The Story
Karen leaves Rory, because Rory has committed some unforgivable sin. On the surface, its appears to be about money, but it is deeper than that. Maybe? He betrays something, maybe a promise that he made to a corporate boss. A promise not to tell something, or to use some information. Now, the boss is after Rory, but its bigger than the boss, too. The boss is just the first and closest level. Rory has sinned against some corporate code of silence--maybe he's a kind of whistle blower or a spy. (Whatever he is, he is inept) Anyway, Karen is tough and sleek, and when she learns that Rory has made a fatal mistake and ruined any chances that they may have had together for a normal life, she decides to leave. Quick. Where does she go? To her sister. Why? Because she really is in love with her brother-in-law, or at least once was. (Haven't figured out that part of the story yet, but I like the twist.) Before her sister got married, Karen and (Jack) had some kind of affair. Later, Jack gets an MBA, Karen goes to Europe for art school--they grow apart. Karen, a few years later, meets Rory. Rory's handsome, has some talent, appears to have the makings of a future in the art world, and most importantly, is relatively harmless. Karen is unable to get her own art career going, so she marries him---hoping that she will be happy as a wife of a struggling artist. They move to New Mexico. Santa Fe. Of course Rory is unable to make it, so eventually, he goes to work for the Really Big Corporation (RBC) and is able, over a few years, to make it at a low level career working on a secret project that RBC is hatching to make a billion dollars. Anyway, Rory gets a brilliant idea: he thinks he can make his own billion, if he sells or tells the secret of RBC's secret project. But Rory isn't too bright. He sells/betrays the secret project to someone--the wrong person-- that, in turn, rats on him to RBC (Why??? disappointment, incomplete information??) Rory is now up the creek. He has no money, he's being hunted (by thugs hired by RBC), his wife leaves him. He's at rock bottom. (That's when we meet him in the opening paragraph.)
Karen can't stay long with her sister, Whitney. They don’t like each other, really. And it’s way too tense, too much sexual energy between Karen and Jack. Moreover, Whitney knows that Karen has a thing for Jack, even though she doesn’t have the complete story—she just senses it. (Karen has never told Whitney about her affair with Jack. Neither has Jack told Whitney.)
Karen is the key character.
Karen decides that she will have to make a living on her own. What will she do? Karen leaves her sister's house and sets up living somewhere in LA. Somewhere cheesy and low-brow. Jack surreptitiously connects her to some friends and a job. (Jack has to do this on the sly, or Whitney will leave him too.) He acts out of loyalty to their now long-ago romance. He has a ember of a thing for Karen. Karen begins to work for some financial corporation (Later, it turns out, it’s a division of RBC, the company that is now out to kill her estranged husband).
Rory, although not too bright, has realized that he better get out of town. He goes “on the lamb” or “underground” or something. RBC thugs continue peruse him, but he stays just one step ahead. He’s lucky. At least for now.
Meanwhile, time passes—Karen gets up and goes to work, every day. It’s a hum drum life, but she’s got to make a living. The scenes cut back and forth between Karen’s hum drum, workaday existence, and Rory's flight to international locations (He goes first to Mexico, then somewhere else, far more obscure, to elude his pursuers. He is, of course, using their joint credit card, at least at first.) Eventually Rory ends up in some back water where he is safe for a while, or so he thinks. Somewhere in Africa, French Africa, where it is not entirely impossible for a white guy to stand out. (Or maybe South Africa—good location for surfing while making the movie. Though too many sharks in the water.)
Once in a while, Rory checks in with Karen. He calls her every couple of months. During those calls, Karen berates him for being stupid and thinking he could make money through a betrayal of RBC. She tells him that she’s sold his last painting of her. The one that Rory thought was so important and innovative.
Karen continues to work at RBC’s subdivision (Hereafter,” The Subdivision Corporation”) She manages to get ahead a bit, and starts working for their security division. (During this period, she sleeps with Jack a few times, but this doesn’t go anywhere—Jack actually loves Whitney, the kids, the Valley.) Eventually Karen stumbles onto Subdivision’s on-going plans to eliminate her husband. (Subdivision is really pissed. It turns out that Rory had got paid by Subdivision, but didn’t deliver the secret) OK. Karen hates her husband and thinks that he’s inept, but she doesn’t want to see him dead. So she waits for his next call from (somewhere in Africa) When they speak, she tells Rory that she knows what RBC is up to. She’s seen some of the plan to kill him. She has information that can save his life. At least some information. She wants to meet him. But where? Rory resists this idea at first, but he still loves Karen and is eager to reunite. He thinks he can restore himself to her good graces. Little does he know that Karen has become an employee of the Subdivision Corporation and that she has told Subdivision that she can help track down her husband. For a price! (Karen wants the money—she’s tough. No more living in an apartment in a one-bedroom in Palms for her!)
Eventually Karen travels to Africa for the rendezvous with Rory. She is, of course, accompanied, by a Subdivision hit man. (Does she know this?? Probably not.) She leads the hit man to Rory. She shows up at the appointed meeting place. The hit man follows her. (He’s African American, of course, he looks right at home in Africa) Rory and Karen meet. The hit man breaks in. What does Karen do? She wants the money, she needs the money. She wants a new life, and God knows it’s no fun to work for Subdivision . Additionally, she is afraid that if she doesn’t help Subdivision now, to eliminate Rory, the hit man, or some subsequent henchman from Subdivision , will “eliminate” her.
Rory is cute, but he’s incompetent. Besides, Karen still has a thing—however unrequited-- for Whitney’s husband, Jack. Plus she has big plans for that money she will receive from Subdivision. Maybe she'll beome an artist again. Karen once loved Roary, but does she love him enough now to risk her life, and to try to stop the hit man from “rubbing out” Rory? And what about the money? What will happen to her if she does prevent the hit? What will happen to her if she doesn’t?
© B. Rose 2006
