Murder In The Darkness

Murder In The Darkness by Devin McConnell

Fish in the Percolator © 2009

A cyberpunk mystery



2 CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

JACK A gruff and cynical detective with a bit of a scathing attitude toward almost everything and everyone around him. He doesn’t make any personal connections to his cases, he just treats each one as another job. Jack displays a very trademark trench coat and fedora at almost all times as well as keeping his trusty sidearm handy at all times. JILL SERPENTES Cunning, merciless, and manipulative. Jill has a very specific goal in mind and never deviates from it no matter how much she must go out of her way to obtain it. She can appear quite innocent in character but beneath the layered personality she invents there lies the cold, hard, straightforward mind of a killer. GREG Greg is Jack’s partner for this new case. He is tech savvy and a forensics expert with a wide knowledge of biology, genetics, chemistry, and a wide catalogue of medical procedures and materials CHIEF The man Jack has to report to. The chief appears as a hard ass to keep Jack in line. But beside that he is a man with great conviction to serve as chief of the police and takes great honor in the idea of putting away wrongdoers to preserve society. JULIA The recently widowed genetic and biological engineer. Her and her husband were working on a very secret personal project that the Jill is after. She is



3 a workaholic in her office but yearns to be able to revert to her more laid back personality whenever she has the chance, however her extreme work pattern makes that a near impossibility. She is kind and understanding in character and as a boss, so she is generally liked by everyone who works under her and with her. DAVE An undercover agent for the Jill. He’s been undercover in the Petronov’s research facility in order to gain their trust and get a better idea of what they are producing for the Jill. He is essentially a mercenary with only one paying boss. He cares little for anyone involved in his mission and feels no connection to the people he hurts. DRUG BOSS A plain and simple CEO type (though not that big of a tycoon) Doesn’t quite understand what he is getting into every time and instead just follows where the money is, which lands him in some trouble and gets him killed. ALEXANDER A top theriogenolocial scientist that works together with his wife Julia with the hope of accomplishing a major breakthrough in reproductive methods. He needs little characterization because he dies very early on as a result of Jill swapping his drug supply with a fatal batch. SARAH An associate with Julia and Alexander, she worked with them on the parthenogenesis project to try and compensate for her own infertility. Shy at most times due to hiding her past so much as well as being torn between the character’s because of her betrayal of Deckard and Greg to Jill.



4 SYBIL Jill’s partner and right hand agent. She has a relation with Jill similar to that between Deckard and that Chief, mutual cooperation mixed with bitter hatred. She frequently comes to blows with Jill over decisions. She is equally as sly, evil and cunning as Jill which makes them the perfect team. But their confrontations leads Jill to have her disposed of by getting Deckard to believe that Sybil is the mastermind behind the entire thing



1 INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The camera focuses in on a small puddle of melted ice on the side of a cracked up street as a rushed business man steps directly into it and lightly soaks his foot before pulling it out instinctively ALEXANDER Ahhh… dammit. (grunts) Well better see if these pills work any better than the last ones that crock sold me. The man produces a small jar filled to the brim with pills and continues to take a handful from it and throw them into his mouth without a second thought. ALEXANDER Blech… do these things always need to taste like rubber? Just as the man downs his pills and finishes his sentence he immediately lets out a small yelp and grasps his left arm with apparent pain as his arm starts to bleed a bit and the other one begins dripping blood onto the snow which greatly contrasts the two colors. In just moments he falls face first into the snow with blood and the camera slowly moves up from his body to the sky. SHOT - DESCRIPTION The camera pans down from the ceiling in a faintly lit room with the protagonist sits back at his desk with his trusty sidearm lying beside him as he sifts through a few papers on his desk on various things he is taking little interest in when his phone goes off. JACK Jack here… oh good… chief, ya know I was just thinking to myself how much I would love to talk to you again… ...What?! What the hell do you mean, no murderer? How is someone murdered without a… grr Ok I’ll be right over



2 EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack gets up slowly and holsters his gun and heads out of the room to his car grabbing his hat on the way out.Int. scene - description The camera pans across a deserted parking lot covered with a light layer of snow that keeps the ground white. A small walled in dumpster with an open fence door reveals a body lying facedown in the snow with the red blood piercing the white coat of snow JACK Hmm… this is the place, where’s the chief? GREG The cops left an hour ago, the chief included. They left me here for you. I’m Greg, I’ll be your technical and forensic expert With this new voice appearing out of nowhere Jack notices his new friend leaned up with his back against a wall as he speaks in a calm and confident manner. JACK Okay then… Greg, what are we dealing with here? What’s this about there being no murderer? GREG Well there’s no murderer at the scene. Believe me, he was murdered. But all we found was this vial full of pills, they’re over the counter. JACK So then it’s simple, someone dropped some poison in the jar. GREG Not that simple, I took a blood sample, there wasn’t a trace of any poison I can think of. JACK So then how did this guy die? Where’s all the blood from?



3

GREG Well he bled to death rather quickly, my estimate is that he fell unconscious about ten minutes after the bleeding started. He died within a half hour from there. JACK Wait bleeding? How the hell did he bleed that fast? GREG I’m not sure, but I have an idea. I’m gunna need to take these pills back and see what the hell they are. JACK All right, where are you set up? GREG Actually I don’t have a place to stay at the moment. They ordered me out here to trail along with you. So whenever you’re ready to go, we should probably get down to finding out what the hell these things are JACK I suppose that’s the best course of action, it’s the only piece of evidence from the scene, right? GREG Have a look for yourself, there’s nothing here but a bloodied up corpse. EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack briefly walks over to the body and kneels down next to it in order to examine a bit. He shakes his head and turns up nothing. Then stands back up and motions to Greg to leave. They both get in his car and drive off.



4

INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack and Greg both emerge back at Jack’s place and Greg immediately sets down his computer and begins to type furiously into it with the pills in hand. GREG Hey, I need to crush this for analysis. Have a knife or anything? Jack Ah, yeah. Here. Jack tosses Greg a small Swiss army knife GREG Thanks, now to see what’s in this thing Greg cuts the pill into small and smaller pieces until all that remains is a pale powder. GREG Alright. It’ll take some time... JACK Really, how is there no murderer and no poison? It impossible. GREG I’ve got hunches. Although they’re just that. JACK We got time to kill. Share ‘em. GREG Coumadin, it’s a blood thinner JACK A blood thinner?! What the hell is that for?



5 GREG To kill him JACK Explain. GREG Well it’s rather simple. Like I said I tested his blood before you arrived and found something interesting… JACK Which is? GREG He was hemophilic. He has naturally thin blood. It’s a genetic disorder. Those damned miscoded protein sequences will get ya JACK Ok I think I’m starting to piece this one together GREG Impressive, I only figured it out about an hour ago myself. JACK Well it’s obvious that the victim was slipped the wrong drug for his hemophilia. Instead of thickening the blood it did the exact oppositeGREG Precisely... JACK So with his blood thinned to an extreme, this entire system is unable to clot to stop the flow of blood at all. So the smallest prick will cause him to bleed to death. GREG You got it



6 JACK So then we need to solve the next question. Where’d the drugs come from? GREG That’s a good question. I’ll just try to look up this number on the inside of the cap. JACK That’ll help Greg makes quick work of the location and hacks away at his laptop pinpointing the location in a few minutes GREG Got it JACK Well then, please share GREG Hmmm… I don’t recall there being a factory here. JACK Where? Greg points out the map on his laptop JACK Hmmm… alright then I’ll go see what’s up here. You can stay here until I return GREG Hey, one more thing JACK Yea? Greg tosses Jack a small earpiece microphone GREG Take this so I can keep in touch JACK Thanks, this’ll come in handy I’m sure



7 EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack takes up his hat and trench coat and heads out the door. He climbs into his car and takes off for the coumadin “factory” INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack pulls up to the outside of the factory and begins to approach the front of the building when he notices something in a window right on the front of the building. He quickly evades being noticed and climbs up against the nearest wall JACK What the hell? DRUG BOSS -“used it to kill someone?!” How do you do that with a blood thinner? THUG #1 Listen, we don’t know what the boss is doing, her mind works in crazy ways JACK (TO HIMSELF) Her? The person behind this is a woman? DRUG BOSS Well I’m afraid I can’t give it to you if you’re going to use it as a weapon. Do you know what will happen to me if someone gets ahold of this information? THUG #2 Hey, wait, don’t do anything irrational here. Do you know what will happen to you if we don’t get more of that previous shipment DRUG BOSS I’m sorry gentlemen, but that is now your problem, you’ll need to find someone else who can supply you with your deadly coumadin. (THUG PULLS OUT GUN AND PUSHES IT INTO BOSS’ GUT)



8 THUG #2 Give us what we need and we’ll gladly leave Mr. Dickson (WITHOUT WARNING JACK POPS OUT FROM AROUND THE CORNER THAT HE WAS HIDING BEHIND AND BURSTS INTO THE ROOM) JACK Freeze! Drop the guns both of you. I’m no cop so I’ll gladly shoot. Without even bothering to give a second thought the two thugs release the boss and take off in the opposite direction. Jack rushes in and drops on top of the boss and begins firing randomly at the thugs to scare them off. JACK Heh, a couple of cowards. You ok? DRUG BOSS I’m fine. Hasn’t been the first time. JACK Well now it’s my turn. Who are those clowns with that drug of yours? DRUG BOSS Honestly I couldn’t tell you. I still can’t believe how they managed to kill someone with a blood thinner, I mean at best you could make them lightheaded or… JACK -or they could be completely splattered all over a parking lot because they already had thin blood being hemophilic…

DRUG BOSS WHAT?! Dammit, I never even thought of that. You think they really killed someone?



9 JACK Well those two pansies… I doubt it. However this boss they were talking about seems dangerous enough, especially if she managed to make someone kill himself. DRUG BOSS Yea she sounds like one crazy bitch. That’s rather ingenious, she had to have been stalking that guy to know he was hemophilic. JACK And what do you know about our mysterious killer? DRUG BOSS Not much, honestly, those guys you met earlier placed an order for coumadin specially though me. I didn’t give it to them; this was our first meeting. But they came back for more, so they must be going after someone else who’s hemophilic. Who was it that they killed? JACK I don’t know, I wasn’t there when the forensics team ID’d him, and he wasn’t anyone I’d seen before. I guess I’ll have to stop in later and see the chief about who he was soon. DRUG BOSS Well, when you find out, notify me. If the coumadin is traced back to me... JACK Hey buddy thats your problem. Besides you should be more worried about them coming for your head. And probably soon. DRUG BOSS I doubt it’s that bad. The drugs had to be shipped to her somewhere. All I have to do now is track down the shipment



10 and find out where it went. Then you might be able to nip this whole problem in thA gunshot rings out clear and true and Jack reacts instinctively to jump behind some cover. However that shot is the only one. He immediately looks toward the drug boss and finds him lying dead on the ground slouched over with a bullet in his chest. Jack pans the area looking all around and sees no trace of the shooter. JACK Dammit… (Takes out small earpiece and shoves it in his ear) Greg, I found our drug lord friend. GREG Well what does he know? JACK Not much now that he’s dead. GREG Damn… well anyway. The chief just called. Sounded pissed as usual, but urgent this time. I think they Identified the body of our hemophilic friend, you better head over there quick.

JACK Will do. EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack carefully approaches his car, climbs in and takes off for his next location and his next confrontation. His boss INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jill is strutting around her office with a pensive and anxious air. In Jill’s office, we watch Sybil enter her office,

INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION



11 The chief inhabits a small room similar to Jack’s but certificates of sorts hang more organized and uptight

and rather normal appearing office with a little more showmanship. His on the walls and he appears overall in his office structure.

CHIEF It’s about time you showed up. We got all hell breaking loose and you’re the only man I know I can count on. JACK Funny, that’s not what you said last time you saw me CHIEF Jack… that’s in the past now, you know as well as I we can’t let that kinda shit cloud our minds when we’re actually needed. JACK Oh so now that you’re desperate you have no choice but to call in that backstabbing son of a bitch, am I right? CHIEF Dammit Jack… we got people dying left and right, some crazy bitch is on the loose and you wanna just bitch about getting a little slap on the wrist? JACK You call pulling me out of my apartment and throwing me in a cell for two days while some damned lunatic kills my wife a slap on the wrist?! If I didn’t at least owe you something for nabbing the son of a bitch who killed her then I would kill you right now. CHIEF Jack… calm down you nut. I did you a favor, they were ready to take you in and give you the god damn chair. I managed to convince them to put you away for a little while and catch the real



12 killer. We both knew it wasn’t you. I knew it wasn’t you JACK You let her die… CHIEF If you don’t get doing your job then a lot more people are going to die my friend we got a serious situation here. JACK Go on… (The Chief tosses a photograph of the earlier crime scene) CHIEF We ID’ed our bloody little friend. JACK And? CHIEF He’s a top biochemical, genetic and theriogenolocial scientist. His name is Alexander Petronov JACK Theriogenology? CHIEF The study of reproduction in the veterinary field JACK So he was playing around with animal’s genetics and offspring. What the hell does this mystery killer want with that? CHIEF We have no idea. The pieces in this puzzle barely even resemble one another. JACK So you’re saying we have nothing to act on?



13 CHIEF Oh no, not quite. We have someone very important that you need to talk to. JACK Who’s that? CHIEF His wife. Julia Sisard Petronov. Known to most of her co workers as “sis” for her maiden name JACK What do I need to pay the widow a visit for? CHIEF Both Alexander and his wife were top biochemical geneticists. They were working on something very secretive. It’s quite possible that she knows everything we need, and that can’t be good for her own safety. So I’m gunna need you to protect her as well. JACK Great thats what I need, another tag along. Where is she now? CHIEF She’s still working at the same research facility that her late husband did. They were a team in their little science experiment. I’ll send the coordinates to Greg JACK Great now I’ll go get him too. CHIEF Jack, be careful. We have no idea what this woman is planning. But looking at what she’s already done it can’t be very good. JACK



14 Right, I’ll get over there as soon as I can. (Hit’s headset ON) Greg, I’m on my way over to my office, we’re heading over to a research facility. I’ll fill you in on the way. EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack walks out of the room with his hat in hand and putting on his trench coat and holsters his gun. INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The camera zooms back from an open window as it’s closed by a woman in a white lab coat. JULIA *sigh* I know it’s beautiful outside but doesn’t anyone care about contamination? I better go back and check the embryos. She continues across the room to her workplace and begins focusing intensely on her pipette and microscope in particular. A man stands directly outside the doorway with his hand to a small earpiece as he nods in agreement with what he is being told. JULIA Ahh damn there does another one. Why can’t you just stay still? (Looks up at man in doorway) Hey Dave, can you bring me another petri dish of egg cells another one just kicked the bucket. DAVE (Lowering hand from ear) Yea sure I’ll go get it. (He walks out of the door) JULIA (Talking to herself lightly) Where the hell is Alexander today? He said he’d be in about an hour ago. Julia puts her face back down into a microscope as the camera zooms out a little bit to encompass her entire face as the blade of a knife slips into the shot and positions itself directly parallel to her neck. As soon as Julia realizes the knife blade in front of her she immediately pulls back with a small scream. But at the moment she does that she bumps into Dave, holding the



15 knife, as he covers her mouth from finishing her scream of distress and he positions the knife within striking distance to her jugular. DAVE Surprise Julia. You’ve got a lot of talking to do. EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The screen blacks out over the frozen image of Dave holding the knife to Julia’s neck INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack’s car pulls up to the front door of the research facility and both him and Greg step out calmly as Jack puts his hat back on his head and feels his hip to make sure his sidearm is at the ready. They both calmly walk up to and enter the building engaged in small chatter. They enter the lobby of the building and find the entire area appearing to be deserted. Then appearing out of nowhere, with an air of urgency, an employee of the building (also in a white lab coat) comes up to Jack and Greg and greets them. SARAH Hello gentleman, you must be Mr. Jack. I’m Sarah. JACK How did you know we were coming? SARAH Umm… your boss called us while you were on your way… JACK Right, the chief. Oh this is my partner Greg.

SARAH Ah very nice to meet both of you (They exchange hand shakes between the three of them) JACK



16 Now, Sarah I need to find Mrs. Petronov SARAH Oh you mean Sis? JACK Right, Sis… SARAH Well she’s deep into her work in her lab. I’ll take you over there in a few minutes once they’re done with their test in there. The room needs to be kept sterile I’m afraid. JACK Well that’s ok, but I do need to speak with her very soon. Greg is here with me to get a better understanding of what exactly you do around here. SARAH Ahh of course. I’ll take you over to Sis’ room and then I can give Greg a tour of the area and we can discuss what we’re working on. The three of them walk out of the lobby together and subsequently arrive at their location. The door to the lab is still closed. SARAH Hmm it seems that Julia is still hard at work with her experiment. Here, Jack I’ll let you in and Greg and I will continue onto my facility (She opens the door and Jack goes inside and she shuts the door behind him) SARAH Well then, let’s move on shall we? GREG Fine enough. (Sarah takes off at a brisk pace and gets faster while Greg keeps pace. She



17 makes a sharp turn into a small room and pulls Greg in swiftly) SARAH Shhh… shut up and listen to me. This entire facility is being held hostage by a group of men, one of our team members is with them, he let them in. They’ve kidnapped Julia. She’s already gone. They stayed here to ambush Jack. GREG What?! And you just led him into the lions den? SARAH Well what the hell do you want me to do? They’re going to kill everyone here if I don’t do exactly as they told me to. But they don’t know that you’re here, so we might have a chance to save Jack and the others. GREG We need a plan. Where are the hostages? EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The camera zooms out from Greg and Sarah as they begin to come up with a course of action in the small room. INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack slowly and cautiously enters the room to an eerie silence. JACK Hello…? Julia…? Anyone…? Jack continues to slowly pace across the room and his hand finds itself on his gun and he keeps it there. JACK Hello…? Just as Jack gets across the room two hands fly out of nowhere and plant themselves tightly around his neck. Jack struggles vigorously and turns around to find Dave trying to strangle him. He managed to free one hand from Dave pinning him against the



18 wall and punches him square in the face, then lands his knee into the attacker’s gut. The two throw a few punches at one another before Jack picks up his gun that he dropped when Dave pinned him against the wall and takes a pot shot at Dave’s leg and lands it directly. He kicks away Dave’s weapon and grabs him by the shirt collar and lifts him straight off the ground and starts asking questions. JACK Alright you son of a bitch, my turn. Who do you work for? DAVE Why the hell would I tell you? Jack shoves the barrel of his pistol into Dave’s mouth and starts rapidly getting more angry JACK Because if you don’t you’ll have a mouth full of lead DAVE You won’t, you need me. I’m your only lead. JACK You think I give a damn after you tried to kill me? As Jack and Dave bicker back and forth with the gun in Dave’s mouth a second unidentified assassin approaches Jack from behind with a gun pointed straight for the pack of Jack’s head just as Jack turns around to notice his attacker a gunshot rings out and the would be assassin falls on his knees, then face, dead. The camera looks up to see Greg pointing a gun still frozen in air from where he made the shot. With Sarah standing behind him.

JACK Greg! Sarah! Well, I guess you guys just saved my ass GREG Heh, now you owe me SARAH



19 Jack, are you all right? Your bleeding a bit (Jack wipes the small bleeding cut with him sleeve) JACK Yea, I’m fine. Now if you’ll excuse me (Jack picks Dave back up off of the floor and starts to yell in his face) JACK Who do you work for!? (He punches Dave across the face) DAVE Ughh dammit. I’ll tell you where she’s going to be (Jack throws him back to the ground on his knees and puts the gun to his head) JACK Start talking DAVE Alright, alright. She’s gunna be taking Julia to her new research facility… (The scene switches between Dave and Jack and Jill and her Rival speaking) JILL I need you to go somewhere for me. there at twelve…

DAVE ...o’clock, on the dot. She’ll be...

Be

JILL ...all alone on this one. wait for an informant... DAVE

You must



20 ...so that should give you time to get to her. Heh, good luck taking her down... JILL ...take out anyone who gets in your way, and good luck. JACK Is that all? DAVE That’s all I know JACK Greg get the chief on the line, tell him we got a thug for him to take away. One more thing, what did you do with Julia? DAVE You’ll have to ask her. (Jack throws him to the ground again) JACK Get him out of here… NOW! The screen fades to black on Jack and comes back up with Jill in her office. With very little light she can barely be recognized as she speaks to Julia, tied to a chair in the center of the room in the spotlight right after her rival leaves the room. JILL And now to figure out what to do with you… Listen carefully to me. I know what you and your husband are working on, and I want it. You’re going to finish your little project under my watch and I’m going to be the first one to use it. JULIA Your insane, you have no idea what you’re playing with the fabric of life



21 is delicate, you can’t just screw with it as you pleaseJILL Silence! Jill gets right in Julia’s face and pushes her cheeks together so she stops talking while she calms herself and delivers her next piece You’re going to do what you’re told if you value your own life… EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The camera turns to face Jill as she assumes a sinister and devious smile. INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The shot starts off with Sybil strutting confidently in a small circle around the area Jill told her to await her informant. Just as she finishes a circle, Jack steps into the shot looking rather serious. SYBIL Are you one I’m looking for? JACK You have Julia? SYBIL Of course we do, who do you think I am? JACK That’s all I need to know… Without hesitation Jack reaches for his gun and pulls it out and points it directly at Sybil. But before the shot manages to fire she reacts instinctively by kicking it square out of his grasp and onto the ground nearby. She follows up by delivering a swift blow to the stomach and back of the knees bringing Jack down. She quickly jumps behind Jack and pulls out a syringe and carefully lands it into Jack’s neck. SYBIL Good night Mr. Jack. Dream of me.



22 EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The camera assumes a first person perspective from Jack’s view as he spins around a bit and catches a good glimpse of Sybil snickering as his vision starts to blur and he passes out. INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack finds himself awakening in a small room with his hands tied to a ceiling fixture leaving him hanging but unable to free himself. He immediately begins to try and take in his surroundings as Jill walks in with a thug JILL Well well who do we have here? THUG This is that detective that Sybil caught. JILL Ahhh… I see. I’ll take it from here if you will. The Guard walks out leaving Jack and Jill all alone JACK Who are you? JILL I’m your personal savior. Just shut up and I’ll get you out of here. Jill produces a small hand knife and cuts the rope tying Jack to the ceiling JILL Alright you hold up the guard and I’ll get us out of here. JACK Got it Jack and Jill break through the door and Jack immediately uses the remaining piece of his rope to strangle the guard. While Jill produces a small key ring and proceeds to open the door so the two of them can escape.



23 JILL Ok, lets get the hell out of here, follow me JACK Be right there (Jack picks up his confiscated pistol off of the nearby table and slides it into his holster) Alright let’s go. I’ll drive JILL Good because they towed your car over here.

EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Both Jack and Jill come running from the building and jump into Jack’s car which was waiting for them and take off INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack and Jill both arrive at Jack’s office in silence as Greg turns around from his computer because of Sarah tapping him on the shoulder and motioning for him to notice a new character along side Jack. GREG Ummm… Jack? JACK Calm down, she just freed me from capture I think I owe her at least a few words.

GREG Right… JILL If you don’t mind gentleman, I can speak for myself.



24 Jill walks into the center of the room as Jack closes and locks the door behind her and Greg turns from his computer entirely to hear her out and Sarah takes a seat to hear this story seeming fairly unfazed. JACK Alright go ahead JILL Thank you, Mr. Jack JACK How do you know my name? JILL That’s all part of my story. I’d love to tell you if you’d let me start. (Jack slouches down against the wall as Jill starts her story) Ok, my name is Jill Serpentes. I, like you, am a private detective hired by Mr. Alexander Petronov to protect his assets in the event of his death and to protect his wife, Julia, from the mob that he was secretly cutting deals with for his research. GREG What? What was Petronov getting himself into? JILL That’s right, Petronov’s research had burned through his entire life’s savings but he believed that he was so close to completing some miraculous breakthrough that he made a deal with that little mafia gang you encountered earlier. Their leader was interested in what they were trying to make, so Petronov got to continue his work on their dime. Which worked fine enough until the project was nearly done. The group’s leader demanded that Petronov turn over their research once it was complete. Petronov flat out refused



25 this and hired me because he feared for his life. However he never told me that he was a hemophiliac, poor bastard, that chick really messed him up. JACK So what were you doing at their hideout? JILL Well, after Petronov’s most immediate job was Julia, but I knew that the case of the widow, assumed you were.

death I knew my to protect you were also on or at least I

(Jack makes a slightly annoyed face at the mention of his earlier failure) So my next priority was to infiltrate the gang myself so that I could make track down the killer while keeping an eye on Julia. That’s when you showed up Mr. Jack, right in my grasp. And I decided it would be very beneficial to have you on my side. JACK Hmmm… great so now we’re out on our ass, with no leads as to what comes next. (Jill produces a small disk from her coat and tosses it on the table in from of Greg’s computer) JILL Not quite, Alexander trusted me to safeguard a copy of all his research in the event of his death.

GREG Smart guy…



26 (He inserts the disk in his computer and begins taping away again) JILL I’m assuming of course that by now you two know what they were working on? (At the same time) JACK No GREG Of course JILL Well you seem to be the brains in this operation, why don’t you bring Jack up to speed? GREG Certainly, Petronov and his wife were busy tampering with the forces of reproduction in a form called “Parthenogenesis” JILL (Nodding slowly) Correct… GREG (Continuing) Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction in which offspring is produced in the absence of a male partner. It occurs naturally in a number of insects, plants, reptiles, and fish. But humans are considerably more complex than that. Usually in humans when two of a woman’s eggs to manage to begin the process of fertilization it ends with one of them being rejected. But if the egg cells are delivered an electric charge at the proper time they can be forced together for a time longer and reach the embryonic stage. From there the floodgates are open to begin creat-



27 ing identical organs that can’t be rejected by the body, and if it’s cultivated right you could be on the track to creating a perfect genetic clone of one’s self. JILL (Clapping her hands lightly) Very good, you seem to be up to date on this. Well Jack you got all that? JACK Well I had a little trouble just trying to take out one Jill, there’s no way I’m gunna let her get away with cloning herself. JILL Well then we better get on the case of finding Julia, no doubt she’s working on this as we speak in captivity. JACK Your right, lets go. But where the hell are we going? JILL Ahhh… you’re forgetting that I already know their plans. Just get in the car and I’ll give you the directions to where they’ve got Julia. JACK Alright, ladies first… EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack opens the door up and lets Jill walk out before himself as he puts his hat on. Once she makes it out the door he turns to Greg and uses sign language to tell him “Look her up” before closing the door and leaving



28 INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack and Jill emerge from Jack’s car and Jack holsters his gun. Jill produces a small sidearm to match Jack in the weapons department. The two of them both proceed to slowly approach the compound and sneak around to a back entrance and cautiously enter the back door. Just then the scene changes to Greg and Sarah back at the office. GREG Alright let’s see where Jack’s at right now (Greg knocks away at his keyboard and quickly pinpoints Jack) Ahh… right on time. (He taps on his headset) Jack it’s Greg, you there? JACK Yup, we’re inside and heading for the basement. According to Jill, Julia aught to be there GREG Alright proceed with caution. (He taps the headset to mute himself as Sarah enters the room with a plate of some assorted food) SARAH Does Jack eat? He doesn’t really have any food in his place GREG Nahh… I think Jack practices photosynthesis. I still haven’t seen him eat, sleep or take a piss… Just kill SARAH What about you? GREG Yea I eat on occasion…



29 SARAH No, I mean you seemed pretty calm with a gun at the lab… that wasn’t the first time you’ve pointed a gun at a person… (Greg hits his computer once and turns to face Sarah in a very stoic and serious manner) GREG Yea, I’ve gotten my fair share of blood on my hands SARAH Really? I can’t picture you being much of a killer… GREG Sit down… (Sarah pulls up a chair and takes a seat attentively) I’ve seen plenty of things you can only picture in your mind. I really started on this path way back when I enlisted in operation Desert storm… SARAH You were in the army? GREG Not for long, I was captured by the republican guard in Kuwait just at the onset of ground operations SARAH But you got away? GREG Yea you could say that… I was… released by US forces. SARAH What do you mean?



30 GREG Well… (Flashback images begin using footage reels and photos of “The Highway of Death”) I was being transported out by the Iraqis in their retreat from Kuwait. However Uncle Sam didn’t think they were moving fast enough, so he decided to blow them to kingdom come, two days after the american ceasefire officially ended military action. SARAH Dear god… GREG Well it worked for me, I managed to get away amid all the chaos. I made my way out of Iraq and into the nearby Soviet Union. Just in time for the fun to start there too. SARAH The Soviet Union?! GREG Yes, the United Soviet Socialist Republic. What about it? SARAH That’s where I’m from GREG Ahh, yea I can see you definitely have some Russian in you. What brought you here? SARAH Well at that time the entire country was collapsing…

GREG



31 Yea, between the war in Afghanistan and Perestroika the USSR was on the verge of collapse at that point… SARAH Yea… I was walking the streets as a destitute at the time, I was originally a scientist for the government and worked a bit in the field of biochemistry, but I lost my job due to government restructuring in the 80s. So I turned to prostitution to try and manage up enough money to leave the country. GREG I’m sure it wasn’t easy being a prostitute in mother Russia SARAH Well it was a bit easier for me because I’m infertile, I later found out that years of working in the government’s lab led up to a lot of exposure to toxins and chemicals that made me unable to fertilize or conceive a child with a partner. GREG Wow, I’m sorry about that SARAH Well that’s why I came here, I managed to pay my way in to come over to the United States with Dr. Petronov and I started my work with him and Julia on the parthenogenesis project. GREG That’s quite a story, hopefully your research can get back on track after all of this. SARAH Yea, I sure hope so. Well anyway finish up your story how’d you end up back in the US?



32 GREG Well I took part in a number of anti communist revolutions across eastern Europe in the wake of the falling iron curtain, and that certainly left me with quite a few enemies. So I took off to travel the continent through the 90s. Until 9/11 that is. It seems that an anonymous tip came from some of my enemies back in Russia and I was picked up by the US labeled as a “terrorist” and thrown in Guantanamo bay Cuba. SARAH Oh damn… The prison? GREG The same. And I sat there for quite a few years, until the US had a little change of heart… (Que. Picture of Barack Obama) ... And they finally decided I wasn’t an islamo-fascist and in fact decided I would be a big help in the FBI. So they started me out here, trying to protect the governments possible interest in Petronov’s little science experiment… SARAH Well thats quite a story… GREG Likewise… (At that moment Jack can be heard turning his headset back on and yelling at the two of them) JACK Greg! Are you there? (Greg instantaneously throws the headset back on and starts back at Jack, Sarah slowly exits the room trying not to be noticed) GREG



33 What’s up? JACK We’ve got a bomb here GREG Oh that’s delightful, is Julia tied to it by any chance? JACK Nope, she’s gotta be somewhere else, they must’ve been waiting for us to lay this trap. GREG Wait, then where’s Jill? JACK We split up to search the place, she could be anywhere in this place. Now if you don’t mind a little bomb diffusing needs to occur in the next 16 minutes. GREG Alright do you have the thing open yet? JACK Yea I popped this thing open like a can of soup now I just need to know what to start pulling GREG Heh, you should probably be a little more cautious than that, alright do you see a small brown box to the left, thats the power supply, you can’t take that out yet or you’ll be blown up, instead take the green wire out of the… (Greg and Jack go back and forth with directions as the camera zooms back from the room out the door to see Sarah on a cell phone with an anonymous person who is revealed as Jill) SARAH Yea they’re taking it apart as we speak…



34 I know, I didn’t expect it to be that easy either but this guy’s FBI, you should probably watch out, I think he may be onto you… Right, I’ll keep an eye on him. Just let me know when the time is right… So what did you do with Julia? Right I know, once she gets that stage completed I can take over from there… No problem I don’t think either of them have the slightest idea that I even know you… Well for one thing they didn’t bother to ask… Alright they’ll up in a picious

you better go find him I’m sure have that bomb of yours hushed few minutes, no need to be susabout it…

Yea I’ll be fine over here, yes I’ll talk to you later, goodbye… EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION She closes the phone and re-enters the room with Greg INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack and Jill return from their first mission together rather bruised. Jill, Sarah, Greg and Jack are all in Jack’s office and Jack is bandaging a part of his arm while Sarah wipes a bit of blood off his cheek from a small cut he procured. Jill is suspiciously unharmed and Greg is typing away and asking the occasional question as Jack talks on JACK ...They already moved her before we got there GREG Jack, they were waiting for you…



35 JILL That’s impossible, no one knew that we were coming SARAH I dunno, those guys have ears all over the place. Maybe they tapped the phone or Greg’s computer GREG Nope, I got it all the loose ends tied. I’m tighter than most government mainframes. JACK Well they gotta have someone on our tail… Jill what do you know about this? JILL Jack, you know as much as I do at this point… But they’re running out of places to take the girl. GREG Your suggesting we just hit ‘em again? JILL It’s our best chance JACK Makes sense, we need to find Julia before she completes the research for that psychopath. JILL Agreed, we gotta move fast GREG Not just fast, decisively. JACK Greg’s right. We need to go right after their leader JILL Makes sense JACK Where is she?



36 JILL Well I can’t be sure but I have an idea of where she might be for most of her day JACK If that’s the best we got then we should go with that GREG Ok you two better go rest up and head out tomorrow, I’m sure it’ll help immensely JACK That sounds nice I think I can afford to rest a bit. (Jack sits down on the nearest chair and Jill walks over to start rubbing his neck) JILL Greg, can you find us a simple sniper rifle? GREG You need a scoped rifle? JILL Correct, I think it’ll help us immensely to stir some shit up before we go in for the kill GREG Yea I think that can be arranged JILL Good, thanks. (Looks over at Jack starting to doze off in his chair) Come on Jack get up, you need to reach the bed at least until you actually start sleeping (Jill helps Jack out of the chair he was dozing off in while nursing his



37 wounds and guides him over to the nearby bed and lays him down) GREG I’m sure you need some rest as well JILL Yea, that sounds nice about now, goodnight you two (She finishes her goodnight and out of the room slowly, as soon is out of sigh Greg spins right his computer and begins hacking furiously)

walks as she back to away

SARAH What are you doing? GREG Checking her out. SARAH Why? What’s the problem? GREG Too suspicious, she shows up out of nowhere and saves Jack, then leads him into a trap, and now she’s lining up another one… SARAH No way, what does she have to gain from befriending us? GREG I don’t know yet, but I intend to find out. SARAH Hmmm… Ok well I’ll go make sure she doesn’t come in. I guess this will be another one of your long nights? GREG Most likely



38 SARAH Ok well I’ll put on some coffee or something. GREG Thanks, I could use that EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Sarah walks out and the camera focuses on Greg continuing to hack away on his keyboard and the screen blacks out

INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION An early morning sun is rising as Jack and Jill pull up and exit Jack’s car looking quite ready and solemn of their plan. Jill goes around to the back of the car and comes back next to Jack with a sniper rifle with a fixed scope that can be seen. Jack holster’s his sidearm and the two of them head for their vantage point to await their prey. Jill is readied and in position with her sniper rifle as Jack stands beside her and looks out at their target. JILL Alright, you know the plan? JACK Yup, I got it. What are you waiting for? JILL I’m making sure it’s her (She fixes the scope a bit) JACK Hey, who’s that? (Jack snatches the scope off the top of the rifle and puts it to his eye as a small telescope) JILL Who? Give me that



39 (She stands up and grabs the scope and looks out on the distant figures) Dammit, that’s Julia JACK Are you serious? We’ve got to get down there and get her then JILL Oh come on, let me just take one head off… (Before she can lay her hand on the trigger Jack grabs her arm and picks her up and on her feet) JACK Oh no you don’t, we’ll split up. You go get Julia and I’ll take out Jill down there. JILL Heh, are you sure you can handle her this time Jack? JACK No, I guess I’d better go see now shouldn’t I? JILL Well all I can say is don’t get yourself killed JACK No promises JILL Right… ok I’ll go in and rescue our little friend and get her out if you can take care of her JACK Right… EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The two of them split up and sneakily approach their destinations with their missions in mind



40 INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack slowly sneaks along the wall and looks around the corner to see Sybil giving orders to the two thugs to take Julia away SYBIL Get her out of here, we’ll need her later… (She turns to who appears to be her right hand man) And you, make sure that you track down that traitorous woman who freed that detective (Jack pops around the corner at the end of her sentence and shoots the right hand man straight and true before he can make another move then turns his gun on Sybil) JACK How about I save you the trouble SYBIL Oh good your here, Now I can just kill you this time JACK Heh, don’t think it’ll be that easy SYBIL Of course not… (The screen fades to black and comes back up on Jill sneaking around for Julia. She turns a corner and sees the two thugs taking her away and she quickly leaps into action by sliding up behind them and delivering a straight blow to both of them in the neck rendering them unconscious and dropping Julia. Jill quickly cuts the bonds of rope tying Julia’s hands together and gives her a hand) JILL



41 Alright get up, we don’t have much time to get out of here JULIA Who are you? JILL I’m your personal savior, We’re here to get you out of here JULIA What do you mean we? JILL Yea I’m here with my partner, we’ve been trying to find you for some time JULIA They’re been forcing me to continue work on the parthenogenesis project so they can use it themselves, that woman’s nuts! JILL Yea we know, speaking of I need to go find Jack JULIA Jack? JILL Yea, my partner. Now come on let’s go… (The camera fades out on the two of them and comes back in on Jack is holding Sybil around the waist with a his gun pointed to her head. Both of them appear worn out and a bit beat up and Jack has a small cut on his face and hand) JACK Ok now you’ve got some talking to do SYBIL Oh believe me, there’s a lot you need to know… JACK



42 I’m listening. SYBIL Good. (Just as she’s about to begin speaking Jill and Julia break through the nearest entrance and distract Jack for a moment and leave Sybil with the open spot to slip from Jack’s grasp and and pull his gun from his hand with her and shoot him straight into the stomach. He falls back as Jill pulls her pistol right out and takes out Sybil and both her and Julia fall to Jack’s side) JILL Jack! JULIA Hang in there, we need to stop the bleeding JILL Right, elevate his torso and apply pressure to the wound. See if he’s got a knife on him, I think I’m gunna need to pull that bullet out. I think we’re going to have to get him to a hospital… EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The camera zooms out and upward from Julia and Jill hunched over Jack’s wound and begin rushing to help him and fades out INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The camera sets in on Greg as he is furiously typing into his computer as he comes to a final realization. GREG No… no this can’t be possible. I’ve got to go find Jack! (Sarah enters the room rather nonchalantly and notices Greg’s sudden alarm) SARAH What’s going on? What’s wrong?



43 GREG It’s Jill, she’s the one we’ve been looking for this entire time, I need to get ahold of Jack but he’s not answering his mic. SARAH Are you sure it’s Jill? Why would she have been helping this whole time? GREG I don’t know what she’s doing, that’s the bad part. Listen to me you need to get out of here. Go find the chief, let him know what’s going on… (As Greg finishes that sentence Jill struts into the room calmly holding her pistol at the waist and aiming it at Greg) JILL What’s going on? Do tell… (Greg and Sarah both put their hands in the air with a slight notion of surrender) GREG You… JILL Me… GREG What the hell did you do with Jack and Julia? JILL Julia is in a safe location, and Jack’s… in the hospital GREG What?! JILL He let his guard down



44 GREG Bullshit, you shot him to get him out of the way JILL Oh no, having him incapacitated was a bit out of my plan. I still have much use for him GREG What the hell are you talking about? JILL You really think I’m stupid enough to tell you what I’m going to do? I’m disappointed in you Greg SARAH Jill what’s the big idea? What are you doing? JILL Stop playing stupid girl (She points the gun at Sarah) Your a poor actor Sarah (Greg steps in front of the gun) GREG Stop, what the hell are you talking about? JILL Oh you mean she hasn’t told you? Oh of course not, Sarah’s been playing spy for me for quite some time now. GREG No… that’s a lie JILL Oh, just look for yourself (Greg turns to Sarah who appears visibly guilty in admittance) GREG



45 Oh dammit… and what do you get out of this? JILL Oh she gets to take over the parthenogenesis project once I’m in control GREG Oh how enticing… JULIA Yes and the sooner I can cut all the strings holding the project together it’ll fall right into my lap. Then I can use it to my own desire GREG You’re one Jill… JILL Thank you, I suppose I’ll see you in hell then GREG It’s a damn shame there’s no hell for you to end up in (Jill shoots Greg and he is instantly killed, Sarah falls to his side and looks at Jill with a mixture of anger and fear) SARAH What the hell are you doing? Why did he need to die? JILL You told me yourself, he had it all figured out SARAH And what happens to Jack now? What happens when he sees this?!

JILL I’ll bring him back later and use this to my advantage



46 SARAH And what will happen to the parthenogenesis project? Can I still take over once your in control? JILL I doubt that will be necessary, Julia has almost finished all the necessary work that it requires. SARAH What? Then what will I do? JILL Hmmm, I have an idea… (She lifts her gun at Sarah) SARAH Noooo!!! (Jill pulls the trigger, Sarah is dead) JILL Silly girl… (She picks up the phone in a calm and nonchalant manner, dials Jack’s number and begins faking a frantic and scared voice) Oh Jack you need to get over here quick! Greg and Sarah… it’s the chief! He’s… He’s killed them! (She shoots off at the wall) He’s run off, you need to get over here quick! (She clicks the phone off)

EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION



47 The scene blacks out on Jill’s evil and maniacal grin in satisfaction with her latest scheme come true. INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The scene starts back up in Jack’s office once again with Jack practically breaking in his door and having Jill throw herself on him in the same frantic mess she was earlier JILL Oh Jack! I came in and that madman was standing over the two of them with the pistol still smoking. I… I wrestled the gun away from him and shot until he ran off JACK It’s ok, hey, hey, HEY! (He grabs her by both shoulders and shakes her a bit) Calm the hell down (He takes one look at the two bodies lying on his office floor and slams his fist against the wall in pure fury) I’ll kill that son of a bitch… he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing JILL Jack are you sure? Look what he did to those two JACK He murdered them!! He probably thought that they were spies or something… That crazy bastard JILL Jack, what are you thinking your going to do? JACK Oh I know what I’m going to do, and I’m going to need your help to do it…



48 EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION Jack turns to Jill as the two of them start scheming as Jack comes up with his plan to get back at the chief INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The chief’s office is once again set with him working in a busied manner as Jack slowly opens the door directly in front of him and walks in calmly with his hands at his waist, one of them at his gun. CHIEF Jack, what the hell are you doing here? Don’t you have more important things to take care of? JACK I dunno chief you don’t seem to be very busy yourself with this case CHIEF What are you talking about you fool? I’ve been going nuts here dealing with all the shit you’ve been stirring up. Four people are already deadJACK Six. CHIEF Six?! What are you talking about? (Jack pulls his gun right out and jams it in the chief’s face) JACK You know damn well what happened you bastard, shot dead in my office. CHIEF Jack! Put your gun away you idiot JACK You missed someone you murdering nutcase. (Jill walks in with a very please look at Jack doing her bidding)



49 CHIEF Jack! What the hell is going on?! JILL That’s him! He killed Greg and Sarah! JACK You son of a bitch… CHIEF Are you mad?! She’s the one that(Gunshot rings out, Jack is standing with his pistol drawn straight toward where the chief’s chest was just standing. The chief is now lying on the floor behind his desk. Jack walks over and crouches by his side) JACK You were saying something? Make it quick, because it’ll be your last CHIEF Jack… she’s the one who murdered your wife… (The chief slumps over. Dead.) JACK What?! (He grabs up the chief’s body trying to squeeze out an answer, to no avail of course) JILL Hahahahaha! (Jill breaks out into maniacal laughter before plunging into explaining herself) Your quite a fool Jack JACK What are you talking about?



50 JILL The chief told no lies. I am the one you were looking for this entire time, I’m afraid I played you like a little wind up toy JACK You! (He draws his gun at her again but she reacts far quicker in anticipation of this by knocking out his legs from under him with a swift kick. She picks up his gun and puts it at his face in order to have his total attention) JILL Tsk, tsk, tsk. You poor little man, now everyone is dead but you, but for making it this far I might as well indulge you as to what’s been going on. JACK Oh feel free to enlighten me JILL Heh, well for one thing that woman that we killed earlier, the one who shot you, she’s not who you were looking for. That was me JACK So who was she? JILL My rival, we we’re partners for most of this, but she was starting to get to be a bothersome fly. So I just had you go and swat her JACK Great… JILL Oh, Sarah and Greg, I took them both out last night. JACK What?!



51 (He lunges at her and she smoothly dodges his bear like attack and strikes the back of his head with the butt of his pistol and goes back to talking) JILL Yea, Sarah was working for me. A nice little double agent. Greg had me all figured out, so I needed to take care of him to continue on… JACK You crazy bitch… JILL I’m really starting to take that as a compliment. Oh and Julia has finished up the last of the parthenogenesis project for me, so soon I’ll be able to breed an perfect clone of myself. Can’t you just see it now Jack? JACK You’re completely insane Hahaha should gin to things

JILL excellent! Well then I suppose I make my leave now before you beput this all together and figure out.

EXT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION She struts over to the door, opens it and blows Jack a kiss as she exits the room. Jack slowly manages to get himself up and struggles toward the door where she left. He opens the door to find nothing but his pistol sitting on the other side next to a headshot of Jill but no sign of her besides that. INT. SCENE - DESCRIPTION The scene fades in with Jack sitting solemnly in his office. The entire scene is timed with the accompanying music and plays out accordingly. Jack is sitting and staring at the picture of Jill as the lighting contrasts with his face and it can be seen that he is slowly transforming on the inside from good to evil. He slowly tears up the picture and throws the pieces into the air and they land at his feet. He slowly arises from the chair and



52 heads over to put on his coat and hat and holster his gun. The shot immediately changes to him getting into his car and then again to him driving while visibly frustrated and thinking deeply on the situation at hand. A dramatic drum beat strikes as he steps slowly out of the car in front of Jill’s hideout. The shot cuts away to him again waling slowly down the hallway while he parts his trench coat to the side and slowly draws his pistol and holds it straight up in the air. Just as a dramatic beat is struck he kicks in the door to the Bitch’s office and begins beating up and shooting the henchmen in the first room. He continues onto the second door and kicks that in with a well timed kick. Jill is startled by Jack’s unexpected entrance and tries to reason with him a bit before he seizes her up by her shirt and throws her to the ground in front of him on her knees. The camera changes to a side angle of Jack and Jill’s silhouettes as Jack brings his pistol slowly through the air and it ends pointing straight at Jill’s temple. He utters the words slowly and calmly JACK Jill fell down and broke her crown… (He pulls the trigger on her and she drops dead. Jack stands still with his gun raised in the air for a little while and suddenly he finds a large knife landing in his back. He drops his gun in agony and tries to turn around but doesn’t make it before he drops to the ground. Dead. Julia is standing over his body calmly wiping her hands together.) JULIA And Jack came tumbling after…