North By Northwest

Hey there, crime kids. Happy Monday. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where your most violent fantasies become sins of the flesh, right here, where the hardboiled action is non-stop, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chaper 21 of NOWHERE GIRL, CIA agent Shag Holliday recovers from his gunfight with assassin Wendon Swift. Meanwhile, stripper with a suitcase nuke Cherry Nation and Silverlake hipster Peeler Mardo hide out in a Hollywood Hills mansion pool house, where she tends to his wounds ...


INT. DUMPSTER - NIGHT
Shag lies in the trash, motionless.
Pelted by the rain.

CLOSE ON --
His EAR.
We see a communications device.
Red light BLINKING.

INTERCUT WITH:

INT. CIA HEADQUARTERS - CUBICLE - NIGHT
Lark taps a pencil on her desk.
Listening on her headset.

LARK
Shag? You there? Shag?
(beat)
Shit.
(listens)
SHAG?

SHAG
Opens his eyes.
Slowly, painfully sits up.

SHAG
Hey.
You don’t have to yell.

LARK
Thank god.
Are you alright?
What happened?

He opens his flack jacket.
We see three SMASHED BULLETS
in his kevlar vest.
He peels them off.

SHAG
Was intercepted -- by someone.
Woman. Had real moves.
Vest got a workout.
(shakes his head)
Wonder who she’s with.

LARK
What happened to her?

SHAG
She got away.
Must also be after the case.

Shag gets up, climbs out
of the dumpster.

LARK
Well, you at least hurt her, right?

SHAG
Have no idea.
No time for chit-chat.
I need the new location.
She’s on the move.

Lark looks at her monitor.
Taps a few keys.

LARK
She’s about one-hundred
yards away from you,
forty-five degrees,
north by northwest.

SHAG
Like the Hitchcock movie.

LARK
After this is over,
let’s go to Paris.
Catch a thief.

SHAG
(starts jogging)
And what, steal jewels?
Climb rooftops?

LARK
Ooh. You’re so Notorious.

INT. POOL HOUSE - NIGHT - AT THAT MOMENT
Cozy. Very hunting lodge.
Fireplace. Stocked bar.

Cherry and Peeler enter the room.
She guides Peeler over to the couch.
He PLOPS down.

PEELER
Thank god.
(beat)
I’m freezing.

Cherry goes to the heater.
Turns it on.

CHERRY
We’ll get warmed up in a jiffy.
(looks around)
Better leave the lights off.

She find some towels.
Grabs one.
THROWS it at Peeler.

PEELER
(catches it)
Thanks.

They dry themselves.
She notices the bar.

CHERRY
A little brandy
should do the trick.
Then let’s take a look
at your foot.

She pours two snifters.
Takes them to the couch. Sits.

CHERRY
(hands one to Peeler)
Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.

PEELER
Yeah.
(takes a sip)
Listen to that rain.

CHERRY
Yeah.

She leans over.
Kisses him on the cheek.

PEELER
What was that for?

ANGLE ON --
Cherry’s hand grabs the end
of the rusty nail.
YANKS it.

PEELER
YELLS out in pain.

CHERRY
Distraction.