you okay? sorry.
approaches until he's in ecu.
hello?
let's go to.  you free? or.  *
452 south union street.
how long you think this'll take?
fourteen? not fifteen? not thirteen?
mind if i time you? what do i get if you're wrong? a free ride?
to who? *
did you ask her out?
no. to tell the truth, whenever i'm here, i can't wait to leave. too sprawled-out. disconnected. you know? but that's me. you like it here?
17 million people. this was a country, it would be the fifth biggest economy in the world. but nobody knows each other. too impersonal. * but that's just me. you know.  * i read about this guy. gets on the * mta, here, and dies. six hours he's riding the subway before anybody notices. this corpse doing laps around la, people on and off, sitting next to him, nobody notices.
cleanest cab i've ever been in. your regular ride?
prefer nights?
you get benefits?
retirement? health and welfare? *
start a union.
why not?
how long you been driving?
really? what else are you putting together?
none taken. talkers and doers. like you, i like doers.
fourteen minutes. man, you're good.
yeah, sure. you probably know the light schedules, too. listen. i'm in town on a real estate deal. a closing. one night. i got five stops to make, collect signatures. see some friends. then i got a six a.m. out of lax. why don't you hang with me for the night?
regulations? these guys don't pay you sick leave. how much you pull down a shift?
i'll make it six hundred. plus an extra hundred if you get me to lax and i don't have to run for the plane.
take a chance.
yes, you do.
cool. we got a deal. here's three hundred down. what's your name?
max? i'm vincent.
i'll meet you in the alley behind the building.
you always stutter?
taken two .45s and did a high dive onto his head. it's a good guess.
no. i - i shot him. the bullets and the fall killed him.
red-light-green-light? light's red.
you can run, but you'll die tired.
put down your hands. are you cool? say "i am cool." *
no. you say you are cool.
okay. help me out here. *
el gordo decided to get some air and not take the stairs. so we go to plan b. pop the trunk. *
i can't * leave him here. so unless you want him riding up front with you. and given the hygiene.  . and his sphincters let go.
gonna roll him off the hood. * * always lift with your legs.  *
he's only a dead guy. on three. uno. * dos. three.
got it?
what?
it's a spasm! jesus, don't be such a girl.
* never heard of a treadmill? *
six liters of blood in the average angeleno, he's gotta dump all his. on your cab. okay, that's good enough.
"take the cab"
and you promise you will never tell anybody? right? . get in the fucking car.
can we leave the scene of the crime, * now, please?
max.
the engine is already on. put the little pointer on the letter "d." "d" stands for drive.
i'm making you nervous? i'm the one on a schedule.
try deep breathing.
adrenaline's wearing off. you get shaky after. some people slip into shock. it's not uncommon. deep breathing helps.
is that better?
what are you doing?
so?
lady macbeth. leave the seats. the light's green. we're sitting here.
you no longer have the cleanest cab in la-la land. you gotta live with that. * focus on the job. drive.
7565 fountain. you know it?
how long, you figure?
i told you we had other stops to make tonight.
they're somebody's friends.  * you drive a cab. i make my rounds. we both do our jobs, you might make it through the night and come out seven hundred bucks ahead.
tonight it is.
you are stressed. i understand that. * keep breathing. stay calm.
are you breathing?
good. what else calms you down? candy? cigarettes? breathe.
play music.
chopin prelude. stodgy. here's the deal.
you were gonna drive me around and never be the wiser. but because of el gordo's high dive, we're into plan b. still breathing? now. we have to make the best of it. improvise. adapt to the environment. darwin. "shit happens." the i * ching. whatever. roll with it.
i didn't throw him, he fell.
nothing. i only met him one time.
i should only kill people after i get to know 'em? six billion people on the planet and you get bent out of shape 'cause of one fat guy?
what do you care? ever hear of rwanda?
tens of thousands killed before sundown. nobody's killed people that fast since hiroshima and nagasaki. did you bat an eye, max? did you join amnesty international, oxfam or something? no.
i off one angeleno, you throw a hissy fit.
you don't know the guy in the trunk, either. if it makes you feel any better, he was a criminal involved in a continuing criminal enterprise.
something like that.  what you need to remember is that nobody gets out of this alive. even if we quit smoking. cut out red meat. everybody dies.
get rid of 'em.
you're a cabby. talk yourself out of a ticket.
then don't let me get cornered. you don't have the trunk space.
believe it.
probably married.
maybe that one's got kids. probably * his wife's pregnant.
is that necessary, officer? i'm just a half mile from here.
you open that trunk, they go inside.
breathe.
i thought californians exercised?
what are you lookin' at?
hands on the wheel. ten and two. like they taught you in driver's ed.
because i say so. *
cab's a disgrace. no wonder the cops * pulled you over.
who. is that?
what happens if you don't?
don't blow it.
it was an accident. you're not liable. *
tell him to stick the cab up his fat ass.
so what?
no you don't.
he's not paying you a damn thing! *
richard riccardo, assistant u.s. * attorney. a passenger in this taxicab, and i'm reporting you to the
not excited? how am i supposed to not get excited, listening to you try to extort a working man? you know * goddamn well your collision policy and * general liability umbrella would cover the damages. what are you trying to pull, you sarcastic prick?
tell it to him. tell him he's an asshole.
tell him next time he pulls any shit, you're gonna stick this yellow cab up his fat ass.
don't wait up, hon. i gotta work late.
yo' homie.
that my briefcase?
where's the button? under the dash?
you mind turning it off?
another collateral.
collateral damage. people in the wrong place at the wrong time. and you? you attract attention? you are gonna get people killed who didn't need to be. understand?
pull in there.
yes, max?
i haven't decided.
but, hey! new news. we are ahead of schedule.
we got time to kill. you like jazz?
jazz.
guy told me about a place off crenshaw. leimert park. all the west coast greats played there. dexter gordon, thelonious monk, chet baker. like that.  buy you a drink. expand your * horizons.
a little '60's, early miles thing * happening.  *
you don't learn to listen. anymore * than you learn to breathe. open your * ears. *
he's off the melody, behind the * notes. outside what's expected. * improvising off impulse. kind of like * tonight. *
and one for my friend. who's on the tenor sax? *
he is terrific. would you be so kind * as to invite him over after his set? * i gotta buy him a drink. *
you're kidding me.
jesus.
was it great? better than great, it had to be.
you heard armstrong play live. i've never been this jealous. you get to talk to him?
no.
c'mon.
unbelievable.  . you hearing this?
remember what you played?
crowds not here now?
but the place looks great.
what a great story. i'll tell the * folks in culiacan and bogota that story.
'fraid so.
i am a cool guy. with a job i was hired to do. you know how it is.
i'm working here.
improvisation? that's funny from you. * okay, some jazz for the jazz man. how's this? i'll ask a question?
jazz question. you get it right, we roll. you disappear. tonight. you don't go home, you don't pack a bag, you leave town. and nobody, i mean nobody, ever hears from you or sees you again.
i never lie. ask max. max, have i lied?
sure. *
it's simple. what was louis' first musical instrument?
then let's have it.
tin horn. cost him a dime. rode the junk * wagon and played for the neighborhood. people sold them stuff. rags. bottles. whatever.
let's go.
what you mean, no?
max?
what is it with this guy?
you hassling my man again?
same fare you talked to last time.
we're gay lovers, what's it to you? *
hang on. carefully.
show for what?
show up for what?
you visit every night?
cause if you don't show it breaks a routine.
so people start looking for you, this cab. that is not good. *
since when was any of this negotiable?
stay three paces in front of me and one to my left.
flowers?
she carried you in her womb for nine months.
having a good night?
no harm done, madam.
i'm really happy to meet you, mrs. * rilke.
well, i was with max when he got the call.
it's nothing.
tell me about it.
client? i like to think of myself as his friend. a mentor. *
ida, he says he's standing right here. * in the room. here. *
i know. but i'm sure you're proud of * him.
* no. i am interested.
vincent.
limousine companies? what an achievement.
i'm only in town tonight. *
sure. i promise. *
stop or i'll go back and kill her.
i'll tell her the truth!
don't!
red-light-green-light, max.
what the fuck was that?
you are screwing. with my work! my * prep was in there. i'm coming up on number four. the night is no longer young. are we getting adversarial? *
didn't know you could do that.  let's see what else you can do.
limos, huh?
hey, i'm not the one lying to my mother.
yeah, right. maybe she hears what you tell her.
you're goin' to a place called el rodeo. it's on whittier boulevard in anaheim.
look it up.
just drive. they project onto you their flaws, what they don't like about themselves, their lives, whatever. and then they rank on you, instead.
i had a father like that.
he hated whatever i did. got drunk. beat me up all the time.
i killed him. i was 12.
he was the first. i'm kidding. he died of liver cancer.
no you're not. so driving this cab "temporarily" is * all bullshit?
twelve years is not temporary.
why not?
uh-huh.
here's good.
gimme your wallet.
i'll hold it for you in case they search you.
the people inside. go in and ask for felix. he's expecting you.
dunno. never met him.
he's from who hired me.
you destroyed my work-ups. and number four is due. whatta you think, night's over? called on account of rain? go be me. in there. score the * backups. he'll have 'em on a flash drive or cd.
they don't know what i look like. and * i don't meet people. like in risk * management. protect anonymity. and you're not going to screw that up.
max, who's socal cab company? ralph socal?
ever met the owner? *
well, i don't work for them. i work for their bosses. they don't get to meet me, either.
they're gonna kill you. * you got ten minutes. 10:01? i drive the cab to the hospital and execute your mother on my way out of town. and don't pretend indifference.
you threw my pc onto the freeway. you've got balls bigger than toledo.
out of options, max. take comfort in * knowing you never had a choice.
why?
private sector? six years.
no. nor paid sick leave. quit stalling. get out of the cab.
vegas odds would have compelled a "don't pass" bet on you walking out of there.
washington boulevard. after-hours dance club near crenshaw called "fever." know it?
you'll be late. jump on the freeway * and get me to the 105 west. *
do it.
let's go.
would you have called her?
your lady friend. the one who gave you her business card. or was she just being polite?
why hold back? why not act off your impulse? pick up the phone?
it's not what you owe me. time is fleeting. life is short. time is luck. one day it's gone.  you make it out of this alive, you should call her. that's what i think. anyway.
booth towards the back. that's where he hangs. fat korean guy. terminal acne as a youth. you go first.
fifteen feet in front and three to my left. wander, and innocent bystanders get the first rounds. clear?
spots.
- the only calm in the storm - has dumped bodyguard #3 and is moving on the cluster of protection at peter yip's booth, when.
places four shots into bodyguard #4. vincent's assault will be in a straight line. now, he rolls onto one knee, fires two more, dropping african-american bodyguard #5, who had two handguns blazing. and rising.
get in!
drive!
what a clusterfuck. only thing didn't show up was the polish cavalry.
you don't wanna talk, tell me to fuck off.
blood, bodily fluid and death get to you? try deep breathing. or remember, we all die anyway.
who's fanning? *
i shoulda saved him 'cause he believed you?
yeah, that.
it's what i do for a living.
head downtown.
how are you at math? i was hired for five hits. i did four.
there you go!
'cause you're good. we're in this together. you know. fates intertwined. cosmic coincidence. all that crap.
i'm full of shit? you're a monument of it. you even * bullshitted yourself, all i am is taking out the garbage. bad guys killing bad guys.
and you believe me?
how do i know? but, they all got that "witness for * the prosecution" look to me. it's probably some major federal indictment against somebody who majorly does not want to get indicted.  i dunno.
that's the "why." there is no reason. no good reason; no bad reason. to live or to die.
indifferent.
get with it. get over it. . millions of galaxies of hundreds of millions of stars and a speck on one in a blink. that's us. lost in space. the universe don't care . the cop, you, me? who notices?
as in?
all the cabbies in la, i get max, sigmund freud meets dr. ruth.
look in the mirror.
with your paper towels. a bottle * of 409. a limo company someday. how much you got saved?
your business "plan?" someday? "someday my dream'll come"? and one night you'll wake up and discover it all flipped on you. suddenly you're old. and it didn't happen. and it never will. 'cause you were never going to do it, anyway. the dream on the horizon became yesterday and got lost. then you'll bullshit yourself, it could never have been, anyway. and you'll recede it into memory. and zone out in a barcalounger with daytime tv on for the rest of your life.  don't talk to me about killing. * you're do-in' yourself. in this yellow-and-orange prison. bit by bit. every day.
all it ever took was a down payment on a lincoln town car. what the hell are you still doing in a cab?
slow down.
that was a red light!
slow the hell down!
slow down!
well. that was brilliant.
max?
what are you gonna do, shoot m--
rises, gets behind cover. sitting up, eyes glittering, hand * clasped to the side of his head, blood coursing through his fingers.
jesus, max. you shot my ear off. *
okay, max!
you can't win, max! i do this for a living!
guy. gets on a subway. dies. think anybody'll notice?
leans back, gazing straight ahead now. rocking gently with the motion of the train.
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enters with the flowers. vincent appears behind him, hovering in the doorway. max moves toward the bed.
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