The Siege

FADE IN:

EXT. TYRE, LEBANON - DAY

A coast road. Date palms. Burnt-out hulks that once were

Russian T-54 TANKS have long ago been left to rust in the

sun. A 4-door MERCEDES hurtles down the ancient road.

DEVEREAUX (V.O.)

We're online for exactly two minutes.

A SATELLITE VIEW

Of the same scene. A grainy IMAGE of the car, and some

distance away, a moving cluster of animals. They are:

HERD OF SHEEP:

As seen at ground level. Two SHEPHERDS goad them forward. In

the distance, the MERCEDES approaches.

FLASH CUT -- NEWS FOOTAGE (STOCK)

U.S. Army medics and rescue workers frantically sift through

the rubble of a collapsed barracks.

CNN REPORTS (V.O.)

"...the single worst casualty in the

history of American military --"

BACK TO -- THE COAST ROAD

The Mercedes barrels down the road, doing at least 80 mph.

THE SATELLITE VIEW

Shows that the car is fast approaching the point where the

herd of sheep are about to cross the road.

FLASH CUT -- NEWS FOOTAGE (STOCK)

Amidst the rubble, the dead are zipped into body bags.

CNN REPORTS (V.O.)

"-- the truck, carrying high

explosives is believed to have hit

the barracks --

BACK TO -- THE COAST ROAD

The driver of the Mercedes hits his horn but doesn't slow

down. In addition to the driver and a bodyguard, an OLD MAN

WITH A HENNAED BEARD, a turban, and sunglasses sits in back.

THE SATELLITE VIEW

As the Mercedes closes with the sheep:

DEVEREAUX (V.O.)

Slow down.

BACK TO -- THE COAST ROAD

As if on command, the Mercedes finally slows as the sheep

move lazily across the road.

FLASH CUT -- NEWS FOOTAGE (STOCK)

President Clinton addresses reporters in the White House.

PRESIDENT CLINTON

"To any lengths, anywhere in the

world, to bring these people to

justice."

BACK TO -- THE COAST ROAD

Inside the Mercedes, they watch as the Shepherd urinates and

the sheep mill about in the middle of the road. The driver

rolls down his window to scream in Arabic at:

THE POOR SHEPHERD

Who hurries to button his fly. It is only as we look closer

that we see the silenced muzzle of:

COLT COMMANDO RIFLE

Protruding from the sleeve of his jhallabah. And then:

THE HERD OF SHEEP

Fill the frame, blocking our view of the Mercedes, and for a

moment, all we can HEAR is their gentle bleating. But as

they clear frame, we can see that:

THE MERCEDES:

Has been turned into an abattoir, its windshield shattered

and bloody. The driver slumps over the steering wheel, the

bodyguard is half out of the window. And in the distance:

WITH A MAGICIAN'S ALACRITY

One Shepherd pulls a BLACK HOOD over the Sheik's head while

the other injects him with a HYPODERMIC. The first Shepherd

activates a SATCHEL CHARGE and swings it into the Mercedes

while the second straps the Sheik into a HARNESS... A BALLOON

self-inflates and hurtles aloft, pulling a cable attached to

the Sheik's harness.

AN MC-130 COMBAT TALON AIRCRAFT

Its "Whiskers" in the nose of the aircraft snag the cable

without slowing and roars off, the Sheik dangling unconscious

beneath -- just as the satchel charges EXPLODE the Mercedes.

THE SATELLITE VIEW

Records impassively for a moment, then breaks up into static.

DEVEREAUX:

Gotcha.

IN A SAFE HOUSE -- SOMETIME LATER

A pale, diminished Sheik sits at a steelcase table. A STEEL

COT and a STEEL TOILET. Closed-circuit cameras in the corner.

Opposite him:
the man, whose voice we have only heard: GENERAL

WILLIAM DEVEREAUX -- and though he wears a civilian suit,

his bearing betrays his pedigree. His considerable charm and

habitual skepticism are as much a product of self-discipline

as his close-order drill.

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