[CLOSE ON - A RAZOR-SHARP GINZU KNIFE as it slices with incredible precision and remarkable speed, a chunk of skinned yellowtail on a cutting board. Instant sashimi.]

MARGO - (O.S.) Anybody ever tell you you've got quite a way with a blade?

[CAMERA WIDENS TO REVEAL MACLEOD as the Chef, dressed in a tux, minus the jacket. He raises one modest eyebrow.]

MACLEOD - Once or twice.

[He places the fresh slices on a wood serving board already prepared with a variety of sushi rolls.]

MACLEOD - How hungry are you?

[ANGLE - MARGO, sitting opposite MacLeod. Meg Ryan playing Myrna Loy -- poised, polished, but with a hint of mischievousness around the edges and a sweet, all-too-human core. She wears MacLeod's jacket draped casually over her designer evening gown.

MARGO - Famished. Wagner always gives me an appetite.

MACLEOD - That's a new one.

MARGO - I get so bored, all I can think about is food.

MACLEOD - [surprised] I thought you wanted to go.

[Margo takes a sip of wine, as if trying to gather her courage.]

MARGO - Third date. [looks at her watch]
 

 
MARGO - Oh, no, I love Seurat. Really.

[MacLeod nods, turns back to the table for a second, then--]

MACLEOD - And what about last night? The Moliere festival at the Comedie Francaise?
 

 
MARGO - I adored the Comedie Francaise.
 

 
MARGO - [playfully] Good plan. [She reaches up and tugs his bow tie loose.] You take care of the candles, I'll take care of the lights, and we'll let nature take care of the rest.
 

 
[MacLeod gets the BUZZ and draws his sword.]

[The grand Lobby has a bank of high speed elevators and a security desk with a number of video monitors. It's all very metallic and high-tech except for the products on display. There are display cases of action figures and wind-up toys. Hand-held video games, puzzles, game boards, video remotes and most important of all, elaborate promo posters and displays of the company's COMPUTER VIDEO GAMES like "Duchess of Doom" and "The Lost Empire." Most prominent of them is a larger than life-size cardboard cut-out of the PRINCE, animated star of the "Revenge of the Endless Prince."]

[The lobby is otherwise deserted. MacLeod walks to the center of the room warily, alert for a trap.]
 

 
[Benoit wears a headphone with an attached microphone and responds to a voice in his ears.]

BENOIT - [into mic] Oui. C'est moi. I'm here.

 
ABEL/RUBEN MONTOYA - [simultaneously, to their mics] Montoya reporting.

[The brothers listen to the response in their earpieces, then:]

ABEL MONTOYA - [to mic] Abel, reporting.

RUBEN MONTOYA - [to mic] Yo, Ruben.
 

 
SHEMP - [into his mic] Yo, Voice-in-the-ear, I'm here too.
 

 
MAREK - [beat] Sorry, you can't.

SHEMP - Daddy was slow, but he was old.
 

 
MAREK - ...and there's a million-dollar price on your head.
 

 
[MacLeod tries a run at Marek. ABEL AND RUBEN MONTOYA simultaneously blaze a burst of bullets in a clean line along the floor in front of MacLeod and stop him cold.]

[Marek pulls Margo into an elevator. MacLeod runs after him but the plexiglass elevator doors slide shut, sealing off the elevator. MacLeod tries to shoulder open the door. No way. Marek checks his watch, and looks right at MacLeod.]

MAREK - [mouthing/silent] Forty-six, forty-five...

[MacLeod pounds helplessly at the door as Marek hits the button and starts the car on its rise.]

[ANGLE INTERCOM SPEAKER]

DICE - [V.O., over the intercom] Twenty-nine... twenty-eight...

[ANGLE THE FOUR HUNTERS, watching. Benoit and Shemp seem amused, the two Montoyas... impossible to read.]

DICE - [V.O., over the intercom] Fifteen seconds. Sim's in sync up here and ready to roll.

[MACLEOD suddenly bolts, knowing that if he wants to keep his head, he's got to play. He runs for an elevator and THE DOORS open, inviting him in, but he races right past them and ducks into a stairwell just as--]

MAREK - [V.O., over the intercom] Three, two, one... Play ball!

[The Mercenaries OPEN FIRE, spraying the stairwell door as it springs closed.]
 

 
MACLEOD - You demented son of a bitch.
 

[The mercenaries finally break open the stairwell door.]

MAREK - [V.O., over the intercom] She's on Level 25, MacLeod.
 

 
MAREK - Heroes... you can set your watch by them. [On their monitors, we can see MacLeod in the elevator.] Start slowing it down... and stop it on 20.
 

[With a quick blow of his sword, MacLeod kills the surveillance camera.]

[Marek watches as the monitor goes to snow.]
 

 
[Dice goes back to work on the control panel, shifting images.]

DICE - (CONT'D) High five! The thing with the trash can? Real anger. Makes the character much more realistic. I never would have thought of that.

MAREK - I know. Your characters are all stick figures. No emotion. No passion. Never that moment of stark fear in their eyes before they die.

[Suddenly this is making Dice very uncomfortable.]

MAREK - (CONT'D) You should try living in the real world once in a while.
 

[The Montoya brothers, and Shemp are ready by the elevator when the doors begin to open. They let loose with a tremendous barrage of gunfire. When the smoke clears, the elevator is empty.]

[FADE OUT.]

[END OF ACT ONE]
 

[Margo's Guard enters the cubicle area, gun drawn. He moves cautiously. Nervously. He actually relaxes a little when he hears a beeping sound and some mechanical clunking noises from a nearby alcove.]

[ECU - MACLEOD'S FACE pressed against glass, as if it were inside the copy machine looking up.]

[Margo's Guard looks in. A MICROWAVE chimes an insistent notice that it has finished microwaving. A PHOTOCOPIER churns out a thousand copies of MacLeod's pressed face. MACLEOD HIMSELF looms up behind Margo's Guard. The guard barely gets a chance to notice before MacLeod takes him out with the clay end of an office potted plant.]
 

 
MACLEOD - The way I heard it, your father banished you for picking fights. [beat]
 

 
[Abel Montoya flies into a rage.]

ABEL MONTOYA - Tu eres muerto!

[Abel rushes to a spot across from the door, away from the puddle, and waits. When he sees MacLeod's shadow cross the opaque glass, Abel fires two quick shots.]

[INSERT EXECUTIVE OFFICE where Margo is standing on the desk tucked way in a far corner. MacLeod's jacket is hung on a coatrack attached to the executive chair. Margo is using a length of phone cord to pull the wheeled chair in front of the door.]

[RESUME HALLWAY as Abel erupts, opening fire, and unloading every last shell in his Uzi.]

[ABEL'S POV through the shattered glass of the door, reveals MacLeod's coat, still on the coatrack but completely shredded, and behind it THE WATERCOOLER shot full of holes and spraying like a fountain.]

[RESUME SCENE - Abel can't believe it. He scratches his head. He's still staring when the door behind him opens and MACLEOD bursts through the door and takes him out.]
 

 
MACLEOD - I know what I'm doing. [beat] You've got to trust me.

MARGO - I do. I don't know why I do, but I do. [hyper] I mean, one minute we’re eating sushi... next thing I know you're knocking out armed guards and electrocuting guys with automatic weapons. And you don't seem to be fazed at all.

MACLEOD - Margo, I don't have time for this right now.

MARGO - [still obsessing] It's like, who the hell are you, Duncan MacLeod? Opera buff, gourmet chef, and trained killer all rolled into one. What more could a girl ask for?

[MacLeod grabs Margo firmly by the shoulders, tries to calm her down.]

MACLEOD - We're going to get out of here. Alive. But you've got to do what I say.

MARGO - Please can't I go with you?
 

 
MARGO - Don't be sorry. You rescued me. [beat]
 

 
[He leaves the office. Margo shuts the door, turns the lock.]
 

 
[And saying that, Marek pushes Margo out the broken window.]
 

 
[ANGLE - MONITOR with a live picture of MacLeod in the Command Post.]
 

 
[It takes a moment and the Quickening begins with a single monitor EXPLODING, and then two, and three until every monitor, every computer, every control switch, every pots and every slider on every panel is exploding in eclectic electric fury.

[END ACT FOUR]
 

[MacLeod is still on his knees, recovering. Random electronics are still sparking and sputtering all around him when MACLEOD begins to respond to the wail of sirens arriving thirty stories below. He struggles to his feet and makes his way to the window.]

[MACLEOD'S POV of the gathering vehicles on the street below.]

[RESUME SCENE - He's got to get out of there. He starts for the door and meets Dice coming in.]

DICE - You can't go that way, the cops are coming. Follow me.

[MacLeod is skeptical.]

DICE - (CONT'D) I owe you.

[Dice leads him back into--]

[Dice reveals a secret door in the wood paneling.]

DICE - Never build a game without an escape clause.