BLOOD WORK screenplay by Brian Helgeland based on the ...

1 BLOOD work screenplay byBrian Helgelandbased on the novel byMichael ConnellyFIRST REVISION March 9, 1998 BLOOD WORK1 EXT. CRIME SCENE (SILVERLAKE) - NIGHT 1A media and spectator circus. Two cocky LAPD detectives,ARRANGO and WALTERS, watch as FBI profiler TERRY McCALEB strides past the police barricades. Wearing a blue FBIjacket, the hoary veteran ignores questions shouted outby the press. The words "Code Killer" (disparaging) Whatever happens, it shis face on the front McCaleb reaches Arrango:McCALEBWhat do you got?ARRANGOF ucking hemorrhoids. What are yougonna do about it?Arrango s itching for trouble. Walters is a cooler five and six. The codekiller strikes INT. TENEMENT - ENTRY HALLWAY - NIGHT 2A dingy, dark place. Police work lights can t quite cutthe gloom.

2 McCaleb stops at the door with Walters andArrango. The door is half off its came over to complainabout the noise. Got run over atthe door. Didn t see a re calling him Chuck s that?Arrango points out a series of bloody sneaker prints onthe floor. Headed for the door and away down the hi-tops. Chuck it?A look and McCaleb continues in past INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 3 Not for the faint of heart. There are several darkenedforms on the floor. Heavy, black plastic bags. Aninvestigative team got the remains of two, maybeeven three new meaning to the term , desensitized laughs from the cops. Waltersmotions McCaleb to a wall. There, written in BLOOD :McCaleb, Catch me if you can. 903 472 winks at his partner, then, to McCaleb:ARRANGOA nother love note. The two of youshould get a room some McCaleb stares EXT.

3 CRIME SCENE (DOWNTOWN) - NIGHT 4 McCaleb exits. The crowd has doubled. A NEWS CREW bursts past the barricade. Police rush to block them,but to no avail. They nearly ring another message left for you,Agent McCaleb!? -- Why do youthink the killer has pickedyou?! -- What do the numbersmean?!McCaleb scans the sea of humanity before him. Notexactly its best face. With a sigh, McCaleb starts tomake his way through, then stops short. Ahead:5 FACE IN CROWD 5 Seen for an instant. Wearing a hooded sweatshirt andlow-billed cap. Staring at McCaleb, an odd look in BACK TO SCENE 6A beat before McCaleb looks downward. THROUGH a thicketof legs, we spot his feet. Covering them are bloodyConverse hi-tops. Chuck Taylor. McCaleb looks over, butthe cops seem suddenly so far away.

4 Hi-Top begins todrift (toward cops) Hey! Over here!Hi-Top turns and goes, suddenly swallowed up by (to no avail)He s over here!No one listens. The Reporters continue to firequestions. Hi-Top is getting away. McCaleb fights hisway through, charges down the street after STREET 7 Running now, his face unclear as high-top looks back overhis shoulder, sees that McCaleb is chasing NARROW ALLEY 8Hi-Top cuts down. McCaleb the end of the alley, an eight feet redwood jumps, catches hold. As he pulls himself up,McCaleb hits the fence right behind fence collapses. The two men sprawl to the gets up, scoots away. McCaleb rolls to his feet;the chase is back BACK YARDS 9 One after the next.

5 Fences are scaled, kicked McCaleb closes. All we hear are the FOOTFALLS, theRAGGED BREATHS of the two a reaches for Hi-Top s shoulder, inches away chain link fence looms ahead. Hi-Top leaps onto it,catches hold. As he pulls himself up, McCaleb is rightbehind. He catches hold of one of Hi-Top s legs.(CONTINUED) CONTINUED: 9Hi-Top grips the top of the fence, rears back with hisfree leg and kicks McCaleb in the face. McCaleb is up and over, dropping to the other side. Analley behind some gets to his feet, one of Hi-Top s bloody sneakersin his hands. He starts to climb the HEARTBEAT INTENSIFIES. McCaleb pauses at the top ofthe fence, slides back down the way he came. He clutchesat his left arm, a look of surprise on his heartbeat eclipses all else. McCaleb is having aheart attack.

6 He grips the fence to keep from CHAIN LINK 10 Suddenly, through the pain, McCaleb is aware of a form inthe gloom. We don t see his face, but, fascinated,Hi-Top has come back to reaches into his jacket, seemingly for his when his hand comes back out, he s holding his .38service revolver. Blinking against near blinding pain,he aims through the runs for the dark as ROUND AFTER ROUND fourth sends him sprawling. The fifth and sixth sailwide as Hi-Top stands and staggers into McCALEB 11 Suddenly illuminated by a spotlight. The revolver slipsfrom his hand as the pain overwhelms him. Bleachedwhite, he falls back into the dirt, his eyes he stares up at a silent, hovering LAPD helicopter, hemouths words we cannot understand. And as the HEARTBEATBECOMES an ELECTRONIC TO:12 MONITOR SCREEN 12A grainy silver and black image of a heart: undulatingand ghostly.

7 The snaking line of a scope moves : TWO YEARS LATERWOMAN ( )Almost INT. CEDARS-SINAI HOSPITAL - EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY 13On a gurney, his oddly-angled head in a brace, McCalebcloses his eyes as the line enters his voice belongs to DR. BONNIE FOX, the cardiologist whoguides the line through an incision in McCaleb s FOXC oming out, Terry. You did the scope, she tapes a gauze compress to hisneck. As she unstraps the brace, McCaleb rubs his looks less than formidable in his hospital FOXBeen taking your pills every day?McCALEBAll thirty-four of FOXNo fever at all?McCALEBNo, I m FOXAnd no diarrhea?McCALEBI m clean of that, FOXGood. BLOOD pressure and pulse?McCALEBR ight on FOXAnd the boat? You re not workingtoo hard on it?McCALEBI m keeping it afloat. That FOXGood. I ll see you in a bit. Iwant to check the BLOOD work andget the tissue over to the Dr.

8 Fox heads INT. CEDARS - HALLWAY - CARDIOLOGY UNIT - DAY 14An orderly wheels McCaleb s gurney down the hall. Asthey pass one room, McCaleb looks young boy is on the bed, his body tied by tubes to aheart lung machine. A man in a suit, his father, sits atthe foot of the bed. As his eyes drift out into the hallat looks TO:15 INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - ON ISSUE OF BOAT RESTORATION15 MAGAZINEMcCaleb reads it in his hospital room. He looks up asDr. Fox comes through the door, holding a lab FOXDon t start running laps yet, butI m very pleased. No rejection,all the levels look good. I mightlower your Prednisone in I m tired of shaving threetimes a Fox smiles, warms a stethoscope with her FOXLean forward leans forward. She pulls down his johnny, listens tohis heart through his I ask you something?DR. FOXDon t talk.

9 (a beat)Sit listens through his chest. For the first time we seeit, the thirteen-inch white scar running over his heartlike a rope. McCaleb half-grimaces at nothing inparticular. Finally, she s FOXGood. What did you want to askme?(CONTINUED) CONTINUED: 15 McCALEBThat boy in room 604. What s hisblood type?Dr. Fox studies him a FOXIt s different than yours ifthat s what you want to long has he been waiting?DR. FOXA bout half as long as you are his chances?DR. FOXM aybe fifty-fifty. Maybe s bothering you, Terry?McCALEB(after a beat)When I was with the bureau we hadto qualify on the range everyyear. You know, shoot around the heart scoresmore than the head. It s calledthe ten ring. Highest Fox smiles sympathetically. Familiar ground to FOXT ypical. You hang around almosttwo years waiting for a heart,draw your string out and nearlydon t make it and now you wonderif we should ve given it to know what that is?

10 McCALEBB ullshit?DR. FOXE xactly. Go home and enjoy yourboat. I ll see you next EXT. CABRILLO MARINA (SAN PEDRO) - DAY 16 McCaleb walks across the main dock. He passes aforty-two-foot Hunter sailboat called the NOONE plays harmonica in the cockpit. He wears abathrobe, his hair standing up on one side. An agingsurfer, low maintenance live , s two in the afternoon, Hey, heads up, (gesturing)Somebody s on your boats down. The Following Sea. A woman stands bythe sliding door leading to the boat s salon. here ten minutes. Lookedharmless, I didn t say (starts forward)Thanks, THE FOLLOWING SEA17 The woman -- GRACIELLA RIVERS -- stares out across thewater. She doesn t see McCaleb till he s stepping I help you?She turns, a little m looking for Terrel found him.(CONTINUED) CONTINUED: 17 GRACIELLAI read about you in the paper, The Where Are TheyNow?