LORD OF ILLUSION

CHAPTER 19

EXT. WILTERN THEATRE - DAY :

THE 1st WORKER throws the cut-out head of Swann's standee down into the street. 1ST WORKER Watch out! On the HEAD, as it strikes the sidewalk at somebody's feet. We don't see who.

EXT. HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY - DAY :

Harry catches sight of somebody close to the gates of the cemetery. Dark glasses, a beard, an anonymous black suit. Harry smiles slightly, and slips off between the mausoleums.

EXT. HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY - PARKING LOT - DAY :

The BLACK-COATED MOURNER gets into his car. On Harry, as he gets into his. INT. WILTERN THEATRE - STAGE - DAY Valentin hears something in the auditorium. Looks up. VALENTIN Who's there? He reaches into his jacket to draw a GUN. There's a NOISE. He swings round. Too late. Butterfield has a scalpel at his throat. He kicks Valentin to the ground. BUTTERFIELD (conversationally) I've sometimes thought, if I'd had another profession, I would have been a surgeon. On Valentin, staring up in terror.

Valentin's P.O.V.- of Butterfield, upside down, above him, the scalpel glittering. BUTTERFIELD To be able to heal with one little cut. On Valentin again, as Butterfield's blade touches his cheek, just beneath his eye. VALEMTIN No. . . BUTTERFIELD Let's say those eyes of yours were giving you trouble.

VALENTIN Please. BUTTERFIELD I could scoop them out. VALENTIN Don't. BUTTERFIELD So tell me where Nix is buried. VALENTIN I don't know. Butterfield pushes the blade into Valentin's skin. CUT WIDE, as Valentin thrashes, his face obscured by Butterfield's body. VALENTIN Wait! On Valentin again. There is a small cut beneath his eye, but that's all. VALENTIN I'll tell you. BUTTERFIELD You'll do more.than that.

EXT. L.A. STREET - SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING - DAY:

A bad neighborhood, to judge by the state of the streets. Harry gets out of his car and crosses to a gate, topped with barbed wire. He peers through the bars. Harry's P.O.V. of the STRANGER from the funeral disappearing into the building. He glances back towards the street. We get a glimpse of a bearded face beneath the brim of his hat. Harry slides out of sight. Waits until the Stranger has gone inside. Then he's up, over the gate, braving the barbed wire.

INT. -SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING - DAY:

It's been a hospital. Now the echoing corridors and wards are deserted, littered with reminders of old suffering. Rotting mattresses; spilled boxes of surgical supplies. Harry explores this tiled labyrinth, looking for some sign of the Stranger. He enters a shadowy room.

Birds fly UP into his face! As he retreats, another SOUND, a little distance from him. GUN in hand, he heads towards it, and steps into

INT. SEMI-DERELICT BUILDING - OPERATING THEATRE - DAY :

Narrow shafts of light through the circular viewing window fall on an operating table, and looming pieces of discarded equipment. Eerie. Disturbing. Harry scans the shadows as he advances into the room. HARRY I knew you wouldn't be able tn stay away. Silence. Harry notices the beard and glasses on the operating table.

HARRY You had to see who wept for you the most. Silence. HARRY A lot of people are going to be really pissed off when they discover you're still alive. SWANN (V.O.) They'll never find out. Harry looks up. Svanrt is hovering in the air above him. The veins in his temples bulge and throb. This trick requires a lot of concentration.

HARRY Look, Ma, no wires. SWANN You shouldn't have followed me, D'Amour. HARRY How the fuck do you do that? SWANN Now I'm going to have to kill you. HARRY I don't think so. You need me alive. SWANN Why? So you can fuck my wife? Swann swoops down towards Harry, who levels his gun.

HARRY Be careful. Funerals make me trigger-happy. Swann stops, inches from the ground. HARRY You know, it's such a fucking waste. You can do shit most of us can only dream about, and you go around pretending it's some trick. SWANN Illusionists get. Las Vegas contracts, D'Amour. Magicians get burned. HARRY Or murdered, like Nix.

SWANN He deserved it. HARRY Maybe he doesn't see it that way. Maybe he's digging his way out of the hole you put him right now. That's what you're hiding away from, isn't it? SWANN I did it for Dorothea. HARRY Oh yeah? SWANN Now that I'm dead, the spotlight's off her. Harry grabs Swann, literally pulling him down to earth. Now they're face to face. Eye to eye. Swann, for all his posturing, is afraid. HARRY So Nix won't come looking for her? SWANN It's me betrayed him. HARRY And she shot him I I think that'd piss me off if I were Nix.

SWANN (despairing) I don't know what else to do. HARRY Help me. On Swann, his face a churning mass of rage and fear. HARRY Listen. If he's back from the dead, then he is some kind of god. And he'll find you, wherever the fuck you are. And if he's just another phony Messiah, then you can stage the greatest come-back in history. ON Swann. This doesn't sound like such a terrible idea.

EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON:

A car comes to a halt outside the house, where six vehicles are already gathered. The SNAKE-HANDLING Cultist gets out. SNAKES seethe out of the open car door.

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - VARIOUS - LATE AFTERNOON:

We MOVE THROUGH the shadowy interior, catching sight of several CULTISTS as we go. They all have looks of barely suppressed ecstasy on their faces. We are moving towards the Sanctum, and it's getting darker.

A MATCH is struck, and an OIL-FLAME sputters into life. We see NORMAN'S gleaming face. On the wall is a PICTURE of Nix, floating over a scene of apocalyptic destruction. Norman brushes away thirteen years' accrual of DIRT. Beneath, Nix's expression is as rabid and terrifying as ever. Norman grins.

CUT TO: EXT. LIQUOR STORE - LATE:

AFTERNOON A small, garishly-lit liquor store. Harry's car pulls into the lot. Swann gets out, his disguise back on. Heads into the store. Harry, agitated and impatient, follows him.

INT. LIQUOR STORE - LATE AFTERNOON :

Swann is at the cashier's desk, with a bottle of cheap brandy. SWANN Is this the best brandy you've got? CASHIER If that's what's on the shelves. Swann produces a thousand dollar bill out of thin air. SWANN Can you change a thousand for me? CASHIER (amazed) You're shittin' me. HARRY Can we go? Swann starts to COUGH.

A QUARTER falls from his mouth. HARRY Oh Jeez. SWANN Will that do? No? Swann coughs again. Puts his hand to his mouth. A DELUGE of QUARTERS runs between his fingers. SWANN That better? The Cashier gapes.