Aquarium
Inside Russian Military Intelligence
by
Charles Proser
From the book
by
Victor Suvorov
CLOSE UP - MAN WITH GREY HAIR
A forgettable face fills the frame.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
We have a very simple rule: it's a
ruble to get in, but two to get out.
It's difficult to join the
organization, but a lot more difficult
to leave. There's only one way out...
through the chimney. For some it is
an honorable exit. For others it's a
shameful, terrible way to go...
The man points towards a window. Below, a labyrinth of
pathways, a wall, a network of barbed wire.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR (CONT'D)
That's it. Have a good look.
He points to a chimney on a flat roof which floats among the
greenery like a raft. A thin wisp of smoke rises.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Is someone leaving the organization?
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
No.
(HE LAUGHS)
They are burning secret papers. When
somebody leaves, the smoke is dense,
oily. If you join, you too will one
day rise into the sky. You have one
last chance to change your mind. Sit
down.
He presses a button. Shutters cover the windows. A picture
appears on a screen without any title or explanation...a
black and white film, old and scratched. It has no sound
track, and the regular clicking noise of the projector can
be heard.
THE FILM.
A furnace with fire-doors. Rails run into the furnace. Men
in protective gowns stand nearby. A coffin. The men lift the
coffin and place it on the guide rails. The doors open
smoothly, the coffin is given a gentle push and it slides
into the flames.
CLOSE UP - A FACE SWIMMING IN PERSPIRATION
Pull back. He wears an expensive suit, terribly crumpled.
His tie is tightly screwed round his neck. He's bound with
wire to a stretcher which is propped so the man can see the
furnace.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
The attendants turn to the bound man. A scream! A terrible
scream. There is no sound, but it is a scream that would
make the windows rattle. They pick up the stretcher. The man
makes an incredible effort to prevent this. The strain shows
on his face. A vein on his forehead stands out, about to
burst. He tries to bite an attendant's hand. His teeth only
bite his own lip. A trickle of blood runs down his chin. He
wriggles, beats his head against the stretcher.
The guide rails shake. He strains to the point of breaking
his own bones, tearing his own muscles. But the wire does
not give. The stretcher slides along the rails.
The furnace doors move aside, the fire casts a white light
on the the man's shoes. He tries to bend his knees to keep
his feet from the roaring fire. But he can't.
Suddenly the stretcher halts. A new figure appears, signals.
The men remove the stretcher from the rails and stand it
against the wall. Another coffin is wheeled in. It's very
elegant, with a decorative fringe, the coffin of some highly
esteemed person. The men lift it onto the rails and and send
it into the flames. Then it's the bound man's turn. He's
again placed on the rails. Again, that silent scream! The
man's face, signs of madness? It's easier for madmen in this
world. But there are no such signs. His face is not distorted
by madness. It's simply that he doesn't want to go into the
furnace and is trying somehow to make that clear. But what
can he do except scream? So he screams. Then his shoes go
into the fire. The fire flares up. The men give the stretcher
a push into the depths. The furnace doors close and the sound
of the projector dies out.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Who was he?
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
He was a colonel. But he deceived
us. We don't force anybody. If you
don't want to join, you can simply
refuse. But once you've joined you
belong to us. I give you a last chance
to change your mind. A minute to
reflect.
CU VIKTOR SUVOROV
A young, powerful, intelligent slavic face.
SUVOROV
I don't need a minute.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
That's the rule. So sit down and
keep quiet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
He presses a switch. A hand moves around the face of a clock.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
If they admit me into the organization
I am ready to serve it loyally. It's
a serious, powerful organization,
and I like their ways. But I know
damned well that, if I am to depart
through the chimney, it will never
be in a coffin with fancy frills.
That is not in my character. I am
not the sort to get fancy treatment.
Not me.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
Time's up. Want more time to think?
SUVOROV
No.
MAN WITH GREY HAIR
All right, then. I have the honor to
congratulate you on joining our secret
brotherhood...The Chief Directorate
of Intelligence of the General Staff;
the GRU. Don't try to be too clever.
I wish you well, captain.
PROVINCIAL RUSSIAN TOWN THE SQUARE STATUE OF LENIN
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Should you ever think of making your
career in the KGB, Just ask anybody.
POV APPROACHING CITIZEN...CITIZEN LISTENS, RESPONDS MOS
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Yes, that building there, the one
Lenin points at. That's KGB
headquarters.
MONTAGE
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Or, you can just apply to the special
department. There's one in every
railway station, every factory.
There's one in every regiment,
college, prison...in every Party
committee, in the Communist youth,
the trade unions. Just go up to
them and say: I want to join the
KGB! The KGB is open to everybody.
POV POLICE IN FRONT OF STATION. WE APPROACH...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
It's not so easy to get into the
GRU. Who do you apply to? At which
door do you knock? At the police
station, maybe?
The police glare suspiciously, shrug, 'never heard of it.'
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
For the citizen, for the police,
those letters mean nothing. The GRU
is secret. Since nobody knows about
it, nobody can join on his own
initiative. Volunteers are not needed.
In fact, a volunteer would be...
MAN HUSTLED THROUGH DARK CORRIDORS BY POLICE
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
...arrested at once and subjected to
a long and painful interrogation.
He would have a lot of questions
to answer.
DISEMBODIED INTERROGATORS FACE HE SPEAKS MOS
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Where have you heard these letters?
How did you find us?. Who helped
you?
POV INTERROGATORS SHAKE US DOWN.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
'Who? Who? Answer, you bastard!'.
The GRU knows how to get
answers...from anybody. I can
guarantee that.
POV ANOTHER MAN IS HAULED IN TO SEE THE INTERROGATOR
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Sooner or later they would get back
to the source...someone whose tongue
had overstepped the mark. Oh, the
GRU knows how to rip such tongues
out! You can talk about the GRU
only inside the GRU. And only inside
inside the transparent walls of the
building on the Khodinka.
THE AQUARIUM MODERN GLASSFRONTED BUILDING
Like an enormous fish tank.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
The law of the Aquarium! Everything
talked about inside stays inside.
Thus, few people know of it. Anyone
who does keeps his mouth shut, so I
had never heard of the GRU.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. DAWN HQ 318th MOTORIZED INF. DIV.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
My life seemed cut out for me. After
commanding the company I might command
a battalion, then a regiment, maybe
higher. This was the course I had
chosen. But fate decided otherwise.
BATCHELOR OFFICER'S QUARTERS PREDAWN
An ORDERLY with torch shakes Suvorov awake.
ORDERLY
Get up, Lieutenant, great deeds await
you!!!
SUVOROV rolls over and glares at him. He changes tone.
ORDERLY (CONT'D)
Action stations!'
Action stations! S is up. Off with blanket. On with trousers,
boots. Slip into tunic, strap shoulder-belt, cap on head.
Off at the run. Grab pistol. Leap down stairs. The truck is
full of young officers.
EXT. TANK PARK DEAFENING ROAR OF ENGINES STOCK
Tanks growl. The grey-green monsters trundle along, then
APC'S, Armored Personnel Carriers, artillery, antiaircraft
batteries.
An officer shouts. Everyone runs. There ahead, his company.
Suverov leaps onto the sloping front armor and runs up to
the turret. He drops in the open hatch, grabs his helmet. He
puts it on. Headphones crackle:
RADIO/GUNNER
All ammunition in tanks. All fuel.
SUVOROV
(cutting him off)
Is it training...or war?
R/G replies with a shrug. S. looks ahead. Tanks don't move.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
What's the problem?
RADIO/GUNNER
We are ready.
SUVOROV
Move out! Immediately!
RADIO/GUNNER
This is a target enemies dream of.
Suvorov jumps up onto the turret to get a better view. A
stalled tank blocks the way. He looks at his watch.
SUVOROV
Stalled. No sign of a tractor.
RADIO/GUNNER
Eight minutes left.
The road between garages is jammed with tanks; No way through.
Engines roar impatiently. Suvorov jumps into the turret and
screams...
SUVOROV
Left wheel and ahead!
(into headset)
COMPANY: FOLLOW ME!
There is no gateway, only a brick wall. He kicks the driver.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I chose you, you rat! Don't disgrace
me! Or I'll flatten you and let you
rot!
EXT. TANK
The dinosaur roars away. Gears clang, the body shakes, the
engine SCREAMS. WHANNNNGGGG! A Terrifying shock as the
tank hits the brick wall. Bricks avalanche onto the armour
plate, wrecking headlights and aerials, ripping off boxes,
denting the fuel tanks. The tank roars. Wrapped in a web of
barbed wire, it bursts out of a cloud of brick dust into the
sleepy side street of a peaceful Ukrainian town.
INT. TANK
It shudders, rattles. Suvorov looks through rear slit.
SUVOROV'S POV
Tanks shoot through the gap. An officer runs up, shouting,
cursing. Ahead, TRAFFIC CONTROL appears, waving at them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.
SUVOROV
Come on, boys, let us through!
We've got to be out in front.
The tanks advance at top speed. Suvorov looks back. Close
on the tail of the last tank, an APC appears, making sparks
fly off the concrete. The APC sports a little white flag.
Suvorov is greatly relieved.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Boys, there are umpires!
DRIVER
It's maneuvers, not war.
SUVOROV
We'll live another day.
The tank blasts through. Branches and undergrowth explode.
INT. TANK
The ROAR is hellish. The machine rears, bucks, prancing about
like a demon. Suvorov tries to read a map on his knees.
2ND TANK (V.O.)
Where is the enemy?
SUVOROV
Not clear. Map's no use. Where's the
weak spot?
The tanks race. The APC with the white flag roars alongside.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Avoid resistance. Avoid towns. Don't
get involved in clashes. If you meet
the enemy, radio in, dodge round,
move ahead. Forward, boys...Westwards!
POV 2nd TANK CO.
2ND TANK CO (V.O.)
There's a crane ahead...
SUVOROV
SUVOROV
A crane? A lifting crane?
SUVOROV'S POV
2ND TANK CO (V.O.)
Yes! A crane! A beautiful crane.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.
SUVOROV
SUVOROV
Missile battery! Company, a missile
battery! Advance! Full speed ahead!
The driver floors it. Engines scream, clouds of smoke belch.
The platoon spreads in battle formation. Second tank
accelerates, swings off, tracks spraying mud. Third tank
turns in a wide sweep.
RADIOMAN
Recon completed. Going into action!
SUVOROV
Missile units must be attacked
immediately, whatever the cost.
The loader slams a shell into the breech, the block slams
closed. The turret swings. The gunner grips the firing
console. The stabilizers control the gun in short movements,
isolating it from the wild dance of the tank gone mad as it
flies over tree trunks. The gunner fires. The forty ton hulk
shudders. The gun barrel springs back, a smoking shell case
clangs off the baffle plate. Shellfire whips the Asians crews
into a fury, into wild beasts. The gunner gnaws the strap on
the sight. The CO howls like a wolf.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Smash them, drive on through!
The drivers yank the levers, and drive straight into the
heat of battle. S looks back. Far in the rear is the APC
with the white flag.
SUVOROV VO
I was sorry for them. They had no
gun, no deafening noise. They got no
pleasure from life. Their driver was
cowardly, dodging rocks and trees.
You have to grab the machine, throw
it about. A tank is a gentle thing.
But if it feels that it is being
ridden by a strong man it will go
wild too. It will gallop over
boulders, through craters and ditches.
It will sweep you along. A tank revels
in battle: that's what it's made
for!
RADIO (V.O.)
Take your company out of battle line.
Sparks fly from the tracks. They rush down on the missile
battery.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.
RADIO (CONT'D)
Take your company out of line...
THE TANKS CHARGE ON, GROWLING LIKE WOLVES. THEY SMASH HEAD
on into the missile mock ups, transporters and cranes. They
push the missile artillery into the sticky black earth.
SUVOROV
Company! Full speed. Attack!
Then he slams his fist on the armourplate and curses.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Goddamn Staff officers. Goddamn!
...Company ! Break away! Left wheel!
The tank nearly turns over, destroys a birch, gnashes gears
and crashes into the meadow. He locks a track, swings the
tank around, drops the engine to idle. It stands blurping
quietly. A ROAR! Tanks burst out of the forest, brake
convulsively, and form up in line.
INT. TANK
SUVOROV
Disarm! Guns open for inspection!'
Suvorov rips the headphone plug out of its socket.
EXT. MEADOW LINE OF TANKS
Suvorov checks equipment. The men assemble before the tanks.
RADIO/GUNNER
Command tank, broken aerial, damaged
tanks. 140 liters of fuel remaining.
17 shots fired, 43 rounds remaining...
SUVOROV (V.O.)
We left the park eight minutes early.
In a war seconds count. Tanks must
move out at top speed, so the enemy's
first blow falls on deserted camps.
Eight minutes! Definitely a plus.
All my tanks were in good shape.
That was a plus for my technical
deputy. It was a pity that, due to
the shortage of officers, I had no
technical deputy. We had avoided
the strongholds and had reported on
them precisely. That was a plus for
the commander of the first platoon.
It was a pity that we didn't have
one. We had sniffed out the missile
battery, and flattened it. For such
(MORE)
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10.
SUVOROV (V.O.) (CONT'D)
action they pin a big medal on your
chest and refer to it at lectures
for a long time after.
THE APC pulls up. CO hops out, followed by umpires, officers.
The CO's face is burnt with exposure to the sun and winds of
training ranges. A Colonel appears, hands white, spotless,
boots glistening. With distaste he picks his way carefully,
round the puddles.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Straighten up! Easy! Dress right!
COLONEL
(cutting him off)
Fun, Lieutenant. In action! Like a
little boy!
Suvorov grins. The officers are grimly silent. His smile
makes the colonel even fiercer.
COLONEL (CONT'D)
It is quite disgraceful, Lieutenant,
not to hear orders, not to carry
them out.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
(to himself)
My dear idiot Colonel, I would hang
people who do not enjoy themselves
in action, who are not intoxicated
by the smell of blood. In a real
battle my Asians would have become
even more excited. That is their
strength. Nobody in the world would
be able to stop them.
COLONEL
And then there's the wall! You
knocked down the wall! That's a
serious offense!
SUVOROV (V.O.)
The wall. Big deal!
S. smiles. Behind him, the company grins. The Colonel is
furious.
COLONEL
You're not fit to command. I remove
you. Hand your company over to your
deputy. He'll take them back to
barracks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11.
SUVOROV
I don't have a deputy.
COLONEL
Then hand over command to the
commander of the first platoon!
SUVOROV
There isn't one. I'm the only officer
in the company.
The Colonel... the fire goes out of him.. Behind him, the
umpires and his officers hide grins and look at the dust.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Plenty of people want to be officers,
but they all want to be colonels.
Very few want to be lieutenants.
People forget this in headquarters.
The umpire, also a Colonel, mutters to the CO.
UMPIRE
They have to be returned to barracks.
CO
That's impossible without an officer.
UMPIRE
It is an offence! It could be
regarded as an attempt at a coup
d'etat.
SUVOROV / THE COLONEL
SUVOROV (V.O.)
You have taken personal responsibility
for the company and do not have the
right to entrust them to anyone else.
If such a right were granted, then
every commander could replace
officers. You have the right to
dismiss me. Everyone has that right.
It's easy as killing a man. But you
can't put me in charge again. I am
not worthy. Everybody heard you say
that. What if your superiors get to
know that you removed a properly
appointed commander and put an
unworthy one in his place?
The colonel turns to the CO.
COLONEL
Radio the battalion commander. Ask
him to take over the company.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.
CO
The exercises are over. We can't use
wartime communications now.
UMPIRE
Officers who took such liberties in
1937 were shot.
The Colonel looks at Suvorov. Suvorov looks back.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Go on, take command! But the men are
not Russians. What if they
misunderstand a command. A tank can
run over a man, run off a bridge,
sink in a bog. The commander's fate
is always the same.
SUVOROV has his fun, looks at the CO, then stops smiling.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Permit me, comrade colonel.
(salutes smartly)
Allow me to lead the company for the
last time. A farewell.
COLONEL
Yes. You lead the company. Consider
my order not having come into force.
Take the company to barracks. Hand
it over there.
SUVOROV
Very good!
He turns about sharply. There are smiles on the faces of the
officers and men. The CO mutters to the Umpire.
CO (ASIDE)
What on earth is 'taking command for
the time being?'
UMPIRE
There is no such order. An officer
is either worthy of commanding his
unit, or he is not.
Suvorov casts his eye over his men. A tremor runs through
the ranks. He holds two flags.. He raises the white flag.
The formation freezes in expectation, each man straining.
He raises the red flag. They bolt. Engines roar. Suvorov
climbs into the hatch, flag held high. The tanks roar away.
EXT. CAMP ENTRANCE A BAND BLARES FORTH.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13.
The CO stands on a tank, welcoming his columns back. S
salutes. The CO directs a ferocious look at him, then brings
his hand up in salute. Suvorov is shocked.
His tank has gone past, but he swings round and looks at the
CO. Suddenly the CO smiles at him.
INT. HQ
Marble stairs. Carpeted corridors. Suvorov salutes the
regimental standard, an orderly salutes him, knocks on a
door.
INT. CO'S OFFICE
Suvorov enters. The Umpire, A Lieutenant Colonel sits at the
CO's desk. Suvorov seems comfused.
LT. COLONEL
Sit down, senior lieutenant.
(he sits)
Tell me, senior lieutenant, why did
you smile when Colonel Yermolayev
relieved you of command?
The Lt. Colonel's eyes drill into him.
SUVOROV
I don't know, comrade Colonel.
LT. COLONEL
Your company performed with great
skill. It was better to knock down
that wall than to expose the regiment
to attack. It is not difficult to
rebuild a wall...
SUVOROV
It's already been rebuilt.
LT. COLONEL
I am Lieutenant Colonel Kravtsov,
Chief of Intelligence of the 13th
Army. Colonel Yermolayev thinks he
is Chief of Intelligence. He's been
relieved of his post. He doesn't
know it yet. He thinks he's carrying
out an inspection, but in fact I am
handling things. None of his orders
has any force. He issues them but
they are annulled. He is a zero, a
failure expelled without a pension.
So his order relieving you of your
company has no force.
SUVOROV
Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14.
KRAVTSOV
He does not have the right to remove
you from command. Therefore I am
removing you. I order you to hand
over your company.
Suvorov jumps up, salutes.
SUVOROV
Very good! I hand over the company.
KRAVTSOV
Sit down.
He sits.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
Colonel Yermolayev removed you because
he considered a company was too much
for you. I am removing you because
it is too little. I have a job for
you: chief of staff of the division's
recon battalion.
SUVOROV
But I am only a senior lieutenant.
KRAVTSOV
I am only a Lieutenant Colonel. But
I have been selected to take over
intelligence work for the Army. I am
now forming my team. I need
intelligent men. At 21.30 our bus
leaves. You have a seat on it.
EXT. HEADQUARTERS 13TH ARMY
Suvorov shows his pass to a guard. The guard studies it,
salutes. A path between barbed wire ends at a mansion hidden
among the trees.
INT. HQ
He climbs marble staircase, shows his pass and enters a dark,
GUARDED CORRIDOR. OFFICERS TURN TO LOOK. A DOOR OF ARMOR
plate. He presses a bell, an eye peers through the viewing
slit and clicks the lock.
OFFICE
Three desks, three safes, bookshelves and a map of Europe cover a wall.
Opposite the entrance hangs a portrait of a general. Two
lieutenant colonels eye him with suspicion and acknowledge
his greetings with only slight nods of the head. A table is
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15.
piled with messages. He sits and is stumped by the very first
one.
ECU MESSAGE 'An echelon of twenty British Chieftain tanks
has been observed on a railway bridge across the Rhine near
Cologne.'
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Idiots! Which direction was it going?
Reinforcement or a reduction in force?
He looks up. Both Colonels have copies of the same message.
They look at him but are in no hurry to hint at the answer.
He gets up, goes to picture of the general on the wall. He
speaks to it.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
If I read the preceding messages the
answer would probably be very simple.
He smiles at this Colonel General and gives him a wink. The
expression on the officer's face is severe, his eyes, cruel
and commanding. There is no inscription beneath the portrait.
He turns it over. Instead of a name there is only a stamp:
"Military unit 44388" and a warning: "To be kept only in the
secure premises of the Aquarium and its subordinate organs."
He goes to the safe and pulls out a heavy volume. He drops
it on his desk with a crash. The Lieutenant colonels jump.
MATCH DISSOLVE
OFFICE 1700 HOURS The Colonels spit on their seals and stamp
the document cases which then go into the safe. They
disappear. Suverov sits alone in the gathering gloom,
engrossed. Books are piled nearby.
KRAVTSOV
Do you ever get any sleep?
He looks up. Kravtsov has appeared.
SUVOROV
Sometimes, and what about you?
KRAVTSOV
Sometimes. Shall I test you?
SUVOROV
Yes please, comrade Lieutenant
Colonel.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.
KRAVTSOV
Where is the 406th Tactical Fighter
Wing of the U. S. Air Force?
SUVOROV
In Zaragossa, Spain.
KRAVTSOV
What does the U.S. Fifth Army Corps
consist of?
SUVOROV
The 3rd Armoured Division, 8th
Mechanized Division and 11th Cavalry
Regiment.
KRAVTSOV
(studies him)
Do you know what the second group
does?
SUVOROV
Yes.
KRAVTSOV
But how could you know?
SUVOROV
I guessed. Espionage by secret agents.
KRAVTSOV
Do you know what the third group
does?
SUVOROV
Yes, I do.
He strides around the room, trying to grasp it.
KRAVTSOV
Sit down.
(he sits)
Suvorov, you have been receiving
scraps of information from the second
group... You could guess about them.
But you haven't been getting anything
at all from the third group.
SUVOROV
From which I concluded that the third
group is brought into action only in
wartime. The officers in the third
are very tough, every one of them.
KRAVTSOV
So what do you think they do?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17.
SUVOROV
In wartime they extract information
by force. They are saboteurs,
terrorists.
KRAVTSOV
Do you know what we call the group?
SUVOROV
No, I couldn't know that.
KRAVTSOV
Spetsnaz. Special Recon Units. Do
you know how many such troops there
are in the third group?
SUVOROV
A battalion.
He jumps up out of his chair.
KRAVTSOV
Who told you that?
SUVOROV
I guessed it.
KRAVTSOV
But how?
SUVOROV
In every division there is one company
doing recon. An Army is a stage higher
than a division, which means that
you should have at your disposal not
a company but a battalion.
KRAVTSOV
(studies him...)
Turn up this evening at this address.
INT. SPORTS CENTER SUVOROV AND KRAVTSOV
KRAVTSOV has a broad grin on his face. He is barefooted, in
a green track suit. Two ordinary chairs stand in a vast space.
KRAVTSOV
Sit down.
They sit face to face in the middle of the area.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
Put your hands on your knees and
relax them completely. In all
circumstances you must be utterly
relaxed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.
Holding on to the chair, he starts rocking back on the back
legs, and then suddenly tipped right over backwards. Slams
to the floor smiling. He jumps up, lifts the chair and sits
down.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
Nothing can happen to you. But human
nature makes us resist falling
backwards. Its only our mind that
holds us back....Now hold on to the
chair with your hands.... Rock back
on the chair....Stop, stop: are you
afraid?
SUVOROV
Of course I'm afraid.
KRAVTSOV
Good, that's normal.
He rocks back on the chair, carefully balancing, then gently
upsets the balance, rocking a bit further. The chair falls
slowly back, then crashes to the floor. He bursts out
laughing: nothing had happened. Kratzsov offers a hand.
SUVOROV
I'll have another go!
POV GROUND FLITTING BY FROM A MOVING TRAIN
KRAVTSOV (V.O.)
The Academy of Science has worked
out the technique for jumping off
trains. You jump backwards in the
opposite direction. As you hit, you
run, gradually slowing down.
We can jump from a train at 70
kilometres an hour. Don't touch the
ground with your hands, or you'll
upset the rhythm of the legs. You'll
fall and die a painful death. Okay?
Suvorov, just looks at him, then jumps off the train.
EXT. OPEN RAILWAY BRIDGE ABOVE A CHASM
They stand looking down.
KRAVTSOV
It's psychological...Fools say you
mustn't look down. But there's great
pleasure in looking down. Think of
death, don't be afraid of it. You
can derive pleasure not only from
another person's death but from your
own. Only people who do not fear
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
death can perform miracles along
with the gods.
He looks down to the depths, teeters on the edge, smiling.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
Well, then, its time to try you out
on the real thing. I'll send you off
with a Spetsnaz group. As an
inspector.
SUVOROV
I'm ready, comrade Lieutenant Colonel.
KRAVTSOV
Are you sure?
He back flips and lands on the beam on one foot, grinning.
A TRAIN RUSHES THROUGH THE RUSSIAN COUNTRYSIDE
INT. DINING CAR
Suvorov sits at table alone, staring out the window. A
boundless expanse speeds by. Fir trees, ruined churches,
factories. He turns, the waiter stands over him.
WAITER
Excuse me, Comrade. We have only
this one seat left. Would you mind...
He looks up, a very pretty girl stands looking at him. He
almost spills his drink in his haste to make room for her.
She smiles at him and sits. The waiter hands her a menu. She
glances at it briefly, then looks up over it at him.
TANYA
So...What looks good to you?
She smiles...He just looks at her.
EXT. THE TRAIN SPEEDS ACROSS THE STEPPES
INT. DINING CAR LATER
Dishes are cleared...A bottle, nearly empty.
TANYA
So, Viktor...
SUVOROV
Vitya.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20.
TANYA
...Vitya... So Vitya... what is
your destination?
SUVOROV
Destination...Oh...let's say...
Moscow.
TANYA
Oh, and what is your profession?
SUVOROV
We can say...scientific research...
And what's yours...your occupation?
TANYA
(she smiles)
...Let's say...scientific research.
SUVOROV
And your destination?
TANYA
We can say... Moscow.
SUVOROV
Can I meet you?
TANYA
I'm sorry...It is not possible.
SUVOROV
No?
TANYA
No. I'm sorry. But we cannot meet.
Sadly, he toasts her with his Vodka. She toasts him back.
MORNING.
The trainman wakes him. He checks his watch, grabs his bag,
starts up the aisle. He stops.
Tanya is up ahead. She is turned away. She glances his way,
but apparently doesn't see him, she turns back and walks
away toward the rear. Quickly, he reverses course, goes up
the aisle toward the front. The train slows.
EXT. TRAIN MOVING
He swings down on the step. It pulls up, doesn't fully stop,
just slows enough for him to jump off. He is the only one.
He looks up. A small, totally isolated station in the middle
of barren fields.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.
He turns...and watches the train slide by, windows closed
against this secret place. The last car sweeps by, revealing
the other side of the barren station.
And a figure standing there. Tanya. She looks across at him
in equal surprise. Two soldiers wait with a car. One of them
comes up, Salutes her, takes her bag. She salutes back,
follows him to the car. The other soldier comes up to Suvorov,
salutes.
SOLDIER
Welcome to Spetsnaz Training Center,
comrade Captain.
INT. CAR
Door opens. She waits in the back. He gets in beside her.
She smiles, and jokingly salutes him. He smiles, puts his
hand on hers.
SUVOROV
Well, this ought to be fun!
EXT. AERIAL NIGHT DROP ROAR OF AIRCRAFT ENGINES
WIND HOWLS. Suverov looks out the open drop door. The ground
whizzes by. He looks down the row of seated paratroopers...
animal fear in their eyes. Animal fear in his eyes!
They stare back at him; the big, high cheek-boned radio
operator, BALD TARZAN, GENGHIS KHAN, the cipher clerk;
SERGEANT DROZDOV, the biggest man in the group. the commander:
also very big; and the paratroopers, broad shouldered and
powerful: VAMPIRE, NICKOLAS III, NEGATIVE, CHOPIN. Bald Tarzan
smiles at him.
BALD TARZAN
One hundred meters.
SUVOROV
Only one parachute?
VAMPIRE
At this height a second chute is...
(grins evilly) ...not necessary.
BALD TARZAN
Don't worry, it opens explosively
with the help of this. ...'Boom!'
He holds up a gas canister.
SUVOROV
Oh. Good.
The SERGEANT shows him a map.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22.
SERGEANT
Twenty eight Spetsnaz groups. We
attack the radar stations of the 8th
Tank Army.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I jump last. I am the jumpmaster.
They stare at him wild eyes, all of them, except the
Commander. He dozes quietly, completely relaxed. But all the
other eyes have a glint of craziness about them.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
It's fine to jump from three thousand
metres.
The plane suddenly dives. Tops of trees flash past. They
hook lines to the central rail. S alone has it loose on his
chest.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
But this was only a hundred! I had
to let them all go past and at the
last moment, hook my line. But what
if I missed? It would be too late to
open the chute. I imagined myself
falling. I could just imagine howling
in the face of death. (He laughs)
The parachutists look at him curiously; the umpire's having
hysterics. The blue light above the hatch flickers.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Stand! Get down!'
The doors move aside. Icy wind whips in. The snow below is
dazzlingly bright. Bushes rush past in a wild gallop. Bald
Tarzan, crouches down, right leg forward to steady himself.
Ghenghis leans his whole body heavily on him. Third man on
the back of the second man, the group forms a single unit,
waiting.
ALARM BELL FLASHING LIGHT
SUVOROV
Go. Go. Go!
Wild eyes flash past. A SIREN HOWLS driving fear deep inside.
Faces are distorted. We're off!' There is no getting out of
it, no way of resisting the pressure from behind. The whole
lot rushes out the hatch as one, disappears..
The plane lurches and bucks. Swaying at the door, frozen
hand trying to hook on. Miss. Miss. The floor drops. Sliding
out the door, a last grab. The hook catches wire, snaps on.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23.
Out the door, float into freezing fog. Whack! The chord
snaps tight popping the chute out. Head down, frost whipping
face, legs in the air, slam into the ground and roll. He
sweeps along in a swirl of snow. Bury chute, scatter stuff
to keep dogs off. They lope through snow. CO explains...
COMMANDER
The police, the KGB, the MVD are all
after us. But we have our hands tied.
If it was war we could seize a few
cars and skirt the area. But it isn't
real war, we are not allowed to
commandeer transport, we have just
our feet, The pace is cruel,
killing...
RAVINE MORNING
The lie exhausted, tunics wet through, faces red, sweat
running, hearts thumping, tongues hanging out. The CO grins.
COMMANDER
Don't worry. It is always like this
at first. By the 4th or 5th day you'll
be used to it. You'll be walking
like a machine.
SERGEANT
Commander, dogs barking in the
village.
COMMANDER
Bad sign. Strangers there. We'll go
around. To the left.
CHOPIN
To the left there's a KGB ambush. In
that wood. Look, birds circling.
COMMANDER
Right.
SERGEANT
Through the gully and the trees.
That way is only for wolves. And Spetsnaz.
COMMANDER
Ready? On your way then.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE EVENING
MOVING SILENTLY, AND FAST...
BALD TARZAN
Sixty seven kilometers in a day!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24.
CHOPIN
Time to lie down in the snow.
COMMANDER
No, girls! You should've slept
yesterday.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
He was in a bad temper. The group
wasn't keeping up. It was getting
dark. That was bad too. In the daytime
you could take cover and rest. At
night that never happened. Night was
for work.
Genghis Khan scoops snow, stuffs it in his mouth.
COMMANDER
Don't eat snow! Or I'll flatten you!
SERGEANT
Look down at your skis. If you look
ahead, you pass out. Look down, you're
hypnotized, you carry on mechanically,
the horizon doesn't drive you mad.
COMMANDER
(shouts savagely)
Look out! We're running into an
ambush! Negative didn't notice the
light on the left. Watch yourself,
Negative, or I'll knock your teeth
out! Keep going, girls!
EXT. COUNTRY MORNING SUNRISE
Ragged rays skip across the trees through a freezing mist.
THEY rest in a woods, faces white, corpse-like. Two guard,
the rest sleep. Chopin lies with his head thrown back and
steam rising from his tunic. The CO looks grim. So does the
Sergeant.
SERGEANT
Five groups approach the target.
Whoever reaches it attacks at 3.40.
Those who do not arrive in time do
not go into battle. They go on to
the next objective. We will not arrive
on time.
EXPLOSIONS and bursts of automatic fire in the distance.
BALD TARZAN
They are close, a head-on attack.
Three groups. And we missed it!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25.
CHOPIN
Damn! Nice warm cabins, overweight
signal troops, dissolute telephone
operators. What we could do to them!
DARK WOODS NIGHT
SUVOROV
The Sergeant is killed, the commander,
wounded. Can't take him with us. If
we leave him, the enemy will make
him talk. So, you're in command...what
do you do?
Chopin takes a syringe from the pocket of his tunic.
CHOPIN
Blissful death!
SUVOROV
Right. In war the only way to survive
is to kill our wounded ourselves.
Suverov enters another good mark in the umpire's register.
SOUND OF A PLANE. Things burst through the trees above. They
dive out of the way. Containers crash all around. Then they
are out, crawling through the snow. Frantically, they grab
them and pull them back under cover. They break open the
packages and wolf down the food and drink, toss around the
ammunition and explosives. Chopin finds a bottle. He holds
it up in wonder.
CHOPIN
Liquor!
BALD TARZAN
Such concern!
SERGEANT
It means there are only a few of us
left.
ANOTHER RAVINE - DAWN
The CO, the Sergeant watch the Radio operator. He hunches
over the directional receiver, slowly turning the antenna.
He plots triangulation on a map and points toward the west.
The CO crawls up on a ridge and sweeps his binoculars in
that direction.
POV A STAND OF TALL FIRS, AND HIDDEN, BARELY VISIBLE,
antenna spokes, the curve of a microwave dish.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
26.
EXT. COMMUNICATIONS CENTER A MOBILE CONTAINER
INT. MOBILE CONTAINER
Signal troops, some women, sleep drunkenly, soft music plays.
A corporal wakes, stumbles outside.
EXT. CLEARING
The corporal weaves around to the back, unzips. An arm
flattens him. His startled ice-covered face, looks up at
Tarzan. He tries to scream, but Tarzan stuffs a big clump of
snow in his mouth. He points at the Corporal's cock in his
hand and whispers.
BALD TARZAN
Just hold onto that! Until I tell
you!
Two other sentries disappear.
INT. MOBILE CONTAINER WOMAN TECH MOANS SOFTLY, GIGGLES.
WOMAN TECH
Yuri, where are you? Come Yuri, again!
Another holds up a Vodka bottle, waves it at the door.
2ND WOMAN TECH
Come on, Yuri, you missed your turn.
WHAM! The door bursts open. White figures fly through, firing
Kalashnikov's full auto above their heads. The metal container
warps with the roars! They scream and cover their heads.
A woman jumps up naked, throwing a private off her privates.
Suvorov steps through the door writing in his notebook. He
glances around at the half-naked, drunk, terrified
technicians.
SUVOROV
Comrades...You are all dead.
One drunk lurches to his feet, salutes with Vodka bottle.
DRUNK
I serve the Soviet Union!
His pants drop and he collapses onto the floor, dead drunk.
THE PATROL
They move through woods.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
27.
SERGEANT
We are doing our job: the Eighth
Tank Army is almost completely
paralyzed. Instead of engaging in
battle it's trying to catch us behind
the lines.
WOODS LATER
They run. They are being chased. HEAR DOGS, HELICOPTERS.
Surrounded, they're driven into a ravine. One by one, they
are captured. Suvorov ducks around a tree, comes face to
face with a gun. Chopin, tough and resilient, slips out of
the trap. He's driven toward the ice-choked river. They
surround him on the river bank. He throws off his tunic and
his Kalashnikov, jumps in, swims between the chunks of ice.
The dogs won't take to the water, they are too smart. An MVD
Captain rushes up, gun drawn. He glares, then smiles.
CAPTAIN
Congratulations. You're last to be
captured.
BARRACKS
Torn and tattered, they stand proudly in formation. A KGB
van pulls up, men with guns pull a prisoner out. The patrol
cheers.
It is Chopin, dressed in a policeman's greatcoat, thinner
than ever. He hugged by the men. The CO hands him sergeant
stripes. One by one, men appear, tunics torn. One tattered
straggler grins at Suvorov through dirt and blood...Tanya.
The MVD troops eye them with admiration. They are exhausted
skeletons.
SOLDIER
You've hit on a pretty tough service,
my friends.
They nod and grin proudly.
INT. HQ QUIET WELL FED, CLEANLY SHAVED OFFICERS
Suvorov's face is tanned from frost and sun. His lips are
cracked. His nose has peeled. Other officers greet him with
jokes.
OFFICER 1
Viktor, how did you manage to lose
so much weight?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
28.
INT. OFFICE SUVOROV AT DESK;
Bulging folders; intelligence summaries and ciphered messages.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
In 23 days, the world had changed
out of all recognition.
MONTAGE REPORTS
SECRET...strengthening of the guard on Pershing missiles.
SECRET...new coding system; com channels; Denmark. Agents
have discovered...nuclear mines...
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Twenty three days ago no one had
heard of nuclear mines. The Soviet
Army was also looking different:
SPETSNAZ OFFICERS ONLY Inquiry into the circumstances in
which foreign trainees died in training exercises with
puppets... increase supervision. Give special attention to..
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I read that order three times. It
was clear how one had to deal with a
puppet. But it was not clear what a
puppet was.
EXT. TROOPS MOVE BY.
Suvorov watches. Kravtsov comes up behind him.
KRAVTSOV
Guess what kind of camouflage we
have for this platoon. Try.
SUVOROV
They must have an accurate idea of
the territory in which they will
operate, therefore they must travel
abroad. They must be in first class
training. I would...attach them to a
sports team... like Dynamo. That
would provide camouflage and travel.
KRAVTSOV
(laughs)
Yes. They form an Army sports team;
parachutists, shooters, runners.
Every army has such a team. But where
would you hide your training centre?
SUVOROV
In Dubrovice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
29.
Veins in Kravtsov's cheeks twitch a little.
KRAVTSOV
Why in Dubrovice?
SUVOROV
The penal battalion's in Dubrovice,
in the military prison. The fences
are high, the dogs fierce, there's
barbed wire. You can put any secret
body you like inside the camp. People
can be taken in prison vans, nobody
would know ...you could even hide a
puppet...
Kravtsov gives him a long, searching look, but says nothing.
He, in turn, studies Kravtsov closely.
KRAVTSOV'S FACE ANOTHER TIME SWEATING, TENSE, MOVING.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
There are different kinds of beasts:
thinking, civilized ones and those
that do not think. The thinkers try
to camouflage their animal nature.
But the moment we're faced with the
question, who survives, we plunge
our fangs into the throat of our
brother. We are all animals. I
certainly am. I make no effort to
conceal it. Colonel Kravtsov's also
an animal. He's a wild beast such as
you rarely come across.
EXT TRAINING FACILITY DAY
Krasnov circles an opponent, a desperate looking man...
KRAVTSOV
A puppet is a man. A man used for
training. A puppet may even kill
you.
Krasnov makes sharp, vicious attacks as he talks.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
That's the point. Imagine that in
war a Spetsnaz hesitates because
he's not used to killing. It might
cost the lives of thousands. To
prevent this, they invented puppets
...a condemned criminal. Those who
are weak, old, dangerous or who know
too much are executed. But others
have their life extended and are
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
used for a variety of purposes. Our
nuclear industry has been built by
such prisoners. They're also used as
training material. It suits everybody.
They prolong their lives and we have
real-life training.
THE PUPPET'S crazed, desperate face shows barely contained
rage. He attacks swiftly and viciously. He nails Kravtsov,
but Kravtzov counters and moves away. The puppet stalks...
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
We have to share them with the nuclear
industry, with the Fleet for replacing
reactors in submarines; with the
KGB, the MVD, the GRU.
Kravtzov attacks, lands vicious blows, the puppet rolls away,
eyes glaring hatred, looking for an opening. Kravtsov is
taunting him...
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
We have only a few puppets. A fight
with one is a serious business. You
can hit him but you mustn't break
any bones. You must also be careful.
He doesn't stick to our rules. A
rage burns within him. Sometimes he
hides it to prolong his wretched
life, sometimes he loses control of
himself. Make the most of it!
The puppet attacks, just what Kravtsov has been waiting for!
EXT. CAMPFIRE IN RAVINE NIGHT
Suvorov studies Kravtsov who sits stirring the embers. Trim,
handsome, disdainful. His look is penetrating, forcing Suvorov
to blink and turn away.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
For me he is a puzzle. I know little
about him, while he knows everything
about me. He's blood thirsty and
deadly dangerous. His guiding star
is power. If I made a mistake he
would crush me. If I deceived him he
would tell by my eyes.
His eyes lock on.
KRAVTSOV
Suvorov, did you want to ask
something?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
31.
SUVOROV
Yes, comrade colonel. You have
hundreds of officers with refined
manners. I'm a peasant. So why did
you choose me?
He cooks up a murderous drink. He studies Suvorov.
KRAVTSOV
Our world is cruel. You survive by
scrambling upwards. If you stop,
you'll be trampled by those below.
It's a bloody battle between two
political systems, but it's also a
struggle between individuals. In
that struggle everyone needs help. I
need men who won't betray me. I choose
them from the lowest level. You owe
me everything. If I'm out you'll be
out too. I picked you out of the
crowd, not because of your ability
but because you are one of the crowd.
Nobody needs you. If you betray me
you'll lose everything. That's how I
was picked. My protector is on the
way up.He drags me along, counts on
my support. If he falls, who'll need
me? But that's not the question that
bothers you. What is?
SUVOROV
Tell me about the Aquarium.
KRAVTSOV
You know about that too? You couldn't
have heard that word used, which
means that you have seen it somewhere.
SUVOROV
On the back of the portrait.
KRAVTSOV
Never speak of it. You'll find
yourself hanging on a hook. If I
told you, you might tell someone
else. He might do the same. The time
might come when he is arrested. He
names you, you name me.
SUVOROV
Do you believe I'd give you away?
KRAVTSOV
I have no doubt you would. There
aren't weak and strong men. There
are good and bad interrogators. In
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
32.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
the Aquarium the interrogators are
good. You'd confess everything,
including things that never happened.
But I'll tell you a little. In 1918,
the Red Army was a powerful force,
but it was blind...deaf. Information
was provided by the Cheka. The secret
police had its own priorities. And
however much information the general
staff received, it would never be
enough. In case of failure, the Army
could always say that information
was insufficient. They would always
be right. However much was collected
they could always ask another million
questions. Military intelligence was
handed to the Army so that in case
of failure, it would be their own
fault.
SUVOROV
And the KGB never tried to take
control?
KRAVTSOV
Always! As long as there are two
secret organizations fighting each
other, there's no need to fear one
of them. The day one organization
swallows the other will mark the end
of the Politburo...
SOUND of gravel being trodden. A shadow creeps down the
ravine. In the darkness the trooper looks closely, recognizing
Kravtsov.
SERGEANT
Comrade colonel, 29th group of the
2nd Spetsnaz. Sgt. Polchuk in command.
KRAVTSOV
Carry on. Pay no attention to us.
SERGEANT
Very good. Rhino, keep an eye open!
Blevantin!
The sergeant turns and whistles. Troopers slide down the
hillside. Two of them take up position on a ridge.
BLEVANTIN
Here, Sergeant.
SERGEANT
Contact HQ.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
33.
BLEVANTIN
Very good.
The troopers have a chicken. They chop off the head and claws,
clean it, but leave the feathers. They cover it with wet
clay and put it into the fire. The radioman puts up aerials.
Others spread a ground sheet. The cipher clerk crawls
underneath. Ordinary mortals are not allowed to know how he
prepares his cipher. The message is ready; photographic film
with a row of punched holes. The message is put into the
transmitter.
The R/O checks his watch, then presses a knob. The radio
switches on, tunes automatically, draws the film in and spits
it out the other side. Lamps go out. The transmission lasts
less than a second. The cipher clerk puts a match to the
film. It disappears, hissing fiercely. The bird is ready.
They crack off the clay and with it the feathers, leaving
the chicken in its own fat.
UGLY DUCKLING
Comrade colonel, be our guest.
KRAVTSOV
Thank you. And where did you get the
chicken?
RHINOCEROS
It's a wild one, comrade colonel.
A stray.
SUVOROV
Where did you get that saucepan?
RHINOCEROS
It was lying at the roadside. We
didn't want to waste it. Try it! Its
very good.
Kravtsov laughs. Suvorov moves to the Sergeant. He watches
Kravtsov's easy way with the troops. He squats.
SUVOROV
The men like the Commander. A good
man.
SERGEANT
(snorts derisively)
It's better to have nothing to do
with good people. Better to deal
with the bad. You know what to expect.
A person who appears good is
dangerous. The most dangerous are
those who believe they are good. The
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
34.
SERGEANT (CONT'D)
worst criminal might kill a man, ten
men...a hundred. But a criminal will
never kill millions. The most
monstrous crimes are committed by
people who do not drink, do not smoke,
and who feed the squirrels. Kravtsov
is vicious, incorrigible. They respect
him for it.
He throws down the chicken bone, looks about, checks his
watch.
SERGEANT (CONT'D)
Ready? Jump about. Time to be off!
The dawn is coming. The Spetsnaz are gone and once again, he
is alone with Kravtsov. He pours, sips silently.
KRAVTSOV
I've been studying you. You're a
born criminal. Drink up.
His expression's grim. He's had a lot of vodka.
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
One thing I can't understand; you
don't seem to find any pleasure in
tormenting others. We get pleasure
out of our own strength. You can
torment a "puppet" to your hearts
content. But you don't. Why?
SUVOROV
Because it doesn't give me pleasure.
KRAVTSOV
Pity. You can only survive if you
get other people by the throat. Our
system enables us to do this. You
can hang on to power by scrambling
upwards, but only in a group. Soon
you'll get your own group together,
but remain in mine.
(Suddenly grabs him)
If you betray me...!
SUVOROV
I won't betray you.
KRAVTSOV
I know.
INT. BARRACKS SUVOROV NIGHT.
He wakes and stares at the ceiling.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
35.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Something was wrong.
He lapses into into a restless sleep. He dreams of flying.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I was flying. Away from Kravtsov.
Away from Spetsnaz. If they were to
send me somewhere to die for some
cause I would not mind giving up my
life. I was ready to fight. But what
was the point? Fighting for power
is not fighting for one's country. I
flew higher in my dream. I looked
down on my country. It was very sick,
but what was it was suffering from?
Madness perhaps, or schizophrenia. I
didn't know how I could help. Somebody
had to be killed, but I didn't know
who. Where was I flying to? To God,
perhaps? But there is no god.
EXT. TRAINING GROUNDS DAY
The enemy's ears stand up. It bares its fangs, hackles up,
its ears flat just before it leaps. It doesn't growl, it
just wheezes. It strikes! Saliva flies as it's jaws snap.
Shouts!
A VOICE
Excellent viciousness!
VOICE 2
Get him, Mars!
VOICE 3
Viktor, give it to him! Show him how
Spetsnaz fight.
Suvorov holds a knife in his left hand, a tunic in his right.
The dog doesn't like that. He doesn't like the knife in the
left hand. The dog shifts his eyes from knife to throat. He
eyes the tunic. Why had the man not wrapped it round his
hand? The animal knows that the man has one key hand and
that the other is only to divert. He must attack the dangerous
hand. But maybe he should go for the throat? The dog shifts
his eyes, trying to choose. Once he makes his decision, his
eyes will freeze and he'll attack. Suvorov waits. Mars springs
suddenly, not as other dogs do. He pounces silently, without
freezing his eyes, without straining back before the leap.
His body is suddenly suspended in air. The dog flies at
Suvorov's throat. But his tunic whips across the dogs eyes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
36.
Whoomph! A flash... of his boot. The dog howls, lands in a
corner. They roar with delight.
TARZAN
Cut him, Viktor! Finish him!
But Suvorov does not attack. He hops over the barrier, lurches
into the arms of Tanya and the other delighted Spetsnaz
spectators.
TANYA
Vitya! You got him breathing out,
and in midair! What a move!
In the arena a little soldier weeps beside the panting dog.
INT. OFFICE A MEDICAL OFFICER STARES AT SUVOROV EARNESTLY.
MARCHUK
So, Suvorov, we've been studying
you. Your brain works like a machine.
An untuned one, but you can be tuned.
You have a good memory, a capacity
for analyzing. You have good taste.
That's a nice girl. She's never let
anyone near her before. Sorry, we
have to know such things. We have to
know everything about you. That's
our job.
They enter a small room. Suvorov is surprised to find Tanya
waiting. She snaps to attention. He looks at Marchuk, but he
just goes on.
MARCHUK (CONT'D)
We've watched you. What pleases us
is your progress. You've rid yourself
of your fear of heights and closed
spaces. You're no longer afraid of
blood. That's important in our line
of work. Death does not scare you.
But you've really got a problem with
frogs and snakes. Are you scared of
them?
He looks at Suvorov. He is defensive in front of Tanya.
SUVOROV
Yes. How did you find out?
MARCHUK
None of your business. Your business
is not to be afraid. What's there to
be afraid of? Some people eat frogs.
SUVOROV
The Chinese?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
37.
MARCHUK
Not only the Chinese. The French,
too.
SUVOROV
In a famine, comrade colonel, I would
sooner eat people....
Tanya stifles a giggle.
MARCHUK
Not in a famine. Frogs are a delicacy.
Don't you believe me?
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Of course I didn't. Propaganda! Life
wasn't as bad as that in France. If
he insisted, I would agree that the
proletariat didn't live well, but
only out loud. But I knew life was
good in France and the proletariat
didn't eat frogs. But there was no
deceiving Marchuk. He read the doubt
in my eyes.
Marchuk presses a button, a projector whirrs. On screen a
kitchen, a chef, frogs, saucepans, a dining room, waiters
and customers. The customers eat frogs legs. Incredible!
MARCHUK
Well?
SUVOROV (V.O.)
What could I say? If I accepted it
he'd say 'How could an intelligence
officer fall for such crap.' No, I
can't believe it. The woman had a
poodle. I saw it. No normal person
is going to eat frogs if there is a
poodle going begging. It wouldn't be
logical.
Tanya chokes back a laugh, then stiffens under Marchuk's
glare. S. glances at her. He is serious, which makes her
start to laugh again.
MARCHUK
Frogs cost a lot of money.
SUVOROV
Bourgeois decadence!
CU SUVOROV AND TANYA
They stare straight ahead, every muscle tensed.
INT. SMALL ROOM THEY SIT CROSS-LEGGED ON FLOOR.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
38.
The floor crawls with frogs. Tanya giggles again,
hysterically. He puts his hand on her to comfort her. She
covers his hand with hers. He pulls her close, kisses her.
The movements set the frogs jumping.
Outside the room, a soldier stands guard. A knock, he goes
to a peep hole, looks inside, opens door. S and Tanya step
through, calm and smiling. S starts to walk away. "Ribbit!"
He stops, absently reaches into his pocket, comes out with a
frog. He hands it to the soldier.
EXT. FIR WOOD NEAR A STREAM A LITTLE PICNIC
Blankets spread with tins of fish, onions, cucumbers. S.
offers Kravtsov the seat of honor. He refuses and offers him
the place instead. Kravtsov pours vodka, takes out a small
silver star and drops it into the glass. A faint tinkling as
the star glitters. S drinks the fiery liquid, raising the
bottom of the glass. The little star slides towards his lips.
He holds the star in his lips until the Vodka has run down
his throat. He takes the star and hurls the glass against a
stone. He hands Kravtsov the star. He measures out the place
on Suvorov's epaulet.
KRAVTSOV
There's a new force in our regiment!
Everybody laughs. Suvorov moves off to Tanya. She hugs him,
happy and proud and shines his star. He hands her a Vodka.
Just before she drinks, he plops something into it. She drains
the glass and finds a simple gold band in her lips. She looks
at it in surprise. He slips it on. The glass hits a rock and
shatters into a glittering shower.
LATER
KRAVTSOV
...is drunk and sentimental. He Collars Suvorov, makes excuses
and pulls him away from Tanya.
KRAVTSOV
Turn in your chutes and kit.
SUVOROV
I'm not jumping today?
KRAVTSOV
You're never going to jump again.
SUVOROV
I see....(he understands nothing)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
39.
KRAVTSOV
Viktor, you are entering into serious
business. You are joining the Tenth
Directorate, but I believe that's a
cover; that you'll go higher. Maybe
even the Aquarium. We can't talk
about it. You'll have exams.
CLOSE ON KRAVTSOV
KRAVTSOV (CONT'D)
To pass them you must always be
yourself. There is something crooked
about you. Don't try to conceal it.
And be good and kind. Promise me?
SUVOROV
I promise.
KRAVTSOV
If you have to kill a man, be kind!
Smile at him before you kill him.
SUVOROV
I'll try.
KRAVTSOV
But if you are going to be killed,
smile. Smile at the executioner.
Everyone has to die. Die like a man,
Viktor. With pride. Promise?
SUVOROV
I promise.
He turns and notices Tanya staring at him. She smiles.
MOSCOW SKYLINE ONION DOMES
VOICE
What is 262 multiplied by 16?
(a beat)
Quickly, in your head.
INT. DARK ROOM THE PIERCING EYES OF THE EXAMINER
Suvorov wipes his forehead, raises eyes to the ceiling, then
lowers them.
SUVOROV'S POV THE TABLE
Right in front on a table, a predecessor had solved this
very sum. It would be invisible to the examiner.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
40.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I was going to make use of this answer
when it occurred to me to wonder how
my predecessor could have got hold
of a pencil and how he could have
used it under the gaze of the
examiner. It was put there to tempt
me. I looked up, then thought again
and gave my own answer.
The examiner starts his stopwatch.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I glanced at the answer written on
the table. It was wrong. It was a
trick.
EXAMINER
What is the weight of an M60 tank?
SUVOROV
Forty-five tons.
EXAMINER
Why do spiral staircases in castles
go clockwise, not the other way round?
SUVOROV
Defenders will have their sword hand
free. Attackers will be blocked.
EXAMINER
How much does a bucket of mercury
weigh?
There is no time to think; at the slightest hesitation another
question is asked, then more and more.
EXAMINER (CONT'D)
What is the price of gold on the
international market?...Which firm
produces the Phantom fighter?
SUVOROV
McDonnell Douglas.
EXAMINER/SUVOROV
Which are the better antitank shells,
American or French? French. What
design faults are there in the rotary
engine? Poor lubrication. When was
the first Sputnik launched? 1957.
EXAMINER
What do you know about Chekhov?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
41.
SUVOROV
He was a well-known sniper in the
138th rifle division of the 62nd
Army.
EXAMINER
Do you know Dostoievsky?
SUVOROV
What an odd question. Who doesn't?
General Dostoievsky is chief of staff
of the 3rd Shock Army.
The examiners give a long laugh. But they accept the answer:
EXAMINER
Never mind, captain, your answers
are not quite what we wanted, but
they give us a good idea of your
character. If we laugh occasionally,
pay no attention.
MONTAGE OF EXAMINERS SOMETIMES ONLY ONE, SOMETIMES MANY.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
5000 questions...fifty questions an
hour, seventeen hours a day, for six
days. You reveal exactly what you
know and think. You had to avoid
being too clever. If you tried to
skate around some tricky questions
they would catch you later
contradicting yourself.
Food is brought in. He gobbles as he answers.
EXAMINER
What do you know about Johann Straus?
If you had t modernize o the American
B58 strategic bomber, what would you
do and why? How many columns on the
facade of the Bolshoi? What type of
woman attracts you? What is 4416
divided by 8? How many vodkas can
you drink at a sitting?
DISTRACTING NOISE strong radio interference.
EXAMINER 2
Here are photographs of people you
have seen in the last few days. You
have three minutes to sort them into
ones you have not seen, ones you
have seen once and ones you have
seen twice or more.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
42.
EXAMINER 3
You have one minute to cross out all
letters "B", underline all letters
"T" and put a ring around the letters
"R".
A tape recorder bellows something different,
TAPE RECORDER
"R" cross out, "A" underline, "U"
encircle with a red ring.
CU PAPER COVERED WITH RANDOM NUMBERS
EXAMINER
You have three minutes to add up all
the 3s. Pay no attention to what my
colleague is doing. Begin.
The second examiner shakes the table, shouts obscenities,
slaps him, strikes his legs and shakes the chair.
SUVEROV LATER
In a state of collapse. They rush in, shake him awake.
EXAMINER
262 by 16! It's simple. Don't you
remember? It's so simple.
SUVOROV
(mumbles sleepily)
4192,
The light goes out.
CU GREY-HAIRED MAN IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES
GREY HAIRED MAN
You suit us, young man. But there is
only one way out of our organization.
Through the chimney. So think again.
And so you'll have something to think
about, we'll show you a film.
FLASHBACK THE MAN ON THE CONVEYOR.
Screaming, struggling, being cranked into the crematorium.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I often thought about him. There was
something I couldn't understand.
They said that he sold himself for
sex and money. But if it was women
why didn't he defect?
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
43.
SUVOROV (V.O.) (CONT'D)
In the West, he'd have had money and
women to last a lifetime. He could
have defected, but he didn't. He
went on working in Moscow, where he
couldn't even spend the money. It
wasn't money or women. So what was
it? He could have escaped, but he
didn't. He wound up in the
crematorium. But why?
SUVEROV
Twisting and turning on the hot
pillow. Awake. He looks up at the
walls. Mounted high in each corner;
a TV camera.
SUVOROV
Oh, to hell with it!
Gets out of bed and makes a rude gesture to each corner of
the room. He exposes to the camera. Gets back into bed, to
sleep.
INT. CLOSED VAN OPAQUE WINDOWS CITY SOUNDS SUVOROV
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Where was I off to, the Central
Committee or Siberia?
Van drives into a yard. Clang of metal doors behind. Door
opens, he gets out in a dark courtyard with ancient walls.
A door opens. The Grey-haired man produces papers. A guard
salutes.
GREY HAIRED MAN
This way.
INT. ENDLESS CORRIDORS RED CARPETS. VAULTED CEILINGS.
LIFT RISES SILENTLY. AN ELDERLY WOMAN AT A DESK. GREY
hair gives him gentle push from behind, closes door.
INT. OFFICE
High ceiling, windows above eye level. Oak desk, at which
sits a very thin man wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, a brown
suit.
THIN MAN
Today is the day on which you are
being received into the Nomenklatura
of the Central Committee. From today
you are no longer subject to control
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
44.
THIN MAN (CONT'D)
by the KGB. From today the KGB has
no right to put questions to you or
to take any action against you. If
you make any mistake, report it to
the person in charge and he will
report to us. If you fail to report
it we shall know about your mistake
all the same. But any inquiry into
your behaviour will be carried out
only by the GRU. You are obliged to
report any contact with the KGB to
your chief. The well-being of the
Central Committee depends on
preserving our independence. The
well-being of the Central Committee
is also your own personal well-being,
captain. I wish you well.
FILMY OUTLINE OF A FACE
ELEPHANT
You may call me Elephant. The Military
Diplomatic Academy is sometimes called
The Elephant's Graveyard.
LECTURE HALL
The lecturer stands behind a thin semitransparent curtain.
He cannot see the students clearly and they cannot see him,
just an outline.
ELEPHANT
This is what a spy looks like.
A picture appears: a man in a raincoat and hat, wearing dark
glasses, with his coat collar turned up and his hands in his
coat pockets.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
That is a what a spy looks like. But
you are not spies! You are intrepid
Soviet intelligence officers. So it
doesn't become you to look like spies.
So you are forbidden to wear dark
glasses, to pull your hat down, put
your hands in your pockets or turn
up your collar. In the way you walk,
the way you look, the way you breathe,
there must be no tension. The furtive
look is our enemy, and we shall punish
you severely for that. You must not
look like spies. We need people the
police pay no attention to. Take a
look at yourselves. Pleasant, looking
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
45.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
faces of working-class lads. No
intellectuals, nobody looks like
James Bond. Good! We are not going
to teach you to shoot or split bricks
with your hand. Guns and Japanese
tricks are a safety belt. Those who
depend on them fall. You've reached
the highest level of intelligence
work, where all you need is your
head. If your head lets you down
and you expose yourself, you'll have
police on your tail with cars,
'copters, dogs. A gun won't help, so
we don't give you one. We deprive
you of all illusion. One mental error,
and you're done.
EXT. MOSCOW MONTAGE SEARCHING FOR DEAD DROPS
Hunt in woods, in parks, in abandoned buildings.
ELEPHANT
A spy needs hundreds of sites, places
where you can hide secret things and
be certain that no children or passers
by will find them. Where there's no
building going on, no rats or
squirrels, no snow or water to damage
what has been hidden. A spy has to
have many dead drops and must never
use the same place twice. The sites
must be away from prisons, rail
stations, military bases, factories,
and not in government districts. In
those places there is heightened
activity by the police and it is
easy to be trapped.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
But where, in Moscow, can you find a
place with no government
installations?
THOUSANDS OF FACES FLASH ON A SCREEN
His finger on a button. The same face! He presses the button.
Mistake. ZZZZTTT!, a slight but quite unpleasant electric
shock. Fail to press the button when he should, ZZZZT! a
shock.
LECTURE HALL
ELEPHANT
Remembering faces has to be reflexive
not analytical.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
46.
The FLASH SPEED INCREASES. More and more faces, then the
same people in wigs, in makeup, in different clothes and in
different attitudes. ZZZTT! ZZZZTT! ZZZZTT! Mistakes always
punished with the nasty little shock.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
License numbers can be changed.
Recognize cars. Our brains hold
millions of details. The Aquarium
will teach you.
INT. APARTMENT FILLED WITH FLOWERS, A TABLE OF FOOD.
Tanya happily greets him at the door. He stumbles in
exhausted.
TANYA
Sit, Vitya, sit. For this special
occasion, our only ...first
anniversary, here...Stolka Vodka!
He slumps into a chair, She pours Vodka and darts into the
kitchen... fusses busily, straightens her new dress, grabs
an elaborate dish.
TANYA (CONT'D)
Homemade borscht...and your favorite..
She comes back into the dining room. He is passed out with
his head in the cold-cuts...
TANYA (CONT'D)
...Blinis.....?
IMAGES..
Vast attacking operations. Deep penetration by tanks.
Parachute descents. Spetsnaz brigades. Gunfire and battle.
He wakes, it's a dream. He sits rubbing temples. Tanya wakes,
she wants to fool around, but he doesn't have time.
EXT. MOSCOW SUVOROV MONTAGE
Twisting and turning. Switch taxis, buses. Leave dense crowds
and reach the deserted parts, then again into the crowds.
ELEPHANT (V.O.)
The KGB also trains by following
people. Learn to detect a tail. You
must be certain whether you are being
followed or not. Nobody can help
you, or share responsibility for
mistakes.
SUVOROV STARES AT HIMSELF IN A MIRROR
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
47.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
If you are trying to recruit someone
you must withstand his stare, without
blinking or shifting your gaze.
Friendship begins with a smile. If
you can't withstand the first earnest
stare of your man there's no use
trying to recruit him, because he is
mentally your superior. He won't
fall for you.
THE ZOO TANYA WATCHES SUVOROV
He stares the tiger in the eyes. The yellow eyes of the beast
hold his gaze. He narrows his eyes, then opens them wide
very slowly. He doesn't blink. Another moment and he blinks.
The huge cat yawns contemptuously, turns away. Tanya giggles.
He glowers.
MOSCOW EMPTY, COLD AND DARK. S. AND ANOTHER STUDENT, GENKA
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
...breakaway forbidden! If you
discover people following you, don't
give a sign, don't act nervous. You're
a diplomat. Wander around the city.
We'll repeat your operation tomorrow,
or in a week. But don't break away.
You'll tell them you are a spy, that
you know how to detect a tail and
that you have a reason for evading
them. If show them that, they'll
never let you out of sight.
Dark shadows behind them.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
...But today, to hell with your
diplomatic careers. The Aquarium
orders you to carry through an
operation at any price. So break
away!
PETROVSKI ARCADE CROWDS
Dive into the crowd, push people aside, rush up stairs into
the crowd again, out the back door, shadows still on their
tails. The train reaches the Lenin Hills Station. Just before
the doors close, they hop off. But the shadows follow.
GENKA
I know a place. Raskova Square. How
many of them?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
48.
SUVOROV
Too many, Damn!
GENKA
Separate.
SUVOROV
Not allowed. It's a 2 man operation.
...Should we separate anyway, Genka?
GENKA
No, that would exceed our rights.
SUVOROV
What if we fail, is that better?
Genka leads down a side street. No good. Three big youths
are close behind. Genka grabs him. They fly down, then up
stairs, along dark corridors. Down another stairway. Another
oor, more stairs, through rubble. They pop out onto the
street. Genka pulls him into an alley. Snow falls. Their
tracks are clear.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
We'll never get away, Genka!
Genka drags him along. Empty Moscow. Genka, out of breath
again.
GENKA
Are you scared to jump off a train,
Vitya?
SUVOROV
No, Genka, I am not scared.
GENKA
Then you go ahead. I'll cover you.
They jump, tumble, get up, hop a fence.
TRAIN PLATFORM SCREECH OF BRAKES
Genka is puffing. Behind are three big thugs, also puffing.
Genka pulls him into the train. They run down the carriage,
pursuers close behind. Rush through one carriage and then
another. Genka pushes him ahead. He turns, crashes into them.
They fight. Suvorov hits the doors, one flies open. He shoots
out into the air, lands hard. He jumps up. The end carriage
brakes, screeching.
IZMAILOVO PARK STATION
Slip quickly past the camera into the underground passage, a
narrow gap out. A dozen footpaths into a dense wood.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
49.
Snow squeaks. Nobody about. Stop and listen. No footsteps.
Look round. Nobody. A dark corner, garages built against a
wall.
Between buildings and the wall, a narrow gap. Suvorov looks
around, then squeezes in. It is very narrow. He works his
way to where two garages meet...pushes his fingers in.
Feels...for a packet. Breathe out, press forward a few
centimetres. A little further. Stretch out around the corner.
Spread fingers, feel.
SUVOROV
YEAOOOOOW!
SOMETHING CLAMPS ON HANDS. BLINDING LIGHT
Hands grab his legs and pull. They drag him out, nose in the
snow. A car screeches up. Arms twisted behind back. Handcuffs
onto wrists. A door thrown open. He refuses!
A sharp kick knocks his legs from under him. He's in the car
between two thugs.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Call my consul!
KGB MAN 2
And what are you up to here?
SUVOROV
Call my consul!
KGB MAN
Your every move has been photographed!
SUVOROV
A provocation. I can produce a film
of you screwing Bridget Bardot! Call
my consul!
KGB MAN 2
You had secret documents in your
hands!
SUVOROV
You forced them into my hands!
KGB MAN 2
You have a secret hiding place!
SUVOROV
Pure fabrication. You seized me in
the centre of the city and forced me
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
50.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
into this stinking hole! Call my
consul!
Tires screech on the turns, the car rushes off somewhere
dark.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Call my consul!
KGB MAN 2
(softer)
That's enough training. Stop shouting.
SUVOROV
SUVOROV
The consul, you bastards, call my
consul. I am an innocent diplomat!
INT. DETENTION CELL
They sit him on a chair. Two arc lamps shine into his face,
bringing tears to his eyes. A big thug takes up position
behind.
SUVOROV
Call the consul!
He stands up. The man presses him down. He tries to stand.
The man knocks his feet from under, he falls into the chair.
A kick on the shin. From beyond the lights, a voice:
KGB MAN 2 (V.O.)
You're a spy!
SUVOROV
Call my consul. I am a diplomat of
the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics!
Try again to stand. The big one knocks his leg from under
him.
KGB MAN (V.O.)
What were you doing in the park?
SUVOROV
Call the consul!
Again Suvorov stands. The man kicks. Suvorov stands again,
again the man sits him with a quick blow. Suvorov stands
again, is kicked, sits. He glances over his shoulder, but
can make out nothing. The room's dark.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
51.
KGB MAN 2 (V.O.)
You have broken the law...
SUVOROV
Tell it to the consul.
He digs his feet into the floor...takes a breath, forces
upwards. The man strikes as he pushes. He falls into the
chair with a groan.
KGB MAN (V.O.)
Who were you getting material from?
SUVOROV
Call my consul!
The next kick is performed with skill. The big hands again
force him down. Someone pushes pencils between his fingers.
Somebody's sweaty hand straightens up the pencils between
his fingers and suddenly squeezes his hand hard. The lights
wobble, shake and swing around madly. He floats away.
MOSCOW COLD GREY NOVEMBER MORNING.
He wakes lying on the seat of a car, glimpses the driver.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Comrade colonel! I told them nothing.
ELEPHANT
I know, Viktor.
SUVOROV
Where are we going?
ELEPHANT
Home.
SUVOROV
Did they let me go?
ELEPHANT
Yes.
SUVOROV
Did I give anything away?
ELEPHANT
No.
SUVOROV
Are you sure?
ELEPHANT
Quite sure. I was right by you all
the time, even as you were arrested.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
52.
SUVOROV
Where did I make a mistake?
ELEPHANT
There was no mistake. You broke away
and made the hiding place with no
one on your tail. But it was too
good a place: the KGB knows it. It's
under observation. They took you for
a real spy, but we intervened. It
was a genuine arrest. The
interrogation was training.
SUVOROV
How's Genka?
ELEPHANT
He's all right. He gave nothing away.
In this business you have to relax.
It's no good being sorry for yourself
or dreaming of revenge. Get over
that. Get some sleep. I'll recommend
you for real work. Ever been to
Mytishchi?
SUVOROV
No.
ELEPHANT
Good. This is serious. The Mytishchi
missile factory. You'll try a real
recruitment to discover how an enemy
might recruit our people. Questions?
SUVOROV
What does the KGB know about this?
ELEPHANT
The KGB knows we do this. If they
arrest you we'll rescue you, but
then we won't sent you abroad.
SUVOROV
What can I tell the person I recruit
about myself and my organization?
ELEPHANT
Anything you like, except the truth.
SUVOROV
He will be regarded as a real spy?
ELEPHANT
Yes. The one difference is that the
information will not go abroad.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
53.
SUVOROV
That doesn't make his guilt any less?
ELEPHANT
Certainly not.
SUVOROV
So what will he get?
ELEPHANT
Article 64 of the Criminal Code.
Betrayal of the Homeland. You know
that?
SUVOROV
I know, comrade colonel.
EXT. MYTISHCHI ARMAMENTS FACTORY NIGHT END OF SHIFT.
Bathed in blinding light. A stream of people rush out. A
maelstrom at the bus stop, people crowd noisily into bars.
ELEPHANT (V.O.)
There's no need to climb over the
fence. People come out. There's no
need to recruit the factory manager
or chief engineer. It's easier to
recruit their secretaries, but in
training, you are forbidden to recruit
women. It's too easy. Find a
programmer, someone in charge of
documents or a copying machine. If
you're arrested in the West, you're
sent back to Moscow. But here the
consequences are more serious. You
won't be allowed to travel abroad.
INT. LIBRARY QUIET BOOKSHELVES.
A red-haired man in glasses studies science fiction.
SUVOROV
Excuse me. Where is the Science
fiction?
REDHAIR
Right over here.
SUVOROV
Where, exactly?
REDHAIR
Come here, I'll show you.
MONTAGE SUVOROV AND THE RED HAIRED MAN MOS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
54.
The man does the talking. Suvorov listens... Among snowdrifts
in a clearing in the woods; skiing; in cinemas, coffee
houses..
ELEPHANT (V.O.)
Spy films show intelligence officers
as brilliant. Nonsense. In real life
the reverse is true. Everyone's head
is full of bright ideas and everyone
suffers because no one will listen
to him. The biggest problem for
everyone is to find a good listener.
That's impossible because everybody
else is seeking their own listeners,
so that they've no time to listen to
other people's silly ideas. The art
of recruiting is the ability to
listen. It's difficult, but you can
make a good friend if you listen
patiently.
INT. CAFE
Suvorov listens as they drink beer.
SUVOROV
Oh no, go on. It's fascinating.
REDHAIR
...well, there are various systems
for delivering fuel...either turbo
pumps or a displacement system.
SUVOROV
Uh huh...
REDHAIR
The first German rockets used turbo
pumps.
SUVOROV
If it's so simple and cheap, why has
it been forgotten?
REDHAIR
Why, indeed? It requires very
reliable, pumps to avoid accidents...a
burst tank due to high pressure.
SUVOROV
Oh, I agree entirely.
ECU SUVOROV'S POCKET
A tape recorder in a cigarette case. A wire from the recorder
runs down the sleeve to his wristwatch, which contains a
microphone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
55.
REDHAIR
It's old-fashioned, but it's been
tested. You can depend on it.
ACADEMY NEXT MORNING ELEPHANT
He plays the tape. Elephant laughs.
ELEPHANT
What's he know about you?
SUVOROV
That my name is Viktor.
ELEPHANT
When's your next meeting?
SUVOROV
Thursday.
ELEPHANT
You'll talk to an officer who analyzes
American rocket engines. He'll provide
you with real questions.
DIRTY BAR SUVOROV AND ENGINEER.
SUVOROV
...but I don't think hydrogen will
ever be used.
He stares inquiringly for some time...
REDHAIR
That's how you people in the fourth
shop think. Play it safe. Too
dangerous. But think of the huge
output of energy! We're dealing with
that. It'll work.
At the next table, a familiar back. Elephant, with others.
ACADEMY NEXT MORNING
Elephant congratulates him.
ELEPHANT
Forget about hydrogen fuel. None of
your business.
SUVOROV
I'll forget.
ELEPHANT
Forget about your friend as well.
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
56.
ELEPHANT (CONT'D)
The Central Committee needs evidence
of the KGB's poor security.
Congratulations!
MOSCOW STREETS A LADA CAREENS WILDLY
Tanya grips the wheel, terrified. Viktor grins.
SUVOROV
Faster! Faster!
TANYA
No, Vitya. I am driving too fast
now.
She swerves around a curve, terrified, tires squealing.
SUVOROV
No. You must drive faster!
TANYA
Why, Vitya?
SUVOROV
Where we're going, women drive fast
cars. And they drive fast cars fast!
TANYA
Where are we going? We're already in
Moscow!
SUVOROV
We could say... Paris!
TANYA
Paris?
SUVOROV
We could say Berlin.
(puts his hand on
hers)
I am not in the Tenth Directorate.
TANYA
No?
SUVOROV
No.
TANYA
What are you in?
SUVOROV
The Aquarium. The GRU.
She looks at him, startled, the car swerves.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
57.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Keep your eyes on the road. I'll be
a diplomat. You'll be a diplomat's
wife. And we will live in the West?
TANYA
Vitya, the West? I never thought I'd
see the West!
SUVOROV
You will. And you must learn to look
and speak and...drive like a western
woman. Look out!
She's drifted to the wrong lane. A horn BLARES, she swings
back.
TANYA
But what'll I do there?
SUVOROV
You'll help me. You'll support me
and you will meet people.
TANYA
What people?
SUVOROV
Other diplomats wives and all kinds
of people. You'll make friends.
TANYA
And I'll report on them. Where will
we go, Vitya?
SUVOROV
I don't know. We can say...New York.
TANYA
We can say San Francisco?
SUVOROV
We can say Tokyo, Bangkok, Stockholm..
TANYA
Oh, Vitya!
She hugs him excitedly. The car swerves. He grabs the wheel.
It glances off the curb, WHANNNG! He gets it back on the
road again.
SUVOROV
But first, you must learn about cars!
VIENNA THE PALACES THE PARKS, THE DANUBE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
58.
Tanya and Viktor wander like excited tourists..
VIENNA THE SOVIET EMBASSY LATER
Similar to the Lubyanka Prison. Same style, same color...
Typical Chekist tastelessness and artificial grandeur.
INT. EMBASSY
Dismal. Artificial marble, leather doors, red carpets and a
fog of cheap Bulgarian cigarettes.
GRU RESIDENTURA
An island; a sovereign, independent branch of the Aquarium.
In his office, The Commanding Officer, or "Resident; known
as the "Navigator" sits. Suvorov stands at attention before
him.
NAVIGATOR
Have you unpacked your suitcases?
SUVOROV
Not yet, comrade general.
NAVIGATOR
Don't be in any hurry to do so.
His fist crashes down on his desk. A coffee cup rattles.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
Because we've a plane leaving. I'll
send you back, you lazy devil. How
many agents have you recruited?
OUTER OFFICE
Suvorov bursts out, blushing with
shame. No one pays the slightest
attention. They are all too busy.
Three of them are bent over a huge
map of the city. Others try to fit
a huge grey electronic unit with
French markings into a diplomatic
bag.
ANGLE OUTER OFFICE
Only one elderly experienced intelligence officer looks up,
sympathetically.
FIRST DEPUTY
The Resident has of course threatened
to throw you out on the next plane.
SUVOROV
Yes!...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
59.
FIRST DEPUTY
And he will! That's how he is.
SUVOROV
What do I do?
FIRST DEPUTY
Just get on with your work.
OFFICE LATER
Genka and Suvorov sweat under bright lights.
INTERROGATOR
What's on the Lueger Platz? Quickly!
Names of all shops, hotels,
restaurants Numbers of the buses
that stop there!
MONTAGE
Suvorov places a packet in a dead drop. Observes another.
Finds boxes in a woods, delivers them to the embassy, sits
in parked car. Monitors radio. Other officers jump in and he
pulls away.
INTERROGATOR (V.O.)
Name the streets crossing
Taborstrasse. Quickly! How many
stops? How many post boxes?
If you set off in the direction of
the Danube, ...what's on your left?
INT. RESIDENTURA
Genka grabs him, pulls him in a side office.
GENKA
Look, Vitya.
He opens his case. A pile of passports and papers fall out.
SUVOROV
Passports? With black pages?
GENKA
Stolen from tourists. I found a man!
The First Department buys them all.
documents, licenses, identity cards...
SUVOROV
You can't use these?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
60.
GENKA
Not for use, for study. Getting hold
of them is not the greatest
intelligence work, but it shows
initiative. I have been taken off
backup work. I've time to think up
schemes. You know what they call us?
"Borzois!" Hunting dogs which can
be sent after game, but only in packs.
The Borzoi has long legs and a small
head. But no more. I'll operate on
my own, with Borzois covering me!
INT. NAVIGATOR'S OFFICE
Suvorov stands before him. The Navigator stares down at his
desk.
NAVIGATOR
I'm going to give you a serious task.
You'll meet a person recruited by
the First Deputy. I can't risk him
so you'll go. The man is important.
He provides parts of the "TOW"
missile. He'll give you them. You'll
pay him, cover your tracks. You'll
meet an officer and hand over the
goods. Questions?
SUVOROV
Why don't our officers in West Germany
carry out the meeting?
NAVIGATOR
Because if West Germany expels all
our diplomats tomorrow we don't want
the flow of information reduced. If
all our spies were expelled, we'd
continue to receive West German
secrets through Austria, Cyprus,
Switzerland, Nigeria and elsewhere.
And because, after receiving the
missile parts, the GRU will ask the
Residents in Germany one question:
how is it that Golitsyn in Austria
can get hold of such things in West
Germany while you can't? That's
competition. Bitter competition breeds
success. Follow me?
SUVOROV
Absolutely, comrade general.
NAVIGATOR
Want to ask anything?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
61.
SUVOROV
No.
NAVIGATOR
Yes you do. The First Deputy will
receive a medal but the captain runs
the risk and won't get a damned thing.
Suddenly he raises his eyes, his look like a whiplash.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
That's what you're thinking!
SUVOROV
Yes, comrade general, that's exactly
what I am thinking.
NAVIGATOR
Get on with your work. Find an agent
to recruit. Then we'll be providing
support for you.
Clicks his heels, turns smartly about and marches out of the
room.
INT. OUTSIDE OFFICE DESERTED
He crosses to the safes, stares dumbly, then sighs and dials
the combination. The door swings open, revealing small doors.
He unlocks number 41. Inside is a briefcase.
He closes the safe, puts the briefcase on a desk, opens it,
takes blank paper, puts personal stamp on it, types "Top
Secret" and then, a few lines lower down and right in the
entre of the page, the single word: "Plan". He clutches his
head in hands and stares gloomily at the wall. He sees a
tumbler of pencils. He takes it, studies it, suddenly hurls
it against the wall.
VOICE
Going off your rocker?
He turns. The First Deputy; heavy, slick grey and sympathetic.
SUVOROV
I'm sorry, First Deputy.
He sighs, reproachfully.
FIRST DEPUTY
Pick up your papers. Let's go.
INT. 'OPERATING' ROOM ELECTRONICALLY 'STERILE'
The floor, ceiling and walls throb with powerful jammers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
62.
The First Deputy points to an armchair and sits down before
a glass table.
FIRST DEPUTY
First draw up a plan. The plan is
your insurance in case of failure.
You can show you made serious
preparation for the operation.
Remember, the more paper there is,
the cleaner your backside. Then
prepare yourself. Relax. Get rid of
negative emotions, doubts. You must
set out utterly convinced of success.
EXT. FOREST CLEARING SUVOROV ALONE, HOLDING RADIO.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Who this "friend" who is ready to
hand over parts of the missile? A
weapons designer? A general? The
owner of a plant? Who else was in a
position to get hold of a missile?
I held the receiver with my left
hand...that was the recognition sign.
A watch with a green face. Our friend
woul recognize d me by those signs.
He would have none. He would simply
come up to me and ask the time and
he'd stop to my right.
A mud-spattered tractor trundles up, driven by a farmer.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
That's all I need!. For the last
hour there hadn't been a single living
soul, and now this old boy had to
turn up.
FARMER
Say...do you have the time.
SUVOROV
The time? (shoves the watch under
his nose) Go on, get on your way.
But he doesn't move. He stands a little to the right.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
What do you want old man?
He points at his dirty old trailer.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
What on earth? Push off.
I've a mind to...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
63.
FARMER
(looses his temper)
What's the matter with you?
Suvorov looks at him, then at his watch. He looks at the
trailer. There, in a pile of wood, covered by a dirty
tarpaulin... Are missile parts...twisted stabilizers, tangled
wires, circuits.
Suvorov grabs it, shakes the farmer's hand, runs to the car.
But the German bangs on the door. He rubs fingers together,
"money"!
Suvorov runs to a tree, takes a box from beneath and gives
it to him. He opens it, smiles at Suvorov. The German bows,
presses the money to his heart.
FARMER (CONT'D)
Danke schon.
Suvorov roars off in one direction, the farmer in another.
EXT. BAVARIAN SIDE ROADS A SIGN: 1ST AMERICAN DIVISION.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
In the Soviet Army, when we fire a
missile, miles of tarpaulin is spread
out. Regiments are sent to gather up
the smallest fragments. But the
Americans don't pick up the twisted
missiles. There's no need to recruit
generals or designers, A farmer will
do... a forester, for thirty pieces
of silver will deliver just what we
need.
INT. RESIDENTURA MAIN OFFICE
The Navigator rubs his hands. The 1ST Deputy counts heads,
smiles.
FIRST DEPUTY
All here, Comrade General.
The Navigator walks about the room, then smiles happily.
NAVIGATOR
Thanks to 29 our residency has
obtained information about the Telecom
exhibition in Geneva. For that reason,
the GRU has entrusted us with the
task of carrying out recruitment at
the exhibition.
They howl with delight, shake hands with Genka, a Viking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
64.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
Genka! We are grateful to you.
GENKA
I serve the Soviet Union!
NAVIGATOR
We'll gather information. Residencies
in Geneva, and Berne will back up.
If anyone does anything stupid I'll
sacrifice him. I wish you success.
OPERATING ROOM LATER 1ST DEPUTY, SUVOROV, TWO STRANGERS
KONSTANTIN
We're interested in the way it
receives the reflected laser beam
which lights up moving targets when
firing from concealed position...
SUVOROV
My knowledge is very superficial.
KONSTANTIN
That's why we're here. Your business
is to recruit; ours is technical
supervision.
(opens briefcase)
The leader in this field is Hughes.
SUVOROV
I can't work against them.
Both look at the Deputy, incredulous.
FIRST DEPUTY
That's our rule. Big firms have
security officers. We operate against
smaller firms. There's usually only
one man...the owner. These we can
deal with.
KONSTANTIN
It's a pity. All right, here are...
(Shows Viktor
brochures))
...some smaller firms. The Military
Industrial Committee will pay $120,000
for that black box. It would take
years and cost millions to develop.
It's cheaper to copy.
SUVOROV
Have you brought the money?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
65.
He opens a briefcase, crammed with papers. He turns a catch
revealing a false bottom. Viktor is struck dumb. Bills; piles
of them.
PALAIS DES EXHIBITIONS
Cars pull up to Central Hall. Buses disgorge GRU people. A
Black Mercedes with diplomatic plates is parked under the
trees.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
An Exhibition is a battlefield. Every
exhibit attracts our interest,
military electronics, cats,
agricultural machinery...flowers.
One of our most successful
recruitments was carried out at an
exhibition of Chinese goldfish.
Viktor, others crowd into the entrance. The briefcase passes
through the xray machine. Agents hurry away.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Who goes to exhibitions? Engineers,
ministers...all sorts. People in
finance, business. It's a place to
make easy contacts. You can speak to
anyone.
Viktor chats with people, admires exhibits, wanders...
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
An exhibit is where specialists gather
It's a club for fanatics. Fanatics
need an audience...Someone who will
listen to wild talk and quietly nod
his head.
Viktor looks enviously at exhibits from the big firms and
moves on. He spots the security men watching him.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Anyone willing to listen is a friend.
A fanatic will trust him. Believe
me, fanatic, I need to be trusted.
Trust me.
A SMALL STAND
A single man sits alone near some
grey boxes, looking bored.
He looks up hopefully as Viktor approaches with his
colleagues.
SUVOROV
Good morning.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
66.
THE MAN
Good morning.
SUVOROV
Your little boxes are of great
interest to us. Fantastic product!
The others examine the literature and the boxes and converse
among themselves in Russian. All sorts of technical stuff.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
How much are you asking for one box?
THE MAN
5,500 dollars.
The all burst out laughing and chattering excitedly. Viktor
opens the briefcase. The man's eyes bug out. Viktor shuts it
at once, but the man continues to stare at the briefcase.
SUVOROV
For that one box we would pay
$120,000. The trouble is that we are
from the Soviet Union, and your
governments place such terrible
restrictions on freedom of trade
that we cannot buy your box. Pity!
They get up and leave the stand. They turn a corner and lose
themselves in the crowd, leaving the man staring at their
backs.
AROUND THE CORNER
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Well? A real box or just a model?
KONSTANTIN
No, it's real. Go hook him!
THE STAND VIKTOR RETURNS ALONE.
He walks by, smiles. The man smiles back. Then suddenly, as
if he has just hit on an idea, Viktor stops, turns to him.
SUVOROV
Oh, say, would you like to meet me
for a drink this evening?
The man's smile fades. He looks coldly into Viktor's eyes.
Viktor returns his stare, easily. His face is open, friendly,
trustworthy. The man looks at the briefcase, then at Viktor
again and nods. Viktor hands him a card. An address and time
are written.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
67.
EXT. PLAIN DE PALAIS PARKING LANES IN THE TREES
Packed with cars. A coach, parked among others, curtains
drawn.
INT. COACH SUVOROV ENTERS
A line in the aisle, waiting. They joke impatiently. Finally
the First Deputy, sitting in the back nods. Viktor reports.
SUVOROV
Recruited one. In six minutes forty
seconds. Meeting this evening.
FIRST DEPUTY
Good man. Congratulations. Next.
MONTAGE BACK AT THE EXPOSITION.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I went to a hundred stands, talked
to a hundred people. If I was
followed, how would they know who
had said yes. Then I vanished.
SUVOROV, from the back; a man in an overcoat. He melts into
crowds, loses himself in a department store, in the subway,
in an underground garage. He walks up to a sedan, opens the
trunk and gets in.
INT. TRUNK SUVOROV
He lies in darkness, eyes burning.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I had recruited a valuable agent. In
a moment I had communicated a lot:
we were officials of the Soviet Union;
we were interested in his box and
ready to pay well; we worked
cautiously, without putting on
pressure or making demands. We were
not competitors. If production was
organized in the USSR he would lose
nothing. Western armies might even
order something more advanced; He'd
sell us only one box for copying and
could easily conceal this. It wasn't
like selling a thousand.
UNDERGROUND GARAGE LATER.
Two men enter. Get in the same car and drive away.
INT. THE TRUNK IS MOVING.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
68.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Our proposal was perfectly clear. He
knew what we wanted and so he was
not afraid of us. The sale would be
treated as industrial espionage, not
as spying and the penalties for this,
for some reason, were very light in
the West.
ROAD TO LAUSANNE
The car moves out fast, hurtling along the highway.
INT. THE TRUNK SUVOROV
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I had informed him of our interest,
the conditions and what we would
pay.
LAUSANNE
The car drives in circles, doubling back, checking their
rear.
INT. TRUNK SUVOROV IS ROLLED BY THE QUICK TURNS.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
He understood we were engaged in
forbidden activity and had agreed to
have contact with us. It was the
same as telling a pretty girl that a
rich man would pay for sex, letting
her see the money and naming a price,
then proposing to meet somewhere
alone and listen to music. If she
agreed, what more was there to
discuss?
LAUSANNE UNDERGROUND GARAGE
The Borzois park the car and leave.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Even if the conversation was recorded,
there was nothing criminal. We'd
looked at his box, said we'd like to
buy it, but it was not permitted.
Only later did I return and propose going for a drink.
EXT. LAUSANNE
Borzois sip coffee at sidewalk cafe. Suvorov walks by.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
69.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I could fail...if I was being
followed. If the others were under
observation, if my new friend was a
provocateur or if he had taken fright
and reported to the police, or if
someone recognized us by chance.
LAUSANNE TRAIN STATION SUVOROV
We see a glimpse of the coat as he boards a train.
MORE CROWDS, TRAINS, BUSES, CABS
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I was not followed. I had met a
hundred people. Each of my colleagues
had met a hundred. There would be
thousands to follow.
INT. HOTEL
He takes up an observation post.
HOUR LATER
The man drives up, enters glancing
nervously.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
...a good sign. If he had been under
police protection, he wouldn't have
looked around.
INT. RESTAURANT MAN SEATED
Suvorov enters, approaches with a nice calm friendly smile.
He shakes hands, bows in the European manner and sits.
SUVOROV
I don't intend to involve you in any
dubious business.
The man appears to relax slightly.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I spoke in my own name, It has a
better effect. The word 'we' frightens
a person. He wants to believe only
one other person in the world knows
about his treachery. This is
impossible, but I was forbidden to
say 'we'. They punish you for it at
the Academy. I'm ready to pay you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
70.
THE MAN
What makes you think I've come to
work for you?
SUVOROV
Why not? You have complete security.
And top prices.
THE MAN
You will really pay $120,000?
SUVOROV
60,000 immediately. 60,000 as soon
as I check that it really works.
THE MAN
How soon?
SUVOROV
Two days.
THE MAN
What guarantee have I that you'll
return with the rest of the money?
SUVOROV
You're a very valuable person to me.
I want more than one box. What would
be the point of deceiving you?
Suvorov looks sincere.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I had my first agent. He was willing
to sell his country's security. I
didn't like that. I was working in
this field because I had no choice.
It was fate. I was not a free man.
But he was rushing of his own free
will to help us. If he had come up
against me when I was in Spetsnaz, I
would have made this Judas suffer.
Then I remembered that I was supposed
to smile.
He smiles, hands him picture of a hotel.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I'll meet you here. I'll pay all
expenses. Do you have the box?
THE MAN
In my car.
SUVOROV
Drive into the woods behind me.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
71.
THE MAN
You're not going to murder me?
SUVOROV
Be sensible. I need the instrument.
Why should I kill you? I'm ready to pay you a million. All
you have to do is let me have the goods.
THE MAN
You pay 120,000 and save yourselves
millions.
SUVOROV
Right.
THE MAN
In the future, you'll pay me a million
and save a hundred million.
SUVOROV
That's right.
THE MAN
That's exploitation! I won't sell
you the instrument for 120,000.
SUVOROV
Then go and sell it in the West for
5,500. If anyone will buy it! If
you find someone who will pay you
more, it's your affair. I'm not
forcing you to sell to me. I can buy
the same instrument in Belgium or
the United States. (smiles cheerfully)
The bill please!
The man looks at Viktor for a long time, then smiles back.
THE WOODS DUSK
The man lifts a package from the boot of his car, offers it.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
No..no. I won't touch it. If anything
goes wrong, you could say you left
it in my car by accident.
They get in Viktor's car, lock the doors, the man places the
box under the seat, Viktor takes packages of bills from his
waistcoat, places them in the man's hands.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Check them.
THE MAN
I've trusted you with my life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
72.
SUVOROV
In two days, you produce the
documentation, I'll pay 60,000 plus
another 120,000 for the documents.
He nods his head, gets out. Viktor speeds off into the
darkness.
MOUNTAIN ROAD THICK FOG A CAR, BARELY VISIBLE
Suvorov pulls up, hands the sack over. The man smiles, mouths:
Good luck. Then taillights vanish in the fog.
MONTAGE
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
That night I was in Freibourg or
Neuchatel. It was important to have
as many contacts as possible.
Suvorov in a large library; in a shop selling guns; in a
bar, at a railway station...Talking with lots of men and
women.
THE FRONTIER AT BREGENZ
Austrian police glance at documents, wave him through.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I was no enemy of theirs. We had
carried out recruitment, but there
was not a single Swiss or Austrian
among our new agents. We recruited
those elsewhere. We operated against
Austria inside all the other countries
of the world. But we try not to abuse
hospitality.
CU SUVOROV
FIRST DEPUTY(V.O.)
Well now, turn round, lad! What a
sight you are! Just take a look at
yourself
RESIDENTURA
Suvorov looks in the mirror and sees a man with an ashen
face and a growth of dirty beard. His eyes are bloodshot.
He is mighty tired.
NAVIGATOR
Congratulations, Viking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
73.
SUVOROV
Thank you, comrade general.
The First Deputy's eyes are also red from lack of sleep.
FIRST DEPUTY
Be more careful with the money
waistcoat. The car door must be locked
from the inside at all times. The
route and signs for aborting the
operation to be agreed with the
control group. That's all. Good
luck. Next!
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Something worried me, but I didn't
know what. I must make sure no one
noticed my mood. If my optimism faded
it would be noticed, steps would be
taken. I looked at the general and
smiled joyfully.
NIGHT
He wakes suddenly in darkness. terrified.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Was I in a coffin?
He looks at Tanya, sleeping peacefully.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
No, not yet. This is how people go
mad. Perhaps I'd long been
schizophrenic. If they took me to
the asylum I wouldn't be surprised.
It was the place for me. I was
certainly not normal. But who was? I
was living in a madhouse. Why did
the West admit us? We were spies.
Didn't the realize y I'd been sent
there to cause them harm? Why didn't
they arrest me? Why did these
incomprehensible people never protest?
Perhaps they'd all gone out of their
minds? Perhaps we were all mad? I
was. It had started when I met with
Kir.
STARAYA SQUARE MOSCOW THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
INT. VAST OFFICE LOOKING OUT OVER GREEN ROOFS
There is a huge desk with a single scrap of paper on it, a
big safe, nothing else. Kir is small, with grey hair, a very
average man. He looks S. in the face, attentively.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
74.
KIR
You're aware, Viktor, that we seldom
have people who flee to the West.
(Viktor nods yes)
Those who have done so are unhappy.
Sixty five per cent of defectors
return and admit their guilt. We
execute them. They know that and
still return. Those who do not return
commit suicide or drink themselves
to death. They have betrayed their
socialist motherland. They've lost
friends, family, language. But there
is a more serious reason. Here you
are a member of the upper class. You
enjoy privledges. Some flee to the
West to have a car, a mansion, money.
The West pays well. But once he's
got his Mercedes, the traitor realizes
that all the others also have nice
cars. He loses his superiority,
becomes an ordinary person. Wealth
is relative. In Moscow if you drive
around in a Lada you have all the
girls. But drive round Paris in a
Citroen, nobody cares. Betray your
country, you lose everything. And
you'll remember that you once belonged
to a powerful organization and were
a very special person. Betray your
country, and you'll find yourself as
insignificant as...everyone else.
Capitalism provides money, not power
or respect. There are those who stay
here, secretly selling us out. They
get money and still enjoy the status
provided by socialisn. But we destroy
them.
SUVOROV
I know. Penkovsky...
KIR
Penkovksy... and many others.
Konstantiniv. He was sentenced to
death.
SUVOROV
He was put in the furnace too?
KIR
No. He begged not to be executed.
SUVOROV
And he wasn't?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
75.
KIR
No, he was not killed. But one day
he fell asleep in his cell and woke
up in a coffin. Deep in the ground.
He begged not to be executed, so we
didn't. But the coffin had to be put
into the grave. Off you go, Viktor.
Good luck. And remember that the
level of betrayal in the GRU is much
lower than in the KGB. Try to maintain
that tradition.
INT. NAVIGATOR'S OFFICE PRESENT SUVOROV'S FACE IS WHITE.
The navigator is cross. He has a coded message in his hand.
FIRST DEPUTY
No. 706 is producing "disinformation".
When the documents were studied,
they looked good. But we buy several
samples of everything. The last batch
had three pages missing. Good work.
Impossible to tell they'd ever been
there. But, by comparing the document
with another...
NAVIGATOR
Someone is trying to deceive us.
SUVOROV
He held it out? For more money?
FIRST DEPUTY
No. The change was done by experts.
706 is under control.
SUVOROV
He went to the police and confessed?
FIRST DEPUTY
The only important fact is that he
is under control.
SUVOROV
Do you wish me to remove No. 706?
The Navigator shoots out of his chair.
NAVIGATOR
Pull yourself together! If you betray
us we'll kill you, as an example.
But to kill a respectable person,
what would that teach anybody? Who
knows that he was mixed up with us?
He knows nothing about us. He doesn't
even know whether he was working for
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
76.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
the KGB or the GRU. The only secret
he has is that Viktor Suvorov is a
spy. But the whole world knows that.
The temptation to kill is strong,
but our job is to obtain information.
FIRST DEPUTY
Only a weak, stupid man, lacking
confidence, ever kills.
Suvorov looks at him strangely.
NAVIGATOR
Do you have anything in reserve?
SUVOROV
No, comrade general, I have nothing.
NAVIGATOR
Then, back to support work!
BORDER STATION A CONTAINER TRUCK, SUVOROV AND GENKA.
Border guards look the truck over. It has a diplomatic seal.
SUVOROV
...experimental power unit for
irrigation systems.
The guard nods, takes the papers. Suvorov walks back to Genka.
GENKA
What is it, Vitya?
SUVOROV
...tank engine. Someone will get a
promotion for this.
A senior guard comes up to them, holding the papers.
GUARD
Why should an experimental power
unit travel under diplomatic seal?
SUVOROV
...Speed... You have any idea how
many bureaucrats there are, how much
red tape, how long it would take by
any other means.
GUARD
Starving people, poor people.
There is now an envelope with the papers. Suvorov opens it
slightly, showing crisp bank notes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
77.
SUVOROV
Help us share the wealth.
ANGLE BY THE TRUCK
Victor and the guard shake hands. He walks back to Genka.
GENKA
Good work, Vitya.
SUVOROV
It is nerve wracking. So many
borders... So much cash...
SOVIET EMBASSY SUVOROV WALKS INTO THE COURTYARD.
A Mercedes screams up. A Colonel gets out, snaps at the
driver. The driver takes the abuse meekly. KGB and others
are watching.
INT. EMBASSY SUVOROV, THE COLONEL AND THE DRIVER
They enter, driver carrying the imperious Col's briefcase,
scurrying after him, like a dog. They enter GRU territory.
Abruptly, the driver turns and slaps the Col. He throws the
briefcase in his face, spits on him. He walks off. Genka
pulls Suvorov aside. He speaks softly.
GENKA
The military attache has vanished...
"evacuated"
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Why?
GENKA
Nobody knows. A mistake, the wrong
contacts with foreigners or they
suspect he was about to defect.
Tsvetayev has inherited his Mercedes
and is giving himself airs.
A commotion. The Colonel's livid...The Navigator steps in.
e screams at the Colonel, without raising his voice.
NAVIGATOR
Your assistant is a Viking!, while
you, colonel, are still only a Borzoi,
a puppy dog. In public you will
continue to smile and shake hands
and he will carry your briefcase.
But that's only for the outside world.
It has no real importance. We keep
our leaders in the background. We
push on to the stage those who enjoy
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
78.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
showing off. Behind the scenes the
Viking commands the Borzoi. You
will use your Mercedes to back up
your assistant. It is he who will
write a report on you! Make a mistake
and you will disappear like your
predecessor. But keep smiling, just
keep smiling.
NAVIGATOR'S OFFICE DAYS LATER
Borya comes out with food trays. Everything cold and
untouched; piles of coffee cups and ashtrays full of ciagrette
ends.
SUVOROV
What's going on? I must see the
Navigator. I have an idea.
GENKO
Don't go in there. They've been in
there for days. He's like a bear
with a sore head.
SUVOROV
Someone's in trouble.
GENKO
They are not discussing success.
SUVOROV
Who is it, do you know? How bad is
it?
Borya shrugs.
GENKO
The Navigator is drinking in front
of a mirror. He believes that solitary
drinking is a severe form of
drunkenness.
He walks away.
DANUBE BANK NIGHT THE 1ST DEPUTY
The rain has stopped, warm drops still drip from the chestnut
trees. Suvorov comes up and finds him. He sits with him,
silently, pulls a bottle of Cognac and offers it.
FIRST DEPUTY
Your kindness, Vitya, is going to be
the end of you. You help a man out
in misfortune, and he will take you
down in the end.
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
79.
FIRST DEPUTY (CONT'D)
The fittest and strongest survive.
Don't weaken, Viktor, or they'll
trample you underfoot.
(at Suvorov's
questioning look)
I have been dismissed. For such things
you could wake up in your coffin.
It starts to rain. Suvorov runs to his car, but the First
Deputy, wet through, fumbles with the key to his Opel.
SUVOROV
Nicolai Tarasovich, get into my car.
I'll drive you home.
FIRST DEPUTY
How will I get back in the morning?
SUVOROV
I'll pick you up on my way.
INT. CAR
FIRST DEPUTY
Vitya, how about a drink?
He looks at the ruined old man.
SUVOROV
How could I refuse?
INT. DINGY BAR
SUVOROV
Nicolai Tarasovich, everything will
come right. Don't upset yourself.
The Navigator treats you like a
brother. He will back you up. And
you've got connections in the
Aquarium.
FIRST DEPUTY
I've made a mess of things, a terrible
mess. It went to the Central Committee
and connections in the Aquarium don't
help there. I'd already be in Moscow,
but it would appear strange if there
were a spy trial and then a lot of
diplomats disappeared. Journalists
would make the connection. So I'm in
Vienna for now. When things quiet
down and it's forgotten, I'll be
evacuated.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
80.
SUVOROV
What if you do something...recruit
an especially important agent?
He looks very sad, but forces a smile.
FIRST DEPUTY
Suvorov, I've been thrown out. The
chief is on the rack. He'll have to
sacrifice someone to teach people
not to get slack. Be on your guard,
Viktor. Get working. Tomorrow's too
late.
SUVOROV
Nicolai Tarasovich, I do have an
idea.
FIRST DEPUTY
Don't tell me. I am now nobody. You
musn't tell me anything. I might
steal your idea. I need good ideas
now very badly. Aren't you scared?
SUVOROV
No.
FIRST DEPUTY
You should be. Let's go find some
tarts?
SUVOROV
It's late, Nicolai Tarasovich.
FIRST DEPUTY
Just for short while. I could show
you some super girls! Come on, let's
go.
SUVOROV
No. It's already too late.
NAVIGATOR'S OFFICE SUVOROV ENERGETICALLY OUTLINING PLAN
The Navigator glares, then hears something, looks up.
NAVIGATOR
What?
SUVOROV
Alpine tourism.
NAVIGATOR
Alpine tourism?
(Rises slowly)
Alpine tourism? Tell me about it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
81.
SUVOROV
Comrade general, the the US 6th Fleet
controls the Mediterranean. It's a
gold mine. Carriers, the latest
aircraft, missiles, electronics...The
GRU observes the Fleet from Italy,
from Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon,
Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria,
Morocco, Spain, Malta and
Cyprus...from satellites and from
ships. But we could study the 6th
Fleet from the inside as well. Our
observation point would be the Alps.
(He hesitates, but
The Navigator is
still)
After months under the blazing sun,
snow-covered mountains are exactly
what a naval officer needs.
NAVIGATOR
(eyes shining)
Vitya, If you had been born in the
wicked world of capitalism you would
have been a rich businessman. Go
on...
SUVOROV
...a change of tactics. We do not
try to penetrate the secret places.
We make a mousetrap. A small hotel
in the mountains, on the verge of
bankruptcy. Our agent will be a
partner with money. We'll choose one
where Americans stay.
NAVIGATOR
... a rather passive approach. We
may have to wait a long time...
SUVOROV
Like a fisherman...you have to know
where to cast and what bait to use.
NAVIGATOR
Very well. I order you to gather
information.
SUVOROV
Comrade general, I've already done
so. Here it is. I'll need men for
backup.
NAVIGATOR
Take them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
82.
SUVOROV
But who?
NAVIGATOR
Whoever's not busy.
SUVOROV
But who will command them?
NAVIGATOR
You will.
SMALL LOVELY HOTEL IN THE ALPS ON A LAKE
Suvorov has a headache. They sit on the veranda studying
hotel registers...lots of them with thousands of names.
GENKA
Group of Japanese tourists?
Shakes his head no.
SUVOROV
A Japanese tourist never returns to
the same place, they are always in
hurry to see the whole planet.
GEMKA
A German couple from Munich?
SUVOROV
No way of knowing.
GENKA
Look!
CU THE ENTRY
Genka looks, nods and clicks his tongue.
GENKA (CONT'D)
An American.
SUVOROV
Where from?
GENKA
A little Italian port... Gaeta. What
is it Viktor? Why do you look like
that? What does it mean?
SUVOROV
(mounting excitement)
What does it mean? A little fishing
village!
He's up, rushing around to the bar, for Vodka to celebrate.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
83.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Pirmasens, Penmarch, Oban, Holy Loch,
what heavenly sounds. But
Gaeta..Gaeta! A little village that
is the base for one vessel ...the
cruiser Albany, Flagship of the 6th
Fleet!
CU SUVOROV ANOTHER PLACE
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
The American stayed here last season.
He must be connected with the Albany.
FIRST DEPUTY
Lost in thought?
SUVOROV SITS IN THE RESIDENTURA NEAR NAVIGATOR'S OFFICE.
He looks up at the old man, weaving drunkenly. He thinks.
SUVOROV
Yes, Nicolai Tarasovich.
INT. NAVIGATOR'S OFFICE MOMENTS LATER
NAVIGATOR
What is the matter. You ought to
have carried out the recruitment at
once.
SUVOROV
I can't.
NAVIGATOR
Why not?
SUVOROV
I can't do it, I am too inexperienced.
NAVIGATOR
(suspicious)
For such a recruitment you could get
another silver star!
SUVOROV
I'm sorry, Navigator.
The Navigator studies him critically.
NAVIGATOR
I see...Who would you... recommend
to attempt the recruitment, Vitya?
SUVOROV
That is up to you, but... Nicolai
Tarasovich...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
84.
The Navigator stares, then slowly smiles at him, his eyes
glisten. As he grasps Suvorov's hand he looks him straight
in the eyes.
FIRST DEPUTY
(quietly)
Thank you.
NAVIGATOR
Thank you, Vitya.
EXT. EMBASSY COURTYARD
A Mercedes stands, once again waiting for a new master. KGB
Men mope about. Suvorov, Borya and Genka stroll by.
GENKA
Vanished. He's been called back to
Moscow on leave and has not returned.
SUVOROV
Who?
GENKA
The KGB navigator? He got a message
from Moscow that his father was not
well and wanted to see him before he
died. He flew off home with an escort.
SUVOROV
Do you suppose he's guilty?
GENKA
Who isn't guilty of something?
SUVOROV
Where has he gone wrong?
Genka hands him his messages, Suvorov idly goes through them.
GENKA
How are we to know? You can listen
to the rumors. But rumors are put
out by the Ministry of Disinformation.
SUVOROV
Our hotel is not yielding results.
GENKA
Results are not easy. Every month
people come from strange places. But
nothing so far. The Aquarium sounds
annoyed.
EXT MOUNTAIN HOTEL DOORBELL RINGS.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
85.
299 opens the door, a young man with skis grins at him. He
wears a Miami Dolphins Cap An American!
AMERICAN
Hi!
INT. RESIDENTURA LATER THAT DAY.
Suvorov sits, head in hands. BORYA rushes in, excited.
BORYA
Viktor, there's a signal for you.
He puts papers into his briefcase, briefcase into the safe.
SUVOROV
Let's go.
BORYA walks ahead, down to the bunker. He presses a button,
the door clicks open. A small concrete chamber, observed by
cameras. Borya closes the door firmly, reaches behind a
curtain and dials a number. The door moves aside.
SIGNAL ROOM
A curtain has been pulled aside.
Behind is a box on which is written:
"Transmitted by 299".Viktor inserts his key, opens a steel
door.
INT. NAVIGATOR'S OFFICE
SUVOROV
Comrade general, 299 informs us
that...
CLOSE ON PAPER
He writes the name down
SUVEROV
...has arrived at the hotel. We're
got some information about him, even
a photograph, though not a very clear
one. His hobby is skiing. He works
in Spain, in a town called...
With a gesture of triumph, he writes the name in big letters:
"Rota". The Navigator looks at Suvorov. He laughs.
EXT. AQUARIUM SFX GRU COMPUTER HUMS.
MONTAGE DISKS SPIN, LIGHTS FLASH, PAN LOGO IBM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
86.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Perhaps the computer would give us
no more than his date of birth. It
would be a start. When I met with
him I'd know more than he thought.
He'd already been given the number
713 or, 173V41713. That let everybody
know that the man in charge of him
was officer Fortyone. Me.
EXT. AUTOBAHN TO ALPS MERCEDES HOWLS AT TOP SPEED.
As the sun sets, he leaves the highway and takes a narrow
mountain road, without reducing speed. A car appears on a
hairpin curve. Screech of brakes, a cloud of dust as it
swerves away. Dazzle of lights, a corner, brakes screech,
the car swings over the edge. He stamps the accelerator. A
long descent, deep into a mountain valley.
INT. HOTEL
He rushes to his room. Rattled, he can't get key in the lock.
Then, regroups, opens door. Throws suitcase in corner. A
shower, fresh suit. A glance in the mirror, too tense. He
tries a look of carefree happiness, quits in disgust.
THE BAR
A band plays loud. Bright lights, faces of happy people.
Suvorov plays relaxed vacationer. He accepts a glass and
looks around the hall. Catches sight of him, the man in the
snapshot...No. 713. The man turns towards him, their eyes
meet. Viktor shows an expression of pleasant surprise and
greets him with a gesture of recognition. Taken aback, the
man looks around but finds no one behind him. He looks at
Viktor with the unspoken question: 'Who are you signalling
to?' 'To you!' Suvorov replies, 'who else?' Then, pushing
dancers aside he makes his way to 713.
SUVOROV
Hello! I never expected to meet you
here. Remember that marvelous evening
we had in Vancouver?
AMERICAN
I've never been to Canada.
Embarrassed, Suvorov looks closely.
SUVOROV
There's such bad lighting here you
look like someone I know. Please,
forgive me.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
87.
Makes his way back to the bar and watches the dancers. He
joins the dancing throng...carefree, exuberant...at ease.
INT. ROOM
Exhausted, he throws himself on the bed, out cold.
MORNING ALARM RINGING
He wakes. Slept in clothes. Hop out of bed, painful
gymnastics, torture of a freezing cold shower. Checks watch.
Runs out the door.
BREAKFAST ROOM
At ease. Reading the morning papers, assuming a careless
air. Others arrive for breakfast; an American couple, a group
of grinning Japanese. And then he appears. Suvorov smiles at
him. He recognizes Viktor and smiles back.
ROOM
Suvorov hangs "Do not disturb" notice on the door, collapses
on bed, out before his head hits the pillow.
BAR EVENING.
Suvorov dancing his feet off with the crowd. The man sits
alone. Viktor catches his eye, smiles and winks, inviting
him to join the madding crowd. The man smiles, shakes his
head, no.
BREAKFAST ROOM - MORNING
Suvorov is first to appear. The man is second.
SUVOROV
(offering the morning
papers)
Good morning.
(smiling)
Good morning.
(indicates front page)
Full of news about Africa, I'm afraid.
AMERICAN
Oh really... How boring!
Suvorov chuckles. They smile and go in to breakfast.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
It was most important now not to
frighten him. There was a great deal
that we didn't know. Just watching
him would provide useful information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
88.
INT. ANOTHER HOTEL ROOM - DARKENED
Silhouetted figures move in front of projected filmed image
of the man thrown on a white wall.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
He's alone. He doesn't chase women,
doesn't throw money around, but isn't
cheap. And he's a cheerful.
SPECIALIST (V.O.)
Good. Gloomy ones are hard to recruit.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
He doesn't get drunk. He reads,
watches the news. He appreciates a
joke, dresses smartly. His hair isn't
always neatly combed, his jaws often
tightly closed.
SPECIALIST (V.O.)
A sign of self-control, discipline,
strength of will. Difficult to recruit
but easy to work with later.
ECU THE AMERICAN'S FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Silhouettes of their heads cut into it as they study.
PSYCHOLOGIST (V.O.)
In the study of character we look at
the eyes, the mouth. In a smile, in
anger or when relaxed. Eyes and mouth
are a mirror to the soul. This is as
important as his financial
difficulties.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
And...what of his character?
PSYCHOLOGIST (V.O.)
Money plays a part, the good life.
But more important...adventure!
Fantasy!
EXT HOTEL NIGHT SUVOROV
Throws a rucksack into car, with boots and fishing rods.
EXT. ALPINE LAKE DAWN.
The 1st Deputy emerges from the reeds, sits by Suvorov. He
casts a line into the water. The First Deputy watches Viktor
bait a hook with disgust. He too is exhausted.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
89.
FIRST DEPUTY
I loath fishing. Can't stand fish....
Hate worms. How can you do that?
LS TWO FISHERMEN SIT
Suvorov reports. The First Deputy stifles a yawn, smiles.
FIRST DEPUTY (CONT'D)
It's going well, Viktor.
SUVOROV
Do you think I'll be able to hook
him?
FIRST DEPUTY
I don't know your man. Use your
intuition. If you don't succeed,
it's your mistake. If you get
arrested, that will not be forgiven.
If you recruit him it'll be your
medal, your success. And we'll back
you up. The Aquarium is always on
the side of success. If you break
the rules and get into trouble you'll
end up before a tribunal. If you
keep to the rules but fail, you'll
be blamed. Every officer dreams of
such a chance. But it's up to you.
SUVOROV
I'm going to recruit him.
FIRST DEPUTY
Neither I nor the Navigator, nor the
Aquarium approve. We know nothing
about it. If you get into trouble we
'll say you're a stupid young man
who exceeded his authority and that
you deserve to be posted to Plesetsk.
SUVOROV
I understand.
FIRST DEPUTY
Then I wish you well.
To look like a real angler, he takes a fish and disappears.
INT HOTEL BAR EVENING.
Suvorov and the American sit, having a drink. They laugh and
talk.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
90.
SUVOROV
Yes, I saw a film on that once. A
mistake between the superpowers. The
whole world blew up. A pity...
(he laughs)
I suppose so!
They both laugh again.
AMERICAN
Have you seen the film "Jaws"?
SUVOROV
Not yet.
The man looks at him strangely for a beat. Then goes on.
AMERICAN
What a film! The shark appears when
the audience least expects it. Then...
crunch! Terrific effect.
SUVOROV
Sounds marvelous.
AMERICAN
Yes. Everything looks normal, that's
the trick. You can't see it, it's
under the surface, but you hear the
music and know...something is stalking
you!
SUVOROV
What a surprise!
They laugh. The man quiets, looks at Suvorov quizzically.
AMERICAN
You really haven't seen it?
Viktor smiles and shakes his head, no.
AMERICAN (CONT'D)
Where are you...from? ...You're...
Greek? Yugoslav?
(VIKTOR LAUGHS.)
...Czech?
(Viktor grins, shakes
his head, no.)
Ahhhh... A mixture of Czech and
Italian?
(Viktor laughs aloud!)
...Or... Turk and German?
SUVOROV
(soft, quite sincere)
No. I am a Russian.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
91.
Laughter! They both find this hilarious!
AMERICAN
Then what on earth are you, a Russian,
doing here?
SUVOROV
Oh, I'm a spy!
AMERICAN
You've come to get me into your
network?
SUVOROV
Yes.
Both laugh until their sides ache. He suddenly stops.
AMERICAN
Are you really Russian?
SUVOROV
Yes, I am.
AMERICAN
And are you really a spy?
SUVOROV
Yes, I am.
AMERICAN
And are you really out to recruit
me?
SUVOROV
Yes, it's you I'm after.
AMERICAN
Do you know all about me?
SUVOROV
Not everything. But something.
He remains silent for a time.
AMERICAN
Has our meeting been recorded on
film? Are you planning to blackmail
me?
SUVOROV
Our meeting has been filmed, but I
do not intend to blackmail you.
Blackmail has never yielded results,
so it's not used...at any rate, not
in my service.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
92.
AMERICAN
Your service is the KGB?
SUVOROV
No. The GRU.
AMERICAN
I never heard of it.
SUVOROV
So much the better.
AMERICAN
Listen, Russian, I swore an oath not
to give secret information to foreign
states.
SUVOROV
You don't have to give any secrets
to anybody.
AMERICAN
Then what do you want from me?
He has never met a real spy, and finds it fascinating.
SUVOROV
You could write a book.
AMERICAN
What about?
SUVOROV
About submarines at the Rota base.
AMERICAN
You know I'm from that base?
SUVOROV
That's why I'm recruiting you and
not the people at the next table.
Again they laugh.
AMERICAN
It seems like a film.
SUVOROV
It's always like that. I also never
thought I should wind up in
intelligence. Anyway, good night.
Waitress, the bill please.
AMERICAN
Wait a minute! I write a book, then
what?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
93.
SUVOROV
I publish the book in the Soviet
Union.
AMERICAN
In a million copies?
SUVOROV
No. Just forty three.
AMERICAN
That's not many.
SUVOROV
We pay you 17,000 dollars for each
copy. We pay ten per cent immediately,
the rest immediately on receipt of
the manuscript, if, of course, it
throws some light on matters which
interest our readers. Later on the
book might be published in English.
If there are things which might not
be of interest to the Western reader,
that could be left out of the American
edition. So there are no secrets.
Just freedom of the press. People
write not only about submarines but
even about the CIA. And nobody brings
them to court for that.
AMERICAN
And they are all paid by you as well?
SUVOROV
Only some of them.
He smiles, throws down money for the bill, bows and walks
out. The American looks after him....
INT RESIDENTURA
He walks in. The company of spies make way for him, falling
silent as he approaches. Everybody happy and relieved.
The door of the Navigator's office opens. The Navigator
himself greets him on the threshold. He steps aside.
NAVIGATOR
Come in, Viktor Andreyevich.
In the silence somebody gives a deep sigh. The Navigator
turns and laughs. And with him everybody laughs. Borya
appears with a silver bucket and champagne. They clink
glasses, drink deeply.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
Don't overdo the rejoicing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
94.
They step inside. The Navigator hands him a small package...
INT. APT. TANYA,SUVOROV DRUNK WITH EXHAUSTION, SUCCESS.
SUVOROV
He took the money. He took our
questions for the book. He's ours.
He'll spend the money and want more.
Once he's had a taste he'll do the
job.
She looks at him warily.
TANYA
Then why do you look so bad?
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I don't know why. Why doesn't anybody
ever try to recruit us? If only an
American would recruit me! I would
say yes. Come on, you capitalist.
I'll work without pay. I simply want
to risk my neck. Isn't it exhilarating
to walk along the edge of a precipice?
Not for money, for the pleasure.
TANYA
Vitya, not so loud?
SUVOROV
Ahhh...
(He waves her fears
away, shouts.)
Come on, recruit me, enemies! Come
on!
TANYA
Stop, Vitya. Be careful. They are
always screening. They may be watching
now.
SUVOROV
Screening, screening and more
screening. Not a break. We are sick
and tired of screening! I screen
them, they screen me. I screen...
She grabs him, sits him down...kisses him fiercely to shut
his mouth. He breaks away.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
They screen our friends, they check
up on us...constantly.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
95.
TANYA
It is a fact of life. They always
play these tricks.. to find out how
you react.
SUVOROV
And I always react correctly: I report
everything, immediately and precisely.
If I catch sight of a friend of mine
in the woods, I report it. If nothing
happens to my friend, that means
that he had been on an operation, or
has been there simply so that they
could check on me!...whether, I would
report seeing him at once. Just try
not reporting. If it's you they are
checking on, that would be the end
and you'd be on the conveyor.
He slumps down. She kisses him lightly.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Then there's the straight provocation.
TANYA
Checking on you? Or someone else?
SUVOROV
Who knows.. this time, me...or Genka.
TANYA
Genka! But he's one of us!
SUVOROV
Yes, well, whether he realizes it or
not, the Aquarium is now playing
dirty tricks on him. And I am part
of them. You know what this is?
Takes the packet from his pocket. Inside is a tiny book.
TANYA
A Bible. Contraband edition. Easier
to smuggle home. All sorts of
religious groups are always pushing
them on us.
SUVOROV
This time we drop it on Genka. Maybe
the little book will attract him,
maybe he'll hold on to it to do a
little business? In Russia people
are mad for such books. They'll pay
huge sums.
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
96.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Tomorrow is Sunday. Genka won't have
to go to work. So we'll see what
happens. Will he report it in the
morning or will he wait till Monday?
Or, not report it at all.
Or throw it away and avoid getting
in trouble? Anything but an immediate
report will be the end of him.
He throws the bible against the wall. She looks at it for a
moment, then goes, picks it up and returns it to his pocket.
APARTMENT HOUSE LARGE AND SMART. AND UNDER SURVEILLANCE
It is cold, wet. The wind blows leaves along the pavement.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Genka was a friend of mine. But,
who could tell? He had certainly
made friends with me. Maybe I was
being checked with his assistance?
I could try to drop him a friendly
hint that he should report it at
once. But that might be the end of
me. They would say, "So, a friend
means more to you than our glorious
Soviet intelligence service?"
Suvorov circles to dark courtyards, past bins and into an
underground garage. He takes the lift to the ground floor
and waits, listening carefully. The whole house is asleep.
MARBLE VESTIBULE
Dozens of letter boxes. He looks around, stands close and
drops the packet into one.
INT. RESIDENTURA
The Navigator appears.
NAVIGATOR
Well, what happened?
SUVOROV
I deposited the gift but he has not
reacted yet.
THE NAVIGATOR REACTS His face hardens.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
They had not been testing me but
Genka. For some reason he did not
report the Bible. So what would he
do if something serious happened?
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
97.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Would he report it? He was clearly
a danger to our organization and to
the Soviet system.
NAVIGATOR
Viktor Andreyevich, go home. Rest.
Come back at six this evening.
SUVOROV
Very good.
EXT. EMBASSY COURTYARD EVENING
The Navigator and Suvorov stroll the grounds, chatting. They
keep glancing towards the gates. Sasha and The First Deputy
also stroll around but appear not to notice them.
Genka's Ford sweeps smoothly through the gate. The assistant
consul has arrived, with his wife, Valerina.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Why, Genka, didn't you rush down
here? Why didn't you bring the Bible?
What use is it to you? There is no
God, and it's time you knew it. All
those inventions are just vile anti
Soviet rubbish. There's no Heaven.
Heaven has to be built here on earth.
We can forgiv illiterate e old women
for believing that, but not you.
Maybe you were afraid of getting
into trouble, so you threw it into
the trash, thinking no one know. But
we know everything! You must report
everything! The GRU will never forgive
you for being silent.
The Deputy strolls slowly to the gate. It is now cut off.
SUVOROV VO
The guard would know nothing so long
as Genka does not try to escape. If
he does, the trap will spring shut
in his face.
The Navigator ambles towards the library, not hurrying.
Near the library is an entrance to the bunker.
Genka gets out. He says something to his wife; then gives
her a quick kiss. She goes off alone to the cinema.
SUVOROV
He'd kissed his wife for the last
time. He was now a criminal. He'd
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
98.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
not reported that the West had tried
to seduce him. He wouldn't get a
long sentence, five years for an
attempt to deceive the Resident. If
he ever got out, it was unlikely his
wife would see him. I studied her.
She'd throw him over.
Time to move. Through the steel door, along the corridor and
down the stairs. Down, into the bunker. A corridor, a small
office. Suvorov rings the bell. The First Deputy's face
appears.
FIRST DEPUTY
What do you want?
SUVOROV
Do you need any help?
FIRST DEPUTY
No. Go and watch the film,
SUVOROV
Au revoir, Nicolai Tarasovich.
FIRST DEPUTY
Au revoir.
Down the corridor, up the stairs...
FIRST DEPUTY (CONT'D)
Vitya!
The First Deputy is running after him.
FIRST DEPUTY (CONT'D)
Vitya, I forgot. Wait until the film's
over and meet his wife, Valerina.
Tell her he's off on an urgent job.
Don't upset her. Say it's a secret
operation, so she doesn't suspect.
And take her home. See you tomorrow.
SUVOROV
Tomorrow, Nicolai Tarasovich.
EXT VIENNA STREETS
INT. CAR MOVING SUVOROV AND VALERINA
Valerina is beautiful, capricious, flirtatious...She sits
beside Suvorov and strokes his arm as he drives.
SUVOROV
What are you doing?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
99.
VALERINA
(laughs)
I am afraid you were going to run
into that car. I am trying to help
you.
SUVOROV
There are no oncoming cars now.
She still keeps her hand on his arm and gently squeezes it.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
I spoke to your husband.
VALERINA
Genka? Same old jokes, I suppose.
SUVOROV
Where is he to get new ones?
VALERINA
He is stuck, while I am free to fly
away. With just one escort. I'm glad
I don't know any secrets.
SUVOROV
Don't you, Valerina?
She smiles, moves her legs. She has very beautiful legs.
VALERINA
Well I do know one or two... Vitya.
Won't you take me to see a film?
SUVOROV
What kind of film?
VALERINA
A love story.
SUVOROV
That's forbidden.
VALERINA
Vitya, in Somalia we had a Navigator,
Shertznev, who told me that if you
were sure that no one knew about it,
you could do your own thing.
Otherwise, life wouldn't be
interesting.
SUVOROV
And you did with him things that no
one knew about?
VALERINA
I did, Vitya.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
100.
SUVOROV
But we may be followed.
VALERINA
Vitya, you are an operational officer,
you know how to make sure. Just use
your very best checkup route. What
do you think, Vitya?
SUVOROV
I think... comrade Sherstnev is a
very reckless man...
CU VALERINA
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Her husband was already on the
conveyor. They would extract the
confessions in Vienna, then he would
land in the Aquarium. She hadn't the
slighest idea. He had gone off on a
job. It didn't worry her: she was
used to it. She was more interested
in the new raincoats that the whole
of Vienna were wearing.
VALERINA
They have streaks of gold in them,
they are really very attractive.
Such a coat would suit me well. I
would look like the Snow Queen. I'd
make you my slave.
SUVOROV
I know women like that. There is one
in my life. Also small and fragile.
CU SUVOROV
SUVOROV VO
How could he have fallen for such a
woman. Even now, on the conveyor, he
was thinking of her. One question
would not leave him alone. "Who was
driving her home?". It is I, Suvorov.
VALERINA
Suvorov, why do you never smile at
me? Are you afraid of me?
SUVOROV
No.
VALERINA
You are, but I'll make you smile.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
101.
EXT. HOUSE
THEY SIT IN THE CAR, He shakes his head no.
VALERINA
Suvorov, you are not going to simply
drop me. I am a beautiful woman. I
might be raped. You would be held
responsible.
SUVOROV
That doesn't happen in Vienna.
VALERINA
I'm afraid to be alone.
INT. THE LIFT
VALERINA
Are you sure that my Gennadi is not
coming home tonight?
SUVOROV
No. He's out on an operation.
VALERINA
Aren't you afraid to leave me alone?
The lift stops. He opens the door for her, she takes a key.
VALERINA (CONT'D)
What are you doing this evening?
SUVOROV
Sleeping.
VALERINA
Who will you sleep with, Suvorov?
SUVOROV
Tonight, I sleep on my own.
VALERINA
(sighing)
And I am alone too.
She steps across the threshold and suddenly turns to him.
Her eyes flame, her face that of a little schoolgirl. She
is surprised when the door slowly closes in her face.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I avoid such women. Vienna is not
the place for such things. We follow
each other too closely.
RESIDENTURA BUNKER OFFICE SUVOROV LOOKS ON
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
102.
The former consul sits on a stool, his head hanging down. He
is not tied, he just sits. The Bible is lying on the table.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
He no longer had any desire to shout
or make a fuss. He's confessed. Yes,
there was a Bible. No, he's not
interested in religion. Yes, he was
afraid of reporting it, because it
would be bad for his record. Yes, he
had thrown the book into the trash.
Yes, he had concealed things before.
He had visited prostitutes. But no,
he had no contact with Western
intelligence. No one had tried to
recruit him. No, he had not given
away secret information.
NAVIGATOR
Hand me the spirit.
Suvorov grabs a bottle of Gordon's gin out of the bar.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
Syringe.
A one-shot syringe, like the one Spetsnaz use. But this was
not "Blissful death", simply "Bliss". He fills it from the
Gordon's. Suvorov dips cotton in the gin, carefully swabs
his arm to avoid infection, and injects the Spirit.
INT. DEPARTURE LOUNGE AIRPORT THE ROAR OF ENGINES;
AEROFLOT MAN
Any baggage?
SUVOROV
No. Just a short stay.
CUSTOMS
Passports please!
Suvorov and Sasha flank Genka. By a kiosk, the Consul general
waits in case someone is needed to frighten off the
authorities.
PA SYSTEM
AEROFLOT FLIGHT 73 Nonstop to Moscow, now ready for boarding
at Gate 17...
A line of passengers. A toothy stewardess waves them on.
STEWARDESS
Wait a moment, please! Let the
diplomatic mail go through!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
103.
EXT. AIRPORT
They walk to the aircraft. A stewardess smiles at them.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Genka is not smiling because he
fancies you, it's simply because of
the "Bliss".
Two couriers standing at the steps. They watch the
procession. They are armed and make no secret of it.
They help the former captain up the steps. His feet don't
find the steps, they barely brush the ground. He smiles at
everyone. At the doorway, they turn. The former Soviet
diplomat is smiling a gentle, good-natured smile. He smiles
and waves goodbye.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Who was he smiling at?
At me, perhaps?
So Suvorov smiles and waves back.
OPERATING ROOM LATER JAMMERS HUM. NAVIGATOR, SUVOROV
NAVIGATOR
Put it on.
Viktor puts a helmet on. The Navigator follows. The helmets
are connected by a flexible hollow tube. Not even their
breath escapes...Maximum security! Viktor's face is impassive,
still...
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
You are doing very well. So, we are
entrusting you with an extremely
important operation. Soon an agent
known as 'the Friend' will arrive in
Vienna. He is very important. He's
controlled personally by Moscow. Who
he is, I do not know and I have no
right to know. We never meet these
people face to face. He operates
through dead drops and signals. But
we have to be sure that contact can
be made at any time. So every few
years we arrange checkup meetings.
He gets an urgent summons and keeps
an appointment. We don't actually
make contact, we observe him from a
distance. We check what security
there may be around him. You'll be
in charge of this operation. Nobody
knows about it. The message was in
my personal code. You'll drop your
car in Innsbruck and disappear.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
104.
EXT. VIENNA HOTEL SUVOROV ENTERS
NAVIGATOR (V.O.)
We'll take a room in a hotel. Enter
through the back, slip upstairs.
Everything will have been prepared.
POV HOTEL ROOM
HE FINDS MINOX CAMERA, GOES TO WINDOW, LOOKS OUT.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
The 'Friend' will show up at a certain
time at the window of a shoe shop.
You will be a hundred meters from
him and eighteen meters higher up.
You'll take a picture of him when he
appears. I don't know who he'll be.
He might be a woman dressed like a
man, a man dressed like a
woman...filthy clothes, uncombed
hair...anything. Half an hour before
he is due, you will snap any activity
that seems suspicious. You'l recognize
l him because he'll appear at
precisely the time to the second.
A newspaper in his right hand...a
sign that all's well. In his left
hand, that's danger. He'll wait five
minutes, if nobody makes contact
he'll leave. Any questions?
CLOSE ON SUVOROV AS HE REMEMBERS
SUVOROV (V.O.)
No.
CU MINOX
NAVIGATOR (V.O.)
Be careful with the Minox. It has
been loaded at the Aquarium and
sealed. The seal is invisible. Careful
not to damage it. What the Friend
looks like, you are not allowed to
tell anyone, not even me. The sealed
Minox will go to the Aquarium in the
diplomatic mail and be developed.
Understand everything?
SUVOROV
SUVOROV
Everything.
He examines the Minox, finds binoculars, a thermos of coffee.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
105.
A chronometer with a sweep second hand shows 1:05.
MATCH DISSOLVE THE CLOCK 4:12, FIVE MINUTES BEFORE TIME
SUVOROV IN CHAIR AT WINDOW HIS POV.
A woman walks down the street. Suvorov has the camera up,
but doesn't shoot. A postman passes, then a Mercedes, a white
robed man in the back...The chronometer clicks. The woman
passes again. Another limo. He sweeps the street with the
binoculars, cocks the Minox. Suddenly, something wrong...what?
Suddenly aware... something terrible. A Citroen has stopped.
A pretty woman gets out, bends down quickly and kisses the
driver. Suvorov sees him clearly; the First Deputy! The Minox
snaps, freezing him. The woman gets into a Fiat and speeds
off.
SUVOROV...
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
The woman was not his wife. She was
no agent. The Navigator knew I would
be here, he would have warned him
away... The GRU was again trying me
out! They had put me in this little
room and staged this comedy. Now
they waited... would I report the
man I admired so greatly or would I
try to cover up for him. That was
why they had given me a camera, to
be able to tell whether I had
hesitated for even a moment. They
would be able to tell from the photo
whether my hands had been shaking or
not. Another possibility... Chance!
Bad luck! Nobody knew I was there; a
side street, a secret encounter with
a mistress. A foreign mistress! A
Soviet woman is not allowed a car
when abroad! If it was not a test
for me, it was the end for the first
deputy...a dismal end. The
conveyor...But it could be just a
test for me, there had been plenty
of them. I had acted exactly as I
should, quickly and decisively. He
glances at the street, nobody disturbs
the peace. Only one unpleasant-looking
figure with a newspaper hangs around
the window of the shoe shop. Suvorov
leans back, looks at the ceiling and
sighs. Suddenly, he leaps up,
overturning the thermos, grabs the
minox, feverishly presses the
(MORE)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
106.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
trigger..once twice...again...Time's
up! The 'Friend' throws his paper
away and disappears. The photos
would reveal my mental state, draw
attention to the fact that I did not
want to report the First Deputy,
that I hesitated...
(pockets camera, leaves)
If only the Police would arrest me.
Maybe I could get seized by the
police? No, they would find out,
then I would be put on the conveyor.
STREET SUVOROV EMERGES ON A BRIGHT SUNNY AFTERNOON.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
No, things couldn't be that bad. It
was a routine checkup, a typical
provocation. And I had not taken the
bait. At the Academy, they had
organized much worse... with the
lives of our friends at stake...later
they explained...just a bit of play
acting. Many didn't pass those tests.
I did. We were forgiven a moment's
hesitation. We were, after all, only
human...
NAVIGATOR'S OFFICE CLOCK TICKS
NAVIGATOR
Where did the 'Friend' appear from?
SUVOROV
(preoccupied, hesitates)
I didn't notice, comrade general.
NAVIGATOR
You had a chronometer. Did he show
up on time?
(silence)
Did something confuse you? Was there
something suspicious? Something you
couldn't understand or explain? Did
something put you off?
SUVOROV
...Your... First Deputy...
A look of bafflement, then pain in the Navigator's eyes.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
...your First Deputy was at the
meeting place two minutes before the
Friend appeared...with a woman.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
107.
His face goes white. He asks calmly...
NAVIGATOR
You did not, of course, manage to
take a shot of him?
A question? A statement? A threat? Viktor hesitates...
SUVOROV
In fact, I did.
The clock ticks.
NAVIGATOR
What are we going to do?
SUVOROV
I don't know.
WHAM...HE POUNDS THE DESK. HE SHOUTS!
NAVIGATOR
What are we going to do?!!!
SUVOROV
(surprises himself,
shouts back!)
Get ready to evacuate him!
He stiffens, then collapses. He becomes just a sad old man.
NAVIGATOR
You know, Vitya, in 1964 The First
Deputy saved me from a death sentence.
Since then I have taken him round
the world. He recruited women. But
such women! They loved the First
Deputy...and he... Such is life. I
knew he had a mistress in every city.
I forgave him. But I knew that
someday... I knew... Can we do the
evacuation between us?
SUVOROV
Yes.
He presses the intercom.
NAVIGATOR
The First Deputy to me.
ANGLE THE NAVIGATOR MOMENTS LATER.
His hand is on his desk, his right in a drawer near a gun.
The First Deputy stares in the direction of his hidden hand,
then up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
108.
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
Sit down.
He turns and looks from the Navigator to Suvorov standing
behind him and to the side. Slowly he sits. He stretches his
whole body until the bones crack, then quietly puts his arms
around the back of the chair. Gently, Suvorov slips handcuffs
on him. Then rolls up his sleeves. Suvorov dips a napkin in
the gin bottle, He looks up and the First Deputy is looking
at him. The look stops him for a moment, but it is without
rancor. Viktor glances at the Navigator who stares flatly at
him also. He crosses to the First Deputy and dabs the old
man's arm with the gin.
He slips the needle in. The Navigator nods and he slips out
of the room, leaving the two old spies alone...
NAVIGATOR (CONT'D)
So, Nicolai, tell me about it.
EXT. DARK STREETS NIGHT AND FOG SUVOROV WALKS.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Why had the world turned so dark.
Pangs of conscience? Couldn't be. I
had no conscience. Why should it
trouble me, because I had betrayed
the First Deputy? He was a decent
man, but if I hadn't put him on the
conveyor, he would have done the
same for me. That was the job we
had. I had protected the GRU. If
everyone gave into his own feelings
the whole system would collapse.
It's strength is that it immediately
gets rid of anyone who weakens. Had
I weakened? No Doubt. I had made an
enemy of the Navigator. Had anyone
seen me? Possibly. Could anyone
have seen what I was going through.
Of course. It was visible. Any agent
would have understood long ago. The
Navigator was capable of putting a
tail on me. How was 41 behaving...
was he showing signs of weakness?
He comes to a car, gets in, drives...slowly.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Something had happened. I had lost
control of myself. If the Navigator
found out, I could be evacuated
tonight.
VIENNA NIGHT THE PALACES OF FALLEN REGIMES IN MOONLIGHT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
109.
He drives along the Danube, around the city without the usual
switches and cutbacks. He gazes at the dark city. He stops
at a light. A screech! A Ford hurtles around the corner. A
face passes through the headlights... A Soviet!
ANGLE SUVOROV DRIVING AWAY
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Sasha! Now there was no doubt. If a
man lost control over some incident,
he might do so again...at a critical
moment. Maybe he had lost control in
the past. Perhaps the enemy had
already taken advantage of this.
They'd come for me tonight. If I
were the Navigator, I' do the same.
I was going home.
INT. SUVOROV'S APARTMENT
He slips in, locks the door and opens the window. Looks out.
Glances at his watch. Midnight.
SUVOROV (V.O.)
I knew their ways. They struck just
before dawn...the hour of deepest
sleep...like Hitler. It might be too
late. They'd have placed their people.
BEDROOM TANYA SLEEPS PEACEFULLY
He watches her, then wakes her. Sleepily, she smiles up at
him.
SUVOROV (CONT'D)
Very Quickly, we have to go out!
She is well trained and makes no complaint. She is up, throws
on a coat. He unlocks the door, listens, pulls...a long sad
squeak.
EXT STREET INT. CAR SUVOROV OPENS DOOR, THEY SLIP IN.
Wrapped in fur coat, she is asleep again. He sits staring up
at his apartment, the dark windows. He looks at Tanya sleeping
unaware... The clock twitches. 3:54. He looks up again. The
light in his apartment goes on. He sighs. He starts the car
and slowly pulls away.
EXT. FOREST DAWN, PATCHES OF FOG. TANYA SITS WATCHING
She covers a yawn, watches her husband closely. Viktor is
struggling within. He doesn't know where to start, so finally,
he just does...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
110.
SUVOROV
I am in big trouble. I have to
disappear. I have to go over to the
West.
TANYA
(sleepy confusion)
What? You're imagining this. Things
aren't as bad as that. You've been
working too hard.
SUVOROV
No. It won't work. That's all. I'll
go to the West.
TANYA
Why?
SUVOROV
We're just going!
TANYA
You've done nothing. You have done
everything that they ask...
SUVOROV
What's that matter?
TANYA
And what are we doing in the forest?
SUVOROV
Somebody is now in our house. There
is no place else to go. There is no
time. I need to speak to you. To
explain that I have to
go....somewhere.
TANYA
Where?
SUVOROV
I don't know. I'll never see Russia.
Never again... If you don't come
with me, you are not guilty at all.
You say 'He woke me and took me into
the forest,' so you had no way to
tell them. I just took you here. You
didn't know why. You walk back, I'll
have time to escape and nobody can
say you're guilty.
TANYA
We will go back. Whatever it is,
we'll fight it. It'll pass. You've
done nothing. We'll resist! How can
we run?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
111.
SUVOROV
Go back! Resist... Hope for the
best? The Soviet system has destroyed
many people. Powerful ones. Why did
people like Tukhachevsky, Berzin,
Yagoda go to their deaths like lambs,
while others resisted or escaped?
Those who resisted became foul
traitors. So there is the choice;
lamb or traitor.
TANYA
You are guilty of nothing!
SUVOROV
But I am. I could shout that I am
innocent, it would change nothing!
Millions have done the same. If I
don't want to become a lamb, I have
to become a traitor. But I'm a traitor
already. I've been a traitor for a
long time. That's how it would be
seen. The same as with my leaders.
All the people who served Lenin turned
out to be traitors. Trotsky, Zinoviev,
Kamenov, Bukharin, Tomsky...a gang
of murderers, traitors, spies! What
had Lenin been, the leader of that
foul gang. All those who served Stalin
faithfully had also turned out to be
spies, traitors, killers. Yagoda,
Yezhov, Beria, Blyukher. Then Stalin
himself, the greatest criminal of
all. Those who served Kruschev turned
out to be enemies and criminals
too...Molotov, Kaganovich, Serov,
Shelest, Shelepin, Bulganin.
Kruschchev himself turned out to be
a fool. What did it mean? Sooner or
later my leaders will be toppled and
declared spies, traitors, fools.
Anybody who has served them will
also be criminals. So I have nothing
to lose, I am already a traitor. To
escape from them is a crime. To stay
with them is also a crime.
TANYA
Bloody policy! I am not interested
in ideology. I love Russia! My family.
My people...the land.
He sighs. Gets up, brushes off. Looks away with tears.
TANYA (CONT'D)
But if you really have to go, I have
to go with you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
112.
He collapses and hugs her, tearfully. She is crying, too.
SUVOROV
Please don't worry. Stay here. If
somebody approaches, you'll be okay.
They are looking for two people. If
I don't come back...three hours...
You must walk back. You must go to
the Embassy. You must walk in and
denounce me. You must say that I
went crazy and held you against your
will.
TANYA
Yes. Hold me, Vitya.
They embrace. Then quickly, he is gone. She looks around.
SUVOROV RUNS THROUGH THE FOREST
SUVOROV (V.O.)
What was I thinking, Ideology! The
hell with Ideology. I had to get
out, but where? The mountains, live
in a cave? Use my Spetsnaz training?
Or go to another country? To
America...To Britain. But would
Britain want me?
EXT. HOUSE MORNING SUVOROV APPROACHES
Knocks. The door opens. A man looks at his rumpled face.
DIPLOMAT
Good morning.
SUVOROV
Good morning.
He holds out his diplomatic passport. The man takes it, looks
at it, motions him in.
INT. HOUSE
SUVOROV
I have a message for Her Majesty's
government.
DIPLOMAT
Please go to the embassy.
SUVOROV
I can't go to the embassy. It's too
public. I have to speak to someone
who can make a decision. That's why
I want to pass this letter through
you.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
113.
DIPLOMAT
I refuse to accept it.
(He rises and opens
the door.)
I am no spy. Please do not involve
me in these spy games.
SUVOROV
This is not espionage...any more.
This is a letter for Her Majesty's
government. Whether you accept it or
not, I am now going to telephone the
British Embassy and say that a letter
for the Government is here. I'll
leave it. You can do what you like
with it.
The man glares at him.
DIPLOMAT
Give me your letter.
SUVOROV
Give me an envelope please.
DIPLOMAT
(astonished)
You don't even have an envelope?
SUVOROV
Unfortunately not.
Suvorov takes a restaurant card out of his pocket, writes.
CU WRITES THREE LETTERS G R U
He puts the letter in the envelope, writes Russian on it and
stamps it with his personal seal, 173V41.
DIPLOMAT
Is that all?
SUVOROV
That's all. Goodbye.
EXT. PHONE BOOTH
SUVOROV (V.O.)
Hello, British Embassy, I've sent a
message. I must speak to a responsible
person. I don't need to know his
name, you decide. I have sent a
message...
A pause. Then a bored, arrogant overgrown public schoolboy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
114.
EMBASSY OFFICER
Hello, who is this?
SUVOROV
I have sent a message. The person
with whom I sent it knows my name.
EMBASSY OFFICER
Is that so?
SUVOROV
Yes. Ask him.
EMBASSY OFFICER
(A beat)
Do you represent your country?
SUVOROV
No, I represent only myself.
A pause.
EMBASSY OFFICER
What do you want?
SUVOROV
I want you to open the letter and
pass the message to the government.
Silence, heavy breathing.
EMBASSY OFFICER
I can't open the envelope. It's not
addressed to me but to the government.
SUVOROV
Please open it. I sent it! I signed
it like that so its contents should
not be known by certain people. I
give you the right to open it!
Whispering in B.G. on the line.
EMBASSY OFFICER
It's a very strange message. Some
kind of restaurant.
SUVOROV
No, not that! Look on the other side.
EMBASSY OFFICER
There's also a rather strange
message...just some letters.
SUVOROV
That is what you have to transmit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
115.
EMBASSY OFFICER
You are crazy. A message of three
letters cannot be of any importance.
SUVOROV
It will be up to Her Majesty's
government to decide that.
Silence...
EMBASSY OFFICER
I have found a compromise. I won't
send a radio message, but I will
send your message by diplomatic mail!
SUVOROV
To hell with you and your compromise!
My message may be important or not,
it's not for me to decide, but it's
certainly urgent! An hour from now
or sooner, it may be too late! I'll
call again in fifteen minutes. Please
show the ambassador my message.
EMBASSY OFFICER
He's not here today.
SUVOROV
(screams)
Then show it to anyone you like!
Show it to your bloody secretary!
Maybe she reads the papers! Maybe
she could suggest what you should
do!!!
He slams the receiver.
EXT. CAR
He pulls up at a phone booth. A car is parked nearby. He
speeds away. He finds another booth, circles warily, screeches
up, zips into the booth, fumbles change, dials frantically.
SUVOROV
Is this the British Embassy?
Everything has changed, the response is sharp, military.
INTEL OFFICER
Yes. Is everything all right? I've
been worried. You took so long to
call..
SUVOROV
About my message...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
116.
INTEL OFFICER
Your message has been transmitted,
It's very important. We've already
received a reply from London. We're
waiting for you. We need you. Are
you ready?
SUVOROV
Yes.
INTEL OFFICER
Is the address on the card you sent
the place to meet you?
SUVOROV
Yes.
INTEL OFFICER
There's no time on the card. Does
that mean we are to meet as soon as
possible?
SUVOROV
Yes.
INTEL OFFICER
That's what we assumed. Our
representatives are waiting for you
there.
SUVOROV
(He gasps in Russian)
Thank you!
INT. RESTAURANT SUVOROV ENTERS.
In the corner. Two men sit in shadow. He moves toward them.
THE FOREST TANYA
Terrified, she looks around like a deer. She has gone to
ground, no longer the complacent housewife, but a Spetsnaz
trained killer. She hears/senses movement. Coming toward
her. She slips behind cover. Movement all around! Her
imagination? In back, a figure, in a flash, she attacks, a
killing blow at the neck. Suvorov, blocks it, and counters,
then pulls his blow. They collapse on the forest floor,
sobbing. He kisses her quiet.
TANYA
I heard others.
SUVOROV
Now you are imagining things.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
117.
TANYA
Would they let us leave, Vitya? Would
they just let us get away?
He takes her arm, leads her to the edge of the forest. They
crouch looking out on a bright, sunny meadow. Flowers bob in
the breeze. On the other side of the meadow, a car sits, a
Jaguar. A man sits in it. It has British diplomatic plates.
She glances at the dark woods on either side of the meadow.
There is movement. She catches her breath.
TANYA (CONT'D)
You know what they say... How cruel
they are... How they would never let
us know until we are so close...
SUVOROV
I know what they say.
He reaches into his pocket.
TANYA
What's that?
SUVOROV
For luck.
HIS HAND
He holds his last Russian money. Two Rubles.
TANYA AND SUVOROV
He throws them into the woods. He takes her hand and they
walk out of the darkness and into the sun and disappear into
the mist.
ANNOUNCER
Victor Suverov lives somewhere in
the west. He remains under sentence
of death by the Aquarium...
FADE OUT:
THE END
Charles Proser Copyright c; Hollywood,
CA Registered, WGA,w.