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Panic Room - by David Koepp



	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	                          PANIC ROOM
	
	
	                              by
	
	                          David Koepp
	
	
	
	
	                                            February 23, 2000
	
	
	--------------------------------------------------------------------
	
	
	
	
	
	                     This film is short.
	
	                     This film is fast.
	
	
	
	FADE IN:
	
	EXT.  MANHATTAN - DAY
	
	The whole island, from the south.  For a second.  Literally.
	
	EXT.  NEW YORK SKYLINE - DAY
	
	Closer, just the skyline.  For another second.
	
	EXT.  UPPER WEST SIDE - DAY
	
	Closer still, the Upper West Side.  For another second.  No
	time to waste admiring the scenery.
	
	EXT.  WEST 83RD STREET - DAY
	
	Race across a field of PEDESTRIANS to pick up three women
	hurrying down the sidewalk.  LYDIA LYNCH, a real estate
	broker, vaults down the sidewalk, she's got a hell of a
	stride.  MEG ALTMAN, thirtyish, struggles to keep up with
	her, she's tall, wafer-thin, pale as a ghost.  SARAH, a nine
	year old girl, flat out runs to keep up, dribbling a
	basketball as she goes.  The kid's athletic, much tougher
	than Meg, who she resembles.
	
	Lydia reads from a sheet she carries in her bouncing hands.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          -- seventeen feet wide, fifty-five
	          feet deep, forty-two hundred square
	          feet, four floors with a rentable
	          basement apartment, so five
	          altogether, courtyard in back --
	
	                     MEG
	          Could you slow down a little?
	               (looking back over her
	                shoulder)
	          Or we could wait for the car...
	
	                     LYDIA
	          No cars.  Feet are faster.
	
	                     MEG
	          How many more do we have after this?
	
	                     LYDIA
	          None, there's nothing else, you know
	          how tight the market is.
	
	                     MEG
	          This is it?  I told you on the
	          phone, I have to be moved in in two
	          weeks.  Sarah, please don't bounce
	          that here.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Mom, it's the sidewalk.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          Oh, that miserable little prick is
	          already leaving.
	
	They approach a row of brownstones, narrow four story
	townhouses, nice looking buildings, a hundred years old or
	more.  EVAN, a sour-looking man, has just locked the front
	door of number 26 and is coming down the steps.  He sees them
	coming.
	
	                     EVAN
	          One day you will learn to respect
	          other people's time, Lydia, one day
	          you --
	
	                     LYDIA
	          Evan, I am so sorry, you were a
	          saint to wait for us!
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  TOWNHOUSE - FOYER - DAY
	
	Evan throws open the front door, revealing the airy foyer of
	the townhouse.  The place is completely empty.  He talks
	fast, races through the tour.  The three of them come in,
	Sarah still bouncing her basketball.
	
	                     EVAN
	          This is the middle of the house, the
	          entry floor, living room's over
	          there.  The kitchen floor's below us
	          and there's two bedroom floors
	          above.
	
	The front door closes behind them, with a THUD so
	authoritative it seems to say no one's ever getting out.  Meg
	tries to get her daughter's attention, to tell her to stop
	bouncing the ball in the house.
	
	                     EVAN
	          It's an enormous amount of space for
	          the money and I'll be perfectly
	          honest, the family is in no hurry
	          whatsoever.
	
	Meg whispers Sarah's name, but Sarah still ignores her, goes
	on bouncing the ball.
	
	                     EVAN
	          I don't have to tell you there is an
	          acute shortage of living space in
	          Manhattan right now and this is a
	          highly unique property.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          No ball, kid.
	
	Sarah immediately stops bouncing.  She wanders into the
	living room, peers through the big French doors, which look
	out over the courtyard area.  There's another row of
	brownstones on the next block, and all the patios back up to
	one another.  It looks tranquil out there, oasis in the city.
	
	Sarah leans up against the door, sighs, her breath fogs the
	window.  There is a profound melancholy about her.  Meg
	watches her, tries to catch eyes with her in the reflection.
	Can't.
	
	Evan flings open the door of an old-fashioned cage-style
	elevator.
	
	                     EVAN
	          Working elevator.  Mr. Pearlstine,
	          the previous owner, was disabled the
	          last ten years of his life.  Highly
	          unusual, the elevator, you will not
	          find this in ninety percent of
	          brownstones.
	
	                     MEG
	          Will they take asking price?  I need
	          a two week escrow and I'm already
	          approved for the loan.
	
	Lydia turns, gives Meg an "are you insane?" look.
	
	                     EVAN
	          What say we see the house before we
	          dicker, hmm?
	               (starting up the stairs)
	          I have to warn you, this is exactly
	          the response we expected to get.
	          It's a very emotional property.
	
	As he disappears upstairs, Lydia turns to Meg, lowers her
	voice.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          Who taught you to negotiate?
	
	                     SARAH
	          It's not like Saks', Mom, you don't
	          have to pay the price on the tag.
	
	She gets in the elevator and RATTLES the door shut with a
	bang.  That kid's got an attitude.  Meg takes a deep breath,
	turns to Lydia.  She brushes her hair behind an ear, we
	notice her thin hand is shaking.
	
	                     MEG
	          I'm sorry.  Apartments, and...
	          money, and... this is more my
	          husband's area.
	
	She digs in her purse for a prescription pill bottle and some
	water.
	
	                     MEG
	          Was.  His area.  I'm not very good
	          at...
	
	Lydia watches as she swallows a pill, waiting for Meg to
	finish her sentence.  Not very good at what?
	
	                     MEG
	          Things, and if I can't prove to my
	          soon to-be ex-husband that I can
	          provide a suitable place for our
	          daughter to live in the next
	          fourteen days, it's going to get
	          ugly between us.  Uglier.
	
	Lydia just looks at her, no idea what to say.  These two are
	from different places.
	
	                     EVAN (O.S.)
	               (from upstairs)
	          It would be so lovely if I could
	          shot the property before I leave!
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  TOP FLOOR BEDROOM - DAY
	
	Evan, Lydia, and Meg poke their heads in a series of rooms,
	one after the other, the tour flying by quickly.  First, an
	upstairs bedroom.  Nice, roomy, looks out on the courtyard.
	
	                     EVAN
	          Top floor.  Two bedrooms, one
	          bathroom.
	
	INT.  DEN - DAY
	
	Another floor, another empty room.  The trio passes through.
	
	                     EVAN
	          Third floor, spare bedroom, den,
	          what have you.  Mr. Pearlstine used
	          it as an office.
	
	                     LYDIA
	               (low voice, to Meg)
	          He's talking about Bernard
	          Pearlstine.
	
	Meg shrugs, who's that?
	
	                     EVAN
	               (moving, through a
	                bathroom)
	          Master bath.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          The hotel guy?  It's been in the
	          papers lately.  His kids are all
	          suing each other over his estate.
	          He was a total recluse, paranoid,
	          rich as hell, he was worth thirty
	          million or something, now it turns
	          out they can't find half of it.
	               (singsong)
	          Somebody took something didn't
	          belong to them!
	
	                     EVAN
	          I hardly see how family gossip is
	          germane to showing the property.
	
	                     LYDIA
	               (low, to Meg)
	          Stop calling it the property, you
	          sound ridiculous.
	
	                     EVAN
	               (through a closet)
	          Master closet.
	
	From the hallway, there is a GROANING METALLIC sound, the
	elevator, and the happy laughter of the little girl as she
	puts it through its paces.  Evan winces, speaks as if his
	mouth hurts when he moves it.
	
	                     EVAN
	          Could the child please stop that?
	
	                     LYDIA
	          KID!  NO ELEVATOR!
	
	She looks at Meg and winks.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - DAY
	
	                     EVAN
	          And we emerge in the master bedroom.
	
	He checks his watch.
	
	Meg looks around, studying the dimensions of the room.  She
	looks at the far wall, the one that borders the house next
	door.  She looks at the wall that corners it, opposite the
	window wall.  She takes two steps back from it.
	
	                     MEG
	          Something's weird.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          What?
	
	                     MEG
	          I don't know, doesn't that corner
	          seem funny to you?
	
	She points to the far end of the wall, near the entrance to
	the closet.  There is a mirrored door that leads to the
	closet, and a mirror on the wall alongside it.  If you look
	closely, you'll see that the mirrors are raked slightly
	toward one another, which causes an optical illusion in which
	the corner of the room appears much closer to the door than
	it is.
	
	                     EVAN
	          I was waiting to see if you'd
	          notice!  On caravan, no one from our
	          office had the slightest idea.
	
	He pushes on the top of the mirror on the wall.  It makes a
	faint CLICK, then glides open a few inches off the wall.  He
	pulls it toward him, opens it all the way, a hundred eighty
	degrees, and it fastens magnetically to the back of the
	closed door.  There is smooth wall behind it, but if you look
	closely, there is a faint vertical crack in the wall.
	
	Meg looks at him -- what in the world?  Even pushes again,
	twice this time, first at the top, then at the bottom, and
	the smooth wall CLICKS ajar.  He pulls it wide open.  Meg and
	Lydia step forward, fascinated.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - DAY
	
	From the opposite end of a lone, narrow, windowless space, we
	see the three of them standing in the open doorway,
	silhouetted by the sunlight streaming through the bedroom
	windows behind them.
	
	                     EVAN
	          It's called a panic room.
	
	He hits a switch and a row of bulbs flick on overhead.
	
	                     MEG
	          A what?
	
	                     EVAN
	          A safe room.  An inner sanctum.  A
	          castle keep, in medieval times.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          Oh, I've seen these...
	
	                     EVAN
	          It's quite in vogue in high end
	          construction right now.  One really
	          can't be too careful about home
	          invasion.
	
	The other two walk inside, but Meg lingers near the door,
	looking around, studying the neatly arrayed survival supplies
	-- water, food packs, batteries, flashlights, tools, rope,
	clothes, blankets -- you get the idea.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          Hey, this is perfect for you...
	               (Meg scoffs)
	          Absolutely!  You're a woman, you're
	          living alone now.  Your alarm goes
	          off, or you head glass break, or for
	          whatever reason you think someone's
	          broken into your home in the middle
	          of the night.  What are you going to
	          do?  Call the police and wait until
	          they get here on Tuesday?  Traipse
	          downstairs in your sexy little
	          underthings and check it out?  I
	          think not!
	
	                     EVAN
	          Reinforced steel core walls.  Buried
	          phone line, completely separate, not
	          connected to the house's main line
	          and never exposed throughout the
	          house's infrastructure or outside
	          the house -- you can call the
	          police; nobody can cut you off.
	          Your own ventilation system,
	          complete with oxygen scrubber, so
	          you've got plenty of fresh air for
	          as long as you like.  And a bank of
	          video monitors --
	
	He hits a switch next to a dozen tiny video monitors,
	revealing a dozen different views of the house.
	
	                     EVAN
	          -- covering almost every corner of
	          the house.
	
	Meg nods, starting to sweat.
	
	                     MEG
	          Makes me nervous.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          Why?
	
	                     MEG
	          Ever read any Poe?
	
	                     LYDIA
	          I don't think so, but I love her
	          album.
	
	                     MEG
	          No, Edgar Allen.
	
	                     LYDIA
	               (thinks)
	          The furniture guy?
	
	                     MEG
	               (giving up)
	          What's to keep them from prying open
	          the door?
	
	Evan reaches past Meg and pushes a red button on the wall
	behind her.  With a sudden WHANG of steel, a heavy metal door
	leaps out of a slot in the wall and SLAMS shut, like a
	submarine hatch.  A series of metal latches CLICK into place
	inside it, from top to bottom, securing it into place.
	
	                     EVAN
	          Steel, four inches thick.
	
	Meg takes a step back.  They're now enclosed in the room.
	
	                     EVAN
	          Everything's spring-loaded, even if
	          the power's out it's fully
	          functional.
	
	                     MEG
	          Open it.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          Old Bernie didn't miss a trick with
	          this room, did he?
	
	                     MEG
	          Open the door.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          And with kids like he's got, no
	          wonder he wanted a place to hide.
	
	                     EVAN
	          That's highly inappropriate.
	
	                     MEG
	          I said open the door.
	
	Evan hits a green button and the door GROANS slowly open,
	recoiling its massive spring, and revealing Sarah, the little
	girl, standing in the entryway, grinning widely.
	
	                     SARAH
	          My room.  Definitely my room.
	
	She bolts in, just as her mother bolts out.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - DAY
	
	Meg stands just outside the door to the panic room, regaining
	her composure.  Not crazy about tight spaces.  Which we
	already knew.
	
	                     LYDIA
	          That door is a safely hazard.
	
	                     EVAN
	          Not at all.
	
	He points.  There's a tiny red beam that shines across the
	doorway, one at shoulder height --
	
	                     EVAN
	          Infrared.  Like the beam in an
	          elevator doorway.  Won't let the
	          door close if something's blocking
	          it.
	
	-- and one at shin height.  Even bend down, blocks the one at
	shin height with his hand.
	
	                     EVAN
	          Watch.
	
	He reaches up, to push the close button, but with one hand
	anchored at the floor, he can't quite reach it.
	
	                     EVAN
	               (to Lydia)
	          Push that button for me, will you?
	
	                     MEG
	          Don't!
	
	Lydia pushes the close button, nothing happens.  Evan pulls
	his hand put of the beam, takes a step back.  Lydia pushes
	the button again.
	
	WHANG!  The metal door rockets shut, the metallic slang
	reverberating in the room.  Almost immediately, the fake
	piece of wall HUMS shut, of its own accord, followed a moment
	later by the mirror, which detaches itself from the back of
	the closet door and HUMS silently back into place, closing
	over the hidden door, making the corner of the room look like
	a corner again.
	
	As the mirrored door closes, it shows Meg her own reflection.
	She looks at herself, still rattled.  She wipes a trickle of
	sweat from the side of her face.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  TOWNHOUSE - FOYER - DAY
	
	The same house, two weeks later.  The entry floor is piled
	high with moving boxes.  Sarah and Meg lie sprawled out in
	the middle of the black and white tile, arms and legs splayed
	wide, exhausted.
	
	They stare up at the ceiling, beat.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Too many stairs.
	
	                     MEG
	          Got us in here, didn't I?
	
	                     SARAH
	          Shoulda got an apartment.
	
	                     MEG
	          Well, I know that now.
	
	                     SARAH
	          478-0150.
	
	Meg raises her hand to her face, she's got her cell phone in
	her palm.
	
	                     MEG
	          Battery's dead.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - DAY
	
	Meg picks up the wall phone in the kitchen, gets a dial tone.
	
	                     MEG
	          The phone works.
	               (to Sarah)
	          Hey, I hooked up the phone.
	
	                     SARAH
	               (sarcastic)
	          The crowd goes wild.
	
	                     MEG
	               (ignoring the slight)
	          478...
	
	                     SARAH
	          0150.
	
	Meg finishes dialing.  It rings, someone answers.
	
	                     VOICE
	          Perry's Pizza, please hold.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - NIGHT
	
	Night has fallen.  Meg and Sarah sit at a small table in the
	middle of the kitchen, surrounded by packing boxes.  They eat
	pizza.  They chew, silently.  Sarah drinks a diet Dr.
	Pepper.  Meg finishes a glass of wine.
	
	Meg's eyes are moist.  Sarah notices.  She notices her
	noticing, shrugs.  I'm human, what do you want me to do, hide
	it?
	
	Sarah looks away, goes back to chewing.  After a moment:
	
	                     SARAH
	          Fuck him.
	
	                     MEG
	          Don't.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Fuck her too.
	
	Meg looks at her, not sure how to confront the open defiance.
	
	                     MEG
	          I agree.  But don't.
	
	Sarah stares at her for a moment, then goes back to eating.
	
	Meg picks up the bottle of wine.
	
	Sarah's eyes flick over and watch as wine GLUGS into her
	mother's glass.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  SARAH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Sarah's bedroom is full of unpacked boxes, but her twin bed
	has been set up and Sarah is in it, hair wet, pajamas on.
	She reads from a book ("Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway")
	while Meg, drowsy, lies next to her, listening.
	
	                     SARAH
	          "Tom's throat felt so dry and tight
	          that it was a moment before he could
	          make any sound come out.  "Dad!" He
	          croaked.  "I'm - inside - the -
	          machine!" "Great Scott!"  The elder
	          scientist gasped.  He dashed across
	          the laboratory and switched off the
	          repelatron's motor.  "What happened,
	          son?" "The Durafoam hardened, Dad.
	          Get a solvent, quick -- you know the
	          formula!"
	
	INT.  BATHROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the master bathroom, Meg soaks in a bath.  She is
	exhausted.  She reaches for her wine glass, finishes the last
	of it.
	
	She stretches for the bottle, which is on the floor next to
	her.  She refills the glass.  Again.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg, dressed in an old Knicks T-shirt and boxer shorts,
	stands next to the alarm panel in the master bedroom, reading
	from an instruction manual.  She's frustrated.  She mutters,
	slurring, a bit drunk.
	
	                     MEG
	          Bypass non-ready zones... shunt,
	          enter, zone number...
	
	She tries it, pushing a few buttons, but the alarm panel
	BEEPS at her disapprovingly.  She's doing something wrong.
	
	She sighs, sits on the floor, gets serious about figuring out
	the instructions.
	
	                     MEG
	          Bypass non-ready zones... ah, shunt,
	          enter, shunt again, zone number...
	          wait...
	
	HER FINGERS
	
	dance over the alarm panel, some time later.  She seems to
	have figured it out, and a small light on the panel lights
	up.
	
	SYSTEM ARMED
	
	The very moment the red light goes on, we cut sharply to --
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	-- the darkened panic room, where the dozen small video
	screens all suddenly wink to life, showing a dozen views of
	the house.  Whatever she pushed turned these on too, probably
	not what she meant to do, but at least she got the alarm on
	for the night.
	
	The door that leads from the panic room to the master bedroom
	hangs open.  In the middle of the floor in here, somebody has
	made a small tent of blankets and couch cushions.  Sarah must
	have been playing here before bed.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg puts sheets on her bed in the master bedroom.
	
	She fills a glass of water, puts it on a box she's using for
	a night table.
	
	She plugs in a battery charger for her cell phone, places the
	phone in the cradle.  It BEEPS.  "Charging."
	
	She sets the digital clock, puts it next to the glass of
	water.  It's 12:26.
	
	She gets in bed, her side, the left side.
	
	She lies in the dark, half an acre of empty bed across from
	her.
	
	We drift off her, see the clock again.  The time changes, the
	number one dissolves away, changing the time to --
	
	                                             DISSOLVE TO:
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	-- 2:26.  Meg is in a hard, boozy sleep.  We drift out the
	door of the master bedroom, into the third floor hallway, and
	down the open stairwell.  We glide through the entry floor,
	still gently falling through the stairwell's airway, dropping
	even further, all the way down to the kitchen floor, the
	ground floor.
	
	We drift across the darkened kitchen, serpentine through the
	canyon of moving boxes, approach the window that looks out on
	the street.
	
	We move right up against the window, peer through the glass
	just as --
	
	-- a van pulls up across the street and stops.  Can't see
	through its windows.  No movement for a moment, then the
	driver's door opens and a MAN climbs out.  He wears dark
	clothes.
	
	The Man closes the door, looks both ways, and starts across
	the street towards us.  He's carrying a bag of some kind.
	
	He goes to the door, and we drift down toward the doorknob.
	We hear a key slide into the door, rattle.
	
	But the lock doesn't turn.  The key slides out, back in
	again, jiggles.  Still won't open the door.
	
	The Man steps away from the door, goes to the kitchen window,
	which is heavily barred, and peers inside, right at us.
	Can't see anything, it's darker in here than it is out there.
	
	He turns, looks both ways on the street again, then steps up,
	onto the window ledge.  Now we can only see his legs, can't
	tell what he's doing.  He's reaching up, stretching for
	something.  It drops into view with a metallic SCRAPE.
	
	The fire escape.
	
	The Man climbs, his feet disappearing from our field of
	vision.
	
	We turn around, facing the other way in the kitchen.  We
	start back the way we came, through the canyon of boxes in
	the kitchen, toward the stairwell.
	
	INT.  STAIRWELL - NIGHT
	
	Back in the stairwell, the exact reverse of the shot we saw
	earlier.  We're drifting up, off the kitchen floor, through
	the entry floor, and as we rise we notice something all the
	way up on the roof that we couldn't see before, when we were
	looking down.
	
	A skylight.  We continue to rise, drawn toward it.  We move
	up, through the master bedroom floor, creeping up alongside
	the stair banister, now reaching the top floor of the house,
	and just as we near the skylight --
	
	-- a figure appears, visible through it.  The Man in dark
	clothes, on the roof now.  He stops, peers down through the
	skylight, looking at us without seeing us again.
	
	He steps across the skylight.  This is not the way he intends
	to enter.  We drift again, following his soft footsteps on
	the roof, which we can hear faintly through the ceiling.
	
	Here in the hall, just outside Sarah's bedroom, a closet door
	is ajar.  We squeeze through the gap and into the closet.
	
	IN THE CLOSET,
	
	it's completely dark.  Can't see a thing.  But then a sliver
	of light appears, coming from above.  We look up.
	
	There is a ladder that's bolted to the wall in this closet,
	it leads up to a square panel in the ceiling.
	
	Roof access.  And that roof access panel is moving, ever so
	slightly, moonlight spilling in as it twists in its setting.
	A shiny silver something slides through the crack along the
	edges of the portal.
	
	It slithers along the edge of the hatchway, searching for
	something.  It finds a small round nub in the crack.  The
	silver something stops.  It HUMS with electricity for a
	moment, then there is a bright spark and a soft CRACK.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the master bedroom, a message appears on the alarm panel:
	
	ZONE 19 DISABLED
	
	INT.  CLOSET - NIGHT
	
	In the closet, the silver something withdraws and the roof
	access panel is removed.  A million stars are visible in the
	night sky above.  But we're inside.
	
	And in a moment, so is this intruder.  The Man peers down,
	through the open hatchway, then slips through the opening and
	climbs silently down the ladder.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In bed, Meg stirs.  An alcohol sleep is a restless one, and
	she's suffering.
	
	She sits up groggily, chugs a glass of water.  Lies down
	again.
	
	INT.  FOURTH FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	One floor up, the Man steps into the hallway and starts for
	the stairs, moving quickly and confidently.  Knows where he's
	going, knows what he wants.  He starts down the stairs,
	happens to glance to the side as he does so.
	
	He freezes.  He's looking in the open doorway of the top
	floor bathroom, staring hard at something that clearly
	disturbs him.
	
	A nightlight.  Plugged into an outlet in the baseboard in the
	bathroom.  (For the record, it's the Power Puff Girls.)  The
	Man climbs the stairs again, concerned, goes to the door of
	the bathroom.  He looks from the nightlight to the
	countertop.
	
	There's a moving box on the countertop.  His eyes widen.
	This is news to him, bad news.
	
	He takes a step back and a breath.  He turns, looks to the
	end of the hall.  His eyes now adjusted to the darkness, he
	notices something he didn't see before, something coming from
	under the door to the fourth floor bedroom.
	
	Light.  From inside.  From another nightlight.
	
	INT.  SARAH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the top floor bedroom, a nightlight burns in another
	outlet.  Nearby, Sarah is asleep in bed, the covers kicked
	off.
	
	The door to Sarah's bedroom glides open, terribly slowly.
	The Man stands in the doorway, staring, aghast, at the
	mountain of moving boxes piled in the room.  His gaze falls
	on Sarah in the bed.
	
	The Man just stares, beside himself.  His lips mouth a word,
	soundlessly.  Doesn't take a lip reader to guess it.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the master bedroom, Meg flops over in bed, facing away
	from the doorway, really having a rough go of it.  She slept
	too hard before, now she's awake, her head is killing her,
	she's really paying the price of four glasses of wine.
	
	She lies still, on her side, facing us.
	
	Behind her, the bedroom door moves, silently.
	
	Opening.
	
	The Man stands there, one finger still on the door he's just
	pushed open.  He stares at the sleeping form of Meg on the
	bed, whose back is to him.  He has no idea she's awake.
	
	Meg lies in bed, eyes wide open, no idea a Man is standing in
	the doorway to her bedroom.
	
	Noiselessly, the Man moves away, down the hall.  The moment
	his head disappears down the stairwell --
	
	-- Meg flops over again, facing the doorway.  She closes her
	eyes, gives sleep another try.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - NIGHT
	
	The Man walks across the kitchen, shaking his head in
	exasperation at the packing boxes all around him.  He goes to
	the front window, peers outside.  He reaches for a light
	switch on his right.
	
	Through the window, we can see the stoop light go on.  Then
	off, then on and off again.
	
	Still through the window, we see the side panel door of the
	van slide open.
	
	TWO MORE MEN climb out.  They are also dressed in dark
	clothes.  They also carry satchels.
	
	They walks calmly across the street, grow large in the window
	as they approach us.  The first intruder (who has a name,
	it's BURNHAM) steps over to the kitchen door, runs his
	silvery strip through the gap.  Another HUM and spark.
	
	AN ALARM PANEL
	
	flashes again.
	
	ZONE 1 DISABLED
	
	IN THE KITCHEN,
	
	Burnham opens the kitchen door, letting the two other guys
	slip inside.  RAOUL is a hulking figure whose back seems to
	rise up over the top of his slouching head; when he walks it
	looks like gravity does all the work, just pulling him
	forward.  JUNIOR is much smaller, very high-strung, dresses
	like a homey, very street, but can't hide the fact that the
	street is Park Avenue.
	
	They all freeze, staring at the moving boxes.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Fuck.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I know.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          What?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          A woman and a little girl, both
	          asleep upstairs.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Fuck!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Keep your voice down.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          They're not supposed to be here!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          This was your department, Junior.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          They're not supposed to be here!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          That's why the key didn't work, they
	          changed the locks.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Fourteen day escrow, man, that's
	          almost three weeks!  They shouldn't
	          be here for another week!  They
	          don't own this house yet!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	               (pause)
	          Exactly how is fourteen days almost
	          three weeks?
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Fourteen business days.  Escrow is
	          always business days.
	
	Burnham sighs.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          I mean, right?  Isn't it?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          You're an idiot.
	
	Raoul steps forward, shoves Burnham with both hands in the
	chest.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Watch your mouth.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          It's okay, Raoul.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	               (to Junior)
	          Who is this guy?
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Raoul is cool.  That's all you need
	          to know.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          This is insane.  I'm outta here.
	
	He starts for the door.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Wait a minute, wait a minute.  We
	          can still handle this.
	               (to Raoul)
	          Can we still handle this?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          It's just the woman and the kid?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Unless Daddy comes back later.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Daddy's not coming back, she's in
	          the middle of a divorce, it's just
	          the two of them.  We're okay, here.
	               (to Raoul)
	          We can do this, right?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You're fuckin' A we can do this.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Not with me.  Not with people.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Forty-five minutes.  That's all you
	          said you need.  That's like nothing.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          She'll call the cops, they'll be
	          here before I get unpacked.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          So we keep an eye on her.  Raoul can
	          totally administrate that part.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          No problem.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I don't want Raoul to administrate
	          that part.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          They won't get hurt.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          What about us?  What if she has a
	          gun?
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Raoul, what in God's name do we do
	          if she has a gun?
	
	Raoul pulls up his sweatshirt, revealing a .38 tucked into
	his belt.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Asshole.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          A guy shows you a gun, Burnham, and
	          you insult him?  Hey, who's the
	          idiot?  Huh?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Where did you get this clown?
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          I met him at the tables, same as
	          you.  And frankly, I'm grateful we
	          have a little muscle right about
	          now.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          What tables?  I've never seen him
	          before.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Different tables.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	               (to Raoul)
	          The fuck did you bring a gun for?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You're welcome.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Peace out.
	
	He moves for the door.  Junior, trying desperately to hold
	this together, gets there first, blocks the door with his
	back.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          We can't do it without you, Burnham.
	
	Junior starts at Burnham.  Raoul stares at Burnham.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          It's still a good plan.  It's
	          just... got a twist.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Yeah.  Kidnapping.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Not if we keep 'em here.  You can't
	          kidnap somebody in their own house.
	          It's just breaking and entering,
	          unless we take 'em someplace.  Or
	          something like that, I'm pretty
	          sure.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Pure idiot.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          I am.  I'm an idiot's son.  An
	          idiot's grandson.  I'm third-
	          generation idiot.  But for once in
	          my life I had a good idea, and I'm
	          not giving up so easy.  You are?
	          Are you actually telling me that for
	          the first time in your life you're
	          gonna throw your cards on the table
	          and go home early?  I can't believe
	          my eyes.
	               (Burnham hesitates)
	          Fourteen million dollars upstairs,
	          Burnham.  You'll be out of the hole.
	          Baby, you'll be so far out of the
	          hole you could draw bricks every
	          night for the next twenty years and
	          still shit green.
	               (Burnham sways)
	          Come on, Buddy.  One more hand.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg sits up in bed.  She's bleary, her head feels like
	someone rested a manhole cover on it.  She gets up, in the
	dark, and staggers off toward the bathroom door, feeling her
	way with her arms, her eyes not adjusted to the dark.
	
	She steps through the door.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	She walks into the bathroom and feels around for a light
	switch, but can't find it.  She blinks, squints, tries to get
	her bearings.  The only light is a harsh white glow that
	comes from along one wall, from a bank of tiny video
	monitors.
	
	She finds the light switch, flicks it on, it nearly blinds
	her.  She's not in the bathroom.  She's wandered into the
	panic room by mistake.
	
	She turns around, walks out, leaving the lights on behind
	her.
	
	We linger for a look at the video screens.  If only she'd
	done the same, she'd see what we see.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	we see the three men, still in the kitchen, huddled in a
	group, silently debating what to do.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Using the light that spills from the open door to the panic
	room, Meg comes back into the master bedroom and finds the
	proper door to the bathroom.
	
	INT.  BATHROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg SNAPS the cap off a jug of Advil and dumps three into her
	palm.  She pops them in her mouth, searches for a glass for
	water, finds none, bends to the spout for a gulp to wash them
	down.
	
	She turns to the toilet.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	On the monitor, we see the three men leave the kitchen and
	start up the stairs.
	
	INT.  BATHROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg stands, flushes the toilet.
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	One floor down, Burnham, Raoul, and Junior freeze, just
	coming up the stairs from the kitchen.  They look up, hearing
	the water rushing through the pipes in the ceiling directly
	above them.
	
	They stare at the ceiling, following with their eyes as a
	pair of feet pad across the CREAKY floor.  Finally, they hear
	a SQUEAK of bedsprings as Meg climbs back into bed.
	
	They hold a moment longer, a silence grows.  Raoul reaches
	into his jacket pocket and pulls out a ski mask.  He pulls it
	over his head.  They look at him.
	
	                     RAOUL
	               (whispers)
	          No face.
	
	Burnham rolls his eyes.  Doesn't know this guy much, but
	hates him so far.  They start across the foyer toward the
	stairs.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg rolls over, to go back to sleep.  She sees she's left the
	lights on in the panic room.  She TSKS, gets out of bed, and
	walks across the floor toward it.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg steps into the panic room, raises her hand to the light
	switch --
	
	-- and stops, her hand frozen in mid-air.  She cocks her
	head, looking at something she can't understand.
	
	She blinks.  Takes a step, further into the room.  She stares
	at the video monitors -- at the three men in dark clothes,
	stealing silently across the foyer.
	
	This can't be.  These are just pictures, they have no
	relation to reality.  She drops to her knees, her face inches
	from the screens, and reaches out to touch them, as if trying
	to make sure they're really there.
	
	INT.  STAIRWELL - NIGHT
	
	They reach the base of the stairs, Junior in the lead.  As he
	reaches a bend at the base of the stairs, he places one foot
	short on an angled step and it slips off.  He trips, falls
	forward.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Watching the video monitors, Meg stares in horror as the
	image of Junior slipping is verified by the SLAP of his hands
	on the stairs as he catches himself, audible through the open
	door to the panic room.
	
	She GASPS.  It is real.
	
	INT.  STAIRWELL - NIGHT
	
	In the living room, Burnham's eyes are wide as saucers,
	staring at Junior as he turns and pulls himself to his feet.
	
	Junior points at Raoul, speaks in an urgent whisper.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Top floor, get the little girl and
	          keep her there.  I'll bring the
	          woman up.  Gimme.
	
	He holds out his hand for the gun and Raoul gives it to him.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	               (points to Burnham)
	          Stay here.  Nobody gets past you.
	
	He heads for the stairs.  Raoul follows close behind him.
	Burnham stays, reluctant -- what the fuck has he gotten
	himself into?
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg moves.  Leaps to her feet and dashes out of the room.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg races across her bedroom, flies out the door, and bolts
	up the carpeted stairs, headed for the top floor.
	
	INT.  SARAH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg races into Sarah's room, drops onto the bed, and grabs
	Sarah by the shoulders, trying to rouse her.
	
	                     MEG
	          Wake up... wake up...
	
	But she's in a profound child's sleep and won't wake up.
	
	INT.  THIRD FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	One floor down, Junior and Raoul reach the third floor
	landing.  Still moving stealthily, Junior heads down the hall
	for the master bedroom, where he thinks Meg is sleeping.
	Raoul heads for the stairs that lead to the top floor.
	
	INT.  SARAH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg is desperate, still can't wake Sarah.
	
	                     MEG
	          Wake up...come on, come on...
	
	She sees a plastic cup on her night table/box, half filled
	with water.  She snatches it and tosses the water in her
	face.
	
	Now she's awake.  And pissed off.  She SPUTTERS, SHOUTS.
	
	                     SARAH
	          WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!
	
	INT.  THIRD FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	Raoul, at the base of the stairs that lead to the top floor,
	hears the kid shouting.  He starts up the stairs, quickly.
	
	INT.  SARAH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	On the top floor, Meg is already dragging Sarah out of the
	room and into the hallway.
	
	INT.  HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	Meg and Sarah come out of Sarah's bedroom just as Raoul
	reaches the top of the stairs at the other end.  They're cut
	off.
	
	Meg freezes, staring at the hulking ski-masked figure at the
	end of the hallway.  She thinks, no idea what to do for a
	second.  She looks frantically to her right -- the bathroom,
	dead end.
	
	She looks to her left.
	
	The elevator.
	
	She yanks open the elevator door, throws aside the gate, and
	races inside with Sarah.
	
	Raoul takes off down the hall, lunging for the elevator.
	
	INT.  ELEVATOR - NIGHT
	
	Meg SLAMS the gate shut and PUNCHES the button for the first
	floor.  The elevator GROANS to life and starts down --
	slowly.
	
	Sarah looks up at her, terrified.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What's going on?!
	
	                     MEG
	          People.  In the house.
	
	As the elevator descends, they see Raoul, through the window
	in the door, as he drops to his knees, to get a good look at
	them.
	
	INT.  TOP FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	Raoul turns from the elevator, SHOUTS to the open stairwell.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          IN THE ELEVATOR!  BOTH OF 'EM HEADED
	          TOWARD YOU!
	
	INT.  THIRD FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	Junior turns from the open doorway of the master bedroom and
	races back down the hall, toward the elevator.  He reaches
	the door, peers through the window.
	
	He sees the bare feet of Meg and Sarah, dropping toward him.
	He grabs the door handle, pulls as hard as he can, but it
	stays locked, with the elevator moving beyond.
	
	He bangs on the button, hoping the elevator will stop.  As
	Meg and Sarah drop fully into view, he stands there, eye to
	moving eye with her for a moment.  But the elevator doesn't
	stop, it keeps going down.
	
	INT.  ELEVATOR - NIGHT
	
	Meg stands frozen, terrified, staring at Junior as they move
	past him.
	
	Junior has another go at the door, pulling as hard as he can,
	actually bending the door, but the elevator is still moving,
	the catch holds fast and the door won't open.
	
	As they pass, his face suddenly disappears, he takes off.
	
	INT.  STAIRWELL - NIGHT
	
	Junior flies down the stairs, to cut them off at the first
	floor.
	
	INT.  ELEVATOR - NIGHT
	
	                     MEG
	          He's going down.
	
	                     SARAH
	          That room!
	
	                     MEG
	          What?!
	
	                     SARAH
	          PANIC ROOM!
	
	Meg thinks, then punches the button for three, to go back up.
	
	But the elevator continues down.  She jabs at it, futilely.
	
	                     SARAH
	          No.  you gotta...
	
	She reaches past her, pushes the STOP button.  The elevator
	jerks to a halt.  Then Sarah pushes three.  Now the elevator
	starts to rise.
	
	Meg looks at her, impressed.  Love that kid.
	
	INT.  ENTRY FLOOR - NIGHT
	
	In the foyer, Junior freezes, hearing the elevator stop and
	start again.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          SHE'S COMING BACK UP TOWARD YOU!!
	
	He takes off up the stairs again.  Burnham can't take it
	anymore, he takes off after Junior, following him upstairs.
	
	INT.  FOURTH FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	Raoul, still on the top floor, heads for the stairs, fast.
	
	INT.  STAIRWELL - NIGHT
	
	Junior races back up the stairs.  They have her caught in the
	middle.
	
	INT.  THIRD FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	The door to the elevator BANGS open on three, the gate
	RATTLES aside, and Meg and Sarah leap out.  They take off
	down the hall, toward the doorway to the master bedroom.
	
	Raoul flies down the stairs, not twenty feet behind them.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg and Sarah run through the master bedroom.  As she passes
	the night table, Sarah swings an open hand to grab her cell
	phone from its cradle.  But in her haste she starts to pull
	it out at an angle and the prongs at the bottom stick in the
	charger.  The phone slips from her fingers, bounces off the
	corner of the table, caroms off her foot, and skitters under
	the bed.
	
	Sarah turns, looks to the head of the stairs just as Junior
	turns the corner and Raoul thunders down the steps from four.
	
	She abandons the phone, grabs Sarah, and they lunge through
	the open doorway to the panic room.
	
	Junior and Raoul burst through the doorway to the bedroom,
	just a few steps away.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg and Sarah trip over each other coming through the
	doorway, they tumble to the floor of the panic room, the door
	wide open behind them.  Meg spins around, hurls herself at
	the red button on the wall --
	
	-- Junior leaps, sailing through the air toward them --
	
	-- Meg SLAMS her open palm on the red button, the massive
	coiled spring that holds the metal door open is released, the
	steel barrier leaps forward out of the wall --
	
	-- and WHANGS shut in a split-second.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Junior SLAMS into the closing metal door, banging his
	shoulder into it, and slithers to the ground, too late.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg rolls over and pulls Sarah into her arms, both of them
	breathing hard, asking each other if they're okay, scared out
	of their minds.
	
	But safe.
	
	She spots the telephone, the one with the special buried
	phone line.  She lunges for it, snatches it from its cradle,
	listens for a dial tone.
	
	Nothing there either.
	
	                     MEG
	          Damn it!
	
	                     SARAH
	          It doesn't work?!
	
	                     MEG
	          Different phone line, I never hooked
	          it up!
	
	She hurls it down, looks back at Sarah.  She seems a bit
	pale, scared.  She goes to her, holds her, reassures her.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Junior is slumped at the base of the door, livid, in pain,
	pounding on it with his fists, screaming "NO!" over and over
	again, crazy with rage.
	
	Raoul stands in the middle of the room, chest heaving, hands
	on his knees.
	
	Burnham finally walks into the room and stops in the doorway,
	looks from Raoul to Junior to the door to the panic room,
	figures out the situation.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Tell me... tell me they're not in
	          there...
	
	We rise up, above them, above the room, looking down on them,
	the rats-in-a-maze shot.
	
	We rise up further still, above where the ceiling ought to
	be, to look down on this room and the one beside it, the room
	behind the four inches of reinforced steel, the panic room in
	which Meg and Sarah kneel in the middle of the floor, holding
	each other tight.
	
	Standoff.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Very close on the metal door, from inside the panic room.  An
	ear moves slowly into frame, presses against the cold steel.
	Listens.
	
	Meg pulls away from the door, shaking her head.
	
	                     MEG
	          Can't hear a thing.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What do they want?
	
	                     MEG
	          I don't know.  Rob us.  I don't
	          know.
	
	She sits back against a wall, looks around, at the tiny room.
	She's trying not to show how freaked out she is.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What do we do?
	
	                     MEG
	          Wait.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What if they get in here?
	
	                     MEG
	          They can't.  They can't get in here.
	          No.  They can't.
	
	                     SARAH
	          I heard you.
	
	                     MEG
	          Feel okay?
	
	                     SARAH
	          Yeah.
	
	                     MEG
	          Shaky?
	
	                     SARAH
	          Nope.
	
	                     MEG
	          Chills?
	
	                     SARAH
	          Huh uh.
	
	She checks her wristwatch, for some reason.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Don't worry about me.
	
	The implications being, worry about yourself.
	
	Sarah crawls over to the bank of video monitors, studies
	them.  Meg crawls over to join her.  They scan the screens.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	there are a dozen different views of the house.  Front stoop.
	Kitchen.  Dining room.  Entry floor.  Living room.  Master
	bedroom.  Den.  Top floor bedrooms, both of them.  Top two
	floor hallways.  Even one with a shot of the inside of the
	elevator.
	
	The three intruders are gathered in the living room, standing
	in a tight circle, having a hell of an argument.  Lots of
	gesturing, fingers jabbing in chests, but we can't hear a
	word.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg furrows her brow, noticing something interesting to the
	right of the video monitors.  She slides over, studies a
	panel there with sixteen different buttons and a small
	grilled area.
	
	                     MEG
	          Hey...
	
	Sarah joins her, looks at the buttons.  Each one is labeled
	with a different room name -- den, kitchen, master bedroom,
	etc.  Up in the corner there is a button that says "ALL
	PAGE," down in the opposite corner there's a button marked
	"TALK."
	
	Meg looks at Sarah.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Go ahead.
	
	Meg is reluctant, frightened.  Sarah is encouraging, for the
	first time.
	
	                     SARAH
	          You can do it.
	
	Meg leans forward, clears her throat.
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham, Raoul, and Junior are standing in the half-darkened
	living room, in the middle of their argument, when a VOICE
	booms around them.
	
	                     MEG (O.S.)
	          Excuse me.
	
	They practically jump out of their shoes, looking around for
	the source of the voice.
	
	                     MEG (O.S.)
	          The police are on their way.
	
	Only Burnham has remained relatively calm.  After he gets
	over the initial shock, he walks toward the tiny camera
	that's hidden in an upper corner of the living room wall and
	stares up at it.  Raoul, who has taken off his ski mask, is
	careful to move out of the camera's range, and turn his back
	to it.
	
	                     MEG
	          I suggest you leave.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	Burnham looks up at the camera and shakes his head, wagging a
	finger from side to side.  He raises a hand, makes a gesture
	like a telephone, then wags his finger again.  The message is
	clear -- you don't have a phone.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg is puzzled.
	
	                     MEG
	          How'd he know that?
	
	She presses the talk button again.
	
	                     MEG
	               (into speaker)
	          Take what you want and get out.
	
	That sounded fairly tough.  She looks at the monitor again.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	the three of them have an urgent, whispered conference, then
	they all start patting their pockets for some reason, turning
	in circles, looking for something.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg and Sarah watch them, confused.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	Burnham holds up a finger to the camera -- wait a second --
	while Raoul and Junior rush off screen, looking for
	something.  Junior returns a moment later holding something
	and the three of them hunch over a box, working on something.
	
	After a moment, they break apart and Junior steps up to the
	camera holding a pad of paper.  He shows it to the camera.
	On the top page, in big block letters, they've written.
	
	WHAT WE WANT
	
	After a suitable pause for reading, he turns to the second
	page, where four more words are written.
	
	IS IN THAT ROOM.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah GASPS, Meg sits back.
	
	                     MEG
	          "What we want is in that room."
	
	                     SARAH
	          They're coming in here, aren't they?
	
	                     MEG
	          No, I told you, they can't.  It's
	          not a possibility.
	
	Angry, she sits forward and jabs the talk button.
	
	                     MEG
	               (into speaker)
	          What do you know about this room?
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	there is more frenzied writing, more arguing, and a first
	draft of a response torn up.  Finally, Junior steps forward
	with another sign:
	
	MORE THAN YOU.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg's confidence is ebbing, but she doesn't want to show it.
	She hits the talk button again.
	
	                     MEG
	               (into speaker)
	          We're not coming out.  We're not
	          letting you in.  Get out of my
	          house.
	               (clicks off)
	
	                     SARAH
	          Say fuck.
	
	                     MEG
	               (into speaker)
	          Fuck.
	
	                     SARAH
	          "Get the fuck out of my house."
	
	                     MEG
	               (into speaker)
	          Get the fuck out of my house!
	
	She clicks off again, looks to Sarah for approval, and gets
	it, sort of, in Sarah's half-smile.  But Sarah's eyes go back
	to the screen.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Answer.
	
	Meg follows Sarah's eyes back to the screen, where another
	message is being held up for them.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	the notepad says:
	
	WE WILL LET YOU GO.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg and Sarah speak at the same time.
	
	                     MEG
	          Oh, please.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Give me a break.
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the living room, her voice booms from the speaker.
	
	                     MEG (O.S.)
	          Conversation's over.
	
	With an audible CLICK, she signs off.  Burnham, Raoul, and
	Junior stand arrayed beneath the camera, staring up at it,
	dumbfounded.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Got her right where you want her,
	          Junior.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Shut up.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          When you said you'd let 'em go I
	          thought she'd come running right out
	          for sure.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Shut up and let me think.
	
	He opens a pack of cigarettes, takes out a joint and lights
	it.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I'm afraid to let you think, Junior.
	          Things get worse when you think.
	               (sniffs)
	          Oh, that's gonna help.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	               (holding in a hit)
	          Okay, fuckball, you think.  What are
	          we gonna do?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          What if she called the cops?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          She didn't.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          She said she did.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          She lied.  Cops woulda been here by
	          now if she called 'em.  Besides,
	          Junior cut the phones.
	
	Burnham goes to the window and stares outside.  He laughs,
	covers his face.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          What the fuck is funny about this?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          God.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          There is not one thing funny here.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Who else but God could think this
	          shit up?  I spend ten years building
	          those fucking rooms to keep people
	          out, now I gotta figure out how to
	          get in.  God, man, He just loves the
	          irony.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Yes.  Yes, it's all terrible ironic
	          and amusing.  You fuck.  Now how are
	          you gonna get us into that room?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Can't.  Whole point.  Can't get in
	          the room.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          So what the fuck are we supposed to
	          do?!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Make her come out.  And when she
	          does, that's when we gotta be
	          careful.  She can't get out of this
	          house.  She can't even think she can
	          get out of this house.  We just keep
	          them here and keep them quiet for
	          forty-five minutes.  And I don't
	          want
	               (Raoul)
	          Joe Pesci here standing over them
	          with his fat sweaty finger on the
	          trigger.  That's a sure way for us
	          to end up with two dead bodies and
	          little puffs of smoke burning out of
	          our heads up in Greenhaven.  So
	          we're gonna seal the place up.  They
	          wanna hole up in here?  Fine, we'll
	          help 'em.  Make it impossible for
	          them to leave.  Once they come out
	          of that room.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          And why exactly would they want to
	          come out?
	
	At the window, Burnham notices something sitting just outside
	the French doors, on the balcony.  It's a large outdoor
	barbecue grill.  He thinks, takes a step closer.
	
	He sees a white five gallon tank of some kind underneath the
	grill.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Workin' on it.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the panic room, Meg is sitting cross-legged on the floor,
	leaning against a wall, but Sarah is in motion, sorting
	through shelves, opening drawers.  Every drawer has something
	in it, sealed under plastic.  She opens and closes, sorts and
	lifts finds the following:
	
	Waterproof matches and lighters.
	
	Flashlights.
	
	Unopened packages of batteries.
	
	Sealed water bags stamped "PURE FIVE YEARS FROM DATE."
	
	Tinned food.
	
	Flares.
	
	Pillows, fireproof blankets (we know because the bags are
	stamped FIREPROOF BLANKET).
	
	A complete tool kit.
	
	As Sarah explores, she discovers something in the far wall at
	the end of the room, down on the floor at eye level.
	
	It's a small round portal, about eight inches across, with a
	four-pronged cloverlike seal.  The portal is closed tight, as
	Sarah pokes and scrapes at it idly with a finger or two, it
	resists her attempts to crank it open.
	
	Meg notices.
	
	                     MEG
	          Hey.  Relax, okay?
	
	But Sarah keeps at it, feels along the edges of the portal,
	then all along the wall, looking for some kind of hidden
	switch that controls it.
	
	                     MEG
	          I mean it, lie down.  You get your
	          adrenaline up and you know what's
	          gonna happen.
	
	Sarah stops, looks at her mother, who is pale and wan,
	huddled in the corner.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Are you freaking out?
	
	                     MEG
	          Little bit.  Yeah.
	
	Sarah looks around the room.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Small space?
	
	                     MEG
	               (nods, fast)
	          Don't though.
	               (talk about it, that is)
	
	Sarah looks at her, thinks.  It's not an unfamiliar
	situation, her needing to comfort her mother.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Why did the chicken cross the road?
	
	                     MEG
	          What am I, a five year old?
	
	                     SARAH
	          Why did the chicken cross the road?
	
	                     MEG
	          I don't know, why?
	
	                     SARAH
	          To prove he wasn't chicken.
	
	Meg tries to push a smile across her face, but it's
	immediately dashes as she looks back at the video screens.
	Her eyes show alarm, staring at the kitchen.
	
	                     MEG
	          What the hell are they doing?
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - NIGHT
	
	The contents of one of the satchels is dumped out over the
	kitchen counter, every kind of tool imaginable, many that are
	unfamiliar to us.  They sort through the pile, choosing
	things.
	
	INT.  KITCHEN FLOOR - REAR DOORS - NIGHT
	
	At the French doors that lead to the garden, Burnham has a
	cordless screwdriver and a pile of long screws in his hand.
	He reaches up, drills a screw through the door, into the
	corner of the door frame.  He does the same at the bottom of
	the door.
	
	He unlocks the doorknob, tries it.  The screws hold the door
	fast.  He moves on, to the next door.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the panic room, Meg stares at the video screens, eyes
	wide, terrified.  She watches them.  Can't take her eyes off
	them.
	
	                     MEG
	               (barely audible)
	          ... locking us in...
	
	INT.  LIBRARY - NIGHT
	
	In the library, in the front of the house, Raoul screws shut
	a window, driving the long screws into its frame.  He looks
	out at the street, at two CLUBGOERS walking home.
	
	He pulls the drape.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg's hands are over her mouth, she's trembling, shaking her
	head from side to side.  This can't be happening.
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - NIGHT
	
	In the kitchen, Junior goes to the wall phone Meg used to
	call for pizza earlier.  He cuts the phone wire with a
	knife.
	
	He stands there, staring at the phone, wiping the sweat from
	his palms on his pants.  Not satisfied, he pulls the phone
	itself out of the wall, cuts the cord for the handset too.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg pushes herself back into the corner of the panic room,
	horrified.  Sweat has broken out on her forehead, her whole
	body seems to vibrate.  Sarah comes over, leans in front of
	her.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Mom?
	
	But Sarah's voice is hollow, seems far away.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Are you okay?
	
	Meg looks at her.  As she watches, Sarah floats away from
	her.  In fact, the entire room is floating away from her,
	elongating.
	
	And narrowing.  Meg looks to the sides, and the walls don't
	just seem like they're pushing in on her, they are pushing in
	on her.
	
	Meg opens her mouth, screams, but no sound comes out.
	
	Sarah stands up and bends over her, but now she's just a
	figure far away, all the way at the end of a long, impossibly
	narrow hall.
	
	                     SARAH
	               (barely heard)
	          MOM?!  MOM!!
	
	Meg crawls out, into the middle of that hallway, to get away
	from the wall, but they both continue moving in on her.
	
	                     MEG
	          Not here... not here... someplace
	          else... someplace else...
	
	Her eyes roll back into her head, we see just the whites, and
	she loses her balance, falling over onto her back.
	
	We fall with her, move in tight on her face, and the dark
	hallway carpet beneath it turns to green, all green, grassy
	green.  She sits up, looks around, and we realize she is in
	fact somewhere else, she's --
	
	EXT.  GREAT LAWN - DAY
	
	-- in the middle of the Great Lawn, in Central Park.  She
	stands, turns in a circle, she's completely alone on the
	great green grassy plain in the middle of a beautiful spring
	day, tall buildings sparkling in the distance.
	
	Meg stretches her arms out, smiles, but far off in the
	distance, she hears a voice calling to her, dimly:
	
	                     SARAH (O.S.)
	          Mom?!  Mom!!
	
	Meg ignores the voice, she's so happy to be out here, out in
	the open, in the beautiful wide open, she could stay here
	forever, she spins around, throws her head back, but there's
	that voice again, insistent:
	
	                     SARAH (O.S.)
	          Mom, please!!
	
	There is the sharp sound of a SLAP, and Meg's face abruptly
	jerks to the side.  She touches her cheek, confused, as a hot
	red handprint rises up on it.
	
	What the hell was that?
	
	BAM!
	
	Now the perfect spring day is shattered suddenly by a
	deafening CRUNCH.  The smile vanishes from Meg's face, she
	turns.  Where did that come from?
	
	BAM!  Another one, even louder.  Meg's whole body winces at
	the sound.
	
	BAM!  A third one, and on this one Meg falls to her knees,
	covering her ears, walls spring up around her, right there on
	the Great Lawn, we rush in on her, the walls close in, and
	she's right back --
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	-- in the panic room, where she always was, and that pounding
	is real, it's right outside the door, it's like somebody's
	trying to smash their way right through the wall.
	
	Sarah is right over Meg, holding her by the arms, and that
	handprint on Meg's face is real, Sarah must have slapped her
	to try to bring her out of it.
	
	                     SARAH
	          THEY'RE COMING IN!  THEY'RE COMING
	          IN!
	
	Meg looks to the wall, watches it seem to vibrate as another
	deafening BANG crunches into it from outside.
	
	BAM!  BAM!  BAM!  The sound is deafening.  Sarah throws both
	hands over her ears.  Meg looks around, still disoriented.
	
	                     SARAH
	          YOU CAN'T DO THAT!  YOU CAN'T FREAK
	          OUT LIKE THAT!  YOU HAVE TO STAY
	          HERE WITH ME!
	
	                     MEG
	          I am.  I'm here.
	
	                     SARAH
	          YOU HAVE TO!
	
	                     MEG
	          I'm here.  I'm here.
	
	They huddle there, terrified.  Meg blinks, wipes the sweat
	from her forehead, begins to come back around.  She turns her
	head, sneaks a look at the funny wristwatch Sarah wears,
	tries to look without her daughter knowing.  It's not an
	ordinary watch, it only has one number, a tall, flashing
	digital display:
	
	120
	
	Meg nods, as if reassuring herself.
	
	                     MEG
	          We're fine.  We're okay.
	
	She turns, looks at the video monitors to see what the hell
	they're doing out there.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	BAM!
	
	In the master bedroom, a claw hammer CRUNCHES into the
	sheetrock on the outer wall of the panic room.
	
	The intruders are in the master bedroom now, and Burnham is
	like a man possessed, tearing at the sheetrock with the sharp
	end of the tool while Junior shines a flashlight into the
	hole.
	
	As the sheetrock tears away, we see the skeleton of the wall
	behind it.  There's a latticework of two by four studs, and
	beyond those the dull shine of the wall's metal core.
	
	But that's not what he's after.  He continues tearing,
	reveals an air duct running through the wall, feeding into
	the panic room through a welded hole in the steel.  Burnham
	tears away with the hammer, exposing a short section of the
	duct.
	
	CLANG!  The claw hammer drops into an opened toolbox.
	Burnham drops to his knees, rips open another tool case.
	This one has a sophisticated looking power drill in it, along
	with a couple dozen specialized bits.  He selects one, twists
	it into the drill.
	
	At the wall, Burnham puts drill to metal and hits the switch.
	A horrendous METAL SCREECH fills the air and the drill bit
	tears into the duct, opening up a jagged hole about the size
	of a quarter.
	
	Raoul hurries through the doorway of the bedroom, carrying a
	coiled garden hose.  Burnham snaps his fingers for it, Raoul
	tosses it to him, holding one end, and the hose uncoils in
	the air as it snakes across the room.
	
	Burnham shoves the end of the garden hose into the hole he's
	just drilled in the air duct.
	
	RIP!  He tears off a length of duct tape and seals the
	connection, makes it airtight.
	
	SLIT!  Using a large hunting knife, Raoul hacks a ten foot
	section of the garden hose off the coil.
	He stretches it out, across the room, to the white five
	gallon tank we saw before, which is now sitting on the floor
	up here.  We move in close as Burnham snugs the cut end of
	the garden hose over a spigot at the top of the tank.  Red
	block letters are easy to read on the side of the tank.
	
	PROPANE
	CAUTION - FLAMMABLE
	
	Along with a number of other dire warnings.
	
	Burnham raises his hand to the knob, hesitates, doesn't
	really want to do this, but doesn't stop himself either.
	
	He spins it open.  Halfway.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Open it.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I did.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          He said open it.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Just sending a message.  She'll get
	          the point.
	
	Gas HISSES through the spigot and into the hose.  We follow
	along the length of the hose, across the floor of the room,
	through the hole in the sheetrock, into the hole that's been
	drilled in the air duct --
	
	INSIDE THE WALL
	
	-- through the wall itself, where we see the horizontal lines
	of an air vent up ahead.  We squeeze between two of the
	horizontal lines --
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	-- and come out in the panic room.  Three red streamers, tied
	to the air vent, flap to life as the gas HISSES into the
	panic room.
	
	Directly underneath the vent, Meg is hunched up against the
	wall, her arm around Sarah.
	
	She sniffs.
	
	Again.
	
	Sarah sniffs.
	
	They look at each other.
	
	She looks up.  Sees the streamers floating above her.
	
	She leaps to her feet, steps up onto a shelf, and stretches
	her nose toward the streamers.  Just as she does --
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Near the tank, Raoul shoves Burnham out of the way.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          We ain't playin', here.
	
	He cranks the valve handle of the grill open all the way.
	The gas pours into the hose with an audible WHOOSH.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg, at the vent, falls back, two lungfuls of propane, and
	drops to her knees on the floor.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What, what, what is it?!
	
	                     MEG
	          On the floor!  Get on the floor!
	
	Now Sarah coughs.  The gas is pouring into the room.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Raoul is standing guard over the tank, to make sure no one
	messes with the valve.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Look, don't be stupid...
	
	Junior has his head pressed against the door to the panic
	room, trying to hear any sounds from within.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Be quiet.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          We're trying to scare them, not kill
	          them!
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          They're coughing.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          They're gonna die in there!
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Nobody is gonna die, man, will you
	          please have the balls to follow
	          through with a good idea?  Think
	          about it, what would you do if you
	          were them, stay in there and choke
	          to death, or come out?!  Huh?  We're
	          just getting them to come out for
	          forty-five minutes, forty-five
	          fucking minutes!  The worst that's
	          gonna happen is they pass out, we
	          drag 'em out here into the fresh
	          air, and they'll be fine.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Junior, you gigantic idiot, how are
	          we supposed to get into the room if
	          they pass out?
	
	Pause.  Junior turns to Raoul.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Cut it back a little bit.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          No fucking way.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          He's right, we can't get into the
	          room if they're dead!
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg and Sarah are down on the floor, rags covering their
	mouths, trying like crazy to filter the air, but it's not
	working.  Sarah is crawling around the base of the wall, near
	to where she was before, clawing at the strange portal thing
	again.
	
	Finally, she finds a small metal handle, folded back into the
	clover-leaf seal on the portal.  She unfolds it, twists it.
	
	The portal cranks open, revealing it to be at the end of a
	tube, about a foot long, an emergency ventilation source
	directly through to the exterior of the house.  She bends
	down and looks through it.  It's covered by a metal mesh at
	the opposite end, but she can see and smell the outside
	through it.
	
	She sits up, gestures to her mother to bend down next to her.
	She does, and they both jam their mouths up near the end of
	the tube, gulping fresh air greedily.
	
	Meg looks at Sarah, good job, and they both drop to the floor
	at the portal and suck air.  It's temporary, but it works.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the master bedroom, the debate has turned physical.
	Burnham lunges across the room at Raoul, to get his hands on
	the valve, to turn off the gas.  But Raoul catches him and
	hurls him aside.
	
	Burnham SLAMS into the wall, bounces off and SCREAMS at
	Raoul, who SCREAMS right back.  Junior leaps into the middle,
	trying to break it up, to get them to shut up, keep their
	voices down.
	
	It's bedlam.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the panic room, Meg knows this can't go on forever.  She
	turns away from the portal, looks up at the vent, where the
	streamers still stream.
	
	She looks to the other side of the room, to where Sarah found
	the waterproof matches and lighters.
	
	She thinks.  Takes a deep lungful of fresh air from the tube
	and crawls over to the lighters.  She selects one, snatches
	up a screwdriver.
	
	Sarah looks at her, has a vague idea of what she's thinking,
	but can't believe it.  She shakes her head vehemently.
	
	In response, Meg picks up two or three of the fireproof
	blankets and piles them over Sarah, right up to her
	disbelieving eyes.  She bends down, takes another gulp of
	air.  but she's getting woozy.  This can't go on much longer.
	
	She staggers across the room, hoists herself back up onto the
	shelf she stood on before, and gets right up next to the
	vent.  Holding her breath to avoid breathing the toxic gas,
	she unscrews the vent cover.
	
	The duct is wide enough to put your arm in.  She reaches in,
	past a bundle of multicolored wires that run down through the
	wall.  She reaches all the way in, lighter in hand.
	
	INSIDE THE DUCT,
	
	we see her hand crawl in, lighter clenched between her
	fingers.  She raises a thumb to the flint wheel, cranks it
	once.
	
	Too slow.  Not even a spark.
	
	Her hand shakes.  She tries again.  Still no spark.  But with
	the effort and the angle, when she thumbs the lighter it
	makes her hand twitch, banging up against the sides of the
	duct with a hollow BOOM.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham turns abruptly.
	
	He turns around.  They all freeze, listening.  He hears it
	again.  The hollow BOOM, coming from inside the wall.  Now a
	third time.
	
	He walks forward, slowly, toward the wall.
	
	BOOM.
	
	He moves closer, gets right up next to the wall.  He leans
	into the wall, putting his ear right up next to the air duct.
	This close, he hears the sound in more detail, realizes it's
	two sounds.
	
	SCRATCH.  BOOM.
	
	He arches an eyebrow.
	
	INSIDE THE DUCT,
	
	Meg's hand is trembling, tiring.  She tries again, thumbs the
	flint wheel.  It SCRATCHES as it rolls, her hand twitches,
	BOOMS against the side of the duct.
	
	Still, the gas HISSES through.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg's face is turning color, she's running out of air.  Her
	feet tremble on the shelf, she's about to lose her footing.
	
	INSIDE THE DUCT,
	
	she tries again.  SCRATCH.  BOOM.
	
	IN THE BEDROOM,
	
	Burnham's eyes suddenly pop wide as he identifies the sound.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Oh.
	
	He tears himself away from the wall --
	
	INSIDE THE DUCT,
	
	-- Meg's thumb tenses for one good hard turn --
	
	IN THE BEDROOM,
	
	-- Burnham leaps through the air, hurling himself toward the
	propane tank --
	
	INSIDE THE DUCT,
	
	-- Meg cranks the wheel, a spark sparks, a flame flames, and
	a hot blue cloud shoots out in two directions, one toward the
	panic room, the other toward the bedroom.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg jumps off the shelf, throwing herself as far away from
	the vent as she can, her arm engulfed by licking blue flame.
	She drops to the floor of the room, covering her daughter's
	body just as the entire ceiling of the panic room turns into
	a lake of fire with a deafening WHOOMP.  The fluorescent
	light tubes EXPLODE, showering glass everywhere.
	
	IN THE BEDROOM,
	
	the blue flame shoots out of the wall, into the hose, through
	the hose, backing up toward the tank.
	
	Burnham CRUNCHES to the floor next to the tank, knocking the
	other end of the hose away from the spigot just as the blue
	flame erupts from the end of the hose.
	
	The flame engulfs his entire body, his hair starts on fire,
	his chest, his arms.  Raoul lunges forward, Junior tears the
	blankets from the bed and throws them over him, Burnham HOWLS
	and rolls on the floor in pain.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	the blue cloud on the ceiling suddenly evaporates with
	another angry WHOOMP, leaving a few little pockets of flame
	that Meg extinguishes by swatting with a blanket.  Only one
	of the fluorescent lights is left intact; it casts a
	flickering, uneven light on the room.
	
	She stands in the middle of the still-smoky panic room,
	breathing hard.  She shouts, SCREAMS incomprehensibly, making
	no sense whatsoever.
	
	She stops, noticing the look Sarah is giving her.  Wide-eyed
	admiring, frightened, you are an insane woman.
	
	Meg looks to herself.  Her arm is signed, the hair burned
	off.  The sleeve of her T-shirt is burned back to the
	shoulder.  Her face is sooty, blackened.
	
	Meg GRUNTS, half frightened by herself.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Out in the bedroom, it's worse for Burnham, who has lost most
	of his hair and shirt.  But his skin isn't badly burned,
	which is something, I guess.
	
	Still, he's in a rage.  He POUNDS the metal door of the panic
	room.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I'M COMING IN THERE, BITCH, I AM
	          COMING IN THERE!  I AM COMING IN
	          THERE!
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg whirls, goes to the door herself, SCREAMS right back.  We
	can hardly make out a word she's saying, but it sounds
	threatening.
	
	Suddenly, she stops, hearing something else.  Outside the
	door, Burnham continues to rant, but there's a second sound,
	a sound coming from the long wall of the panic room, the wall
	that's shared with the brownstone next door.
	
	It's a faint -- very faint -- POUNDING sound, along with a
	high pitched, complaining voice, so faint it can hardly be
	heard.  Sarah hears it too.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Neighbor!
	
	Meg and Sarah leap as one, facing the common wall, SHOUTING
	at the tops of their lungs -- get help, call the police,
	please, call the police, that sort of thing.
	
	They shout and shout, but the soft pounding continues, and if
	their voices are as soft on the other side as the COMPLAINING
	VOICE is on this side, they have no hope.
	
	Their voices crack and they begin to cough, too irritated by
	the gas to shout for very long.  Long after they stop, the
	soft POUNDING from next door continues.
	
	Their pleas are not heard.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	The Intruders have stopped their racket too, and are
	listening carefully at the common wall.  Eventually, the soft
	POUNDING stops, the complaining voice complains no more.
	
	Burnham stands there, in pain.  Things are falling apart.
	Raoul stands in the doorway, silhouetted by the hallway
	light.  He draws himself up to his full, bulky height.  He's
	big.
	
	                     RAOUL
	               (to Junior)
	          We're gonna talk.  Downstairs.
	
	Junior nods and starts out.  Raoul lets him pass, but when
	Burnham tries to follow him, Raoul puts a big hand on his
	chest stopping him.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You stay.  Make sure she don't come
	          out.
	
	Burnham swallows.  But stays.
	
	Raoul turns, follows Junior downstairs.  As he descends, he
	looks up, making eye contact with Burnham.  And holding it.
	Something on his mind, that's for sure.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	THUNK.  Meg's head falls back against a wall; she sags to the
	floor, legs folded in front of her, completely drained.
	
	But Sarah's not drained, Sarah's full of nervous ingenuity,
	rustling around through the stuff in the panic room, an idea
	forming in her head.  She finds a powerful-looking flashlight
	and loads it up with batteries.  She tries it, flashing
	around the room.
	
	Halogen bulb, very powerful, hurts her mother's eyes as she
	flashes it past.  Meg watches her.  What's she up to?
	
	Sarah lays on the floor in front of the ventilation tube she
	discovered earlier.  She squints through it.
	
	THROUGH THE TUBE,
	
	she can see out of the house, into the courtyard behind the
	brownstone.
	
	About thirty yards away she can see the backs of the
	brownstones on the next block, and directly across (because
	the tube doesn't leave much room for lateral vision) she can
	see straight into somebody's bedroom.
	
	There's a light on.  A SLEEPING MAN is in bed, an open book
	on his chest.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah sits back.
	
	She grabs the flashlight, looks for a little button on the
	top, the kind you can flick the flashlight on and off with.
	Shining it on the wall of the panic room, she flashes it at a
	wall, three times, on and off.  Satisfied, she turns back to
	the tube.
	
	Meg, curious, crawls across the floor to join her.  Sarah
	shoves the flashlight all the way into the tube, leaving
	enough room on either side of it for them to see through.
	Meg lays down flat, squints into the tube, Sarah alongside
	her.  She looks at her daughter, curious -- your plan?
	
	Sarah reaches into the tube, finds the little flash button on
	the top of the flashlight.
	
	THROUGH THE TUBE,
	
	the piercing halogen beam begins to flash, across the
	courtyard and into the bedroom of the Man in the bedroom.
	The light flashes on the wall over his bed.
	
	The flashes are in a rhythm.  Short.  Short.  Short.  Long.
	Long.  Long.  Short.  Short.  Short.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg turns to Sarah, impressed.
	
	                     MEG
	          Morse code?
	
	                     SARAH
	               (nods)
	          Dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot
	          dot.
	
	                     MEG
	          Where'd you learn S.O.S.?
	
	                     SARAH
	          "Titanic."
	
	THROUGH THE TUBE,
	
	the flashes continue -- dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot
	dot.  But the Man continues to sleep, the light on the wall
	behind him has no effect.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah is frustrated.  She adjusts the flashlight.
	
	THROUGH THE TUBE,
	
	the beam of light lowers jerkily from the wall until it is
	shining directly into the Sleeping Man's eyes.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah strains to keep the light in that perfect spot.  She's
	starting to sweat.  Meg leans over, sneaks a peek at the
	watch Sarah wears on her left wrist.  The readout:
	
	114
	
	THROUGH THE TUBE,
	
	the Sleeping Man stirs.  Opens his eyes.  Winces from the
	light, which is flashing directly in his eyes.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	                     MEG
	          Got him!
	
	                     SARAH
	          Come on, come on...
	
	THROUGH THE TUBE,
	
	the Sleeping Man sits up.  Raises a hand, trying to block the
	light, which keeps flashing on him.
	
	He gets up, out of bed.  He comes to the window.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	                     MEG
	          Yes, yes, yes, yes...
	
	Sarah keeps it up, flashing faster.
	
	THROUGH THE TUBE,
	
	they see the Man come all the way to his window.  He leans
	against it, cups his hands so he can see better.  The flashes
	continue, right on top of him now.
	
	Clearly, the Man is reading the flashes!  He takes a steps
	back from the window --
	
	-- gives them the finger --
	
	-- and angrily yanks shut his drapes.
	
	A moment later, the light goes out and the room is black.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg and Sarah drop their heads to the carpet, defeated.
	
	Sarah rolls over, knocks the flashlight away, stares up at
	the ceiling.
	
	Meg puts a hand in her hair.  It was a good idea.
	
	                     SARAH
	          We're never getting out of here.
	
	                     MEG
	          Shhh...
	
	She looks at the wristwatch again.
	
	103
	
	She's concerned.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham is concerned as well.  He's still in the master
	bedroom, but barely, he's standing in the doorway, straining
	like hell to hear a conversation that Junior and Raoul are
	having in the foyer, one floor one.
	
	They're trying to keep their voices down, but stray words
	float up through the open stairwell -- words like "him" and
	"warning" and "dangerous."
	
	Burnham chews a fingernail.  If only he could get closer.  He
	throws a look back at the door to the panic room.  He looks
	back out the bedroom door.  Listening.
	
	INT.  FOYER - NIGHT
	
	Junior and Raoul are huddled together in the foyer.  They're
	keeping their voices low, but their conversation is heated.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          We're not gonna do anything about
	          him, he's fine.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          If you think I'm gonna let my half
	          of the fourteen million bucks slip
	          away because of --
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          "Half?"  What did you, take a nap in
	          math class?  Three people, three
	          shares, one third.  Four point six
	          six six repeating.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          I'm just saying, the man is a
	          problem.  And he's your problem.
	          Wasn't me idea to bring him along.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          That's right, Raoul, it wasn't your
	          idea, none of this was your idea, it
	          was mine, it's my family we're
	          ripping off, it's my prick
	          grandfather who built that fucking
	          room, it was my idea to get the
	          plans, I found the floor safe, and
	          it was my idea to ask a guy who
	          builds these rooms to help break
	          into one!  Me, me, me, I, I, I, at
	          no point did I say "you" or Raoul,"
	          got it?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          He puts his hands on me again I'll
	          bury a slug in his ear.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          No, you will not, because without
	          Burnham there's no way in hell we're
	          gonna get into that safe, so as far
	          as I'm concerned he can paint your
	          ass blue and run it up a flagpole
	          and you won't lay a finger on him,
	          you understand me?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Don't take no tone of voice with me,
	          Homes.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          What is this shit you're talking all
	          of a sudden?  You're a bus driver,
	          "Homes," you live in Flatbush, so
	          please don't start spouting some
	          Elmore Leonard shit you just heard
	          because I saw that movie too,
	
	ON THE VIDEO MONITORS,
	
	Junior and Raoul are visible, still arguing in the foyer.
	
	On the next monitor over, Burnham is visible, standing in the
	master bedroom doorway, listening.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg is watching the monitors, thinking.  She notices
	something, sits forward abruptly, looking at the monitor that
	covers the master bedroom.  She squeezes right up close,
	staring at the screen.
	
	ON THE MONITOR,
	
	we peer closely at the box next to her bed, the one she was
	using for a night table.  On top of the box, she sees the
	charger for her cellular phone, sitting empty.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg sits back, eyes alive with an idea.  If only she could
	get to that phone, which must be still under the bed.  She
	looks back at the monitors, at Burnham lingering in the
	doorway to the room.
	
	                     MEG
	          Damn.
	
	She turns away from the monitors, to check on Sarah, who's
	settled into a corner of the room, looking pale.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the bedroom, Burnham is desperate.  The argument
	downstairs is entering round two, and he's got to hear what
	they're saying.
	
	He takes a few steps out of the bedroom --
	
	INT.  THIRD FLOOR HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	-- and comes into the hallway.  He leans over the stairwell.
	Where he's standing, he is directly under the camera that
	covers the hallway --
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	-- and can't be seen on the monitor that covers the hallway.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg turns back from Sarah, to look at the monitors again.
	She see Burnham is no longer in the bedroom.  And doesn't
	appear to be in the hallway, either.
	
	                     MEG
	          Oh yes, yes...
	
	She looks at another monitor.
	
	ON THE MONITOR,
	
	she sees Junior and Raoul in the foyer.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg sits back.  That leaves Burnham unaccounted for.
	
	                     MEG
	          ... the hell is he?
	
	IN THE HALLWAY,
	
	Burnham is still lingering under the camera.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah has come forward to the monitors as well.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Do it.
	
	                     MEG
	          Yeah, but where's the third guy?
	
	                     SARAH
	          Not in the bedroom.  Do it!
	
	Meg goes to the door, raises a hand to the green "open"
	button.  Hesitates.
	
	IN THE MASTER BEDROOM,
	
	we see Burnham, lurking in the hallway, just about six feet
	from the door to the panic room.  Don't open that door!
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg wipes sweat from her palm.
	
	                     MEG
	          If it looks like I can't get back,
	          just close the door.
	
	                     SARAH
	          No.
	
	                     MEG
	          Close it!
	
	Sarah nods, looks back to the button.
	
	IN THE HALLWAY,
	
	a shouted CURSE rises up from downstairs.  Burnham takes a
	step toward the stairs.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	he suddenly appears, in the hallway.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah sees it.
	
	                     SARAH
	          WAIT!
	
	Meg freezes.  She looks at the monitor, wide-eyed.  Close
	one.
	
	IN THE HALLWAY,
	
	Burnham can't take it anymore.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Oh, hell...
	
	He turns and takes off down the stairs.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	Burnham flies down the stairs and appears in the foyer, next
	to Junior and Raoul.   
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg and Sarah see all three men accounted for, downstairs.
	
	                     SARAH
	          GO GO GO!
	
	Meg leaps up, runs to the door, and punches the green button.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	The door begins to crank open, Meg slips through the gap
	sideways before it's even all the way open.  She darts across
	the room --
	
	-- slides to the floor next to the bed --
	
	-- and flattens herself, reaching underneath it to get the
	phone.  Damn, that phone slid far, it's right in the middle,
	wouldn't you know it.
	
	IN THE FOYER,
	
	the three men hear her footsteps, as one, they take off for
	the stairs.
	
	IN THE MASTER BEDROOM,
	
	Meg continues to stretch, her fingers inches from the phone.
	
	ON THE STAIRWELL,
	
	feet race up toward her --
	
	IN THE MASTER BEDROOM,
	
	Meg's fingernails paw the phone, pull it closer to her.  She
	grabs it, stands --
	
	IN THE HALLWAY,
	
	the three men come off the stairs and race toward her, they
	see her as she lunges across, toward the panic room, she
	hurls herself through the door --
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	-- and Sarah SMACKS the red button.  The steel door closes
	with a deafening WHANG.
	
	Safe.
	
	IN THE ENTRYWAY,
	
	the echo of the metallic WHANG reverberates through the
	house.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the panic room, Meg punches 9-1-1 on her cell phone with
	trembling fingers.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	The big empty charger cradle is in the foreground when the
	three men burst into the room.  Burnham stops in the middle
	of the floor, turns in a frantic circle.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          What'd she get, what'd she get,
	          what'd she get...
	
	His eyes fall on the empty charger.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Cell phone.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Shit!
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg raises the cell phone to her ear --
	
	-- and gets a rapid busy signal.
	
	                     MEG
	          Oh, no.  No, no, no no no no no...
	
	She looks at the phone.  It's showing just one signal bar,
	and even that one is flashing on and off.
	
	                     MEG
	          Oh come on, come on, come on...
	
	She walks around the room, raises the phone high and low,
	trying crazily to find a signal.
	
	But can't.   
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the bedroom, Burnham stands just outside the door,
	fingertips lightly resting on it, the ghost of a smile on his
	face.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	               (softly)
	          I don't think we'll be talking on
	          our cell phone from in there...
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Inside the room, Meg doesn't seem upset.  Rather, she's
	staring at the cell phone in her hand, thinking.  Remembering
	something.
	
	                     MEG
	          Wires...
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	At the same moment, Burnham is having the same thought.  He's
	still at the door, fingertips still resting there.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Phone...
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	                     MEG
	          ... wires.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham looks down, at the baseboard below.  What is he
	looking at?
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg steps up, onto the shelf she climbed earlier, and comes
	up next to the vent.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What are you doing?
	
	                     MEG
	          I saw something, I saw...
	
	In the vent, alongside the duct, she sees the bundle of
	multicolored wires she saw earlier.
	
	                     MEG
	          ... phone wires!
	
	She jumps down off the shelf, goes to the tools, starts
	searching for something.
	
	                     MEG
	          I may not have hooked up the phone
	          in here, but I hooked up the main
	          line, and there's a jack at the base
	          of this wall outside, I saw it!
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Yes, that is correct, there is in fact a jack in the base of
	the wall outside the door to the panic room.
	
	Burnham bends down into frame, studying it, thinking the same
	thing she is.  He clears his throat.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Say, while we're on the subject of
	          phones...
	
	He turns, looks up at Junior.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          When I said cut the line, did you
	          cut the main line at the junction
	          box in the basement like I said, and
	          which I repeated, or did you just
	          cut the cord on the phone in the
	          kitchen?
	
	Pause.  Swallow.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          I, uh, I...
	
	Shit.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          ... hit a little snag finding the
	          one in the basement.
	
	Shit.
	
	Pause.  Then, as if a starting gun has been fired, Burnham
	leaps to his feet and races out of the bedroom.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	That same starting gun has been fired in the panic room.
	With a strong RIP, Meg pulls the whole bundle of multi
	colored wires out of the wall and drops onto the floor with
	it.  She trusts it at Sarah, finds a wire cutter in the
	assorted tools, and gives her that too.
	
	                     MEG
	          Strip 'em, expose the ends, try blue
	          first, blue is phones!
	
	                     SARAH
	          Blue is phones?
	
	                     MEG
	          Yes, no, I don't know, do 'em all!
	
	While Sarah goes to work on the wires, Meg turns to the phone
	itself, the one with the buried phone line that isn't working
	yet.  She rips the phone out of its housing, tears free the
	wire on the end of it.
	
	INT.  ENTRY FLOOR - NIGHT
	
	Burnham flies down the stairs from the third floor, races
	across the foyer, flies down the stairs to the kitchen floor.
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - NIGHT
	
	Burnham races across the kitchen floor, whips open a door and
	heads down another, narrow, darkened stairway.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg and Sarah are like animals, clawing and tearing at the
	ends of their respective phone cables, foregoing tools and
	stripping the wires with fingers and teeth, it's faster.
	
	With the phone receiver cradled on her shoulder, Meg starts
	twisting the ends of wires onto the exposed ends of the wires
	from the phone unit.  First wire -- nothing.  She tries a
	second wire.
	
	INT.  MECHANICAL ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham SLAMS open the door to a dark room, pulls the string
	on a bare bulb.  Burned out.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          God damn it!
	
	Without light, he can't see a thing.  He SMACKS the bulb, it
	swings wildly, SMASHES on the cement wall.  He turns and
	races out of the room.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg tries another wire.  Still no dial tone.  Sarah shoves
	another wire at her.  She tries again.  Nothing.  She moves
	on.
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham slides to his knees, snatches a flashlight from his
	duffel, leaps up and takes off again.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Another wire.  Nothing.  Another wire.  DIAL TONE!
	
	Meg SHRIEKS and punches 911.
	
	INT.  STAIRWELL - NIGHT
	
	Burnham flies down the stairs, flashlight beam bouncing
	crazily in front of him.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	The phone is ringing.  An operator picks up.
	
	                     OPERATOR
	          911 emergency --
	
	                     MEG
	          I'm at 26 West --
	
	                     OPERATOR
	          -- please hold.
	
	It's a mechanical voice, which gives over to MUZAK.
	
	                     MEG
	          NO!
	
	INT.  MECHANICAL ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham BANGS through the door again, starts searching the
	darkened mechanical room, shining harsh light around its
	dingy walls.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	MUZAK continues to play.
	
	                     MEG
	          Damn it!
	
	No more time to hold.  Meg hangs up the phone, dials another
	number, a seven digit one she knows by heart.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Call Dad!
	
	                     MEG
	          On it!
	
	INT.  MECHANICAL ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the mechanical room, the bouncing flashlight beam falls on
	a metal cabinet across the way.  Burnham runs to it, flings
	it open.  Circuit breakers.  SLAMS it shut.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg listens as a phone rings on the other end.  And rings.
	And rings again.
	
	This is torture.
	
	INT.  MECHANICAL ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham turns, sees another, smaller metal box, this one
	clearly labeled:
	
	PHONES
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	On the other end of the phone, a husky MALE VOICE answers;
	clearly he's been awakened.
	
	                     VOICE
	          Hello?
	
	                     MEG
	          Listen to me!  There are three --
	
	INT.  MECHANICAL ROOM - NIGHT
	
	With a subhuman ROAR of anger, Burnham rips the entire phone
	panel off the wall with his bare hands.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	With an abrupt SHRIEK, the line goes dead.  Meg pauses, can't
	believe it.
	
	                     MEG
	          Hello?  Don't... are...
	
	She looks up, see Sarah looking at her, her eyebrows arches,
	her face all hope.  Meg keeps her cool, but it take a hell of
	an effort.
	
	Sarah reads her face.  She turns away.
	
	She hangs up the phone.
	
	Sarah goes to a corner of the room, faces away from her.
	
	Meg doesn't know what to say.
	
	                     MEG
	          He'll do something.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Uh uh.
	
	                     MEG
	          He'll know we're in trouble.  He
	          heard me, I said "There are
	          three..."
	
	                     SARAH
	          He won't even know who it was.
	
	                     MEG
	          What would you think, in the middle
	          of the night?  I mean, three what,
	          three bears?  He'll call the police.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Stop it.
	
	                     MEG
	          He's just across the park, this is
	          why we got places so close to each
	          other, in case we needed each other,
	          we're still a family, he'll help
	          us...
	
	                     SARAH
	          He --
	
	                     MEG
	          He WILL.
	
	She practically shouted.  Sarah drop her head into her arms.
	
	                     MEG
	          I'm sorry.
	
	                     SARAH
	          I'm sorry.
	
	                     MEG
	          Why?
	
	                     SARAH
	          I was trying not to tell you...
	
	                     MEG
	          What?
	
	                     SARAH
	          I'm dizzy and thirsty.
	
	Meg blanches.  This is very bad news.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Tired, Burnham drags himself back up the stairs and into the
	doorway of the master bedroom.  Raoul and Junior stand there,
	staring at him.
	
	Long pause.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          She's never coming out.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Hey.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          And we're never getting in.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Do me a favor and don't talk.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Jesus, what was I thinking?
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg has torn open one of the water packets and is trying to
	get Sarah to drink, but the little girl has gone completely
	pale and seems to have lost some of the strength in her neck,
	she's having trouble holding her head up.  Most of the water
	runs down her chin.
	
	                     MEG
	          Come on, come on... stay with me...
	          you gotta drink...
	
	She takes Sarah's hand, checks her wristwatch thing.  The
	readout is now
	
	82
	
	She swallows.  She grabs Sarah by the face.
	
	                     MEG
	          Okay, listen, honey, you went double
	          digit here, you must have been
	          shooting out adrenaline like crazy,
	          we gotta bring your blood sugar back
	          up, okay?  Can you hear me?
	
	                     SARAH
	          I'm dizzy, not deaf.
	
	                     MEG
	          Hey, she's still a smart ass,
	          excellent sign.  Did you see any
	          sugar in here?  Any candy bars,
	          anything sweet?
	
	                     SARAH
	          Huh uh.
	
	                     MEG
	          Okay, you just gotta calm yourself
	          down, that's all, just stay calm and
	          your adrenaline will go back to
	          normal and you'll be fine.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What if I keep dropping?
	
	                     MEG
	          Not an option.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What if I do?
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the bedroom, Junior has had enough.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          We're leaving.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          The hell we are.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Hey man, after all we went through I
	          am not walking out when we're this
	          close.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Close?  Are you insane?  We're
	          nowhere near close!  Fuck this, I'll
	          make an anonymous phone call on
	          Monday, they'll find the floor safe,
	          and I'll inherit the shit.  Little
	          piece of it, anyway, it's better
	          than nothing.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          What about us?
	
	Junior thinks, then pulls out his wallet.  He thrusts a
	fistful of bills at them.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Here.  For your time.
	
	They both just stare at him.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Five hundred bucks here.
	
	Neither one of them moves to take it.  Junior shurgs, drops
	it on the floor.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Suit yourself.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Nobody leaves.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Observe.
	
	He heads for the door, expecting Raoul to block him, but as
	he draws close --
	
	-- Raoul just steps out of the way.  Junior passes through
	and heads for the stairs.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          We're not leaving.  I'm getting in
	          that room, and I'm opening that
	          safe.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Lookin' doubtful there, Big Guy, but
	          ten out of ten for attitude.
	
	And he disappears, down the stairs, Burnham still pleading
	with him.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg rifles the foodstuffs that are stored in the room.
	Sarah, in the corner, is starting to tremble.
	
	                     SARAH
	          What if I spazz out?
	
	                     MEG
	               (forced calm)
	          No biggie, we've been through it a
	          dozen times, I just jab you with the
	          Glucogen.
	
	Pause.  She keeps looking.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Where is the Glucogen?
	
	                     MEG
	          Oh, you know, it's uh... it's in the
	          little fridge in your room.
	
	                     SARAH
	               (pause)
	          I'm sorry, Mom.
	
	                     MEG
	          Hey, quit apologizing, you're
	          starting to sound like Grandma.
	          You're not gonna have an attack.
	          Okay?
	
	                     SARAH
	          Okay.   
	
	She lays back, oddly passive, her lips changing color.  She
	stares at the monitors.
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Junior strides into the living room, purposefully.  He tosses
	some tools into his duffel bag and heads for the stairs down
	to the kitchen.  Burnham is behind him.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Would you wait?  Would you please
	          just wait a minute?
	
	But Junior heads down.  Burnham follows.  Raoul is just
	coming down from upstairs.
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - NIGHT
	
	Junior reaches the door of the kitchen, tries to open it,
	realizes it's screwed shut.  He takes out a screwdriver and
	starts unscrewing the screws.  Burnham stops at the stairway.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          You walk out that door and you lose
	          your share of the money.
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Yeah, whatever.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I mean it!
	
	                     JUNIOR
	          Adios.
	
	He gets the last screw out, throws open the door, and BLAST
	of wind gusts in, it's a blustery night out there, he takes a
	step into the doorway --
	
	-- and with a quiet PFFFT from right behind Burnham, a bullet
	whizzes across the kitchen and hits Junior in the back of the
	head.  He crumples, right in the open kitchen doorway.
	
	Burnham SHOUTS incoherently and turns.  Raoul is standing
	there, two steps up, a silencer twisted onto the barrel of
	his gun.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Nobody leaves.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Sarah is staring at the video monitors, eyes wide.  She
	raises one trembling finger, points at the kitchen monitor,
	tries to mouth the words, can't.
	
	Meg looks up.
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - NIGHT
	
	Burnham is freaking out, but trying to stay calm.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Oh God... oh, my God...
	
	Raoul walks past him calmly, grabs Junior by the ankles, and
	drags him back into the house.  He turns, looks at Burnham,
	whose jaw is dropped in horror.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You should see the look on your
	          face.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          The fuck did you do that for?!
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Fuckin' asshole, thinks he knows me.
	          Drives his German car up to 125th
	          Street a couple of times, buys a few
	          rounds, thinks he's a tough guy,
	          thinks he knows me.
	               (to the corpse)
	          You don't know one thing about me!
	
	While Burnham stares down at the body in shock and Raoul
	stares at Burnham, his back to the outside, a small, thin
	VOICE comes from the still-open doorway.
	
	                     VOICE
	          What the h --
	
	They turn.  A man, fiftyish, stands there in hastily thrown
	on clothes, staring down at the dead body in mute shock.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg, watching the monitors with Sarah, GASPS as she sees the
	man, whose name is HARRIS.  While she and Sarah watch --
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	-- they see the silent image of Harris, set upon by Raoul,
	who grabs him roughly and drags him inside.  Burnham hurries
	to the door --
	
	INT.  KITCHEN - NIGHT
	
	-- and SLAMS it shut.  He puts his back to it, thinking,
	terrified, things are spinning out of control, fast.
	
	Raoul, in the middle of the kitchen floor, is venting some
	more of his rage on Harris, whom he has hurled to the floor.
	He lands a solid boot in the side of Harris's head, leaving
	him GROANING in pain, completely disoriented.
	
	Harris rolls groggily into the spreading pool of blood coming
	from underneath Junior.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Stop it!  Stop it!
	
	                     RAOUL
	               (turning on him)
	          Who's the clown now?  Huh?!  Who's
	          the fucking clown now?!
	
	He pulls his gun, shoves it into Burnham's eye, hard, we can
	hear the faint SIZZLE of skin burning.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Me.  I am.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          That's right.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Burning me.  It's burning my eye.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          I have the gun.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Yes.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Remember that.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Please...
	
	Raoul pulls the gun back, just an inch.  The skin around
	Burnham's eye is an angry red.  His eyes dart, strain to look
	over at Harris, MOANING on the floor.  And at Junior, dead.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          What?  What do you want me to do?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          What do you think?  Get us into that
	          room.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I can't.
	
	Raoul pushes the gun barrel back into Burnham's eye socket.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You can.  You're full of ideas.  You
	          just need to squeeze one out.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I can't...
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You got till the count of three.
	          Then you end up like him.
	
	He tilts his head over to Junior, whose brains are spreading
	out on the kitchen floor.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          One.  Squeeze.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          This is ridiculous...
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Two.  Squeeze harder.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I can't just...
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Th --
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Okay, okay!  Okay.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You got an idea?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Yeah.  Yeah, I got an idea.  I gotta
	          check something.
	
	Raoul GRUNTS, satisfied.  Pulls the gun back.  Burnham slides
	away, shaking.  He bends down, to the floor.  He looks at
	Harris's left hand.  At his index finger.
	
	He sees a white strip of skin, where Harris wore his wedding
	ring, until recently.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Harris, still semi-conscious, is hurled against the metal
	door of the panic room.  He collapses at its base.  Burnham,
	bends down next to him.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Okay, look.  I know you can hear me.
	          Your wife and kid are in there.
	          You're gonna get 'em to come out.
	          Or --
	
	He looks up at Raoul, hulking overhead, gun in hand.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Or I can't stop what he's gonna do.
	          Do you understand?
	
	Harris, regaining some semblance of consciousness, nods
	feebly.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Good.
	
	Burnham stands up, turns to the video camera, and SHOUTS.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          OPEN THE GOD DAMN DOOR!
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Sarah and Meg see the horrifying sight on the video monitors.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham SHOUTS at the door to the room.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          OPEN UP!
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	they see Burnham, standing over Harris; they faintly hear him
	call to them to open the door.
	
	And then they hear another VOICE, calling back to them.
	Sarah sits up, recognizes her father's voice.
	
	                     SARAH (O.S.)
	          DADDY!
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Harris is SHOUTING against the closed door.
	
	                     HARRIS
	          DON'T DO IT!  NO MATTER WHAT
	          HAPPENS, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!
	          DON'T O --
	
	He's silenced by a vicious kick to the ribs.  Raoul begins to
	beat him.
	
	Burnham stands by, powerless, horrifies, watching as Raoul
	savages Harris, who continues to call out, as long as he has
	strength, telling Meg not to open the door, no matter what.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg and Sarah SHOUT in horror, she covers her daughter's
	face, turn her away from the screen, SCREAMS in incoherent
	anger of her own.
	
	But she doesn't open the door.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Burnham SHOUTS at Raoul, pleading.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          STOP IT, MAN, STOP IT, THAT'S HIS
	          KID IN THERE, HIS KID IS WATCHING
	          THIS!!
	
	But Raoul whips the gun up, into Burnham's throat, backing
	him off, shutting him up.
	
	He resumes his pounding of Harris.
	
	Burnham turns, looks up at the camera in the corner of the
	room.
	
	He can't stand it anymore.  He whips off his jacket, runs to
	the camera, and covers the lens.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	While Meg watches, the monitor that cover the master bedroom
	abruptly goes black, mercifully sparing them the sight of
	Harris's beating.
	
	She holds Sarah, who's sobbing, shaking.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Harris finally lapses into unconsciousness.  Raoul stands
	over him, chest heaving.
	
	Burnham stand in the doorway, neither in nor out of the room,
	a silhouette, head hung.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg tries desperately to see something on the bedroom
	monitor, but it's hopeless, it's covered.  On the hallway
	monitor, she can just see shadows, as two men in the bedroom
	lift a third off the floor and carry him across the room.
	
	A sudden BEEPING sound tears her attention away.  Still
	holding Sarah, she pulls her back, off her shoulder.  Her
	face is completely white, her lips blue, her eyes rolled back
	into her head.  The BEEPING sound grows louder, she checks
	Sarah's wristwatch, the reading is dire:
	
	57
	
	Meg GASPS, horrifies.
	
	                     MEG
	          Oh God, oh my God...
	
	Sarah begins to convulse, she bucks right out of Meg's arms
	and falls back onto the floor of the panic room.  Meg clears
	everything away from her, tries to make room for her.
	
	The convulsion worsens.  Meg searches through the piles of
	supplies, comes up with a plastic-handled screwdriver.  She
	opens Sarah's jaws, wedges the plastic handle between her
	teeth.
	
	She helps Sarah ride out the convulsion.  Finally, her eyes
	roll back into her head, she slowly re-orients herself.
	Sarah reaches over, turns off her still-BEEPING
	wristwatch/monitor herself.
	
	Sarah sighs, a shuddering sigh of relief, but she is nowhere
	near normal.
	
	Her skin has passed through white and is turning a sallow
	yellow color.  She moves her lips, Meg can't hear her, she
	bends down:
	
	                     SARAH
	          You gotta jab me, Mommy...
	
	Meg turns, looks back at the monitors.  What she sees is good
	news --
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	the jacket has been removed from the bedroom camera.  Burnham
	and Raoul are gone, the only person there is HARRIS, who lies
	slumped on the far side of the bed.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg looks quickly over at the monitor for the living room.
	
	ON THAT MONITOR,
	
	she sees Burnham and Raoul having an urgent conversation,
	Burnham sitting in a chair, Raoul pacing in front of him,
	ranting.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Meg's face lights up, she practically laughs, she's so
	overjoyed at this turn of events.
	
	She turns, looks back at Sarah, who is starting to tremble
	again.
	
	That does it.  Meg leaps up, hits the button that controls
	the steel door, and it starts to crank open, almost
	impossibly slowly.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg steps out of the panic room, into the master bedroom.
	She looks at Harris, on the bed.  With his back to her she
	can't even tell if he's alive or dead, but first things must
	be first, so she turns and races out of the room.
	
	INT.  HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	Meg flies up the stairs, bare feet on padded carpet.
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the living room, Raoul looks up, hearing the pitter-pat of
	her feet on the stairs above.
	
	He smiles and pulls his ski mask back on, to cover his face.
	
	Coming around behind him, we see Burnham sitting in the
	chair.  Except it isn't Burnham at all, it's Harris,
	unconscious, wearing Burnham's shirt.
	
	And if Harris is the person in the chair, that means --
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	-- the person on the bed in the bedroom is Burnham, wearing
	Harris's shirt.  His eyes pop open, he sits up, sees the wide
	open door to the panic room.
	
	INT.  SARAH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg races into Sarah's bedroom and tears open the door of a
	mini-fridge.  Inside are dozens of little bottles of insulin
	and something called Glucogen.
	
	She grabs a bottle of Glucogen and a black leather pouch and
	takes off.
	
	INT.  HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	As Meg nears the bottom of the stairs, she sees a horrifying
	sight.  It's Raoul, ski mask over his face, standing in the
	doorway of the master bedroom.
	
	She SCREAMS, he SLAMS the door, she takes off down the hall,
	reaches the end, throws the door open --
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	-- and races into the master bedroom, where Raoul is
	motoring, fast, headed for the panic room, where she can
	already see Burnham, standing in the middle of the open
	doorway, in front of Sarah, wearing Harris's shirt and a grim
	"tricked you" expression.
	
	Meg hurls herself at Raoul, lands clinging to his back.  She
	claws and wrestles with him, gets one hand on his ski mask,
	tears it from his head.  He reaches up to try to stop her
	from pulling it off --
	
	-- his gun slips from his fingers, falls to the floor --
	
	-- and caroms off his boot, spinning across the floor away
	from them.
	
	Raoul flips her off his back violently, she CRUNCHES to the
	floor, clutching his mask and getting a good long look at his
	face.  He makes a move toward his gun, but she's faster,
	she's already pawing herself frantically across the hardwood
	toward it.
	
	Raoul measures the distance, knows he'll lose, and sprints
	for the panic room instead.  Meg turns, looks down at the
	medicine in her hands, then at the door to the panic room,
	where Raoul is right now reaching up to push the button that
	controls the steel door.
	
	She makes a fast decision and lunges, hurling the plastic
	bottle of Glucogen and the black leather pouch through the
	gap just before --
	
	-- the spring-loaded steel door SLAMS shut with tremendous
	ferocity.
	
	And then it's silent.  Meg WAILS in agony, POUNDS on the
	door.
	
	She stands back, chest heaving, sobbing.
	
	A looooong moment goes by.
	
	Finally, a VOICE comes over the house's intercom system.
	
	                     RAOUL (O.S.)
	               (calmly)
	          If you leave the house, we'll kill
	          her.
	
	Meg sobs.
	
	                     RAOUL (O.S.)
	          If I see a uniform in the house,
	          we'll kill her.
	
	                     MEG
	          Oh... oh...
	
	                     RAOUL (O.S.)
	          You understand?
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	Meg looks up at the camera in the master bedroom.  She nods,
	terrified.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Burnham pushes past Raoul, at the speaker button, and leans
	forward.  He's approaching exhaustion.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	               (into speaker)
	          I just... I just need forty-five
	          minutes.
	
	Raoul stands behind him, muttering to himself.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Saw my face, man.  Saw my face.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	we see Meg's face, agonized, as she lunges toward the camera,
	SCREAMING something up at it, the same thing, over and over.
	But in here her voice is nearly muted, what bleeds through
	the walls isn't enough to be heard.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Raoul looks at her image on the monitor, irritated.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Shut up.
	
	IN THE MASTER BEDROOM,
	
	we abruptly hear her voice, full-throated.
	
	                     MEG
	               (shouting into the camera)
	          -- cine, she needs the MEDICINE!
	          GIVE HER THE --
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah shivers in a corner, knees pulled up to her chest,
	staring at the intruders, scared out of her wits, and looking
	very, very sick.
	
	Burnham looks at her, musters the most reassuring face he can
	come up with under the circumstances.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          It's gonna be cool, kid.  Be outta
	          here before you know it.
	
	No response from Sarah.  Burnham cocks a head, really looking
	at her.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Are you okay?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Hurry up, for Christ's sake!
	
	Burnham turns, grabs his satchel, and drops to his knees in
	the middle of the floor.  Over his shoulder, we can see the
	face of Meg on one of the monitors, shouting into the camera,
	begging them to give Sarah her medicine.
	
	Using his hand, Burnham measures six lengths in from the
	wall, then digs his fingernails into the weave of the carpet,
	looking for a seam.
	
	He finds one, gets hold of it on one edge, and runs his other
	hand along the seam till he finds a place where it seems to
	turn a corner.  He stands, hovering over the carpet, and
	pulls back evenly with both hands.
	
	The concealed carpet flap pulls back neatly, with the soft
	sound of tearing VELCRO.  Underneath the flap --
	
	-- is the smooth metal door of a floor safe.
	
	Burnham unsnaps his satchel and gives it a shove.  It rolls
	out and opens up onto the floor, revealing a neat array of
	safecracking tools.
	
	He begins his delicate work, but is suddenly jarred by a
	POUNDING on the metal door.  He turns, annoyed.  Meg is still
	SCREAMING outside the door.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          The hell does she want?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          I don't know, she keeps screamin'
	          the same thing over and over.
	
	Burnham turns, looks at the monitors.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	Meg is staring up at the camera, miming the act of giving
	herself an injection in the arm.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Raoul laughs.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Drugs.  She wants drugs.  What the
	          fuck?
	
	But Burnham thinks.  His eyes fall on the bottle and the
	leather pouch she hurled through the door, then whip over to
	Sarah, who sags over into a fetal position on the floor.  Her
	lips are moving.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Oh, man...
	
	He crawls over to Sarah, puts his ear down next to Sarah's
	lips.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          What is it?
	
	Sarah tries to summon enough strength to speak, but her
	breath comes hard.
	
	                     SARAH
	          I need...
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Yeah?
	
	                     SARAH
	          ... 'jection...
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          An injection?
	
	Sarah nods.  Burnham points to the pouch and the Glucogen, on
	the floor nearby.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          That stuff?
	
	Sarah nods again.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Can you do it yourself?
	
	Sarah shakes her head no.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Well, I don't know how.
	
	Sarah looks at him, eyes pleading.  Raoul stands behind
	Burnham.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          I don't fucking believe this.
	               (to Sarah)
	          You gotta wait.
	
	Sarah just looks at Burnham.  Please.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Yeah, just like a half hour, maybe a
	          little more, and your mom'll give it
	          to you.  You can wait a half hour,
	          can't you?
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Yeah.  She can.  She's fine, she's
	          just like, tired, she's gotta rest.
	          You rest, Kid.  Half an hour.
	
	Sarah looks terrified, shaking her head no.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Come on.
	
	He starts to pull Burnham away, but Burnham shakes his hand
	off, violently.  He bends down very close to Sarah's lips.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Tell me the truth, okay?  What's
	          gonna happen if you don't get this?
	
	Sarah swallows, licks her cracking lips.  When she speaks,
	it's breathy, almost inaudible.
	
	But the words are clear.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Coma.  Die.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Seen from overhead, Meg paces in the master bedroom, out of
	her mind with worry, no idea how to communicate to the people
	in the room the desperate situation.
	
	Suddenly, a VOICE comes over the intercom speaker.
	
	                     BURNHAM (O.S.)
	          I understand.  I'll give her the
	          shot.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	A HAND comes down into frame and picks up the Glucogen and
	the leather pouch.  Burnham stands, looking down at them.
	Raoul grabs him, pulls him to the far end of the room.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You're wasting your fucking time,
	          man, you're wasting my time.  You
	          don't know how to do this, and the
	          longer we stay in here, the more
	          likely she's gonna lose it and call
	          the cops!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Are you gonna open the safe?
	
	Raoul looks at him.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Then shut up and get out of my way.
	
	As Burnham crosses the room, Raoul makes eye contact with
	Sarah, who is staring at him.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Don't look at me.
	
	ACROSS THE ROOM,
	
	Burnham drops to his knees next to Sarah and unzips the
	pouch.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Okay, kid, all I know about this is
	          what I've seen on TV, you gotta talk
	          me through it.
	
	Sarah tries to form words, but she's too weak.  Burnham
	swallows.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Okay.  No talking.  No problem.  TV
	          don't lie, right?
	
	He reaches into the pouch, take out a syringe, a sterile pad,
	and a length of rubber tubing.  He takes Sarah's arm,
	stretches it out, exposing the underside of her forearm.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          You seem like a good kid.  Your
	          mom... only saw her for a second,
	          but, woah.  Beautiful, huh?
	
	No answer.  Burnham ties the rubber tubing around Sarah's
	arm, pulls it tight.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Hey, nod or something, show me
	          you're still alive, will ya?
	
	Sarah nods.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Attagirl.  That too tight?
	
	Sarah shakes her head no.  Burnham takes the syringe, starts
	to fill it from the Glucogen bottle.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          You guys are pretty rich, huh?
	
	Sarah shrugs.  While Burnham goes through the process of
	finding an exposed vein and giving the injection itself, he
	goes on, as much to comfort Sarah as to comfort himself:
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Yeah, you don't think about that
	          stuff.  Good for you.
	
	He looks at her, sees her looking at him.  Thinking about
	him.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I know, I know.  I really screwed
	          the pooch this time.  I never did
	          anything like this before.  Break
	          into somebody's house?  Not even
	          close.  Bad cards, Kid.  I swear to
	          God, I been on the wrong end of
	          maybe six straight years of bad
	          cards.  House.  Car.  Wife.
	               (snaps his fingers --
	                gone)
	          Those are some seriously bad cards.
	          And still, every time I pick up a
	          fresh hand I swear to God, the rush
	          comes so hot and prickly I feel it
	          right down to my toes because this
	          time, this one time, it might be
	          there, this time it might be that
	          hand, that perfect hand, that
	          monster hand.
	               (shakes his head)
	          And you thought you were sick.
	
	The shot successfully given, he pulls Sarah's sleeve back
	down.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Feel better?
	
	Sarah nods, and she seems better already.  Burnham helps her
	to sit up, to lean against the wall.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Woulda been a hell of a dad.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	A VOICE comes over the intercom in the master bedroom.  It's
	Raoul.
	
	                     RAOUL (O.S.)
	          She's okay.  Now sit down and wait.
	
	He CLICKS off.
	
	Meg is hugely relieved.  And extremely pissed off.  She goes
	to the corner of the room and picks up the gun, the one that
	Raoul dropped.
	
	She heads downstairs.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Sparks fly as Burnham goes to work on the floor safe with a
	small, specialized drill.
	
	Raoul bends down next to him.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Congratulations.  You saved her life
	          for ten minutes.
	
	Burnham looks up at him -- what?  But Raoul turns and walks
	away.
	
	Burnham goes back to work.
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg is in the living room, with Harris, who is still slouched
	in the chair.  He's in awful shape, barely conscious.
	
	Out of the silence, a sudden, deafening sound.
	
	The DOORBELL.
	
	Her eyes go wide.  She darts a look over to the door (the one
	that leads to the stoop, not the bloody kitchen door
	downstairs), then back at Harris.
	
	                     HARRIS
	          Police.
	
	                     MEG
	               (gasps)
	          You called the police?
	
	He nods.
	
	                     HARRIS
	          You... scared...
	
	Shit.  This is exactly what she prayed for him to do, now
	it's the worst thing that could happen.
	
	She stands, thinking, desperate.  She walks toward the door,
	stops, thinks some more.
	
	The doorbell RINGS again.
	
	She comes up with a plan.  She goes back to where Harris is
	in the chair, pulls the chair back a few feet, out of view of
	the door.  She puts the gun in his lap, puts his hand over it
	to steady it.
	
	She leans down, WHISPERS to him.
	
	                     MEG
	          Don't.  Say.  A word.
	
	He nods.
	
	Meg takes a breath, walks across the foyer, tousling her hair
	as she goes.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Raoul is staring at the monitors, aghast.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Holy shit... holy shit...
	
	Burnham races over, looks over his shoulder.  One monitor
	covers the front stoop, and on that monitor they can clearly
	see TWO UNIFORMED COPS.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          She's fuckin' crazy, she killed the
	          kid!  She just killed her own kid!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          It's not her fault, it's not her
	          fault, the guy must have called
	          them.  Look, look, look, she's
	          telling us.
	
	He points to another monitor, the one in the foyer, where Meg
	is looking up at the camera, miming to them -- don't worry,
	I'll take care of this.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          She's gonna handle it.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          She better.
	
	INT.  ENTRY FLOOR - NIGHT
	
	Meg's shaking hand rises up to the doorknob and pulls open
	the big front door.  On the stoop, the two Cops turn to look
	at her.  She acts as if she's just been awakened.  She looks
	it, too, still in T-shirt and boxer shorts.  The wind is
	gusty and cold outside.
	
	                     MEG
	          Yeah?
	
	                     COP 1
	          Everything okay?
	
	                     MEG
	          Huh?
	
	                     COP 2
	          Are you all right?
	
	                     MEG
	          What are you guys -- what time is
	          it?
	
	                     COP 1
	          'Bout four o'clock.
	
	                     MEG
	          I don't get it.
	
	                     COP 2
	          We got a call...
	
	Cop 1 looks at him.  Cop 2 stops talking.
	
	                     MEG
	          Somebody called you?
	
	                     COP 1
	          Can we come in?
	
	                     MEG
	          What do you want?
	
	                     COP 1
	          We'd like to come in.
	
	                     MEG
	          No, you can't come in.
	
	                     COP 2
	          Are you okay?
	
	                     MEG
	          I'm fine.
	
	                     COP 1
	          Can we come in?
	
	                     MEG
	          Stop asking me that.  I'm fine.  Who
	          called you?
	
	                     COP 1
	          You don't look so good.
	
	                     MEG
	          You wake me out of a sound sleep at
	          four in the morning and then tell me
	          I look like hell?  Of course I look
	          like hell, you don't look so hot
	          yourself, Jack.  I'm freezing here,
	          thank you for checking, can I go?
	
	Cop 1 studies her, notices the burned sleeve of her T-shirt,
	the black smudges still on her face.
	
	                     COP 1
	          Your husband says you said "There
	          are three..." right before you got
	          cut off.
	
	                     MEG
	          Oh, that phone call...
	
	Cop 1 takes a step forward and lowers his voice to just above
	a whisper, unconsciously making her lean forward in order to
	hear him.
	
	                     COP 1
	          Ma'am, if there's something you want
	          to say to us right now that maybe
	          you can't say to us right now, maybe
	          you just want to make a signal, by
	          blinking a few times, something like
	          that.
	
	She just looks at him.  Wow, this guy's intuitive.  She is
	sorely tempted.  But she can't.
	
	                     COP 1
	          That's something you could do.
	          Safely.
	
	She thinks, thinks --
	
	-- and burst out laughing.
	
	                     MEG
	          Man, you are good!  You mean, like,
	          if somebody was in the house or
	          something?  That's great, they
	          really train you guys these days,
	          don't they?
	
	Cop 1 looks at her, not sure if he believes her or not.
	
	                     MEG
	          No.  I'm fine.  Cross my heart.
	
	Cop 2 turns to go, but Cop 1 lingers.
	
	                     COP 1
	          May I ask what the rest of that
	          sentence was going to be?
	
	                     MEG
	               (stalling)
	          Huh?
	
	                     COP 1
	          The sentence that started "There are
	          three."  What was the rest?
	
	Pause.  She stares at him.
	
	                     MEG
	          Okay, look.  My husband and I just
	          broke up.  It's my first night in
	          the new house, and I was feeling a
	          little lonely and a little drunk.
	          The sentence, if you insist on
	          knowing, was going to be "There are
	          three things I'll do for you if you
	          come over right now and get in bed
	          with me."
	
	Cop 2 stifles a laugh.
	
	                     MEG
	          But thank God I came to my senses
	          before I said all that and hung up
	          instead, so nobody would ever know
	          what I was thinking, unless, of
	          course, two policemen showed up in
	          the middle of the night to
	          interrogate me about it.
	
	That was good.  Cop 1 is embarrassed.  Cop 2 thinks it's
	funny.
	
	                     COP 2
	          You want her to show you which three
	          things, Rick, or should we just go?
	
	Cop 1 looks at Meg, a long look, he holds it for one last
	moment, trying to read her mind.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	we see the video image of the Cops as they turn and head away
	down the front steps.  Meg closes the doors, looks up into a
	camera, right at us.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Burnham and Raoul breathe a sigh of relief.
	
	Burnham goes back to work on the safe.  He's making progress.
	
	Raoul looks at Sarah.  Stares actually.  He's thinking too.
	
	Bad thoughts.  He moves over, crouches down next to Burnham.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          She saw my face.  The kid too.
	
	Sarah overhears that.  She raises her head, alarmed.  Burnham
	turns, looks over at her, and she just gets her head back
	down in time.  Burnham and Raoul close themselves off, for a
	private conversation.
	
	Sarah edges closer.  She overhears a fragment.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          That's your problem.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          That's their problem.
	
	Sarah is terrified.  Doesn't know what to do.  She looks to
	her immediate left, sees the intercom panel.  She edges
	closer.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Let me fucking finish this so we can
	          get out of here.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You finish.  Then we finish.
	
	Sarah sneaks up a hand and pushes a button -- "ALL PAGE."
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the living room, there is an audible CLICK as the speaker
	is activated.  Meg looks up, hears Burnham's voice, in the
	middle of a sentence.
	
	                     BURNHAM (O.S.)
	          -- posed to mean?
	
	                     RAOUL (O.S.)
	          You're here with me, you're already
	          on the hook for one.  Buy one, you
	          get the rest for the same price.
	          You know that.
	
	                     BURNHAM (O.S.)
	          Get the fuck away from me.
	
	                     RAOUL (O.S.)
	          The kid in here.  The other two when
	          we come out.
	
	Meg listens, horrified.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Sarah holds the intercom button down with a trembling finger.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Bullshit.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          You know how this gotta end.
	
	INT.  LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
	
	Meg stares, in shock, as Raoul's voice echoes in the empty
	room.
	
	                     RAOUL (O.S.)
	          They stay in the house.
	
	There in an abrupt CLICK, and the speaker turns off.  Meg
	turns, goes to Harris, falls to her knees, no idea what to
	do.  She holds him close, their foreheads touching.  She's
	terrified, exhausted, wants to collapse in his arms.
	
	Instead, she starts to pull the gun from his fingers.  He
	tightens his grip, what are you doing?  He tries to hold onto
	the gun, but she pulls his fingers off it, takes it away from
	him.  He is too weak to resist.
	
	                                                  CUT TO:
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the panic room, Sarah has her hands clamped over her ears,
	her mouth is wide open, and a hideous METAL SHRIEK seems to
	be coming out of it.
	
	But the SHRIEK is actually coming from the safe, where
	Burnham continues to work, another drill, a bigger bit.  The
	noise is deafening.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	Sarah sees her mother approaching the monitor in the bedroom,
	carrying a jacket.  Meg tosses the jacket, this time she
	doesn't want them to see what she's doing.
	
	The monitor goes black.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	In the master bedroom, Meg pulls on a pair of jeans that are
	hanging over a chair.
	
	She steps into a pair of boots.
	
	She shoves the gun into her belt.
	
	Here in the bedroom, she can hear the drill.  From the house
	next door, she hears POUNDING again, more MUFFLED CURSES.
	Apparently the neighbor can hear the drill too.
	
	Meg looks from the walls of the bedroom to the walls of the
	panic room.  Her eyes light up with an idea.
	
	She goes to the front wall of the bedroom, stands with her
	back against the exterior wall (street side), with her left
	shoulder against the common wall that's shared with the
	neighbor's brownstone.
	
	She begins to step off the distance, heel to toe, measuring
	with her feet until she reaches the metal door that is the
	entrance to the panic room.
	
	                     MEG
	          Fourteen.
	
	She hurries out of the bedroom.  What's she doing?
	
	INT.  LIBRARY - NIGHT
	
	Meg comes into a small room full of empty bookshelves, a
	library.  There is a window that looks out over the sidewalk,
	one floor up, same level as the stoop.
	
	She looks up, into the corners of the room.
	
	                     MEG
	          No camera, no camera, no camera...
	
	They're bare, no video cameras.  Good.
	
	She goes to the window, tries to open it.  Screwed shut, of
	course.
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	The safe is almost cracked.  Raoul is watching the monitors
	carefully.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	we see Meg as she searches through the tools in the living
	room, finds a screwdriver, a sledgehammer.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Raoul furrows his brow.  Now what?
	
	INT.  LIBRARY - NIGHT
	
	Meg is back in the library, hurriedly unscrewing the window.
	She gets the last screw out, shoves the window up.
	
	The wind BLASTS in, it's a hell of a spooky night out there.
	
	She leans out the window.  We lean with her.  The sidewalk is
	empty (we see it only from our vantage point inside the
	house).  She's one floor up.  To her right is the house's
	front stoop.
	
	She tosses the sledgehammer over, onto the stoop.  Climbs up
	onto the window ledge, and slithers out herself.
	
	We lean further, watch her as she edges along the ledge, hops
	down onto the stoop, and freezes, staring in horror --
	
	-- at the video camera that covers the front stoop.
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	we see her staring straight up at the camera, clearly
	standing on the front stoop, outside the house, where she was
	specifically told not to go.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah sees the image of her on the stoop.  Raoul happens to
	be looking away at the moment, at the safe, but he starts to
	turn around, to look at the monitors again --
	
	-- and Sarah kicks him, hard, in the ass.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          Hey!
	
	He turns, away from the monitors.
	
	                     SARAH
	          Sorry.  Can't control it sometimes.
	
	Raoul scowls at her.  Behind him --
	
	ON THE MONITORS,
	
	Meg darts down the front steps and disappears from view on
	the monitor.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Sarah sees her mother go.
	
	                     SARAH
	               (to Raoul)
	          Won't happen again.
	
	INT.  LIBRARY - NIGHT
	
	Still leaning out the window, we can see Meg from here as she
	reaches the sidewalk and runs up the front steps of the
	neighbor's house, which is contiguous.
	
	Straining to see (yet stay in the house), we see Meg all the
	way at the right edge of the frame, as she shifts the gun to
	the back of her pants and knocks on the neighbor's door,
	sledgehammer held slightly behind her leg.
	
	After a long moment, we hear the neighbor's front door open.
	The conversation begins.  The wind is gusting right in our
	faces, we can't make out the details, but the gist is clear --
	let me into your house, and don't as me a lot of questions.
	
	The NEIGHBOR -- and by the tone of the voice it sounds like
	an old woman -- is slow to respond, grumpy.
	
	Losing patience, Meg just pulls the Neighbor out of the way
	and shoves into the house.  The Neighbor stumbles out onto
	her front stoop, and we were right, it's an old lady in a
	nightgown, but she's no shrinking violet.  In fact, she's
	royally pissed off and not at all intimidated.
	
	                     NEIGHBOR
	          What the hell do you think you're
	          doing, young lady?!
	
	She storms back into her house, following Meg.  As both of
	them disappear from the frame, we move out of the library,
	into the foyer, and move along the common wall, the one
	shared with the neighbor's brownstone.
	
	From the other side of the wall, we can hear muffled voices,
	arguing, Meg and the Neighbor shouting at each other.
	
	We drift up, up the stairs, and hear the THUNDERING of
	footsteps on the stairs next door.  We keep pace with them,
	from inside this house.  We pass right through the floor --
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	-- and rise up out of the floor in the master bedroom, and
	now we can hear the conversation on the other side of the
	wall in here, the Neighbor's fearful, angry tones, Meg's
	firm, urgent declarations.
	
	We move with Meg, even though we can't see her, we know what
	she's doing, she's stepping off the paces on the other side
	of the wall.  We drift down that wall, fourteen steps, until
	we reach the metal door to the panic room, then we pass
	through that door --
	
	INT.  PANIC ROOM - NIGHT
	
	-- and arrive inside the panic room, where Burnham is this
	close to getting the safe open, when all of a sudden --
	
	WHOMP.
	
	CRUNCH.
	
	Burnham and Raoul freeze, alarmed.  It's coming from the long
	wall, the shared wall.
	
	They look at each other.
	
	WHOMP.
	
	CRUNCH.
	
	They look at the wall.
	
	Somebody is on the other side, pounding like hell.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          The walls are steel, right?
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Not that one.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          NOT THAT ONE?!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Hey man, it's the neighbor's house,
	          who breaks in through the neighbor's
	          house?!
	
	WHOMP!  CRUNCH!
	
	Louder.  Closer.  Burnham turns, SCREAMS at the wall.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          WHO THE FUCK BREAKS IN THROUGH THE
	          NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE?!
	
	                     RAOUL
	          We've got the Kid!
	               (shouting at the wall)
	          WE'VE GOT YOUR KID!!  What the fuck
	          is she thinking?!
	
	WHOMP!  CRUNCH!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          She's got your gun, that's what
	          she's thinking!  The FUCK you had to
	          bring a gun for?!
	
	Burnham throws himself back on the floor, goes back to work
	on the safe.  Fires up the drill again, it SCREAMS into the
	metal.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Almost there...
	
	The POUNDING keeps up from next door.  We hear sheetrock torn
	away on the far side.  Bricks, SCRAPING out of place.
	
	Sarah, in the corner, is energized, excited.  While Burnham
	and Raoul are distracted, she grabs the leather pouch, palms
	the three syringes that are left in there.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          ALMOST THERE...
	
	Finally, the door to the safe CRUNCHES in on one side,
	yielding to the drilling --
	
	-- at the very moment that the head of a sledgehammer CRASHES
	through the wall of the panic room.  Raoul grabs hold of
	Sarah, Burnham maintains his focus, throwing open the safe,
	revealing --
	
	-- nothing.
	
	CRUNCH!
	
	The sledgehammer head strikes again, opening up a hole about
	a foot across.  Light spills through from the other side, as
	well as the voice of the hysterical Neighbor.
	
	Raoul hurls Sarah against the far wall, leaps over to the
	side of the hole, and waits, poised above it.
	
	At the safe, Burnham doesn't lose his cool, just opens a
	false bottom in the safe, revealing a manila envelope.
	
	He snatches it up, RIPS it open, and his eyes dance as he
	holds up fourteen individual one million dollar U,S, Treasury
	Bearer Bonds.  He fans them out, eyes drinking from his
	Grail.
	
	BANG!
	
	A gunshot whizzes right through one of the bonds, setting it
	aflame before it SLAMS into the far wall, sending up a little
	cloud of plaster dust.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          JESUS!
	
	He whirls, sees an arm poking through the hole in the wall,
	gun extended.
	
	But Raoul is standing just above the hole, and already has
	his boot raised, over the hand.  He brings it down, a
	CRUNCHING blow that stomps right on Meg's wrist.
	
	Meg SCREAMS, loses her grip on the gun, and it CLATTERS into
	the space between the houses.
	
	BETWEEN THE WALLS,
	
	the gun falls into oblivion, the space between the walls,
	where no one can get to it.
	
	IN THE PANIC ROOM,
	
	Burnham shoves the loose bonds into his jacket.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          I GOT THE MONEY, LET'S GO!!!
	
	Raoul grabs Sarah and turns, jabs the green button to open
	the door.
	
	Behind them, Meg SCREAMS in anger and wriggles through the
	opening.  Before she's even all the way through, she gets
	hold of Raoul's leg and pulls herself into the panic room,
	scraping and bloodying herself on the edges of the too-small
	hole.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          GO, LET'S GO, OUTTA HERE!!
	
	But Raoul is deep in a violent rage.  Still holding Sarah
	with one hand, he bends down, grabs Meg by the hair, and
	drags her toward the doorway.
	
	                     RAOUL
	          YOU KNOW HOW THIS IS GONNA GO!
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          FUCK YOU, I'M GONE!
	
	He bolts out of the room, through the metal door, which is
	just finishing its slow crank open, its heavy spring coiling
	in the wall.
	
	Raoul drag Meg across the floor by the hair, right into the
	track of the open steel door.
	
	She looks up, sees the infrared safety beam over her head,
	and  realizes with horror what his intention is.
	
	Still with one arm holding Sarah, who is kicking and
	struggling viciously, Raoul holds Meg's head down on the
	floor, below the safety beam that would prevent the door from
	closing.  He reaches for the "close" button.
	
	Sarah raises her arm, stuffed with three syringes, and jabs
	them into Raoul's neck.  Raoul SCREAMS in pain.
	
	Meg manages to raise her head, breaking the beam.
	
	INT.  HALLWAY - NIGHT
	
	On the stairwell, Burnham, stops, frozen, his face twitching
	with indecision.  He hears the murder taking place just above
	him.
	
	He runs down three steps.
	
	Stops again.
	
	Runs down the rest of the stairs.
	
	INT.  MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT
	
	Raoul stretches to push the red "close" button for the door,
	but he has to hold Meg's head down, out of the lower beam
	with one hand, all with Sarah savagely attacking him at the
	same time, and three syringes hanging out of his neck.
	
	Finally, he gets Meg's head all the way down, onto the floor.
	
	Looking up, Meg sees the red beam become complete again.
	
	Raoul jabs the button --
	
	-- just as Sarah throws her hand into the upper beam, the one
	at shoulder level.  Sarah's hand turns red, the beam is
	broken, the door will not close.
	
	Raoul ROARS in anger and twists violently, sending Sarah
	flying across the room.
	
	Meg strains, gets her head off the floor again, breaking the
	beam.  Raoul starts jamming the close button, over and over
	again, the beam completes, then breaks, completes, then
	breaks, never the button and the beam at the same time.
	
	But it can't go on forever.  Meg's tiring, she can't keep it
	up, her head trembles --
	
	-- and collapses onto the floor.
	
	The beam completes --
	
	-- Raoul SMACKS the red button --
	
	-- and Burnham appears on the other side of the door.  He
	reaches in, grabs hold of Raoul, to pull him off her, but
	Raoul loses his balance, falls forward --
	
	-- into the gap --
	
	-- and his head is crushed by the spring-loaded steel door
	that SLAMS forward just as Meg draws herself back.
	
	Meg falls across the panic room, grabs Sarah, and holds on
	tight.
	
	The door detects the obstruction and opens again, slowly.
	Raoul's body slumps to the floor, dead.
	
	Burnham stands there, looking down at Meg and Sarah.
	
	They stare at each other, wordless, their first face to face
	contact.  She sees the bonds protruding from his jacket.
	
	She just looks at him.  There will be no understanding here.
	
	He zips his jacket, turns, and hurries away.
	
	INT.  ENTRY FLOOR - NIGHT
	
	Burnham races down the steps, hurries to the entry door,
	throws it open --
	
	-- and finds a gun barrel pointed directly into his nose.  He
	blinks, tries to focus on whoever's on the other end of that
	gun.
	
	It's the Cop, the first Cop, the one who came to the door and
	was so suspicious of Meg.  The Cop looks down, sees blood
	smeared all over Burnham's jacket, sees more than enough to
	know his suspicions were correct.
	
	                     COP 1
	          Put your hands up.
	
	Burnham freezes, silhouetted in the doorway.  Wind and leaves
	blow into the house, a real gale outside.
	
	From behind Cop 1, MORE COPS SHOUT, all at once, must be a
	half dozen of 'em there, but Burnham can't see anything in
	the stinging light, and can't hear much either, over the
	ROARING wind.
	
	Burnham moves suddenly, flinging the door shut right in the
	Cop's face.  The door SLAMS hard, Burnham turns to run but
	doesn't get more than a few paces before three sharp GUNSHOTS
	CRACK through the door behind him.
	
	Brilliant white light spills through the bulletholes in the
	door, but it's not the light that gets you, it's the chunks
	of lead.  They rip through Burnham's back and come out his
	chest, a triangle pattern.
	
	Burnham stops, sags to his knees.  He reaches into his
	jacket, pulls out the loose stack of bonds.
	
	He fans them out, stares down at them, holds them like
	playing cards.
	
	                     BURNHAM
	          Monster hand.
	
	Behind him, the front door CRACKS open, half a dozen COPS
	appear and start SHOUTING, all at once.  Burnham tosses the
	bonds to the floor, the same gesture as folding a hand of
	poker.
	
	He GROANS and collapses, slowly, falling through the bonds,
	twisting as he goes down.  He SLAPS onto his back in the
	foyer as the wind gusts through the open door, scoops the
	bonds up off the floor, and blows them back into the house,
	as if they were never meant to leave.
	
	Burnham lies there on the floor, eyes open, staring up at the
	ceiling, looking at the bonds that swirl in the blast of air,
	suspended there, twisting and bucking and diving just over
	his head as he dies.
	
	                                             DISSOLVE TO:
	
	EXT.  CENTRAL PARK - GREAT LAWN - DAY
	
	The swirling bonds melt into swirling leaves, blowing in the
	air over Central Park on a crisp fall day.  The leaves float
	down, over the Great Lawn, that massive expanse of grass we
	saw in Meg's hallucination.
	
	But on a day like this the Great Lawn's full of people,
	throwing frisbees, playing football, lying there doing
	nothing.
	
	The leaves land on the grass next to Meg and Sarah, stretched
	out on a blanket, a newspaper spread in front of them, open
	to the ads.
	
	Meg is on her back, arms folded behind her head, staring up
	at the clouds.
	
	Sarah is intent on the paper, circling the occasional ad.
	
	                     SARAH
	          I mean, uptown is close to Dad's
	          place, but somebody at school said
	          the Village is really cool, so... I
	          don't know, it's so great to be
	          close to the park and everything...
	          What do you think, I mean, give me a
	          clue, here, where are we gonna live?
	
	Meg rolls over, props herself up on one elbow.  She seems
	years younger.  She looks at Sarah, reaches out, brushes her
	daughter's hair behind one ear.
	
	She smiles.  She is calm.
	
	Behind her, a flock of pigeons takes off, leaping into the
	clear autumn sky.
	
	                                                FADE OUT.


Panic Room



Writers :   David Koepp
Genres :   Crime  Drama  Thriller


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