by David Hare
Chesneau walks along the long neon-lit corridor at the spine of CIA headquarters on the fifth floor of the Embassy. A jump in sound: typewriters, telexes, shredders, people calling from room to room.
Barbara (voice over) On the fifth floor of the Embassy, the New Year had begun much as they’d expected. Offensives from the North had started on time …
Lines of doors on either side, through which we see desk workers, strategic analysts. The maps, the desks, the charts, the projections, the files. Piles and piles of paperwork. Everyone is in civilian clothing.
(voice over) The town of Phuoc Binh fell at the beginning of January.
A cry of ‘Hi, Bob’ from one of the doors.
(voice over) But then Ban me Thuot followed early in March.
37. INT. OFFICE. DAY
Chesneau standing with his secretary Linda in the communal secretaries’ office. She is 24, blonde, big-jawed and plaid-skirted, in the Mid-Western way. He is nodding at some papers she is showing him.
Barbara (voice over) Somehow up till then nothing really told them this was going to be the long-awaited end …
Chesneau nods as the Secretary explains a document to him.
(voice over) They’d lived through so many of these annual readjustments, at first they’d just assumed it was another of the same …
38. INT. CORRIDOR. DAY
Chesneau walking on, purposefully, down the corridor towards the far end.
Barbara (voice over) Of course, I suppose if they’d just looked around them, if they’d ever just stopped and thought …
Chesneau reaches the end room. The door is open. Ockham’s office. There are ten people sitting round in the deep-blue carpeted office, with a pine desk where Ockham is. Chesneau stops at the open door.
(voice over) But somehow … all of us … our eye was elsewhere.
Ockham looks up from behind his desk.
(voice over) When we realized, it was too late.
39. INT. OFFICE. DAY
At once we join the scene which has plainly already been long in progress. A young Officer lectures from a wall map of Vietnam, pointing with a short stick. Sitting round in the other chairs we see Colonel Fiedler and Judd, among a mixture of analysts and military. Ockham is standing staring ahead, a picture of President Ford behind him. Chesneau sits down, as we pick up the Officer in mid-brief.
Officer … hemmed in on the road. The South has lost fifteen hamlets in twenty-four hours. Here. On the road between Quang Tri and Hue. (He points further down the map.) Two district towns gone here in Quang Tin. The North heading down towards Tarn Ky. (further down) Ban me Thuot here, of course, consolidated. And the anticipated push to Tay Ninh … (He points.) Signs of that are finally happening. This morning they lost the town of Tri Tam. (He stands a moment, almost apologetic.)
Fiedler Jesus Christ, they’re coming out everywhere …
Ockham No, it’s not so …
He nods at the Officer to sit down.
It’s logical, I’m afraid. Once President Thieu decided to abandon the Highlands, everything that’s happened makes logical sense.
There is a pause.
Fiedler Do we know more?
Ockham Joan …
Ockham, anticipating, has already nodded at Joan Mackintosh, who has got up. She is a CIA analyst, a brisk, well-built woman of about 40, in a pleated summer dress. She goes over to the map.
Mackintosh We have this from Thieu’s Cabinet.
Fiedler looks at Ockham, surprised.
Ockham We now have an agent in there.
Mackintosh He explains. He says there is a new strategy. (With a cloth she wipes the old marks from the laminated map.) I’m afraid it was only invented this week.
She takes a Pentel and draws a thick line horizontally across South Vietnam from just above Tay Ninh to Nha Trang, so that the country is neatly divided three-quarters of the way down.
That … a defensive line …
Then she draws three tiny semicircles, way up on the coast in the North, all isolated from the main defensive area. They are around Quang-Nai, Tam-Ky, and Hue and Danang.
Here … these enclaves … these coastal towns … (She turns back.) Nothing else. The rest is abandoned.
Fiedler (quietly) My God.
Mackintosh (as quietly) There we are.
There is a silence. As if to fill it, apologetically, in contrast to her earlier manner, Mackintosh explains.
It isn’t … we don’t think it would be a bad strategy. It’s always been an option the South has had. What is disastrous is simply the speed of it. It was intended this option should cover six months. Instead of which it’s been three days now since it was implemented and of course … (She looks to Ockham, as if deferring to him, tying herself up slightly as she finishes.) … to do with its suddenness, I think … now it’s happening, well, we all know … it does seem as if it’s panic all round.
There is a long pause. Ockham stares ahead. From the back Chesneau speaks quietly.
Chesneau Where’s the Ambassador?
Ockham doesn’t answer at once.
Still getting his teeth fixed?
Ockham I have it here.
He nods and reaches among the pile of telexes on his desk. He reads from the appropriate wire.
Minor orthodontal surgery was completed in North Carolina last week.
Chesneau And is he coming back?
Ockham Yeah. Eventually. (He reads from the cable again.) He says ‘No panic.’ That’s it. ‘The situation is not yet serious.’ (He drops it on the desk, then quietly.) I think that maybe we’d better leave it there.
He nods to dismiss them. People rise uncertainly, Chesneau looking at Judd. Ockham at once starts to talk to Fiedler.
Thank you, everyone. Colonel, if you got a moment …
But we go with Chesneau and Judd, leaving together in a group of agents, talking under their breath.
Chesneau It’s Loonyville. Land of the Loonies!
Judd That’s right.
40. INT. CORRIDOR. DAY
Continuous. As they come out into the corridor and are able to raise their voices, the hysteria begins to seep.
Chesneau Oh my God, the spooks are going crazy.
People around them scatter, still talking, as they go on down the corridor, Judd already tapping satirically at his teeth with his fingernail and smiling.
Judd Teeth!
Chesneau Yeah.
Judd What’s he going to do with them? Bite the fucking VC in the neck?
They go on down the corridor. Suddenly the remains of the meeting has broken up and all the other agents and officers have disappeared, leaving Judd and Chesneau the last two. Chesneau puts his hand on Judd’s arm as they disappear.
Chesneau Frank. Suppose it happens. And we evacuate …
They disappear. The deserted corridor. We catch Chesneau’s voice from round the corner.
Has anyone thought to look at the plans?
A pause. We look at the empty corridor.
41. EXT. WASTEGROUND. NIGHT
Chesneau’s Pinto silently drawing up on a piece of wrecked Saigon suburb. It is so quiet it is as if he has turned the engine off. He comes to a halt. There is just open ground, with some shacks away in the distance, and alone in the wasteground a small tin garage. Chesneau lights a cigarette. He sits a moment in the car. Then he gets out and begins to walk across the silent wasteground.
42. INT. GARAGE. NIGHT
Chesneau opening the corrugated-iron door. The night seen briefly behind him as he slips in. The door closes. At the end a man is sitting on a crate, behind some tyres. He is 40, thin, with exceptionally bad skin. He wears sunglasses. His name is Nhieu. Chesneau speaks quietly.
Chesneau Hi. How are you?
Nhieu I am well, thank you.
Chesneau That’s good.
Nhieu I want this to be our final meeting. I don’t want money. I want documents out.
Chesneau stands still at the door.
Chesn
eau Well, if you like. It may not be necessary. I don’t think anyone knows what you do.
Nhieu It is a condition.
Chesneau nods slightly, in assent.
When?
Chesneau Your papers? Soon.
Nhieu Tomorrow. And travellers’ cheques. American Express.
Nhieu’s voice is firm. There is a slight pause.
Chesneau Please tell me first what you have from Hanoi.
Nhieu There was a Cabinet meeting last night. It is now the intention of the Government of the North to press the war as far as it will go.
Chesneau Yes, but is it …?
Nhieu It will be military.
Chesneau What makes you say that?
Nhieu They call it blood scent. (He gestures to his nose.) The smell of blood in their noses. They will fight, all the way to Saigon.
Chesneau is seen to weigh this up, then decide to go on.
Chesneau You see, the thought was they might stop short of the city …
Nhieu shakes his head at once.
Nhieu No.
Chesneau And negotiate for a coalition from strength.
Nhieu Up till last night, yes, there was a faction. But they are defeated. They will fight their way in.
Chesneau looks at him, then goes on.
Chesneau This time, I’m sorry, I will have to ask you how close the source is.
Nhieu Has he ever been wrong? (He looks straight at him, holding his stare.)
Chesneau When?
Nhieu Three weeks. The end of April. (He smiles slightly.) I am not staying. I will be gone.
43. EXT. WASTEGROUND. NIGHT
The two men pacing together slowly back across the ground. They look small against the vastness of the night, and the tone is of two elder statesmen.
Nhieu I have a cousin in Omaha, Nebraska.
Chesneau Ah.
Nhieu He has a business selling paint.
Chesneau Ah yes. (He steals a quick glance at him.) It’s very quiet in Nebraska.
Nhieu You are saying I will find no business as a pimp?
Chesneau shrugs slightly.
Chesneau Well, I don’t know. It’s a land of opportunity.
Nhieu I was hoping also, I might take some girls?
They stop, Chesneau registering the request, but not reacting. They have reached the car.
Chesneau I will try. (He is about to get in.) Thank you. You’ve been a great help to us.
Nhieu The documents.
Chesneau Yes. I will see it’s arranged.
44. INT. OFFICES. NIGHT
The deserted CIA offices at dead of night. The secretaries’ shared office is completely quiet, and through the open door we see Chesneau at work by a single lamp.
He reaches for a clean yellow legal pad, and quickly writes a few Vietnamese names on it. Then he pulls open a drawer in the side of his desk and takes out a fat, black address book. He opens it. It is thick, bulging, messy. Years of writing in both English and Vietnamese. He flicks a couple of times over some pages, then starts systematically transferring names from the book to his pad. Crossfade to:
45. INT. OFFICE. DAWN
Chesneau sitting back at his desk, the work complete in front of him, the morning light coming through the blinds. There’s a pause. Then he gets up and picks up the list, walks off down the corridor.
46. INT. OCKHAM’S OFFICE. DAY
Ockham is already at his desk, in shirt-sleeves. He has a cup of coffee at his side, and he is sitting reading the day’s telexes with his legs up on the table. Chesneau comes in quietly at the door.
Chesneau Jack, you’re in. (He nods at a few sheets of paper he has left on the desk top.) I left that for you.
Ockham Yeah, I got it.
Chesneau Did you take a look?
Ockham nods slightly.
I’ve been making a list. (He approaches the desk with his yellow legal pad.) Here’s a list of our two hundred most important local contacts. They should be the first we take out. (He settles down to explain.) I think the way we do it is, each department draws up a list of its most sensitive men …
Ockham Bob, I don’t disagree with you. But the Ambassador has to say when. (He goes on before Chesneau can interrupt.) I’ve already called him. He arrived back in the country last night.
Chesneau is looking at him, mistrustfully.
Chesneau Jack, these are the people who’ve actively worked for us …
Ockham Sure.
Chesneau There’s a whole dependent community here. Don’t say if the Communists finally get here, we’re just going to leave them to be murdered in their beds.
Ockham No question of that. We take them with us. (He pauses, as calm as ever.) The question is one of time-scale, that’s all.
Chesneau Well, in three weeks …
Ockham You don’t have to argue. At least you don’t have to argue with me. (He smiles slightly, and looks across at Chesneau.) The Ambassador’s read the report of your agent. He’s insisting he sees you himself.
47. INT. AMBASSADOR’S OFFICE. DAY
The Ambassador’s office is lined in dark wood. It has a deep-green carpet and fine desk, with flags behind it and photographs of the Ambassador with successive Presidents – Johnson, Nixon, Ford. The Ambassador is a very tall man in his early sixties in a tropical suit. He is sandy-haired, with a disconcerting habit of sometimes seeming neither to see you nor hear you. He gets up as soon as Chesneau and Ockham come into the room, making low murmurs as he settles them in chairs.
Ockham Ambassador.
Ambassador Hi. Good morning. (He gestures towards a chair.) Why don’t you sit down?
As they settle, the Ambassador wanders, making vague noises.
Bob … OK … Jack, how you doing? (Then he settles at his own desk.) Right. Here we are then … (He looks at Chesneau.) I read your report. I have to tell you … I don’t admire it. This is not the sort of thing I like to read. This war has always been a great test of character … at this time more than ever perhaps. (He now gestures at the report on the desk.) This simply contradicts all our information. This ‘blood scent’ theory …
Chesneau Yeah.
The Ambassador stops, waiting for Chesneau to say more.
The agent is good.
Ambassador I’m afraid I simply don’t accept that. Nothing he says squares with the picture we have. I have read it. Thank you for submitting it. But I shall not credit it when making policy. (He smiles at Ockham.)
Ockham I think that’s right.
Ambassador I’m telling Washington the North are still keen to negotiate … (He has sat back now, and is off on his own tack.) This latest round of fighting has been very bracing. It’s led to some decisions which were long overdue. President Thieu has succeeded in stripping down the country, he’s made it a much more defensible shape. The area we’re left with is much more logical, that’s the benefit of strategic withdrawal. Now when we fight we’re in the right positions. As soon as they see that, the Communists will stop. That’s the moment we’ll be able to negotiate …
Chesneau Sir, I don’t think it’ll happen like that.
There is a pause. The Ambassador smiles easily.
Ambassador Well, it won’t happen if everyone panics … if everyone starts spreading depression and alarm …
Chesneau No, it’s just …
He looks for support to Ockham, who gives none.
Our reports from the military indicate a chronic problem of morale.
The Ambassador shifts slightly in his chair.
Ambassador I wonder sometimes if we don’t project that. I mean, if the problem isn’t more in ourselves. Because we ourselves are a little bit panicky … (He pauses, hanging the sentence in the air.) So then we kind of see it in the Vietnamese.
Chesneau starts again, calmly, trying to keep to the facts.
Chesneau Sir, I’m worried we corrupt our intelligence. All last year we said things were bad. That was to dramatize, to secure an aid allocation. Now you’re asking us
to say things are good.
Ambassador Yes well, God, man, I still need money …
Chesneau What?
Ambassador That’s exactly why your stuff has got to be suppressed. (He gestures angrily at Chesneau’s report.) Congress is hardly going to vote us more money if they believe that South Vietnam’s about to be destroyed.
Chesneau So you’re …
But the Ambassador has suddenly started raising his voice.
Ambassador And it’s not going to be! God, how often do I have to say? (He suddenly starts shouting, with hurt and bewilderment.) What is this in us? Some kind of death wish? Some kind of wishing the whole thing would end?
There is a pause.
Chesneau (as tactfully as he can) I think our first duty is to anyone who helped us. It’s our job to get those people out …
Ambassador Out of the question. No evacuation. I’m not doing anything that smells of defeat.
Chesneau Sir, I can promise it won’t be conspicuous …
Ambassador Oh yes, that’s fine. What? Planes overhead? (He makes an angry gesture to the sky.) Great lines at Tan Son Nhut airport? Oh my God, yes, we really need that.
Chesneau interrupts before he finishes.
Chesneau No, I am saying … some of the Vietnamese commanders, the men who are out in the field right now, the reason they are fighting so badly is because we’ve made no plans for their families and friends. Now if we could get that worry removed for them …
The Ambassador turns to Ockham.
Ambassador He’s saying he would like us to prepare for defeat.
Chesneau insists at once.
Chesneau No, I’m not.
Ambassador There would be chaos.
Chesneau There’ll be even greater chaos if we delay. If we leave it to the very last minute, can you imagine what that’s going to be like?
There is a pause. The Ambassador looks at him.
Ambassador Chesneau, my aim is exactly to avoid that. There will be no last minute here.