73
Teddy was on alert driving to the set. Mason Kimble and Gerard Cardigan weren’t the type to give up. There was no indication that they’d pierced the Mark Weldon disguise, but he hadn’t survived this long by assuming the best-case scenario.
Today was a day of maximum exposure. They weren’t filming in the studio but were out on the street on location, and anyone could watch. The police would keep the crowds back, but anyone with a sniper rifle could take him out and he’d never see it coming.
Particularly when he was up on the beam, all alone, totally exposed. It was a city block with tall buildings on both sides of the street, a zillion places a gunman could be hiding.
Of course, he would have to know the shooting schedule, the location, the shot, and the script. They would have to know what actor was in which position at what time. True, Mason Kimble and Gerard Cardigan were movie people and would be familiar with location filming, but they would need to have someone on the inside feeding them the specifics.
Teddy realized he was being paranoid, but these guys had sent a hit man after him and burned down his house.
Teddy parked on the street, where production assistants were manning the four blocks with NO PARKING signs that the police had posted in accordance with their permit. He got a coffee and a scone from the catering truck, and took them to the actors’ trailer.
Tessa and Brad had their own trailers on location, but Teddy shared his with the other actors. Today that was only George, the stuntman who’d be playing Brad on the high beam. George was sitting at the makeup table with a paper cup of coffee.
Teddy slid in next to him. “Hey, George, how’s it going?”
George grinned. “Ah, the man I get to shoot.”
“Assuming your aim’s good.”
“It should be. We’ve rehearsed the scene enough.”
The scene was simple. George, trapped on top of the construction site, runs out on a girder to escape. Teddy follows, stops, and shoots. The bullet whistles by George’s head. George spins and shoots Teddy in the chest, knocking him off the girder.
Peter had built a mock-up of the girder in the studio to work out the moves for the gunfight. Teddy and George had run it enough times to be as confident on the twelve-inch-wide beam as any Olympic gymnast.
“We’ve rehearsed it three feet off the ground,” Teddy said. “This is a little different.”
“No kidding. Have you ever done stunt work on a high bar?”
“No, but a job’s a job.”
“I still don’t get why you’re doing your own stunts. You have a featured part, you don’t have to do this shit.”
“This shit is what I do. The acting’s the stretch.”
Peter stuck his head in the door. “Hey, guys. Ready to get your feet wet?”
Teddy grinned. “Ready when you are, C.B.,” he said, paraphrasing the famous response of a cameraman to Cecil B. DeMille when asked if he had gotten the million-dollar action sequence that had just taken place on film.
“Okay,” Peter said. “The landing balloon is all filled. Let’s go jump.”
“You realize I don’t fall off the beam,” George said.
“Not in the scene,” Peter said. “But if you slip and fall, I’d rather you weren’t killed.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“If you’re thinking about the height, it will inhibit you. And then you could fall, because you’re afraid you will. All we’re doing is taking away the fear, showing you that if you do fall, it’s all right.”
“All right with you,” George said.
Teddy and Peter laughed.
74
Kenny, the key grip, took them up in the elevator. The grips were responsible for any equipment on the set that had to be moved, and the construction elevator counted because it was in the shot.
Kenny ran them up to the top. “Fifth floor. Everybody out,” he said, and opened the door.
Teddy, Peter, and George stepped onto the platform. The floor area around the elevator was not extensive. For the most part, it was just bare girders.
Peter nodded in satisfaction. “Perfect, just like we laid it out in rehearsal. Mark traps George up here, George goes out on the beam to escape. It’s this one here to the right, with a clear shot down to the safety balloon. How does it look, Mark?”
“Fine.”
“George, how does it look to you?”
“High. That balloon looks pretty small from up here,” George said.
Peter smiled. “It’s fifty feet wide. Mark, do you want to do the honors?”
“My pleasure,” Teddy said.
He walked out on the girder, turned and waved, and hopped off.
The landing balloon was thick. Teddy never came close to touching the ground. He landed on his back, bounced, and settled. He crawled to the side, grabbed the thick rope around the perimeter of the balloon, and shimmied to the ground.
He stood up and waved. “Come on down!”
“Well, here goes nothing,” George said.
He walked out on the beam and jumped. Seconds later he was scrambling to the side and lowering himself down next to Teddy.
“Well, how was that?” Teddy said.
George grinned. “Can we do it again?”
75
Slythe watched the practice jumps from his vantage point next to the catering cart. It was nice to see where the shot would be filmed, though he had no intention of going up there.
It was also nice to see where his quarry was going to fall.
Slythe didn’t recognize either of the actors. He knew one was Billy Barnett, but he couldn’t tell which.
Fortunately, it didn’t matter.
One of the assistant directors, who had been waiting on the ground for the actors to make the jump, came walking up for a jelly doughnut.
“Will they be doing that again?” Slythe said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the jump.
“No, they’re done,” the AD said. “I took them to wardrobe and makeup.”
“Anybody else going to jump?”
“Why, do you want to?”
“No way. But is anyone else?”
“Not likely. You know the type of insurance risk it would be for someone in the crew goofing around?”
“So that’s it till the shot?”
“Should be.”