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35. EXT: MORNING — 99/5
At once, BIKER-COPS invade ring of AGENTS. Skirmishes occur between NYPD and FED forces. BIKER-COP veers handlebars into ass of jogging AGENT. Another grinds big wheel over AGENT'S ecclesiastic shoes. GIGGLES burst out from behind POLICE LINES. Now, tightly ringing LIMOUSINE, BIKER-COPS unwittingly render themselves vulnerable to impending blast, and push AGENTS even closer to fatal center. CUT TO: 36. INT: MORNING — 99/5
ON MONITORS — NYPD-FED competition continues. ROOKIES grin, as if pleased to be near lethal LIMOUSINE. BIKER-COPS have closed ranks, front to rear wheel. Firmly "tightened" they are determined to hold on to their advantage. CLAIRE (VO) Go home! Get away! JASON (VO) Go take a ride! GIANNI (VO) Go back where you came from... COMBATANTS' turn to GIANNI, the Dynamitero. He mutely confirms their fear. Someone in the shadows tries to disguise a SOB with a cough. CLAIRE Not them! Not the rookie cops! THOMAS I can see the headlines: "Rookies Sent Flying in Terrorist Blast!" BOB Worse, every front page in the country will jerk tears with pictures of their wives and kids. AMANDA shakes her head. AMANDA We're not gonna cop-out now! Some COMBATANTS look up at AMANDA, offended. JASON You can't expect Black people to give it up for the Man in Blue.
ON A MONITOR — A BLACK BIKER-COP careens by, grinning.
AMANDA Even if he's one of our own. AMILCAR cuts in. A laconic order. AMILCAR Assess impact. ON MONITORS — Contre-dance continues. COMBATANTS (OFF) debate. THOMAS (VO) It amounts to saying, "What's the difference in the price of flesh between an Agent and a Cop?" BOB (VO) The price for us — or for those cheering crowds? BOB stands beside luminous Plexiglas DIAGRAM of Avenue. BOB What are we gonna add to our Communiqué — a butcher's price list? CLAIRE
A political price-list. I say it's OK for the Federal body-guards,
but —
THOMAS
— Nobody would accept the Bikers being killed on the front lines! HERALDO raises his arms in the air and shouts. HERALDO
Mejor Asi! Better like this!
THE PEREGRINE Of a War! A War they declared. They call it the War on Drugs, but don't believe it, Brother — it's a War on You. War! Now we're gonna give it back to them. Listen: Now people will see that Peralta and the PBA are one and the same. That "cop-community relations" are a shot-gun wedding. AMANDA bursts out laughing at THE PEREGRINE'S pun. She claps, gets into it. THOMAS covers his ears. THOMAS But some people will still see them as ignorant, innocent rookies! Don't you see? Amanda! Don't you — don't you have a heart? AMANDA
Yes I have a heart. You gotta have a heart to get the joke. Get it? THOMAS
I'm glad I don't got what you got. That's for sure.
AMILCAR raises his hand, silencing THOMAS. AMILCAR holds up copy of PBA BULLETIN. AMILCAR Before you go any further, I'd better show you this PBA Bulletin. Then I'll voice my own decision. But remember — it's not an order. JOHN They printed the "Warning"? All of it? AMILCAR nods. AMILCAR Our Warning to the Police has been published in its entirety. So they know that if they choose to function politically, they face the consequences. And that includes political activities that aren't called "political." The Drug War, for example. And Thomas — you don't have to be in The Peregrine's line of work to see through that bullshit. Under the banner of the "War on Drugs," the US has made war upon the Third World colonized within the USA, and has invaded sovereign nations outside its borders — such as San Federal. Bianca Peralta is in power in my country because of a policy those police carry out every day on your block. ON MONITORS — Ballet of BIKER-COPS and AGENTS takes on grisly caste of dance macabre. AMILCAR (VO) We can make that connection here and now. And after the "Warning," the police presence here on the Avenue may be judged as the result of individual, conscious choice. ANGLE — COMBATANTS, through BOB'S Plexiglas DIAGRAM. BEADS representing Motorcade move over COMBATANTS' faces and bodies. AMILCAR And judge we must. "Point Hope" is only 38 blocks away. Decision resolves itself on each COMBATANTS' face. Last to decide, THOMAS lowers his head. THOMAS What do you think they're thinking now? ON A MONITOR — A CU of a waving, grinning BIKER-COP. JASON (VO) They don't seem to give a fuck. BOB (VO) I guess they just don't believe us. GIANNI speaks from experience. GIANNI Bodies are needed. They never listen to words unless they are punctuated with bullets. Nulla parola sine un punto... HERALDO Right. No sentence is complete without a — period. That will be our Armed Propaganda Impact. THE PEREGRINE paces back and forth in front of MONITORS. THE PEREGRINE Today, the cops crossed a line — a line of FBI Agents the better to protect a fascist in her limousine. Actually, cops crossed that line long, long time passing. Crossed it not on Fifth Avenue, but on narrow neighborhood streets. Crossed it not to protect a guilty one, now, but to punish the innocent. And once the cops crossed that line, they could not do otherwise than cross the line, today. Because they're the same lines. Main lines. And they lead to the one, same and only heart of Imperialism.
Silence of conclusion. AMILCAR looks toward Plexiglas DIAGRAM. BEADS
continue inexorable descent.
ABRUPT CUT TO: 37. EXT: MORNING — 96/5
IN SLOW MOTION: An inverted cornucopia of colonial spoils! BANANA PEELS, COFFEE GROUNDS, PINEAPPLES and ORANGES, RED BOXITE CLAY and other GARBAGE bombards primary CORTEGE: AGENTS, BIKER-COPS, BIANCA'S LIMOUSINE, SECURITY VEHICLES, and LIMOUSINE of SENATOR BART. WALKIE-TALKIES SQUAWK. BIANCA ducks down into LIMOUSINE, its BUBBLE-TOP now covered with oozing REFUSE. BOXITE CLAY turns ROOFS and HELMETS RED. Grossed out, AGENTS drip with ROTTEN FRUIT. SPECTATORS are largely untouched. Some are appalled, others amused. END SLOW MOTION: ABOVEGROUND AMERICAN "LEFT" stands behind POLICE-LINES, POSTERS and BANNERS held high. Suddenly, DEMONSTRATORS break through POLICE LINES and from both sides of Avenue, converge upon CORTEGE. "Protesting" MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN surround BIANCA'S LIMOUSINE. At first, confused, garbage-laden AGENTS and POLICE put up little resistance. Then, they start fending off "Leftist" incursion. Some DEMONSTRATORS are still armed with ROTTEN FRUIT. Strange combat ensues: POMEGRANATES vs. BILLY CLUBS. CUT TO: 38. INT: MORNING — 94/5
ON MONITORS — Brawl between DEMONSTRATORS and forces of order. ELECTRONIC DEVICES BLEEP and HUM (OFF). UNCLE (VO)
Hm-m-m...You never give up, do you? And would I want it any other way?
UNCLE watches nascent riot. Faces are familiar. Some he has known since
Sixties, or even before. Friends or foes, he and they have aged together.
"PROTESTER" AGENT Sir? Shall we put them behind barriers — or behind bars?
UNCLE allows himself moment of contemplation. AGENTS are used to vagaries of
their chief. They wait, feigning infinite patience.
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