ROLLING THUNDER PART ONE

Written by: Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell
Directed by: Roger Young
Transcribed by: Michelle Furnas

Disclaimer: I have NO claim to the characters NOR am I associated in any way to the show. The characters were created by Stephen J. Cannell and belong to him and Columbia Tristar Television Distribution.

This is a transcript of Rolling Thunder Part One, originally aired September 18, 1983.

Theme plays and credits roll.

Location beach, outdoor restaurant. Sitting at the table are "Flip" Johnson and Mark McCormick. Mark's looking at car schematics.

JOHNNY "FLIP" JOHNSON: Thank you(to waiter bringing drinks). Well, what do you think?

MARK: Flip, I'd give anything to drive something like this.

"FLIP": Well, you're gonna. Look Martin Cody is going to manufacture this car, and I don't have to tell you the juice that Cody automotive has in this state. You're on parole, but with the right guys pulling strings, I think I can arrange for you to drive this thing for us. I'm meeting with Cody tonight. The Coyote's not ready for you to drive yet, but I've made arrangements for you to do some practice laps in a Camero at the track.

MARK: (Raising his glass for a toast) Thanks for not deserting me, pal.

"FLIP": (Bringing up his own glass) Hey, you and me, we're the best team of dirt track drivers ever. (Takes a drink, looks at watch) Don't you have a parole meeting at five o'clock?

MARK: (Looking at his own watch) Yeah, but I got time.

"FLIP": Hey pal, it's ten minutes to five. You ain't gonna make it.

MARK: (Examining watch again) Aw, my watch stopped. My P.O.'s a gorilla, the toughest guy down there. I'm in trouble Flip.

Scene changes to show a car burning rubber, it's a black trans am. Flip's driving Mark to his meeting.

MARK: I miss this meeting man, and they put me back inside.

"FLIP": Oh come on, he'll understand.

MARK: No, these guys don't understand anything, and on top of that, I got this crazy judge breathing down my throat.

"FLIP": Hardcastle? Is he still checking on you?

MARK: Yeah, now there's a guy who definitely wants to put me back inside. (looking at his watch again which reads 4:58) I'll never make it. Pull up here at this phone booth. I'm going to try something.

"FLIP": (off screen) You gonna call him?

MARK: Yeah, I'm going to use your tape recorder, all right?

"FLIP": (off screen) Okay.

MARK exits the car and goes to the phone booth. He calls time and records it. Change to the Parole Officer, John Dalem's, office.

DALEM: (on phone to secretary) Is McCormick out there?

SECRETARY: (voice on phone) No he's not, sir.

DALEM: Get me Judge Hardcastle, he should be in chambers.

SECRETARY: (voice on phone) Yes, sir.

Change scene to Judge Hardcastle and his secretary in his chambers packing up boxes. Phone begins to ring.

SARA(Hardcastle's secretary): I suppose I can't talk you out of saving these old files. You know, Your Honor, we're going to run out of room in the basement

HARDCASTLE: You know what I want done with those files, Sara. Now you index them according to name, age and crime. (Harcastle answers the phone and scene shows a two way conversation between him and the parole officer.) Harcastle.

DALEM: Judge Hardcastle, John Dalem.

HARDCASTLE: What's up?

DALEM: Your boy didn't show.

HARDCASTLE: (looking at watch) Give him a couple of minutes. If he show's up, hold him and I'll be right over. Sara, pull McCormick's file out of there. I might be needing it sooner than I thought.

Change scene to Mark arriving at the office.

MARK: (to secretary) I'm in deep aren't I?

SECRETARY: He's already called Hardcastle.

MARK: Melinda, do me a favor all right? I'm going to call you on this extension. When I do I want you to play this tape into the receiver.

MELINDA: The last time I did you a favor, Mark, I ended up in Tahoe for a weekend.

MARK: (kisses her hand, smiles suggestively, and wiggles his eyebrows) Okay, go on, go on.

MELINDA: (picking up phone) Mr. McCormick's here...Okay. (hanging up phone) You can go in now. Good luck.

MARK: You're looking very good. You know that. (Entering office) Good to see you, Mr. Dalem. Traffic was a little tough, but as usual I made it.

DALEM: (putting on his coat) Office is closed, McCormick, but you can uh stick around and talk to Judge Hardcastle. He's on his way over.

MARK: (feigning innocence) It's closed? Oh Mr. Dalem, you're kidding. I'm on (glancing at his watch showing it to Dalem). Look for yourself, it's only 5:01.

DALEM: Oh that's cute. I can set my watch back too.

MARK: No, well here wait, listen(Mark picks up the phone and dials Melinda's extension). I'll call time. Here listen for yourself.

Exiting office.

DALEM: Okay McCormick, I guess there's not much I can do. Check in next week. Goodnight, Melinda.

MELINDA: Night, Mr. Dalem.

Hallway. Hardcastle getting off elevator.

MARK: Well, well, well. If it isn't the High Plain's Drifter. How ya been, Judge?

HARDCASTLE: Where you going, McCormick?

MARK: Home. (enters the elevator)

DALEM: I was wrong about the time, Milt. He made it.

MARK: Why you always breathing on me, Judge?
HARDCASTLE: Whether you believe it or not, I'm looking after you.

MARK: You listen to me, I haven't stolen any cars and I haven't missed any parole appointments so why don't you go chew on some other guys leg okay. (doors close).

DALEM: Why are you checking this guy, Milt?

HARDCASTLE: Well he could be just right for a little project I got in mind. I hope he keeps his nose clean. I don't know. A guy like that sometimes they can't seem to do it without help.

Change scene. Nighttime. Show Episode Title and some credits. Car driving down a street in the city containing "Flip" Johnson and his lawyer on the way to meet with Martin Cody.

LAWYER: I don't believe this. He wants to see us in the middle of the night to review the deal. Who is this guy? Howard Hughes.

"FLIP": That's the way he is. Big automotive industrialist like Martin Cody works around the clock. When he says come, we come.

LAWYER: Yeah, and he's going to improve your deal, right? Gonna make it better? And how is he going to make it better? The Cody Coyote is going to be bigger than the Corvette and the Mustang, and you've got thirty percent of it already. How do you improve on that, Flip?

"FLIP" smiles and shrugs.

LAWYER: All right, all right, but I'm a skeptic.

Scene changes to two men sitting in a waiting car.

THUG 1: There's Flip Johnson and his attorney. Let's go.

The second car forces Flip and his lawyer's car off the road. It overturns and the second car stops. Thug two shoots at the overturned car causing it to explode.

THUG 1: What are you crazy?

THUG 2: Get it together, Vetromile(unsure of spelling). Let's get out of here.

Second car drives away. Change scenes to the next day. The setting is a race track. See two cars running the track. A man is sitting in a truck watching the race when the news comes on the radio.

VOICE: On the hour, WPCW Western News with the top stories of the morning.

2nd Voice: Thanks Ted(or could be Tim). The world of auto sport is saddened this morning with the news of the death of Johnny "Flip" Johnson, race car driver, designer, and builder. Johnson was a passenger in a car that overturned early this morning. No comment from industrialist Martin Cody on the death of Johnson. Cody Enterprises was to mass produce the Cody Coyote, the Johnson designed sports car. Again Johnny "Flip" Johnson, dead at the age of 52. And in local news...

The man leaves his truck and flags down one of the race cars.

MARK: What did you pull me in for? I was just getting it dialed in.(Mark exits car) Listen she's pushing a little up front. I want to take a couple of turns off the front sway bar, all right?

MAN: Look, Skid...

MARK: What?

MAN: I got really bad news for you.

MARK: What? Come on, I'm out there setting lap records, you know that.

MAN: Look, Flip Johnson was killed in an auto accident this morning on...I just heard it on the radio.

Mark looks stunned.

MARK: Ah no...Boy...How? What happened?

MAN: I don't know, just a car accident. I...Look if you want to skip the race this weekend. It's okay.

MARK: No..

MAN: I'm really sorry. I know how close you guys were.

MARK: Yeah, yeah

Mark walks away and breaks down falling to his knees then sits rocking back and forth.

MARK: Oh, Flip.

Change scene. The cemetery. The service is breaking up. A man approaches Mark. It's Thug 1, Vetromile.

VETROMILE: Flip set the Coyote up for me. I was gonna race it on the circuit for him. It was my car to drive, put me back on the front grid. I won't drive it now, couldn't drive it with Flip gone. This is horrible. How could this be happening?

Mark looks confused. He goes to comfort Flips daughter.

MARK: Listen, if you need anything, any help at all, all right, you're father wanted you to ask me.

BARBARA: I know, Mark.

MARK: Come on.

BARBARA: Okay.

Both look up to see a black Rolls Royce drive up.

CODY: (to woman in car with him) Just shut up. I have to do this. Try to show a little class. We'll be in Vegas tonight.

Cody steps from the car and is immediately assailed by reporters

REPORTER 1: How does this affect the deal with Cody Enterprises?

REPORTER 2: Mr. Cody, could we have a statement please?

CODY: Please, please. Mr. Johnson was a personal friend. His tragic death completely overshadows anything to do with Cody Enterprises.

Cody walks away toward Mark and Barbara.

REPORTER 1: (hear her voice as Cody approaches Mark and Barbara) Industrialist Martin Cody just arrived. Whether the Cody Coyote will make it's automotive debut in Las Vegas is now in question.

CODY: Ms. Johnson, your father was more than just a business associate. He became a friend., a close friend. If there is anything I can do...You're upset. I'm sorry.

BARBARA: Mark, make him go away. I can't talk to him.

MARK: Maybe later okay?

CODY: Oh now there's no need to...Ms. Johnson, it wasn't my fault.

BARBARA: Oh really...

CODY: Now wait a minute...

MARK: Mr. Cody this isn't doing anyone any good. Back off, okay.

Mark and Barbara walk away. Cody stares after them. Change scene to the bleachers at the race track. Mark and Barbara are talking.

BARBARA: Boy, life can really turn around on you, can't it?

MARK: Barbara, you were going to go to law school. I think you should still go. I think it's a good idea. It will keep you busy. Look, we can't change what happened to your dad. Dwelling on it sure doesn't help.

BARBARA: Is that what you did in prison, Mark?

MARK: I played a lot of baseball in prison. It's the same idea I guess. It's just not as constructive.

BARBARA: You know when that happened. When you got that crazy judge, dad cried. He did. He said that you were innocent. That you never should have gone to jail. He wanted you to drive the Coyote with him next year. He was arranging it with Martin Cody.

MARK: You know I talked to Rick Vetromile at the funeral. He said he was going to be driving the Coyote.

BARBARA: Well that's a lie. Dad would never let Vetromile drive that car. He was gonna drive it, and he wanted you to be right there with him. It was like a dream for him, like having a second chance.

MARK: I know....You didn't ask me out here just to reminisce, did you?

BARBARA: No, no I didn't Mark. I think Martin Cody had my father killed.

MARK: Barbara, when somebody dies, you want to make somebody responsible for it. Take my word for it, it's easier when you have somebody to hate.

BARBARA: No, that's not what I'm doing, Mark. Listen to me, two weeks ago, our house was broken into. Someone ransacked my father's desk. Now I can't prove it, but I think they were looking for dad's partnership contract with Cody Automotive. And this new deal, does it make any sense at all to you that Martin Cody would want to up dad's deal? You've met him. What do you think?

MARK: I think he sleeps in cold cream, but that doesn't make him a murderer.

BARBARA: He would never upgrade dad's deal. And then dad and his attorney are killed, and all the contracts are conveniently burned in the fire.

MARK: Were there any witnesses to the negotiations?

BARBARA: No, dad and his attorney. There was nobody else involved, Mark.

MARK: So Cody owns the Coyote outright?

BARBARA: Yes, and I want you to steal it back for me.

MARK: You want what?

BARBARA: Please, come on, Mark. You used to repossess cars. If what I'm saying is true then the Coyote is legally mine anyway.

MARK: I don't know, Barbara. Come on...

Change scene. It's nighttime. See Mark climbing a chainlink fence with barbed-wire strung around the top. See him avoiding a police car. He finds the Coyote and steals it. The alarm goes off and the police chase him. A police car overturns and he stops to help the officer out of the wreck.

OFFICER: Help me. Help, please.

MARK: (after pulling the cop from the burning car) Are you all right?

OFFICER: Yeah, I'm okay.

MARK: You sure?

OFFICER: Yeah.

MARK: Listen (police car explodes)...Take care of yourself all right?

Mark gets back in the Coyote and drives away. Change scene. Same night at a Cocktail Lounge. It's a party for Judge Hardcastle's retirement.

COP: Come on, I'm trying to make a toast. All right, I know just like me all you guys and gals(stops to kiss a nearby woman) Wow...are going to find it kind of tough to say goodbye to Judge Hardcastle

CROWD: Uh uh...Not me...

COP: Everybody, shut up and let me do this. Anyway, it's not like we're losing the toughest piece of gristle that ever sat the bench. Anyway, Milt, all the guys and gals voted and we want to give you this. You got your own honorary gold shield, Judge. Come on up here.

HARDCASTLE: (wearing a T-shirt that reads "There's no plea bargain in Heaven") Well, it's about time. You're all under arrest for disorderly conduct. Shut up, shut up, let me read you your rights.

SOMEONE FROM CROWD: Put your glasses on.

HARDCASTLE: You have the right to remain silent. If you give up the right to remain silent...all right all right. I'll let you off with a warning. All right, that's nice. (testing the badge) Real...

COP IN CROWD: Hey come on, Hardcase, my beer's getting warm here. Just make the speech and sit down.

HARDCASTLE: I don't make speeches to rooms full of drunks, Madison. And you're not kidding me cause I know why you gave the party. You're anxious to get rid of me. Shut up, shut up, listen, listen now. I'm not officially retired 'til the end of the week so you guys keep reading your mirandas, bringing in your cases airtight and squeaky clean or I'm throwing them out 'til Friday.

The crowd cheers and chants 'Hardcase'. Change scene. It's the next morning and Mark's returning home.

DETECTIVE: Hold it, police. Put your hands on your head. Mark McCormick?

UNIFORMED COP: That's him. (It's the cop whose life he saved.)

MARK: Aw no.

DETECTIVE: Cuff him. You're under arrest for grand theft auto, breaking and entering, and flight to avoid arrest.

MARK: No kidding.

DETECTIVE: You have the right to remain silent.

MARK: Um hmm.

DETECTIVE: If you give up the right to remain silent, anything...

MARK: Yeah.

DETECTIVE: you say can and will...

MARK: I heard 'em already.

DETECTIVE: be used against you in a court of law.

MARK: Hey, I heard them already.

DETECTIVE: You have the right to speak to an attorney...

UNIFORMED COP: What can I say kid? You probably saved my life, but it's just the job.

MARK: Yeah well, life may be a Bing Crosby movie, ya know.

UNIFORMED COP: Yeah.

DETECTOVE: Do you understand each of these rights as I've explained them to you?

MARK: I heard those already, sir.

DETECTIVE: Do you understand?

MARK: I know them by heart. Do I understand 'em? I know 'em by heart.

DETECTIVE: Do you wish to give up the right to remain silent?

MARK: No.

DETECTIVE: Do you wish to give up the right to speak to an attorney, and have him present during questioning?

MARK: No. (To uniformed cop) Tell me something, Judge Hardcastle, he's retired right. He's still not sitting on that bench is he?

UNIFORMED COP: Judge Hardcastle's officially retired Friday.

MARK: (to himself) Friday...today's Wednesday...Oh, I'm on a cold streak here. Please, please don't let it be Hardcastle, not Hardcastle.

Change scene to courtroom.

BAILIFF: All rise for the Honorable Milton C. Hardcastle.

HARDCASTLE: (to Bailiff) How's the old hook shot, Sid?

SID: Very good, Your Honor.

HARDCASTLE: We've got a couple of new guys hanging around the park. One of 'em used to jump center for Fremont. Want to come around after work?

SID: Be my pleasure, Milton.

HARDCASTLE: Now you're cooking.

MARK: (to lawyer) This guys' gonna give me twenty years, you watch.

LAWYER: Look, be polite okay? Let me do all the talking. I got a good strategy. Relax, we'll do fine.

BAILIFF: All right, be seated.

HARDCASTLE: Well, welcome back, Mr. McCormick. Got anything to say for yourself?

MARK: What am I supposed to say? Nice to be back or something equally profound?

LAWYER: Uh, uh, Your Honor, I'm Steve Miller. I'm council for the accused. I'd like to file two pretrial motions.

HARDCASTLE: Now just climb down off your trike, Mr. Miller. You're going to get your chance here in a minute.

MILLER: Huh, climb down off my...

MARK: (to lawyer) Hey, how's our strategy doing so far? Good? Okay.

MILLER: Uh, Your Honor, I apologize for my impudence, and I'd like to take this occasion to assure the bench that I will not again transgress...

HARDCASTLE: All right, all right, don't slobber on me. We all do it once. Don't do it again. You want to sit down now please?

MILLER: Uh...

HARDCASTLE: Sit!

MARK: (to lawyer) You got him on the run. No doubt about it.

HARDCASTLE: How long you been on the streets this time, McCormick?

MARK: You mean how long since I was released from prison? It's been about six months.

HARDCASTLE: To be exact it's been five months, twenty-six days, thirteen hours, and (looking at his watch) about sixteen minutes.

MARK: That's a cute bit, Judge. I've been hunting around all morning for a laugh. Thanks.

MILLER: Uh Your Honor if I could ascertain the direction of this line of questioning. It seems a bit unusual.

HARDCASTLE: No there's nothing unusual about it, Mr. Miller. Before I send Mr. McCormick here off to camp again, I'd like to know what's been going on.

MARK: Well, uh, my little brother, Timmy's doing fine, and uh, ma had her appendix taken out. Uncle Zeke, he's still up in Sawgus picking lettuce, and you're still about the biggest donkey in America.

HARDCASTLE: (smiling) I'd like to see the prisoner in my chambers right now.

MARK: Yeah.

MILLER: Your Honor, Your Honor, I...

MARK: (to lawyer) Don't object. Don't object. Don't do anything, all right? I want to talk to this guy.

Bailiff pulls out handcuffs.

HARDCASTLE: That's all right, Sid. You don't have to cuff him. If he tries to take off on me, I'll give him a new hole to look out of.

They leave the courtroom and enter a hallway leading to Hardcastle's office.

MARK: You uh committed about three reversible errors in there, Judge.

HARDCASTLE: Reversible, my sweet ass. There can't be any reversible 'til the trial starts, and the trial won't start until I say it starts. Hartford McNeer Connecticut. That's the precedent in case you're interested. Huh, put one of you guys in the pokey, you come out Clarence Darrow, don't ya. How'd you like it in there?

MARK: They had a pretty good baseball team, but they never could get the lumps outta the mashed potatoes, ya know.

HARDCASTLE: Um hmm. Well, I've been kinda interested in you, McCormick for quite some time. At least long enough for me to get a nice little run down here of some of your past activities. Some of it's guesswork, but it's pretty accurate too. For instance, we got Florida 1978, looks like you avoided arrest for two days. Stealing cars again weren't you?

MARK: I was repossessing them, Judge. It's a small point, but hey let's keep this honest.

HARDCASTLE: (tossing a peanut shell into the trashcan) Two. You know what I got here?

MARK: More Lone Ranger comic books?

HARDCASTLE: No, what I got here, wise guy are 200 cases that came in and out of this courthouse. Everyone of 'em was guilty and everyone of 'em just walked away clean because of legal technicalities. Sometimes witnesses disappeared, sometimes they died. Want a peanut?

MARK: No thanks. I hear they cause mental retardation, but here go ahead(he overturns the jar) help yourself.

HARDCASTLE: Case in point, James Buchanan-Smith. Cocaine dealer. Now this guy's got more white lady coming across the border than anybody in the country. (chucking another peanut shell) Two. L.A. cops catch him dirty, but when the cop gives him his miranda, he neglects to read it from the card. So the defense attorney gets the cop to admit that in court. Seems that if he gave the miranda from memory, maybe he left out a phrase or two. The cop can't swear he didn't so the miranda doesn't stand up and the case gets thrown out of court. Jean Pershette, mob killer...

MARK: Here's one for you Judge. Mark McCormick, car repossesser. He buys himself a Porsche, but he puts it in his girlfriend's name because the insurance is cheaper that way, but they have a beef and she throws him out. Then poor Mark goes and gets his own car back, but she has him arrested for grand theft auto. Then lucky Mark gets an eccentric judge who puts him in prison for two long years.

HARDCASTLE: You were guilty. You stole that car.

MARK: It was my car to begin with.

HARDCASTLE: Lady justice is a tough old broad. Besides that joy riding beef you had when you were a kid didn't help you any. Now, I want these guys, see. They escaped justice, and I know good and well they're on the outside now committing new crimes. So that's where you come in, see. Now what we're gonna do. We're gonna hunt them down. We're gonna find out what they're doing now, and we're gonna bust 'em. You're gonna be my fast gun.

MARK: Do I get to wear a cornball Hawaiian shirt and tennis shoes?

HARDCASTLE: Now don't get me wrong, McCormick. I'm not looking for us to be buddies. I just figure it takes one to catch one, and the research I did on you tells me you're my best candidate.

MARK: And what if I say no?

HARDCASTLE: Then I put you back inside. Now, there's one other little thing...

MARK: I don't want to hear it.

HARDCASTLE: In order to arrange all this, I had to fix it so you're gonna be placed in my custody for a while.

MARK: What's a while?

HARDCASTLE: Indefinitely. (chucking another shell) Two.

MARK: Indefinitely? I have trouble putting up with you for half an hour. I gotta take orders from you indefinitely?

HARDCASTLE: Now you're cookin', kid.

MARK: Ohhhh

HARDCASTLE: Now, I'm getting a little heat from this Cody guy that you stole the car from. So, you're gonna make restitution. Making restitution means you got to give the car back.

MARK: Not a chance.

HARDCASTLE: Well, it's either that or it's off you go to the house of many doors and start forking down the lumpy mashed potatoes. Two.

MARK: Now you listen to me, I think this Martin Cody had my best friend, Flip Johnson killed. He stole Flip's design. Now I'm gonna get out of here. I'm gonna beat this rap, and I'm gonna prove that he killed Flip.

HARDCASTLE: Just in case the fact has slipped your mind, kiddo, I'm the judge that's hearing this case. Now you stole that car. I got a cop who's an eyewitness which means in a nutshell that your future is more or less in my hands.

MARK: That's a very interesting offer, Judge. You and me shooting life's peanut shells into the wastebasket of justice, right?

HARDCASTLE: Now you're cooking. What do you say?

MARK: Drop dead.

HARDCASTLE: Too late to hang ya today. I gotta do it tomorrow. (summoning guard) (to guard) Lock him up.

As Mark is led away, Harcastle makes a call.

HARDCASTLE: (on phone) Listen, get Kline, Kline in records and ID. Tell him I want a national check on this car guy, Martin Cody.

Change scene. The county jail. Harcastle is walking down the corridor until he gets to Mark's cell.

HARDCASTLE: Skid, that's what they call you, right? "Skid" Mark McCormick. I love catchy nicknames.

MARK: It's a little late isn't it, Judge? Or did you come in here to read me to sleep?

HARDCASTLE: You've got a real mouth on you, son.

MARK: Hey, some people just bring out the best in each other. Now, what do you want?

HARDCASTLE: Here. (hands a file through the bars)

MARK: What's this?

HARDCASTLE: I looked up Martin Cody. Ran him through the federal computer and that's what came out. Now it's kind of technical, but a big jailhouse lawyer like you ought to be able to figure it out, right?

MARK: You just can't get your fill of baiting me, can you?

HARDCASTLE: Now boiled down what that says is that Cody ought to be right on top of that file in my office. He's been in and out of courtrooms all over this country. Ten years ago he owned a big real estate development firm, and his partner died. Mysterious causes. Now the DA was trying him for murder one, but the widow suddenly decided she wasn't going to testify.

MARK: You believe what I said about Cody killing Flip Johnson?

HARDCASTLE: I believe one thing. Criminals commit the same crime over and over and over. He killed one partner. He can kill another one. Now there's some other stuff in there. He's semi mobbed up if you know what I mean.

MARK: So, what do you want?

HARDCASTLE: I got a new deal for you. I get you out. You're paroled into my custody indefinitely.

MARK: That sounds like the old deal, Judge.

HARDCASTLE: Wrong. The difference is Cody's our first case. We're gonna snap his coattails in the jaws of justice. Well what do you say, McCormick. You want him or don't ya?

Change scene. Mark and Hardcastle are driving in the judge's old pick up.

HARDCASTLE: Yes sir, got precedents all over the place expanding the discretionary power of judges which is lucky for you.

MARK: (looking at one of Hardcastle's Lone Ranger comic books) You actually read this junk, don't ya?

HARDCASTLE: Sure. Tonto and the Lone Ranger riding the plain dispensing justice. Aw you didn't see Billy the Kid getting off on a technicality. Hunt 'em, hear 'em, and hang 'em. That's the way.

MARK: I'm in a nightmare, here.

HARDCASTLE: Listen, they had respect for the law back then, ya know. Wise guys rule the world today, but we're gonna step in and sling some lead, kid.

MARK: Oh oh oh oh. Get 'im up, Scout.

They pull into Gulls Way. A very nice estate.

MARK: Wait a minute. What's this?

HARDCASTLE: My house.

MARK: Aw ha ha, you're some kind of hot cheese crime fighter dispensing justice from a forty room mansion, huh.

HARDCASTLE: Well it was my wife's house. She died about ten years ago, and I guess you could say she was wealthy, but my folks were sharecroppers in Kansas, a sharecropper's a farmer.

MARK: Don't apologize to me, Judge, but I gotta admit, this brings you into a little clearer focus.

HARDCASTLE: Huh, what's that mean?

MARK: Well, here you are living at Gulls Way, seven acres of topiary trees, Grecian fountains, and yet you run around dressed like a referee at a girl's hockey match. You feel guilty about living here, huh? Take it from me. I studied psychology with Charlie Manson at San Quentin. That's what you learn when you get sent to the joint for driving your own car.

HARDCASTLE: I'm getting a little tired of the smart mouth.

MARK: Oh you ain't heard nothing yet, Kemosabe.

HARDCASTLE: Well, it's gonna be fun grinding the rough edges off of you, kid.

MARK: Oh, oh check this out.(about the house)

They exit the truck

SARA(Judge's secretary/housekeeper from the porch): It's after two, Your Honor.

HARDCASTLE: Yeah, I know, Sara. Now Sara, this is Mark McCormick, and he's gonna be staying in the gate house.

SARA: Oh not another one, Your Honor.

MARK: Another one?

HARDCASTLE: Now just give him a key and show him down to the gate house, would ya?

SARA: The gate house? What's wrong with the gardener's trailer?

HARDCASTLE: Gate house. (to Mark) You don't get any ideas about taking off. Now, the only way you're gonna get Cody is if I help ya. We catch him. We do it square. No legal loopholes. Tomorrow morning we run our priorities.

Judge enters the house while Sara and Mark walk to the gate house.

SARA: God keep that man.

MARK: God keep that man? God should keep that man. God should lock that man up. Letting him run loose is a big mistake.

SARA: Ex-con huh?

MARK: Yeah.

SARA: Well we've seen our share of your type around here, Gulls Way in the last ten years since the judge's wife died.

MARK: Wait, wait a minute. I thought I was the first one that the judge brought back here.

SARA: Our first ex-con in residence?

MARK: Yeah

SARA: Not by a long shot, Sonny. (opening door to gate house) Everything in this house has been inventoried so if something disappears we'll have no difficulty in charging the thief. Will we?

MARK: Sara, how many prisoners did you say you had here?

SARA: I've lost count.

MARK: Wait a minute, isn't that a Picasso?

SARA: Mrs. Hardcastle's favorite. The judge didn't like it so he moved it down here. This has been the weekend residence of two presidents, four ambassadors, and now it appears it has come down to you.

MARK: Well, don't let it bum you out, Sara. I mean values are dropping everywhere. You know?

SARA: (to herself) Ex-cons in the gate house. What's wrong with the gardener's trailer? I think the judge has lost his mind.

MARK: So do I.

SARA: ( she turns on him) He's a wonderful man. He cares, and if you can't see that, you must be very blind.

MARK: I see it, Sara. I see it, but I tell you what. I've had a very strange two days so if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get some sleep. I'm very tired. Look, I'll get it. (referring to turning down the bed) I'll do it.

SARA: Do it, then.

MARK: Thanks Sara.

SARA: Welcome.

MARK: Goodnight

SARA: Goodnight.

Change scene. Mark's asleep. He's awakened by Hardcastle playing basketball outside his window.

MARK: (from window) Hey, hey, what do you think you're doing?

HARDCASTLE: I'm shooting my baskets. I do a hundred free throws and a hundred lay ups and a hundred jump shots every night before I go to bed.

Mark goes outside.

MARK: Why? Why are you doing this to me? Are you crazy?

HARDCASTLE: Maybe. You don't suppose it's the peanuts do you? What's your pulse rate?

MARK: What's my what?

HARDCASTLE: The rate of your pulse. Mine's 64. I'm 66. It's the basketball that does it.

MARK: Listen Judge, listen, see that, that's my bedroom. It's right behind the backboard. I can't sleep if you're out here shooting baskets.

To Be Continued in Rolling Thunder Part Two.