Black Mambo: A Crime Short Script

By Christopher C. Odom

FADE IN:

EXT. AERIAL SHOT OF LOS ANGELES - OVERCAST - ESTABLISHING - DAY

EXT. WAREHOUSE - OVERCAST - ESTABLISHING - DAY

It's a misty, dank and dirty, dark day. We peep up from the gutters of your standard seedy warehouse, where one might stereotypically imagine nefarious dealings are done.

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

FOUR SHADOWY FIGURES prepare for danger. GUN CHAMBERS checked, exit routes re-examined, and a SILVER BRIEFCASE stuffed with neatly bound, bundles of large bills counted one last time for safety.

Enter DETECTIVE WILL BIGGS, late twenties, probably ethnic, an ominous character, stylishly pimped-out in the classical sense - a manly man, and the original lady's man. Full of charisma, charm, and the respect of his comrades, if loving this player is wrong, no woman will ever be right. An OVERCOAT drapes from his body.

WILL

(ice-cold)

Don't fuck this up!  It ain't about Spider. Mambo is the one. We just want in.

Shadowy Figure #1, DAWSON, early twenties, AKA "Choir Boy", possibly African-American, a Sunday School teacher gone S.W.A.T., whose kind spirit and good-natured family-man values are a sure fire guarantee for a coffin, emerges from the SHADOWS.

DAWSON

Yes, sir.

Meet Shadowy Figure #2, DETECTIVE MARIA DIEGO, late twenties, could be Filipino, bad girl sexy in the biker-chick sense; the kind of biker with all the bling-bling gear, because where she comes from, bling-bling grows on trees - another bad, bored, little rich bitch.

Maria crosses in front of Will, invading his space, eyes-stone cold, cocking her penis-envy sized handgun, and glaring at Will, with the ever most subtle look between two adults who could have only known each other in the biblical sense.

MARIA

Business as usual.

WE HEAR the MOTOR OF A VEHICLE, and Will crosses to a large window.

EXT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

An SUV slowly rolls to a halt in front of the warehouse. Wil's head can be seen peering from the bottom corner of a large window.

CUT TO:

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

Will backs away from the window.

WILL

Let's do this.

Shadowy Figures #3 & #4, BUCK and LIESL, emerge from the shadows, nodding with confirmation.

INT. SUV - DAY

Meet SPIDER, late twenties, a career criminal and mook born on the wrong side of the tracks. It's good to be the king - too bad Spider isn't. Rather he's the king's golden lap dog, petted when the king is pleasured, and kicked when the king feels pain. Number two just don't cut it.

Spider sits in the front passenger seat of the SUV nursing an EXAGGERATEDLY BANDAGED left pinky finger. With his left-hand, Spider removes COUNTERFEIT PLATES from the breast pocket of his cloak, peaks at them, and places them back into the pocket.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL KENEISHA, mid to late twenties, the ruggedly sexy driver of the SUV, and four soldiers, ANTOINETTE (another deadly femme), DIX, PARK, and KAPPY. Kappy chugs on a FORTY OUNCE BOTTLE OF BEER.

SPIDER

(to Keneisha)

If you see anything funny... If you hear anything funny... If you smell anything funny... Hell, if you even think anything funny, you honk the fucking horn like your life depends on it, because it very well does.

KENEISHA

Done.

SPIDER

(to the others)

Bounce.

CUT TO:

EXT. SUV - SAME - DAY

Spider, Antoinette, Dix, Park and Kappy exit the vehicle. Kappy carries his Forty Ounce of Beer.

CLOSE ON SPIDER'S CELL PHONE

As the dirty dudes head for the warehouse, Spider's cell phone display rolls over to:

"NO SIGNAL".

CUT TO:

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY

Will, Maria, Dawson, Buck, and Liesl all take position. In walks Spider and company.

WILL

(indicating his watch)

Gentleman, I'm so glad that you could finally make it.

SPIDER

Aye, fuck the small talk. You got the fucking money, we don't have time for this shit.

WILL

Plates first?

SPIDER

You mean the China?  Cheddar first.

Will gives Buck a signal. Dawson whips open the silver briefcase full of money, but he does not move closer.

Spider removes the two plates from his cloak pocket.

CUT TO:

EXT. MAMBO'S POOL - SAME - DAY

MAMBO speaks into his cell phone. Several scantily clad women sun bathe nearby. They're Mambo's Girls.

Mambo (40 years-old) is every Mister Big cliché rolled into one, somewhere between Al Pacino as "Scarface" and Marlan Brando as "Don Corleone". He could be an old-time "G" or even a Wesley Snipes as "Nino" in New Jack City, who quickly rose the ranks to the top of his game. Think a surly-voiced Keith David-type as an Afro-Latino, possibly from Honduras.

CHERI LOVE, early to late twenties, sexy, deadly to deal with, a business constituent as well as sexual playtoy of Mambo's, climbs out of the pool, topless, and crosses to Mambo, dripping water on him.

MAMBO

(into phone)

You're sure.

Mambo violently throws a towel at Cheri.

CHERI

(sasses)

Whatever.

Cheri covers herself and trots away, fuming.

MAMBO

(into phone)

Okay, I'll handle it.

Mambo ends the call, then scans through the stored phone numbers in his cell phone. He stops at a name and number that reads:

"SPIDER".

He presses the CALL BUTTON.

FROM CELL PHONE (V.O.)

I'm sorry, subscriber is currently out of range. Please try your call again later.

Mambo scans his stored numbers for another number. Presses the CALL BUTTON.

Kabir Amen-Ra Horakhty is a former Special Education Teacher of Emotional and Behavior Disorder students. He received a Bachelor Of Arts In Psychology, from Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama and a Master of Education in Behavior Disorders, at Georgia State University, in Atlanta, Georgia. He is currently Doctoral Candidate of Transpersonal Psychology.

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