"Her heart doesn't seem to be in it," Sara said to her sister.
The studio had arranged with Mercury Cruise Lines for the boat, and many of the extras filling the seats were family members of the men and women from Chicago Studio City who were working as crew on Annelie's film while they were shooting in Chicago and it's suburbs. Thirteen of the extras were members of the CPD special task force assigned to watch over Annelie. Rounding out the cast of extras were two employees of Paragon Security Services and two from Nighthawk Security Services. Sharon was once again dressed as Annelie's double, but was staying out of the camera shot when an odd thing happened.
"OK, here's the thing," Paul said to Sara as he and Sharon walked up to where she and Laurel were sitting, "They want you in the shots."
Laurel and Sara traded confused looks before they both turned back to the assistant director.
"Why would they want me in the shots?"
"Because Trish isn't here, and you look just like her," Sharon said.
"I don't look just like her," Sara said as her mind went back to the naked woman she had seen several hours before.
"You look a hell of a lot like her," Sharon said, "you look more like her than I look like Annelie."
"The studio loved the footage of Trish and Sharon kicking ass at the pier. They're thinking of fleshing it out. They want us to get footage of the two of you together."
"Fuck me," Sara said as she looked at her sister before addressing Paul, "can you give us a minute?"
"Sure, we're on a break. But we'll need you in wardrobe and makeup in five."
"Is there a downside to this?" Sara asked the rest of the team over their secure comm link.
"I can't see one," Simon said, "You'll be right next to her, which is better for us actually. You'll be right there if something goes down."
"Nothing's going down. The only way that anyone is getting near her is if they send frogmen," Sara said, "she doesn't need anyone right next to her."
"If you don't want to do it, just say no," Laurel said, "nobody's forcing you. But think about it: red carpet, opening night, you could take Dad as your plus one."
Laurel knew what Sara's answer would be before her sister opened her mouth.
"I fucking hate you sometimes."
Sara wasn't the only one to notice that Annelie's heart wasn't in her work, but no one blamed her, not barely twelve hours after a second kidnapping attempt. The few passengers on the tour boat that were totally in the know were also aware that another reason was Trish outing Annelie's knowledge of the person behind the letters, and her subsequent departure from their humongous suite. So no one was very surprised when Annelie, after a short conversation in between take twenty-six and take twenty-seven, on a simple scene that involved no dialogue, announced: "Just have Sharon fucking do it." and stormed off.
"Her head's still a mess," Laurel said, "they're lucky she's not curled up in a ball on the bed in her hotel."
"There lucky she's not getting gang raped on her way to Russia," Sharon said as her memory went back to the asshole in the private jet.
"You really do look like her. It's fucking uncanny," Sara said to Sharon.
"It's just makeup. And you look exactly like Trish."
"Bullshit. I don't look like her, she looks like me."
"Well," Laurel said as she sipped from her bottled water, "glad we got that cleared up."
"We're ready," Paul said to the two women, neither of whom held a SAG card, or was in any way getting paid to be in a movie.
"We're gonna get a grievance filed against us from their union," Sharon said.
"We'll just have to find the strength to go on," Sara replied.
"Take Twenty-eight!" the 2nd AC called out.
i'm staying in one of the other rooms we booked under Annelie's name, Trish texted to the entire team, if i'm lucky, some of those assholes will show up and I can burn off some energy. I have an early flight to JFK.
Laurel was sitting at the opposite end of the boat, as far away from where Sara and Sharon were filming as possible, as she read the text. She was looking at the Chicago riverfront, which at night was a sight to see. Annelie Bodin didn't seem the least bit interested in taking in the view. She was buried underneath a dark wig and Cubs cap, and was wearing sunglasses even though it was only a few hours before midnight, her face impassive as she stared into the void, her back turned towards the filming while she quietly either hummed or sang the same few lines from a song, the significance of which was not lost on Laurel.
Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind's elation
And little girls from Sweden dream of silver screen quotation
And if you want these kind of dreams it's Californication
Laurel was able to recognize several of the faces from earlier in the day, even though the bodies attached to those faces were wearing plain clothes instead of uniforms. When she answered the incoming call the voice on the other end of her phone was also familiar.
"I'm starting to regret taking this job," Renee said, "but at the same time I'm glad we did. If anyone needs protecting right now, it's her. Jesus what a fucking mess."
"But for how long? This shit can go on for a long time unless someone puts a stop to it. And I hate to ask this again, but you're sure you didn't know?"
"That's the last time you get to ask that fucking question. I. didn't. know. Get it?"
"So Kyle Richmond kept it to himself."
"What did I just say?"
"I didn't ask you anything."
"That's the main fucking reason I regret taking this fucking job. Shit like this rolls down hill. I didn't know. I'll take the heat for that. It's my company, you work for me, I put you in this jackpot. The job is hard enough without you having to worry about whether I'm giving you all the facts. Which I did. All. the. facts. I'm done fucking talking about it."
"Sorry. I just don't like to be made to look stupid."
"You don't look stupid, Laurel. I do."
"We talked about this a lot with the Nighthawk people. How would our knowing have helped? What would we have done differently? We didn't come up with anything."
"You can't prove a negative," Renee said.
"Would that be proving a negative?" Laurel asked.
"Who the fuck knows?" Renee answered, "what I do know is that the job is still the job. Protect Annelie Bodin. For myself, I'm going to show a little initiative and expand our operating parameters."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to call in a favor from a friend and get eyes on Ekaterina Sokolova. She's stalking us, it's only fair that we return the favor."
"You're gonna start watching Ekaterina Sokolova."
"Not personally. I have people who do that for me. Calling in a favor, remember?"
"Who are you going to ask?"
"You remember Anatoly Knyazev?"
There was a moment of silence before Laurel answered.
"You're gonna ask the Bratva to stalk Ekaterina Sokolova."
