INT. GAMBLING DEN, MOMBASA - DAY

Crowded, bustling, smoke-filled. a westerner (40’s), shabby suit, is squeezed in at a dice game. This is EAMES. He FIDDLES with his last two chips.

COBB (O.S.): Rub them against each other all you like, they’re not going to breed.

Eames looks up to see Cobb.

EAMES: You never know.

Eames tosses down his last chips. The dice are rolled...

COBB: Drink?

Eames loses.

EAMES: You’re buying.

Cobb follows Eames. Eames mysteriously produces two stacks of chips and puts them down in front of the cashier. Cobb pulls one off the top, squints at the embossed name.

COBB: You’re spelling hasn’t improved.

Eames GRABS the chip. Hands it to the cashier.

EAMES: Piss off.
COBB: How’s your handwriting?

Eames takes his money. Smiles at Cobb.

EAMES: Versatile.

INT. STREET, MOMBASA - CONTINUOUS

Eames leads Cobb down the quiet street.

EAMES: Word is, you’re not welcome in these parts.

COBB: Yeah?

EAMES: There’s a price on your head from Cobol Engineering. Pretty big one, actually.

COBB: You wouldn’t sell me out.

Eames looks at Cobb, offended.

EAMES: ‘Course I would.

COBB (smiles): Not when you hear what I’m selling.

EXT. BALCONY OF A COFFEE HOUSE - LATER
A ramshackle balcony overlooking a bust street. Eames pours.

COBB: Inception.

Eames’s glass stops halfway to his mouth.

COBB: Don’t bother telling me it’s impossible.

EAMES: It’s perfectly possible. Just bloody difficult.

COBB: That’s what I keep saying to Arthur.

EAMES: Arthur? You’re still working with that stick-in-the-mud?

COBB: He’s a good point man.

EAMES: The best. But he has no imagination. If you’re going to perform inception, you need imagination.

COBB: You’ve done it before?

EAMES: Yes and no. We tried it. Got the idea in place, but it didn’t take.

COBB: You didn’t plant it deep enough?

EAMES: It’s not just about depth. You need the simplest version of the idea- the one that will grow naturally in the subject’s mind. Subtle art.
COBB: That’s why I’m here.

EAMES: What’s the idea you need to plant?

COBB: We want the heir to a major corporation to break up his father’s empire.

EAMES: See, right there you’ve got various political motivations, anti-monopolistic sentiment and so forth. But all that stuff’s at the mercy of the subject’s prejudice- you have to go to the basic.

COBB: Which is?

EAMES: The relationship with the father. (downs drink) Do you have a chemist?

Cobb shakes his head.

EAMES: There’s a man here. Yusuf. He formulates his own versions of the compounds.

COBB: Let’s go see him.

EAMES: Once you’ve lost your tail. (Cobb reacts) Back by the bar, blue tie. Came in about two minutes after we did.

COBB: Cobol Engineering?

EAMES: They pretty much own Mombasa.

Cobb glances over the balcony.

COBB: Run interference. We’ll meet downstairs in half an hour.

EAMES: Back here?

COBB: Last place they’d expect.

Eames downs his drink. Rises. Walks over to the Businessman.

EAMES: Freddy!

The Businessman looks up, awkward.

EAMES: Freddy Simmonds, it is you!

Cobb nonchalantly SLIPS over the balcony DROPPING HARD into the midst of the crowd on the street below.

EAMES (looks harder): Oh. No, it isn’t.

EXT. STREET, MOMBASA - CONTINUOUS

Cobb stands up, PUSHES into the crowd- faces PEER at him- he moves, trying to blend- TURNS- a SECOND BUSINESS MAN is there.

COBB (disarming smile): Yes?

SECOND BUSINESSMAN: We need to-

Cobb HEAD BUTTS the Second Businessman, PUSHES past him-

The First Businessman races out of the bar, sees Cobb's wake, DIVES after him- Cobb RACES headlong through tight passageways, WEAVING through or KNOCKING into the locals...

He steps into a dark, crowded cafe, scanning the tables... the First Businessman enters, spots him. An AFRICAN MAN gets in Cobb's face, jabbering at him in Swahili- Cobb considers his options... the First Businessman DRAWS A GUN- Cobb bolts, steps up on a table and out an open window, SCRAMBLING into the alley outside...

Cobb LOOKS left, right... CUTS LEFT into a narrow, CROWDED alley- the alley NARROWS TO A DEAD END. Faces in the CROWD start to watch Cobb- PEOPLE start to SURROUND him- Cobb looks back the way he came- the two Businessmen are there, GUNS DRAWN-
Cobb sees a SMALL GAP between the buildings at the narrow end- he THROWS himself into it- gets STUCK HALFWAY...

The crowd bears down, GRABBING for him as Cobb struggles to SQUEEZE HIMSELF through the gap... Cobb's moving INCHES as his pursuers gain YARDS... the Crowd is upon him... he BURSTS FREE. TUMBLING onto the next street, ROLLING out of sight. Cobb Jumps to his feet- in a market square. TWO MORE BUSINESSMEN move towards him. Cobb BOLTS but a CAR SKIDS UP, BLOCKS HIS PATH- the door opens- SAITO IS IN THE BACK.

SAITO: Care for a lift, Mr. Cobb?

COBB (jumping in): What brings you to Mombasa, Mr. Saito?

SAITO: I have to protect my investment.

EXT. COFFEE HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER

Eames stands on the pavement. The car pulls up. Cobb beckons from the rear window. Eames looks at Saito. Back to Cobb.

EAMES: This is your idea of losing a tail?

COBB (shrugs): Different tail.