DragonTown

TRIPP WHELAN, a tough ex-soldier P.I. is haunted by a terrifying spectre of a drowned inhuman figure dragging a block of stone. After awaking from the latest nightmare he sits at his typewriter and begins telling his story. Tripp meets with his latest employers, members of the Beretta crime family, who have a current truce with the local Yakuza clan. They’ve hired Tripp to check out the owner of a hotel they want to turn into a casino – a plan that Tripp thinks may upset the Yakuza. During the meeting they tell Tripp his wild card brother, EDDIE, has been removed – forcibly – from his job as their chauffeur/bodyguard because he’s been taking the daughter, GABRIELLE, off on jaunts. That evening, a very nervous LINDA hires Tripp to check on a female friend whom she thinks may be in danger. Her fears are well-founded; Tripp finds the house shot up and a shotgunned body that appears to be the girl’s boyfriend, but the girl herself is missing. Tripp calls Linda to report, but can’t reach her. As Tripp sets about finding the missing women he finds the police are after Eddie for an alleged abduction, and if that wasn’t bad enough he seems to be right in the middle of a violent and bloody breaking of the crime syndicate’s truce – seemingly, Tripp’s prediction about the casino was correct. His investigations lead him to a dangerous encounter with SHIZUKI, the daughter of the Yakuza boss, and reveal Eddie is somehow tied to the missing girl. Behind the scenes, another crime family – the powerful and sadistic Scarpellis – have had a hand in framing him. The gang war begins to spiral out of control as the Berettas and Yakuza carry out brutal attacks against each other. Adding to the mayhem, the Scarpellis frame the Yakuza for the murder of Linda; the police declare war on them and violent attacks ravage the Yakuza’s businesses. Tripp discovers his missing girl is GABRIELLE, the Berettas’ daughter, and was actually at a secret tryst at a lesbian club on the night her “boyfriend” was killed. The Scarpellis play a bluff and convince the Beretta boss, ARMANDO, to surrender in order to save his daughter. Tripp discovers the Scarpellis’ involvement. He is ambushed by Scarpelli assassins and saved by the sudden arrival of Eddie, but as they head across town they are run off the road by Scarpelli cars and captured. Tortured, Tripp makes a deal for his release in return for handing over Gabrielle. As a storm gathers over the city the Scarpellis secure them in the deserted hotel and plan to rape and torture Gabrielle in front of her father before torturing the Whelans. A power cut stalls the plans, but it isn’t an act of nature – Yakuza assassins have arrived and a bloody battle breaks out as they clash with the Scarpellis. Their boss flees and the Yakuza and Beretta, realising they have both been played, make a tentative renewed truce. It’s revealed that Tripp got word to Shizuki when he arranged to deliver Gabrielle, having deduced that she is Gabrielle’s secret lover. As dawn breaks, a fragile peace is returned to the city, but Tripp is ambushed by a corrupt cop, one of the Scarpellis’ agents. They intend to kill him slowly, but want him to savour the terror for a few days – they have captured his fiancé and throw her in the river chained to a chunk of breeze-block. Tripp dives in to save her, but she slips through his fingers and is lost to the black depths. In the days that follow Tripp is haunted by the spectre of her drowned corpse. The police recover her body and the survivors gather for a burial service. Armando promises that they will get back to strength and there will be a reckoning with the Scarpellis. Tripp doesn’t respond and Armando notes the look in his eyes. “You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?” he asks. In his room, Tripp has acquired a Thompson gun and plenty of bullets. “No,” he thinks, loading the gun’s magazines. “Not stupid.”