Echelon
Story Outline (6-15-2003)
JAY SINCLAIR and BRUCE VALAER are preparing to graduate from the Peter-John School of Business.
They are both highly competitive but also best friends.
JAY invites BRUCE to an open house at his parents’ stock firm.
BRUCE accepts a job with Sinclair Brokerage International
JAY and BRUCE graduate from college.
X X X
JAY and BRUCE begin work at Sinclair International and lead the company to the best broker house in Chicago.
BRUCE and JAY learn that JAY’s older brother, THOMAS SINCLAIR III, has been getting raises and promotions despite his lack of productivity at the company.
BRUCE goes to WINTER and THOMAS SINCLAIR, the heads of the firm and also the parents of the brothers, to file a complaint about the pay increases. His grievances are unheard by the Sinclair’s or the board of directors.
X X X
BRUCE stumbles upon a 10 year old accounting error while comparing fiscal management of the firm in the 90’s compared to 2003.
BRUCE holds a meeting with the Sinclair brothers to discuss his findings, and THOMAS assures him the errors were fixed then and do not pose a problem to the company.
BRUCE decides to stop his inquiry into the accounting practices.
THOMAS and JAY follow up the inquiry and find nothing.
X X X
BRUCE secretly continues his inquiring into the past and makes a startling discovery. The persons who exposed the accounting errors are dead. He investigates further and finds that MICHAEL and RACHEL FERGUSON died two weeks after they reported the errors to the firm. He also stumbles upon a string of related murders called the “Whistle Murders.”
X X X
FBI agent WHITNEY FERGUSON has been assigned to the unsolved “Whistle Murders” of Chicago.
X X X
JAY meets with BRUCE and they discuss the ramifications of the accounting fraud and murder he has found. JAY tells him they should consult his brother before going to his parents.
X X X
WINTER SINCLAIR finds out about BRUCE’s investigation. WINTER convinces the board to fire BRUCE.
Bruce gets an email with his termination date and confronts WINTER and THOMAS Sinclair, the heads of the firm. He threatens to whistle blow if his job is not restored.
Bruce tells JAY that he is going to whistle blow on his family’s firm, and JAY tries to talk Bruce out of it but to no avail.
Bruce sets up a television interview with WGN and sends an E-mail to WHITNEY FERGUSON with information about the death of her parents.
Three days before the interview Bruce Valaer dies in a mysterious car accident.
X X X
WHITNEY learns of the accident and goes to Chicago to investigate.
X X X
WINTER and THOMAS Sinclair give the condolences to the family of Bruce Valaer and they give his father a check for 1 million dollars as a token as the firms respect for Bruce.
THOMAS Sinclair III is working late. He opens his desk and finds a folder with “Echelon” written on it. He begins reading the information and it notices that is a journal by Bruce Valaer.
X X X
JAY Sinclair is shaken by the loss of his friend and goes into a deep state of depression.
X X X
THOMAS Sinclair discovers that another person in his family’s company was murdered after they found accounting errors. He goes to his parents with the information that he has and they tell him that someone is trying to frame them. They show him some documents which also satisfy this idea. They tell THOMAS not to worry and to report any new information that he finds, so he can clear up the firms name.
Secretary MARLENE Jacobs goes to THOMAS’s house and tells him that she has also found some more information about the killings of whistle blowers in the Chicago area. She gives him all the files she has and asks him to promise not tell anyone.
X X X
2 Weeks Later
THOMAS Sinclair III is indicted for the murder of Bruce Valaer.
After his first appearance, THOMAS Sinclair III is being interviewed outside the courthouse with his parents. He suddenly is shot in the head and dies instantly on the scene.
X X X
1 Week Later
WINTER and THOMAS Sinclair offer a reward of 10 million dollars for the arrest and capture of the persons or person responsible for the murders of Bruce Valaer and THOMAS Sinclair III
JAY Sinclair is very distraught now. He gives his parents his resignation at the firm.
X X X
WHITNEY FERGUSON arrives in Chicago only to get information from the local police department that their murder investigation has taken a serious turn; the lead suspect was killed after his first court appearance. Chief KENNETH Samuel asks her to go back to DC because she will find nothing in Chicago.
X X X
JAY Sinclair decides to look at the information that Bruce gave him before he died to see if he can find out who killed his brother and best friend.
X X X
WHITNEY gets a search warrant for the Sinclair stock firm. The local police search the firm and find nothing. WHITNEY interrogates every single employee at the firm but comes up with nothing.
X X X
JAY Sinclair finds the information about RACHEL and Michael FERGUSON; he starts digging deeper and finds a link between the murder of the FERGUSON’s and Bruce. He takes what he has found to his parents.
His parents show him the same information and say that they cannot understand what is going on; they think that someone is trying to sabotage the company. JAY promises them to find out who is sabotaging the company.
X X X
WHITNEY FERGUSON is leaving the police office and she notices that she is being followed by two men in a black car, she tries to get on the interstate to avoid the cars. They try to run her off the interstate, but she escapes and leaves the car behind her. She goes to her hotel room and begins reading all of the information she has gathered about the Sinclair family. She finds a file on JAY Sinclair and reads information about him and Bruce Valaer graduating from school together.
X X X
JAY Sinclair further investigates the death and finds links to the “Whistle Murders.” He also finds a link between the murder of his older brother THOMAS and Bruce.
X X X
WHITNEY FERGUSON arrives at her hotel room and is attacked by someone. She shoots the attacker. She attempts to interrogate the attacker; while the attacker is dying, he says his name is JAY Sinclair
X X X
JAY Sinclair learns that secretary Jacobs went to visit her brother before he died. He goes to visit her. And she tells him that she only went to share with him the information that she had found. She assures JAY that nothing happened.
MARLENE Jacobs meets with WINTER and THOMAS Sinclair, and they decide to kill JAY Sinclair and frame him for the murder.
X X X
WHITNEY goes to JAY Sinclair’s house and sneaks inside. She goes into his bedroom and finds a man sleeping. He awakes, and they both draw guns on each other. They finally calm down, and she asks who he is, he tells her he is JAY Sinclair.
WHITNEY and JAY do some investigating and learn that the murders are all tied to his parents and the chief of police.
JAY Sinclair goes to his parent’s office one more time, this time wired by the FBI. He leaves a wiretap in their office.
X X X
WINTER and THOMAS Sinclair and the Chief of Police and MARLENE discuss the permanent termination of JAY Sinclair.
WHITNEY tapes the plot and warns the FBI.
X X X
JAY arrives home, and suddenly his house explodes. MARLENE reports to the Sinclair family that JAY is dead.
X X X
3 Weeks Later
The Sinclair Family holds a funeral for JAY Sinclair during the ceremony; JAY Sinclair rises out of the crowd and announces to the crowd that he faked his death to setup his parents and Chief Samuel.
The FBI surrounds the funeral procession and a stand off begins.
WINTER and THOMAS Sinclair begin shooting at police.
Chief Samuel and MARLENE return fire to the police as well as a few police men.
Police Chief Samuel is shot and killed, so is Secretary MARLENE.
WINTER and THOMAS and Sinclair attempt to shoot JAY Sinclair but are shot dead in front of him.
X X X
Headlines are roll across the screen about the Sinclair murders.
WHITNEY FERGUSON becomes WHITNEY Sinclair and she and JAY are investigators at the Corporate Homicide division at the FBI
Roll Credits