Filmmaking / Directing : Feedback please. Inspired by my recent trip to Costa Rica I've put together this little idea. All thoughts welcome by Ward Parry

The Mule Garrett and Amanda are newlyweds on their honeymoon in Costa Rica. After a blissful six days they are returning to begin their life back in New York. On the five-hour car ride from the hotel to the airport their driver stops at a gas station in the middle of nowhere so they can use the bathroom. They go into separate toilets. Garret is done after a minute, when he returns Amanda is still inside. He waits 2 minutes, then five minutes. Ten minutes later he goes to check on her. To his surprise he finds that the door is open. When he looks inside he discovers she’s gone. When he returns to their car, panic consumes him when he sees she’s not there. His world quickly turns upside down when his driver, in broken English, explains the last her saw of her was when she went into the toilet. Across the road, Garret sees a small collection of restaurants housing late-night truckers eating, the side of the road crowded with tractor-trailers. His panic is greeted with blank faces and a language barrier. He tries calling her, remembering her cell phone hasn’t worked since they arrived in Costa Rica. After finally accepting she’s gone, he tells the driver to take him to the nearest police station. At the police station a bored looking officer reminds him that he’s not in Mexico and that people don’t just vanish here. He suggests that she might be having second thoughts. Reluctantly, the police officer files a report and sends Garrett on his way. Exhausted, he agrees to return to the airport hotel they were due to go to. His driver gives him a bottle of water to drink. Shortly after the drugs take hold and Garrett passes out. When he wakes, he discovers he’s not where he should be. Instead, he’s in a garage. He hears voices, unfamiliar voices. He climbs wearily out of the car to be confronted by a group of men, Nicaraguan drug dealers, low-lives, the kind from your worst nightmare, sitting at the back, casually smoking cigarettes is his driver. A man who calls himself Miguel steps forward and presents Garrett with his situation. Amanda has been taken and is being kept as collateral. If he wants to see her again he needs to carry a package to New York and deliver it to an address there. He will then be given another package to bring back to Costa Rica. As soon as he’s delivered both packages Amanda will be released. Faced with no other option he agrees to it. Before he leaves he demands to see Amanda as proof of life. Miguel refuses telling him he has 24 hours and doesn’t have time to waste. He’s then quickly escorted to the airport by the driver and another man. As soon as he leaves the garage shop we discover that Amanda has already been killed and is in the process of being buried. At the airport he’s handed a suitcase and a cheap digital watch with a clock running down. He’s bundled out of the car and reminded that he’s being watched so not to try anything cute He glances at the watch as the car speeds off, 22 hours to go. His first task is to get through security without drawing attention. A suspicious security officer asks to see his bag and conducts a search without turning anything up. Shortly after Garrett boards the 737 having successfully passed his first test. Next stop Newark immigration. At Newark, he’s grilled hard by an immigration officer who asks why he went to Costa Rica. Garrett responds that he was there on honeymoon when his wife had second thoughts and came home early. Garrett’s exhausted disposition convinces the immigration officer that he must be telling the truth and lets him through. Everywhere Garrett turns he sees police officers and security. Just as he’s about to exit the airport he sees several drug sniffing dogs and their handlers. Too late to turn back he walks past and is surprised when he gets through without problem. He hails a cab and is soon driving to the address where he is to hand over the suitcase. Troubled by the fact the dogs didn’t respond to him he decides to open the case. He’s surprised to find there’s nothing in there except some tacky Costa Rican wood carvings. He searches for a hidden compartment or false bottom but finds neither. Soon after he arrives at his destination; a run down row house in Harlem. After being led upstairs passed several junkies he’s a greeted by a respectable looking man, Andrei and a woman, Greta. They both speak with slight European accents as they welcome Garrett. The woman smiles when Garrett presents the suitcase. Nervous, Garrett presses them for the package to take back. Then realises they’re uninterested by the suitcase he’s handed over and that he is the actual package. They restrain him and drain a sample of his blood that is quickly tested. Satisfied, they provide Garrett with a separate package to return to Costa Rica with. Seeing his reaction, Greta reassures Garrett that if he does as he’s told he’ll be fine. Garrett demands to know what he’s been infected with. Andrei tells him it’s a virus that will incubate for another 14 hours and that if he’s not back in Costa Rica in that time he will die. On his way back to the airport, Garrett takes a detour arriving at Mount Sinai hospital. He ignores the unhelpful receptionist and confronts a junior doctor, Amelia, to run his blood. She takes pity on him and runs his blood. He pleads with her to do it quickly. As he waits for his tests to be returned he steals some syringes. After a short wait his blood tests come back clean. However, Amelia spots something strange in the blood; a higher than normal white blood cell count. With time running out Garrett tells Amelia his predicament and begs her not to say anything. She gives him her business card telling him to call her if he gets any worse. He returns to Newark airport and as he approaches security feels the first effects of the virus, almost fainting. He calls Amanda’s captors and demands to speak to her, telling them unless he does he’s not going to return with the “package.” He finds himself speaking to another man, one he hasn’t spoken to before, somebody important, who tries to reassure him that Amanda is safe. Garrett realises at this point that Amanda is no longer alive. He hangs up. Alone in the airport, dying of an unknown virus, nobody to turn to, he waits for death to come. While sitting in the terminal he watches happy couples and families getting ready for their vacations. His phone rings. He answers the phone to Amanda’s father and tells him what has happened. Amanda’s father’s response stuns him; he tells Garrett that Amanda is still alive and that if he wants to see her again he needs to return to Costa Rica before the virus inside him infects the entirety of New York. Garrett learns that his father-in-law is in league with Amanda’s captors and has been secretly perfecting and synthesizing a weaponized pathogen delivered by a human host. He doesn’t believe that Amanda’s alive but is convinced her father is telling the truth about the virus and its consequences to the people of New York. Once off the phone he searches the internet and finds a number of missing Americans who have been to Costa Rica and disappeared without explanation. Before boarding the plane he writes a note explaining what has happened to him, puts it inside the briefcase and leaves it in a bathroom trashcan. As the plane is taxing down the runway, he makes a call to 999 and tells them there is a bomb in the terminal alerting the authorities. The plane takes off a few seconds later. He checks his watch, - 10 hours and counting. He has no idea what he’s going to do but he’s going to try something. At San Jose airport, he manages to evade the Nicaraguans. His momentum is slowed when his card is declined at the car rental. He receives a phone call from his father in law wanting to know why he’s running from his handlers. Garrett responds that he’s coming for them and hangs up. He resolves to use the only thing he can – himself. With the clock ticking down to less than four hours and, the physical effects of the virus intensifying, he persuades a truck driver to give him a lift. During the three-hour journey he becomes increasingly sick until he reaches the point where he asks the driver to let him out rather than infect him. As the clock ticks down his condition deteriorates rapidly, he starts to cough up blood. He takes out one of the syringes he took from the airport, quickly drawing blood and replacing the needle cap. He puts the syringe in his pocket and continues to the small town where the garage is located. As he approaches the garage he sees a series of black SUVs parked outside. His presence has been detected as a group of men wearing gas masks approach. At the back he notices the figure of Amanda’s father walking slowly. He collapses to the floor struggling to draw his last breaths. Amanda’s father stands over the dying Garrett. He apologizes for what has happened to him before telling him there is nothing that can be done for him. Garrett responds weakly, “That’s a relief.” Then with a last act of defiance pulls out the syringe and stabs Amanda’s father in the leg. Garrett dies leaving Amanda’s father helpless and infected himself. The phone call Garrett made about the bomb pays off as military helicopters descend on the compound, Special forces having tracked his cell phone. After a short exchange the US forces secure the compound and Garrett’s body.