WILHEMY

                      Holy shit!

            INT. ECKER'S CRUSADER - CONTINUOUS

            Tracers and flack pepper the air in front of Ecker's

            Crusader.  METAL PINGS, TINKS, RATTLES off the fuselage.

            Anti-aircraft and small arms fire comes up from all over,

            hitting the planes multiple times.  He surveys the shapes in

            the target zone dead ahead.

                                ECKER

                      Lights.

            And sees the long, canvas-covered objects on the ground.  The

            missiles.  They draw closer.

                                ECKER (CONT'D)

                      Camera.

            A steel fragment CRACKS his window, obscuring our view.

                                ECKER (CONT'D)

                      Action.

            And he thumbs the CAMERA SWITCH.  All twelve B-system cameras

            begin banging away like cannons.

            EXT. AERIAL - CRUSADERS - DAY

            TRACERS lace the air between the two planes as they blast

            over the missile site.  Over trailers.  Over tents.  Over

            trucks.  Over trenches.  Over bulldozers.

            And then they're out over forest again.  It's all over in

            seconds.  The triple-A stops.  In unison, the two planes bank

            right, heading for the distant blue, blue sea.

            INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - DAY

            Kenny paces by the phone.  It rings.  He picks up, listens,

            reacts.  Relief.  And we know the planes have made it back.

            EXT. RUNWAY - CECIL FIELD, FLA. - DAY

            Ecker jumps down from the cockpit ladder and turns an eye to

            his battered, pock-marked plane.  Wilhemy and the GROUND CREW

            CHIEF come running up, the Chief letting out a whistle.

                                GROUND CREW CHIEF

                      Lookit what daddy done brung home.

                                WILHEMY

                      You shoulda seen it, Chief, they --

                                ECKER

                      -- damn sparrows.  Must've been

                      migrating.  Guess I hit a couple

                      hundred.

                          (to Wilhemy, stern)

                      How many did you hit, Bruce?

            Wilhemy stands there, looking at Ecker, not sure what to make

            of him.  The Crew Chief just starts laughing as more

            impressed GROUND CREW come up.

                                WILHEMY

                      A few.  I guess.

                                GROUND CREW CHIEF

                      Was them 20 or 40 million sparrows?

            Ecker, sweat-plastered and foul, steps into the Chief's face.

                                ECKER

                      Those are bird strikes.  Sparrows to be

                      precise.  Got a problem with that?

            The Chief stands there, glances at the plane one more time,

            and shakes his head, 'No.'  Ecker takes the Chief's

            maintenance clipboard from him, writes in big bold marker:

            BIRD STRIKES.  He thrusts it back into the Chief's hands and

            walks off; the astonished Wilhemy remains behind.

            INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - DAY

            In Kenny's credenza, a small black and white T.V. plays.

            WALTER CRONKITE narrates on the television as a train laden

            with TANKS on flatbeds pulls out of a station.

                                WALTER CRONKITE (V.O.)

                      Massive military preparations are

                      underway throughout the southeast in

                      what Pentagon officials are confirming

                      is the largest mobilization since Korea.

                      The railways have been nationalized to

                      assist in the deployment, here

                      transporting elements of the U.S. 1st

                      Armored Division from Ft. Hood, Texas.

            A PHONE RINGS.  Kenny turns from the T.V., turns down Walter

            Cronkite, as he answers.

                                KENNY

                      Yeah?

            INT. OAS MEETING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

            George Ball stands at the back of a crowded room filled with

            applauding OAS DELEGATES.  It's for Rusk, at a podium up

            front.

                                BALL

                      Kenny.  The vote just came down.

            INT. OVAL OFFICE - DAY

            Kenny opens his door, lets Rusk in.  The President, Bobby and

            half of EXCOM look up.  Rusk stands there somber.

                                RUSK

                      Unanimous.  One abstenation.

            And then he breaks into a huge grin.  Everyone cheers him.

                                THE PRESIDENT

                      About time something went our way.

            An Assistant enters behind Kenny.  Kenny senses him, turns as

            the others move to shake hands with Rusk.

                                ASSISTANT

                      Telephone, Mr. O'Donnell.

            INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - DAY

            Kenny, grinning, ducks back into his office, closes the door

            after the Assistant leaves.  He picks up the phone.

                                KENNY

                      Hello?

                                                       INTERCUT CALL TO:

            INT. READY ROOM - CECIL FIELD - DAY

            Ecker stands at a phone, stares out a window at a replacement

            plane being fueled.  A Crusader, not his shot-up one.

                                ECKER

                      Mr. O'Donnell, I've been ordered to

                      deliver the film to the Pentagon

                      personally.  What's going on?

            INT. KENNY'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

            Kenny thinks fast.  Oh shit.

                                KENNY

                      The Chiefs must want to talk to you.

                          (beat)

                      Listen to me, Commander, they'll want to

                      know if you were fired on.  Were you?

                                ECKER (O.S.)

                      You could say that, sir.

                                KENNY

                      Commander.  Do not, under any

                      circumstances, tell the Chiefs.

            END INTERCUT

            INT. PENTAGON - DAY

            SUPER: E-RING.  Then SUPER: THE PENTAGON

            Ecker, still in his sweat-drenched flight suit approaches a

            security checkpoint.  GUARDS secure his sidearm and user him

            through a doorway.  A sign over it reads JCS.

            INT. THE TANK - DAY

            The door swings open into the Joint Chiefs' SOUND-PROOFED

            briefing room known as THE TANK.  LeMay, Taylor and Anderson

            sit there around the table.  Ecker salutes.

                                ECKER

                      Commander William B. Ecker reporting as

                      ordered!

            LeMay rises, prowls over to Ecker.

                                LEMAY

                      Son , I want to know just one thing.

                      Those bastards shoot so much as a BB gun

                      at you?

            A long beat.  Sweat runs off Ecker's head.  He can smell

            LeMay's breath.

                                ECKER

                      Sir, it was a milk run, sir.

            INT. WEST WING HALL - NIGHT

            Kenny joins the President and General Taylor in the hallway

            as they head for the Oval Office.

                                GENERAL TAYLOR

                      It appears our low-level flights are

                      getting back okay.  Some unconfirmed

                      reports of small-arms fire from some of

                      the missions, but that's it.

            Slightly behind them, Kenny looks sidelong at Taylor.

                                THE PRESIDENT

                      Guess we can't blame Khruschev for a few

                      patriotic farmers.  And the ships?

                                GENERAL TAYLOR

                      Still heading for Cuba.

                                THE PRESIDENT

                      All right.  Then I guess it's time.

            INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT

            FLASHBULBS go off all around the room as the President walks

            in, goes over to his desk.  Reporters observe silently, T.V.

            cameras track him; Kenny, Bobby and Sorensen watch as the

            President sits, takes a pen form his pocket.