The room was quiet, after all, the only person inside was resting, But she was not relaxed. The events of the past few days were weighing heavily on her shoulders. The bus, the apartment, and the alley, it had all happened so fast. There was a knock on the door. "Who is it" she asked irritably. The response was slow in coming.
"This is Sickler. I need you to come with me " She knew where he would be taking her and she didn't want to go there. She pi-
"Cut" Jimmy Wang, the director, interrupted the scene. He was clearly upset. "Jase !" he called to the production manager, Jason Little. "Have Rollie And Angie shown up yet?"
" No sign of 'em. And we can't keep going without them. If they're not here in the next 15 minutes there's going to be hell to pay around here".
"Angie, C'mon! We've got a deadline here! Plus we still have to pick up Francis. He wants to see the set today" Rollie yelled up the stairs of Angie's apartment building.
"I'm coming! is it okay is Chiops(pronounced KEY-ops) comes with us today?" "I don't care! Just get down here!" It wasn't like Angie to be this late.
She came down a moment later, Chiops on her head and a coffee mug in her hand.
"What's with him?" asked Rollie.
" I don't know, I woke up this morning and he was pacing about on the bed when he usually sleeps for a while longer. And he's still a little hurt from the encounter with the bicycle. It's not a problem having him here is it"?
"No no, it's fine. " Rollie settled down in the driver seat of the van while Angie sat in front of the computer setup. She started working on the Blaster effect for Lucinda's gun while Chiops settled down on the floor beside her. "Francis said he'd be ready right Ange?" Rollie sounded impatient.
"He'd better be." replied Angie.
Francis was right on time but Rollie still had to speed to get to set before it was too late. While Rollie fretted in the front, Angie and Francis talked in the back. "What's this movie called? asked Francis.
"It's called Deviant. It's set 10 years in the future and it's about a woman who can cause cataclysmic events by thinking about them. The world is run by a despotic police state that tries to kill her because she is a deviant. She tries to escape and in the end she manages to depose the leader but dies in the process, becoming a martyr. The rest of the opressed citizens revolt and the result is total anarchy" Angie actually had some qualms about doing such a dark film, but it had the potential to become a hit so she finally agreed to do it.
"Sounds pretty grim. What kind of FX are there in it?" This wasn't the first time Francis had been to a set but it was the first time without Leo.
" We've got a great scene where an apartment building goes up in flames and another where she uses a blaster to evaporate a snowbank. This is Lucinda's first starring role you know."
"Angie" yelled Rollie from the front, interrupting their conversation." We're almost there, is every thing ready?"
"Just a minute, Rollie" replied Angie. "Francis?"
"Yeah"
"Can you get that box behind you" asked Angie.
"This one"
"Yup"
When they got to set Rollie started setting up while Angie looked around for a newspaper. Lucinda had one and when Angie saw the entertainment section she almost burst. . .
Bloody Hell. It was the only thing going through Rollie Tyler's mind as the blood oozed slowly from it's crate. It must have caught on something as we were bringing it here, he thought. He was just heading back to the van when he heard Angie running up behind him.
"Rollie, Rollie, you have to see this !"
"Just give me a minute Ange. The blood's leaking all over the place." Sometimes Angie's energy was a bit over the top.
"This is more important than all the fake blood in the world! You know the Oscar nominations were released today? "
"Yeah, so? " Angie sometimes took a while to get to the point of things.
"Well have you seen them? "
"No Ange, what is this all about? "
"We've been nominated for an Oscar! We have 2 nominations in the same category, Outstanding Visual Effects, 1 for Earth Doom and 1 for Blood Money! We're going to have to write an acceptance speech, make flight plans, tell everyone. Isn't this the greatest thing that's ever happened to us? " Rollie took the paper to see if Angie was pulling a prank on him or not.
"I didn't know it was possible to get nominated twice in the same category."Angie was getting a little exasperated at Rollie's attitude.
"How can you be so calm at a moment like this? There's a liquor store just down the street. Should I get some champagne?"
"Angie, calm down." Rollie was actually quite excited inside but he was good at staying calm. " Have you told Lucinda yet?"
"I'll do that right now. I'm sure she will want to celebrate." No one else around here seems to want to, Angie thought unhappily.
"Sure she will. She was nominated too." Rollie would have given anything to see Angie's reaction in slow motion.
Inside a small warehouse on the east side of Tribeca, someone else had seen the nomination. Wayne Harmon, released from prison 11 days ago, was staring at the same page that had astounded Angie, although he had a much different form of excitment. Revenge. Rollie and co. had ruined his plans in a way that no one else could. They had used the special effects from a movie to fool him into revealing the location of a car bomb that would destroy half of New York City. When the bomb didn't go off, the 7th Brigade lost a lot of credibility among the militias, but this gave him an entirely new perspective on his fate. Oscar night was a perfect place to strike.
At the Shop the celebration was in full swing. The former brewery had never seen a party the likes of this. Many of the crew of Earth Doom was in attendance, as the film had earned 6 nominations, including Best Stunt Work, a post-humous nomination for Rick Forsayeth. The movie held a lot of memories for Lucinda, as she and Rick had met on the set. Francis had a friend at a liquor store who had given them a discount on champagne so there was plenty to go around. Rollie was getting a little silly. "If only my dad were here to see this." he remarked to Angie, his unsincerity clearly evident.
"Don't get sentimental Rollie, dance with me !" Angie was getting a little tipsy too, but who at the party wasn't.
The next morning, however, was a different story. Angie had slept on a sofa, too pickled to get home. She was able to sleep it off and she guessed that Rollie had too as he didn't emerge from his loft until 2:00 in the afternoon. Angie had gotten up a bit before and as she could shake off the hangover pretty well she had started the cleanup. "Did you think this through before you invited so many people Angie? " Rollie asked.
" You should go back to bed. I should clean all this up myself, after all, I was the one who planned it. Plus, you look pretty bad still." Angie was feeling no small amount of guilt over the mess.
" I'm already awake, I may as well help. "
" Why don't you take a walk, a little fresh air might help."
"Yeah, I'll pick up some aspirin while I'm out too"
The 7th Brigade was meeting to discuss Harmon's idea. The plan was too blow up the auditorium the Oscar ceremonies were being held in. It was a perfect solution, Rollie would be dead and the 7th Brigade would get worldwide attention. It seemed like the perfect plan.
The alley outside Rollie's shop was silent as the three members of the 7th Brigade crept along it's side. Wayne Harmon led the way, with Kelly and Bob behind him. Not since the prison break two weeks ago had he felt this kind of adrenaline rush. One of the other brigade members had made sure that Rollie and his partner wre gone earlier so they had guaranteed saftey once inside. they reached the main doors. "Kelly, get the tools and come up here" whispered Harmon to the young woman behind him. She pulled a small box from inside her bulky ski jacket and proceeded to pick the lock. That was the reason Harmon had chosen her to come along. She was very skilled with tools and would give her life for the cause. The other man with them, Bob, was little more than a goon, but he too was fiercely devoted to their cause and Harmon had no doubts about where his loyalties were.
"Wayne, the lock's open but there's an alarm." Kelly's voice betrayed her facade of strength with it's nervousness.
"Remember that alarm maintenance adult education course I took two years ago? I know the weak spots of any alarm system." said Harmon, his smugness clearly evident. He opened the door a crack, small enough not to set off the alarm, and took a magnet from his pocket. he placed it right beside the magnetic sensors and carefully opened the door. The door opened smoothly and there was no sound of an alarm. Harmon flashed a wide grin back at his companions. Kelly responded with a worried smile while Bob looked relieved. They entered the shop carefully and loked around. " Have fun."Harmon said. The three militia members entered the loft and proceeded to trash it , following Harmon's instructions to the letter.
After a few hours the shop was pretty thrashed and they decided they had done enough damage. Before they left Harmon left a cryptic note in the lounge. There was no fun in killing someone in revenge if they weren't expecting anything. It added to the suspense a little. Oh yes, he would enjoy Rollie Tyler's death.
Rollie and Angie were pretty tired after a long day on set so they declined to join the crew at McHale's Tavern and decided to just order something in at the shop. Chiops was in the van, having liked his first day at the set he had been coming regularly since, and was sleeping on the computer. Angie was sitting beside him in the chair reading while Rollie drove. They had just pulled into the alley and Rollie noticed that the doors were open. "Angie, did we leave the doors open today?"
"No, I closed them when we left. Why? Are they open?"Angie asked.
"Yeah." Rollie pulled the van into the garage and got up. Angie soon followed. After they had roused Chiops they left the van. Angie was the first one in , and therefore the first to notice the destruction.
"Rollie." she said in a quiet voice. "Someone's been in here".
After they had called Francis, who was on his way over with a team, Rollie started the cleanup. There were things strewn everywhere. Luckily, none of the eqiupment was damaged but it was hard to tell. Angie was trying to patch up the lounge while Rollie tackled the work station. Some of the movie posters and old props were ruined but most could be fixed. Rollie noticed a small piece of paper stuck to the monitor. He took it off and read it.
beware the big night love and regards wh
Angie was getting impatient. Waiting had never been one of her strong points, especially when she was under stress. Right now Rollie was working with Colleen to figure out who had messed up the shop and left the note on the monitor. The Midtown-South Precinct was pretty boring without Francis or Rollie around. She looked around for something to do and found a crossword puzzle sitting on Captain VanDuren's desk. She'd never pegged him to be the puzzle type but he'd suprised her before. She looked around for a pen, found one, and started puzzling. Within five minutes Rollie emerged. "Do we know who it is?" she asked excitedly.
"Do you remember Wayne Harmon?"Rollie said, sounding pretty chipper for someone who's shop was just trashed.
"That militia guy? I thought he was in jail. He tried to blow up half of New York City and they let him out."Angie was a little suprised.
"Apparently he was broken out of jail two weeks ago by the remaining members of the 7th Brigade. They attacked the prison with two bombs and got Harmon out in all the confusion."
"But how did he know your name?"
"He was on the set and we had stickers up all over the place. He probably saw one."
Angie was pretty skeptical of the idea "That's a long shot Rol. He must have a source, someone in the film industry or something."
"Angie," Rollie replied "we can't start suspecting people. Let's go. I'll drop you off at your apartment on the way back to the shop."
"Great."
"See you tomorrow Rollie."
"See you then Ange. Bye. " Angie left the van and went up to her apartment with Chiops in her arms. Since he had not been a problem the first day she brought him so she had been taking him with her most days since. As she went up the stairs she had an awful feeling af apprehension but she dissmised it immediately. They had all been a bit nervous since the shop was trashed. She was feeling in her pocket for her keys when she noticed something that shouldn't have been. Angie was not a forgetful person, she always was sure to shut and lock her door. That's why it struck her as strange that the door was slightly agape. She helt Chiops close and peeked inside.
Rollie, after getting back to the shop, had ordered in a large pizza from Famous Ray's. Leo had always claimed that they made the best pizza in New York City but Rollie had never tried it. Now seemed like a good time and besides, he was hungry. While he was waiting, the phone rang. Rollie was too tired to pick it up so he called out "Speaker phone Blue." His robotic dog instantly switched the call to speaker phone. "Tyler FX, Rollie Tyler speaking. Who be calling at such an hour?" It was Angie.
"Rollie, I need you to come over right away. Harmon and his friends broke into my apartment." Angie sounded very distressed.
"Is the place trashed?"
"Yeah, completely. I don't know how they even got into the building in the first place. They must be pro's at this sort of thing. You need someone inside to open the front doors for you."
"Did they leave a note?"
"Yeah, it says- hope you're frightened because this is nothing compared to wha's coming enjoy it while it lasts wh"
The room was dark. The window was open and the curtains drawn. Angie had never been there before but somehow she recognized it. Suddenly the room disappeared, replaced by a long cobblestone road. At the end of the road, she saw the explosion that killed Rick Forsayeth. The scent of the fire was overwhelming. The scene changed again, this time she was on a movie set. She saw Nick Brean getting out of a car. Her dad was standing next to him. Brean slowly reached up behind him. She screamed- Angie woke up and automatically reached for Chiops beside her bed. He wasn't there. She opened her eyes and realized with a jolt that she wasn't in her apartment. She looked around and remembered why she was in Rollie's lounge. She and Rollie had decided it would be safer if they stayed at the shop until Oscar night, when they believed Harmon would pull whatever he was planning. What else could he mean by "Big Night"? Angie went one step further into reality and realized she had fallen asleep while writing an article for Cinescape, a New York film magazine. They had asked her to write an article about her seven most memorable films. She had chosen Earth Doom, Eye Of The Dragon, Sea Strike, Wind Diver, Shooting Mickey, Blood Money, and Hard Impact. She read over what she had written so far.
Eye Of The Dragon
This film was directed by a man named Jimmy Chu, who had previously achieved worldwide recognition for a film he did in Hong Kong with my partner, Rollie Tyler, called Dynasty Of Death. Jimmy is a great guy but he is not the greatest director, although it probably is hard to direct much when you're doing all your own stunts. During the filming, Rollie's old girlfriend Taia returned, and it turned out that she was working for some people who wanted to kill Jimmy. She had a change of heart and sacrificed herself to save Jimmy.
Sea Strike
This movie was shot on-location, something we rarely do. For this one we were flown out, along with our gear, to an aircraft cruiser in the Atlantic Ocean. Our quarters were a little small and the star was a jerk. Aside from these problems the film went very well, so well in fact, that a TV series is being made based upon it. The only real glitch was when the Ambler almost fell overboard and I had to jump to stop it. I went a little to far and fell into the ocean. They had to send out a dinghy to rescue me. It was very embarrasing.
Earth Doom
This is probably the most memorable as Rollie and I have earned our first Oscar nominations for it. The film is about an asteroid hitting the earth. The script wasn't that great but the effects it called for were amazing. It was during the filming of this movie that we helped to stop the 7th Brigade from blowing up N.Y.C. We used the plane effect, the hospital set, the newsroom set, and the blue screen to trick Wayne Harmon into revealing the location of the bomb. It worked wonderfully.
The writing was pretty good, but she would have to do some more to finish the article. She looked around for Blue, but as Rollie was out, he would be in the van. In the days she hed been staying at the shop Chiops had been looking for a good place to lie down to sleep. He seemed to have found one on top of the little green monster in the lounge. Angie went over to him and fed him a few treats but he was uninterested. She decided to leave the rest of the article for another day and try out Rollie's VR chamber. He had expected to return in an hour, which for Rollie meant two, but he had been gone for three an a half. Usually if he was this late he would call. Angie didn't worry too much about it as Rollie was a little scatterbrained sometimes. She climbed into the VR chamber and chose a program.
Rollie blinked his eyes, trying to clear them. There was somthing red in them. He realized his head hurt and then deduced that he had blood in his eyes. The thugs had jumped him just as he was heading back to the van, they had given no reasons for jumping him. He felt through his pockets, nothing was missing. That meant that these muggers weren't just ordinary street goons. They must have been after something, but what? He tried to stand up but instead collapsed on to the road and fell back into unconciousness.
Angie flew high above the ground, her stunt chute feeling heavy on her shoulders. This was a different program than the one Rollie liked to use. His was over farmland whereas Angie preferred flying over New York City. there was some kind of added thrill, knowing that there were tons of people below, and that any mistake could be disasterous. She pulled the cord and the chute deployed above her. She floated down softly towards the ground but before she could land the phone rang. She hastily turned the program off and answered it.
"Tyler FX, how may I help you?"
"Hi, Angie?" It was Francis. He sounded upset.
"Francis, what is it?"Angie replied. She had a bad feeling.
"You should come down to the hospital right away"
"Oh my god, what happened?"
"It's Rollie. . ."
The entire drive to the hospital Angie was thinking over what might have happened to Rollie. He'd just gone out for some groceries but he'd taken the van. Maybe Harmon saw it and tried to kill him. She dismissed that idea quickly. Her apartment had been broken into as well, clearly indicating that she was definitely part of his plan. Angie didn't know whether or not to take comfort in that thought. One one hand it meant that Rollie wasn't badly hurt but on the other it meant that the worst was yet to come. She ignored her mind's ramblings and carried onwards. She arrived and went straight to emergency. Francis was waiting outside. "Francis, Where's Rollie" she cried, running towards the entrance.
"I'll show you. Come on" he answered. Angie was in a state of panic by now. She couldn't stop thinking of what could have happened. Francis stopped outside of a room. A doctor came out and barred Angie from barreling in.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Earl Hansen." The older man spoke with a slightly condescending tone. Angie automatically disliked him. "The patient is sleeping right now and I'm sure he would not like to be disturbed. You are his daughter. . . uh. . . a relative?"
"I'm his partner. Let me in!" Angie pleaded. It was to no avail. Dr. Hansen led them down the hall into a waiting room.
"Calm down,"he began to say. Angie interrupted rudely.
"How is he?"
"Mr. Tyler has suffered mulitple abrasions on his chest and legs, multiple bruises on his entire body, two broken fingers, and his left arm is broken in two places. Other than that, he is in good condition. May I ask what line of work he is in?"
"We do FX and makeup for movies. When can I see him?"
"When he wakes up. Now if you'll excuse me I have other patients to deal with" he replied, while leaving. Angie looked at his retreating figure, her eyes glaring daggers into his back.
Francis put his arm around her shoulders. "He'll be fine Ange. Just a broken arm and a few cuts and scrapes. He'll be home by tomorrow. You know him, he wouldn't let a broken neck slow him down. Remember when he got pumped full of snake venom? He put off the effects longer than anyone else had ever done. Don't worry about him."
"I just can't believe it. I mean, he goes out for some damn groceries and this happens to him. It's so ironic. He gets through that encounter with Loubar without a scratch, he got Luce out of that air force base, He caught the guys that killed Rick, and he only gets hurt going out for some groceries. It doesn't make sense. " cried Angie, her eyes welling up with tears. She collapsed against Francis.
"It's okay Ange. He'll be alright."
By the next day Rollie had lived true to Francis' prophecy and had returned to the loft. His arm was in a cast and he had to wear a sling but he barely seemed to notice and his spirits were as high as ever. "Hey Ange" he called out "Check out this program I've got here." He was making some new simulations for the VR chamber. Apparently tiring of skydiving, he was tackling the world of water, with boating, scuba diving, and diving simulations.
"Rollie, you're not supposed to be doing anything today. just relax and remember what the doctor said."
"Oh come on Angie. Dr. Hansen's just an ugly pelican."
"I can't argue with that." Angie said with a look of distaste. Dr. Hansen was pretty ugly.
"I don't think the old bugger would mind if I went swimming do you?" Rollie had a sly look about him that usually meant that he was planning something.
"You need car keys to get to a swimming pool." Now Angie had a sly look. "I hid them all so you couldn't go anywhere that I disapproved of and I definitely disapprove of swimming Rol. You can't get your cast wet." That ought to stop him, she thought.
"Angie, what am I going to do here? You won't let me work on anything! I've already slept forever. " said Rollie exasperatedly.
"Mira and Francis said they'd try to stop by today so put on a happy face."
"Try and stop me" said Rollie, his eyes looking longingly towards the door. They heard a knock.
"Tyler FX, who's there?" called Angie
"I think I can at least answer the door, Ange. I'm not exactly helpless here" Rollie complained.
"Friends, may we enter?" The voice was unmistakeably that of Mira Sanchez, Midtown South detective. Her partner, Francis Gatti, as always was with her.
"Come on in, we're expecting you."Rollie got up to welcome the two cops in.
"Rollie" said Angie in a sharp whisper "sit down. You can't keep walking around." He ignored her and bounded to the door, forgetting his cast momentarily.
"Hey! How are youse guys?"Rollie offered an exuberant greeting.
Francis responded after seeing Rollie's arm. "Better than you from the looks of your arm, well, at least I am. Can't say the same for Mira here though."
"Oh? What's happened to you?" asked Angie. "Wait, forget I asked that. Come in and sit down first. Care for some tea? Earl Grey?" All three nodded their assent and she put the kettle on to boil.
Mira entered after Francis and noticed Rollie's arm. "You broke your arm too?" she exclaimed, holding her own cast up for all to see.
"Yeah," answered Rollie. "I got ambushed on my way back to the loft yesterday. Hasn't Francis told you?"
"He hasn't said a word about it. I guess you were keeping it a surprise, Frank?" She turned to face Francis.
"Yeah, something like that." replied Francis, a wry smile on his face.
Angie entered with four mugs of tea and handed them around. "So," she asked Mira. "are you going to keep your story a secret from us or are we allowed to hear it?"
"Ok, here's what happened. I was running this bust with this drug cop, Jerry Tamblin, do you know him?"
"Yeah, we've met" replied Rollie
"That's an understatement!" said Angie.
"Great, then you know about his sterling personality. So anyways, we're busting these two guys holed up in a corner store. I was just there because I happened to be in the neighborhood and Tamblin was there because one of them had connections to some drug guy. He tried talking them out, didn't work, he tried threatening them, didn't work, so after that Tamblin get's the great idea that he'll come in through the front and distract them while I come up behind them through a vent on the roof. So I thought, what the hell, what's the worst that could happen? So then I jump in through the roof, Tamblin starts shooting, and he ends up hitting a shelf. I just happened to be beside that shelf and I ended up getting crushed by a ton of dog food. And believe me, that stuff can get heavy. That's the whole story. Now I want to know what you've been up to to get beaten up like this."Mira took a long sip of her tea as she waited for Rollie to pick up the conversation.
"Where to start Ange?" asked Rollie
"How about when we met Harmon" suggested Angie "that's pretty much the beginning."
"Sounds good. Francis already knows most of this but it's new to you, Mira. Last year we stopped a Montana based Militia called the 7th Brigade from blowing up half of New York. The leader, Wayne Harmon got pretty annoyed and broke out of jail recently. He trashed the loft and Angie's apartment about a week ago and he left some very threatening letters for us. I think he's the one who beat me up. His letters left some cryptic references to a "Big Night" and we think he's referring to the Oscars. Speaking of which, they gave us a few extra tickets, would you two like to come along?"
"I'd love to" answered Mira "I've got plenty of leave time thanks to my arm here."
"I'll go too, that is if you want me" said Francis, making puppy-dog eyes at Angie .
"Of course we want you Francis, you're great to have along." said Angie, drinking her tea. "I should have brewed Ginseng tea, it's much better."
"Angie, we went through this debate two days ago. Don't bring it up again. Please" Rollie was clearly tired of tea.
"Fine, fine. I'll leave you alone. Rollie, why not play host and show Francis and Mira your VR chamber" said Angie.
Rollie then led Mira and Francis up to his VR chamber, babbling incoherently about it. Mira gave Angie an aggrieved look as she went inside. Angie responded with an evil grin. She couldn't wait to see what Rollie gave them.
In the small wharehouse on the east side of Tribeca, the 7th Brigade was meeting. They had been discussing how to get to Los Angeles in time for the Oscars without flying. They had no hope in hell of getting plane tickets with their past so they were comparing various options. A popular choice was to forget the whole idea and just kill Tyler at his shop. This faction was spearheaded by a small man named Al Tipper. He had been a member of the 7th Brigade for only a year and a couple months but in the short time that he'd been there he'd proven himself to be a charismatic speaker and a coward. He was more given to fighting the battle for true freedom through sneaking and skulking but he was formidible when confronted with a real threat. He had had many clashes with Harmon over the direction of the militia as Harmon preferred to just go in, plant a bomb, go out, and detonate it. There had been a showdown brewing ever since Harmon broke out of prison. Tipper seemed to think that this was an excellent time to make his move.
"You think we should just blow the whole place up. What the F****** hell is that going to accomplish! I'll tell you: NOTHING! We have to get him out of the way. He destroyed your grand plan so you can pull the trigger." He pulled out a gun and tossed towards Harmon. The militia leader didn't move a muscle."Come on. Who's with me here." Tipper looked out to the rest of the small group for some sign of agreement. He got it. A number of voices murmered their assent.
Harmon saw his power base slipping away. He realized it was time to do something dramatic, something. . . a little vicious. He pulled a loaded shotgun out of nowhere and blew a hole right through Tipper's chest. He made a small noise of surprise and lay still. Harmon quickly tucked away the shotgun and addressed the shocked militia members.
"I hope nobody else has any grand delusions of power like our friend here did, or you'll be joining him. We need to pull this one off like we've pulled off so many other one's. Quick, fast, and efficiently. Tipper here, he was a waste. He died. Remember that. Let's organize here. Bob, Calli, you dispose of Tipper's body. Jake, Bitts, and Kelly, find us a way to get to L.A."
"Um. . .Wayne," Bitts interrupted, clearly fearful of the leader. "uh. . . Kelly never shown up heres today."
The New York sky was overcast. A stray raindrop fell from the clouds. It fell, making a splatter on the small ragged piece of paper held by the young woman. She was walking quickly along the street, looking around as if someone or something was chasing her. She wasn't sure if the address she had on the old grocery reciept was correct, or if she was even in the right area. She'd only moved out from Montana three months ago and New Yourk stll looked all the same to her. She pulled out the paper again and peered closely at the rain smudged writing. 256 Brewery Lane it said. she hurried along the street once more, still furtive in her movements. A single gunshot rang out through the street. She ducked in behind a pile of garbage on the corner of a small smoke shop. The owner, startled by the shots, came rushing out. The sniper's bullet shot out from nowhere and hit him in the head. He went down whithout a sound. The young woman gasped and tried to make a run for it. She tripped over the owner's dead body. The mistake almost cost her her life. The next bullet flew right past her ear and narrowly missed her skull. She held still as the shower became a deluge. A cop car, obviously alerted by the gunshots, came driving down the narrow street. The driver, a handsome man with longish blond hair, stepped out and looked for the shooter. The next shot bounced off of his car; it was bullet proof. The cop instantly dove for the hedge where the shot came from. There was a brief scuffle and he emerged with a man and a woman in handcuffs. The young woman recognized them as Calli and Bitts from the 7th Brigade. She stifled a gasp as it became clear that Wayne Harmon wanted her dead. Wayne, the man who had helped her get out of Montana, who had given her all he had, who had cared for her like a father, was trying to kill her. When the car had left she slunk along the street again, trying to find the right place. The rain was starting to soak through her thick black jacket but it was the realization that her life was as good as gone that chilled her the most.
Wayne Harmon was in a foul mood. The young militia leader stormed around the warehouse, scowling angrily at anyone in his path. There had been no word yet from the two he had sent out to kill Kelly. He felt a pang of regret for the young woman, but dismissed it quickly. Her continued existence was a threat to the cause and that the only important thing. She had seemed truly devoted to the quest for true freedom but Harmon had clearly misjudged her. There would be no more betrayal around here. He came to a small door and opened it. Inside were two heavy set men listening to headphones
"Anything yet from Tyler's phone?"He asked them, his eyes filled with anger.
"Not yet...Wait! This might be useful. Listen."
Harmon put his ear to the headphones and listened. An evil grin crawled slowly across his features. He had them now.
The rain had slackened somewhat, and for that Kelly was glad. Her jacket, although big, was little protection against the New York precipitation. She checked the address again and found that she was nearly at her destination. The recent attempt on her life had scattered any remaining qualms about betraying Wayne and she was determined to get her information across to Rollie Tyler. A small alley with a large stone building near the end lay ahead. She was almost there.
A planet shot by at breakneck speed, a trail of gas floating behind it. Another approached in the distance, this time even faster. Mira Sanchez pulled herself out of the illusion reluctantly but she was getting dizzy. She had spent the last half hour in the VR chamber with Rollie and Francis and the speed at which Rollie liked to run his programs was starting to creep up on her. She turned to her side to see if Francis was having similar trouble and found that he was fast asleep, softly snoring. The detective supressed a chuckle and poked her partner sharply in the side, waking him. Francis turned around, seemingly unaware that he had been sleeping. She ingored him and turned to Rollie, who was leaning back and grinning widely. He was completely lost in the illusion of outer space. A knock was heard at the door but only Mira seemed to notice. She nudged Rollie, who after a moment turned the program off.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed at the sudden whiteness surrounding them. Francis got lazily to his feet and followed Rollie to the door. Mira hopped in front and opened it to find Angie on the other side.
"What were you guys doing in there? Napping?" Angie said with a hint of annoyance.
"Ask Sleeping Beauty here" Mira responded, pointing to Francis. "What's up?"
"There's a young woman at the door for Rollie." she said, turning towards Rollie. "She'd like to speak with you in the next century, if possible."
The lanky australian blinked owlishly at her "For me?"
Angie replied "Yeah Rollie, for you."
"Okay. . ." said Rollie, leaving the VR chamber and heading down the metal stairs towards the lounge, where he guessed the visitor would be waiting. When he reached the bottom he noticed a young woman perched nervously in the armchair. He extended a hand to her. "I'm Rollie Tyler, you wanted to see me?"
She coughed and shook his hand timidly. "I'm Kelly. .I'm . . um. . . I'm with the 7th Brigade." Her words dropped like a bombshell into the room. Angie gasped and raced down the steps with Mira and Francis close behind. Rollie just stared.
"You're with the 7th Brigade. The same 7th Brigade that tried to blow up New York City, the same 7th Brigade that wrecked my shop and Angie's apartment, the same 7th Brigade that has been trying to terrorise us! Give me one damned good reason why I shouldn't throw you out right now!" Rollie yelled.
Kelly stared back in defiance "Because I'm here entirely of my own volition to save you and your little friends and the militia tried to kill me on the way over here!"
Mira came up behind Rollie and sat him down on a chair. "Calm down, Rollie" she said forcefully "she wouldn't have come here if she didn't have anything important to say. Let's hear her out." The detective walked towards Kelly. "What do you have to say? Why don't they know you're here?" Mira asked bluntly.
"Wayne Harmon is planning to blow up the Fairlight Auditorium, where the Oscars are being held. He's got your phone tapped so anything you've said over the past week, he knows. I came because Wayne's out of control. He's just not thinking right. . ." the young woman responded in a clipped tone of voice. "I couldn't let him do this."
Angie interrupted. "Rollie, he's got all of our travel plans."
"What?" said the FX genius.
"I can't believe we didn't search for bugs. I worked our whole travel schedule out on the phone today with an agent. He knows exactly when we leave, every connecter flight, the times they leave, everything.
"That's really bad" said Francis.
Kelly piped in "And he'll use any information well. There's a network of allied militias across the country who will help. He can't get to L.A. by plane but he'll get there for sure." She strongly believed that Harmon had the upper hand.
"Is there any threat in Canada?" asked Angie, mentally thinking over the destination plans. Their flight would take them to Toronto for an hour, Calgary for two hours, and a day in Vancouver. She didn't know of any active Canadian militias but that wasn't exactly her area of expertise.
"Yes," answered Kelly, "in Vancouver. Just east of Vancouver, near Chilliwack, there's a bunch of militias that are pretty friendly to us. They're dangerous.
Abruptly a phone went off, shattering the tension the room. Mira reached for her cell phone "Detective Sanchez here" She looked at Francis "Yes, he's here too, we're at Rollie's place. There someone here that might interest you, a member of the 7th Brigade. " She absently looked at Kelly. "Sure, we'll be right there, see you then." The young cop put the phone back in her pocket and turned to Francis. "That was the Captain, he wants us and Kelly here in his office right away"
Francis looked suprised "What? I thought you were on leave?"
"Apparently not" answered Mira "Sorry, "she said to Rollie and Angie "but we've gotta go fast. Hope your arm feels better soon."
Rollie lifted his cast ruefully. "Yeah, your's too."
Angie perked up "Oh! We need to meet at JFK at 9:00 am tomorrow." She'd nearly forgotten to remind the two cops of the flight. "We can work out the connecters and stuff there"
"We'll be there" said Francis, heading towards the door with Kelly and Mira following. Angie and Rollie waved as they left the building.
When the two NYPD officers had left, the two FX specialists sat down in the lounge, Angie grabbing a Granny smith apple from the table.
"So, Ange, what are these flights we're taking?" Rollie asked his blonde assistant. Knowing her propensity for getting bad deals, he braced for the worst.
Angie put her apple aside for a moment to answer Rollie's question. She paused for a moment to remember all the connecters. "Hmm. . . We've got Boston first, then Toronto, Calgary, an overnight stay in Vancouver. . . oh, that's where we have to look out for militias, um, the next day we go to Portland, Salt Lake City, and then finally Los Angeles. We've got about an hour between most of those stops to just look about the airport, grab a bite to eat, and stuff. It's gonna be hectic."She resumed her interrupted apple.
"What? Seven connecters? That's gonna be long. . ."
"Come on, Rol! It's gonna be fun. Don't you love planes?" Angie said excitedly. She'd had a love for flying all her life and it was hard for her to imagine someone who didn't.
"Well. . . not long flights anyways. But we are taking lots of stops. Oh." Rollie said, answering Angie's question but raising another.
"Oh? What oh?"
"Luggage."
"Oh! We'll just do carry on." Rollie looked at her blankly. "Carry on, luggage that we carry on board ourselves."
"Ah. Sounds like a plan." Rollie nodded.
"I'm gonna head back to my apartment now and do some stuff. You don't do anything silly!"
"Ange! Like what?"
"Your arm, Rol"
"Oh. That. I'll be fine."
"I hope so. Anyways, I'll meet you at JFK, 9:00 am."
"With luggage. Carry-on"
"Yeah, Rol. You remember too"
"Got that. Bye!"
Angie waved to her partner and left, grabbing her gloves on the way out.
Outside the ground was wet, the aftermath of the previous day's heavy rain. Angie slogged through the puddles to her Dodge Ram, pulling her keys out of her pocket. She half expected it to be stolen every time she saw it now. After her apartment had been broken into her paranoia had grown alarmingly. She hoped that she could stay calm throught the flight. Despite her penchant for flying, this paranoia could cause problems. Angie started to think of all the ways that the 7th Brigade could hijack or destroy the plane but quickly banished those thoughts from her mind. Thinking about it would only serve to worry her more. To get her mind off of Harmon's plans, she decided to get a bite to eat. That was another thing that she was looking forward to, eating in a different city. She always seemed to fall into a rut in New York. Fujiyama Mama's for japanese food, Famous Ray's for pizza, and McHale's Tavern for burgers and beer with movie crews. She got into the truck and was relieved not to blow up when she turned the key in the ignition. Sheesh, she thought, am I really that frightened?
She drove down the street, looking for something different to try. The first eatery she saw was a small bakery, Becker's Buns and Muffins. She passed on that one, not trusting a bakery called Becker's. The next place she spotted was also suspicious, Taste of England. Angie had never had a taste for british food. Funny, she'd driven this route thousands of times but she'd never noticed these restaurants. The next 3 were all unremarkable, all being fast-food joints. After working in one for 5 months when in school and learning exactly how the food was made, she'd never set foot in one again. Since nothing had caught her eye yet, she settled on going to a local coffeshop, Peggy's Grinder. She parked in front where she could keep an eye on the truck and went in. Most of the employes knew her well, as she often stopped there for a coffee on the way to Rollie's.
"Hey Angie. This is an odd time for you to come in" said said Cameron, one of the workers.
"Yeah, We finished shooting on the Deviant so I've got nothing do to for a bit. I'll have the usual please." She sat down at a barstool at the counter.
"It's great to have a friend in the movie buisness, I always know the scoop on films before anyone else. Oh, congrats on your nominations!" Cameron turned and started to make Angie's coffee. Black with chocolate shavings and a touch of vanilla.
"Thanks. We're leaving for LA tomorrow morning so I'll be gone for a few weeks."
"Oh yeah? One straight flight?"
"Nope, 7 connecters" Angie grimaced.
"All in one day? That's gonna be hectic"
"Nope, We've got an overnight stay in Vancouver so it's spread over 2 days. Have you ever been there?"
"Vancouver, yeah. I went there for the summer a couple years ago. It's a nice city. They've got quite a film industry there, you know?" He finished making the coffee and handed it to the blonde FX specialist.
She accepted it with a nod. " No, I didn't know. Thanks for the coffee"
"That's $1.50."
Angie reached into her pocket and took out 2 folded bills."Here, how's 2?"
"Great, thanks. I'll be watching the ceremonies."
"Wish us luck, Bye"
"Sure thing, Angie"
She took the coffee and made her way to the door, waving to Cameron as she left. The truck was still there and in just the same condition that she left it. She mentally smacked herself for being so paranoid. There was little chance thet the 7th Brigade would follow her around everywhere but her mind refused to accept that. She left the parking lot and drove towards her apartment building, sipping her coffee on the way. As she pulled into the underground parking lot she finished the last dregs of her coffee and parked the truck in it's usual spot. When she entered the building she noticed the manager waiting outside his office, a pad of paper in his hand. She walked up to him.
"Hi" Angie greeted the pudgy man.
"Hi, there's a message for you." He handed her an envelope.
She took the envelope and looked at it quizzically. "Yeah? From who?"
"They said they were salesmen but they didn't look it."
"Hmm, thanks" She nodded and ran up the stairs to her apartment, eager to see what the message was.
The envelope was plain white, with no identifying marks on it. It could have been from anyone, but Angie had a suspicion that she knew who the sender was.