Manuel was talking with a friend outside a fruit and vegetable shop in Spain when Google Street View snapped a photo of him.
Then, he was arrested.
In truth, Manuel was the former Italian mafia boss Gioacchino Gammino, on the run for twenty years. The scar on his face gave him away.
From the article covering the arrest: “Gammino was wanted for murder and various other mafia-related crimes. He was arrested for a second time in Barcelona in 1998. He had been serving a life sentence at Rebibbia prison in Rome when, in 2002, he managed to escape during the commotion of the making of a film at the prison.”
Turning this into a story, what if a professional hitman helped a now-peaceful hitman escape from the authorities?
Technology helps locate a man who’s been on the run for decades. He now has a family and is living a quiet life.
The father of his son’s friend is an active hitman, working for various corporations and governments worldwide. But, he doesn’t have any heat from the police. He finds out about the authorities coming for the fugitive from his wife, who works in tech, and helps him escape.
They go on the run and spend a lot of time on the road, a buddy comedy similar to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. They’re on their way to a safehouse the fugitive knows about, where he can plan how to get his family.
They arrive at the safehouse and discover it’s now a luxury hotel, highlighting how long he’s been out of the game.
At one point, a cop stumbles into their path. The hitman wants to kill him, but the fugitive spares his life, even though it means he’s now at greater risk of being caught.
The fugitive and the cop communicate, and the fugitive agrees to turn over the man helping him escape in exchange for leniency. The hitman overhears the agreement, then turns himself in.
The fugitive returns to his old life but can’t shake the guilt of betraying his friend. So, having escaped from prison once before, killing many guards in the process, he comes up with a plan for getting the hitman out of custody so his son’s friend doesn’t grow up without a father.
A training montage follows, and the plan works without a single life lost.
The hitman smiles outside the prison and walks back inside, saying he’ll call the former fugitive. The fugitive then goes home, confused.
The hitman shows up later and explains that his client is the Spanish government, that they won’t ever charge him with anything because he would reveal their secrets. But, he made a deal that the fugitive was a changed man and wouldn’t murder anyone.
The hitman leaves the fugitive’s house, saying he’ll be in touch. Then, at a school event for their children, he hands him a card with coordinates.
It’s a prison in Siberia.
