STEPHANO ALEKSANDROVICH

in

BLACK GOLD RISING

Stephano Aleksandrovich, a man of considerable build, sits alone in the oil fields in Wyoming operating a large seismograph attached to what appears to be a pile driver pounding the earth's crust.  He makes several notations after checking his figures on the machine and pinpoints the location of the oil field.  He puts down his thick gloves and his helmet, walks out towards his ramshackle hut and is interrupted by the sound of a helicopter which lands downwind.  He walks under the churning blades and is motioned aboard.  In the helicopter it is explained to him that he has to field surveys on potentially the largest find of oil in the Mideast.  He is given overnight to pack his things and take off.  He visits his home, says goodbye to his son and ex-wife, and promises to have the company send his checks directly to her for the support payments.  He hugs his ten-year-old son goodbye and says he'll send for him for a few weeks at Christmas and he doesn't know how long he'll have to be gone.
He feels crowded because of his size in the business class, and one stewardess strikes up a conversation with him and invites him to join her in first class.  He is questioned by the Hungarian officials about his U.S. Passport and responds to them in Hungarian.  A well dressed man stands off to the side and helps him with his bag as they go to the waiting automobile.  He asks the man to stop by a graveyard.  He gets out of the car, walks over to the grave of Ivan Aleksandrovich and bows his head in reverence.  The driver asks him and he responds that his father was a freedom fighter.  They pull up to the headquarters of ALCO OIL and are whisked through the door to a waiting meeting room.  The room has a map of different scientific readings in the Red Sea between Ethiopia and Yemen.  The man in charge of the meeting tells him that he believes the biggest deposit of oil is not actually in Yemen, but in the Red Sea, and they have a submarine capable of conducting seismic research offshore.  They know his background with the Navy Seals and would like him to take charge before they drill.  He studies the graph and tells them "let's go."
As he walks down the streets of Taiz, Yemen, the townspeople look at him as if he is some freak of nature, a combination of awe and amazement.  He shrugs it off and goes into a bar not far from his hotel and orders a large helping of goat meat and the local beer.  He hardly notices that he is being trailed by a black man in a turban.  The ALCO OIL truck leaves for the harbor with their submarine and they launch him out in it.  The tests are conducted and go very smoothly; they return that night and he returns to the same bar.  The black man has been there before him, and has arranged for the bartender to put some powder in his beer.  Stephano wakes up in the back of a truck bouncing up and down through the desert.  He is taken to an airstrip and flown out of the country.  He works his hands out of the ropes and breaks the iron chains around his feet tying them back together.  When they open the door on the airstrip, he knocks several of the troops out of the way and runs for it.  He enters a giant computer building with high-tech security.  He is instantly on monitor and is being constantly surveilled as he traverses the length of the building.  He enters into a dark warehouse area and begins to climb up the shelves towards an open window.  He leaps and catches the edge of the opening and drags himself back outside.
Just as he begins to let himself down, he is surrounded by two helicopters with their floodlights and machine guns pointed at him.  A woman's voice booms out ordering him to surrender or he will be instantly shot.  He puts his hands on his head and several troops escort him at gunpoint to the interrogation room.  The woman is beautiful and is fluent in Russian which she speaks with her comrade from the KGB.  There are several Ethiopian Army officers about as well as several scientists.  They ask him to divulge on the charges the location of the large deposit of oil in the Red Sea.  He tells them no.  They are unsuccessful at even beating the information out of him.  After a long beating, the others leave and the woman enters the room.  She confides that she is an Israeli double agent and she needs his help in getting out.  She asks if he can fly a helicopter.  She undoes his handcuffs and tells him to meet her outside at the helicopter.  He makes the break sending the guards into the plate glass windows one after another and generally making a mess of the computer room.  He runs out of the building with shots being fired at him and jumps into the helicopter.  They leave in the midst of the gunfire.  The other helicopter takes off after them, only minutes behind.  They chase through a beautiful ravine at breakneck speed with Stephano performing incredible defensive measures.  The ravine narrows to the width of the blades and breaks off into a sharp 45 degree turn.  The trailing helicopter fails to make the turn.  It explodes into a ball of flame.  Stephano asks Rachael if they couldn't have arranged a better extraction for her.  She said they did but the computer disks she had copied couldn't have waited.  They put down in Saudi Arabia and fly back to Jerusalem.
Rachael and Stephano begin a wonderful romance.  They go to the opera, tour ancient archeological sites, and even for a naked moonlight swim in the Dead Sea.  She is hesitant to tell him much about her work; he tells her a little of his past with the Navy Seals.  The computer operators are scrambling like crazy to unlock the codes.  Every technique is thwarted by the disk and keeps it from being unlocked.  Stephano and Raphael go to the airport in Jerusalem to welcome his son visiting from Wyoming.  The Massad, by unlocking the disk, has uncovered the locations and dates of several terrorist attacks including one that very hour at the airport in Jerusalem.  They rush to the scene to sound the alarm.  Stephano's son gets caught in the explosion and dies in his arms.  He vows vengeance just as the Massad rushes up to her.  She accompanies him to the hospital.  The doctors try but there is no hope.  He finds out what the computer program was about and makes her promise that she will give him enough information that he can track his son's killers.  She agrees.
She delivers to him the dossier on the terrorists.  The main operative is an Ethiopian, Heidla Sokono.  He is being directed by a KGB Zota, posing as an immigrant Russian Jew who operates the Karmel Hotel in downtown Tel Aviv.  With the help of Rachael, Stephano checks into the hotel and when the Ethiopian checks out of his room, Stephano goes in and removes the ceiling light and bugs the room.  The entire hotel is packed and as Stephano waits in the lobby, he notices the manager talking with the Ethiopian and handing him an envelope which the Ethiopian takes up to the room.  That night in the bar several Ethiopians sit together; Stephano sits in the corner with Rachael.  The Zota comes in, motions to them and they all, one by one, filter out.  Rachael and Stephano go out after them.  The van pulls away from the curb.  Stephano grabs Rachael's purse with her transmitter and takes off after the van.  He goes to an overpass that they will be passing under, and as the minibus drives under, he jumps silently like a cat on the rooftop where, spread-eagled, he holds on.  Inside the van they notice a little noise, but the streets are so rough and bumpy, they just dismiss it.
The minibus goes across town to an Israeli airfield where, one by one, the bus stops and lets out the terrorists.  After the third stop, Stephano jumps off, lands and rolls.  He has covered his face with Rachael's makeup and immediately he rubs dirt into it and has tied his hair up in her scarf.  He has her keys protruding from his knuckles.  The first terrorist he comes to is setting up an electronic infrared field to detect the most vital areas of attack.  As swift as a leopard, Stephano breaks his back, holding his mouth, while the man falls lifelessly to the ground.  The second terrorist is digging away under the fence and when he swings back with his shovel, notices Stephano.  He goes for his with his shovel, Stephano sidesteps and crushes his jaw with a knee to the face.  He reaches over, picks the man up by his head and twists his neck back and forth.  He takes off the man's radio receptor headset and rushes to where the first terrorist has already entered the airstrip.  He tracks the man down just as he is placing some plastic explosives by a storage tank of jet fuel.  He connects to the man's chest with his fistful of keys and the man looks in horror as blood begins to spurt out of his chest wounds.  Stephano tells him, "Don't forget your keys," and throws them at his feet.
The minibus, through the use of false military identification, has entered the airstrip posing as a painting crew.  They enter the main security control area and manage to disable it, killing the security personnel.  They are wiring the entire area and have managed to bypass the override in the missile launching room.  The Russian smiles when his key enables the missile.  He comments on the fact that even the United States will turn their back on Israel after the unprovoked attack on Yemen and that the oil fields will belong to them.  Stephano manages to track them down and breaks into the room with a submachine gun.  He slaughters the five Ethiopians who are wiring the security console, and when the Russian hears the gunfire, he closes the huge steel door that separates the two rooms.  Stephano squeezes through the door until it begins to crush him.  Incredibly, he pushes it back and jumps to the floor as the Russian fires a burst from his Uzi.  The Russian turns back to the missile launching console and sets the final co-ordinates.  Stephano looks at his leg which has been hit from the flying bullets.  With superhuman strength, he rips the power console from the floorboards, the lights begin to blink on and off, and sparks begin to fly.  The Russian is still setting his co-ordinates and the computer screen is counting down from 60 seconds till launching.  The room goes dark and the power console sails across the room and knocks the Russian over.  Stephano rushes to the console and types in ABORT ABORT.  The countdown ceases.  Rachael and several Israeli soldiers along with several of the Massad entering.  They identify the terrorist Zotov, and Rachael runs to Stephano to tend his wounds.
He is awarded the medal of honor by the Israeli Parliament and walks out hand in hand with Rachael.

Copyright 1990
Treatment for film by
Brian P. Stewart
7416 East Princeton
Scottsdale, AZ  85252