Helter Skelter

Happy Thursday, crime slicksters. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where the girls are hot, the drinks are cold, and the hardboiled-pulp-noir action is non-stop, right here, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 23 of EXIT, fugitive gunman Danny Peel and the hostages make a deal with officer Luther James. He'll get half the two-million dollars if he helps them escape ...

INT. THE EXIT ROOM - EARLY MORNING
The door slowly opens.

In walks Sergeant LUTHER JAMES (20’s),
African-American, tall, good-looking,
holding his weapon in a two-handed grip.
Danny points his sawed-off at him.

LUTHER
Looks like a standoff,
cop killer.

DANNY
Not quite.

Casey, Sky and Bettie
come into view, weapons aimed.

DANNY
I get by with a
little help from my friends.

LUTHER
Wait a minute.
Sky Masters?

SKY
Yippee-kai-yay, motherfucker.

LUTHER
And Bettie Blue?

BETTIE
Helter Skelter, baby.

LUTHER
(to Casey)
You’re that writer.

BETTIE
(nods)
The sword is mightier than the pen.

LUTHER
(to Danny)
You’re trusting your hostages with guns?
What, they go Patty Hearst on your ass?

DANNY
You’ll have to ask them.

LUTHER
Where’s my partner?
Show me he’s okay.

DANNY
(nods behind him)
In the corner there.
He’s out, but he’s okay.

LUTHER
(sees him, nods)
Where’s the money?

DANNY
Behind the bar in a duffle.
Feel free to count it.

LUTHER
How exactly do you propose
I get you outta here?

DANNY
In your car.
Take me to a motel
and you’re a rich man.

CASEY
I’m coming with him.

LUTHER
What?

CASEY
He’s gonna need someone
to check him in and then
go out for supplies and shit.

LUTHER
You’re gonna jeopardize
your career for him?

CASEY
You got that backwards.
He’s gonna save it.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. THE EXIT ROOM - EARLY MORNING
Everybody sits around the bar.

Looks at the giant stack of cash
sitting on it.

CASEY
Isn’t it beautiful?

LUTHER
You underestimated.
Two-point-three million.
That means I get one-point-one-five.

DANNY
Check out the math major.

The police radio SQUAWKS to life.

POLICE DISPATCHER (O.C.)
Attention, all units.
The perp is holed up at
Croci’s boutique in Sunset Plaza,
one-five-oh-one Sunset.
All available units respond.

LUTHER
(under his breath)
Shit.
(into the radio)
Copy that.
We’re on our way.
Are units on the scene yet?

POLICE DISPATCHER (O.C.)
Roger that.

LUTHER
How’d they find him?

POLICE DISPATCHER (O.C.)
Homeless person found a ‘help’ note
in the window well outside.
Wanted to know if there was a reward.
(chuckles)
Maybe we should hire him.
Did a better job than our guys did.

LUTHER
Copy that. Over.

He clicks the radio off.

LUTHER
You’re fucked.

DANNY
So are you.

POUNDING on the door.

ANGRY COP (O.C.)
POLICE, OPEN UP.
WE KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE.