Bloody Money-Part I

CUT TO (dissolve shot):

EXT. RUINED MOTEL - DAY

Blackened pieces of the building’s frame are still standing, as if they are parts from the incomplete skeleton of some long-forsaken animal left behind for the rest of us to wonder how they got there.

A firetruck is pulled over beside the remnants of the motel. Debris, a lot of it still smoking, some of it still on fire, litters the surrounding area.

Several firemen, still wearing their protective fire-suits, wander around idly waiting to be told what to do.

Several police cars are parked in various places in the vicinity- on the side of the road, in the parking lot, etc. A pair of officers linger on the outskirts of the scene, talking quietly amongst themselves.

OFFICER #1
So how do you suppose all this happened?

OFFICER #2
Couldn’t say. Probably just some kind of accident.

OFFICER#1
You don’t really believe that do you? Whatever happened to this place, it wasn’t an accident. There’s hardly anything still here but some of the framing-everything else is gone. Like someone did this intentionally.

OFFICER #2
(hesitantly)
Danny, you don’t think this might have anything to do with-

DANNY
-Don’t even go there, Wyatt.

WYATT
You’re right. That probably isn’t it anyway.

DANNY
Let’s hope.

Not far from them, the local Chief of Police and another officer discuss the possible kind of events that unfolded the previous evening, and resulted in the destruction that lay before them now.

OFFICER #3
Who could have possibly wanted to do this?

CHIEF OF POLICE
Plenty of folks. Some people just get a real good thrill outta blowin’ shit up.

OFFICER #3
But who could have the kind of resources- and skill- needed to pull this off?

CHIEF OF POLICE
Hell if I know. Nobody from around here, that’s for sure.

OFFICER #3
Are you sure this ain’t something we can handle ourselves? Why bother the Government, they have enough shit to deal with already, am I right?

CHIEF OF POLICE
No. You aren’t. Not completely at least. Yeah they have a lot of shit to deal with, but I truly believe that we may be dealing with something bigger than us.

OFFICER #3
How do you figure that?

CHIEF OF POLICE
Didn’t you hear the Fire Chief? This wasn’t a house fire. Motel fire, rather. He said this had to have been caused by an explosion of substantial magnitude. Even without the confirmation from him, any investigator worth a dime could figure out what happened here. The place has been completely blown apart. There are bits of debris all over, and even that big piece in the middle of the road about 30 yards back. Whoever did this was a pro. And I don’t know why they could possibly want to blow up a slum like this. Except for some kind of personal grudge. But we just can’t let something like this go unnoticed-especially within such close proximity to the capital. It might be nothing. But it might be something. Look, that’s probably them now.

Three black cars bearing the United States Government emblem on either one of the front doors come driving down the road.

They slow down and come to a stop on the side of the road where they would have normally been blocking the entrance to the motel parking lot.

DANNY
Are those..the feds?

WYATT
Oh, hell. We’re fucked.

DANNY
Shut up! Just take it easy, we’re going to be just fine. This wasn’t our fault after all.

WYATT
This wasn’t ENTIRELY our fault..

Chief of Police looks up, scans the area. Looks back at the cars, all of which have at least two agents wearing navy blue FBI jackets and hats getting out of their cars.

Out of the front car, a man wearing an outfit identical to all of the others gets out. He is wearing heavily tinted sunglasses which cover up both of his eyes completely.
He carries himself with an air of importance, and authority. Meet STANLEY KANE.

Stanley walks towards the nearest officer, a bulky African-American, DERRICK. Derrick, a pretty muscular and tall person compared to your average Joe, looks more like a G.I. Joe standing next to Stanley. At roughly six feet - seven inches tall, and weighing in at no less than two hundred pounds, it was hard not to be overshadowed by Stanley.

The other agents follow swiftly behind Stanley, as if afraid to leave his side lest they need protection. And Stanley Kane is more than able to protect himself, and them - more than ABLE to. But Stanley is Stanley’s top priority, nothing else matters.

And that is one reason why he was already more agitated that day than usual, because instead of taking it easy for once and staying at home to enjoy a day off for the first time in over six weeks of 18 hours a day, 7 days a week work to relax, he is instead called by headquarters and told to report immediately to the site of a potentially terrorist related incident.

STANLEY
Who is in charge here?

Derrick, dumbfounded by the appearance of so many federal agents to begin with, much less one that made his six foot - one inch, one hundred and sixty pound self look like a joke, only manages to make senseless noises.

Stanley is obviously already becoming increasingly agitated.

STANLEY
What? What the hell was that? Do you even know how to talk?

Derrick, now starting to become nervous, begins to tremble and remains silent.

Stanley turns to a man that stands directly on his left and addresses him.

STANLEY
Did they lower the standards for the test you need to take to become an officer at the Academy?

Derrick finally manages to speak.

DERRICK
No, sir, not at all. The standards are higher than ever, sir.

STANLEY
Alas, the man can speak!

Stanley claps his hands enthusiastically.

STANLEY(CON’D)
Now, who is in charge here?

DERRICK
Chief West, sir. Over there.

Derrick points out the Chief of Police. Stanley walks off without another word, one other agent follows him, the rest spread out and begin asking some of the local authorities as well as the firemen questions.

Stanley approaches the Chief.

STANLEY
You’re the Chief of Police?

CHIEF WEST
Erm, yes, Chief Alexander West.

STANLEY
I don’t care what your name is. Thank you very much for looking after this place for us, but we are here now, so you can get your men and leave.

CHIEF WEST
A-Are you s-sure? We may be able to help you folks, most of us have lived here our whole lives, we know about every nook and cranny of every building in this town.

STANLEY
Yes that’s very fascinating, but most of the ‘nooks and crannies’ that used to be in this building are obviously not there anymore. We can handle this ourselves from here.

CHIEF WEST
Well I suppose, but I-

STANLEY
Didn’t you hear me old man? Get your men and get the fuck out of here! And so help me God if you breathe a word of whatever it is you think OR know happened here to anybody-especially the reporters that aren’t already here because of a roadblock we put up two miles back, I swear to God I will find you. From there we’ll see how it goes.

CHIEF WEST
Of, of course, sir. My mistake. I’ll um..just be on my way then..

Chief West, offended, upset, and confused, sulks off with an air of defeat hanging over him like a storm cloud, something which the rest of the officers had never witnessed before.

And it was at that moment that Stanley looked up and noticed two other officers staring at him, one of which looked very familiar..

WYATT
Oh, son of a bitch-he saw me!

Wyatt spins around abruptly, and Danny looks away at the same time.

DANNY
Wyatt.

WYATT
(breathing heavily)
Yeah?

DANNY
I think it’s time for us to go for a while.

WYATT
You’re right. Where are we going to go?

DANNY
We’re gonna go to exactly where we said we were going to go if this happened, Wyatt!

WYATT
Right, of course. I knew that. Sorry I’m really freaking out right now.

DANNY
..I know.

WYATT
What I want to know is why..he..did this. All he was supposed to do was make the trade and get out of there. What was all this for?

Danny looks at one of the federal agents who was now walking towards them as he answered.

DANNY
Well..I suppose we’ll ask him when we get there.

Agent comes to a stop in front of Danny and Wyatt, and addresses them both.

FEDERAL AGENT #1
Excuse me gentlemen, this is a crime scene that is now classified as a restricted access area, you need to leave the premises immediately.

DANNY
Right. We were just going.

WYATT
Yeah.

Danny and Wyatt head over to the road where their patrol car is parked. About halfway there, Stanley intercepts them. He turns his head to look at Wyatt and smiles.

STANLEY
Hello there.

WYATT
(frightened)
Hey..

STANLEY
Say, you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?

WYATT
Nope! No, I don’t think so.

Wyatt tries to walk away, but Stanley grabs his shoulder.

STANLEY
No, no, no, I know you from somewhere. I know I do.

WYATT
No, definitely not. I don’t know you.

STANLEY
I never said you did. But I know you..

DANNY
Sir, we really need to get going if you don’t mind me saying.

Stanley throws Danny a sinister look and he falls silent.

STANLEY
Well I don’t want to keep you boys waiting. You probably have very important local-police-officer kind of jobs to attend to-rescuing cats from trees, finding little five year old boys that have decided to go join the circus. Don’t let me keep you.

Danny, enraged, looks to Wyatt.

DANNY
Let’s go, Wyatt,-

Realizing the mistake he already made, Danny stopped mid-sentence. Wyatt now looked from Danny to Stanley, a look of terror on his face. Stanley smiled.

STANLEY
Best be on your way, gentlemen.