Gone Dark

FADE IN:

EXT. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY - DUSK

The basin from the air.

Red traffic west. White traffic east. Houses in pale rows.

Freeways crossing until the city becomes pattern.

A COMMUTER JET drops toward Burbank.

SUPER: 7:55 P.M.

INT. COMMUTER JET - CONTINUOUS

JESS ALMANZA, 33, watches the ground rise through scratched

glass. Dark jacket. Canvas bag. Nothing about her asks to be

remembered.

Across the aisle, a WOMAN photographs the terminal.

The man beside Jess removes his wedding ring and slips it

into the coin pocket of his jeans.

The wheels HIT. Hard.

Phones wake throughout the cabin. Chimes, messages, the

small reckonings of home.

Jess keeps hers dark.

EXT. BURBANK AIRPORT TARMAC - CONTINUOUS

Passengers descend into jet fuel and cut grass.

Jess crosses with them. Her right boot rubs against her

anklebone. She does not reach for it.

INT. BURBANK AIRPORT - ARRIVALS - CONTINUOUS

A BALD MAN waits beyond the gate. Khakis. Pale shirt. Crown

burned red.

No bag. No sign. No one to meet.

His phone hangs loose in his hand. The screen is black.

A family crowds past and steps on his shoes. He does not

move.

Jess passes him.

Twenty feet on, she looks into the black glass of a closed

shop.2.

The Bald Man turns after her.

INT. WOMEN'S RESTROOM - NIGHT

Jess enters the first stall and leaves the door open.

Shoes pass on tile. A hand dryer ROARS. A child cries.

Jess lifts her pant cuff.

A black DATA DRIVE is taped above her ankle.

She lowers the cuff.

JESS

(sotto)

Thirty-eight. Thirty-nine. Forty.

She steps out.

INT. BURBANK AIRPORT - BAGGAGE CLAIM - CONTINUOUS

A second man, GRAY POLO, waits beside a drinking fountain

with a folded newspaper.

The Bald Man is gone.

Jess keeps walking.

INT. BURBANK AIRPORT PARKING STRUCTURE - FOURTH LEVEL -

NIGHT

A weathered BMW waits in the south-facing row.

Jess pulls a magnetic key box from the left rear wheel well.

The plate:

3MTA3

She turns her wrist. The same characters in faded ink.

Her phone lights.

ON SCREEN TEXT: U.S. PROBATION - CURFEW CHECK-IN 10:00 P.M.

She clears it.

A dark FORD EXPLORER rolls down the ramp. Tinted windows.

Two men inside.

Jess puts the bag in the trunk and gets behind the wheel.3.

INT./EXT. BMW / BURBANK AIRPORT EXIT - NIGHT

Jess feeds the ticket into the machine.

The gate rises.

Two lanes over, the Explorer reaches the booth.

Blue lights wink once behind its grille.

The attendant raises the arm without taking a ticket.

EXT. BURBANK STREETS - NIGHT

The BMW passes a small park.

Canada geese stand in the grass, all facing the same

direction.

In Jess's mirror, the Explorer holds three cars back.

She looks at the burner in the cupholder.

One contact:

JAVIER

Her thumb hovers over CALL.

She sets the phone down and takes the freeway ramp.

A brown SEDAN follows the Explorer up.

EXT. 101 FREEWAY - CONTINUOUS

The sedan holds at Jess's left rear wheel.

Gray Polo looks across at her through dark glasses.

The Explorer draws even on the right. Begins easing toward

her.

No impact. Only weight.

Concrete wall on the shoulder. A pickup stacked with ladders

ahead.

Jess BRAKES.

The sedan swerves. The Explorer shoots ahead.

Jess cuts behind it across two lanes. Tires catch, let go,

catch again.

Horns erupt.4.

She dives off at Riverside.

EXT. RIVERSIDE DRIVE - NIGHT

Jess shoots beneath the freeway.

The mirror is empty.

She checks it again.

Still empty.

Her foot eases off the gas.

She watches the dark behind her longer than the road ahead.

EXT. APARTMENT ROW - NIGHT

The BMW pulls into a space marked 11.

Jess picks up the burner. Opens a blank text to BETZ.

ON SCREEN TEXT: I'M BACK.

She deletes it.

ON SCREEN TEXT: I'M SORRY.

Deletes.

ON SCREEN TEXT: MEN ARE TRYING TO KILL ME.

Her thumb rests over SEND.

A horn sounds from the street.

Jess deletes everything.

She starts the BMW and pulls out.

EXT. 7-ELEVEN - VENTURA BOULEVARD - NIGHT

BETZAIDA TORRES, 35, comes out carrying bad coffee.

She stops.

Her MISSION TOW wheel-lift sits on both front rims.

SUPER: 8:36 P.M.

Betzaida scans the lot before she looks at the tires.

Storefront glass. Bus stop. Roofline. Parked cars.

She searches for a phone held upright.5.

Nothing.

Her own phone BUZZES.

ON SCREEN TEXT: RED ZONE. SHERMAN OAKS HILTON. AMBULANCE

ACCESS.

She crouches at the tires. No cuts. The air has simply been

let out.

BETZAIDA

Narek.

She opens a side box. Compressor, hose, gauge, baton.

Her phone rings. DOLLY.

BETZAIDA

Yeah.

Front tires?

DOLLY (V.O.)

BETZAIDA

Both.

DOLLY (V.O.)

Bergosian?

BETZAIDA

Middle one.

She clips on the hose. The compressor CHATTERS.

Across Ventura, a TEENAGER raises a phone toward the lot.

Betzaida looks straight at him.

The phone lowers.

DOLLY (V.O.)

Hilton called twice. Wedding. Fire

lane's plugged.

BETZAIDA

Tell him city rate plus wait.

DOLLY (V.O.)

He said city rate only.

BETZAIDA

Then tell the city to move it.6.

EXT. 7-ELEVEN - MOMENTS LATER

The second tire rises off the rim.

Betzaida kills the compressor, coils the hose and throws it

into the box.

DOLLY (V.O.)

I can send Ricky.

BETZAIDA

By the time Ricky finds pants, I'll

be done.

DOLLY (V.O.)

He has pants.

BETZAIDA

Then he's improving.

She hangs up. Crushes the coffee cup. Gets behind the wheel.

The diesel catches.

EXT. VENTURA BOULEVARD - CONTINUOUS

The Mission Tow rig moves west.

Its doors carry a sun-faded logo and a phone number painted

over an older phone number.

A Bergosian truck passes east.

The drivers see each other. Neither waves.

Ahead, the HILTON rises above Ventura.

EXT. HILTON SHERMAN OAKS - SOUTH DRIVE - NIGHT

Wedding traffic has swallowed the entrance. Valets run

without keys.

A canary-yellow VIPER sits crooked across the fire lane.

The weathered BMW pulls in beside it.

Jess kills the engine.

SUPER: 8:38 P.M.

INT. BROWN COROLLA - ACROSS FROM HILTON - SAME

JAVIER JIMENEZ, 32, sits behind the wheel. Clean shirt. Tie

loosened. Hands folded over a burner in his lap.7.

Through the glass, a wedding party floats near the

elevators.

The dash clock changes.

8:39 P.M.

Javier keys a concealed radio.

JAVIER

Two, radio check.

Static.

JAVIER

Simmons, what's your twenty?

Nothing.

EXT. HILTON SOUTH DRIVE - SAME

Jess steps from the BMW. Leaves the canvas bag in the trunk.

One touch at her ankle. The drive is there.

The Mission Tow rig noses through traffic.

Betzaida leans on the horn until a valet moves.

A HOTEL MANAGER runs to her window, his suit dark beneath

the arms.

HOTEL MANAGER

Yellow Corvette. First. Ambulance

inbound.

BETZAIDA

Viper.

HOTEL MANAGER

What?

BETZAIDA

Nothing.

A PATROL OFFICER points toward the fire lane.

PATROL OFFICER

BMW's getting taped. Yellow one's

clear. Get it out.

Betzaida rolls forward.

Jess reaches the south doors.8.

SUPER: 8:43 P.M.

INT. HILTON LOBBY - CONTINUOUS

Music. Flowers. Marble. A bridal party crouches for a

photograph.

Jess enters at the pace of someone meeting a friend at the

bar.

She does not search the room.

INT. BROWN COROLLA - SAME

Javier sees her.

JAVIER

Two, she's inside. Confirm

corridor.

Static.

JAVIER

Control, confirm Simmons.

CONTROL (V.O.)

Two's phone shows on property.

JAVIER

Where on property?

CONTROL (V.O.)

Stand by.

EXT. HILTON SOUTH DRIVE - SAME

Betzaida circles the Viper with her phone.

Panels. Wheels. Dash. Seats. Cars boxed around it. Red curb.

Fire-lane sign.

She photographs everything before she touches anything.

INT. HILTON LOBBY - SAME

Jess passes the wedding bar.

The BALD MAN steps out ahead of her. Windbreaker gone. Pale

shirt tucked into khakis.

He turns into the north corridor.

He never looks at Jess.9.

Jess stops with her back to the lobby.

Jess types on the burner.

ON SCREEN TEXT: BALD KHAKI

She sends it.

INT. BROWN COROLLA - SAME

The burner stirs in Javier's lap.

ON SCREEN TEXT: BALD KHAKI

He finds the man.

JAVIER

Control, possible unknown. North

corridor. Bald, khakis, pale shirt.

CONTROL (V.O.)

Copy. Interior, respond.

Nothing.

JAVIER

Simmons.

EXT. HILTON SOUTH DRIVE - SAME

Betzaida photographs the narrow space between the Viper and

the BMW.

The BMW plate fills her screen.

3MTA3

She lowers the phone.

FLASH CUT - INT. POOL HALL - NIGHT - FIFTEEN YEARS AGO

A cheap phone lights on the rail beside a beer.

ON SCREEN TEXT: JESS - WHERE ARE YOU

YOUNG BETZAIDA, 20, sights down a pool cue.

The phone lights again.

ON SCREEN TEXT: JESS - 911

Young Betzaida flips it facedown.

BACK TO PRESENT10.

Betzaida's hand has tightened around the phone.

She sends the plate photo to MORALES.

ON SCREEN TEXT: RUN THIS. HILTON.

Across the drive, Jess moves deeper into the hotel.

The faded 3MTA3 tattoo shows as she pockets the burner.

INT. HILTON - NORTH CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

The Bald Man pushes through the doors to the plaza.

Jess continues toward the service hall.

INT. BROWN COROLLA - SAME

Javier opens the car door.

Through the lobby glass: Jess going one way. The Bald Man

another.

JAVIER

Control, I have eyes on the

unknown. Find Two.

CONTROL (V.O.)

Copy, Twelve.

Javier closes the door, starts the Corolla and pulls into

traffic.

EXT. HILTON SOUTH DRIVE - SAME

Betzaida backs the wheel-lift toward the Viper.

The spreaders close around the rear tires.

The Viper ALARM screams.

Its OWNER, 40s, hair like fresh sod, charges from the hotel.

VIPER OWNER

What the fuck are you doing?

Betzaida keeps working.

VIPER OWNER

Drop my car.

He slaps the truck door.

Betzaida sets the brake. Steps down. Big through the

shoulders.11.

She takes the baton from the door pocket. Snaps it open.

The Viper Owner stops.

Behind him, the north corridor doors swing shut.

Something METALLIC falls inside.

The alarm keeps screaming.

EXT. VENTURA BOULEVARD - NIGHT

The Bald Man walks north, unhurried.

Javier follows in the Corolla, one car back.

No look over the shoulder. No change of pace.

SUPER: 8:44 P.M.

Javier looks in the mirror toward the Hilton.

EXT. HILTON SOUTH DRIVE - SAME

The Patrol Officer drifts toward Betzaida and the Viper

Owner.

PATROL OFFICER

You can let her finish or I can

write you something expensive with

a volunteer component.

The Viper Owner backs away.

An AMBULANCE turns into the drive, lights rolling, no siren.

Betzaida folds the baton and climbs into the rig.

The ambulance passes close enough to shake the mirror.

INT. HILTON - NORTH CORRIDOR - SAME

Wedding music leaks beneath the noise outside.

A brass stanchion lies on the marble.

Jess's burner rests nearby, screen cracked.

ON SCREEN TEXT: BALD KHAKI - DELIVERED.

A HOTEL EMPLOYEE rounds the corner and stops.12.

EXT. VENTURA BOULEVARD - NIGHT

The Bald Man crosses against the signal and disappears

behind a delivery truck.

Javier edges forward.

The truck clears.

Empty sidewalk. A bar entrance. A garage mouth. Three

possible doors.

Javier looks back toward the hotel.

EXT. VENTURA BOULEVARD / HILTON - CONTINUOUS

The Corolla cuts across two lanes.

Horns BLAST.

The Hilton comes up too bright and too near.

EXT. HILTON SOUTH DRIVE - CONTINUOUS

The Mission Tow rig merges into traffic with the Viper

riding behind it.

In her mirror, Betzaida catches Javier abandoning the

Corolla at the curb.

Then traffic takes her.

Javier crosses the valet lane.

Wedding guests stand in a loose crescent, flowers lowered.

A HOTEL SECURITY MAN blocks him.

SECURITY MAN

Sir. You can't go back there.

Javier looks past him.

Down the north corridor: two hotel radios talking at once. A

woman in lamé crying without sound. A PARAMEDIC over someone

Javier cannot see.

JAVIER

Jess.

His hand finds the badge in his pocket.

He leaves it there.