Chapter 5

Monday afternoon, String and the others met with Michael in his office after work. "What do you have for us Michael?" asked String.

"I'm not quite sure," replied Michael. "I've looked into each of the actors in this movie as well as the producer and director."

"Find anything interesting about them?" asked Saint John.

Archangel handed String a file of photos and information. "The only thing that seems to relate to this situation is that the producer has had some issues with two of his other movies."

"Like what?" asked Caitlin.

"Two years ago you might recall that actor Chase Christian died of an apparent suicide right after filming his last movie," replied Archangel.

"Yeah, that movie made record money," said String. "Before his death it had been given bad reviews by critics who had a prescreening of it."

"So that movie had the same producer?" asked Dom.

"Yes," replied Michael. "There's also another film that Charles Daniel produced about eight years ago that had animal rights groups protesting the use of the animals in the film," he said. "The free publicity alone pushed the box office sales up further than expected."

"So you think that these accidents are for publicity?" asked Caitlin.

Michael handed Caitlin the newspaper. "Here's today's paper. Look at the headlines," he replied. "It looks like the free publicity is already starting on this one."

The paper described all of the accidents that had happened on the set of the movie including Caitlin's run in with the scorpion.

"Well, if he is out to sabotage his own movie for publicity," asked Caitlin. "How do we prove it?"

"I think all we can do is be vigilant and try and catch him red handed," replied String.

"It will be hard to prove otherwise," added Michael. "I don't think anyone could have seen a connection until now. Still, it's a stretch that he had anything to do with the problems in the other movies."

"Maybe he just learned from those movies that bad publicity is free publicity," said Saint John.

"It doesn't matter if he took part in the problems in the other movies or not," said String. "So far, he or someone else is causing havoc on this movie and someone might eventually get seriously hurt."

"When are Saint John and Caitlin scheduled to do their stunt?" asked Michael.

"In two days," replied Dom. "String and I will be there checking things out and making sure it's all on the up and up."

"Good," said Michael. "I'll have my people dig deeper into all of this but in the meantime all I can say is be careful."

"We will," said Caitlin. "Don't worry. Saint John and I will be fine."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AA

The group left Michael's office and decided to go out to eat and have a drink before heading home. They went to a small local pub that they liked to hang out in occasionally. It was heavily decorated in pictures of old aircraft and some actual parts graced the ceilings and walls.

"I love this place," said Dom. "I don't know how any pilot couldn't."

"I agree," said Caitlin. "It has such a nostalgic feel to it."

String grinned as he saw the spark in Caitlin's eyes as she looked around the place.

"It helps that they have great food," added Saint John. "I use to get a lot of takeout food from here until I got a roommate that cooked."

Caitlin laughed. "Don't get use to that," she said. "I don't plan on being there forever you know."

This time Caitlin watched String's face light up. It was the first time she had given him any hope that she'd eventually be moving back to the cabin with him.

"Want to dance?" asked String.

Caitlin smiled. "Sure," she replied as she jumped up and took his hand.

String led her to the dance floor and pulled her close to him as the music slowed down. He held her tightly as she rested her head on his shoulder. String closed his eyes as their bodies swayed back and forth to the music. After a few minutes, he pulled back slightly and she lifted her head up too meet his eyes as he was staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"I could do this forever," he replied with a grin before leaning over and kissing her.

Caitlin sighed deeply as she looked into his eyes. She wanted to tell him how easily she could get lost in his eyes but a part of her couldn't help but still hold back a little.

"This is nice," she replied as she hugged him tightly and put her head back on his shoulder. Then to keep him from getting too discouraged she said, "We can do this anytime you want."