WHITE RABBITS AND AMAZONS ON THE JURASSIC COAST
Written by
Michael Sones [email protected]
+4407951666384
FADE IN:
TITLE CARD: WONDERLAND: OR DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
The Jurassic Coast runs ninety-three miles along England's
south shore, from Exmouth in Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset.
It carries 185 million years of history in its cliffs. In the
18th and 19th centuries, these coves sheltered smugglers
hauling lace, wine, tea, and spirits. Today, the routes
remain—but the cargo is deadlier, and the smugglers far more
ruthless.
BLACK SCREEN.
ALICE (V.O.)
To me, it's just a fact that the
universe is a black hole of
sadness. And when things change, I
get overwhelmed. I melt down. My
friend Ruth — you'll meet her in a
second — says that's my autism
talking. That things aren't really
like that. She says the left
hemisphere of my brain is in
overdrive, pulling everything
apart. But why do I feel like it
disintegrates the ground I'm
standing on? What kind of useless
brain does that?
As she speaks, we FADE UP into a coastal seafront café —
bright, noisy, full of movement.
A LOUD CRASH — plates and cutlery shatter on the tile floor.
ALICE (V.O.)
I've done it again. I've broken the
fucking universe.
Genres:
["Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
2 -
Nostalgia and Unrequited Love at the Seafront Cafe
INT. SEAFRONT CAFE – DAY
SUPER: BOURNEMOUTH, UK.
ALICE (18), a beautiful girl with long blonde hair in a
ponytail tucked through the back of her cap, is frantically
gathering broken crockery.
RUTH (18), her best friend, stands nearby. Both girls wear T-
shirts with the following on the front: "BCP SCHOOL FOR GIRLS
– SIXTH FORM SURVIVORS '25".
On the back: WHITE RABBITS ON THE JURASSIC COAST. Ruth laughs
helplessly — and then bends to help Alice clean up the mess.
ALICE (V.O.)
That's me - the gorgeous one on the
floor. I love Ruth. She says she
loves me, too. Not in the way I
want, but hey, you can't have
everything. Honestly? I think it's
mean how she laughs when I mess up.
She says she's not being mean...
She says I look like Botticelli's
Venus. I kinda hoped she would
worship me, too. But anyway.
Unrequited love and all that. Not
to diverge too much from this very
weird story — This is the moment we
met Kat. And the craziest, jumbled
memory summer of my life began. And
if you were expecting some sweet
summer gay rom-com... well, you
might wanna leave now. But for
those who stay, let me introduce
Kat.
KAT FERRERS (30), with short-cropped red hair and sleeve
tattoos covering her muscular arms, has an Amazon warrior's
coiled presence. She sits at a table eating a full English
breakfast. A laptop is open beside her, and she occasionally
pauses eating to tap the keys.
Kat watches Alice and Ruth with a smile warming her face as
she scopes their sweatshirts.
KAT FERRERS
Hey, girls. Just a second. You
obviously survived BCP.
Ruth and Alice approach Kat. They notice her laptop screen
monitor.
ON MONITOR
Across the top of the screen:
EXQUISITE ORNAMENTAL GARDEN DISPLAYS
Below that:
TRUSTMARK TRUE RATINGS
4.8 STARS 3000 reviews
Beneath this: a glorious peacock with a chessboard across its
tail.
BACK TO SCENE
Kat is playing an online game.
KAT FERRERS
Mr Bosley still teach Classics
there?
ALICE
Yes, you go to BCP?
KAT FERRERS
Fair few years ago. He was a good
teacher.
(laughs)
His eyes wandered.
Alice and Ruth laugh knowingly.
ALICE
Some cartoon dad said, "Why do
women have breasts?"
RUTH
"So you've got somewhere to look
when talking to them."
All laugh.
RUTH (CONT’D)
He is a good teacher, but retired
at the end of this year.
ALICE
Amazingly, he managed to get
through without any breach of trust
charges against him. Oh, manners.
I'm Alice. This is Ruth.
KAT FERRERS
Kat. I wrote about the Amazons for
my EPQ. He loved it.
RUTH
Didn't you just love the story
about Achilles and Penthesilia?
ALICE
What are you talking about?
KAT FERRERS
Achilles killed Penthesilia, and at
the moment of death, they looked
into each other's eyes and fell in
love - but it was too late.
ALICE
Huh! I think love is always too
late.
KAT FERRERS
I can tell Cupid's arrow has stung
you. What'd you do for your EPQ?
ALICE
I'm neurodiverse. I wrote about
Ovid's Metamorphoses. I thought,
weirdly, that writing about all
those changes might somehow help
me. I nearly had a 100% breakdown.
RUTH
I thought we were going to have to
get her sectioned.
ALICE
Okay, that's enough.
KAT FERRERS
That's shit. What's that on the
back of your ts?
Alice holds up her finger to her mouth, wanting to shush
Ruth, who ignores her.
RUTH
Just a club. Alice's dad is a maths
professor and says he is the great,
great something of Lewis Carroll.
That's why they called her Alice.
KAT FERRERS
Wow! That’s really interesting.
Named after Alice in Wonderland.
Now I get it about the White
Rabbits.
ALICE
Don’t mind Ruth. She can’t help
being a cow sometimes.
RUTH
Moo. Whatever. We'd better get back
to work. Great tattoos. Alice has
got one.
Ruth looks away, out to sea, guilt crossing her face in
waves.
Alice smiles.
RUTH (CONT’D)
She's good at smiling. Hiding
behind the mask.
ALICE
I've learned to smile until I
nearly disappear. Fucking
exhausting.
RUTH
You old Cheshire cat, you. What you
doing now?
ALICE
Why can't you fuck off sometimes,
see you next Tuesday? Sorry, not
you, Kat. Nice to meet you.
RUTH
We better get back to work.
Kat watches them walk away.
IMAGE IN KAT'S MIND - FLASH OF MEMORY
Kat, 16, in a BCP sweatshirt, waits outside the school gates.
Her younger sister (12), also in BCP, bursts out, beaming. They
link arms and walk off together.
BACK TO SCENE
She glances at her Ruth and Alice again, blinks and rubs her
eye. She turns to the laptop screen and then quickly away,
staring out to sea and the waves rolling in on the beach.
Genres:
["Drama","Coming-of-age","Romance"]
Ratings
Scene
3 -
Tension on the Beach
EXT. STUDLAND BEACH - EVENING
Four golden miles of sand stretch between the white chalk
stacks of OLD HARRY ROCKS — said to be named after a local
pirate — and the distant curve of Poole Harbour.
The tide is low. Rock pools shimmer at the foot of the
cliffs, dark and glassy in the falling light. Gulls SCREECH
and glide on the breeze.
Ruth and Alice walk along the sand approaching the rock
pools. They stop to look out across Poole Bay at the
twinkling lights of Bournemouth.
ALICE
Bit spooky here.
(shivering)
Imagine if we ran into the ghost of
that pirate, Old Harry, coming back
after his buried treasure.
RUTH
Careful. I know you. You'll get
yourself worked up in a minute.
You'll be running around like a
rabbit with its head cut off,
screaming, "I'm late, I'm late."
ALICE
Hilarious. Not. Better be careful,
or one day you'll tell a real funny
joke and laugh yourself to death.
Anyway, your joke is biologically
illiterate. A headless rabbit
couldn't scream. And Old Harry
never would have buried his
treasure here - much too close to
Poole.
As they carefully scramble among the rock pools, Alice spots
something orange, partially buried in the tidal sand, up
against a rock. She goes over to it and, scraping the sand
off, pulls it out.
ALICE (CONT’D)
A lifejacket. What's it doing here?
RUTH
At least there is no body still in
it.
ALICE
I would be screaming and running
around.
RUTH
All kinds of things emerge from the
sea. Don't they, Venus?
ALICE
Hah! Hah! Not.
RUTH
Let me see it.
Ruth takes it from Alice and starts examining it.
RUTH (CONT’D)
Let's see. Look, it's torn, must've
been gashed by the rocks.
She puts her hand into the gash and pulls out a plastic
package.
RUTH (CONT’D)
Fuck. Let's get out of here.
ALICE
Why?
RUTH
It's drugs. We'd better take this
to the police.
ALICE
You're scaring me. You think
they're around?
RUTH
Don't know, but let's get the hell
back to the car.
ALICE
Can't we just leave it?
RUTH
No, what if some little kids found
it?
ALICE
Didn't think of that.
Ruth carries the lifejacket. Alice walks close beside her,
one arm nervously hooked through Ruth's. They head down the
beach toward one of the narrow paths winding up through the
dunes — a rough track cut through scrub and heather, leading
back to the car park.
As they turn up the path, they see Kat walking towards them,
three men trailing slightly behind. She’s looking at her
phone, and they can hear the PING! PING! and then, suddenly,
from the lifejacket comes a corresponding PING!
KAT FERRERS
Hi, girls. What have you got there?
Oh, I see you've found one of my
lifejackets. Can I have it back?
ALICE
One of your lifejackets? What do
you mean?
KAT FERRERS
Just give it to me, turn around,
and walk back on down the beach.
The three men, DEAN, KEV, and JAY, all in their early
thirties, wearing jogging bottoms and hoodies, walk around
Kat and stand behind the girls. Alice’s jaw begins to
tighten, and her eyes widen in fear.
ALICE
What’s going on? We just went for a
walk on the beach and found this
lifejacket.
DEAN
Ah, good. Lavinia will be pleased,
Kat.
KEV
What are we going to do with these
two?
ALICE
We don't know anything. We won't
say anything about the drugs to the
police.
RUTH
Oh,... Alice.
DEAN
Better take them to Lavinia and let
her decide.
Kev steps forward and tightly grabs an arm of each girl,
roughly pulling them along.
KEV
You’re coming with us now. You
scream and I’ll knock out your
teeth.
KAT FERRERS
Let them go, Kev. They’re
civilians. Just school kids.
(MORE)
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Lavinia’s not going to like you
bringing them to her.
Kev lets go of Alice and Ruth, who quickly scurry behind Kat.
KEV
You're not the boss, Kat. We work
for Lavinia. We let her decide what
to do. I'll take the girls with me.
Kat turns around and steps back a few feet, placing herself
between the men and the girls. Her hands are down by her
side.
KAT FERRERS
Shit. This is really causing me a
problem. You're so fucking stupid.
Now you've given them the name of
your boss...Ruth, just give me the
lifejacket and start backing down
the path, girls. Now!
Ruth hurriedly thrusts the lifejacket into Kat's outstretched
hand.
Kev reaches into the pocket of his hoodie. Kat raises her
right hand - a Beretta Bobcat with a suppressor.
The soft pop of a suppressed shot. A small hole appears in
the middle of Kev's forehead. He slumps silently into the
sand.
Dean and Jay quickly raise their hands.
RUTH
Jesus Christ. You shot him. You've
got a gun.
Alice starts to hyperventilate.
KAT FERRERS
Put them on the ground, very
carefully.
The two thugs remove their weapons from the pockets of their
hoodies and place them on the ground.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Ruth, get their guns.
Ruth bends down and scoops them up, barely able to hold them;
she is trembling so much.
JAY
Lavinia's going to be really pissed
off with you, Kat.
KAT FERRERS
Who gives a fuck? Give her this.
She throws the lifejacket at the thug, who catches it.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Now, walk down the beach and keep
walking. Don't turn around for
fifteen minutes. Or you'll be
breathing sand, too.
The thugs start walking.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Quick, let's go.
She takes the guns from Ruth, stuffs them in her waistband,
and starts up the path, followed by Ruth, who pulls along a
panicky Alice.
She then stops.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Now. Give me your phones. All of them.
Ruth, still clutching Alice's arm, hands over her phone. Alice,
shaking, does the same. Kat quickly buries them in the sand at
the base of the path, stomping the spot with her foot.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
They're going to find those and the
body. We don't have long before
they're all over this beach.
She takes the guns from Ruth, stuffs them in her waistband,
and starts up the path, followed by Ruth, who pulls along a
panicky Alice.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama","Crime"]
Ratings
Scene
4 -
Escape to Scythian Rise
EXT. CAR PARK - DUSK
Up in the car park, Kat goes to a Graphite Grey Skoda Octavia
vRS. In the nearly empty car park, a few spaces away, is a
Ford Fiesta.
KAT FERRERS
Get in.
ALICE
(through panicky breaths)
What about my car?
INT. KAT'S CAR - CONTINUOUS
Both girls climb into the back seat. Kat gets behind the
wheel and takes a deep breath. She tosses the guns on the
seat beside her.
KAT FERRERS
Seatbelts. You don't have a car
anymore.
Alice turns her head, tears in her eyes, and glances back at
her car as they exit the car park.
RUTH
Where are you taking us?
KAT FERRERS
I saved your lives. Lavinia gets
her hands on you... Not nice.
RUTH
You killed a man. Take us to the
police.
Kat's fingers tighten on the steering wheel.
ALICE
She'll go to jail. She killed him
because of us. It's our fault.
KAT FERRERS
You sure you're an A-level student?
That's one of the dumbest things
I've heard. I killed him because he
was a piece of shit.
RUTH
I still say take us to the police.
KAT FERRERS
Let me spell it out. You went for a
walk on the beach. You found a
washed-up lifejacket with fentanyl
in it. I killed a guy to save your
lives. Go to the police. Ask
yourselves this? Will that keep you
and your families safe? This gang
kills for kicks.
(MORE)
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
The moment you walked along the
beach and picked up that
lifejacket, it's like....
(laughs)
You followed a white rabbit and
fell down a hole. Alice...in
Criminalland.
ALICE
You been taking lessons in comedy
from my Dad? He fancies himself as
a stand-up, too.
Kat laughs.
KAT FERRERS
Somewhere in there, Alice, you've
got balls. You've just witnessed a
killing. Been kidnapped by someone
who might be a lunatic. You’re in a
whole new universe now.
ALICE
Oh. My. God. I couldn’t cope with
the last one.
Ruth grips Alice’s hand and squeezes it.
INT. KAT'S CAR - LATER
The car turns off the main road and onto a small side road
with a sign: SCYTHIAN RISE. Beneath that, another sign:
PRIVATE - NO TRESPASSING.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
5 -
Arrival at Scythian Rise
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE - NIGHT
The lane travels about a hundred yards and dotted on its
hedge-lined borders are small statues with classical motifs -
often of satyrs and nymphs. They stop before a wrought-iron
gate with CCTV discreetly mounted on the pillars. Kat checks
her phone.
KAT FERRERS
Clear.
Presses some buttons, the gate opens, and she drives into the
courtyard.
A complex of farm buildings, a house, a Purbeck stone cottage
with a slate roof, a barn and several small outbuildings.
Parked up against the barn is a large telehandler, a cross
between a forklift and a crane. Chickens in a coop cluck and
geese squawk as they drive in.
Twinkling lights from a village down the hill and several
miles away can be seen in the distance.
They exit the car.
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE - CONTINUOUS
Ruth points at the lights.
RUTH
Where's that?
KAT FERRERS
Corfe Castle. Try stumbling there
in the dark. You'll fall into a
quarry and break a leg.
RUTH
Wasn't going to stumble anywhere.
Just asking.
ALICE
Who, what are you? You sell
statues. What are you going to do
with us? Are you a lunatic?
KAT FERRERS
Don't know yet. Got to think. But
before you panic, I wouldn't have
saved you from Lavinia to kill you
myself.
ALICE
You said you might be a lunatic.
We've got a right to know.
KAT FERRERS
I forgot. You might take things
literally. Figure of speech. C'mon.
Let's go inside.
She leads them to a large farmhouse. There are CCTV cameras
everywhere, tracking them as they approach.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
6 -
Confronting the Abyss
INT. KAT'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
The light is switched on.
Blinking, the girls look around.
ALICE
Wow!
In the middle of the wall opposite the entrance is an
ammonite about 3 feet in diameter, surrounded by smaller
ammonites.
On the wall to the left, a large Greek amphora depicts
Achilles killing Penthesilia. Next to it on the wall, a
curved bow, and a framed picture of Kat, on horseback, riding
and firing an arrow.
ALICE (CONT’D)
Hey, that's cool. I took archery at
Guide camp. But on a horse? You an
Indian or something?
Swords and knives were spread across the other wall,
glistening in the spotlights.
A framed photograph of a younger Kat, wearing a white sash-
style uniform, being presented with a trophy by a much older
man, also wearing a flowing white sash uniform. The bronze
plaque on the frame reads: KAT FERRERS, SOUTH COAST WING CHUN
CHAMPION, 2010.
On a workbench is a three-foot-high ornamental peacock made
of glass and brass with various wires attached to it. Alice
and Ruth look at it.
Alice approaches a knife on the wall and reaches out to touch
it.
KAT FERRERS
Careful, razor sharp. You cut a
finger off... Can't take you to a
hospital. No anesthetics. Have to
cauterize it here.
She flicks open a lighter and sparks a flame. Alice quickly
snatches back her hand.
Ruth points at the ammonite.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Over sixty million years old.
Brings it home - our transience.
One day, we're chickens. The next
day - feather dusters.
ALICE
God. I hate it when people talk in
cliches. Must be a design flaw in
the universe.
(starts speaking rapidly,
shallow breathing)
Why'd you save us? Why'd you kill
that man? What are you going to do
with us? My parents will be really
worried. And I might not look like
it, but I'm really fucking scared!
Alice starts to cry. Ruth comes over to her, and the two
girls put their arms around each other and both sob.
Kat watches them, her eyes tear up, and she quickly wipes
them away before the girls notice.
RUTH
I'm really scared, too. You shot
that man! I've never seen anyone
dead before, never mind fucking...
ALICE RUTH (CONT’D)
Shot! Shot!
ALICE (CONT’D)
You told us you were a
businesswoman! Not a gangster! Now
you've abducted us!
KAT FERRERS
You're freaked out. I get that.
Let's all sit down and think this
through. Take some deep breaths.
The girls, arms around each other, sit on the sofa -
breathing deeply.
ALICE
This is how my therapist told me to
breathe to relax.
She takes some slow, deep breaths. She continues to shake.
ALICE (CONT’D)
Not working.
RUTH
I'd like to see your stupid
therapist relax with some deep
breaths if they'd seen someone shot
and then been kidnapped.
Kat brings over some glasses and bottled water.
KAT FERRERS
My logic. You - the wrong place at
the wrong time. Me and those goons -
looking for some lifejackets that
got washed overboard. You - bad
luck, you found them first and saw
the drugs. Now you know how the
business is done. Me - I gotta a
code, not much of a code, but a
code. I won't kill or be party to
the death of anyone who doesn't
deserve it. You - They were going
to take you to Lavinia.
RUTH
Who the fuck is Lavinia?
(sneering)
Some sort of queen bee gangster?
KAT FERRERS
She's tough. Cold. Ruthless. Money
is the only honey that she cares
about. She's worse than the Red
Queen in Wonderland. When she says
"off with their heads" - that's
what happens.
ALICE
(shaking her head)
People always get it wrong. That
was the Queen of Hearts.
KAT FERRERS
Whatever.
RUTH
Why are you in her gang?
KAT FERRERS
Wrong. I'm not in her gang. She
hires me when she wants something
done.
ALICE
Like, kill somebody.
KAT FERRERS
If they deserve it.
ALICE
Ruth, she thinks she's God.
KAT FERRERS
(ignoring Alice)
Or, guard a shipment of valuables.
RUTH
What's going to happen to us?
KAT FERRERS
Contrary to Alice, I'm not God, but
think this out. If my logic is
flawed - challenge.
ALICE
Be prepared.
KAT FERRERS
You - go to the police. You will
tell them about me. Me - I saved
your lives.
RUTH
We didn't ask you to.
ALICE
Ruth, that's stupid.
KAT FERRERS
You - tell the police about
Lavinia, the killing and the drugs
hidden in the lifejacket. Lavinia -
will she have any reason to kill
you? Maybe. Will she have any
reason to kill me? Definitely. Will
I be safe if I am sent to prison?
No. You - go to the police. I go to
jail. So, go to the police, and I
am dead.
RUTH
Alice?
ALICE
Logical, so far.
KAT FERRERS
You - will going to the police and
becoming witnesses stop Lavinia
from killing you? Threatening your
families?
RUTH
Why would she? The police would
protect us.
ALICE
This could take years to come to
court. Best way of making sure it
doesn't - kill the witnesses.
RUTH
Police protection.
ALICE
A good idea. We all know there is
no police corruption. It's just a
film fiction.
KAT FERRERS
So, you go to the police, I go to
jail, probably get killed, you are
targets. Maybe your families for
leverage.
ALICE
Logical, again, so far.
KAT FERRERS
So, what is the only course of
action that keeps me out of jail
and ensures you and your families
are safe?
Alice sits, thinking for a moment.
ALICE
Lavinia has to die.
RUTH
Alice! What are you saying?
ALICE
It's the only way to get our old
lives back. Lavinia must die. Fuck!
I can't believe I really said that.
ALICE (V.O) (CONT’D)
What I didn't realize at the time
in that moment of foolish, hopeful
denial, was there was no way back.
Whatever happened, we were changed
forever.
Kat opens her laptop.
ON MONITOR
The peacock chessboard.
BACK TO SCENE
She taps at the keys, calm, methodical.
RUTH
(incredulous)
How can you play chess at a time
like this?
KAT FERRERS
It’s an orderly universe with clear
rules. I find it meditative.
RUTH
Fuck. Alice, we’ve been kidnapped
by a Zen Buddhist with guns.
ALICE
More like a Zen Buddhist nun. Why
did we go for a walk on that
fucking beach?
(sobbing)
I feel like someone has broken the
mirror, and now we’ll never be able
to get back.
Ruth sits beside Alice and puts her arms around her.
ALICE (V.O.)
This could be a good place to
update you on what I later
discovered had happened and the
nightmare our families were going
through.
MONTAGE - A FLURRY OF IMAGES
EXT. STUDLAND BEACH – NIGHT
Searchlights rake the sand. Armed police hold back reporters. A
FORENSICS OFFICER kneels by Kev’s body as flashbulbs strobe.
EXT. CAR PARK – NIGHT
Alice’s abandoned Ford Fiesta. An OFFICER keys the plate into
the Police National Computer.
EXT. ALICE’S HOUSE – NIGHT
Alice’s PARENTS on the doorstep, pale, devastated. A POLICE
OFFICER speaks gravely.
EXT. RUTH’S HOUSE – NIGHT
RUTH’S MOTHER collapses into her husband’s arms as blue lights
flash. An ambulance is called.
EXT. STUDLAND BEACH – MORNING
A CORONER’S WAGON drives off, body inside.
INT. RUTH’S BEDROOM – DAY
Her MOTHER sobs on the bed, clutching a framed photo of Ruth.
INSERT – BOURNEMOUTH ECHO
Headline: “GANG WAR ON THE JURASSIC COAST: TWO TEENS VANISH
AFTER BEACH SHOOTING.”
INSERT – BBC BREAKFAST NEWS
ANNOUNCER (V.O.)
Terrifying news from Bournemouth… two
A-level students, Alice Carroll, a
descendent of Lewis Carroll, and her
friend Ruth Maloney, vanished after a
gang shoot-out on Studland Beach.
INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM – DAY
The HEAD TEACHER at a podium. Students in silence. A community
in mourning.
BACK TO SCENE
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama","Crime"]
Ratings
Scene
7 -
Betrayal at Midnight
EXT. THE VITALE FAMILY HOME IN BRANKSOME WOOD - NIGHT
The Vitale mansion is set in extensive, gated grounds in
Branksome Woods, a wealthy, forested area of the Bournemouth-
Poole conurbation.
A crescent driveway curves gently from the road, sweeping
past the front entrance before rejoining the street.
Several sports cars are parked near the house.
To the rear of the house is a large, elaborate ornamental
garden featuring various statues of Greek and Roman figures,
ornamental peacocks, and several real peacocks with
elaborate, fan-tailed displays wandering about.
INT. THE VITALE FAMILY HOME IN BRANKSOME WOOD - CONFERENCE
ROOM - NIGHT
A mid-size, functional room with neutral walls and soft
overhead lighting. A polished wood table anchors the space,
long enough to seat ten, with five chairs per side, with one
at the end. One wall features a whiteboard and a mounted flat-
screen monitor, while the other holds a set of tall windows
partially covered by vertical blinds.
LAVINIA VITALE (55), tall, with cropped blonde hair,
manicured fingernails, and wearing a smart business suit,
sits at the head of the table with a phone held to her ear. A
digital clock on the wall: 01:00. A chessboard sits on the
table slightly off to one side of her.
Occasionally, she looks out to the rear garden, a slight
smile across her lips whenever she spots a peacock or peahen
entering an illuminated patch of the garden.
SOLICITOR (O.S.)
He said to tell you that forensics
has identified three people, apart
from ours, who fled.
LAVINIA
(intake of breath)
Who are they?
SOLICITOR (O.S.)
Dean said it was Ferrers who shot
Kev. Must have been the two girls
who found the lifejacket. No names
yet.
LAVINIA
Why did the double-crossing bitch
do it?
SOLICITOR (O.S.)
Jay said Dean wanted to bring the
two girls for you.
LAVINIA
Fuck.
Lavinia hangs up.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
How stupid do you have to be to
fuck up something this simple?
She sits for a moment, takes a few puffs on a vape. Looks at
the cloud which forms and disappears. She studies the
chessboard for a moment, moves a piece, and then types into
her phone. She presses a button.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Get in here.
The door opens, and ROBERT GRIMALDI, ERNIE CATADA, and LEO
MANFRED file in and sit down at the table. They're all in
their early 30s, wearing suits, educated looking, and could
be accountants or solicitors.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Ferrers turned on us. She shot Kev
and took off with two others.
A plaintive, repetitive crying sound splits the air.
ROBERT GRIMALDI
(laughing)
Those horny peacocks...always on
the lookout for... a piece of tail.
Robert laughs again at his own joke.
LAVINIA
(wearily)
From the age of nine, males don't
seem to think about much else than
their dicks. It's tedious. Just get
on with the business. I want
Ferrers taken out. And those two
with her. Nobody fucks with us.
ROBERT
Sorry, Boss. Leno - for the hit.
He's efficient and enjoys his work.
Says he's an artist - it gives him
a creative outlet.
The others nod their agreement.
LAVINIA
Done. See to it.
They stand and file out. She takes a few more puffs of the
vape. Watches the clouds dissipate.
Then looks out the window to see one of the peacocks, close
to the window, tail spread into a fan of a hundred jeweled
eyes. Lavinia's expression - unreadable.
Her phone buzzes, she looks at it, and moves a piece on the
chessboard.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
8 -
Midnight Call
INT. A DARKENED HOTEL BEDROOM - NIGHT
A phone rings several times. LENO (40), swarthy, muscular,
switches on the light and picks up the phone.
LENO
What the fuck are you calling me in
the middle of the night for,
Grimaldi? It better be good.
ROBERT GRIMALDI
Lavinia.
LENO
Yeah. What?
ROBERT GRIMALDI
Got a job for you. You'll like it.
Ferrers.
LENO
(Smiling)
No shit! Worth being woken in the
middle of the night.
ROBERT GRIMALDI
Want to know why?
LENO
Don't give a shit. Pleasant dreams
for you.
Leno hangs up and turns out the light.
LENO (CONT’D)
A wet dream for me.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
9 -
Under the Stars: A Night of Reflection
EXT. THE COURTYARD OF SCYTHIAN RISE - NIGHT
The clear sky is awash with the Milky Way stretching as far
as the eye can see. All three stare up at it.
KAT FERRERS
Fantastic. The Ojibwe Indians of
Ontario call it the Jiibay Miikana,
the Spirit Road.
RUTH
How do you know that?
KAT FERRERS
The Greeks called it the Milky
Circle - the milk spurting from
Hera's breast.
ALICE
A mine of mythology.
KAT FERRERS
At the moment, you are missing -
your parents will have called the
police. Your car is at Studland car
park. There is a dead body on the
beach. It will be presumed you have
been taken. Dorset police will be
going apeshit.
RUTH
My poor parents. My mum's going to
have a heart attack.
Alice begins to cry.
ALICE
Can't we just wander in and say we
got lost? We promise we won't say
anything about you.
KAT FERRERS
Could do. But then they will ask
why you didn't phone? You can tell
them it was because I dropped your
phones in a bucket of water.
RUTH
Oh.
KAT FERRERS
Well, lots to think about. We can
finish this in the morning. Let me
show you to your rooms... By the
way, there are infrared motion-
sensitive CCTV cameras all over the
place.
Alice and Ruth follow Kat into the house. Alice pauses at the
doorway to look up at the Milky Way.
ALICE
(to Ruth)
I feel.... So small.
Ruth takes Alice’s hand.
RUTH
Tiny Alice... Tiny Ruth.
EXT. BATHROOM OFF KAT FERRER'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Kat stares into the mirror. Shakes her head, rueful.
KAT FERRERS
What the fuck are you doing, Kat?
Kev was a dickhead. Lavinia
would've sliced these two to
ribbons and used them for fishbait.
But now what — Kat's army of White
Rabbits?
She raises her arm, elbow bent, finger cocked like a gun.
Points at her own reflection.
Bang.
Recoil.
Bang.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
10 -
The Reckoning
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - BASEMENT ROOM - DAY
The room is grey, dank, illuminated by neon strip lights.
Dean and Jay sit on two kitchen chairs. Dean's hands are
behind his back, wrists immobilized by plastic restraints.
Sweat pours down his face, his fear palpable. Lavinia sits in
a chair opposite. Next to her is Leno, fit, with short, dark
hair over a scarred face, a broken nose serving as the centre
piece.
LAVINIA
Kev's dead. He was a loyal man. His
wife and kid are without a husband
and a dad. How could you be so
fucking stupid?
JAY
Dean said to bring the girls to
you.
LAVINIA
What the fuck would I want with two
teenage girls? This gang tries to
fly below the radar. You bring them
to me, I've got to kill them. You
know what kinda fucking heat
knocking off two Grammar school
girls attracts? Why didn't you take
the lifejacket and let them walk
off down the beach? So what, they
go to the cops. The cops find
nothing. Now, the whole county is
going apeshit because they've
disappeared. I can't believe this.
Jay, get out of here.
Jay gets up and quickly exits.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Dean, what am I going to do with
you?
DEAN
I promise it won't happen again,
Boss.
LAVINIA
No, I promise it won't happen
again. Make it quick, Leno. I like
to do evolution a favor whenever I
can.
She gets up and starts to leave.
DEAN
Boss, no, no.
She shuts the door behind her.
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - CONFERENCE ROOM -
CONTINUOUS
The door opens, and Grimaldi, Catada, and Manfred enter. They
stand waiting for Lavinia to acknowledge them. With a gesture
of her hand, she indicates that they sit.
LAVINIA
I can forgive some mistakes.
(shakes her head)
I don't forgive stupid mistakes.
GRIMALDI
What do you want us to do, Boss?
LAVINIA
Those girls who are all over the
news. Find out where they live and
tag their houses. They will
probably try to phone their
families. I want to know where they
are. I want everyone on this but
Dean.
CATADA
Why not Dean?
LAVINIA
He no longer works for me.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
11 -
Strategic Tensions
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE KITCHEN - MORNING
A modern kitchen with large picture windows looking out over
the Purbecks and onto Poole Harbour in the distance.
Kat sits at the kitchen table. Laptop and peacock chessboard
open. She drinks coffee and taps on the keys. Alice and Ruth
enter.
KAT FERRERS
Morning girls. Sleep well?
ALICE
You having a laugh?
RUTH
You sleep well after killing a man
and kidnapping two grammar school
girls?
KAT FERRERS
Slept like I always do. Let's think
things through now. Pour yourselves
some coffee.
The girls pour coffee and join Kat at the table. She’s typing
into her laptop. Alice glances at the screen.
ALICE
Hey, Kat, why the peacocks? 4.8 on
Trustmark. That’s pretty good.
KAT FERRERS
How’d you know that?
ALICE
Saw it on your screen yesterday at
the cafe...
(MORE)
ALICE (CONT’D)
when I thought you were just a
businesswoman and not a
moonlighting nun assassin.
KAT FERRERS
It's just my business. Decorative
garden ornaments - peacocks,
Grecian and Roman statues. Import,
sell online, to garden centers.
That sort of thing.
ALICE
Three thousand reviews. Pretty
good.
KAT FERRERS
It's upper-end stuff. The customers
are fussy. And they often want it
customized.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Anyway,... back to our business.
You girls stay here, I go off and
kill Lavinia and some of her gang.
But - You show up after a couple of
days, when Lavinia and co are dead.
The police will question you. You
will tell them about me.
RUTH
So what do you suggest? I just want
to be home in bed under my duvet.
ALICE
Yesterday we were working in a
cafe. Today, you're asking us what
we think we should do about a drug-
dealing gang of killers? How the
fuck should we know what to do?
KAT FERRERS
You don't think it's kind of
obvious?
Alice stands and walks to the window. She can see the ruins
of Corfe Castle a couple of miles away.
ALICE
I think Kat is hinting we help her.
Then, if we tell the police
anything, we’ll go to jail, too.
Maybe we can all share a cell
together. And then, Lavinia's gang
will kill us and our families.
RUTH
All this shit because we went for a
walk on Studland Beach and found
that fucking lifejacket? Some
fucking butterfly in South America
flapped its wings at the wrong
time.
ALICE
Don't say that. You know how I hate
it when I worry things are out of
control.
Ruth shakes her head.
RUTH
You're not worried now things are
out of control?... I know that's
why you nearly dropped out of the
White Rabbits.
KAT FERRERS
Dropped out?
RUTH
Alice didn't like taking drugs,
especially 'shrooms. We kinda
thought she'd like them, given her
family history and all.
KAT FERRERS
Family history?
RUTH
All the rumors there were about her
great to the power of whatever
grandfather. How he took opium and
his interest in little girls.
ALICE
He took laudanum because of his
migraines. It was medicinal, not
recreational.
Ruth rolls her eyes.
RUTH
That's not what you said when you
were talking about great, great,
great, whatever, grandad perv.
ALICE
That was never proven.
RUTH
We all know it was perfectly normal
for Victorian gentlemen to take
pictures of naked little girls.
ALICE
Do you have to tell her everything?
You are really horrible to me
sometimes.
Kat laughs.
KAT FERRERS
It's okay, Alice. I get it. I used
to do a lot of drugs, too. Now I
just crack open an East Ender once
in a while.
ALICE
Now what?
KAT FERRERS
Finish your coffee, and we'll begin
your training. See what stuff you
White Rabbits are made of.
ALICE
Probably the kind of stuff they put
into teddies.
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - BASEMENT SHOOTING RANGE
- MORNING
In the basement, a single shooting lane stretches twenty
feet. Concrete walls, a crude wooden bench, a paper
silhouette dangling from wires. Fluorescent lights buzz
overhead, and every shot cracks loud in the confined, smoky
air.
Leno, wearing ear protectors, crouches in a firing position.
He squeezes off several shots and then pulls the target in.
It is an upper torso picture of Kat, now with bullet holes
where her eyes and mouth were.
Lavinia watches him clinically.
LAVINIA
(doubtfully)
You think you’re good enough?
LENO
How good can she be? Her skin isn’t
armor-plated.
LAVINIA
You haven’t seen her in action.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
12 -
Training for Survival
EXT. THE BARN AT SCYTHIAN RISE - MORNING
The barn is of rough Purbeck stone, weathered timber doors,
and a steep slate roof. CCTV cameras glint like watchful eyes
above the gravel courtyard, where chickens scatter beneath
the skeletal arms of the parked telehandler.
Alice, Ruth, and Kat walk in silence through the early
morning sun.
INT. THE BARN AT SCYTHIAN RISE - CONTINUOUS
ALICE (V.O.)
The next few weeks passed in a
blur. Kat wouldn't let us watch the
news. She said it would be a mind
fuck for our training to see our
parents crying. It was pretty
exhausting, but for one of the
first times I can remember, I was
proud of myself. I did well. You're
probably wondering what was
happening with our parents and how
they were coping. It wasn't pretty,
but I'll tell you later. I don't
want to get choked up right now.
Once inside, Kat flicks on a light. Several doors lead off
the large main room. Along one side is a treadmill, a multi-
gym, free weights, a bench, a Wing Chun wooden dummy and a
punching bag. On a stretched desk is a bank of monitors
showing the CCTV relay. On the desk, a Glock and a knife. Kat
picks up the knife, spins in a whirl, and it ends up in the
centre of a target on the other wall.
KAT FERRERS
A knife teaches respect — for your
body, your breath, your target.
Anyone can panic and pull a
trigger. But this… this takes
intention.
(she eyes them)
And right now, you need to learn to
act, not just react.
Kat walks over and pulls the knife out of the target. Alice
and Ruth watch. Kat returns to them and throws the knife. It
lands in the middle of the target.
ALICE
Ruth, go first.
Ruth walks to the target and retrieves the knife. Alice
watches her intently. Ruth spins and throws the knife. It
clatters to the floor feet from the target.
Kat picks up the knife, returns to them, spins and throws. It
strikes the target in the centre.
ALICE (CONT’D)
Explain it to me. Logically. Step
by step, so that when I imitate
you, I can get my brain in gear as
well.
Kat nods, thoughtful. She walks over, picks up another knife,
and holds it up.
KAT FERRERS
Alright. First — grip. Like a
hammer. Not a pencil, not a
scalpel. Hammer.
She holds it out so Alice can see.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Second — blade points forward.
Knife vertical. No spin yet, just
clean alignment.
She steps back, sets her feet.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Third — stance. Feet shoulder-
width. Dominant foot slightly back.
Your body's the line. Knife rides
that line.
She breathes in.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Fourth — focus on the target. Don't
look at the knife. The knife's a
messenger of your intention. The
message is: "Die."
Alice blinks.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Fifth — throw from the shoulder,
smooth and straight. Don't flick
your wrist. Let the knife spin once
— then release it at eye level.
She throws again. THUNK — just beside the first.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
That's it. Geometry and gravity.
Trust the arc. Now you.
Alice picks up a knife. Mimics Kat's grip. Focused.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
You don't need power. You need
precision. Let the blade do the
work.
Alice throws.
The knife hits the floor.
She snorts, a short, bitter laugh, then looks away —
embarrassed
ALICE
Idiot. Loser.
Kat retrieves the knife.
ALICE (CONT’D)
This is silly. I'm not some fucking
ninja. I don't want to have to
throw a knife at someone.
RUTH
Me, neither.
KAT FERRERS
Me neither. I'm teaching you the
discipline. How to control your
body. How to think like a killer.
And... hopefully, ... how to avoid
dying at the hands of one.
She takes them over to the gym area and shows them how to
work the treadmill.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Every day, for at least an hour.
Slowly to start and then faster.
You need stamina. Build it.
She gives them instructions on the weight machine.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Every day, for at least an hour.
Gradually increasing the weights.
Alice points out the Wing Chun Wooden Dummy.
ALICE
What's that?
Kat approaches the wooden dummy, and in a blur of hand and
foot movements, begins to demonstrate.
KAT FERRERS
A "mook jong" - a wooden dummy -
not yet for you, but week two. You
learn structure and balance,
footwork, timing and accuracy,
sensitivity, feel, and power
generation. And you learn to do it
with your eyes closed. An hour a
day.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
13 -
Empowerment at the Range
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - INDOOR SHOOTING RANGE - DAY
A soundproofed range in the barn. It's clean, professional,
and smells of solvent and cordite.
Kat stands behind a bench laden with several handguns, all of
which are meticulously maintained. She hands Alice and Ruth a
set of protective glasses and ear defenders. They put them
on. The world becomes a muffled hum.
Kat picks up a Glock 19. With practiced movements, she loads
a magazine, racks the slide, and assumes a perfect two-handed
stance.
She fires five shots. The BOOM of each round is a deep,
physical punch, felt more than heard through the ear
protection. The shots cluster tightly in the centre of the
paper target, 25 feet away.
She clears the weapon, places it on the bench, and pulls down
her ear defenders. The girls do the same. The ringing silence
feels loud.
KAT FERRERS
That's how it's done. This is the
killing weapon.
She slides a different, smaller pistol towards Ruth — a Smith
& Wesson M&P Shield.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Give it a try, Ruth. Its bite is
not for you.
Ruth is pale, her hands trembling slightly. She copies Kat's
stance, her movements stiff with fear. She aims, squeezes her
eyes shut for a second, and fires.
The gun jumps in her hands. The shot goes high, missing the
target completely and striking the back wall with a loud
PING. Ruth flinches back, terrified of the weapon in her own
hands.
Kat immediately steps in, placing a calming but firm hand on
Ruth's shoulder. She signals for her to lower the weapon and
take off her ear defenders.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Remember the knife. The bullet is a
messenger.
RUTH
What's the message?
KAT FERRERS
Leave my friends and family alone.
Unless you want death breathing
down your throat.
Ruth takes a shaky breath.
She guides Ruth back into the stance, her hands over Ruth's,
steadying her grip.
Ruth focuses, her knuckles white. She takes a breath. Her
eyes stay open. She squeezes the trigger.
BOOM.
A hole appears in the black of the target. Not the centre,
but a solid, definite hit.
Ruth stares, her fear slowly being replaced by a look of
grim, sober determination. She gives a short, sharp nod. She
understands.
Alice, who has been watching and listening intently, steps
forward.
She picks up a Glock and fires. It misses the target.
ALICE
Fuck you. You touch Ruth, and you
die.
She raises the Glock again. This time, her hands are
perfectly steady. She takes a single, focused breath. Her
eyes are cold steel. She squeezes the trigger.
BOOM.
A single hole appears directly at the edge of the target.
BOOM.
Another hole appears directly at the edge of the bullseye.
KAT FERRERS
Holy fuck. That's good shooting for
a beginner. Anybody who messes with
you, Ruth, is going to be in deep
shit. How'd you do that?
ALICE
I watched you closely. Then I found
a reason.
MONTAGE
Alice is on the treadmill, legs and arms pumping, sweat
streaming down her back and forehead.
Ruth is at the multi-gym, pushing a heavy weight. She grunts
with the final rep.
Alice stands before the mook jong, BLINDFOLDED. Her hands
move in a blur, deflecting and striking the wooden arms. It's
not perfect, but it's fluid. She moves with a confidence she
didn't have before.
Archery - Ruth and Alice shoot at a target in a bale of hay,
which looks like a pincushion, but more arrows than not are
in the target.
Ruth and Alice, wearing earmuffs, are in the shooting range,
Glocks in hand, sometimes missing. They high-five when they
hit.
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - SHOOTING RANGE - DAY
In amazement, Ruth is watching Alice, who is standing on the
firing line, Glock holstered in her belt. Alice crouches low,
hands down by her side.
ALICE
I told you to get out of town.
She draws quickly and fires at the target several times, most
shots missing, but a couple hitting.
RUTH
What the fuck was that?
ALICE
I think Dad always wanted a son. We
used to watch westerns together.
Practicing my quick draw.
Genres:
["Action","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
14 -
Training and Discovery
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COURT YARD - DAY
Alice and Ruth are practicing Wing Chun. Kat watches with an
approving eye.
ALICE
What's with this Siu Lim Tao over
and fucking over again? I feel like
the Karate Kid with Mr Miyagi: "Wax
on, wax off."
Kat walks over to Alice and, without warning, throws a sudden
punch at Alice's face. Without thinking, Alice deflects it.
Kat smiles.
KAT FERRERS
Muscle memory. Faster than thought.
Drivers slam on the brakes before
they realize the car in front of
them has suddenly stopped.
Alice stops to look at her hands, shrugs, and goes back to
the Siu Lim Tao.
RUTH
We've never been in the cottage.
What's in there?
KAT FERRERS
Nothing but take a look.
Alice and Ruth go to the cottage and open the door.
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - CONTINUOUS
The interior of the cottage is barren, with an old fireplace,
Purbeck stone walls, and a stone floor.
ALICE
It's cute.
KAT FERRERS
Yeah, it's cute, but I've never had
much use for it. Wasn't going to do
it up and rent it out to holiday-
makers.
MONTAGE
Genres:
["Action","Thriller","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
15 -
Frustration and Surveillance
INT. A BAR IN BOURNEMOUTH - NIGHT
A PLAINCLOTHES POLICEMAN sits in a booth having a drink.
Grimaldi enters the bar and sits opposite.
PLAINCLOTHES POLICEMAN
Tell Lavinia, I’ve got nothing for
her. We found their phones buried
in the sand but that’s about it.
Their families know nothing. No
contact with the girls. Now, get
out of here before someone sees us
together.
EXT. ALICE’S HOUSE - DAY
A car waits a hundred yards down the street. Anyone entering
or leaving the house is photographed.
EXT. WOODS BEHIND ALICE’S HOUSE - NIGHT
A shadowy figure is attaching a bird’s house to a tree, and
in the house he inserts a motion-sensitive infrared camera
trained on the back of the house.
EXT. BASINGSTOKE -KINGLAND BUSINESS PARK - DAY
Kingland Business Park. Grimaldi kills the engine of his car
outside a modern showroom fronting a large industrial
warehouse:
EXQUISITE ORNAMENTAL GARDEN DISPLAYS
INT. SHOWROOM – CONTINUOUS
A young sales assistant smiles. Grimaldi smiles back.
GRIMALDI
Kat around?
SALES ASSISTANT
Kat? No, sorry, she’s gone to India
on a working holiday. Said she’ll
be a few weeks. Anything I can do
to help?
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - DAY
Lavinia is listening to the peacocks screeching, with a smile
on her face. Robert Grimaldi enters.
LAVINIA
Well?
ROBERT GRIMALDI
They've vanished off the face of
the earth. No sign, trace, or
sound. Taps on the phones of the
girls' families - nothing. Went to
Kat’s business - said she’d gone to
India. Maybe she did and took the
girls with her. No work for Leno
yet. They could be on Mars.
LAVINIA
(her smile vanishes)
Find them. We’d know if they had
left the country. And don't say
(mockingly imitating)
Grimaldi)
"they've vanished off the face of
the earth and could be on Mars."
Fucking Martian garden gnomes
didn't abduct them.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
16 -
Transformations and Tensions
INT. KAT'S HOUSE - THE KITCHEN - MORNING
SUPER: THREE WEEKS LATER
A modern kitchen with large picture windows looking out over
the Purbecks and onto Poole Harbour in the distance. The
three are sitting around a farmhouse kitchen table.
RUTH
Now what? We've trained, can throw
knives. Sometimes I can even hit
the wall. Shoot guns. Sometimes
even hit the target. I'm doing Siu
Nim Tao in my dreams.
(MORE)
RUTH (CONT’D)
We ready to take on trained
killers? This is a farce, innit? I
could do this for ten years, and I
wouldn't be ready to kill someone.
KAT FERRERS
What about you, Alice? Could you
kill someone who was going to kill
Ruth? Or would you let them kill
her?
Ruth's eyes widen, and she looks at Alice.
ALICE
Depends on whether she tells any
more stupid jokes about my pervy
great, great.
RUTH
Alice!
ALICE
Would you kill someone who was
going to kill me?
Ruth stops and thinks for a moment.
RUTH
Fucking right.
KAT FERRERS
You're ready then. You've always
been ready. You didn't know how
before. Get your stuff together.
RUTH
Where we going?
KAT FERRERS
To Bath, to poke a stick and rile
the wasps.
ALICE
Don't like that metaphor. People
who poke sticks in a wasp's nest
often get stung. I’ve been stung by
a wasp before. It really hurt. You
ever been stung?
KAT FERRERS
Point taken, oh literal one. Bath.
To have a conversation with Jane
Austen's ghost. She would like to
converse with three genteel ladies.
Kat leaves the room, returning a few moments later with a
holdall which she places on the table. Opening it, she pulls
out an item of clothing and hands it to Alice.
ALICE
What's this?
KAT FERRERS
A breast binder. You're too much of
a knockout at the moment. Your
mother's going to have a son. Go
put it on.
ALICE
I'm not trans. And I hate change.
KAT FERRERS
I know. But being dead is a bigger,
more permanent change.
ALICE
Oh, God. Please don't let me have a
meltdown.
RUTH
I'll second that prayer. What about
me?
KAT FERRERS
You're going to become a knockout.
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE KITCHEN - LATER
Kat has finished cutting Alice's hair, and piles of blonde
hair lie on the table in front of her.
Then, with a dark man's wig and some deft makeup, Alice, no
longer gorgeous, sits sullenly at the table.
Ruth has been transformed into a picture of glamour, though
still wearing jeans.
ALICE (V.O.)
I didn't like how I looked, and I
thought that Ruth's comment was
especially mean. And I hated the
breast binder and how it squashed
my tits flat.
RUTH
Quite handsome. If that was the
real you.... Who knows? ... perhaps
we could become an item.
ALICE
Did you take lessons in how to be a
cow? Or is it a genetic mutation?
RUTH
Let's get moooooving.
Genres:
["Action","Thriller","Drama","Adventure"]
Ratings
Scene
17 -
Journey to Bath: A Tense Ride
EXT./INT. KAT'S CAR - DAY
A map shows the route from Scythian Rise to Bath.
ALICE (V.O.)
It was a fabulous, glorious ride to
the bloody loss of our innocence.
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE – MORNING
The graphite-grey Skoda pulls out of the gates and down the
hedged lane. Morning mist still clings to the fields.
EXT. CORFE CASTLE – MOMENTS LATER
They pass the ruins — jagged stone rising from the hill like
a broken crown. Alice watches from the window, eyes wide.
EXT. POOLE HARBOUR – CONTINUOUS
The car snakes along a coastal road. Poole Harbour shimmers
to the east, scattered with sailboats like flecks of bone
china.
INT./EXT. KAT’S CAR - CONTINUOUS
As they drive through the old Saxon town of Wareham, Kat sees
a police car behind them in her rear-view mirror.
KAT FERRERS
Stay calm, girls. There’s a cop car
behind us. I don’t think it’s
following.
ALICE (V.O.)
I had a mad impulse to stick my
head and arms out the window and
shout for help. I wasn’t sure if
the police would be salvation or
damnation. So I did nothing.
INT./EXT. KAT’S CAR – VARIOUS
MAP GRAPHIC:
A red line traces their route — northwest from the Purbecks,
cutting inland across Dorset.
EXT. COUNTRYSIDE NEAR MELBURY ABBAS – LATE MORNING
Rolling chalk hills. Fields bleached gold. A lone kestrel
hovers. The Skoda winds through sunlit curves beneath the
downs.
MAP GRAPHIC –
CONTINUED
The red line closes in on Bath.
EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF BATH – DAY
The city rises before them — Georgian terraces catching the
light. The skyline is crowned by the Abbey's spires.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
18 -
Driving Tensions and Light-Hearted Banter
INT. CAR – CONTINUOUS
Alice leans forward, staring. Ruth is quiet beside her. Kat
drives, unreadable.
RUTH
What are we doing here?
KAT FERRERS
The drugs are smuggled across from
Spain to the south coast and then
moved to Bath. We're going to knock
over a distribution depot. Now we
wait for night.
ALICE
You rode shotgun for them.
KAT FERRERS
You could call it that. Never
would've taken you for a John Wayne
fan.
ALICE
That's my Dad's fault.
Kat laughs aloud.
ALICE (CONT’D)
What're you laughing at?
KAT FERRERS
The whole package. Your Dad, John
Wayne, your name... All I can
picture is a White Rabbit wearing a
cowboy hat and boots.
Alice tries to fight a smile but fails.
ALICE
Oh, shut up and just drive.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
19 -
Tension on the Terrace
EXT. BATH – NIGHT
Deserted streets. A quiet Georgian terrace. Uniform facades.
Nothing to draw the eye.
KAT FERRERS
(softly)
Probably be three inside. Try not
to kill them. We just want the
drugs.
RUTH
(a shouted whisper)
Try not to kill them! For fuck's
sake, what are you talking about?
I don't want to kill anybody.
ALICE
Me neither.
Kat taps the Glocks they’re holding.
KAT FERRERS
Try to remember what’s in your
hands. I don’t want you shooting me
in the arse and then later saying,
“Sorry, Kat, I forgot I was
carrying a Glock.” Alice, you go to
the door. They won't know your
face... Your mother wouldn't know
your face.
ALICE
(under her breath)
If I looked in a mirror, even I
wouldn’t know my own face.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
20 -
High-Stakes Confrontation
EXT. BATH - HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
A CCTV is placed above the door. Alice knocks on the door. It
opens marginally.
VOICE (O.S.)
Yea?
ALICE
Told I could score some gear here.
VOICE (O.S.)
Who told you that?
ALICE
Bobbie, at the uni.
VOICE (O.S.)
He tell you anything else.
ALICE
He gave me a PIN number. 3838.
VOICE (O.S.)
Wait there.
Kat moves forward, moving Alice out of the way. The door
opens slightly, and she pushes in, gun raised.
INT. BATH - HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
Kat, Alice and Ruth move in. Kat has the gun under the chin
of a pimply, scrawny thug, MALCOLM BROWN. Two others, ROBBIE
MONTANA (25) and JOHN STEVENS (30), both well-built, tattooed
and clearly more dangerous, are sitting on a sofa in front of
a table on which are piled numerous packages.
KAT FERRERS
Sit still, don't move. No one gets
hurt. Just want the gear.
ROBBIE
What are you doing, Kat? Lavinia is
going to skin you alive.
KAT FERRERS
Tough job.
Kat pokes herself.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Jurassic Coast. Dino hide.
Robbie points at Alice and Ruth.
ROBBIE
A cunt with two useless tits as
back-up.
ALICE
Shut up, twat.
ROBBIE
Fuck this.
He reaches for something in between the cushions. PHUT! A
hole appears in the cushion beside him. He pulls out a gun.
Alice, hand shaking, fires again at close range. She hits him
in the right shoulder which spins him around.
ROBBIE (CONT’D)
(in disbelief)
Fuck me, you cunt. You shot me in
the shoulder.
ALICE
(to Kat)
I told you I would be no good at
this.
(to Robbie)
I missed. I meant to shoot you in
the head.
Robbie struggles to raise his arm. Alice shoots again. This
time, the bullet hits him in the head, knocking him backwards
onto Stevens.
Alice looks down at her hand in shock, holding the suppressed
Glock. She drops it like it’s on fire.
Struggling under the weight of Robbie, Stevens moves, a gun
in hand. He fires. Misses Ruth. She fires twice, the bullets
passing through Robbie and killing Stevens.
Malcolm keeps both hands in the air.
Kat quickly moves to the table, sweeping the packages and
cash into a large holdall. She turns, cold-cocks Malcolm, who
collapses onto the floor.
ALICE (CONT’D)
Sweet Jesus. We did it.
(a moment later)
Oh, fuck. What have we done?
She starts to hyperventilate. Ruth grabs her by the arm to
pull her after Kat who is exiting the room with the holdall.
Alice resists and bends to pick up the Glock before allowing
Ruth to drag her out of the room.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
21 -
Night of Reckoning
EXT./INT. KAT'S CAR - NIGHT
KAT FERRERS
I’m not sure, but I think Jane
Austen might have been impressed.
You comported yourselves like young
ladies - with Glocks.
ALICE
Stop. I need to be sick. I shot
that man in the eye.
RUTH
Me, too.
Kat quickly brings the car to a stop. The two girls fall out
and retch by the side of the road. They get back into the
car.
KAT FERRERS
Sorry, I forgot what it was like
for me the first time.
RUTH
(sad, regretful)
I'd rather have stayed a virgin.
ALICE
I feel like I'm the monster in a
horror movie.
ALICE (V.O.)
After all, he wasn't a nice person
but a criminal dealing in deadly
drugs. I hate change, but I
wouldn't want to be dead. I was
glad he was the dead one. Not Ruth.
Not me.
SUPER: TWO HOURS LATER
ALICE
This feels like a nightmare.
They're dead, aren't they?
KAT FERRERS
Yes. Not coming back. Ever.
RUTH
We tried Persuasion. It didn't
work.
ALICE
Logically, we had no choice but to
kill them. But we did it without
Pride or Prejudice.
RUTH
(to Kat)
English lit. Gallows humor.
ALICE
Might be where we are heading.
KAT FERRERS
I was a grammar school girl, once.
ALICE
Must've been in prehistory.
RUTH
Where now?
KAT FERRERS
Going to return the drugs to
Lavinia, in our way.
EXT. BATH - HOUSE - NIGHT
A large dark van is parked outside the house. Six men, all
dressed in black, emerge carrying large bags. One carries a
mop, bucket, and a carry tray full of cleaning gear. They
enter the house only to reemerge a few moments later. One
member goes to the street, unlocks the rear of the van, looks
up and down the street and signals to the others. They come
down the steps carrying three large bags, which they
unceremoniously dump into the back of the van. One of the men
races up the steps into the house, returning with the mop and
bucket.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
22 -
Strategic Vengeance
EXT./INT. KAT'S CAR - LATER
RUTH
You really going to do this?
KAT FERRERS
She adores those peacocks. This
will be a stick in her eye.
ALICE
They're innocent birds.
KAT FERRERS
You two just killed two men, and
now you're worrying about feathers
on legs? She's killing people with
those fucking drugs. This is a
taste of her own medicine.
As her car approaches the Vitale estate, Kat slows down.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
This is where Lavinia lives.
ALICE
Why are you driving so slowly?
Kat drives around the block.
KAT FERRERS
I want to make sure that the camera
on Lavinia’s gate clocks my license
plate.
RUTH
Why?
KAT FERRERS
Chess.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
23 -
Into the Shadows
EXT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - NIGHT
Kat parks in the shadows and starts to exit the car. Alice
and Ruth also get out.
KAT FERRERS
No, this is my skill set. You wait
here.
ALICE
It’s dark. It’s spooky. What if you
don’t come back?
RUTH
Then what do we do?
KAT FERRERS
Go to the police.
ALICE
And tell them we killed two drug
dealers in Bath?
(MORE)
ALICE (CONT’D)
That will look good on my CV. When
I eventually get out of prison.
RUTH
No, we’re coming with.
KAT FERRERS
You do exactly as I tell you. Get
your guns, but not to be used
unless absolutely necessary.
ALICE
I think we’ve heard that before.
They follow Kat down the road to a low wall, which she climbs
over.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
24 -
Captured in the Shadows
EXT. VITALE ESTATE - WOODS BY THE WEST WALL - NIGHT
FERRERS
This is the edge of the Vitale
estate. There may be guards. Wait
here. Quietly.
Kat disappears like a dark shadow gliding through the
estate’s trees and gardens. The girls sit with their backs
against the wall, Glocks shakily trained on the surrounding
trees.
ALICE
(whispering)
How long do we wait? What if she
doesn’t come back?
RUTH
I don’t know. Don’t think about it.
Pray.
Two marble statues glisten in a patch of moonlight. One
depicts a man, with a terrified look on his face, stag
antlers emerging from his head. The other is of a woman,
snakes writhing all over her body, her face contorted into a
snarl of hatred. Ruth points at them.
RUTH (CONT’D)
What are they?
ALICE
Actaeon is the man turning into a
deer, and Alecto is the woman with
the snakes. They’re terrifying. I
hope Kat is back soon.
Here and there, Kat stops to spoon out a mixture from a
plastic box. She stops by an ornamental peacock and examines
it for a moment, shifting it slightly. Occasionally, the
screech of a peacock shatters the night sky.
Alice and Ruth hear a loud rustling in the bushes. They
nervously train their guns on the sound. To their relief, a
long-tailed fox emerges into a patch of moonlight and bounds
over the wall.
ALICE (CONT’D)
Phew. Just a fox.
MAN’S VOICE (O.S.)
Not just a fox. Drop the guns.
Alice and Ruth look nervously around. There is a PHUT sound,
and a tree trunk explodes bark.
MAN’S VOICE (O.S.) (CONT’D)
Next one won’t be into the tree.
Alice and Ruth quickly drop the guns. A TALL MAN, carrying a
pistol, emerges from the darkness.
TALL MAN
Lavinia’s going to be really
pleased. Maybe she’ll give you to
me. Couple of tasty schoolgirls -
I’d take that for a bonus.
He speaks into a microphone.
TALL MAN (CONT’D)
Got the two girls. Ferrers must be
around.
Suddenly, through the trees, the girls can see lights go on
everywhere - at the mansion, in parts of the gardens.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Crime"]
Ratings
Scene
25 -
Tension at the Vitale Estate
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - CONTROL ROOM -
CONTINUOUS
The guard is alerted.
GUARD
(into microphone)
Leno, Richards has got the girls.
Ferrers has got to be around.
Somewhere near the west wall.
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - CONFERENCE ROOM -S
CONTINUOUS
Leno is slouched in a chair when the notification comes
through. He leaps to his feet. Checks his gun, and as he is
exiting the room, speaks to Lavinia.
LENO
Looking forward to this. Maybe I
can have one of those girls.
LAVINIA
You’re ahead of yourself. Finish
Ferrers first.
He leaves.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
If you’re good enough. Which I
doubt.
Genres:
["Thriller","Crime","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
26 -
Night of Defiance
EXT. VITALE ESTATE - WOODS BY THE WEST WALL - CONTINUOUS
The man approaches the girls. Puts his pistol in his holster
and roughly grabs each of them by an arm, pulling them to
their feet.
ALICE
I’m gay, you fat cretinous pig.
Their response catches him by surprise as they hit him with a
flurry of fists and kicks.
TALL MAN
You little bitches.
He punches Ruth, who first falls against the stag antlers of
Actaeon, cutting open her scalp, and then to the ground.
Blood from the wound has splashed on both statues and
glistens dark in the moonlight.
Then he turns to Alice. He swings at her, she deflects, and
jabs at his throat, which pushes him backwards. He kicks her,
and she falls to the ground. He pulls her up, grabs her by
the throat and is strangling her. Alice pokes him in the
eyes. This breaks the stranglehold.
ALICE
(full of hate)
If you kill me, you won’t get your
bonus, you douchebag.
She kicks him in the groin. He advances towards her, then
stops.
Falls face forward onto the ground. A knife sticking from his
back.
Alice collapses by the statue of Alecto.
Kat emerges from the shadows. Pulls the knife out, wipes it
on him. Kat pulls up Ruth.
Leno’s voice emerges from the darkness.
LENO (O.S.)
Got you, Ferrers. Not so tough
after all. Don’t move, or I’ll
shoot your little friend first.
He emerges from the shadows but doesn’t see Alice crouched by
Alecto.
LENO (CONT’D)
Where’s the other little bitch?
ALICE
Right here. Shit for brains. I’m
not a good shot, but I won’t miss
at three feet.
Leno looks down and sees Alice pointing the gun at him. He
drops his gun.
Ferrers quickly scoops it up and, without a word, steps
behind him and whacks him across the side of the head. He
collapses.
FERRERS
Others will be here in a moment.
Let’s get the fuck out of here.
She pulls Ruth along, Alice retrieves the guns, and quickly
follows them.
There is shouting in the estate behind them.
EXT./INT. KAT'S CAR - CONTINUOUS
She starts the engine and turns to look at them. She hands
Alice a large handkerchief.
KAT FERRERS
That was too close for comfort.
Some lessons in obedience are
learned the hard way. Hold that
pressed against the wound until we
get back.
Genres:
["Action","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
27 -
Healing Wounds and Hidden Feelings
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - KITCHEN - NIGHT
Ruth is sitting in a chair, pressing a blood-soaked
handkerchief to her head. Kat has a large first aid kit open
on the table.
KAT FERRERS
Alice, hold Ruth’s hand. This is
going to hurt.
RUTH
It already hurts.
Ruth squeezes Alice’s hand so tight that Alice winces.
RUTH (CONT’D)
Sorry, Alice.
ALICE
That’s okay.
ALICE (V.O.)
I kinda liked her holding my hand,
even under those circumstances but
I didn’t want to say anything in
case she pulled it away.
Kat quickly cuts the hair away from around the wound. Wipes
it with alcohol from a bottle of whiskey and quickly begins
sewing.
RUTH
Give me the bottle.
Hands shaking, Alice passes it to her. Ruth takes a couple of
slugs. She hands it to Alice, who also drinks from the
bottle.
ALICE
I forgot you liked whiskey.
KAT FERRERS
There, all done. First time I’ve
had to sew a wound caused by deer
antlers.
RUTH
Nothing dear about them. They
bloody hurt.
KAT FERRERS
Hurting means you’re still alive.
You’re lucky. An inch or two either
way, and you might still be at
Lavinia’s.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
28 -
The Hunt Begins
EXT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - MORNING
Lavinia walks through the gardens near her house. Several men
walk with her, weapons raised. Two peacocks lie dead on the
lawn. The men fan out.
LAVINIA
Don't bother. She’s long gone.
She walks over to one of the peacocks and looks at the
plastic container next to it. She turns to her men.
Grimaldi shows her photos of the license plate of her car.
GRIMALDI
Taken by the camera at the gate. I
think we’ve got her.
Lavinia takes it from him and examines it. She smiles with
anticipated satisfaction.
She dials a number.
LAVINIA
I’ll send the plate number over. I
pay you enough. I want the address
yesterday.
She turns to her men.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Find her. Bring her to me. Burn her
hideout and anyone in it to the
ground.
Her mobile phone rings. She listens for a moment.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
They hit Bath? The cleaners have
already been in? Protocol was
followed. Good.
Grimaldi stands there, expectantly.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
You want something?
GRIMALDI
Boss, what about Richards? He was a
good man.
LAVINIA
That’s a point. See that his wife
is well taken care of.
GRIMALDI
Leno’s nursing a sore head.
LAVINIA
That’s a lesson for everyone. Never
underestimate Ferrers.
Genres:
["Thriller","Crime","Action"]
Ratings
Scene
29 -
The Urgency of Escape
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - KITCHEN - MORNING
Kat is at the table with her laptop open to the peacock
chessboard page. She stares at it and taps on some keys.
ALICE
Why is there no news about the
shooting in Bath?
KAT FERRERS
It never happened.
RUTH
What do you mean? We puked our guts
out afterwards.
KAT FERRERS
They sent in the cleaners. Wouldn't
want the police nosing around.
Other gangs would think Lavinia was
weak. No bodies. No case. No crime.
RUTH
And the man with the knife sticking
out of his back?
KAT FERRERS
Never happened. He just went for a
walk one day and disappeared.
ALICE
So I guess Ruth and I aren't
criminals. Are you a criminal if
you steal fentanyl from a drug
dealer and destroy it?
RUTH
You left out the bit about killing
somebody. In philosophy, we learned
that if a tree falls in a forest
and there is no one to hear it,
does it make a sound?
ALICE
What the fuck are you talking
about?
Kat closes her laptop.
KAT FERRERS
Time to pack. Hurry up. We need to
leave.
ALICE
How come?
KAT FERRERS
We pulled the pin on a grenade last
night. Need to get away from here
for a while.
ALICE
OMG. I preferred it when you used
the wasp’s nest metaphor. Pulling
the pin on a grenade? Holy Fuck.
KAT FERRERS
I left a little breadcrumb for them
to find. I've got a safe place in
London. We go in ten. When Lavinia
finds this place, she'll burn it
down along with you two in it.
She's a sore loser, so something
more elegant for me.
RUTH
But, we’re not going to be here.
Right?
KAT FERRERS
Less gas. More speed.
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COURT YARD - DAY
Alice and Ruth wait in the car. Kat emerges with the peacock
from the barn, which she puts in the trunk and covers with a
blanket. Alice and Ruth look quizzically at each other but
are silent.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
30 -
Detour to Basingstoke
EXT./INT. KAT'S CAR - DAY
ALICE (V.O.)
Killing those peacocks was one of
the worst things about this whole
bloody business. They were just
innocent birds. I feel more upset
about it than I do about some of
the other killings - after all,
they weren't nice people. But we
didn't drive as far as London -
technically.
EXT./INT. M3 MOTORWAY - HEADING NORTH TO LONDON - DAY
Kat turns off the M3 at the junction for Basingstoke.
ALICE
I thought we were going to London.
Basingstoke is ugly.
Kat doesn't answer.
ALICE (CONT’D)
Be like that, then.
EXT. BASINGSTOKE - CONTINUOUS
Kat drives through Basingstoke in silence, eventually
arriving at the Kingland Business Park. She kills the engine
outside a modern showroom fronting a large industrial
warehouse:
EXQUISITE ORNAMENTAL GARDEN DISPLAYS
RUTH
This is yours?
KAT FERRERS
One of them. Come on. You might
learn something.
Kat hauls the peacock from the boot and carries it inside.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
31 -
A Glimpse into Kat's Empire
INT. SHOWROOM – CONTINUOUS
A young sales assistant smiles.
SALES ASSISTANT
Morning, Kat. Container from Naples
landed last night.
Behind the counter, a giant poster:
EXQUISITE ORNAMENTAL GARDEN DISPLAYS
Branches in:
COBHAM • WILMSLOW • CHIPPING NORTON
LONDON: CHELSEA, RICHMOND
HARROGATE
The showroom is immaculate, divided into zones:
— CLASSICAL: Venus, Diana, Apollo, Bacchus. Hercules, fauns,
nymphs and satyrs. Busts of Roman emperors and philosophers.
— ASIA: Stone Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Ganesh, Lakshmi,
Hanuman. Pagodas, lanterns, guardian lions, marble elephants.
And everywhere — in every size and material — peacocks.
Bronze, stone, inlaid with jeweled eyes.
Alice studies a tag: £3,000.
ALICE
My God. For my EPQ on the
Metamorphoses, I read about
Pygmalion, who fell in love with a
statue he had made, and Venus
brought it to life.
KAT FERRERS
That's right.
RUTH
For these prices, I would expect
nothing less.
Kat doesn't answer. She walks deeper into her empire and
through a door marked: WORKSHOP: STAFF ONLY.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
32 -
Innovative Surveillance: The Peacock Demonstration
INT. WORKSHOP - CONTINUOUS
The workshop consists of large benches on which various
statues are placed. Electronic equipment hums. Kat places the
peacock on a bench next to multiple sensors and small
cameras. She plugs a cable into its base. Lights and readings
appear on a monitor.
ALICE
What the?
KAT FERRERS
Many of my wealthy customers are
security-conscious and want their
upmarket garden gnomes to serve
dual duty, both as ornaments and as
guards.
She pushes some buttons on her phone. Kat, Alice and Ruth
appear on a monitor. Pushes more buttons, and there is a pan
of the workshop. Zooms in on some techs on another bench,
zooms in closer, and muffled speech can be heard. Alice
notices imperceptible movements in the eyes in the peacock's
tail and points them out to Ruth.
RUTH
That's really clever.
KAT FERRERS
Demo over. Let's go.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
33 -
Evasion Strategy
EXT./INT. KAT'S CAR - DAY
Back onto the M3 heading north in the direction of London.
ALICE
Kat. Your business is really
successful and obviously makes a
lot of money.
KAT FERRERS
It rains money some months. Can't
keep up.
RUTH
Why are you a criminal and assassin
then?
ALICE
Ruth, that's the kind of question I
would ask. I thought your social
skills were supposed to be better
than mine.
KAT FERRERS
(laughing)
I fell into that about ten years
ago when using a small scale as a
smuggling front. It was more
successful as a real business and
just grew. But I know what I am,
and it's not a businesswoman. I
tried to stop and felt a shadow of
myself.
ALICE
You-in-the-world.
KAT FERRERS
Me-in-the-world.
EXT. HEATHROW AIRPORT - TERMINAL FIVE - DAY
Kat pulls into a Long-Stay Car Park near Terminal Five, where
they exit the car.
RUTH
We're taking a plane somewhere?
KAT FERRERS
Try to figure it out. I’m going to
have to teach you both how to play
chess.
ALICE
We're ditching the car in a long-
stay car park. Train into London.
No one will find it here for
months.
KAT FERRERS
Give the girl a cigar. Not quite
months, but even Lavinia doesn't
have access to the national police
ANPR database. It will take her a
little while to find it.
ALICE
Yuk! I hate cigars. I can barely
smoke a joint.
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
34 -
Reflections in the Night
INT. LONDON - CANARY WHARF - KAT'S APARTMENT - NIGHT
SUPER: LONDON - CANARY WHARF
Kat's penthouse apartment sits atop a tall, cylindrical
apartment tower, offering 360-degree views of London and the
Thames.
Decorated in a modernist style except for a small wooden
bookcase with a few volumes of Shakespeare, Virgil and Ovid.
A bronze and glass ornamental peacock proudly occupies one
corner of the room.
RUTH
Wow! What a view!
ALICE
Being a contract killer must be
lucrative.
RUTH
Alice! What a thing to say! Your
manners are terrible.
KAT FERRERS
S'okay. I know her social skills
could do with repair. Very, if you
pick the right contracts. And sell
the right garden gnomes.
ALICE
Next on our agenda? Knock over The
Shard?
KAT FERRERS
(laughing)
I'm learning to love you, Alice.
Brassy balls you must have. But no,
this place is quite secure. Bed
now, tomorrow we plan. Let me show
you your rooms.
INT. KAT'S APARTMENT - ALICE'S ROOM - NIGHT
Glass windows give a panoramic view of London.
ALICE (V.O.)
Well, here we were. Panoramic views
of London from a trillion-pound
flat. Even Elon Musk couldn't have
had a better view. I was trying to
enjoy it, trying not to think about
how I had killed that dickhead in
Bath, trying not to think about any
more dickheads I might have to
kill. High up in the sky, above the
shit below.
INT. KAT'S APARTMENT - RUTH'S ROOM - NIGHT
Ruth, tears streaming down her face, stands looking out the
window. Her hands squeeze the window ledge.
RUTH
Sweet Jesus, Alice. What have we
gotten into? Go for a fucking walk
on a beach, find drugs, kill
people.
(MORE)
RUTH (CONT’D)
God, I miss my parents, my bed. I
wish I could pull a duvet over my
head. Who? What? Are we becoming?
INT. KAT'S APARTMENT - KAT'S ROOM - NIGHT
Kat stands, resolute, looking out the window. In the window,
she sees an IMAGE of her younger self (12) playing with her
sister, BECKY (10). Tears roll down her cheeks.
KAT FERRERS
Poor girls. Poor girls. Aren't we
all poor girls?
She turns out the light and gets into bed.
KAT'S FLASHBACK
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
35 -
A Glimmer of Connection
INT. BCP SCHOOL - COUNSELOR'S OFFICE - DAY
SUPER: 15 YEARS EARLIER
Sunlight streams through Venetian blinds. A teenage KAT
FERRERS (16) sits curled in an armchair, all defiance and
vulnerability. She has no tattoos yet, but her knuckles are
bruised. Her bare forearms are covered in a striated series
of angry red scars and fresh cuts. HEC RAYMOND (40).
psychologist, sits opposite, patient and watchful.
HEC RAYMOND
Have you been Amazoning again, Kat?
KAT FERRERS
(examining her knuckles)
Had to teach the cunt a lesson. She
got in my face.
HEC RAYMOND
Like the others who got in your
face.
KAT FERRERS
(sharp look)
You trying to get in my head again?
HEC RAYMOND
I'm trying to understand why a
brilliant student keeps sabotaging
herself.
KAT FERRERS
(bitter laugh)
Brilliant? What does it matter?
I'll be dead by next Christmas.
Nothing matters... You ever heard
of Socrates?
HEC RAYMOND
Go on.
KAT FERRERS
My hero of death. Just the most
famous philosopher ever. If I could
understand his attitude to death
and be more like him... then,
death's your uncle.
HEC RAYMOND
Tell me more.
KAT FERRERS
He was sentenced to death for
corrupting the youth of Athens and,
while he could have escaped, calmly
drank hemlock. He said that the
unexamined life was not worth
living.
HEC RAYMOND
Read Socrates carefully. He didn't
seem to think the examined life was
worth much either.
KAT FERRERS
You're such a smart-aleck bastard.
In a mocking gesture towards Hec, she lifts her left hand
high above her head and slumps her head forward, sticking her
tongue out as if she has hung herself.
HEC RAYMOND
Listen, why don't you see if we can
work well together?
(smiling)
You can always kill yourself later.
You can't unkill yourself.
Young Ferrers laughs and uncurls slightly, a glimpse of
intrigue at this unusual response to her suicide threat
breaking through her armor.
END FLASHBACK
KAT FERRERS
Might have been better if I had
done the job then.
She gets out of bed, opens her laptop, looks at the peacock
tail chessboard and taps a few keys.
Genres:
["Drama","Thriller"]
Ratings
Scene
36 -
Morning Revelry
INT. KAT'S APARTMENT - THE LIVING ROOM - MORNING
Kat pauses in the doorway.
Ruth and Alice are dancing, facing each other across the
width of the living room — and with awkward, old-fashioned
movements, they advance towards each other and then retreat.
They speak in exaggerated Victorian accents, mimicking a
bygone era's etiquette.
ALICE
"Will you walk a little faster?"
said a whiting to a snail, "There's
a porpoise close behind us, and
he's treading on my tail. See how
eagerly the lobsters and the
turtles all advance! They are
waiting on the shingle — will you
come and join the dance?
RUTH
Will you, won't you, will you,
won't you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won't you, will you,
won't you, won't you join the
dance?
ALICE
"You can really have no notion how
delightful it will be, When they
take us up and throw us, with the
lobsters, out to sea!"
Alice, seeing Kat in the doorway, breaks off mid-step. Ruth
follows suit. Kat smiles.
KAT FERRERS
Let me guess - The Lobster
Quadrille?
ALICE
Yes, we White Rabbits always dance
it at parties.
RUTH
(laughing)
Usually, when we're stoned.
INT. KAT'S APARTMENT - THE KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS
The three women sit around the kitchen table, nursing cups of
coffee.
KAT FERRERS
Watch.
ON PHONE
Genres:
["Drama","Comedy"]
Ratings
Scene
37 -
The Chess Game of Fear
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE -
Remote control night vision cameras capture three black-clad
figures in balaclavas, carrying firearms. One carries a
battering ram. They hit the door and it flies inward. Kat
speeds the footage forward. Smoke and flames are shooting up
from the barn and the house.
BACK TO SCENE
KAT FERRERS
That's what we're up against.
RUTH
What happened? How’d they find it?
KAT FERRERS
Probably got a corrupt cop to run
my license plate through the police
national computer database.
RUTH
How’d they get your plate number?
KAT FERRERS
I drove slowly past her gate the
other night. Everybody in Branksome
Wood has infrared Ringo Cams.
ALICE
The Beatle sells door cameras?
Ruth shakes her head.
RUTH
Alice, think for a moment.
ALICE
That's terrible. What's it mean?
KAT FERRERS
The hunt's on. The hunter's
emboldened. The trap's being set.
ALICE
I'm confused. Lavinia's thugs burnt
down Scythian Rise, and that was
you setting a trap? You're scaring
me. They find your lovely house,
destroy it, and that's a trap?
RUTH
Alice is right. You might be having
fun, but our families are in ruins
and we're scared shitless. Are we
the fucking bait?
ALICE
Are we dead yet?
RUTH
What do you mean? I'm not dead.
ALICE
You know, when people go missing
and are declared dead.
ALICE (CONT’D)
Dead bait, thrown to the sharks. I
saw it on a documentary once.
Gross. Is that what we are to you,
Kat?
RUTH
Is that why you rescued us?
Kat opens her laptop.
ON MONITOR
The peacock chessboard appears.
BACK TO SCENE
KAT FERRERS
It's like chess. She makes a move.
I make a move. Sometimes in chess,
a sacrifice is needed.
Kat leaves the room.
RUTH
What are we going to do?
ALICE
I'm going to go to my bedroom. Look
at the view and be grateful the
windows don't open wide enough to
let me jump out.
RUTH
I don't want to be alone.
Genres:
["Thriller","Crime","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
38 -
Windows to Despair
INT. KAT'S APARTMENT - ALICE'S ROOM - LATER
Ruth and Alice stand looking out the plate-glass windows at
the spectacular views. Ruth glances at the opening mechanism
on the window and sees that Alice was right, the windows only
open a few inches.
They can see The Shard, St. Paul's, the Gherkin, the Walkie-
Talkie, the Cheesegrater, and the entire City cluster.
RUTH
Must be designed like this.
ALICE
Designed like what?
RUTH
Only to open a bit. Don't want all
these depressed rich people
splatting on the sidewalk.
ALICE
All these people, going about their
lives. There can't be as many in
as deep shit as we are.
Ruth gently touches Alice's arm.
RUTH
I'm sorry. I know sometimes I'm
mean to you. But I'm really
stressed. I don't know what to do.
I hate being mean to you. I love
you, but not in the way you want me
to. It would be cruel to let you
get your hopes up. That's just not
me. But what the fuck are we going
to do?
ALICE
I don't know, but if I could jump
out of here and land on Lavinia's
fucking head, I would do it.
ALICE (V.O.)
Well, Ruth's confession answered
one question, but I didn't know
what to do. The problem was still
the same. Lavinia dies, or we do. I
don't think I will ever go for a
walk on a beach again...
(pause)
At least not without a Glock.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
39 -
Transformation Time
INT. KAT'S APARTMENT - THE LOUNGE - CONTINUOUS
When the girls enter the lounge, Kat is sitting in front of
her laptop and the peacock chessboard. She taps a few keys
and then picks up a photo album. Ruth and Alice glance at it
over her shoulder.
RUTH
Who's that?
KAT FERRERS
Me and my sister. Becky.
RUTH
How old is she?
KAT FERRERS
She's not.
RUTH
Sorry.
(thinks for a moment)
Don't get it.
ALICE
Kat means she's dead.
RUTH
Oh, I'm so sorry.
KAT FERRERS
Me, too. It was my fault. Thought
it would be fun to smoke a little
weed with her. Next thing I knew,
she was doing crack. I tried to
stop her. Then she was dead.
RUTH
Oh, God. How awful.
KAT FERRERS
My parents blamed me. Threw me out.
Can't say I blame them. I hate
drugs and drug dealers.
(sips coffee)
Now, how to get you two out of this
mess? 'Cause I'm going to burn
Lavinia's fucking house down. Been
planning this for a while. You
girls were the spark. But go to the
police if you want. Tell them that
I've held you captive all this
time, and you finally escaped. Tell
them about Lavinia and the
drugs...Then sit and wait and see
what bloody happens. I'd like to be
wrong, but I know Lavinia.
Kat walks out of the room.
ALICE (V.O.)
When Kat walked out of the room, I
felt terrified. You ever wobble on
the edge of a cliff balancing on
one leg?
ALICE
I feel like crying. I want this
whole fucking nightmare to end.
RUTH
Me too.
ALICE
I want to wake up and be in my bed
at home and tell my mum what a
scary dream I had.
RUTH
The same.
ALICE (V.O)
But mostly I wanted not to have
killed someone... And if I'd known
what was coming next, I might have
just jumped out the fucking window.
RUTH
We've got to help Kat kill Lavinia.
ALICE
Two teenage girls? Kat's army?
RUTH
Okay. Let's just sit here, enjoy
the view, dance the Lobster
Quadrille and wait for Lavinia to
find us.
ALICE
Oh....Fuck!
Kat comes back into the room. She's scarcely recognizable.
She's wearing a long, brunette wig, heavily made up, and much
more buxom - a picture of glamour. She's carrying two
holdalls, which she places on the floor.
ALICE (CONT’D)
What the?
Kat doesn't respond immediately.
KAT FERRERS
Well. Should I get my wrists ready
for handcuffs?
ALICE
We'll help, but we're girls. What
can we do against criminals?
RUTH
We're scared shitless.
KAT FERRERS
You can do more than you think, if
you think. Let's go then. But
first, transformation time.
RUTH
You won't have any pills to make us
shrink or grow.
KAT FERRERS
Not that kind of transformation.
Alice and Kat pick up the carryalls.
RUTH
They're heavy. What's in them?
KAT FERRERS
Guns.
ALICE
Did you have to ask?
They follow Kat out the door, turning back to have one last
look at a semblance of normality.
TITLE CARD: LOOKING GLASS CHESS
INT. THE CARPARK OF KAT'S APARTMENT BUILDING - DAY
Kat approaches a Subaru Forester Turbo. The lights on the car
flash, mirrors open.
ALICE
I get it. Dull, boring. Nobody
looks twice.
KAT FERRERS
You're catching on.
They deposit the gear in the rear and climb in. Kat drives
out of the carpark.
EXT./INT. CANARY WHARF - A1206 HEADING WEST - CONTINUOUS
ALICE (V.O.)
Not as pretty as the last car. I
wanted to ask where we were going,
but I was too frightened. So I
stared out the window, watching
London go by until we reached the
M3, remembering when my family had
driven to France. Dad kept saying
how much better French roads are.
He's a dad, which is why he
probably didn't think that was
boring. I kept watching all the
people on the streets, living their
ordinary lives. Right then? I
would've given anything to be bored
instead of terrified. If there is a
scale of one to ten for fear, I was
already at fifteen. It got worse. I
wanted to throw up. I mask well.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
40 -
Cautious Empowerment at Scythian Rise
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE - AFTERNOON
The car pulls off the road onto the lane to Scythian Rise.
Kat drives in about fifteen yards, so she is hidden from the
main road. They exit the car.
Kat pops open the boot, opens a carryall and hands Glocks to
Alice and Ruth. She picks up a pump-action shotgun.
RUTH
What are we doing back here? Won't
Lavinia and her gang be watching?
KAT FERRERS
They think they burnt it to the
ground - they would expect me to
know that and not expect me to
return... to charred timbers and
collapsed roofs.
ALICE
I hope you're right. I don't feel
like killing anybody at the
moment... Maybe after tea.
KAT FERRERS
Probably okay, but we'll be extra
cautious and go through the woods.
By the way, a lot of ticks in the
brush around here. We'll check each
other later. You two take the left
side.
(hands some clips of ammo
to the girls and laughs)
You wouldn't want to get Lyme
Disease.
RUTH
Oh, for fucks' sake. Is the whole
world trying to kill us? C'mon,
Alice, let's go.
ALICE
Easy for you to say. I just wish I
could stop being frightened.
KAT FERRERS
No, Alice. You've got to stay
frightened. That's how you keep
safe. Use your fear. Make it a
weapon. Surf it like you're riding
a wave.
ALICE (V.O.)
When Kat said that, it was like a
zillion-lumen lightbulb switched
on. I've been terrified my whole
life. Always running from fear. I
never thought to use it. Usually,
the world comes at me all at once.
(MORE)
ALICE (V.O.) (CONT'D)
Sounds, shapes, colors — too
bright, too loud, too close. Like
everything's shouting. But now...
Every sound had a place. Every
shadow had a shape. I wasn't
drowning in sensation. I was riding
it. I knew where I was. Really
weird, I felt, for once, at home in
the world - with a Glock in my
hand.
Cautiously, Alice and Ruth go through the trees to the
clearing where the burned-out ruins of Kat's house and barn
are. They pass statues of nymphs and satyrs placed in the
woods. When they emerge, Kat stands amidst the blackened
timbers and rubble.
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - CONTINUOUS
The stone cottage with a slate roof remains untouched, except
for the door, which has been knocked in. Police tape is
everywhere.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
41 -
Secrets and Strategies
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - CONTINUOUS
Kat, followed closely by the girls glancing nervously over
their shoulders, enters the cottage. She reaches up inside
the chimney and pulls hard on something. The hearth swings
away, revealing steps going down. A light goes on.
KAT FERRERS
A fantastic old cottage dating back
to before the Civil War. It
belonged to Mary Banks, defender of
Corfe Castle from the
Parliamentarians. She built the
secret rooms underneath the cottage
and the tunnel, which emerges
several hundred yards down the
hill. I just... renovated it.
They descend the steps into a large room well-equipped with
sofas and a desk featuring monitors that relay CCTV footage
of the main road and various aspects of the surrounding area.
There is a small kitchenette and a large, wall-mounted gun
locker.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
We can sleep on the sofas. Be a bit
cosy, but we'll manage.
(MORE)
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
I'll be back in a minute, just
going to make sure the car is
hidden out of sight.
Kat leaves via the stairs. Alice and Ruth track her on the
monitors as she makes it to the car and drives down the road
towards the cottage. She then parks it off to the side under
some large trees.
ALICE
Full of surprises.
RUTH
This war has been planned for
years. I just hope Kat knows what
she's doing and we're not pawns to
be sacrificed so she can checkmate
the queen. But what are we going to
do, Alice? We're not killers.
Alice looks at her.
ALICE
Not sure if those dead guys in Bath
would agree.
RUTH
Oh, God. I'd forgotten for a
moment. I see his surprised face in
my dreams.
ALICE
Better his surprised face in your
dreams than your ghost haunting
his.
RUTH
True. "Not where he eats, but where
he is eaten. A certain convocation
of politic worms are e'en at him."
ALICE
Bravo. Good old Bill. A verse for
every occasion.
ALICE (V.O.)
That's when I began to think that
ghosts are the price the living pay
for being alive. And the days ahead
were to gather more for the
collection.
Kat returns. She goes to a shelf, pulls out an Ordnance
Survey map, which she opens and spreads on the table.
KAT FERRERS
Weather's good for kayaking. Small
fishing boats from across the
channel will be getting close
enough to shore for kayakers to
reach them and swap lifejackets.
She pointed at the map.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
They usually come in to shore at
Chapman's Pool, Kimmeridge, or
Worbarrow Bay.
ALICE
Is it worth the trouble?
KAT FERRERS
A kayaker's lifejacket could carry
two kilograms of fentanyl, worth
anywhere from £200 to £400 thousand
wholesale. Cut down on the street -
maybe £10,000,000.
RUTH
Holy Shit!
KAT FERRERS
We need to put some surveillance on
your homes. No telling what
Lavinia's next move might be.
ALICE
Are our families at risk?
KAT FERRERS
One lifejacket equals £10,000,000.
What do you think?
ALICE
We're wasting time sitting here.
She stands up.
KAT FERRERS
You might as well sit. It's still
the middle of the day. We're not
going anywhere until it's well into
the night. Make yourselves
comfortable. I'm going to take a
nap in a minute.
She opens her laptop to the peacock chessboard. Studies it
for a moment and then presses some keys.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Let's see how you respond to that
move.
She then lies on a sofa.
Ruth and Alice exchange glances. Almost immediately, a soft
snore emerges from Kat.
ALICE
Napping? At a time like this?
RUTH
Unbelievable.
Alice starts lifting her shirt, turning around and presenting
her back to Ruth.
RUTH (CONT’D)
What on earth are you doing? I
don't want to see your naked body.
ALICE
We might as well check each other
for ticks. Lyme Disease can be
really nasty.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama","Mystery"]
Ratings
Scene
42 -
Night Operations
EXT. BOURNEMOUTH - NEAR MEYRICK PARK - NIGHT
They drive down leafy, affluent, and slightly secluded inner
suburban streets. Scattered among the large family homes are
houses that have been converted into care homes, Bed and
Breakfasts, or student accommodation.
ALICE
(sniffing)
I live near here. My house backs
onto the park.
KAT FERRERS
Perfect. We can approach it from
the rear.
They drive past Alice's house, which she, slumped down in the
front seat beside Kat, points out with a finger. The streets
are deserted. The houses dark. Kat parks the car near Pug's
Hole, a ten-acre nature reserve named after a local smuggler.
She opens the boot and hands the girls night vision
binoculars and a Glock each.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Hush, stuff the guns in your
pockets. It's just in case.
ALICE
Oh, God. Mum'll kill me if I shoot
one of the neighbors by mistake.
They approach the back of Alice's house. Kat carefully scans
the area, looking for a clear line of sight on the house
through the trees. Once she finds it, she indicates to Alice.
KAT FERRERS
Look very closely here. Notice
anything different?
Alice looks through the binoculars, and on a tree about
twenty yards from the back of the house, she notices a
birdhouse.
ALICE
Yeah, Dad's put up a birdhouse in a
tree.
KAT FERRERS
Now, I want you and Ruth to walk up
to the back of the house, very
slowly and quietly and then turn
around and walk back.
ALICE
Why?
KAT FERRERS
There is a video recording camera
in that birdhouse. Lavinia's. I
want them to know you're about and
to think we're careless.
ALICE
What's the advantage of that?
KAT FERRERS
We're playing blindfold chess. We
need them to be overconfident -
they're killers. You're
schoolgirls. It gives us an edge.
RUTH
Oh, fuck. That's our edge? Make the
trained killers overconfident? Who
taught you how to play chess?
KAT FERRERS
An overconfident trained killer is
going to look at you and see a
couple of scared schoolgirls.
(MORE)
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
That gives you an extra couple of
seconds.
ALICE
We are fucking scared schoolgirls.
How many extra seconds does that
give them?
Without warning, Kat swings at Alice, who effortlessly pats
the punch away.
KAT FERRERS
I see you have been practicing. Let
your muscle memory take over. Two
seconds is all you'll need.
Without another word, Alice and Ruth walk up to the back of
the house and then turn and walk back to the woods. While
they are up at the house, Kat fixes a couple of small, motion-
activated trail cams to some trees.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
43 -
Tension in the Conference Room
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Lavinia sits in the conference room, looking out onto a
garden where an ornamental peacock stands. A speaker
occasionally emits a plaintive, repetitive cry.
Grimaldi enters and glances up at the speaker.
LAVINIA
Not a word, Robert or I'll have
Leno turn you into Roberta.
Grimaldi swallows.
ROBERT GRIMALDI
Look, Boss.
He picks up a remote control, presses a button, and on a wall-
mounted video screen, Alice and Ruth appear walking towards
the back of Alice's house.
ROBERT GRIMALDI (CONT’D)
Got this in the early hours of the
morning.
LAVINIA
Play it again.
She watches it intently.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
We got nothing. Kat knew we would
be watching the house. All we have
are two homesick teenage girls
approaching the house and then
backing away. What's she up to?
She's too fucking clever to make
this kind of mistake unless it's
deliberate... She wants us to think
she is being careless, so we'll be
overconfident.
ROBERT GRIMALDI
Perhaps Kat is just being careless.
LAVINIA
Kat is never careless. Not when she
was a sniper. Not when she did
dirty ops. I've never known her to
make a mistake. You think she's
making a mistake. Bang. You're dead
before your body hits the ground.
And these two schoolgirls aren't
schoolgirls anymore. They've been
trained by the best - they won't
know yet what they are... how good
they are, but ask those dead
fuckwits in Bath. I want you to
catch them... understand... catch
them... and bring them to me. I
don't want two schoolgirls shot
dead in the Dorset countryside.
When we have them, safe and sound,
we can dispose of them. Safe and
sound.
She dismisses Grimaldi with a wave of her hand, and he
Genres:
["Crime","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
44 -
Murder Chess
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - MORNING
Alice, Ruth and Kat are drinking coffee.
ALICE (V.O.)
I wasn't happy - not that there is
anything new about that - but I
wasn't happy with Kat's reasoning.
Plucked up my courage and blurted
it out. Just waited for the right
moment.
Kat puts her coffee down, picks her Glock from the table,
quickly disassembles it and starts cleaning it.
ALICE
Challenge.
KAT FERRERS
Go ahead.
ALICE
I think you're wrong. Lavinia knows
you. She knows you won't make a
careless mistake, but that you want
her to think you are, so they'll be
overconfident - but they won't be.
KAT FERRERS
Exactly right.
ALICE
Well, how the fuck does that give
us an edge?
KAT FERRERS
I'm seeding doubt. Now we have to
make it grow.
ALICE
And?
KAT FERRERS
Lavinia is cold, ruthless and
intelligent. She won't get
overconfident, but no matter what
she tells her men, some of them
will, and that will set up the
kill.
ALICE
Are we playing murder Chess?
KAT FERRERS
Something like that.
Alice and Ruth pick up their Glocks, disassemble them and
start cleaning. Alice pauses her cleaning.
ALICE
You almost sound as if you admire
her.
KAT FERRERS
I do. She was my C.O. when I served
on some ops. She was bloody good.
RUTH
What happened?
KAT FERRERS
I was a sniper and refused to take
out a target in front of his wife
and children.
RUTH
And?
KAT FERRERS
She had me pulled from the unit for
insubordination. Said I endangered
the whole op.
ALICE
But you worked for her.
KAT FERRERS
We both respect talent. She pays
well. And has good connections for
other jobs. Business. I was right
not to take out the target. I hate
the bitch, but she was right that I
disobeyed an order.
ALICE
But all the drugs you ran shotgun
on, all the lives ruined.
Kat shrugs.
KAT FERRERS
If not me, someone else. Snipers
learn concealment, patience and
when to take the shot. The clock's
ticking.
ALICE
That's cold.
KAT FERRERS
Fact. You've each taken a life.
Choice: stop this now, and Lavinia
will find you, kill you and maybe
your families.
ALICE
Heard that before.
KAT FERRERS
'Cause it's true. Your choice now:
you kill or you die. Cold fact.
(MORE)
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Our edge - Lavinia isn't going to
want the bodies of two dead
schoolgirls sprawled across the
countryside. She's got to try to
take us alive.
Alice pauses, thinks for a moment, quickly reassembles the
Glock and takes aim at an imaginary target.
Kat smiles and salutes her. She turns to look at Ruth. Ruth
is sitting with the Glock in her lap, casually pointed at
Kat.
RUTH
I love Alice, maybe not in the way
she would like. I know she loves
me, too. We won't be forgiving if
you let us down.
Genres:
["Thriller","Crime","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
45 -
Cautious Vigilance
EXT. THE PURBECK HILLS ABOVE KIMMERIDGE BAY - DAWN
Lying camouflaged by scrub, beneath some trees, Kat, Ruth and
Alice train binoculars on Kimmeridge Bay. There are a few
cars and motorhomes parked in the car park. Otherwise,
nothing moves.
Then they notice two men carrying kayaks down to the beach
and paddling out.
Kat isn't watching them. She uses her binoculars to scan the
nearby area.
KAT FERRERS
Got you, you bastard.
ALICE
What are we doing here? Are those
kayakers Lavinia's men?
KAT FERRERS
Probably, but I am looking for the
men who are looking for us and
waiting for us to hit the runners.
ALICE
Where are they?
Kat indicates with her hand. Alice trains her binoculars in
the direction Kat has pointed and sees a man, in camouflage
gear, sheltering and holding a rifle. Kat points again in a
different direction, and Alice picks out another man.
KAT FERRERS
A couple of useless tits. Too easy
to find.
ALICE
What'll we do?
KAT FERRERS
Nothing. We just wait until they
leave. Just in case they are
plants, and the real business is
waiting for us to try to take them
out.
ALICE
I need to wee.
RUTH
Me too.
KAT FERRERS
Wee then. Just don't move.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action"]
Ratings
Scene
46 -
Checkmate in the Hills
EXT. THE PURBECK HILLS ABOVE KIMMERIDGE BAY - LATER
The men return with their kayaks, look anxiously around, and
in the direction of the hidden gangsters. One touches an
earpiece. They walk up with the kayaks, put them on a car and
drive off. Soon, there is the sound of a quad bike, and the
two hidden gangsters leave. Alice makes an effort to stand
up. Kat puts a restraining hand on her.
KAT FERRERS
Wait.
After a few moments, the sound of another quad bike is heard
and two men, whom they hadn't seen before, leave.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Those useless tits were meant to be
useless tits, and we were meant to
see them.
ALICE
And now we know their tactics.
Poorly hide some decoy guns which
we go to take out and then the real
pros spring the trap.
KAT FERRERS
Spot on. One of the first things I
learned in the field was to wait
and not move.
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY
Lavinia sits at the head of the table, around which are
Grimaldi, Catada, and Manfred, wearing their accountant
suits.
Leno and two of his men stand off to the side — still in
their beach op gear: matte-grey tactical jackets, sand-caked
boots, and black gloves tucked into their belts.
LENO
No show. I think if she was there
she would've shown.
Lavinia picks up the black king from the chessboard and, as
if it were a gun, aims it as if tracking an imaginary target.
LAVINIA
Maybe. Maybe. But I know Kat. The
first one of us to make a
mistake... Checkmate! With a
bullet.
She turns her attention to the chessboard beside her. The men
look at each other and then exit the room.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
47 -
Dancing the Justice Quadrille
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - NIGHT
Kat comes to the table with plates of steak, chips, and
broccoli.
KAT FERRERS
We need to keep our strength up.
This has been the easy bit.
ALICE (V.O.)
The day had been interesting but
not really enjoyable. Lying there
in clothes I'd weed myself in, I
wished I hadn't drunk so much
coffee in the morning. I wish Kat
had said something about it
beforehand. On the other hand, it
is something I won't do again.
RUTH
What next? Disguise ourselves as
cow patties?
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - MORNING
Kat is sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, looking at
her peacock chessboard. Occasionally she goes to tap on the
keyboard, hesitates for a moment and then puts her hands on
the table. Ruth is still asleep on one of the sofas when
Alice walks in from the washroom.
ALICE
Well, Grandmaster Kat. What's our
next move? And more importantly,
dare I have a cup of coffee or am I
likely to have to wee myself again?
KAT FERRERS
I hope that by your age you've
learned bladder control, and we
won't be spending hours lying down
in a field. We're going to stir up
the wasps again.
ALICE
I'm not sure I wouldn't rather wet
myself. Last time you said that, I
ended up shooting someone.
Ruth groggily stirs herself awake.
RUTH
Coffee. If I have to shoot someone,
please, coffee first.
Alice pours Ruth a cup and brings it to her, which she takes
eagerly.
ALICE
Kat said we're going to poke the
wasps' nest, again.
RUTH
I thought I heard that and then
decided I was having a nightmare. I
don't want to shoot anyone else.
The last guy has rented out a big
space in my dreams.
Kat looks at her, and an unspoken question mark hangs in the
air.
RUTH (CONT’D)
Alright! Alright! If I fucking well
have to shoot someone, I will.
Doesn't mean I have to want to.
(MORE)
RUTH (CONT’D)
(to Kat)
You're nearly as literal as Alice.
ALICE
Hey, you know it upsets me when you
say that.
TITLE CARD: DANCING THE JUSTICE QUADRILLE
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama","Action"]
Ratings
Scene
48 -
Strategic Dread
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COURTYARD - MORNING
Alice meanders through the courtyard in the morning sun,
listening to the squawking of hens and geese.
ALICE (V.O.)
If you think it has been something
of a nightmare so far, well, buckle
up. It got worse. Much worse. To
mix my metaphors, Ruth and I felt
we were on a rollercoaster
following Penthesilea into the jaws
of Hades.
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - CONTINUOUS
Alice enters the cottage to find Ruth and Kat poring over an
ordnance survey map of the Purbecks.
RUTH
Kat says we need to set things up
for the endgame.
ALICE
I'm frightened to ask what you have
in mind, Kat.
KAT FERRERS
Need to think this through,
strategically - weighing up all the
risks.
ALICE
That's a word I don't like.
ALICE (V.O.)
I don't know how to convey to you
how my blood ran cold when I heard
the word 'risks.' I hate
uncertainty. I like things planned,
precise, predictable. The three Ps.
For me, uncertainty is the c word.
KAT FERRERS
We have to plan this very
carefully.
ALICE
No shit, Sherlock.
KAT FERRERS
It would be easy to take out her
gang one at a time.
RUTH
Why don't we do that, then?
KAT FERRERS
Alice?
ALICE
We have to find a way of finishing
off Kat and her gang in one go. We
leave a string of bodies, and the
police will swarm like a rash.
Lavinia will still be alive, and we
and our families will still be at
risk.
KAT FERRERS
A cigar for Alice - oops, sorry, I
forgot, you can barely smoke a
joint.
ALICE
(sighing)
True, but if you have one to hand,
I'll give it another try... So what
are we going to do, Kat? Storm
Lavinia's house with guns blazing.
My dad made me watch Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid. That ended
well for them, didn't it?
RUTH
So, what are we going to do, Kat?
KAT FERRERS
We're going to go back three
thousand years and look to the city
of Troy.
ALICE
I know. We're going to disguise
ourselves as peacocks.
Kat opens her laptop.
KAT FERRERS
Good guess, but not quite. I told
you this has been in the planning
for a long time.
ON SCREEN
SPLENDID DESCENT:
ORNAMENTAL PEACOCKS FOR THE DISCERNING
Beneath the name are numerous pictures of different
ornamental peacocks at a premium price.
BACK TO SCENE
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Lavinia loves peacocks. She's got
several of mine and other bits and
pieces purchased over the years.
ALICE
I get it. She's identifying herself
with Hera, Jupiter's wife.
RUTH
Explain.
ALICE
In the Metamorphoses, Ovid writes
about how Jupiter was in love with
Io, whom he disguised as a heifer
to throw his jealous wife off the
track. She had hundred-eyed Argos
as a watchman to keep his eyes on
Jupiter. Jupiter sent Hermes to
send Argos to sleep and then cut
his head off. Hera, in a tribute to
Argos, basically turned him into a
peacock, giving him a hundred eyes.
Symbolizing royalty and vigilance.
She already has some of yours?
KAT FERRERS
Yes, had them for quite a while.
But the eyes are mine.
RUTH
I love the eye-rony.
Kat laughs.
KAT FERRERS
One of you needs to be captured.
RUTH ALICE
What? You fucking having a laugh?
KAT FERRERS
No. It's a strategic move. The
question is, which one of you?
Volunteers?
ALICE
What's the strategy?
KAT FERRERS
Get captured and tell Lavinia where
we are hiding.
RUTH
Why not just call her on the phone?
KAT FERRERS
You're captured. She'll threaten
you with torture.
ALICE
Oh. My. God.
Ruth gags and heaves as if she is about to vomit.
KAT FERRERS
You tell her where we are. She
sends some of her men. Then, when
her forces are weakened, we rescue
you.
ALICE
What if whoever is captured is a
corpse?
KAT FERRERS
A risk. But a small one. She's
going to want to make sure she has
all three of us. She won't expect
you to have let yourself be
captured. That gives us the edge.
ALICE
I. Think. You. Are. Nuts.
KAT FERRERS
Come outside.
She picks up a small ornamental peacock from the desk and
exits the cottage.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
49 -
The Explosive Demonstration
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COURTYARD - CONTINUOUS
Kat carries the peacock into the middle of the courtyard
about fifty yards away. Immediately, chickens and geese cluck
around it.
KAT FERRERS
Chase those birds away back into
their coops and come back.
Alice and Kat shoo the birds away, locking them in, and
return to Kat, who has her smartphone out.
ON SCREEN
A live shot of them looking in the direction of the peacock.
BACK TO SCENE
Kat touches her smartphone.
ON SCREEN
A live shot of the surrounding barn.
BACK TO SCENE
ALICE
So what. We have seen what they can
do.
Kat moves back towards the cottage, tucking herself behind a
wall. She gestures for the girls to join her.
Kat touches another button. There is a loud BANG, and the
peacock's tail explodes, sending fragments of glass and
bronze shrapnel across the yard.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
50 -
Strategic Tension at Scythian Rise
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - CONTINUOUS
Alice and Ruth sit on a sofa, cups of coffee in hand, facing
Kat.
ALICE
Trojan Peacocks. How long you been
planning this?
KAT FERRERS
Trojan War lasted ten years. But
not that long. Well? Which of you
would be the best one who could
tell them where we are, but not
give anything else away?
RUTH
(squeaking, with her head
in her hands)
Me. Alice is too literal. I lie
better than her. She's a better
shot than me. Oh, God. Why can't I
be home in my bed?
KAT FERRERS
Alice, what do you think?
ALICE
I'm too scared to think.
KAT FERRERS
Ride the wave.
Alice takes some deep breaths and looks at Ruth.
ALICE
She's right. I'm too literal. I
don't lie well. I am a better shot.
I want to be home in bed, too.
RUTH
What's... What's... the plan?
KAT FERRERS
Brave girl. We go back to
Kimmeridge and ambush them as the
kayakers hit the shore. You get
taken.
ALICE
What if they just shoot her?
KAT FERRERS
Not at all likely. Lavinia will
have issued orders for us to be
taken alive. She knows that if one
of you suddenly turned up with
bullet holes after being missing
for several weeks, they'd
practically call in the army.
Kat looks at the peacock chessboard on her laptop and taps
some keys.
Ruth and Alice look at her.
ALICE
Who you playing?
KAT FERRERS
Just somebody online. To focus so
intently helps clear the head.
Genres:
["Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
51 -
Reflections in the Garden
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - REAR GARDEN - EVENING
Lavinia wanders through her garden, accompanied by Leno. She
holds several long peacock feathers in her hand and
occasionally strokes her face with them. She stops by one of
her ornamental peacocks.
LAVINIA
Such beautiful birds. Darwin didn't
know what he was saying when he
said the sight of a peacock feather
made him sick.
LENO
Kat's planning something.
LAVINIA
I know, and if I know her, it'll be
good. It's such a shame, we'd have
made such a great team. If she had
only come on board with me. I
didn't understand her scruples. She
would guard the shipments of fent
but had qualms about selling it.
Said it was corrupting the young.
You can't corrupt those who aren't
corruptible. Fent just brings out
the rotten nucleus and bares it for
the world to see. I'm really doing
society a favor, revealing the
dross and then excising it. Like a
surgeon with cancer - it's social
surgery.
Genres:
["Thriller","Crime","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
52 -
Dawn Operation at Kimmeridge Bay
EXT. THE PURBECK HILLS ABOVE KIMMERIDGE BAY - DAWN
As before, Kat, Ruth and Alice lie camouflaged by scrub. Kat
scours the surrounding area with her binoculars.
She identifies the two hidden guards and then the other
guards.
KAT FERRERS
Idiots. In the same place as the
other day. Days gone by, these guys
would've been on the 'no' pile.
Lavinia wouldn't make that mistake.
ALICE (V.O)
I saw Kat lying there, cool as a
cucumber, and I hated her. I felt I
was shaking so hard I thought the
ground would be vibrating all
around me. There aren't words to
describe how terrified I felt. I
just knew I would die if anything
happened to Ruth.
Two men carry kayaks down to the beach and paddle out.
EXT. THE PURBECK HILLS ABOVE KIMMERIDGE BAY - LATER
KAT FERRERS
This is how we play it. And for
God's sake, don't shoot anyone.
EXT. PURBECK HILLS ABOVE KIMMERIDGE BAY – LATER
Kat, Alice, and Ruth lie low in the scrub. Kat’s eyes are cold,
watchful, tracking movement below. Both Alice and Ruth are
wearing their White Rabbit T-shirts underneath loose
sweatshirts.
On the sand, two exhausted KAYAKERS drag their boats ashore and
dump them.
Kat gives a small, sharp hand signal. She moves first, silent as
a shadow. Alice swallows her nerves, then follows.
EXT. KIMMERIDGE BAY – MOMENTS LATER
Kat and Alice close in. Kat strikes — fast, precise — a pressure
point at the first man’s neck. He crumples soundlessly.
Alice seizes the second, twisting his arm into a joint lock.
Pain floods his face. He drops, whimpering, unable to cry out.
They strip the fentanyl-packed lifejackets, quick and practiced.
Down the beach, Ruth stumbles into view, clutching her ankle.
She lets out a soft, pained moan.
EXT. ROCK POOLS AT KIMMERIDGE BAY – CONTINUOUS
Two GUARDS break cover, rifles low but ready. They spot Ruth —
injured, alone.
Their pace is cautious, but casual. Easy prey.
One grabs her roughly, the other snaps plastic cuffs onto her
wrists. A grin passes between them.
EXT. CLIFF RECESS – CONTINUOUS
Kat and Alice melt back into the shadows, lifejackets in hand.
Kat’s face hardens into grim satisfaction.
The trap has sprung. The plan is working.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
53 -
Tea with a Twist
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - BASEMENT ROOM - LATER
Ruth is sitting on a chair, hands in front of her in wrist
ties. Leno looks her up and down lasciviously, with a leer
which makes Ruth's flesh crawl. Ruth is now just wearing her
White Rabbit t-shirt, the sweatshirt on the floor beside her.
LAVINIA
You must be Ruth. I'm Lavinia. Like
the t-shirt. White Rabbits? From
Alice in Wonderland?
RUTH
I know who you are. Kat told me all
about you. You're the nasty old
woman who sells drugs to children.
LAVINIA
Pretty accurate description. But
I'm the nasty old woman who has you
sitting in a chair with your hands
tied. So you'd better be a bit more
polite.
She approaches Ruth, who cowers, and Lavinia pulls her hair
back.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Leno here would love it if I left
him alone with you for a while.
He’d like to cuddle up with a
lovely white bunny. Wouldn't you,
Leno?
Leno grins and licks his lips. He reaches out a hand to Ruth.
Lavinia slaps it away.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Not yet, Leno. Now, I don't really
care if I have to torture you or
not to get the information I want.
(MORE)
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
I tried sadism, and it didn’t
really do it for me. I’m interested
in the pragmatics. On the other
hand, Leno here... well, we’re all
designed differently.
RUTH
(gasping)
Torture? This isn't the fucking
Middle Ages. But I promise you
won't have to torture me. I'll tell
you anything. Just let me go home.
That's all I want.
LAVINIA
But you were one of the girls who
killed my men in Bath.
RUTH
I feel like I'm in a movie with
caricatures of scary villains.
LAVINIA
(laughing)
That's a gutsy thing for you to
say. My men could do with some of
those balls. Now. Where's Kat and
Alice?
Leno twirls a knife.
RUTH
You don't have to torture me. I
hate pain. I'll tell you everything
you want to know. I'll even tell
you more... They're hiding out in
the old stone cottage at Scythian
Rise. Your men aren't very
thorough. The cottage has a secret
basement accessed through a switch
in the chimney. Kat has CCTV set up
all through the place. She'll see
you coming.
LAVINIA
What if you're a plant? What if Kat
set you up to be captured? And my
men walk into an ambush.
RUTH
Look. Do I look like someone Kat
would trust with a plan? For fuck's
sake, I'm a scared shitless A-level
student.
(MORE)
RUTH (CONT’D)
I hoped to go to uni this year. I
don't even know what my grades
were. If Kat set me up to be
captured, she's a bitch, and I hope
she catches the first boat across
the Styx.
LAVINIA
I think you are a scared shitless A-
level student. Leno, send some of
the men to take Kat and Alice and
bring them here. Tell them they
will be expected. But I want them
alive, if possible.
(to Ruth)
I'll keep you alive until you're
all together. In the meantime, cup
of tea?
RUTH
Under the circumstances, two sugars
please.
Lavinia laughs.
Genres:
["Thriller","Crime","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
54 -
Strategic Calm Amidst Anxiety
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - DAY
Alice is pacing back and forth. Kat sits, focusing on her
peacock chessboard game.
ALICE
What if they torture and kill her?
KAT FERRERS
Not yet. They'll wait till they
have us all. Wouldn't risk snuffing
out the only lead to us.
ALICE
What do we do now?
KAT FERRERS
Wait. They won't attack until it's
dark and we won't be here.
ALICE
Where are we going to be?
KAT FERRERS
We, with our Trojan peacocks, are
going to rescue Ruth and kill
Lavinia and the men there.
(MORE)
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Her forces will be spilt up with
some of them chasing our ghosts
here.
Genres:
["Thriller","Action","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
55 -
Preparation for the Mission
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - NIGHT
Kat, who has been asleep on the sofa, wakes.
KAT FERRERS
Sleep at all?
ALICE
God, your sense of humor is as bad
as Dad's.
KAT FERRERS
Well, I've never met your dad, but
from what you've told me about him,
he would say, "Time to saddle up,
Pardner."
Alice groans.
Kat opens the gun locker, pulls out an assault rifle and
another Glock, which she stuffs in her belt. She casually
throws several magazines to Alice.
KAT FERRERS (CONT’D)
Just in case your aim is off. But
remember, we're surfing the wave to
save Ruth.
ALICE (V.O)
I was so glad she said that. It
snapped me into a different frame
of mind. Everything seemed more
distinct, clear, sharp. There was a
purpose. The universe wasn't
random, meaningless, or
overwhelming. Save Ruth. My
touchstone. And, with a Glock in
hand, I once again felt at home in
the world.
EXT./INT. KAT'S CAR - NIGHT
They are nearly at the Vitale mansion when Kat's phone sounds
an alarm.
She pulls over to the side of the road.
ON PHONE
Genres:
["Action","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
56 -
Strategic Sacrifice
EXT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE LANE, WOODS, COURTYARD AND COTTAGE -
NIGHT
Motion sensitive cameras in the various statues planted along
the side of the lane towards Scythian Rise and in the woods
lining the lane show upwards of six heavily armed men
creeping towards the cottage.
Using a police grade enforcer they knock down the door, and
swarm in.
BACK TO SCENE
KAT FERRERS
Where did she get these idiots
from?
ON PHONE
INT. SCYTHIAN RISE - THE COTTAGE - CONTINUOUS
The men can be seen looking at a small bronze peacock with
flashing eyes in the tail.
It explodes, sending glass and bronze shrapnel across the
room.
Two of the men are down, the others stagger outside.
EXT. THE LANE - CONTINUOUS
As they make their way down the lane, various of the nymphs
and fauns explode.
None make it to the cars.
BACK TO SCENE
ALICE
Why didn't you blow them up before,
when they torched Scythian Rise?
KAT FERRERS
Chess strategy. I'm playing the
long game, and sometimes a
sacrifice or two is necessary. And
that would've made Lavinia
suspicious about the statues in her
garden.
ALICE
And when the police investigate
later? Won't forensics tie this to
your business?
KAT FERRERS
No, all exploding statues were
smuggled in separately. No
connection. Dummy import companies,
shell buyers, false customs codes.
If anyone traces it back, it dead-
ends in Panama.
ALICE
(admiringly)
Fuck. That's planning.
KAT FERRERS
I'll teach you how to play chess.
Genres:
["Action","Thriller","Crime"]
Ratings
Scene
57 -
Strategic Tensions
EXT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - NIGHT
Several armed guards patrol the estate through the dark.
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - CONFERENCE ROOM -
CONTINUOUS
Lavinia sits looking at her chessboard. Grimaldi, Catada, and
Manfred slouch nearby, looking ill at ease, having swapped
their accountant suits for fatigues. They nestle guns in
their laps.
LAVINIA
Any word yet from those muppets we
sent to the cottage?
The screech of a peacock echoes from a speaker.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Should've heard from them by now.
GRIMALDI
Signal can be pretty bad out there,
but they're probably on their way
back with them.
LAVINIA
Things are never certain with Kat.
As if on cue, a small explosion BOOM followed by a SCREAM
blasts from the speakers.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Kill them if you have to. Now get
out there.
The three men hurriedly exit the room. Lavinia looks at her
chessboard and smiles.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
You clever bitch.
Genres:
["Thriller","Crime","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
58 -
Silent Resolve
EXT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - REAR GARDEN -
CONTINUOUS
After the explosion of one of the statues, Kat and Alice move
silently through the garden. They come across the wounded man
gasping for breath. Kat doesn't pause but shoots him as they
go by.
ALICE (V.O)
I felt scared but in a different
way. The universe wasn't
threatening to crush me. Every
sound, every sight seemed distinct.
Everything was focused on one
mantra: Save Ruth. There was no
other purpose.
They round a corner, and two guards are coming towards them.
Kat shoots one. Alice shoots the other and quickly steps over
the body. Kat pauses to look at Alice with a slightly puzzled
look on her face.
ALICE (CONT’D)
I had to. He was in the way. Ruth.
Kat nods in understanding. They duck down behind a wall. She
looks at her phone.
ON PHONE
One of the remote cameras has picked up Catada and Manfred
approaching them, with Grimaldi behind.
BACK TO SCENE
Kat pushes a button. The peacock explodes and Catada and
Manfred, showered with shrapnel, lie bleeding on the ground.
Grimaldi limps back to the house.
Kat and Alice follow.
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - CONFERENCE ROOM -
CONTINUOUS
Kat and Alice enter the conference room. Grimaldi lies
slumped on the floor. He raises his arm. Kat shoots him.
Lavinia sits calmly at the table.
LAVINIA
She's downstairs in the basement
with Leno. Which one of you is
going to stay with me and which one
rescue what's left of Ruth?
ALICE
I'll go. It's what I was born for.
Genres:
["Action","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
59 -
Desperate Measures
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - BASEMENT ROOM -
CONTINUOUS
Alice enters the room, gun raised. She freezes.
Leno stands with a knife at Ruth's throat, a cruel smile on his
face. He yanks Ruth back against his body, using her as a human
shield.
LENO
Look who it is. Another White
Rabbit. Now drop the gun. Or your
girlfriend gets it.
Alice’s hands begin to tremble. Her aim, so steady at the range,
is gone. Her breath hitches. Her gaze, wild with panic, darts
from the gun to Ruth, to Leno. Her terror is palpable.
LENO (CONT’D)
She's useless, ain't she? A useless
little girl.
Alice's eyes find Ruth's face. She sees the fear, the
helplessness. A wave of stillness washes over Alice. The tremor
in her hands disappears. Her gaze locks on the small gap between
Leno’s head and Ruth’s shoulder.
She ignores the probability. She ignores the risk. She just sees
Ruth. Ruth suddenly pushes back against Leno and then falls
forward.
The Glock fires. BOOM!
The bullet cuts a deep furrow on the side of Leo’s head. He
drops to the ground, clutching his head, pulling Ruth down with
him. The knife clatters on the floor.
Alice scrambles forward, shoots him point blank in the chest.
She grabs the knife he dropped, and frantically cuts the ties on
Ruth.
RUTH
(incredulous)
Alice? That you?
Alice just stares at her hands, the gun, the dead body. She
starts to hyperventilate.
RUTH (CONT’D)
That's you.
ALICE (V.O)
With Ruth safe, my purpose vanished
and I started to panic. But I
didn't regret killing Leno. I'd
told Kat if anyone tried to kill
Ruth, I would kill them. Love and
all that. Even if unrequited.
Genres:
["Action","Thriller","Drama"]
Ratings
Scene
60 -
Checkmate in Darkness
INT. THE VITALE ESTATE IN BRANKSOME - CONFERENCE ROOM - NIGHT
Grimaldi lies lifeless by the door, blood pooling on the
floor beside him.
Lavinia sits in her chair at the conference table, chessboard
beside her. She makes a move and then types into her
smartphone. Kat's phone pings. She looks at it and shakes her
head.
LAVINIA
That should be it, Kat. Checkmate
next move.
KAT FERRERS
I know. It was a worthwhile
sacrifice. I let you win the game.
ALICE
You gotta be fucking kidding me.
Have you two been playing chess
against each other, online, all
along?
KAT FERRERS
Encrypted. Location never given
away. She's the best player I know.
LAVINIA
Thanks, Kat. Same for you. Now
what? I know you're not going to
let me go. It's not you to kill an
unarmed person. You going to let
one of these twats shoot me? Put it
on my gravestone.
(MORE)
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Lavinia Vitale, blown away by a
grammar school girl.
ALICE (V.O)
And here we are at the crux of it
all. We've got Lavinia, most of her
gang are dead or have fled. The
ones Ruth and I shot were in self-
defense, sort of, but I'm not sure
that makes me feel any better. My
hands are in blood up to the
elbows. Do we sit and watch Kat
shoot her in cold blood? Then what?
KAT FERRERS
No, we're going to put you on trial
for corrupting the youth of today.
LAVINIA
This your idea of a joke? And who
is going to be the jury? You? These
twats? And I'm sure i'm going to be
found guilty. So who is going to do
the business?
KAT FERRERS
Ruth. Alice. What is your opinion
of someone who imports large
quantities of deadly drugs and then
sells them to vulnerable people? Is
she guilty of corrupting the youth?
LAVINIA
You can't corrupt someone who
doesn't have a rotten core. I see
myself closer to a social surgeon,
excising cancer from the social
body.
ALICE
That's ridiculous. There's nobody
who is perfect, nobody who doesn't
have a flaw. Doesn't give you the
right to feed the flaw. I think
you're guilty.
RUTH
Look at us. We were schoolgirls.
Now we're killers. And all to
protect ourselves and our families
from you. I'll never be able to hug
a teddy again. If that's not
corruption, what is?
KAT FERRERS
Sounds like the jury's found you
guilty.
LAVINIA
Big fucking surprise.
KAT FERRERS
I think we'll take a trip back to
4th century Athens. When Socrates
was found guilty of corrupting the
youth of Athens, he was given
hemlock to drink.
Kat slides a packet of open pills across the table
LAVINIA
Fuck you! You're going to have to
force feed it to me. No way I'm
touching that shit.
Kat pulls out her Beretta, twirls it around on her finger.
KAT FERRERS
Looks like we got a standoff then.
Without a word she shoots Lavinia, the bullet taking off her
ear lobe. Alice and Ruth flinch. Lavinia, stoic, raises a
hand to her ear.
ALICE
Kat...
KAT FERRERS
You want to shoot her? Let her go?
ALICE
No.
KAT FERRERS
I'm going to shoot you, a bit at a
time until you take the pills. You
know I'll do it.
Lavinia sits silently. Looks at Alice and Ruth, sees their
troubled faces but knows there is no mercy there.
LAVINIA
Fuck you. On my terms, not yours.
She lifts the pack to her mouth and starts shoving pills in,
swallowing them dry, turning from Kat to Alice to Ruth, the
detritus spilling down her chin.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
I'll be with the boatman, waiting
for you at the River. Fuck you.
Lavinia slumps a bit in her seat. She pulls the chessboard in
front of her. With trembling hands, she moves the black queen
and knocks over the white king.
LAVINIA (CONT’D)
Fuck you, Kat. Checkmate. I win.
She collapses head first on the table.
ALICE (V.O)
Not unusual. I didn't know what I
felt. Against the odds we had
beaten Lavinia and her gang. I
didn't know if I felt sorry for her
or not. I felt sorry for me. I felt
sorry for Ruth. I don't know what I
felt for Kat. I kinda of used to
know what I was, a screwed up
autistic girl who kept her routines
and plans in order not to face her
deepest fear that life was just
purposeless. Now, I didn't feel
like that, my purpose had been
making sure Ruth, I, and our
families survived. A Glock in my
hand had given me purpose. Weird or
what?
Police sirens can be heard screaming.
KAT FERRERS
It's time to go.
FADE TO BLACK