FADE IN:

EXT. MUSEUM – STREET BY MUSEUM STAIRS – DAY

OFFICER NEUMAN, the policeman that Bart shot in the leg, crawls the last couple of feet to his open car door. He grabs the steering wheel with both hands and painfully hauls himself into the seat of the car. He grimaces in pain and looks down at the blood-soaked leg of his pants. Beads of perspiration dot his forehead and drip into his eyes. He mops his face roughly with the shirt sleeve on one arm. With the other he grabs the two-way radio microphone, raises it to his mouth and thumbs the key.

OFFICER NEUMAN Dispatch, Three William Fifty-One.

FEMALE DISPATCHER         (v.o. from radio)
Three William Fifty-One, go ahead.

OFFICER NEUMAN Three William Fifty-One, shots fired at Xa Museum of Natural History, 825 Front Street. One suspect fled back inside the museum. Be advised there’s a high probability the suspect is one of the three “two-eleven” suspects from the jewelry store earlier today. I think the other two accomplices are probably inside the museum as well. Requesting backup at the scene.
        (groans as he moves his wounded leg)
Also requesting an ambulance. I’ve been shot in the leg.

FEMALE DISPATCHER         (v.o. from radio)
Ten-four, Three William Fifty-One.

OFFICER NEUMAN Dispatch, be advised the likelihood of a hostage situation inside is very high. Request S.W.A.T. units be notified immediately.

FEMALE DISPATCHER         (v.o. from radio)
Ten-four.
        (beat)
All units in the vicinity of 825 Front Street: Three Wiliam Fifty-One reporting shots fired, Xa Museum of Natural History. Officer has been wounded. Suspect has entered the museum and may be one of the “two-eleven” suspects from the jewelry store earlier. A hostage situation is likely. S.W.A.T. is being notified. All units, handle code three.

Neuman hears POLICE SIRENS start and approach from all around him. He drops the microphone in his lap and lets his head fall to the side against the head rest.

CUT TO:

Stony, Bart and Red, all with weapons at the ready, have the group of people — 46 in all — herded together in front of the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. Wainright is in front, Chance and Reyes at the back of the group. The room is thick with tension and fear.

STONY All right, you, Mr. Dinosaur Expert . . .
        (points to Wainright with his gun)
. . . I want something to cover these two front doors so no one can see inside. Cloth. Cardboard. Wood. Anything.

WAINRIGHT We have some rather large white sheets downstairs.

STONY Get them.
        (to Bart)
Go with him. Make sure he doesn’t talk to anyone. Just get those sheets and get back up here pronto. Hear those sirens? We’re gonna have lots of unfriendly company outside real soon.

Bart motions with his gun for Wainright to separate from the rest of the people as he walks over to him.
 

BART Lead the way, pops. And if you even think about getting cute, I’ll put a bullet in your head. Got me?

STONY         (calls after them)
And bring something to cover these bodies.

STONY         (to Red, points at Guard One)
Get his gun.

RED         (confused)
What?

STONY

Pull yourself together, kid. We all need to be focused and on the same page if we’re gonna get out of this with our skins.
        (shakes him one more time)
Right?

Red shakes his head to clear it.

RED Right. Sorry. What’d you say?

STONY

        (motions to Guard One again)
I said get his gun. We might need it.

CUT TO:

Bart and Wainright are in a storage area. There are numerous crates, boxes and workbenches around. Wainright is picking up large folded white sheets from a workbench while Bart covers him with the gun. There’s no one else around.

BART How about a hammer and some nails?

WAINRIGHT On that bench.

BART How many access points to the museum from down here?

WAINRIGHT

        (considers)
Uh, two. The door we came through and a freight elevator that we use to move large objects up to the museum.

BART

        (humorless grin)
Like your little T. Rex?

BART (CONT.) How can the elevator be disabled?

WAINRIGHT

It’s key operated. Without a key you can’t run it.

BART

Who’s got keys?

WAINRIGHT

        (thinking)
Me, Assistant Curator Smith, Security, Maintenance . . . that’s it.

BART

So if a key were to get broken off in the switch, that would pretty well keep anyone from using the elevator, right?

WAINRIGHT

Until the broken key was removed.

BART

        (smiles)
Let’s go take an elevator ride.

CUT TO:

Stony and Red continue to guard the hostages. Stony paces back and forth in front of them like a drill sergeant in front of a busload of fresh recruits as muted police sirens from outside continue to be heard. Several women and children still weep quietly. RICKY, a seven-year-old boy, particularly frightened, cries louder than the rest.  Stony stalks over to where the boy and his mother are standing near the front center of the group, shaking his finger at the child.

STONY You! Stop your crying right now.

RICKY’S MOTHER         (defensive)
He’s just frightened. What do you expect?

STONY You shut him up right now or I will!

RICKY’S MOTHER Shhh shhh shhh. Don’t cry now, baby. It’s all right. Mommy’s here. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. Shhhh.

REYES grabs for Chance’s arm, misses.

REYES         (urgent whisper)
What are you doing?

CHANCE         (whispers back)
I can’t just stand here and let that child get hurt.

CHANCE         (from the middle of the crowd)
Excuse me.

CHANCE         (near front of crowd now, apologizing to people as he
        pushes through)
Excuse me.

PERSON IN CROWD Ow!

CHANCE

        (keeps moving)
Sorry. I’m very sorry.

STONY raises the gun to chest-level, right at Chance.

STONY         (statement)
You’re the guy that’s been taking pictures of everything.

CHANCE

That’s right. I’m Chance Har . . .

STONY

        (overlapping)
I don’t give a damn who you are. What do you want?

CHANCE

I just thought maybe I could help out up here — keep anyone else from getting hurt.

CHANCE Hey, how’re you doing there, champ? You all right?

CHANCE My name is Chance. What’s yours?

CHANCE I’ll bet I can guess. Hmm, is it Arthur?

CHANCE         (mock surprise)
No? Hmm. I bet it’s Alfred.

CHANCE Not Alfred, huh? Hmmm.
        (thinks, then snaps his fingers)
I know. It’s Wally!

RICKY

        (giggles again)
No, it’s Ricky!

CHANCE

        (mock disbelief)
Ricky! No way. Are you sure?

RICKY

        (nodding)
Uh-huh.

CHANCE

Huh! Well I’ll be.
        (extends his hand)
It’s good to meet you, Ricky.

CHANCE Could you do me a big favor, Ricky?

CHANCE Could you be really brave now and take care of your mom? Cause she’s pretty scared, you know, and she needs her big, grown-up son to watch out for her. Will you do that for me?

RICKY

Yeah.
        (takes his mom’s hand)
Come on, mom. It’s okay.

STONY nods grudging approval.

CUT TO:

Dozens of police cars are parked at odd angles for a block on either side of the museum. At each end uniformed officers erect barriers and yellow police tape. Closer, officers crouch behind the cover of their car fenders and doors, guns drawn and pointed toward the museum.

Officer Neuman, strapped securely to a stretcher, is loaded into the rear of an ambulance by two paramedics. One climbs inside with Neuman while the other secures the rear doors then jogs to the driver’s seat and climbs in. The siren screams to life as the ambulance threads its way past cars and people. Finally in the clear, it rushes away to a hospital.

An unmarked brown car is parked close to Officer Neuman’s empty patrol car, driver’s side door hanging open. On the side of the car farthest from the museum is DETECTIVE TOM MILLER, the police NEGOTIATOR. He is giving instructions to a uniformed police sergeant and lieutenant. They nod and walk away in opposite directions, giving orders to others officers as they walk. Miller’s car is the command post for this operation. Miller turns at the SOUND of two approaching S.W.A.T. VANS as they roar past the barricade on the far side and jolt to a stop about twenty yards from him. The S.W.A.T. COMMANDER, CAPTAIN JOHN GRAVES, dressed in full field gear, including vest, springs from the passenger seat, his keen eyes surveying the scene as he unconsciously straightens his cap. Miller walks towards him as other S.W.A.T. team members open the rear doors of both vans and S.W.A.T. officers stream out in full field dress, M-16 assault rifles at the ready.

CUT TO:

Bart and Wainright trot from the opposite side of the museum toward the group of hostages. Wainright moves clumsily because of the load of white cloth in his arms. Stony and Red swing their guns toward the sound.

BART It’s us, Stony.

STONY What took so long?

BART I found out there was a freight elevator connecting the basement and the museum. It needed a little servicing.
        (he winks)
We won’t need to worry about anyone else using it.

STONY

Good work! Now let’s get that front door covered.
        (motions to Wainright)
You, dino man.
       (motions to Chance)
You, Harmon.

CHANCE

Harper.

STONY

Whatever. Take those sheets and cover up that front door so no one can see inside.

STONY Red, watch them. Make sure they don’t get funny.

STONY         (to Red)
Stay out of sight of the door at all times. Don’t make yourself a target for some hotshot cop.

CHANCE         (to Red)
It’s too high up to reach. I need something to stand on.

RED Easy does it.

CHANCE         (to Wainright)
Hand me one of those sheets, would you?

CUT TO:

MILLER AND GRAVES are standing near the S.W.A.T. van. Graves is fixing the tactical details of the neighborhood in his head as he finishes looking around.

Directly across from the museum is the municipal parking lot. Flanking the parking lot on either side are flat-roofed three-story office buildings. Adjacent to the museum on one side is a ten-story professional building. On the other side are four structures with storefronts on the street-level and apartments on the upper floors. Two of the buildings are two-story structures, the other two are three-story. Behind the museum is another large professional building.

GRAVES I can deploy my men in teams to cover the museum from all angles.
        (points to one of the buildings flanking the parking lot)
I’ll put two men on the roof up there . . .
        (points to the other building flanking the parking lot)
. . . and two men on the roof up there. Do we have access to all of these buildings?

MILLER

All the buildings within a block radius have either been evacuated already or they’re in the process. We’ve got access to most of them.

GRAVES

Good. What kind of coverage have you provided?

MILLER

You can see all officers out here in the street. I’ve also got people staked out at ground level on the other three sides of the building. There are fire exits on both sides. You need a key to open them from the outside and I’m sure they’re alarmed. There’s a loading dock area in back, which is completely locked up. No easy access there. I’ve got six men covering it. As you can see there are no windows on the ground floor. All the windows on the second and third floors are covered by security bars. The good news there is it’ll be harder than hell for the perps to get out that way. The bad news is it’ll be just as hard for us to get in.

GRAVES

‘Kay. I need to get some of my men into the building behind the museum to help keep an eye on the back in case these clever girls are more inventive than we think. I’ll start working on that.

POLICEMAN (O.C.)

What the hell are they doing?

INSERT – THROUGH BINOCULARS – MUSEUM FRONT DOOR

Chance, hammer in one hand and a sheet in the other, is nailing a sheet above the door so that it drapes down over it, covering the opening. Chance disappears behind the sheet.

MILLER lowers the binoculars and hands them to Graves, who raises them to his eyes, looks for a second, then hands them back.

GRAVES They don’t want us to see what’s going on in there. They’re not stupid.

MILLER Captain . . .

MILLER I’m grateful for your help and experience and I value your suggestions. I know we’ll make a good team. But just so there’s no confusion, I want to make sure you understand that this is my operation. As the negotiator, I’m in charge here.

GRAVES

        (grunts)
There’s no confusion, Detective Miller.

CUT TO:

Chance hammers in the last nail on another sheet. The doors are now completely covered by multiple layers of the cloth. There’s no way to see in or out. Chance steps down off the chair.

RED Now put that chair back and let’s get back to the others.

RED (in route back to the group)
The door is covered, Stony. There’s no way those guys can see in here now.

STONY

Good. Now get those bodies covered up.

RED         (to Chance and Wainright)
Do it.

STONY         (pacing, addressing group)
Okay, people, here’s how it’s gonna work. Before long someone out there is going to find a way to contact us to try to talk us out. They’re gonna ask what we want and then make some empty promises about doing it for us. In exchange they’re going to ask us to send out some of you, probably women and children, just to show we’re not such bad guys. There’s only one problem with that.
        (stops and faces the hostages)
Not one of you is going to leave here before we do. Now once they finally understand that, and realize that I’ll kill as many of you as I have to, to get what I want, they’ll start negotiating for real. If you’re lucky, most of you will leave here alive. If you’re not . . .
        (beat, then shrugs shoulders)
It’s their call.

CHANCE AND WAINRIGHT exchange worried glances. There’s no doubt in Chance’s mind that Stony means exactly what he says. For some poor souls, this would be a very unlucky day.

CUT TO:

SWAT OFFICER ONE and SWAT OFFICER TWO run to the edge of the flat roof of one of the three-story buildings flanking the parking lot. They lay prone on the roof, propping up high-powered rifles with scopes on a low ledge about six inches tall at the very edge of the roof. They both sight through their scopes at the front entrance of the museum. Both officers have a radio earpiece in their right ear with the wire trailing down beneath their collar. One of the officers keys a microphone clipped to their collar.

SWAT OFFICER ONE Eagle One, in the nest.

CUT TO:

SWAT OFFICER THREE and SWAT OFFICER FOUR run across the roof of the other three-story office building flanking the parking lot. As they run, crouched low carrying high-powered rifles with scopes, like the first two SWAT officers, SWAT Officer Four gestures to the corner of the roof closest to the museum. SWAT Officer Three nods and they both make their way there, dropping to their bellies and crawling the last few feet to a six-inch tall ledge at the very edge of the roof like on the first building. They prop their rifles on the ledge and sight through their scopes at the museum entrance. They also have radio earpieces. SWAT Officer four keys their microphone.

SWAT OFFICER FOUR Eagle two, in the nest.

CUT TO:

Six SWAT officers run toward the front door of the ten-story professional building, each carrying an M-16 rifle.

CUT TO:

Eight SWAT officers run toward the two- and three-story buildings with storefronts on the opposite side of the museum. They split into groups of two. Each group runs toward a separate building. They all carry M-16 rifles.

CUT TO:

CAROL AND ANN stand close together, Ann standing in front of her mom, whose hands rest on her shoulders.  Ann is pale and is shifting back and forth from one foot to the other. She seems agitated.

ANN Mom, I don’t feel good. I need my insulin now.

CAROL Oh no . . .

ANN         (impatient)
Mom . . .

CAROL

        (clipped)
Just a minute!

CAROL It’s not there.

ANN

        (more impatient and insistent)
Mom!

CAROL

Honey, it’s not there. I forgot to put your medicine in my purse.

ANN

        (flustered, nervous)
You what?

CAROL I’m sorry, sweetie. I thought I put it in here before we left, but it’s not here. I must have left it on the table.

ANN

        (repeats, insistent, loud)
I don’t feel good! I need my insulin!

STONY         (stopping in front of Ann and Carol)
What’s the problem here?

CAROL

        (demurely)
Nothing.

STONY

        (becomes angry)
You think I’m stupid? You think I couldn’t hear you? I said what’s wrong?

ANN

She forgot my insulin and I don’t feel good!

STONY Well . .. deal with it!

ANN         (agitated and near tears)
I can’t just “deal with it.” I need my medicine. I don’t feel good!

STONY         (low, menacing)
Does this look like a drugstore to you? Does it?

ANN

        (grudgingly)
No.

STONY

        (louder)
Well it’s not!
        (jabs at her with his finger)
So deal with it!

ANN         (bristles)
You don’t know what it’s like! You’re a mean, nasty man and you don’t care about anybody!

CAROL

        (shocked and nervous)
Ann!

STONY You little brat!
        (raises his hand to slap Ann)
I’ll teach you how to talk to me!

Carol quickly jumps in front of Ann and pushes her daughter behind her.

CAROL         (angry)
Don’t you dare!

CHANCE springs forward to help.

CHANCE Hey!

BART I don’t think so.

BRYAN pushes his way through a tangle of people to where Carol and Ann lay on the ground. Jessica follows on his heels. Ann is crying and trying to get up but is partially trapped under her mother. Carol isn’t moving. Bryan drops to his knees and helps Ann get to her feet, wiping tears from her eyes. Jessica stands nearby wringing her hands.

STONY sneering, turns and walks away.

BRYAN         (to Ann)
Are you all right, honey?

ANN         (panicked, tears flowing)
Mommy!

ANN         (pleading)
Mommy, please wake up!

ANN Mommy?

CHANCE stops struggling. Bart lets go of him and Chance quickly crosses to Ann, Bryan and Carol. The other people have backed away several steps to leave a small cleared space around Carol, who is beginning to roll her head slowly from side to side. Chance kneels down next to Bryan.

CHANCE How is she?

BRYAN

I don’t know. She won’t wake up.

CAROL         (weakly)
Ann?

ANN

        (relieved)
Mommy!

CAROL Shh. It’s okay, baby. Mommy’s okay. Shh.

ANN Are you sure?

CAROL

        (smiles weakly)
I’m sure. Really.

CAROL squeezes her eyes shut and holds her head between her hands.

CAROL Oh, man, the room is spinning.

CUT TO:

Graves and Miller stand by the front fender of Miller’s car. Miller is bent over the hood, studying a large unrolled sheet of paper. Other sheets are beneath it. Graves is listening to something being said in his ear piece.

GRAVES         (keys microphone on his collar)
Roger, Eagle nine. Stand by.
        (to Miller)
All my teams are in place and standing by.
        (gestures to unrolled paper)
What’ve you got?

MILLER

Architectural drawings - floor plans of the museum.

GRAVES

        (bending down to look)
Excellent.

Miller’s HAND is also IN FRAME. As Miller explains the layout to Graves he points to the various places on the floor plan.

MILLER (V.O.) This is the main floor. The front door is here. On this side is an alarmed emergency exit. There’s a breaker bar on the inside of the door. It’s key locked from the outside. You don’t see it on this drawing because it’s actually on the sub-level but back here is the loading dock. It’s got one big roll-up door, locked from the inside, and a regular entry door beside it, also locked. The entry door is steel. There are no other exterior doors. Back here near the loading dock is a freight elevator. They use it to move large objects up to the museum from the basement or dock area.

Graves straightens up.

GRAVES ‘Kay. Your assessment?

MILLER

        (leaning on his forearms)
Tactically, entry via the first floor or the dock area seems a bad choice. We know the men inside are armed and aren’t afraid to shoot. It’s a piece of cake for them to cover the front doors and the side emergency exit. If we tried to gain entry there, they’d have plenty of time to kill a lot of people before we could take them out. Entry through the dock area is also a poor choice. We could cut through the loading door or the steel entry door fairly quietly, but the only way up to the museum is through that freight elevator. They’d hear us coming so far in advance they’d have time to kill the hostages, figure out a way to escape, and plan Christmas dinner!

GRAVES

        (nods agreement)
‘Kay. So what are our alternatives?

MILLER These next three pages are floor plans for the second, third and fourth stories.

MILLER (CONT.) Each of the floors are connected to each other by a central stairway back here. . .
        (points toward the back of the  room on the drawing)
. . . and by an elevator next to the stairs.

GRAVES

How do we know the elevator hasn’t been disabled?

MILLER

We don’t, and it probably has been. But we’ve still got the stairs. We should be able to move down them pretty quietly, without attracting undue attention. Even if they have someone watching the stairs, we should be able to take them out quickly, before they can warn they others.
        (pauses and straightens up)
There are only two problems.

GRAVES

        (looking at the museum)
Hell, I’m looking at one of them. How do we get in? They have windows, sure, but they’re all covered by security bars. I’m sure we can cut out way in, but it’ll take time. And we’d have to be careful not to be seen or heard by the people inside.

MILLER

Right. Not an ideal scenario, but do-able.

GRAVES

Agreed. What’s the second problem?

MILLER

The stairway is intended as a fire escape, not for general use. To get to the stairs, you have to open a fire door. When you do, it sets off an audible alarm bell. Everyone in town would know we were coming down.

GRAVES

        (rolls his eyes)
Great!

CUT TO:

Carol is sitting with her head hung forward, her forehead resting in the palm of one hand. Her other hand is squeezing Ann’s hand, who is kneeling beside her, one arm around her mom’s shoulders. Chance and Bryan are also kneeling on the floor by Carol, one on either side of her, looking on with concern, ready to assist her if needed.

CAROL I can’t quite seem to focus. Everything’s kinda blurry.

CHANCE

That guy hit you pretty hard.

CHANCE (CONT.) Did you hit your head when you fell?

CAROL

        (confused)
I don’t think so. I could’ve. Oh, I don’t know!

CLOSE ON CAROL’S PURSE

as Bryan brings the plunger of a hypodermic needle into frame and pauses.

RETURN TO SCENE - BRYAN

He glances quickly left, right, forward, then swiftly removes the hypodermic from Carol’s purse and palms it. Ann will get her insulin after all. Holding the purse in the other hand, he sidles across the floor so he’s next to Carol.

BRYAN         (quietly to Carol and Ann)
Look what I found.

CHANCE smiles.

CAROL         (struggling to focus)
Where . . .?

BRYAN

        (overlapping, whispering)
Shh. Your purse partly spilled out when you fell. I saw the hypodermic when I was putting everything back in.

CAROL AND BRYAN

Carol slowly looks up to Bryan’s face. For just a brief moment their eyes meet, then Bryan rises and moves to stand with Jessica.

CUT TO:

Miller is pacing near his car, hands on his hips. He’s impatient. He stops and hollers at a sergeant o.s.

MILLER Sergeant, when are we going to be able to call in there?

SERGEANT (O.S.)

We’ll have the number in a couple of minutes, Lieutenant.

GRAVES Hell, Miller, I could’ve looked the number up in the phone book a hundred times by now. What’s the holdup?

MILLER

        (turns to face Graves)
There’s only one published number and it’s for a general information line, which is a recording.

MILLER (CONT.)

I’ve been told there’s a phone on a desk near the front doors that the security guards used. We’re trying to get that number.

CUT TO:

Bart and Red pace slowly back and forth in front of the  hostages, Red on one side of the group and Bart on the other. Stony is standing between them, watching Carol closely.

CAROL opens her hand containing the hypodermic and squints her eyes at it, trying to determine if it’s undamaged. She moves the hypo closer to her face, then farther away, then closer again, trying to bring it into focus. She finally gives up.

ANN stands next to her mom. The tears have all dried but she is very pale and listless. Chance still kneels close to Carol, ready to help her if needed.

CAROL         (to Ann)
Come here, baby. Sit down by mommy. We need to give you your shot.

STONY narrows his eyes. He sees the hypodermic needle in Carol’s hand and begins to move toward her.

CHANCE moves slightly closer to Carol and Ann.

CHANCE Can I help you with that?

CAROL

        (frustrated, her words slightly slurred)
My daughter is diabetic. She needs this insulin shot. She’s way past due.
        (finally removes needle guard)
But I’m not sure I can see well enough to do this.

CHANCE

I’ll do it for you. It can’t be that hard. Just tell me what to do.

STONY         (pointing at hypo)
What the hell is this?

CAROL There should be some sealed alcohol wipes in my purse. Could you find one?

STONY I said, what is this?

CAROL

I told you my daughter is diabetic. This is her insulin shot. I found it in my purse. She needs it right away or she could get really sick. She could even die.

STONY

        (holds out his free hand, palm up)
Hand it over, Harpoon.

STONY (CONT.) Now!

CHANCE

It’s Harper.

STONY

Whatever. Just do it.

STONY (CONT.) Nobody’s going to be getting any shots.

ANN

Her eyes go wide as she realizes what Stony is about to do.

FADE OUT