By Jennifer-Lynn D’Anna
EPISODE 85
SCENE ONE: INT. BRADY GUEST ROOM
IN on JACK, who is on the phone, very anxious for JENNIFER to pick up on the other end. There is a knock on the door and then BO sticks his head in.
BO: Any luck?
JACK turns towards him, phone still clutched in hand, and shakes his head, indicating “no”.
BO: Maybe she’s in the shower?
JACK: (worried) She showered this morning. (beat) Is the jet ready?
BO: Yeah…Vic just called on my cell. Bill’s already at the airport.
JACK: Damn. (putting down the phone and grabbing his suitcase) Do we have time to-
BO: ‘Fraid not, Jack. After I drop you off, I’ll swing by there, if you’d like.
JACK: Oh…I don’t…Bo, are you sure this is a good idea?
BO: Jack, when I left Jennifer, she was fine. Said she was going upstairs to take a nap.
JACK: In the middle of the day?
BO: She said she wasn’t feeling very well.
JACK: Oh. (finding that odd) Will you stop by then?
BO: I will. Now, come on. The sooner I drop you off-
JACK: (heading to the door) The sooner you can get to Jennifer. (looking back towards the phone) Please, Miss Horton, don’t do anything stupid. Please.
SCENE TWO: INT. DEVERAUX LIVING ROOM
JENNIFER is very apprehensive about COLIN being there.
JENNIFER: Talk? Um, sure. What do you want to talk about?
COLIN: (flopping on the sofa) Oh, I don’t know. You, me, us. The fact that you didn’t tell me Jack would be leaving for Africa today.
JENNIFER: (playing dumb) What…what are you talking about?
COLIN: You know very well what I’m talking about, Jennifer Rose. And now, you’re going to tell me anything else you may be keeping from me.
OUT on JENNIFER, frightened to death.
SCENE THREE: INT. DEVERAUX LIVING ROOM
JENNIFER: I…I don’t know what you’re-
COLIN: Can it, Jennifer. You do know what I’m talking about, just like I know that my cousin Bo has sent you to get information on me.
JENNIFER: I…I think you better leave.
COLIN: I think not. Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer, when are you ever going to learn? Didn’t Jack warn you about putting your nose where it doesn’t belong?
JENNIFER: (backing towards the door) I…I…
COLIN rushes across the room and pokes something in her side. Looking down, she realizes that it is a gun.
COLIN: Why don’t you and I take a little walk over to the sofa and have a nice, long talk about that pretty little nose of yours and what you are going to do to save it?
JENNIFER gasps as he pushes her onto the couch. COLIN sits on the sofa arm.
JENNIFER: Jo will be home any minute.
COLIN: No, she won’t. It seems she and her beau and that precious little daughter of yours have had an accident. (seeing the horror on JENNIFER’S face) Now, now, it’s not all that serious. Just a simple tire slashing. Something to buy us a little time to...to work through our problems.
JENNIFER: You’re a monster!
COLIN: Monster now, is it? No worry, I’ve been called worse. Let’s see…jerk, scoundrel, bastard…but never monster. I like that. It has a nice ring to it.
JENNIFER: I know that you’re really not Colin Murphy.
COLIN: So, you’ve been doing your homework? Impressive. What else do you know?
JENNIFER: I know that everything you ever told me was a lie.
COLIN: Now, that’s not true. Given I did tell quite a few tall tales in my time, but I never lied about how I feel about you, Jennifer. (growing serious) That was the God’s honest truth. And it is precisely those feelings that will get you out of this situation. If, of course, you decide to comply.
OUT on JENNIFER, wondering what he means by that. The phone begins to ring in the background.
SCENE FOUR: INT. BO’S TRUCK
BO and JACK are on their way to the airport. JACK is on his cell phone, trying to get a hold of JENNIFER.
BO: No luck, huh?
JACK: I…I just don’t understand. Where could she be?
BO: Maybe she took the phone off the hook. To rest, you know?
JACK: No, that’s unlike Jennifer. She knew that I’d be calling.
BO: It’ll be okay, Jack. I promise.
JACK: I’m sure it will be.
BO: You don’t sound so sure.
JACK: Okay, I’m not. Alright, I’m not sure it will be okay? My wife, my Jennifer, is now courting some cold-blooded killer, (seeing BO’s face) don’t look at me that way, I’m sure he’s killed quite a few in his time, and instead of trying to save her, I’m going to Africa to save her father. What isn’t right here?
BO: Jack, Jo should be on her way home with Abby by now, right?
(JACK checks his watch and then picks up the cell phone and dials, all the while looking annoyed)
CUT TO
SCENE FIVE: OUTSIDE ABBY’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL
JO and ABBY are walking towards the car when JO gasps.
JO: (kneeling at the tires and seeing the slashes) What the-(calling to VERN, who’s trailing behind them) Vern, Vern, will you come over here?
VERN: (rushing up) What’s wrong?
ABBY: Somebody cut our tires.
VERN: (inspecting the damage) Dammit. Who in the world-(surveying the area, then sighing) There’s a mechanic shop across the street. Let me walk over there and see if they can fix this. Why don’t you and Abby walk over to the ice cream place and get a cone?
JO: I don’t like this, Vernon. I don’t like this one bit.
VERN: Jo…
JO: No, none of this is making sense. Jack was supposed to come here (lowering her voice so ABBY can’t hear)…Jack was supposed to come here and had to rush off all of a sudden and we find our tires slashed?
VERN: Now, let’s not jump to conclusions, Josephine. It could be some teenagers, playing a joke.
JO: How am I supposed to not jump to conclusions? Nothing makes sense. There are cold-blooded killers everywhere and all of them seem to be after my baby boy.
ABBY: Are we going to get ice cream?
VERN: (smiling reassuringly to ABBY and then looking at JO) Go. Get some ice cream. I’ll figure this out.
JO: Oh, alright. C’mon, Abby, let’s go get some yummy ice cream.
ABBY: Okay.
They walk off in different directions. As they do, the cell phone, left in the car, begins to ring.
SCENE SIX: INT. DEVERAUX HOUSE
JENNIFER: Comply? I’ll never-
COLIN: You will when I tell you what the other option is.
JENNIFER: What makes you think that? What could you possibly do to make me go along willingly with you?
COLIN: I could make your child an orphan. (noting the shock on her face) Oh, that hurts, doesn’t it?
OUT on JENNIFER, curious what he means by that.
SCENE SEVEN: INT. SALEM AIRPORT
JACK, still on the cell phone, is pacing back and forth in the waiting terminal. He looks annoyed.
BO: Nobody still?
JACK: (hanging up the phone) I have a bad feeling about this.
BILL: (walking up) A bad feeling about what?
BO: (covering) Flying….um, Jack doesn’t like to fly in this weather.
BILL: Clear and sunny?
JACK: Yes…I prefer dark and stormy. (looking to BO in annoyance. BO shrugs)
NICO: (walking up) Mr. Brady?
BO: Yes?
NICO: Mr. Kiriakis sent me to tell you the jet is ready for you to board. Follow me.
BO: Okay. Bill, why don’t you go on ahead? Jack’ll be there in a minute.
BILL pauses, but shrugs it off and walks on.
BO: Jack, are you going to be okay?
JACK: It’s not me I’m worried about.
BO: I’m going right over there.
JACK: And you’ll call the jet if there’s any problem?
BO: I promise. (pulling him into a hug, which JACK finds uncomfortable) Safe home, bro.
JACK: (breaking away) Yes…safe home…bro.
BO watches as JACK picks up his carry-on and walks out the gate.
CUT TO:
SCENE EIGHT: INT. KIRIAKIS JET
JACK boards to find BILL sitting in one of the seats reading the paper.
BILL: Is everything alright, Jack?
JACK: Why would you say that?
BILL: Oh, I don’t know. You look a little antsy.
JACK: Just anxious, Bill. Just anxious. (taking a drink off the tray VICTOR’S private stewardess brings him and downing it fast) (to himself, while looking sadly out the window) Anxious.
SCENE NINE: INT. DEVERAUX LIVING ROOM
JENNIFER: Jack? (near tears) You’re going to hurt Jack?
COLIN: Well, it’s not as if I wanted to. For all I care he could live, just somewhere outside of wherever we are living. Wouldn’t what bumbling Jack Deveraux to get in the way of our happiness.
JENNIFER: Our…what are you talking about?
COLIN: Oh yes, the most important part, the “we”. You and I, you see, are to be married.
JENNIFER: What?
COLIN: I’ve taken a lot of flak from my comrades for our involvement and I’ve finally figured out a way to shut them up.
JENNIFER: (confused) What-
COLIN: First off, you are to report anything your dear friend Bo or Jack or even that dreadful father of yours has stumbled onto back to me, this way I can prove that you and I have been working together the entire time. Then, we are to marry. We’ll get a nice little house on the outskirts of Dublin, you can even bring Abigail if you’d like. Then I’ll get the respect and love I’ve always wanted. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
JENNIFER: Never!
COLIN: Never? Well, let me tell you why you are going to take that back. Right now, I know that your Jack Deveraux and your father are on their way to Africa to visit one Nigel Hawthorne. They are on the Kiriakis jet, a gift from cousin Bo’s biological father, the nefarious Victor Kiriakis. In about, I don’t know, twelve hours, that jet and all its cargo will suffer a deadly fate, plummeting to the ground, killing the entire crew and passengers, leaving your daughter father and grandfather-less. Of course, this is only a theory of mine.
JENNIFER: Stop it, Colin.
COLIN: No, Jennifer, only you can stop it. Tell me you’ll go along with my plan and I’ll make a phone call or two. All you have to do is agree. If not, then it’s “hit the road, Jack” or shall I say, “hit the ocean, Jack”?
JENNIFER: I…
All of a sudden, JENNIFER grows dizzy. Through her eyes, we see that the room is spinning. She is flustered. When she tries to stand up, she passes out cold on the floor as COLIN watches in shock.
END OF EPISODE 85
