The Big Catch

FADE IN:

EXT. SEAPORT DOCK - DAY (ESTABLISHING).

A FISHING BOAT docks on the pier at dawn. Fish are dumped off the boat and weighed dockside in a bin with a scale meter.

The camera pans to where a large plume of black smoke hangs in the air inland off the bay.

A MAN DRIVING A FORKLIFT drives a large crate of fish down the pier while seagulls hover. The forklift disappears into a bay door of the fish market compound.

INT. FISH MARKET - DAY.

Inside the fish market, WORKERS break down pallets and set up a fish stand. THE MAN WITH THE CLIPBOARD marks a delivery, while A WORKER shovels ice into a fish bin.

CUT TO:

CEILING MOUNTED TV SCREEN:

(Scene Header) PALO ALTO - INDUSTRIAL FACILITY - DAY

Reporter CINDY WANG and her news crew from CRIS 6 LOCAL NEWS stand in front of debris and fire damage as far as the eye can see. Tall reinforced steel tanks are dented and shredded in the background. Subtitles at the bottom of the screen say KING'S FERTILIZER SUPPLY - PALO, ALTO.

CINDY WANG

Cindy Wang reporting from Palo Alto on this tragic fertilizer plant explosion that has claimed the lives of fifteen Corpus Cristi residents so far. Eight more remain missing. The cause of the explosion is still unknown. Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms continue searching for bodies in the blast zone behind me along with other search and rescue personnel. I am told there is suspicion of criminal activity. The investigation is ongoing.

OUT.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS (42) -- handsome, with wavy, movie star hair, a fit physique, wearing a vintage denim Western double-breasted button down with tan shoulder detailing, a large belt buckle with a bull and its horns displayed, cowboy boots, and a duffle bag -- walks up to the WORKERS and approaches the MAN WITH THE CLIPBOARD.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Hey bub, how are you? I'm looking for work on one of the Gulf Snapper Boats. Got anything for me?

MAN WITH THE CLIPBOARD

So, you want to hunt the Ribeye of the Sea. Ever done any fishing?

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Am I supposed to lie? No, never done any fishing. Look. I just got laid off from a landscaping gig and I could use the money.

MAN WITH THE CLIPBOARD

Shit, a virgin. A regular Swabbie mug. Wait until DIRTY SAL and RIGGS get a load of this.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Where should I report?

MAN WITH THE CLIPBOARD

Go on out to the dock and help the boys unload the rest of the catch. They'll break you in. Tell them SANDY sent you.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Will do.

MAN WITH THE CLIPBOARD

Oh, and kid. You're gonna need to lose the cowboy boots.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

They've done me right so far.

CLOSE ON: ZOLTAN'S HAND REACHES FOR A SLIP OF PAPER, THE SLEEVES OF HIS FLANNEL SHIRT ARE ROLLED UP REVEALING FRESH BURNS ON HIS FOREARM.

EXT. SCARLET MARAUDER - DAY

CREWMEN gather up the dock lines, stow gear, and assume their posts.

ZOLTAN is speaking with RIGGS in the wheelhouse. RIGGS (65) has a bucket hat and a red "SCARLET MARAUDER" vest on and is counting stacks of cash on the counter by the Wheel.

RIGGS

We don't ask questions on this boat. You'll be judged by your work.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

The work will be good.

RIGGS gazes at ZOLTAN vacantly, taking off his glasses and holding them in his hand. He waits for ZOLTAN to speak.

RIGGS

Everyone on this boat is running away from something. The law. A nagging wife. Dead-end job. A tragedy they can't move on from. How 'bout you? Don't tell me... I don't care what it is. The sea. They say it has no memory. And neither do I. Just catch me plenty of Snapper and you'll be paid good money. Got it.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Got it.

EXT. SCARLET MARAUDER - DAY

The SCARLET MARAUDER shifts into forward and accelerates out to sea.

MEMORY FLASH:

--ZOLTAN wakes up in a smoke-filled bedroom. ZOLTAN turns, but LYDIA is not lying next to him.

--"Lydia" he yells. "Lydia." There is no answer.

--The smoke is so thick it leaves ZOLTAN completely blind. ZOLTAN takes off the pillow cover and puts it over his mouth. He kneels to the floor, feels around the edge of the bed, and crawls to the bathroom, all the way to the toilet. But LYDIA isn't there.

--Crying emanates from a toddler's crib, next to the bed. The camera CUTS TO the crib. It is BABY ANA.

--ZOLTAN stands up, runs to the crib, and grabs BABY ANA up in a blanket. He runs down a staircase, opening the front door of the house. Flames roar behind him from the backdraft, swallowing the foyer.

--ZOLTAN stands outside on a lawn across the street holding BABY ANA in a blanket, looking back at the house, and the flames and black smoke burning across the roof. The camera zooms in as the roof of the house caves in. "Lydia," ZOLTAN yells.

EXT. SCARLET MARAUDER DECK - DAY

ZOLTAN is on his cell phone talking to MICHAEL WALLER as seagulls hover about the ship and sea spray gets caught in the wind from the boat bobbing in the wake.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

I'm aboard the ship. What now?

INTERCUT TO:

INT. ATF SAN ANTONIO FIELD OFFICE - DAY

MICHAEL WALLER

BILLIE MCBRIDE A/K/A RIGGS is SALAZAR'S right-hand man. You've got to get close to him. He set the fire. We just don't know how.

MICHAEL WALLER (34) -- clean cut, six-foot-tall, scrupulously dressed in a sharp navy suit, serious looking -- turns his gaze to a photograph on the credenza behind his desk where a picture is framed. It is of himself, his wife, and young daughter, at a gymnastics competition where she medaled. He sighs. Turning his gaze back to a framed ATF Investigative Achievement Award, with the round ATF emblem over a plaque.

INTERCUT TO:

EXT. SCARLET MARAUDER - DAY

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

You said all I had to do was get an admission about the insurance money. I don't recall you mentioning becoming BFFs with a serial killer.

INTERCUT TO:

INT. ATF SAN ANTONIO FIELD OFFICE - DAY

MICHAEL WALLER

You want me to clear out that B&E rap from three years ago so you can make Fire Chief or not?

INTERCUT TO:

EXT. SCARLET MARAUDER - DAY

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

I'd like to make it back to ANA in one piece. You know. That five- year-old kid I'm raising by myself. Remember that?

INTERCUT TO:

INT. ATF SAN ANTONIO FIELD OFFICE - DAY

MICHAEL WALLER stands up and looks out the office windows from the 11th-floor government office, more framed accolades in view on the wall by an American Flag that borders the window. He takes a deep breath before replying.

MICHAEL WALLER

Not my problem. Get me what I need. You were a real hero back there pulling people out of the flames. I respect that. But I owe those victims and their families a collar. It isn't easy to go from volunteer to full-time brass.

Especially when you have a record. Much easier to get axed. What would you do with ANA then? It would break my heart. Call me when you have something.

INTERCUT TO:

EXT. SCARLET MARAUDER - DAY

ZOLTAN hangs up his cell phone.

CHIEF MATE (JONAH)

Hey Greenhorn, set those jigs, cut up that mullet, and drop the lines to 45 meters. We don't have all day. Chop, chop.

INT. SCARLET MARAUDER BUNKHOUSE - DAY

A GROUP OF FISHERMEN wearing rubber boots and waterproof red "SCARLET MARAUDER" bib pants and unzipped or removed parkas, with wife beaters underneath, and trucker hats or Stetsons on, are lounging in their bunks or playing cards on a makeshift table bolted into the floor of the bunkhouse.

CHIEF MATE (JONAH)

Call.

GREENHORN ONE (EDDIE)

Let's see the river.

GREENHORN TWO (MAC)

I'm out.

Zoltan deals the river card, a Three of Clubs. Leaving two threes and a jack face up.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Another three. What does everyone have?

CHIEF MATE (JONAH)

I'm beat.

GREENHORN ONE (EDDIE)

Pair of Queens.

ZOLTAN flips over his cards, revealing a jack and a three.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Full boat, gents. Jacks over threes.

GREENHORN TWO (EDDIE)

That's okay Jonah. Just keep donating your hush money. RIGGS gives us dogshit percentages, so it's fine by me if you want to make it up by losing all your money to us. Good thing you got cut in by DIRTY SAL. You can afford it.

CHIEF MATE (JONAH)

What's wrong with you? Keep your filthy mouth shut.

TRANSITION TO:

INT. ATF SAN ANTONIO FIELD OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY

MICHAEL WALLER is at a meeting in a board room. On the screen in the front of the room is a chart of the suspects in the investigation.

MICHAEL WALLER

This is SAL "DIRTY SAL" SALAZAAR.

He's been running a fleet of Red Snapper boats off South Padre Island. But the real money comes from KING'S FERTILIZER SUPPLY in PALO ALTO. The EPA has been cracking down on safety standards. And KING'S has been on the violations hit list. After dozens of infractions, they were forced to upgrade their facilities. Weak demand, higher costs, and regulatory pressure left KING'S in a deep hole. The plant explosion last weekend was anomalous. And DIRTY SAL who has been known to have crime connections, immediately made a huge insurance claim after the incident. And this is RIGGS.

DEPUTY THOMAS

But what would make SAL blow up his facility?

MICHAEL WALLER flips the slide to an architectural, engineering, and equipment diagram on the lefthand side of the screen, with a spreadsheet and cost worksheet on the righthand side of the screen.

MICHAEL WALLER

Twelve million reasons. Right there. That was the cost of bringing the old facility up to code. His engineering firm gave him the bill about a month before the accident. It was time to fish or cut bait.

MICHAEL WALLER flips the slide to a loan application to SOUTH PADRE CREDIT UNION, with a red denial stamp on it.

MICHAEL WALLER

DIRTY SAL didn't have the money for the upgrades. And his bank wouldn't finance it due to slagging sales. Even though their fishing boats were making good money, we aren't talking about twelve million dollars good. So DIRTY SAL had a problem. And the solution was one we all know too well. Burn it down.

DEPUTY THOMAS

But what do we have on the guy?

MICHAEL WALLER

We have an asset mic'd up in the field and we are hoping we can get an admission.

MICHAEL WALLER flips the slide to a picture of a canister of fine white particles, with someone's hand sifting through the white solid grains.

MICHAEL WALLER

Ammonium Nitrate. NH₄NO₃. It's great for plants and the soil, helping make that plump Texas produce. But it isn't stable when stored in silos in the hot Texas heat, so it has to be carefully stored and cooled. When these grains reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit, they turn into Nitrous Oxide. When that happens, all it takes is to light a match. Kablooey! We are talking about a 60-ton bomb here boys. And somebody set it off with no regard for human life. This is the biggest case of your career. Go get me something I can use.

INT. SCARLET MARAUDER WHEELHOUSE - DAY

ZOLTAN is in the wheelhouse with RIGGS. RIGGS is turning the wheel and bringing the boat around.

CUT TO:

EXT. SCARLET MARAUDER - DAY (ESTABLISHING)

The SCARLET MARAUDER turns at high speed through the waves, with the boat turning back toward the harbor.

The camera follows the wake of the boat as the SCARLET MARAUDER veers O.S. and the camera pans and comes in behind the stern, showing the harbor in the distance.

BACK TO SCENE (INT. SCARLET MARAUDER WHEELHOUSE - DAY)

RIGGS

Fish holds in the bulkhead are full. Time to get back before the weather kicks up.

ZOLTAN looks out the windshield over the bow and sees curling, slithering eddies of black smoke obscuring the late afternoon sun and casting a dark shadow over the ship.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

That fire won't let up. She's still smoking something awful.

RIGGS

She was a big one alright.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

I can't get over the amount of smoke.

RIGGS

You know what they say. Where there's smoke...

RIGGS is steering the boat and checking coordinates on the GPS, looking at depth charts to make sure he is avoiding underwater obstacles.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

... There's fire. Yeah, but they've been fighting the bastard for days now.

RIGGS

Chemical explosions are a real son- of-a-bitch. You know? It is the damnedest thing. The same stuff that plumps up a tomato or a watermelon can level a city block and then burn and smolder for days. Nature sure is ironic like that.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Do you think it was an accident? Some kind of plant malfunction?

RIGGS turns his head to the side and gives ZOLTAN a hard stare.

RIGGS

I'm sure that's what DIRTY SAL is telling the insurance folks.

Fifteen dead. You kidding? They'll say it was an "Act of God."

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

But you don't think so?

RIGGS

You sure ask a lot of questions for a Greenhorn.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

I'm just curious. Seen my share of wildfires working ranches over the years, but nothing like this.

RIGGS

Listen, son. DIRTY SAL is a slick one. I've worked for him... seems like a lifetime. I'll tell you one thing. There are no accidents in this life.

CUT TO:

EXT. KING'S FERTILIZER SUPPLY, PALO ALTO - DAY

PRE-LAP: "THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS IN THIS LIFE" MONTAGE:

--FIREMEN sort through the plant, using crowbars to lift metal shards.

--MEDICS haul bodies out and line them up on the drive, where EMTs bag bodies for the Coroner van.

--Two ATF INVESTIGATORS smoke cigarettes in the driveway and a SUPERVISOR exits the office building, throwing his hands in the air and yelling at the INVESTIGATORS.

--Two EPA INVESTIGATORS comb through filing cabinets, marking documentary evidence and placing it in cardboard EPA boxes.

--The SOUTH PADRE ISLAND FIRE CHIEF (62) -- short, balding,

in full uniform, with a protruding gut, sweaty -- sits at a computer pouring through temperature readings from the plant cooling machinery.

He waves over the DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF and points at the screen, then down at a pad where the words "EXTERNAL HEATING SOURCE" are circled on a yellow notepad.

END MONTAGE:

BACK ON SCENE

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

You know two firemen died in the blaze. Five plant workers. And the foremen. Six of SAL's men.

RIGGS

A tragedy.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

You are the one who said it was no accident.

RIGGS

Now you're putting words in my mouth.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Someone's got to pay for this.

RIGGS'S POV:

RIGGS gazes vacantly out at the horizon. His eyes are fixed on the smoke. The camera ZOOMS IN on the smoke which writhes like a snake. The camera CUTS TO RIGGS's face and HOLDS on RIGGS's face for a moment, showing the tension and internality on his face.

BACK TO SCENE:

RIGGS

They weren't supposed to be there.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Who?

RIGGS

Sal's men. They weren't supposed to be on-site.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

Why not?

RIGGS

Jesus, kid. They just weren't.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

What were they doing there, then?

RIGGS

Texas Hold 'Em. Had a game set in the break room.

ZOLTAN steps out on the deck and calls MICHAEL WALLER.

MICHAEL WALLER

I've got all that, but we need an actual admission.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

I'm holding up my end. You better hold up yours.

MICHAEL WALLER

Sure thing, Chief.

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

I want something else.

MICHAEL WALLER

You're renegotiating!

ZOLTAN KOVÁCS

If RIGGS cooperates, no jail time. And you give him protection.

ZOLTAN hangs up the phone. The SCARLET MARAUDER docks. Two ATF AGENTS are holding up their badges as the boat dock.

ATF AGENTS

You RIGGS? Please come with us.

RIGGS

Good luck, kid. Remember. The sea has no memory.

ZOLTAN nods as they take RIGGS away in handcuffs. The camera CUTS TO the writhing smoke in the distance. From ZOLTAN'S POV, the smoke keeps billowing. The camera zooms in on ZOLTAN's face and HOLDS on ZOLTAN's face for a moment. A tear comes to his eye. ZOLTAN pulls out his wallet, where he has a picture of LYDIA. ZOLTAN kisses the picture of LYDIA and puts it back in his wallet. He gathers himself and takes a deep breath. ZOLTAN walks down the dock in his cowboy boots as the sun starts setting behind him on the bay.

FADE OUT.