INGLEWOOD PARK CASINO – PRIVATE SUITE

(SOUNDS OF RACING CONTINUE UNDERNEATH)

MUSIC: QUIET JAZZ

SOUND: DOOR OPENING

KREITZER
(CALLING OUT)
Ah, James. So glad to see you. Please, have a drink. I know Farah relayed my apologies, but please allow me to extend them directly. This assignment was not remotely what I anticipated.

JIMMY
Have to imagine you anticipated something, or you wouldn’t have offered the amount you did.

KREITZER
Oh, as I said at the outset, I did anticipate there would be parties interested in obtaining the objects in your possession, but I never expected them to go to such… extreme measures.

JIMMY
Not to put too fine a point on it, but I’m hoping with the conclusion of our little mission, they’ll be a lot less interested in coming after me. After us.

KREITZER
Alas, I think they will still be interested in me. Unless by “us” you meant…

JIMMY
Um, yeah. I was thinking more explicitly about —

ELEANOR
(APPROACHING)
About me? I’m touched.

JIMMY
Eleanor! I’m… I’m glad to see you. I mean, obviously I’m happy you’re safe, but —

ELEANOR
I gather what you meant. Pleased to see you too.

JIMMY
That I’m absolutely thrilled to hear.

KREITZER
Ahem… Mr. Harmon. Ms. Wallis has delivered her charge. I trust you are prepared to do the same?

JIMMY
Sure, just let me get that drink you offered…

SOUND: BOTTLES RATTLING

JIMMY
And here you are.

KREITZER
You mean… you had it here the whole time?

JIMMY
Just since this morning, when Farah let me know you’d be here tonight. Had some time to kill before… other business I had to take care of today. Didn’t want to chance anything happening to it. By the way, you might want to talk to security. I was pretty much able to walk right into your suite here.

KREITZER
That does sound… surprising.

JIMMY
All thanks to a leftover polo shirt and clipboard. Little trick I picked up recently.

KREITZER
Ah. Well done, Mr. Harmon. And I see the package is still intact. Were you at all curious about it?

JIMMY
About the puzzle aspect of it? Of course. I solved it.

KREITZER
You did, did you?

JIMMY
Like I said, I had some time to kill. Key was the encrypted message on the underside. Looks like gibberish. Thought at first it was a simple atbash or substitution code, but no, it’s a Vigenére cipher.

KREITZER
Fascinating…

JIMMY
My friend Peeps would have gotten it right away. Pattern recognition’s her thing. But I learned a thing or two about codes over the years. Needed to know the passphrase, though. Then I noticed the Greek letters on those dials on the box, and remembered what you said when you gave us the assignment: that you were being Delphic. Not cryptic, not mysterious. Delphic. And you mostly directed that word to me, once you saw I’d picked out this particular box. Sure enough, the passphrase is Delphi. As in the oracle.

KREITZER
I am impressed, Mr. Harmon. Do continue.

JIMMY
You also mentioned “Fabergé eggs” to Ken Ford, and his box had Cyrillic lettering on it. Russian. Figure that was a clue to unlocking his, though without his box I can’t know exactly what. The people who smashed it clearly didn’t care. And you used the phrase “God willing” when Eleanor asked how long we’d be carrying them. Unusual wording, but then she said her box had a bunch of Arabic writing on it. In hindsight, I’ll bet you were hinting at the phrase Inshallah — “God willing” in Arabic.

ELEANOR
My assessment of your skills increases by the moment.

JIMMY
Oh, um… I don’t speak Arabic. I just know that phrase. It’s… pretty common. Anyway, the decoded message on mine reads, “The oracle will provide the key to unlocking the truth.” Which bring me back to the dials. Seven of them. Oracle in Greek is manteío. That I looked up. Seven letters. Set those and a little cylinder pops out, odd star shape at the end. Shape that matches a small indentation on the side. It’s a key, just like the message said. Voilà. Box is open.

KREITZER
And the contents inside?

JIMMY
Didn’t touch it. Looked like a USB drive or something, but that’s your business. Besides, I know better than to just plug a random mystery device into a computer. Good way to fry it. My job… or my plan, anyway, was just to solve the puzzle. As you expected I would.

KREITZER
You think I expected you would all solve the puzzles?

JIMMY
No, you expected I would solve it, though you did give us all a chance at it. I said before you wanted to test our approaches to the job. I think that extended to how we’d handle the boxes. Ford… He was happy to give it to the highest bidder, even if in the end that bidder betrayed him. Conclusion: his motivations were short-term. Immediate compensation. Nothing wrong with that, necessarily, just one approach.

KREITZER
An interesting observation.

JIMMY
Eleanor, you likely thought would let them chase her, stay ahead of them. Willing to bet she gave you the box as-is. Didn’t open it, nothing out of the ordinary. Before, when we found Ford, she asked if I thought we should open them, but didn’t actually suggest we do so. Very deliberate wording. Definitely thinking more long-term. Not sure what her motivations are, but it’s not immediate reward. Could be you’re holding something over her — that was certainly Ford’s impression. But whatever it is, she’ll do exactly what she agrees to.

KREITZER
Please go on.

JIMMY
As for me, self-awareness isn’t my strong suit, but I’ll take a stab. You’ve been interested in my observational skills from the start. Thought it was just curiosity, but this was a real-world test. And at first, I didn’t do that well. Their goon got the drop on me, didn’t see him coming. Crooked cop they’ve got working for them, Malone, same guy we figure killed Ford. But fool me once… When it came to the box, I made a call. Solve it, but leave the contents. Perform the task you needed, but not necessarily follow the letter of the law. How’d I do?

KREITZER
As I had hoped. Not expected, necessarily, but hoped. And most importantly, you completed the assignment.

SOUND: PAPER RUSTLING

KREITZER
Fifteen thousand, as agreed. Plus an additional ten thousand, which I hope will cover the damage to your apartment. Let me know if that proves insufficient.

JIMMY
I’m… I’m sure it’ll be enough. My apartment’s not exactly… fancy.

KREITZER
Fundamentally, I believe in rewarding success. In this world, people are all too eager to reward effort over accomplishment. In my experience, effort is meaningless without achievement. A convenient excuse for failure.

SOUND: CELL PHONE RINGING

KREITZER
If you could excuse me a moment. Please, relax. Enjoy yourselves. You can use the buzzer there to call in a server if there’s anything you need.
(TO PHONE, STEPPING AWAY)
Yes, what is it?

JIMMY
It seems we’re finally able to have a drink after all.

ELEANOR
So it would seem. If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect you had this all planned from the start.

SOUND: FOOTSTEPS

JIMMY
Let’s see how stocked the bar is. A Harvey Wallbanger, as I recall? Do they have Galliano…? Ah, success!

ELEANOR
You do have an excellent memory. You know, there are people here who do that for us.

JIMMY
No need to bother them. I enjoy playing bartender.

SOUND: MIXING DRINK

ELEANOR
Jimmy, this… isn’t going to end up how you think.

JIMMY
How do you know what I think? Unless mind-reading is another of your considerable skills. Which I wouldn’t discount offhand.

ELEANOR
Lifetime of experience tells me what you think, no need for the supernatural. In another life, another world, maybe something like this would work. But in this one —

JIMMY
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves thinking about the world we want versus the world we have. This is just a drink. You do know how to drink, no?

ELEANOR
Been doing it since I was young. Too young.

JIMMY
Then let’s just leave it at that, see what happens. Here, let me know how I did.

SOUND: DRINK SLIDING ACROSS BAR

SOUND: SIPPING DRINK

ELEANOR
One could be forgiven for forgetting you’re not a professional.

JIMMY
The highest of praise.

KREITZER
(DISTANT, ON PHONE)
Fine. Come up.

ELEANOR
But… Jimmy, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.

JIMMY
I’ve caught the veiled references to your oh-so-mysterious past, Ms. Wallis. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t add to your appeal.

ELEANOR
The veil’s… there for a reason. There are… things in that past. Too many things. Things a little obscurity can make easier to not think about too much. So they don’t overshadow everything else. Pretend it’s all… maybe not normal, but at least… pardonable.

JIMMY
We’ve all got regrets. If we didn’t, we’d never learn anything. Never be able to change for the better.

ELEANOR
That’s just it. Some things you can’t ever —

SOUND: DOOR OPENING

KREITZER
Mr. Chambers. What is it that’s so urgent you had to come see me here? Tonight?

CHAMBERS
There’s been a development. I just heard back from… ah, Ms. Wallis. I didn’t know you were here. Allow me to thank you once again for your services. You’ve proven yourself… quite indispensable.

ELEANOR
(CAUTIOUSLY)
Of… of course.

CHAMBERS
Look, Anton. We’ve been concerned you may have been getting… distracted.

KREITZER
Mr. Chambers, I have several interests, very few of which concern you. I remain committed to our venture, but I have no intention of sitting around.

CHAMBERS
I didn’t mean to imply… Of course you have other interests. I wouldn’t expect otherwise. I just —

KREITZER
I trust you to take care of your obligations, just as I take care of mine. Is that clear?

CHAMBERS
Yes, yes, of course.

KREITZER
Now, as it happens, my other activities are… on hold for the moment. It appears someone — and I am not yet sure who — has taken rather extreme measures to oppose me. Though I take some small comfort knowing their actions have had the consequence of exposing them.

CHAMBERS
I don’t… I don’t understand what you mean.

KREITZER
Of course not. Forgive me. I fall into theatricality again. The individuals in question stole something from me, believing it of value. A digital device. Which in actuality was a red herring. A sort of… digital loudspeaker. Completely disables any system it’s connected to, while simultaneously broadcasting its location over IP. So it will be only a matter of time before my people have… eliminated the distraction.

CHAMBERS
I see.

KREITZER
My point, Mr. Chambers, is you can relax. You have my undivided attention. Now, what is this… development?

CHAMBERS
I need to… can we step outside? As much as I appreciate Ms. Wallis’s discretion…

KREITZER
Of course. If you’ll excuse me a moment.

ELEANOR
You do what you need to do. We can hold down the fort.

SOUND: DOOR OPENING, CLOSING

JIMMY
So you… you know Glen Chambers?

ELEANOR
(SHAKEN)
Mr. Kreitzer is not my only employer. Mr. Chambers has been a strong… advocate of my abilities.

JIMMY
As he should be. You are a rare talent. Hey, it’s all right. Take it easy. Didn’t mean to pry.

ELEANOR
It’s not that, it’s just… some jobs are easier than others. And some…

JIMMY
Look, we can talk about that later. I’m just… surprised to see him here. Now.

ELEANOR
You know him?

JIMMY
Yes. Well, no, not really. And he doesn’t…
(CHUCKLES)
Of course. He didn’t even see I was here, not really. He acknowledged you, but didn’t think to ask who I was. I’m standing behind the bar — he saw service staff.

ELEANOR
That’s… an interesting observation.

JIMMY
Third time he’s done that. Which… well, normally I’d be offended, but it’s working in my favor. Or may be, if it’s not all just a coincidence.

SOUND: DOOR OPENING

KREITZER
Forgive me. As I believe I mentioned, Mr. Chambers is a real estate investor, and a skittish one at times. I do feel I should explain further. Would you care to take a short ride with me? I’m afraid the appeal of this particular location has… run its course, so to speak.

JIMMY
I… um, sure, I guess.

ELEANOR
If it’s all the same, I think I’ll beg off. I’m not… not feeling all that well.

KREITZER
Oh, I am sorry to hear that. In that case I will fill you in later. James, shall we?

MUSIC: TRANSITION MUSIC FADES IN