Black: Day 01 - Chapter 14
Los Angeles, California
Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 - 07:20 AM
Above the United States of America
A luxurious private plane is gliding on top of the clouds, crossing the continent that makes up the United States.
Just like the plane, the trip is also very much private.
The multi-seated plane is only carrying a handful of passengers. The main one being the middle-aged and well-dressed Eastern European gentleman sitting in front of his laptop, surveying video footage of something.
Evidently not pleased with what he is witnessing, the man picks up his cell phone and makes a call to someone he is expecting to fix the cause of his displeasure.
The call connects to Los Angeles, as Noah picks it up. As he sees the caller, he becomes anxious; it's not the best time for time to receive this call.
"Mr. Ivanonic! Good to hear from you."
The caller has not time for pleasantries.
"Yes, I'm sure. Mr. O'Connor, it's my understanding I gave you a fairly simple assignment. At 7 am this morning, Senator Bruce Miller was to be dead with Adam Black framed for his murder. Right now, it is-"
The man quickly checks his watch.
"7:21 am, and not only is Adam Black still a free man, but also Senator Bruce Miller is alive. Surely you understand, Mr. O'Connor, me and my family are quite displeased."
"Yes, yes, of course, Mr. Ivanovic. We just ran into some bad luck, that's all."
"Bad luck? Or bad management?"
"I can assure you, Mr. Ivanovic, the situation will be resolved shortly."
"Oh, one way or another, it will be resolved. You see, I've already contacted Mr. Novak, and told him to be ready to empty the accounts if need be. If I don't see a substantial improvement in the situation with Senator Miller and Adam Black in the next two hours, you will get zero."
"Mr. Ivanonic-"
"There is no need to waste your energy arguing with me on this. We have Senator Bruce Miller and Adam Black in the same city, on the same day. To allow this opportunity to slip us by would be extremely unfortunate. You may only be in this for the money, Mr. O'Connor, for me and my family this is very much personal."
"I understand that, sir."
"Good. As I said, you will be hearing from me in two hours. I'm flying to Los Angeles."
"You're coming here?"
"Yes. I am preparing to take over this operation in case you fail to deliver."
"Well, that won't be necessary. We still have Black's wife and daughter. We'll locate Black, and we'll use his family. Just like before."
"You know, Mr. O'Connor, if Plan A fails, you should always have a Plan B - not Plan A Part 2. But I hope you know what you're doing."
"I do, I promise you: Adam Black and Bruce Miller be dead today, just as planned."
"See that they are. Or the money may not be all you lose, Mr. O'Connor."
Ivanovic hangs up, leaving Noah to nervously scramble to do something to move things ahead despite the setbacks.
Santa Clarita Power Plant
At the back section of the plant, handcuffed to a pipe, Adam is waiting for Henry to finish his phone call so he can continue to make his case for why he should be set free and put back into the field.
Adam gets his chance as Henry hangs up the call.
"Henry, listen to me. Can I speak to you off the record?"
Henry steps back to discuss with Adam.
"No. I'm contacting the FBI. Telling them to pick you up. But, in the meantime, you can talk to me on the record."
However, Henry does have the courtesy to tell off the other agents surrounding Adam, leaving the two alone so Adam can have some privacy.
"Okay, Black. I know you can be a loose cannon, and during the time I've known you, I've never agreed with the way you handle things. But you're not an assassin. So tell me what the hell is really going on here."
"I urge you not to repeat what I am about to tell you. You'll understand as soon as I tell you. My family is missing, they have been kidnapped."
"Who's holding your family?"
"The people who want Miller dead. They used my family as leverage because they wanted me to smuggle a weapon into the breakfast and put it into the hands of the assassin."
"And you did that?"
"Well. Yes."
"I'm not sure you're doing a good job making your case."
Adam gets agitated.
"God damn it, Henry, I had to, they are holding my family. If I didn't do as I was told, they were going to get killed! But I did my job: I got Miller out of the room, I saved his life."
Henry doesn't reply, but he does raise his eyebrow. He knows Adam to generally be a good and esteemed agent, but he also can't support his actions, regardless of whether or not he was working under duress. Adam continues.
"Around 11 pm last night, I was assigned to protect Senator Miller's life from an assassination attempt. Despite my situation, I did that, I did my job. Miller got out alive. But the people are still out there, this threat is not over. I can help bring these people down, but you have got to let me go."
"Even if I wanted to let you go, Black, I can't. I don't have the authority. I'm turning you over to the FBI. Tell them what you told me, and maybe they can help you."
"You know the FBI isn't gonna listen to me! If I'm taken into custody, I seize to be useful to these people - and so does my family."
"I'm sorry, Adam."
"You will be if Miller dies because of you!"
Henry steps away to contact the FBI.
"Adam, I do things by the book. I play by the rules."
Adam bangs his on the pipe. There is no winning for him here.
Outside of the Power Plant
Senator Miller's limo is driving away from the plant with the Senator and his daughter inside.
Despite just being the target of a perceived assassination attempt, it's Bruce Miller who is consoling his daughter, and not the other way around.
In tears, Maria is both glad his father is still alive, but also angry at the fact that he refused to heed the warnings several hours ago.
"Promise me, dad! Promise you will take these threats seriously from now on!"
"Maria, it's alright, sweetheart. I'm still here."
"And I'm glad. But what if-"
Bruce grabs his daughter into a strong embrace.
"Ssh. No what-ifs."
"I'm serious, dad. I mean it. This isn't some game. There was someone after you. Someone tried to kill you, dad."
"And they failed. I'm not going anywhere, sweetie. Those people will not win. I promise you that."
Bruce's phone starts to ring.
"Hold on, I have to take this."
Bruce listens closely to what the person on the other end has to say. He soon goes completely expressionless, followed by a confused look on his face. Like he is entirely lost.
Maria asks what the call was about as Bruce hangs it up.
"What was it?"
"They've, uhh. They've identified the shooter."
"Did they catch him?"
"Apparently he's being turned over to the FBI as we speak."
"Well, that's... that's good? No?"
"It seems that the shooter's name was Adam Black."
Maria recalls their conversation from earlier and joins in on the confusion.
"AJ's son? The man you talked about earlier? Why would he try to kill you?"
"I don't know, sweetie. But I will make sure to ask him. Personally."
Inside the Power Plant
The Secret Service agents take a grab of Adam, handcuff his hands behind his back, and begin to escort him out of the plant.
There isn't a whole lot Adam can do unarmed with his hands cuffed behind him, so he simply goes along with the agents.
The agents lead Adam through the plant, but are stopped briefly by an employee who turns off a steam valve to make it safe for them to proceed.
Adam looks at the valves that are all around them in a section filled with giant pipes.
The valve is turned off, and they proceed.
Adam then takes a deep breath, and busts through the agents walking in front of him, and tackles the levers of the valves to release firey hot steam in their face.
Adam quickly sits down and brings his cuffed hands from his back to the front, then grabs a gun dropped to the floor by one of the agents, and makes a run for it.
The Secret Service takes aim at Adam, but the employees stop them and warn them that something might explode if they fire.
Adam runs faster than he's ever run in his life. There's no turning back for him now in this situation; he either makes it, and has a chance at saving Susan and Megan, or he fails, and they lose all hope.
He makes his way out of the power plant and runs out to the edge of the property until he comes across a chain-link fence. Behind the fence, is a steep hill.
Adam glances behind them at the agents pursuing him, then makes his mind, climbing up the fence and dropping off to roll down the hill. Being handcuffed, Adam can't do much to brace himself for the fall, or during the roll. He toughs it up and arrives at the road.
A few feet away, a car approaches, and Adam stands in the middle of the road, pointing his gun at the driver, stopping the car.
"Stop the car! Open the passenger door! Open it!"
The terrified female driver does as she's told, and Adam jumps in, still pointing his gun at her.
"Drive the car! Go!"
thank you thank you thank you!!