Chapter Two
Steve drove Jaime back to Andrews the next morning and watched her plane take off, waving until it was no longer in sight. He thought about their hug goodbye, with Jaime holding on tighter and longer than normal. The previous night, when they made love, she had clung to him much more than usual as well, and Steve was worried. Jaime was often a little nervous before a mission, but he'd never seen her afraid to go. He did what she'd wanted to do the day before, and ran the diameter of the Base, trying to rid himself of the tension, but instead found himself growing more concerned by the minute. He decided to pay Oscar a visit.
Oscar was worried, too; Steve could tell by the dense cloud of cigar smoke that filled the office. "Thought you gave that up," Steve noted, in a lighter tone than he actually felt.
"Yeah, well, it was this or get falling-down drunk," Oscar replied. "Since it's not even noon, I figured cigars were the better choice."
"You're worried about her, too."
"Lucretia says she caught on fairly quickly; she was practically dancing on that highwire before they were done..."
Steve wasn't fooled. "You are worried." He helped himself to one of Oscar's cigars. "I've never seen her truly scared of an assignment before."
"I know." Oscar's eye began to brighten with a sudden inspiration. "Say, Pal, how would you feel about joining a circus?"
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Jaime looked around the tiny trailer that was her new, temporary home. The single bed was missing a couple of springs, but the bedding was clean. The three-drawer dresser had bent wire substituting for two of the drawer pulls and a crack down one side, and the closet was barely big enough for one person to stand in. She was relieved to see she had her own bathroom, as many of the trailers apparently did not. Jaime pulled back the covers on the bed, intending to lie down for a little while before checking out the highwire set-up. In the center of the bed, she found a circus poster, turned upside-down, with giant, blood-red letters on the back: GET OUT.
Nice way to make the newbie feel welcome, she thought to herself, deciding she didn't need a nap, after all. She folded the poster as small as possible and stuffed it into one of her bags, then headed out to find the gaffer.
She found him in the center of Ring One, supervising as an elephant was put through its paces. He nodded at her, and while she waited for him to finish, she tuned her ear to the various sounds all around her. Nothing about notes or threats, just the growling of a tiger and two roustabouts commenting about the build of the newbie. Jaime rolled her eyes, and smiled at the gaffer as he finally made his way toward her.
"You must be Jana," he said, shaking her hand. "I'm Lou, friend of many, confidante of a few, and gaffer-to-the-stars. Welcome."
"Thank you." She looked up toward the top of the tent. The rigging for her 'act' seemed even higher here than it was in the hanger.
"We're dark today - no show - so you'll have a little time to practice and get used to us. How does the rigging look, compared to what you had at Ringling?"
Jaime shrugged. "After awhile, a wire's a wire."
"Your pole is in a rack by the back door. Take all the practice time you need. And again, welcome."
"Thanks."
Jaime took her time inspecting the rigging that would raise her to the wire, high in the air over the center ring. She tried not to picture the harness she'd worn the day of her skydiving accident, because she couldn't let herself start thinking about that day or she'd be too spooked to go through with the wire walking. When she was satisfied it was sturdy and sound, she put it on and gave a nod to the man who would control her ascent.
Once up on the platform, she had a very brief attack of nerves - was the rope in the hanger this thin? - then stepped out, realized she really was ok, and began to have fun with it. She took a few steps out, turned and walked back, then stepped out again, pirouetted in a full circle and headed for the other platform. Jaime stepped onto the thin wooden planks and began to shake with fear, but it wasn't a fear of heights. Taped to the rail of the second platform was another note: YOU WILL DIE.
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Jaime debated showing the note to Lou; after all, he was the man in charge, but she knew he could also possibly be the one behind the threats. For now, everyone was a suspect. She was on her own. She folded the note until it fit in the palm of her hand, then gave the signal to be lowered back to the floor. As Jaime left the tent and headed back toward her trailer she wished with her whole heart that she'd told Oscar 'no' (like anyone could actually do that!) and never have had to come here.
She was just steps from her trailer when she was stopped by a very rude 'pinch' on her backside. Undercover or not, someone was looking to get hurt! She whirled around, steaming mad, and saw a clown in full make-up, with a very familiar grin.
"Hey, Lady, wanna clown around?"
Now Jaime smiled, too. "Steve?" she whispered. "What the hell?" She took a fast glance around, and no one was paying them any attention, so she quickly pushed him into her trailer and shut the door.
"God, it is so good to see you!" Jaime said, melting into his arms and smearing clown make-up on her forehead. She opened her hand and showed Steve the note. "Someone knows who I am. There was another one, too. It said 'get out'."
"Have you called Oscar?"
"I haven't been able to find a phone in this hellhole, but -" she abruptly stopped talking, listening intently to something. "Steve, get out!" she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him with her as she dove out the door of the trailer. There was a loud popping sound, and smoke poured out the window of the trailer. When nothing more happened, Jaime and her clown cautiously went back inside to check out the damage.
It had only been a large smoke bomb, the sizzle of its wick sounding very much like a ticking bomb. Steve spotted the paper first, grabbing it off the top of the dresser. "Jaime..." They stared at the new note together. This one read: THE NEXT ONE IS THE REAL THING.
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