T H E W O R L D I S N O T E N O U G H
(BOND 19)
--------------------------------------------------------------
GUN BARREL LOGO OPENS ON
GENEVA SWITZERLAND, an unnaturally clean city that melds old
Europe with new money of both dubious and legitimate source.
INT. HALLWAY OFFICE BUILDING - DAY
An engraved brass plaque announcing the name of the "private
banking institute" within.
INT. PENTHOUSE BANK OFFICE - GENEVA - DAY
JAMES BOND, dressed impeccably as ever, is being FRISKED by
three THUGS in Armani suits. They remove A GUN from inside
his jacket, a well-concealed knife, a metal case, laying them
on the desk that separates Bond and...
LACHAISE...an extremely well-groomed gentleman. Behind him,
three floor-to-ceiling windows lead out to a rooftop garden.
LACHAISE
Not the usual Swiss procedure, Mr. Bond,
but you understand, a man in my
position..
BOND
Which is neutral, no doubt.
Lachaise takes the joke a little tight-lipped. Gestures for
Bond to sit.
A GIRL ENTERS, a gorgeous Swiss bombshell in a pin-striped
suit. She pushes a cart. On it are a BRIEFCASE and a box of
EXPENSIVE CIGARS, which she offers to Lachaise and Bond.
LACHAISE
It wasn't easy, but I retrieved the
money. No doubt Sir Robert will be
pleased to see it again.
The efficient Cigar Girl brings the briefcase to Bond,
setting it in his lap and opening it up...inside is a good
deal of CASH in pound sterling.
LACHAISE
In the current exchange rate, minus the
fees, of course, and certain
unforeseeable expenses. Here is the
receipt...
The CIGAR GIRL offers Bond a RECEIPT...
CIGAR GIRL
Would you like to check my figures?
BOND
Perhaps later.
She steps back. Bond reaches for the metal case on the
desk...the THUGS TENSE...
BOND
My glasses.
Lachaise nods. Bond can have his glasses.
He puts them on, gives a cursory look at the receipt...an odd
number in pound sterling, calculated down to the penny:
3,030,303.03.
LACHAISE
It's all there.
Bond folds the receipt, slips it into his WALLET...then, he
removes the glasses, slowly, deliberately, eyeing Lachaise.
BOND
I didn't come for the money. The report
you sold him was stolen from an MI-6
agent, who was killed for it.
He takes a photo from his jacket and lays it on the desk.
LACHAISE
I did not get the report from an MI-6
agent.
BOND
Who did you get it from?
LACHAISE
I am just a middle man. I am doing the
honourable thing and returning the money
to its rightful owner...
BOND
And we know how difficult that can be for
the Swiss.
LACHAISE
(controlled fury)
Your last chance. Take the money.
BOND
Your last chance. Give me the name.
LACHAISE
Stripped of all your weaponry, you still
threaten me?
He nods. An Armani thug steps up and takes out a gun...
BOND
Perhaps you failed to take into account
my...hidden assets.
Bond's mouth edges into a smile. A flicker of doubt on
Lachaise's face -- as Bond's finger finds a protrusion on the
tiny arm of his glasses and...
KABOOM! The pistol on the table FLASHES...blinding those
around, they cover their eyes, stagger back...it is a brief
effect, just enough to disorient the thugs and give Bond his
opening...
He KARATE-CHOPS HENCHMAN #1 unconscious, taking his gun.
Kicks HENCHMEN #2 in the face and throws #3 OUT THE WINDOW
just as they're getting their bearings. Now he nestles the
barrel of his borrowed hand gun into the hollow of Lachaise's
cheek.
BOND
The name?
LACHAISE
I can't tell you...
(Bond cocks the gun)
Alright, alright! But you must protect
me!
And he freezes. The handle of a THROWING KNIFE is sticking
out of his neck. Bond looks up, catches sight of the CIGAR
GIRL as she vaults out the broken window and onto THE ROOF.
Bond rushes to the window...
EXT. VERANDAH - ROOFS - GENEVA - DAY
She swings on a WIRE across to another roof, quickly
disappearing into shadows.
Bond can hear sirens approaching. He returns to...
THE OFFICE...he grabs the money and moves fast for the door,
casually slipping that cigar into his pocket...
Except Henchman #1 has recovered, blocks his way, gun in
hand. He starts to squeeze the trigger -- when a RED DOT
appears on his chest...another window SHATTERS as a bullet
zings through and pierces the henchman in the heart.
Bond looks back once at the shattered window, then heads out.
INT. BANK - GENEVA - DAY
Bond appears on the top floor of the grand old building, by
the elevator. Looks over the balcony, sees figures on the
stairs. Hears the elevator cage start from below.
Thinking fast, he wrenches open the steel gate, leans into
the lift shaft, watches the elevator COUNTERWEIGHT as it
comes down. Almost nonchalant, he steps out...
INT. STAIRWELL/ELEVATOR SHAFT - DAY
As the cageful of police rises, Bond is now standing on the
counterweight, DESCENDING.
EXT. STREET - GENEVA
Lunchtime. Faceless business crowds heading for their brief
moment of freedom, among them we spot BOND...one of them,
with a briefcase and a suit and tie...HOLD on his face,
troubled.
INT. HOTEL - GENEVA - DAY
The Cigar Girl enters a huge, high-ceilinged room. Edgy, she
approaches a BIG MAN standing on a balcony overlooking the
city. Propped against the doorframe, an assassin's RIFLE
with LASER-SIGHT attached. BINOCULARS are on a tripod,
trained on the rooftop below where we can see cops examining
the shattered office windows.
The man turns. Powerful, deadly, with a military haircut.
There is a raised, red scar of an ENTRY WOUND at his temple.
It throbs and shifts with the slightest facial expression,
like an insect living just beneath his skin. One EYE seems
slightly drooping, deadened. The other eye is sharp and black
as anthracite. It is a frightening face. This is RENARD.
RENARD
What's his name? Our friend from MI-6?
CIGAR GIRL
James Bond.
RENARD
One of M's more accomplished tin
soldiers.
CIGAR GIRL
He could identify me.
RENARD
If it concerns you...kill him.
He touches her cheek and moves into the room, pouring two
glasses of wine.
RENARD
Let's toast this James Bond. We're in
his hands now...
CUT TO:
EXT. RIVER THAMES - LONDON - DAY
A SEAPLANE swoops over the Millennium Dome, banks along the
snaking river.
EXT. MI-6 - LONDON - DAY
Tate Gallery in background, the seaplane moors beneath the
vast stepped cake that is MI-6. Bond exits with the
suitcase.
INT. SECURITY, MI-6 - DAY
CAMERA MOVES with Bond as he enters this secret, hi-tech
world. He passes through countless security procedures,
watched by an attentive staff.
Bond scoops the money out of the suitcase. Three million
sterling in tightly bundled hundreds makes quite a sight. He
flicks his finger through the last wad, tosses it down
wistfully. A blue light scans it on three axis.
The money is bundled into a clear plastic bag, put on a tray
and wheeled through a series of barred enclosures into the
SECURE ROOM. Bond hands the suitcase to a STAFF MEMBER.
BOND
Have this checked, see what you can get
off it.
INT. MONEYPENNY'S OFFICE, MI-6 - DAY
Bond appears, hiding something behind his back. Moneypenny
brightens.
MONEYPENNY
James. Brought me a souvenir from
Geneva?
He produces the cigar, now in a large phallic TUBE. Stands
it end up on the desk.
BOND
Thought you might want one of these.
MONEYPENNY
(beat, deadpan)
I gave up a long time ago.
(nods to M's door)
She's in with Sir Robert.
INT. M'S OFFICE, MI-6 - DAY
Bond enters. SIR ROBERT KING is perched on the edge of M's
desk. Two glasses, a bottle of scotch open.
M
Sir Robert King, James Bond.
King moves toward Bond with an easy, patrician smile. Bond
notes a TINY BADGE in his lapel -- like the glass eye of a
stuffed snake.
SIR ROBERT
Thanks for getting my money back --never
expected to see it again. You're the
kind of man I could use. Though I won't
offend certain parties by asking you to
join King Industries.
King looks to M, smiling.
BOND
Construction's not exactly my line.
M
Quite the opposite, in fact.
She couldn't resist. King smiles at Bond. As he goes, he
gives M a respectful kiss on the cheek. The door closes. M
turns.
BOND
Old friend?
M
Since Oxford. I knew him when he had
nothing but a brilliant mind and enough
guts to conquer the world. He's a man of
great integrity.
BOND
Who buys classified reports for three
million pounds.
M picks up the report from her desk. Bond notices it is in
Russian, with a SEAL from a Russian military agency in the
corner: MIRATOM.
M
It's a report on weapons security in the
former Soviet Union, which, as you know,
is shaky at best. He's had several
instances of sabotage at the pipeline,
and he's understandably concerned. He
called me the moment he realized its
sensitive nature.
She pours a scotch for Bond. He drops some ice in,
thoughtful.
BOND
Someone was watching over me in Geneva.
A guardian angel with a laser sight.
He stops, rubs his thumb and forefinger together -- a strange
SIZZLING where he touched the ice. Realization sinks in.
BOND
King.
M sees the seriousness in his eyes -- stabs at the intercom:
INT. MONEYPENNY'S OFFICE, MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
Moneypenny's eyes shoot to the intercom console:
M
(filtered)
Moneypenny, stop King leaving.
MONEYPENNY
(flicking switch)
Security --
INT. CORRIDORS, MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
Sir Robert King and an MI-6 AIDE walk toward SECURITY.
INT. Q DIVISION, MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
Q and his men are working on a strange half-built BOAT
suspended over a water tank.
Q
..the hydro boat can operate in three
inches of water...
He looks up as Bond runs through...
INT. SECURITY, MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
THE MONEY lies on the tray, wrapped in plastic.
Sir Robert approaches, two rows of security bars between him
and the cash. An official produces a bag and moves toward
it:
SIR ROBERT
Thanks, but I'll count it myself.
(apologetic, smiles)
Lifetime habit. I'm Scottish.
INT. LOWER CORRIDORS/SECURITY AREA, MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
Bond shoots around the corner just in time to see Sir Robert
disappearing past the THICK STEEL DOOR of the secure room.
BOND
Stop! King!
INT. SECURITY, MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
The shout is muffled, Sir Robert's more interested in the
money.
He continues toward camera, that PIN on his lapel emits a
serene HUM and we
CUT TO:
CLOSE ON THE METAL STRIP IN ONE NOTE AS IT CRACKLES AND --
KABOOM! A MASSIVE EXPLOSION.
INT. LOWER CORRIDORS/SECURITY AREA, MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
MAYHEM. FIRE blasts out of the open doorway just as Bond
reaches it. The STEEL DOOR flies toward him. He dives --
EXT. MI-6/RIVER - CONTINUOUS
The building rocks. SMOKE is pouring from a HOLE that's
appeared in a lower tier. A wall and a section of roof gone.
EXT. MI-6/RIVER - CONTINUOUS
A figure staggers out, shaken. Catching his breath. BOND.
CUT TO:
ECU CIGAR GIRL
Lining up Bond with her infra-red telescopic sight.
ANGLE ON BOND
In the swirling dust and smoke, he suddenly sees a wand of
red light, pointing at his chest.
All instinct, he dives for cover. Powerful, high velocity
bullet hits blanket the area. Bond prepares to return fire,
scanning around for the source. Through the debris he spots
an unusual, hi-tech BOAT on the river -- long and narrow and
low. A figure on board. THE CIGAR GIRL.
ANGLE ON CIGAR GIRL
She FIRES OFF A ROUND OF SHOTS, forcing Bond back into cover.
Then she guns the engines and SPEEDS OFF down the Thames.
EXT. MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
Determined, Bond races back into the wreckage...
INT. MI-6 - CONTINUOUS
Bond races through the chaos that is MI-6 and into...
Q DIVISION
Where he leaps into the prototype BOAT. Q protests...
Q
It's not finished!
Bond looks at the mystifying number of buttons and gadgets
...presses something red and...THE BOAT LEAPS OUT, ENGINE
ROARING...
EXT. SLIPWAY - RIVER - DAY
THE 007 THEME KICKS IN AS:
JAMES BOND, in the Q boat, SHOOTS OUT of the MI-6 rubble and
onto the Thames.
EXT. RIVER THAMES - DAY
Bond can see the Cigar Girl up ahead...he is closing the
distance. She catches sight of him in pursuit...
EXT. CIGAR GIRL - BOAT - DAY
She pushes the boat to its limit, it roars to a new level of
speed...the chase is on.
EXT. THAMES - DAY
Police speedboats, alerted by the commotion, trail Bond.
ON THE EMBANKMENT
Police cars scream alongside, sirens wailing.
ON THE THAMES
Bond is losing ground as he and the Cigar Girl weave through
traffic on the Thames. In a gutsy bid to keep pace, he
corrals the Q boat into a hair-raising SHORT-CUT, shooting
off...
UNDERNEATH A PIER
He maneuvers the boat under the low pier and emerges EVEN
CLOSER to his prey...
EXT. CIGAR GIRL - BOAT - DAY
The Cigar Girl stops her boat, moving to the back, manning
her large, rear-mountain MACHINE GUN and taking aim at
Bond...
EXT. RIVER THAMES - DAY
Bond continues at full speed, fearless in the hail of bullets
ricocheting off the vessel.
THE CIGAR GIRL Remains calm and cool, shooting with
precision.
BOND closes in...
CIGAR GIRL'S eyes widen as...
BOND STEERS HIS BOAT RIGHT OVER THE MACHINE GUN AND TURRET...
Cigar Girl dives out of the way, as her boat becomes a RAMP,
LAUNCHING the Q boat INTO THE AIR before it dives, nose-
first, into the Thames.
EXT. - CIGAR GIRL BOAT - CONTINUOUS
CIGAR GIRL gets up from the deck and sees BOND, turning his
boat to close in for the kill...
She scrambles to the helm and SPEEDS OFF, seeing ahead of
her...
TOWER BRIDGE
Just beginning to open, to allow for passage of a small
tanker.
EXT. CIGAR GIRL BOAT
She streaks toward the bridge, Bond lagging behind...
ON BOND
As he looses her boat in the distance, he makes a DESPERATE
MOVE...he cranks the wheel of his boat and veers off, UP A
SLIPWAY and into...
EXT. FISH MARKET
Where the boat hydroplanes on masses of surface water and
propels him into
EXT. LONDON STREET
The hurtling boat causes mayhem and panic as he wrestles with
the controls, jetting off the street and straight toward...
EXT. RIVERSIDE RESTAURANT
Bond's boat crashes right through it, sending diners LEAPING
in every direction. The Q boat SHOOTS OUT over the balcony
and splashes down once more into...
EXT. THAMES - DAY
Cigar Girl is now clearly in his sights. She is amazed to
see that Bond has managed to overtake her.
The racing boats dice through an armada of lazy, over-loaded
BARGES, nearly crashing into the much larger vessels.
AT EVEN PACE NOW...Cigar Girl attempts to force her way past
him, but Bond, punching buttons on the console of the Q-boat,
releases a set of catapulting FLAME CANNISTERS which create a
massive WALL OF FIRE ahead of them...
CIGAR GIRL is forced toward the very edge of the river...the
jig is almost up, and then...
HER P.O.V. She spots the launching of a HOT AIR BALLOON from
the base of the massive MILLENNIUM DOME.
She skids her vessel to a stop at a nearby pier and quickly
scrambles out of her boat.
EXT. MILLENNIUM DOME - DAY
...A crowd around a RICHARD BRANSON-like figure about to
climb into his HOT AIR BALLOON.
The Cigar Girl, brandishing her gun, forces her way through
the crowd and LEAPS INTO THE BALLOON CARRIAGE, just ready to
lift off. She cranks open the gas nozzles and the balloon
rises with surprising speed.
EXT. BOND'S BOAT - DAY
Bond steers his craft toward a slipway adjacent to the pier
and SHOOTS UP INTO THE AIR...
EXT. MILLENNIUM DOME
An amazing sight...Bond's boat sailing through the air just
beneath the balloon. With split second precision he reaches
up and GRABS ONE OF THE ROPES dangling down from the balloon.
Bond finds himself being CARRIED THROUGH THE AIR as his boat
falls away from him, hitting the ground and ERUPTING into a
ball of flame.
EXT. HOT AIR BALLOON - CONTINUOUS
As Bond is carried higher and higher, the Cigar Girl begins
FIRING AT HIM over the edge of the carriage.
Bond, with ONE HAND, returns fire.
CIGAR GIRL then leans over the edge of the carriage and
begins to SLICE THE ROPE that Bond is hanging from.
The fibers split and fray away from each other as...
BOND FALLS, heading straight toward...
THE MILLENNIUM DOME, which the balloon has drifted over.
AS HE PLUMMETS DOWNWARD...Bond, never surrendering, still
FIRES HIS WEAPON up at the balloon. A bullet hits the gas
tank...
EXT. BALLOON - DAY
The BALLOON EXPLODES IN A MASSIVE FIREBALL taking the Cigar
Girl with it...
EXT. MILLENNIUM DOME - DAY
Bond lands with a spectacular thudding bounce, the roof of
the Millennium Dome breaking his fall.
EXT. MILLENNIUM DOME ROOF - DAY
He slides uncontrollably down the slope of the Dome as scraps
of burning balloon rain down all around, before he FALLS OFF
THE EDGE of the Dome and lands with a THUD ON...
THE GROUND BELOW
He struggles up, wincing in SEARING PAIN as his hand goes to
his INJURED SHOULDER. He hold it, and looks up, into the sky
as we zero in on the iris of...
HIS EYE
reflecting the massive smoke cloud from the explosion as the
screen transforms into...
THE MAIN TITLES
CUT TO:
EXT. COUNTRY ESTATE, LOCH LOMOND - DAY
BAGPIPES. A chapel atop a green slope overlooking the waters
of Loch Lomond.
A long line of mourners files out at the end of a memorial
service. They mill about on the lawn, among them, M, grim-
faced, BILL TANNER, CHIEF OF STAFF and JAMES BOND, his arm in
a black sling.
Bond, ever vigilant, scans the crowd...
HIS P.O.V. It's like a state funeral. Rich and powerful
people, government ministers, chief executives from around
the world...and then...
FAR OFF, on a DISTANT RISE, he sees a BIG MAN, not one of the
mourners but an isolated observer, standing alone, wearing
sunglasses and a military haircut.
The man seems to see Bond looking at him...
M
Bond, we'll meet you inside.
Bond looks at her for a brief second...when he turns back,
the man is gone, like an APPARITION.
Bond walks off, up the grassy slope, toward the rise.
CUT TO:
THE VIEW ACROSS THE VALLEY
Bond stands on the hill, looking below. He sees nothing but
a green carpet, not a tree to hide behind.
He hears a crunch of leaves...turns...
HIS P.O.V. A WOMAN, in mourning black, coming up the hill.
Her china doll face is both fragile and proud.
WOMAN
Beautiful, isn't it?
BOND
Yes.
She steps up to the ridge with him. A breeze blows her hair.
They stare out. The sun's rays have broken the clouds and
strafe the valley.
WOMAN
Today, of all days, the sun decides to
shine.
BOND
Perhaps Sir Robert had a word with the
Man Upstairs.
WOMAN
A word? I'm sure by now he's engineered a
hostile takeover.
BOND
You knew him well?
The sun glints off her bejewelled earlobe.
WOMAN
He was my father.
BOND
I'm sorry.
WOMAN
He died before he could complete his
lifelong dream.
(beat)
I intend to finish it for him.
A voice interrupts them, calling from the estate...
OLDER MAN
Elektra!
ELEKTRA
Excuse me.
She walks away, the wind pressing her dress against her
delicate figure. She looks brave and vulnerable as she walks
back toward her father's grand house.
CUT TO:
INT. LIMOUSINE - TRAVELING - DAY
M, Bond and Tanner in the rear of a limousine. The vehicle
swoops through the epic countryside of the Scottish
Highlands.
M
Elektra? Running King Industries?
(she broods)
I've known that girl all her life. I'm
not sure she knows what she's walking
into.
BOND
She's not a girl anymore.
M looks at Bond. Eyes his sling.
M
I've scheduled a medical for you.
BOND
It's barely a scratch. The Dome broke my
fall.
M
Well, at least it turned out to have some
purpose.
Bond gives her a look.
M
No-one goes into the field on this unless
they're 100%. Dr. Greatrex is waiting.
EXT. CASTLE THANE - HIGHLANDS - DAY
The limousine swoops under the portcullis, into a courtyard.
ADJUST ANGLE to reveal huge antennae and satellite dishes
within.
SUPER: MI-6 REMOTE OPERATIONS CENTRE, SCOTLAND
EXT. CORRIDOR - CASTLE THANE - CONTINUOUS
Bond walks through the corridors. Just before he enters the
medical room, he removes his sling and casually drapes it on
a suit of armor.
INT. MEDICAL ROOM - CASTLE THANE - DAY
Bond sits on the couch, shirt off, awaits the results of his
medical.
The very attractive DOCTOR GREATREX looks at her notes.
DOCTOR GREATREX
Dislocated collar bone. If any more
tendons snap...
(looks up)
It won't just be two weeks out of action.
BOND
I need you to pass me fit now, Molly.
She moves to him, touches the scarred and bruised bone.
BOND
It's just a scratch.
DOCTOR GREATREX
James. It wouldn't really be...
His hand comes up, rests on her waist.
BOND
Ethical? Can't we just skirt the issue?
And he pulls down the zip on her skirt. Flicks the clasp and
it drops to the floor. She shakes her head -- as he starts
undoing the buttons on her shirt. She's very business-like,
despite what's happening.
DOCTOR GREATREX
...if you showed sufficient...willpower.
Promised to slow down. Cut out running,
jumping...shooting. All kinds of...
And he pulls her toward him, they kiss.
BOND
Strenuous activity?
Her shirt drops to the floor. She pushes him back, lies on
him. Just wearing knickers now. Between kisses:
DOCTOR GREATREX
Then maybe I'd be... open to that.
BOND
(smiles)
Perhaps after this ... test?
DOCTOR GREATREX
...yes?...
BOND
I could come for a second opinion?
INT. BRIEFING ROOM, CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ)- LATER
A huge chandelier dominates the vast stone room. SEVERAL
AGENTS listen to the debriefing. ROBINSON and M watch TANNER
explain things; he holds a FIFTY POUND NOTE and KING'S LAPEL
PIN (now blackened, fused, melted to expose electronics
beneath).
TANNER
...The money was dipped in urea, dried,
and packed tight. In one note the metal
strip had been replaced with a
combustible magnesium circuit -- in
effect a tiny detonator. King always wore
a pin in his lapel, an heirloom called
'the Eye of the Glens'; but someone
switched it for a copy, a ceramic micro-
circuit emitting an electronic signature.
ANGLE
on BOND as he enters the room. He hangs back in the shadows,
watches Tanner mime the pin moving to the note:
TANNER
When he came within range of the money --
boom. Ingenious.
M steps forward. Her fury controlled.
M
We've been pawns in someone's game. They
tricked us into bringing the money to
King. Not just elaborate. Cock-sure.
TANNER
And expensive. Cost three million plus.
Suddenly the chandelier darkens, the floor brightens into a
VAST SCREEN, showing a satellite image of Central Asia and
the Mediterranean. M and Robinson walk onto the screen.
M
Cheap, if it achieves your aim of de-
stabilizing the Western World.
She causes the desired stir. Bond steps forward from the
shadows to get a better view. M sees the sling has gone.
M
007. What do you know of the Caspian Sea?
BOND
Caviar capital of the world. Matchless
beluga. Firm, yet subtle.
(M looks askance)
Largest landlocked body of water on
Earth. Oil-rich. Hitler wanted it.
Stalin beat him to it.
M
And now it's up for grabs, a goldrush.
Far more oil than anyone thought.
ROBINSON
Latest estimates, six trillion dollars.
It'll make the Gulf look like a puddle,
see us right through the new century.
The problem is getting the oil out of
there.
M
There are four pipelines in the works.
Three to the Black Sea, shipping out
through the Bosphorus. All vulnerable to
unstable governments or Russian blockade.
BOND
So Sir Robert's goes through Turkey,
direct to the Med...?
ROBINSON
A huge project. The most expensive of the
pipelines, but the one supported by every
Western leader. None of the American oil
companies were willing to take it on.
But King has connections to the region.
He married into the Vavra family, rich
local industrialists. He used those
connections to hold it all together.
BOND
Kill the man, kill the pipeline.
M
Not necessarily. Not with Elektra taking
over.
Tanner notices a RED LIGHT start pulsing. He moves to M:
TANNER
Your call to the PM.
M nods grimly. As Robinson distributes sealed envelopes:
M
Our credibility has been hit hard. We
have to hit back harder. Your
assignments.
They open their envelopes, but Bond received nothing.
M
(to Bond)
I'm waiting for the report on your
medical.
She leaves. Bond is brooding.
CUT TO:
INT. RESEARCH ROOM, CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ) - NIGHT
An ancient nook chock full of hi-tech equipment. Bond
concentrates on a screen displaying PHOTOGRAPHS, NEWSPAPER
AND TELEVISION CLIPS -- all to do with King's life and times.
Bond touches the screen on a photo of...ELEKTRA.
INT. SCREEN
One story dominates -- the KIDNAPPING OF ELEKTRA KING. A
Polaroid of Elektra savagely beaten, ear bandaged, holding a
newspaper: beneath the photo is scrawled "$5,000,000."
NEWSCASTER
...somehow managed to shoot two of her
captors and escape...
POLICE VIDEO: Elektra interviewed; bruised, emotional.
VOICE
... the leader, the one who escaped. Can
you describe him?
ELEKTRA
He shouted. He shouted all the time --
Bond touches Elektra's face, freezing her tears.
His eyes wander to the photo with the ransom demand:
$5,000,000. A thought forms. He takes out his wallet,
opening it and removing:
THE RECEIPT FROM LACHAISE.
E.C.U. The strange figure, in pounds: 3,030,303.03.
Bond taps some keys. The words EXCHANGE RATE appear on the
screen...pounds to dollars.
He enters '3,030,303.03 POUNDS STERLING' and through
multiplication by the exchange rate this becomes:
'5,000,000 US DOLLARS.' He stares at it.
CUT TO:
INT. PASSAGEWAY - CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ) - DUSK
Bond paces the flagstones, FOOTSTEPS ECHOING.
INT. BRIEFING ROOM - CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ) - CONTINUOUS
Bond opens the door on M who stands alone by the window,
looking out at the long shadows on the moors.
BOND
Tell me about the kidnapping of Elektra
King.
She turns, her brow furrowing.
M
Who told you to look at Elektra's files?
BOND
I took the initiative.
M
You haven't been given an assignment in
this case.
BOND
I was the one who brought that money
in...
M
I'm well aware of your stake in this,
007.
If you have a point, get to it.
BOND
The amount of money that killed Robert
King is the same amount as the ransom
demand for Elektra.
He hands her a slip of paper.
BOND
Whoever kidnapped Elektra is the same man
who killed her father.
M looks at the paper, a long time.
M
It's a message. He wants us to know he's
back.
BOND
Who?
M
Claude Serrault. A.K.A...
BOND
(this is serious)
Renard.
CUT TO:
INT. BRIEFING ROOM, CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ)- NIGHT
A HUGE, TRANSPARENT 3-D IMAGE OF RENARD'S SKULL floats in the
centre of the room. Other images of him on wall screens.
M
Sir Robert tried to deal with the
kidnapping with his own...resources, at
first. When Elektra's ear was delivered
to him in the post, he came to me.
(measured)
I advised against paying the ransom. I
knew it was Renard. I played it out as
long as possible to get a fix on him.
BOND
Sacrifice the girl to take out the
terrorist?
M
How many deaths is he responsible for?
How many innocent people? You may only
get one shot at a man like Renard. Same
circumstances, I'd do the same again.
She turns to the hologram.
M
We sent 009 down to kill him. Before he
could, Elektra escaped. A week later our
man caught up with the target. Put a
bullet in his head.
(beat)
That bullet is still there.
Bond moves toward the ghostly Renard. We now see THE BULLET
INSIDE HIS SKULL.
BOND
He survived?
M
The doctor who saved him couldn't get it
out, so Renard killed him. When Interpol
found the x-rays, there was mild
jubilation. Effectively, he's a dead man.
She presses a button, the hologram turns...
M
The bullet is moving through the medulla
oblongata, killing off his sense of
touch. He feels no pain. He can push
himself harder, longer than any normal
man.
BOND
'That which does not kill me makes me
stronger.'
M
Now Robert is dead. He got his revenge.
BOND
He's not through yet. Renard doesn't blow
up five million dollars unless he knows
there's more coming in. He's working for
someone. Someone who wants to stop the
pipeline. And they hired the perfect
killer. One with a vendetta against
King...and you.
MONEYPENNY ENTERS with a file, which she hands to M.
M looks over the file: his medical report.
M
I see the good doctor gave you glowing
testimonials. 'Exceptional stamina'...
MONEYPENNY
He's always been good at oral exams.
Moneypenny disappears out the door. M is all business.
M
Get out to the pipeline. Find the insider
who switched the pin. If your instincts
are right, Renard will be back. He hasn't
completed the job. The pipeline is still
going forward, and we have Elektra to
thank for that.
BOND
The worm on the hook again.
They exchange a look. A look of recognition between two
professionals, who know the terrible price of what they do.
INT. Q'S LAB - NIGHT
A Scot in a kilt plays the bagpipes -- badly. He spins
round, drops the pipe from his mouth, simultaneously fires
bullets from one pipe and a jet of flame from another. The
target is a realistic dummy -- now a molten, bullet-ridden
mess.
We're in Q's laboratory. He's walking Bond through.
BOND
Scottish heavy metal, Q?
Q
Oh pipe down, 007.
(irritated, hands over a WATCH)
Your 29th. Try not to lose this one. It
has dual lasers and a miniature grappling
hook with fifty feet of high-tensile
micro-filament, able to support 800
pounds.
In the background, we see a man in a sleek black jacket. The
man PULLS A STRING...the jacket becomes AN AIRBAG...it
envelopes him, he gets impossibly tangled in it.
Q ignores it, handing Bond a new pair of GLASSES.
Q
New refinement. Sort of X-ray vision.
For checking concealed weapons.
BOND
And other uses, no doubt.
Q
Abuses in your case. You destroyed my
hydro-boat in less than seven minutes, as
no doubt will be the case with this...
He presses a button and a section of ceiling lowers to reveal
a BMW Z7.
A MAN in a white coat is loading A MISSILE into one of the
headlamps, then steps off the platform. Q gestures to him.
Q
007, my Deputy Assistant. I'm grooming
him to follow me.
BOND
(to Man)
That would make you..."R"?
R
Ahh, the rampant 007 wit. I, of course,
am laughing inside. But I dare say
you've met your match in this machine.
(touring the car)
The absolute latest in intercepts,
surveillance and countermeasures.
Titanium plating and armor, a multi-
tasking heads-up display. Completely
indestructible. All in all, rather
stocked.
Q
'Fully loaded' I think is the term.
"R" pats the fender, he's pretty damned fond of his machine.
R
Do take good care of her.
CUT TO:
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE, NEAR CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS - DAY
A hot day. CAMERA soars over tall trees. We can just make out
the sleek muscular car, beetle-black and far below, bouncing
over rough terrain. Bond "taking care" of his new BMW Z7.
INT. BOND'S CAR - NR CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS - DAY
We join Bond at the wheel, driving hard, loving it, pushing
up extreme inclines, smashing through overhanging limbs.
EXT. PERIMETER FENCE, CONSTRUCTION SITE, NEAR CAUCASUS
MOUNTAINS - DAY
Bond reaches a PERIMETER FENCE, manned by a GUARD. The guard
examines Bond's PASS and waves him through.
EXT. AIRSTRIP AREA NEAR CONSTRUCTION SITE, NEAR CAUCASUS
MOUNTAINS - DAY (OLD SC. 69)
As Bond drives on he passes an area where HELICOPTERS
trailing GIANT SAWS are trimming back trees. Felled trees
are being dragged away, being replaced by huge metal sheets.
An incredibly fast and well-oiled operation -- but why?
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE, NEAR CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS - DAY
Bond pulls up at the CONSTRUCTION SITE, teeming with ultra-
modern robotic construction machines and vehicles.
He gets out, and is immediately surrounded by men with guns.
A man in a suit steps forward. DAVIDOV is tall, blonde, with
a dangerous charm Bond instantly recognizes as ex-KGB.
He turns Bond around, hands on the car. Pats him down.
Pulls out an ID, checks it:
DAVIDOV
(excellent English)
Bond. A government man. I'm afraid since
you English got the boss killed we've
been a little...jumpy.
Bond stares ahead, watches a PRIVATE JET swoops past...
OMITTED
EXT. AIRSTRIP AREA NEAR CONSTRUCTION SITE, NEAR CAUCASUS
MOUNTAINS - DAY
The jet lands on a runway of the metal sheets Bond saw being
laid as he passed...
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE, NEAR CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS - DAY
Davidov pulls out Bond's gun.
BOND
(re: gun)
I'd rather you didn't play with that.
Davidov ignores him, looking the gun over.
DAVIDOV
Nice.
BOND
Quite stunning.
Bond turns to watch a LIFTING HELICOPTER swoop in and drop
down an air-conditioned office. Military precision.
Davidov's radio crackles out a message and he tosses the gun
back to Bond. They start walking:
DAVIDOV
(pleasant)
Sorry about all that, comrade. Old habits
die hard. I am Head of Security.
Davidov.
Bond eyes him, but is distracted by a jet coming to a halt
ahead of them.
Stairs swing down and out steps ELEKTRA KING. Beautiful,
elegant. So out of place in this world of men. She surveys
the worksite.
Impressed, Bond takes his ID back from Davidov.
INT. OFFICE, CONSTRUCTION SITE - CONTINUOUS
Bond and Davidov step into a fully functioning office.
Everything Elektra requires is here. Computer, phones, drinks
cabinet. She is in the middle of a group of workmen and
secretaries, looking at plans, talking, pouring herself a cup
of coffee.
ELEKTRA
(to Foreman)
...they should have been in place two
days ago. That is the target my father
set.
FOREMAN
We've had some trouble with the villagers
at Ruan. Some sacred burial plot...
DAVIDOV
Miss King...James Bond here to see you.
She looks up...a brief moment of RECOGNITION...then back to
business.
ELEKTRA
Find me the research on the limestone
deposits, go ahead and place these
orders, and get the jeep ready. I will go
to Ruan myself...
DAVIDOV
Miss King, I wouldn't recommend...
ELEKTRA
I said, I will go.
She signs some documents and the men file out. She gets up,
turning her back to Bond, hands on her hips.
ELEKTRA
Would you excuse us, Davidov?
Davidov nods and leaves. Elektra still keeps her back turned,
but he can see her physically change, her shoulders sag, her
arms cross in front of her. When she finds her voice, it has
a gravelly sound of emotion.
ELEKTRA
I met you at my father's funeral.
BOND
Yes.
ELEKTRA
I haven't been able to recall a single
moment of that day...until now.
BOND
Funerals aren't exactly memorable.
ELEKTRA
God no. All those horrible loved ones and
relatives. I don't want to talk to those
people. I just want to...talk to my
father.
(beat)
I loved him. I'm not sure he knew that.
BOND
Is that why you want to finish the
pipeline?
ELEKTRA
Partially, yes.
Her muscleman BODY GUARD appears, says briefly:
GABOR
The jeep is ready, Ma'am. Will I be
driving with you?
ELEKTRA
No, Gabor. We have a guest.
Gabor glares at Bond before he leaves.
BOND
Who is he?
ELEKTRA
My bodyguard. He follows me everywhere.
He's decisive, vigilant. And he makes an
excellent omelette.
BOND
How long has he been with you?
ELEKTRA
Since the kidnapping. Why do you ask?
Bond takes something out of his pocket, he opens his palm,
shows it to her.
BOND
Does this look familiar to you?
ELEKTRA
It's my father's pin. He wore it everyday
of his life.
She swallows back emotion. Looks in his eyes, with a sad half-
smile that unsettles him.
ELEKTRA
Are you trying to break my heart? Or is
it just your way with women?
BOND
It's not the pin your father wore. It's
an exact duplicate. Inside is a tiny
electrical detonator. We have reason to
believe the assassin had an inside
accomplice, someone who worked at this
company.
ELEKTRA
If you've come here to look after me, Mr.
Bond, thank you, but no thank you. I
have two bodyguards, I don't need a
third...
She starts to walk out. He follows her...
EXT. CONSTRUCTION SITE - CONTINUOUS
BOND
The killer doesn't want to see this
pipeline continue, doesn't want to see
you take over...
ELEKTRA
That's every man within a five mile
radius. Including you.
(off his look)
That's why you're here, isn't it? You
think I can't do it. You think I'm going
to screw up. Or get myself killed.
BOND
I think running this pipeline would be a
difficult job for anyone. Especially
King's daughter.
ELEKTRA
You are wrong, Mr. Bond. In fact, I am
the only person who can do it.
CUT TO:
EXT. JEEP, TRAVELING - OILFIELDS - DAY
Elektra drives the all-terrain jeep with casual assurance.
Bond is beside her, cold-weather gear in the back. They're
following a huge pipeline, passing a blighted petrified
forest of twisted iron: derelict oil derricks.
Elektra gestures at the oil fields they're now leaving
behind. Receding into the distance, a DELTA OF ROADWAYS
perched on rusting stilts juts out into the sea.
ELEKTRA
My mother's people discovered oil here
ninety years ago. The Bolsheviks
slaughtered them for it.
(beat)
Some say oil is in my family's blood. I
say our blood is in the oil. This is the
very heart of the planet. Up here in the
hills was Eden, literally. Look what the
Russians did to it. Now we have a second
chance and this time we'll do it right.
When the other wells have all dried up,
she'll still be pumping her lifeblood to
the world. And this
(proudly, of pipeline)
Will be one of the main arteries...
OMITTED 75-
EXT. POV FROM HELICOPTER - DAY
Bond and Elektra travel beside the vast pipe through
dramatic, beautiful, scenery...
INT. HELICOPTER - DAY
Davidov and Gabor, in the helicopter, watch the jeep below.
EXT. CONSTRUCTION CAMP, FOOTHILLS OF THE CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS
(CAPPADOCIA, THE VILLAGE OF ZELVE) - DAY
The jeep reaches a break in the pipe: a SURVEY CAMP, flags,
strings. The SURVEY CREW cower behind a 4WD, local tribesman
are stoning them from a village carved into the rock. A lot
of SHOUTING.
Before Bond can stop her, Elektra gets out, moves toward the
tribesmen. The stoning ceases. They know who she is. She
begins to speak quietly -- in their own tongue.
INT. CHAPEL, ZELVE - DAY
A stunning pre-Byzantine chapel hewn from the rock. Flames
illuminate beautiful mosaics and paintings on the cavern
wall. A COPTIC PRIEST proudly shows Elektra about, jabbering
in his mother tongue. She answers in his language.
Bond watches her, impressed.
EXT. CONSTRUCTION CAMP - DISTORTED ELECTRONIC POV, FROM
ABOVE:
We hear the click of high-powered electronic binoculars,
zeroing in on Bond and Elektra as they return to the survey
team. This can't be Davidov's view, as the helicopter has
settled down below.
EXT. CONSTRUCTION CAMP, FOOTHILLS OF MOUNTAINS - DAY
Bond is edgy. Someone is out there. He's sure of it. He
sees Davidov and Gabor scanning the area as well. Elektra
speaks to the foreman.
ELEKTRA
Send the pipe around.
FOREMAN
It will take weeks, cost millions.
Your father approved this route.
ELEKTRA
Then my father was wrong.
The first time Elektra has asserted her own authority. The
foreman is surprised, angry. But he doesn't question her.
She moves toward the helicopter, says to Bond:
ELEKTRA
I have to check the upper lines. Gabor
will drive you back.
BOND
Always wanted to see the upper lines.
ELEKTRA
You don't take no for an answer, do you?
BOND
No.
She shrugs, mischief in her eyes.
ELEKTRA
Alright then. Do you ski?
Bond just smiles.
BOND
I've been known to.
INT/EXT. HELICOPTER - DAY
The chopper swoops over SNOWY WASTES. It reaches a mountain
peak, hovers. The wind is strong, buffeting.
Elektra and Bond are both now in ski suits, Bond wearing a
sleek black jacket.
PILOT
Can't land. Wind's too strong!
ELEKTRA
Just hold her steady.
(to Bond)
You wanted to see it.
She steps into her skis, opens the door. Wind rushes in.
EXT. MOUNTAIN TOP - DAY
Without a moment's hesitation, Elektra leaps out of the
chopper and falls fifteen feet, landing on the move.
INT/EXT. HELICOPTER - DAY
Unbelieving, Bond quickly dons skis and leaps after her.
EXT. MOUNTAINS - DAY
Below him on the mountain, she is already a way ahead. Her
skiing is fearless. Bond likes a challenge...
They wind down the slope, competitive, testing one another,
enjoying it.
EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE - DAY
After an exhilarating run, she stops on the edge of a huge
drop. Bond joins her. They look down at the snowy valley
below. A line of survey FLAGS visible through the middle.
ELEKTRA
We're building from both ends. This is
where they'll meet. Fifteen hundred
miles from the Caspian to the
Mediterranean.
Bond and Elektra stand on the mountainside, feeling like the
only two people in the world, when they hear: THE DISTANT HUM
OF A PLANE.
EXT. SKY - DAY
They see FOUR OBJECTS falling out the back of the aircraft.
As the objects plummet silently toward the earth, they POP
PARACHUTES, their fall slows and then, as Bond and Elektra
watch in disbelief...
GUNFIRE echoes out from the black shapes, now visible as
PARASKIS, low-flying, sleek, deadly snow vehicles.
EXT. MOUNTAIN TOP - DAY
Bond turns to Elektra, he has to yell over the sound of the
approaching machines.
BOND
Head for that gully, I'll lure them into
the trees!
He points her off to one side, where a shallow gully offers
cover...she skis off to shelter and he skis OUT...INTO THE
OPEN...where the paraskis trail after him...
He streaks toward the trees as the vehicles gain on him,
firing...
EXT. FOREST
He makes it to the woods, finding cover in the trees,
whipping in and out of sight as PARASKI #1 tries to follow,
sinking lower and lower until...
HIS SKIDS catch on some over hanging branches...the Paraski
is CATAPULTED into a tree and EXPLODES...
EXT. WOODS - CONTINUOUS
Coming in to pick up the pursuit of Bond is Paraski #2,
firing down at Bond, dropping bombs which explode just behind
him in the snow. The other two paraskis LAND and eject their
chutes, now RACING THROUGH THE WOODS on the ground.
Bond looks behind him, sees them gaining...he zigzags through
the trees and suckers Paraski #3 to glance off one tree, hit
another and wipe out behind.
But the remaining predator on the ground, Paraski #4, is
gaining on him...Bond bursts out of the trees and finds
himself heading toward...
THE EDGE OF A PRECIPICE...
He cranks himself right, narrowly avoiding a tumble over the
edge. Paraski #4 isn't so lucky and SAILS OFF THE CLIFF to a
hundred and fifty foot drop.
BOND
(smiling)
Should have stuck to snowboarding.
But the smile is wiped off his face as...AN EMERGENCY
PARACHUTE deploys from the back...
The Paraski does a climbing turn and heads straight back for
him...
Bond skis for his life, away from Paraski #4 when PARASKI #2
appears in front of him...guns blazing...
One ahead and one behind, Bond turns back...he has nowhere to
go but...
OVER THE EDGE
He sails through the air and lands on the Paraski #4,
slashing the parachute with his ski pole before bouncing off
and doing an amazing tumbling hundred foot fall to the snow,
where he lands on his skis... Paraski four, the chute
tangling in the rotors of its propeller, struggles to
maintain control, his vehicle inexorably hurtling toward
PARASKI #2: both of them having set their course for Bond,
they are now on a collision course with EACH OTHER...
IN THE GULLY BELOW
Bond meets up with Elektra as above them...
The two Paraskis collide, crashing into the snowy hill above
and tumbling down, end over end.
Bond and Elektra huddle together as shards and debris rain
down on them.
Then...silence. An eerie silence.
ELEKTRA
Are they gone? All of them?
Bond nods, ripping from his pole a PIECE OF THE PARACHUTE he
slashed and wiping his face with it...he looks at the piece
of fabric in his hand. He sees:
CYRILLIC LETTERS...undecipherable to us...but there is a look
on his face, a look of recognition as...
AN EARTH RATTLING RUMBLE grows above them.
Bond stuffs the parachute fragment in his ski-suit as he
turns...
The exploding Paraskis have triggered AN AVALANCHE on the
slope above.
EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE/AVALANCHE AREA - DAY
They try to outrun it -- riding the sliding hill -- but they
haven't a hope... the rest of the snow is catching them,
they're going to get swallowed.
EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE/AVALANCHE AREA - DAY
The ground shudders, the THUNDER CLOSING... Their ankles are
soon covered, Elektra falls. Bond stops, pulls her up.
They're about to die. He pulls her to him.
BOND
Hold on to me.
She's confused and frightened but does as she's told.
They hold one another tight as -- here it comes -- the white
fury hurtles over them, burying them... At the last moment,
just as their heads vanish from view...
CLOSE ON BOND PULLING THE Q GADGET ON THE JACKET.
The AIRBAG slams open. The snow covers it and them. More
and more snow slides over...
CUT TO:
INT. SNOW HOLE - MOMENTS LATER
Darkness. The RUMBLING CEASES...
Light emanates from Bond's watch. In the shadows he pulls a
knife, punctures the air bag. It deflates, leaving them
cocooned in an icy tomb. Elektra looks around, staring,
unbelieving.
ELEKTRA
Oh my God...we're buried alive...
BOND
We're alright.
But her breath is coming in short, irregular bursts.
ELEKTRA
I can't stay here.
BOND
You're not going to.
Bond takes a knife from a sheath around his ankle. Flicks
open the small blade. He starts to cut a hole in the snow
above their heads. She stops him.
ELEKTRA
No! It will cave in!
BOND
It's the only way out...
The snow CREAKS eerily, she gasps, terror mounting.
ELEKTRA
I can't breathe, I can't breathe...
Bond grabs her, holds her tight. She resists, bucks.
BOND
Elektra, look at me, look in my eyes!
(she does)
You're alright. Everything will be
alright. Trust me.
Finally, arrested by the strength in his eyes, she calms...
EXT. MOUNTAINS - MOMENTS LATER
A beautiful expanse of smooth virgin snow. All is quiet.
CLOSER
Bond's fist PUNCHES through the white. He pulls the snow
away, climbs out. Leans in, lifts Elektra out.
Bond and Elektra stand, lone figures in the perfect white.
They hear a sound...HELICOPTER ROTORS. Rescue on its way.
CUT TO:
EXT. ELEKTRA'S VILLA - DAY
An establishing shot of Bond's BMW parked outside the ornate
villa on the shore of the golden Caspian.
INT. ENTRANCE HALL, ELEKTRA'S VILLA - DAY
Palatial. Hallway dominated by a LARGE PAINTING of a bearded
man in traditional Turkish garb, sitting proudly on a horse.
Davidov, Gabor, waiting, pacing.
Bond is sits in a chair, ON EDGE, writing something over and
over on a small pad of paper...THE CYRILLIC LETTERS on the
parachute fragment.
A DOCTOR comes down the grand staircase. The men stand.
DOCTOR
She's fine. Contusions. A slight strain
to her ankle, but otherwise, fine.
(to Bond)
She wants to see you.
INT. ELEKTRA'S BEDROOM - SUNSET
Bond enters. Elektra is standing by the window watching the
golden ball of the sun sink into the sea. She wears nothing
but a silk embroidered robe; the sun shows through it,
outlining her naked body in soft, shadowy curves.
ELEKTRA
Are you alright?
He nods. He is wound tight, she senses it.
BOND
I can't stay.
ELEKTRA
I know.
A moment.
ELEKTRA
I need to ask you something. And I need
you to tell me the truth.
He waits.
ELEKTRA
Who is it? Who is trying to kill me?
Bond looks at her; vulnerable, fragile, trying to be strong.
He cannot tell her the truth.
BOND
I don't know. But I will find him.
She stares at him, sensing he is withholding something. She
turns back to the window.
He approaches behind her.
ELEKTRA
After the kidnapping...I was afraid to go
outside, to be alone, to be in a crowd,
to do anything at all, until I
realized...
(pause)
There's no point in living if you
can't...feel alive.
She looks out at the fading sun.
ELEKTRA
I can't huddle in the shadows. I can't
let fear run my life. I won't.
She turns to him.
ELEKTRA
The way I acted, in the snow...you must
think I'm a coward.
BOND
I think you're one of the bravest people
I've ever met.
She looks up at him, into his eyes; they are so close. All
she has to do is tilt her mouth upward...she kisses him. His
hands come up across her back, pressing her toward him, her
body melting into his, and then...
He pulls back. Has to physically step away from her.
ELEKTRA
What is it?
BOND
...you should rest.
That was exactly the wrong thing to say. He sees the
rebellion flair in her eyes.
ELEKTRA
James...
BOND
I have to go.
ELEKTRA
Then take me with you.
BOND
No. You'll be safe here.
ELEKTRA
I don't want to be safe!
BOND
I have to go to work.
He starts toward the door.
ELEKTRA
Now who's the coward?
He stops, his back up...then heads out the door.
IN THE HALLWAY
He passes Gabor, standing faithfully outside.
CUT TO:
EST. SHOT - EXT. CASINO NOIR D'OR, BAKU - NIGHT
Elegant, mysterious. A modern day Casablanca.
INT. CASINO NOIR D'OR, BAKU - NIGHT
Bond in evening dress in the sumptuous casino. He takes out
the Q glasses, slips them on, surveys the room --
HIS X-RAY POV
He can see all the WEAPONS carried by the players. All sizes
of pistol, even the odd grenade. The obvious side-effect of
this view -- he can see through clothes.
His eyes alight on two girls walking away from him. One of
them turns to look back, unaware that she is on display. She
returns Bond's smile. Her friend turns to look. Bond's
smile grows: she has a small pistol concealed over one
breast.
INT. CASINO NOIR D'OR, BAKU - NIGHT
He looks over the lenses -- and spies someone on the fringes.
His old adversary, ex-KGB, VALENTIN ZUKOVSKY, talking to some
suspicious types. Zukovsky looks across. Bond walks toward
him.
BOND
Valentin Zukovsky.
ZUKOVSKY
BondJamesBond. What brings you here?
BOND
You, of course. I need some information.
ZUKOVSKY
Bond, I'm a civilian. This is my place.
Used to be the royal family's, now it's
mine. I run my little business, I stay
out of trouble...
BOND
(looking about)
Mafia warlords, Diplomats and spies,
consortiums from every country in the
world. A nice little rat's nest.
ZUKOVSKY
(offering hors d'ouevres)
Have some of the rat's nest caviar. From
my own fishery. They buy my caviar,
drink my champagne, lose to my House.
He turns to a suspicious-looking Heavy.
ZUKOVSKY
Let me introduce you to a former
colleague of mine at the KGB. Dmitri
Palov, you may know him as...the Boa.
The Boa is completely bald, muscular; huge, deadly hands.
BOA
The great 007. For years I have dreamed
of closing my hands around your neck.
BOND
Boa. Have you had any therapy since
Perestroika?
ZUKOVSKY
Why am I suddenly worried I'm not
carrying enough insurance?
The Boa leaves, glaring all the while.
ZUKOVSKY
See? You're upsetting my customers.
What do you want?
BOND
How does a terrorist like Renard supply
his men with state-of-the-art Russian
Army weapons?
ZUKOVSKY
What? This is not possible.
Bond takes from his pocket the fragment of the PARACHUTE.
Zukovsky examines the letters.
BOND
If I remember my Cyrillic that says 101st
airborne division.
ZUKOVSKY
Where did you get this?
BOND
Off a high-powered Paraski that was
trying to kill me.
Zukovsky shakes his head. Sighs.
ZUKOVSKY
The Russian Army, they spend millions on
flying skis, but they cannot afford to
pay the soldiers. The men, they do what
they have to do to feed their families.
In this country, for the right price and
a pack of cigarettes, you can get
anything you want.
He notices Bond watching THE HOSTESS BAR...a dark alcove of
the casino, where slinky HOOKERS flatter the guests.
ZUKOVSKY
That too. Everyone does what they can to
survive.
BOND
How high up does this...arms dealing go?
ZUKOVSKY
Bond. If someone wants you dead, it is
Renard. Our government has nothing to
gain by killing you.
BOND
But you would have something to gain by
killing Robert King. And stopping his
pipeline.
This hits Zukovsky. He closes down. A chill between them.
ZUKOVSKY
Poor Bond. The cold war is over. What
have you got left? Economic espionage.
Murder in the boardroom. So dull.
Bond's eyes catch something, someone entering the casino.
HIS POV: ELEKTRA...more vibrant than we have ever seen her,
living up to her name. She is impossibly glamorous in a
sparkling dress that fits like second skin. Her hair is full
and tumbling, her eyes are fiery and wild.
BOND
Oh, you'd be surprised.
Bond starts toward her, but she tosses her head, defiant, and
turns away, making her way to the Roulette tables.
Bond follows her across the casino. They are like two cats,
moving through this neon jungle, their energy dangerous and
sexy, all eyes on them. He takes note as she passes...MINIMUM
$100, then $500, $1000...
She finally stops at the 'No limit' table. Crowded with the
nastiest and richest of the high rollers, Armenians, Turks,
South Americans, a computer nerd American and a Russian
industrialist's wife, heavy with jewelry and drink.
ZUKOVSKY is suddenly there, pulling out a seat for her in the
center.
ZUKOVSKY
We've kept your father's chair free.
ELEKTRA
And his account?
ZUKOVSKY
You have a credit line of a million and a
half.
He gestures to the Dealer, who pushes ten towering stacks of
CHIPS toward her. A WAITRESS is right there to take her
order.
ELEKTRA
Vodka martini.
BOND
Two. Shaken not stirred.
He leans in, smiling his charming smile as he says:
BOND
What the hell are you doing here?
ELEKTRA
(smiling right back)
Someone wants to kill me, I'd rather die
looking him straight in the eye.
(lightly)
What are you doing here? Looking for a
woman a little more your type? How about
that one?
She points to a SHOW GIRL in a feather headdress and pasties.
BOND
If this little show is for my benefit,
I'll take you home right now.
ELEKTRA
You had your chance, James. Now I'm
looking for a bigger thrill.
She pushes half her chips back onto the table, letting them
stand on her bet. The whole table exhales. Then, it starts:
bets are placed, gamblers energized by her arrival.
Bond scans the room, vigilant, nervous...
HIS P.O.V. He zeroes in on Davidov, sidling off, away from
the table, trying to look nonchalant, his eyes shifting this
way and that...he looks suspicious as hell.
Bond watches, his blood running, and then...
Davidov slips into the HOSTESS BAR. A HOOKER is soon
wrapping herself around him. After a few words, she leads him
off toward the back.
Bond returns to the game, shaking his head. He watches as
THE DEALER DEALS FROM THE SHOE.
CUT TO:
INT. SALON PRIV - NIGHT
A small room. Lit by sconces that sport LIVE FLAMES. Tacky-
luxurious, a refracted Eastern reflection on an old west
whore house.
Davidov undresses in the little bathroom alcove. He faces a
small ornate mirror over the sink, in which he can see THE
HOOKER behind him, on the bed.
HOOKER
You want to be...on top, or not on top?
DAVIDOV
On top.
She slowly pulls a pair of SILK ROPES out from her bra and
DANGLES THEM.
HOOKER
Tied up, or not tied up?
Davidov smiles, struggling with his belt. He looks down,
gets it, looks up...his heart stops...it is not the hooker in
the mirror but...
RENARD'S FRIGHTENING FACE.
Davidov spins.
HIS P.O.V. Renard's henchman stands by the door, an
automatic rifle cocked at Davidov.
RENARD
Dead, or not dead?
CUT TO:
INT. CASINO - THE BLACK JACK TABLE
Elektra with black king showing. A seven beneath.
BOND
I understand it's normally good practice
to get the feel of the cards before going
off the deep end.
ELEKTRA
Really?
And with a smile she scratches her cards on the table for a
hit. The Dealer gives her an eight. She reveals her cards.
DEALER
Bust.
He rakes in her chips. But Elektra is undeterred. She pushes
another pile forward as the next deal commences.
ELEKTRA
I like the deep end, James.
CUT TO:
INT. SALON PRIVE
The HENCHMAN holds Davidov against the wall with his huge
fist around his neck. Near his head, the live flame of a
SCONCE hisses, burning blue and yellow, drawing their fuel
from the glass basin of hot oil attached beneath it.
The HOOKER, obviously one of Renard's gang, has finished
donning her khaki pants and combat boots and straps a gun
onto her shoulder.
Renard looks distastefully at the room.
RENARD
Is this how you spend the money I pay
you? And with the rest you hire fools who
shoot like blind men?
DAVIDOV
(croaks out)
Bond...
RENARD
Should be dead as well. Your failure
today is astonishing. It is a disgrace.
He approaches close to him, stopping at the flaming SCONCE
near his head.
RENARD
Do you know why the color is blue at the
wick?
Davidov starts to sweat.
RENARD
Because that is where the flame is the
hottest.
Renard touches the glass well of oil.
RENARD
The temperature is close to five hundred
degrees.
Renard uses his knife and POPS the seal from the lamp,
removing the well of oil...a DROP of the hot oil FALLS ON HIS
HAND and SINGES IT BLACK in an instant...
Renard does not even flinch. Davidov starts talking, trying
to placate...
DAVIDOV
The plane...it's all been arranged...
RENARD
Then you are completely unnecessary...
Renard raises the container of oil over Davidov's head:
DAVIDOV
I have the documents, the landing
authorizations, the security passes...
Renard stops, the oil tilted, just ready to pour...
His dead eye...has it drooped further since we last saw
him?...seems to glitter in the light...
RENARD
Bond is suspicious. We are moving sooner,
tonight. We understand each other?
DAVIDOV
Yes...yes...
Renard lets a TRICKLE OF OIL drop onto Davidov's head...
HE SCREAMS as his hair smokes and singes...
Renard makes a motion, the THUG releases Davidov, who falls
to the floor, clutching his head.
CUT TO:
INT. CASINO - THE BLACK JACK TABLE
Another deal. ZUKOVSKY and others watch, as Elektra stakes
even more. People move closer for a view. The Dealer shows
a five. Elektra shows Bond her cards.
Elektra is holding two eights. Dealer's up-card is a six.
BOND
Stand or split them.
She smiles. He holds her gaze.
ELEKTRA
Surely you believe in living dangerously.
BOND
Not at that price. Time to surrender.
They eye one another a long while -- sex firmly in the air.
She smiles. She moves ALL HER CHIPS forward.
Bond catches a look between the Dealer and Zukovsky:
DEALER
The House has no limit.
General kerfuffle. Bond looks back toward THE HOSTESS
BAR...no sign of Davidov's return...
ELEKTRA
(to Dealer)
Hit me.
The Dealer scoops a card from the shoe. Tension. Everyone
holds their breath...as he turns over... -- a six. Bust.
The audience inhale as one AS THE DEALER TAKES ALL HER CHIPS
AWAY.
Elektra stands. She has dignity in defeat. She turns to
Bond, holding out a hand.
ELEKTRA
Time to surrender.
EXT. CASINO - NIGHT
Bond, Elektra, Gabor outside, Davidov soon joining them,
trying to look like he hasn't been through hell. Bond
notices the burn on his head. Davidov touches it self-
consciously.
DAVIDOV
A little accident.
BOND
A night of burning passion?
Davidov scowls at him. Bond leads Elektra away...
CUT TO:
A DISTANT P.O.V. FROM HIGH ABOVE.
Someone watches Bond and Elektra move toward his BMW.
HENCHMAN (V.O.)
What about Bond?
EXT. CASINO ROOF
RENARD and his henchmen, watching. Renard seems mesmerized by
the sight of Bond's HAND on the small of Elektra's back,
their easy sensuality as they both get into the car.
HENCHMAN
Sir? Sir?
RENARD
(seething)
I will take care of Mister Bond.
CUT TO:
EXT. ELEKTRA'S VILLA - NIGHT
Bond and Elektra emerge from the BMW. Behind them, Gabor and
Davidov get out of her car. Bond watches as Davidov slams his
door and marches off, angry, toward the SECURITY QUARTERS at
the side of the house.
Bond and Elektra walk to the front door, anticipation thick
in the air. Gabor opens the door. Elektra sweeps through...
INT. ENTRANCE HALL, ELEKTRA'S VILLA - NIGHT
Bond pauses just inside the open doorway.
HIS P.O.V. Two figures in the cavernous entrance hall,
Elektra having a brief word with Gabor, before he turns and
exits, leaving only...
ELEKTRA AND BOND.
She starts upstairs, Bond's eyes locked on her body, and
then:
SHE LOOKS BACK...just once. But it says everything. She
continues upward.
Bond taps the front door closed with his foot.
INT. BEDROOM, ELEKTRA'S VILLA - NIGHT
Half-light. They're entwined between the sheets. This is
something slow, languorous, not to be rushed. We can't make
out the mechanics, but they're beaded with sweat.
Her fingers trace the contours of his torso. Linger on his
bruised collar-bone.
ELEKTRA
You knew when you first saw me. You knew
it would be like this.
BOND
Shush.
Her hand dips in an ice bucket beside the bed. She rubs a
slither of ice down her chest, shudders with pleasure. It's
a move Bond hasn't seen before.
Now she brings the ice to his shoulder.
ELEKTRA
Poor shoulder. Looks painful...
She kisses his purple flesh. Licks.
BOND
...needs constant attention...
She slides her tongue back and fore along the groove above
the tendon. And he pulls the ice from her hand:
BOND
Enough ice for one day.
Tosses it across the room as passion takes over...
INT. BEDROOM, ELEKTRA'S VILLA - LATER
A puddle of water where the ice fell.
Post-sex on the bed. He traces a hand down her naked back.
The sweat glistens off the curve of her spine. She turns.
The light glints off her jewelled earlobe...he touches it.
BOND
You never take this off?
Elektra looks at him.
ELEKTRA
Why do men always want to undress the one
part of a woman's body she doesn't want
to reveal?
She reaches to the large, diamond-encrusted earring and
gently plucks it away. Pulls her lush hair back...
The lower half of her ear is gone, reduced to a misshapen
clump of scar tissue. It is the only mark on her perfect
body. A physical reminder of her ordeal. It breaks his heart.
BOND
How did you survive?
ELEKTRA
I used my body on the guards. It gave me
control. I got to a gun and I took my
chance.
(beat)
I've never told anyone that.
They are looking at each other, both suddenly feeling
something dangerously close to real connection. It is not
what Bond expected.
ELEKTRA
Do you ever stop, James? Do you ever
think about...another kind of life?
He holds her gaze for a long time before he looks away.
BOND
I can't afford to.
She frowns, slightly. Settles into his chest.
ELEKTRA
Don't worry. I know who you are.
He holds her, eyes full of conflict, staring into the dark.
EXT. VILLA - NIGHT - LATER
The lights of a car pulling up at the security office by the
perimeter wall of the property.
EXT. SECURITY QUARTERS - SAME
Bond's car, several of Elektra's vehicles, all parked around
the security office. They have been joined by:
A WHITE ECONOMY CAR, a Russian make, with a familiar SEAL
painted on the door...we've seen it before, the seal on top
of the stolen report at the beginning...Miratom.
Out of the driver's seat steps...DAVIDOV. He carries a
briefcase from the car to the front door of the security
office. He looks around furtively before he disappears
inside.
The parking area is dark and silent and then:
JAMES BOND sits up in the driver's seat of his BMW.
INT. BMW - SAME
Bond sticks his key in the ignition and activates the car's
various systems.
HIS P.O.V. Davidov is a shadow in the office window.
Bond flicks a switch. A NEEDLE-THIN BEAM is directed from
the BMW to the window of the office. He can HEAR a synthesis
of Davidov's voice...
DAVIDOV (V.O.)
I'm running late...no, no, I'll make
it...how will they know I'm your
man?...romashka...romashka...alright.
Bond hears the click of a phone hanging up. He flicks
another switch in his car, an infra-red tracking system
activates in his WINDSCREEN...
He can now see Davidov perfectly as he comes out of the
security quarters, carrying a briefcase and a large DUFFLE
BAG which he carries to the car and loads into the TRUNK.
He goes back inside.
BOND gets out of the BMW. He moves stealthily to the Russian
vehicle and, using the laser beam on his watch, opens the
lock on the trunk. It pops open.
Bond sees the briefcase, and the dufflebag, and...SOMETHING
ELSE...something beneath them...he moves the objects aside:
A MAN is folded into the back of the trunk, his head slumped
forward, dark hair on the back of his head slightly wet
...blood? Bond tips the head back, revealing GLASSY DEAD
EYES.
Bond leans in and plucks a BADGE from his white shirt pocket.
It has a photo of the dead man and reads, in English and
Cyrillic: LEONID TASHKA - FIELD INSPECTOR. On the corner of
the badge...THE RUSSIAN SEAL...Miratom. The one from the
report. Bond touches it with his thumb, recognizing it.
AT THE OFFICE
Davidov is coming out...
Bond LOWERS THE TRUNK DOOR and crouches behind the car.
AT THE OFFICE ENTRANCE
Davidov pauses to lock the door. He walks toward the Russian
car...he is actually WHISTLING a happy tune and then...
HE STOPS. He has heard something. He draws his gun. He walks
AROUND the entire car. When he gets to the rear...
THE TRUNK IS CLOSED. Bond is not there. No evidence he ever
was.
Davidov gets in the driver's seat and starts the car.
CUT TO:
EXT. AIR STRIP - NIGHT
The Russian car drives onto the grounds of a small, deserted
AIRPORT consisting of one outbuilding and a crudely cleared
airstrip.
INT. CAR
Davidov pulls off the road and parks his car in a wooded
area.
EXT. CAR
Davidov's feet crunch in the dirt as he walks to the back and
opens the trunk.
He removes the briefcase. Then the duffle bag. He looks
down at the dead body, head slumped forward, as before...but
something is different, the clothes not quite right and then:
THE DEAD BODY MOVES, the head turns, Davidov gasps...
It IS JAMES BOND.
BOND
Problem, comrade?
Davidov pulls his HAND GUN from inside his coat, but Bond is
quicker. With a silenced pistol he shoots Davidov in the
head. One little red hole forms in his forehead as his eyes
go wide and he crumbles, dead.
Bond climbs out of the trunk. Crouches to examine Davidov.
BOND
Old habits die hard.
He straightens. Picks up the briefcase. It is locked. He
searches Davidov and finds a set of keys in his pocket. He
opens the lock.
INSIDE THE BRIEFCASE: FOUR STACKS OF MONEY. Documents
headed with the official crest of Miratom. A new security
tag, it looks just like the dead guy's, but has Davidov's
name and picture...some hologrammed (blank) security tags --
and a polaroid-type camera.
He picks up a blank security tag and inserts it in the
camera. Points at himself, takes a shot. Punches in
'Davidov' on the KEYPAD. Out comes a brand new pass.
Bond goes to look in the dufflebag but...
A PLANE is approaching...HE LOOKS UP.
HIS P.O.V. A Russian military jet appears over the trees,
flying low, its red landing lights blinking.
EXT. AIRSTRIP - NIGHT
A door opens on the sinister-looking plane. A hydraulic step
unit folds out of it. A BIG SOLDIER with a machine gun waits
in the doorway.
BOND, standing at the edge of the runway, clips on his badge
and picks up the briefcase. He has NO IDEA what he's walking
into.
BOND
Here goes nothing.
He hoists the dufflebag over his shoulder and walks out to
the plane. He starts up the steps:
THE SOLDIER POINTS HIS GUN DOWN AT HIM. Says something to him
IN RUSSIAN.
Bond pauses. And then, thinking, says:
BOND
Romashka.
The soldier looks at him, then lowers his weapon.
INT. PLANE
Four soldiers. The first guy and a moustachioed PILOT and two
young men, a nasty-looking private, cadaverously thin, and a
big, thick-necked tough.
They all look at Bond, expectantly, waiting for him to say or
do...what? He decides to take the lead. He opens the
briefcase and hands over the STACKS OF MONEY.
The Pilot passes it out. But that isn't the end. They still
stare at him. The Pilot says something IN RUSSIAN that
sounds like..."where's the rest?"
Bond swallows. Thinks, without showing it. He decides to
OPEN THE DUFFLE BAG. He looks inside. Pauses, then reaches
in and takes out...A BOX OF NIKE SHOES.
The thin soldier smiles. That's the ticket. Bond hands out
shoes to the rest of the guys.
CUT TO:
EXT. TEST FACILITY - KAZAKHSTAN - DAWN
A red dawn. Dominating the landscape, a valley of weirdly-
shaped rocks. To one side, an airstrip. The plane
approaching.
INT. PLANE - LANDING
The three soldiers wear their new shoes and smoke and chat
amongst themselves.
Bond sits in the rear of the plane, which is dominated by
heavily buffered receptacles, clearly awaiting some deadly
cargo. There is Russian writing everywhere, and one symbol he
clearly recognizes: DANGER - RADIOACTIVE.
Bond looks out of the window. Beneath a huge MESA, a huddle
of low buildings.
They come to a stop near the end of the runway. A SMALL JEEP
is driving out to them.
One of the soldiers throws something to Bond. An ORANGE
JUMPSUIT that says Miratom on the breast. He catches it.
PILOT
(subtitles)
You have fifteen minutes.
EXT. AIRSTRIP/VALLEY/TEST FACILITY - KAZAKHSTAN - DAWN
Bond, in the orange overalls and wearing his ID tag, is
driving with a Russian soldier through the weird rock valley -
-
KABOOM!
A cloud of dust from a detonation rises up on the other side
of the hill.
EXT. TEST FACILITY - KAZAKHSTAN - DAY
They turn the corner and see trucks marked IDA, several
Kazakhstan army personal carriers, soldiers dotted around,
IDA (International Decommissioning Agency) scientists and
personnel quietly going about their business. A vast
protective 'bubble' is inflated at the front of the building.
INT. 'BUBBLE' - TEST FACILITY - KAZAKHSTAN - DAY
(CHRISTMAS JONES') POV:
The sound of breathing LOUD, we're looking from inside the
visor of a protective suit. It's hard to tell what's going
on, but our hands are removing a sphere of cobalt blue
plutonium from inside a corroding WARHEAD...
EXT. FACILITY - SAME
An officer eyes Bond's pass.
COLONEL AKAKIEVICH
(subtitles)
You are late. The transport documents?
Bond shows him the case. Akakievich examines the documents.
COLONEL AKAKIEVICH
(subtitles)
They are waiting for you below. It
should be ready. Check with the IDA
physicist.
He points toward the "bubble."
Inside the transparent bubble, a protective-suited FIGURE
finishes placing a blue PLUTONIUM CORE into a box.
As Bond and the Colonel walks toward the bubble, the FIGURE
steps out, still enveloped in the white protective suit.
Moving fast, off comes the helmet to reveal a BEAUTIFUL
AMERICAN GIRL. CHRISTMAS JONES is mid-twenties, shortish
hair, hot right now. In one movement she unzips and steps
out of the suit, revealing a khaki sports bra, cut-off
shorts, heavy duty boots. A nasty-looking hunting knife
strapped around her hips. She has a deep tan and an
incredible figure.
She grabs a bottle of water, guzzles.
Bond tosses an arched brow to Akakievich, who nods bitterly,
also unable to take his eyes off her. He spits on the floor
and speaks in ENGLISH, so Christmas can hear.
COLONEL AKAKIEVICH
Not interested in men. Take my word for
it.
Akakievich isn't exactly what you'd call a looker. Bond
offers a disappointed tut as Akakievich walks away.
Christmas approaches. He notices her IDA tag -- and an
incongruous PEACE TATTOO just above her hip. She's checking
him out as well.
CHRISTMAS
You new?
BOND
(Russian accent)
Yes. Viktor Davidov, Miss...?
CHRISTMAS
Doctor. Jones. Christmas Jones.
No jokes, I've heard them all.
BOND
Don't know any doctor jokes.
She is wary. It's been a long time since a man this
attractive stepped onto her beat. They walk toward the
building.
CHRISTMAS
What happened to Len Tashka?
BOND
Couldn't make it. Splitting headache.
CHRISTMAS
The soldiers may give you a hard time.
Whatever. If we weren't around, they'd
have their whole nuclear arsenal lying by
the roadsides, rotting in the sun.
Bond looks at the ominous radiation WARNING SIGNS.
BOND
Will I need protection?
She squints at him, taken aback.
CHRISTMAS
There's no radiation danger down there.
Bond turns to go, knowing he misstepped. Christmas then
speaks to him, asking a question, IN RUSSIAN.
CHRISTMAS
(subtitles)
Where is this stockpile going?
Bond turns, answers IN PERFECT RUSSIAN.
BOND
(subtitles)
To the nuclear facility at Penza 19.
She nods. Watches him disappear into the building.
INT. TEST CHAMBER MAIN ELEVATOR - MOMENTS LATER
Bond descends, going down deep.
INT. TEST CHAMBER ELEVATOR/CORRIDOR - LATER
The elevator creaks to a halt. He slides the elevator doors
OPEN revealing...
TWO SOLDIERS waiting for the elevator. Bond shows them his
ID.
SOLDIER
(subtitles)
See the corporal, at the end of the
chamber.
The soldiers get into the elevator and disappear, leaving
Bond completely ALONE.
Dead silence in the shadows. Bond's in his element, that
alert glint in his eye as he takes in his surroundings.
HIS P.O.V. A long, dark corridor...leading off to a more
open circle in the distance, lights and an ominous humming
there.
Bond starts down the passageway.
INT. TEST CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS
Ahead of Bond, like a deadly spider at the centre of a web, a
NUCLEAR BOMB suspended over a pit.
Blast openings range around to channel its fury to measuring
equipment.
Bond is alone with the bomb. An eerie moment. Then, he comes
to notice a figure, across the expanse of the pit, on the
opposite side of the catwalk, a man, with his back to him, in
Russian Army fatigues.
BOND
Corporal?
The man turns...
IT IS RENARD.
He smiles.
RENARD
I see my friend Davidov ran into some
difficulty.
BOND
Indeed.
Renard starts toward him. Bond draws his gun.
BOND
Don't come any closer.
MAN
You can't kill me. I'm already dead.
He and Bond face off, the malevolent bomb between them, a
ROBOT DEVICE beginning to lower it into the pit.
RENARD
Go ahead. Shoot. My men will still
steal the bomb, and the shot will bring
them directly to you.
Renard gestures into the pit.
BOND'S P.O.V. TWO OF RENARD'S MEN in the pit, unaware of
what is happening above, working directly with the bomb. One
of them is using a manual...IT IS JUST LIKE THE STOLEN
REPORT, the Miratom seal in the corner.
Bond aims his gun at Renard's head.
BOND
Who's paying you to destroy the pipeline?
Renard resumes walking, around the catwalk at the edge of the
pit, toward Bond, slowly, surely, totally fearless.
RENARD
To die by a man who can't even grasp what
he's caught up in...
Bond, out of the corner of his eye, sees Renard's man remove
a SMALL DEVICE from inside the bomb. It is the size and
shape of a credit card, black, with shiny transistors on
it...the man slips it into his pocket.
BOND
Revenge isn't so hard to fathom. What's
clever is getting someone else to pay for
it.
RENARD
Not many people in this world have that
kind of fortune.
Bond cocks the pistol.
BOND
Who is it?
RENARD
You think I fear death? I welcome it. I
get on my knees and pray for it. You, on
the other hand, you have something to
live for, no?
(closer now)
She's beautiful isn't she? You should
have seen her before. Flawless, and still
so innocent, not such a whore in bed...
Bond's eyes flare in fury. He shoves Renard into the wall
and presses the gun to his temple.
BOND
You will never touch her. You will never
get near her.
RENARD
Have you forgotten who saved your life in
Geneva?
BOND
Consider me ungrateful.
RENARD
It's I who should thank you -- for taking
that money back to MI-6. So distressing
for M. An explosion inside her lair.
BOND
She'll get over it.
RENARD
You even brought the plane for us. We
really couldn't have done it without you.
Bond strikes him across the temple with his pistol. Renard
drops to his knees. He touches his temple, looks at the
blood curiously, feeling no pain.
RENARD
A man tires of being executed.
As Bond screws a silencer onto the muzzle of his gun:
RENARD
But then again...There is no point in
living if you can't...feel alive.
Bond knows that, he's heard it somewhere before...IT FREEZES
HIM, just a beat, but it is enough...
SUDDENLY, the noise of footsteps -- CHRISTMAS JONES, with
COLONEL AKAKIEVICH and two armed soldiers.
We're with them as they turn the corner of the passageway and
see Bond with silenced pistol aimed at the kneeling Renard --
classic execution stance:
COLONEL AKAKIEVICH
(to Bond)
Drop your gun.
BOND
Keep away, Colonel.
The soldiers' guns are trained on Bond.
CHRISTMAS
He is an impostor.
(clutching a printout)
There's no Davidov at Miratom.
BOND
Here's your imposter. He's paid off the
men on the plane outside. They're not
taking the bomb to any Russian facility,
they're flying it wherever he tells them.
Christmas is listening, but Akakievich cocks his rifle.
COLONEL AKAKIEVICH
(to Bond)
I said drop it.
And he means business. Bond delays ... but has no choice.
He pulls the clip from his gun, tosses it down.
RENARD
(to Christmas)
Well done -- he would have killed us all.
I suppose you
(to Akakievich)
were you the one who allowed him down?
Colonel Akakievich looks suitably stung. But Renard is
looking past him now, as with a quiet WHIRR, the BOMB raises
into view on a trolley. Renard's team is ready to move.
RENARD
(to Akakievich)
Take him away, I don't want him around as
we move the bomb.
(whispered, to Bond)
You had me. I knew you couldn't shoulder
the responsibility...
And Renard jams his hand onto Bond's shoulder, squeezing his
collar-bone hard... Pain jolts through Bond, he drops to his
knees in agony. He shoves Bond down. Bond's hand goes to his
shoulder, his mind now racing -- how did he know to hurt him
there?
Renard's men start to maneuver the bomb toward the curving
passageway. It's all too much for Colonel Akakievich:
COLONEL AKAKIEVICH
No -- the bomb does not go anywhere until
I am satisfied. All of you to the
surface, now...
Renard stops and turns. Bond sees him nod to two of his men:
one quietly slopes off down the tunnel. The other innocently
opens a container...
INT. CONTAINER
Camera shows the INSIDE of the container's lid; the man
releases a false lining to reveal several MACHINE GUNS...
INT. TEST CHAMBER - DAY
RENARD
(urgent now)
Very well, Colonel. We will all go up.
One of Colonel Akakievich's men gestures with his gun that
Bond should get up. Knowing it's now or never, Bond PUSHES
him away, yanks a PISTOL from his holster, GRABS Christmas,
LEAPS down into the bomb PIT just as
RENARD'S MEN open fire... Akakievich dies straight away. So
do two of his men. The gunfire RICOCHETS around the chamber
and ceases.
Renard hangs back. His radio crackles a message:
RENARD
(nods, into radio)
Shut them.
THE GUY ON THE OTHER END OF THE RADIO
Right next to the ELEVATOR. He turns a switch that activates
two sets of red buttons and two sets of green.
He punches one green button...
INSIDE TEST CHAMBER
Heavy doors close all exits but that to the tunnel.
INT. THE PIT
Bond and Christmas know they are being sealed in.
CHRISTMAS
Melt-down doors. If he gets them closed,
they won't be opened again for forty-
eight years.
Bond peers over the edge -- sees Renard and his men working
the nuclear device into THE PASSAGEWAY.
INT. THE PIT
If Bond doesn't get through now, they're trapped forever. He
points his wrist watch toward the cat walk above and presses
a button...THE TINY GRAPPLING HOOK shoots out, Q's super
filament wire that can hold up to 800 pounds is
attached...Bond uses the rope to RAPPEL UP THE SIDES OF THE
PIT and into
INT. TEST CHAMBER
Where he LEAPS ON TOP OF Renard's last man. They fall
THROUGH THE IRIS, it SHUTS behind them. The man swings his
machine gun at Bond -- it hits the wall next to him, breaks
apart. Bond grabs a broken section and kills him with one
strike.
He pauses at his dead body and reaches into his jacket,
retrieving...THE CARD-LIKE DEVICE.
INT. PIT
Christmas looks around, desperate to help. Using Bond's
wire, she climbs up to the CLOSED IRIS DOOR. She pries open
a panel next to it and reveals complex WIRING...
INT. PASSAGEWAY
Up ahead of Bond, the bomb disappears down the passageway. He
can see it is attached to A PULLEY above, helping the men to
move quickly, Renard, pulling, the two men pushing
Renard signals one of them to drop back to cut off Bond...
Machine-gun fire turns the wall next to Bond to dust -- Bond
dives to a recess. An overhead LIGHT SHATTERS. His section
of the tunnel darkens.
INT. PASSAGEWAY - BOND'S END
Bond looks up at the broken LIGHT. Takes careful aim at the
next one along. BLAM. It disintegrates. Again...
INT. PASSAGEWAY - RENARD'S END
The other guy answers with another spray of bullets. Watches
uneasily as Bond takes out light after light. A funnel of
darkness coming to swallow him -- concealing Bond's approach.
Nervous, he fires, muzzle flash and sparks illuminating the
void. To keep it lit, he keeps firing...
INT. PASSAGEWAY
WITH BOND as the bullets cease with a loud CLICK... What
Bond was waiting for. He moves. The gunman frozen in the
light, grappling to fit another clip --
BLAM! He goes down. Bond not wasting bullets.
INT. OTHER END OF PASSAGEWAY
Renard is loading the bomb it into the ELEVATOR. He flicks a
switch on the panel by the elevator. The IRIS starts closing
on Bond...
INT. PASSAGEWAY
Bond rushes for the door -- but he's shocked as the man he
shot lunges. Clings to him.
Bond hits him away, he LEAPS for the cart blocking his way
and SHOVES IT INTO THE IRIS DOOR just as it almost closes...
Bond squeezes through...
INT. OTHER SIDE OF IRIS
Renard is getting in the ELEVATOR. Sees Bond made it, fires.
Bond rolls into a corner.
RENARD
We have our fireworks. Now you can have
yours.
And he machine-guns some barrels. Rocket fuel spills out.
He digs a finger into one of the holes, effortlessly rips the
metal so more fuel cascades out.
CUT TO:
INT. CATWALK ABOVE PIT
Christmas cuts some wires together and with a hum, her IRIS
DOOR OPENS...
AT THE ELEVATOR
Bond fires at Renard, hitting his shin...
WITH RENARD
looking down at his shin, noticing the blood. Inconvenienced
but not in pain. He shuts the cage doors. Pauses only to
fire off half a clip at the SWITCH PANEL. Shreds it.
Bond leaps to his feet, racing forward, firing -- gets to the
elevator as Renard disappears upwards with a smile. He POINTS
DOWN...underneath him...
Bond looks down.
HIS P.O.V. BENEATH THE ELEVATOR...A makeshift explosive
device...sticks of dynamite wrapped around a detonator, set
to explode
Eyes wide, Bond looks back to the doors -- then to the switch
panel -- now just a chaos of sparking wires.
INT. LIFT SHAFT
The pipe bomb ticking...
INT. PASSAGEWAY BY ELEVATOR
Bond is trapped. He looks up...
THE PULLEY HOOK HANGS DOWN...
He jumps up, grabbing it, just as...
KABOOM!
The bomb ignites the spilled oil, A FIREBALL shoots along,
scorching after Bond, who is SAILING THROUGH THE PASSAGE WAY,
the force of the blast sending him hurling down the
passageway ON THE PULLEY...heading straight for:
A CLOSED IRIS DOOR which miraculously begins to OPEN as he
SHOOTS THROUGH...
Ahead, the next door is OPEN as well. He sees CHRISTMAS on
the other side...
HER P.O.V. Bond hurtling toward her, ahead of a MASSIVE
FIREBALL...
BOND
Close the door! Close the door!
But before she can, two of the FUEL BARRELS HURTLE through
the closing iris, clattering into the pit, starting a fire
below.
Flames licking up the sides of the pit toward them.
Bond looks up, sees the ARM OF THE ROBOT LIFTER, stretching
upward toward an old SHAFT t the top of the ceiling...
He and Christmas scramble up the robot arm, walk along the
spider-like web that supported the bomb and find...
AN OLD ELEVATOR...powered by a hydraulic system...
They get in...hear the rumbling of the fire below...the old
elevator moves slowly...the rumbling grows louder...
BOND
Shame you had to spot I wasn't the real
thing.
CHRISTMAS
So who are you?
BOND
Bond --
Bond FIRES HIS GUN at the hissing hydraulic pulleys and...
THE ELEVATOR shoots through the shaft at breakneck speed as
BELOW THEM...THE PIT EXPLODES...
INT. ELEVATOR
Fire shoots up. Bond lunges to cover Christmas. As the smoke
clears:
BOND
(finishing)
James Bond.
CUT TO:
EXT. MESA - TEST FACILITY - KAZAKHSTAN - CONTINUOUS
Christmas and Bond climb out of the duct. Through a cloud of
dust he can see people running about, panicked. There's been
some shooting -- fresh corpses litter the ground.
Bond looks past them to a plane coming this way. The plane.
It roars past, level with them. He follows it with his eyes,
helpless as it gets smaller and smaller...
CHRISTMAS
They won't get far. Every warhead has a
locator card. A Miratom device. Emits a
high-pitched signal on Russian emergency
frequencies. We can track the bomb.
BOND
With this?
Bond removes the locator card from his jacket and shows it to
her. It flashes in the sun.
Christmas shakes her head, disgusted.
OMITTED 170 - 172
DISSOLVE:
INT. BRIEFING ROOM, CASTLE THANE (MI-6 HQ) - DAY
Busy. Analysts huddle over monitors showing satellite
images, trying to track the plane.
M
Do we have the range of Renard's plane?
TANNER
Anywhere in this circle. Iran, Iraq,
Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan...
M
Marvellous.
Moneypenny enters...
MONEYPENNY
Elektra King is calling from Baku.
M is surprised.
MONEYPENNY
It's a video line.
M
Put her on the wide screen.
The face of ELEKTRA materializes on a large WALL MONITOR.
ELEKTRA
I'm sorry. I would never call you
except...Bond's disappeared. He...he left
my villa, some time in the middle of the
night and...
M exchanges a look with Tanner.
ELEKTRA
My head of security has been found near a
local airstrip, murdered...
M leans on the console in front of her.
M
I'll send someone out.
ELEKTRA
Could...could you come?
M looks up.
ELEKTRA, on the monitor, looks about as lost as she ever has.
ELEKTRA
I just can't help thinking...I'm next.
M stares at the girl's face, her whole sordid history written
there. M turns away from the screen and says to Tanner...
M
Get me out there.
OMITTED:174 - 201
EXT. ELEKTRA'S VILLA, BAKU - STORM APPROACHING
Elektra's villa against blue-black storm clouds, the Caspian
choppy, wind blowing.
INT. ELEKTRA'S VILLA - BAKU - DAY
Elektra works in her father's STUDY, illuminated by a halo of
light from a single desk lamp. Pictures of her grandfather
and father stare down at her from the walls. The wind BLOWS A
WINDOW open.
She gets up, crosses the room, shutting the window. She
stands there, listening to the silence and then...
SHE HEARS A THUD. A strange, unsettling thud.
She listens, a long time, to the silence.
ELEKTRA
Gabor...?
She goes to the door, opens it...it whines on its hinges.
She steps into...
INT. LIBRARY
A big room lined with books. Three french doors lead out to a
balcony. She walks a few paces in...
THE DOOR SHUTS BEHIND HER, she whirls...
GABOR, propped up behind the door, stares, wide-eyed, before
he FALLS TO THE FLOOR.
Elektra gasps, she turns again...
A DARK FIGURE LOOMS, a shadow against the windows. He moves
forward, his face becoming visible...IT'S BOND.
ELEKTRA
James!
She stares at him, shocked, hesitant.
BOND
You look surprised.
She moves to Gabor, gets down to help him. He stirs, he is
alive, but unconscious. Elektra looks up at Bond.
ELEKTRA
What's wrong with you? Are you crazy?
BOND
A little. Does it matter? After all,
what's the point of living if you can't
feel alive? Isn't that right, Elektra?
Isn't that your motto?
ELEKTRA
What are you talking about?
BOND
Or did you steal it from your old friend
Renard?
ELEKTRA
...what?
BOND
We had a run-in, he and I. He knew about
us, he knew about my shoulder, he knew
exactly where to hurt me...
Elektra stands...she begins to tremble.
ELEKTRA
Are you saying...Renard is the man who's
trying to kill me?
BOND
You can drop the act, it's over.
ELEKTRA
I don't know what you're talking about!
BOND
I think you do.
He walks toward her, threatening...
BOND
At MI-6 we call it Stockholm Syndrome.
It's common in kidnappings. A young
impressionable victim. Sheltered,
sexually inexperienced. A powerful
kidnapper skilled in torture, in
manipulation. Something snaps in the
victim's mind. The captive falls in love
with her captor.
At the word "love," Elektra explodes. She SLAPS an
unsuspecting Bond hard across the face.
ELEKTRA
How dare you! How dare you! That
animal!? That monster!? He disgusts me!
You disgust me! So he knew where to hurt
you, is that it? You had a sling on your
arm at the funeral! I didn't have to
sleep with you to find that out.
BOND
He used your exact words.
ELEKTRA
You knew. You knew all the time, that he
was out there, that he was coming for me,
and you lied. You used me, you used me as
bait. You made love to me -- what, to
pass the time as you waited for him to
strike?
He has no answer. He can't deny what she says.
The phone rings, cuts through the tension. Bond and Elektra
staring at one another. She lets it ring... Then picks up.
Listens, looks to Bond.
ELEKTRA
He's struck again.
(beat)
Five men are dead at the pipeline.
He moves toward her.
BOND
I'm coming with you.
ELEKTRA
You do what you have to do, but I've
called in M. She's en route from London
even now.
CUT TO:
EXT. PIPELINE CONTROL CENTER, TURKEY - DAY
The MI-6 chopper lands. We can see M through the window.
Face set hard.
EXT. PIPELINE CONTROL CENTER, TURKEY - MOMENTS LATER
SCIENTIFIC, MILITARY and TURKISH POLICE VEHICLES parked
around a medium-sized industrial plant.
Bond accompanies M and Tanner toward a clutch of offices.
All around, SOLDIERS, IDA personnel, POLICE scour the area.
M
(to Bond)
Glad to see you've turned up.
He is moving fast, talking fast -- a sense of urgency.
BOND
They hit about 90 minutes ago. There's a
scientist here from the International
Decommissioning Agency, Dr. Jones. She
has ten crews combing the area.
They step out of the bright sunlight and into
EXT.\INT. CONTROL CENTRE - CONTINUOUS
FIVE BODY BAGS are being carried out by soldiers. M surveys
the scene; in an unlit corridor CHRISTMAS JONES and several
men sweep the area with CLICKING Geiger counters.
ELEKTRA is a distance away, listening to a Turkish policeman
explain what's happening. She nods acknowledgement to M.
Tanner senses that Bond wants to talk to M alone:
TANNER
I'll see how they're coming with the
power...
They watch him go. M turns to Bond:
M
You had your hand on the bomb and you let
Renard get away with it.
He draws her away, to a small alcove. Takes something out of
his jacket...THE LOCATOR CARD.
BOND
The report King bought. It's a manual.
Renard's men used it to remove this radio
tracking device from the warhead.
M
Then Robert was right about a Russian
connection.
BOND
They're getting their weapons from the
Russians, but where are they getting the
money to buy the weapons? I can't help
thinking...the person close to King, the
one who switched that pin...
M
The inside man?
BOND
Is maybe...the inside woman.
NOW THE LIGHTS POWER UP, disrupt the intimacy and intensity
of their exchange. The room is lined with MONITORS and a
huge SATELLITE MAP of the pipeline's meandering path.
M
A woman?
But before he can speak, ELEKTRA calls out, gesturing to A
DIM LIGHT flashing on a console in front of her.
ELEKTRA
That's not right.
A Technician comes over. Tanner too, followed by Bond and M.
TANNER
What is it?
ELEKTRA
It's an observation and repair rig.
Travels along the pipe, checks for broken
seals. But it's not supposed to be
there.
BOND
(thinks)
Stop it.
The Technician flicks two switches. The light continues to
flash. Confused, he tries others. No change.
TECHNICIAN
I don't understand...
M
Where is the rig?
Harried, the Technician activates the wall schematic of the
pipeline. A pulse of light travels along the line. And with
it, a sense of horror descends...
M
The parcel's in the post.
TANNER
It's heading for the oil terminal.
M
Where it can do the most damage.
ELEKTRA
My God.
(to one of her men)
Have the terminal evacuated.
The man gets on the phone...
BOND
(to Tech)
Speed?
TECHNICIAN
Full on. Seventy miles an hour.
He punches buttons. Christmas has come, stands next to Bond.
TECHNICIAN
One hundred and six miles from the
terminal.
BOND
(quick)
It'll reach the other end in seventy-
eight minutes.
(to Tech)
Any more of these rigs?
The Technician checks his records, looks up, nods.
TECHNICIAN
There's one parked in the passageway
ahead of it.
Decisive, Christmas heads for the door, turns to her team:
CHRISTMAS
I'll need some help...
Her IDA colleagues look sheepish. Bond moves to her.
BOND
Come on.
For just a moment, Christmas looks wary:
BOND
Unless you'd like to see my ID first.
She almost smiles.
M nods to Tanner to follow them. Bond doesn't look at
Elektra. But she watches him go...
CUT TO:
EXT. HELICOPTER - DAY
The MI-6 helicopter swoops along the pipeline...
Tanner is beside the pilot. Bond and Christmas in the back.
They look at one another, the danger ahead melting the frost
between them.
INT. PIPELINE - LATER
Bond and Christmas climb through an access hatch down onto
the electric RIG. Its lights blaze fifty yards into the
tunnel. Then darkness.
Christmas takes the driver's spot, Bond the rear, nearest to
the approaching BOMB. Tanner leans in:
TANNER
(sealing them in)
Good luck.
Bonds nods, checks his watch. Christmas looks nervously down
the pipe.
BOND
Be one along any minute.
And she starts the machine off...
INT. ELECTRIC RIG - PIPELINE (TRAVELLING)
It quickly picks up speed, its lights flooding the seemingly
endless pipe before them.
Christmas looks behind, apprehensive. Waiting for the lights
of the explosive rig.
It's tense. They travel along, expectant...
BOND
When this is over we should bury the
hatchet. Celebrate. A champagne dinner?
CHRISTMAS
When this is over our bodies may be blown
to smithereens.
BOND
Alright then, brunch.
His lightness relaxes her, she appreciates it.
INT. COMMAND ROOM - PIPELINE CONTROL CENTRE - CONTINUOUS
Elektra, M, and others. The room is crowded with concerned
personnel. M watches the two blips on the schematic getting
closer together. One of her MEN approaches, a radio in his
ear.
RADIO MAN
Tanner reports Bond is headed for the
rendezvous.
M
Excellent. Evacuate Miss King and the
others.
ELEKTRA
You can evacuate my workers, but I'm not
going anywhere.
M looks at her, then nods, impressed by her courage.
INT. PIPELINE (TRAVELLING) - DAY
Bond and Christmas waiting expectantly. Tense silence.
Finally, a WHOOSHING NOISE, GETTING LOUDER. Lights appear
behind, reflecting on a bend, then... here it comes, the rig
tearing through the pipe.
Bond looks over his shoulder at Christmas'
speedometer...she's only at fifty...
BOND
Faster! Get our speed up!
Christmas presses forward...Bond turns, his feet OUT toward
the approaching rig...the lights getting closer... closer...
Bond's rig jolts as the other makes contact. He cushions the
blow with his feet. Both rigs moving together now, he CLIMBS
ONTO THE BOMB RIG...Puts out a hand, helps Christmas across.
The bomb sits there, daunting, deadly.
CHRISTMAS
Tactical fission device. Low yield.
They look at one another, then set straight to work.
INT. COMMAND ROOM - PIPELINE CONTROL CENTRE - CONTINUOUS
The room is quiet, tense. M and her two men, Elektra, Gabor,
the King TECHNICIAN and three armed security guards at the
doors. They are the only ones left. Going down with the
ship...if it goes. M and Elektra watch the two lights now
together on the console. A tense silence. Everyone's edgy.
Elektra perhaps a little more than the rest. She exchanges a
glance with Gabor.
INT. ELECTRIC RIG - PIPELINE (TRAVELLING) - DAY
CLOSE INSIDE THE BOMB: the timer. 1:45 MINUTES.
Bond's face betrays the difficulty of what they're
attempting. The digital clock ticks down... 1:30, 1:29...
OMITTED 217-218
INT. PIPELINE - DAY
The rigs speed through the tunnel. Nothing to see. But
WHOOSH! As the rigs hurtle past...
INT. ELECTRIC RIG - PIPELINE (TRAVELLING) - DAY
The pipe suddenly dips. They cling on as the machine bucks
like a rollercoaster. Back on a straight...
Her brow furrows.
CHRISTMAS
The plutonium is missing. They've taken
the core!
BOND
Then it's no longer a bomb?
CHRISTMAS
(back to work, urgent)
It's a bomb alright. We're still dead if
the trigger charge goes off...
Bond's mind races in the ghostly light of the tunnel.
He stares at the timer: 0:44, 0:43... Makes a decision.
BOND
Let it blow.
Christmas shoots a look, astonished.
CHRISTMAS
But we can stop it.
Taking her arm...
BOND
Let it blow.
She can't believe what he's saying. His eyes shoot to an
INSPECTION HATCH the lights illuminate up ahead.
BOND
Trust me. Leave it.
He grabs her, wrenches her away from the bomb.
INT. PIPELINE - DAY
The rig zooms past the exit hatch -- Bond leaps off, taking
her with him. They tumble along the pipe. Agile, Bond
springs to his feet, pulls her up. They run like hell for
the hatch, into the darkness...
EXT. PIPELINE - DAY
The pipeline. A long beat, then...
KABOOM!! A section of the pipe explodes, debris rocketing in
every direction.
As the smoke clears we see a fifty yard section of pipe has
been destroyed.
OMIT 223
INT. PIPELINE CONTROL CENTER - SAME
On the consoles, red concentric circles pulse outward from
the point of impact, emitting one, monotone BEEP....
The watchers are frozen, stunned, shocked. Gabor, a radio
earpiece in his ear, reports information.
GABOR
It wasn't nuclear...the bomb was a dud.
The trigger charge blew out a fifty yard
section of pipeline...
M
And Bond?
An agonizing beat. The alarm beep sputters and dies.
GABOR
Nothing.
M and Elektra share a look.
ELEKTRA
Do you think he's dead?
M can't answer. She shakes her head.
M
We just have to wait.
M shifts. The hi-tech room is eerily lit by the pulsing red
lights on every screen, showing the explosion.
ELEKTRA
(to M)
I have a gift for you. Something that
belonged to my father. He would have
wanted you to have it.
M feels uneasy.
M
Perhaps this isn't the time...
ELEKTRA
Please.
She hands M a small box. M unties the ribbon.
ELEKTRA
He often spoke of how...compassionately
you advised him on the best course of
action during my kidnapping.
M opens the box. It is THE EYE OF THE GLENS...the heirloom
pin, the original.
ELEKTRA
It's very valuable, you know. I just
couldn't let it explode with the rest of
him.
M looks up, horrified, when:
GABOR AND ANOTHER SECURITY MAN SHOOT M'S TWO GUARDS IN THE
HEAD...point blank, cold blood. The men fall.
M looks back at Elektra, a blood-curdling glare.
ELEKTRA
(to her men)
Take her to the chopper.
EXT. PIPELINE - DAY
From on high we follow the snaking pipeline ... until it
disappears in a VAST, SMOULDERING BOMB CRATER. Beyond, the
pipeline continues unperturbed.
Two TINY FIGURES on the banks of the crater.
CLOSE ON THEM
Bond and Christmas, very much alive. She's angry.
CHRISTMAS
What the hell were you doing? You nearly
killed us!
BOND
I did kill us. She thinks we're dead.
And she thinks she got away with it.
CHRISTMAS
What the hell are you talking about?
BOND
It's part of some plan. She dresses it up
like a terrorist attack. The explosion
covers up the theft of the plutonium.
CHRISTMAS
Who's she?
BOND
Elektra King.
CHRISTMAS
Elektra King? Are you insane? This is
her pipeline.
BOND
Makes her look even more innocent.
CHRISTMAS
(skeptical)
What would she want with weapons grade
plutonium?
BOND
I was hoping you could tell me.
Christmas stares at him. Wheels turning.
CHRISTMAS
You steal an old bomb, small by today's
standards, about the size of the one that
destroyed Nagasaki, take the plutonium
core out of it, intending to use it...
(beat)
To make a bigger, better bomb.
They're both chilled by the thought.
CHRISTMAS
I have to get after that core. This is
my ass.
She starts fiddling with the radio. Suddenly there's a
CRACKLE.
TANNER
Tanner to 007, do you read?
Bond grabs the radio.
BOND
Loud and clear. I have to speak to M.
TANNER
She's gone.
BOND
What?
TANNER
She's disappeared. And two of our men
have been killed.
It impacts on Bond. His eyes harden.
CHRISTMAS
What is it?
BOND
She just upped the stakes. All her chips
are on the table now. And M's life is
part of the bet.
He looks out at the long stretch of pipeline, like a deadly
snake with the world for its bed.
BOND
I know I promised you champagne, but
would you settle for caviar?
CUT TO:
EXT. MAIDEN'S TOWER - BOSPHORUS - ISTANBUL - TWILIGHT
A boat puts in at an ancient tower in the middle of a vast
body of water (in fact, the Bosphorus).
Renard disembarks with several of his retinue, heavily laden
with bags and cases. They enter the tower...
INT. MAIDEN'S TOWER - CONTINUOUS
A fantastic space: stained glass windows cast myriad
patterns over elaborate tile and marble surfaces. Pillars,
iron lattices, velvet drapes and flowers embroider the huge
room.
As they enter, Elektra swoops across the floor and into
Renard's arms. He holds her. She pushes him away.
ELEKTRA
You're hurting me.
He senses something different between them. She tries to
hide it.
ELEKTRA
Brought me something?
He smiles, grabs a case off one of his men, opens it up,
pulls out a sphere of cobalt blue metal.
She looks at it with wary fascination.
RENARD
Go on. It's safe. Touch your destiny.
She traces a finger along the metal. A flicker of wonder:
ELEKTRA
Warm.
RENARD
(pointed)
Is it?
She's sensitive to his buried frustration:
ELEKTRA
I've brought something for you as well.
INT. ROOM - MAIDEN'S TOWER - MOMENTS LATER
Elektra opens a heavy door, she and Renard past through to...
A SMALL ROOM...a window set in the stone on one side. The
other side is divided off by a WALL OF BARS, creating a cell
which now contains: M
The cell is bare, except for a camp bed in the corner. M
betrays no fear. A quiet defiance burns in her.
ELEKTRA
Just as I promised.
Renard steps forward. Bars separate him from M.
RENARD
My executioner.
M
Over-praise, I'm afraid. But my people
will finish the job.
ELEKTRA
Your people? Your people will leave you
here to rot just like you left me. You
and my father. He didn't think my life
was worth the chump change he spent on a
day at the stock market.
M
Your father...
ELEKTRA
Is nothing. His kingdom he stole from my
mother. The kingdom I will rightly take
back.
Elektra leaves. Renard is left alone with M.
M
She's insane. Is that what you did to
her?
RENARD
No. I'm afraid it is what you did.
He crosses close to the bars.
RENARD
When I took her she was...promise itself.
So clever, so vibrant, so...full of life
force. And you left her there, at the
mercy of a man like me. You ruined her.
For what? To get to me? She is worth
fifty of me.
M
For once, I agree with you.
He shakes his head, amused by her pluck.
M
So she used all that brilliance to get
revenge on her father, on me.
RENARD
No. I wanted you. I wanted you for
myself.
He takes something out of his pocket. A small TRAVEL CLOCK.
He sets it.
RENARD
Since you sent your man to kill me, I
have been watching time tick slowly away,
marching inevitably toward my own death.
Watch these hands, M. At noon tomorrow,
your time is up. And I guarantee you...I
will not miss. You will die. Along with
everyone in this city and the future of
the West.
He places the clock on a tall stool, just out of reach
through her bars. He leaves. We hold on the clock:
Eight p.m.
EXT. CITY OF WALKWAYS - BAKU - DUSK (OLD SC. 174)
Valentin Zukovsky in the back of his chauffeured Rolls
Royce... We PULL BACK, to take in an amazing sight: the car
is on a network of raised walkways and platforms that extends
as far as the eye can see. A decaying legacy of the Soviet
years.
EXT. CAVIAR FISHERY - CITY OF WALKWAYS - DUSK (OLD SC.175)
Zukovsky limps purposefully away from his Rolls along a
walkway leading to a Beluga fishery built over the water.
INT. CAVIAR FISHERY - CITY OF WALKWAYS - DUSK (OLD SC.176)
Nailed on the battered old door, the lid of a caviar jar, a
label illustrated with a LINE DRAWING OF ZUKOVSKY. Zukovsky
opens the door and finds himself...
Staring straight down Bond's pistol. Bond and Christmas are
silhouetted by the gold dusk light. At their feet lies one
of Zukovsky's workers.
ZUKOVSKY
What are doing, Bond? Trying to impress
this innocent thing?
BOND
She's no innocent. This is my nuclear
consultant.
ZUKOVSKY
Ah, I see. A purely...plutonic
relationship.
Hands held clear of his body, Zukovsky enters, his evening
dress decidedly out of place here.
ZUKOVSKY
Really Bond, couldn't you find a nice
Russian scientist with hair growing out
of his ears?
BOND
What's your business with Elektra King?
ZUKOVSKY
I thought you were the one in her
business.
BOND
She dropped a million and half dollars to
the House -- your House. And you didn't
even bat an eyelid. She was paying you
off. What for?
ZUKOVSKY
As ever you are the spy who has to see a
plot wherever he looks.
Bond SLAMS Zukovsky hard against a vat of caviar. Wood
splits, roe spills onto the floor. Zukovsky is appalled.
ZUKOVSKY
That is 5,000 dollars of Beluga ruined!
BOND
You are out of your league. She's
working with Renard.
Christmas moves in, intense but firm:
CHRISTMAS
They've stolen a nuclear device.
A subtle change in Zukovsky's countenance.
BOND
Tell us what you know, Zukovsky. Tell
us, before its too late.
But it may be already:
The SOUND OF A HELICOPTER. Zukovsky frowns, the SOUND
GETTING LOUDER --
Bond is the first to move as --
INT. CAVIAR FISHERY - NIGHT (OLD SC. 177)
-- wood suddenly splinters everywhere -- the wall and roof
tear open behind them - GIANT VERTICALLY-SUSPENDED SAWS RIP
THROUGH, just missing them.
THE SPINNING TEETH (OLD SC. 178)
The blades churn through the corrugated roof, spraying CAVIAR
everywhere.
EXT. CAVIAR FISHERY - CITY OF WALKWAYS (OLD SC. 179)
Bond BURSTS OUT OF THE BUILDING...Zukovsky and his guards and
even the chauffeur are firing at the chopper...
EXT. RAMP TO LOWER WALKWAY (OLD SC. 180)
Bond makes for his BMW, running down a flight of steps, onto
a lower walkway when...THE SECTION AHEAD OF HIM
EXPLODES...the second chopper above hitting its mark with a
thrown grenade. Bond is trapped by the fire and smoke, the
only way out is ALONG THE PIPELINES...he runs along a narrow
section of pipe and then JUMPS DOWN to another walkway. The
PIPES are now above him...the chopper's relentless saws CUT
THROUGH THE PIPE...GAS JETS OUT...Bond HURLS HIMSELF up a
stairway.
INT. CAVIAR FISHERY
Zukovsky and Christmas watch in horror as Chopper One blades
away more roof above them.
EXT. LOWER WALKWAY
Bond takes something out of his pocket, a remote control
device...he presses some buttons...HIS CAR COMES TO
LIFE...lights on, it drives toward him.
He rushes to meet it. Chopper Two follows behind Bond,
slicing up the walkway just behind him. Bond gets to the car
and JUMPS IN as the chopper veers away.
INT. CAR
Bond activates his missile device as he watches Chopper Two
pass behind the factory. Suddenly there's a huge roar behind
him as the blades from Chopper One RIP THROUGH THE ROOF,
SLICING HIS CAR IN HALF.
But Bond is undeterred. He sets off the missile toward the
disappearing Chopper One.
EXT. CHOPPER
A DIRECT HIT. Chopper One explodes and falls onto the walkway
setting the scene ablaze.
EXT. WALKWAYS - SAME
Zukovsky and Christmas see the explosion, then see Chopper
Two dropped FOUR ARMED MEN onto a nearby walkway. The men
make their way toward the factory, firing at the guards.
Zukovsky and Christmas are forced inside.
ANGLE ON BOND
Who sees the danger to the others and runs off along the
walkways back to the factory. The Chopper follows him,
shooting.
Bond outruns it, until, ahead of him A GRENADE EXPLODES,
destroying the walkway and hurling Bond into the water.
EXT. FACTORY
The gunfight continues as the armed men take out Zukovsky's
guards. Then, two of the assailants follow ZUKOVSKY and
CHRISTMAS into...
INT. FACTORY - NIGHT
The chauffeur is shot and killed. The gunmen then turn their
attention to Zukovsky and Christmas, when suddenly BOND
APPEARS through a trap door in the floor boards.
Bond shoots one of the gunmen, then fires on the other...
Zukovsky grabs Christmas and they make their escape Bond
sees a third gunman firing from the basement and takes him
out.
EXT. WALKWAYS - SAME
Zukovsky and Christmas make a dash for Zukovsky's Rolls.
They dive in...Zukovsky rams the car into reverse...behind
him, A CHOPPER SLICES the walkway to smithereens...Zukovsky
can't stop it as the car leaps backward and into THE WATER
BELOW....
INT. FACTORY
Bond finishes off the remaining two armed men in a furious
gunfight and exits.
EXT. WALKWAYS - SAME
Bond sees Zukovsky and Christmas swimming to safety. The
chopper bears down on him. He leaps back to what's left of
the building, picks up a flare gun. He jumps down to a
walkway at water level and cranks open a rusted GAS JET...he
then waits for the Chopper to line up over it as it
approaches Bond for the kill....
Bond fires the flare gun...
THE GAS EXPLODES!
The Chopper tries to pull away, but it's too late. The
flames engulf it, igniting a fireball.
IN THE WATER
Zukovsky pulls himself back onto a walkway and heads for the
factory, but speeding at him are to FREE-FLYING SAW BLADES
from the chopper that has just exploded!
OMITTED 231S to 231Z
EXT. WALKWAY
Zukovsky dives away -- into a CAVIAR PIT. The saws embed in
the cabin behind him.
The caviar pit is like sinking sand, deep -- he's going
under. Flounders, trying to cling to a crate blown in there
by the explosion. Then he looks in horror:
EXT. SIDE OF CAVIAR PIT (OLD SC. 199)
POV ZUKOVSKY:
Bond appearing at the edge of the caviar pit, dragging
himself up, soaking wet. He's holding another harpoon gun.
Points it directly at Zukovsky. This time he really means
business.
EXT. CAVIAR PIT/SIDE (OLD SC. 200)
Zukovsky, on the point of being swallowed by the caviar,
clawing at the crate. Bond, steely eyed, cold:
BOND
Now...where were we?
ZUKOVSKY
A rope!
BOND
No. The truth!
(beat)
She thought I was dead -- those blades
were meant for you. What do you know
that she would kill you for?
Zukovsky is sinking.
ZUKOVSKY
I don't know what you're talking --
Zukovsky sees Christmas appear beside Bond:
ZUKOVSKY
Help me, don't let me drown.
She looks to Bond -- sees he's serious.
BOND
(to Zukovsky)
You're in this thing up to your neck.
Zukovsky sinks alarmingly -- he talks rapidly, staccato:
ZUKOVSKY
Alright, alright! Sometimes I smuggle
machinery for her. Russian stuff.
BOND
And the payoff on the tables?
ZUKOVSKY
A special job. A...a...a submarine.
CHRISTMAS
What?
ZUKOVSKY
To haul some cargo. My nephew, he is
Captain of a sub in the Black Sea Fleet.
BOND
Where's the sub going?!
ZUKOVSKY
No! Get me out!
BOND
This is too big for even you. Where is
it?
ZUKOVSKY
This is a family matter! If my nephew is
in danger, we do it my way, or nothing!
Now get me out!
But he looks more worried than ever as Bond takes aim with
the harpoon gun -- squeezes the trigger.
ZUKOVSKY
No! Bond!
CHRISTMAS
(alarmed)
Bond!
Bond fires. Zukovsky YELLS as the HARPOON SHOOTS TOWARD HIM.
It takes him a moment to realize he hasn't been hit -- the
harpoon splintering the crate, just missing him. He clings
to the crate, exhausted, as Bond and Christmas drag him to
safety.
CHRISTMAS
Commander Bond, you are dangerous,
unpredictable, and a hothead.
He just looks at her.
CHRISTMAS
But then again, explosive devices are my
specialty.
Zukovsky scowls, wet, angry, looking from his ruined suit to
the devastation that was once his caviar factory as, behind
him, walkways CREAK, teeter, and CRASH into the sea.
ZUKOVSKY
So. My way. No MI-6, no Interpol. Just
you, me and my people.
BOND
Where?
ZUKOVSKY
Istanbul.
OMITTED:233
INT/EXT. BALCONY/MAIDEN'S TOWER - BOSPHORUS - NIGHT
Beyond iron balustrades we see one of the most fabulous views
in the world -- on one side the still waters of the Golden
Horn, on the other, the dancing waves of the unsheltered
Bosphorus -- and in between, the tumbling roofs, soaring
minarets and crouching mosques of the Pera district.
RENARD scans the water with night-vision binoculars.
EXT. BOSPHORUS - NIGHT - HIS GREEN POV:
A SUPERTANKER churns along...
ADJUST ANGLE
The CAMERA SINKS BENEATH THE WAVES, steals through the gloom -
- eventually comes upon something sitting just beneath the
belly of the tanker. The silhouette of a SUBMARINE, hugging
the tanker's shadow, creeping undetected into the
Bosphorus...
INT. M'S CELL - NIGHT
M paces her cell. Looks out, at the clock:
It is MIDNIGHT. Twelve hours to go.
She crosses her arms. Returns to pacing. Puts her hands in
her coat pockets:
She feels something. Takes it out.
THE LOCATOR CARD. Black and shiny, with two copper terminals
on one end.
M taps it on her hand. She looks back out. TO THE CLOCK.
CUT TO:
INT. BEDROOM - MAIDEN'S TOWER - BOSPHORUS - NIGHT
Renard and Elektra. She is on the bed, Renard stroking her,
worshipping her skin.
RENARD
So beautiful. So smooth, so warm.
ELEKTRA
How would you know?
It stings him. Elektra sits up, pulling a robe around her.
RENARD
Why are you like this? Because Bond is
dead? It's what you wanted.
ELEKTRA
(beat)
Of course...
Renard gets up. Paces the floor.
RENARD
He was a...good lover?
ELEKTRA
What do you think?
Renard leans against her desk, closing his eyes, squeezing
out the images. After a moment, he SMASHES HIS FIST through
the hand-painted wood. Elektra looks up.
HER P.O.V. A huge splinter of wood juts out of Renard's
hand.
Renard looks at it, curious, unfazed.
RENARD
Nothing.
Elektra comes to him. Leads him to the bed. Sits. Gently
removes the splinter. Then, she takes an icecube from the
bucket. Runs it along his wound.
ELEKTRA
What about this?
And she runs the ice down his cheek. He shakes his head.
Tormented.
RENARD
Nothing.
Now she runs the ice down her neck...
ELEKTRA
But surely...
...her fingers becoming wet, she runs the ice down between
her breasts, leaving a trail. Teasing...
ELEKTRA
...You can feel this?
She's moving the ice lower on herself... We see her lips
open, enjoying the sensation. A beat, then his smile slowly
grows. As she does something else.
ELEKTRA
(sensual)
Remember ... pleasure?
DISSOLVE:
INT. MAIDEN'S TOWER - DEAD OF NIGHT
Eerily quiet. The calm before the storm, except:
INT. M'S CELL - SAME
M is at the door of her cell. Her arm is stretched out
through the bars. She is using her high-heeled shoe to try
to HOOK the leg of the stool and drag it toward her. She can
only jut tap the leg with the tip of the heel. She swipes
out at the little three-legged stool, tapping it, tapping
it...
It scoots toward her a little...she taps it again, gets her
shoe HOOKED on the leg of the stool and starts to drag it
when...
The rickety stool hits a bump on the ancient stone floor and
SPILLS OVER...the clock HITS THE GROUND and SKIDS across the
stones, coming to rest ACROSS THE ROOM, on the floor near the
window.
M leans against the bars. SHE HEARS HER THE OUTER DOOR
CLANKING OPEN...
She hurries to her cot and lies down.
GABOR ENTERS...a burly shadow in the light from the hall. He
walks in. Looks at M. Picks up the clock and sets it ON THE
WINDOW SILL.
He leaves, shutting the door behind him.
M sits up. Looks out to the clock, glowing in the dark.
IT READS TWO A.M.
She drops her head back on the wall. She will not sleep
tonight.
DISSOLVE TO:
OMITTED: 236 - 243
EXT. ISTANBUL - DAWN
ESTABLISH the vast city astride the Bosphorus.
EXT. ISTANBUL STREETS - SAME
The sun starting to rise. Street vendors are the only people
about, moving their carts into place, getting ready to place
out their wares. We hold on a BUILDING.
INT. DYE FACTORY - SAME
A multi-levelled, rickety old building full of colourful
fabrics drying high overhead; the light shafts through them
casting pools of different coloured light.
It is a working factory, bolts of fabric and vats of dye, but
it is also:
AN OLD KGB SURVEILLANCE CENTER
Pushed to one end of the large room are stacks of radio
equipment, old consoles, audio equipment and radar screens.
Once a high-tech surveillance center, it has gone to seed.
There are men and women here, smoking, using the equipment,
slightly dissolute, very sinister, where the only membership
card is an old KGB ID. Zukovsky is here, leaning behind a
RADIO OPERATOR.
ZUKOVSKY
Any luck reaching Yevgeny?
OPERATOR
Negative, comrade.
He moves to CHRISTMAS AND BOND, pouring over a large MAP OF
ISTANBUL spread out on a table.
CHRISTMAS
(to Zukovsky)
What is this place?
ZUKOVSKY
Former KGB surveillance post. The Dye
Factory was just a front; now it turns a
good profit.
Bond notices THE BOA in the corner with some others.
BOND
Your old friend Dmitri.
Zukovsky nods to his old friend.
ZUKOVSKY
Today, you are glad to have the Boa on
your side.
Zukovsky looks at the map.
ZUKOVSKY
In the good old days, the KGB had three
or four spots where our submarines could
surface without anyone knowing. But
Yevgeny is supposed to be loading cargo.
CHRISTMAS
What class sub does your nephew run?
ZUKOVSKY
C-class.
BOND
Nuclear.
CHRISTMAS
Not just nuclear. Powered by a nuclear
reactor.
(the penny drops)
He's not loading any cargo. They want the
sub. The sub itself.
Put weapons grade plutonium inside the
sub's reactor: Instant, catastrophic
meltdown.
BOND
Made to look just like an accident.
ZUKOVSKY
Mother of God.
BOND
The right kind of explosion in the right
spot -- it would block the Bosphorus, cut
off the Black Sea.
CHRISTMAS
But why? Eight million people would die,
the land irradiated for a hundred years.
A cloud of radiation the size of
Europe...
BOND
(chilled)
Because an explosion like that would kill
all the other pipelines. There would be
only one way to get the oil out of the
Caspian and pump it to the world...
CHRISTMAS
The King pipeline.
BOND
Elektra would control it all.
ZUKOVSKY
If what you say it true...it may be too
late for Yevgeny.
CUT TO:
INT. SECRET QUAY (MAIDEN'S TOWER) - ISTANBUL - DAY
The ancient arched underbelly of a waterside building.
Something is disturbing a large expanse of water. A black
shadow looms beneath the waves. A SUBMARINE SURFACES.
INT. SECRET QUAY (MAIDEN'S TOWER) - ISTANBUL - DAY
Waiting at the newly excavated quay: Renard and his men.
The submarine's hatch opens. A YOUTHFUL CAPTAIN EMERGES,
vaguely resembling his uncle, Zukovsky.
RENARD
Captain...
YEVGENY
Sir. We are ready to load your cargo.
We only have a few hours before we'll be
missed.
RENARD
You came with a skeleton crew?
YEVGENY
That's all we can afford these days.
RENARD
Of course. We are grateful for your
efforts.
One of his men comes forward with several bottles of brandy
and other food.
RENARD
We have brandy and other refreshments for
your men.
The Captain nods, pleased.
INT. DYE FACTORY
Bond and Christmas and Zukovsky watch as the radio operators
scan the airwaves.
ZUKOVSKY
If we're not in time and something has
happened to him... you must let me kill
them.
Bond stares hard at him. A long beat.
BOND
Whoever gets there first, Zukovsky. They
have M.
CUT TO:
INT. SUBMARINE - DAY
Eerie, dark, the lights inside green and sickly.
CLOSE ON
A half-eaten sandwich. An empty glass of brandy on the floor,
just near the hand it fell from...
PULL BACK TO SEE
The dead face of Yevgeny, poisoned. Others of his crew
around, also dead.
Renard and his men tour the grisly scene.
RENARD
Take them up and throw them in the sea.
As they drag Yevgeny away, his HAT falls on the ground.
Renard picks it up and PUTS IT ON HIS HEAD.
RENARD
We'll be underway in two hours. Use that
time to re-familiarize yourselves with
your stations. Then ponder how rich
you'll be. The re-breathers for the
escape are already on board.
A man appears holding a heavy lead box containing the
plutonium. Renard takes the box as if it weighs nothing.
Stronger then ever.
CUT TO:
INT. CELL - MAIDEN'S TOWER - MORNING
Elektra stands at the door looking in at M.
ELEKTRA
Now you know how it feels. To be locked
away, to wonder if they're coming for
you, if anyone will ever come for you.
M
Someone will come.
ELEKTRA
Who? Bond? Bond is dead.
Elektra walks to the window. She looks out.
ELEKTRA
Somehow, I find that strangely
...disappointing.
M watches her, her heart beating.
M
Elektra. What time is it?
Elektra picks up the little clock. Walks over to the cell
bars.
ELEKTRA
Time for you to die.
And she reaches through the bars and HANDS M THE CLOCK.
The two women's eyes meet.
RENARD
The reactor is secured.
She turns, sees RENARD in the doorway. She crosses to him
and SLAMS THE DOOR SHUT behind her.
INT. OUTSIDE DOOR - MAIDEN'S TOWER - DAY
Their eyes lock.
RENARD
This is the end.
ELEKTRA
No. It is the beginning. The world will
never be the same.
He lays the Captain's hat down. Tries to mask his sorrow.
RENARD
It will be yours, and yours alone. Have
fun with it.
Forces himself to leave, heads down the stairs.
INT. M'S CELL - SAME
M works quickly. She pops open the back of the clock and
takes out the batteries. She pries off the tops with a key
and connects the wires to the LOCATOR CARD...
CUT TO:
INT. DYE FACTORY - SAME
The Radio Operator touches his earpiece...
OPERATOR
Comrade, it's faint, but I'm getting
something. A signal. Transmitting at...37-
19 degrees north...
He writes the coordinates down. Bond picks them up.
BOND
The locator card. It's M.
He takes the coordinates over to the map and DRAWS A
CORRESPONDING LINE across it.
BOND
The rest?
Christmas reads them out as the Operator writes them down
CHRISTMAS
Forty, forty-three degrees East...
Bond draws another line across the map. At the point at which
the intersect...a small island in the Bosphorus.
ZUKOVSKY
The Maiden's Tower.
BOND
How appropriate.
ZUKOVSKY
I'd heard there were some renovations
there...no one would look for a sub in
that place in a million years.
Suddenly Bond's instinct are aroused. Out of the corner of
his eye, he sees THE BOA set something on the ground and move
slowly UP THE STAIRS.
Bond looks at the pack he left on the ground...
He grabs Christmas and HURLS HER TO THE FLOOR.
KABOOM!
A MASSIVE EXPLOSION rips the place apart. In half a second
the air is thick with coloured dust and drifting clumps of
burning silk.
Bond stands. Christmas is stunned, but okay. He looks
around at the others - few dead, all out for the count, among
them, Zukovsky.
Bond heads for the door after the Boa.
CHRISTMAS
Zukovsky...
BOND
If I don't get to the Boa before he gets
to Maiden's Tower, M is dead.
Bond runs out, into
EXT. STREET - DAY
Teeming with people, his eyes scanning, he spots...THE BOA
climbing a ladder alongside a building to A ROOF.
Bond chases after him, clambering up, but when he gets to the
top of the roof...
Boa has now been joined by THREE THUGS. One attacks Bond as
the Boa and the others move away...
Bond fights with the thug, they stumble across the roof,
gripping each other, until Bond gets the upper hand and
THROWS HIM DOWN through a thatched roof where he falls...
EXT. BAZAAR
Into the market below.
Christmas, just coming into the square, sees the body
falling...she runs to the thug, thinking it might be Bond...
But the thug raises up, smiling at her, blood on his teeth.
She turns and runs...the thug gives chase...
ON THE ROOFS ABOVE
Bond is following Boa and the other two men as they LEAP from
roof to roof. He sees them jump off onto the roof of...
EXT. MOVING BUS
Motoring rapidly away from him. He makes a spectacular leap
to a wobbly FLAG POLE that swings him toward the bus,
dropping him on the roof before it SNAPS BACK, into the
overhead TRAM WIRES ABOVE and setting off sparks.
ON THE BUS
Bond barely gets to his feet before Thug #2 is upon him.
They grapple, struggling to maintain their footing as the bus
speeds through the rickety old streets. He throws the guy
over...
The thug desperately CLINGS TO THE SIDE OF THE BUS...
Bond now takes on the third thug, unaware that number two has
climbed back on and is about to WHACK HIM ON THE HEAD with
his gun when...
THE BUS TURNS onto a new street...THE WIRES AGAIN...Thug
Two's gun is caught up in them...he is instantly
ELECTROCUTED.
Thug three watches his friend's horrible death, giving Bond
time to slug him hard across the face and THROW HIM FROM THE
BUS...
EXT. STREET
Thug two's body goes SLAMMING INTO THE WINDSHIELD of a fast
moving van...BURSTS OUT through the back doors of said van
and tumbles out onto the street where it is HIT BY A CAR.
ON THE BUS
Bond turns back toward...BOA. Now it is just the two of them.
The bus is hissing to a stop.
The Boa leaps on to the bed of a passing truck. Bond rushes
forward and leaps on to the top of a passing taxi. The taxi
jams on his breaks and Bond rolls across the bonnet and on to
the street. He springs to his feet.
Fifty yards ahead the truck carrying the Boa has stopped for
traffic. The Boa jumps out and darts into an alley.
EXT. ISTANBUL - ALLEY - DAY
The Alley leads into a small CAFE where PATRONS smoke water
pipes and drink coffee. The Boa is nowhere to be seen.
Bond slips out his gun holding it out of sight close to his
leg so as not to alarm the civilians. He steps into the
cafe.
EXT. ISTANBUL - CAFE - DAY
Bond makes his way through the tables to the doorway in the
back. He looks inside - just a few children at play. Bond
is suddenly blind-sided by a vicious kidney punch which
brings him to his knees. He struggles to bring up his gun -
but the Boa knocks it out of his hand.
The Boa locks Bond's head in an unbreakable choke hold from
behind. Bond pulls on the massive arms - but to no avail.
He glances down to his right - HIS GUN - just out of reach.
Bond reaches out for it - his fingers just graze it.
Suddenly the Boa's foot kicks out, knocking the gun across
the room. He tighten his grip and speaks in Bond's ear.
BOA
For years I was told I could never take
the great James Bond and his Walther PPK.
What good is your gun now, Bond?
Bond can't breathe, his eyes start to dim. He slumps
forward, his left hand touches something hot. It's the iron
basket of coals used to keep the water pipes lite. Bond's
fingers touch the wire handle that arches across the top. He
grabs it and with his last reserves -
Swings it at the back of his head hitting the Boa on the side
of the head with the SOUND OF RAW BACON HITTING A HOT
SKILLET.
The Boa drops Bond and leaps to his feet holding the side of
his face. Bond falls forward fighting for breath and trying
to clear his head.
The Boa runs out the back door. Bond finds his gun, holsters
it and follows.
EXT. ISTANBUL - SIDE STREET - DAY
Bond comes out into a side street crowded with VENDERS AND
SHOPPERS. Bond sees the Boa pushing his way through the
crowd to...
EXT. ISTANBUL - FERRY TERMINAL - DAY
RUSSIAN TRAMP STEAMER taking on cargo. Bond enters square in
time to see the Boa making a Bee line for the Russian
steamer.
As the Boa, much the worse-for-ware, starts up the gangway to
the top deck of the steamer, Bond hitches a ride on a cargo
net that is being hoisted aboard by the ship's boom.
EXT. RUSSIAN STEAMER - DAY
Boa, breathing hard gets to the deck. He lumbers across it
but before he can reach the other side he is tripped up by
Bond who has been waiting for him by the side of the deck
house. The Boa goes sprawling. As Bond comes for him he
scrambles to his feet, grabs a nearby bailing hook, and
swings at Bond. But Bond is ready for him. He wards off the
blow with a small wooden cover from a shipping crate. He
traps the Boa's arm and gives him two quick devastating kicks
in the solar plexus. He Boa stages back to the railing. A
final kick from Bond sends him over the side...
THE BOA FALLS, LANDING ON HIS BACK ON THE DECK BELOW WITH A
SICKENING THUD.
Bond looks down, sees the Boa's body at a horrible angle, his
neck broken.
Bond sighs, turns...
GABOR is there. Gun trained on him.
GABOR
Welcome aboard, Mr. Bond.
BOND'S P.O.V. A thug steps into sight below, holding
CHRISTMAS hostage as well.
EXT. MAIDEN'S TOWER - DAY
A magnificent ornate tower in the centre of the Bosphorus.
An innocent-looking launch coasts up to it. A tarp is raised
and Bond and Christmas are revealed, hands bound. They are
helped out, led inside by a number of henchmen.
INT. MAIDEN'S TOWER - DAY
Elektra crosses the hallway as the doors open. Kisses Bond
on the cheek as she eyes Christmas.
ELEKTRA
James Bond and his amazing resurrection.
If only you'd kept away, we might have
met again in a few years, become lovers
once more.
Christmas eyes Bond anew as Elektra leads him to an ornately
carved chair, covered in silk.
ELEKTRA
(to guards)
Take her to Renard.
Bond and Christmas exchange a look as the guards start her
towards some steps.
Elektra indicates for him to sit. Behind him, the whole of
Istanbul is visible through a large curved window.
ELEKTRA
Pretty thing. You had her too?
Bond ignores her.
ELEKTRA
I could have given you the world.
BOND
Not interested.
This cuts. She casually reaches behind his neck, flips up a
wooden arm to which is attached a metal collar. A GAROTTE.
ELEKTRA
They were digging near here and they
found some very pretty vases. They also
found this...
(meaning the garotte)
I think we ignore the old ways at our
peril, don't you?
Bond recoils as she fastens the collar... She steps back.
BOND
(ignoring her)
Where's M?
ELEKTRA
Soon she'll be everywhere.
Bond keeps his cool:
BOND
All this, because you fell for Renard?
ELEKTRA
Five more turns and your neck will break.
She moves to the back of the chair, twists the screw ONE
NOTCH. The effect on Bond is instantaneous as a bolt jolts
into the back of his neck, tilts his head back.
ELEKTRA
Since I was a child, I've always had a
power over men. When I realized my father
wouldn't rescue me from the kidnappers, I
knew I had to form a new alliance.
BOND
(realizing)
You turned Renard.
ELEKTRA
(smiling)
Just like you...only you were even
easier.
She pulls the jewel from her ear, reveals the ugly scar:
ELEKTRA
I told him he had to hurt me, he had to
make it look real. When he refused I told
him I would do it myself.
She turns the screw again.
BOND
So you killed your father.
ELEKTRA
He killed me! He killed me the day he
refused to pay my ransom.
A flicker of emotion. Bond is getting to her.
BOND
Was this all about the oil?
ELEKTRA
It is my oil! Mine and my family's!
Her eyes are shining. She moves toward the view, gazing out
at this spectacular cradle of civilization. Bond works his
wristbinds feverishly.
ELEKTRA
It runs in my veins, thicker than blood.
I'm going to redraw the map.
And when I am through the whole world
will know my name, my grandfather's name,
the glory of my people.
BOND
No-one will believe this melt-down was an
accident.
She eyes him, impressed that he's worked out her plan.
Tightens the screw again. Her confidence amazing.
ELEKTRA
They will believe. They will all
believe.
Tightening the screw again:
ELEKTRA
You understand? Nobody can resist me.
Now she straddles him. She puts the jewel back on her ear.
All the time, he's working that wristbind.
ELEKTRA
Know what happens when a man is
strangled?
BOND
Elektra, it's not too late. Eight
million people needn't die.
She smiles, twists the screw again. A nasty, grinding sound.
Sweat trickles from his brow. She licks it away.
ELEKTRA
You should have killed me when you had
the chance. But you couldn't. Not me. A
woman you've loved.
She pushes her hips into his. Turns the screw. The bolt is
jammed right into the back of his neck. His face is angled
upwards. Breathing is difficult. He glares up:
BOND
You meant ... nothing ... to me.
She fingers the bolt. Prepares to turn it the last
time...His hand strains at its binding...
BOND
One... last... screw?
ELEKTRA
(kissing his ear)
Oh James.
She begins to turn the screw...
... when SEVERAL GUNSHOTS are heard outside.
Bond is on the edge of consciousness.
Elektra freezes. Gets off him. Moves to a window.
EXT. MAIDEN'S TOWER - BOSPHORUS - DAY
HER POV:
Big, battered and bloody, Valentin Zukovsky is leaving a
boat, moving over the rocks toward the entrance with three of
his men. Two bodies in his trail. He's on course for
Elektra and nothing is going to stop him, even as his
henchmen are cut down by ferocious fire.
INT. MAIDEN'S TOWER - BOSPHORUS - DAY
Elektra moves to her gun. Just then, Gabor crashes through a
stained glass window, neck broken.
TWO ELEKTRA HENCHMEN appear from below stairs as the doors
burst open. Zukovsky stands there. A bloody giant.
They open up with machine guns, but two shots from Zukovsky
take them out, though he takes one in the shoulder. Right
now, he's unstoppable.
A shocked silence after the shooting. He eyes Bond in the
chair. To the room:
ZUKOVSKY
I'm looking for a submarine. It's big
and black, and the driver is a friend of
mine.
Then his eye falls on the HAT Renard had brought up from
below. He knows at once what it means.
ZUKOVSKY
Bring it to me.
She picks it up, walks to him (surreptitiously sliding a gun
beneath it). She proffers the hat...
ELEKTRA
What a shame. You just missed him.
BLAM BLAM BLAM -- she fires through the hat.
He staggers back. Stares. Slumps down. Lowers his head to
the ground.
She walks over, puts her heel on his gun arm, presses down,
smiling a half-psychotic smile. The gun is pinned.
Zukovsky is dying.
But he dredges up every last ounce of energy to raise his gun
a millimetre off the ground, his outstretched arm already
pointing at Bond. Elektra looks surprised, then amused as
Zukovsky's finger begins to squeeze the trigger: he's going
to shoot Bond!
Bond stares back. Zukovsky's eye narrows -- trying for
extreme accuracy...
BLAM! The SHOT hits the binding at Bond's wrist. Splinters
the wood there.
ELEKTRA stares at Zukovsky. She didn't see where the bullet
went, just that it missed Bond. She watches his head slump
further, staring at Bond...
A look passes between the two men. Comrades in arms. The
merest of smiles. Then the light fades from his eyes. Dead.
ELEKTRA
turns back to Bond. Smiles.
ELEKTRA
Excuse me.
She picks up a walkie-talkie, speaks into it:
ELEKTRA
Everything's under control up here. Are
you ready?
RENARD
(filtered)
Yes. Au revoir...
Lost for a moment, she breathes heavily. She glances at
Zukovsky's corpse. Slightly puzzled, to Bond:
ELEKTRA
Zukovsky really hated you.
(beat)
Time to say goodnight.
And she kisses him -- reaches behind to deliver the killer
twist...
One super-fast movement:
Bond's hand breaks free, grabs her throat, tight. He holds
her, their faces close together, disdain in his eyes -- hurls
her backwards, her hand scratching at his face.
Ripping the collar from his neck, he gets to his feet. Moves
to Zukovsky, checks his pulse, takes the bloody gun from his
fingers.
Turns back, to see Elektra disappearing upstairs. A moment's
dilemma: should he race below to the sub -- or up to
Elektra?
He takes off after Elektra, grabs the radio handset.
CUT TO:
EXT. SUBMARINE - SECRET QUAY (MAIDEN'S TOWER) - DAY
The submarine's engines roar to life.
INT. TOWER - CONTINUOUS
ELEKTRA rises up one of the triple spiral stairways leading
to the various balconies of the minaret tower.
INT. TOWER/M'S CELL - DAY
Bond stalks up after her. THEIR VOICES ECHO through the
intertwined stairs:
ELEKTRA
James. You can't kill me. Not in cold
blood.
But Bond isn't wavering. Clutches Zukovsky's bloody wet gun.
He heads up in the semi-darkness -- and suddenly swings to
his right, at an unexpected but familiar Voice:
M
Bond --
Bond kicks open a door and enters...
M'S PRISON ROOM
He fires at the lock on her cell door and frees her. Turns to
go, heading upward, after Elektra.
M
Go after the submarine, forget the girl.
Bond!
INT. BALCONY/MAIDEN'S TOWER - BOSPHORUS - DAY
Elektra has reached a balcony. It affords a spectacular view
of Istanbul. Bond appears, has her cornered.
BOND
Call him off.
He holds the walkie-talkie to her mouth.
BOND
I won't ask again. Call him off!
She looks at him seriously. He's giving her a last chance,
willing her to save herself and the city.
ELEKTRA
(into walkie-talkie)
Renard.
Bond waits...
ELEKTRA
(to Bond)
You wouldn't kill me. You'd miss me.
And her face breaks into a perverted grin and --
ELEKTRA
(into walkie-talkie)
Dive! Bond --
BLAM! Bond shoots her.
She staggers back, shocked at her own mortality.
BOND
I never miss.
He looks out:
EXT. BOSPHORUS - DAY
Sees the nose of the sub heading into the Bosphorus, half
submerged. The hatch is still open.
INT. BALCONY/MAIDEN'S TOWER - BOSPHORUS - DAY
He stares at her dead body a beat. And then, he crouches. He
touches her cheek, just once, before he goes.
Behind him, unbeknownst, M has seen it all.
EXT. MAIDEN'S TOWER - BOSPHORUS - DAY
He moves to the ledge. Composes himself -- and
DIVES ONE HUNDRED FEET to the water. Amazing.
EXT. SUBMARINE, BOSPHORUS - DAY
He surfaces close to the exiting sub. Grabs a ladder, pulls
himself up.
The hatch is closing... He splashes through the water
flooding over the sub, appears in front of the amazed sailor
shutting the hatch. WHACKS him with the hatch. Gets inside.
Closes it. Milliseconds before the hatch slides under the
water.
INT. SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
Bond down below. Renard's crew are spread throughout the sub.
He creeps through...
Approaches one man working some levers, smoking. Bond holds
his gun to his head.
BOND
How do you want to die?
(re: cigarette)
That?
(re: gun)
Or this?
INT. CABIN, SUBMARINE - MOMENTS LATER
A few SOLID BANGS on the metal of Christmas' door. It opens
and Bond lets the now unconscious man hit the deck. That was
his head banging.
CHRISTMAS
(stunned)
James!...
He takes her by the hand, they move through the shadows of
the sub.
INT. SUBMARINE - MOMENTS LATER
A man is operating the tanks. Through the intercom:
RENARD
(filtered)
Flood tanks 4 and 5...
The man does as told. When he's finished -- Bond knocks him
out with the butt of his gun.
INT. SUBMARINE CONTROL ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Several men occupy the central control room, Renard at their
centre. Beyond, on the other side, the outer chamber of the
reactor.
INT. OTHER END OF CONTROL ROOM - SUBMARINE - DAY
From the other end of the control room, Bond and Christmas,
so near and yet so far -- they can't get to the reactor
because there are so many men in there.
Keeping behind cover:
CHRISTMAS
Is there another way?
BOND
We go down to the torpedo bay.
INT. TANK CONTROLS ROOM, SUBMARINE LOWER DECK - MOMENTS LATER
Bond and Christmas get attacked. A vicious, silent fight...
Then the radio set sparks into life --
RENARD
Open the tanks.
Bond is throttling the man with the cable. Speaks into the
handset.
BOND
(disguising voice)
Tanks open.
But the man has stretched his hand to a fire alarm:
The KLAXON RESOUNDS.
INT. SUBMARINE CONTROL ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Renard looks up.
RENARD
(to self)
Bond...
He flicks a switch;
RENARD
(into mic)
Bond! You have decided to join me on this
historic voyage. Welcome to my nuclear
family.
INTERCUT:
BOND ON AN INTERCOM:
His voice fills the control room.
BOND
You're really going to commit suicide for
her?
Renard responds, into the microphone.
RENARD
In case you've forgotten. I'm dead
already.
BOND
Haven't you heard the news? So is she.
Renard's face screws up in pain more searing than any he
could feel in his skin...he SCREAMS...
INT. SUBMARINE...
The scream, like a wounded animal, echoes throughout the
doomed craft.
BACK ON RENARD, gasping, spent.
RENARD
You will die for this.
He strides through to the
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER
Jams shut the hatch behind him. Now moves through to the
INT. CHAMBER BEYOND REACTOR
Where he picks up the PLUTONIUM. Moves back into the
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER
Sealing the other door behind him. And now he opens up the
cover of the glaring REACTOR...
INT. TANK CONTROLS ROOM, SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
Christmas sees a panel light up:
CHRISTMAS
The cover is off the reactor.
Bond reads off more lights...
BOND
He's sealed himself in.
CHRISTMAS
He's going to insert the plutonium.
Thinking fast, Bond moves to some controls. Hits switches.
CHRISTMAS
Do you know what you're doing?
BOND
Like riding a bike.
INT. AIR TANKS, SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
The air tanks immediately filling with water.
INT. TANK CONTROLS ROOM, SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
Christmas and Bond shift to the side. Everything not screwed
down starts sliding...
EXT. SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS - LONG SHOT
The submarine is tilting, further and further, the nose
dropping down and down...
Pretty soon we have the strange and incredible sight of a
submarine hanging vertically, nose down.
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER, SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
Renard hangs on, swings, until he can get a footing on the
nearest wall.
INT. TANK CONTROLS ROOM, SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
Bond and Christmas hang on too, get a grip. He helps her up.
CHRISTMAS
What kind of bikes did you ride?
BOND
Just wanted to put him on edge...
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER, SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
Renard is disturbed by the sub's position, but only
momentarily.
He moves to an intercom:
RENARD
Open the torpedo tubes.
INT. TORPEDO ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Bond hears a creak, turns to see the tubes open -- water
gushes up toward them at an incredible rate.
BOND
Climb!
He pulls Christmas up and they ascend to the next level. No
chance to seal the chamber though, the water is already
through the hatch.
BOND
Keep moving.
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS
Renard now struggles back up to the reactor, stares into the
violet blue heat...
He hits a button. A ROD slowly rises out of the reactor.
INT. LOWER SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
Bond and Christmas are ahead of the water. They have reached
a level where various systems are operated from.
BOND
There's one chance.
He punches buttons.
EXT. SUBMARINE, BOSPHORUS - CONTINUOUS
High up on the sub, a hatch opens. Water floods into an
escape hatch. An inner door stops it getting into the
submarine itself.
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS
Renard slowly inserts the plutonium rod. Immediately the
light around him becomes a deeper blue, a horrible
luminescence. The staccato click of a distant Geiger counter
intensifies.
INT. SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
As Bond opens the inner door of an ESCAPE HATCH, he points
out a cabinet on the wall to Christmas.
BOND
Re-breathers.
She opens the box to find the RE-BREATHERS are ripped to
shreds. No-one was ever meant to get off the sub. She shows
Bond.
BOND
Never liked those things anyway.
He climbs into the escape chamber.
BOND
Count to twenty. When you get to twenty
open the hatch. It can only be opened
for a few seconds or we'll sink.
CHRISTMAS
But what if...
BOND
Count to twenty. I'll be there.
She moves over and seals the door, wrenches a lever which
immediately floods the chamber with water.
INT. ESCAPE HATCH - CONTINUOUS
Inside the chamber, Bond holds his breath as water seeps in.
The most claustrophobic thing you've ever seen.
INT. SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
A green light comes on and Christmas punches a button...
EXT. SUBMARINE, ESCAPE HATCH - CONTINUOUS
The OUTER DOOR opens... Bond burst out and starts the long
swim up the OUTSIDE OF THE SUBMARINE...
INT. SUBMARINE - SAME
Christmas is counting.
CHRISTMAS
One, one thousand, two, one thousand...
EXT. SUBMARINE - UNDERWATER
It's dark out here. It would be very easy for Bond to get
disoriented.
He peers around, trying to get his bearings against the vast
vertical whale he's swimming up.
Passes the conning tower.
INT. SUBMARINE
CHRISTMAS
Fourteen, one thousand, fifteen, one
thousand...
EXT. SUBMARINE - UNDERWATER
Bond is running out of air...
And then he sees it -- the open hatch of the rear escape
door.
He gets inside, yanks it closed...
INT. SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
Christmas, shivering in the rising water.
CHRISTMAS
Twenty.
She presses a button...
INT. CHAMBER BEYOND (NOW ABOVE) REACTOR - CONTINUOUS
The hatch opens and Bond collapses out in a gush of water.
The hatch closes.
The whole world is at a crazy angle here. Bond looks down at
the sealed door of the reactor chamber, curses.
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER - CONTINUOUS
Bathed in the horrible light of the over-heating reactor,
Renard looks upwards, aware of sounds on the other side of
the door...
KER-BLAM! A BLINDING FLASH OF LIGHT.
The door shoots off its hinge, blasted by Bond.
Bond drops down into the chamber, takes one look at Renard,
now a crumpled heap in the corner.
Bond moves down to the next door, opens it:
BOND
Christmas!
And there she is, struggling, the water level way below still
rising...
He lowers an arm, pulls her up.
They clamber up to the reactor:
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER
BOND'S POV: in the intense glow inside -- the overheating
rod, protruding slightly.
CHRISTMAS
We have to get the rod out of the
reactor!
INT. REACTOR CHAMBER
Bond looks at the gauges from behind a thick GLASS SHIELD.
Christmas comes up level with him:
CHRISTMAS
Melting down. 4000 degrees, the
Zirconium casings on the rods crack.
5000, the plutonium melts. In ten
minutes, a hydrogen explosion.
THE TEMPERATURE GAUGE READS 4500 AND RISING...
He starts toward the reactor when suddenly
RENARD IS BEHIND BOND, THROTTLING HIM.
CHRISTMAS grabs at him, is flung back, nearly falls through
the hatch but manages to grab a pipe, hangs on for dear life.
THE GAUGE HITS 4700
BOND AND RENARD
struggle... Both slamming into switches and buttons.
CUT TO:
OMITTED 314-316
INT. SUBMARINE - CONTINUOUS
THE GAUGE IS PASSING 4900, EDGING TOWARDS THE NO-WAY-BACK
5000 MARK. Meltdown imminent...
He looks down the sub -- more water racing upward...
Back to the pile. Scans the scene, searching for an idea.
Sees a HOSE, compressed air escaping from a fissure. Thinks
fast. Grabs the hose, snaps it free...
RENARD
is recovering, has found a FLARE GUN near him. Raises it to
Bond...
BOND'S POV
in the reflection of the gauge (which is millimeters from
5000), we see Renard approaching from behind us...
BOND jams the hose into the reactor, ducks down -- as the air
blows the rod out - narrowly missing him as it shoots past --
impales Renard in the heart, just before he could shoot.
Renard stares at Bond in horror. Bond calmly takes the flare
gun off him.
BOND
She's waiting for you.
And he lets him fall past Christmas, through consecutive open
hatches of the sub, crashing into the rising water.
Christmas looks down at the floating corpse.
Bond watches the gauge -- as it edges DOWN from 5000.
The nuclear disaster looks like it's averted. But suddenly
water is gushing in from above, through splits in the sub's
shell; it's going to sink.
BOND
We're sinking.
But she won't come. As water courses over them:
CHRISTMAS
Help me. We have to seal it.
She moves to the reactor, closing the cover. Bond uses his
strength to push the heavy locking mechanism into place.
Bond climbs upwards, dragging Christmas with him.
BOND
We've got to get out.
CHRISTMAS
We can't.
INT. CHAMBER BEYOND REACTOR - CONTINUOUS
They clamber into the next chamber up...
EXT. SUBMARINE, BOSPHORUS - CONTINUOUS
The submarine is slowly sinking, nose down. Air is escaping
from the many seams that are creeping apart. We can hear the
metallic GROANS through the water.
INT. TORPEDO ROOM
Bond and Christmas crawl into TORPEDO CHAMBERS...
Bond reaches out, setting a timer to FIRE...
The clock ticks down...
EXT. SUBMARINE - UNDERWATER BOSPHORUS - DAY
The Torpedo doors open and Bond and Christmas are SHOT OUT
INTO THE WATER, streaking through, as behind them...
THE SUBMARINE EXPLODES in spectacular fashion.
EXT. SURFACE, BOSPHORUS - DAY
Bond and Christmas reach the surface... Look around them.
No boats coming to the rescue. They wave to a tourist boat
passing.
The boat heads over to pick them up...
DISSOLVE:
OMIT 324
EST. SHOT - MI-6 - NIGHT
The damaged wing is being repaired.
INT. BRIEFING ROOM - SAME
Tanner overseeing things, and then...
M walks in. Efficient and steely as ever. All eyes turn to
her. She looks at everyone...makes the briefest of nods.
That is all the sentiment allowed as business resumes.
She scans the machines:
M
Any word from him?
TANNER
Still no contact yet.
EXT. ROOF, ISTANBUL - NIGHT
A magnificent rooftop garden looking out over Istanbul.
Christmas and Bond alone with some Bollinger.
FIREWORKS explode above. They clink glasses. He looks out at
the cityscape.
BOND
I love Christmas in Turkey.
CHRISTMAS
So isn't it time you unwrapped your
present?
INT. BRIEFING ROOM - NIGHT
Tanner and Q look at a SATELLITE THERMAL IMAGE OF ISTANBUL.
TANNER
That's strange.
The satellite image zooms in one particular car parked in a
side street. We can just make out Bond's ASTON MARTIN.
TANNER
He must be nearby.
M comes over.
The image moves from the car, closes on the garden rooftop.
The thermal image is multi-coloured, difficult to decipher.
M
Where?
Q
This picks up body heat. Humans should
be orange.
(searching)
There.
And he points to ONE orange figure lying on the rooftop.
M
(to Tanner)
I thought you said he was with Doctor
Jones?
They all look back to the image. The figure is turning RED,
almost glowing.
M
It's getting redder.
Tanner, Q and M realize as one that this is an image of two
people, one atop the other. And getting hotter.
M
Bond.
Q switches the screen off, clears his throat.
Q
Could be a premature form of the
Millennium Bug.
EXT. ROOF, ISTANBUL - CONTINUOUS
It's dark, we can't really see them.
CHRISTMAS
You know James... I think Christmas is
coming early this year.
FADE OUT
THE END
--------------------------------------------------------------
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