Collateral 1.

FADE IN:

1 INT. BRADLEY TERMINAL - BLURS - DAY 1

slide past in a 400mm lens. Then, entering a plane of focus

is VINCENT. He walks towards us...an arriving passenger.
Suit.
Shirt. No tie. Sunglasses and expensive briefcase say
"confident executive traveler." The suit's custom-made but
not domestic. His hair and shades are current, but it would
be difficult to describe his identifying specifics...grey
suit, white shirt, medium height. And that's the idea...
CLOSE BEHIND VINCENT
OVER his left shoulder, walking through milling travelers
towards the distant wall of metal and glass, sunlight
streaming at him...
ANOTHER BUSINESSMAN
- suit, blonde crew cut - walks to camera. Same sunlight, but
it hits him from the side. His trajectory is from the left.
His eyeline is slightly right. Just now, he looks down at a
ticket in his hand...
OVER VINCENT'S LEFT SHOULDER...
right now something catches Vincent's eye. And the two men
bump into each other...
TWO-SHOT...
VINCENT
You okay? Sorry...
Vincent puts down his briefcase. The man has a similar
briefcase.
MAN
(North London working-
class accent)
Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, mate. Enjoy
LA...
VINCENT GRABS THE BRIEFCASE OF THE MAN
with the North London working-class accent. And continues
towards the exit. Was it an accident? Was it a brush pass?
 Collateral 2.

The Man's accent signified nothing to us except one thing:

foreign origin.

VINCENT
approaches until he's in ECU...
OVERHEAD SHOT: VINCENT
up from the bottom of the frame, departs across the floor
with the yellow tile, until we lose him into the milling
hundreds of Angelenos, heading out into Greater LA and its
eighteen million people.
CREDIT SEQUENCE:
Images wipe across the screen, kinetic and abstract, floating
and dreamlike in SLO-MO:
Shades of yellow. Ribbons of silver. Shimmers of chrome.
Headlights sweeping past, flaring to white. Brake lights
flashing, halating red. Reflections of overhead fluorescence
flowing like liquid along windshield glass...
SOUNDS are dreamlike and abstract, reverberated and
discordant, bouncing off concrete walls: car doors OPENING
and CLOSING.
Brakes. A BABBLE of multi-lingual crosstalk.
Racing Forms. A Farsi newspaper. African hands on a
Blackberry. Max's hands do The New York Times crossword. A
West African speaks French into a cell phone. Metallica in a
headset. Hip-hop, Norteno...

Mechanics hands change tires, replace air cleaners, close a

hood.

2 INT. TAXI DISPATCH - L.A. - DAY 2

ORANGE and YELLOW FORD CROWN VICTORIAS are wiping screen. We
find ourselves in a busy garage at change of shift. A
balletic convergence of arriving and departing cars. One's
door's flung open...

3 INT. ONE CAB - MAX'S HANDS 3

enter. They wipe the seats with paper towels and 409...a DMV
LICENSE fitted into the small Lexan holder. On it is a
picture of Max.
 Collateral 3.

Lights being checked. Indicators. Hazards. Switches. Similar

to a pilot doing an aircraft check list. Fast. All fine.

REVEAL NOW: MAX'S BRIEFCASE

He opens it, preparing for his workday. CD caddy of personal
mixes goes on a visor. Spreadsheet peaks out a worn Mercedes
S500 brochure, clipped open. A submarine sandwich from
Subway.

LONG LENS: OTHER CABBIES - OTHER FACES

load-in. Southern California diversity - some unshaven,

swapping stories, counting cash, one stands on the passenger
seat to shout over the roof to his pal, spills his coffee,
couldn't care less...
Not Max. His cab is fly. Among cabbies he is GQ.

And as CAR HORNS BLARE. AD LIB BANTER. CABBIES SHOUT. Max

gets behind the wheel, closes the door...

4 INT. CAB - DAY 4

...and WHAM! The noise evaporates. Welcome silence. Max takes
a moment to savor it.

He starts the engine. RAP MUSIC BLARES from the radio. Max
turns it off.

He dumps a CD into the changer. MOZART SONATA fills the cab.

From the open briefcase, Max also pulls out one last thing...

A TATTERED POSTCARD
which depicts the whitest sand and bluest sea you can
imagine.

A dream place. An endorphin-releasing groove. Limitless

horizon. It's the Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean.

MAX

slips the postcard under the rubber bands on the visor. He

can see it whenever he wants to. But not now. He flips the
visor up, puts the car in gear and pulls out.

CUT TO:

5 EXT. LA DOWNTOWN - MAX'S CAB - LATE DAY 5

 Collateral 4.

northbound on the 405 or Harbor Freeway, an on-ramp to the

east 105. It's all magical in the light. Max's cab, rocketing
along circulinear ramps into complexity of five traffic
streams...

6 INT. CAB 6

...harsh reality intrudes. Max is driving a YOUNG

PROFESSIONAL COUPLE with carry-on bags, having a heated
argument about...

MAN
...it's always you. Why is
everything always directed at
you...?

WOMAN
...everything is not "always about
me." He was being sarcastic and you
goddamn well know it...

MAN
...I'm sorry, I didn't hear it that
way...

WOMAN
...oh, bullshit! How about the dig
about the makeover...?

MAN
...what do you want me to do, punch
the guy out? I work with him. And
you're perfectly capable of taking
care of your own...
(pink)

WOMAN
(interrupts)
...well, last I checked, you were
sleeping with me, so unless you
wanna start fucking him, I
suggest...
Max endures it silently, invisible as furniture. He doesn't
exist as far as his passengers are concerned...

7 INT. CAB - LATE DAY 7

...as Max drops an elderly Asian couple in Little Saigon...

Up ahead, he sees a cluster of CHINESE GANGBANGERS in their
early 20's wearing cheap suits, white shirts and no ties.
 Collateral 5.

Some guy gets pushed to the ground, punched and kicked while
four or five watch, amused.
Max's first instinct...

MAX
Hey, leave-up on him, man...

One GANG MEMBER, eating take-out with chopsticks, hears,

turns, sees Max.
GANG MEMBER
Say what? What you lookin' at,
bitch?
(stream of hot Cantonese)

He throws his food container. Another throws a beer bottle.

Max hits the accelerator as the bottle bounces off the rear
windshield...

8 EXT/INT. CAB - GAS STATION - LATE DAY 8

by the freeway. Mexican murals are coated with a patina of

corrosion from the fumes. We find Max cleaning Chinese take-
out off his cab with the water hose while the gas pump CLICKS
OFF.

The Attendant he's known for five years finishes a taco.

ATTENDANT
(in Spanish)
How'd you get the chop suey all over
the cab?

MAX
(in Spanish)
I didn't. The cab got in a fight
with a gang of Chinese Cholos.

ATTENDANT
(in Spanish)
There's been sprouts by the
passenger door.

Max hangs the nozzle back, gets in the car...

Max slips his credit card into the briefcase. We glimpse the
Mercedes S500 catalogue again. And Max flips the visor down,
staring at the island. Soothed by the blue.

We're seeing the most private of Max's rituals, the one he

doesn't share with anybody.
 Collateral 6.

Now, he starts hustling for calls by posting himself in a

nearby zone. See Max work the computer. He bids and gets a
next load.

DISPATCHER

get language

CUT TO:

9 INT. CAB - MAGIC HOUR - SUPERIOR COURT BUILDING 9

MAX
presumably, has dropped a load in front. He fills out his
trip sheet. A pedestrian businessman asks directions to LAX.
Max ad libs, directing him to the people-mover.

Yellow cylindrical stairs...a pretty young WOMAN descends

into the interior lobby.

Max finishes his notation.

The young WOMAN detours through media and the rush-hour crowd
while talking rapid fire into a cell phone, starts toward
Max's cab, waving at it...

Max doesn't see her, starts to pull away.

She gives up, turns toward a green City Cab behind her, but
it just picked up a load.

Then, Max catches sight of her and stops. Red taillights.

She turns and starts for the cab.

We SEE Max regard her in his rearview mirror. He ejects a CD

and loads a different one.

ADDENDUM: WILD DIAL FOR ANNIE ACTION while Annie's on the

cell phone to UNHEARD LEGAL ASSISTANT/TRANSCRIBER...

ANNIE
I need it transcribed...

ASSISTANT'S VOICE (UNHEARD)

Off of what?

ANNIE
Off the line sheets.
ASSISTANT'S VOICE (UNHEARD)
Why?
 Collateral 7.

ANNIE
'Cause I think it's him on there. In
the gold Lexus on the cell. If it
is, he's enhanceable, 'cause of
priors in the late '80's...
ASSISTANT'S VOICE (O.S.)
What about tomorrow afternoon?
(buff)

10 EXT/INT. CAB 10

The woman, ANNIE FARRELL, enters the cab. Everything about

her says "serious professional" from her suit to her
briefcase and purse. Still on her cell, her attention is
focused on the call.

ANNIE
...no, the transcriptions need to be
done by seven a.m.. Period. Okay?

MAX
How ya' doin'? Where to?
ANNIE
Downtown. 312 North Spring Street.
Take Sepulveda to Slauson to La
Brea. La Brea north to 6th into
downtown.
Max pulls away from the curb, starts the meter and turns
left.
ANNIE
(into cell phone)
So you'll be up late. I'm pulling an
all-nighter, too. Save the tears.
She ends the call, starts to check her voicemail on her
phone.
Max's eyes in the rearview mirror...

MAX
I'll take 105 east and up the 110.
It's faster.

ANNIE
(doesn't look at him)
What?
MAX
(louder)
 Collateral 8.

105 to the 110 is faster.

ANNIE
110 turns into a parking lot around
USC.
MAX
This late, the 110 is moving, but La
Brea north of the Santa Monica is
jammed.

ANNIE
110 north of the 10 you get people
going to Pasadena and they drive
slow.

MAX
That's why I jump off at Grand.
(looks at her)
But, hey, surface streets is cool.
That's what you want, that's what we
do...
Annie looks up for the first time. Skeptically...
ANNIE
Are we taking bets? What if you're
wrong?
MAX
Your ride is free.

ANNIE
You got yourself a deal.

11 EXT. OLYMPIC BLVD. - DUSK TO NIGHT 11

Max's cab maneuvers easily through light traffic past golf
driving ranges.

12 INT. CAB - DUSK TO NIGHT 12

Annie glances up from a legal brief, noticing the lack of
traffic.

13 INT. CAB - DUSK TO NIGHT 13

Annie glances up from a legal brief, noticing the lack of
traffic.

ANNIE
Collateral 9.

Go ahead, say it. Go ahead.

MAX
...lucky with the lights.
ANNIE
You weren't "lucky with the lights."
What you were was right. I was
wrong...
(glances at his license)
...Max.
She sets the brief aside, eyes tired anyway. She notices the
MUSIC playing faintly up front. Bach's "Air on a G String."

ANNIE
You mind turning this up?
Max doesn't mind at all. He tweaks the volume up. Annie leans
her head back to listen, closes her eyes.
MAX
You like Bach?

ANNIE
(nods)
I used to play this piece in high
school.
MAX
Let me guess. Woodwinds?
ANNIE
(smiles)
Viola. I never had the lungs for
wind instruments.
MAX
Could'a fooled me, the way you were
unloading into that cell phone.

ANNIE
(laughs)
Different instrument...
(beat)
You know, if you'd only listened to
me, we'd be all bogged down in
traffic right now, and you would
have made an extra five bucks.
MAX
Yeah? Keep it. Buy yourself
something. Go wild.
Collateral 10.

ANNIE
(off his silence)
A gentleman. I thought chivalry was
a necessary casualty of gender
politics...
MAX
Not a big thing, you know...?
ANNIE
How many cabbies get you into an
argument to save you money?

MAX
There were two of us. I killed the
other guy. I don't like
competition...

She's charmed by his deadpan.

ANNIE
You take pride in...being the best
at what you do...?

MAX
This?
(hesitates)
This is temporary. You know. Pays
the bills. I fill in with this. I
WILL be the best at what I do, but
that's something else.
ANNIE
What else?

MAX
I'm setting up something...
ANNIE
Like tell me...?
MAX
...limo company I'm putting
together. Island Limousines. An
island on wheels. So I'm part-timing
until I get delivery, Benzes off
leases, work up my client lists,
staff up, all that...
An uncomfortable beat. He turns the conversation back to her:

MAX
You like being a lawyer?
 Collateral 11.

ANNIE
You psychic?
MAX
I'm starting an 800 hotline.
(off her look)
Caught your phone call. And even if
I hadn't, there's the dark
pinstripe. Elegant, not too hip,
which rules out advertising, plus a
top drawer briefcase, that you live
out of, purse looks like a Bodega...
ANNIE
(laughs)
Bottega.

MAX
...Bottega. Guy gets in my cab with
a machete? I figure he's a sushi
chef. You? Clarence Darrow.

Annie can't help laughing.

ANNIE
Not quite. He worked defense. I'm a
prosecutor...

MAX
Big case?
ANNIE
Yeah.

14 EXT. FEDERAL BUILDING (NOT 312 SPRING STREET) - DOWNTOWN - 14

DUSK

Max's cab slides in to the curb. Beat. Still a lot of

pedestrian and car traffic, people heading home for the
night.

15 INT. CAB - ANNIE'S 15

smile fades as she gazes up at her building, some anxiety
comes back.

ANNIE
You got us here fast...
She digs in her purse for the fare.
MAX
Collateral 12.

You never answered my question. You

like what you do?
ANNIE
(hedging)
Yeah.
(buff)
MAX
But not right now...?

ANNIE
(nods)
No, I do...like I can't wait. ...I
love standing up in that courtroom.
(hesitates)
At the same time...I always get this
clenched-up thing the night before
the first day...
MAX
Clenched-up how...?
ANNIE
(beat)
I think I'm gonna lose. I think I
suck. I think my case sucks. I
haven't prepared enough. My exhibits
aren't in order. People are gonna
figure out that I don't know what
I'm doin'. And I've had this charade
going for years. I represent the
Department of Justice of the United
States government and my opening
statement is gonna fall flat at the
really important point and the
jury's gonna laugh at me.
(beat)
Then I cry... I don't throw-up. A
lot of people throw-up. I have a
strong stomach.
(beat)
Then I get it together. And rewrite
my opening statement. Work the
exhibits. For the rest of the night.
That's my routine.
(looks up with a smile)
In the morning, it starts. I'm fine.
Max is focused on her eyes.
MAX
You need a vacation.
Collateral 13.

ANNIE
(faint smile)
I just had...a vacation. On the
Harbor Freeway.

She takes money out of her purse.

MAX
No. Not in a cab. You need your head
straight, gotta get your unified
self up, get harmonic...you know...
ANNIE
When was the last time you took a
break?
MAX
I take little ones all the time.

ANNIE
How often?
MAX
Dozen times a day.

He flips the visor down, revealing the postcard of white

beaches, clear green water. It's the first time he's shared
this with anybody:
MAX
Maldives Islands. It gets heavy, I
take five. Go there.
(buff)
On impulse, he slips the postcard free and offers it to her.
ANNIE
No, I couldn't take that...I
couldn't.
MAX
Yes, you could. You need it more
than I do.
(off her hesitation)
It helps. I promise.
She accepts the postcard, surprised and touched. Her gaze
lingers on his for a moment. She holds it.

ANNIE
Wow. Thanks for everything, Max...
MAX
Sure thing.
 Collateral 14.

She gets out of the cab, starts to walk away...

...but turns back, ducking into the cab's window. Looking a
bit flustered, she pulls a business card and offers it to
him.

ANNIE
In case you ever...I don't
know...wanna start an investigation
of a Fortune 500 company or argue
cab routes or something...
And with that, she goes towards the three assistants waiting
for her outside the revolving door. Max is left somewhat
stunned, holding her card. He glances down at it:

ANNIE FARRELL
ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
CRIMINAL DIVISION
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
Meanwhile...

16 INT. FEDERAL BUILDING, GARAGE - DOOR 16

A hand punches a sequence of numbers into a keypad. The
garage is visible beyond. The lock unlocks. We see it is
Vincent who walks into the steel interior staircase from the
garage.

17 INT. FEDERAL BUILDING - VINCENT - DUSK 17

emerges from the interior staircase into the lobby in his

good suit with the expensive briefcase. Casually, he glances
to his right. We don't know why...
OVER VINCENT
in front of him is a guard station and a row of tumbrils that
require an identity card to not trigger and alarm. Vincent
produces his card, scans it across the top.

The indicator goes GREEN. Vincent slips the card into his
briefcase and walks through, towards the bank of elevators.
However, he doesn't take an elevator. He walks past them
towards an escalator down to the street. Why did he walk
into, through and out of the lobby of the building?
FRONTAL CLOSE: VINCENT
 Collateral 15.

and PAN RIGHT with him as he and we start a descent on the

escalator from the stone foyer to the street level.
PAST VINCENT'S HEAD,

riding the "up" escalator is Annie Farrell and the group of

lawyers. Vincent looks at her, appreciatively, then away.

18 EXT. FEDERAL BUILDING - VINCENT 18

exits, approaches us, and ARM DOWN to include the yellow top
of Max's cab...

Max still holds Annie's business card, marveling at it and

her.
From the FRONT...
VINCENT
Hello?
MAX
(glances back)
Uh, yeah...

And Max can't hide his eyeline and interest...

VINCENT
Let's go to...
(Max isn't paying
attention)
You free? Or...
Vincent starts towards another cab pulling up...

MAX
Yeah, yeah, sorry...
Vincent gets in.
MAX
Where to?
VINCENT
452 South Union Street.

19 INT. CAB - MAX 19

pulls out, starts the meter.
VINCENT
(checks his watch)
 Collateral 16.

How long you think this'll take?

MAX
Fourteen minutes.
VINCENT
Fourteen? Not fifteen? Not thirteen?
MAX
Two minutes to get onto the 101.
Transition to the 110 to the 10 and
exit on Normandie is four minutes.
North on Normandie is five minutes.
Two minutes to South Union 'cause
there's roadwork. Thirteen plus one
for "shit happens."
Vincent checks his watch.
VINCENT
Mind if I time you?
(Max shrugs)
What do I get if you're wrong? A
free ride?

MAX
An apology.
Max heads for the 100 on-ramp.
MAX
...I already offered up the free
ride today.

VINCENT
To who?
MAX
...some girl.
VINCENT
Did you ask her out?
Vincent's read Max's mind. Max hadn't thought it through that
far. Now that he does, reality sinks in. Annie's out of his
league and he knows it.
Gone forever, Max jams her card under the rubber bands on the
visor.
CUT TO:

20 EXT. 6TH STREET BRIDGE OVER 110 - NIGHT 20

 Collateral 17.

Max's cab zooms across, heading out of downtown.

21 INT. CAB - VINCENT 21

Max changes the subject.
MAX
First time in LA?
VINCENT
No. To tell the truth, whenever I'm
here, I can't wait to leave. Too
sprawled-out. Disconnected. You
know...? But that's me.
(beat)
You like it here?
MAX
It's home.
VINCENT
17 million people. This was a
country, it would be the fifth
biggest economy in the world. But
nobody knows each other. Too
impersonal. But that's just me...you
know...
(beat)
I read about this guy. Gets on the
MTA, here, and dies. Six hours he's
riding the subway before anybody
notices. This corpse doing laps
around LA, people on and off,
sitting next to him, nobody notices.
MAX
I see your point. Yeah...
Vincent glances around the cab.
VINCENT
Cleanest cab I've ever been in. Your
regular ride?

MAX
Yeah. I share it with the dayshift
guy.
VINCENT
Prefer nights?
MAX
Collateral 18.

People are more relaxed, you know?

Less stress, less traffic, better
tips.
VINCENT
You get benefits?
MAX
Like sick leave?
VINCENT
Retirement? Health and welfare?
MAX
It's not that kind of job.
VINCENT
Start a union.
MAX
Me, specifically?

VINCENT
Why not?
MAX
Last thing I need is a reason to
keep driving a cab. It's temporary.
I'm fillin' in, you know, while this
other thing I'm putting together is
shaping up...

VINCENT
How long you been driving?
MAX
Twelve years.
Hardly temporary...
VINCENT
Really? What else are you putting
together?
Max hesitates. He's not as secure as he was with Annie.
MAX
I don't talk about it. No offense,
but...
VINCENT
(smiles, shrugs)
None taken. Talkers and doers. Like
you, I like doers.
 Collateral 19.

22 EXT. SOUTH UNION STREET APARTMENT BUILDING - NIGHT 22

A rundown, quasi-deserted area. Alienation in the twilight. A
lonely tenant watches the city from an open window. Max's cab
pulls to the curb...

23 INT. CAB - VINCENT 23

closes his briefcase, checks his watch.

VINCENT
Fourteen minutes. Man, you're
good...
MAX
Lucky with the lights.
VINCENT
Yeah, sure. You probably know the
light schedules, too.
(leans forward)
Listen...I'm in town on a real
estate deal. A closing. One night. I
got five stops to make, collect
signatures. See some friends. Then I
got a six a.m. out of LAX. Why don't
you hang with me for the night...?
MAX
I'm not a hire car. It's against
regs...
VINCENT
Regulations? These guys don't pay
you sick leave.
(pulls his wallet)
How much you pull down a shift?
MAX
Two-fifty, four hundred.

VINCENT
I'll make it six hundred. Plus an
extra hundred if you get me to LAX
and I don't have to run for the
plane.
Vincent draws CRISP HUNDRED-DOLLAR BILLS from his briefcase,
fans them like a magic trick. Meanwhile, a car pulls up
behind double-parked Max. Vincent steals a glimpse of his PC.
See a real estate prospectus-looking display.

VINCENT
 Collateral 20.

...take a chance.
MAX
Man, I don't know.
VINCENT
Yes, you do.

MAX
(succumbs)
Yeah. Okay.
Vincent smiles, gives him a firm handshake.
VINCENT
Cool. We got a deal. Here's three
hundred down. What's your name?
MAX
Max.
VINCENT
Max? I'm Vincent.
Vincent gets out. Max calls after him:
MAX
I can't double park here...

VINCENT
I'll meet you in the alley behind
the building.
Understood. Vincent steps into the building foyer, while...
Max puts the car in gear...

24 EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT 24

...and pulls into the alley behind the apartment building.

25 INT. CAB - MAX 25

brings the car to a stop and notices Vincent's briefcase
lying on the back seat. A trusting soul. Max smiles.
MAX
Definitely not from around here.

He kills the engine. Silence.

There's a noticeable lack of city noise. DISTANT talk radio.
 Collateral 21.

Spanish gospel from a Baptist church. An occasional car

passes the mouth of the alley.
Max trades Mozart for Beethoven.
Max checks his watch. Dinnertime. He turns to his battered
briefcase on the passenger seat.

It's filled with carefully arranged items. NAPKINS in the

pockets. UTENSILS in the pen holders. FOIL PACKS of mayo and
mustard and Thousand Island Dressing. 1.5 liter PLASTIC
BOTTLE of vitamin mineral water. The well-worn Mercedes
brochure for the S500. A spreadsheet, like a handwritten
business plan. A large submarine sandwich wrapped in two
halves. Neat note pads.
Everything's in methodical order.

26 EXT/INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - VERY CLOSE PAST VINCENT 26

climbing stairs with palm trees and downtown behind...

27 INT. CAB - MAX 27

spreads Thousand Island on the sandwich. He glances up at the
visor. He tilts it down, peering at Annie's business card,
wondering what to do. Will he call her?
He sits a moment, fighting a wave of sadness. Unhappy with
himself. With his life. His place in the world.

28 INT. CAB - MAX 28

raises the sandwich to take a bite...
FROM THE FLOOR UP PAST MAX + THE STEERING WHEEL (VFX - GREEN
SCREEN)
up THROUGH the windshield is the twinkle of stars in the
night sky. Suddenly, a dark shape from above blacks out the
sky. It descends towards us. As Max takes a bite...
...WHAM! SOMETHING HUGE rocks the cab on its axles! GLASS
rains down. A HEADLIGHT EXPLODES! The windshield FRACTURES!
Max bounces off the ceiling. His submarine deconstructs all
over the interior. His coffee spills...

...and then abrupt, stunning silence.

What hit him. An earthquake? Max takes a dazed beat. He peers
at the windshield...
 Collateral 22.

THE DEAD FACE OF A FAT MAN STARES AT HIM.

Max recoils with a yell, scrambles from the cab, heart
pounding...

29 EXT. ALLEY - FROM ABOVE: CAB - NIGHT 29

A CORPSE is angled across part of his roof and windshield in
a bathrobe. There's shards of window glass from upstairs
everywhere. It makes a halo around the cab.
Max is stunned.
He looks to see where the body came from.

MAX POV: 3RD STORY (SOUTH UNION LOCATION)

A window on the top floor is broken out. A white curtain
flaps in the breeze.
LOW ANGLE: CMS MAX
turns. Vincent has entered the alley and now stops.
Max's first thought: this passenger will think Max ran into
this guy.

MAX
He - He fell on my cab...!
(points)
VINCENT
(pause)
You always stutter?
MAX
Well, yeah. Yeah. Guy fell on my
motherfucking cab from up there...!
Max looks up, points again, as if Vincent might have missed
it the first time. Vincent's focus hasn't left Max.
MAX
I think he's dead.
VINCENT
...taken two .45s and did a high
dive onto his head. It's a good
guess.
Max stares at Vincent. It's sinking in. Vincent, meanwhile,
has to make his decision. About Max. Kill him and find
another, or...
Collateral 23.

MAX
You - you killed him?
VINCENT
No. I - I shot him. The bullets and
the fall killed him.
A frozen beat. Everything's out in the open. Max realizes
he's in trouble. He backs away, thinking escape...
...and like lightning, Vincent's .45 H+K is in his hand. To
Max the .45 caliber bore is the diameter of the Spring Street
tunnel.
VINCENT
Red-light-green-light? Light's red.
Max freezes.
VINCENT
You can run, but you'll die tired.
Max nods. Shakily raises his hands.
VINCENT
Put down your hands.
(beat)
Are you cool? Say "I am cool."
MAX
You are cool.
VINCENT
No.
(beat)
You say you are cool.

MAX
I am...I'm cool.
Vincent decides. The gun disappears back into Vincent's
waistband.
VINCENT
Okay. Help me out here.
MAX
With what?
VINCENT
El Gordo decided to get some air and
not take the stairs. So we go to
plan B. Pop the trunk.
Collateral 24.

MAX
My trunk?

VINCENT
(Isn't it self evident?)
I can't leave him here. So unless
you want him riding up front with
you...and given the hygiene...
(smells)
...and his sphincters let go...
Max reluctantly pops the trunk, circles to the front of the
car.

Vincent reaches over the hood, grabs the corpse by the

bathrobe lapels, heaves the body into a sitting position.
VINCENT
Gonna roll him off the hood.
(a homily for Max)
Always lift with your legs...
MAX
I don't think I can do this.

VINCENT
He's only a dead guy. On three. Uno.
Dos. Three.
He rolls the corpse off the hood. Grimacing, Max gets a firm
grip under the arms. Vincent gets the legs.
VINCENT
Got it?

MAX
Yeah.
They start shuffling toward the trunk. Suddenly, Max lets out
a YELL, almost dropping his end.
VINCENT
What?
MAX
His hand moved! His goddamn hand
twitched!
VINCENT
It's a spasm! Jesus, don't be such a
girl...
ANGLE FROM INSIDE TRUNK
 Collateral 25.

as they heave the body inside, pausing to catch their breath.

VINCENT
(to heavy dead person)
Never heard of a treadmill?
He slams the trunk, shutting us into DARKNESS...

30 EXT. CAB - NIGHT 30

...and we find Max frozen like a statue while Vincent is
dousing the hood with Max's 1.5 liter bottle of drinking
water.
VINCENT
Six liters of blood in the average
Angeleno, he's gotta dump all
his...on your cab.
(a final dousing)
Okay, that's good enough.
Vincent heads for the car, notices Max's feet are frozen to
the concrete.
MAX
Uh, look...why don't you, like, take
the cab...
VINCENT
"Take the cab..."
MAX
Yeah. I - I'll chill. You know.
And...they don't check. You know?
They don't. They don't know who's
driving these things. You, me...
VINCENT
And you promise you will never tell
anybody? Right? ...get in the
fucking car.
Max does. Vincent gets into the back seat...

31 INT. CAB - MAX 31

behind the wheel, turns the key. The ENGINE GRINDS. He tries
again. MORE GRINDING.
VINCENT
Can we leave the scene of the crime,
now, please?
 Collateral 26.

MAX
I'm trying...
He turns the ignition again. GRIND. GRIND. Vincent's getting
steamed:
VINCENT
Max.
MAX
It's not me!

Grind. Grind.
VINCENT
The engine is already on. Put the
little pointer on the letter "D."
"D" stands for Drive.
Max pulls out of the alley...

32 EXT. STREET - AS MAX'S CAB 32

MAX
You're making me nervous.
VINCENT
I'm making you nervous? I'm the one
on a schedule...
...accelerates away, disappearing, another CAR appears.

33 EXT. UNION STREET 33

It cruises down the street and stops in front of the
apartment building.

RAY FANNING emerges from the car. Edged hair, an earring,

sports clothes. A salesman or a player or a dealer. Forties,
a face with character and some miles. And something insistent
about his intent...
He heads towards the entry gate, rings a buzzer. Waits a
moment. Rings again. Nothing. Plus...he looks like he could
kick your ass if he wanted to.
He pulls a thin plastic card from an inner pocket of his
jacket, jimmies the door lock...

34 INT. APARTMENT BUILDING COURTYARD, THIRD FLOOR - FANNING - 34

NIGHT
 Collateral 27.

approaches across the balcony walkway against the junky palms

and downtown skyscape.
He knocks on the door...causing the door to swing in
slightly.

He glances down, sees the lock was pulled. Tensing, he fades

to one side, his hand going to his holster at his hip.
He draws a Beretta, reaches out and pushes the door all the
way open...

35 INT. APARTMENT - NOTHING - NIGHT 35

A dark shambles. Old take-out. A TV. Fanning enters
cautiously, alert for the slightest movement or sound.
FANNING
Ramone?
(beat)
Estas fiestando con una chica?
Nothing. Fanning cautiously enters the bedroom, worried now.
Reemerges. Nothing.

36 INT. APARTMENT - FANNING 36

carefully negotiates the corners and slides along the wall to
SEE...
THE BROKEN WINDOW
Glass missing. He leans out. A dizzying drop. A halo of
broken glass on the alley below...in the center of which is a
big blank spot.
FANNING
Fuck.
And he produces his police radio and we realize he's a cop.

37 INT. CAB, TRAVELING - MAX - NIGHT 37

Max winds his way through surface-street traffic, in shock,
sneaking anxious glances at Vincent in back. Vincent's got
the tablet PC from his briefcase, studying it. The silence is
thick.
Max's hand is shaking. He lifts it off the wheel, tries to
steady his fingers. Vincent diverts some attention to Max...
Collateral 28.

VINCENT (O.S.)
Try deep breathing.
MAX
What?
VINCENT
Adrenaline's wearing off. You get
shaky after. Some people slip into
shock. It's not uncommon. Deep
breathing helps.
Max starts drawing in breaths, letting them out slowly.

VINCENT
Is that better?
MAX
I think so.
They stop at a RED LIGHT. Max glances at the passenger seat.
Dressing and stray pieces of lettuce and mortadella. He parks
the gearshift and goes for the paper towels, cleaning up.
Vincent over the tablet PC, taking in Max. Softly:
VINCENT
What are you doing?
MAX
It's a mess.
VINCENT
So?

Max keeps wiping, as if getting the seats clean might put

everything right again.
VINCENT
Lady Macbeth. Leave the seats. The
light's green. We're sitting here.
A CAR HORN HONKS behind Max. The car whips around them to get
through the intersection.
DRIVER
Asshole!
VINCENT
You no longer have the cleanest cab
in La-La Land. You gotta live with
that. Focus on the job. Drive.
Collateral 29.

Right. Max puts the car in gear and proceeds.

VINCENT
(checks the PC)
7565 Fountain. You know it?
MAX
West Hollywood.
VINCENT
(checks his watch)
How long, you figure?
Max has to force himself to concentrate:
MAX
Seventeen minutes. Why?
Silence from the back. Max into the rearview, realizing:
MAX
Oh. Oh, no. You're kidding. We...
VINCENT
I told you we had other stops to
make tonight.
MAX
You said you were visiting friends!
VINCENT
They're somebody's friends...
(changes display)
You drive a cab. I make my rounds.
We both do our jobs, you might make
it through the night and come out
seven hundred bucks ahead.
MAX
I...I'm not trying to piss you off,
see? Okay? But I can't drive you
around so you can murder people...
Man, that's not my job...
VINCENT
Tonight it is.
MAX
You don't get it. I mean it. Really.
I'm not up for this...
Vincent realizes Max is on the verge of panic.
VINCENT
Collateral 30.

You are stressed. I understand that.

Keep breathing. Stay calm.
Max starts deep-breathing again, exhaling slowly. Vincent
stows the PC.
VINCENT
Are you breathing?
MAX
Yes.

VINCENT
Good. What else calms you down?
Candy? Cigarettes? Breathe.
MAX
Music.
VINCENT
Play music.
Max turns on the CD. SOFT CLASSICAL.
VINCENT
Chopin prelude. Stodgy.
(Max nods)
Here's the deal.
VINCENT
You were gonna drive me around and
never be the wiser. But because of
El Gordo's high dive, we're into
Plan B. Still breathing?
(beat)
Now. We have to make the best of it.
Improvise. Adapt to the environment.
Darwin. "Shit happens." The I
Ching...whatever. Roll with it...
MAX
I Ching? You threw a man out a
window!
VINCENT
I didn't throw him, he fell.
MAX
What'd he do to you?
VINCENT
Nothing. I only met him one time.
MAX
Collateral 31.

Then how can you kill him like that?

VINCENT
I should only kill people after I
get to know 'em?
(off Max's look)
Six billion people on the planet and
you get bent out of shape 'cause of
one fat guy?
MAX
Who, who was he?
VINCENT
What do you care? Ever hear of
Rwanda?
MAX
Rwanda. Yeah.
VINCENT
Tens of thousands killed before
sundown. Nobody's killed people that
fast since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Did you bat an eye, Max? Did you
join Amnesty International, Oxfam or
something? No.
(off Max's silence)
VINCENT
I off one Angeleno, you throw a
hissy fit...
Max stops at another RED LIGHT.
MAX
I don't know Rwandans.
VINCENT
You don't know the guy in the trunk,
either.
(beat)
If it makes you feel any better, he
was a criminal involved in a
Continuing Criminal Enterprise.
MAX
Oh, that makes it okay, then. 'Cause
all you're doing is taking out the
garbage...
VINCENT
Something like that...
(distracted)
Collateral 32.

What you need to remember is that

nobody gets out of this alive. Even
if we quit smoking. Cut out red
meat. Everybody dies...
Suddenly -- A BRILLIANT GLARE OF FLASHING LIGHTS stabs at the
cab. Max sees --
-- an LAPD CRUISER behind the cab. The ROOFTOP LIGHTS
FLASHING...

COP #1 (P.A.)
Please pull the vehicle over to the
curb.
Max complies. A second bright beam lights up the interior.
TWO UNIFORMED COPS emerge from the patrol car. Faceless
silhouettes, approaching cautiously.
VINCENT
(low)
Get rid of 'em.
MAX
How?
VINCENT
You're a cabby. Talk yourself out of
a ticket.
The cops are now circling to either side of the cab, using
Maglite FLASHLIGHTS.
Vincent eases the briefcase off his lap, his hands clear his
field of movement, spread open his jacket to better reach his
waistband and his H+K.
MAX
Please. Don't do anything.
VINCENT
Then don't let me get cornered. You
don't have the trunk space.
MAX
I can't believe this...
Vincent's hand reaches...
VINCENT
Believe it.

MAX
Collateral 33.

Don't. I'll talk to them, I'll talk

to them...!
VINCENT
(re: cops)
Probably married.
A COP'S HAND descends to the driver's window, raps loudly,
GOLD WEDDING BAND catching the light as it taps on the glass.
VINCENT
Maybe that one's got kids. Probably
his wife's pregnant...
MAX
I'll deal with it!
A FLASHLIGHT BEAM pops on at the driver's window. Cop #1
glaring light into Max's eyes.

A SECOND FLASHLIGHT BEAM pops on, this from Cop #2 on the

passenger side. Checking out Vincent in the back. Vincent
smiles good-naturedly.
Max rolls his window down. Cop #1 leans down, and we see his
face for the first time. A clean-cut blonde guy.
COP #1
License and registration.
Max pulls them off the visor, hands them over. The cop
examines them by flashlight.
COP #1
Pulled you over 'cause your
windshield's smashed.
(beat)
All of this current?
MAX
Yes, officer.
From the other side of the cab, COP #2 lets out a laugh. He's
playing his flashlight beam across the seats. Mustard and
mayo everywhere.
COP #2
Wha'd you, have a food fight in
here?
Max gives Vincent an "I told you so" look in the rearview
mirror. Meanwhile, we HEAR dimly on the POLICE RADIO about a
domestic disturbance on 83rd and Hoover and some officers
responding.
Collateral 34.

Cop #2 plays his beam across the cracked windshield and

damaged hood. Faint reddish traces in the paint. His smiles
fades.
COP #2
Is that blood?

MAX
Yeah. See...
(thinks fast)
I hit a deer.
COP #1
A deer...
MAX
Over by Slauson.
COP #1
A "South Central" deer?
MAX
Goddamn deer jumped out in front of
me. You believe that?
COP #1
(indicates Vincent)
Why you still carrying a passenger?

MAX
I was headed back to my depot, see,
you know? And his drop's on the way.
COP #1
Yeah, but your cab's not safe to
drive. And we're going to impound
it. We need to do a vehicle
inventory while we wait for the tow
truck. Pop the trunk and step out of
the vehicle.
(swings flashlight beam to
Vincent)
COP #1
I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to phone
for another cab.
VINCENT
Is that necessary, Officer? I'm just
a half mile from here.
COP #1
I'm afraid it is. Please exit the
vehicle.
Collateral 35.

(to Max)
You, too.
Max hears a SOFT CLICK behind him. The unmistakable sound of
a safety CLICKED OFF. He meets Vincent's gaze in the rearview
mirror. A whisper:
VINCENT
You open that trunk, they go inside.
Behind Vincent, through the rear windshield, Max sees Cop #2
moving to the trunk, playing his flashlight across it...
Max, mouth dry...
MAX
Hey, man, it's been a long day. You
know? It's so slow, I pay this guy
to ride so I don't get lonely...
(re: Vincent)
My first fare. How about a break?
I'm heading to the barn, anyway...
COP #1
Get out of the car. And open the
trunk...
Max tosses a hopeless look into the rearview. Vincent's
staring at him. No mercy there.
Max steps from the car. The cop escorts Max toward the rear,
Vincent smoothly pulls his H+K from his waistband and emerges
on the passenger side, gun held out of sight and a heartbeat
away from opening fire...
...a CRACKLE OF STATIC, a PANICKY VOICE COMES OVER THE POLICE
BAND:

POLICE RADIO
Officer needs help. We got a man
with a gun. Shots fired at 83rd and
Hoover...
Cop #2 to his partner.
COP #2
Let's go.
Off-screen radio talk from many responding units...
COP #1
(to Max; leaving)
Get that cab back to your garage...
 Collateral 36.

The cops pile into their black-and-white and ROAR off into
the night.
Max and Vincent are left standing, gazing across the cab at
each other.

VINCENT
Breathe.
Max starts deep-breathing as they get back in the cab...
CUT TO:

38 EXT. HOTEL + PENTHOUSE - CORPULENT MAN - NIGHT 38

in an attorneys suit with rapper clients.
VINCENT
(to himself)
I thought Californians exercised...?
REVEAL Vincent looking at his PC. Vincent pulls from his
briefcase an identity card for a Notary Public and a second
gun, a .45 Cal Para-Ordnance back up. He moves the slide,
checking there's a round in the chamber. Max hears metal on
metal, looks up. As Vincent holsters it in the small of his
back...
VINCENT
(abrupt tone)
What are you lookin' at?
He gets out and enters the passenger seat next to Max in the
front.
VINCENT
Hands on the wheel. Ten and two.
Like they taught you in driver's ed.
MAX
Why?
VINCENT
Because I say so.
Max grips the steering wheel. Vincent has plastic ties and
proceeds quickly and efficiently to bind Max's hands to the
steering wheel.
VINCENT
Cab's a disgrace. No wonder the cops
pulled you over.
Collateral 37.

On the way out of the car...

DISPATCH RADIO (O.S.)
Max? Max? You out there, you son of
a bitch?
Vincent looks to Max...
VINCENT
Who...is that?
MAX
Lenny, my dispatcher.

LENNY (O.S.)
I know you're out there! Answer the
goddamn call!
VINCENT
What happens if you don't?
MAX
He'll keep calling.
LENNY (O.S.)
Max? Answer!
Vincent reaches across Max, pulls the mike off the dash,
holds it up to Max's mouth.
VINCENT
Don't blow it.
Max nods. Vincent thumbs the toggle.

MAX
Uh, yeah? Lenny? It's me.
LENNY (O.S.)
I got off the phone with the cops. A
desk sergeant called to check you
brought the cab in...
Silence as Lenny waits for a reaction. Max and Vincent trade
a look. Vincent shrugs, thumbs the toggle. Say something.
MAX
Yeah? So?
LENNY (O.S.)
So? So, aside from I hate talking to
cops, they tell me you crashed the
goddamn cab?
Collateral 38.

MAX
It got crashed! I didn't...

LENNY (O.S.)
Do I care what, where or why? You're
payin'!
VINCENT
It was an accident. You're not
liable.
(Tell him.)
MAX
It was an accident. I'm not liable.
LENNY (O.S.)
Bullshit! I'm making you liable!
It's comin' outta your goddamn
pocket...
Vincent stares at Max, expecting him to respond.
VINCENT
Tell him to stick the cab up his fat
ass.
MAX
I can't do that. He's the Man.
VINCENT
So what?
MAX
I need the job.
VINCENT
No you don't.
LENNY (O.S.)
You still there? I'm talking to you!
Max? Max?
Vincent abruptly puts the mike to his mouth, thumbs the
toggle.

VINCENT
He's not paying you a damn thing!
LENNY (O.S.)
Who the hell are you?
Vincent glances up, tilts the visor down to see Annie's
business card.
Collateral 39.

VINCENT
Richard Riccardo, Assistant U.S.
Attorney. A passenger in this
taxicab, and I'm reporting you to
the DMV...
LENNY (O.S.)
(beat)
Let's not get excited.
VINCENT
Not excited? How am I supposed to
not get excited, listening to you
try to extort a working man? You
know goddamn well your collision
policy and general liability
umbrella would cover the damages.
What are you trying to pull, you
sarcastic prick?
LENNY (O.S.)
I'm just tryin' to...to...
VINCENT
Tell it to him.
(shifts the mike)
Tell him he's an asshole.
MAX
(hesitates)
You're an asshole.
VINCENT
Tell him next time he pulls any
shit, you're gonna stick this yellow
cab up his fat ass.
MAX
Next time you pull any shit, I'm
gonna stick this yellow cab up your
fat ass.
Vincent clicks off, hangs up the mike. Looks at Max.
Beat. Max, taped to the steering wheel, nods.
VINCENT
(smiles)
Don't wait up, hon. I gotta work
late.
He grabs the ignition keys, shuts Max's door, strolls away.
 Collateral 40.

Max watches in the sideview mirror as Vincent vanishes into

the building.
Max is left alone, trapped in his own cab in the alley.
Max jerks and strains against the duct tape, trying to free
his hands. He gives up, breathing hard.

39 INT. HOTEL, PENTHOUSE - NIGHT 39

The overweight LAWYER, SYLVESTER CLARKE, who we saw on
Vincent's P.C., separates from two girls and a second man,
all watching TV, to answer a phone...
SYLVESTER CLARKE
He identify himself?
(beat)
Sure. Let him up.

40 INT. LOBBY - 40
VINCENT
in shades leaves the Hotel Security and enters the elevator.
Meanwhile...

41 INT. HOTEL, PENTHOUSE - 41

SYLVESTER CLARKE
crosses towards the front door.

42 EXT. HOTEL - ALLEY 42

MOVING IN ON MAX
He glances in the sideview, wondering where Vincent is,
straining for a glimpse.

Nothing. Just darkness back there... Mind racing...

MAX
HEY! HEY! OVER HERE! I'M IN THE CAB!
HEY! HELP!
The street traffic's distant; nobody's around.
MAX
HELP! GODDAMN IT! THERE'S A MAN WITH
A GUN! HE'S GONNA KILL PEOPLE!
Collateral 41.

Max thrashes wildly against the duct tape, screaming with

frustration. He starts head-butting the car horn...
BEEEEEP! BEEP-BEEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEP! BEEP-BEEP-BEEEEEEEEEP!
He raises his head, checking the street traffic a quarter
block away. No one on the sidewalk takes notice of Max's cab.
MAX
Oh, fuck me.
He shifts low on the seat, getting his knee under the
dashboard.
He slams his knee up, hitting the RED EMERGENCY LIGHT BUTTON
concealed there. EMERGENCY STROBES START FLASHING at the
front and rear of the car...
...and still nobody notices.
MAX
GODDAMN IT, I'M FLASHING LIKE A
CHRISTMAS TREE OVER HERE.
He throws a look to the sideview mirror, sweaty and tense,
knowing he's out of time.
THE SIDEVIEW MIRROR
IN WHICH WE SEE Max's reflected eyes. Seconds ticking
breathlessly away as he struggles...
He head butts the horn again. BEEP-BEEP. BEEEEP. Flashers and
horn!
MEANWHILE the ANGLE SHIFTS in the mirror, leaving Max's eyes
and bringing into view the building and the penthouse at the
top and we SEE...
...TWO SILENT MUZZLE FLASHES light up the windows like
flashbulbs going off. Another death. Then A THIRD
FLASH...then nothing. Lights out. Meanwhile...
MAX
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
He is head-butting the horn. BEEEEP. BEEP-BEEP. And he checks
the mirror. This time when he looks, he sees...
YOUNG WHITE GUYS. 20-25. They were on the sidewalk. Now they
detour into the alley and approach the distressed cab from
the back, shielding their eyes from Max's flashing lights.
MAX
Collateral 42.

Oh. Oh, thank God! Hey, hey, man,

help me out here!
WHITE GUY #1
Yo, whassup?
MAX
(fast, stumbling)
I got my, my hands taped to the
steering wheel, here, by this guy,
who's taped me in the car, 'cause
he's up in the building somewhere...
CLOSER, now, the four are in baggies, hoodies and tattooed
with lightning bolts on their necks, swastikas on chests, one
has "5150" tattooed on his shaven eyebrow (police code for
emotionally disturbed)...

WHITE GUY #2
You all trapped in there and shit?
MAX
...yeah, he's coming back. Hurry.
Get me loose so I can call the
cops...
WHITE GUY #1 nods...and pulls a chromed .380 and points it at
Max.
WHITE GUY #1
Fuck that, man, gimme your wallet.
The others have walked off down the alley, laughing. One
tosses a beer bottle that smashes. Utter disbelief from
Max...
MAX
Are you kidding me?
WHITE GUY #1
I will fuck you up! Hand it over.
MAX
(beat)
My hands are taped to the damn
steering wheel!
It takes a moment for WHITE GUY #1 to process this. He steps
to the window, presses the .380 against Max's cheek. It's
utterly terrifying, everything happening fast:
MAX
...don't shoot me, don't shoot me...
Collateral 43.

WHITE GUY #1
Then get your ass up, up...
Max pulls himself up by the steering wheel, trying to get his
butt off the seat to give the Young Man access. The White Guy
#1 gropes for Max's back pocket, trying to get the wallet,
pressing the gun to his face, the other guys down the alley,
turn the corner.
White Guy #1 pulls Max's wallet, pockets it...
...and pauses, seeing Vincent's briefcase on the back seat.
He yanks open the back door, grabs Vincent's briefcase, too,
and walks off after his friends. White Guys #3 and #4 turned
the corner. White Guy #2 lingers.
Max, still taped, is shaken. He can't believe what happened.
He looks through the windshield at...
WHITE GUY #1
...walking off, cocky as hell, about to vanish into the
night...
BACK OF WHITE GUY #1

VINCENT (O.S.)
Yo' homie...
White Guy #1 turns, to see the silhouette of Vincent. He
raises his .380 side-handed, like he sees gangsters do on
MTV. White Guy #2 joins him.
VINCENT
(even)
That my briefcase...?
White Guy #1 approaches Vincent from the front...#2 from
Vincent's left.
WHITE GUY #2
May-be. And what the fuck else you
got?
He closes on Vincent with the .380, held high and on the
side.

Vincent's left slams aside #1's .380. Draws and FIRES from
the hip, putting TWO ROUNDS into #1. HAMMERS-ON TWO ROUNDS to
the sternum, pivots. ONE to the head of #2. All in 1.6
seconds.
 Collateral 44.

White Guy #2, falling backwards, is dead before he hits the

ground. #1 never saw it coming. Vincent picks up his case,
retrieves something from #1's pocket, puts one more into the
head of #1 on the way back to the cab...
...where Max saw it all. Frozen in horror. Astonished.
The rear door opens. Vincent hefts his briefcase into the
back seat. He gets into the front.
Vincent sits for a moment, staring off, not looking at Max.
Maybe ready to kill him.
Vincent raises something into view. Max's wallet. He tosses
it in Max's lap.

Vincent flicks his hand. CLICK-CLACK, a Reeves folding hunter

in dull metal, razor sharp...
VINCENT
(quietly)
Where's the button? Under the dash?
MAX
(dry whisper)
Yeah.
Vincent leans over and slices the plastic tie, freeing Max's
hands. Beat.
VINCENT
You mind turning it off?
Max doesn't move for a moment, then reaches under the dash
and turns off the strobes.

43 INT. CAB - MAX + VINCENT (TRAVELING) - NIGHT 43

Vincent in the back seat. (Juxtapose to a different
continuity. Through the side window, we see Crenshaw
Boulevard barbershops, music shops. We're stopped for a
light.) Max is shell-shocked.
VINCENT
Another collateral.
MAX
What's that?
VINCENT
Collateral damage. People in the
wrong place at the wrong time.
 Collateral 45.

(meets Max's gaze)

And you? You attract attention? You
are gonna get people killed who
didn't need to be. Understand?

MAX
I'm low on gas...
VINCENT
Pull in there.

44 EXT. GAS STATION, IN STREET - TAXI - NIGHT 44

pulls by.
TIME-LAPSE - MACRO-CU: NUMBERS
race by. WIDEN. SEE Max filling up the taxi. Vincent is
positioned off the right rear corner from where he is line-
of-sight to everything. His affect is flat, distant. Max has
witnessed violent death and the full, lethal capabilities of
Vincent. Neither say a word...until softly...
MAX
Vincent?
VINCENT
Yes, Max?
MAX
Am I collateral?
Pause. A long one.
VINCENT
I haven't decided.
Max is silent. Absorbing this. Vincent checks his watch.
Unexpectedly, his mood changes up.
VINCENT
But, hey! New news. We are ahead of
schedule.
MAX
Huh...?
VINCENT
We got time to kill.
(fast change-down)
You like jazz?
 Collateral 46.

MAX
I'm...what? Sorry?
VINCENT
Jazz.
MAX
Not that much.
VINCENT
Guy told me about a place off
Crenshaw. Leimert Park. All the West
Coast greats played there. Dexter
Gordon, Thelonious Monk, Chet Baker.
Like that...
(off Max's look)
Buy you a drink. Expand your
horizons...
Max doesn't get Vincent's mood up-change.
CUT TO:

45 EXT. SOUTH UNION APARTMENT BUILDING, ALLEY - CRIME SCENE - 45

NIGHT
COPS and FORENSIC TECHNICIANS. In the midst of it all is:
Ray Fanning. He wears his badge, visibly, now. We find him
turning as his superior, RICHARD WEIDNER, 50-ish, is entering
the crime scene.
WEIDNER
...this informant of yours, what's
his name, Ramone?
FANNING
Ramone Gallardo. Supposed to take
him for a drink. I come here, find
this.
WEIDNER
You been working him?
FANNING
Four months...a low-level player,
he's been feeding me stuff on Felix.
WEIDNER
Reyes-Torrena? Forget Felix. Feds
are all over that. They don't want
us anywhere near it.
Collateral 47.

FANNING
Since when is the LAPD working for
the Feeb?
(points up)
Besides, Ramone flew out a window.
My C.I. flew out a window, he's got
Felix's handprints on his ass. Yes?
That makes it ours.
WEIDNER
(as if to a child)
Where's the homicide, Ray? Where's a
body? All we got is glass...
He spreads his hands at the alley floor in a gesture that
says "show me something besides glass."
FEMALE CRIMINALIST (O.S.)
And blood...
WEIDNER
Huh?

FEMALE CRIMINALIST
(off looks)
...blood...down here...in the
glass...here's some more...
A FEMALE CRIMINALIST (SID) examines the alley floor with
Luminol and a handheld BLACKLIGHT WAND, picking out dark
patterns.
FEMALE CRIMINALIST
...small splatter patterns
here...all over there...
SHINING FLASHLIGHTS pick out blood on the alley wall. Fanning
steps to where the cab was parked, stands in the middle of
the blank spot surrounded by the glass, points down:
FANNING
Ramone flew out the window. Went
splat. Here's the glass.
(beat)
Then some tires rolled over it.
WEIDNER
How's that spell homicide? Maybe he
jumped.
FANNING
Sure. He's depressed. So he jumps
four stories out a window onto his
head.
Collateral 48.

(mimics)
"Wow, that feels better!" Picks
himself up. "Now, I think I'll go on
with the rest of my day..."
PLAINCLOTHES COP (O.S.)
(from above)
Ray! Catch!
Two uniformed cops have approached.

Weidner and Fanning glance up. A PLAINCLOTHES COP is leaning

out of Ramone's broken window, dangling a clear plastic
baggy.
He drops it. It comes sailing down...
...right into Fanning's grasp. He glances down at it, shows
it to Weidner...
TIGHT ON WEIDNER
...revealing two spent .45 cal. shell casings in the bag.
WEIDNER
(switches)
So, who's got what? Any witnesses?
We been knocking on doors?
COP #1
Old guy across the street, lives
above the deli? Says he saw a cab
parked here earlier tonight. There
were two guys working under the
hood.
WEIDNER
Description. What did he see?
COP #1
"Kinda" saw...guy's got glasses like
coke bottles.
FANNING
Did he "see" it or did his seeing
eye dog see it?
COP #1
Late-model four-door Ford. Yellow or
orange.
(off Fanning's look)
Maybe it was a taxi cab.

WEIDNER
 Collateral 49.

Four thousand taxis in LA County.

(beat)
What else...?
That's it. Uniforms go back to work. Photographer shows. He
doesn't know what to shoot.
Meanwhile, Fanning, lost in thought...
FANNING
Remember fall, 2001? That Bay Area
deal? Oakland. Cabbie drove around
all night. Killed three people...
WEIDNER
Then he flipped out, put the gun to
his head. So what?
FANNING
So the Oakland PD detective,
whatshisname, never bought it.

WEIDNER
Why?
FANNING
The Cabbie had no criminal record.
No history of mental illness. Pops
three people, then himself? And the
victims weren't random. Two were
involved in some pharmaceuticals
scam...
(off Weidner's look)
Anyway, the detective always thought
there was somebody else in that cab.

46 INT. "DANIEL'S" JAZZ CLUB - NIGHT 46

Dark and elegant - in an early '60's modern jazz kind of way
with a low ceiling, small tables, leatherette booths, history
soaked into the walls. A BLACK MAN in his late 50's, DANIEL,
is playing a muted trumpet on stage with a QUARTET.
CUSTOMERS are few, clustered at small tables or at a few
curved leather booths. The walls are lined with great FRAMED
PHOTOS of jazz icons.
At one table, we find Vincent and Max. Vincent about the
music...
VINCENT
...a little '60's, early Miles thing
happening...
Collateral 50.

MAX
I never learned to listen to jazz.
VINCENT
You don't learn to listen...anymore
than you learn to breathe. Open your
ears.
Vincent's attention's focused on the music.

MAX
I get a beat. I don't really hear a
melody...
VINCENT
...he's off the melody, behind the
notes. Outside what's expected.
Improvising off impulse. Kind of
like tonight.
MAX
Like tonight?
VINCENT
Sure.
(beat)
This is nothing, if not "What's
next? Right now. In the moment."
(beat)
There's people...ten years from now?
Same job, same place, same shit.
Everything the same; keepin' it
safe. Over and over and over and
over...
(beat)
"Ten years from now?" Man, you don't
know where you'll be...ten minutes
from now...tonight.
(beat; re: saxophonist)
That's what he's saying. Open your
ears. You'll hear it...in his
"dialoguing" with the trumpet...
The WAITRESS arrives, an Asian woman with a tray of drinks:
WAITRESS
'Nother Vodka tonic, hon?
VINCENT
And one for my friend.
(indicates stage)
Who's on the tenor sax?
WAITRESS
Collateral 51.

That's Daniel, baby, he's the owner.

VINCENT
He is terrific. Would you be so kind
as to invite him over after his set?
I gotta buy him a drink.
WAITRESS
Sure thing, darlin'...
Vincent gives her a radiant smile and tucks a twenty dollar
bill into her apron as she leaves...
TIMECUT:
...and we find Daniel sharing more than a few drinks with
Vincent and Max, the place almost closed. Just the three of
them.

DANIEL
...I was a young cat back then,
about nineteen, bussin' tables.
Right here. Didn't pay but shit, but
that wasn't the point. Being around
the music, that was the thing. And I
was. Take this one night...July 22,
1964...who walks in. Mr. Louis
Armstrong.
VINCENT
You're kidding me.
DANIEL
Right through those doors. The man
himself.
VINCENT
Jesus...
DANIEL
He was in town playing two gigs a
night at the Coconut Grove in the
Ambassador Hotel... After his last
set, he decides to come on down to
South Central to hang with his
people. That's how he was, you see.
Never forgot who we was. Money and
fame an' all that? Meant nothin',
long as he could blow that horn.

DANIEL
So before you know it, he's up on
that stage, doin' his thing.
Collateral 52.

VINCENT
Was it great? Better than great, it
had to be...
DANIEL
Like Winton Marsalis says, it was
pure, spiritual essence. Louis was
playing. God was smiling.
VINCENT
You heard Armstrong play live. I've
never been this jealous. You get to
talk to him?
DANIEL
Did better'n that.

Vincent gives him a questioning look. Daniel smiles, raises

his hands, mimes blowing a trumpet.
VINCENT
No.
DANIEL
Oh, my, yes.
VINCENT
C'mon...
DANIEL
Fella owned this place back then,
cat named Dix Dwyer, he let slip to
Louis that I played. So Pops, he
just waves me right up. My heart
about stopped. But I got up there
all the same, and we played for
nearly twenty minutes.

VINCENT
Unbelievable...
(to Max)
...you hearing this?
Max is drawn into the story in spite of himself:
MAX
How'd you do?
DANIEL
How do you think? You ain't shit
when you playing next to Louis
Armstrong. But, Dippermouth, he was
kind. He could see me trying. He
carried my ass as best he could.
Collateral 53.

VINCENT
Remember what you played?
DANIEL
Most vividly.
(ticking them off)
"Potato Head Blues," "Sleepy Time
Down South..."
(laughs)
...then Pops laid some "Cornet Chop
Suey" on me, and left me in the dust
like a whipped dog.
VINCENT
Whipped dog?
DANIEL
Whipped dog on a wet night.
VINCENT
Crowd dig it?
DANIEL
(smiles, nods)
The crowd was most kind.
(beat)
I was born in 1945, but that was the
moment of my conception. Right here
in the used-to-be crowded room.
Daniel picks up the bottle to freshen up their drinks...
VINCENT
Crowds not here now?
DANIEL
Oh, jazz ain't the draw it used to
be.
VINCENT
But the place looks great.
DANIEL
Only 'cause I got the wherewithal to
finance keepin' it up on my own.
VINCENT
What a great story. I'll tell the
folks in Culiacan and Bogota that
story.
...and Daniel's hand freezes just as he's about to pour. He
glances up at Vincent.
Collateral 54.

DANIEL
You know the people in Culiacan and
Bogota?
VINCENT
(softly)
'Fraid so.
Max is glancing from one to the other, unsure what's going
on.
Realizing it isn't good.
DANIEL
And here I thought you were such a
cool guy.
VINCENT
I am a cool guy. With a job I was
hired to do. You know how it is.
There's genuine regret in Vincent's tone. Max feels his heart
pounding, but manages to keep his voice steady:
MAX
Let him go, Vincent.
VINCENT
I'm working here.
MAX
You're the one who keeps talking
about going with the flow. You like
the man, you like the way he plays.
How about a little jazz, huh?
VINCENT
Improvisation? That's funny from
you.
(thinks about it, looks to
Daniel)
Okay, some jazz for the jazz man.
How's this? I'll ask a question?
DANIEL
What question?
VINCENT
Jazz question. You get it right, we
roll. You disappear. Tonight. You
don't go home, you don't pack a bag,
you leave town...and nobody, I mean
nobody, ever hears from you or sees
you again.
Collateral 55.

DANIEL
How do I know you'll keep your word?
VINCENT
I never lie. Ask Max. Max, have I
lied?
Daniel looks to Max. Hope, fear, and desperation in the older
man's face.
MAX
No. No. He hasn't lied...
Daniel absorbs this, looks back to Vincent.
DANIEL
Means you're a man who lives on
reputation.
(beat)
I will take your word. And I will
give you mine. If I walk out of here
tonight, I'd go so far away, it'd be
just like I was dead.
Vincent nods. We have a deal. He eases something from his
waistband. Max knows. His heart is in his throat.
DANIEL
And one more thing. Those guys and
their man, here, what's his name,
Felix?
VINCENT
Yeah.
DANIEL
Tell them, if by some chance I get
this wrong...you tell them I had to.
They laid a grant of immunity on me.
So it was flip and play ball or go
back inside. I ain't goin' back
inside.
VINCENT
Sure.

Daniel pours himself that drink. He lifts his shot glass,

hand trembling slightly, knocks it back. Sets the glass down.
DANIEL
Lay it on.
VINCENT
Collateral 56.

It's simple. What was Louis' first

musical instrument?
DANIEL
I know all there is to know about
Louis.
VINCENT
Then let's have it.
Daniel hesitates.
MAX
(blurts out)
It was a trumpet! Wasn't it? Wasn't
it a trumpet?
Daniel shakes his head.
DANIEL
Coronet. Bought it from a New
Orleans pawnshop when he was a kid.
DANIEL
Cost him five dollars. Got a two-
dollar advance on his salary from a
fine Jewish family he worked for,
saved up the rest.
A frozen moment. An endless pause. Max not even breathing,
staring at Vincent, waiting...
...a beat of regret...

...and Vincent's gun came up so fast, Max didn't even see it.
THREE SMALL POPS. A different gun: .22 caliber Ruger with a
thick, silent barrel. Three small holes. And Daniel's head
falls forward. Vincent catches it, arranges Daniel's arms so
that Daniel's head rests on them as if he's taking a nap. And
Vincent did it gently, almost regretfully. A red mist of
blood swirls in the air.
Max is stunned beyond words, and powder-burned at such close
range.
Silence now. No one's noticed. The waitress was in the
kitchen. Softly:
VINCENT
Tin horn. Cost him a dime. Rode the
junk wagon and played for the
neighborhood. People sold them
stuff. Rags. Bottles. Whatever.
 Collateral 57.

Max sits frozen, unable to move...

CUT TO:

47 EXT. STREET OUTSIDE JAZZ CLUB - NIGHT 47

...and they exit the club. Vincent heads for the cab, turns
and sees Max standing there.
VINCENT
Let's go.
MAX
No.
VINCENT
What you mean, no?
MAX
I'm done. Find another cab.

Max turns, walking away. Vincent blinks at him, almost

laughs.
VINCENT
Max?
MAX
Leave me alone.
(shouting)
I'm collateral anyway, so do it and
stop making me a part of this!
(beat)
I don't wanna know you!
Vincent grabs the back of his collar, slams him against the
wall. Max's neck is a centimeter from breaking. Their faces
are inches apart.
VINCENT
(low, threatening)
I'm not playing.
MAX
You played him, man.
(off Vincent's look)
He got the answer right, would you
have let him go?
The question hangs in the air. Before Vincent can answer, the
DISPATCH RADIO CRACKLES:
LENNY (FILTERED)
Collateral 58.

Max? Maaax. Pick up, you dipshit.

VINCENT
What is it with this guy?
LENNY (FILTERED)
Maaaaaax!
Vincent spins Max, controls him, as he propels him to the
cab, slams him against the fender.
Vincent releases him, points at him. Don't move. He reaches
into the cab, pulls out the radio mike, clicks it on.
VINCENT
You hassling my man again?
LENNY
Who are you?
VINCENT
Same fare you talked to last time.
LENNY (FILTERED)
What are you guys, taking an all-
night tour?
VINCENT
We're gay lovers, what's it to you?
LENNY (FILTERED)
Nothing! Aside from every night
Max's mother driving me crazy, I'm
dancin' on a rainbow! May he come on
the line, please.
VINCENT
Hang on.
(to Max)
Carefully...
Max takes the hand mike, clicks it on.
MAX
Yeah?
LENNY (FILTERED)
Your mother's calling every ten
minutes. Why didn't he show? Are you
all right? Where are you?
VINCENT
(whispers)
Show for what?
 Collateral 59.

MAX
(ignoring him)
Tell her I can't make it tonight,
okay?
LENNY (FILTERED)
What am I, related to you? You tell
her yourself!
Lenny CLICKS OFF. Dead air.
VINCENT
Show up for what?
MAX
She's in the hospital.
VINCENT
You visit every night?
MAX
Yeah. What difference does it make?
VINCENT
Cause if you don't show it breaks a
routine.
MAX
So?
VINCENT
So people start looking for you,
this cab. That is not good.
MAX
No. I can't take you to see my
mother...
VINCENT
Since when was any of this
negotiable?
CUT TO:

48 INT. HOSPITAL - ENTRANCE - NIGHT 48

Stark corridors, queasy fluorescent lighting, PATIENTS and
STAFF MEMBERS. A row of INJURED PEOPLE are seated along one
wall, waiting for attention.
The AUTOMATIC DOORS swing open. Max and Vincent enter, the
briefcase held at Vincent's side. As they enter and proceed
up the corridor...
 Collateral 60.

VINCENT
Stay three paces in front of me and
one to my left...
Max, seeing the innocent people along the walls, complies.
Vincent sees in the ceiling a security camera mounted in a
Perspex hemisphere and averts his face towards Max...
VINCENT
Flowers?
Max turns, sees a row of FLOWER BOUQUETS at the gift counter.
MAX
Waste of money. Won't mean a thing
to her.
Vincent pulls an arrangement, tosses the flowers to Max,
pulls his wallet to pay.
VINCENT
(sincere)
She carried you in her womb for nine
months.

49 INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT 49

The elevator arrives. Vincent and Max get on. Vincent presses
the button and the doors start to close...
MAN'S VOICE
Hold, please...
Vincent puts his hand out, stopping the doors. A MAN slides
in the elevator with them...

50 INT. THE ELEVATOR 50

...and turns around. Detective Ray Fanning. He doesn't see
Max in the back corner. His back is to him.
FANNING
Five. Thanks.
Vincent hits the button. The doors close.

The three of them ride up in that awkward silence you only

ever experience with strangers in elevators. He glances to
Vincent at the control panel, nods.
VINCENT
 Collateral 61.

Having a good night?

FANNING
Mezzo-mezzo. You?
Vincent nods. Making do. The elevator stops. Vincent and Max
get off to the right. Fanning continues riding up one more
floor...

51 INT. FIFTH FLOOR HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - ELEVATOR DOORS - NIGHT 51

open. Fanning gets off, turns a corner. SEE a sign indicating
"MORGUE."
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM, LOWER FLOOR - MAX -
NIGHT
(POSSIBLY INCLUDE
CORRIDOR)
Enters with the flowers. Vincent appears behind him, hovering
in the doorway. Max moves toward the bed...
...where IDA RILKE lies hooked up to a heart monitor, a clear
plastic oxygen mask over her mouth. She opens her eyes.
MAX
Hi, Ma.
IDA
I've been calling and calling.
MAX
I got caught up at work.
IDA
Why couldn't you call me on the
telephone? I'm lying here, wondering
if something horrible happened to
you...
MAX
(to cut her off)
I brought you flowers.
IDA
What am I gonna do with flowers?
MAX
You're gonna cheer up.
IDA
How? By worrying...
(wheezes)
Collateral 62.

...that you spend money on

things...that all they're gonna do
is wilt and die?
MAX
(to Vincent)
See?
(to Ida, defensively)
I didn't buy 'em. He did.
IDA
Who? Come in. What I got is not
contagious.
(beat)
Why didn't you tell me we had
company?
(to Vincent)
And what's your name? Sorry. My son
is rude.
VINCENT
No harm done, madam.
She takes the flowers from Max, making a fuss over them:
IDA
You paid for my flowers? They're
beautiful. Max, will you introduce
us?
MAX
Mom, Vincent. Vincent, my mother,
Ida.
Vincent sets his briefcase by the door, approaches the bed,
offers his hand. She takes it. He glows with charisma.
VINCENT
I'm really happy to meet you, Mrs.
Rilke.
IDA
Oh, call me Ida. To what do we owe
this pleasure?
Vincent sits in the chair at bedside.
VINCENT
Well, I was with Max when he got the
call.
IDA
And you came all the way here to see
me?
Collateral 63.

VINCENT
It's nothing.
IDA
Tell my son. You have to hold a gun
to his head to get him to do
anything.
VINCENT
Tell me about it.
Vincent leans in, helps her adjust her pillows.
IDA
You must be an important client of
Max's.
This catches Vincent slightly off guard. He glances to Max.
VINCENT
Client? I like to think of myself as
his friend. A mentor.
IDA
Max never had many friends. Always
talking to himself in the mirror...
It's unhealthy.
MAX
Hey, mom. How many times do I have
to ask you not to do that?
IDA
Do what?
MAX
Talk about me like...I'm...not...in
the room, here.
IDA
(to Vincent)
What's he sayin'?
VINCENT
Ida, he says he's standing right
here. In the room. Here.
IDA
(to Max)
Yesss, you are, honey.
(back to Vincent)
He's sensitive.
VINCENT
Collateral 64.

I know. But I'm sure you're proud of

him.

IDA
(directed at Max)
Of course I'm proud. You know, he
started with nothing. Look at him
today. Here. Vegas. Reno...
Vincent looks at Max...squirming under the exposure.
MAX
Mom, Vincent's not interested.
(to Vincent)
Let's go.
VINCENT
No. I am interested.
IDA
What's your name, again?
VINCENT
Vincent...
MAX
I came to see you. I saw you. You
look fine. Let's go.
He's kissed her and wants to get out of there.
IDA
Limousine companies.
VINCENT
Yeah?
IDA
He drives famous people around, you
know?
VINCENT
Limousine companies? What an
achievement...

Max heads for the door...

IDA
Visit again?
VINCENT
I'm only in town tonight.
IDA
 Collateral 65.

When you come back?

VINCENT
Sure. I promise.
IDA
Well, nice to meet you, Vincent.
He turns to find Max gone. He looks down, eyes widening.
So is the briefcase.

Vincent races out into...

52 INT. THE HALLWAY 52

...and spins around, frantically trying to see where Max
went.
Nothing but a FEW PATIENTS and HOSPITAL STAFF...
...and a door marked "STAIRS" swinging shut at the end of the
hallway. He runs in that direction...

53 INT. HOSPITAL STAIRWELL 53

Vincent bursts through the door into the stairwell, hearing
RUNNING FOOTSTEPS below. He peers over the railing...
...and sees Max three flights down. Max freezes, looking up,
clutching the briefcase. A moment of eye contact...
VINCENT
Stop or I'll go back and kill her.
MAX
You'd do her a favor.
...and Max keeps going, vanishing from view. Vincent takes
off after him, plunging down the stairs at breakneck speed...
VINCENT
I'll tell her the truth!
MOVING WITH MAX
careening dizzily down the steps with the briefcase, hurtling
from one landing to the next, FOOTSTEPS ECHOING on concrete.
MOVING WITH VINCENT
 Collateral 66.

racing down the steps like a madman, yanking his H+K from
under his jacket...

54 EXT. HOSPITAL - ON REAR DOOR - NIGHT (OPTIONAL) 54

Max comes through the stairway door, racing like crazy along
a row of HUGE ROARING INDUSTRIAL WASHERS, trying to make it
to the EXIT DOOR at the far end...
...and Vincent bursts from the stairwell in pursuit, pausing
to whip his H + K up in a two-handed grip, aiming down the
length of the laundry room...
...as Max vanishes through the exit door at the far end.

55 EXT. HOSPITAL/ON REAR DOOR - NIGHT 55

Max races out.

56 INT. HOSPITAL STAIRWELL - VINCENT 56

racing down the stairs...

57 EXT. HOSPITAL - REAR DOOR - VINCENT 57

bursts through parking lot.

58 EXT. HOSPITAL - WIDE: VINCENT (VFX) 58

See Vincent at end of parking lot running towards us. PAN
LEFT to Max running up a walkway over the freeway.

59 EXT. PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE - MAX 59

runs to camera along the bridge which we now reveal is above
and...
OVER THE FREEWAY
Max runs up, exhausted. The stream of lights beneath them.
Max swings the briefcase back, preparing to hurl it...
VINCENT
Don't!
...and Vincent's H+K is aimed at Max. Max looks back, sees
Vincent, gun aimed at him...
 Collateral 67.

VINCENT
Red-light-green-light, Max.
A heartbeat. A hesitation. And then...
MAX
Bullshit.
...Max hurls the briefcase with all his might. Vincent
watches in horror as it spins lazily through the air and
crashes onto the freeway below where it's run over, flips in
the air, is hit by a truck and the tablet PC is de-
constructed into useless pieces of plastic and silicone.
Vincent approaches.
VINCENT
(hisses)
What the fuck was that?
MAX
Jazz.
Max is suddenly on the ground, not knowing how he got there,
about to die.
Vincent, above, staring at Max.
VINCENT
You are screwing...with my work! My
prep was in there. I'm coming up on
number four. The night is no longer
young. Are we getting adversarial?
Each syllable like a bullet. Should Vincent kill him? Then,
almost admiring...
VINCENT
Didn't know you could do that...
(beat)
Let's see what else you can do.
...and he pulls Max to his feet.
CUT TO:

60 INT. HOSPITAL MORGUE - NIGHT 60

Fanning's in the "cold room" with a MORGUE ATTENDANT.
ATTENDANT
(checking his clipboard)
We've had three come in tonight. Two
John Does. Maybe one's your guy.
 Collateral 68.

The attendant nods at the first of four PLASTIC-WRAPPED

CORPSES lying on stainless steel tables. Fanning draws the
sheet back: Homeless Man with a beard.
FANNING
No. Not Ramone.
The attendant makes a notation on his clipboard. Fanning nods
at the next corpse.
FANNING
Try that one.
The attendant draws the sheet back. It's the Younger Man who
mugged Max and took Vincent's briefcase.
FANNING
No. Next...
ATTENDANT
That's what's funny. These three
came in within half an hour of each
other. And the kid and that last guy
(number 4)
...they were done by the same
shooter.
FANNING
Why do you say that?
Fanning gets alert.
ATTENDANT
Same wound pattern. Two in the
sternum. One in the head. Add this
cat's shooting tight groups.
(indicates chest)
Double taps are a couple millimeters
apart.
Intrigued, Fanning steps to the fourth corpse. Attendant
draws the sheet back.
Fanning stares down at the dead face. Instant recognition.

61 INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY + AUTOPSY ROOM - MINUTES LATER 61

Fanning is on a pay phone, amped up, talking with Richard
Weidner. (Weidner's at home, perched on the edge of his bed,
in a crowded bedroom overlooking MacArthur Park or palm trees
and city lights, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. INTERCUT as
needed:)
 Collateral 69.

FANNING
...yeah, I'm still at MLK. The John
Doe doesn't pan out. Not Ramone. But
you'll never guess who else is in
the meat locker.
WEIDNER
Elvis Presley?
FANNING
Sylvester Clarke. Criminal-lawyer
turned lawyer-criminal?
WEIDNER
"Sly" to his clients...
FANNING
...including my high-diving
informant, Ramone, who he
represented, who's still missing.
Both of whom were in the exotic-
substances business...
WEIDNER
Ramone and "Sly" Clarke in one
night?
FANNING
In one night. Something bad is going
down. And I don't think the Feeb
know about it...
Weidner hangs up, hauling himself off the bed as we...
CUT TO:

62 INT. MAX'S CAB, TRAVELING - MAX - NIGHT 62

Max drives in self-conscious silence, feeling Vincent's gaze
on the back of his neck.
VINCENT
Limos, huh?
MAX
Don't start.
Vincent enters text into a cell phone/pager.

VINCENT
Hey, I'm not the one lying to my
mother.
Collateral 70.

MAX
She hears what she wants to hear. I
don't disillusion her.
VINCENT
Yeah, right. Maybe she hears what
you tell her.
Vincent sends. Waits.
MAX
Whatever I tell her's never good
enough. It's always been that way...
My three older brothers...their
wives made 'em move outta town.
Vincent closes the pager/cell.
VINCENT
You're goin' to a place called El
Rodeo. It's on Whittier Boulevard in
Anaheim.
MAX
Where on Whittier?
VINCENT
Look it up.
MAX
What's at El Rodeo?
VINCENT
Just drive.
(beat)
They project onto you their flaws,
what they don't like about
themselves, their lives, whatever.
And then they rank on you,
instead...
MAX
How do you know?
VINCENT
I had a father like that.
MAX
Mothers are worse.
VINCENT
Mine died when I was one.
MAX
Collateral 71.

What happened?
VINCENT
He hated whatever I did. Got drunk.
Beat me up all the time.
MAX
Then what?
VINCENT
(intimate)
I killed him. I was 12.
VINCENT
He was the first.
(off Max's look)
I'm kidding. He died of liver
cancer.
MAX
I'm sorry.
VINCENT
No you're not.
(beat)
So driving this cab "temporarily" is
all bullshit...?
MAX
It's not bullshit.
VINCENT
Twelve years is not temporary.
MAX
You gotta get cash together.
Insurance, bond, maintenance, tires.
Staff-up. Client lists. It's not get
the car, put asses on seats.
VINCENT
Why not?
MAX
'Cause Island Limos will be more
than a ride...like a club
experience, a cool groove you don't
want to end. Like that. So it's
gotta be perfect. Perfect.
VINCENT
Uh-huh.
MAX
 Collateral 72.

Plus I got bills. She's been dying

of the disease since I was in high
school...

63 EXT. EL RODEO NIGHT CLUB (ANAHEIM) - NIGHT 63

Headlights pull through the jammed lot. Max's cab. And it
pulls past the entrance to a parking slot near the alley.

64 INT. CAB - NIGHT 64

VINCENT
Here's good.
Max backs in, cuts the engine. Vincent checks it out,
concealing himself as much as possible in the shadows of the
back seat.
VINCENT
Gimme your wallet.
MAX
Why?
Vincent snaps his fingers impatiently. Max pulls his wallet,
passes it back.
VINCENT
I'll hold it for you in case they
search you.
MAX
In case who searches?
Vincent nods toward El Rodeo.
VINCENT
The people inside. Go in and ask for
Felix. He's expecting you.
MAX
Felix? Okay. What's he look like?
VINCENT
Dunno. Never met him.
MAX
Who is he?
VINCENT
He's from who hired me.
Collateral 73.

MAX
I don't get it.
VINCENT
You destroyed my work-ups. And
number four is due. Whatta you
think, night's over? Called on
account of rain?
(beat)
Go be me. In there. Score the
backups. He'll have 'em on a flash
drive or CD...
MAX
(appalled)
Why me? I can't. Why don't you go?
VINCENT
They don't know what I look like.
And I don't meet people. Like in
risk management. Protect anonymity.
And you're not going to screw that
up.
MAX
How'm I gonna be you?
VINCENT
Max, who's SoCal Cab Company? Ralph
SoCal?
MAX
No.
VINCENT
Ever met the owner?
MAX
No.
VINCENT
Well, I don't work for them. I work
for their bosses. They don't get to
meet me, either.
MAX
If...if I don't pull it off...?
VINCENT
They're gonna kill you.
(shrugs)
You got ten minutes. 10:01? I drive
the cab to the hospital and execute
your mother on my way out of
 Collateral 74.

town...and don't pretend

indifference.
MAX
I can't do this.
VINCENT
You threw my PC onto the freeway.
You've got balls bigger than Toledo.
MAX
If I pull it off, it's gonna get
other people killed...
VINCENT
Out of options, Max. Take comfort in
knowing you never had a choice.
MAX
Uh, how long you been doin' this?
VINCENT
Why?
MAX
In case he asks.
VINCENT
Private sector? Six years.
MAX
You get benefits?
VINCENT
No. Nor paid sick leave. Quit
stalling. Get out of the cab.
Max hesitates, opens the door, gets out...

65 EXT. STREET - LONG LENS: MAX - NIGHT 65

Crossing towards the entrance.
FED #1 (O.S.)
Who is this?
FED #2 (O.S.)
Not Julio Iglesias...
...and we hear WHIRRING. ANGLE PULLS BACK...

66 INT. SURVEILLANCE LOCATION - NIGHT 66

 Collateral 75.

Reveal FEDERAL AGENTS clustered loosely at a row of monitors,

in a hard location. On the monitors are multiple views of El
Rodeo's exterior entrances, two ND homes, the interior of two
ND cars. One agent watches Max cross to the El Rodeo
entrance.
The room is littered with SURVEILLANCE EQUIPMENT and pizza
boxes.
SENIOR AGENT FRANK PEDROSA, permanently agitated, stands. The
camera on Max ZOOMS in, tracking him.

67 EXT. STREET OUTSIDE "EL RODEO" - PARKING LOT, FOUR-FIXTURE 67

LIGHT STAND
Move closer. REVEAL it's a camouflage housing, holding a
video surveillance camera that RIGHT NOW pans and ZOOMS IN on
Max.
AGENT #1 (O.S.)
Mark the time.

68 INT. SURVEILLANCE LOCATION - PEDROSA 68

reacts to a SOFT KNOCK on the door. Fanning and Weidner are
ushered in. Pedrosa glances at them, motions "hang on a
second," as he stares at the monitor.

69 INT. EL RODEO, ENTRANCE - NIGHT 69

Entrance does NOT have a crowd waiting to get in past disco
bouncers. Only light traffic flows in and out. But, it does
have extensive security. Max, hiding his terror, steps up to
two men at the door.
MAN #1
Yeah.
MAX
Uh, hi...
MAN #2
Que pasa? Wha's up, homes?
MAX
I'm here to see Felix. He has
something for me.
MAN #2
(cold, believable)
Don't know no Felix.
 Collateral 76.

That's it. Max failed. He won't make it past the front door.
MAX
Uh. Say...say it's Vincent. I'm
Vincent.
The two men trade surprised look. Suddenly cautious and
respectful. They lead Max inside.

70 INT. SURVEILLANCE LOCATION - NIGHT 70

Pedrosa watches the group exit into El Rodeo, then turns to
Fanning and Weidner for quick introductions:
WEIDNER
Lt. Richard Weidner. LAPD. Major
Narcotics Division.
FANNING
Detective Ray Fanning. LAPD. Major
Nar...
PEDROSA
(interrupts, shaking
hands)
Yeah, hi, okay. Agent Frank Pedrosa.
WEIDNER
Thanks for seeing us...

PEDROSA
Yeah. You're welcome. How can I
help? What's up? Why do you wanna
know about our case?
FANNING
Has there been any unusual activity
tonight?
PEDROSA
As in...
FANNING
As in a murder or maybe a murder
spree in Wilshire Central.
PEDROSA
All quiet on the western front.
Various people are asleep. Various
people are not. They come and go in
cars, pickups and taxis. Other than
that, we're watching air move.
(repeats)
 Collateral 77.

...your interest in our case?

Fanning trades a surprised look with Weidner. A taxi? Fanning
gestures. Pedrosa nods okay. Fanning rushes to the monitors,
sees Max's cab peeking out from behind the corner of the
building.
FANNING
Hood's all beat to shit.
Weidner's fumbling on his cell phone, out, already dialing.
PEDROSA
On what?!
FANNING
On that.
WEIDNER
What's the license number?
Technician on the joystick pans a remote camera to the cab,
pulling out his notebook and scribbling down the number...

71 INT. "EL RODEO" - NIGHT 71

...as Max is led into a cavernous, blue Day-Glo Sinaloan
disco.
And they move through dancers, in Sinaloan style: white
cowboy hats, jeans, braided key chains, endangered-species
cowboy boots. Hot ladies in spandex and other couture by Earl
Scheib.
As they approach a row of booths opposite a mural of famous
corrida singers...more sophisticated security appears. PACO
pats down Max. Another, Rubio, cautiously covers him. Then...
MAX
is led to a booth in which sits FELIX REYES-TORRENA.
FELIX
- unlike El Rodeo's population - wears Hermes bought in
Paris.
Reserved elegance...
FELIX
I thought you'd be taller.
He's not invited to sit.
 Collateral 78.

FELIX
Anyway I look at this, I see only
one thing. I see one thing with you.
Here. Tonight. I see trouble.
Gestures... Max sits, forces himself to meet Felix's gaze.

FELIX
So. Vincent. Explain...
Meanwhile...

72 INT. SURVEILLANCE LOCATION - MONITOR - NIGHT 72

REPLAYS Max's entrance. It's enhanced and the audio is
filtered, eliminating RF interference and background noise.
We and they HEAR...
MAN #2
Don't know no Felix.
MAX
I'm Vincent...
The reaction in the room is electric.
FED #3
Did he say "Vincent?"

73 INT. EL RODEO - NIGHT 73

FELIX
(light complaint)
Vincent don't meet people. The jefes
in Culiacan, Bogota, maybe. But he
won't talk to you. But, now you are
here. Okay. Why?
For a moment it looks like Max isn't even going to get the
words out. Then:
MAX
I lost my stuff.
Pause.
FELIX
"Stuff"? Your "stuff"?
MAX
Yeah.
Collateral 79.

FELIX
I want you to listen to me real
well.
(beat)
Special teams put together that list
of..."dedos."
MAX
Dedos?
FELIX
Fingers. Informants.
(litany)
Signal intercepts, voice-recognizing
software, surveillance...very
expensive counterintel produced that
list.
(beat)
An important list, wouldn't you say?
And you "lost" it?
MAX
I'm sorry.
FELIX
Sorry? Sorry does not put back
together again Humpty Dumpty...
Max is nearly pissing himself.
FELIX
Do you believe in Humpty Dumpty?
Felix makes eye contact to PACO. Paco nods. Rubio, next to
him, has his hand on an SMG and moves right to get a better
line of fire on Max.

MAX
No.
FELIX
Do you believe in Santa Claus?
MAX
No.
FELIX
Neither do I.
(beat)
But my children do. They are still
small. But do you know who they like
even better than Santa Claus? His
helper, Pedro Negro. Black Peter.
There's an old Mexican tale that
Collateral 80.

tells of how Santa Claus got so very

busy looking out for the good
children that he had to hire some
help to look out for the bad
children. So he hired Pedro. And
Santa Claus gave him a list with all
the names of all the bad children,
and Pedro would come every night to
check them out. And the people, the
little kids that were misbehaving,
that were not saying their prayers,
Pedro would leave a little wooden
donkey on their windows. And he
would come back and if the children
were still misbehaving, he would
take them away and nobody would ever
see them again. Now, if I am Santa
Claus and you are Pedro, how do you
think jolly old Santa Claus would
feel if one day Pedro came into his
office and said, 'I lost the list.'?
How FUCKING FURIOUS do you think
Santa Claus would get?!
Paco's gun is visible. Safety clicks off Rubio's SMG.
FELIX
So tell me, Vincent. Tell me what
you think.
MAX
I think...
He can't finish.
FELIX
What?
MAX
I think...
(to security)
...I think you should tell the man
behind me to put that gun away.
FELIX
What did you say?
MAX
(low, tight)
I said. Tell him to put the gun
away. Before I take it and beat his
bitch ass to death with it.
Felix eases back, measuring Max.
 Collateral 81.

MAX
I picked up a tail.
FELIX
Federal?
MAX
You tell me. How do I know? So I
tossed the list and work-ups to
protect...in part...
(sees his clothes)
...your Hermes, Facconable sorry
ass.
Felix considers "Max."
MAX
You think I like comin' here? Like I
got stupid all of an instant? Shit
happens. You gotta roll with it.
Darwin. I Ching...
FELIX
Has, uh...
MAX
The fat man. The penthouse guy. The
jazz man. It leaves two.
FELIX
(checks his watch)
Can you finish?
MAX
In six years, have I ever not?
Meanwhile...

74 INT. SURVEILLANCE LOCATION - NIGHT 74

...while the Feds go apeshit at what they've been told.
Meanwhile, Weidner answers his cell...
PEDROSA
...are you telling me Ramone
Gallardo and Sylvester Clarke were
murdered tonight? Both killed...?
FANNING
...Sylvester for sure, Ramone...
WEIDNER
 Collateral 82.

(interrupts)
We got another D.O.A. One "Daniel
Baker" in South Central...
FED #3
That's three? He killed three in one
night?
WEIDNER
Three what?
Fed #3 looks at Pedrosa. Mute.
PEDROSA
Three witnesses.
(beat)
For a secret grand jury, secret my
ass...
FANNING
So who's left? Before you lose them,
too...

75 INT. EL RODEO - NIGHT 75

In a carrying case, a ruggedized PC is brought to the table.
Felix turns it on. Enters a password. Downloads two "files"
(Targets #4 and #5) into a flash drive in the USB port.
FELIX
The last two...
Felix unplugs the flash drive and pushes it across to Max.
Max takes it. Their eyes meet.
FELIX
Do not fail.
MAX
I never do.
Felix releases the flash ram. Max rises...

MAX
And as a token of appreciation...I
want to offer you a discount. Yeah.
All my services, here, tonight...
Twenty-five percent off.
FELIX
Twenty-five?
 Collateral 83.

MAX
Hell, make it fifty.
FELIX
Very generous.
MAX
(beat)
By the way. Daniel said he was
sorry.
Felix nods. Max turns and walks out.
The moment he's gone, Felix glances to Paco. They're giving
him questioning looks.
FELIX
(in Spanish)
Go to Fever. He's met me. If it
begins to go wrong, close his eyes.
He cannot fall into their hands...
They rise.

76 EXT. EL RODEO - MAX 76

exits, taking in a deep breath of night air, stunned that
he's still alive...

77 INT. SURVEILLANCE LOCATION - MONITORS 77

The Feds swarm, remotely ZOOMING and capturing images,

everybody talks at once...
ALL THE FEDS
(chaotic, ad lib)
...his face, make sure you get his
face...Vincent the ghost...too
grainy, too much noise...plus twelve
dB of gain, you get noise or you get
no image...you getting this?
...yeah...
ANGLE SHIFTS to Fanning, cell phone to his ear, trying to
block out the noise as:
FANNING
...yeah, uh-huh...African-American,
medium build, dark hair...are you
sure?
 Collateral 84.

Meanwhile, Pedrosa has separated from the group and on both a

hard line and a Nextel is speaking urgently...
PEDROSA
(into Nextel)
LA101 to chase units... I want a
three-car revolving tail on that
cab. LA102 is on him, now, at El
Rodeo. We will do a take-down of the
cab with Vincent in it before he
gets where he's going.
(into hard line)
Locate our witness, Peter
Yip...wife, girlfriends, mommy,
daddy, whatever. Get him evacuated.
Get him safe.
(into Nextel)
On the cab, the assault team, when
they are in place, will do the take-
down. Do NOT spook him before. I
want Air Support up and to maintain
at 1,500 feet.
Meanwhile...
FANNING
(into cell phone)
E-mail me his license. Okay? I'll
wait...
(to Weidner)
Anybody else in that cab?
Weidner can't tell from the angle of the surveillance camera.
In the street below, Max walks to the cab...

78 INT. CAB - MAX 78

...gets in behind the wheel, feeling limp. He lets out a slow
breath, reluctantly passes the flash drive to Vincent, who
already has Max's PC ripped from the dash and in the back
seat.
Vincent plugs the flash drive into the USB port. The icon
appears. Vincent double clicks the cursor on it.
VINCENT
Vegas odds would have compelled a
"don't pass" bet on you walking out
of there...
MAX
...I'm very impressed.
 Collateral 85.

Vincent enters a code. He sees what he needs.

VINCENT
Washington Boulevard. After-hours
dance club near Crenshaw called
"Fever." Know it?
MAX
Twelve minutes.
Vincent quits the flash drive, looks at Max. Max starts the
car and pulls out...

79 INT. MAX'S CAB - VINCENT 79

looks at Max through the rearview mirror.
VINCENT
You'll be late. Jump on the freeway
and get me to the 105 west.
MAX
Why?
VINCENT
Do it.

80 INT. SURVEILLANCE LOCATION - NIGHT 80

While the Feds are departing to interdict the killer before
he can take their next witness, Fanning is trying to get a
word in edgewise to a fast-walking Pedrosa...
FANNING
...according to the cab company's
dispatcher, this cabbie's been
driving that cab for twelve years...
PEDROSA
So what?
FANNING
...so, you're telling me this cabbie
walks into a phone booth and,
shazaam, changes into a meat-eater,
super-assassin? What's he do,
squeeze 'em in between fares?
PEDROSA
No. Cabdriver Max is floating down a
storm drain. He is stuffed in the
 Collateral 86.

trunk of a cab. He is being devoured

by flesh-eating stretococcus...
Fanning displays on his cell phone Max's picture from the DMV
on Max's license. It's blurred, low-res.
FANNING
The guy, who walked out, looks like
this guy...!

81 EXT. SURVEILLANCE LOCATION REAR LOADING DOCK 81

...and coming down the steps, fast, Fanning and Weidner at
their heels. Talking over his shoulder...
PEDROSA
'Cause he picked a cabdriver who
looks like him...
FANNING
What's Vincent look like?
PEDROSA
Who knows. He's a ghost... Vincent's
not even his name.
FANNING
I don't know...
PEDROSA
We do.
(nods to Fed #1)
FED #1
We see private-sector security
working for cartel groups in
Colombia, Russia, Mexico...hiring
ex-Special Forces types, ex-KGB all
the time...
PEDROSA
Guys with trigger time, skill
sets...real tradecraft...
(beat)
...like, look like a "cabdriver."
They near their cars...
FANNING
What are you gonna do?
PEDROSA
Take down his ass. Save our witness.
 Collateral 87.

...as Pedrosa and other Feds climb into a Cadillac and a

Buick and a third car.
FANNING
What if they're wrong?

WEIDNER
The guy identified himself as
"Vincent" and just met with the bad
people!
FANNING
Bullshit. There is something else
going on.
WEIDNER
It's not our game!
CUT TO:

82 INT. MAX'S CAB - REAR SHOT OVER MAX - NIGHT 82

to the 405 south on-ramp to the 105 west. Plus PROFILES (L to
R) + FRONTAL driving shots of cab to an off-ramp.

83 INT. LAX PARKING STRUCTURE - MAX'S CAB - NIGHT (GARY'S 83

AIRPORT SHOT)
enters and drives past CAM into the interior. Is Vincent
parking and leaving early?
VARIOUS LOCATIONS + ANGLES INSIDE PARKING STRUCTURE...
Max's cab drives up ramps under white strips of neon and
crosses the bridge to the adjacent parking structure at the
northwest corner of the parking area across from the Bradley
Terminal.

84 INT. LAX PARKING - FBI MONTE CARLO 84

darts in after Max's cab...hesitates, keeps a distance...sees
it's clear, then accelerates, tailing the cab.

85 INT. LAX PARKING, UP-RAMP - MAX'S CAB 85

accelerates up an up-ramp...

86 INT. MAX'S CAB, ROOFTOP - VINCENT 86

 Collateral 88.

has turned around in his seat and looks out the rear window.
We see why the FBI couldn't follow...

87 INT. PARKING STRUCTURE - FBI MONTE CARLO 87

pulls in and stops. It's in sight of but doesn't approach the
latest up-ramp to the roof.
FBI AGENT #3
I follow him up there...we blow the
tail!

88 EXT. EMPTY ROOFTOP LOT - WIDE 88

EMPTY PARKING LOT ROOF. Anybody tailing Vincent and Max would
expose themselves right here. It's called a choke point.

89 INT. MAX'S CAB - VINCENT 89

VINCENT
(to Max)
Let's go.
Max starts towards the down-ramp.

90 INT. PARKING STRUCTURE - FBI MONTE CARLO 90

FBI AGENT #4
(into Nextel)
LA103 to LA101. Pedrosa, Pedrosa...
(to Agent #3)
Air support...
FBI AGENT #3
(into radio)
LA103 to Air 4...you still have him?
HELICOPTER PILOT (O.S.)
Air 4 to LA103. I lost him. You're
in controlled air space. I gotta
stay out until I get clearance from
LAX tower...
FBI AGENT #4
(into Nextel)
Pedrosa...!

91 INT. PEDROSA'S BUICK - PEDROSA - NIGHT 91

 Collateral 89.

Listens. Then...
PEDROSA
(on his cell phone)
...you lost him?
(he listens)
He can head anywhere out of LAX.
North or south on the 405, east on
the 105, the 110...
Pedrosa's plan to intercept and take down Vincent just
crashed.
He rapidly recalculates.
PEDROSA
They locate Peter Yip?
FED #1
(on phone)
On with the wife. She thinks he's at
Fever. They called. Can't get
through.
PEDROSA
(to Driver)
Washington and Crenshaw. Move!
(into radio)
LA101 to LA103, LA104, LA105. Fever.
After-hours club on 2407 Washington,
near Crenshaw. Pico Union. Hit it!
LA105 (O.S.)
(into radio)
LA105 to LA101. Copy that.
AERIAL - MAX'S CAB
from inside the curve "cloverleafs" onto 105/110 interchange.

92 INT/EXT. MAX'S CAB 92

under the interchange north (or southbound 110).

93 INT. BLACK SUV 93

One of Pedrosa's chase units with four SWAT-types in sports
clothes jams off the freeway onto an exit ramp to surface
streets, north on Western or north on Crenshaw.

94 INT. MAX'S CAB - MAX + VINCENT - NIGHT 94

 Collateral 90.

are riding in pensive silence through the neon visual noise

of Koreatown.
VINCENT
Would you have called her?
MAX
Who?
VINCENT
Your lady friend. The one who gave
you her business card.
(Max is silent)
Or was she just being polite?
MAX
I don't know.
VINCENT
Why hold back? Why not act off your
impulse? Pick up the phone?
MAX
All I owe a fare is a ride, Vincent.
VINCENT
It's not what you owe me. Time is
fleeting. Life is short. Time is
luck. One day it's gone...
(beat)
You make it out of this alive, you
should call her. That's what I
think...anyway...
It's an important speculation from Vincent, given what's
going to come later. And meanwhile...

95 INT. FBI CADILLAC - PEDROSA 95

with two or three agents in the other two cars. One checks
there's a round in the chamber of his .9mm, as the silent
neighborhoods pass by.

96 INT. S600 MERCEDES - PACO, RUBIO + TWO OTHER COLD-EYED 96

KILLERS
Rubio has a silenced .9mm with an Aimpoint laser sight.

97 INT. LAPD UNMARKED CAR - FANNING 97

 Collateral 91.

at the wheel. Tailing the FBI cars at a distance,

CROSSCHATTER drifting from the police band...

98 EXT. OLYMPIC (OR?) - MAX'S CAB - NIGHT 98

cruises east. Korean neon burns into the sodium-lit magenta
sky. The streets are empty at four a.m. Reflected
streetlights flow up the windshield, colors kicking off
dented bodywork. The streets are deserted; the city seems
dangerous. Max and Vincent's attention, suddenly, is taken by
something else...

99 INT. MAX'S CAB - MAX + VINCENT'S POV: THREE COYOTES - NIGHT 99

separate and apart lope diagonally across Sunset. Adult
males.
Hunting. They're indifferent to urban habitation, as if they,
not we, own this city...

100 EXT. ALEXANDRIA STREET - ABSTRACT SIGNAGE 100

becomes a frontal of Max's battered cab TO CAMERA and it
turns right, as...

101 INT. FBI BUICK - OVER PEDROSA + HIS POV THROUGH WINDSHIELD - 101
NIGHT
A half block ahead he/we GLIMPSE Max's cab pull into the
Fever forecourt...
PEDROSA
There...!

102 INT. MAX'S CAB, APPROACHING "FEVER" NIGHTCLUB - NIGHT 102

There's chaotic valet parking with Bentleys and a Lambo in
choice spots. The party-till-dawn crowd. And in the thick of
it...

103 INT. FBI BUICK 103

But they are preceded by a Porsche SUV, and a limo cuts them
off and tries to disembark a diva, two girlfriends and two
guys, with players heading into a club before Fever.
Heavyweight Security has a fuck-you attitude towards
Pedrosa's Buick and the SUV (LA105) until...
 Collateral 92.

104 EXT. KOREAN MALL - FEDS - NIGHT 104

in tactical vests with CAR-15's; side arms...deploy. Vanity
muscle undergo instant attitude change. Pedrosa ad libs
telling diva to shut up and get back in the limo. BUT Max's
cab has disappeared from view.

105 EXT. FRONT OF CLUB FEVER - PEDROSA - NIGHT 105

PEDROSA
We get Yip out. You take Vincent.
Clean shots! Watch your backgrounds.
Pedrosa approaching the front entrance, the non-HRT are with
the BOUNCER, who, in response to a request we didn't see, is
trying to get a response on his radio from people in the
interior...but fails, as his men enter. Meanwhile...

106 INT. CLUB FEVER - VINCENT - NIGHT 106

propels Max past a bar, through screens of glass, frosted
alcoves...jammed with people.
VINCENT
Booth towards the back. That's where
he hangs. Fat Korean guy. Terminal
acne as a youth. You go first.
VINCENT
Fifteen feet in front and three to
my left. Wander, and innocent
bystanders get the first rounds.
Clear?
It's all black lacquer and frosted glass.
Back rooms - in Korean luxo - are for karaoke or the Korean
hotties who hang by a counter, like a check-in area. Panels
of glass in semi-circles in front of planting, some with
sheets of water running down, separate the different zones.
OR...it's cheesy disco with flat screens playing Korean music
videos and stock market quotes with out-of-date Christmas
decorations and black-lit outer-space murals. Visually, it's
as noisy as the Korean hip-hop, which makes it impossible for
anybody to hear anything.

107 EXT. FRONT OF CLUB FEVER - FANNING + WEIDNER - NIGHT 107

flash their LAPD badges, brush past the doorman, proceed
in...
 Collateral 93.

108 INT. FEVER - CLOSE: VINCENT 108

with Max in front and to his left, snakes through the crowd,
swimming among them, scanning for Peter Yip, seeking his
target in the back booths...
PEDROSA + THE FEDS
enter up the stairs. Staying as discrete as possible while
urgent, while Pedrosa shoots looks, his POVs, Feds move south
along east wall into densest part of the club...searching for
"Vincent," trying to spot him before he can assassinate Peter
Yip, searching for Yip, as...

109 INT. CLUB ENTRANCE - PACO, RUBIO + TWO 109

enter. They hang at the rear. Wait. Their job is to take out
"Vincent" if it looks like there's trouble, a double-takeout,
because "Vincent" must not fall into the hands of the FBI. He
knows too much.
PEDROSA
searches, desperately, for Peter Yip, his last witness, to
get him to safety.
FANNING
enters, scanning the crowd. Nothing. He and Weidner split-up.
And...
VINCENT
deeper among the dancers, now SEES distantly...
PETER YIP
for a moment. He's located towards the back wall across the
dance floor in a booth on a raised area in the semi-circular
room. With him are too-young Korean girls and a heavyset
Rapper. The view got blocked by an African-American and a
Korean bodyguard in suits near the booth, facing out.
Behind the booth are five or six Korean gangsters. But on the
dance floor, itself...
VINCENT SPOTS
an outer perimeter of security. Bodyguards within the crowd,
facing outward from the booth...looking for trouble before it
gets to the row of booths and Peter Yip.
MAX
Collateral 94.

receives the glance from Vincent. He's gestured down the

middle of the dance floor towards the rear. They work their
way through the mass of bodies. Meanwhile, Vincent casually
smiles at a girl and takes an oblique path, sliding along a
convex side wall. Vincent's path brings Vincent up behind
Bodyguard #1, who looks to the right as...
BODYGUARD #1
pounded in the kidney. His head is twisted around and torn
back, dropping him to the floor amid the bodies and noise.
Vincent's focus is already on BODYGUARD #2, as he kicks down
with ferocious force, slamming Bodyguard #1 into
unconsciousness...
Bodyguard #2 intuits, turns. Vincent's foot slams his knee
sideways, breaking it, Vincent's palm bounces the man's
forehead back, his fist slams into his exposed neck, that
fast.
MAX
buffeted by dancers, saw, backs away, as...
BODYGUARD #3
saw the assault on #2. He grabs for Vincent...who breaks the
grab, pulls Bodyguard #3's head and neck down towards him,
slams his knee into his rib cage twice, breaking things,
spins the man backwards, rips his head sideways and back, a
centimeter from breaking, and holding it there with his left
arm, Vincent's right hand is filled with the H+K as he moves
towards Peter Yip.
PEDROSA,
just then, SEES...
PEDROSA POV: PETER YIP
glimpsed in the booth from Pedrosa's angle.
PEDROSA
(to Fed #1)
There's Yip! Get him out of here!
And Fed #1 moves with Fed #2 along the wall on the opposite
side towards Yip while Pedrosa crosses the floor, sees the
disturbance and over his right shoulder, right there is...
PEDROSA
VINCENT!!!
Collateral 95.

Mad Dog Killer "Vincent."

PEDROSA
(into lapel radio)
Middle of the dance floor! There he
is!
FEDS + HRT WITH ASSAULT WEAPONS
push through dancers...
PEDROSA
FBI! FREEZE, VINCENT! DON'T MOVE!
FREEZE! HANDS IN THE AIR!
Max hears they spotted Vincent. Then he realizes the three,
four weapons of cops fighting through crowd are all aimed at
him. People who aren't falling away from him are confused.
Max is the loneliest man in the room...
MAX
Don't shoot! I'm not Vincent!
But Korean hip-hop thunders. Korean music videos are crazy
visuals.
RAPPER
next to Yip thinks HE'S getting busted, wants to get out
while...
BODYGUARDS #4 + #5
at either end of Yip's booth struggle to see from where the
threat is coming.
KOREAN GANGSTERS

behind the booth put hands on weapons. They SEE Fed #1 + Fed
#2 slide behind patrons, closing in, to get Yip to safety...
VARIOUS FEDS (O.S.)
(to Man)
FREEZE! HANDS IN THE AIR! ON YOUR
KNEES! NOW! NOW!
KOREAN GANGSTER #1 -
pushed sideways by Fed #1, who's trying to reach Yip - sees
the weapon in Fed #1's hand. So he pulls his 9mm, which Fed
#2 shoves sideways but the gun FIRES, hitting an incoming...
PEDROSA
Collateral 96.

in the upper thigh, slamming him face first to the floor.

AND WITH THE FIRST GUNSHOT, ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE...
MAX
drops to the floor. Rounds are fired at him by Yip's
Bodyguard #5. A dancer is hit.
PACO
gives the look of Rubio, who's moved to within 30 feet from
Max.
He nods "yes"...take out "Vincent," but...
REAL VINCENT
advancing to the Yip booth, sees the red line through smoke
and the jewel of a laser point dance around Max's ear. Sees
the source...
VINCENT'S H+K
over nearly-dead Bodyguard #3, swings left and punches THREE
ROUNDS into Rubio...
AND MAX
sees Vincent saved his life. As...
VINCENT
spots...
PACO
ten feet away...
PACO
(looks from Vincent to Max
to Vincent)
You're...
(he got the joke)
He drops to the floor for cover...to disappear...while...
MAX

is on the floor amid destroyed furniture, overturned tables,

panicked patrons and...
FANNING
Collateral 97.

...low, pushing through the chaos, gets a glimpse of Max.

Fanning shoves sideways to reach him, imbued with this
mission for some inexplicable reason...
AT BOOTH - PETER YIP
is protected by his confused scrum of Korean gangsters and
bodyguards. Girls dove under tables. The Rapper and one
Bodyguard struggles through crowd that traps them to get out,
while...
VINCENT
- the only calm in the storm - has dumped Bodyguard #3 and is
moving on the cluster of protection at Peter Yip's booth,
when...
FROM THE LEFT SIDE OF BODYGUARD #1
- breathing in rasps and risen from the dead - grabs for the
gun in Vincent's right hand as...
FANNING
gets to Max.
MAX
I'm Max! I'm a goddamn cab driver!
FANNING
I know. I know!
Fanning grabs him, keeps him low, pushes his head down...
FANNING
I'm Detective Fanning, LAPD! I'm
getting you out of here.
...and they slide behind the back of the opposite banquettes,
seeking cover, and break towards a rear exit. While...
HEAVY KOREAN GANGSTER, ALSO...
slams Vincent's gun hand with a short baton. Vincent's
disarmed. Two Men are on him.
A KNIFE IN VINCENT'S LEFT HAND
sinks into Bodyguard #1's leg, dropping him.
KOREAN GANGSTER
swings the baton for Vincent's head. Vincent steps inside.
 Collateral 98.

Traps the man's arm. Takes his baton, releases his torqued
body and backhands it across the Gangster's neck. Vincent
slams a forehand across his ribs. As the Korean Gangster,
concussed, falls backwards, forcing Vincent to the floor...
BODYGUARD #4,
coming up the middle from Yip's booth, where attention
focuses right now on the real threat: Vincent, FIRES A THREE-
SHOT BURST from an SMG. And, Vincent, retrieving his H+K,
rolls concussed Korean Gangster off of him, and...
VINCENT
places FOUR SHOTS into Bodyguard #4. VINCENT'S ASSAULT WILL
BE IN A STRAIGHT LINE. Now, he rolls onto one knee, FIRES TWO
MORE, dropping African-American Bodyguard #5, who had two
handguns blazing. And RISING...
VINCENT ALMOST AT YIP'S BOOTH
Korean Gangster is blown back. Another tries to help 300-
pound Yip escape over the back. He's HIT. Peter Yip falls
back into the banquette, his eyes wider because Vincent's
coming. Vincent reloads. As his thumb hits the slide release
and it jacks forward, he's already FIRED a round into Yip.
And Yip's eyes - at the fierce face of death approaching -
are filled in his last moments with Vincent, who FIRES four
rounds. And one to the head. That fast. And the wall of
frosted glass with a plane of water running down it behind
dead Peter Yip is untouched, serene.
WOUNDED PEDROSA
Feds are shouting. HRT are searching. Bodyguards are
surrendering. Korean gangsters scream at each other. Inane
Korean infomercials, videos, while...

110 INT. BACK STAIRS - MAX + FANNING 110

race past karaoke and music recording rooms and escape down
the back stairs. Fanning pushes Max ahead, covers their rear.
MAX + FANNING FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS

MAX
Oh, man, am I happy to see you! I
don't believe it!
FANNING
Yeah. I know. Relax. Breathe. You're
okay.
 Collateral 99.

Other patrons have collapsed on the stairs and huddle on the

landing. Max and Fanning slide by and step over them to get
to the exit door to the back alley.
MAX
I can't believe it. I can't believe
it...!
Fanning guides Max forward. Emotions flood out of Max. Ten
hours of traumatic stress. Max's nightmare is over. He's home
free. Tears stream down his face.

111 EXT. SIDE STREET BEHIND CLUB - WIDE: FANNING + MAX 111
emerge. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. Fanning is dead before he hits the
ground. Max is horrified. Vincent grabs Max, propelling him
forward.
VINCENT
(fierce)
GET IN!
He throws Max behind the wheel, gets in the back...
VINCENT
DRIVE!
Max - numb - hits the gas, peels out, his door left open,
hands barely on the wheel, driving and motor skills impaired,
scraping off the sides of adjacent cars. Dead Detective
Fanning, now inert, is left behind.
CUT TO:

112 EXT. AERIAL SHOT: LOS ANGELES CITYSCAPE - NIGHT 112

STRAIGHT DOWN from above. Acid-mint streetlight in pools on
Olympic Blvd. The yellow cab is the only vehicle heading
east.
Everything else streams west. Emergency vehicles. Flashers.

113 INT. MAX'S CAB - MAX 113

in shock. Back in purgatory...eternally in his cab's front
seat. As the lone yellow cab drives east...
SINGLE: VINCENT
VINCENT
 Collateral 100.

What a clusterfuck. Only thing

didn't show up was the Polish
cavalry.
Max's life, controlled by Vincent, is a nightmare, perpetual
and eternal...
VINCENT
You don't wanna talk, tell me to
fuck off...
MAX
(inaudible)
...fuck off.
Vincent's attention is out the window at the streams of
emergency vehicles...at the earpiece, filled with LAPD and
news helicopters.

114 EXT. STREET - FRONTAL: THE ANONYMOUS YELLOW CAB 114

heads east. All other traffic races to the debacle left

behind...
VINCENT (O.S.)
...blood, bodily fluid and death get
to you? Try deep breathing. Or
remember, we all die anyway...
MAX (O.S.)
You had to kill Fanning?!
VINCENT (O.S.)
(blasé)
Who's Fanning?

115 INT. CAB 115

MAX
That cop!
(beat)
Why'd you have to do that? You
couldn't wound him? The guy had a
family, maybe parents, kids who
gotta grow up without a dad, he was
a good guy, and he believed me...
VINCENT
I shoulda saved him 'cause he
believed you...?
MAX
Collateral 101.

No, not just that.

VINCENT
Yeah, that...
MAX
Yeah, so, what's wrong with that?
VINCENT
It's what I do for a living...
MAX
Some living.
VINCENT
Head downtown...
MAX
What's downtown?
VINCENT
How are you at math? I was hired for
five hits. I did four.
MAX
(grim)
One more.
VINCENT
There you go...!

MAX
Whyn't you kill me and find another
cab.
VINCENT
'Cause you're good.
(shrugs)
We're in this together. You
know...fates intertwined. Cosmic
coincidence. All that crap...
MAX
You're full of shit.
VINCENT
I'm full of shit?
(beat)
You're a monument of it. You even
bullshitted yourself, all I am is
taking out the garbage. Bad guys
killing bad guys...
MAX
Collateral 102.

'Cause that's what you said...

VINCENT
And you believe me...?
MAX
What'd they do?
VINCENT
How do I know?
(beat)
But, they all got that "witness for
the prosecution" look to me. It's
probably some major federal
indictment against somebody who
majorly does not want to get
indicted... I dunno.

MAX
That's the reason?

VINCENT
That's the "why." There is no
reason.
(beat)
No good reason; no bad reason. To
live or to die.

MAX
Then what are you?
VINCENT
(looks up)
...indifferent.
Vincent hesitates, then back out the window...

VINCENT
Get with it. Get over it.
...millions of galaxies of hundreds
of millions of stars and a speck on
one in a blink...that's us. Lost in
space. The universe don't care
(about you)
(beat)
The cop, you, me? Who notices?

MAX
What's with you...?
VINCENT
As in...?
MAX
Collateral 103.

Man, if someone had a gun to your

head and said: "You gotta tell me
what's goin' on with that person
across the street, there, what they
think, who they are, how they feel,
or I will kill you"...they'd have to
kill you...wouldn't they...?
(beat)
'Cause you don't have a
clue...about...anyone.
(struggling for the words)
...I don't think you, you have a
clue, period. Did anyone "do" for
you in your life...? Ever? When you
draw breath in the morning? Open
your eyes in the a.m.? You
anticipate...anything? Want
anything? Expect anything? I don't
think so...
(beat)
'Cause you are low, my brother, way
low... and some standard parts that
are supposed to be there?...with
you, aren't. So what happened to
you, man? What happened to you?
VINCENT
...all the cabbies in LA, I get Max,
Sigmund Freud meets Dr. Ruth...
MAX
Answer the question.
VINCENT
Look in the mirror.
(on the attack)
...with your paper towels...a bottle
of 409...a limo company someday. How
much you got saved?

MAX
None of your business.

VINCENT
Your business "plan?" Someday?
"Someday my dream'll come..."?
(beat)
And one night you'll wake up and
discover it all flipped on you.
Suddenly you're old. And it didn't
happen. And it never will. 'Cause
you were never going to do it,
anyway. The dream on the horizon
became yesterday and got lost. Then
Collateral 104.

you'll bullshit yourself, it could

never have been, anyway. And you'll
recede it into memory...and zone out
in a Barcalounger with daytime TV on
for the rest of your life...
(beat)
Don't talk to me about killing.
You're do-in' yourself. In this
yellow-and-orange prison. Bit by
bit. Every day.
EXTREMELY CLOSE: Max is soaking up every word.

VINCENT
All it ever took was a down payment
on a Lincoln Town Car. What the hell
are you still doing in a cab?
The needle on the speedometer is creeping past forty...

MAX
'Cause I never straightened-up and
looked at it, you know...?

VINCENT
Slow down.

MAX
(ignoring him)
...myself, I should have. My
brothers did...
(beat)
Tried to gamble my way out from
under.
(That was)
Another born-to-lose deal! Then,
"it's gotta be perfect to go!" You
know? Risk all torqued-down.

Needle pushing sixty...

MAX
But you know what? It doesn't
matter. What's it matter, anyway?
'Cause we are...insignificant out
here in this big-ass nowhere.
Twilight Zone shit. Says the badass
sociopath in my backseat. So that's
one thing I got to thank you for,
bro... Until now, I never saw it
that way...
The cab goes blasting through an intersection on a red light.
A LOS ANGELES TIMES DELIVERY TRUCK SLAM ON ITS BRAKES as Max
 Collateral 105.

swerves, barely avoiding a collision.

VINCENT
That was a red light!

Max glances in the rearview.

MAX
...not until now. So what's it all
matter? It don't. Fuck it. Fix it.
Nothing to lose. Right?

Vincent's H+K's aimed at Max's head. Max almost laughs.

VINCENT
Slow the hell down!
MAX
Why? What are you gonna do? Pull the
trigger? Kill us? Go ahead, man!
Shoot...my ass.
VINCENT
Slow down!
MAX
Vincent?
Their eyes meet in the rearview mirror. Vincent is arrested
by a look in Max that he's not seen before. It's the even,
confrontational look of a man with nothing to lose.
MAX
Go fuck yourself.

Max slams on the brakes and cranks the steering wheel hard
right...

116 EXT. STREET - RIGHT WHEEL 116

hits a low divider...rear end comes unstuck, rotating over
the front right and flipping the cab into a violent roll onto
its roof, spinning down the street, SMASHING off other cars,
pieces falling off, spewing glass...

...and then settling upside-down, revolving slowly to a

creaking stop, antifreeze spilling across the pavement.

And then everything goes silent, motionless, still.

117 INT. CAB 117

Collateral 106.

Wreckage. Steam from the ruptured radiator. Crumpled metal.

Missing hood. Disintegrated windshield...shattered glass.

Max is trapped upside-down in his seatbelt, his roof half

caved in, one side of his face streaked with blood. Alive but
dazed.

Movement in the back. Sharp intake of breath. Then a voice...

VINCENT
Well. That was brilliant.
MAX
Was your seatbelt fastened, honey?

-- and a BLOODY HAND shoots from the darkness behind him,

plunging an aluminum section that used to hold the perspex
screen in place. Max jerks his head aside and the aluminum
rail misses him by inches, ramming solidly into the headrest
instead.

Max releases his seatbelt, dropping and hitting the ceiling

of the cab. Vincent, sardined in the reduced space in the
back, lunges forward. Max wildly fights to keep the knife at
bay and crawl out his window. We hear a POLICE SIREN.
Vincent, eyes glittering, kicks out the window on the other
side.
Max, crawling away on the pavement, keeping low, the taxi
between them, looks back...
MAX'S POV: VINCENT

...in a glimpse, running off into the night. Vincent's hand

pulls the .45 Para Ordnance backup from his waistband.

Vincent's SHOES CRUNCH on broken glass. He vanishes into

darkness as the SIREN GROWS near...
Max pushes painfully to his feet. Looks around.

A surreal moment. Max standing by his overturned cab, the

empty city all around him, breathing the cool night air.

Alive.
It strikes him in that moment. He's survived the night. The
blood pumping through his veins is a fact. It stuns him.

Overwhelms him.
How good is life?
Collateral 107.

The LAPD black and white screeches to a stop. A SERGEANT gets

out.

SERGEANT
(into radio)
12A75 requesting an RA unit at Grand
and 9th for a TC with injuries...
SERGEANT, looking at the truly wrecked cab...

SERGEANT
Are you alright? What happened?
And the mundane beauty of the question makes Max look at him
like he's crazy, and there are tears streaming down his face.
The Sergeant approaches Max, gentle but firm:

SERGEANT
(as if to a child)
You've been in an accident. An
ambulance is on the way to help you.
Do you understand what I am saying
to you? Sit down on the curb. Okay?
(Max nods)
Anybody else in there?
Max shakes his head. The Sergeant shines his flashlight on
the passenger compartment, concerned about Max.

SERGEANT
Don't worry about the cab. They'll
get you a new one. You okay?

MAX
(finds his voice)
I'm...fine. Fine. Just dizzy and
shit.
SERGEANT
Sit there and breathe deep, sir.
You'll be okay.
The Sergeant, now at the rear of the cab, to make sure
there's no gasoline spill, suddenly freezes, his flashlight
beam finding the trunk lid ajar from the crash, and inside is
the corpse of Ramone Gallardo in a sprawled heap.

SERGEANT
Put your hands where I can see 'em!
Get on your knees! Slowly!

MAX
Huh?
 Collateral 108.

Sergeant's gun is out on Max. Max does as he's told, getting

to his knees on the pavement. Curious. The whole thing
strikes Max as insane. Absurd.

118 EXT. STREET - MAX 118

MAX
Sure. Arrest me. Take me in. Police
station. LA County's good.

...and he's on his knees, hands on his head. Sergeant coming

up behind him, covering him. Per procedure, Sergeant holsters
his weapon, draws his cuffs, and grabs Max's right wrist,
cuffing it.
MAX (SLO-MO)

One arm is brought down behind his back...

MAX'S POV: PUSH SLOWLY INTO DEBRIS

from the wreckage. Granules of shattered safety glass. Max's

on-board computer that Vincent used - upside down - and
"ON"... And...

TIGHTER ON MAX (SLO-MO)

as he sees the display from Vincent's flash drive of the last
two targets. Max's falls forward and flattens his face on the
pavement to see...
MAX'S POV PUSHING IN

The split image. On the left is Peter Yip. On the right is...

ANNIE FARRELL. ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY.

MAX (SLO-MO)

Breath goes out of him. Target #5 is Annie. As the Sergeant

is struggling for Max's left hand, now, Max's lunges for...
UNDER SHATTERED GLASS

the visible grip of Vincent's .45 H+K.

MAX

pulls the Sergeant off-balance, whips the H+K around while

still on his back, jamming the gun to the Sergeant's head.
Sergeant's hand reaches for his holstered Beretta...

MAX
 Collateral 109.

Get your hand off your gun!

Max jams the gun tighter to the Sergeant's head. He's not
certain where to point it.

MAX
Look, someone's gonna get killed if
I don't, it's...

SERGEANT
(cuts in)
PUT YOUR GUN DOWN!

MAX
NO! I gotta go, see, you don't...
SERGEANT
(cuts in)
PUT THE GUN DOWN!
MAX
HEY, HEY! When did this become a
negotiation?

Max grabs the gun out of the Sergeant's holster and tosses it
under the car. He takes his second set of cuffs...
MAX
Cuff yourself to the goddamn door.
Sergeant cuffs his arm through the window frame of the open
squad-car door. Max tosses the key. Trapped.

SERGEANT
You're in a world of shit...

MAX
Good! Do us a favor. Call the
police! I'm going to 6th and Fig.
(running off)
I got no time to explain...
...and the last the Sergeant sees of him, Max is vanishing up
the street into the darkness.

119 EXT. STREET - MAX 119

Running.
Stripped of everything now. Operating purely on instinct.

Vincent's gun in his right hand, handcuff dangling from his

left wrist...
 Collateral 110.

Running.

The city silent around him. The only sound is his feet
hitting the pavement...

Running.
TWO COP CARS rocketing through an intersection a block or so
behind him, SIRENS WAILING. Max veers for cover, not breaking
stride, pressing on...
More distant SIRENS, now, police units responding...Max,
racing up the middle of the street...
Seeing a late-night PARTIER coming out of The Standard with a
CELL PHONE, Max grabbing the phone right out of his hand as
he sails past him, the Partier spinning around to chase after
him...
PARTIER
Hey, asshole!
Max whips around, H+K snapping up.

MAX
Fuck off!
The man does. Max keeps running, dialing, fumbling Annie's
business card from his pocket, getting the numbers wrong,
trying again...

...and he finally stops, gasping for breath, punching in the

final numbers. LOUSY signal. CAMERA CIRCLES AROUND MAX TO
REVEAL...

120 EXT. PARKING STRUCTURE 120

Max runs up the stairs of a parking structure to get a better
signal. He and we SEE...
MAX'S POV: FEDERAL BUILDING

across the freeway. Dark offices. Only a few have lights on.
Except...
Three floors that are completely lit, 14th through 16th.

MAX
(gripping cell phone)
C'mon, go through, go through...

Through intermittent CELL PHONE STATIC, we hear RINGING on

the other end...
 Collateral 111.

121 INT. FEDERAL BUILDING LOBBY - VINCENT - NIGHT 121

uses a card similar to the one we saw in the front to gain
access to the elevator lobby without setting off the alarms.

BUT this card's connected to a wristband with other key cards

and an identification card of a heavyset black woman. We
don't understand...

WIDER
beyond Vincent the lobby's vacancy is sinister...

122 INT. ELEVATOR - NIGHT 122

Vincent rides up, watching the numbers climb...

123 EXT. PARKING STRUCTURE - NIGHT 123

Max waits, heart pounding, phone ringing, eyes scanning the
windows...

He sees a FIGURE on the uppermost well-lit floor, 16, through

the south windows cross an office to grab the phone. Annie.

INTERCUT WITH:

124 INT. US ATTORNEY'S OFFICE - ANNIE - NIGHT 124

lays down some files and grabs up the phone, bleary from
exhaustion. She wasn't kidding about pulling an all-nighter.

ANNIE
Annie Farrell.
MAX
(gasping for breath)
Annie...it's Max.

ANNIE
(uncertain)
Max...

MAX
Max, the cab driver!
ANNIE
(beat)
Max?
(glances at clock)
 Collateral 112.

...kind of a strange time to be

calling...
MAX
Listen! Listen, okay? There's a man.
His name's Vincent. He's come to
kill you!

ANNIE
He's...what? Where are you...?

MAX
(shouting)
Kill you! He is coming to kill you!

ANNIE
(beat)
Is this a joke? 'Cause it is not
funny.

MAX
A guy, Felix, hired him! Or people
Felix works for. He's already killed
witnesses, now he's coming after
you! He was scoping out your
building when I dropped you off. I
don't know what happened, but he got
into my cab.

125 INT. ELEVATOR LOBBY - ELEVATOR DOORS 125

slide open. Vincent emerges onto the floor, using a master
key card to enter the office...

126 INT. OFFICE - ANNIE 126

tries to decipher what Max is saying through the CELL PHONE

DROPOUTS:
ANNIE
Did you say Felix? As in Reyes-
Torrena? How do you know about my
case? I don't understand...

MAX
It doesn't matter! Get out of the
goddamn building...

127 INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT 127

 Collateral 113.

...but it's too late, Vincent's at a wooden door in the wood-

and-glass office interior with an "Assistant U.S. Attorney
Annie Farrell" sign. He kicks in the door at the lock. It
slams open. He's through, H+K up...
REVERSE: NOTHING

Empty. No one's home. It's not the same office. Vincent steps
in...

128 INT. 16TH FLOOR OFFICE 128

Annie finally grasps what Max is telling her:

ANNIE
...okay, okay, Max, I believe
you...I'll get out of the
building...
MAX
No, no, wait...!

129 EXT. PARKING STRUCTURE - MAX 129

sees across the freeway: Vincent looking through Annie's

office. It's on the 14th floor...
LOW ANGLE PAST MAX

CAMERA TILTS UP to reveal Annie two floors above. She's

frozen at a table in the law library on the south wall, phone
to her ear.

130 INT. 14TH FLOOR, ANNIE'S OFFICE - VINCENT 130

SEES purse, take-out, coffee cups...Vincent KNOWS she's still

here.

And the ANGLE becomes OVER VINCENT out the window to the
parking structure below and to the speck on the roof - Max,
watching him.

131 EXT. PARKING STRUCTURE - MAX 131

MAX
...he's two floors below you.
ANNIE
In my office?!
 Collateral 114.

MAX
Where are you, what floor?

ANNIE
Sixteen, law library and files.

MAX
He doesn't know you're up there!
Stay right where you are! Call 911!

ANNIE
Max, are you sure?
MAX
Call the goddamn police! Don't move
from that spot...

132 INT. 14TH FLOOR - NIGHT 132

Vincent pauses from examining offices with half-glass
interior walls. His eyes going to a desk phone. Three banks
of extensions. All dark. ONLY ONE of the extension buttons is
GLOWING. Then it goes out. Then it lights up again.
Glowing light. It's Annie calling 911. Next to it is typed
the extension's location.
Files Section, 16th Fl.

Vincent looks up. He knows where she is. CAMERA TILTS UP of

his look...

133 EXT. PARKING STRUCTURE 133

MAX

sees, realizes Vincent knows where she is...

MAX
(into cell phone)
Hang up. Hang up! Annie, get out! He
knows where you are!

134 INT. 16TH FLOOR FILES SECTION 134

ANNIE
lost in CELL PHONE INTERMITTENT CUT-OUT...

ANNIE
Hello? Max? What did you say?
 Collateral 115.

No use. He's gone. She punches a clear line, dials 911...

135 EXT. PARKING STRUCTURE 135

MAX

frantically hits redial. Nothing. No signal. SHRILL FAST-BUSY

TONE. No cell service.

MAX
Shit!
Pure desperation. He glances over the abutment to the grass
slope below. No time to think. He acts. Fuck it. He jumps,
clumsily, falling, rolling...

FALLING DOWN THE SLOPE

with Max. Desperate, not graceful, pushing to his feet, ankle
wrenched, racing/hobbling, grass-stained hoody, across...

136 INT. 14TH FLOOR - LONG LENS ON MAX 136

...crossing the bridge over the Harbor Freeway to the office

building...

137 INT. 16TH FLOOR FILES SECTION - NIGHT 137

...as Annie listens to the 911 RECORDING:

VOICE
...call will be answered in the
order received. If this is not an
emergency...

138 EXT. FEDERAL BUILDING, LOBBY (GAS CO. WEST OVERVIEW) 138

MAX
enters. The sidewalk is elevated above the lobby. Through the
brightly-lit glass walks Max sees the lobby is strangely
vacant. No security guards. (Then he SEES a LONG SMEAR OF
BLOOD across the white stone...)

139 INT. 16TH FLOOR FILES SECTION 139

ANNIE

finally hears a CLICK ON THE LINE as:

 Collateral 116.

FEMALE VOICE (FILTERED)

911. How can I help you...?

ANNIE
There's a man in the building! He's
trying to kill me. I'm...

140 INT. UTILITY ROOM, 16TH FLOOR - 140

FIRE AXE
WHACK! Vincent swings it again, instantly severing the 16th
floor's power and telephone trunk line. Sparks emit from the
bundled cables in the thick conduit. He tosses the ax, exits
into the hallway, jabs the elevator button...

141 EXT. FEDERAL BUILDING, LOBBY (EAST VIEW) - 141

MAX

appears. And SEES...dead NIGHT WATCHWOMAN squeezed behind the

security desk...

142 INT. FILES SECTION - NIGHT 142

...as Annie finds herself talking to a dead line:

ANNIE
...hello?

Meanwhile...

143 EXT. BUILDING LOBBY - NIGHT 143

Max hurls a steel trash can at the glass wall with all his
might. It just bounces off.

Max pauses, stymied. He raises Vincent's H+K clumsily in one

hand, braces himself, squeezes the trigger. Nothing. Is there
a safety on this thing? He finds it.

He tries again. FIRES TWO SHOTS into the glass door. The gun
almost kicks out of his hand. But the door disintegrates. He
walks through...

144 INT. 16TH FLOOR FILES SECTION - NIGHT 144

Annie, frozen with indecision. What to do? Stay or go?

 Collateral 117.

(In keeping with the building's design, a WALL OF GLASS

separates this area from the corridor beyond, which is
separated by glass from other offices and the lobby.
Normally, you'd be able to see people working, walking the
hallway.)

Right now, the corridor's dark. Terrifying.

She forces herself to move, to cross the office, run
now...for the door to the...
INTERNAL CORRIDOR

...but she only gets ten feet before she's stopped by...
A door opening. A SOFT FOOTSTEP. Somebody's there. Somebody
stealthy.
She backs up, against the floor-to-ceiling windows. Frozen.

Heart pounding. Listening. Against the city at night out the

windows...
She backs up, further towards the windows, back into...

145 INT. FILES SECTION 145

...where she backs past file cabinets. Not deep enough.

Nowhere to hide. So she backs along the glass. Nothing now
but the CITY GLOW spilling faintly through the windows. Low
shelves of legal books. Tables offering no cover. While...
A SHADOW

tracks against the city laid out to the south, the 110 and 10
like arteries carrying white and red cells (headlights and
taillights)...

ANNIE crouches under a table and crawls backwards. She can't

hear a thing. Her heart pounds. The silence makes her want to
scream.

A POV of empty, scary office. Over the table, b.g., is the

glass wall running the length of the office area. The
corridor beyond. Empty.

A SHADOW...? Did she see a shadow pass against the murky

darkness out there?

A soft sound. Feet on carpet. Did she hear it? Is she

imagining it? The breath catches in her throat. Eyes wide.
Collateral 118.

THE SHADOW
in the bullpen by a corridor. It lurks, silently. Waiting.

It's Vincent.
FRONTAL: VINCENT

And then he moves. Softly. Quietly...

TIGHT ON ANNIE

Under the table...by the windows. A huddled form against the

city lights and helicopters. Waiting. Not breathing. Still as
a statue. Then the urge is too strong.

She's got to get out, get out now!

Annie on her hands and knees, trying to crawl away,
soundlessly...

...not realizing that walking upon her, SOUNDLESSLY, from the

back is Vincent. She doesn't know. He's a shadow in the
dimness.
ANNIE

senses. Stops. Turns...and she sees the shape - twenty feet

away - of Vincent...the Para-Ordnance .45 coming up. The .45
cal barrel like a tunnel into nothingness.

VINCENT'S EYES
are cold, indifferent.

VINCENT'S FINGER
squeezing off the slack on the trigger.

VINCENT'S EYES
sense. Stops. Turns.

A SILHOUETTE
in a doorway. Aiming a gun. He's backlit by a red emergency
light on a rear wall. For a moment, Vincent can't bring
himself to believe it...
VINCENT
Max?
MAX
Let her go.
 Collateral 119.

Vincent smiles, it's harsh, almost canine...

VINCENT
What are you gonna do, shoot m--

BLAM! A MUZZLE FLASH. Vincent got kicked in the head. He goes

sprawling.

Max rushes up to Annie. Grabs her arm, jerks her away...

ANNIE
Max...?
He pulls her to her feet. Both of them backing away, running
for the door. A GROAN. Max pulls her harder.

VINCENT
rises, gets behind cover. Sitting up, eyes glittering, hand
clasped to the side of his head, blood coursing through his
fingers.
VINCENT
Jesus, Max. You shot my ear off.
He pulls his hand away, sitting on the floor, staring at the
sheet of blood on his palm. He looks at the fleeing Max.

VINCENT
Okay, MAX!

146 INT. GLASS CORRIDORS - MAX 146

has the H+K aimed, backing for the elevator lobby...

VINCENT APPEARS

around a corner, clearing space. Fast. His Para-Ordnance up.

Max and Annie running, now... Vincent sees vague shapes...

BOOM-BOOM! BOOM-BOOM! Gunshots punch through the glass,

inches from Max and Annie, collapsing walls revealing Vincent
against the LA-scape. Blossoms of white flame: BOOM-BOOM...

147 INT. ELEVATOR LOBBY 147

...and a moment later the GLASS WALL EXPLODES into the
corridor, by a chair, CRASHING through it, followed by
Vincent, into the elevator lobby, while...
 Collateral 120.

148 INT. ELEVATOR - MAX 148

hits the ground-floor button and "close," the doors taking a
million years to do that. As they're sliding shut, he sees
Vincent across the lobby, raising the gun...
Max throws himself on Annie, both to the floor. BULLETS PUNCH
through the paper-thin sheet-metal doors. But the elevator's
moving now...

149 INT. 16TH FLOOR HALLWAY 149

...leaving Vincent behind. He darts for the stairs.

150 INT. ELEVATOR 150

Max and Annie on the floor, breathing hard, staring at each
other in wordless shock. They reach the ground floor...

151 INT. BUILDING LOBBY 151

...and Max drags her forward, the two of them racing across
for the exit, seen WIDE + HIGH in REAR SHOT (Gas Co. lobby,
running to S.E.)...

152 INT. BUILDING STAIRWELL 152

Vincent careens down the steps, the entire side of his head
bloody, his ear mostly gone. He SLAMS through a door into --

153 INT. LOBBY 153

-- where he finds the elevator standing empty. He hears a
door alarm, turns, runs across the lobby...

154 INT. LOWER LOBBY - VINCENT 154

enters and races down the frozen escalator to CAMERA.

155 INT. MTA - REAR SHOT: MAX + ANNIE 155

enter and run through the interior hall OR down the lower
staircase.

156 INT/EXT. MTA - LOW/WIDE ANGLE: VINCENT 156

 Collateral 121.

entering from the street, diagonally, down to CAM. (The

office building is behind him.)

157 INT. BOARDING PLATFORMS (GREEN LINE) - MAX + ANNIE 157

race towards the boarding area.

Hardly anyone in sight, except for an OLD WHITE HOMELESS GUY

with a TV set in a shopping cart powered by a car battery.

MAX
CALL THE POLICE!

He stares at them like they're nuts. They run towards the

empty platform. No train!
Neon-lit, strange art, like dead people floating in a pool,
hangs from the ceiling.
Max and Annie run, turning this way and that, trying to
decide what to do.

OVER MAX + ANNIE - SAME

They run down ANOTHER STAIRCASE where we see the BLUE LINE
PLATFORMS, running at 90 degrees. No train there, either!
They race down, anyway to get away, because...

158 EXT. TOP OF STAIRS TO GREEN LINE PLATFORM - REAR SHOT: 158
VINCENT

runs into frame, SEES Max and Annie 50-75 yards away, racing
down the stairs to the Blue Line...a difficult shot, Vincent
aims, elevates the front sight...

BOOOOOM! BOOOOOM! BOOOOOM! Vincent FIRES THREE ROUNDS...

159 INT. BLUE LINE PLATFORM - MAX + ANNIE 159

cut by .45 caliber bullets chewing craters in the ceramic

tiles inches from them.

160 INT. BLUE LINE - MAX + ANNIE 160

HEAR, NOW, A TRAIN PULL IN. BUT it's upstairs on the Green
Line. They run down the platform for the stairs back UP!

161 INT. GREEN LINE PLATFORM - VINCENT 161

 Collateral 122.

running, SEES the train arriving on the OPPOSITE PLATFORM. He

looks down to the stairs to the Blue Line. A train pulls in
there, too! Decision time.

162 INT. GREEN LINE, THE FOURTH SUBWAY CAR - MAX + ANNIE 162

...are discovered crawling into the car. They collapse, low

on the floor, waiting for the doors to close, the train to
pull out, hoping Vincent hasn't followed...

VINCENT
has to decide, has to second-guess Max. A beat. The train
sits there for seconds. It seems like hours, like fucking
forever. Vincent riveted to the spot. Max + Annie praying
Vincent doesn't appear.

The doors start to close, sliding irrevocably shut.

VINCENT

Then he knows. With no hesitation, he leaps off the platform

onto the rails as the train starts to pull out.

163 INT. FOURTH SUBWAY CAR - MAX + ANNIE 163

are at the sliding which adjoins the fourth car to the third
car. The train's picking up speed. Where's Vincent? As a
precaution, they start for the third car.

164 EXT. MTA - HELICOPTER FROM ABOVE 164

...we're out of the subway on the surface...

165 INT. THIRD CAR - MAX + ANNIE 165

low, down the aisle of the third car, rising for the door.
And Max turns and looks:
VINCENT

standing in the fourth car, staring at him.

166 INT. SECOND CAR - MAX + ANNIE 166

race in as ROUNDS pound through glass into the second car.

ROUNDS SLAM through metal and glass.

 Collateral 123.

167 INT. FOURTH CAR - VINCENT - NIGHT 167

VINCENT
is coming...

VARIOUS ANGLES
...and the SEQUENCE BUILDS, Vincent working toward the
front... Max and Annie desperately looking for cover. City
racing by.
Train racing by city. A few RAGGED PASSENGERS trying to
huddle out of harm's way with nowhere to go. As the TRAIN
THUNDERS AND SHRIEKS over the track junctures...
THE FIRST CAR

Max and Annie rush in, slide the door shut. This is as far as
they can go. They drop into a crouch at the door, breathing
hard, terrified, Max with his back against the wall, arm
stiffly keeping the door handle wedged tight, his head just
below the door's window. A harsh, ragged whisper:
ANNIE
Where's the next station?
A frozen moment. Eyes locked. Knowing they're probably going
to die together, even though they hardly know each other.
THE TRAIN GOES BLACK, LIGHTS DYING AS THEY SHRIEK OVER
ANOTHER

JUNCTURE...then the LIGHTS RETURN, stuttering.

Max rises slightly up, peers over the lip of the window. Here
comes fucking Vincent down the aisle of the second car. He
sees Max. He shouts, barely audible from here...
VINCENT
YOU CAN'T WIN, MAX! I DO THIS FOR A
LIVING!
...and he keeps coming, .45 at his side, a sheet of blood
down his face from the missing part of his ear.
...the visage of Vincent, the .45 in his hands, scares the
shit out of the early-morning passengers.
...and Max clutches the H+K, takes a deep, shaky breath, his
eyes on Annie's, not even sure in that moment what he's going
to do, probably die, and he lunges up, Vincent not ten feet
away...
 Collateral 124.

AND THE TRAIN GOES DARK.

A BLIZZARD OF MUZZLE FLASHES, both men FIRING THROUGH THE

WINDOWS at each other, GLASS SHATTERING between the cars and
getting sucked away by the wind, Max screaming, face lit only
by the GUNFIRE, clumsy in how he holds Vincent's H+K, firing
one-handed, not aiming, not looking where he's
shooting...Vincent's Para-Ordnance BOOMING OUT MASSIVE
ERUPTIONS OF FLAME...

...and then abrupt silence as the LIGHTS RETURN, Max looking

down, his expression nearly childlike with terror. He stares
at the H+K in his shaking hand, sees the slide is locked back
- gun's empty. He rises up. His look says, "go ahead, kill
me..." through the shattered window.

Vincent's standing in the other car, right where we left him.

Watching Max. A little smile on his face.

168 INT. VINCENT'S CAR - NIGHT 168

Vincent ejects the empty magazine. Before it even hits the
floor or at his feet...Vincent's hand loading a full mag, the
weapon pointed at Max, like it was when he reloaded and shot
Peter Yip the first time.

Odd, though. His fingers aren't working that well. His

brilliant sleight-of-hand seems gone. He fumbles the reload,
in fact.

The magazine of stacked .45's drops, landing at his feet

among the expended casings. A few fresh droplets of blood
patter quietly.

Vincent considers picking up the mag, but it suddenly seems

like way too much trouble. He blinks at the .45 in his hand,
as if confused, then turns and starts unsteadily back toward
the back of the car.
The .45 slips from his fingers, clattering to the floor.

Max watches Vincent walk away.

Vincent only makes it halfway. He has to sit. He grabs an
aluminum pole, eases himself onto the seat, trying to catch
his breath.
Max slides his door open, steps across the bridge between
cars.

Slides the second door open. Enters.

 Collateral 125.

Vincent turns his head slightly, watching Max draw cautiously

nearer. Max stares down, seeing the blood spreading across
the floor beneath Vincent. Turning into quite a pool.

Vincent tries to speak, can't quite manage. Max sits across

from him. Annie appears in b.g., watching them.
VINCENT + MAX

sit there, riding the train. Softly:

MAX
We're almost at the next station.
Vincent smiles faintly. He leans his head toward Max as if
conferring a secret. In a halting whisper:

VINCENT
Guy. Gets on a subway. Dies.
(off Max's look)
Think anybody'll notice?
MAX

looks into Vincent's eyes. It means "I'm that guy" and "will
anybody notice me when I'm gone?"

VINCENT
leans back, gazing straight ahead now. Rocking gently with
the motion of the train...

...and with much effort and to Max's amazement, Vincent emits

a soft, rasping wheeze, but it's a faint laugh all the same.

Max has no idea what's so funny to a dying man. Vincent

looks.
Max follows his gaze. There, right across the car, among all
the ADVERTISEMENTS near the ceiling, is:
AN AD

The whitest sand and bluest sea you can imagine. A dream
place.

Limitless horizon.

169 INT. VINCENT'S CAR - MAX - DAWN 169

Vincent's no longer laughing. In fact, Vincent's no longer

doing anything. Ever.
Collateral 126.

Annie comes to Max and sits. She shivers. Max takes off his
zippered, hooded sweatshirt and puts it around Annie. It's a
small gesture. But it's a protective and confident act... She
takes his hand. Dawn lightens the sky ahead. They ride the
train together, side by side, neither saying a word. For now.
The train pulls in to a station...

WIDE ANGLE OF SUBWAY CAR

...and Max pulls Annie to her feet. The doors open. They
silently get off. The first sideways streams of yellow light
shaft into the station.
The doors close again. The train pulls out.

WE HOLD ON Vincent for a while. Riding the train by himself,

into the dawn, his head back as if sleeping, alone in the
car, as the sun rises.

Another dead guy on the subway...riding into a new day.

And Max, in his Polo shirt and dirty pants, an arm around
Annie, wearing his stained sweatshirt, rises to us up the
escalator...freeways, arteries of traffic behind them.
FADE OUT