Part III
INT. A KITCHEN - TARA'S HOUSE - AFTERNOON JEFFREY WASH disgustedly reads the newspaper while sipping some coffee. Tara enters the room carrying a soccer ball and is dressed to play. TARA I'm ready to go dad. Jeffrey slaps the newspaper. JEFFREY Can you believe this! You can't trust the government. This lousy senator took three million in campaign contributions in one month and everyone of the contributors now has a juicy contract with the federal government. TARA Dad, we're late. Jeffrey stands and starts looking around for his keys. JEFFREY Our tax dollars at work! Where are my keys? You just can't trust the government! Tara turns an pulls the keys off the counter behind her. She dangles them. Jeffrey continues to search through the piles of stuff on the table. TARA Dad? JEFFREY Oh. Thanks. At least I can trust my little girl. Let's go. TARA To find your keys anyway. They exit. EXT. A FOREST - LATE MORNING Henry runs full tilt through a forest. He has traded in his military style green T-shirt for a tank top. A camouflage bandanna covers his head. A long knife is strapped to one leg. For the first time we see Henry as a soldier but without reflector shades. The Sergeant narrates in the background. SERGEANT(V.O.) We will now begin phase III training. Henry jumps a fallen tree like a jungle cat. SERGEANT(V.O.) Initially this will consist of straight exercise. Henry leaps a small stream. SERGEANT(V.O.) We will carve your body into steel. Henry bursts forth from some brush at the stop of a small ridge and sails through the air. SERGEANT(V.O.) After two weeks you will begin applying your hand to hand skills in a more dynamic scenario. Henry comes to a clearing and stops. SERGEANT(V.O.) You will apply the techniques we have taught you thus far in the field. Moon stands across the clearing from Henry. He too is without reflector shades SERGEANT(V.O.) These are nonlethal exercises, Soldier. You will NOT, I repeat NOT seriously damage any of your training partners. Moon and Henry charge each other. They both launch into flying sidekicks and sail past each other. They land and spin instantly to reengage. The battle is bloody and fierce. Henry manages to sweep Moon to the ground. Henry leaves Moon and continues to run. SERGEANT(V.O.) As I have stated before many of your Ops may require going into a scenario unarmed while your opponents may be armed. Henry runs by a tree. A tall black soldier steps out with a staff and swings for Henry's head. Henry ducks at the last second. He stops and spins to a low stance. The soldier swings back. Henry catches the staff, moves it out of the way and palm heels the assassin. He flips the soldier to his back and knocks him unconscious. Henry jumps up and continues his run. SERGEANT(V.O.) You may be required to take out multiple opponents. Henry comes to another clearing by a brook. He slows down. He scans his surroundings. A tall large soldier steps out from behind a tree. He has a 9mm automatic aimed at Henry's head. Another soldier steps out behind Henry. This man points a gun at Henry's back. SOLDIER 1 You screwed up Soldier! You froze at the sight of a gun. Soldier #1 motions to his partner. SOLDIER 1 Secure the prisoner. Soldier #2 holsters his weapon. SOLDIER 1 Place your hands behind your head and interlock your fingers. Henry does as he is told. The soldier with the gun moves closer until his gun is almost in Henry's face. Soldier 2 pulls a plastic tie out of his belt and begins to grab one of Henry's arms. Henry spins an elbow into the gun that is in his face. He loops a hand around the gun arm and fires an elbow into Soldier 1's face. Henry shoots a front kick into the soldier that is now in front of him. The man doubles over. Henry kicks his knee and he falls to the ground. Henry flips the soldier with the gun over his shoulder onto the man on the ground. He finishes him off with an elbow to the face. BIGGS I guess I thawed out. Henry takes off into the woods. INT. THE DARK ROOM - LATER Sergeant stands at parade rest as Henry runs into the room from the darkness. Henry now wears his reflector shades. Henry stands a attention before the Sergeant. Sergeant looks Henry over with a smile and nods in appreciation. SERGEANT You did good soldier. Damn good. BIGGS Thank you Sergeant. A small twig with a couple of leaves on it has lodged itself in Henry's belt. Sergeant approaches Henry and grabs the twig. He holds up to Henry's face. SERGEANT This twig is not regulation uniform soldier. BIGGS Sorry Sergeant. The Sergeant smiles. SERGEANT That was a joke Soldier. You are allowed to laugh. BIGGS Ha, Ha, Ha, Sergeant. The Sergeant shakes his head and smiles at his Vulcan like protogee. SERGEANT I have good news for you Soldier. Command has selected a mission for you. In one month you will be able to prove yourself on the field of battle. BIGGS Yes Sergeant! SERGEANT This mission is code named "Beautiful Son". Your target is a coward who would destroy the very foundations of this country. Your mission will be to terminate this coward. BIGGS Yes, Sergeant. SERGEANT This loathsome, craven, terrorist is hiding out in Canada. We believe he has adopted the identity of an important politician. Even now our agents are monitoring his movements. At the appropriate time you will be sent into to rectify the target. Do you understood soldier? BIGGS Yes, Sergeant. SERGEANT Good. I can't stress how important this mission is. There is no room for failure. BIGGS No Sergeant. The Sergeant looks Henry over for a second. He spins and disappears into the gloom. INT. HENRY'S BEDROOM Henry's eyes snap open. He lies in bed. Sheila is asleep behind him. He moves an arm under the covers and shifts uncomfortably. His hand snakes out of the covers. Henry holds the twig from his dreams. His eyes go wide when he realizes what it is. He contemplates the twig. INT. COMPUTER LAB Dr. Peoples exits the lab. Sergeant pecks at a notebook computer. Bruce enters carrying a manila folder. The Sergeant spins and stands when he sees Bruce. BRUCE STERLING Is he locked down? SERGEANT Yeah. We were prepping him for another session. BRUCE STERLING Let me see him. The Sergeant leads Bruce through a door to an adjoining room. INT. ADJOINING ROOM Henry lies on a hospital bed. A virtual reality headset is mounted on his unconscious form. Electrodes are wired by the hundreds to just about every muscle on his body. An IV drips into his right arm. A virtual reality headset sits on a nearby chair. SERGEANT What's up? BRUCE STERLING Is he ready? SERGEANT I thought we had a month? BRUCE STERLING For "Beautiful Son" we do, but our superiors want a live test. They don't want to send in a raw recruit now matter how well he's been trained. SERGEANT Is one of them volunteering to be the test subject. BRUCE STERLING Very funny. I have a friend in the DEA who I owe a favor. There's this particular thorn in his side that he would like removed. SERGEANT What if Biggs blows it? BRUCE STERLING I'd rather have him blow it on some drug punk then the prime minister of Quebec. Bruce hands the folder to the Sergeant. BRUCE STERLING Make it happen. You have a week. A scowling Sergeant opens the file. Bruce exits. INT. HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM - AFTERNOON Tara sits among her classmates as Mr. O'Conner lectures. She seems lost in the ozone as she stares at the book in front of her. MR O'CONNER So this is why we have to ask ourselves what are the consequences of an independent Quebec. Can anyone tell me who the current Prime Minister of Quebec is? The classroom is silent. Tara doesn't even hear the question. MR. O'CONNER Tara? How about you. Can you tell me who the current Prime Minister of Quebec is? Tara pops back to reality. TARA Huh? Excuse me? Mr. O'Conner smiles. MR. O'CONNER Well, I was looking to find out who the Prime Minister of Quebec is, but maybe you can tell me who the Prime Minister of Mars is, because that's obviously where you were. The class breaks out into laughter. Tara smiles sheepishly. TARA Actually they don't have a Prime Minister on Mars they have a President and his name is Fizzlewig. MR. O'CONNER Fizzlewig. I didn't know that. I'll have to put that on the midterm for extra credit. However, since this a social studies course on TERRESTRIAL current events can someone tell me who the Prime Minister of Quebec is? Charice? A cute sixteen year old who is obviously preoccupied with the latest fashion answers. CHARICE Raymond Beausoliel. MR. O'CONNER Very good, Charice, I'm impressed. CHARICE He's like so cute. A few of the girls giggle. MR. O'CONNER I wouldn't know. All right lets break out our books and turn to the map of Canada and go over some of the demographics. The students all pull their books out. Tara gives Charice a friendly "you know it all" look. EXT. BUS STOP - LATER Tara exits the bus along with some of her neighbors. She begins to walk down the lightly traveled street by herself. Charice catches up to her. CHARICE So. Are you back from Mars yet? TARA Very funny Miss geography. CHARICE I bet you were thinking about who you were going to go to the dance with this weekend. TARA No... I met this guy on the net. CHARICE I swear you are like such a computer geek. TARA And I'm also getting A's in all of my classes, well except French class anyway. Are you? CHARICE Because of your computer? TARA It helps. Anyway I was hacking around the NSF's super computer network. CHARICE Super computers! That sounds cool. TARA It is so cool. ANYWAY I found this back door to an experiment. I think it's an experiment. It's a virtual reality world and in there I found this guy. CHARICE Was he cute!? TARA Charice. He's old enough to be our father. CHARICE So he could still be cute. TARA Charice... So at first I thought this guy was an A.I. CHARICE What's an A.I.? TARA An artificial intelligence. A made up person. CHARICE You mean like Data on Star Trek. TARA No more like the Doctor on Voyager. CHARICE Oh. Data's cuter. So why did you think this guy was an A.I. TARA He talked kind of funny. He didn't even now what soccer was. CHARICE Must be an A.I. TARA That's what I thought, but the more I talked to him the more he seemed like a real person. And they've got him doing this weird training. CHARICE Training? TARA Karate and stuff. CHARICE Karate! That is so cool. Maybe he could teach us and we could take care of Billy Ricks and his water pistol punks. They're going to get suspended if they get caught. TARA He'd teach me if I asked him. He wants me to teach him soccer. CHARICE He doesn't even know about soccer. Are you sure this guy isn't some kind of pervert or something. Daddy says the net's full of perverts. Tara laughs. TARA Henry? Henry is just confused. He wouldn't hurt a fly. EXT. FOLIAGE - WOODS - NOONISH We peer through the dense foliage of a wood. After a few seconds of allowing our eyes to focus we spy a heavily camouflaged Henry. The Sergeant narrates. SERGEANT(V.O.) Command has decided you are to be tested prior to the execution of "Beautiful Son". EXT. THE DRIVEWAY LEADING UP TO A CONTEMPORARY HOUSE An armed guard walks the driveway to a stone faced house. He seems bored. He wears a woodsy outfit that looks like it was picked from the pages of an L.L. Bean catalog. SERGEANT(V.O.) You are to be given the honor of taking out a scumbag drug lord. This drug lord will be vacationing at his home in Maine. We move further down the driveway to find another heavily armed guard standing near the front door to this place. He is dressed much the same as his fellow. SERGEANT(V.O.) You will have to take out six guards. All of them will be armed. Each one of them is a known killer. EXT. DECK ON THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE A sizable wrap around deck surrounds the house. Another guard patrols the deck on the left side of the house. He too is well armed and dressed as his fellows. SERGEANT(V.O.) In order to fully test your abilities you will only be allowed to bring a knife with you... a big knife. EXT. THE REAR DECK Three more heavily armed guards occupy themselves on this rear deck. One is dressed in a sharp three piece suit. The other two have gone with the L.L. Bean fare. SERGEANT(V.O.) How you deal with the guards is your option. The Guard at the far end of the house. Lights up a cigar and takes a seat on some steps that lead off the deck. INT. INSIDE THE CONTEMPORARY HOUSE - LIVING ROOM A good looking man in his early thirties puffs on a cigar and reads a magazine. A couple glasses of wine sit nearby as does an empty bottle. The man is dressed in only a silk bathrobe, a T-shirt and a bathing suit. SERGEANT(V.O.) The target is an American National named Armand Delgado. He is responsible for much of the heroin that is now coming in through Mexico. Armand places his cigar in an ashtray and attempts to refill his wine glass. The bottle is empty. Armand looks over one shoulder to a spot out of the room. ARMAND Selma! Can you bring another bottle of wine in with you? There is no answer. Armand shakes his head and returns to his magazine and cigar. He seems annoyed. SERGEANT(V.O.) We will have an agent on the inside who will monitor your progress and resolve any... anomalies. Good luck soldier. EXT. THE END OF THE DRIVEWAY The guard sits down on a green box at the end of the driveway to enjoy a cigarette. Some of the foliage across the street shakes. The guard looks at it quizzically. The greens shake again. The guard stands up and lazily cradles his gun. He saunters over to the brush. GUARD I'd like to know what kind of freakin' animals the have in this place. The brush shakes again. GUARD You a kitty? A nice little kitty not a big old mean bear that I'm going to have to shoot. The guard can see nothing in the brush. He moves the brush aside with his gun, but can still see nothing. GUARD Here kitty, kitty, kitty. There is the flash of a camouflaged hand and a glimpse of Henry. The guard disappears into the brush. EXT. THE BRUSH The guard is thrown to his stomach. Henry is on his back in a flash. He draws his knife across the guards throat. The man never gets a chance to struggle. EXT. THE FRONT DOOR The Guard at the front door has missed his compatriots demise. He is sitting on the front stoop reading a magazine. His weapon sits next to him. He looks up. He notices his friend is missing. He drops the magazine and picks up his weapon. He moves closer to the stone wall in front of him searching for his friend. GUARD Yo Vic? Vic does not answer being dead. GUARD If you're gonna take a piss your supposed to tell me. The guard starts to turn back to his spot at the front door. Henry kicks a knee out from under the guard. This Rocks the guard back. Henry encircles the mans neck with his own two powerful arms. The struggling man is hauled out of sight in a death clamp. EXT. THE SIDE DECK The guard strolls toward the end of the deck that is closest to the front part of the house. He yawns. He stops at the end of the deck. He rests his weapon on the railing and then leans on it himself. Henry is in a bush directly in front of him. He pops up and slams the guard in the throat with a knife hand. He grabs the Guard by head and throws him over the railing onto his stomach. Henry smacks him in the back of the head with the hilt of his knife. Henry fairly crawls back over to the deck. He spies the well dressed guard at the other end of deck. The guard turns and heads back to the rear of the house. Henry looks down and finds some garden implements, a coil of rope and a discarded ladder. EXT. REAR DECK The well dressed guard has stopped to look out over the lake. One of the other guards joins him. WOODSY GUARD How come you got to wear such fancy clothes all the time? WELL DRESSED GUARD Look. Armand wants me to come out to the sticks, fine, but that don't mean I have to look like no hick. The well dressed guard rubs his compatriots flannel shirt. WELL DRESSED GUARD You wanna look like Al Borland from tool time? Fine. Me I like silk. The well dressed guard fingers his own suit. WOODSY GUARD You stick out like a sore thumb. WELL DRESSED GUARD Better than looking like one. The woodsy guard frowns and the Well Dressed Guard turns to stroll to the side deck. EXT. SIDE DECK The gentleman guard notices his fellow is missing. He makes his way to the end of the deck. He looks around, but does not find him. The guard makes his way down the steps and heads down the slope to the lake looking for his friend. He does not notice his friends hand sticking out from under the deck through a bush. Henry rolls out from under the deck. He silently charges the well dressed guard from behind. Once again he kicks out a knee only this time he snaps the guards neck. Henry now has the coil of rope around one arm. EXT. REAR DECK The guard at the far end of the house is still enjoying his cigar on the steps. There is a scraping noise in between his feet. He looks but he sees nothing. He puts his head between his leg and squats to see what is behind the steps he sits on. A hand snakes out, grabs the back of his head and yanks his throat into the step. Another hand snakes out and snaps this guards neck. INT. LIVING ROOM Armand puts his magazine down and stamps out his cigar in the ashtray. He grabs his wine glass and heads to the kitchen. ARMAND Selma! What are you doing girl!? Two six foot windows look out on the lake. The last woodsy guard stands there scanning the lake. Armand ignores him. Armand finds a bottle of wine in one of the cabinets and fills his glass. EXT. REAR DECK For the first time the woodsy guard notices him cohort with his head between his legs. GUARD What are you doing man? That is disgusting. Maybe Armand can lend you his girlfriend. Hey Louis!? You listening to me? INT. KITCHEN Armand turns away from the kitchen windows with his newly filled glass of wine. ARMAND Selma! I'm hungry! Get out here! The last struggling guard is being hauled out of sight by a rope around his neck. INT. LIVING ROOM Armand returns to his spot on the couch with the glass of wine. Henry burst into the room carrying one of the guards handguns. Armand looks up in surprise as Henry shoots him three times in the chest. Henry stares at him for a few seconds. Sheila runs into the room carrying two plastic bags filled with a cigar butt and a wine glass. Henry is in shock when he sees her. BIGGS Sheila!? Sheila shoots him a dirty look. CORP. HAZZARD That's Corporal Hazzard, soldier! Here! Place this in the ashtray. Don't touch it with your hands. A confused Henry does as he is told. BIGGS I don't understand. Corporal Hazzard very carefully pulls the wine glass out of the plastic bag being careful not to touch it. CORP. HAZZARD That cigar put has the saliva and thus DNA of Pablo Ortega on it. Mr. Ortega is Armand's arch enemy. Corporal Hazzard begins to fill the wine glass with the wine from Armand's glass. CORP. HAZZARD This wine glass has Mr. Ortega's finger prints on it. Sheila pockets the plastic bags and grabs the handgun from Henry's numb hand. She fires another round into Armand's chest. CORP. HAZZARD That's for being a lousy lover. Let's go. A reluctant and shocked Henry follows Corporal Hazzard out of the room. INT. HENRY'S BEDROOM -EARLY MORNING Henry wakes. Sheila is still asleep behind him. He rises and exits. INT. HENRY'S KITCHEN Henry makes himself a coffee. A radio rests on the counter. He flips it on. The news drones over the box. NEWSCASTER(V.O.) And now on to national news. The body of Armand Delgado an alleged American drug lord was found yesterday at his vacation home in Maine. Henry freezes. NEWSCASTER(V.O.) Mr. Delgado was shot four times in the chest. His six bodyguards were all killed by what police are describing as an expert killer. Henry pounces on the radio and turns it off. He draws back and stares at it in disbelief. For the first time he notices a bottle of wine on the counter. Two wine glasses sit nearby. Fade out on the bottle. INT. THE DARK ROOM - LATER Henry stands at attention. Tara enters holding a soccer ball. Henry spies her and smiles. BIGGS Tara! How are you? TARA Fine. I thought maybe we could kick around the soccer ball a little. BIGGS That would be fun. I have wonderful news. TARA What's that. BIGGS I've been given a mission! A mission! My Sergeant has every confidence that I will be successful at completing all mission objectives. Tara smiles. TARA Do they give your mission a name like they do for wars and stuff? BIGGS Oh yes. My mission is called "Beautiful Son". TARA That sounds nice. Are you like delivering aid to needy children or rescuing people or something? Tara drops the ball to her feet and begins to idly roll it with one foot. BIGGS No. I am given the task of terminating an international terrorist. He is a murdering coward hiding behind the facade of a politician. Tara freezes. She looks shocked. TARA You're going to kill someone!? Henry is surprised at Tara's response. BIGGS That is my mission objective. TARA You can't kill people! Henry is confused. BIGGS It's actually very easy. TARA That's not what I mean. You're not SUPPOSED to kill people. It's wrong. BIGGS It's wrong? TARA I thought you were a nice guy Henry. Henry is becoming disturbed. BIGGS I am a nice guy. My mission is to save the nation. In order to do that I must terminate this person. TARA Save the nation? From what? BIGGS From... this coward. TARA You don't sound to sure about this Henry. Are you sure the Sergeant is one of the good guys. BIGGS Yes. He knows who the bad people are. We killed the drug lord. TARA What? BIGGS He was bringing in heroin into this country. You know what heroin does to people. Tara studies Henry. She's not so sure of him anymore. TARA How do I know you won't kill me? BIGGS Tara! I would never hurt you! You are my friend. Henry seems genuinely hurt. TARA What if I was your mission? Henry does not answer. Tara picks up her ball and starts to leave. Henry is obviously upset. TARA I have to go. BIGGS All I ever wanted was... TARA What. Henry looks lost. INT. A PRACTICE ROOM Henry fronts the blues band he was seen with earlier. He sings but we can not hear anything. EXT. THE DARK ROOM BIGGS I think it had something to do with music. TARA The blues? Henry smiles and seems to calm. BIGGS Yes the blues. Tara smiles, turns and leaves. INT. TARA'S BEDROOM Tara sits in front of her PC. She is wearing a virtual reality headset. She pulls the headset off and stares at the monitor in front of her. She is deep in thought.
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PART IV of "The Shadow Left Behind"