INT. ROOM - ROCK CREEK HOTEL - DAY

ANGLE - HOTEL ROOM

TIGHT ON THE POETRY BOOK landing flat on a table. The sound fills the room.

KID
Why's this so important, Margaret?

ANGLE - HOTEL ROOM

The book lies between Margaret and The Kid. She stares at it silently. Lou, Hickok, Buck, and Cody watch, waiting for her answer.

KID
Lou nearly got killed for that. What was Saunders after?

Margaret hesitates a moment, then slowly picks up the book. She opens it to the torn page.

MARGARET

This.

The Riders look confused.

CODY
A ripped page?

MARGARET
The other half is held by a man I'm supposed to meet in Fort Kearny. We don't know each other. This is the only way I have of identifying myself. If this page fits with his, he'll give me certain documents.

KID
What documents?

Margaret hesitates again, reluctant to reveal more but realizing she has no choice.

MARGARET
The government in Washington needs gold to fight the war that's coming. Most of that gold is sent by ship from California. If southern forces know which ships are carrying it, they can steal it for themselves. The man in Fort Kearny is a southern sympathizer. He is going to give me a copy of a stolen shipping schedul to carry south.

LOU
So you are spying for them.

MARGARET
No, I'm loyal to the union. I posed as a sympathizer to get the schedule.

HICKOK
Why should we believe you?

MARGARET
Because I'm telling the truth, I swear it. Nobody can stop the war that's coming, but we can shorten it by making sure that the north gets that gold. Give me the book, I'm begging you.

Off the Riders, looking at each other, wondering what to do.

Script Page

Main Page

E-mail: PnyExp1860@aol.com