Legacy of Terror - Recap

Lenny Strahan played with fractures, sprains, torn ligaments and bone chips. Some said he had the biggest heart in the game of football. On Monday September 22 he lost that big heart to a maniac with a very dull knife.

On September 29 Staff Sergeant Anderson, Distinguished Service Cross holder, left the Armed Forces recruiting office in the Federal Building. Anderson proved a match for a platoon of Vietcong, so urban Chicago offered little risk. Or so one might assume.

Walking to the elevators Anderson hears strange music. Then he hears a clinking noise and more music. Finally he decides the music comes from the stairwell. Pulling open the door, he’s confronted by a bizarre man in a feather cloak. The man’s two accomplices, in heavy makeup and ancient costume, seize Anderson and pin him against the wall. The feather cloaked figure tears Anderson’s shirt open...

Carl is en route to a publisher’s convention at the Sherwood hotel. He’s there to assist editor Tony Vincenzo who hopes to lure some new subscribers. Per usual, Carl is late. Tony and Ron Updyke both agree on the time they told him to arrive; they move to the valet passage to be sure that if Carl appears they won’t miss him. Ron extracts a pipe from his coat pocket. Tony asks about it and Ron says friends told him the pipe made him look introspective and thoughtful. Tony flatly disagrees. The conversation ends when Carl’s ancient Mustang pulls up and a valet begins ticketing the car. Tony realizes right away that Carl didn’t get a haircut, a new hat or a pressed suit as Tony had asked, further fouling the editor’s mood.

Carl hops out of the car and approaches Tony and Ron when the police radio comes to life reporting a Code 3 – a homicide – at the Federal Building. Carl leaps back into his car and races off, trailed (as is often the case) by threats and invective issuing from Tony’s mouth.

At the homicide scene Captain Webster explains to the gathered journalists that he can’t let them in. There will be a lot of confessions coming in from a gruesome crime like this one, and if Webster cannot hold back some details, the police won’t be able to tell false confessions from a confession by the murderer, should one be forthcoming. Carl ducks back into the elevator and rides one floor farther up, then enters the stairwell from above.

Two men examine a corpse. Blood stairs spatter the walls and run down the stairs to a bloody towel. Carl dangles his recorder to catch what the men say. One mentions that the victim’s heart was cut out with a dull blade, “just like the guy last week.” The other notes that the heart was left seven steps below the body and that this killing took place seven days after the last one. He thinks there might be something to that. Just then his partner looks up from his work and catches Carl with his recorder! Carl plays the part of the naïf, asking where the press conference is. Then men direct him, but Captain Webster appears. Wise to Carl’s chicanery, Webster seizes Carl’s recording and warns him he’d better not comment on anything he heard.

Carl returns to the Sherwood Hotel once Captain Webster sends him packing. There Tony introduces him to several important people: Tilly Jones, the hotel’s Chief of Public Relations, and two Air Force officers, Captain Timmons and Major Taylor. Tony tells Carl that he missed a fantastic speech by Captain Timmons about the increasing opportunities for women like her in the Air Force. Tony then asks for a copy of the speech so that Carl might write and article about it and Major Taylor thinks that’s an excellent idea. This discussion ends when a young Latino man in a shockingly pink leisure suit appears with an attractive woman on his arm and asks the major if “they” are treating him right. After a few moments it’s clear he has confused the Air Force officer with the hotel’s tram driver. After he leaves Tony asks about him and Tilly identifies him as a vice president of the hotel!

Tony turns to Carl only to discover that Carl has skipped out again.

Later, Captain Timmons prepares for bed. She has changed into a nightgown and begun brushing her hair when strange flute music drifts into her room for outside. She approaches the door to investigate but before she reaches it the door bursts open. In the hall are the man in the feather cloak and his two grim accomplices...

Carl hears a police report about a disturbance in Grant Park – neighbors report hearing a woman screaming. Carl races there and bounces his car over the curb and across the grass to the bottom of a set of concrete steps. Leaping out he charges up the hill and sees a body laid on the steps. A police officer yells for help; he sees something moving in the bushes. Suddenly, the man in the feather cloak bursts from the trees and smashes Carl backwards onto the hard ground, knocking him cold.

A medic wakes Carl with smelling salts a few minutes later. Carl caught a few feathers from the cloak as he fell and pocket these quickly. Captain Webster approaches and asks Carl how and why he arrived so quickly and Carl shoots back that he came to collect a concussion! Webster asks Carl what he saw and scoffs when Carl describes his attacker as “a giant bird.” Carl asks a question of his own: since this attack came nine days after the Staff Sergeant Anderson died, is the lady’s heart on the ninth step below her body? Webster won’t answer.

Carl realizes he has one possible lead: he already knows the victim was Lieutenant Timmons and also knows where she was staying. He races back to the Sherwood Hotel in hopes of catching some leads before the police get there and secure the scene.

Unfortunately for Carl the police make the connection faster than he expected, and they have sealed Lieutenant Timmons’ room at the Sherwood. Officer Lyons (holder of the Medal of Valor for taking down three bank robbers) refuses to allow Carl to pass even when Carl suggests an article might be written about his exploits. Even the carrot of a multi-part article doesn’t lure the veteran officer into dereliction of duty, and Carl leaves frustrated. But only for a moment, as a quick trip to the basement laundry for a change of clothes sets Carl up for a new approach. Clad in red coat and bearing a tray of muffins, Carl plans to sneak into the crime scene disguised as a room service waiter. Sadly, Tony and Ron pass a hallway intersection moments before Carl does. Tony recognizes him and, puzzled, calls out to him just as he makes his approach. Alerted, Lyons realizes what Carl has attempted, forcing Carl to flee with Lyons hard on his heels.

Carl races down the stairs as Lyons hops the elevator. Making it back to the basement, Carl retrieves his own clothing from a the laundry bin and ducks into a nearby closet as the elevator disgorges an irate Officer Lyons. Lyons runs into a hotel employee but she did not see Carl, much to the policeman’s frustration. She’s here to lock up the storage room; telling Lyons he cannot go in there as it is private. She threads hasp through bolt and snaps the lock shut, sealing Carl in.

Inside the room Carl finds and lights a candle. Using it he makes is way past crates, drums and boxes draped with cobwebs to a frayed string dangling from a bare bulb. A tug brings that bulb to life. Carl quickly changes back into his own clothes, then discovers he’s sealed in. But next to the door is a picture that Carl recognizes. It is a painting of a man in a feather cloak, exactly like the man who knocked Carl onto his head in Grant Park. He snaps a few pictures. In the back of the room is a large and heavy crate that looks out of place. Sliding the lid from it Carl spies a heavy metal mask. Struggling, Carl lifts the mask off to reveal a mummy beneath! Carl snaps a few more pictures before restoring mask and crate. Then he begins hammering on the door...

Somewhat later, Carl faces Ms. Jones in her office. She seems anxious to dismiss the matter without pressing charges, despite the assurances of both Officer Lyons and Captain Webster that they could find charges to press. She thanks the policemen and politely but firmly sends them on their way. After they leave Carl idly speculates about the capabilities of Vice President Torres, across the hall. His plan to draw out Ms. Jones works beautifully; even though she’s aware it imperils her employment she ticks off the man’s shortcomings, chief among which is towering stupidity. He makes mistakes that would get anyone else canned. Despite that he gets whatever he wants: anything, anytime. She doesn’t know why he was hired; he just appeared one day with the boss’ blessing. When the phone rings she takes the call and waves Carl out of her office.

Carl steps into Torres’ office, where the young man plays a flute, a curious wooden instrument whose notes seem somehow mournful. Three beautiful women attend the man: his secretary Lona, his executive assistant Vickie and the head of his art department Nina. Carl questions him a bit but it’s clear the man has little interesting to say. When Carl finally exasperates him, he dismisses Carl for “bending his mind off his music.” Taking a cue from her boss, Vickie shows Carl the door and ushers him out.

Carl next returns to the basement and the storage room. Its door sports a new lock. Taking a nearby fire ax, Carl forces the lock easily and enters the small storeroom for the second time. The space once occupied by the mummy crate is empty, and the painting of the man in a feather cloak has likewise been removed. There is a single red feather on the floor that Carl pockets.

Carl’s next stop is a taxidermist, but when he introduces himself as a reporter the man brusquely orders him out of the shop. It seems the taxidermist has gotten bad treatment from the press and is sensitive about reporters. Carl reassures him and gradually manages to calm him down. Calm, the man readily identifies the feathers as those of a parrot native to Southern Mexico. When Carl mentions mummies the man cites the Egyptian mummifiers as the highest form of the taxidermist’s art. Carl then asks if Mexican cultures ever practiced mummification. The man tells Carl that the hot and dry conditions of Egypt were enormously helpful to the priests, where the hot and wet conditions of Central America tended to produce rot more often than mummification. But he allows that the Incas, Mayas and Aztecs did some fair work, producing a reference book to prove it.

Back at INS Carl gently sets the stuffed rat he bought, the price of his information, on Tony’s desk with the voucher for reimbursement. Carl has come to believe that someone is still practicing the ancient Aztec religion that centered around heart sacrifice. And that the person or people involved are somehow connected with the Sherwood hotel. To back the story up Carl produces the facts he has gathered so far: the parrot feather, the mutilation of the victims, and even Pepe Torres, whom he believes must know something bad about someone to keep his job. Carl sent wires to each city where the same company has a hotel and discovered more: the chain is owned by the Andrews family, who were once the Arguella family from Jalisco in southwestern Mexico. The hotel chain stated in Veracruz; Carl wired there for more information and discovered that five murders like those taking place in Chicago took place there a hundred years ago. In each case the victim’s heart was removed. The murders were never solved. Fifty-two years ago the chain opened its first hotel in Atlanta, and another series of five unsolved “heart” murders occurred there. Tony makes a fountain of youth crack, wondering how old the murderer must be, and Carl replies that if he hadn’t spent so much effort on sarcasm he might have thought of family psychosis. Tony then asks if Carl through to report this to the police and Carl admits he tried, but Webster wouldn’t take his calls. Tony takes an opportunity to remonstrate with Carl about credibility, of which Carl has zilch, and how important it is to a newsman’s job. That, Carl says, is where Tony comes in. Carl wants Tony to put the facts on the wire in the hope of saving the victims Carl is sure will soon be murdered. Tony won’t do it; Carl is asking him to indict a respected and prominent businessman and Tony believes Carl needs much more documentation to do that. Even when Carl cites the mummy Tony won’t budge. Finally he orders Carl out of the office and tells him to take the rat with him.

Carl slips the rat into a folder on Ron’s desk before storming out of INS. Moments later Ron returns and opens the folder, about jumping off his chair when he sees the preserved animal.

Carl visits the Mexican consulate to learn more. The man he meets there is not the consul but the commercial attaché. The cultural attaché is on vacation and his commercial counterpart is filling in as best he can. Carl comes right to the point, asking about Aztec religious rituals, specifically those that dealt with the removal of hearts. The attaché is nonplussed, and tries to steer Carl back to more wholesome topics: handicrafts, tourism, industry and mining. Carl asks about books he could borrow and the attaché flatly denies having any such material. Finally, as Carl turns to leave he sees a mask exactly like that of the mummy. When he asks about it the attaché gives him a brochure about an exhibit on the myths of ancient Mexico. Armed with the name of the exhibit’s creator, Carl leaves.

Elsewhere, Vickie stands by the front of a car with the hood up. Officer Earl Lyons rides up and asks her the problem. She says the car simply stopped working, so Lyons hops out of his patrol car and walks over to see what he can do. No sooner has he bent over the engine compartment than he hears the scuff of shoes and spins to face three men – one in a feather cloak and two sinister assistants, who overpower him as Vickie watches...

Carl finds his way to Professor Rodriguez’ exhibition and eventually locates the professor himself. He starts asking questions and the professor says he’ll have his secretary send a schedule of classes, any of which Carl may attend. Carl persists despite Rodriguez’ claims that Carl “cramps his style.” A man from the university physical plant department horns in on both conversations, interested in getting Carl to write a story about the budget cuts that he claims cripple his department.

Finally Carl pries some information loose. The mask he saw belongs to a mummy named Nanautzin, who lost a major battle with the Spaniards and as a consequence had himself mummified until the millennium. The Aztec empire, Rodriguez continues, lasted for five hundred twenty years, and five hundred twenty years after its fall it will rise again, in 2027, fifty two years in the future. The professor shows Carl a calendar based on the number fifty-two and explains that Nanautzin rises periodically in the interim. Every fifty-two years the mummy rises long enough to gain sustenance from participating in heart sacrifices. In 2027 Nanautzin will rise permanently under the banner of the evil god Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl’s opposing force. The first four victims of each cycle are taken by force but the fifth and last victim volunteers. These sacrifices must be carried out before Venus rises, for Venus allies with Quetzalcoatl (both are the morning star) to oppose the evil works of Tezcatlipoca and his minions. None of Nanautzin’s dark deeds may be carried out under the light of the morning star.

The professor tells Carl the sacrifices must be brave warriors without blemish; Carl asks if a football fullback, a Green Beret, a lady pilot, and a decorated cop meet this requirement. Rodriguez goes on to say that the fifth victim lives in paradise for a year before his sacrifice. Priests five him wine, women, peyote, money, and anything else he wants. He is taught the music of the flute that he might participate in the ritual and given three women named after the goddesses of the wind. The short form of these names is Vickie, Nina, and Lona. Carl realizes who the fifth victim must be: Pepe Torres.

Carl returns to the INS office and forces the drawer of Tony’s desk to obtain his personal telephone directory. As he leafs through the thick book Tony comes in and the men exchange pleasantries until Tony realizes what Carl has and explodes. Carl can’t find Andrews or Pepe so he needs to contact building commissioner Charlie Burns to learn where to find the highest set of steps in the city. Tony snatches back the book and refuses to allow Carl to call anyone at this late hour. Carl knows the sacrifice must be completed before 12:10am, the time at which Venus rises, so he races to the only high set of stairs he knows: the sports arena.

At the arena Carl emerges from the tunnel into the seating bowl at 11:45pm, then climbs to the playing level and walks towards the function areas following flute music. Hearing a noise, he ducks behind a pillar as the two assistants bring a gurney into the arena. Carl goes back the way they came and there finds Pepe Torres in ceremonial garb. His three lady attendants receive gifts from him and offer him a goblet before they leave. Carl confronts the young man, who confirms the story: he has lived large for a year leading up to this sacrifice. Torres believes he would have been shot by the police or otherwise ended badly; this way, he spent a year in luxury and as well negotiated a deal to keep his mother well cared for the remainder of her life. Pepe tells him the drink kills the pain. Carl tries to plant a seed of doubt, suggesting that when Pepe is dead there will be no one to ensure the priests keep the bargain to help his mother. Then the subpriests enter the room and capture Carl!

Carl and Pepe are taken to the steps, where a temporary altar has been erected. The priest, Andrews, is there in his feather cloak. Nearby a flautist plays a somber piece. The men climb the stairs and Pepe stands before the altar. Carl asks him who told him he “had” to be a busboy, trying to suggest his life is what he chooses to make it. Pepe lies down and Andrews raises his dull sacrificial knife. Pepe regard his coming demise briefly before losing his nerve and rolling off the altar. He races away and the priests pursue. Carl tumbles down the stairs into a heap. As he catches his breath he fails to see Nanautzin rising behind him! The mummy slowly closes the distance as he raises a scimitar.

Moments from death something alerts Carl who sprawls away from Nanautzin’s attack. As Carl rises, the monster is... gone! Carl checks his watch, learning to his dismay that the time is just a few minutes after midnight. Carl cautiously walks down the stairs, unsure where Nanautzin has hidden itself. Just as Carl reaches a landing the monster suddenly reappears for a last desperate swing that Carl barely ducks. And then... it’s gone, this time for good. Venus has risen in the sky and forced the mummy back to its rest...

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