Astray - Screenplay

EXT./INT. CAR – EARLY MORNING

SGT. JON EDDIE WALKER, a middle-aged man willing to prove himself at anytime, is at the wheel taking a pause from eating so he can listen to the blaring police radio.

                                      DISPATCH (V.O.)
                  Negotiator delayed 30 minutes.
                  You are advised to stall.

                                      OFFICER IN CHARGE (V.O.)
                  Understood.

Walker laughs at the conversation, and drives on to the scene.

                                      WALKER
                            (chuckles)
                  Can’t the Negotiator eat and
                  drive?

EXT. – SUBURBAN STREET – MORNING

The neighborhood Walker drives into is an older one, but its low-end middle class homes have been kept decent over the years. Walker begins to think about the situation, and puts his sandwich down.

                                      WALKER
                  Yeah…, I’ve seen this before.

Parking the car, he gets out, runs his hand down the front of his jacket once, buttons up, and pops a peppermint in his mouth. Police cars are lined up as barricades. He walks over to the perimeter as a familiar face comes up to him.

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Still eating lunch off the
                  floorboard, Walker?

                                      WALKER
                  Beats your wife’s cooking.

Walker takes a better look around. SGT. DAN KOWALSKI, similar in age to Walker, has been a detective a little longer than Walker, but has no dreams of being more than that. He does everything by the book.

                                      Walker
                  What’s up with the defensive
                  line, Mike?

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Ah, the talker hasn't shown up
                  yet. We’re just wasting time
                  till he gets here.

Walker moves toward a cruiser that is closer to where the suspect is held up.

                                      WALKER
                  Hm-hmm. Any change?

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Naw. Still a Caucasian male,
                  about 30, possibly armed,
                  and with a hostage.

                                      WALKER
                  Who’s the lucky one?

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Well, could be his mother.
                  He hasn’t been talking. We’re
                  still checking on who the
                  homeowner is.

                                      WALKER
                  Hasn’t been talking? Hmm,
                  maybe he can’t talk.

Walker turns his head side-to-side.

                                      WALKER (CONT’D)
                  Neighbors?

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Evac’d about 20 minutes ago.
                  No one could say for sure if
                  the woman living there has a son.

                                      WALKER
                  But a woman does live there?

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Yeah, about 60 years old.

                                      WALKER
                  …But you can’t say for sure
                  that she’s in there?

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Hmm-nope.

Walker looks right at the house, between the elms and box elders. He sees a path.

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Walker, are you getting that
                  tunnel vision?

Walker ignores the jab and walks back to his car to open the trunk.

                                      WALKER
                  Where’s SWAT?

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Off to the sides.

Kuwalski points toward the house.

                                      KOWALSKI (CONT’D)
                            (glaring)
                  What are you thinking?

Walker pulls out a shotgun and eyes it over.

                                      WALKER
                  Look, he’s crazy, or playin’
                  it very slick. And if she’s in
                  there with him, then she’s
                  probably dead. Either way,
                  we’ve got to go in.

The two of them make their way over to a large tree.

                                      KOWALSKI
                  You’re not making that call,
                  are you? The negotiator is
                  on his way, and everything
                  says, 'sit back and be cool.'

                                      WALKER
                  Naw, my gut says take him
                  ‘cause there’s a body in
                  there being cool.

Looking at Walker, Kowalski sees the man he has known for some time, and heard about for years. Walker can be persuasive, many times over.

                                      KOWALSKI
                            (sighing)
                  What’s your plan?

Walker looks at the house, and then to Kowalski.

                                      WALKER
                  I’m going to talk to him a little
                  and then SWAT’s going to move in.
                            (sure and intent)

                  KUWALSKI
                  This isn’t your normal barber
                  shop banter here. You ever done
                  the talk?
                            (shaking head no)

                                      WALKER
                            (smiling)
                  It’s easy. Just shine him on,
                  and then, when he let’s his
                  guard down, boom!

He smacks one palm on the butt of his shotgun and starts walking casually toward the front of the troubled house.

                                      WALKER (CONT’D)
                  Tell SWAT to move in when I give
                  you five.

                                      KOWALSKI
                            (quietly)
                  Okay.

Watching Walker carefully, Kowalski grabs his radio to talk to the SWAT Commander.

                                      KOWALSKI
                  Lieutenant Wills, you will go
                  on this signal…
                            (voice fades)