ACT I
SCENE II

(The lights rise. There is one table arranged on the stage occupying the far-left third of the space. There are also two couches occupying the right third of the stage. All are oriented radially: one of their short faces is rotated towards the center of the stage.)

(LUKAS BAUER [German Chancellor] occupies the far-left table. JEFFREY STEIN, RONAN MOSS, TOMI AYALA, and KYRAN FORD sit, 2-per-couch, on the right. TIM enters and stands at the epicenter of the three groups, centerstage. TIM holds one wired phone in his left hand. He raises it to his ear.)

TIM
Chancellor Bauer, thank you for taking my call.

BAUER
Sir, I’m honored to be the first to take your call as president.

(TIM lowers the phone. When he speaks to STEIN et. al he lowers it, while to BAUER he raises it.)

TIM
Jeffrey, Ronan, Tomi, Kyran. I have a few matters that need attention.

AYALA
Anything you need.

TIM
Mr. Chancellor, if you don’t mind, I’d like to forego pleasantries, just this once. The matters I proposed to discuss shouldn’t be overshadowed by hollow greetings.

BAUER
I couldn’t agree more.

TIM
I wanted to discuss my plans for the next four years.

STEIN
Your mission for this presidency? The defining issue your administration will tackle-

TIM
Nothing that formal. Just my plans. For us and for the presidency.

BAUER
I watched your speech last week. The stuff of motivation for a country on the brink.

TIM
Respectfully, we’re not on the brink of war, Mr. Chancellor.

BAUER
Not war. Salvation. I’ve always found words to be of great power. They’re the knives that topple nations, the rumors and lies and speeches and promises left open in the air, hanging for all to see. But your words are special. To a nation grappling with war, they would inspire peace. But now, I think, to a nation at peace, your words may do nought else but provoke war.

TIM
That would never have been my intention, Mr. Chancellor. I only meant to inspire.

BAUER
Inspire what? True inspiration is at the behest of those with the most powerful of imaginations. And you’ve certainly shown the expanse that is your mind.

TIM
Peace, then. I imagine a world at peace. Quiet, and restful, for once.

STEIN
Peace and quiet aren’t always the same.

TIM
That’s no reason not to conflate them. With peace comes a calm. Calm fosters contention. And contention inevitably forms quiet.

FORD
Then why am I uneasy at your plan?

TIM
I couldn’t say. Only one has the privilege of knowing your every thought.

FORD
But your ideas, your notions of a world at peace, rid of what villains you laid out in your speech; they toe a rather particular line.

TIM
I didn’t ask for a meeting to entertain your silence. Please.

BAUER
My concerns are unimportant to you. Your country, your goals, your methods. But I must caution you against holding too strongly to your ideals. I’ve seen men, men of long ago, men I used to know but can’t bear to see now, pushed too far by an idea that took root in their mind. A funny little thing, a hope that the world could be something better. Know your limits, Tim.

TIM
My ideals?

BAUER
Your governing principles. Everyone has them, but not everyone has your loyalty. At some point in your tenure as president you’ll find yourself at odds, torn between your duty and your ideals.

TIM
And when I find myself at that moment, what should I do?

BAUER
There’s no right answer. That’s the point. No matter your choice, you always lose something. The one thing you control in this life isn’t the choices you get to make but the way you handle the consequences of those choices.

TIM
As honored as I am to speak with you today, Mr. Chancellor, I didn’t call you today to entirely speak to my agenda. I wanted to discuss yours.

MOSS
You just need to be careful, that’s all we’re saying. Some, not us, but some would accuse you of being too idealistic. Peace in our time isn’t an easy policy to enact.

TIM
But it’s not peace I’m after. We are a world in turmoil, a world facing threats both at home and abroad. We’re fighting a war with ourselves, and if we can’t find the means to an end of all this we’ll rip ourselves apart.

MOSS
Don’t generalize the failures of few as the downfall of many.

TIM
It only ever takes one. The weakest link in the chain fails, and the whole system falls with it.

BAUER
I still don’t see.

TIM
Your policies. What you’ve done with your power. Some scream abuse of power. And corruption.

BAUER
Yet still, others taut victory against the darkness.

TIM
Good and evil aren’t as similar as you’d have me believe. There’s a saying I heard long ago, and it stuck with me. It’s endured the best and worst of times. It says,’You’re going on a trip. A trip through darkness. Your destination? A land far from this world’s horrors. To reach it… all you have to do is follow the light.’ All you have to do to make the world a better place is seek out the goodness in it. Nurture it.

BAUER
You still won’t see. In a world of gray white and black are one and the same. You want to believe that there’s still untarnished good in this world, that some youthful minds are uncorrupted by the violence of their past. But there simply isn’t. Our time approaches sunset, and as night falls you’ll soon realize that under the cover of darkness good and evil are one and the same.

TIM
I think you’ve spent too long questioning the actions of others. You’ve lost yourself in metaphors.

BAUER
Then let me be clear, for once. This world, this beautiful mess of a world, has always been and will always be broken. Trying to fix that won’t do anything, like trying to dim the sun won’t bring on night. This world, and everyone in it, is formed of that darkness that you so desperately despise.

MOSS
Just be mindful of your strengths.

TIM
Strengths?

MOSS
Everyone’s born with a dream to change the world, fix it up. But nobody truly can. We’re all ants scurrying the surface of a mound of dirt, and any one of our insignificant actions can’t affect everything. You’re the president, sir, and with that title comes power, but remember that after all your power, after your experience and connections, after everything... you’re one man fighting the world. You’re only mortal, sir. Be sure not to lean too far past the railing. It’s a long fall.

(Lights down. Exit all.)

ACT I
SCENE III

(Lights rise. A simple set. One long table in the center of the stage and a few large boxes scattered to the sides.)

(KILLIAN BARKER stand over the table, humming contentedly. Whenever KILLIAN is onstage he has a BLACK KING CHESS PIECE TOTEM with him. ‘Flip’ indicates an instance where he flips it in the air. LUIS FLORES rocks back and forth, seated on one of the boxes.)

KILLIAN
You want a smoothie? A milkshake or something?

FLORES
No.

KILLIAN
You sure? You really sure? [FLIP] I mean, nobody really dies from lack of vitamins, they die from lack of calories, [FLIP] but either way it’ll be the cops that shoot you dead. So dehydration will have gotten you then. [FLIP] Always good to hydrate before running.

(Beat.)

FLORES
On second thought, a smoothie wouldn’t hurt.

(KILLIAN flips the totem once and sets it on the table. He marches over to one of the bins, opens it, sets up a blender on the table, grabs various foods as-)

KILLIAN
You won’t regret this. I make a mean smoothie.

(As KILLIAN loads fruits, water into the smoothie jar-)

KILLIAN
Want to hear a story while we pass the time?

FLORES
Not much.

KILLIAN
Well, it’ll be a metaphor for us, so listen up.

(KILLIAN leans over the table to grab the totem.)

KILLIAN
When I was younger my parents told me these bedtime stories [FLIP], and when I was young and innocent they were just stories but as I got older I realized they were different than other stories. Flawed. [FLIP] Because they weren’t normal fairy tales. Then again, I’m not your normal fairy. [FLIP] But, the stories, they’d start normal. ‘Once upon a time, in a whimsical and magical land, there lived three bears in a small cottage on the edge of the woods.’

FLORES
Great. The three bears. Goldilocks.

KILLIAN
[FLIP] Don’t read forward. ‘These three bears, they made their porridge and sat down to eat. [FLIP] But Mama and baby bear’s porridges were too hot, so the three of them went on a walk, waiting for the porridge to cool down.’

FLORES
I know what happens next. Goldilocks stumbles in, and eats the porridge, and-

(KILLIAN turns on the blender, drowning out FLORES. He stops.)

KILLIAN
Don’t interrupt. ‘Now Goldilocks, [FLIP] the stuck up little brat she is, decides to break into this cute little cottage on the edge of the woods. And she’s hungry, so she tries the porridge. [FLIP] Too hot, too cold, just right. Picky eater, but now that she’s full she decides to sit for a while next to the fire. [FLIP] The chairs are too hard, too soft, just right. And she sits, for a while, pondering what she’s done, wondering if the owners of the chairs and house will come back. But she gets tired and goes for a nap.’ [FLIP]

FLORES
This is regular Goldilocks.

KILLIAN
We haven’t gotten to the end yet.

(KILLIAN pours the smoothie into two glasses and hands one to FLORES, who gingerly swirls it in his glass.)

KILLIAN
‘So, Goldilocks is asleep as the bears get back. [FLIP] And they check their porridge. Someone ate it. Their chairs? Someone sat in them. And their beds? There’s a thieving brat in one that’s been taking a nap. [FLIP] Daddy bear rears up, and he’s angry, but Goldilocks is lucky. She just barely makes it away. Goldilocks escaped. [FLIP] But the bears, they won’t go to the police, to the cops. Because they know they won’t do anything. Because Goldilocks can do what she wants without retaliation. [FLIP] She’s not all-powerful, not-all knowing. She just is. And that’s enough for her. [FLIP] So that night, while Mama and Baby bear are asleep, Papa bear grabs his rifle. And he breaks into Goldilocks’ house, and presses the barrel to her face. [FLIP] And she wakes up just long enough to see the vengeance in his eyes before her brain and the pillow are one. [FLIP] And then Papa bear goes downstairs and sits in her chair. And eats her porridge. [FLIP] Because in the end it’s not the thieves who’ll win. It’s not the most powerful. Not the biggest, the baddest, the strongest. [FLIP] In the end the people who’ll change the world are the ones who’re willing to grab their guns and shoot a little girl in her bed while she’s asleep. [FLIP] Because nobody’s truly innocent. Especially not Goldilocks.’ [FLIP]

(Lights fall. Exit all.)

ACT I
SCENE IV

(Lights rise. The stage is divided in two: the RIGHT side is devoid of any objects whatsoever, while the left side has a large bureau with a chair and two more chairs in front of it.)

(TIM is seated behind the bureau, while KILLIAN and FLORES are standing on the right side of the stage. KILLIAN holds a briefcase in one hand.)

KILLIAN
You know, the funny thing about death is that you never know when it’ll come. [FLIP] While you’re sleeping, years from now, or standing on your own two feet minutes from now. But no matter the method, it’s always assured. Always coming. People call us killers, say that we take lives. [FLIP] But truly, in the end, we’re not killers. We’re just accelerating the inevitable. [FLIP] And sparing innocents of the horrors the world has to show.

FLORES
Anyone can argue that they’re heroes. Truth emerges when they have to prove it.

KILLIAN
I suppose you’re right. I’m no hero. [FLIP] But either way-

(KILLIAN unlocks and opens the case, inserts an activation key, turns it.)

KILLIAN
-today’s the day a few thousand people die.

(Bright lights flash on the RIGHT of the stage, a loud BOOM, and as the lights slowly fall on the RIGHT side KILLIAN and FLORES exit. Almost immediately after the BANG, on the left side STEIN, MOSS, FORD, and AYALA.)

MOSS
Sir, there’s been a detonation in London.

(TIM sets down his paper, rises from his chair, alarmed.)

TIM
Where?

MOSS
We don’t know yet.

TIM
Who?

(AYALA raises a phone to her ear, listens for a few moments.)

STEIN
We don’t know that yet either.

TIM
What do we know?

AYALA
CIA got a few pings from MI5. They got the Shard.

TIM
They got the what?

AYALA
The Shard, housing complex. Southwark, London.

TIM
That Shard? Shard of Glass?

(STEIN and MOSS pull their phones.)

STEIN
Eighty-seven floors tall. A kilometer tall.

TIM
Do we have a death toll yet?

FORD
It’s too soon to tell. We still don’t know how big the detonation was. But the building at any time normally has 8,000 occupants. On the bright side, this was midday Saturday, so...

TIM
We’re looking at closer to 2,000.

MOSS
Langley’s got their eyes on scene. MI5 still isn’t sharing. They want this contained. I don’t blame them.

TIM
Show me.

(The three cluster around MOSS’s phone.)

TIM
My god.

STEIN
It’s torn in half.

TIM
Are we getting anywhere with damage assessments? What could’ve caused this?

MOSS
That’s MI5’s job. They’re probably collecting the residues as we speak. But now’s the time for search and rescue.

TIM
But, just looking at it.

AYALA
We first read it as seismic, so something large enough to cause those kinds of ripples.

MOSS
So that’s a non-concussive at ground level or concussive under a hundred feet.

TIM
Concussive?

MOSS
C4, TNT, nitro. They’re easier than most people think to gain access to. A local quarry could hold enough C4 at any time to blow up a building like this.

TIM
Shit. You said MI5’s handling search and rescue?

AYALA
Along with other local law enforcement.

MOSS
And DGSE. French CIA. They’re helping look for the terrorist.

TIM
DGSE? What- why’re they involved?

MOSS
No telling. Best guess, they want to help.

TIM
So what do we do? What can we do?

STEIN
At the moment?

FORD
Nothing.

TIM
No, no, no. We need to do something. Every minute we don’t help a hundred people suffocate under rubble.

STEIN
There really isn’t anything we can do. The explosion was on foreign territory, under the jurisdiction of another nation. It wasn’t big enough to require outside military assistance. This just isn’t our problem.

TIM
I’m making it ours. Moss, learn what you can about the situation leading up to this. Were there warning signs, motivations, the works. Follow up with the Pentagon and see if they’ve found such.

(MOSS rushes out.)

TIM
Ford, Ayala, I want to know what the British government wants or needs from us. Supplies, bodies, anything and everything. Our doors are open should they need a place to stay.

(AYALA and FORD exit.)

TIM
And Stein. I’ll need your help drafting a joint statement. We need to appear saddened but not uneasy. The public shouldn’t think they have anything to fear.

STEIN
I’ll get started on it.

(STEIN exits. TIM hesitates, but after a moment returns to his seat behind the desk.)

TIM
What’s happening? One moment we’re occupied with the bureaucracies of trade agreements and the next we’re dealing with terrorism.

Those poor people. What’re they caught up in? Is this a group seeking to have their voices heard? Or is this one man, betrayed by the justice he thought was his to wield, seeking revenge at an ungrateful world?

(TIM clasps his hands together.)

TIM
For those that died tonight, for those poor innocents caught in some grander crossfire, for the young blood shed for old wars, I make you this vow. I will not rest, I will not be satiated until the people responsible for this attack are caught and held accountable for their actions. Our coming winter will be long and hard, I knew that from the beginning. But the first snowflakes are falling. Brace yourselves for the storm ahead.

(Lights down. TIM exits.)

ACT I
SCENE V

(Lights rise only on the left side of the stage. A podium is placed to the left of the stage. The right side (not illuminated) will have a simple table.)

(TIM stands just behind the podium, while STEIN occupies it. MOSS stands off to the side, behind STEIN.)

STEIN
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.

(STEIN steps back to allow TIM forward.)

TIM
My fellow Americans. Good evening. Though our lives may be unaffected by the events in London tonight it is only fitting that we pay tribute to our allies in their time of crisis, as they have us before.

(Behind TIM, MOSS leans towards STEIN.)

STEIN
Any update on Search and Rescue?

MOSS
Nothing much more than you already know. They’re finding bodies either buried under rubble or charred.

STEIN
By the explosive?

MOSS
No, one of the gas lines malfunctioned. Everyone was broiled before blown up.

STEIN
Horrible way to go. MI5 still searching for suspects?

MOSS
They’re the best in the business, but you and I both know if someone was going to take claim for this they would’ve already.

STEIN
So that’s a ‘no’ on the security cams?

MOSS
Yeah. Whoever did this knew to blast the security. The whole thing. Maybe a minute before the explosion with some heavy electromagnetics. Something fried their cameras.

STEIN
Well funded?

MOSS
Well-executed. Electromags are cheap if you know where to look.

STEIN
And the notes?

MOSS
I’ll tell him after the speech.

STEIN
But, do we know what they mean?

MOSS
I’ll tell him after the speech.

TIM
Today at 10:14 A.M. Eastern Time The Shard, London’s prized office and museum space, fell victim to a terror attack. London’s best search and rescue teams are still scouring debris for survivors but at the moment the number missing or dead stands 1,496 people.

(Beat. The lights rise on the RIGHT side of the stage, illuminating KILLIAN and FLORES. KILLIAN leans against the table.)

TIM
At this time, there are no suspects as to who perpetrated these attacks. But there will be. The State Department, along with other governmental agencies, have been collaborating with the British Government to investigate these attacks. In time, we will find those responsible.

FLORES
They said they’ll find us.

KILLIAN
[FLIP] They won’t.

FLORES
How do you know?

KILLIAN
He’s a grandfather consoling his children. [FLIP] He doesn’t really know who we are. He’s just trying to keep them calm.

FLORES
But how do you know he doesn’t know?

KILLIAN
Because he’s deluded. [FLIP] And naive. He won’t know it’s us until it’s too late. [FLIP]

TIM
We’ll find them. Not just for the lives lost tonight. Not just for the British people, one of our closest allies and strongest friends. Not just for the future generation of both our countries who will have to grow up knowing these times of terror and uncertainty.

KILLIAN
Ah. Here it comes.

FLORES
What?

KILLIAN
The surge. [FLIP] The feeling in your veins that something in the world isn’t right. He’s answering the call, taking charge and finally preparing for battle.

FLORES
Aren’t we his targets?

KILLIAN
No, it’s that surge. [FLIP] That feeling of helplessness, in the end, that’s what’ll turn him. [FLIP]

TIM
But for the twenty-one American citizens lost to this horrific act. In times of crisis our nation has shown its durability and strength of will, and as we have before we will again. So to those who carried out this attack, as well as those who wish America harm, know this: We will not forget what you have done and we will not forgive your actions. We will hunt you down and avenge the innocent lives taken today. I will defend our ideals and our people with every tool at my command, and know that as long as I reside within this office and of this command nowhere is safe for you. Thank you. Good night. And God bless America.

(TIM steps back from the podium and lights fall on the RIGHT side of the stage. Exit FLORES and KILLIAN. The podium is pulled offstage and TIM, STEIN, and MOSS step forward.)

TIM
Any updates on the situation?

MOSS
Yes, one, sir.

STEIN
Moss.

MOSS
Yes?

(STEIN eyes MOSS.)

TIM
Is there something I’m missing? Stein?

STEIN
I- Sir-

(STEIN is at a loss for words.)

TIM
Moss, you were going to say...

MOSS
A few of the search and rescue teams have been finding letters in the rubble of the building.

TIM
Letters?

MOSS
Folded sheets of paper. We’re not sure how they survived the blast, but we think they’re a way for the people responsible to taunt us.

TIM
Taunt us?

STEIN
Moss, I really don’t-

MOSS
Sir, we still don’t fully understand what the message means.

TIM
What does it say?

STEIN
Moss!

MOSS
Here, sir.

(MOSS hands TIM a piece of paper. TIM reads aloud.)

TIM
The brightest of fires all start with a spark. And the closest of found things was once fully lost. It doesn’t make sense.

MOSS
That’s what we don’t understand. It’s not an obvious message, but we’ll keep trying to decipher it, see if there’s something subliminal we’re missing.

TIM
Keep at it.

(TIM waves MOSS and STEIN off and they exit, leaving TIM.)

TIM
No kind soul. It can’t be. I guess the past really can’t die, after all. Still. I would never have expected this. I guess it’s fitting, though, with what’s coming. I guess no kind soul survives a long winter, after all.

(Lights fall. Exit TIM.)

ACT II
SCENE I

(Lights rise. There is one table, short end towards the edge of the stage, with one large chair at the ‘head’ (the opposing short end) and three smaller chairs placed on either long side of the table.)

(TIM is seated at the head. ERIK HAGAN [Congressperson], GIA BAKER [Congressperson], and EMRYS BERG [Congressperson] are seated in the other three chairs.)

TIM
Thanks for being here. I know my invitation was rather unprompted.

HAGAN
When the president invites you to a meeting in the White House, most other prior plans evaporate.

TIM
I wanted to discuss you views on the Strategic Aid for Victims In-

BERG
Just call it the SAVIORS Act, we all know it.

BAKER
This is because we’re not voting for it, right?

TIM
Yes. I thought I’d be able to sway you views on it.

HAGAN
Then I’m afraid you’re mistaken.

TIM
I’m sorry?

HAGAN
I don’t doubt it. But my feelings about that act are set in stone.

BAKER
I have to agree. It’s appreciable you wanted to put something down in law after that terrible incident in London, but this isn’t the way.

TIM
This is the only way. That bomb, we have no way of finding who did it. Two months in and we’re no closer to finding a suspect than we are to resurrecting the dead.

BERG
But why this? Why a bill supporting financial aid to allies that underwent terrorist attacks?

HAGAN
After 9/11 we got the PATRIOT Act.

BAKER
But, this bill... it’s flawed in too many ways. A few mistakes would be understandable, expected, even, but this-

TIM
Is necessary. Is needed. London needed support two months ago and we gave them nothing. Not because we had nothing to give, but because we were too tied up in how much.

BERG
I’m not sure that’s a-

TIM
No. This act will change terrorism. How we deal with terrorism.

BAKER
It blurs the line between ally and nonthreatening colleague.

TIM
Is there such a big difference?

BERG
Only if you want to continue peaceful cooperations with the rest of the world.

TIM
One way or another I’ll have your support on this bill.

BAKER
Why the shift in tone? We were having a good debate.

BERG
I wouldn’t be so sure you can convince me, sir.

TIM
No?

BERG
Not likely.

(Beat.)

TIM
Have any of you heard of F. E. Grant? No? None of you? Well, I wouldn’t expect you to. He wasn’t a popular poet in his time, still isn’t, really. But when I was in school I had a fascination with him. His writing, his anthologies, the topics he would cover. He could spend chapters discussing dewdrops on leaves and a mere page on the entirety of death. But a friend and I, we took a liking to his work, and over time I learned his idioms. They’re quite intelligent, I’ll give him that, but just now I remembered one. And it’s rather pertinent. ‘Money is the downfall of good politicians.’

HAGAN
I don’t understand.

TIM
Neither did I, at first. Money? The downfall of politicians? But, in your case, at least, it seems appropriate.

BERG
Tim, what’re you hinting at?

TIM
You know what. Exactly. Berg, you’re dipping into the education fund you set up. I guess in the grand scheme of things a million or so won’t matter, but that beautiful 1933 Bentley begs to differ.

BERG
How did- You- I-

TIM
Save it. Hagan, you want to go next?

HAGAN
No.

TIM
Hagan here’s been taking bribes. Simple as that, and it makes sense. Give support to a few bills here and there, get a new dishwasher and a better car. The perks of being in power, I guess.

BAKER
I see.

TIM
Bribes can do quite a bit of damage.

BAKER
About us. Blackmail. We support the SAVIORS Act and you don’t drop word about us stuffing our wallets.

TIM
Pretty much. Yeah.

BAKER
That’s indefensible.

TIM
No. You are. I chose this life, to lead and serve, to squash people like you. The scourge who only pretend to lead so they can further their own self interests. I’m trying to actually get something done, to do some good in the world. If I have to step on your toes to get there, I will.

HAGAN
You have our support. But be careful who you blackmail.

BERG
Not everyone in this business has the same sense of balance as you do.

(BERG, HAGAN, and BAKER exit. Lights fall. Exit TIM.)

ACT II
SCENE II

(Lights rise. The stage is divided into three sections, the middle part larger than the left and right. The middle section is a recreation of the bureau/two chairs from AISIV. The left and right sides are dark.)

(TIM sits behind the desk in the chair. MOSS reads a brief in one of the chairs. A phone on the desk rings. TIM answers. As he picks up the phone lights rise on the left side of the stage, illuminating JEAN DELACROIX [DGSE Directorate-General], who holds a phone of his own.)

DELACROIX
Monsieur President. I understand it is not customary to directly interface with you, but with the troubling times we are in-

TIM
Perfectly understandable.

(TIM mutes.)

TIM
Moss, I have DGSE on the line. The Directorate-General.

MOSS
Good. Let’s see if the French have found anything.

(TIM waves MOSS to his desk as he puts the phone on speaker.)

TIM
You had an update for us?

DELACROIX
Yes, regarding the attack in London. We’re still running some of the samples we found on the scene, but a few of our officers picked up slips of paper that were scattered among the rubble.

TIM
The riddles.

DELACROIX
You found them, too? Nobody notified us.

TIM
‘The brightest of fires all start with a spark. And the closest of found things was once fully lost.’ It makes no sense.

DELACROIX
It wouldn’t. It took us a while to crack, too. But we think it’s the first two lines in a poem by a 16th century French poet.

TIM
What’s the poem?

MOSS
Who’s the poet?

DELACROIX
We don’t know. For records purposes in the last century a poem society tracked rare French poems. Unfortunately, they only tracked the owner’s name, address, and the first two lines of the poem.

MOSS
So we know who has the full poem?

(Lights rise on KILLIAN, on the RIGHT side. He holds a simple DETONATOR STICK in one hand. The other holds his chess piece. As DELACROIX and TIM talk he cocks his head, listening.)

DELACROIX
No. They died over twenty years ago.
(FLIP)
No heirs. Nothing. None of their property seized by the bank was claimed as the poem.
(FLIP)
So we don’t know the rest of the poem or even who has it now.

TIM
But we know it’s the first two lines of a poem.

KILLIAN
Oh, no. We don’t want to lay down our cards too early. [FLIP]

DELACROIX
We did have another lead for you, though. We’re running back through some of the records we held in-

KILLIAN
No.

(A big BOOM. DELACROIX’s side flashes reds and oranges before being engulfed in darkness. KILLIAN’s side falls dark at the same time DELACROIX’s does, with a more muted version of DELACROIX’s bright red and orange.)

TIM
Hello? Sir?

MOSS
The line went dead?

TIM
Yeah.

(MOSS pulls a phone from a jacket pocket.)

MOSS
Security, I have a dead phone line in the Oval Office.

PHONE VOICE
We don’t see anything. Must be on their end.

(MOSS replaces the phone.)

MOSS
No connection loss. Tim, I don’t-

(Enter STEIN.)

STEIN
It’s the French this time.

TIM
No.

STEIN
The terrorist, the attacks. Now there’re two.

TIM
The DGSE building?

STEIN
Yeah. Gone. Complete rubble.

MOSS
My god.

TIM
This was targeted. Coordinated. The Shard was just a bunch of people all together but this... the French were onto something, and the terrorists found out. They silenced them before we could pick up the leads.

MOSS
Looks so. There’s no chance the records they were keeping would have survived?

STEIN
Most of it’s computerized, now, so the French shouldn’t have a problem getting to it once they dig the drives out.

MOSS
Good.

STEIN
But they won’t share it. Their CIA was just demolished. If that happened do you think we’d be in a sharing mood?

MOSS
No. You’re right. Whatever they had, we’ll never get.

TIM
At least, not for a while.

STEIN
What do we do?

TIM
Go after them.

MOSS
What?

TIM
When’s the SAVIORS Act set to be voted on?

STEIN
About a month. It still has some final checks to undergo.

TIM
Get it pushed up. I want that act enacted within the week.

STEIN
It’s not as simple as pushing a button, sir, we need committees and parties to vote on seeing-

TIM
Stein. London is grieving the loss of several thousand. Paris is still searching for their best and brightest under hundreds of tons of rubble. I think knowing that their friends and colleagues could be dead before the start of next year will be motivation enough for Congress.

STEIN
I’ll see what I can do.

TIM
We need that act in place. We need safeguards. We need to be ready to fight, to defend ourselves. London fell. Paris is falling. New York could be next. Or DC. Or Chicago. These people, these disgusting, horrible beings that walk among us, the ones that decided to kill thousands of people going about their everyday lives as though it were nothing... we can’t let them win. If we fall, if they get to us and we can’t capture them, we can’t identify them, if we can’t even get a lead on the simplest of clues they’ll have won. I won’t let us fail. I won’t let us fall. Whatever it takes.

(Lights down. Exit STEIN, MOSS, and TIM.)

ACT II
SCENE III

(Lights rise. A podium is set up at the farthest left and forward it can possibly be on the stage.)

(Enter TIM from the left. He looks offstage to the left as he enters.)

TIM
Don’t worry, I won’t be too long. I have some business here I need to take care of. Give me ten minutes.

(TIM pauses at centerstage. He looks nervous. Apprehensive. Enter JIMMY WALKER.)

WALKER
Tim.

(WALKER strides confidently to TIM. They shake hands.)

TIM
How long’s it been?

WALKER
Years, maybe more. Going on a decade, now.

TIM
Too long. I was thinking, we never really caught up after that-

WALKER
Yeah. And I still owe you from that-

TIM
Yeah. We need to catch up some time.

WALKER
That’s what I thought this was.

TIM
Afraid not. I’m here on presidential business. My conference is in ten minutes.

WALKER
Shouldn’t you be somewhere else, then? Hair and makeup?

TIM
When I heard you were nearby I nearly canceled the conference entirely. But I do need something from you.

WALKER
Cashing in that favor?

TIM
Something like that.

WALKER
What could the president of the United States possibly want from me?

TIM
Don’t do that.

WALKER
Do what?

TIM
Try to make me laugh.

WALKER
Why?

TIM
Because that’s not why I’m here.

WALKER
You still haven’t told me. Why you’re here.

TIM
It’s not, strictly speaking, legal.

WALKER
So that’s why the president of the United States wants me. Someone who can do what he can’t.

TIM
It’ll be legal in less than a week. The bill’s signed, voted through Congress. Now it’s a waiting game for it to activate. But when you start, it won’t be legal.

WALKER
Tim, either tell me or don’t. But stop obfuscating around-

TIM
A missile. I need a missile.

WALKER
Because the president doesn’t have enough of those already.

TIM
I told you not to make me laugh.

WALKER
No, you said not to try.

TIM
Have you been keeping up with the news? With what’s been happening?

WALKER
You mean the attacks? Yeah. Everyone has.

TIM
I think we’re next.

WALKER
You mean-

TIM
I think we’re next on the list. I don’t know, I can’t know, but I’m pretty sure.

WALKER
How can you-

TIM
And I don’t know if it’ll be New York, or Chicago, or San Francisco, or DC, but I need to know that when- if that happens we can retaliate.

WALKER
But you don’t need missiles.

TIM
I need you. To launch the missiles.

WALKER
Why?

TIM
If I do it’s war. Technically. But if you do it, as a contractor employed by the government, it’s aid. It’s the military, not me.

WALKER
But it’s not legal.

TIM
Yet. That bill, the SAVIORS Act, it legalizes this. It’s mostly about money, but there’s a subclause that gives me and only me the express power to authorize private contractors to aid in terror attack relief. But only if we’re hit. And if that happens most of your restrictions are lifted. For a short grace period you can launch missiles, when I grant you express permission.

WALKER
So you’re asking-

TIM
That quarry? The one you used to live by?

WALKER
Still live by it. Just on the other side of the crater.

TIM
They have a lockup of C4. A stockpile protected by a single lock.

WALKER
How do you know that?

TIM
I just do. I’m not allowed to authorize the ATF to give you any. So you need to steal it.

WALKER
I’m building a rocket. You don’t want me to-

TIM
Yes. I do. Build a warhead. Standard arm/disarm functionality. That rocket you’re building is big enough to go intercontinental, right?

WALKER
We’ve never tested that before. We can’t, not without the FAA’s authorization-

TIM
Which’ll be granted the moment I authorize you to launch. Under the bill that comes into effect in a week.

WALKER
I never thought starting a rocketry club would go anywhere.

TIM
I’d never miss seeing you so surprised.

WALKER
But, Tim, I don’t think I can. I just... I’m not the kind of person who builds weapons. I don’t want to hurt anyone. Anything. I’m a vegetarian, you know that. I stop to let squirrels cross the road.

TIM
What you are doesn’t matter. It can’t. Going into a blizzard, walking into the storm, everyone’s someone. We all have our good sides, we all have our flaws. But that storm, it changes us. When we walked in we cared. We trusted. Some of us were experienced killers. Others couldn’t stand the sight of blood. But in the end we all become the same. No matter how kind-hearted, or non-violent, or rule-abiding. When we batten down those hatches, and curl up in little balls, we all become something different. Because no kind soul survives a long winter. Nobody comes out of there like they were going in.

(Beat.)

WALKER
I don’t like it. I won’t like it.

TIM
You’re going on a trip. A trip through darkness. Your destination? A land far from this world’s horrors. To reach it... all you have to do is follow the light. We’re heading into that darkness. I need my light to guide me.

WALKER
If we just say that I do what you’re asking...

TIM
I’ll need the launching device. A case.

WALKER
When?

TIM
I’m giving a press briefing just before I leave for the emergency summit. I’ll need it then.

WALKER
Okay. I’ll get it to you.

TIM
And, Walker?

WALKER
Yeah?

TIM
Thanks. For everything.

(TIM walks over to the podium. WALKER looks after him for a moment, and then turns, exiting on the left side of the stage.)

TIM
Good evening, Colorado.

(Lights down. Exit TIM.)

ACT II
SCENE IV

(Two spotlights illuminate TIM (left side of stage) and KILLIAN (RIGHT side). They enter but both hesitate, taking a moment to contemplate life in general.)

(Lights up on the rest of the stage. TIM’s left side is his usual bureau, two chairs. KILLIAN’s side is empty. FLORES enters from KILLIAN’s side.)

FLORES
I can’t convince you to not do this?

KILLIAN
No.

FLORES
At least reconsider. You’re... he’ll never stop. He will hunt you down and kill you.

KILLIAN
I know.

FLORES
You’re going to break him.

KILLIAN
Only to rebuild him a better being. [FLIP]

FLORES
I hope you know what you’re doing. Because in the end you’re the only thing keeping them from me.

(KILLIAN raises the case he carries towards FLORES.)

KILLIAN
You wanna-

FLORES
No.

KILLIAN
Okay, then.

(KILLIAN balances the case on his knee, opens it, keys in a number series, and presses a large red button.)

KILLIAN
Steal this, Frost.

(MOSS, STEIN, FORD, and AYALA rush on from left. TIM sees them and rises.)

TIM
Don’t say it.

MOSS
A detonation.

TIM
Which country?

FORD
Us.

TIM
Where?

AYALA
I- Sir, I-

STEIN
It... the detonation... a bomb...

TIM
Where was the bomb?

FORD
I just can’t... we’ll find them, we’ll lock it down, we’ll catch them...

STEIN
We- It-

TIM
Where was the bomb?

MOSS
I don’t want to say it.

TIM
Say it. Where was the bomb.

STEIN
Sir...

(STEIN gives a knowing look to TIM, who quavers slightly.)

TIM
I don’t-

STEIN
You do. Sir, the bomb was-

TIM
No.

STEIN
-was large enough to take out several blocks-

TIM
No.

STEIN
-a few miles from here-

TIM
No. No.

STEIN
Yes. I’m sorry.

TIM
No. No. No.

STEIN
Herbert Hoover Middle School. Sir, I’m so sorry.

(TIM’s knees wobble and he sniffles a bit, but his sadness is rapidly replaced by anger. He grabs one of the chairs seated before his bureau and, with one arm, launches it across the stage. It very nearly hits KILLIAN. The others (ni KILLIAN or FLORES) look appalled/shocked/afraid.)

MOSS
Sir, I don’t-

TIM
My son!

(MOSS turns to STEIN. TIM slinks over to his desk and falls into the chair, a mess.)

MOSS
I didn’t know he had a son.

STEIN
He was playing that one pretty close to the chest. He does that. When I first met him he was more of an enigma.

MOSS
But he’s unmarried.

STEIN
Not exactly. He had a wife.

MOSS
Divorced?

STEIN
Dead.

MOSS
Really?

STEIN
They were out driving. Some vacation, out to the mountains for some skiing. They didn’t make it out of the state. All it took was four drunk high schoolers. A graduation party, they had too much beer, were reckless teens. Didn’t really matter. Still doesn’t. All that matters is that when they ran that red light Frost’s vehicle-

MOSS
How did we never know about this?

STEIN
He kept it hush-hush. It’s the darkest of some of his secrets. All that matters is that when they crashed Frost was launched through the window, his wife left trapped in the car. About fifty feet away were the teens. And he had to choose. His wife was going to bleed out, the teens were going to burn up. No time for rescue crews.

MOSS
And he saved the teens?

STEIN
Stephanie isn’t here to tell the story, so, yeah.

MOSS
He saved four drunk teens over his wife? Who does that? What kind of a person can do that?

STEIN
The kind we need. He’s less emotional than before, less empathetic, but that makes him smart. He won’t save one life over millions.

MOSS
But today he couldn’t save anyone. Not even his son.

STEIN
The last memory he had of her. Gone.

(TIM, who has been slowly growing angrier, rises from his chair. Wiping a tear away, he stares at KILLIAN. KILLIAN watches him from the RIGHT side of the stage, never crossing the center line. TIM steps forward, and tries to lunge for KILLIAN, to get the immediate revenge he so desires, but STEIN and MOSS hold him back, leaving TIM and KILLIAN to stare face-to-face.)

TIM
I will find you. I. Will. Find you. You killed thousands of innocents in London. You killed hundreds of leaders in Paris. And you killed schoolchildren in my backyard. My own son. Though I can only hope you’ll die slowly I know I can never wrench a knife as deep in your gut as you have mine, I’ll do my best. You’re smart. You’re ruthless. And cold. And evil. But I will kill you. Because I am the President of the United States. And you just killed my son.

KILLIAN
Good luck. [FLIP]

(Lights fall. Exit all, on their respective stage sides.)

ACT II
SCENE V

(Lights up on a nondescript meeting room. A large table in the center stretches from stage left to right, with seats dotting its perimeter.)

(Enter FORD from the left. He glances about the room briefly, before pulling a chair and taking a seat. Moments later, AYALA and MOSS enter. FORD stands.)

FORD
We need to talk.

MOSS
That’s why we’re here.

FORD
It’s about Tim’s state. His condition.

AYALA
He’s distraught. A little at-odds, but he’ll recover.

FORD
I don’t think he will recover. Losing a son, that’s a big blow.

MOSS
He’s a strong man.

FORD
Even strong men have their limits.

AYALA
He hasn’t hit it yet. We’d know if he hit that threshold.

FORD
Don’t we? Did we not just stand around a man so overcome with emotion that he was incapable of words?

MOSS
Loss of words doesn’t mean he’s not capable.

FORD
Not capable. Just distressed enough to warrant a temporary break.

AYALA
Presidents don’t take leaves of absence.

MOSS
Not this president, at least.

FORD
How long do you think it took Rome to fall, hmm?

MOSS
What?

FORD
Rome? It wasn’t built in a day, everyone knows that, but I asked how long you think it took to fall. That big an empire, surely it took time.

MOSS
Of course. The fall of the Roman Empire was years. Arguably decades.

FORD
No. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it definitively fell in one.

AYALA
The inertial paradox theory?

FORD
Exactly.

MOSS
What’s that?

AYALA
A political theory about the workings of society. It reconciles the might and size of an empire with the expedition of its demise. In simple terms; the higher the climb, the harder the fall.

FORD
Rome was the center of civilization in its time. It was the biggest ruling power in the world.

MOSS
And that reconciles it falling in a day?

FORD
Partially. But it had systemic issues. Rome was a perfect democracy. Too perfect. When the time came to defend their nation they fell not only because of the luxury they had grown accustomed to but the security they thought their ways of life afforded them.

MOSS
How can you argue that? The people had no way of controlling the external forces that would-

FORD
But it was never about the outside. Rome would have fallen anyway. A too-perfect system in a never-perfect universe always falls. Unless...

MOSS
Unless?

AYALA
Unless we know the fall’s coming.

MOSS
No, not this, again-

FORD
But we know he’ll fall! Tim is a good man, yes, he is a good president, yes, but he is not thinking straight. He just lost his son to the murderers of several thousand more people around the world. What makes you so sure he won’t leap at the opportunity for revenge? Trust?

MOSS
Faith. In a man I’ve known for thirty years. When I first met him he was still piecing himself together. A child of unloving parents, of a life spent dancing across the world in search of someone to accept him. Tokyo, Paris, London, Berlin. New York. He got his first job getting coffee for a small firm in upstate New York. Look how far he’s come. So, no. I’m not basing my opinions on blind trust. I’m basing them on the belief that my best friend, the only man I’ve known to never let down his morals, the only person in this world I’m sure would walk through hell just to save a life, is still a decent person.

(Beat.)

FORD
You think they thought that about Caesar?

AYALA
What?

FORD
You think Caesar’s best friends thought he was fit for duty? I mean, at first he was, at first he was the most popular leader in the history of Rome. But after his power, after that public image... do you think they still thought he should lead them?

MOSS
I... I-

FORD
Because I’m pretty sure they didn’t stab him to death on accident. Look, Tim may look fine, he may even be fine, for now. But I have experience with people who’ve lost everything. His wife was tragic. His son is even more tragic. But even if he’s not showing symptoms yet his grief will grow to change him. It’ll define him. It’ll change everything about him.

MOSS
And you want to take his fingers off the switch before he does something we can’t take back.

FORD
Like starting a fight we can’t stop.

AYALA
But he’s not there yet.

FORD
I disagree.

AYALA
I couldn’t care less. Tim may eventually show his grief. It may change him, like you said. But until then, I think it would be prudent for us to leave him in charge.

FORD
Why?

AYALA
Public perception, for one. A leader stepping down, or being forced down, for medical reasons doesn’t exactly project power. Security, for another. This job is pretty much the only thing in this world Tim still cares about. Who knows what taking it away from him could do?

(Beat, as everyone realizes they agree.)

FORD
For now.

MOSS
You’re agreeing with her? After everything you just said?

FORD
For now. We leave him in charge. But when things start to change-

AYALA
If they start to-

FORD
When that happens, we have this conversation again. Agreed?

AYALA
Yeah.

FORD
Moss?

MOSS
I blame you if he nukes the wrong country.

(MOSS storms off. FORD and AYALA give a knowing glance, and then part ways. Lights down.)

ACT II
SCENE VI

(Lights up. The entire stage is lit in the odd color the RIGHT side was lit in the first scene. As the lights rise there is a musical indication that we are in the past; a flashback, or pastvision, is taking place. We are set just before Tim’s press conference in Colorado. The stage is laid out as normal for Tim’s office: the bureau, two chairs.)

(TIM sits at his desk, rifling through papers. MOSS enters.)

MOSS
You have a gift.

TIM
From who?

MOSS
Doesn’t say, but Secret Service screened it. I think they broke a few parts, though.

TIM
No surprise. Especially with the terror attacks. They think the next attack’ll be at home.

MOSS
Doubtful. Nobody’s that insane. Not after 9/11.

(MOSS sets a medium-sized parcel on TIM’s desk and leaves. TIM rips the clumsily rewrapped paper from the box, revealing-)

TIM
A chess set.

(TIM flips open the travel chess set and pulls some of chess pieces from the hollowed-out inside. As he does so he toys with the pieces, flipping the white knight as he empties the box.)

TIM
But missing the black king. I don’t- Oh.

(TIM flips over the chessboard and systematically places the chess pieces on it, sliding them around in a pattern-like fashion. When he moves the final piece with an air of certainty, a hidden compartment in the board slides open. TIM takes out the slip of paper inside.)

TIM
‘A can, lilied, meets Bop on a bay. To the Bop, under our able and cool turn, the aid allies, winning even. Who abducted prim copyboy, ailed and aspout? And for the truth? Refute the ember of the hornet.’

(TIM lets the nonsense sink in for a moment, pondering.)

TIM
I hate you.

(Shaking his head, he takes a pen and begins to mark the slip of paper.)

TIM
You know, when I came up with this code I never thought we’d need it. Still, though, I have much to discuss with you. Every prime is used, every other number discarded. That leaves us with... ‘Call me on your landline. Our old apartment.’

(Hesitant, TIM picks up his landline and dials a number. The line hums, but is almost immediately picked up.)

KILLIAN
I was wondering when you would call. [FLIP]

(As KILLIAN begins to speak, lights rise on the far front right side of the stage. KILLIAN stands there, with a phone pressed two his face.)

TIM
I hate you. I’m gonna kill you.

KILLIAN
Now, now, [FLIP] is that any way to greet an old friend?

TIM
I hate you. I hate everything about you. I hate-

KILLIAN
As much as I’d love to hear what I’m guessing was a well-rehearsed love poem, I didn’t ask you to call me for pleasantries. [FLIP] I want to meet.

TIM
No.

KILLIAN
Is it because of what I did to your dog? [FLIP] Because, believe me, it was like that before it fell off the roof.

TIM
No, I-

KILLIAN
Or are you trying to keep me away? Protect me? [FLIP] Gee, that’s mighty sweet of you.

TIM
I don’t want you near me because if you come within a mile of me I’ll have you arrested. For killing thousands.

KILLIAN
But that was more a warm-up act, if you ask me. [FLIP] The real show’s about to start and I’m really hoping you won’t miss it. [FLIP] In fact, I know you won’t.

TIM
What’re you planning, Killian? If you were any other person by now I’d have a dozen people in this room trying to figure out where you’re calling from-

KILLIAN
-a pay phone in New York-

TIM
-but because it’s you I’m giving you a head start. And you shouldn’t have told me where you are.

KILLIAN
Do you really think it’ll matter? Like I said, [FLIP] either way, you’ll see me.

TIM
And like I said, what are you planning? London was devastating, France was even worse, but to think those were just the beginning is like comparing modern telecommunications with two cans and a string.

KILLIAN
Oh, you’ll see. But I still want to meet. [FLIP] How’s your schedule look next Tuesday?

TIM
If we’re going to meet, it’ll take planning. I’m leaving for a press briefing in Colorado in a few hours, and an emergency summit in a few days. I can meet just before I leave. There’s a time slot of around two hours.

KILLIAN
[FLIP] Tell them I’m an old friend.

TIM
Never.

KILLIAN
You’ll need to. [FLIP] I want to be alone with you.

TIM
Why do I get the feeling you’re going to kill me?

KILLIAN
Wha- me- I- no! I would never! [FLIP] I just have some things to discuss with you that would be better suited out of the ears of any government agents.

TIM
Where, then?

KILLIAN
That abandoned bowling hall?

TIM
Not that abandoned. But they’ll be pretty much empty when we meet. If we need Secret Service can get the manager out. Then it’ll just be the two of us.

KILLIAN
What fun.

TIM
Can’t wait.

KILLIAN
Oh, and, Tim?

TIM
What?

KILLIAN
I’m sorry. For what I’m about to do. But the world failed me. They betrayed my trust, and I need to repay them. This is the only way I see to do that.

TIM
Killian, you need to stop. Stop killing people. It’ll rip you apart.

KILLIAN
Funny. I thought it was filling me up. And that by killing people I was slowly ripping you apart.

TIM
Must be mistaken.

KILLIAN
Yeah. Oh, and, tell Ethan I love him.

TIM
What?

(KILLIAN abruptly ends the call, and TIM, a bit unnerved, sets down the phone.)

TIM
He wouldn’t... he...

(TIM picks up the phone again and dials a number.)

TIM
Yes, Walker. Yeah, I know, it’s been a long time. Look, I need you to meet me at my conference in Colorado this Saturday.

(Lights down. Exit TIM.)

ACT II
SCENE VII

(Lights up. The stage is lit normally, not in the same way it was last scene. We are back in the present, just after FORD and MOSS’ meeting. The podium from AISV is replaced in the center of the stage.)

(TIM stands behind the podium, while MOSS, STEIN, AYALA, and FORD stand off to the left of the podium.)

TIM
I can only hope that the strides we take overseas, the policies we implement at this emergency summit, will help to better defend all nations of the world from terror attacks such as these. Thank you. I have time for just a few questions.

(Camera lights flash for a few moments. When they settle, reporters begin to ask their questions, offstage and unseen.)

REPORTER 1
Mr. President, in light of your recent loss, can you assure us your impartiality in the formation of any policies at this summit?

(TIM wavers.)

TIM
Next question.

REPORTER 2
Mr. President, what measures are you seeking to present at this summit and how do you think they’ll come into effect?

TIM
I’m working on it. Next question.

REPORTER 3
Mr. President, what do you-

TIM
No, you know what? Here’s the answer to all your questions. At the summit we’ll try to find a solution to our present terror crisis. Our world is broken and in disarray, and because no one nation is willing to step up we’re not as safe as we could be. So the summit is to fix that. At the summit, we’ll find a solution. A way to make us stronger. And better.

(TIM steps out from behind the podium. MOSS, STEIN, AYALA, and FORD look ready to speak with him, but he waves them off.)

TIM
I need a minute. We’ll talk later.

(The four reluctantly slink offstage. TIM tries to look occupied as WALKER steps onstage. He carries a metal briefcase.)

WALKER
Tim.

TIM
Walker. You have the transceiver?

WALKER
Yeah. Look, I’m sorry about-

TIM
Save it. Everyone’s trying to console me with hollow wishes and unmotivated apologies. They don’t really know what I feel. They just want to look like they do.

WALKER
Well, I have the case. And I am sincerely sorry.

(TIM extends his hand for the case, but WALKER doesn’t hand it over.)

WALKER
I need to know I can trust you.

TIM
You can trust me.

WALKER
Not like that. I mean, your son died. I need to know you’re in the right headspace.

TIM
I am. If anything, Ethan- That’s what’s given me clarity. Focus. Something to yearn for. I need to see the people responsible for his death, responsible for the deaths of thousands purged from this world. It’s their fault too many families are going to sleep tonight, filled with anguish and despair, trying to reconcile a loss they’ll never recover from. I need to fix this. They need to stop.

WALKER
You don’t sound like yourself. You’re too... Dark. You’re the pacifist.

TIM
I’m the realist. I know when the fight I’m fighting’s not leading anywhere.

WALKER
But violence? Fight fire with fire and the world goes up in smoke.

TIM
We’re already shrouded by the smoke of a hundred fires. It’s a small price to pay that one more should put them all out.

WALKER
And what’s your assurance? That killing someone, launching these missiles, will actually do something good?

TIM
Call it faith in inevitability. Everything has a natural order, a path it takes. Even in chaos, everything is predictable. Diplomacy is our first option, it always has been, but if I’m right, if this summit fails to agree or to implement effective contingencies... I’m just trying to fix what they started. The people responsible for this, the people that’ve killed for their own conceited self-interests, they need to die. One way or another.

WALKER
As a last resort.

(WALKER lifts the case towards TIM. TIM takes it.)

TIM
All we have now are last resorts.

(Exit TIM on the left and WALKER on the right.)

ACT III
SCENE I

(Lights up. A few chairs are scattered across the stage, per pre-conference setup style. This is a preparation room just before the summit; an antechamber to the main room.)

(Enter MOSS, AYALA, FORD, STEIN, and TIM, in conversation.)

TIM
We need to push defense.

STEIN
We need diplomacy.

TIM
No, we need safety. Safety in guarding against future attacks and in revenge for past ones.

AYALA
Revenge is never an effective defensive strategy.

FORD
Depends on how you look at it. It locks everything up in a neat bow. Puts the past behind us.

AYALA
Or propels it into the future.

MOSS
Revenge for 9/11 became a two-decade war.

TIM
I’m not trying to start a war. I’m ending one.

STEIN
We’re not at war with the terrorists. Not formally, anyway.

TIM
Our internal war. That struggle for power and control over who does what. When I end that war everything else falls back to normal.

FORD
I’m not sure that counts as-

STEIN
Ford. Everyone. I need to talk with Tim. Alone.

(They take the hint. FORD, MOSS, and AYALA exit.)

STEIN
I don’t know what you think you’re doing-

TIM
So don’t even try. I’m fixing the world. Forever.

STEIN
But we agreed on diplomacy, Tim.

TIM
Did we?

STEIN
Yes, we did. Diplomacy before violence, always. That’s what you wanted from this presidency.

TIM
That’s what I thought I needed. I thought the world could be saved if we all worked together. But I see now the world’s not that perfect. True unity is a lie told to console us. That this world is safe.

STEIN
It’s not, I agree. But we can make it safe. This summit-

TIM
I almost didn’t come.

STEIN
You’re the one who proposed it.

TIM
I had a change of heart.

STEIN
Is this about your son? Is that what this is? Because know that we’re all here for you, if you need help-

TIM
-I don’t need help-

STEIN
-getting through whatever this is. But you can’t let that cloud your judgement. We’re trying to help them-

TIM
-I don’t need help-

STEIN
-recover from the attacks, and they can’t do that if we start a war. Look, if you need any help-

TIM
I don’t need help. I don’t need your help, I don’t need anyone’s help. I grew up helpless, the forgotten son of uncaring parents in an unforgiving world. But I never needed help. Because I can survive on my own.

STEIN
But you don’t need to anymore.

(Beat.)

TIM
Anymore?

STEIN
What?

TIM
I don’t need to survive on my own, ‘anymore.’

STEIN
Yeah.

TIM
You’ve been investigating me?

STEIN
I don’t know what you’re talking about.

TIM
You’ve been investigating me.

STEIN
No, I haven’t been-

TIM
You have. So I guess you know now.

STEIN
I didn’t-

TIM
I guess at some point someone was bound to find it. The past never stays buried long enough for you to get ahead in life.

STEIN
Tim, I-

TIM
But I have to say, I’m shocked it was you. If anything, Ford would have been my first bet, but you... my Vice President. Friend for decades. What gave you the impression an investigation would be warranted?

STEIN
Tim, I didn’t want to hurt you. It was... it was just the way you reacted. When the Shard was attacked, the way you reacted when Moss told you DGSE was on the scene. I just wondered, I just wanted to know if you’d ever had a stint with them. If you’d collaborated, or been a part of DGSE, or-

TIM
You thought me treasonous. A traitor to my country?

STEIN
No. I-

TIM
I’m hurt. But still, the truth has outed. DGSE and me go way back.

STEIN
I didn’t know if you’d-

TIM
What? Been a part of a foreign nation’s CIA? I’m sure at some point you realized the top secret clearance vetting was more thorough than anything you could do.

STEIN
I did. But it wasn’t just DGSE. Tim, some of your friends-

TIM
-Ghosts from my past-

STEIN
-grew up to be people I’m hoping you don’t recognize now. I heard rumors, Tim, rumors I’m hoping aren’t-

(MOSS enters, beckoning TIM to follow him back out.)

MOSS
We’re about to start. You both should take your sets.

TIM
We’ll be right there.

(MOSS exits.)

TIM
After. We finish this.

(TIM exits. After a moment, STEIN exits.)

ACT III
SCENE II

(Lights up. The entire stage is lit in the odd color the RIGHT side was lit in previous scenes. As the lights rise there is a musical indication that we are in the past; a flashback, or pastvision, is taking place. We are set a little after Tim’s son is blown up [AIISIV].
The stage is set to be a minimalist bowling alley. There are scattered pins in corners, and what could be a rack of bowling balls in one corner. Some shattered glass from a broken sign is just off the left side. Much is obscured by darkness and shadows.)

(KILLIAN enters from the right side. He wanders a bit, taking in the bowling alley and what it once was, flipping the CHESS PIECE every once in a while. TIM enters from the left. KILLIAN doesn’t see him.)

TIM
I told you I’d kill you.

(TIM strides across the stage, arm outstretched. He reaches KILLIAN and in one move takes him by the throat. KILLIAN drops his CHESS PIECE.)

KILLIAN
(Choking)
I...thought...you...were...joking...

TIM
Joking? You killed people, Killian! What we did in France, what we did in London, that was roughing them up. We were never supposed to kill them.

KILLIAN
Maybe...not...you...

TIM
Yeah. Maybe not. It was always you with the grand plan to see our world in flames.

KILLIAN
It...can...still...be... Remote...trigger...if...I...die

(TIM quickly releases KILLIAN, who falls to his knees.)

KILLIAN
(Hoarsely)
I thought that’d get your attention. If I die, a dirty bomb in some undisclosed and densely populated city goes off. Make my other stunts look like firecrackers.

TIM
Why do you do this, Killian? Why are you like this?

(KILLIAN rises to his feet, grabbing the CHESS PIECE from the ground as he does so.)

KILLIAN
You know why. You know why! That world, that you’re trying to defend, the one you spent years disassembling, the one that I want up in flames, is the one that has failed us for generations. It still fails us. How many times have our governments left us for dead? Cast us aside like we were just more nuisances in their system of power? For how many times can a government do that before it deserves to be decommissioned?

TIM
But that’s not your choice to make. You are one man, deciding who lives and dies on a global scale. What makes you so sure you know what’s good and what’s bad?

KILLIAN
Because I’m a child of their failure. I’m a mistake they tried so desperately to cover up.

TIM
And that qualifies you to kill thousands? Millions?

KILLIAN
No transition of power has ever been peaceful. [FLIP] There are always necessary steps, always people that stand in the way. But this world order needs deconstructing, and we have the tools to deconstruct it. Standing by, doing nothing while the people meant to lead us tear this world to shreds, is just the same as helping them in their conquests.

TIM
You can’t say that. What about true innocents?

KILLIAN
No such thing. No person can be excused from not acting when a moral imperative commands them to.

TIM
So they’re traitors? Traitors to themselves? To their families, to the world?

KILLIAN
They’re traitors to me! [FLIP] I was seven when they were killed. Eight years old and there I sat, encased in a wooden box with a microphone, sobbing as I told the judge of how he held them at gunpoint. Of how my father tried to fight. Of how my mother was holding me. Of how they both bled out before police could arrive. Of how the man fifteen feet away deserved to burn in hell for the pain he’d caused me. [FLIP] The pain he’d caused them.

TIM
Killian, I’ve always been-

KILLIAN
No, Tim, they’re traitors to me. Not because I disagree with their ideas, not because I don’t like how they looked at me that day, with the least bit of pity. They’re traitors because they let themselves be bought out by the man who killed my parents. The only two people I ever loved in this world. The cornerstones of my life. This world failed me, Tim, cast me aside after I lost everything. And you ask me why I can’t help but wonder if things would be different if we changed the world, just a little?

TIM
Killian, I’m sorry about your parents. I really am. But you can’t let something from your past come to haunt your future.

KILLIAN
And you haven’t?

TIM
Have I?

KILLIAN
I can’t help but wonder... Stephanie?

TIM
How do-

KILLIAN
You never truly believed we parted ways, did you? You were never that naive. I kept tabs on you. I have to say, I was overjoyed when you proposed. A little annoyed I never got an invitation, but-

TIM
Killian, I-

KILLIAN
I suppose you’d never want to mix that part of your past with the brighter potentials of your future, would you? Better to keep those two worlds as far apart as possible.

TIM
No, Killian, it was-

KILLIAN
But then you stopped. Just like that. Ended everything. [FLIP] You were a lawyer with aspirations to head the Supreme Court. Actually enact what we’d only hoped to enact. She mellowed you out.

(TIM takes a step away from KILLIAN.)

TIM
Stephanie saw the good in me. I didn’t want to let the darker parts of me grow to define me, so I shut them away. Became the person she wanted.

KILLIAN
[FLIP] The opposite of the man I once knew.

TIM
And she would have had her way, would have seen me become a leader, a kind and-

(TIM’s face, bright with the memory of his love, falls.)

TIM
But she died.

(Beat.)

TIM
She died. She died, and that broke me. I was almost past what I’d done, this close to finally breaking free, and then her death plunged me straight back into the icy waters of despair. You said-

(TIM steps forward and now it’s KILLIAN who steps back.)

TIM
You said you’d kept tabs on me. That I grew into someone you couldn’t recognize. The teens in that car, that night... we were miles from the city, dozens of miles. The teens had no reason to be that far from the school.

KILLIAN
Tim, I don’t know-

TIM
And we never saw them coming. If they’d had their lights on, if we could have seen them I would have stopped...

KILLIAN
Please, don’t-

TIM
You. It was you. This whole time, all this time, it was you. You’re the mastermind of all my pain, the little green man behind the curtain tinkering with my life. And Stephanie... what was that to you? A correction? Fixing me?

KILLIAN
No, Tim, I never meant to hurt you. I only meant-

TIM
You killed her. The love of my life. The one hope I had of becoming a good man, you purged her from my life. And my son, my Ethan, the only living memory I had of her, you had to take that, too.

(TIM strides over to KILLIAN, grabbing him by the arm. KILLIAN drops the chess piece and TIM picks it up. TIM half-drags KILLIAN towards the left side of the stage.)

KILLIAN
What are you doing? We didn’t agree on this. Where are you taking me?

TIM
You’re going on a little trip. A trip into darkness. Your destination? A land far worse than this world’s horrors. To reach it... all you have to do is follow the light. It blinds you, doesn’t it? Don’t worry. It, too, shall fall.

(As TIM walks KILLIAN off the left side, he leans over to grab a long shard of glass. He pockets it. Exit TIM and KILLIAN. Lights down.)

ACT III
SCENE III

(Lights up. The stage is bare save for a small table with a chair tucked behind the left side.)

(Enter TIM from the left, carrying the BRIEFCASE given to him by WALKER. He scans the room back and forth as he strides for the table. He pulls out the chair and takes a seat, opening the briefcase on the table. Enter STEIN.)

STEIN
What are you doing?

TIM
I needed some air. I’ll be back in a moment.

STEIN
You left the council halfway through a session. Just like that. Tim, you need to get back in there.

TIM
I just need a moment, Stein. Give me a moment.

STEIN
What is it? What’s happened to you? You covered up the DGSE job, you’ve been hiding your former friends... what is it you don’t want discovered?

TIM
It’s nothing. Go back to the session, I’ll be there in-

STEIN
No. I’m not sure I want you alone anywhere right now.

TIM
Stein, I really need you to-

STEIN
No! I’m staying! I need to know, Tim, here and now. What aren’t you telling me?

TIM
Stein, please. Go. I don’t want you caught up in all this.

STEIN
What is all this?

TIM
When everything falls I need you on the other side of the firing squad. I need you as far from this as possible.

STEIN
Tim-

TIM
I’m not keeping anything from you. I promise. The DGSE thing was the skeleton in my closet. I didn’t want anyone knowing; they’d come to the same conclusion you did, that I’m a traitor to my country. But I’m not. And that’s it.

STEIN
Ok. Five minutes. Then I want you back in the session.

TIM
Ok.

(STEIN goes to leave on the left side of the stage, but a step away from the exit he turns back.)

STEIN
A good night’s coming.

(TIM doesn’t look up from the case.)

TIM
And that, too, shall fa-

(TIM looks up, alarmed. He turns to look back at STEIN.)

STEIN
I knew it. I had my suspicions, I had my doubts, but now I know. The last skeleton in your closet? Really? DGSE was the tip of the iceberg. Those friends you made, your compatriots in low places... I told you they grew up to be influential people. People who did things. Who were accused of far worse. Nathan Garnier.

(TIM stands from the chair and turns to face STEIN.)

TIM
I don’t know who that is.

STEIN
But you do. Or did he keep that from you? Nathan Jacques Garnier, died age thirty-one.

TIM
No, I never knew a Nathan.

STEIN
What about a Killian?

(Beat.)

STEIN
The Secret Service is the best in the world at tracking people down. Changing names, changing faces, they’re still the same person. You didn’t really think Nathan becoming Killian would turn over a new leaf, did you?

TIM
How did you know?

STEIN
We found the ledgers he’d kept. DGSI found a lock box in their archives that someone’d hidden. Naturally, we wanted a peek. He kept journals, Tim. Detailed entries of everything you two had spoken about. Your plans for the future. Your targets.

TIM
We never-

STEIN
And recordings. Your special goodbye. After all those years it must have become instinct, I figured. So a final test. A good night is coming, he would say. And it, too, shall fall.

(A long silence stretches on, TIM trying think his way out and STEIN waiting for TIM to respond.)

TIM
Then I guess my secret’s out. Killian and I were friends from the start. Both children of a broken world. Both unloved and uncared for by those charged to protect us. We were made for each other. And I don’t regret saying those twenty years were the best of my life. We were free, free to change the world, to shape it to our will. We saw injustice in the world and we corrected it.

STEIN
One life at a time.

TIM
Noble sacrifices on a path to greatness. We were making the world better. But eventually Killian’s ambitions outgrew mine. I thought we’d agreed to part then, but looking back it may have just been me trying to leave. To get out of the game before I did something I couldn’t outrun. Before I killed someone I couldn’t cover up.

STEIN
So you ran to America. To New York. To me.

TIM
My guiding light towards goodness. After all those years of death.

STEIN
I should have seen you for what you were. Not the misguided mess I would fix up and send back but the tortured and hopeless wreck that would grow to destroy us.

TIM
But I’m not. I won’t destroy us. I am, I’ve always been loyal to us, to the country that took me in when I needed a home. Everything I’ve done, everything I will do, it’s not to destroy us. It’s to make us better. To make us stronger.

(TIM turns back to the case and opens a plastic switch.)

STEIN
What is that?

TIM
Our salvation. I had Walker build it before we left.

STEIN
The SAVIORS Act. Of course.

TIM
Not just your run-of-the-mill bill after all. There’s a loophole. On our flight here I declared war.

STEIN
Against who?

TIM
Does it matter? We’re at war now, and with the SAVIORS Act I hold the power to launch this missile. To kill those responsible for death after death after death. They failed us, can’t you see? They were supposed too protect us and they failed! They deserve to die.

STEIN
No. I can’t let you.

(TIM rises from his chair and, from the back of his waistband, pulls out a handgun, aiming it at STEIN.)

TIM
I’ve killed everyone standing in my way. Don’t make me kill you, too.

STEIN
Tim, please, these people don’t deserve to die.

TIM
But they do!

(As TIM speaks, STEIN slowly approaches him.)

TIM
The people we trusted to run the world, to keep us save sold out their jobs to fill their pockets! We can’t trust them to do anything more than lie their way through the next election. All those wars, all those people dead to make their policies look justified. And to what end? For how long can we-

(In one sudden movement STEIN pulls the gun from TIM’s hands, retraining it on TIM.)

STEIN
I’m sorry. But I can’t let you.

TIM
Then this is it.

STEIN
It doesn’t have to be.

TIM
Doesn’t it? I guess, in a way, if I had to die I’d rather die at the hands of a friend.

STEIN
Is that what we are? Diametrically opposed, at each other’s throats, and friends?

TIM
Even the strongest of friendships have their weaknesses.

STEIN
You can say the same about people.

TIM
‘The brightest of fires all start with a spark. And the closest of found things was once fully lost. The lightest of feathers left the heaviest mark. And the richest among us once paid the greatest cost. But we are infinitesimal, lifted from time. The mere fact of our existence is our crime. No true hero outlives the dark, and no kind soul survives a long winter.’

STEIN
No.

TIM
Yes.

(TIM swivels back around to press the button, and as the case beeps STEIN fires at TIM. Lights fall. A THUD as TIM hits the ground, dead.)

STEIN
Oh my god.

(Exit STEIN and TIM.)

ACT III
SCENE IV

(Lights up. The stage is empty save for a single wooden chair in the exact center of the stage. The light is as neutral as possible: not a gradient but a balance between the standard RIGHT and left stage lights.)

(KILLIAN is seated in the chair. TIM stands on the left side of the stage.)

KILLIAN
What are we doing here, Tim? Why am I here?

TIM
You took everything. Everything.

KILLIAN
I made you better.

TIM
You made me a monster.

KILLIAN
With the power to change the world. Power fit for a god.

TIM
No mortal should have that power. No one.

KILLIAN
So here we are. At a crossroads. I’ve molded you, turned you back to the man I knew. And you can choose. To try and fix the dying dog or heave the rock and put it out of its misery.

TIM
I’m not your puppet.

KILLIAN
No. You’re better. Give me my piece.

TIM
Your what?

KILLIAN
My piece. The chess piece you stole from my set. I want it back.

TIM
No.

KILLIAN
Give it back.

TIM
Never.

KILLIAN
You stole it from me!

TIM
And you took my everything!

KILLIAN
I needed to, I needed to correct your life.

TIM
No, you didn’t need to, you never needed to do anything. You wanted to. You missed the friend that grew up and moved away.

KILLIAN
No, I-

TIM
You missed me! And we had fun, KILLIAN, but that gives you no right-

KILLIAN
I want the piece!

(Beat.)

TIM
Fine. Here.

(Still standing several feet from KILLIAN, TIM tosses the BLACK KING CHESS PIECE to KILLIAN, who stands up and catches it.)

TIM
Won’t do you much good. Not where you’re going.

KILLIAN
What’re you gonna do? You going to turn me in?

TIM
No.

KILLIAN
Hand me over to the FBI?

TIM
No. I’m going to kill you.

KILLIAN
No you’re not.

TIM
Yes, I am. You killed my wife. My son.

(KILLIAN slowly backs towards the right side of the stage, but also begins to laugh.)

KILLIAN
You don’t get it, do you? They were nothing! They were cogs in the machine. They never meant anything.

TIM
They meant something to me! Ethan, Stephanie, they were the better life we could never have. When we were young we were naive and stupid. You need to grow up! The world’s problems can’t be fixed by a purge, you know that! You know that. Even if you kill everyone, if you leave just two people we’ll have the same problem in a few hundred years. No solution is permanent in an endlessly changing world.

KILLIAN
That doesn’t mean we can’t try.

TIM
That’s what ‘trying’ is? Killing people?

KILLIAN
Nobody’s innocent-

TIM
Yeah. You said that.

(KILLIAN begins laughing again.)

TIM
What’s so funny? What’s so funny?!

(TIM pulls the shard of glass from his pocket and marches towards KILLIAN with it, who abruptly stops laughing and steps backwards. Now TIM and KILLIAN stand in the center of the stage, TIM to the left and KILLIAN to the right.)

TIM
Not so funny now?

KILLIAN
It’s just... for someone so insistent on justice, you have a bad habit of turning a blind eye to injustice.

TIM
What are you talking about?

KILLIAN
You’ll never know.

TIM
What are you talking about!

KILLIAN
Never.

(TIM grabs KILLIAN and forces him into the chair, holding the shard of glass to his throat.)

TIM
What’s so funny?

KILLIAN
Stephanie.

(TIM falters.)

KILLIAN
She was a correction, Tim, but not what you thought. You thought I was that devoted to you? That obsessed that I’d kill the woman you loved? I seek correction, vengeance at the world that destroyed my childhood. My mother, my father, they paid for the system’s flaws in blood.

(TIM removes the shard from KILLIAN’s throat and steps back. KILLIAN remains seated.)

TIM
And you’ve exacted revenge, spilled more blood than-

KILLIAN
No, but that’s my vengeance. My justice, the one act that filled a hole in my soul since I was eight. Stephanie wasn’t just your wife. She wasn’t just a block in the way of your success.

TIM
What are you talking about?

KILLIAN
I was young, but I wasn’t stupid. I remembered the face of the defense attorney, the man who lied to a jury, who prevented the murderer of my parents from going to jail. I remembered that face for decades. Until one day I saw it in a newsletter from a certain law firm. Two partners were getting married. And the father of the bride, the proud owner of the firm, he was happy for them.

TIM
No.

KILLIAN
Yes.

TIM
No, that’s impossible.

KILLIAN
But it’s not. Jeffrey Dawe, the man who owned your law firm, the man who defended my parents’ killer, the man whose daughter I murdered in cold blood.

(TIM crouches, tearing, consoling himself.)

KILLIAN
I needed revenge for my parents. So I took his daughter.

(TIM rises.)

TIM
And my son?

KILLIAN
Okay, Ethan was-

(In one stride TIM sweeps past KILLIAN, raising the shard of glass as he does so. Now on the right side of the stage, finally, he looks back at KILLIAN, who gropes at his neck. A wound there bleeds, and in a few seconds KILLIAN coughs and gurgle. His head falls limply to his chest. TIM drops the shard and picks up the chess piece, which fell from KILLIAN’s hand as he died.)

TIM
But we are infinitesimal, lifted from time. The mere fact of our existence is a crime. No true hero outlives the dark. But you forgot that last line, didn’t you? You deluded yourself into thinking it was a winter, that was coming. But it was never the winter that would kill you. It freezes you to the core, penetrates your very being, but when you’re lying on Death’s door winter won’t take your soul. No, no kind soul survives the frost.

(TIM rolls his fingers over the chess piece, and as he strides towards the right side of the stage he flips it. As the piece falls back in his hands, light out.)

THE END