grubby little
man playing power games with a wife
who doesn't love him any more.
Sator looks at her.
SATOR
You seem spirited today.
KAT
(defiant)
Do I?
Sator barely nods at the servant, who pulls off the lid...
SATOR
Yes. You do.
On the plate, instead of breakfast, is a small drawing. A
'Rubens'. Kat freezes.
SATOR (CONT'D)
Were you worried it had been
destroyed? Rest assured, instinct
told me to remove it from the
vault. I've always had instincts
about the future. That's how I
built this life you no longer
value.
Kat looks up at him, not knowing what to say or do.
EXT. DOCK, AMALFI MORNING
The Protagonist stands on the dock, dressed for sailing,
watching the launch approach...
PROTAGONIST
Morning.
As he gets on, Kat ignores him. Sator enjoys this.
EXT. OPEN OCEAN, AMALFI MOMENTS LATER
The Protagonist tries to catch Kat's eye, but she will not
look his way.
60.
Sator hands the Protagonist a HARNESS and a HELMET... he
looks at them, taken aback, then looks ahead towards TWO
GRAPHITE DARK, HIGHEST TECH AMERICA'S CUP SAILING YACHTS,
trimmed and ready.
PROTAGONIST
(impressed)
When you said sailing...
EXT. SAILING YACHT DECK MOMENTS LATER
Kat gets on, followed by Sator and the Protagonist. The
rigging crew departs. Kat checks the sheets and winches.
Sator indicates the harness.
SATOR
You know how?
PROTAGONIST
Aye, Captain.
Sator gestures at Kat.
SATOR
She's captain.
EXT. OPEN OCEAN, AMALFI LATER
The boats FLY, SKIMMING THE WATER ON THEIR HYDROFOILS...
Sator and the Protagonist are next to each other, standing on
one pontoon, LEANING OUT IN THEIR HARNESSES... Kat is at the
wheel, concentrating...
SATOR
What do you know about opera?
PROTAGONIST
In 2008 a remote Russian missile
station was overwhelmed and held
for a week. When the station was
retaken, the plutonium 241 on one
warhead was three quarters of a
kilo lighter. The missing 241
surfaced at the opera-house siege
in Kiev on the 14th.
SATOR
You're well informed. But that
doesn't mean you have the
plutonium.
PROTAGONIST
I didn't say I had it. I'm saying I
know how to get it
61.
KAT (O.S.)
COMING ABOUT!
Kat SWINGS the boat into the wind, SAIL FLAPPING FURIOUSLY as
the wind catches it on the other side, and Sator and the
Protagonist DUCK under the boom, RACING to the other side,
their harnesses SNAPPING TAUT as they lean out...
SATOR
What do you propose?
PROTAGONIST
Partnership.
SATOR
I wouldn't partner with you.
Kat works the wheel, tracking the other boat. Her look is one
of BOTTLED RAGE...
PROTAGONIST
What's wrong with me?
SATOR
You know how to handle yourself,
you have no record.
PROTAGONIST
Someone in the arms trade with
training who covers his tracks? Not
that shocking.
SATOR
For an intelligence agent.
Sator holds the Protagonist's gaze...
KAT
Secure your jib line.
The Protagonist turns Kat leans in to Sator
KAT (CONT'D)
Burn in hell, Andrei
and YANKS HIS QUICK-RELEASE he FLIES off the boat,
SMASHING HEAD-FIRST into the waves
The Protagonist sees Sator FACE-DOWN, UNCONSCIOUS he
UNCLIPS, JUMPS to the wheel, SPINNING the boat OFF THE WIND
KAT (CONT'D)
YOU CAN'T JIBE A BOAT LIKE THIS !
The Protagonist STEERS the boat across the wind, SNAPPING THE
BOOM ACROSS, ALMOST LOSING THE MAST
62.
PROTAGONIST
You can if you have to
He RELEASES THE SHEETS, SPILLING WIND, LOSING SPEED as they
pass Sator he DIVES into the water GRABS the oligarch
PULLS his face out of the water... Sator starts COUGHING...
INT. STATEROOM, SATOR'S YACHT DAY
The Protagonist dries himself the door opens Kat BURSTS
in
KAT
WHY DIDN'T YOU LET HIM DROWN?!
She is on him, smashing her fists into his chest
PROTAGONIST
I need him.
KAT
To sell guns?!
PROTAGONIST
I'm not who you think I am.
KAT
That, I know he showed me the
drawing.
PROTAGONIST
I'm sorry.
KAT
Do you have any idea what you've
done?
PROTAGONIST
I had to get close to him. I don't
know what you think your husband is
KAT
We both know he's an arms dealer.
PROTAGONIST
He's so much more.
KAT
What, then?
PROTAGONIST
Andrei Sator holds all our lives in
his hands. Not just yours.
She looks bemused. A KNOCK at the door she hides behind it
63.
VOLKOV
Mr Sator wants to see you.
The Protagonist nods pushes the door Volkov stops it
VOLKOV (CONT'D)
Now.
PROTAGONIST
He wants to see me without pants?
Volkov lets the door shut. The Protagonist turns to Kat
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Trust me.
KAT
Save it. I'm not falling for it
twice.
The Protagonist looks at Kat. Sighs.
PROTAGONIST
You have a better option?
She looks into the Protagonist's eyes. Assessing.
KAT
Whatever it takes to get what you
want. Just like him. Not a second's
thought about me. My son. What do
you think he's going to do to me
now?
He pulls a gun from his bag. Offers it to her.
PROTAGONIST
Try not to use this
She takes it lets it point at him.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
On anyone.
INT. STUDY, SATOR'S YACHT EVENING
The Protagonist is shown in. Sator is sitting behind his
desk. A DOCTOR is taking his blood pressure.
SATOR
Enough
Sator RIPS the cuff off his arm, sending the doctor out
checks a fitness tracker on his wrist.
64.
SATOR (CONT'D)
See? Pulse of a man half my age.
Drink with me.
Sator pours them both tumblers of vodka.
SATOR (CONT'D)
It seems I now owe you my life.
PROTAGONIST
It's nothing.
Sator fixes his black gaze on the Protagonist.
SATOR
My life is not nothing. And I don't
like to be in debt.
PROTAGONIST
Then pay me. No retribution against
your wife.
A dangerous beat. Then Sator GRINS
SATOR
You think she released my harness?
(laughs)
It was my own mistake.
PROTAGONIST
Then help me steal the 241. I need
resources. It's weapons-grade
plutonium that means special
handling, containment facilities
SATOR
I know what it means. You lecture
me about radiation. Andrei Sator,
digging plutonium from the rubble
of my city as a teenager?
PROTAGONIST
Where?
SATOR
Stalsk-12. My home.
Sator sips his drink. Looks the Protagonist in the eye.
SATOR (CONT'D)
One pod of a warhead exploded at
ground level, scattering the
others. They needed people to find
the plutonium...
65.
INSERT CUT: IN A DESOLATE STREET, SNOW FALLS ON A HAZMAT-
SUITED SCAVENGER A YOUNG SATOR WALKING IN FRONT OF A
MASSIVE MINING MACHINE, CARRYING A GIANT CROWBAR AND A GEIGER
COUNTER...
SATOR (CONT'D)
It became my first contract
nobody else even bid. They thought
it was a death sentence.
INSERT CUT: YOUNG SATOR SPOTS THE MACHINE UNEARTHING A LARGE
METAL CAPSULE. A FELLOW WORKER SEES THE SAME THING...
SATOR (CONT'D)
But one man's probability of death
is another man's possibility for a
life...
INSERT CUT: YOUNG SATOR OPENS THE CAPSULE. HE LIFTS OUT SOME
PAPERS, WHICH HAVE HIS NAME ON THEM, REVEALING GOLD BARS
UNDERNEATH. THE FELLOW WORKER LEANS IN, STUDYING THE GOLD.
THEY MAKE EYE CONTACT... SATOR STRIKES THE FELLOW WORKER WITH
HIS CROWBAR, KILLING HIM...
SATOR (CONT'D)
I staked my claim in the new
Russia. Even now, my company is the
only one to operate in the ruins.
PROTAGONIST
The 241's being transported through
Northern Europe on its way to the
long-term nuclear storage depot at
Trieste. I'm told you have
resources in Tallinn.
Sator downs his vodka.
SATOR
Stay with us tonight. I insist.
INT. KAT'S STATEROOM, SATOR'S YACHT NIGHT
Kat slips the gun under her mattress, feels the lump pulls
it out moves to the desk, puts it in her jewellery case
hearing a noise she jumps onto the bed, picks up a book. The
door opens. Sator. He locks the door.
KAT
What do you want, Andrei?
SATOR
We're going to talk about today.
KAT
No, we're not.
66.
He removes a DIAMOND CUFFLINK...
SATOR
No?
Kat starts to get off the bed
KAT
Don't think for a minute you can
treat me the way you treat your
other women.
Sator shifts to lean on the desk, cutting her off from the
jewellery box. She sits back down. He removes his belt...
SATOR
And how do you imagine I treat
these other women?
Sator slips the cufflink through a belt hole...
SATOR (CONT'D)
You think I force them into
conversation?
Sator tests the diamond studded belt against his palm.
SATOR (CONT'D)
You want to be quiet? Fine...
He tosses her a pillow.
SATOR (CONT'D)
Bite down on that...
Sator moves towards her she looks at the jewellery box on
the desk no way around him Sator looks down at her. She
looks up at his cold eyes...
KAT
Even a soul as blank and brittle as
yours needs a response. Is fear and
pain enough? Because that's all I
have to offer.
SATOR
Then it'll have to do.
KAT
Why didn't you just throw me out?
SATOR
If I can't have you, no one can.
KAT
At what point do you give up and
kill me?
67.
Sator shrugs, wraps the belt a turn around his fist...
SATOR
Turn over.
KAT
Touch me, I scream so loud he
hears.
SATOR
You think I'd let him interfere?
KAT
If he tried you'd have to kill him.
End of deal. So leave me the fuck
alone.
A KNOCK at the door.
SATOR
NOT NOW!
But he hears a RUMBLING... Sator, without a word, exits
EXT. SATOR'S YACHT, AMALFI COAST NIGHT
Sator GRABS binoculars from one of his men, peering out
A helicopter EMERGES from the darkness, THUNDERING IN...
INT. GUEST STATEROOM, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist listens to the incoming chopper pulls on a
black Windbreaker quietly opens his door...
INT. PASSAGE, BELOW DECKS, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist makes his way, looking for an exit...
EXT. SATOR'S YACHT, AMALFI COAST CONTINUOUS
The chopper descends to the landing pad rotors turning as
Sator signals his men to head in...
EXT. SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist is on a roof overlooking the helipad...
He watches Sator's men remove a LARGE, GRUBBY CAPSULE and
take it below as the chopper LIFTS OFF...
68.
INT. STORAGE AREA, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist makes his way through the storage area.
Peering through a window, he sees
INT. ENGINE ROOM, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
Crew gathered around the capsule. Sator enters, wipes dirt
from the latches and opens it. Sator puts his hand over the
open capsule, letting small, flat GOLD BARS leap from the
capsule into his hand... he looks up, expectantly...
The Crew SHOVES a CREW MEMBER forwards, onto his knees...
eyes downcast, he reaches behind pulls a gold bar from his
rear pocket. He offers it to Sator with TREMBLING hands.
Sator takes it, eyes never leaving the Crew Member... who
finally, tentatively looks up
BAM! Sator JABS him in the mouth with the gold bar, then
SMASHES him over the head
INT. STORAGE AREA, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist is REPULSED by what he sees...
INT. ENGINE ROOM, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
Sator steps back, breathless, from the Small Crew Member, who
lies motionless on the ground.
As Sator raises his wrist to check his fitness tracker, BLOOD
drips from the gold bar in his hand.
SATOR
Ninety-eight. Not bad for such
exertion.
EXT. STORAGE AREA, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist SENSES, TURNS CRACK! Volkov smashes his jaw
KICKS him in the ribs pistol-whips him...
INT. ENGINE ROOM, SATOR'S YACHT MOMENTS LATER
The Protagonist, bleeding, is SHOVED into the room
VOLKOV
He was at the window.
Sator looks at the Protagonist, who nods at the capsule
69.
PROTAGONIST
I was curious.
SATOR
My property shouldn't concern you.
Who are you? How do you come by
your information about the opera?
PROTAGONIST
Do I work for intelligence
services? Several, just like you.
You wouldn't do business with
someone who wasn't savvy enough to
be recruited. Hell, the CIA
provides two-thirds of the market
for fissile material.
SATOR
They're usually buying, not
selling. But we do live in a
twilight world...
PROTAGONIST
Is that Whitman? It's pretty.
SATOR
Next warning's a bullet in your
brain.
PROTAGONIST
No balls in my throat?
SATOR
There'll be no time for such things
in Tallinn.
Sator gestures to his men they lift the capsule. The
Protagonist spots DRIED MUD from the latches on the table...
SATOR (CONT'D)
Make your way there. I want Volkov
on the team.
The Protagonist struggles to his feet.
PROTAGONIST
No. I spring the materials, you pay
me off. Your wife does the
exchange.
SATOR
I never involve her in my business.
PROTAGONIST
That's why I trust her.
70.
SATOR
(to Volkov)
Put him ashore.
PROTAGONIST
How do I contact you?
SATOR
You don't.
PROTAGONIST
How do you advance me funds?
Sator TOSSES the Protagonist the BLOODY GOLD BAR the
Protagonist FUMBLES it onto the table. Volkov SNEERS
SATOR
Handle the plutonium better than
that.
The Protagonist, looking Volkov in the eye, picks up the gold
bar, scooping DRIED MUD into his hand, unseen.
EXT. DOWNTOWN STREETS, TALLINN DAY
The Protagonist walks the crowded streets with Neil.
PROTAGONIST
What did you find on the gold?
NEIL
Three hundred thousand at today's
price, no franks, mould marks.
Nothing. Like it came from outer
space.
PROTAGONIST
Or the future.
NEIL
How?
PROTAGONIST
Dead drops. He buries his time
capsule, transmits the location,
then digs it up to collect whatever
inverted material they've sent.
NEIL
Instantaneous. Where's he bury it?
PROTAGONIST
Someplace that won't be disturbed
for centuries. What did the soil
sample show?
71.
NEIL
Northern Europe or Asia,
radioactive. Dried blood was
European.
PROTAGONIST
Pretty broad.
NEIL
This is the start of the run.
The Protagonist looks back where they came. Then up ahead.
PROTAGONIST
When does the material arrive?
NEIL
Thursday. When does Sator arrive?
PROTAGONIST
I don't know. But he'll be here.
NEIL
Cargo's in a reinforced truck.
Nuclear police front and back
SUVs with serious armour you
can't break in through the windows.
PROTAGONIST
And they can't break out.
NEIL
I don't follow.
PROTAGONIST
You will. So, light convoy through
downtown, what's the thinking?
NEIL
A crowded, unpredictable traffic
pattern makes planning an ambush
almost impossible.
The Protagonist looks around at the congestion.
PROTAGONIST
They have a point. Is the convoy
monitored from the air?
NEIL
No, tracked by GPS a wrong turn
or an unscheduled stop, in comes
the cavalry.
Neil and the Protagonist hop a tram. The Protagonist studies
the journey along the multi-lane road out of town.
72.
PROTAGONIST
We need big guns, guns that make
the point without being fired. We
need a fast car that doesn't look
fast and four heavy vehicles, all
different bus, coach, eighteen-
wheeler...
Neil nods.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
One of them has to be a fire truck.
Neil looks up, interested.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Most of all, we need to set this up
with nothing in the record
nothing electronic, nothing paper
I don't want Sator ambushing us the
second we spring the material. His
ignorance is our only protection.
INT./EXT. MERCEDES ON TALLINN STREETS DAY
Kat sits beside Sator in the back, staring out the window.
SATOR
Everything salvaged from Oslo's
been shipped here.
KAT
Why am I here?
SATOR
I don't trust anyone else to assess
the pieces.
EXT. FREEPORT, DOCKSIDE AREA, EDGE OF TALLINN DAY
The MERCEDES pulls into the Tallinn Freeport. Several
BODYGUARDS emerge, Sator heads inside. Kat follows, looking
through a metal fence an AUDI sits there, idling. Its
driver is wearing an OXYGEN MASK...
INT. STORAGE FACILITY, TALLINN FREEPORT MOMENTS LATER
Kat enters. Sator is at a table covered in WEAPONS.
SATOR
See, Kat? Some of my favourites...
He picks up a MACHINE GUN.
73.
SATOR (CONT'D)
Singed but salvageable, wouldn't
you say?
She stares at the weaponry as if she's never seen anything
like it before...
KAT
It's not my area of expertise.
SATOR
That's right. You'd never have
anything to do with such things.
But this is where our worlds
collide.
KAT
Andrei, what is this?
SATOR
You know perfectly well what it is,
Kat the filthy business that put
those clothes on your back and our
boy in his school. That you thought
you could negotiate your way
around.
VOLKOV
(in Russian, subtitled)
The convoy's due downtown in ten.
Sator checks his watch. Nods at Volkov. Turns to Kat.
SATOR
It's time to go.
KAT
I'm not going anywhere with you.
Sator SLAMS the machine gun back down on the table. Kat
FLINCHES. Sator TURNS, enraged...
SATOR
Look at me and understand you
don't negotiate with a tiger you
admire a tiger, until it turns on
you and you feel its TRUE. FUCKING.
NATURE!
Sator moves towards her Kat pulls out a gun.
KAT
Don't...
74.
EXT. TALLINN STREET DAY
A LARGE UNMARKED TRUCK, with an ESCORT FRONT AND BACK, makes
its stop and-start way through the downtown traffic.
INT./EXT. BMW, TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist and Neil watch the convoy cross an
intersection, then pull forward, squeezing through traffic to
get ahead. Neil raises a walkie-talkie
YELLOW CO-PILOT
(into radio)
Green? Two minutes.
INT./EXT. GREEN TRUCK, TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
The GREEN DRIVER nods at the GREEN CO-PILOT who holds the
radio.
GREEN CO-PILOT
Check.
He puts the radio down and pulls out a LARGE AUTOMATIC RIFLE.
INT./EXT. BMW, TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist checks his watch Neil speaks into the radio
NEIL
Yellow? Sixty seconds.
YELLOW CO-PILOT
(over radio)
Sixty. Check.
NEIL
Blue? Forty-five seconds.
BLUE CO-PILOT
(over radio)
Forty-five. Check.
NEIL
Red? On our way to you.
INT./EXT. FIRE ENGINE CONTINUOUS
RED DRIVER and RED CO-PILOT are dressed as FIREFIGHTERS.
75.
INT./EXT. BMW, TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
The BMW pulls out, running behind the nuclear convoy. As the
convoy passes the cross street where the green truck, a
FLATBED TRUCK, is sitting, it pulls out beside them, settling
in to the right of the convoy.
INT. STORAGE FACILITY DAY
Sator steps towards Kat
KAT
Stay right there!
She lifts the gun, intent
SATOR
You wouldn't kill me.
KAT
I already tried.
SATOR
You pushed me off a boat. You're
not going to shoot me in cold blood
KAT
My blood's not cold, Andrei.
SATOR
No, but you're not angry enough.
Sator edges towards Kat...
SATOR (CONT'D)
Because anger scars over into
despair. I look in your eyes...
He casually GESTURES at her
SATOR (CONT'D)
I see despair.
He SMACKS the gun out of her hands PUNCHES her she DROPS
SATOR (CONT'D)
Vengeful bitch. Living off me,
pretending to be better...
With a primal, animal viciousness, Sator SPITS at Kat.
SATOR (CONT'D)
ENOUGH!
Sator KICKS her once, in the side.
76.
SATOR (CONT'D)
You wanted to know when it's better
to kill you? You'll have your
answer.
He motions to Volkov, who, with a guard, lifts Kat and
carries her towards the door. Sator puts an earpiece in his
ear...
SATOR (CONT'D)
Tell me everything as it happens.
Volkov nods, leaving Sator walks through a large door.
SATOR (CONT'D)
Seal us this side!
As the door shuts behind him, he walks towards a RED DOOR
WITH A SMALL PORTHOLE, finding a spot in the shadows
nearby...
EXT. TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
The BMW watches the yellow truck, a BROADCAST TRUCK, which
pulls out just ahead of the nuclear convoy... the Protagonist
looks back through the BMW's side mirror, which is CRACKED...
The BMW sees the blue truck, a WRECKER, which pulls out onto
the larger street, just behind the convoy, which is now
SURROUNDED ON THREE SIDES by the coloured trucks.
INT. MERCEDES CONTINUOUS
Volkov follows the convoy...
VOLKOV
(into radio)
Three trucks in place...
SATOR
(over radio)
Watch everything, give me all the
details...
INT. STORAGE FACILITY, TALLINN FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
Sator sits in the shadows, listening intently...
EXT. TALLINN STREETS CONTINUOUS
The BMW ZIPS ahead, weaving through traffic, pulls alongside
the fire truck.
77.
The Protagonist, DRESSED AS A FIREFIGHTER, jumps out of the
BMW and grabs onto the side of the fire truck, BANGING the
side to signal the driver. The fire truck pulls out onto the
three-lane highway...
INT./EXT. FIRE TRUCK CONTINUOUS
The fire truck pulls alongside the nuclear convoy, slotting
in on the left, so that the convoy is now SURROUNDED... the
Protagonist CLIMBS onto the roof beside the ladder, puts on a
pair of heavy-duty gloves, pulls a diagonal backpack around
onto his front, checking his tools.
Blue Co-pilot and Yellow Co-pilot COUNT DOWN in unison
BLUE CO-PILOT
(over radio)
Five, four, three, two, one, go...
Blue truck, behind the convoy, GUNS THE ACCELERATOR, as
yellow truck, in front of the convoy, SLAMS ON THE BRAKES...
The two SUVS are ACCORDIONED against the nuclear truck, then
CARRIED FORWARD WITH THE NUCLEAR TRUCK as the coloured trucks
CLOSE FORMATION and PULL FORWARD, maintaining pace
BLUE CO-PILOT (CONT'D)
Go yellow!
The YELLOW CO-PILOT in the broadcast truck sends out STATIC
INT./EXT. SECURITY SUV CONTINUOUS
The SECURITY DRIVER is trying the radio STATIC...
INT. CONTROL CENTRE, TALLINN POLICE CONTINUOUS
A POLICE OPERATOR is frowning, trying the radio. He calls to
his SUPERVISOR
POLICE OPERATOR
(in Estonian, subtitled)
Radio's down.
SUPERVISOR
(in Estonian, subtitled)
Are they still moving?
The Police Operator checks his screen NODS...
78.
EXT. TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
TYRES HOWLING, the convoy GRINDS forward Blue Co-pilot
tosses a DYE PACK onto the windshield of the SUV it BLASTS
across the glass, obscuring the view Yellow Co-pilot does
the same in the front the Guards are now BLIND, CANNOT OPEN
THEIR DOORS OR SHOOT OUT THROUGH THE BULLET-PROOF VEHICLES...
The Protagonist CLIMBS ONTO THE LADDER, lying on top...
Inside, the Red Co-pilot operates the ladder controls...
The ladder SWINGS OUT AT NINETY DEGREES, hanging the
Protagonist DIRECTLY OVER THE NUCLEAR TRUCK... he PULLS a
frame from his pack, unfolds it fixes it to the roof. The
ladder SWINGS him away the frame EXPLODES he SWINGS back
through the smoke to find an OPENING and climbs into
INT. NUCLEAR TRANSPORTATION TRUCK CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist lands, gets his bearings, finds the SAFE. He
reaches into his pack...
EXT. TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
An Estonian POLICE CAR pulls up behind the fire truck the
POLICEMEN spot SPARKS from the dragging bumper of the SUV
the Policeman Passenger tries his radio... STATIC...
INT. NUCLEAR TRANSPORTATION TRUCK CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist affixes a CHARGE to the safe he runs a
wire, pushing back into the farthest corner BLASTS the door
open
INT./EXT. FIRE ENGINE CONTINUOUS
Watching the Police through his mirror, Red Passenger rolls
down his window and props his ASSAULT RIFLE on the sill...
INT. NUCLEAR TRANSPORTATION TRUCK CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist reaches into the safe... PULLS OUT an ORANGE
PLASTIC CASE... reaches up to climb through the roof...
INT./EXT. FIRE TRUCK CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist, orange case in hand, CLIMBS onto the ladder
Red Passenger SWINGS his rear-opening door out and SHOOTS
OUT the engine block of the police car which DROPS BACK as
79.
The fire-truck ladder SWINGS the Protagonist back onto the
fire truck he climbs down onto the side the BMW pulls
alongside he JUMPS into the car, which SPEEDS away...
INT./EXT. BMW, TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
Neil, driving, glances at the orange case
NEIL
We got it!
The Protagonist opens the latches, flips open the lid...
revealing the BLACK METAL SHAPE the size of a softball.
PROTAGONIST
I've seen samples of encapsulation
in every weapons class this is
not one of them.
Neil looks back at the Protagonist. Serious.
NEIL
It's what he's after.
The Protagonist looks around at the surrounding traffic...
PROTAGONIST
Check the radio chatter.
Neil clicks on the radio EMPHATIC GIBBERISH...
NEIL
I can't understand
PROTAGONIST
You said you spoke Estonian
NEIL
It's not Estonian, it's...
backwards
Up ahead, an Audi is weaving through traffic, towards them,
BACKWARDS... Neil STARES...
NEIL (CONT'D)
The hell?
The BACKWARDS-RUNNING AUDI flies at them, CLIPPING the wing
mirror, 'HEALING' its crack. Behind them it SPINS AROUND, to
CHASE them, still running BACKWARDS...
The BMW DODGES around traffic, trying to lose the backwards
Audi, which pulls up to the back bumper then ALONGSIDE in
the back is Sator, black eyes peering over a RESPIRATOR, a
gun to Kat's head. She is BOUND and GAGGED, eyes TERRIFIED
80.
Sator rolls the rear window down, holds up his hand, FINGERS
EXTENDED. He COCKS the gun at Kat's head then starts COUNTING
DOWN on his fingers... the Protagonist looks down at the
BLACK METAL SHAPE in the case...
NEIL (CONT'D)
You can't give it to him!
The Protagonist LIFTS the closed case, LOWERS the window...
PROTAGONIST
This isn't plutonium.
Sator is down to TWO FINGERS... Ahead of them in the road,
the Protagonist sees a CRASHED, SMOKING, UPSIDE-DOWN SAAB...
NEIL
It's worse, goddammit!
Both cars race towards the crashed Saab, which starts SHAKING
as they approach as they pass, THE CRASHED SAAB ROLLS
VIOLENTLY OVER AND OVER between them until it is on its
wheels, RACING BACKWARDS ahead of them, UNDAMAGED
Neil regains his line, looks over at Sator who holds up his
LAST FINGER... the Protagonist looks ahead to the Saab,
STRUCK BY AN IDEA... the Protagonist looks at Sator
Then TOSSES the orange case at him
The Saab brakes, CUTTING BETWEEN THE TWO CARS...
THE ORANGE CASE GLANCES OFF ITS WINDSHIELD, INTO SATOR'S
HANDS...
A forwards-driving Mercedes pulls up alongside the backwards-
driving Audi. Sator opens the rear door he and the Audi
driver climb BACKWARDS into the Mercedes LEAVING KAT IN THE
ACCELERATING BACKWARDS AUDI the Mercedes DROPS FAR BEHIND
the BMW, Neil WATCHES
NEIL (CONT'D)
He's getting away!
PROTAGONIST
He left her in the car!
Neil looks forward to the backwards Audi, SPEEDING AWAY
INT./EXT. BACKWARDS AUDI CONTINUOUS
NO ONE IS AT THE WHEEL as the car continues to accelerate
Kat lies in the back, breathing, groaning, but unconscious...
81.
INT./EXT. BMW, TALLINN STREET CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist stares ahead at the backwards Audi
PROTAGONIST
Pull up alongside...
Neil looks back at the receding Mercedes, followed by the
BACKWARDS SAAB... he turns RACING to pull alongside the
runaway backwards Audi, the Protagonist OPENS his door...
Ahead, a LOGJAM of traffic...
The Protagonist FUMBLES to open the Audi door.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Kat! Kat!
In the back, Kat swings her bound legs around
The LOGJAM of cars and buses LOOMS CLOSER... The
Protagonist OPENS the Audi door, but his own door hits it and
SLAMS IT CLOSED AGAIN...
The LOGJAM is DANGEROUSLY CLOSE...
The Protagonist OPENS it again, Kat JAMS it open with her
feet the Protagonist CLIMBS ACROSS and PUSHES THE BRAKE
WITH HIS HAND...
The Audi SKIDS to a halt, the BMW ZOOMING PAST...
The Protagonist starts to untie Kat, fumbling with his radio
The BMW SKIDS to a halt, Neil JUMPS OUT a CAR SKIDS to a
halt between the BMW and the Audi BLAM, BLAM! Neil DUCKS,
avoiding GUNFIRE
NEIL
(over radio)
Sit tight I'm calling in the
cavalry.
PROTAGONIST
What cavalry?!
SMASH!!! The Protagonist and Kat are THROWN LIKE RAG DOLLS
across the car the Mercedes has SWIPED the nose of the Audi
Volkov lays down COVER FIRE, pinning Neil as Sator's men
descend on the CRASHED Audi and pull the PROTAGONIST out of
the car shoving him around the back of the Mercedes. Kat is
pulled from the wreck and put into the Mercedes
As they put the Protagonist INTO THE TRUNK, he sees Sator
MOVING BACKWARDS behind the line of cars, from the BMW...
82.
EXT. DOCKSIDE AREA, EDGE OF TALLINN MOMENTS LATER
The TRUNK OPENS the Protagonist is PULLED OUT. Marched
towards an entrance, he sees, through a steel fence dividing
the yard in two, SATOR, IN RESPIRATOR, WALKING BACKWARDS,
PULLING KAT, FORWARDS, TOWARDS A DIFFERENT ENTRANCE...
The Protagonist passes a stack of SHIPPING CONTAINERS,
several of which are marked OSLO FREEPORT...
INT. STORAGE FACILITY, TALLINN FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist is taken past the table of weapons, through a
large door, and through RED DOORS with a PORTHOLE...
INT. TURNSTILE, TALLINN FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
Into A LONG CHAMBER DIVIDED IN TWO BY A GLASS WINDOW A MUCH
BIGGER VERSION OF THE ROTAS VAULT. The Russians push the
Protagonist into a chair. This side is lit by RED LIGHT.
On the other side of the glass, lit by BLUE LIGHT, Sator
'ENTERS' BACKWARDS, 'PULLING' Kat, who is now in a
respirator. Sator 'SHOVES' her hard into a chair, removes his
own respirator, 'FLIPPING' it up onto a hook on the wall.
The Protagonist looks into Kat's frightened eyes... between
them, embedded in a whirl of cracked glass, is a BULLET...
Sator TURNS to meet the Protagonist's gaze his movements
have the surreal edge of backwards motion as he places his
GUN AGAINST KAT'S HEAD and pulls out his phone...
He holds his PHONE up and plays a recording IN REVERSE
SATOR
(via recording)
If you're not telling the truth,
she dies.
Sator moves the phone to his lips, SPEAKING IN REVERSE... the
Protagonist stares at him, bemused.
PROTAGONIST
I don't know what you're talking
about.
Sator listens to this played backwards...
SATOR
(via recording)
You left it in the car not the fire
truck, right?
PROTAGONIST
Who told you that?
83.
SATOR
(via recording)
Tell me, now! Is it really in the
BMW?
PROTAGONIST
I don't know!
SATOR
(via recording)
Tell me or I'll shoot her again!
The Protagonist looks at Kat, who is TERRIFIED
KAT
(pleading)
Tell him!
then at Sator
PROTAGONIST
Leave her alone!
SATOR
(via recording)
I don't have time to negotiate.
The Protagonist looks at the bullet hole in the glass WISPS
OF SMOKE are gathering...
PROTAGONIST
Listen to me! I can help you!
SATOR
(via recording)
Three...
PROTAGONIST
Don't!
KAT
Help me!
SATOR
(via recording)
Two...
KAT
PLEASE!
A FAINT TRICKLE of glass dust rises to where the bullet is
lodged in the window...
PROTAGONIST
Wait!
84.
SATOR
(via recording)
One...
Sator LIFTS Kat PUSHES her up against the glass...
KAT
PLEASE!
PROTAGONIST
NO!
The SMOKE COALESCES as BANG! The bullet RIPS THROUGH KAT'S
SIDE on its inevitable journey to Sator's gun. Kat SCREAMS
SATOR
(via recording)
Next one's a bullet to the head...
He holds up a finger Kat is SCREAMING
SATOR (CONT'D)
(via recording)
One...
PROTAGONIST
Please!
SATOR
(via recording)
Two...
PROTAGONIST
No!
SATOR
(via recording)
Three...
PROTAGONIST
Okay! Okay! The car! The BMW! I
left it in the BMW!
Kat's screams subside to moans as she PASSES OUT...
SATOR
(via recording)
We're going to check this is real.
PROTAGONIST
It's in the glove box!
The door OPENS behind the Protagonist
SATOR (O.S.)
Where did you leave it?
85.
The Protagonist spins around Sator, BEHIND HIM, SMASHES his
gun into the Protagonist's cheek THIS SATOR IS FORWARDS
SATOR (CONT'D)
Car or truck which one?!
Sator HITS him again the Protagonist falls near the glass
looks up through the glass to see 'backwards' Sator, on the
blue side, staring at him dispassionately...
SATOR (CONT'D)
Which vehicle did you leave it in?!
I need to know before I go out
there!
PROTAGONIST
I already told you!
Forwards Sator looks through the window at his inverse self
then turns back to the Protagonist
SATOR
I believe you...
Sator puts his GUN to the Protagonist's forehead
SATOR (CONT'D)
(indicates Kat)
You wanted her here. I hope you'll
be happy together
Sator COCKS his weapon BLAMBLAMBLAM! the double doors
behind the Protagonist SMASH open PARAMILITARIES BURST IN,
GUNS BLAZING the two guards are SHOT Sator JUMPS FOR THE
VAULT HITS A BUTTON
On the other side of the glass, INVERTED SATOR runs backwards
towards the other vault door
BOTH SATORS JUMP INSIDE AND ARE GONE
A Paramilitary SERGEANT enters, gun drawn
PARAMILITARY SERGEANT
Clear!
The Protagonist looks at the empty vault
PROTAGONIST
Where'd he go?
PARAMILITARY SERGEANT
The past.
86.
INT. TURNSTILE, TALLINN FREEPORT MOMENTS EARLIER
Sator runs out of the turnstile into the blue side of the
room on the other side he sees the paramilitary AMBUSH IN
REVERSE... for a few seconds he watches his older self
interrogate the Protagonist, then fires up his phone, steps
up to the glass the Protagonist SHOUTS PASSIONATELY
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
It's in the glove box!
SATOR
We're going to check this is real.
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
Okay! Okay! The car! The BMW! I
left it in the BMW!
The sound of Kat's MOANING is BUILDING and BUILDING. Sator
holds up one finger
SATOR
Three...
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
No!
Adds a second finger Kat is SCREAMING now
SATOR
Two...
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
Please!
And a third
SATOR
One. Next one's a bullet to the
head.
Kat's SCREAM CRESCENDOS as Sator GRABS her and pushes her up
against the glass, PULLS HIS TRIGGER, 'HEALING' her wound
SATOR (CONT'D)
One...
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
Wait!
Holds up two fingers
87.
SATOR
Two...
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
Don't!
Sator holds up three fingers
SATOR
Three
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
Listen to me! I can help you!
SATOR
I don't have time to negotiate.
The Protagonist looks confused
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
Leave her alone!
SATOR
Tell me or I'll shoot her again!
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
I don't know!
SATOR
Tell me now! Is it really in the
BMW!
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
Who told you that?
SATOR
You left it in the car not the fire
truck, right?
PROTAGONIST
(via recording)
I don't know what you're talking
about.
SATOR
If you're not telling the truth,
she dies.
Sator GRABS his respirator from the hook, PULLS Kat to her
feet DRAGS her backwards through the door, down a corridor
into an AIRLOCK, pulls off her respirator, puts his on...
88.
INT. TURNSTILE, TALLINN FREEPORT THE PRESENT
The Protagonist looks through the glass at Kat
FEMALE PARAMILITARY
She's been shot!
PARAMILITARY SERGEANT
Get her this side!
Respirator-clad Paramilitaries pull Kat out of the room. The
Paramilitary Sergeant turns to the Protagonist.
PARAMILITARY SERGEANT (CONT'D)
Was she shot with an inverted
round?
The Protagonist NODS. Neil enters gestures to the Sergeant
NEIL
This is Ives. He's one of us
The Protagonist GRABS Neil, THROWS him up against the wall
PROTAGONIST
Us?! Who are these guys?
NEIL
Priya's. Ours.
The Paramilitaries bring Kat into the room the MEDIC,
moving SWIFTLY, examines Kat's wound.
The Protagonist puts his arm AGAINST NEIL'S THROAT
PROTAGONIST
How did Sator know about the
ambush?
NEIL
Posterity. An ambush on the streets
can't stay out of the record
PROTAGONIST
Bullshit he knew every move we
made! Somebody talked was it
you?!
NEIL
No.
PROTAGONIST
At every stage, you've known more
than you should. I'm asking you one
more time. Did you talk?
89.
IVES (O.S.)
Nobody talked. They're running a
temporal pincer movement.
Ives is next to the Protagonist, ready to help Neil...
PROTAGONIST
A what?
IVES
A pincer movement. But not in space
in time. Half his team moves
forwards through the event he
monitors them, then attacks from
the end, moving backwards. Knowing
everything.
PROTAGONIST
Except where I stashed the
plutonium.
The Protagonist lets Neil go...
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Which is not plutonium, is it?
NEIL
I told you it's what he's after.
And you just told him where it is.
PROTAGONIST
I lied.
Neil looks at Kat, bleeding out on the gurney.
NEIL
Jesus.
PROTAGONIST
He couldn't verify from inside the
room, he'd have shot her anyway.
Lying is standard operating
procedure.
The Medic steps away from Kat, shakes his head.
MEDIC
It's spread too far.
PROTAGONIST
Meaning what?
IVES
She's going to die.
NEIL
(to Protagonist)
Standard operating procedure?
(MORE)
90.
NEIL (CONT'D)
(to Ives)
Can't you stabilize inverse
radiation by inverting the patient?
IVES
That takes days
The Protagonist points at the turnstile
PROTAGONIST
Let's go.
IVES
We took control of this machine
minutes ago before that it's
Sator's.
PROTAGONIST
How long will she live on this
side?
MEDIC
Three hours, tops.
The Protagonist thinks. He looks at Kat, who is dying.
PROTAGONIST
I'm taking her through. I'm not
going to let her die, I'll take my
chances out there.
IVES
Chances of what? We've got no way
to bring you back.
PROTAGONIST
We find another machine.
IVES
A week ago? Where?
The Protagonist looks at Neil they have the same idea
NEIL
Oslo.
IVES
That facility's impregnable. It's
inside an airport security
perimeter.
PROTAGONIST
Not last week, it wasn't. We're
going in. You might as well help.
Ives, shaking his head, joins in. As they carry Kat towards
the vault door, Ives points at the glass partition
91.
IVES
This is the proving window... as
you approach the turnstile if you
don't see yourself through the
proving window, do not enter the
machine.
PROTAGONIST
Why not?
IVES
If you haven't seen yourself
reverse-exit the machine, you won't
be getting out. Okay, first in,
last out. Get into the turnstile,
pass through I'll already be
there with her.
PROTAGONIST
Is that gonna work?
Ives pauses, watching activity on the other side of the
window
IVES
(points)
Yeah...
The Protagonist turns to see HIMSELF on the other side of the
glass, MOVING IN REVERSE, wheeling KAT 'TOWARDS' THE VAULT
DOOR
IVES (CONT'D)
Let's go!
Ives OPENS the door the Protagonist takes one last look at
his backwards self 'entering' the machine, then STEPS INSIDE
We follow him in as the door SHUTS behind him he puts his
back to the wall the machine starts CLANKING like an MRI
the door opens on the other side he STEPS OUT...
To see Ives struggling with Kat he moves to help Neil is
already there (first in, last out).
The Protagonist looks through the glass to where he and Ives
now appear to be moving backwards...
The Medic tends to Kat.
MEDIC
She's stabilizing slowly. I'll
clean and close, the rest is time.
PROTAGONIST
How long does she need?
92.
MEDIC
4 or 5 days. A week to be sure.
PROTAGONIST
(to Neil)
Figure out how to get us to Oslo
I've got to get back out there
NEIL
To do what?
PROTAGONIST
To stop Sator getting away with the
whatever it is I just gave him.
NEIL
You didn't you lied about where
it was. Wait, you're going out
there for her.
PROTAGONIST
He threatened to kill her in the
past... if he does, what happens to
her here?
NEIL
It's unknowable. If you're there to
make a change, you're not here to
observe its effect.
PROTAGONIST
What do you believe?
NEIL
What's happened's happened. We have
to save her here and now. And if
you go back out there you might
hand him exactly what he's after.
PROTAGONIST
Don't let them take her back
through
NEIL
I won't.
IVES
You can't stay here.
NEIL
And we don't have much time so
find us a nice cosy shipping
container that just came off a ship
from Oslo...
The Protagonist moves towards the door. Ives steps up
93.
IVES
This is cowboy shit. You have no
idea what you're getting into if
you go through that door.
PROTAGONIST
Well, I'm going, so any tips would
be welcome.
Ives sees determination. Shakes his head.
IVES
Wheeler, brief him.
The female Paramilitary, WHEELER, hands the Protagonist a
respirator
WHEELER
You need your own air regular air
won't pass through the membranes
of inverted lungs. The number-one
rule don't come into contact with
your forwards self that's the
whole point of these barriers
Wheeler BANGS on the proving window
WHEELER (CONT'D)
And protective suits if any of
your particles came into contact
The Protagonist is putting on the respirator
PROTAGONIST
What?
WHEELER
Annihilation.
PROTAGONIST
That's bad, right?
The Protagonist follows Wheeler into a corridor lined with
RESPIRATORS and HAZARD SUITS... at the end is an AIRLOCK...
WHEELER
When you exit the airlock, take a
moment to orient yourself things
will feel strange. When you run,
the wind will be at your back. If
you encounter fire, ice will form
on your suit, as the transfer of
heat is reversed. Gravity will feel
normal, but appear reversed for the
world around you. Don't worry about
things falling, so much as rising.
(MORE)
94.
WHEELER (CONT'D)
If you see an object demonstrating
unprompted instability, stay clear,
it may be about to leap into the
air. You may experience distortions
to your vision and hearing this
is normal light waves and sound
waves are propagating away from
you. This should clear as your
brain adjusts.
PROTAGONIST
Can I drive a car?
IVES
Cowboy shit.
Ives and Neil are grabbing respirators...
WHEELER
I can't vouch for the handling,
friction and wind resistance are
reversed. You're inverted, the
world is not. You can't fight the
prevailing wind of entropy. Don't
try flying a plane it'd fall out
of the sky. Once again, you're
inverted, the world is not and
those forces will be pushing back
on you continuously.
The Protagonist turns to Neil
PROTAGONIST
Was there a transponder on the
case?
NEIL
He'll have tossed the case
PROTAGONIST
I'm going backwards that's the
ball I have to follow. Give me the
reader.
Neil hands him a phone. The Protagonist sticks a Bluetooth
earpiece in his ear, passes into the airlock Wheeler shuts
it behind him. Then opens the OUTER DOOR...
EXT. YARD, TALLINN FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist emerges into a strange world the air feels
different, the friction of his feet on the asphalt feels
different. He looks up at birds flying backwards... at steam
contracting... at a pile of dust sucking itself bigger...
In the yard he spots the SAAB... he runs over, finds the keys
sitting on the front tyre
95.
INT./EXT. SAAB CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist LOOKS in the glove box NOTHING LOOKS in
the wheel well NOTHING the back seat NOTHING. He gives
up starts the engine... pulls out, gently, feeling out the
strange handling of the vehicle...
INT./EXT. SAAB, TALLINN STREETS MOMENTS LATER
The Protagonist steers the car around BACKWARDS-MOVING
TRAFFIC and BACKWARDS-WALKING PEDESTRIANS, MARVELLING...
People STARE at the car as it approaches, as if they already
know a backwards-driven car is heading their way (which, of
course, they do).
He checks the phone a blinking dot half a mile away he
GUNS it, FISHTAILING unexpectedly...
EXT. HIGHWAY CONTINUOUS
We see the fire fight from before IN REVERSE Neil laying
down fire from between cars, Kat carried 'back' to the
Audi...
Behind Neil, Sator, MOVING FORWARDS, checks the glove
compartment of the BMW... NOTHING. FUMING, he heads back to
the Mercedes, DUCKING behind cars, bullets FLYING...
INT./EXT. SAAB CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist pulls onto a busy highway where the cars are
FACING HIM, BUT MOVING IN HIS DIRECTION...
The Saab races along, the only normal-looking car on a road
full of cars SPEEDING BACKWARDS...
On the phone, the flashing dot is CLOSER...
Slowing, the Protagonist spots the ORANGE CASE lying empty by
the side of the road. He PULLS OVER some distance away
JUMPS out of the car pulls out his BLUETOOTH EARPIECE and
WEDGES it between the foam padding and the orange plastic...
The Protagonist heads back to his car, checks the signal from
his phone... PEERS at the case...
The case SHUDDERS TO LIFE LEAPS INTO THE WINDOW OF A
PASSING CAR THE MERCEDES
The Protagonist PEELS OUT, DUST FLIES UP IN CLOUDS THAT DON'T
FULLY BLOSSOM as expected, but CONTRACT...
The Protagonist STRUGGLES with the wheel, trying to keep the
car on the road with its unaccustomed handling...
96.
PROTAGONIST
Christ!
He can see the Mercedes up ahead, weaving through traffic...
EXT. HIGHWAY, TALLINN CONTINUOUS
The Mercedes races back up the off-ramp the Saab follows,
weaving through traffic which faces him, but travels
backwards
As the Saab gets within a couple car lengths, his phone cuts
in with audio from his Bluetooth bug in the Mercedes
SATOR
(over radio)
the material's not in the case
Sound cuts in and out FRAGMENTS of voices he struggles to
keep pace with the Mercedes he listens hard
SATOR (CONT'D)
(over radio)
Get the other sections of the
algorithm to the hypocentre He
was lying it wasn't in the BMW
INVERTED DRIVER
(over radio)
So where is it?
INT. /EXT. SAAB CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist finds a clear lane and guns the engine,
tracking the Mercedes as it pulls alongside the Audi, racing
'forwards', and Sator, orange case in hand, climbs from the
Mercedes into the Audi...
The Audi pulls alongside the BMW the Protagonist, sensing
the moment, LOWERS HIS WINDOW... Sator lifts the orange case,
BUT HIS EYES ARE ELSEWHERE
Inside the Saab, the Protagonist hears BANGING the BLACK
METAL SHAPE 'unwedges' from where it's been stuck down the
side of a seat 'BOUNCING' around the interior
The Saab CUTS between the Audi and the BMW
The orange case FLIES OUT OF SATOR'S HANDS BOUNCES OFF THE
SAAB'S WINDSHIELD, 'LANDING' IN THE BMW
JUST AS THE BLACK METAL SHAPE JUMPS OUT OF THE SAAB AND INTO
THE (FORWARD) PROTAGONIST'S LOWER HAND...
97.
Sator, SEEING THIS, YANKS the wheel CLIPS the Saab the
Protagonist STRUGGLES for control but the Saab SPINS AND
ROLLS DOWN THE HIGHWAY, COMING TO REST ON ITS ROOF.
The Protagonist, upside down in the car, regains
consciousness... fuel leaks, pooling outside the window... he
sees expensive shoes approach, then Sator's face peering in
at him. In his hand is a LIGHTER.
SATOR
I saw the hand-off. You made me
shoot her for nothing.
Sator tips his lighter to read his fitness tracker...
SATOR (CONT'D)
You did get my pulse above 130. No
one's done that before. Not even
my wife.
Backing away, Sator DROPS the lighter, the fuel EXPLODES,
THROWING THE CAR SIDEWAYS BUT INSTEAD OF FULLY BLOOMING,
THE FLAMES CONTRACT, SPARING THE PROTAGONIST WHO LIES THERE,
FREEZING. HE PASSES OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. SHIPPING CONTAINER LATER
The Protagonist comes to on a stretcher. Kat is on a
stretcher next to him. Neil sits between them. The
Protagonist looks at his hands, feels his face, confused.
NEIL
The heat transfer was reversed
you may be the first case of
hypothermia from a gasoline
explosion in history.
PROTAGONIST
At this point, nothing surprises.
The Protagonist looks around the shipping container.
NEIL
You left Ives and his team one hell
of a clean-up.
PROTAGONIST
We're on our way back to Oslo?
NEIL
In a Rotas shipping container.
PROTAGONIST
He's got the material, Neil. I
handed it to him on a plate.
98.
NEIL
I warned you
PROTAGONIST
'What's happened's happened.' I get
it, now. But it's tough to take
things on trust from people
speaking half-truths.
NEIL
That's not fair
PROTAGONIST
You were part of this before we
met. Were you working for Priya?
NEIL
No.
PROTAGONIST
Who recruited you, Neil?
NEIL
It can't possibly do you any good
to know that right now. When this
is over, if we're still standing
and you still care, you can hear my
life story, okay?
Kat GROANS, her eyes flicker open to see the Protagonist.
PROTAGONIST
I'm sorry I involved you.
KAT
You need to tell me what's going
on.
PROTAGONIST
Apparently, Neil here knows more
about it than I do.
(to Neil)
Good luck, pal.
NEIL
By telling Kat anything we're
compromising her in Priya's eyes.
PROTAGONIST
In Priya's eyes she's already
compromised. And she has a right to
know why she might die.
KAT
I'm going to die?
99.
PROTAGONIST
Not if we have anything to say
about it.
NEIL
And we do.
KAT
Who are you?
NEIL
Let me start with the simple stuff.
Every law of physics operates the
same forwards and backwards, except
one. Entropy...
The Protagonist moves to the back of the container, pulls out
his phone, checks Neil's attention is on Kat...
SATOR
(via recording)
bring final section directly
to the hypocentre with the other
parts the algorithm
The recording breaks up. The Protagonist puts the phone away,
FLEXES his elbow, feeling out some pain... He rolls up his
sleeve there is a DARK PATCH of skin forming
NEIL
Are you injured?
PROTAGONIST
What's the 'algorithm', Neil?
NEIL
The 241 is one section of it. One
out of nine. It's a formula
rendered into physical form so it
can't be copied or communicated. A
black box with one function.
PROTAGONIST
Which is?
NEIL
Inversion. But not objects or
people. The world around us.
KAT
I don't understand.
NEIL
As they invert the entropy of more
and more objects...
Neil holds his hands, fingers spread, pointing at each other
100.
NEIL (CONT'D)
The two directions of time are
becoming more intertwined...
He slowly brings his fingers together, into the 'Tenet'
gesture
NEIL (CONT'D)
But because the environment's
entropy flows in our direction...
He pushes one hand back with the other
NEIL (CONT'D)
...we dominate. They're always
swimming upstream. It's what saved
your life the inverted explosion
was pushing against the
environment.
PROTAGONIST
Pissing in the wind.
NEIL
But the algorithm can change the
direction of that wind. It can
invert the entropy of the world.
KAT
And if that happens?
NEIL
Oh, end of play.
PROTAGONIST
'End of play'? Can you be a little
more precise?
NEIL
Our present wiped out, our past
obliterated. Everyone and
everything who ever lived destroyed
instantly. Precise enough?
KAT
Including my son.
Neil nods, gravely. Kat winces, clearly in pain.
NEIL
Let me sedate you the more you
sleep the faster you'll heal.
Neil injects Kat in the arm. Her eyes close.
101.
EXT. CARGO SHIP LATER
Close on the hull, we see the water UNSPLASHING at the bow
and SUCKING UNDERNEATH the stern as the ship steams
majestically backwards through the cold North Sea...
INT. SHIPPING CONTAINER LATER
BANGING wakes the Protagonist Neil is at a peephole.
NEIL
We're on a truck. Shouldn't be too
long now.
INT. SHIPPING CONTAINER LATER
Neil is awake. He looks over at the Protagonist, who is
examining a LESION on his right arm...
NEIL
You in pain?
PROTAGONIST
Must've got nicked in Tallinn.
(rolls down sleeve)
I've been thinking... we're their
ancestors. If they destroy us,
won't that destroy them?
NEIL
Bringing us to the grandfather
paradox.
PROTAGONIST
The what?
NEIL
The classic thought experiment if
you went back in time and killed
your own grandfather, how could you
have been born to commit the act?
PROTAGONIST
What's the answer?
NEIL
There is no answer, it's a paradox.
But in the future, those in power
clearly believe that you can kick
Grandpa down the stairs, gouge his
eyes and slit his throat without
consequence.
PROTAGONIST
Could they be right?
102.
NEIL
It doesn't matter. They believe it,
so they're willing to destroy us.
Can I go back to sleep?
PROTAGONIST
No. I thought of something else.
NEIL
Great.
PROTAGONIST
This reversing the flow of time...
doesn't us being here now mean it
never happens? That we stop them?
NEIL
Optimistically, I'd say that's
right.
PROTAGONIST
Pessimistically?
NEIL
In a parallel-worlds theory, we
can't know the relationship between
consciousness and multiple
realities. Does your head hurt yet?
PROTAGONIST
Yes.
NEIL
Try sleep.
INT. SAME LATER
A final THUD, then STILLNESS. The Protagonist moves to the
peephole, unplugs it and peers out:
The WRECKED PLANE, FLOODLIT, sitting outside the COLLAPSED
WALL which has been sealed with STEEL FENCING.
PROTAGONIST
Shit. They didn't take us inside.
NEIL
What do we do?
PROTAGONIST
We use the breach. The chaos right
after impact. Get ready.
They both turn to look at the unconscious Kat.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Is she healed enough?
103.
NEIL
I don't know. I've never done this
before.
INT. SAME NIGHT
The Protagonist is at the peephole the ground is WET. CLEAN-
UP CREWS and INVESTIGATORS swarm backwards over the scene.
SIRENS start... Water FLOWS UP ONTO THE PLANE'S WINGS. FIRE
CREWS 'unpack' their equipment around the wreck...
PROTAGONIST
Fire crew's there...
The Protagonist WINCES as he pulls his arm into its sleeve...
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
We get Kat through the breach, I
take care of Sator's man and secure
the vault. Then you bring her in.
NEIL
How's the arm?
PROTAGONIST
Not good.
The Protagonist spots a HOLE in the fabric of his black suit
directly over the lesion on his arm...
Neil straps a respirator to the gurney puts the mask over
Kat's face, then puts another on himself. He gives Kat a
sedative.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
We move the second we hear the
engines.
Neil looks at Kat, unconscious on the gurney. He TIGHTENS the
straps throws a reflective blanket over her...
The SIRENS are DEAFENING the Protagonist flexes his arm,
clearly in a lot of pain. Neil spots BLOOD dripping from the
Protagonist's wrist
NEIL
You're bleeding. Let me take a look
SUDDENLY THEY HEAR THE BUILDING WHINE OF JET ENGINES. The
Protagonist YANKS up the handle, THROWS OPEN THE DOOR
104.
EXT. APRON, OSLO AIRPORT CONTINUOUS
Onto PANDEMONIUM FIRE CREWS BATTLE the blaze, chunks of
metal on the ground IGNITE, SHUDDER and LEAP ONTO THE
AIRFRAME... STREAMS of water RISE up onto the plane
The Protagonist HURRIES BACKWARDS, PULLING THE GURNEY towards
the plane, steering around debris that might suddenly
A SHEET OF FLAMING METAL SPINS off the ground, shearing into
them, KNOCKING the GURNEY they duck, HOLDING ON TO THE
GURNEY, the metal FLIES into the air, SLAMS into its hole on
the side of the plane... the Protagonist spots a line under
the fuselage, between flames, towards the breach...
PROTAGONIST
Come on!
Neil looks up as BLACK SMOKE GATHERS, FORMING A MASSIVE CLOUD
OVER THE PLANE... a SHOCK WAVE starts to BUILD in the air
around them the Protagonist PULLS Kat and Neil under the
fuselage as CURTAINS of FIRE start GATHERING around the
wings, CENTRED on a HALF-DESTROYED JET ENGINE
They pass through the hole in the wall LICKED AT BY FLAMES
WHICH LEAVE FROST ON THEIR CLOTHES
As they clear into the building, DEBRIS in front of them
start SHAKING they DUCK as the MASSIVE BUILD OF ENERGY
CLIMAXES in a CACOPHONOUS REVERSE EXPLOSION as THE JET ENGINE
REASSEMBLES LOOSELY ATTACHED TO THE WING, THRUSTING
INT./EXT. FREEPORT SHIPPING AREA CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist draws his gun turns to Neil
PROTAGONIST
I'm going in. Wait here.
The Protagonist turns, rushing up onto the loading dock
The LOOSE JET ENGINE, under FULL THRUST, ATTACHED to the
wing, SWINGS BACK AND FORTH, wreaking REVERSE HAVOC...
The Protagonist pauses, LISTENING he can hear BACKWARDS
VOICES on the other side of a ROLLER DOOR the loose jet
engine TURNS, BLASTING AIR at the Protagonist with its
INVERTED THRUST the Protagonist is SMASHED through the
bottom of the roller door
105.
INT. VAULT, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
INTO HIMSELF AND NEIL, DRESSED AS BUSINESSMEN AS IN THEIR
EARLIER VISIT TO THE ROTAS VAULT the Protagonist (wearing
black clothes and gas mask) TACKLES the EARLIER PROTAGONIST
(wearing business suit), the Earlier Protagonist THROWS the
Protagonist onto the ground, getting his gun
SHOUTING at him INCOMPREHENSIBLY KICKING his INJURED ARM
AGAIN AND AGAIN the Protagonist SCREAMS... The Earlier
Protagonist puts his GUN TO THE PROTAGONIST'S HEAD... EARLIER
NEIL GRABS HIS ARM, RESTRAINING him...
The Protagonist and Earlier Protagonist STRUGGLE, ROLLING
across the floor with the unique physics of forward action
merged with backwards action...
They STRUGGLE through the BLUE DOOR of the Rotas vault. The
Protagonist gets his gun the Earlier Protagonist STABS him
in the arm with his lockpick 'HEALING' his wound
ENERGIZING him
He FLIPS the Earlier Protagonist up against the glass, LIFTS
his gun SHOOTS past the Earlier Protagonist's head, putting
a BULLET HOLE through the glass
Glancing at the OPEN TURNSTILE DOOR, the Protagonist FIRES
again, forcing the Earlier Protagonist TOWARDS the door... he
looks through the proving window no one there...
PROTAGONIST
Come on, come on...
The Protagonist FIRES AGAIN AND AGAIN, forcing the Earlier
Protagonist closer and closer to the open turnstile...
The Earlier Protagonist takes hold of the gun the barrel
coming around onto the Protagonist who instinctively EJECTS
the magazine, REMOVES the SLIDE, tossing it aside, leaving
the Earlier Protagonist with a useless STRIPPED AUTOMATIC
Earlier Neil RACES backwards into the other half of the room
Through the bullet-riddled glass the Protagonist sees
HIMSELF (GAS MASK, BLACK CLOTHES) RUN BACKWARDS into the room
The Protagonist LEAPS INTO THE TURNSTILE we FOLLOW the
Protagonist through the machine BURSTING OUT on the other
side straight into Earlier Neil, who now MOVES FORWARDS as
the Protagonist PUSHES past
As the confrontation on the other side of the glass plays out
again, FORWARDS... the Protagonist RACES for the RED DOOR,
Neil in PURSUIT
106.
INT. VAULT CORRIDOR CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist runs, pursued by Earlier Neil, skidding
around the corners of the vault corridor
Earlier Neil gets a hand on the Protagonist's GAS MASK and
YANKS it comes off in his hands... this time we see that
Neil is looking at the UNMASKED PROTAGONIST. Neil, surprised,
turns and BOLTS back the way he came the Protagonist
watches him go, then TURNS
INT. VAULT CORRIDOR CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist races down the angled corridor
The Protagonist SKIDS through the doorway leading out of the
corridor and into the SMOKE-FILLED cargo area where he
left...
INT. VAULT 2, FREEPORT CONTINUOUS
Neil races up to the Earlier Protagonist, grab his arm
NEIL
NO! Don't kill him!
INT./EXT. FREEPORT SHIPPING AREA CONTINUOUS
...Neil (respirator on) guarding Kat, STRAPPED to the gurney.
Behind them, the fire crew battle the blazing plane. Neil is
already looking up at the Protagonist who POINTS right The
Protagonist DUCKS THROUGH the breach, into the chaos... Neil
moves BACKWARDS towards the outside...
EXT. BREACH CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist RUNS THROUGH THE SMOKE AND FLAME, DODGING
DEBRIS FALLING FROM THE PLANE... heading towards the
EMERGENCY SERVICES...
The Protagonist CREEPS along the side of an AMBULANCE... the
AMBULANCE DRIVER spots him in the mirror the Protagonist
DARTS in, HITTING the driver in the face
INT. VAULT CORRIDOR CONTINUOUS
Neil (moving FORWARDS) ducks back behind the corner as
Earlier Protagonist (business suit) and Earlier Neil
(business suit) walk backwards away from the Rotas vault.
Neil pushes Kat towards the broken roller door and pushes her
inside...
107.
EXT. APRON, OSLO AIRPORT MOMENTS LATER
The Protagonist SWERVES the ambulance, trying to get close to
the breach the Protagonist SPINS the ambulance around as
close to the breach as possible. He JUMPS out opens the
back PEERS into the smoke and water... waiting...
Neil EMERGES, pushing the gurney with Kat on
INT./EXT. AMBULANCE MOMENTS LATER
The Protagonist DRIVES, sirens blaring.
PROTAGONIST
You knew it was me coming out of
that vault. Why didn't you say?
NEIL
That's a lot of explaining when
someone's about to put a bullet in
their own brain.
PROTAGONIST
But afterwards
NEIL
With things the same, I knew you'd
be okay. What's happened happened.
If I'd told you and you acted
differently... who knows? The
policy is to suppress.
PROTAGONIST
Whose policy?
Neil GRINS, offering his hand
NEIL
Ours, my friend. We're the people
saving the world from what might
have been...
INT./EXT. PARKED AMBULANCE NIGHT
Neil and the Protagonist are in the back, checking on Kat...
whose eyes OPEN.
PROTAGONIST
Kat?
KAT
I'm here.
Neil checks the dressing on her wound
108.
NEIL
Be quite a scar, but you're okay.
We did it.
KAT
Did what? Andrei's got the
algorithm. You don't know where he
is
Neil looks at the Protagonist
NEIL
Or when.
PROTAGONIST
Get Priya here to Oslo.
NEIL
Why?
PROTAGONIST
If I don't do something now, in two
days she'll tell me about the 241.
NEIL
Nothing can change that.
PROTAGONIST
We'll see. Just get her here.
EXT. OSLO WAR MEMORIAL DAY
The Protagonist makes his way through the crowd, following an
elegantly dressed lady... Priya. He takes her by the arm,
away from the crowd...
PROTAGONIST
Hello, Priya.
PRIYA
What's going on? Where's Neil?
PROTAGONIST
Nursing Katherine Barton. Who
almost died because of you.
PRIYA
What did I do?
PROTAGONIST
It's what you're going to do. In
two days you're going to have me
dangle plutonium 241 in front of
the world's most dangerous arms
dealer... I want to know why.
109.
PRIYA
You let him get hold of 241?
PROTAGONIST
No. I let him get hold of the
algorithm.
Priya looks at the Protagonist, surprised he knows the term.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Tell me about it, Priya.
PRIYA
It's unique. The scientist who
built it took her own life so she
couldn't be forced to make another.
PROTAGONIST
A scientist in the future?
PRIYA
Generations from now.
PROTAGONIST
Why did she have to kill herself?
PRIYA
You're familiar with the Manhattan
Project? As they approached the
first atomic test, Oppenheimer
became concerned the detonation
might produce a chain reaction,
engulfing the world.
PROTAGONIST
They went ahead anyway, and got
lucky.
PRIYA
Think of our scientist as her
generation's Oppenheimer she
devises a method for inverting the
world, but becomes convinced that
by destroying us, they destroy
themselves.
PROTAGONIST
The grandfather paradox.
PRIYA
Unlike Oppenheimer, she rebels,
splitting the algorithm into nine
sections and hiding them the best
place she can think of...
PROTAGONIST
The past. Here. Now.
110.
PRIYA
There are nine nuclear powers. Nine
bombs. Nine sets of the most
closely guarded materials in the
history of the world. The best
hiding places possible.
PROTAGONIST
Nuclear containment facilities.
PRIYA
Sator's lifelong mission, financed
and guided by the future, has been
to find and reassemble the
algorithm.
PROTAGONIST
Why did they choose him?
PRIYA
The necessary combination of greed
and ambition. But mostly, he was in
the right place at the right time.
PROTAGONIST
The collapse of the Soviet Union.
PRIYA
The most insecure moment in the
history of nuclear weapons.
PROTAGONIST
And there he was. How many of the
sections does he have?
PRIYA
After the 241? All nine.
PROTAGONIST
Christ. And that's why you're going
to do it differently this time.
PRIYA
To change things? So Katherine
won't get hurt?
PROTAGONIST
So Sator won't get the algorithm.
PRIYA
If that universe can exist, we
don't live in it.
PROTAGONIST
Let's try. You're going to warn me.
111.
PRIYA
No. I'm not. Ignorance is our
ammunition. If you'd known what the
algorithm was, would you have let
it fall into Sator's hands?
PROTAGONIST
You want him to get the last
section?
PRIYA
It's the only way he'll bring
together the other eight.
PROTAGONIST
I was supposed to steal it, then
lose it?
PRIYA
(smiles)
Mission accomplished.
PROTAGONIST
You used me.
PRIYA
As you used Katherine. Standard
operating procedure. You've done
your part.
PROTAGONIST
My part? I'm the protagonist of
this operation
PRIYA
You're a protagonist.
(off look)
What? You thought you were the only
person capable of saving the world?
PROTAGONIST
No. But I am. Because I haven't
told you where he's assembling the
algorithm, or when.
PRIYA
You're about to.
PROTAGONIST
No, I'm not. So deal us in.
PRIYA
Why would you involve her again?
PROTAGONIST
She can get close to him.
112.
PRIYA
Does he still trust her?
PROTAGONIST
He thinks she's dead. But he used
to.
PRIYA
You have started looking at the
world in a new way.
PROTAGONIST
And now it's your turn. Assuming
she makes it out alive, whether or
not you feel she knows too much...
PRIYA
I can't.
PROTAGONIST
If you don't have the authority,
talk to whoever's in charge of
loose ends. I need your word that
she and her son will be safe.
PRIYA
(frustrated)
What good is someone's word in our
line of business?
The Protagonist just looks at her. She NODS.
PRIYA (CONT'D)
They'll be safe. There's a rally
point offshore at Trondheim. Get
yourselves up there...
EXT. WIND FARM, NORWAY DAY
Chinooks cross BACKWARDS through WHITE TURBINES. Service
boats pull people off ladders. A large ICEBREAKER sits nearby
EXT. ICEBREAKER, BARENTS SEA CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist, IN RESPIRATOR, does PULL-UPS on deck, the
movement 'shaking' snow back up onto the pipe...
PRIYA (V.O.)
Ives has a team ready to invert.
CUT BACK TO THE PROTAGONIST IN OSLO
113.
PROTAGONIST
You have a turnstile? The exact
technology we're trying to
suppress?
EXT. ICEBREAKER DAY
The Protagonist watches a CHINOOK long-line a container...
PRIYA (V.O.)
Fighting fire with fire is a
treacherous business, but there are
people in the future who need us to
continue the algorithm's journey
into the past. You see...
Taking a look at the sea CHURNING BACKWARDS into the stern as
the inverted ship 'progresses', he heads below deck...
CUT BACK TO PRIYA IN OSLO
PRIYA
...Tenet wasn't founded in the past
it will be founded in the future.
INT. HOLD, ICEBREAKER CONTINUOUS
Coming out of an AIRLOCK, he removes his respirator. Walks
past Wheeler drilling TENET SOLDIERS non-inverted soldiers
in respirators SPAR with inverted soldiers. Neil is amongst
troops practising 'LIFTING' weapons from the floor.
INT. CABIN, ICEBREAKER CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist enters. Kat sits at a window.
KAT
I can't get over the birds...
The Protagonist follows her look to a bird flying backwards.
PROTAGONIST
How are you feeling?
She lifts her shirt to reveal a LARGE, JAGGED, ANGRY SCAR.
KAT
Tell me you're going to kill him.
PROTAGONIST
I can't.
Neil enters without interrupting. Kat rises. Steady.
114.
KAT
Why not? I think you've probably
killed a lot of people
NEIL
Not with a dead man's switch.
KAT
A what?
PROTAGONIST
That fitness tracker he wears...
KAT
He's obsessive about his health.
NEIL
It'll be linked to a switch.
Probably a simple email burst,
revealing the location of the dead
drop, set to fire if his heart
stops.
PROTAGONIST
In effect, his death activates the
algorithm. He dies, the world ends
no one dares kill him.
Kat realizes...
KAT
No, you've missed the point. He's
intending to end his life.
PROTAGONIST
Why?
KAT
He's dying. Inoperable pancreatic
cancer.
PROTAGONIST
And he's taking the world with him.
KAT
If he can't have her, no one can.
PROTAGONIST
What?
KAT
Something he said, once. He has a
child, for God's sake.
NEIL
Kat, he gets to choose the time and
place for the end of the world.
What moment? What does he choose?
115.
PROTAGONIST
You told me about a holiday, where
you let him feel loved...
KAT
Viet Nam. On our yacht. His yacht.
PROTAGONIST
You said he vanished what day?
KAT
I went ashore with Max, he flew
off. I don't know what date it
was...
NEIL
The 14th. Ten days ago. He was in
Ukraine, stealing a section of the
algorithm from an American team.
PROTAGONIST
At the Kiev Opera siege. How do you
know about that?
NEIL
The point is he wasn't on the
yacht, so that's his window.
KAT
To come back to that golden moment
and have it be his last.
PROTAGONIST
Everyone's last. We have to lift
the algorithm from the dead drop
without Sator knowing. If he
believes it's in there, he kills
himself.
NEIL
And not the rest of us. Where's the
dead drop?
PROTAGONIST
Knowledge divided, friend.
NEIL
You're not going to tell me?
PROTAGONIST
Ignorance is our ammunition.
(turns to her)
But I need you back on that boat.
KAT
Why?
116.
PROTAGONIST
You have to stop him killing
himself until we know that
algorithm is out of the dead drop.
KAT
But if I'm caught there... and my
son sees... I don't want those
moments full of anguish if they're
going to be his last.
PROTAGONIST
They're not.
INT. ICEBREAKER, BARENTS SEA DAY
The Protagonist watches the troops prepare.
IVES (O.S.)
Cough it up. It's time.
The Protagonist turns to face Ives.
IVES (CONT'D)
We're working our way back to the
14th. But without knowing where
the dead drop is, there's only so
much I can prepare.
(no response)
You need me to get you there.
PROTAGONIST
Know what a hypocentre is?
Ives shakes his head.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Ground zero for an underground
nuclear test. Sir Michael Crosby
told me about a detonation at
Stalsk-12 on the 14th the dead
drop is at the bottom of the
hypocentre. That explosion seals up
the algorithm.
IVES
Then we'd better pull it out of
that hole before the bomb goes off.
INT. TURNSTILE, ICEBREAKER DAY
Soldiers in respirators file into the turnstile. Through the
proving window we see them 'back' into the exit... The
Protagonist checks his gear at the back of the line. He sees
Kat watching from the airlock. He goes to her.
117.
INT. AIRLOCK CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist pulls off his respirator.
KAT
Where's Neil?
PROTAGONIST
He must've already gone through...
KAT
I didn't get to say goodbye this
is goodbye, isn't it?
PROTAGONIST
Today's the 14th. Offshore of
Siberia time for us to go. You
keep going back another day, give
you time to make it to Viet Nam.
KAT
Who gets me back on the yacht?
PROTAGONIST
I've got somebody good lined up.
I'd like to say you don't have to
do this, but...
KAT
I once told you I didn't need
redemption. But the chance to save
my child? You can't know what that
means to a mother.
PROTAGONIST
No.
KAT
The worst thing Andrei ever did to
me was that offer to let me go if
I never saw my son again. I
shouted, swore
INSERT CUT: Kat FLINGS a crystal BOWL OF RASPBERRIES,
SMASHING it on a wooden deck...
KAT (CONT'D)
But he'd seen it on my face just
for an instant.
Kat looks at the Protagonist. Who says nothing.
KAT (CONT'D)
I don't know if I hate him more for
the things he's done, or because he
knows that about me. You've killed
people you hated before?
118.
PROTAGONIST
It's not usually personal.
KAT
He's dying, anyway. It might not
even count
PROTAGONIST
It always counts. You're not there
to kill him you're the backstop.
If we haven't lifted that algorithm
and he kills himself, he takes us
all with him, instantly.
Kat moves to the Protagonist, in close
KAT
Just keep up your end, okay?
The Protagonist nods. She kisses him.
PROTAGONIST
When it's over, and you're raising
your boy. Carry this
The Protagonist hands her a DUMB PHONE.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
There may be a time and place you
feel threatened. Hit talk, state
your location, hang up.
KAT
Who gets the message?
PROTAGONIST
Posterity.
INT./EXT. CHINOOK LATER
The Protagonist watches the icebreaker recede...
EXT. VAST BARREN PLAIN, DUSTED WITH SNOW DAY
Three CHINOOKS zoom low across the barren landscape, followed
by another three CHINOOKS long-lining SHIPPING CONTAINERS...
INT. CHINOOK CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist sits amongst a DOZEN SOLDIERS. They watch the
endless northern plain unroll beneath them...
119.
EXT. TENET CAMP CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist gets off the Chinook, watching another
Chinook gently set down a container. He follows the others to
a tent.
INT. BRIEFING TENT CONTINUOUS
Soldiers in folding chairs facing a screen. The Protagonist
looks around still no Neil. Ives steps up, signals for the
projector: a devastated CITY, grey CONCRETE and ABANDONED
industry amongst terraced strip mines...
IVES
Stalsk-12. Hidden from the world. A
city where anything can happen, and
today, gentlemen, for ten minutes,
it most assuredly does.
Ives switches to a GRAPHIC: a childishly simple diagram of a
LANDING AREA, BUILDINGS, then an UNDERGROUND CAVERN...
IVES (CONT'D)
You were divided into two teams for
a temporal pincer movement. We
are Red team, moving forwards. Our
friends out there
(gestures at containers)
Blue team, led by Commander
Wheeler, are inverted. One hour
from now, they had this briefing...
INSERT CUT: Neil, in RESPIRATOR, in the front row of
Commander Wheeler's briefing of BLUE TEAM. All are in
respirators...
BACK TO RED-TEAM BRIEFING
IVES (CONT'D)
Then were dropped on the ridge
above the hypocentre as close in
time to the detonation as possible.
Their objectives were clearance and
clarification. This briefing has
the benefit of their experience
and yes, some of you specialists
are on both teams.
The Protagonist overhears
RED SOLDIER 1
Why don't they let us see them?
RED SOLDIER 2
Maybe we won't like what happened.
120.
EXT. COAST OF VIET NAM DAY
A SPEEDBOAT bounces through the chop, Mahir (from the
freeport heist) at the helm. Kat, beside him, shields her
eyes from the glare as they head towards Sator's yacht. They
pull up some way off. A chopper sits on the yacht.
Mahir hands Kat binoculars Kat watches her EARLIER SELF and
HER SON board the tender and head for shore...
INT. BRIEFING TENT DAY
Ives gestures across the whole area on the schematic
IVES
The entire area is radioactive, so
both teams wear full protection. To
distinguish teams, wear these
A soldier starts passing out RED ARMBANDS...
INSERT CUT: Neil, in respirator, takes a BLUE ARMBAND, and,
like the rest of the team, puts it on...
BACK TO RED-TEAM BRIEFING
Ives points to each of the three elements in turn:
IVES (CONT'D)
Landing zone, LZ, well defended,
including ground-to-air ordinance.
We drop in, clear the LZ for Blue
team's evacuation... We make our
way into the city proper... these
buildings are abandoned, but we
learned they have a turnstile in
this one... so expect a bi-temporal
response.
RED SOLDIER 1
They'll have inverse ordinance?
IVES
Inverse, conventional, forwards
antagonists, inverted antagonists
they have it all, and it can all
end you. Got it?
Ives goes back to the diagram
IVES (CONT'D)
On the other side of the city, the
ground rises to the ridge above the
hypocentre.
(MORE)
121.
IVES (CONT'D)
Most of you will proceed up the
hill a splinter unit will take a
tunnel from the city to the floor
of the hypocentre. Blue team
located an entrance here
Ives points to the city's edge. Then to the CAVERN.
IVES (CONT'D)
The bomb is in the rock high above
to trigger a collapse, sealing the
cavern.
RED SOLDIER 2
How do we defuse the bomb up there?
IVES
We don't. The explosion takes place
as planned, exactly ten minutes
after our landing. Everything is
synchronized to that explosion.
Both teams have countdown watches
ours counts down from ten at
landing, to zero at the explosion.
He holds up his wrist to display a BLOOD-RED '10'
IVES (CONT'D)
Blue team is the reverse
INSERT CUT: a PREVIOUS BRIEFING (BLUE TEAM). NEIL watches as
Wheeler holds up her wrist to show a VIVID-BLUE '10'
WHEELER
Ten at the explosion, to zero at
our extraction. If you are not at
the LZ by zero, you are not
leaving.
BACK TO RED-TEAM BRIEFING
IVES
Our job is to fail to defuse the
bomb, while the splinter unit
achieves its task undetected.
RED SOLDIER 1
Which is?
IVES
Need to know. And you don't. Any
other stupid questions? Right,
let's get ready.
Everybody RISES. The Protagonist approaches Ives.
PROTAGONIST
I wanted to be on the first wave.
122.
IVES
There is no first wave Red team
and Blue team operate
simultaneously. Do not get on the
chopper if you can't stop thinking
in linear terms. You want to be on
the team who lifts the contents of
that capsule?
PROTAGONIST
Absolutely.
IVES
That's us. We're the splinter unit.
PROTAGONIST
Just us?
IVES
No one who knows the contents of
that capsule can leave the field. I
thought we'd manage ourselves.
EXT. COAST OF VIET NAM DAY
Mahir shows Kat how to use a small pistol. Kat wears a two-
piece bathing suit with a shirt over. He puts the pistol in a
diver's bag, loops the lanyard round Kat's bare ankle.
MAHIR
It's forty feet from the private
deck to the water. Can you jump it?
KAT
I can dive it.
They hear the chopper SPIN UP. Mahir shows her a FLARE GUN
MAHIR
Until you see my signal, you don't
let him die.
Kat nods. The chopper lifts off and ZOOMS overhead. Mahir
guns the powerboat, STREAKING towards the yacht...
EXT. TENET CAMP DAY
The Soldiers head for the Chinooks. As they pass the
containers, some stare at them... the Chinooks lift off, some
Chinooks rise, LIFTING the containers...
EXT. COAST OF VIET NAM DAY
Mahir pulls up fifty yards from the stern of Sator's yacht...
Kat grabs the pistol bag and slips into the water...
123.
INT./EXT. NORTHERN PLAIN DAY
The Chinooks BEAT LOW over the windswept plain. Stalsk-12
appears on the horizon terraced strip-mined land leading to
a set of CONCRETESTRUCTURES FUSED TO THE EARTH...
EXT. SATOR'S YACHT, COAST OF VIET NAM DAY
Kat quietly pulls herself out of the water and onto a rear
platform. She STEALTHILY makes her way up through the boat...
EXT. LZ, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
The Chinooks long-lining containers RISE, slowing, as the
other Chinooks BARREL in towards a large flat area ANTI-
AIRCRAFT GUNS start FIRING...
The Protagonist grabs his gun and LEAPS from the Chinook as
it hovers close to the ground...
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 DAY
The Chinooks long-lining containers fly BACKWARDS towards a
giant DEPRESSION...
INT. CONTAINER CONTINUOUS
Neil looks out a peephole
WHEELER
We're coming in on the shock
wave... hang on, people!
Neil GRABS his belts as WHUMMMMM!!!! The container SHUDDERS
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
The SHOCK WAVE CONTRACTS the Chinook 'SURFING' backwards in
on the shock as it approaches the hypocentre... ENERGY
BUILDING... GROUND LIFTING AND FLATTENING...
EXT. LZ, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist joins a unit of Red team soldiers who CHARGE
an antiaircraft emplacement TAKING IT OUT BEFORE IT CAN FIRE
ON THE SLOW-MOVING CHINOOKS...
The Protagonist uses his assault rifle to take out a
gunemplacement. Ives uses an inverse grenade to violently
'reassemble' an enemy gun emplacement out of existence,
shredding the enemy with reverse shrapnel...
124.
IVES
Draw them back into the city, away
from Blue team...
The Chinooks drop down, land the containers the Protagonist
looks back to see, a hundred metres away, the containers OPEN
Blue team 'SCRAMBLING' BACKWARDS from the containers...
SOME CARRY INJURED COMRADES, ALL SEEM EXHAUSTED...
The Protagonist and Red team press forward, blasting at the
remaining enemy troops who run for the cover of the city...
the Protagonist checks his watch a BRIGHT-RED '9:59',
'9:58'...
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 DAY
The reverse explosion PEAKS. SUDDEN CALM as the Chinooks
place the containers down they open and Blue team runs out,
'FORWARDS', Neil at
the head, guns raised, BLASTING at the ENEMY SOLDIERS on the
ridge... Neil checks his watch a BRIGHT-BLUE '9:57',
'9:56'... he turns to see a GREY TRUCK 'REVERSING' towards
the hole, tyres sucking up dust... a rope from its rear hitch
TAUT into the hole...
BANG! BANG! SHOTS are sucked out of the ground around him
Blue team FORCES the enemy away from the hole, towards Red
team (whose members fight 'backwards') Neil shouts to
Wheeler
NEIL
Draw their fire! Pull them away...
He RACES down the ridge, following Wheeler...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
Kat comes out to find a JUNIOR CREW MEMBER cleaning up a
SMASHED BOWL OF RASPBERRIES. He looks up at her, surprised.
JUNIOR CREW MEMBER
Ma'am? We thought you'd gone
ashore.
KAT
I snuck back to surprise Andrei.
JUNIOR CREW MEMBER
The Boss left...
He trails off they hear an INCOMING CHOPPER.
125.
KAT
I'll get the mess. Have Mr Sator
find me here. Don't tell the
others.
The Junior Crew Member nods, leaves Kat moves to the RAIL,
checks Mahir in the distance, the DAYBED, the water HOSE...
EXT. LZ, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist, Ives and Red team head towards the large
concrete turnstile building on the outskirts of the city
The Protagonist sees Wheeler running backwards towards a
BUNKER on their right which UNEXPLODES
GUNFIRE CRACKLES around them, pinning them down...
They hit the bunker with an RPG, then race around the left of
the turnstile building...
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 DAY
Wheeler leads Blue team down the hill 'chasing' the enemy
who run BACKWARDS a BLUE TEAM member TRIGGERS A LANDMINE
another triggers an INVERSE LANDMINE
WHEELER
Hit the deck! Mines!
As Blue team goes to the ground, Neil sees mines start to
EXPLODE/IMPLODE in a wave towards him as the GREY TRUCK RACES
BACKWARDS down the hill through the minefield, REVERSE-
TRIGGERING THE MINES Neil DIVES out of the way, almost run
over...
Then gets up to follow the 'path' of the grey truck...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT LATE AFTERNOON
Kat unzips the diver's bag, feels the handle of the gun, then
slides the bag under the daybed, checking she can reach. She
moves to the rail, crouches to UNCLIP the bottom safety
cable. She looks at Mahir's boat across the water...
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
Ives leads Red team into the deserted concrete structures via
an efficient cover-and-move formation... the Protagonist
shelters behind LARGE CONCRETE CHUNKS. Which VIBRATE...
GATHERING ENERGY...
126.
The Protagonist JUMPS AWAY as the chunks RIP FROM THE GROUND,
BOUNCING VIOLENTLY, DUSTILY OFF EACH OTHER AND FLYING UP INTO
A GAP IN THE SIDE OF A BUILDING as an INVERSE RPG ZIPS back
up into a WINDOW
Ives has spotted the window and calls for an RPG to 'follow'
the inverse one, BLASTING the building... the Protagonist
checks his watch '8:10', '8:09'...
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 DAY
Neil checks his watch '8:08', '8:07'... he heads downhill,
towards the city, where the rest of Blue team BEAT BACK the
enemy...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT LATE AFTERNOON
Kat hoses the raspberries and glass from the deck... Sator
appears, watching as she turns the water on herself.
SATOR
They told me you'd gone ashore.
KAT
They told me you'd flown off.
SATOR
I came back. To see you and Max.
KAT
Max is on shore with Anna. We need
time, just you and me. After what -
SATOR
I was joking. A stupid joke
KAT
You think I'm a terrible mother.
SATOR
We both know my opinion of you is
higher than yours of me.
KAT
I want things to be better, Andrei.
She moves towards him. Sator nods. Picks up the phone
SATOR
Have the captain turn the boat so
we'll see the sunset from here.
127.
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist RUNS across the street, FIRING at the
enemy... he SPOTS the TUNNEL ENTRANCE between two buildings.
PROTAGONIST
Ives! Splinter unit here!
Ives nods. RACES over, drawing fire the whole way...
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12
Neil races into the city streets... he sees Commander Wheeler
and a BLUE SOLDIER take shelter in a large jagged BREACH in
the ground-floor wall of a massive structure.
Neil is FORCED to hit the deck, ducking INVERTED fire all
around... he looks over at Wheeler, and sees DUST GATHERING
AROUND THE BREACH...
NEIL
Wheeler! Get out of there! Wheeler!
Wheeler hears him tries to grab the Blue Soldier MASSIVE
CHUNKS OF CONCRETE SCRAPE OVER NEIL'S HEAD, FLYING TOWARDS
WHEELER, who DIVES CLEAR the wall REASSEMBLES ON TOP OF the
Blue Soldier, CRUSHING HIM...
Neil winces. Starts crawling for better cover... checks his
watch '6:24','6:23'...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT LATE AFTERNOON
Sator looks past Kat to the lowering sun.
SATOR
It's going to be a beautiful
sunset. I'll get Max brought back
we should share the moment with
him.
Sator picks up the phone. Kat looks at the shore, uneasy...
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
Ives and the Protagonist shelter as Red team exchanges fire
with the Enemy further up the street. The Protagonist checks
his watch '5:15', '5:14'...
PROTAGONIST
Let's go. We're running out of
time.
128.
IVES
If they see us, it's all for
nothing.
PROTAGONIST
We need a distraction.
Ives looks ahead to the LEANING RUIN OF A BUILDING TOP...
IVES
Don't worry about that...
EXT. CITY STREETS DAY
Neil checks his watch '5:10', '5:09'... frustrated, pinned
down, he looks around for a way to break cover...
Commander Wheeler, with the rest of Blue team, SHELTERS in
the shadow of the RUINED BASE of a building, pinned by ENEMY
FIRE from the base of the building...
WHEELER
RPG! Take out the base on my mark
She checks her watch '5:04', '5:03'...
The BLUE RPG SOLDIER takes aim...
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist spots SMALL DEBRIS ROLLING across the
street... GATHERING MOMENTUM...
PROTAGONIST
Ives!
Ives sees LARGER and LARGER debris is ROLLING down the street
towards the LEANING RUIN OF A BUILDING TOP...
IVES
It's about to get distracting...
He signals a RED RPG SOLDIER...
IVES (CONT'D)
On my mark!
He looks at his watch '5:01', '5:00'
IVES (CONT'D)
Fire!
The leaning ruin THRUSTS UPWARDS
129.
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
Wheeler watches as the Leaning Ruin's UPPER STOREYS
REASSEMBLE, as its BASE EXPLODES...
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist takes cover as the Leaning Ruin's BASE
REASSEMBLES as its UPPER STOREYS EXPLODE... the Protagonist
and Ives race at the tunnel entrance the GREY TRUCK RACES
at them as they dive for the tunnel...
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
Wheeler ducks as the weight of the upper storeys COLLAPSES
the building...
Neil lifts his head after the EXPLO/IMPLOSION. Clear. He gets
up and starts RUNNING...
EXT. TUNNEL ENTRANCE, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist and Ives RACE into the tunnel, HITTING A
TRIPWIRE WHICH BLOWS THE TUNNEL ENTRANCE DOWN BEHIND THEM AS
THEY JUMP INSIDE...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT LATE AFTERNOON
Sator hangs up. He holds a SILVER PILL in the sunlight,
studying it...
KAT
What's that?
SATOR
I borrowed it from the CIA.
KAT
But what is it?
SATOR
The way the world ends, not with a
bang but a whimper.
KAT
I don't understand.
SATOR
When I take this, it's all over.
KAT
Then don't take it, yet.
Sator looks at her, needing her to care.
130.
SATOR
Why not?
KAT
We've got the sunset coming and a
little vodka left...
SATOR
And Max will be here soon... they
thought it was you, not Anna, on
shore with Max.
Kat steps up in front of Sator, seductive...
KAT
As long as you can tell the
difference...
Sator smiles appreciatively, but pulls out his phone
SATOR
A moment's business, my love...
EXT. MAHIR'S BOAT CONTINUOUS
Mahir checks his radio
IVES
(over radio)
Not clear. Repeat, not clear...
INT. TUNNEL, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist and Ives look back at the COLLAPSED ENTRANCE
PROTAGONIST
We're committed now.
They turn and RACE through the mining tunnel...
IVES
(into radio)
Just hold tight we're almost
there...
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
Neil spots SATOR'S GREY MI8 OVERHEAD, a rope hanging down.
Across the street he sees VOLKOV REVERSE-EXIT the tunnel
mouth, CROUCHING to 'DERIG' a tripwired booby trap, carrying
it towards the chopper, then LEAPING up onto the line
RISING from the streets...
131.
Neil STARES. CONCERNED. Checks his watch '4:10', '4:09'...
Then TAKES OFF, SPRINTING
WHEELER
Neil!
She watches him go ahead, then signals Blue team to keep
pushing forward...
INT. TUNNEL, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist and Ives run down the tunnel... they slow as
they see a BODY, blue armband, lying on the ground on the
opposite side of a SET OF BARS at the end of the tunnel.
They can see into the hypocentre, the GIANT ATOMIC-HEWN
CAVERN, daylight above, CAPSULE on the rock floor next to the
mouth of a BORE HOLE. The Protagonist checks his watch
'4:06', '4:05' ... Ives checks the ELECTRONIC LOCK
IVES
We don't have anything big enough
to blow this. Try him
The Protagonist reaches through the bars and checks the body
FREEZES: attached to a zip, a TALISMAN A COIN WITH A HOLE
HANGING FROM A SMALL LENGTH OF ORANGE AND YELLOW STRING...
The Protagonist looks at it, quizzical, rises
PROTAGONIST
Nothing. Can you pick it?
SATOR (O.S.)
I hope not. I paid a lot for that
lock...
WHAM! Ives goes down SHOT BY VOLKOV, bullet SPARKING off
his helmet on the other side of the bars gun pointed at
the Protagonist, FIELD RADIO held out... Sator's voice ECHOES
through the tunnel
SATOR (CONT'D)
(over phone)
How do you like where my journey
began, and yours ends?
Volkov takes the Protagonist's gun. Forces him to push Ives's
gun through the bars.
PROTAGONIST
A little radioactive for my taste.
Volkov drops the guns into the water, places the radio by the
bars...
132.
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT LATE AFTERNOON
Sator steps away from Kat as he speaks quietly into the
phone.
SATOR
My fate was always bound up with
radiation. We'd work where no one
else would. We made a devil's
bargain money for time. We sold
our futures.
Kat looks at Mahir's boat. Nothing. She looks to the shore.
Far in the distance, she can see the TENDER APPROACHING...
INT. TUNNEL, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist looks at Volkov. At the bars between him and
the capsule...
PROTAGONIST
Now you're making the same mistake
for the entire world.
SATOR
(over phone)
It wasn't a mistake. I made the
bargain I could. What was yours?
You fight for a cause you barely
understand. With people you trust
so little you've told them nothing
about what you're doing. When I die
the world dies with me. And your
knowledge dies with you. Buried in
the tomb like an anonymous Egyptian
builder sealed in the pyramid to
keep his secret...
INT. TURNSTILE BUILDING, STALSK-12 DAY
Neil comes into the turnstile room... he watches ENEMY TROOPS
enter/exit the machine, inverting to join the battle. He
waits for his chance... the room is empty... he sees himself
through the proving window, and RUNS at the machine...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT EVENING
Sator speaks into his phone
SATOR
Your faith is blind. You're a
fanatic.
133.
PROTAGONIST
(over phone)
What's more fanatical than trying
to destroy the world?
Kat moves towards Sator, but he raises a finger...
SATOR
I'm not. I'm creating a new one.
Somewhere, sometime, a man in a
crystalline tower throws a switch
and Armageddon is both triggered
and avoided. Entropy inverts the
same way the magnetic poles have
switched 183 times over the
millennia. Now time itself switches
direction.
Sator looks out at the lowering sun...
SATOR (CONT'D)
The same sunshine we've basked in
will warm the faces of our
descendants generations from now.
Kat looks at Mahir's boat. Nothing. She looks to shore,
watching the TENDER APPROACHING...
INT. TUNNEL, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist looks at his watch '2:12', '2:11'...
PROTAGONIST
How can they want to destroy us?
SATOR
(over phone)
Because their oceans rose and their
rivers ran dry. Don't you see ?
Their world shrivelled because of
us. They have no choice but to turn
back, there's no life ahead of
them. And we're responsible.
Knowing this, do you still want me
to stop?
PROTAGONIST
Yes. Each generation looks out for
its own survival.
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
Sator looks out at the glittering water
SATOR
That's exactly what they're doing.
134.
PROTAGONIST
(over phone)
Sure, but not you. You're a
traitor. Bringing death to all
because you have no life of your
own left.
SATOR
When I'm done, life continues.
PROTAGONIST
(over phone)
Not your son's.
SATOR
My greatest sin was to bring a son
into a world I knew was ending...
do you think God will forgive me?
PROTAGONIST
(over phone)
For killing your son? No.
SATOR
He should understand he killed
his own.
EXT. CITY STREETS, STALSK-12 DAY
Neil, FORWARDS NOW, spots a GREY TRUCK outside the turnstile
building he jumps in, FIRING IT UP
RACING THROUGH THE STREETS, PAST THE IMPLODING/ EXPLODING
BUILDING, racing for the tunnel mouth, trying to head off the
Protagonist and Ives
NEIL
Wait! Wait!
They dive into the tunnel, which COLLAPSES. Neil sets his
sights on the hypocentre ridge above, GUNS the engine...
EXT. LZ, STALSK-12 DAY
Wheeler leads Blue team towards the CHINOOKS LOWERING
CONTAINERS... as they carry their wounded and lurch towards
the containers, they see Red team 'REASSEMBLING' the anti-
aircraft guns...
INT. TUNNEL, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist watches Volkov pick up a BLACK, METAL,
GEOMETRICALLY COMPLEX BAR... the algorithm.
135.
PROTAGONIST
You don't believe in God. Or a new
future. Or anything outside your
own experience.
SATOR
(over phone)
That's all any of us knows. The
rest is belief, and I don't have
it.
PROTAGONIST
Without it you're not human. You're
a madman.
SATOR
(over phone)
Or a god of sorts.
PROTAGONIST
Like I said.
Volkov slowly backs towards the capsule with the algorithm...
The Protagonist looks down at Ives whose hand is MOVING...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
A BEEP. Sator checks his watch.
SATOR
Our time is up.
He looks across at Kat standing by the rail.
SATOR (CONT'D)
I'll give my wife your love.
PROTAGONIST
(over phone)
You're forgetting, I haven't met
her, yet.
SATOR
That's right, after you meet her,
she dies. I'll just give her my
love, instead.
INT. HYPOCENTRE, STALSK-12 DAY
Volkov seals the capsule hooks it to a winch... the
Protagonist watches Ives's hand emerge with a SIDEARM...
Volkov raises the capsule up over the mouth of the DEEP BORE
HOLE, then steps back, preparing to release the winch and
drop the capsule into the well...
136.
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT SUNSET
Sator goes to hang up, pauses... an afterthought
SATOR
Volkov?
INT. TUNNEL, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
Volkov RUSHES FORWARD with his gun...
SATOR
(over phone; in Russian,
subtitled)
Shoot him in the head.
Volkov PULLS HIS TRIGGER but the Dead Tenet Soldier has
'RISEN' to be in front of the gun 'ABSORBING' the bullet
then LEAPING to one side, ALIVE
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT CONTINUOUS
Sator hears the shot, SATISFIED Kat pulls the phone away
KAT
Enough business, Andrei...
INT. TUNNEL, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist DIVES to where Ives is lying, GRABS his gun
Volkov TURNS, RUNNING FOR the winch-release
PROTAGONIST
WAIT! WAIT!
He FIRES at Volkov, who goes down just short of the winch...
Ives struggles to his feet, checking his watch '1:07',
'1:06'...
Hearing BEEPS, Ives looks up. THE LOCK is open
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
Neil RACES up the slope to the ridge through the MINEFIELD,
setting off personnel mines in his wake, NARROWLY AVOIDING
RUNNING HIMSELF OVER...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT EVENING
As Kat pours him a drink, Sator looks out at the glowing
horizon, fiddling with the silver pill... he POINTS
137.
SATOR
Tomorrow the sun will rise in that
same spot. For the first time in
history. Because I've told it to.
(looks at her like she's
a loyal dog)
You have no idea what I'm talking
about, do you?
She looks at him, smiles sweetly.
KAT
It sounds terribly important,
Andrei.
He reaches for her she gets up, moves to the rail
SATOR
Where're you going?
She grabs the hose, starts spraying herself
KAT
Aren't you hot?
Kat sprays the deck in front of the rail
SATOR
What're you doing, now?
KAT
I spilled sunscreen.
SATOR
So what?
KAT
It's slippery.
SATOR
Just come here...
She looks at Sator lying on the daybed like an appalling
emperor. Moves towards him. Grabs the sunscreen.
KAT
Turn over.
SATOR
The sun's almost gone.
KAT
You'll like it.
He rolls over, obedient. She squirts a large dollop across
his back. Looks up at Mahir's boat, hopeful. Nothing.
138.
She checks her watch as she lazily smears the sunscreen
across Sator's back. He groans. Kat watches the TENDER
APPROACHING, she can just make out HERSELF AND HER SON...
INT. TUNNEL, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist watches the Dead Tenet Soldier RACING
BACKWARDS from the gate, out of the tunnel
IVES
COME ON!
The Protagonist TURNS Ives swings the gate open they RACE
through, just before it closes, SLAMMING SHUT behind them
IVES (CONT'D)
Tunnel's sealed!
The Protagonist steps over Volkov, STRUGGLES with the
capsule, it swings, HANGING precariously over the well...
IVES (CONT'D)
(into radio)
Mahir, do you copy?
EXT. MAHIR'S BOAT EVENING
Mahir looks through binoculars, FRUSTRATED, flare gun ready
IVES
(over radio)
Hold! Repeat, hold!
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 DAY
Neil REVERSES towards the hole jumps out, pulling a line
from the rear winch...
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT SUNSET
Kat looks at Mahir's boat. Nothing. She checks her watch...
looks down at the tender approaching it's close enough she
can clearly see HERSELF CHATTING AND LAUGHING WITH MAX... she
jumps up from the daybed, holding the diver's bag. Sator
looks up at her, surprised.
KAT
I can't do this.
SATOR
Don't spoil this moment, Kat.
KAT
I can't let you think you've won...
139.
Sator looks at her, suddenly wary...
SATOR
What are you talking about,
Katherine?
KAT
I'm not letting you go to your
grave thinking we're all coming
with you. I can't give you that
She pulls out the SILENCED PISTOL. He is UTTERLY UNAFRAID.
KAT (CONT'D)
You're dying alone, Andrei.
SATOR
(contemptuous)
No, I'm not.
KAT
Andrei, look in my eyes. Which do
you see, despair... or anger?
SATOR
What?
KAT
I'm not the woman who could find
love for you even though you'd
scarred her on the inside...
Kat pulls up her shirt to reveal the MASSIVE, ANGRY SCAR
KAT (CONT'D)
I'm the vengeful bitch you scarred
on the outside.
Sator realizes he's been conned LUNGES FOR HER
SATOR
You !
KAT SHOOTS HIM IN THE UPPER CHEST his hands go to his chest
he GASPS, air leaking from his lungs... Kat ROLLS Sator off
the daybed onto his back he GURGLES she GRABS his legs
SLIDES HIM AT THE GAP BELOW THE RAIL
Sator SHOOTS off the deck, TUMBLING DOWN to the sea his
head CRACKS on the rear platform as he HITS the water
EXT. MAHIR'S BOAT CONTINUOUS
Mahir lowers his binoculars, STARTLED, as he sees Sator's
body pitch into the sea
140.
MAHIR
(into radio)
She's killed him! She's killed him!
Mahir GUNS the engine, racing towards the yacht...
INT. HYPOCENTRE, STALSK-12 DAY
The Protagonist opens the capsule, revealing the algorithm
IVES
She jumped the gun she killed
him!
The Protagonist looks at Ives, ashen A LINE DROPS BETWEEN
THEM
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
Neil is at the wheel of the truck. Through the rear-view
mirror he looks at his line running into the hole. Through
the windshield he watches Red and Blue soldiers finish
loading and LIFT OFF. He checks his watch '00:09',
'00:08'...
NEIL
Fuck it
He GUNS it, PULLING AWAY FROM THE HOLE
INT. HYPOCENTRE, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist and Ives are YANKED into the air, the
Protagonist CLUTCHING the algorithm as they approach the
rocky edge of the hole, Ives raises his boots to cushion the
IMPACT! They BOUNCE PAINFULLY over the lip
EXT. HYPOCENTRE RIDGE, STALSK-12 CONTINUOUS
The truck DRAGS them along the rocky ground, away from the
hole as... BOOOOM!!!! THE ROCKY GROUND BUCKLES WITH FORCE
SMOKE and FLAMES BLAST up out of the hole in an ANGRY PLUME
The ground around the hole COLLAPSES IN AN EVER-GROWING
RADIUS
The line SNAPS, leaving the Protagonist and Ives TUMBLING to
a stop... The SUBSIDENCE approaches, SLOWING, SLOWING... the
ground OPENS UP under the Protagonist Ives GRABS HIM the
Protagonist has the algorithm in his hands, Ives PULLS him
back onto solid ground...
141.
EXT. LZ, STALSK-12 DAY
Wheeler PULLS a last Blue team soldier into the container as
her watch hits ZERO the container door SLAMS shut
BLUE TEAM SOLDIER
Do you think they made it?
EXT. PRIVATE DECK, SATOR'S YACHT SUNSET
Kat picks up the shell casing, drops it in the diver's bag,
zips it up, attaches the lanyard to her ankle, sprays down
the deck, WASHING away BLOOD and SUNSCREEN...
Kat steps up to the railing. Watches Mahir, down below,
getting a line on Sator's body. Kat glances over at the
TENDER ARRIVING WITH HER EARLIER SELF AND HER SON... Kat
DIVES, ARCING GRACEFULLY THROUGH THE SUNSET...
Kat's earlier self, stepping onto the yacht, catches a
glimpse of a graceful form SLICING into the water. She looks,
CURIOUS, but Max TUGS her sleeve and she turns.
EXT. COAST OF VIET NAM CONTINUOUS
On Mahir's SPEEDING boat, Kat hands Mahir the diver's bag and
looks up ahead to the last light of day...
PROTAGONIST
(over radio)
Kat, you jumped the gun!
Mahir hands her the radio
KAT
I couldn't do it, I couldn't let
him die thinking he'd won. And I
knew you'd find a way.
Silence. She glances Mahir, suddenly concerned
KAT (CONT'D)
Wait, you found a way? We're okay,
right?
PROTAGONIST
(over radio)
Yeah. We found a way. Be safe.
Mahir's boat SPEEDS AWAY through the twilight...
...DRAGGING Sator's body behind.
142.
EXT. WINDSWEPT PLAIN OUTSIDE STALSK-12 EVENING
A Chinook swirls snow around the blasted ruins... Ives and
the Protagonist slump, bruised, exhausted, gas masks off,
breathing hard. On the ground between them the matte-black
algorithm... Neil approaches, removing his gas mask...
PROTAGONIST
I thought you were inverted.
NEIL
Changed gears halfway you needed
help here.
IVES
We needed help down there.
(to Protagonist)
How'd you get that lock open?
PROTAGONIST
It wasn't me.
(to Neil)
Didn't your team need you?
NEIL
I'll get them on the next pass.
Right, Ives?
IVES
Once I've caught my breath.
The Protagonist reaches for the algorithm Ives PULLS it out
of his reach his gun laying casually across his leg. As
Neil and the Protagonist watch, Ives takes his weapon in
hand, gets to his feet... He lifts the algorithm... looks
around at the deserted plain above Stalsk-12...
IVES (CONT'D)
Nice and private.
Ives SEPARATES the algorithm into THREE COMPONENTS
PROTAGONIST
No one who's seen this leaves the
field...
IVES
We hide it, we end our lives. It's
the only way to be sure.
Ives TOSSES them each one component...
IVES (CONT'D)
But as to when...
Ives HOLSTERS his sidearm.
143.
IVES (CONT'D)
Maybe that's every man's decision
to make for himself.
NEIL
You're not going to kill us?
IVES
If I ever find you I will.
NEIL
But you won't look too hard.
IVES
Yes, I will.
Neil shakes his head, smiling at this. Ives heads towards the
Chinook. Neil and the Protagonist watch him go...
NEIL
You're not heading back to London
to check on Kat, are you?
PROTAGONIST
Of course not. That would be too
dangerous.
NEIL
Even from afar.
PROTAGONIST
Even from afar.
Neil thinks of something. Looks at Ives
NEIL
Ives, wait!
Neil takes his section of the algorithm, REATTACHES it to the
Protagonist's.
PROTAGONIST
You're really going back in?
NEIL
I'm the only one who could've got
that door open in time, right Ives?
Ives looks at Neil, sizing him up.
IVES
I don't have any locksmiths as good
as you.
Neil turns to the Protagonist, grabs his BACKPACK...
144.
NEIL
See? That's me in there, again.
Weaving another pass in the fabric
of this mission.
Neil SWINGS his pack onto his back, revealing a TALISMAN A
COIN WITH A HOLE TIED to the zip WITH ORANGE AND YELLOW
THREAD
PROTAGONIST
Neil, wait.
NEIL
We just saved the world we can't
leave anything to chance.
The Protagonist thinks. Struggles.
PROTAGONIST
But can we change things? If we do
it differently...?
Neil looks back at the Protagonist. Sees his struggle...
NEIL
What's happened's happened.
(smiles)
Which is an expression of faith in
the mechanics of the world, not an
excuse to do nothing.
PROTAGONIST
Fate?
NEIL
Call it what you want.
PROTAGONIST
What do you call it?
NEIL
Reality. Now let me go.
The Protagonist lets him walk, tears welling up... CALLS OUT
PROTAGONIST
Hey!
(Neil turns)
You never did tell me who recruited
you.
NEIL
(smiles)
Haven't you guessed by now? You
did. Just not when you thought. You
have a future in the past. Years
ago for me. Years from now for you.
145.
PROTAGONIST
You've known me for years?
NEIL
(nods)
For me, I think this is the end of
a beautiful friendship.
PROTAGONIST
But for me it's just the beginning?
NEIL
And we get up to some stuff. You're
gonna love it. You'll see. This
whole operation is a temporal
pincer.
PROTAGONIST
Whose?
NEIL
Yours. You're only halfway there.
I'll see you at the beginning,
friend.
Neil turns. Follows Ives to board the Chinook. The
Protagonist watches him go...
NEIL (V.O.)
We're the people saving the world
from what might have been...
The Protagonist looks down at the algorithm in his hands.
NEIL (V.O.)
The world will never know what
could've happened...
He pulls up his collar and walks into the snow...
EXT. SCHOOL GATES AFTERNOON
Kat is walking up the road to the school gates.
NEIL (V.O.)
...and even if they did they
wouldn't care...
She feels something wrong. Looking across the road, she sees
a car with tinted windows shadowing her.
NEIL (V.O.)
...because no one cares about the
bomb that didn't go off...
She gets out the dumb phone the Protagonist had given her...
146.
NEIL (V.O.)
...just the one that did...
INT./EXT. CAR CONTINUOUS
Priya is in the front passenger seat. The DRIVER next to her
has a GUN and SILENCER sitting on his knee...
PRIYA
Do it before the boy comes out.
The rear door opens a dull thud the Driver is SHOT by a
silenced pistol
PROTAGONIST (O.S.)
That's your idea of mercy?
Priya turns the Protagonist has a gun to the back of her
seat.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
You gave me your word.
PRIYA
And I told you what it would be
worth. Here. Today. How did you
know?
He holds up a dumb phone, plays a voicemail
KAT
(via recording)
Cannon Place, 3 o'clock, it's
PROTAGONIST
Posterity.
EXT. SCHOOL GATES CONTINUOUS
Kat hits send, speaks into the phone
KAT
Cannon Place, 3 o'clock, it's
probably nothing...
INT./EXT. CAR CONTINUOUS
The Protagonist watches Kat.
PROTAGONIST
I told you you'd have to start
looking differently at the world.
PRIYA
I have to tie up the loose ends.
147.
PROTAGONIST
That was never your job.
PRIYA
Then whose was it?
The Protagonist brings his focus back to Priya.
PROTAGONIST
Mine. I realized I wasn't working
for you. We've both been working
for me... I'm the protagonist.
PRIYA
Then you'd better tie up those
loose ends.
He shoots her through the seat back. She slumps forward.
PROTAGONIST
Mission accomplished.
The Protagonist looks across the road. The kids stream out...
Kat sees Max coming, takes one last look at the dark car...
NEIL (V.O.)
...but it's the bomb that didn't go
off...
Kat shakes her head, smiling at her own folly, looks at the
phone like it's silly
NEIL (V.O.)
...the danger no one knew was
real...
She tosses the phone carelessly into her bag.
NEIL (V.O.)
That's the bomb with the real power
to change the world.
The Protagonist watches Kat and Max walk away. Max offers Kat
his hand and we
FADE OUT.
CREDITS.
END.
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