Crime · 4 min
First Day.
Parked outside a questionable meeting, a veteran operator pushes his younger partner toward the first compromise that will change him.
The roles
GIL OROZCO
Mid-40s. Senior managing director at a hedge fund. Charismatic. Makes felonies sound like housekeeping. The kind of man who never raises his voice because he's never had to.
MARCUS WEBB
28. Junior analyst. Three months on the desk. Wants this career more than he'll admit out loud. Still irons his shirts the night before.
First Day · Crime side · memorlined.app
(A black sedan parked on a side street. Night. Engine off. GIL OROZCO checks his cufflinks in the rearview mirror. MARCUS WEBB sits in the passenger seat, tie still on from the office.)
GIL OROZCO
Loosen the tie.
MARCUS WEBB
What?
GIL OROZCO
The tie. You look like a deposition.
(MARCUS loosens it.)
GIL OROZCO
You meet Harmon, you're relaxed. You like being here.
MARCUS WEBB
Do I like being here?
GIL OROZCO
I'm asking you.
(A car passes. Headlights sweep across the windshield.)
GIL OROZCO
You like this car?
MARCUS WEBB
It's a nice car.
GIL OROZCO
It's a seventy-thousand-dollar car. I bought it in cash. No lease. You want to know how?
MARCUS WEBB
How.
GIL OROZCO
By being first.
(He reaches into the center console. Takes out a thumb drive. Holds it between two fingers.)
GIL OROZCO
Know what this is?
MARCUS WEBB
Flash drive.
GIL OROZCO
It's a monitoring tool. Passive. Sits on a system, reads traffic.
MARCUS WEBB
Okay.
GIL OROZCO
During dinner, Harmon leaves his laptop bag under the table. He always does. You drop your napkin, reach down, plug this into the side port. Four seconds.
(The heater clicks on. Vents blow warm air.)
MARCUS WEBB
You want me to put something on his computer.
GIL OROZCO
I want you to plug in a flash drive. That's it.
MARCUS WEBB
That's the same thing.
GIL OROZCO
One sounds like a problem. The other sounds like Tuesday.
(MARCUS doesn't touch the drive.)
MARCUS WEBB
Does compliance know about this.
GIL OROZCO
Compliance knows what it needs to.
MARCUS WEBB
So no.
GIL OROZCO
Marcus. How long have you been on my desk.
MARCUS WEBB
Three months.
GIL OROZCO
Three months. What's the biggest trade you've touched.
MARCUS WEBB
The Rayburn restructure.
GIL OROZCO
Twelve million. That's nothing. That's a rounding error.
(He sets the thumb drive on the armrest between them.)
MARCUS WEBB
What's on this.
GIL OROZCO
Information. The kind that makes twelve million look like pocket change.
MARCUS WEBB
And if I don't.
GIL OROZCO
Then you enjoy your steak, thank Harmon for a lovely evening, come in Monday, and I move you to middle-market fixed income. You'll be fine. Bored. But fine.
(GIL's phone buzzes. He checks it. Puts it back.)
GIL OROZCO
Reservation's in ten. We should head in.
MARCUS WEBB
What if it gets found.
GIL OROZCO
It won't.
MARCUS WEBB
But—
GIL OROZCO
Four seconds. He won't be in his chair.
(GIL opens his door. Cold air fills the car.)
(leaning back in)
GIL OROZCO
You coming?
(MARCUS looks at the drive on the armrest. He picks it up. Puts it in his jacket pocket.)
MARCUS WEBB
Yeah.
(He opens his door.)
Print it for class, or open it in the app: every role in this side is playable, and the other side of the scene gets a reader. Cast a voice against your part in the Audition Room, then run it until the lines are yours.
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