Inside an old hotel room, The Lady sits tied to a chair. Sam stares her down looking for answers, while Judaun and Nathan watch from their seats. Sully, seemingly not interested in the interrogation, is actually the most dangerous person in the room. He sits quietly, apart from Nathan and Judaun.
Sternly, Sam asks, “Where is it?”
The Lady says, “Where’s what?”
Clearly annoyed, Sam says, “Lady, I am in no mood for games. Where’s the fucking key?”
The Lady refuses to cooperate and says, “What key?” She defiantly stares right back at him.
That’s it. Sam’s had enough. He marches over to her, raises his hand to hit her but stops. Her big brown eyes pierce straight through to his heart. Sam immediately backs down and says, “I can’t do it. I can’t. I can’t hit a lady.”
Judaun says, “You fuckin’ bitch boy.”
Sam walks over to Judaun and says, “Fine, think you can do better?” He pushes Judaun out of his chair and continues to say, “Than be my guest.” Takes his seat, folds his arms and pouts.
Now under an unanticipated spotlight, Judaun slowly walks over to The Lady, clears his throat and opens his mouth to speak, but The Lady speaks first and says, “You’re not good at this part, are you?”
Judaun stops and stares at her in shock of her boldness. She continues to say, “Are you the runt of the litter?”
Judaun stutters a very quiet, “No?”
The Lady says, “Are you asking me or telling me?”
Judaun says, “Uh…?
The Lady says, “You know a less honest person could see this as an opportunity and take advantage of the situation.”
That comment immediately sobers him up and Judaun says, “Honest? Bitch you stole-“
The Lady cuts him off and says, “Bitch?! Did you just call me a bitch?”
Judaun immediately backs down and answers, “No?”
The Lady says, “Look boys, I’d love to help you out, but I don’t talk to assholes.”
Judaun looks back at Sam and Nathan in disbelief. Sam, also in disbelief, looks up at the ceiling and mouths, “Fuck”. Nathan, for some reason, still thinks the situation is salvageable and whispers, “Say you’re sorry.”
Judaun shakes his head and whispers back, “No.”
Nathan pushes his hands towards Judaun, encouraging him to say ‘sorry’. Judaun gives in, turns back to The Lady, clears his throat and says, “I’m sorry.”
She smiles and says, “That’s better. Now would you be so kind as to give me a drink of water. I’m thirsty.”
Again, Judaun looks back to the crew for approval and Nathan nods his head, but Sam rubs his forehead as if to say, “This is so bad”. Sully says nothing but is paying close attention now.
Judaun walks to the table, picks up a glass of water, walks back to her and leans in to set the glass next to her mouth, but she turns her head and says, “Ewww…Can you at least wipe the glass?”
Judaun concedes with a nod and uses his shirt to wipe the glass, then leans in again, but The Lady stops him again and says, “Would it be too much trouble to ask for some ice?”
Annoyed, Judaun says, “Yeah, it’d be too much trouble.”
He starts to lean in again, but The Lady says, “But the refrigerator is right over there. It really isn’t too much trouble, is it?”
Grinding his teeth, Judaun says, “We don’t have any ice.”
Pretending to be surprised, The Lady says, “No ice? What the hell kind of pub are you running here?”
Realizing he’s been played, Judaun loses his patience and says, “You fuckin’ bitch!” He throws the glass of water in her face then walks away.
She shakes her head like a wet dog and says, “Yeah. Go back to your litter you bloody runt!”
Furious, Judaun walks back to her and raises his hand to hit her, but Nathan grabs it and says, “That’s not helping.”
While putting his hand down, Judaun says, “Yeah? Well it sure would make me feel better.” He walks away.
Casually, Sully asks, “What’s that light?”
Nathan looks to Sully and asks, “What light?” Then looks at The Lady and sees a faint light coming from her shirt. Nathan takes out his flashlight and shines it at her chest and the key lights up like a Christmas Tree.
Surprised, Nathan asks, “It’s in your shirt?”
From his seat Sam says, “No.” Sam lights a cigarette and continues to say, “It’s in her bra.” While blowing out a puff of smoke, he motions to Nathan and says, “Care to do the honors?”
Shocked, Nathan says, “No! I mean…I’m not…that’s so disrespectful!”
Sully says, “Fine. If you don’t want to do it. I will.” He puts down his cigar and stands up, but Nathan motions to him to stay put and says, “I’ve got this.” Sully sits, back down and continues to smoke his cigar.
Nathan looks at The Lady and she looks right back at him. She’s clearly uncomfortable and knows she’s been caught. She’s not joking anymore when she growls, “You wouldn’t dare!” Nathan takes a deep breath, reaches down her shirt, she screams and he comes up with the key.
Sully blows out a puff of smoke and says, “That’s my boy.”
Nathan sits the key in the middle of the table. The Lady is clearly very upset. With her head hanging down she sits quietly…thinking. Sensing the fight isn’t over, Sully takes out his gun and lays it on the table. He’s watching her very closely.”
Nathan, realizing that they probably just cost her a lot of money, says, “Sorry lady. It’s not personal, it’s business. And since it is business, maybe you could tell us who you’re working for, and we’ll cut you in.”
The entire crew is against the idea and all voice their objections at the same time. Sully says, “Are you crazy?”, Sam says, “No!” and Judaun says, “Da fuck?!”
Nathan says, “Listen, we need a second buyer,” he points to The Lady and continues to say, “and she already has one.”
Realizing that Nathan’s right, they stop complaining. She’s suddenly much more valuable.
The Lady is aware of her value, but continues to be defiant and says, “Sorry boys. I don’t do business while tied to a chair.” She raises her head and says, “Business deals tend to go sour for the one tied to the chair.”
The crew is silent for a bit. She is too valuable to let go, but they have no idea what to do with her. They can’t keep her. It’s too risky, but they can’t let her go either. They could force her to cooperate but who would volunteer to persuade her? They didn’t have what it took to torture someone, so their options are limited.
Sam breaks the silence and asks everyone, “Ok, so what do we do? This was not part of the plan.”
Without hesitation, Nathan says, “I’m letting her go.”
Sam objects and says, “What? No.”
Nathan says, “Yes. I’m letting her go. This was not part of the plan.”
Judaun puts in his two cents and says, “Bruh..she’ll tell her buyers dat we have da key.”
Nathan says, “Not if she wants to get paid.” There’s an uneasy silence with the crew so he continues to defend his position and says, “She hasn’t done anything to us. The most she’s done is bruise our ego. That’s hardly enough to keep her tied to a chair.”
There’s silence as he walks over to her and starts to untie her feet.
Still defending his position Nathan says, “What do you want to do to her? Dump her at sea? She already knows that we’re not killers. Hell, we can’t even hit her. She should be black and blue by now.”
He walks around behind her to untie her hands. As he starts to untie them, he sees that the strings are already cut and there’s a pocketknife in her hand. She slowly closes the knife and slides it back up her sleeve. No one else sees this (they are all in front of her) and for a second Nathan believes that he made a mistake, but he keeps this to himself and continues to pretend to untie her hands.
He walks back around to face her and says, “Don’t make me regret this.” He’s watching her very closely.
Rubbing her wrists as if they’ve just been freed, The Lady says, “You won’t and thank you.”
Sully has his hand on his gun. He doesn’t trust her and will shoot if he feels it’s necessary. He’s only going along with this because he trusts Nathan.
The Lady gathers her things that they took from her and walks to the door. Before leaving she turns to Nathan and says, “I won’t tell them, but I’ll tell you. That’s no mere trinket you have there. A lot of people would kill for that key.” Then she looks to the rest of them and continues to say, “You want my advice? Don’t go for the resteal. Take your payment and disappear. It’s not worth your life.”
Nathan asks, “Is it worth yours?”
While walking out the door, The Lady says, “Yes.” She closes the door and leaves.
Judaun shakes his head and says, “Bruh…we shouldn’t let her go.”
Sam says, “What do you want to do, keep her? She doesn’t trust us, but if we let her go, she’ll come around.”
Nathan says, ”Exactly. We need her.”
Sully says, “Either way, she gave us important information. There’s another buyer and people willing to kill for it.” He blows out a puff of smoke and continues to say, ”We need to find that buyer.”
Judaun adds, ”Without gettin’ killed for it.”
Sam and Nathan look at each other and have a brief telepathic conversation then in unison say, “We need to find out more about this key.”
Judaun immediately objects and says, “Uh no…I’m looking for a paycheck not a history lesson.”
Sam says, “No, but we don’t have all the pieces. At least not the important ones anyways.”
Nathan sighs and says, “This resteal has just become more complicated.”
Judaun says, “Yeah, ’cause you just let da bitch go!”
Sully shakes his head and says, “I’m not so sure about this Nate. There’s too many variables and we’re not gonna be the only players on the field.”
Sam says, “You think she’ll be there?”
Sully says, “You think she won’t?”
Sam says, “Shit.”
Judaun says, “I told you we shouldn’t let her go.”
Sam says, “Will you get off of that already? You’re not helping.”
A light bulb goes off in Nathan’s head and he says, “Or maybe he is.” He smiles and continues to say, “They’ll never know we were there.” All eyes are on Nathan.
Excited, Sam says, “You figured it out Nate? Whatchu got?”
Nathan laughs and says, ”Of course. Why didn’t I think of this before.”
Annoyed, Sully asks, “So, are you gonna tell us or what?”
Cheerfully, Nathan pats Judaun on his back and says, “This is almost too easy.”
Unamused, Judaun says, “I am not in the mood for your shit right now.”
Nathan says, “Sully, where’s the drop gonna be?”
Sully answers, “At his house. The same place we made the deal.”
Nathan says, “Good. Here’s what we do. We blend in with the yard crew, then make our way into the back of the house and blend in with the house crew.”
Confused, Judaun asks, ”Wha…?”
Sam says, “That’ll get us close enough to what we need to resteal that key.”
Nathan says, “Exactly. Then sneak out through an ordinary everyday routine. They’ll never know we were there.”
Judaun asks, “How are we supposed to blend in with the yard crew?”
Nathan asks Sully, “Do you think you can find out what service they use?”
Sully answers, “Easy. You want me to pick you up an outfit while I’m at it?”
Whining, Sam asks, “You’re going in? No. Let me go in.”
Nathan says, “No. We’re going to need you on the outside to stall them. Give me time to make the grab.” He looks at Sully and says, “And one more thing Sully. We need to know what day they show up. That’s the day this is gonna happen.”
Judaun says, ”Ok, will everybody just slow da fuck down.” He takes a deep breath and continues to say, ”Nathan is gettin’ a yard crew uniform. Dat’ll get him close to da house, even to da back of da house cause der’s probably grass back der too.”
Sully says, “Yes, there’s grass back there too.”
Judaun says, ”Shut up.” He looks at Nathan and says, ”So you’ll have to work your way to da back to get inside, rite?”
Nathan says, ”Right.”
Judaun asks, ”How you supposed to blend in wid da house crew?”
Nathan snaps his fingers, points his fingers at Sully and says, ”I’m gonna need to have another outfit.”
Sully says, ”So wear one under your yard stuff.”
Judaun says, “Ok, so what about Da Lady. She’s gonna show up.”
Nathan says, “And when she does show up, we need to make sure they see her. Jameson probably already knows about her or at least the other buyer. He won’t be surprised to see her.”
Judaun says, “So you gonna need surveillance on dis?”
Nathan says, “Think you can handle it?”
Judaun says, “Of course I can handle it.” under his breath he adds, “Asshole.”
Nathan says, “So everyone knows their part? Sully?”
Sully answers, “Yes. I’m getting the disguise. Is it fair to assume that I’m making the deal?”
Nathan answers, “Always.” He looks at Sam and says, “Sam you’re-“
Still whining, Sam says, “I’m going to stall them. I don’t understand why I can’t go inside with you. I could be a distraction.”
Annoyed, Nathan says, “Fine. Be a distraction. Just as long as you’re nowhere near me.” He then turns to Judaun and says, “And you’re surveillance.”
Judaun says, “Got it.”
Nathan says, “Don’t screw this up. We need you to find her.”
Judaun says, “I’ll find dat bitch. Don’t worry ’bout it.”
Nathan says, “Alright boys. We’ve got this.”