He recognized the director as soon as he entered the room, looking much younger than the forty he had just turned. He wore small glasses, had a wiry build, and appeared to be full of nervous energy. He was wearing his standard uniform of khaki pants, an un-tucked button-down shirt, and a baseball cap.
Guy didn’t get up when he entered the room, just shifted in his chair, adjusted the ball cap on his head and nodded at a chair. Lash instantly liked him.
The younger man in the room did stand and moved to shake his hand. “Mark Goddard,” he said. “It’s truly a pleasure to meet you,” he said, with a slight Texas drawl.
“Lash Brogan,” he said, as they shook, then took a seat. He had a feeling he and Mark would get along just fine.
Guy cleared his throat. “We’ll skip the pleasantries and get right to business. We’ve had a tragedy on the set, we’re behind schedule, and we don’t have time to fuck around. Your character and Mark’s are the key to this movie. I need you two to get to know each other quick. Your scenes will make or break this movie.”
“So, no pressure?” Lash tried a joke, got a smile from Mark and nothing from Guy.
Guy slid a thick manila folder across the table towards Lash. “Here’s the updated script. Get to know it, quick.” He stood, “See you tomorrow at 9 a.m.”
Lash stared at the open door for a minute before turning back to Mark. “Nice guy,” he said.
Mark shrugged. “He gets the job done.”
“Let’s go have a beer and figure this shit out.”
“There’s a bar not far from here,” Mark said.
“Perfect. Do you have a security detail?”
Mark laughed. “Hell, no.”
“I’ll have mine drive us.”
Twenty minutes later they were in a back booth at the bar with a pitcher of beer and shots of whiskey on the table.
“I feel at a disadvantage, I’ve heard so much about you and you don’t know shit about me,” Mark said.
“First, I’m not nearly as bad as the tabloids make me out to be. And second, that’s why we’re here. So, tell me your background, what revs your motor.”
“Well,” he drawled. “As you might have guessed, I’m from Texas. Got into acting totally by accident. I’m a bull rider at heart.”
“I’ve never seen a rodeo,” Lash said. “I have horses on my ranch, but I have a feeling it’s not quite the same thing.”
“There’s one not far from here this weekend. If I wasn’t filming, I’d be riding in it.”
“Who says you can’t do both?”
“That would be a violation of my contract, doing something ‘dangerous’ like that.”
“So? Who’s going to find out? I say fuck it, let’s go.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You won’t get canned.”
Lash grinned. “You won’t either. Guy said we need to get to know each other. This totally qualifies. Trust me.”
Mark downed the last of his beer. “Let’s do it.”
“Christ, I can’t believe I let you talk me into wearing this getup,” Lash said, taking a last look in the mirror of the tiny bathroom in his trailer. For the first time in his life he was wearing a cowboy hat, western style shirt, and Wranglers. A pair of brown cowboy boots completed the look.
“I think being a cowboy suits you,” Mark Goddard drawled. “You want to fit in, right?”
“I look like a fucking idiot. You, on the other hand, look like you were born with boots on,” Lash said, looking Mark up and down. “For the record, I think this is a bad idea.”
“Come on, there’s no way anyone would ever recognize you in that getup.”
“I mean, you getting on the back of a wild animal.”
“It’s called bull riding.”
“Whatever, it’s dangerous.”
“From what I hear, danger is your middle name. And like you said the other night, I can’t pass up the opportunity of this rodeo being so close by.”
Lash sighed, he may have never been to a rodeo, but he did find the idea intriguing. Sure he had animals on his ranch in Wyoming, but this was something else entirely. And it was a good way for him to get to know the man he’d be doing many of his scenes with. He turned at the sound of the door opening and immediately burst out laughing.
John Hoyt stood just inside the door dressed almost identically to Lash. “You fucking owe me big for this Brogan.”
Lash tried to stifle another fit of laughter. He didn’t succeed.
Hoyt turned towards Mark. “And if you get yourself busted up doing this, it goddamn well serves you right.”
Mark grabbed his denim jacket and headed towards the door. “It means a lot to me that you’re looking after us, John.” He donned his cowboy hat and motioned towards the door with a flourish, “Now let’s do this.”
The night went better than expected. Mark won his event, Hoyt didn’t get in any fights, and Lash was able to enjoy a rare evening out without being recognized. They all had to turn down the advances of several cowgirls. It was rare for Lash to get that kind of attention from a female who didn’t know who he was. He found it strangely refreshing that women still found him attractive even when they didn’t know who he was. He briefly thought about taking one of them back with him to his trailer, but he’d be surrounded by security the minute he was back, and the secret would be out.
A few years ago, the idea would have been more appealing. Now, it didn’t seem worth the headache for one night of meaningless sex.
Early the next morning, Guy watched Lash and Mark going over their lines. The relationship between their two characters was the most important in the movie. If it didn’t work onscreen, then the movie was finished. Though he liked what he was seeing so far, there was always room for improvement. He waited until they were at a stopping point and made his way over. “Nice work, but I want you to try something new.”
“Sure, Guy,” Lash said.
Mark, still a bit in awe of the famous director, just nodded his agreement.
“Without thinking about it, without practicing, I want you two to switch roles and play each other’s characters. Go.”
After a slight hesitation, Lash started and Mark quickly followed suit. Guy jotted down a few notes on the script he was holding. It took several minutes after they finished for it to hit Mark, then he broke out in a long, lazy smile. He got it. Reversing roles forced him to get inside the other character’s head and would help him when playing his own character to really understand how his opposite thought.
“Mark, you’ve been chasing a ghost for the past year. You’ve suspected the man you were chasing was your friend, a man who was once a boy you knew well, but you never admitted it to yourself, much less anyone else. Now, you’ve come face to face with him again. All your fears and suspicions are confirmed. We need to see it all in your eyes: the joy at seeing your friend alive, the anger at him for what he’s done, the conflict between taking him down and letting him go.” Guy finished and walked back to his place next to the cameraman.
Lash stood quietly in front of Mark, shook himself from head to toe, then silently transformed himself into his own character.
They rehearsed it continuously for five takes until Guy was satisfied.
Guy gave a rare grin. “Nice work. We’ll take lunch now, then meet back up at two thirty for filming at set B.”
“Jesus, I’m starving,” Lash said as they walked over to where craft services was set up.
Despite the fact that he was fifteen pounds under his normal weight, Lash was having no problem keeping the weight off. It was always somewhat hectic on a movie set, even without the additional stress of this one. On the bright side, he could enjoy the snacks at craft services and the top of the line catering guilt free.
“I’m eating better here than I do at home,” Mark said, loading up his paper plate with grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake in the buffet line next to Lash.
“It’s not always like this.”
Mark gave him a sideways glance. “Yeah, I guess I’m lucky my first movie is with someone of your caliber or I’d be eating bologna sandwiches right now.”
Lash couldn’t complain. He’d been very fortunate in that aspect. He’d gone straight from TV to a picture with a budget of millions of dollars. He’d never done any kind of low budget movie, though sometimes he wished he had. It would have been a good experience for him. Maybe someday he’d do one, if the right script came up.
Lash followed Mark to one of the nearby picnic tables. Many actors took their food back to their trailer or sent someone to get a plate and bring it to them. Lash liked eating outside. He also liked getting to know the crew that usually gathered outside. Since he and Mark had so many scenes together, they ended up eating most meals at the same time. Plus, he genuinely liked hanging out with the guy.
Mark smiled. “Man, not only is the food good here, so’s the scenery.”
Lash followed Mark’s gaze to one of the craft services girls as she put more food out on the buffet. She was slender, kind of ordinary looking, but pretty. “So do something about it,” he said.
Mark shrugged. “No point. It’s not like I’ll see her after the movie is over.”
“Could be a fun distraction.”
“Not really my thing,” Mark answered. “But I can still appreciate looking.”
When they finished eating, Mark turned to Lash, a pensive look now on his face. Lash had a feeling he wasn’t going to like where the conversation was headed.
“How many people have you killed?” Mark asked.
Lash closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath. “I really don’t like to think about it.”
“Bad memories, huh?”
“You could say that.” Lash looked down at his hands for a long moment. “Four,” he said quietly, as if saying the number out loud would be cathartic. Four, and he could see each of their faces clearly. The two thugs who’d held him prisoner in Colorado, the two who’d broken into his house in Wyoming. He shivered despite the oppressive heat.
“Shit, that’s tough man.”
“Yeah,” Lash said and shook his head trying to clear away the memories. “But I’d do it again if I had to.”
Mark held his gaze. “Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that here.”
“You and me both.” Lash glanced at his watch, relieved that it was time to get going. “See you at filming,” he said as he stood.
Lash walked into the set’s makeup trailer an hour later. While he didn’t dread it, getting camera ready had never been his favorite part of filming. And now that rehearsals were over, it was time to get down to the real work.
“With you in a sec,” a soft, slightly raspy female voice called out from the back of the trailer.
He sat down in the makeup chair and waited. The male in him couldn’t help but wonder what the body the sexy voice belonged to looked like.
Lash took a good look at her as she came down the short hallway. She had long straight black hair with red highlights, a tall muscular physique, and pale skin. Her nose was pierced with a tiny diamond, and she wore dangly earrings. She had short neat nails and wore no rings or bracelets, probably so they wouldn’t get in the way of her job.
His first thought was that she was a very attractive woman. The second was that he’d have to think of a good reason to turn her down when she offered to sleep with him. Then she spoke again and completely changed his perception of her.
She glared at him. “I see how you’re looking at me and I’m flattered, but I don’t like it. You’re also not my type.”
“And what, exactly, is your type?” he couldn’t help but ask with a crooked grin.
“The female type.”
“Oh. That’s cool.”
“My name is Sinnamon, like the spice, only with an s and I don’t do threesomes.”
Lash laughed. “Well, thanks for clearing that up.”
She finally smiled. “You’re welcome.” She walked around him, turned on some more lights. “At least you’re a good canvas to work with.”
“Well, I do aim to please, Sinnamon.”
“Sin,” she said. “Call me Sin.” And she picked up a brush and went to work.
Adam Bishop smiled as he watched Lash exit the makeup trailer. He had fond memories of Sin working her magic. Oh, how he loved his front row seat to the show that was the making of Redemption. It was a nice change to be behind the scenes. Invisible. Things were moving forward nicely. He would enjoy this brief quiet period. He wanted everyone lulled into a false sense of security before he blew their world up again.
The next morning Lash met with Thomas Dalke, the stunt coordinator and main pyrotechnician on set.
Lash liked the fact that he had the respect of the stuntmen on the set. Except for Stan Millosky, who was Mark’s main stunt double. He seemed distant and resentful every time Lash was around.
He was also glad that Dalke didn’t resent him for the physical skills he had. Lash was also thankful that Dalke was willing to listen to Hoyt’s recommendations. There were certainly areas where Hoyt had more expertise than any stuntman that Lash knew of. Some of the ones he’d worked with early on were a joke. Which was ironic, because they were usually the ones that got people killed. Now, on a set with the best possible talent available in all areas, people were dying and getting hurt left and right.
“I do have to say, you make my job much easier,” Dalke said as soon as Lash picked up the prop gun, held it, and aimed it with near perfect form. “You should see how most people pick them up. Especially now,” he added, a pained look on his face.
“I can imagine. Any theories on what happened?”
“I wish.” He shook his head.
Lash nodded in understanding, but remained quiet, hoping Dalke would continue.
“Never seen anything like it. It never should have happened and I still can’t figure out how it did.” He shrugged. “Had to be someone on the inside, but damned if I know who it was or how they did it.”
“So they could still be here?” Lash asked.
“More than likely.”
And wasn’t that a comforting thought.
8
“Looks like you’ve become our official celebrity case handler,” FBI Special Agent Charley Maroney mocked.
“Not by choice,” Special Agent Ward Calhoun answered, without looking up from the paperwork stacked on his desk.
“Your pal Brogan’s gotten himself in big trouble again.”
“Fuck you, Maroney.”
“Yeah, yeah, you wish.”
“Enough,” Special Agent in Charge Schenkelberger commanded, entering the room. “The movie is being filmed about an hour from Pueblo. There’s a small town, Lost Springs, about a half hour from set. They have a small police force that’s started looking into some of the on set incidents. Bottom line, they’re not capable of handling something like this. And since celebrities are involved, we get to help out. Ward, you leave in the morning. Maroney and Thaler, you’re going with him.”
Agent Todd Thaler groaned. He was one of those agents who had joined the bureau because he still believed in the triumph of good over evil and FBI agents had always represented the ultimate good guys to him. Babysitting movie stars wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time. And Calhoun had only been back to work for two weeks. Yeah, Calhoun was good, probably the best agent he’d ever met, but the guy was recovering from a bullet wound. How much help in the field could he actually be? The guy wasn’t exactly getting any younger either. And yet, it could be an interesting case.
No one wanted to say it out loud, but none of them could help but think about The Crow and what had happened to its leading man. It was only a matter of time before the press made the same deduction. They needed to get the situation under control fast. If they didn’t, they were facing a publicity nightmare.
Ward didn’t know whether to be glad or curse the fact that the location of the movie was in his jurisdiction. He hadn’t seen or talked
to Lash Brogan in over a year. The last time they’d seen each other hadn’t exactly been pleasant.
He knew his SAC would be glad to have someone who knew one of the major actors on set assigned to the case. He just wasn’t sure how Brogan would feel about it.
It had been a long day of filming and everyone wanted to wrap it up for the day. But they had to finish this last scene so they could change locations in the morning. Everyone on set was feeling the pressure. Maybe that was the reason no one noticed anything was wrong until it was too late.
Guy heard a loud creak overhead, saw the set wall waver. “Everybody, move,” he yelled, but the set was already collapsing.
Lash got to his feet and looked around as the dust settled. No one appeared to be badly injured. Mark Goddard slowly sat up beside him. He had a bloody gash on his forehead.
“You okay?”
“I’ll live, but I’ll probably have one hell of a headache for a while,” Mark said, wiping the blood with his sleeve.
Lash nodded towards the medics racing towards the confusion around them. “You need to get checked out?”
Mark shook his head, wincing slightly.
They walked outside so the more seriously injured could be treated. Lash continued on, away from the crowd. He stopped and shook his head. “Mark, what the fuck is going on around here?”
“I don’t know, man.”
“I’ve been on the set two weeks. Things keep going wrong, but no one’s talking. And now this.”
“I wish I knew. Rumors are starting to spread, it seems like someone doesn’t want this movie to get made.” He paused, then continued in his slow Texas drawl, “They probably didn’t tell you everything that had already happened when they offered you the part.”
“They didn’t tell me shit. I talked to Corey before I came here, but he didn’t have anything concrete to offer.”
“There were other accidents, even before the shooting. Nothing major though.” He paused. “Look, the cops are starting to sniff around, I’m sure it will all work out. But I, unlike you, need the money, so I’m going to stick it out.”
Redemption (Fateful Justice Book 2) Page 3
