Page 30
Story: Capture the Rainbow
“You’d be surprised. The trappings of civilization have been gradually slipping away from me since the moment I met you. Well?”
She jerked her wrists from his hold. “You’ll have to try to do what you have to do.” Without looking at him she started walking across the sand toward the jeep where Skip was waiting for her. “Just as I’m going to do what I have to do.”
NINE
JOEL’S TALL, SLENDERbody was silhouetted against the gradually brightening gray of the sky. He stood on the very edge of the precipice: the wind was sharp, whipping his clothes and lifting his dark hair. A poignant loneliness radiated from that figure and caused Billie to quicken her steps.
“Ron told me you’ve been out here for the last two hours,” she said gently as she came abreast of him. “And that you’d spent the night setting up the shot. He sent me to tell you they’re all in position at the bottom of the cliff and you’re to give the word when you’re ready.”
He nodded, not looking at her, his eyes on the chasm that yawned before them. “It’s a drop of eight hundred feet; did you know that, Billie? I had the advance crews scouting the area for days to find a drop that would get the maximum dramatic effect.”
“It certainly does that,” Billie said with a shiver as her gaze followed his to the shadowy, boulder-strewn floor of the valley below. “It makes me dizzy just looking at it.”
“Oh yes, I have a definite talent for dramatic effect.” His lips curved in bitter self-derision. “The gap had to be wide enough so that every person who had the money to fork out for a theater seat would gasp in wonder when my spunky little ingenue miraculously soared over it to land safely on the other side. I spent hours over the storyboard planning the shot just at sunrise so the jeep would be arched against a backdrop glorious enough to be worthy of my masterpiece.” He jammed his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker. “I didn’t give a thought to the person who was making that jump. Don’t you think that’s funny, Billie?” He laughed mirthlessly. “I never even gave it a thought.”
“It wasn’t your job to worry about it,” Billie said, her eyes fixed worriedly on Joel’s face. There was an air of terrible stress about him so vibrant it was almost tangible. “You just create the concept and turn it over to the proper people to implement it.”
“The proper people being one Kendra Michaels.”
“She’s good, Joel. She’s the best in the business or she wouldn’t be working on a picture with a budget the size ofVenture.She’ll make it.”
“Do you know how many stunt people have been killed or seriously injured in the last ten years?” Joel asked, his eyes fixed compulsively on the jagged rocks below. “I’ve made a study of the subject in the past two weeks so I have all the statistics at my fingertips.”
“Look, Kendra’s not afraid,” Billie said. “She was up with Skip until after midnight going over every aspect of the jump, and she’s not worried.”
“But then she thinks she’s Supergirl and Wonder Woman all rolled into one,” Joel answered. “Most of those accidents I mentioned weren’t due to lack of skill or bad timing. They were due to mechanical or technical failure of some kind. Even if she’s the best driver on the face of the earth, it’s not going to help. If something goes wrong with the jeep on the approach to the jump it will lack the power to gather enough momentum for spanning the gulf.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Billie assured him staunchly. “Kendra has the utmost confidence in Skip. He wouldn’t let her take the jump without triple-checking everything about the jeep. She’s going to be fine, Joel. You’ve got to believe that.”
“Yes, I’ve got to believe that,” Joel said dully. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be able to survive this nightmare he had choreographed for himself. “Do you know, when I was a kid, I was always afraid to believe in anything. It seemed like everything I believed in turned out to be built of sand. From the Santa Claus myth to sweet maternal affection, it all turned out to be a bunch of crap. I couldn’t believe in any of it because none of it was real. Nothing in my life’s been real until now…until Kendra.” He drew a deep, shaky breath. “So I’d better start learning how to believe, hadn’t I?” The first tentative rays of sunlight suddenly brightened the sky, illuminating his face, and Billie caught her breath at the torment she saw there. “God, I’vegotto believe she’s going to make it.”
“Joel,” Billie’s hand closed impulsively on his arm. “You mustn’t—”
“Come on,” Joel said abruptly as he turned and started back down the road to where the rest of the crew waited at the bottom of the cliff. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes to get everything in position for the jump.” His face was once more masked as he took her elbow and propelled her swiftly down the road. “The camera crew on the helicopter is ready to take off at a moment’s notice, but the positions of the crews on either side of the canyon and at the cliff facing the chasm have to be double-checked before I give the signal.” His smile was bittersweet. “I wouldn’t want to lose a single angle of my fantastic sunrise backdrop, would I?”
“No, that would be a shame,” Billie said absently as she half skipped to keep up with Joel’s long stride. “Joel, Kendra didn’t seem worried about the jump itself, but she mentioned something about the springs of the jeep being prepared properly. She was a bit grim about the importance of that. What would happen if something went wrong with the springs?”
Joel’s fingers on her elbow tightened to an almost bruising force. He looked straight ahead, his eyes on the crowd of milling technicians a few hundred yards along the road. He could see the jeep now and Kendra standing beside it, listening intently to something Skip Lowden was telling her. “What would happen? She’ll be going at fantastic speed and hit the other side with a tremendous impact. If the springs hold rigid instead of giving and cushioning her as they should, it will have the same effect as jumping from a ten-story building.” He paused. “It would break her back, at the least.”
It was almost time. Kendra felt a glowing warmth as another stuntman she scarcely knew gave her a hard hug and murmured a gruff, “Luck, Ken” in her ear. She knew it was tradition to give this physical comfort and support before a potentially dangerous gag and she’d done it many times herself, but still it touched her. Once she was in the driver’s seat of the jeep, she would know only that terrible cold aloneness; even the excitement would be the icy thrill of danger. But she would have the memory of strong arms and warm words to ward off that coldness. It always helped to know that, and she would need all the help she could get today.
Joel’s biting anger had shaken her more than she had let him see yesterday. She’d had to force herself to resist the impulse to give in and do anything, be anything he wanted. Yet how could she, when it meant giving up her pride and independence for what might be a fleeting liaison? Joel wanted her now. What about next year or the year after, though? She wouldn’t be able to stand it if she wasn’t able to teach him to love her as she loved him. And what chance would she stand with a man who had learned distrust and cynicism in the cradle?
But Lord, how hard it had been to turn and walk away from him when she wanted only to flow into his arms like a hurt and weary child. He hadn’t given her so much as a word or a glance since he had stalked down from that clifftop like Moses with his tablet of commandments. Well, what had she expected but anger and rejection after the way she had deliberately tried to alienate him? She should have been prepared for the pain her actions would bring her. But she mustn’t think about the hollowness she felt as she watched him move with lightning speed and sure dominance from group to group in preparation for filming. She mustn’t think of anything but the jump itself.
“Ken.” She pulled her glance away from Joel to find Skip once again beside her. “The mechanics and I have just completed one last check on the jeep. It couldn’t be better. You’re going to have a real smooth ride.”
“Of course I am,” Kendra said lightly. “Nothing would dare go wrong with you running the show.”
“You’re damn right,” Skip drawled. “Keep it in mind when you’re zooming over that abyss. You wouldn’t want to damage my reputation by doing something stupid like smashing yourself up on those rocks.” Then his rare smile appeared. “I not only expect you to make the jump, but break the existing record. Think you can handle that?”
“Sure, why not?” She knew Skip didn’t give a damn about records, no matter how competitive other stuntmen were about their feats. He was just feeding her every bit of incentive he could in these last minutes. “I’ll fly across the canyon as if I had wings.”
“See that you do.” Skip enfolded her in a brief warm hug. “See you on the other side, kid.” Then he was striding swiftly away.
On the other side. That was a phrase that could be taken more than one way. She shook her head ruefully. Goodness, she was getting morbid. Perhaps itwastime she left the really dangerous side of the business.
“The camera trucks will be ready to roll in a few minutes.” It was Joel speaking beside her, his voice as impersonal as his expression. “The helicopter is taking off now and I want them to be in position to take the aerial shot before you start the run. Ron will notify you on the mobile phone when they’re ready for you. I’ll be with the camera crew on the other cliff when you land. Try to be ready to start the second he gives you the word. We don’t want to lose that perfect sunrise backlighting, do we?”
She jerked her wrists from his hold. “You’ll have to try to do what you have to do.” Without looking at him she started walking across the sand toward the jeep where Skip was waiting for her. “Just as I’m going to do what I have to do.”
NINE
JOEL’S TALL, SLENDERbody was silhouetted against the gradually brightening gray of the sky. He stood on the very edge of the precipice: the wind was sharp, whipping his clothes and lifting his dark hair. A poignant loneliness radiated from that figure and caused Billie to quicken her steps.
“Ron told me you’ve been out here for the last two hours,” she said gently as she came abreast of him. “And that you’d spent the night setting up the shot. He sent me to tell you they’re all in position at the bottom of the cliff and you’re to give the word when you’re ready.”
He nodded, not looking at her, his eyes on the chasm that yawned before them. “It’s a drop of eight hundred feet; did you know that, Billie? I had the advance crews scouting the area for days to find a drop that would get the maximum dramatic effect.”
“It certainly does that,” Billie said with a shiver as her gaze followed his to the shadowy, boulder-strewn floor of the valley below. “It makes me dizzy just looking at it.”
“Oh yes, I have a definite talent for dramatic effect.” His lips curved in bitter self-derision. “The gap had to be wide enough so that every person who had the money to fork out for a theater seat would gasp in wonder when my spunky little ingenue miraculously soared over it to land safely on the other side. I spent hours over the storyboard planning the shot just at sunrise so the jeep would be arched against a backdrop glorious enough to be worthy of my masterpiece.” He jammed his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker. “I didn’t give a thought to the person who was making that jump. Don’t you think that’s funny, Billie?” He laughed mirthlessly. “I never even gave it a thought.”
“It wasn’t your job to worry about it,” Billie said, her eyes fixed worriedly on Joel’s face. There was an air of terrible stress about him so vibrant it was almost tangible. “You just create the concept and turn it over to the proper people to implement it.”
“The proper people being one Kendra Michaels.”
“She’s good, Joel. She’s the best in the business or she wouldn’t be working on a picture with a budget the size ofVenture.She’ll make it.”
“Do you know how many stunt people have been killed or seriously injured in the last ten years?” Joel asked, his eyes fixed compulsively on the jagged rocks below. “I’ve made a study of the subject in the past two weeks so I have all the statistics at my fingertips.”
“Look, Kendra’s not afraid,” Billie said. “She was up with Skip until after midnight going over every aspect of the jump, and she’s not worried.”
“But then she thinks she’s Supergirl and Wonder Woman all rolled into one,” Joel answered. “Most of those accidents I mentioned weren’t due to lack of skill or bad timing. They were due to mechanical or technical failure of some kind. Even if she’s the best driver on the face of the earth, it’s not going to help. If something goes wrong with the jeep on the approach to the jump it will lack the power to gather enough momentum for spanning the gulf.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Billie assured him staunchly. “Kendra has the utmost confidence in Skip. He wouldn’t let her take the jump without triple-checking everything about the jeep. She’s going to be fine, Joel. You’ve got to believe that.”
“Yes, I’ve got to believe that,” Joel said dully. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be able to survive this nightmare he had choreographed for himself. “Do you know, when I was a kid, I was always afraid to believe in anything. It seemed like everything I believed in turned out to be built of sand. From the Santa Claus myth to sweet maternal affection, it all turned out to be a bunch of crap. I couldn’t believe in any of it because none of it was real. Nothing in my life’s been real until now…until Kendra.” He drew a deep, shaky breath. “So I’d better start learning how to believe, hadn’t I?” The first tentative rays of sunlight suddenly brightened the sky, illuminating his face, and Billie caught her breath at the torment she saw there. “God, I’vegotto believe she’s going to make it.”
“Joel,” Billie’s hand closed impulsively on his arm. “You mustn’t—”
“Come on,” Joel said abruptly as he turned and started back down the road to where the rest of the crew waited at the bottom of the cliff. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes to get everything in position for the jump.” His face was once more masked as he took her elbow and propelled her swiftly down the road. “The camera crew on the helicopter is ready to take off at a moment’s notice, but the positions of the crews on either side of the canyon and at the cliff facing the chasm have to be double-checked before I give the signal.” His smile was bittersweet. “I wouldn’t want to lose a single angle of my fantastic sunrise backdrop, would I?”
“No, that would be a shame,” Billie said absently as she half skipped to keep up with Joel’s long stride. “Joel, Kendra didn’t seem worried about the jump itself, but she mentioned something about the springs of the jeep being prepared properly. She was a bit grim about the importance of that. What would happen if something went wrong with the springs?”
Joel’s fingers on her elbow tightened to an almost bruising force. He looked straight ahead, his eyes on the crowd of milling technicians a few hundred yards along the road. He could see the jeep now and Kendra standing beside it, listening intently to something Skip Lowden was telling her. “What would happen? She’ll be going at fantastic speed and hit the other side with a tremendous impact. If the springs hold rigid instead of giving and cushioning her as they should, it will have the same effect as jumping from a ten-story building.” He paused. “It would break her back, at the least.”
It was almost time. Kendra felt a glowing warmth as another stuntman she scarcely knew gave her a hard hug and murmured a gruff, “Luck, Ken” in her ear. She knew it was tradition to give this physical comfort and support before a potentially dangerous gag and she’d done it many times herself, but still it touched her. Once she was in the driver’s seat of the jeep, she would know only that terrible cold aloneness; even the excitement would be the icy thrill of danger. But she would have the memory of strong arms and warm words to ward off that coldness. It always helped to know that, and she would need all the help she could get today.
Joel’s biting anger had shaken her more than she had let him see yesterday. She’d had to force herself to resist the impulse to give in and do anything, be anything he wanted. Yet how could she, when it meant giving up her pride and independence for what might be a fleeting liaison? Joel wanted her now. What about next year or the year after, though? She wouldn’t be able to stand it if she wasn’t able to teach him to love her as she loved him. And what chance would she stand with a man who had learned distrust and cynicism in the cradle?
But Lord, how hard it had been to turn and walk away from him when she wanted only to flow into his arms like a hurt and weary child. He hadn’t given her so much as a word or a glance since he had stalked down from that clifftop like Moses with his tablet of commandments. Well, what had she expected but anger and rejection after the way she had deliberately tried to alienate him? She should have been prepared for the pain her actions would bring her. But she mustn’t think about the hollowness she felt as she watched him move with lightning speed and sure dominance from group to group in preparation for filming. She mustn’t think of anything but the jump itself.
“Ken.” She pulled her glance away from Joel to find Skip once again beside her. “The mechanics and I have just completed one last check on the jeep. It couldn’t be better. You’re going to have a real smooth ride.”
“Of course I am,” Kendra said lightly. “Nothing would dare go wrong with you running the show.”
“You’re damn right,” Skip drawled. “Keep it in mind when you’re zooming over that abyss. You wouldn’t want to damage my reputation by doing something stupid like smashing yourself up on those rocks.” Then his rare smile appeared. “I not only expect you to make the jump, but break the existing record. Think you can handle that?”
“Sure, why not?” She knew Skip didn’t give a damn about records, no matter how competitive other stuntmen were about their feats. He was just feeding her every bit of incentive he could in these last minutes. “I’ll fly across the canyon as if I had wings.”
“See that you do.” Skip enfolded her in a brief warm hug. “See you on the other side, kid.” Then he was striding swiftly away.
On the other side. That was a phrase that could be taken more than one way. She shook her head ruefully. Goodness, she was getting morbid. Perhaps itwastime she left the really dangerous side of the business.
“The camera trucks will be ready to roll in a few minutes.” It was Joel speaking beside her, his voice as impersonal as his expression. “The helicopter is taking off now and I want them to be in position to take the aerial shot before you start the run. Ron will notify you on the mobile phone when they’re ready for you. I’ll be with the camera crew on the other cliff when you land. Try to be ready to start the second he gives you the word. We don’t want to lose that perfect sunrise backlighting, do we?”