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Writer-Producer-Director: BENJAMIN JOHNSON
GENRE: Crime-Thriller
LOGLINE: A gangster and his seminarian brother try to rescue a trafficked boy from being murdered in a midnight Satanic death ritual.
TREATMENT:
THURSDAY: Will, the gangster, is taking a shower as he reminiscences on the time he was ordered by his Houston oil mafia boss, Jorge Allan, to kill his Houston police officer parents John and Mary so they wouldn?t investigate corrupt Catholic Cardinal Richard Martino, whom Will?s brother Freddy, a Catholic seminarian, witnessed raping a young child in the chapel some time previously. After his shower, Will carries on with his duties as a gangster before his parents? funeral that afternoon. Will makes a massive cocaine delivery to Victor?s mafia crew?s restaurant that is in a partnership with Jorge?s crew. Will meets a customer in the Church parking lot where the funeral for his parents is about to be held. After he sells cocaine to his customer in the parking lot, his longtime girlfriend Jane tells him the funeral for his parents is about to begin.
After the funeral, at the reception at his parents? house in Katy, Will is approached by Jorge Allan, who was a parishioner friend of his parents. Jorge tells Will to be at a Galveston port at 2am to pick up a delivery: a trafficked boy from Nigeria to be sacrificed at a Satanic death ritual on Friday night at midnight, approximately 24 hours from then. It is a ritual that involves Jorge Allan, Cardinal Richard Martino, and corrupt Houston Mayor Elias Rodriguez, especially considering the ritual will be held at Rodriguez?s mansion. Will reluctantly agrees to the pickup.
Freddy is approached by Cardinal Richard Martino at the reception. Martino warns Freddy to not tell anybody about what he saw the night Martino raped the young child in the seminary chapel. This is when Martino infers overtly to Freddy that it was Martino who ordered Freddy?s parents to be killed. Martino then says he?ll see Freddy at the priesthood ordination on Saturday morning.
Will receives a phone call from another customer of his to meet him at a restaurant in West Houston to negotiate a cocaine deal. Will meets him there.
At the restaurant, it turns out it was a setup. Detectives Peters and Luis meet Will there, catching him about to sell cocaine. They sit down with Peters and Luis, and they tell him they know about the pickup at 2am that night. They then reveal they are with Mayor Elias Rodriguez. Rodriguez wants Jorge?s crew caught in the act of child trafficking because Rodriguez wants Jorge replaced with a much more left-wing oil company head. This is because Rodriguez and Jorge are about to begin a cooperative partnership of a climate control initiative in Houston, and Rodriguez doesn?t trust Jorge. So Detectives Peters and Luis want Will to wear a wire to gather evidence on Jorge in this child trafficking operation. Will agrees. Peters and Luis take Will?s car to a closed car shop, and wire his car down with surveillance equipment. Will freaks out in a rage. He drives back to his apartment in inner city Houston to grab his gun, ready to do something drastic.
Freddy meets Jorge, his seminary sponsor, at Jorge?s house for a drink. It is there that Jorge orders Freddy to be at the ritual at Rodriguez?s mansion. The purpose of this is to have dirt on Freddy as leverage going forward as Jorge Allan and Cardinal Richard Martino intend on using Freddy as a cartel priest, a frontman for the mafia, going forward.
FRIDAY
Will picks up his partner Robert from his apartment to drive to the Galveston port for the pickup. They arrive there, and a boat eventually arrives on shore. Two men exit the boat, carrying a young 8 year old Nigerian boy, and approach Will and Robert. Robert hands over the money, and Will pulls his gun out. Will kills the two traffickers, and tries to kill Robert. Robert escapes gunfire, and Will takes the boy and puts him in the backseat of his car. Will takes off. Robert shoots at the car, but doesn?t manage to land any shots.
Raymond tries to escape, but Will manages to keep him in the car. Will receives a phone call from Freddy, who is drunk and got in a bar fight somewhere in Montrose area of Houston. Will arrives there to pick up Freddy. The three of them arrive at Will?s apartment where Detectives Peters and Luis are waiting for them. They try to kill Will and take the boy, but Will kills both detectives. Will, Freddy, and the boy run away.
Mayor Elias Rodriguez receives a phone call from one of his contacts inside HPD. Will took the boy, they said. Rodriguez tells them to put out an Amber Alert on Will and the boy.
Jorge Allan meets Cardinal Richard Martino in a parking garage where they figure out how to reobtain the boy, kill Will, and keep Freddy.
Will, Freddy, and the boy are at John and Mary?s house in Katy, trying to find the soonest flights to Nigeria. Will is about to contact Jane when his picture appears on Channel 13 local news as a suspect who people must look out for and report. Suddenly, Robert and another one of Jorge?s men named Hino stake out the house. Hino stays in the car, and Robert approaches the house. Robert enters the backyard, and sees Will and Freddy. Robert breaks open the back door, and points his gun at Will. A gunfight ensues. Will shoots at Robert, and vice versa. Freddy and the boy get in their parents? car located in the garage. Will keeps Robert away with gunfire. Robert runs back out to the front yard to alert Hino for backup. The garage door shatters as Will violently drives his parents? car through the garage door at lightning speed in reverse. Freddy and the boy, in the backseat, are trembling with fear. Robert and Hino begin chasing Will, Freddy, and the boy in a car chase as the sun rises at around seven in the morning.
There is a car chase on I-10 freeway going eastbound. Will takes the 610 North exit, and exits at the nearest off ramp. Robert and Hino continue to chase them. Will takes a right turn on the feeder, and hides his car behind a building on 18th street. Will, Freddy, and the boy run towards a bus stop, and board a bus, narrowly escaping Robert and Hino who began chasing them on foot. Robert and Hino call Jorge, and tell them that Will, Freddy, and the boy are on a bus heading towards the Wards of inner-city Houston.
Jorge has his partner Flores send a text message to all the nearby gangs in the area to keep an eye out for Will, Freddy, and the boy.
While on the bus, Will calls a contact of his named Alma, who runs a floral shop as a front for designing fake IDs, fake passports, and arms dealing.
Alma says she?ll be on the lookout for Will sometime today.
During this conversation, a gangbanger on the bus spots the three, and begins texting that they?re there. He is looking for the right opportunity to kill Will, but Freddy catches the gangbanger about to do it. Caught, the gangbanger leaves the bus, knowing he lost.
Will, Freddy, and the boy get off at a bus stop in the Second Ward. They approach a Laundromat where they temporarily hide. Will calls his girlfriend Jane to pick them up. Jane, reluctant, agrees to help Will. But while they?re hiding at the Laundromat, the manager calls Victor and tells them that Will, Freddy, and the boy are there. Victor says he?ll be right there to get them.
Fifteen minutes later, Victor and his partners arrive to take the three at gunpoint to their hideout in the neighborhood.
Will, Freddy, and the boy arrive at Victor?s hideout in the Second Ward. Will is taken to the basement, whereas Freddy and the boy are held in the living room at gunpoint. The boy begins to become physically sick. Victor?s henchman calls a mafia doctor they have named Dr. Smith, who leaves his office to go to the hideout to check on the boy.
After that happens, Victor calls Jorge, and tells him the location. Jorge sends Robert to pick up the boy, and kill Will.
Jane arrives at the Laundromat to pick up the three, only to find they are not there. She checks with the manager who claims nobody had been there. She checks next door at the convenience store. She checks their security camera which shows next door Will, Freddy, and the boy being loaded in a car. She sees the make and model of the car. She goes driving around the Second Ward, trying to find the car.
Dr. Smith arrives at the hideout, and gives Freddy a prescription for antibiotics for the boy. Smith leaves.
Robert parks his car out away from Victor?s house.
Jane passes by, seeing Robert and the car in question. She does a U-turn, and parks away from the house as well.
Victor is about to kill Will in the basement, but Will fights him off. Will gets Victor?s gun, and kills him. Freddy and the boy escape the house. Robert runs to the front yard, gun drawn. Will escapes the basement, and kills Victor?s other men. He runs outside and shoots Robert in the head in the front yard.
Jane sees all of this from her car. Jane drives to the front of the house, and tells the three of them to get in the car. Jane, Will, Freddy, and the boy drive away from the house, and out of the Second Ward.
Jane asks the boy what his name is. He says his name is Raymond. He is aware of how to speak English; he was just afraid to speak it around Will and others. Jane then recognizes that Raymond is her nephew, and he is from the town that she and her parents immigrated from in the early 1990s when they moved to Houston. Will then says that Jorge must have used his phone contact with Jane to detect where her family is in Nigeria so they would know who to kidnap and traffick. Freddy then remembers the prescription given to him, which suddenly cannot be found. This is when Freddy says they must go to Smith?s doctor?s office to get another prescription. They search for his office on their phones. They find out it is located in River Oaks. They drive to his office to get another prescription.
Jorge is inside his office when he gets a phone call from Mayor Elias Rodriguez. Rodriguez said HPD just told him of the shootout at Victor?s place in the Second Ward. Jorge immediately sends his assistant Flores to the crime scene to keep tabs on it. Rodriguez says he already had Martino in his office, and wants Jorge to meet both of them downtown at Rodriguez?s office until all of this blows over.
Will, Jane, Freddy, and Raymond arrive at Smith?s office. Will sends Freddy inside since the Amber Alert is still out on Will. Inside the car, Will explains he might have needed new ID papers, but that may not be necessary anymore. He asks Jane to take Raymond back to Nigeria. She reluctantly agrees. She asks Will what he?s going to do. Will says he is going to kill Jorge Allan, Cardinal Richard Martino, and Mayor Elias Rodriguez so that he and Freddy can have their freedom again. It?s revenge, explains Will.
Freddy goes inside the office building to get a new prescription. He tries, but fails. He goes back on the second time, and forces his way into the back office. He barges inside Smith?s office, and takes the prescription pad. He runs out, and tells Jane to gun it.
In the back seat, Freddy notices something about the prescription pad. It has all of these coordinates written on it. Will says it looks like coordinates of locations that are inside the trafficking network that they?re using. Freddy takes multiple pictures of it, and sends it to Will and Jane?s phones. On the way to Jane?s parents? house in Jersey Village, Raymond starts throwing up and shaking as if he has chills. Jane makes the decision to take Raymond to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.
At around 1145am, they arrive at the emergency room. At the emergency room, Will threatens one of the nurses at gunpoint to get antibiotics and other medicine for Raymond from the storage room. This backfires as Will is arrested by HPD after one of the nurses alerts the cops to the Amber Alert. Freddy and Jane take off because they don?t want to be recognized as connected to Will any longer. This leaves Raymond at the emergency room.
Will is taken away in a police car.
Freddy and Jane are driving away from the hospital, but drive back to it as Freddy has an idea on how to use the prescription pad as leverage.
Immigrations officer Daniels arrives at the emergency room. He calls Rodriguez. Rodriguez tells him to take Raymond into custody, and bring him to Rodriguez?s mansion where he will be held in captivity.
Freddy and Jane arrive back at the hospital emergency room lobby. Immigrations officer Daniels brings Jane to the back to question her about Raymond. Freddy calls Jorge. Freddy tells Jorge about the prescription pad, and Freddy?s intentions to use it as evidence against Jorge. Jorge, Martino, and Rodriguez schedule a planned meeting where they can discuss a handoff exchange: Jorge gets the prescription pad, Will goes free, and they can have Raymond. It is proposed that they meet at 5pm. Freddy agrees to the planned exchange. It is to take place at an abandoned warehouse in Alvin Texas, some ways outside of Houston. Freddy closes the phone. Jorge tells Martino they got to kill Will, Freddy, and Jane at the meet. Jorge calls Flores, and tells him to meet Will, Freddy, and Jane there at the warehouse, get the prescription pad, and kill all three of them.
Will is driven to a secluded spot where the two HPD cops who picked him up plan on killing him. There is a struggle and Will kills the two cops. A passing by police cruiser sees the fight and speeds to the site to arrest Will. Will gets in the cop car and escapes.
Will decides to go to the HPD headquarters in downtown Houston to meet with his parents? partners: Detectives Schneider and Dimond. He approaches the front desk, asking for both detectives. Detective Schneider approaches him and tells him to follow him to his office. There, Will explains to Schneider and Dimond about everything that happened. The two detectives ask Will to lead them to the ritual that night as Schneider and Dimond want to avenge the murders of John and Mary. Schneider and Dimond agree to be vigilantes that night to help Will, and they also agree to get Will taken off the Amber Alert system. But then, Will calls Freddy from the station. It is there that Freddy tells Will about the exchange a couple of hours from then. Schneider and Dimond ask Will if they can be there to make sure things go smoothly.
Back at the hospital, it is revealed by Jane that immigrations officer Daniels already took Raymond into his custody, and shipped to Rodriguez?s mansion. While this is happening, Freddy and Jane leave the hospital to pick up Will from the downtown station, which they do.
At 5pm, Will, Freddy, and Jane arrive at the warehouse in Jane?s car. They meet Flores there. Will becomes aggressive when he sees Raymond isn?t there as promised. This is when Flores tells Freddy, ?We don?t need you anymore?. Flores shoots Freddy. Will and Flores get into a fight, in which Flores shoots Will several times, and shoots Jane in the head. Flores grabs the prescription pad and runs to his car. While in the car, he is approached by Detectives Schneider and Dimond. Schneider kills Flores at point blank range while driving by him. Schneider and Dimond run inside the warehouse, and approach Will and Freddy. Freddy, shot in the shoulder, mourns over dying Will. Will confesses it was him who was ordered by Martino and Jorge to kill their parents three weeks prior. Will tells Freddy about Alma, and how Alma can get Freddy new ID papers to get out of America for good. Will dies, leaving Freddy sobbing over Will?s dead body. Schneider tells Freddy to get out of there and not to worry about Raymond as it?s a lost cause. Freddy goes to Jane?s dead body, grabs her car keys, takes her car, and leaves.
Freddy goes to Alma?s house on Millwood near 610 and TC Jester. Alma takes Freddy into the back, and dresses his shoulder wound. She then establishes new papers for him which should take about an hour to get ready. They have dinner together. Alma tells Freddy about how she also deals in arms trafficking.
This is when Freddy decides he is going to crash the midnight ritual at Rodriguez?s mansion, kill them all, and rescue Raymond.
Freddy asks to see what guns she has. She sells him machine handguns and other handguns, which Freddy puts in the trunk of his car. It?s two hours until he has to leave for the ritual to take all of them down, including Jorge, Martino, Rodriguez, and rescue Raymond. Freddy can crash at Alma?s place until then.
At the warehouse in Alvin, Schneider goes to Flores?s car, and uncovers the Smith prescription pad. He sees the coordinates and all the other data. He then sees Smith?s address on the pad. Schneider and Dimond then pay a visit to Smith?s condo along Beltway 8. They bust open the door, and forcefully get information out of Smith, who they know is a pedophile, given the coordinates of the trafficking network. Smith confirms the coordinates are part of a larger child trafficking operation, which they do some organ trafficking from it on the side, which explains why so many medical personnel are in on this trafficking network. Schneider and Dimond take Smith to jail. At around 10pm, while at the HPD downtown headquarters, police commissioner Fernandez finds out about the Smith arrest. He makes a phone call to Rodriguez who then tells him that Smith got pinched. Rodriguez orders for gangbangers to brought into Smith?s cell, and for them to kill Smith. In the meantime, now that Smith will not be able to be at the ritual that night, Fernandez says he?ll see Rodriguez tonight at the ritual.
It?s 11pm, and Freddy gets ready to go to the ritual to crash it. Freddy kisses Alma before he goes. Alma wishes him luck.
Freddy gets in his car and goes to Rodriguez?s mansion to kill them all.
SATURDAY
Freddy arrives at Rodriguez?s mansion. Schneider and Dimond park a block away to analyze the action. They see Freddy there, whom they didn?t expect to be there. Schneider says to wait until the gunfire starts. Freddy gets a knife and kills two dirty HPD cops patrolling the front perimeter of the mansion. Schneider and Dimond see this from a distance, but don?t move. Freddy enters the mansion where the ritual is taking place. Jorge and Rodriguez place Raymond on the altar, ready to be sacrificed. Martino, the leader of the ceremony, is about to pierce a dagger through the heart of Raymond?until Freddy makes his presence known. Freddy kills Elias Rodriguez and other cultists there. Many of them scatter, but Freddy shoots at them with his machine handgun. Schneider and Dimond bust the front door open, and start blasting the place with shotguns. Fernandez kills Schneider in the battle, but Dimond kills Fernandez. Freddy shoots at the chandelier, causing it to fall to the ground, catching the floor on fire, causing a massive fiery explosion the house, setting it and other cultists ablaze in a massive inferno. Jorge and Martino run out the front door, with Jorge carrying Raymond.
Martino tells Jorge there is a departure at a Galveston port at 6am that Raymond must be on. ?Get rid of him , says Martino. Martino tells his driver to speed away immediately.
Freddy and Dimond run out to their cars and chase Jorge in pursuit.
There is a car chase on I-10 in which Jorge manages to lose them.
Freddy and Dimond pull over in a plaza strip parking lot next to the freeway. This is where Freddy receives a phone call from his Aunt, who tells him somebody just did a driveby shooting at their house. Freddy and Dimond immediately go there.
Freddy and Dimond inspect the security camera footage. They got the license plate and the make and model of the car. Dimond does a scan. It turns out that car is registered as owned by the Archdiocese of Galveston Houston. Dimond also says that he has seen that car drive around downtown, almost always carrying Cardinal Richard Martino in the back seat. Freddy then tells Dimond to stay at his Aunt?s house and protect them while Freddy pays Jorge a visit.
It?s about 3am, and Freddy storms into Jorge?s house. He tells Jorge to come out here and face him. He goes into Jorge?s bedroom where Jorge holds Freddy at gunpoint. Freddy asks, ?Who put the hit out on my Aunt and Uncle just now?? Jorge says, ?It was Martino. He?s ordered home invasions to happen to them for three weeks now. He wants your family out of the way so that you?ll be owned by the Church going forward.? This is when Freddy kills Jorge Allan. Freddy goes into Jorge?s bedroom closet, and frees Raymond, who was tied up and gagged.
Freddy brings Raymond to his Aunt?s house where he meets Dimond staying there in the living room. Freddy tells his Aunt to continue with her original plans of attending the Saturday morning ordination ceremony. He tells her to bring Raymond with her. ?There is one more thing I?ve got to do before I leave,? says Freddy.
It?s 930am at the Downtown Cathedral. Freddy, Freddy's Aunt and Uncle, and Raymond arrive at the Cathedral. Dimond sits in his car outside. Freddy goes to him, and says, "Wait here. It should be a couple of hours. If anything happens, I'll come outside and tell you".
Freddy goes inside. Cardinal Martino waits for the ceremony. He tells his associate, "As soon as you can, get rid of Freddy and his family. If only I could see that little fuck." Freddy appears behind Martino. Martino turns around and sees Freddy. Martino screams like a little girl. Freddy says, "Jorge Allan is dead. Let's get started." The ceremony begins.
It?s 1230pm. Freddy is ordained by Martino as a Catholic priest. At the exit part of the ceremony, Raymond stands from his seat and yells at the top of his lungs, "Cardinal Richard Martino is a child trafficker and a pedophile! He killed Freddy's parents John and Mary! Cardinal Richard Martino is a child trafficker and a pedophile! He tried to kill me last night! Cardinal Richard Martino is a child trafficker and a pedophile! Cardinal Richard Martino is a child trafficker and a pedophile! Cardinal Richard Martino is a pedophile and a child trafficker!" The exit music stops. All that's left is commotion. Raymond yells this over and over and over again as Cardinal Martino is embarrassed, nervous, and scared. He panics and rushes out of the chapel. He goes into the rectory, and shuts the door. Freddy appears in the rectory. He kills Cardinal Richard Martino with a sleeve gun in the style of Taxi Driver. Freddy grabs Raymond from the Church, and they leave. Freddy goes outside, and approaches Dimond. He tells Dimond, "I killed Martino." Dimond says, "Get out of here!" Freddy promptly leaves with Raymond.
1pm. Freddy asks Alma if she will go with him and Raymond. She says Yes.
2pm. Freddy, Alma, and Raymond arrive at the airport with Freddy?s new ID papers.
330pm. Freddy, Alma, and Raymond leave on the airplane bound for Raymond?s home in Nigeria as Freddy, Alma, Raymond, and the whole city of Houston finally found their freedom.
THE END
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