Great Scott: The Plan
Scott slowly turned to see a young man pointing a handgun in his direction. The man had a 
uniform on, and across his chest was written the words, “San Francisco Port Authority”. Scott slowly raised his hands, and the words started to bubble out, “Sir, sir, you have to help me. I was being held on that ship as a hostage. I just escaped, there may be others. Please, help them.” Just as Scott was finishing, a figure appeared at the top of the gang plank, raised its weapon and fired haphazardly at the two men. Scott barreled into the officer pushing him behind a nearby dumpster. He could hear the man running down the gangplank. He untangled himself as quickly as he could from the struggling officer and just as he did the officer raised his gun and fired, hitting their assailant directly in the chest. “Stay here,” the officer shouted at Scott as he called for back-up and made his way towards the ship. Normally, Scott would have listened, but he needed to keep up with that girl. He wanted to help her, he needed allies if he was going to stop Spade, and she seemed a capable one. She was one of the few people who would believe that Spade had to be stopped or that he could be behind something a large and menacing as the operation seemed. So he took off running.
uniform on, and across his chest was written the words, “San Francisco Port Authority”. Scott slowly raised his hands, and the words started to bubble out, “Sir, sir, you have to help me. I was being held on that ship as a hostage. I just escaped, there may be others. Please, help them.” Just as Scott was finishing, a figure appeared at the top of the gang plank, raised its weapon and fired haphazardly at the two men. Scott barreled into the officer pushing him behind a nearby dumpster. He could hear the man running down the gangplank. He untangled himself as quickly as he could from the struggling officer and just as he did the officer raised his gun and fired, hitting their assailant directly in the chest. “Stay here,” the officer shouted at Scott as he called for back-up and made his way towards the ship. Normally, Scott would have listened, but he needed to keep up with that girl. He wanted to help her, he needed allies if he was going to stop Spade, and she seemed a capable one. She was one of the few people who would believe that Spade had to be stopped or that he could be behind something a large and menacing as the operation seemed. So he took off running. As he neared the end of the corridor between two he felt heat and then intense pressure. He fell to the ground as his senses were overloaded with an explosion. He turned to look and the ship was a raging inferno. He could see fire and dark billowing smoke. He pushed forward, hoping to catch a glimpse of the car and the girl. There was little hope and as he neared the exit to the port, he had given up on his objective. He slowed to a walk, the adrenaline draining from his body as he started to reassemble the past few moments of the night. And then he heard it. A soft, quiet whimpering. He moved slowly, inclining his head to pinpoint the sound.
He found the girl slumped in between two shipping containers, softly crying. “You again,” she sniffed without really acknowledging his presence, “go away, I lost the car. I don’t have any way to avenge my father, I have failed.
“I can help you,” Scott said, “I know who these men were working for, who they are connected to.”
“How?”
“It’s a long story, but look,” Scott pulled out a bundle of the money he had stumbled across on the deck of the ship. “Spade, Inc. is a company that I have a lot of history with, or rather with it’s owners. They must be connected.”
“Why would you want to help?”
“I don’t know, I just…I need to do something. For too long I have been just floating through life, taking the easy road. But I can’t any more, I have business that I must finish with Spade, and I need help. And you seem very capable of the help I need. My name is Cooper.” Scott held out his hand, “Will you help me?”
“I don’t trust you.”
“Who said anything about trust? We both have a task to accomplish – lets work together. Besides, let’s face it, you could end me at any time you wanted to. Heck, I wouldn’t even be alive right now if it wasn’t for you? I am not asking for trust, loyalty, or friendship, let’s finish what needs to be done, then we can go our separate ways.”
The girl looked up, hesitated for a brief moment, then clasped his hand, “I’m Isabella.”
“First, things first, we need to get as far away from here, as fast as possible. Then find a place to stay, clothes, food, and supplies. Thankfully, Spade is bankrolling us himself,” Scott said as he padded the bundle of money.
With all of the confusion surrounding the explosion aboard the ship, Scott and Isabella found it rather easy to slip out. They quickly walked away, after a few blocks they stopped to hail a cab, made their way across town, and reserved two rooms at a Double Tree Hotel.
As they made their way up to their rooms on the third floor they devised a plan. “Sleep tonight – breakfast, clothing, and internet cafe in the morning,” Cooper said as they rode in the quiet elevator. There was a soft ding and a woosh as the doors opened. Cooper watches as Isabella used the key to open her door, “7 a.m. right?” She nodded and entered her room.
Cooper opened his own door and stripped out of his clothes. How long had he been wearing them — he looked at himself in the mirror. Not much had changed there, other than an unkempt beard and wild hair. Maybe a little bit more gray. He was half-surprised that the hotel even let him check in, but as they say – money talks.
Cooper walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He let the warm water sluice away the dirt, and some of the tension he had been carrying with him since, well since the Philippines. Didn’t that seem like another lifetime ago? Maybe it was, maybe he was some kind of incarnated or at least metamorphosed new Cooper Scott. Truthfully, everyone who he used to know was dead, and they had moved on. Maybe some of them even thought about him sometimes. Maybe.
Cooper turned off the water and toweled off. He lay in the fluffy bed, surrounded by pillows and dozed off, mostly due to exhaustion from all the adrenaline his body had produced over the last few hours.
Cooper awoke and there was darkness. Wait, there were flames and faces. Who’s face is that? And suddenly Cooper focused and it was the face of the port authority officer, the man who had saved his life. He was in the flames, he was being consumed. He looked at Cooper as if to say why and then Cooper jolted out of his dream. The sheets were twisted and damp from his sweat. His skin started to chill as the a/c overtook his bodie’s exertion. Cooper lay there for a long time, sleep had become elusive.