Number Nine

Pursued by the mob and the law, a wild woman in a 1967 Dodge convertible picks up a hitchhiker somewhere outside of Bakersfield - perhaps on the same lonely road where James Dean met his fate fifty years earlier. So begins the adventures of Jake Jones and Ruby Daulton, the most formidable couple since Lula and Sailor in Barry Gifford's Wild at Heart. Written in twenty-seven cinematic scenes, complete with its own soundtrack, they embark on a cross-country adventure filled with intrigue, mysticism and danger. Confronting sex-crazed bikers, forces of nature, the wrath of an angry mob boss and the betrayal of friends, they survive by reading the signs and exploiting their special talents until the King of the New Orleans underground, driven by his infatuation with Ruby, captures and transports her to the Big Easy on the Mississippi Riverboat Queen. Formerly employed as a stripper and drug-runner for the mob, Ruby is in fact a torch singer of extraordinary talent. Though kept locked away in a drug-induced haze she is allowed to sing in Pale Louie's underground club and quickly captures the heart of New Orleans. Afflicted with a sleeping disorder that lays him out for days at a time, Jake is not one to give up without a fight. He possesses Kachina magic and employs all his skills in a concerted effort to rescue Ruby from captivity. Armed with a bundle of cash won in a poker game, he makes allies in the underground and wins the respect of Louie's most trusted servant. With the help of his friends he stages an improbable rescue and seeks refuge in a safe house in the lower ninth ward. It is the summer of 2005, America is engaged in multiple wars and a storm named Katrina has her own date with destiny in New Orleans. Rain pounding and wind howling with the rage of a hurricane, a determined Louie tracks Jake and Ruby down just as the levees give way. Pale Louie is swept away into the swampy waters of Lake Pontchartrain where dozens if not hundreds of his past victims are rumored to await him. Jake and Ruby must finally survive the ravages of Katrina and its devastating aftermath. After all the challenges, the dangers and hardships, not only on their journey but throughout their young lives, they will not back down. "Nothing could stop them. They had the magic of destiny and the medicine of the crow. They were a force of nature, undeniable and pure. Like Bonnie and Clyde, Cisco and Poncho, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, they were bound for glory on the road of adventure and nothing but nothing could stand in their way!"