Holy shit!
INT. ECKER'S CRUSADER - CONTINUOUS
Tracers and flack pepper the air in front of Ecker's
Crusader. METAL PINGS, TINKS, RATTLES off the fuselage.
Anti-aircraft and small arms fire comes up from all over,
hitting the planes multiple times. He surveys the shapes in
the target zone dead ahead.
ECKER
Lights.
And sees the long, canvas-covered objects on the ground. The
missiles. They draw closer.
ECKER (CONT'D)
Camera.
A steel fragment CRACKS his window, obscuring our view.
ECKER (CONT'D)
Action.
And he thumbs the CAMERA SWITCH. All twelve B-system cameras
begin banging away like cannons.
EXT. AERIAL - CRUSADERS - DAY
TRACERS lace the air between the two planes as they blast
over the missile site. Over trailers. Over tents. Over
trucks. Over trenches. Over bulldozers.
And then they're out over forest again. It's all over in
seconds. The triple-A stops. In unison, the two planes bank
right, heading for the distant blue, blue sea.
INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - DAY
Kenny paces by the phone. It rings. He picks up, listens,
reacts. Relief. And we know the planes have made it back.
EXT. RUNWAY - CECIL FIELD, FLA. - DAY
Ecker jumps down from the cockpit ladder and turns an eye to
his battered, pock-marked plane. Wilhemy and the GROUND CREW
CHIEF come running up, the Chief letting out a whistle.
GROUND CREW CHIEF
Lookit what daddy done brung home.
WILHEMY
You shoulda seen it, Chief, they --
ECKER
-- damn sparrows. Must've been
migrating. Guess I hit a couple
hundred.
(to Wilhemy, stern)
How many did you hit, Bruce?
Wilhemy stands there, looking at Ecker, not sure what to make
of him. The Crew Chief just starts laughing as more
impressed GROUND CREW come up.
WILHEMY
A few. I guess.
GROUND CREW CHIEF
Was them 20 or 40 million sparrows?
Ecker, sweat-plastered and foul, steps into the Chief's face.
ECKER
Those are bird strikes. Sparrows to be
precise. Got a problem with that?
The Chief stands there, glances at the plane one more time,
and shakes his head, 'No.' Ecker takes the Chief's
maintenance clipboard from him, writes in big bold marker:
BIRD STRIKES. He thrusts it back into the Chief's hands and
walks off; the astonished Wilhemy remains behind.
INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - DAY
In Kenny's credenza, a small black and white T.V. plays.
WALTER CRONKITE narrates on the television as a train laden
with TANKS on flatbeds pulls out of a station.
WALTER CRONKITE (V.O.)
Massive military preparations are
underway throughout the southeast in
what Pentagon officials are confirming
is the largest mobilization since Korea.
The railways have been nationalized to
assist in the deployment, here
transporting elements of the U.S. 1st
Armored Division from Ft. Hood, Texas.
A PHONE RINGS. Kenny turns from the T.V., turns down Walter
Cronkite, as he answers.
KENNY
Yeah?
INT. OAS MEETING ROOM - CONTINUOUS
George Ball stands at the back of a crowded room filled with
applauding OAS DELEGATES. It's for Rusk, at a podium up
front.
BALL
Kenny. The vote just came down.
INT. OVAL OFFICE - DAY
Kenny opens his door, lets Rusk in. The President, Bobby and
half of EXCOM look up. Rusk stands there somber.
RUSK
Unanimous. One abstenation.
And then he breaks into a huge grin. Everyone cheers him.
THE PRESIDENT
About time something went our way.
An Assistant enters behind Kenny. Kenny senses him, turns as
the others move to shake hands with Rusk.
ASSISTANT
Telephone, Mr. O'Donnell.
INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - DAY
Kenny, grinning, ducks back into his office, closes the door
after the Assistant leaves. He picks up the phone.
KENNY
Hello?
INTERCUT CALL TO:
INT. READY ROOM - CECIL FIELD - DAY
Ecker stands at a phone, stares out a window at a replacement
plane being fueled. A Crusader, not his shot-up one.
ECKER
Mr. O'Donnell, I've been ordered to
deliver the film to the Pentagon
personally. What's going on?
INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
Kenny thinks fast. Oh shit.
KENNY
The Chiefs must want to talk to you.
(beat)
Listen to me, Commander, they'll want to
know if you were fired on. Were you?
ECKER (O.S.)
You could say that, sir.
KENNY
Commander. Do not, under any
circumstances, tell the Chiefs.
END INTERCUT
INT. PENTAGON - DAY
SUPER: E-RING. Then SUPER: THE PENTAGON
Ecker, still in his sweat-drenched flight suit approaches a
security checkpoint. GUARDS secure his sidearm and user him
through a doorway. A sign over it reads JCS.
INT. THE TANK - DAY
The door swings open into the Joint Chiefs' SOUND-PROOFED
briefing room known as THE TANK. LeMay, Taylor and Anderson
sit there around the table. Ecker salutes.
ECKER
Commander William B. Ecker reporting as
ordered!
LeMay rises, prowls over to Ecker.
LEMAY
Son , I want to know just one thing.
Those bastards shoot so much as a BB gun
at you?
A long beat. Sweat runs off Ecker's head. He can smell
LeMay's breath.
ECKER
Sir, it was a milk run, sir.
INT. WEST WING HALL - NIGHT
Kenny joins the President and General Taylor in the hallway
as they head for the Oval Office.
GENERAL TAYLOR
It appears our low-level flights are
getting back okay. Some unconfirmed
reports of small-arms fire from some of
the missions, but that's it.
Slightly behind them, Kenny looks sidelong at Taylor.
THE PRESIDENT
Guess we can't blame Khruschev for a few
patriotic farmers. And the ships?
GENERAL TAYLOR
Still heading for Cuba.
THE PRESIDENT
All right. Then I guess it's time.
INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT
FLASHBULBS go off all around the room as the President walks
in, goes over to his desk. Reporters observe silently, T.V.
cameras track him; Kenny, Bobby and Sorensen watch as the
President sits, takes a pen form his pocket.