Deputy Kathleen Hudak works for Hibbing, Minnesota police department. Three years ago her brother disappeared, and although she searched for him, she never found him. |
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A man visits the Hibbing County sheriff's office posing as a state trooper named Greg Washington. He tells the on-duty cop, Kathleen Hudak, that his cousin Sam has been kidnapped and that he has a lead on the case. Kathleen checks Sam's record on computer and eventually agrees to help by getting the traffic camera footage. She wants him to sit tight, but Greg says Sam is his responsibility and he will bring him back. Outside of the county works department, Kathleen brings Greg some printouts of the camera footage taken outside the bar. A beat up truck with false plates apparently left the bar around the time Sam vanished. An old van passes by and gives off an odd noise, and Greg asks her if the engine sounds like a whining growl. She, confused, agrees.
Kathleen ran Greg's badge number as a routine case with the state police. While she was driving Greg down the road, following the route the truck took according to the traffic cameras trying to spot private roads, the computer came back with the information that Greg Washington's badge was stolen, and shows a picture of a large African American, obviously not the man next to her. He first tries to give her excuses, but she's having none of it and tells him to step out of the car to arrest him. He eventually confesses, but begs her to still help him look for Sam. He feels responsible for him. Motivated by the disappearance of her brother years ago, she agrees to continue the search for "cousin" Sam, and then she's taking him in.
In town the next morning, he asks Kathleen why she's helping him as they grab a coffee, and she explains her brother, Riley, vanished like Sam three years ago, and was never found. She knows what it's like to feel responsible for someone. They go back to their search on the highway and come across a muddy turn off on the road. He calls for Kathleen to pull over to investigate. As they prepare to follow on foot, Kathleen tricks him and handcuffs him to the cruiser's door handle, informing him that he's a civilian. She heads on down the road to investigate. When Kathleen approaches the house, the door is answered by a young girl, Missy. The girl acts strange says her mom is dead. Kathleen shows her a picture of Sam, Missy just smiles at her. She says, 'That's gonna hurt' and when Kathleen turns around, Missy's dad is there and hits her unconscious with a shovel.
Kathleen wakes up in a cell next to Sam, assuring him that his "cousin" was looking for him but was handcuffed to her cruiser. The cousin sneaks in and finds Sam and Kathleen in the barn. The cousins have a joyful reunion; he tells Kathleen he knows a trick or two to get out of the cuffs. They exchange information - they are just people, and Sam doesn't know what they want. He says there are a lot of cars out the back of the house, and Kathleen asks if there was a 10 year old Mustang. He sadly confirms that there was, so the family killed Kathleen's brother. He realizes the cages have to have a special key to open them, so he leaves to go find it in the Benders house.
Sam hears someone coming, and a captor unlocks his cage. Kathleen calls "Hey!" to try to distract him, as Sam throws the bracket he pulled down earlier, causing him to miss. Sam releases her from her cage, and they separate to get the better of their captors. Pa and his son find the other boy, unconscious, and the power cut off. They separate to search better, when the boy hears Kathleen click open the cabinet. She climbs up to hide, as he fires into the furniture three times, but to no avail. Suddenly Kathleen jumps him and tries to wrestle. He throws off Kathleen, and prepares to shoot her. Sam, who is continually being shot at by Pa, runs in and manages to distract him, and as he turns to fire Sam ducks, causing him to shoot his father in the shoulder.
Sam knocks him out and locks him in the other cage. Kathleen takes one of the men's rifles, saying she'll watch Pa, telling Sam to go. When Sam's gone, Kathleen asks the father why he killed her brother. He says, 'Because it's fun.' When he laughs about killing her brother, she shoots him.
Sam and his cousin are exiting the main house when Kathleen exits the barn. She meets up with them in the middle. They locked up the girl in a closet, and Kathleen claims she shot the father trying to escape. The three of them share a look, knowing what really happened. Later she has called for backup and they're on their way. She tells them to leave before more cops arrive. The cousin says he's sorry about Kathleen's brother. It was hard not knowing what had happened to him, but knowing her brother's fate has not assuaged her grief. The cousin go walking down the road, arguing. She watches them, glad she could help find Sam, but wishing she could have saved Riley.