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Jane Abel, a jaded crime reporter, accidentally kills Adrian Cain, a child rapist who suspiciously gets off with killing a 14 year old girl. Instead of staying at the scene, Abel flees to the safety of her apartment, plunging head first into a bottle of bourbon. A few days later, as Abel desperately tries to tell her fiancée Mike Kennedy, what she’s done, they are mugged by a Colombian hitman, sent by Caesar, the leader of a powerful biker gang, and Adrian Cain’s cousin. Mike is left in a coma, fighting for his life. The mugger/hitman lies dead in the street, his head bashed in by a crazed Abel. These horrific incidents push Abel over the edge into a violent crusade to rid her city of the scum-bags she has written so many stories on, but never, as she sees it, really done anything about. After killing Cain and the mugger, Abel goes after a paedophile connected to Caesar, with only retribution in mind, believing that she’s finally doing the right thing and making the world a better place.
As Abel’s vengeful killing spree starts to gain momentum, it grabs the attention of the police, the media and the public. Detective Powell, an arrogant, sadistic cop, working the vigilante murders, accidentally kills a prostitute he’s been sleeping with, then tries to cover up his crime by blaming the vigilante at an intense Police Press Conference. Detective Hendry, Powell’s new black female partner (and Abel’s childhood friend) isn’t convinced he had nothing to do with the prostitute murder. Putting her own career on the line, Hendry starts to look deeper into Powell’s relationship with the prostitute, finding out that she was more than just his snitch. As Powell gets more determined to catch the vigilante, who he feels is making the Police, and therefore him look bad, Hendry starts to close in on Powell for the murder of the prostitute. When Abel hears that her fiancée has come out of his coma, she rushes to the hospital to see him. Riddled with incredible guilt and remorse, Abel can’t stop herself from spilling her guts to Mike about what she’s done. He explodes and tells Abel to turn herself in, ‘cause if she doesn’t, he will. As Abel leaves in a hurry, feeling that she's really got nothing left to lose anymore, Caesar walks into Mike’s room and executes him to send Abel and the police a message.
When the police hear of Mike’s murder, Detective Hendry is sent to tell her friend the terrible news. After Hendry leaves the apartment, Abel holds her father’s gun to her head, as she looks across the street at a window in the building opposite hers and sees a man beating the crap out of his wife. Abel drops the gun and rushes across the street to try and help the woman. She gains access to the building and quickly finds the apartment where the beating is happening. She pushes her way in to the place looking for the woman and is attacked by the man. They fight and Abel ends up killing the man, viciously piercing his throat with a large kitchen knife. Abel calls for an ambulance and flees the scene to the safety of her apartment.
Detective Hendry is pressured into a meeting with Caesar, who now holds all her gambling debts and is using them to extort information from her. She tells him that Abel won’t say, or do anything about his execution of Mike, as Caesar now has all the power and control.
In her apartment, Abel decides it’s finally time to go after Caesar, as she knows that he killed Mike and also got his sleazy cousin, Adrian Cain, off for the rape and murder of the 14 year old girl. Detective Powell is called to the scene of the wife beater’s murder and questions the woman as an EMT attends to her wounds. He looks out the woman’s window and sees Abel in the window across the street. Finally clicking to what’s gone on here, Powell rushes out to his car, just in time to see Abel driving off into the night. He jumps in his car and speeds off after Abel, as Detective Hendry follows after Powell, back in the distance. When Abel gets to Caesar’s pool hall and goes up against him, she takes a bloody beating. Luckily, she just manages to get herself together in time to catch the biker off guard and kill him viciously with a large hunting knife. Afterwards, Abel sees herself in the bar mirror and realises that she’s gone too far and become the very thing that she hated at the start of her violent, bloody journey.
As Abel flees the scene, Detective Powell, who’s been waiting for her, chases her into an old freight train yard. Not far behind, Detective Hendry follows Powell, now equipped with enough evidence to arrest him for the prostitute murder. Powell goes after Abel with a vengeance now, as Hendry does her best to catch up and find them in the freight train yards.
In the final confrontation, as Abel stands on the platform between two freight cars, Powell has no hesitation and shoots her in the back. As Abel falls hard to the floor her gun goes off, shooting Powell in the chest. He drops to the ground, his face a mask of shock and disbelief. The train shudders to life and starts to roll creaking down the rusty train tracks. Abel lies bleeding on the cold, metal platform, but smiles as her eyes close on the glorious rising sun.
Hendry goes to Powell now, thinking about killing him for murdering the prostitute and shooting Abel. But, her conscience kicks in and she just can’t do it. Uniformed cops and EMTs show up, and Hendry holds up her shield, waving them over to attend to Powell.
Abel, as everyone calls her (she hates her ‘plain Jane’ first name) has always stuck up for the underdog. If a kid was being bullied at school, she just couldn’t help herself – she’d step right in the middle of it. She finds vulnerability in others endearing, but fights hard not to be vulnerable herself, especially as she has a childhood trauma she is trying desperately to forget. Her passion for justice shines out of just about every piece that she writes for the City Herald. But recently, she’s been struggling to find anything positive or redeeming to say about the world. She’s now hit a huge turning point in her life. It’s an uncomfortable place where she knows that she needs to do more than just write newspaper stories about the crime that ravages her city. She needs to act, but she doesn’t have a clue what that action looks like. Until she accidentally kills Adrian Cain, a child murderer who has been found innocent for the torture and killing of a 14-year-old girl. That’s because his cousin, Caesar, the boss of a notorious biker gang, didn’t give the jury and witnesses any other choice. Abel’s destiny starts here. She now believes that she's doing the right thing and finally has a chance to make a positive difference in this dangerous, crime infested world. She sets off on a bloody journey that takes her to dark places, and makes her do things that she never thought she’d do. But will she be able to deal with the darkness that threatens her very existence, or will this darkness be the thing that finally overwhelms her.
Powell is a big mouth, imposing cop with a nasty side you wouldn’t ever want to see. He doesn’t suffer fools, and wouldn’t think twice about beating the crap out of someone just because they looked at him the wrong way. He had an upbringing from hell, with a sadistic, disciplinarian mother and an absent father. They made him the man he is today! The poster boy for everything that’s wrong with white America. He’s rotten to the core and as ‘Old School’ as they come. He’s a misogynist through and through, and his hatred towards strong women is focused on Abel, with just a shard left over for his new rookie partner, Detective Hendry. He’s had several run-ins with Abel, mainly about her stories on police brutality and his part in it, and he relishes the chance to bad mouth her whenever he can. He’d dearly like to do so much more, if he could get away with it. And, perhaps maybe this time he will.
Hendry’s a strong, professional cop with a heart of gold, and ambition emanating from every pore. Her grandfather was one of the first African American judges to be appointed in the South, and was a significant player in the Civil Rights movement in America. So he fundamentally shaped her beliefs when it comes to right and wrong. She’s always done things by the book, well as much as is possible in such a corrupt and broken system. She has Powell as her new partner, not through choice of course, so she does her utmost to make the best of this bad situation. She’s been friends with Abel and her family since high school, and cares deeply about her. But recently they’ve grown apart, for no apparent reason, though it’s most likely because of Abel’s reports about police brutality and corruption on the force. Hendry would do just about anything for Abel, and this time she might just have to.
The crime boss of a notorious biker gang, Caesar gives the Mob and the Russians a run for their money, dealing drugs, guns and prostitutes, and forcing underage girls into sexual slavery. This narcissistic sociopath rules by fear and intimidation and doesn’t care who knows it. He has judges in his back pocket, and at least one rat on the police force, which makes him almost bullet proof, and always one step ahead of the law. He would do anything to add to his power and keep his lucrative crime empire safe. He also has a warped sense of loyalty to his family and a need to protect them, including his sleazy cousin, Adrian Cain. They’ve been thick as thieves since they were children, and Adrian’s death sparks a violent need for revenge, that makes Abel his number one target.
Sleaze personified is one way to describe Adrian Cain, but there’s so many other layers of depravity to this nasty biker, that this is just scratching the surface. He has an Andrew Tate attitude, so misogyny and arrogance are just a couple of his proudest characteristics. He loves to flash all the cash that he makes from selling drugs, running prostitutes and sex trafficking children, and is always eager to show off in his expensive clothes and powerful American muscle cars. He has an unquenchable appetite for young girls, and for him, the younger the better. So it’s only a matter of time before he’s going to get himself into some serious trouble. But hey, he’s got his powerful cousin Caesar to look out for him, so he’s always happy to walk that very slippery tightrope.
This handsome, athletic, clean-cut, all-American boy, is Jane Abel’s fiancé. Most people think that Mike might be just that bit too clean-cut for his own good, and for Abel too. He’s a former football star, his career unfortunately cut short by a nasty leg injury. Abel sees him as one of the good guys and the complete opposite to her in many ways, which is probably why she’s with him in the first place. He always tries to see the good in people, and thinks that he can ‘save’ Abel from her troubled childhood, and the world that so deeply disturbs her. The more he loves her, the more she pushes him away. But he just keeps trying, until he sees a side of Abel that in his wildest dreams (or nightmares) he never thought possible.
A hard, but fair boss if ever there was one. Russell got to his position on the force through rapier intelligence, steely determination and sheer hard work. He’s proud of his achievements and will always have his detectives’ backs, especially if he believes that they’re doing good police work. So, not always the easiest of jobs with Detective Powell in your squad room. But until someone can prove to Russell otherwise, he sees Powell as a competent, if bullish, cop.
White, privileged upbringing is an understatement - only the absolute best for this spoilt brat. That’s the way his mommy and daddy would want it. He swans about The City Herald newsroom like he owns the place, and isn’t liked by many and hated by quite a few more. This ladder climbing reporter wouldn’t think twice about stabbing you in the back to get the next big story, and then take great pleasure in rubbing your face in it afterwards. He thinks life is for the taking, and when it can’t be taken, it can simply be bought.
The archetypal news Editor-in-Chief. He loves having an audience and barking out orders, but underneath the gruff exterior there’s a soft, caring centre that looks after ‘his people’. He cares for Abel like a father, but as a boss he is hard on her and expects only the very best from her in her reporting.
Maria Esposito is in her early 40’s and is a sexy Latino Working Girl with dyed black/red hair and make-up on overload. She’s known for wearing a red dress that’s far too tight and far too short. Think Salma Hayek, cranked right up to 11. Unfortunately for Maria, she reminds Detective Powell of his sadistic, religious disciplinarian mother. And, because of his childhood trauma at the hands of his mother, Powell can’t stop himself from taking his maternal hatred out on Maria whenever he gets the chance. Maria also had a loving relationship/affair with Abel’s father, before he died of cancer.
116 pages
crime, filmNoir, thriller
English
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