remembervhs,
I appreciate your response and I enjoy discussing movies with other fans. However, I am going to go out on a limb here and assume you either haven't seen the movie recently - or haven't seen it multiple times yet. Everything I have explained can be inferred directly from the plot of the film, or is explicitly stated by the characters.
Let's start from the beginning. We know she went to the Blacklight because of the crumb trail that eventually leads to locating her. Her reasons for doing so are illustrated through the boyfriend dialogue. We know she was drugged and sold by the scout at the bar who carries roofies and lots of cash. He sold her to the people who control to local bordello, where she was a stopover for being sent down the pipeline. The clues that she was there (picture being moved over) are later verified, just like the Blacklight club is verified, by later events.
This is the point of the film where you got lost. They did not go to the beach house subsequent to the bordello "because of a rumor that this professor was sleeping with his students." They went to the beach house after forcing the madam to spill information that leads to them doing a revolving tail on a suspect. They figured out where the suspect was heading (beach house), and had local PD arrest him on the highway exit while they sped on ahead. HERE is why we KNOW she was at the Blacklight club, drugged and sold by the scout, stopped over at the bordello, and sent to the beach house by the thugs who shipped her overseas. The earring and her window sign are at the beach house which was a direct link from the previous locations and intel. She is only there because of being at the bordello, and she was only at the bordello because of being at the club. She was also only at the club because of her fight with her boyfriend.
I hope that clears up your first misunderstanding.
For your second misunderstanding, you're forgetting that one of the main source of quotes comes from Stoddard played by WIlliam H. Macy, the primary handler for the President. When he is spilling the beans to Val Kilmer's Scott, he is under the belief that Mr. Scott will never be leaving that hanger alive. He had no reason to tell lies at that point in the film. It would also make no sense to utilize that to deceive the audience. When he told Mr. Scott that they decided to "let her go" after her kidnapping ordeal, he actually was speaking from a position of in-the-know and of authority. The secret service woman telling us hints about this prior to it was just a means of slowly unraveling the mystery for the viewers (via Mr. Scott) by giving us clues about how everything happened and how they operate. She was telling the truth from direct experience, and not from misinformation.
When the secret service woman says that her father routinely snags a few secret servicemen from her detail on a routine basis - you should believe her. When she says that it finally burned him by doing that, and that if it came out it would damage his reputation and position - you should believe her. When she says that his handlers keep him in the dark, and use him like a puppet - you should believe her. When she says they decided to let her go, this is later confirmed by the HANDLER himself - so you should believe them.
I hope that clears up the second issue.
Onto the third issue... The dialogue about Laura stating she threatened to tell on her father in order to get attention from him was providing additional back-story on why they ultimately decided to just "let her go", the President of the United States' daughter, left to a life of slavery. That's a serious move for people. When they decided to let her go, it's heavily implied that they murdered the professor (who was definitely guilty of having sex with students, as they had proof to "show his loving wife", and not just rumors as you stated) and a young female, and dumped them both off his boat. That's what the government does to people they want to silence; they silence them. Just like the secret service agent who was caught up having to cover for the President while his daughter was taken - the man was silenced, permanently. You don't take a high profile person, like a member of the First Family of the most powerful country in the world, and send her overseas to God knows where with God knows who for the rest of her life to be recognized - just when she's holding valuable information that could ruin an administration. That's not the way to cover up or silence someone, and given their track record throughout the film we have no reason to assume they did that intentionally. In fact, all the evidence as stated previously proves just the opposite. So when Stoddard says "that little whore wanted to bring the man down", he's providing the additional reasons to justify their decision to Mr. Scott.
Let's sum up what we know:
Laura got into a fight with her boyfriend, where he told her to go to the Blacklight.
Laura went to the Blacklight and was drugged and sold by the scout.
The scout talked after "persuasion", and they went to the whorehouse.
Laura was at the whorehouse and later moved.
The whorehouse madam talked after "persuasion", and they tracked down a number that gave them the people who moved Laura to follow.
They followed them toward a beach house, arrested some, killed others, and found clues of her being there.
They "liberated" a death row inmate who gave details on the pipeline and dubai operation.
Professor and alleged first daughter turn up coked, naked, and dead in the water.
That's the facts. Now on to the characters from this point onward:
Curtis finds evidence she didn't drown, and believes the secret service agent was assassinated to cover up a conspiracy.
Mr. Scott finds out that the President regularly has affairs and takes her secret service agents away from time to time.
Mr. Scott finds out it was during his affair that she was taken.
Mr. Scott finds out that the President genuinely believes she is the victim in the water and so he won't continue the operation (so he must do it alone).
Stoddard confesses he set up the fake death so that she wouldn't be rescued.
Stoddard confesses that she was a threat to the President, and shouldn't be rescued.
Following that, we understand what really happened and the motives behind the actions. Setting up a kidnapping during the President's affair would be the dumbest move in history for a coverup to silence his daughter. He took her secret service agents away to cheat on his wife - the very fact that the daughter threatened to release. She gets in a fight with her boyfriend over sleeping with her professor, goes to a bad place and gets taken. If this was intentional by the "handlers" then they now have TWO messes to clean up instead of one.
The first mess is keeping her from talking about his infidelity.
The second mess is keeping the entire world from figuring out her protectors weren't protecting her because of infidelity.
That's like covering up his cheating by telling the world that he's cheating. Not to mention they never killed her; the obvious solution. Killing her WHILE he isn't taking her protection to cheat on his wife.
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