9.      EXT:    [FLASHBACK: JULY 7]
NOON/MID-AFTERNOON/LATE AFTERNOON
PRESIDENTIAL PALACE GROUNDS — SAN FEDERAL

A WHITE-YELLOW FLASH of equatorial SUN.
NOON: Manicured grounds, featuring BAOBOB TREE, extend far into distance, to steps of Romanesque PALACE. Around POOL, corpulent, CLASSICAL NUDES mingle with Giacometti WRAITHS. PARATROOPERS (with SUB MACHINE-GUNS) are regularly posted between STATUES. OLYMPIC-SIZE POOL is mid-way between PALACE and GATE. GATE is part of crenellated, medieval WALL which surrounds entire COMPOUND. Each crenellation hosts silhouette of SOLDIER at attention.
BIANCA reclines inside poolside PERSIAN TENT. UNA, quite flushed, sunbathes nearby, at POOL'S edge. They sport matching MAILLOT SUITS (BLACK and GREEN, respectively). BEAT. Suddenly, BIANCA dives in. After two professional laps, she swims to UNA'S sunbathing spot. BIANCA stands in water up to her neck. Face to face with UNA, her dark auburn hair slicked back, BIANCA is stunningly beautiful.

BIANCA

Follow suit.

UNA doesn't get it. She stands up, looks out over POOL. BIANCA'S SUIT has been abandoned in the water. Will UNA be equally bold? PARATROOPERS, their backs turned, grant minimal privacy.
ANGLE — Backs of UNA'S bare and spread legs frame BIANCA'S face and the Image. BIANCA, still in POOL, looks up at vacillant UNA. Laughs sexy little laugh.

BIANCA

As Marie Antoinette said, "Ce n'est pas un homme, ce n'est q'un valet."
(harder)
It's not a man, it's a servant!

BIANCA'S keen eyes miss nothing as UNA'S SUIT slides down her leg. UNA kicks SUIT over BIANCA'S head, into POOL'S deep-end. BIANCA studies UNA'S naked body, then gracefully lifts herself out of POOL.
Boldly nude as well, BIANCA walks into TENT; reclines. UNA lies down next to TENT.

UNA

Why exactly have you brought me here?

BIANCA reaches out from shade into sun; gently touches UNA'S shoulder.

BIANCA

Still shaken after the folkloric outburst at the Plaza? Or was it the ride in my limotank...
(gestures toward the heat-infused garden)
I hope your memories will evaporate in the noonday sun.

UNA

Before I testify in the USA and you lose your quarter billion dollar loan for San Federal? And those mysterious armaments that the Press has been babbling about? I might be an uncooperative witness. Are you sunbathing — or suborning?

BIANCA, in penumbra of TENT, smiles sfumato smile.

BIANCA

Either can change one's colour.

Gigantic, hideous INSECT crawls unmolested over nearby PARATROOPER'S swarthy cheek. It disappears inside man's HELMET. Then, after several seconds, it reappears, sets out across globe of HELMET. UNA sighs with relief. Then turns to BIANCA.

UNA

After the events of this morning, I feel I know nothing about you.

BIANCA shrugs; answers quickly.

BIANCA

Good. That's all there is to know about another.

HIGH CRANE ANGLE — UNA lies naked in sunlight, next to multi-coloured TENT. BIANCA is concealed inside. FREEZE FRAME. Then, FLASH of WHITE LIGHT seizes Image. HOLD.

HARD CUT TO:

MID-AFTERNOON: First SHADOWS have appeared, but TROPICAL SUN is unrelenting. UNA and BIANCA sit inside TENT, at entrance, framed by its CURTAINS. POV THE WOMEN (from WITHIN TENT) — Framed by luxuriant curtains, shimmering-hot garden could be projection on movie-screen. Or painting by Magritte. Deeper inside TENT, elaborate, antique hash and opium PIPES and other exotica add to ambiance. Illumined by sun, colourful TENT CLOTH glows like stained-glass. UNA is struck by its design, composed entirely of STARS. BIANCA points to a STAR. Her FINGER caresses it.

BIANCA (VO)

In your country, when a finger points to a star —

BIANCA withdraws her FINGER from cloth STAR, as if burnt.

BIANCA

— They look at the finger.

BIANCA touches UNA'S THROAT with her FINGER. Alarmed, UNA fawns.

UNA

Exactly! You understand! Bianca, I was so right to come to see you and —

BIANCA withdraws her FINGER from UNA'S THROAT. Turns strange.

BIANCA
(cuts her off)

I am quoting someone. Someone not myself.

UNA catches something. Woman to woman.

UNA

A man?

BIANCA

Of course.

UNA

Hannibal?

BIANCA laughs out loud.

BIANCA

No-o-o-o... As you know, he and I, we ran an unprecedented race. Man against woman in the same presidential election.

She takes UNA'S shoulders in mockery of feminine complicity.

BIANCA

He beat me! Then, I married him.

UNA

They say he's — unwell. That no one ever sees him anymore. That only you —

BIANCA smiles a lethal smile. HANNIBAL may be no more. BIANCA is alone.

BIANCA

Una. Stay. With me.

CU UNA — Legible temptation.
EXT: CRANE SHOT — TENT on the bank of POOL, surrounded by SCULPTURES and PARATROOPERS. Heat. SILENCE.
INT TENT: CU UNA — She surfaces it. A surprise to BIANCA, and to herself.

UNA

Perhaps I will be staying. In Central America. But — not with you.

Help me, Bianca. Help me go to the Mountains. To the territories held by the Peoples' Liberation Army.

BIANCA takes it in, laughs to herself.

BIANCA

What happened? You saw some blood at the Plaza?

UNA
(lying)

No. You see, I didn't ever think the contraceptives were politically — on the ball. They were a gambit. That's all. I never really believed in them.

BIANCA
(elegantly)

Bullshit.

UNA

Yes. Bullshit. I did believe.

But not anymore. I can't even remember how it felt to believe. I know that I did — only a few hours ago. And no, it wasn't the Plaza that did me in. Or that woman who heckled me. I'd seen her before in a hundred Liberal documentaries. No, it was you. Somehow you gave me the idea of going to the rebel zone. You. What I like so much about you. Whether you like it or not.

BIANCA caresses UNA'S face. Gravely.

BIANCA
("like" meaning both "love," and "as")

You — like — me.
(evenly)
Eros and Power. Two things you Americans will never understand.

In TENT, UNA and BIANCA sit face to face, in semi-silhouette. Beyond them, framed by star-struck TENT CURTAINS: The OUTSIDE. Sundrenched. SILENT. FREEZE FRAME. Then, FLASH of WHITE LIGHT seizes Image. HOLD.

HARD CUT TO:

LATE AFTERNOON: Small in distance, UNA and BIANCA stand side by side, their backs to us, facing POOL, and at its edge. Their shadows have grown long. Dusk.
SUDDEN CLOSE TWO SHOT [from front] — UNA and BIANCA.

BIANCA

There are only two things one can do to make one's way. Seduce — or subdue. One tries the first, of course.

UNA

And if the first doesn't —

BIANCA makes taut dive across POOL, sprints to opposite side and there meets TALL RED-HEADED MAN in anonymous CAMOUFLAGE. UNA watches, perplexed. Across POOL, tête-à-tête between BIANCA and RED-HEADED MAN continues. UNA becomes nervous. Sits down on grass, fiddles with it. Suddenly (OFF): SPLASH! UNA looks up. BIANCA has just dived back into POOL. RED-HEADED MAN has vanished. BIANCA swims across POOL, elegantly hoists herself out, sits down beside UNA. UNA, uneasy, attempts nonchalance.

UNA

Hannibal?

BIANCA
(laughs to herself)

N-n-no-o-o-o...

BIANCA and UNA lay down on their backs, side by side. Each closes her eyes.

BIANCA

Actually he's a compatriot of yours. An Advisor to the US Commission that will recommend the Loan — and whatever else.
(inexplicable laughter)
You two should meet one day...

UNA
(irritated by hilarity)

I don't think it will happen.

SILENCE. Somnolence.

BIANCA

Una — you asleep?

UNA

Deeply awake.

BIANCA

Una — I've decided.

UNA bursts out.

UNA

You'll let me go to the Mountains. To the Liberated —

BIANCA leans over UNA, quickly puts her FINGER on UNA'S lips. Silences her.

BIANCA

Remember always: You chose it. The Mountain for you is Santa Magdalena de la Epiphania.
(withdraws her finger)
Named after a woman.

BIANCA does not laugh. Stands up. UNA follows. At POOL'S EDGE, they face each other. FREEZE FRAME. Then, FLASH of WHITE LIGHT seizes Image. HOLD. CIRCUS THEME [OFF] rises OVER —

HARD CUT TO: