Chapter 5 5

The Trap House

EXT. LINCOLN & 92ND – NIGHT

The trap house is an old two-story building with boarded-up windows and loud bass shaking its walls. The front porch is crowded with armed gang members, girls in fishnets, and smoke curling through the air.

A beat-up Camaro pulls up. Shawn and Skyler step out.

Skyler tightens her leather jacket. Shawn adjusts a fake burner gun in his waistband. The red vulture card glints in Skyler's hand.

They walk straight to the porch.

GUARD

Card?

Skyler hands it over. The guard eyes it, then them.

GUARD (CONT'D)

Go on in. Rico's expecting you.

---

INT. TRAP HOUSE – MAIN ROOM – NIGHT

The air reeks of drugs, sweat, and spilled beer. Loud music drowns out most voices. Girls dance half-conscious. Men with guns lounge in corners, sipping lean and laughing.

Skyler looks around-her jaw clenched, eyes scanning for exits, weapons, and Rico.

Shawn taps her shoulder and nods toward the staircase.

SHAWN

Top floor. I tracked his number-he's upstairs.

SKYLER

Time to meet the devil.

---

INT. TRAP HOUSE – UPSTAIRS HALLWAY – NIGHT

They reach a thick metal door. Two guards block the way.

GUARD 1

You got business?

SKYLER

Tell Rico the new kids are here to talk business. Real business.

A tense pause. One guard radios in. A few seconds later, the door opens.

---

INT. RICO'S ROOM – NIGHT

Lavish, vulgar, and loud. Rico sits on a couch with two girls at his side, sipping Hennessy. He grins when he sees them.

RICO

Ayye, look who showed up. I knew y'all had something. Come in, come in.

They enter. The door shuts behind them.

Skyler's hand moves slowly toward her jacket, where a hidden blade rests.

RICO (CONT'D)

I like loyalty. I reward it. People who don't ask questions? They climb fast.

SHAWN

We're good at following orders. But we're better at delivering messages.

Rico raises an eyebrow.

RICO

Yeah? What kind of message?

Skyler steps forward, voice low and cold.

SKYLER

The kind you should've listened to the night you killed our sister.

A flash of metal. The blade slices Rico's cheek.

RICO

(shouting)

Grab them!

Gunshots explode. Shawn tackles one guard, slamming his head into the wall. Skyler drives the blade into the second one's leg.

Rico pulls a gun, but Skyler dives behind a couch. Shawn fires back-one shot catches Rico in the arm. Screams echo downstairs.

They don't wait. They run.

---

EXT. TRAP HOUSE – BACK EXIT – NIGHT

They burst out the back door, breathless, blood on their clothes. Sirens wail in the distance-someone called the cops.

Skyler clutches her side, bleeding from a graze.

SHAWN

You hit?

SKYLER

Just a scratch. We got what we needed.

SHAWN

What's that?

Skyler looks back at the burning house and Rico's blood on her hand.

SKYLER

He knows we're coming.

FADE TO BLACK