“Mr. Capra? Would you like a Danish?” the woman behind the table asked as she approached, setting a huge pastry on a plate with a pair of tongs and offering it to him.
He looked at the woman and returned her smile. “It’s Merrick, please. I’m surprised you’re talking to me after yesterday.”
The woman glanced around to make sure no one was close and acted as if she wanted to say something but was holding her tongue. Blake chuckled and slapped Merrick on the shoulder as he stepped away. “I was just leaving.”
As soon as Blake was out of hearing, the woman smiled broadly. “If you say anything I will deny it because I need this job, but I thought what you did was awesome. You’re the first person I’ve seen stand up to her.”
Merrick tipped his cup to her with a smile and took the Danish. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”
The woman’s smile spread even wider. “Enjoy your pastry.”
***
They were shooting at an abandoned convenience store that the production crew had redressed. They’d done such a good job they had a driver pull in, thinking the place was open. To prevent things like that from happening while the cameras were rolling, the Harlequins were closing off Jacaman Road and routing traffic around the location during takes. Technically they weren’t allowed to do it, but until the police showed up to stop them, they were going to continue.
“Merrick, we can’t close the road,” Taylor said as he approached. “We don’t have the permits for that.”
Merrick looked at him in mock confusion as cars whizzed by. “The road is open. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Aren’t you closing off the road when we’re shooting?”
Merrick grinned. “Not as far as you know.”
Taylor stared at him a moment then nodded. “Don’t let me see you doing it.”
“Where are you going to be?”
Taylor smiled. “Over with the crew.”
“No problem, then.”
Taylor started to turn away then turned back. “You know, I should have hired you the first time.”
Merrick chuckled. “Yes you should have.”
***
“Prepare to lock it down,” Jeff, the Assistant Director, called.
Patricia repeated the phrase into the walkie on her shoulder, relaying the message to the four Harlequins so they could drag a couple of barricades across the road to begin sending traffic around the location.
“We’re ready,” she said.
“Lock it down!” Jeff cried.
“Speed!” the guy on the camera called.
Will paused a moment. “Action!”
Poppy drove up in the Los Rio cruiser and stepped out.
“Cut! Let’s set up for the reverse!”
Merrick shook his head. The more he watched the movie being made, the more he realized how labor intensive it was. He took a sip of water and decided tonight he was going to watch a movie and pay attention to all the cuts and changes in scenes and angles, trying to get some sense of what all this effort was about.
“Poppy! Poppy Landrieu! Poppy! Over here!” Merrick looked around, trying to determine who was yelling. It was coming from somewhere in the crowd. They were between takes, waiting while the crew setup to shoot the reverse shot, so it wasn’t disrupting anything, but the Harlequins had realized the first night it was easier to keep the crowd quiet than to get them to quiet down once they got loud.
The crowd had been cooperative all day and this was the first outburst. Merrick began to work his way along the barricade toward the sound.
“If you don’t shut your mouth I’m going to make you wish you had,” Nelson growled as he stared menacingly at the man shouting.
“You! I remember you. Charlie something, isn’t it?” Merrick said as he recognized the troublemaker.
“Yeah. Did you give Poppy my message?”
“What message?”
“That I was her biggest fan?”
“Oh, yeah. I let her know. You’re going to have to keep your voice down or we’ll escort you away.”
“This is a free country. I can stand here and there is nothing you can do about it. If these other people are allowed to be here, so am I.”
Merrick pursed his lips in annoyance then sucked on his teeth. “Let me explain something to you, Chuck. These other people are being quiet and respectful and you’re not. Now, you can either shut your pie hole and stay and watch, or you can leave. You won’t like the other option. Do I make myself clear?”
Charlie blinked at him behind his glasses for a moment. “What are you going to do, beat me up?”
“Try me and find out.”
“You don’t scare me,” Charlie said after a pause.
“I should.”
Charlie continued to gaze at him a moment. “If you touch me I’ll report you to the cops.”
“You do what you have to.”
“Poppy!” Charlie yelled as Poppy moved into her start position.
Merrick quickly stepped around the barricade and grabbed Charlie by the arm and started pushing him out through the crowd. Most people were at work, so the people were only two or three deep.
“Let go of me, you gorilla!” Charlie hissed as he tried to free his arm. Merrick changed his grip and twisted Charlie’s arm up behind him. “Ow! That hurts!” he yelled. “Assault! This goon is assaulting me! Someone call the—”
Merrick turned Charlie toward him and delivered a quick jab to his soft stomach. He pulled the punch, a lot, but Charlie woofed out air and went to his knees as he held his stomach. Merrick reached down and picked him up by the arm and started him walking again.
“You wanted it the hard way. You got it.”
“I’m fucking reporting you,” Charlie gasped as he stumbled along.
“The cops know where to find me.” Merrick continued to drag the gasping Charlie until he was two blocks from the barricades. “Don’t let me see you here again,” Merrick said as he shoved Charlie away from him.
“I’m going to have your ass thrown in jail for this.”
“Charlie, let me explain something to you. This is Texas. Your pantywaist complaint isn’t going to carry a lot of weight after they find out we warned you what would happen if you kept being disruptive. My advice to you is to get back into your car and drive back to wherever the fuck it is you came from.”
“This is a free country! You can’t order me around like this!”
Merrick rubbed his mouth, wondering if satisfaction of kicking the shit out of this weasel would be worth spending a couple of nights in jail. He decided it wouldn’t. “Don’t let me see you around again,” he warned, pointing his finger at him as if scolding a child, then turned and began to walk back to the location.
“Hey! Fuck you! I’m calling the cops!” Charlie yelled to his retreating back.
“If you see that guy again, you explain to him he’s not welcome,” Merrick said to Nelson as he passed.
“Like you did?”
“At least that much.”
Nelson chuckled. “Got it.”
***
Merrick was standing under a giant umbrella, sipping a water, when Blake approached. “I love filming in Texas. That was fucking awesome. You can’t do shit like that in LA.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The way you handled that guy. They way you’ve handled all this crap. I may move to Texas!”
“Some people don’t have any manners and have to learn them the hard way.”
Blake chuckled and gave him slap on the shoulder before moving off. As he did, Merrick noticed Poppy watching. He raised his bottle in salute and gave her a smile, just to annoy her, but to his surprise, she smiled back and nodded her head in acknowledgement.
***
“Cut! That’s a wrap, people!” Will called as he stepped back from the display. “Patricia, go find Merrick.”
A few moments later, Patricia arrived with Merrick in tow. “You wanted to see m
e?” Merrick asked.
“Yes. Were done here for the day. Another day we finished early. It’s like you’re our good luck charm.” Will grinned. “Tomorrow we’re doing another night shoot, this time at the Mall del Norte. We won’t be needing you since we’ll be shooting inside, so you get a day off.”
Merrick nodded. “Okay. You’ll need us back day after tomorrow?”
“Yeah. We were planning to go down to the river and it’s going to be a bitch of a shoot down there. Second unit is actually going to start the step tomorrow.” Will smiled. “We’ll see how good you are because we are going to be spread out all over hell’s half-acre down there. We’re going to try to grab scenes in three locations.”
“You just let us know what you need and we’ll make it happen.”
“Bus is here,” Patricia said as she stepped up.
“Thank you, Patricia. I’ll be right there.” Will turned his attention back to Merrick. “That’s what I like about you. No bitching, no arguing, just ‘tell me what you want’ and it happens. You might have a future in this.”
Merrick grinned. “I gave you my guarantee.”
“And you’ve kept—”
“Fuck!” Merrick barked and belted away before Will could finish speaking, running toward the bus as members of the cast and crew began to board for the ride back to the hotel. “Hey, stop!” he yelled as he ran.
Charlie turned, and seeing Merrick running toward him, dashed toward the bus, carrying something in a small knapsack. Merrick adjusted his path, hitting Charlie and taking him hard to ground just as he reached the bus.
Merrick jumped to his feet, winded from his run and the impact with Charlie. He hauled the other man up from the dirt and weeds of the empty lot as the cast and crew backed away. “What’s in the sack?” Merrick demanded, hauling Charlie toward the sack.
“Nothing,” Charlie gasped, favoring his left arm. “I think you broke my arm!”
“I’m going to break your fucking neck! What’s in the sack!” He scooped the bag off the ground from where it landed when Merrick hit him, and shoved into Charlie’s chest. “Open it!”
Charlie fumbled and began to open the sack and pulled out an eight-inch-tall replica of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards statue. The golden statue was broken from its base. “You ruined it!” Charlie snarled as he held the Oscar replica out, shaking it in Merrick’s face. “I just wanted to give it to Poppy because I thought she was snubbed when she didn’t get a nomination for her role in Fallen Petals, and you ruined it!”
“You stupid shit! I thought you had a bomb or something!” Merrick snarled as he began dragging Charlie away.
Charlie cried out in pain. “My arm!”
“You’re lucky the only thing hurt is your arm! I should break your fucking neck!” he rumbled as he hustled Charlie along.
There were plenty of stories of crazed fans stalking famous people, and he was still coming down from the surge of adrenaline that had been dumped into his system. When he saw Charlie with the knapsack gripped to his chest as he ran for the bus, he’d really thought he was carrying a bomb or gun.
He reached the parameter and shoved Charlie through, snatching the lanyard from his neck with the pass on it.
“That’s mine!”
“Not anymore. You’re starting to piss me off, and trust me, you don’t want to do that. If I see you on the other side of the barricade again, or if you cause any more problems, you’re going to be eating through a straw. Have I made myself perfectly clear?”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No. I’m making you a fucking promise.”
“I’m going to write about this on my blog!”
“You go right ahead. It’s the Harlequins Motorcycle Club. Make sure you spell it right. Now get the fuck out of here. Now!” he barked when Charlie didn’t move. Merrick glared at him until Charlie slowly turned and began to limp away. “Stupid fuck,” he muttered as he turned and started back toward the production crew.
Will intercepted him. “How did he get through?”
Merrick held out the lanyard. The pass was obviously homemade, but it was good enough to pass a cursory glance. “One of your people probably passed him right through.”
“Where did he get this?” Will asked, taking the pass and examining.
“Probably took a picture of it with his cell phone or something.” Merrick took the pass and turned it over. “See, there’s no writing on the back.”
Will huffed out breath. “Damnit. Okay, change of plans. I’d like a few of your guys on set tomorrow. Beginning tomorrow, you have total control over security. I’ll clear it with Taylor. I’m glad it turned out to be nothing, but when you ran after that guy, I knew exactly what you were thinking, and it scared the shit out of me. I’ve been doing this for almost fifty years, and I never used to have to worry about bombs, crazy gunmen, or shit like that. Now?” He shrugged.
“We’ll make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.” He paused as Poppy and Blake walked up.
“How the hell did he get through security?” Poppy demanded.
“He had a fake pass,” Will said, fanning the plastic holder.
“Where’d he get that?”
“Looks like he made it.”
Poppy and Blake looked at each other. “What are you doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again?” Blake asked.
“Merrick is taking over location security.”
“He was already location security, and he got through,” Poppy sneered. “What if that guy had a gun? You remember what happened a couple years ago when that crazy guy came on set and killed Jade Ning. What about John Hinckley? He shot the fucking President to impress Jodi Foster. People are crazy, and you just let him walk onto the set? Isn’t that twice he slipped past you? And wasn’t he the one who was making all the noise earlier? You must have really impressed him.”
“Poppy, it wasn’t Merrick’s fault. One of our people let him pass. Merrick’s taking that over so it—”
“I don’t care whose fucking fault it is! If you can’t keep the location secure you should shut this production down until you can! I’m not willing to die for your fucking movie!”
“Poppy, calm down. These things happen,” Blake said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Nobody got hurt and Will and Taylor are making sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Don’t touch me!” she said, shrugging his hand off. “Things like this shouldn’t happen at all, not with all the crazy people out there. We’re in fucking Texas, for Christ sake, where every kid old enough to walk is carrying a gun! If something like this happens again, I’m outta here!”
Merrick had been standing silently listening to Poppy bluster. “I think you should be thankful even one person wants to be around you,” he said softly.
She stared at him, her mouth hanging slightly open with her eyes wide, then drew her hand back to slap him. He caught it before it could reach his face and slowly forced it down as she tried to jerk her hand away.
“That wouldn’t be in your best interest,” he replied just as softly, holding her eyes until she looked away. He released her hand and she jerked it back.
“Don’t you ever touch me again!”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I have no interest in touching you.”
Again she stared, her eyes hard. “You’re horrible!” She turned and stomped away toward the bus.
“You’re welcome!” Merrick called after her. “What a bitch,” he muttered just loud enough for Blake and Will to hear.
Blake began to laugh, Will joining in before Blake slapped Merrick on the shoulder then turned, the two men still laughing as they walked toward the bus.
Chapter Seven
“Pass.” Merrick said as Poppy stepped up.
“You fucking well know who I am!”
“You want in, show me your pass.”
“Fuck you!”
He smiled at her. “I thought you didn’t want me touching you. E
ither show me your pass or step aside.”
“Just show him your pass,” Paul said stepping up behind her, holding his card so Merrick could see it.
Merrick gave his head a nod, and as Paul stepped around Poppy, she tried to step pass with him, but Merrick took he by the arm. “No pass, no entry. You wanted a secure location, you got it.”
“I’ll have you fired for this!”
Merrick: Harlequins MC Page 5
