phone voice
Forget it. Don’t need it until this afternoon anyway. Get out of there, get to your man, get that address. Then get some guys. And come get us. Fuck how late or early it is. We’ll get this guy when he least expects it. In mid-porno-dream.
carl (o.s.)
We gonna bust some dance moves on the guy?
phone voice.
Booya. Time’s a-wasting.
Nick has another look out the doorway. No sign of the man. He slips out of the bathroom
HALLWAY
Nick heads for the front door. He stops at the desk in the hall. By the phone, there’s a yellow card the size of a normal credit card. He takes it. And then exits the flat.
EXT. flats - NIGHT
Nick starts moving down the walkway. He REACTS to NOISES in the hallway of the flat.
carl (o.s)
The lock’s busted. I can’t lock this door.
Nick PANICS. Knows he won’t make the end of the walkway before Carl exits the flat and sees him. So he leaps over the railing, falling to the ground, rolling in the dirt. He moves behind a pallet of bricks.
Overhead, we hear Carl’s running FOOTSTEPS.
Nick rubs his ankle. He watches from behind the bricks. Soon, Carl comes into view, other side of the fence, in the car park. He passes Nick’s stolen bike and climbs into a BMW. It starts and pulls away. When it exits the car park, Nick hobbles out of his hiding place, exits the building site and jumps on his bike. Starts it.
EXT. long main road - NIGHT
Nick’s bike exits the car park, onto a main road. He’s helmeted again. Looks left, sees the BMW. Pulls out in pursuit.
But the bike starts to slow. He revs it. No joy.
Suddenly MECHANICAL GRINDING NOISES fill the air. And the bike grinds to a halt.
insert:
BIKE’S OIL GAUGE WARNING LIGHT
Nick climbs off, lets the bike drop onto its side. He takes off his helmet. Throws it at the bike. Looks up the street. Some way off, the BMW turns a corner and is gone. Nick looks like he doesn’t know what to do.
He pulls the card out of his pocket. A swipe card.
close up:
swipe card
It says “Big Yellow Storage” on it, with an address.
END CU.
Nick pockets the swipe card. And begins jogging, fast. His limp is better now.
LATER, FURTHER ALONG
Now Nick’s walking, but quickly. Cars pass intermittently. Nick ignores them. A taxi goes past. He flags it. It goes past. He checks his watch.
insert:
WATCH reading: 04.39
LATER, FURTHER ALONG
A car comes towards Nick, other side of the road. A taxi. The magnetic sign on the side says “Elite cars.” Nick flags it. We see TAXI DRIVER #2 look at him as the car goes past.
Then the car slows behind and turns in the road. Nick stops, watches. The car pulls up and he gets in the front passenger side.
INT. taxi, stopped - NIGHT
Driver #2 seems apprehensive.
Nick shows him the swipe card.
nick
This address, please. Quick. It’s just past Braithwell.
Driver #2 stares at him. Nick isn’t sure he likes the look. There’s an uneasy silence.
taxi driver #2
(beat)
Okay.
EXT. long main road - NIGHT
The taxi pulls away.
INT. taxi, moving - NIGHT
Nick looks tired. He fiddles with the swipe card. He looks grim. Nick leans his head against the window, and Driver #2 makes no effort at conversation.
LATER
Still travelling in silence. Nick now leans his head back, eyes closed.
EXT. crossroads - NIGHT
The taxi takes a turn left.
INT. taxi, moving - NIGHT
Nick notices the car turning and snaps to attention. Checks out the window.
nick
Wrong way. Business slow?
Driver #2 says nothing. He turns off his taxi radio. Doesn’t even look at him. Nick stares at the guy, puzzlement on his face. He looks at the driver’s badge, hanging from the rear-view mirror.
insert:
badge.
Driver #2’s photo, name, and “Elite Cars.”
FLASHBACK:
INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
The taxi from earlier, and the magnetic sign on the door reading “ELITE CARS.”
BACK TO SCENE
Nick stares at Driver #2, who won’t stare back.
nick
It was the garage, wasn’t it? Doki got my face off the CCTV inside. Probably sent a photo he took with his phone.
driver #2
What?
But the guy won’t look at him. And he isn’t the usual taxi driver chatty.
nick
So he knows a bunch of taxi drivers who work for the same company. Maybe he runs the company, or knows someone who does. Good resources. Guys who are always out late. Handy.
Driver #2 says nothing. Nick stares. Now he knows.
nick
I am so not in the mood for this.
Nick moves quickly. He pushes Driver #2’s head, smacking it hard into the side window. While the guy’s dazed, Nick swiftly releases Driver #2’s seatbelt with one hand and yanks on the handbrake with the other. The car screeches to a halt and Driver #2, with no restraint, slams into the steering wheel.
Nick slugs him in the head, hard, twice. And the guy is groggy. Nick reaches over him, opens the driver’s door.
EXT. taxi - NIGHT
Driver #2 falls out, helped by Nick’s feet. The door closes. The taxi races away.
FADE IN:
close up:
sat nav
Showing an arrow moving on a thin road and a glowing yellow dot just above. Nothing else. Emptiness.
REVEAL:
EXT. LANE - NIGHT
A lane running through fields. A high hedge on the right, open land to the left. The taxi drives fast down this road, and we
FOLLOW BEHIND
INT. taxi - NIGHT
Nick scanning ahead.
sat nav voice
In ten yards, turn right.
nick
Ten yards what? There’s nothing -
He seems to spot something out the side window and slams on the brakes.
EXT. lane - NIGHT
The car has stopped at a twenty-feet gap in the hedge. A big gate bars the gap, with a sign saying “BIG YELLOW STORAGE.” Beyond the gate, we see an open area and a big, low building.
The car turns in and stops before the gate. Nick exits, approaches. He is about to climb when he spots something and moves to the edge. A card reader and an intercom.
He pulls the card he got from the twins’ flat and swipes it. The big gate starts to open, sliding out of sight along a track.
Nick rushes back to the taxi. In his impatience, he tries to slip the car through the gap while the gate is still opening and scrapes the side.
EXT. storage - NIGHT
A single storey building, plain, no windows. The only entrance is a set of double doors, equally drab. A sign explains prices and has a phone number. There’s another card slot and keypad by the doors. Nick swipes the card. A lock seems to THUD open. Nick yanks on the doors, opening them.
INT. storage - NIGHT
Cavernous. Doors in the walls, various sizes, all windowless. The place is like a giant version of a locker-room. Nick is looking for the room that matches the card.
INT. storage, room - NIGHT
FOCUS ON the door. It swings open, revealing Nick. He stares inside, shock clear on his face. He takes a step inside.
REVEAL:
ROOM.
A mess, cluttered. All the stuff in here belongs in a baby’s room. Toys, cots, clothing. Nick heads deeper in. He picks up a baby’s coat. He stares at something else. A window, leaning against one wall. It’s wooden, star-shaped, five points. The glass has protective film
on it.
But Nick is looking at something behind the window. A child’s toy. He moves the frame and reaches behind, pulling out the furry giraffe toy from Joe’s room. A toy stolen from a baby’s room, stored here with other toys and myriad other things that didn’t belong to Joe.
FLASHBACK:
ELI’S HOUSE, CELLAR
Eli with Zack, Ice and Nick
eli
We were paid to snatch your kid. Some people think babies fetch a lot of money. Like selling DVD players. So we snatched him for someone.
BACK TO SCENE
Nick looks horrified. He drops to his knees. Maybe he’s thinking of the cellars of serial killers, littered with the fruits of their killings. Maybe he’s thinking that each toy or item of clothing here represents a stolen child and two distraught parents. Maybe he’s imagining two of those parents, five years after their child was taken, still waiting for a phone call.
OFFSCREEN we hear noises, as if someone else has arrived.
Nick looks at his watch.
insert:
watch
Time: 05.09
INT. STORAGE - NIGHT
Nick ambles along. He passes an open door. Despite the hour, two OLD WOMEN are here, inside, taking down clothing from rails and boxing it up. Nick doesn’t even look.
EXT. storage - NIGHT
Nick is outside, moving towards his stolen car.
He opens the door, then pauses. Shuts the door and sits down, back against the car. Looking lost. He has no more clues, no direction.
His head is by the magnetic “Elite Cars” sign on the door. He sees it. It seems to anger him. He stands, takes the sign off the driver’s door, throws it away. Goes to the passenger side, rips that sign off, too, and is about to skim it away when he stops. He stares at it. And slaps it back in place.
CUT TO:
EXT. museum - dusk
Nick pulls up in the stolen taxi, fast, parking haphazardly, leaving the door open as he exits. He rushes up the steps, and starts banging on the doors. Soon, Dave, the security guard, appears.
INT. museum - dusk
Nick rushes along the concourse. Ahead, we see a set of doors, and a sign above: “WORLD WAR I.”
EXT. museum - dusk
Nick rushes down the steps. Behind him, Dave’s locking the doors – second time tonight.
CUT TO:
MAGNETIC door sign
The “Elite Cars” sign and phone number. We PAN UP the door of the stolen taxi, then over the roof, to REVEAL:
EXT. ELITE CARS - morning
A small, glass-fronted establishment. A sign on the big window reads “ELITE CARS 466234.” Nick’s taxi is parked across the road.
Nick climbs out of the car. He starts to cross the road, headed for the taxi office.
INT. ELITE CARS - morning
A couple of seats, a counter, and behind the counter, a RECEPTIONIST wearing a headset and using a computer. A clock on the wall shows the time as 06.04.
Nick enters. The Taxi receptionist looks up, and stares for a moment. Clearly recognising him, given her expression.
nick
Need a taxi.
receptionist
Be with you in a second.
Nick doesn’t reply. Takes a seat. The Receptionist pulls her mobile phone, plays with it, looks up at Nick, and then rises from her seat, heads through a door in the back, putting the phone to her ear as she does so.
Nick adjusts his crotch area and tugs at his side. The receptionist returns after some thirty seconds, takes her seat. She won’t look at Nick.
Nick approaches the counter and takes a newspaper from the collection there. He glances at the woman’s badge.
insert:
badge
It says: “Carol Doki – Elite Cars.”
Nick returns to his seat.
nick
Busy? How many cars you got out tonight?
The Receptionist seems to feel awkward throughout this conversation.
receptionist
Three. Ten in the day.
nick
But three at night. One to go, then. Working late, aren’t you? Or is it early?
receptionist
Yeah. Gotta pay the bills. Late. Started at midnight.
nick
Always gotta pay the bills. I work days, though. Couldn’t do nights. Got a little boy. Can’t work nights with a child.
receptionist
No.
nick
So I guess you don’t have kids. You’re too young to be his mum, anyway. A husband?
receptionist
Yeah. Look, I’ll be with you in a minute.
nick
I bet he will. Number three. So, a husband?
receptionist
Yeah. He works late, too.
We HEAR a car engine. Nick notices it. Someone approaching, fast.
SOON AFTER
THROUGH WINDOW
We see a car pull up, moving fast, stopping hard. Nick looks round, out the window at the car, then back.