Two hit men who have never met each other are hired to eliminate 4 targets. After an arranged meeting, they are directed to a public storage facility, where they will find all the tools and information they need to do the jobs. Inside, they find a 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 350 SS, with a trunk full of guns and ammunition, a burner cell phone and a single photo of the first target in the glove box. What they don’t know is this – the killers are intended to eventually target each other, and that the “person” who hired them isn’t a person at all. It’s the Camaro itself. The car is the receptacle for a deadly demonic spirit, imprisoned on the earthly plane over a petty dispute between two high-ranking fallen angels by the Devil himself. The spirit inside the car, the fallen angel known as Caim, is essentially serving a prison sentence, and is required to provide the Devil with 50 dark souls, each with the potential for redemption within them, before they can seek forgiveness. Either of the killers themselves would be the 50th soul, should they kill the previous 3 targets.
Part 1
Charles Adam Other
The scene opens with a pair of hands held together, the fingers interlaced seemingly in prayer. As they draw out, it becomes clear they are actually very large hands wrapped around a woman’s throat. Charles Adam Other is behind her, having sex with her and choking her at the same time. She is seemingly into it at first, her eyes closed and a look pleasure on hoer face. Soon her eyes pop open as Charles begins to strangle her in earnest, and she kicks and screams. Charles eventually realizes what he is doing and releases her. She rolls out of bed and begins screaming profanities at him, asking him what the fuck is wrong with him. He thinks to himself that maybe it’s time to get out of town.
The next morning he calls his pal George back east, his “broker,” and asks if he knows about any work, somewhere outside Miami. George tells him that he’s not sure he has anything, that Charlie’s reputation on the street is getting dicey and that not many people want to work with him. Charlie reminds him of all the things they’ve done together, subtly threatening him. George then “remembers” that he did get an offer to put two freelancers together for a series of hits out west, from a very mysterious client. He tells Charlie to call him in two days time while he sets up the meeting. Charlie agrees and heads home to pack up his stuff.
When he gets back to his house, the front door shows signs of having been opened, and Charlie realizes someone has been in his house, might even still be inside. He pulls his gun and enters, finding his boss, the drug cartel figure Mario Lupe Suarez and a pair of his goons sitting in the living room. As he walks through the door into the living area, a third goon steps forward and puts a pistol to the back of Charlie’s head. Suarez tells Charlie that he’s been getting complaints from two local madams he employs about Charlie, that he’s been smacking around the girls he pays for a little more than is acceptable. Charlie tells him that Suarez ought to know Charlie’s tastes, and that whores are a dime a dozen, etc. Suarez agrees, saying that while it might be OK to get physical with a pro, it’s not ok to get physical with his own mistress, the woman Charlie was in bed with that morning. Charlie reminds Suarez that “getting physical” is what Charlie get’s paid for. “For example,” he says, and quickly turns, grabbing the arm of the man with the gun to the back of his head. He breaks the man’s wrist and takes the gun away, shooting first him in the face. One of the other goons rushes forward, and Charlie wounds him in the leg, and as the wounded goon falls forward, Charlie grabs his pistol, kicks him in the head and then levels his two guns, one at the third goon, and one at Suarez. Charlie tells Suarez that “real muscle,” good muscle worth hiring, knows that you always stay out of arms reach of a man you are pointing a gun at, even if you are behind him, and that Charlie’s has done Suarez yet another favor by getting grid of an incompetent goon who might have been sloppy in the future and gotten Suarez killed. Besides, he says, Charlie wasn’t the only guy in bed earlier that day, he says. “I invited your lady over”, he says, “but she’s the one who came.” He tells Suarez that they’ll have a little agreement. Charlie will leave town so Suarez can save face, and Suarez will be glad that Charlie didn’t kill him when he had the chance. Suarez laughs at first, until Charlie cocks the second pistol in his face. Suarez grows more serious, telling Charlie that he’ll allow him to leave Miami, but that Charlie owes him $200,000 for the two girls he beat up, and that only by paying him off can Suarez truly save face. Charlie agrees, and Suarez adds that if Charlie’s doesn’t pay, he’ll send his best men to find him and cut him to pieces. Charlie says, “they’ll have to be better than these fuckers,” and leaves the house.
Part 2
William “Billy White” Perle
The scene opens up on a pair of hands, again with the fingers interlaced, and as the shot pulls back, we see that the hands are bound at the wrists. They are attached to a pair of severed arms, and the body they might have belonged to is nowhere to be seen. William Perle appears in the dank basement where the hands are being kept, totally nude, thin, wiry and very pale. He picks up the hands and uses them to masturbate himself to release. He then tosses them into a large steel furnace in the basement and heads to a shower built into the basement and cleans himself, washing away blood from an unknown source as well has his own semen. He towels himself dry and head back upstairs still fully nude, going into his bedroom to dress himself in a pair of black pants, white shirt, and black tie. As he’s going to his refrigerator, which has only milk and one withering tomato, there is a knock at the door. He opens it, and there is a large balding man on the front porch in a loud print shirt and gaudy yellow blazer and lighter khaki linen trousers, heavy sunglasses. He asks William, “Are you Billy White Perle?” William advances on the man quickly, and the man steps back suddenly, his air of bravado disappearing quickly, and he takes a few clumsy backward steps on Billy’s porch, nearly falling off the front step. Two other men, similarly dressed in trashy clothes, stand by a large open topped Cadillac in the dirt driveway, and they immediately get spooked and pull pistols, pointing them at William. William looks calmly at them and then the big man on the porch and says plainly, “Yes, I am William Perle. Who are you fellows?” The big man tells him that who they are isn’t important, only that they work for a friend of Mr. Carbone’s in New Orleans, who wants to meet Billy White Perle. William says to them politely that he’s happy to meet to discuss business, but that the next person who calls him Billy to his face will never be seen again. “Is that clear?” he asks the large man as he removes his glasses and polishes them with the tip of his tie. The large man only responds, “Yes sir, Mr. Perle.”
The next day, William enters a bar in New Orleans, and a well-dressed man who seems to know him approaches him with his arms outstretched, hugging him. William accepts it without hugging back. The Man is Carmine Carbone, a local Mafioso who employs William. William narrates, saying that he used to work exclusively for Carbone but has gone freelance in the last few years, often taking jobs from Carbone’s associates. Carbone introduces him to a woman name Angela, who says that she works for a man in Las Vegas named Vinnie The Squid, who is trying to find two top-notch killers for a series of jobs. William begins to tell her that he doesn’t work with other people, but Carbone tells him that he needs Perle to do this as a favor to the local outfit in Vegas. When William asks why that’s his problem, Carbone assures him that it’s not actually. However, the last two jobs that Perle pulled for Carbone, two “disappearance” jobs, have the local police interested, and they are beginning to get a little to close to Carbone and to William. Carbone assures William that if he takes Angela’s job; William can go out west for a few weeks and make some serious money, while Carbone stays behind and sorts out the local police, by bribes most likely. William, who knows that he took certain “liberties” with the corpses of the two men he made disappear for Carbone, thinks it might be a good idea to leave for a little while, and agrees to take the job. Angela, meanwhile, has been seductive throughout the meeting to try to convince William, but he shows disinterest at first and even clear disdain by the end. After William leaves, Angela asks Carbone why he works with such a creepy wimpy looking bastard who dresses like a schoolboy. Carbone tells her that despite his innocent appearance, William is the best killer he knows. “Kid is like a coiled snake, “ he tells her, “quiet as fuck but always ready to strike. He ain’t no rattle snake, nobody hears Billy White comin’, and when he strikes? Nobody lives through it. He’s the best in the business, doll face, trust me.”
Part 3
Caim and Henry Jacobs
Henry Jacobs is seen walking the U-Lok-It lot, a set of keys jangling from the belt of his pants. He’s “talking” to Caim in a near whisper, without any idea that there’s actually something there to talk to. While he regards the Camaro as a living thing, he doesn’t really “know” what it is. He ultimately loves the car, but does not regard it as “his” yet. He feel she owes it something, that me must “prove his love” for it. He opens the locker and polishes the car’s fenders and trunk lid, talking to it and becoming more and more agitated. He eventually is seem walking away from the car, as the F in the fuel gauge glows brighter, and bursts into flame, hinting at the nature of the car. There may also be voiceover here from Caim, discussing his hatred of the human race, his jealousy of the power of their souls, and his delight in corrupting those souls for his master.
Part 4
The Killers Meet
Charles Other is sitting at a plain chair and table in a Public Library, reading. William Perle approaches him, and calmly speaks his full name. Charles smiles wryly and says, “Call me Charlie,” pushing out a chair on the opposite side of the table. William sits down and says this is an unusual place to meet. “I always imagined that this type of meeting would happen in some shitty roadside diner, “ he says, “with tacky red faux leather booths, and a waitress in a paper bonnet that you would slap on the ass and call ‘honey’. “Well, seems you’ve heard a thing or two about me, Honey,” says Charlie, fixing William with a hard stare. William stares back blankly, and Charlie eventually laughs. “Naw, I’m just fucking with you, kid.” Charles softens as tells William he knows a little abut him as well, though not as much as he maybe should. Each killer recounts what he knows of the other. Charlie tells William he knows he came up in Memphis but moved south to New Orleans before getting into “real work” for the Italians there. William informs Charlie that he works for no one accept “those willing to pay for high level professional work,” emphasizing that he doesn’t find Charlie professional. He further tells Charlie that he knows of his reputation as a hard man from the Northeast, but that the word around is that he’s been migrating back and forth before heading South himself, and wonders what might have brought him from Miami to here, if he is so set on “retirement.” William is trying to let Charlie know that he’s not really retiring but falling out of favor, but Charlie doesn’t recognize William’s subtle insult. He tells the kid that one set of big jobs is exactly what a guy on the way out needs, a stake to retire on, and asks William why a young kid like himself would agree to these jobs. William simply states that he’s here to do a job, and that it’s nature is not important, only the results. He also sharply asks Charlie not to call him “Billy White”, and Charlie agrees in good humor. Charlie then begins to discuss the details of the job. He lets William know he got it form an old “broker” back East, and asks William how he ended up here. William gives little detail, merely saying her was offered it by a former employer, and felt the need to work “elsewhere” for a while. Charlie makes an off-handed comment about being on the run, and let’s William know he’s in a bit of the same boat. William thinks Charlie is sharing too much of himself, and begins to imagine himself slitting Charlie’s throat. In one scenario, Charlie is nude while this happens. In another, a moment later, William is nude. Charlie let’s William know that his “broker” requested that they not travel out west together, and that they should arrive at the address provided on foot. William tells Charlie that he received similar instructions, and says that while travelling separately was reasonable, arriving without transportation seemed odd. Charlie shrugs it off, saying that the guys who paid for the job should get what they want. William is less than convinced, but agrees to meet Charlie is Las Vegas. The two leave the library together, having resigned to work with one another, but head off in different directions.
Possible Interlude
Caim and Henry Jacobs
Another scene with Henry obsessing over the Camaro, nearly worshipping it. I really like the idea of a scene of him scrubbing it on his knees, as if praying to or worshipping it. He tells the car, “They are coming…”
Part 5
The U-Lok-It and the Camaro
William and Charlie arrive at the U-Lok-It facility on foot, as per their instructions, each from a different direction. William arrives first, but remains removed, observing the street. When Charlie comes into view form the other direction, he emerges, regarding Charlie with internal disdain, again. Charlie is carrying a small valise, and William asks about it. Charlie is casual, saying, “just a precaution.” William assumes a guarded stance and his hand creeps twards his pocket. Charlie replies, “Easy, Billy. It ain’t heat. They told us not to carry any. Remember?” Chralie pointedly looks at William, who opens his jacket to show he’s not carrying a gun or wearing a holster. They calm down and enter the U-Lok-It, With William reading off of a piece of paper. “Locker number F66, it’s near the back corner of the lot, according to this.” Charlie removes his own scrap of paper from his pocket, telling William that he only got a lock combination, not a locker number, commenting, “someone wanted to make sure we were in this together.” They find the right locker and slide up the door, revealing the Camaro. Charlie let’s out a long slow whistle, William of course, just stares. Charlie turns to stare at him, and he admits, “OK. I’m impressed. That is a beautiful car.” They get past their initial impression, (which we see is the beginnings of Caim working on both men, not quite sure how) and begin to professionally look over the unit itself. They make several comments on the rest of the locker. “No trash, floors swept clean, you can see the broom marks in the dust at the corners. Car’s super clean, someone’s washed it. Someone’s been in here. Recently. Keys are in the ignition.” It’s Charlie who notices that the rear end is riding low, and asks William, “Body in the trunk?” William replies, “Only one way to find out. Just be careful.” Charlie pulls out a handkerchief (his pocket square? He’s certainly flashier than William) and removes the keys from the ignition. The two men open the trunk, and the first shot is the staring down into the trunk. William’s face is flat as he says says, “That is not a dead body.” Charlie’s face wears a cocked smile. His off panel reply as we see that the trunk is full of guns is, “Not yet it ain’t….” They close the trunk and look over the rest of the car. William pops the glove box and finds an envelope. He bends it without opening it, and says, “There are definitely photographs in here. A target?” Charlie says not to open it here, and says they should get the car out of this place for now. William agrees as they both come to the front of the car. He asks, “Who’s driving?” Charlie comments that a car this cherry probably needs an experienced touch. William replies “You have no idea what I’ve experienced.” Charlie responds, “Fair enough, school yard. I like a little luck now and then. Roll for it?” and extends a fist, intending to Ro Sham Bo. He pumps three times, and shows paper. Meanwhile, Willaim reaches into his jacket, and pulls out a straight razor, flicking it open. Charlie smiles his cocked smile again, saying, “Like I said. Schoolyard. Fair enough kid, have at it,” and tosses William the keys. The hop in, slam the doors, and drive out of the facility. Somewhere in this, there are flames, a hint that the car is possessed. They are also observed leaving the facility by Asmodeus, perhaps simply in shadow with with a fine tie or some such to indicate his identity. They drive off and William asks Charlie, “Where to?” Charlie says towards the dessert, and he’ll show William his precaution in the small valise. He asks William, “So that razor was what you were going for when I showed you my bag earlier?” and William replies he was just consider ing combing his hair, flashing a comb and a smile at Charlie. “First smile yet,” Charlie says, “looks like we’re gonna get along after all.” While William has a second fantasy about slitting Charlies throat, this time both of them naked, Charlie says, “this looks remote enough, pull down this dirt track here.” They get out of the car, and Charlie sets his bag on the hood of the car. He opens it up and pulls out what looks like a security wand metal detector. William asks about the gear as Chrlie pulls out another small black box, and Charlie tells him it’s gear for detecting bugs. One shows power sources, and he hands it to William, telling him to waive it over the car’s battery. The gauge on it goes hard to the right, and he tells that’s what William is looking for as he sweeps the car. “A bug or tracker’s battery won’t be that powerful, but you’ll see something. This other one looks for radio tranmissions and the like. Supposed to be the kind of stuff the FBI uses to sweep for bugs. Got it from … well, a guy I know.” As they sweep the car, William asks Charlie how he got this stuff on a plane out to Vegas. Charlie makes comments about how William is good, trying to figure him out. “Since you seem so interested, no I don’t fly. Warrants, of course, here and there. You?” William responds no, “not yet.” “Avoid em if you can,” Charlie replies, “Man I miss flying. Cross country drives are a bitch. Still, in a ride like this… “ he says, admiring the car again. (Each time either man admires the car, there needs to be some indication of it working on their minds, it’s evil and seduction.) He pronounces the car clean, and hands the envelope to William, who opens it. It is indeed several photos, along with a slip of paper with a name and afddress. The photos show Garreth Ramsey, in a few regular style shots of his every day life. The slip of paper has his name and address. Charlie reads it, saying….
Part 6
Garreth Ramsey sneak peek
… “Garreth Ramsey. Local, Vegas address.” As Charlie makes his observations, we first see the photos. As he continues we see Garreth Ramsey going about his regular life. “Looks like a regular Joe. Nothing in the photos to indicate he’s in the life.” Ramsey at his job, Ramsey walking home with a bag of groceries” He goes to work, goes home. Hits a bar now and then, looks like, not sure if that’s a regular habit or not.” Ramsey pours himself a drink, heads with it in his hands, past his normal looking living room, to a door leading to a basement stairwell. “Well, I guess quiet guys gotta bite it too, sometimes.” Ramsey going into his basement, flicking on a light switch. The basement is loaded with guns on the walls, photos of dead girls as well. “Should be easy…”
End of Issue #1