Chapter 8
When everyone was up for the day and the doctor arrived and declared that their real life spies would be fine, nothing a little rest couldn't cure, Ian felt more comfortable with their situation. A trip into town got their guests all better outfitted for the weather. But now, it was time to get back to business, so everyone went outside and while the actors worked, the spies observed the filming. Michael and Fiona took up position in a wooden glider, his arm protectively around her. Sam and Jesse found a couple chunks of wood that made perfect stools, while the actors had their own chairs with their names on them. They watched in fascination at the bustle as the crew prepared the set. The actors huddled around a camera and watched the dailies from yesterday on a small screen, while David covered what they would be shooting that day. In the beginning it would be closeups and angle shots. Then they would shoot dialogue over shoulders and such to add dimension to the scene when everything was put together later. All in all, it was a very boring morning for Michael Westen and his team, but the inactivity was a welcome change.
"I'm glad I never became an actor," Jesse declared a little too loudly.
"Cut." The director glared at him.
He winced. "Sorry, man, won't happen again."
"It better not. Alright, let's take it from the top."
The young guy with a clapboard ran into the scene. He held the board up in front of Ian, announced the take, slammed the clapper down, and Ian said, "Mark."
"Action." This time, no one made a peep except for the actors. They ran through the scene several times until David took the director by the elbow, whispered something to him, and he stopped asking for more takes. "Okay, let's get a few more secondary shots."
Once it was safe to speak again, Jesse said, "I don't know about you guys, but this wasn't exactly the way I wanted to spend my vacation. Right now, I'd like to be in Seattle."
"No, Jesse, as dull as you may think it is around here, this is the perfect place for us to be right now. Nobody suspects a thing, so there's no attention on us."
Just beyond the trees, in the woods, he saw one of the plane's landing gear mashed up against a tree. It was odd that none of the local crew said anything about the wreckage, because in the daylight it was clearly visible from where they sat. They probably chalked it up to a really good set dressing, that it was part of a script.
"We should get out to the plane and look it over. Maybe we can find a clue as to who did this and why," Jesse replied as he scanned the horizon.
Fiona spoke. "There must have been a flight plan, and by now somebody in Seattle had to have contacted the FAA to inform them that they lost the plane off the radar. In time, someone's going to come looking for it at the last place the transponder blipped."
"True, unless someone disabled the transponder." Michael shook his head. "I wish one of the pilots had survived. I'd like to pick his brain and find out what went on in the cockpit."
"We could always find the black box and hack it," Sam suggested with a smile.
"I like where you're going with this, Sam." Jesse grinned as he stood and rubbed his hands together. "Anybody up for a walk in the woods?"
After some digging around the wreckage, they found the black box. It was heavy for such a small thing, and it took two of them to carry it back to the house. Fiona and Sam worked all afternoon and borrowed Ian's laptop to get into the box and siphon off its treasure. After supper, they were ready to listen to the tape.
"It's a little garbled in spots, but we downloaded some software to clean it up," Sam explained to Michael and the others. He glanced at Ian. "Man, what kind of an internet connection do you have out here, anyway? It took an hour just to get 50 megs downloaded! Sheesh!"
"It's dial-up." Ian replied defensively. "What do you expect? We're in the middle of next to nowhere!"
"My sympathies," Sam countered with a frown and turned back to the computer. He tapped a few keys and a window popped up with a wavy line. It moved as they listened to the recording. No one said a word, and as the minutes passed, they grew more and more uneasy about what was on the tape.
"Michael, I was right. Someone was trying to kill us!" Fiona whispered when the sounds of the crash filled their ears. "Those pilots, they were in on it!"
"And as I suspected, they killed the transponder before we even left LA, so nobody knows where we are," Michael added. "Especially if they figured out a way to block their signature on radar."
"I'm betting they filed a fake flight plan, too," Sam added. "For all anybody knows, we could have been going to Vegas. They've probably got government agencies scouring the Nevada desert."
"It was the perfect plan, except they didn't take into consideration that the plane might not disintegrate like they hoped," Jesse said as he crossed his arms in front of himself. "If we'd crashed in that valley, without the trees cushioning the fall, we might not have been here to talk about it."
"They tried, but thank God they failed," David declared.
"Worried about your set?" Michael eyed David with a cool expression.
"No. I'm glad that none of you were seriously injured. I mean, this has been pretty awesome meeting people who my characters mirror." He smiled sheepishly. "I suppose you're going to want to leave now and get on the trail of whoever did this."
"Oh, I have some ideas," Michael smiled thinly. "But we did come for a vacation, and the people who did this are going to lay low for awhile, waiting for intel on whether or not we were killed. I think in a few days you're going to see some strangers moving around these woods. We'll take advantage of the situation, lay low and relax, and be here to welcome them."
Ian stopped in mid slurp. "What are you talking about?"
"I found a transponder on the plane, but it wasn't...regulation. Someone was tracking us, just not the air traffic control people." Michael stepped forward as he glanced around the small, yet open concept living area. "I know it's kind of crowded around here, but could we stay for a few days until we're certain that this problem is neutralized?"
"Sure. We'll manage. We've got plenty of room, we'll just get some air mattresses and everyone can camp out on the floor." He watched Michael pace the floor as he filled out their plan. He really was Michael Westen, and Ian felt a little thrill to be in the same room with a guy that David unwittingly crafted for a TV show and who turned out to be real. Being in the business, actors didn't generally get giddy about superstars. They were more likely to just scoff and say they could have done it better. But this guy was something else, and he was proud to host him and his friends for the duration of their investigation.
"I guess I better make a run into town," Leesa declared and got off the couch. "Jackie, Fiona, wanna come along?"
Ian held up a hand. "Is it a good idea for Fiona to go?"
"People will think she's just part of the film crew," Jackie suggested with a smile. She was looking forward to spending more time with her counterpart. In less than 24 hours, she'd already picked up on some of Fiona's nuances, like how she stood or walked across a room. Jackie even styled her hair like Fiona's. She was becoming her model.
"It would be safer if Ian and I went alone," Michael declared with a no-nonsense tone. There would be no discussion, and everyone knew it.
"Okay, Mike, let's put our heads together and come up with a list for the store," Ian suggested as he pulled out a pad of paper from the desk where Sam had the laptop set up. "We'll go into town to get the stuff, and everybody else just sit tight until we get back."
Michael stared at Ian for a moment. Very few people called him 'Mike', Sam being one of them. Having his friend and the actor who portrayed a facsimile of him in the same house was sure to be a challenge, since he thought they bore an amazing resemblance to each other. He glanced at Fiona and Jackie, and as the actress took on more of his girlfriend's characteristics, Michael was sure that he would get himself in trouble for mistaking the two. This was madness! They really shouldn't bother these people. They should go into town and hole up. Still, he couldn't help satisfying a secret desire to hang around for awhile to see how these people depicted them on-screen. He'd heard of their show but never watched, and he had a feeling it would be very educational, but whether for him and his friends or the actors, he wasn't sure.
"Hey, Mike. You okay?"
Michael had to give him a good look before replying, "I'm fine, Sam. Ian and I will go into town. We're going to need some firepower just in case, and Ian's pea shooter won't be enough."
"Yeah, well I'm not big on guns and hunting. It's just here to scare off the bears when they get too close to the house." Ian stopped and put on a thoughtful expression. "But if you're looking for some serious hardware, I know just the place to get it."