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Movie Screenplays by
Robert T. Roe
Books on Amazon: Sand Castle Day, The Trudeau File, & Dusty and the Booka Monster
SWINDLED
Logline: “Caught up in the whirlwind of a 35 year old spy mystery a woman finds the courage and strength she never thought possible to survive and win against men who are the best at what they do.”
SENATOR FRANKLIN’S secret makes him a dangerous man to LESLIE JOHNSON, a strong female lead, who’s sheltered, comfortable life in her nice Lake Oswego Oregon home is about to change forever. If that were not enough, her own boss of thirty years is not at all what she thought he was. He has lead a secret life since he left the CIA and opened his law office in which Leslie has worked as a legal secretary. He has become more dangerous that Leslie could have ever imagined! PETER comes into Leslie’s life having a secret. Who is he really? Why has he befriended Leslie? Is his romantic interest in Leslie genuine or is he really just after something like the others? Is he, perhaps, the secret admirer that has been sending Leslie a dozen roses from week to week? Leslie would like to think so, but then, she wonders about Peter. Then there is the money. Marty, Leslie’s boss, claims that the retirement fund he has amassed for her is from real investments- but is it? Then Leslie has a secret herself. Maybe she is not the sweet, pet-loving, bike riding, naïve widow that her friends take her for. The Senator doesn’t think so. He believes Leslie is Marty’s long time mistress and knows about everything- the money- the blackmailing- the black and white photo. He is willing to kill for that photo.
The story opens in Cape Town, South Africa. Marty has caught up with RENOU a former CIA agent, and tortures him for the mysterious black and white photo that Renou has been using to blackmail Marty and also Franklin, now Senator Franklin. When Leslie Johnson starts her last day at work, retiring fairly young from her thirty years, she is as happy as all her friends imagine. Everything is in place. Her house, her morning bike rides, her friends in the book club, a fat retirement fund, and a new beau. Life is good.
Then with one newspaper headline it all changes. Senator Franklin throws in his hat for the Presidency. Marty, her boss, suddenly disappears. The next day the FBI is at her door in the early morning hours wanting to know where Marty is- only these men are the private henchmen of Senator Franklin. Now nervous, Leslie confides in Peter, her new friend that she has eyes for, at the local coffee shop. Only he says something he shouldn’t know. Leslie, now more nervous, heads away on her bike. On a lonely turn in the road a black limo cuts her off and she is swept away into a thirty–five year old spy secret.
She finds herself in an abandoned warehouse, tied to a chair, and being questioned and accused. She faints from the trauma and wakes up, naked, the next morning back in her own bed- scared and humiliated. Then with the discovery that her money is gone -its time to fight back. Leslie goes to find Marty and her money but becomes a decoy to lead Senator Franklin into a trap set up by Marty.
On windy Oregon cliffs above a turbulent ocean the mystery of the black and white photo has brought them to this final confrontation. Leslie, having been put under tremendous pressure, will face death and have to fight with all her strength to survive. Along with the physical dangers from Senator Franklin and her boss Marty, come the nightmares of truth! Yet these winds of time blow in Leslie’s favor with plenty of surprises.
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