Lesson 13 (New)

[JOEL STERN]

INT. RAY’S CABIN – NIGHT Ray’s on his cot, looks at a picture of his late mother. He clearly misses her. JOE, (28) and LOU, (30) play cards.

JOE

Want in, Ray? Lou’s about to cash in.

LOU

Oh yeah, wise guy? Says who?

Ray’s locked on the picture, in a world of his own.

LOU (to Ray)

Is that your sweetie?

RAY Huh? Oh. Yeah. She certainly was.

Rays kisses the picture, turns on his side. He looks scared. Joe checks his watch.

JOE

Jeez — it’s getting late boys.

LOU

Seven AM French class. Bon soir buddy.

Joe and Lou leave. Ray sits up, peeks out the window. They’re gone. He grabs his go bag.

INSERT: A hand drawn MAP of the grounds. He opens the door. All clear.

EXT: OSS TRAINING GROUNDS – CONTINUOUS

He’s about to hop a fence. A shot rings out, a dog barks. A military policeman shines a light right in Ray’s face. MP Down on your knees, hands behind your head, now! Ray gets down, follows his orders. He cries. RAY I… I just want to go home.

INT. CAMP COMMANDER’S OFFICE – DAY

Bull dog-face Commander CHUCK, (35) the man in the front of the bus paces past Ray who sits in the middle of the room.

CHUCK

You’ll be going to DC for a procedure, Hillman.

RAY

What kind of procedure, sir?

Chuck sits, uncomfortable with what he’s about to say.

CHUCK

As you know, Agent Z has turned. And there’s no way in hell we’re gonna stop him. That is unless we counter with someone who can see him after he jumps into someone else’s body. You’ll be given capsules that will allow you to do this. It’s experimental, son. No guarantee it’ll work. But we have no other choice.

O.S. A car idles.

RAY

And that would be me I assume, sir.

INT. OSS PLANE – DAY

Ray is on a parachute training jump. The JUMPMASTER, (40) gives him a CAPSULE. Ray swallows it, contemplates…

JUMPMASTER

Ready?

RAY

As I’ll ever be!

The jumpmaster eyes his watch. Ray’s hooked up, ready to go.

JUMPMASTER

Five…four…three…two…one… go!

Ray leaps out of the plane. The capsule kicks in. He’s hallucinating like he’s on an LSD trip. He imagines his mother and father in distorted forms.

EXT. GROUND – MOMENTS LATER

He lands awkwardly, hurts himself. Other OSS personnel rush over.

INT. DR. STENSON’S OFFICE – DAY

Days later. Donovan, Casey and Ray meet with the doctor.

DOC

What did you see after you took the capsule, Ray?

Ray shuts his eyes. I saw — images… of Mother and Father.

DOC And what was the quality of those images?

RAY I — I’m not sure.

DOC

Gentlemen — this experiment will be a one in a million crapshoot.

DONOVAN

And it’s one we have to win.