Teaser

Amanda is sitting in her office across the desk from Charles Evans, a 30ish man who is demanding an update on his child, who’s been in foster care for a number of years while he’s been in prison. Amanda profusely apologizes—even though she’s the responsible caseworker for the file, she has too big of a caseload to deal with the situation. Charles gets irate screaming that he’s been yanked around for over a year now and he wants answers. He draws a pistol and fires two shots into the ceiling as we smash cut to

CREDITS

Act 1

30 seconds earlier—Jack’s office. Jack and Terrence are talking about an unrelated case until they hear the gunshots. They are startled, unsure how to react. Jack reaches into his old wooden desk and pulls out a gun of his own. Terrence is taken aback. Jack explains that it’s a holdover from his days as a prosecutor. Frequently, convicted felons would threaten his life, and he got a special concealed carry permit while there. They sprint down the hallways of the offices, tracking where they heard the gunshots from and the increasingly loud voice of Charles.

In Amanda’s office, Charles is continuing to yell at Amanda, making demands to see his daughter immediately. Amanda looks behind her out the window into the office pool and sees Jack and Terrence. Terrence motions to her to get down, and she does so. A shot rings out, shattering the glass, but missing Charles. Charles whirls around and fires a shot into Jack’s shoulder. Jack slumps to the ground, and as Terrence tends to his wounds, we fade to commercial.

Act 2

Terrence has managed to bandage up Jack’s wound fairly successfully. The bullet only grazed Jack and didn’t do any serious damage, but there’s still a wound that needs treatment. We hear sirens outside, and through the small window to the outside in Amanda’s office, we can see the lights and hear the sirens of police cars.

Cut to: outside. Alice is returning to the office from an appointment, and is stopped as she pulls into the parking lot. The police explain the situation and say that they’re trying to get in contact with the captor to talk him down. Alice explains who she is and asks if she can help. The officer nods and sends her to the negotiator in the parking lot.

Cut to Amanda’s office. Charles has herded Jack and Terrence into Amanda’s office with the gun and grabbed Jack’s gun. The phone in the office rings, and Amanda answers. Amanda flips the phone on to speaker, and we hear Alice’s voice coming out the speaker. Alice attempts to talk down Charles, and, at first, is successful, calming him down and finding out what is going, but Charles demands to see his child immediately before he lets anyone go. Alice says she will try to get the child there.

Act 3

The back of a police car. A young girl of 8 is sitting in the back with Alice. This is Michelle, Charles’ daughter. Alice explains the situation to her, and Michelle reluctantly agrees to talk to her father after some persuasion from Alice. Alice pulls out her cell phone and dials Amanda’s office.

Cut to Amanda’s office—the phone rings and Amanda flicks on the speaker. Alice says that she has Michelle on the phone. Charles’ eyes light up for a moment as he says hello to his daughter. Just after Michelle tentatively says “hello” to her father, we cut to outside. The hostage negotiator takes the phone away from Michelle and shouts at Charles that if he wants to see his child again, he needs to come out. Cut back inside, where Charles curses at the phone and demands to talk to his child again before he comes out. The police officer promptly refuses, and Charles fires a bullet directly into the phone, killing the connection.

Cut to outside. Alice is chewing out the negotiator for his failure to talk to Charles and keep him on the line. She explains that had Michelle been left on the line, her father might have been able to be talked down. Now, that’s going to be difficult. As they argue, they look up to the window. Amanda is being forced, at gunpoint, to hold a sign to the window—it says “I’M NOT COMING OUT TILL I SEE MY DAUGHTER.” We fade to commercial.

Act 4

Alice and the negotiator attempt to talk Michelle into going into the building to meet with her father. Michelle, scared to death of her father, refuses. Alice says that if the child doesn’t want to go in to the building to meet her father, she shouldn’t be forced to do so. It appears we’ve reached an impasse. Cut to Amanda’s office. Terrence tries to talk Charles down, explaining that for every minute he holds them, the longer he’s likely to have to spend in prison, and the longer he’ll go without seeing his daughter. This is unsuccessful—Charles claims he’s screwed no matter what happens and demands to see his daughter before leaving.

We see through a scope from outside—a police sniper has finally gotten into position and is tracking Charles, and informs the negotiator that he has a clear shot and asks for authorization to take the shot. The commander gives the “fire” order and a shot rings out as Alice covers Michelle’s eyes and ears. Silence as a few moments pass and Terrence and Amanda, propping up Jack, exit the building. Medical personnel rush to take care of Jack as Terrence and Amanda walk over to talk with Alice.

ALICE

Are you OK?

TERRENCE

I am.

Amanda begins to cry.

AMANDA

He’s still…in there. Isn’t someone going to go in and see if they can do anything?

Amanda breaks down in tears as the police move in to the building. In the frenzy, no one has paid any attention to Michelle, who walks up to Amanda and taps her on the shoulder.

MICHELLE

Are you OK? Can I help?

Michelle and Amanda embrace as we fade to credits.