TAKE BACK THE LIFE

Creators: Wash Phillips, Wally Lane
Age rating: 13 and older
Disgruntled widower-vet Mick Olegshevski's depressed world turns to shit. Cheated out of job and paycheck, he's saddled with protecting two Muslim children whose blonde American mom is held by Middle Eastern terrorists planning to detonate a "dirty" bomb in a Los Angeles.
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Synopsis: What's past is prolog: Fadi Al Khalil, an Islamic fundamentalist, comes to the USA ostensibly to study Engineering. He marries cocktail waitress/stripper Billie. They have two children. Fadi drops out of school and buys a neighborhood grocery as well as an old mining property. Unbeknownst to his wife and family, Fadi collects and stores the materials to build a large dirty bomb. Fadi dies of a sudden heart attack before he can ever wreak the havoc he'd planned.

Six months later, Fadi's older brother, Ghalib (a well-connected and relentless trading company exec) and crew of henchmen arrive in the US to "retire" Fadi's family to Yemen. But first they must find the hidden bomb materials and detonate the weapon--a widespread disaster.

Protagonist Mick Olegshevski works at a parts reconditioning plant soon to be outpriced by offshore competition, unbeknowst to the workforce. When Mick's blue-collar job dissolves overnight, he winds up in a bar, in an unavoidable-but-sloppy fight, and is thrown out. Billie (former cocktail waitress/stripper, now mom) finds him passed out behind her grocery store's dumpster. She recognizes him as a customer, checks his ID and takes him home. There she meets Murray, Mick's friend, war buddy and confidant.

When Billie arrives back at the grocery, Ghalib, Fadi's older brother and his band of terrorists make their grand entrance. Ghalib announces his plan about return to Yemen.

Billie is forced to go to the Islamic school to pick up the children--Nadia, 13, and Sammy, 10. Billie takes the kids out a side door. Billie wants to leave them with Mick. But he’s not home so she leaves them with Murray. When Mick finds out, he’s less than pleased and goes to Billie's apartment above the grocery to straighten things out. A terrorist answers the door. Smelling a rat, Mick leaves a wrong address and heads back to his place. But he sees he’s being followed. Bad news.

Mick and Murray gather up the kids and escape from the apartment building just ahead of the terrorists, who now spread out their search and nearly catch up with Mick. Murray and the kids. Billie, who observed the chase from hiding, gives herself up to cover the getaway for now.

Out of the frying pan but still close to the fire, Mick and Murray try going to the police. But they’re thwarted by Ghalib, who reports them for kidnapping the children. Mick, Murray, and the kids hide out in the Catholic Church until the terrorists leave the area. Then they move under the cover of night to the park across from the grocery.

Mick learns (with Sammy's help) that the terrorists are on their way--with Billie in tow--to the late Fadi’s property in the Mojave Desert. Mick, Murray, and the kids pile into Billie's old van to follow them. But the van overheats in the desert. Luckily, they are rescued by Percy, a desert rat able (after some shrewd trading) to patch up the van and get them to the Alice B. Mine on Fadi's property.

Hiding the car, Mick and Sammy discover the terrorists torturing Billie for the exact location of the mine and the hidden bomb materials. Billie, however, has never been there. Only Sammy ever went to the mine with his father. Mick briefs Murray about the bomb and Billie's predicament, then leaves Murray with the kids while he goes to save Billie.

While Murray and Sammy search for the bomb material, Nadia decides to follow Mick--against all orders. Using Billie's van as a moving bomb, Mick blows up the terrorist's vehicles--diversion enough to rescue Billie and get her back to the mine. But learn Nadia is missing and that there are not only explosives in the mine but barrels of radioactive waste, also. Mick goes back to find Nadia. Instead he finds Percy, taken prisoner by the terrorists. Mick kills them and saves Percy, who says Nadia is now in the hands of Ghalib.

Mick finally decides the only way to get Nadia back is to lure the terrorists into a trap. He’ll offer to trade the bomb materials for Nadia. The Alice B Mine had a second entrance, abandoned when the present one was dug. The abandoned entrance is in bad shape, ready to cave in at any moment. But it's the only way out of this jam.

The plan? Lure the terrorists to the mine while Percy blows the main entrance shut. Mick will grab Nadia, and everyone will run for the old entrance. From there, they blow that entrance, too, sealing the terrorists and their bomb in the mine forever. All goes as planed until the explosion. Nadia is delivered safely, but a firefight erupts, wounding both Mick and Percy. Mick sends everyone else to the surface while holding the terrorists at bay in the now-dark mine. Mick instructs Murray to blow the mine entrance with him in it, if Mick can’t make it.

Mick holds off Ghalib as Murray gets the others out, then returns for Mick. Mick’s down to one bullet as Ghalib moves in for the mano y mano showdown. Murray reluctantly prepares to detonate the charge and cave in the tunnel as Mick and Ghalib are engaged within. When Murray detonates the charge, Mick makes it through the tunnel. He and Murray escape to the surface. Ghalib is buried in the mine, with his bomb.

The good guys live--and maybe even love--happy at last. For now, at least.
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