Black and Blue
When a spastic Caucasian police officer accidentally grazes a young African American boy's neck with a bullet, he kidnaps the kid and heads to Vegas with his partner and wife only to come to terms with more about himself than he could have ever imagined.
Sullivan is a loose cannon cop with an itchy trigger finger and a willingness to overlook laws and regulations in pursuit of his life’s mission: “hurting bad guys for a living.” This, along with a newly developed cocaine habit, is his only method of coping with the results of years of childhood abuse at the hands of his adoptive father.
When Sullivan and his partner Mitchell come upon a young African American boy holding up a gun to a group of white children, Sullivan’s cocaine-heightened instincts kick in. If he had taken the time to assess the situation before shooting, he might have realized that the boy’s gun was only a toy, but it’s too late for that now. To his partner’s horror, Sullivan fires, and the bullet grazes the innocent boy’s neck.
Before he knows it, Sullivan has kidnapped the boy in a crazy attempt at covering his tracks. The injury is minor, and the boy is barely hurt – they might just get away with it. The boy seems strangely nonplussed by his abduction, thinking he is being arrested. He is happy to go to jail because he has heard that prisoners get three free meals a day. When he reveals to these two strange white cops that he is an orphan who has been living alone on the streets for years, a worrying smile breaks out across Sullivan’s face. According to Sullivan’s twisted logic, all they have to do now is lay low until the minor wound heals – then all the evidence will be gone. Could it be this easy?
Of course it couldn’t. Because several days ago, fed up with his meager cop’s salary, Sullivan took matters into his own hands, sold three kilos of confiscated coke, and acquired roughly a hundred grand which he stored away for a rainy day. Now he is travelling across state lines on a “well deserved” vacation to Las Vegas with his partner, his wife, and a young African American boy with a scarf tied around his neck. Sullivan has more secrets than his fellow travelers can imagine, the most pressing of which is the MS 13 thugs secretly following him to get their money back.
Sullivan feels on top of his game, but the one thing he can’t predict is the bond that will soon develop between him and the boy. By the time they come face to face with the criminals and policemen on their tail, the unlikely relationship between the boy and the cop will lead to one final chance at redemption.
Additional Characters
CINDY: Sullivan’s underappreciated wife has always wanted a child, but Sullivan was never ready. Now he’s brought home an African American orphan with a scarf around his neck. Cindy has to overcome her anger at Sullivan and try to be as much of a mother as she can to this boy. She’s his only hope.
MITCHELL: Mitchell recently had to shoot a perp after his partner Sullivan instigated an altercation. The next day, Mitchell watches in horror as Sullivan’s high-strung reflexes cause him to shoot at a young child. Now Mitchell has been swept up in what is either a kidnapping or an adoption, and the waters keep getting murkier. He’s not about to abandon his partner. Instead, he’s got to save him.
GAIA: A free-spirited yoga instructor on vacation, Gaia is planning to go out to a deserted yoga retreat to “find herself” beneath the desert stars. When she meets two strangers, Sullivan and Mitchell, who ask if they can accompany her with their adopted child, only a girl like Gaia would take them up on the offer.