Journalist: You were his sexual partner for eight months. He never mentioned sadism, never asked you to participate?
Danny: Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you. I don't think anything did go on up there. I never saw him use those items.
Frances: Alistair was... as precocious sexually as he was intellectually. Danger, pain, submission, domination.
Policewoman: Is it possible that you enjoyed extreme sexual encounters with someone who didn't want you to know their name?
Frances: I don't know what went on in that attic... and the truth is neither do you.
Alex (O.C.): I have to buy a battery for my laptop.
American: Lots of people think they have nothing to lose. But in my professional experience, they just haven't thought it through.
Danny: You threatening me?
American (O.C.): Once in a while, someone unexpected tells you something that might save your life.
[SCENE_BREAK]
( Panting )
Police (O.C.): Armed police! Police! Stay where you are! Show us your hands!
Sara (O.C.):Danny? Danny, what's going on? Let me go! Get your hands off him. Danny!
[SCENE_BREAK]
( Sirens wail )
[SCENE_BREAK]
Detective Taylor: The trunk. An antique. Wood. Leather. Steel frame. Very strong. You claim it was used to store hiking boots and other outdoor equipment in the back of his car? With a man inside, oxygen levels drop 17%. The temperature jumps ten degrees. You become breathless. Sweaty. There's a moment of euphoria.
Danny: Euphoria?
Detective Taylor: Have you ever experimented with erotic asphyxiation? "When the brain is deprived of oxygen, it induces a semi-hallucinogenic state called hypoxia. Combined with orgasm..."
Danny: I know what it is.
Detective Taylor: "..the rush is said to be no less powerful than cocaine, and highly addictive." You know what it is, because you've tried it?
Danny: There was a guy.
Detective Taylor: A man... Steve Fields. Did the two of you use a trunk?
Danny: We used a belt. I didn't particularly enjoy it. I've never done it again.
Detective Taylor: We were told you engaged in the practice repeatedly.
Danny: It was... three or four times. With one man.
Detective Taylor: How close did you come to death?
Danny: Erm, we were... careful.
Detective Taylor: Because?
Danny: Because he was watching. Or I was.
Detective Taylor: Danny, have you ever passed out from taking too much G?
Danny: Yeah. When I first started using it.
Detective Taylor: What would you say was a typical dose? 1.5 millilitres? 5.2 millilitres. Enough for three. That was the moment you were supposed to open the trunk, wasn't it? What happened that night, Danny? He asked you to lock him inside the trunk. You obliged. You sat on the bed waiting for his high. Only yours came first. It came stronger. You pass out. Nothing could wake you. Not his cries for help, the movement of the trunk. You sat up. You saw the trunk. On its side. Halfway across the attic. Now you're panicking. You open the locks. You touch his cheeks. He's still warm. You consider calling an ambulance... of course you do. But it's too late. You look around at the remnants of your night. The drugs. The kink. A jury's going to hate you. You close the trunk and you leave. After all, the guy slept around. You didn't even know his name. There were others. Maybe we'd think it was one of them.
Danny: Why would I have told you that there WERE no other people?
Detective Taylor: There are always other people. Exclusive. Discreet. A specialist escort agency, for the very rich.
Danny: Alex didn't use escorts.
Detective Taylor: Could we at least use his real name?
Danny: Alistair didn't use escorts.
Detective Taylor: You both enjoyed the company of strangers, it would seem.
Danny (O.C.): "I was numb and I posted an ad online... saying that anyone could come round. I mean, anyone."
Danny: How do you have that?
Detective Taylor: You told him that story over the phone.
Danny: No, that was a private conversation!
Detective Taylor: The apartment belongs to the security services. All calls...were recorded.
Danny: That conversation took place in my bedroom. We were face-to-face!
Detective Taylor: We've just searched your apartment. No surveillance equipment was found.
Danny: Alex... didn't give me these keys. He never... He never gave... He never did give me a... a set of keys. These...were left! At the warehouse. I don't know... I don't know... by who, I don't know how they but they were. You say that it can't be done, like...' it's a fact. But it was done! They were left... They left them... so that I could go to the attic, so that you would believe all of this, except it's all a f*cking lie!
Detective Taylor: I'm not the one running out of time, Danny. We both know those attic bed sheets, stained with semen... and sh1t...and blood... are going to come back as a match for your DNA. And when they do... we will charge you.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: Have you got a pen? What did the lawyer say?
Scottie: He said you should confess.
Danny: They built that attic... out of my past. All the stupid things I've done.
Scottie: What is that?
Danny: Another lie.
( He shouts )
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: Saturday?
Scottie: Sunday. You should eat something.
Danny: The bed sheets... in the attic. They're going to come back a match for my DNA.
Scottie: How's that possible?
Danny: Alex dry-cleaned everything. That's when they were stolen. They've been working on this for months. And I'll prove it.
Scottie: You can't even prove it wasn't you. You're talking about spies and conspiracies. Look at you.
[SCENE_BREAK]
( Intercom chimes )
Rich (O.C.): Hello.
Danny: It's me.
( Intercom buzzes )
[SCENE_BREAK]
Rich: Danny! The one that got away.
Danny: Rich.
Rich: Been a long time. You don't smoke it, it's going to be wasted. Look - it's getting away.
Danny: I'm good. Thanks.
Rich: You're not a man who usually says no.
Danny: I need information.
Rich: Information? How grown up you've become. What information could you possibly want? Who gave you this?
Danny: I was shown it.
Rich: Who showed you it?
Danny: Could you help me? You know them, don't you? I need to... I need to speak to those people.
Rich: Impossible.
Danny: It's important.
Rich: Come on. Closer. Closer. Closer.
Danny?
Rich: You have the very particular stink of a man out of his depth.
Danny: Can you help me?
Rich: For important information there's a price, Danny. You have any idea how upset these people would be if I shared their secrets with the likes of you? Why don't you take a moment, freshen up? And then ask yourself... "How badly do I want this?" Hmm?
[SCENE_BREAK]
Rich: I'm going to die in this tub. Heart attack or a stroke. They'll find me here... tongue hanging out... my little dick bobbing about in the bubble bath. Four strong men will heave me out. My flesh will...slosh and slop on the marble floor. And they'll write about me... "He was a man who always got what he wanted".
Danny: I can't.
Rich: Then f*ck off!
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: What's wrong?
Sara: Why didn't you tell me?
Danny: Tell you what?
Sara: Danny, I found it.
Danny: Found what?
Sara: Your medication.
Danny: Sara, what did you find?
[SCENE_BREAK]
Clinician: Danny? Danny?
[SCENE_BREAK]
Clinician (O.C.): Last test was eight months ago, since then one sexual partner. You're always safe?
Danny: Always.
Clinician (O.C.): Do you use a condom during oral s*x?
Danny: No.
Clinician: Well, it's low-risk but not no-risk. We're going to do a finger prick test. It's not a test for the HIV virus but for the antibodies produced in response to the infection. It'll detect infection six weeks after exposure.
Danny: I haven't had sexual contact of any kind for over six weeks.
Clinician: Then this result will be up to date. I need to ask, before the test... if the results come back positive... is there someone you can phone? We have a support network. So no-one's ever alone. Just so you know. Going to feel a slight scratch. This'll just take a few minutes. The result is reactive. We use the word reactive because 7 out of a 1,000 results come back as a false reactive result. So... Danny? Danny, why don't you take a seat for me? Danny? Two dots indicate the presence of antibodies to the HIV virus. So I need to take a second sample, run a second test so that I can rule out the chance of a false result.
Danny: It's not... possible.
Clinician: Let's run the second test. Would you like someone to wait with you?
Danny: No.
Clinician: Danny?
Danny: I know how they did it!
Clinician: Danny...
Danny: I know!
Clinician: Danny.
Danny: I know!
Clinician: Danny.
Danny: I know!
Clinician: Danny, why don't you take a seat for me? Danny... can you give me the needle? Danny? Give me the needle.
Danny (sotto): OK. OK.
Clinician: Is there someone we can call?
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: When they took...my blood at the police station, they must have injected me at the same time. The... The virus can't... can't survive outside the body. They must have, um... They must have kept it heated? And I, I, I, I know that... it takes more than six weeks for it to show up on the test and... it wasn't that long ago but they must have... I don't know, I don't know how they did it. I... ( He sighs ) But they did it! They did it. ( He sniffs ) ( He sobs ) Scottie... you have to believe me! Please. Please!
Scottie: I remember taking you to hospital... all those years ago. There was a chance you'd been infected. We barely knew each other. You were so young. More child than adult. I made you promise never to take a risk like that again.
Danny: Scottie, I swear!
Scottie: You promised. You promised me.
Danny: I never broke that promise. I swear to you! If you don't believe me, I don't have anyone else, Scottie, I don't have anyone else! You have to believe.
Scottie: I believe you. I knew you were a young man who'd make a lot of mistakes. But never the same one twice. I believe you. I believe they deliberately infected you. Not to kill you, obviously. With medication, you'll live a long and normal life. They did it to discredit you. They'll say you took risks with your own health. You were reckless... and irresponsible. Perhaps they'll even say that you infected Alex.
Danny: No. He, he was...
Scottie: He was negative. But what will the test say? The story of you two has been written. It was written many months ago. A sordid tale... the details of which will leak out into the public sphere. People will recoil. Many will think you got what you deserved. No-one will campaign for answers. No-one will demand justice.
Danny: These people...
Scottie: Yes.
Danny: .. they'd do anything.
Scottie: Yes.
Danny: I can't...
Scottie: No.
Danny: I loved him. I loved him very much. I can't fight them.
Scottie: A long time ago, I had a lover. He was an aspiring artist. Quite promising. Extraordinarily beautiful. 1983. He was one of the first in London to fall ill. Back then, it didn't even have a name. There was no information. No leaflets. No warnings. No answers. You'd watch the news and hear no mention of it. A secret plague. I'd visit him as often as I could, with as much fresh fruit and vegetables as I could carry. He'd been given a book on colour therapy. In it, blue was described as having healing properties. Blue... blue alone, was able to fight infections. Blue... blue alone, could save him. Blue. No doubt the idea appealed to his artistic sensibilities. Back then, mysticism and magic stood in for medicine. He wouldn't accept the fresh fruit and vegetables because they weren't blue. But, since water was blue, he eventually agreed to take a bath. I told him that he'd given up. He must fight. He refused. He said that I'd never faced the inevitability of defeat. He was going to die. He was going to suffer, suffer terribly. There was nothing he could do. There was nothing anyone could do. He was right. On both counts. He did suffer terribly. And I have never faced the inevitability of defeat. It is impossible. We will lose. But we will fight.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: I'm ready.
Scottie: Are you?
Danny: Yes.
Scottie: When are you going to tell me? The secret you've been keeping.
Danny: You knew all the time?
Scottie: Not here. Downstairs.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Scottie: Tell me.
Danny: I lied.
Scottie: About?
Danny: I stole something... from the attic.
Scottie: You lied well.
Danny: It's a locked cylinder.
Scottie: You lied wisely.
Danny: It needs a code.
Scottie: Which you don't know?
Danny: No.
Scottie: Did Alex intend it for you?
Danny: He told me where to look.
Scottie: Then he must have believed you capable of opening it.
Danny: I've gone over every conversation, every word.
Scottie: Go over them again. Remember... he would have been aware that you were under surveillance. Danny, you've got to figure it out. You're the only one who can. Where is it now? You haven't kept it at the flat? You were right to be cautious. If they knew that you had this... they'd have behaved quite differently. Secrets have changed. It used to be typed documents, stashed inside manila files. Pages of paper stamped "Confidential". Rolls of microfilm. Now it's numbers. Algorithms. The contents of that cylinder are almost certainly incomprehensible. At least to us. We need an ally. A great mind. Some of the people we need to speak to... care very much about appearances. They look at the cut of your suit before they listen to what you say. It's not about wealth. It's about a set of signals. They require a lifetime of study, which is precisely the point. Wealth can be acquired in an instant. Tonight we must play by their rules. Fits.
( Scottie scoffs )
Scottie: What sort of spy would I be if I couldn't guess a man's shirt size?
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: So who is she?
Scottie: She's the President and Provost Professor of the University of London.
Danny: Can we trust her?
Scottie: There's no art in trusting nobody. The craft of a spy has always been to choose the right people to trust.
Danny: You're friends?
Scottie: Friends, yes.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Scottie: They'll be aware of my connection to her. They'll have anticipated this meeting. Her office will almost certainly be bugged.
Empty your pockets, please. This way.
Claire: Thank you. You haven't lost your taste for theatricality.
Scottie: For once it's justified.
Claire: So what's this about? Why couldn't you tell me on the phone?
Scottie: A former student of your university. A prodigy.
Danny: You might know him as Alistair Turner. But he preferred the name Alex.
Claire: Let's walk. I didn't know Alex well personally. Mainly by reputation. There aren't many students who start their degree at 15.
Danny: He was murdered.
Scottie: He WAS murdered, Claire.
Claire: So I take it you want to speak to his professor? Marcus Shaw.
Scottie: What do you know about him?
Claire: Brilliant. Difficult.
Scottie: And his relationship with Alex?
Claire: They were close.
Scottie: Sexual?
Claire: I'm confident that their intimacy was purely intellectual.
Danny: Will he talk to us?
Claire: Marcus is precise. He won't "chat". Unless you're talking about mathematics, the discussion will be a waste of time.
Scottie: Is it possible that Alex would have confided in him?
Claire: That's a very serious allegation.
Scottie: I'm just thinking aloud.
Claire: Marcus admired Alex. On some level, he might have envied him, but... I can't believe he'd want to harm him.
Scottie: Could you arrange a meeting?
Claire: So you do have something specific you're going to speak to him about?
Danny: We will.
Scottie: Don't send e-mails. Don't make calls. They'll have access to your computer, your office, your phone. Claire, I should warn you...
Claire: He was my student, Scottie.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: Where now?
Scottie: A club, I thought.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Scottie: Don't admire your surroundings. Affect an air of mild boredom. Don't take it too far. It needs to feel effortless. Making an effort is the surest giveaway.
Danny: I don't think this is going to work.
Scottie: All we need is enough uncertainty for them to let you inside. The advantage is with us. More than anything they despise a scene.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Scottie: Good evening. Good evening, sir.
Scottie: One guest.
Danny: How do you know what anything costs?
Scottie: Everything goes on account. It's assumed members can pay their way. Money's never mentioned, seen or discussed.
Danny: There are more women in a gay club.
Scottie: Women aren't allowed.
Danny (sotto): Is that legal?
Scottie: How many do you think apply?
James: Good to see you.
Scottie: You look fantastic as always, James.
Danny: Danny.
Scottie: James and I have worked together for over 30 years.
James: Not really "together", Scottie.
Scottie: (Chuckling) No, I suppose not. James... I'm afraid I need to ask a favour.
James: A favour?
Scottie: I'm afraid so.
James: Scottie, this is unlike you.
Scottie: The situation is exceptional.
James: Very well.
Scottie: What can you tell me about the murder of Alistair Turner?
James: Have you lost your mind?
Scottie: I'm asking you to be indiscreet. The quid pro quo is that I will not be.
James: You've been hanging around too many street corners, old friend. Your acquaintance is beginning to rub off on you.
Scottie: Oh, no. I learnt these tricks from the top.
James: You sure you want to continue down this road?
Scottie: Quite sure.
James: That's an awful shame. I'll tell you a joke. How about that?
Scottie: It would depend on how funny I found it.
James: It's hysterical. An Englishman, a Chinaman... a Frenchman, an American, a Russian... an Israeli and a Saudi... walk into a bar... and they all agree. You'd better explain it to your boy at a later stage. Like I said, old friend, an awful shame.
Scottie: Time to go. If I could ask you to settle up, Sir?
Scottie: Yes, of course, yes.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: What did it mean?
Scottie: That my membership has been cancelled with immediate effect. A pity. They do a marvellous Eggs Benedict.
Danny: The joke, Scottie, the joke?
Scottie: I thought that was perfectly clear.
Danny: No.
Scottie: Substitute the nationality for the security agency. British MI6. The Chinese Ministry for State Security. American CIA. Israeli Mossad. Russian FSB. The Saudi GIP.
Danny: OK?
Scottie: The punchline was that they all agree. Danny, they've never agreed about anything. Until now... it seems. Whatever Alex discovered - whatever it was, whatever it is - no-one wants in the open. We're not up against one intelligence agency. We're up against them all. What does it mean? It means we are quite alone.
[SCENE_BREAK]
Rich: Get in the car.
Danny: What?
Rich: Get in the f*cking car!
( Rich tuts )
Rich: Found yourself a rich Daddy, my fun-loving-friend? Or is it fun no more, Danny? Have you fallen out of love? With fun? You have. Some people call that growing up. I call it growing old. Once you let fun go, you never get it back. Over and above everything and anybody... I choose fun. It's for you. Not here!
Danny: What is it?
Rich: It's the impossible.
Danny: What made you change your mind?
Rich: I didn't.
Danny: I don't understand.
Rich: I'm sure you don't. Get out. Get out the car. Oh, Danny? Have fun.
[SCENE_BREAK]
( Phone rings )
[SCENE_BREAK]
Danny: I can do this alone.
Scottie: I would like to finish this particular adventure with you, Daniel Edward Holt.
Danny: Can it be opened?
If you know the code.
Danny: We did it for me.
American: Where is it? I was sure that he was going to change the world in some way. I just didn't tell him how dangerous it would be.
Scottie: But those systems of oppression never hold, never last, never survive, for we will not live in fear.
Plan: A: Danny; Q: Who is arrested and admits to having experimented with auto-asphyxiation? A: a rent boy agency; Q: What did the interrogators show Danny the logo of? A: drugs; Q: What did Danny confess to being high on when he accidentally asphyxiated Alex? A: his DNA; Q: What is found on the sheets in the attic room? A: a record producer; Q: What is Rich's job? A: Rich; Q: Who gives Danny a phone? A: the rent boy agency; Q: What does Danny want to find? A: sex; Q: What does Rich offer Danny in exchange for his help? A: Danny's flatmate; Q: Who informs Danny that the tablet left by the American is anti-HIV medication? A: Scottie; Q: Who blackmails a former colleague? A: a friend; Q: Who does Scottie take Danny to see after he is told he is HIV positive? A: a meeting; Q: What does Danny's friend try to arrange with Alex's old professor? A: sense; Q: What can Alex's old professor help Danny make of the contents of the code-locked cylinder? A: the code-locked cylinder; Q: What did Danny take from Alex's flat? A: Scottie's club; Q: Where does Scottie blackmail a former colleague? A: a former colleague; Q: Who does Scottie blackmail into revealing that every major espionage agency agreed Alex was a threat? A: a car; Q: What draws up to Danny? A: the back; Q: Where is Rich in the car when Danny is walking? Summary: Danny is arrested, and admits to having experimented with auto-asphyxiation . The interrogators show him the logo of a rent boy agency they say Alex used, and suggest he confess that, while high on drugs, he accidentally asphyxiated him. If not, he will be charged if they discover his DNA on the sheets in the attic room. Once released, Danny visits an old acquaintance, a record producer called Rich, and asks for help to find the rent boy agency. Rich offers to help in return for sex, but Danny refuses. Danny's flatmate informs him that the tablet left by the American is anti-HIV medication. Danny is tested, and told that he is HIV positive. Scottie takes Danny to see a friend who says she will try to arrange a meeting with Alex's old professor who may be able to make sense of the contents of the code-locked cylinder which he took from Alex's flat. Later, at Scottie's club, Scottie blackmails a former colleague into revealing that every major espionage agency agreed Alex was a threat. Later, Danny is walking when a car draws up. Rich is in the back, and gives him a phone.