- Howard Payne: Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?
- Harry Temple: All right, pop quiz. Airport, gunman with one hostage. He's using her for cover; he's almost to a plane. You're a hundred feet away... Jack?
- Jack: Shoot the hostage.
- Howard Payne: [Payne wrestles with Jack for a deadman-switch detonator on top of a runaway subway train] I'm smarter than you, Jack! I'm smarter! I'm smarter!
- [Jack sees a hanging light approaching and forces Payne into its path. Payne looks up and screams before the light decapitates him]
- Jack: [grabbing the detonator before Payne's body falls away] Yeah? Well, I'm TALLER!
- Jack: You're crazy! You're fuckin' crazy!
- Howard Payne: NO! Poor people are crazy, Jack. I'm eccentric.
- Jack: STOP! L.A.P.D! Get out of the car!
- Maurice the Tune Man: Hey man, this is MY car, I OWN this car, it's NOT stolen.
- Jack: [pulls gun out and points it at him] It is now. Move over.
- Harry Temple: You shot me, I can't believe it. They're giving you a medal for shooting me, you little prick!
- Jack: Harry... you TOLD me to.
- Howard Payne: See, I'm in charge here! I drop this stick, and they pick your friend here up with a sponge! Are you ready to die, friend?
- Harry: Fuck you!
- Howard Payne: Oh! In two hundred years we've gone from "I regret but I have one life to give for my country" to "Fuck you!"?
- Jack: Harry! Tell me good news, man.
- Howard Payne: Oh, I'm sorry, Jack. He didn't make it.
- Jack: You FUCK!
- Howard Payne: It was the watch that led him to me, wasn't it? Huh? It seemed a little hammy to me to build a bomb out of my precious retirement gift, but, you know, I figured a sign that said "Howard Payne" would be pushing it.
- Jack: I'm gonna rip your fucking spine out, I swear to God.
- Jack: Tell me again Harry, why did I take this job?
- Harry Temple: Oh come on, thirty more years of this, you get a tiny pension and a cheap gold watch.
- Jack: Cool.
- Howard Payne: This day has been rather disappointing, I don't mind saying.
- Jack: Why, because you didn't get to kill everyone?
- Howard Payne: There's gonna come a time, boy, when you will wish you never met me.
- Jack: Mister, I'm already there!
- Harry Temple: What do you think?
- Jack: You're the expert, I just work here.
- Harry Temple: Looks pretty solid.
- Jack: Anyone we know?
- Harry Temple: I don't recognize the work, but he's pro.
- [checks watch]
- Harry Temple: Oh, he's cutting it close.
- Jack: I don't like it.
- Harry Temple: What's to like? Mac said we hold, so we hold.
- [Jack begins looking around; Harry thinks]
- Harry Temple: Alright, pop quiz. Airport, gunman with a hostage. He's using her for cover. He's almost to a plane. You're one hundred feet away.
- [Jack doesn't respond]
- Harry Temple: Jack?
- Jack: Shoot the hostage.
- Harry Temple: What?
- Jack: Take her out of the equation. Go for the good wound and he can't get to the plane with her. Clear shot.
- Harry Temple: You're deeply nuts, you know that? "Shoot the hostage."
- [chuckles]
- Jack: Harry, this is wrong. He's gonna blow it anyway.
- Harry Temple: Why?
- Jack: I don't know, gut feeling.
- Harry Temple: Yeah, well, right now Mac outranks your gut. So we sit.
- Jack: How much you think that elevator weights?
- Harry Temple: Jack, come on!
- Jack: Maybe we can do something about those hostages.
- Harry Temple: We're not gonna shoot em right?
- Howard Payne: You think I wouldn't have been prepared? Two years I spent setting up that elevator job, two years I invested in it. You couldn't understand the kind of commitment that I have. You ruined a man's life's work and you think you can walk away? You got blinders on to the world! But I got your attention now, didn't I Jack?
- Jack: [distressed] Why didn't you just come after me?
- Howard Payne: No this is about ME! This is about my money, this is about money DUE ME! Which I WILL collect! 3.7 Million dollars! It's my nest egg, Jack, at my age you have to think ahead.
- Jack: [angry] When I find you...
- Howard Payne: [cuts him off] Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?
- Jack: I'd want to know what bus it was...
- Howard Payne: You think I'm going to tell you that?
- Jack: Yes.
- Howard Payne: Aha, very good. There are rules, Jack, and I want you to get this right. NO ONE goes off the bus. If you try to take any passengers off the bus, I will detonate it. I want my money by 11AM.
- Jack: We can't pull that kind of money in time!
- Howard Payne: [shouting] FOCUS, JACK! Your concern is the bus. And don't try to call. The radio's down. Now, the number of the bus is 2525, it's running downtown from Venice. It's at the corner of Ocean Park & Main.
- [Jack takes off for his car as sirens from approaching fire engines can be heard]
- Jack: Was it good for you?
- Harry Temple: It was great for me.
- Jack: Elevator dropped.
- Harry Temple: Oh, that's good to know.
- [both sit down]
- Jack: Is your watch slow?
- Harry Temple: No, no, he jumped the gun. We had three minutes left.
- Jack: Why's he do that? He's losing his three million.
- Harry Temple: I don't know, maybe he couldn't hold his wad long enough. It's a common problem among middle-aged men. So I'm told.
- Jack: [gets up, realizing] He's here.
- Harry Temple: He could have blown that thing from Pacoima!
- Jack: No, he knew we were up to something. He's close by.
- Harry Temple: He's not gonna corner himself in a building. We evacuated anyways.
- [Jack looks disappointed]
- Harry Temple: Alright. He'd wanna be here but he'd wanna stay mobile. Right?
- [Jack nods]
- Harry Temple: The elevators.
- Jack: The passenger cars were stopped. They checked 'em out.
- Harry Temple: What about the freight elevators?
- [after remotely killing a hostage, then promptly hearing about it on the TV news]
- Howard Payne: Interactive TV, Jack! Wave of the future - ha ha ha, huh?
- [the bus has just entered LAX]
- SWAT Driver: He's just entered the airport.
- SWAT Officer: The airport? There's thousands of people there.
- Lt. Herb "Mac" McMahon: All right! That's my boy Jack! We should be able to circle the runways and buy us some time. The choppers can't fly in there; it's restricted air space.
- SWAT Driver: He's headed for the end of the field.
- SWAT Officer: That must be Bravo Tango, an emergency runway.
- Lt. Herb "Mac" McMahon: Yeah, let's hope it's built. Let's move!
- Jack: [answering phone] Harry! Tell me good news man.
- Howard Payne: Oh, I'm sorry Jack. He didn't make it.
- Jack: [realizes; slight pause] Fuck!
- Howard Payne: It was the watch that lead him to me, wasn't it? It seemed a little hammy to me, to build a bomb out of my precious retirement gift. But you know, I figured a sign that said "Howard Payne" would be pushing it.
- Jack: I'm gonna rip your fucking spine out, I swear to God.
- Howard Payne: You're gonna do exactly as you're told! Jack, we both know he was the brains of your particular operation. You can't beat me, you're gonna pay me every dollar. Otherwise, you, the wildcat, and every innocent person on that bus, are gonna end up just like your friend. You paying attention? Jack, you listening to me? Jack? Jack!
- Jack: Yeah...
- Howard Payne: Good! Now you tell them that the drop point is Pershing Square. You drop the bags and leave. I don't show until all your people are gone. It's getting on to 11 AM, Jack, and I think it's gonna be a very pretty day.
- [laughs nefariously]
- Howard Payne: [hangs up; Jack flips out]
- Annie: Jack stop it! We're really scared and we need you right now. I can't do this by myself! Jack, please?
- Jack: [chuckles] We're gonna die.
- Annie: No we're not. We got this far alright?
- [Jack looks at Annie's jacket]
- Jack: I'll be damned. You go to the University of Arizona?
- Annie: Yeah, so?
- Jack: Good football team.
- Annie: Yeah? I guess so, I wouldn't know.
- Jack: Arizona Wildcats.
- Annie: Right...
- Jack: He can see you.
- Annie: What?
- Jack: He can see you. Just keep looking straight ahead.
- Jack: [Jack looks around; finds the camera] He called you a Wildcat before. I didn't even pick up on it. Bastard's got a camera right in your face. He can see the whole bus. He's been playing me from minute one.
- Annie: Well, he can see me but can he hear me?
- Jack: Doesn't look like it he's just watching you.
- [Jack is trying to get Sam's attention]
- Jack: Hey!
- [honks horn repeatingly]
- Jack: I'm a cop! LAPD! There's a bomb on your bus! There is a bomb on your bus!
- Sam: What?
- Maurice the Tune Man: There's a -WHAT? FUCK!
- Jack: Yeah?
- Howard Payne: I think we have trust, but it looks on TV like you're trying to get those passengers off the bus.
- Jack: Look, you've got to let me have one.
- Howard Payne: We went over the rules.
- Jack: As an act of faith. We have an injured man here. The driver's been shot.
- Howard Payne: Jack, tell me that you haven't been shooting the passengers. I thought it was customary for a police officer to shoot the bad guys.
- Jack: This man has no time.
- Howard Payne: No one gets off!
- Jack: It'll grease the wheels with the money men if you show some charity. There's still gonna be plenty of us to kill.
- Howard Payne: OK, son, you can try and unload the driver. You tell that wildcat behind the wheel not to slow down, though, or he won't even get a chance to bleed to death. And, Jack, don't slip.
- Norwood: Sir, uh, we have a serious problem.
- Lt. Herb "Mac" McMahon: What?
- Norwood: This freeway isn't finished.
- Lt. Herb "Mac" McMahon: What are you talking about?
- Norwood: The aerial unit caught it about three miles ahead. There's a section missing.
- Lt. Herb "Mac" McMahon: [taking out his map] Section missing? But it's on the map. It's finished on the God damn map!
- Norwood: I guess they fell behind!
- Jack: [after taking Maurice's car and breaking off the door] Sir I'm gonna need to take your phone.
- Maurice the Tune Man: Take the phone!
- Stephens: First time in LA.
- Annie: Oh no, I live here.
- Stephens: No, mine. Oh that's just funny, you heard me wrong. Nah, I'm sight-seeing.
- Annie: Oh, really?
- Stephens: Yeah. I hate to use the word 'tourist,' but it's not like I can hide it...
- Annie: Not really.
- Stephens: [sigh] Did you know it took me three hours to get here from the airport? I got so lost. LA's one big place, but I guess you don't notice, seeing as you live here. I'm such a yokel. There, I said it!
- Annie: Oh jeez. You know what? I got gum on my seat, GUM!
- [sits on a different bus seat nearer the front]
- Howard Payne: A bomb is made to explode. That's its meaning. Its purpose. Your life is empty because you spend it trying to stop the bomb from becoming. And for who? For what? You know what a bomb is, Jack, that doesn't explode? It's a cheap gold watch, buddy.