Kingdom, The
Writers: Matthew Michael Carnahan
Genres: Action, Drama, Thriller
THE KINGDOM
Written by
MATTHEW MICHAEL CARNAHAN
8/18/2006
1 OMITTED - SEE 68A 1
2 INT. WASHINGTON, DC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - DAY 2
We're in a kindergarten classroom of 25 SIX YEAR OLDS. All
sitting on the floor, legs crossed. Sitting in front of the
kids is Little KEVIN FLEURY, flanked by his mom LYLA FLEURY
and his dad RONALD FLEURY, in a dark suit.
Little Kevin has a large cardboard square with pictures from
different stages of his life taped to it. He's telling the
class about the photos.
We're TIGHT ON the pictures. TIGHT ON the young faces. TIGHT
ON Fleury.
KEVIN FLEURY
This is my Fredricksburg house and
my grandma Ruth playing with my
skateboard ramp. It's a Tony Hawk
jump ramp.
A little girl, MICK raises her hand.
KEVIN FLEURY (CONT'D)
Mick?
Silence from Mick
MICK
I forgot what I was going to say.
Kevin points to another picture.
KEVIN FLEURY
This is me at my second birthday
party with my mom and my dad.
That's my cake.
Fleury looks down sweet at his son.
KEVIN FLEURY (CONT'D)
This is me with my mom at the zoo
and this is my dad and me and my
grandpa Willie.
Kevin points to another photo.
KEVIN FLEURY (CONT'D)
And this is me and my dad and my
grandpa Willie at my dad's office.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 2.
The kids all lean forward and squirm as they try and get
closer to the pictures. MISS ROSS, the pretty twenty five
year old teacher watches from the side.
MICK
Where's your gun?
LITTLE BOY
Yeah, where is your gun?
Pretty much all the kids get in on this now. Everyone wants
to see Fleury's gun. Fleury makes eyes at Miss Ross. She's
giving him a `no fucking way' hard eye.
FLEURY
I'm assuming that there are no bad
guys in this room. Isn't that
right? I mean, are you guys good
guys or bad guys?
THE WHOLE CLASS
GOOD GUYS!
FLEURY
Right. So why would I have brought
my gun to a room full of good guys?
This silences the class. Miss Ross keeps things moving,
pointing to a photo.
MISS ROSS
What's that picture?
KEVIN FLEURY
This is me and my dad playing
Battleship at my dad's apartment.
Mick's hand goes back up.
KEVIN FLEURY (CONT'D)
Mick?
MICK
What is a battleship?
KEVIN FLEURY
(abruptly)
My parents are divorced.
A beat. Lyla and Ron look down at Kevin, stalled...
KINGDOM 8/18/06 3.
KEVIN FLEURY (CONT'D)
But that's OK `cause the most
important thing is to know that
everybody loves each other.
This hits a bit hard on Lyla and Ron. Miss Ross jumps in.
MISS ROSS
So, who's that in that picture up
on top?
KEVIN FLEURY
That's my fish, his name is Jaws
and he's a really mean fish.
CONTINUED:
3 OMITTED - SEE 68A 3
4 INT. WASHINGTON DC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL- CONTINUOUS 4
Kevin is still going strong.
KEVIN FLEURY
My mommy is a Think Tank worker and
she is really, really smart. She
went to two colleges and has three
computers.
CONTINUED:
5 OMITTED - SEE 78A, 87 5
6 INT. WASHINGTON DC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL - DAY 6
Kevin's pointing to a picture of Ronald holding him as a tiny
newborn.
KEVIN FLEURY
This is the day that my daddy says
is the happiest day of his life.
MISS ROSS
Really. His happiest day! Can you
tell us about that day, Mr. Fleury?
Fleury smiles, looks out at the class.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 4.
RONALD FLEURY
I sure can. That was December 4th
and that was the day that we spent
the whole day in the hospital
waiting for this guy right here to
come out of Kevin's mom's tummy.
And we waited and waited but he
wouldn't come and we kept waiting
and finally the doctor said
`OK...he's not gonna come out on
his own so we got to go get him.'
And well,
Fleury stops, checks in with Miss Ross.
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
Can I tell this story?
MISS ROSS
Go for it.
RONALD Fleury
So they take her and put her on a
special bed and they give her some
medicine so she doesn't feel any
pain then they take out this tiny
little knife and make a tiny little
cut right here in her tummy.
The kids are mesmerized...
MISS ROSS
Then what happened?
RONALD Fleury
Then the doctor put her hands way
up into Kevin's mom's tummy. WAY
IN! And then you know what they
did?
A little girl, LU LU: WIDE EYED
LU LU
What did they do?
RONALD FLEURY
They started to pull and pull and
pull... they had something in there
and it started coming and they were
pulling and the doctor all of the
sudden said "STOP!"
The class is frozen. Fleury has them.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 5.
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
They stopped pulling and the doctor
looked up at me and said `Hey, Mr.
Fleury - you ready to have your
world rocked?' And I just stared at
her and she pulled this little head
up out of that belly. And it was
him. His head. And I looked down at
him and screamed "Kevin!!" And he
looked down at me and screamed
"Daddy!!"
The kids are howling!
CUT TO:
7 EXT. AN UNKNOWN ROOFTOP - LATE DAY 7
A Muslim family sits together at a table under a tented-
canopy: 32 year-old MAN nervously chewing on a toothpick, and
his 8 and 15 year-old SONS. The 8yo leans his weight into an
old MAN hunched and obscured by his grandson - this is his
Grandfather. He gently rubs the Boy's head with an ancient
left hand. The Boy finger-paints in Arabic script, right to
left, getting paint on the table. Read the translation: There
is no God but Allah.
The Grandfather's face is down, obscured by his shumagh: the
head-wrap worn by some Muslim men. Never a clear view of his
face. His 32 year old Son and eldest Grandson sit next to
them, the Son talking quietly on a cell phone, chewing that
toothpick, eyes set on something in the distance: A Security
Gate three hundred yards away, the entrance to some sort of
compound. The Compound looks like a walled-off subdivision,
most of which we can see from this high up.
The landscape is foreign. Scrub desert. Ten miles beyond, on
the horizon: the shimmer of a modern skyline. Surreal
monolithic shapes made more so by the heat.
Muted yells-claps-screams waft in from that Compound now...
Catches the youngest Grandson's attention. Eyes lift up from
his painting: the yells-claps-screams are coming from a
softball game mostly visible behind the Compound's reinforced
walls that extend a mile in each direction. Played on the
only stretch of green grass visible from this vantage.
8 OMITTED 8
KINGDOM 8/18/06 6.
9 EXT. COMPOUND MAIN ENTRANCE - LATE DAY 9
Sounds from the softball game much louder now, just over the
walls. Security perimeters two checkpoints deep before you
get to the main gate. A maze of concrete Jersey-barriers to
slow all entering vehicles: give machine-gun emplacements
flanking the entrance plenty of time to shred those vehicles
if need be. Middle-Eastern Police platoons. 500 lbs. lift-
gates to dissuade any vehicle that just tries to ram through.
SERGEANT HAYTHAM: a lean, 27 year-old Middle-Eastern
Policeman in-command of the Entrance. Sweats through his
uniform. A late-model Range Rover with blacked-out windows
queues up. All the windows roll down: just a single, portly
White WOMAN behind the wheel, her INFANT CHILD in a car-seat
in front. Two other Uniformed Officers mirror-scan the bottom
of the Rover.
A brief exchange, as Haytham checks his ID:
DRIVER
How are you today, Sergeant?
HAYTHAM
Sun is shining. Wind is blowing.
How bad can I be doing?
DRIVER
I like that, "Sun is shining..."
A tight smile from Haytham.
The other Officers are checking the inside of the Rover now.
They nod to Haytham, Haytham hands the ID back to her.
Windows rolls up. Lift-gate goes up. Range Rover pulls away,
navigating the zig-zag jersey barriers.
10 INT. COMPOUND - NEXT MOMENT 10
Stay with the Range Rover as it moves deeper into the
complex. Think middle-class Phoenix suburb circa 1960: stucco
homes sandwiched between dormitory style apartment blocks,
concrete and rock where grass should be.
The Range Rover passes a tank with a caged SOLDIER on top
sitting behind a fifty caliber GUN. A Police Land Cruiser
parked in the middle of the road is the last of the security.
Official markings, emergency lights in the grill.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 7.
11 EXT. UNKNOWN ROOFTOP - SAME MOMENT 11
The Son studies the compound through binoculars, while the
youngest Grandson squints to study the softball game:
Interest cut with jealousy. More muted cheers float. Behind
and above him, his Grandfather's voice, rough as sand, to his
32 year-old Son, in Arabic:
GRANDFATHER (O.C.)
Hang up the phone. If they're not
ready now, no words will change it.
12 EXT. COMPOUND SOFTBALL DIAMOND - NEXT MOMENT 12
Another Middle-Eastern POLICEMAN takes in the motley
competition: half-smiling, half-smirking at a plump-pink
White Man cheering on his plump-pink 9 year-old Son sliding
into third.
WHITE MAN
GET DIRTY!
Safe. Clapping and Hoots. The PITCHER: an older White Man in
his middle forties visibly frustrated. A 25 year-old African-
American Batter steps to the plate now. Pitcher turns to his
Fielders:
PITCHER
STEP IT UP NOW!
(back the Batter)
Ready for my knuckle-curve?
The Batter just stays focused as the Pitcher tosses a high-
lob. Batter smacks the ball a mile high, deep to left. The
teammates of the plump-pink Boy on third:
TEAMMATES
TAG UP! WAIT `TIL SHE CATCHES IT-
PITCHER
(spins, points up at the
ball)
-COMIN' HOME!
A 14 year-old Indian girl sprints underneath the fly-ball:
sets up, catches it, juggles it, drops it.
We pick up different families on the grass nearby: A young
WOMAN helps her five year old DAUGHTER untangle a yo-yo. A
black COUPLE doing a crossword puzzle together, the wife's
head on her husband's lap.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 8.
13 EXT. UNKNOWN ROOF TOP - SAME MOMENT 13
The muted reaction to the dropped ball. The whole Family,
save the youngest Grandson, intently focused on two Officers
walking up to that Police Land Cruiser parked in the middle
of the road, well inside the compound: no blinks now.
The youngest still enthralled by the softball game, the
cheers, the running, the shorts and t-shirts. We see his
Grandfather's left hand stop rubbing the Boy's head, and move
to the Boy's temple, placed like a blinder so he can't see
what's about to happen. In Arabic:
GRANDFATHER
Don't stop watching the game.
14 EXT. INSIDE THE COMPOUND WALLS - NEXT MOMENT 14
Noises from the softball game close again. Track these two
Officers on foot walking toward the Police Land Cruiser ala
shift change: nonchalant but quick.
15 INT. POLICE LAND CRUISER - SAME MOMENT 15
The Driver eyeing the two approaching Officers: something off
about them. Uniforms wrinkled, one with a full beard. Driver
turns to his Partner, in Arabic:
DRIVER
You have a copy of the duty rost-
-POP-POP-POP before the Driver finishes. The Officers on foot
rapid-firing 9MM pistols. The Driver and Passenger hit
multiple times instantly, crumble lifeless in their seats
before anyone has time to process the sounds, link them to an
attack. The two firing `Officers' move low-fast like
professionals: rip the fresh bodies from the Cruiser, jump
in. The new Passenger rips an AR-15 rifle off the center
console. The new Driver lays rubber into the Compound.
16 EXT. UNKNOWN ROOF TOP - SAME MOMENT 16
The youngest Grandson wide-eyed, startled, watches as every
member of the Security Details in and around the Compound go
prairie dog: search with necks extended, eyes wide -- what
the fuck was that? The Boy tries to turn his head away from
the game to look for himself: Grandfather just pushes his
head back to the game, voice harder now, in Arabic:
KINGDOM 8/18/06 9.
GRANDFATHER (O.C.)
I said keep watching the game.
17 EXT. COMPOUND MAIN ENTRANCE - SAME MOMENT 17
Haytham instantly sprints toward another nearby Police Land
Cruiser as most everyone else ducks. In Arabic:
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
LOCK DOWN!
Then points at the Officer in the Driver's seat:
SERGEANT HAYTHAM (CONT'D)
MOVE!
18 EXT. COMPOUND SOFTBALL DIAMOND - SAME MOMENT 18
Game forgotten. Parents up, screaming for loved ones, moving
fast toward the parking lot. The Middle-Eastern Officer that
has been watching the game hustles onto the field, next to
the Pitcher, waves people toward him. Gathering but sporadic
gun-fire in very near distance.
WATCHING OFFICER
(accented English)
COME TO ME! FOLLOW ME!
People immediately flocking around the authority figure.
CUT TO:
The 14 year-old Indian Girl running in, more puzzled than
scared: why is that Cop wearing a jacket in this heat?
BACK TO:
The Officer rips a yellow gun-shape from his jacket pocket.
The Pitcher sees it, instinctively tries to rip it away from
him. Gets a handful of collar, pulls as violently as he can,
shreds the front of the Officer's coat: a white linen vest
with a bulge in-front underneath the jacket...
19 EXT. UNKNOWN ROOF TOP - SAME MOMENT 19
The youngest grandson's wide-eyed face. Then we see the
Grandfather's right-hand slide down the other side of his
youngest Grandson's face, coming to rest on his other temple:
making sure he's still watching the Softball diamond now. The
Grandfather's right hand: missing an index and middle finger.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 10.
20 EXT. COMPOUND SOFTBALL DIAMOND - SAME MOMENT 20
Panic. The Officer swings the yellow gun-shape, what we now
realize is an electric drill crudely modified into something
else, bashes the Pitcher's face with it. Those that had
gathered have turned, are sprint-stumbling away...
The Officer closes his eyes, depresses the drill trigger,
vanishes before we comprehend the massive release of blue-
black chaos, expanding in an ever-wider sphere. Immediate
surroundings dissolve: players, parents, stands, cars, the
light standards surrounding the field and parking lot.
21 EXT. CINDER-BLOCK CONCESSION STAND - SAME MOMENT 21
Located behind straight-a-way center field, at the nexus of
four fields. We see it from profile as shock-wave and
shrapnel blast the structure: another Officer hiding behind
it staggers out now, sprawls ugly: balance fucked from a
blown inner-ear. He also wears a jacket, and holds a modified
yellow plastic power drill. Moves uneasy toward screams in
the nearby parking lot.
22 EXT. SOFTBALL DIAMOND PARKING LOT - NEXT MOMENT 22
The off-balance Officer stops over a 30 year-old African-
American woman pinned under a Toyota. She hyperventilates,
her bare leg and open-toed sandal kick at air. The Officer's
breathing calms: the sight of exposed skin as divine
reassurance. CLOSE-UP: the vented rear of the drill as the
14.4 volt motor sparks blue. A second blue-black explosion
that shreds the parking lot as cars smash into one another
desperate to escape.
23 EXT. ADJACENT STREET - NEXT MOMENT 23
Panicked women walking dogs. Frozen. A Police Land Cruiser
with bullet-scarred windows roars around the corner. Stops
near the women. They smile: cavalry to the rescue. Then a man
with leans out the window with an AR-15: point-blank
staccato. Tracers exit bodies, drill asphalt. The Land
Cruiser rolls, spraying passing homes indiscriminate...
24 INT. JACKED LAND CRUISER - NEXT MOMENT 24
Tearing through the streets, Passenger firing at all signs of
life. Sits back for a lightning-quick re-load. Leans back out
-- before he can begin firing again-
KINGDOM 8/18/06 11.
25 EXT. COMPOUND STREET - SAME MOMENT 25
-another Police Land Cruiser from nowhere hammers their
Driver's side. Vicious. The Passenger is launched out his
window, head-first into the curb. Both vehicles smoke-
screech. Momentary pause after the a massive collision.
Then Sergeant Haytham, 9MM in-hand, falls from the Second
Land Cruiser. Stalks bloody to the Passenger side of the
jacked Land Cruiser still slowly rolling backwards, leaking
all it's vital fluids, it's snapped drive-shaft leaving a
groove in the pavement. And Sergeant Haytham empties his clip
into the interior while walking along side.
The Officer Haytham told to 'move,' rips himself from the
Passenger's side of their vehicle, bleeding profusely,
screaming something unintelligible into his handheld radio.
26 EXT. UNKNOWN ROOF TOP - SAME MOMENT 26
Just the youngest Grandson's horrified eyes: he had no choice
but to see it all, carnage painted permanently. His face
still held tight between his Grandfather's hands. In Arabic:
GRANDFATHER (O.C.)
Our Time is not a peaceful one. God
has left it to us to make it so.
Hold on those deep, young, brown eyes.
Those young brown eyes finally blink.
CUT TO:
27 INT. WASHINGTON DC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL- LATER 27
Everyone eats snacks that the Fleurys brought. Kevin's the
center of attention. Fleury's passing out juice boxes.
Fleury's cell phone vibrates. TIGHT ON THE ID: 911. Fleury's
mid-juice-pass, answering his phone at the same time.
Kevin looks to his Dad, already grimacing. Fleury walks away
from the kids.
RONALD FLEURY
(surprised)
Fran?
KINGDOM 8/18/06 12.
We hear Fran's voice as though we're on the line with him:
raspy-ragged, like he's been crying.
FRAN (O.S.)
You getting this yet?
RONALD FLEURY
Hey, I'm at Kevin's school. What's
goin' on?
FRAN (O.S.)
I'm sorry, Brother.
(beat)
Riyadh. Many Dead.
Fleury's demeanor shifts to HARD immediately.
RONALD FLEURY
Where exactly?
FRAN (O.S.)
The Al-Rahmah Western Housing
Compound. Oil Company employees.
Hit a company picnic.
RONALD FLEURY
How?
FRAN (O.S.)
Big. Broad daylight. Blew up a
softball game.
(tears)
Kids, Brother.
Fleury looks at the kids eating and laughing.
KEVIN FLEURY
Dad?
Fleury smiles best he can at his Son. Into the phone:
RONALD FLEURY
When?
FRAN (O.S.)
Just went off -- twenty minutes
ago. Two bombers. A Shooter crew as
diversion...it's just awful.
RONALD FLEURY
Fran, I'm rollin' right now. Let me
call you back: I gotta ring bells
KINGDOM 8/18/06 13.
FRAN MANNER (O.S.)
Go. I'll be here.
Fleury hangs up, walks to Kevin, kneels down - oblivious to
everyone watching.
RONALD FLEURY
Son, I gotta go to work.
KEVIN FLEURY
We're gonna do ceramics...
RONALD FLEURY
I gotta go to work...
KEVIN FLEURY
(points to the phone)
Who was that?
RONALD FLEURY
Big Fran -- you remember him?
KEVIN FLEURY
(beat, thinking)
Uncle Fran? Put peanuts in his Coke
so he could drink and eat all at
the same time?
RONALD FLEURY
(smile)
Where he's from in South Carolina
that's called fine-dining, Bud.
KEVIN FLEURY
What happened?
RONALD FLEURY
(beat)
Something bad.
KEVIN
(impression of his Dad)
`Lotta bad people out there...'
RONALD FLEURY
(smiles, already homesick)
I love you.
Kisses his boy's forehead hard.
KEVIN FLEURY
You gonna go see him?
KINGDOM 8/18/06 14.
RONALD FLEURY
I'm gonna try...
Looks at Lyla who's been through this drill too many times,
knows this face. Ronald can only give a little shrug, which
Lyla gives right back.
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
(to Lyla)
Can you get a ride?
She nods yes. Miss Ross nearby, surprised by this:
MISS ROSS
Where's your husband going?
LYLA FLEURY
Ex-husband, and God knows.
Then a wave of fear ripples across her face. She hesitates,
then calls after him:
LYLA FLEURY (CONT'D)
BE SAFE.
Ronald turns, gives a little Cheshire grin, puts the phone
back up to his ear.
28 EXT. AL-RAHMAH HOUSING COMPOUND BLAST SITES - EVENING 28
The shattered softball diamond and parking lot. Emergency
lights swirl from everywhere. Acrid smoke.
FRANCIS MANNER (FBI LEGAT, US Embassy) is giant. The kind of
American that only grows in tiny southern hamlets. Military
whitewalls, short-sleeves, khaki Dockers, a thick Casio G-
shock, FBI credentials visible on a chain.
Hangs up his phone. Lifts his eyes: Hell from one side of the
frame to the other. Saudi teams setting up portable lights
that bathe the horror in industrial incandescent. Columns of
black smoke. Fleets of emergency vehicles. 100 uniformed men.
Another 200 in bio-suits combing the ball field, the parking
lot. Fran has to do something/anything.
Move through the horror with him now. His hands shake, his
face already dirty with soot. Jumps in with a Saudi team
pulling a half-burned WOMAN out of a smoldering Range Rover.
She fights them, gouging Fran's face, trying to get back in.
She is the woman we met at the gate of the compound. She
wants her baby.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 15.
Fran bloodied, just kind of steps away from the woman. Leaves
the Saudi emergency team to fight with her. Backs away until
he feels grass under his feet. The woman's screams
reverberate. Fran just sits in the grass. Staring at the
woman, her shattered soul. Forces himself to look away. Eyes
come to rest on a child's baseball cap: ragged holes ringed
with black stains: where blood dried on the blue felt.
VOICE (O.C.)
(immediately behind)
Fran. You gotta stand Big Man...
Fran turns to find REX BURR: 5'7" fireplug. A long silence.
Fran points to the hat:
FRANCIS MANNER
Rex, how old were you when your hat
was that small?
We watch tears well in Rex's eyes...
REX BURR
You gotta stand, Big Man.
Fran does. Wipes his hands on his pants. Slack-jaw hopeless.
The first moments in what will be weeks of reverse-
engineering the murders of unknown dozens. He and Rex step to
a group of WALKING-WOUNDED. A NEIGHBOR doles out mugs of
coffee. Most everyone from the compound is out, pondering the
proximity. SAUDI emergency teams sprint past. Fran spits,
settles in:
FRANCIS MANNER
We need to get everyone back, then
get all their-
SOMETHING HUGE EXPLODES over their shoulders, 50 yards away.
The Attack's coup de grace: wait for people to lift up their
heads, hit them again. Five times the size of the suicide
bombs. Shreds emergency vehicles, nearby homes and apartment
buildings. Kills Saudi rescuers by the bushel. Fran is
crushed by a flying portable light standard. Rex is blown
into the man handing out coffee. The walking wounded get
decimated.
29 EXT. AL-RAHMAH HOUSING COMPLEX - NEXT MOMENT 29
Slowly lift up and hold on Al-Rahmah as it burns. Black smoke
and flame pour skyward from the site of the coup de grace
explosion. Massive crater. Screams. Chaos postcard.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 16.
29A EXT. WASHINGTON, DC HOUSE - DAY 29A
Establishing shot.
29B INT. FRAN MANNER'S WASHINGTON, DC HOUSE - DAY 29B
Fleury sits with GLENDA MANNER... a toy remote-control robot
comes into the room. Little Teddy Manner (5) peeks his head
around the corner of a door.
GLENDA
It was... I don't know what time it
was... the dishwasher's broken...I
was waiting for the dishwasher...
The doorbell rang - I thought it
was... it wasn't the dishwasher
guy...It wasn't. It wasn't.
Glenda breaks down, starts to completely lose it. Her little
boy Teddy climbs up onto his mother.
29C INT. FRAN MANNER'S HOUSE - TEDDY'S ROOM - LATER 29C
Fleury sits on the bed with little Teddy looking at a
beautiful black and white photo of Fran holding a new born
Teddy up over his head. Eye to eye.
Little Teddy shows Fleury his toy helicopter. His dad's
soldier boots.
Fleury can't take it.
29D INT. FRAN MANNER'S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - LATER 29D
Fleury stands with Glenda.
FLEURY
Glenda, I want you to look at me.
A PAUSE: Fleury freezes up on a shock of raw emotion,
struggling to contain himself.
FLEURY (CONT'D)
Please... I'm going to take care of
this. Whoever did this... I give
you my word. Whoever did this will
pay. I can't change this, but I can
promise you that I will make
someone pay for this.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 17.
30 INT. HOOVER BUILDING, FBI HEADQUARTERS - DAY, EST 30
Startling quiet in contrast. AGENTS cluster beneath 32-inch
Televisions suspended from the ceiling. Tuned to Al-Jazeera,
CNN, BBC, etc. Most eyes focus on the double-bloody scoops
from CNN. Volume low:
CNN REPORTER
...1 hour ago: blasts in Saudi
Arabia, in or around the `Al-
Rahmah' western housing complex
near Riyadh. More than 100 feared
dead, including children. The Saudi
Foreign Minister has released a
statement calling this a `heinous
act possibly committed by
foreigners...'
BBC REPORTER
...homes to thousands of Westerners
and other non-Saudis who work in
the Kingdom, there have been
several attacks on these compounds
in the last five years. As such,
they have become very tight in
terms of security, with both the
Saudi National Guard and police
taking command.
Fleury walks under the televisions. A folder in-hand, heading
down a long hallway, subordinating his fury to tasks-at-hand.
31 INT. COMMAND & TACTICAL OPERATIONS CENTER (CTOC) - NEXT 31
MOMENT
Fleury enters, steps to a podium, opens his folder. 50 Agents
seated lecture hall-style. Steam from fifth, sixth cups of
coffee. Plasma screens behind show still-images of the crime
cribbed from Al-Jazeera.
Throughout the scene, Fleury constantly refers to a roster of
his ERTs.
RONALD FLEURY
Numbers so far: 100+ dead, 200+
injured. The target was a softball
game. Rumor is the Killers wore
Saudi police uniforms.
(beat)
Special Agent Fran Manner was
killed.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 18.
JANET MAYES, 29 years-old, stifles a sob in the front row.
Fleury steps from behind the podium, puts a hand gently on
Janet's shoulder, leans in and whispers something no one but
Janet hears. Whatever his words, they give back her
composure. She nods.
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
So was Rex Burr from State.
Fleury lets the news absorb as he steps back to the podium.
No one says a thing. Fleury lifts his eyes again, real
trouble maintaining control...
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
Fran was the best among us...we'll
feel this loss the rest of our
days...
(beat, moment to regroup)
Grant, take stabs at bomb sizes.
GRANT SYKES. 50 years-old. Virginia State Trooper before
joining the FBI. Law-and-order formidable: sharp-smart
Charlottesville accent. Studies the images for a beat...
GRANT SYKES
From the craters, looks like they
used a High Explosive... possibly
military grade: can't fit that much
TNT into a vest. 20, 30 pounds of
PETN: they got it. Semtex or C-4:
they could get it. The third there,
God knows...that crater looks like
a plane dropped a 500-pounder...
RONALD FLEURY
Obviously a secondary blast after
the initial devices used to lure
first responders to the scene.
Don't know anything about where or
what it was yet.
GRANT SYKES
This is how they do it.
ADAM LEAVITT. 34 years-old, sought-after Investigator.
There's a constant, intense grind to this guy, a mind and
mouth incapable of quiet. He paces around the room, then
eagle-eyes the bomb images... starts surge-scrawling crude
diagrams of the blast site on a piece of loose leaf. Feels
more like nervous doodling than work. Not looking up from his
drawing:
KINGDOM 8/18/06 19.
ADAM LEAVITT
I already know the answer, but any
chance in Hell we get to go over
there, use our hands?
RONALD FLEURY
If you already know the answer
Adam, why ask the question?
Fleury circles Leavitt's name on the roster. Leavitt never
stops drawing.
SYKES
We're not seeing this kind of
planning and execution anywhere
else...these ain't hot-wired
artillery shells waiting for
Humvees to roll by.
(pointing at the screens)
These hits are coordinated:
planning, timing, and big, broad-
daylight balls-
JANET MAYES
(almost trance-studying
the images)
Yeah, So... did they all happen
during daylight?
Another great question. Fleury looks over to AGENT #1 on his
immediate right, an egg-head type with a big binder in front
of him. Everyone's eyes follow. Agent #1 flips quickly
through the binder, back-and-forth, searching. Fleury crosses
his name off of his roster. Then:
AGENT #1
Yes. At least the first parts of
the attacks.
Everyone smells it: that's big -- more proof these attacks
are being carried out by one, very skilled Terror Cell.
JANET MAYES
We had two others...North of Riyadh
and the oil thing. What was that?
ADAM LEAVITT
The Refinery... Ras Tenura
Refinery.
JANET MAYES
Yeah, south of Jeddah. Same thing:
daylight, suicide bombers. Right?
(MORE)
KINGDOM 8/18/06 20.
JANET MAYES (CONT'D)
Same thing. Followed by machine gun
crews. Collect and kill.
ADAM LEAVITT
Yup.
RONALD FLEURY
This is not new in concept. It is
new in scope. It's bigger. Very
sophisticated. Command and control
was flawless. They found the
largest kill zone they could and
they did it... they did it by being
patient.
ADAM LEAVITT
Any rumors or confirmations of
uniforms being used in the other
two attacks?
Fleury circles Mayes' name on the ERT roster.
AGENT #1
(from memory)
No. I know this is the first for
that.
GRANT SYKES
That's `worst case scenario' if
you're still asking for my stab,
Sir. A crew who can build bombs
this big, with this level of eyes-
on control and detonation
coordination... has access to Saudi
uniforms now...I mean...Baby Jesus.
LEAVITT
Anyone take credit?
Fleury checks from his notes.
FLEURY
Abu Hamza. Saudi Al-Qaeda. Bin-
Laden-wanna-be. We know he was in
Afghanistan, then moved to Iraq.
Now he seems to have come home.
He's clearly becoming increasingly
active...
ADAM LEAVITT
If it is Hamza, he's definitely
turning up the volume over there.
(MORE)
KINGDOM 8/18/06 21.
ADAM LEAVITT (CONT'D)
Not to beat a dead horse, Sir, but
if there was ever a time to get
boots on Saudi sand...
Sykes studies Leavitt with what is best described as
substantial skepticism. Fleury circles Sykes' name on his
roster.
JANET MAYES
They can't afford to appear as if
they are losing any kind of
control. They lose control over
their country, their people...then
they risk losing control over the
oil. They won't let us in. No way.
Fleury's P.O.V.: His open folder on the podium. A memo
printed on Department of State letterhead. Pulls the memo,
reads it aloud, calm laced with rage.
RONALD FLEURY
From the State Department, one hour
ago: `We are in agreement with the
Saudi security assessment that any
additional American presence on
Kingdom soil represents reckless
risk. Therefore it is the Secretary
of State's position that only after
the situation has been evaluated
and contained, should the Federal
Bureau of Investigation activate
Rapid Deployment.'
(folding the memo)
The National Security Advisor and
the Attorney General agreed.
(beat)
I'm going to get us access. Keep
your go bags hot. It's gonna come
fast.
Leavitt stares at Fleury as he moves fast out of the room.
ADAM LEAVITT
(beat)
Well... I guess he's gonna go get
us some access.
(beat)
How's he gonna do that?
Sykes just hard-eyes Leavitt.
31A SEE 29A - 29D (MOVED, NOT OMITTED) 31A
KINGDOM 8/18/06 22.
32 INT. SAUDI NATIONAL GUARD PRISON - UNKNOWN TIME 32
COLONEL AL-GHAZI, Saudi Police, 45 years-old, mustache as
thick as Sykes'. A firecracker-loud crack makes him flinch.
He stands in the back of the room, not participating in the
interrogation. Just observing. Clearly not happy about what
he's observing.
His POV: The Officer from the second Land Cruiser that rammed
the fake and killed those inside, Sergeant Haytham. slab-
cuffed and being worked over hard buy a couple of thick-
fisted SAUDIS.. Silent tears roll off his cheek, left ear
split ghastly. A MAN standing far right of him beats him: the
firecracker sound again.
Al-Ghazi looks away, biting his tongue. Obviously wants this
over.
In-charge of the interrogation: GENERAL ABDUL MALIK. He
doesn't appear sadistic, but very determined to get the truth
from Sergeant Haytham by any means necessary. Those
distinctions blur easily. Malik gives a `hold-up' signal. The
following exchange in Arabic:
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
No falsehoods, Sergeant Haytham.
What was your involvement?
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
Killing those I saw responsible.
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
So none could be questioned?
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
(puzzled, angry)
I don't understand.
A nod from General Malik: another vicious crack.
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
You were born and raised in Suweidi-
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
-that is not a crime-
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
-it should be.
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
It's not.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 23.
GENERAL ABDUL MALIK
Do you know Abu Hamza?
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
I do not.
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
Your brother was killed fighting
the Americans. True or false?
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
I am not my brother.
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
Your brother--
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
I am NOT my brother!
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
TRUE or-
Al-Ghazi interrupts.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
He has answered the question.
Malik shoots Al-Ghazi a unequivocal SHUT THE FUCK UP hard
eye. Then back on Haytham.
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
We found six more uniforms than you
were assigned in your possession --
that is a crime: especially when
you consider the Attackers wore our
Uniform...
Another nod, another crack. Al-Ghazi, flinching, becomes more
alert.
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
Uniforms?
General Malik in Haytham's face:
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
Truth!
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
I sweat. I'll say it again because
it is true. I need more uniforms
because I must change during
shifts...look at my shirts.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 24.
GENERAL ABDUL-MALIK
I am not interested in your sweat.
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
-then look at my jackets. Please.
Permanent stains...no matter how
many times they're cleaned...
Colonel Al-Ghazi grimacing now, leaves the room.
33 INT. SAUDI NATIONAL GUARD - STORAGE - NEXT MOMENT 33
We follow. Al-Ghazi hustling into an evidence storage room.
Searching. Finds a Locker labelled `Haytham.' Opens it. Pulls
out several shirts still in the plastic dry-cleaning sheaths:
yellowed, permanent stains on the armpits of each.
34 INT. SAUDI NATIONAL GUARD PRISON - INTERROGATION ROOM 34
Al-Ghazi walks back into the room with the shirts, lays them
down on the table in front of the General -- all business.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
He's telling the truth.
The only sound for a long, unsettled moment: Sergeant
Haytham's labored breathing. Malik looks at the shirts, then
Al-Ghazi, hesitates, steps away.
GENERAL ADBUL-MALIK
You were injured when you used your
vehicle to protect your country. Do
you understand?
Al-Ghazi moves in, begins uncuffing Haytham's bloody-raw
wrists, hard-eyeing Malik the whole time. These men clearly
don't like each other.
35 EXT. SAUDI NATIONAL GUARD PRISON - LATER 35
Al-Ghazi and Haytham sit alone. Al-Ghazi smokes. Haytham
looks down at his feet.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
Look at me, Haytham.
Haytham slowly looks up at Al-Ghazi.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 25.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI (CONT'D)
You saved lives today. I believe
that. You served your country. I
believe that.
HAYTHAM
I love my country.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
I believe that, Haytham...
Haytham Holds Al-Ghazi's eyes a good long beat...
HAYTHAM
I love my country...
Al-Ghazi slow nods.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(beat, breaks eye-contact)
You will have your revenge for what
needed to be done to assure them
you weren't involved.
Haytham never blinks. Eyes hard. Stoic. Clear.
36 EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. STREETS - NOON 36
GRACE looks like a barrel-chested lineman. A four-man
security detail behind. He and Ronald Fleury walk side-by-
side. Janet Mayes just behind them.
DIRECTOR GRACE
Everyone's terrified, so nothing
moves. Paralysis. You and your team
aren't going anywhere.
(beat)
And this meeting is just a circle-
jerk, Ronnie: Attorney General
Young's going to go through the
motions because protocol says we
get an appeal. We'll be on record,
but expect nothing more.
Nothing from Fleury.
DIRECTOR GRACE (CONT'D)
Can you handle this? Keep your
mouth shut when people way above
you say things you'll hate?
KINGDOM 8/18/06 26.
RONALD FLEURY
(beat)
Yeah, sure. No problem.
DIRECTOR GRACE
(re: Janet)
What about Agent Mayes?
RONALD FLEURY
Ask her.
DIRECTOR GRACE
(to Janet)
What about you?
JANET MAYES
I'll be fine.
37 INT. ATTORNEY GENERAL GIDEON YOUNG'S OFFICE - NOON 37
Fleury, Grace and Mayes enter. Handsomely decorated,
expansive: a lifetime of notable handshakes framed in black
and white. The biggest is a picture of Young and Billy Graham
that could be titled, `lucky for you, we have all the
answers.'
Gideon Young sits behind his Federalist-era oak desk: a
marathoner's build, a smile too bright-perfect for his age.
Two others in-attendance. A pear-shaped 54 year-old man with
a Midwest-honest, ruddy-oval face: Ellis Leach, Assistant
Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Department of
State
And a 51 year-old Hispanic woman in conservative Chanel:
enough femininity without diminishing toughness: Maricella
Canavesio, Deputy National Security Advisor, White House
DIRECTOR GRACE
I apologize if we're late-
GIDEON YOUNG
They were early.
DIRECTOR GRACE
You know Special Agent Fleury?
GIDEON YOUNG
I do.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 27.
DIRECTOR GRACE
This is agent Janet Mayes, she's
one of our Arabic experts.
Janet stares at Young, looking mildly in over her head.
GIDEON YOUNG
OK. The latest.
Grace sits, nods to Fleury: you're up...
RONALD FLEURY
Two suicide bombers. Rumors they
were dressed as Saudi Police. We
believe this is the work of Saudi
terrorist named Abu Hamza.
Young just stares at Fleury kind of odd like a kid staring at
a mushroom flavored Popsicle.
GIDEON YOUNG
Go on.
Fleury continues:
RONALD FLEURY
A Shooter crew served as
distraction. After the initial
attack there was a lull to allow
Saudi Emergency Teams...and our own
attaches...to collect. Then a
secondary blast was triggered,
aimed at those first responders. So
they targeted families and rescuers
with one attack.
(mildly sarcastic:)
I think that's a clear signal that
their definition of `Enemy' is
expanding.
MARICELLA CANAVESIO
My God.
GIDEON YOUNG
Let us never forget how cheap life
is over there. Now...I have seven
minutes before my next meeting, so
who's talking first?
(to Fleury and Grace, slow
like a Kindergarten
teacher:)
You two digested the memo?
KINGDOM 8/18/06 28.
Stoic nods from each. Ellis Leach raises his hand, a tone
that's worlds away from Young's.
ELLIS LEACH
I'll go first if that's okay
Maricella?
(off her `yeah, sure' nod)
First, I'm sorry about Fran Manner.
Gideon Young remembers, nods along solemnly.
DIRECTOR GRACE
As we are about Rex Burr.
ELLIS LEACH
I met with Prince Thamer at the
Saudi embassy fifteen minutes after
I heard this morning's news. After
speaking with Thamer, I advised we
withhold additional US personnel
because a big part of the religious
justification for these bombs is
the presence of current US
personnel. More boots on Saudi soil
make an already combustible
situation more so. I know that's
not the answer you want, but...
Motions to Maricella: the floor is yours.
MARICELLA CANAVESIO
My two cents: The Saudis haven't
asked for FBI help. Sounds like
they've done just the opposite. If
we force the issue, that could
further anger an utterly important
ally that shares a 1000-mile long
border with Iraq.
GIDEON YOUNG
(to Grace and Fleury)
It's all rock-solid logic.
DIRECTOR GRACE
(beat)
We would just like to be on record
as saying we think we should go
ASAP-
GIDEON YOUNG
That's not going to happen
KINGDOM 8/18/06 29.
Young stands: we're done. Fleury's look: that's it? Young's
already collecting his briefcase, jacket-
GIDEON YOUNG (CONT'D)
(mock sincerity to the
room:)
-so as we present this to the
public, let's - as best we can -
try to view this through an FBI
Agent's eyes.
(beat...To Grace:)
And please let me know if there's
anything else we can do for you.
Meeting seems over. Not quite. Fleury can't keep his mouth
shut.
RONALD FLEURY
Sir, how would you imagine it looks
viewed through an FBI agents eyes?
GIDEON YOUNG
Pardon me?
RONALD FLEURY
I'm interested in how you think
this situation is viewed through
our eyes.
Young, eyes on a Republican-gold Rolex, instantly perturbed
the meeting isn't ending.
GIDEON YOUNG
It's some variation on vengeance...
When one of your own is killed,
Agents lose their analytical powers
- kind of a greatest strength,
greatest weakness thing...
RONALD FLEURY
If I wanted vengeance, I'd have
whispered `Rex Burr' into Ellis's
ear right when we walked in.
(beat)
Eyes migrate to Fleury --
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
This isn't Terrorism, ma'am. It's
just Serial Murder.
MARICELLA CANAVESIO
What's the distinction?
KINGDOM 8/18/06 30.
RONALD FLEURY
To call this massacre an act of
terrorism... that implies a
specific political agenda. To me,
these killings are so futile and
unbalanced that they feel utterly
sociopathic- more like Charles
Manson than Osama Bin Laden...
Fleury looks to Mayes. She clears her throat. Delivers the
following with utter precision.
JANET MAYES
(beat, fuck it: Go)
Al Qaeda lost the first phase of
this war, so a new, zero-sum phase
has begun: if you won't join us,
we'll let loose the truly talented
Murderers... Abu Hamza. He will
kill so many of you that the
resulting humiliation of the Saudi
Royal Family will cause an exodus,
a rebellion, both. Because the
Royal Family simply cannot protect
you or yours any longer.
Fleury studies Janet with solid respect. He gives Janet a
subtle nod: "Nice work."
RONALD FLEURY
When she says talented, she's not
talking about the walking-bombs who
can sneak past any and all
security, nor the hi-jackers tough
enough to take an airliner. We're
talking about the Man who teaches
them how...
JANET MAYES
--the operational commander who
organizes, trains, plans,
encourages. That is who we're
fighting.
RONALD FLEURY
If we don't get inside Saudi Arabia
within 36 hours, there is no chance
we catch the killer responsible for
Al-Rahmah. None.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 31.
ELLIS LEACH
Okay. I believe it all. So doesn't
your team in that country represent
the kind of target one of these
`Masters' would die for? Trade ten
of their own for one of you?
RONALD FLEURY
To not engage these criminals out
of fear for our personal safety is
just another way of saying `uncle.'
Fleury takes another deep breath.
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
I'll say it another way: Evidence
starts to go cold after twenty four
hours. If we can't get in now, we
will not find the man or men
responsible for this crime. We
couldn't do it at Khobar; we
couldn't do it in Yemen; we have
barely scratched the surface in
Iraq. And we are on verge of not
doing it here. They are getting
stronger, we are getting weaker. I
just lost a very good friend and I
would very much like to go and do
my job.
Beat.
GIDEON YOUNG
(chuckle)
That was spirited... let's all
thank God Special Agent Fleury
doesn't make policy decisions. He'd
turn the FBI into Patton's Third
Army.
Young stands. Fleury contemplates career-ending violence.
38 EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY 38
Janet, Fleury and Grace walking the rows of seven-foot bronze
soldiers. Street-cart hotdogs from foil wrappers.
DIRECTOR GRACE
(to Fleury)
I see the look in your eyes. That
look is trouble: old school, play
ground shit, vengeance...
KINGDOM 8/18/06 32.
RONALD FLEURY
It's not vengeance.
DIRECTOR GRACE
It ain't justice. It's stronger.
We've all been there. I have.
Vengeance is always dirty, Ronnie.
RONALD FLEURY
I just can't sit this out. I can't
watch this not get dealt with. Not
again.
(a beat...)
Know what my high school football
coach used to say to me?
DIRECTOR GRACE
What?
RONALD FLEURY
"HIT SOMETHING." All night long,
Coach Bailey would scream "HIT
SOMETHING." Every play.
DIRECTOR GRACE
That's good coaching.
RONALD FLEURY
I'm fixing to go hit something,
boss. You with me?
DIRECTOR GRACE
How you gonna do it?
RONALD FLEURY
The Saudis covet good PR as much as
their Oil: 15 of 19 hijackers on 9-
11 means most Americans will never
stop asking if that Saudi Oil is
worth it. It's all about press.
DIRECTOR GRACE
Few more moves and it's Total War,
Ronnie. The only time Treason is
palatable is when it's done
righteously and completely...
Fleury digesting Grace's words: moments pass. Then he looks
to Janet.
JANET MAYES
Oh, I'm in...Not a question. I'm
definitely going.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 33.
39 INT. LOCAL COFFEE JOINT - 5:30 PM, EST 39
Elaine Flowers, Senior Correspondent, Washington Post: Coffee
amp'd, deep black raccoon eyes - heavy wrinkled khakis.
Fleury sits across from her. We've entered mid-scene:
RONALD FLEURY
What's your take?
ELAINE FLOWERS
Looks like every overthrow in
history: once the guys with the
guns are no longer trustworthy, the
government's days are numbered.
RONALD FLEURY
White House call you with a spin?
ELAINE FLOWERS
You kidding? We don't talk since I
broke the Vice President's guy
cooking dirty intel on Iran. They
hate me. What's up, Fleury?
RONALD FLEURY
How hard you gonna hit the Royal
Family in your column tomorrow?
ELAINE FLOWERS
With a sledgehammer.
RONALD FLEURY
With the bombings? Or other
things...
ELAINE FLOWERS
What's "other" than the bombings?
RONALD FLEURY
I know you're tracking Al Haramain.
ELAINE FLOWERS
Is that what you want to talk
about? Saudi officials making
donations that end up... What?
Blowing up trains in Paris? Buses
in London?
RONALD FLEURY
Sometimes. Seems that just might
happen.
(MORE)
KINGDOM 8/18/06 34.
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
We got some other stuff: Missing
girls out of a Houston Four Seasons
Hotel that was heavily populated by
some "Saudi officials." Little
things...
Flowers eyes go WIDE. Smiling...
ELAINE FLOWERS
Murder...Hookers...Houston? Can I
take some notes?
RONALD FLEURY
I'm not saying that.
ELAINE FLOWERS
Are you saying anything?
RONALD FLEURY
I need a favor.
ELAINE FLOWERS
I don't do favors, Ronnie.
RONALD FLEURY
When it's real and it will be
real... I'll come to you with what
we have first. It's yours.
Exclusive.
ELAINE FLOWERS
OK.
RONALD FLEURY
You call Thamer at the Embassy.
Tell him that the FBI is getting
real close to laying out some major
Saudi VIP indictments relating to
newly uncovered charity financing
out of a Boston investment firm.
We're gonna freeze a lot of Saudi
cash and roll out some major
embarrassment.
ELAINE FLOWERS
Can I mention Houston?
RONALD FLEURY
It's a free world, baby. Ask him to
comment.
ELAINE FLOWERS
He won't.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 35.
RONALD FLEURY
Tell him that I'm running the
investigation.
ELAINE FLOWERS
OK.
RONALD FLEURY
Tell him that I'm not the nicest
kid on the block.
ELAINE FLOWERS
That would be accurate.
RONALD FLEURY
I want fifteen minutes with him
tonight.
ELAINE FLOWERS
Wow. OK. And I get what?
RONALD FLEURY
I come to you first. No one else.
ELAINE FLOWERS
What's really going on here,
Ronnie? You going strong over Fran
Manner?
Fleury just stares at her.
RONALD FLEURY
I'm just trying to do my job,
Elaine. That's it. Call Thamer.
ELAINE FLOWERS
I'll see what I can do.
40 EXT. WILLARD HOTEL - WASHINGTON DC - NIGHT 40
Frenetic Doorman-Valet ballet. 2 black Suburbans with red-
blue diplomatic plates swing onto the round-about. A bald,
waif-like 38 year-old Saudi MAN gets out of the lead vehicle.
Fleury waiting outside, eyes on his watch. To Thamer:
RONALD FLEURY
Get back in.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 36.
41 INT. DIPLOMATIC SUBURBAN - MOMENTS LATER 41
A big bodyguard sits up front. Fleury sits in back, aims the
AC vents his way. Prince Thamer sits next to him. Bright
lights from the trail suburban illuminate the interior.
Prince Thamer looks more than a bit baffled.
RONALD FLEURY
Too many people we both know were
at the bar. It's a pleasure to meet
you, Your Highness.
PRINCE THAMER
I had an interesting conversation
with a reporter from the Post.
RONALD FLEURY
She can be a bit of an
exaggerator... I'm sure things were
somewhat over-stated. I see myself
as friend of Saudi Arabia. I just
need a little cooperation, that's
all.
PRINCE THAMER
What kind of cooperation??
RONALD FLEURY
Full cooperation: my Team cleared
to land at Prince Sultan Air Base.
Tomorrow. We want to help in a very
muscular way, quickly.
PRINCE THAMER
Next month would be as soon as...
Fleury takes a beat.
RONALD FLEURY
This goes one of two ways. First:
The FBI with the White House go on
the kind of aggressive PR "Saudi
Royal Family Decaying Monarchy"
bender that just can't help but
hurt. Really hurt. And I don't care
how many Chinese are lined up to
buy the oil. You know it's gonna
hurt.
PRINCE THAMER
My family is not decaying-
KINGDOM 8/18/06 37.
RONALD FLEURY
And then we bring the hammer down
hard as hell: Bust Al Haramain - we
got direct links from Riyadh - two
wives donating ten million to three
Arab-American cultural centers in
Boston. Then what gets kind of not-
funny is how some of that cash
found its way to Jakarta and some
Mosques that have these training
camps built right next to them.
It's kinda funny... you got little
kids playing over here, and some
not so little kids playing with
guns over here. That's kinda odd.
PRINCE THAMER
You have no proof of this.
RONALD FLEURY
We're getting there, Sir. And I
haven't even brought up the two
girls still missing out of Houston.
This is big. It is real. And I know
you only care so much about public
American opinion, Sir. But the
story will be covered... Big...
Thamer is clearly rattled. Fleury is starting to crack this
man.
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
And this ain't the Metro section.
It's above the fold, just below the
date. Words like these get
syndicated to papers like the Omaha
World-Herald, The Terrell Tribune --
You ever been to Terrell, Texas?
PRINCE THAMER
What is your point?
Fleury looks back to him.
RONALD FLEURY
Last I heard, 112 people lost their
lives in your country. One of them
was a good friend of mine. I want
in and I want in immediately.
That's a rock solid answer.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 38.
PRINCE THAMER
Define "immediately."
RONALD FLEURY
Right now immediately.
Fleury looks back at the Ambassador. A stare down.
FLEURY
If your phone doesn't work
international, you can borrow mine.
Prince Thamer slowly reaches for his phone as Fleury opens
his door.
FLEURY (CONT'D)
I'll just be right out here.
42 EXT. DIPLOMATIC SUBURBAN - MOMENTS LATER 42
Fleury waiting. Intense.
The window rolls down, Thamer looking up at Fleury.
The following is fast, tight negotiating:
PRINCE THAMER
(trying to maintain cool)
We cannot allow 100 agents-
RONALD FLEURY
-4. With a 25-man security detail-
PRINCE THAMER
-even 25 more armed Americans could
spark rebellion-
RONALD FLEURY
That's too bad.
PRINCE THAMER
Saudi Security. That's non
negotiable. You cannot bring guns
into the Kingdom.
RONALD FLEURY
Men in Saudi Police uniforms are
why we're talking now.
PRINCE THAMER
They would be hand picked.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 39.
RONALD FLEURY
Whose hands?
PRINCE THAMER
Mine.
Fleury blinks.
PRINCE THAMER (CONT'D)
Trust me...that's the only hope of
this happening.
FLEURY
If anything happens to me or my
team... It's on you. Understood?
PRINCE THAMER
Cool it with the John Wayne, Mr.
Fleury.
Fleury just stares.
PRINCE THAMER (CONT'D)
You can have a week-
RONALD FLEURY
-seven-day or work-week?
PRINCE THAMER
Work week. Five days. No guns.
Hands shake.
42A EXT. SAUDI SHACK - NIGHT, SAUDI TIME 42A
No "charm." Corrugated tin. A faded blue plywood door. No one
in sight. On the side of the house: a battered satellite
dish...
43 INT. SAUDI SHACK - NIGHT, SAUDI TIME 43
A tiny framed Saudi National flag in the middle of a wall:
green with a white sword underlining script that reads: There
is no God but Allah.
No other decoration. The none-too-muffled sounds of traffic:
a lone window overlooking a four-lane boulevard. Then the
Athan (call to prayer) for the Isha (last of the five daily
prayers) trumps the traffic noise.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 40.
Sergeant Haytham enters, bandaged, blank, then a small smile
crosses his face. An old man's weathered voice, in Arabic:
OLD VOICE (O.C.)
Just in time.
Haytham's P.O.V.: His FATHER, glass-frail, lying in a bed, a
small TV nearby, on but soundless. Haytham goes into a
routine: rolls out two prayer mats, steps to his Father,
reaches down to pick him up. His Father readies himself --
stops everything when he sees the bandages up close, the
black bruises with outer rings of purple covering 1/2 of his
Son's cheek. Looks into his boy's eyes.
HAYTHAM'S FATHER
What happened?
Haytham not returning the gaze, hoists his Father into his
arms -- pain shoots up his arms from his damaged wrists.
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
You haven't heard about the attack?
HAYTHAM'S FATHER
I choose not to listen anymore.
What happened to your face?
SERGEANT HAYTHAM
(beat)
An attack today.
HAYTHAM'S FATHER
Look at me.
Haytham looks into his father's eyes now. No words. Haytham's
eyes well with tears. After a long silence:
HAYTHAM'S FATHER (CONT'D)
Is this how they now treat the men
who protect them? Can you look at
me? You cannot, can you? Can you
look at yourself?
Haytham stares at his father.
HAYTHAM'S FATHER (CONT'D)
You are protecting the true enemies
of God.
44 INT. AL-GHAZI'S HOUSE - SAME 44
KINGDOM 8/18/06 41.
INTERCUT WITH THE HAYTHAM SCENE:
Al-Ghazi sits on pillows on the living room with his WIFE and
three DAUGHTERS. A television is on, playing "MAN SAYARBAH AL
MILIOUN" the Arabic "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." Al-
Ghazi's children are playing a game with peas, trying to
guess which one of his hands Al-Ghazi is hiding the pea. When
a girl guesses correctly, he eats a pea.
From outside, we hear the call to prayer. Al-Ghazi and his
family all move to prayer mats in his living room.
45 INT. ONE ROOM APARTMENT - SAME 45
Haytham continues carrying his Father to the prayer mats.
Gently sets him down, Kneels down himself, carefully rolls
his Dad to his stomach. Then stands to help tuck his Father --
in obvious, great arthritic pain -- into a kneeling prayer
position.
Kisses his father on the top of his head. And both pray.
46 INT. AL-GHAZI'S HOUSE - SAME 46
Al-Ghazi praying with his family.
47 EXT. ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE - MIDNIGHT 47
A Load-Master buckling down two paletts of shrink-wrapped
gear in the belly of a C-130. Sykes and Leavitt sit on a
stack of FBI paletts, their feet gently tapping on battered
forensic cases. Mayes approaches from the parking area.
ADAM LEAVITT
(beat, re: Janet)
What was Fran Manner to her?
GRANT SYKES
He taught her how to shoot, she
taught him most everything else.
(beat)
Celebrated graduation at the IHOP
in-town until some Townie called
Janet something...Something not
very nice. Townie didn't see Fran
coming outta the Head. But he
definitely felt Fran's uppercut
shatter his jaw.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 42.
ADAM LEAVITT
Fran didn't get bounced for that?
Points to Fleury's dirty Jeep arriving.
GRANT SYKES
SAC Fleury took care of him.
ADAM LEAVITT
How?
GRANT SYKES
If I knew how I'd be SAC Sykes. I
do know the post in Riyadh was part
of the deal Fleury cut to save
Fran's career.
Leavitt looks up at Mayes as she gets within ear-shot, plops
down next to them.
ADAM LEAVITT
(beat)
What did SAC Fleury whisper in your
ear this morning?
JANET MAYES
(smart-ass smile)
`Grant's age is a liability.'
The three turn as Fleury approaches. Walking fast, clear
sense of purpose.
FLEURY
Thanks for volunteering.
LEAVITT
Actually, I didn't volunteer.
FLEURY
Thanks anyway.
LEAVITT
We're going to Riyadh?
FLEURY
Yup.
SYKES
State department said yes?
FLEURY
Nope.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 43.
LEAVITT
White House said yes?
FLEURY
Nope.
LEAVITT
Anybody said yes?
FLEURY
Not really.
LEAVITT
Are we bringing security?
FLEURY
Nope.
Fleury walks onto the plane. Leaving the three on the tarmac.
LEAVITT
This is going to suck so bad.
And the three follow Fleury onto the massive plane.
48 OMITTED 48
49 INT. C-130, AIRBORNE - LATER 49
Silent. Just the lull of jet engines. The big, long boring is
just beginning.
Janet and Leavitt play Scrabble. Sykes sits nearby. Fleury
sits up front, wide awake.
ADAM LEAVITT
What can four people do in five
days? Really?
GRANT SYKES
Aren't you the one who demanded to
go this morning?
ADAM LEAVITT
I meant the FBI. I didn't mean
"me."
Small smile from Leavitt. The Scrabble continues...
KINGDOM 8/18/06 44.
ADAM LEAVITT (CONT'D)
(to Janet)
What's it like on the ground?
GRANT SYKES
Mars.
JANET MAYES
I'll be looked at with what I can
only describe as disdain, pretty
much the entire time we're on the
ground... kind of like South
Virginia.
GRANT SYKES
Go easy on my kin.
JANET MAYES
It's a very confused culture.
Extremely religious. Had nothing;
wanted nothing. Sixty years ago,
they hit oil. Simple religious men
become trillionaires... a
schizophrenic nation is born. The
royal family, who we back, and
everyone else.
Intercut with the Scrabble.
50 OMITTED (SEE 42A) THRU 53 50
54 EXT. PALACE GROUNDS - NIGHT, SAUDI TIME 54
Three-Suburban convoy turns up a driveway, waved past a guard
post bristling with automatic weapons and into the circular
drive of a massive, walled palace. Impersonal wealth. Two
dozen SANG troops on security detail. Two Humvees equipped
with anti-aircraft missiles parked 100 yards apart.
Colonel Al-Ghazi out of the middle Suburban. Frisked by SANG,
rough: no love lost.
55 INT. IMPERSONAL PALACE - SAME MOMENT 55
Al-Ghazi is passed to a silent, boundless staff holding
serving platters jammed with cups of mint tea. A mammoth
foyer.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 45.
PRINCE SA'AD BIN KHALED (Saudi Interior Ministry) steps out
from a 20-foot high doorway: nebbish, thin, bloodshot eyes
magnified by thick glasses. His hand over his stomach:
Napoleon's ulcers. A quick wave to Al-Ghazi.
56 INT. PRINCE'S PRIVATE OFFICE - NEXT MOMENT 56
10' X 20' gold/glass desk over a 50' X 50' rug in a 100' X
100' marble room. Al-Ghazi greets the Prince formally: kiss
the right shoulder near the clavicle. The Prince's tongue
chalk-white for some reason. In Arabic:
PRINCE BIN KHALED
Four FBI Agents will be allowed to
land at Prince Sultan Air Base this
evening.
Al-Ghazi: more than mild shock.
PRINCE BIN KHALED (CONT'D)
General Abdul-Malik, Chief of
Investigative Services for the
National Guard has been put in-
charge of solving this crime.
Clearly not sitting well with Al-Ghazi.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
I know the General. I attended his
interrogation of one of my men.
(beat, putting it kindly:)
The General does not have
investigative experience.
PRINCE BIN KHALED
Attackers wore YOUR uniform. Police
Uniforms. Some of your men may have
been involved with this Cell, may
still be involved. You're lucky to
have a role at all.
Al-Ghazi silent. The Prince pulls an anti-acid tablet, puts
it in his mouth: that's why his tongue is chalk-white.
PRINCE BIN KHALED (CONT'D)
And your role will be critically
important: make sure the Americans
leave our country as alive as when
they arrive. Five days they will be
our guests. Understood?
KINGDOM 8/18/06 46.
57 INT. C-130 - NIGHT 57
Final descent beginning. More stars above than lights below.
Landing in the middle of nowhere. Sykes sitting near Fleury,
getting his game-face on.
GRANT SYKES
What's going on in there?
RONALD FLEURY
(getting his bearings)
I'm good.
Sykes puts his hand on Fleury's chest.
GRANT SYKES
Feels like you got a beast in
there, Fleury.
RONALD FLEURY
(beat)
I'm good
GRANT SYKES
"Good" is 6:00 am Sunday morning
when your kid climbs into your bed,
buries himself into you... sun's
creeping through the windows -
soft. Birds and wind-chimes...
that's "good."
A BEAT as Fleury looks at Sykes.
RONALD FLEURY
I'm OK...You don't think I'm OK?
GRANT SYKES
(small smile)
I think you're not entirely clear
right now. That's OK, but you got
to know that. You want to go - we
go. I got you, but you got to
check yourself.
RONALD FLEURY
I'm checked.
GRANT SYKES
OK. I'm just checking that you
checked.
Fleury stands up.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 47.
57A INT. C-130 COCKPIT - NIGHT, SAUDI TIME 57A
Fleury pops his head into the cockpit. Two AIRFORCE PILOTS
sit at the controls.
RONALD FLEURY
How we doing?
PILOT #1
About a half hour out.
RONALD FLEURY
They gonna let us land?
PILOT #1
We've been talking to them about an
hour or so... they know we're
coming.
RONALD FLEURY
Good.
PILOT #1
You don't mind my asking, but what
the hell you all gonna be doing
down there?
RONALD FLEURY
Hunting...
PILOT #1
Hunting...? I think of hunting, I
think quail in Tennessee, deer in
Pennsylvania. What kind of hunting
you all gonna do in Saudi?
RONALD FLEURY
Big Game hunting.
58 EXT. MASSIVE, CLOSED DOWN MILITARY COMPLEX - NIGHT 58
PRINCE SULTAN AIR BASE, SAUDI ARABIA. Our C-130 touches down
smooth on Saudi soil.
59 INT. C-130 CARGO HOLD - NIGHT, SAUDI TIME 59
Engines winding down to nothing. The team standing, slinging
bags over their shoulders. Groggy but pumped. Fleury looks at
his team, last bit of advice before game-time.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 48.
RONALD FLEURY
Heads on a swivel.
60 EXT. PRINCE SULTAN AIRBASE - NIGHT, SAUDI TIME 60
The cargo door locks into place on Saudi tarmac. Fleury and
the Team outside the plane now, bags dropped at their feet.
90 degrees even this late. Look-up: light washing over a
small, formal Saudi military team in front of two caskets
draped in American flags, and a small convoy of bullet-proof
black Suburbans. Adam Leavitt will never forget this first
glimpse of Saudi Arabia: surreal. Tears in Janet's eyes as
she glimpses the caskets.
Colonel Al-Ghazi steps up, offers his hand to Fleury. Fleury
and Al-Ghazi shake:
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
Colonel Al-Ghazi.
RONALD FLEURY
Special Agent Ronald Fleury.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(beat: the caskets)
Your two fallen comrades, Mr.
Manner and Mr. Burr.
Three men multi-task hustle to forklifts, start them up. Into
the cargo hold, pulling out paletts. Things moving orderly-
fast now. The Americans just kind of step back, dazed.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI (CONT'D)
Passports and credentials. Please.
Sergeant Haytham, driving one of the suburbans, steps forward
with kevlar vests for our crew.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI (CONT'D)
Thank you to keep these on whenever
you are outside of Al-Rahmah.
JANET MAYES
We brought our own.
The crew hits their bags, pulls out their vests.
Another OFFICER checks each team member's FBI badge and
passport. Stops at Leavitt's: an Israeli stamp on his
passport. Leavitt's quick:
KINGDOM 8/18/06 49.
ADAM LEAVITT
Israeli stamp in my passport?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(in Arabic to the Officer)
That is not our concern.
Al-Ghazi takes the passports and badges, hands them back.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI (CONT'D)
I'm also to collect your sidearms.
This is like handing over your first-born. Fleury goes first.
Haytham puts each weapon in a padded case.
GRANT SYKES
And I usually just toss it on the
kitchen table...
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(small smile)
If each of you would please get
into the middle vehicle.
61 INT. MIDDLE SUBURBAN, RIYADH SUBURBS - NIGHT 61
The speedometer at 110 m.p.h. Haytham navigates with his left
hand. Prayer beads hang from the rearview mirror. Al-Ghazi in
the passenger seat, right hand rubbing another set of prayer
beads down to nubs. The team in the back rows: all staring at
the prayer beads on the mirror.
JANET MAYES
(whispering to Leavitt)
Wouldn't need the power a' prayer
if there were 2 hands on the wheel.
ADAM LEAVIIT
110 miles per hour... How do you
keep so calm? I mean, really? Is
it breathing--
JANET MAYES
--Shhhh....
RONALD FLEURY
If somebody was tailing us it'd be
obvious. This is just standard
operating speed.
Al-Ghazi on the edge of his seat, no belt, scanning for
threats: sidewalks, traffic, rooftops.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 50.
His left hand hand wrapped around the stock of an Mp-5
machine gun. Fleury takes in a deep breath: let's see who
this guy is.
RONALD FLEURY (CONT'D)
Colonel, have you ever been to the
US?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
I have been there only once. I
spent four days at Quantico... I
saw your Michael Jordan play for
the Washington Wizards.
Small laughs.
RONALD FLEURY
You don't know what you missed...
you should have seen him play for
our Chicago Bulls.
Fleury nods to Sykes, giving him the go to start in with the
Bad Cop. Throughout the following exchange, we stay TIGHT ON
FLEURY: in control, using Sykes to ask the questions he
"diplomatically" does not want to ask.
GRANT SYKES
You have portable lights on-scene?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(loses his smile)
Yes. But your team cannot work
nights.
Janet looks to Leavitt, then Fleury: `what did he say?'
Fleury looks to Sykes, `Keep going...'
GRANT SYKES
We only have seven days: we work
around the clock.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
Five days. And you are not safe at
night.
GRANT SYKES
We're safe during the day?
Fleury is about to step in when-
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(in Arabic, shocking)
WATCH IT-SLOW!
KINGDOM 8/18/06 51.
A truck 200 yards ahead in the middle of an abrupt U-turn.
Over the median. Dust cloud. Heading back our way. Something
big in the truck's bed. Our vehicle shimmies as Al-Ghazi
flinches, drops his prayer beads. Mp-5 up to the Colonel's
sight-line, muzzle tracking the truck. Leavitt leans away
from his window as the vehicles pass: streetlights show two
farmers, a camel sitting in the bed. Missed their left turn.
A long, nearly comical moment.
ADAM LEAVITT
(smartass)
I don't like camels.
Fleury cycling through different angles. Continues:
RONALD FLEURY
Colonel, do you believe Abu Hamza
was responsible for this attack?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
We don't know.
RONALD FLEURY
Were Saudi Police involved in the
attack?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
We don't know that either.
RONALD FLEURY
Any word on what that third big
blast was?
Al-Ghazi getting tired of the questions: exhausted himself.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
Not yet.
GRANT SYKES
You interviewed witnesses?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(short-fuse burning)
We're trying. No one who was close
enough to see the things we would
like to know, lived.
GRANT SYKES
Were any of the uniformed bombers
brother-officers?
No answer.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 52.
GRANT SYKES (CONT'D)
Do you know yet?
No answer. Team feeling the tension. Fleury steps in and
takes charge.
RONALD FLEURY
You don't know the source of the
blast, don't know if your own
Officers were involved, but you
won't let us work nights?
Al-Ghazi stanches an explosion. Haytham looks over at his
Colonel: rarely ever seen him like this. Looks in the rear-
view mirror to see Sykes, the man giving the Colonel fits.
Sykes catches him looking back, gives him a quick wink into
the mirror. TIGHT ON Haytham's face: the guilty little smile
you give when someone takes your boss to task.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
47 of my `brother-officers' were
blown into hundreds of pieces that
will take months to collect. 80,000
Officers total, across the country,
at four uniforms apiece. Thousands
of people who can sew forgeries.
Apologies that I don't have
definitive answers.
(beat)
You're still not working nights.
Fleury stays quiet, studying, calculating, thinking: we got a
Handler that's going to be tough to handle.
62 OMITTED 62
63 INT. GIDEON YOUNG'S OFFICE - EVENING RUSH HOUR, EST 63
Director Grace already sits in front of Young's desk.
DIRECTOR GRACE
Good afternoon, Sir.
Young says nothing, just pulls a memo from his bag, clears
his throat -- still no eye-contact -- reads aloud like a poor
man's Orson Welles:
GIDEON YOUNG
`Sunlight is indeed the most
powerful disinfectant.
(MORE)
KINGDOM 8/18/06 53.
GIDEON YOUNG (CONT'D)
In that spirit I come before this
Judiciary Committee with a painful
admission.
(beat)
Simply: I've lost all confidence in
the FBI, especially it's uppermost
echelon. Entrenched and outmoded,
the Leadership has shown itself
fearful of the pioneering thought
this Committee and I have tried to
imbue. It is thus an Agency at
contretemps, hindering our every
effort.' And by `Committee' I mean
the fucking SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE
ON TERROR...
Young finally makes eye contact: expecting something like
fear, remorse, back-pedalling...
DIRECTOR GRACE
Senators? Then I'd change
`outmoded' to `outdated,'
`echelons' to `ranks' and what in
God's name is `contretemps?' These
guys aren't the best and brightest-
Young's face flashes red, seething:
GIDEON YOUNG
-never take the Lord's name in vain
in this office-
DIRECTOR GRACE
-but you can say `Fucking?'
Young apoplectic now: ready to end the Director right there,
when Grace leans in, lets the vague threat of physical
contact manifest.
DIRECTOR GRACE (CONT'D)
You're going to the Senate Select
Committee, but not to the President
who appointed you. Why's that?
(beat)
I bet the President wasn't the
audience you thought he'd be: I'll
bet he realized you can't have
Voters asking why the second-
longest serving FBI Director gets
fired for doing his job, for
sending Agents into Saudi Arabia,
seven months from mid-term
elections-
KINGDOM 8/18/06 54.
GIDEON YOUNG
-you really want to bet?
Grace snaps his ID badge off his lapel, puts it on the table.
DIRECTOR GRACE
I do.
Young's pallor tells us his bluff has been called. Goes
silent. Grace smells it, finishes him now:
DIRECTOR GRACE (CONT'D)
Westmoreland made all us Officers
write our own obituaries during
Tet, when it looked like the Cong
were going to end it all right
there. Once we clued-in that life
was finite, the loss of it no
longer scared us: the end comes no
matter what, it's just a question
of how you want to go out: on your
feet or on your knees. After that,
we went out and pulled triggers
until barrels melted. And Vietnam
lasted another seven years.
(beat)
The lesson extends to this career:
I ACT, knowing the end of this job
will come, no matter what. You
should do the same.
Grace waits: nothing else from Young. Stands, snaps his ID
badge back on his lapel, walks out.
DIRECTOR GRACE (CONT'D)
I'll forward Fleury's reports.
64 EXT. OUTSIDE AL-RAHMAH HOUSING COMPLEX - NIGHT, SAUDI TIME 64
The convoy brakes impossibly close to a checkpoint. Waved
through perimeters staffed by SANG and Police. Fatigues,
automatic rifles, peering at the tinted windows.
65 INT. MIDDLE SUBURBAN - NEXT MOMENT 65
Crew arrives at a crime-scene that spans the immediate
horizon. White tents with SANG sitting under each. Industrial
lights outline shattered buildings, idle heavy equipment,
bombed-out automobiles. TIGHT ON MAYES looking out.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 55.
JANET MAYES
That's one of the great horrors of
television: Crime scene
manipulation. They say a TV camera
adds pounds to actresses. Isn't
that what they say?
ADAM LEAVITT
Who's "they?"
JANET MAYES
That is what they say. Doesn't add
to crime scenes. Television cameras
shrink them. Misrepresent. No
smells. Poor sound. Limited view.
TV always makes them look smaller.
You can't feel the hatred on
television.
TIGHT ON FLEURY: Quiet and focused, taking everything in.
FLEURY
...heads on a swivel, people.
66 EXT. AL-RAHMAH COMMUNITY CENTER - NEXT MOMENT 66
Two more security perimeters of SANG surround the Community
Center: blinding portable lights, heavy machine guns mounted
in the backs of Humvees track the convoy as it comes to a
stop: every troop on-guard. The Team tentatively exits: 100
pairs of glares from heavily-armed SANG.
Soldiers descend on the Teams' bags, paletts of equipment.
Long leers at Janet: not so much `sexual' as `wary.' Janet
goes for her own bag. Haytham goes for it at the same time.
Their hands accidently touch. Haytham pulls back fast,
embarrassed.
JANET MAYES
EASY.
Janet notices the nasty marks around Haytham's right ear.
67 INT. AL-RAHMAH COMMUNITY CENTER - NEXT MOMENT 67
Florescent lights make it ugly. Haytham dumps duffel-bags by
their bunks, SANG stack steel travel-boxes from the paletts
inside. No windows, AC cranked to `coldest.' Americans sealed-
in - in the name of comfort.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 56.
Janet's area made obvious with a floral partition. She
immediately folds it, puts it into a corner. Haytham watches
her undo his work.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
The bathrooms are through that
door. I will be here tomorrow
morning so we can begin.
FLEURY
What time tomorrow morning?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
Sunrise.
RONALD FLEURY
What time is sunrise?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(beat)
When I knock.
Al-Ghazi and Haytham leave. The doors close behind them, then
the sound of a key turning in a lock. The Americans look on,
half-disbelief, half-comedy: locking us in.
GRANT SYKES
That's against fire code.
JANET MAYES
They don't have fire codes. They
don't have codes other than codes
of war. They'll lock us in and dial
up some kind of earth movers if
they want to. You know that, Sykes.
Dig a big hole and push us in. Fill
it up and no one comes calling.
You're in the jungle now, baby.
Silence as the crew digests this odd little verbal outage.
ADAM LEAVITT
(smiling)
You alright, girl?
JANET MAYES
Watch it, boy.
ADAM LEAVITT
Just asking...
JANET MAYES
Unpack.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 57.
Everyone hits their own bags first.
FLEURY
(to himself)
Saudi slow roll...
Fleury pulls out his laptop, wakes it up from sleep mode.
Eyes a photo of Kevin on his desktop, picks up the phone.
LYLA FLEURY
(on phone)
Hello?
RONALD FLEURY
Hey... How are you? How's my boy?
LYLA FLEURY
We're just fine. How are you?
Where are you?
RONALD FLEURY
I'm here...
(quick beat)
Lemme talk to my boy.
A BEAT as Lyla passes the phone to Kevin.
KEVIN FLEURY (O.S.)
Daddy?
FLEURY
What you doing?
KEVIN FLEURY (O.S.)
I'm talking to you. What are you
doing right now, Daddy? Right now?
FLEURY
I'm missing you.
KEVIN FLEURY (O.S.)
Where are you?
FLEURY
I'm in Saudi Arabia.
KEVIN FLEURY (O.S.)
Did you see Big Fran?
A Beat...
KINGDOM 8/18/06 58.
FLEURY
Yeah... I saw him...
(PAUSE)
I saw him.
KEVIN FLEURY (O.S.)
Is he still tall?
FLEURY
Yeah... Yeah...he's still tall.
Silence... as Fleury takes a beat to collect himself.
KEVIN FLEURY (O.S.)
Daddy? Are you still there?
FLEURY
Yeah, buddy. I love you. Keep your
eye on your mama. Be the man.
KEVIN FLEURY (O.S.)
You, too Daddy.
FLEURY
I'll call you tomorrow. I love you.
KEVIN FLEURY (O.S.)
Bye, Daddy.
Fleury begins unpacking.
68 EXT. AL-RAHMAH COMMUNITY CENTER - 4:30 AM 68
Pre-dawn: Eight black suburbans parked on the side street:
waiting. The doors of the first four open in-unison. 20 Arab,
suited SECURITY GUARDS exit.
Al-Ghazi unlocks the door to the compound: the team stands
dressed, waiting. CLOSE-UP: The Team steps out to see
massive, organized security.
From one of the vehicles exits a middle aged AMERICAN -
sweating a bit, hanging back, watching. This is US Deputy
Chief of Mission, the Embassy's second-in-command: DAMON
SCHMIDT.
Another 100 Security CONTRACTORS remain vigilant: SNIPERS on
roof-tops, in machine-gun nests.
Schmidt approaches Fleury.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 59.
SCHMIDT
(big smile)
You are in so much trouble.
FLEURY
Is that right?
SCHMIDT
For sure. I mean, I don't know how
you did it. Nice work, but if you
live through this, which I put at
about fifty percent - if you do,
your balls are gonna get stretched
and beaten on. Dig that?
Fleury stares at this freak show. Schmidt sticks out a paw.
SCHMIDT (CONT'D)
Damon Schmidt. State Department.
I'm in charge of getting you out of
here.
PRINCE BIN KHALED and his INNER-CIRCLE exit a Suburban and
approach: All in traditional dress. The Prince locks eyes
with Fleury.
IN THE BG, forklifts rumble-hiss to life, placing Jersey
barriers around the community center.
SCHMIDT (CONT'D)
Don't let go of his hand first.
Major disrespect.
One of the inner-circle, without a word, takes off the FBI-
emblazoned windbreaker worn by Leavitt and places it on a
short-sleeved Janet. Careful not to touch skin.
Only then does Prince Bin Khaled approach. A lone
PHOTOGRAPHER follows: snapping pictures. Different
definitions of personal space: four inches separation as Bin
Khaled greets each Team member in accented English. Janet
last: the pictures suddenly stop. The Prince gives a little
curtsy, no words, steps back to Fleury: the pictures re-
start. Bin Khaled holds Fleury's hand sixth-grade boyfriend-
style.
PRINCE BIN KHALED
(in Arabic)
This is our level of commitment to
bringing Terrorists to justice:
Motions to the Americans. No more unflattering a portrait:
pre-coffee, post-twelve hour flight, hours unpacking...
KINGDOM 8/18/06 60.
As the cameras start flashing. Angle on Al-Ghazi and Haytham
placed to stand next to the Americans. Haytham clearly not
comfortable with this kind of attention.
PRINCE BIN KHALED (CONT'D)
We've invited American legal
officials into our Kingdom despite
current difficulties between the US
and Islam. They will observe our
advanced investigative techniques,
offering helpful hints.
(to Fleury in English)
You will please honor me with your
presence tonight at my home.
(beat, a stunted nod)
Yes.
The Prince turns back to the convoy. Entire entourage
follows. One of the Security Contractors catches the jacket
Janet hurls back at him, tosses it to Leavitt. Convoy gone.
The team turns: 100 glares again. Fleury blinks out the
camera flashes, takes in all the eyeballs.
Fleury looks up at a retreating Damon Schmidt.
SCHMIDT
Nice pictures. You guys ready to go
home now?
Dead eyes from Fleury. He's clearly not amused.
SCHMIDT (CONT'D)
OK. If you change your minds, I got
a plane fueled up and ready to go -
got your name all over it...
He points a finger gun at Fleury.
SCHMIDT (CONT'D)
Strap your kevlar on tight, people.
SCHMIDT takes off. Sykes by Fleury.
GRANT SYKES
Slow roll... gonna be like when you
go deep sea fishing in Florida and
you pay seven hundred bucks for the
boat and you sit in the ocean for
hours and the crew jumps around and
screams and points and you think
your constantly about to bag a
Marlin but you never do and they
keep pointing and jumping and-
KINGDOM 8/18/06 61.
FLEURY
Enough.
Haytham walks off by himself, shaking off the shady Royal
photo vibe, looking back at the Americans. From behind him:
POLICE OFFICER
You're willing to die to protect
your enemy?
Haytham turns. An older POLICE OFFICER stands with a GROUP of
SANG twenty feet behind him, eyeing Haytham.
Back to Fleury: he looks to Al-Ghazi.
RONALD FLEURY
What did the Prince say?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
(beat)
That there are more rules than just
not working at night.
RONALD FLEURY
What rules?
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
You are here as observers. Not
investigators.
Fleury tries to remain cool.
RONALD FLEURY
That's not accurate--
Al-Ghazi ignores Fleury.
COLONEL AL-GHAZI
--I need to make sure the sites are
secure. Then you can begin
observing.
Leavitt looks around at the Security as Al-Ghazi hustles off:
ADAM LEAVITT
(to Fleury)
How could they get more secure?
The Team slowly realizes they're not going anywhere yet, dump
their bags in a pile, already disgusted.
In the distance, the group of SANG stare back at our team.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 62.
68A INT. LOCATION UNKNOWN - TIME UNKNOWN 68A
Hold on an empty 2' X 1' X 6" balsa wood box set on a dirty
linoleum floor.
Ancient hands line the balsa wood box with bricks of putty-
gray plastic explosive. We immediately notice the right hand
is missing the index and middle fingers. The hands insert
bright-red blasting caps into the explosives, lengths of
detonating-wire emanating from each cap.
Another set of stronger, younger, in-tact hands gently pours
a mixture into the box now. Ball bearings, children's jacks,
marbles, razor blades, roofing nails. Everything malevolent
densities and angles. Some pieces bounce out, run along the
floor. The younger hands then start pressing/molding the
pieces of soon-to-be shrapnel into the putty-gray plastic
explosives.
68B EXT. AL-RAHMAH COMMUNITY CENTER - LATER 68B
Al-Ghazi and General Malik stand outside.
The Athan sounds for Dhuhr.
100 soldiers immediately drop to their knees.
69 INT. AL-RAHMAH COMMUNITY CENTER HOOPS COURT - 9:00 AM 69
TIGHT ON FLEURY: focused, Thinking. Sykes next to him.
O.C. The Athan sounds again for Dhuhr.
SYKES
Well, this is going well...
FLEURY
Saudi Slow Roll.
Sykes and Fleury lean against the locked door, staring at the
pathetic sight before them: Janet's truly awful jumper...
that somehow swishes every time. Before she lands, cocky and
smooth:
JANET MAYES
Good.
KINGDOM 8/18/06 63.
Then the metallic swish