ACT TWO

FADE IN:

EXT. KENNEDY HIGH PARKING LOT - CONTINUOUS

Sam is face-to-face with a twenty-something in an expensive
suit, who looks vaguely like a refugee from "The Sopranos."

MAN
Sam McPherson?

Instinctively Sam backs up against the car.

SAM
Who are you? What do you
want?

The man holds out a paper bag.

MAN
These are yours. I'm
returning them.

Sam takes the bag hesitantly, and looks inside.

INSERT: THE BAG

Looking down into the paper bag, we can see various baggies
with pills in them.

Sam closes the bag in a rush, looking around furtively.

MAN (CONT'D)
My colleagues mistakenly
took them from your
apartment.

SAM
They—you—you work for that
Manzetti guy!

He just smiles patiently.

MAN
My employer gave very
specific orders. They were
only to look for unpaid-for
merchandise in your friend's
apartment. They overstepped
their bounds by going into
your apartment at all, let
alone taking anything—even
if they did think it might
belong to my employer.

SAM
I—I didn't get those from
Jaycee.

The "Sopranos" guy seems to be all genial smiles.

MAN
My employer realized that
they weren't from his
inventory. Since they
aren't his, he asked me to
return them to you.

SAM
(flustered)
Oh.

MAN
Also to extend his apologies
for the inconvenience. My
colleagues have been...
chastised...for their
overzealousness.
(pause)
A young woman should feel
secure in her home. My
employer wants you to know
that it's perfectly safe for
you to return.

SAM
What—how did you—?

But Sam decides she'd rather not know.

MAN
Well, I have other
business... Again, our
apologies for the intrusion.

The man starts to turn away. Sam reaches out as if to grab
his arm—but thinks better of it.

SAM
Wait—what about Jaycee?

He turns back, his smile becoming just a bit cold.

MAN
A piece of advice, Sam—you
don't mind if I call you
Sam? Don't get involved
with your friend's problems.
You'll only wind up getting
hurt.

SAM
But-

The man leans in close.

MAN
It would be a shame if you
got hurt.

Sam remembers to be scared again, nodding with wide eyes as
the man grins. When he turns and walks off, she slumps
against the car, spent.

CUT TO:

EXT. A HOUSE - LATER

Brooke, Lily and Emory are walking up the front walk to a
cozy little house somewhere in the suburbs.

BROOKE
You're sure your cousin can
help?

EMORY
Absolutely. Believe me,
he's... Spock-smart.

They step onto the front porch, and Emory rings the
doorbell. After a few seconds of waiting, they all look at
each other.

LILY
Are you sure he's home,
Emory?

EMORY
That's what his mom said.

BROOKE
What school does your cousin
go to?

EMORY
Oh, no, no. He works at
this big international bank
downtown. But he's off
today.

The front door opens, and standing there is Emory's cousin—
who just happens to be Marshall Flickman (from "Alias").

MARSHALL
Oh—Emory!
(remembering)
That's right, you said you
were coming over.

He steps aside, gesturing.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
Come on in.

The three of them file into the house.

CUT TO:

INT. MARSHALL'S LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

As Marshall ushers them inside:

MARSHALL
(to Brooke and Lily)
You must be Emory's friends,
uh—

BROOKE
(extending her hand)
Brooke McQueen.

LILY
Lily Ford.

MARSHALL
I'm Marshall. Marshall
Flickman.

As he shakes their hands, he leads them through the living
room.

CUT TO:

INT. MARSHALL'S KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

MARSHALL
Now, if you'll accompany me
down to the dungeon—

He opens a small door off the kitchen, beyond which is a
narrow flight of stairs.

CUT TO:

INT. MARSHALL'S BASEMENT - CONTINUOUS

As the little band is tromping down the stairs:

MARSHALL
—of course, it's not really
a dungeon.
(nervous laugh)
Well, in the RPG sense...
but, I like to think of it as
more of a lair.

The "lair" is packed, ceiling to floor, with electronic
gizmos and gadgets of all kinds. A couple of worktables,
piled high with equipment, take up much of the floor space.
It looks like a combination home workshop and NASA command
center. Marshall leads them through the maze.

LILY
(whispering to
Emory)
"RPG sense"?

He looks at her as if she were missing something completely
obvious.

EMORY
RPG? You know, role-playing
games?

Lily and Brooke exchange another glance; meanwhile, Marshall
is hunched over one of the many monitor screens.

MARSHALL
(pumping a fist)
Yes!

The others look over in his direction.

BROOKE
What?

Marshall turns to them, gesturing excitedly.

MARSHALL
My elven princes have routed
the goblin army.

He turns to a keyboard, tapping furiously.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
You see, nobody attacks
goblin armies because, well,
even if you win, you have to
spend a couple of days doing
clean-up—goblins are really
messy. BUT—I wrote a
program that automatically
takes care of all that. So,
this guy uses a goblin army
to guard his cache of
enchanted weapons, and—
well, I made short work of
that. Or rather, my princes
did. With heir magical
arrows...

Marshall has finished keying in his instructions and is now
just gesturing and rambling on; eventually he peters out.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
Well—Emory told me a little
about your problem, and I,
ah, did a little sleuthing.
Investigative work. Come
see.

He leads them to yet another workstation.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
First of all, I found out
the system was not
compromised remotely.

BROOKE
Remotely?

MARSHALL
Right. That is, the work
was done on-site. Frankly,
the system is a dinosaur.
It would take me, like, two
seconds. Less.

BROOKE
But can you find out who did
it?

MARSHALL
Well, if it HAD been done
remotely, then I could have
traced the link, and that
would give you your man. Or
woman, as the case may be.

LILY
So you can't tell?

MARSHALL
(wagging a finger)
I didn't say that. We know
that it was someone who
probably wasn't supposed to
be there, because the system
was compromised at precisely—
(checking the screen)
—two-eighteen in the
morning.

BROOKE
(prompting)
And?

MARSHALL
And, based on my analysis of
the methods and techniques
the intruder used, combined
with, ah, various
surveillance cameras in the
area...

He taps the keyboard, and points to the screen.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
This is your guy.

Brooke, Lily, and Emory all lean in to peer at the screen.

INSERT: THE SCREEN

On the screen is a fuzzy nighttime picture of...fuzziness.

BROOKE
(squinting)
Where?

MARSHALL
Ah—allow me to enhance.

He taps a few keys.

INSERT: THE SCREEN

A small section of the picture enlarges, then resolves from
random pixels into a shot of hacker Delbert.

EMORY
(doubtful)
Him? Not to doubt your
intellectual abilities,
cousin, but he looks twelve.

MARSHALL
Astute observation, my
youthful kinsman. He IS
twelve. His name is—

Marshall taps a few more keys.

INSERT: THE SCREEN

A portrait shot of Delbert appears.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
—Delbert Simpson, and he
attends—

Another click, and:

INSERT: THE SCREEN

A photo of a school appears, as though part of a slide show.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
—Martha Washington Junior
High.

LILY
So, a seventh-grader broke
in and changed Brooke's
transcripts? Is that even
possible?

MARSHALL
Oh, Delbert has quite a
track record.
(pause)
And, if you don't mind my
saying so, your system's—

LILY
A dinosaur. Right.

BROOKE
(distracted)
But...why?

MARSHALL
Excuse me?

BROOKE
Why would this kid do
something like this?

MARSHALL
Oh—it's the hacker
mentality. There's this
whole little culture—not
that I, you understand...

BROOKE
No, no, I mean...why ME?

MARSHALL
(understanding)
Ah! Well, just off the top
of my head, I'd say probably
because the person who was
with him told him to.

BROOKE/LILY/EMORY
(simultaneously)
Who?

MARSHALL
(sheepish)
I guess I didn't mention
that, huh? Yes, um...

He clicks more keys, and points.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
...right there.

They all lean in to peer at the screen.

INSERT: THE SCREEN

An indefinable fuzzy patch of pixels; with a lot of
imagination, it might be a silhouette.

LILY
Who is it?

MARSHALL
(shrugs)
Can't tell. There isn't
enough raw date to
extrapolate.

EMORY
I see...so, Delbert is only
the front man. Our true
villain remains in the
shadows.

MARSHALL
Very apropos, cousin!

Brooke throws up her hands.

BROOKE
What do we do now?

MARSHALL
If it were me—not that I've
ever been in on the planning
of cover ops or anything,
you understand—but if it
WERE me, I'd be looking to
turn Delbert. Make him
squeal like a pig.

He holds out a slip of paper.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)
I have his address right
here.

After a moment, Brooke takes the slip, and she and Lily nod
to each other, apparently satisfied.

LILY
Thanks, Mr., uh—

MARSHALL
Oh, just Marshall. Everyone
calls me Marshall. Well,
not everyone, because, you
know, it would be pretty
rude if, say, your concierge
were to...

BROOKE
(cutting him off
gently)
Thank you, Marshall.

EMORY
Well, it looks like we have
a suspect to grill.

With that, Emory starts to lead the girls out of the
basement.

MARSHALL
(waving after them)
I'll put a watchdog program
in place. If Delbert tries
anything else, I'll know
about it.

BROOKE (O.S.)
Thanks!

CUT TO:

EXT. MARSHALL'S HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER

Emory, Brooke and Lily, walking back down the walk:

EMORY
(claps his hands together)
A successful intelligence
gathering mission.
(pause)
Sorry about...you know.

LILY
(confused)
What?

EMORY
I DID tell you guys my
cousin was a little
eccentric.

Brooke starts to say something.

EMORY (CONT'D)
(snorting)
I mean, elven princes
against a goblin army?

Brooks snaps her mouth shut and rolls her eyes at Lily
behind Emory's back. Emory stops and turns to face them,
too late to catch it.

EMORY (CONT'D)
So, when do we flip the kid?

Lily bats Emory on the arm.

BROOKE
Thanks, guys, but I think
I'd rather do this mission
solo.

LILY
You sure, Brooke?

BROOKE
Yeah. I'll drop by
Delbert's tomorrow.

CUT TO:

INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM - LATER

INSERT: A COMPUTER SCREEN

More spreadsheets and graphs.

As the shot widens, we see Sam sitting in a chair in the
waiting room, working on her laptop. She looks up as a
nurse pushes Jaycee down the hall in a wheelchair. Sam
folds up the laptop, stands up and walks over to them.

NURSE
Everything's been taken care
of. Is your car out front?

Sam nods, and falls into step beside them as the nurse
resumes pushing.

JAYCEE
I hate these things.

Sam lays a hand on Jaycee's shoulder.

SAM
You'll get plenty of
practice walking at home—
the elevator's broken again.

CUT TO:

EXT. HOSPITAL ENTRANCE - MOMENTS LATER

Sam's car sits at the curb. She rushes ahead of the nurse
and opens the passenger door, then helps Jaycee move
awkwardly from the wheelchair to the car seat.

SAM
(to the nurse)
Thanks.

JAYCEE
(off-handedly)
Yeah, thanks.

As the nurse withdraws, Sam runs around to the driver's side
of the car, gets in and drives off.

CUT TO:

INT. SAM'S CAR - MOVING

Jaycee runs her fingers along the dashboard.

JAYCEE
Nice ride. Where'd you get
it?

SAM
Oh, well—it's not really
mine. I mean, it's just on
loan.

JAYCEE
A loaner...when do you have
to have it back?

SAM
No, it's not like that. I
mean—Calvin got it for me.

It takes a moment for Jaycee to register the name.

JAYCEE
Oh!
(teasing)
Principal's sweet on you!

SAM
Stop it! It's not like
that. We're...we understand
each other.

JAYCEE
Really, fess up, Sam. You
and him, you've never done
it?

SAM
Eww! No!

JAYCEE
What ew? He's kinda hot.
In an authority-figure sort
of way.

SAM
I didn't say he wasn't hot.
But still—eww.

JAYCEE
(shrugs)
Whatever. I'd do him.
Probably.

Sam just shudders as they drive on.

CUT TO:

EXT. SAM'S APARTMENT BUILDING - LATER

Sam's car pulls up to the curb.

CUT TO:

INT. SAM'S CAR - CONTINUOUS

SAM
By the way... I was looking
for your car before I came.
Not to drive or anything.
Just checking. I didn't see
it, though.

JAYCEE
Um, well, I kind of...sold
it.

SAM
You WHAT?

JAYCEE
(grumbling)
Got ripped off, too, with
what I got for it.

SAM
Was it enough to pay off
Manzetti?

Jaycee grabs Sam's wrist.

JAYCEE
Where did you hear that
name?

SAM
Reyanna told me. She told
me everything—

Jaycee slaps the dashboard.

JAYCEE
Dammit!

SAM
Jaycee, these guys trashed
my place! And they took my
whole stash.

JAYCEE
I can't believe they did
that. They're not supposed
to...

SAM
Well, I got it all back.
This creepy guy came by
earlier-said his "employer"
didn't keep stuff that
wasn't his.

JAYCEE
Good, then. You're not
involved anymore.

Jaycee opens the car door; this time it's Sam's turn to grab
her arm.

SAM
Jaycee! We have to DO
something!

JAYCEE
(shrugging matter-
of-factly)
What can you do? Nothing.
Unless you can come up with
the money... Nevermind.
Don't worry about it.

Jaycee shrugs off Sam's hand and clambers out of the car.
Sam gets out and rushes around the car to help her.

ANGLE: FROM ACROSS THE STREET

The scene, from a distance, freezes several times,
accompanied by a distinctive clicking sound: someone is
snapping pictures of Sam and Jaycee.

CUT TO:

INT. JAYCEE'S APARTMENT - MOMENTS LATER

The door opens, and Sam helps Jaycee, who is clearly spent,
get over to the sofa.

JAYCEE
(panting)
Okay, I take it back... I
hate walking. How long has
the elevator been out?

SAM
Uh...I don't know.

Jaycee looks at Sam quizzically.

JAYCEE
You don't know?

SAM
I, um... I haven't exactly
been staying here.

JAYCEE
You went back to casa
McQueen? I don't believe
it.

SAM
(snorts)
No way!

Jaycee continues to look at Sam questioningly.

SAM (CONT'D)
Since those guys broke into
my place I've...kind of
been...staying at Calvin's.
Mr. Krupps'.

Jaycee gives Sam an entirely different look.

SAM
It's not LIKE that!
Separate bedrooms. Totally
separate!

JAYCEE
Mm-hmm.

SAM
Would you STOP that? We
don't play around like that
anymore.

JAYCEE
Could've fooled me.

SAM
You're impossible, you know
that?

JAYCEE
(relaxing)
I'm not the one living with
my principal.

Sam just growls, and heads for the door.

SAM
I'll call later.

JAYCEE
Hey—aren't you going to,
you know, fix me food and
stuff?

SAM
(deadpan)
Do I look like a nurse?
You'll be fine. No raving.

Jaycee clucks at Sam in mock disappointment.

JAYCEE
Hey, Sam?

Sam, at the door, turns back.

JAYCEE (CONT'D)
I hate to ask, but...

Understanding, Sam fishes through her bag, pulls out a
bottle of pills, and tosses it to Jaycee.

JAYCEE (CONT'D)
Thanks.

SAM
Sure. And don't worry—
we'll figure out what to do
about Manzetti.

JAYCEE
(sighing)
Sam—

SAM
(firm)
Hush. Get some rest. I'll
call.

Sam opens the door.

JAYCEE
(calling)
Give Principal-Man my love.

Sam rolls her eyes at Jaycee as she steps out.

CUT TO:

INT. OUTSIDE JAYCEE'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS

Sam closes the door, and her expression hardens in resolve.

SAM
(to herself)
I WILL figure out how to
help. You'll see.

With that, Sam walks off.

FADE OUT.

END OF ACT TWO